by Bonnie Vanak
A silent communion flared between them, as if they were bonded together in the moment. Sienna knew with complete certainty that Matt had known the deep loneliness she’d felt.
She reached out and laced her fingers with his. He looked startled a moment at the contact, then his heavy-lidded gaze met hers.
A brief knock pulled them apart. Matt glanced up, his expression puzzled.
“Shay?”
A man shuffled inside, wearing jeans and a red-and-orange Hawaiian shirt. He closed the door with a firm click and locked it.
Sienna aimed him a genuine smile. “Hi, Sam.”
“Hey.” The SEAL grinned, and jammed his hands into his pockets. “So sweet to see you again, Sienna. You’re looking mighty fine.”
He kept staring at Sienna worshipfully. And ignored Matt, who was watching him with narrowed eyes.
“Shay.”
The Mage blinked. “Oh, yeah. What’s up?”
Matt gave his teammate a long, thoughtful look. “Check the coffin lately?”
“What’s in there, a vampire?” Sienna asked.
“Better. It’s our goodie box,” Matt said.
Sam opened the heavy black lid. Inside were enough weapons to outfit a small army of vampires. Sienna’s blood went cold. She knelt down, touched the blue steel of a gun that looked powerful enough to take out an elephant.
But not a pyro demon.
“Wouldn’t happen to have a fire extinguisher in here? Because none of this will work.” Sienna sat back on her haunches, rubbing her hands on her faded jeans.
Sam laughed as he fished out a lethal-looking submachine gun. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about details. Leave it to us men.”
His patronizing tone accompanied another worshipful stare. Matt closed the coffin lid.
“We should move these out to a safer location. Did you bring the fire extinguishers?”
“Nope, but I know where I can get a water pistol.” Sam winked at her.
“Inventory all the weapons and move them back to base. I don’t want them falling into the wrong hands,” Matt ordered.
Then the SEAL blinked. It was so quick, she might have blamed her imagination. Sienna’s blood froze in her veins.
“Maybe we should leave for a bit, Matt, while Sam takes inventory. Get a bite to eat. Because I am awfully hungry.”
Sienna dug her nails into her palms, desperately hoping Matt would understand.
Running a finger along the coffin, Matt considered the cache. He glanced up at Sam and suddenly went still. Sienna took a step back at the chilled look on his face. If he looked at her like that, she’d turn and run away as fast as she could.
“Been working out lately, Shay? How much did you bench-press? What was it last time, two hundred pounds?”
Sam looked wary. “Around that. More like three hundred. I like variety, Matt.”
“I do, too. But not with my closest friends. Sienna, get back.”
Shuffling backward, she watched the two SEALs face off like sparring partners. Sam gave a small, ugly smile, ruining the handsome contours of his face. He had the fine-tuned muscle of a long-distance runner, while Matt was taller with more bulk. But none of that mattered. Not in this kind of fight. Matt unsheathed the knife at his ankle.
“What the hell are you doing, Matt?”
The SEAL’s voice became thinner, high-pitched. Matt held his ground.
“Shay stopped bench-pressing three hundred pounds last year when he got shot in the shoulder. And he never, ever calls me Matt.”
With a virulent hiss, Sam shifted. His body became taller and longer, the sandy-brown hair parted down the middle turning white-blond. Hazel eyes turned dark, cold gray.
Sienna’s breath caught. Darksider Fae.
“Fucking bastard. You’re going to die. I can make it quick and painless. But when my masters get here—” he gave an icy smile “—you’ll fry.”
The Fae pointed the weapon at Matt, pressed the trigger. Nothing happened. Cursing, he checked the gun.
“Never bring a gun to a knife fight,” Matt drawled. “Especially when it’s unloaded. We never leave loaded weapons in the apartment in case someone breaks inside.”
The Fae dropped the gun and dematerialized. Sienna ran for the door as the Fae teleported, but he caught her from behind, wrapping a sinewy arm around her throat. Desperate for air, she gasped, but the Fae dug sharp claws into her throat. She fought against panic, struggling to draw a breath as he squeezed.
“Where is it? Tell me where the Orb is and perhaps I’ll let you live.”
“Orb?” She choked out. “I’m more the crystal-ball type.”
“Bitch. Ever feel the insides of your organs cook slowly? My master will make them boil. I’ll make you scream and beg to die.”
“I’m begging you now,” she wheezed. “Shut up. Your breath smells real bad.”
The Fae raised its hand. “Your eyes go first.”
He released a loud shriek. Blood splattered as Matt sank the knife deep into its back. Sienna twisted hard, shoved her elbow into its soft, concave stomach and broke free.
Like an avenging angel, Matt stood over the Fae writhing on the floor. He withdrew the knife. Blood coated the black blade.
“Sienna, get out,” he ordered harshly.
“Matt…”
“Now.”
The cold look in his eyes did it. She left the apartment, sinking down to the floor in the hallway and hugging her knees.
Low murmurs came from inside, and then the Darksider Fae screamed. Sienna squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to think about what was happening. It was ugly, but necessary. She wondered how it affected him, and if each time something like this happened, Matt lost a little piece of his soul.
His family could help him decompress and regain himself. But he was isolated from them.
Did either one of them truly belong anywhere?
The door opened. Matt leaned against the jamb. He looked tired. Red splattered over his clothing.
“Is he…?”
A rough nod. “He shifted back into Shay. In the end, it almost felt like dispatching my teammate.”
Dear gods. She imagined the terrible moment he’d faced.
“You okay?” she asked softly.
Matt gave a wry smile. “I’ve had worse. Give me a few. I need to rinse off.”
After he’d showered and changed clothing, he joined her on the living room sofa. The Darksider Fae was gone, his body disintegrated into ash.
“He told me his ‘masters’ knew something was missing from the shop, figured Tim had hidden the Orb and wanted to see if he had given it to us. They gave orders not to touch us until after we’d arrived in New Orleans because they wanted us to think we were still safe, and keep the element of surprise until they could plant the bomb, which explains why we were able to leave so easily. The demons thrive on fear and pain and wanted to make me feel as much as possible. They couldn’t touch us on Robichaux land, so they planted the bomb on the outer fringes of the bayou. And then that failed.”
He paused, his gaze darkening. “This one thought he’d gain points by getting to us before the others did.”
Her stomach churned as she thought about the extreme means he’d been forced to use to gain the valuable information. “How did he know we’d be here?”
“Don’t know. The leak is worse than I thought. Or it’s Shay.”
“It can’t be him. There’s got to be something else.”
“I don’t know who to trust anymore. It’s you and me, Sienna. No one else. Not even my team. We’re on our own.”
Seven quick knocks at the door, followed by eight. Matt withdrew his sidearm. “I doubt it’s the delivery guy. Stay back. And make a note of the time.”
When he opened the door, Sam stood in the hallway, a wide smile on his face. “Dakota.”
Fisting his hand in Sam’s collar, Matt dragged him into the room, kicking the door shut with a boot. He slammed him against the wall, hi
s eyes wild, breathing ragged, as he shoved the gun beneath Sam’s jaw.
“L.T.! What gives? Chill out!”
“Talk. Tell me the code.”
Sienna bit a knuckle, her heart racing.
To his credit, the young SEAL didn’t flinch beneath the heavy pressure of Matt’s hard hand. “To country. To comrades. To protect. To defend. To conceal. To silence. To the death.”
Silence hung thick in the air. Matt remained tense, but lowered the gun. “What’s my name? What am I to you?”
Lines furrowed the Mage’s brow. “You’re Lieutenant Dakota, although right now I’m tempted to call you a complete and total asshole. Did you forget your meds?”
Matt turned to Sienna. “Keep your eyes on him. If his body even flickers, tell me and I’ll put a bullet in his brain.”
“Hey.” Sam’s eyes widened.
“Shut up. If you’re Shay, tell me who gave you that scar on your left shoulder.”
“You did. Saved my ass during the voodoo priestess op in Grenada.”
“Why?”
“She was sucking out my life force, and the bullet broke her hold. Damn it, L.T., what is this about? Want to get off me now? People will think we’re in love.”
“Time, Sienna.”
She glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes.”
Matt lowered the SEAL to the floor and holstered his gun. He blew out a heavy breath. “Sorry. Had to make sure. Even our team code…I had no way of knowing if it had been leaked, too. The Darksider Fae teaming with the pyro demons can’t hold a glamour long. And there’s no way they knew about your being shot.”
His big shoulders remained tense. “No one knows details about your little gem, except you and me.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Sam’s gaze whipped between them both. “You look worse than yesterday’s leftovers. And why are you already here? ETA was 1500 hours.”
Sienna crossed the room and laid a gentle hand on Matt’s back, rubbing circles to calm him. She knew what it was like to not trust anyone, to suddenly feel the entire world was your enemy and could kick you in the stomach any time.
“We had a surprise visit from your evil twin. A Darksider Fae.”
Sam’s expression narrowed. “Son of a… How did it know we were meeting?”
“I don’t know.” Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “Unless it picked up our phone call. But the phone is clean. I scanned it.”
“Tell me everything.”
Matt did. Sam paced the room, his gaze glacial. “There’s no chance anyone knew where you headed?”
“Only you and I knew. And Sienna.”
“Damn it! You’ve got a bug, Lieutenant.”
“Can’t be me. I did a total and complete warding before setting out on this op. It must be…”
Her blood ran cold as both men’s gazes turned to her.
Matt’s jaw turned to granite, while Sam’s expression turned cold and lethal. “Run a scan on her?”
Minutes later, Matt ran the cylindrical device over her body. Nothing beeped. The two men exchanged glances.
“Change the setting for our psi chip.”
Shay’s eyes widened. “You serious?”
“Do it.”
He made an adjustment, then ran the wand over her again. This time it flared red and beeped.
“Son of a…” Shay lowered the wand, astonishment widening his eyes.
“It’s inside her,” Matt said tersely. “Someone left a little calling card in your blood to track you. A psi chip, which was designed to track all SEALs on the Phoenix Force in case we run into real trouble.”
Something evil and nasty was swimming inside her body. Sienna fought against the nausea rising in her throat. “Get it out of me.”
“We need Stephen,” Sam told her.
“Who’s Stephen?”
“He’s a vampire. We’ve used him before to remove unwanted objects from contacts.”
The men exchanged meaningful glances.
Holding out her hands like a traffic cop, she backed off. “Whoa, whoa. No one’s touching my blood. What are you going to do, cut me and drain me dry?”
Fear skittered along her spine as Matt stalked forward, his jaw tense. But his blue eyes were filled with compassion as he gathered her hands into his. “No one’s going to hurt you, pixie. I swear to it. Stephen’s ex-military. Loyal and discreet.”
“I’m not going to be someone’s blood bank.”
He pressed a gentle kiss to her battered knuckles. “He’s very good and I’ll be there the whole time, keeping watch. Painless as possible.”
Over his shoulder, Sam’s expression tightened. “If she is infected, we need to move. Now, before those bastards hunt you down.”
* * *
The street was narrow and lined with charming building façades. They stopped before a brick building where iron lacework balconies marched across the second floor.
The building’s gate opened to reveal a small courtyard with a sparkling turquoise pool and a disorganized garden filled with small blue wildflowers. As they mounted the steps to the second floor, Matt explained that the vampire was Gabriel’s neighbor. The Robichaux demon hunter owned a French Quarter home he’d turned into apartments for paranorms.
They went down a narrow hallway flanked by polished brass lamps outside each apartment door. Sienna glanced around as Matt knocked on a door. “If he’s a real vampire, won’t he be asleep?”
The door swung open, revealing a pitch-black apartment. Matt entered first, giving a wolf whistle.
“Damn it, you lupine bastard, do you know what time it is?”
A light snapped on. Sienna blinked, her eyes adjusting to the warm, soft glow of lamplight. She hung back, just in case the vampire was a grumpy riser.
On a cocoa leather couch, a chestnut-headed man stretched out, his bare feet dangling over the end. He was bare-chested, wearing a pair of leather pants slung low on his hips. The man sat up, tousling his thick, short curls.
“I had a rough night. Too much tequila from Gabe’s bar. And you come waltzing in, disturbing my beauty sleep.”
“You’re beautiful.” Matt tossed him the rumpled striped shirt draped over an armchair. “Shay, check him out. Make sure he’s the real thing.”
Stephen narrowed his eyes as he shrugged into the shirt. “Imposters running amok?”
“The worst.”
Shay took Stephen into a bedroom as Matt explained. “All of our contacts have a small, secret marking. It’s an identifier just in case someone decides to impersonate them.”
When the pair emerged into the living room and Shay was assured the vampire was the real thing, they sat.
“We need your help to check out a blood wiretap,” Matt said.
“Someone got the upper paw on you, wolf? Hard to believe.”
“Not him. Her.” Sam jerked a thumb at Sienna.
Matt drew her forward, his hand reassuring. “She’s got a psi tracker in her blood.”
“Aw, crap. I knew I should have stayed in bed.” He rubbed his face and yawned.
“Stephen, meet Sienna. Sienna, this is Stephen.”
The vampire’s chocolate-brown eyes studied her. “Hi, there, Sienna. What are you? I can’t get a read on you.”
“Right now? I’m pretty scared,” she admitted. “But as much as I don’t want you sucking my blood, I want to get rid of whatever’s inside me.”
For a creature so fearsome, he looked gentle as he knelt by her, gave a warm smile. “I’m good at my job. Did this a time or two before for them.”
Matt’s gaze narrowed as he pulled Sienna to him in a clearly possessive move. “Take it through the wrist, Stephen.”
The vampire looked amused. “Feeling a little territorial, wolf? I’ll see what I can do.”
Matt sank into a comfortable easy chair, spread his legs open and pulled her between them. The heavy weight of his strong arms wrapped around her as she sat. A frail bond of trust wove between them. He wouldn’t let anyth
ing happen to her.
Putting a knee upon the floor before her, Stephen gave a reassuring smile. “Just relax, Sienna. Think of this as a trip to the dentist, without the expensive bill.”
His fingers explored her wrists, quickly and efficiently. Blood pulsed through her veins, seeming to echo in the room as his dark eyes widened. Then he slid a hand up to her throat, long fingers pressed against her jugular. It was like facing a large tiger considering a meal, a tiger with a wealth of chestnut hair and a sexy smile.
Matt tightened his grip around her waist. “I’m here, pixie.”
Tension eased a little in her tight muscles.
Stephen’s upper lip curled. “Can’t tell this way. I’ll have to take her from the neck.”
“Okay,” she managed. “Let’s do this.”
Matt swept back a length of hair from her left ear as Stephen tilted her neck to the side. The Draicon began whispering reassuring words as the vampire’s warm breath feathered over her skin. It felt a little scary and erotic.
Fangs lengthened and descended in Stephen’s mouth. Tension knotted every muscle. Hypnotized by the deep lull of Matt’s voice, she tried to avoid looking at the avid hunger in the vampire bending over her neck. Instead, Sienna stared at artwork on the wall. Reproduction of the birth of Venus. Only, the woman rising out of the sea on a half shell in this painting featured a lush, naked blonde with a shy smile that clearly displayed shiny white fangs.
“Nice painting,” she whispered. “Never knew Botticelli painted vampires.”
Oh, goddess, he was going to do it, take her blood. It was too intimate.
Then Matt turned her face toward him. “Look at me, pixie,” he said quietly.
As she felt a sharp prick, like a needle’s sting, Matt kissed her. His mouth was warm and authoritative, tongue plunging past her lips and claiming her mouth. Sienna moaned, desire igniting her blood. The sensual feel of the vampire suckling at her neck and Matt’s possessive kiss as he stroked a gentle hand over her cheek was the most erotic sensation she’d ever felt.
When it’s time, I’ll kiss you all over, Sienna. Every inch of you beneath my tongue. You’ll be mine.
Words he’d spoken in the past? Or a voice echoing with pure male intent? She couldn’t tell. The line blurred between reality and fantasy with each languid stroke of Matt’s tongue, each pull of the vampire’s lips.