“Have Zach and Lisette returned from their hunt?” Seth asked.
Both nodded.
Zach? Seth called telepathically.
Yes? Zach responded from the bedroom he and Lisette shared below.
Join me in David’s study. There’s something I’d like to discuss.
I’m on my way.
Darnell grinned. “Did Dana really shoot you with a tranquilizer dart?”
“Twice,” Seth replied, amused despite his worries.
Darnell shook his head. “That was gutsy as hell. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Well, they’ll be here by morning, so you’ll have your chance then.”
Zach entered, clad only in black pants and black boots. He had worn a shirt to Ethan’s home in deference to Dana. But tonight his chest was bare, and large dark wings graced his back. “What’s up?”
David rose, circling the desk to join them by the door.
Seth looked to Darnell. “Can you field my calls for a little while longer? Reordon can help you if you need him.”
“Sure.”
Without another word, Seth touched David’s shoulder and teleported away.
A moonlit meadow replaced David’s study. Long grasses and weeds swayed in a gentle breeze and brushed their knees.
The ground around them gradually sloped upward on all sides, as though he and David stood in the bottom of a massive salad bowl. At the top, verdant grasses gave way to a forest so dark and dense that even Seth’s eyes couldn’t penetrate it.
Stars winked above them in a cloudless sky.
Zach appeared beside them.
“We have a problem,” Seth announced without preamble.
David’s brow furrowed. “Aside from the missing gifted ones, the gathering vampires, our waiting to see if Aidan is being mind-controlled, and several immortals going astray?”
“Not to mention Chris Reordon’s vendetta,” Zach mumbled.
“Yes,” Seth responded.
Zach grunted. “What now?”
Seth recalled his search of Dana’s mind. “You know the woman Aidan is seeing is psychic.”
“I assume,” David said, “her gift is stronger than that of most other gifted ones of her generation, since she is able to earn a living with it.”
Most gifted ones born in recent decades had gifts so mild that they weren’t even aware of them. Melanie was psychic, too, but her gifts had been so dampened by centuries of human DNA winding its way through her family tree that she only got what she called feelings now. She might know the phone was about to ring. Or if something bad were about to happen she might feel a sense of foreboding.
“Dana’s gift is surprisingly strong,” Seth confirmed. “Even stronger when it comes to Aidan. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a gifted one, too, or perhaps a result of the bond growing between them, but she’s been seeing his future in brief, vivid visions since the day they met.”
“And you saw her visions when you read her mind,” David guessed.
“Not the first time, when Roland attacked Aidan and brought her to my attention. Her thoughts were too chaotic and time was short. The same held true at her home after the vampires struck.”
Zach frowned. “Wait. If she saw Aidan’s future in visions, how did she not know what he is?”
“Most of her visions were of an intimate nature.” Seth smiled. “There have been more of those than Aidan knows about.”
David’s lips twitched. “Good for him.”
Zach laughed. “Clearly those need no explanation. And I see no problem with that.”
“Nor do I,” Seth agreed. “But I performed a more thorough search of Dana’s mind after you”—Seth scowled at Zach—“and the others left a few hours ago and was able to access more of her visions.”
“What did she see?” David asked curiosity lighting his dark features.
“Roland doing his damnedest to kill Aidan. She foresaw the battle that outed Aidan as an immortal.”
Zach grunted. “And she didn’t think that odd?”
“She did,” Seth said, “but Aidan told her he was a member of a reenactment group.”
“Smart thinking,” David said. “What else did you see?”
“Me, doing the same.”
Zach frowned. “She foresaw you trying to kill Aidan?”
Seth nodded. “Or maim him at the very least. We were both wielding swords with sharpened blades, and I looked furious. That’s why she tried to tranq me earlier. She thought the vision was about to come true, that I was there to kill Aidan.”
Zach sighed. “That’s a damned shame. I had actually begun to like Aidan.”
David looked at Zach in surprise. “Really?”
Seth did, too. He hadn’t realized Zach liked any of the other immortals aside from Bastien. He had thought Zach just tolerated them all for Lisette’s benefit.
Zach shrugged. “When I thought he was in league with the men who had nearly killed Lisette, I kicked Aidan’s ass. I mean, I really beat the shit out of him. And Aidan has never held it against me. Nor did he hold Seth’s actions against him. Kind of hard to dislike the poor bastard when he’s been so understanding.” He looked to Seth. “If you’re going to want to kill him, I guess that means Reordon was right. Aidan really did abduct those women. Gershom must be mind-controlling him.”
“Not necessarily,” David said. “If Ethan is right, it could’ve been Gershom posing as Aidan in the visions.”
Zach shook his head. “If Dana was seeing Aidan’s future, the Aidan in the vision would have to have been him, not someone posing as him.”
“True,” Seth said.
“Then perhaps,” David inserted, “Gershom is using mind control to have Aidan do his bidding. Has Aidan let you read his thoughts yet?”
“I haven’t asked him,” Seth admitted. “But I doubt he will agree, because he probably doesn’t want me to see Dana’s vision.”
Zach grunted. “Can’t really blame him there.”
“There’s another option,” David pointed out.
Seth nodded. “We know Gershom has assumed your appearance in the past, Zach. If he is assuming Aidan’s as well, then there’s no reason for us to believe he can’t assume mine, too. What if the Seth in Dana’s vision isn’t me?”
Both men swore.
Seth himself had mixed reactions to the notion. On the one hand, it would be a relief to know that he wouldn’t want to kill Aidan in the future. But the idea that Gershom might be moving about the immortals’ ranks, pretending to be Seth, was disturbing as hell.
Zach’s brow furrowed with doubt. “You had no difficulty determining that the man who met with the mercenaries two years ago wasn’t me, that it was one of the Others. If the man in Dana’s vision wasn’t you, I would think you’d be able to tell.”
“Not,” David interjected, “if Gershom has been practicing and honing his shape-shifting skills.”
“Such is my fear,” Seth told them. “So I’ve called in a little backup.”
Zach frowned suddenly and tilted his head as though listening to something.
Jared, one of the Others, abruptly appeared a few yards away.
Like Zach, he wore no shirt. Just black leather pants and boots. He was less lean and more muscled than he had been when Seth had last seen him. Seth guessed the Other was strengthening himself for battle now that visions of Armageddon had scared the hell out of him.
Huge wings spread behind Jared, the semitranslucent feathers that graced them the same tan of his skin at their base and darkening to black at their tips. Folding the wings in against his back, he strolled over to join them.
Seth smiled. “Just in time.”
Zach drew back an arm and slammed his fist into Jared’s face.
Bone cracked and blood spurted from Jared’s nose as he flew backward and landed with a thud several yards away.
“Damn it!” Seth, David, and Jared all ground out.
Zach managed to look both innocent and wickedly sati
sfied at the same time. “What? The bastard tortured me.”
Jared’s eyes glowed golden as he sat up. Cupping his nose, he glowered at Zach. “How long are you going to keep punishing me for that?”
Zach’s features hardened. “Until I’ve repaid you wound for wound.”
Seth wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he kind of sided with Zach on that.
Rising, Jared strode toward them, eyes still glowing golden from either pain or anger as the bones in his nose and face slipped back into place and healed. “Why did you summon me?” he asked Seth.
“Have you been posing as Immortal Guardians and tampering in their affairs again?” Seth didn’t think he had, but thought it worth asking.
Jared’s face lit with surprise. “No. I’ve been toeing the line and staying on the straight and narrow so the Others won’t realize I’ve defected.”
Instead of following Zach’s lead and fully joining the ranks of the Immortal Guardians, Jared had become something of a double agent, living life as usual with the Others to avoid suspicion while helping Seth and feeding him information.
Jared studied them. “Why? What’s going on?”
Seth smiled. “I’d like to conduct a little experiment.”
Aidan opened his eyes. He lay on his back, Dana’s head on his shoulder, her arm resting upon his chest, her thigh draped across his groin.
No sun shone behind the curtains, so it must still be night.
He sighed. While he had slept a deep healing sleep at Dana’s, now that he was at full strength, he was having little luck getting any rest. He hadn’t slept beside a woman since his days as a mortal and—much to his dismay—woke at Dana’s every movement, no matter how slight. Dana sometimes talked in her sleep (mostly incoherent mumbles he found amusing), and that woke him as well.
With a mental shrug, he cuddled her closer. It was worth it. He didn’t mind being a little tired if losing sleep enabled him to enjoy her warm body nestled up against his.
She shifted, tightening her hold on him. Tilting her head back, she raised her eyelids to half-mast and offered him a sleepy smile. “Hi, handsome.”
“Hi, yourself,” he returned with a grin. He loved seeing her like this. One cheek pink from resting on his shoulder. Her hair mussed and tangled.
She squinted at the window. “Did we sleep all day again?”
“No. We only slept three or four hours.”
“Hmm.” She shifted again, her smooth thigh teasing his erection. Her smile grew. “Ooh. Is that for me?”
“Hell yes, if you want it.”
Chuckling, she shook her head. “If I want it, he says.” Rising onto an elbow, she slid her lower body over on top of his, then sat up.
Aidan hissed in pleasure as she straddled him, her core settling atop his arousal. Clamping his hands on her hips, he arched against her.
Dana moaned as her head dropped back. “I just woke up and I’m already wet for you. How do you do that?”
He slid his hands up her thighs, his thumbs stopping just short of the dark curls at their juncture. He had enjoyed learning her body yesterday. How and where she liked to be touched. What drew the most gasps from her. What made her moan and writhe and beg for more.
When he slid his hands back down to her knees, she moaned a protest. “Tease.”
Smiling, he repeated the caress, coming just a bit closer to the heart of her, then withdrew. Again he smoothed his hands up her thighs, retreating without giving her what she wanted.
“Aidan,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“You want my touch?” he asked innocently.
She met his gaze. “I want your touch.”
Aidan caressed his way up her thighs again, this time giving her a light brush of his thumbs.
Dana hissed in pleasure.
Another light touch, just enough to tease and tantalize.
“More,” she pleaded.
Aidan obeyed, stroking her until she moaned and rocked against him, sliding along his shaft.
Lust hit him hard as he watched her slip a hand up her side and cup her breast.
She met his gaze as she toyed with her nipple. “Your eyes are really bright,” she whispered before another moan escaped her.
“They always will be with you,” he told her gruffly. Leaning up, he closed his lips over the other taut peak, took it between his teeth and teased it with his tongue.
Dana buried her hands in his hair, urging him closer, still rocking against him.
Heat flooded him. He would never get enough of her. Sliding his arms around her, he rose onto his knees, then pressed her back onto the bed.
She smiled up at him as he leaned over her. “I love feeling your weight on me. All that delicious muscle.” She practically purred with anticipation as she reached for him.
Aidan gave her a sensual smile. “Not yet.” Grasping her ankles, he eased her legs farther apart.
Her heartbeat picked up as her breathing quickened.
Sliding his arms beneath her knees, Aidan lowered his head and took her with his mouth.
Dana moaned, fisting her hands in Aidan’s hair.
He found her clit with his tongue, stealing her breath with licks and flicks and undulations.
So good.
He slid a finger inside her slick entrance, then added another. Curling them upward, he stroked her while applying more pressure with his tongue.
She bucked against him, crying out as she came hard, her inner walls clenching and unclenching around his fingers.
Aidan lunged up over her.
Her heart jackhammering in her chest, she met his intense, glowing gaze. How she loved seeing him like this, so hungry for her.
She slipped a hand down between them and curled it around his erection.
He groaned as she gave him a squeeze and teased the tip with her thumb. “You’re killing me, sweetheart,” he said, voice gravelly with need.
Grinning unrepentantly, she guided him to her entrance and arched up to embrace him.
He was so big, stretching her and sparking new heat as he sank deep inside her.
He lowered his lips to hers, took her mouth in a devouring kiss as he withdrew almost to the crown and thrust again. He slid a hand up to her breast. His touch grew rough as he drove inside her again and again, but she voiced no complaint. She liked it. Wanted more. Loved that she could make him lose control like this. So the rougher he got, pounding into her, the more she moaned and urged him on.
Aidan gladly delivered, quickly driving her to another climax but holding back his own.
Sparks of pleasure still dancing through her, Dana reared up suddenly and shoved him off her and onto his back.
He stared up at her in surprise, his erection jutting toward her.
Dana swiftly straddled him, curling a hand around his cock and taking him inside her again.
Groaning, he clamped his hands on her hips and arched up against her as she rode him.
Resting her hands on his chest, she gave his nipples a hard pinch as she circled her hips.
He groaned.
“You’re mine,” she told him.
He smoothed his hands up her sides to tease her breasts. “And you’re mine.”
Again she rotated her hips in a way that made him groan and sent sharp darts of pleasure through her. “No one else’s,” she breathed, her body on fire.
“No one else’s,” he rasped, tweaking her nipples.
Dana cried out as a third orgasm rocked her.
As her inner muscles clamped down around him, Aidan growled her name and stiffened as he finally allowed himself to climax and came inside her.
Breathless, Dana slumped down on top of him.
Aidan closed his arms around her, his heart pounding a rapid beat beneath her ear.
“Damn, you’re good,” she mumbled. No man had ever pleased her more.
Aidan laughed, rolling them onto their sides.
Settling her head on the pillow beside his, Dana smiled as she tried to cat
ch her breath.
His own smile tender, Aidan brushed her tangled hair back from her face and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. “I love you.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he said softly. “I just wanted you to know. Because I do. I love you, Dana.”
She touched a hand to his stubbled cheek. “I love you, too.”
A shiver shook her as her passion-warmed skin began to cool beneath the gentle breeze of the air conditioner.
Aidan released her long enough to draw the sheet up over them both, then slid his arms around her beneath it. “I’m sorry our courtship was interrupted. I’m sorry I couldn’t spend months wooing you as an ordinary man.”
Amusement sifted through her. “But you aren’t an ordinary man, Aidan. Even if you hadn’t been born a gifted one, you still wouldn’t have been an ordinary man.”
Silence enfolded them.
Dana would’ve thought sleep would claim her pretty quickly after their fabulous lovemaking. But it didn’t.
Aidan arched a brow.
She grinned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m wide-awake now.”
He laughed. “Me, too.”
“Do you want to watch a movie or something?”
“As much as I would love to…,” he murmured with regret.
Her smile faded. “What?”
“With vampire numbers increasing the way they are, I don’t feel right about not hunting tonight.”
She frowned. “I thought Seth told you to take the night off.”
“He only said that as a kindness. He’s trying to limit your exposure to the harsher aspects of our reality. But vampires are amassing again, which means they’re preying upon more humans every night.”
Sitting up, Dana tucked the sheet beneath her arms. “And you don’t like the idea of staying home and watching a movie when you could be out there, protecting innocents.”
“Yes,” he reluctantly confessed. He said it as though he expected it to upset her.
“That’s a good thing, Aidan,” she said. “A noble thing. Why do you look so grim?”
“Because if I hunt tonight, you’ll have to accompany me.”
She had thought as much. “And?” Did he think she would hinder him in some way?
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