***
Jessie stared up at Tobias as a deep connection, a bond unlike any other she’d ever experienced, knitted their souls together. She trusted him. Deeply. Completely. The warmth of happiness filled her with a sense of peace she’d never dared to embrace. Hope. She felt hope for the first time in three long, lonely years.
Her mind reached for his, slipped into his so easily. She’d never believed in love at first sight. She’d never believed in the idea of soulmates. But she knew, beyond any doubt, that he was her one and only true love. He considered her a miracle. His miracle. He would never betray her. He would never leave her alone. He would love, cherish, and protect her until his last breath. And, even if he died, he would find a way to stay by her side.
She couldn’t believe how deeply he’d opened himself to her. She wondered if he was aware of the fact that he was sharing such intimate details about himself with her. It seemed impossible to live with the pain of endless loneliness and sadness he’d endured. He truly couldn’t comprehend the evil that motivated his enemies to hurt and destroy others for pleasure, for gain.
He’d fought many wars. Never for himself. He was a protector, a guardian. Once, shocking him, a human had called him an angel of mercy. He knew better. He was a demon. He fought because he’d been created for it. He was a powerful force of darkness. A dangerous, immortal warrior without remorse.
He was lying to himself. Convincing himself that violence and brutality were his companions when he set out to destroy the supernatural beings that threatened his kind and humans. He believed the worst of himself, refusing to admit that honor and a kind heart led him to defend the defenseless, to protect the innocent.
The weight of endless days and nights eventually crushed him. Living for forever alone had become an unbearable curse. His heart and soul couldn’t endure the pain of losing a long-cherished dream. His sadness turned to all consuming grief. And so, on many occasions, far too many to count, he risked his existence to protect friends and strangers. It wasn’t a selfless act. He wanted to push his limits too far. He wanted to come up against an enemy able to destroy him. He wanted to end his existence. He wanted to die.
It was her. She was the dream he’d given up on. He’d lost all hope of finding her, finding his mate. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.
“Are you in pain?”
It’s you.
“What do you mean?”
She shook her head slightly causing a tear to fall from her eye. He brushed it away from her cheek. I don’t know. I can’t think straight right now.
“It’s to be expected. You lost a large amount of blood before I was able to close the wound. You’ll feel better soon.”
She felt him touch her mind to search for the cause of her tears. She didn’t know if she believed in his idea of her being his mate. She wasn’t ready to explore the idea. She locked her discovery away in her mind to prevent him from finding it.
“Fine.” He bent down and kissed her forehead. “I won’t push for now. I want you to try to say something.”
“I need to get up.” Supporting her back, he helped her sit. “We can’t stay here any longer. He’ll come back. He always comes back.”
“Wes?”
“When you were saving me, you weren’t paying attention. He could’ve returned and killed you, Tobias. You need to understand that you can’t turn your back on him.”
He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “He can’t kill me. He wouldn’t try.”
“I can’t believe I got shot in the neck and I’m still alive.” She reached up and touched her neck. “One second, I was in horrible pain. The next, it was gone. All of it. I was dying. I just wanted to warn you before I died. I tried.”
“Wes wasn’t and isn’t a threat. I don’t know why he made you believe that he would hurt you. But he wouldn’t. You were not dying. I was healing you. Just like your foot and your incision. I blocked you from experiencing the pain.”
“I don’t trust Wes. He’s an asshole. And, I’m not an idiot, I know I was dying.” She shivered. “I would’ve died if you hadn’t been here.”
He held his hand out and produced a flannel shirt out of thin air. “It’s cooling down out here. Put this on. It’ll keep you warm until we get home.” He helped her get into it.
“Will you help me get to my car? My bag?” She got to her feet. “Where’s my bag?” Everything started to spin, she stumbled but before she hit the ground, he caught her up in his arms and cradled her against his chest.
“I have your bag. Do you always go from zero to a hundred in under a second?”
“I do. I like to move fast. It’s been a great survival technique.”
“I’m taking you home with me. You need to rest. We’ll retrieve your car tomorrow.”
“A few minutes ago, you couldn’t wait to get the hell away from me. You planned to leave me with a killer. Why are you helping me?”
“I told you that I wasn’t leaving you with him. I just wanted to get him to tell me what was going on with my sister.”
“You were not bluffing. You accused me of lying to you. You planned to leave me. You called me a project.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to force myself to walk away from you. Not for a second. You can merge with me. You can share my mind at any time. I could never deceive you if I wanted to. There is nothing more important to me than you.”
She narrowed her gaze on his. “I don’t want any part of your mind.” She was alone. Always alone. It was her only peace. She would never want to put another’s life in danger by exposing them to her nightmare. “Besides, I don’t need to touch your mind to know you just lied to me. You left me with Wes when you took the werewolf away to kill it.” She smiled. “And you don’t want to talk about calling me a project, do you?”
“I was with you the entire time. I never truly left you. You’re afraid to touch my mind, to share my thoughts because you liked it too much last night when we were flying together.”
“Wrong.”
“That’s interesting. I never would’ve guessed you’re a coward.”
“I’ll take that rope and shovel now.”
She struggled to keep her eyes open and focused on his face, fighting to maintain consciousness.
“I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t think I have the strength to dig my grave,” he said.
“Bummer. I guess we can do it later. You can put me down now. I can walk.”
“I wasn’t planning to walk. Close your eyes.”
“I’ll fall asleep.”
“That’s fine. I’ll take care of you. Close your eyes.”
She relaxed her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent. “You smell as sexy as you look.”
He laughed. “That’s great to know.”
She yawned. “Are you going to fly?”
“Not right now. We will soon. Last night when you shared my mind, my soul, my flight with me, I experienced your love of it. I haven’t felt anything so wonderful in a very long time.”
“You’re making it hard to stay mad at you.” She felt a strange weightless sensation. And heat. Lots of heat. It felt so peculiar. She would’ve opened her eyes to see what was happening if they weren’t so heavy. She could feel him holding her even though she had the impression of having no solid substance. They were moving. She was certain of it. But at the same time, it felt as if they were completely still.
~ TEN ~
OTAKTAY shifted into his human form, stood up to his full height, and turned around as Amber Daniels approached from behind. “It’s good to see you again.” He pointed at her arm. “You’re injured.”
“It’s nothing.” She glanced down at the wolf he’d just killed and kicked its head. “One of the fuckers bit me.”
He took her arm to examine it. “It looks pretty deep. Did you bite him back?”
“Nah. I can’t even believe you would ask. You know better than anyone else that they taste like shit. I decided to just roast his ass.”
He nodded. “That’s perfectly understandable. Where’s your other half?”
“Beats the hell out of me. I’ve been doing my best to avoid him. He keeps trying to dominate me. He’s terrible. He expects me to listen and obey every one of his ridiculous rules.”
“That’s disappointing. I truly expected to hear that you’d whipped Wes’ ass into shape by now.”
“He doesn’t think I can take care of myself. He’s worse than Tobias.”
“You might be interested to know Wes and your brother just had an interesting encounter in the cemetery.”
She frowned. “Oh, shit. How interesting?”
“Tobias is sporting a few new bullet holes.”
“Wes didn’t shoot Tobias.”
“It happened a few seconds after Wes left him.”
“Is he okay?
“He’s fine.”
“I can’t believe he let himself get shot. Who did it?”
“A rogue?” He glanced down at his kill. “This one to be exact. They had high powered sniper rifles on all three of them.”
“Three? Did Wes have a woman with him?”
“Don’t tell me that I’m going to have to kill the idiot for stepping out on you.”
“You know better. He was watching over a woman for me. She managed to get herself tangled up in some major deep shit with a bad demon.”
“Is her name Jessie?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know you had Wes babysitting Tobias’ mate?”
“No.” Eyes widening and shaking her head, Amber appeared to be genuinely shocked by the news. “Are you serious?”
“Your brother sure as hell believes she’s his mate.”
“That’s totally fucking insane.” She smiled. “And awesome.”
“Especially for me. Your brother has been nothing but a pain in the ass since you took off.”
“How has he been a pain in the ass?”
“He’s a safety rule monitoring mommy on steroids.”
Amber shrugged. “That’s his natural state of being. I doubt finding his mate will do anything to inspire him to change.”
“He’ll be worse than ever.” Otaktay smiled. “But he’ll be entirely focused on her safety.”
“I hope she gives him hell.” She looked down at the sniper’s bloodied remains. “You certainly haven’t lost your talent for creating blood and gore.”
“I like to be thorough. What do you know about the demon leading the rogues?”
“Nothing.” She picked up a file next to the wolf’s body and opened it.
“You’re lying to me.”
After taking a few minutes to go through the contents, she handed it to him. “How is this possible?”
Otaktay took the folder. He wasn’t shocked to discover that it contained many surveillance photos of Jessie going about her daily business. The last photo was of Tobias, Jessie, and Wes in the cemetery. “You’re a demon, Amber. You know damn well how it’s possible. Another demon managed to find your brother’s mate by traveling to the future. He’s been watching her for years. Some of the photos in here were taken during her teen years. He obviously planned to let Tobias meet Jessie and kill her in front of him.”
“That’s horrible.”
“You know the demon’s name. You need to tell me. You need to give your brother a chance to protect his mate.”
“Where the hell have you been, Amber?”
She handed the file to Wes. “Jessie is Tobias’ mate. That’s why the bastard targeted her.”
“I know.” Wes opened it and started to go through it. “Oh, damn.”
“He must’ve been distracted when he met her. Do you think that’s why he didn’t detect the snipers?” Amber asked.
“Snipers?”
“You left a few seconds before they were shot,” Otaktay explained.
“Are they okay?”
“Her carotid artery was nicked. He was able to heal her in time.”
“It’s time for you to talk to your brother,” Wes said.
“What do you know about the demon?” Otaktay asked.
“Don’t say a word,” Amber glared at Wes. “He’ll tell Tobias.”
Wes took her arms and pulled her close. “You aren’t protecting him by hiding the truth from him. He could’ve lost his mate tonight. He needs to know the truth.”
“She nearly died.” Otaktay said. “And Tobias used his body to shield hers. He took at least three bullets to his back.”
“I can’t believe he let himself get shot.” Amber started to pace.
Otaktay watched her. “I told you that he used his body to shield hers.”
“Why didn’t he just create a barrier?” Amber asked.
“You know your brother,” Otaktay said. “He has always been willing to push his limits to protect complete strangers. She’s his mate. He has waited eight thousand years to meet her. He reacted. He protected her. He didn’t think about saving himself.”
“You need to talk to him,” Wes said.
“The demon?” Otaktay asked. “Who the hell is it?”
“Guss Eckhart,” Wes said.
Amber glared at Wes. “I can’t believe you told him.”
“Wes is right, Amber.” Otaktay pointed at the folder. “Tobias needs to know what he’s dealing with. He deserves to know the truth.”
“He can’t find out what has happened. He’ll blame himself.”
“What happened?”
“Guss followed in his father’s footsteps.” Amber said.
“How so?”
“He claims to be a god. He has collected many human followers. And, he has killed many humans.” Amber explained.
“He needs to know.” Wes said. “And your brother isn’t stupid. He knew Guss would eventually do it.”
“He will now, thanks to you blabbing to Otaktay.”
“We should’ve told him from the start.”
“You’re wrong.”
“He has waited for over eight thousand years to find his mate. He could’ve lost her tonight because we didn’t let him know about the prick doing the same damn thing his father was doing.”
Amber sighed. “He’ll blame himself.”
“For what?” Otaktay asked. “Tobias killed Guss’ father because he was a sadistic murderer. Guss didn’t get involved with his crimes. He deserved a chance to live.”
“You don’t know the entire story, Amber,” Wes said. “Tobias forced Guss to watch him torture and kill his father.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“It wasn’t my secret to tell.”
“You’re telling me now.”
“I didn’t know the son of a bitch had targeted his mate until now.”
Otaktay understood why Tobias provoked Guss. “He wanted to make sure he was the target of his rage. He wanted to make sure the bastard hated him more than anyone else.”
“I guess we need to go talk to him,” Amber said.
“In the morning,” Otaktay said. “He lost too much blood. We’ll never get onto his property until he’s at full strength. His safeguards are killers.”
***
Amber couldn’t stop thinking about how happy Tobias must’ve been when he realized Jessie was his mate. “What did he act like around her?”
Wes laughed. “He was pretending to be a human and trying to make a rogue say nice words during a confrontation.”
“No way.” She laughed. “Really?”
Wes nodded. “Yep.”
“He’s so much like dad.”
“Then, rather than outright kill the damn thing, he waited. He planned to let it go and hunt it down later. He wanted to spare her from witnessing its death. Then, shocking the hell out of him, Jessie pulled out a handgun and shot it right between the eyes.”
“A gun?” Amber tilted her head to the side. “Where did she get the gun?”
“Beats the hell out of me. I lost track of her for about three weeks before she got to Willow Sp
rings. She’s damn good at being on the run and hiding. Your brother is going to have one hell of a challenge trying to figure out what she’s thinking. She’s a powerful psychic.”
“That’s how he found her,” Otaktay said. “He claims she highjacked his brain when he was in his dragon form. She was merged with him for several minutes before he sensed her presence.”
Wes laughed. “She’s just the challenge he needed.” He pulled Amber into his arms and bent his head. “I missed you.” His mouth was so close to hers that the heat of his breath on her lips ignited a flame of desire deep in her belly.
“Stop it.” Irritated, she wiggled and pushed her way out of his arms. “I missed you, too,” She turned away from him to avoid his gaze. “But we need to take care of the bodies.”
She felt his frustration rising to higher levels every time he caught up to her. But it didn’t matter. She refused to surrender her life, her freedom to him. While she didn’t have any doubt that he was her true mate, she knew he wasn’t right for her. She wasn’t right for him. He wanted to dominate and control her. She would never allow herself to be bound to him. He would never view or treat her as his equal. He would always keep things from her. Just as he withheld the information he had concerning Tobias and Guss.
~ ELEVEN ~
GASPING, JESSIE WOKE UP startled when Tobias lowered her onto his bed. “It’s okay.”
She raised her head and looked around. “Where are we?”
“Home.”
“Your home?”
He nodded, deciding to wait for another time to insist on referring to it as their home.
“Your bed?”
Again, deciding to wait, he nodded. “Yes.”
“I can’t stay here with you.”
“You’re not going anywhere right now. You need to rest.”
“You’ve made a huge mistake by bringing me here.” She sat up on the edge of the bed. “Can you take me to my car?”
“You are very stubborn. We already discussed this before we left the cemetery. I will take you to your car after you get some rest.” He was never taking her to her car. She was never leaving him. He just needed a little time to convince her to stick around.
HOT-BLOODED BREATH OF DARKNESS Page 8
