Darkest Before Dawn (A Guardian's Diary Book 1) (24 page)

Chapter 28

It was kind of anticlimactic. I hadn’t discovered very much information of what I was, and the glyphs on my forearms itched a little as they set and healed. They looked a little like an intricate lacy infinity symbol on the inside of each forearm, but I had no idea as to what they signified other than a rank. As I sat in my dad’s room before the small service that Addy was putting together, I realized I couldn’t put my thoughts and emotions together, much less a service for my dad. I found a bunch of journals in the room while looking for clothes for him to be buried in. I started skimming the entries of one, and found references to him meeting Shamus.

“Is everything okay?” Lachlan popped his head in the doorway, concern in his eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

He nodded and left. I watched as Jaeden walked by, carrying a load of supplies he’d brought. It was odd; as I saw him in the shelter, interacting with my people and bringing in supplies, he looked so right doing it, like he belonged with us. I had no idea where that thought came from.

“Emma, it’s time.” Jaeden had come for me, pulling my mind from my distracted musings
.

I stood and hid the journal back in my dad’s drawer before heading with Jaeden and Lachlan to the makeshift morgue with my dad’s best blue shirt and jeans. Sven was waiting to replace the blood soaked clothes he’d died in and when I handed them off to him, I spun around and leveled Shamus with a look.

“You knew my dad?”

“Yes,” Shamus smiled as he said it. “He had been doing some research on the internet that was very specific,” he shook his head and made a task-tsk noise of disproval, “which of course, didn’t go unnoticed by the elders, so I came here and met him to see if he was a threat or not. I liked him immediately upon meeting him. I saw the fight in him, and knew he’d be perfect for building a ‘safe haven’ so to speak, if it came to that. You see, once your father understood why I was here and what I was, he told me of a virus that would be put into play soon; that it was going to wipe out much of what I hold near and dear, if you get my meaning. Now usually someone spouting nonsense like that, I wouldn’t have paid much mind to, but a little taste and I knew everything he said was true.” He flashed me a cheeky grin. “So, I gave him a wee bit of help and sent much of the funding used to build this Ark. Do not misunderstand me, Emma. It was for purely selfish reasons. He would attract humans, it was inevitable, and my kind need food. I made a choice to invest in him, and it made sense since this was a secure location that would be easy to hold. Years later when the virus did hit, we only had to had come here and work on the defense of the area. I had already secured the food.” He finished smugly.

“Well then,” I said, at a loss of anything better to say. Food, he’d secured food. And by food, he meant my friends. Peachy! “Wait, you were here before too?” I asked Jaeden who smiled at me.

“I had a peek at you from a distance once. I’m pretty sure it was Addy taking pictures of you in a field of flowers. You didn’t turn in my direction, but from the scent I caught of you, I knew I’d want to have you. Your scent has changed now that you are grown; it is even more enticing now,” he said as his eyes twinkled naughtily.

I blinked. I’d wondered that day if I’d ever do anything good with my life, or find love. And the entire time I’d been plotting my life, a vampire had been watching me. Death had been watching me from afar and I’d not even known it.

“Did I meet you?”

“No,” he said with a sexy smile that made me think otherwise. “But I knew I’d have you if you hadn’t been among the dead here.”

“Nice, so you plotted my deflowering before you even met me?”

“I never take chances. I did way more than plan your deflowering since I hadn’t expected you to have a flower,” he replied with a husky timbre and heat in his eyes.

“Right,” I said as I spun around to find my dad had been laid out on a makeshift slab. “He knew what I was, and what my mother was.”

“He was a very smart man,” Shamus said as he stood beside me. “He did this entire shelter alone, and he finished it without asking for help or more money than was needed to get this place operational. He was intelligent enough to know that you were special before anyone else did. He sent me a letter when you graduated high school, and he said you had started a job in the medical field, and that you’d be an asset to my people should anything happen to him.”

“So what do you know of Sentinels?” I asked Shamus.

“Nothing, nothing except rumors and myth,” he answered, and dismissed me.

“It looks like you all got pretty up close and personal with some rumors and myths today,” I quipped, and Shamus rolled his eyes and a made a rude noise. “So what do we know of the rogue wolves?” I countered. 

“Jaeden shared with me what he told you; we don’t know much beyond that. Information keeps coming in all the time, so we are always reassessing.” He shrugged.

“I haven’t made it through all of the tapes, the ones my mother made and hid,” I whispered as the implications of what she’d been up to filtered through me. “There’s a little information on one of the tapes that has some stuff about the wolves, not much though, but maybe one of the others might have more.” I shook my head sadly as I looked at my dad’s body. “The entire time she was with him, she was planning his death.”

“You can’t know that,” Shamus said.

“No, I wouldn’t have known that, but she was cocky. She documented everything. It is rambling and I don’t understand most of it, but it may be the way we figure out where she is and what her plans are.”

“Maybe,” Jaeden said cautiously. “Right now, Emma, we need to bury your father.”

I turned around and looked at the man who’d raised me. He’d done it right, and he’d never asked for anything. He had even figured out what I was, and kept detailed notes. I’m not sure if he ever meant to show them to me, but I was going to go through every journal to see what he had discovered about me and what he knew of my mom’s plans. He’d protected so many people and our little town, and he’d only been a mere mortal. He figured out a lot of what was going to happen; he knew he couldn’t stop it, but he still did what he could to save people. And they’d repaid him by calling him crazy.

I knew there was no easy way to figure it out, and I was going to have to listen to those damn tapes sooner or later. I’d spent so much time grieving for her that it seemed unreal that she was back, and a total psycho.

The funeral service that Addy planned had been beautiful, but what Jaeden and the men had done brought fresh tears to my eyes. Some of Lachlan’s men played the bagpipes, while Jaeden and his men had built a Viking funeral pyre. Instead of the ship, they settled for building a scaffold over what looked like a tomb, overlooking the shelter that he’d built. Sage had been placed on the scaffolding, and he’d been placed on top of that so when the torch was set to the pyre, his ashes would drop to the tomb below.

It was a surreal thing to watch, and know that I was finally able to bury him. I’d thought him dead this entire time, but at some point he had run into her. Now she had my brother, and the knowledge that she did was sickening.

The funeral wrapped up and Jaeden made his way to me with a purpose in his stride. “Emma, come,” he said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him.

We’d just cleared the trees when he pulled me against him and kissed away the tears on my cheeks. “I hated watching you today. That shit can’t happen again,” he ordered.

“You’re not my boss; not here, not now.”

“We will see about that,” he grinned. “I’m taking you home with me, so go say your goodbyes. I want you tonight, and you gave me your word, so go be a good girl and let them know you won’t be home until tomorrow night. I’m about to show you what it really means to be fucked by someone like me, little girl.”

He swatted my ass as I turned to go do as he asked. Addy was giddy at the fact that I was going to be gone for a night, and Kyra had agreed to hold down the fort since Maggie was still in the common room, recovering. I gave Lachlan last-minute instructions that he would probably ignore and do what he felt was best, and with that, I left hand in hand with Jaeden.

It wasn’t until we reached his room that I started doubting coming here. He walked us in and closed the door, sealing us in as he locked it.

“Last time was nice, but I’m not promising that. I’m going to fuck you until those pretty little toes curl.” The carnal grin playing about his lips held a world of promise in it.

“Is that so?” I asked, sultry as friggin’ hell. I blinked at my tone.

“Oh yes, Emma, because I’m pretty damn sure you’re immortal, so I don’t plan on being gentle in my fucking.”

“You called what you did before, gentle?” I turned my back on him with a naughty grin on my lips.

“Yes,” he growled as he pushed me away from the door with his body. “I’m going to push you until you want me to stop; no, you’ll beg me to stop.” His hands slipped down my sides, to my hips as he slowly pushed me with his body towards the bed. His lips and nose softly grazed my neck. “I won’t, of course, because you’re mine now, Emma. I made you into a woman last time and now I’m going to make you into my pretty little fuck toy,” his lips fanned my ear, as he cupped and tested the weight of my breasts.  “I’m going to bring you to the edge of orgasm, but I won’t let you fall,” his mouth drifted over and kissed the flesh at the nape of my neck. His voice was a soft growl that sent a little shock through my body. “Not for the first couple of times, and your body is going to want it, crave it even,” his hand slipped around and cupped my already throbbing sex.

“You’re going to try and stop it from happening, and it’s going to add to your excitement, because it’s going to let me know that you’re ready to succumb to it, but I know when to pull away, when to wait it out,” he pressed his fingers against the wetness he was creating and smiled against my neck. “You’ll beg me to come, and your body will become sensitive and that sweet pussy will want to be punished more, until it’s a soaking fucking mess for me to feast upon. You’re going to realize how fucking helpless you are, and how much you want and need to come.” His tongue swirled where his lips had just been, sending a shiver racing down my skin with anticipation.  “It’s going to be a slow tease, a merciless one that courses through your body. By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll whimper and shiver as you are kept at the height of desire.”

I swallowed a moan, but it came out anyways, as a needy gasp. He stepped closer, and his eyes turned red as his fangs slid from his gums abruptly. “No hiding what I am tonight, Emma. Tonight you get me, faults and all. I’m fucking dirty and I have a filthy mouth but I’m good with it. I’m going to give you one orgasm because I smell it on you already, building for me just from my words alone. After that, I’m going to torture you and make that pussy weep to come for me. Only then will I fuck it, and not just once, Emma, but for the next twenty four hours straight, you’ll be in my bed with me, coming as I see fit.”

I gulped down air, unable to get enough. He moved with inhuman speed. His hands were rough but it was okay; I wanted it rough, and I wanted everything he said he would do to me—everything and more. My clothes had been stripped from my body as well as my bra. I shook with the knowledge that he’d removed it all in a blink of an eye. He left my panties on and flipped me up onto the bed, sitting on all fours.

It wasn’t until I was on the bed, and had my ass in the air, fully exposed to him that he growled his approval from deep in his chest. His hands grazed over my ass and lower, to the soaking mess his dirty mouth had created. He ripped the panties off, and placed them in his pocket as if he’d wanted them as a trophy. He parted my flesh and allowed his fingers to sink in slowly, until they were buried inside of me, and then he pulled them out…slowly. He leaned over me, and placed his one hand under my chin as he lifted my face until I was forced to look at him.

“Good girl,” he whispered with a hoarse voice. “I think you like this a lot. Being at my mercy, begging me to allow you to come. I have dreamt of this sweet pussy being soaking wet and weeping with the need to be fucked since the last time I had you here. I imagined how hard I would fuck it, and how loud you’d scream for me.”

Fuck! He was seriously skilled in dirty talk! He turned me over, and my hands itched to touch him. Like this, he could see everything I had, and take whatever he wanted.

I moved to touch him, but he pushed me down on the pillows that rested against the headboard and his hand wrapped around my throat possessively. “You’ll lie there and take it, little one. Be my good girl—” he said before he leaned down and nipped at one nipple, then the other, drawing it in until it grew hard from his hot mouth. His fingers found my core and plunged inside, pulling a deep moan of pleasure from my throat where his other hand held me down by my throat still. “Fucking hell, good girls aren’t this wet, Emma.”

“Jaeden,” I cried as his fingers continued to drive inside of me to a slow beat only he could hear and control. “I need to come!”

“Of course you do, Emma,” he rumbled as he brought his face up until his lips fanned over mine. “You’re right on the edge, because that’s where I want you. You’re so fucking close to coming but I changed my mind, I’m not ready for you to, not yet. You’re so close though, so fucking close that it’s driving you crazy. Every touch makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up; every caress sends a rush of shivers down your spine, and it feels like an electrical current is running through your soul.” His voice was a seductive, taunting purr. “I love you like this, and I’ll keep you right here as long as it pleases me. Teetering right on the brink of coming…Tell me, Emma, how does it feel to know I control when you come?”

“Please,” I begged, because let’s face it, between the dirty talk, his hand around my throat holding my ability to breathe in the balance, and his fingers? I was in trouble and he was in full control of every facet of my body. He had control, hell, he had my obedience.

“Not yet,” he said before he pressed his lips against mine. “Kiss me,” he ordered and I opened my mouth further, but his kiss was savage and hungry, as if he couldn’t get inside my mouth far enough. His fangs scraped over my tongue and then I felt the slice of flesh, but no pain accompanied it. I moaned against his hungry mouth as the kiss of my blood lingered in taste. He’d cut my tongue, only to heal it with his own saliva without taking his mouth from mine.

His hand pulled away from my core but he continued to hold my throat and I realized he wanted me to watch him, and by doing this, he had my full attention, but it was also a show of control, his way of telling me he had all control of me, and would use it. He pulled his mouth away from mine, and he smiled before his hand loosened, and he started working my neck over with his mouth. His lips pressed against my neck, and opened. I waited for the pierce, but it didn’t come. Instead, he sucked against the vein, and released it. Sucked, nipped, licked and repeated it until I felt my clitoris as it pulsed in sync with what his mouth was doing, if it was even possible. It was erotic, and the wetness which had pooled between my legs was proof of just how much control he held over my body.

I pulled back but it was only a second of hesitation. Too many emotions were warring inside of me, with how I felt, and what he was doing to me.

“What are you afraid of, Emma? I can feel you pulling back, and I don’t like it,” he growled as his mouth lifted from my neck.

“I’m afraid of falling,” I replied honestly. I was terrified of loving him, and falling with him could hurt me and change who I was irrevocably. He could destroy me.

“I’ll catch you, Emma,” he whispered against my ear huskily. “Always.”

A single tear fell from my eyes but he caught it with his lips and kissed my cheek tenderly. He then sat up and pulled me close.  “No more fears, not in this bed. Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.

“Do you really, or are you just placating me?”

“I trust you, Viking,” I said with more force behind it. More conviction. 

“Give me your arms then,” he ordered and watched as I hesitated. “This takes trust,” he added as he watched me move my arms to him. “I won’t hurt you, but I do plan to use you like my own personal fuck toy, and after that, I’m going to make love to you.”

He yanked my hands up and tied them together tightly at the wrist. He then secured the nylon rope to the headboard where a metal hook had been drilled into it since last time I’d been here. “Is that too tight?” he asked as he looked down at my body with a naked hunger that made me whimper. “I’m going to take that as no,” he said as his lips on one side of his mouth rose into a cocky grin. “Spread your legs and show me how wet you are,” he whispered and I did, as if his words could control my legs. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful like this, all tied up and helpless.”