Scorched [Pain & Love 3] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Ashlei D. Hawley

  One sentence tumbled through her fuzzy mind, echoing with increasing fury every time the thought solidified. He was a Fallen. He was a Fallen! The lying, arrogant, detestable sack of shit! How dare he not tell her, Lydia raged. He’d probably known about her Dragon heritage the whole time. He’d certainly known about her involvement with the other Hunters, because he’d been careful to avoid interacting with her. What she would give to have known he’d been on the payroll all along.

  “Asshole!” she suddenly snapped. No longer contained in her veil of numbness, Lydia lurched forward toward Dan. She could already feel the flames licking her arms. Mallory pulled Leigh away seconds before a jet of fire smashed into Dan’s chest, destroying his shirt and searing his right bicep.

  “Asshole,” Lydia shouted again. She got close enough and punched him. Dan didn’t fight, didn’t block. He didn’t even move. “Prick! Fucking lying bastard!”

  She hit him again. Over the sounds of her crackling flame and tremendous fury, she began to hear his ragged breathing. She’d really hurt him.

  “Yes,” Dan agreed as he clutched at his singed skin. “Yeah.” He spat blood on the torn remnants of his blackened shirt. “All that is true. I did lie to you. Would you at least like to know why?”

  Mallory moved forward, not fearing the flaming Lydia as long as she wore a piece of the other woman’s heart around her neck. She grabbed Lydia’s wrist, which was encircled with fire like burning bangles, and squeezed to force Lydia to acknowledge her presence.

  The flames disappeared, and Lydia turned to look at the blonde vampire.

  “He could have useful information,” Mallory said.

  Her gentle tone brought Lydia back to herself. She didn’t look at Dan as she calmly removed Mallory’s hand from her arm. “I’ll admit that, but if it’s all the same to you, I don’t want to be the one to get it from him. Go ahead and ask him what he knows. I need to get out of here.”

  Dan spat blood into his mess of stained and roasted fabric again. He watched Lydia leave without a word of protest. When the door slammed behind her, he sighed and slid down against the wall.

  On the now-puffy skin under his left eye, a bruise turned purple. He touched the tip of his tongue to the fantastic split she’d put in his lip and smiled. No one could hurt him like Lydia. That fact always stayed the same. Though he couldn’t feel the injuries on a deep level as a human would, he still felt a sting from the burn and from his split lip. A hollow ache in his left eye let him know she’d socked him good. Hell of an arm on that one, he thought ruefully. Hell of a woman.

  “Might want to consider not pissing her off again,” Mallory suggested.

  “I doubt she’ll ever give me another opportunity to,” Dan admitted.

  Mallory thought Dan looked forlorn and sad, but she reminded herself he was a Hunter. His kind was the reason behind the whole mess they’d been in lately. She tipped her head toward the living room and said, “Come on, big man. We need to have a talk.”

  Dan pulled himself to his feet. His human body protested the strain of moving the injured flesh, but Dan couldn’t really feel it. He walked to the couch and sat. Mallory sat across from him, and Leigh joined her on the love seat. Jade watched from her observation point in the corner of the room. Daria had gone to the kitchen when the violence started. As long as her sisters weren’t in immediate danger, she didn’t want to be involved with the violence.

  “I for one am glad she roasted you and not the wall,” Jade commented dryly. “You have no idea how many times we’ve had to repair this place thanks to a Lydia meltdown.”

  “Glad to be of service,” Dan said. “I would have hated for her to miss me and hurt the wall.”

  While Dan and the others spoke, Lydia doubled back around the house and slipped inside via the backdoor. The kitchen sat one room over from the living room. She’d be able to listen in without having to be in close proximity with the despicable rat. Daria smiled at her as she sat. Her youngest sister remained quiet, not betraying Lydia’s presence.

  Lydia fumed, thinking of how willing she’d been to let him back into her life, and her bed. How much of an idiot was she? No matter how much she’d grown or how much confidence she’d managed to hoard for herself, she was still the same insecure girl when it came to certain things. No more, she vowed.

  The calm rumble of Dan’s voice moved over the threshold between the rooms, drawing Lydia from her thoughts. “I care about Lydia. I want that out there first and foremost.”

  “Obviously,” Jade said.

  Lydia heard the sarcasm in her sister’s tone. For once, it wasn’t directed at her. What a rarity, she thought.

  “Sometimes we keep things from people we love because we think it’s in their best interest,” Mallory said.

  Lydia rolled her eyes at that. Leigh and Mal’s situation was 130 percent different from Dan and Lydia’s. Leigh was noble. He’d been trying to protect Mallory’s life and sanity when he kept things from her. Dan was an ass. A complete and total ass.

  Lydia impaled an orange with her sharp nails and jerked the skin away from the flesh. She pulled apart the pieces and moodily sucked on one juicy spear.

  “It depends on the situation,” Leigh said.

  Lydia knew that was directed at Mallory. Smart man, Lydia thought. “Right now we need to figure out this one.”

  “What do you want?” Dan asked. “What do you want me to explain?”

  “Let’s start with why you didn’t tell her what you are,” Leigh suggested.

  Yeah, Lydia thought silently, that’s a damn good place to start.

  “The Hunters killed her mother,” Dan said.

  The bluntness of the statement cut to Lydia’s heart. The Hunters had killed her mother and had destroyed the old Dragon matron’s heart. They’d ended her ability to continue her life in a new form, as Dragons had for centuries. The Hunters had done that, and Dan was one of them.

  “Before finding out about her mother, I didn’t really know what Lydia was. I knew she was something special, but that was about it. I knew she’d hate me if she knew what I was, even if she was human. I didn’t find out about her mother until recently. Just before I killed one of the other Hunters and went on the run.” He paused. “I saved her. I had a gun trained on her. They ordered me to put two tranquilizer darts in her so we could take her to the Hunters, probably to kill her, and I killed my partner instead of hurting her. I’d never hurt her intentionally.”

  “Some convincing stuff,” Jade said, “if any of it’s true.”

  “I can show you where I buried the fucker,” Dan responded. “But I think we have bigger things to worry about right now. I came for Lydia because I knew she was a target and the shit was about to hit the fan. You were a target, too, Jade. They wanted both of the fire Dragons abducted and eliminated before their plan ultimately comes to fruition. You were our next intended hit for the night so technically I saved you, as well. They’re planning something, and it has a lot to do with your maker.”

  Lydia had to assume Dan spoke to Leigh on the last sentence. What could his maker have to do with the Hunters?

  “What does Henry have to do with anything?” Leigh asked.

  Lydia popped the last bite of her orange into her mouth and swept the peel into her hand to throw away. She was as interested in Henry’s involvement as any of the others were.

  “The Hunters are ready to come into the light,” Dan answered. “They aren’t affecting things as much as they want to be. Jerry has officially hit a critical mass of crazy. He’s made a deal with Henry. In exchange for Henry causing chaos in the town and giving them expendable vampires to exterminate, the Hunters will give him immunity and the two of you.”

  Lydia went to the threshold between rooms and watched Leigh and Mallory absorb the information. They were being used as bargaining chips, and Henry was wreaking havoc to get them.

  “So we have to stop Henry,” Leigh said.

  Mallory reached out, took Leigh’s hand, and
squeezed it. “Henry’s not the only problem,” she told him. “The Hunters will find someone else to sow the confusion and terror they want. We need to take them out.”

  “I can show you every hideout I know of,” Dan offered. “I can give you weapons lists. Point out anyone I know is associated with them.”

  “And what do you get in return?” Lydia asked as she stepped into the room.

  Dan leveled his gaze at her. She didn’t flinch at the directness of his stare, nor did she feel bad for the injuries she’d inflicted on him. She liked seeing his perfect visage damaged.

  “I get to see you safe, no longer threatened by them. It’s the only thing I want, and the only reason I came back into your life.”

  Now that he was no longer welcome in it, Lydia didn’t want his help. But it was safer to keep him around than to let him wander off on his own, especially if he was a Hunter plant. “You’ll be in sight of one of us at all times,” Lydia told him. “You’re too dangerous to be away from us, no matter how much I want you to go away and never show your face here again.”

  “Lydia, we need to discuss this,” Leigh said. “We need to address it as a group.”

  Lydia trained her fiery gaze on him, but he didn’t flinch. He was an ancient vampire. An ornery Dragon might normally make him wary, but he’d begun to think of this one as a friend.

  “Other decisions can be set to a vote or whatever you want, but he is my issue. I’ll deal with him as I see fit.”

  “If he jeopardizes our location or plans,” Leigh started.

  Lydia cut him off. “Then I’ll burn him to ashes”—she shot a look of challenge toward Dan and threatened—“dick first.”

  “Naturally,” Dan couldn’t help but smirk at her vulgar threat. It was just so Lydia.

  “All right, then,” Mallory said, her voice brightening the tense atmosphere of the room. “What's our plan?”

  Chapter Nine

  Lydia sat on the bed in what was once her room. Though she wanted to think about skinning Dan alive and turning him into people—no, not people, Hunter—jerky, her thoughts kept drifting toward her mother.

  Nicolette McKinney had never met Dan. Lydia had been terrified of her mother discovering that her oldest daughter, the one she held to the highest standard, had become involved intimately with an older man—a much older man, one who’d been her teacher.

  Lydia’s number one fear had been letting her mother down. Even the possibility of disappointing her hadn’t been enough to stay the temptation Dan presented, though. Two years later, Nicolette had been killed, and Lydia had been set adrift in a world she felt she had no purpose in. She missed her mother.

  Lydia wrapped herself in a crocheted blanket, one of many created by her mother’s deft hands. She wished for her mother’s scent, which had lingered in the fabric of several of the quilts for months after the Dragon matron was murdered. No matter how hard she pleaded for it, she could not summon the forgotten aroma.

  Lydia slumped over on the bed and cried.

  * * * *

  Mallory and Leigh left Dan under Jade’s supervision and slipped out of the Dragon household. On their way out, they intercepted Daria returning with bags of groceries.

  “Jade’s got baby-sitting duty, and Lydia is …” Mallory trailed off and made a hopeless little wave toward the house.

  Daria smiled and adjusted the bags. She shook her head when Leigh tried to take some of them from her. “I can feel her,” Daria admitted. “I’ll speak to her when she lets me. No, leave those alone,” she chided. “I already have them balanced just so. Go do what you need to do.”

  Leigh frowned as the Dragon woman nudged the door open with her hip and moved inside. “Women are confusing creatures,” he complained good-naturedly.

  Mallory smiled at him as they walked into the cooling twilight. The sun had set. Any Hunter who saw them would not be made aware of their newly acquired advantage against fire.

  “You aren’t going to be able to talk him out of this, you know,” Leigh said as he slid his hand into Mallory’s. Their fingers locked and he felt completed. He stroked his thumb over her soft skin and enjoyed the feeling of closeness.

  “I need to try anyway.”

  Leigh nodded at Mallory’s insistence.

  “He’s my brother,” she continued. “And he was just shot, for God’s sake! He needs to be off duty right now, especially with what the Hunters are planning.”

  “He’s a cop,” Leigh reminded her. “And a damn good man. He won’t be easily convinced to abandon what he thinks is right.”

  “He’s my brother,” Mallory repeated. “I just have to try.”

  When they were sure no one was around to see them disappear into the darkening night, Mallory and Leigh began to run.

  They cut though the shadows like raindrops through clouds. Mallory closed her eyes, letting Leigh and her own innate senses direct where she would go. Before she knew it, they were at the home where her family was staying, a safe house Luke Senior’s longtime partner had recommended. Craig had taken to patrolling the area in his off-duty vehicle, especially at night.

  Mallory and Leigh stopped running in the backyard of a house two down from where her family was. Even over that distance, she could hear her father’s voice blending with the smoother sounds from her brother. Mallory’s tense shoulders unknotted, releasing a wave of tension she’d been nursing all day. They were all right for the time being. Leigh took Mallory’s hand and squeezed. The smile he presented her sent spirals of warm light into her heart.

  Craig stopped his car in front of the home. Light flashed out from the passenger side window, illuminating Mallory and Leigh. “Hey there, Mal.”

  “Hi, Craig.” She smiled at him. “How’s it been tonight?”

  “Pretty quiet here. I’m about to go on shift. It’s not quiet everywhere else.”

  “More attacks?” Mallory asked.

  Leigh felt her grip tighten around his hand. He was careful not to hurt her with a similar reaction.

  “Yeah.” Craig heaved out a sigh and shook his head. “Your brother wants to be back out there. Go talk to him and your dad, would you, Mal?”

  “That’s why we’re here.” Mallory offered him a smile with her words, though it quickly faded from her face.

  “Stay safe,” Craig encouraged them as he drove away. Mallory lifted one hand in a wave. It fell heavily back to her side when his taillights vanished around a corner.

  “You need to more than I do,” she said with a frown. Tugging on Leigh’s hand, she turned toward the house. “Come on. Let’s go talk to them.”

  Mallory knocked on the front door after twisting the handle and discovering it locked. Not that a locked door would be a great deterrent to a Hunter, and even less so to a vampire, but it was one more step between the seekers and their victims.

  Luke opened the door, risking himself instead of Junior or Annette. Mallory expected nothing less of him. Annette and Junior were probably at the ready somewhere near the back door, primed to flee at an instant if it became necessary. Luke swept an arm out, inviting them inside, and closed the door behind them after they entered. He clicked the lock home before calling out to his son and his wife.

  “It’s Mallory and Leigh. No worries.”

  Mallory felt flattered her father indicated he wasn’t worried about their presence. Last she knew, he wasn’t altogether pleased to have his daughter dating a vampire. Nor did he like that she’d become one.

  “Hi, Daddy,” Mallory said as she stepped in to hug him.

  His hesitation to avoid her embrace was nearly imperceptible, and he held nothing back from the physical contact. He squeezed her tightly and rested his chin on her head. Mallory never wanted the hug to end.

  “We came to speak to Junior,” Leigh spoke from behind Mallory.

  His presence beat against her back like a cool, living wind, yet she’d almost forgotten he was there. “Yes,” Mallory said drawing away from her father. She couldn’t help the s
mile she gave him as he ushered them inside. “Where is the stubborn ox?”

  “The stubborn ox is within hearing distance, thank you,” Junior said from the end of the hallway.

  One of his brows arched, nearly touching the hairline of his closely cropped sandy blond hair. He had his arms crossed over his chest, above the wound that Mallory could smell still troubled him. The blood hovered, barely contained beneath the healing skin. Against her wishes, her mouth began to water. She fought the terrible thoughts and urges and approached Junior with her lips pursed and brow furrowed. “You can’t go.”

  “I can’t let them go alone.” His voice was softer than hers, more resolute.

  “What good can one more man do?” Mallory asked. She kept the desperation out of her tone, though it struggled to make its way past her tongue.

  Junior shrugged. “Maybe nothing,” he admitted. “Maybe more than you’ll ever know. I have to go, Mal. I have to help.”

  “I can smell the blood on you.”

  The blunt way she delivered the statement made Junior release his breath a bit more slowly than if she’d said something else. He unconsciously moved one hand over his wound. “So what?”

  “So the creatures you intend to take on will smell it, too. While I can keep myself in check, they won’t care. You aren’t their brother. You’ll just smell like lunch.”

  Her ire had begun to rise in earnest when Mallory doubled over with the shock of psychic power. It punched her in the gut, harder than usual. She reached one hand out and steadied herself against Junior. “Gran needs to talk to you,” she said. Agony bit into her throat, a wolf at the kill. “And I can’t argue anymore. You have to go with them.”

  Pulling her baby brother against her, Mallory hugged him breathless but avoided causing him any real harm. “I can’t see you anymore, Junior. Just because the future says so doesn’t mean you have to go. Please don’t go.”

  Junior kissed his sister’s forehead as they broke apart. “I guess I’ll go see Gran, then.”

  Mallory waited until he’d slipped into his light summer jacket and headed out the door to cry. She sat down at the kitchen table and dropped her head down onto the wood. The coolness comforted her.