The Fire Within (12 page)

He stared down at her for a long moment. She found herself breathing heavily, waiting for the counterattack.

When it came, she was totally taken by surprise.

She let out a small shriek when he picked her up under her arms and lifted her easily into her apartment. He gently set her down in her living room, turned and slammed her door closed.

When he began to stalk toward her, she swallowed the urge to back up. His face looked as if it was made from granite, his expression hot and hard and focused one hundred percent on her. She faced him head on, ready for the fight she knew was coming.

“You’ve been threatened, twice.”

“Twice?”

He took a deep breath. “A Shem Angelus told me you wouldn’t survive the week. Two days later, someone tries to kill you.”

A shiver went down her spine. “You think it was a Shem behind the wheel.”

“I’m taking you to Gabriel.” Fire danced within his eyes, eclipsing the iris almost completely. It should have creeped her the hell out, but instead she found it erotic. “You’ll be safe there until I catch this fucker.”

He wasn’t listening. She was
not
going to hide away while he faced the bad guy alone. “I don’t think so.”

“You can’t face a Shem, Beth.” It was the first time he’d ever shortened her name, and strangely enough, she missed the way he said Elizabeth. “You’re human.”

“I took care of Diana.”

“That was pure dumb luck.”

“And good aim.” No way was he going to dismiss how she’d saved Abby and Seth.

He took hold of her arms and shook her. “He will fucking eat you, Beth. I’ve seen the bodies, I
know
what a Shem kill looks like. I won’t find you the same way.”

No matter how his voice shook, whether it was from rage or fear or a combination of both, Elizabeth Rand had taken on a case. Just because the suspect was now some mythological creature that ate people made no difference to her. “I’m staying on the case.”

He growled, flames licking up and down his arms. Strangely enough, his fire didn’t burn her.

“Dante. Stop it.”

“Damn it, Elizabeth.” When he put his mouth on hers she nearly whimpered. His lips were rough, demanding against hers, and she found herself unable to hold back her response. Her arms twined around his neck, both of her hands clenched in his hair as she urged him closer. She barely heard his groan as he forced her lips apart and tasted her. Lightning raced through her body as he invaded her mouth.

She found his taste intoxicating, far more so than the single rum and Coke she’d allowed herself at the dance club.

Suddenly she found herself being held up against the wall, Dante thrusting one powerful thigh between her legs as he ravished her mouth. His hands tangled in her hair, gripping her head so tightly it almost hurt. She felt the scrape of his teeth against her lips and moaned greedily, answering his demands with her own.

She rode his thigh without thought, a sensuous rhythm that sent heat racing through her body. His mouth moved from hers to her neck, his teeth biting, nibbling, leaving his mark on her. Gasping, she threw her head back as far as the wall would allow.

She wanted his mark, needed it to prove they were both alive.

His hands were rough under her sweater, pulling the material up and cupping her breasts. Her hands clenched in his hair, pulling him down as she felt his teeth scrape against her. When he lifted his head, his breathing had turned harsh.

She looked up at him through fogged glasses. Before he could say a word, she dragged his mouth down to hers and returned his kiss hungrily. She could feel a tremendous orgasm building, her spine tingling as his lips and his hands continued to torment her.

She felt his erection against her hip as his body eased sideways down against her own, that thick thigh staying right where she needed it to be. His hands caressed her as his mouth ravaged hers, pinching and twisting at her nipples, and she shuddered. One hand slid down his chest and landed at the belt of his pants, tugging at the buckle.

When he pulled back and dropped her it was a shock to her senses. She stared up at him, unable to decipher the look on his face as he ran a shaking hand through his hair.

“Not like this,” he said huskily, still breathing hard.

“What?” she asked, confused and quivering. “Not what?”

He shook his head. “Not here. Not now.” He took a deep, cleansing breath. “Not while we’re pissed at each other.”

She licked her lips and tasted him. His gaze followed the movement before he closed his eyes and turned away from her to pace the tiny living room. “What’s wrong with here and now?”

He turned swiftly and growled at her, “Because you just nearly got killed.”

She smiled cynically. “Oh, so you’re not really into quick adrenaline fucks.” Even she was surprised at the brittle tone she used. She’d been
this close
, and to have him pull back at the last minute? Pure torture.

She found herself pinned against the wall faster than she could blink. “Because when I fuck you it won’t be because of
adrenaline
. It won’t be because either of us wants a
quick fuck
, either.” He sighed and released her arms, placing his hands on either side of her head. “You are not your mother, and I won’t use you like some cheap whore because I got all excited. When we go to bed together, and we
will
go to bed together, it will damn well be because neither one of us can resist the other. Not for any other reason.”

“I wasn’t resisting, and if you were you’re a damned good actor.”

He took her chin gently in his hand and rubbed his thumb against her bottom lip. Her breath caught at the contact, at the look in his eyes as he bent and kissed her gently, sweetly, before putting her away from him. “It’s called respect, Elizabeth, for both of us.” He grinned ruefully. “Believe it or not, no matter what you think, I do respect you.”

He turned away with a rough sigh and headed for the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,
partner
.” He opened the door and let himself out.

She ran after him, leaning over the stair rail. “Dante!” she yelled down softly.

“What?” He looked up to see her leaning over the railing, her dark hair a halo around her face, highlighting her mischievous grin, and felt relief and something else he didn’t dare put a name to.

“I’m no princess.”

Dante grinned up at her. “Ribbit.”

She laughed, running back into her apartment and slamming the door behind her.

Chapter Ten

Beth woke up the next morning wondering if last night had been a mistake of epic proportions. Kissing Dante had turned out to be more than she’d bargained for. She couldn’t believe how much she’d wanted to drag him into her bedroom and ride him like a rodeo pony.

“Yee-haw.”

She snorted out a laugh as she stood and padded into her bathroom. Jeez. She was getting all soft, letting the guy get to her. She had a case to work on and a bad guy to catch. She could worry about her relationship with Dante once the bad guy was behind bars.

When she turned on the light she found herself staring in total disbelief at the huge love bite on her neck.

Or, she could just kill him as soon as she saw him.

That worked for her.

There was no hiding the thing with makeup. She tried every trick in the book to make it not show, and nothing worked. She finally pulled on one of her turtlenecks. It was the only way to hide the damn thing.

Just as she finished dressing a knock came on the door. Beth cursed and opened it.

Dante stood there, a bag of donuts in one hand and two cups of coffee in a holder in the other. “Good morning.” His gaze drifted over her, lingering on the spot where he’d bitten her the night before.

If the man looked any smugger she was going to knock his ass out and...

No. She’d steal the coffee first. No sense wasting it on the hard concrete floors outside her apartment.
Then
she’d knock his ass out. “One of those had better be for me, or you can get the hell out of here.”

Without a word, he set the donuts down on the battered coffee table and handed her a cup of liquid bliss.

She flopped boneless into one of her old, tattered chairs and stretched her legs out. “Mmm.”

He seated himself on the sofa across from her and opened the bag. “Jelly or plain?”

“Plain.” She lifted the lid off her coffee and dipped the plain donut into it, watching as he shrugged out of his jacket. He’d chosen dark blue again, this time a pull-over sweater, matched with dark gray pants. He looked good, and she had a hard time taking her eyes off of him.

“Before we begin today, there’s something I need to know.” He leaned back in his chair, trying far too hard to look relaxed, but his tense shoulders gave him away.

“What?”

“Is there anything in this world I can say that would get you off this case and safely at Gabriel’s?” His gaze was solemn.

She checked her initial response. She dearly wanted to drink the coffee, no matter how much he deserved to wear it. Shem or no Shem, she had a job to do. “Nope.”

He sighed roughly. “I thought not, but decided to check anyway.” He took a bite of his donut. “Okay. I want you to promise me something.”

She looked at him suspiciously. He was taking her answer far too easily. “And that would be?”

There wasn’t a hint of softness in his gaze. “You and I stick together.”

“I thought that was the plan.”

“Elizabeth.”

She shrugged and sipped her coffee, waiting to see what he’d say or do next. She just bet he was going to try to get her to have security, or have off-duty cops hanging around her apartment all the time. Hell, he might even get his Neph brothers to help out.

She was debating whether or not to fight him on that. She could take care of herself, but the thought of Dante being worried enough that he had to try one last time to remove her from the case sent more warmth through her than coffee ever could.

“I don’t like the fact that someone tried to run you down yesterday. I’m wondering if you know something or saw something that might have triggered a response from the killer.”

“That had occurred to me.” Beth took another sip of coffee. “The only thing we did, really, was talk to that accountant and Romanov. And I don’t see Romanov as the type to run anyone down.”

Dante made a rude noise. “If he thought she’d gotten too close to something he didn’t want her to see, he’d run over his own mother.”

“Dante—”

He held up his hand. “I know the man. You don’t. And I don’t trust him further than I can throw him.”

“Yet several of my friends, and at least one of yours, does. Shouldn’t you give him the benefit of the doubt?”

“If you knew him the way I do you wouldn’t ask that.”

Elizabeth decided to play one of her hunches. “He’s one of you, isn’t he?”

He nodded. “He’s the only kind of Neph that feeds off others.”

She sipped her coffee and waited. From his expression, Dante was just dying to tell her how mad, bad and dangerous Piotr Romanov was.

She was right. “Piotr’s a Cambion. He feeds off the sexual energy of his partners or those he’s near who happen to be...” His face was bright red.

Her brows rose. “Fucking?” He scowled. “So he’s some kind of energy vampire.”

“It’s more than that. If he kills as he feeds, even accidentally, he becomes Shem, an Incubus. He’ll kill every time he feeds, becoming more and more powerful the more people he drains. There is
always
a chance a Cambion will turn against us.”

“So if he wasn’t a Cambion, you’d trust him?”

“No. I think he’s related to the leader of the Shem. They have the same eyes and the same last name.” Dante scowled. “Add in that he’s a Cambion and you’ve got a recipe for Shem stew.”

That explained at least some of the attitude. He couldn’t trust Piotr to keep his instincts in check. “Does this happen to every Cambion?” If so, Beth needed to get Andi away from him, preferably sooner rather than later.

He sighed roughly. “Not...exactly.”

“Dante.” He was hiding something.

“A Cambion who finds his One, the soul born just to feed him, doesn’t turn.”

She blinked. “Are you kidding me? Like a romance heroine, fated mate kind of crap?”

He rolled his eyes as she started to laugh. “Elizabeth. This is serious.”

“Oh, Sam is gonna
love
this.”

“No.” Dante’s growl killed her laughter. “You can’t tell anyone about us. Not Sam, not Andi, no one. Not only could you endanger us, but you’d make them a target for the Shem who want to hide just as much as we do. And the Shem won’t think twice about taking their lives in order to protect themselves.”

“So Abby and I are the only ones who know the Neph exist.” It made sense, even if she didn’t like it. Abby didn’t have any more information than she did about outsiders being aware of the existence of the Shem and the Neph, and Beth hadn’t been entirely comfortable bringing it up with Seth around. Seth would just smile at her and tell her that it was someone else’s job to give her the information she wanted.

The man drove Beth crazy, but he worshipped the ground Abby walked on. For that, he got a lot of brownie points.

Dante’s relief was obvious. “Yes. There will be others, wives, lovers, who know, but the circle of humans that know will be small. It has to be that way, for our safety and theirs.”

She latched on to the one thing he’d said that she wasn’t. “I’m none of those things.”

“Yet.”

He held her gaze until her cheeks flushed. He was right. They
would
be lovers, but not now, not today.

Today they had a case to crack. “We need to get back to work.” Pulling out her notebook, she ignored his knowing smile.

Dante flipped his own notebook open. “I double-checked Cranston. He doesn’t have a driver’s license. He takes the bus everywhere.”

She sighed. “We know it wasn’t Kensington or Blessing, because both of them were together. We saw them get into a completely different car and drive away.”

“And the driver of the dark truck was alone.” He sipped his coffee thoughtfully.

“So, who does that leave?” Beth stared at him over the rim of her cup.

“Oates. Grahame. Messinger.” He ticked down a mental list. She didn’t like the look on his face. “Blake.”

She blinked. “Jonathan Blake? Why would he try to kill me?”

“Maybe because you were the first to uncover rumors that Jennifer had been sleeping around on him. That kind of thing can drive a man insane, maybe even make him want to cover it up. It would ruin the image of the perfect family he thought he had and tarnish his wife’s memory. Have you reported anything to him yet?”

She shook her head slowly. “Not yet. I wasn’t sure how much to present to him at first. Just the fact that she was more than likely having an affair is going to devastate him.”

“Yeah, I know how he feels,” he replied tightly.

“What?”

He grimaced. “My ex-wife cheated on me.” The grimace turned into a wry grin. “With a private detective.”

“Sorry.” She patted his knee. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Oh
,
my God.
She wished she had a camera. That wary look on his face, like he was in bloody water surrounded by hungry sharks, was priceless. “Why?”

She almost laughed. She hadn’t seen such reluctance since the first time she asked Sammie to go to the gym. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s just, whenever I have a failed relationship I like to talk about it.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah. Let’s break out the double chocolate ice cream. You get the facial cream, I’ll get the hot cocoa. We can boot up
The Odd Couple
and totally bond over what pricks women are.” He looked almost constipated, his features scrunching up in pain. “Are we done now? I think we’re done. Please say we’re done?”

She laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair. “Why don’t you want to talk about it?” She shot him a mock-glare that had him shuddering in horror. “Is there something you’re hiding?”

“Nope.” He grinned weakly, looking hunted. “I like football. Do you like football? My favorite team is the Ravens.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Dante, I just want to know about your feelings.”

“No, not the feelings!” he shrieked, sounding remarkably like a little girl for such a big guy. “The feelings! It burns us, my precious!”

By the time she was done laughing she had to wipe tears from her eyes. “Okay, all jokes aside, I really am sorry things didn’t work out for you.”

He shrugged. “Don’t be, because I’m not. Once I got over the hurt and wounded pride, I realized that Lillian and I were never supposed to be together. She wanted things I couldn’t give her, and vice versa. I’m just glad I never told her the truth about me.” He smiled slowly, his expression turning almost sly.

Uh-oh. That look did not bode well for Beth. “What?”

“When you make a commitment, you stick to it, don’t you?”

“Come hell or high water.”
No way he’s getting me off this case.
A strange smile flitted across his face, making her very uneasy. “You’re up to something.”

“Me?”

Pfft
. Like she was buying that innocent look. She just shook her head and finished her coffee and donut, standing up to throw away the mess before grabbing her jacket. “I’m not leaving the case, Dante. Give it up.”

He stood as soon as she did and followed her out the door. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Stubborn man. “Damn it, Dante. Give it a rest.”

He caressed her arm with a gentle touch and she froze. She looked at him, and what she saw in his face had her trembling in response. When he eased aside the neck of her sweater and saw the bite on her neck she shivered, and not from the cold. He caressed the mark gently. The feel of his skin against hers was intoxicating, even in so light a caress. “You will stay safe, you hear me?”

She nodded, her jaw tight with the conflicting emotions racing through her. On the one hand, his protectiveness made her want to melt. On the other, he’d just staked his claim to her, something she’d never thought of allowing any man to do.

But with Dante, it felt natural. Right. She leaned in to the touch, ignoring the small purr that left his lips.

If the possessive way he curled his arm around her waist was anything to go by, it was far too late to protest. And in all honesty, she didn’t want to.

“Let’s go,
tesoro
.” He headed down the stairs, half dragging her along with him. Halfway to the parking lot, her cell phone rang, the number as familiar as her own. “Yo.”

“I got a lead on some of the cash. Can we talk?” Sam sounded almost as excited as she had been the day before.

Beth stopped walking, forcing Dante to pull up short. “Now may not be a good time.”

“Now may be the best time. I’ve put a tracer on the cash, and you’re not going to believe where it is. You’ve got to come over.”

Beth pulled the cell phone away from her ear and sighed. Sam had hung up without another word, and now she was stuck with trying to figure out how to ditch Dante without making him wary.

She decided to try the direct approach. “Dante?”

He turned to face her, his key in the lock of the driver’s side door of the Eclipse he must have rented that morning. The ugly beige sedan was hopefully history. The thing screamed “cop.” Who drove their cop car off-duty? “Yes?”

“You know that informant who gave me the information about Romanov’s funds?” He nodded warily. She must not have guarded her expression as well as she’d hoped. “The informant needs to speak with me.”

“Oh.” He grinned. “Get in. I’ll drive.”

She stood outside the car, not touching the handle. “The informant won’t talk to police. I’m sorry. I have to go alone.”

“No, you don’t. Either I drive and wait in the car or you don’t go. Period.”

“You’re driving me crazy.”

“You think I’m being overprotective? You almost got killed last night. I’m not letting you out of my sight even if I have to break out the handcuffs.” He released her abruptly, opening the door of the Eclipse. “Get. In.”

She stared up at him, aware she wasn’t getting out of this easily. He just stood there, immovable as a mountain, and about as thick. “Dante, if she sees you with me she won’t talk.”

He actually laughed. “Sam can talk to you while I wait in the car.”

She blinked. “What makes you think we’re going to see Sam?”

“Apparently I have
Stupid
tattooed on my forehead this morning.” He took her purse and put it on the passenger-side seat. “Look, I don’t know if I want to know how she got that data, so I’ll wait in the car like a good little boy and play Angry Birds or something. Just promise to share what you find out.”