Her chin stuck out. She wouldn’t be lectured as if she wore a child. She made no apologies for lacking a bloodthirsty nature.
“You mean your world.”
“No, our world.” The Were allowed a strategic silence to descend, his gaze carefully monitoring her every expression. “You are truly one of us, Darcy.”
Her heart gave a sharp leap. “A demon?”
His lips parted as if he would at last answer her most pressing questions, and then with an impatient shake of his head, he deliberately glanced around the open park.
“This is no place to speak. Come with me and I will reveal everything.”
“We can speak just fine here.”
“You are amazingly stubborn for such a tiny thing,” he muttered before a rueful smile curved his lips. “It should make our life together very interesting.”
Life together? As in happily ever after? Cripes.
She pressed against the car as she regarded him with a new sense of wariness.
“Hold up, chief. You’re getting a bit ahead of your self,” she muttered.
“Chief?” He appeared remarkably offended. “I am a king, not a chief. You will discover that the Weres are far more sophisticated than vampires, despite our reputation as savages.”
Caught off guard by his obvious annoyance, Darcy gave a lift of her brows. “I would never mistake you for a savage. Not in a thousand-dollar suit.”
“Thank you…” He regarded her for a long beat. “I think.”
“That doesn’t mean, however, I intend to spend my life with you.”
“But you will, you know,” he assured in a dropped voice, a sensuous rasp overlaying his words. “It is our destiny.”
Darcy shivered. There was no doubt the man possessed a sheer animal magnetism. Even from a distance he managed to make her knees a bit weak. But Darcy wasn’t in terested in the raw, consuming passion he offered.
She far preferred the aching tenderness of her vampire.
The thought of Styx sent an unexpected flare of pain through her heart.
Even though she was furious with him, and with darn good reason, she couldn’t deny she missed him.
When he was at her side she felt no fear, no uncertainty.
She felt complete in a way that had no basis in sense or reason.
“I’m not much of a believer in destiny. I prefer to think I have some control over fate,” she said, her arms wrapping around her waist. Suddenly she felt cold to the bone. “Kind of ridiculous when you consider the situation I’m in, isn’t it?”
The pureblood abruptly shifted in discomfort, regarding her with a strange wariness.
“Darcy, cara, you are not going to cry, are you?”
She sniffed, surprised to discover that she was indeed on the verge of tears.
The realization stiffened her spine as nothing else could have. Dang it. She wasn’t about to shed tears over an arrogant vampire.
Not even a vampire who had managed to lodge himself in her heart.
“It’s nothing.” She gave a disgusted shake of her head. “I’m just tired and scared and hungry.”
Still appearing ridiculously unnerved by the thought that he might have to deal with a weepy female, Salva tore cleared his throat.
“I fear I can do little about the tired and scared, but I am quite willing to feed you, if you wish.” He made a sharp gesture toward his companion. “Hess.”
Moving to his side, the Incredible Hulk performed a deep bow. The black T-shirt protested, but it didn’t burst open, as Darcy half expected.
“Yes, my lord?” His voice was harsh, as if he spent more time growling than speaking.
“Go to the nearest restaurant and bring back Ms. Smith some lunch.” The golden eyes swept toward Darcy. “Do you have a preference?”
She was too hungry to reject his offer. Besides, she couldn’t deny a small measure of relief at being rid of Hess. He had a feral gaze that made her distinctly nervous.
Like she was a pork chop being dangled just above the maws of a rabid dog.
“No meat,” she said with more emphasis than was precisely needed.
Both men’s jaws dropped open in astonishment. “No meat?” Salvatore demanded. “Are you serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be serious? I’m a vegetarian.”
“Impossible,” Salvatore breathed, clearly shocked.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded. “There are a lot of people who don’t eat meat. You know it’s much healthier to eat fruit and vegetables.”
“But not a—” The pureblood abruptly cut off his words, his features smoothing to an unreadable expression.
“A what?”
He ignored her question as he turned toward his companion. “Hess, bring back Ms. Smith something that doesn’t include meat.”
A threatening growl trickled from the large man’s throat. “My lord, I don’t think I should leave you alone here. This could be a trap.”
Salvatore narrowed his gaze. “A very clever trap considering that it is full daylight and not even the most determined vampire would dare creep from its lair.”
“Vampires are not the only danger.”
“True enough, but I’m not helpless.”
“I still think I should stay.” Hess turned his head to bare his teeth at Darcy. “I don’t trust this woman. She smells of deceit.”
“Hey…” Darcy began to protest only to choke off with a gasp when Salvatore lazily backhanded the man.
Giving a startled yip, the man fell to his knees and pressed a hand to his bleeding mouth.
“ This woman is destined to be your queen, Hess,”
Salvatore said in a dark tone. “And more importantly, I have warned you more than once that when I want your opinion I’ll ask for it. Until then, you will do as I command without question? Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lord.” After climbing to his feet, Hess performed a bow, then backed away with obvious caution.
Darcy waited until Hess disappeared into the trees and the hovering sense of violence slowly eased before breathing a deep sigh.
“Cripes.”
Salvatore moved smoothly forward, halting only when Darcy tensed at his proximity.
“I’m sorry if he frightened you, cara,” he soothed. “Curs are unruly by nature, and Hess more so than most. It makes him a less than dependable servant.”
She wet her suddenly dry lips. “He wasn’t the one who frightened me,” she said slowly. “Do you always hit your servants like that?”
He shrugged. “We are werewolves, Darcy, not humans. And, like all demons, we are violent beasts. We respect strength. I am not king just because I am a pureblood. It is my power that makes me a leader.”
A chill touched her heart. “I can’t believe that all demons are violent.”
“Perhaps a few can claim a more gentle nature, but I assure you, most demons depend on sheer brute force. It is the way of our world.”
Her gaze dropped as her stomach clenched with unease. She wouldn’t believe she was somehow destined to become a savage beast.
Surely it wasn’t in her character, no matter how bad her blood.
No, of course it wasn’t. She wouldn’t allow it to be.
Raising her head, Darcy met the golden gaze. “Then I don’t like your world much.”
Salvatore frowned at her fierce words. “You think that vampires are any different?”
“Perhaps not.” She eyed him squarely. “But I have never feared that Styx would backhand me.”
“Ah.” He studied her closely. “You think I would?”
“You tell me.”
“I would cause you pain only if that was what you desired. You are my consort, my queen. We are equals.”
Darcy frowned. Salvatore had previously hinted about and implied an intimate interest in her, but nothing like this.
She could only imagine that he was playing some joke on her.
“Yeah right. Me a queen, very funny,” she muttered.
He frowned, his head tilting to the side as he inhaled deeply. No doubt he was smelling what she was thinking, what she was feeling, and what she had for dinner two weeks ago.
Freaking demon noses.
At last he gave a slow shake of his head. “It wasn’t meant to be funny.”
“Good, because it isn’t,” she retorted. “How the heck could I be queen of the werewolves when I’m obviously not one?”
The golden eyes flashed with something that might have been regret. “This is not how I wished to tell you the truth, cara. You are making this more difficult than it must be.”
Oh no, no, no.
That chill returned to Darcy’s heart, and without thought she was suddenly slipping away from the car to put some much needed distance between her and the hovering werewolf.
She didn’t know what he was going to say, but she suspected that she didn’t want to hear it.
“Then maybe we should change the conversation,” she said in a sharp tone. “Tell me about the picture. Who is that woman?”
Salvatore was wise enough not to pursue her. Instead, he leaned elegantly against the sports car.
“Someone who very much wishes to meet you.”
“Then why isn’t she with you?”
“She should arrive in Chicago by tomorrow, or the next day at the latest.”
Darcy blinked in surprise. She wasn’t in Chicago?
She wasn’t locked in some dungeon, perhaps even now being tortured?
“She isn’t… staying with you?”
“Not at the moment.” Salvatore gave a lift of his shoulder. “She has been occupied with her own respon sibilities over the past few weeks, but the moment I called and told her that you had contacted me, she dropped everything to rush and be at your side.”
Darcy struggled to rearrange her thoughts. An astonishingly difficult task.
“So she isn’t in any sort of danger?”
“Of course not.” His eyes narrowed at her confused expression. “Is something the matter?”
Well, nothing more than the fact that she had utterly panicked at the thought that she might have discovered her mother and was in danger of losing her. And that her panic had led her (in a rather roundabout way) to flee Styx, expose herself to a jealous werewolf intent on killing her, commit grand-theft auto, and now stand in a freezing park while her stomach growled with hunger.
What the hell could be the matter?
She cleared her throat. “How do you know her?”
“We have been close for more years than you can possibly imagine.”
“Oh…” She pondered his words until she realized what he must mean. Cripes. That was something that had never occurred to her. “Oh.”
His lips curled into a sensual smile. “From that delightful blush I can only presume that you’ve leaped to the conclusion that we’re lovers.”
“Are you?” she bluntly demanded.
“No.” He lightly stroked his pale blue tie. “Sophia is certainly beautiful and exciting enough to tempt any man, but she already possesses several lovers. I prefer to be something more than one of the pack.”
Lovers? As in plural? As in an entire harem?
Jeez. This just kept getting stranger and stranger.
Which was saying something.
Darcy pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples. She needed more than six hours of sleep in a cramped car to deal with all of this.
“Cripes, this is giving me a headache.” She glared toward Salvatore, deciding she had had enough of the veiled implications and subtle hints. Time to take the bull by the horns. Or the wolf by his teeth. Whatever. She sucked in a deep breath. “Who is that woman?”
“I think it would be obvious.”
“Humor me.”
There was a tense pause before he pushed from the car to stand directly before her.
“The woman is your mother, Darcy,” he said.
Even expecting his words, she felt her knees go weak and her heart lodge in her throat.
“You’re certain?” she whispered.
He reached out to lightly touch her pale cheek. “Considering that I was there when you were born, I am very certain.” His finger smoothed over her cheek to the corner of her lips. “You were an astonishingly beautiful baby, as were your sisters.”
“Sisters?” She abruptly grasped his wrists in a fierce grip. It was that or tumbling to her knees. “I have sisters?”
“Your mother gave birth to quadruplets,” he said smoothly. “Not an unusual event for a pureblood.”
With a cry Dairy began to step away, her hands held up in a pleading motion.
“Wait. Just… wait.”
He blinked at her fierce reaction, as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb of nuclear proportions on her.
“What is it, Darcy? Are you unwell?”
She wrapped her arms around her waist as she continued to back away. “I’m overwhelmed. I need a minute.”
His lips thinned as he easily sensed her barely contained panic.
“I did warn you this was not the setting for this conversation.”
“I assure you that the setting has nothing to do with my reaction.” She gave a short, near hysterical laugh. “For God’s sake, I’ve been utterly alone for thirty years and now suddenly I discover I not only have a mother, but three sisters as well.” She swallowed the strange lump in her throat. “And on top of that, you have more than implied that my mother is a werewolf. Which would mean…”
“That you are a werewolf,” he completed softly. “Si.”
“No,” she instinctively denied. Styx had claimed that Salvatore was attempting to trick and deceive her. The ancient vampire was obviously right. That was easier to believe than the thought that Salvatore was telling the truth. “It’s not possible.”
The air prickled as Salvatore struggled to maintain his patience. Darcy sensed it was not a task he performed often. Or well.
“What must I do to prove my words?” he demanded.
“Nothing.” Her tone was sharp. Not surprising. She was struggling with her own tangled emotions. “I think I would know if I turned into an animal once a month. That’s not really something a girl can ignore.”
“There is a reason you do not shift.”
“And that would be?”
His lips thinned with impatience. “It is not something I will discuss until we can be assured of our privacy.”
“You can discuss me being a werewolf here, but not why I don’t have any symptoms of being a werewolf?” she demanded in disbelief.
“I had no desire to discuss anything here.”
She glared into his handsome face. “These secrets are beginning to wear on my nerves.”
He paused a long moment, no doubt reminding himself that he had gone to too much trouble to throttle her now.
“I thought you would be pleased to discover you have a family.”
She gave a restless shrug. “I am, of course.”
“But?” he probed.
But, indeed.
She didn’t even know where to begin.
“Where have they been?” she at last demanded. “Why was I abandoned when I was just a baby?”
“Darcy, you were never abandoned.” The golden eyes suddenly glowed with a dangerous light. “You and your sisters are incredibly vital to our people. There is not one of us who would not die to keep you safe.”
“Are you kidding me?” she demanded in disbelief. “I was left to rot in foster home after foster home until I finally ran away and lived on the streets. Not to mention the fact that one of your werewolves seemed to have missed the memo about just how vital I am, since she tried to kill me only a few hours ago.”
Salvatore frowned. “Jade is a mere cur and not in a position to know our secrets. She sensed you meant a great deal to me, but she didn’t understand just how important.”
Great. Because he was too damn arrogant to explain himself to curs, she had nearly been killed.
“And the r
eason I was abandoned?”
“As I said, you were never abandoned, Darcy.” His hands clenched at his sides. “You and your sisters were lost to us.”
“Lost to you? You make is sound as if we were spare change you happened to drop in the gutter.”
That unnerving prickling swept over her skin.
“Then let me be more precise. You were stolen from us.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in. “Stolen?”
“Healthy young babies are always desired, Darcy,” he pointed out. “There are humans who would pay any price for a child, and of course, those humans and even demons who are willing to provide those babies by stealing them.”
Well, that was something that she hadn’t expected.
Then again, learning something she hadn’t expected seemed to be a theme in her life lately.
“We were taken and sold on the black market?”
“Si. By the time we managed to track down the thieves, you four had already been shipped from Italy to America.” There was an edge of fury in his voice that she suspected was years in the making. “It is impossible to track a scent over an ocean, even for purebloods. It has taken years to piece together what happened to you and your sisters.”
“So you haven’t found them yet?”
“We have managed to track two of your sisters, although we have not yet approached them.” A wry smile touched his lips. “As you have demonstrated, it is not always an easy task to prove that we intend no harm.”
“You can hardly blame me. I—”
Her words came to an abrupt halt as Salvatore moved swiftly toward her, his hand raised in warning.
“Hess is returning,” he said in a tone so low that she could barely catch his words. “You must come with me. I promise I will answer all your questions.”
Darcy took a deliberate step backward. “I don’t think so.”
His brows snapped together. “Darcy, I am the only one who knows the truth.”
“Perhaps, but right now I think I’ve heard enough truth,” she confessed. “In fact, I’m beginning to believe that ignorance really might be bliss.”
“You can’t run from this. You most certainly can’t run from me.” There was no missing the warning in his voice. “You are too important.”
She tilted her chin at his unmistakable command. She was not about to be intimidated or bullied. Not when she desperately needed to consider all that she had learned so far.
Darkness Everlasting Page 18
