Dani scanned the floor around the mattress, but didn't see the battery anywhere. She had resorted to crawling around on the bed, checking under the pillows and sheets and blanket when Decker spoke from the door.
"Can't you find it?" he asked. He didn't sound terribly surprised.
Sitting back on her haunches, she shook her head unhappily. "No. I don't know where it could be. I put it in my pocket."
"Maybe it fell out," Decker suggested, avoiding her gaze. "Your phone did."
"Yes, it did," she said slowly, and then stood to move past him into the hall.
"Where are you going?" he asked, following her.
"To check the SUV. Maybe it fell on the floor in there while we were-" Dani cut herself off, aware that she was blushing over what they'd been doing on the floor of the SUV.
"The SUV isn't here."
"What?" She whirled around at that softly spoken announcement. "Why not? Where is it?"
"Mortimer and Sam brought my personal vehicle back, so it was taken back to Argeneau Enterprises. They plan to build a parking garage for them out here, but until they do, they're still kept at the compan-"
"Well, then we'll have to go to Argeneau Enterprises," Dani said, cutting him off. But when she turned to continue toward the stairs, Decker caught her arm to stop her.
"There's no use doing that, Dani. It probably won't be there. One of the other men will be using it to search for Stephanie and the rogue."
She frowned over that possibility and then said, "Well, we'll just have to call Bastien and find out who he gave it to so that we can-"
"Bastien will be sleeping," Decker said at once. "Why don't we just wait until-"
"I'm not waiting. We're waking him up," Dani snapped, and then shook her head with bewilderment at the resistance she was meeting. "Jesus, Decker, my sister is-"
"I know," he said soothingly, trying to calm her... and probably quiet her down, she realized, noting the way his eyes slid to the doors in the hallway.
Dani didn't want to wake everyone up, just Bastien, if it meant she might get a lead on her sister, so turned and led the way up the hall to the stairs. She jogged swiftly down them, and then continued on into the kitchen before turning to face him. But as Dani opened her mouth to speak, it occurred to her that they didn't have to wake anyone up.
"We don't have to wake Bastien," she announced, and Decker immediately relaxed, his relief obvious. Until she added, "We'll just take your vehicle and go to town and buy a replacement battery."
Decker closed his eyes and shook his head. "Dani, Nicholas isn't going to call you. He-"
"You don't know that," she protested, her voice rising with frustration, and then she asked, "Why are you trying to stop me? And why didn't you wake me up last night? Or was I even really in a natural sleep? Did you have Justin control me and keep me asleep on purpose?"
The guilt on his face was answer enough, and Dani felt rage and frustration explode within her.
"You bastard," she yelled, grabbing the cordless telephone-the absolutely only thing there was in the kitchen to grab-and swinging it back to throw it at him. That was when Dani learned how quickly immortals could move. Suddenly Decker was there in front of her, grabbing her by both wrists. He squeezed the one that held the phone until she dropped it and then gave her a little shake.
"Listen to me," he snapped. "Nicholas isn't the hero you think he is. Fifty years ago he killed a woman."
"What the hell's going on down here?"
Both of them froze and jerked their heads to the door as Lucian barked that question.
Decker released Dani and stepped away. "I'm sorry. Did we wake you?"
"Hell no... you woke up the whole house," Lucian growled, and stepped into the room to allow two other men to join them.
Dani bit her lip as she watched them enter. She recognized Justin, but had no idea who the second man was, though she thought it might be Mortimer. It didn't matter, though; she was sorry they'd woken them with their argument.
"Now," Lucian growled, "Tell me what is happening."
"Dani wants to get a battery for her phone," Decker explained wearily. "She thinks if her phone was working, Nicholas would call her. She thinks if he's still following her sister, he might be able to tell us where they are."
Dani said firmly, "He would call me. He knows I will be worried."
"Dani," Justin said pityingly. "Nicholas is a rogue. He can't afford to call again. He only got away with it the first time because we didn't know you had the phone."
She ignored him and stared at Lucian as she said, "He promised he'd get her back for me."
Lucian considered her silently and then asked, "And you believe him?"
The question was not sarcastic or dubious, simply curious, and Dani didn't hesitate to nod.
"Why?" he asked at once.
"I don't know," she said, and then sighed and admitted, "Maybe I just want to believe him because he's Stephanie's best hope." When Lucian continued to stare at her without speaking, Dani added, "I know he's what you guys call a rogue and that he's killed someone. He told me that, but-"
"Afraid," Lucian murmured.
Dani paused and tilted her head uncertainly. "I don't understand. Afraid what?"
"Nothing," he said at once, and then added, "Well, if he was trying to call, I'm sure he's given up by now. There's no use-"
"My phone has call display and he didn't block his number."
"What?" Decker almost gasped the word, he was so shocked.
Everyone in the room appeared to be, they'd all frozen on the spot, their eyes locked on her, but Dani ignored everyone else but Lucian. "His number will be in my phone memory."
"Why didn't you tell me that?" Decker asked, stalking toward her, anger clear on his face. "You knew we were hunting him. Why the hell wouldn't you tell me that you could give me his number? Bastien could have used that to track him down."
"That's exactly why I didn't tell you," Dani said at once. "The man is trying to save Stephanie. There's no way I'm going to repay that by turning him over to you."
"He's not a man, he's a vampire and a rogue one at that," Decker said harshly, and then added, "And you have no idea if he's trying to find Stephanie or not. He's rogue, Dani. Why would he risk his life for some girl he doesn't even know?"
"I don't know," she admitted, and then asked, "Why did you take a bullet for me before we'd even met? And why did he put himself in jeopardy to save us the first time?"
"We don't know that he did try to save you the first time," Decker said, ignoring the comment about himself. "Maybe he was running with that group, and lied to save his own hide when we got the drop on him. Maybe he just put us on to those guys hoping we'd be distracted and he could escape... as he did," he added bitterly.
"Or maybe he's not the man you think he is," Dani countered.
"Give me the phone," Lucian said.
"Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"Give me the phone, woman!" he snapped.
Dani hesitated, but then reluctantly handed it over. She didn't really have much choice. The man could have controlled her and taken it anyway.
Lucian grunted what might have been approval when she held it out. He then took it and immediately handed it off to Justin. "Take it to Bastien and have him see if one of his people can fix it. Tell him to send it back to Dani at once if they do."
Dani's eyes widened. She'd expected that would be the last she'd see of her phone, that they'd take it and use it to catch Nicholas and that would be that.
Lucian saw her expression and merely shrugged. "It's you he'll be calling. He might hang up and toss his phone if anyone but you answers."
Dani scowled at the words.
"Now, I am returning to my bed. I suggest the rest of you do the same. Decker, keep an eye on her," he ordered, and then turned to Dani and added, "And you will remain right here waiting for your phone to be returned."
"Of course," she said calmly, and then just so he didn't think it was because he'd said so, added, "I wouldn't want to be stuck in traffic an hour away from here when the phone starts ringing."
Much to her surprise, Lucian Argeneau looked amused. He turned to Decker and said, "I like her. You have my blessing. But I suggest you stop thinking with your dick and use your brain before you lose her. Explain the situation. I know you don't like talking about Nicholas, but it's the only way she'll understand and see that she can trust you and perhaps not Nicholas."
Dani frowned at the words. She didn't care if she had his blessing and-despite her body's rather alarming response to Decker in the SUV last night-had no interest in being his vamp ho. She did, however, want-no, need-to trust in Nicholas. Right now Dani was pretty sure that he was her only hope of seeing Stephanie alive again.
"Dani," Decker said quietly as the other men left the room.
She cast a resentful glare in his direction, not really wanting to talk to him at all, but said, "You shouldn't have had Justin put me to sleep."
"He didn't. You fainted. I just-When you started to stir, I had him help you to keep sleeping. I shouldn't have done that, and I'm sorry I did," he added quickly when she opened her mouth to speak. Decker then shrugged helplessly and tried to explain, "I wanted to save you some worry. I was hoping we'd find her before you woke and-"
"I'm not some brainless twit who needs coddling, Decker. She's my sister. You should have woken me up," Dani snapped, and then added with frustration, "It's not your place to save me worry. The phone could have been fixed by now, Nicholas could have called, and we could have Stephanie back safe and sound. Instead she's out there God knows where having God knows what done to her... if she's still alive," she added bitterly.
"Dani, I'm sorry, but he won't call," he repeated solemnly.
"You don't know that. And I'm sorry doesn't get my sister back, does it?" she asked, shaking his hand off and moving out of the kitchen. She headed up the hall and then took the stairs to the second floor, aware that he was following, but trying to ignore that fact. It was hard to ignore it when she walked into her room and tried to close the door behind her, only to have him stop her.
Dani glared at him briefly and then shook her head wearily and said, "Go away, Decker. I need time to think."
He ran a weary hand through his hair as he followed her into the room. "I can't."
She hadn't forgotten Lucian's order that he keep an eye on her, and Dani was too weary to argue with him, so she glanced around in search of an escape. Her eyes settled on the door to the bathroom. "Then stay. But I'm going to take a bath. I trust you don't have to be in there with me?"
"No, that's fine," Decker said in subdued tones.
Nodding, she crossed to the door and slid into the bathroom. Dani closed the door, but rather than start running a bath, leaned back against the panel of wood and lowered her head briefly. She'd only just woken up a short while ago, but felt as if she hadn't slept at all. The morning's events had been terribly draining, and all she wanted to do was curl up on the floor, go to sleep, and not wake up until Stephanie was back safe and sound.
Her lips twisted at the thought. That was exactly what Decker had hoped to do for her by keeping her asleep last night and she was mad at him for it. She supposed it wasn't really what she wanted at all. What she really wanted was to get Stephanie back right then, whether she was alive or dead. Obviously, she would prefer to have her back alive, but if the rogue had already killed Stephanie, then it was better to know now than to suffer the agony and anxiety of bouncing between hope and fear as she was. That, she found, was unbearable.
But you don't always get what you want, Dani told herself grimly, and forced herself away from the door to start running a bath.
She had pushed the button to drop the stopper and turned on the taps to start the water running when a knock sounded at the door. It made her scowl.
Knowing it was Decker, she was about to tell him to go away when he said, "Dani? I fetched you some soap and towels."
She blinked in surprise at the words, glancing around to see that while the small hand towel and bar of soap she'd used that morning were there, they were the only things that were, besides toilet paper. There were no towels hung over the rack, no washcloths either, and no soap by the tub. A quick search of the cupboards proved that those were completely empty.
"Dani?" There was concern in his voice now at her silence.
Grimacing at the realization that she'd have to answer the door after all, Dani called, "It isn't locked."
There was a pause and then the door opened. Decker entered, a stack of towels and various other things in hand. He eyed her warily, and then moved to the counter, explaining, "I guess Bastien didn't think to purchase things like this for the house, but Sam ran out to the twenty-four-hour drugstore last night and picked up a few sundries and then swung by her apartment for the towels. I didn't remember until you came in here or I would have mentioned it so that you could choose what you needed yourself." Decker set the items down and added, "If there's anything I didn't think of, let me know and I'll get it for you."
Dani's face softened at the thoughtful gesture, but she only murmured, "Thank you" as he turned to move back out of the room. She stood there for a moment after he left, part of her wanting to go out and say something to end this awkwardness between them, but she had no idea what to say. He'd been wrong to keep her asleep, even if it had been with good intentions. Decker hadn't set out to hurt her, and it had been sweet in a way, but...
Dani shook her head and glanced to the tub to find that it was already half full. She moved to the counter to collect the bubble bath, one of the sundries he'd brought her. She poured a generous amount into the tub and began to strip.
The water was warm and inviting when Dani stepped into it. She eased slowly to sit, sighing as the water and bubbles enveloped her. She reclined back in the tub and closed her eyes, hoping the warm, bubble-filled water would soak away some of her tension and worries, but knowing it wouldn't.
The sound of rushing water died and Decker stopped pacing the bedroom to peer toward the bathroom door, very aware that his Dani was on the other side of it. His life mate... who presently hated his guts, he thought grimly. It was a depressing thought! Decker knew he hadn't done much right since meeting her. First there had been that stupid CSIS business, and then biting her, and now he felt as if he'd personally failed her by not saving Stephanie. Intellectually, Decker knew that there was nothing he could have done, but that didn't stop him from feeling responsible. And it wasn't even the reason she was angry with him at the moment. It was his having Justin control her to make her sleep. That had seriously pissed her off.
I'm not some brainless twit who needs coddling. She's my sister, You should have woken me up. It's not your place to save me worry. Her words ran through his head, and Decker scowled at the bathroom door. Of course it was his place. She was his life mate.
Irritated now, he glanced around for somewhere to sit, but the only piece of furniture in the room was the bed. Decker moved to it and dropped to lie flat, his legs crossing at the ankles and hands resting on his stomach as he listened for sounds from the next room.
Was she in the tub yet or just now undressing? He wondered and wasn't terribly surprised when his thoughts immediately moved south, producing an image of her tugging her T-shirt off over her head and letting it drop to the floor as her hands moved around to her back and rose to undo the clasps of her bra.
Decker could still recall the silky feel of it as he'd tugged it away from her breast to touch her warm skin. He remembered the smell of her too and savored the memory as what she might be doing continued to play in his head, and she allowed the bra to glide down her arms and slip to rest on her T-shirt. In his imaginings, Dani then paused to twist her hair up on the back of her head so that only little wisps hung around her face. That done, she reached for the button of her shorts. Those shimmied to the floor the moment they were undone, and she stepped out of them, then slipped her thumbs beneath the elastic on either side of her panties and drew them slowly, lovingly, down over her hips, thighs, and knees until she could step out of them one foot at a time. They fluttered to the bath mat as Dani stepped carefully and oh so slowly into a tub full of bubbles.
A little moan of disappointment slipped from Decker's lips as the water and bubbles embraced his dream Dani, hiding her from view. He grimaced at the ceiling, telling himself that she was his life mate and it would all work out. The day would come when he would simply walk in there while she reclined in the bath. She'd smile at him welcomingly and crook her finger to bring him to the side of the tub, then reach out to run her hand slowly up his leg before slipping it around to caress him through the cloth of his jeans and ask, "Care to join me? The tub's big enough for two."
"Oh yeah," Decker breathed aloud as his Dani sat up and reached for the button of his jeans. She unsnapped it with a hand that had bubbles clinging to it, and then raised her eyes to watch his face as she drew the zipper down in a leisurely fashion. He pushed his jeans off his hips the moment she'd finished, letting them pool around his ankles, and she reached down to help him step out of them, then turned her attention to his boxers. Dani pulled those down much more slowly than he had his jeans. The elastic waistband got caught on his emerging erection so that she had to lift it over his shaft. A smile played about her lips, and she leaned forward to press a kiss to the tip before helping him to step out of those too.
Dani raised her head to peer up at him then, her eyes just skittering over what she'd revealed as she murmured, "Your shirt."
Decker reached to tug that up over his head. The moment his face was enshrouded in the soft cloth and he couldn't see what she was doing, Dani caught his erection in a suddenly soapy hand and squeezed gently as she ran her fingers along its length.
Shuddering at the explosion of desire that shot through him, Decker ripped the shirt off to toss it over his shoulder and then urged her hand away and stepped up to the top of the tub. Dani scooted forward, leaving room for him behind her as he stepped into the water. Decker sat down behind her, the warm water sliding over his skin like a caress as he settled, then Dani eased back to sit between his spread legs, and reclined to rest against his chest.
"I was waiting for you," she murmured, running her hands along his outer thighs under the water.
"Were you?" Decker asked. He'd been waiting for her for two hundred and fifty-nine years. His hands moved to her arms and smoothed down over the soft skin to her elbows, his fingers brushing the inside crook of her arms in a feathery touch that made her shiver against him.
"Yes," she breathed, wiggling against him. "I was hoping you'd wash my back."
Decker smiled faintly as he grabbed for the bar of soap. He slid it briefly under the water, and then began to rub it between his hands to make lather. He urged her to sit up and began to run his hands over her back, running them in circles until every inch of skin there was covered in the soapy lather. He then reached for the soap again and worked it for another minute before returning to the chore, his circles becoming wider and wider until they included her sides.
"Oh." Dani sighed as Decker let his fingers roam to where they wanted. His hands closed warm and soapy over her breasts, squeezing and kneading under the pretense of cleaning. When she leaned back against him, her foam-covered back sliding across his clean chest, Decker peered down her body, watching his hands cup and knead and then catch her nipples between thumb and finger and pinch lightly.
The action drew a long moan from Dani and had her tilting her head back and twisting toward him in silent invitation. Decker lowered his head at once, his lips covering hers and his tongue sliding eagerly out to fill her mouth. She tasted as sweet as he remembered, and his fingers tightened on her breasts briefly, then he let one drift away to find the washcloth, and dunk it in the water. He used it to rinse away the soap so that he could caress her without the slippery lather. The moment the last bit of soap was gone, Decker dropped the cloth and covered her breasts again, thrusting his tongue into her mouth as he tweaked her nipples lightly.
"Oh!" It was a half gasp, half groan as she covered his hands with hers, urging him on. When he then slipped one hand out from under hers, she moaned her disappointment. But that was followed by a startled hiss of sound when his hand dropped down over her stomach to slip between her thighs.
Dani stiffened against him briefly in surprise, and then spread her legs as wide as she could inside his to try to accommodate him. She then groaned into his mouth as he caressed her, her own tongue wrestling with his as she arched and twisted in his hands. Dani reached up and back then to slide the fingers of one hand into his hair and clutch his head to urge him on, but then slid the other behind her back between their bodies and into the water to find his erection once more. Decker froze, his hands stilling as he groaned into her mouth and bucked into the caress.
With the second stroke, he recalled himself and resumed kissing and caressing her. His kiss was more demanding now, though, and their caresses more urgent. When they were both panting and breathless with need, Decker broke their kiss and withdrew his hands again, this time to lift and turn her. The moment he had her settled sideways in his lap, he began to trail his mouth down her cheek and then along her neck and lower to find and clasp one damp nipple.
Dani breathed his name, a sound of need and pleading as her hand found him again under the water's surface and closed. It was no gentle caress, but one determined to bring him to the brink. Afraid he would explode there in the water, Decker reached down and forced her hand away. Dani allowed it, but also rose up in the water to shift until she knelt with knees on either side of him. She then reached for him again as she settled herself on his lap, using that hold to direct him into her.
Decker's breath left him on a hiss as her warm, moist heat closed over him and he had to bite his tongue hard to keep from exploding right then. Dani appeared to know this and smiled wickedly as she released him to grab the sides of the tub and slowly eased herself down and then just as slowly raised herself back up. Decker ground his teeth helplessly for a minute, and then reached between them to find the nub between her legs. He caressed her, running his finger around and over it until the smile left her face to be replaced by an almost pained look as Dani began to move more swiftly into the stroke. Decker began to raise his hips, thrusting into her almost violently as she lowered herself, and she shifted one hand to his shoulder to steady herself as he drove them both over the edge.
The sound of sloshing water, joined with violent coughing, was enough to wake Decker from the slumber he'd dropped into. Leaping off the bed, he rushed to the bathroom door and nearly thrust it open before he caught himself and knocked instead.
"Dani? Are you all right?" he called loudly, frowning at the deep violence of her cough. "Dani?"
"I'm fine," she got out between hacks. "Just swallowed some water. Go away."
Decker hesitated, but while she was still coughing, it didn't sound as violent as it had, and after a moment, he turned and walked back to the bed, wondering how she'd managed to swallow water.
He was about to lie back down on the bed, but paused as he became aware of a quickly cooling damp spot on the front of his jeans. He stared at the dark patch, grimacing as he recalled the dream he'd had. It had started out just plain imagination, but he must have drifted off to sleep because it had quickly felt, smelled, and seemed real. If he hadn't awoken on the bed, startled from sleep by Dani's coughing, he could almost believe it had been real. That he'd actually walked in that bathroom and-
Decker paused and stood a little straighter, his head slowly turning toward the bathroom door as he recalled another symptom of finding a life mate-shared dreams. In his case, wet dreams.
Dani gave one last cough and then sagged in the tub. Despite having slept nine hours, she'd somehow managed to fall asleep in the tub and nearly drowned herself. She couldn't believe she'd done that. More than that, she couldn't believe the dream she'd had when she'd fallen asleep. It had featured her and Decker-Maybe-Argeneau-Maybe-Pimms indulging in some pretty hot sex.
Good Lord, Dani thought with disgust, she was having erotic dreams about a man whose last name she didn't even know. She then recalled that she'd nearly had real sex with the man whose last name she didn't even know in the SUV the night before. She covered her face with the damp washcloth, wondering what was the matter with her.
Obviously she was losing it. Dani was no prude, but... Gad! She'd never been promiscuous either. She'd been too busy studying and trying to keep her grades up to bother much with dating at university and medical school. Then she'd had her internship, which had been years of hell where sleeping alone didn't happen much, let alone sleeping with someone else.
Not that she was a virgin. She'd had boyfriends and dates and such, but she'd certainly never before indulged in a hot humping session in the back of an SUV speeding up the highway.
What was the matter with her? This just so wasn't like her at all. She didn't lust after men she'd just met. So to lust after this one, who happened to be a vampire...
Dani closed her eyes as that word ran through her brain. Vampire. Life mate. Rogue. She was gaining a whole new vocabulary and wasn't at all sure it was one she wanted. Although she wouldn't mind a few more explanations. Especially about the life mate business. Lucian had said she was Decker's, and Decker had told her that a life mate was that rare person whom a vampire could relax with. Just how rare? And was she Decker's life mate? If so, what exactly did that mean?
Did she even have the right to wonder about this stuff when Stephanie was kidnapped and in peril? Dani didn't feel like she did and felt selfish and uncaring for doing so.
Sighing, she pushed the button to allow the tub to start to drain and stood up to reach for a towel, making a silent vow as she did. From now on, she would concentrate on the most important matter at hand. Finding Stephanie.
