by Bonnie Vanak
“Keep your distance, wolf.” She narrowed her gaze. “I’m willing to forget what just happened, seeing you’ve been imprisoned, but don’t try it again.”
His burning blue gaze seared into hers. “Can’t make any promises, darlin’. Seeing as I can’t forget that kiss. And I doubt you will, either.” His voice grew husky. “And next time, I doubt I’ll be able to control myself, so if I were you, I’d think twice about sticking anything in my mouth. Get it?”
When they climbed into her car, Guy didn’t talk, didn’t even look at her.
His attitude didn’t bug her as much as that kiss did.
The kiss had caressed each raging nerve ending. Kayla had dated, but she was still a virgin. She always felt something better was waiting in the wings.
She hoped it wasn’t Guy, because she suspected he could coax awake her long-dead wolf.
That was a bad idea, because awakening her wolf meant awakening the deadly gift she hated…
The drive from Florida’s central coast to Fort Lauderdale’s airport felt endless. Kayla kept sneaking glances at her passenger.
Beard stubble framed a full mouth that was both cruel and sensual. His nose was straight and his cheeks were hollowed. A well-defined six-pack showed beneath the tight T-shirt as he hung a muscled arm out the window. His body was definitely made for hot loving, as her friend Denise would put it.
Guy stared out the window as they headed south. A strong breeze blew his ragged hair back. When she depressed the button and began rolling up the windows, he finally spoke.
“Don’t.”
The windows rolled back down of their own accord. Shock punched through her. “They didn’t tell me you were a telekinetic.”
“Darlin’, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
After a few moments she put a CD in the player. “What’s that?” he asked.
“It’s a CD player.” She showed him how to work the knobs.
Two lines furrowed his brow. “What the hell kind of music is that?”
“Blues Traveler. The best blues rock there is,” she grated out.
“They sound worse than when the demons tortured the werecats.”
Instead of taking offense, she felt only morbid curiosity. “I can’t imagine being locked up there for even a day.”
“Try thirty years.”
Kayla’s breath hitched. “How did you survive?”
“You learn to do what you must.”
“What was it like? Did they always mistreat you?”
“You don’t want to know,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t tell someone like you.”
She bit her lip. “You mean a werewolf who lives as a human.”
“No, a female like you.”
“Oh, you’re one of those who think because I’m a female, I’m a wuss.”
Now he did look at her. “No. I just think females should be protected and never have to hear about prison life. If you were mine, I’d shield you from that ugly reality.”
“I’ve seen plenty of ugly realities and I’m not yours,” she shot back.
He gave a slow smile, making him look sexy and dangerous. “No, you’re not. But I can change that.”
The man was wickedly handsome, with a hard body made for long nights between silk sheets. Her heart was beating far too fast. After what she’d endured from Dell and his pack, she’d sworn to never trust another Draicon male. But something was different about Guy. She just couldn’t phantom why he was different.
Then his smile faded and he turned back to the window again. As if he’d regretted his words.
Guy felt shaky as a newborn.
It took all his hard-won control and courage to leave prison. As tormenting as it had been, it had been his home for thirty years. Being on the outside made him queasy.
And what if he screwed up and had to return? I’d die first, he vowed.
And now Kayla. Damnit, he didn’t need this.
Her scent aroused his desire. Only by keeping the windows down, his head stuck outside like a damn dog, could he endure it.
He reasoned she stood at about five feet ten, six inches shorter than him. Jeans outlined lush curves, and her black polo shirt showed high, firm breasts. Her sea-green eyes sparkled like sunlight on the ocean. She was more attractive than beautiful with her tip-tilted nose and oval face.
But it was that mouth that made his water, a rosy pucker of wet pink that begged for kisses.
Sex, yeah, he wanted sex after thirty years of forced celibacy. Maybe sex would take the edge off. But he couldn’t give her anything more than his body. Not him, the Draicon who once trusted, who now cared only about himself and surviving.
Every wolf for himself.
Vaguely he wondered what he would win. His own need for self-preservation or the instinct driving every male Draicon to protect and cherish his destined mate?
This mission changed from the moment his lips touched hers. Kayla seemed oblivious. Guy wanted to laugh at the irony, because in her obstinate insistence in abandoning everything Draicon, she’d failed to see the obvious.
Kayla frowned. “What are you looking at?”
You, darlin’. Guy shrugged. “That device you call a CD player. That’s not music.”
He leaned back, closed his eyes. Suddenly Madonna blasted out of the speakers.
“‘Like a Virgin.’” He shot her an amused look. “Kissed for the very first time.”
“No, it’s a virgin touched for the very first time.”
“Just as I suspected,” he said softly. “Never been touched.”
Oh, man, he loved the lovely pink flush tinting her cheeks. Kayla stared at the road.
“We have to get to the airport. I booked two tickets on the afternoon flight out of Fort Lauderdale.” Her voice cracked slightly.
“There’s always later tonight,” Guy said softly. “I’m a man of stamina. I can last all night long. I can make it very pleasurable for you.”
Kayla jerked her gaze back to the road, but he caught the scent of her arousal. He nearly moaned at the tangy aroma.
“I don’t like wolves,” she muttered.
Okay, down to business. First he must find out what happened to make her distrust their kind. He rubbed his jaw. “So tell me, why did you leave your pack?”
She glanced at him from beneath those long dark lashes. “I didn’t like Dell, my alpha.”
He frowned. “Dell? The Dell Anderson who runs the pack near Pittsburgh?”
When she nodded, he went on. “He’s the one I’m delivering Brianna to. He hired you.”
“No, a man named Tristan contacted me and promised me money.”
“I should have known,” he muttered. “Tristan isn’t a man. He’s an immortal, a Phoenix, the son of a bitch who sentenced me.”
Her breath hitched. “You can’t deliver this little girl to Dell. He’s a cold, heartless bastard. Brianna needs a loving, understanding family. Damn, Guy, giving her to Dell’s pack is like throwing her to…”
“The wolves?” Guy shook his head. “My job is to help you fetch her and bring her to Dell. Period.”
“You’re a heartless bastard yourself,” she said through clenched teeth.
The words shouldn’t have stung so deeply. He, who didn’t care about anything or anyone, found himself craving her understanding. Guy nearly laughed. Understand? How could someone like Kayla understand the hell he’d survived?
They rode in silence for a while until he finally spoke, the words forced from his throat. “That’s what prison will do to you, sunshine.”
Kayla drew in a deep breath, pulled her hair free of the ponytail and tossed the band into the back. “This is all wrong. We’re stuck together for the next few days, so let’s start over.” She thrust out a hand, keeping her eyes on the road. “Kayla Morris. International Courier.”
Her palm was soft as velvet and just as warm. “Guy Laurent, Draicon.” He gave her a thoughtful look. “Kayla. The Draicon who isn’t a Draicon,
who likes Blues Traveler.”
He waved his hand and her CD resumed playing. Kayla gave an appreciative smile. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he said softly. “Just remember I’m not such a heartless bastard when it comes time.”
“Time for what?”
“You’ll see.”
Chapter 4
In less than nine hours, Guy had gone from a demon prison to a luxurious hotel in the verdant mountains of Île de Sangier’s capital. The contrast was enough to scramble anyone’s brain cells, Kayla thought.
Yet the Draicon seemed indifferent to all of it. He acted as if it were nothing to fly first class and be chauffeured in a stretch limousine to a five-star hotel, when his former bed had been concrete. She’d wanted to immediately get Brianna, but Guy insisted on visiting the hotel. “I need intel from Bernard first, Sunshine. You don’t walk into a possible war zone without knowing the hazards,” he’d told her.
In his room, they poured over a map. The suite, like the hotel itself, boasted of luxury. There was a fully stocked wet bar, small kitchenette, a wide-screen television and two large sliding doors that overlooked a garden with ferns, palm trees and brilliant pink bougainvillea.
As she leaned over the table and traced the route to the southeast coast, Guy brushed a hand over her arm. He definitely was not indifferent to her.
Kayla jumped at the current sizzling between them. Her nipples hardened to tiny pearls. Barely banked heat smoldered in his blazing blue eyes as he glanced at her shirt.
She retreated to the table’s other side. “I meant what I said earlier. I don’t like werewolves.”
“That makes no sense. You’re a werewolf.” Guy frowned. “What happened?”
Iron bands squeezed her chest. She needed emotional distance. Getting close to anyone was bad news. When you got close to someone, they had the power to hurt.
“My father was executed by the Kallan. Afterward, my mother left the pack, and I was asked to leave, as well.”
“But why would your alpha ask you to leave because of something your father did? That goes against pack law.”
She took a deep breath. “I asked the Kallan to terminate my father.”
The blank look of shock on his face didn’t surprise her. “Why?” he asked bluntly.
“I sensed my father planned to turn Morph by killing my mother. Dell didn’t believe me and neither did my mother. But the Kallan did, and his authority supersedes any pack alpha’s. My mother was four months pregnant, but she left the pack. Right after, Dell ordered me to leave. He didn’t tolerate anyone going over his head.”
Guy looked stunned. “How could you sense what your father planned?”
Because I have a gift I hate.
“I just did,” she whispered.
Her mother detested her afterward. Memories stung like scorpions as she recalled her mother’s cold look, sunshine glinting on the gold heart-shaped locket she always wore around her neck. Kayla’s gift to her, with her initials carved on the front.
This way you can always have my heart, Mama.
Her mother had removed the necklace, and declared the locket was headed for the trash. Then she turned and walked out of her life.
“Son of a bitch, how old were you?”
“Sixteen,” she muttered. “Someone had to act the adult.”
You weren’t an adult, sweetheart. Damn it, you were just a baby.
The words were like a soft whisper in her mind, yet he hadn’t spoken. He came to her side, picked up her hand, his calloused palm warm. Guy began stroking her skin.
“Sixteen,” he murmured. “How the hell did you survive on your own that young?”
She wanted to surrender to his calming caress. It had been so long since she felt the soothing contact Draicon used to comfort. Wolves used nuzzling and touch to communicate. In her contact with the human world, she kept everyone at a distance, even her dates.
Kayla had forgotten how powerful a simple touch could be.
He cupped her cheek, running his thumb gently along her jawline. Leaning into his palm, she closed her eyes, cherishing the tenderness of his gesture.
Guy murmured softly. She inhaled his delicious scent, ready to succumb to temptation. Ancient instincts urged her to mate, to give her body to this male….
Her eyes flew open. Kayla jerked away, her breathing ragged. Her inner wolf howled in disappointment.
Well, hell, get used to it, she told herself. You’re not Draicon anymore.
“I’m part of the human world now, adapted to them.” Kayla walked toward the sliding glass doors. “I met Jack and Denise, who gave me room and board in return for working at their courier business. I did that and went to night school. Then when Jack and Denise wanted to cut back, I bought the business from them, kept them on as employees, and expanded internationally. I’m good at getting into risky places.”
If she failed on this job, her business would tank. Denise and Jack needed the income. No longer Draicon, Kayla found being in the human world equally challenging. She had people who relied on her just like a pack did.
But humans could be kind, as Denise and Jack were. Her blood ran cold at the thought of turning a little one like Brianna over to the uncaring Dell.
“Listen, Guy,” she said urgently, turning back to him. “I know what it’s like losing everything. You can’t give Brianna to Dell. He’s not the nurturing type. She’ll need to feel safe.”
His expression shuttered. “Let’s concentrate on finding her for now. We’ll have dinner with Bernard and leave first thing in the morning.”
Staying here overnight with Guy was a bad idea. The sexual feelings he aroused threatened everything she’d worked so hard to achieve. Guy triggered a switch to revive her long-gone wolf.
Draicon had betrayed and abandoned her when she needed them most. Yet this savage, wild wolf connected with her sexually. She didn’t understand why. All she knew was long-dead instincts flared to life around him.
“When exactly were you telling me this?” Before he could reply, she lashed into him. “Look, Laurent, you may think this is your own personal ticket to freedom, but I have a lot at stake here. It means working together, sharing info, compromising.”
She could tell by his mutinous look he didn’t play well with others.
“I’ll work with you, but I’m in charge. If you’re in danger, you obey me or I’ll do what I must. No compromise.”
“I’ve taken very good care of myself for eleven years….”
“No compromise,” he repeated. “Or you stay here where Bernard can watch over you and I haul ass alone at first light.”
She sighed. “Okay. But you don’t ride roughshod over me. Deal?”
“Deal.”
She stuck out a palm. Instead of a brisk handshake, he turned her hand over, brought it to his lips and kissed it.
“Hell, I wouldn’t be rough with you. You deserve gentleness,” he said softly and nibbled at her knuckles.
The wet warmth of his mouth against her skin sent all her nerve endings raging into overdrive. Kayla felt herself filled with yearning. Moisture trickled between her legs as a hot ache built in her loins.
A satisfied smile graced his full mouth as he released her hand. Kayla pretended indifference, though she was certain he could hear her crazily pounding heart.
“When is this meeting?” she asked.
Guy glanced outside. “Seven, dinnertime. In the meantime, I suggest we both grab a little rest.” The sexy grin returned. “Do you prefer the right side of the bed or the left?”
“I like the right side of my own bed.” She headed for the door. “See you downstairs at seven.”
Bernard was overjoyed to see Guy, and charmed by Kayla. His French staff served them a delicious rack of lamb in the private dining room. His old friend entertained them with stories of the island’s legends before changing the topic to their assignment.
“Henri St. Pierre is a good Draicon. He runs Les Jardin, the best hot
el in that region. He knew the Quartermaine pack well. If not for him, Brianna would be dead.”
Guy toyed with his heavy silver fork. “How did he find her?”
Bernard glanced at him. “She fled to his hotel a week ago after her pack was slaughtered. The Morphs didn’t touch her—why, I don’t know. Poor thing was in shock and only stayed with Henri because she’d met him a few weeks before and trusted him. Henri’s wife, Danielle, what a beauty! I met her yesterday over lunch before she left for Henri’s. She flew in from France to care for Brianna until you could arrive.”
“Why is Brianna still at Henri’s? Why not get her yourself?” Kayla asked.
His friend stared at his plate. “My senses aren’t what they used to be. I could nom ore scent a Morph than a human could, so what good am I to Brianna? That little one was severely traumatized. Besides Henri, she only trusts females. The Morphs who attacked her pack were disguised as friendly men.”
Bernard leaned forward. “Never drop your guard, Guy. There are Morphs lurking in the mountains, and something else evil has infiltrated the island. There are even rumors of a Remorae.”
Guy shot him an amused look. “Another of your island legends?” He deepened his voice as if telling a ghost story. “Beware the Remorae, my son. It will slowly suck the water out of you until you solidify like a mummy. They crave the sweetness that is in all Draicon children until their first wolf change.”
“They’re not legend,” Bernard said softly. “They existed once.”
“And they’re extinct now.” Guy twirled his wineglass. “I fight what’s in front of me, not myths. The Remorae are nothing but myth now.”
“I hope you are right.” Bernard looked pensive.
Much later, Guy couldn’t sleep. He found the bed too distracting. The velvety feel of the sheets made him think about Kayla’s soft skin cushioning him as he mounted her. Would she be wet and welcoming as he drove into her?
Would she be welcoming at all, knowing what he was?
He rolled over, punched his pillow. Tension knotted his gut. He was a cold-blooded killer who’d dispatched his alpha. A criminal. Kayla wouldn’t want him, couldn’t ever learn to care for someone like him.
