Midnight Echoes_Crimson Ops

by Mandy M. Roth

  Meena had to struggle to keep from jumping up and down with excitement at the idea he really wanted to spend time with her.

  “Doesn’t seem very fun for you,” she replied, enjoying being pressed against him more than she should. She also grew painfully aware of their size difference. He was massive. She wasn’t.

  “Let Rose take yer car,” he said, sliding one hand up her arm in a way that left a shiver of excitement rushing through her. “We’ll take mine.”

  She found it impossible to deny him or let go of him. “Yes.”

  He patted her hands. “Guid.”

  She squeezed before finally finding the resolve to release him. When he turned to face her, she couldn’t look away from him. The man was beautiful in the manliest of ways. His lips twitched, and he gave her a partial smile.

  Meena couldn’t seem to stop herself from reaching up and touching the edges of his mouth. “I love it when you smile.”

  His smile widened. “While you tell Rose, I’ll shower and change,” he said, taking a few steps and then stopping, his gaze heated and on her. “Then you can tell me more of this man yer seeing. I wish to meet him.”

  “Bhal?” she asked, her entire body heating from his smoldering gaze. She shook her head, coming to her senses. “What? No. Why?”

  He lifted a brow. “Either allow me to meet him, or I will have no choice but to tell yer father about him. After all, I want you safe. As does he.”

  Her emotions deflated. “I see.”

  “Meena.”

  She averted her gaze. “I’m not feeling so well. I think I’ll just skip the errands and head back to my dorm for the night.”

  He was suddenly before her, his body nearly bumping hers. “Meena, no. Do nae pull away from me.”

  Confused, she met his stare. “I’m just going to go to my dorm and call it a night.”

  “No,” he said, his hand finding her cheek. “Yer angry with me so you wish distance between us. Yer hurt I’d threaten to tell yer father of the other.”

  She nodded, blinking back tears.

  “Then allow me to meet him so that I do nae worry about you,” he said, sliding his arms around her, wrapping her in a large hug. “Set my mind at ease, lass. Please.”

  She put her palm to his chest and closed her eyes, letting him hold her. “Yes.”

  “And you will permit me to take you for yer errands on this night?” he asked, one of his hands moving to her hair.

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Three

  Bhaltair had to fight with every fiber of his being to keep from lifting Meena in his arms and ravishing her. He had wrestled with the urge to claim her from the moment of her eighteenth birthday, nearly four years prior. Each moment he was permitted close to her was another he suffered in silence, knowing he could not have her. She was not a supernatural. She was not up for grabs, and there was no way he’d earned enough good will with the Powers That Be to have her as his mate. If anything, he’d spent so much of his life playing for the wrong side in the fight between good and evil that he’d probably never be blessed with a mate—a destined love.

  There was still the slimmest of hopes that Meena, like her mother, would have latent gifts. Gifts that would show once she was sexually active—as had happened with her mother—but Bhaltair couldn’t be the man to test the theory. As much as he wanted to be the one who sank into her tight body and found release in her silken depths, he couldn’t. It would be all too easy as a supernatural male to lose control and harm her without meaning to. To break her when all he wanted to do was love her.

  He was at war with himself over the matter. He knew he couldn’t touch her in such a way, but the idea of permitting another to touch her, sample her, know the pleasures of her body, was too much for him. But if a human male didn’t, then Bhaltair would never know if Meena was supernatural as well.

  Still, his body ached for her touch, for her closeness. He hated knowing she’d found someone else. That she was now dating. Even the word was horrible. Dating? It sounded so pedestrian. Meena was not a woman one simply dated. She was a woman one wooed. A woman one spent endless hours crafting the perfect poem about, but that would still fail to capture the essence of her beauty. A woman a man would never tire of. She was a gift. And Bhaltair wanted to rip apart the man who dared to think that gift belonged to him. Adding in that the man was supernatural, of all things, infuriated Bhaltair even more.

  He had to push his inner demon down as it tried to poke through. It didn’t like hearing that she was seeing another man either. Bhaltair was to be feared, for sure, but the demon he carried was far worse. Should Bhaltair permit it freedom and allow it to do as it wished, there was a high likelihood the male Meena was dating would be found dead, missing skin and vital body parts.

  Calm yerself, he thought, willing it so.

  It took a great deal of effort, but he managed to gain some semblance of control.

  When he’d awoken from his daily slumber, Meena had been the first thing he’d thought about. That wasn’t rare. What was different was the overwhelming feeling that she was in danger. He’d never felt such a thing before in regards to her and hadn’t been able to shake the sensation. He’d been pleased to see her arrive with her sister for Rose’s training session. Meena had made herself scarce of late. He knew part of that was his fault—that he’d kept her at arm’s length because of how much he’d always wanted her, but he should have realized she was putting distance between them because she had a new man in her life.

  A supernatural.

  Do nae go into that dark place once more.

  Bhaltair kept his wits about him, though he was still unable to let go of the feeling Meena was in danger. The fear had been what had prompted him to ask her to remain behind, to let Rose go on ahead. He had hoped that would ease his unfounded fears. It didn’t.

  Yer being ridiculous. She is fine. Yer just jealous and overprotective.

  He inhaled her sweet scent, cradling her body to his, wanting to hold her this way for all eternity. She had not permitted him this many liberties before, nor had he tried to take them.

  “What is taking so long?” The door to the gym opened and Rose appeared, looking annoyed, as usual. She paused, her expression changing somewhat at the sight of them.

  When Bhaltair noticed Rose’s gaze narrowing, he got the distinct impression she was jealous.

  She does nae like sharing my attention, he thought, refusing to release Meena. Rose had always been spoiled. While he was sure Rose had no interest in him sexually, she did want to be the center of attention.

  “You fall and skin a knee again, sis?” asked Rose snidely. “That why Walt is holding you and you look like you’ve been crying? Again.”

  “Rose,” he said in a warning fashion, the overwhelming feeling that Meena was in grave danger returning tenfold. He couldn’t permit her to leave. “Take Meena’s vehicle and go. I will see to it she gets home.”

  Rose dropped her bag on the floor. “If she can’t drive, I’ll drive her home. Thanks.”

  Meena began to pull away, but he held her in place, planted against him. The look he shot Rose stopped the young woman in her tracks. “You’ve a date, do you nae? Hurry along.”

  She squared her shoulders. “I do. Sis, you okay?”

  Meena laughed softly. “I’m good.”

  “Want to tell me what is going on?” asked Rose. “Is everything okay?”

  Meena pressed slightly on him. “Everything is great. Really.”

  “Okay,” said Rose as she left the building.

  Bhaltair eased his hold on Meena. “I should shower.”

  “I think you smell perfect,” she said.

  He nearly laughed, thankful she obviously had something of a pull to him as well. He’d feared it was one-sided. He didn’t want to leave her side, but demanding she accompany him to the shower rooms was not an answer. He bent and placed a kiss upon her forehead. “Wait here.”

  She grabbed his hand. “Bhaltair?” />
  “Yes.”

  “This is different tonight, right?” she asked, looking down at their joined hands. “We keep touching a lot.”

  He nodded. It was different for them, but it was how he’d always wished it had been between them. He’d always fought the urge to touch her. “It is different.”

  “Is it wrong?”

  His breath caught. As a loyal subject to her grandfather his response should have been that it was wrong—that wasn’t what came out of his mouth. “No, Meena. It’s exactly as it should be.”

  She gifted him a smile.

  “Wait right here while I shower.”

  She nodded.

  Chapter Four

  “Tell me of this man yer seeing,” said Bhaltair as he shifted gears in one of the many the expensive sports cars he owned.

  Meena pursed her lips and debated how much information he could handle at the moment. From the tense way he was holding himself and driving, she wasn’t sure he could handle much in the way of the truth. “He’s a professor at the university.”

  “One of yer professors?” he asked, glancing at her briefly.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Then how did the two of you meet?” he asked.

  She laughed softly, remembering her first encounter with Rudy. “My lab partner needed to drop a paper off to him. She’s in his class. Not me. We went past his office and once we stepped in and I saw him, I don’t know, it just clicked.”

  “What clicked?” asked Bhaltair.

  “That he wasn’t human,” she said honestly. “I even blurted out the word ‘wolf’.”

  Bhaltair slammed on the brakes and she went forward, her seat belt holding her in place. He stared straight ahead at the darkened, empty road. “Yer seeing a shifter?”

  “Sort of,” she murmured. “At first we just spent a lot of time together. He’s got an interesting experiment going on at the university. Some privately funded thing for the government. He showed me the labs once, and when we were there, he just sort of kissed me. That was when I realized we’d become something more than friends.”

  “Are you sleeping with him?” asked Bhaltair, his voice hard.

  “No. We’re not having relations like that.”

  “Yet?” questioned Bhaltair, as if sensing she’d left that part off.

  She thought briefly about lying but knew better. He’d sense it. “Yet.”

  “You want to be with him?” he asked, the car not moving still.

  “Why are you pushing me so much on this?”

  He turned his head to face her, his expression unreadable. “Do you know how most wolf shifters like to have sex? They like to take the person from behind, mount them, drive into them until they are spent, and sometimes they will pin the person to the bed with one hand, pushing on the back of the person’s neck. They are known to break beds. They are known to break bones of their own kind when having sex. What do you think will become of you, Meena?”

  She glanced away.

  “Do you think he with forgo his nature for you? Do you think he will resist the urge to mount and pin you? To fuck you until his body is spent? Until yers is broken beyond repair?”

  She jerked in her seat, unable to believe he’d said the word fuck to her. She didn’t respond.

  “Have you nothing to say?” he demanded, making her jolt once more from the power in his voice.

  For the first time, she was afraid of him. She faced him slowly, worried what she’d find. “Bhal, are you going to lose it?”

  His dark gaze yielded quickly, and he gasped. “Och. No!”

  She nodded. “Okay, if you say so.”

  “Meena,” he said, his hand moving to her thigh. “Look at me.”

  She did.

  “I am sorry if I scared you, lass,” he said softly. “I’ve no wish to see you harmed. That is all.”

  She swallowed hard and decided to tell him everything. “He wants me to chain him.”

  Bhaltair tightened his grip on her leg slightly. “Come again?”

  She found her inner courage and spoke. “He wants me to chain him for our first time together. He wants to be pinned down, shackled really, so that I can do what I want to him, but he can’t to me. He thinks it will keep me from being hurt.”

  Bhaltair opened his hand and flexed his fingers above her leg in the slowest of motions. “This is his plan?”

  She nodded. “He seems to think if we do that the first time, we wouldn’t have to do it again the next time. I guess he thinks he’ll somehow get more control.”

  “Or he believes you will gain something from the encounter,” said Bhaltair.

  She glanced at him. “Like what?”

  He took a deep breath in, and she thought he’d shut down on her. She knew there were things he didn’t tell her because he’d been ordered not to. Things her parents and grandparents wanted kept from her. Bhaltair was loyal to a fault.

  “Never mind,” she said. “I’m guessing this is one of those things you can’t tell me because of who you are to my grandfather.”

  “Aye,” he said softly. “It is something I’m forbidden from speaking with you about.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” As much as she wanted to be angry with him, she knew the rules. She understood vampire politics, and even if Bhaltair was strong enough to overcome the mystical binding that happened when a master vampire gave one of his subordinates a command, he would never break his vow. He had that much honor and respect.

  “Meena,” he said, his hand coming to her cheek lightly. “I will tell you despite my orders.”

  She gasped. That was huge. Super huge. All kinds of rules would be broken. The vampire world didn’t have shades of gray. It was very black and white. Going against a master vampire could result in death. “No. Bhal, don’t get in trouble for me.”

  “Lass, I’d do anything for you?” He ran a finger over her lip, silencing her with ease. His dark gaze seemed to see right through her. “You may not be as human as you believe.”

  While the words were clear and she heard them, she couldn’t wrap her mind around them.

  Of course she was human. What else would she be? The only special power she had was being immune to vampires reading her thoughts. Beyond that, she was as human as they came.

  “Meena, because of the Fae in you and the particular line of vampire you come from, you may have hidden gifts that are special to your line of vampire, but not to all,” he said, leaning in, his face close to hers. “Gifts that, should you have them, will only manifest after you have been sexually active. We do nae know for sure, but we believe this is because of the type of Fae yer grandmother is and, as I said, the line of vampires you hail from. Am I right to assume yer a virgin still?”

  She nodded slightly, not entirely at ease with the topic of the conversation. Most women her age had been sexually active. Meena had never had much interest in the opposite sex, or sex at all for that matter. At least, not until she’d turned eighteen. From that point on, her sexual appetite had emerged and focused primarily on Bhaltair. She’d been doing her best to direct it at someone else, but still, in the end, it was Bhaltair she thought about in that way.

  “That is why I believe your friend wishes to be chained for yer first encounter, but thinks future ones will nae require such steps,” he said, his words clipped, his shoulders back. “What I wish to discern is how he knows you may have latent gifts when you, yerself, have no idea.”

  Meena was still stuck on the part about possibly not being human. “Hold on. You’re saying if I have sex, I may be more like Rose and Mom? Less like me? Less too human?”

  “There is no way to know,” he said.

  She stared at him blankly. “Uh, yeah, there is. I could have sex.”

  His expression hardened. “You want yer wolf that bad?”

  “What?” she asked in disbelief.

  “You want to fuck the wolf?” he demanded.

  Puzzled, she stared at him. “Bhaltair?”

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nbsp; His nostrils flared, and his eyes pooled with liquid darkness, a sign he was no longer the one in charge. His demon now was.

  She’d heard all the stories of just how bad his demon was in its heyday. She wasn’t naïve enough to think it had totally changed its ways. If it was pushing up and taking charge so quickly, that meant Bhaltair, the man she cared for and trusted, wasn’t pulling his own strings.

  A demon was.

  Gasping, Meena thrust herself against the car door, fear beating at her from the inside out. While she’d grown up with vampires all around her, and was even the product of more than one, she knew enough to realize they could be deadly. She’d never seen Bhaltair’s demon rise. He’d kept that side of himself from her.

  Seeing his face begin to contort, his eyes become black abysses, shook her to her very core. She tried to steady her breathing, having been told again and again by Bhaltair himself when he used to train her, that supernaturals got excited when they caught the scent of human fear. All the training and all the preparations in the world meant nothing when she found herself face-to-face with the one man she wanted more than any other, all while his demon took the proverbial wheel.

  “You want him,” he said, a flash of fang showing.

  She froze. What was he talking about? Who did she want?

  As he reached for her, she jerked, her pulse racing, her fear growing. His fingernails lengthened and nearly connected with her. A second before he would have made contact, he blinked and his face returned to normal instantly. The black in his eyes receded. He lifted his hands, holding them to both sides of himself, his nails returning to normal. “Meena.”

  She remained perfectly still, unsure what had set him off or if it would happen once more. “Bhal?”

  He cleared his throat and turned to face forward in his seat. He put the car in gear, pulled back onto the road and drove without speaking or even blinking. The rest of the ride to the university went by without him uttering a sound. When he pulled to a stop in a parking lot that was as close to the campus library as he was going to be able to get, Meena touched the door handle, her stomach in a knotted mess, her nerves on edge.