Chapter 11 Dagon #2
It would take one look at us and they’d know that to get to me all they’d have to do is get to her.
And I can’t let that happen.
Ever.
“Okay,” Alek says. “Keep me posted on your arrival. I’ll call back if anything arises.”
I nod and exit out of the call, relief rippling over my body as I sense Annika drawing closer. It’s only a few seconds later I hear her and Cassandra chatting before they find us across the wooden path on the sand.
And when I set eyes on her, I feel like I can finally, fully breathe.
“Whose idea was this again?” Cassandra calls from several feet ahead of us and up the hilly jungle we’ve all plunged into as a group.
“Your mate’s,” Annika laughs, her booted feet shifting slightly in the brush just in front of me. My eyes are locked on her body. I haven’t been able to take them off of her since we started this moonlit hike. Hell, not since I first spotted her in the residence, if I’m being honest.
Cassandra sighs dramatically, reaching her fingers out to stroke Talon’s fur. He’s taken up the form of her jaguar again, her real one safely being taken care of in the residence. “Sometimes I swear he likes his animal form more than his real one.”
Talon growls, low and rough, and Cassandra laughs again as she continues pushing up the hill.
Aurora is behind her, followed closely by Saint, just a few feet ahead of Annika and myself.
I’m impressed with Aurora’s endurance. She hasn’t complained once or needed to stop to rest, something that would’ve been completely understandable in her condition.
But she looks healthier, and there are moments where she’s completely lucid.
It’s incredible. Whatever Saint has been doing to help her is truly working.
We climb, coming to a sharp bend in the path. Talon easily navigates the difficult foliage, Cassandra taking a bit longer behind him as we near the top. Aurora moves to mimic Cassandra’s steps, but Saint is there, hands outstretched to help her.
“I can do it myself,” she fires at him.
He jerks his hands away. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him so surprised.
Aurora’s shoulders drop and she blows out a breath. “I don’t need to be babied,” she says a bit softer as if she’s speaking just to him.
“I don’t baby you,” Saint growls.
Annika slips just in front of me, and I immediately balance her, my hands on her hips.
“Sorry,” she huffs as she regains her footing.
“Not a problem,” I say, totally forgetting about our friends ahead of us, two of them arguing quietly, the other two trekking on ahead. I grin down at her, slowly moving my hands from her hips to the globes of her perfect ass. “You wore these shorts to torture me, didn’t you?” I whisper in her ear.
She gasps, and I relish the spike of lust I scent in her blood. “Dagon,” she quietly chides me.
“What?” I ask, innocently enough. I give her ass a good squeeze, and she bites down on her bottom lip.
Fuck, I want that lip in my mouth. Want her body beneath mine. Want my fangs sunk deep into her thigh.
“They’ll hear,” she whispers.
“We totally already can,” Cassandra calls back with a laugh from where she and Talon have already made it to the top of the hill.
Annika bites back a smile, shaking her head. “Try to focus,” she says at a normal volume.
“If you wanted me to focus on anything, you shouldn’t have worn these shorts.”
She laughs as she continues climbing, Saint and Aurora now at the top, silent and with at least ten feet between them. “It’s hot,” she says. “Shorts are a requirement.”
“It’s certainly hot,” I say as we clear the top and join our friends. “Damn,” I say as I take in the immaculate view. The night sky stretches wide over the dark ocean, the waves crashing against the base of this hill on the other side.
“You were right,” Annika says to Cassandra. “This was absolutely worth it.”
“There’s so much air up here,” Aurora says as she walks to the very edge of the hill, the toes of her boots hanging off an inch.
Saint moves like smoke. One second, she’s there alone, the next he’s behind her.
She doesn’t scold him. I’m not even sure if she knows he’s there. She has her eyes closed, her head tipped back toward the sky.
I tear my eyes away from the scene, suddenly feeling like I’m intruding on something private. I can’t imagine what she feels like…the shit she’s been through, the healing and adjusting she’s had to do to even remotely put herself back together again.
I reach for Annika’s hand as I watch her admire the view. “Beautiful,” I whisper.
Her eyes meet mine and her smile takes my breath away.
It’s over two hours later when Annika and I finally make it back to my bedroom.
We’re worn out from the hike, but not enough that we go our separate ways.
I’ll never admit my relief when she followed me back to my room instead of moving toward hers.
I would’ve followed her, if she let me, but it’s hard to admit that I don’t want any separation between us.
Especially when I don’t know how I’ll manage it when we get back to Edgemont.
Acid threatens to steal my levity, but then Annika starts peeling her clothes off the second I lock the door behind me, and I forget every worry I’d had before.
“After that hike, do you need a shower as badly as I do?” she asks, already heading toward my bathroom.
“Definitely,” I say, yanking my shirt off.
She peels off her tank top and lets it fall to the floor just as she reaches my bathroom. She bends as she slips off her shorts, smiling at me over her shoulder.
I freeze.
I’m sure my heart stops beating.
I can’t breathe.
There, on the base of her lower back, is…is…
My mark.
Something slams into me with the force of a train. Something I think I’ve known about for a while. A connection I can no longer deny or hide or bury. All things Annika flood into my system with a crashing wave I can feel drenching my powers, my heart, my soul.
Mine.
“Dagon?” she asks, the seductive smirk all but gone. “What is it? Did a bug get on me during the hike?” She hurries to the mirror in the bathroom, turning to look at where I was staring.
My muscles won’t work. I need to go to her. I need…I need…
“Omigod!” Her lips part then shut then part again. She shakes her head, then something like clarity filters over her delicate features as she turns to face me again. “Dagon,” she says my name like she’s coxing a wild animal. “It…it doesn’t have to mean anything.”
“That’s my mark on your skin, Annika,” I growl.
She visibly swallows. “I know,” she says. “But I know where you stand. I’ve always known. It’s okay. I…it’s fine. This is fine.”
Nothing feels fine.
It’s like my entire world has shifted into a space I never knew I desperately needed. My instincts are roaring, searing, screaming.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Annika…my mate.
Ice fills my veins. She’ll never know peace as a hunter’s mate. She’ll never know safety. Only a life of looking over her shoulder.
“Annika,” I say, my heart trying to tear out of my chest. “I—”
Both of our phones ring at the same time.
Annika’s eyes widen as she hesitates, but after a few seconds, we both grab our phones.
I don’t know who’s calling her, but Alek is on mine. “What’s wrong?” I ask by way of answer. We just spoke earlier, so something must’ve happened.
Images of Samuel launching another bloody attack race through my mind.
“Olivia is in labor. It’s…intense. Get Annika home as quickly as possible.”
I’m moving before I can even process his words, the tone of his voice. I hurry back into my clothes, Annika doing the same, a panic overtaking her eyes that has nothing to do with the mark on her back.
“My aunt,” she says, her voice cracking as we grab our bags and hurry through Cassandra’s mansion. “Dagon, what if this kills her?”
“It won’t,” I lie because I know I can’t guarantee that.
None of us can. Vampire births are rare and extremely dangerous.
But in these modern times, they’ve been less fatal.
“It won’t,” I assure her again, tucking her under my arm as we find Cassandra, Talon, Saint, and Aurora hurrying toward the cars pulling up front.
Annika and I climb into one, the driver breaking all laws to speed us to the airport.
And I keep hold of her throughout the entire flight, even as she goes quiet and colder than I’ve ever seen her before.
Fear and worry and grief flow straight from her into me, down that newly formed bond I can barely understand.
It’s all I can do to separate our emotions as we fly, helpless, toward home.