The Covert Wolf (18 page)

Like an avenging angel, Matt stood over the Fae writhing on the floor. He withdrew the knife. Blood coated the black blade.

“Sienna, get out,” he ordered harshly.

“Matt…”

“Now.”

The cold look in his eyes did it. She left the apartment, sinking down to the floor in the hallway and hugging her knees.

Low murmurs came from inside, and then the Darksider Fae screamed. Sienna squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to think about what was happening. It was ugly, but necessary. She wondered how it affected him, and if each time something like this happened, Matt lost a little piece of his soul.

His family could help him decompress and regain himself. But he was isolated from them.

Did either one of them truly belong anywhere?

The door opened. Matt leaned against the jamb. He looked tired. Red splattered over his clothing.

“Is he…?”

A rough nod. “He shifted back into Shay. In the end, it almost felt like dispatching my teammate.”

Dear gods. She imagined the terrible moment he’d faced.

“You okay?” she asked softly.

Matt gave a wry smile. “I’ve had worse. Give me a few. I need to rinse off.”

After he’d showered and changed clothing, he joined her on the living room sofa. The Darksider Fae was gone, his body disintegrated into ash.

“He told me his ‘masters’ knew something was missing from the shop, figured Tim had hidden the Orb and wanted to see if he had given it to us. They gave orders not to touch us until after we’d arrived in New Orleans because they wanted us to think we were still safe, and keep the element of surprise until they could plant the bomb, which explains why we were able to leave so easily. The demons thrive on fear and pain and wanted to make me feel as much as possible. They couldn’t touch us on Robichaux land, so they planted the bomb on the outer fringes of the bayou. And then that failed.”

He paused, his gaze darkening. “This one thought he’d gain points by getting to us before the others did.”

Her stomach churned as she thought about the extreme means he’d been forced to use to gain the valuable information. “How did he know we’d be here?”

“Don’t know. The leak is worse than I thought. Or it’s Shay.”

“It can’t be him. There’s got to be something else.”

“I don’t know who to trust anymore. It’s you and me, Sienna. No one else. Not even my team. We’re on our own.”

Seven quick knocks at the door, followed by eight. Matt withdrew his sidearm. “I doubt it’s the delivery guy. Stay back. And make a note of the time.”

When he opened the door, Sam stood in the hallway, a wide smile on his face. “Dakota.”

Fisting his hand in Sam’s collar, Matt dragged him into the room, kicking the door shut with a boot. He slammed him against the wall, his eyes wild, breathing ragged, as he shoved the gun beneath Sam’s jaw.

“L.T.! What gives? Chill out!”

“Talk. Tell me the code.”

Sienna bit a knuckle, her heart racing.

To his credit, the young SEAL didn’t flinch beneath the heavy pressure of Matt’s hard hand. “To country. To comrades. To protect. To defend. To conceal. To silence. To the death.”

Silence hung thick in the air. Matt remained tense, but lowered the gun. “What’s my name? What am I to you?”

Lines furrowed the Mage’s brow. “You’re Lieutenant Dakota, although right now I’m tempted to call you a complete and total asshole. Did you forget your meds?”

Matt turned to Sienna. “Keep your eyes on him. If his body even flickers, tell me and I’ll put a bullet in his brain.”

“Hey.” Sam’s eyes widened.

“Shut up. If you’re Shay, tell me who gave you that scar on your left shoulder.”

“You did. Saved my ass during the voodoo priestess op in Grenada.”

“Why?”

“She was sucking out my life force, and the bullet broke her hold. Damn it, L.T., what is this about? Want to get off me now? People will think we’re in love.”

“Time, Sienna.”

She glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes.”

Matt lowered the SEAL to the floor and holstered his gun. He blew out a heavy breath. “Sorry. Had to make sure. Even our team code…I had no way of knowing if it had been leaked, too. The Darksider Fae teaming with the pyro demons can’t hold a glamour long. And there’s no way they knew about your being shot.”

His big shoulders remained tense. “No one knows details about your little gem, except you and me.”

“What the hell’s going on?” Sam’s gaze whipped between them both. “You look worse than yesterday’s leftovers. And why are you already here? ETA was 1500 hours.”

Sienna crossed the room and laid a gentle hand on Matt’s back, rubbing circles to calm him. She knew what it was like to not trust anyone, to suddenly feel the entire world was your enemy and could kick you in the stomach any time.

“We had a surprise visit from your evil twin. A Darksider Fae.”

Sam’s expression narrowed. “Son of a… How did it know we were meeting?”

“I don’t know.” Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “Unless it picked up our phone call. But the phone is clean. I scanned it.”

“Tell me everything.”

Matt did. Sam paced the room, his gaze glacial. “There’s no chance anyone knew where you headed?”

“Only you and I knew. And Sienna.”

“Damn it! You’ve got a bug, Lieutenant.”

“Can’t be me. I did a total and complete warding before setting out on this op. It must be…”

Her blood ran cold as both men’s gazes turned to her.

Matt’s jaw turned to granite, while Sam’s expression turned cold and lethal. “Run a scan on her?”

Minutes later, Matt ran the cylindrical device over her body. Nothing beeped. The two men exchanged glances.

“Change the setting for our psi chip.”

Shay’s eyes widened. “You serious?”

“Do it.”

He made an adjustment, then ran the wand over her again. This time it flared red and beeped.

“Son of a…” Shay lowered the wand, astonishment widening his eyes.

“It’s inside her,” Matt said tersely. “Someone left a little calling card in your blood to track you. A psi chip, which was designed to track all SEALs on the Phoenix Force in case we run into real trouble.”

Something evil and nasty was swimming inside her body. Sienna fought against the nausea rising in her throat. “Get it out of me.”

“We need Stephen,” Sam told her.

“Who’s Stephen?”

“He’s a vampire. We’ve used him before to remove unwanted objects from contacts.”

The men exchanged meaningful glances.

Holding out her hands like a traffic cop, she backed off. “Whoa, whoa. No one’s touching my blood. What are you going to do, cut me and drain me dry?”

Fear skittered along her spine as Matt stalked forward, his jaw tense. But his blue eyes were filled with compassion as he gathered her hands into his. “No one’s going to hurt you, pixie. I swear to it. Stephen’s ex-military. Loyal and discreet.”

“I’m not going to be someone’s blood bank.”

He pressed a gentle kiss to her battered knuckles. “He’s very good and I’ll be there the whole time, keeping watch. Painless as possible.”

Over his shoulder, Sam’s expression tightened. “If she is infected, we need to move. Now, before those bastards hunt you down.”

* * *

The street was narrow and lined with charming building façades. They stopped before a brick building where iron lacework balconies marched across the second floor.

The building’s gate opened to reveal a small courtyard with a sparkling turquoise pool and a disorganized garden filled with small blue wildflowers. As they mounted the steps to the second floor, Matt explained that the vampire was Gabriel’s neighbor. The Robichaux demon hunter owned a French Quarter home he’d turned into apartments for paranorms.

They went down a narrow hallway flanked by polished brass lamps outside each apartment door. Sienna glanced around as Matt knocked on a door. “If he’s a real vampire, won’t he be asleep?”

The door swung open, revealing a pitch-black apartment. Matt entered first, giving a wolf whistle.

“Damn it, you lupine bastard, do you know what time it is?”

A light snapped on. Sienna blinked, her eyes adjusting to the warm, soft glow of lamplight. She hung back, just in case the vampire was a grumpy riser.

On a cocoa leather couch, a chestnut-headed man stretched out, his bare feet dangling over the end. He was bare-chested, wearing a pair of leather pants slung low on his hips. The man sat up, tousling his thick, short curls.

“I had a rough night. Too much tequila from Gabe’s bar. And you come waltzing in, disturbing my beauty sleep.”

“You’re beautiful.” Matt tossed him the rumpled striped shirt draped over an armchair. “Shay, check him out. Make sure he’s the real thing.”

Stephen narrowed his eyes as he shrugged into the shirt. “Imposters running amok?”

“The worst.”

Shay took Stephen into a bedroom as Matt explained. “All of our contacts have a small, secret marking. It’s an identifier just in case someone decides to impersonate them.”

When the pair emerged into the living room and Shay was assured the vampire was the real thing, they sat.

“We need your help to check out a blood wiretap,” Matt said.

“Someone got the upper paw on you, wolf? Hard to believe.”

“Not him. Her.” Sam jerked a thumb at Sienna.

Matt drew her forward, his hand reassuring. “She’s got a psi tracker in her blood.”

“Aw, crap. I knew I should have stayed in bed.” He rubbed his face and yawned.

“Stephen, meet Sienna. Sienna, this is Stephen.”

The vampire’s chocolate-brown eyes studied her. “Hi, there, Sienna. What are you? I can’t get a read on you.”

“Right now? I’m pretty scared,” she admitted. “But as much as I don’t want you sucking my blood, I want to get rid of whatever’s inside me.”

For a creature so fearsome, he looked gentle as he knelt by her, gave a warm smile. “I’m good at my job. Did this a time or two before for them.”

Matt’s gaze narrowed as he pulled Sienna to him in a clearly possessive move. “Take it through the wrist, Stephen.”

The vampire looked amused. “Feeling a little territorial, wolf? I’ll see what I can do.”

Matt sank into a comfortable easy chair, spread his legs open and pulled her between them. The heavy weight of his strong arms wrapped around her as she sat. A frail bond of trust wove between them. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Putting a knee upon the floor before her, Stephen gave a reassuring smile. “Just relax, Sienna. Think of this as a trip to the dentist, without the expensive bill.”

His fingers explored her wrists, quickly and efficiently. Blood pulsed through her veins, seeming to echo in the room as his dark eyes widened. Then he slid a hand up to her throat, long fingers pressed against her jugular. It was like facing a large tiger considering a meal, a tiger with a wealth of chestnut hair and a sexy smile.

Matt tightened his grip around her waist. “I’m here, pixie.”

Tension eased a little in her tight muscles.

Stephen’s upper lip curled. “Can’t tell this way. I’ll have to take her from the neck.”

“Okay,” she managed. “Let’s do this.”

Matt swept back a length of hair from her left ear as Stephen tilted her neck to the side. The Draicon began whispering reassuring words as the vampire’s warm breath feathered over her skin. It felt a little scary and erotic.

Fangs lengthened and descended in Stephen’s mouth. Tension knotted every muscle. Hypnotized by the deep lull of Matt’s voice, she tried to avoid looking at the avid hunger in the vampire bending over her neck. Instead, Sienna stared at artwork on the wall. Reproduction of the birth of Venus. Only, the woman rising out of the sea on a half shell in this painting featured a lush, naked blonde with a shy smile that clearly displayed shiny white fangs.

“Nice painting,” she whispered. “Never knew Botticelli painted vampires.”

Oh, goddess, he was going to do it, take her blood. It was too intimate.

Then Matt turned her face toward him. “Look at me, pixie,” he said quietly.

As she felt a sharp prick, like a needle’s sting, Matt kissed her. His mouth was warm and authoritative, tongue plunging past her lips and claiming her mouth. Sienna moaned, desire igniting her blood. The sensual feel of the vampire suckling at her neck and Matt’s possessive kiss as he stroked a gentle hand over her cheek was the most erotic sensation she’d ever felt.

When it’s time, I’ll kiss you all over, Sienna. Every inch of you beneath my tongue. You’ll be mine.

Words he’d spoken in the past? Or a voice echoing with pure male intent? She couldn’t tell. The line blurred between reality and fantasy with each languid stroke of Matt’s tongue, each pull of the vampire’s lips.

As Matt broke the kiss and gazed at her with deep tenderness, a tongue lapped slowly, sensually, over the puncture wounds. Matt drew his eyebrows together and growled low.

“You didn’t have to enjoy it so much, Stephen.”

The vampire didn’t answer. Sienna languidly turned her head and saw him make a face.

“Blech.” Stephen spat into his hand. “Tastes like ashes. Here’s your damn tracker.”

Thumb and forefinger pinched, Matt took the device, the size of a bead. It blinked a steady pulsing red.

“Kill it, Shay,” he directed, tossing it on the floor.

The SEAL flung out his fingers. White light sizzled and sparked, incinerating the wiretap. “Nice fireworks,” she said drowsily.

One knee still bent on the floor, Stephen gave her a speculative look. “You’re different. I’ve never tasted anything like you before….”

“And you never will again,” snapped Matt. His arms tightened around her, the move filled with primal male possession.

Sienna leaned back against him, more tired than she’d ever felt. “I’m half Draicon, half Fae.”

The vampire arched an elegant brow. “So you say. I’ve had both. Fae aren’t to my taste. Too bland and dull. No real sustenance. Like drinking carrot juice. You’re much richer, like a full-bodied red wine. Maybe it’s the mixture in your DNA, but your blood is off the charts. Savory, rare…very delectable.”

The New Orleans drawl turned into a sensual purr. “Delicious.”