Read Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk for Free Online

shimmied over his lap, he resisted the urge to plant her there, then took the wheel. As they crested a small rise and started back down, he spied another washout. He sped up, yanking her into his side. “Hold on to me.”
    She wrapped her slim arms around his torso, burying her face against him. Tension shot through him, desire for her eating at him, even now.
    He was holding her. Forty miles per hour . His female. Forty-five . He tightened his arm around her as the frame of the truck vibrated, sounding like rocks rattling in a tin can multiplied by a thousand.
    The truck hit the washout at nearly fifty miles per hour, plowing through the water. Midway through, the engine strained, sputtering. Water in the exhaust . He floored the gas.
    “Come on, baby,” he muttered. He smelled incongruous smoke. Churning, churning, and then…
    The old girl surged out the other side. When he glanced back and saw the trailing SUV bottom out, he couldn’t resist a pat on the cracked dashboard.
    “We lost them. Truck’s not so bad, then, is it?” he said. “Holly?” He frowned down at her in confusion. She was still holding his torso like he was a tree in a storm. As if she needed him for comfort.
    Cade couldn’t remember the last time anything had felt a fraction so good.

5
    L ittle busy here, Rydstrom,” Cade snapped when his brother rang again.
    “What’s wrong with your phone?”
    “Got wet.”
    “Are you back at the house yet?”
    “On my way,” Cade answered. “I’m fifteen minutes out. Where’re you?”
    “An hour from the city.” He paused. “You sound excited. You sound…not miserable.”
    Discerning Rydstrom knew him well. For so long, Cade had wanted Holly from afar, and now he was with her, talking with her, touching her…. “Naff off, Rydstrom.”
    “Something’s up with you. Whatever it is, lose it. We’ve got work to do.”
    Cade glanced down at Holly still latched onto him, then back at the road. Switching to the demon tongue, he said, “Don’t think you want me to lose this. I’ve got the Valkyrie.”
    “How the hell is that possible? We didn’t know who she was—”
    “She’s my female. Did you know she was one and the same as the target?”
    “That’s impossible. Holly Ashwin’s human.”
    “Not anymore.”
    “You’re sure? And you’re certain she’s the Vessel?”
    “The hall you described is where she teaches math. And she’d already been taken by the Order of Demonaeus. We just got free of them. There were vampires in play as well. They’re trying to kill her.”
    Rydstrom exhaled. “I didn’t know the Vessel would be yours. But the fact is—this changes nothing. We’re out of options.”
    When Cade didn’t answer immediately, Rydstrom said, “Just last week, Nïx asked if you would give up your female to get the kingdom back. You said you would. Did you lie?”
    “I’ll do what I have to do.”
    “If we can’t kill Omort, we lose Rothkalina forever.”
    “Even I can remember that!” Cade snapped. “I’ve had nine centuries to get that into my thick skull.”
    “Good. Now, the airports are hot. We’ll have to drive her out of the city.”
    “To where?”
    “Groot’s compound.”
    “Where the hell is that?”
    “We don’t have the end destination,” Rydstrom said. “There will be three checkpoints in different parts of the country. Each will render information about the next until we have the final directions to the compound. I’ve only got the first checkpoint.”
    “Why the hassle?”
    “Groot wants the Vessel, but he doesn’t want his fortress discovered. He’s taking extra precautions to make sure no one follows us.”
    “You have no idea where it could be?”
    “Somewhere obscure, difficult to get to, with a lot of land. I’ve heard tales of the Yukon. Maybe even Alaska.”
    “I wonder that he trusts us with this at all.”
    “Though your means are questionable, you complete jobs. Hard ones. And he knows how badly we want that