Midnight Ash (A Blushing Death Novel) (8 page)

I tried to sit up but stopped short. The stair was lodged in my spine sending sharp shooting pains across my lower back.

“Oh,” I gasped.

Danny tilted his head in an expression that looked positively canine. He snatched my right wrist and yanked, draping me over his bare shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I watched the stairs pass beneath his beautiful ass. It was a good view.

Danny tossed me over his shoulder like a rolled up rug and placed me down on my bed so gently it didn’t moved when my weight finally rested on the mattress.

“Turn over. Let me look at your back to make sure I didn’t hurt you,” he ordered but, averting my gaze every time I tried to catch his eye. I wasn’t hurt, just a little stiff and he knew it. I rolled on my stomach and wiggled my ass a little just to make him laugh. I peeked over my shoulder to catch a weak grin cross his lips but it didn’t even come close to the laugh I’d hoped for. He kneaded his fingers up and down my spine and over the small of my back, digging and rubbing every muscle he could reach with his nimble, strong fingers.

“Does this hurt?” he asked every few moments as his fingers dug into my flesh.

I shook my head each time, watching him over my shoulder.

“Are you trying
not
to look at me? Because you’re doing a bang up job,” I asked, sarcasm dripping from each word. I wasn’t a big fan of being ignored post coital. Actually, I wasn’t a big fan of being ignored, period.

His hands stopped on the small of my back and he finally raised his hazel-gray eyes to meet mine. He patted my ass once, with a crack of his hand across my skin, shrugged his shoulders in resignation, then plopped down hard on the bed beside me. I turned over and sat up beside to him. The heat from his body pulsed off of him in waves and lingered over my cooling skin like a thin fog. I wrapped my arms around my legs, pulling my knees to my chest, and sunk into myself. I wanted for his deflated figure to stop fidgeting with his hands between his knees and talk to me.

“Dahlia,” he started with trepidation. “I told you I loved you.”

I took a deep breath and decided to be a grown-up. Damn it, I hated being a grown-up. “I know you did,” I admitted in a trembling whisper.

He nodded but still didn’t look at me. “I understand,” he said with a catch in his usually strong, happy voice. He exhaled the deep breath he’d been holding and I reached for him. I brushed his forearm with my fingertips and watched his muscles tense beneath my touch.

“I don’t think you do,” I snapped. “I’ve been trying so hard to keep you from getting hurt.” I took another deep breath but it didn’t seem to help my nerves. “Werewolves mate for life, Danny. That magical draw between a werewolf and its mate that’s supposed to happen, hasn’t. I don’t want to keep you from finding that. You deserve what the mate bond can bring you. You won’t have that being preoccupied with me. I tried to keep you at arm’s length so it wouldn’t hurt so much when I have to let you go.”

He cocked his eyebrow at me. “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, especially from you,” he said.

I couldn’t tell if he was angry, hurt, or just flabbergasted. These conversations were so much easier with Patrick. I already knew what he felt. I knew where the soft spots were and where I had sure footing. Danny, on the other hand, was like an open mine field filled with dandelions and tall grass. It all looked so pretty and safe but I kept stepping on those damned mines.

“You don’t even see it, do you?” he asked, his voice finally filling with a playful laugh as he nudged my shoulder with his.

“I really don’t.”

“You were trying not to hurt me by holding back, making me feel inferior.”

My stomach turned with the realization that I’d been a really
really
big dipshit and probably more than a little cruel.

“I’m sorry.” I knew it wasn’t enough but it was all I could say and do. I tried to take another deep breath to reorganize my mind but my breath hitched in my throat as a hot tear slid down my cheek.
Damn it!

“Hey,” he said, turning to me. He rubbed in small circles with a pitiful expression on his face. “What happened to my big strong badass?” he asked, trying to coax a smile from me.

“Danny.” I turned and clutched his face in my hands. “I do love you,” I whispered. His face changed from concern to a small accepting smile.

“But,” I added with emphasis and a hiccup. “I’m not the girl you’re going to spend your life with.”

His face fell and the corners of his mouth tightened as the truth behind my words sunk in.

“I’m not the girl to move out to the suburbs and start a family.” I was hesitant to finish. I had to tell him and make him understand, no matter how much it hurt him. I wanted him to at least be able to find happiness somewhere else if it couldn’t be with me. I wanted that much for him. I dug in my heels and let it go, “I’m not a girl capable of being with only you.”

He dropped his eyes to the floor and bowed his head, his chin almost touching his chest. He didn’t look up at me when he answered.

“I know all of this already, Dahlia,” he admitted, bringing his head up and looking at me hard. In his expression and those sparkling hazel eyes was hope. “Can’t we just be as we are for now?” He leaned in and kissed me, pressing his warm lips against mine and lingering for just a moment. He hovered only a sliver of space from my lips, before he rose from the bed.

“Hey,” I called. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go get our clothes. I don’t think you want Kurt to see you that way, do you?” he asked with a cocky grin and a wink.

I heard a thud and realized Kurt fumbled with something downstairs, trying desperately to go unnoticed and doing a horrible job. I hadn’t heard him come back in.
Damn it!
Kurt had heard every word.

Danny left the room and me alone. Alone was bad. I didn’t want to think too hard about what I’d just done. Patrick didn’t know yet, but he would. There was no way I’d be able to hide this from him.
SHIT!
I’d never felt like a whore before. I didn’t particularly like the feeling.

Danny said hello to Kurt as he descended the stairs, his voice growing muffled as he reached the bottom. Kurt responded, giving Danny a mumbled response that I couldn’t hear. Thank God. Kurt could probably smell the sex in the air.
Sonovabitch!

Danny bounded back up the stairs and came into the room, shutting the door behind him. He tossed a pile of clothing onto the bed and sifted through it.

“So what happens now?” I asked, my voice cautious and unsure.

Patrick and Danny weren’t close. They’d made that very apparent over the past several months. I had to tell Patrick before he heard it somewhere else—namely Danny—or he would deduce it from the giant grin on this smug wolf’s face. I’d never wanted to hurt anyone. Now, it seemed like I was hurting everyone.

“Well, first you get dressed. Second, I have to take care of Jackson’s insubordination. I don’t care who the fuck he thinks he is. He’s not gaining control of this Pack. He’ll have to go through me first,” he snarled, spitting out every word as if they were sharp, cutting his tongue into shreds. “Besides, he’ll never get through Dean.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

Danny slipped his jeans on as I stepped into a new pair of panties and bra. I turned and grabbed my shirt, freezing as I caught him watching me.

He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eyes. “I was starting to think I’d never see that.”

“If you don’t stop staring at me, you may never see it again,” I said, throwing a fitted T-shirt over my head with an overdramatic huff.

He left my room with a grin stretching across his face. “Kurt, call Dean and tell him we need to have an early Manit, before the moon cycle. I’ll bring Jackson myself, even if I have to tranq him.”

“I’ll get the case from the car. He’s not going willingly,” Kurt answered. “Would it be better to meet him outside, perhaps?” Kurt asked, louder than was necessary.
God bless Kurt.
He was definitely growing on me.

I lingered upstairs as long as I could. Anything to avoid eye contact and the judgmental look I knew I’d see in Kurt’s steely gray eyes. I remember fondly when my life used to be solitary and dull.

I couldn’t hide in my room forever. I wasn’t fourteen anymore. I strode down the stairs with a bravado I didn’t feel and held my head high.

My house was empty, peaceful when I reached the bottom of the stairs. I peeked out onto the front porch. Kurt and Danny stood at the stairs like royal guards, their shoulders stiff and their bodies threatening, tall and solid. I stepped back inside, closing the door. The night air was still too cold for non-super humans to stand outside with no coat, hat, scarf, or gloves. Luckily, werewolf body temperatures ran hotter than normal. They didn’t need a coat. Mere humans like me needed layers to keep warm.

After an hour of waiting and pacing, Danny and Kurt still stood guard out on the front porch. Full dark came much earlier in the winter and it was already an hour beyond sunset. I hoped like hell the psychic walls I’d put up between Patrick and me held. I didn’t want him to notice how nervous I was and getting more nervous with each passing hour.

An engine roared further up the street. I’d know the melodic purr of that engine anywhere. Jade. She took the corner faster than she should in a residential neighborhood, as usual, and my chest tightened. I balled my fists at my sides. I couldn’t stop this and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to. I just wanted the whole thing to be over. Her car came to a sudden and halting stop in front of my house.

Danny reached for the tranquilizer gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. His fingers clenched the butt of the gun and his knuckles turned white in the darkness from the force of his grip. He held it just a bit too tight for him to be easy with what he intended to do. I was just thankful no one else saw the tight line of his shoulders or the pulse ticking a furious beat at his neck.

Jade’s parallel parking skills were nothing to write home about. She gave it her best shot anyway, backing in and pulling out until she got close enough to the curb that her Maserati wouldn’t get sideswiped. She was still crooked as hell, too. We all waited, each heartbeat signaling another long moment until all hell broke loose.

Jackson was too cool. He seemed as if he didn’t care that Danny and Kurt were standing stiff and imposing on my front porch. He stepped out of her car, laughing and joking with Jade. He barely flinched as his eyes darted to the two men and back to Jade, who seemed completely oblivious to the tension mounting. If I hadn’t been looking for it, I wouldn’t have seen Jackson’s quick glance or the muscles ripple across his shoulders as his body tensed.

He slid an arm around Jade’s waist, tugging her close to him. Too close. The satisfied smile on her face and the glint of appreciation in her vibrant green eyes made my skin crawl. God damn, Jade and her stupid hook-ups.

I slammed the door behind me out of habit. It tended to bounce back in the winter and stick in the summer. The noise drew everyone’s attention away from the tension-filled glares, everyone except Danny and Jackson.

The two men’s eyes were locked, testing each other like wild mountain rams. The warmth of their power filled the cold night air, making me sweat under my coat as each man struggled to overpower the other. Their energy intensified, engulfing me in their heat as beads of sweat pearled on my upper lip. Jackson forced his anger outward, driving his power against Danny’s stronger, denser magic. Even if it was everything Jackson had, it wasn’t enough. Danny’s heat surrounded Jackson and enclosed him until all that was left for Jackson to do was submit. He fell to his knee under the pressure of Danny’s more stringent power. He glared at each of us with a look in his eyes that tightened my stomach in dread. If we weren’t with him, we were against him.

I tried to will Jade to take a step away but Jackson held her wrist in a crushing grip against his body. Jade hunched over with a groan contorting her face in pain. He got to his feet with a snarl curling his thin lips and pressed her smaller frame against his. She couldn’t have run even if she wanted to.

“Jade,” I said from behind the wall of muscles in front of me. “Are you setting up that computer system tonight?” I hoped that she’d take the hint and step away. Maybe I could redirect her into something else and out of harm’s way as World War III broke loose on my front lawn.

“Yeah,” she answered, finally noticing the tension in the air. Her eyes darted from me, to Danny, and then finally to Jackson. The question on her face was plain, understanding —finally—that something wasn’t right. She tried to step away, pushing her small hands against his chest but Jackson wasn’t releasing his prize. He held her tight, yanking her back to his side, then turned and snarled at us.

“Patrick wanted that stuff up and running before midnight so that his guys could test it out,” Jade said, her voice unsure as she met my eyes. She tried again to free herself, trying to slide her fingers between her waist and Jackson’s large hand. He held her in his grip like he’d shackled her to his side. The wide-eyed fear of being trapped in Jackson’s grasp filled her expression and made her green eyes shine.

“Aren’t you repulsed by the bloodsucker pimp?” Jackson howled with a biting contempt to his voice that I hadn’t expected. “We bow down to him as if vampires are the most powerful beings in this city. They’re not,” he spat out. He turned hate-filled eyes to me. Then he actually spit on my sidewalk.

“I’ll have to hose that down now,” I mumbled under my breath.

Kurt snorted but didn’t dare turn to look at me.

Danny twisted his fist around the handle of the tranq gun, the tension in his arm made me worry about how quick his trigger finger was. I laid my hand on his back to reassure him, hoping to calm him and maybe myself. I didn’t want this to explode in our faces.

“Jackson,” Danny boomed, his thick, heavy voice reverberated off the neighboring houses, probably drawing attention to us from the entire block. “You
will
be attending a Pack Manit with me, either by choice or by force.”

Danny pulled the tranquilizer gun from his back and aimed at Jackson’s chest. Jackson’s eyes shifted from Danny to me, standing just behind the two bulky men.

“Coward,” Jackson growled. “You won’t even fight me. You have to take me down like a mutt. You’re no Beta,” he sneered, squaring his shoulders and narrowing his gaze on Danny with an impending threat curling his thin lips into a snarl.

“I won’t draw attention to the Pack on the front lawn of a populated residential street,” Danny ground out through clenched teeth. His jaw tightened and his free hand clenched into a fist at his side. “Maybe if you were smarter, you’d
be
Beta by now but you’re not.”