Authors: Dana Marie Bell
Tags: #Paranormal Romance, #Fiction, #General, #Romance, #Paranormal, #Contemporary
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Dana Marie Bell
“Ah.” Duncan sighed his understanding. “Your sister is fine. If Jaden truly wished to hurt her, she would have died the moment she touched him. If he allowed her to fight him it was because he was protecting her as best he could.”
Leo raised a brow. “He has a strange way of protecting her.”
“And if your mate had gotten away from him he could have claimed it was because of the fight.”
“A lie without lying?” Duncan nodded, confirming Leo’s thought. “He’s kept Ruby drugged so that Kaitlynn can’t mess with her mind.”
“I’m not surprised. Despite evidence to the contrary Jaden is a good man.” Duncan looked towards the mansion. “Kaitlynn must know we’re here by now. We would be on the security cameras.”
Leo held up his hand as Duncan started to move towards the house. “I have the senses of every person on this estate clouded except yours, Jaden’s and Ruby’s. No one knows we’re here.”
Duncan stared towards the house, a scowl on his face. “I need to find my father. I need to know why he allowed things to go this far.”
Leo sighed. “Your father is no longer alive.”
Duncan turned back to him, his eyes icily blank. “Excuse me?”
Leo could no longer see Duncan as the earth fed him information rapidly. “Kaitlynn did something to his after-dinner brandy. Curare, I think, but the earth isn’t sure since it didn’t come from here.” Leo shuddered. Kaitlynn had buried her father before he was completely dead. “She buried him in the formal gardens. The earth still screams of his pain.”
The rage and grief coming off Duncan Malmayne increased tenfold. Leo could feel the man’s power radiating off him. Silver sparks danced in the air around him. In the coldest voice Leo had ever heard Duncan whispered, “Leave Kaitlynn to me.”
“Kaitlynn needs to pay for hurting my mate,” Leo growled, his own eyes glowing green.
Duncan smiled, and Leo tried to hide his shiver at the chill in it. “Jaden will be hungry when he wakes up.”
“Feeding a vampire is hardly fitting punishment for the crimes your sister has committed.”
“I never said she’d survive the feeding.” Duncan’s head tilted, as if listening to something only he could hear. “Jaden is…displeased with my sister.” His expression turned feral. “And he has a very vivid imagination.”
Leo moved silently through the front of the house. The few sounds he did make he was able to muffle in the minds of the guards. Duncan was moving around the back of the house, the other Sidhe having decided to use the kitchen entrance. He’d taken out the guards stationed there before heading to intercept Leo. Whether they were loyal to the Malmaynes in general or Kaitlynn in particular would be sorted out later.
106
Dare to Believe
He could feel Ruby beneath him, deep in the earth. She was beginning to wake up. Apparently the stimulants Kaitlynn had ordered administered were beginning to work. He could feel Jaden tensing himself, rousing from the half sleep that had kept his heartbeat slow. If Jaden moved to block Kaitlynn, odds were good he wouldn’t survive. The vampire had lost too much blood.
There was another in the room with them, someone the earth found repulsive (
“Jeremy West”,
the earth whispered). Another vampire, he was tall, with dark hair and eyes, cold in a way Jaden wasn’t. He ignored most of what Kaitlynn was doing, only smiling when Ruby moaned.
That look on West’s face nearly had Leo losing control. The man’s eyes glowed red, and his teeth had dropped.
“He hungers.”
Leo decided enough was enough. To hell with skulking. It was time to see exactly how well a leprechaun and his land worked together.
Ruby opened her eyes, wondering what in the hell she’d been drinking the night before. There was a horrible taste in her mouth. “Wha’ the hell you been feeding me? Road kill?” She moaned.
“Welcome to your new home, human,” a feminine, familiar voice said.
Ruby shut her eyes with a groan. “I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when Leo kills you.” The sharp slap stung even through the drug haze. “Ow.”
“Go back to sleep and I’ll cut off your finger and pour a glass of your blood for the vampire.”
Ruby cautiously peeked, not happy to see Kaitlynn smiling sweetly down at her. “You have spinach stuck in your teeth.”
The blonde reared back, one hand covering her mouth, her eyes horrified. Ruby snickered.
Kaitlynn removed her hand and stood tall and proud. “Allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine.”
She waved languidly. A tall, dark-haired man stepped into view. His eyes glowed red and his teeth were pointed. “Jeremy West.” She simpered up at the vampire. “Jeremy, meet your dinner.”
“Swell.” Ruby desperately tried not to tremble at the anticipation she saw in West’s face. The vampire was staring down at her like she was coated in melted Godiva and he was a confirmed chocoholic.
West licked his lips. “Mmm. She’s going to taste
sweet
.”
Ruby found herself fighting a hysterical laugh. “You have a great future in porno movies.”
His arm snapped up, ready to strike down at her, and she flinched. There was no expression on his face at all.
Damn. No sense of humor.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Huh? I thought Ms. Schizo would adore having me battered.
“Too many bruises and I won’t get Leo’s cooperation.”
Oh. That explains that.
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Dana Marie Bell
“Besides, I’d prefer to hurt her myself.”
Everything around her went dark.
Leo watched from the shadows as Duncan signaled his readiness to enter the…
dungeon,
was the only word he could think of to describe it, below the Malmayne estate. He nodded, prepared to move—
The terrified screams ripped into his soul and nearly tore it apart. Gone was any thought of moving silently. He rushed into the room, determined to save Ruby no matter the cost.
She was in some sort of glass and concrete cage. He could see Kaitlynn and Jeremy West standing over her. Her body arched off the slab she was lying on, every muscle straining against invisible shackles.
The only breaths she took were to keep screaming.
Kaitlynn smiled, and Leo lost it. The earth trembled beneath his feet. His eyes fell on the electronic lock on the door, and he wondered if he could manipulate it open. It was made of metal, which was of the earth, and was on his land. If that didn’t work he would bring the entire house down to save his mate if he had to.
But before he could move, Jaden was there, ripping the door off its hinges and throwing it away, almost hitting Duncan in the process. Leo flew through the opening, barely catching a glimpse of Jaden collapsing to the floor again with a groan.
“I wouldn’t come any closer, if I were you.”
Leo didn’t even hesitate. The power of the earth surged through him. He rushed forward and backhanded Kaitlynn with all his strength, grimly satisfied when he heard a bone crack. She staggered back, stunned and howling in pain.
Ruby’s screams abruptly cut off.
“Step back, Sidhe.”
He turned to see Ruby held by West. One of West’s hands was wrapped around her throat, the other around her waist. Her feet dangled above the floor, her sweat-drenched hair hanging limp around her pale face. She looked terrified.
“I can snap her neck like a twig.” The tips of West’s fangs poked out to caress his bottom lip obscenely. “Or you can cooperate.”
Leo felt the earth tremble again in response to his rage.
“It’s simple, really.” Kaitlynn caressed her cheek, her expression once again cloyingly sweet. “You take me to mate, and your…Ruby…doesn’t get hurt any more than she’s already been.”
“Choose not to cooperate, and she becomes my lunch.”
“That’s quite enough, Mr. West.” Kaitlynn smoothed out her skirt with shaking hands. “Well, Leo?”
“Do it and you’ll never get any again in your entire long existence.”
108
Dare to Believe
Leo’s mouth quirked up at Ruby’s growled order. That was all he’d needed to ensure that Kaitlynn’s plans were destroyed. He shrugged. “I told you my mate doesn’t like to share.” He looked over at West.
“And neither do I.”
He only meant to throw the man off balance, Raising a tiny section of the floor a few feet off the ground would have accomplished that nicely, and hopefully startle the other man into letting go of Ruby.
Instead, a full circular foot of concrete, gravel and dirt pushed upward at an alarming rate, smashing West against the ceiling so fast he had no time to react, or even yell. Ruby screamed. Blood and tissue spurted out of the flattened body of the man who’d been holding her, drenching her in the disgusting fluids.
The concrete and dirt circle pushed up until the vampire’s arms were severed, dropping a shrieking Ruby to the ground. When she hit the ground he could see that her shirt and jeans had been torn through in spots, revealing a mass of cuts and scraps that would have to be tended to and soon.
“Oh, God. I’m gonna…”
He watched helplessly as Ruby vomited. He was stunned by what he’d done to West. Bits of the vampire were still dripping down the new column of earth.
At least I’m pretty sure the son of a bitch is dead.
Too bad his stomach was threatening to join Ruby’s in the old heave-ho.
“Wash her off, quickly.” Leo turned to find Jaden leaning against the doorjamb, a scowl on his face.
“Hurry!
His blood is in those wounds!
”
“Fuck!” He picked up Ruby and sprinted for the stairs, moving faster than he’d ever done before. He had to wash the vampire blood off of her before it was too late.
He was fairly certain his still heaving mate had no desire to become a vampire.
Duncan glided into the dungeon room, beautiful and dangerous. Jaden watched him with bleary eyes, knowing he didn’t have long before he collapsed again. It would be worth it, though, to see Duncan give his sister the smack-down she deserved.
“Hello, Kaitlynn.”
The Deranged Darling flinched at the sight of her big brother, the livid bruise on her face in stark contrast to the pallor of her skin. “Duncan.” Her voice was slurred, no doubt due to the hit Dunne had landed.
Duncan was staring at Kaitlynn in a very scary way. Jaden watched and wondered what the Sidhe was up to. He doubted it would go the way he hoped. The woman
was
Duncan’s sister, unfortunately. “Blood debt is owed, and you’re going to pay it.”
“On whose authority?” One brow tried to rise, but then she winced, the action pulling at her bruised cheek.
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“On mine, as Lord of Clan Malmayne.” The authority in Duncan’s voice sent shivers down Jaden’s spine. He allowed his teeth to drop, determined to back Duncan with his last drop of blood if need be. If his bond-brother was actually going to make Kaitlynn pay for her crimes then Jaden wanted in on the action, even if he only got to be a spectator.
“Father is lord, not you.” Her chin rose. She almost managed a sneer, but her broken cheek prevented it.
“Father is dead, buried in the formal gardens.” Jaden’s jaw dropped. How in hell had he missed
that
?
It was damn near impossible to hide death from a vampire.
He glanced at the column that pinned Jeremy West to the ceiling. Perhaps the other vamp had somehow managed to hide the tell-tale signs?
Kaitlynn’s skin had gone pale, her expression filled with trepidation.
“Dead by your hand, I believe.” Duncan circled his sister, his eyes cold and without mercy. “For your crime of murder, the sentence is death.”
Kaitlynn gasped.
Goodbye, bitch.
Jaden laughed internally, delighted at this turn of events.
“For the crime of kidnapping and torture: also death.”
She whimpered.
“For the crime of the attempted murder of my bondmate: death.”
Wait, bondmate?
Jaden nearly chortled. Duncan was breaking out a truly archaic definition of the bond they shared, if he was calling Jaden his
bondmate
. By using that term, he increased the level of Kaitlynn’s crime from attempted murder to cardinal sin.
“Sentence to be carried out immediately.” Duncan turned to Jaden with a grim look. “She’s all yours.”
Jaden bowed, as best he could in his wounded state, to the man he’d pledged his allegiance and part of his heart to almost a century ago.
Then he turned to Kaitlynn and smiled sweetly. The pain subsided at his lord’s permission to feed.
He was very,
very
hungry.
He let the predator in him surface, using everything he was to ensure the Deranged Darling paid her debt in full.
Not one drop of Kaitlynn’s blood tainted the floor. Jaden made sure of it.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Leo chanted. He pulled Ruby under the warm water, desperate to get the tainted blood off of her. He didn’t bother removing her ruined clothes first, just dunked her under the shower and rinsed her as fast as he could. He completely ignored his own clothes, not caring that he was now soaked along with her. He was pretty sure Duncan could spare them some new ones.
“Leo?”
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Dare to Believe
Her quavering, weepy voice nearly did him in. “It’s okay, kitten. I’m here.”
She collapsed into his arms, sobbing, and he nearly sobbed with her. He held her and rocked her, making nonsense noises in her ear just to let her know he was there.
He began to sing softly, a lullaby in the Sidhe tongue. Eventually her weeping slowed. When she began ripping her clothes from her body, he didn’t question, just helped. And when she picked them up and threw them as hard as she could out the shower door, he helped with that, too.
Finally, her crying stopped completely. She drowsed in his arms, only the occasional sniffle letting him know she was still awake. He picked her up and carried her into the adjoining bedroom, laying her wet body down on top of the coverlet. He went back into the bathroom and turned off the water. He grabbed a towel and returned to her. He didn’t want her out of his sight.