Taste of Darkness

by Katie Reus

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Easing down the interior stairs of the guest house, he paused when he heard two familiar females talking. The house had been empty for a while so he’d taken advantage to search through the wolf shifters’ rooms for anything he could use against them. He didn’t know that he would need to, but he liked to be prepared.

  Hurrying down the last of the steps, he headed in the direction of the voices. Outside the swinging door of the kitchen he paused by the wall. He let his camouflage fall so he wouldn’t have to drain the power it took to maintain it. Lowering his heart rate and keeping his breathing steady, he leaned in and listened.

  “You should come tomorrow,” Keelin said.

  Greer, their healer, snorted. “No thanks.”

  “I’ll never understand why you and Fia don’t get along. And don’t deny that’s why you don’t want to go.”

  “No, I don’t want to go because I wasn’t invited. Not seeing Fia is icing on the cake.”

  Keelin made an admonishing sound before continuing. “I can’t believe Drake asked me to go.”

  He frowned. Where was she going tomorrow? If Keelin was meeting with Fia it meant she’d likely be meeting with the rest of the visiting Devlin clan.

  “Why can’t you believe it?” Greer asked.

  Now Keelin snorted. “Conall would have never thought to ask me.”

  “That’s because he still sees a little girl when he looks at you. Drake doesn’t have those blinders and clearly he recognizes your value in going. You don’t need me with you.”

  Keelin was silent, or he couldn’t hear her response if she made one.

  Greer continued. “What else is going on with you?”

  “Nothing.” Keelin’s answer was quick. Too quick. He knew her well enough to read her.

  “Come on. You’ve been acting differently the last few months. Are you…seeing someone?”

  “No. I just want a change, that’s all. When we discovered Drake was alive it almost feels like, I don’t know, I don’t want to waste any more time not living the way I want. I let my mom dictate too many terms and I’m over it. This new world is amazing and I want to see more of it.”

  “What kind of change are you thinking?”

  Keelin laughed. “That’s just it, I have no idea. I want to travel a bit for sure but other than that, I don’t know. I guess I need to spread my wings, no pun intended.”

  “Good. I hated that you went into Protective Hibernation when your parents did. You deserve to live a little. Or a lot.” Greer’s voice was teasing.

  Keelin made a soft sound that might have been a ‘yeah’ or something else. He couldn’t tell and he didn’t care. He wanted them to return to talking about where they were going tomorrow.

  Greer continued. “So what are you thinking, hooking up with that sexy wolf shifter? That shifter Gabriel is hot.” She made an appreciative sound at the mention of the male. “And I’m ninety-five percent sure he’s not together with Rhea. They seem like just friends.”

  He rolled his eyes at Greer’s words. She might be a healer and respected by their clan but she was a bad influence on Keelin. He stayed away from her as much as possible.

  “Yes, he’s good looking, but he’s not my type. And I don’t even know if I want to hook up with anyone. I just want to get away from here where I’m not constantly under the watchful eye of an entire clan. It’s annoying.”

  “Well breakfast tomorrow with the Devlin clan won’t exactly be getting away but it’s wonderful that Drake’s included you. I’m so glad he’s back. And it seems like most of the clan is happy about his chosen mate.”

  He tuned the rest out. Breakfast tomorrow. It would either be here or at the lodge where Conall had put up the other clan. He guessed the lodge. It would make more sense than allowing them into the village.

  It would also be a lot easier for him to target that wolf shifter, Victoria. He hadn’t liked the way either she or Drake had looked at him earlier. Supposedly the male didn’t remember anything, but that could change. Instead of trying to target Dragos through the wolf shifter, he could simply go after her and frame the Devlin clan.

  Simple and neat. And Dragos would have a new target to focus all his attention on. It would give him time to go after Dragos again too. He could strike when the male was weak and mourning.

  He turned away and crept toward the front of the house. He needed to leave now before anyone caught him.

  Killing that male would solve all his problems because he couldn’t keep living in fear that his sins would be found out. Even if they had been justified. Dragos’s parents deserved to lose their oldest son and he was going to make sure the male was gone before they ever woke from their Protective Hibernation.

  That would be the sweetest justice of all. For them to awaken and learn they’d lost their son for a second time.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Slipping his cell phone into his pocket, Bran strode into the sunroom from outside using the side door. He wasn’t surprised to see Fia frowning at the setup of the long table, hands on her hips.

  “It’s going to be fine,” he muttered, her tension rubbing off on everyone in the cabin.

  “It needs to be perfect.” She didn’t look up at him as she rearranged a little bouquet of small, yellow flowers on one end of the table by moving it half an inch.

  “The flowers are…pretty,” he gritted out the word. Fucking pretty? He felt bad about the way he’d snapped at her Sunday night even if she had deserved it. The female hadn’t spoken to him since, which was sort of a relief, but her cold shoulder meant Gavin was pissed at him too.

  “Really?” She looked up, her expression more stressed than normal.

  Shit. He was an asshole. She was just trying to make things nice for the other clan. He should be thanking her. “Yeah, yellow is…bright.” Males didn’t give a shit about flowers and he doubted Dragos’s mate would care either, but he was wise enough not to say that.

  She bit her bottom lip as she glanced back at the immaculately set table. Instead of meeting the Petronilla clan members on their land, they’d opted to meet here. The lodge had catered a large breakfast and the private cabin Conall had put them in was big enough for four families.

  This was basically neutral ground. Made sense to Bran and he preferred it that way. He didn’t want to be deeper into their land than necessary. Even if he did want them as allies. He leaned against the sturdy chair at the end of the table. “So have you forgiven me?”

  Fia sniffed and looked at him, her lips pursed. “Maybe. If you behave yourself this morning.”

  He snorted. No other female in his clan talked to him like this. The truth was, even though she drove Bran crazy most of the time, she loved his brother. And she was like an annoying little sister. “Behave myself?”

  “No surliness. This is important to…me. So please, I’m asking you to be civil.”

  He frowned at the way she’d paused. There was something he was missing; had felt the strangeness for the past few months, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “You do know I’m clan leader?” he asked mildly.

  She sniffed again and turned on her heel before marching from the room. She hadn’t said but he could tell that he was forgiven. She wouldn’t have spoken to him at all otherwise. Freaking females.

  Rubbing the back of his neck, he started to follow and find his brother when a soft knock at the glass door drew his attention.

  A short female with a furry, hooded jacket pulled up around her face stood there. She smiled and half-waved, her silver eyes flickering under the bright morning sun. For a moment he couldn’t draw breath as he stared at her. Her smile was blinding, the type of smile females like her did not reserve for him. Unlike most male dragons, he didn’t look like them. He wasn’t what Fia called GQ attractive. He looked like a fucking thug and he couldn’t see out of one eye. Dragon females prized whole, beautiful males. At least in his experience. Yeah, she wasn’t looking at him.

  He gl
anced over his shoulder. Nope. He was alone. Turning back, he found her now frowning at him. She pointed at the door and made an unlock motion with her hand. Like he was a fucking moron who couldn’t figure out how to open the door. He would be insulted except he was acting like one.

  Gritting his teeth, he strode to the door and opened it.

  “Hi. I’m Keelin,” she said, pushing the hood back from her face. The small wisps of blonde hair he’d seen peeking out tumbled around her face now. Behind her, her footprints indented the light dusting of snow on the wooden stairs that led to the ground below. The sunroom looked out over the mountain, the view stunning. But nothing compared to the female standing in front of him now. When she raised her eyebrows, he figured he should stop staring and formulate a response.

  “Bran,” he rasped out.

  “I know. I’ve seen your picture. Are you going to invite me in?”

  As he stepped back, the petite female breezed past him, her scent making him think of raw, primal fucking under a moonlit sky. The abrupt thought made him draw up short. His dragon rippled beneath the surface, savagely curious about the female. What the fuck was wrong with him? He loved women. Loved everything about them. Their soft curves, the way they moaned when he made them come. That was just sex though. And his dragon never gave a shit about any of them. This was…odd. And unwelcome.

  Rolling his shoulders, he shrugged off the strange sensation. He knew she’d recently come out of Protective Hibernation. Must be why her picture wasn’t in their files of the Petronilla clan. Why the hell hadn’t Fia told him about Keelin? “Where are your brothers?”

  She shrugged and unzipped her jacket. “I came early. Figured Fia was freaking out over breakfast and could use the help.”

  He snorted and felt his heart stutter when she gave him one of those blinding smiles again.

  The female laughed once, the throaty sound a punch to his solar plexus. “So I was right to come early? Is she having a meltdown?”

  Before he could respond, Fia appeared in the doorway and started squealing over the blonde female who just smiled and gave her friend a big hug. There was a whirlwind of high-pitched, excited shouting, all from Fia, before the two females hurried from the room.

  Bran rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the empty entryway. Fuck him. Keelin’s sweet scent lingered in the air, making his dragon angry, his talons raking against his insides demanding he go after her.

  Right the fuck now.

  Females were too complicated. He’d seen his brother become pussy whipped over one. Not something he wanted for himself. But…he rubbed his neck again. He wasn’t letting that female just walk away. Something intrinsic inside him flared bright, telling him he didn’t have a choice in the matter.

  * * *

  Victoria gave Drake her hand as she slid out of the back of the SUV. She didn’t need the help and he knew she didn’t, but she loved touching him. Unfortunately they weren’t touching enough. Last night she’d been so sure they’d take things to the next level, but Drake had been all about oral exploration only. Which was amazing but she wanted more.

  So much more. She wanted all of him. To feel that thick length of him pushing deep inside her, to score her nails down his back as they both came, to experience his canines marking her skin again.

  Ahead of them, Rhea, Gabriel, Conall, Lennox and Cody were all walking toward the huge cabin where the Devlin clan was staying. She wasn’t sure what she thought of the dragon Cody, but Keelin—who’d come an hour earlier—had told Victoria that he was a warrior and well-trained. And Conall had wanted him to come with them as part of their protection.

  Victoria squeezed Drake’s hand and stopped walking. He instantly tensed, scanning their surroundings and looking for danger. “What is it?” he murmured.

  “Nothing bad. I just want to talk to you in private. Will you tell the others we’ll be inside in a sec?”

  He nodded and called out to his brother, who paused in concern, then continued along the stone walkway that wrapped around to the back of the cabin. They were using the back stairs as their entrance instead of the front door. She wasn’t sure why but didn’t really care.

  Once everyone was out of sight, Drake’s big hands settled on her hips. He pulled her close, the feel of his thick length resting against her abdomen making her shudder. “Are you nervous?” he asked quietly.

  “No. And this is may be terrible timing, but…why aren’t we taking things further in the bedroom?” Monday night in the pantry had been hot and last night had been more of the same, except in their bedroom instead of the kitchen. But he hadn’t wanted to take things further and she’d been too nervous to ask why when she’d been naked and vulnerable.

  His gray eyes went silver as he swallowed hard. “Are you not pleased with what we’ve done?”

  She blinked in surprise. He’d made her come three times last night with his hands and wicked tongue. “No, I mean, yes. I’m very pleased.” That being an understatement. Another shiver rolled through her, her nipples hardening against her bra as she thought of everything they’d done only hours ago. How he’d had her get on all fours then slid underneath her and had her sit on his face. It had been beyond erotic. “I just…something’s holding you back.” And she really hoped it wasn’t her.

  Maybe now that they were surrounded by his dragon clan he realized the differences in their species and was having second thoughts about actual mating. That thought made her throat tighten, unwanted emotions bubbling up.

  His fingers clenched harder around her hips and he was silent for a few long beats, making her think the worst. “I’ve never been with a female.” His words were so quiet she almost didn’t hear him.

  “I haven’t either. With a male, I mean. With anyone. Not completely.” Sure she’d fooled around with that guy in college but that had been short-lived thanks to the obnoxious Guardian.

  Drake’s head tilted to the side a fraction, his eyes going supernova as he watched her. “Really?”

  She nodded, swallowing hard. “Really. I wasn’t waiting for any reason other than Gabriel and the rest of the pack made it impossible for me to, you know.” But now she was glad she hadn’t been with anyone. She and Drake could learn everything together. She just hoped that was the only reason he was holding back.

  “I was worried I might hurt you during sex. I spoke to Conall this morning and he told me…he explained that…” To her surprise, his ears tinged crimson.

  When it was clear that he was struggling for words, she smiled. “He basically told you dragons aren’t into weird shit and you have nothing to worry about?”

  Breathing out a sigh of relief, he nodded. “Yes, but I will bite you.”

  Something she already knew since his brother had told them in the cabin and Drake had nipped at her more than once. “You’ve already bitten me.” And it had been hot. Her nipples tightened even more and the soft glow Drake had been emitting went pure gold, the snow around them glistening under the effect.

  “When we mate it will be deeper and will mark you for life.” His words were tentative.

  But they were music to her ears. “Good.” She wanted to be marked by him, wanted the whole damn world to know she was his. And vice versa.

  His gaze went molten as he watched her. “It’s only been two days. Barely.”

  “It’s been more than that if you think about it. I’ve wanted you since pretty much the moment you went all growly and sexy in that graveyard.” Which was a little weird to think about but she didn’t care. Drake was an amazing male. And four months of waiting was long enough.

  “I do not growl.”

  She bit back a smile. “You just did.”

  Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers but pulled back way too quickly. “You do have terrible timing. We should just leave now.” His voice was low, sexy, his intent clear.

  Laughing, she pushed against his chest and stepped back. “No way. And you might want to…” She motioned to the glow around them.
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  Because of the bright morning sun she didn’t think anyone could see the glow. The cabin was too far away from the rest of the lodge, one of the exclusive areas where those who paid a boat load could walk out of their cabin and pretty much ski right down the mountain. This high up and with so many trees blocking them she figured they were safe but still. They didn’t need to walk into the breakfast with him lit up like a Christmas tree. Then everyone would know what they’d been doing out here. Not that she was ashamed, but still.

  “Terrible, terrible timing,” he muttered, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they headed up the walk.

  Slipping her arm around his waist, she held on tight. She wasn’t exactly nervous, but okay, maybe a little. This was a new world and now they were about to meet new dragons. The back part of the cabin had a huge upper room with all glass windows that glinted under the sunlight. A wide set of stairs led to a door where Conall was waiting, his body tense.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked as they started up the stairs.

  “Yeah.” His voice said otherwise. His tone also didn’t invite further questioning.

  It had to be weird for him to be around his ex, so maybe that was why he was on edge. But she wasn’t going to say one word about it.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered, opening the door and heading in first. It was a sign of respect to go first, to enter a room before them to take on any potential danger in their stead.

  As they stepped inside a bright room where a beautiful table was laid out, all conversation stopped and everyone turned to stare at them. Next to her Drake stiffened, his grip tightening. She knew this was hard for him, but he was doing it because it would be good for their clans to become allies.