Taste of Darkness (6 page)

“Yeah. I’m about to head back to my room. It’s so quiet in here it was easy to pass out.” His voice was already stronger as he pushed up, the sheets rustling beneath him.

She frowned at him, taking in his pallor. His naturally darker Mediterranean skin tone had a grayish tint to it. Standing, she checked his pulse and blood pressure then met his gaze. “You’re BP is really low. You needed the rest and likely need a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep. Have you been cleared to leave?”

He grinned. “Not yet,
Mom
.”

Though she was much younger than Spiro, a lot of her packmates called her that teasingly. It was in her nature to care for them both as a nurse and a healer. “Why don’t you stay put and I’ll find Ophelia.”

“You can’t just let me sneak out of here?” His voice was hopeful.

Victoria just snorted. “And risk her wrath?” No way in hell. The doctor was barely five feet flat, with long, dark, curly hair she usually wore in a ponytail. She was adorable and incredibly caring for all her patients, regardless of species, but Victoria had seen her on a rampage more than once. Older than Finn by about fifty years, she’d been alive a long time and pretty much nothing got past her.

As if talking about Ophelia had conjured her up, the petite female strode into the room, a warm smile on her face.

She raised her dark eyebrows at Victoria. “You’re still here?”

“I’m about to head out.”

Ophelia gave her an unreadable look. “That sexy dragon of yours is looking for you.”

Victoria blinked in surprise. “He is?” He hadn’t called or texted—not that she’d been obsessively checking her phone or anything. And she wasn’t sure she liked Ophelia calling him sexy.

“Yep. Heard he and Gabriel beat the crap out of each other and I told both of them not to bother coming to the clinic. If they want to intentionally hurt themselves, they can heal all on their own.”

Victoria hid a smile and nodded. “Good for you.”

“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

She looked at the female in confusion. “Uh, no.”

“Do you know about the mating habits of dragons or—”

She felt her cheeks warm up. “I’m not having this conversation with you!” Especially not in front of Spiro. Sometimes shifters were just too damn open about everything. While she didn’t mind talking about sex she wasn’t having a ridiculous medical conversation with Ophelia where the female would probably want to draw her a diagram. It didn’t matter that Victoria had a Doctorate in nursing science, Ophelia liked to over explain
everything
. Without waiting for a response, Victoria left the clinic and headed for her rooms. It was close to midnight and she wanted to sleep in her own bed.

And not obsess about the fact that Drake hadn’t contacted her after that dominant display of his.

When she made it to her wing of the house, she let out a frustrated growl. She and Drake were in each other’s rooms so often his scent still lingered outside in the hallway. His set of rooms was right around the corner on the next hallway and part of her was tempted to go find him, but she decided not to.

She still wasn’t sure what to say to him and he hadn’t tried to contact her after his fight.

As she stepped inside, that pure masculine scent of his wrapped around her, teasing her senses. It took all of two seconds for her to see him sitting at her desk near one of the huge bay windows. She let the door close behind her. A dim lamp was on, the only illumination in the large space.

He immediately stood, clutching something wrapped in a blanket. “I didn’t want to wait in the hall and you’ve always let me in your rooms before so—”

“It’s fine, Drake. You’re always welcome here.” She’d noticed that with her he seemed to apologize for things that didn’t need apologizing for, as if he was worried she’d be angry with him or take away her friendship. It broke her heart. Sometimes, like earlier today when they’d been driving, he’d let his guard down and had been his fun, humorous self, but times like this when she could see the wariness in his gray eyes, it clawed at her.

She eyed his face, noting there was just a fading bruise on his left cheekbone that would be completely gone in the next hour. He healed at a rate faster than her Alpha. “Are you badly injured? I can heal you.” Because even if he’d acted like an idiot and fought with Gabriel, if she could take away his pain, she wanted to.

He shook his head, but didn’t take a step closer, so she closed the distance between them, moving around her bed toward her desk. But she didn’t reach out to touch him, still feeling too awkward.

Before she could say anything, he shoved the bundled blanket at her. “I made this for you. Be careful unwrapping it.”

“Uh, thank you.” Turning to the bed, she laid it on the cushy comforter and unrolled it to find a gleaming small blade—dagger sized—with an intricate design down the middle. A dragon and wolf were intertwined in the middle, making her breath catch. The way they were entangled together made his intentions crystal clear. A small, insecure part of her told her she was wrong, but she knew what he was trying to say. It shocked and pleased her on the most primal level. “Drake…” Her vocal cords refused to work as she met his gaze.

His eyes had turned a shimmery silver. As he came to stand directly next to her, towering over her despite her taller height, he spoke. “I made it for you. I made the blade a while ago but the designs took longer and…” He trailed off, gesturing to it with his hand. “I hope you like it.”

She swallowed, aware of how hard her heart was pounding. “I love it. It’s unexpected and beyond beautiful.” And the dragon and the wolf in the middle pretty much made her heart beat out of control. She was honored that he’d made something so beautiful for her. And if she was honest, she was a little terrified by it. “How did you make this?”

“I…I just used my fire to form it. Sort of like the way a spider makes a web.” He seemed almost confused by that. “The blade wasn’t difficult but it took a while to imprint the design with my fire.”

As supernatural beings they all had magic in them so maybe his ability to create it had something to do with him being a dragon or where he was from or…something. The significance of the gift wasn’t lost on her either. She was a healer and he was clearly a warrior so he’d given her something that she could protect herself with, something that represented him. “I’ll treasure this. Thank you again.”

He shifted almost uncomfortably and just nodded in that way of his when he didn’t want to talk.

Though she wanted to push more about the blade, he seemed too on edge so she decided to ask something else. “So how was the fight?”

“We came to a draw.”

She narrowed her gaze. “And?”

“And, Gabriel invited me out for a beer afterward.”

He couldn’t have surprised her more if he’d been trying. Gabriel must have accepted Drake then. Not that it ultimately mattered. She wanted her friend to accept Drake, but her wolf already had and she knew Drake was a truly good male on the most basic level. She wasn’t sure if it was her healer’s nature or what, but she never doubted her instinct. “That’s good.”

“Is it?”

Smiling, she nodded.

“I wasn’t sure if he was lying to me when he said males beat the crap out of each other then have drinks together afterward.” Drake’s posture was stiff and his expression still unsure.

Laughing, she nodded again. “That sounds about right. I’m just glad you two worked out whatever it was you needed to. I wish you hadn’t fought him at all though.”

“When you left I wanted to go after you, but Gabriel attacked.”

That eased some of her tension, but… “I was looking forward to kissing you.” She felt her face heat up at the words, but wanted them out there so he understood exactly where she stood. His gift made his intentions clear so she wanted him to know she was on board. She wasn’t certain she wanted to mate in the next five minutes or anything, but this wasn’t short-term for her.

He swallowed hard, his eyes turning even brighter before he reached out and ran a hand down her side and settled on her hip. When he flexed his fingers around her she shuddered, her nipples beading into tight points. A rush of heat flooded between her legs as she finally allowed herself to be vulnerable with him. Now that she knew the way he was holding her was intentionally possessive, she couldn’t stop her body’s reaction.

“I…can’t kiss you yet,” he whispered, his voice filled with regret.

The words were like ice water slapping her in the face, sharp and stinging. She was primed and ready for way more than a kiss. “Why not?”

“I’m not ready for you yet.”

What?
Victoria had just assumed all shifters were the same. When it came to sex they weren’t any different than vamps or humans. Well, except shifters and vamps tended to bite during sex, but she’d heard some humans did too. She placed a hand on his chest, slightly digging her fingers into the hard muscles. Now that he’d admitted his feelings for her she felt more at ease touching him the way she’d been fantasizing about. “Not ready?” Disappointment speared through her.

He nodded. “You deserve a male who has more to offer you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t have a job, I’m still learning to drive and I depend on this pack for shelter. And I know so little about this new world. I’m not ready yet.”

She’d take him without all of that. “Drake.” She tugged him so that he was sitting on the edge of her bed and she did the same, carefully sliding the blade out of their way. Taking his hands in hers, she tried to find the right words. “Did someone put this crap in your head?” Because if someone had, she was going to rip them a new one.

“It’s not crap,” he growled. “And no one has told me this. These are things I understand as a male. You deserve more than what I am and what I have.” He tried to pull his hands back from her, but she held tight.

If he’d truly wanted to pull free he could have, but she knew he wouldn’t want to risk hurting her in any way so she held on, linking her fingers through his. Her heart ached at his words. “You don’t need to do anything to be with me. I care for you, Drake. A lot.” Okay, she more than cared for him. “And I want you just as you are. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be kissing right now.”

His jaw clenched in response.

She could see the indecision in his eyes so she pounced on it. “Haven’t you wondered what I’d taste like?” She kept her voice low, the question coming out huskier than she’d intended. She couldn’t count how many times she’d fantasized about him running his big hands all over her bare body and following up with his tongue. And she wanted to do the same to him, exploring every inch of him.

Swallowing hard, he simply nodded, his eyes like a supernova for a brief moment.

“Good because I’ve wondered about you too. Just kissing won’t change anything.”
Liar, it would change everything.
And she couldn’t wait.

She could see the finality in his eyes before he said, “I will not be swayed.”

Sighing, she dropped his hands. “Are you sure that’s the only reason you don’t want to kiss? Is there…someone or something else?” She really doubted it considering the gift he’d just given her but she needed to know.

“There will never be anyone else.” Again with the finality in his deep voice.

Those words went straight to her core. Right then all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and tease his lips with hers, nipping and kissing him everywhere he’d let her. She wouldn’t rush him though, she just wanted to taste him, to lay claim to him the way he’d done at the fight.

“You’ve never looked at me like this before.” His words drew her gaze from his mouth to his eyes.

“Like what?”

“Like you want me.” There was a mix of awe and disbelief in his voice. As if he didn’t quite believe her feelings.

She wondered if that was more the root of his issue about why he wouldn’t kiss her. “I didn’t want to take advantage of you.”

He laughed, the sound reverberating through the room. “You are so small. You could never take advantage of me.”

Well, she wasn’t exactly small. Slender yes, but she was tall for a female. Maybe not compared to him though. “I don’t mean physically, I mean, you know, emotionally. You were in Hell for a long time and we became friends so fast I’ve been worried that maybe…” It felt strange to just blurt everything out.

His lips pulled into a thin line. “Maybe what?”

“Maybe, you latched onto me because I’m safe.”

“I don’t understand. I don’t need you to keep me safe.” There was a touch of arrogance in his voice she liked, as if he was very secure in his ability to protect her. Considering the way he had in the past, he should be secure in that.

She bit her bottom lip. She couldn’t very well say she was worried that he viewed her as a security blanket. “There are plenty of females you haven’t met.”

That frown deepened, making him look even sexier. Which should be a crime. “I don’t understand that either. I don’t want any female but you.”

His words thrilled her, but…”You haven’t let yourself be open to meeting others.” Lord, why was she pushing this? She didn’t want him hooking up with other females but she still couldn’t stomach the thought of taking advantage of him when there was so much of the world he didn’t understand yet.