Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (24 page)

When her mind began to swirl faintly, she plucked the bay leaf from her mouth, crossed to the brew pot and laid it on top of the small lavender flowers and stems.

Time to get cleaned up. She slid into a robe, gathered up a fresh set of clothes and crossed the hall to the bathroom, the only one in her small house.

Once in the shower, she dipped beneath the spray.

Nothing could have felt better than the stream of hot water hitting her neck and shoulders. She washed her hair as well since the explosion had given her an odd metallic smell.

She’d always found showers a cleansing experience on more than one level. Given what she’d just been through, she spoke a series of incantations to purify her soul, her body and her home from all bad influences. She thought perhaps in this way, her desire for Connor might be eased as well.

When she finally shut the shower off, a new wind blew through the bathroom, smelling of thyme again.

“Violet, you’re here? Again?” She was surprised to have another visit. In all this time, she might have felt her sister’s presence on occasion, but never with this level of connection which also involved telepathy.

Yes, I’m here, Iris
. A sense of urgency accompanied her words.

“I can feel that you’re distressed. What’s wrong? Is there something you need me to do?”

Save Connor
.

She wondered if she’d heard right. “You want me to save Connor?”

Yes
.

Iris would have asked what she meant, but just like that, the wind swept from the room and Violet was gone.

Iris stood very still for a long time processing the strange conversation. But it made no sense. Why did Connor need saving?

***

Deep in the garden, Connor stared up at the owl named Sebastien. He was a sturdy-looking, beige and brown predator bird and sat on one of several large branches of Iris’s massive Sissoo tree. As a forest creature, he was way out of his element in the desert, yet he looked at home in Iris’s garden.

Connor had never been in a witch’s dwelling before and what he’d seen earlier had stunned him. Plants grew everywhere within her home, in dozens of pots and containers, many of them creeping over trellises and latticework attached to the walls. A yellow cat had sat near the legs of the dining table, watching him as he moved around the small rooms. Her house might be a detached home, but it wasn’t much bigger than his townhouse.

And here in the garden, he felt as though the plants were all leaning toward him and trying to talk to him. It was odd, yet pleasant in a way he couldn’t explain.

He was definitely in Elegance.

“Everything okay?”

He heard Iris’s voice and turned toward her. At the same moment, a wind suddenly hit him in the back. He even lurched forward a couple of steps.

The same gust flowed in Iris’s direction. When it reached her, she held out both hands and closed her eyes, savoring whatever this was.

A few seconds later, the night was once more very still. “What was that?”

“Violet, my deceased sister. She’s been active tonight, though I’m not sure why. I think she’s worried about me.”

As she moved onto the patio near what appeared to be a small workroom on the right, she stopped near a tall lattice of blooming purple flowers. He watched the flowers sway in her direction. It was like seeing music take physical shape. The cat crossed the threshold behind her. The owl hooted.

Iris looked beautiful. Her hair was damp from her shower, and she wore it in the usual ponytail, which in turn framed her lovely features. She had angled cheekbones, a creamy complexion and full lips. She wore another snug, short-sleeved t-shirt, jeans and a pair of sturdy running shoes.

A calm came over him. A decision made. He knew exactly what he was going to do, what he’d been wanting to do for a long time. The time and place were right. After all, he was in Iris’s garden.

“Come here,” he said, waving her forward. What needed to happen had to be with the approval of her owl, as well as the yellow cat now rubbing around her ankles. At the same time, he unclipped his holster and the sword sheath, setting his weapons on the grass.

She looked serious as she began to walk toward him, her eyes wide. A soft vibration of energy moved from plant to plant, following her as she took each step. He felt it all and it only increased his need for her.

“Connor?” She stood a couple of polite feet away. Her gaze flipped over his Glock and his sword, then back to him.

“I love your garden,” he said quietly. He glanced down at the cat, who sat and stared up at him. Approval? He looked up at the owl, who appeared to dip his head. Definitely approval.

He closed the distance and drew Iris into his arms.

He heard her gasp faintly. Would she reject him? Struggle against him?

He felt a tension in her, but he kissed her anyway, a firm demanding kiss. He teased the seam of her lips with his tongue, but she didn’t part for him.

A moment passed, then another and her tension remained. Yet still he kissed her.

When she didn’t respond, he finally drew back.

Her eyes were still wide, but she didn’t move away from him.

Had he offended her? Had he misunderstood the signs? Wasn’t she interested?

But her gaze fell to his lips and she uttered a soft, almost anguished cry. Then she was on him, her arms wrapped around his neck, almost as desperately as when she’d flown through the air with him. She kissed him fiercely, his lips, his cheeks, his chin. He’d never experienced anything like it.

All his concern fled and he tightened his arms around her so he could feel the full length of her. He returned her kiss, dragging his tongue over her lips once more. When she opened for him, he uttered a heavy groan and drove inside.

How many times had he imagined being right here, in her garden, the woman in his arms. His doubts that she might not have the same need melted away. He gave himself to the kiss, his cock already hard and ready, his hands sliding over her back then her bottom, caressing her.

It would take so little to bring her the rest of the way. She was as ready for him as he was anxious to enter her body. It became his mission to bring her to a roaring orgasm.

But after a moment, when the initial wave passed, he released her just enough to meet her gaze. “I’ve wanted to do that for months now, ever since I saw you at the Tribunal comforting that woman.”

“Which woman?”

“I have no idea. But I’ve been hooked since.”

She rested her arms on his shoulders. “I want to be with you Connor. I do. Even though you’re a vampire. You’ve proven yourself in so many ways. You have a good, decent heart.”

His turn to dip his chin. “That’s part of it, isn’t it? Because I value who you are as well, even though you’re a species I despise.”

“Exactly.”

No recriminations. They’d both lived in the world long enough to accept what each was. “But we have a job to do right now.”

She nodded.

He didn’t want to let go of her. He was afraid if he did, he’d never find his way back to this moment. And somehow, making love to her had become a critical part of his future, his life.

She released him. “Let me get my Sig.” She moved back into the house, returning with her sidearm clipped to her belt. “Gary’s place is still in Rotten Row, right?”

“Yep. And the Row has gotten worse in recent years. Just wanted you to know.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m allowed to carry a gun.”

He offered her a half-smile. “You might get to kill some vampires tonight.”

“In the line of duty, I have no problem taking out bad guys, no matter what species. And don’t let my looks fool you. I’m not squeamish. Plus, I can use my killing power to bring down just about anyone, if needed.”

Connor repressed a sigh. She’d just reminded him why he should be keeping his distance.

An odd expression crossed her face and her gaze drifted up into the night sky. “Connor, we’re not alone.”

Connor picked up his holster from off the grass and drew his Glock into his hand. He bent his knees and tilted his head to also look up into the sky.

Christ, what now?

***

Iris felt his sudden intensity like a wave of heat flowing over her.

She drew close to Connor. She could feel the vampire hovering but saw nothing in the dark sky.

Vampires could partially disguise themselves from her kind, but she wondered if Connor would be able to get a visual of a fellow creature. “Do you see anything?”

“No,” he said quietly. “But you’re right. He’s there.”

A moment later, the sensation passed. She always knew when Connor left and it was the same now with this new intruder. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Yep. He took off.” She watched Connor clip his holster back on his belt then slide the gun inside.

“Who do you think it was? Were we followed?”

Connor shook his head. “I haven’t a clue on either count. But he was probably connected to all the other events tonight.”

“I have an idea.” She put her hand on his chest. “Take me into the air right now. I want to try something.”

“Is this a witch thing?”

She nodded. “Yes. You okay with that?”

He offered a half-smile. “With you I am.”

Iris’s heart swelled, loving that he trusted her.

Connor moved her to his left side, then lifted her onto his boot. When she had one arm wrapped around his neck, he drew her tight against his side. “Do you feel secure like this?”

“I’ll get used to it.”

With his right hand, he palmed his Glock once more, then rose slowly into the air. “Let me know when you want to stop.”

She put her free hand on his chest for balance, but forced herself to watch her garden recede. “Keep going,” she murmured. “Higher until I tell you to stop.”

She said nothing more for thirty feet, then forty. But another few yards and even he could feel the disturbed quality of the air. He halted at about the same time she told him they’d gone far enough.

“You feel it too?” she whispered.

“I do.”

She closed her eyes and he knew she’d engaged in witch-mode. After a few seconds, she shivered suddenly.

“What?”

“I feel him, Connor. Though he’s gone, he’s left behind a sense of himself. He’s very dark and angry and there seems to be a kind of madness in him. And he’s powerful. But there’s something more. He feels familiar to me. Someone I met, but not recently. I just can’t quite figure out who.”

A moment later, she shook her head. “It’s gone. You can take me back to the garden. Also, there’s something critical I feel I must do before we leave.”

Connor lowered her swiftly.

Once on solid ground, she went into her workroom where earlier she had almost employed a spell to get rid of her desire for Connor. Her efforts this time, however, had nothing to do with him.

Using pestle and mortar, she quickly pulverized the resin of dragon’s blood into a powder. When she had a sufficient quantity, she moved into the house then headed straight to the front door. Bending down, she spread a thin line next to the entire threshold for security.

She did the same at the French doors that opened onto her garden. Her plants swayed and moved with her as she silently invoked an incantation of protection. Not in all her years in Five Bridges had she felt the need to shield her home.

Then she’d been called to Amado Bridge and everything had changed.

She spread a final line inside her bedroom French doors and felt the protection lock into place.

When she turned toward Connor, she saw that he watched her with a concerned frown pulling his brows together. “What did you just do? Because I felt as though your garden was ready to start a riot.”

She explained about the spell. “I’ve just never had to worry before. Connor, what’s happening here? I don’t know what I’ve done to have brought this down on my head.”

Connor drew close. “That’s what we need to find out and remember, you’re not alone here. I’m in this as much as you are.”

“Right. Well, then we need to get to Rotten Row and see what Big Nuts has to say.”

Connor was a fast flyer, which indicated his basic power level as a vampire as well as his age.

His path led him on a northwesterly course back into Crescent Territory closer to Amado Bridge than to his home at the east end. She never traveled to Rotten Row on her own and the Tribunal had refused to send TPS officers to any of the crime scenes located in that area of Crescent.

Rotten Row was run by several gangster types, each into drug-running, human trafficking and prostitution. The three main drug-lords had numerous establishments there as well.

She felt Connor slow his speed, though he remained well up in the air, at least forty feet. She realized she’d gained confidence in his flying ability and was able to look down all the time now.

Gaudy lights flashed from nearly every venue down a street that extended a full four miles. A variety of music pulsed in the air, most of it loud. Hundreds of young women, a good number of them human and dressed in next to nothing, strolled the sidewalk.

Cars cruised, pulling over often. Women would get in and maybe they’d never be seen again. Or they’d be dumped in No Man’s Land, a desolate place in the middle of Five Bridges also called The Graveyard. None of the five species lived in that pitted, barren area.

“You keep sighing.”

“I do? I hadn’t realized I was. But this is so hard to take, this part of our world. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever make progress.”

“I know what you mean.” Connor cruised at a slow pace now, but still well above the lights.

“Did you know that when the Tribunal clean-up squads go out to the Graveyard at dawn, they cart off as many as twenty bodies every night, most of them women? And oftentimes a couple of them aren’t even dead.”

“I know. We’ve got a tragedy on our hands.”

Early on, before becoming a TPS officer, she’d gotten a job at the Tribunal. She’d been assigned to the missing persons desk. Residents of Phoenix would call to report that a loved one had disappeared and her job would be to locate them if possible, which was rarely.