by HELEN HARDT
“But—”
I placed two fingers over his lips. “I have to, Dante. I’ll arrange for a week or two off, but I have to go in tonight. It’s too late to call in now. They need me.”
“I’ll go with you, then.”
“No. You need your rest.”
“You might need me. I could…glamour them if I have to. Or I could try, at least.”
I laughed softly. “I have plenty of vacation time saved up. Besides, you’ve told me you’re not very good at glamouring.”
“I’m not, but…”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll stay in the waiting room while you’re working. Then I’ll be there just in case you need me.”
“Dante. Come on. You need to rest.”
“I’m fine, damn it. I’m not going to let her dictate what I can and can’t do. What I need is to protect you. That’s final.” His eyes burned.
I opened my mouth to argue the point, but nothing came out.
Truth was, I wanted him there. I wanted him to protect me. I needed him to do it as much as he needed to do it.
“Okay,” I relented. “I need to leave. How long will you be?”
“I’m ready now.” He sat up and then left the bed.
Logan wasn’t in tonight, which was just as well. I didn’t relish him and Dante running into each other, especially when Dante’s mental state was precarious at best. I knew enough now that perhaps he’d open up to me a little about what had happened to him. But I wouldn’t push. I couldn’t do that to him. I texted River so he wouldn’t waste a trip over here just to sniff Logan.
It was a slow night, thank goodness, so I was able to ask questions about Lucy. No one knew anything, though. It was another episode of she was here and then she wasn’t. Same as the others, save for Patty Doyle and her baby, who had been transferred to a hospital in Baton Rouge by her parents.
Or had they?
I began furiously searching on my computer. Ah, yes. The transfer order. I hadn’t seen it before when Patty and her baby had first disappeared. I’d looked everywhere, but it had eluded me. Had it been here all along? It could have been entered after the fact. The admins were always busy and overworked.
Shit. Speaking of the admins, I needed to get my leave taken care of. I walked out of the nurses’ station and down toward the office where the night administrator worked.
“Excuse me?” I knocked lightly on her open door.
Dory Delynch looked up from her computer. “Oh, Erin, hello. What can I do for you?”
I walked into her office, clearing my throat. “I need to talk to you about some time off.”
“Impossible. We’re understaffed at the moment, as you know.”
“I’m afraid it’s serious. A family emergency. I need to fly to Ohio.” The lie tasted like acid in my mouth, but this was important.
She pulled up the calendar on her computer. “I can give you two days. That’s it.”
That was it? For a family emergency? Granted, it was a fake family emergency, but Dory didn’t know that.
“I’m afraid that’s not acceptable,” I said. “I need to get home right away. I’ve got a flight booked in the morning.”
She sighed. “How much time do you need?”
“I was hoping we could leave it open-ended.”
“Erin, no. Just no. You’ve got to give me a—” She stopped, her gaze drifting.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. What was it that you needed, Erin?”
“I told you. I need to take some time off for a family emergency.”
She looked down at her keyboard. “Of course. Whatever you need. I’ll write it up. Let’s leave it open-ended for now. You have personal time you can use. When that’s used up, I’m sure we can work something out.”
“Uh…okay. Thanks, Dory. I really appreciate this. I’m sorry for the short notice.”
“No problem. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.”
“Yeah, of course. Me too.” I turned…and my mouth dropped open.
Dante stood in the doorway of Dory’s office. I signaled him to be quiet as I left her office, leaving the door slanted open.
He grinned.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I guess I’m better at this glamouring thing than I thought.”
Chapter Six
Dante
“How?” Erin asked.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure. I was in the waiting room, and I had this strong feeling that you needed me. I didn’t even know where I was going.”
“How did you even get back here? This is staff only.”
“Like I said, I just knew you needed me. When I got to this office, I heard you inside. She wasn’t going to give you the leave you needed, so I fixed it.”
“How?” she asked again.
“Damned if I know.” I ruffled my fingers through my hair. I wasn’t lying to Erin. I truly had no idea. I saw what was happening, and I knew I needed to fix it. “I’ll talk to my father about it and figure it out. He’s supposed to teach me all the stuff I should have learned in the last ten years. We just haven’t had any time to do it with everything else going on.”
“Well, we’ll—”
“Erin”—the administrator rustled out of her office—“what are you still doing here? Go take care of things. You’re off the clock as of now.”
I flattened myself as best I could against the wall. But I was a big guy. No way she wouldn’t notice me.
But she whisked by, not giving me a look.
“That was strange,” Erin said.
“Stranger than strange. I was invisible to her.”
“Maybe part of the glamour?” Erin shrugged.
“I have no idea. I’ll ask my father when I have the chance. For now, though, if you’re off the clock and you’re done here, let’s go home.”
She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too. I’m exhausted.” I kissed her forehead and then bared my fangs. “And hungry.”
Within seconds after we’d entered Erin’s—our—townhome, I had her flattened against the wall, my teeth embedded in her milky neck.
I moaned as I drew the sustenance I needed from her body. As her creamy blood flowed down my throat, my strength returned, and though I was still fatigued, I no longer felt total exhaustion.
In fact, my dick had hardened into stone. I always got hard when I fed from Erin, but this was unexpected, given my fatigue and my spell the previous day.
I groaned when she clamped her hand onto my jean-clad erection. “Baby. I need you.”
“I need you too,” she said breathlessly. “Are you sure?”
“I’m always sure.” I unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans, freeing my hard cock.
Just as quick, she kicked off her sneakers and shed her sweatpants and underwear. In another second, I was inside her warmth, cozy and secure, where I needed to be.
“Dante, oh my God. You fill me so completely. I never realized how empty I was until you.”
I plunged into her again and then again.
Again.
Again.
Her fingernails scraped my skin, and my balls contracted.
Once more… Oh God, and I was releasing, taking what she willingly gave to me.
As I panted, my whole body throbbing, coming down from a miraculous high, she rubbed my back in soothing circles.
And I realized she hadn’t come.
What a selfish bastard I was. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“For what?”
“I was thinking only of myself. You didn’t come. I’ll make it up to you, baby.”
She smiled. “Dante, I don’t care if I climax or not. I mean, I care. I love it with you. But the closeness is more important to me. Fulfilling your needs. Because when I do that, my own get fulfilled a hundred times more.”
I struggled for words. How could I ever be worthy of the love and sustenance this amazing woman so willingly gave to me?
Yet I understood what she meant. I got so much by giving to her as well. And I’d give her everything I could. “Tell me,” I said. “What do you want from me? What do you need? I’ll give you anything within my power, love. Anything.”
She smiled, and she was so fucking beautiful. Her hair was tumbling out of her ponytail, her cheeks were luscious pink with her blood rising to the surface. The soft whoosh of it buzzed in my ears.
“You don’t need to give me anything, Dante. I have everything I want right here.”
I shook my head with vehemence. “Not good enough. I want to do something for you. Anything.”
“Well… I was kind of looking forward to… Oh, this is embarrassing.”
“Tell me.”
“You said you would tie me up. Take me forcibly. And then River interrupted us.”
“I’m sorry about that. I lost my self-control, and I never should have—”
She touched two fingers to my lips. “No, Dante. No. You were so passionate. So determined. So rogue and alpha. I loved it. Truly.”
“But I—”
“You won’t hurt me. I know that. I think we’re together for a reason. I think we have this blood bond for a reason. We are each other’s halves to an amazing whole. Whatever you need at whatever time, I will give it. It’s what I was made for. I know it in the depths of my soul.”
“How can you be so completely wonderful?” I wrapped her in my arms and simply held her. How amazing to just hold the person I loved more than my own life, more than anything. After a few minutes, I said, “Are you sure?”
“Totally. As long as you’re sure.”
God. The thought of tying her and taking her forcibly made me harden again. “I’m sure. I don’t have what I need here at the moment.”
“It doesn’t have to be now. Just know, Dante, that when you need me, when you need to take me that way, I’m in. I’m all in.”
I clamped my mouth to hers in a ferocious kiss.
This woman was my everything. My lover. My savior.
Everything.
As our tongues swirled together, I knew I’d find out what was going on at the hospital. With Lucy. With the B positive blood. With the blood bond. With everything. I had to. Not just for me but for Erin.
For us.
Us.
We were no longer Erin and Dante.
We were us.
Later, after we’d slept for several hours, we went to the Quarter to find a tincture made of basil and calendula for Erin to try masking her scent. We found a little magick shop lodged in a corner, almost hidden. Goose bumps erupted on my skin.
Something was fishy here.
“What’s wrong?” Erin asked.
And then I realized. We were near the manhole I’d emerged from the night I escaped. I hadn’t thought I would recognize the place, but I knew. Not from anything visual or even aural. But my body knew. This was close to where I’d claimed my freedom.
“Nothing,” I said. “I mean, nothing I can’t handle. What made you choose this particular shop?”
“I don’t know. You were leading, remember?”
She was right. I had been. Perhaps I’d subconsciously led us here.
We opened the door—it creaked softly—and walked in. A middle-aged gentleman sat behind a desk. He wore glasses and a sweater vest. Definitely not the voodoo type. The shop was cozy, but I didn’t get a warm feeling.
Not a bad feeling actually, just not a warm one. Goose bumps still scattered over my arms.
“I’m Joseph, the proprietor of this fine shop. Blessed day to you. What may I help you with?” The man lowered his glasses and looked straight at me.
Erin smiled. “I need some basil and calendula.”
“May I ask what for?”
“Does it matter?” I answered.
“Of course it does. I won’t know how much to give you or in what ratio if I don’t know what you need it for.”
“To mask an odor,” Erin said.
I didn’t like her use of the word “odor.” It sounded bad, though I knew that wasn’t the actual meaning. Still, it grated on me.
“What kind of odor?”
“Well…my odor,” she said.
He inhaled. “Beg your pardon, miss, but you don’t seem to have an odor. And my olfactory sense is quite refined.”
“Certain…people can smell me, apparently,” she said.
Okay. Enough was enough. I bared my fangs.
Joseph nearly jumped out of his seat. “Please. Don’t hurt me.”
“Dante…”
“I’ll take care of this,” I said. “I won’t hurt you. But there’s a gang of vampires after my woman because of her enticing scent. I want it stopped. A voodoo priestess told us calendula and basil might be the answer. Point us in that direction, and we’ll be out of your hair.”
“You’re a…a…”
“A vampire. Yes. A vampire who is rapidly losing patience.” I showed him my teeth once more.
“No. You don’t… You don’t…”
“I do. And if you’re smart, you’ll keep that knowledge to yourself. Now mix up a potion or infusion or whatever to keep those trashy vamps away from my woman.”
“Dante, please. Don’t scare him.”
“Too late for that, miss. Let me be honest with you.” He cleared his throat as he grasped the edges of his desk, his knuckles whitening. “I’m a fraud. I don’t know shit about magick or voodoo or anything. Damn. I should have closed up shop when that dead body turned up in the alley out back.”
An ice pick lodged into my neck. “What?”
“A body. A man. In fact…”
I was this close to grabbing him by the collar. Erin must have felt it too, because she caressed my forearm.
Her touch calmed me. But only a little.
“In fact what?” Erin said.
“In fact, he could be your twin. Although he was probably older. And he had a nasty scar across his entire face, right over his eye.”
“Julian,” Erin whispered.
A wave of something foreign whipped through my body, heating my blood. “Did you make something? Leave a bottle outside a while back?”
“No. Not that I re…”
“What? Finish your damned sentence.”
“I had a dream, though. A dream that I concocted some poison and left it outside the back door, in the alleyway. I swear to God it was only a dream. But the next morning…”
“The next morning what?”
“The next morning, I found the dead body out there. But I swear there was no bottle with him. Nothing. It was a dream. I swear to God it was a dream!”
“What did you do when you found the body?”
“I called the police, of course, but by the time they arrived, the body had disappeared.”
“You didn’t move it?”
“Of course not. Why would I call the police and then move it? I didn’t want to touch a dead body.”
“That’s my father you’re talking about,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Dante.” Erin’s touch heated my arm. “It wasn’t. He’s not his body.”
“You poisoned my father,” I spat.
“I swear I didn’t. It was a dream. A beautiful woman came to me in a dream. She was wearing a…gown of some sort. But not an evening gown. More like a—”
I finished for him. “A hospital gown.”
Chapter Seven
Erin
“My mother,” Dante said softly.
I caressed his arm again, trying to soothe him.
“This man poisoned my father.”
“No, I didn’t! I swear to God it was a dream. Wouldn’t there be evidence if I poisoned him?”
“Dante, he doesn’t remember any of this,” I said.
“Look. I can’t help you with masking your smell. I told you. I’m a fraud. Here”—he handed me a card—“this shop can help you. They’re for real. Tell them I sent you and that I’m closing down. They’ll be glad t
o hear it. They hate fakes.”
“I need to see the place where you found the body,” Dante said, baring his teeth again. “Now.”
“Of course,” Joseph said, his voice shaking.
He led us through the small shop to a wooden door in the back. He opened it—this one creaked even more than the front—and led us into the alley. Though it was daylight, the alley was dark with shadows.
“He was here,” Dante said. “I can feel it.”
“Dante,” I said as soothingly as I could. “If he has no connection with his body, how can you?”
“Because I’m still a body myself. He no longer is. Maybe it doesn’t make sense to you. But this is where my father died.” He edged away.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to find it.”
I hurried after him. “Find what?”
“The place where….” He turned to face me, his eyes dark and kind of scary. “The place where I escaped from is near here, Erin. River asked me to find it, and I didn’t think I could. I didn’t pay much attention that night. I was starving and scared out of my mind. But it’s close.”
“All right. We’ll find it. We’ll find it together.”
“No. I can’t put you in danger. I’ll come back with River and my dad.”
“Dante…”
“No argument, Erin. I’ll do it later. Right now, we’ll go to the shop the man recommended and see if they can help you.” He sighed. “I know it’s for the best. But not being able to smell you…” He inhaled.
“I’m sorry. But—”
“I know. I understand. Your safety is the most important thing.”
“Your safety too,” I said. “Not just mine. Dante, I don’t want you coming back here.”
“I know, baby. But I have to. For River. It might be the key to finding his father. My father died for this. I don’t have a choice.”
I nodded. He was right, of course. “I know. It’s just—”
Dante turned abruptly and went back into the small shop. I followed quickly.
“Hey!” Dante yelled. “I need to talk to you some more.”
Joseph squinted. “Not again. Please. I don’t know anything.”