Amanda Bonilla: Blood Before Sunrise

He thrust his hips, driving deep into me as I rocked and pressed down hard on top of him. A wave of pleasure so great, it stole my breath, crested and threatened to crash over me…

“Darian!”

My eyes shot open as though I’d been doused with a bucket of ice water. I sat bolt upright, nearly throwing myself from the chair. Eyes wide and frantic, I looked around the cabin, disbelieving I’d dreamt the whole thing. My body-still warm and pulsing from his touch-felt too real for it all to have been just a dream.

“Are you all right?” Raif asked. “I had to shout to wake you up. I tried several times.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. Jesus Christ, what sounds had escaped my lips in my sleep? I might as well have been caught in the act. I sure as hell felt embarrassed enough. Tears of disappointment and heartache prickled behind my eyes, and I bit my cheek-hard enough to draw blood-to prevent my ragged emotions from taking me over. I swallowed down the coppery taste coating my mouth and took a deep breath to cleanse the remains of the dream from my mind. I could still smell his warm, spicy scent…

“Darian?” Raif snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. “Maybe we should have Xander’s physician check you out now that we’re home. We’re taxiing off the runway right now.”

“I’m not going to Xander’s with you.” I didn’t have another minute to spare for anyone. “I’m going to Tyler’s as soon as I’m off this plane.”

“About that.” Raif’s tone was sour, tentative. “The last time I saw him, he didn’t look so good. Haggard. Exhausted. I don’t think the man had shaved in months.” He cleared his throat. “And he smelled as though he hadn’t showered in as long as well.”

Ugh. It was just like Raif to let his royal lineage, or rather inner snob, show. Definitely channeling his high-and-mighty brother. I didn’t give a shit what Tyler looked like. He could have a beard like Sasquatch’s and smell like an outhouse for all I cared, as long as I could see him and feel his arms around me. “Then it’s my fault he’s in the shape he’s in. I’ve got to see him. Now. I’ll tend to myself later.”

“Take care, Darian.” The brotherly tone had returned to Raif’s voice. “He’s not himself.”

The plane came to a stop, and the pilot stepped out to open the hatch. I wasn’t about to waste time walking down the stairs. “I’ll talk to you later, Raif. Thank you for coming for me.” I didn’t wait for a response or reciprocation on his part, though I knew Raif was dying to show his gratitude again. Instead, I became one with the shadows and headed straight for downtown and Tyler’s apartment.

I’d missed the hell out of Seattle, but the cityscape passed in a blur as I raced with preternatural speed to Tyler’s penthouse apartment. I’d gawk at the scenery later. Right now, I had to make sure he was okay.

I didn’t bother with decorum as I glided like a wraith to the top floor of the building. Waiting on a slow-as-fuck elevator would not have been conducive to my mounting impatience. When I got to Tyler’s front door, I became my corporeal self. The door was open a crack, and a sliver of light shone out into the hall. Strange. Tyler was usually so concerned with security, it didn’t feel right that his door was open.

Tentatively, I pushed it open and stepped inside. The place did smell a little like Xander’s training room after a workout-musty, sweaty-and my stomach twisted into a tight pretzel that felt like a fifty-pound weight. Tyler liked to have his place lit up like a Christmas tree, but tonight the only light came from his bedroom. I walked, silent as a shadow, my gaze drawn inexplicably to the island counter in the kitchen. The granite slab of the counter was cracked down the center, and the island slumped in on itself as if a giant had tried out his karate chop on its surface.

In fact, the whole apartment looked pretty damned trashed. Forget college dorm room; someone had partied like a rock star in Tyler’s penthouse-or thrown a king-sized shit fit. My mouth went dry, my hands shook at my sides, and I felt like dry-heaving. What was I going to find on the other side of Tyler’s bedroom door? Did I really want to see the havoc I’d wreaked?

I pushed open the door, and it didn’t even squeak to betray my presence. Bathed in light, Tyler stood at the foot of his bed, an open suitcase in front of him and a stack of clothes ready to be packed beside it.

“I felt you the second you came back,” Tyler said without turning to face to me. “It was like someone had switched a light on in my soul. And then you left again for three weeks, and snap! The light came on again.”

His voice was hollow, emotionless. Too calm. My heartbeat kicked into high gear, pounding against my rib cage, and I felt as if I needed to swallow ten times more than usual. “Tyler-”

“Do you know how that feels, Darian, to have that light flipped on and then extinguished over and over?”

“I didn’t know.” God, what a lame-ass response. “When I left, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

“No, I suppose you didn’t.” His voice became hard. “If you had, you probably would’ve included it in your note .”

“If I told you what I was going to do, you would have tried to stop me. Or worse, come with me. I was trying to protect you.”

Tyler turned to face me, and the fist squeezing my heart constricted at the sight of him. He looked freshly showered and shaved. In fact, his hair was still a little damp, and he smelled of shampoo and body wash on top of his natural scent. His hair was a bit longer, curling at the base of his neck and over his ears. He raised his brows in question and those too disappeared into longer, curling, bronze-streaked locks. But what did me in was the look in those beautiful hazel eyes of his. His gaze was empty, dull, completely hollow, and I realized at that moment that what I’d done-leaving without a trace-had nearly killed him.

“Where did you go?” His tone was that of a demand.

“The Faerie Ring.”

“O Anel?”

I opened my mouth to speak, too astonished at his knowledge to put a coherent string of words together.

“What, Darian?” He became agitated, almost defensive. “You didn’t think I was smart enough to know what that was? I’m older than your friend Raif and twice as clever as that asshole who managed to gain your trust and lure you away. Fallon,” he scoffed. “The least he could have done was picked a better alias. It didn’t take long for me to figure out who-and what-he really was. Maybe if you’d checked one of the twenty or so voice mails I’d left you, you would have realized that I was already one step ahead of you. You knew I’d been talking to people. Investigating. You didn’t even give me enough time to confirm what I’d learned before you took off on me.” My eyes widened, and he gave me a bitter smile. “I guess you didn’t think I was strong enough to help you, so why should I be any smarter?”

“That’s not true.” Goddamn it , I needed more saliva in my mouth. It was too dry to even form words.

“That is true.” He sat down on the bed, crossing his legs at the ankle and his arms in front of him. The laid-back attitude he’d adopted put me on high alert. “You didn’t think I could hold my own with what you had going down. You lied to me, deceived me, withheld information I could have used to help you . And then, to top it all off, you left in the middle of the night with a cryptic note for explanation and fled the city with another man . A man you obviously trusted and held in higher regard than me.”

“Tyler, that’s not what happened at all. I was deceived. It was a trap.”