Tricked: A Dark Protectors Novella (11 page)

She smiled, showing her beauty, and moved inside to sit on the settee. “We’ve been avoiding a chat.”

He winced and stood from the computer chair to stretch his aching neck. “I don’t want to hurt you, Ginny. I really don’t.” Taking a seat next to her, he tried to think of a nice way to put his thoughts into words. “You meant the world to me so long ago.” Yet had she? Had he built her up over the years just to keep himself unattached?

She laughed, the sound high and tinkly, like bells. “That was past tense, my friend.” Looking his way, amusement filled her eyes. “I liked you, too.”

He returned her smile. “I’m sorry you lost your mate.”

“Me, too.” She sobered. “I’m glad you’ve found yours. You have, right?”

He rubbed his chest. “Yes. I’ve found mine.” So quickly, he found himself planning a life with Veronica. “She’s everything I never knew I wanted. Needed.” He’d spend eternity making her happy, and they had that now. He could court her like she deserved.

Ginny sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad.” Her voice was soft and a little wistful.

He patted her arm. “You’ll find somebody to love, Ginny. I promise.”

“Forget love. I just want freedom,” she murmured with a deep sigh.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

She turned then, her head still on his arm. “Modern life away from family and duty, of course.”

Yeah. Of course.

Chapter 10

Ronni stopped short at seeing Ginny with her head on Jared’s shoulder. A blade sliced through her chest, and she took a moment to roll her eyes at herself. Yeah, she’d fallen for the badass vampire, and who wouldn’t? But he didn’t owe her diddly squat.

She had to admit, with his size and Ginny’s petite stature, they looked good. Dickheads.

Quietly stepping away from the living room, she made her way to the side entrance, her gun safe in her purse.

“Where are you going?” Olivia asked, looking up from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand. Her eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? You got shot at yesterday and you’re going back into the city.”

Ronni’s chin dropped. “I’m a cop, Olly. No way am I hiding out here and not solving Walt’s murder. Seriously.”

“You are not a cop,” Olivia snapped, standing and reaching her.

Ronni shrugged. “Maybe not completely, but I’ve done the training.” Sure, it was more for education and a bit of fun, but she wasn’t some weak woman. “Nobody knows we’re meeting this morning, and I need to find out what happened to Walt. He was a good guy, and I think we’re close. I feel it.”

Olivia shoved her coffee cup atop the clothes washing machine and grabbed her coat off a hook. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Ronni’s eyebrows rose. “You aren’t going.”

Olivia got into her face. “I am going.” Her eyes gleamed. “You asked me to be part of your little foursome of sleuths from the beginning, you know.”

Yeah, because Olivia was a hell of an investigative journalist. Ronni gulped. “Won’t Chalton be mad?”

“Yeah. He’ll be mad,” Olivia said with a bite. “So will Jared. You want to be an independent woman or not?”

“Hells, yeah.” Ronni pulled open the door and ducked through swirling snow for the car. The wind pierced her sweater right to her skin, and she shivered, hurrying inside and igniting the engine.

Olivia jumped in next to her, scattering snow. “The storm is worse.”

“Yeah.” Ronni drove carefully away from the house, feeling like she was getting away with something. Take that, Jared. Fucking vampire.

Olivia cleared her throat. “What’s going on, Ron?”

Ronni sighed. “Saw Jared and Ginny together in the living room.”

Olivia winced. “Saw them doing what?”

“Just talking. Her head was on his shoulder.” The image hurt, damn it.

“Just talking? Then who cares?” Olivia peered through the snow-filled windows. “Maybe we shouldn’t drive in this.”

Ronni continued down the long driveway. “I care. I mean, they have every right to talk, and it could’ve been innocent, but even so. He was in love with her centuries ago and never found anybody else. I don’t think he even knows what he wants.”

“You should ask him,” Olivia said. “Help him figure it out.”

“I know.” Ronni blew out air. “Give me a break, Olly. Six days ago, I was next to death. Then I mate a vampire…which is the craziest thing ever. Somebody is trying to kill me, and I think I’ve fallen for said vampire. You can understand my not thinking all that clearly quite yet.”

“I do understand.” Olly nodded vigorously. “It all makes sense.”

Ronni slowed by the gate as the trees swayed wildly around them. “We should probably stay here, right?” Sticking it to Jared with her show of independence didn’t seem worth having a tree land on the car or a bullet hit her head. “This is reckless.” She wasn’t a stupid woman.

“Yeah. Maybe we can have the others come to us?” Olivia brushed snow off her jeans. “We could work the case from here. The coffee is excellent.”

Ronni shuddered. “I’ve been trying to prove my worth for so long, to my dad, that I have taken stupid chances.” Or avoided risks. She was a shrink, for goodness’ sake. “I understand my motivations.”

“Sometimes hearing them out loud helps. You have nothing to prove to your father,” Olivia said softly. “It’s nice to see you finally realize that. Has Jared helped?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure. He treats me as something fragile but worthwhile at the same time.” It was different than her father, that was for sure. As she let go of the past, her chest felt lighter.

“Good. I think that’s good.”

Ronni turned and grinned at her best friend. “You jumped in the car with me.”

“Of course.” Olivia smiled back. “I’m Thelma to your Louise. Monica to your Rachel. Tina Fey to your Amy Poehler.” She turned to look out the back window. “You know, if you flip a quick U-turn, they’ll never know we even left.”

“Good plan.” Ronni inched forward just as a massive vampire jumped over the car and landed in the road. She pushed the car into park. Jared stood there in the snow, legs braced, leather jacket over his bare chest. Boots covered his feet, and fury blanketed his rugged face. “Oh, crap.”

He stomped forward and yanked open her door. He moved to sit down. “Scoot.”

She scrambled to the center, pressing against Olivia. “Um…”

He turned, his eyes glittering black coal as he slammed the door. The spit dried up in her mouth. Then he jerked the gearshift into reverse.

Olivia leaned around Ronni, her blue eyes twinkling. “Jared, how kind of you to drive us back to the house. Ronni was just turning the car around.”

Jared hit the gas pedal, and the car careened backward up the icy driveway.

Olivia cleared her throat. “I don’t suppose we can keep Chalton out of this little adventure? What do you say, Jared?”

Jared turned and flashed her a smile that held absolutely no amusement. “I won’t say a word.”

Olivia breathed out, the sound relieved. “Good. That’s good.” She patted Ronni’s leg as if in reassurance. Then she stiffened, craned her neck to look out the back window, and groaned. “He’s at the back door.”

Jared slid the vehicle under the carport and shut off the car.

Quiet ticked for the tiniest of seconds. Olivia’s door was wrenched open.

Jared grabbed Ronni’s arm and pulled her from the vehicle, rushing them both through the snowstorm and into the side entry.

She jerked free. “Enough.”

He turned on her and slowly, way too deliberately, removed his leather jacket. “Where’s your coat?”

She blinked. Her coat? “I forgot it.”

“You forgot it. Again.” He glowered over her, making her feel way too small and fragile.

“Yep.” Forcing bravado, she ignored her racing heart and tried to brush past him.

He stopped her with a finger against her heart. “Did you or did you not get shot at last night?” His voice was a low rumble of mangled rebar mingled with shards of glass.

Her lungs seized. Okay. So he was really mad. “I have my gun.”

“Your gun.” He breathed out, tension pouring off him in waves. “You have your little shooter to handle another hit team with automatic weapons. Well shit, Veronica. I didn’t know that.”

She grimaced at the furious sarcasm. “You’re overreacting.”

Wrong thing to say. She knew it the second the last word left her mouth, but it was too late to grab it back.

Red flushed high and dark across Jared’s sharp cheekbones. His nostrils flared. The atmosphere in the small room swelled with the force of his anger. “Is that a fact?” he growled.

Her legs trembled a second before her temper caught up. Thank God. She reared up, meeting his glittering gaze head on. “Yes. Plus, I didn’t want to bother you. It seemed you and Ginny were deep into a cozy conversation, and you weren’t even wearing a fucking shirt.” Yeah, she sounded jealous. Who the hell cared? He had no right to be so furious at her.

His chin lowered.

Her stomach rolled.

“Listen,
mate
.”

She held up a hand. “No. I’m done listening. You want that wallflower? That weak chick who needs you to tie her shoelaces? You can have her. I’m tired of it. Tired of you acting like we’re all so breakable. Fuck off, Jared.” Her words started to roll together so quickly she wasn’t even sure what she said.

He stared at her.

Why the hell did he do that? It was as if he weighed every option, every decision…even in a temper. Finally, he seemed to reach a decision. “All right.”

She shook her head. “What do you mean, all right?”

The slight curve of his lip held menace. “You don’t want me to treat you as breakable?”

So much threat existed in the sentence, she had no choice but to instinctively deflect. “Jared, I’m so tired of your crap.” In a suitable huff, she tried to move past him again.

And didn’t make it.

Did he pick her up? No.

Toss her over his shoulder? No.

Instead, former pirate Jared Reese shot a hand into her hair, tangled, and pulled. He stormed through the kitchen and living room, his hold absolute.

She had no option but to follow along, considering her hair was nicely attached to her head, her face slightly down. “What the holy crap are you doing?” she hissed.

“Showing you,” he snapped back, reaching the stairs.

She plowed a fist into his kidneys. “Showing me what? That you can drag a woman by the hair like a Neanderthal?”

He paused. “I’m not dragging you and you know it.”

True. Yet she had no choice but to move. “You’re showing me you’re an ass.”

“You already knew that.” He twisted his wrist, and her head jerked back so her gaze could meet his. “What you apparently didn’t know is that I can control you with one fucking hand. Just one. If that isn’t the definition of breakable, I don’t know what is.” His fingers tightened just enough to hint pain along her scalp.

“You are such a dick.” Which didn’t explain why her nipples were peaking and her nerves firing. Did she actually like this side of him? Hell, no. So she punched out again.

His hand moved, faster than possible, to manacle around her neck. He jerked her face closer to his.

Her eyes widened.

“Back. Up.” He enforced each word with his thumb against her jugular, pushing her just enough she had no choice but to lift her foot to the step behind her. “Again.”

Okay. So he was making a good point, damn it. Her knees trembled in awareness as she was intrigued whether she wanted to be or not. “Let go of me or I’ll just shoot you,” she said, digging deep.

His chin lifted slightly. “Take the gun out.”

Oops. It figured he’d accept that challenge.

“Fine.” She reached behind her and tugged out the small pistol. One bullet wouldn’t kill him.

He easily snagged the gun and tossed it over his shoulder.

Her mouth gaped open.

He glanced down and pressed a kiss—a very hard kiss—against her lips. Shocks cascaded through her, alighting fire to her every nerve.

“What is this? Vampire foreplay?” she gasped out.

“Yeah.” His thumb tightened right under her jaw, and he lifted up. “Let’s get a couple of things straight right now.”

Even with her chin up, she could glance down at his jeans. “Looks like we already have.”

His lips peeled away from his teeth. “What you saw earlier, what you should’ve interrupted earlier if it had bothered you, was me saying good-bye to Ginny.”

Ronni’s breath caught. “Good-bye. Out of duty, huh?”

“No.” His eyes blazed. “I want you, Veronica. For my mate. Nobody else and certainly not her. Whatever was there was over centuries ago. You’re my present and my future.”

The sweet words were delivered with a hard edge. She swallowed. “Let go of my neck.” She needed to think—away from him.

His hold tightened around her jugular. “No. We’re settling this today. Go back.”

She had no choice but to climb the steps backward, her gaze caught in the dark vortex of his. Before she knew it, she stood at the top. If she could just get the right leverage, she could shove his ass all the way down.

As if reading her thoughts, his lip quirked. “Centuries won’t be enough to tame you,” he rumbled.

“Damn straight—” She yelped as he stepped into her, his massive body backing her down the entire hallway to their bedroom. He could’ve easily picked her up and was still making his point. Her butt hit the door, and he reached around her to twist the knob.

“Inside.” His voice lowered to guttural.

She swallowed and backed into the darkened bedroom. The storm raged outside, hiding the sun and casting a snowy gray glow through the quiet space. “I’ve had about enough—”

His mouth slammed down on hers. The firmness of his kiss was a shock that drove the oxygen from her lungs. There was no gentleness, no softness. Only fire and demand.

She’d seen the predator inside him.

This was the first time she
felt
it. Her own body responded as if she’d been sleeping her entire life and had just been shocked awake. The rush of energy cut through her with a blade of pain, narrowing the entire world to that second, to his touch, to Jared Reese.

The clarity brought on was too bright, too much, too everything.