Daric’s Mate (The Vampire Coalition #5)(12)
Author: J.S. Scott

“Don’t.” He speared her with a dark glance. “I already know. Why do you think we’re here? You’ve spent enough time in the shadows of another, never pleasing yourself. What does Hannah want?”

You. The word fluttered through her mind instinctively, automatically. “I didn’t really want to leave Temple. I wanted to stay here and learn how to run a business from my father. Vail and Olympic training were Mark’s dream. I was never happy there.” I was never happy with him. It had never truly been the location or her occupation. The problem had been her relationship with Mark.

“He never valued you. Never protected you or loved you. Why did you go if you didn’t want to?” Hannah’s ski equipment disappeared, and Daric moved closer, pinning her between his body and the trunk of a large tree, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Mark and I grew up together. We were childhood friends. I guess we just gradually became a couple. He was all I knew.” Even as she spoke, Hannah realized that even from a very young age, Mark had somehow convinced her that she needed him, and she had believed it. Somewhere along the line of their very long relationship, Hannah had lost herself. “He didn’t value me because I stopped valuing myself.” Tears flowed from her eyes, blurring Daric’s face. “All those years wasted. Time with my father that I can never get back again. I rarely even saw my dad because Mark didn’t like him.”

Daric wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly in his embrace as he grumbled, “I’ll kill the son of a bitch for you.”

Hannah didn’t doubt it for a moment, and she smiled through her tears as she buried her face against Daric’s warm chest, her heart leaping at his defense and outrage for her sake. “No. He’s not worth a moment of your pain. I made the choice and it was the wrong one.”

“You won’t think about him again.” Daric’s tone was demanding, as though issuing a royal declaration. “If thoughts of him distress you again, I’ll kill him.”

Daric’s body was fiery hot, even in the bitter cold atmosphere, and Hannah snuggled against him, her heart hammering. No man had ever treated her as though she were precious and cherished, but this man, a male she had only known for a day, treated her like she was everything to him. It was tempting, intoxicating.

“You’re my mate, Hannah. There is nothing or no one on this earth more important to me than you.” His voice was husky, and radiating with raw emotion.

“I thought you refused me.” The words struck Hannah straight in the heart.

“I can’t.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes clashing with hers in a volatile meeting. “My fate is in your hands, Hannah. I want you, therefore I can’t refuse you.”

She shivered as she held his gaze, feeling as if she were drowning in his heated eyes. His loneliness called to her, beckoned her closer with every second that passed. Her heart aching at the thought of leaving this strong, powerful man vulnerable, she whispered, “What do we do?”

“That will be for you to decide. I’m an Ancient. On my good days, I’m just an ass**le. On my bad days, I can be a vampire healer’s worst nightmare,” he replied, his voice as menacing as the scowl on his face.

Hannah knew Daric was arrogant, demanding and probably occasionally harsh, but she couldn’t manage to connect the man she getting to know with his own description. Daric was just…Daric. And there was so much emotion beneath his gruff exterior. He wasn’t a man she feared. He was her protector, her champion, the first man who had ever considered her feelings. And Hannah was fairly certain that even without the mating instinct, she would still think him the hottest man, or vampire, to walk the planet. She had always believed that sex was highly overrated, over in minutes and not particularly exciting. Now, she wasn’t quite certain she was correct in that assumption.

Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Will I get the ass**le, or will you be my nightmare?” She needed to get her mind off the erotic thoughts that were starting to swamp her brain.

He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Depends on how difficult you decide to be.”

“I won’t follow your every command.” Never again would she walk in a man’s shadow.

“That isn’t what I want. I want you to do whatever makes you happy. But know this…I will be protective, high-handed and I will try to keep you from harm by every means available to me. This is a supposed to be a lull period of mating for me, a time to court you. But my need grows stronger every second, and eventually I will have a difficult time trying to control it. I already consider you mine. I’m just trying to wait for you to make the same decision.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’re getting cold. Let’s go home.”

After that speech, Hannah was far from cold. The thought of Daric wanting her so desperately soaked her panties and stole her breath from her lungs. She closed her eyes as he held her tightly against him.

Dizzy from the transport, she opened her eyes to find herself in Daric’s kitchen. “I thought you’d take me home.”

“You are home,” he answered in a low, dangerous voice.

“I meant my home.” Exasperated, she stepped away from him and planted her hands on her hips.

“You aren’t going back there until you can do so without feeling sad.” He shot her a seriously cranky look.

“And you’ll decide when that might be?” she retorted.

“I’ll know. I can read your emotions and your thoughts.”

It wasn’t as if Hannah hadn’t already known that Daric was in her head, but the significance of it hit her suddenly, wondering what exactly he really could see. “Can you see my past memories, intimate memories?” she asked, wondering if he could see her less than wonderful sexual experiences with Mark.

“You won’t think about him anymore,” Daric replied, moving forward to wrap his steely arms around her waist. “I don’t see those memories. I can’t. They are filtered beyond my reach to keep me from going crazy from seeing my mate with another male. I only see them if you visualize them in your current thoughts.”

Yeah. Like that was something she actually wanted to remember? “Not much likelihood of that happening,” she muttered, her arms curling around Daric’s neck, longing flooding her entire body as Daric dissolved her outerwear, leaving her clothed in only a t-shirt and jeans. “Crap, I’m back in a thong again,” she cursed loudly, annoyed by the thin strip between the cheeks of her ass. “Why do you do that if you can’t even look?”