Golden Anidae (A Blushing Death Novel) (22 page)

Patrick turned sorrow-filled eyes up to me, his knuckles white from clutching the paper with desperate fingers. I’d hurt him. Meeting his dark eyes, my vision blurred as silent tears streamed down my face. I felt him there in my gut where he belonged, twisting my stomach in agony. As much as I blamed myself for everything, Patrick blamed himself for more, for not shielding me from the world and all the bad that came with it. Just as I’d felt that I’d let Amblan down, Patrick felt as if he’d failed me. Churning in the pit of my stomach and making my heart race was his regret and his guilt.

“I let all the pain fester and ended up hating myself for what I thought I’d become,” he continued reading, stumbling over my words. “I blamed myself for their deaths and I blamed you for making me what I’d turned into. I didn’t know how to tell you without breaking your heart.”

Patrick threw the letter to the floor, storming over to the window where the outside world seemed so far away. Dean and I both watched him as tension filled the room, making the air static. I was afraid to move, afraid of hurting him more.

Dean reached down and picked up the crumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it out with tender, light fingers as if the paper would shatter from rough handling. Dean began to read where Patrick left off.

“I also knew how much my relationship with Danny hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you. Never wanted to hurt you like that again. I couldn’t face the truth or tell you that I’d fallen in love with Dean.” Dean’s rich baritone hitched as his eyes met mine in their clear olive tranquility. Clearing his throat, he continued reading. “I was wrong. I should have talked to you. I know that now but it’s too late for
should have’s
or
would have’s
. I should have confided in you and at least tried to explain. While I was gone, though, I discovered something. I am many things and always have been, including a killer. You didn’t make me that. You didn’t make me anything but happy. I forgot that people need me, not just humans. That’s where I’m going now, to help people who need me to protect them.”

A twinge of pride filled Dean’s voice as he read. Patrick’s still form rippled with strain as he stood at the hotel room window, watching the traffic below. His shoulders were a stiff line of anger and determination. The muscles along his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth and the skin around his wrist was colorless from the grip his hand had on it behind his back.

I wanted to walk over there and wrap my arms around him, reassure him that I was finally home, safe. I wanted him to know that everything would be good from now on. But I knew in my bones we needed to finish this. Patrick needed to hear and understand how big my fuck-up was and how sorry I was. I needed to make sure I said it to him . . . to them both.

“I’m just sorry that I couldn’t protect you from me,” Dean began again. “I hurt you and I’m so, so sorry. I’m going off to face Marabelle tonight and her servant Cordero Salazan in Las Vegas. If you’re reading this, then Everett made it to you. I’ve asked Dean to take him into the pack. He needs protecting. I ask only one thing of you. Even if it’s just my body, bring me home. I love you more than you know. I never stopped loving you and no matter what happens to me, I will always love you. Yours Always and Forever, Dahlia,” Dean finished in a whisper.

“You really thought you were going to die?” Dean asked in a hushed voice, his olive-green eyes flooding a cool Caribbean blue.

“I almost did.” Tears burned behind my eyes and my breath hitched in my throat. Patrick’s pain stabbed me in my gut like an ice pick as he listened. My own panic brought bile to the back of my throat. “They used a car battery on me,” I whispered. I didn’t recognize the sound of my own voice. It was over. Cordero Salazan and Marabelle couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

Patrick turned. His dark gaze was strained, intense as his eyes bore into me. As if trying to read my mind, he focused on me with purpose. Patrick and I had never talked about that part of my life. I suspected he’d seen my torture in the memories we’d shared that first night in the limo though. He never asked questions about my youth or about my parents. He’d always been very careful to avoid those subjects, perhaps waiting on me to share those things. We’d never discussed it but I always thought he’d known. One of the things he never had to say. We didn’t need to talk about it, just knowing that he understood was enough. Patrick’s emotions were there on his face for the world to see and for me to feel, churning inside of me like a summer storm ready to pour. His horror surged through me, tingling my nervous system with the sensation of trepidation.

His power usually felt like cold water washing over me. Now it burned like ice skimming across my skin. The chill of death fused into my bones like standing in the artic in the middle of January.

“Ah, Baby, I’m sorry,” Dean said, closing the distance between us. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he brushed my hair back from my face with trembling fingers.

“You killed them?” Patrick asked, curt, still trying to hide his emotions and doing a horrible job.

I wanted to laugh at his direct question, tell him to stop trying to hide, but he was still too angry for jokes. A band tightened around my chest at his directness. In many ways, Patrick knew me better than anyone. He knew I wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt me that way and survive. He understood me, the real me. No matter how many lies I told myself, Patrick always knew what I was underneath.

“Yes,” I answered with a devious smile curling the corner of my mouth.

“You survived,” Dean reaffirmed in a soothing voice that made my Eithina very happy. “Better than that, there’s a light in your eyes again.” If my Eithina had been a cat, she’d be purring at his touch.

“Why’d you do it?” Patrick asked, his voice strained.

I tore my eyes away from Dean’s perfect Caribbean blue wolf irises to meet Patrick’s dark and incredibly intense gaze.

“Why’d I do what?” I asked.

“Why did you risk yourself for those people?” he barked, finally allowing anger to fill his tone.

He was mad at me. No, that wasn’t quite right. He was livid, furious that I’d left. Incensed that I would risk myself for people I had no relationship with, and he was enraged that I would choose those nameless people over him.

“It was the pup, wasn’t it?” Dean asked, stroking my hair.

“He was one of the reasons, yes.” I peered up at Patrick and tried to make him understand. “They took my cousin, destroyed an entire Pack, and Marabelle took someone that was important to Enza. I had to get involved. But Everett, he belonged to me. I had to protect him.”

“If he’s yours, then he’s mine,” Dean said.

“Thank you.”

“I think it’s time we go,” Patrick snarled, and my head snapped up to meet his glare.

WHAT?

I jumped up and out of the bed before either of them could stop me, blocking the door. Patrick’s eyes were wide with surprise.

“NO!”

Patrick was still, his eyes cautious. He was only a few feet away from me and all I wanted to do was reach out and touch him.

“I fucked up,” I blurted out with little ceremony and no elegance. “I know that. You have every right to be mad as hell with me. So be angry with me. Yell at me! Take a shot at me! Do something so that it doesn’t fester and destroy you,” I said, finally pleading with him through a sob.

I expected him to call me an ungrateful bitch or a self-centered idiot but what he did made me hold my breath for fear of moving. Reaching out his trembling hand, slow and gentle, he brushed the outline of my face. His fingertips traced my bottom lip.

“I thought I would never see you again,” he whispered. A crimson tear ruined his perfect alabaster face.

I fell into his arms like a drowning woman clutching to the last life preserver. He wrapped his arms around me, keeping me tight against him. Breathing in his familiar scent, musty old books, blood, and below that the faint lingering smell of the grave tingled along my senses. As odd as it sounded, the scent of death filled my nose, and I knew I was home.

THE BLUSHING DEATH SERIES

by Suzanne M. Sabol

A Pool of Crimson (Book 1)

Killing vampires is easy. Trusting one will be the hardest thing Dahlia Sabin has ever done.

Dahlia has lived a lonely existence as a killer of the undead. Known as The Blushing Death to those that fear her, Dahlia uncovers a plot by Columbus’s Master Vampire, Ethan. He intends to raise a demon from the depths of hell to destroy the city, cement his power, and take control.

In her pursuit to stop a demon from manifesting, Dahlia sinks deeper into the city’s supernatural underworld
and discovers that vampires are not only
deadly; one in particular could be dangerous to her very soul and her heart. Patrick, the Master vampire’s second-in-command with dark penetrating eyes and a cool, deadly sophistication, can’t stay away and Dahlia can’t tell him no. There’s something that neither of them knows, Ethan wants Dahlia’s unleashed power for himself and is willing to do anything to get it.

Dahlia is in a race against time to send the demon back to hell, at war with her better judgment, trusting a dark and intriguing vampire with his own agenda, while struggling to save her own neck. As the portal to hell opens, Dahlia has only herself to rely on in order to survive, if she can …

Available now on Amazon
:
http://tinyurl.com/pvbncmm

Midnight Ash (Book 2)

It’s all fun and games until a dismembered hand gets nailed to your front door.

When a woman is mutilated and murdered steps from her home, Dahlia Sabin is thrust into the middle of a territorial vampire war with a target on her back and an assassin on her trail.

When a 500-year-old vampire ninja assassin is unleashed
on the city to
claim Dahlia’s head, she has to convince the men in her life to work together before Midnight Ash and her group of assassins can claim their prize. But being in love with the most powerful and charismatic vampire in the state incites animosity and jealousy as Dahlia sinks deeper into the werewolf Pack, becoming entangled with its Beta.

In her race to uncover the plot behind Midnight Ash, Dahlia is confronted with old arguments, forgotten traumas, and a new complication in the cogent and all tempting Pack Alpha. As she’s driven further into the supernatural world, Dahlia is torn between the vampire she loves and the primal pull of the Pack.

If Dahlia can’t stop Midnight Ash before blood is spilled, she may never find out who has a contract out on her head, what they hope to gain, or if she’s strong enough to survive losing everything.

Now available on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/ncbkkry

Sliver of Silver (Book 3)

Dahlia Sabin is Fertiri, carrying both the ancient magic of the grave and the primal power of the Pack. She’s marked for death by her enemies, protected by the vampire liege in love with her and the Pack Alpha infatuated by her. Strays have moved into the city, terrorizing the innocent and leaving mutilated bodies in their wake as a message that no one is safe.

Hot on the Strays’ trail, Dahlia must stop them before they can destroy the Pack and rule it as their own. As her life crashes and burns around her, Dahlia has to put all her inner turmoil aside and become the Blushing Death to protect the people she loves. If she can’t expose their plans, she could lose everything, and her most fearsome enemy is still hiding in the shadows . . .

Now available on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/myrj5pf

Black Dalliances(Book 5)

The Blushing Death has made a name for herself across the country but her biggest battle is at home. Reigniting old flames and venturing into new liasons, Dahlia Sabin is in a battle for her heart. As she earns back the trust of the men she loves, the Fae are plotting behind her back.

After her lover is kidnapped and hidden in Faerie, Dahlia will venture into an unfamiliar land, battle creatures of myth, and face a foe that will affect the very fabric of power and magic forever. But before they can make the journey home, all will sacrifice something they hold dear.

Coming Soon!!!

Suzanne M Sabol

Watch for more of Dahlia’s Story in the Blushing Death Series. For more information, sign up for Suzanne’s newsletter at:
www.suzannemsabol.com

Connect with Suzanne M Sabol online.

Website:
www.suzannemsabol.com

Facebook:
SuzanneMSabolAuthor

Twitter:
@SuzanneMSabol

Tumblr:
SuzanneMSabol

Recommend It
– By sharing this title with friends, discussion boards, and readers, you ensure others enjoy this content. Please recommend it to others.

Review It
– If you enjoyed this book (even if you didn’t), please tell others why by writing a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Barnes & Noble.

Sign Up
– If you would like to keep up with what Suzanne is doing, sign up for her newsletter and follow her blog at
www.suzannemsabol.com
.