“I understand all that but, if someone killed a member of my family, I’d want the truth.”
“We’re not like mortals. We can handle the truth in this instance. They can’t.” James frowned. There was no right or wrong to this debate and both brothers knew it. “The best we can do by them is stop her from hurting anyone else.”
“We should have been there with you, tracking her,” Roark said, his tone low.
“What’s done is done. No one knew she’d start killing again after I tracked her to Vegas. The right decision was made at the time and we determined I should go by myself. Alone, I managed to stay close on her trail. She would have sensed all three of us. Besides, you and Ian both had new brides. What matters is you’re coming now. She’s strong but her powers lie mostly in temptation and lust and in her ability to elude capture. We can resist her and together we will find her.” It occurred to James that he should be the one hearing these words of comfort from his brother. The failure felt like his alone, since he’d been charged with taking her down.
“I’ll call you when my flight lands.”
“I’ll see you there. Make sure you try the hotels with spas first. She’s most likely to go where she can be pampered.”
“Will do,” Roark said. “Be safe.”
“Yeah, you too.” James hung up the phone. Every part of him wanted to jump in the small rental car and begin driving, but he couldn’t force more road hours on Claudia, even if she did restlessly sleep through them. Her body was in a delicate state and the jostling couldn’t be good for her.
“Who is Meghan?”
James swung his attention from the phone to Claudia. Her eyes were open, steadily on him as she pushed up from the bed. Days of sleep had tousled her hair around her face in a mess of unkempt curls. Despite her appearance, her wide eyes were clear. “Don’t you remember? She attacked you.”
“Yes, but who is she?”
“Just a very bad someone I have to find.”
“Am I one of the women you are trying to protect from her?” Claudia rolled her neck, stretching her arms to the side. She seemed more interested in him than in their new surroundings.
“What do you mean?” How much of the conversation had she heard?
“Just now, you said ‘The more I think about it, the more I think we don’t need any of the women around for this’. Am I one of the women you don’t need around?” Almost cautiously, she pulled the covers from her legs. For the first time, she took her eyes from his, glancing down over her body and noticing the female pajama pants and tighter t-shirt he’d dressed her in. “Is someone going to try to use me for leverage?”
James frowned. He’d been so careful to keep his conversations out of her earshot but tonight he’d gotten careless, not stepping outside to handle his business like he should have. “It’s nothing to worry yourself over. You need to concentrate on getting better.”
“I feel better,” Claudia answered, not sounding appeased. “I’m not some little weakling and I’d rather work through my illness than spend my days in bed, asleep.” She stood beside the bed and he suppressed a smile at her confident look. “Besides, I’m not sure what it is I’m supposed to be concentrating on getting better from. The wolf-woman’s bite? Is it some sort of rabies?”
James watched her face, taking a step forward. “Do you remember what happened more clearly now? It should be coming back to you.”
“I didn’t remember it all at first, but then after we ate, I began seeing things, clear things. I thought it might be a strange nightmare but then I heard you on the phone. You said that mortals, which I’m assuming means humans like me, don’t understand the supernatural.” She bit her lip in thought, her eyes narrowing. He could practically see her mind working. “I also gather you are hunting the beast that attacked me because she’s killed others.”
James detected a small tremor work over her but she kept a brave face. “How is it you accept this? Do you know of the lycankind?”
“Aside from movies and books?” she chuckled. “No.”
“Then how is it you accept?” He waited for the hysteria, the tears and pleas. They didn’t come.
“I suppose because I always wanted there to be something like that in the world—something beyond scientific explanation—and because of my grandmother and mom. They believed in things that couldn’t be seen with their eyes.”
“What things? Vampires? Fairies?”
At that, she looked startled. Her mouth opened as if she wanted to ask him something but then she slowly shook her head in denial. “In the abilities of the human brain—telepathy, visions of the past and future, past-life regressions, stuff like that. They even had special gifts, psychic abilities if you want to call them that. They’d get premonitions. They used to tell me real ghost stories and my grandmother said she could communicate with the dead. Is it a far stretch to go from ghosts to other supernatural creatures?”
“And you?” James asked curiously. It had been a really long time since he’d met a psychic. There weren’t too many real ones around anymore. Most of them with the potential never explored and developed the gift.
“I have feelings, nothing like they had. My grandmother used to help police officers solve murder cases. My mom always said that it was that work that drained her soul and eventually killed her. No one can see that kind of stuff without being affected. My mom died in a car wreck. Funny how she didn’t see that one coming, huh?” The joke was a weak effort to hide the pain she had to feel at the memory. “They also dabbled in the craft but, by the time I was at an age I wanted to learn, they were gone.”
James nodded slowly.
“And you? Are you some kind of, what did you call it, a wolf hunter?”
“Something like that.” It wasn’t a lie, just not the clarification she probably wanted to hear. “What do you remember about your attack?”
“I remember eating by myself at a local restaurant on the island, looking at the ferry schedule and contemplating if I wanted to stay another few nights or go on toward Maine like I’d originally planned before getting sidetracked.”
“Why were you sidetracked?” James listened intently, trying to pick up why Meghan might have chosen Claudia as a target. Did it have something to do with her heritage? Or was she just a random pick?
“You know that whole psychic thing I was telling you about? I just ‘felt’ I needed to go to Block Island, so I turned the car and went there. I felt kind of silly once I got there. I feel even sillier now knowing what I ended up finding.”
“What happened after you checked the schedule?” James prompted.
“I walked back toward my hotel. Some woman suddenly appeared and then everything went black. By the time I came to, I was by the ocean being bitten by a woman with the features of a wolf. I tried to fight her off and actually got a few good punches in. She wasn’t too pleased with my resistance and in the end was too strong for me to fight. When she bit me the first time, it was like a kiss, but the second time, it hurt like hell, the kind of searing, white-hot, burning hell a person can’t even describe. Everything went dark and then I remember waking up to find you…” Claudia blushed, her face flaming, and she looked to the floor.
James remembered well the state she’d found him in—showering with his cock in hand. He also remembered the sweet way she’d fucked him that night. His cock stirred at the memory, causing a deep ache that never seemed to go away when she was awake and only tempered itself when she was passed out.
Claudia continued, “Ah, you had, ah, rescued me. I know you’ve been taking care of me for two weeks now and I know that last night I, ah, showed my, um, that we…” She turned her eyes to him. “Didn’t we?”
“Not last night,” he said, his tone lowering. The memory of it invaded his senses. His dick remembered all too well the tight fit of her pussy, the glide of her cream. His mouth tasted her nipples, felt their budded texture. And his hands ached to once again touch her soft flesh. He’d managed to keep from
going to her while she was asleep, though it was hard to keep his hands to himself, but now arousal coursed through him. “Four days have passed since then.”
“Four?” She glanced around the hotel room. It was nothing special, just some random roadside inn he’d found off the interstate in some small town. The dark carpet and pastel-shaded walls accented the floral pattern on the bed. A small television with crappy reception, a worn dresser, chipped mirror on the wall, a tiny bathroom with shower and a nightstand with a corded phone were the only items in the place. The night after they’d had sex, he’d gotten a nicer hotel, hoping for a repeat of the sexual events. She had slept. The second night, the place was not as grand as the first but definitely nicer than this. Again she’d slept. So the last two nights, thinking she’d be out for a week again, he’d just taken the first thing he could find. It figured that this would be the hotel room she woke up to. “Where are we now?”
“New York.”
“City?”
“No, the state. I’m sorry about the room. It’s the only one I could find with vacancies.” Okay, so it was only a small lie. The truth was he hadn’t really looked past this one hotel when he decided to stop for the night.
“And tomorrow where will we be?” Claudia tilted her head to the side. Her expression was unintentionally coy.
“New Jersey.”
“To stop Meghan?”
“Yes.”
“Will I be awake long enough to help?” She made a weak noise that resembled humor. “I want to help. I know self-defense and I can…” she weakly shrugged, “I can do something.”
“The sleeping is normal for your condition.” James found himself moving toward her, subtly getting closer as they spoke. The sweet scent of her body, the natural perfume of woman, captured his keen sense of smell. “But even if you do stay awake, I do not want you confronting her.”
“And what is my condition? You never explained.” She reached for her neck but the bruises she sought had healed, leaving behind perfectly smooth skin. The signs of her turning were good but he knew better than to get his hopes up.
“You were bitten by a lycan.”
“And that means?” Again she tried to be brave but he detected the speeding of her heart, the shiver that worked over her spine, the small bead of sweat that formed along her hairline near the temple.
“You’re sick.”
“I’m becoming like her, aren’t I?”
“No, not like her. She is a natural-born, for you it’s different.” James wondered why he was answering her when he’d rather be kissing her. Something about her lucid expression and clear eyes begged him to be honest.
“What does that mean, James?”
“It means you might die during your first full moon, if not before.” Why was he talking? He shouldn’t be telling her this.
“But I feel better.”
“Now you do, but nothing can predict your first shift. It has not gone well for others in the past.”
“Others?” Realization filled her at his look. “You’re a lycan too, aren’t you? I saw your eyes glow, or was I hallucinating?”
His silence was all the answer she needed.
Claudia wrapped her arms around her. “And you? Are you a natural-born? Or are you like me? Or are you something completely different?” She began to back away, shaking her head slowly. “Will you hunt me after I turn? Is that why you keep me close? I don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to become a killer.” A single tear worked its way into her gaze and she dashed it away with the back of her hand.
“I won’t harm you,” he answered, almost hurt by her sudden fear. Her heart was racing faster now, pounding so loud it echoed in his eardrums.
“My instincts say that’s true but they also told me to go to Block Island and look what happened.” She touched her neck. “My gifts were never that strong or controlled. I could be wrong.”
He frowned slightly, studying her. “Were you with someone on Block Island? Someone I should contact?”
“No. I was alone.”
“Anyone I should call?” he insisted.
“No family. I have work friends but they’re not expecting me back until the end of the month.”
“What is it you do?” Careful not to move and scare her, he listened intently to her answers. He had wondered if she had a man in her life but her words confirmed she didn’t. By the tight fit of her body on his, he’d guessed she’d been celibate for some time. The fact pleased his male vanity greatly.
“I help to find bugs and reprogram computer software and then freelance part-time for different companies. Most of the time, I can work from home and don’t need to go into the office.” The worry came back to her expression. “I shouldn’t have told you that. The smart thing would have been to say there are a bunch of people expecting me to check in and they will send help if I don’t, wouldn’t it? I don’t know why but I seem to want to keep telling you the truth.”
“I won’t harm you,” he said again, lifting his hand as he stepped toward her. Her back hit the wall of the small hotel room. There was nowhere she could run from him and he was glad she couldn’t. The door to the outside world was behind him. She needed to hear him out. “If I wanted you dead, I would have left you on the beach. Besides, it’s a little late for all that now, isn’t it? After what we shared.” He reached for her face, unable to resist touching her. His body became tight at the soft contact. What was it about this woman? One thought and he was aroused. One word and he became hard. One touch and everything faded but the need to lay claim.
“What are you, James?” Her beautiful eyes stared up at him, still so innocent even after what he’d told her.
“I’m a natural-born lycan but I’m also a hunter. I capture rogue wolves like Meghan and bring them to justice. You haven’t hurt anyone and, if I can help it, you won’t.”
“Justice? You mean death, don’t you?”
James didn’t want to answer, didn’t want her thinking of him as some kind of dealer of death. “Are you hungry? I can get you some steaks.”
Her cheeks instantly reddened and she turned her face from his hand. “I remember what happened last time you fed me meat. How about a salad? I’m more of a vegetarian anyway, not for any political reason, just personal preference.”
“Correction, you used to be more of a vegetarian. I think you’ll find protein more to your tastes nowadays. Your first lesson, feed the wolf what it wants and it’ll be easier to control.” He grinned.
“So this infection I have is a separate entity? Like multiple personalities?”
“No, it’s in you, part of you, it is you, but it’s easier to understand if you separate the human tendencies from the wolf. You become two parts, both equally you. The wolf is just the primal, basic instincts all beings carry, only manifested. The human part is controlled and reasoned.”
“And what does this wolf hiding inside me want?” Claudia took a deep breath and held it.
“To have its two very carnal appetites appeased. First is for blood, but meat will do if you stay on a steady diet of red meat. Rare is better.” He let a small grin curl the sides of his mouth. “And…”
“And?” Her breathing deepened.
His eyes focused on her breasts, lifting beneath the tight shirt. Lust filled him and he liked the fact he’d put no bra on her. “Sex. There is power in blood and in orgasm. We lycans feed off both.” He licked his lips, feeling very much the stalking beast as he lifted his hand to rest near her head, trapping her to the wall. Keeping his words a low, throaty growl, he said, “It is what keeps us strong, powerful, alive.”
“About what happened between us…” Her soft voice and downcast eyes caused his heart to nearly stop. Did she regret she’d slept with him? “I’m glad it happened.” His heart thumped hard as he studied her in surprise. Her wide brown eyes lifted to meet his and she gave a small smile.
James tried to gracefully hide his amazement at the admission, but pleasure unfurled inside him tha
t had nothing to do with lust. Possessiveness overcame him, territorial feelings urging him to lay his scent on the woman so she would belong to him. If she survived the changing, no other lycan would dare touch her without his express permission. She would be his and his alone.
But was that fair? To lay claim to her when she didn’t consent, didn’t realize what it meant to be claimed by him? Sanity and reason argued with desire and instinct. Was she attracted to the golden danger in his gaze? Grateful to him for saving her life? But then again, she had said she was glad it had happened. Uncertainty was a new emotion for him, so he went with the one he did understand. Passion.
“Tell me about the beast part,” Claudia said, liking the sound of his voice and wanting to learn about what was happening to her at the same time. She felt the changes inside her—strange changes that made her feel euphoric like she could fly over the entire world and never come to harm. At the same time, there was an underlying ache inside her bones and joints. She stretched her fingers carefully, feeling as if they would pop out of place at any second. “What will happen? Fangs? Fur? Will I know it’s happening? Or will I just wake up with a bloody mouth and a fat belly?”
“You have watched too many horror movies on television,” he said, not looking all that amused by her imagery.
“And yet I have nothing else to go on, do I? So what will happen?” Claudia wondered if she shouldn’t show more fear. The truth was, she felt it, but she pushed it down, not wanting to appear weak in front of James. It was silly, to be sure, but she didn’t want him to think she was a coward or couldn’t handle the truth.
“Fangs, fur, yes. You’ll remember turning, even if you won’t be able to control it. From what I understand of those who are not born naturally but are turned from human to lycan, it’s like watching yourself from inside your head—at least at first. After some time and with practice, your consciousness will take a more active role within the beast, merging together.” He leaned closer, the heat of his skin radiating against her flesh.
Call of the Lycan Trilogy Bundle Page 20
