Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (13 page)

           
Lorelei’s mouth was an inch away from his cock, her breath staining his skin,
and he still didn’t feel any spark of lust for her. Instead he shoved her away,
watching from under lowered lids, her breasts bouncing, as she landed on her
ass on the floor. He got up and started buttoning and zipping his clothing back
into a decent state.

           
She was whining in the background, saying how she could make it all better, but
Drake ignored her and called his driver back to come get him. He knew she would
probably spread rumors of how he couldn’t get it up, but right now if he so
much as got into any sparring match with her, his full change would take place,
and there was no way to explain that. As it were, his eyes were on full Druid
mode, so were his fangs, and he could feel that his face was changing also. He
had to get the hell out of there.

Thank
God she never stopped him.

***

           
When Drake got back, a week to the day since he left, he came back to
heartbreaking news.

           
“I noticed she was acting funny around Tuesday.” Chase explained while Drake stood
there in the surgery prep room of the Haven and stared dumbly at his Vet. “You
know some of the symptoms, vomiting and diarrhea, very uncommunicative. She
didn’t want to come out of her area, and since she was such a lovable little
thing I knew something was wrong.” Chase shook his head sadly, “We, Trent and
I, did everything we could, even did a deep clean around her wounded leg, but
we knew after some tests that the infection was internal.”

           
Drake stood there in shock, running his hands through his hair and basically
feeling lost. That little dog had been special. She was two years old and had
been in prime health until the accident where Nadia had hit her. When Nadia had
brought her to his house, Drake could sense the instant imprinting between
Belle and her. He knew then that Nadia needed to feel that small dog’s presence
in her own life. Nadia needed to heal from her disastrous mistake of seeing
Donavan with Suzanne. Sometimes animals were better than humans in dealing with
pain and anger. Drake sensed the absolute unwavering love that Belle could have
given Nadia, and it pained him that the small dog hadn’t pulled through her
infection.

           
“Shit.”

           
Chase’s eyes came to his face. “I know man, I know. It isn’t a good day when
you lose one like that. But we have plenty of other animals here that are
healing nicely if Ms. Morales wants one of those instead. She was pretty upset
when she came in yesterday afternoon.”

           
Drake’s eyes zeroed in on him immediately, “Nadia was here? You called her?”

           
Chase looked directly contrite. “But that is routine, by the book. You know
that. Why
wouldn’t
I call her?”

           
Drake turned and tried to imagine just how upset Nadia had been yesterday. He
could see her in tears, sobbing for the life of the small Border
Collie
. Damn, this wasn’t supposed to happen. She had always
been deeply emotional; that incident of Donavan cheating had hurt her far more
than anyone imagined. Drake feared this just added to the hurt.

           
“She declined adoption of another animal right now,” Chase told him.

           
Of course she did, Drake thought to himself as he watched Chase glance at his
watch.

           
“It’s almost five. I’m heading out. Max is on night duty this weekend since
Trent needed the weekend off.” Chase glanced back at him and Drake could sense
that the other man thought he had done something out of code in dealing with
Belle’s death.

           
“Ms. Morales, was she very upset?” Drake asked, although he sensed the correct
answer.

           
“Yeah, it was hard to break the news to her that we would have to put Belle
down. I knew once we started talking to her that she cared for Belle.”

           
Drake drew his fist over his mouth, imagining what Chase was saying, “Alright,
I guess I will see you Monday then. Try to have a good weekend.”

           
“You too, boss.”

           
After watching the young man leave, Drake left the prep room and made his way
to the office he had at the back of the compound. The large, masculine space
instantly soothed him, calming him in a way that being around nature did. He
stared out the window, glancing at all of the large areas that were fenced in,
where animals were mending or being cared for in a way they never would away
from here.

           
Thoughts of the little dog, Belle, infused his mind. She had been a pretentious
thing-a little spitfire of a dog, the perfect foil for Nadia’s cool, calm, and
collected personality. Belle had also been hurt in the past. Her huge brown
eyes had told stories of pain and a mean-spirited owner before she had run away
and ran into Nadia’s path.

           
Drake could see some of his crew leaving for the night and he knew, in the back
of his mind, that he needed to check on Nadia.

           
Don’t do this man. You are getting too worried about her. She needs to be
far, far away from you right now.

           
He ignored the voice in his head, grabbed his keys from his pocket, and strode from
the building, heading for the one woman that he shouldn’t seek out.

           
Thirty minutes later, his big rig was pulling up in front of her small,
cottage-style home on the outskirts of Beaumont. He had known for years where
she lived, but actually driving up in her driveway gave him a funny feeling in
his chest.

           
Going to her door, he glanced around, noting the small touches she had given
the old cottage. Azaleas and Iris’s were blooming in landscaped portions of the
front and back yard, and tall, mature oak and maple trees gave the place a
homey feel. He glanced back to the door and liked that the front door was
painted bright red, which offset the rest of the neutral home. Apparently Nadia
had a flash interest in color. For some reason that made him smile.

           
He could sense her on the other side of the door. And for a few seconds, he
felt her curiosity until she got closer to the door, and when she looked
through the peephole, he felt that curiosity turn to raw anger.

           
Staring bemusedly at the door while she opened it, Drake wiped his expression
and kept his thoughts to himself.

           
“Hey,” he told her, when she opened it fully and glared at him from her
diminutive height. It was almost laughable, really, that she could stare him
down when he was more than a foot taller than her.

           
She nodded in his direction but didn’t smile. Peering around his body she
pointedly glanced at her front drive. “Are you lost?” Then she pulled those
green eyes back to his.

           
Man. The animosity in her stance, permeating the air around her, almost choked
him. Was she blaming him for Belle’s death? Surely not, surely she understood
that he had been out of town, and he hired only the best to work in his clinic.
His eyes catalogued everything about her, and he sensed the blood flow in her
body as he watched a ruddy blush climb over her neck. She was pissed, highly
so.

           
“Why would I be lost?”

           
Her lush mouth firmed in anger, “You never came to visit before, so how was I
to assume that you knew my address?”

           
He ignored that angry statement. “Can I come in?” If it was possible her eyes
turned greener than they were before. But he knew that was emotion trying to
spill over from the inside. She scoffed. A soft noise that told him a lot about
what she was feeling. Then she gave him a tight smile, “Whatever you need, you
can surely tell me right here.”

           
He was shocked. Never before had Nadia turned her anger on him. Belle’s death
must be hitting her harder than she wanted to admit.

A
breeze fluttered the old tee shirt she had on that was loose around her body.
All the while, the purple color brought out the paleness of her skin and the
black length of her hair. Her old cutoff shorts showed him long, sexy legs, and
he tore his gaze away, coming back to her face.

He
cleared his throat, “I know about Belle.”

There
it was. That brief flash of pain that she held so deep inside. He knew it
wasn’t good for her to do that, but she was stubborn, and always had been.
Morales’s daughter had grown up with spunk; he knew that, but it was surprising
to see it, when all he saw from her was the polite façade that she showed to
society.

“I
know. They did everything possible to save her.” Her throaty deep voice was
raspy. In that instant he realized she had cried all night over Belle. He
watched her look back to the inside of her house, and he knew she was hedging
about leaving him standing on her front step.

“If
you know that, why am I still standing on your front step instead of in your
house?”

Her
manners were bred into her, and even though she was vibrating in her anger, she
slowly opened the door fully and moved to the side. Drake walked in and
immediately felt as if he were drowning in sorrow. Her acute pain was so deeply
imbued in the house that he could feel it in the air around him. 

“I
would ask you if you want something to drink, but I don’t feel all that
hospitable at the moment.” Her eyes surveyed him closely as he stood in her
living area, and he began feeding off all of that negative sensation she was
sending him. He could sense her pain underneath the anger, and had the insane
urge that he should hug her, make her understand that everything would be okay.

“It
is hard to lose something that you were looking forward to having around.”

She
scoffed again. He was coming to hate that sound.

“Look,
maybe you should get out, go out tonight, find some friends and have fun,
Nadia. You don’t need to be home alone right now.”

Apparently
that was the wrong thing to say. She turned the full force of her green eyes on
him and the heat of her emotions stung his skin. He had never, ever beheld such
pain before, and he had been around for a long time. Even when her parents had
passed, she had been wracked by hurt, but this was pure anger.

“You
have no say over me Drake. And don’t pretend worry when we both know that you
only think of me as baggage from your past.”

           
Whoa. Yes, there was some definite fury here. He needed to tread lightly. If he
got caught up in her emotions too much, she might learn more about him then he
wanted her to know.

           
“Whatever you’re saying is based on pain. I am concerned for you, Nadia. You
are like family to me.”

           
She stood behind the sofa and sent green daggers in his direction.

           
“That’s funny. I’m like family to you? What the hell ever Drake. Don’t try to
pull your head games over on me.” She threw her hands up, as if she were done
talking.

           
“This is no game, and I have no idea why you are so pissed at me. I employ the
finest vets in three states. Belle was in the best care possible. I had no
id--.”

           
“No idea!” She screamed it, finishing his sentence for him, and then continued
her rant.

           
“Of course you didn’t.” Her finger pointed in his direction, and Drake could
see her chest rising with harsh breathing. “You were up in New York, with Ms.
Vintage Valentino, probably fucking her brains out! Of course you were too busy
to see about one little dog that you promised to me!” Green eyes slammed like
lasers against his brown ones. The tension in the air went up about ten
notches.

           
“You don’t know what I was doing in New York, and even if I was ‘fucking Ms.
Vintage Valentino’, like you say, it is none of your damn business.” Seething
anger pushed through, tingeing his voice with a gravelly drawl, trying to come
to the surface. Drake held tight to his control. His skin was tightening, the
blood rushing through his system, and his gums burning, but he kept it under
wraps.

           
 “That was a promise, Drake.” Tears swam in her eyes, but she didn’t stop.
“You were supposed to let me have her. I needed her, don’t you see? You were
right, I needed Belle.” She touched her upper chest. The tears that threatened
now spilled over her cheeks, but instead of giving into harsh sobs, she held
her ground. Those eyes of hers seemed to be huge green orbs in her small,
slight face.

           
His anger dissipated. He felt glued to the floor in the middle of her living
area. Emotion swam in the space between them as she held onto some vestige of
her tattered pride. Her small delicate chin wobbled, and Drake felt his hands
twitch. The need, the compunction to hold her, to console her, rose to
unbelievable heights inside of him. Never had he thought he would see this
strong woman break.

           
“You were away, gone, and she was there.” Nadia pointed in the distance, while
her green, pain filled eyes rose to his, and Drake felt as if someone had hit
him with a Mack truck. ‘I’m sorry’ seemed so minute, so puny, and wide off the
mark in the face of such sorrow. He had known that she needed Belle. He hadn’t
known how much. Now it was clear that she was going to fall apart if something
didn’t happen soon.