Dark Predator (Dark 22)

Of course I am.

Zacarias was still so calm. Did you think I would ever allow such a man to live?

He's Lea's brother.

She is better off without him. I must rest. Alert Cesaro.

He had already dismissed Esteban from his mind. She knew there was no use in arguing, but she tried anyway. We don't have the right to take his life. It's murder.

He attempted to kill you both. He allowed his friend to beat both you and his sister and he would have stood by and allowed his sister - and possibly you - to be raped before you were murdered. I will not argue with you.

He was gone. She felt the loss instantly. After being filled with him, the isolation, the complete sense of being alone was overwhelming. Thankfully,Esteban rolled out of sight and the continuous drumming of his boots faded into silence. The spiders had abandoned both Lea and Marguarita for the two men, leaving the women a little dazed and confused and slightly ill.

"We have to get out of here," Lea said in her hoarse voice. Tears streamed down her swollen face. "We have to help him."

Marguarita wiped DS's blood from the blade and slipped the knife back in the sheath, pushing it down into her pocket just in case. She spat to make certain no spiders were in her mouth and flipped her head upside down and shook it, running her hands through the thick mass to ensure they were gone from her hair, as well.

She climbed onto the pile of dirt Esteban had made. There was a small root looped just above her head and she tugged experimentally. It seemed to hold. She gripped it and pulled hard. Lea moved over and laced her fingers to give Marguarita a foothold. Marguarita raised her head over the edge cautiously. Esteban's body, much like DS's, had a moving blanket swarming over him.

She swallowed rising bile and found a place at the edge of the hole to grab. It took effort to pull up. She hadn't realized how weak she was after the adrenaline had drained away. She felt exhausted, her body almost too heavy to move. She flopped onto her stomach and crawled away from the edge, fighting not to cry. She and Lea had a long day

ahead of them and a lot of questions to answer. She'd killed a man. All she wanted to do was weep.

Crawling back to the edge, she leaned down to help Lea out. Again, it was a struggle. Lea was as weak as she was. The moment Lea reached the surface she crawled to her brother, trying to get the spiders off his face. It was obvious he wasn't breathing, but Marguarita didn't stop her. She sat on the bottom stair and allowed the tears to stream down her dirty face.

Lea finally sank back on her heels, lifted her face to the ceiling and screamed, a helpless, hopeless sound. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Marguarita joined her, but there was no sound and deep inside, she added her own helpless scream.

Neither had any idea of how long they sat in the dimly lit room crying, but eventually, it was Lea who forced herself up and went to Marguarita. They stood, holding one another in an attempt to comfort each other before Lea pulled back and wiped her dirt-streaked face.

"We have to call the authorities."

Marguarita pulled her notepad out.

Lea nodded. Both women went up the stairs, neither looking back, both still with tears streaming down their faces. Marguarita hit the alarm to call the men in and opened the door wide. Fresh air streamed in along with the sunlight. Although it hurt her eyes and seemed to sear her skin, she lifted her face toward the sky and held out her arms. She wasn't certain she'd ever be able to go inside again. She'd killed a man.

Horses swept into the yard on a dead run. Julio beat Cesaro by a few inches, leaping from his horse, rifle in hand, taking in both women. Tears and dirt streaked both faces. They were covered in bruises, eyes swelling, lips split and bruises marring skin. Lea's blouse was ripped right down the front. There was a bruise over her left breast. Julio peeled off his jacket as he took the stairs two at a time to gain the porch, his body blocking hers from the other men sweeping into the yard.

"Marguarita, you all right?" he demanded as he wrapped Lea in his jacket.

She shook her head and stepped into his arms, weeping. Lea took the other shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist, sobbing in unison with Marguarita all over again. Cesaro pushed past him, signaling his men into the house. He touched Marguarita's shoulder. It was Lea who answered.

"Down in the root cellar." She choked on the words. "They're dead."

Julio pulled back to examine her swollen, bruised throat. "Who did this?"

Marguarita was very glad she couldn't speak, leaving Lea to tell the story. Regaining her composure she seated herself in the shade on the porch, grateful for the dark glasses Cesaro brought to her. She drew up her legs and rocked herself as Lea told the men everything that had happened. Lea, of course, thought Zacarias was away from the ranch and both Cesaro and Julio nodded approvingly at the way they had saved themselves - and Zacarias - even though

Lea didn't know they had done so.

"We will have to bring the authorities out here to speak with Se?or De La Cruz. He will take care of everything," Cesaro reassured Lea. "He will make all the arrangements necessary."

Marguarita shivered. She couldn't imagine Zacarias talking to the authorities. More than likely he would speak and they would be mesmerized by his voice into doing exactly what he wished. He would have no compunction about manipulating minds to believe what he wished them to believe. Right then, it didn't matter to her. She waited there until the sun set, the men milling around and the commander himself had come to the De La Cruz hacienda at the urgent call.

She knew the exact moment that Zacarias rose. He didn't touch her mind, didn't come into her to relieve the terrible isolation and fear. When she touched him, because she couldn't help herself, couldn't stop the need, he had placed a glacier between them. Her warmth didn't seem enough to penetrate that blue ice, thick and hard and impenetrable.

Marguarita shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. He was coming and he was in an ice-cold rage. She felt the slightest tremble in the ground. In the stable, the horses grew restless. Above them, the sky grew a shade darker and clouds rolled in from the south. A wind blew leaves and debris across the yard. The men exchanged quick, uneasy glances.

Dread built in the pit of her stomach. She felt his anger charge the air until the clouds became dark towering giants looming above their heads. The slight wind cooled, picked up in velocity, chilling the air. Thunder rolled. Lightning forked inside the churning shadowy clouds, great streaks that shot in all directions, yet never came to earth. Still, they all felt that ominous charge and the biting cold of the wind.

His breath. His mind. All ice. Turbulent and stormy, but held it in tight check. Just as the storm was controlled, so was Zacarias, striding up to the house, tall and dangerous, wide shoulders and thick, muscular chest. Ice blue flames glowed in his midnight black eyes. He was the most intimidating male she'd ever seen, and the police and ranch workers must have felt the same. They went silent as he approached, looking at one another uneasily.

He carried danger with him in the set of his shoulders, the fluid way he moved, the set of his jaw and ice in his eyes. He looked what he was - a dangerous predator - and just as he made the animals uneasy, so did he make humans. He moved in complete silence blending in to his surroundings, and yet he commanded the space around him, filling it completely with his power.

He looked only at her. Focused. Locked on. Those glacial blue flames leaped higher, glittering like dark sapphires of pure ice. The men gathered in the front of the house parted without a word, leaving him a clear path to the front porch - to Marguarita. Her mouth went dry and her stomach somersaulted. Her fingers found the material of her skirt and bunched it in her fist. If she could have screamed, she might have.

He blocked out everything and everybody extending his hand toward her. It seemed a solicitous gesture, but she knew better. Her hand trembled in his as she stood up, facing him. She wanted him to pull her into his arms and hold her. To comfort her. But his expression was as remote as his eyes. Ice flowed in his veins and formed a glacier in his mind far too thick to penetrate.

He was wholly focused on her; she felt his concentrated attention like a spear going through her heart. For Zacarias, no one else existed. He cared nothing for the men standing like statues in his yard. There was only Marguarita - and her disobedience.

His hand moved over her face, fingertips brushing every bruise, her swollen eye and cracked lip. His breath hissed out, a long, slow menace that sent another shiver creeping down her spine. Her heart accelerated and he heard it, but he didn't soothe her. The pain in her face and head lessened with his touch - but that featherlight brush of fingers had been remote, not at all personal.

The sun has seared your skin.

His disapproval of her actions hit like a hard blow to her heart. She had known he had forbidden her actions and he would be angry, but this was more than anger. His remoteness cut her to the bone. Even her soul and heart. He was taking care of her, but there was no comfort in his actions.

She swallowed hard and tried to reach him. I couldn't stay inside with the bodies and the spiders. It was too much.

The blue flames leaped, and for a moment his eyes seemed to glow with a strange, frightening fire. The bodies have been removed and the spiders are gone. Go inside now. I will see to the commander.

Marguarita refused to cry. She had known all along what she was getting into and Zacarias separated himself from emotions. He had all the long centuries of his existence. She'd put him in touch with feelings, allowing him to tap into them. He had suffered, lying there trapped beneath the earth while she was in danger. She had chosen her own path, disobeyed his direct orders, something probably no one did. She had told him she gave herself into his keeping, and pride and honor refused to allow her to weep.

She nodded her head and swept past him, head up, moving away from the crowd, knowing they thought Zacarias so solicitous of her.

Zacarias went next to Lea, giving her that same featherlight brush of his fingers, and softly whispering, his voice hypnotic, easing her grief a little, as well as the pain of the beating at DS's hands. Marguarita could hear him assuring the girl that he would see to all arrangements and that Julio would take her home and stay just in case to watch over her.

Next came his low voice convincing the commander of everything he wanted the man to believe. Of course the commander went along with it all, half bowing to Zacarias, the elusive billionaire one heard so much about. He would have bragging rights; he met him in person and the De La Cruz legend would only grow.

Eventually everyone was gone and the house was dark and quiet. Marguarita was left to face Zacarias alone. She wanted him there, and yet she was very scared of what he would do. He had warned her numerous times she would face consequences. She couldn't imagine him beating a woman. It simply wasn't his style. He had taken the pain from her face, so he didn't want her to suffer physically, right? She had to be right.

She wrung her hands together. Waiting. Where was he? It was worse waiting in the dark for him to appear and pass sentence on her than not knowing. She sat for a few minutes, her heart pounding and the taste of fear growing. Unable to sit still, she went to the open door and looked out. He was there, big as life, staring into the night.

He turned his head and looked straight at her. Of course he'd known she was there. His eyes burned through the screen, burned like a brand into her heart. She stepped back, her hand moving defensively to her throat. The lines in his face were etched deeper than usual and his jaw was set. There was no mercy in that dark expressionless face. His sensual mouth seemed a little cruel, and his eyes held nothing but all that blue, flaming ice.

He swung around in a swift fluid movement and was on her in a single beat of her heart. The screen never opened and closed. He stood a moment, holding her gaze, drinking in her terror, his mind closed to her, his heart and soul distant - so distant she couldn't reach them. This was not her Zacarias. This was the predator.

I am both, and it is time you learned that lesson.

Without preamble, he gripped her upper arms, dragging her to him, his teeth sinking into her neck. Pain sliced through her, pain that slowly gave way to pure erotic heat. She struggled for one moment, still afraid, knowing his control had slipped dangerously. She couldn't connect, he refused to let her in, yet he was there in her mind, commanding -  demanding  - she give herself to him. This time, she feared what he was asking.

The growing dread didn't cease, even as heat swept through her body and her breasts ached for him, her core heated and wept for him. He didn't stop. Didn't slow down. She found herself sinking into that place, that sort of subspace of mind where Zacarias became her world. Where there was only his strong body and phenomenal strength, his need and hunger. It was a primal place, forged by his will, older than time, where laws of the jungle applied.

In the midst of all that sensual heat a shiver started somewhere and began to increase. She was cold. Growing colder, as if the ice in his veins had poured into her veins and slowly was spreading throughout her body. Her legs turned to rubber, very wobbly as if she could no longer support herself. She caught at Zacarias's neck to anchor herself, but her arms were too weak to hold herself up.

Even as she fell, his arm locked her to him, lifting her from her feet, but he didn't stop. She had the sensation of floating, but her eyes refused to open. Panicked, she tried to struggle.

Stop. It's too much. You have to stop.

I say when it is too much.