Fear the Darkness
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Ignoring him, Geary knelt down beside her catch. The man held himself
up with one muscular arm as he continued to breathe in short, sharp gasps.
His tangled wet black hair fell over his face, completely obscuring it from her
and the others. The tendons of his hands were well defined and beautiful,
which made her curious as to what his face would look like.
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Would it be as scarred as his back or as pristine and beautiful as the rest
of him?
“Are you okay?” she asked in Greek, assuming since they were in the Aegean
that he would understand her better in Greek than any other language.
He nodded as he continued to struggle to expel the water from his body.
It was almost as if he wasn’t used to his own lungs.
His breathing ragged, he lifted his head to look at her through the strands
of his wet black hair. And as soon as their eyes met, Geary gasped and fought
the urge to cross herself and spit as she came face-to-face with the intense
blue eyes of her dreams.
It couldn’t be....
It wasn’t possible and yet there he was before her in all his almost naked
glory. She knew those perfect, sardonic lips. The slash of his dark brows over
eyes that were so pale a blue they radiated. She knew that strong jaw, dusted
with whiskers. It was one she’d teased with her teeth and tongue for hours
on end.
Against all reason, it was him.
Something hot and needful went through her like a sharp needle as she
fought the urge to reach out and touch him to make sure he was really here.
Arik couldn’t do anything more than stare at Megeara. She was even more
beautiful in reality than she’d been in her dreams. Her deep blue eyes capti-
vated him as tendrils of her wet blond hair hung down over them. Her pale
skin begged for his touch just as her partially opened mouth needed his kiss.
He started toward those lips, then coughed more as he tried to breathe
through the stinging pain in his chest. His body shook uncontrollably as he
was assaulted by horrifyingly intense sensations and emotions. Even the cries
of the birds above him were piercing to his ears—the droning of the ocean.
And the heat of the sun on his skin...it was blistering. Never had he felt so out
of control. Why wouldn’t his body obey him?
Why the hell couldn’t he stop coughing and shaking?
He half-expected Megeara to pound on his back as her accomplice had
done. Instead, Megeara’s touch was gentle as she lightly hit him to help dispel
the water from his now human body.
Then she started to gently rub his back in a circle. Chills spread over him
as he felt a heat the likes of which were unimaginable. Forget the heat of the
sun, this was even more scorching.
No one had ever touched him so gently and he’d never really felt a touch
before, especially not against his flesh. All he wanted was to pull her into
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his arms and taste the taut nipples that were so apparent through her wet
white shirt.
If only his body would obey him.
“I think he’s going into shock,” Megeara said to the others. “Grab more
blankets.”
Another woman pulled Megeara away. “Let me look at—”
“No!” he snarled, reaching for Megeara’s hand to keep her by his side. He
hadn’t come this far to lose sight of her now.
Megeara covered his hand with hers in a soothing caress. “It’s all right. Stay
calm.” She took a blanket from a young woman with glasses, then wrapped it
around him.
Arik closed his eyes and savored the fleeting sensation of her hands on his
shoulders. The feel of her skin on his...it was electrifying. Hot.
If only he could stop shaking.
Geary wasn’t sure what to do. She exchanged a frown with Althea, who
was on board as their physician.
“I need to check him out and make sure he’s okay,” Althea said in English.
Geary agreed. “I know.”
“I’ll be fine in a few minutes,” the unknown man said in perfect, accented
English. His voice was so deep and resonant that it literally echoed around
them. Those intense, predatorial eyes pierced her. “Just don’t leave me.”
Geary found herself nodding even though the possessive command of
that tone made her want to run. It wasn’t in her nature to let anyone tell
her what to do, but in his case, there was something unnaturally compelling
about him. Alluring.
Honestly, she didn’t want to leave him. And that really did scare her.
Her heart hammering, she used a corner of his blanket to towel dry his hair,
then brushed it back from a face that was truly flawless. “It doesn’t matter.”
Wow. He was extremely bilingual. He was also extremely exposed, and
the sight of him with those pants clinging to his every asset brought the most
wicked images to her mind. In her dreams, she’d twisted that body of his like
a pretzel and licked every inch of it.
Okay, so it wasn’t quite that body. In her dreams, there had been no scars.
But his body was close enough to the one she was used to to evoke a fervent
heat inside her.
Geary brushed a drop of water off his cheek with the blanket. “What hap-
pened to you?”
He looked away. “I don’t know.”
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Thia gave her a wicked grin. “Well, it isn’t every day we fish a nearly
naked god out of the sea, now is it? Glad I came back early from my shopping
trip. This was definitely worth it.”
The man snapped his head toward her and gave her a fierce scowl. It was
obvious her words touched a nerve with him.
“Thia?” Geary said in a steady tone. “Do you mind?”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. See if I save his life next time he’s drown-
ing.” Turning around, she headed belowdecks.
Christof stepped forward. “We should report this to the authorities.”
Even more fury snapped in those pale blue eyes. “No!” His tone was firm
and commanding. “No authorities.”
Teddy exchanged a frown with her. “Why? You running from them?”
“No. I just don’t want to be interrogated when I can’t remember
anything.”
Christof narrowed his eyes on him. “Do you know your name?”
He hesitated. “Arik.”
“Arik what?”
He looked up at Geary with a confusion that tugged at her heart. “I don’t
remember.”
Geary tilted her head, not sure what to think. Something deep inside told
her he was lying, but she wasn’t sure about what. “Did you hit your head?”
He nodded.
“He could have amnesia,” Tory said. “If he fell from a boat he might have
been run over by it. Or maybe he was beaten and then thrown overboard.
Could be pirates.”
“He’s not bruised,” Christof pointed out. “And there hasn’t been a lot of
pirate activity here for several hundred years.”
“Yes, but I said could. Weird and unusual things happen all
the time. Did
you know that there were seventy-five pirate attacks on civilian boats last year
alone? Six more were against the U.S. Coast Guard. One group even tried to
take over a cruise ship.”
Ignoring Tory’s statistics, Geary dropped the blanket to Arik’s shoulders.
“What was the last thing you remember?”
“I... I don’t know.”
A strange, warm feeling came over her as she watched him. The whole
moment was so surreal. She couldn’t believe she was looking at...Arikos.
That had been a dream and yet the man before her was an exact copy. A
copy named Arik.
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Could they possibly...
Don’t be stupid.
It was just some strange coincidence. Maybe some sort of premonition.
Her face flamed red at the thought. Well, not that kind of premonition.
She wasn’t about to jump naked into a pool of chocolate with this guy.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Teddy, take Arik below and find some clothes
for him.”
Arik started to protest leaving her, then stopped himself. She was skittish
of him. He could sense it. If he pressed her too much, she might bolt and push
him away.
That was the last thing he wanted.
No, he must tread carefully in order to gain her trust. He was here, in her
realm. And he’d have plenty of time to seduce her shortly. For now it was best
to humor her.
He stood up slowly, his eyes never wavering from her gaze. As a wave
crashed into the boat, he staggered slightly and almost lost his balance.
Megeara reached out, her hands steadying him.
Arik closed his eyes as heat from her touch seared his every nerve. There
was nothing to compare to the sensation of human contact—to the feeling
of those delicate hands touching his flesh—and he couldn’t wait to feel them
stroking the part of him that was hard for her.
He bent his head low so that he could inhale her sweet, feminine scent of
open air and woman misted with a light touch of perfume. It was even more
intoxicating than it had been in her dreams, and he wanted to bask in it.
Even more he wanted to smell it on his sheets and flesh. To drink her in
for hours on end until he was fully sated and content.
Geary tensed at the feel of Arik’s hot breath against her damp skin. What
was it about this stranger that set her entire body on fire?
She forced herself to step away from him even though what she really
wanted to do was walk closer to that magnificently muscled body.
His eyes showed his longing as he met her gaze again and he noted her
actions. “Don’t be afraid of me, Megeara.” He all but purred in her ear. “I
would never hurt you.”
It wasn’t until he’d left that she realized he’d called her by a name no
one used.
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Pa r t i v :
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New York Times bestselling author Sher r ilyn Kenyon
has almost ten million copies of her books in print in
twenty-six countries. She is the author of the Dark-Hunter
® novels, which have an international cult following and
have appeared on the top-ten lists of The New York Times,
Publishers Weekly, and USA Today. Writing as both Sherrilyn
Kenyon and Kinley MacGregor, she is the author of several
other series, including Brotherhood of the Swor d, Lords
of Avalon, and BAD. Near Nashville, Tennessee, Sherrilyn
Kenyon lives a life of extraordinary danger... as does any
woman with three sons, a husband, and a collection of
swords on which all of the above have a major fixation.
Look for her Web sites at www.sherrilynkenyon.com,
www.Dark-Hunter.com, and www.Dream-Hunter.com.
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