She stirred but didn’t wake, brushing her mouth against his bare chest. The whisper of her lips along his fevered skin was a cool, soft caress. She rolled over, exposing her neck and the delicate shell of her ear. The dark fall of her sleep-mussed hair slid over his sensitized skin like a ripple of silk, making the heat escalate inside him for an entirely different reason.
Slade inhaled, not because he needed to fill his useless lungs, but because he wanted to indulge in the unusual spicy-sweet strawberry-and-gunpowder scent of her. He ached to have a taste of her just to see if her skin tasted as delicious as it smelled, and hot damn was he hungry. He always was after tangling with his odd condition.
He curled around her, wrapping his arm about her waist and bringing the curve of her back and the swell of her bottom up flush against him. A perfect fit. He skimmed first his nose then his mouth along the juncture of her neck and the collar of her T-shirt.
Her breathy gasp at the sensation and the pounding rhythm of her pulse beneath his lips took him the short trip right over the edge of reason. His fangs ached so bad it was worse than a migraine, but he wasn’t about to let them out to play just now. Not when she was so close he could sink them into the throbbing vein he saw. Everything in him wanted to feast on her. He leaned up on his elbow to get a better view of her face.
Her eyes opened halfway, their depths soft brown like melted chocolate and sleepy, and her lips curved into a sexy-as-hell smile. It was a damn good thing he didn’t need to breathe. He wasn’t confident he could have. What would it be like to wake up every morning with a woman like this, her perfect ass cradling his erection? A dream, only a dream, Slade sternly reminded himself.
Hell, there wasn’t any chance she was interested in anything he or the clan had to offer. She had her own world.
She touched her cool fingers to his cheek. “You’re still hot,” she murmured.
Slade couldn’t help but give her a teasing smile. “I know.”
She shook her head, her forehead scrunching as if she’d been misunderstood. “I meant the fever.”
Why was he prolonging it? Slade knew what he wanted. Feeding was out of the question. Clan protocol forbade feeding from a mortal who had not consented, but he could do the next best thing and kiss her senseless. Just to get it out of his system, of course. It had to be a symptom of the moon sickness, this insane urge to touch every inch of her first with his mouth, then with his teeth, then his tongue.
He tightened his hold on her waist, as his mouth covered hers hungrily.
Chapter 6
There were dreams one forgot by morning, and there were dreams that woke you with their erotic, pulse-pounding intensity.
The press of a hot, firm mouth on hers, the warm weight of a large hand slipping over her hip to rest low on her abdomen, shocked and surprised Raina. Her stomach quivered in response. Sparks skipped over her nerve endings, setting every one ablaze. She gasped at the sensation. No. Not a dream. She was awake. Wide-awake and fully aroused.
Slade took her slightly open mouth as an engraved invitation. His tongue, slick and warm, brushed her bottom lip then stroked in a sensual slide against hers. Everything within her contracted, then throbbed with longing. Her resistance melted into a liquid heat that flowed through her.
She’d watched over him all night. She’d taken off his shirt and tried to wipe him down with a cool wet washcloth to stem his fever, uncertain what else to do. It had been everything she could do to drag him into her tent once she set it up.
While she’d tended to him, she’d discovered Slade wasn’t just handsome—his body was built from hard work and focused discipline. Old scars, raised badges of battles waged and won, were white with age. He was by no means as flawless as she thought vampires would be, which made him all the more real to her. She’d toyed with the idea of shucking off his pants, as well, but she wasn’t comfortable going that far with him unconscious. At least not while she was awake. In her dreams, that was a different matter.
Having him wake up and respond to all the luscious thoughts of him that had been teasing her in her sleep was almost too good to be true. The kiss deepened and Raina twisted, wanting, needing better access to him. Her hands encountered the hot, hard smoothness of his bare skin just above the edge of his jeans. They moved up, slipping over the rippled edges of first his abdomen and then his chest as she made a slow, thorough exploration of his hard body.
He growled, literally growled, and the sound vibrated against her teeth and tongue. He pulled back, touching his forehead to hers, his eyes darkened with desire.
“Gods, you taste sweet.” The husky quality of his voice and the warmth of his breath against her mouth made a full-body shiver race over her from head to toe.
Her heart beat even harder against her ribs, her fast, harsh breath mingling with his. Raina couldn’t get enough of him. Her breasts tightened and ached in expectation, the hardened tips of them plainly evident against the thin cotton of the T-shirt she wore. At this moment she didn’t even have a bra on.
He nibbled kisses over her jaw and down her neck, his fangs softly scraping her skin as he went. Raina arched into him, moaning with pleasure. His hand slid beneath the edge of her T-shirt. The slight roughness of his hand rasped against her ribs as he caught her mouth with his and kissed her deeply. Raina squirmed, impatient and moved to give him better access. He cupped her breast in his hot palm, stroking the pad of his thumb across the pebbled tip. Her breath hissed out between her teeth as white-hot arrows of need shot straight through her.
Slade tore his mouth away from hers and rucked up the edge of the T-shirt she wore, exposing her breasts to the coolness of the air.
“Seeing as how you bathed me, it’s only fair I return the favor.” The warm, wet swirl of his tongue over her sensitized nipple made Raina arch. He suckled her, pulling her farther into his mouth as he cupped one hand around her bare lower back and the other around her bottom. Raina wriggled, unable to get enough, wanting him to touch the gentle, persistent throb building at her core.
“Can’t let this one get jealous,” he murmured, his lips moving in a smile against her skin. The exquisite sensual onslaught shifted to her other breast, and Raina grasped his head with both hands, holding him there, a small moan of pleasure releasing from her throat.
Somewhere in the back of her mind her intellect screamed at her to push away from him and think about the consequences. Her body trussed up and gagged her intellect, then shoved it in the closet, telling it in no uncertain terms to shut the hell up, then blithely went back and enjoyed absorbing the sensations he stirred within her and demanded more.
He pulled back a fraction and stared at her for a moment so intently that Raina had the oddest sensation that he was reading her thoughts. “We should stop. You don’t want this. Not with me.”
What the hell did he know? She threaded her fingers into the hot silky hair at the back of his head, bringing him back toward her. “Says who?” The movement exposing more of her bare skin.
He swore, closing his eyes, as if in pain, his hand flexing against her skin, his body shuddering. He swore under his breath, and when he opened his eyes and looked at her again all traces of desire had been firmly erased, replaced by a cool, calm confidence. “Says me.”
“Look, I’m not the one who started it.”
“That’s why I’m finishing it.” He pulled her hand away from his neck. “We’re still in unfriendly territory. We need to be out of here in ten minutes. Can you manage that?”
His sudden change flummoxed her and left her skin suddenly heated from embarrassment rather than desire. Raina remained silent as he grabbed his shirt and shoes and crawled out of the confines of the small tent into the cool morning air. She packed up with quiet, detached efficiency, growing angry with herself for throwing herself at him.
Even the early-morning birdsong seemed to grate on her nerves. As she tightly rolled her sleeping bag and shoved it in its sleeve, Raina realized that she was just as angry wit
h herself as she was with him. Okay, being honest, perhaps more angry at herself.
She’d known from the first moment she’d seen Slade that he could easily get under her skin if she wasn’t very careful around him. By the time she got out of the tent with her rolled-up sleeping bag, he was fully dressed and a good fifty yards up the trail, bent down on one knee, examining the ground.
She pulled the poles from the tent and quickly folded it, returning it to her huge hiking pack along with her crumpled uniform. He sauntered back toward her, his large body silhouetted by the first rays of the rising sun, his face a mask of concentration.
“Well, fever or not, you seem to be fully recovered,” she said with a note of asperity. “What happened to you anyway?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Nothing out of— You passed out cold and had a raging fever for more than six hours! I was sick to my stomach with worry, not knowing if you were going to make it or not. And what would I have done with your body? I sure couldn’t have hauled it all the way back down the mountain.”
He shrugged, brushing off her concern. “I want you off the mountain. Today.”
Raina narrowed her eyes. This was an about-face. He was not going to gyp her out of a chance to investigate these wolves. “Look, I only brought you here with me in the first place to help me track down these wolves. I am not going anywhere until I’ve seen them for myself. We’re probably less than two miles from the cabin. As long as we’ve come this far, we ought to at least see my aunt. She might know more about these—” she paused for a second, thinking her choice of words through “—these creatures, than we think.”
His eyes narrowed. “Doubt it.”
She peered up at the filtered sunlight streaming in golden ribbons through the fir boughs. “I thought vampires didn’t like sunlight.”
“We don’t,” he said. He held out his hand. A dark curl of smoke appeared on his palm, then shifted to form into a pair of screw-you wraparound mirrored sunglasses. He shoved them into place, efficiently covering his eyes.
“You sure you don’t want just to hang out at her place until we’re past the midday?” she offered.
Slade shifted his weight. The offer was tempting. He didn’t relish the blinding migraine that sunlight always produced. That, plus the moon sickness turning more virulent, wasn’t the best combo for being in unfriendly territory. What had happened last night? He’d never passed out like that before. It was definitely time for a checkup with Dr. Chamberlin at the Clan medical clinic.
Perhaps that was the reason he’d been unable to keep his hands off Raina. Gods, she’d been all-out sexy. But when he’d heard her mentally berating herself, all bets had been off. He wasn’t about to get into anything with somebody who didn’t really know what they wanted. He’d learned from fraternizing with a few of the vampires and more than one donor that it led to bad juju on both sides. Better for him to concentrate on getting her safely out of here than on how her silken body would feel wrapped around his.
Since it was unlikely the Weres would make their move in the daylight, Raina would be safe enough if they left the area by the afternoon. He fingered the throwing stars in his thigh pocket. Good, she hadn’t moved them. “Let’s get there, look around, and then we’ll get you back down the mountain before dark sets in.”
Once he reached the cabin, he could transport back there later. It only took once for a vampire to visit a place to be able to transport there at will. He scooped up the handles of her fifty-pound hiking pack and his black bag with one hand and slung both over his shoulder. Not waiting to see if she followed, he headed for the game trail winding north through the trees.
Raina shook her head, mumbling to herself as she lengthened her steps to keep pace.
“Got something else you need to say, babe?”
“You vampires are a lot stronger than I realized, which is why you passing out doesn’t make any sense to me. Is there anything that actually harms you?”
Slade quirked up a brow. “You mean like garlic, crosses and holy water?”
Raina shrugged and nibbled at her bottom lip, which made him focus on that spot, wanting to kiss her hard and senseless. Now that he’d tasted what she had to offer, it was harder to resist. She’d ditched the stodgy uniform in favor of well-worn jeans, a soft brown hooded sweatshirt and a scoop-necked turquoise T-shirt. Her hair was a loose fall of dark waves over her shoulders and down her back.
It wasn’t just staying out of the hottest sun of the day that was temping—so was the woman.
He focused on the trail ahead of them, looking for any signs the Weres were close by. “No. That’s all Hollywood.”
“So you’re invincible?”
Hardly. She’d had his shirt off. Would have been difficult for her to miss the scars. There were enough of them. Invincible wasn’t the same as immortal by a long shot. “I didn’t say that.”
“But if none of that stuff works and you’re immortal, then—”
He caught her curious gaze. “But nothing. Silver can disrupt nerve and muscle impulses, leaving us immobile. A dead man’s blood acts like a combo between a tranquilizer and a poison, and no matter how immortal we are, beheading or blowing apart a vampire is going to take them down permanently.”
Her forehead crinkled. “Why wasn’t any of that revealed in the media when vampires came out of the coffin a year ago?”
Slade knew she was talking about the nearly botched introduction of vampires to mortals that had started in Seattle. The transition of including vampires in mainstream society had been rocky at best. A year later there were still plenty of mortals who didn’t like or approve of his kind.
But then, what did he care? Those people had never done anything for him, while the vampires at the Cascade Clan had given him a home, a family, a life.
“If people were looking for a way to take you down, would you offer up the secrets of how to accomplish that mission?”
She looked away from him. “Probably not. But there’s a lot humans still don’t know about vampires, and when people don’t know things, they tend to invent something to fill the gap. Ignorance is not bliss in that case. It might have helped if vampires had shown humans that we have intrinsic similarities, humanize themselves so people don’t fear the unknown.”
Ah, there was the officer coming out in her. Investigate, probe, and demand the answers. He had to remember that while he was assisting her, she was still a mortal, and more importantly a cop.
He slowed his steps just enough that she noticed and glanced up at him. “In case you missed it, we’re still human. Just not mortal, babe.” Achilles had ordered Slade to help her, but he hadn’t said tell her everything. The ancient vampire was more than just his commander. He was also the vampire who’d found him as a skinny, homeless kid on the streets, with no memories, no home and no future. He’d introduced Slade into the clan slowly, first letting him hang out at the safe house the clan had on the surface, then working cleaning and maintaining gear, equipment and weapons until he was old enough to decide if he wanted to train as a Shyeld, one of the human guards that filled out the ranks of the clan’s security force.
Most people still didn’t know about Shyelds. The council had deemed it classified information. Shyelds weren’t donors. They weren’t wholly vampires, either. They were highly trained mortal security personnel fed consistent small doses of ichor to amp up their abilities and senses, and they were able to live among and blend in with mortals. It was like being superhuman, which became an addictive sensation all on its own. Which is why Shyelds were carefully monitored and never given enough ichor to transition, unless, like himself, they were offered the privilege.
Slade had jumped at the chance. Hell, he didn’t have anything to leave behind, so joining the ranks of full-blood vampires in the clan had been a no-brainer.
“What about you, nature girl? How’d you end up a game warden? It doesn’t seem like your tribe is too enthusiastic about your job.”
“They aren’t. But then I think they would’ve been even more disappointed if I hadn’t.”
“Why’s that?”
“Believe it or not, bad boys are my downfall.”
Slade chuckled. “Yeah. I bet. Got to have someone to practice those cuffs on.”
She gave him a cross look, but a subtle smile tugged at the corner of her full lips. “Do you want to hear this or not?”
“Hit me.”
“College was my first real taste of the world away from Teanachee. I almost didn’t come back.”
He looked at her, so perfectly at ease out in the wilderness of these mountains, and really couldn’t imagine her anywhere else, and certainly not stuck behind some desk in a high-rise downtown. “Why? You clearly love it and the people, and they like you.”
“There was this motorcycle mechanic—”
“So now you’ve got something against motorcycles?”
“No. I love motorcycles. Especially big throaty ones.”
Slade bit back a grin. Too bad he hadn’t driven them here. It would have been a reason to bring his baby, a Harley-Davidson Softail Blackline, out for a run.
“But Rocky—”
“Rocky, this dude’s name was Rocky?”
She turned on him, fisting her hands by her sides. “Gahh! You’re infuriating, you know that?”
Slade let a slow smile cross his lips in a way he knew deepened the devil-may-care dimple that divided his chin. “You didn’t seem to think so this morning.”
“A momentary lapse in judgment.”
He just bet. Under that cool, controlled exterior was a very sexy woman. He’d caught more than a glimpse of her this morning. All he’d wanted was to kiss her. But Raina wasn’t the kind of woman he could just kiss and walk away from.
The Half-Breed Vampire Page 6
