Black Magic Rose (35 page)

Noelle grinned and nodded.
 

Chapter Thirty-three

Sofia sat at her desk reading the training plan written by Rick and approved by Osgar. For the most part it seemed acceptable. Aside from the three references to inadequacies due to weakness, fear, and “plain stupidity” she thought it would work.
 

She rewrote the Workplace Violence Policy to include the training plan as outlined in the new addendum, edited the training plan to include language allowing for secondary placements for wolves not possessing the necessary skills to join the front lines, and scheduled a meeting for the next afternoon to discuss the new policy.
 

She glanced at the clock. Three-forty. It couldn’t possibly take much longer. Patience was a virtue, just not one she’d ever possessed. “Practice makes perfect,” she told herself.

“You can say that again,” Noelle called from the conference room down the hall.

Sofia rubbed her neck. She’d never get used to vampires being able to hear everything. “If I’d known you were going to eavesdrop I’d have closed the door.”
 

Noelle laughed. “I assumed you were speaking to me since we’re the only people up here.”
 

“I was just talking to myself.” Sofia tapped her pen.

“You shouldn’t do that too often,” Noelle teased. Her voice carried down the hall and Sofia stared at the door half expecting to see her appear. “People will think you’re crazy.” She laughed again.
 

Sofia turned back to her computer, figuring that idea had already taken root.

When Dragomir arrived she’d talk with him, bargain with him, and then with Jankin. If they were truly meant to be together, they’d be equal partners in this bond. There’d be no more caveman moves from Dragomir, and he’d need to control his emotions. Sofia needed to figure out whether she was truly drawn to him or if she simply felt his desires. And Jankin would need to stay out of their relationship.
 

After reviewing three more policies and at least ten more job applications, she felt the team return. The wolves thundered across the land moving quickly on the trail of sleek and terrifying power. They followed Jankin, racing back to the stronghold with solid determination. But it was the shimmering aura that triggered her awareness of Dragomir. It practically did cartwheels when he set foot on Alliance soil.
 

Everywhere it touched her, Sofia tingled to the point of feeling jittery. “Stop that. You’re making it much harder,” Sofia ground out. She was absolutely determined to control this situation, not to be the weaker of the two, not to let him take charge. She’d ordered him back to Cader. She’d face the angry warrior’s wrath. But it would be a lot easier if she didn’t feel like she sat on pins and needles.
 

After an hour-long wait, Jankin knocked on her doorframe.
 

“You don’t still need me so I’m heading down.” Noelle peeked past Jankin with a slight smile. “Good luck, Sofia.”

“Thanks.”
 

“May I come in?” Jankin asked.
 

“Sure.” Sofia closed the folder holding the applications. “Where is he?” Her mate was clearly in the building.
 

“In your quarters.” Jankin leaned in the doorway. Dark, unruly curls crowned his head. Reddish stubble shadowed his chin.
 

“Growing a beard?”

He gave the slightest shake of his head. “You’ve never seen me so late in the night. I believe you’d call this a five o’clock shadow.” He rubbed his palm over his chin. “He’s not pleased.”

“Why? Because I figured out what he was up to or because I learned how to control this?” She waved her arms out at her sides and light reflected off the sparkling wave.
 

“I surmise he’s agitated over both pieces of information, though I think being commanded back to Cader was the most disturbing.” He closed the door.
 

“Two can play at this game. I’m not living with the guilt of him being imprisoned while I live a decent life.” Sofia tapped a red pen on the pack of sticky notes she’d been using.
 

Jankin sat in the chair across the desk. “Have you ever been in love? Real love.”
 

Sofia shrugged. “What does it matter?”

Jankin folded his arms over his chest and regarded her. “Love so powerful it hurt to be away from him?”

“I don’t see where you’re going with this.” She dropped the pen into the coffee mug beside the computer monitor where it joined several others.
 

“I’m wondering if you have anything for comparison. Any relationship that could help define the measurement of a mating bond.”
 

Sofia hadn’t been in love. She’d dated several men, liked many of them, not enough to continue dating them but she’d had relationships. She’d thought she loved the two men she allowed into bed but that proved to be incorrect. Though she’d liked them better than most of the others.
 

She shook her head. Why try to lie? He already knew the truth.

“Dragomir finds himself in a very unfamiliar position.” Jankin leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “For some six hundred plus years Dragomir’s first thought has been his allegiance to The Alliance. He’d gladly lie down and die for this organization, if that would help its cause.” Jankin glanced toward the floor then directly into Sofia’s eyes. “Tonight he abandoned all logic and thought only to please his mate.”

Sofia wanted to hold Jankin’s gaze but she couldn’t. The power behind his eyes was more than she’d ever realized. She glanced at the keyboard.
 

“He prepared to offer himself in order for you to be able to live without having to hide and without having to be with him.” Jankin sat back. “He was prepared to bargain to ensure he was not killed during the duration of your natural lifetime. He had a strategy. He always has a strategy.”
 

Sofia still couldn’t look up. The tone of Jankin’s voice told her she’d foiled Dragomir’s plan and the disruption hadn’t been well received.
 

“I never asked him to do that.”
 

“He cannot help but love you. For him there was no other option.”
 

“There’s always another option,” Sofia said.
 

“Not for true mates. There is only happiness for each other.” Jankin crossed his ankles. “You love him, too.”

Sofia’s back stiffened.
 

“Don’t try to deny it. You’ve been able to scent him from the moment he arrived.” He raised an eyebrow. “You can’t fool me. Oh, you fooled him, but he’s blinded by love and all its overwhelming sensations. I see the truth.” He sat silently and waited for her to say something.
 

Sofia rubbed her head, not really knowing what to tell him.
 

“You’ve been avoiding the
dead
employees, acting as though you’re afraid. But it’s not the vampires you fear. It’s just one particular man and only because he calls to you in a way no one ever has.”

She bit her lip. There was nothing in the world like having an old vampire call you out on being in love. He eyed her with all the confidence of an oracle.
 

“Come now. Admit it.”
 

Sofia sighed. “Yes. I noticed Dragomir’s scent immediately. The moment I opened my car door the morning after he arrived I smelled him. Even from the Lower Level I could smell him all the way outside. I’ll never forget that moment. It was the very second all my senses came alive. Like I’d just awakened from a deep sleep.” She brought her hands to her face and inhaled. She still smelled of him hours later.
 

Jankin nodded. “Can’t get enough of him?”

Sofia shook her head and stared at her hands. She couldn’t. She’d faked not loving Dragomir so well she’d even started to believe it. But now having Jankin ask made it impossible to pretend anymore. She needed Dragomir, would die without him. She loved him so deeply her whole body ached. It was then she realized the crystals clung to her like millions of little fingers, massaging her pained body.

“You’ve obviously done some work toward your bond,” Jankin said. “Most couples don’t leave their bedroom until the bond is sealed. He smiled.

Sofia’s cheeks heated. She was not comfortable with discussions about her private life. She’d struggled telling Dragomir about her past, never mind having everyone know what they’d started but not finished.

“Do you know how ridiculous a master vampire looks when he stutters mid-sentence while he tries to bargain for his mate’s happiness?” Jankin snorted.
 

Sofia’s head jerked up to find Jankin bent over, holding his side and laughing. After several moments, his loud chuckles shifted to silent belly-shaking laughter, and then on to teary gasps for air.
 

“Oh. Oh. You had to see his face.” He banged his fist on the desk and howled. “If I never see another funny thing in all my existence, I won’t care. I’ll cherish this memory forever.” He finally sat back into the chair, dabbing his face with his handkerchief. “Oh, Sofia. You are without a doubt his true mate. No one else could have accomplished that. The moment you commanded him back to Cader he froze and stumbled.” Jankin took a deep breath and sighed. “The bond gripped him so tightly he winced.” He chuckled again.
 

Jankin reclined in the seat, his legs out straight and arms hanging over the armrests. He continued laughing. Though he looked toward Sofia, he did not seem to notice her. It was the puffy, glittery cloud that captured his attention. “Once your bond with him is strong enough it will dissipate. No one but you and Dragomir will be able to see it. Well, for the most part. The rest of us will notice it on occasion, when something happens, high emotions and the like. It will reappear to others when it’s needed.”
 

“I had wondered if I’d have this ridiculous sparkling shadow riding on my back for the rest of my life.” She peered at her shoulder.
 

“Well, that’s the other thing.” Jankin laughed again. “A glitter-covered warrior marching up the front steps of the farm, moonlight glinting off him. I think he was more deadly than usual because he was sparkling. You left him no choice but to finish his mission in record speed.” Jankin could barely get the words out through the peals of laughter. “Oh, Sofia. You have to put him out of his misery.”
 

Chapter Thirty-four

The door was unlocked. Not one light was lit, though Dragomir was very easy to find. Above the couch his half of the bond churned like a tidal wave. He reclined on the sofa, bare feet hanging over one arm while his head propped against the other. One hand rested on his chest. The other clung to a vodka bottle. A stake lay on the coffee table.
 

“I’ve already selected the weapon.” He raised the bottle toward the stake. “There you go, love. Come take your freedom.” He tipped the bottle toward his lips and swallowed several mouthfuls.
 

Sofia walked to the table and sat beside the stake.
 

“What’s the wait? Get on with it. Let’s be free.” Much faster than Sofia could follow, Dragomir sat up, pressed the stake into her hand and lay back, bringing the point to his heart. “Right here. Raise up and thrust down with all your might. I won’t fight you.” He nodded. “Come on. Time’s wasting.”
 

Sofia wrestled her hand from his and replaced the stake on the table. “I don’t want you to die.”

“Right. I told you if one of us dies the other lives in misery. It’s a sad truth, but you’ll have a few weeks, months maybe of unaffected freedom. Our union’s not that strong. You might even have a full year.” He grabbed the stake and shoved it back into her hand. “Take it, love. It’s the best you’re going to get. Now finish me.”

Sofia threw the stake over the couch. “I don’t want you to die because I love you, not because I’m afraid to die.”

“Love me?” He drained the last third of the vodka from the bottle. “Is that what that was?”’ He swatted at the rapidly circling glitter above him. “Love. I’d have never guessed it.”
 

Sofia moved to the couch, pulled the empty vodka bottle from Dragomir’s hand and placed it on the coffee table. “It’s not as though I’ve had a lot of experience with love. And certainly never with this sort of thing.” She wove her hands through the air above the couch and sent the illuminated cloud dancing. “I shouldn’t be condemned without being given an opportunity to explain.” She rested her hand on his chest.
 

Dragomir stared up at her unblinking. Sofia suddenly felt hollow, as though a pit had opened in her belly. She wished he’d say something. But he didn’t. He just stared at her. Every so often he’d take a breath.
 

What seemed like an eternity passed between them. Sofia bit her lip and fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt, not daring to look past his lips.
 

“Do you plan to explain tonight?” His tone was cold, disinterested. “If not, get the stake.”

“Well, I…” Now she didn’t know what to say. It seemed so simple when she admitted to Jankin she loved Dragomir. Jankin seemed pleased to hear it. Dragomir looked like he’d rather be staked. His dark eyes stared through her. The muscles of his jaw ticked.