“No, they shouldn’t,” he agreed.
“That’s why you’re so determined to find Julie.” She held the book out toward him. “That’s why you’ve looked for, and found, so many of these other kids.”
“Yes. The loss of Maya tore my family apart. My parents didn’t divorce or anything; in fact, in some ways, it made us closer, but it destroyed large pieces of us. I know her disappearance didn’t cause my father’s lung cancer or my mother’s stroke, but it weakened them and turned them into an old man and woman overnight.”
His gaze went to the picture on the shelf. In it, Maya was seventeen, and he was sixteen. His parents were in their early forties. None of them would have suspected that in less than three years, their lives would irrevocably change, and for Maya, life would be over.
He tried not to think about what happened to his sister; when he did, his imagination ran wild with all the many atrocities that could have befallen her. All he could do was hope that whatever happened, it was quick and painless. It was the only hope he had left when it came to her.
“I never saw my father cry until she disappeared. I didn’t think he could cry. He was always so strong and confident. Then, one day, I walked in to find him sobbing at the kitchen table with her picture clutched to his chest like he was holding her. I had no idea what to do, so I backed out of the room. I’m not sure if he knew I was there, but leaving that room is one of my biggest regrets in life. I should have gone to him; Maya would have.”
Tears pricked Cassidy’s eyes as self-hatred filled his. “How old were you?”
“I was twenty when that happened, but I was nineteen and Maya was twenty when she went missing. We were extremely close. I mean, there were times when we tried to kill each other, but she was my best friend, and I was hers. We went to the same college; we had many of the same friends, and we were together the night she disappeared. We were studying in the library when some of her friends asked her to join them for ice cream.”
“What happened after that?”
“According to her friends, they went to a party, while Maya decided to return to her dorm. That was the last time anyone saw her.”
“What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “In the beginning, the police worked the case hard. She was a pretty, well-liked college girl who vanished into thin air. But the only suspect they had was a kid named Lewis Guthrie.”
“Who was that?”
“He was a kid we went to college with, and he had a big crush on Maya. He left school the same day she did.”
“That is suspicious.”
“Yeah,” Dante muttered as his eyes fell to the book in her hands. “But the police finally tracked him down and cleared him.”
“That’s still odd.”
“That’s what I thought too, but he had an alibi. He’d decided to quit college. He spent the day packing his few boxes of things and driving home with his friends Jim and Tom. They, along with his parents, corroborated his story. They used Jim’s Jeep to move his things home.
“By the time I became a police officer and could get my hands on Maya’s files to learn where he lived, Lewis’s family had already moved. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to track them down, but I’ve never found them.”
“They just vanished?”
“They moved to Texas and then Washington. After that, they left the country, and I lost them. I interviewed Jim and Tom multiple times over the years; they threatened to file a complaint against me while I was on the force, but their stories never changed.”
“Did you ever try to compel them before asking, so you knew they were telling the truth.”
He smiled grimly. “The last time I interviewed them a few months after I was changed. I decided to try one more time to get the truth out of them. Their stories remained the same.”
So it was another wall for him, she realized.
“And, after a while, with no new leads, some people, including some police, started to believe she took off. There were those at college, and on the police force, who wanted the case closed so everything could go back to normal. It was easier to claim she took off with a secret boyfriend her family wouldn’t approve of than to believe pretty, young college girls could vanish into thin air.”
“And what did you do afterward?”
“I quit college before the end of the semester. My parents needed me home, and I couldn’t stay there after everything. I kept looking for her, and thinking I saw her everywhere I went, on campus. I was scaring girls because I kept thinking they were her and chasing them down.”
Cassidy gulped down the lump in her throat as tears burned her eyes. She could picture his frantic desperation to believe strangers were her. She yearned to cry for Maya, but more, she wanted to weep for the man standing across from her—a man who was mostly still a boy when tragedy tore his world apart.
“Instead of continuing to study prelaw, I joined the police force to bring home as many people as I could. I also wanted a look at Maya’s files; eventually, I got it. I was hoping to discover some magic, hidden secret in their pages that everyone else overlooked, but I didn’t discover anything.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I haven’t given up looking for her, and I never will.”
She did not doubt that. “You wanted to be a lawyer?”
His gaze came back to her; the small smile he gave her didn’t ease the sorrow from his eyes. “Maya and I both did. Our parents were lawyers. They practiced family law and did a lot of pro bono cases for abused women trying to escape their husbands. Maya and I planned to work with them and one day take over the family business.”
“What an amazing dream,” she murmured. And how sad the beautiful family in that picture never got the chance to live it.
“It was, but not all dreams come true, and when they don’t, you have to readjust and find a new dream or the loss of the old one will eat you alive. Becoming a bitter man was not how I intended to live my life. I loved being on the force, and I did a lot of good. And I continue to do a lot of good.”
“Yes, you do,” Cassidy agreed.
Dante found himself lost in the beauty of her midnight eyes as they scanned his face. He didn’t want to think about Maya or Julie or the many lost souls out there. He didn’t want to think at all.
Closing the distance between them, he took the book from her hands and set it on the shelf. When he stepped closer to Cassidy, he was afraid she’d move away from him. Instead, she tilted her head back to gaze at him.
“You are so beautiful,” he said as he clasped her cheek with his palms and bent to kiss her.
Chapter Seventeen
The second his lips touched hers, she felt like she was falling apart and coming together all at the same time. His kiss broke her down to the smallest, most minuscule pieces of herself and rearranged them into someone completely different. Someone who was coming alive in ways she never dreamed possible.
Her senses, always honed, felt sharper and more acute as his scent flooded her. The taste of him was unlike anything she ever experienced before. He was sweet and so addictive she didn’t think she’d ever get enough of him.
Her fingers encircled his wrist as she clung to him, and the feel of his flesh seared itself onto all her cells. He was breaking her, reshaping her, making her better, and making her his.
As she leaned into his kiss, her knees almost gave out when his tongue swept in to claim hers. She’d been kissed before, but never with this level of passion. It was as if he were memorizing every part of her as he tasted her in long, slow thrusts.
Dante couldn’t get enough of her; she was as sweet as the cherry aroma she emanated. He’d never kissed anyone like her before; she was like liquid fire and heavenly nectar all rolled into one.
His heart raced so fast he was sure she could hear it, and he didn’t care. He wanted her to hear it and know how much she affected him. Never in his life had he wanted someone this badly. He was so hard it hurt,
and only she could ease him.
He slid one arm around her waist as his hand clasped her hair. Her hands wrapped around him, and her fingers dug into his back. Edging her back to the bed, he felt when her knees came up against the mattress before she sank onto it.
Dante followed her onto the bed as she scooted back without breaking the kiss. With his thighs straddling hers, he knelt over her as his fingers found the bottom edge of her shirt, and he nudged it up. When his hands flattened against her flesh, he almost groaned at the exquisite sensation of her supple skin.
Cassidy shivered as Dante’s large, strong hands ran up from her hips to trace her rib cage. Her breasts ached to feel his hands on them, and her nipples pressed against the thin cotton of her bra.
She wished she bought something sexier than the plain white bra and underwear, but with the way he was touching and tasting her, she didn’t think he’d care about her clothes. No, she was certain he’d far prefer seeing her in nothing.
Dante broke the kiss and leaned back to slide her shirt up her belly and over her rib cage until he exposed her simple white bra and round, tempting breasts. His mouth watered as he pulled her shirt over her head and took a minute to savor her beauty. Long and lean, she had curves in all the right places.
Her mouth was swollen from his kiss, and her heavy-lidded eyes smoldered with desire. Her inhalations caused her breasts to rise enticingly toward him. Unable to resist, he cupped one and ran his thumb over her nipple.
When she pressed them more firmly into his palm, his dick jumped in response. He slipped a finger inside her bra and pulled it down to expose her breast. His fangs tingled and slid free as he bent to flick his tongue across her nipple.
Cassidy gasped as fire seared her veins, and she arched off the bed. Her fingers threaded through his hair, and she pulled him closer when his fangs scraped her flesh. His enticing scent of leather and man increased as she enclosed her legs around him, drawing him closer.
The rigid evidence of his arousal prodded between her thighs, and she rocked against him. The delicious sensation caused her fangs to lengthen while she cleaved to him.
For the first time, Dante was close to coming in his pants as Cassidy ground against him again. Releasing her breast, he ran her nipple between his fingers as he reclaimed her mouth.
His control unraveled further as he slid his hand beneath her and unhooked her bra. As enticing as she was in it, he far preferred to have her naked when he took her. He almost had it undone when her phone vibrated against his hip.
Cassidy stiffened when her phone went off again. She considered ignoring it for this small piece of heaven on earth she’d discovered, but she’d ignored her brothers for the past two hours. Normally, she would have continued to do so, but after what Dante revealed tonight, she couldn’t put them through that.
And, with her vibrating phone adding some reality to the situation, she realized this was moving a little too fast. No matter how badly she wanted him, she couldn’t plunge recklessly into this. If he was her mate, what passed between them was irrevocable and would send them hurtling toward madness if they didn’t complete the bond.
Cassidy reluctantly broke the kiss and struggled to catch her breath as she gazed into his eyes. Flecks of red had started creeping through the brown as his control unraveled. That red caused something primal within her to burst free.
She almost crushed her phone, but as the impulse hit her, reality returned. They were concerned about her, and as much as she loved to torture them in their prank wars, this was not the same kind as turning rats loose on Kyle or dumping worms all over Willow while she slept. That was fun; this was cruel.
“I have to answer that,” she said.
Dante lowered his forehead to hers and kissed the tip of her nose. “I know.”
When he shifted off her, she instantly missed the heaviness of his body. Burying her disappointment, she dug into her pocket and pulled her phone free. She saw Kyle’s name before she answered. “Hello.”
“Are you okay?” Kyle asked in a rush.
The worry in his voice doused any of her irritation over his overprotective nature. “I’m fine.”
“Where are you?”
“We’ll talk when I get home.”
“It’s after midnight.”
Okay, now the irritation was back. “You go out all the time, and I don’t call demanding to know where you are.”
“Yeah, but you don’t go out all the time.”
He had her there. “I’ll be home soon.”
“Do you need me or Julian to come and get you? It’s not safe for you to walk alone this late at night.”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Cassidy—”
“Kyle, I’ll be fine. I’ll be home soon, and we’ll talk then.”
His silence spoke more about how annoyed he was with her than his words.
“I love you, and I’ll see you soon,” she said.
He hesitated before replying, “Be safe.”
“Always.”
She hung up and looked to Dante as he lay beside her with his head propped on his hand. When his gaze ran over her, she became uncomfortably aware she was almost half naked in front of him. She’d never been this exposed to a man before. A minute ago, it hadn’t bothered her, but she felt incredibly shy now.
“I really should go home,” she said; it took everything she had not to cover her breasts.
Dante buried his disappointment; he didn’t want her to go, but he understood. He’d been in her brother’s shoes before, and no one should have to go through it.
“I’ll walk you there,” he said.
“You don’t have to do that. My apartment’s not far from here.”
“I’d feel a lot better if you let me walk you home.”
Cassidy started to protest but stopped herself. Why was she arguing when it meant spending more time with him? “I’d like that.”
He smiled before rising to grab his jacket, but the scent of smoke clinging to it stayed his hand. He emptied the pockets and tossed the contents on the bed. When he returned, he’d take it up to the roof and leave it up there for a while. If someone stole it, so be it; he had an older one in his closet he could use until the stench wore off this one… if it ever did.
Cassidy sat up on the bed and retrieved her shirt. Once it was on and she was back on her feet, her shyness melted away again. She started to search for her jacket before recalling it was in the bag with the rest of her ruined clothes. She’d planned to toss it, but even if she was a purebred vampire and Dante was walking her home, she felt naked without her stakes.
Chapter Eighteen
“Ready?” Dante asked.
“Yeah,” she muttered.
When they stepped back into the hall, she retrieved the bag and removed her coat. The scent of it almost made her shove it back inside, but she checked to make sure the stakes were still there before draping it over her arm. If she’d still been wearing boots, she would have tucked a stake inside them, but she’d replaced them with sneakers, and her boots were now inside the bag.
“Is that garbage?” Dante asked.
“It is,” she said.
He held his hand out for the bag. “I’ll take it.”
Cassidy gave it to him. At the end of the hall, he opened the door to the trash chute and tossed it inside.
He walked beside her as they descended the stairs to the lobby, where he opened the inner glass door and walked across the entrance to the solid wood door. He pulled it open for her and stepped back to let her pass before descending the stairs behind her.
Despite the late hour, people still wandered the sidewalks and headlights bounced off the pavement as cars rolled past. When the bars shut down, more people would flood the streets, but for now, the sidewalks were relatively free of people.
She loved the sounds of the city—the hum of tires and electricity, the laughter and shouts of people, and the beep of horns. There was a vibrancy about it that screamed of life.
She may have grown up in the country, and she loved everything about it, but she felt most alive here, especially with Dante at her side. When he slid his hand into hers, she couldn’t stop herself from beaming at him as his heart soared.
“I have to work at Addy’s tomorrow night, but I’d like to go with you to talk to Paris,” she said.
“After the events of tonight, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dante told her. He was going to spend more time with her, but he wouldn’t put her in danger again.
“She’s a young human; there’s nothing to fear there.”
“No, but whatever Julie got herself mixed up in involves real vampires. I think it’s best if you stay out of it completely.”
Cassidy had expected his response, but she couldn’t help being disappointed by it. Everyone underestimated her; she was the baby of the family and was treated that way her whole life. She hated it, and she wouldn’t accept it from him.
“I’m quite capable of taking care of myself,” she said. “I did kill a vampire tonight.”
She forced herself not to shudder at the reminder. The vamp’s death was necessary; he would have killed her or Dante if she hadn’t stopped him, but she still hadn’t fully processed what she’d done. She wasn’t a killer; except, she was.
“I know,” he said.
“If you think I’ll get in the way or somehow hinder your ability to find Julie, I’ll stay away, but I might be able to help you. I was a teenage girl once; I understand them.”
“I was a teenage boy once, and I did talk to girls back then.”
“But you weren’t one of them. You don’t understand what makes them tick. Besides, I bet your conversations revolved around sports, friends, favorite shows, and games, all while you were thinking about how to get in her pants.”
Dante couldn’t stop himself from laughing over this. “Get out of my teenage boy's head.”
The sound of his laughter caused her to grin stupidly at him. “I knew it.”
His eyes sparkled when they met hers again. While she still saw a hint of sadness in them, for the first time since meeting him, she also saw a hint of the boy in that family photo, and she loved it. Because of that, she let her argument go for the next block, but as they neared her place, she knew it was now or never.
Relentless (Vampire Awakenings Book 11) Page 10
