by Nina Croft
Her eldest sister, Regan, had always been like a mother to her, and she was quite aware that Regan would have happily killed Darius twenty-two years ago. Gina had stood in her way back then, but Regan’s bitterness had festered until she was willing to use anything, including Gina’s daughter, to settle the score.
It had taken her a long time to forgive her sister, but in the end, Gina had come to accept that Regan had only done what she believed was needed to protect her and Raven.
Now Gina was beyond even her sister’s protection.
She turned back. Darius still watched her, and she shifted under his gaze, uncomfortable. She looked around the room, searching for something to say. “Would you like a drink?”
His eyes darkened even more. “Are you offering?”
His gazed flicked back to her throat, and she realized what she’d said. Heat rose in her cheeks, and her mouth went dry. “I’ve got beer in the fridge.”
“Spoilsport,” he murmured. Then he shrugged. “A beer would be good.”
She got him a bottle from the minibar, and then took one for herself; it would give her something to do with her hands, something to hide behind. She handed him the opened bottle, then stood in front of him, not sure what to do. Though there was one thing she desperately needed to know. Did he have news of Raven? Her heart softened as she thought of their beautiful daughter. It would make it all worthwhile if only Raven were safe and happy.
“Tell me about Raven,” she said. “How is she?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You expect me to believe you care?”
“Just tell me.”
He shrugged. “She’s fine. Better than fine. She and Kael were married five days ago. As you would have known if you’d stayed around after the fight instead of taking off.”
Gina ignored the comment. She couldn’t have stayed; it was impossible. She would have only caused more hurt to her daughter if she had. But something relaxed inside her at the news of Raven’s marriage. Kael was a good man, a shape-shifter and head of the Council. He had risked everything to save Raven. Now Gina would trust him to keep her safe.
She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, a dog barked in the distance, and her gaze flew to the window. She knew it was a dog, not a hellhound, but it reminded her that her time was running out. She didn’t want Darius anywhere near when they found her. Even a vampire as old as Darius might be no match for a pair of hellhounds.
She had to get him away from her and soon.
“For God’s sake, relax,” Darius muttered. “I’m not going to leap on you.” He gave her a long look out of those dark eyes. “Well, not unless you ask me very, very nicely.”
***
Darius watched her reaction to his words. She was nervous, her eyes flickering to the window, her whole body jumping at every sound.
Gina was afraid of something, and if she feared him, then she was only being sensible. However, he was aware that fear was not the only reaction she was feeling to his presence. She was also aroused, and that was as far from sensible as it was possible to get. He could scent the perfume of her arousal in the air, and his hunger was rising.
That, combined with the anger that had simmered beneath the surface for the past week, made a dangerous mix.
His cock was already hard, and sex had been at the forefront of his mind since he’d first seen her. Now his gums prickled with the need to feed. He longed to do both. Only force of will kept him sitting here when what he wanted to do was pin her down and take her in every way possible.
But he didn’t dare touch her, not while the Darkness still ate at his mind. He could feel its lingering pull, waiting for something to set it free.
He took a sip of his beer and let his gaze wander over her face and body. What had she done to herself? She’d always been slender, but now she was almost gaunt. Her skin was pale, and she’d cut off her hair at the shoulder. That was recent; a week ago, it had hung down to her waist. The shorter style suited her, though, showing off her high cheekbones and emphasizing her enormous eyes. She could have passed for human, if not for those. Witch’s eyes, silver rimmed with black, gazing at him, unblinking, until he was sure he could sink into them, lose himself in her soul.
No doubt she’d kick him out fast enough if he did.
She hadn’t wanted him before, and she didn’t want him now. She had made that very clear. What had he thought when he’d seen her last week? That she had come for him? He was a fool.
The old pain gripped him again, but he wouldn’t give in to it. Instead, he allowed his anger to rise, because anger was easier to bear.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
He glanced up at her question. “What?”
“How did you know to come here?”
“When you spoke in my head, I knew you must be somewhere close, so close I could almost smell the sweetness of your blood.” He leaned toward her and breathed in again.
Gina flinched, but stood her ground. “You’re not supposed to be here,” she said.
His eyes narrowed, and the anger crept a little higher. “Where exactly am I ‘supposed’ to be?”
“Anywhere. Not here. You have to go.”
Panic laced her voice, and he looked at her curiously. “Are you going to make me?” he asked, allowing a small part of his anger to leak into his voice.
He knew she’d heard it. The little color in her face fled, and a savage wave of satisfaction washed through him.
She wrapped her arms around herself, searching his face. “I’m going to ask you,” she replied.
He laughed, genuinely amused. It occurred to him then that his little witch had no idea what he was feeling. Perhaps he’d become too good at masking his emotions. Maybe she needed to know something of the rage seething inside him. “You can read my mind?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Just an impression of what you’re feeling if I concentrate very hard.”
“Then try, little witch.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, but a moment later, he sensed the gentle brush of her mind against his and opened to her.
She paled even further and took an involuntary step back. “You hate me.” The words were ripped from her, a statement, not a question. She stared at him, her eyes wide and bright with unshed tears.
It was a trick. He knew it was a trick. Why would she expect anything else from him after what she had done?
“What did you expect?” he said. “That I would still love you?” He rose to his feet and took a step toward her. She backed away until she was up against the wall and could go no farther. Something in her face warned him to get a grip, leash his anger before it overwhelmed him, but it was too late.
He flew at her then, his hands gripped her shoulders and the force of his attack slammed them both into the wall. He pinned her there with one hand at her throat and stared down into her hauntingly beautiful face.
“I could forgive you for not loving me,” he snarled. “I could forgive you for leaving me without a word, but I will never, never forgive you for what you did to our daughter.”
Her eyes widened at his words. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it again. Some expression passed across her face, acceptance maybe. She relaxed in his hold, quiescent.
Do what you will.
The words reverberated in his mind. Briefly, his fingers tightened until he felt the blood throbbing in her throat. Her silver eyes glowed with power, but she made no effort to release herself, and something snapped inside him. Darius stared down into the face that had haunted his dreams since his first sight of her. He knew, in that moment, she would never come to harm at his hands. He forced his hunger down, and after a minute, he loosened his grip. Let his hands fall to his sides.
He’d wanted Gina from the first moment he’d seen her. He’d worked for the Council back then, fighting in the war against the fire-demons. The war had not been going well. Everyone knew witches possessed the power to see the future, and Darius had wanted to
go to them for guidance. Kael, as head of the Council, warned him they were not to be trusted, but as usual, Darius had gone his own way, and there he’d seen Gina.
He could clearly remember the shock ripping through him as he’d stood before her; speechless, unable to do anything but stare. He’d never wanted anything as much in his entire existence, and he’d been so used to taking what he wanted that he hadn’t thought twice about snatching her away.
They’d had three glorious months together, and she had come to love him. He was sure of it. Right up to the day she walked out without a word. He’d been angry, then hurt, and finally bitter, but those feelings were nothing compared to how he’d felt when her sister, Regan, turned up eight months later and presented him with his daughter, Raven.
Regan had refused to speak of Gina, just handed the baby to Darius and then told the Council of the prophecy made at Raven’s birth. It foretold that if either the Council or the fire-demons sacrificed his daughter on her twenty-first birthday, then they would gain a great victory over the other side. Kael had been furious, and he’d acted in anger, passing a sentence of death over the baby.
Darius had believed Gina knew all this, and his bitterness turned to rage, but still he’d wanted her.
He had taken his daughter and run, then spent the next fourteen years hiding from both sides. But after the fire-demons captured Raven, he had returned to the Council, knowing they were his only hope of finding his daughter. Kael, consumed with guilt over his earlier sentence of death on an innocent child, had agreed to help, and for years they’d searched, but it was only through Gina that they’d finally managed to find and save Raven. She’d fought back to back with him, and afterward she had disappeared. Again. That was a week ago.
But this time, when he’d gone hunting, he had found her.
Her tongue came out to lick her lips, and he almost reached for her again as heat coiled in his stomach. She swallowed, and his eyes riveted to her throat, where he could see her blood pulse so close to the surface, smell the sweetness of it.
“Would it make you feel better?” she asked, and her voice was soft and low.
His gaze flew to her face. “What?”
“If you kill me, will it lift the Darkness from you? Will you be as you were before we ever met?”
He imagined her dead, and pain ripped through him. She couldn’t die. He wouldn’t let her. She was his. “No!”
Shock flashed across her features, and she reached out a hand. Darius stepped back and turned away.
“Darius?”
He forced himself to turn back to her. There was some expression on her face. Pity. He didn’t want her pity.
“What?” he growled.
She flinched at his tone but didn’t back down. “I can do a spell,” she said.
“A spell? What sort of spell?”
“I can make it as though we never met. You will forget I ever existed.”
“No!” The word was torn from him.
“I would not want to forget you either.” They were both silent for a minute before she spoke again. “I didn’t know.”
“What didn’t you know?”
“About Raven and the prophecy. I didn’t even know she was alive. My sister told me our daughter died at birth. She lied to me.” He could hear the pain of betrayal in her voice and knew she spoke the truth.
“Where were you?” he asked. “I searched for you, but I couldn’t feel you anywhere.”
“I was banished to the Shadowlands.”
Shock washed over him. “I thought they were a myth.”
“No, the land where the souls of the dead gather before their final journey definitely exists.”
“Sounds like a fun place.”
“Oh yes,” she said. “I had fun there.” She shook her head. “At first it didn’t matter. After I left you, I was…” She shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad there. Before you came, I’d lived my whole life in isolation, with just my sisters and the occasional visitor who came to seek a vision of the future. It wasn’t much different.”
“Have I mentioned that I hate your sisters?”
“Once or twice,” she said, “but you don’t understand. They have a great responsibility. No, we have a great responsibility. Anyway, Regan released me about five weeks ago.”
Darius frowned. “Why would she do that?”
“I don’t think she ever believed things would go so far. She couldn’t risk the fire-demons sacrificing Raven, but no one could find her. Regan hoped we would have a bond, and once free of the Shadowlands, I did sense our daughter. I felt her pain and knew she was alive.”
Chapter Four
Gina glanced at him. He was deep in thought, but the rage had left his face.
No wonder he hated her. All this time he’d blamed her for what happened to Raven. He’d also said he could forgive her for leaving him, but suddenly she needed him to know she hadn’t abandoned him lightly.
“I didn’t want to leave you,” she said. “That first time. I had no choice.”
“No?” He sounded skeptical.
“It was daytime when Regan came. We were in your room, deep underground. You were sleeping.” He’d been naked, beautiful, gilded in the light from the lamp she kept on so she could watch him.
Darius scowled. “And it didn’t occur to you to wake me?” She almost smiled at the disgust in his voice. “You didn’t think I could keep you safe?”
He still didn’t understand. “You didn’t have to keep me safe. Regan is my sister. She would never hurt me. It was never me who was in danger.”
His eyes narrowed into dark slits as he processed the information. “You went with her to protect me?”
She nodded.
“I can protect myself,” he growled.
Gina wondered how much she should tell him, how much she should reveal of their powers, but he had already seen what she could do. “Regan threatened to destroy you.”
“How?”
“She was going to open a portal to the outside, the sun would have entered, you would have been destroyed utterly, gone forever, and it would have been my fault.” Gina had a flashback to the terror that had pierced her insides as Regan had issued the threat. “We have a saying in my family—take what you want and pay for it—and I would have been willing to pay, but not with your life.”
“You still should have woken me.” He looked at her. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
She nodded. “Regan told me she’d seen a vision of the future. That one day you would take my life.”
“And you believed her?” His eyes were narrowed on her and shock was clear in his tone.
“Of course. The visions do not lie.” But now she had to accept that her sister did. She’d lied when she’d told Gina her baby was dead. Had Regan lied about that vision, as well?
He shook his head as though he couldn’t accept her words. “I would never hurt you.”
Gina took a step toward him, reached out a hand and ran her finger over the scar bisecting his cheek, as she’d been longing to do since she’d first seen it.
“How did you get this?” she asked.
“After the Council called for Raven’s death—”
A jolt of shock hit Gina. “The Council wanted Raven dead? But Kael was head of the Council. Why would he order her death?”
“He was furious with me for taking you, and he thought it was the only way to ensure the prophecy could not come to pass. He told me later he’d regretted the decision almost immediately, but it was too late. I’d taken Raven and run.”
“How can you defend him?”
“I’m not, but I understand why he acted as he did. Nevertheless, if we’d had the Council’s protection, the fire-demons would never have found us. As it was, they did, and I got this”—he gestured to the scar—“in the attack when they captured Raven. They left me for dead out in the open, where the sun would find me. Luckily, I woke before dawn.”
“I’m sorry.” There was one last thing she wante
d him to know. She was aware he blamed himself—that everyone blamed him—for her abduction all those years ago. “I have a confession to make.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “The day we met, I watched you arrive.”
A shadow of a smile crossed his face. “And did you like what you saw?”
“I did. That day, my sister Catrin was supposed to meet with you. But I begged her to let me instead. So you see, in a way it was all my fault. I chose you.”
“I’m glad.”
She laid her hand against his cheek. His skin was cool to the touch, or maybe she was hot. He turned his head so her palm brushed his lips. His tongue snaked out, licked the tips of her fingers, and pleasure ran through her, settling at her core.
The intensity shocked her. She went to take a step back, but his hand reached out and clasped hers. He brought it back to his mouth and kissed the sensitive skin of her palm, then the inside of her wrist, tracing the blue veins where her blood throbbed close to the surface. The action was so tender, tears pricked at the back of her eyes.
Vampires couldn’t love. That’s what Regan always said. Gina tried to hold on to the idea, but it was slipping away.
His other hand wrapped around the back of her neck, and he tugged her toward him. His fingers spread in her hair, cradling her skull, ruffling the silky strands. “I miss your hair.”
“You do?” she asked, and a moment later, long silver tresses reached down to her waist.
“Clever,” he said. “Is it real?”
She sighed. “No, it’s a glamour. A cheap trick.”
“Not like blacking out the sun.”
“No, not like that. That had to be real.” She shuddered as she remembered the terrifying moment when the sun had risen, and she’d thought they were too late to save the daughter she’d never met. Raven was half vampire—the sun’s rays would have burned her to ashes—so Gina had extinguished the sun for the time it took them to save her. It was powerful magic and came with a high price—a price she had yet to pay—but she knew she would do the same again. Now, she pushed the memory away. If this was all she was going to have with Darius, she didn’t want to spoil it.
