Eternal Hearts (26 page)

And at that moment, Drake knew what he had to do.

First thing tomorrow evening, he’d tell his boss it was over. He’d hang up his guns and spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved, not killing people he didn’t even know. He’d finally be able to be there for her the way she’d been there for him.

Drake felt the smile curve his lips as he pushed his bedroom door open. All he wanted, more than anything else, was to see her beautiful face. But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, that wasn’t what he saw…

The woman he loved more than life itself was sprawled naked across his bed with another man…another vampire.

Drake stared at the scene, unable to move as disbelief wrapped cold tendrils around him. It couldn’t be real. He’d given her a home, protected her from her enemies, and he’d believed her every single time she’d said she loved him. No. This wasn’t real.

Oktober warned you.
He shook his head. Oktober had warned him at least thirty times that
Klesa
wasn’t being truthful, but Drake had refused to hear it. He saw it in her eyes every time he looked at her, he saw her love for him. There had to be some kind of simple explanation for what he was seeing now…

Drake stood in the dark room and watched as
Klesa
and Vincent, the Lord of Seattle, awoke.

She stretched then rolled over to straddle Vincent’s waist and nipped at his lips. “We’ve been in this bed for three days, Vincent. Why don’t we play somewhere else today?”

Vincent grinned as he shifted his hips. He grazed his fingernails up her sides then flicked her stiffened nipples. “What did you have in mind?”

She rolled her hips and moaned, “Never mind, we can stay right here for now.”

“When do you expect your boy-toy?”

She waved a hand. “I really don’t care. If he returns, it only means he’s killed the last of our enemies. If he doesn’t, my use for him is over anyway. Why, are you scared of my killer?”

Vincent actually laughed. “If he was stupid enough to believe anything you told him, I hardly think I have anything to worry about.”

Drake reached out and steadied himself against the doorway. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She’d lied to him. She’d told him over and over that she loved him, only so he would kill for her?

Was it all a lie?
Everything?
Every kiss?
Every touch?

He couldn’t watch them anymore.

After willing the lights on, Drake walked over to the side of his bed and threw
Klesa’s
present on the mattress next to her. He stared down at the rose even though he didn’t really see it. “I bought that for you.” He frowned and drew a deep breath. “If you’d take it with you when you take the rest of your stuff, I’d really appreciate it. I’ll be back in two days.” He forced his eyes to meet hers. “I expect you not to be here.”

She smiled as she continued to ride Vincent. “Is this the part where I cry and beg for your forgiveness?”

Drake watched as the warm set of blue eyes he’d fallen in love with frosted over. How could he have been so blind? He felt as though someone had just torn his heart out, but somehow he managed to return her cold smile. “No,
Klesa
, it isn’t. This is the part where I wish you the best, and then I leave.”

Klesa
moaned as her body shuttered. She leaned down to kiss Vincent before she turned her unwanted attention back to Drake. “What, you’re not even going to
try
to kill us? I mean, after all, it really is the only thing you’ve ever been good at.”

Drake struggled to keep his eyes on her. Her betrayal hurt, but that one remark cut him deeper than any knife or claw ever could. There was only one thing in the world he’d ever wanted, only one thing he’d wished for…

He wanted to be more than a killer, he wanted to be loved…faults and all.

Klesa
blew out a gusty sigh. “I’d be disappointed, but I grew rather accustomed to that feeling while feigning my love for you. Believe it or not,” she drawled as she reached up and patted his groin, “I actually got used to faking a lot of things for you.”

In that moment, Drake’s entire world went silent save for the mocking sounds of her and Vincent’s laughter. He gave a curt nod and smiled, even though happiness was nowhere near the emotion racing through his veins.

He turned away. “Goodbye,
Klesa
,”

And the last sound Drake heard before he walked out the door was her saying she loved him, in the same breathy way she had just before he’d left two weeks ago.

Only this time – he heard the truth.

~~~

Drake shook his head to clear away the memory he just couldn’t seem to forget. That was the day he’d resigned himself to a life of murder. The day he’d realized no woman who shared the curse of immortality would ever love him for anything more than what he could do for her.

Looking back on it now, the worst part of the whole debacle was that Oktober had warned him, but Drake had been too stupid to listen. Had he at least taken a moment to consider his friend’s words, the whole situation might have never happened.

Drake glanced around Oktober’s half broken kitchen. Never once had Oktober lied to him. Never once had Oktober asked anything of him. And most of all, he was always there when Drake needed him. And truth be told, he was the very reason Drake had ended up in Chicago in the first place. He’d stayed with Oktober until
Klesa
had left his home in Seattle. But to this day, he’d never gone back.

A slow ache crept across Drake’s chest as he considered the conversation he and Oktober had just finished. Tober never said he should stay away from Toni. He never warned that she was only using him…never even said she didn’t care about him.

What if that meant everything he felt from her…

It’s all real.
Drake could barely breathe as the thought gripped him. He couldn’t say that Toni loved him, but he knew she cared. It was obvious in the things she did when she thought he was sleeping, or when she believed he wasn’t looking. But he saw it in her eyes, and he felt it.

For the first time in a long time, tears welled in Drake’s eyes. His feelings for her would eventually get her killed. And if he didn’t step back now, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to.

If she died because of him…he didn’t know what he’d do.

Panic seized Drake’s heart when his other half told him Toni was waking up. He worked a few circles with his shoulders as he mentally prepared himself for what was to come. Toni would be devastated enough when she remembered what happened at The Underground, the last thing she needed was to sense that he was hurting, too.

Chapter 12

When Toni opened her eyes, she swore she was seeing double. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and then looked hard at Drake…but this time there was only one of him.

He reached out from the chair next to the bed and pulled her hand into his. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “My head’s a little fuzzy and I think I’m seeing double, but other than that I feel all right. What
happ
…” Her mind stalled her words as memories exploded behind her eyes. The images came as ghostly blurs flashing at blinding speed, each slamming into the one before it.

The image of Mary and her friends warped into a sick feeling of Oktober’s hands on her body. Rage twisted with pleasure as she tried to fight against him. Then there were the whispers of words she would never say to him, droning into shrieks of anger when he’d walked away.

But then there was Drake…

She stared through tears into the piercing blue eyes of the man less than a foot away. What would he think of her now? It seemed like every time she turned around another man was touching her, leaving her with little choice but to react to them. And the only man she wanted to have that kind of reaction to…was the one who now had his arms wrapped around her.

Toni rested her head against Drake’s shoulder as the tears spilled from her eyes. Through it all, he’d been the only one who’d pushed her away. The only man who hadn’t taken advantage of the state she was in when any other surely would have.

She didn’t know how much time passed as she cried in the shelter of Drake’s arms, but he didn’t lighten his hold until she pulled away and tried to meet his eyes. “I’m so sorry I did that to you.”

“Toni…please
don’t
apologize.” She tipped her head up when he laid his warm hand against her cheek. “I know that wasn’t
you
. I know the aftermath of skin to skin contact with Oktober.”

She pulled away from him. “How do you know Oktober?”

His eyes seemed to search hers and narrowed for the briefest of moments before they relaxed. “I don’t really know him…I know of him.” He looked away. “It’s just…I know other women who’ve been affected by him.”

Toni frowned at the small divot on the bed next to her that appeared to have captured Drake’s attention. Had there been another woman in his life who Oktober had done something to? As much as she wanted to ask, the disgust etched into the faint lines around his mouth wouldn’t let her. The last thing she wanted was to drudge up some old memory that might hurt him.

Letting the question fade from her thoughts, Toni shivered when she stared down at her clothes and revulsion crawled across her skin. She swallowed the beginning of a scream as phantom hands slowly slid up her sides.

After pressing a quick kiss to Drake’s forehead, she climbed from the bed as if it were on fire. “I need to take a shower. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She’d only gotten a few feet away when his strong fingers tightened around her hand. She turned to face him again. “What?”

His words were jumbled and broken, “Toni…it’s just…I should…you really need…”

She’d never seen him look so confused. “What’s wrong, Drake?”

He focused on her hand while the rough pad of his thumb scraped her knuckles. “I’m sorry for what Oktober did to you.”

Toni tilted her head as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. The sincerity in his quiet voice seeped into her chest. “It’s not your fault, Drake. You couldn’t have known. Oktober, he’s…a monster,” the last word slipped out as a whisper. “But you…you’re nothing like him.”

He squeezed her hand tight before he let her go. Raising a hand to rub the back of his neck, he rolled his shoulders then gave a strained smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll be right here when you’re finished with your shower.”

She turned and ran to the bathroom. The minute the door clicked shut, she peeled off her clothes then stepped into the shower. As the near scalding water pelted her weary body, she tried to consider only the positive points of everything that had happened so far.

She’d survived her encounter with Oktober, and although she felt worn because of it – at least she was still alive to feel that way. She may never be able to forget what he did to her family, but she felt better knowing her sister never had a choice in what happened. Even if she never knew why he’d killed the people she loved, she found a small shred of comfort in knowing Isabel hadn’t willingly submitted to him.

Toni slid down the cold tiled wall of the shower as four years worth of horrid memories flared to life in her mind. She wrapped her arms around her knees and allowed every sliver of guilt, every sting of agony, to wrack her already trembling body. Never had she felt so disgusted by herself or her actions. But the last wrenching sobs that tore past her lips weren’t for what Oktober had done to her family…weren’t even for what he’d done to her.

They were for Drake – and for what he’d done for her.

She knew he’d pulled himself away so he didn’t hurt her. Once again, he’d been there to help her when he didn’t have to.