Page 21 of Tempt the Dragon
Chapter Six
“What the fuck happened?” Steele Eze jumped out of his truck just before it stopped moving, slamming the door behind him.
Aiken and Mel had stepped from their hiding place seconds after the vamps had cleared out of the area. With his truck temporarily out of commission, Aiken had called for extraction.
“They saw us and got the jump on us.” The words were sour in hismouth, but had to be said since it was the truth.
“And how exactly were they able to do that?” He’d known his Drakon brothers would give him shit about the incident and was prepared to properly ignore them.
“Doesn’t matter. We saw Duncan. I know what he looks like and that he’s onto us searching for him.” He moved toward the truck, heading to the back door so he could open it and let Melget inside. She’d been shivering since they broke the cloak and had made sure not to stand anywhere near him so his body heat couldn’t help her.
It was no doubt a retreat from what had been happening between them in the truck before the vamps showed up, and he felt his beast’s disappointment with a crushing force.
“I got you, Mel. You come on this side and climb in. We’ll get you homeand warmed up.” Reese had circled around the truck and was now walking beside Mel.
Without another thought, Aiken was in the Drakon’s face. “I’m not gonna tell you again. Step. Back.”
Reese’s grin was quick, the white of his teeth stark against the deep, rich umber tone of his skin. “Relax, man. I’m just tryin’ to be hospitable.”
Reese trying his best to piss him off right now wasn’tthe best idea.
“Chill, Reese. Let’s get outta here first and then we’ll deal with this. The others are waiting.” Steele recognized the obvious and climbed into the driver’s seat. A chuckling, dickheaded Reese followed, going to the passenger side.
Aiken opened the back door on the driver’s side and waited for Mel to get in. He didn’t touch her but when she stopped at the door, their gazesmet and held.
“We made a mistake.”
She climbed into the backseat and he mumbled, “It won’t be our last.” Because like it or not, the door to their past had been kicked open, arousal stoked in his beast and hers, there was no turning back. If either of them would survive the possible fallout this go-round, he had no clue. What he did know without a doubt was that his beast was intent onhaving her, all of her, again.
When the door closed, Enes willed the lock to click into place. It was a new thing she’d just discovered she could do, locking doors, turning on and off lights, starting candles. Warrick hadn’t told her much about being a vampire, just that human blood was her life force. Beyond that, her only task had been to do his bidding and she’d done that right up untilthe day he died.
“I need answers this time. I can’t go back and tell them you’re just giving us this information out of the goodness of your frozen heart.”
Ziva’s words snapped her from the reverie and she turned slowly to see the woman she’d once thought she could love standing near the window. Moonlight fell over her already honey-glazed skin. The red skirt she wore was skintight andshort, revealing long legs covered in tights, but since the outline of them was so starkly apparent they may as well have been bare. Her blouse was red too, sheer so the black lace bra easily showed. Damn, she was gorgeous without even trying.
“I told you I wanted to help you.” It was flimsy and she’d known that Ziva would push the matter. Or Theo and his minions would push. They did thata lot and it wore on Enes’s nerves.
Somebody was always pushing her around. First her grandmother, then her ex-boyfriend and finally Warrick. When he died, she’d sworn he would be the last one to have control over her. Yet, here she was now standing in Twilight’s very small storeroom with the one being that made her otherwise chilly soul feel what could only be described as warm.
“I don’tknow what he’s looking for. I just heard about the meeting and gave you the information.” She shrugged, knowing Ziva was going to ask again.
“Why’d you tell me anything? You know we’ll kill him and any other vampires that attempt to raise that army.”
“Why? You don’t even know if an army exists? You could all just be running in circles.”
“But you know we’re not. And even if we were,six bodies completely drained of blood were found in a warehouse just last week. A notable doctor went missing for a full week, only to show up at work one day and attacked three nurses. All of them were found in an empty operating room with bite marks on their neck. He killed them because he’s an out of control newborn. The brutal violence at the hands of the vamps has been going on for weeks withno signs of stopping. How do you defend that?” Ziva stepped toward her and she didn’t back away.
A very real part of her warned it wasn’t the smart thing to do, but another part—the one that couldn’t let go—met her halfway. This time she even reached out to touch the skin of her cheek that had been tempting her since Ziva walked into the club.
Ziva accepted the touch but kept her gazefocused. “Tell me what’s really going on, Enes. You know you can trust me.”
“Can I, Ziva?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I never lied to you.”
“No. But you did walk away from me and you never looked back.”
“You weren’t ready. I asked the question and you gave the answer.” Ziva licked her lips and desire flooded Enes. The sight of her tongue easing over the plump skin evoked morememories, ones she couldn’t forget. Even after being turned into a vampire.
