She listened to one story after another about the joys of wedded life and what to expect on her wedding night. Considering that she had already been married, she thought giving her marital advice was beyond peculiar, but no one mentioned her former marriage.
When the sun began to set, the guests departed to their own homes to get ready for the coming hunt.
Kay glared at Victor when he followed her to her room. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“You’re my wife now,” he said smugly. “Where you go, I go.”
“Not until our marriage is consummated,” she reminded him, and shut the door in his face.
No sooner had she done so than she heard Gideon’s voice in her mind.
Are you all right?
Yes, for now.
A pause. Has he … have the two of you … ?
Not yet. It’s customary for newlyweds to break off from the others during the hunt, and … and … you know.
In wolf form?
Yes, the first time. She frowned when Gideon withdrew from her.
He returned a moment later. If you can get away from him, I’ll meet you in the woods.
I’ll try, but I don’t think they’ll leave me alone. I’ve got to go. My mother’s calling.
Look for me.
“Kiya?”
“Come in.”
Dorothy entered the room. “Your father sent me to look for you. Everyone is ready to go. I thought maybe …” She glanced around the room. “Where’s Victor?”
“I sent him away so I could get changed.”
“You sent him away?” Dorothy frowned.
“Yes.” Kay turned her back to her mother. “Could you help me out of this dress?”
“Of course, but … Kiya, you’re married now. Victor should be doing this.”
“I’m not comfortable with him.”
With a sigh of exasperation, Dorothy unfastened the long row of buttons.
Kay let the gown fall to the floor, then stepped out of it. She quickly removed her shoes and underwear and then, before her mother could ask any more questions she didn’t want to answer, she shifted into her wolf form and padded out of the room.
The pack was gathered on the patio. In spite of the fact that her father had forced her into a marriage she didn’t want, Kay couldn’t deny the heady rush of excitement at the thought of running through the woods with the pack.
Her exhilaration faded when Victor trotted up to stand beside her.
Kay glanced at her mother, who was standing in the patio doorway. What did her mother think when the pack went hunting and she was left home alone? Was she happy to have a few hours to herself? Or envious because she couldn’t join them?
The pack waited restlessly for her father to give the signal. Sensing their eagerness to run, he lifted his head and let out a howl, then loped across the yard and jumped effortlessly over the fence.
The pack followed hard on his heels, their yips and barks of excitement filling the air as they followed their Alpha.
Kay hung back, hoping Victor would go on without her. She should have known better. He stuck to her side like a dark shadow, while her aunt brought up the rear.
Sailing over the fence, Kay forgot, momentarily, how unhappy she was, forgot everything but the damp feel of the earth beneath her feet, the touch of the wind in her face, the myriad scents that assailed her nostrils as she ran. It was always a bit of a surprise, how much she loved being in her wolf form, how different the world looked through her wolf eyes. Everything was magnified. She tasted the wind on her tongue, smelled a rabbit cowering in its hole, heard a deer bounding through the underbrush, the fluttering of an owl’s wings as it hunted prey of its own. Was it this way for Gideon, too? Did he revel in his power?
In her wolf form, it was sometimes easy to forget her human half. Sometimes she wished she could remain a wolf forever. Life was so much simpler for wolves. They didn’t have to worry about the mundane things that occupied human minds.
Flushed from its hiding place, a jackrabbit darted in front of her. With an excited bark, Kay gave chase, quickly leaving her aunt and Victor behind.
There was a crunch of bones as Kay’s jaws closed around the rabbit’s neck, a warm rush of blood down her throat. She growled when Victor nosed her kill, snapped at him when he didn’t back away quickly enough.
The rabbit was hers, and she wasn’t sharing.
He wisely took the hint and backed off.
Minutes later, she was running again.
The pack was scattered now. She heard their barks and howls as they brought down prey.
She ran toward them, her instincts telling her to seek out the pack. There was safety there. Victor trailed behind her, and Greta behind him. Kay ran faster, faster, darting right and left, her need to lose him stronger than her need to reach the rest of the pack.
She paused when she came to a stream. Lowering her head, she drank deeply, then shook her head, washing the rabbit’s blood from her muzzle.
When she looked up, a large, muscular, black wolf stood on the other side of the stream, staring at her.
She recognized him immediately. Gideon. Would their blood link work now, when neither of them was in human form? Only one way to find out. Gideon?
Yep. He turned in a slow circle. How do I look, Wolfie?
Very handsome.
He grinned a wolfish grin. So, what do you say we lose those two?
How?
Follow me.
Without a backward glance, Kay bounded after Gideon, splashing through the water, leaping over a low bush, ducking through a hole in a tangle of berry vines, racing up a low hill and over the other side.
When she reached the bottom of the slope, Gideon was standing there in human form, naked. She had scarcely come to a stop when he scooped her into his arms. Holding her close, he transported the two of them to the room he had secured for them in the bed-and-breakfast in Bondurant.
As soon as he put her down, she shifted to human form. And smiled at him. “That was brilliant.”
“I thought so.” His gaze moved over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts, her flat belly and long, shapely legs. She was slim without being skinny, curvy in all the right places.
And married to another man. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. But she had been his wife first.
“Gideon?”
He shook his head as he reached for her. “I’m not sure where we stand, so you’ll have to tell me.”
“In my heart and soul, you’re still my husband, and always will be.”
“That’s good enough for me,” he said, and kissed her.
Kay wrapped her arms around him and held him close. She didn’t care what the consequences would be, so long as she could spend a few minutes with Gideon. No matter how long she lived, no matter if she was forced to live with Victor for the rest of her life, she could endure it as long as Gideon loved her.
Lifting her into his arms, he carried her to the bed and laid her gently on it. Stretching out beside her, he kissed and caressed his way from the hollow of her throat to the tip of her toes. Drowning in pleasure, she writhed beneath him and when she couldn’t wait a moment longer, she straddled his hips, sighing with pleasure as his body became one with hers. She threw her head back, basking in the wonder of their love, the sense of belonging she had found in this man’s arms and nowhere else.
Gideon stroked Kay’s hair. He would have to take her back soon. Now that he was thinking more clearly, he wondered if whisking her away had been a good idea.
“How much trouble have I just caused you by luring you away from the pack?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t care.”
But he heard the worry beneath the bravado. He should never have brought her here. As long as Victor held Verah prisoner, the werewolves would always be able to find Kay. It was only a matter of time. He swore under his breath. The witch could be tracking them even now. And when Victor found Kay, there were
sure to be repercussions.
He brushed a kiss across her cheek. “I’d better take you back.”
“Not yet.”
“I’ve been thinking. Sooner or later, Victor is bound to release Verah. When he does, I’ll talk to her, maybe strike a deal with her.”
“What kind of deal?” Kay asked, although she was sure she already knew what he was thinking.
He shrugged. “What difference does it make if I can convince her to stop following you?”
Kay sat up, one brow raised in disbelief. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
He shook his head.
“There’s only one thing she wants from you… . No! I won’t have it. You’re not putting yourself in that creature’s power for my sake.”
“It seems a better alternative than knowing you’re married to someone else.”
“Oh, Gideon.” Blinking back her tears, she flung her arms around him. “How could you even consider such a thing after what she put you through?”
He shrugged. “Three years isn’t much when you’ve got eternity. I’d give her thirty years rather than see you unhappy, or married to a man you don’t love.”
She rained butterfly kisses on his cheeks, his nose, his brow. “I love you, Gideon, only you, and no one else, ever. Please don’t ever surrender yourself to that witch for my sake. Promise me! I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.”
“I promise, darlin’, unless the choice is you or me.” If he was lucky, Verah would accept his promise that he would supply her with blood as long as she didn’t reveal Kay’s whereabouts to her family or Victor.
Kay hugged him tighter. He was, she thought, the bravest, most gallant man she had ever known. It was beyond comprehension that he would even think of contacting Verah … and even as the witch’s name crossed her mind, the bedroom door slammed open and Victor, his father, and Aaron, one of Victor’s pack mates, burst into the room. Looking past them, Kay saw Verah standing in the doorway. The witch was shrouded in a long black cloak, the hood pulled forward, her hands bound behind her back. Damn the woman. This was the second time in a matter of days that the witch had led Victor to her.
Before Kay could move or speak, Diego Rinaldi flung a pail of water at Gideon, then tossed the bucket aside. Victor and Aaron grabbed his ankles while Diego bound his feet together with a length of silver chain.
Kay gasped as the stench of burning flesh reached her nostrils. It took her a moment to realize the bucket had contained holy water. She stared in horror as the skin on Gideon’s face, chest, and belly reddened and began to blister.
Diego pulled the spread from the foot of the bed and thrust it into her hands. “Cover yourself!”
She did so without thinking, her gaze focused on Gideon. He lay on his back on the mattress, unable to move, while Victor and Aaron sliced into his flesh. The knives left no lasting wounds, though she knew the cuts were painful. But it was the blood loss that concerned her more. Every drop they spilled made him weaker.
Screaming, “Stop it!” she hurled herself at Victor, driving him away from the bed.
He threw her off with ease, and when she would have attacked him again, Diego Rinaldi grabbed her arm, holding her in place, so that she could only watch in horror as the sheets on the bed ran red with Gideon’s blood.
“All right,” Diego said, “that’s enough. Get her out of here while we clean up the mess.”
“Don’t kill him!” Kay cried. “Please, Victor, don’t kill him. I’ll do anything you want.”
“Anything?” he asked.
“Yes, I swear it.”
“Kiya, no!”
Victor backhanded Gideon across the face. “Shut up, bloodsucker!”
“Kill him,” Diego said. “He is going to be nothing but trouble otherwise.”
“No!” Kay dropped to her knees in front of Victor. “Please spare him.”
Victor glanced briefly at Verah, and then at his father. “It might be wise to keep him alive for a little while.”
Diego looked thoughtful, then nodded. As long as they had the vampire, the girl would do as she was told.
“We’ll take the vampire to Alissano’s. I don’t think it’s a good idea to have the bloodsucker under our roof,” Diego said. “Take your bride and go home. I’ll let Russell know she’s all right.”
With a nod, Victor grasped Kay’s arm and yanked her to her feet. She glanced over her shoulder for one last look at Gideon before Victor dragged her out of the room.
Smiling, the witch followed them out the door.
* * *
Chapter 29
Kay stood in the middle of Victor’s bedroom, holding tight to the bedspread while she tried not to gag as he ran his hands up and down her arms.
“It’s time to fulfill your wifely duties,” he said with a leer.
“Couldn’t we wait until tomorrow night?”
“Oh, we’ll do it tomorrow night, too, never fear. But tonight I intend to wipe the memory of that bloodsucker from your mind.”
“That will never happen.”
“No?” His eyes narrowed angrily. “You promised you’d do anything, remember?” He held out his hand. “Have you forgotten I hold the vampire’s life in the palm of my hand? Give me a child, and the bloodsucker lives. Refuse me”—he made a tight fist—“and he dies. The sun is lethal to vampires. I wonder, do they burst into flames immediately, or do they die slowly, the flesh melting from their bones, the bones turning to ash? Either way, I’m sure the pain is excruciating.”
“Stop it!” Still clutching the bedspread, she pressed her hands over her ears in an effort to block Victor’s words and the horrific images they had conjured in her mind.
“You promised to do anything to save him,” Victor reminded her again. “Did you mean it or not?”
“I meant it,” she said, and squeezed her eyes shut as he ripped the bedspread from her grasp.
Later that night, after forcing Kay to fulfill her wifely duties, Victor went down to the basement.
The witch stood in her usual place in the corner of the room, the hood of her long black cloak pulled forward, her face shadowed in its folds.
Victor was grateful he couldn’t see the witch clearly. In the days since they had captured her, she had grown increasingly hideous to look at, her skin wrinkling and shrinking, her back hunching over, her arms and hands looking more skeletal than human. He wondered, without really caring, how much longer she could cling to life.
“You did well, tonight,” he said, “so I’ve brought you something. A reward for services rendered.” Reaching into his pants pocket, he withdrew a clear bottle filled with dark red fluid. He hadn’t brought it as recompense for her help, but simply out of curiosity. Why would anybody want vampire blood?
The witch’s eyes glowed as she hobbled toward him, her bound hands outstretched. “Give it to me!”
Victor watched as she quickly uncapped the bottle and drained half the contents.
He stared at her in astonishment. He had never known anyone to drink vampire blood.
He was about to turn away when something remarkable happened. In moments, the ugly old hag was gone and a beautiful young woman stood in her place.
Victor shook his head, amazed by the transformation. Her skin was clear and unblemished, her eyes bright, her lips full and tempting, her hair a fall of gleaming pale gold silk. Shrugging out of her heavy black cloak, she let it fall to the floor, revealing a lush figure that was every man’s dream. He fought down the urge to strip her of her clothing and take her, there, on the floor.
Damn. He shook his head, unable to believe the transformation wrought by a few drops of blood. No wonder she wanted the vampire alive.
A seductive smile played over those beguiling lips, almost as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.
And perhaps she did.
Hips swaying provocatively, she closed the distance between them. She gazed up at him, the tip of her moist pink tongue teasing her lips.
“You’ve given me a wondrous gift,” she said, her voice becoming a seductive purr as she moved closer still. “I should like to give you something in return.”
Victor shook his head. He wasn’t a fool, to be suckered in by a pretty face, especially when he’d seen what lay beneath the surface. But he didn’t back away when she lifted her bound hands and stroked his cheek with her knuckles.
He tried to remind himself of how she really looked, but his body was already reacting to her nearness, urging him to take her, here, now. No one would ever know.
Again, he told himself it would be a mistake, but she was humming softly, pressing her body against his, her hands stroking him, arousing him.
With a low growl, he wrapped his arms around her and lowered her to the floor.
She was bound and in his power. What harm could she do?
Verah slid out from under the boy’s body, grimacing as her bare skin brushed against his. He had been insatiable, which made him easy to manipulate. There were some kinds of magic for which she didn’t need her wand or Rama, and sex magic was one of them. While in the throes of passion, enchanted by her song, the boy had untied her hands and in the midst of venting his lust, he had told her where to find Rama.
Rising, she dressed quickly, drew on her cloak, and left the room. She paused in the hallway, listening to the sounds of the house. All was quiet.
It took only moments to find Rama and free him from his cage. Her wand waited for her on a table. Slipping it into the pocket of her cloak, she lifted Rama into her arms and hurried through the silent house toward the front door. After invoking her favorite invisibility spell, she left the house.
She hadn’t forgotten her promise to make Victor suffer for keeping her imprisoned, but her vengeance would have to wait for a more opportune time. There were more important things to be done first.
Like getting that elusive vampire away from the Shadow Pack werewolves and back in her cellar, where he belonged.
Gideon lay on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling, his thoughts as dark as the prison he now inhabited. He had lived for over 600 years, bound to no one, free to come and go as he pleased. And then he met Verah. There followed three years of living in a cage, like a wild animal. Three years of misery. And then he met Kay, who transformed his life and showed him what true happiness was. Unfortunately, however much he hated Verah and loved Kay, associating with the two of them had led to captivity on more than one occasion, a state he was heartily sick of.
Desire the Night Page 18
