“There’s a Dark at the back,” he whispered.
Darcy was so frustrated that she wanted to scream. Why couldn’t they have a few minutes of privacy? If it wasn’t Rhi popping in, it was the Dark after her. “Tell him to go away. We’re busy.”
A sexy grin pulled at Warrick’s lips. “Gladly.”
She dropped her forehead to his chest. After a few deep breaths, calming her heart and her body, she lifted her face to his. It was hard to think with his hand still on her breast, and her lips swollen from his kisses.
“Perhaps he’ll go away.”
Warrick sighed and gave her a soft kiss. “I need to check.”
If Darcy didn’t hate the Dark before, she did now. She waited until Warrick disappeared into the conservatory before she touched her lips and closed her eyes.
Romantic and dreamy were never two words she used with any man she attempted to date. Yet, Warrick embodied both of those terms to perfection. He might not have meant the kiss to be romantic, but it was. From the way he held her gaze, to the determined look in his eyes before he strode to her and wrapped his arms around her.
She opened her eyes to find Warrick watching her. His cobalt gaze blazed with need that made her knees weak.
“There’s another at the front door,” Warrick said in a voice laced with desire.
Not once in her life had Darcy wanted to thumb her nose at danger and rip the clothes off a man, but she was contemplating that very thing.
“Stay here,” Warrick ordered and walked to the front, clicking off the dimmed lights as he did.
The minutes ticked by with Warrick remaining near the front door as the Dark tested the spells again and again. Darcy was sitting at her desk with Warrick dividing his time between the front door and the back.
The night dragged on as the Dark continued to attempt to get through the spells. Darcy looked at her hands, wishing she could make them glow like Rhi and evaporate the Dark.
Darcy wanted to stay awake. It’s not like she was completely helpless. She was a Druid. She had magic with which to defend herself. She almost told Warrick that on one of his trips back and forth from the front to the back, but then she recalled how the Dark affected her.
It made her think about the desire she still felt toward Warrick. It was profound, meaningful, and acute. The feelings went soul deep, unlike those she felt around the Dark Fae.
With the Dark, desire was there, but it was forced upon her, not something she felt herself. It overwhelmed and overpowered, subduing her. She didn’t think about the Dark, only of easing her body. Whereas in Warrick’s arms, she wanted to touch him, to please him as much as she wanted his hands on her.
Even knowing that, she wasn’t sure she could withstand the Dark. Their magic was potent, and their will to take her staggering.
It was scary to think the Dark had been around and she hadn’t known it. For all she knew, she’d walked past a Dark using glamour before and was just lucky enough the Dark hadn’t paid her any attention.
Darcy bit back a giggle when she thought of all the humans worried about being attacked by aliens when their world was inhabited by Dragon Kings and Fae, and had been for thousands of years without the humans ever knowing it.
Her eyes eventually grew heavy in the darkness of the room. Apparently Warrick had some type of night vision, because he didn’t stumble once around chairs or cabinets.
She yawned and rested her head on her arms. Her eyes burned she was so tired. Darcy decided to close them for a moment, but she wouldn’t sleep.
*
Warrick watched Darcy drift off to sleep. In some ways he was glad. It was difficult to be so near her after their scorching kiss and not pick up where they left off. But there was the matter of the Dark.
They tested the entire building, looking for weaknesses in order to break through the spell and get to Darcy. Luckily, there weren’t any for the Dark to find. That didn’t make Warrick rest any easier, however.
It just meant that the Dark were devising another way to get to Darcy. Luckily, the following day was Sunday, and Darcy didn’t open the shop. If need be, they could remain there.
All Warrick needed to worry about was getting Darcy food. Thorn couldn’t help, because he needed to remain hidden. They wanted the Dark to think Warrick was the only one who had remained behind to guard Darcy.
Warrick rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. It went against his code to sit back and not kill the Dark. The fact they remained alive grated his nerves.
He gave Thorn a mental nudge, and waited for Thorn to open the link. “Are they still there?”
“Aye,” Thorn answered. “They’re also still circling the building. I think they finally realize they can no’ get to you.”