Air of Darkness

by Rose O'Brien

  “This is my favorite place in the house,” she said. “I feel like I can breathe and move here.”

  She pointed out a changing room and bathroom on the fourth wall and told him to use the training area whenever he wanted.

  He frowned.

  “Where do you sleep?” he asked. “It seems like there’s a bedroom missing.”

  She laughed and he followed her downstairs, then past his room and her library/office. She opened a door and stepped out onto a section of the screened-in wraparound porch. There was a large four-poster hung with a cream sheer canopy and curtains to the left of the door. There was a large armoire against the exterior wall of the house and a sitting area with a small sofa, chairs and a table done in white wicker with floral cushions.

  It was light and delicate and feminine, and it fit Alayna so perfectly. He touched one of the sheer curtains on the bed and rubbed the material through his fingers. This was the real Alayna. The relaxed, laughing woman who slept in the ultra-feminine room, this was her.

  “You sleep outside?”

  “It’s an air mage thing,” she explained. “All the elements have their quirks, especially when it comes to sleeping arrangements. Earth mages like to sleep underground. Fire mages are super warm sleepers and they like to have a fire going, even in the summer. Water mages like to live near the ocean or lakes and rivers. I suspect that’s why my brother, Xander, lives in New Orleans.”

  “And you need fresh air, I’m guessing?”

  A smile lit her features as she nodded. “My parents used to find me asleep in trees when I was little. I’ve never been able to sleep well inside.”

  Alex looked back at the bed and he could picture with perfect clarity how she would look with her platinum hair spilling over those pillows. He closed his eyes and tried to get a grip.

  “You look really tired,” Alayna said. “Hit the sack. That’s an order.”

  “You should probably do the same, Commander. Just a suggestion.”

  ***

  When she heard the door to Alex’s room close, Alayna let out the breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

  It felt so odd having someone here, having him here. This was her space, and she was so used to being alone in it.

  And she liked it that way, she told herself as she crawled into bed. Even though it was after dawn, she would still get some sleep. With all of the tall cedar trees and the deep porch roof, it was dim enough.

  She didn’t let people get this close, but here was Alex, just a few feet away, probably crawling into bed just like she was. Sure there was her team, but when she hung out with them, it was at a bar. They never came to her home. There were the guys she picked up in bars, but they didn’t even know her real name, and she never bothered to remember theirs.

  It had been about three weeks since she had gone out and hooked up. She’d picked up the last guy in a dive bar on East Sixth. He’d been tall and blond, a banker or something to do with finance. He’d been artfully scruffy. It was the kind of roughness that was carefully cultivated and totally artificial.

  He’d been decent in bed, enough to release her tension and keep her from climbing the walls.

  But compared to Alex, he was a pale shadow. Where the forgettable fling had a carefully cultivated scruffy look that was trying just a little too hard to cover up the blandness, Alex had the military polish and precision that was barely containing the roughneck underneath.

  She had watched that government-issued rigidity rub off a little over the past week, and she longed to see it slip completely. What would he be like if he let that epic control slip for just a moment?

  As she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, she let herself slip into the fantasy of what it would be like. He was strong, and his arms would feel so good around her. While his arms were powerful, his hands would be gentle, caressing her face, twining in her hair.

  His lips would be firm at first, but would soften as their kiss went on. His tongue would sweep into her mouth, possessing it, possessing her.

  She felt her skin flush and she shoved the fantasy away. No one could possess her, and she could never let anyone get close to that point. She wanted Alex, perhaps more than she had ever wanted anyone in her life. It scared her.

  Alex was not hers. He could never be hers. She would never be the one to watch his control slip, the one that he pulled desperately into his arms and kissed like she was air and he was a drowning man.

  What she would do was catch this killer. And she would protect Alex for as long as she had left so that he could go on and live his life. He deserved that chance at happiness, or at least, some kind of peace. With that resolved, she rolled on to her side and drifted off to sleep with Alex in her thoughts, wrapped around her like a warm blanket.

  ***

  Alex pulled the comforter back and slid between the cool, dark blue sheets. He was so tired that his bones ached. His fatigue had settled deep in his gut and felt like it was eating him from the inside out.

  He closed his eyes and fell almost instantly asleep, darkness and fatigue wrapping themselves around him and pulling him down.

  Sometime later, he came awake, feeling something touching his chest. Delicately soft hands moved up over his ribs, tracing the line of his pectorals. Little nails lightly raked the skin around his nipples. He gasped, his eyes adjusted after a moment to find Alayna lying next to him.

  It was dark outside the windows and the room was covered in dim shadows. That didn’t seem quite right to Alex. Hadn’t it been dawn just a minute ago? Had he slept all day? Hell, didn’t matter, she was touching him, her hands chasing away the questions.

  Alayna was a bright flame in the dark room, her hair the color of moonlight and skin shining like a pearl. Her hands were dancing lightly over his stomach and hips. He sucked in a breath.

  “What are you doing?” he asked her, his voice hoarse with sleep and desire.

  “What I’ve been wanting to do since that night in the alley.” Her soft, warm breath brushed his throat as she whispered the words.

  She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his, her slender fingers twining in his hair. Her skin sliding against his felt like silk and her mouth tasted like honey. That moonbeam hair fell around his face in a perfumed cloud as she pushed him back against the pillows.

  His heart began to pound against his ribs, the muscles in his chest going tense as arousal flooded his veins like rushing wildfire.

  He pulled her to him, feeling the satin of her nightgown sliding against his chest. His arms wrapped around her and he took control of the kiss, rolling her under him and pinning her to the bed. She felt so good underneath him, warm and soft in the right places.

  Alex ran his hands along the curves of her waist and hips and reveled in them. Her body was strong, she was strong, and he loved that strength.

  To be wanted by a powerful woman was a heady thing. He met her indigo eyes, almost black in the dark, and she gave him a witchy look through her lashes that said she couldn’t wait to have him.

  Her mouth against his was demanding, claiming. Her tongue slid along his bottom lip and he groaned against her mouth. She took that opportunity to slide her delicate tongue against his. It reminded him of that night in the alley, and his body responded with a fresh flood of heat along his nerves.

  She broke the kiss and pulled back, her hand against his jaw. The tender touch nearly undid him. His breath coming fast, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers.

  His hand touched the delicate, silken skin of her thigh and pushed the lacy hem of her nightgown up. When his hand brushed her hips, he realized she wasn’t wearing any underwear, and he groaned softly against her neck. As he did that, he felt goosebumps chase down the skin of her throat and chest.

  He captured her mouth with his again and reached to touch the slick heat between her thighs.

  ***

  Alayna arched against Alex as he touched her. His fingers felt incredible as he stroked the sensiti
ve flesh between her legs. When one finger gently rubbed her clit, she nearly came off the bed. He caught her breathy cry of ecstasy against his mouth and he laughed softly in his throat.

  He pulled the top of her nightgown down and drew one nipple into his hot mouth, his teeth scraping ever so lightly over it. That, combined with what he was doing to her clit nearly overwhelmed her with sensation. She was enveloped in ecstasy and on the edge of a screaming orgasm.

  It never happened this fast with the guys she hooked up with at the bars. They were usually drunk and she was lucky if she got any serious foreplay before they got down to business. That was okay sometimes. She was skilled enough to get herself off if she was on top, which most guys didn’t mind at all.

  She wasn’t exactly sure how she had ended up in Alex’s bed. The last thing she remembered was going to sleep in her own bed. Hadn’t that been just after dawn? Why was it so dark outside? And she definitely didn’t remember wearing this silky white nightgown to bed. She was pretty sure she’d gone to bed in a pink tank top and pajama bottoms with cupcakes on them.

  Those thoughts flew from her mind when Alex’s hand moved away from her, and he lifted his head. She almost whined in frustration when he moved to cover her body with his and she felt the tip of his cock touch her opening. Oh, goddess, she wanted him so badly. Her skin felt like it was on fire and everywhere he touched, she could swear it sizzled.

  She was pure sensation. Her brain felt drowsy, and her head was spinning a bit. She felt him move against her, the delicious slide of his hard flesh against her soft—

  Alayna awoke with a start to find her cell phone’s alarm going off, telling her it was time to get up and get dressed. She turned it off and flopped back onto her bed, the bright light of the afternoon streaming onto the porch.

  She’d been dreaming. Of Alex.

  Her face felt hot and she ran her hands over her cheeks and forehead, which were dotted with perspiration.

  It was just a dream. OK, maybe the best dream of her life, but just a dream. It had felt so real, though.

  Why couldn’t it be real?

  She pushed the thought away, feeling embarrassed. How would Alex react knowing that she had been having the mother of all wet dreams about him?

  Her body was screaming for release. She’d been so close in the dream. Couldn’t the damn alarm have waited five more minutes?

  She sighed and rolled out of bed, pulling a robe on over her cupcake pajamas and headed upstairs to the bathroom by the dojo. In the shower, she could take care of this tension herself and hopefully not give herself away by blushing when she saw Alex next.

  As she passed by his room, his door was thankfully shut. She’d let him sleep a little while longer.

  ***

  Alex awoke with a start and realized that he was alone in his bed. He was disoriented for a moment. He’d just been about to—

  “Fuck,” he groaned in frustration.

  Holding Alayna in his arms had felt so real and for a few brief moments, he’d felt...whole. He’d felt relaxed and tense at the same time, happy and nervous, sure and scared.

  Looking down, he saw that one part of him had not realized that it was a dream. Damn it. He threw the covers off and headed for the shower to take care of that.

  Chapter 14

  When Alex walked into the office at HQ a few hours later, he saw that Alayna had not taken advice regarding rack time. He’d managed to catch a couple of hours himself and had woken up to a text from her saying that she was headed to the office.

  She was in fresh clothes and leaning over Ellie’s desk, deep in conversation with the gnome. As he approached, he noticed the oversized coffee cup on the corner of Ellie’s desk was empty. Sliding it off the desk while the ladies were discussing something on Ellie’s huge three-monitor display, he refilled it with her special brew and put it a safe distance from Ellie’s elbow.

  “You are a prince among men, Martinez,” she said between sips without taking her eyes off the screen. “Ah, sweet caffeine. Best thing in the Earthly Realms, by far. Most of the elvish races might turn their noses up at artificial stimulants, but those douche bags don’t know what they’re missing.”

  “What are y’all working on?” Alex asked, leaning a hip against Ellie’s giant desk.

  “I pulled the security footage from your apartment building and I’ve been tracking the bad guys using traffic cameras and other security cams in the area. Looks like they entered the building across from yours, climbed to the roof, and they must have jumped over to your balcony.”

  A video clip was playing on a loop of the two vampires that attacked him climbing a stairwell superhumanly fast.

  “I have some of my own facial recognition programs running. This runs everything from the DMV to Costco memberships. If these guys have ever had a photograph attached to their names, I’ll find them.”

  The little gnome’s fingers flew over her keyboard as manipulated several programs at once.

  “This might be the break we need in this case,” Alayna said, turning to Alex. “All because someone got sloppy coming after you.”

  She continued, “Let me know when that program comes back with something. I’ve got reports to file.”

  Alayna stepped away and Ellie sat back.

  “All we can do now is wait,” the gnome said.

  Alex was curious about Ellie. As good with a computer as she was with a blade, the little hacker didn’t say much unless it was lay the snark on someone.

  “Where did you pick up the mad tech skills?” he asked her.

  Ellie gave him side-eye beneath a raised eyebrow.

  “Come on. Your program is going to be running for a while. I just want to know more. Are all gnomes good at tech?”

  She snorted loudly.

  “Back in the Fey Realms, we don’t really have electronics. A few tinkerers like to work with steam power, but that’s about it. Nah, those losers wouldn’t know how to turn on a computer, much less how to use one,” she said derisively.

  “So how did you get into it?”

  “Picked up working for a criminal syndicate on this side of the dimensional rift, if you must know.”

  “Say what?”

  “Yup, I used to be total dark side. Until Alayna came along.”

  “Come on, you’ve got to tell me more now.”

  And she did. Ellie had grown up the child of gnomish artists, but she’d always been the “black badger” of the family. She’d paid a fey to open an illegal portal to the Earthly Realms and jumped without a visa. But it turned out she didn’t have many skills. She’d turned to thieving to survive.

  “Got in debt to some very bad supernatural characters. I was forced to go to work for them.”

  But she’d taken every opportunity to learn from the underworld types she was surrounded by.

  “I’m guessing that’s where you learned to use a blade,” Alex said.

  “From some of the best cutthroats in the world,” she said. “Leaned how to be better with computer. Before long, I was stealing priceless works of art, billions of dollars in corporate files, you name it.”

  Until she’d fallen for a trap.

  “Alayna set me up. Put an artifact in the open she knew my bosses would go after. I had to go in person. I ghosted past security, but she and her team were waiting for me.”

  Ellie had two choices after that: go to the Mountain, the Council’s max prison, or go to work for Alayna.

  “She and I worked together to take down the assholes I used to work for. We somehow lived through that, and here I am.”

  So, Alayna was the type of person who could overlook someone’s past. The more he learned about her, the more liked and trusted her.

  “Criminal to law enforcement. Must have been a massive shift,” he said.

  “Not really. Work’s pretty much the same. Maybe a little more dangerous. But the difference is, I can trust the people at my back.”

  She gave him a pointed up and down look. She had b
etter be able to trust him or she’d cut him to ribbons, that look said.

  “You can trust me, Ellie. You’re the gal that’s going to help me figure out who killed Blanca. I’ve definitely got your back. But I don’t think you need it.”

  She was silent for a moment before she continued. “I’ve gotten pretty good at taking care of myself, no doubt. But none of us ever knows when we’re going to need backup.”

  “What I think you’re trying to say is you’re glad I’m on the team?” He turned a smile in her direction.

  She was rolling her eyes when the computer chimed happily.

  “Gotcha!” Ellie said excitedly as photos and information began pouring across the screen.

  “That’s him,” Alex said. “The one who ran.”

  “This one’s got a record with sapien law enforcement for assault and several other violent crimes. Looks like he’s been flagged by Corps’ operatives in Dallas for possible involvement with racketeering schemes against members of the supernatural community.”

  Her hands were flying again as she read.

  “I’m starting to see some patterns to movements here,” Ellie said. “Let’s see how this matches up to financial records.”

  With that, she was silent as windows, and information flew across her screen like scattering birds.

  ***

  Alayna knew she should be concentrating on what Ellie was saying as she outlined what she’d found, but her mind kept drifting back to that crazy dream she’d had about Alex. The team sat around the conference table as Ellie pulled up images on the large LCD screen at one end of the room. The photo of the dead vampire from Alex’s apartment appeared on the screen and jerked Alayna back to the here and now.

  “I’m not sure of his name exactly,” Ellie said. “He’s used a lot of aliases. So I have dubbed him Douchebag Dickweed.”

  With a couple of keystrokes on her wireless keyboard, she enlarged the image.

  “From what I can tell, this guy is hired muscle, and not the expensive kind,” she continued. “He comes with a record, and he’s not discreet.”