Hearts Unleashed: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by C. D. Gorri

  Fifteen minutes later, wearing dark shades and with every exposed inch of his body covered, he cranked on his house generator and left Alfie on guard duty at home. He walked and skidded his way down the driveway on the inches of thick ice that had rained down overnight. Power lines dangled where tree limbs had fallen across the road. Fortunately, Brandenburg repair crews worked fast. The roads would be restored to passable condition by the end of the day.

  The short walk to Nana’s guesthouse took twice as long on ice. He only fell twice, almost crushing an iced-over gnome on the front lawn. He used his key to get him into the house, the one Aunt Nana had given to him long ago. Once inside, the air was already cold. This would make Ivy sleep like a turtle that goes into pseudo-hibernation.

  The backup battery had kept the alarm on, but the countdown clock read it only had twenty minutes left. He knew the master code since he’d installed it last year.

  She was in the bedroom at the end of the hall, shades drawn tight. Nana’s ancient family sword sat against the bed. She’d put on a knit hat and gloves before going to sleep. Maybe she’d anticipated the electricity would go out, but the pink-striped knit hat with small animal ears made him chuckle. Completely idiotic, but adorable. His smile was so wide it hurt and made him realize how much he had genuinely missed her version of crazy.

  She didn’t stir when he touched her.

  He gave her a gentle shake. “Ivy?”

  Her eyes blinked. She stared at him for several seconds before muttering, “Dream Ty?” Dramatic sigh. “I can’t do this anymore. We discussed this last time. If you’re going to haunt me every night in my head, then finish what you start. This being left on a cliffhanger is annoying.”

  Dream Ty? Him starring in her fantasies was hot, but he’d find out what he wasn’t finishing.

  “Ivy? Are you awake? This is real Ty, not dream Ty.”

  Her eyes shut as she burrowed into the covers. “Kiss me and go away unless you’re finally ready to put those ten inches you brag about to good use.”

  He stared at her luscious lips, thinking about how soft and inviting they seemed. Would they taste like toothpaste, or would they be sweet like the cherry lip balm she loved? Would they open easily for him, or would she make him work for it again? He guessed she’d make him work for it.

  Whoa. Now he was turned on despite the freezing air and talking with someone still asleep.

  “What do you want me to finish?” he asked.

  No answer.

  Well, he sure as hell wasn’t leaving her here now.

  Chapter Four

  Ivy snuggled into the warmth. Her brain alerted her the sun had set. She rolled, her head colliding with something solid. And hot. And freaking amazing smelling.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared into Ty’s deep brown gaze. Was she dreaming? He often visited her in dreams where they argued or he got her so worked up without ever giving her relief.

  The dark hair falling over his forehead and the beard shadow along his pale jaw gave him a rugged look far more realistic than her fantasy version. He was far too handsome for his own good.

  She blinked.

  He blinked.

  This wasn’t a dream. The genuine Ty, in bed, was so much hotter than the one from her imagination.

  “How’d I end up here?” A glance around confirmed she definitely wasn’t at Aunt Nana’s place. “Did we…” She lifted the covers. Still dressed. They were the same clothes she’d gone to bed in yesterday morning. “Thank God. If we do anything without clothes, it’d be totally unfair not to remember all of it.”

  “Power went out during the day with the ice storm. Got cold fast. I brought you over here.” He dropped his head, eyes shut. “I want to clarify about the women, the seeming hookups. You were right about me thinking I needed that kind of thing. But I never touched them. At least not in years. Honest. Not one of them, not even for blood.”

  “I was kind of judgy. Sorry. It’s not really my business.” She bit her lip to keep from grinning as tension seeped out of her.

  He didn’t respond.

  She watched his T-shirt-clad chest rise and fall a few times. His breaths slowed right before he lifted his head and rolled to face her. Sincerity filled his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ivy. So fucking sorry. I didn’t get your message weeks ago when you wanted to meet at the treehouse. Took me a long time to find it last night in the archives of voicemail, but I did. I was in Russia when you called and had a lot of phone messages over that job. Most were junk so I didn’t listen. When I didn’t recognize the number you phoned with… It’s my fault. I was on alert for you to call. You have to know if I’d heard it I would’ve flown home. I would’ve been at the treehouse.”

  Her breath caught.

  “I’d never abandon you,” he said. “I believed Hugo was your choice, but that you had your own reasons for running. Your mother told me you chose him. I figured if you needed me, you’d call. I thought you didn’t want me to be a part of your life anymore because I fucked up that night when we—”

  “Ty…”

  “I’d never hurt you.” He swallowed hard. “I… You’re my best friend.”

  He friend-zoned her, which hurt. But his admission undid her.

  She felt the burning need to kiss him. To show him how much she loved him and that it wasn’t a friend-zone thing for her. Would he withdraw like he’d done before? Or kiss her back?

  She was scared. But she also needed him to see her as more than a friend.

  Heart pounding so hard her ears throbbed, she closed the distance between them.

  She wrapped her arms around his wide chest and buried her face in his neck. “You’re my best friend too, Ty. But I feel more.”

  She shifted to straddle his hips and could feel his hardening erection. She wanted him. She didn’t think she’d ever stop wanting him. Her hands moved over the curves and divots of his muscles, but her full attention was drawn to his neck vein.

  Focus. No biting. Not yet.

  “What’re you doing?” he asked hoarsely.

  “You want me, don’t you?”

  “More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. But if I start, I’m going to strip you and keep you here until you’ve come so many times you can’t move. There’s not a thing I haven’t dreamed of doing with you. But we can’t. This is simply attraction, which we’ve always had. There are some megashit things we have to deal with, starting with the fact you’re not mine to have.” He traced a finger over her lips. “If I do any of those things, you need to be mine officially. If we break the code and do this now, we give Hugo the right to execute both of us. You may not have spoken the vows, but your parents gave you to him. You’re as good as his.”

  He moved away and scooted to sit on the edge of the bed.

  “Do you love me, Ty, or just love me?”

  He buried his face in his hands. “You’re my person. But…you don’t belong to me. Do you know how crazy that makes me?” He craned around for a quick look her way. “This is the kind of fuck-up I fix for other vampires. Too many times I’ve been asked to pull a mated female out of another man’s bed, be it human or vampire or some other species, and force her back to her mate. Back to the asshole that owns her but doesn’t value her.”

  “But you don’t force them back.” She compressed her lips. She wasn’t going to cry over the impossibility of them.

  “I don’t because I think of you…and me. I feared something like this would happen. Is it fair society rules favor males over females? No. I think it’s why vampires are so messed up. It’s why I see so many vindictive, angry women who’re scary as hell.” He gave her his back again. “You have to stop running. Like most of my clients, the two of us can’t disappear. I warn my clients that disappearing only delays their problems. I help them do it, if that’s what they want, but in the end, they’ll be found. They’ll have to face their pursuers, and more often than not they die in that faceoff.”

  “How many of those you helped disappe
ar thought the risk of death was worth it for them to be together?”

  He released a choppy breath and rolled his tongue against his cheek. “All I helped vanish believed every moment together was worth it, be it a day or a year or a century. But, Ivy, for us… Hell, there is no us. Hugo isn’t a monster. I researched him. He might be entitled and raised old school, but if you put your mind to it, you could turn him around.

  “I don’t want him.”

  “What happened between you and Hugo that made you run?”

  She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat and sat up. She reached out to rest her hand against his tense back. “Hugo wasn’t my choice, Ty. My parents chose him. I thought you’d put your name in the choice bucket when they were making my decision. I thought I did my best to make sure we had to be the best bet, but I guess you didn’t put forth a pledge. Did you? Turn around and look at me.”

  He rotated, his eyes glassy and haunted. But didn’t answer.

  “Did you?”

  He nodded.

  She put a fist against her mouth. “Oh, God. That you did and they…”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Obviously, I had nothing to do with who they chose. I don’t even know how they selected. Probably used a combination of money, bloodline, and family pull. I had zero input. Do you believe me?”

  He blinked.

  “Ty?”

  “Yeah,” he croaked out.

  “Like that was believable. I didn’t. You’re my person, too. I’d rather spend the rest of my life sitting on counters and helping you renovate furniture than be with Hugo.”

  “Ivy, I want so much more than sitting on counters.”

  “Me, too.” A grin split her face. “You just inspired an art project, maybe a sculpture.”

  “Good, but Hugo... It doesn’t change things. We have figure out how to make what’s been forced on you to work.”

  “It’ll never work.” She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “My mom dressed me in one of those lacy ritual dresses. It was ridiculous. She recited the lines I’d have to say to vow my life away and tried to force me to learn them, but I couldn’t say them. When I looked Hugo in the face, I realized he saw me as a possession, a thing to own and use. He didn’t see me. He’s not interested in my thoughts or playing a real part in his life.”

  “You could’ve changed Hugo’s mind about that. What specifically did he say to you that made you run?”

  “That dress was horrendous.”

  “Ivy…”

  “My mother threw me into a room with him. He informed me I’d live at his English estate. The only male I could ever touch for the rest of my life would be him so that he would know all children were his. If I allowed another male to touch me…hell, be near me, he’d kill him. That included my brothers and any friends. If I didn’t give him children within two years, he’d dispose of me and find a new mate. Pretty sure that meant kill me and disappear my body.”

  “What?”

  “That’s kind of standard for this kind of arrangement. For someone like him to want a woman solely based on bloodline means he only cares about offspring, but the deal breaker—”

  “That wasn’t enough?” Ty interrupted.

  “He said I had to give up my foolish painting. He wasn’t into contemporary bullshit. I had to do classics like oil still lifes as only a vampire of proper upbringing would be inspired to do. I like rolling in paint and flinging myself at a giant canvas or painting an abstract. So, I was out.”

  Ty’s face mottled red.

  “Calm down,” she said evenly. “It’s within his rights to try to dictate everything about my life. It’s the way this works. But I won’t take that kind of narrow-minded bullshit and deal with it. I won’t accept life-long enforced social isolation and having what I love ripped from me without a fight.”

  “But you’re socially isolated right now.”

  “On my terms. Not his.” She leaned forward to cup his cheek. The words she wanted to say wouldn’t come out because she feared rejection: I lost my heart a long time ago to the only guy I trust, the only person I think I might be able to vow fidelity to for the rest of my life. You might be messed up and damaged, but that’s kind of perfect I want.

  *.*.*.*

  This was why Ty loved her so hard—her independence, stubbornness, and spirit. That was why he’d helped the clients who had no one else to turn to, but he’d only assisted the ones who had deep love and could prove it.

  “This thing with Hugo needs resolving.” He sighed. “I’ve never gotten anyone out of their union once it’s done unless both partners want it dissolved. We have to convince him to let you go.”

  Alfie jumped up and stared at the door. He held his tail straight out in line with his body. Intruder alert. Yet, he didn’t bark. Didn’t make a single noise. He’d been trained to only vocalize on command.

  Ty put a single finger over his lips as he pulled on a shirt, shoes, and a fully loaded tactical vest from beneath his bed.

  To Alfie, he ordered, “Pass auf.” Guard.

  “Alfie will keep you in this room as much as he will keep others out. Don’t try to leave.”

  “Don’t do that to me. I have to help you.”

  “No. This is my fight.” He removed a gun from the vest and put it into her hands. “If he gets through me, I’m dead. Shoot him in the head and the heart like I taught you. Then do it again.”

  Chapter Five

  Ty scanned through security feeds of the past twenty minutes of the interior and exterior. His three-bedroom cottage wasn’t large or cluttered, but all entrances were secure.

  Where are you, asshole?

  Little more than a shadow, Garian Rigo had slipped in through the attic and disabled the alarm. Ty respected the move. Slick and professional, especially given the level of ice on the roof. Add in the fact he had that small window wired with the alarm, which Garian must’ve deactivated, demonstrated upper echelon skill.

  He detected no movement as he tiptoed down the hall toward the stairs, but Ty could hear Garian breathe. He picked up his heart beating, the same as Garian could hear his. He planned to draw him away from Ivy. Garian would know she was here. He’d probably tracked her from Nana’s guesthouse.

  An impact jolted Ty backward into the wall. His hip slammed against a doorknob. Garian yanked him forward and smashed him into the doorknob again. Bastard. Ty’s head whacked into the doorframe. While his mind struggled to clear itself, he twisted off the doorknob. He grabbed the hand with the knife headed for his jugular.

  Garian’s large bore head with its hooked nose and heavy brow encompassed his whole vision. He gritted out in his raspy Russian accent, “She goes with me.”

  Waste of energy to contradict him.

  With a surge of adrenaline, Ty pushed Garian away from him. In a flash, Garian jabbed. Ty’s roll to avoid the blade wasn’t quick enough. The knife embedded deep under the tactical vest into his stomach. He was better than this. Faster. More lethal. Note to self: If I survive, drink blood today.

  The bastard might have gotten one hit in, but he wasn’t getting a second chance.

  Garian headed in for another stab.

  Ty kneed him in the nuts.

  With a grunt, his attacker stepped back, which was all Ty needed. He excavated a syringe from his tactical vest pocket. It in one hand and knife in the other, Ty stabbed the syringe into Garian’s thigh and depressed the plunger. A sweep of Garian’s legs sent the other vamp to the floor.

  Garian was back on his feet before Ty could pin him, charging. Ty prepared for impact, focused solely on the knife headed back toward his stomach, and on placement of his own blade. He avoided knife contact but ended up back to the wall again. Score. His blade now sat deep in Garian’s right side. He yanked it out. With a swipe, he cut Garian’s face, not that it slowed him.

  The dilation of Garian’s eyes was the only indication the drug Ty had injected affected his attacker.

  He pounced
to pin Garian and pressed his knife against Garian’s throat. The vampire stilled.

  Garian said, “Injecting me is cheating.”

  “No less that what you did with the knife. Poison? Asshole move. Do I need to kill you, or is this warning enough?”

  Seconds ticked by while Garian’s resistance lessened.

  “We’re good,” Garian finally said and slid down the wall to a slumped sit.

  “Remember, you owe me for not killing you.”

  “Heir.” He called to Alfie.

  Ivy followed. “You okay?” She stared at where he’d been knifed. “You’re not okay.”

  He scrolled through outdoor images on his phone, seeing no other person or vampire. He didn’t expect Garian to have an associate.

  “I’m fine. I’ll be back in a minute.” Ty lifted the bounty hunter and lugged him back to his car up the street. The guy wouldn’t wake up for hours, if he didn’t freeze. With a sigh and an eye roll, Ty found some extra clothes in Garian’s trunk that he draped over the vampire to keep him warm.

  He jogged back to his house.

  “Ivy?” he called out.

  She emerged, gun in hand with a determined and somewhat terrifying expression.

  He held up his hands. “Don’t shoot. He’s out of the house.”

  “Was that Garian?”

  He nodded. “Garian is good. He won’t stop.”

  “Did you kill him?” She’d lowered the gun and chewed on her lip.

  “Probably smartest if I had. But he’s just doing his job.”

  “Sounds like it’s time for me to leave, to move on from here, so you can get back to your life.”

  “Give me the gun.” He held out his hand. “We’re in this together. We’re leaving right now. You can’t go back to the other house. If Garian’s smart, he set up cameras or some other monitoring to see you. If it was me, I’d booby trap it to capture you. Let me pack a few things. We’ll get you new clothes later. Can you put some of Alfie’s food in a few plastic bags for us? Grab his bowls, too.”