Dark Vortex: Mated by Magic

by Stella Marie Alden

  “Why are you bringing the girl back to New York? I thought she was staying with your parents.”

  Jack frowned and his eyes flickered to the rearview mirror. “Josh thinks she might have something to do with the Russian. We’ll keep her safe, find out what she knows, where she came from, then send her back home.”

  The girl tapped Zoe on the shoulder. With eyes wide, she shook her head back and forth and mouthed the word, no.

  Zoe nodded, made a calming motion with both palms down, and said to Jack, “She understands us, you know. Did you find out anything more?”

  “She was supposed to end up at a Pennsylvania bible camp but our stalker friend apparently arranged a detour.” Jack maneuvered their mammoth vehicle easily in and out of the fast lane.

  “And?”

  Jack’s expression turned grim and he swiped a hand across his face. “She and several other girls were no doubt packing heroine in their stomachs on the trip over from Europe.”

  “No way. That is so not right.” Zoe clenched her fists.

  “From what I can gather, she was sold for that and prostitution.” He said it so off-the-cuff. Like he was talking about the weather.

  Flashbacks of another childhood caught her by surprise. Zoe closed her eyes and leaned back, breathing hard.

  Jack took her hand and squeezed gently. “Are you going to be sick? Should I pull over?”

  “If you send her home, won’t they just sell her again?” Zoe did her best to sit up, open her eyes, and dispel the awful memories.

  Jack shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it. She belongs to her family. Her government will be notified. I have charities overseas that–”

  “No.” Zoe shook her head and looked back at the girl, whose mouth was drawn down in a deep frown.

  “No, what?” Jack peered at her.

  “No, you’re not sending her back.”

  “Not my call, honey. I don’t have the authority to keep her in the country.” Jack used that placating and condescending voice that she hated.

  She glared him down but his eyes were on the road. “Well I think that’s total bullshit.”

  “Just because I have some talent with energy, doesn’t mean I can manipulate the whole government to my will. I can’t fix every bad thing in the whole wide world.”

  “We’re not sending that little girl back into a life of prostitution. End of story.”

  “I never said that. I said she needs to be with her family.” Jack gripped the steering wheel tightly. His neck muscles twitched just below his ears.

  How could she make him understand? This was about more than just the girl. It was about her. If only there had been someone there to save her, to protect her.

  Could she trust him enough to tell him what had happened? She shivered and looked out the window.

  “Do mated men ever stray?” She picked at a loose string on the seam of her jeans.

  He turned sharply to look at her with a deep frown.

  “I guess they could, but why? The sex would never be better than with their mate.” Jack smirked a little too arrogantly.

  “What if a couple isn’t compatible outside of the bedroom?”

  “They figure it out. A mate is more than a husband or a wife, more than just being a lover. I keep trying to tell you that.” He rubbed her leg and gave her a dimpled smile. “There’s other reasons for holding onto the relationship. We’re a small group. Through the centuries, our race has been hunted and tortured. We have to mate sensibly. When there’s a powerful line, like ours, it’s our duty to see it passed on and ensure the next generation’s safety.”

  How well he spliced love right out of the equation. “So even if you find you don’t like me, you won’t leave?”

  Jack answered sharply, “Is that what this is all about? You’re afraid I won’t stay with you?”

  Damn the man was thick.

  No. I’m afraid you won’t ever love me.

  “I still have trust issues.” She didn’t mean for that to slip out.

  “Issues?” He honed in on that topic like a heat-seeking missile. Figures.

  “Yeah. Big time trust issues,” she mumbled.

  “You don’t trust me?”

  Dammit Jack, it’s not always all about you.

  She shrugged and looked away.

  Jack’s response sounded more like a growl than a man’s voice. Stormy-eyed, he pulled the Hummer off the parkway at the next exit, and parked next to a gas station-convenience store. Jase stayed right behind them. Jack got out of the vehicle and approached Jase’s car. They spoke for a moment, then Jack motioned for Zoe to get out.

  Zoe slunk further into the front seat and stared at the roof. Okay, you pissed him off. Mission accomplished. Now what?

  He crossed his arms across his chest and waited. When she didn’t move, he opened the passenger door.

  “Get out so I can talk to you. You’re impossible today. I don’t feel comfortable stopping here but I can’t drive when you’re like this.”

  “You know, Jack, you can be pretty unreasonable too. Every time I try to explain stuff to you, you get mad.” Her throat tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears back into her head.

  “Crying won’t solve anything. Get out and talk to me.” Jack reached up, cupped her butt, and tugged her forward. He lifted her by the waist and their bodies rubbed intimately as she dropped to the ground. “Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

  Zoe wished she had nothing to confess except her blossoming love. Why had she brought this up to begin with? Erina peeked her head over the seat, and Zoe remembered.

  “You won’t want to stay with me if I tell you.” She looked down and fidgeted with a button on his shirt.

  Jack pulled up on her chin. “Tell me what’s bothering you. Whatever it is, at least give me the chance to try and fix it.”

  Fix it? She shook her head. There was no fixing the brokenness inside her. “I c-can’t. You’ll despise me.”

  “Never.” He cupped her cheeks with his palms and shook his head vehemently.

  She needed to just spit it out. Get it out of the way, so it wouldn’t hang between them. She took a deep breath.

  “I was abused as a kid.” She bit her lip hard and tasted blood. Her throat constricted. She looked over to the vehicle where Erina watched them with wide, uncertain eyes. “I was a bit younger than the girl when it started. My father–” She winced. “Now I know he was my adoptive father, but it doesn’t make it any less wrong.”

  “He hit you?”

  “No.”

  Zoe knew when he understood because his face turned white and his breath came out in a hiss.

  “Fuck.” Jack scrubbed his fingers through his hair and blew out a long breath. “Did he…did he rape you?”

  “No, but, in a way, it was worse. He touched me. Always and often. It went on for years. As long as I can remember until I finally left home.” She hunted his expression and only saw eyes that were filled with silent compassion. That gave her courage to continue. “I’ve never told anybody how young I was. Not even my therapist. I was nine or ten, maybe less. I honestly don’t remember. I was too little to even understand the nature of that kind of touching. He told me it was normal and that he loved me.”

  “Didn’t your mother know?”

  “She walked in on it more than once, but pretended she saw nothing.” Zoe frowned, pursed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut. Memories sucked.

  “Did you ever try to tell someone?”

  Zoe studied the ant hole at her feet. She sympathized with how they worked like hell to fix damage that could never be undone.

  “I tried to confront my mother in my teens and get her to help me. She refused. So when I was old enough I left. I’ve been on my own ever since.”

  Jase tapped the roof and lifted his eyebrows.

  “I’m sorry angel, but we need to get back on the road.” Jack hugged her tight and then motioned for her to get back in the car.


  When they were on the road for a while, he asked into the lengthening silence, “Did you try the authorities?”

  “Why? My mother was under his power, too. She’d lie to protect him. It would be my word against his and hers. I had no proof.”

  “How did you survive?”

  “I’d been stealing a little from his bank account for years and had his bank card. I cleaned him out, went to New York, and started working at the only thing I knew how to do. Breaking and entering networks.” She paused and grinned. “Craigslist is full of opportunities for an enterprising sort. That’s where I met Nan. We were breaking into the same network.”

  Jack didn’t smile back. He just drove with his jaw ticking.

  Zoe gave him time to digest everything.

  “I don’t know how, but I’m going to spend my life making it right for you.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “You still want to stay with me after everything I told you?”

  “You did nothing wrong.” Jack flicked his eyes off the road and they gleamed with fierceness. His lips went thin. “My only regret is the bastard isn’t alive, so I could cut his dick off and make him eat it.”

  Zoe’s lips twitched. That was probably one of the nicest things he’d ever said to her. She peeked over her shoulder at Erina who watched them with dark, uncertain eyes.

  “Now you understand why I can’t let you send her back?” Zoe said.

  Jack’s hand rested on her thigh.

  “Don’t worry.” He glanced into the rearview at the girl. “I won’t send her back, unless she wants to go.”

  Erina grinned broadly and Zoe couldn’t help but smile back.

  Chapter 24

  Jack yawned, turned down the tunnel, and stopped at the yellow line. Fluorescents lit the dingy underground parking and a four-foot graying poster listed the outrageous hourly prices. His brother, Jase, parked behind him a minute later.

  The elderly garage attendant, Sam, gave a big toothless grin and shuffled over. “Welcome home, Mr. Fialko. Will you need help with your bags?”

  “Yes, and call my driver. I’ll be back down in fifteen minutes.” Jack stretched the cramp in his leg.

  “Sure.” Sam nodded. “Detective O’Brien is waiting in the lobby.”

  “Thank you.” Jack handed Sam his keys with a twenty.

  In the backseat, Erina bounced up and down, waiting for him to release the child locks. She hopped down in a flash and ran to Jase who gave her a stick of gum.

  Jack opened Zoe’s door. She smiled seductively and waited for him to help her down. He obliged and let her body slowly slide the length of his. He gave her waist a tight squeeze.

  “That’s me. Number Eight-Fifty.” He pointed to his co-op.

  Jase came up behind them, his phone in his hand. “The lawyers are all pitching a hissy-fit about moving our money into the Caymans. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “Someone more powerful than me is out there. Clan law hasn’t changed. If I die, winner takes all.”

  “That kind of shit won’t hold up in court,” Jase said tightly.

  “If you don’t abide, all the clans will rise up. We’d do the same. We’ve talked about this for years.”

  “I never thought it would happen.” Jase frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. “Fuck, you’re my brother. I don’t want to lose you.”

  A doorman held the door open. Zoe’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. Jack couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t wait to spoil her rotten. Give her everything she’d ever desired.

  “I don’t want to lose me either. I’m just taking precautions. Most everything you can buy back legally when I’m gone. It’s the charity money I worry most about.” Jack slapped his younger brother on the back. “C’mon. There’s O’Brien.”

  Detective O’Brien sat in one of six overstuffed chairs in the lobby. He rose with the grace of a cat. “There’s my favorite student.”

  Jack braced for the solid pat on the back that would’ve sent most men sliding to the wall. When it came, he laughed. He gave an almost equal one back.

  “It’s great to see you, Liam. Meet my mate, Zoe, and you know my brother, Jase.” Jack gave a small nod to the girl. “And this is Erina.”

  Despite O’Brien’s dark, good looks and sensual demeanor, he held himself with a sense of detachment. But when his gaze landed on the girl, his blue eyes softened, and he gave her a genuine smile.

  After signing them in at the desk, Jack walked them to the elevator, and pressed eight. He said to Zoe, “Liam is my martial arts instructor. Has been for years. He’s also JTTF.”

  “JTTF?”

  “Joint terrorism task force. New York’s finest working harmoniously with the FBI.” O’Brien winked.

  “Hey, you wouldn’t by any chance know Nanobyte? She just got hired by the FBI in New York.”

  “Who doesn’t? She worked my last case with me. I swear the woman’s brain is half-computer.”

  “She’s my best friend.” Zoe’s face lit up.

  “Can’t wait to compare notes.” O’Brien’s light blue eyes watched her with amused fascination.

  Jack felt a twinge in his chest. He put a possessive arm around his mate and O’Brien laughed at the obvious move. Good thing the elevator door opened so Jack wouldn’t have to eat the words he almost uttered. He unlocked the door that led into the foyer and let everyone in.

  “You live here?” Zoe held Erina’s hand and put her nose to his latest acquisition, an Arizona landscape of the rising sun over desert cactus, and gave an appreciative smile.

  His insides melted. She liked his favorite painting. That bode well for the rest of his apartment. He led them into the living room.

  “Go ahead and sit. I’ll ask Joan to make us a quick snack before we head out.”

  “You have a cook?” Her eyes widened, then her mouth curved down in a frown. “How many servants do you have?”

  “Employees, not servants.” His brother laughed. “And he’s got a pilot, a personal assistant, and if you count all the companies he owns, including this building, he probably has–”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jack said, seeing the uncertainty in her eyes as she took it all in.

  Zoe groaned and mumbled something under her breath. Jack said nothing. She was here with him and that’s all that mattered.

  *

  Zoe had never seen anything like Jack’s apartment, except maybe in the movies. Her whole flat would fit into the foyer alone. How the hell was she going to fit into a life like this? Jack held out his hand and escorted her into the kitchen.

  One wall held floor to ceiling windows and a balcony. From the eighteenth floor, she could see the entrance to Central Park.

  Jack was saying something about the Wi-Fi password but it was too hard to focus. She couldn’t shut out how friggin’ loaded the guy was. It was one thing to read about it online, and quite another to walk into your new mate’s home worth millions.

  “Are you okay” Jack watched her, his head tilted slightly, a frown on his handsome face.

  “Sorry. I’m a bit overwhelmed.”

  He pulled her to his chest and whispered into her ear, “Angel, it’ll be alright. We’re together in this.”

  “Okay.” Zoe nodded, but she couldn’t shake the anxiety.

  “We’re heading out now,” Jack said, releasing her, then scooped a cookie from the plate on the island and handed it to Erina. The girl’s face lit up. “O’Brien found a safe house for the girl. I’m going to get her settled, and take care of a few things. Joan will be here if you need anything.”

  Zoe glanced at the middle-aged woman who stood beside the stove stirring the contents of a large pot. She wondered if the woman knew about Jack’s family and what he was–what she was.

  Jack slid his fingers along her chin and brushed his lips softly against hers. Little zings of electricity pulsed through her, and he gave her the half-dimpled smile that sent shivers down the length of her body.

  “I�
��ll be back soon.” His voice held the promise of what his gaze suggested, and her knees went a little weak.

  Would she ever get use to the power he had over her body?

  After they left, she sat down at the kitchen table. She linked to the internet and tried to get lost in her work. Usually the constant world of variables and conditionals gave her comfort. But she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering. Jack in the ocean. Jack kissing her. Jack in her bed, touching her. Argh!

  Joan didn’t seem to notice her discomfort. She went about her business, cutting onions, veggies, and sausage, then left them to simmer on the stove. She puttered about the apartment, humming.

  Around noon, the older woman placed a Cobb salad on the table beside her laptop. “You need to eat.”

  “How long have you worked for Jack?” Zoe pushed her work aside, muttered a thank you, and picked up the fork. She would never get use to someone serving her.

  “I use to change his diapers.” Joan’s eyes went misty and soft. “My family has taken care of his clan for generations. He’s good man.”

  Zoe nodded and looked down at her salad. “What was he like as a child?”

  “Much like he is today. Handsome. Stubborn. Arrogant. Caring. Always looking out for the less fortunate.”

  “I read online that he gives away millions.”

  “Oh, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He facilitates with governments. Uses his influence to make sure his money goes where it’s intended. He visits all those places, too. Here let me show you.”

  Joan reached for Zoe’s laptop and brought up a webpage with Jack’s face all over it.

  They hadn’t been apart for so long since the mating. She couldn’t believe how much she missed him. She perused page after page full of pictures. Jack in China looking for earthquake survivors, Jack in Haiti, Jack with a smiling child after ‘spina bifida’ surgery. When did he find time for all that?