Chapter 35 #2
“Yes. All safe. Staying with Teddy Bear and his family for now, while social services try and figure out who they are and how best to help them.” My twin brushed a caring palm over the crown of her head and smiled.
“They’re never going back to that hellhole, ever.
They’ve got a new chance at life, I promise. ”
Her eyes glistening, she stood and walked round to his front, rubbing a cut-free part of his shoulder. “That was an amazing thing you did today, really.”
She knelt in front of him and cupped his neck, swaying closer, and he clasped her cheek, closing the distance for a kiss.
Dagger slipped in quite a bit of tongue for a guy in his condition. Yeah, he’d be fine.
As the kiss continued, the barbs around my ribs gave a tiny squeeze, but whatever had gone down, it sounded like he’d done a lot of good today, and it definitely looked like he deserved a little mercy.
He finally pulled away, and his eyes met mine. “You’re thinking I got my pussy ass kicked again, right?”
Sitting up, stretching my arms out wide, I replied, “Depends. What do the other guys look like?”
“Guy, not guys. And you should see him.” Dagger’s tone sank low, the growl rasping rough as sandpaper. “Cause he damn sure can’t see you.”
I jerked my head back a fraction. “This was mortal combat, one on one?”
“Yep. With a vamp sleaze.”
“A single vamp managed to do all that to you, by himself?”
He nodded, wincing slightly as Bryce plucked another wooden shard from his back with tweezers, swabbing it and layering the wound in gauze, bandage, and medical tape.
“He was using some kind of Fae magical armor. The stuff made titanium look like toilet paper. Our clash came right down to the wire.” He hit me with a sullen smile.
“You almost got your wish today. No more pain in the ass twin to deal with.”
Those words sliced deep. Would I have been happy if I’d woken up to the news of Dagger’s demise? No, never.
I wanted to tell him he was wrong, and that I’d never wish him dead, but the answer stopped on the tip of my tongue, glued solid.
Instead, I replied, “Fae magic? How can that even be possible? That lot keeps their spells tighter to their chests than one of Gigi’s sparkly bras.” I looked at Serenity who tutted and rolled her eyes.
Dagger laughed and came to my defense. “He’s right though, Cowgirl. Other species learning to use Fae magic, or even stealing it, is impossible. The Fae draw their magic from the void, and only their species can access that realm. Some corrupt Fae must have gifted it to our dear departed vamp.”
“Any idea who?” I asked. If there was a Fae out there arming vamp gangsters with the world’s most powerful magic, they had to be dealt with.
My fangs tearing into their windpipe would solve the problem, my jaguar growled.
I tried not to let him know I agreed.
Dagger shook his head. “No, but whoever it is, I’m lining him up for a closed casket send off.
” He gestured with his eyes to a scuffed, brown leatherbound book on the coffee table.
“Conrad’s notes on Serenity. Found it in the Marchand feeding den.
It mentions a male Fae a couple of times, but no name.
He does call him ‘flame-haired’ so we at least know he’s a redhead. But that’s not rare among Fae.”
I picked up the notebook and began flicking through the crinkled pages.
The elegant handwriting mostly conveyed lust-filled sleaze at first, obscene references to how much he liked touching Serenity, how it seemed to empower him, and his frustrations at the owners of that particular feeding den, for their restrictions on how far patrons could go with the girls.
My inner predator was snarling, ready to kill at the thought of his slimy hands on her.
I took a deep breath and tried to stay rational.
“Serenity, do you mind if I read some of this aloud, so we can discuss it? I don’t want to upset you though.”
She padded across and planted a firm kiss on my lips.
“We’ve all had a flick through it, but I don’t have a giant jaguar’s eyes to read between the lines.
Maybe you’ll pick up on something we haven’t?
And I’m not ashamed for any of you guys to hear about my past.” She combed my hair with her fingers, her eyes drinking in mine.
“In fact, I think it’s best you know all about what I’ve been through, if you really want to know me fully. ”
I squeezed her hand and returned the kiss. “You’re tougher and braver than anyone I’ve ever known, me included.”
She kissed my hand. “And you’re the tough guy with a marshmallow heart.”
Dagger smirked. Serenity frowned hard at him. “Which is what makes me love him so much.”
My heart did a flying leap, and my body wanted to follow, but I just raised my eyebrows.
She said she loved me! I squeezed her hand, drawing her gaze back to mine, and at first, she looked almost as surprised as me.
But then her mouth quirked in a precious smile hidden from the others, the lines of her lips loaded with unspoken words that I knew she’d save for later tonight.
I kissed that beautiful mouth to let her know I understood, that I cherished the moment, and as I drew back, I murmured, “Love you too,” just for her to hear.
“Well,” Dagger barked, having missed the moment between me and Serenity. Not that I thought he would’ve minded—he seemed to have accepted the shared mate bond much more than I had. “What’s it say?”
Clearing my throat and opening one arm to let Serenity slide into my lap and lean on my chest, I skimmed the journal, looking for anything helpful. A dozen pages down the line, it became more than just a pervert’s ravings. One page in particular stood out. I read it for everyone:
The human toy’s blood carries powers that only seem to affect me. After one such feeding session, I arrived back at the coven, feeling a hundred years younger, to discover nobody could see me. Ha! I had some fun fucking with everyone that night.
I could feel my jaguar using my insides as a scratching post, sharpening his claws harder with each sentence my eyes passed over. I coughed, massaging my chest, and kept reading.
The best thing is, I can turn it on and off at will.
Should the preacher’s shipments be seized or dry up, I’ll turn my invisible hand to taking what money I need.
And not just money or gold, but the precious little gems that lie tucked up safe in bed, blissfully unaware of the apex creature at the window.
It seemed whatever force from Serenity that had seemingly supercharged me and the others in the loft, was transferable to Conrad too. This creep was not only a danger to her, but to every girl in New Nebraska. And who was this preacher he was talking about?
I don’t need a name, just a face, snarled my jaguar. Let’s put these rabid dogs down.
Stop it, I can’t concentrate, I admonished before finding another page that stood out:
The flame-haired Fae is proving a useful ally.
He’s given the most delicious magic to me and my closest kin yet asks for nothing in return.
Only that we spread the preacher’s narcotic far and wide, and cause as much death and suffering as possible, particularly among humans and half breeds, drinking our fill from the profits.
These are the kinds of activities I take joy in, but he sees them as payment.
What a wonderful thing it is, to have a true win-win between such distinguished business figures.
The toy’s blood, compounded with the Fae’s magical gifts, will secure me as the most powerful coven leader in this new home the humans think they’ve confined us to.
Her essence will keep me forever young and invulnerable to the effects of both time and physical harm.
I’ll be a fucking god among men.
For now, she eludes me, but I will find her and imprison her in one of our coven’s feeding dens. She will live a long and useful life as my blood source and obedient human slave.
I will find her, and she will learn to worship me.
She will submit to all my desires. Or die.
I closed the journal and thumped it down onto the coffee table, exhaling hard. “I get my hands on this piece of shit, he is fucking dead.”
Bryce had stopped de-splintering Dagger and was washing the blood off his gloves, under the hiss of the kitchen tap. “I think we all have similar feelings. But I wonder who this preacher is that he mentions? Is it code? What sort of preacher peddles drugs?”
“Temple ones.” Dagger slipped on a skin-tight tee Seb handed him.
“The biggest prick of all being Blunton. If anyone’s capable of spreading misery, it’s him.
Shit, I read five pages of his first book and that was miserable enough.
” Dagger stood and scooped the journal up, throwing it on the couch next to his gun belt and badge.
“I’ll let Teddy have a read and then photocopy it before I hand it over at the evidence locker desk. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Serenity rose from my lap and walked to Dagger. “I know you will, hot shot. But, speaking of bottoms…” She peeked around him at the back of his tattered pants. “I think yours has a few of these nasty splinters in it?”
Dagger waved it off. “It’s nothing, really.”
“It’s not nothing. You could get infected. Now”—she patted one of the empty couches—“lie face down and pop your jeans and underwear down to your ankles, please. I’m going to pick those splinters out.”
Ah man, his bare junk was going to be caressing my couch material. “At least put a towel down there first, if you really have to,” I said, for the sake of my furniture.
Bryce’s lips were pursed in a smile, his cheeks trying to contain building pressure, before he blurted, “Sounds like a lady’s job for sure. As much as I care, Dagger.”
Seb snickered, and when Dagger looked his way, he threw up his hands. “Hey, don’t ask me either.”
Serenity laid down a towel.
Dagger sighed, dropped his jeans and undershorts and lay face down.
So yeah, there I was, having awoken from a peaceful nap only to be subjected to an extremely disturbing read about my mate, and now, as the cherry on the cupcake, my brother’s bare ass was staring straight at me. So much for tranquility.
“Did you at least bring all the fancy steaks?” I asked Bryce.
He shook his head. “Sorry, I rushed right over when I heard from Dagger. Three meetings are postponed until Monday, too. We’ll do steak night tomorrow?” He nodded at my brother’s protruding cheeks as Serenity scrutinized them for splinters. “For now, it looks like oxtail’s all we’re going to have.”
Sighing, I replied, “I’ll get the takeout menus, dammit.”
Serenity braced herself on Dagger’s left cheek to extract a splinter from the right, and his arousal punched through my head with a clarity I hadn’t experienced in years. What the hell?
My jaguar let out a lustful growl, and it hit me.
He’d broken through the mental barrier I’d constructed and connected with Dagger’s jaguar.
His animal was practically panting as Serenity’s fingers delicately massaged salve into his skin.
His jaguar was enjoying it a lot, so I would have bet a hundred bucks Dagger was too.
He was going to poke a fucking boner right through my couch.
My jealousy flared, and I threw the mental barrier back up with all the force of a jailor closing a death row inmate’s cell.
Once Serenity had finished, I bundled up all the first aid stuff on the table and patted my lap for her to come sit. She did, hugging me tight. I covered her eyes as Dagger stood, showing little modesty and a fully erect dick.
If she was going to see a jaguar hard on for the first time, it was going to be mine.
I took my hand away once his junk was safely stashed. “All this has been really heavy stuff. Why don’t we get that takeout, have some drinks, take our minds off things for tonight, watch a movie—”
“Oh, or play a game?” Serenity suggested.
“Like what?” Seb asked eagerly, no doubt dying to plop a controller in her hand and be her video game teacher.
“Truth or dare was always good for a giggle when I was a kid.” Serenity shrugged, blushing at the ears.
“And it’s sort of like a trust exercise, which seems appropriate.
I… I haven’t had many people I can trust in my life, but now I have it with all of you.
” She brushed sparkling eyes over all of us.
“And I want you guys to trust each other.” She pushed her hair behind her ear with another self-conscious one-shoulder shrug.
“At the very least, it would be a fun way for us all to get to know each other better.”
I hugged her. “Sounds fun.” I looked around the loft. “Everyone want to play?”
Nods all around.
Truth or dare it was.