All But Lost (The Gifted Realm Book 6) Read online

  All But Lost

  By Jillian Neal

  All But Lost

  Written by Jillian Neal

  Cover Design by Ana Cruz of Ana Cruz Arts

  Edited by Chasity Jenkins-Patrick and Gary Patrick

  Copyright © 2015 Jillian Neal

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincident

  Published by Realm Press

  36 South Court Square

  Suite 300

  Newnan GA 30263

  http://realmpress.net/

  ISBN 978-1-940174-15-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2015931359

  First Edition

  First Printing – March 2015

  To the people of Kauai for the love and life they so graciously offer

  Table Of Contents

  Reckless Determination

  Introductions

  Stairway to Heaven

  The Past, The Present, The Future

  Promises and Regrets

  Parents and Children

  Opening Statements

  Witness

  Fact and Fiction

  Thicker Blood

  The Princess and Her Castle

  Hard Work and Rewards

  Plans and Surprises

  Inviting Invitations

  Playing Games

  Pomp and Preparations

  Perspectives

  Keep It Down

  Unaware

  Times Past

  Long Day

  The Best Laid Plans

  Navigations

  Conversations

  Heat

  Interruptions

  An Endless Moment

  A Family

  Run!

  Baby Abigail

  When The Skies Come Tumbling Down

  Tests

  Capture Time

  Move the Mountain

  The End

  Trauma

  Tension and Explanations

  Answers

  Lead from the Front

  Together

  Weary Hope

  Deal With the Devil

  Revelations and Receipts

  To Start Again

  Healing

  Escape

  Fitzroy’s Crepes

  Confirmation

  A Child of the Land

  The Man Beneath

  Certain

  The Cottage

  Toil Through the Pain

  Confusion

  Russian Winter

  The Fire and The Water

  Maylea

  Reluctant Leader

  Reckless Determination

  ~Dan Vindico~

  Dan’s breath came up short as he turned his head and watched her cup her hand. Heat danced in a veined orange glow between her fingers. She turned her hand over and ran it over the Pani Popo, the coconut bread her father had prepared at her request, a delicious native dish from her island, Kauai.

  Her long chestnut hair hung in loose waves down her back. Dan’s eyes tracked down the silky tresses until they landed on what had to be the world’s finest ass.

  She shifted as she continued to heat the bread that was to be served with coffee for dessert. His jeans tugged, and his cock threatened to sever the zipper.

  With a quick glance towards the living room, Dan rolled his eyes in annoyance and debate. He moved to her and wrapped his massive arms around her waist, caging her between himself and the counter where she was working.

  Satisfied for a moment, he smiled as she leaned her head back on his shoulder. “I was hoping I could get a little of that heat, Ms. Styler. I’m hungry.”

  He cupped his hand and sent his own energy rhythms through her arms. His need pulsed and ached, and she could feel it all. Deciding to continue his coercion, he forced his shield out from his pores and surrounded her in the very essence of his fierce love and ultimate protection. The air around them tinged a brilliant green from his shield.

  She gave him that wickedly virtuous grin that drove him insane with need. “We have guests, Officer Vindico.”

  Dan huffed in her ear. “That was not my idea. Our guests need to leave. Like I said, I’m hungry.”

  She spun and gave him that smile that warmed his very soul. “And I just fed you dinner.” She waggled her eyebrows flirtatiously.

  “Dinner was great, but that’s not what I’m hungry for. I want my dessert.”

  “We’re having Pani Popo,” she continued to taunt him.

  “Fi, I’m losing it, baby. I need you, and…” He let the index finger of his right hand trace down the low v-neck sweater just over the top tender swells of her luscious breasts.

  He cupped her right breast. Her breaths came quicker. She glanced back towards the living room both to make certain their guests weren’t coming to find them and to remind herself why she should make him stop.

  He had no interest in their guests or in stopping, so he continued to ply her. He could just make out the strain of her nipple against his hand. He leaned and let a low moan echo in her ear. “You’re wet. I can tell. And swollen so tight you hurt. You need me to make it better, baby doll, you know you do.”

  “Dan,” his name quaked from her lips.

  A deep, chastising chuckle had Dan jerking his hand away and Fionna gasping for breath.

  Garrett Haydenshire shook his head at Dan as he set two plates and his glass in the sink. “Shall I kick out the two newest officers that you hired and promised to spell out what exactly they’ll be doing on the taskforce while Fi fed us all dinner tonight, or would you like to leash Dan Jr. there and not take her on the countertop while we’re all here?”

  Dan rolled his eyes. He’d wondered if he’d somehow royally pissed Fionna off when she’d insisted that they were hosting a dinner party, not only for Mike Barron and Trent McCoy but also for Garrett.

  Barron had secured Dan and Fionna adjoining rooms at the Venetian hotel for the Summation challenge where Fionna and her teammates were competing. He’d made certain that Dan and Fionna had access to one another without anyone being the wiser.

  Barron had phoned Dan the day he and Fionna returned home from Vegas. He’d decided to shoot for the moon and call in the favor Dan owed him for securing the rooms immediately.

  The memories of Vegas made Dan uneasy again. He wanted a life with her more than he wanted to draw his next breath. He wanted to put a ring on her finger and meet her at the end of an aisle. No one was more surprised by that information than he was.

  How he’d managed to convince her of his love and to move her into his house without anyone knowing they were together was orchestrated with more tactical defense than he used when he executed search and rescues with Iodex, the fiercest peace-keeping police force in the Gifted Realm that he captained.

  He was the highest-trained officer in the entire Realm. He’d put more criminals behind bars than anyone before him. He was damn good at most everything that had to do with law enforcement. He always got his man, but what he wanted now was his woman.

  Until he managed to end Dominic Wretchkinsides and his band of low-life thugs he couldn’t have her, and no one could know they were together.

  He wasn’t a pompous kid anymore. He no longer believed that hi
s wit, his muscles, and his will could save her from a man like Wretchkinsides. It hadn’t saved Amelia, and Dan refused to bury the only woman that could save him from the hell he’d lived through since he’d buried his fiancée ten years before.

  “Come on, you two,” Fionna commanded. Dan relieved her of the coffee carafe and followed her back into the dining room. Barron and McCoy both offered him polite smiles.

  Dan lamented this dinner all over again. He wasn’t accustomed to showing his men such polite formalities. Fionna had insisted that since they were moving from Vegas and coming to work for Dan and Garrett that they at least welcome them to D.C. and to the Elite forces.

  Barron was an outstanding officer with several meritorious promotions who’d graduated top of his class at Faraday, the Gifted academy in Arizona. With just a little bit of interrogation, Dan had determined that Barron’s girlfriend, who was not Gifted, was planning on gaining her master’s degree in Special Education at George Washington.

  She’d made this announcement the day after Barron had purchased an engagement ring. He’d held off asking her to marry him, not wanting her to give up her dream of attending George Washington for him.

  Since the University was within walking distance from the Pentagon, joining the Elite forces and the Wretchkinsides’ task force meant that Barron could keep doing what he loved and be with the girl he was crazy about on a regular basis. It also meant that Dan now had two additional officers to aid him in his quest to end the Interfeci, Wretchkinside’s far reaching criminal organization, for good.

  The Crown Governor, Garrett’s father, had immediately approved the budget additions for new officers much to Dan’s delight.

  Barron’s partner from Vegas, Trent McCoy, had been part of the bargaining for moving Barron up to Elite. Although he worked differently than Barron, together they made a great team. Dan was actually more excited about McCoy joining the team than Barron.

  Barron was very thorough. He dotted every ‘I’ and crossed every ‘T,’ but McCoy was a little riskier. He made damn sure the job got done even if he had to bend the rules slightly to accomplish his task. That was a man Dan could get behind; not that Barron wouldn’t make an excellent addition as well. After all, he’d had balls enough to up and ask for an appointment to Elite after securing the hotel rooms.

  “So Karen, you said that you start classes next week?” Fionna put everyone at ease. She smiled at Barron’s newly minted fiancée and poured coffee for everyone. Dan couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She was perfection.

  “Yeah, I’m hoping we can go tour the campus tomorrow, so I have some clue how to get around.” Always keenly aware of everything around him, Dan noted Karen reaching for Barron’s hand. He wasn’t certain if she was uncomfortable, nervous, or just shy.

  McCoy looked bored with talk of higher education. He turned to Dan after a long draw of his coffee that he appeared to deeply appreciate. “You ever think about expanding the taskforce to the major hubs where the Interfeci have guys? We used to take down three or four gambling rings or drug runners a month in Vegas.”

  Dan was impressed with the question. “I’ve considered it, but it’s not worth it. Wretchkinsides runs a very tight top end and a loose bottom. The top guys are skilled, vicious, and what they know would land them in Coriolis for the rest of their lives.

  “The guys he’s got out in Vegas, Miami, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and everywhere else are nothing more than a quick way to get him more cash. They don’t know anything, and they’re trained to pick up and leave in a hurry with barely enough background to hold them anywhere. They aren’t worth it. I want Nic and the top ten, and I plan to get them all this year. I’m sick to death of chasing down leads that go nowhere.”

  McCoy nodded his agreement, but fear tugged at the curves of Fionna’s face. Dan watched her delicate neck contract in a harsh swallow. She didn’t always care for his occasionally reckless determination.

  He laced his fingers through hers. She drew from him and he fought not to groan and order everyone from his home. Their energy coupled readily. They were meant to be together. The overwhelming sensation of her pulling his rhythms into her own made him ache. Nothing made Dan Vindico weak, nothing but her.

  “Dan’s a little anxious, in case you missed that.” Garrett tried to bring a little levity to the room at large.

  Everyone chuckled, but Dan just rolled his eyes. No one else had to live with the death that robbed him of breath, and no one else had to live without the life force Fionna offered him. He was tired of living without.

  “Well, I can’t wait to get started.” McCoy looked almost as anxious as Dan felt.

  Barron shook his head. “If it involves taking down a bad guy, Trent’s all in. He still plays cops and robbers in his apartment.”

  The laughter continued. Dan shot McCoy a smirk. The reddening of his face said that Barron’s teasing wasn’t far from the truth.

  Introductions

  “If I promise to be wearing this when you get home, will you leave at five?” Fionna drawled flirtatiously.

  “Oh, hell yeah, baby,” Dan assured her. He laved her mouth with a drawing kiss and let his hands caress over her body, reminding himself again of everything he was working for.

  She’d pouted adorably when he’d slipped from the bed long before six to work out, but after his explanation that he wanted so desperately to be done with Wretchkinsides so that he could focus on nothing but her and the two of them together, she’d given him his smile, sleepy, sexy, and oh so sweet.

  She’d even extracted herself from the bed and pulled on the white dress shirt he’d worn the night before. She’d left it unbuttoned so it hung deliciously off of her exposed curves as she walked him to the front door to see him off before she crawled back under the covers he’d warmed for her before he left.

  Images of Fionna’s beautiful, naked body tucked up in his bed and memories off all they’d done when he’d finally ordered their guests home the night before drove him. That was all he needed to dive into the hacked emails Fitzroy, the Captain of French Iodex, had sent over.

  She was all that mattered, and he was going to get her. Wretchkinsides, the Interfeci, and every other thing that set to do her harm because of him could go straight to hell. His thoughts and his energy rhythm strains converged in another single image. Wretchkinsides a fallen, broken entity of cruelty caught in a fierce blaze while Dan fanned the flames.

  “So this is Iodex,” Dan heard Logan Haydenshire huff in annoyance. Standing and moving out of his office, Dan smiled at Logan, who was escorting his father-in-law, the Australian Caliph’s son, the Crown Governor, and Mrs. Haydenshire into the large wing of the Pentagon that contained all of Iodex.

  Governor Haydenshire had the hand of one of his twins in each of his own. The Haydenshires both looked rather exhausted.

  Remembering that Lucas Nguyen was, in fact, a foreign dignitary, Dan stepped forward to shake his hand. “Welcome, Mr. Nguyen.”

  He wondered how long he would have to play nice before he could put Rainer and Logan to work.

  “Officer Vindico, this is quite an impressive operation you have here,” Lucas complimented.

  Dan took in Logan’s air of disdain for his father-in-law. With a slight chuckle, he smiled, “We make it work.”

  “I turned fuh-ree,” Keaton announced excitedly to Dan. He held up four fingers, making Dan laugh.

  “I heard about that. Happy birthday, little man,” Dan scrubbed Keaton’s head. The twins’ birthday was right after Christmas, and the entire Realm had been made aware of the Crown Governor’s youngest children turning three in all of the papers.

  Keaton jerked his hand out of his father’s and extended both of his arms up to Dan. “Where’s Ni-on-na?”

  Letting the momentary panic work through him, Dan leaned and hoisted him in to his arms. He reminded himself that the three-year-old Haydenshire twins had no dealings with nefarious criminals and therefore wouldn’t spill the beans on the fact
that Dan had fallen madly in love; something he swore he would never do again after Wretchkinsides had murdered Amelia a decade before simply because she was Dan’s everything.

  Keaton had developed quite a crush on Fionna, something Dan understood only too well.

  “Fi’s at home. She’s still in bed little guy,” he grinned at Keaton.

  “Tell her to get up,” Keaton shrugged his shoulders quizzically. He furrowed his brow, looking at Dan like awakening Fionna was the obvious answer to Keaton’s perceived problem that Fionna wasn’t there to play with him.

  Everyone chuckled as Dan shook his head. “She’s tired, buddy. We need to let her sleep.”

  “Why?” Keaton demanded.

  “I don’t think three is old enough to hear that explanation,” Logan chided. Dan shot Logan a smirk and tried not to laugh.

  Suddenly, Keaton grasped Dan’s jaw with both of his pudgy little hands. “Do you know why my mommy is fat?”

  “Uh,” Dan felt his face begin to burn as he tried desperately to think of an answer to that question.

  “Keaton,” Governor Haydenshire scolded, “Mommy is not fat. She’s having a baby, remember?”

  “I know dat!” Keaton huffed at his father. Turning back to Dan, he narrowed his little hazel eyes. “I want to know how baby sister got in Mommy’s tummy!” He glared at Dan as if trying to catch him in a lie.

  Mrs. Haydenshire covered her face. “He keeps asking everyone that,” she whimpered.

  “Me too,” Henry seemed to decide that Dan might also hold the answer to their question.

  “Uh,” Dan glanced at Logan for help, “Stork?”

  “God,” Governor Haydenshire supplied. Nodding, Dan began to regain his equilibrium. “God put the baby in Mommy’s tummy, Keaton. We talked about this.” Governor Haydenshire looked very weary of the conversation.

  “No!” Keaton screeched. “I no like it! Take it out!” He demanded of Dan, pointing to his mother’s extremely protruded stomach.

  Mrs. Haydenshire took over, to Dan’s relief. “Keaton, we have to let baby Abigail come out and see us whenever she’s ready, and she isn’t ready yet.”