Turns out, Anastasia should have taken Dakota up on his offer and left this particular one alone. The second they had arrived in the perpetually dark world, they were attacked. All they could see were the bright red eyes of their attackers, and Anastasia couldn’t help but laugh at the movies she had once thought were scary.
The damn beasts were fast and their sharp claws had torn up her clothing. They had spent nearly an hour back to back fending off something they couldn’t even see. It wasn’t until she used the trick Gregory had taught her with the ball of light that they were able to get away.
As it turns out, living in darkness makes you incredibly sensitive to light.
They had made their escape and arrived in Terrenia grumpy, exhausted, and bloody. Her skin had already healed where the claws had grabbed her, but both Dakota and Tony were covered in scratches and a few deeper cuts.
She looked over at Dakota. The one on his forehead was going to need stiches.
“This is ridiculous, just let me heal you guys.”
“Carmen said the healing magic uses more than anything else. You are already exhausted, Ana. We will be fine,” Dakota insisted, and continued towards Elizabeth’s cottage.
“What happened?” Elizabeth asked as they dragged themselves inside. She wasn’t even surprised anymore when they showed up with minor injuries.
“That last world was anything but a ray of sunshine,” Dakota joked, and Elizabeth poked him.
“I’m serious.”
“Some night-dwelling creatures didn’t take to having visitors,” Tony said, pouring himself a drink. “Anyone else?”
“Yes, please,” Anastasia and Dakota both said. Elizabeth just shook her head.
“I’ve had my fill of alcohol, thanks.” She smiled and stitched up the wound on Dakota’s head. “The rest of them just need to be cleaned and bandaged. Anastasia, can you help?”
“Yes ma’am.” She walked over to Dakota, who put his hands on her hips.
“Want to get out of here?” He winked at her.
“Let’s clean you up first there, Casanova. Shirt off.”
“Going right for the good stuff,” he joked as he pulled off his shirt.
Anastasia saw him shirtless every day, but damn was it a beautiful sight. The tattoos that climbed up the side of his body seemed to only define the muscle that sat below. His body had hardened since she had run into him in that alley. Damn, she wanted to sink her teeth into him now.
She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “Had I wanted to go straight to the good stuff I would have asked you to lose the pants instead.”
She leaned back and the look in his eye was feral.
“Keep making promises like that and I’ll take you home right now.” His voice was low and the heavy warning was there.
“Let’s get these bandaged up first.” She smiled and went to work on the marks on his body. Surprisingly, some of them had already begun to heal. Strange.
“Everyone good now?” Elizabeth asked as she packed her medical supplies up.
“All good, Mom.” Dakota pulled on the tattered remnants of his shirt and kissed her on the forehead. “Ready?” he asked Anastasia. The look in his eyes sent chills up her spine, the kind that got her body ready for what she could expect later.
All she could do was nod. He gripped her hand and the heat of the simple touch had her blood warming. Her eyes stayed on him as they left. Within moments she felt the door at her back and they were on each other. She gripped the front of his shirt and tore it the rest of the way from his body.
Her mouth was hungry as it attacked his again in a feverish kiss that turned into a frenzy as they tore at each other.
Anastasia felt the bed at her back and watched anxiously as Dakota removed her clothing and then his own pants.
“Damn, Ana.” His voice was husky and full of want as he stared at her. “I can never get enough of you.” He placed a kiss to the inside of her calf and Anastasia watched as he placed small kisses to the inside of her leg. When he reached where she ached for him, she cried out and buried her hands in his hair as he drove her over the edge with his tongue.
Just as her orgasm was rocking through her, he drove into her and she cried out in pleasure as she clutched to him like a lifeline. She held tightly and moved her hips with his as he drove them faster, faster, until they both collapsed.
* * *
“I suppose we should probably get some food.” Anastasia stretched and sat up in bed to begin putting her clothes back on.
“Are you sure we have to?” Dakota whined, half asleep.
“Maybe not you, but I’m hungry.” She stood and he pulled her back on top of him.
“I could eat.” He smiled.
“Dakota, I mean real food.”
He gave her a look full of false innocence. “That’s what I was talking about too.”
“Sure it was.” She kissed him quickly and then got to her feet to pull her hair back. “It’s still early enough. I bet we can grab something from tonight’s meal.”
“Sounds good to me.” He pulled on his clothes and then holstered a gun at his waist and a sword at his back.
She did the same and they stepped out into the cool night air. The breeze lifted the strands of hair she had left down on either side of her face, and she breathed deeply. The scent of forest and a fresh fire filled her lungs and she smiled.
This is what they were fighting for, this peace and their right to live.
Dakota interlinked his fingers with hers and they made their way towards the village. Music filled their ears, and she was ecstatic to see some of the villagers had brought out their instruments and were playing beautiful melodies.
Tony and Elizabeth sat on their porch, his arm around her as they watched the scene before them. Carmen sat on her porch, a book in her hand, and Robby and Tilly danced as if there was nothing wrong in the world.
The sight made Anastasia’s heart soar.
“Wanna dance?” Dakota faced her.
She stared blankly at him. “Seriously?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know how to dance.”
“Please, Ana, that excuse won’t work on me anymore. Besides, I know that you know how.”
“Dakota, I—”
“What do you have to lose?” he asked, and his words triggered a memory as she let him pull her to him and begin moving.
Anastasia stood against the wall and watched the other students dancing. Her parents had forced her to come, telling her it was a rite of passage. Yeah right. She knew why her father had made her come. Mrs. Kelley had started showing concern that Anastasia never attended any school functions.
If there was one thing Mitch Carter hated, it was when the attention was on his only daughter. So here she stood in a red dress that made her feel silly, wearing a layer of makeup Monica had slathered on her face, and wishing she was anywhere but here.
No one even looked her way as they moved on the floor, so she could at least be grateful for that.
“Hey Ana!” She turned to see Dakota walk towards her. She swallowed hard. He looked so handsome in his suit. “You came!”
“My father said I had to,” she responded quickly, earning a slight frown from her only friend.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” He smiled. “Want to dance?”
She shook her head. “I’m sure someone else might, though,” she whispered, praying he didn’t pick anyone else.
“I don’t want to dance with anyone else, I want to dance with you.”
“I don’t know how,” she said quietly, and felt her cheeks redden.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” He reached a hand out and she cautiously took it and followed him onto the dance floor.
He put one hand on her waist and held the other up. “Mom made me take lessons this last summer. Said every boy should know how to dance when he’s going into high school.”
Anastasia laughed, for it was definitely something Elizabeth would say.
“I’ll lead you, Ana, I promise I won’t let you down.”
She nodded and he began to move. The first few steps were awkward, but she found it surprisingly easy to get into a routine with it. Before she knew it, she was dancing.
She looked up to Dakota, a smile on her face. “I’m dancing!”
“Yes you are.” He smiled. “Have you never danced before?”
Anastasia shook her head sadly. “Never had the need to.”
“Well, maybe we can start dancing more often.”
“I think I would like that.” She smiled and Dakota pulled her in closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in the soft cologne he wore. Would there ever be a day when she wasn’t in love with him? she wondered. Would she ever be able to tell him? That even though they were young, she knew how she felt.
“Can you believe he’s dancing with her?”
Anastasia heard the whisper and her head immediately shot up. A group of girls stood off to the side staring at her. Dakota moved her away, but she could still feel their eyes on her. She missed a step and tripped, and Dakota barely caught her before she fell.
The teenagers around them began laughing, and Anastasia’s cheeks flushed as she fled from the room.
“Ana, wait up!” she heard Dakota calling behind her, but she kept running until she reached the park near their houses. She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to face him.
“Dang, Ana, you can run,” he tried to joke, but stopped when he saw the look on her face. “Don’t listen to them. They’re just jealous.”
“Of what? What do they have to be jealous of?”
“Have you ever looked at yourself? You’re beautiful.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend.”
“No I’m not.” He stared at her for a moment, and then looked away nervously. “Gage certainly thinks so.”
Anastasia sighed. Of course he was talking about Gage. “Gage is full of himself.” She took a seat on a swing, and Dakota sat next to her.
“You were doing great in there.”
“Thanks.” She offered a slight smile. “You should go back now, don’t want to miss anything.”
“Eh. Not anything to miss. I’m not big on school functions.”
“Please, Dakota, you’re one of the most social people I know.”
“Only when I have to be. Truthfully, I’d rather hang out with my best friend.” He winked at her and then stood and offered his hand. “Dance with me?”
“There’s no music and we’re in the middle of a park.”
“Come on, Ana, live a little. What have you got to lose?”
Anastasia snapped back to the present and leaned against Dakota, letting him lead her as he had so many years ago in that park. It was amazing how some things changed, and yet others stayed the same.
“May I cut in?” Tony asked as he stepped up with Elizabeth on his arm.
“Absolutely.” Dakota smiled and released Anastasia to pull his mother in for a dance. “Shall you see what all those dance lessons you forced me to take taught me?”
“Forced you? You asked for those lessons,” Elizabeth replied.
“Really?” Anastasia asked curiously. “You always said she made you take them.”
“I mean, I may have asked at first, but she made me keep going.”
“If I remember correctly, it was so you could impress a certain girl.” Elizabeth winked at Anastasia and she laughed.
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Dakota retorted.
“It did,” Anastasia said softly, and she and Tony began dancing. “You seem happy,” she said with a smile as they drifted further away from Dakota and Elizabeth.
“I am. You do too.”
“I am. Take a walk with me?”
“Absolutely.” Tony smiled and Anastasia linked her arm through his.
“How are you doing?” she asked as they took a seat on a bench that overlooked the festivities.
“I’m fine, why do you ask?”
Anastasia felt his emotional state and knew he was anything but. “When Vincent had me after Seattle, he tried everything he could to get me to switch sides. After I was able to pull myself out of the dark, he tried everything he could to get me to go back. He killed Dakota sixty-two times in front of me.” She faced him as the horrible memories flooded her mind. “I was forced to watch him die in so many different ways, and while I knew on some level they weren’t real, I felt a piece of myself die each time.” She looked over to where he was laughing while he spun Elizabeth around.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“I know that what he put you through had to have been horrible, Tony.”
He sighed. “More than.”
“Talk to me,” she insisted, hoping that if he voiced it, it would become less of a burden on his mind.
“You remember I told you of Zarina and Jax?”
She nodded.
“Vincent told me he could bring them back.” He swallowed hard and Anastasia saw the unshed tears in his eyes as he looked towards the fire. “He brought them to me and they spoke to me as if they were really standing there.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “When I refused, he showed me Elizabeth.”
Anastasia felt his emotions switch, and she knew that while seeing his late wife and son had bothered him, it was what came next that had nearly driven her friend off the deep end.
“She called to me, told me she was there and wanted to help. Out of everything, that seemed the most real to me. He—” Tony’s voice cracked, and Anastasia wrapped her arm around him. “He killed her, Anastasia. Right in front of my eyes, she died.” He looked back out to where she and Dakota still danced. “I barely survived Zarina and Jax. If it hadn’t been for your parents, I probably wouldn’t have. I won’t survive if anything happens to her.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to her, Tony.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, but I have faith, and right now that’s the strongest weapon we can have.” She stood. “Come on, you owe me a dance.”