Jewel of Darkness (30 page)

“Well, that’s a relief. I was worried since the title isn’t Dirty Music. I felt certain that the soundtrack would probably suck eggs.”

“Perizada, could you please get us some popcorn,” Dalton growled.

“Sure thing.” The fae snapped her fingers and a bag of popcorn appeared in each of their laps.

Jewel heard Dalton sigh. He’d been trying to get Peri to leave them for just a minute. She leaned forward to look around their chaperone. “Have you ever seen this movie?” she asked him.

Dalton shook his head. “I’ve been a little preoccupied over the decades.”

The lights suddenly dimmed and the curtains parted. Jewel leaned back in her seat and looked up at the screen. She felt oddly excited, though she’d seen the movie several times. Face it, what girl hadn’t seen the famous dance movie that had turned Patrick Swayze into a dance legend much the way Saturday Night Fever had John Travolta. Yes, Jewel knew more than just medical, historical, and other ‘ical facts.

The movie started and she was immediately drawn in. It wasn’t until the main character ‘Baby’ paid Johnny a visit that the tension in the room began to grow. As the two characters lost themselves in one another, with all the kissing and touching, it was as though Jewel was being slapped in the face. That was what she couldn’t have, not with the man she loved. As she watched Swayze’s character kiss ‘Baby’, she was reminded of kisses Dalton had given her. Her hand trembled as she reached up and touched her own lips. Jewel didn’t know how it was possible for lips to ache for one’s touch, but hers did. They ached for Dalton.

“Okay folks, the onscreen sexual tension doesn’t hold a candle to the sexual tension that I am sitting in between. And you two aren’t even breathing the same air!” Peri said looking from Dalton to Jewel. “Either do the whole bonding ceremony ― and I’m guessing since you’re human you want to get married so do that too and then boink like bunnies ― or get it under control.”

Jewel’s face was hot with embarrassment. She couldn’t even glance in Dalton’s direction. She heard Dalton whisper something to Peri but couldn’t hear the exact words over the movie. Whatever it was he’d said had Peri folding her arms across her chest and ignoring them for the rest of the movie.

When it was over Peri agreed to let them have some time alone only if they kept two seats between them. “And by two seats I mean two seats between rows,” she’d said as she was walking out. “I will pop in on you at any given moment. Please don’t make me have to have my eyeballs scrubbed.”

So there they sat, Dalton two rows below Jewel turned sideways in the seat so he could see her.

“Did you like the movie?” she asked him and tried very hard not to blush.

Dalton gave her a crooked smile. “It was,” he paused, “interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“Yeah.”

“Explain,” Jewel prompted.

“They made a movie about dancing and some people’s passion for dancing. But then they used it to justify the type of dancing that allows a man to put his hands all over his partner’s body. It’s no wonder the lead characters ended up in bed. They were practically doing the deed with their clothes on when they danced.”

“So you didn’t like it,” Jewel said slowly.

“Perhaps, it’s because I once lived in a time when it was scandalous for a woman to wear pants because they framed one of her many assets.”

Jewel’s mouth dropped open which only caused Dalton to laugh.
He had a great laugh,
she thought. “And how do you feel about women wearing pants?”

“There is only one woman that concerns me, and when she’s with me she can wear pants or, once we’re bonded, not wear pants, all she wants.”

Jewel covered her face with her hands, unable to believe he was being so blunt with her. Then again, she had been the one to ask the questions. Why ask questions if you don’t really want the answers?

“Little Dove,” he crooned to her. “Have I scared you?”

Jewel let out a snort of laughter as she lifted her head from her hands. “No. I’m not scared ― intrigued, a little embarrassed, unsure of myself, but most of all worried that we won’t ever get to have that time.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked her his playfulness suddenly gone.

Jewel nodded without hesitation.

“Then believe me, Jewel Stone, that one day soon, you will be Jewel Black. You will be my mate, my bride, my lover, and my friend. You will have all of me. And I most certainly plan to have all of you. Don’t count us out just yet.”

“Did you know they did a study on cancer patients and those who thought positively and visualized themselves getting better had a higher survival rate?” Jewel couldn’t stop the information from spewing forth. She slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. There you were saying something incredibly emotional, and I have to ruin it with one of my factoids.”

Dalton was grinning at her. “You didn’t ruin it. You were simply pointing out that statistically speaking, if we have a positive outlook on our relationship, we are more likely to see it come to fruition. Besides, I love your factoids.”

“Do I even want to know what that means?” Peri said as she suddenly appeared in the first row that separated them. “I see that you two are behaving. Good for you. I, myself ― after that hefty display of dancing ― did not behave when I went to see my mate.”

“Peri,” Dalton said shaking his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ve seen us. We’re not touching. Can you please come back in a little while?”

Jewel knew it took a lot of control for Dalton to say please. Whatever had happened while Jewel had been gone, there was no love lost between her wolf and the high fae.

“Fine. I’m going to visit our pixie crew. I’ll be back. I’ve made sure your fingers were coated in an ultraviolet light powder so I will know if your grubby, grabby, paws have been on her.”

“How?” Jewel asked as she looked down at her seemingly clean hands.

“Popcorn,” Peri sang out the word. “Peace out, suckers.” And then she was gone.

“I think she’s a little mad,” Jewel said as her brow creased together.

“Perhaps,” Dalton agreed. “But she cares about you and the other girls. She wants to protect you and keep you safe, and that is reason enough for me to tolerate her.”

They spent the remainder of their date talking about anything and everything. Dalton had requested that they not talk about anything dealing with Volcan. “Today and tonight, we are just a guy and a girl on a date,” he told her.

And that’s exactly what it felt like as he focused his undivided attention on her.

B
y the time Dalton was walking Jewel to her room, night was beginning to fall in Farie. Perizada had not been back to check on them, but they’d kept their distance from one another simply talking and learning about each other. They’d eaten dinner with Sally and Costin, and afterward, while they’d just been sitting and talking with the other couple, Dalton had noticed Jewel rubbing her forehead. She’d said it was just a headache but it quickly got worse until she finally asked to be excused.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her as they stood outside her bedroom door.

“I’ll be fine. I think I just need to sleep it off.”

Her head was down and her eyebrows were drawn together. Dalton gently placed two fingers under her chin and lifted her head until she was looking up at him. Her eyes were watery with unshed tears and the wetness against the pale green reminded him of a lake that had become a place of sanctuary for him when he was at his darkest. Though her eyes were beautiful like that, he hated to see her cry.

“What can I do?” Dalton whispered.

Jewel just gently pulled his hand from her face and gave it a pat before stepping back from him. “I will be fine, Dalton. It’s a migraine. I’ve had one before. If I can just sleep, when I wake up it will be gone.”

He stared at her, willing her to tell him what else was bothering her. Yes, she had a headache and was in pain, but there was something more his little dove wasn’t telling him. Finally, he relented. She would tell him when she was ready. Dalton leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. He didn’t miss the way she tensed up. How he longed for the day when he could touch her and not have her cringe away nor have to worry about darkness destroying him.

“Goodnight, Jewel Stone,” he told her gently.

Her lips turned up ever so slightly. “I had fun, Dalton Black. Thank you for a great date.”

She entered her room and shut the door without looking back at him. Dalton stood there staring at the door still wondering what was going on in her mind. She’d been telling the truth when she’d said she’d had fun on their date; he could see it in her eyes. But when he asked if she was okay and she’d told him that she would be fine, Jewel had given away her tell. Everyone had a tell when it came to lying — something they subconsciously did when they told an untruth. Some people had shifty eyes, some played with their hair or tugged at their ear. Jewel’s tell was that she failed to spout out random information, which was something she did when she was attempting to find her footing when she was having a difficult conversation. But when she was lying, Jewel didn’t want the conversation to continue, so she kept the facts to herself in hopes of making a quick getaway.

She didn’t do it when she told half-truths, but when it was a full on lie, his little dove suddenly had nothing to add to the conversation.

“What are you hiding?” he whispered to the door and to himself he added, and when are you going to learn that we are team? You don’t have to do this alone.

P
eri stood glaring at the veil that refused to give her entrance. She’d spent hours attempting to flash into the pixie realm, and more hours attempting to force open the veil. And after all of it, there she stood, still in the human realm, staring at the stubborn veil. She could swear it was laughing at her.

“Do you feel any dark magic from it?” Lucian asked from where he stood, leaning against a tall tree.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I feel nothing. That is what’s so aggravating. I feel absolutely nothing! If Volcan did this, he’s figured out a way to mask the signature his magic leaves.”

“He’s grown more powerful than we realized at a much faster pace than we thought he could,” her mate pointed out.

“Makes you feel all warm inside, doesn’t it? To have been played the fool?” Peri snapped. Her skin was crawling with all of the pent up energy filling her. She’d been calling on her own magic and each time she called it, her anger rose. It had left her a tad testy.

“He hasn’t won, beloved,” Lucian told her calmly.

“Maybe not but it sure as hell feels like he’s got more points than us. He obviously knows that the healers are in the pixie realm. What I want to know is how he found out? Who took their little pixie butt to the dark fae and spilled their little pixie guts?”

“So we have no way to communicate with anyone in there?” Lucian asked. “What about cell phones? Do any of them have phones with them?”

Peri nodded. “Good call, mate. We’ll have to go back home and borrow Sally’s.” She held her hand out for Lucian but he ignored it. Instead he wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed his lips to her neck.

“I get the privilege of travelling with you like this,” he told her as his breath caressed her skin. One of his hands splayed across her stomach pulling her closer against him while his other hand cupped her chin and tilted her head so that he had better access to her neck. Peri gasped when she felt his teeth scrape against the skin where she knew his mark was.

She felt his smile against her flesh and Peri couldn’t help the butterflies that danced in her stomach.

“Shall we go?” he asked her.

She heard the humor in his voice. He loved the effect that he had on her. If she didn’t know that she had the same effect on him, it might have ticked her off. But as it was, she knew ― thanks to the bond ― that she drove him crazy with need and that made her pleased as punch.

Unable to form any words, thanks to Lucian’s stunt, she flashed them to Farie, right into her living room.

“Sally!” Peri called. It was late and she figured the healer and Costin were in bed already. But she wasn’t about to flash into their room. She’d learned that lesson the hard way. Now she knew that it was better just to holler for whatever pair she needed instead of appearing unannounced in their rooms.