by Tigris Eden
16
The run to the motel was uneventful. No one was on the service roads as Draven raced toward their destination. His wolf took over the running while he took stock of their situation. He’d mentally been ticking off a list of things he’d done wrong where Jesminda was concerned. He’d fucked up in a major way, knew he had. How was he going to fix this disaster of epic proportions? She was avoiding him, and he knew it was because of her traumatic past. Kill the bastard, his wolf said. They were both on the same page there. He was going to do more than kill Marcus. He was going to keep him alive for an entire year, gutting him over and over but just to the point of death. Maybe even tie his intestines into pretty bows and wipe his face clean with the foul things. The possibilities were endless. Whatever happened in Jes’s past would be wiped from their future. Their lives would not be affected by Marcus, not even a blemish would remain.
When they arrived, everyone was there, waiting for them. Faith still slept soundly. She looked peaceful with her head propped up by her folded arms and a serene look on her face. Draven wanted to go to her, but he didn’t know if that was the right thing to do to a sleeping child. Did she wake up in a good mood or would she be upset? With his sister’s kids, he never worried about those things; it was his sister’s problem, not his. Jesminda stepped behind him and placed a hand at his waist. It wasn’t a forgiving gesture; it was to give the impression of a united front. She wasn’t finished with him by a long shot. She was tired, and she had every right to be. It had been a very long night, fucked up as it was, he was settled. Being mated was calming in a way he’d never felt before. In the face of the storm, the air was unsettled but fresh with the scent of his woman.
There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered. And those things, what the fuck were those things that had come in through the window at Bells’? That guy Solon seemed to know, but why was he following them? Draven intended to find out. He unlatched Jesminda’s arm from around his waist and stalked over to the intruder.
“Royce, I want you to keep my daughter asleep for this,” he growled. He was pissed, and things were not adding up. He needed to get all in this man’s grill. Preferably hands on. But somehow, the bastard knew he was coming and pinned Draven with a hard stare.
“Yo, you really don’t want to do that. I mean, not in front of the ladies. I’d really hate to have to wipe the floor with your ass,” Solon said confidently. He was rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. The man knew he was going to get worked over. He could feel the energy pulsing through the air. There was a raw power that surrounded the guy. Draven though he could take him, and if the guy really wanted to get froggy, well that’s what Royce’s ass was for. Royce would fuck him over in ways that boggled the darkest minds.
“I’ll answer every single one of your damn questions, but without physical contact, alright?”
Jesminda let out a curse and sat down on the bed next to Faith. She put her head in her hand and looked up at Solon with acknowledgment and horror.
“I remember you,” she whispered. “You work for Marcus.”
Loud curses rang out in the room as Royce and Draven both took a step forward. Solon held up both hands in supplication and quickly began explaining his reason for being there.
“Yes, I worked for Marcus, but I didn’t like it. I’m a mercenary, what can I say. I go where the money is.” He looked over at Jes and then over at Bells. “I was put there to keep an eye on you and Faith, to get into Marcus’s circle of trust so to speak,” he sighed loudly and continued speaking.
“Marcus isn’t the mastermind behind all this mess, he’s simply a pawn. I’ve been around since the beginning. My true target still hasn’t been acquired, but I’m getting close.” He looked past them as if something bigger was out there waiting to be claimed.
Solon took a step forward and watched as he keenly took a seat in the chair and rested his elbows on his knees. He seemed to be thinking of a way to explain everything. Royce eyed him coldly.
“I can’t read him,” a confused Royce said. Draven eyed the other male a bit more, his eyes squinted and Royce grabbed his skull. His eyes closed, and when they opened, the brother was more than focused. He was zeroed in on his target. Draven knew that look. Death would come with a swift wind if Solon didn’t make a believer out of him.
“Finish the fucking story, Solon,” Royce interjected into the silence. The tension in the room circulated in thick strands that threatened to choke the air right out of its space and its occupants. Whatever this man had to say wasn’t good. He hadn’t noticed earlier, but Solon was wearing black leather gloves on both hands. Had he been wearing them before?
“I am Solon Gimald. I am son of Surelle and Vivek,” Solon whispered.
“I was cast out by my family years ago. Surelle is the matriarch of House Phoenix. I am Belinda’s brother by blood, but my father Vivek is from House Redhaven.”
“My mother would have told me about you,” Bells answered sharply. “No way do I have a brother.”
“It’s true, sister. Your mother was captured by Vivek before you were born. Their relationship was not one of consent. When your mother became pregnant with me, she stayed and gave birth. Nursed me for about two years and then she left.”
Bells shook her head in denial and began to pace the length of the carpet.
“That’s truly an interesting story, but where do Jesminda and her daughter fit into your equation, mutt?” Royce questioned.
This was the rightful heir to the Royal House of Redhaven. But Draven wasn’t about to say that shit out loud. Solon had gone missing almost five years ago and the gloves; well, Draven knew what the gloves were all about. It was rumored that the hybrid, Vampiri/Phoenix felt pain if anyone or anything touched him. This included the elements; he was like the bubble boy, only worse. He couldn’t be killed by viruses, but he could be killed by prolonged contact of any kind. Solon had eaten through his mother’s stomach at six months, or so the rumor had said. Now he was telling them his mother was Belinda’s mother? Which would make him what?
“A shameful abomination is what that makes him,” Royce answered Draven’s thoughts.
But how is it he could be here now? Because of his hybrid status, he should have been deathly allergic to the sun and unable to help fight off those things.
“Those things back there?” Royce asked.
“Those things,” Solon said, “were Death Walkers, soldiers of Darkness but able to walk in the light. Reanimated like zombies, but able to take instructions and follow them. Their bodies rot from the inside out and soon, when they become fully dead, there won’t be much that can kill them, aside from severing the head from their spinal cord.”
“Shit,” Draven whispered.
Jes stood and put her hand on her hips. Draven loved her strength. She was blind to it, but if pushed into a wall, people should back the fuck up. She wasn’t one to go toe-to-toe with. “Hold up, are you saying those things back at Bells’ are fucking zombies?”
“Death Walkers,” Solon repeated.
Both women looked at each other, then back at him and said in unison.
“Zombies.”
“Call them what you want, sister,” Solon said to Bells.
“Jury is still out on the whole sister thing, I’ll need to speak with my mother. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a gun for hire. Care to explain just who you’re after?”
“That’s my business, not yours, sister.”
“Stop calling me that!” Bells screamed.
Jesminda hissed under her breath, a string of curses that Draven thought a woman should never say. She shook her head and then looked back up at Solon and gestured her head for him to continue speaking.
“I was following Jesminda, have been since the beginning. I knew you were with child, and when you got off the plane from Belize, you were so warm and kind to me. I couldn’t let anything happen to you or your young. I was the gentleman who let you have the cab.”
Draven
knew there was more to Solon’s story. He wasn’t about to believe one thing the other man said. Who the hell was his target? He looked in Royce’s direction and his friend silently shook his head no. He still couldn’t read him. They couldn’t keep this guy around, couldn’t let him leave either. He was a dangerous liability, a wild card. They didn’t know anything about him, except what he’d said. He was a mercenary, which was wrong on so many levels. There was recognition in Jes’s eyes when he’d mentioned the cab. She sat back on the bed and put a hand on Faith’s back and began rubbing. She didn’t say anything. Hell, what did you say to a guy who’d been trailing you for five years?
“Why?” Draven bit out. “Why were you following my mate?”
“She was kind, she smiled at me, wasn’t afraid of me. It helped that her lifeline twined with mine. I didn’t know it then, but we both want the same thing.”
“Get the fuck out,” Royce said. He stood from his chair and walked over to the wall facing the door. “Seriously, fucktard, you think we’re stupid right? You follow his woman for five fucking years? Join her ex-husband’s crime organization because her lifeline twined with yours? Save the dramatics.” Royce was about to light another smoke when Jes and Bells shot daggers at him with their eyes.
“Sorry,” he shrugged. “But I smoke when people lie, or make me happy, or after orgasm. Okay, I smoke all the time.” His smile was unapologetic as he continued to eye Solon.
“How is it you can be in the sun?” Royce asked.
“Because of my mother,” Solon answered
“Your mother Surelle was a Phoenix. That makes sense, and from what I understand you can’t touch anyone.”
“That’s correct, I’m here as an ally not a foe. I want…” he cleared his throat as it became hoarse. “I need to aid your woman and her child. I wish to help keep them safe, if you would let me.”
Fuck a duck, a horse, and a big ass elephant. Draven might as well throw that in for good measure. It was his job to keep an eye on Jesminda, and the bastard wasn’t making the moves on his mate, not a chance in hell. Something was wrong with this. What could the both of them have in common?
“You never said anything,” Jesminda whispered, looking Solon in the face. She rose from the bed then and walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Solon flinched and hissed but didn’t say a word. Jes quickly moved her hand. He had on a leather jacket but apparently, it still hurt. Good. His wolf didn’t like the contact and made it known when he let out a loud rumbling growl.
“Hands off, Jes, or I am going to introduce him to the ends of my size thirteens, clear?”
Jesminda shot him a dark glare and shook her head. “Shut up, Draven. This man has been with me for all of Faith’s life, and now I know who he is. I also know,” she looked down at Solon as he raised his head to look up at her, “you were there when Faith was born. You took me to my hospital appointments. You were the one that botched up the GPS coordinates, weren’t you?”
Solon only nodded, and Draven’s agitation rose to levels that induced a red haze as he tried to digest that piece of information. The smug bastard had seen the birth of his child. His offspring. That shit didn’t sit well with him or his wolf. At all. His animal rose to the front of his skin. Processing scents, feeding the information back to Draven and his entire body coiled in rage. The bastard wanted dibs on his mate.
Quick movements had him in the man’s face and he knew if he touched him, the man would be in pain. He didn’t care what throne he may or may not sit on in the future. He could have been king of the world or even the universe. Jesminda was his. Whoever tried to divert his goals where his mate was concerned was the enemy.
“Don’t even attempt to make a move on her, you sick bastard; I can smell your want for her.”
Solon looked Draven in his eyes and removed one of his gloves. His hand was covered in intricate tattoos, almost like the ones you see done with Henna ink; only theses markings were golden, actual gold in color. What the fuck was he? Draven had never seen markings like that, ever. Solon brought his hand close to his skin. The power the other man emitted clung to his nostrils and singed his hair. He snarled and glared at Solon, dared him to touch him, just once so he could see the bastard in pain.
“If I wanted your woman, I would have taken her long ago. Just because I feel warmly towards her doesn’t mean she is the one for me. And before you go making preconceived notions about the level of pain you think I will feel, be warned.” His blue eyes turned glacial. “Be fucking warned because if my skin even lightly touches yours, it will be all she wrote. The fat lady will have sung, and you will be no more. I don’t want to end you; it’s not your time. But there is one thing you don’t know about me.”
Draven and everyone else in the room watched him intently. There was a glassy look in the other man’s eyes.
“I touch you, I will hurt, true… but your wolf will die.”
There was an icy blast that ripped through the room and Draven felt it stab him straight through to the marrow of his bones. He was sure everyone else in the room felt it, as well because he wasn’t the only one wincing.
He looked into the eyes of a man with nothing to lose. The bastard cracked a deadly smile as Draven looked him over. His hand still hovered closely to his chest. He took a step back and felt Jesminda wrap her arms around his waist. Instantly, he calmed. She was still angry with him, wore it like a protective cloak, but she still came to his aid. She was truly his mate, even if she didn’t want to acknowledge it. Her body knew, her heart even knew. The only one who needed convincing was the woman herself.
# # #
“I know where the new holding house is. Marcus has moved the vampiri to a house in the Garden district. That’s the reason we are all here, right? To get the vampiri back?”
There was a collective nod across the room and Bells looked over at Solon with a peculiar look on her face. He wouldn’t meet her eyes as she stared at him. She was about to approach him when Royce took her by the hand and maneuvered her to the other side of the bed. Jes was a bit shocked as Belinda never let anyone lead her from her course. Maybe it had something to do with all the shit going down with the Death Walkers trashing her home, and then, of course, this new stranger showing up at the last minute, claiming they were related. Solon had told Jes he’d always been there, from the beginning. All because of a smile. She didn’t know whether to be happy about that or concerned. It wasn’t like he’d stepped in to ease any of the pain that was given to her. He’d stood by and watched her slow descent into madness. Why help her now?
Draven explained they were moving out in the next hour. They were all going back to headquarters. Jes watched as he fingered his cell and called for air support. She headed towards the restroom. She needed time to think, things were so mixed up. Trying to figure out the time just wasn’t worth the effort. She had an hour. She’d use it to let the hot water soothe her aching muscles.
A small sniffle sounded, and Jes turned to see Faith waking up. Her daughter searched around the room with her beautiful green eyes until they landed on Draven, who was still on the phone. She watched as Faith hopped off the bed and groggily walked over to her father. She saw how his body stiffened when Faith laid her hands on his leg trying to get his attention. He bent and picked her up, but continued talking. He looked over the little girl’s head and smiled at Jes. They looked so good together. She smiled and headed for the bathroom.
The bathroom was small and stuffy. The air was stagnant and she could tell this bathroom hadn’t seen a proper cleaning in months. She looked in the shower but thought better of washing herself, even though she smelled like Draven and sex and had yuck mouth. How fucking embarrassing was that shit? Everyone knew what they’d done. Jes cursed low under her breath and turned on the faucet. They had bigger things to worry about than her state of smell and dress. She needed to get her daughter to safety, and they needed to retrieve the missing vampiri. She cupped a mouthful of water and rinsed. That will have
to do.
“We aren’t going to have time for a shower,” Draven’s voice whispered over her skin as he placed a soft kiss to her shoulder.
“I wouldn’t shower in this place anyway. When are we leaving?” She turned in his arms and stiffened. They were going back to headquarters, what would happen when they got back?
“Captain’s sending the jet to a rendezvous point so we need to leave now.” She shook her head and tried to step past him, but he pulled her back into his arms and gently squeezed her to his chest. He had on the sweats Royce had given her and a gray long sleeve Henley. All man and strength, Jes took a deep breath. She needed to decompress, regroup and get her head in the game.
“Once we land back at the headquarters, I want to talk to you. We need to make arrangements where Faith is concerned.”
“Yeah… sure, arrangements.”
Draven pulled back to look down at her with a frown. “What’s the matter? My mother Mara is going to want to keep her while we finish this assignment, and we need to get her into school.”
“If you think I am going to let you take control of my daughter you have another thing coming.” She pushed against his chest until Draven let her go. He had the nerve to have a hurt look on his face, and she wasn’t having any of it. Panic would set in if she didn’t calm her nerves. She was in control, not him.