Initiated (Daywalker Academy Series Book 4)

by Maya Daniels

  “What’s up, mutt? No smartass remarks for me?” A lump forms in my throat when he blinks solemnly at me, sadness blanketing his features. “You not gonna try to stop me?”

  “No.” His voice is thick, so he clears his throat a couple of times. “Before you even neared our gates, they’ve been surrounding you from all sides, guiding you into a corner where they know you can’t escape.” My heart skips a beat when he voices all my fears, not looking away from me. “Not just Roberti, but the Board, too, and even as Soren himself. You want to know why it bothers the Board that everyone rushed to have your back and you instigated this new order, Drake?”

  Internally I’m screaming for him to shut his mouth and not say another word, but on the outside, I stare at him numbly and shake my head jerkily at his question. Astara stares at her feet with a frown tugging her eyebrows down, while if Fenrir wasn’t breathing, I may think he’s turned into a mannequin.

  “Because while cornered and thinking you are fighting just for yourself, you never leave anyone behind. They don’t understand the concept and see it as a manipulation or a trick. Their minds don’t work the same way yours does. So I’m not going to stop you. What I’ll do is go talk to your friend down in Sienna and see if he has a solution to our little problem.” Lacing his fingers, he stretches his arms over his head. “If nothing else, at least he will know you are looking for a way to get in touch with him. A real friend, one you trust, won’t even think of the reasons he hates this place if you are in danger.”

  “Tell him Franky said the drinks are on me next time I come to the pub. He will know you are telling him the truth,” I call after Leo as he walks out of my room.

  “You have to appreciate it when the mention of alcohol tells someone the message is from you.” Astara snorts after Fenrir follows Leo and closes the door behind them.

  “Daren warned me a long time ago about Roberti. I was pissed off at him for months before deciding he is just too bitter and it’s not worth ignoring him for it.”

  “What did he warn you about?”

  “He said a moron can see Roberti is manipulating you and has an agenda when it comes to you. You are just too desperate to belong that you are blind to it. But, it’s all good. When you finally see it, the drinks are on you the moment you step foot in my pub.” A smile tilts my lips and Astara matches it. “Daren will forget anything, but he will never forget a promised drink. I just hope he knows a way we can talk.”

  “The initiation requires a sacrifice, Franky.” Astara fists her hands. “We will find a way out of it.”

  It’s like she punched me in the center of my chest. The sharp pain spreads but I manage to give her a smile, albeit a fake one. Daren better find a way to see me or I’m royally screwed this time.

  Chapter 5

  Swallowing thickly, I raise my fist for the fifth time, hesitating again because I’m unable to summon the strength to knock on Zoltan’s door. I know he is inside; I can feel him through his blood still coursing inside me, just as he is aware that I’m standing here like a lump and have been for the last fifteen minutes. It doesn’t help me suck it up and storm inside to demand he talk to me. He has no right to be upset that I want to speak to my friend alone. Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. Even my inner voice is snide, and it makes me grind my teeth.

  My clenched fist falls limply to my side and I rub my aching shoulder which has cramped because I’m a coward. Who would’ve thought, huh? All my bravado went down the drain after I stupidly let myself get too close to the Daywalker. When my skin prickles, pebbling all over my arms and legs, the breath gets stuck in my throat. I can feel him standing just on the other side, the thick wood not enough of a barrier between us. Heart rattling my bones like a war drum, I spin on my heel, ready to bolt out of the eerily silent hallway. Then the door opens, and I’m frozen under Zoltan’s solemn gaze.

  “Ummm …” My eyes dart around, panic choking the shit out of me, so I round on the panther who is looking way too smug as he watches me struggle. “There you are.” Giggling nervously, I make a big show of flicking my hand at Zoltan’s face while his eyes are narrowing by the second. “I thought I lost the damn cat. I didn’t want him walking around on his own with the Board …”

  A shrill sound comes out of me when Zoltan strikes like a snake and lifts me off the ground. He yanks me inside his room, slamming the door in the panther’s face with a resounding boom. The feline and I growl incredulously at the same time, but he only leans back on the door, his intent gaze never leaving my face. Short of breath, my chest rises and falls in shallow bursts of air, and I smooth nonexistent hairs out of my face with shaking hands.

  “Stop manhandling me you … you … Neanderthal.” The corners of his full lips twitch when I take a step away from him. “In this day and age, we use words to communicate.”

  “That only works, Francesca, if the female is not hell bent on going against what’s good for her.” The arrogant jerk folds his arms across his massive chest, his biceps pulling on the fabric of his shirt. I raise my hand to check for a drool before I catch what I’m doing and glare at him.

  The smirk grows on his stupidly handsome face.

  “Did you put the book behind wards?” Picking the safest option for a conversation, I decide to ignore his smoldering gaze and move around his room.

  “No, I’ll keep it close until we are sure no one can get their hands on it.”

  “In other words, you’ll keep it until Roberti is dealt with.” Finding a neatly-stacked pile of books, I nudge the middle spine with a finger and pointedly stare at Zoltan over my shoulder. It’ll drive Mr. OCD insane to mess up his neat things.

  A muscle jumps in his jaw.

  Gloating, I’m thrilled to ruffle his feathers.

  “You were not standing in the hallway to ask about the book.” Nostrils flaring, I can see how much it costs him not to move and put the books back the way they were.

  Shrugging a shoulder, I poke at the pile some more before moving further inside the room. “Leo and Fenrir are in Sienna, and Astara left to get a feel of the situation among our ranks. Her words not mine. We didn’t get a chance to talk about what our next move is, so I figured now is as good of a time as any to hush out what the plan is. After the display the Board gave us, I don’t think we have much time to do anything before they stick their noses in our business. ”

  Pretending I don’t hear the low growl coming from deep in his chest, I touch everything I can get my hands on, shifting things slightly just so they are moved from their original place. Consciously, I know I’m poking at a sleeping lion, but I can’t help myself. Feeing unsettled because he was hurt earlier by my words makes me act irrational. And here I am thinking I grew out of my self-destructive ways. I guess some things we never learn.

  “You are worried about their loyalty.” It’s not a question, so I just offer a twitchy shrug eyeing him warily to judge his reaction.

  Will he hate me for stirring the pot, turning his entire existence upside down? I don’t know how old he is but I don’t need a number to know that the Daywalker Academy is his life mission, something that he lives and breathes. And here I am, a half blood popping out of nowhere wreaking chaos while pointing an accusing finger at his friends, at his family. Zoltan’s expression gives nothing away to let me know how he feels about it.

  I force down the lump the size of a fist in my throat.

  Pushing off the door, he sighs and stabs his hands in the pockets of his pants. “You know what bothers me more than doubting everything I’ve ever known?” I stiffen when he moves but he just strides to his large bed and perches on the edge of it, his intent focus like a physical weight on my shoulders. “After everything that’s happened, you still don’t trust me … not fully.”

  “Just because we had sex doesn’t mean anything has changed.” A humorless smile tilts his lips at my words. My insides are knotted so tight, I’m worried I’ll empty my stomach where I stand.

  “Is tha
t what we did? We had sex?” By the sound of it, I came here to clear the air for hurting him earlier, but I did the opposite of that.

  Scrubbing a hand roughly over my face, I turn away so he doesn’t see how his words affect me. “What I’m trying to say is, I don’t expect you to back me up on all my assumptions. Because let’s face it, until I have solid evidence any of them are working with Roberti, all I’m doing is conjuring.”

  “I have sex when I need to scratch an itch.” Like a dog with a bone, he ignores everything I just said.

  “Which you’ve done plenty.” Cringing internally, I keep digging a deeper hole because I have no control of my mouth. “You must’ve had an allergy or something …” Squeezing my eyes shut, I bite my tongue to shut myself up. Way to go dumbass, you couldn’t be more obvious that you care.

  My breath gets stuck when Zoltan wraps my braid around his fist and jerks me around to face him. I didn’t even hear him move. I’m left speechless when my eyes snap open from the pulsing glow of his own. The blue in his irises shifts from dark indigo to silver and back, mesmerizing me. Like two magnets, our bodies pull us together out of our control, the press of his hard chest making me melt against him. My knees wobble and I’m grateful for his hold on my hair or I would be a puddle at his feet.

  “In the many years I have walked this world I have, yes.” His gaze searches mine, although I’m unfocused, dazed by the potent power coming off of him in sharp bursts. “But nothing can compare to being with you, Francesca Drake. I don’t think it’s a good thing for you to know what you do to me.” The rumble in his chest sounds so primal the short hairs on the back of my neck lift at attention. “I’ve never allowed anyone to have that much power.”

  “You don’t let anyone have power over you, Daywalker.” What I was hoping to sound like a snappy retort turned into a moan. Kill me now.

  “I don’t.” He nips my lower lip and liquid heat pools at my core. “And then there is you. You have no idea how special you are.” His breath puffs over my lips.

  “I wish people would stop saying that,” I mumble, still locked in his piercing gaze. “I’m no one.”

  “The fact that you believe that makes you very dangerous.” His full mouth curls into a hungry smile, the tip of a fang poking under his upper lip sending my heart somersaulting. “I like it, you just need to learn one thing.”

  The anger I usually feel at his arrogance mixes with my arousal and muddles my brain. My palm is itching to slap that smile off his face but the sharp curve of his cheekbones and his thick lashes, which are throwing shadows over them like crescent moons, leave me blinking slowly, basking in the sound of his thundering heart. It matches my own. My lips part the tongue wetting them, wishing for him to close the barely-there distance and kiss me.

  With a snarl, Zoltan flips me around, my pants along with his own disappearing with a sharp tug of his wrist. All my protests die on my tongue when he enters me in one hard thrust, pinning me on the end of the bed. I can feel him everywhere. His shaft is stretching me to bursting, but his large body curled around mine sucks all the oxygen from my lungs. His scent fills my nostrils and silences all thought. Fear sparks inside me that I will lose myself, the feeling of him so potent that it’s drowning me in who and what Zoltan is. Stiffening, I lock my knees to shove him off me, but he moves.

  There is no sign of the gentle lover from the shower. With my hair still wrapped around his fist and his other hand clamped on my hip, Zoltan starts pounding me into the mattress. My lips part in a silent scream, his grunts and snarls stroking the fire burning in my belly into an inferno. Each time his powerful thighs slap the back of my own it’s like he is branding himself on my skin. The rough skin of his palm scrapes over my skin, his fingers digging into my hip as if I’m trying to escape. There is no running away from this even if I try.

  Zoltan is proving a point.

  I like to tell myself I regret my snarky remark about his prowls, but with each glide of his cock inside me my low moans and screams join his groans to create a song as old as time itself. The part of me that wants to keep the Daywalker even when she knows she never could luxuriates in his strength and dominance, preening because she can make him lose control. He told me I have power over him, but he is showing me now that he has the same influence over me. The first time we were skin to skin, he enjoyed my body as much as I enjoyed his. That was two people coming together, intimately joining their bodies. This is not the same.

  This is a claiming.

  Zoltan yanks my head back, crushing his mouth over mine. His tongue pushes through my lips, licking and sucking, scraping the smooth tissue with the tips of his fangs. Twisting the sheets in my hands I push back in sync with his trusts, wanting him harder and deeper inside me until I don’t know where he ends and I begin. He gives me what I need and more, stealing my heart one mingled breath at a time.

  Pressure builds in my lower belly, sparking the power in my chest to pulse with the beat of each pump from Zoltan’s hips. He moves faster, his sack slapping a staccato over my ass, and I relish in it. The low growl coming from his chest like an idling engine gets louder, spurring my moans. He releases my mouth, tilting my head to the side and sinking his fangs as long as my pinky in my neck.

  Stars burst behind my closed eyelids, my channel clamping tightly on his cock and milking him. He gets thicker and harder inside me, hot steel pounding the mouth of my womb without missing a beat. My blood rushes down his throat and his lips press firmer on my skin with each suction he makes. It’s like he is draining all my fight along with my soul, drinking it in so I can never get away from him. His rhythm falters, his movements turning erratic and jerky before he lurches his head back, his deafening roar rattling the windows. Hot spurts bathe my insides, forcing another orgasm stronger than the previous one. Darkness is trying to pull me under, creeping inside my head because the pleasure is too much to bear.

  Zoltan crushes me to his chest, his arms wrapping around me like metal bands the only thing keeping me from passing out. “Do what you want to do, Francesca.” His deep voice is raw, pebbling my skin. “But don’t you ever forget that you are mine.”

  “You wish.” I’m not sure I actually manage to say it out loud before I pass out.

  Chapter 6

  All my fantasies about sneaking out of Zoltan’s bed and bolting out of the room vanish the second I twitch a muscle. The thick arm that is thrown over my waist like a deadweight tightens as soon as my breathing changes. I have a moment to freak the hell out about having the Daywalker spooning me before I want to punch him in the throat.

  He chuckles.

  “There is not one thing I find funny right now.” Wiggling proves to be a bad idea when I feel him harden, his erection poking my lower back.

  I freeze.

  “What’s the matter, Drake,” Zoltan rasps, his voice brimming with amusement and thick from sleep. “Not enjoying the fact that you’re caught?”

  “Get over yourself, I wasn’t running so you could catch me.” Nope, not even flailing helps. He just yanks me tighter to his chest. Huffing, I give up on my attempt to get away from him. “What are we doing Zoltan? Our world is burning and here we are playing house.”

  “Is that what we are doing?” He grunts when I elbow him.

  “Don’t be an ass, you know what I mean.” Gnawing on the inside of my mouth, I can’t get rid of the guilt eating a hole in my stomach. People are getting hurt while I’m enjoying myself snuggling with Zoltan in our fake bubble of calm.

  “There will always be someone disturbing our lives, Francesca.” His voice is soft, vibrating from his chest into my back. “If we allow them to steal our little moments of peace, they’ve already won.”

  “You sound like Soren.” Grumbling petulantly, I’d be lying if I said he didn’t have a point. Not that I’ll tell him that. He is arrogant enough to last a few lifetimes. “You two should compare notes.”

  “What notes would those be?” Nuzzling my hair, which is spread out like
a cloud around my head, somehow unbound from the braid, he breathes me in. “Teaming Francesca Drake for beginners?”

  “Ha, ha!” I say dryly, pressing deeper in the pillow, but he doesn’t allow me to pull away from him. “Very funny. You should be a comedian. You’ll make it big in the human world in no time.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind if this Daywalker business doesn’t pan out.” I look over my shoulder when he deadpans, thoughtful and even. “I’ll hire you as an agent. I’ll pay good money to see anyone try to negotiate with you.”

  “Did you just make a joke?” He blinks his eyes open lazily, just a sliver of blue peeking through his long lashes. “The end of the worlds is coming. The great Zoltan, aka one-word wonder, has a sense of humor.”

  “I’m finding I’ve had a lot of firsts since you fell at my feet.” A slow smile tilts his lips, erupting butterflies in my belly.

  “I tripped asshole, don’t flatter yourself. You just happened to be there when I lost my balance.” I can feel the heat creeping over my face, so I duck my head to hide from his knowing gaze.

  “Mhm,” he rumbles, spreading goosebumps over my skin like a blanket. “I can hear you even now whispering ‘surprise.’” My body rocks on the mattress from his chuckle. “What a surprise you turned out to be indeed.”

  “Right.” Face on fire, I’m left lost for a response as I try to ignore my insides, which are melting at his words. I’ll have no one else to blame but myself when he rips my heart apart, but I’ll tuck that away for now and worry about it later.

  “I’m thinking of keeping the book within reach at all times until we put an end to Roberti’s insanity. The more I think about it, the bigger the nagging feeling grows inside me that is telling me someone else is pulling his strings.”