FALL (The Senses) (18 page)

Waleron
took two steps then stopped.
“Let her see Abigail. It may do them both good,
but do not mention anything until you are in Spain. I do not need Damien
overhearing and losing his sanity when I need him to hunt Tarek.”

Waleron
had no clue that Delara had already seen the witch-vamp a few months ago. Abby
was holding her own, although he knew she hated what she’d become. Last year,
when she fought the transition into a vamp, had been a painful time emotionally
and physically. She almost died and the baby she was carrying, Damien’s child
after a one-night stand, didn’t make it. Damien, the women-hater Senses had
been forced to stay with her, locked away, attempting to stop Abby’s turning.
He failed. Abby miscarried and became a vamp. By Senses law the witch should’ve
been executed for drinking a vamp’s blood. Waleron let everyone believe he did
just that, but instead he brought Abby to Spain to hide her away.

What
concerned Xamien was what would happen when a pissed off Senses Tracker and a
depressed witch-vamp put their heads together.

“I want
to talk to the Wraiths. To council.” Delara tried to pull free from Xamien’s grip,
but he held tight. Xamien was uncertain which way this fight was going to blow
and since Delara’s emotions were on high-power, Xamien was keeping her in
check.

“Waleron!
Take me to council. I have the right to have a say in this.”

Waleron
ignored her, which made her temperature rise. There was sorrow mixed with fear
and anger all being stirred in a pot. Xamien had to keep it from boiling over.

Waleron
talked to Xamien.
“No one except the Talde and the Wraiths know she is going
to Spain, but still do not let her out of your sight. I will track Tarek and
find out what he is up to.”
Waleron took one last haunted look at Delara
then Traced, disappearing in a cloud of mist.

“Damn
it, let me go!” Delara dug her heels into the carpet then pushed the heel of her
hand towards Xamien’s chin. Foolish girl. After so many years of sleeping with
him, she should know that she couldn’t defeat him. He gripped both her wrists
together. He loved it when she was helpless. She usually loved it too.

“We need
to go Delara.” He leaned into her and kissed the bare spot on her neck. “I
promise I will reveal my secrets to my famous lasagna.”

“No. I
want to speak to the council. They can’t do that.”

Xamien
sighed. He thought the pasta  might do it. She’d been asking him for years for
his mother’s recipe. She left him no choice. She was going to be pissed. But
the hellion needed a lesson in submission. With one sweep, he picked her up in
his arms and threw her over his shoulder.

“Xamien!”
she screamed, her fists pounding into his back.

He
swatted her ass. “I told you once before, I don’t take no for an answer. Ever.”

“Damn
it, Xamien. We’re not at your place. It doesn’t count.”

True,
she knew his rules, but he was making an exception. He swung the front door
open, intending on dumping her into the car when he met Jedrik and Damien.
Jesus, not good.

Delara
was kicking and screaming at him while his hand lay seductively over her ass.
Suddenly, she stopped fighting and he knew she sensed both men.
“Put me down,
Xamien.”

He slid
her down in front of him, but refused to let her go and rested his hands on her
hips. It was too late to hide the sexual connotation. By the way Jedrik was
gaping at them, looking from one to the other, the guy had a damn good idea
that there was much more to their relationship than he knew about.

“Sass?”
Jedrik’s eyes moved to the placement of Xamien’s hands on her hips.

“Get
your hands off me.”
She
attempted to move away, but Xamien tightened his grip.

“Stay
still,”
he growled. She’d
know that tone; it was one she learned to never refuse. Well, not true. It only
worked in bed.

Damien
scoffed and shook his head before pushing past them. The guy was a time bomb
and Xamien suspected when Damien found out Abby was alive, he’d detonate.

“What’s
going on? I thought…frig Sass…you’ve met Xamien before? Frig, you’ve met Xamien
before.” It was a statement. “You’ve been screwing him?” A question that he
already knew the answer too. Despite Jedrik being a Visionary, he’d sense the
sexual heat between them. “Since when?”

“Jedrik,
it’s nothing. I didn’t tell you because…well Xamien and I…”

“Really?
Nothing? Please, continue, Kitten. I’d like to hear.”

“Xamien
please, you know I didn’t mean it that way.”

“How
long, Sass?”

“Since
Trinity,” she admitted. Her muscles tightened and Xamien felt a shiver run
across her body; it was one of dread, not of ecstasy.

Xamien
saw Jedrik’s realization dawn and Jedrik looked up, meeting his eyes. “She goes
to you when she disappears.”

Xamien
remained silent. It was her decision to keep their sexual relationship a
secret. He had no qualms about anyone knowing, even Waleron. The man was a fool
for letting this woman go. Well, he couldn’t actually say the guy let her go—Waleron
was still holding onto her with everything he had; he just refused to admit it
and kept her at arm’s length.

“Yes,
some of the time,” Delara answered for him.

“Damn,
Sass. Waleron is going to have a fit when he finds out. He was pissed about you
screwing Edan and Liam, but this…a Taldeburu he brought here to protect you.
And for years?”

Xamien’s
fingers dug into her hip bones when he felt the burst of rage sweep through her
veins. “He has no say about who I fuck.”

Harsh,
but true. They’d kept their fling simple, but suddenly Xamien felt the
repercussions of what they were doing. The ebb of jealousy was beginning to
raise its monster head as the thought of her laying in another man’s arms sunk
into his mind. He’d never considered Delara fucking anyone else because they’d always
kept the discussion of other men and women out of their bed. He slept with
other women, their relationship wasn’t monogamous by any means, but when she
visited Spain she was completely his, and the reality is that she wasn’t his at
all. And that bothered him.

Jedrik
bowed his head and nodded. “I know. He doesn’t. But I assumed…Delara I just
thought one day—” Xamien stiffened and Jedrik noticed, stopping mid-sentence.
“I just think this might be the last web to put him over the edge. He can’t
watch you with another man, Delar.” Jedrik cleared his throat. “Especially
not…well sorry man, but you.” Jedrik left them in the doorway then and his
footsteps could be heard in the kitchen.

Xamien
tried to push into her mind, but that stupid barrier came crashing over her
emotions like a garage door. He could easily open it, but decided to give her
the privacy.

She
stepped away from him and walked out the door to the car. Xamien needed to get
her to Spain, not only for her safety, but so this didn’t blow up in their
face. Waleron may not like that he was sleeping with a woman he loved and
Xamien wanted to be standing on his territory when shit went down.

He had
to grab her bags, but he needed a taste first. Strolling down the steps he
walked straight up to her and, despite her protests, cupped her chin and forced
her to meet his gaze. “You’re sexy when you’re pissed off at me.” She rolled
her eyes and began to open the car door. He slammed it shut with his hip. “My
limit has just been reached. We’re joining the mile high club.”

She
sucked in her breath as he lowered his mouth and claimed her lips, tasting the
sweetness he was beginning to discover he wanted more often than originally
planned. She attempted to pull back, but he deepened the kiss. Their chemistry
was what first drew them together and trying to deny it was like trying to put
out a house fire with a squirt gun.

He felt
her push hard on his chest and her lips weren’t moving beneath his. He knew
immediately what the issue was—Waleron.

When she
first went to Xamien, it had been to purge the ache of Waleron. To forget
everything. She didn’t want the effort of thinking or worrying—just to be swept
up into Xamien’s arms and forget. He did that for her. He gave her the power to
forget what waited for her on the other side. His lips were rough and
demanding, his grip on her unforgiving as the fire ignited between them. But
suddenly, she didn’t want the lips to be his. Waleron’s words kept
pulsating—lose his Taldeburu because of her. She had to go to another Talde.
The reality that they would be separated... Hadn’t that been what she wanted?
Wouldn’t it stop the vicious circle of love and hate?

Xamien
jerked back, his hand in her hair alarmingly tighter than usual.

“Xam—”

“Down!”
he shouted. He shoved her away from him and she fell backwards into a pile of
snow.

She opened
up her Tracking senses and scanned the area; she smelled a mixture of garlic,
fish, and some unknown substance—chemical. Suddenly Xamien grunted, then his
eyes shuttered and his hand went to the side of his neck where blood oozed
between his fingers.

“Xamien!”

“Delara!”
Jedrik shouted at the same time, running from the house. “Move!”

She rolled
to the side and another dart shot into the snow, inches from where her head had
been. Jedrik’s eyes were blazing as he ran and scanned the area using his
vision. Suddenly he dove to the ground. A dart flew past him and embedded into
a tree behind him.

Xamien
fell to his knees, his fingers holding a dart protruding from his neck. Delara
crawled to his side, her shoulder going beneath his arm trying to hold him up.
“Get away, Kitten,” he grit out. “Get to...cover.”

She
ignored him. “Xamien? Shit, Xamien.” The dart contained some sort of drug. She
could smell it. She fell forward with Xamien’s weight as he lost his strength.
“Jedrik!” she screamed.

He was
already at her side, arms coming underneath Xamien’s limp body and heaving
upward. “Phone. Back pocket. Anstice is at Danielle’s.” He struggled to haul
Xamien up and over his shoulder, but managed the dead weight with her help. He
ran with Xamien towards the house.

Another
dart whizzed past Delara’s head and if she hadn’t tilted forward to look at the
phone it would’ve been embedded in her neck. She ran after Jedrik, her finger
trembling as she pressed number two on the cell. Every nerve was shooting off
electrical jolts as she waited impatiently for Anstice to pick up. The Healer
managed a half hello before Delara was relaying what happened, which was not
much besides Xamien having a dart shot into his neck. By the time she hung up,
she was sitting on the bed in the guest room with Xamien lying still as death,
his skin looking like the snow he had pushed her into. She grabbed his hand;
the warmth had vanished leaving behind a limp iciness.

Jedrik
passed her the dart. “Any ideas what this is?”

Delara
used all her scenting abilities to try and decipher what had been injected into
Xamien. “The best I’ve got is animal hair, most likely dog, and alcohol based.”
Probably the animal part was from whoever shot it, either they had a dog or
they’d stolen the drug from a place that had dogs. Vet’s office maybe. Her
finger slid over the tip and she noticed a thick, syrupy solution. Anstice
would know. She was a veterinarian, although no longer practicing since she had
joined the Senses and became Keir’s maite. Being a Healer for a bunch of Senses
warriors was a full time job.

“Delara,”
Jedrik’s voice rose as Xamien’s breathing became erratic. “What the frig is
happening to him? Crap, where the hell is Anstice?”

“Right
here,” Anstice said striding into the room with Keir behind her and her
faithful Newfoundland dog, Grim. “Move.” She shoved Jedrik aside and glared at
Delara as if to say drop Xamien’s hand.

Delara
refused, wanting to feel what was happening in Xamien’s body. Anstice raised
her brows with curiosity and then shrugged after a few seconds, laying her
hands over Xamien’s neck.

Xamien’s
body began to convulse. Delara’s mouth went dry and her insides curled in distress
at the thought of losing him. He may be arrogant, cocky, and exasperating at
times, but through the years he’d also helped her whenever she needed someone
outside of her Talde. He was patient and kind and he always listened to what
she needed emotionally and physically.

The
healing seeped into him and Delara felt the sudden impact of the dart as it hit
his neck and then she felt his heavy limbs, slowed breathing, and saw his foggy
vision. She saw Xamien stumble and felt the fear in him. His first thought was
for her safety.

Delara
tightened her hand on Xamien’s as his body fought the drug pumping through him while
Anstice’s heat chased and burned it. Delara felt the intense temperature from
Anstice’s healing and a few times she wanted to break contact with Xamien,
because her palm burned so hot she thought her skin was going to melt. But she
gripped tighter, knowing Xamien had no one here for him except her.

“Dormitor,”
Anstice said. “Large enough dose to kill a horse. A Senses? I’m not sure.” She
lifted her hands and moved back a step, leaning into Keir’s embrace as he
wrapped his arms around her waist and took all her exhausted weight onto him.
“I suspect it wasn’t meant to kill.” Anstice nodded to Delara. “I’ll check in
on him later.” Keir led her from the room and Delara noticed Anstice sway
against him. It took a great deal out of her to destroy the drug through
healing.