Page 6 of Twilight Echoes (A New Dawn #7)

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D arrell stood in the doorway to Avery’s bedroom, though it was more like a suite than your basic place to rest your head at night. A far cry from how he grew up. His family hadn’t been poor by any means. However, his ballet classes cost a small fortune. Both his parents worked hard to ensure he had the proper training. Anything the teachers recommended, his folks paid for and never questioned it.

By the time he was fifteen, he spent more time living in hotel rooms.

But he was bringing in a paycheck.

It wasn’t much, but it helped.

“Shut the door,” Avery called as she dumped her bag on a chair by a sliding glass door that led to a patio overlooking the pool.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He glanced over his shoulder. Respect was a big deal in his family. And his pack. As an alpha—and now leader—it was something that all members were required to give. Most did, though over the years, there was always a rogue wolf or two. His father had taught him that demanding respect would always lead to resentment and possible uprising by another alpha—that a true leader earned respect by giving it first.

Darrell learned that to be true in his pack, as a lead male dancer, and also as a choreographer.

The last thing he wanted to do was disrespect his mate’s father.

“You’re joking, right? Or are you going to all of a sudden start treating me like a child?” She pursed her lips and jutted out her hip, planting her hand on it.

“I only see the woman you’ve become.” He chuckled. “This was your bedroom as a kid?”

“This room is bigger than my entire apartment,” she said, pushing open the sliding glass doors and letting a cool breeze from the pool float across the curtains.

“I’m living in a hotel until I find something between the city and where most of my pack lives.” He ran his fingers across the back of the coastal-blue fabric of the sofa.

“Did you reach your mom?” Avery asked.

He nodded. “Everything is the same. No one seems to be getting any worse, yet.”

“My dad is wicked smart and a great wizard. He and Trask will have no problem figuring all this out.” She pulled out a laptop and situated herself on the sofa. “Come sit. You’re making me nuts, and we can’t do anything until we hear back from Gabe and the rest of the elders on the witch coven. Trask has already spoken on behalf of the Twilight Crossing Council.”

“There are only a few names on that list that I even remember.” He rested his feet on the coffee table, keeping his hands in his lap, ignoring the deep-seated desire boiling in his stomach. He always knew he’d come back and claim her as his mate. A year ago, he’d almost done it, but he wanted to give her more time. Even though his parents wanted him to marry and have a family of his own, they understood why he wanted to wait. Why it was important to him that Avery have her career. Their age difference wasn’t a big deal. Six years was nothing at this point. But still, being principal of a ballet meant her life in the limelight would be limited. He owed it to his mate to let her shine for as long as it made sense. “What are you doing?”

She tapped away on the keyboard. “Googling the names on the list Miss Tammy gave us. I’m sure they all have some social media presence, except maybe the one who did this.”

He leaned over her shoulder, sucking in her peach scent. It reminded him of a dry, white wine on a summer night at the beach with a salty breeze rolling in from the ocean. “I remember that one,” he said, tapping on the screen. “She was pretty good, though a little handsy. Always grabbing my ass.”

“And batting her eyelashes at you. Not to mention she told everyone you kissed her.”

He laughed. Hard. “I was eleven. First time I kissed a girl I was fourteen and it was awful.”

Avery jerked her head. “Why? First kisses should be sweet and memorable.”

“Yeah, but I was thinking about you, and the girl accused me of having my mind elsewhere. I didn’t deny it, so she slapped me.”

“I would have done the same thing.” She shook her head.

He lifted her chin with his thumb. “And what about your first kiss?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“And why not?” he asked.

“Because you told me you were a jealous wolf.”

“Oh, I am.” He winked. “But I promise to keep that in check because I honestly want to hear this.”

She rolled her eyes. “I was sixteen.”

“Was he a dancer?” Darrell rolled a few stands of her silky hair between his fingers.

“God, no. I’ve tried to stay away from anyone I’ve worked with,” she said. “My parents started homeschooling me at seven because of ballet, so I had very little interaction with other kids, except for witchcraft school and my sisters and their friends.”

“So, another witch.”

“He was, but he was our pool boy.”

“Please tell me he’s no longer under your parents' employment, because my jealous streak will certainly come out.”

“He is not.” She tilted her head. “Do you want to hear the rest of this story?”

“Please. Continue.” He loved sitting here and talking to her like this. He could listen to her voice all day and night. It was like warm honey drizzled over his favorite treat.

“I shamelessly flirted with him. Well, as best I could. I mean, I had no idea how to flirt, except for watching my older sisters, but he did not pay me any attention.”

“I’m glad for that.”

“You’re impossible,” she muttered. “I pranced around in my bikini and he didn’t even look. Not even when my parents weren’t home. So, one day, I marched right up to him, grabbed him by the face, and planted one on him.”

“That’s one way to get a boy’s attention.”

“Only, it turns out he was gay.” She shook her head. “Story of my life since my next crush was on Brandon.”

Darrell nuzzled his face in her neck. He kissed her sweet skin. “Your mate is not gay and you’re the only woman I’ll ever desire.”

“Let’s get back to this.” She tapped her computer screen. “Looks like Faza’s working on Broadway as a choreographer. I’ll have my father check out her coven.”

Darrell sighed. “While I don’t remember too many names, I do remember that in that class, there were only a couple of solid dancers who had a promising career, but most were at best, good teachers in the making.”

“Except Regan Wilcox. She was a snot and a half and one big mean girl.”

“Who was she?”

“She was the oldest girl in the class, and it was her last shot, and I took the spot. She never got the chance to dance with you that day. After I went, that was it. The directors had made their decision.” Avery shifted the screen, showing an archived image from the dance studio. She pointed to a tall girl standing in the back. “That’s Regan.”

“Oh God. Yeah. I remember her. We took classes together when I first came to the studio. That day, when I left, she was in the bushes. I have no idea why, but I figured maybe she was smoking or something and thought she could hide it. That girl was weird.”

“Wait. What?” Avery’s fingers paused, hovering over the computer. “She was where?”

“Remember those big purple bushes in the back parking lot?”

Avery nodded.

“I’d seen her hide back there a few times over the years, and once or twice, I’d see a puff of smoke. I thought it was one of those e-cigs. Gross habit, but she wouldn’t be the first dancer to pick up that nasty shit. One way to deal with the stress of it all. But she was the same age as me.”

“And you’re sure you saw her that day?”

“My memory could be off. But I believe I was waving goodbye to you, noticing her, which gave me a sudden chill, and then I got into my parents’ car. With both parents being wolves, they sensed I’d imprinted and we went right into that discussion, so I didn’t think too much more about the weirdo in the bushes.”

“I got a chill that day, too,” she whispered as she pressed a button. “It was Regan.”

“How can you be so sure?”

She turned the computer screen. “Because there is nothing about her anywhere. No social media. Nothing except one mention from the studio archives.”

He reached for his phone. “Let’s call Miss Tammy and see if she knows what happened to her.” Tammy had been gracious enough to give them a list of students from that year, so he hoped she’d be willing to share whatever she could about Regan.

“Hi, Darrell,” Miss Tammy said as he hit the speaker button. “Twice in one day. I’m flattered. Does this mean you’ve given some thought to making an appearance, and have you talked to Avery about it?”

“I’m sure we can arrange something in the future,” he said, lacing his fingers around Avery’s, caving to his desire to feel her smooth skin and enjoy a little fairy dust, although whatever Trask had done controlled how much she produced. “I was hoping you could tell me whatever came of Regan Wilcox.”

“Regan? That’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Why do you want to know about her?”

“I can’t really get into that, but I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important, and we can’t find anything on the internet about her.”

“The only thing I can tell you is that she quit when she didn’t make the company. Her parents showed up a few days after the audition and informed me that neither Regan nor her sister would be returning. I haven’t heard from or seen any of them since.”

“Thank you, Miss Tammy. Avery and I will get back to you with some dates that might work for us.”

“Thank you so much. I was thrilled to see you’d taken the job with the New York City Ballet and are working with Avery. I wish we had videotaped that audition. It was so moving.”

“In more ways than one.” He smiled as he pulled Avery closer. “Talk soon.” He ended the call and tossed his cell to the cushion next to him. Tracing her lower lip with his finger, he leaned closer.

“Darrell,” she said in that soft, sweet voice that started a fire deep in his gut. “I know we’re mates. But I don’t want to push this too far. Not until we have a handle on all this.”

“Shhhh. We’re alone, and I want one kiss.” So much for being respectful.

She pressed her hand on the center of his chest, her fingers grazing his skin with the kind of heat only lovers shared. Her hair bounced over her shoulder, curling at the ends.

He cupped her chin as her long lashes fluttered over her eyes, sending fairy dust to the ceiling. When their mouths met, his pulse raced as if he’d been running in the woods for hours. She tasted like cinnamon and sugar. He wanted to savor her sweetness for as long as he could.

One kiss.

For now.

“That was nice,” she whispered.

“The best.”

“We need to call my father,” she said, resting her forehead against his and letting out a long sigh.

“I know.” Selfishness had been something he struggled with most of his life. He wanted to be a dancer and a choreographer, and sometimes he felt like he’d put his family out because of it.

Now he’d stolen a kiss when they should be racing to tell her father what they’d uncovered.

“You have to know that it’s not you that I’m fighting against.” She rubbed her thumb across his cheek and then dropped her hand to her lap. “What if I had been dating someone else when you showed up? Or had been in love?””

“I never owned you.”

“But you claimed me as your mate.”

“I imprinted. It’s more like a promise of a future relationship. But we both know now there’s a lot more involved. We were destined to be together. Our souls are connected on a deeper level. Also, you have to remember that we know when we imprint, but when it happens that young, it fades as if it were a dream, until our mate is put in front of us and we realize the connection again.”

“What would you have done if I had been with someone else?” Her nose wrinkled.

He fought the urge to bat it with his thumb. “That’s a hard question to answer because of my current circumstances. I probably would have left you alone.” He waved his fingers through the small amount of dust. “But then this stuff happened and knowing the Legend of the Fated Moons, well, that does change things.”

“It sure does.” She narrowed her stare.

“There’s something else you want to ask me.” He ran his fingers through her long hair. “Go ahead.”

“If I had been with another man, would I have known the moment I saw you? I mean, I did feel something.”

“I don’t know if what you felt had to do with coming into your fairy side, my imprinting, or the bigger picture of the legend, but I’d like to believe you would have at least wanted me.”

“Oh, it was there. It’s kind of always been there,” she said as she pulled out her phone and tapped on the screen. Once she was done, she tossed it on the table, set her computer aside, cupped his face, and kissed him, hard.

It was wet. Hot. Sloppy.

And everything a kiss should be between mates.

“Shouldn’t we go see your father? This information we found out is important,” he managed to croak out.

“He’s not here. He went out. He’ll call as soon as he sees my—” Her phone rang. “That must be him.” She set the phone on her lap, tapping the speaker button.

“Hey, Twinkle Toes,” her father said. “What’s this information you have?”

“I think we know who cast the spell,” she said with a tinge of excitement. “Have Gabe and the council look into Regan Wilcox. I can’t find anything on her on the internet, including what coven she belonged to, and she and her sister stopped going to the studio right after I was accepted into the company.”

“I’m with Gabe now. We’re gathering everyone tonight, so we’ll have the witches’ register find the family name.”

“Do you want Darrell and me to come out there?”

“No. Nothing you can do tonight but get a good night’s sleep,” her father said.

“That reminds me,” she said, untucking her hair from her ear, letting the curls fall, covering her face. “What room do you want Darrell to have?”

“Well, that’s up to you,” her father said. “But I suspect it would be best if he stayed with you.”

Darrell covered his mouth, biting back a cough. While he’d like nothing more than to spend the night with Avery, he never expected her father to offer up her bedroom.

“You and Darrell are soulmates. You need to get reacquainted. It’s not like you’re the same little girl who lined your bedroom with his pictures and dreamed of being his?—”

“Dad,” she said with a stern voice. “Not only are you embarrassing as hell, but you’re making it worse because you’re on speaker.”

Darrell bit down on his tongue. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh, gasp, howl, or run for the hills.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have told Mom to get the box filled with all those things you used to have in your room because she kept?—”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“I love you, little girl.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you too, Dad.” She tossed her phone on the other chair and dropped her head back, covering her eyes with her arm. “I don’t know what is more embarrassing. The fact that my father just gave a perfect stranger permission to spend the night in my bedroom, or that he thought it funny to make sure you knew about my crush.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I have a box filled with pictures of you from ballet magazines and newspapers, and I even kept the DVR of your live performance last year.”

She lowered her arm, catching his gaze, sucker punching his heart. Everything about her made him breathless.

“That just makes you look like a stalker-creep. You’re a grown man. I was twelve.”

He let out a short laugh. “A grown man who admired a fellow dancer and knew he was destined to love you forever.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

She cleared her throat. “Can I ask you a really crazy question?”

“Sure.” He shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t think any question could be wilder than what had happened so far.

“I’ve seen pictures and interviews with you and various girlfriends over the years. How does that work? I mean if I was your fated mate and you claimed me or whatever?” Her voice rose a notch.

He swallowed. “Are you asking me if I’ve had sex with other women?”

She nodded as her cheeks turned red. He found it adorable and endearing.

“I’m going to go out a limb and assume you’ve had sex with men, so I’m not sure how that would be any different.”

Her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “You knew, or believed, we would end up together. I didn’t have that knowledge, so it’s absolutely one hundred percent different.”

“Why, Lady Avery Windsor. Are you jealous?”

“Damn fucking right I am.”

“Why is it when you swear it sounds like candy?”

“I have no idea, but answer the question, wolf.” She poked him in the arm.

“I told you I talked to my father about what had happened that day. As I got older, I brought it up a few times. I worried we might never cross paths again and he promised me it didn’t work that way. But he also told me that I needed to live my life. And that meant I needed to experience all the things that everyone else did. That meant dating. As time went on, and I became engrossed with my career, the imprinting feeling faded.”

“Are you saying you forgot? That’s convenient.”

“I didn’t forget. But I didn’t lay eyes on you again until you were seventeen and I was twenty-three. We locked gazes from across the auditorium foyer, but before I could come say hello, remember me, you scurried off. From that day on, I couldn’t think about anyone but you. Want to talk about creepy, stalker, old-man shit? The age difference means nothing now, but then, yeah, not sure your father would be offering to allow me to spend the night, even if he did believe in fated mates.” The feeling he’d had the day he’d dance with her had been intense, but it was nothing like how his heart pounded out of his chest when he’d seen her at the ballet. It had been his last performance and a week later, he was on a plane to Los Angeles and his first choreography job.

The next seven years had been torture.

“I saw you dance so many times,” she said quietly. “When I found out you took the job on the other coast, I went home and boxed up the posters.” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I felt like you were abandoning me, and God, I resented that feeling, so I tried to block you out of my mind.”

“I did the same thing.” He tilted her chin. “Look at me, please.”

Her chest rose as she took in a breath, her fluttering lashes giving way to the orbs that let him into her soul.

“I can’t tell you how many times I flew back here just to watch you dance,” he whispered.

“Why didn’t you reach out when I turned eighteen?”

His pulse sped up. Their bond was growing stronger and more intense with each passing moment. “I knew we’d be together someday, but I didn’t want to be a distraction from your career. You’re too good and too special, and I know what it means to you. I wanted you, my mate, to experience everything that I had already had the chance to live. I couldn’t take that away from you.”

“Why now? Is it just because your pack is sick?”

“No,” he said behind gritted teeth. “I could have reached out to your father without you.”

“Then why? I really want to know.” She shifted on the sofa, tucking her feet under her butt.

“I couldn’t live without you anymore. When I was offered the job, I thought maybe the universe was telling me something.”

She burst out laughing. “I guess maybe it was.”

He pressed his finger over her lips. “There is something you need to know about wolves and mating since we’ve already crossed that line, and I want to respect you and your goals. Although, I don’t know how this fits in with the whole double moon thing.”

“Are we really going to have this talk before we even go out on a date?”

He nodded. “Once a wolf mates, birth control isn’t something we think about, much less reach for. So, you’re going to have to shove it under my nose when the time comes. Or go on the pill, if you’re not already.”

“I can’t take that. I get horribly sick on it. The bane of my existence.”

“Then when we finally make love, like I said, you will have to remind me. I’ll do my best, but it’s not in my nature once I’ve mated.”

The sound of knuckles on her door made him jerk. He glanced over his shoulder.

“The door’s unlocked,” she said.

Her mother stepped inside. “Sorry to interrupt, but your sister Arianna is here, and your father texted. He and the boys will be back shortly.”

“Thanks, Mom. We’ll be right down.”

Her mother stepped out of the room, tugging the door closed behind her.

“Arianna is the painter, right?” Darrell asked.

“For the most part, she gave that up.” Avery stood. “She writes now for an art magazine. She’s very talented too. Much like my father. His next book comes out in a month.”

“I read all his novels.” Darrell chuckled. “Are any of his stories based on real life?”

“Well, since he writes in the paranormal world, some of it has a ring of truth, but he keeps all coven and Twilight Crossing Council business from bleeding into his fiction.” She waggled her finger. “However, he does draw on life experiences and some of the mishaps of his wizard detective with his faulty magic has actually happened to my dad.”

“In this moment, I don’t need to hear about any faulty magic coming from your dad.”

“Don’t worry. It was all from when he was in wizard school.” She tugged at his hand. “Come on. Let’s go hang out with my sister and mom while we wait for the other men in my life.”

“Oh, goodie. I get to hang out with a bunch of ladies. Just how I wanted to spend my night. It’s not like I don’t spend enough time with a stage full of estrogen.”

“Watch it, buddy.” She slapped his shoulder. “Or you won’t get a chance for the need to remind me about birth control.”