Chapter 7
Dagon
“Do you live in here?” Talon asks as he finds me in the kitchen pantry for the third time tonight. He snatches the cookie I’d been about to eat right out of my hand. “You’re either in here or sulking in your rooms.” He shakes his head, shoving the cookie in his mouth.
I flip him off and grab another.
“There’s a gym here,” Talon continues, following me out of the pantry. “And three pools. Not to mention the whole ass beach a walk away.”
Saint cocks a brow at the two of us where he leans against the kitchen counter, blowing on his black coffee.
“I’m aware,” I grumble.
Talon laughs. “You’re hiding.”
I glare at him. “What the hell would I be hiding from?” I snap. “There are no threats here.” It’s kind of unnerving when I’ve spent all of my time since I came out of stasis in a constant survival flight-or-fight mode. I don’t know how to just…be.
“There’s a threat here,” Saint says, his voice low and cold as usual. He takes a sip of his coffee. He’s dressed to hunt, the summer edition—light black pants and a black tank top, with a matching fuck you face to go with it.
“What?” I ask, interest piqued. I look to Talon. “Nobles fucking with Cassandra again? Do we need to put them in their place?”
Talon laughs again. “You sound excited by the prospect.”
“Are they?” I ask.
“No one is fucking with my mate.” Talon answers. “They learned what happens to those who do very quickly.” His eyes glow in that animalistic way of his.
My shoulders sink.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Talon says.
“What’s the threat?” I ask Saint.
He looks at me. “Five nine. Blue eyes—”
“Oh, fuck you,” I cut him off.
“That’s who you’re hiding from,” Talon offers. “Your charge.”
“I’m not—”
“You are,” Saint cuts me off again.
I blow out a breath. Fucking hell, I can never hide anything from them. “Okay, fine. So what if I am? You have no idea…” My voice trails off. I don’t need to go into details. I’m certain they can smell Annika on me.
“You know,” Cassandra walks in, quickly kissing Talon before reaching for a mug in the cabinet next to Saint.
She fills it with coffee, dumping in a ton of cold cream before taking a sip.
“She’s a fully grown adult vampire,” she continues.
“If you simply looked at her that way and not as your student, you’d save yourself a ton of grief. ”
Something inside my chest twists. She’s right.
It’s hard to not see Annika as my responsibility though.
Especially when the king ordered me to help her.
But, it’s not that. I don’t do relationships, and Annika deserves someone that will put her first. She agreed to the physical-only situation during lessons, but I’m afraid the lines we’ve crossed will set her back, not send her forward.
“Yeah,” Talon agrees. “It’s not like you’re an actual teacher.”
“You’d be a shit professor,” Saint deadpans. “No offense.”
“None taken.” I shrug. “I know I’m not built for teaching.” I’m built for killing bloodmad vampires. For protecting my brothers. My family. My king. I’m not meant to be bantering back and forth with a frustratingly gorgeous vampire.
One who tastes like a dream and feels like silk beneath my hands.
One who haunts my every waking thought, and stomps through the sleeping ones too.
Fuck, even the thought of her has my fangs begging to punch down. I hold them back, because I’m not a fucking adolescent, but damn.
“How’s Aurora doing?” I ask, desperate to take the spotlight off me. I also genuinely care about her. She’s important to Saint. That much we can all tell, so she’s important to us.
Saint stiffens at the question, his mug poised before his lips. He’s frozen, as if thinking about her too long is painful. He takes another long drink of coffee before answering. “She slept a full six hours last night without a nightmare.”
I nod. “That’s good progress, Saint.”
He dips his head. “Not good enough.”
There’s an iciness to his voice that puts me on alert. He’s going to kill Samuel—for a lot of things, but for what he did to Aurora the most.
“Saint—”
“Feeding.” He sets his mug down and sweeps from the room before I can even attempt to get him to open up.
I sigh. “Is he okay?”
Talon looks as grave as I feel. He shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
Fuck, I don’t either.
“Anything we can do?” I ask even though I know the answer.
“You know Saint,” Talon says. “He’ll keep it locked up till he breaks. We just have to be there to catch the pieces when he does.”
“Hopefully one of those pieces doesn’t get him killed.” I’m genuinely worried. “He’s been a mess. Understandably.”
“He needs time,” Talon says. “And closure.”
“We all do,” I add.
Cassandra quietly sips her coffee while Talon and I talk. Funny how six months ago I would’ve groaned at having her privy to any sensitive information, and now she’s a trusted, welcomed member of the family. That’s how powerful a mating bond is.
Anticipation zaps across my skin like an electrical current, alerting me to Annika’s nearness. She’s not in the house though, because she feels far away. I think I’ve locked onto her scent without even meaning to, because I can tell she’s outside.
“We’re heading to the other island to feed,” Cassandra says. “Are you going to join us?”
I shake my head. Not if Annika isn’t.
“Don’t wait up,” Talon says as he and Cassandra head out of the kitchen.
I wait until I hear their speedboat start up before I move from my spot. The second I do, my feet carry me exactly where I shouldn’t be.
Outside, to where I find Annika in the pool, the night sky stretching over the horizon beyond.
The pool lights are set to a soft purple, making her look more ethereal than she already does as she moves in the water.
Her eyes are closed in concentration, and pride swells in my chest when I realize what she’s doing.
She’s trying to move the water on her own.
She’s still practicing, still pushing, despite the roadblocks we’ve hit.
And the fiery wins we’ve managed.
I should turn around. Go back inside. Take a cold fucking shower.
Before I know what I’m doing, I’m hauling my shirt over my head, shucking my pants, and stepping into the pool in my boxer briefs.
“I wondered how long you were going to linger,” she says without opening her eyes. It shocks the hell out of me because normally I can sneak up on even the most suspecting prey.
“Didn’t want to interrupt you,” I say. “I can go—”
“Stay,” she cuts over me, opening her eyes and planting them on me.
Fuck. Me. I’m a goner for those stunning blues.
I clear my throat, trying to remember how to fucking breathe.
Maybe Cassandra and Talon are right. I need to treat her like the female she is and not a responsibility.
Treat her like an asset, not a liability.
Sure, she deserves someone who will put her above all else every single night for the rest of existence, but I can be a placeholder while we’re here.
While we’re working together. She understands that.
Who am I to think she’ll fall for me? Maybe I should let whatever is happening between us run its course.
It’ll be a lot more fun than fighting it.
Fuck it.
I move around her, stepping behind her. She doesn’t turn to face me, trusting me at her back. It sends heat straight to my dick.
“It’s not about wanting the water to move,” I say, keeping my hands extended, but not touching her.
“But needing it to.” I curl my fingers just above the pool’s surface, making a few small streams swirl in front of her.
“Have you ever needed something so much that you felt like you’d break if you didn’t get it? ”
“Yes,” she answers on a breathy sigh.
“Like the bathtub,” I say, doing my best not to groan when thinking about what she told me she’d been doing. “Not how it started,” I hurry to say before I lose my control thinking about her touching herself. “But how it ended.”
She tilts her head. “Frozen?”
“What did you need in that moment?” I ask. “Not what you wanted.”
Which was a release. She’d trusted me with that information. Something swells in my chest at the reminder.
“I…” She considers, raising her hands. “I needed to cool off.”
“You needed to cool off,” I repeat. “Remember that feeling. That connection between power and need. It’s that chain you were talking about. That’s the link. You froze the water because you didn’t have a balance, but you’re so close, Annika. You could boil the water too, if you needed the heat.”
She moves her hands above the water, her muscles tensing slightly. She keeps her eyes open this time, but there’s an adorable crease between her brows. I go silent, not wanting to break her focus.
Flicking her fingers, the surface of the pool vibrates all around us. She takes a deep breath, raising her hands—
The water follows her movements, just like it had the last time we were in the pond. She’s learning so quickly. And her smile is breathtaking.
“Good,” I whisper. “Now, tell it what you need it to do.”
She nods, then rolls her fingers. The water gathers and forms into hundreds of tiny drops, then grow bigger, rising and falling in the air like she’s playing catch with all of them.
Then she draws her hands together, gathering all the droplets to create one giant sphere that she sends soaring into the air before it crashes down at the other end of the pool.
“Dagon!” she squeals. “I did it! I can feel it.” She whirls around, throwing her arms around my neck.
I huff out a laugh, catching her against me, and return the hug.
“It’s incredible,” she says, drawing back enough to look at me. The position puts our mouths so fucking close together.
Her lips crash into mine, and I groan at the sweet sensation. I’ve craved her mouth since the last time we were together, and the connection restores life in my blood. Sends it soaring right along with my heart.
“Sorry,” she hurries to pull away. “I meant to say thank you. That’s it.”
“Is that all you want?” I ask, chest heaving.
She shakes her head.
“You want more?” My voice is guttural. “Physically,” I clarify. That’s all this is anyway, right? An ache that needs to be soothed. I can do that. I can be that for her.
“Yes,” she admits on a whisper.
“Then come back here,” I demand.
She’s back in my arms in seconds, and the last shred of my self-control dissolves completely.
“Dagon,” she sighs my name against my lips as I draw her flush.
I nip at her bottom lip, relishing the taste of her as I slip into her mouth. Fuck, she feels amazing, my hands roaming everywhere I can reach. I can’t feel enough, touch enough, drink in enough of her breathy little moans.
“Annika,” I groan when she does her own exploration, her fingertips dragging over my bare chest.
She rocks against me, gasping at the feel of my hard cock against her.
Shit, if she does that again—
She does.
I groan, spinning us, rushing to set her on the edge of the pool. I step between her thighs. “Tell me if you want me to stop.” I kiss down her neck, over her chest, palming a breast before I move lower.
I spread her thighs a bit more, and she gasps as I dip my head between them.
I look up at her, silently questioning.
She nods, her eyes wild with lust.
Lust I put there. Hell fucking yes.
I push her bathing suit to the side and lick.
“Dagon!” she gasps at that first contact.
I don’t hesitate to do it again, groaning as her flavor bursts on my tongue—all heady and sweet. I grip her thighs, dragging her closer to the edge to give me a better angle to eat at her. She arches off the edge of the pool, into my mouth, and I about come from that move alone.
Fuck, she’s sexy. Brilliant and gorgeous and infuriating.
I need more.
I lick her again, alternating between long laps and teasing plunges with my tongue, my heart pounding against my chest. My fangs punch out and it’s all I can do not to sink them into the soft skin of her inner thigh.
Drinking from each other would be more than just a physical release. And that’s what she needs from me. A release. I’m just the lucky fuck she picked to deliver it.
“Dagon, I’m…I’m…” She breathes the words, stuttering as her pleasure builds.
My cock is hard as granite and desperate to take my tongue’s place. I tell it to calm the fuck down. This is about her. Just her.
I wrap my arm around her lower back, dragging her tighter against me as I suck her swollen clit into my mouth—
“Dagon!” she cries out as her orgasm floods my mouth. I drink her down, working her through the throes of it as her breaths slow.
I right her swimsuit, then draw back far enough to look at her. She’s a vision, glowing with that post-orgasm haze, her fangs peeking through her parted lips.
I could do that forever. Put that look there forever and die happy.
Wait, what?
Terror slices through me as I suddenly realize how much space she’s taking up in my heart. Fuck. When did that happen?
Doesn’t matter. It can’t happen. Not when we have enemies everywhere just looking for a weakness to exploit. I can’t put her at risk like that. Because if I care about anyone, they instantly become a possible tool for our enemies. We saw that much with Zachariah’s mate, Talia.
Something inside me grows and shifts, begging for attention. No, demanding it.
No. I won’t. I can’t. She deserves more. She deserves better.
“Dagon?” Annika asks, noting the shift in me.
Fuck, the way she says my name like that. I want to scoop her up and race us back to my bedroom where I can fuck her properly.
Bite her. Claim her. Fuck her so good no one else will ever follow me.
No. No. No.
Shutting the instincts down, I hurry out of the pool. I really need to cool off so I can get my head on straight.
“Where are you going?” she asks, then lets out a startled yelp.
I spin around, eyes wide.
The entire pool is frozen. She’d barely got her feet out before…
Before I’d frozen it over.
The ground shakes again, my powers thrashing inside me as I battle all my baser instincts. I’m out of control. That’s so fucking dangerous for me.
I flash her an apologetic look and do the only safe thing I can.
I run.