Dakota (The Sevion Brotherhood) Read online

  Nimo laughed. “You can get all the pictures you want at Dakota’s place. Let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”

  “Yeah we don’ wanna be late,” Zay said and took off running for the door.

  “Wait fo’ me Zay!” Kerry yelled out, running after him, dressed in a white baby doll dress.

  Tracy and Nimo laughed as Kerry chased after Zay to the car, the adults following behind them. “You know my sister wants to marry your son one day, right?”

  Nimo nodded and smiled then remembered what Jersey, Dakota and Dakota’s father had told him, if Tracy really was mated to one of Dakota’s brothers then Zay and Kerry would essentially be blood-bonded family members soon. How would that work out?

  “I guess we’ll have to see what happens when they get older, but they’re practically cousins, Trace,” Nimo said.

  Tracy nodded. “I know. I told her that, but she just keeps saying that he looks so light and pretty.”

  Nimo stopped in his tracks and looked at Tracy. “She said light and pretty?”

  Tracy bobbed his head up and down and chuckled. “Yeah. She’s always talking about the pretty lights around him. It’s weird, but whatever. She’s a kid, you know?”

  Nimo agreed and knew he’d have to keep an eye on the little girl, what would happen if there were two forziqs in the Sevion family? How well would that go over?

  They’d all climbed into two different cars and had driven over to Dakota’s home which was about twenty minutes away from Nimo’s home on the outskirts of Loweston. When they’d pulled up Zay had let out a sound of exclamation at how tall the house was, which Nimo had to agree with. Their house had three bedrooms and was secluded but Dakota’s home looked like a mansion compared to theirs. Where Nimo and Zay’s home was one story and spread out with a large yard, Dakota’s home was taller and broader, just like the man.

  No wonder he wants us to move in. Nimo shut off the engine and climbed out.

  Now walking up to the front door with Zay in his arms, Nimo thought about moving in with Dakota. While it wouldn’t be something he would consider doing for quite some time, it wasn’t something he was as averse to as he’d originally thought. Not now that he’d seen Dakota’s home and his neighborhood. When they’d first pulled up to the subdivision, Nimo had been surprised by how few homes had been in the area. They’d all been very affluent homes, every home at least three stories or more, with large yards and for a moment Nimo had worried he’d driven to the wrong address. Until he started to see the name Sevion on a few of the homes’ mailboxes as they drove past them.

  The door opened before Nimo could lift his hand to push the doorbell and he found himself looking into the beautiful blue eyes of a raven-haired woman who smiled widely at him and in that smile Nimo saw Dakota. “You must be Dakotavitch’s man! I am Adelina, his mother, and now yours, so you must call me Mamă! And this must be Isaiah. Oh he is just preţios, precious,” she gushed.

  Zay laid his head on Nimo’s shoulder for a moment and then lifted it to look up at him. “Daddy? Is she my new gwandma since you and Doctuh Dakotuh smell like each othuh now and kiss each othuh and he’s my new daddy?” he asked.

  Nimo looked at his son and then over at Adelina who appeared to be practically vibrating with the urge to be a grandmother, he smiled and nodded. “Yes, baby, she’s your new grandmother.”

  As if his ears had suddenly popped, Nimo heard Tracy and Ewan let out gasps and he turned to see them both faced with two of Dakota’s brothers. Both vampires appeared fascinated and already completely enraptured with whom Nimo could only assume were their mates. Nimo smiled when he realized that his friends would soon be mated to vampires and truly be family with him. Blood-bonded. It made him feel at peace for some reason.

  “Nimo,” Dakota’s voice sounded from his left and Nimo turned and found his mate standing in the doorway. Nimo leaned down to put Zay on the ground. The little boy ran forward, gave Dakota’s legs a brief hug before he took off into the house with Adelina to go and investigate and meet everyone much to the older woman’s delight as she loudly introduced him as her grandson to everyone inside. Nimo merely stood there, his eyes trained on Dakota, barely aware of everyone else entering the house. His breath stuttered in his chest as Dakota walked toward him and he let out a whimper when Dakota gathered him in his arms, sinking his fingers in Nimo’s hair and plastering his other hand on Nimo’s lower back. “I missed you.”

  “It’s only been an hour or so,” Nimo said breathlessly.

  “That’s too long,” Dakota said, his voice low and harsh.

  Nimo swallowed, his throat suddenly dry as he got lost in the hazel gaze of his mate. He lifted his hands and ran them through the thick, black strands of Dakota’s hair. He was blown away by the way Dakota’s eyes slid closed and he let out a deep purr as Nimo stroked his scalp.

  “That feels so good. Having your hands on me,” Dakota told him.

  “It feels good to have my hands on you,” Nimo responded.

  Dakota lowered his head and pressed his lips to the base of Nimo’s throat and Nimo shivered. He tilted his head back. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was asking for. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Dakota to bite him, kiss him, lick him or do a combination of all three, he just knew he wanted, no, he needed something from the other man. Being this close to Dakota, he felt like he was about to fly apart in his skin. He pulled Dakota’s head down and pressed his lips harder against the base of his throat. He moaned when he felt the flick of Dakota’s tongue seconds before he let out a gasp of pleasure when Dakota sank his fangs into his flesh. He felt the blood being pulled out of his body and he trembled as he felt his bond with Dakota flare brighter. Dakota didn’t drink much and before long he was licking the wound closed. When Dakota lifted his head, Nimo opened his eyes to look up into Dakota’s darkened hazel ones.

  “Hi,” he said breathlessly.

  “Hi, yourself,” Dakota said.

  “Hey, you two, we’re ready to eat. Get your asses in here,” one of Dakota’s brothers yelled from the doorway.

  “Utah, get your ass back inside. We’re coming,” Dakota growled.

  “I hope not. There are children inside,” Utah teased and laughed before he walked back inside.

  Nimo chuckled while Dakota groaned in frustration. “Sorry about that,” he apologized.

  “Don’t be,” Nimo said with a smile. Happiness filled him. This is what he’d been missing and he was so glad he had it in his life again. “It feels nice to be a part of a family again.”

  “Hold on to that thought. You’re going to need it for the many, many years to come,” Dakota told him before taking his hand and leading him inside.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Dakota climbed out of Carolina’s 2014 Lexus LX 570 and tugged down the front of his T-shirt. He looked at the front of the Sunshine & Moonlight Daycare and smirked.

  “Cute name for a daycare,” Jersey said as he closed the car door and walked up to stand next to Dakota.

  Dakota nodded. “Yeah, the dog’s attempt at humor, no doubt.”

  “Dak!” Washington reprimanded him and Dakota rolled his eyes.

  “Wash!” he mocked his brother and Jersey laughed. “I was just joking.”

  “Yeah, well—don’t go in here saying shit like that. Remember, Norma and her husband aren’t the ones we’re after here. It’s Terry’s parents.” Washington headed towards the front door of the daycare, Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan trailing along behind him.

  “C’mon, baby bro,” Jersey teased Dakota, wrapping his beefy bicep around Dakota’s head. “Let’s go and get ourselves some rogues.”

  Dakota chuckled and shoved at his brother’s midsection. The two of them playfully punched at each other as they followed their brothers into the daycare center.

  Dakota had asked Nimo and Isaiah when Norma and her husband, Javier, usually closed up the daycare and had made plans to be there at the right time. He didn’t want to scare the children when he and his brothers c
onfronted the couple about what they were allowing to take place right under their noses, but something had to happen.

  When he stepped into the main room of the daycare behind his brothers, his nose twitched at the scent of wolf. He looked around the room, noticing the appearance of toys, the crude drawings pinned or taped to the walls, and the play mats that were neatly stacked along the wall. When the smell of wolf grew stronger, Dakota turned and watched as an older woman with long, grey hair stepped into the room and immediately paused at the sight of them. She wore a pale brown tunic over a pair of loose, dark brown trousers which came in handy and didn’t tear when she instantly crouched and started to growl at them.

  “Why are you here, blood suckers?” she asked angrily.

  “I find it amusing you would take such an aggressive stance with us when you allow Terry and his parents, who are also vampires, and rogue ones at that to come in to your daycare and bite your charges,” Arizona said calmly, folding his arms across his chest.

  Norma’s growling cut off abruptly and she rose from her crouch, her eyes filling instantly with tears. “I have no choice in the matter,” she said.

  “There is always a choice,” Colorado denied.

  Norma shook her head. “In this there is not.”

  Dakota felt dread fill his gut. “Why is there not a choice?” he asked her.

  “The man Terry’s parents are working for have my son, Bruno, and my grandchildren, Mateo, Santiago, Mauricio, and Constanza.” Norma shook her head. “I have to let them do as they want else they will kill my family.”

  Rage filled Dakota’s body that there was someone who would use Norma’s family as blackmail in order to make zombies in their little community of Loweston. He didn’t understand what the reason behind it could be and when he looked at his brothers he could see they were all struggling to understand the reasons behind it as well. Why would someone need a bunch of zombies?

  “Do you know the man’s name that they are working for?” Michigan asked.

  Norma shook her head again and sniffled. “No, all I know is that he is a very old vampire and that he has been waiting for a long time to do this.” She shrugged and wiped away the tears that stilled flowed down her cheeks.

  Dakota had a very, very bad feeling that whatever was going on he and his brothers would soon find themselves in the middle of it and his mind went to Nimo and Isaiah. Whatever was going on, Dakota would do whatever he had to do to keep them safe.

  § § §

  Dakota pulled off his surgical gloves and surgical apron in anger and threw them in the trash with a growl. The nurses in the operating room stayed out of his way or scattered as he stormed into the washroom to clean the latex residue and blood from his hands and arms. He washed his hands methodically for long minutes, a lump rising in his throat as he stared at the lifeless form of the young child on the operating table that the nurses were even now taking care of. Drying his hands, he turned and left the room. Slamming the door open, he stomped down the hallway towards the on-call room, growling at anyone who dared to even look at him. He narrowed his eyes at Michigan when his brother started in his direction and smirked when the older man froze in his steps and turned and went the other way. Slamming open the on-call door, he stepped into the room and hissed at the two interns lying on the beds in the room.

  “Get. Out.”

  They left without hesitation. He waited until they were gone and then he unleashed his fury. He’d done it before. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last. He screamed, yelled, spewed forth expletives, flipped over beds, pulled down posters, punched walls. He’d been to see the hospital therapist about his temper and his inability to handle those moments when he lost a patient on the table, but since he wasn’t able to take human medication, besides being prescribed them, they let him have his tantrums and merely replaced everything he ruined.

  In the middle of his rant he felt the gentle press of Nimo in his mind and froze immediately.

  Dakota? Are you okay?

  No. I lost a patient today.

  I’m so sorry. Is that the reason you’re destroying the hospital?

  How do you know that? Did my brothers call you?

  No. You’re telling me through your thoughts.

  I am?

  Yes. Do you need me to come to the hospital?

  No—wait—you would do that for me?

  Of course. Zay and I will be there in fifteen minutes.

  And like that Dakota was calm almost instantly. His sufletul pereche was coming and that soothed the beast that was inside of him. He looked at the on-call room and winced. Usually when he went on one of his rages, he destroyed the room and collapsed in an exhausted heap in the corner and when he opened his eyes, his brothers, the nurses and the janitorial staff had cleaned up the mess around him. Shame rolled through him in that moment. He’d always complained about his family treating him like a baby, but he continued to let them treat him like one. Shaking his head, Dakota walked around the room and began to set things to rights, pushing the surgery out of his mind as he did so, instead focusing on the mundane task of cleaning the on-call room. He made the beds and replaced the announcements that could be salvaged back up on the tack boards. When he finished, he turned towards the door and found his brothers and a few of the nurses standing there looking at him in amazement.

  “You cleaned up on your own?” Kansas asked. Kansas was a Dermatologist though he didn’t look the part. He was one of the smallest Sevion brothers. Though still tall and broad shouldered, his black hair was always streaked with some different color, today it was streaked with pink. His hair, which hung to the middle of his back was pulled into a ponytail. Kansas was always sketching and always forcing Dakota to watch Christmas movies, no matter what time of the year it was, he was the one who first suggested to Dakota to go to the on-call and destroy the room after he’d lost his first patient and had come with the other brothers to help clean it up. He wore a pair of light green slacks and a pink shirt beneath his white lab coat, his hazel eyes taking in the state of the now clean on-call room.

  Dakota nodded and looked around. “I figured it was time that I stopped acting like the baby of the family. I’m practically married now and I need to be an example for Isaiah,” he said.

  “I’m proud of you, baby bro,” Colorado said.

  Dakota inclined his head in his brother’s direction. He walked over to Colorado and accepted the lab coat his brother held out for him. He pulled it on and ran his fingers through his hair. “Nimo and Isaiah are on their way,” he informed his brothers. “I think I’ll treat them to some Jell-O down in the cafeteria.”

  He walked through the still shocked crowd and down the hallway towards the front of the hospital, smiling when he saw Nimo and Isaiah receiving visitor’s badges.

  “Look, Daddy!” Isaiah said excitedly, pointing towards Dakota. Nimo turned and smiled in Dakota’s direction. Dakota waved and quickened his footsteps. He walked up to his mate and their son and leaned down to place a kiss on Isaiah’s forehead before placing a gentle kiss on Nimo’s lips. He sighed gently.

  “Thanks for coming,” he breathed out in a soft voice.

  Nimo shrugged. “We were just sitting around watching Doctor Who,” he explained. Dakota’s eyebrows rose.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Nimo gasped. “Are you serious?” Dakota looked around and noticed that a few people were staring at him in amazement.

  “What?” he said.

  Nimo shook his head. “That’s like you not knowing what Star Wars is.”

  Dakota blushed and Nimo let out a sound of disgust. “Okay, you need a serious education. Let’s go.”

  Dakota grinned and took Nimo’s hand. “C’mon. I’ll buy you a Jell-O and you can give me an education.”

  He led his family towards the cafeteria, pride filling him as peace settled within his bones. Isaiah chattered happily as he talked all about the different Doctors, his companions, regeneration, t
he TARDIS, and Daleks. Dakota nodded as he tried to follow along but all he could think about was the fact that it was late at night and his mate had known he was needed and he’d come without hesitation. It filled Dakota with such warmth that he wanted to shout with happiness. Instead he sat at a table in the cafeteria and listened as his new family gave him a crash course on sci-fi movies and television.

  And he loved every moment of it.

  § § §

  Nimo carried a sleeping Zay into his bedroom and laid him down in his bed. He felt a little guilty for taking him out of the house so late, just to go and check on Dakota, but he’d felt his mate’s anger and grief and he’d known he had to do something. He could always take the day off from work and stay home with Zay and let the little boy sleep in. He had a few days of vacation saved up.