by Various
Clawing into the ground, she fought to roll over. She had to get away, from whomever, everyone. When she managed to reach her side, she threw up. After wiping her shaking hand across mouth, she took a breath and spit.
Without warning, strong arms encircled her and eased her from the ground. Titania struggled against uncompromising strength. Her fists pummeled at solid muscle. She had to get away.
“Shh, cara. You are safe.”
Relief was so strong at the sound of his voice, she went limp. It was all she could do to bury her face into the leather of his coat.
“He will not hurt you again.”
She trembled in his hold, overwhelmed. She moaned when he cradled her closer. Somehow he got her to her room without being seen.
“What were you doing outside alone?” he demanded gruffly. He laid her on the bed and she rolled away from him, her body twitching in shock. Everything was in agony. “Cara?” His hand was gentle, stroking her hair. Even that hurt somehow.
“Don’t. I know. Houston is going to kill me,” she whimpered in a quaking voice. “I left something in the limo. I tried to catch it. I had no idea someone was waiting, watching.” A sob tore through her as the moments replayed in her mind. Her lungs burned as fresh fear made taking a breath impossible.
“I am not angry with you, cara. How could I be? I promised to protect you. I did not.”
“Diego,” she croaked, sobs coming thick and fast. He gathered her shaking body into his arms and let her cry.
Chapter Four
Diego brought Titania close to comfort her, listening for her breathing to grow normal again. Rage rolled over him in waves. Someone had laid malicious hands on her, intent to harm and worse.
He had believed she would be safe with her friends after the concert, going to her hotel room. Diego had hunted. There was no remorse for the death of her attacker. The man had asked for it, harming one under his care.
He rocked her sitting on the edge of the bed with her held protectively into his chest. He realized the instant he had tasted her fear, he would move mountains to keep her safe. The realization was staggering. No one had ever meant so much to him.
“Every time I see you, you are a mess,” he told her, trying to keep his tone light. His hand never stopped drifting down her hair. Her arms tightened around his waist. “Let me run you a bath. I need to see how badly you have been hurt.”
She shook her head, a stilted motion. “Everything hurts, Diego. I need to go to the hospital.” He waited while she tried to ascertain what hurt the most. Shocks continued to ripple up and down her body.
“Let me help you. Let me do this for you.” Her hair was smooth where he pressed his cheek. His eyes closed as her scent filled him. He took it in, deep, needing to hold her scent in his body. “Relax, cara.”
She sighed once, and he let her stretch out. A low growl escaped before he could catch it. “Dios mio.” Her face was a colorful array of bruises. Diego clenched his jaw, swallowing the fury as it enveloped him again.
He spun on a sharp heel, forcing the upheavals of anger down, to start the water for her bath in the huge tub. He grabbed the robe from the door, returning to her side.
“Come on, cara.” He lifted her easily and stripped her with sure hands. She barely blinked, limply obeying. “You are in shock, honey. It will be all right.”
When her shirt slid from her shoulders, a red haze filled his thoughts. “Did he do that?” His voice shook with the rush of hatred for the man who had attacked her. She twisted her chin numbly, staring at the rash of teeth marks and blood on her shoulder.
Diego’s arm slipped around her waist, holding her steady. He bowed his head and touched the raw gash with his lips. She shivered and moaned. “Easy, cara. This will help.”
His touch was featherlight as his lips caressed the wound. He laved over the ugly teeth gouges with a tender stroke. The floor shifted when he found her sweet taste on his tongue.
Diego froze, his eyes closing, determined to hide the abrupt surge of his needs. His heart raced like a wild animal behind his ribs. She tried to wrench from his arms, her fear palpable once more with her able to sense him as clearly held body to body. He tamped down his seething emotions with an iron will. “Shh, cara.”
“It’s too much,” she cried out, sounding frightened.
“I keep forgetting how easily you can feel those around you. You are a remarkable woman, Titania.” He had not moved, his arms locked around her when he lifted his head to search her gaze. “I will not deny this, but I will never hurt you.” Her eyes were wide, slowly losing their fearful shadows. “Let me finish so you can rest.”
Her head fell forward with a thump. “I don’t know what you think you can do. It hurts just to breathe.” Her words were quiet whimpers.
Diego’s smile was weak. “Not nearly enough to forgive my own lapse, but enough to remove the pain.” He felt her give in all at once, shock numbing into sagging exhaustion.
He returned to caring for her shoulder, forcing restraint when her sweetness hit him again. Satisfied with his efforts there, he examined her face, aware he could only do so much with the time he had before sunrise. Her arms were scraped raw and bruised. He shook his head at the extent of her injuries. He hoped what he wanted to try would be enough.
When she dropped the robe, he noticed a dark bruise forming on her rib cage along with more abrasions on her thighs from the tackle she had suffered.
Diego held her steady with a hand to her spine. “Careful, cara. The water is hot, but it will help your aches.”
She didn’t respond, sinking into the water with a low, mewling sound. Her eyes closed as the heat engulfed her.
“Relax, cara. This will feel different, but it will help. I will do what I can tonight.”
Her eyes remained hidden, her head pillowed against the tub. “Do what?”
“I am going to heal you. I hope,” he added nearly inaudibly.
“That doesn’t sound very optimistic.”
“I have never tried this on another. I have never tried to focus outward.”
“Just how gifted are you?” she asked with a touch of awe and respect, gazing upward at last to study him.
“Shh, cara. Let me concentrate.” He pushed her questions away. If he was successful, there would be many more that he was unsure as of yet how to answer. It was an easy task when he healed himself. This was new territory for him, forcing a singular point of concentration.
Once he discovered the mental pathway, the actions became as familiar as healing himself. Energy flowed, a current that touched on the worst of her bruises, the inside of her shoulder, ensuring the bite would not develop infection. The energy swept to her ribs, then he did the same for her legs.
Before he lost the last of his strength, he examined her jaw, doing what he could to loosen the muscles so she could sleep. He knew, with the flashes of pain pulsing from her, it was not nearly enough.
Diego rolled his shoulders when he retook his body. She was asleep in the water, finally relaxed enough. Unconcerned with getting wet, he lifted her out and wrapped her into the robe to carry her from the bathroom. She weighed little cradled in his arms. Everything dark inside of him seemed to unravel when he held her.
He tucked her into bed, covering her with the blanket to her chin. “Sleep, cara. I will find you tomorrow and try to do more.”
Her hand found his before he released the blankets. “Stay. Just a few minutes.” He sank to sit on the bed at her side. Her brow furrowed, then her eyes opened to rest on him. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He brushed damp hair off her face. The thick length twisted around his fingers, slid smoothly, and he relished the sensation.
“I can feel your guilt, Diego.” She knitted loose fingers through his. “Don’t. This is my fault. I’m always blowing off Houston’s warnings.”
“You are not responsible for another person’s actions, Titania.”
“No, but I should’ve been
more careful. That man has been after me for months. I shouldn’t have ignored him.” She twisted her lips. Their tightness hinted that she was berating herself firmly, but it was more than their shape drawing him. She interrupted his visual wandering. “Houston’s right. I am a pain in the butt.” Her lips curled at the corners into a gentler smile when she lifted her gaze to his. Enigmatic blue orbs of the bottomless ocean and night sky. “Thank you for saving me, for what you did. I do feel better.” The smile faded from her lips.
His thumb swished over the hand in his hold, her skin satiny beneath his stroking touch. “Why are you sad?”
“Because we’re even. I guess I won’t be seeing you again.” Her blue eyes darkened at the idea.
“Do not worry about that right now. You need to rest.” And he needed to leave, or he was going to kiss that lush mouth of hers.
The weightless touch of her fingers on his chin chained him to where he sat. “Your eyes, they’re beautiful. So pale gray, like winter clouds, but brighter. Lightning strikes.” Her murmured voice slid like a sheet of silk to his senses, smooth and seductive.
His hand covered hers where she cradled his face and he could not resist, could not find the strength to fight the wanting any longer. He watched, waiting for fear, apprehension, anything to stop him. It never came as he lowered his head.
Titania’s lips were so soft, so warm, Diego burst into flame at her touch. She was the sweetest breath of life he had ever tasted. Denied desire flared, roared to life between them.
He snapped up, leaving her touch behind. Every fiber, every nerve ached, needed. He had never felt this.
She sat up slowly, clutching the robe when the blanket fell to her lap. A trembling hand flitted to her lips. “What was that?” Her eyes were wide, staring at him. They glittered with a sapphire magic.
Diego did not have an answer. He plunged a hand into her hair, slanting his lips to hers, and felt the fire again. Heat and hungry desire swamped him. He seduced her mouth, caressed and sipped.
Diego was going to explode into heat where he sat. Satin skin, rich, fragrant hair, soft lips. He wanted more. He demanded entry into her moist heat and growled when she opened for him, hearing her answering whimpers. Her hand found his hair, held him as tightly. Passion eclipsed all other thoughts. He enfolded her into his embrace, bringing her into his chest. Craving her warmth, needing her physical touch.
He kissed the corner of her delicious mouth. Traveling with tender brushes to her temple, the erratic pounding of her heart reached into him. The sweet call of blood, rushing through her body. Her scent invaded his every cell, and where she touched, he felt her caresses through every pore.
His tongue circled over his teeth, and he found the tip of a fang. Burning lust overrode reason. “Give yourself to me. Only to me,” he entreated. “Just a taste.”
Titania’s skin was so soft beneath his touch, his hungers beating at him, yet his strong arms remained gentle. She made a faint, kittenish sound deep in her throat, and his body tightened. His lips moved over burning skin, feeling her pulse beneath his seeking caresses. The fisted hand she held the robe with climbed over his shoulders, and he trembled beneath her palm. He had to have a taste, just a taste. To know her, her every thought, her every wish, hope and desire.
He slid gently down the length of her silken neck, tasting with flicks of his tongue, sipping at the sensuous, sculpted beauty of her. He inhaled, found the scent that belonged only to her. Spring rain and heat. A seductress in his arms. Blood raged through his body, through hers.
“Say yes,” he whispered. He laved his tongue over the beat of her heart and felt her pulse leap in answer. Her body tensed with awakening sensations. The scrape of his teeth brought her breathing to a standstill. Diego needed her to give this to him. He realized he needed Titania to take his next breath, but he would take nothing unless she gave. He roamed his lips over her pulse, bringing her own hungers to a crying pitch. “Just a taste, cara. Say yes.”
“Yes.” She moaned mindlessly on a shuddering sigh. Her arms were looped tight around his neck, and his fangs sank deep. She arched and cried out the barest sound. Electricity shot from her; white lightning ripped through him. His arms tightened more, and he lost himself in her sweetness. His gut clenched, coiling tighter, as if an inferno engulfed him. Light sparked, blinding in its intensity as she flowed into him. Addictive heat. Sweet fulfillment. Ecstasy. He drank, absorbing her into his very bones.
He danced his tongue over the pinpricks in her skin, careful to remove the sign of his passions. Heat ran through every vein like roiling lava. Flames danced before his vision. The sweet heat consumed him.
Diego lifted her chin, brushing his lips to hers. He found her gaze and claimed her thoughts. “Just a taste, cara. I have to keep you safe.” Nothing else was as important as that very fact at that moment.
A gentle hand held her at her nape, holding her steady as he opened a small gash with an elongated claw on his chest, his shirt and leather jacket spread wide with a thought. He bent to whisper a secret, dark command.
He held her close, a precious gift as the rich, hot fluid dripped, his body clenching in ripples when her lips touched him. “Just a few drops, cara. I do not want to hurt you.” With his eyes closed, he drowned in everything she did. The stroke of her tongue, the wisp of her lips. Every touch so deep inside himself, he had no idea how he would ever get her out of his system.
He clamped the wound’s flow, lifting her up to his seeking mouth, hot and insistent once more. The wound was healed and his shirt closed by the time he released her from his enthrallment.
The weight of the rising sun beat at him. He needed to leave, and it was killing him to do it.
He laid her carefully to the bed, covering her with the sheets. “Go to sleep, Titania. You must rest. I will find you. Always.”
She whimpered once in groggy disagreement, but he held her thoughts captive, commanding her to sleep. She needed more care and rest. He needed to escape the sun’s path.
With a final kiss to her warm skin, he vanished.
* * * *
Tani rolled over, feeling the layers of sleep fade, like a heavy fog thinning. She blinked and groaned when certain points made their sore reports the more awake she became. Her ribs felt tight and when she yawned, her jaw ached.
She straightened out on her back, awash in the memories of the previous night. It had all been real. Thomas, his attack. Diego. Her eyes closed. What had he done? Was he a healer?
Diego had said he’d never tried that outside of healing himself, and there was no doubt she should have gone to the hospital. The details were hazy, how he’d helped her. She knew she didn’t want to look in the mirror. That was a definite.
She smoothed a cautious hand down her face, a moan of discomfort rising quickly when she did. “Ow,” she muttered, moving her jaw back and forth.
A knock on her door startled her. “Tani, are you ever going to wake up?”
She unlocked the door without getting up. Laney and Houston came in, took one look at her, and rushed to the bed.
“Jesus,” Houston snarled. “What the hell happened?” His hand was firm but tender on her chin, turning her this way and that.
She looked down, avoiding his examination, plucking at the blanket. “I, um, had a bit of a problem last night.”
“Why didn’t you get me? What happened?” His anxious brown eyes scoured her body above the blanket, scowling at the visible marks still on her skin.
She hung her head. “I knew I should have listened to you,” she said, her voice low. “I was attacked. The man from Arkansas had the hotel staked out.”
Laney gasped. “You’re kidding?”
Titania rested her chin on raised knees, hugging them close. Her ribs protested, but only a little. “I don’t think he expected it to be so easy, and I walked right into it.”
“Where is he now? How did you get to your room?” Houston turned her again. “It looks like you’ve had treatment. These are
fading already. How’d you do that?”
She licked her lips, knowing she needed to be careful in how she explained this. “I didn’t. Diego did it. He rescued me. I remember seeing a knife, and then Thomas was gone.” She shivered, recalling the crunching sounds that happened afterward.
Laney’s green eyes grew huge. “That news break! Oh, my God! That was the same man.” She faced Titania. “They found his body behind the hotel. I’m so sorry, honey.”
“My fault. I should have listened. I couldn’t catch the limo either. What time is it? I need to call and have them recover my bag.”
“It’s after seven, and the limo company called this morning. The desk has your tote.” Laney sat next to her on the bed, Houston on the other side.
She sat straight. “After seven! That can’t be right. I never sleep this late.” She ran a hand through her hair.
“You needed it.” Houston’s brown gaze went flat. “This Diego, he’s the same one you saved? At the last concert?” Houston asked, a guarded wariness to his words.
She looked away again. How could she tell him Diego could talk to her? She couldn’t tell him the truth, not all of it. “He helped me last night. I don’t know what he did, but it’s because of him I’m not in the hospital.” She knew that for a fact. She wasn’t ready to go into the details she wasn’t sure she could even begin to explain. She let them come to their own conclusions.
“Then I owe him,” he said quietly.
“We both do,” Laney added.
Hoping they were ready to drop it, she told them, “I want to shower and stretch. I still hurt.” She wasn’t sure if Diego would be coming back like he had promised either. She had no idea how she was supposed to feel about it if he did.
Laney sat on the edge of the bed with Houston, smoothing the blankets. She glanced up, then away. “He, um, didn’t…you know…hurt you, did he? Maybe you should go to the hospital anyway. Get checked out?”
