Reality confirmed Aven’s suspicions. Dakota wasn’t half-human, half-jaguar, she was all switch, and she was hunting a vampire. Which meant old runaway Hank here, was charmed.
He came at Aven with a glassy look in his eyes, arms swinging wildly like he was on the attack, but his vibe was all wrong. Bald fear poured off the human ranger, and an urgency that said he thought he was in the fight of his life, that the only chance he had of survival was Aven’s death. It was the same frantic energy Aven had felt pouring off the female hostage who’d run from the gold mine, half out of her head with terror.
Aven sidestepped him, came in hot behind him and neutralized him with a sleeper hold, then lowered him gently but quickly to the ground.
Aven shoved into his eagle and went after his switch.
* * *
Dakota ran for her life, toward the danger, like she had every day as a cop, chasing down what had to be a vampire. She paused long enough to pull her sidearm from its holster, then ran hard again. Her thighs burned as she switched direction again, not in control of herself, and not understanding why. She jerked around the forest like a pinball.
A man stepped out from behind the rocks ten feet in front of her. Dakota skidded to a stop, her weapon pointed at the ground between them. She breathed hard, catching her breath as quickly as possible.
The man was tall and slender. Maybe in his fifties, but the years had been hard ones, judging by the craggy look of the skin stretched over his skull. His hair was black and slicked-back, but with a stripe of pure white stretching from one temple to his collar. He wore black leather pants and motorcycle boots with a blousy white shirt and - Dakota almost laughed - was that a cape draped across his shoulders?
Dakota couldn’t resist. “The Eighties called, you’re due back on the MTV set in twenty.”
The fashion tragedy in front of her sneered. “You switches are always so funny when you’re about to die.” Then he moved in.
Dakota put her sights on him. He didn’t hesitate. She had no choice, and she was about to do something she’d been trained to never do, but her Sergeant had never mentioned vampires.
She shot him in the leg.
He didn’t stop. He didn’t even bleed.
Shit.
She backed up, raised her weapon, and fired at his chest. Once. Twice. The bullets shredded his shirt. For a split second there was even a wound, but then it was gone.
Again, he didn’t stop.
Dakota fired almost point blank, his forehead, double tap.
Like jello, his head accepted and sealed the wound. He kept coming.
He snatched her gun and pitched it into the weeds, then pounced on her. She never even had a chance, and she should have a chance, she should be able to fight him, she had fought men his size before and won. Not this guy.
He had her in a body lock. He squeezed, almost popping her ribs. They groaned under the pressure. She punched wildly at his face and he didn’t seem to notice. Her chest screamed for air, her vision went black. She was reduced to scratching at him.
Skin tore under her fingernails. The man holding her howled in agony. He dropped her. She backed away, wishing for her gun, even if it didn’t do shit.
Black mist appeared around the guy for a fraction of a second, and then he disappeared.
Chapter 29 - Cat Dragged In
Aven followed the pull of his Instinct to where Dakota’s blue glow broke through the trees. Her body came into view and Aven skree-ed in fury. Vlade, the Fatherborne vampire Aven had tussled with at the gold mines, had his arms wrapped so tightly around Dakota he had to be crushing her.
Aven almost lost his mind. He folded his wings, shaped his body into a torpedo aimed straight towards them. He’d take that bloodsucker’s eyes out.
Dakota’s blue glow flared. Vlade dropped her, almost threw her, and staggered back. Aven landed in front of Dakota in his human form as Vlade phazed and reappeared a dozen yards away, looking tired, weakened. By Dakota or the sun? Vlade phazed away again, this time to somewhere Aven couldn't see. He watched the forest for a beat, to see if the bastard phazed back, but there was nothing.
Dakota’s firearm lay in the leaves nearby. Aven grabbed it up, put the safety on, and jammed it into the back of his waistband. No way was he giving a switch a loaded firearm five seconds after a vampire had checked out on her. She hadn’t killed him, so she wouldn’t be in full-on Prowl mode, but Dakota was still dangerous to anyone who crossed her path right now.
“Dakota? Talk to me.”
Dakota shook her head, scrambling to her feet and setting off running. Okay, or we could do that. Aven debated shifting into his eagle and trying some telepathy with her, since that was another thing that only switches could do, but that might freak her out more. He ran after Dakota, caught up quickly, and tried to talk her through it.
“You’re not a half-shifter, Dakota, you’re a switch,” he said between huffs of breath. “This proves it. Your mom was either a switch or she carried the gene somehow.”
Her spike of panic told him she’d heard him, but she said nothing, only tucked her head and ran faster.
“You can’t shift. Credence opened for you, not for us. Your room is on the main floor where the switches stay, I’m in the basement.”
He forced out the words that he feared and hoped would break her. “That was a Fatherborne.”
He snagged the sleeve of her blouse, then her hand, pulling her to a stop. “You’re not a jaguar. You wanted to kill him. You hurt him, and nobody can hurt a vampire like that but a switch.”
“Stop saying that!” Dakota pulled her hand from his and sprinted away.
Aven followed. Whatever was about to happen, she would not be without him. They crested a hill and were greeted by the sunflower meadow of Belief Coven. Of course this was where she ran to. This was home, now.
It hit Aven again, as he chased Dakota through the sunflowers, that the same was true for him. No more cabin up on the border. He was part of Belief Coven, the exact way he’d felt destined to be.
They broke into the clearing by Lightning Rock and Dakota finally slowed her pace, her shoulders rising and falling as she gulped in breaths. Aven took her hand in his and led her toward Credence’s front door. Dakota resisted at first, then followed.
Aven opened the door and flipped the light switch before he remembered that it didn’t work. Hopefully the plumbing was online, so he could at least get her a glass of water. He stepped over the threshold, bringing Dakota with him.
But the second she stepped foot on the gray flagstone entryway floor, the stainless steel chandelier above their heads came to life, casting bright artificial light over them, glaring off the front window. The fireplace across the room whooshed with a burst of flame and settled into a cozy blaze. A lamp by a plush blue sofa near the fireplace lit up, inviting them to sit.
Aven spun to see her, to stare into her face, to see if, when she looked around, she finally believed what was also staring her in the face.
She was magic.
* * *
Dakota stopped just inside the front door. She didn’t want to take another step. This house made her itch now, made her skin feel too small for her body.
She turned around and saw Aven, his back against the closed door, his fathomless brown eyes watching Dakota. Probably wondering when she was going to get herself together.
He spoke up softly, contradicting her. “It’s a big change. You don’t have to like it.”
Dakota turned her back on him to keep herself from lashing out. Oh, I don’t have to like it? Well, good, because I don’t! But she knew it wasn’t Aven’s fault. He’d done everything he could to make it easy on her, but somehow that made it worse. What she needed was hard, driving, mind-numbing activity, like Sparring or range time… or sex.
She turned again, eyeing the golden god of a man standing there. He could take her mind off it for a little while. A long while, she corrected herself. Nothing about Aven was little.
; He stood strong as Dakota crashed into him, his hand going to the back of her head and holding her still for his ravenous kisses, as if he knew that she needed firm handling right now. His other hand splayed across her ass, dipping between her legs and seeking the heat of her with his fingers. Dakota moaned into his mouth, halfway to gone already.
Clothes flew until they were both naked. Aven spun Dakota in his arms, pulling her back hard, going straight for her neck with his lips and teeth. Dakota moaned and pushed her ass against him. Aven took her breasts in his hands and teased at her tight nipples until Dakota’s hips were rolling, pressing, begging for more. She reached behind her and gripped Aven’s ass with both hands, grinding his hard length against her.
Aven growled and let her go, giving Dakota a gentle push away from the living room, into a dining room that also faced the meadow with a large picture window. A glass-topped dining table filled most of the space. Dakota turned to face Aven.
He snatched Dakota into his arms and kissed her like he’d never get another chance, like he had to taste all of her this instant. Aven lifted Dakota, placing her on the edge of the table. He gave her a dark look and put one palm on her sternum, used it to gently, firmly, push her back onto the dining room table.
Dakota was splayed on the table like a feast, about to be ravished. Her shoulders touched cold glass and her nipples pebbled even harder. She arched her back. Aven hissed in a breath and ran both hands from her thighs to her throat and back. “Dakota, you are so beautiful like this.”
He stared between her legs with a heat that made her whole body blush. Dakota squirmed on the table and slipped one hand down to spread herself open. “Touch me, Aven.”
He grabbed her thighs with a groan, brushing her hand out of his way, and knelt in front of her. The second his tongue touched her, Dakota was as lost as she wanted to be. Drowning in the sensations he created, giving up all of her thoughts in a desperate quest for oblivion. Nothingness.
Aven took her there quickly, ravenously, seeming to understand how savage she needed him to be, to help her forget how her life was careening out of her control. His lips and tongue pushed her, made her feel every caress. Aven stretched his arms to play at her nipples as his hungry mouth taunted and teased, sucking and licking until he found the spot that made her scream into a shattering orgasm.
Aven lifted Dakota up when she was still disoriented with pleasure, the room wavering around her. He put her feet on the floor and spun her to face the table. His commanding hand between her shoulder blades bent Dakota forward until her breasts pressed the glass, warm from her body.
Dakota saw the smeared print of her skin in front of her face, evidence of the way he’d made her sweat out that climax. Aven owned her right now. She’d do anything he said, as long as he kept her in this place where reality couldn’t find her.
His hand left her back. His feet nudged hers further apart. Dakota felt cool air on the wetness between her legs and shivered with anticipation of the heat to come. Hardness then, pressing against her softness, making Dakota arch her back, lift her ass, and beg. “Please, Aven. Please fuck me.”
His hand gripped her hip hard, fingers digging into her flesh as his cock slowly sank inside her. Dakota pushed back on him, desperate to be filled, and felt Aven lean back ever-so-slightly, keeping her from taking what she wanted. She looked over her shoulder at him and growled with all the need inside her. “Now.”
His jaw flexed and then Aven was in her so deep that Dakota could not help but scream. Her body twisted forward again, her breath fogging the glass in front of her.
Aven set a punishing pace. Fucking her harder, deeper, faster than he ever had. Dakota braced her body to take it. All the pleasure, the edge of pain when he bottomed out inside her, she reveled in all of it. Never wanted it to stop. When he pulled her arms behind her and went harder, Dakota slammed into a climax so ferocious it shocked her.
He pulled again, pulled Dakota to standing. Her head lolled on her shoulders, her body weak with bliss. But Aven didn’t stop. He pounded her with that long, hard cock, his grunts keeping time with his relentless fucking. Dakota took it all.
She came twice more, a limp ragdoll in Aven’s arms from the pleasure he’d given her, before he showed signs of giving in to his own. He released her arms and pulled her fully against him, gripping Dakota’s hip and breast, his hot breath in her ear. He pushed deep and slow once, twice, then gave a growling groan as he came, thrilling Dakota with his satisfaction.
They sank to the floor on shaky legs. Aven held her in his lap and gasped for breath as Dakota leaned her head against his sweaty chest. She felt his heart beat fast against her cheek.
In the moments that followed that perfect love, held close to that perfect male, Dakota weakened. Switch. Not Jaguar. Switch.
She cried. She grieved, really, for who she had always thought she was. Aven said nothing, only wrapped her tighter in his arms and let her get it out.
She cried until she gave up trying to accept that she would never shift.
Chapter 30 - Good For The Goose
A jingling sound by the front door broke them out of their reverie. It was Aven’s phone, ringing in his pants where he’d dropped them. He eased Dakota off his lap and scrambled to his feet, but he was too late to catch the call.
“It was Dallas,” he called to Dakota. “I have full bars on my phone. Guess that came with the lights?”
Dakota was on her feet and pulling on her underwear. Her lightly-bronzed skin shone in the afternoon light coming in the front window, the most strikingly beautiful vista Aven had ever seen, even from the air. She took Aven’s breath away.
She dressed quickly. “Does anyone else know?”
He shook himself out of his awestruck stupor and cleared his throat, grabbing up his own clothes. Had he really just fucked Dakota on the dining room table of the new coven after discovering she was a switch, not a shifter?
He gathered himself. “I need to send some messages. Be ready for company.” He typed a text to Jameson explaining the situation as briefly as he could, and hit send.
A text came back from Jameson: Big shit. Settle in tonight. Cause meeting at your place in the morning.
Aven showed Dakota the text, his mind stuck on a question. Where was The Cause going to park?
There was no driveway crossing the meadow, no way of getting to the front of the coven except by walking, so where was Luxe going to stay? Surely Credence had a plan?
He pulled on his boots and looked over at Dakota, doing the same. “You game to explore a little?” She gave him a curious glance, but nodded.
They walked through the kitchen. Aven opened the door that led down to the barracks. Now that they knew Dakota was a switch, he wondered who the locked room across from his belonged to.
All the lights worked now. Aven flipped every switch as he went, looking for another door, one they hadn’t opened yet. He found one at the far end of the rec room, to one side of the bar.
Aven opened the door and knew immediately he had found what he was looking for. Enough light spilled in from the room behind him to reveal a literal cavernous space. It was Credence’s garage.
The walls and ceiling were carved from the multicolored stone of Lightning Rock. The floor was flat and industrial, with spaces marked for at least a half-dozen cars, and twice that much floor space beyond them. One massive automatic door stood at the far end.
Aven found the button.
It led to a freaking tunnel.
Like they had earlier in the day, they both ran in, but this time, he was a split second ahead.
As they approached the archway leading into the sun, Aven could see it opened out the back side of Lightning Rock, the side that was still a curved dome of lifeless stone. The paved driveway inside the tunnel gave way to a dirt road that hadn’t been there a few days ago, cutting through wild shrubs and grass, extending for a hundred yards before meeting the man-made road.
They stepped fully out into the suns
hine. Aven turned back to look at the opening, carved into the stone heart of the hill. It disappeared before his eyes, replaced with solid rock. “What the hell?” But one step toward the hill brought the opening into focus again.
“Like some kind of mirage,” Dakota said.
Aven nodded. “Like Resperanza’s driveway. I bet only coventwined shifters and switches can see that road. As long as they stay on it, they’ll get in.” Credence had her shit handled.
“Someone’s coming,” Dakota said, her voice low and tight.
A cloud of dust obscured the car turning off the man-made road and onto the one Aven suspected was for The Cause alone. Better not be that wrong-smelling hawk. Aven might be able to work with Maze, but no way did he want to live with him.
But it wasn’t Maze. It was Dallas. He pulled his tan, sedate sedan - it had a be a rental, Aven thought, or else his buddy had way bigger problems than being short a foot - slowly down the dirt road, rolling to a stop next to Aven and Dakota.
Aven was fucking thrilled to see him. Flint and Riot had rolled up to Resperanza the very first day the coven appeared. “Hey, brother. Tell me you have no idea why you’re here, but you couldn’t stop yourself from coming.”
Dallas didn't laugh… or respond, instead, he stared at his sister as if he’d never seen her before.
"I bet it was his room that bit me," Aven told Dakota, without looking away from Dallas.
Dallas reached out as if to touch Dakota, but his hand stopped at the edges of her new blue glow.
“You’ll get used to it,” Aven told him.. “Follow the road. We’ll meet you there and explain.”
Dallas gave his sister another long, searching look, while she stared back, challenging him. Aven received a strong sense that he was either hiding something, or not saying something that was important. It had to do with a female, Aven knew that much, and not this female. Not Dakota. Aven sensed Dallas wasn’t ready to talk about it, so it was also not the time for it.
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