Conquer the Highland Beast: The Vampire Dylan Macgregor (Hearts of Darkness) (9 page)

Highland
Bar and Grill

Dylan scrubbed his hand over his cheeks, leaned his elbows on the table, and pointed a finger at Max. “Learn from my errors. I should have known when I stumbled across them in the shadows. She was young and confused. I saw the exchange between her and Leif. I denied it meant anything, even though I’d been inside her head like some kind of voyeur.”

“You peeked at her thoughts?” Max asked and pointed back. “I guess you’ve learned your lessons the hard way.”

“Hell, yes.
But you have to understand, she’d been my responsibility all along—since we’d been wee ones. I saw in her mind she’d been waiting for me. What was she doing with Leif that night? So I took the opportunity to slip a few memories inside her head.”

“How did you truly feel about her? Was she the soul mate you’d hoped for?”

“I thought so…then. And even later. I mourned the loss of what we had been to each other when it came to an end.” Dylan shook his head. “And all these years I believed my own words…until yesterday.”

“What happened yesterday?” Max sat forward and stared long and hard at Dylan. “The FBI profiler.” Not a question—an answer. “Are you saying Evie wasn’t your soul mate?”

“Yes. Damn my heart. I guess somewhere inside I’ve always known the truth of it. Evie was mine the same way Shelby is yours. She belonged to me in a way only fellow survivors can understand. We were the last contact we had with our pasts, and we didn’t want to give that up. We were wrong. I was especially wrong because I believe now I always suspected she belonged to Leif.”

“The way Shelby belongs to Kyle.”

Dylan nodded and met Max’s eyes. “All these years and, until yesterday, I thought she was the one, but when I met my soul mate, every part of my being recognized the difference between love and a connection with a soul mate.” The realization was earth shattering.

“And me? Now with the demoness? I don’t even know her name.” Max patted Dylan on the arm. “Do you believe in hindsight? Does that twenty-twenty vision tell you differently?”

Dylan smiled a half smile. “You ask questions like a psychiatrist. You ever think you followed the wrong medical path by going into research?”

“Not at all. I was
only good at psychology when I contemplated life with a drink in my hand. I tried to keep that to a minimum. Sometimes too much reflection isn’t good for the soul.”

“I
discovered shutting the bad memories behind doors and locking them away when you are through wallowing in self-pity is the best thing.” Dylan pointed at his temple. “Don’t go back and open them unless there’s something desperately important to be gained.”

“Wise advice. Tonight there’s something to be gained I take it? Do I need to ask the question again?”

“Twenty-twenty vision? No, I recall the question. I’m still asking myself the same one all these years later. Especially tonight. But back then, I was young and selfish and full of myself.” Dylan sat back, picking up his huge arms from the dark oak table and stretching them over his head. “I was over eighteen-years-of-age, and six and a half feet tall. I’d grown into a fine specimen of a warrior. Still, there were other lads who were quite handsome and, as Evie often reminded me…” he chuckled, “they were also more agreeable. No matter how many lads pursued her, or how obliging they were, she showed no interest in them beyond a pleasant how-de-do. I sensed no desperate longing in her for their presence or touch. Not the way she did for mine…not until the night Leif finally declared himself.

He’d quietly loved her from the start, and a part of me knew it. There was never any doubt she cared for him, too. He was my
cousin—my best friend besides Evie.” Dylan added. “Dammit. I ignored her feelings and his. Later, after I’d made her heart ache with my distant distraction for revenge and my constant absence, I saw how she blossomed in his presence. She thrilled at the least little attention he paid to her. Truth be told, it angered her to be so much at the mercy of her emotions around both of us. She was too independent to enjoy having her heart pulled apart. I was their chieftain, and she was what was left of my immediate clan. Hell, her father was my father’s right hand and sometimes, as unconventional as it would be for a woman to be a chief’s right hand, I thought of her as such. The same with our relationship. In many ways, she was my right hand and Leif was my left. I depended on her in so many ways—too many ways.”

Max sat back in his chair, picking up his booted foot, he crossed his ankle over his thigh. “Tell me about it. I’m guilty of the same thing with Shelby—taking her and our relationship for granted over the years.”

“Leif’s feelings were genuine. Like Kyle’s are for Shelby. I saw that later—part of the
twenty-twenty
thing you mentioned. There was something special about him—a loyalty to me and to her I didn’t see in many men.

“As much as Evie tried to keep her emotions to herself, she feared I’d discover her true feelings and her affection for Leif. When she and I decided to keep our gifts hidden from everyone except each other, she had no idea how difficult it would be to keep me out of her head. My gift was
so strong. Even though I’d insisted we refrain from using our abilities around others, her thoughts often escaped, and my ability grew stronger every day. She needed more control—more practice. So I helped her. I never realized how handy my ability to manipulate her mind would become, or how necessary it would be to save her life.

“When that day arrived, years later, I didn’t fail her. I tricked her, took her memories, and implanted new ones. I thought I was doing the right thing. All that old knowledge was nothing but a curse to her. I
was an ass and I can prove it.”

Beltane, later

“So Evie, this is where you’ve gotten off to. I’ve been looking all through the dancers for you.”

“
Och, Dylan!” She jumped up, surprised, and filled with a slight sense of guilt for thinking of Leif while she waited for Dylan. There was no denying the way the pleasure of seeing him raced through her blood. “You’ve returned.”

His voice had been damaged ever since the night of the attack on Benocght Keep and always had a gravelly edge. Now it was even deeper and raspier. The resonance made her breath catch in her chest when he spoke her name, and her heart raced. The sound of her heartbeat thundered in her ears. This summer would be her seventeenth summer, and though she had no experience flirting or such, she was determined to win Dylan’s heart or purge herself of this wanting.

“What are you doing here all alone when the Beltane celebration is blazing at the mound?” he asked.

“You were supposed to be back before sunset. I waited but grew tired of the smoke and drunken men.”

“Did someone bother you?” His grin turned into a frown and he growled, glancing around.

Her cheeks heated. “No. No one bothered me. You’ve thoroughly frightened every lad who would think to court me.”

“Good. That’s what I intended. So were you waiting for a fae prince here in the shadows or me?” He teased her.

“You flatter yourself. Why didn’t you call out?”

“I thought I’d catch some lad trying to steal a kiss from you and have an excuse to draw my sword.”

“Dylan!” Her cheeks heated again, and she wondered if he had pulled something from her memories. When she first turned and saw him, she noticed his hand was on the hilt of his broadsword. His eyes were still dark and deadly. He was serious. “What had ye planned? Murder then?”

“Nay, but I would’ve put the fear into him.” He shrugged one shoulder and put his sword back into the scabbard. He smiled and the moonlight danced in his eyes. “I planned to call him out and send you back to Gareth and Aedithe. This is no night for a maid to be out in the forest. You’d fare better among the crowds.”

“I can take care of myself, and you, better than most, should know it.”

His grin broadened and he snorted. “I wasn’t sure how you’d be taking care of the lad. Thought you might be desiring his kiss.”

Evie didn’t quite know how to respond. Her face felt like she’d stood too close to the bonfire when he stepped forward.

First, he ran the backs of his fingers over her cheeks, and then cupped her face in his hands so she couldn’t look away. “Does this blush on your cheeks mean you are looking for a kiss?”

He lowered his head and tilted so close to her lips, she smelled the ale on his breath. It didn’t truly worry her since he never over indulged. His eyes were clear and bright as they focused on hers. Mischievous. Teasing. Daring. Then they changed. His eyes lowered to watch her lick her lips, and suddenly he was no longer the young friend she’d once known. He was a young man with desires she didn’t fully understand, and his nearness affected her too much.

She lowered her lashes to shield her naked exposure. The need was too close to the surface for her to hide what she wanted. Dare she tell him and risk his chiding? However, she did want that first true kiss, and not from anyone but him. If she let this chance pass, she may not get another.

Evie was no coward.

Lifting her lashes, then her chin, she prepared to face him boldly, but when she looked upon his masculine beauty, for a moment she almost lost her nerve. His fair hair and dark brows were as much a contrast as his sweet concern for the helpless, and his ruthlessness in battle. She opened her mouth to speak and at first, nothing came out.

She closed her eyes to keep him from distracting her. “As you can see I am alone.”

“Open your eyes and look at me, Evie.”

When she opened her eyes, his gaze moved from the fingers on the vines in her hair to her lips and stayed there.

“Well, are you wanting that kiss?”

“Depends on who’s
offerin’. Would it be you?” she asked, still twirling the vines in her hair to keep her fingers from touching him.

“You will not be kissing any other.”

The scent of Leif’s skin remained in her mind, reminding her she already had.

Anger, then hunger flickered over Dylan’s expression before he shuttered his thoughts.

She trembled.
He knows.

She didn’t dare enter his mind to confirm her fears. She couldn’t risk exposing any of her own thoughts to him because Evie wanted him to know she wanted his kiss, just not how desperately.

Then something changed. His desire slammed into her like a physical punch, forcing her to take a deep breath. She inhaled, and her chest rose with a long, deep breath, and then Dylan’s gaze dropped to her breasts. The interest in his eyes returned, and this time he didn’t hide it. A low groan rumbled through him as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against his hard body. Her nipples pebbled against his chest, and his warm breath washed over her.

Oh, this was different from the sweetness she felt with Leif.

“Answer me.” Dylan tilted her chin up and brushed his lips gently over hers murmuring, “Were you waiting for my kiss then, hey?”

“Aye.” It wasn’t a lie.
It was Dylan she’d been waiting for. Her knees went weak, and as she leaned into him, she breathed against his mouth.

He lifted his face and stared at her. “You’ve been chewing mint,” he whispered.

“Aye, and you’ve not.” Evie picked a piece of mint leaf from the patch near where she’d waited and popped a piece in his mouth.

Dylan smiled while he chewed and swallowed with a cocky grin. “You are my saucy lass,
darlin’.”

“I may be. However, no one will be giving me my first kiss with the swill of ale about him. Not even you my bonny chieftain. Perhaps you aren’t the only
braw lad about who can teach a lass to kiss, Dylan Macgregor.”

He raised one brow. “I am, as far as you’re concerned, lass.” He lowered his lips to hers and whispered, “I’ll be having that kiss now, Evie. Put your arms around my neck so I can do this good ‘n’ proper like.”

Evie did as she was told and, when she did, he leaned her down to the ground, cupping her head in his hand and sliding his other hand to her back. They sank into the moss and the mint and the flowery fragrant vines. He held himself up on his elbows to keep his full weight from crushing her, and even then the thrill of having him pressed against her felt wonderful. The length of his ridged sex nestled between her thighs made her want to arch against him and ease the ache he put there.

“Stay still, luv. I’ll take care of you.” With a flick of his tongue against her lips, he urged her to open to him, and she did.

Then he took the kiss deeper and heat flashed through her, settling low in her abdomen. She moaned into his mouth, and all rational thoughts fled. Melting into him, Evie lost herself in the experience of Dylan’s arms and her first kiss. It was like an autumn night when the first chill cools the long heat of summer. It was like the first snow, crystalline and exhilarating. Like a spring rain, clean and refreshing. Like a hot summer day, burning deep into her core.

Evie was lost to him and the Beltane moment.

When he lifted his mouth from hers, he nibbled her lower lip and brushed kisses up and down her neck. Chill bumps rose all over her skin. She wanted more, needed something more, but still wasn’t quite sure what that something was. “Dylan, I-I need...

“I know what you need,
darlin’. But not yet.” He spread his fingers and cupped her head in his palms as he stared down at her. “You are almost too beautiful to gaze upon. So light, so fair, yet still so young—”

“I’m not so beautiful or fair. I’m just me, Evie. And, Dylan...I am more than old enough.”

Dylan tilted her face to his and tasted her perfect lips. They were full and soft and tasted oh so sweet. The inside of her mouth was hot with desire. She was springtime turning to summer in his arms. Desperate to be fulfilled and ripe, ready to burst with her passion, the scent of her need rose, filling his senses the way her curves filled his arms.

She nuzzled his neck. “I like the way you smell. You smell like home to me.”

“It’s the leather.” Her honesty made him chuckle. She also reminded him of home, perhaps because their memories were all that was left. “I like the way you smell, too. It’s a scent unique to you.”

“I hope it’s the heather.” She smiled and opened her mind. “
I want to be with you, Dylan.”

He couldn’t resist the first beckoning whisper. He made the mistake of opening himself up to her thoughts. A fire lit low in his belly.
“You want me so badly?”
Could she possibly need him, desire him, as much as he did her?

Over the years, they’d kept their gifts
suppressed, only sharing fleeting thoughts with one another, occasionally. Never like this.

Instead of answering him, she filled her thoughts with him, confirming how she admired his body, the way he moved, even the way he swallowed.

There were images in her mind of him shirtless, wet with sweat. Her licking his nipples.

His cock shooting to attention. Her noticing and cupping him then undoing his breeches... The kilt he wore today would make things easier.

Why was he surprised she should regard his appearance? After all, he often fixated on her hips when she couldn’t see him, and he had to tear his gaze from her breasts every time she inhaled. He even enjoyed watching her do mundane chores, such as washing or serving with her efficient, fluid grace.

Finding out she admired similar assets in him made him a bit self-conscious...yet proud to have the woman he lusted over lusting back. He felt the familiar half smile crook his lips and chuckled.

With each impression she shared, Dylan grew harder, and Evie stretched up against him so she could move her mouth over his chin and up his neck.

Dylan kissed her face and lifted her breast, testing the weight and teasing her nipple with his thumb.

Evie’s mouth opened on a gasp, and he plunged his tongue inside, thoroughly tasting every inch.

“Mmm, you taste like mint still,” she murmured against his lips.

He dragged the tip of a finger between her breasts then began a slow deliberate seduction of her breasts with his hands while Evie squirmed beneath him.

“Dylan!” She held her breast in one hand. “Please, I need your mouth on my breast.”

He knew what else she needed, but would wait. Taking the breast she offered, he teased her nipple between his lips as she gripped his hip in her hand, then he relaxed into her and suckled. She arched and thrust her breast up for him to take more, and as his lips formed a smile, he thanked the gods for his lusty lass.

“Aye, Dylan that feels so
verra good.”

He kept his hands on her breasts as he kissed his way down to her belly.

“What are you doing? I miss your lips—ach!”

He lifted her skirt and nuzzled his way between her copper curls. When he placed a soft kiss between her petal soft folds and then took a quick swipe with his tongue, she gripped his hair and pulled him against her.

“Oh, my. Dylan, that feels so decadent. Are you sure—”

He rubbed his lips against her nub,
then sucked. She tasted sweet and smelled fantastic. He wanted to eat her up and stay buried between her thighs just this way, but some parts of his anatomy had other plans.

“
Och, never mind…I’m sure this is…f-fine…so veerra fine. Ooh, somethin’s happenin’.”

Dylan kept the pressure up and waited for her to experience her first release, quickly switching to his fingers—pressing first one then two into her tight opening. He didn’t go deep enough to breech her, but he wanted to feel her muscled walls clench and the liquid honey pour from her over his hand.

“Let go, Evie darlin’. Let the pleasure take you.”

Evie arched against Dylan’s hand and
did as he demanded.

He smothered her scream of pleasure with
his mouth. Hard as stone, the berserker within him wanted to claim this woman, but he would not take more before handfasting with her, Although the temptation to take her was great, he moved off her and rolled to his side.

“Evie?” He glanced at her hair, furrowing his brows, and ran his hand into the long coils of her hair wrapped in the vine. “Is this faery vine in your hair?”

Distracted from the moment, she lifted her hand to touch the vines in her curls. “Aye. What—”

“You
were
hoping to lure some young fairy prince here to seduce him with your beauty and with the passion vine.” Dylan gave her a stern glare.

“Ach, Dylan! What do you take me
for? A scheming—”

His mock glare cracked, and he started laughing. “Nay, lass I was just having some fun with you. You are aware of the significance of this vine?” he asked, and flicked a loose tendril.