Page 10 of Destined By Dragonblood (Blood Born #2)

Vanni

I ’d been daydreaming about Dolyn and Ashley both on their knees for me while caressing over the hard-on inside my sweats when she called.

Two whispered words set off my protective instincts and deflated my dick in a heartbeat.

“Where are you? What’s wrong?” I hopped off my couch and strode toward my front door, stomping into my workout sneakers on the way as she quietly cried and attempted to answer my questions between hitched breaths.

I grabbed my keys and wallet from the table in my entryway before hurrying into the private elevator that would rush me to the ground floor.

Ashley continued to whimper but finally managed to whisper something about a stalker outside her home.

Rage erupted in my guts, causing my jaw to clench and my eyesight to go red. I smashed the first-floor button, swallowing down a curse, thankful as fuck I’d insisted she take my cell number in the event she ever needed me outside the club.

“Are you alone in the house, Ashley?” I asked, my calm tone far from matching the fire stirring inside me.

“Yes.” She fumbled with her cell.

“Did you call the police?”

“I—I’m p-probably overreacting. What would I t-tell them?” She let out an unsteady exhale in an attempt to control her emotions. “That I’ve been feeling t-two sets of eyes on me? That one arouses me and one t-turns my b-bowels to liquid?”

I rubbed a hand over my face, cursing beneath my breath.

Was there more to her trauma than the physical?

Did mental instability cause this? She’d shown no signs of such an illness, and surely, she would have informed me of something that serious when we’d sat down and negotiated moving forward with sceneing together.

“Trust your instincts and stay put,” I ordered. Ashley was always a good girl for me and would do what I said. “It’s going to be a little before I get to you, but I’m on my way.”

“Okay.” She sounded broken, and my heart ached to hold her tight, wrap her up in my arms to make that feeling of a boogeyman disappear from her conscience.

But she’d been off-limits from day one, and I refused to cross boundaries until invited to step over those lines.

As though connected by a living cord, I’d felt Ashley’s presence the instant she’d entered the lounge on the Friday night Doc Hasslet had first booked for her.

She had called to me like a siren to a man floundering about at sea as I swore I’d been until that moment.

The scent of sweet vanilla had filled my lungs once we stood in close proximity, and I hadn’t been able to tear my focus off her beautiful, tortured violet eyes as my mouth watered to lick into hers.

Focus .

“Where are you right now?” I asked while hitting the fob on my keyring, my Mercedes beeping loud in the quiet parking garage I hurried across.

“Living room—behind the couch.” Ashley’s lack of stuttering eased some of the tension in my face.

“Can you see out your windows?”

“No.” She continued to keep her voice low, going on to explain about the shades being drawn.

“I’m going to stay on the phone with you until I get there, okay?”

“Thank you, Master Vanni, I—I know I’m being ridiculous, but something is just wrong, and I don’t have anyone else?—”

“You’re not ridiculous,” I stated firmly, “and call me Vanni right now. Please.”

She exhaled quietly, a soft sigh I dreamed of hearing in my bed beside me at night, but all thoughts of fantasy and somehow magically healing her needed to stay in the backseat until we got to the bottom of this shit.

“Now be a good girl and tell me about your day, Ashley. From the time you woke up until now.”

“I can do that,” she whispered.

I listened as she explained this “feeling” she had concerning a sure stalker from over the previous week and a newer, different one from today that had raised every red flag imaginable.

A strange occurrence, to be sure, especially the sense of someone hovering close on the subway train.

Her tumbling emotions caused by both supposed stalkers made my chest tighten—but the thought of another man watching…

waiting for a vulnerable moment to possibly rip her out of my life?

Fuck that shit.

Possessiveness burned in my veins, molten lava oozing beneath my skin and wanting to erupt in searing flames to devour anyone thinking they could get close to her.

I’d never felt so protective over someone I’d scened with, an instinctive knowing that she’d been meant to walk into my club and submit to my dominance.

Same as Dolyn.

Fuck.

I rubbed a hand over my face as Ashley’s quiet voice continued to fill my ear.

Perhaps it really was time to invest more of myself with her and allow some vulnerability. Maybe a good, long talk was needed to settle my mind—pursue a possible relationship or insist she find another Dom to submit to.

My lip curled.

That second option? Definitely a new hard limit of mine. No way in hell could I bear the thought of Ashley gifting her pleasure and release to someone other than me.

I turned onto Walnut Street and focused on my immediate surroundings. I let Ashley know I approached, driving slowly, head swiveling so I could scan every inch of the condos lining the road.

A young couple walked a dog, bundled in puffer coats with beanies on their heads. One middle-aged man dragged his trash can to the end of his drive as others had done earlier in the night for the morning pickup.

Other than those three, I didn’t see another soul in the areas lit by streetlights.

“I’m here—sit tight while I check things out,” I told her while pulling up to the curb in front of her walkway. “I’m going to hang up now, and don’t open your door unless you hear my voice on the other side.”

“Okay,” she stated quietly, sounding a little less sure than she’d been moments ago.

“See you soon.” I ended the call and turned off my car.

Silence lay heavy over the interior, and I attempted to even my breaths while peering in all three of my mirrors and through the windshield.

I’d only gotten off the phone with Ashley because I wanted to have both fists available for anyone sneaking around thinking they could take what didn’t belong to them.

But I didn’t see a living soul or evidence of one nearby.

The dog walkers had gone around a corner, and the neighbor shut himself back behind his front door. No puffed white exhale rose from someone in shadow. Not even a breeze traveled down the empty road stirring leafless branches from the few trees alongside the street.

I opened my car door and stood tall, actively scanning with a lifted chin and shoulders back.

Stillness and a sense of solitude surrounded me.

Turning, I examined the front of Ashley’s condo, the dim light atop the stoop, the curtained-off windows, and the darkness beyond.

Other units were pressed up on either side of hers: two on one, three on the other.

I strode up her sidewalk, retrieved the dropped bag of trash, and took it to the sidewalk like her neighbors.

No unease made my hair stand on end, but I remained vigilant, looking into every dark shadow lining the street. Still not seeing anything unusual, I returned to Ashley’s door and knocked.

“Who is it?” Muffled through the door, Ashley’s voice shook.

“It’s me, Ash—Vanni.”

Two locks disengaged before the door creaked open a few inches.

Pale, eyes wide, Ashley peered at me through the crack. A rushed exhale left her, and she yanked open the door, huddling behind it.

I quickly stepped over the threshold and carefully pulled the door away from her and locked us in.

She hugged herself, her shoulders hunched beneath a purple pajama top made of flannel.

Hands fisted at my sides, I fought off the need to grab her in my arms and hug her unease away. “You okay?”

A harsh swallow sounded before a keening noise rose from her caved-in chest.

“Ash.” My voice broke, and I held out my hand. “Can I…”

Ashley threw herself at me, fingers grasping at my coat.

She buried her face in my chest, and I gently wrapped my arms around her, eyes closing and heart racing as a sense of rightness flooded through me.

Ashley fit perfectly against me, fulfilled the part of me that longed to have someone to hold.

“I’ve got you, baby girl. You’re safe now.

” My voice rumbled low and soothing, full of promise and firm in confidence.

Sobs ripped from her as I clutched her close without touching her skin, her petite body shuddering along my front.

I’d heard her cry every time she’d been tied up and beneath my flogger, and same as then, the soft scent of vanilla swarmed my senses and dizzied my brain, tempting me to run my fingertips over her throat and into her hair.

Bury my face against the satiny strands and breathe her deep into my lungs where that piece of her wouldn’t be able to escape me.

No doubt, I was gone on the woman, and that truth turned my stomach to a rock no matter how much I secretly longed for true love and a sense of belonging.

Ashley had major issues, and not being able to fuck her, watch my dick disappear down her throat, or mark her skin with my cum, stung like a thousand hornets attacking at once. She was untouchable in every sexual manner except for receiving pain—and even then, I couldn’t use my palms or fingers.

But maybe moving forward we could be more vulnerable with each other. Perhaps grow together and learn how to lower our walls. Doctor Hasslet had assured me healing could be found, but I had to want it.

Ashley created that yearning inside me, and I would be a fool to ignore the draw.

But first, we needed to take care of the matters at hand.

“What do you need from me, Ashley?” I asked once her cries faded to sniffles and I expected she could speak clearly.

“I—I don’t know, Master.”

“It’s Vanni right now,” I reminded her, rubbing my palms over the softness of her long-sleeve shirt, wishing I caressed her skin beneath.

She inhaled deeply before stepping away from me and wiping her eyes.