Eternal Breath of Darkness (32 page)

***

Haden was having a difficult
time accepting the fact Demetri had gone after Zack. “You’re sure?” Haden
asked. There was no reason to ask. Nikolas wouldn’t claim it unless it was
true.

A muscle ticked in Nicolas
jaw. “Yes.” He felt some degree of guilt for sending Zack out of the club. He
should’ve kept Zack close. He’d truly believed he was protecting Zack by making
him leave.

“We shouldn’t wait.” Joseph
said. “We should go after him now.”

“No.” Nikolas shook his
head. “Zack is strong. He can hold his own against Demetri for a while. Demetri
wants us to rush after him and leave our women unprotected. He will grow tired
of waiting. By the end of the night he will show up. When he does, I’ll deal
with him and you will stay with the women.” He narrowed his gaze on Haden. “You
will take my mate under your protection while I’m away. You will be my
connection to her while I’m dealing with Demetri.”

“Of course.” Haden took a
deep breath and released it with a sigh. “You’re sure she’s your mate?”

Smiling in a way Haden had
never seen him smile, Nikolas nodded. “There’s no doubt in my soul.” Then rage
flooding him, he frowned. “Zack was right. The past has returned to haunt us,
but this time we won’t fail. Demetri killed Brianna’s sister, his own mate, and
now he plans to kill Brianna. The night he killed his mate, he saved Brianna. I
suspect he did it because he wanted to make sure I knew her before he kills
her.”

“I never would’ve imagined
Demetri would fall so far into the darkness.” Haden pushed his hand through his
hair. “Did you already restore Brianna’s sight? She’s walking over here.”

“No, I didn’t. She has been
blind from birth. It will be a long process. I want you to continue it for me.”
Nikolas smiled. “Demetri and I are equally matched. There will be no end. There
will be no true victor, I will not return,”

“Why? You’re overreacting.
You haven’t given this enough thought. You can’t just give up on the future.
Don’t go after him now,” Haden said. “There’s no reason for you to make such a
terrible sacrifice. You’ve found your mate. You belong with her. We will come
up with another way to stop him.”

“I do not wish to have a
future with Brianna,” he lied. “There’s no other way. When I leave here
tonight, I won’t maintain any connection with her.”

Haden lowered his brow.
“Why?”

“Look at what she’s doing.”
Watching and adoring every move she made, Nikolas smiled. “She has powerful
telepathic abilities.”

“She’s only human,” Joseph
blurted. “You’re leading her, keeping the people out of her way.”

“So what if she’d
telepathic? The majority of our kind can’t poke around in your head,” Haden
said. “You can easily block her from any part of your mind.”

“I can’t unless I
completely, purposely block her,” Nikolas replied. “And I’m not leading her or
keeping the people out of her way. She’s finding her way to me by taking the
information on what’s surrounding her from my mind. I’ve no desire to be with
her. Cutting our connection is the most merciful thing I could do for her. She
effortlessly enters my mind at will. She's so quiet I can’t always feel her
presence. Our connection is so strong she will likely suffer the pain of any
injury I sustain, and she will attempt to come to me, to help me if I don’t shut
her out.”

In stunned silence, Haden
watched as Brianna finished making her way to Nikolas’ side. He couldn’t
understand why Nikolas would choose to walk away from her. He was amazed when
Brianna tilted her head as if to look up at Nikolas and even more amazed when
he saw the tender way Nikolas wrapped his arm around her to kiss the top of her
head. The pride and admiration he felt for her was so powerful his countenance
shined with it.
What are you doing? You cannot lie to me, brother. You do
not want to leave her.

***

You know nothing. You will
watch over her.
Nikolas wasted no time making introductions; instead, he led her
toward the dance floor. “Dance with me, little one.”

“No.” Shaking her head, she
tried to pull her hands from his, but his grip was unbreakable. “I can’t
dance.”

He laughed. “You just walked
the full length of this crowded building alone.”

She wanted to run away and
hide. Dancing in public was so entirely out of her comfort zone. There were too
many people, and she couldn’t see any of them. If she tried to dance, she was
going to be tripping and bumping into every one of them.

“No, you won’t.” He brought
her hand to his mouth and kissed it. Then, with no warning, he spun her around,
and then he dipped and kissed her. She was laughing, nearly hysterical, when he
pulled her into his arms. “You liked that, didn’t you?”

“I did.” She continued to
laugh.

Pressing her body against
his, he started to move, forcing her body to move in perfect sync with his. “So
did I.” And that was the truth. His only problem, if you could call it a
problem, was controlling his body’s reaction to the glorious sensation of
feeling her body pressed up against his.

At first his motive was
unselfish. He wanted to give her this experience, but he quickly realized that
he needed this moment, this dance with her, more than he’d ever needed
anything. He didn’t know how he would find the strength to walk away from her,
but by the end of the night he wouldn’t have a choice. She’d done well getting
by on her own, but she would never face the world alone again. In his absence,
Haden and Joseph would watch over her.

Brianna was amazed by
Nikolas’ strength, his ability to lead her and prevent her from bumping into
anyone when she couldn’t see anything around her. But she was even more amazed
by the hard evidence of his desire pressed against her belly. The fact that he
wasn’t even attempting to hide it was exhilarating.

Nikolas knew the chemistry
between them was building, and it was explosive. Their dance was more like
making love and could easily get out of control. Dancing with her was more
sensual than any other experience he’d ever had. No past sexual encounter could
ever compare to feeling her body moving against his. He knew she was scared,
but she wanted him to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her too. He needed to feel
her against his lips, taste her, claim her. With a thought, he placed a privacy
hedge around them as he bent his head so his lips lightly touched the corner of
her mouth. “Brianna, kiss me.”

She hesitated to move, to
breathe, to do anything. She wanted to kiss him, but she’d never kissed a man.
She knew they were surrounded by people. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she
took a breath and held it. Her body was pressed so snugly against his,
intimately moving with his. What was she doing?

“I’ve taken care of it. No
one can see us.” Nikolas lifted her chin and leaned down to softly press his
lips against hers. When she would’ve backed away, he held her firmly. “Kiss
me.” He knew she wanted to believe him, but she could hear people all around.

“We can hear them, but they
can’t hear or see us.” He didn’t give her a chance to hesitate. His mouth was
on hers; his tongue parted her lips and delved deep, completely silencing the
voices and sounds of the crowd.

* * *

Being very beautiful women, Caylee and Mia were getting a lot of
male attention on the dance floor. Dancing together, they ignored the men
trying to move in on them as best as they could.

“How can you stand it?”
Joseph asked.

Remembering how crazy it
used to make him when he stood back and watched Caylee dance, Haden smiled.
Over the past year, watching over Caylee from a distance, he’d learned to enjoy
it. It wasn’t difficult. He loved to watch the way her body moved to the music.
“Why would I mind as long as none of the men touch her?”

“That’s your mate out
there.” Clearly disgusted, Joseph scowled. “You’re seriously screwed up. The
entire building reeks of lust.”

Just then, a man moved in on
Caylee, pressing way too close for her comfort. He was tall and heavyset. He
was dressed in an expensive suit, but he reeked of sweat and old beer. He kept
stumbling and grabbing her to steady himself.

“Well …” Joseph didn’t
hide the anger in his voice. “Is that enough to warrant an intervention?”

Narrowing his dark gaze, Haden
grumbled. “What the fuck do you think?” He walked toward Caylee.

At first Caylee tried to
ignore the man, but she quickly realized it wasn’t working. She tried to move
further away from him, but he followed. She shoved him, but he didn’t back
away.

Mia shoved the man. “Get
your ass away from her.”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
The man shoved Mia hard enough to cause her to stumble.

Beneath his breath, jaw
clenched to the point of causing him pain, Joseph whispered, “Oh, hell no.” He
headed out onto the dance floor.

Caylee didn’t see Haden, but
she knew the instant he was behind her. She saw fear in the man’s eyes as he
backed away. From behind, Haden reached around her waist and pressed her
backside against him.

Giggling, Caylee lifted her
arms. “What took you so long?”

Haden bent his head and
rested his chin on her shoulder so she could wrap her arms around her neck.
“You’re so naughty, little love. Getting all of these men worked up.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re
talking about. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Haden whirled her around and
kissed her. “No, you didn’t. You did everything perfectly, magnificently.”

* * *

Once Mia was satisfied Caylee was safe with Haden, she moved away
from them and continued to dance. Experiencing a sudden wave of excruciating
pain, she stumbled. At the same time, the man who’d shoved her grabbed her arm
and yanked it. He held her body against his too firmly, hurting her. She pulled
to get away, but the pain in her body weakened her and nearly brought her to
her knees.

Joseph came up from behind
Mia and wrapped one arm around her waist to support her weight and lesson her
discomfort. Then he reached over her shoulder and grabbed the man’s throat.
“She’s dancing with me now.”

She glanced over her
shoulder. “Kiss my ass, Joseph!”

Joseph shoved the man hard.
Then, flashing her a devilish grin, he leaned closer to whisper in her ear.
“There’s no reason to beg for it. Bend over—I will happily kiss your ass,
angel.” He turned her around slowly, gently, careful to not cause her any pain
as he sent waves of healing energy into her body.

Mia glared up at Joseph. He
was a vampire. She hated him. She couldn’t believe he had the nerve to continue
harassing her and pretending he was anything other than a bloodthirsty
murderer. There was no way of knowing how many people he’d already killed to
satisfy his thirst for blood. It was possible he’d killed her parents. One way
or another she would find a way to kill him to stop him from killing. Maybe
seduction would work; relaxing, allowing her body to move with the music, she
danced with him.

Before Joseph knew it, Mia
was dancing very seductively with him, kissing him, touching him, driving him
absolutely insane. Her body was so hot, suggestively moving, rubbing up against
his, and her hands were touching him everywhere. He was lost, forever lost.
During the entire time he’d been married to Teresa he’d never felt such an
intense sexual hunger. All along, he’d believed that he loved Teresa. She’d
paid special attention to him and made him feel like he had a purpose. It broke
his heart when he discovered that Teresa was having an affair and planning to
kill him. Dancing with Mia, feeling the heat of her body, was such an
exceptional feeling. He knew that he was holding the best he ever had. It was a
healing experience. His soul, filled with joy, was alive. His body, hard with
need, was alive.

Mia allowed Joseph to pull
her closer. She didn’t resist even though he was holding her a little too
firmly. She wanted to kick him in the balls when he bent his head to kiss her,
but she resisted the urge. She was a smart woman. He was a very large,
physically fit man. Taking him down wouldn’t be easy. She needed to make sure
he wasn’t clear headed when she made his move. Pressing even closer, allowing
her body to melt against his, she kissed him. Once she was certain he was
solely focused on the taste and feel of her kiss she, using an exceptionally
well-learned self-defense move, knocked him flat onto his back. “You son of a
bitch!” She glared down at him, pressing her six-inch heel against his chest.
“No means no, asshole!”

Blinking, he looked up at
her. Not a bad move for a dying woman. He was so stunned that he couldn’t move,
couldn’t do anything except stare up at her. Something shifted deep within his
soul. She wasn’t simply a wolf; she was an alpha female, and she would
naturally only accept the strongest of the strong as her mate. He wasn’t her
mate. But she wanted him. Her aggression was a test. It was intensified by
morphine and distorted by her belief that he was a vampire. He was so
incredibly moved by the knowledge he didn’t even care that he was flat on his
back, surrounded by so many people.

A primal, lustful sound
rumbled in his throat as he lifted his chin to look at her heel pressed against
his chest. It hurt so incredibly damn good. He slowly moved his gaze up her
leg. More than anything, he wanted to feel her legs wrapped around his body.