His face scrunched up in a grimace. “I know. It would’ve been so much easier if I could heal you with my hands or something cool like that.”
“Hey, being able to change your shape is incredibly cool.”
He offered her a hesitant smile. “You really think so?”
“Yes.” She hated the spark of vulnerability that had returned to his warm brown eyes and tried to dispel it. “Do you only turn into a cat or can you shift into other things?”
“I can take on the form of pretty much any animal I’ve seen. Or rather observed. A glimpse won’t give me enough to go on. But if I’ve really studied the animal’s appearance and mannerisms, I can duplicate them. That’s why I chose the stray cat. I see him around a lot.”
“Can you take on the form of other people?”
“No.”
“Good. For some reason that would seem creepy to me.”
He smiled. “Some of the eldest immortal shape-shifters can take on the forms of other people, but I’ve never been successful at that. Or comfortable with it.” He shrugged a muscled shoulder. “I don’t know. It just seemed more deceptive, shifting into a person people might trust because they think they know him as opposed to shifting into an animal they might glimpse in passing.”
“Will you show me?”
He frowned.
“Not the person thing. The animal thing.”
His expression cleared. He really was uncomfortable with it. After living with a man who had deceived her for years by sleeping with other women, finding a man with Nick’s integrity felt like winning the lotto.
Rolling out of bed, he faced her and backed away a couple of steps. “Don’t be afraid.”
“Okay.” She schooled her features into a mask she hoped conveyed interest and wouldn’t reveal any unease she might be feel—
Nick’s big form shrank and sprouted fur.
Her thoughts fractured as her eyes widened.
His clothes fell away, pooling around him as he shifted into the form of a puppy.
The entire transformation took place in just a few seconds.
Kayla lurched up onto her knees and gaped. “That is so freaking cool!” The words burst forth in a shout, and whatever mask she’d managed to don fell away. He looked exactly like a little beagle!
The adorable puppy clambered out of the pile of Nick’s clothing, then barked and wagged its tail.
Wow. He even sounded like a puppy. “Do you only shift into small animals, or can you go bigger?”
The puppy began to grow… and grow… and grow, its head and coloring changing until a massive black bear faced her.
“Oh shit.” Kayla scrambled backward and damn near fell out of bed.
The bear made a rumbling sound.
She slid off the mattress, keeping the bed between her and the fierce creature.
The beautiful bear rose up onto its hind legs, its head damned near brushing the ceiling, and let out a terrifying roar.
Kayla’s heart slammed against her ribs as she gaped up at it.
Then it began to shrink, the fur fading away, its face and build once more changing in seconds until Nick stood facing her. Completely naked.
Her gaze dropped to his groin, then flew back up to his face.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry about that.” Leaning down, he grabbed his pants and pulled them on. “Immortals who can shape-shift and teleport have it a lot easier because they can just teleport their clothing back on.”
Rendered speechless, Kayla watched him tug his T-shirt over his head and couldn’t help but appreciate yet again how ripped with muscle his body was.
Once dressed, he stood quietly.
More minutes ticked past.
“Kayla?”
“I just have one question,” she murmured.
His eyebrows flew up. “Just one? Okay.”
She threw her hands up and nearly shouted, “What the hell, Nick?”
He winced. “I probably shouldn’t have turned into a bear, but I didn’t want you to think I could only become cute and cuddly things. And I’m sorry I was naked.”
“Your naked body is the least disconcerting thing you’ve shown me.” She frowned as she studied him. “Do you… I mean, when you become an animal, do you become one in every sense of the word? Do you think like an animal, too?” Did she have to worry about him attacking her when he became a bear or something equally ferocious? Because that sometimes happened in the books she read.
“No. I’m still me. I just look different. That’s why one of the hardest parts of shape-shifting is actually learning how to emulate an animal’s natural actions and sounds. If you had heard my first attempts at barking like a dog or roaring like a lion, you would’ve laughed your ass off.”
She grinned, imagining it. “Have you always been able to shape-shift?”
“I couldn’t as an infant. But I began to manifest the ability in early childhood.”
She frowned. “Did your parents know?”
“Yes. My father and one of my brothers could shape-shift. Another brother could communicate with animals.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Like Dr. Dolittle?”
“A little bit, yes. My other two brothers could affect the health of plants with a touch.”
“I’m guessing that came in handy if you had to grow your own crops.”
“Very much so.”
Kayla shook her head. “Why did they react so badly to your becoming immortal? They were so different themselves.” Shouldn’t they have been more understanding? A lot more understanding?
“Back then people feared and hated those who were different.”
She frowned. “They still do today.”
“Sadly, yes. In the past, gifted ones were often attacked—even killed—when their differences became known, their peculiar abilities labeled evil. The Bible warned of false prophets and miracle workers. The church took that to heart. So we hid our abilities.”
“I still don’t understand why their own differences wouldn’t have made your family more accepting of your becoming immortal.”
He sighed. “They believed that as long as they only used their gifts to do good, they weren’t evil. Instead of harming others, they used their gifts to keep the land beautiful and fertile. They fed other families, breathed new life into crops that were failing so none would go hungry. They kept wild animals at bay. Living conditions back then were rough. And my family’s gifts helped many live longer, better lives. But the tome Malleus Maleficarum described vampires as the worst manifestations of the devil. You know how people of that time period felt about witches.”
“Yes.”
“Well, vampires were considered worse.”
“But you weren’t a vampire.”
“I didn’t know that at the time. We immortals didn’t actually discover how we differed from vampires and why we didn’t go insane the way they did until this past century when scientists identified differences in our DNA. Before that, I couldn’t deny being a vampire any more than I could keep my fangs from descending when I needed blood or prevent my eyes from glowing when strong emotion gripped me.”
And his family’s repudiation would’ve sparked a strong emotional response. How could it not?
Her heart went out to him. “I’m guessing they associated glowing eyes with evil, too.”
“You guessed correctly.”
Rounding the bed, she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. “They rejected you.”
He closed his arms around her and pressed her closer. “They didn’t just reject me. They tried to kill me. Multiple times.”
“They tried to kill you? Your family sucked!”
A pained laugh escaped him. “Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I sought refuge with the indigenous peoples.”
“Did they know what you were?”
“Yes. The Iroquois did anyway. One of their own was an immortal and became a mentor of sorts to me. I l
oved him like a brother.”
“Loved past tense? Is he not still around?”
“No. He was slain by some of the colonists.” Sighing, he rested his chin atop her head. “I became what my family accused me of when I found out. I killed all those responsible.”
“Good.”
“That doesn’t upset you?”
“No. I believe in an eye for an eye.”
He squeezed the breath out of her. “I love you so much, Kayla.”
She hugged him back. “I love you, too.”
“Even though I’m robbing the cradle?”
She grinned. “Honey, you aren’t robbing the cradle. You’re stealing lumber to build a cradle for a baby that hasn’t even been conceived yet.”
He laughed. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
She winked. “Then maybe this will.” Rising onto her toes, she slid her arms up his chest and around his neck to bury her fingers in his hair. His eyes flashed with amber light as she touched her lips to his.
Nick moaned. Closing those vibrant eyes, he crushed her closer and parted his lips so he could deepen the kiss. Kayla eagerly welcomed him inside, every stroke of his tongue feeding the fire that roared to life inside her. Damn, he felt good. Even more so when he widened his stance, slid a hand down to grab her ass, and ground her against his already hard cock.
Now Kayla moaned, then moaned again when he continued to rock against her as he palmed one of her breasts and trailed kisses down her neck.
“I love your scent,” he growled.
Even his voice, so gravelly and full of desire, turned her on. “Do that thing you do,” she murmured, eager to have him inside her.
“What thing?” He pinched her hard, sensitive nipple.
She gasped. “Clothes. Our clothes.” She whimpered when he tweaked the peak of her breast again. “Get rid of them.”
She felt a hard tug, heard cloth rip, and looked down.
Both were naked. His large, warm hand cupped her bare breast. His hard cock strained toward her.
Kayla licked her lips. Releasing her hold on him, she knelt and took his long length in both hands. Nick hissed in a breath when she drew her tongue across the tip of his cock, soft as silk, collecting the moisture that beaded there. She circled him, stroked him, then drew him deep.
Moaning, he buried his fingers in her hair. “Shit, Kayla. You’re going to bring me to my knees.”
She released him long enough to say, “If I bring you to your knees, I’m going to climb onto your lap and ride you hard.”
His fingers curled into fists, the light tug on her hair exciting her even more as she once again sucked and stroked and teased him with her tongue. Every groan she elicited, every tug at her hair, made her want him more. She was so wet for him, imagining his tongue teasing her clit even as she teased his cock with hers. She clenched her inner muscles as she worked him with her mouth, imagining his long, hard length driving inside her.
Swearing, he drew back. Kayla was so surprised she nearly lost her balance.
Before she could topple forward, he yanked her up so quickly the room blurred. Her back hit the mattress. He settled his large form between her legs. Then he plunged inside her in one long, hard stroke.
She cried out. Nick was so big, stretching her in the most delicious way possible.
He stilled. “Kayla?”
“Shit, that feels good.” She wrapped her arms around him, wrapped her legs around him, too, and circled her hips to rub her throbbing clit against him. Yes.
“I needed to feel your arms around me,” he whispered, his voice hoarse as he withdrew almost to the tip and drove home again.
The admission struck her right in the heart, bringing tears to her eyes as she arched up to meet him thrust for thrust. He toyed with her breast. Rolled and pinched the hard peak. Altered the angle of his hips so he stimulated her clit with every thrust. The muscles in his broad back bunched. His wonderful scent, free of cologne, stimulated her senses like the strongest aphrodisiac.
How she loved him.
Loved his weight pressing down on her.
Loved the way he seemed to know without asking exactly what she needed, what would ratchet up her desire and make her frantic with need.
Loved the intensity in his handsome features as he held back his own release.
Loved the emotion in the vibrant, amber eyes that met and held hers as the pleasure increased, drawing cries from her lips on every thrust until an orgasm claimed her. Throwing her head back, she called his name as ecstasy swept through her. Her inner muscles clamped down around his hard length, squeezing and releasing, each pulse seeming stronger than the last until Nick stiffened above her and shouted, filling her with his heat.
Kayla clung to him. Her breath came in gasps. Her heart pounded in her chest.
Bracing his elbows on either side of her, he settled more of his weight on her and rested his head on the pillow beside hers. His breath fanned her hair and tickled her neck as he burrowed his arms beneath her and held her as if he never wanted to let her go.
Kayla was fine with that. She’d thought he was going to die on her kitchen floor last night and needed to feel his heartbeat against hers.
Her pulse had almost slowed to normal when he shifted the hands at her back down to clasp her hips. She wasn’t sure exactly what he did next because he did it at preternatural speeds, but another orgasm crashed through her.
It caught her so off guard and was so intense that Kayla thought she might have screamed.
Nick shouted, too, his muscles locking as warmth filled her once more, telling her she hadn’t come alone.
It took even longer for her pulse and breath to calm this time. “What the hell was that?”
Raising his head, he gave her a rakish smile. “You’ve seen so much of the downside of my existence in the past twenty-four hours that I wanted to remind you of one of the upsides.”
She laughed. “Well, feel free to remind me of that one as often as you want.”
He winked. Then he blurred.
Another orgasm careened through her. “Fuck!” Her inner muscles spasmed around him, clenching and milking him. And she was pretty sure she dug her fingernails into his back hard enough to draw blood.
His eight-pack abs jerked against hers as he chuckled.
Opening eyes she hadn’t even realized she’d clenched shut, she stared up at him.
Amusement danced in the bright amber glow of his as he flashed straight white teeth in a boyish grin. “You did say I could do it as often as I want.”
She laughed. “Yes, I did.”
“Want to go for a fourth orgasm?”
“No!”
He laughed, his cock moving inside her and causing residual ripples of pleasure.
Kayla shook her head. “You may not need recovery time, but we mere mortals do. If you make me come again, I’ll be so limp and exhausted I won’t be able to do anything but loll in bed all day.”
“I’m okay with that,” he said, drawing another laugh from her.
“I’m sure you are. But I do need to get some work done.”
He wrinkled his nose in disappointment. “And I need to see what the network found out about the men who attacked me last night.”
She bit back a moan when he withdrew from her.
He sat back on his heels and stared down at her, his gaze as hot as though they were just about to touch each other for the first time. “Look at you,” he murmured, the desire and admiration in his deep, husky voice tightening her nipples and managing to drag a response from her replete body.
She could find no words to answer him.
He shook his head. Though his expression sobered, the amber glow didn’t leave his eyes as they met and held hers. “I don’t want to lose you, Kayla.”
She swallowed. “I don’t want to lose you either.”
A long moment passed during which he seemed to search her gaze for something.
Whatever it was, she hoped he found i
t.
Rising, he reached down and took her hand. “Let’s go have a shower.”
Nick stepped onto Kayla’s back patio. With a burst of preternatural speed, he vaulted the fence and ducked into the shade of his own, suffering nary a burn from the sun that had not yet set.
Upon finding his back door unlocked, he opened it and stepped inside. A snick sounded as someone flicked the safety off a handgun.
“Oliver?” he called.
Snick. The safety went back on. “In here.”
Nick followed his Second’s voice to the study Oliver used as an office and Nick used as a home library.
Seated behind his desk, Oliver set his weapon aside. “Just making sure it was you.”
Nick nodded and sank into the cushy chair that faced the desk.
“How’s Kayla?”
Sighing, he drew a hand down his face. “She’s okay.” He sent his friend a wry smile. “She hasn’t kicked me to the curb yet, as you would say.”
Oliver nodded. “I figured she was made of sterner stuff.” He studied him a moment. “She did well last night. Even Roland commented on it.”
“He did?” That surprised him. Most immortals and Seconds weren’t kidding when they deemed Roland antisocial. Before he met Sarah, he’d been a total recluse.
“Yeah. He said when they arrived, she shielded you with her body and would’ve shot them if I hadn’t assured her they were friends.”
That… actually scared the hell out of him, chilling him to the bone. He admired Kayla’s strength. He really did. And he hadn’t been lying when he’d told her he found her strength sexy. But if Roland and Marcus had instead been one of his attackers…
He sure as hell didn’t want her to take a bullet for him.
Oliver leaned forward and studied him. “Your face has gone pale.”
Not surprising.
“You really love her, don’t you?”
Nick nodded. “I do.”
“Clearly she feels the same way about you.” But Oliver’s expression remained sober. “Does she know it all now?”
“Yes. I even told her about the virus and vampires.”
“Good.”
Nick nodded to Oliver’s laptop. “What has the network found?”
Broken Dawn Page 19
