Blood Revealed

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  “We need more people,” Dominic reminded her. There had been fifteen people out hunting last night, under Peter’s directions.

  Blythe shook her head. “After the hatching last night, recruits will be hard to find.”

  Dominic suspected that she was wrong, He didn’t refute her in front of the others.

  Blythe pushed her knife back into the scabbard in her boot with a decisive thrust. “Let’s all get a good night’s sleep and meet back here at nine tomorrow night. Does that suit?”

  There was a murmur of agreement and everyone started to drift away. Jim glanced at the two of them over his shoulder. “Would you like a ride back to your house?”

  And so Jim and Harry had delivered them back at the house just shortly after twelve-thirty. They had stood upon the sidewalk, Blythe staring down at her feet, a deep frown bringing her brows together. She had been pre-occupied all evening. Dominic had stopped himself from prying or asking direct questions. Yesterday and the day before, he would not have asked. Tonight, he could not ask, either. That was the deal.

  Now that it was the time when he would normally leave, huge reluctance kept his feet planted on the sidewalk. He couldn’t even reach for his car keys, tucked in the interior pocket of the light coat he was wearing. The coat had replaced his leather one, which he found almost impossible to put on, now.

  It was a balmy night, one of the slightly cooler nights that reminded Angelinos that they lived between a desert and an ocean. A coat wasn’t really necessary, although all of them had learned to wear tough cotton or denim coats to protect their arms against Summanus thorns. A coat with lots of pockets was a useful weapons and tools carrier.

  Dominic looked up at the stars that were very clear tonight. The street lights had been switched off at midnight and the street was quiet, shadowed and peaceful.

  A long way away, Dominic could hear the traffic on the freeway, which never slept. Just overhead and louder, was the soft whisper of the wind in the tops of the old jacarandas and oaks lining the street.

  He remembered nights like this in Santiago. Rare nights, when there were no people around. The silence had been like a song all by itself.

  No one gets to go back.

  He let out a breath and dug out his keys. “I guess I should go.”

  Blythe gave a soft exhalation, as if she had made up her mind. She stepped closer. Her lips met his.

  It was impossible, after that, not to gather her up in his arms and pull her against him. He had wanted to do something like this all night. He had been fighting against the impulse to touch her, even in a small way. A stroke of her hand. A kiss on the cheek. To brush the long locks that fell over her eyes out of the way and let his fingers linger after that.

  He had carefully stayed out of her mind, only listening to the superficial echo of her voice. He had made himself avoid sampling even her mental mood.

  So now he returned the kiss with a rush of hot need and longing that surprised even him. He couldn’t get close enough to her, even though they were pressed together from knee to chest.

  Blythe pulled open the two big studs holding his coat closed and slid her hands inside and around him. She pressed herself up against him once more, without the filled pockets getting between them. She was warm and soft against him and his body tightened.

  Dominic couldn’t let her go. He dropped small kisses on her face, wherever he could reach, then came back to her lips once more.

  “Dominic,” she breathed against his mouth.

  He closed his eyes and made himself stop. All except his hand, which stayed in her hair, sampling the incredible softness of it. He let out a heavy breath, then another one.

  “You should come inside,” Blythe said.

  His heart squeezed. “But…” He swallowed. “Your children.”

  “They’re old enough. I mean, they know that….”

  She was frowning again and he pressed his thumb against the furrow, to smooth it away.

  “Read me,” she said shortly.

  Startled, he dipped into her thoughts. They were chaotic, as most adults were. At the forefront was the knowledge that things had changed. Something had shifted in her, so that now she couldn’t stop thinking about that afternoon and not just the sex, which had been great, but all of it, what it might mean.

  And she was afraid. That was why she was frowning, why she had kept her distance all night and been careful not to indicate even indirectly that anything had shifted between them. He had been so quick to assure her that nothing would change that now she was afraid he wanted it that way.

  Yet she needed him. The glimpse of the degree of her wanting startled him and made his body stiffen even more and his cock stir. It wasn’t simple lust. It was much more complicated than that and she wasn’t able to analyze it. She didn’t have the courage to try to tease out exactly what this huge, amorphous lump of feelings was.

  Yes, things had changed. She didn’t think that was a bad thing.

  “Thank god,” Dominic muttered and kissed her. This time he let himself express all of his wanting and desire. He didn’t hold himself back. He kept her head steady and plundered her mouth with his. She tasted so sweet. She was so unexpectedly soft for such a strong woman….

  When he ran out of breath and really had to breathe once more, he released her—just her mouth—but kept his lips near hers.

  The night around them had become brighter. Clearer.

  “We’ll get arrested,” she murmured. “Out here on the street.”

  “Your kids will read much into this, if I come inside.” For just behind her fear and her longing had been the knowledge that if he came with her, then it was for the night. She had no intention of kicking him back out the door in an hour or so, his boots in his hands and his clothing only half-on.

  In part, that was where the fear came from. Tomorrow morning would be a minefield of speculation and teasing from Jake and the twins.

  “They’ll just have to handle it,” she said firmly. “The whole world is changing. This can change, too.” Surrounding her words were years of abstinence, of making her children the priority over even simple companionship.

  She stepped away from him and the air that rushed in to replace where her body had been against him was cool in comparison. “Will you come in?” This time, she was asking. In her mind, he could see that she already knew he would agree. She wanted to make it formal. Official.

  He picked up her hand and squeezed it. “Very well.”

  Pleasure rippled through her and an almost school-girl-like giddiness.

  He couldn’t help smiling. “If we’re caught, I will not hide under the bed, okay? Just so we’re clear.”

  She didn’t laugh aloud. Instead, humor bubbled up in her mind and mixed with her heady happiness, like a mental champagne.

  * * * * *

  They moved silently into the bedroom. Sneaking in didn’t bother Dominic at all. Her thoughts explained that she was only concerned about waking the girls and Jake, for all of them were short on sleep lately, especially Jake. There was no sensation that she was trying to hide the fact that he was here.

  When the bedroom door closed, she flowed up against him, all her defenses down.

  Dominic realized that he was trembling with anticipation and his hands shook as he removed her clothing and his. When they were bare, he pulled her up against him once more. The softness of her, the feminine delight of her…he didn’t think he could get enough of it. He wanted to inhale her. She was so unlike—

  Abruptly, he realized where his thoughts were leading and blanked them out, smothering them with denial. Instead, he concentrated on the taste of her mouth and how much it pleased him.

  And it did. It was as if they had not made love that afternoon—and even calling it “making love” seemed proper and correct. It fit with the harmony building inside him. It might have begun as sex, but it had not ended that way. His instincts had recognized that even as she had laid in his arms afterward, even though it h
ad taken him until now to consciously understand.

  Yet he wanted her with a strength that beggared the last few weeks of silent, unacknowledged yearning. He wanted her now.

  He picked her up and rested her back against the door and against the silky robe hanging from it, placing her to one side of the hook. She gripped the hook, holding herself up, as he spread her thighs with his hands and lowered her onto him. She was slippery, more than ready. The heat of her was astonishing.

  Her pussy tightened around him, caressing his shaft. His breath shuddered in response. Her legs wrapped around him.

  Coherent thought shattered after that. He drove himself into her, a purely physical creature, driven by his need. Blythe’s breath became uneven and soft moans slipped from her. He could feel the walls of her pussy squeezing him as his pelvis pressed up against her folds. He could feel her pleasure building, in his mind.

  It drove him onward, racing for the release they both wanted.

  Their climax was mutual and for a moment his heart stopped under the pressure of it.

  Even as the waves of pleasure dissipated, he could feel the need still in the pit of his belly. And hers, too.

  So he lifted and carried her over to the unmade bed, then claimed her again. She reached for him as he slid back inside her. His cock was still throbbing, his balls aching. He needed more.

  And even the next climax did not drain him.

  He couldn’t get enough of her. He tried. Blythe seemed as hungry as he, reaching for him sometimes even before he knew he wanted her again. Her act of reaching would prime him and he would take her.

  They were both human and eventually, sleep tugged more heavily than need, yet he still could not let her go. He wrapped his body around hers and she curved willingly inside his arms and torso, her back against him.

  And that was how they woke, a few hours later. Neither of them had moved.

  Until Blythe stretched like a cat on her side, kicking back the sheet and dislodging the pillow on that side of the bed that she had not used.

  Dominic kissed the back of her shoulder.

  She rolled over to look at him, her gaze only inches from him. “Shall we face the jury?” she asked softly. The corners of her mouth lifted and he could feel the simple happiness welling from her core. She was ready to face anything today, including the judgment of her children, as long as he was with her.

  Dominic couldn’t think of anywhere better to be than right next to her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “This is Dominic, Jake. He’s been hunting with me a few weeks now.” They were simple words. Dominic knew the casual air and words were a mask for the sudden fear Blythe was feeling as she confronted the first of her children to appear for breakfast.

  Jake understood immediately. That was very clear, as he looked at Dominic with sharp curiosity. There was a ‘wow, really?’ sensation coloring his understanding. Close on the heels of it was puzzlement.

  He kept looking from one of them to the other.

  Blythe cleared her throat and opened the fridge. “Waffles, Jake?”

  “But…” Jake said, then pressed his lips together. “Sure,” he said and sat at the far corner of the table from Dominic. He pulled the laptop over toward him and raised the lid.

  Dominic caught what Jake was thinking almost without trying. Like his mother, he was very easy to read. The puzzlement was not because his mother had openly started a relationship, but because Dominic was not—

  Dominic stiffened, trying to thrust away the boy’s thoughts, to unhear them.

  It was too late.

  Dominic wasn’t Patrick Sauvage, who the boy had half-expected would be his mother’s first—

  Dominic pinched the bridge of his nose, using pain to cut through the incomplete thought, to disperse it.

  “Are you okay?” Jake said, as he opened the laptop.

  “I…um, yes.”

  “Jake, you should know that Dominic reads minds. It’s how he’s able to hear people. Otherwise, he would be quite deaf.”

  Jake’s eyes widened. Then his lips parted as he put it together and pink tinged his cheeks. “For real?” he asked, except he already knew the truth of it. His blush told Dominic that much. He wasn’t prepared to dip into the boy’s mind any more.

  “For real,” Dominic repeated. He gave a stiff smile. “Don’t worry. Whatever I might accidentally ‘hear’, I don’t repeat to anyone else.”

  Jake’s gaze slid toward his mother, who was warming up the waffle iron and mixing batter. “Like a lawyer?” he asked.

  “Better than that. Lawyers can be compelled by courts and judges. I can’t.”

  Jake relaxed, even though wariness colored his mood. “So, you hunt with Mom?”

  “She does the hunting. I’m the bloodhound.”

  “He can hear the Summanus in his head,” Blythe added. “It’s like having radar. Makes hunting a doddle.”

  “Then Mom goes in and kills them?”

  “Dominic does his share of the killing,” Blythe said, before Dominic could answer.

  “Sweet.” Jake gave him a grin and Dominic realized that he had won an initial approval. The boy looked down at the screen of the laptop and his eyes widened. “Fuck me!”

  “Jake!” Blythe cried, shock and amusement battling for first place in her tone.

  Jake shook his head. “No, really.” He spun the laptop so that it was facing a point half-way between where Dominic sat and where Blythe stood behind the island, beating the batter.

  At the top of the screen was a Facebook post. Because it was a laptop, the image took up more space on the screen than a normal desktop and was crystal clear. Part of Dominic’s mind processed what that meant—someone had upgraded the laptop’s image processors for better definition.

  Therefore, Patrick was picked out in perfect detail, even though the photo had been taken at night. Last night, in fact, for Nial and Sebastian were on either side of him and Sebastian was wearing the same black jeans he’d had on when Dominic had been at the house yesterday.

  Whoever had taken the photo had caught them as they were heading somewhere. It was a candid shot, probably taken by a cell phone from about twenty feet away.

  Dominic’s attention was caught by the determination on all three of their faces. The most riveting of all was the big sword strapped diagonally across Patrick’s back, the hilt within easy reach over his shoulder.

  The sword looked good on him. It looked right, like it was supposed to be there.

  So did the fierce scowl of concentration on his face.

  “He looks like he did in that movie last summer,” Blythe said, her voice distant, as if she was dealing with a lot of unspoken thoughts, too. “The clothes are different, though.”

  “That’s because this is for real, Mom,” Jake said and tapped the screen. “He’s a hunter, now, like you.” His eyes were shining and his face glowing with what Dominic thought might be pride.

  Dominic focused on the fine print below the photo. The photo had been uploaded only three hours ago and it had already been shared over a million times.

  It had gone viral.

  Blythe stirred, then began beating the batter again. “I didn’t know he could use a sword,” she said, almost to herself. Then her gaze caught Dominic’s.

  “He’s trained for years, for his movies. I guess it’s all coming in useful now,” Dominic said.

  Jake’s eyes widened again. “You know Patrick Sauvage, too?”

  Too.

  Dominic kept his face still. “Yes,” he said. He couldn’t find any words to add to make the abrupt response sound better.

  Blythe stopped beating. “Jake, set the table, please. The girls will be down in a minute.” She turned back to the heated waffle iron and spooned in batter. The iron hissed and spat and she dropped the lid on it.

  “I’ll help,” Dominic said. “Tell me what to do.”

  Jake shook his head. “No sweat. I’ve got it.” He put the laptop away and pulled out
a drawer on the front side of the island and began counting out forks into his hand.

  Dominic studied Blythe’s stiff back. He could dive into her mind and find the answers for himself, but after being scalded by Jake’s uncluttered and honest thoughts, he didn’t want to try.

  So he sat and sampled his own unhappiness, instead. What was it neither of them wanted to tell him about Patrick?

  * * * * *

  When Eloise and Simone came downstairs at Blythe’s call, she watched Dominic win them both over with his Latinate charm and good looks. They melted, any indignation over their mother inviting a man home disappearing like snow in the sun.

  The dark mood that had gripped Dominic had disappeared, as he smiled and joked with the girls. They were almost giggling with delight, too young to understand that they were responding to his overwhelming sex appeal. Blythe was just as happy to leave them ignorant.

  By the time they collected their lunches and headed out the door, Blythe felt exhausted. She was short on sleep, the morning meal had felt like a battleground and she wasn’t sure why.

  Dominic was doing the dishes and worked silently.

  She finished clearing up, trying to think beyond the need to sleep. Hazy questions occurred to her but they wouldn’t come into focus.

  “You should go back to bed,” Dominic said, his back still to her. “To sleep, this time.”

  Blythe almost jumped. “Aren’t you tired?”

  “I can’t afford to be. I have a ninety-minute drive before I can go to sleep.”

  “Sleep here,” she said. Then hastened to qualify the offer. “On the sofa, if you want. Or…the bed. Either way.” She cleared her throat, then shoved the syrup back into the cupboard and dumped the last dirty plate on the sink next to him. “Besides, it will be a lot quieter in this house than it would be in that mansion full of the undead.”

  The sound of swishing water stopped.

  She turned to check and saw that Dominic had turned toward the fridge, his hand reaching for the tea towel hanging on the magnetic hook. His gaze was lifted higher than that.

  He had focused on the little whiteboard and the phone number written there.