An overwhelming feeling of ecstasy consumed Utah. He had no control of his body, mind, or heart in that moment.
A shout burst from him with the feel of Michelle’s inner walls contracting around him. He exploded inside her hard enough he nearly bucked them both off the chair.
His body continued to seize the longer he remained beneath her, staring into her passion-glazed eyes.
“Are you okay?” he managed between rounds of greatly needed oxygen.
Michelle rested her forehead against his, shuddering one last time. “Better than okay. My God, Utah. That was hot as hell.”
A satisfied smile touched his lips. He kissed her nose, tightening his arms around her. “I can’t begin to tell you how incredible you are. If you would have told me a few days ago that I’d be sitting in this chair, buried inside you like this, I’d have thought you were crazy.”
“I am crazy,” she teased, kissing him back. “Haven’t you figured that out by now? My closest friends are vampires and shifters. And I’m falling for a ghost that no one can see but me and the damn vampires and shifters.”
Utah stilled, wondering if she realized the meaning of the words spilling from her lips. “You’re falling for me?”
She raised her head, backing up enough to gaze into his eyes. The corner of her mouth lifted. “Well, I certainly hope you don’t think I have sex with every ghost I meet.”
He reached up and cupped the sides of her face, his heart swelling with emotion. “Oh? Just how many ghosts have you slept with?”
“Only the good-looking ones.” She chuckled, the sound wrapping around him in a warm haze.
Covering her mouth with his, Utah pulled her against him. He could feel himself rapidly growing erect inside her once again.
She moaned into his mouth, her body growing pliant in his arms.
The sound of a car pulling into the drive penetrated Utah’s euphoria. He broke off the kiss and met Michelle’s questioning gaze. “Someone’s here.”
Michelle groaned, obviously not wanting to move any more than Utah wanted her to.
A knock at the front door took the decision from them. With more than a little regret, Utah lifted Michelle and gently pulled from her warm body.
She quickly grabbed her robe that hung on the back of her bedroom door and had it on in record time.
“I’ll be right there!” she called, pulling a pair of sweatpants from the dresser drawer and tossing them to Utah. “Put those on.”
Utah pulled on the sweats in wonder. He really was making new memories.
Following Michelle to the living room, he stood back as she looked through the peephole and tugged the door open. “Cassie. Malik.”
“We wanted to come sooner,” Cassie murmured from the porch. “But…”
“You had to wait for the sun to set,” Michelle finished with a tinge of sarcasm.
With a flourish, Michelle spun around, leaving the door standing open. “You might as well come in. I know what you are.”
Cassie stepped over the threshold, her gaze narrowed in Utah’s direction. “Big mouth.”
Utah opened his proverbial big mouth to set the vampire straight, but Michelle beat him to it. “Don’t blame him. He had no idea that I didn’t know. Because really, who doesn’t clue their closest friends in on the fact that they’ve grown fangs?”
Cassie appeared contrite. Malik on the other hand looked ready to rip Utah’s ghostly head off.
Michelle blew out an exasperated breath. “You might as well sit down. Both of you,” she stressed when Malik simply stood there.
Utah waited for Michelle to sit and then moved to stand next to her chair.
Malik and Cassie took a seat on the sofa.
“I’m sorry, Cherokee,” Cassie admitted, her shoulders slumping. “You’re right. I should have told you. And I was going to…eventually. It just never seemed the right time.”
Cassie shifted her gaze to Utah, and humor sparked in the depths of her eyes. “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything?”
Utah liked the pretty blonde. She had a genuinely funny personality. “Your timing could have been better.”
She grinned. “I knew the sense of urgency I felt was for a reason.”
One of Malik’s fangs abruptly appeared, and a faint glow of red swirled in his eyes.
Utah recognized it as jealousy. Which he could understand. He felt a pretty powerful possessiveness toward Michelle, also.
“Carly informed us of your refusal to allow Psycho to hang around. I really think it would be wise if you did. He was my familiar for many years, and he ended up saving my life.”
The red in Malik’s eyes grew brighter. Once again, Utah could relate. He didn’t want the damn cat hanging around Michelle, either.
Cassie glanced up at Utah, sincerity shining in her eyes. “I know you want to protect Michelle. And I have no doubt that you can. But what happens if you fade away tomorrow, a week from now, or in a month?”
A faint noise echoed through the room. Soft and full of pain.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Cassie was saying, but Utah no longer listened.
There it was again, so low he barely heard it.
A feeling of terror washed through him with enough power it took him to his knees. Screams exploded inside his mind to mingle with that one small cry for help.
Utah gritted his teeth against the pain, his hands coming up to the sides of his head.
“Utahhhhh!” Michelle cried, her voice coming from far away. He felt her grab on to him, knew that she pleaded with him. Yet, not even Michelle could hold him there. Not with the urgency of the cry begging for help.
His eyes slid shut, and the floor beneath him began to spin. He felt ripped apart as his body faded from the room, spinning through a myriad of colors and sounds in no particular order.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Michelle had never felt as helpless as she did watching Utah fade from her sight. No matter how hard she tried holding on to him, he simply vanished before her eyes.
“Oh God. No. Utah?” She ran through the living room into her bedroom, only to find it empty of his presence.
Darting back into the hall, she checked the bathroom before turning and running into Cassie.
“He’s gone,” Cassie stated, grabbing on to Michelle’s arms.
Michelle shook her head, her heart pounding with adrenaline. “He can’t be gone. He just can’t.” Her voice broke on that last word.
Cassie turned her and guided her back to the living room. “Have a seat. I’ll get you some water.”
Michelle dropped heavily into the chair she’d recently vacated, her hands and legs trembling with dread.
She raised her gaze to find Malik on his haunches in front of her. “I’m sorry, Michelle. I really am. What can I do?”
“Bring him back,” she whispered, unable to prevent the tears from gathering in her eyes.
He briefly lowered his gaze. “You know I can’t do that.”
“I thought we’d have more time together,” she choked out, attempting to pull herself together.
Cassie returned with a bottled water. “Here, honey. Drink this.”
Michelle drank deeply, using the time to get her emotions under control. She finished off the bottle and set it on the floor next to her chair. “Thank you.”
“Sure thing,” Cassie soothed, laying her hand on Michelle’s back. “It’s okay, honey. Everything will be okay.”
Michelle shook her head, fighting the damnable tears once more. “No, it’s not okay. I was seriously falling for him, Cass. Faster than I ever thought possible. I know he’s not alive, but neither are you, and you are able to love.”
Cassie flinched. “I’m alive, Michelle. Sort of. Only I need blood to survive where you need food. But I get what you’re saying.”
Malik appeared uncomfortable. He stood and moved off toward the kitchen. “I’ll just be in there if you need me.”
Cassie nodded to her husband and
once again knelt at Michelle’s feet. “Maybe Utah will be back. We don’t know the reason for his disappearance. It could be temporary.”
Hope fanned to life inside Michelle’s chest. She jumped to her feet, surprised to find Cassie standing as well. She hadn’t seen the blonde move. “I need to go see Riverwind.”
“The old shaman that lives on the Shoal River?” Cassie followed Michelle to the door.
Michelle grabbed her keys and cell phone from the small table situated against the wall and jerked the door open. “Yes, him. I’m sorry to run off on you like this. Make sure that Peanut doesn’t get out, and lock the house up when you leave.”
Without waiting for an answer, Michelle hurried from the porch and jumped into her car before she realized she still wore her robe.
She dropped her head back against the seat, blew out a breath, and went back inside to change. She grabbed her pistol for good measure.
* * * *
“Is everything all right?” Lani questioned, opening the door.
Michelle had been standing on the porch, ringing her parents’ doorbell for the past several minutes. “I need to talk to you.”
Her mother pulled the door wider. “Well, come in. How long have you been standing out here?”
“Not long,” Michelle murmured. “Am I interrupting anything?”
Lani shook her head. “Of course not. I was just getting out of the shower. What’s wrong, love? You said you needed to talk.”
Michelle glanced around the familiar living room, noticing how nothing had changed since her childhood. “Where’s Dad?”
Something flickered in her mother’s eyes. She shrugged a dainty shoulder. “Who knows. We had an argument. He left hours ago and hasn’t returned yet.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Ah, don’t worry about him, sweetheart. Come, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Michelle followed her mother into the kitchen, watching as she poured herself a glass of wine.
Lani offered one to her daughter.
“No thank you,” Michelle politely declined. “I need to talk to Ned Riverwind. Will you come with me?”
Surprise registered on Lani’s face. “Why do you need to see the shaman?”
“It’s about Utah.”
Lani simply set her glass of wine aside and turned back toward the front of the house. “Give me a minute to change clothes and put on some shoes.”
Grateful beyond words, Michelle followed her toward the living room. “I’ll be in the car.”
The drive to Riverwind’s was spent with Michelle answering Lani’s many questions.
“He just faded, Mom. I tried to hold on to him, but he slipped away like air. Some White Buffalo I am.”
Her mother glanced over with a stern look on her face. “You should not mock your gifts, my daughter.”
“How is it a gift?” Michelle shot back, anxiety riding too close to the surface. “If I’m the reason Utah’s gone…” She couldn’t finish the thought.
Lani ignored her daughter’s outburst, jerking her chin toward the windshield. “Turn right at the next road.”
Michelle squinted against the glare of oncoming headlights. “I don’t see a road.”
“Slow down,” her mother gently scolded, gripping the armrest attached to her seat. “It’s a dirt road. You’ll miss it if you’re going too fast.”
Easing off the gas, Michelle noticed a break in the trees up ahead. She flipped on her blinker, turning off Highway 90 and onto a narrow dirt road faster than was necessary.
“You love him, this spirit,” her mother quietly pointed out.
Michelle’s heart squeezed. “I don’t know what I feel, Mom. I haven’t known him long enough to love him. I—“
“Love doesn’t require time,” Lani interrupted in a soft voice. “It needs only acceptance.”
Glancing at her mother’s profile, Michelle asked, “Do you love Jack?”
Lani met her gaze. “I thought I did, once upon a time.”
Michelle had never before heard her mother talk about her feelings for Jack. Though her answer didn’t come as a surprise, it still felt strange to hear it voiced.
“If you’re unhappy, Mom, why do you stay?”
Lani shrugged. “That is not the way of it, Michelle. I come from a different era. One where divorce was unheard of. Besides, I am getting up in age. I really do not want to start over in life.”
Michelle eased her car over a small wooden bridge that had seen better days.
A two-story house perched high on the banks of the river came into view. Michelle pulled up close to the porch and switched off the car.
Opening the door, she got out, noticing Lani did as well. They trailed up to the porch, and Michelle stood back as her mother knocked on the door.
“Galilani,” a voice rasped from the darkness.
Michelle spun around, her gaze scanning the trees for movement.
A rather handsome older man stepped from the shadows, wearing buckskin pants, a T-shirt, and moccasin boots.
Michelle had heard her mother speak about Ned Riverwind many times, but she had yet to meet him.
He brought a cigarette to his lips, the tip glowing red as he took a long draw. Smoke billowed around his face with his exhale. “I have been expecting you.”
Goose bumps peppered Michelle’s skin. Though she couldn’t make out his eye color in the darkness, she somehow knew they would be black as onyx.
He stepped forward, the beam of his porch light spilling across his face to confirm Michelle’s suspicions. His eyes were exactly as she imagined them.
“We need your help,” her mother softly confessed.
Riverwind shifted his gaze to Michelle. “You mean she needs my help. I saw her coming long ago.”
Michelle’s mouth went dry. For some reason, Ned Riverwind scared the hell out of her.
He lifted his hand, curling his fingers forward in a come-hither motion. “What is it that you seek, White Buffalo?”
Yeah, that wasn’t spooky in the least. Michelle inched forward, somehow drawn to his voice. “I’ve lost someone, and we—I—was hoping you could tell me what to do to bring him back.”
“Once a spirit has crossed, you cannot bring it back. That is not the way of the White Buffalo.”
Michelle stared, wide eyed and surprised. “I don’t know that he’s crossed. And how did you know it was a spirit?”
“Come,” he rumbled, turning back toward the darkness. “Time grows short.”
Michelle looked over at her mother to find her staring at the place where Riverwind had stood.
“Go with him,” Lani whispered. “He is the only one who can help you in this.”
More than a little nervous, Michelle reached over and touched her mother’s hand. “Aren’t you coming?”
Lani shook her head. “You must go alone from here, my daughter. I will be right here when you return.”
Michelle squeezed her mother’s hand and hurried through the darkness in search of the shaman.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Utah came to, facedown in the grass, his stomach churning and his head swimming. He’d never felt so weak in all his life.
He attempted to gain his feet, but could only manage to push up to his knees.
“Michelle?” he whispered, her face the last memory he had.
Lifting his head, he gazed through the darkness, noticing an old rundown house to the right of him.
Dozens of screams suddenly exploded through his skull, wringing a hoarse cry from him. They swirled around and through one another, some louder than others but all just as horrifying.
Utah gripped his head in his hands, his body falling helplessly to the ground.
The pain became too great, and he heaved with the power of the nausea assailing him.
“Help me…” a soft voice sounded amid the terrifying screams.
With his teeth gritted in agony, Utah lifted his gaze toward the rundown house in the distance. Had t
he voice come from there?
“Please…”
Pushing back to his knees, Utah began to crawl.
“Someone, please help me…” The soft cry penetrated his pounding head.
Utah rebelled against the weakness consuming him. He pushed to his feet and staggered toward the house, only to find himself facedown in the cold, damp grass once more.
Car lights could be seen coming up a long winding drive.
Utah lay there, his eyes squinting against the brightness, and watched as the vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the house.
The screams grew louder, the soft cry more desperate until Utah could hear no more. His eyes rolled back, and his world went black.
* * * *
Utah awoke to the same tormented sounds he’d passed out with earlier. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the darkness still dominated the sky.
Rolling to his back, he stared up at the heavens, wondering why he’d been left to endure the endless screams.
Was this his hell? Had he been doomed to this torment for eternity?
And then Michelle’s beautiful face drifted through his mind, calming him. He couldn’t be in hell, not after the bliss he’d experienced in her arms. And he was determined to find his way back to her.
With a mighty heave, Utah managed to gain his knees and crawl toward that house.
He focused on Michelle’s face, pushing back the screams with every inch that took him closer to his nightmare. And he knew his nightmares originated from the darkened structure in front of him.
A light suddenly came on inside, spilling out over the yard in a yellowish haze.
“Did you miss me?” a man’s voice echoed from inside, triggering the soft cry Utah had heard upon awakening.
The crying began anew, growing louder the closer Utah got to the porch.
He pulled himself up the steps, one by one, drawing on the strength of his love for Michelle. And he did love her, he realized. He’d been falling for her since the moment she’d picked up that 911 call.
The screams grew louder the closer Utah got to the door, agonizing sounds that drained him of what little strength he’d managed to grab on to.
Fully Engulfed: BBW Paranormal Romance (Scruples Book 3) Page 11
