“I can’t leave without Carrie!” Jolene declared loudly.
Riker cast his daughter a frustrated look and took a step toward her. Drago cut him off. “She stays.”
“Move your ass, Slayer,” Riker hissed. “Or I’ll move it for you.”
Drago threw caution to the wind. Caution would not keep Jolene by his side or calm Riker. “I have the right to protect her.” He hesitated only a split second and then dropped his bomb. “I’m her mate.”
A pregnant silence and then, “Mate?” Riker and Jolene spoke the word at the same time.
“That’s right,” Drago said, pinning Riker in a direct stare, letting Jolene’s father see the truth in his eyes. “And she isn’t going anywhere without me.”
“I don’t understand,” Jolene murmured. “What does that mean?”
“A mate wouldn’t put his other half in jeopardy,” Riker argued. “Involving her with Alex is putting her in jeopardy.”
Drago was losing his temper. “I know how to protect her, Riker. You, on the other hand, can’t seem to protect yourself, let alone her.”
A growl escaped Riker’s lips, and Drago knew Riker was ready to fight. At this point, so was he. Before they could charge each other, Jolene pushed between them.
One hand on each man’s chest, she ensured their separation, her attention shifting from one to the other. “For your information,” Jolene proclaimed. “I am going to do whatever I feel is necessary to get Carrie back. I decide what I do. Period. The end. And both of you, stop talking about me as if I am not here.” She cast Drago a demanding look. “What haven’t you told me about you and me that I need to know?”
Riker tried to reason with her, his voice completely different from the one he’d used with Drago. “Sweetheart—”
She cut him off, turning a warning look on him. “Father, I need to hear from Drago.”
Her father hesitated and then nodded, a fierce Slayer brought to his knees by the wrath of his daughter. Drago didn’t miss this fact, nor did he miss the concern in Riker’s eyes. Riker loved his daughter, and this realization began to calm Drago. He and Riker wanted the same thing: Jolene’s safety.
Jolene turned her attention on Drago, demand glinting in her eyes. “Well?”
“I wanted to tell you,” Drago began. “In fact, I started to—”
Riker chimed in then. “I’m not even convinced it’s true, Jolene.”
Drago ignored Riker, restarting where he was interrupted. “The conversation we began about sharing a mental communication path.”
Her brows dipped. “That’s because we’re . . . mates?”
“That’s right,” Drago said.
Jolene looked at her father, whose entire demeanor had changed, all signs of hostility gone. “I’m half human. Is what he says possible?”
Riker looked uncomfortable. “Maybe we should sit down and talk.”
“Just answer my question, Father. Is what he says possible?”
“Your mother wasn’t fully human,” Riker admitted, obviously uncomfortable with the announcement. “She was half vampire.” His eyes lifted and locked with Drago’s. “So yes, I believe what he says is valid.” He shifted his attention back to Jolene. “A mental path would only be shared with a blood relative or mate. Drago most certainly is not a blood relative.”
Jolene’s face had turned pale, her expression confused. Drago reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder, unable to stop himself. He’d never offered comfort to another living soul, yet he couldn’t seem to help doing so with Jolene.
“Maybe we should sit down and talk,” he offered softly.
She nodded, her gaze probing his for several seconds. “Yes,” she agreed. “We most definitely need to talk.”
***
Jolene sat in the chair she’d occupied earlier, reeling from the information she’d just received. Her father stood by the fireplace, Drago behind the couch; both men appeared to be as on edge as she felt.
“I don’t understand,” Jolene said. “Why would I not know this about my mother?”
She watched emotion flash across her father’s features. “It’s complicated,” he said. “Not telling you was a choice your mother felt strongly about. At least not until you were older.”
“I still don’t get it,” Jolene said, frustrated. “Why in the world would something like that be kept from me?”
Riker scrubbed his jaw. “You have to understand the history to understand the reasons for your mother’s choice. I knew the minute I met her that she was my mate.” He drew a breath. “But she was half human. There are doctors within our race who believe that represents a risk. That to complete the mating process, to seal our bond forever, might even have killed your mother. The longer I was with your mother though, the more certain I was they were wrong. She was my mate. I felt it with every breath I drew. I wanted to move forward and seal our bond.”
“But that would risk her life,” Jolene argued. “How could you want that?”
“Sealing our bond would have given her the life span of a vampire and none of the physical weakness of a human. And Jolene, if you are indeed Drago’s mate, you know it. You feel it. A true mate isn’t going to die sealing that bond. The doctors had simply never seen two mates who were not wholly vampire. Make no mistake. Your mother was my mate, and I will never forgive myself for not fully claiming her. She might be alive today had I pressed harder.”
Jolene digested her father’s words, her gaze shifting to Drago. Their eyes locked and held, and she felt that contact clear to her toes. In human terms, she barely knew Drago, yet she knew him as well as she did herself. She didn’t know what that meant about her future, but she knew she couldn’t ignore what existed between them.
“I had almost convinced your mother to follow through with our mating, but she became pregnant,” her father said, drawing her attention back to him. “Mating would have risked your safety.”
“What about after I was born?”
“She wouldn’t even consider leaving you alone and her death would have done that.” He corrected himself. “Did do that.” His gaze took on a turbulent look.
Jolene’s chest tightened as she thought of her mother’s sacrifice for her. And of her father’s actions since. “You shut me out,” she whispered. “You weren’t even here for me when she died.”
He dropped his head for several seconds, and then fixed her in a tormented stare. “She lived as a human. I was afraid to be around her, to draw danger to her.” He shook his head, his lips forming a grim line. “I tried as hard as I could to protect her, and still she ended up dead. Now you’re in danger, too.”
His words swept over her and then sank deep, cutting like a knife. “You’re telling me that it’s not your duties as a Slayer that keep you away?” Jolene demanded. “You chose to stay away from both of us?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
She pushed to her feet, anger and hurt churning inside and growing with each passing second. “Do me a favor,” Jolene spat at Riker. “Spare me the protection. It’s painful.” With that, she rushed from the room, needing space to think it all through. Afraid if she said more she’d regret it later.
She slammed her door shut and curled up on the bed. Tears came and she let them for the first time in years. Tears to cleanse what she couldn’t change. To allow her to face her future, whatever that might be. Her mother was gone. Her father absent. Carrie was lost and in danger. Everything she’d known to be true in her life had been a façade. The future felt uncertain and full of unsettling change—change that involved Drago now.
And she had to deal with the implications of his presence. He would come for her soon, and he would try to claim her as his mate. The question was—what would she do when he did?
Twelve
Drago watched Jolene’s departure and fought the urge to follow. He and Riker had business to attend to that directly related to Jolene’s safety.
“Alex found Jolene by accident, through her roo
mmate,” Drago offered quietly, sensing Riker’s needed to get past some of his self-blame and think about the battle ahead.
“Regardless,” Riker said. “The danger comes from her connection to me.”
“To wish that connection away is to wish she was never born.”
Riker gave Drago an unblinking stare. One second. Two. His shoulders slumped slightly and he gave a short nod. “Point taken.” He hesitated. “I lost her mother. I don’t want the same to happen to her.”
“You’ve lost her already, but she’s alive and well. You can still get her back. Help me save Carrie. It will mean a lot to her.”
His response came slowly. “You have a plan?”
“You were right about Jolene being bait. Bait to get to you. Alex wants you dead.”
Riker snorted. “No surprise there. He made a damn good first attempt.”
“And he’ll keep coming at you until we shut him down,” Drago commented. “I’ll tell Alex you were already here when I brought Jolene home, responding to messages Jolene had left for you. I’ll detail a battle with your retreat and Jolene still in my possession. He’ll be furious, of course. One of Alex’s biggest fears is the council charging in and shutting down his operation. He’ll fear you can make that happen.”
“What’s keeping the council from taking him down, anyway?”
“Alex has human women held as slaves. Three camps, all well guarded by a female army that Alex controls. I know where two of them are but not the third. That’s the one he visits frequently. I’ve earned Alex’s trust, but he lets each of his people know only so much.”
Riker’s lips thinned. “So where does that leave us?”
Drago sat down on the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table, one booted foot over the other, his decision already made. “I talked with the council. Alex has to go down. It’s long past due. I’ll tell Alex you want to make a trade. Yourself for Jolene and Carrie, and you want them brought to you. You won’t go to him.”
“Why would he give up Jolene and Carrie? He’ll consider them a risk, won’t he? They know about his operation.”
“Not if Alex believes I’ll kill them,” Drago said.
“It’s risky,” he said, his expression grim. “Surely Alex will involve his army.”
“He will,” Drago agreed, “but we’ll have ours involved as well.”
“And the third facility? What of it?”
“That’s where Carrie is being held. She’ll be under Alex’s influence, but we can get into her head and read the location. Fast action will be critical or Alex will move the women before we get to them. The slave camps have to be hit at the same time that all of this goes down.”
“And a third team on standby to go after the third camp when we get Carrie,” Riker added.
“Exactly.”
“It’s dangerous,” Riker said. “Everything has to go just right to make this work.”
“We’ll make it work.” Drago pushed to his feet.
They discussed a few more details and agreed that once the stage was set with Alex, Riker had to leave. If his presence were known, if it looked as if Riker was anything but Drago’s enemy, the plan would fail.
“Why don’t you take a little time and talk to your daughter?” Drago suggested. “I’ll wait until you’re ready to leave to call Alex.”
Riker hesitated and then agreed. “I will.”
“I’ll step out to grab her some food. You know. Give you some space and all.”
Riker murmured a quick thank you, then, “Keep her safe, Drago.”
“I plan to,” he said, and walked toward the door, hopeful Riker could begin the healing process with Jolene to overcome the past.
And he could only hope her past didn’t destroy their future.
***
Jolene stood in the kitchen, having finished a two-hour conversation with her father, a coffee mug in her hand. Her head felt clearer now, but she didn’t want to lose any details of the past day that might be important to her future.
Riker appeared in the doorway. “Now that Drago’s set everything up with Alex, I’m taking off.”
She set her mug down and closed the distance between them, hugging him. Though it pleased her that they’d opened up communication, she was sad for the time lost, the time they couldn’t get back. “Be safe,” he murmured.
Jolene leaned back and looked up at him. “You too,” she said, contemplating the danger of their plan to rescue Carrie, but also hopeful of the results. Alex had already agreed to a trade the next night. If all went well, Jolene would have her best friend home soon.
Riker pinned her in a warning stare. “I know how stubborn you are, but Alex is dangerous. Listen to what Drago wants you to do. One mistake could be deadly. I wish you didn’t have to be involved in this at all.”
“I’m well aware of what Alex is like.” She gave him a soft smile, deciding now wasn’t the time to let her independence flare. “Thank you for doing this for me. And for Carrie.”
He kissed her forehead. “Anything for my daughter.”
Fighting tears for the second time that day, Jolene watched her father depart, her breath coming out in a slow, shaky trickle.
She returned to the main room to find Drago setting several bags on the bar, amazed at how she warmed inside at his presence.
He stopped what he was doing when he saw her, simply stood there, staring at her, his dark eyes probing. “Everything go okay with you and Riker?”
“Yes.” She eyed the bags. “Whatever that is smells wonderful. I’m famished.” She wet her lips a bit nervously. They had a lot to talk about, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive. She’d just learned the man was her mate. “I’ll get us something to drink.”
Making her way to the kitchen, she found two glasses, filling them with tea, the only thing she had in the house.
Returning to the bar, she scooted onto a wooden stool next to Drago, settling a glass in front of each of them.
They busied themselves eating, falling into silence, a comfort level between them that longtime lovers might share, despite the untouched subject of their mating.
When Drago reached for his third burger, she spoke up. “Tell me you aren’t eating another one?”
He shrugged. “Two more. Vampires have big appetites. Slayers, even bigger.”
“I guess I have more to learn about vampires than I realized.” She inclined her head a bit. “My mother talked a lot about my father, and I asked a lot of questions.” She smiled. “I never thought to ask how many burgers he could eat in one sitting.”
He returned her smile, his a bit sly. “Now you can ask me those questions.”
She shoved her food away. The edge of her hunger was sated; her desire to know about Drago wasn’t. “There’s a lot I want to know,” she commented. “I feel like I am living in some sort of alternative universe.” She made a vague motion to the bar. “I mean, here we are, eating fast food, having casual conversation. Yet only a few hours ago we were in a sex club.” Intimate, sensual images of her and Drago together flashed in her mind and she suppressed a shiver. “You’d think we were never there. It’s like none of it was real.”
Drago rotated around to face her, and she did the same, moving so her knees were aligned with his. Anticipation swirled inside Jolene, her stomach fluttering like she was a teenager about to be kissed. When his fingers brushed her bottom lip, she felt like she couldn’t breathe.
“It’s all real,” he said, his voice low and sensual. Dark eyes lifted to hers, his hand settling on her knee. “Our bond is real.”
She didn’t know what to say. She knew he was right, but all of this had happened too fast. When she didn’t immediately respond, his hand dropped away from her leg. She missed his touch the minute he withdrew. Missed it in some deep place inside her. Never in her life had she felt this way. Everything around her was falling apart, yet Drago felt safe. Strong. Right.
“I’m trying to digest all of this, that’s all
, Drago. A few days ago, I thought my mother was human. I saw how lonely she was when my father was gone, but still, she loved him. There was no other for her.”
“For a vampire, there is only one mate, Jolene. I didn’t realize how much truth that held until I met you. You don’t know you need or want that person, until they show themselves. A week ago I would have told you I would never mate.”
“And now?”
The words had barely left her lips before Drago’s fingers laced into her hair, his big body moving closer, his woodsy, masculine scent taking her senses by storm. “I have every intention of claiming you, Jolene.” And then his mouth slanted over hers, his tongue sliding past her lips, his kiss hungry, passionate, full of demand.
She melted into him, her hand settling on his chest, everything inside her calling out with acceptance of what this man, this vampire, meant to her. Beyond time, beyond words, he was part of her, her other half. Her soul mate.
Long moments later, Drago drew back enough to speak, their lips close, their breath mingling. “A week ago, I would have claimed no mate existed for me. Now, I can’t imagine a day without you. As much as I want to press you forward, to claim you right this minute, I will wait until you are ready.” His mouth brushed hers. “But I have to warn you. I’ve never been a patient man.”
She slid off the barstool and faced him. Close. So close. Not close enough. “Nor I a patient woman.” She needed assurances on a few things. “Nor will I do as my mother did, and wait by the door for a mate who is never around.”
“As my mate, you have the right to live with me at the council compound in the Adirondack Mountains. And I wouldn’t be working a case like Purple Magic as a mated male.”
This pleased her, but there was one other thing that males of the vampire race were known for. “I’ve lived as a human, Drago. I won’t take orders from you.”
“What if those orders are meant to protect you?”
She shook her head. “No matter how you package an order, it’s an order.” She tilted her head to the side. “Are you willing to share control or not, Drago?”