Dimitri (Immortals of New Orleans, Book 6) (3 page)

Dimitri insisted on following Gillian. If she thought she’d dismiss him, she had another think coming.
Nice try, cher. You will not escape so easily.
After she’d slammed the door to the hotel room, he’d quickly shifted to heal his remaining injuries. It wasn’t long before he and Jake had taken off after her in their car.

Loathe as he was to admit it, whatever had latched onto his soul was still there. Like a dark shadow, it lingered. Part of him knew he needed to get back to New Orleans as soon as possible to see Ilsbeth, the one witch he knew who could help him. But given the brief interaction he’d had with his Florence Nightingale, that’d have to go on the back burner. For once his brain and his dick were in perfect agreement; get the girl.

“Tell me again why we’re following some mystery chick? One who I’m pretty sure was responsible for helping get your face torn off,” Jake commented, hoping Dimitri would catch his eye roll.

“Her name’s Gilly. And because the lady was nice enough to save my ass and now I plan to save hers.”

“You wanting her ass is one thing we probably can agree on. Why? Well, that’s a whole other question.”

“It’s nice. That should be reason enough.”

“I bet she exercises a lot. Squats would do it.”

“She was in the room with you for all of two minutes and you took reconnaissance on her ass?”

“Special ops, bro. I’ve got eyes in the back of my head,” Jake joked.

“Then you must have also noticed that she needs our help.”

“Whatever you say. It’s just that with your wolf on the fritz, don’t ya think we oughtta get back to NOLA? Listen, I know you and the witch had a bit of a fallin’ out, but damn; it’s your wolf. This is some serious shit. When Logan finds out what happened…”

“Logan doesn’t need to know right now.” Dimitri knew he should tell his Alpha, but Logan hadn’t even noticed that his wolf had gone silent. Both he and his mate had been over the moon, doting over their newly adopted daughter. Dimitri didn’t want to worry him any more than necessary. He’d tell them when he got back to New Orleans. As he figured it, he’d catch up to Gillian and convince her to fly back to Louisiana with him. When they got to the city, he’d ask Logan to call the asshole Alpha from California and smooth things over. Since their packs didn’t abut boundaries, no territory disputes would arise.

“You must’ve knocked your head in when you were attacked. You really think our Alpha doesn’t know what happened? You do know your girl called every number on your damn cell, right? Said she wasn’t going to chance having someone forget she called.”

“Fuck,” Dimitri swore, blowing out a breath. “Give me your phone.”

“Finally, you see reason.” Jake dug his cell out of the console and tossed it to Dimitri.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dimitri began tapping at the screen.

“You aren’t calling Logan, are you?” Jake slammed a palm down on the steering wheel.

“Hell, no. If I tell him what’s happenin’, he’s gonna leave his mate and babe and come runnin’ out here. He’s been through enough. They’ve both been through enough.”

“What about Léopold?”

“What the hell? How many people did she call?”

“I told ya. She called your contacts.”

“All of them?” Dimitri exclaimed, stroking his goatee. It looked more like a full grown beard, since he hadn’t shaved in a week.

“How the hell am I supposed to know? I can tell ya that she called Logan, Léopold and me. It’s possible she called a few of your
special
friends,” Jake drawled, knowing that it would irk Dimitri.

“Fuck me.”

“Yeah, well, Logan sent me. You’re lucky that he and Leo are up to their eyeballs in love or Logan’d be out here in a pack war. And Leo? Hell, he’d probably be ripping out hearts and sucking wolves dry…including your little shifter girl. Speaking of which…what kind of shifter is she? I couldn’t get close enough to tell by her scent…”

“I don’t know,” Dimitri said flatly, unwilling to share that she’d been nearly naked, skin to skin against him but he still hadn’t been able to tell what she was.

“You sure she’s not wolf?”

“Nope. Not a wolf. Why do they make these buttons so fucking small?” Dimitri swore, continuing to toy with the cell phone. “I don’t get why an Alpha wants to mess with another shifter?”

“Why, indeed?” Jake glanced over to his friend. “And how the hell are we supposed to find her? She’s been gone for a while now. As good as I am, and oh, I am good, there’s no way in hell we’re gonna track her from the wind flyin’ by on a highway.”

“No, but we will find her using a tracking app.” Dimitri smiled and waved the device in the air.

“Clever wolf. I just assumed she trashed your phone afterward.”

“She likes me.” Dimitri waggled his eyebrows and chuckled. “She’s still got my phone. Just couldn’t give up a piece of the big D.”

“Yeah, yeah. Where’s she headed?”

“Sin city. She’s on I-15. Looks like she’s stopped for gas. It’s only about five hours to Vegas from here.”

“What’s the deal with this woman? Do you think she was in on it? Logan put a call in to the local Alpha. He denies that he approved the attack. Claims they were rogues.”

“No. The girl’s on the run. As for the Alpha, I’m not buyin’ his story. It had to be his wolves.”

“I get that you didn’t check in with him right away, but the odds of them finding and attacking a non-aggressive stranger are pretty low. It doesn’t sync.”

“They were after her, not me. I was just a casualty.” Dimitri shook his head. He knew that he should get his ass back on a plane to New Orleans, but there was something about Gilly. The need to protect her, to repay her was overwhelming. Like a compulsion; he hadn’t given a second thought to chasing her. If she’d been wolf, he might have been worried that she could be his mate. But since she wasn’t wolf, there was no way that she was. Maybe she didn’t want to reveal her nature, but once he found her, he planned on getting the truth. “She’s a shifter. Whatever she is, it must be badass. ‘Cause Jake, I’m tellin’ ya, bro, I was messed up bad. I called for my wolf…” His words trailed off into silence.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing happening. Whatever was in that pit…we’ve gotta get you to Ilsbeth. Maybe we shouldn’t worry about Gilly. I know you think she’s something special, but for all you know, she shifts into a skunk.”

“Fuck you,” Dimitri snorted. “There’s no way. I’ve had her sweet little body wrapped around mine. My girl’s probably a fox….sly and smooth.”

“Or a bear.”

“Hey, don’t hate on the bear. A bear? Well, she’d probably be wild in bed. Uninhibited.”

“Not many people survive bear attacks.”

“Oh, I’d survive and love every minute of it. I like it a little rough. Besides, it doesn’t matter. Whatever she is, my wolf likes her. She saved him, and he wants to return the favor.”

“Yeah, your wolf wants to do something with her, all right. Somehow I don’t think it involves just savin’ her.”

“Yes, he does.” Dimitri laughed. “And why not? He deserves a little fun.”

“Seriously? She just held a gun on us. Do I need to answer that question?”

“No, and it doesn’t matter, cause it’s gonna be cool when I do find out what she is. I know I'm gonna like it.”

“Maybe you need to take it easy.”

“I’m fine now,” Dimitri said, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or Jake.

“Just sayin’, D. You just recovered from a beat down. We don’t know when or if your wolf is going to go on the fritz or whatever else the hell could happen. I know you are, uh…” Jake tried real hard to select his words carefully. Near-death experiences had a way of giving one a new perspective on life, yet Dimitri seemed as courageous and impulsive as ever, “…compromised. Dying has a way of doing that to you. Let’s face it; we’re used to being immortal. But with your wolf gone, you and I both know that you were nothing more than human.”

Dimitri tried to shake off Jake’s comments, meeting his observations with a quiet contemplation. He’d known it was serious. He was damn lucky Gillian had done whatever magic she had to heal him.

“It’s not like I don’t know you’re right. I mean, going to the airport and flyin’ home would be the rational thing to do. But Gilly, she saved my life. Yeah, I don’t know her. I guess I don’t owe her a damn thing. But the way she left…she’s in danger. She may look tough, but she’s not. I’m telling you, I watched her, the way she moved. Did you hear how she talked? She strikes me as more of a city girl. She’s scared, hiding something. I don’t know why…I just can’t walk away and wash my hands of her.”

“You wouldn’t know if something happened to her or not. You don’t even know if that’s her real name, for that matter,” Jake replied.

“We’re friends, right?” Dimitri asked.

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah, I’m going there.”

“Yeah, we’re friends,” Jake sighed.

“If you don’t want to go with me, you don’t have to, but this is something I have to do. Once I make sure Gilly gets safely to wherever she calls home, then we’ll fly straight to the witch. It’s the least I can do. If it weren’t for her, I’d be dead.”

“If it weren’t for her, your biggest worry would be which bikini-clad Cali girl to hit on.”

“Can’t deny the possibility.” Dimitri gave him a broad smile, knowing that was exactly what he’d planned on doing. “But she needs me. And I owe her. So are you in or are you out?”

“Bellagio or Hard Rock?”

“Venetion?” Dimitri countered, relieved that Jake had agreed in his non-conventional way.

“Four Seasons?” Jake suggested.

“The Four Seasons it is. Viva Las Vegas, baby.” Dimitri glanced down to his phone. Her car had begun moving. “We’d better speed it up if we’re gonna catch our girl.”

Gillian felt feverish as her anxiety took hold. She only wished it was the fucking desert heat. No, she knew exactly why she was drenched in sweat, and it had everything to do with the Alpha who had kept her captive. Coming out to California was one of the single biggest mistakes she’d ever made in her life. She should have known that it was too good to be true. When she’d gotten the email from the agent explaining that they’d seen her work and wanted her, a mid-list photographer, to shoot an A-list actor in front of an Anza-Borrego metal sculpture, she should’ve verified the job.

As the sun melded into the horizon in her rearview mirror, she cursed. She should have driven directly to the airport. But the guilt in her chest bubbled like hot lava. The only reason the beta had been attacked was because they’d been after her.

She suspected that Dimitri would have been able to fend off Chaz’s pack had his wolf not been impaired. As she’d lain in bed healing him, allowing her mind to explore his energy, she’d felt the spirit of a warrior wolf, a man whose pure sexuality threatened to shake her resolve to remain single. If he’d only been mortal, she could have remained in control. Yet as soon as he’d awoken to her touch, she’d nearly caved.

It had been so long since she’d been with a man, let alone a wolf. In order to remain true to her species, she’d sworn herself to celibacy when it came to wolves. She simply couldn’t risk meeting her mate. If she did, she’d be forced to give up the only beast she’d ever known, with no guarantee that she’d remain immortal.
Weak. Defenseless.
She refused to succumb to the consequences of a mating.

She sighed. It wasn’t fair; a girl needed release every now and then. And her current strategy just wasn’t cutting it. Although humans were a poor substitute for what she craved, Gillian had implemented a ‘mortal men only’ dating rule. That was how she’d survived her teenage years, passing as human, dating boys, then later colleagues she’d met at work.

Yet her nature drew the wolves to her like moths to a flame. She’d hidden the secrets of her heritage to the best of her ability, but it hadn’t been good enough. The Alpha of Anzober wolves had discovered her secret. How, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he’d made it clear he intended to force their mating. A forced mating wasn’t natural, although it’d been rumored that it could be done by an Alpha.

She rubbed the back of her neck where he’d bitten her. Tears pricked her eyes as the memory of his attack played in her mind. He’d ordered his men to restrain her with silver. They’d tied her face down to his bed and stripped her shirt off in preparation for his mark. He insisted that he’d never take her sexually against her will as he ground his erection into her bottom, pressing her into the bed. Her poisoned restraints kept her from shifting as he dug his claws into her shoulders, sinking his fangs into her neck. As his foul-smelling breath drifted into her nostrils and the pain faded, she shook uncontrollably against the satin sheets, expecting him to mount her.

She’d bitten her lip bloody, refusing the satisfaction of letting them see her cry as he hoisted himself off of her, declaring that he’d marked her. His goons made the mistake of misinterpreting her silence as acquiescence and they’d released her bindings. As soon as they’d left the room, she’d called on her beast, killing all three wolves as she fled.

Gillian had to get back to New York. Her brother was the only one who could get her out of this mess. Her fingers grazed the spot where Chaz had bitten her and she thanked the Goddess that he’d failed to mark her. He was not her mate. And as long as she got her ass back to the Big Apple, she’d be safe from the predator who’d lured her all the way to California.