“She’ll be fine.” Dakota tapped Trixie’s nose with one finger. “She’ll have you here to greet her when she wakes up.”
“Are you high?” Trixie slipped out of his arms, the tough, edgy exterior back in full force. “I’m going with you.”
“Hell’s bells, woman.” He settled his hands on his hips and let out a growl of frustration. “You haven’t been listenin’ to a damn thing. I told you that you aren’t goin’ anywhere near them gargoyles. You’ll stay here and that’s the end of it.”
“As if!” Trixie let out a loud curt laugh. “I’m going with you to that cabin to see what else we can find.”
“No, you are not,” he seethed. “I’m goin’ alone. Then you can give me the coin and I’ll go figure out where you found it.”
“Oh, and how do you plan on doing that?” Trixie shot back.
Dakota glared at her because he didn’t have a damn answer. She was right. He’d never be able to figure it out without her help.
“Hang on.” Olivia held up both hands and shot the two of them a scolding look. “You aren’t going anywhere for at least a day or so. You’ll still be in town when Chelsea wakes up tomorrow.”
“But she won’t wake up tomorrow.” Suzie’s tentative, shaky voice drifted through the room and everyone fell silent. She stood in the doorway looking like her usual skittish self, but Dakota hardly paid her any mind. He was too busy being pissed at Trixie.
Would the woman ever listen?
“Where’s Emily?” Olivia asked, her voice edged with a hint of concern.
“She’s sleeping in the apartment. Maya is with her.”
“Hang on.” Olivia waved her in but kept her concerned gaze on Trixie and Dakota. “What do you mean Chelsea won’t wake up tomorrow?”
Everyone in the room turned their attention to the shy young vampire. Dressed simply in a long-sleeved shirt and dark slacks, she looked as scared as ever.
“It’s going to take her longer to turn, like it did with Maya. I came here to tell you that and that I can stay with Chelsea while Dakota and Trixie go to Texas.”
“How do you—” Doug began before stopping and answering his own question. “You had a vision or something, didn’t you?”
“Sort of.” Suzie flicked her blue eyes toward the floor as she inched her way closer to Chelsea’s bed. She quickly sat down in the chair next to Dakota’s sleeping progeny, her pale blond hair tumbling loose over her shoulders. “The visions are getting stronger lately. Anyway, I know how scary it is to be turned and not know anything about this world. I-I can help her make the transition more easily.”
“Are you sure?” Dakota asked warily. “I mean, no offense, sweet pea, but you aren’t the toughest vampire gal on the block.”
“I know,” she said through a soft laugh. “I’ll stay with her… It will be okay. Trust me. Besides, I think you’ll be back in time.”
Between the innocence in her eyes and the earnest tone of her voice, Dakota was convinced she was being truthful on every level. He didn’t think that girl could lie even if she wanted to.
“That’s great. Thank you.” Dakota smirked before adding, “Your visions wouldn’t happen to tell you where the baby is, would they?”
“No.” Suzie shook her head and flushed pink with embarrassment. “I’m sorry but I don’t really have any control over what I see. It comes and goes. But I don’t think she’s in danger.”
“That’s fine, sweet pea.” Dakota nodded curtly. “I do appreciate your help but you don’t have to stick so close.” He placed a kiss on Trixie’s head and slipped from her embrace. Steeling his resolve, he strode to the door and winked at the others. “Trixie will be stayin’ here too.”
“The hell I will!” Trixie shouted. “Hey, don’t you walk away from me. I’m talking to you.”
“No, you’re not. You’re yellin’ at me and not listenin’ to a damn word I say.” Dakota spun around and glared furiously in her direction. “I’m goin’ back to the cottage to see what else I can find out about Gatlin and then hopefully get over to his place before the sun comes up. I don’t know what I’m gonna run into. Damn, woman. We don’t know if there are two more gargoyles or twenty. We think he’s not gonna hurt the baby but we don’t know. And who knows where in the hell I could get stuck when the sun comes up. There are too many unanswered questions. You are stayin’ right here.”
“He’s right,” Doug said flatly. “You don’t have as much experience in fighting as he does, and it’s safe to say you have none fighting gargoyles.”
“Neither do you,” she shot back.
“Yeah,” Doug scoffed. “But I’m stronger than you are, a better fighter, and a trained homicide detective. I win.”
Trixie flipped the czar the bird, and Olivia smirked.
“Please, Trixie,” Dakota rasped. “You have too many people countin’ on you to risk your safety. You are stayin’ right here and that’s all there is to it. I’m not only a sentry, but whether you like it or not, I’m your bloodmate and your safety is my top priority. The discussion is over.”
With Trixie shouting after him, Dakota flew down the halls and headed for the tunnels. He could feel her mind reaching out to his but he put up a mental barrier, preventing any further contact. Having Trixie pissed off and safe was better than happy and dusted.
Chapter 10
Dakota whisked through the tunnels of the Presidium before reaching the secret entrance that led into The Cloisters above. He pulled the iron lever, and a second later, the door hidden within the massive fireplace swung open. He knew Trixie was furious with him for being an old-fashioned misogynist, but right about now he didn’t give a shit.
All he cared about was keeping her safe.
He stepped into the cavernous room of the museum and stood motionless as the fireplace shut behind him with a dull thunk. The only other sound was the faint steady heartbeat of the night watchman in the front hall. Based on the slow cadence of it, the man was sleeping.
“I glamoured him.” Trixie’s sassy voice cut through the room and instantly sent a ripple of anger through Dakota, along with a hint of surprise. “He’ll be out until sunrise.”
“Son of a bitch,” Dakota seethed. “How did you beat me up here?”
“I guess you haven’t found all of the shortcuts yet.”
Trixie stepped out of from around the corner of a stone archway with a smug smirk on her beautiful face. Dakota’s hands curled into fists at his sides and a growl rumbled in his chest as she strolled toward him, her arms swinging like she was about to take a casual walk in the park.
“What are you doin’ here, woman?” He closed the distance between them but refrained from touching her. If he did, he would end up either shaking some sense into her or kissing the life out of her. He wasn’t entirely sure which. “You aren’t comin’ with me. Your little stunt is holdin’ me up. In case you’ve forgotten, a gargoyle has your grandbaby.”
“No, I haven’t forgotten. Besides, Gatlin is not going to hurt her,” she said firmly. “I know it. I saw the way he was with Chelsea, and gargoyle or not, he loves her. If he didn’t and was only after that coin, don’t you think he could have figured out a way to get it already? And he loves that baby. Let me ask you something else, cowboy. If vampires have a history of hunting down gargoyles, what makes you think he didn’t take her to save her from you?”
Dakota stilled. That had never occurred to him. What if Trixie was right and the creature only took the child to protect it? Maybe the gold had nothing to do with it.
“Alright, I’ll agree that could be possible,” Dakota said slowly, a wide grin sliding over his face. “But you still aren’t comin’ with me.”
“Yes, I am.” She cocked her head to one side, her blond-and-blue hair glinting in the moonlight that streamed through the arched leaded-glass windows. “I may not be as experienced a fighter as
you, but I do know a thing or two and I’ve been practicing.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?” he groused. Hands on his hips, he leaned closer, hoping to get her to back down, but the stubborn beauty wouldn’t give an inch. “How to get yourself dusted?”
“No.” Hands behind her back, she swayed nearer and her voice dropped to that low, husky whisper that lit a fire in his belly. “Like the secret tunnels in the Presidium that you didn’t know about. Not to mention different places to hide out, both in and around the city. You may be older but I’ve lived in this area way longer and know it like the back of my skull-ring-covered hand.”
Dakota opened his mouth to argue with her, but she wiggled her fingers in his face.
“Stop it.” He grabbed her wrist and tugged her close, pinning their arms between their bodies. Someone was shaking and he wasn’t sure which one of them it was. Could have been both. What was she doing to him? “I mean it, Trix.”
“Why?” she whispered. Trixie slipped one leg between his and applied pressure to his quickly hardening cock. “What are you gonna do to me if I don’t?”
Desire slammed into Dakota as she issued her challenge, and all coherent thoughts went out the window. A wicked twinkle glimmered in Trixie’s eyes and he knew he was a goner. He couldn’t think straight, let alone tell her why she couldn’t be with him. He never wanted to be without her.
Ever.
Dakota’s gaze flicked down to her full pink lips, the ones that reminded him of rosebuds, and all he could think about was getting another taste of them. Licking and suckling them until the sun came up.
On a curse, he closed the distance and captured her mouth. Trixie opened to him immediately and swept her tongue along his, seeking him out as eagerly as he sought her. She moaned with pleasure and the sound reverberated against his lips. He wanted to hold back, to savor every second, but it would have been like trying to slow the tide.
Dakota’s fangs emerged when Trixie hooked one leg around his and pressed her thigh harder against him. The movement sent a pulse of lust streaming through his blood. His mind and body were completely fogged by stark raging need, and he was blinded by the driving desire to devour her. He was completely spellbound by the all-consuming urge to strip her naked and lick every wicked inch of that curvy, taut little body.
That was probably why she was able to use the full weight of her supernatural strength to yank his foot out from under him and throw him to the ground.
It happened in a split second.
One minute he was standing there necking with the prettiest little woman he’d ever had the pleasure to know, and the next, he was on his back on the cold stone floor with her straddling him and sitting firmly on his crotch.
Trixie had his arms pinned to the ground on either side of his head and her breasts, barely contained by her T-shirt and bra, swayed enticingly close to his face. Fangs bared and with a satisfied grin covering that heart-shaped face, she wiggled her hips against the hard length of him.
“Like I’ve been telling you,” she whispered. “I can handle myself. By the looks of it, I can handle you too, cowboy.”
“That so?”
Trixie opened her mouth to respond, but in a blur of speed and strength, Dakota sat up, linked his arm around her waist, and spun her to the ground so she was splayed out beneath him with both arms pinned over her head. He gathered her slim wrists in one hand and held her there easily as he trailed the other down the length of her arm. Trixie shivered and arched her back, eagerly seeking more of his touch. A whimper of need escaped her luscious mouth when his hand slid lower and covered her breast.
“I’d say we’re about even on that front,” he murmured. Dakota dipped his head and brushed his lips lightly over hers, achingly close to the tip of her fangs. “Looks like I can handle you too, darlin’. No matter how stubborn you are.”
“Dakota,” she rasped. Trixie hooked one leg over his and tilted her hips, the combined movement pressing the rigid length of his cock deeper into the heat between her jean-clad legs. “Shut up and kiss me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he growled before covering her mouth with his. He pushed his tongue deeper, desperately seeking more of her taste.
Hunger.
That word thundered though his head as he devoured her, licking and suckling at her lips like a man who’d been starving. And until he met Trixie, that’s exactly what he had been. His body had been sated by blood, but until he’d found her, his spirit had been empty and hollow, shriveling up until it had practically vanished altogether. Trixie’s feisty nature and her need to shout at the world made a fire that fed his soul. All these years, he’d wandered the earth, looking for something to make him feel human again, to make him feel alive. It wasn’t until she came into his life that Dakota finally lived.
From the moment he’d set eyes on her, he had hungered for her. He’d been desperate for her to give him just a taste of the electric energy that flickered off her so effortlessly. He longed for her touch, her scent, and everything in between. In that moment, with her body rising seductively beneath his, the entire world fell away and all he could see or feel was her.
Dakota broke the kiss and trailed his tongue down her throat. His hand slid over the curve of her hip before settling on her ass. He groaned when the soft flesh of her bottom filled his palm, and he silently cursed the thin fabric that separated them.
So close and yet so far.
Dakota nuzzled her throat, flicking his tongue over the soft tender spot of her neck, the one with the thick vein beneath it. She let out a tiny moan of pleasure when he tilted his hips and pressed his cock, which had hardened almost to the point of pain, along the tempting heat of her sex. He rocked against her slowly and intentionally so she would know exactly what she did to him. Dakota brushed his hand along her leg before hooking it under her knee and hiking it higher, giving him better access to the heated apex of her thighs.
He licked a trail along her collarbone and lifted his head long enough to see the look of pleasure on her face, which was bathed in soft moonlight. Eyes closed, her lips parted, she gasped as he rocked against her once again, harder this time. He loosened his hold on her wrists but kept her hands above her head. Damn. He would never ever get tired of seeing that look on her face. In that instant, all he could think about was making her come.
That’s what he wanted to see: all of her walls crumble. He desired nothing more than to see her exposed for him—and only him. If she would allow him inside and show him the part of herself she’d hidden away for so many years. That was the treasure he was searching for…the real Trixie. Could there be anything more priceless than that?
“Does that feel good, darlin’?” Dakota dipped his head and murmured against the smooth, sensitive flesh of her throat. He rocked his hips again, rubbing his hard length against her core, the slow deep strokes punctuating his words and making his intent clear. “You’ve got me all fired up but I want more from you, Trix. I want what you won’t give to anyone else… I want everythin’ you hide… Give it all to me. Give me your pain…your secrets. Show me.”
“Yes,” she rasped. Trixie arched her back and tilted her head, offering herself to him. Her hips bucked beneath him, wriggling seductively and seeking more of what he was offering. “Take it. Please, take it all.”
A growl rumbled in his chest as his fangs unsheathed. Lifting his lip, he scraped the tips lightly along the side of her throat, wanting to be sure that she knew exactly what he planned on taking. Trixie let out a cry of pleasure and hooked both legs over his, rocking her hips up to meet him.
“I need more,” she whimpered and arched her back. “Take off your clothes. I want you inside me.”
“Not yet, darlin’,” Dakota rasped. “First, I want you inside me.”
His fingers tightened around her wrists as his hips moved faster before he dipped his head and dove deep.
The mom
ent his fangs pierced her flesh and Trixie’s blood bathed his tongue, light and color exploded behind his eyes. Pleasure shot through him. It rushed through his flesh like an electric current, while Trixie’s blood memories flooded his mind in a cavalcade of images and sounds. Dakota pumped his hips furiously and Trixie cried out, an orgasm ripping through her body, just before his own pleasure reached its peak.
Amid the white-hot climax, Trixie’s hidden secrets were revealed, one after the other in all their raw painful glory.
A little girl. Sitting alone in the corner of a dark room as a man approached. Screaming and berating her for some unknown indiscretion.
Fear. Anger. Abandonment.
A warm Texas summer. A glint of gold in the rocks. Joy. Peace. The face of a kind, loving woman, smiling and pulling Trixie into a warm embrace.
Cold. The city at night. Music pulsing wildly around her. A crowd of humans thrashing and shouting. Needles. Drugs. A young man whispering words of love but with a lie lingering beneath them.
Desperation. Need. Craving.
A heartbeat. Soft at first. Once. Twice.
A baby’s cry vanishing in the distance, tangling with Trixie’s sobs of grief. A stone-cold blanket of loneliness hanging over her like a death shroud.
She’s alone. Lying on the cold, filthy concrete floor of a subway tunnel. Her clenched fist unfurls and a needle rolls from her limp fingers before tumbling to the ground.
Trixie’s voice, drenched with regret, whispers around him in a swirl of sorrow… Leave me here… I deserve to die… Besides…who would care?
* * *
Trixie thought she could handle Dakota, flirt dangerously along the edges of desire—but she’d been dead wrong. The pleasure washed over her completely, swiftly and without mercy, leaving her unable to form a coherent thought or keep her defenses up. If she’d had her wits about her, she never would have let him drink from her, but the orgasm came over her with such ferocious intensity that she was swallowed up by it.
Good, the Bad, and the Vampire Page 12
