Taste of Darkness

by Katie Reus

  And you were a dick, he thought as he looked at Cody, but didn’t say the words aloud.

  “We just stopped by to speak to Conall, but it can wait if he’s busy,” Nevin said.

  Alma nodded, speaking before Drake could. “He is busy but I’m sure he’ll be available later.” She gave the two males brief kisses before practically shooing them out. Shutting the door, she turned back to Drake and smiled softly. “I know you didn’t come here to get bombarded and there will be plenty of time to meet the rest of the clan later. In the meantime you can tell me about this mate of yours and we can revisit the topic of babies.”

  “Aunt Alma.” Conall’s slightly chastising voice made them both turn toward the stairs. Drake had heard faint footsteps earlier and figured he’d be down soon. His brother’s expression was softer than Drake had ever seen it as he approached them.

  His aunt set her hands on her hips as she turned toward Conall. “Don’t Aunt Alma me. You and Keelin are taking your sweet time settling down, though at least Keelin has an excuse, being forced into Protective Hibernation for so long. One of you needs to add more children to the clan.”

  Anger slid through him at the thought of his sister being forced to do anything and he wanted an explanation. “Forced?” The question came out louder, harsher than Drake had intended.

  His aunt’s lips pressed together and Conall’s expression tightened as he nodded. “More or less by our mother. It’s a long story and one I’ll tell you another time.”

  “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” The tall female hurried away before Conall or Drake could respond.

  “She lives with you?” Drake asked when she was gone.

  Conall shook his head. “No, she just likes to drop by unannounced and cook for me.”

  “Is that normal behavior?” Drake was still trying to figure out what counted as normal in this new world and that didn’t seem typical.

  Conall snorted. “It is for her. She’ll do it for you too… That is, if you decide to stay.” He seemed suddenly uncomfortable and Drake wasn’t certain why. His expression wasn’t clear enough for Drake to read his facial cues. “Is everything all right with Victoria?”

  Drake nodded. “Yes. I wanted to speak with you in private.”

  Conall locked his front door then tilted his head toward a room off to the left of the foyer. “If the door’s locked no one will disturb us.”

  Drake followed his brother into a room with slim but high windows reaching the ceiling. Maybe eighteen feet. “Are these homes built differently?”

  Conall nodded and sat on an uncomfortable-looking tufted settee. At least that’s what Victoria had told him the thing was called. There was more than one of them at the mansion in Biloxi too.

  Drake sat across from him on a high-backed uncomfortable chair in a rich, plum color.

  “Sorry about the furniture,” Conall muttered, as if he’d read his mind. “I let Keelin decorate when she came out of her Hibernation and this shit is uncomfortable.”

  His brother’s words immediately eased the tension in Drake’s shoulders. It was still surreal to have siblings and the deepest part of him wanted a relationship with them. Feelings and sensations more than actual memories were trickling in about his siblings. Conall and Keelin had looked up to him. He knew that much.

  “Was Keelin truly forced into Protective Hibernation?” The sharpest sense of protectiveness swept through him. He might not ever want the responsibility of clan leader, but no one was going to make his sister do something she didn’t want to.

  “Not forced so much as guilted into it. When our parents decided to go into Hibernation, our mother convinced Keelin to do it also. After she lost you, she was terrified of losing another child and she used that against Keelin. Not in a malicious way. Our mother is…strong willed. And unfortunately Keelin bent. I tried to convince her to remain with me and our clan, but in the end it was her decision to make.”

  Too many emotions started to pummel Drake. He hated that his sister had felt the need to go into a deep sleep out of guilt and that his parents had suffered so much. “Were our parents harder on you after I disappeared?” When Victoria had been sleeping today, safe in his arms, Drake had had far too much time with his thoughts.

  Conall watched him for a long moment, as if weighing his words. “More protective.”

  The two word answer made Drake wonder if his brother didn’t want to discuss his—their—parents. So he decided to change the subject and talk about the original reason he’d come. “I’m here for an awkward reason,” he blurted, immediately cringing at his words.

  Conall didn’t seem fazed though. “Is this about mating?”

  “No.” He might not have ever been with a woman but he had no questions about what to do. Even though he’d seen only violent couplings or orgies in Hell, he read enough since his escape and trusted his instincts where that was concerned. He would bring Victoria so much pleasure she’d never want to leave him.

  “Thank god,” Conall muttered, his lips curving up a fraction. “What’s going on then?”

  “I don’t have any occupational experience.” In other words, no fucking job skills. Something he wanted to rectify soon.

  “Oh.” Conall blinked, as if Drake had truly surprised him. “I’ve already set up a bank account in your name. There’s five hundred thousand in it to start, but anything you want, is yours. Everyone in the clan has their own jobs and are free to pick any profession they want to pursue. The majority of the clan currently works in hospitality because of the ski lodge, but in a couple decades we’ll likely move on and start over somewhere else. We’ll keep the land though and come back to it eventually. And we all have separate accounts, but we also have a joint account so if anyone needs more than they currently have for whatever reason, it’s theirs.”

  “I don’t want handouts.” The very thought raked against every part of Drake’s being.

  “This is not a handout. You were in Hell for how fucking long? This is your clan, your family. Anything you need will be taken care of. You will have any education you want. If you want. You’ll have any sort of training you want for any field. Or if you want to sit around and do absolutely nothing for the next decade, no one will judge you.”

  Except he would judge himself. He also realized that he’d insulted his brother when Conall had been nothing but generous. “Thank you for everything. I didn’t want you to think I was trying to just take from you.”

  Conall’s lips pulled into a thin line. “It’s not taking. We’re family.”

  The concept was still foreign, but he nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” He would still get an education and training in…something, but for now, he could live with the situation. Five hundred thousand seemed excessive, but he wasn’t sure and didn’t want to ask and risk insulting his brother again. “If I would like to purchase something for Victoria today, how would I do that?”

  Standing, Conall pointed upward. “Come on up to my office. I’ve got credit cards and other paperwork I’d planned to wait on, but I’ll give everything to you now. If you have something specific in mind for Victoria, I can help you now. We have a lot of shops in town or there’s always the Internet.”

  Drake nodded. He hadn’t purchased much since he’d escaped Hell because he’d been too ashamed to ask Finn for funds, even though the Alpha had freely offered them. But it didn’t feel shameful to accept help from his brother. It felt more like he was accepting a gift from someone who truly loved him. Not from someone who felt as if they owed him.

  As they headed up the stairs, an unbidden richly drawn image seared into his mind. Like a snapshot. He paused at the top of the stairs and his brother did too.

  “What’s wrong?” Conall asked, his body tensing in alert for danger.

  “When we were children, did you and Keelin used to sneak into my room late at night?” The scene was too vivid in his mind for it to be imagined.

  Conall blinked, his jaw tightening before he answered. “Yes.
You used to tell us stories when we couldn’t sleep. Keelin was too young to understand much but she wanted to join in. Our parents knew because more often than not, they carried us back to our own beds in the morning, but…” He swallowed hard and Drake’s own chest grew tight. “When we lost you it was like losing a limb.”

  His brother’s words punched through him like a battering ram. As his brother started to look away, Drake gave into his instinct and pulled Conall into a hug, wrapping his arms around him and not caring if his brother rejected him.

  Conall didn’t though. “I’ve missed you so much,” he rasped out, his voice strangled.

  Drake had too. Even if he hadn’t remembered much until now, he’d missed his family on the most fundamental level.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Drake absently patted his pants pocket as he stepped inside the front door of the guest house, making sure the gift he’d bought for Victoria was still there. He’d only planned to buy flowers for her because they made her smile, but he’d seen something else and had decided to get it also.

  When he stepped inside he found Keelin sitting on the bottom stair, looking at her cell phone. She smiled when she saw him, standing and shoving her phone into her jacket pocket. “I was hoping you’d arrive soon.”

  “I was shopping.” Her eyebrows rose, so he continued. “With Conall.”

  Keelin snorted, the sound seeming out of character for his petite sister. Sister. He still hadn’t gotten used to the word. “I wish I’d been there to see that.”

  “I wish you’d been with us too.” The words were out before he realized he’d meant to say them.

  She blinked in surprise, all humor leaving her face. “Really?”

  He nodded. “I was rude the first time we met and I wish I could go back and change that first meeting. I hope we can get to know one another better.” They’d been so young when he’d been taken and sacrificed. Obviously there was nothing they could have done and it was clear they hadn’t known or they would have attempted to find him. That knowledge soothed the edges of the resentment burning inside him that whoever had betrayed him was still out there.

  She beamed at him, her smile blinding as she threw herself at him, wrapping him in an unexpected hug. Her head came to the middle of his chest as she squeezed him tight. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that. I can’t wait to get to know you better too.” Taking a step back, she still smiled at him. “This new world has been tricky to navigate since I came out of Hibernation so I can imagine it’s worse for you.”

  “No one will ever force you into Hibernation again.” Not even their parents. He knew what it was to have his will taken away from him and he’d never allow it to happen to anyone he cared about.

  Her smile brightened again as she said, “Thank you.”

  In that moment a burst of anger erupted inside him at whoever had stolen so many years from him. So many years he’d lost with his family. He pushed the feelings back down, not wanting them to intrude on his time with his sister.

  Keelin’s cell phone buzzed and after she glanced at it, she looked up at him. “Victoria is out with Gabriel and Rhea and they want me to bring you now.”

  “Out? Where?” He hadn’t thought she’d leave the house, which was why he’d gone. He didn’t care that his thoughts were irrational. Victoria was capable of defending herself and was with two trained warriors. On his clan’s land. Still, his inner dragon clawed at him with fierce determination to get to her.

  “Not far,” Keelin said, intentionally vague, he was certain. “Why don’t you get a coat and we’ll meet them?”

  “I’m fine.” Cargo pants and a long-sleeved black T-shirt were good enough. He wasn’t wasting the time to grab a jacket. He had a higher body temperature, the same as all dragons he’d assumed. But he noticed Keelin was wearing a thick jacket with fur trim over black ski pants. “Does the cold affect you the same as humans?”

  She paused for a moment, then shook her head. “No. We tend to dress similar to humans so we don’t draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. Besides, I look great in this jacket.”

  Something warm inside him unfurled at the light note in her voice. The Stavros pack had welcomed him and been kind to him, but he hadn’t felt accepted in the same way he was starting to with his siblings. “How far is Victoria?” Because a raw energy had started to hum through him at the thought of being separated from her any longer.

  “Not far. Come on.”

  She didn’t have to tell him twice. The possessive need to get to Victoria was more than just a simmer beneath the surface now. His shifter side was demanding he make his claim.

  * * *

  Victoria waved at Drake and Keelin as they made their way toward her up the big snow-covered hill. Rhea and Gabriel stood quietly nearby. After being cooped up in that guest house all day, well two days really, she and her wolf had been ready to get out and run. Later tonight she’d run in wolf form but for now, being outside inhaling the crisp winter air, was therapeutic. Twilight had already fallen and the sky was slowly lighting up with a brilliant blanket of stars.

  And she’d decided that her male needed some fun in his life. Especially after what had happened in Tennessee. Keelin had told Victoria that Drake hadn’t slept the entire time she’d been asleep after the poison had been extracted from her body. And she was fairly certain he hadn’t slept today when she’d dozed again either. She was going to make sure he got some sleep tonight, but until then, she was going to make sure he relaxed. He deserved it.

  His expression grim, he trudged up the snowy embankment looking as if he was going to a funeral. When he and Keelin reached the top, his frown deepened.

  “Why are you outside?” he barked.

  Everyone froze for a second, Rhea and Gabriel looking away before giving them space as if they didn’t want to be part of this. Victoria poked Drake in the chest. “Well it’s good to see you too.”

  His face flushed, but the darkness in his gaze remained. “Shouldn’t you be in bed.” Not a question.

  Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his T-shirt and tugged him down to her. Luckily he didn’t withdraw, even if he still looked like the grim reaper. She brushed her lips over his, needing to taste him, to reassure herself of his presence, even if the kiss was relatively chaste. He let out a soft groan, his big body melting against hers as he pulled her close.

  “Get a fucking room,” Gabriel muttered.

  Oh, they were going to very soon. Letting her boots fall flat against the crunchy snow, she reluctantly withdrew from Drake, though she didn’t move out of the protective cage of his body. Not that he seemed inclined to let her go. “Did everything go okay with your brother?” He hadn’t told her what he planned to talk to Conall about and he’d seemed unsure of himself.

  Not so now. Drake nodded. “Yes. Are you sure—”

  “Don’t mother me,” she said softly, for his ears only. She might have almost died, but she was still here and she didn’t like being smothered. Something he knew. And especially not from him. She got enough of that craziness from her pack and she loved that Drake treated her like an equal.

  He opened his mouth once as if to argue, but nodded. “Okay. I bought you a present today.”

  Excitement jumped inside her. “What is it?”

  A half-grin played across his sensuous lips. She wanted to lean up and lick him. “I’ll give it to you later. First tell me why we’re out here.”

  “Keelin said when you were young you loved playing in the snow and even though they didn’t have toboggans back then, you guys made makeshift sleds. I thought you might like to get out and relax.” She nodded at a row of five plastic, sleek looking sleds big enough for two people. Gabriel, Rhea and Keelin were all choosing theirs about ten yards away.

  The top of the hill was lined with trees and now Drake noticed there was a small, wooden shed in between two of them. Lennox, one of the warriors, come out carrying a blue and black toboggan where they must be stored. Drake had been s
o focused on getting to Victoria he hadn’t been paying attention to anything else, including his surroundings.

  Dangerous, the predator inside warned. He’d stayed alive a long time because of his predator instinct. He wouldn’t let himself be distracted like that again. He couldn’t.

  Being on guard around Victoria was a priority. His throat was tight as he looked back down at his mate, his sweet healer. “Thank you.” Because she was right. The thought of going sledding with her, of doing something normal like this, filled him with a sensation that was so foreign he wasn’t sure he remembered the word for it.

  It felt a lot like pure, unadulterated happiness.

  Memories of playing with a small, blonde haired little girl, obviously Keelin, and a boy who looked like Drake, obviously Conall, hummed through him. Sometimes the girl would shift to her dragon form. She’d been so small as a dragon, her form adorable. But there was also a memory of playing in the snow with a redheaded boy. It had to be real.

  Victoria smiled and softly kissed him again, the feel of her lips making the memory dissipate. His entire body tightened, her crisp scent drawing him in, teasing him. When she pulled back he stopped a groan from escaping. “I want to give you your present now.”

  Her green eyes lit up. “Are you sure it’s a publicly appropriate gift?”

  He blinked, unsure what she meant for all of two seconds before her meaning set in. The thought of laying her out on his big bed, having her naked beneath him as he claimed her was a potent image in his mind. One he forced himself to shelve. For now.

  He reached in to his pocket and pulled out a small rectangular-shaped, red box. It wasn’t overly expensive, but when he’d seen it at the jeweler’s store in the village he’d known it was meant for her. The owner had told him that a human artist from the nearby town made custom pieces and sold them through jewelers in the area. Apparently this piece had been delivered two days ago and according to the owner wouldn’t have lasted long in his store. Drake believed him.

  Practically jumping up and down, Victoria snagged it from his hands. When she opened it up, she went still. For a moment she stopped breathing and he worried he’d chosen wrong.