Taste of Darkness

by Katie Reus

  “Nice kills,” Gabriel said before anyone could talk, looking between Rhea and Drake.

  Drake’s eyebrows raised as he glanced at the female shifter. “You killed one?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  That was impressive. He’d ask Gabriel for details later. “What’s going on?” He wrapped his arm around Victoria’s shoulders.

  Rhea raked a hand through her wild hair, her jaw clenched tight. “There was silver in the mimosas. I scented it.”

  Ice congealed in his gut. “You’re sure?” Drake knew Victoria hadn’t drank any. The Veles clan had attacked before either he or Victoria had tasted any.

  She nodded. “Yeah. Before I could say anything, shit went haywire.”

  “Did either of you drink any?” Drake asked.

  Rhea shook her head and Gabriel snorted before he said, “I’m not drinking anything called a fucking mimosa.”

  “Did you scent any?” he asked Victoria.

  She shook her head. “No. Gabriel couldn’t scent it either after Rhea told us. But she’s sure it’s in there.”

  He frowned and glanced at Rhea for an explanation.

  “Colloidal silver is difficult to detect, period. Even to wolf shifters. Put it in something like orange juice and champagne and it’s guaranteed to hide the very faint scent of it. But I’m a tracker.” She shrugged, as if that should explain everything.

  “And?”

  “I have a stronger sense of smell than pretty much all supernatural beings, including our Alpha. Spiro’s a tracker like me too,” she said, referring to one of the Stavros packmates. “It gives us an edge when hunting.”

  Drake frowned, digesting the information. “Silver won’t hurt dragons.”

  “Exactly,” Victoria murmured.

  So either she or all three of the wolves were targets. But he was betting it was just her. “You’ve been targeted.” A deep, ugly rage began to unfurl inside him. Whoever had done it, would die.

  Her eyebrows drew together as they did when she was deep in thought. “It would appear so. It’s possible that Gabriel and Rhea were targeted too, but that doesn’t make sense. It would be easy enough to put something in those mimosas that wouldn’t hurt most who drank it, to target one or a few individuals. If I had to guess, I’d say someone wanted to hurt me to hurt you.”

  “It’s possible someone from the Petronilla pack told the Veles clan where you were in Tennessee,” Gabriel continued. “Who else other than them and us knew you were there.”

  “Bo,” Victoria said.

  “I don’t think he’d do anything against our pack,” Gabriel said.

  Drake nodded. He remembered the way the male had protectively stood in front of Victoria at his club, the action almost instinctive. And what motive would the half-demon have? “Agreed.”

  “And now someone wanted to poison Victoria or all of us the same day the Veles dragons attack your clan and the Devlin’s,” Rhea added.

  “The poisoning seems like overkill though, if the Veles clan thought they could surprise us with an attack.” Drake wondered if the two events were separate. Because how would someone from the Veles clan get in the cabin to poison them? Especially when they’d just arrived this morning. “Someone in the Devlin clan or my clan tried to poison you. Where are the drinks now?”

  “Keelin poured some into a Mason jar so we could test it,” Victoria said.

  “Shit.” Drake rubbed a hand over his face. Shit, shit, shit. “The female Fia made the drinks. And she was nervous.”

  Victoria nodded. “Yes, but it would be so stupid to make the drinks if she intended to poison someone. She doesn’t strike me as stupid. I think she was simply nervous to see you after so long.”

  “Shit,” Drake said again. He didn’t want friction with the Devlin clan, not when they could be powerful allies, but he also didn’t want to endanger his clan or Victoria. She was the most important thing of all.

  “That about sums it up,” Gabriel muttered. “What are you going to do?”

  Instead of answering the Guardian, Drake turned Victoria in his arms, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I think you need to head back to Biloxi with Gabriel and Rhea. Too much is going on and I need you safe. I’ll come for you once everything is sorted out.” He was going to find out whoever was behind the poisonings and if need be, finish off the Veles clan. He couldn’t risk another attack on Victoria. What if he wasn’t there to protect her again? Next time the guilty party might succeed. If that happened…no. He couldn’t imagine a world without Victoria in it. He wouldn’t.

  Victoria gently cupped his cheek with one hand and placed another palm on his bare chest. She smiled sweetly at him. “Hell. No.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  What. The. Hell.

  Dragos had destroyed four Veles dragons in minutes with a pale, blue fire. Everyone in the village was on lockdown and they were all talking about the powerful display the male had made. And some were wondering if he should be leader. He was the eldest so it made sense he would be, but it hadn’t seemed as if he was interested.

  Those fucking Veles dragons shouldn’t have attacked and he wasn’t sorry they were dead.

  He was also glad he’d found out about Dragos’s ability. He wondered if it had something to do with his time in Hell, but that didn’t make sense. Whatever it was, he didn’t care. It was clear that he could never take on the male one on one.

  So he’d have to move on to his next target: Keelin. She was so naïve and trusting she should be easy enough to subdue. That wasn’t the hard part. Cornering her alone was.

  Arya, her mother, would never recover if Keelin died. Never. Maybe the bitch would go mad, just as she’d accused his own mother of doing. He rolled his shoulders, as if it could lift the agonizing memories of losing both his parents.

  According to the great Arya and the older Dragos, his mother had gone mad. Or feral, as other supernaturals liked to call it. She hadn’t though. She’d just been more in touch with her dragon than most.

  So what if she’d killed a few humans or livestock? Thousands of years ago they’d been respected and feared. Still myth in most parts of the world except in certain areas. Where dragons had thrived, the people had thrived also. They’d been protected. In exchange for that protection his mother had taken what she wanted for their clan.

  It had only been fair after all.

  It was unfortunate they didn’t live like that now. They were fucking dragons in a world full of weak humans. He and the other supernaturals should be ruling this planet.

  His inner dragon clawed at him, its talons scraping and raking against his insides, whispering that he undergo the change, that he take whatever he wanted. The darkest part of him smiled, imagining what it would be like to reveal himself to humans, to go on a rampage destroying anything he wanted. His own clan or other clan leaders would try to kill him and maybe succeed, but by then it wouldn’t matter. They’d be revealed to the world and fire would rain down everywhere. It would be a fucking bloodbath between humans and all supernaturals.

  His soul sang at the possibility of that type of freedom. To not have to hide who he was. To anyone.

  His phone rang, the low tune bringing him back to reality. He frowned at his inner dragon’s darker thoughts. He couldn’t reveal himself to humans. That would be foolish. A dull throb ached at the base of his skull.

  He couldn’t end up like his mother and inadvertently, his father. Because his father had died when his mother had been taken down, as bonded mates did when they lost their other half. No, he would avoid their fate. He’d go into Protective Hibernation to protect himself before his inner dragon wrestled too much control from him. The thought of sleeping for a couple hundred years was exactly what he needed. No one would be able to find him then.

  First he was going to kill Keelin, but he wouldn’t just kill her. No, he was going to make sure his clan remembered him before he went into Protective Hibernation. He’d make sure that when Arya finally woke up, she w
oke up to Hell. Perhaps he’d be able to take the shifter bitch too. His poisoning attempt had failed because of those inept Veles dragons. Now it appeared he’d have to be more hands-on.

  Tonight if possible.

  * * *

  “You can try to stare me down all you want. You’re not going to win this stupid argument. And it is stupid.” Victoria crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at Drake, refusing to get up from where she sat behind the desk in Conall’s library.

  After shit had gone haywire, as Rhea liked to say, they’d all returned to the village and the Devlins had moved to another location, though they were still in the area. Their precise whereabouts were unknown to the Petronilla clan as of now. Only Victoria, Drake, Gabriel, Rhea, Keelin and Conall knew about the attempted poisoning. And of course the guilty party—or parties. Drake and Conall wanted to keep the knowledge of the poisoning quiet until they discovered more clues. Any freaking clues at this point. Sure it might be the Devlin clan, but that just seemed so freaking obvious.

  And stupid.

  So for now Victoria was scouring books on various dragon histories. Conall’s library was extensive and she was determined to find out what had caused Drake to emit that pale, blue fire with seemingly impossible heat. He’d confessed to her that he had no idea how he’d done it, only that he’d felt different when he’d shifted earlier, more savage. It had seemed like he wanted to say more, but he’d held back.

  “Wanting to keep you safe is not stupid.” Drake mirrored her pose, his big arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the front of another desk. The muscles in his arms bunched, flexing tight as he stood there.

  Her gaze strayed over every inch of bared flesh and she was barely able to contain the growl of need rising up inside her. In the woods he’d been absolutely beautiful and naked and it hadn’t mattered that he’d just killed four dragons. She’d simply wanted to jump him once she’d seen he was unharmed even though they’d had no privacy. Until now.

  But things between them were awkward and even though she still wanted to jump him, they needed to hash things out. “I don’t need or want to be locked up tight and kept safe from the outside world. I’m a capable shifter. Treat me like one.”

  “You’re capable, but a dragon could still kill you,” he snapped, his eyes glittering bright silver.

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “No maybe. They could fry you in seconds.” His face twisted in agony as he said the words, his pain making her want to comfort him.

  But she stayed where she was. She wouldn’t let him put her in gilded cage, no matter how good his intentions. “I’ve got your dragon’s essence, remember.”

  His jaw clenched tight, his expression darkening to the point she could actually envision steam coming out of his ears. “That’s not a long-term solution. Until this shit is figured out—”

  She shoved up from the desk, shaking as she stood. “Just stop. I’m not leaving you to deal with this by yourself. If you think I would ever entertain that idea, you don’t know me at all. If you want me as a mate, we’ll be equals and I’ll never stick my head in the sand to leave you to deal with anything alone. That’s not how partnerships work!” She shouted the last part, unable to stop the rising pitch of her voice because damn it, if he thought she’d ever leave him, it sliced her up.

  Victoria rounded the desk and stalked toward him when he didn’t respond. He just watched her with a simmering mash of emotions. Anger for certain, but there was a lot of lust in those bright silver eyes. Hoping he’d see reason, she stood in front of him and laid a calm hand on his chest, which was unfortunately covered with a shirt. “Drake—”

  He crushed his mouth to hers, the dominating move taking her by surprise. She was still mad at him and kissing wasn’t going to solve anything but… Oh, god, he tasted so damn good.

  Arching into him, she wrapped her arms around him, sliding one hand behind his neck and cupping his head.

  He moaned into her mouth, the savage growl making her nipples painfully tighten. She needed more of him. So much more.

  Her body hummed with energy. Unable to take not touching more of him any longer, she slid her hands under his shirt and shoved it up. Taking her cue, he grabbed the hem and yanked it over his head, moving back a fraction as he did.

  Her hungry gaze raked over the hard lines and striations of his incredible body. His breathing was as erratic as hers, the rise and fall of his broad chest making heat pool between her legs as she imagined kissing every inch of it.

  Before she could move, he came at her like a male possessed, grabbing her hips and lifting her so that she had to wrap her legs around his waist. Not that she was complaining. She craved this closeness. After she thought she’d lost him in the woods, she needed reassurance that he was here. Alive.

  And all hers.

  Before she’d blinked her back was flat against the desk and Drake was covering her, his huge frame dominating everything as he slid his hands into her hair, holding her head in place as his tongue tangled with hers.

  The way he kissed her was raw, like he was fucking her with his tongue. At that thought, she spread her legs wider, welcoming the feel of his hard length pressing insistently against the juncture of her thighs. Too bad they both had pants on.

  Her fingers dug into his back hard as she arched into him again, writhing against him so he knew exactly what she wanted. She didn’t care if their first time was on this desk. She just wanted Drake.

  His kisses grew more intense as he reached between their bodies and unbuttoned her jeans. After tugging the zipper down, he slid his hand down her panties and cupped her mound, sliding a finger deep inside her. Slowly he began thrusting in and out of her, her inner walls clenching around him with each deeper push.

  “You’re so wet,” he growled against her mouth, moving to trail kisses along her jaw. “I want to fuck you right here.”

  “Do it,” she rasped out, nipping his earlobe between her teeth as she raked her fingers down his back. His muscles bunched under her touch. She slid her hands under the waist of his jeans and gripped his taut skin.

  “Not…here.” He pulled his finger out of her before sliding two in and pushing deep.

  She let out a groan at the way he stretched her. It wasn’t enough but at least he wasn’t completely stopping. “Why not?”

  “Fuck my fingers,” he whispered darkly. “Come on them.” A possessive growl.

  His words sent a spiral of need through her as she rolled her hips against his hand. When he started strumming her clit with his thumb she completely lost it. Hadn’t even realized she was so close to orgasm until he tweaked her sensitive bundle of nerves.

  Body bowing tight, the unexpected climax ripped through her, shattering her nerve endings. “Drake.” She couldn’t hold back the shout of his name as she moved against his hand.

  He buried his face against her neck, raking his teeth against her pulse point as her inner walls convulsed around his fingers.

  Letting her head fall back against the desk as her orgasm peaked, she saw that the room was lit up like a Christmas tree. She wasn’t sure how long she writhed against him but eventually her climax faded, leaving her loose limbed and emotionally exhausted.

  Wrapping her arms around his back, she held tight. When he withdrew his fingers from her, her body immediately mourned the loss. “Thank you,” she whispered, not trusting her voice more than that.

  He leaned back to look at her but was still covering her with his body. She savored the feel of his weight on top of her, the security of Drake. Lifting his hand he licked the first then second finger he’d just had buried inside her. The way he watched her as he did it was so primal a shiver snaked through her.

  “Love your taste,” he murmured, his gaze pinned to hers.

  She started to respond when a knock on the door made her jump. Drake made an annoyed rumbling sound in his chest and glanced over his shoulder. “Who the fuck is it?” he shouted, his words more of a growl than
anything.

  “Conall. Bran called. Might have some information for us. He’s waiting at the gate.”

  “Give me a sec.” Drake cursed under his breath but pushed up from her. As he did, he helped her sit even though she didn’t need it. “I just want you safe,” he said as he slid off the desk and grabbed his discarded shirt.

  “I know you do. I want you safe too. But I don’t want to lock you up somewhere.”

  “I don’t want to lock you up either,” he snapped as he once again covered that beautiful body with his shirt. “Going back to stay with your pack is just good sense.”

  Frowning, she zipped and buttoned her pants. “So I don’t have good sense?”

  “I didn’t say that. It’s just smarter if you put distance between here.”

  “Says you.” Her ire rose again, swift and sharp. She faced off with him, her hands on her hips.

  “Damn it Victoria!” Before he could continue, Conall, Keelin, Gabriel and Rhea strode in the room, all carrying manila files.

  “Your argument will have to wait.” Gabriel’s voice was completely unapologetic. “Conall’s got more files on everyone who was at the cabin this morning. And on Petronilla clan members who your immediate family has had issues with, no matter how small. I also called Finn and he’s calling in a favor to Bo. He’s going to see if the half-demon has heard anything through his supernatural grapevine about anyone having a beef with your clan. Other than the Veles clan.” His voice was wry as he said the last part.

  Victoria was glad she was dressed but knew the others must scent what she and Drake had been doing minutes before. Her face flushed but she ignored it as Conall looked at her.

  “Victoria, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to keep researching Drake’s…ability,” Conall said.

  She nodded. That was fine with her.

  “What else did Bran say?” Drake asked.

  Conall shook his head. “Nothing. Just that he wants to see me in person.”

  “I’m going with you,” Drake said immediately, then paused, tilting his head in Victoria’s direction, but refusing to look at her. She could practically feel the wall he was erecting between them even after what they’d just shared. All because he wanted her to leave. “The house is being guarded, but keep your blade on you.”