Captiva Master - Vampire Warewolf Menage Six Feet Under Series Book 4) (5 page)

“He’s not going to hurt you, Dakota,” Rock offered quietly, leading her to the back of the store and turning on the bathroom light. “Think about it. Has he ever bitten you?”

“Not that I know of,” she admitted.

“I have
never
bitten you,” Ryan retorted sharply, staying back in the corridor separating the storefront from the restroom. Then he asked the strangest question, “Dakota, do you remember anything about your mother’s family?”

“Why?”

Ryan muttered ‘nothing important’ under his breath.

Rock worked on her hand a minute. “I’ve got the shard out, but this needs a stitch or
four
, honey. Unless…”

“Unless?” she asked.

“Well,” Rock offered hesitantly, “since you now understand what Ryan is, you could ask him to seal it up for you.” Pressing on her wound with paper towels, he clarified, “He has special enzymes in his mouth, healing ones that aid in superficial wounds, which would enable you to avoid the emergency room or a clinic.”

“I’ll go to a walk-in clinic.”

Rock checked his watched. “It’s getting late.”

“Ryan’s special enzymes, huh?” Staring at their reflections in the mirror, Dakota narrowed her eyes on Rock’s mouth, catching the tips of his fangs. “How did I miss this, for years? And why are you shifting the responsibility to Ryan?” She blurted out without thinking. “Just like my body, my blood isn’t good enough for you, either?”

Rock appeared genuinely stricken. “I’m not what Ryan is.” Glancing between her and the hallway, to Ryan he said, “If she doesn’t want you to help her, I think you should wait outside while Dakota and I clear the air.”

Ryan sounded sad when he explained, “Actually, I’m taking off. If you must know, I cannot help her anyway. Besides Dru, there’s only one vampire in our Coven permitted to touch her blood, and it’s not me.”

Dakota’s mouth dropped open when she caught Ryan’s disappearing act, his body vanishing into a mist. One vampire permitted to touch her blood, was he kidding? “What’s
that
supposed to mean?”

Rock shifted uneasily. “He would have to sip some of your blood during the healing process, while working the enzymes through your flesh. Apparently, he’s not allowed to, for whatever reasons, so end of story.”

Dakota couldn’t decide whether she wanted to throw up or punch her fists through the nearest wall. Right now, her mind was torn between fear and anger, still thoroughly confused, and she didn’t know which way to turn. “Whatever,” she snapped, pulling away from Rock and gathering the paper towels around her hand. “Say what you need to,” she demanded, “so I can have this hand seen about by a
human
.” The second she said it regret hit her hard. No matter how messed up her head was, she didn’t have to be a bitch.

Rock murmured, “Listen, Dakota.”

His tone coupled with those two words…No, on second thought, she couldn’t hear this, not right now. She made a pass to move through the doorway, and he stopped her, pressing his big body in her way.

Rock continued his explanation, “Seemingly, you’re meant for
another male
.”

“Another male,” she repeated completely dumbstruck.

“I’m a Were beast.”

A what? What did he mean? He said he wasn’t what Ryan was; meaning Rock was not a vampire. Still... No, Rock couldn’t possibly expect her to believe in such a creature. “Were…beast, uh, w-werewolf?” With a slow nod, he raked those amazing blue eyes over her, allowing her to grasp the meaning of what he was saying. “You are saying that you’re a werewolf.” Why was this so hard to believe when she knew about vampires and those shape shifters? Still, she had to see this for herself. “P-prove it.”

Rubbing his chin with his fingers, he said, “Considering your elevated adrenalin spiking your heartbeat, I think you’d better take me on my word.”

Dakota couldn’t accept that. “N-no.” She pointed a bloody index finger at him. “I want to see you go wolf. If I see it, I’ll…”

“Accept it?” Rock planted both hands on his hips, shaking his head no. “I don’t go wolf, as you say.”

“Then how are you a werewolf?”

“When’s the last time you’ve seen a werewolf? Folklore paints us as furry, four-legged canines. Not so, except for the canines.” Upon opening his mouth, his fangs lowered into incredibly long wolf-like canines.

“Like a vampire.”

“Not a vampire.” His brow furrowed. “Stop shaking, Dakota, the only blood I savor is my mate’s.”

“You have a mate?” She backed away until she hit the wall, her stomach plunging. A mate, what did that mean? Was he married?

“Yes, and I wanted you to hear it from me,” he said softly. Tears threatened to fall so she blinked her eyes several times, hoping to avoid them until he finished. “A werewolf’s mate is fated. Deep breaths, Dakota.”

Deep breaths? That’s all she’d been doing the whole time, taking deep breaths. “Don’t patronize.” 


“I’m not,” he soothed, reaching under the cabinet to find her more paper towels. “Blythe is mine. We found out a few weeks back, after you were unconscious.”

Her best friend? “
Blythe
…so she and Sixten?”

“Are still married,” he continued, “and Kash also mated her.”

So, the immortal world was very kinky. “The four of us,” he repeated, “and she’s pregnant. It’s common in our world, Dakota, and she misses her best friend.” Rock waited a beat and then gestured to her hand. “If you won’t let me drive you to get that seen about, can I call Dr. Holt for you?”

“I’ll go to the walk in clinic,” Dakota reiterated. “Is my car still out back?”

“Take Sixten’s,” he answered, reaching inside his pocket for keys, “for as long as you need it.” Meaning something had happened to her car, and she wondered how she would get up in that truck by herself. Her legs weren’t made for that kind of height. “Dakota, we’re going to help you, you know, with money…a shoulder to lean on…any heavy objects needing lifting.” An awkward silence ensued before he said, “And if you could swing by Captiva Island on movie night, I could use a break from watching chick flicks.”

“Right now, I cannot take in all of this. I just need some alone time to think. I mean – I woke up after
weeks
and found myself in…”

“A haunted crypt,” he offered.

“Something like that, I guess I owe the…the vampire t-thanks, whoever he is.” Honestly, she hoped never to meet this Coven Master. Ever. And just what was that wardrobe all about?

“Don’t worry about him.” Rock nodded at her pocket. “Do you have the cell phone I gave you?” Pulling it out with her non-bleeding hand, she held it up for him. “Pertinent numbers are programed in that thing, chiefly mine, so use them when you need something,
anything
, even if it’s just to talk.”

If she couldn’t put distance between them, she’d never get over Rock. She forced a smile when she said, “Give Blythe a kiss for me, and tell her congratulations.”

Slowly dissolving into air, he whispered, “Be careful, Dakota.”

She shook her head. How can someone just disappear like that? How was it possible? “Be careful?” she mumbled under her breath, flipping on the faucet and running her hand beneath a cool stream of water, to ease the sting. “Werewolves, shape shifters, and vampires…my ass is out of this God-forsaken town the minute I can get Dad moved.”

Heat traveled her body. One masculine arm shot out - its palm flattening against the tile. A second arm came around, caging her, its fingers curling around her wrist, pulling her lacerated hand from the water’s flow. Slowly, ever so slowly, she moved her head, stopping when she found her reflection in the mirror…as well as that of an uninvited guest.

Mocking obsidian eyes stared over the top of her head, glinting under the artificial light. “Sweet Dakota, you left without saying goodbye.”

“Let go of my wrist,” she said on a rush. To her surprise, he stepped away and moved past the tiny hallway into the storefront. Obviously, he knew she would follow. And she did. He wore a long, leather coat nearly as dark as his black hair, completely out of place for this time of year, or possibly any time of year in Southwest Florida, so she suspected the coat existed to hide something, but what? Bringing her bleeding hand to her chest, she fisted it and pressed it against her shirt, since she had nothing left to use. Her eyes followed him as she tagged behind, noticing air appeared to move beneath his feet without him exactly touching down, though it probably wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone who wasn’t aware of non-human creatures. Behind this man, power seemed to charge through the air, gathering and dispersing with every step. Ryan hadn’t moved that way, nor had Rock.

Yes. This man was quite different.

Frightening.

Lethal.

Cruelly attractive in a way she found difficult to understand.

“You must be the Coven Master.”

“Well, are you?” Dakota stared up at him, her throat tightening.

“I am.” He held his hand out for her. “Come.”

Dragging her eyes over his coat, then back up to his face, she refused. “No.”

While keeping his eyes fixed on hers, he slowly removed his coat and placed it across a broken display case, deftly avoiding the shards of glass with fluid agility. She swallowed a few times, steeling her mind, as he looked her over. Almost as if he was assuring himself she was okay.

When he eventually spoke, his voice nearly melted her trembling bones, called to her intimately. “Dakota Erin Collins, how wonderful it is to find you finally conscious, though I’m displeased you left my home without so much as discussing it with me, or even leaving a note on your pillow.”

Discussing it with him? “Do you have a name?”

“Other than Master?” he asked, sliding the tip of his tongue across his full bottom lip.

Oh, the arrogance! “You’re not my master.”

His eyes shimmered strangely, the obsidian rippling and then settling back to rights. “You don’t think so?”

“Not at all.”

“I am Maestru Malcov.” His eyes dropped to her lips. “Say it.”

She’d give him that, since it was better than her calling him master. “Maestru,” she repeated, her thoughts trailing to the frantic housekeeper begging her to remain at that house. As if the woman’s life were dependent on Dakota staying there. “Did you reprimand the lady who works for you? She was frantic.”

“As she should be,” he answered partly, “Luisa had her orders. Of course, she didn’t expect a werewolf to come calling upon her Master’s home.” He ran long, tapered fingers through his wavy dark mane. “You should have been fairly safe under Rock’s unwelcome supervision, yet I find you here bleeding.” Those fantastical eyes zeroed in on her injury in an unblinking stare. “Again.”

“
Again
,” she echoed, “so you were there the night I was attacked.” She took the opportunity to further study him. To Dakota, he appeared younger than her twenty-six years, though his dangerous edge empowered him with somewhat of an ancient bearing. As though he’d seen far too much in his life, but stowed it away, his expression barely passing for controlled nonchalance.

“Yes, I was there that infamous night, fighting, eventually catching sight of you bleeding in Rock’s arms.”

He settled against the broken display case, his legs parted, his arms crossed. Instantly, his eyes grew smoky hot, intense in a way… A sense of entrapment washed over her. Clearly, he was cunning predator.

“Do you ever blink?”

A smile softened the harsh line of his mouth before he blinked deliberately. Just once. “Better?”

“Not really.” Taking a step back, she fought not to run. He was unnerving. The way he looked at her with his continued familiarity, though they’d never once been intimate. Funny how her body longed for his touch, yet her mind kept screaming
no
. Dakota closed her eyes, blocking him out for the briefest moment, completely confused at how he brought out two sides in her. “So…you don’t like me bleeding, and you’re a vampire.” She started to lose her breath, her face going numb in panic. “Quite a conundrum there, so you must be one of those Hollywood types who drink animal blood,” she quipped lamely.

“I would rather starve,” he said, his breath whispering over the top of her head. “And before you ask if I burn in the sun, allow me to reassure you. I don’t even need sunscreen.”

Her eyes flared wide. The Coven Master was now an inch from her. She took a step back. He took one forward. Two more steps back and he matched her until her back molded against the flat of the wall, the smooth stucco cooling her overheated skin. Languidly, he pressed one leather-clad hand next to her head, flattening his palm. The other he brought to his mouth, hooking a fang into a gloved fingertip, yanking off the glove while holding her stare. After he pocketed it, he took her bleeding hand, wrapping it warmly in his. Skin on skin. There was something in his touch. Something complete strangers shouldn't share. “Your blood belongs to me.”

“That’s sick.” Not as sick as she pretended, though. As much as she feared his evident power, some faraway part of her craved his possessiveness, craved
him
.

“What’s sick is the fact that I’m always finding you with Rock. Why is that?” His head dipped down until his lips were very near hers. “Why chase after a mangy werewolf?”

At his nearness, heat blossomed between her legs. “I’m not chasing after anyone.”

“Just so you know, Rock is mated.”

All she wanted was for him to press those beguiling lips on every square inch of her body. “Rock and I have never, uh, I know…about Blythe.” His smell alone drenched her and she wasn’t wearing panties. “And I don’t have to explain anything to you, to someone I don’t even know.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” His thighs enclosed hers, the leather abrading her bare skin. He was everywhere, his scent, his touch, and his breath. Dakota’s heart started hammering in triple time. “Search within yourself and find me there. Dakota, you know me by my blood.”

“Search within myself? How philosophical.” Strangely, she
did
know him by blood. What did that mean? What did he want with her? And why did she have the strangest urge to tug his shirt to the side and chomp on his straight line of collarbone. By God, he was delicious. Yeah, no human man could pull off this kind of action without even delving into the good stuff. Not that they were going to do any delving. “In my mind, all I find are strange dreams, faceless dreams with only your voice leading me. I was in darkness, complete and utter darkness.”