Hunted (Dark Protectors) (30 page)

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Authors: Rebecca Zanetti

BOOK: Hunted (Dark Protectors)
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Brenna gasped. “What are you doing?”
Moira turned toward her sister, trying to stop her head from spinning off her neck. “You’re the better choice, Bren.”
“I am not. You’re the Seventh.” Brenna’s dark eyes flashed with concern. “I haven’t even been to university yet.”
“I know.” Moira stepped toward her sister, reaching out to clasp her hands. “You’ve studied everything from economics to physics and you truly care about the job. You’ll be an excellent council member. I’m an enforcer, sis.” Her powers as the Seventh were needed on the front line, but maybe someday she would join Brenna up there.
“Well then.” Vivienne sucked in air, her eyes widening. Quiet filled the chamber. Many of their people considered Brenna a threat, an unknown anomaly. Viv straightened her shoulders and tapped the gavel against her hand, bringing the attention back to the dais. “Brenna Dunne. Do you accept?”
Brenna glanced at her sister, then up to where their mother stood, a smile on her face and love filling her eyes. “I accept.” Her head up, she glided around the dais and took Grace’s vacated seat.
Tears of pride pricked the back of Moira’s eyes. She ruthlessly battled them down. The Nine had issues. She may have just caused more problems for her baby sister than she’d hoped. But she had faith. As she returned to normal, her senses came alive. And with them the realization that her battles had just begun for the evening.
Anger, concern, and determination cascaded off her mate in waves. She eyed him.
He reached out and manacled one large hand around her bicep. “Moira. Now we talk.”
“No.” She kept her voice low, her stance casual. “I have work to do, Conn.” For the love of all holiness, she’d just taken down a member of the Nine.
He lowered his head to an inch of hers, uncaring of the others in the room. “The most important aspect of everything is right here, right now between us.” Determination and unbendable will formed every line in his body. “Move your ass or I’ll move it for you.”
The unstable energy inside her sprang to life. She lifted her chin, squarely meeting his gaze. “You think you could?” Did he have any idea what taking Grace’s powers had done to her?
His eyes flicked black and then green. Midnight blue crackled on his arms. Energy. “Yes.”
Her mouth dropped open at the metamorphosis before her. Power and particles forming something new ... a vampire with the gift. When he tightened his hold and strode toward the door, she had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 34
 
M
oira preceded Conn inside her apartment, the energy still buzzing through her system. She needed time to assimilate what she’d taken from Grace ... beating Kell’s punching bag next door held certain appeal.
Conn shut the door, leaning against it with a dull thud. She turned to face him, forcing a gasp back down her throat. His eyes were black—fathomless and deep. She bit her lip. “I know your eyes change color from green to silver. . . have they ever turned black before?”
“No.” His voice lowered to a hoarse rumble. Scary, yet sexy as hell. “I assume once I absorb this energy I’ll return to normal.” The gaze he used to travel her length and back up scalded rather than smoldered.
“That’s how the transfer usually works.” The marking at her hip flared to life. She forgot all about Kell’s training room. “You know. There are ways to burn off the energy.” Some of it, anyway.
“Are there, now?” Conn asked very softly.
Her calves bunched to run as instinct recognized the predator fixing his sights on her. Desire held her in place. “I believe you wanted to talk?”
His stillness reminded her of the split second before lighting struck ... when the air charged and the world stopped breathing. Not by a whisper did he twitch or respond. He just waited.
She suddenly understood why prey froze when scenting danger. There had to be movement to know which way to run. “So, uh, you’re kind of mad, huh?”
His gaze remained steady.
She eyed the several feet to her bedroom and the door that locked. The air changed, swirled with tension, providing warning. Yet Conn hadn’t shifted a muscle.
Irritation blew out on her sigh. “Fine. I tricked you. Sorry.” She scowled, taking a step toward him. “Coven law is Coven law, and I had to fight Grace alone. You wouldn’t have taken your seat in the box had I told you the truth.”
“That’s irrelevant.” Finally he spoke. Low, soft, and way too deadly.
“Irrelevant?” She put her hands on her hips. “No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is.” His calmness made her tremble. “I’ve repeatedly explained that we come first. You and I. Loyalty and truth. Period.”
“I understand, but you wouldn’t have stepped aside.”
“You’re not listening. I don’t give a damn about the repercussions. About the end result of any situation. What matters is us. The truth.” He pushed away from the door, washing the scent of sage and gunpowder over her. “Even if you believe without a doubt that you won’t like the results, you tell me the truth, Brat.”
Exasperation made heat rise in her face. “Then we would’ve gotten in a big fight, Conn.”
“I don’t care. We don’t need to agree. But I won’t tolerate tricks or lies. You know that.” He reached out and enclosed her biceps with strong hands.
The word
tolerate
made her want to punch him. They may have mated a century ago, but she’d grown with the times. She lifted her chin. “Trust goes both ways, Connlan.” The heat from his palms speared to her abdomen, peaking her nipples on the way.
“You’re right.” He lowered his face to an inch of hers. “Not once have I tricked or lied to you, Dailtín. So understand this. As my mate, you don’t want to live in a world where I don’t trust you.”
The unsteady energy within her pores ignited with her temper. “Is that a threat?”
His gaze narrowed. “I don’t threaten. Ever.” Black fire danced on his skin, melding blue and green.
What kind of power did the combining energies give him? Her body vibrated with the need to move. To burn off some energy. She struggled to concentrate, to clear her mind. “I’m so tired of everyone telling me what to do.”
His irritated snort filled the entryway. “Stop whining and take a chance, Moira.”
She saw red. “Whining? What the hell? I do take chances, Conn. I take a chance every time I go out and enforce our laws. The chance of losing my powers, the chance of losing the opportunity to someday lead the council.” He had no clue what he was talking about.
“No.” The mocking glint in his eye was going to get him singed beyond recognition. “You’re the Seventh, darlin’, and you have no problem using those abilities. Taking them, doing what you’re meant to do. Enforce.” He moved closer with the grace of any animal at home in his own skin. “The only unexpected, the only true chance you need to take, is ... me.”
As truth went, the statement rang true.
“You’ve been in love with who you thought I’d be for a century.” Her chin lifted. She wasn’t just the Seventh. Or the Seventh they’d all envisioned. What if he couldn’t stand who she truly ended up to be?
“No. I’ve been in love with
you
.”
At his words, something eased inside her. A harsh fear she hadn’t realized she harbored. The man didn’t lie. For good or bad, for now and the future, he wanted the real her. Whoever she turned out to be.
Time for her to go for what she truly wanted. “I choose you, Connlan.” He’d always offered her everything he had, everything he was—the light and the dark. “We’re going to fight.” The idea of a peaceful existence made her want to sigh—the possibility of it made her want to laugh. “You had better like working with explosives.”
His slow smile filled her with warmth. “The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fires, Moira. A fact I’ve always understood.”
God, loved him. Leaping forward, she caught her knees on his hips, her lips on his. He bore the brunt of her attack easily, both hands cupping her ass. Energy crackled with audible pops between them, around them. She dug her fingers into his thick hair, delving deep, her tongue sweeping inside his mouth, her core against his.
Flame roared through her too hot to be considered passion, too desperate to be considered need. Hunger. Raw and absolute, it opened its jaws and consumed. Good and bad, darkness and light, fate and free will ... all ceased to exist. The world narrowed to her mouth on his, her body absorbing his heat.
A rumble hung in the distance ... a shifting of the earth. Of the universe. She heard the warning, she
felt
the change ... but passion enslaved her. “More. God. More,” she mumbled, reaching down to rip his shirt over his head.
A low moan escaped her as she pressed a kiss on his pounding jugular, tracing his heated skin down to his collarbone to nip. Prickles of pain swept her scalp as he knotted a hand in her hair and jerked her face back to his. Any restraint he may have owned disappeared, leaving strength and demand in its place. Gone was the gentleness he always seemed to aim for, deserting him along with his control.
Her shirt hit the floor along with her bra. His free hand was everywhere, jerking her clothing away, claiming her flesh with a heated palm. The dark flush across his face should’ve provided warning. Need mixed with determination, and absolute power bracketed hard lines on either side of his mouth, making him look more like a vengeful god than an earthly soldier. She’d given him her choice, and he’d accepted. He was beyond this world. His expression showed he wanted her ... and nothing would keep him from having her.
She shivered at the knowledge.
Cool air brushed her shoulder blades. Moving. They were moving. He kissed her again, growling against her, taking control, taking over. She forgot all about movement or fear. Her back hit the softness of her bed. She had a second to breathe as he shed his clothing.
He leaped forward, caging her, the meddling energies dancing on his skin. Her nerve endings fired, fighting the burn, then accepting the heat. His mouth sought her nipple, scalding hot. He flicked. She cried out, the pleasure beyond imagination.
Running her hands down his smooth back, she marveled at the strength. His palms glided down her sides, tracing each rib. His mouth wandered up her chest, over her collarbone to nip at the underside of her jaw—gentle and passionate.
His mouth found hers. Firm, possessive, his tongue explored while his body pinned hers to the bed.
Desire, love, fate all combined into a pure need. “Now, Conn.”
With one hard thrust, he plunged inside her. The growl he gave was all animal, all claiming.
She arched her back at the invasion, shock opening her eyes wide. Nerves flared to life in need, and she clutched his ass, wrapping her legs around his hips. His eyes were still black, and she tried to focus, tried to be concerned. But then he started to move, to pound, to take her somewhere nowhere near her bedroom.
The world sheeted white.
All sound disappeared.
She clung onto his shoulders, her nails digging, fighting to stay tethered to earth. Reality spun away. The elements commingled around them in pure energy. Light zapped around the room, whistling through the air.
His mouth dropped to trace her ear, his fang nipping her lobe.
Pleasure cut hard and deep, stamping her for all time. The race to the pinnacle was more important than breathing, than living. A craving set up in every pore as he lifted her hips from the bed, hammering into her with a force born of true need. Life or death. The beginning and the end.
She struggled against the crest, against the unknown for one second, teetering on the brink of the unfathomable, instinct screaming there was no way back.
With a sob from beyond her soul, she broke.
The world exploded. Her insides blew apart with a pleasure so intense her mind shattered, the only possibility of survival existing in Conn’s strong hands holding her against his body. She clung, riding the waves, allowing the energy between them to seep into her flesh, into her existence. She convulsed around him, forcing a growl from his mouth as he came, his entire body rigid.
Seconds, minutes, maybe lifetimes later, he relaxed his hold, resting against her.
She gave a weak push. “Ug. Heavy.”
“Sorry,” he murmured, flopping to his side, deep breaths panting from his smooth chest.
She snorted a soft laugh. The sweat on her skin and on his dried with the air. At least she wasn’t the only one whose world just blew up. She glanced around. Her entire room was demolished. The curtains hung drunkenly from a destroyed curtain rod, her jewelry looked like a spoiled child had flung the collection to the floor and the smooth walls held dents. “Holy crap.”
Conn chuckled, rolling to face her. His amazing eyes had returned to their deep green color. Relief nearly swamped her. Then he spoke. “Ah. Let me check something.” He pushed her gently to her side, his hand caressing her left buttock.
A flare of pain made her catch her breath. “Ow. Knock it off.” She rolled back over.
He twisted his lip, puzzlement drawing his brows down. “I, ah, I marked you, darlin’.”
“I know.” Even now, the marking on the front of her hip pulsed with need. But ... “Wait. Why does my ass burn?” Oh no he didn’t. Twisting her neck, she looked over her shoulder. “Another marking? How?”
“Ah, I don’t know. It’s never happened before.” He smiled, pleasure softening his hard face. “Perhaps because we’ve been apart for so long ... more likely from the weird energy we took from a member of the Nine. Probably won’t happen again.”
Pleasure swamped her anew. “It means a new start. One we choose.” Just in case, she’d make sure his hands stayed away from her face during sex for the next century.
He yanked the covers over them, drawing her into his body. “So. How are you feeling?”
She took inventory and snuggled her butt into his groin. “Better. That was a heck of a way to burn off energy.” Her fingers plucked at the comforter as she sought the right words. “With the demons being angry we didn’t align with them, Daire will need to cover the Baltic States for a while.”
“That makes sense. We’re sending Jase ... maybe we should send them together.” Conn ran a broad hand down her arm to tangle his fingers with hers, his heated chest warming her spine. “Does that mean you’ll want the U.S. territory?”
She stiffened. “Well, yes. Are you saying my being an enforcer is all right with you now?”
His exhale blew her hair forward. “
All right
doesn’t quite fit. But I do understand your need to protect your people ... and you’re good at it.” His soft kiss against her head melted her. “I love you, Moira. Asking you to be someone you’re not, I wouldn’t do. Besides, I’m excellent backup. And now that I have all this witch energy, I’d make a hell of an enforcer.”
She laughed, relief relaxing her muscles. “You lead the Realm soldiers, Conn. That’s plenty.”
“I already told you I’m a multitasker.” He tugged her to her back, covering her with his body. “You don’t go out without me, Dailtín.” Soft, sated, his expression still held no small amount of determination.
Damn compromise. “Yeah. We fight well together.” Talk about an understatement. She smiled. He understood her ... and would let her follow her own path. “I love you, Connlan.”
His smile went wide. “I love you, too. So how about we get married at the chapel where I first saw you? Tomorrow ?”

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