As Claudia reached her stomach, Sam’s eyes widened as though she was in pain and instead of fighting, her body started to shake. Not just a soft tremble, but a violent tremor as though she were seizing. Derek kept on looking between Claudia and Bastian, trying to see whether either of them were freaking out like him, but both seemed utterly calm, as though this happened every day.
“Come on, Sam,” he breathed. He hated this. Hated holding her down and hoping that her family knew what they were doing. Hated the idea of something hiding inside her mind and using her body against her. Fuck, he was going to kill Reyes. He should’ve shot him in that crowded reception and not given a damn about who found out.
Then Claudia was at the breast bone and Derek had to release his grip on Sam to allow her through. Derek could only stand and watch as Claudia’s chant became louder and more forceful. Sam’s body seemed as though it was trying to fight it, but Claudia didn’t hesitate or let up. Even as a trickle of blood started to flow from one of Claudia’s eyes like a demented tear, she kept going.
But when she got to the neck, the tension in the room seemed to snap like a broken rubber band. Claudia and Bastian both fell back as if they’d been hit with a board and Sam started to cough and convulse.
Derek bent down and stroked a hand over her forehead, trying to figure out what was happening. Then he heard the slight gurgle and he got to action as he set his arm around her back and helped her turn onto her stomach.
All he could do was stroke her back as she kept on coughing. And then the stuff started to come out.
Derek didn’t know how to describe it. It was black and inky like oil, but seemed to be thicker, more viscous. And it wasn’t just coming out through her mouth. It was as though Claudia had pushed the darkness out from the feet up, so it was escaping anywhere on the face it could: out of Sam’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
It looked painful as fuck, but Derek was just happy it was leaving. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “I’m here. I’m right here.”
The coughing continued for a good five minutes, but it felt as if it were an hour at least. When he finally looked up, more of Sam’s family surrounded him. They must’ve come in during the commotion. Her mother and sister. The ones who’d drugged him....
As the coughs subsided, Sam collapsed and rolled onto her side to avoid the puddle of black residue on the floor. She was covered with a sheen of sweat; her hair was starting to come loose and tendrils stuck to her face. She was still panting as her hand reached out, falling on his bicep and then following the line of his arm down until her fingers could intertwine with his.
Derek had felt useless this entire time, but at least he could give her some sort of comfort. “I’m here,” he said.
Abigail and Heather Harris looked on in horror, which admittedly made Derek a little happy. He’d be more concerned if no one was freaked out by what they all saw.
“What happened?” demanded Abigail.
Heather stared in shocked silence at the scene and brushed what was probably the beginning of a tear out of her eye. Bastian had run from his position at Sam’s left to see to Claudia, who seemed to be having trouble getting up.
“Sam was, uh...”—Derek tried to remember the word they’d used—“infected. Briefly.”
Heather paled. “This was the darkness?”
“I never heard of anyone surviving.” Abigail stared down at Sam in disbelief.
“Of course people have survived,” said Claudia weakly as Bastian helped her to stand. “Just not many of them. Not without someone especially powerful to remove the darkness.”
Modesty wasn’t her strong suit, apparently.
“I’m okay,” said Sam, but she could barely open her eyes, and the words were so quiet that they belied their intended effect.
Derek used his sleeve to wipe some of the sweat and blackness from her cheek, but it was a meaningless gesture at this point. “She needs rest. Are there any beds around here?”
“Heather, show the detective where Samantha can recover.”
The petite blonde nodded and stumbled back as she motioned for Derek to follow. He tried to carefully pick Sam up, but she still winced as all of her weight went on his two arms. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “No. I will be.”
“Where does it hurt?”
The corner of her mouth hooked up. He had a feeling it was a sarcastic smile, but it made him happy to see it nonetheless.
“It hurts everywhere,” she said. “But more like a dull ache. I’ll be fine. Promise.”
“Are you coming?” said Heather from the doorway.
Derek followed as Sam closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his arm. If it weren’t for the small flinch she made with every step, he’d think she looked peaceful. Luckily, the room Heather was leading him to was only a few doors down. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it had a simple twin-size bed, which was all that mattered. Heather pulled back the covers and Derek set Sam down. It seemed as if she was already asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. “I’m going to be right here,” he promised as he set the covers over her.
Heather snorted. “No you’re not.”
“You think you can make me leave?” snapped Derek as he stretched to his full height.
She raised a brow. “Look around you. You’re outnumbered and you’re in our territory. Do you really think Claudia is going to want you hanging around all night?”
“I’m not going to leave her.”
Heather scoffed and reached up to rub her eyes, which were red from crying or exhaustion or both. “Listen, Sam’s a mess right now. She needs a good night’s sleep and a shower. Not some giant staring at her while she sleeps.”
“I’m not that tall.”
“You’re not that short either. She’s safe here. She’ll know why you left.” Heather lowered her voice and leaned forward. “She wouldn’t want you endangering yourself to stay here.”
Although Derek knew Heather was right, he also knew she wanted him gone so she wouldn’t have to deal with him. He hadn’t forgotten the last time he’d seen Sam’s sister.
“Fine. I’ll go. But you better tell your family that if that darkness shit gets back into Sam while I’m gone, I’m coming back and there’s going to be hell to pay. Got it?”
Heather let out a bitter laugh as she rubbed at her eyes once more. “Hell to pay? There’s already going to be hell to pay. A Harris was taken over by the darkness. Derek, I know you’re new, but you have to know how bad this is. How it will look. You might think we were bad before, but things are about to get so much worse. So if you want to survive, take my advice. Stay out of it.”
Derek ran a hand through his hair and looked at the paper in his hand once more. The words seemed to blur and then doubled, and he had to blink to bring his focus back. He knew his body was exhausted, but the very idea of lying down and sleeping seemed impossible to him. He had too much to do. Too many pieces to pick up. After bailing on the reception to deal with Sam, he could only imagine the hell to pay once he went to work tomorrow. Er, today, considering it was three a.m.
Three a.m. Three and a half hours since he’d left Sam. His gut reaction to find and kill Reyes was tamed now. He knew he was too tired to take on a pissed-off cop who had evil magical powers, and he didn’t even know where to start at this point.
Every logical part of him knew he needed to sleep, but he couldn’t stop going through the papers of the leg case while looking at his phone constantly. Waiting for some signal from Sam. Would she be sleeping for days? Would she take a quick nap and then be back to normal? Would there be side effects from the darkness being inside her?
He had so many questions and he couldn’t forget the fear in her family’s eyes. The horror as they’d seen how weak she’d looked. The fact that even Claudia, who was supposed to be the strongest witch in existence, had been knocked on her ass by this thing.
Reyes was a factor that needed to be dealt with
, but Derek knew he wasn’t the true danger. Reyes was a byproduct. Tommy Collins had called this darkness and he hadn’t been working alone.
Which meant someone might be bringing even more of this shit into the world. Claudia hadn’t exactly thanked him for his help with Sam, but she hadn’t killed him on sight or even given him more than a warning glance. So he didn’t know what to think about that. He had been convinced the city needed to be protected from Sam’s family, but they all came to the realization tonight that there was something much more dangerous out there than the Harrises.
And this wasn’t just a witch problem. Reyes was human. At least he used to be human. If this stuff could get to Reyes, that meant everyone was in danger.
“Fuck.” Derek dropped the paper onto his kitchen table and stood. It was cold in the apartment and the fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt made it worse, but the cold helped keep him awake. Kept his mind from falling into the exhaustion he was fighting even though he knew he needed sleep.
Did he try to get some rest or did he take a shower to wake himself up and get back to work?
Before he could decide, there was a soft knock on his door. Derek didn’t move for a second. He just stared at the dark-red door. The previous tenant had painted the garish color, a failed attempt at an accent piece probably. But Derek couldn’t complain too much since he’d never worked up the motivation to change it.
But in the city, you didn’t get random knocks on the door. If someone was visiting, they had to get through the front door first, which would involve the jarring intercom buzz that filled the entire apartment.
The knock came again, this time louder, and he finally moved. It could be Claire. She was right downstairs and could come up any time. But she would’ve called first. When Derek looked through the peephole, he didn’t see the tall blonde on the other side. He practically ripped off the chain as he pulled open the door.
He figured he’d see Sam again. He figured he’d see her sooner rather than later. But seeing her now was a complete shock. She looked refreshed. Her hair was still wet, as if she’d only recently gotten out of a shower, and all the makeup and ooze was wiped from her face. Her dress was probably sitting in the trash and was replaced with a loose white t-shirt and sweatpants. “Sam,” he breathed. No other words came to him.
“I, uh, I hope I didn’t wake you up.” Without any makeup, the bright green of her eyes stood out and her dark-blue hair looked black in the dim lights.
“I was awake.”
She let out a soft laugh. “Of course you are. You never sleep.”
He didn’t know whether that was an insult or a compliment. “You’re here.” He meant it to be a question, but it came out as though he were stating the obvious.
“Yeah... I got in the cab and I guess I’m not used to my new address yet. This is the first place I told him to go.”
“You didn’t have to get out of the cab.”
Sam looked up and met his eyes. “I should’ve gone to Claire’s.”
“Definitely not here,” agreed Derek.
Sam nodded and shifted her weight. “I should go.”
“It’s not a good idea. Your grandmother—”
“Yeah. She’s not having a good week.”
Fuck. Derek couldn’t help himself. “If you want to stay—”
“I want to stay,” she said ], not even letting him finish.
Well, he had tried, which was more than he thought his self-control would let him do. He held open the door and stepped aside as she came in. As soon as the door was shut, Sam was in his arms. He didn’t know whether he grabbed her or whether she came to him, but she was there and that was all that mattered. He ran his hands over her arms and neck and sides as though to assure himself she was really there and not an exhaustion-induced hallucination.
Sam set her hands on his chest and held them there for a second. “I’m glad I didn’t hurt you.”
As long as she didn’t see the massive bruise forming on his back already. He stroked her forehead and pushed her hair away from her face. “You should sleep. We both need rest.”
Sam looked up and met his eyes from beneath her lashes. “I don’t want to sleep, Derek.” She stood on her toes and he met her halfway in a kiss. He started soft and thorough. Gently exploring and tasting. But the longer he kissed her, the more he kept on thinking about that night. Seeing her helpless on the floor at her grandmother’s. Hearing her say someone else’s words. The vacant look in her eyes.
He didn’t know whether either one of them kicked things up or whether it happened naturally, but the soft, exploring kiss changed. Sam pushed him against the wall as his hands slipped under the cotton of her t-shirt. He pulled the shirt over her head and she was pressed tightly against him before he had even a second to appreciate her naked breasts, but he didn’t care. One of his arms went around the small of her back to pull her as close as possible, and his hand fisted in her hair to hold her in place for him.
With her here, he wasn’t tired anymore. He wasn’t angry or worried. He could shut everything out and focus a hundred percent on her. He twisted with her in his arms until she was pressed against the door and she let out a gasp.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked as he moved from her lips to kiss along her neck and collarbone.
Her arms fell around his neck. “No,” she breathed. “Just cold.”
He cupped her neck with his hand, and using his thumb, he tilted her head back to give him better access. “I’m going to keep you warm, baby.”
He was back at her mouth as he picked her up against him. Every instinct wanted him to fuck her right there on the kitchen table, but he managed to stumble through the apartment and make it to his bedroom. She wasn’t heavy, but he was shaking with how much he needed to be inside her. Which was why any semblance of control he had seemed to snap as soon as she hit the bed.
They fell together and landed with their feet hanging over the edge. He ran his palms along the side of her ribs and over the curve of her waist until he hit the elastic band of the sweatpants she wore. Once his hand slipped beneath the fabric, he realized very quickly that in addition to being braless, she wasn’t wearing panties either. He groaned as he slipped a finger into her wet heat, and the little sigh she let out made his cock twitch.
Fuck, he needed to hold back. He knew the second he got inside her, he wasn’t going to be able to pace himself. This was their first time while he was... him. No spell. No crazy family antics. Just them.
But he couldn’t take his time. He wasn’t physically capable of being patient at this point. He tilted his hand so his thumb could brush her clit and Sam jerked in his arms. One of her legs wrapped around his waist and he moved up, taking her mouth in his as he still drove her higher with his hand.
The kiss was ferocious and primal. His tongue thrust in her mouth in the same rhythm he wanted to fuck her, and when he pulled back, he nipped at her bottom lip.
She started to back away, crawling farther up the bed. “I don’t want to wait.”
“I want to make this—”
“Please, Derek. I need you right now. I need you so bad.”
Damn it, he couldn’t fight that. He wrenched himself away from her and his pants were down in seconds. Sam was doing the same, and when he came back on top of her, she was naked and pulling him down.
Her legs parted and his erection settled right at her entrance without any guidance from him. As though it knew exactly where he needed to be. Derek wanted to be romantic. He wanted to be the sweet, patient, generous man Sam deserved, but he slid inside her in one hard thrust.
They both groaned at the entrance and stayed still for a few long seconds. Sam’s head went to the crook of his neck and he could feel her nails bite into his back.
“Tonight is never going to happen again,” he said into her hair before he pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head.
“I thought—”
He started to withdraw as slowly as he was physically capable. “N
ot this. This will be happening again. A lot.” He thrust back in and the little catch in her breath might’ve actually made his cock harder, which he didn’t think was possible at this point. “Before that. What happened? When I almost lost you? Never again, Sam. You hear me?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Promise. You promise me, Sam.”
“I promise,” she managed.
With a hand in her hair, he tilted her head back and kissed her deeply as he began to thrust in earnest. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her hands at his back urged him on.
He had to break off the kiss and rested his weight on one of his elbows as his other hand moved down to her waist to hold her in place. Every sensation seemed heightened and tunnel-focused at the same time: Her nails biting into his back. The sound of every breath she took. The taste of her lips still in his mouth. And the warm velvet of her wrapped around his cock.
But when she threw her head back to let out a scream, he couldn’t help but follow her over that cliff. He went tense as the orgasm seemed to rip through him. His fingers bit into her hip, and his eyes were squeezed so tightly that he wasn’t sure whether he was feeling the remaining tremors from his orgasm or Sam’s.
While he was still out of breath, he brushed the hair away from Sam’s forehead and kissed her again. One more reminder that he wasn’t imagining the whole thing.
She hugged him and seemed to nestle further into his arms.
“I can get you a water or—”
“No, Derek. Just stay here. Stay with me.”
Hard to argue with that. He bent awkwardly as he pulled the comforter in half to wrap around them. And then he finally let himself give in to exhaustion.
Sam’s eyes creaked open. Her head pounded but she didn’t care. She was so warm and comfortable. She could tell that Derek was gone, but his scent was everywhere, and just the idea of being in his bed made her smile.
She’d spent so long telling herself that this couldn’t happen that she never stopped to really imagine what it would be like to wake up in Derek’s bed. She could hear some clattering outside the bedroom and figured Derek was in the kitchen. She sat up and pushed the blanket off her.
Burning Gold (The Bewitching Hour Book 2) Page 14