by Cat Miller
A vaguely familiar guy stomped by wearing a fierce scowl and carrying a crowbar and what looked like drapes from the Council hall library. He was attempting to wrap a curtain around one of his hands. Dani started to follow him, but Chase caught her around the waist and pulled her back against him.
“Do you know him, Lovely? He doesn’t look like one of ours. There’s no uniform and he’s a little too rough around the edges to be one of Gage’s boys,” Chase whispered in her mind.
“I think we may be looking at Brandi’s mysterious new love. She is convinced that he is here. If she has that kind of attachment to him I think we should follow him to see where he thinks she might be,” Dani sent telepathically. Chase was privy to all the information she was getting from Brandi through their bond because she hadn’t put any walls between their minds. Chase was helping Dani filter the emotions screaming out of Brandi so she could concentrate on finding a direction.
“We will follow at a distance. It isn’t clear if all of the rogues are gone,” Chase agreed.
On the opposite side of the building, they found the brooding dark-eyed guy attempting to lever a huge beam off the mass of rubble. He had the fabric around his hands to protect them from the pressure of the bar and the heat of the smoldering beams. Dani threw her telekinetic strength in with his muscle and the beam was removed cleanly. It wasn’t until he spoke that Dani knew exactly who this man was for sure. The sound of his voice still rang in her dreams some nights. Darren wanted her and this man stood between her and insanity. It was his vehemence that Darren not touch Dani that had given Brandi time to step in and carry her away. If not for him and Brandi, she would likely be unwillingly bonded to Darren today instead of Chase.
“Thank you. You’re Brandi’s sister right? I need to move the debris from this area. I’m sure this is where she’s pinned.”
Just then, the building started to collapse further and crush the area while they watched in horror.
“Where? Exactly where should I focus?” Dani coaxed the man that had fallen to his knees.
“There. I think close to the middle. It will take hours of careful digging,” he pointed.
Dani attempted to lift the weight of the falling building with the help of the other telekinetics. Her vision sharpened. Dani was waving her black-eyed freak flag. She could hear Brandi scream in her mind. She was being crushed.
“More. Now,” Dani fell to her knees and mentally pushed up on the heavy weight. But it was barely budging.
“Everything is so tangled. We will need to lift the whole thing at once. I’m sorry but we can’t do it,” one of the guys said.
“Don’t quit,” Dani grunted. She felt wetness on her lips and knew her nose was bleeding from the strain. Chase held onto her from behind, sending her waves of support and belief in her ability. Just when she thought the weight would crush her along with her sister, the weight disappeared and she fell back into Chase.
It was impossible. The falling building seemed to be floating in chunks and individual pieces some twenty feet above where they had just been. The entire thing flew en masse into the field behind the Council hall.
“It’s your Dad,” Chase told her. “He’s running this way with Gage.”
Dani could feel Brandi more clearly even though she still couldn’t see her. She locked onto Brandi’s unique mental signature and willed it to rise above the rubble. She focused every cell in her body on pulling her sister out alive.
Things shifted and fell. The guy on the ground next to her held his breath when Brandi’s naked, soot-darkened form began to rise out of the ash.
“I’ve got her! Great job kid,” Griffin’s deep voice came from behind her. “I never would have been able to find her in there.”
“It wasn’t me.” Dani gasped for air.
“Him,” She pointed to Brandi’s new love.
It was a morbid sight. Brandi came floating over to them with the skeletal remains of three people still hanging onto her limbs. Chase stepped in to remove the dangling remains. Brandi’s man was out of his shirt and waiting there to catch her when she drifted gently down. He settled cross legged on the ground with her in his lap while he maneuvered her into his shirt and buttoned it up. Brandi stirred and cracked her eyes open to smile up at him.
“I knew you were here.” Her voice was a raspy whisper.
“Does anyone have any water?” Gage yelled to the gathering crowd. Several bottles were passed forward and Griffin knelt in front of the couple.
“You scared the absolute shit out of me, Sparky!” Derek held her to his chest. “You smell bad but I love you anyway,” he joked.
“You smell wonderful. I’m sorry.” She kissed him and tried to wipe away the black marks she left on his face. Griffin tried to take Brandi from Derek but she clung to him.
“No, Daddy. I want to stay with Derek. You can’t protect me from the Rogue. Look what I’m capable of. You are all in danger around me. It will be safer if I go away until things settle down,” she pleaded.
“You can’t be serious about this guy, sweetheart. He’s some kid off the streets that has a drug problem. I will not allow you to waste your life that way.” Griffin looked at Derek with disdain.
“You will hand over my daughter or I will take her from you the hard way.”
Oh, shit. This was going downhill in a hurry. Chase pushed Dani behind him and she peeked around his side to watch the action. She was still receiving thoughts from Brandi and she was about to put Daddy in his place. Brandi struggled out of Derek’s lap when it didn’t look like he would release her. She put herself between Derek and her father and they glared at each other. It was a standoff. Dani was waiting for the tumble weed to blow by.
“I guess that’s what your parents said about Tessa, huh?” Brandi spat out.
Griffin looked like she had slapped him. Brandi was beginning to glow with anger.
“Babe, if you toast that shirt we’re out of luck. I was only wearing one.” Derek reminded. Brandi turned, for the first time noticing that Derek was topless. She breathed deeply and pulled the heat back in.
“Much better, Sparky,” He placed a hand possessively on her hip. Griffin did not miss the subtext. ‘She’s already mine.’
“You know nothing about Derek or the life he lives. I’m not you, Daddy. As much as I love you and Mom, I will not allow you to make my life decisions for me. You will not take him from me because he doesn’t meet your expectations. I can’t believe you of all people would even try.”
Brandi grabbed Derek’s hand and walked off with her shirt tails flapping in the wind.
****
Derek took Brandi to Candy’s house. It was the safest place he could think to go for the night. Candy was out of town and he still had the keys he’d swiped the last time he visited. They would find another hiding place in the morning.
When Brandi had a chance to look around, she was none too happy to be in the home of the woman who caused her public embarrassment. She was almost green-eyed. Derek had to laugh at how angry Brandi became at his involvement with Candy,but she settled when he explained his relationship with her nemeses. He liked her being possessive of him. If he hadn’t known how she felt about him before, he did now. Her behavior in front of her family and the jealousy she displayed reassured him that she loved him even if she wasn’t ready to say it yet.
He took a good look at her and frowned. She wore only his black button up shirt hanging to her knees and every inch of visible skin was dark. He wondered how she managed not to lose her hair in the fire but he didn’t ask. He assumed it was as fire-resistant as her skin.
Derek steered Brandi to the bathroom and turned on the shower while she watched. He thought of running her a bath to soak in but she was too dirty for that. The water would be black by the time she settled into it. He hoped the shower would help wash away the remains of her traumatic day. He laid out a fresh towel and unbuttoned the shirt covering Brandi’s filthy but inspiring skin. He had to work at not starin
g at all of her more interesting bits when he guided her to the cleansing spray. Brandi looked up at him hopefully. She wanted him to join her but Derek believed she needed some time alone to process the day and all of its ramifications. He left her to bathe and unwind in privacy.
Before today, Derek never understood the concept of life affirming sex. The thought that sex after the death of someone close to you or after a close call with your own life never made sense to him. But today, for that moment in time that he believed Brandi could really be gone. His world came to a grinding halt. He had never known pain so deep or all-consuming in his admittedly sad and painful life.
He looked into the deep sapphire-blue of her eyes and he had to have her. He wanted to sink himself into her body until the fear of losing her stopped and he was sure that Brandi was safe and alive in his arms. He wanted her in his arms and in his bed so often that they would forget they were separate beings. Their first time together had only intensified the sureness of the voice in the back of his mind that screamed to him that they belonged together. He was sure he needed Brandi on a soul deep level to survive. It begged him day and night to claim her and make her his mate.
Derek made his decision. He would fulfill his promise to Tessa. Then he would try to free his mother. If she refused to leave, that would be her decision. Derek had a life to lead and a mate to claim. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life protecting his mother if she didn’t want his protection. He wanted a family of his own and Brandi was the only person, vamp or human, he wanted to have that life with.
Brandi cross the hall and entered the room almost shyly, clutching the towel that covered her. Her hair had grown out a bit and dark locks curled damply around her slender neck. In the quiet refuge of the small spare bedroom, Brandi twined her arms around Derek’s waist and turned her face up, in silent request of the same reassurance he needed. She wanted to know they were both alive and together no matter the consequences.
He took her mouth with a gentle control he wasn’t aware he had in him. This was the single most important night of Derek’s life. He had to get it right. Brandi opened for him and he swept inside to explore the soft offering. The lush taste of Brandi’s lips never failed to impact him. Derek took his time searching out all of the places he might have missed the last time they held each other.
Brandi molded herself to his body and rubbed herself enticingly along his frame. The towel fell from her freshly washed body and he groaned. How was he supposed to take his time and seduce her if she kept trying to tantalize him? Derek slid his hands down her smooth curves to pull her closer to his heated need but he stopped when the texture of the skin on her left hip surprised him. He pulled back to look into her eyes.
“I know. I didn’t notice it until I was washing. I felt when it happened but I forgot about it. It doesn’t hurt. You can touch it.”
She looked down at her lower body. Derek knelt in front of her to examine the skin. He was at a loss to explain the odd impression that wrapped like a vine around her thigh several times and up over her left hip. Derek turned her to get a look at the healing burns that crossed her back and ended in a curl around her right shoulder. The skin was smooth and a little pinker than the rest of her creamy skin instead of being a twisted shiny scar like you expect to see in burns. This new decoration to her already lovely body was beautiful and haunting. The scars looked like climbing vines of flames dancing over delicate flesh. He looked up to see her watching him. She smiled and shrugged. Derek kissed the pink skin of her hip and took both of her hands in his. No time like the present to make his intentions known. He was already on his knees. Brandi might not appreciate the gesture given her pure vamp blood, but his human heart demanded he show respect to the woman he loved.
“Brandi…” he choked. Emotions forced the words to freeze in his throat. He would have to explain his humanity but that could wait a few minutes. If she rejected him now it wouldn’t matter. He cleared his throat. Brandi tried to sink to the floor but he stayed her motion.
“Please, let me do this, Sparky?”
She stood and looked down at him with fear and concern in her eyes.
“Will you be my mate, Brandi? Will you try to love me the way I love you?”
Brandi gasped and fell to her knees in front of him. He didn’t see reject in her expression. It was more like confusion and disbelief.
“I know I can’t provide the life you are used to, but I will work and go back to school. I will do whatever it takes.”
She tried to speak but he wasn’t ready to hear the answer, so he kept talking. Why did it feel like he was giving her reasons to reject him? Shouldn’t he be promising her the world? He should, but he wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.
“I know I’m not what your family will expect in a mate. I don’t want you to be estranged from them. Maybe in time they could accept our bond. I’m sure your father would come around once he sees how much I adore you.”
She tried to answer again, but he kept rambling. Derek was so nervous the words were spilling out of their own volition. He stroked her face and fought the tears burning the back of his eyes. This was it.
“I love you. That’s all I can promise, Brandi. I will love you with all that I am from now until I take my last breath and beyond.”
Derek took a deep breath and watched the tears track down Brandi’s cheeks. She leaned in and kissed him softly, sweetly and smiled against his lips. When she pulled away her grin split her face from ear to ear. Derek released the breath he had been holding.
“I love you already, Derek. I don’t need to try to love you. I don’t need a bond to force the emotion. As far as my family is concerned, it’s like I told my father today. I’m not him. I won’t live my life to please him and my mother. I want them to love you too, but if they don’t, I will get through it. I want you. I need you. I love you.”
Derek’s heart was rejoicing in his chest until her expression darkened a bit.
“I can’t be mated to man that is a slave. I can’t respect a mate that does the things you do. I understand that the past is in the past but what about now?”
“I’m not staying with the Master…”
Shit. He had to stop thinking of the man as his Master. It was just that he had called him that since he was eight years old. The title didn’t carry the meaning it should for Shade warrior. It was just his name in Derek’s mind but he knew it wasn’t just a name to the rest of the world. Calling him Master meant that Derek was obedient and faithful to the man.
“The Rogue,” he corrected. “I need to at least try to convince my mother to leave. That’s the only reason for me to go back at all. She may not leave but at least I will know I tried to save her.”
Brandi thought that over. She rose from the floor and passed around him in the small room. Her fingers on her hip brushed over the new lines in her skin self-consciously. Derek couldn’t help enjoying the picture she made, walking around completely naked and thoughtfully considering his words. Her hand drifted down her leg to worry the newly pinked skin on her thigh. This was a serious discussion that deserved his full attention but all he could think of was licking every inch of the flaming marks to see if it would burn his tongue.
“We can go to my grandparent’s summer home for a while until we get a place of our own. They’ll never know we’re there and no one will think it’s strange if they see me in town. I go out there sometimes just to get away. There will be plenty of room for your mom. I think we should hide out there until the Rogue stops searching for me. I may not be as wealthy as my parents, but I have an inheritance that should get us through until I find a job. There will be enough left to put a sizable down payment on a house as long as we’re conservative.”
She sat on the bed and reached out for his hand.
“Wait, what?” Derek sputtered. He thought she was considering being his mate and she had moved on to where they would go to hide and how they would afford to live.
“Well I’m surely not
staying here. I can’t live with that woman and there isn’t enough room for your mom,” she explained.
“Are you sure? I mean about me?”
She opened her mouth to answer but he stopped her by placing a finger over her lips.
“Wait. There’s one last thing I have to confess before you give me an answer because I don’t think I’ll be able to let you go if you change your mind. If you can live with it, we can be mated as soon as I find my mom.”
Brandi waited but he said nothing. Slowly he moved his finger from her mouth and replaced it with his lips. Derek need to know she loved him too and wanted to be his as much as he wanted to be hers just for a little longer. His next words could be a deal breaker. She kissed him back and the heat between them built. Before he knew it he was laid back on the bed with her legs wrapped around his denim clad hips. She tugged at the fastening of his belt.
“Wait. I have to tell you.”
Derek moved to sit on the edge of the bed facing away from Brandi. He didn’t want to see disgust in her eyes when she looked at him.
“It’s about my mother,” he hesitated. “It’s about my mother and me.”
Brandi sat up to rub his back.
“You don’t have to do this, Derek. I know the worst about you already. Nothing you say is going to change how feel about you.” She cuddled against his back and kissed the nape of his neck.
“Just come to bed with me.” She tried coaxing him to lie back on the bed.
“No. I feel like I have been lying to you. I haven’t lied but I haven’t admitted the truth, either. It’s a lie by omission. I… Well, you see, my mother…”
He took another deep breath.
“I already know you’re a demi-vamp. If that’s what has you in knots, you can relax,” she informed him casually.
Derek whipped around and grabbed her by the shoulders. He looked for the truth in her eyes.
