A Demon in Dallas

by Amy Armstrong

  “I’m going to carry you back to the car,” I said resolutely.

  Conner’s head whipped up and his shrewd eyes met mine. I lifted my hand as if to silence him even though I knew full well he couldn’t argue back.

  “Look, I get that you’re not exactly thrilled by the idea, but I’m not leaving you here alone. Neither can I stay. I have to find Matt. Time is running out.”

  Connor stared at me for a beat then let out a small whine and inclined his head. It was almost a nod and it was the only answer I was going to get. I moved around so that I was facing his back and slipped my arms underneath him. Lifting him from the ground took some effort. Connor was heavy, incredibly so, but the increased strength that hunters are born with meant I was able to accomplish the task without too much difficulty. I got to my feet and followed the path out of the woods, careful not to jar Connor’s leg and cause him more pain than he was already in.

  The walk back must have taken about ten minutes. Even with my increased strength, by the time we neared the road where Connor had parked his car, I was panting, my arms and back complaining desperately about the heavy load. I placed Connor gently on the ground and used the key fob he had given me to unlock the car. I pulled the back door wide open and bent to lift him, but Connor got to his feet before I could manage it, and though it obviously took a lot of effort, he got himself into the car and up onto the back seat without any further help.

  When we got back to the motel, I parked the car outside the small unit and cut the engine. Matt and I had, as always, chosen a low rent unit on the far side of the complex, away from the reception building. It had only taken me twenty minutes to get back and Connor had been sleeping soundly on the back seat for the entire journey.

  “Connor,” I said quietly, trying to rouse him from his slumber. He didn’t move as much as a muscle.

  I didn’t want to have to wake him, but I was afraid if I tried to lift him when he was still asleep, he might wake with one hell of a temper and try to attack before he realised who I was.

  I got out of the car and closed the door, shutting him inside, then retrieved my key from inside the small plant pot. Unlocking the door, I flipped on the light switch and grabbed a chair to prop open the door while I went to get Connor from the car.

  “Connor,” I said again. “Connor, wake up.”

  Nothing. After a moment’s deliberation, I slid my hands under Connor’s sleeping form and lifted him from the seat. He didn’t stir as I carried him into the unit and placed him on the bed. After I’d locked the car and checked that the unit was secure, I stripped out of my dirty, torn dress and threw it straight in the trash. I turned on the water in the shower and waited for it to heat sufficiently before stepping into the tub. Though the water felt amazing on my tired limbs, soothing away the aches and rejuvenating my spirit, it did little to ease my troubled mind. I’d only been back in Austin for a matter of days, but so much had happened in that very short space of time that I felt as though I needed a month-long vacation to recuperate.

  I had so much to do. Top of the list was to find the demon for Malaki. I wanted to be out looking for Matt, but the vampires could be hiding him anywhere and I had no leads to go on. My best hope was to help Malaki and receive a favour in return. And Malaki had assured me that Matt wasn’t being hurt. Angels were conniving SOBs when they wanted to be, but they didn’t lie. If he’d said Matt was safe, he was.

  When the water in the shower began to lose its heat, I reluctantly stepped out and towelled dry. Wrapping a smaller towel around my head, I went out into the bedroom to check on Connor. He was still lying in the same position. I didn’t want to disturb his rest so I crept around the room gathering up my clothes and took them back into the bathroom to get changed. I used the motel’s sorry excuse for a hairdryer, but gave up after ten minutes, my hair just as wet as when I’d begun. Just what the hell was the point of those things? I’d have had more success blowing on my damn hair to dry it.

  The second time I resurfaced, I was surprised to see that Connor had shifted back to his human form. He was lying on his side, facing the bathroom, as naked as the day he was born. I tiptoed closer to get a look at his injured leg, but as soon as I neared, Connor opened his eyes and yawned, stretching out his long limbs.

  “Hey,” he greeted, reaching for the sheet to cover his modesty, not that I’d been bothered by his nakedness. I was more bothered that he felt the need to cover up in front of me.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Connor shrugged. “All things considered, pretty good.”

  Walking around the bed, I lifted the sheet off his foot then gasped, pulling the cotton cover higher, amazed at what I was seeing.

  Connor grinned. “Why the surprise? You have seen me naked before and I don’t think the little man has grown that much since the last time you got up close and personal with him.”

  “Wise-ass. Look at your leg, Connor. It’s completely healed.”

  “I noticed.”

  “And that doesn’t surprise you? I know wolves heal quickly, but damn. You’ve never healed that quickly from an injury before.”

  Connor yawned again and sat up in bed. “It’s one of the benefits of being alpha wolf. It had already started to heal back in the woods. The alpha can draw energy from the rest of their pack. That includes their healing ability.”

  I replaced the sheet then took a seat on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel about all of this? Becoming pack alpha, I mean.”

  “You know I never had any desire to lead. Darius and I butted heads over many things, but I wouldn’t have willingly challenged him. Even though I’d never have chosen this, it is what it is. He would never have let either of us walk out of there alive, Raven. I had no choice.”

  I lowered my gaze and sighed. “I’m sorry for putting you in that position.”

  Connor shook his head. “You didn’t. I put myself in that position. If it wasn’t for me, Darius would never have found you.”

  “If you didn’t tell him I was back, how did he know you were meeting me in the cemetery?”

  “Darius must have heard you were back in Austin, but I promise you that didn’t come from me. I guess he figured that if you were back, it would only be a matter of time before we saw each other so he had me followed. I had no idea until he turned up a few minutes before you arrived. I would have warned you if I could, but his guards were with him and I couldn’t have fought them all. He told me he had some questions for you so I knew he wouldn’t hurt you until he’d got the answers he wanted. I figured it would be best to bide my time. I knew exactly where he’d keep you until the full moon was over.”

  Our conversation brought up more questions. So much had happened that I’d completely forgotten to ask Connor why he’d wanted to meet me at the cemetery in the first place. How the hell could I have overlooked that?

  “Did you find out any information about Matt?”

  “Yeah, a little and you’re not going to like it.”

  I sighed. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  Connor chuckled. The sound was husky and light, completely carefree. It warmed my heart to hear it. “I spoke to a few people and, although they didn’t tell me anything concrete, the word is that the vampires in Austin have made themselves some powerful acquaintances.”

  “Who?”

  “Angels,” he disclosed.

  I stared at him open-mouthed. “That goddamn sneaky son of a bitch!”

  When Connor raised his brow in query, I explained, “I had a little chat with Malaki earlier.”

  “Really? And what did our old friend have to say for himself?”

  I snorted. Friend? Frenemy would be more apt. “He wants me to find a demon in Dallas. Said he’d tell me where Matt is being held if I help him locate a book that Barbatos has stolen.”

  “Barbatos?” Connor whistled. “He’s a powerful demon by all accounts. Are you going to do it?”

  “Do I have any choice?”

  “Hell y
eah. Tell him no. We’ll find Matt on our own.”

  I shook my head. “I haven’t got time for that. Neal has only given me seventy-two hours to find Matt before he sends in a team, and you know they don’t take any prisoners. We’d have a war on our hands.”

  When Connor grew pensive I asked him, “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking I haven’t visited Dallas in a few years. Might be time to rectify that.”

  “Look, Connor, I appreciate the offer, but I can’t ask you to come with me. You’ve just taken over the pack, you’ll be busy until things settle down here and it could be dangerous.”

  “Okay, firstly, you didn’t ask and the pack business will keep. Secondly, you know I thrive on danger. When do we leave?”

  I smiled gratefully as I stared at Connor’s determined face. I knew the expression well. When he got something in his head, there was no changing his mind. “Umm, yesterday?” I replied wryly.

  Chapter Six

  After taking a shower, Connor borrowed a pair of my track pants and a T-shirt to wear on the drive over to his house. I tried not to laugh at how poorly they fitted because I’d had a hard enough time trying to convince him to put them on in the first place. Connor had been all for driving across town in his birthday suit, and, despite my protestations, I really didn’t want to have to go to Dallas alone, especially because he’d got arrested for indecent exposure. Connor still lived in the same house that he had when we were together. As we pulled up to the ramshackle old farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, the memories of our time there came flooding back—all of them good except for that last night when I’d told him goodbye. I swallowed down my regret and shame and followed him inside.

  We only stayed for about ten minutes, just long enough for Connor to throw some clothes in a bag and get changed. I felt guilty for taking a sneaky peak around the living room when he was busy upstairs, but not enough to stop myself. I didn’t see any signs of a woman. In fact, the photograph of Connor and I fooling around with a hose in the back yard was still sitting on the side table next to the sofa, right where it had always been. I wondered if it had been there since I’d left or if Connor had salvaged it from the back of a drawer or the bottom of a box after I’d called him earlier that night to tell him I was back in Austin. I didn’t have the heart to ask or even let on that I’d noticed it sitting there.

  Some five hours later, we arrived in Dallas. We’d stopped for gas on the way and hit the city centre at nearly two a.m. We were both exhausted, but sleep was a long way off. There was too much to do and the clock was ticking. I could have done with a gallon of coffee in my system, but we didn’t have the time to stop again, so, to keep me awake, I fiddled with the stereo system, flipping through radio channels and cranking up the volume every time a station played a song I liked.

  It had been years since I’d last visited the city, but it had hardly changed at all. My memory served me well as I wound my way through the familiar streets, which were heavy with traffic despite the late hour…or early hour, depending on how you viewed it. In the passenger seat beside me, Connor was as twitchy as a junkie needing his next fix. The moon was still out, still high in the sky, and it was calling him out to play. The fact that he’d already shifted under its iridescent glow meant that he was able to stay in human form, but it wasn’t easy for him to resist the pull. Were-shifters liked to hunt during the full moon. It was as instinctual to them as breathing.

  Connor had driven for the first hour, but after a near miss with the back of an eighteen wheeler when he’d been watching the sky instead of the road ahead, I’d made him pull over and we’d switched places.

  “How are you holding up?” I asked after watching him wring out his hands for the umpteenth time.

  When he looked across at me, I saw that his eyes had shifted to their wolf form and there were deep frown lines on his brow. I suppose that had been a stupid question, but he smiled reassuringly, the tips of his incisors just visible between his lips.

  “Never better.” Connor had never been the type of man that would admit to a weakness of any kind.

  I sighed heavily and turned my attention back to the road. “We’ll be there soon.”

  Before we’d left Austin, Connor had called ahead and left a message for the local pack alpha. That had been essential. It was dangerous for any wolf to enter a different city without prior consent from the head of the pack. It was even more so for another alpha, as their very presence could be seen as a challenge for leadership. An hour later, Alpha Moore had called us back. He’d been distracted at first and had tried to give us the brush off, but as soon as Connor had mentioned Barbatos and the book, Charles had agreed to meet us at the apartment he kept in the city.

  Charles Moore was a good man and an even better alpha—as different from Darius as night from day. He was firm, but kind and well respected by the wolves in his pack. I’d met him several times over the years—usually because I’d had to take out one of his pack members—but he’d been gracious about it. Unlike Darius, Charles understood that I was only doing my job. I liked him and, if I’d read the vibes correctly, he liked me too.

  As we headed for Charles’ apartment, Connor was quiet, although he was constantly wiping his hands on his jeans, his body stiff with tension. We’d spoken little on the drive to Dallas. Small talk mainly, both of us avoiding the big fat elephant in the room—our relationship, both past and present. There were things I wanted to say to him, things that I needed to say, but I couldn’t find the right words. I wanted to apologise for hurting him. I wanted to explain why I’d walked away two years ago, and why I’d lied and told him I didn’t love him anymore. I felt like he deserved to know the truth at the very least, but the words wouldn’t come.

  Selfishly, I wanted to ask him to give our relationship another go. My mind replayed the kiss we’d shared in the tunnel. At the time I’d thought it meant more than it had, that maybe Connor still had feelings for me, but I hadn’t realised it was full moon then. Connor’s wolf being so close to the surface would have affected his mood and behaviour, especially his libido. Wolves were sexual creatures at the best of times, but they were even more so under the glow of the full moon. It was unlikely he still had feelings for me, however much I might have wished otherwise. We’d been alone in my motel room, sitting on the same damn bed, and he hadn’t made any advances or given me the slightest indication that he still wanted me—that he still loved me. Even if he did care for me still, how he could trust me again after what I’d done? The picture of us that he still had on display in his house sprang to mind, but I dismissed it. I couldn’t let myself hope, only to have it crushed.

  I glanced over at Connor, at his strong jaw, his full lips. He was so damn handsome it made my heart ache. Turning back to the road, I gripped the steering wheel tighter. Being with him again, but not being with him, was torture. Mentally I cursed myself for my selfish thoughts. I should have been thinking about Matt, about how we were going to save him, not about serving my own interests.

  “You really think Charles can help us find Barbatos?” I asked, trying to steer my thoughts back to the mission.

  In my peripheral vision I could see Connor shrug. “There isn’t anyone better qualified to know what’s going on in the paranormal community here in the city.”

  I thought about that for a minute. It was true. As pack alpha, Charles would have the scoop on everything that went on inside his territory. But something about the situation didn’t sit right with me.

  “I thought were-shifters hated demons,” I mused.

  “We do!” Connor replied hotly. “If a demon had had the nerve to step foot in Austin, Darius would have had him hunted down and slaughtered without hesitation. I’d do the same thing as alpha wolf.”

  I took my eyes off the road for a second and met Connor’s gaze. “Precisely.”

  He frowned. “I don’t follow.”

  “Think about it. Demons like to mess with humans, right? It’s the reason th
ey mostly stick to the cities that have little paranormal activity. They know to avoid the towns and cities that have packs as the alphas won’t tolerate them on their turf.” I paused to let Connor catch up with my train of thought. It didn’t take him very long to get up to speed.

  “So why would Charles put up with it?” Connor pondered. “You think he has his own interest in the demon or this book that Malaki seems so interested in?”

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure. From what I know about Charles, I can’t see it. He always struck me as a man with integrity, but if it served his interests or that of his pack, then who knows? Guess we’re about to find out. I wish I knew what was so important about this damn book.”

  “I—” The sound of Connor’s cellphone ringing interrupted his reply. He stared at the number on the screen. “Well, what do you know?” he said before answering.

  I concentrated on the road ahead as I listened to the one-sided exchange. Connor’s responses were clipped, his tone terse. As the conversation wore on, he fidgeted more in his seat, his body language a clear indicator that he did not like what he was hearing.

  “Change of plan,” he said after he hung up. “Charles wants us to meet at his ranch.”

  “Interesting. He say why?”

  “Gave me some line about a problem in his pack, said he had to head back to the ranch himself to deal with it, but I’m not buying it.”

  “You think it’s a trap?”

  Connor nodded stiffly. “I’m sure of it.”

  I took a right turn at the light and headed back out of the city. If Connor was correct, I was about to walk into my third damn trap of the night. And look what had happened the first and second times. I still felt guilty about Matt’s abduction. I shouldn’t have let him go back down those tunnels alone, but then I hadn’t even been able to prevent my own kidnapping—how could I have prevented Matt’s? Despite all that, here I was about to make the same mistake again. But it wasn’t like I had any choice, right? Everything I knew about Charles indicated he was a good alpha and an even better man. So I had to assume he wouldn’t willingly lead us into a trap. Charles had to either be in some kind of trouble or he was acting out of desperation.