Dahlia's Kiss

THE PLOT THICKENS

“Wouldyou tell me what has you two so bent out of shape?” Sterling stood by the door, eyeing Damian and me. “You can’t just call me over here with doom and gloom in your voice and then not explain what’s going on.”

“We have to wait until Cole gets here,” I said, anxiously checking my phone for what seemed to be the millionth time since sending him the text. Bean flicked his tail as if annoyed from the kitchen counter where he sat perched to watch all the excitement.

Time seemed to stand still as we all stared at each other in the cramped space. Damian fidgeted, watching Sterling grow angrier. I started to call the other Incubus, locating his name in my phone and hovering over it with apprehension when the knock came on the door.

The men fell over themselves to get to it first. Sterling ultimately won, shoving Damian aside at the last moment. “It’s about time you showed up,” he said. “No one would tell me shit until you got here, and I was getting fucking tired of twiddling my thumbs.”

Bean jumped down, landing perfectly on his feet, and headed for the bedroom. It was almost as if the feline knew what was about to go down, and he wanted no part of it. I wished I could go with him.

“Sorry,” Cole said. “I had a rough morning. You caught me while I was showering to clear my head. I guess I already know what this is about.”

“Well, fill me the fuck in,” Sterling demanded, spreading his feet shoulder length apart and clenching his hands together behind his back. His no nonsense expression made my stomach churn with apprehension. “Someone better start talking soon. I don’t like how quiet y’all are being.” The Cajun creeping into his voice meant he was getting upset.

Damian cleared his throat. “Dahlia, can you please tell Sterling what you saw this morning?”

I didn’t appreciate his nudge. I would have gotten there eventually. Now the spotlight was on me, and I could feel the heat. Cole looked everywhere but my eyes, and Sterling stared at me raptly. Damian, nodded to me, urging me to go ahead.

“Well,” I started.

“I stole a pair of Dahlia’s underwear!” Cole confessed loudly, cutting me off. “Before you say anything, I know I shouldn’t have done it, but after meeting all of you, I felt insecure about the way things were going to progress. I know I was acting like the tough guy, like it didn’t matter to me one way or another who she chose, but it mattered. It mattered a lot. I’ve been on my own for twenty years. Twenty very long years. I had someone I cared for a great deal. She wasn’t a bonded mate, but we were thick as thieves. We were both orphaned and we took care of each other. Then she met her true mate and abandoned me.” Cole stepped backward as Sterling advanced.

The cop slammed the Incubus against the door, putting his face directly into that of the other. Cole grasped at his wrist in fear, turning his head to the side to avoid the older male's wrath.

“It was you all along, you filthy motherfucker,” Sterling spoke through gritted teeth. “How long have you been stalking her? Must have been quite a while for you to know the identities of those she’s fed on. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence that you just happened to move in right down the hall.” Sterling punched the man in his stomach, knocking his breath out of him. “I should rip you apart right now for everything you’ve done.”

“I’m not stalking her!” Cole screamed through his pain. “I only took the one pair! I swear to God! I didn’t break into her apartment. I didn’t kill all those people. I thought if I had just one thing that had been on her body, if she didn’t choose me, I could keep those and smell her when I got lonely. I know the lore! I know that you only ever get one mate. One mate that is made especially for you, and I felt like that was being stripped from me. You can’t tell me you both didn’t feel the same way!” He looked at Damian and Sterling before imploring me with his eyes. “You have to believe me, Dahlia. I followed you today because I was worried.”

“Why should she believe anything you say?” Sterling spat.

“Because!” Cole didn’t look away from the detective this time. He met his gaze directly and refused to look away. “You’re not so innocent, are you? I know what you did, but does she? Why don’t you admit your guilt while I’m being forced to admit mine?”

Sterling stood him back on his feet and backed away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, you don’t! Now that it’s about you, you don’t like the conversation anymore. Fucking figures.”

I looked at Sterling and formed my words carefully before speaking. “Sterling, whatever he is alluding to, you better tell me now, or you will no longer be welcome in my home.”

Sterling’s mouth dropped open. “I only did it to keep you safe, Dahlia.”

“Did what, though?” Damian asked.

Cole pressed his hand to his chest, rubbing the spot where Sterling had held him. “I heard your conversation when you were in the hall on your phone. I heard every fucking word you said. Now tell her.”

Sterling turned back to me and sighed in despair. “I had a tracking application installed on your cell. I know exactly where you are every hour of the day. I’ve been able to map your activities so I would know immediately if there were any deviations from your usual routine.”

I threw my hands up in disbelief. “This just keeps getting better and better. I have a psychopath murdering people in my name. I have pieces of me turning up at crime scenes. I have one lover proclaimed as a person of interest, and another stealing my underwear so he can sniff them.” I shot daggers at Cole with my eyes. “Then I have you violating my trust and my privacy in the name of protecting me. You could have fucking asked me first.”

Sterling crossed his arms. “You would have said no.”

“You’re right!” I screamed. “And that would have been my right to do so, and you should have respected that.”

“How come no one is talking about Damian’s disappearing act? Isn’t that worth mentioning?” Sterling pointed at the other Incubus with smoldering accusation. “He is brought in as a person of interest on a murder case for one of your conquests, and we are all just looking the other way? Is what I did really worse than that? Then you got Cole here snatching your underpants when that is exactly what this murderer is doing, and I suppose we are just forgiving him?”

“No one is forgiving anyone,” I snapped. “All of you are on my shit list. If I’m being completely honest, I should walk away from this entire mess and never look back. All of you have broken my trust in different ways. This is one of the biggest reasons why I never wanted to bond with anyone in the first place, because you can’t rely on anyone to truly have your back. You’ll always get hurt. I should have known better.”

“Dahlia, I—” Damian’s voice was drowned out as Sterling’s phone went off with a vengeance.