Dark Flame (21 page)

She sighed heavily. “I did.”

“Which also means that you lied to me from the time the first memory surfaced in the garage.”

“Only about how the whole thing started with you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” He needed to know her rationale.

“It’s very simple. I loved my time with you, and I didn’t want the dreamgliding to end.”

“So you deliberately misled me.”

She seemed oddly relieved. “Yes. I should never have approached you in the dreamglide and for that I apologize, but not for the rest, not for what followed. Knowing you, being with you despite the questionable beginning, has been one of the finest experiences of my life.”

“You don’t sound remorseful at all. I’d think you’d at least give me that.” He scowled at her, angry by her almost indifferent attitude. He had no idea what she was thinking or how she justified her actions.

~ ~ ~

Juliet’s heart beat so hard in her chest she felt as though it would burst at any moment.

It was difficult to look at Brannick. Though she’d always known this moment would come, she’d hoped oh-so-foolishly that it wouldn’t. Yet here it was, her terrible sin exposed.

Oddly, she remembered that old saying about chickens coming home to roost. And they had, by the thousands and each of them squawking at her for being so stupid and for breaking such a critical law in the first place.

His voice beat at her from across the room. “So you have nothing to say.”

She glanced up at him once more. She could feel her heart tearing at each of its moorings. “Would you have asked me to date you, if you hadn’t felt this kind of connection to me?”

He frowned even harder. “I don’t know. But it’s not the point. Or are you trying to justify your behavior, because this doesn’t fly. The end doesn’t justify the means. Ever.

Juliet reached under the comforter and began pulling the top sheet up around her. Once she was sufficiently covered, she slid her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She moved toward him, though she kept her distance. She knew she had to fight for him. She could see his anger. But the fae part of her intuition told her he was using her wrongdoing as an excuse to end the relationship.

She had to fight, something she’d never had to do until she’d come to Five Bridges. She was weak in that way, and being fae didn’t help. But she was done with trying to play by the old, human-based rules. She lived in this world, and she’d been lonely as hell until she’d met Brannick at the White Flame.

She reiterated her position. “Again, I’m sorry for what I did, but I don’t regret I broke the law to put all this in motion.”

He compressed his lips into a tight line. “You’re seriously pissing me off. You have to take responsibility for this, so tell me why you did it? Why would you, who I’d come to believe was a woman of honor, break into my dreams like that?”

She released an odd sound from the back of her throat, something like a sigh combined with a grunt. “Because I fell hard for you at that stupid club the night I first met you. I couldn’t get you out of my head. You were extraordinary, and that’s something I don’t think you understand about yourself—how amazing you are.

“But I also knew your tragic history and how hard you’d worked to pull your life together so that no one else would ever get hurt again. And I saw how you looked at me that night. The fae part of me could feel your longing and that your loneliness matched mine.

“I promise you, I didn’t set about to do anything initially. In fact, I kept hoping that you’d reach out to me in your dreams. But after the first week, I knew you wouldn’t. I’d felt your level of commitment, the strength you carry here.” She pressed a hand to her chest.

He stared hard at her. He didn’t even blink.

She continued, “I took a chance. I didn’t even know if I could do it. Agnes had always told me I had above-average fae ability, but I’d never extended myself to become more than I was. It was my way of pretending I was still human.

“So, the night I first came to you, I was trying out my skills. I saw you through the blur of my dreamglide and I sensed you were dreaming about me.”

“The hell I was.”

“You were. And, I don’t know, I lost myself in that moment. I didn’t even think about what I was doing, or whether it was right or wrong. I was responding only to the depth of my need and your loneliness. Breaching your dreams was like stepping through a doorway, nothing more.

“Maybe if there’d been resistance I would have thought twice. Instead, I drew you into my dreamglide, pulled the red comforter back and saw your state of arousal.” Heat flew up her cheeks at what had happened next. She couldn’t speak the words aloud and decided to skip to the result. “You didn’t repel me. I would have left, Brannick, if you’d told me to leave. Instead, you were completely welcoming. You told me you were so glad I’d come to you.”

Brannick drew closer to the bed, his shoulders hunched as he glared at her. “I woke up with you straddling me in a dreamglide. What man in his right mind would refuse a beautiful woman, with his cock already driving inside her?”

Having her actions spelled out so blatantly, increased the heat on her face.

“Finally, you’re exhibiting a normal reaction. You should be embarrassed. You should be ashamed. What you did was wrong. Don’t you get it? I could have you prosecuted in one of the Tribunal courts. You know I could.”

She thought about all the things they’d shared in the dreamglide, the level of intimacy they’d enjoyed both physically and in their conversations for the past five months.

She realized something important. “You know what, Brann, I don’t give a fuck about that. What I care about is you. You’ve lived a shadow life in Crescent, holding to your rules and your ideals. And I get why.

“But it’s time to let all that go. I’m here. I’m real. And I’m what you need and you know it. So you can leave if you want to or you can be with me, in the same way Vaughn is with Emma.

“It’s your choice, but I’m not apologizing. I thought I would. I thought I’d fall to my knees and beg you to forgive me for this terrible thing I’ve done. But I’m not going to. We’ve shared something amazing and real despite that most of it occurred in the dreamglide.”

He shook his head, his lips and cheeks drawn back in disgust. “You keep thinking that if you want, but I’m outta here.”

She watched as he moved past her and started down the stairs. She knew better than to call him back. He’d have to spend some time thinking about everything that had happened between them. Only he could decide if she was worth having in his life despite her illegal seduction of him.

She did, however, need to remind him of Agnes’s security system. With the sheet still wrapped around her, she moved to the top of the stairs. “Brannick, don’t levitate out of the compound, even if you use your disguise. Agnes has a sensor field set up that would reveal your position.”

He’d stopped at the bottom of the stairs to listen, but didn’t look up. “Call me if you get into trouble. You might even have enough power to reach me telepathically. I’ll be at my home in Crescent, but you should be okay here. Agnes knows what she’s doing.” He slapped the bottom post of the rail, then moved out of sight as he headed up the hall.

When she heard the front door slam shut, she hurried to the window overlooking the courtyard.

To her relief, he didn’t try to levitate, but headed in the direction of the well-guarded entrance.

She placed her fingers on the cool glass. Her cheeks felt hot and her head dizzy. Was he really walking away? Would it be for good despite all that they’d shared?

When he disappeared from sight, she dropped to sit on the floor and leaned her head against the wall.

What she’d feared from the beginning swamped her; he’d learned the truth and left.

The tears flowed. Fortunately, she had the sheet to wipe her eyes and cheeks over and over.

She understood exactly what she was losing, all the conversations she’d never get to have again, the intimacy, the physical touch, everything that had been so real in her marriage, and almost real in the dreamglide with Brannick.

She sat on the floor for a long time, regretting what she’d done one moment, then not regretting it the next. If she never saw Brannick again, she honestly couldn’t feel bad about having spent five months in his arms.

Over the next few nights, Juliet stayed in Agnes’s compound for security reasons. She split her time between supporting Mary during her withdrawal and with Agnes. The sage fae had been an important part of Juliet’s life from the time she’d entered Five Bridges, and she considered her a good friend.

As for Brannick, she’d spoken with him once on her cell. He’d been withdrawn to the point of being curt, though her faeness detected just how sad he was as well. Unfortunately, he was being damn stubborn, holding to his principles, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Though she’d confessed the truth to Agnes, the older woman had steadfastly refused to comment on Juliet’s law-breaking seduction of Brannick. Juliet had hoped to be either chastised for her unworthy use of her gifts or supported for taking such a bold risk. But Agnes had merely shrugged her shoulders. “Interesting choice.”

That was it.
Interesting choice.

Her ‘choice’ didn’t
feel
interesting at all. Losing her relationship with Brannick felt like she’d lost both her best friend and her lover.

Mary was recovering slowly. She had dark shadows beneath her eyes and no appetite. She was on two different kinds of intravenous fluids intended to heal her and to suppress some of the withdrawal symptoms.

Each of the
alter
species could self-heal. But an addiction to any of the flame drugs created a new set of problems that took time to counteract, especially given the quantity used on Mary. Her body had been saturated with dark flame to keep her unconscious. Juliet wasn’t sure of everything that had happened to Mary during her captivity, but a loss of consciousness would have meant she hadn’t been used sexually.

On the fifth night after Brannick’s departure, Juliet sat in a chair chatting with Mary about nothing and everything. During their time together working in Brannick’s rescue organization, she and Mary had become friends.

As she sat beside Mary’s bed, Mary slid both hands prayer-like beneath her cheek. “A very faint memory of leaving my cell at Roche’s sex club keeps circling back to me, even though I was unconscious. I have an impression of being held by powerful arms, but they don’t feel vampire in nature. Did Brannick carry me out?”

Juliet shook her head slowly. She knew how Mary felt about the wolves of Savage. “Fergus was with us. He’s the one who took charge of you and flew you back to my home.”

Mary looked away, her lips turning down. “I suppose I should thank him at some point, but I hate owing anything to Fergus or any of his kind.”

Juliet then recalled how Fergus had picked Mary up and released a potent howl. She told Mary about it.

“I don’t understand. Why would he do that? He must have risked all our lives making such a primal sound.”

“I honestly don’t know what came over him. He was otherwise in supreme control. I hate to say this, but I think it might have been because of you.”

“Me?” Her light blue eyes widened. “Why?”

Juliet was reluctant to speak the words, but she said them anyway. “He’s reaching the peak of his mate-hunting cycle. I think he liked you.”

Mary made a disgusted sound at the back of her throat. “Shifters. Ugh.” She even shuddered. “Okay, let’s not talk about Fergus anymore. Has Brannick called you back yet?”

A few days ago, Juliet had confessed everything to Mary. Her friend had been stunned, even appalled until Juliet confessed being very much in love with a vampire from Crescent.

“No, he hasn’t reached out to me. Just the once to make sure I was still alive and kicking. He hung up pretty fast.”

She forced herself to keep breathing, but the mere mention of him made her chest feel like it was being pulled in a dozen different directions all at the same time. She hurt though she tried hard not to let too much of it show. “I don’t expect him to be calling anytime soon. He doesn’t really have a reason to. I mean, getting you away from Roche was his biggest concern and now you’re here and very safe.”

“You really love him, don’t you?”

Mary was a very direct sort of person, so the question didn’t surprise Juliet.

Tears bloomed in her eyes. “I ... Oh, God … Yes, I do. More than I can possibly say.”

~ ~ ~

Brannick yelled at the punk vampire, high on dark flame. “Use your levitation, asshole, or you’re going to fall off that ledge and break your fucking neck.”

He stood outside a supermarket in a fairly safe area of Crescent. An emaciated drug addict was walking the edge of the metal ramada that covered most of the parking lot. Dark flame tended to put its addicts into a dreamy state, much like the dreamglide he’d shared all that time with Juliet.

He got tired of watching the man weave back and forth. Besides, the audience was growing and in a situation like this, if the man fell, he could end up hurting one of the bystanders.

Brannick levitated up behind the addict and put him in a chokehold. He swung him quickly in the direction of his patrol SUV, then flew him straight to the vehicle. Once there, Brannick cuffed him and tossed him in the back. By then, the vampire had passed out.

He grumbled to himself as he put the SUV in motion, heading back to the station. “Exciting life of a peace officer. Taking care of drunks.”

Great, now he was talking to himself.

Brannick’s nights had been less than stellar since he left Agnes’s compound. His boss, Easton, had been punishing his two night absence with shit jobs like pulling drugged-out vampires off ramadas. Other duties had been equally as meaningless. Three of the drug-runners he’d captured in west Crescent had been released on Easton’s orders, despite having been caught with vests stuffed with a variety of flame drugs.

He had no patience these nights. He was irritable as hell and blamed Juliet for that. He had a lot of fae intuition mucking up his thoughts as well as his nightly patrols. Granted, he’d saved more than one life, because he sensed something else was going on in a given situation. His odd faeness had ferreted out the truth when otherwise he couldn’t have done it.