Dirk The Savior - Book 3 of the Raven Series

by Rhiannon Neeley

  As he lowered his mouth to her neck, she arched back, allowing him access. His breath wafted across her skin, a hot caress down her throat. She closed her eyes as a rush of electricity coursed through her. A wave of desire conquered her at the first touch of his lips against her skin. Desire that she had never felt before. Powerful. Belying the fact that she was untouched. Not like what she felt with Connor—not something dirty. This was completely different, so different that she couldn't find the right word to explain how right this man's touch felt on her body.

  With a long, moist swipe, the man ran his tongue over the open wound in her throat. She shivered. Her hands clenched, wanting him to devour her. Where were these feelings coming from? At a time like this? Had she finally succumbed to the temptations the wicked Connor had instilled in her?

  No, she told herself. It was this man. This man, with the cool blue eyes, who could calm her soul.

  Heat grew between them as he lowered himself to her and held her close. His fingers clamped the back of her neck, one thumb stroking the line of her jaw. “Relax,” he whispered against her ear, sending another wave of shivers over her body.

  “Ready?” he whispered, his lips forming the words against her neck.

  She swallowed. Nodded.

  White-hot pain burst through her as his teeth entered her neck. Twin sensations of eroticism and fear laced through her as his mouth covered the wound and he began to drink.

  She felt herself grow hot down low in her belly and her hands tangled themselves in his hair, holding his mouth on her, wanting him to drink from her. Wanting him to do so much more. She moaned, her body on fire. His touch, unlike Connor's, was warm and tantalizing.

  He broke away from her neck, running his tongue over the wound he had created.

  She clung to him, not wanting to let him go. Wanting his mouth on her. Not just on her neck. Everywhere. Wanting him.

  * * * *

  Dirk leaned back and looked into the woman's eyes.

  They smoldered with passion, drawing him down into their depths.

  The connection between them was a wild thing, wanting to be set loose. Dirk struggled for control. He couldn't let himself go. Not now.

  He glanced at the wounds in her neck. Blood seeped from the holes but they weren't large. Dirk, not being a true vampire, was unable to close them with his saliva but there was enough of the vampire's saliva left on her skin to stop the flow of blood. Dirk had tasted it on his tongue when he had tasted her. He had tasted her blood, that was true. It had been warm and coppery, comforting. He had never imagined the taste. There was enough blood on his lips and her neck, binding them together. Enough blood that he hoped it fooled the monster into thinking that Dirk was one of the Horde.

  Once more, he looked into this angel's eyes. He was lost and he knew it. She had him by the throat. This innocent one … who was in so much danger.

  “Are you satisfied?” Connor asked.

  Dirk wasn't satisfied. Not with her looking up at him, offering her heart along with her body. She wanted him. He could sense it. It flowed through her like a river.

  And he also sensed that she had never been with a man.

  Dirk wasn't going to let this monster have her body or her soul.

  He turned to the monster. “I want her.”

  Connor laughed sarcastically. “I don't think so.”

  Dirk stood, releasing her. She stood with him, clutching at his back. “Don't let him have me,” she said against the back of his neck.

  Dirk stood his ground, a new resolve centering him. He wouldn't let this monster complete her change. There was something, some connection, between Dirk and this beauty that he could not deny. If he had to die for her, he would.

  This strong sense of wanting to protect a woman was something that he had never encountered before. He wanted to protect his own. Because Dirk knew right then and there that she was his.

  The only problem was … how was he going to get them out of this?

  Chapter Three

  Connor Fagan eyed the young one who stood so valiantly in front of him, denying him access to his prey. It was almost comical, this Fledgling thinking that he could possibly win a battle with one as powerful as himself. But … there was something very familiar about this vampire. He smelled of something that piqued Connor's memory. He couldn't be sure, but the Fledgling smelled of someone he once knew. He smelled of the Unkindness of Ravens. That was the only reason that Connor had allowed him to feed on Casey. The scent of Raven had put him a bit off balance.

  But he didn't look like one. This one's eyes were light. All of the Ravens that Connor had met had dark eyes. And all of the Ravens that Connor had met shared one thing in common.

  They were all dead.

  Connor crossed his arms over his chest. “Don't make the mistake of thinking that because I allowed you to feed on Casey, you can lay claim to her,” he said softly. “She is mine.”

  “So you say,” the other said.

  Connor felt a stab of—what? was it jealousy?—when Casey slid her arms around the other's waist, tucking herself behind him and hiding from Connor's view. He did not like this feeling. It boiled in the pit of his stomach like an acid. Connor turned his back on them, not wanting to see her betrayal, not wanting them to note any change in his demeanor brought on by this vile emotion that had overtaken him so suddenly. Not wanting to show any sort of weakness.

  “What I say is the truth,” Connor said, beginning a slow circuit along the wall of the mine chamber that they were currently in. “What is your name, Fledgling?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Dirk.”

  Connor nodded, noting the icy fire of determination in the young man's eyes.

  “She is mine and will remain mine until I tire of her,” Connor continued. He reached out and scraped his long fingernails against the rocky wall. The sound screeched an echo through the mine. “I drew first blood. She carries my mark. Mine.” Connor turned and faced them. “Do you still challenge? Or do you honor your oath of allegiance to me?”

  * * * *

  Dirk didn't blink an eye. Casey's arms around his waist, her body pressed so close against his back, solidified his resolve. “I still challenge for this woman. But before I secure my own claim to her, tell me—what is your name? I must know the name of the one who I will do battle with.”

  The vampire straightened to his full height, his eyes flashing deep red.

  “I am Connor Fagan.”

  Dirk's whole body stiffened with rage. Connor Fagan. The beast who had killed his father. All his life, Dirk had heard of Connor Fagan and the torture the monster had put Roth and Lark Raven through. Connor had not only killed Dirk's father, Roth, but had torn him to shreds in front of Dirk's mother, Lark. Dirk had been too young when it had all happened but his older brothers, John and Eric, had told him of the way it used to be. When they were a family. Before their mother had become a ghost of herself.

  His brothers had told him that Lark had held the family together for as long as she could before the memories of Roth's death completely took over her mind.

  Now Lark was a frail old woman, bent with the weight of the horrors of the past. Stooped and bird-like—an ironic nod to her name—Lark had lost her ability to care for Dirk and his brothers long ago. Their uncle, Paine Raven, and his wife, Elizabeth, had taken in Lark and her three sons, raising the boys along with their own two, Drake and Holt. Dirk and his brothers didn't consider Drake and Holt cousins. As far as all of the Ravens were concerned, the five were brothers, closer than any true brothers could ever be.

  Dirk could not remember a time when his mother had been aware of the present. Lark's mind was forever tuned to the past. Before Roth's death. Before Connor Fagan.

  And now, the beast who had destroyed Dirk's parents stood in front of him, taunting him into a battle that Dirk knew he wasn't prepared for. Threatening to take from him what Dirk already considered part of his soul.

  Casey.

  Dirk
's anger filled him. Adrenaline chugged through his veins, fired through his coiled muscles. And there was something else … something alien to him. A predatory feeling. Animal. Dangerous. Dirk's body and heart ached to rip Connor Fagan to shreds with his bare hands. His fingers clenched at the thought of tearing the heart right out of the vampire's chest without the help of a wooden stake or a knife.

  Dirk's mind told him to wait. To study the options. Don't jump the gun but calculate the best scenario, to assure his attack on Fagan would be successful.

  He strained against rational thought. Dirk started to take a step toward Fagan.

  “No.” A word, softly spoken on a warm breath against his ear, stopped him.

  * * * *

  Casey gripped Dirk tighter, knowing that she'd never be able to hold him back if he chose to attack Connor. Quickly, she slid around to stand in front of him, keeping her arms around his waist. Not breaking contact but putting herself in a most dangerous position. She stood between two male vampires. And they both wanted her.

  Casey took a deep breath. She was exhausted. Both of these men had taken blood from her. She wasn't sure how much but already she felt a hunger that wasn't quite human. She wondered just how much more of this treatment would turn her into one of the undead, like them. Casey shook the thought from her mind. She'd worry about that later. Right now, she had to figure out a way to defuse the fight that threatened to become a war.

  Her hands firmly placed on each side of Dirk's trim waist, Casey glanced over her shoulder.

  Connor exuded confidence. One corner of his full mouth quirked up in a smile. Then he winked at her.

  The nerve, Casey thought. She turned back to Dirk. Her savior.

  Though at the moment, he didn't resemble a savior at all. He looked like a wounded bull ready to charge.

  Dirk's jaw was set firm, his deep breaths flaring his nostrils. His jet-black hair, uncontrolled and tousled, fell across his eyes in silky strands, begging for her to reach up and brush them back. Even though his hair partially obscured his gaze Casey had no trouble seeing the crystallized iciness of those pale blue eyes. The anger there was not fiery.

  It was a frigid, calculating hatred.

  Casey shivered, praying that there would never come a day when he would turn that freezing stare her way. She had to do something. And she'd better come up with something fast because underneath her hands she could feel the tense muscles of Dirk's stomach, coiled and ready to pounce. She had stopped him from jumping Connor with one word. Maybe she could calm his ire with a few more.

  Casey removed her right hand from his waist and placed it against his cheek. She felt his jaw clench, the movement causing the light stubble on his face to tickle her palm. “Dirk,” she said, stroking his cheek, “look at me.”

  Suddenly, those ice blue eyes were locked onto her. Casey managed to fight the urge to take a step back but she couldn't help her sharp intake of breath when she faced the raw anger that shot from those eyes. “Dirk,” Casey cupped his cheek in her hand, willing him to calm.

  In the span of a heartbeat, Casey saw the ice melt from his eyes. Their pale blue became a liquid pool once again. A pool of calm water that she could drown in.

  Connor's decidedly mellow laugh echoed off the walls. “I see your weakness then, Dirk. The comely wench can take the fight out of you with the lightest touch.”

  Casey stiffened. Dirk's eyes flashed then speared Connor with a look of pure contempt. Casey lowered her hand to Dirk's chest, felt the thud of his pounding heart. “Wait,” she whispered.

  She felt Dirk's chest rise and fall with a deep breath. Casey watched his face as a smile spread over his lips.

  “You know what they say about 'he who laughs last',” Dirk said, his voice steady. “The fight, as you put it, has not gone out of me. I want this woman. But … I will honor my allegiance to you since you allowed me to quench my thirst with her.”

  Casey felt a stab of pain in her heart. Could it be that Dirk wanted her for the same reason as Connor? As a toy and a source of nourishment? Casey stepped away from Dirk, putting distance between herself and the one she had thought of as her savior. She wondered about that feeling now. Was he a savior or just another vampire out for a quick meal? Casey looked to Connor.

  Connor nodded smugly. “Honor your oath and we shall have no problem.”

  Like lightning Connor's hand shot out and snared Casey's wrist. He pulled her to him. With one long finger, he tilted her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes with her own. “As far as who this juicy little morsel belongs to—I have a proposition for you, Fledgling,” Connor said.

  Casey felt his eyes drawing her in. A tide began to wash up through her, heating her from the inside. Her eyes dropped to Connor's lips, watching the flash of fangs behind them with fascination as he spoke.

  “We will see which of us can win her. You, Fledgling, inexperienced as you are. Or I, who can make her feel things that no human woman has ever felt without dying soon after.”

  Casey swayed toward Connor, the new vampiric hunger she felt awakening all over again.

  Don't give in, Casey. Fight him, Dirk's voice whispered a soft caress in her mind. Casey felt his presence, his strength inside her. She braced a hand against Connor's chest, stopping herself from falling into his embrace.

  “So,” Dirk said, “a contest of seduction then? So, what are the rules?”

  Connor frowned down at Casey, clearly upset at her resistance to him. “Rule One: neither of us draws blood from her. Since she's already been marked twice, the third time would turn her. That would give one of us an unfair advantage.”

  Casey breathed a sigh of relief at Connor's words. At least she could put off becoming a monster for a little while longer. The control Connor had tempted her with moments ago began to wane. Her brain began to override her body. Thank God, she thought.

  “I can live with not feeding on her,” Dirk was saying, “as long as I can find other sustenance. But let's kick it up a notch. Let's say no mind control to sway her.”

  Casey's eyes opened wide. She looked back and forth between the two. If they didn't invade her mind, she just might have a chance for escape.

  Connor released his grip on her wrist. “No psychic swaying of emotion,” he said. “Well, let's see which one of us she has a taste for then. Because surely, after being marked twice, she is beginning to feel a longing that she can't quite name.”

  “This is just too much,” Casey blurted out, stepping away from both of them. She crossed her arms over her chest. She wanted to stomp her foot but she checked that little urge. She didn't want to appear to be a child.

  The two vampires looked at her, interest crossing their faces.

  Casey felt a distinct chill but it didn't stop her from opening her mouth. “I don't care how hungry you two are,” Casey said, her eyes narrowed, “or how much either of you want me. You don't have to discuss this…” She flapped a hand in the air, “…contest as if I were not standing right here.” Full of spark now that no one was invading her mind with erotic thoughts, Casey took a step toward the both of them. “I am a person. And another thing,” she continued, placing her hands on her hips, “neither of you are my idea of Joe Wonderful. Vampires are not the perfect date. No matter how darn gorgeous either of you are.”

  “Date?” Connor asked, one eyebrow raised. “What made you think that we were discussing 'dating'?” Connor loomed over her. He reached out and snagged a strand of her hair, giving it a tug. “Vampires don't date, my innocent one. They mate. Big difference.”

  Uh-oh, Casey thought, catching the flash of lust that flickered across Connor's eyes. Maybe she had gone too far.

  “Now that Casey's tirade is out of the way,” Dirk said nonchalantly, “can we get back to our own discussion?”

  Connor slid his hand to the nape of Casey's neck and gripped it solidly. “One more thing,” he said. “Since my tasty little morsel here seems to have a bit of spark even after being marked twice, one thing we will hav
e to be sure of is that she is always accompanied by one of us.” Connor gave Casey's neck a squeeze and smiled down at her. “We wouldn't want her to escape, now would we?”

  * * * *

  It took everything Dirk had to keep from ripping Casey out of the beast's clutches. He knew the best route, the safest route, was to hold onto his hatred and wait for the most opportune moment to attack. But he had to do something now to try to get Casey away from Fagan.

  “I have a request,” Dirk said, letting his eyes travel over Casey's body. He didn't want to meet Fagan's gaze at the moment and he also wanted to make it look like he wanted to eat Casey alive. Which he did want to do, actually. The memory of the taste of her triggered his tongue to lick his lips, searching for a trace of her sweetness that may have lingered.

  “And what do you ask for now?” Connor said.

  “I want her first.” Dire tore his eyes away from Casey's luscious body and met Connor's stare. “You have the advantage of twice marking her. Allow me to have her first to level the playing field a bit.”

  “What do you think, Casey?” Connor asked, an evil smile playing over his lips.

  “I…” Casey's words seemed stuck in her throat.

  She looks like a deer trapped in headlights, Dirk thought. “What does it matter what she thinks?” Dirk asked, putting on a front. “She'll be taken by both of us sooner or later.”

  Connor looked at Casey, cocking his head. “I'll grant your request if you follow the rules.”

  “You have my word,” Dirk answered. He wanted to heave a sigh of relief but this was far from over. He raised one hand, beckoning. “Come, Casey.”

  Dirk's heart clenched when she hesitated. He was putting on a show for Fagan, acting like he really cared nothing for Casey's feelings. Acting like a vampire. He could see from her hesitation that she was questioning the small bit of trust he had felt in her. Somehow, he was going to have to re-instill her trust in him, strengthen it. But he was going to have to do it without Fagan catching on.

  Connor chuckled lowly, then nudged her forward. “Go with the young one. See if he can please you. But know that he'll never be able to give you pleasure like one as powerful as I.”