Courting the Darkness (25 page)

Sean looked between Desiree and Mica, backing away. Drake rolled his eyes. “Mica has rubbed off on you. Don’t mess with my bodyguard.”

Mica squeezed her shoulders and they chuckled quietly together. Drake shook his head, clearly aggravated. “Mica, you and Desiree need to come to my quarters. We have much to discuss.” He locked eyes with Denise, and he nodded. “Denise, you and Caleb—just make yourselves at home.”

Mica and Desiree followed Drake to his quarters. “Shut the door behind you,” Drake remarked, sitting down in his chair. “Please sit.”

Desiree took a chair next to Mica.

Drake studied both of them for a few seconds before he spoke. “Desiree, do you have something you wish to give me?”

She smiled. “Yes, I have created the amulets that you requested. Mica and Denise can attest to you that they do work.” She looked over at Mica, smiling. “Mica, could you please give Drake the amulets?” He nodded, handing Drake the bag. She winked at Mica. “Thanks.”

Drake took the bag and looked inside. Reaching in, he pulled out an amulet on a gold chain, gazing curiously at the charm. “This is it?” He looked up from the amulet to her. “I just wear this and walk outside? You don’t have to say a spell or anything?”

“No, that’s it. Just be sure you have it on when you walk outside. It will protect you.” “Thank you for that. I told you that you could have something that you wanted in return.” He studied her for a moment. “What is it that you want?”

Mica reached over, squeezing her hand for encouragement. She looked Drake in the eyes. “I want my freedom. I want to be able to leave here with Mica.”

He sat back in his chair and looked between the two. He sighed. “I’ll take it into consideration.”

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. “But you said I could have anything I want.” She looked over at Mica and he squeezed her hand again. “Drake, that’s not fair,” she huffed. “Mica said you were an honorable man and you would keep your word. What I want won’t cost you one red cent.”

He raised an eyebrow at her attitude. “I beg to differ with you.” His voice was calm. “I have much to lose if I let you go. You have proven to be a very valuable commodity. I’m not so sure I want to release you just yet.”

Tears of rage and frustration trailed down her cheeks. “I am not a possession!”

Mica placed a hand on her knee and addressed his friend calmly. “Drake, you need to let her go.”

He cocked his head, studying Mica “Let’s talk about your part in all this. You were supposed to rescue her and bring her straight back here. You weren’t supposed to making any detours. Why is it that she comes back attached to you?”

He raised an eyebrow at Drake, shrugging. “I decided I wanted her.”

His eyes met Mica’s in challenge. “What if I was to tell you that you can’t have her?”

Mica’s eyes flashed red. “I will fight for her if necessary,” he snarled, and Desiree shrunk back in the chair away from both of the alpha-male vampires.

Drake rose from his throne to tower over them. “Are you challenging me, your king?”

Mica stood, almost matching him in height. “I am if you’re threatening to take my mate from me. She belongs to me.”

Desiree jumped from the chair and her knees buckled beneath her. “Stop it!” she screamed. “Mica, please don’t do this. I couldn’t bear to lose you.” Her plea had no effect on the two warring vampires circling each other, each looking for the best advantage. A sudden anger consumed her. Standing back up on her feet, she glared at Drake. Bringing both her hands up over her head, a large fireball formed between them. “Drake!” she shouted in a commanding voice. “I protect what is mine! Back off.” Both men stopped, staring at her in disbelief. She raised her chin in defiance. “I protect what is mine,” she repeated.

What Drake did next, shocked them both. He laughed. “I underestimated her from the beginning. She would have made a great warrior vampire. It’s too bad she’s been mated already to one of us. She would have been a challenge.” He sat back down. “Relax, Mica; I won’t take your mate from you. It’s obvious that she is just as protective of you as you are of her.”

“I’ll take that under advisement. I’ll think this over and let you know my decision later. In the meantime, tell me what happened in the cave. How did you escape the silver cage and chains?”

This was the subject they needed desperately to talk to Drake about, but were dreading the most. She looked away from Drake. “You told me get creative.”

He raised an eyebrow to her sudden timid attitude. “Yes, I told you to be creative until we got there…Why the sudden change in attitude, Desiree?”

She blew out a frustrated breath, glaring at him. “I got creative. I couldn’t fight twenty vampires by myself, so I wrote a spell,” She looked away again. Drake crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to continue. She glanced over at him and saw that he was still waiting. She put her hands on her hips. “I chanted a spell that would make the vampires see the sun and feel its rays. The only way they could escape the pain was to hide in the shadows until my task was done. There, I said it.”

He nodded his head. “Actually, that’s pretty clever.”

“Yeah, I thought so too until Mica told me that they will come after me for that.” She paced the floor. “Drake, they’re going to follow us here, and they’ll be looking for my blood.”

“No, we could use the distraction.” He laughed at her shocked expression. “We are a warrior clan. Fighting is in our nature. Besides, I didn’t give you much of a choice. I left it up to you to save your mate. You did what you had to do.”

“Yes, I did.”

Drake looked over at Mica. “Mica, what in the hell was Denise doing with you and Caleb?”

Mica scratched his head, looking at Desiree. She shrugged. “Caleb was jealous of my relationship with Desiree. He took off and stayed out all night partying. Apparently, during that time, he called Denise to come save me from being involved with a human.” Drake shook with laughter. “It was a very big mess.”

“It sounds like it.” He pointed his finger between them. “Tell me, how did you get Caleb to back off?”

“Caleb waited until Mica was making a security patrol. He tried to force himself on me,” She shrugged. “I rammed my knee in his groin, and I thought that would end it, but then he morphed and tried to attack me.” The smile left Drake’s face. “Mica came back into the cavern in time to fight him off. Mica kicked him out and put him on a bus back to New Orleans, but he didn’t stay on the bus. He showed back up again after Denise got there. He arrived just in time to hear me tell Denise that I didn’t have any feelings for him. Mica threatened to kill him and he finally backed off. He has now set his attentions on Denise.” Desiree laughed. “I haven’t had this much attention in my entire life.”

“Denise…” Drake threw his head back and laughed. “So what does Denise say about all this?”

She shook her head, continuing to laugh at his reaction. “Mostly she threatens to kill him, or cause him great bodily harm.”

“That sounds like Denise. Denise can take care of herself. If she really wants Caleb to back off, then he’ll back off or suffer the consequences.” He sobered and looked Mica in the eyes. “Do you think you can trust Caleb after all this?”

“I had never had any reason not to trust Caleb until this. In the beginning, when the rivalry first started, I could sense that he wasn’t being truthful. Before all hell broke loose, I could sense Caleb’s hostility, and at that time, I knew I couldn’t trust him with Desiree. A lot’s happened these last few days. Caleb’s finally given up on his quest for Desiree; I can sense his change in attitude. I remember him going through something similar to this about three hundred years ago and his pack almost killed him. He seems to be back to his old self now. Although it will take some time to totally trust him again, I think eventually I can.”

“When this clan shows up to fight, you’re going to have to be able to trust him.” Drake shook his head. “Otherwise, you need to send him home. I don’t want to be ambushed from the inside of our own ranks.”

Mica thought about it for a minute. “I trust Caleb to back me up in a fight. Whether or not he wants to stay and help is another matter.”

“When do you think this other clan will arrive here?”

“I’m sure they’re on their way right now, but since they won’t be able to travel in the daylight, it will be tomorrow evening before we should expect to see trouble.”

He gave Desiree and Mica an apprehensive look, then glanced back at Drake. “Yes, sire.” He turned to Desiree and Mica. “You can follow me.” He walked out of the room, refusing to meet their eyes.

It was obvious that Drake had dismissed them, so Desiree and Mica followed Sean to her new quarters. Sean opened the door, motioning for them to go inside. “I put the bags you had packed from your apartment in here,” he remarked as he backed away from the room.

“Thank you, Sean.” She looked around; her attention was on the lavish room in front of her. This room was almost as posh as Drake’s. She walked up to the king-sized bed, gingerly running her palm over the silk duvet. “Do all vampires live this well?”

“No, not all vampires, but many of us have amassed great fortunes over the years. Those of us who live outside the masses usually live well.”

She continued to look around the room in awe. “Does the inside of your house look like this?”

He walked up behind her, putting his arms around her and pulling her close. “No, I don’t care for all this flash. I prefer it a bit toned down. Drake’s the one who likes to flaunt his wealth. I prefer to just live in comfort.” He gestured to the room with his hand. “You won’t mind not having all…this glitter and sparkle, do you?”

“No, I’d live in a hovel if it meant being able to stay with you. Wherever you live will be fine with me.”

His laughter rumbled from deep in his chest. “I’m glad to hear you say that, but I would hardly call a ten bedroom mansion a hovel.” She caught her breath. “I even have a couple of servants and it looks like I’m going to have to hire a cook now too.”

She laughed with him. “I’m glad to hear you say that. I really didn’t want to live in a hovel either, but if you saw my last apartment, you would understand. I’ve lived in worse conditions over the years.”

“Why? You are powerful enough to conjure almost anything you want. Why live like that?”

She turned to look at him. “I’ve spent most of my life trying to hide from the Hargrove family. I had to keep a very low profile so that they couldn’t find me. I had managed to do a fairly good job of that until my landlady decided to snoop around my apartment when I wasn’t there. She discovered that I was a witch and broadcasted that information everywhere. That’s where Drake heard about me, and that’s how Jason found me.”

“Are you looking for revenge?”

She smiled. “No, everything worked out okay in the end. She put me through a lot of trouble, but I wouldn’t have met you without her meddling.”

She bit her bottom lip, grinning. “Forget about the landlady; she wasn’t trying to do me any favors. She thinks I’m the devil’s spawn.” He raised both eyebrows at that statement. “Believe me, she wouldn’t appreciate anything coming from me. Besides, do you realize that this is the first time in almost two days that we’ve been alone? I don’t really want to spend that time talking about her.”

“If you’re going to put it that way, I don’t either. In fact, I think we might just have time to spend several hours together—alone.”

She put her arms around his neck, smiling. “Ooh, a couple of hours alone with you. The gods must be smiling on me now.” Grabbing the hem of his shirt, she inched it up his torso. “Come here, handsome, let me ravish you now.”

He pulled his shirt up over his head, letting it drop to the floor, smiling at her choice of words. “It’s rather difficult to ravish a willing partner, but you can have your way if you wish.” He stepped out of his leather pants.

She grinned and shrugged out of her own shirt. “I want much more from you than my way.” Stepping out of her shoes, she shimmied out of her jeans. “Much more.” She ran her hands over his washboard abs. Smiling, she stared into his eyes, inching her fingers around his hard erection. Her eyes never left his.