“Jace.” His name left her lips in a desperate hush. Familiar emotions surged and she stood, itching to run her palms along the hard, flat planes of his chest and through his hair. She took an instinctive step forward, but the expression on his face stopped her cold.
He wasn’t looking her way, but the muscles in his cheek clenched, almost menacing. She’d never seen him look that predatory, even when they raced the blood moon at its zenith.
Daisy followed the storm in his gaze to a woman sitting at the bar. She had a clear view, and watched Jace’s scowl deepen the closer the woman pressed her body to the man standing beside her.
A wash of jealousy tightened Daisy’s chest, making it hard to breathe. Was this woman the reason he left her standing alone in the church?
She glanced at her reflection in the smoky glass behind the bar, smoothing her hands over full curves and the dress that clung to her hips and thighs.
Her body was solid from riding and working the ranch. Delicate was not a word she’d use to describe herself, but Jace loved her genuine, full bodied beauty, with her creamy skin and cascade of dark, Black Irish curls to complete the package. Or at least she thought he did.
The woman at the bar was the exact opposite. Lean and blond with barely a hint of feminine curves to fill her tiny camisole.
Daisy saw the woman’s eyes flutter to half-mast, her pink lips parting in a sigh as the man at the bar brushed her long hair from her bare shoulders.
He kissed the hollow at the base of her ear, running his tongue along the column of her throat toward her collarbone, his fingers slipping beneath the lace edge of her top.
If Jace truly left her for this woman, then fate had come full circle as they both watched her straddle the man’s lap at the bar with no care who saw, including Jace.
Daisy closed her eyes. There was no satisfaction in watching the karmic bitch-slap. Jace was alive. At least she knew that much, if not why he left. Perhaps she didn’t want to know. Besides, Aimee was waiting for her at the main bar across the club, and her friend was right. It was time to let go.
She stole one last look at Jace, fixing him in her mind before sparing a glance for the woman at the bar. What she witnessed left her staring in disbelief, as small, sharp fangs pierced the woman’s tender skin at the base of her throat. Right there at the bar. In front of God and everyone else.
Daisy blinked at the blatant display. Her eyes flew to Jace and then back to the woman.
No one noticed the girl’s soft hiss of pain or how the vampire ran his fingers through her hair, allowing her blond mass to fall in an obscuring curtain. Or maybe they did and this was business as usual at The Red Veil.
The vampire licked the woman’s blood from the corner of his mouth before closing her wound, whispering something that made her gasp and reach for his cock.
With a knowing smirk, the vampire took the woman by the hand and lifted her to her feet, guiding her almost trance like toward another back alcove.
Daisy swallowed, watching Jace’s jaw clench. He shot back the double whiskey in his hand and got up to follow, leaving his cowboy hat on the chair.
A flood of emotion raced through Daisy’s mind, leaving her body in a sweat of disbelief and anger. Like her, Jace was raised to despise vampires. Had he left her to chase after some blood whore all this time? Or was he on some kind of crusade to save every bimbo on the planet stupid enough to be glamoured into a feed and fuck?
Nausea bit into Daisy’s gut at the thought. Maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe Jace had gone rogue, and had spent the last five years hunting undead predators playing outside the rules. But why leave her for that? She’d have joined him. Gladly.
Her mind whirled with motives, possibilities and justifications the same as it had five years earlier. Every bitter emotion fed on the one before, compelling her to follow.
Screw the karmic bitch-slap.
Jace owed her more than an apology. He owed her an explanation.
Scrambling from where she stood, she spared a quick thought for Aimee still waiting at the VIP bar and dug for her phone to send her a quick text. There was no time for anything else.
She scooted around people at the bar to grab Jace’s hat, catching a glimpse of him as he turned toward the same alcove as the vampire and is prey, but when she rounded the corner he disappeared through a non-descript door that closed as quickly as it opened.
Damn.
“What have we here?” a male voice asked from behind.
Daisy whirled on her heel, her fingers tightening on the base of the UV flashlight still in her hand. It was another vampire, only this one was elegant and beautiful.
Sandy haired with green eyes that flashed with humor, and a charming smile to match his equally charming British accent.
“My apologies, love. I hope I didn’t alarm you.” He gestured toward the door. “Are you waiting for someone in particular or are you simply one of the—curious?”
He stressed the last word, letting his eyes travel the length of her curves as he inhaled.
“Intriguing. There’s a distinct hint of the frontier in your scent, rather than the usual jaded cynicism we get from Manhattan locals. They only venture toward the back rooms when either drunk or trying to prove their bravery. Sometimes both.”
Daisy didn’t reply.
At her reserve, a smile tugged at his lips. “In view of your quiet bravado, I gather you to be a daughter of the Lone Star State.” He chuckled, gesturing to her boots. “Ironic really, considering the beautifully stitched leather covering your foot is fittingly called, the vamp.”
“Yes, well.” Daisy flicked her eyes toward the door.
“Would you like to go through, love?” The red hue deepened in his eyes as he inhaled again, but he didn’t come near. Instead he pressed his thumb to a small biometric scanner hidden by the door frame.
Within seconds the lock snicked open. “Entry is by invitation only, so if anyone asks, tell them you are Julian Trevelyan’s guest. No one will bother you after that,” he paused, flashing another amazing smile. “Unless, of course, you want to be bothered.”
“Thank you,” Daisy mumbled, her eyes meeting his for a moment and it stunned to see kindness in their red depths.
He inclined his head. “Take care, love. Be careful what you wish for. You just might find it inside.”
Not wanting to think too hard what the vampire meant, she scooted past without a word. Was it a warning or reassurance?
The door closed and she found herself facing the center of a round antechamber. The room was empty, but the sound of people engaged in what she could only imagine vibrated in a muffled hum from various rooms.
The antechamber was white marble with a floor inlaid with gold mosaic tiles depicting different sex acts, each pointing to a corresponding archway along the room’s perimeter.
“Just follow the yellow brick road,” she thought, wondering what the hell Jace was doing here and why.
The air was thick with sex and a trace of blood. Daisy held her breath waiting for her gag reflex to kick in, but her senses tingled with anticipation instead. Excitement brewed, quickening her pulse.
Jaw clenched against the seductive vibe, she closed her eyes and summoned her inner wolf. The beast rode just beneath the surface, and she inhaled, focusing solely on Jace’s remembered scent.
Nothing.
Frustrated, she exhaled hard, trying to purge the teasing scents from her palate and the distraction of sex from her brain. Aimee was right. It had been too long.
She tried again, deeper. Her skin tingled as she raised her wolf again bringing the beast even closer to the surface. Her muscles tensed and heat skittered along every nerve ending as she focused on Jace.
Still nothing.
If she didn’t pull back, she’d phase and that would be very bad. With a quick breath, she let her wolf recede and her pulse calmed. She opened her eyes and scanned the room.
Was this place warded or spelled?
Daisy chewed her lip. “You’re a wolf. So is Jace. Think like a wolf.”
She dropped her gaze to the floor and stared at the mosaic depiction beneath her feet, opening both her eyes and her senses.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she huffed. The spot on the floor that drew her attention showed rear-entry doggie style sex.
She stared at the image, remembering the muscled feel of Jace’s body, the strength of his thighs and the pressure of his hands on her hips. How he teased each full moon about her craving the wild side on all fours.
“You’re such a wolf whore. The moon crests and your ass is in the air, begging for my cock.” His whisper tickled her ear from behind as he teased her moist folds with his large, swollen tip. “You like it hard and deep, don’tcha, Dais?”
Her panties damped at the memory of his dirty talk and how he’d kiss the back of her throat, nipping her skin as he punished her pussy, inch by hard inch until he drove his cock deep, biting down on her shoulder to claim her twice over.
She closed her eyes, squelching the recollection. It served no purpose except to rehash old pain.
Daisy sucked in a breath to get a grip. “You came here to find Jace and make him own up to how he hurt you, not to play name that memory.”
She squared her shoulders and headed down the closest corridor. Moans grew louder as did the scent of blood, the scents concentrated and intoxicating. She stopped and listened, looking for any sign of Jace.
A series of four doors lined the wide corridor on either side. Jace could be behind any one of them. She tried each, systematically. So far they were all locked but the one on the end was left ajar. Hands shaking, she pushed the door open.
The room was dim, with a large plush area rug beneath a high, four-poster bed draped with sheer crimson veils.
The skinny blonde from the bar knelt on the mattress, her long hair sliding over her bent back in a bright curtain and her fingers fisted into the black coverlet. Her wrists and ankles were bound with leather cuffs chained to the corners of the bed and her eyes were taped shut with electrical tape.
Two men flanked her front and back, each working her body. She moaned lapping at the base of the ridged shaft shoved in her mouth, while the other man buried his face between her legs from behind.
The man at the rear lifted his head, his mouth and teeth covered in blood. It was the guy from the bar. He turned, giving Daisy a grin.
“Want to join in, sweetheart?” he asked, wiping his mouth on his arm. “Four’s always a good number.”
He ran his fingers over the woman’s crack, spreading the coppery liquid before licking her from clit to anus. The woman gasped as he bit down, hard.
The other sucked a breath through his fangs and threw his head back. “I’m going to blow my load.”
He shoved his cock deeper into her throat and the woman gagged. “That’s right, honey. Take it all.”
He snarled as he came, pulling back to let hot spurts jet into her mouth and onto her lips.
She groaned in pleasure, tonguing his sticky swollen head. She let go of the other’s cock to scrape what was left of him from her chin and bottom lip, licking her finger clean.
The vampire leaned down and kissed her, licking and nipping at her mouth, dragging his lips over her jaw until he plunged his fangs into her throat.
The other spread her ass cheeks wide, and drove into her bloodied folds, slapping her hard with each thrust, the woman whimpering for more.
Daisy’s gaze locked on the scene and she couldn’t move, her body betraying her with each moan and thrust. She was spellbound and seduced, repulsed and yet drawn to what she loathed. Her own body ached as she watched the ebb and flow of the dominant and submissive sex.
She shivered at the forbidden scene before her, and when the vampire fucking the woman from behind turned his red eyes to her, she gasped at the visceral intensity of his stare.
Daisy tore her eyes from them and backed out of the room, slamming the door. She pressed her back against the outside wall, gulping in air. Her hands shook as she shoved her fingers through her hair trying to ignore the weakness in her knees and the throbbing between her legs.
She squeezed her eyes closed trying to focus. She dismissed the countless scents assaulting her nose, concentrating instead on sifting through the layers of sex and her own unspent need to find what she looked for.
“Daisy?”
Her eyes snapped open and she froze.
“What are you doing here?” Jace asked, stunned.
She licked her lips, pressing her back even farther into the wall to stop her knees from buckling. Jace was gorgeous. Even more than she remembered, and his nearness was a gut punch.
“I could ask you the same question,” she countered, her voice cracking.
He didn’t answer. Instead he took in her face and her body as though starved for the sight of her.
“You look good, Dais,” he said, finally.
Heart racing, she swallowed past the lump in her throat and took an unsteady step away from the wall. “After five years, that’s all you have to say to me?”
“What would you have me say?” His voice was soft.
Her jaw tightened. “If you can’t figure that out on your own, forget it. I’m not throwing you a lifeline, Jace Matthews. There’s no phone a friend or ask the audience on this one.”
“I’m sorry, Dais. You caught me by surprise. I’m not good with words. You know that.”
She exhaled, glancing at the cowboy hat still in her hand. “Well, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed. If memory serves, the only time you weren’t at a loss for words were when we were between the sheets.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she winced inwardly. She was as bad as he. Jace couldn’t think what to say, and all she did was fling back how fucking good he was in the sack.
Daisy toyed with his hat’s wide brim, before looking up at him. “This is the last place I’d think to see you again.”
“You thought to see me?” Jace held out his hand for his hat, his fingers brushing hers in the process.
Her breath hitched at the mere touch, her body betraying her again. She wanted more than a simple brush of skin.
She wanted his hands on her body, his mouth on hers, his voice whispering in her ear this was all a bad dream. She closed her eyes. Stop it! It was not a dream. It was real.
With a hard exhale she fought the overwhelming urge to crawl into his arms and snapped her eyes open, pulling back her hand to squelch the feeling.
“What do you think?” She forced herself to meet his eyes. “I thought of you all right, and how you left me waiting alone in the church. No call, no note, nothing. Not even an ‘I’m sorry.’ You just disappeared. Why?”
The muscle in his cheek clenched as he set his cowboy hat low on his forehead.
“I deserve an explanation, Jace. I think you owe me that much,” she pressed.
“How did you get back here, anyway? This part of The Red Veil is by invitation only,” he evaded.
She lifted her chin. “Julian Trevelyan invited me.”
Jace’s jaw tightened even farther. “Trevelyan. How do you know him?”
Daisy shrugged.
He took a step closer and grabbed her arm. “Don’t play games, Daisy. You shouldn’t be here. Tell me how you know him.”
Daisy jerked her arm back. “Don’t take that possessive tone with me, Jace Matthews! Your claim expired the day you didn’t show up to say I do. Who I know and what games I play is none of your business.”
Jace inhaled and his eyes dilated. “Why are you here? Don’t lie to me, Daisy. I can smell your need. The air is choked with it.”
“Stop it, Jace. I don’t need anything. What I want is an explanation. Don’t you care how much you hurt me?” She blinked at the pathetic tears burning her eyes
“Daisy—”
Yearning warred in his eyes along with doubt, and he stared at her as though she were both a dream and a nightmare.
He took another step closer and let his chin drop to his chest. The wide brim of his hat hid his face, and when he lifted his eyes to hers, she gasped in disbelief.
Shaking her head, Daisy backed away. A silent denial filled with numbness and revulsion on her lips.
Fangs.
Jace had fangs.
“This is why I didn’t show up to marry you, Daisy,” he said.
Piercing red-hued eyes held hers for a moment, and she screamed, her mind rebelling before she turned on her heel and ran.
3
“It’s about time, sleepy head,” Aimee joked, throwing a dishtowel at Daisy as she shuffled into the ranch house kitchen.
She yawned and sank into a chair at the table. “What are you doing here so early?”
“Early? It’s nearly three p.m. We have a date to see Jace’s parents for dinner tonight, remember?” Aimee set a mug of coffee in front of her friend. “We agreed. You need to tell them you saw him.”
Daisy picked up the mug and blew across the rim. “I can’t do it, Aims. I can’t watch their hopes crumble once the truth sinks in.” She took a sip and winced. “How old is this coffee? It’s bitter.”
Aimee pulled a chair out and sat as well. “Forget the coffee. Don’t you think Carson and Elinor have a right to be told?”
“It’s not my secret to tell.”
“That’s a cop-out, Daisy and you know it. It’s not like you’re telling tales. You saw him.”
Daisy eyed her through the steam rising from the brim of her cup. “And what happens when they ask questions I can’t answer? They’re going to want the how and the why of it and I refuse to lie. They’ve been my support system since before Jenny was born, even more than my own father.”
“No one’s telling you to lie.”
Daisy shook her head. “I don’t have the whole story, so why make them hurt even more than they already do wondering? I can’t Aimee, and I won’t.”
“I suppose you’re right. You don’t have the entire story, which still irritates the hell out of me, by the way.”
The Red Veil Diaries (Volumes 1-4) Page 27
