To Woo A Warrior (Southern Sanctuary) (19 page)

Throwing down the hand towel she
smiled at herself.  She could do
this,
even bad
sex with Vaughn would no doubt be ten times better than with any other
man.  Way to think positive Hadleigh.  Turning she strode back into
the living room with every intention of putting on her best breathy seductive
voice and telling Vaughn she was ready to move this show in to the bedroom.

Chapter Nineteen

Best laid plans and all that.  In
the living room the overhead lights were all blazing, the TV was off and Vaughn
was pacing the room as he talked on his mobile, his expression grim.
 Glancing up noting Hadleigh’s return his eyes blazed solar flare hot,
then
he blinked and carefully banked all that heat. 
Putting his hand over the phone for a split second to give her an update on
what was going on.  “The boys have lost Xander.”

“Damn.  Kidnapped?”  She
strode over to the sofa, sitting down to yank on her sandals.

“We’ll be there in fifteen.” 
He snapped the phone shut. “They don’t know what happened.  One moment he
was there, the next he was gone. 
Drum’s tracking him
now.”

“I should change.”  She was in
date clothes not work clothes.

Vaughn shook his head, reaching out
to grab her hand in his.  “They’re in the club district.  Better to
stay as you are and blend in.”  Sighing he pushed back his hair. 
“This was not how I wanted this night to end. I was looking forward to walking
you back to your apartment and kissing you goodnight outside.” 

Hadleigh blinked, the man really was
strange.  She’d been about to offer sex and he was talking about walking
her home and kissing her goodnight. “
Er
… how sweet.”

His smile transformed into a grin as
he turned and started towards the door, pulling her along in his wake. 
“Not really.  The kiss I was envisaging had you backed up against the
door, your legs wrapped around my waist and your hands doing naughty things to
previously unexplored parts of my body.” 

Hadleigh was glad Vaughn had his
back to her so he didn’t have to see her mouth drop open or her nipples
tighten.  Scratch that sweet
thought,
the man
really was an infuriating tease.

*                  
*                     
*

Marcus was waiting for them outside
the club, tablet computer in hand.  Vivid blue eyes trained on their
approach with an intensity that Hadleigh found mildly unsettling.  It was
as if Marcus with only a single look could catalogue all her strengths and
weaknesses and determine in an instant the best way to exploit her to meet his
own ends.  Whatever he found when he looked at her must have met with his
approval as the edges of his lips twitched with a wry smile.

“Status?”  Vaughn requested a
report.

“No sign as yet.”

“How did he get out the club without
one of you seeing him?”

“Well that’s where things get
interesting.  Dash followed X to the men’s room but didn’t go in. 
Ten minutes go by and no X, so Dash goes in to look and nada.  X is just
plain gone.  That’s when we started tracking him.  Drum figures he’s
been out of our care for roughly twenty-five minutes.”  Marcus handed over
two
ear
pieces and then showed them a map on his
tablet.  “This is your search grid.  I’ll take command post here;
Flynn is flying, Dash is doing rooftops, Rafe to the South, Drum West, Nate
East.  We figure a fifteen block radius.”

“Good.”  Vaughn nodded, fitting
his
ear piece
.  “Anything else?”

Marcus paused.  “Drum thinks he
scented Serena about a half a block away from here.  It’s faint, maybe
transference.”

Vaughn frowned.  “Fuck. 
Is Serena involved in this voluntarily or not? Haven’t you been able to find
out anything on her whereabouts?”

Marcus gave a sharp negative shake
of his head.  “It’s like she’s left the planet.  Either she doesn’t want
to be found or someone has gone to a lot of trouble to disappear her.”

Vaughn sighed in frustration. 
“Just tell everyone to keep their eyes peeled.”

So that’s how Hadleigh found herself
walking the humid night streets of downtown Atlanta hand in hand with
Vaughn.  “I might need that hand.”

Vaughn shrugged off her
statement.  “You’re ambidextrous with weapons, you’ll be fine.  We
need to blend.”  He shot her a smile.  “Plus I really just like
holding your hand.”

“That I had already guessed.” 
Hadleigh peered down an alleyway.  “What do you think is going on?”

“I wish I knew.”  Vaughn
scowled at a hunched over street kid who eyed them a little too hungrily. 
The kid’s eyes widened at being caught scoping them out, hurrying away into the
shadows.  “The fact that Serena might be involved in this, well it kind of
changes things.”

“Meaning that those earlier attacks
had to be about Xander?”

“Yeah.”  Vaughn admitted
reluctantly.  “If Serena is involved somehow, then it destroys my theory
that the attacks were directed at you.”

“Me!  I thought we had agreed
that it was Xander they were after.”

“Whoever is behind this tipped their
hand in Washington.  But why attack with the entire team present if Xander
was their primary target?  The guy’s a null.  He lives in a minimally
secure home in midtown.  They could have taken him anytime.  
Then to compound things they follow up two nights later at a public location
like the fun park? Again, if Xander
was
their primary
target they wouldn’t need to be sending
paralyxis
spiders
and a demon.  They could have just sent a Mary Kaye rep to his front door
with a rag soaked in chloroform.”

“Maybe the public attacks were set
up to lure Serena out of hiding.  When that failed, whoever is behind this
decided to bait a more elaborate trap by taking Xander.”

Vaughn shrugged and sighed, stopping
beside a noisy club door, flashing a photo of Xander at the bouncer. 
“Seen him tonight?”  The bouncer looked up at Vaughn, backing up a step in
fear before shaking his head fast in response.  They continued walking,
Vaughn’s eyes shifting constantly, assessing every shadow for a threat.
 “Your theory is as good as any that I can come up with.”

Hadleigh moved a little closer to
Vaughn as several couples bustled past laughing and talking loudly.  Unexpectedly
her sandal caught on a crack in the pavement sending her ramming hard into
Vaughn’s side.  He looked down and smiled.  “If you wanted to snuggle
Honey...
” 
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders
pulling her in tight. “You just had to ask.”

“Ha.”  Hadleigh tried to shake
him loose but he wouldn’t budge. 

Another group of people were
approaching. 

Vaughn squeezed her shoulders
gently.  “Smile and act like you’re on a date.  Which reminds me, we
need to discuss our next date, lucky number three.  I’m thinking a
romantic dinner for two somewhere with a nice view.”

“What is it you want from me?” 
Okay she hadn’t meant to blurt the question out quite that bluntly.

“Well in a perfect world you might
smile, throw yourself into my arms and whisper throatily in my ear that you’d
love to go out to dinner with me.”

“No, I meant what’s your end
game?  We go on another date,
then
a few more I
presume and then we have sex?  Why don’t we blow off all the stupid games
and the get to know you crap and just cut to the chase?”  She silently
applauded her bravery.

Vaughn laughed loudly, shook his
head and then swallowed hard.  “And if we were to cut through all the
‘crap’ as you put it, what do I get out of it exactly?”

“What do you mean, what do you get
out of it?  We have sex!”

He kept his eyes resolutely ahead,
watching the shadows for any hidden threat.  “And then what?”

“And then what … what?” 

“What do we do after the sex?”

Hadleigh bit back a sigh.  Did
other women have this much trouble getting a guy to have sex with them? 
“Well then we go our separate ways.”

Vaughn shook his head slowly. 
“Oh … well I don’t like the sound of that at all.  So dinner tomorrow
night?”

“Hold on.”  Hadleigh gave him a
shove hard enough to rock him sideways and get her out from under his
arm.  “You don’t want to have sex with me?”

Being Vaughn he was ready for the
move, easily capturing her hand in his so they could continue their
patrol.  “Oh I want to have sex with you.”  He turned and looked at
her, those gold eyes glowing liquid hot.  “I can’t tell you how much I
want to have sex with you.”

“Then…
” 
She
took another deep breath so she wouldn’t scream the next words. “Why won’t you
have sex with me?”

“Oh we will ... someday real
soon.  But if we just banged it out right now, well you’re as skittish as
hell when it comes to men … to relationships and I’m looking for more than just
sex ... with you. I need you to trust me and I need to trust that you won’t do
a runner at the first sign things are getting serious.”

“I don’t do serious.  And I
don’t do relationships.”

Vaughn shrugged, a smile tugging up
the corners of his mouth.  “You said you didn’t date and look here we
are.”

“We’re on patrol looking for
Xander.”

Vaughn flicked a glance down at her
feet.  “You’re wearing sparkly sandals, definitely a date.”

Hadleigh turned abruptly to face the
man trying to sneak up behind them, a large gleaming knife suddenly in her
hand, twice as big as the one their potential attacker was carrying. 
“Seriously, I’m not in the mood for you right now.”

Vaughn glared.  “Can’t you see
we’re trying to have a serious discussion here guy?”

The mugger froze mid creep, his eyes
glued to Hadleigh’s blade.  “Oh … um.”  He started to back away
slowly.  “Sorry.”  Then he turned and ran.

Hadleigh sighed again.  “We
should go after him.  He’s only going to pick on someone else.”

Vaughn held her in position, placing
two fingers in his mouth blowing a loud whistle.  “Flynn will hunt him
down.” 

There was a loud harsh shriek. A
shadow passed overhead racing in the direction the mugger had taken. 
Turning they continued on their assigned route. 
Silence
blanketing them as they walked, only a distant male scream of surprise and
terror interfering with the hushed night sounds.
 

Three blocks over Vaughn stopped and
then tugged her across the empty road.  “Let’s look in here.”

Here being a tiny tree filled park,
old fashioned
iron gas lamps lining the paths, a decorative
fountain burbling at the centre.  They’d only taken two steps along the
path when there came the sound of predators dispersing like rats from a sinking
ship.  No doubt when they saw Vaughn they recognised a bigger, deadlier
predator than themselves. 

“So where were we?”  Vaughn
stopped and looked at the fountain.  “Ah yes, planning our third date.”

“I told you, I’m through playing
games Vaughn.”

“Who says I’m playing games?”

“Look I understand, you’re over
hundred years old, you’re bored, I’m in town for a month and I’ve proven to be
a bit of a challenge.”

“So you think I’m sniggering behind
your back?  Plotting some nefarious love ‘
em
and
leave ‘
em
hit and run fuck because I’m
bored? 
 
Seriously which asshole did
a number on your head that I’m paying the price for it now?”  Vaughn’s voice
sounded neutral but there was something in his eyes … hurt?

Hadleigh was fed up.  She
wasn’t in Vaughn’s league.  Whatever game he might be playing she’d be the
loser.  She always was.  Without thinking it through she
replied.  “They all did.  They all blamed me, made me out to be the
bad guy.  Haven’t you heard I’m a freak?  Too tall, too forceful,
I’ll
bruise you
,
break your bones
. 
I have ice where a heart should be and am frigid to the core.  Too
controlling to be a good fuck let alone allow myself to feel pleasure.” 
She wrenched her hand from his, for the first time succeeding in freeing
herself from his grip.  Taking a step back she ran fingers through her
hair in frustrated.  “Too emotionless … too cool … too silent … too scary. 
I don’t smile enough or laugh.  Not feminine enough to understand what a
man would want in bed or out.” 

As she ranted Vaughn just stood
there in silence, his eyes igniting into an intense burnished gold.  
His mouth set in a tight white line.

When she finally ran out of steam,
her breath coming in harsh sharp pants she was glaring at him.  “Well?”

He studied her for a moment longer
then nodded slowly.  “You’re right, a third date is out.”  His tone
dismissive, his eyes a dark antique gold, a distinctive shimmer of heat haze
creating a halo effect around his massive frame.   Reaching up he
tapped his earpiece.  “Marcus I need a pick up at St Eustace Park, I’m
calling it a night.  Call everyone in.  We’re heading back to
base.”  Looking over at Hadleigh he gestured for her to precede him out of
the park.  For the first time ever he didn’t try to hold her hand or
snuggle in close.

Taking the lead it was all Hadleigh
could do to keep her head high and her shoulders straight whilst something
inside, something new and tentative curled up and died.