Dalton made his way to their bedroom. He was really tired, but feeling really good about what he was doing now. And the other cops, men and woman he had worked with, were coming around now to talk, not just to beg him to come back to work. Dalton wasn’t going to return to being a cop, and especially not to be in charge of a lot of them. He was happy, relaxed, and loving what he was doing now.
He opened the bedroom door and stopped moving. He wasn’t even sure he was breathing as he took in the sight before him.
“I got off work early and thought that I’d surprise you.” He was sure that he nodded, because he got to look at Gabriela from head to toe then back again. “I heard you pull in the driveway.”
“I drove home.” She nodded this time. “I was at work and drove home. You look delicious.”
He was making a fool of himself, he knew it. But before him was a vision. A very beautiful, naked one. Going into the room deeper, he tossed his jacket towards the chair. When he heard it hit the floor, he knew that he’d missed. Dalton made his way to the bed where Gabriela was laying and stood over her. When she sat up and reached for him, he held onto the bedpost closest to him. It was that or fall on his ass.
“We’ve been so busy lately that I thought that I’d come here and make things special for you.” He told her any more special and he’d be dead. “You say the most romantic things. But I’ve thought about it a lot, and I want to take your cock into my mouth until you come.”
“Christ, love.” She grinned at him. “I think there is a streak of something not so nice in you. But I love it, and you. I am at your command.”
“Really?” He nodded. “Oh, this might be more fun than I thought. What if I asked you to stand perfectly still so that I can strip you down to your skin? Would you do that?”
Instead of answering her, he put out his arms and stepped back from her. She stood up, her glorious body making his mouth water. Then she was behind him, her arms wrapped around his waist as she started to unbutton his shirt.
Dalton thought of himself as a strong man, one who had on occasion had to look at things that were better left unseen. Nothing horrible, but things that made him wonder at some choices that people made. But right now, with Gabriela taking his clothing off, he was as weak as a kitten. And his decision in letting her do this to him, profoundly scary. She was going to kill him, he thought with a laugh. And really, he didn’t care.
When his shirt was pulled off him, his chest bare, Dalton felt her breath on his body, her fingers touching him gently. As she moved around him, her breasts would brush against his skin. Her scent would make his nostrils flare. He was in hell, he knew it.
Her fingers danced over his belt buckle. Closing his eyes made all the sounds in the room, all the things she was doing to him, more pronounced, her touch sexier. The way her warm scent washed over him was wonderful. The snap of his pants sounded loud in the room. Even the opening of his zipper was harsh to his ears. Then she touched him.
His cock burned from the way her hands felt on him. Dalton knew that he was leaking precum, but at this point he thought it was a miracle that he’d not come all over her. And when she pulled his pants down to his thighs, taking his boxers with them, he held his breath as her hair moved over him like a silky curtain.
Dalton put his hands at his side, his fists in tight balls, as she sat on her knees at his cock. He wanted to beg her to take him, to put her silken mouth over his cock, but he was afraid that he’d only make incoherent noises rather than anything that sounded intelligible.
No words were spoken between them as she laid her head on his cock. He did moan; it was about all he could manage at the moment, since he was sure that he had no blood anywhere in his body but his cock. And then she turned to look up at him, her eyes full of need reflecting back. As he watched her, Dalton knew that he loved her, but it hit him hard just how much he did.
This was the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. The person who would bear him children, love them as he would. She’d be there for him, forever, and he couldn’t think of anyone, not of all the people he’d met in his life, who he’d rather spend it with. Family and his love, it was really all he ever wanted.
Her tongue moved over her lips as he watched, her hands cupped her breasts. When she tugged at her nipples, making them darken with blood, he thought of tasting her there, feeling her breasts fill his mouth. When she looked at him, stared at him as she slowly ran her hand down her body to her navel, Dalton was sure of it now; he was most assuredly in hell.
“If I come like this, will you?” He nodded. “I want to drink your cum down. Feel you fill my throat with it.”
“You’re killing me.” He sounded strangled, his throat closed off. Gasping for air, he nearly cried out when she licked his length, her tongue wrapped around his crown. “Gabe, please, baby? I’m not going to last, I don’t want to. Let me come. Give it to me.”
“Not yet.”
He reached for something to hold onto when she took him in her mouth. It was hot, wet, and oh so smooth. Her hand held him, her fingers touched places on him that no one had ever touched before. All the while, the entire time she was sucking his cock, her free hand was buried deep within her pussy.
He was so close his balls were full and painful, his heart racing in his chest. Holding onto the post, he fucked her mouth, rolled his hips back and forth as she pleasured them both. And when she threw back her head, commanding him to come, he held his cock, fisting it as his release sprayed her face, arms, and breasts.
Dalton came hard, his body bowing with it, his back aching with a pleasant pain. As he held his cock, tremors like hard punches to his body racking him, he watched her clean herself up with her tongue.
Her lips cleaned his cum from her mouth. Her hands spread his release over her breasts, belly, and ribs. He felt himself grow hard again, his balls fill once more. And when she stood up, moving to the chair not three feet away, he followed her like she was leading him with a leash.
“Fuck me.” He nodded as she bent at the waist, her pretty ass right in front of him. Cupping the muscled orbs, he leaned down, kissing each dimple at her cheeks before he moved between her thighs. “I need to come, Dalton. Please fuck me hard.”
He slammed forward. He wasn’t sure if it was because she had begged him so prettily or his need was taking over, but as he stood there, pounding her pussy as hard as his body could, he leaned over her and slid his finger into her heat. She screamed out a release, and her sheath tightened around him so tightly, he wasn’t sure he was able to move. And when he could, he fucked her harder, giving her as much of himself as he could.
Dalton felt his cock moving in and out of her, her pussy wrapped around him so beautifully. Touching her clit, he felt her tighten around him again and again. Knowing that he was close again, his body ready to empty into her, he pinched her clit hard. He felt her not just tighten around him, but strangle his cock. Her sheath milked him to a powerful climax as she screamed out her own climax, over and over again.
His release was powerful. Not only did he feel like he was coming from every part of his body, but pieces of him were being emptied into her as well. His head felt light, his heart pounded. Even his toes felt as if they curled up in his boots until he was weak with it all.
He stood there, leaning over her while he tried to breathe normally. There wasn’t any way he could move. He wasn’t even sure that he was breathing well enough to get oxygen to his extremities. And when he felt her shift on her feet beneath him, Dalton stood, his knees shaky, and held her to him.
As they both staggered to the bed, all he could think about was what she’d done to him. How she’d made him feel. Dalton thought perhaps if he died right this moment, if he could, he’d be the happiest corpse ever.
“That was amazing.” He pulled her to him, kissed her on the forehead and held her as she continued. “I’ve never done anything like that before. Nothing like that has ever even entered my mind. I think you bring out the depravity in me. I’m not saying I don’t like this new me, but it’s so unexpected too.”
“Anytime you have a thought like that enter your head, you just go with it. However, not too many times in one day. I could have a massive stroke. Christ, seeing you there, naked? It was the best thing I think I’ve ever walked in on in my life.” He laughed with her. “I sound like a teenager who’s just gotten laid for the first time in his life. Actually, that’s how I feel right now. Like you are my first. And you’ll forever be my last. I love you.”
He held her, stroking her back as they lay there. Dalton knew that she slept after a little while. He too dozed in and out. And when his phone rang from across the room, he didn’t even bother getting up. If it was family or an emergency, they knew how to contact him. After a few more minutes, he went to sleep.
~~~
Gabe was in the kitchen when a truck pulled into the drive. Dalton had left her about an hour ago, saying that he had to go in and learn how to order for the diner. She said she’d be just fine, but now she wasn’t sure what to do. There were no deliveries coming that she knew of, so she stayed in the house as the man got out and looked around the yard.
It occurred to her for some reason that he wasn’t there on a social visit. The way he walked around and not to the house was sort of…it was kind of distracting. The pickup truck he was in was brand new, the plates the paper, temporary kind of plates. She was just going to call out to someone, anyone in the family, to ask if they knew what was going on when she felt something behind her.
The hand over her mouth had her screaming ineffectually. Gabe could smell the person. Drugs. Old wine. Body odor. Then she felt the pinch of something in her arm and knew that she’d been drugged. As she fell into the abyss, she tried her best to reach out to Dalton to help her. She thought of Jasmine, as they had a date later today for shopping before they left in the morning.
Blue truck with alloyed wheels. Man with green shirt, dark hair in it. Man has me drugged. Jasmine asked her where she was. Home. I’m fading fast.
I’m coming. I’m with Jorden. We’re coming. She wasn’t sure they were going to make it. Her body was too weak to fight them off as the man outside joined the guy who had hit her. Gabe, can you call the dragons?
The dragons. She’d forgotten about them. Come to me, my babies. Her head hit something hard, her body too. By the time she realized that she was in the back of the truck, it was moving. Closing her eyes, Gabe let the drugs take her over.
When she woke she was in a dark room, so dark that she couldn’t make out even the smallest of details. There was a sliver of light under what she assumed was a doorway, but nothing more. It wasn’t until she sat up that she realized both her feet and hands had been restrained.
Do not move overly much. She knew the voice but shied away from it. The dragon, Roderick, was with her. We were too late to keep you from being taken, but we are here now, to protect you. Should we have killed the men, as was our plan, you would have been hurt badly when the truck was moving.
“Where are Dalton and the others? They’re not hurt, are they?” Roderick told her that all were safe. “Good. I’m glad. I…that man was in our house.”
Yes, he used magic to enter. The other man, the younger of the two, he was there to distract you long enough for the elder one to enter. They will both be taken care of today, my lady. She asked him what they wanted, even though she was pretty sure she knew. They are here for the jewels…yours, as you have guessed. They will not get them. The one that drove you here, he thinks that they are things he can simply take from you. Or perhaps for you to hand over. He has much knowledge, but not enough to know that you are the wearer of them and they cannot be removed.
She reached for Dalton and the pain of her head took her breath away. Lyna told her not to try again, that they had informed the family that they were with them. Gabe had not even realized that Lyna was there as well, but was glad for it. Gabe asked what had happened to her.
There are three here. Two of them you have had contact with, the other we have yet to ascertain. The oldest of the three, older by a great many years, is the one with the most magic. He has put a spell on you so that you cannot contact the family without causing great pain to your head, as you have figured out. Gabe lay down as Lyna continued. We have been advised to hold off killing any of them until we have more information. Information, we’ve been told, that will help someone find out who has been financing this horrific mess.
“They think there is just one person that is doing this to us? How is that possible? I thought they killed off each man as they came to them.” Neither of them said anything. “Unless he’s having them do his dirty work while he sits back and reaps the profits.”
I believe that is what your family thinks as well. Also, I am to tell you something from Lady Aisha. She said to tell you that if you let them hurt you, she will be sorely disappointed in you. Gabe laughed. I find it most strange that she thinks you have any say over them hurting you.
“I think she’s kidding.” Roderick said he hoped so. “Now, do we have a plan? Am I just to wait for them to try to hurt me? I’d really like something to focus on. And could you please tell Dalton that I love him very much?”
Roderick moved…she heard him shuffle across the floor. Then there was a small flare of light and she could see them both. The light, like the dragons, was blue, and she moved a little closer to it for warmth. She wasn’t sure if she was cold or just terrified, and needed the normalcy of this. Either way, she felt better for it.
Lord Dalton said to tell you that he loves you so very much as well. She felt her eyes fill with tears. He also said to tell you that he is coming for you and for you to sit tightly. I’m sorry, tight. He said for you to sit tight.
“Thank you for that, Roderick. I’m going to sit here like a good girl and wait. But what do we know of these men?” Roderick said they knew little to nothing as yet, but would soon enough. “Are you going to be all right? I mean, I don’t want you hurt either in this.”
I will be fine, my lady, this I promise you. She nodded and asked about the bindings at her arms and legs. You can remove them better than we would be able to. We could cut them, but with our claws, it might harm you unnecessarily. Just think of something sharp and use that.
She felt the handle of the scalpel in her hands before the thought was complete. Turning it carefully in her hands—she knew that it would be sharp—she cut through the tape as she thought of the man outside of her house.
“You said he was a distraction. How did you figure that out? And why didn’t he come to the door? I mean, I saw him in the yard, and I’m assuming that he was supposed to be a distraction, but he looked…I was going to say stupid, but that’s not right. He was drugged, I think.” Roderick told her that he didn’t smell of drugs. “Then I don’t know. Maybe I’m just thinking on this too hard.”
In looking into his mind, I think him to have a higher opinion of himself than is right. He thinks himself to be brilliant, but he is only average. Slightly lower than average of the normal human, really. The first layer of tape was finished, and she cut into the second one as Lyna spoke again. He has taken you in the hopes of getting one of the pieces of jewelry to hold until all the others are together. A bargaining chip, he calls it. I don’t think he would have ever been able to make that work. There are other forces that he would have had to contend with.
“What do you mean?” She cut her hand then, not paying attention, she knew. “You don’t think we can make this work? That we’ll fail in getting the pieces all together?”
No, I don’t believe that at all. I only think that the other out there, he will be difficult to work around until he’s killed. He, this other man, he holds a great deal of power. I think that is why when we arrived at the house, we could not see anything amiss. It wasn’t until the truck that had you in the rear of it moved from the perimeter that we could see it. At first we thought that we had missed it. But it could have been shielded from us. The tape was off her hands, but she had to massage them several times before she could pick up the scalpel again. Lyna continued. There is very dark magic going on with this group, Roderick. Do you think that—?
Do not say it. Do not. We don’t have enough information to know anything for a certainty, and without the spark that gives us full power, we aren’t going to know. Gabe looked at the two of them when Roderick cut his mate off. We need to stay positive; all will fail if we do not.
“Spark? And before we get too far off the path here, how did that scalpel appear in my hands just when I needed it?” The noise outside the door had her slicing through the tape at her legs quickly. Gabe knew that she couldn’t move, not without a little more blood running to her feet, but she was going to make them pay for taking her. When the door opened she lashed out.
“Gabe? Don’t hurt me.” Vance? He was here too? His whispered words were both comforting and scary at the same time. “I’m going to lean down to you so we can talk. Just don’t hurt me, all right?”
“How did you get in here?” He just laughed a little. “Okay, I guess I don’t want to know. But are we going to leave now? I’d really like to get out of here.”
“I have to take care of a couple of things first. But I didn’t want you running out of here and getting in the way. Do you think you can wait for a few more minutes? I promise to come back for you if you would.” She told him about the dragons. “Good. I wondered if you’d been able to call them to you. I’m glad that you have protection. But if it’s okay with you, I’ll take Roderick with me. I could use a good…dragon to help with clean up, if it comes to that.”
“All right, but neither of you are to be hurt, do you hear me?” He nodded, then kissed her on the forehead. “Vance, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but could you just get this done so I can go home?”
“My pleasure.” She felt rather than saw him stand up. He was a big man…she thought him bigger even more so than Dalton. But when he leaned down to her, she held herself steady as he whispered in her ear. “They’re right outside the door. You have to trust me when I tell you to turn around and not look. All right?”
Nodding, she turned around. She was sure that whatever happened next she wasn’t going to like. So when the door opened, the bright light letting her know, she heard a gun fire, screaming, then nothing.
The hand that touched her was firm and she nearly screamed. The small whimper that fell from her lips was met with a laugh, and she knew it was Vance. The man had saved her. Turning around as she was helped up, she held him to her and cried. Relief so profound made her sobby and emotional.
Vance held her, and when she was calmer, he asked if she wanted to go. Nodding, he helped her out of the building, and soon she was standing in the daylight. He held her hand, letting her sob out how happy she was that he’d come for her, before he lifted her chin up and looked down at her face.
“I have to go.” She told him to stay and talk to his family. “I can’t. I’ve been talking to them and they understand, but I can’t be found here. Not yet.”
She looked around and realized she was in what the rest of them were calling the warehouse district. It was also where the cigarettes were being held. He nodded when she turned back to look at him.
“You’re undercover. And can’t be seen talking to the police. I’m sorry, Vance. I hope this didn’t mess it up.” He said that she hadn’t, that he had been nearby when she needed him. “I don’t understand, but I know that you’re working. Go before the police get here.”
“I’m sorry, love. I truly am. And before you ask, Roderick and his mate are going to clean up inside for me. There won’t be any prints from me being here.” She nodded. “I hate to tell you this, but there were only two men inside. The third one, the one that Roderick spoke of with the magic, he isn’t here. I don’t know where he went, but he’s gotten away.”
“Will he come back before Dalton gets here?” He shook his head. “You’re sure? You know he won’t come back and finish me off?”
“Lyna is watching you. Roderick told me that he had to go back to his host. I’m assuming he meant Grady. But Lyna said she was staying. It was her duty to keep you safe.” She looked just inside the building that they’d come out of. “No one will come after you, Gabe. On this, I can bet my life.”
“Don’t. Don’t say that. I don’t want anyone betting their life for mine. I get it, I’ll be safe. But you have to be too.” He nodded. “No. You have to say it, Vance. I don’t know you well…I’d like to, but I do know that you’re a haunted man, and that you do more for this family than the rest of them combined. But if you tell me, straight out, that you’ll be safe, then I know you will. You won’t break your promise to me.”
“No, I would never do that. Not to any of you. But I will tell you this, it’s the best I can do…I will be as safe as I can make myself. Is that all right?”
She nodded.
He kissed her on the forehead and then left her there. She watched the area, knowing that as soon as someone came she’d be fine. Looking over at Lyna, she asked her to come closer to her.
You are unwell? She told the little dragon that she just needed comfort. I can help you with that.
As the dragon moved closer, Gabe could feel her heat. It was strangely comforting, like being wrapped in a thick warm blanket. Or comforting arms.
“I guess there are others coming to see us. I wonder if they’ll be like you in size or bigger.”
Some will be quite large. But as you can guess, they have powers that keep them well hidden. There will even be some that are smaller than me. She sat close enough to her that Gabe could touch her. She reached out and ran her fingers over the scales that covered her chest. They weren’t hard like she thought they would be, but more slick. I knew of one once, he was as large as some of your buildings on your land. He was cumbersome, to say the least, but he was as friendly as he was fierce when he was in battle mode. I have forgotten his name; he was a good dragon, but not a good warrior. I think he was killed from wounds that he sustained from war.
“I guess there were plenty of wars in your lifetime. I’ve heard of a few of them that were as bloody as any had ever been. Did you know Warrior?” She said that they all knew him and the queen. “I guess you’ve been around for a very long time.”
Yes, very long. We have been waiting, my mate and I, for the right McCade family to come along. We’ve never been released before, not since we were put upon the back of Williamston, son of Caelin, as a sigil. Gabe asked about the first Caelin. He was a good man, better father than most in his time. He would take the time to play with his sons, all six of them, every day. And when it came time for them to learn their letters, to read and cipher, he was there with them, teaching them the way of numbers too. But he wasn’t a man to cross either. I saw him once beat a man to death for harming his cattle. It was horrific, but fair. The foods that we had, they were limited to what we could keep. This man only wanted to harm his family by killing off his only source of trade, or milk.
“I heard that he killed his father. Removed his head from his shoulders to avenge his mother’s demise.” Lyna cocked her head at her. “Caelin said to his mother, I think I heard, that he’d kill his father for what he did to their family and home. He did kill him, didn’t he?”
Lord Butler is not dead, my lady. Neither is the son, Caelin. I’m not sure where you might have heard such a thing. Lord Caelin is an immortal. His father…he has used black magic to live so long, but as I have said, they are both living. Gabe stood up, her head buzzing with the information. Lord Butler was alive, and so was his son? I know that the son, he has been around the area for some time. I think you have seen him as well.
Gabe started shaking her head. There was too much…not just information, but everything that their being alive indicated. The man had told her that he worked for someone. Waterson. His name had been….
“No. Not the little man with the present.” Lyna said that was him. “No, he said his name was Peterson. That he worked for a man named Waterson. That the man left me the package when he passed away.”
Lyna laughed. Peterson is the name of Lord Caelin’s page. Waterson? Let me think.... Ah yes, Lord Waterson is the man who was his financial advisor. He also cared for young Caelin when he was just a small boy. Kept him from his father’s sight, I believe. He also helped him improve his sword work, and how to—are you unwell?
“They’re alive. They’re both alive and out there. This can’t be right, Lyna. Do you have any idea what this means to us? Not just me, but the family. If they’re out there, what does that mean for the jewels? Should we…? Are we going to…? Lyna, this is too much.” Lyna nodded. “Do they know about each other?”
You mean that the other is living? Yes, I believe they have knowledge that the other is alive. What are you thinking, Lady Gabriela?
She had so many thoughts going through her head right now it was hard to capture just one and tell her. But one thing she knew for sure, they were against a great many more odds than before.
“I think that I know who is financing the men to come and kill us. To take the jewels that he thought he should have.” Lyna asked her if she meant Lord Butler. “Yes. And Caelin, his son, I think he’s working to stop him. Holy fuck balls, we’re so screwed right now.”