“I can try,” I said as I continued up the stairs.
Chapter 14
Patrick blew into my house like a cool breeze on an October night. He closed the back door in the kitchen behind him as Alex waved to me and headed downstairs, seeming much more at ease than the other night.
As he approached me and Patrick’s dark eyes focused on me as if I was the only person in the world. I didn’t want him to worry, especially about me. He’d worried so much already. The caress of his cool power against my skin was like taking a deep breath in winter, sharp and invigorating. He kissed me, delicate and almost chaste, with just the merest press of lips. When I shied away, he grabbed me. His dark eyes bore into mine before he crushed his mouth upon mine. He forced my lips apart and sank his tongue deep into my mouth, as if he would swallow me whole. His arms wrapped around me like a boa constrictor and I was completely secure in his arms.
I was safe.
I was loved.
And something was still missing.
I succumbed to his embrace as his lips parted, tasting me, and I slipped my tongue between his teeth, lightly scraping his fangs against my flesh. Patrick’s hands slid up my back until his fingers were spread through my hair holding my face where he wanted it. The petite sound of Alex clearing her throat behind us halted our kiss. I giggled into his mouth but Patrick finished the kiss, edging away slowly as if Alex hadn’t disturbed us. He gazed down at me with a devilish grin that made my stomach flutter and my heart race. I found myself smiling up at him in return.
“Nice timing,” I said in a saucy tone that didn’t have the umph behind it to really be threatening. The shit-eating-grin still on my face and Patrick’s arms wrapped around me, didn’t help.
“I heard you had a busy day,” Alex said with a smirk and strolled by me. She plopped down at the kitchen table and flung her feet and heavy boots up onto my kitchen. She leaned back in the chair on two legs. I moved away from Patrick and narrowed my eyes on her with my hands on my hips. Alex rolled her eyes and heaved her feet to the floor with a thud, setting the chair down on all four legs.
“You could say that,” I replied in a terse tone.
“Enough,” Patrick begged. He sounded as tired as I felt. “Alex, find Dean. He should be here soon.”
Alex nodded and left us alone in the kitchen.
A heavy sigh and a rush of relief flowed from Patrick to me, making my skin tingle. “She’s angry with you.” His fingertips traced down the length of my arms in a sensual line that sent shivers up my spine.
“Yeah, well, I’m mad at her, too,” I said. My voice, however, was filled with the craving pulsing through me from his simple touch.
This isn’t helping. I need to talk to him without my head clouded by lust.
Sliding out from under his delicate fingertips, I turned to face him and threw my hands up in surrender. A smirk curled my lips at the expression of satisfaction glinting in his dark eyes. He leaned against the fridge in an easy, graceful stance that seemed too elegant for my kitchen. I took a deep breath as he relaxed and lowered my hands.
“I need to talk to you,” I said. My shoulders tensed as I started what I knew would be a confrontation.
Patrick narrowed his eyes on me, sensing my unease. He didn’t move and his hands stayed loose at his sides but I knew better. His nervousness felt like pin pricks tickling across my skin.
“Okay,” I said. Quick is best. “I got fired today.” His eyes grew to the size of saucers but his body remained still. Creepy still.
“What happened?” he asked. His voice was too controlled and his jaw too tight. He didn’t seem surprised; he seemed mad.
“I was late one too many times,” I said. “No big deal.”
He wasn’t buying it.
“You lost your position due to our involvement, didn’t you?” His anger boiled beneath the surface, sparking up my spine like a firecracker. I couldn’t lie to him. He’d smell it and he’d feel it in his gut as I felt it in mine.
“Yes,” I admitted as resignation rang through my words.
“I’m sorry,” he said. His words were so soft that I almost didn’t hear them. Shrugging my shoulders, I crossed to get a glass from the cabinet.
I wasn’t worried anymore. Dean’s offer had taken care of that, no matter how much it stuck in my craw that I’d failed. Regardless of what anyone thought or told me, that’s how I felt. I hadn’t been able to cope with work, a relationship or two, and my extracurricular activities. I’d failed.
“You could work for me,” Patrick offered. Excitement bubbled up in him, making me lightheaded.
That’s what he really wants and has all along.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I replied. My front door opened behind Patrick and even though I couldn’t see him, I knew who it was. I felt him in the rising heat in the air. A minute or so later, Alex and Dean entered the kitchen.
“Besides, I already have a new job,” I said.
“Really?” Patrick asked, his eyebrows knitting together in skepticism. “Where?”
“Dean gave me a job,” I said, meeting Dean’s gaze. Alex stopped mid-step and Dean’s shoulders tightened, filling the doorway with his broad expanse.
“He did, did he? How kind of him,” Patrick snarled. Anger, jealousy, and finally betrayal billowed off of him in waves.
“I thought so,” I snapped, confused.
“Is there a problem?” Alex asked with a smirk.
“Yes,” Patrick hissed.
“No, there isn’t,” I snapped, staring Patrick down with as much tenacity as he had anger. Patrick turned on Dean, a growl filling his throat in a deadly rumble.
“It was very convenient for you to offer her a job, and so quickly,” Patrick snapped as his anger boiled over, sending ice skittering across my flesh.
Dean’s eyes flashed crystal blue in reaction.
Shit!
“I came for my keys,” Dean snarled. “She was crying. What was I supposed to do? Leave?” His tone was defensive as his hands fisted at his sides. “I need the help,” he snapped.
“HORSESHIT!” Patrick shouted, to my surprise.
I’d never heard him raise his voice in anger. I wasn’t sure that’s what it was either. Sure, anger was in there somewhere but it was overpowered by jealousy and fear. Sometimes, I wished the nifty empathic gift came with a reason button. My life would’ve been a whole lot easier.
A low growl rumbled through Dean’s chest and his eyes shifted completely to the Caribbean blue of his wolf. His tension-filled shoulders squared as he shifted to the balls of his feet. Patrick’s fists tightened at his sides, and the cold wind of his power swept through the room.
I stepped between them to stop it. Stupid. Stupid. STUPID!
Placing a hand on both men, dead square in the middle of their chests, I tried to shove them apart before they destroyed my kitchen, or each other.
I was caught. Stuck like I’d caught my hands in superglue. I couldn’t jerk my hands away from either of them.
A surge passed through me as their power collided inside my body like a storm. The heat from Dean’s magic and the Pack mixed with the cold defiance of death from Patrick and his Colony. The swirl of power and magic caused a whirlwind of hurricane strength inside me. Every muscle tensed and my head pounded with the heavy beat of my heart. The eye of the storm was there somewhere. I could feel it teetering around my edges. I was, however, stuck in the winds of their power and being thrashed about like a paper doll.
My breath caught in my throat as the wind of power and magic circulated, seeking someplace to belong, someplace big enough to hold all of it. I couldn’t contain it. Every cell in my body burned with static shock as the power surged in my chest and my brain. My blood pumped fierce, violent, and hot through my vei
ns as I sank to my knees, dragging rigid fingers down the front of their bodies. The hard jolt of linoleum shot through me as my knees hit the floor hard. I couldn’t remove my hands from either of them no matter how much I wanted to, like being electrocuted and handcuffed to the power plant supplying the power.
Magic surrounded me in a bubble of static energy as both Patrick and Dean’s powers tried to consume me, claim me. The more the force of their energies collided into me and mingled, the more they became something more than the polar opposites of each man’s power.
“What’s happening?” Alex screamed from miles away.
“Oh God,” Dean moaned, his voice rumbling in audible pleasure. His muscles quivered beneath my touch as the energy wrapped around us.
“She’s taking our power!” Patrick gasped. He knelt beside me, following me down to the floor, remaining still and cold under my touch.
Pain!
The pulse of power ripped me apart at the seams from the inside out, with no care at all if I was dead or alive at the end of it. I focused on that. Survival. I was good at survival.
I fought with everything I had in me to keep that damned energy from consuming me. It was tearing me apart. The air, thick and static around me, moved as the energy slammed against something solid. Me.
“STOP!” Patrick growled. “DON’T TOUCH HER!”
The solid object that drove against me, stopped and moved back from my own bubble of energy.
Alex stared down at me with pity in her dark chestnut eyes as she yanked her hand back.
My brain felt like it was melting in my skull. I screamed as both their powers made a final thrust for dominance. The scorching-hot power of Dean and the Pack burned my insides as it rammed into the ice-cold power of Patrick and his Colony freezing everything else. Finally, they merged into something else, something feral and untamed.
I finally yanked my fingertips from both. Like touching a hot stove, my fingers felt like I’d left the top two layers of skin behind but I didn’t care. Collapsing onto my hands and knees in a heaving, exhausted lump, I breathed in the charged air floating static around me. My lungs burned with each breath and my skin tingled like pins digging into my entire body. My skin was raw, like I’d been rubbed down with a glove of tiny needles.
“What the hell was that?” Dean asked in a breathy, husky tone.
I’d never heard him swear before. I would have used a much harsher word of the four-letter variety. Both men’s feet were in my peripheral vision. Patrick’s shiny black Italian leather loafers and Dean’s soft tan work boots. I would’ve given anything to feel my legs again and stand with them.
“Are you all right?” Patrick’s voice was soft, taking a step back from me as he spoke. He moved out of my sight line and my heart sank as he backed away from me.
“Dahlia?” Patrick hesitated.
I didn’t want to utter a word and have either of them notice the catch in my voice or the tears staining my face.
“Dahlia?” Dean murmured. He inched closer to me and I gasped when my stomach tightened.
“I-I’m,” I stammered, trying to stop my voice from trembling. I hurt all over. I couldn’t move without a stabbing, searing pain shooting up my spine. Sick to my stomach and weak, my brain hummed inside my skull like it was too big to fit in my skull and vibrating to get out. “I’m fine,” I managed to get out through clenched teeth.
“She doesn’t look fine,” Alex offered.
“Alex, don’t touch her,” Patrick snapped.
It was an order. I heard the threat it in his voice.
“Dean,” Patrick warned. His tone was reassuring if nothing else. He wasn’t angry. He was careful, very, very careful. “Step back, please.”
“Why?” he growled.
“Humor me, please,” Patrick ground out through clenched teeth, clearly annoyed.
As Dean moved those few steps away from me, a quiver of release overwhelmed my whole body. I had a momentary empty feeling like I’d lost something. In a flash, I was in my own skin, safe and warm, without any pain. My skin stopped tingling and everything around me hummed like a thousand hummingbirds hovered in the air around me.
Taking a long, easy breath, my lungs expanded to their full capacity without pain for the first time in what felt like years. My hair follicles felt sensitive, as if they stood on end.
“What happened?” Dean asked.
“Can’t you see it?” Patrick asked, his voice sounding mystified and awestruck.
See what? What the hell is he talking about?
“No,” Dean replied with a question in his voice.
I managed to slide up from all fours and lean back on my shins and knees.
“There is a low vibration coming off of her, though.”
What the hell?
“Can you feel it, or hear it?” Patrick asked, all academic-like.
He was starting to piss me off. I wasn’t a specimen to be studied.
Dean breathed in, a long, deep inhale of air, exhaling slowly through his nose.
“Both,” he answered.
“Who the fuck gives a shit?” I snarled through clenched teeth, digging my fingers into the top of my thighs and through the denim of my jeans.
“Dahlia?” Patrick said, too close to my ear.
Patrick crouched down to my level several paces away. I could feel him hovering on the outside of the bubble of energy still humming around me. He made every effort not to touch me. I turned in one stiff motion, my neck and back moving together in one tight line of tension to face him. My jaw clenched at the force of power shoving me down and my eyes went wide with anxiety. The power prodded at me, down on me, and tried to go through me. I didn’t hurt anymore but I wanted it gone.
“Are you fighting it?” Patrick asked.
What the hell is he talking about? I didn’t answer.
“Dahlia, are you holding the power at bay?” he rephrased.
I gritted my teeth and I nodded sharply.
Of course I was keeping the fucking power out. It didn’t belong in me and I wanted it gone. What the hell did he think I was doing?
“Stop fighting,” he whispered.
There’s no fucking way I’m letting this thing, whatever it is, take me over. I shook my head until I could feel my brain bounce off the inside of my skull.
“No,” I growled.
“Dahlia, please, stop fighting it,” Patrick begged. Reaching out his hand to touch me, he hesitated just on the outside of the power that now pulsed with my heartbeat. He finally inched his hand back when I cringed. “I know you want to fight it like you fight everything else, but you have to let it in,” he begged.
The hell I did!
“Do what he says,” Alex said behind me. She was a soft pressure at my back but I could sense her power several feet from me caressing the bubble of power to find her place. I didn’t care what either of them said, I didn’t want to let this thing inside me without a fight.
“Dahlia,” Patrick said. My skin tingled as he ran his hand along the invisible bubble that I could feel, like a haze moving a dense atmosphere around me. It ached as he touched it, making my bones grind in my joints with each pulse. “I believe that if you accept it, this will go away.” His voice was soothing and calm as he fanned his fingertips against the wall surrounding me like a cocoon. “Trust me,” he breathed.
I took a long, pensive breath as I fought the bubble of power around me, poking and prodding at me, seeking a way in.
His eyes focused on me with determination. A small, self-assured smile crested his full, kissable lips and lit his dark eyes.
I took another deep breath and closed my eyes, shutting as much of the outside world out as I could.
I let go.
I let go of everything and droppe
d every shield I had as the power rushed into me like a tidal wave. I arched my back in reflex from the force of it consuming me. The wind of a magic storm whirled around me, slamming into me and prying me open for the entire world to see. My insides tightened and my breath caught in my chest in a solid ball of ice. My heart stopped and my brain froze as power infiltrated every part of me, every cell.
Suddenly, there was nothing. No wind. No magic. No pain.
“How you feelin’?” Dean asked.
As I caught Patrick’s eye, relief and anxiety filled his expression, unfurrowing his brow beneath his coal-black hair. He placed his shaking hand on my shoulder with trepidation.
“Like I’ve been run over by a fucking truck,” I joked. “You?”
Patrick yanked me into his arms, securing me against his chest in a tight embrace. It felt really, really good.
“What just happened?” I mumbled into his chest, cuddling against him. I welcomed the contact and his strength as I held myself together.
“Later,” Patrick whispered as exhaustion hit me like a brick in the face.
I closed my eyes and slumped against him. He caught me, holding me tighter as my body and my strength gave out.
“Is she falling asleep?” Dean asked.
“I think so,” Patrick whispered, cradling me with an arm behind my back. He slipped his other arm beneath my knees, picked me up like I weighed nothing, then carried me to the couch in the living room.
I was almost asleep, lingering in a lovely place between wakefulness and complete and utter oblivion. My muscles had given out and turned to rubber, making me putty in Patrick’s hands. The cushions dipped as he sat on the edge of the couch beside me. He brushed a strand of hair from my face with cool fingertips skimming across my skin. I wanted to go to sleep but I fought to keep my eyes open. My mind was restless and I needed answers.
Sliver of Silver (Blushing Death) Page 14
