All But Lost (The Gifted Realm Book 6)

by Jillian Neal

  “And if you change your mind on the coronation, it would please your grandmother so.” Lucas urged, though Logan sensed he was teasing. He chuckled as Adeline cringed.

  “Aww, come on, baby, you know I always sort of think of you in a tiara,” Logan chided, though as he thought about it, he realized what he was saying was quite truthful.

  She giggled as she shook her head. “No coronation. I just want to be your daughter. I don’t need to be a princess.”

  “Well, you have always been my daughter, sweetheart, and that makes you a princess. But after today, I really do understand that you’d rather be Logan’s princess here in your castle than in a Realm you’ve only been to once. I’m hoping someday you’ll understand how very much you mean to me, and that I, too, will always think of you as my princess. That you’ll understand how much I love you.”

  Adeline swallowed hard and drew strength from Logan. He held his breath. “I love you, too, Lucas.” She hugged her father, and Logan felt his heart swell with pride.

  A few hours later, Lucas was seated at the kitchen table drinking coffee with the Governor and Mrs. Haydenshire, Logan and Adeline, and Rainer and Emily.

  Everyone else had returned home except Nathan and Tad, who’d retired to bed. They planned on staying through the weekend and then helping Mrs. Haydenshire for the rest of the week.

  Emily had several wedding items she wanted their attention on as well.

  Though Emily was tucked up contentedly in Rainer’s lap on the window seat, she and Adeline were whispering back and forth, with Logan and Lucas eyeing them and chuckling.

  Governor Haydenshire was still smarting over having walked into Emily’s bedroom a half hour before to find Emily fully clothed but lying under Rainer as he kissed her heatedly and grinded against her.

  Lucas noted the Governor’s eyes narrowing slightly as he watched Rainer rub Emily’s thighs. “Now, I believe the way it was explained to me was that my baby girl,” he gestured to Adeline, “was madly in love with and had married your son, and that their acts of amorous playfulness were a healthy part of a relationship. I believe I was informed that it shouldn’t upset me. That they weren’t children anymore, and that my Son-in-Law adored my daughter and meant no harm in what he’d done.” Lucas let the Governor know that he not only had his number, but that he’d been listening for the past few weeks.

  Logan, Adeline, Rainer, Emily and Mrs. Haydenshire all cracked up. “Oh Lucas, honey, I just knew you were gonna come around and fit right in.” Mrs. Haydenshire reached and squeezed Lucas’s hand.

  The Governor nodded his acceptance of his dressing down and even his own words being thrown back in his face.

  “Yes, well,” he sighed, “I suppose maybe I didn’t give quite enough credence to the fact that she is your baby girl. Perhaps I saw it a little more from my son’s perspective,” he admitted as everyone continued to laugh.

  With a wry grin the Governor raised his eyebrow. “So Logan, keep your hands off of your wife’s rear end if her father is in town, all right, son?”

  Logan feigned consideration while taking Adeline’s hand. “Can’t really promise that, but I’ll consider trying,” he allowed, effectively cracking everyone up again.

  “Lucas, Emily and I were talking, and she and Rainer are going to stay here tonight and tomorrow night. I was sort of hoping that you’d stay with me and Logan for the rest of your trip.”

  “I’d be thrilled, sweetheart. Nothing would make me happier.”

  “And where exactly will Rainer be sleeping, baby girl?” the Governor huffed as Mrs. Haydenshire rolled her eyes.

  “Would you prefer she tell you the truth, honey, or that she lie and tell you that he’s going to sleep in his old room when you know perfectly well he isn’t?”

  Blood pooled in Rainer’s face, and Emily laughed hysterically.

  Hard Work and Rewards

  ~Dan Vindico~

  Fionna grinned as she pulled the new seat belt across her lap. She’d hated the original harnessing that had come with Dan’s 599 GTB Fiorano. He’d had Sam modify the car. He was perfectly fine with the fact that he was probably the only warm-blooded, American male that had ever had a Ferrari downgraded. He’d do anything for her, and he didn’t need a racecar. She got his blood pumping like nothing ever had, anyway.

  “So that all went better than I ever could have imagined. Her mom really needs help.” Pleased with the events of the day, Fionna giggled as Dan allowed himself one moment to rev the engines before he drove through the gates of Haydenshire farm headed home.

  “I’ve sat through more trials than I care to remember, Gifted and Non-Gifted, and I think that was definitely one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.” Dan still couldn’t believe the turn of events from one trumped up charge to another.

  “I thought it was kind of interesting. I’ve never been to court, thank goodness. It was a little weird that you were all kind of lying but not lying about what you do.”

  The CIA cover bothered her. He knew that it would. Fionna Styler valued honesty and integrity above anything else. It was yet another thing he loved about her.

  “Boomslang was close to sixty when he retired, and I took over. He was chief of Iodex for thirty-odd years, and every single time he had to testify in a Non-Gifted trial he’d cross his fingers when they asked him what he did for a living.”

  Dan chuckled at his own memories of the man who had taught him so much. He felt the determination set in his gut again. He’d started fighting Wretchkinsides and the Interfeci under Boomslang, and dammit, he was going to finish the job.

  She tried to hide the concern from her features, and he tried to modulate the anger and determination that pulsed in his energy. She could read him so easily. She could read everyone around effortlessly, but she’d never been so intimate with anyone. He’d experienced every beautiful opening of her luscious body. He’d cared for her when she was sick, dried her tears when she was sad, and had united their bodies in an endless and desperate rhythm that said one was never meant to exist without the other. He could hide nothing from her, and he never wanted to.

  “Dan, I know you think that I’m somehow unhappy with the way things are, not being able to tell anyone about us, but I’m not. I love you. I love us just the way we are. I don’t need anything else, except maybe to see you more. You’ve been working so much lately.”

  Signaling and changing lanes to give himself a moment before he had to respond, he nodded. “I told you I can do it all, Fi. Okay, baby doll? Just give me a chance. We’re close. I can feel it. I’m going to end him… soon.”

  She held his eyes with her own for a moment before she glanced downward. He prayed she’d drop it. He’d been about to explain that he was going to drop her at home and head into the office for a few hours, but decided against that. His laptop and office they’d set up in one of the guest bedrooms at home would do for a while.

  “You know, the whole thing about what Iodex is to the Non-Gifted changes all the time. Every few years or so the Governors get a new report on the new lie, and we have to go in and memorize it all over again.”

  “Trying to distract me, Officer Vindico?”

  “Is it working?”

  There it was again. That infectious laugh that made the golden flecks in her sienna eyes dance like a sparkler on the Fourth of July and made her olive cheeks glow. It made her breasts jostle in a distracting tango that made him willing to do most anything to keep her giggling.

  “Okay, fine, if you’re in the CIA now, what will you be doing next year?”

  “I’ve been in for twelve and a half years now, if you count my Senior year at the Academy. So far, I’ve been in the CIA, the FBI, an officer of the U.S. Intelligence community, in the Virginia State Police Bureau, and once we were a subsidiary of the Navy. I thought the specialized force for the Department of Homeland security would stick, but that only lasted six months. I’m pretty sure Rainer and Logan are holding out for Justice League next.”


  That did it. She cracked up. He beamed as the laughter took over her entire body.

  She shook her head at him and regained a little of her composure. “Okay, so why do they change it all the time?”

  “It depends on what they believe the Non-Gifted know to be true. The FBI does a lot of investigation work, but they leave the arresting to state police forces. Most people know that. The CIA is supposed to handle intelligence on foreign companies or individuals and not act against American citizens at all, but most people do not know that. If the case involves an arrest made by Iodex, it’s easier to cover that up using the CIA, and their headquarters is in Langley, so I think that’s why they went with that. It gives credence to where our offices actually are. But who knows? Whatever turns them on, I guess. We just do what we’re told.”

  “You can ask me.” Clearly willing to really let her powers show today, Fionna smirked. She usually tried to keep them hidden. She never wanted to frighten people.

  “Ask you what?” Nervous excitement had lilted in his rhythms. He’d tried not to think too much about buying her a ring. He wanted to ask her moments after he ended Wretchkinsides, but he knew he needed to plan out something special for her. He didn’t want her picking up on anything before he was ready.

  “What I felt from that guy, Ramirez, at the trial.”

  “Oh.” Air exited his lungs in relief. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t looking to get another lecture on working, so…” he winked at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he shot her a cocky half grin that he hoped was sexy.

  But the playfulness bled from her features. “He felt really, really scared.”

  That wasn’t what Dan had expected her to confirm.

  “Scared, and there was a lot of regret. He’s done some bad stuff, but the fear was the primary emotion.”

  Dan nodded. He knew she was going to ask him why Ramirez was scared. He didn’t want to tell her.

  “Is Wretchkinsides going to kill him?” The emboldened reserve ignited in her. She stared at him as he watched the road.

  “Probably.” He certainly couldn’t have lied. She would have known. “He didn’t get out of town fast enough. As soon as Candy was arrested, he was supposed to have split. I think they had something going on. He wanted to defend her, and she was a great source of income. That’s why I had officers there to take him immediately. He’ll be safe in jail, hopefully.”

  She hugged the wool shawl closer again. Dan casted the heater in the car and drove it up several degrees, but he suspected that the chill came from the discussion, not the frosty early January air.

  Driving the heels of his hands against his eyes, Dan tried to rub away the fatigue and the spinning numbers. He was opening new bank accounts. Dan had to figure out where they were located, and why money was being diverted to three old accounts in Belgium in small increments. What was Wretchkinsides planning? Why Brussels?

  It was only eleven. He had a few good hours left in him. He tried to order himself back to the documents on the computer screen in front of him. The particleboard desk shifted disconcertingly as he leaned the full weight of his arms on top of it and continued rubbing his eyes and forehead hoping to massage his brain into functioning again.

  He heard the television in the living room click off. Fionna had given up on him and was heading to bed. Guilt only offered him further fatigue.

  When Nic Wretchkinsides burned, then Dan could set fire to the sheets with Fionna any time he wanted. Now, he needed to figure out these bank accounts. They were the key. Money drove Nic and his boys. That was all they ever wanted, and there would never be enough.

  Choking out the incoming cash sources wasn’t doing it. He had to hit them where it hurt most. He had to take what they’d already acquired to drive them out of hiding.

  He heard the customary creak the hallway gave when she whisked past. His heart ached. Holding her in his arms while she slept was more pleasure than he’d known possible. Making love with her was otherworldly perfection, and he was missing both.

  He let the ache drive him. Refocusing, he pulled up the emails Fitz had uncovered and began comparing the money being discussed in the messages to the amounts being transferred in and out of Belgium. Closing his eyes for a moment, he pushed his Shield away and tapped into his Visium predilection. Think, Vindico.

  “I’m going to bed,” her sweet voice beckoned. His blood quaked to its sound. Deciding that he could at least indulge himself in a few good night kisses, he spun the chair to face her.

  But all thoughts of work were incinerated in the searing knots of need that shot through his veins. “Damn,” he growled as his eyes took in the feast before him. The real estate in his jeans became nonexistent, and his muscles throbbed.

  She loved lingerie as much as he loved her in it, but this was better than anything he’d been treated to thus far.

  She stood before him in a see-through, white ruffled nightie that tied between her lush tits with a long silk ribbon. They were spilling out of the insubstantial cups. He could see the timid raspberry hue of her nipples. Saliva flooded his mouth. He needed a taste.

  There were smaller versions of that same ribboning attached at her shoulders. With a few quick pulls, the ruffles and satin would be gone. He continued to track his eyes down those ruffles.

  It parted over her adorable navel and skimmed her waistline. His perfect baby doll dressed the part. The panties were equally as see-through, but fabric did cover her full backside. They were puckered and ruffled with a bow in the back. She slowly shifted to the side, making the ruffles sway and showing off the cut out in the panties under the bow that revealed a tiny peak of the center of those lush cheeks.

  She looked every part the delicious virgin so willing to be sacrificed. Work be dammed. “You look like a walking wet dream, baby doll. Come here to me.”

  Her eyes flashed in intrigue as she glided towards him. She let her bottom lip slide through her teeth playing innocent, spiking his blood as it sluiced through his veins. Her hips swayed. His cock burned thick and fierce. He sat back in the chair and spread his legs slightly.

  “Sit in my lap. Be a naughty little girl for me, and let me touch you.”

  The quick, hungry moan stole her breath as she spun. The lavish cheeks of her backside nestled his zipper line. He thrust against her, and her body rolled. “So fucking sexy, baby. You feel that? You feel how hard you make me when you’re a good girl and do what you’re told?”

  He traced the fingertips of his right hand along the waistband of her panties. With his left, he swept her hair away and glided his fingers over her shoulders softly, patiently. When he finally finished with her tonight, there wouldn’t be a single inch of her body or of that tight little pussy he hadn’t touched, and coaxed, and filled. He could see the wet heat gathering in those virgin sweet panties. A low groan thundered from his chest.

  His hand slipped to the silky crotch and he teased her lightly, making her writhe and pulse. With constant strokes over the panties he used the silk to ignite her. “So sweet, baby.” He thrust again and began to whisper down her slit with his middle finger, letting his index and ring finger prime those swollen lips. “That feels good doesn’t it? Makes you wet for me.”

  “Please,” she panted.

  He smirked. He wasn’t giving in anytime soon. “You know I like you greedy, baby doll. Nice, and hot, and wet all for me. Be patient. Let me play. I want you to beg.”

  Her body seemed to plead for air that she couldn’t provide. She wriggled against him. He continued his torturous strokes. As he slipped his hand from her opening upward he pressed and circled around her clit, making her beg indeed.

  He kept her lips spread with his thumb and middle finger. With his index finger he stroked the silk against her clitoris. It swelled and distended, so anxious for his affection.

  With his other hand, he pulled the ribbon between her breasts and watched the gown fall down her arms in a jaw-dropping image of seductive carnality. The coconut perfume a
nd musk of sex that she created naturally permeated the air he breathed.

  He wrapped his left arm around her and cupped her right breast. Her nipple pebbled against his palm. He kneaded her, feeling her ample tit spill through his fingers.

  Unable to wait, he slipped his hand down the front of her panties.

  “Yes, please,” she moaned and shook in need. So many things he wanted, and she offered them all. He slipped two fingers just between her folds still teasing her. Not entering her yet. The wet heat, full of desperation, coursed around his fingers. She whimpered in protest.

  He circled her opening and felt her muscles contract in an effort to pull him inside. “So hungry, baby. My naughty little girl. You sure as hell look sweet as sin. And I know you taste as sexy as you look.” He pressed his fingers fully inside of her.

  A moan of relief rocked through her. She ground against his hand, giving herself over to him. He gathered the sweet cream on his fingers and gave her a modicum of relief, then pulled his hand away and sucked the dew from his fingers.

  She panted and moaned. Her head shook back and forth against his substantial shoulder. “Now get on your knees like a good girl.”

  Frantic and eager, she lowered herself to the ground on her knees in front of him and licked her lips. My God, how had he gotten so lucky? She was absolutely incredible.

  He had the snap opened and the zipper down on his jeans in record time. He leaned up, and she lowered the denim and his boxers until he could feel her hot breath tease his steel-hard strain.

  “In your mouth, baby doll. I want to see my cock in your hungry mouth. Take it all like my naughty little girl.”

  A long, low, luscious groan burned through him from her lips to his cock as she licked up his shaft and then drew him in, sucking and pulling until he thought he’d lose his mind.

  His ridge slid along the roof of her mouth and down the back of her throat. She slipped back to his head and spun her tongue around him, cleaning the salty need leaking readily from him.

  “That’s a good girl. Drink it then suck it again.”