Damek's Redemption: Legacy, Book 6

by N. J. Walters

“No. Nothing has changed. You’re not leaving.”

  “Damn you.” She flew at him, fists pounding his chest. She’d prefer to think her reaction was to him keeping her here rather than the fact he’d hurt her with his words. He wrapped his arms around her, trapping them against her sides so she couldn’t hit him. She brought her knee up and he barely kept from taking one in the family jewels.

  He twisted her in his embrace so she was facing away from him, but he kept his arms around her, chaining her to him. His erection pressed against the small of her back. The bastard was aroused.

  “I hate you,” she growled.

  Damek kissed the top of her head and sighed, ruffling her hair. “No, I don’t think you do.”

  Sonia sniffed. “Fat lot you know.”

  “Are you crying?” His entire body stiffened behind her.

  “No.” She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She blinked hard and sniffed again.

  His hold changed, becoming more embrace than imprisonment. He slowly rocked her from side to side. “What am I going to do with you?” His breath tickled her ear, sending a jolt of arousal through her.

  “Nothing.” No way was she sleeping with him now.

  He moved quickly, picking her up and carrying her toward the bathroom. “I know what you need. You need a nice hot bath to relax you.” He used his shoulder to hit the switch and the lights came on low, revealing the decadent bathroom she’d glimpsed earlier. It really was incredible with the gleaming black enamel tub, gold-toned faucets and thick black towels.

  “Why are you doing this? You think I betrayed you. Why aren’t you locking me in your dungeon or at least wiping my memories? You can do that, can’t you?”

  He set her on the marble countertop and she wrapped her arms around her bare breasts.

  “I can. But for some unknown reason I don’t want to.” He started the bath water running and came back to her. Placing his hands on either side of her, he trapped her on the counter. “I don’t want you to forget me.” He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. Idiot that she was, she tilted her neck to the side to give him better access.

  The man was infuriating, dictatorial, arrogant, untrusting, and she loved him. Sonia froze as he dragged his tongue over the fluttering pulse in her neck. What had she done? She’d fallen in love with a vampire.

  He pulled back and studied her, his gaze solemn. “I would never drink from you without your permission.”

  She cupped the side of his face. “I know.”

  He nodded and straightened. “Let’s get you into the tub. You’re probably stiff and sore after everything you’ve been through.”

  Everything included being assaulted by a maniac with a knife and having hot vampire sex all in one evening. Her shoulder muscles were stiff and she felt sticky between her thighs. A bath was just the thing to make her feel better and allow her time to get her thoughts in order. Sonia hopped down off the counter, using it to steady herself. “I can take it from here.”

  He inclined his head and left her alone, giving her what she’d asked for, but a part of her wished he would stay. “Girl, you need to get your head on straight,” she muttered. It didn’t take long for her to strip off her jeans, panties and socks and climb into the tub.

  She groaned as she sat in the hot water, letting it surround her. “Now this is what I’m talking about.” She leaned against the side of the tub and let it keep filling. Closing her eyes, she tried to relax and let all her worries slide away. Easier said than done, but she gave it a try.

  Her tense muscles were just starting to unknot when the water stopped running. Her eyes flew open and there was Damek, totally naked, climbing into the tub with her.

  She jolted and water sloshed close to the rim as he maneuvered her forward and slid in behind her. “What are you doing?”

  “Taking a bath.” His calm, even tone irritated her.

  “You could have waited until I was finished.” She started to stand, but he pulled her back against his chest.

  “But I want to bathe with you.” He settled her against him and she did her best to ignore his obvious arousal.

  “Relax,” he ordered.

  She snorted. “Yeah, right. Like that’s going to happen.”

  He set his hands on her shoulders and began to rub, his firm strokes getting longer and deeper over time. She groaned and tilted her head forward. “If you keep that up we’ll never leave this tub.”

  He laughed and let his hands slide around her sides to cup her breasts. She jolted upright and clunked his face with the back of her head. She moaned and slid away from him. “None of that. Not if you’re only going to tease me.” She looked over her shoulder and studied the mulish set of his mouth. “That’s what I thought.”

  Since the tub was huge enough to accommodate four people, she slid over to the other side, grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap and started washing. She did her best to ignore Damek, which wasn’t easy. Not with his large, wet body close enough for her to touch.

  Finally, he picked up a cloth and set to work. Water sluiced over his defined chest muscles and soap bubbles clung to his thick biceps. Sonia bit her bottom lip as she watched the water slip over his tight abs.

  Not willing to linger any longer, Sonia stood, ignoring the sensual glide of the water over her sensitive skin. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body the moment she was out of the tub, not wanting to be naked and vulnerable in front of him. She scooped her clothing off the floor and fled to the bedroom as Damek was rising from the water like some pagan god.

  The peek she caught of him had her heart racing. She wanted to lick the droplets of water off his broad chest and lap at the hard ridges of his stomach. Not to mention what she wanted to do with the hard shaft rising up from the nest of curls at his groin.

  Oh, she was a mess. She dumped the garments on a chair and gathered the scattered remains of her clothing. Her suitcase, which was perched on the chest at the end of his bed, contained clean clothing. She was in the process of unzipping it when Damek strode into the room. No, not strode, glided. The man moved with the fluidity of a dancer, or a great cat, maybe a panther.

  She shook her head, ignoring him as she pulled out clean clothing. He took them from her and tossed them back in her suitcase. “You don’t need that.”

  She whirled and caught the ends of her towel, tucking them more securely around her. Damek wasn’t wearing a towel. Of course he wasn’t. The man was all sophistication and designer suits on the outside, but inside he was pure heathen and all male.

  “And why not? I’m not putting dirty clothing back on.”

  He scooped her up and headed to the bed, dumping her onto the sheets. “We need to sleep.”

  “That’s fine,” she protested. “But I still need my nightgown.”

  He climbed into bed beside her, wrapped his arm around her and yanked her down so her head was resting in the crook of his arm. He flung the covers over them, cocooning them in his massive bed. “No, you don’t.”

  Sonia drummed her fingers on his chest. “Why do you get to choose what I wear?”

  His hand caught hers, flattening her fingers against his stomach. “Because it’s my home.”

  “I can leave.”

  He sighed heavily, ruffling her curls. “No, you can’t. We’ve been through this before.”

  “Yes, yes, I betrayed you. Big bad me.” She tried to pinch his stomach but there wasn’t enough excess skin to grab.

  He rolled, taking her with him and stopping when she was flat on her back with him looming over her. She did her best to ignore the rather large erection resting against her belly, but it wasn’t easy.

  She wasn’t touching him if he wasn’t going to put out. No way. She was sexually frustrated enough as it was, which should be impossible considering how many orgasms she’d already had tonight.

  “Not just because of that. There could still be vampire hunters out there, and they know who you are.”

  “I can protect myself. My fa
mily can protect me.” She knew she was baiting a wild beast but couldn’t help herself. Maybe it was because of the easy way he agreed that she betrayed him when she hadn’t, not at all. If anything, she wanted to protect him. Which was crazy considering what he was. He was deadlier then she and her family combined would ever be.

  His hands tightened around her and he shook his head. “I don’t trust anyone but me.”

  “That’s obvious.”

  He shook his head and rolled away, leaving her cold and bereft. “Try to sleep. You can’t get out of the apartment without setting off an alarm.” His tone was distant and cool.

  “What’s to stop me from staking your ass while you’re asleep?” Not that she’d ever do such a thing, but he couldn’t know that.

  “Nothing.” She could hear the utter weariness in his voice. “There is nothing to stop you from trying.”

  “Idiot male,” she muttered. Sonia punched her pillow a couple of times, pretending it was Damek. She took a deep breath and released it slowly. It had been a long night and had to be close to dawn, if not slightly past. It was difficult to tell with the blackout shades on the windows.

  She huffed out a breath, closed her eyes and willed him to sleep. She was getting up the second he went under.

  Damek could practically hear the wheels turning in Sonia’s head, but he didn’t try to read her thoughts. He didn’t have to, not with her muttering what she thought of him.

  She was angry with him and sexually frustrated. That made two of them. He had no idea why he’d turned her down earlier. Instead of being hard and horny, he could have been sated and relaxed by now.

  But some deep part of him he’d thought long gone, the part that believed in honor, didn’t want her to sleep with him because she was afraid of him. The thought of her giving herself to him out of fear haunted him. He couldn’t be sure if she was offering him her body because she truly wanted him or because she thought it might ease his anger with her betrayal of him.

  He heard her mutter of “idiot male” again from beneath her breath and smiled in spite of his raging hard-on. Only Sonia spoke to him like he was a normal male. Everyone else feared him even if they had no idea why. Human instincts existed even though they’d been dulled by years of not being used. Everyone he interacted with on a daily basis, even other paranormals, all walked softly around him.

  Everyone but Sonia.

  He gave a sigh of relief when she finally settled down. He inhaled softly, taking her sweet scent, mingled with his soap, into his lungs. A tinge of arousal, musky and warm, made him groan. She was right. He really was an idiot.

  He couldn’t fully trust her but he couldn’t let her go.

  Oh, she might threaten to stake him while he was sleeping, but there was no way she could sneak up on him even when he was at rest. His instincts had been too well honed over the long centuries to allow that to happen. Plus, a stake to the heart would only piss him off. It would hurt like hell, but he would recover from such a wound. He’d evolved over the centuries to the point where only beheading would end his life. Direct sunlight might give him a hell of a burn and would weaken him immeasurably, but even that wouldn’t kill him.

  Plus, he truly didn’t think she would try to murder him, no matter how angry she was with him. Maybe she hadn’t meant to betray him. Maybe she didn’t see the phone call in the same way he did. She was used to being in constant contact with her family and was only doing what came naturally to her.

  Something to think about.

  The sun was rising over the horizon. He couldn’t see it but he could feel it in his blood, in his bones. He sighed and gave in to the healing sleep of his kind. If Sonia woke and saw him, he would appear dead to her, but he didn’t think that would frighten her. She was tough, his Sonia.

  His lips twitched into a tiny smile as sleep claimed him. When they both awoke, they would have a lot to discuss.

  Luther glanced over at the man sitting beside him in the truck. Barnes was sipping coffee, looking a hell of a lot bit better than he had earlier. He sipped his own coffee and watched the building just down the road from them. It was filled with expensive condos, but he was only concerned with the penthouse suite. That was the only one with a private entrance, so it had to belong to the vampire.

  His phone rang and Luther answered it quickly, hungry for news. “Talk to me, Aaron.”

  “It’s a hell of a system.”

  There was admiration in Aaron’s voice and it pissed Luther off. “But you can bypass it.” It wasn’t really a question, as there wasn’t a security system out there that Aaron Page couldn’t hack given enough time. The man was pure magic when it came to electronics.

  “It will take me a while, but I should be in by noon.”

  “Perfect. Keep me posted.” He ended the call and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

  “We good to go?” Barnes asked.

  “We’ll be ready when the time comes.”

  Barnes grunted and went back to watching. Luther stretched his legs in front of him and contemplated what city he was going to move to when this was all over.

  Two large SUV’s pulled up about a half-mile away and four men and two women climbed out. The Agostino family looked up and down the long street.

  “Where do we start?” Celia asked her husband, desperate to find her daughter.

  Vincenzo caught her face in his large hands. “We will find her. I promise you this.” He glanced at his sons. “We will go this way.” He pointed to his left. “Papa, you and Mama can head in the other direction. If anyone catches a scent they call the others. Agreed?”

  His sons nodded and started down the road without waiting. They were desperate to find their sister. While Celia and his mama believed the vampire was no threat to Sonia, the men weren’t so sure.

  He glanced at his father and Roberto nodded. Sonia’s safety came first, then the vampire. If he was as good as his daughter believed, then they would help him. No paranormal creature deserved to be hunted if all he was doing was trying to live his life. Everyone had that right.

  He took his wife’s hand, dropped a kiss on his mama’s forehead and started after his sons. He couldn’t shake the feeling that time was running out.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sonia knew it had to be daytime outside, but the privacy screens on the windows blocked out all light, leaving them only the dim glow of the bedside lamp. She’d slept for a few hours, but was wide awake now.

  Beside her, Damek was completely still. There was no rise and fall of his chest, no slight breath or snore, nothing to indicate he was even alive. It was frightening and fascinating at the same time.

  This was the time of day a vampire was most vulnerable, when the power of the sun pushed them into this death-like sleep. Everything she’d read in The Keepers’ library said he would not wake until sundown. But she knew better. She’d seen Damek up and about late in the afternoon. That spoke volumes about his power. But surely even he slept deep during the day.

  She really should just get up, gather her things and leave. There was no point in her staying any longer. But she continued to lie there, her head propped up on one hand, simply watching him.

  His features weren’t softened any by sleep. If anything, they seemed harsher, more finely drawn. She reached out and touched a dark strand of hair that rested on the pillowcase. It was soft and silky, such a contrast to the hard planes and angles of his face.

  Sonia sighed when her stomach growled. She’d never gotten around to eating the meal she’d ordered at Haven last night and was really hungry. She also desperately needed to go to the bathroom, so she slid out of bed and climbed down the two steps, doing her best not to jostle Damek. He probably wouldn’t wake, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

  She grabbed clean clothing out of her suitcase, thankful that the outfit she’d dug out last night was right on the top, and crept into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Once she’d taken care of her most pressing need, she washe
d her hands and face. She was pale, but other than that, she looked the same as she had yesterday.

  She turned her head to one side, checking the spot on her neck where Damek had bitten her. Nothing, not a blemish or even a red patch. She ran her finger over her smooth skin. It was as though he’d never sunk his fangs into her and drunk her blood.

  Even her arm felt great. She twisted it one way and then another, testing it for strength and dexterity. There was no lingering pain from where she’d been stabbed, only a faint white scar. It was truly amazing what Damek could do.

  Her hair was as unruly as ever, but her brush was in her suitcase and she wasn’t about to dig around trying to find it. Usually she packed with more care, but yesterday at the hotel she’d simply thrown everything into her suitcase and had no idea where to find her brush. She finger-combed her hair until it was as good as she could get it and then pulled on her underwear, socks, jeans and a brown turtleneck sweater.

  Sighing, she stared at her reflection. It wasn’t the best she’d ever looked, but she consoled herself with the fact that it wasn’t the worst either. And what did it matter what she looked like? She was alive and healthy and that was all that mattered. Carefully, she turned the handle of the door and opened it, giving a sigh of relief when Damek didn’t move.

  Silently, she moved through the room and down the hallway to the kitchen. She needed coffee and maybe some toast or a bagel. A grocery bag sat on the granite countertop and Sonia dug right in. After all, the food was for her. Vampires didn’t eat. At least she didn’t think they did. They needed blood, but she was fuzzy on the whole food thing.

  There was a loaf of wholegrain bread, a package of cinnamon and raisin bagels, two cans of soup, a couple of bananas, a half dozen oranges and a bunch of grapes. Not a bad start.

  She opened the refrigerator and surveyed the shelves. “Jackpot.” A dozen eggs, some cheddar cheese, a container of milk and a tub of butter sat on one shelf. She could have used some onions, garlic, tomatoes and maybe some feta cheese, but she’d make due. “Toast and eggs it is.”