Chapter Seventeen
Memories of death and blood and battle faded beneath the onslaught of passion. He’d held his emotions in check on the drive here, focused on getting Onyx to safety. Now that she was, all restraints unlocked, releasing the wilder side of his nature.
Thrusting his tongue into her mouth, he marked the territory. Before this night was over, he’d claim every inch of her. The fear he’d repressed slammed into him like a tsunami. The muscles in his arms tensed until they began to tremble. It had been too damn close. If he hadn’t had a backup team, Theo would have been long gone by the time he’d dispatched the other wolves, taking Onyx with him.
Yelling and lecturing were the last things on his mind. Maybe after he’d spent himself inside her, he’d get around to them.
He half expected her to push him away. The cool, logical part of his brain wished she would. This was madness. She was a hunger in his blood, one that would never be sated. Panting hard, he pulled back, searching her face for some recognition that she was as engulfed in the flames of desire as he.
She licked her damp, swollen lips, her earlier pinched expression replaced by one of bewilderment. She’d lost someone dear to her tonight, was emotionally overwrought. “That was…unexpected. You’re not mad?” When she bit her bottom lip, his cock punched against his jeans, straining for release.
He removed the band around the bottom of her braid and slowly unwound it, threading his fingers through the thick strands. “Oh, I’m furious.” The silky-soft red and black tresses caressed his skin. “You do something like that again and I’ll take it out on your hide.” It was an empty threat. He’d cut off his hand before he’d hit her.
Chest heaving, she shoved against him but came up short when he didn’t release his hold on her. “Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? I’m not a child. I’m a grown-ass woman.” Her chest rose and fell as her breathing increased. He couldn’t help but notice the way her breasts strained against the dark blue material of her dress, the dress he’d bought her.
“I’m well aware of what you are.” His dick was encouraging him to show her how much he appreciated that fact. “What I am is the man tied to you.” Rather than tug on her hair, he closed the gap between them, forcing her to tilt her head back. “ I’m the man who saved your life.”
The anger slowly drained from her face, leaving fatigue and sorrow. “And I’m grateful.”
The word landed like a punch to the gut. “Keep your gratitude.” His voice had dropped to a growl by the end. Having her feel indebted to him was the last thing he wanted.
Her lips flattened into a thin line. “Fine. Then what was that kiss all about? You want to show me how easily you can seduce me? That’s no secret. Sparks shoot off us whenever we’re in the same room together. I’ve already slept with you so getting me into bed is not the challenge. Maybe it was your way of trying to control me.” Pain skittered over her face. “Or maybe it was a way of punishing me?”
The fire in him died. He eased his hands out of her hair. “Is that what you think? I don’t hurt or force women.” The very idea left him cold.
She dragged her fingers through her hair, tugging on the ends. “That was a cheap shot, but what else am I supposed to think? You barely spoke a word on the way here. You’re angry with me, and rightfully so. I ignored the plan and put you in jeopardy tonight.”
Clamping his hands around her upper arms, he raised her up onto her toes and leaned down until their noses were almost touching. “You were supposed to stay with me in a populated area.” The utter helplessness he’d experienced as he’d watched her run after the unknown wolf while he’d been forced to delay long enough to pay the bill was something he’d never forget. “You put yourself in danger.”
Her brow furrowed. “You’re angry I was in danger.” She said it slowly, as if he’d spoken some foreign language she was trying to decipher. Her disbelief fueled his anger, which hadn’t been extinguished, merely temporarily diverted into passion.
“Solange needs me alive. You’re expendable.” She flinched at the brutal truth, but he wasn’t done. “If she suspects you’re anywhere near as powerful as her, she’ll destroy you before you act. You’re no good to me dead.” When her eyes had rolled back in her head and she’d lost consciousness, he’d been given a glimpse of that possible reality.
“I see.” She shrugged out of his hold and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “You’re right of course. How stupid of me to forget that fact.”
“Onyx.” This wasn’t going how he’d planned. For a man a century old, he sucked at relationships. He was too used to being alone, having no one but himself to consider.
“No. No. I understand your point. My value to you is limited. Good of you to remind me.” She grabbed her bag and walked to the door. “I need to go. I’ll keep in contact. Our common goal hasn’t changed. I just need to be away from here.”
Away from him. She didn’t have to say it for them to both understand what she meant. His wolf snarled, protesting the idea of her being out in the city on her own. It was too dangerous. This was why it wasn’t smart to get emotionally involved. It complicated everything.
“You can either open this or I’ll blow it.” She kept her eyes on the door as she made the threat.
“You’d endanger us both.” His breathing and heart rate increased as adrenaline flooded through him. He’d driven her to the edge of such desperation that she was willing to risk the city teeming with their enemy rather than stay in the same room with him. Way to go, idiot.
“I don’t want to.” The slight hitch in her tone hinted at tears. Her shoulders hunched when he stepped up behind her. He pressed his hands against the metal panel, not touching her but close enough to smell the stench of sweat and tears mingled with a hint of her natural scent. He lowered his forehead to the back of her head. She stiffened but remained where she was.
“I’m angry.”
“That much is obvious.” Normally, her tart reply would’ve prompted a smile, but now it made his chest tighten.
“At you, yes, but also at myself.”
“Why?”
He rubbed his face back and forth against her hair. “What if I hadn’t been able to get to you in time? What if he’d gotten away with you?”
“That would have been a setback.”
“A setback.” He repeated the words; they were bitter on his tongue. That’s what she believed because he’d made it plain her only value lay in her ability to help him.
“I understand we’re not like the other wolves and their women.” She leaned her head against the door, breaking the contact with him. “We both understand our roles. Tonight hammered that home. Neither of us will ever be free until Solange is gone and her network destroyed. I won’t run away. I just…” Her voice hitched again. “I just need some air and time alone to regroup.”
“I can’t let you leave,” he whispered.
“You can’t keep me.”
The hell of it was, she was right. She was a powerful mage. She could blow this place, exposing them both to danger. He’d pushed her close enough to the edge, made her desperate enough to do it.
“If you leave, I’ll follow.” Logic held no sway against primal instincts and his were screaming. Letting her leave would be a monumental mistake, but if she was determined to go he’d be right beside her. “And don’t think you can slip away and ditch me. The blood link calls to me.” For the first time, he was thankful for the connection.
Her laugh was strained. “God, you’re stubborn.”
But so was she. Unless he convinced her to stay of her own accord, the second he left her alone, she’d find a way out. If she truly didn’t want to stay, he’d have to incapacitate or imprison her to keep her here. That was a line he would never cross.
The tattoo on his chest began to throb. Pain radiated out from his chest until he had to clench his jaw to keep from howling. “Stay, please.” He had to bend if he expected her to, but it was more difficult than he’d anticipated. It didn’t come easy. He wasn’t sure he’d ever said “please” to anyone but her. He issued orders and paid well for compliance.
The truth was he needed her more than she did him. Without a mage by his side, defeating Solange would be damn near impossible. Without him, she could offer her services to the other two lone wolves.
A low growl rolled up from his chest. Over his dead body. Onyx belonged to him.
“Why do you want me to stay? Because you need my expertise, my skills?” His admiration for her grew. She wasn’t cutting him any slack.
“Look at me…please.”
“Two pleases in under a minute. You must be desperate.”
His straining patience was finally rewarded when she huffed and turned around, pressing her back to the door.
“What?”
Bitterness darkened her eyes, but the sad acceptance mirrored there made his heart ache. A lone tear slipped from one, dropping him to his knees. He’d always been the hunter, a dangerous predator feared by others. All the alphas would laugh and Solange would crow with pleasure if they could see how far he’d fallen.
“Dagen? Are you hurt?” Her concern almost cut him in two.
He rubbed his thumb over her cheek. Collecting the salty moisture, he brought it to his lips. Her pupils dilated and she inhaled sharply. “I want you to stay for all the reasons you stated, but I need you to stay for me.” That was as close to admitting he cared about her as he could get. His throat tightened, trapping anything else he might have said.
“It’s the blood link.” It wasn’t surprising that she didn’t believe him. He’d done too good a job convincing her otherwise.
“The blood link is part of it.” Even on his knees he didn’t have to look up to meet her gaze. “But it’s more. It’s you, Onyx. It’s you.”
…
She blinked back tears, not wanting to believe what he was saying, but the truth was etched in the sharp lines bracketing his mouth and the furrowing of his brow. God, they were a pair. Two wounded souls, unable to fully trust, to show weakness to the world.
Yet wasn’t he doing just that? Proud, deadly Dagen Kern, immortal assassin and black lone wolf, was on his knees. Not bent or broken but proud and fierce. Not demanding but asking her to stay. Because he needed her. Not her skills or powers but her .
If he’d searched forever for a better lure, nothing he could have found would have tempted her more. It went back to her broken childhood—if you could even call it that. She’d been too aware the monsters were real, had been birthed by one. All she’d ever wanted was for someone to care for her. When someone had, he’d been taken from her. Or so she’d believed until tonight.
Theo had begged for death, for the release from bondage. Now Dagen was not exactly begging, but humbly asking her to stay.
Her mouth was dry. Uncertainty set her pulse fluttering. Being on her own was what she was used to. Having someone on her side was so much better, even if it came with tons of baggage. It wasn’t sensible to leave. Wolves would be prowling the streets searching for them. Her resolve wavered.
He caught her hand and brought it to his chest, flattening her palm against his T-shirt. Her skin began to tingle. Even on his knees, he was larger than life, so tall they were almost at eye level.
“I want you.” She closed her eyes against the honest entreaty. She had no defenses when it came to him. It went beyond attraction. That she could fight. It was his dedication to his fellow lone wolves, how he worked behind the scenes for their benefit without them being aware. It was the compassion he’d shown her after Theo’s death. And, damn it, he’d bought her a dress. If she stayed, she was agreeing to more than working with him.
The muscles in his chest were hard but beneath it beat the heart of a good man. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes. “I’ll stay.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Thank you.”
She rubbed her hand over her face, fatigue and sadness catching up to her. “Tonight’s plan went to shit.” Her actions had almost been catastrophic.
“Not totally.” He stood and tugged her down the hallway and into the bedroom. “It served its purpose. Solange and Charles are aware we’re in the city. It should enable us to pinpoint their exact location, find them before they find us.”
He eased her bag off her shoulder and dumped it on the bench at the end of the bed. She was too tired to object. When he tugged on the zipper on the back of her dress, she reached around and caught his hand. “What are you doing?” Her traitorous body might want him, but having sex would be a mistake. She needed to distance herself from that part of their relationship if she hoped to remain objective.
“Removing your dress. You need to rest. You won’t sleep well with your clothes on.” He twisted out of her hold and finished unzipping her.
She wrapped her arms around herself to keep the garment in place. “I can finish.”
Sighing, he dropped a kiss on her nape. “I’ll get you something to sleep in.” The air around her chilled when he stepped away. She had to stop waffling. One second she wanted distance between them, the next she wanted to be closer. “Here.” He held out a large T-shirt.
“Thank you.” She crushed the shirt in her hands.
“You hungry? You didn’t finish dinner.”
The thought of food made her stomach roil. She swallowed heavily. “No.” Anything she ate would probably come back up.
“Water?”
She recognized his need to do something. “A cup of tea would be nice.” That would take him a few minutes and give her time to get undressed and pull herself together.
“How do you take it?” Such a mundane question, but another reminder of how little they actually knew about each other.
“One sugar, no milk.”
“I won’t be long.” When he hesitated, she gripped the shirt harder, praying he wouldn’t touch her while conversely hoping he would. When he left, she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed.
She’d undressed thousands of times in her life, but her limbs were heavy and uncoordinated. Dropping the shirt on the bed, it took her three tries to pull down the sleeves of the dress. Reaching behind, she fumbled with the hook on her bra. By the time she’d unlatched it, she was sweating. Not taking a chance he might return faster than anticipated, she managed to get her head and arms through the proper openings on the shirt.
The years weighed on her tonight, making her feel positively ancient. It was sheer determination that allowed her to shove her dress down her hips. It hurt her soul to see the beautiful garment on the floor. When she bent down to pick it up, she got lightheaded. Leaning against the bed for support, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
Don’t pass out. Don’t pass out.
That would dent the kick-ass mage image she was trying to cultivate. Theo was truly gone. A tear rolled down her cheek. Twisting her head to the side, she rubbed her face against the cotton T-shirt. Another followed. Then another.
Defiant, courageous, sweet Theo, the boy who’d saved her, was dead. Solange had used and abused him for years. It was no wonder his mind had snapped under the power of her magic. A wolf was a creature of nature. She’d caged his body and his spirit. Yet, at the end, she’d glimpsed the boy he’d been. He might have kidnapped her, but in the end, he’d wanted to save her.
She slid to the floor, no longer able to support herself. Tears flowed freely. The pain was too great to keep inside.
“Ah, sweetheart.”
“Go away.” She buried her head against the side of the bed, hating that he was witnessing her raw grief. It was a private thing. Theo had been her brother, her family.
“Never.” He lifted her off the floor.
She gave a half-hearted swing, hitting his chest. “Leave me alone.”
Ignoring her weak protests, he set her on the bed and removed her boots before stripping her leggings off. Before she could tug the shirt down to cover her underwear, he tucked her under the covers. She glared at him as she swiped her hands over her face.
“Do you want your tea?” He pointed to the steaming mug sitting on the nightstand.
She shook her head. All she wanted was to be alone. He removed his boots and socks and peeled his shirt over his head. “What are you doing?”
Leaving his jeans on, he climbed onto the bed beside her, forcing her to scoot over or get squashed by his big body. Sprawling out beside her, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “Let it out. Keeping it bottled inside you will only make you bitter.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” In spite of her objection, she snuggled closer. “It’s weak to lean on someone, to depend on them. They always go away.”
“I know.” He ran his wide palm up and down her back. “Let go. I’ve got you.”
“Only for tonight.” The tears wouldn’t stop. “Who would he have been if Solange hadn’t taken him? She stole that from him.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Not all of it. In the end, he wanted to protect you. That’s who he was. She couldn’t steal his heart.”
Anger and recrimination she could have stood up to, but Dagen’s compassion, his understanding, broke her. Letting go, she cried. For Theo, herself, and Dagen, for the children they’d been, for the lives they might have had. Through the storm, he never let her go.
…
Solange glanced up from her laptop. “Is it done? Does he have her?” Charles had sent men to scour the area when they’d received word from an informant in the Manhattan Pack that the black wolf was in the city. She’d sent Theo. His connection to the girl made him an ideal candidate to track her and, through her, the black wolf.
The wolf shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Theo is dead.”
She pushed up from her desk. “He’s what?”
“Dead,” the wolf repeated. “The men with him are all also dead. We have footage from one of our parking garages.” He raised the tablet where the video was cued up. When Solange remained where she was, he came to her. Without her asking, he hit play.
There was Theo with the girl over his shoulder. Her blood began to hum when the black wolf slammed into the vehicle. Such a prime specimen. The fight didn’t last long because the girl interrupted. The video abruptly ended. “What happened?”
“We lost the feed. There was no sign of Theo. We brought in our best tracker when we discovered a scattering of ash. He confirmed it’s what’s left of him.”
Solange felt nothing other than frustration at the loss of one of her best assets. All that time wasted. There would be no more experiments on him. Not that it mattered—it was time for the real thing.
It was the girl that interested her. She’d always had minor magic and, by the looks of things, had honed it, handling the camera and the cleanup of the body. No matter, no mage alive could match her. “Do we know where they are?”
The wolf shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
She clasped the pendants around her neck. The vials of blood were all she had left from the girl and the black wolf. Time to put them to use. A slow smile crossed her lips. “Bring the car around. I’m heading to the estate.”
“I’ll inform Mr. Armstrong.”
She shook her head. “I’ll tell Charles myself. Keep this to yourself. And no security team. You and I are the only two making the trip. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Giving her a curt nod, he tucked the tablet under his arm and left her.
Closing her laptop, she stowed it and her journals in her briefcase. She’d bring them to her. It was better away from prying eyes and potential witnesses. On the estate, she ruled with an iron fist, controlling the lives of all who served there.
She reached for her phone but hesitated. Better to wait until after she’d acquired the black wolf to contact Charles. He and his men could continue to search the city, on the outside chance the spell she cast failed to achieve the desired results. The blood was old, not as potent as it had once been.
It had nothing to do with her no longer trusting her lover as she once had. Striding across the room, she paused long enough to turn out the light and shut the door behind her.