Daric’s Mate (The Vampire Coalition #5)(15)
Author: J.S. Scott

Hannah’s head was spinning, and she closed her eyes as Daric gently untangled them and laid her on the bed. He joined her immediately, pulling her limp, sated body against his strength, covering them both with the sheet and quilt.

“I didn’t know it could ever be like that,” she murmured against his chest, her body still humming as she recovered her breath, waiting for the world that Daric had just rocked to settle back into place.

“Neither did I,” he answered in a husky, raw voice.

“But you must have had a lot of experience before…” Her voice trailed off, not really wanting to think about this extraordinary man with another woman.

“Never like that,” he shook his head, his expression intense. His arms tightened around her before he repeated, “Never anywhere near like that.”

Hannah snuggled against Daric’s strong chest, feeling sated and completely at peace in a way she had never known. If she had been lost previously, Daric had found her, surrounded her with a sense of belonging. “I was waiting for you. I just didn’t know it.” Even as the words left her mouth, she knew it was the truth.

“I’m glad you feel that way, love. Because you’re stuck with me. Forever,” he replied roughly, but his arms protected her, cradled her like she was someone precious.

Forever.

Hannah closed her eyes and smiled, deciding that as long as she had Daric, she could live with that.

Chapter 6

Hannah left Temple’s a week later with a wave to her employees and a broad smile on her face. It was nearly the dinner hour and she knew the little pizzeria would get busy shortly, but she had already done her paperwork and she felt comfortable leaving the place to her capable manager and employees. Taking a deep breath of the frigid air that greeted her as she walked out the door, she stopped to watch the sun setting, the massive fireball slowly sinking behind the enormous snow-covered peaks in the distance, allowing darkness to fall in a spectacular, cloudless sky.

Hugging herself tightly as she walked toward her new SUV, purchased by her mate for its elevated safety rating, Hannah’s thoughts drifted. Daric would wake soon, and she wanted to get home. He hated it when she went out while he was in day sleep, and his protective instincts grew worse with every day that passed. Usually, she waited until he woke, going to work in the evening. Sometimes he’d come with her, usually eating his way through the restaurant menu while she was doing paperwork. If he didn’t accompany her, it was because he had business to do with his healers, but he always showed up at some point in the evening, making sure she never left Temple’s by herself in the dark. His presence in the little eatery had chased away the shadows, breathing new life into Temple’s. Or maybe Daric was breathing new life into her, encouraging her to follow her instincts, supportive of anything she really wanted. Hannah went to the restaurant every day determined to keep her father’s memory alive by keeping Temple’s open, but she also wanted to make her own mark on the place, something she had been working on by changing some of the outdated décor and adding some new recipes to the menu.

The peace that Daric had surrounded her with a week ago remained, growing stronger every day she spent with him. Oh, not that life itself was actually peaceful living with a vampire prince. Her mate could be a royal pain in the ass when he didn’t get his way, most of his complaints revolving around her safety, her happiness. It made it hard for her to argue with him when his main concern in life seemed to be her happiness and well-being, even though he growled commands instead of really discussing issues when it came to safety. But even when he was surly and cantankerous, Hannah was happy, accepting her broody vampire prince exactly as he was, because he accepted her with all of her faults. All he seemed to want was her happiness. Like she could not be happy? She was nearly deliriously contented, and Hannah wanted Daric to feel the same joy she felt. It was impossible to put a finger on his feelings, but he was definitely fighting something internally, although he denied it. He was blocking some of his thoughts, and it bothered her, wondering what he was thinking that he couldn’t share or didn’t want her to know.

She halted at her SUV, pressing the button to open the doors of the vehicle. The lights blinked and the short beep sounded to deactivate the alarm, at the same time that what felt like sharp claws wrapped themselves around Hannah’s wrist, preventing her from getting into her vehicle. Hannah backed up in horror, her ass hitting the hood of her vehicle, as a mass of hideous creatures swarmed her, appearing one after the other. Despite her terror, she didn’t have to wonder what the ugly things surrounding her were or what they wanted – having seen a few of Daric’s darker memories, she already knew. Fallen . Vampires that had turned evil.

Hannah tried to break the hold on her wrist, but it only caused the claws digging into her arm to tighten, drawing blood. Despite her terror, thoughts of Daric popped into her mind.

I shouldn’t have waited to watch the sun set. I should have listened to Daric.

He had warned her, over and over, about the dangers she faced as the mate of a vampire prince. The fallen were preying on mates who hadn’t completed the mating process yet, and Daric had cautioned her about the creatures that might be able to sense her, even in a remote community like Temple, simply because she was the mate of a powerful prince.

I’m sorry, Daric. So sorry.

Hannah trembled as the horde grew larger, more aggressive, swarming around her until there were too many to count. With sunken, hairless faces and freakish red eyes, they were worse than anything she had ever imagined, even in her darkest nightmares.

Panicked, Hannah tried to close her thoughts. If these things were awake, then so was Daric. There had to be at least a hundred, maybe more, of the fallen. If rescuing her didn’t kill him, the backlash from killing so many just might. She had only seen the backlash in his memories, but she knew he had never killed this many fallen, and that the resulting backlash would be catastrophic. She’d die before she let these disgusting, ugly things take Daric to his death.

The beast holding her wrist moved closer, its fetid breath nearly causing her to retch. Kicking her legs up, she struck the fallen in the groin, twisting to get away, to somehow get out of its grasp. It didn’t falter, didn’t even seem to feel the pain, but it grabbed her shoulder with its other set of claws, slashing her flesh open.

Shit. These bastards are strong.

Male voices rang out in the night, some panicked and others forceful. Obviously, chaos had begun in the small town of Temple with the arrival of a large number of fallen.