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But as we entered Monroe, the constriction in my chest loosened and for the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe as I looked out the windows. No vampires were out and about yet—but vampires weren’t the danger here. No, the holiday shoppers went about their lives, blissfully unaware of the war going on just a stretch down the highway.
A glowing neon sign in the parking lot of Penny’s Pit Stop cut through the gloom. The brilliant blue and yellow lights led us into the lot, which had been plowed earlier, but the empty parking spaces were beginning to cover over again. Kaylin gingerly parked in a spot that seemed the least likely to keep us prisoner.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief—we’d actually made it here in one piece—I slipped out of the car. Almost immediately, I was hit by the cold, my breath sucked out of me in one quick rush. I snuggled my jacket tighter around me, and covered my nose with my hand, trying to warm the air before it hit my lungs. Rhiannon and Kaylin joined me, and we hurried across the compacted snow toward the entrance and pushed through the door.
The blast of heat was like honey on warm bread. It oozed over me and I let out a long sigh, breathing deeply. The ache in my side eased as I was able to take a full breath without the slashing cold driving deep into my side.
“Welcome to Penny’s Pit Stop. I’m Rae-Ann. May I help you?” The hostess hurried over, though one glance around the place told me that Penny was going to be taking it easy tonight. Only three tables held patrons, and one booth had a woman sitting in it—Ysandra.>Erik paled even further and struggled a little. “Lannan Altos is a freak. You’re going to hand me over to him? Why don’t you just kill me now and get it over with?”
Curious and about out of patience, I tapped him on the shoulder. “Tell me something, Erik. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a vampire? Why did you become a day-runner in the first place?”
His answer took me by surprise. “My mother was sick, and we couldn’t afford her medicine. I couldn’t work three jobs to pay the rent, keep her in the drugs that made her last year bearable, and be there for her in the evenings. So I asked Geoffrey if he’d take me on as a day-runner. I worked damned hard and soon he was paying me really well. By the time my mother died, I realized there was no getting out, so I stayed.”
“Do you have a girlfriend, Erik?”
Rhiannon shook her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with the same girl twice, have I?”
“Nah. I knew better than to get involved. You get entangled, fall in love, and Geoffrey and his cronies have something to hold over your head. I decided it was better to stay single. Live for the day and enjoy what I could. That way, if he got pissed at me, I would be the only one to pay for it.”
Angry, because I was beginning to like him despite what had happened, I motioned to Kaylin. “Take him in a different room and make sure he’s covered up from the cold. Get him something to eat.”
As Kaylin and Chatter lifted the chair and carried Erik out of the room, I glanced at the clock. It was nearly one thirty. “Kaylin and Rhiannon and I had better get a move on if we expect to drive up to Monroe to meet Ysandra. Rhia, get your coat. We’ll take Kaylin’s car.” I’d rather take Favonis but it was too recognizable. And after our little tiff with the day-runners, I had no desire to be a speeding target.
While waiting for Kaylin to return, Grieve and I slipped off in one of the side rooms. He took me in his arms and I slid my hands along his skin. We’d had very little privacy since coming here and I wanted him—here, now, inside me.
He pressed his lips to my forehead as I listened to the beating of his heart. “Cicely—be cautious. Please. I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t. No matter what, you’ll never lose me.” My emotions threatening to break through, a tear slid down my face as I gazed into his eyes. His long platinum hair coiled down to his shoulders and for a moment, I could almost see the cornflower blue his eyes had been before Myst sunk her teeth into him.
“You’re my world.” His lips sought mine and I lost myself in their soft touch as his tongue gently explored my mouth. And then the passion rose and we were clutching one another, his hands slipping beneath my shirt as my breath came in ragged pants.
“I want you. Now…I need you.” My heart was beating a million miles a second as his hands stoked the fire that raged between my legs, in my breasts, throughout my body.
He slid one knee between my thighs and I rubbed against it, my clit aching for his touch, my pussy wet and hungry for his girth.
“How long do we have?”
“Five minutes, if that.” But even as I spoke, I unzipped my jeans and shoved them down, turning to lean against the wall. Grieve slid one hand around to stroke my clit and the ache rumbled through my belly as he drove his cock inside of me, from behind, plunging between the slick folds of my cunt. I tried to keep quiet but couldn’t help let out a soft moan as he began to thrust—at first slow but then driving himself into me again and again, as he pounded deeper and deeper into my depths.
“You are mine, Cicely Waters. You’re mine, and no one will ever take you away from me. I’ll kill any man who touches you. And I’ll rip out Altos’s heart if he dares to hurt you.”
And right then, I knew he would. Grieve would let the dark side of the Indigo Court out to wreak havoc if Lannan tried to fuck me again.
But thoughts of Lannan and retribution vanished as Grieve stroked me into a frenzy. I bit down on the strap of my purse, longing to scream, longing to let loose and echo my hunger from the ceilings. But before I found my voice, before it became impossible to keep silent, I suddenly felt myself at the precipice, and as Grieve let out a long, slow groan—coming deep within me—I tumbled over the edge, my body jolting with the force of our orgasm.
Chapter 6
Rhiannon and Kaylin just grinned when we came out from the broom closet, and I realized everyone had heard us. There was no way to prevent our voices from echoing in such a large space. My father diplomatically avoided me, while the others immediately scrounged for something with which to busy themselves.
Kaylin motioned to the door. “We’d better get a move on.”
I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Grabbing my coat and my weapons, I followed him and Rhia outside, where Rex and Chatter were burying the bodies of the other day-runners under the snow and ice. There wasn’t much else they could do with them for now. Rex was holding an arm from the guy who’d managed to go boom, and Chatter was staring at the scattered remains, a quiet, pensive look on his face. He’d told me that he didn’t like to use his natural form—a pillar of fire—because of the fury that possessed him. Now I understood his reluctance. He’d been terrifying in his destruction.
“We’re taking my car, right?” Kaylin headed for the black Mercedes that he’d tricked out. I nodded, following, with Rhiannon behind me. I called shotgun while Rhiannon slid into the back behind me. As we edged out of the warehouse’s parking lot, I realized that even though we’d just been here a few days, this place had become a safe haven. I dreaded leaving it, because I had no clue what might be out there waiting for us.
As we turned onto the highway—the warehouse was right on the outskirts of New Forest—a fear flickered in my heart. What if we didn’t make it back? What if, when we returned, we found the town had vanished, like some magical Brigadoon, along with Grieve and my father and Luna and Peyton? They were my family, my clan, my tribe.
