Midnight Ash (A Blushing Death Novel) (13 page)

He opened his mouth to protest but I silenced him, pressing my hand over his full lips. I needed him to listen and really hear me.

“Listen! I’m not oblivious to the odds here and you shouldn’t be either.” This emotional bullshit would kill me if the big bad ninja didn’t. I wasn’t built for all the drama. It left me feeling drained and off kilter, unsure of myself. I couldn’t hesitate in any way or she would kill me, of that I was certain.

He nodded as he cupped my face. “I can’t speak for the pup but you have my word.” I heard his voice shake and my gut tightened in response to that small, almost infinitesimal, quake in his voice. “You’re precious to me,” he whispered. His dark eyes met mine with pain lighting them from the inside out. He hadn’t said that he loved me, not yet. But as I searched the depths of his gaze I knew that even if he never said it, he was mine and I was his.

He called for Alex and Danny to come back in and I turned away from the desk, wiping my face. You tend to lose all credibility with vampires if you cry. Alex was a soldier and soldiers don’t cry.

Alex opened the office door and filed back in with Danny in tow looking confused and concerned.

“Can we proceed now?” Alex asked with an air of irritation making her pixie-like voice sharp.

“Now, if it isn’t the Board, then who? Who are your enemies, Patrick? And how much do they hate you?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know, really,” Patrick answered, shaking his head. “Ethan was always the one out front. I’d assumed that no one noticed me next to him.”

“Who were Ethan’s enemies?”

“Alex,” he said with a heavy breath of exasperation. “He was over 400 years old. There were more than a few.”

“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way,” Danny offered. The entire room stopped as if my dead grandmother had appeared from out of the ether dancing the can-can naked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to break the tension that had seeped into the room.

“Well, most of the Pack disputes are territorial,” he added. He didn’t get to finish whatever he was about to say before Alex cut him off.

“Look, Pooch, vampires aren’t werewolves—”

“Wait,” Patrick hissed, his eyes focusing on everything and nothing as his back straightened. He sat forward in his chair, leaning his forearms on the desk before him. He’d caught onto something and I knew it. I could feel his excitement brimming beneath the surface as it fluttered in my gut. He wasn’t hiding from me anymore and that meant more to me than whatever idea had materialized in that brilliant, scheming brain of his.

He was quiet for a long moment while we all waited on pins and needles. He stood and circled the desk, propping himself on the edge of the deep mahogany frame like a college professor in the middle of a lecture. He leaned back with his hands flat on the desk behind him, with a twitch tugging at the corners of his very kissable lips.

“You could be right, Daniel,” he said and I knew what that had cost him to give even that inch to Danny. “Darshan expressed a considerable interest in taking over Ethan’s holdings here in Ohio when the transition was . . . How did he put it? Still in contention,” Patrick snarled. “He wasn’t happy either when I declined his generous offers of servitude.” He smirked at me with that clever, I’ve-got-him grin.

Things were starting to look up, even if it was only speculative. We had an idea, a lead to run with and in the end that was better than nothing. I felt like I was getting something accomplished instead of just spinning my wheels without traction. I was tired of waiting for that ninja bitch to come and get me.

“Who’s Darshan?” I asked, taking a seat next to Danny on the black velvet couch and settling in.

“Darshan is the ‘King’ of the Pennsylvania territory, running his operations out of Pittsburgh,” Alex said as she crossed her arms over her tiny, pert breasts with a scowl on her exotic heart-shaped face.

I don’t think her displeasure had anything to do with Danny. I think she was more upset that she hadn’t thought of the territorial issue herself.

“Darshan is not as old as Ethan was when he died. I believe he’s only 250 or so years old,” Patrick said. I did notice how he’d phrased that sentence. Ethan hadn’t died. I’d killed him and for some reason, Patrick was having a hard time admitting that to himself or to me. I caught Alex’s gaze at his words and she tilted her shoulder up in a quick shrug.
Great!
Just fucking great!

“What’s his story and why is he so bent on getting your territory?” Danny asked, oblivious to the silent conversation going on between Alex and me.

“Darshan came from the Kingdom of Cayor in modern-day Senegal. There, he was a King. That—I believe—is why he calls himself King now. Some of the Old World vampires refer to themselves as Kings. Most do not. It is our American spirit perhaps but some of the Board members see him as an upstart for this.”

“Why haven’t they taken him in hand?” I asked. That would’ve been the first thing I did.

“He has a benefactor,” Patrick said, glancing at Alex. “He was brought over to the Americas by the French on a slave ship and sold on the auction block. I’ve heard that he lived for several years after arriving in America on a plantation in Southern Georgia until he escaped. This is all speculation, however. Only one person has heard his true story,” Patrick said, completely holding his audience—me—in awe.

“The story goes that he was discovered by Arthur one cold night in the middle of winter somewhere along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, freezing and close to death. Arthur was lonely and found that having a companion suited him.

“Pennsylvania was a gift of sorts from Arthur some years ago,” Patrick finished.

“So, this Arthur guy made himself a bodyguard?” Danny asked.

“Of sorts,” Patrick said, expertly avoiding the question.

“Ohhhh,” I said with a dawning realization. Alex winked at me with a smirk on her pert lips. “Arthur took Darshan as a guard and a
companion
,” I said, making air quote gestures. “All right, so this Darshan is
really
close with Arthur. Maybe we can use that to our advantage?” The wheels in my head were starting to turn. My blood thundered through my veins like a rampaging beast. I had a lead. A lead was good, great, actually.

“Why would he be after Dahlia?” Danny asked.

“He’s trying to rebuild his kingdom,” I said in a lost voice.

“What does that have to do with you?” Danny asked, looking around the room from solemn face to solemn face.

“We should get Dean here,” Alex muttered after a long moment of silence. She grabbed the phone as the gravity of the situation set in around the room.

“Wait,” Danny said. “What the hell’s going on?” he asked with a panicked edge to his voice. He jumped to his feet, his power radiating out from him in a warm rush of air.

I got to my feet, too. I didn’t feel like sitting anymore. I wanted to get up and move, do something.

Danny peered down at me, searching for answers he didn’t understand. I gazed up into his hazel gray eyes to see a frightened little boy looked back at me.

Alex asked Dean to get over to the club as soon as possible and put the phone back on the receiver.

“What am I not getting?” he asked in a hushed tone. His voice was soft and intimate against my skin as his hand brushed my cheekbone.

“Darshan is eliminating what he doesn’t understand and the only real unpredictable element in Columbus. Second—”

Patrick stepped up behind me, his cool power like a comforting familiar wind, wrapping around me and seeping deep into my bones. His hands caressed up my back and rested on my shoulders. The chill of his power was more reassuring than I wanted to admit. I eased into his touch as he glared over my head to Danny.

“He is counting on, at least me, being too distracted to fight back if she’s gone. I’m unsure if Darshan knows of the nature of Dahlia’s relationship with the wolves,” Patrick added in hushed tones.

“If he doesn’t know,” Danny said with a bright devious smile lighting his face as his mind as his eyes flashed a rich amber, “we can use that.”

“This is all under the assumption that Darshan is the contractor,” Alex hissed with a menacing glare, reminding everyone that our theories were just that . . . theories. “I know you want it to be Darshan so that there’s a face to the threat but we must be sure,” she said. “We have no room for error. We cannot afford to start a war unnecessarily.”

She came around the desk, fire blazing in her chocolate brown eyes and a snarl curling her full lips. Our tender moment was fine for us but she wanted hard facts and a clear plan of action.

“Dean will be here in ten minutes.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost eight,” Alex answered me.

I looked up at Patrick and Danny with a question in my eyes.

“We’ll be ready for Derek. We have time,” Danny said with a soft, playful smile.

“See,” Patrick said as he pointed to the floor below. “Nova is already clearing the club.”

I nodded. This was going to be a long night.

We waited as Danny filled in his Gaoh. Dean glanced at Patrick with a grim expression on his face, his eyes narrowed on me for a split second—assessing—as he folded his arms over his muscular, bulky chest. I don’t know if he found in me what he was searching for. I wasn’t even sure why I cared but I did. He finally turned to Alex.

“Is she worth it?” he asked as if I wasn’t even in the room. My chest tightened at his slight, at the silence from Alex.

Why did he hate me? Granted, I could be a bitch, at times, and I could be stubborn, most of the time, but I was protective 100% of the time. Whatever his problem with me was, it was his problem, not mine. No matter how much it turned my stomach or angered that voice in the back of my head.

Mine,
she growled in the back of my mind.

I wanted to disagree with her but I couldn’t. Heat flushed my cheeks as I watched him. He wanted an unbiased opinion to be sure of the risk, and of me. He’d get that from Alex.

She didn’t glance my way or to anyone else before she answered. She never hesitated, nodding her head as she folded her arms in a tight knot beneath her perky breasts. Dean shrugged his shoulders and stood. Danny moved to flank him on his right. The two stood side-by-side like an imposing wall of heat, making my body tighten low in my belly and my skin flush as warmth surged through me.
What is wrong with me?

“Information? Kurt and I can go to Pittsburgh,” Dean offered, standing like an immoveable granite pillar in the center of the room. He was calm, decisive, and spoke as few words as possible.

“I think we’d all appreciate any help you would be
willing
to provide,” Patrick said in his most diplomatic tone. It hadn’t been that long ago that Ethan had tried to raise a demon to kill Dean and take over the city. Dean owed Patrick whether he knew it or not. Somehow, in the exchange and preternatural politics, Dean had managed to make it appear as if he was providing the favor to Patrick. Smart puppy.

“Excuse me,” I said, moving toward Patrick. I strode by the overpowering Goah with my hands free at my sides and fighting the urge to reach out and touch what I knew would be scorching hot skin. She howled, deep in the back of my mind to reach out and touch him. I didn’t dare. As I hurried by the Gaoh, the cool winter chill and burning energies of both men mixed and mingled like a lukewarm bath. Patrick and Dean, together, separate, and somehow whole.

I sashayed between them, letting the magic of their power tingle over my skin and tighten every muscle in my body.

Dean’s nostrils flared as I got within a few feet of him and I couldn’t help but notice the stiffening of his shoulders. I met those olive-green eyes and caught my breath as they flashed a clear Caribbean blue.

It couldn’t be, I told myself.

They were the same. Even though I’d only seen that flash of blue for a split second, I knew I was right by the heavy beat of my heart. I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth and felt the first tingle of arousal heat my womanhood as she whispered in my mind . . .
safe . . . warm . . . home
.

A wide-eyed awareness spread over him as our eyes met. He took a step back, away from me. She howled for me to reach out and touch him but I wouldn’t.

“What were you going to say, Dahl?” Danny asked, oblivious to the metaphysical tug-of-war going on around him.

“Right,” I breathed, collecting my thoughts. I shook my head and pushed that other voice away. She wasn’t helping.

“I’m going, not Kurt,” I stated.

Both Danny and Patrick turned surprised eyes to me, dread filling my being as Patrick’s anxiety sat heavy in my gut. Dean’s shoulders went rigid and his fingers dug into the flesh of his arms that were still folded over his chest. Only Alex seemed neutral.

“No way,” Danny blurted out with a certainty to his voice that sounded possessive and unshakable.

Christ on crutches
! Anger heated my blood and cleared my mind of everything else as my aggression spilled out over everyone.

“I didn’t ask your permission,” I snapped.

“She’ll be safer out of town,” Dean added.

I was relieved that at least someone understood. I watched and waited for a flash of that Caribbean blue again. I told myself I needed to see it just to be sure. If I wanted to lie to myself, who was going to stop me? No one. Dean met my eyes with stern olive-green authority and I shoved my disappointment aside.

“I believe you both may be right,” Patrick said with a cool, confident tone that I knew was also a lie. His hesitation and fear boiled the acid in the pit of my stomach. He was afraid of my being too far away, of not being able to do anything about it. I pushed my self-confidence through every pore I had and hoped that he got my message. I could protect myself. I didn’t need him to save me.

Patrick took those few steps to close the distance between us. “I know you don’t need me to save you. That’s very refreshing and one of the things about you that appeals to me most,” he said before brushing a soft, chaste kiss across my lips.

There was too much control behind that kiss and my body cried out for him to touch me. That pull low in my abdomen made me shiver in anticipation at Patrick’s touch.

“We leave in two hours,” Dean growled as he turned to leave. “I’ll pick you up here.” A man of few words. He didn’t wait for me to answer before he left Patrick standing there with my face still in his hands. Two hours. That just wasn’t enough time to tell Derek, get packed, and do what I wanted to do with Danny or Patrick or both. Decisions, decisions.