"It's all right." He was at her side in an instant, taking her hands within his and slowly easing them back down to her sides. He lifted the covers and wrapped them tighter around her body. "You lost a lot of blood. I need to keep you as warm as possible as you recover."
"But," Danielle got out, furrowing her brow so she could look at him. The lights in her dorm were off. Candles were placed around her bed and she could smell a hint of vanilla wafting through the room. "You're okay."
"Yes." He nodded once and reclaimed his seat. "You saved my life."
Danielle swallowed and nodded in return. "What happened?" she got out. Her voice was scratchy, her throat dry, and she looked around for a stray water bottle so she could moisten it. He handed her a glass of water without her even having to ask. Once she got some water down, she looked at him expectantly. "How long was I out?"
"Several hours," he responded, taking the water bottle from her when she was through. "I took too much of your blood and you passed out. You foolish girl, why did you do that?" His eyes seemed genuinely angry at her for the choice she made but he gave her a moment to think about how to defend herself.
"You were dying," she said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That's what you do when you love someone." She pressed her lips together, her throat still dry despite the water she had just swallowed, but she ignored the raw pain her throat was suffering in order to explain this to him. "You save their life. I'm sure you would have done the same for me."
"If anyone attempted to kill you in any way, I would have ripped their throat out with my bare hands and let them bleed out through the gaping wound," he told her, his gaze unflinching. His crisp blue eyes took in Danielle's face and then dropped down to her neck, probably to gaze at the mark he had left on her neck. "You are a fool."
"You keep calling me that," she pointed out, her tone flat. "What the hell do you want from me?"
The corner of his lips turned up but he made sure to keep the smile that wanted to break out onto his face restrained. "Because you are just that," he told her, though his voice was uncharacteristically warm with affection. "A fool. But you are my fool. I've never had someone willingly save my life before, because they did not want to live in a world where I am not in it."
"I told you I loved you," Danielle pointed out.
"Yes, but you must understand that the concept is still new and rather difficult for me to grasp," he told her. A beat, and then, "You gave me your blood."
Danielle nodded. "I did," she said.
"Which means that I need to give you my blood to solidify the bond," he told her. "It will help heal you and replenish your system if you give me permission to give it to you."
Danielle furrowed her brows, surprised. "Why didn't you do it before?" she asked. "Not that I'm offended but... I figured you might do that."
"Because I wanted this to be your choice, Danielle," he told her. "I didn't want to trick or compel you. It had to come from you." He tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Something is troubling you."
"The thing is," Danielle said, looking down at her lap. "Ryder wanted me because someone in the department wanted me. They were going to give him a house in the suburbs and fifty grand just to bring me in. Why would they do that, if all they want from me was protection? It doesn't make any sense."
Alek was silent for a long moment, taking in her words. "You believe there's more to the NDS than what they're saying," he stated.
"Not only about me," Danielle said. "If they're lying about why they want me, they could be lying about who has my father. Sure, Noah isn't the safest person to be around but why would he want to harm my father? Technically, my father saved his life. And he seems to thrive being a werewolf. If Noah Wright wanted to make a point with my father, he would have killed him on live television, not that poor NDS agent."
Alek nodded his head once, the look on his face pensive. Almost analytical, as though he was trying to put the pieces together because what Danielle said made sense. "All right," he finally said. "Let me make some calls."
Danielle nodded, sinking into her pillows. When he came back into the room, Danielle had been dozing. He didn’t immediately say anything, offered no explanations for who he called or what came of the calls. Instead, he slowly took a seat on the edge of her bed, his piercing blue eyes bearing down at her. He kept eye contact with her and slowly raised his wrist to his mouth. He popped out his canines and sank his fangs into his flesh until blood was seeping from his wrist. Then, he offered her his wrist.
“Drink this, and I promise you that you will feel better in a manner of minutes,” he told her. “Better than new.”
Danielle nodded. Her fingers tentatively found his forearm and he brought it close to her mouth. She did not want to show him she was hesitating because she was certain she wanted this; however, she had never consumed blood before and the thought of doing so now, even Alek’s blood, made her stomach turn over. She didn’t think there was any way blood could be delicious but she wasn’t an expert and hadn’t yet experienced it.
Instead, she immediately placed his wrist to her lips. At first, she didn’t quite know what to expect. It was thick and silky, much like human blood, with only a hint of the metallic taste that usually accompanied human blood. As she continued to drink from him, she noticed a sweetness, almost like honey or nectar, that tainted his blood, that made her want more. Her eyes somehow found Alek’s, and he was staring at her with an awed look on his face, like he couldn’t quite believe she was taking his blood, and, more than that, that she was actually enjoying herself. He was looking at her like she was some sort of goddess, some kind of high priestess that warranted nothing but worship. It caused something to pulse inside of her pelvis, something warm and filled with sensitized pressure.
She wanted him.
It was as though his blood was like some sort of aphrodisiac. She wondered if her blood did the same thing to him.
“There, there,” he said after another moment. He reached up and placed his own mouth on his wrist, sealing up the injury with ease.
“What happens now?” Danielle asked. She already felt better. Her head wasn’t thudding or light, and she felt stronger by the second. “Between us, I mean.”
“Now that the bond has been solidified?” Alek asked. At Danielle’s nod, he continued. “I am literally inside of you, and you are inside of me. I can sense your emotions, I can gauge your environment. I can’t read your thoughts but I can feel them. For example, I know right now, you’d like nothing more than to have my cock inside of you, pushing your face down into your mattress as I fuck you hard.” Danielle smiled but did not deny it. She continued to stare at him with wide eyes and even ran her tongue across her bottom lip slowly. “You should try feeling what I’m feeling. Close your eyes and reach out to me with your mind.”
Danielle did as he told her to without question. She wasn’t quite sure how to reach out, so to speak, but she followed her instincts. She was immediately assaulted with his desire for her. She knew he was already hard thanks to the feelings he got from her taking his blood, but there was a warm affection for her, too. Something that said this was important, more than sex or physical gratification.
“You want me,” she breathed out, “not because the sex is great – which it is – but because you love me.”
“The corner of his lips curled up. “Correct,” he murmured.
Just as he was about to lean down to kiss her, an insistent knock pierced the silence. Danielle couldn’t help but groan. She was sick of unexpected visitors.
25
Danielle hadn't expected the knock on the door to be Luke, nor did she expect Alek to let him in after hunching over to check the peephole. It had been several hours since Ryder left but she was still feeling lightheaded so Alek opted to stay in her tiny dorm room with her. Which was hilarious because his body frame was so huge, he looked out of place. But there he was, two large powerful men in her tiny dorm room at the f
oot of her bed, looking over her like she was a child who just had a nightmare.
"I'm sorry this has happened to you," Luke said after he stared at her for a long moment. He still wore the same suit he had on earlier this morning, but his hair wasn't as perfectly in place and his sharp blue eyes appeared dull. It was almost as though he was tired, which would have shocked Danielle if she wasn't already swimming in the emotion. "I found some more information on the case, strictly confidential. As in, you can't even share this with Aubrey."
Danielle swallowed. "Why not?" she asked. "She texted me when she got back from Noah's compound. No trace of my father there."
"No," he agreed. "He's not there."
There was something odd about Luke's voice in that moment, almost as though he was hesitating on whether or not to continue. He looked conflicted, like his body was being split into two parts and he didn't know which side he should follow and which side to leave behind.
"Alek called me and explained what happened," he continued. "Ryder's internship isn't even on our books, which means someone high up initiated contact with him, as he stated. That, at least, isn't a lie. But it's not an internship, it's more of an order to keep his eye on you and feed his superior information about you. I was told he was an intern and didn't think to question it. Like I said, after Alek's call, I did some research and it's nothing official. Then, I started digging around using the information Aubrey had regarding your father. Suffice to say, I fell down a rabbit hole with more questions than answers but I think I know who has your father."
"Who?" Danielle asked, pressing her brows together.
"Us," he replied. "The NDS." He held up his hands. "Now, before you start asking me why, I want you to know that I have no idea. This doesn't make any sense to me. The only thing I can think of is that we're holding him either to protect him from outside threats or to punish him for something he did."
"What could you possibly..." Danielle let her voice trail off at Luke's look and then raised an eyebrow. "Classified?"
"Probably," he said with a nod. "I don't even know for sure. But that would be my guess."
“Do you know for certain that your agency is holding her father?” Alek pressed, his brow furrowed and his eyes flashing. Danielle reached out to him through their bond. She could feel the range of emotion go through his body – annoyance that he had to call Luke in the first place, anger at the NDS for being the corrupt government agency that they were, frustration that Danielle had to go through this, and a slight prickle of curiosity as to why they would feel threatened by her father in the first place. He also believed Luke knew more than he said, and that frustrated him even more.
Luke opened his mouth, and it was clear he was going to reject Alek’s claim, but when his blue eyes found Danielle’s, he faltered. “They are holding him,” he amended. “He’s being cared for but he’s in a holding cell. I do not know why we are holding him.”
“He was helping,” Danielle said suddenly, her eyes focused only on Luke. “Helping Noah and the werewolves he created.”
“What are you talking about?” Luke asked. He wasn’t mean but curious with a hint of disbelief.
“My father is a Pacifist,” Danielle explained. “When you guys first thought Noah had him, I thought maybe it was because he wanted revenge for being transformed into what they are now: werewolves without consent. Like The Lone Wolf. But after seeing how much Noah and his pack love being what they are, and after Aubrey’s assurance Noah didn’t have him, I realized that Noah would have no reason to kidnap him in the first place. But the NDS had good reason to grab him. You guys probably wanted more of the serum. You guys probably saw what it did to the first batch of created wolves, saw potential, saw that the serum actually worked, and wanted more. My father would have witnessed the transformations, would have witnessed the utter refusal to help these men – if Noah is to be believed – and would have told you no. Regardless of the consequences, he would have said no. I’m sure the only reason he created the serum and administered it was because it saved lives. And that, to my father, was more important than anything.”
Her eyes flashed to Luke, almost accusingly. “You were going to bring me in because I’m the only person in the world he would have done everything for,” she told him.
“I had no idea,” Luke told her. He wasn’t begging or insistent, but his firm voice held a truth to it.
“Now,” Alek said, his silky voice cutting through the tension, “we must decide what to do about it. I’m positive we haven’t heard the last of Ryder.”
Luke nodded. “Let me see what I can do,” he said. “I’ll reach out in a bit.”
Before either could question what that meant, he disappeared out the door, leaving the two alone.
It wasn't until the next day when they heard not from Luke but from Aubrey. Apparently, he had reached out to her, hoping to team up with her to research the possibility that the NDS had Danielle’s father, why, and where he was being kept. It took her all of twelve hours to contact sources and get the information but it was confirmed that the NDS had her father because he refused to create more of the serum and had destroyed his research in a fire. There was no way they could free him just yet, however; they needed to come up with a plan and get someone on the inside to coordinate something and sneak him out because there was no way the NDS was just going to release him unless he gave them what he wanted. And Danielle knew her father well enough to know his principles came before everything else, including his family. It was why he left her and her mother in the first place. He couldn't be with them on the off chance that they would be inadvertently placed in danger.
"So what do we do?" Danielle asked, looking over at Aubrey. The four of them were in Danielle's dorm once again, Monday evening. Alek had his hand on her thigh, always finding little ways to touch her. It made her feel special and protected and present. She loved the feeling. She was glad he was here with her.
"We wait," Aubrey said. "Luke is our best bet on how to organize this. I also have a friend in their records department who is willing to work with Luke on trying to get him out but it won't happen right away. The good news is that he's safe and they aren't abusing him. Yet. I think they hoped they would have you in order to get him to do what they wanted but that isn't going to happen."
"What do you mean?" Danielle asked, shifting her eyes over to Luke for some sort of explanation.
"All record of Ryder is gone from our system," Luke said. "To the NDS, he doesn't exist. We've never had contact with him."
"What?" Alek asked, his voice flat.
"It means we erased all trace of him so if he runs his mouth, there would be no proof of his claim," Luke said, "though I'm certain they paid him off, even after his botched attempt to take you to the NDS." He leaned forward, towards Danielle, across the dining table. His blue eyes were piercing, more blue than she had ever seen them before. He looked insistent. "Ms. Hart, I apologize for everything. I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, I will get your father to you, safe and alive. Give me time, but I assure you, it will happen."
Danielle gave him a nod. She believed him. He might have been a cold, ignorant person - fairy, apparently - but now that he was aware how corrupt his agency was, he could actually do something about it. In fact, it seemed to want to help, which was more than she expected. After a few minutes, Aubrey and Luke left.
Alek turned to Danielle. "Are you all right?" he asked her, his tone still reserved but concerned.
Danielle nodded, turning in her seat so she could lean in towards him. "Yeah," she told him. "I'm just glad I have some closure with my father. Not that he was really in my life in the first place but-"
"He is still your father," Alek finished.
"Exactly," she said.
Danielle glanced up at him, her eyes shining. There was a smile on her face that crinkled her eyes. To be honest, she had no idea why she was smiling. Her father was still gone, she had a few more weeks left of the quarter with a paper on Jane
Austen and Sex due and finals she needed to study for, and her friend Maggie had gotten in deep with the vampire who paid her for her blood. Too many things were happening, it was hard to root herself in place, take a deep breath, and appreciate it all.
She knew, though, that she would get through it. She had to. She was made of tougher things and with Alek by her side, she could do anything.
“You have never been more beautiful than when you ripped the skin from your wrist to give me your blood,” Alek told her, his eyes sparkling with pride. The hand on her thigh squeezed and his lips turned up into a soft smirk. “You had blood dripping down your chin. If I hadn’t been so weak, I would have taken you right there.”
Danielle felt her face turn pink but her lips curled up and she could feel her eyes darken with desire.
“I never expected that from you,” he went on. “Taking your blood. I never expected it to taste so… sweet.” Somehow, Alek had the ability to make the word sweet sound dirty. “I knew I made the right choice in selecting you as a mate. I am consumed by your taste, your smell, your thoughts and feelings. I can’t get enough of being around you.”
“When do you typically need to feed?” Danielle asked, cocking her head to the side. “I remember in my Intro to Anthro class that vampires need to feed at least once every few days.”
Alek nodded. “That is correct,” he agreed.
“And you would feed from me?”
Alek’s smirk deepened. “If you’re comfortable with me doing so,” he said.
“Well, I don’t want you to feed with anyone else,” Danielle said before she could stop herself.
“And I thought I was the jealous one.”
She shot him a look. “What happens when you turn me into a vampire?” she asked without fully realizing the implications of her question. “Can you still feed on me?”
The Somerset Series: A Box Set: Books 2-4 Page 46
