Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  “Come. We should leave before he decides whatever punishment he had was worth the pain to see me dead.”

  Caine drew her away into the shadows, and she pulled them around them, a safe cloak of darkness.

  They were almost to her cottage when Natalya spoke. “He’s despicable. I’m ashamed we’re members of the same Seethe. If it weren’t for me...” Her voice broke. She ruined this man’s life with her silly, girlish curiosity.

  Caine shrugged. “It’s not your fault. He is who he is, and that’s his own doing, his own choice. Evil resides in vampires, as well as humans, I suppose.”

  Natalya thought a moment. It was a balm to her to hear his words, easing her conscience by a fraction. But guilt still remained lodged in her heart. “You may be right. You’ve made an enemy through no fault of your own, though. That burden is still mine to bear.”

  They were silent a while longer. “Natalya, I have a question.”

  Without looking at him, Natalya sensed a change in Caine, a tension coming into his voice. He hesitated in the dark.

  “About the night I was attacked. You said you were there in the forest. Will you tell me why?”

  “I was coming home from a hunt.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded flat, rehearsed, parroting the oft-used lie she’d concocted.

  “Is that all? I have the sense there’s more behind your words, than that simple explanation. Gabriel said something, maybe in anger, maybe as a prod. But he said it nonetheless. Something about all the time you spent watching me. There was more than just one night, wasn’t there.”

  She drew a deep breath. The truth, her real reason for being there. He’d unearth it sooner or later. Better now, than hearing it from Gabriel at some point, possibly as the vampire finally ripped the life from Caine. She shuddered, pulling her mind back from the sudden violent image. Yes, she must tell the truth. Finally tell the truth.

  “Yes. It was more than just that one night.” She stopped walking, letting the shadows fall away from her. She turned and found Caine looking at her, his eyes serious in the dark.

  She dropped her gaze, suddenly embarrassed. “It had been many nights that I’d come to find you there, at the lake. I watched you more than once.”

  “Why?” There was no accusation in his tone. He set a finger beneath her chin, lifting her face to his. Where she thought she’d find accusations or bitterness in his eyes, she found only curiosity.

  “I...I don’t really know. You looked so peaceful, I guess. I wanted to know what you were thinking.” She laughed, and shook her head. “It’s silly, a frivolous reason.” Her laugh faded.

  “And because of that frivolous reason, you were almost killed by Gabriel.” She pulled away from Caine. “Because of me...” Hot tears pricked her eyes, and she turned her back to him. He’d leave now; anyone knowing the truth would. She’d have to let him go...

  Caine’s hand took her elbow, pulling her back. “Natalya, don’t turn away from me. You’re the only one in this world I have now.”

  Tears fell freely, as she looked up at him. “But it’s my fault! My fault you’re in this world and not in your own, not sitting by the lake. All my fault.”

  “Natalya. Stop. Gabriel is the reason I’m a Nequam, not you. You saved my life. Without you, I’d be dead.” His fingers gripped her arms. “You’re all I have left now. Don’t turn away from me.”

  He leaned forward, eyes locked with hers, and then his lips were on her mouth, the rest of his words lost, as he kissed her. For a moment, she held back, but the sweet longing that rose inside was too strong to resist.

  She lost track of the time they stood beneath the trees, the dark sky over their heads, his mouth on hers, devouring her, as he had when he’d fed from her. She gave back equally, her lips and tongue meeting his, dancing back and forth.

  Dizzy with desire, she finally stepped away from Caine. In the dim light, his eyes were luminous, hazy silver, heavy-lidded as he looked down at her. One corner of his mouth curved into a smile so knowing that it felt as if he were looking right through her hunting clothes.

  “Natalya. You do something to me I can’t explain, make me come alive like I’ve never done before.” His low chuckle filled the darkness. “I can’t tell you how odd it is to say I’m more alive as a Nequam, than I was as a mortal. But it’s true. I see things more clearly, hear sounds I never knew existed. And I feel something with you I’ve never felt before.”

  His lips sought hers again, the kiss searing and over far too quickly. Then he bent and kissed her forehead. “Let’s go home, Natalya. It’s getting late.”

  Her heart soared, and she turned away from him and hid the smile that caught her by surprise. He’d called her house home. Part of her cautioned not to make more of a simple turn of phrase than it really was, but a greater part was overjoyed.

  OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS, Caine grew stronger. His senses grew sharp, his movements faster, and he adapted quickly to taking nourishment from animal blood. But he still grimaced with each kill, with each mouthful of blood he swallowed.

  He needed so little blood to survive, and Natalya hadn’t seen the need to teach him how to hunt humans. At least not yet. As a Nequam, he still found the idea of killing humans abhorrent, and she couldn’t blame him.

  But he still railed at her each time she came home from her own hunts. He knew she killed humans. She’d tried to explain her needs, how they differed from his. How she spared innocent humans, and only killed those who were evil.

  “And how is it that you know these humans are evil?” He demanded of her one night, when she’d come home from a hunt. “The one you killed tonight, the one whose blood is on your lips. How did you know?”

  She reached up, touching her lips. When she brought her fingers away, they were stained with blood.

  “I can scent it in their blood,” she told him. She sat on the bench by the hearth. “The corruption from evil souls often translates to the bloodstream, tainting it so that it has a slightly bitter flavor.”

  He’d shaken his head, striding across the room, hands on hips. “What if you’re wrong? What if you’d gotten the scent wrong?”

  She’d shrugged, tugging at the lacings of her boots. “We...I might mistake the scent, but certainly never the taste. It’s very distinct. If I’d gotten it wrong, I’d let the human go, of course.”

  “You’d give up a meal, risk whatever happens if you don’t feed, for the life of a human?”

  She looked up from her task, one boot in her hand, and gave him a rueful smile. “You’d be surprised the number of evil people in this world. I don’t give up many feedings.”

  He glared at her for a moment, before storming from the room. She sighed and tugged off her other boot. She supposed this was another thing that would come between them, the difference in the way he viewed her world, their world. It saddened her deeply, and she wondered in her heart, if it would be the thing that pulled their fragile relationship apart, whatever relationship they had.

  She sat for a moment, boots in hand, staring into the fire. Finally, she rose, dropping the boots by the hearth. It was silly—she was silly—thinking there was anything between them. Caine was vulnerable, dragged against his will from his own world, thrust into something foreign, terrifying, beyond anything he could imagine. What she’d felt as he fed, the kiss in the forest, it was all an illusion. It was just a result of Caine’s transformation into a Nequam. They had the sexual magnetism of a full-fledged vampire. Her infatuation wasn’t based on anything other than that. That, and the guilt she felt for her part in what had happened to him.

  The sunrise was still a few hours away, but she was sated and languorous, and even though it was just a cot, it called to her. Tugging her tunic over her head, she dropped it to the floor, as she pulled back the curtain to the alcove. She slid the breeches down her legs, stepping out of them. The warmth of the fire licked the backs of her legs, and she stretched, pushing aside her confusion over Caine. They’d sort it out after they’d sl
ept, after the sun had set.

  With a gasp, she turned at the soft scrape of a foot behind her. Caine stood in the shadows, the only thing visible his glowing eyes. They weren’t glowing with bloodlust though. They were focused on her, shining silver in the dark. She wanted to pull the curtain shut, or at least hide behind it, but the look in his eyes stayed her hand.

  “Caine...” Her voice failed her, and almost with it, her resolve to withstand his gaze. But a strange feeling came over her, any modesty she had, fleeing. She wanted him to see her, reveled in his eyes feasting upon her. She drew away from the curtain, moving more fully into the fire’s glow.

  He stepped from the shadows, his eyes on hers, his body glowing in the fading light of the fire. Clad only in breeches, he stood before her, all hard muscles and smooth skin, still-bronzed skin picking up the heat of the fire. He was less than a vampire, but more than a human. Far more than a human, than any man she’d ever seen.

  “Natalya.” He took another step toward her, closing the distance. The space between them became charged with tension, the air fairly crackling with heat.

  His eyes slid down her body, taking in every inch of her naked skin, each curve, from her head to her toes, drinking her in. A tiny voice sprang up and told her to run, that this was wrong, so very wrong. But she silenced it without a second thought.

  She remained where she was, watching him watch her, wanting him to come to her, to take that final step. His lips parted, as his eyes rose to hers.

  “Natalya.” Her name was barely a whisper on his lips, but it shot straight through to her core, igniting a fire she thought long dead.

  He took that final step, and it brought him within a hairsbreadth of where she stood. Every nerve in her body tingled, every sense alive. His scent filled her nose, warm and rich and spicy, underplayed with the tang of blood. It was the scent she was familiar with, the scent of a predator, not one seeking her blood, but seeking something else, something just as vital.

  “I...we can’t...shouldn’t...” The words came unbidden, and they were not the words she wanted to hear herself speak. Her voice faltered. “We can’t.”

  “We can. Throw logic and reason out the window, Natalya. You want to; I know you do. I want this as much as you. Don’t push me away again.”

  He put his hand on her arm, his fingers caressing her skin. The heat of his touch was intense, sensation moving through her, flooding her body. Her breath tangled in her throat, as his hand slid up her arm, her neck, his hand cupping her face.

  “You’re so beautiful. Beyond beautiful. Like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

  His hand dipped lower, skimming over her neck, moving down until he cupped her breast. She gasped, her heart leaping in her chest like a stag over a waterfall, as his thumb skimmed across her nipple. It tightened at his touch, pulling up hard and tight. Caine looked down, watching his thumb making slow circles over her skin.

  Without thought, she arched against his hand, willful and wanton, craving more from him. He glanced up at her, a smile curling one corner of his mouth. Everything she felt, every wild uncontrollable emotion, every heady sensation, was reflected in that smile.

  “You want this, Natalya, just as much as I do.” He leaned forward, his lips brushing hers. She parted her lips, eager for his kiss, but he withheld himself from her.

  “Say you want me; say you want this. I want to hear you say it.”

  Natalya looked into his face, so close to hers that she could almost count the dark lashes that framed those heated eyes.

  “I want this. I want you. Now, Caine. I want you now.” Curse logic and reason. Curse anyone who would think this wrong. She wanted this, needed this.

  He picked her up, so swiftly it took her breath away, strode through the curtain, and dropped her onto the cot. It creaked dangerously, but she barely heard it. He stood for a moment, gazing down at her, looking both dangerous and desirable, with a hungry gleam in his eyes, before he covered her with his body, and took her lips again. His hands found her breasts, and she moaned as he flicked his thumbs over her nipples.

  Caine teased her mercilessly with his hands, greedily swallowing every gasp and moan she made, as he continued to kiss her. She felt him grow harder as she pressed herself against his hands, hooking one of her ankles around his calf to bring him closer.

  “I want to see you.” He lifted his head, his gaze hot as it traveled over her body. His eyes caressed her breasts, as he pushed the creamy mounds together.

  “God, you’re amazing.” He pushed her back down onto the bed, then took her left breast into his mouth, nipping and sucking at the pink, beaded pearl.

  A cry left Natalya’s lips, and her hands flew to Caine’s hair, digging her nails into his scalp, as he tormented her with his lips, teeth, and tongue. She’d never felt anything like this, either as human or vampire. His scent surrounded her, and she inhaled greedily, a dizzy wave passing through her.

  His lips left a burning trail down her abdomen, nipping at her ribs, his tongue dipping into her navel. Slowly, he slid his hands beneath her thighs, lifting and spreading her legs. A sudden shyness had her clamping them together, and she trembled as he ran a finger from her left knee down to her ankle.

  “You’re so beautiful.” His voice was soft, such a contrast to the fire in his eyes. “Don’t hide yourself from me. I want to see you.” He lifted her leg and trailed open-mouthed kisses up her calf and to her inner knee. By the time he started licking and nibbling her thigh, her other leg had gone limp and was resting on the coverlet, opening herself to him, to whatever he wanted to do to her.

  “That’s it,” he murmured, sliding his hands beneath her knees so he could spread her legs wide. He caressed her skin for a moment, then rested the backs of her calves on his shoulders before leaning down to press a kiss at her very core.

  “Caine,” Natalya gasped, her fingers finding his hair again, though she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hold him there, or pull him away. “What are you doing?”

  He lifted his head briefly, scorching her with his eyes. “Repaying your kindness, my lady.”

  Before she could even think of a reply, he lowered his head again, and she cried out in shock and pleasure, as his hot, wet tongue speared her, then skated over her, caressing, probing, as if searching her depths.

  His tongue grazed her most sensitive spot, and she shuddered, a sharp cry on her lips. He pulled back slightly, and she swore she felt him smile against her, as he hesitated just a moment before returning, this time with a vengeance. With tongue, and lips, and the very occasional graze of his teeth, he pleasured her, licked and caressed her, until she was a molten pool of desire moaning beneath him.

  When she came, it was with the intensity of a hurricane, washing through her with such tremendous force that she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but take the pleasure, as it saturated every inch of her. She didn’t hear her scream echoing off her walls, or see the smile of satisfaction cross Caine’s face.

  She arched her back, hips swinging side to side, fingers twining in the coverlet. Caine’s fingers dug into her hips as he rode her, as if he were a ship in a tempest-tossed sea, never leaving his place, relentlessly driving her on, prolonging the sensations that coursed through her body.

  When finally, she pushed his head away, weak from his efforts, she collapsed onto the mattress, chest heaving, not wanting to do anything except bask in the afterglow. She was aware of Caine curling next to her on the narrow cot, his arms wrapped around her body, drawing her in tight against his chest. Resting her head on his shoulder, she nestled against him. Her final thought, before drifting into sated slumber, was nothing could be more perfect than how she felt at this very moment.

  Chapter Four

  “ARE YOU EVER coming back to your own bed, Natalya?”

  The question startled her, and she nearly dropped the match she held. She steadied her hand, and lit the candle on the table.

  “What?” She blinked, that image of th
e two of them entwined on the cot, along with everything Caine had done to her, rising up to taunt her. Her eyes settled on Caine, leaning against the kitchen doorframe. He was clad in black hunting gear that fit him like a glove, every hard muscle clearly outlined. He was growing more beautiful as he matured, the vampire blood in him clearly evident. Had she not known better, she’d have thought him a pureblood vamp.

  The images of last night faded, but not the pervasive thought that had come to her this morning. It really wasn’t her that he wanted; it was his latent powers as a Nequam, the power to seduce, that was coming to the fore. He’d seduced her without even trying last night, maybe without even realizing it. It wasn’t she that he really wanted. It could have been any of the other vampires. The thought sickened her, but she knew that it was true.

  “I... I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m ready, if we’re ready, for that...yet.”

  Silence. He arched one elegant eyebrow in an unspoken question. “I meant that I would be more than willing to take the alcove bed, as opposed to forcing you out of your own bedroom. You’ve been inconvenienced long enough.”

  “Oh.” Cheeks burning, she turned away, fiddling with the candle. She was foolish. “It’s really no trouble at all. You’ve been unwell, and I want you to be comfortable, to take your rest.”

  Her sensitive hearing picked up his footfalls, his breathing, the displacement of the air behind her. The warmth radiating from him told her he stood scant inches from her back, but she refused to turn around, even though her pulse was thundering in her ears.

  He brushed an errant curl away from the nape of her neck, and traced the spot where it had been with his finger, sending shivers up and down her spine.

  “Would you rather share your bed with me, Natalya?” His breath ruffled her ear, caressed her neck. The shivers threatened to turn into full-fledged trembling.

  She turned slowly, and though she desperately wanted to search his face, to look into those depths, she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. “Don’t be silly. We both know you don’t really want me. It’s the changes in you, in your body, the vampire in you struggling for control. The power to seduce any woman, vampire or human...it’s beyond your control.” Her voice trailed off. She was babbling, she knew, making no sense. Why did he render her incoherent every time he looked at her like this?