The Wraith's Mate [Paranormal Protection Unit 9] (Siren Publishing Allure) Read online

  “Nope. That’s it,” Dahlia said and then, “Oh wait!” She had almost forgotten. With a crooked grin she said, “I also can fight off lecherous old bosses with a talent that no one else could ever have. I’m a professional like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Laughing at that, he shook his head. “Well that will definitely look good on the resume,” he teased, hugging her to him. Resting his cheek to her hair, he breathed her in. “What is your profession?” he asked curiously. He knew where they’d found her, but it was an office like all the others in the building and he’d been more concerned with the patients than with the credentials on the doors.

  “I’m an executive assistant, and it looks like I will have to put out my resume. I think that even if the building weren’t in crumbles I would still need to get the resume ready because I’m sure that I would have been fired had the building not been caved in around us.”

  “Well, if you need any help on the job front let me know,” he said softly. “I have several connections that would love to have someone that’s dedicated and not willing to put up with crap. I think several would likely fight tooth and nail to get their paws on someone as great as you.”

  “I appreciate that, but I would hate for you to go out of your way for me like that.” It would be weird, him finding her a job, especially if they didn’t work out. “For now how about you and I just work on us being together and trying to see if we can work out?”

  “That was a little weird, wasn’t it, me offering to give you some names and numbers to call, right?” he asked softly. Her body language said it had bothered her slightly. “I didn’t mean anything by it, honestly, just figured I’d help if I could. Hell, I don’t even know if you’d want to work with any of them but…” He sighed. “Sorry,” Davyn breathed out, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

  “I think it was really sweet,” Dahlia told him with a smile. “And I tell you what.” She toyed with his fingers as she spoke. “After I’m out of here, after my parents are back home and we have dated for a little time, I will take those names. If and only if I haven’t found a job by then, sound okay?”

  “Deal,” he agreed softly with her, pressing another kiss to her fingers. “But I have a feeling someone will snatch you up right quick.” Davyn had a feeling about her. She was a hot commodity for someone looking for an assistant with integrity. “I just hope you don’t get another lecherous asshole like your last boss.”

  “Oh trust me, I’ve learned what to look for,” she muttered. “I knew better when I took the job. I even told myself not to take it, but he was paying so well and it was in a place where I could see myself moving up, but I should have listened to myself.” At his look she flushed. “When he did the interview he kept staring at my boobs instead of my eyes.”

  “Well that would have been a good clue he had other things in mind,” he told her. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he breathed her in. “And you should always listen to your gut, Dahlia. It’s a good little way to register what is going on around you. It may not be exactly bang on every time, but it will guide you, and if it says something’s hinky, something likely is.”

  “Right now my gut is telling me that I should stick close to you,” she blurted out before she could even think of her words, the obviousness of that in the flush that stole over her cheeks. “And yeah, I should have listened to my gut. I really should have, but I didn’t, unfortunately.”

  “Well at least you know now for the future to always listen to it,” he pointed out. Stroking his thumb over her hand gently, Davyn smiled. “I’m glad your gut likes me. I definitely am liking it and the rest of you, sweetheart.”

  “That’s very good.” Dahlia winked at him. “All of me likes you, Davyn. I think even my parents liked you, and they don’t like a great deal of people. Momma and Daddy are very reclusive. I know how silly that sounds, but there it is. They seem to think that the world is coming to an end and have, well, you don’t wanna hear all that,” she said with a snort of laughter. Her parents had stockpiled all kinds of goods, including millions of dollars in gold and even more in gemstones.

  “I like them, too,” he admitted. He tried to distance himself from people, but between Dahlia and her parents, he just couldn’t. “They love and adore you, which makes them even better in my book.” He grinned at her.

  “Yes, that they do,” she admitted. “They are very good to me. I’m an only child, so that makes it even more so,” she teased with the shake of her head. “But they love me. A great deal, and for that I’m grateful. I’m happy that they are my parents.”

  “They are definitely good parents,” he said softly to her. “I should know. I had two of the very best out there. They did everything for me they could and loved me with all their hearts. I knew every single day that they loved me, even when I was being an absolute terror and pest. I just wish they’d been there when I graduated med school.” His father would have been so proud, his mother bawling the entire time.

  “Oh, honey.” She reached up and touched her hand to his cheek. “Your parents are gone?” The look he gave her was enough to tell her that they were. “I’m so sorry. It’s never a good thing to lose your parents. I hope and pray that I don’t lose mine for like fifty years, at a minimum.”

  “They died when I was a teenager, but it feels like forever ago I lost them.” Both absolute truths. “My mother was an emotional woman but wouldn’t take crap from anyone. My father was a quiet man but he wasn’t a pushover in the least, just comfortable in his own skin and happy with his life.”

  “They sound like amazing people,” Dahlia murmured as she reached up and touched Davyn’s face with her fingertips. “But they had to have been since they had you. I think that you are pretty amazing people, too, Davyn.”

  “Right back at you, sweetheart,” he said with a smile. He hated talking about his parents, but he was glad she wasn’t pressing either. He’d been free to offer what he wanted and no more. While it had been too many years to contemplate since they’d died, it still hurt like the day he’d watch them taken down in that field.

  Dahlia smiled and touched her fingertips to his lips. “I’m sorry I made you sad, but thank you for telling me a little about them. When you want to talk about them, want to allow some of the hurt to go free, I’m here to listen.” She understood holding everything in. Sadly she understood that far too well.

  “Thank you,” he breathed out and lightly kissed her fingertips. Resting his cheek to hers, he closed his eyes. “It’s still too raw, and some days I even forget for a short time that they aren’t here anymore and go to tell them something only to remember, and it brings it all up.” Between those moments of forgetfulness and the nightmares, he was ever assaulted by the pain.

  “Then how about you just come back to the right now with me?” Dahlia whispered and leaned in closer to him. “That way you don’t have to think of them with sadness, only joy and happiness. Focus on the happy times?” She had never lost anyone, so she knew the words likely sounded odd coming from her, but she had to think that if, God forbid, she lost someone close to her, she would be told the same things.

  Hugging her closer to him, he kissed her cheek lightly and breathed her in. Rubbing his skin carefully over her much-softer flesh, Davyn forced the nightmares back into the box. “We should really talk about something else for awhile I think,” he requested softly. If they didn’t find something else to chat about he’d likely curl up into a ball and start crying.

  “Well then we could talk about the weather, but I have no idea what kind of weather there is outside, so instead why don’t we talk about the first date we will have when I get out of here? Keeping in mind that the ’rents will be around for the first date.”

  “Well, we could go to this little Italian place I know. It’s pretty good. We can sit on the terrace and enjoy the view as we eat. Then, depending on how late we sit there eating, we can head over to a cafe for a bit of dessert and a coffee or whatever,” he suggested, trying to come up with s
omething to involve her folks in.

  “That sounds like a great, wonderful idea, darling.” She couldn’t help but smile as she added, “I tossed you for a loop, didn’t I? Asking you to involve my parents in all of this.” And it made her all kinds of happy, too. She wanted a man that would recognize the goodness of her mom and dad as well as herself.

  “A little. I did have to scramble there for a moment to replan it.” He grinned slightly. “But that’s all right. I’m a doctor. I was trained to think on my feet and fast. It’s a little different situation but the same basic principles.” Checking the time, he whistled low. “Wow, it’s nearly two in the morning.” Odd that the nurses hadn’t been in to check on her.

  Dahlia winced and looked at the clock. “Oh crap.” She then turned to Davyn. “I’m so sorry. I’ve totally monopolized your time. I honestly hadn’t meant to,” she whispered. “I’m sorry,” she told him quietly. “You should go, Davyn, get some rest.”

  “I probably should,” he agreed, though he was seriously reluctant to leave. Sighing, he gave her a gentle hug. “You going to be okay?” he asked her softly. He had work tomorrow and likely wouldn’t be able to get back to see her until late in the evening.

  Dahlia nodded and watched him. “I will be fine. I’m sure that a nice nurse will come in and give me something to make me sleep, and then mom and dad will be back sometime tomorrow morning. Hopefully by then I will be able to get out of here.” If only. “Should I give you my address and phone number, just in case?”

  “Probably would be a good idea,” he said, digging out his phone. Unlocking it, he handed it over once he had it into the contacts. “Throw everything in there if you would please.” Davyn grinned at her. He’d have to snap a picture of her at some point, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it if he did it while she was in a hospital gown.

  Dahlia put all of her contact information into his phone, filling up practically every single line that was available to her with her phone number, address, email, and because she could she even added her birthday in there for grins. “I’m giving you my parents’ numbers as well in the ‘other information’ field.” She knew she was weird, but she didn’t want to miss a chance at seeing this man again.

  Shaking his head, he blinked. “Wow, I don’t think any of my other contacts have even a third of this amount of information. I’m seriously impressed, even more that you can remember all that in this day and age of technological leaps and bounds.” Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he breathed her in. “Get some rest, all right? I will call in tomorrow and see if you’re still here and come visit. Otherwise I will call you and see you got home safe and sound.”

  “I look forward to seeing you again, Davyn,” Dahlia told him with a smile. “Now go. Go and get some sleep so that you can save some other girl’s life and have her gushing all over you like I was,” she teased with a wink. “But the pizza trick is special to just me, deal?”

  “The pizza trick is only and forever yours,” he promised. Sitting up, he cupped her cheek and kissed her lips lightly. “Get some sleep, little darling,” he whispered softly. “I will talk to you later today and we will decide when next we will meet up.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Dahlia looked up at Davyn and smiled. “Take care of yourself, Dr. D. We will talk soon and figure out the whole double-date thing with my parents.” She looked forward to it actually. “As you pass the nurse, will you ask her if she can bring me something for sleep?” Otherwise she would remain awake indefinitely.

  “Absolutely, darling.” He smiled at her. Adjusting her blankets, he tucked them around her and brushed her hair back lightly. “I will talk to you tomorrow at some point. Enjoy your day with your parents, all right?” Dropping a kiss on the end of her nose, Davyn headed out of the room before he begged to stay, which would be very unmanly. Stopping at the nurses’ station, he let them know she was looking for something to help her get to sleep and then left to get his own ass home to bed.

  Chapter Five

  Leaning against Davyn, Dahlia waved once more. She knew that it was silly, but she couldn’t help herself. She watched as her parents’ plane taxied to the runway and continued to wave as it lifted up and into the air. Finally when she couldn’t see them any longer, she sighed and turned in the arms of the man that she had honestly come to care a great deal about, if not love, over the last several days. “Well. Now that Mom and Dad are on their way home, what do you think we should do now?”

  Snorting, he gave her a squeeze. “Probably not a question you really want an answer to,” he said against her hair. Pressing a kiss to her head, he smiled. “But I think for now we should go and get something to drink and eat. After that we can do anything you want to, darling mine.”

  “I think that sounds like the best—” She heard it and then felt it. The entire ground shook, and when Davyn took her to the ground and covered her with his body, she knew something seriously wrong had happened. Struggling free, she looked over his shoulder and cried out, screaming as realization hit her. “No!” It was a scream that was torn from her heart as tears began to pour from her eyes. “Momma, Daddy, no!” she sobbed.

  Jerking his head around, Davyn stared at the plane that was a falling ball of fire. Holy mother of the Gods! Sitting up slowly, he pulled her into his lap and cradled her as she wept inconsolably. “Shh,” he murmured rocking her back and forth. Damn it, he didn’t know how to console her, not with something like this.

  Dahlia clung to Davyn, her heart broken into a million pieces from the sight in the skies and on the ground. She sobbed even as the chaos around them broke into madness and screams. Pressing her face against Davyn’s chest, she sobbed, her heart broken as she realized her parents, the people that she had always leaned on and were always there for her, were gone.

  Rocking her gently, he stroked her hair as he stared around at the mass hysteria and chaos. He could feel his other side reaching out for all the souls in anguish, the need for retribution spurring on the Wraith. It was always hard to fight his other side in situations of mass destruction with survivors around. It usually didn’t bode well for anyone. But, for some reason, the Wraith, while taking note, wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to break out and do some damage to those responsible.

  It was unreal. It couldn’t be right. Really it couldn’t be right. There was no way that this had just happened, no way at all. Turning more into him, Dahlia let her sadness and fear bleed out and into him. She sobbed, pain a living and breathing thing inside of her as she did so.

  Tucking her in closer as he settled down to sit, he held her close, unwilling to let her loose even if he wanted to. Taking a deep breath, he rested his cheek to her hair and hummed softly. It was something his mother had sung to him, but the words just weren’t there, so he went with the harmony of it, hoping it would soothe her at least a little. He knew there was nothing he could do, nothing he could say to help her through the devastation she was feeling. Stroking her back, he breathed her in and kept rocking back and forth.

  Chapter Six

  Dahlia stood on the hillside with a fifth of Jack Daniels in her hand, another full bottle at her feet. Lifting it to the moon again, she said, “And just when you give me a glimpse of happiness you take it all away by taking the two people who meant the most to me.” She took a big drink. “I fell in love with a man and lost my parents. Karma, you truly fucking suck, you goddamn bitch,” she muttered with another drink of the booze burning its way down her throat.

  Sitting down hard on her ass, she looked up at the moon, not even noticing the chill in the air, and simply worked to drink her sadness away. Davyn had stood at her side every second of the way. He had been her rock, and she didn’t know what happened, but three days ago he left her as well. He simply called her up and told her that he didn’t think it would be wise to see her again. “Wise.” She snorted. “Fucking asshole just freaked because I told him I loved him.” She had. Davyn had been there with her as she went through everything with the
crash, realizing that there was no way to “claim” a body. He had stood by her side, and one night she had looked up and told him she loved him, and that was when he paled and told her he didn’t think they should see each other again.

  Her heart was broken, stunningly, absolutely broken. She could barely breathe, and thus why she was there on the hillside of her family home with a fifth of Jack Daniels in hand, and another one at the ready. Yep, she was destined to die a virgin. Go her!

  The silly woman was drinking herself into a stupor or brain damage given the amount of alcohol in her possession. He shouldn’t be there, but ever since he’d woken that morning he’d had an odd tugging sensation in his gut. Calling in to work for a personal day, he’d let his gut lead him to where it wanted to go. Apparently right back to Dahlia, fucking perfect.

  Sighing, he watched as she yelled at the new moon, well, the barest hint of the moon shadow that indicated a new moon coming to be. He should probably get her home. In her current state of mind Gods only knew what insanity she’d try next. She’d be pissed to see him, of that he was absolutely sure, especially since he hadn’t ended things all that well with her. Not that there’d been a good way to end anything with her.

  Walking up the hillside, he let out another breath. Dahlia was one in a million. The perfect woman, at least in his eyes, and hell, even his Wraith liked her, which said a lot given how temperamental the asshole normally was. He’d hurt her. He knew that, accepted it, and hated himself every minute of every day for it. But he couldn’t have helped it. It had to be done.

  Stopping behind her, he took her in, the sensation in his gut still and the Wraith actually calming right down until there was nothing but a soft hum going through him. Clearing his throat, Davyn watched as she looked one way, the other, and then spun around to peer up at him. Sort of. Her eyes kept dilating and glazing over, but he had a feeling he was about to get his ass handed to him, verbally at least. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough of that?” he asked, snatching the bottle from her.