Exquisite Breath of Darkness

by Candice Stauffer

  “You had better stop smiling like that.”

  Eli walked right up to them while the rest of the men stood back several feet. “How could you allow her to come out here?”

  “This doesn’t concern you,” Joseph said. “Gather your pack and go away.”

  Eli turned to face Mia. For the briefest moment she saw pain, but it was quickly replaced with rage. She knew he’d scented Joseph on her. He took a step closer to her. She saw movement in her peripheral vision and looked up. Every member of the pack had also stepped closer.

  At the same moment Joseph moved to her side, positioning his shoulder slightly in front of her. “Now would be a good time for you to back off, Eli. You do not want this fight.”

  Eli lifted his hand, obviously commanding his men to stand down. “She could’ve been killed. Why the fuck did you allow her to come out here alone?”

  “This isn’t Joseph’s fault.” Mia wouldn’t allow Eli to place the blame on Joseph. “He doesn’t tell me what I can and cannot do. He doesn’t own me.”

  Eli looked down at her, and his expression softened to the point that his smile reached his eyes. “It’s not a matter to be debated. He knows it is his fault as much as I or any other member of our pack does. And I know he doesn’t own you.”

  “Your pack, not our pack.”

  He laughed, but the sound of it wasn’t pleasant at all. He redirected his gaze toward Joseph. “You’ve had your fun. It’s time for you to hand her over to me. You know she belongs with her own kind. With all that’s going on you can’t look after her properly.”

  Mia had the strangest urge to move closer to Joseph. She wasn’t a sissy. Why would she feel the need to get under the protection of his arm?

  Wanting to be near me doesn’t mean you’re a sissy. It means you love me. It means you know I love you. And it means you want me to touch you—and that just happens to be a temptation I cannot resist. As Joseph spoke in her mind, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to his side. “She will never be going anywhere with you.”

  Eli’s dark expression revealed his outrage over the sight of her burrowing closer to Joseph. He took another step in their direction. “I’m not giving you a choice.”

  The earth beneath Mia’s feet shifted as she felt Joseph’s muscles bunch. She knew that he was preparing to fight, gathering power from all around. A gust of wind rushed past them. She looked up and saw dark clouds building, billowing overhead. She felt power growing in Joseph, changing him.

  “If you want every one of your men to die, you’re welcome to try to take her from me.” It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.

  Rationally, Joseph appeared to be outnumbered. Realistically, Mia believed Joseph could and would destroy the pack in seconds with very little effort.

  “This is insane.” Though Mia didn’t have any reason to care about Eli’s well being, she did. “Why are you doing this, Eli? There’s no part of me that wants to be with you.”

  “He has deceived you. You’re too confused to understand that it’s wrong for you to be with him. You cannot be his mate. You are mine. You are too valuable to our kind.” Eli shifted his gaze toward Joseph. “Tell her the truth. Your own laws prohibit you from stealing our women any longer. If you continue to pretend she belongs to you, none of your kind will stand up to defend you. They will destroy you, and they will hand her over to me.”

  Panicking, Mia’s heart started to race. It was unlike her to panic, but the thought of Joseph choosing to be with her though he knew it would lead to his death was just too much for her to handle. Grabbing Joseph’s arm, she looked up at him. “Is it true? Is that why Nikolas claimed I would destroy you? Don’t lie to me. Will they kill you for being with me?”

  Joseph turned and stared down at her for several seconds. She knew at that moment his entire focus was on her. She realized his need to comfort her was making him vulnerable to being seriously injured if Eli and his pack chose to attack him, and she actually feared for Joseph’s safety. As powerful and as strong as he was, he would stand there like a fool and die because his greatest desire was to reassure her that all was okay. It was a sweet, romantic gesture, but she wanted to smack him upside the head and knock some sense into him.

  Then, catching her off guard, he scooped her up into his arms and kissed her tenderly, passionately pouring into the kiss every ounce of his love for her. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else believes or wants. Having your love and loving you is all that matter to me. I’m not about to allow anyone to kill me, and no one will ever hand you over to Eli.” He kissed her once more, just a quick peck, and then he lowered her onto her feet.

  More black clouds started to move in from every direction until day seemed to turn to night. Lightning flashed in the distance as the atmosphere was filled with electrical currents that caused the hair on the back of her arms to stand straight. Strange, coppery-colored flames surrounded Joseph and her. She knew that though the flames wouldn’t harm her, they’d kill any being that tried to pass through them.

  “If you are stupid enough make the mistake of believing I need anyone to defend me against your men, you won’t live to regret it,” Joseph warned.

  Completely surrounding them, the pack started to close in, but Joseph’s gaze never once wavered from Eli. “You don’t want to do this.”

  Mia counted at least thirty men. It didn’t seem possible for Joseph to defeat them all, but she knew he could. It also appeared Eli knew Joseph was capable of killing the entire pack, for she saw fear in Eli’s eyes as he lifted his arm to give the command for his men to stand down.

  * * *

  Eli knew that even with the pack there was no chance of defeating Joseph in battle. His pack would suffer a great number of casualties, and he couldn’t afford to risk a single pack member’s life. He didn’t like her being with Joseph, but now wasn’t the time to take her. Deciding to stick with his plan to catch her off guard when she away from Joseph, he gave the command for his pack to back off as he turned and walked away.

  The moment he decided to allow Joseph to go without a fight, Eli knew some of the younger males would rise to question his leadership. And one did.

  “How could you allow them to walk away?” Cain asked as he stepped forward.

  “It is not the right time.”

  “Why would you order us to stand down? There were more of us than him,” Cain stated. “We could’ve taken her.”

  Eli remained completely still but noticed Samuel was closely watching the situation unfold. Eli wasn’t sure if Samuel would stand by his side or encourage the rebellion in hopes of gaining the loyalty of the pack. Eli was ready to fight, but he made sure that he appeared completely calm and confident. “Have you ever seen a demon protect his mate?”

  “She can’t be his mate.” Cain spat the words out. “She’s one of us.”

  “That doesn’t matter if he believes she’s his,” Eli said.

  “We could’ve overpowered him. We have the strength of our pack. He was alone. Totally fucking alone.”

  “Alone?” Eli shook his head. “You are young and stupid. Alone, he controls the forces of nature with a thought. Alone, he could’ve taken out our pack a single thought.”

  “You sound as if you worship him,” Samuel said.

  Eli made a point of appearing as if hadn’t heard Samuel. “Which of you can move through time and space?” Eli asked. “Which of you can walk through fire?”

  “If you fear him then you shouldn’t be our leader,” Cain said. And Eli did not miss Cain’s glance at Samuel for approval. “We have strength in our numbers.”

  “Yes, we are strong, but which of you can overpower a bolt of lightning when he commands it to strike you?”

  “We can’t let her stay with him,” Cain stated. “We have too few women. And she is pure blooded.”

  Eli nodded. “I’ve no intention of allowing her to go.”

  “You just allowed him to walk away with her. Perhaps someone else should claim h
er,” Cain said as he turned his gaze onto Samuel.

  There it was, the blatant challenge Eli had been waiting for. He couldn’t ignore it. He attacked Cain. It wasn’t personal—he had no choice but to put the younger wolf in his place. He also needed to show Cain that Samuel would not go against Eli to defend him. If the younger male continued to challenge him, Eli would drive him out of the pack. If Cain didn’t leave, Eli would kill Cain. Otherwise Eli would eventually have so many wolves rising to challenge him that he would be forced out of the pack.

  ~ Sixteen ~

  JOSEPH DIDN’T WANT to leave Mia alone, and he didn’t. Not really. He left, but he kept his mind merged with hers. After all that had happened he needed to hold her and feel her body against his. He ached to comfort her. Love her. Hours after the encounter with Eli, he still remained a silent shadow in her mind as she stretched out on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  He knew she felt foolish for telling him she wanted to be alone. She didn’t want to be away from him anymore than he wanted to be away from her. The knowledge shouldn’t have put a smile on his face, but it did. She’d been convinced she needed time alone to think. He’d known all along it was terrible idea, and now she knew it.

  She was haunted by the memory of Julie being dragged away by two vampires. It didn’t matter that Caleb had returned Julie safe and sound. All that mattered was that it had happened—Julie had been attacked and could’ve been killed. More than that, Mia didn’t like the way Caleb had looked at Julie.

  It shouldn’t bother her. Joseph trusted Caleb, and that should have been enough for Mia to accept him.

  Mia thought about reaching out to him several times, but she was too stubborn to do it. When he’d told her she would be sorry if he left her, she’d laughed at him, so she couldn’t admit now that he’d been right. She took a deep breath and released it with a sigh. More than anything, she needed to fall into Joseph’s arms and allow his love to chase away the terrible memory.

  Unable to sleep, Mia got out of bed to go for a walk. Joseph was aware of her every movement, of her every thought. He was giving her the space she needed, but with all that had happened he wasn’t going to leave her unprotected for even a second.

  Joseph felt a certain sense of victory when Mia let herself into his private entrance at the back of his hotel and then walked into his room. He heard her pause after she closed the door. He felt her uncertainty about the situation. She was actually worried she might offend him by coming into his room uninvited in the middle of the night. He held his breath to keep from laughing at the thought.

  But as Mia leaned her back against the door, her thoughts made holding back the laughter bubbling up in him nearly impossible. One second she was worried he could be with another woman. She figured it was possible since they hadn’t discussed whether or not they were in a committed relationship. And then the next second she was pissed off. She would definitely kick his ass if another woman was in bed with him.

  Her thoughts continued to amuse him as they grew stronger. It was as if she were opening her mind to speak to him. He actually heard her voice. The sneaky bastard probably knows I’m standing in his room like an idiot. Probably nothing. He knows. She walked over to the bed and stared down at him for several minutes. He knew she was trying to decide whether or not being there was a good idea. Hoping she would choose to stay with him, he waited for her to make up her mind. Holding his breath, he listened to the sound of her removing her clothing. He finally took a breath when she slipped beneath the covers with him.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, encouraging her to rest her head on top of his chest. “It’s about time.”

  “You’re as warm as a toaster oven.” Draping her leg over his body, she snuggled up closer to him.

  “And you’re very cold.” He finally knew the meaning of true happiness. He’d always been in love with the idea of being in love even though he’d never experienced it. He’d spent many lifetimes dreaming of it, but he’d never dreamed it would be such a wonderful, such a perfectly exquisite experience. “I hope it doesn’t offend you, but in the future I would rather you warm up a bit before you climb into bed with me.”

  “You have no common sense if you think now is a good time to be mean.” She laughed. “It was a little colder than I thought it would be when I decided to go for a walk.”

  “You walked here this late all alone?” He slowly slid his hand up her thigh and over the firm, round curve of her hip. “I don’t believe you have any right to scold me for having a lack of common sense.”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. I know you were with me each step I took.”

  “You’re wrong. I was being good and giving you the space you claimed to need, though I knew you didn’t need or want it.”

  “You’re a liar. You were attempting to give me the illusion of giving me space.”

  “I’m sorry.” He brought her hand to his mouth and gently nibbled on her fingers. “I tried.”

  “No, don’t be sorry, Joseph.” When he released her hand, she burrowed even closer to him and began to trace the muscular contours of his chest with her fingertips. “I love touching you, Joseph. I love feeling the heat of your flesh against mine.” She climbed on top of him. “I don’t ever want any space between us.”

  He caught her shoulders and pulled her down so he could kiss her. He loved the way she returned his kiss. She never held any part of herself back. She gave all that she had, all the love that felt for him when she kissed him. It was as if her lips and tongue were making love to his. “I’m very happy to hear that, because I can’t stand being away from you for any length of time. I could never imagine a future apart from you.”

  “Joseph,” she said, sitting up on her knees with her legs still straddling his body. In doing so she’d managed to unwittingly position her hot, damp core over the length of his hard, aching cock. “I love you too much to hurt you like this. If we continue to pretend that—”

  “Don’t say it.” He gripped her hips. “I love you, Mia. Please … don’t. Just make love with me.”

  She opened her mouth to argue with him, to remind him of the truth—they didn’t have a future together. She was dying.

  He broke in before she could speak. “Stop tormenting yourself with thoughts of dying. I’ve no intention of allowing it to happen.”

  He couldn’t resist the temptation. His fingers digging into her hip, he began to move her back and forth over his cock as he added, “My dragon’s strength and power are growing every day since I injected the poison into my blood.”

  It was hard to find his voice when she was so hot and so slick moving against his cock. He needed to feel her tight body gripping him as he buried his cock deep inside her body. “Soon my blood will cure you, but I want you to know that nothing will ever keep me from you. Not even death. Wherever you go, I will follow.”

  * * *

  On the edge of losing control, Mia felt as if she was going to erupt. The friction he was creating by rubbing her sex against his swollen cock sent currents of mind-blowing pleasure through her body. Breathing a soft moan of pleasure, she leaned forward to kiss him. Growing more and more restless and needy, she fed on his mouth hungrily. Still, it wasn’t enough.

  Every inch of her flesh ached with sexual tension. Keeping a steady rhythm, sliding her hot, wet sex back and forth over his erection, she abandoned his mouth to kiss, to explore, and to savor the taste of his neck, his shoulders, and his chest on her lips and tongue.

  It still wasn’t enough. Not after already experiencing the pleasure of him ramming his thick cock into her and filling her, stretching her.

  “Do you feel the way my body aches for you, Joseph? Will it always be like this? Every minute of every day my body craves more of you. Will we always feel so much, need so much from each other?”

  “Yes.”

  She rose up on her knees and reached down to guide the broad head of his cock just inside the entrance of her body. “I love
the way you fill me and reach so deep inside me.” She saw the wonder, the amazement in his eyes as she came down on him slowly, taking one inch of him at a time. “It makes me feel like our souls are bound together. It makes me believe that nothing, no matter what happens, could ever separate us.”

  ~ Seventeen ~

  ADAM WATCHED THEM walk in. “She’s beautiful. And she’s wearing Nikolas’ necklace.”

  “That’s the challenge.”

  Adam smiled. “I like a challenge.”

  “I know.” Joseph nodded.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’ve brought me here to step on Nikolas’ toes?”

  “He marked her and walk away from her. It’s unfair.”

  “It’s not shocking.” Adam shrugged casually. “Nikolas has always had a problem following through once he’s started something. Look at him over there sulking like a toddler who has lost his special blanket. It’s typical of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started to suck his thumb.” He paused. “I’m not a fool, Joseph. Being concerned about what is fair for his mate is not why you wanted me here.”