Good, the Bad, and the Vampire (7 page)

Get out of my head, cowboy.

You started it, missy. It's been a hell of a long time since I've been able to telepath with anyone. My maker's been gone the better part of fifty years and I have no siblings or progeny
. A sound of contentment, almost a growl, rumbled through his words and sent a shiver over her wet naked flesh.
I ain't gonna lie, if this is one of the perks of bein' bloodmates, then I am all for it.

Trixie froze. He knew. Damn it all. Her only saving grace had been that she hadn't thought he knew what was going on. So much for her having some time to figure everything out. She snagged a fluffy towel off the rack beside the sink and dried herself off with furious strokes.

You finally caught up, I see? Took you long enough.

Xavier brought me up to speed, but shame on you, Trixie
. Dakota's gritty laugh rolled around her in annoyingly enticing waves.
You knew what was happening in the dream last night but you played dumb. I'll have to remember that look on your face.

What look?

The innocent wide-eyed thing. That's your tell, darlin'. Next time I see it, I'll know you're lyin'
.

Don't presume to think you know something about me because we shared a totally stupid dream.

I know you better than you think I do. I suppose the universe knew what it was doin' when it paired us up.

There is no us. There's you. There's me. And there's a bloodmate legend. That's it. We don't have to participate in it if we don't want to—and I don't want to. I am not interested in being bound to anyone or anything. I like my life. If I'm going to be with a man, it will be exactly that—because I want to be with him. Get it? Not because I have to be.

Silence filled the air and for a moment she thought that he'd broken the connection.

I couldn't agree more
. His voice whispered through her head in a low seductive murmur.
I've wanted you since the first time I laid eyes on you. But if you don't want to commit to a bloodmate bond with me, then I won't make you.

Are you serious?
Trixie scoffed out loud as she got dressed.
You don't want to force the issue.

I may be many things, darlin', but I have never forced a woman to be with me and I sure as hell won't start now. You have a nice night.

There was no mistaking it this time. When Dakota severed their mental link, an odd aching emptiness filled Trixie's chest. She rubbed at it absently, as though that physical movement would make it go away. But it was no use. Dakota wasn't going anywhere and neither was the unseen connection between them.

* * *

Luckily the club wasn't as busy as usual and Maya didn't balk when Trixie said she had to leave early. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about Chelsea or, more importantly, Suzie's vision. All of Trixie's protective instincts were on overdrive, and all she could focus on that night was getting out to the cabin to make sure Chelsea was okay.

Trixie knew she wasn't a particularly smart person. That had been evident in the choices she'd made when she was human. But she did trust her gut. Her gut—that inner voice that warned her about danger, the one that had grown loud and trustworthy as a vampire—was never ever wrong.

Her gut had told her something was up at the cabin but she'd been thrown off her game when Dakota arrived. Damn him and this stupid bloodmate legend. It was messing with her life already, and it had only just begun.

Trixie flew through the cool spring evening as fast as her powers would allow her. Maybe she should have broken the no-live-feeds rule this one time. The rush of blood from a living, breathing human always boosted her powers. As she whisked over the tall pine trees, the scent of the woods filled her head.

The lights of the little cabin twinkled in the distance and some of the tension instantly eased from her neck. When the familiar and enticing of scent of sandalwood filled the air, though, any serenity she had found was immediately gone.

Dakota.

Anxiety mixed with uncertainty shimmied through her body, and just when she was about to shout his name into the night, the son of a bitch flew up in front of her and blocked her path. She swore loudly and dove around him in midair before coming to a screeching halt. The two of them must have looked like quite the sight, hovering above the treetops, but Trixie didn't care. She didn't give a rat's ass if anyone saw them, because she was too annoyed.

“What's the matter, darlin'?” Dakota drawled. He hovered in front of her, the edges of his leather coat fluttering in the air around him. “Surprised to see me?”

Too irritated to speak, Trixie set her mouth in a tight line as she pointed furiously toward the ground. Not watching to see if he followed, she dropped noiselessly onto the forest floor. If she was going to have it out with him, it was probably not smart to do it up in the air. He had way more battle time than she did, and she'd be able to handle him much easier if she had her feet under her.

Hands on her hips, she fought to keep her growing frustration under control, to say nothing of the unwelcome surge of desire she experienced with increasing frequency. A subtle disturbance in the air behind her, combined with Dakota's intriguing scent, let her know the cowboy had landed.

“You gonna speak to me or are you gonna stand there all night with your panties in a bunch?”

Trixie kept her gaze fixed on the little white lights in the distance that peeked out between the trees. Seeing the cottage and knowing Chelsea was close gave her some peace. But not much.

“Why did you come back here?” she asked quietly. “I told you to stay away. Not only that but stalking me is not cool either.”

Trixie turned around, surprised to find Dakota mere inches away. His towering form filled the space, making the woods feel claustrophobic as the force of his presence seemed to surround her. The sharp edges and dark curves of his face were highlighted by the silvery-blue slashes of his eyes. They stood out in the moonlit shadows and stirred a flurry of sensations she'd all but forgotten.

She didn't know if she wanted to fight him or fuck him. Fear had a funny way of screwing with her senses.

The air around them hummed with awareness.

It wasn't
him
that frightened her.

Trixie was terrified of the way Dakota made her feel, the way her body responded to his, and the invisible pull that grew stronger with each encounter. Warmth. A tiny tingling at first was swiftly swelling into a tantalizing burn. A little wasn't enough. She wanted more of the delicious heat that simmered in her belly every time he was nearby.

That sensation was addictive; he would be too.

And the idea of being addicted to anyone or anything else ever again was completely terrifying.

She did not want to revert to the pathetic human girl of her past. And she'd been a mess. A pathetic drug-addled disaster who had made one bad choice after another. She refused to go back to that girl, to that way of living, ever again. Getting addicted to Dakota or the way he made her feel was not going to happen. If she was
this
attracted to him
before
a blood exchange, what the hell would she feel after one?

Dependent. Needy. Pathetic.

“Answer me.” Trixie kept her hands at her side and her stance balanced, wanting to be ready for anything. “I asked you—no, scratch that—I
told
you not to come back. But here you are, bold as shit. So what gives?”

“Just followin' up on somethin'.” He shrugged casually. “That's all.”

“There's nothing to follow up on.” She squared her shoulders and lightened her tone. “She's a regular human woman. Can't you just let it alone?”

Silence hung between them and an owl hooted in the distance.

“Why are you always lookin' to pick a fight with me?” He tilted his head and the smooth, even sound of his voice curled around her in the dark. “Look at the way you're standin'. I know a fight stance when I see one, and you shift into one almost every time I'm around. Now, why do you suppose that is?”

His expression was serious but his tone was playful, and it confused the hell out her. What was his endgame?

“Hang on.” Trixie shook her head and held up both hands. “Wait just one damn minute. Stop answering my questions with another question. Okay?”

“Why?” His lips tilted and he shifted his body nearer. “Am I finally crackin' that tough shell you have wrapped around you?”

The tingling in her belly turned to throbs, and her fangs hummed as his hungry gaze met hers. Trixie had the unmistakable sense of being hunted. That's what he was doing. Dakota was sniffing around and hunting for answers to questions she didn't want to face. Ever.

The man was attracting her and repelling her at the same time, and the entire situation was making her dizzy.

“See?” She took a step back as awareness hummed through her blood. “Another question.”

“Yup.” He winked and kept moving toward her. “I'm full of 'em.”

“You're full of something, alright.”

“I never could walk away from a curious situation. My mama told me it was gonna get me in trouble someday, and I guess she was right. After all, it was my curious nature that got me turned vamp.” His voice, a raspy whisper, fluttered over Trixie as a cool breeze whisked through the trees. “Who is Chelsea? Why are you so dang sad every time you look at little Emily? And
why
are you hell-bent on fightin' with me when all I want is to be your friend?”

“My friend?” She scoffed. “Not my bloodmate?”

“Yeah. What's the matter? You have so many friends you don't need one more?” He frowned. “And why do the two have to be mutually exclusive? If you ask me, the woman I'm meant to spend eternity with damn well better be my friend.”

“Okay,
friend
.” She held up two hands to stop him from getting any closer, but of course he kept coming. “There's not going to be any
eternity
togetherness. How about you stop with the twenty questions and answer my one.”

She could have run or flown away but she didn't. She
knew
she shouldn't entertain this unhealthy attraction to Dakota, but she also couldn't resist it. God. What the hell was wrong with her?

“I told you.” Dakota's hands hung at his sides but she sensed tension in his broad-shouldered frame. “I came out here to follow up on somethin' and it doesn't have to do with your friend Chelsea. Not directly anyway.”

“What are you talking about?” Frustration, sexual and otherwise, shimmied up her back. At least the bloodmate revelation explained why she was ridiculously attracted to him. Unaware of what was behind her, she bumped into a tree and hit her head. “Ouch. Damn it.”

She went to rub at the sore spot on her scalp, but Dakota's large warm hand cupped the back of her head with lightning speed, beating her to it. Trixie's entire body stilled and her fingers settled over Dakota's while he tenderly rubbed where the tree had left its mark. Her back pressed into the bark, her black leather jacket protecting her flesh from any further injury. She stilled when the firm planes of his leather-clad thighs brushed over hers.

The man in front of her was far more dangerous than the stupid tree, and if she allowed herself to explore the attraction, she really would get hurt. Flesh wounds knit easily but blows to the heart were another story altogether. He was picking at old scars that would never fully heal.

“Careful, now.” His voice, almost a soothing as his touch, was quietly commanding in the darkness of the woods. “It'll get better in a blink, but I'm sure it stung like hell. See? Now if I could add one more perk to being a vamp, it would be no pain. I mean, it's real nice that we heal fast and all that, but gettin' shot or stabbed still hurts like a bitch. Especially silver. That sting sticks around for too damn long.”

Trixie swallowed hard and dropped her hand to her side but Dakota didn't let go. His fingers threaded through her hair and fluttered along her scalp, the movement tender and seductive. Had
anyone
ever touched her with such reverence and gentleness?

The answer was a resounding no.

She'd had sex since being turned vamp and plenty of it. But it was all flesh and bone. Quickies with willing human men in the darkest corners of the city, with men who never knew her name or even cared to ask. It was about satisfying an urge, scratching an itch with quick furious strokes.

Sex in Trixie's world—human or vampire—had never been tender.

Even though she and Dakota weren't having sex right now, and they were both fully clothed, he was touching her more intimately and seductively than anyone had in her entire existence.

“It's fine,” she whispered shakily. “You can let me go now.”

“It's not fine.” Dakota's hand slid along the nape of her neck as he shook his head slowly. “And I don't think I want to let you go. Not even a little bit. In fact, I'm just gettin' started with you.”

“Why?” Her voice trembled as a storm of confusion swirled inside her. “What do you want from me, Dakota?”

“I'm not entirely sure.” He cupped her face gently and swept his thumb along her cheek. “But let's start with gettin' to know each other. I've been here for almost two years, and until a couple of weeks ago, you'd barely said three words to me. And now that we know we're…you know…”

“Don't say the
B
word. Please, this whole situation has me totally freaked out.” Trixie studied him closely, looking for any sign of deception, trying to see if he really was the good guy he claimed to be. “I-I'm not good with men. My track record sucks.”