by Gaja J. Kos
“Was that what it was?” His amber eyes brimmed with hunger. He raked his gaze down my body, then slowly lifted it up to meet mine, the unnerving tease in his voice doing unspeakable things to my body. “A little game of taming the dragon?”
I caught myself before the craving got any worse, silently cursing the gods for throwing someone so damned likeable and handsome my way—not to mention with an energy signature that shone like a fucking beacon, drawing me to it at every turn. I sighed.
“Tevan, the missing demon, is my mother’s second-in-command,” I said to dispel the sensual fog still clouding my mind. “He doesn’t only hold a high rank in position, but power, too. Caz, this isn’t some lowly demon one could easily snatch. And despite his steady nature, Tevan would never have gone down without a fight.”
“So whoever Kauer has running this particular operation is powerful.” A statement, not a question.
“And clever,” I added. “Full-blooded demons can take particle form at will. You need something like a ward or magic-laced chains to keep them from shifting. Or maybe some sort of containment field to restrain the atoms.” I frowned. “Shit, what if that’s how they’re stealing the essence?”
Caz pulled onto the driveway and killed the engine, his amber eyes stark as they flickered over to me. “You mean it’s possible to what, inhale parts of a demon.”
The shudder that ran down my spine was vicious, biting into my skin with its icy claws.
“Or ingest them some other way.” I shook my head, ignoring the roll of nausea. “I could be wrong. We don’t even know what they’re trying to achieve. If it’s some particular power they’re after or just a general boost of strength and a damned hardness to kill.”
Caz leaned back, sunlight illuminating the handsome lines of his profile as he gazed through the windshield. “So where do the girls fit in?”
Silence swept through the car.
That was an answer neither of us had.
We got out of his Wrangler and walked to the house, my bag slung over my shoulder despite Caz’s silent offer to carry it for me. The man wasn’t just a Perelesnyk, he was a gentleman, too, it seemed. Must be the old age.
Whether my stubbornness was a good thing or not, only the gods knew, but the fact remained that with each step, the weight of the bag became more of a burden. By the time I was standing on the doorstep, I was in full hesitation mode.
I looked at Caz, then the house.
He’d promised to set me up in the spare bedroom, but the mere act of spending time at his place, surrounded by his scent—
All of a sudden, going in seemed like a terrible idea.
“I’m not going to jump you unless you say so, Lena,” he said quietly.
“I know,” I whispered. “I’m just afraid that I’ll ask you to.”
He gave me curious glance, then unlocked the door, leaving me standing alone on the other side. Giving me space to decide.
Gods, why did he have to do everything right? It was almost as if he knew me better than I did myself. I blew out a whizzing breath and squared my shoulders.
Running in the other direction seemed like the wisest option, but my feet carried me inside, nonetheless. I stashed the bag in the hallway, then walked into the living room where Caz was already waiting with two cups of coffee and some appetizers spread out on an oval plate. I hadn’t even been aware so much time had passed while I was standing in front of the threshold like an idiot. It was almost enough to make me feel silly.
Actually, it probably would have, if the alluring fragrance of Caz hadn’t chosen that precise moment to wrap me in its embrace. I blinked, then forced myself to shrug off my jacket and sit down on the couch.
Focus on the fucking case.
It took a few tries, but eventually thoughts of licking a devious path down Caz’s body fled, replaced by the emotionless rationality I always turned to in the initial stages of an investigation.
Cradling the coffee in my hands, I got to work.
I read every damn line written in the folder, twice, but nothing jumped out at me from the pages—nothing indicated why someone who tried to harness demonic powers also wanted to kidnap young girls. Maybe the two crimes weren’t connected beyond the person, or rather persons, perpetrating them.
Maybe, but my inner voice wasn’t convinced.
I shoved away the folder and pressed my fingers to my temples, rubbing gently. Reporting to Yelena would be a wise move right now. Maybe I could even probe her for a little more information on the matter. But when I actually thought about it, doubt chewed up the idea and spat it out mangled and dismissed. My mother could hardly know anything more than what she’d already said. She wouldn’t have swallowed her pride and sent me to Alin otherwise.
“Nothing?” Caz asked, lifting his gaze from the M.E.’s report on Sever’s body.
I shook my head. “How about you?”
“Sometimes, I regret not telling Vidmar more about me, if not exactly the whole truth. I don’t know if his knowledge of the supernatural is only superficial or if he’s investigated it from a medicinal standpoint, too.”
“How come? If you’re passing as a sensitive, shouldn’t you be exchanging notes or something?”
The smile that touched his lips was brief, but I still swooned.
“Doesn’t work that way,” he said lightly. “It’s hardly common practice among sensitives to discuss anything beyond the awareness that there’s more to the world than the majority of the population believes. I’m not sure whether it’s self-preservation or a reluctance to pass on any guarded secrets by mistake. Understandable.”
“Understandable, but no less sucky.” I frowned. “So you have nothing?”
Mirth danced in the corners of his eyes. “I didn’t say that.”
He passed the folder to me.
“We might not talk much, but whenever there were any irregularities in the blood or DNA, Vidmar has always written them down. Sever was, by all accounts, human.”
I scanned the notes, immensely grateful I took the time to learn enough basics so that the report became more than just gibberish with random numbers thrown in. But as much as I studied it, Caz was right. There was nothing out of the ordinary. I knew how the demonic manifested, which levels of compounds within a body it raised, and which it lowered. The demons of lesser power could still pass for human, but the signs were nonetheless there if you knew where to look. Unfortunately, Sever displayed none of them. And that flicker of magic I’d sensed in his energy was definitely ancient, a part of his ancestry, but in no way an active component in his flesh.
“Well, this is frustrating.” I blew out a breath, placed the folder on the table, and leaned one elbow on the backrest. “When you cornered him, did you notice anything unusual? A vibe, a sense of—”
“Energy?”
I nodded.
“No. I mean”—he sighed, the breath that uncurled from his chest sounding almost labored—“I’ve never experienced anything similar to what I feel coming from you before, but I’ve crossed paths with a couple of demons in my life. If Sever already carried the essence back then, either it was buried somewhere deep, or it was still too fresh for me to catch.”
Gnawing on my lip, I mulled over his words. Demonic powers—at least those nature granted us—needed time to settle in.
“You could be right. If he inhaled it or injected it, it would probably take a while to circulate through his system.” I shuddered. “But I still don’t get how they could just…take it. Even atoms carry more than merely our power. It’s…us, for fuck’s sake. It’s not like I could just eat a piece of you and start vomiting fire.”
Caz laughed, but the sound failed to lift the sour mood we’d sunk in.
“Gods, this is frustrating,” I groaned.
Then, before I could stop myself or even think about what I was doing, I nestled my head in Caz’s lap, my feet propped against the armrest. My gaze locked on a pair of breathtaking amber eyes.
Caz trail
ed his fingers gently through the dark strands of my hair that spilled across his legs. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”
I chuckled. “I do.”
A smile flirted with the corner of his lips, although it disappeared far too quickly for my liking. “Why are you fighting this—us?”
I didn’t know whether it was his fingers drifting through my hair, the sincerity I glimpsed in his eyes, or something else entirely, but I found myself saying, “Because we’re compatible. My power calls out to yours, Caz, and if we’re not careful, they could bind us together.”
“Would it be so bad?” He tried to play the words off as something light, but I felt the truth lurking beneath them. He wanted it. Wanted me.
Just as badly as I longed for him.
“Look, we can choose who we bind ourselves to, even if it’s hard as fuck to stay away. But once the bond snaps into place…” I closed my eyes for the briefest of moments. “It’s unbreakable. You would gain a mate for an eternity, too, and I’m hardly what you would consider relationship material.”
“I would consider you, love,” he said softly, and a part of me sang at his words.
The other, however, was mortified.
“I like my job, Caz. I’m not giving it up. I’m not having babies or any of that marital crap.” I knew I was being unfair to my sisters, but right now, their choices in life fell second to what I was feeling. “I’m already tied up to my mother’s court, most likely the one who will take over the throne if she ever retires or…well, kicks the can. So what little freedom I have is important to me.”
There was no anger on Caz’s face, only curiosity. “And having a mate would change that?”
“It would be a responsibility I’m not comfortable with. Being bound to someone is more than just declaring your love. It’s a partnership. And I would hate having to constantly look over my shoulder because my way of life could just as well endanger theirs.”
“Even if your mate was a Perelesnyk who likes his job as much as you do yours? A man who has the same amount of danger following on his heels?”
Damn it. He was right and he knew it. We both did.
“I’m only twenty-three, Caz. You’ve lived for centuries.”
“Millennia.”
“Only proves my point.”
His fingers traveled down my cheek. “I could wait for you. If you want to explore life. We could meet again in six hundred years, see if I can still get it up.”
I laughed and punched him lightly. “You’re immortal. I’m sure your stamina won’t suffer.”
“You’re right.” He smiled. “Only my heart.”
Something terrifyingly similar to tears burned at the back of my eyes, and I slipped from his embrace, putting a shitload of distance between us.
The worst part was that I wasn’t even angry at him for pushing it. I was pissed that I was scared by what he made me feel. How he made me feel.
Fuck, if this was love, no wonder my sisters were grinning all the damn time. But could I do it? Could I trust Caz not to flip on me at some point and demand what I couldn’t give him?
The bond might not care, but I couldn’t just look past the fact that we’d only known each other for a few days…
Madness. All of this was madness.
But before that ache in my heart—that fucking longing that whispered everything would be all right if I only went to him and accepted what fate gifted us—could change my mind, I swiped my jacket off the couch and marched out the door.
I didn’t turn back.
And Caz didn’t call.
Chapter 11
I was running away. I was running away like some stupid bride from a stupid chick-flick movie. The bitter awareness that my actions would change nothing prickled at the back of my mind, but despite the cries of warning and outrage, the sensible part of me roared violently enough to send tremors through my flesh, and my feet just kept on moving. I needed alcohol, a whole lot of it, followed by a nice warm body to dispel Caz’s fragrance that still clung to me as if it had a rightful place on my skin.
It must have been fate, showing itself in the form of a stinking, rattling bus that cruised down the street and came to a stop just a short distance before me, because half an hour later I was prowling the bleak streets of Jesenice, a destination set firmly in my mind. I navigated the dusk-covered town by memory, hoping to the gods the old sinkhole still stood.
I’d only been to Velvet once, back when I was much, much younger and had a whole lot less taste. Actually, the only thing I had was a desire to party without having judgment thrown my way. Velvet had certainly delivered on that front.
Still, the club was far from the kind of place that merited a second visit, but right now, all I cared about was immersing myself in the lively pulse of supernatural lust that didn’t remind me of a certain dragon. The sooner the better.
With each passing second, my energy seemed adamant to fill my mind with images and sensations I wanted to burn down to ashes. The luscious curve of Caz’s lips. The feel of his silken, black curls. The way he tasted on my tongue… I was drowning in every sensual memory, in the promises of what we could have had if I’d only stayed. Not just sex and adventure, but friendship. Affection.
Shit, I didn’t know when I started to cry, but the tears were fierce, saturated with frustration and the sharp pain of longing—all of it so profound, I nearly choked on my sobs.
No, no, no, I wasn’t ready to give my life away.
But the voice inside me differed.
Not a life lost. But family gained.
I would have someone I could share every last detail with about the crooks I brought down. Someone to spar with me by day, then hold me close at night. Someone who understood the darkness, and channeled it into something worthwhile. Someone with a mission in life.
Someone like me.
The opulent perfume of sex drifted my way from around the corner, and I stopped in my tracks, unable to move on. I couldn’t help feeling that if I crossed this bridge, I’d never be able to return.
Caz had said that he was willing to wait for me, but I seriously doubted that particular offer covered throwing myself in the first stranger’s arms just after he’d confessed his love. I was all about the freedom of sex, but even to me, that was just vile.
Had we agreed on an open relationship while I sorted this out…
The image of Caz tangled up in someone else’s arms popped into my mind, my power flaring in response. I glanced at the flicker of demon fire illuminating my fingertips.
Well, that settled one thing.
It was all or nothing with Caz.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t any closer to figuring out what the right choice was.
Shoulders slumped, I leaned against the cold wall of the concrete slab of a building erected behind me and took long, controlled breaths. Would it really be that bad to go back?
But that was just another question I never got the chance to answer.
Every muscle in my body went taut as I heard the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle—a girl’s muffled screams, the slap of hands, and harsh, low voices, issuing commands. I cast my magic out in a wide net even before I made the turn and sprinted towards Velvet, then past it, pushing forward all the way to the darkened parking lot that stretched out back.
I didn’t hesitate once my boots hit the asphalt.
Flames of demon fire twisted and hissed like whips through the night air as they darted towards the windowless van. I managed to catch a flash of a face and a glimpse of blonde hair before a towering, muscular man shoved the girl inside and shut the door behind them. Fuck.
Quickly, I changed the fire’s course, not wanting to hit the gas tank and blow the entire thing up with the girl inside. Just as the roar of the engine sounded through the growing night, the flames managed to turn the first tire into a rubbery mess. But not the second.
My legs were carrying me as fast as they could, but the van was already getting out of reach and only slippin
g farther. I barely managed to note the make of the damned vehicle and the direction in which they took off before I lost them for good, nothing but the stench of burnt rubber lingering in the lot like some vicious reminder that I’d failed. Again.
Cursing violently, I prowled forward, careful not to mess up any traces the perps might have left behind. A part of me knew that I should call it in and wait for the technicians to check the perimeter. Under normal circumstances, I would have. But the girl was still alive, and if there was something, anything here that might have left an essence, there was a small chance that I would be able to trace her through it far better than the police ever could.
Regardless of the odds, I needed to try.
As I made my way across the dimly lit darkness, I pulled my cell phone from my jacket pocket and rang Caz. My heart made a little uneasy flutter at the thought of speaking with him after my grand exit, but whatever problems we had I needed to put aside. For now.
“Lena?”
“Caz, I’m in Jesenice,” I said in a voice that was all business. “You need to round up the boys in blue and get your asses over here. A girl was just taken. From what I saw, she fits in with the rest…”
“Motherfucker. Where are you at?”
“Velvet. It’s—”
“I know where it is.”
The poison dripping from his words made me stop with such force I nearly toppled over my own feet.
“You—you went to…” He growled, then muttered a string of curses under his breath before he finally snapped, “See you in fifteen.”
The line went dead, and the sudden silence hit me straight in the gut. That’s what you get for wanting to stop a crime. Your not-yet-mate pissed at you for lurking around a supe nightclub with a seriously raunchy reputation.
Maybe seeing me for the wreck I was would drive Caz away. And maybe I could spent the next few centuries brooding over what a fucking, helpless idiot I’d been to let something precious slip through my cowardly fingers.
I was more than a little tempted to just burn myself to dust with demon fire here and now when a faint glint caught my eye.
