After Dawn, What Came Next

Christian struggled beneath Cat. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. The pierce of her fangs drove through the very heart of him. He didn’t understand what was happening. He only understood the pain and blood. That some very human part of him was dying. Pleasure unlike anything he had ever felt replaced pain and he stilled in her grasp, extending his neck and practically begging her for more. How could something so bad feel so very good?

She bit her wrist and pressed the wound to his lips. Christian drank deeply and took her essence, her very soul into his body to replace the missing portion he had given her. There was the burn and the sting, and the melding of two hearts beating as one and the surge of her power fusing them together.

Cat held Christian after it was done. She sensed his confusion as if it were her own. “You can’t hurt me, Christian. Not without hurting yourself. You can’t betray us without betraying yourself.”

Christian shuddered in Cat’s arms. The fingers stroking through his hair were gentle. Her voice was filled with compassion and understanding. “There are so many voices in my head.”

“Yes, and they are all one and now you are one with them. There is no going back, Christian. Not for me and not for you. Not ever.”

“Why? Cat, why did you do this to me?”

“It’s the price I choose to pay to protect those I love.”













Chapter 49

Sebastian was a watcher, patiently watching for the right opportunity to finally present itself. He had been watching the events taking place unfold before his very eyes for decades. What he was watching for took time and no small amount of effort to gently nudge along. His life had been taken from him too soon and being what he had become what choice had the bastard who had done such a thing to him left him with? He had been forced to bring Starr across or leave her behind. The both of them were too young for the burden placed on their shoulders. It had taken time to work their way into the fold. First gaining the brotherhood’s trust and then, the trust of the Guardians. Decades of carefully working behind the scenes to maneuver everything in to the proper position were about to pay off.

He wasn’t selfish. He would share the gift with those who wanted it. Gratis and free of charge. Humanity might think they had the edge with their breeding and claim on the light of day. But, they were wrong. It was possible for his wife to gain what she had lost. He had promised to give her the stars and the moon and he was about to deliver them into her hands.

Cat was unprotected. Sebastian had thought getting to her would take nothing short of a miracle. But, here she was on his doorstep and his for the taking. He had no plans to kill her. Who would wish to destroy such a precious gift as life? No, he only wanted the magic she carried within her veins. He wanted what she had. He wanted back what had been taken so long ago. After so many decades of darkness he was about to walk in the light.

The boy was his means to an end, just as his father had been before him. Sebastian had given Christian just enough to lead him here. Just enough to ensnare him in a trap from which there was no escape. Humans didn’t really appreciate what they had. The fullness of their immortality was lost on them. Immortality wasn’t the sum of one very long lifetime but the grander sum of generation after generation after generation.

Cat had her band of followers, but the boy would serve that purpose just as well. Christian would be the water frozen in the rock that burst it apart. The Brat Pack loved each other too much. They cared too deeply. And that was a dangerous thing for an immortal.

Sebastian served as Carter’s second, a position of great trust and one that held the keys to the kingdom. He had access to anyone and anywhere. He knew Carter’s deepest secrets. Where the man lived and breathed and exactly what type of distraction it would take to throw Carter into a tailspin. Carter’s loyalties were divided. He was a man that served two masters, his guilt and his regret. Duty held him to the Guardians. But, love held him to a woman he could not hope to possess. He needed Carter distracted and out of the way in order to finish carrying out his plan.

Sebastian was not a maniac. He did not wish to rule the world as Kore and Kiros had nor did he wish to hold a vampire’s deepest desire over his head as Eric had. No, his vision was a simpler one. Vampires needed to mainstream, to be part of the society that for centuries had shunned them, burned them at the stake, and had not one inkling of knowledge that they existed at all.

The hand that rocked the cradle ruled the world. And his wife’s hand was going to rock the cradle. Through her not only would he have his immortality, but infiltrate the human world and eventually breed them out. Sebastian saw the end coming. Technology was going to be the flame set to the wood that burned them at the stake. Soon, very soon, there would be no corner left of the world unturned. No rocks to hide under and no place safe for them to go. There was only one way to avoid that, to make more of his kind. But, peopling the world with vampires…impossible. They would suck humanity dry and be left to starve. This, through the children they would bear and the children’s children that would follow was the only way.

Cat was the key. Her half-breed blood would flow through his veins and return to him what had been lost. The Great Father did not share his vision. He guarded Cat like the precious commodity she was. He knew if the truth of her got out there would be no hiding her. The rogues would hunt her to the ends of the earth for nothing more than the promise of the magic that flowed through her veins.

It would take time. Centuries to breed the last of the humans out of existence and create a new race of people. Toward the end the small pockets of humanity left would have to be hunted down to extinction. Homo Sapiens would be no more. They would evolve into something better, something perfect, something beyond vampire, beyond wolf, and beyond mortal man.

Tom backed away from the door. He feigned a casualness he didn’t feel. Everyone knew what was going on in the room. Cat had taken from and fed Christian her blood, but only the two of them knew why she had done it. Cole and David were practically beating down the door. Tom didn’t think he’d get lucky enough that one of the two men would actually kill Christian, but it never hurt to hope. Tom didn’t know why the vampires were bothering to barge in on Cat and Christian now, when the damage had already been done.

The door flung wide open and he was just able to catch a glimpse of Cat crouched in the floor, cradling Christian in her arms. She cowered over him protectively, flashing her fangs in warning. Willing to fight the men sworn to protect her, because of him. Tom was on Cole’s heels, prying Cat’s grip free from Christian and getting his ass kicked for the trouble of lending a hand.

“Who is helping you?” David growled. He snatched Christian by the collar and hauled him to his feet for a meaningful face to face get to know one another session. Christian was so dazed from the after effects of Cat’s blood and the roaring of the brotherhood’s collective voice in his head he didn’t put up a struggle. No, Cat was content to do that for him. Scrabbling to get around Cole and Tom to get to him, scratching and clawing, and doing a damn good job of it despite their efforts to hold her back.

“Stop! You’re hurting him!” Cat wailed. Christian hung from David’s grip like a limp dishrag. He wasn’t capable of defending himself, not against an outraged vampire. Tom dug a shoulder into her midsection, hefting her off the floor and wrapping his arms around her thighs to keep his hold. Cole grappled with her wrists to prevent her from doing serious damage to anybody. David shook Christian as if he could rattle the truth out of him. Her wolf was dangerously close to the surface. Indoors her wolf could do serious damage. Confined and restrained by four walls her wolf was capable of reaping inconceivable havoc. She grappled to maintain control. “He doesn’t know anything!”

Christian ineffectively batted at the pair of hands holding him suspended off the floor. The owner of the hands should listen to Cat. Whatever research he had done. He had acted alone. He had no help. No one spoon feeding him the truth. He had simply followed the trail of breadcrumbs left behind by the past and it had led him here.

Cole wisely backed off. He could smell the tinge of wolf musk in the air and that was not a good thing. Cat was dangerously close to losing control of her wolf and the rest of the Brat Pack along with her. “Cat, this was an inside job. Do you really think Christian was capable of finding out everything he has learned by himself?”

“Why not?” Cat asked defiantly.

Tom grunted and shook off the sting of Cat’s fists landing in the small of his back. Cat simply didn’t get it. She was so enamored by her fantasy world she could not even begin to comprehend the real world. In the real world people lied and practiced deceit to get what they wanted. In her idealistic universe there were no untruths, no ulterior motives, and no deceit. But, her world simply wasn’t the truth. She wanted so desperately to see herself as ordinary she could not see how extraordinary she truly was. The value of the true gift flowing through her veins was lost on her. “Cat, it makes sense. Someone is using him to get to you.”

“Why?”

Tom rested a sympathetic arm around Cat’s shoulders and drew her into a hug. “Because you are what you are, Cat.”

“I don’t want to be what I am.” Cat shook off Tom’s sympathetic embrace and eyed Christian. Christian genuinely believed he had acted on his own. The brothers were so careful to cover their tracks. Sometimes, the truth leaked out, but it was quickly contained. Christian said he had been tracking vampires for years and his reasons behind it made sense. It had never dawned on her that one of her own kind would want them to be discovered or why.

She did not think often on her value or her place in the bigger picture. She was daughter of the Great Father and of an alpha queen. Even if she had not a drop of ‘special’ blood in her body, her parentage alone made her a target. There was a reason she was always under guard and a purpose behind all her years of training for war and defense.

Tom reached out to brush a tear off her cheek. Cat batted his hand away. She didn’t need his sympathy or his pity. She didn’t want his loyalty or his friendship because of what she was. She wanted what she deserved. The chance to be ordinary and nothing of any particular significance, just like everybody else. “I know you don’t. I know.”

Chapter 50

Fallon felt a little better about things after a long heart to heart with her mom. Her mom always had a way of putting things into their proper perspective. And usually, she was right. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that deep. Fallon had exchanged the boots and knit sweater for comfy clothes and was trying to lose herself in a good book.

Her mom hadn’t mentioned Daniel and she hadn’t brought up Catcher either. They had talked about more mundane things than boys and relationships. Simply enjoying a little girl time to talk about life as a whole. Fallon was an adult, but she knew it was just a matter of time before she had to face her father. Torr was a bit more old fashioned and a lot less liberated on his opinions of a woman’s place. He would probably beat the pulp out of Daniel and she was almost inclined to let him. Almost.

Her body was a live wire of sensation and new awakenings. There were so many things she wanted out of life and she had gotten just a taste of them. She was thirty-seven. If she was going to actually hold that brass ring in her hand, she needed to be climbing back on the merry go round for a crack at it. The outcome was that she admitted, thanks to a little gentle prodding from her mom, that Daniel and she were going to have to talk.

Fallon’s feelings for Daniel had been the byproduct of a little girl’s devotion. She had been in love with him for twenty-five years, but was she truly in love with him or just the idea of him? Her mom had wisely thrown out the question and left her to figure it out for herself.

Fallon had no regrets about last night. After hearing the horror stories that had abounded the dorm rooms in college. She actually considered herself pretty lucky. Daniel had been careful with her and thorough, very, very thorough. He had left her limp bodied and utterly and quite happily sated. He took care of her before taking care of himself and then afterwards, took care of the both of them, sending them bodily joined sailing above the clouds. It wasn’t exactly the moonlight and roses moment she had always envisioned. Daniel couldn’t do moonlight and roses if his life depended on it. She hadn’t expected romance anyway. But, all in all it had been good, very, very damn good.

Just the thought of it… of sex in general, had her toes curling in her fuzzy socks. Would it be the same with another man? Daniel couldn’t be the only man capable of making her feel the way she had felt last night. It just wasn’t possible from a physiological standpoint. Sex was a matter of biology. Insert tab A into slot B and voila you got the big O. Right? Well, she knew that wasn’t necessarily true. Given the lamentations of her female counterparts. Boy plus girl didn’t always equal good sex.

Maybe, it was more her than Daniel that had caused the explosion. Maybe, it was her mind and the magic of the moment that had driven her body to such incredible heights. After all, she had had twenty-five years to concoct the perfect scenario and as ripe as her body had been for the picking. Daniel probably hadn’t had to work that hard at getting her there at all. Damn it. She was curious. Would it take that much to seduce Daniel between her sheets just so that she could have a second round to compare the first to? Was that even fair of her to be thinking like that?

Daniel had sacrificed something of himself to be with her. She knew that. Last night she had lost her innocence and gained something in the process. As much as she had given Daniel a piece of herself, he also had given her a piece of himself. They had shared something special and magnificent. And if they ended up with nothing else at least they had that.

Fallon’s bodily response to Catcher left her confused and more than a little bit doubtful about the depth of her feelings for Daniel. If she truly were in love, would she have felt the sudden flare of Catcher’s heat? Catcher was an amazingly good-looking man. Certainly more than capable of making any female weak in the knees with nothing more than just a glance in her direction. Catcher was wild and to a certain degree uncivilized and much more honest in his intentions than Daniel could ever hope to be.

Catcher didn’t pretend. He didn’t play games. He was who he was and made no apology for it. Fallon could appreciate that kind of honesty in a man. It was so much easier to know exactly where she stood than to be constantly second-guessing herself and his motives, as she did with Daniel.

Rumor was that Catcher had shown up to find a mate. Fallon imagined the nights in Texas did get pretty cold and lonely. At least, Catcher’s goal was the same as hers. She was ready to become a wife and hopefully a mother. Daniel hadn’t come back for her and she would do well to remember that. She was secondary in his thoughts. He had returned for his family and while she was an extension of it, she wasn’t the real reason he was here.

Last night had been a fluke. Like when you accidentally ended up with the piece of cake with the icing roses after all the other pieces had been dolled out. It was just your lucky day and that one slice was the sweetest out of the entire cake.

Daniel still wanted to kick Catcher’s ass. Who in the hell did he think he was scamming on Fallon like that. And exactly who in the hell did she think she was to gravitate toward him like last night hadn’t happened in the first place? Daniel wondered if Fallon had used him? Ha! Of course she had. Well, that was ok. It was a hell of a way to be used. Who in the fuck did he think he was? He had used her too. In that, they were even.

He walked through the woods trying to cool off and put aside the notion of something so primitive as fighting it out over a woman. Catcher could have her. Daniel hadn’t promised her a thing beyond pleasure and he had already given her that. Fallon was ready to move on with her life and it was about damn time she did. It was bad enough that he was stuck in suspended animation. She didn’t need to be there too. She had needed what they had done together. Maybe, so that she could finally get over him and move forward with her life. Truth of it was that if one night was what she needed to press forward. He was glad to have been used.

He hadn’t appreciated being manhandled by her father. He got it. Even though Fallon was a grown woman. She was still daddy’s little girl. Torr had never been one for bullshit. He knew a bad bet when he saw one. And Daniel was the first to admit he was definitely the wrong horse to bet on.

Daniel hadn’t expected last night to happen in the first place. Hell, he really didn’t know what he had expected, but it certainly wasn’t to find a temporary refuge in Fallon’s embrace. For a few brief moments he had felt whole again and at peace, lost in a world of pleasure and completion. He had taken his time savoring every inch of her. He had meant for it to be good for her, but it had been so much better for him. Better than he had intended or ever deserved.

Fallon deserved the best and he was not the best. Catcher had needed Texas to give himself some sort of purpose. Daniel had run to Texas to escape himself. Whatever purpose he had managed to find had been secondary.

Yessette was still with him and probably always would be. What he had done with Fallon wasn’t fair to either woman. He had tarnished Yessette’s memory and stolen Fallon’s innocence. The tables were now turned. Yessette had stolen his innocence and he had willingly given it with the same unparalleled enthusiasm in which Fallon had given him hers. Yessette had cared for him and he had loved her. He cared for Fallon and she loved him, or at least she had, up until last night.

The morning after was a bitch. Daniel hadn’t really been brave enough to go up stairs and demand that they talk it out. Eventually, they were going to have to. He needed to know that last night, other than the obvious damage they had inflicted on each other, hadn’t resulted in something more permanent. The thought he might accidentally be a father had him swallowing a hard lump in his throat. At the time, he hadn’t thought to take any precautions. He hoped like hell Fallon was more responsible than he had been and that she had done so.

He was trying to rebuild the broken relationships from his past. Working things out with his brother and sister and his dad. An apology for all the things he had done in the past would never be enough. Daniel didn’t want to admit it, but he was making a fair mess out of his present to further compound his errors. He owed Fallon much more than a simple ‘I’m sorry’ for what he had done to her, both in her past and in the here and now. He had no right to make demands of her. No right to his caveman urges to pound Catcher into the ground. But, there it was, both the long and the short of it. He didn’t love her. But, he needed her on a level that went beyond his capability to define.

He wasn’t ready to face Fallon yet. He wondered if he ever would be. Daniel had been honest. Promised her not one damn thing beyond last night. A woman like Fallon would appreciate that. She valued truth and honesty above the notion of a romance that didn’t exist between the two of them. He was damaged and he couldn’t give her something he no longer had. He had lost his heart to a golden haired angel long ago and all he had left of her was his regret over all the things he had done and could not undo.