He made a telepathic call to the vampires to spread the word. “Death to any who try to turn the SCU investigator, Tezra Campbell. All will obey me in this.”
Once again, he felt he was tumbling down the dark chasm after a mate, but this time he was determined not to make the same mistake again.
***
Tezra paced across the darkly woven Turkish rug as soon as Daemon vanished. “Okay, so where are the damned tissue samples, Daemon?”
He didn’t respond, and she ground her teeth.
Then she glanced at the patio door. Had he locked it? Her heart hammering, she opened the door as quietly as she could, worried the door hinges might squeak. Yet, subconsciously she suspected a trick on Daemon’s part.
Not bothering to close it for fear a click might give her away, she rushed across the balcony and peered into the woods that surrounded the property—guarded, he’d said, so she needed a weapon to venture there.
She ran back into the bedroom, pulled on her leather coat and yanked the spare sword out from under the mattress. After attaching the sheath to her belt, she returned to the balcony. Evergreen vines wound through a wrought iron trellis attached to the house, perfect for use as an escape ladder. As long as the rungs didn’t suffer from corrosion, she figured they would hold her weight.
She swung over the top of the railing and let herself down. The toes of her boots felt for the first rung. Gingerly, she tested her weight on the metal. When it didn’t give, she eased down. Her boot slipped on glossy leaves. She lost her footing and stifled a wild cry of alarm. With a thud, she landed on the grass. Panicked that she’d be discovered, she hurried to her feet and crouched in place.
Darkened windows all across the back of the house made her skin tingle. She felt like a fish in an aquarium. Daemon could be watching her from anywhere.
Surely if he saw her, he would stop her flight. Yet she halfway suspected he planned the whole damned thing.
For now, she had one goal in mind as she dashed for the woods—focusing on her mission. Time to track down Krustalus and end his miserable life.
The autumn midday sun couldn’t part the thick gray cloud cover, and the mist still clung to the ground, rising three feet from the wet grass. The forest itself appeared dark, deep and ominous, but her only concern now was freedom and slowing the thunder of her heartbeat for fear Daemon would hear it no matter how far she ran from him. She wished the legend that vampires could be exposed to sunlight and burst into flames was true. She’d have another way to terminate Krustalus.
Nearly to the fringe of the forest, she hoped to find a way off the property under the cover of the trees.
But as soon as she reached the comforting shade of the pines, a low, threatening growl warned her she wasn’t alone.
***
Maison and Daemon watched Tezra through the greatroom windows. He shook his head when she made a dead stop at the edge of the forest.
“She’s been allowed to run, why?” Maison asked.
“She needs to discover for herself that not only is she protected here, but she’s unable to leave.”
Maison folded his arms and rocked on his heels like he always did when he was worried. “Lichorus is pretty incensed. She’s stirring up dissenters.”
“Tezra needs my help.” Daemon would not ask for anyone’s approval.
“To discover the identity of the vampire who killed the police officers, I know.”
“To bring down Krustalus.”
Maison stared at Daemon, his blue eyes wide. “What has he done?”
“Maybe killed her parents and before this, other humans.”
“You don’t know for certain?” Maison sounded concerned and angry at the same time.
“Her sister does. She’s been traumatized and can’t communicate with anyone. If Tezra was one of us, maybe she could reach her and learn the truth about the murderer.”
Maison cursed under his breath. “Damn, Daemon. You cannot consider turning her for that reason.”
“How in the hell did she get another sword?” Daemon mused, ignoring his friend’s comment when she whipped the steel out of its sheath and leveled it at the first of the wolves.
“You vowed you’d never turn another human after the last three times. You cannot change the huntress.”
“I can think of no other way.”
Tezra twisted around, keeping the snarling wolves, now eight of them, at bay. She didn’t attack them, only remained in a defensive posture.
Despite her angry words concerning Krustalus, Daemon didn’t feel she would kill him in cold blood without first proving he truly was responsible for murdering her parents and others.
“What if I turned her?” Maison asked. “I wouldn’t claim her, just change her so she could help her sister. The clans of Oregon wouldn’t care if I did so, as long as she consents.”
The thought of his longtime friend tasting her blood made Daemon’s turn slightly green. “No.”
Maison’s brow furrowed. “What difference would it make?”
Daemon couldn’t answer. The woman had burrowed under his skin, and no matter how much he felt she’d be his undoing, he didn’t want anyone else to have her.
“You’ve already decided this?” Maison asked.
“If you turned her but didn’t take her for your mate, others would undoubtedly try. She would be a prized vampiric possession, don’t you agree?”
Maison gave a stiff nod.
Tezra swung around when a wolf behind her got too close. She called out to him with soothing, coaxing words of praise.
“Ancient vampires wouldn’t give her a choice. She couldn’t stand up to them.”
“She has agreed to this permanent bond?” Maison asked.
Daemon gave a dark laugh. “Of course not.” He motioned to Tezra, her sword poised. “That’s why she’s playing with our friends and not waiting for my love bites upstairs. But the truth is I’ve told her I wouldn’t change her.”
Taking a deep breath, Maison nodded. “Then all is not lost.”
“Meaning?”
“There’s hope she won’t succumb to your desires, and you will not have to break your oath to yourself.” Maison rubbed the back of his neck like he always did when he was getting ready to reveal something he wasn’t sure Daemon would take well. “Do you know she was in a special home for troubled teens for two years following her parents’ deaths?”
“Why?”
Maison lifted a shoulder. “She was troubled.”
“What did the records say?” The fact she hadn’t had a family to take of her during her formative years bothered Daemon. Even though he was the bastard son of a king, his father had provided for him and Atreides in a castle befitting the ruler of the land. Their duchess mother and her family supplied the warmth and loving the two growing boys needed until she died. Then his uncle had taken care of them. He couldn’t envision Tezra living in an ice-cold environment, especially after her parents and sister had been taken from her.
Maison cleared his throat. “She escaped from the home several times but was easily recaptured.”
Now Daemon saw why Tezra fought confinement.
Maison turned to watch her. “She always went straight to the hospital where her sister was sent. The staff from the home alerted the hospital, and when she arrived they took her back into custody.”
“Was she allowed to visit her?”
“No. They restricted Tezra to the home. One of the staff said allowing her to visit her sister would be tantamount to rewarding her dysfunctional behavior.”
Daemon fisted his hands. “Dysfunctional for wanting to see her sister?”
“Yes. The first time they had to wrench her away from her sister’s embrace. They said it caused problems with the younger sister, that it was too traumatic for her to see Tezra.”
“Too traumatic to separate them, they meant.” Daemon had every intention of overstepping his bounds and straightening out the home, or shutting it down. He took a deep br
eath to settle his anger. “What else did the records say?”
“She is a very talented weapons expert. They couldn’t pit her against females, only the more capable males. They said it was due to the anger she harbored. They trained her in criminal investigations because she tested off the scale in that subject, but several of her instructors recommended she continue with the huntress training she’d started before her parents were murdered.”
“Was she ever destructive?”
“They felt she might be somewhat unstable.”
Daemon raised his brows.
“She insisted a vampire had killed her parents when they knew it couldn’t be since the murderer hadn’t killed them like a vampire would and hadn’t taken their blood either. They called her delusional.”
Daemon snorted. “No more delusional than you or me.”
“I must see to other matters. With your permission, I will take my leave.” Maison bowed, and Daemon reciprocated.
When Maison left, Daemon opened his patio door and ditched his clothes. The mist enveloped him, shielding him from prying eyes before he shape-shifted effortlessly into a wolf. Bounding across the yard in his thick brown pelt, he headed straight for Tezra. He’d made it clear to his guards that should she take a jaunt through the woods there would be hell to pay if anyone injured her. Yet, he still worried one of his vampires might take their guarding mission a little too far, especially now that she was armed.
All eight wolves turned their attention to his loping gait, and he warned them, “The lady is not to be harmed, only stopped. Just stay out of her sword’s path.”
When she twisted her head around to see what caught their eye, her mouth dropped and she took a step back.
Yes, here comes the big bad wolf, darling. Meet your adversary, he thought. Round two.
Chapter Seven
Great, just great. If it wasn’t bad enough that vampires in the form of eight gray wolves surrounded Tezra in the forest shadows, now an even larger one advanced on her. Except that he was more of a sable brown mixed with deep reds, the tips of his coat black, and his face a cream-colored mask, making him stand out among the rest. Daemon. The sunlight glinted off his dark brown eyes, and his mouth seemed to smile, which did nothing to still her racing heart.
Before he reached her with his long gait, his sable coat glistening in the filtered sun, Atreides appeared in front of her and bowed his head slightly in greeting. She quickly stepped back.
“Where the hell did you get a huntress’s sword?” Atreides asked.
With a brow raised, he shared eye contact with the large wolf. The other wolves dispersed, headed across the property. Dismissed, most likely.
“Daemon’s guards warned me you were out here, and I came to escort you back.” Atreides’s jaw tightened. “The SCU sent hunters in search of you. You have to tell them you’re safe.”
Oh hell, that’s all she needed—the SCU dictating to Daemon. That would really go over well. “Let me go, and that will be the end of their concern.”
“I’ll be glad to release you when the killer of the police officers is dead ,” Daemon communicated to her. The brown wolf melted into mist, then transformed into his human form—his very naked human form. She couldn’t help but look at the whole of Daemon, every gorgeous muscle taut. He looked ready to pounce…on her.
A heated flush spread through her. What was there about him that made her dissolve under his heated scrutiny? She’d only had a couple of hunter lovers to compare him to—and they were conceited to the max. Interested only in one thing—she learned after the fact—having sex with a willing huntress. Bastards. Quick, like a swordfight with a vampire, in and out and finished.
Daemon relieved her of her sword and handed it to Atreides. “Next time, make sure she is totally disarmed.” He seized her wrist.
“Let go of—” Darkness swallowed her next word, and in the next instant, she stood in Daemon’s cavernous bedroom with him.
“Daemon, what should I do about the SCU? Lichorus has threatened to tell them you’re holding Tezra hostage. If they take you into custody, our people will revolt,” Atreides said from downstairs.
Lichorus? Who the hell was that? Refocused on the immediate concern, Tezra didn’t want to escalate tensions between the SCU and Daemon and his people when he was only trying to keep her safe.
“I’ll talk to them, convince them I’m all right.” Her gaze drifted to his body—hard and controlled—yet she figured if she touched him anywhere, he’d lose the restraint he seemed to have. So why was the thought so appealing?
His touch tender, Daemon ran his hand down her arm. “All I want is to keep you from being the vampire’s next victim.”
His words and actions thawed the ice wall surrounding her heart, yet she still craved freedom. Being imprisoned by him was too much like when she was in the teen home under guard.
“I have to research the crimes.” She had to remain focused on her mission, not give in to the sexual craving he’d aroused.
She didn’t like being under Daemon’s thumb, but the alternative? The SCU would lock her away so she couldn’t go against their rules any longer. She took another look at Daemon’s physique, which brought a lift to his lips. She made the decision, right or wrong. She’d stay with him. At least she thought Daemon would let her continue her work, albeit under his control. The SCU? They’d stop her.
“You will let me conduct my research, right?” Her words were spoken as a promise rather than a question.
His dark eyes hinted at amusement.
She took his subtle response as a yes. “I’ll tell them I’m secure in your protective custody. They won’t like it and will insist you hand me over for safekeeping.”
“I’ll keep you safe.” His eyes entranced her, and he drew close. A shiver of need rippled through her. He gripped her shoulders, and the touch of his strong hands triggered the desire to experience the shared intimacy of lovers, to feel the burning passion grow between them.
She blinked away tears and studied the flecks of gold in his dark chocolate eyes. His thumbs rubbed her shoulders, warming her to the marrow. But then he turned away from her and pulled a phone from a drawer. Wordlessly, he handed her the receiver and lifted a brow.
Hoping this wasn’t a mistake, she dialed the administrative head of the SCU. “Julie, it’s me, Tezra.”
“Where have you been? Half the hunters in the state are searching for you. Senior Council Member Ingrid is furious you were trying to solve the police murders.”
Tezra could envision Julie twisting her shoulder length hair around her fingers like she did when her nerves were on edge.
“I’m safe. Have them call off the search.”
“A vampiress reported that you’d been taken against your will by a vampire named Daemon. Senior Member Ingrid says he’s one of the most powerful in this country. How can we know you’re there voluntarily?” Julie nearly whispered the question as if she was concerned the vampire would be listening in on the conversation.
Which he was.
“I have to go, but no, he’s not holding me hostage.”
“The senior staff will want you here to tell them yourself,” Julie said.
Tezra knew then Julie believed she was being held hostage.
“Listen, he and his people are keeping me safe. And he’s helping me catch the murderer of the police investigators. I’ve got to go, really. Tell them I’m fine. I’ll get in touch with you when we have some answers.”
“The SCU won’t like it.” Julie’s voice sounded low and irritated.
“The killer’s after me. It can’t be helped. I’ll be safe—”
Julie cleared her throat. “The senior staff will send hunters to check your story.”
“We’ll be in and out investigating. So we won’t always be at Daemon’s place.”
Julie snorted. “All my best, sweetie, and be careful. Even with the vampires watching your back, one of them is the killer.”
“I’ll keep in
touch.” Tezra hung up the phone and handed it to Daemon.
He set it on the dresser, then ran his hand over her arm, his eyes smoky with desire. “What now?”
She tilted her chin up. “I want to look at the tissue samples.” No way was she going to tell him she wanted red-hot sex with him.
His brows rose. Well, hell, he asked! Or had he realized from her expression what she’d been thinking? Her skin heated with mortifaction.
Daemon wrapped his arms around Tezra’s waist. Her traitorous body responded to his touch as if she were the lock and he the key, and with one twist they fit together in perfect synchronization.
She hadn’t been with a hunter in so long and it was always strip-and-do-it. No foreplay. No building up to the big crescendo. Just strictly get the business out of the way. Sure, the guys seemed perfectly satisfied, but she’d felt…used, afterwards, though she’d thought she feel something more. Loved, wanted. Wasn’t to be.
“Are you sure all you want to do is look at tissue samples? Nothing else?” He pulled her hair away from her neck and held her firmly. His tongue swept down her throat.
She closed her eyes and shivered.
Of course she was interested. Damned interested. But how could she justify sexual relations with a vampire? Not any vampire, though. The prince of all the American clans. Daemon. The only man she’d ever felt so drawn to.
A part of her desired to be wanted, to be cherished, protected and respected for who she was, despite what she’d done to her family.
Daemon reached up and ran his hands over her breasts, massaging, lifting, weighing them, stealing her thoughts.
More than ever, she wanted the intimacy Daemon offered her.
He pressed her mouth with a kiss, hard and unwavering, demanding and possessive. She shouldn’t have loved it. She should have resented his rapaciousness—how he plundered her like no man had ever done, would never risk doing without her consent. Instead, Daemon lured her in. He wove a silken web of charm securely around her like a warm cloak on a bitter cold day.