The Hailey Holloway Complete Series

by K. C. Stewart

  A cry poured from Hailey's lips as her body hit the peak of pleasure. Her eyes opened in time to see Dak grip her hips and pound into her, his movements becoming erratic. His eyes stayed on hers until the last second when he surrendered himself to his pleasure.

  Chapter Three

  Her breath had long since calmed in the time he spent laying on her chest. Dacea couldn't bring himself to move even though the weight of his body had to be making it hard for her to breathe. Hailey's chest was the most comfortable resting place he had ever come across. The beating of her heart could lull him to sleep in seconds if he allowed himself. However, Dacea had to get up; he needed her to pack so they could go home and do all of this again, only in their own bed.

  Her hands glided seamlessly down his back. "Dak," she said so softly it came out as a purr.

  "Sorry, Céile, let me move." He rolled off of her and pecked her lips with a kiss.

  "No, that's not it. I just wanted…where are you going?"

  "Water." He was already up and on his way to the kitchen. Her sigh was soft, but heard. It must be about what she hadn't told him earlier. He knew there was something else going on. She hadn't looked happy enough even after he apologized. Dacea drank two glasses of water and filled a third. He handed it to Hailey when he got back to the room. The sight of her covered under the blanket was a little disheartening. She was beautiful, especially in the afterglow of sex and should never hide from him. He would help her lose that self-conscious bullshit that made her cover her form from his eyes.

  But first, he needed to get her home.

  "Do you have a bag?" He pulled on his jeans, not bothering to button them.

  "Uh, what kind of bag?"

  Dacea had her closet opened and against her protests, he found a backpack. It would do for the time being giving her enough clothes for a day or two. "This will do." At her dresser he grabbed handfuls of clothing that she had folded but never put away and stuffed them in the bag.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Packing you a bag. I suggest you get changed so we can get going."

  "What are you talking about?" Hailey's lustful gaze and heavy voice dropped away, in its place was the rekindled anger from earlier.

  "I thought you would be more comfortable with some of your own things until we can get all of this moved." He'd get some of his security team to help pack and move it all this weekend.

  "We already talked about this," she warned. "Stop trying to pack up my life. I'm not moving in with you." He turned and frowned at her. She had slipped on a robe that was just as red as her face.

  "Hailey, we are Mates. You will live with me." The playfulness he had felt earlier had left. Sex hadn't solved the problem, only gave an intermission in the argument.

  "No."

  His eyes, once lit with smoldering amber, narrowed with a cooling fire. "No we are not Mates, or no you will not live with me?"

  For a brief moment she hesitated. "No, I will not live with you."

  He watched as she closed herself off. The walls building up around her were meant to protect, but in the end would only isolate her. Hailey didn't need protection against him as she thought, she needed protection against herself.

  "I see," he dropped the bag on her bed. "I'm not running after you again, Hailey. When you come to your senses, I will be at our house." Dacea turned from her watering eyes and walked from the apartment. He left his shirt and shoes knowing he would be changing once he hit the cool air.

  His dragon needed to fly.

  It was late, but the city was still alive. He dodged and evaded the occasional pedestrian and passing car. Down one alley, out another, Dacea searched for a place to let himself go.

  Dacea was a leader. He fixed problems daily. Big ones. Small ones. Thousands of people, at one time, had looked to him to fix their problems. But he couldn't fix what she couldn't name. Hailey was scared. Of what, he didn't know. Now that he wasn't in her head twenty-four hours a day, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. One thing was for sure, she was reverting back to her old self, the one who ran and hid from her problems instead of standing up to them. He knew he could coax the new Hailey back out if he only was with her more.

  After walking at a steady pace for ten minutes, he found an abandoned warehouse. He was more frustrated than angry by this point. The dragon stirred. It began to uncoil inside of him like a snake on the move. The warehouse wasn't ideal, but it would do. They were close enough to the airport that anyone looking up at this time of night would assume his dragon was a plane.

  The gate was chained and padlocked together. With both hands he gripped the chain and melted the links. His skin had already begun to change to scales and magic vibrated in the air around him. When the links finally broke, he pulled the chain free and slid inside the gate.

  His dragon paced as it neared closer and closer to the surface. Dacea needed to let him out, but he was still too exposed. He walked around the building and found an alcove. Surrounded by brick on three sides, Dacea turned toward the way he had entered. Feet, legs, body, arms, every bone had to be broken and reshaped. Through the magic of his family and sept, Dacea's body grew. It only took a few seconds to change but he felt every single transformation his body had to perform in order for the dragon to take his place.

  Smoke barreled out of his nose in long streams. His wings stretched out and his tail swayed behind him. The change was like a drug. He felt invincible. With a few flaps of his wings, he took off into the night sky.

  *****

  "Oh what fun!" Katherine sat atop the railing of the apartment above Hailey's. She watched with delight, her feet swinging back and forth, as Dacea left the building in a fit. She always did love when he got in one of his little moods. Katherine missed her game of seeing how fast she could make him smoke.

  Katherine wanted to follow Dacea, but she lost sight of him too quickly. Besides, she had to babysit the human.

  Once she heard her Mate had been reborn, Katherine had come straight to him. Okay, maybe not straight to him. She had been in Brazil at the time, so she finished out her vacation first. Then she had to stop in New Orleans for a party she had RSVP'd to weeks earlier. But after all that, she came to see Dacea. She looked forward to see the expression on his face when he saw her again. It had only been a few years, or had it been a few hundred? Never the less, his face would be priceless and she would have to remember to bring her camera. That picture would be one to cherish for years…or sell on eBay. She hadn't decided yet.

  Katherine stood and stretched her arms overhead. Balancing on the thin rail, she began to walk the railing. Her plans had not exactly proceeded as she had hoped. Dacea had found another, even had the gall to call her his Mate. Katherine snorted and rolled her eyes. Pathetic, just like a man to rush into another's arms when his Mate's back was turned.

  He called her Hailey. Katherine called her whore.

  But all would be forgiven once the brat was out of the way. Dacea would have his beloved back and wouldn't need Hailey anymore. Then she would be one step closer to finishing her collection; crossing dragon off her list would be cause for a celebration.

  She hadn't hit up Miami in a while.

  Katherine stopped pacing as an idea came to her. "Maybe he will let me eat her." The picture formed in her mind of Hailey hanging from her ankles while Katherine peeled the skin from her stomach. She laughed with glee and clapped her hands together. "I could probably make her peel her own skin and feed it to me."

  Her phone rang, interrupting her mental feast. Katherine sat back down on the railing before answering. "Why hello my partner in crime! Guess what I just saw?"

  "I don't care. Tell me your status."

  "Tsk tsk, Silas. You ruin my fun," she pouted.

  "Status," he barked out.

  "Ugh, whatever. I'm at Hailey's place. Dacea just left after a very unfortunate end to their first sexual excursion."

  "Good, that's good. Stay there until she-"

  "Wait," she interru
pted and crouched down lower. The window below opened, Katherine's head tilted as she listened.

  "No. Just call me when you have a chance to take her."

  Katherine shushed him. "Hailey just opened her window. I think she's on the phone."

  Silas paused. She imagined he was contemplating on whether to hang up or not. "What is she saying?"

  She slinked over to the other end of the railing and listened to the faint sounds of Hailey below.

  "No, I'm ok right now. I just want to go to bed and forget any of this happened…Not now Lia, ok? I can't talk about it yet…Coffee sounds good. Want to go to that new place? Folklore I think it's called…Mmm hmmm…Ok, see ya at noon. Bye."

  "Well? Katherine?" She rolled her eyes. She always hated pushy people. Just because Silas ruled over some winged alligators didn't mean he could boss her around.

  "What is going on?"

  Assuming the window was still open, Katherine jumped to the next balcony over. "Whore is meeting a friend tomorrow for coffee."

  "I told you not to speak of her like that," he growled.

  "What's it to you?"

  Silas cursed. "Never mind. Take her tomorrow before she meets her friend. Bring her here, do you understand? If I find anything amiss you will spend your life in my dungeon."

  "No fun. What if I get hungry for bitch whore jerky?"

  "No!" Katherine held the phone from her ear as he screamed.

  "Fine, no snacks, got it. Any other rules?" She hated rules.

  "Just get it done." The line went dead.

  "Rude."

  Katherine sat atop the building with the gargoyles all night. The stone guardians weren't much fun, but they had never shared the same views on adventure and mayhem. "Blah. Always protecting and guarding. You guys need to get out of this city for a week. Then you'll see what you're missing."

  The night passed slowly after that, they ignored her and she them. By sunrise Katherine was jittery with unshed energy and too much stolen coffee. She bounced from ledge to ledge. Her hands shook and her eyes flared with anticipation each time the door to the building opened.

  She waited. She watched. And when Hailey emerged from the front door, she cascaded down the building, skittering like a squirrel on a tree, to the alley below. Katherine followed her for a few blocks; she wanted to see how she moved. Was she a straight to her destination speed walker with no time for anything else? Or a mossier, taking her time to window shop and enjoy the city around her?

  Hailey, as she found out, was a mix of the two. Katherine could tell she was distracted which made her move toward her destination more quickly but would snap from her daze to smile at someone.

  Katherine moved forward to stand directly behind Hailey. She smelled of Dacea. Not on her hair or skin but the clothing she wore. Katherine wanted to screech and claw her pretty little face to ribbons. Silas's warning came back to her; the whore would pay, just not by Katherine's hand.

  It wasn't enough, but would have to do.

  "Hailey? Oh my, is that really you?" Katherine smiled as Hailey turned. She squinted in confusion trying to place Katherine's face.

  "Uh, I'm sorry. Do I know you?" People pushed past them, a few muttering to get out of the way. It was urban hospitality at its finest.

  "Here let's move. Geez, I haven't seen you in years. How's your mother?" Katherine grabbed her elbow and firmly steered her down a side street.

  "I really don't think we know each other."

  "Well, at least you are smarter than you look." Her voice dropped all of its friendly attire.

  "Excuse me?" Hailey wrenched her arm out of Katherine's grasp and stepped back.

  "No use in that, Sweetie." She pulled the syringe from her coat pocket and plunged it into Hailey's neck. She stumbled back against the wall of the building, her head lulled to the side. Katherine tossed the needle and waited for her to pass into unconsciousness. As Hailey's eyes closed, she knelt down in front of her and smiled.

  "Night night, little bitch."

  Chapter Four

  "Hello?"

  "Dacea, you asshole!" Lia yelled into the phone. A few people at the neighboring tables looked on with curiosity. Fuck them, Lia thought. She didn't have the patience to be polite at the moment.

  "Ahh Lia, how nice to hear from you. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

  "What did you do to Hailey?"

  "Excuse me?" He had the nerve to sound offended.

  "You heard me. She called all upset last night and wanted to meet for coffee. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong and now she ditched me on our date. What did you do?"

  "Why do you think it's my fault?"

  "You have a penis." The coffee shop was instantly silent, everyone listening to her call. Snickering sounded from behind her, Lia glared over her shoulder at the two teenage girls.

  "Thank you for noticing," he laughed. "We had a disagreement last night. Nothing to get worried over."

  "Right and what was this disagreement over?" Disagreement my ass, she mused. He probably did something incredibly stupid and didn't realize how much he fucked up.

  "That is none of your concern."

  "Bullshit. You going back on your promise so soon?"

  "Don't," his voice wavered. "You know I don't like to relive that."

  A morsel of guilt swam through her consciousness. It was petty of her to bring it up. A few weeks ago, when Hailey had completed the ritual to free Dacea from his mental cage, she had been severely wounded. Silas was ultimately behind it. He was also to blame for her disappearance right afterward and the reason she was alive today. Once they had woken up from the magical blast that had knocked them all unconscious, Hailey and Silas were both gone. All that lay behind was a massive amount of Hailey's blood.

  Lia saw so plainly painted on Dacea's face a man who was broken after being so adamantly put back together. His cracks began to widen with every second they looked for her and still they came up short. The dragon had to take over for him. He was liable to make Hailey's sacrifice in vain if it hadn't been for his beast. The creature was an animal at best, but it didn't want to go back to non-existence.

  Self-preservation was a marvelous thing.

  Darby had found her by tracking her parent's calls. When Dacea saw her for the first time, he came back to himself. Lia had never seen Mates who had not finished the mating bond act like that before. Their souls were entwined so tightly around each other that if one died, the other would not be far behind.

  When they left the hospital that first night, Dacea made Lia promise that she wouldn't speak to anyone about what he had to become in those last few days. He also asked for her help in protecting Hailey, even from himself.

  "She is late," she said changing the subject. It wasn't one she liked to relive either. "I'm getting worried." Lia looked down at her watch for the hundredth time.

  "She's probably just running a few minutes late. You know how she is. I bet she lost her shoe again." It was sad how often that happened.

  "It's been two hours," Lia deadpanned.

  "Oh." Worry finally began to register in his voice.

  "She won't answer her phone. I've text her, emailed her and sent her a Facebook message. Nothing. I'm going over to her place. If I find her in a bathrobe eating ice cream, you and I are going to have a talk."

  "I'll try calling her. Let me know when you've found her."

  Lia hung up the phone and left the coffee shop. Murmurs followed her out the door. Hailey only lived a few blocks from there but she hailed a cab anyway. Her gut told her something was wrong. The call last night wasn't anything bad; Hailey sounded a little upset but nothing so horrible that would cause this turmoil in her stomach.

  Her fingers rapped against the seat as the taxi driver pulled into traffic. "I'll double the fair if you get me there in five minutes." She felt the car speed up. Her phone vibrated in her hand, she answered without looking at the number. "Hailey?"

  "No. Me again," Dacea said.

  "She answer?"r />
  "No," he spit out.

  "I'm pulling up to her place now. Stay on the line?"

  "I can be there in fifteen minutes."

  "No, stay there. I'm probably just over reacting." She hoped so at least.

  Lia paid the driver and used her key to get in the building. She had insisted on having a key, Hailey thought it was a bit overprotective at the time. If her gut was right, then Lia was glad she had the thing. The elevator opened and two people got out. Lia slipped in and punched the five key a few hundred times.

  "Well?"

  "In the elevator. Calm down." The last part was more for herself. Her foot had a mind of its own and tapped rapidly in the assent. The doors opened and Lia forced herself not to run to Hailey's door. Nothing seemed amiss in the hallway, which was a good sign. Lia knocked. "Hailey, its Lia, open up," she said as she knocked again.

  "Stop fooling around and just go in," Dacea grumbled in her ear.

  He had a point. "I'm coming in, Hailey, so don't hit me with a bat or anything." Lia slid her key into the lock and walked inside. She quickly made a run through each room letting her brain catch up with what her gut already knew. Hailey wasn't there.

  "Apartment's empty."

  "Fuck."

  "My thought's exactly." Lia went for another walk through the apartment. "No purse or keys. Looks like she went out."

  "Come over to my house and we will figure this out. I have another call. I'll let you know if it's Hailey."

  "Yeah, ok. I'll be th-" the line was already dead. "There soon," Lia finished to the empty room.

  *****

  "Hello?" Dacea barked into the phone.

  "Missing someone?" He was going to enjoy this entirely too much.

  "Silas, you little fuck. What have you done?"

  "Calm now, Dacea. Hailey is perfectly fine. Aren't you, my dear?" Silas turned to Hailey who struggled against her bindings. Her words masked by the duct tape that covered her mouth. "You know, if you stopped biting people then I wouldn't have to gag you."