Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  She screamed something incoherently, bolted out from under him and grabbed up one of the packets, ripping the foil with her teeth.

  When she reached out for him, he knew it would be too much to have her touch him now. Kody tore the protection from her hand and slipped it over himself in one swift move.

  Reagan leaned her head back and laughed as his hands shook. Her hazel eyes turned a dark golden-green with burning passion, as vivid as her riot of auburn curls.

  The air around them grew hot and savage. Kody reached for her as she had done to him, but with a shake of her head, Reagan pushed him flat on his back on the bed. Straddling his waist, she glared at him, daring him to deny her in any way.

  “You made me wait,” she gasped. “Now you wait…if you can.”

  And in that one instant, Kody found his heart. He refused to completely acknowledge it, of course, but deep inside, in a place where notions are formed and desires and fears are kept hidden, he recognized in her something that had been missing in himself.

  Biting down on the inside of his cheek to stall the inevitable, he watched while this woman, who had all of a sudden become the woman in his dreams, pleased herself.

  She was savage and tender at the same time, just the way he had been with her. Scraping his nipple lightly with her teeth, she drove him wild in the mirror image of his actions. Her short nails dug into his arms as she frantically touched every bit of him within her reach.

  He surprised himself by moaning and writhing under her. And when at last she lifted her hips and fitted herself down around his shaft, the pleasure of being inside her again was so great he nearly blacked out.

  But he didn’t want to miss an instant of this wondrous coupling. Reagan set the pace. She pulled up, then slid down. At one point, she growled from so low and deep in her gut he worried she might be injured. But not so.

  Her eyes were glassy with desire, though he knew she had complete control of herself and the situation. Reaching behind their joined bodies, she gently cupped him.

  This time, he arched his hips up off the bed and shouted, “No fair. I…can’t…”

  Laughing again, she lifted her hips and jammed her body down against his groin with such gentle force that he felt himself going to the greatest of her depths. Deeper than he’d thought possible.

  Reagan screamed with pure pleasure. Her eyes widened and the look in them became feral, savage, unrestrained. Her expression was darkest fire. But underneath that was trust. Trust in him to let her be her.

  It was that one look that really did it for him. He grabbed her hips and held her steady as he pounded into her at a pace that left them both breathless. In a momentary haze, Kody couldn’t tell where his body ended and hers began.

  He wanted to watch her come apart. To go with her to a special place neither of them had entered before. So he slowed the pace again and concentrated on the pleasure.

  He’d been humbled by her, and more than a little shaken by what he saw in her eyes. She was giving him more of herself than she’d ever given to anyone. He’d be willing to stake his life on it.

  Awed, he forced himself to give her more time by biting his lip. He really didn’t deserve her.

  You cannot have what you most desire, he chastised himself. Having her, holding her forever could, should and would never happen. It wasn’t right for either of them.

  Impatient with the slower pace, Reagan bent over and covered his mouth with her own. She went wild biting, soothing, sucking, licking.

  “Now,” she demanded against his lips.

  And when she at last arched upward again, she had the most beautiful and determined smile on her face.

  He would’ve given her anything.

  Rolling his hips one final time, he felt the zing of ultimate pleasure surging through every cell in his body. All of a sudden he had to be the one who trusted—trusted her to come with him.

  Pulsing, pouring his need into her, he discovered by some miracle that his soul had been found. When he hadn’t even realized it had been lost.

  Reagan’s body began its internal convulsing, and she cried out her own release. He’d known all along she would be there with him when the time came. And here she was.

  The two of them simply let the rest of the world fade away, while the light and knowledge surrounded, and then completed them.

  Hours later, as the gray ghosts of dawn peeked around the bedroom curtains, Kody awoke to find rusty curls splayed across his chest and Reagan’s even breathing tickling his neck. He didn’t want to wake her. They hadn’t managed much actual sleep during the sometimes wild night.

  But he couldn’t resist touching one of those plush curls. Wrapping the strands gently around his finger, Kody lay quietly and listened to their hearts beating in rhythm.

  He couldn’t quite get his mind around what was happening between them, or maybe it was just to him. Their night had been more than anything in his experience—or in his imagination. Erotic and primal. Easy and intense.

  Rubbing Reagan’s back in a gentle, soothing motion, Kody tried to sort out what she meant to him. Such internal musings were not the norm for a man who would rather take action than consider consequences.

  It was time to consider what the future could possibly be for them, however.

  He knew he would die for her. That was a given. If she wanted to find her father, Kody would search to the ends of the earth. If she wanted to stay in this bed and have him feed her between kisses, he would do it in a heartbeat.

  But what if she wanted him to leave the reservation and go away with her forever? His heart flipped and squeezed at the thought. He’d given the Brotherhood his promise, and they had given him the secrets to fighting off the Skinwalkers in return.

  Ever since his failed marriage to an Anglo who had insisted that they remain in the big city, he’d vowed never again to get involved with anyone. He had loved his ex-wife. Well, he thought he’d loved her. And it had hurt when he had been tossed aside like some half-breed boy toy.

  Becoming a member of the Brotherhood and returning to his roots and his family had felt so right after all that pain. He’d been so sure that coming home would make him feel like part of the group, at last.

  In truth, Dinetah still felt like the place where he must be in order to survive. The nightmares over his father’s death had almost subsided when he’d first come back home and become a part of the Brotherhood. And they’d disappeared entirely the minute he began battling the Skinwalkers.

  Kody believed he was born to be a man of the law, like his father before him. Finding the bad guys and bringing them to justice with the FBI was not exactly like being a master of disguise with the CIA, as his father had been before he retired.

  But whether with the FBI, the Brotherhood or anywhere else, fighting for the good was what kept Kody going. Could he possibly consider giving it all up for her?

  “What in the name of hell were you thinking?” Reagan sat straight up in bed and glared at him.

  “Morning, Red.”

  “Don’t ‘morning’ me, Agent Long.” Reagan was fighting a pitched internal battle, trying desperately to get over the panic of finding herself naked in bed with a man she barely knew.

  It was too easy to take out her regrets on the man instead of on herself. A flash of inspiration went through her head, reminding her that she would never in a million years regret one second she’d spent with Kody Long. But she shoved the idea aside.

  No time for weaknesses now. Not when the fear of losing her control and her soul to a man who might not even give a damn was so strong it threatened to knock her over.

  “You okay?”

  Just his voice irritated her. “You…you…” Words nearly failed her. “You made me into something I’m not. I don’t want to be the kind of woman who’s that aggressive, that forward with men, that…”

  “That sexy and spectacular?” He didn’t even question her angry tone, but just lay there on his back, smiling up at her.

 
; She inched away and slid off the side of the bed. “I’m going to take a shower.”

  Picking up her sweats from where they’d been pitched the night before, she refused to look at him. His face would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. She’d blown it forever. No one else would ever be as gentle or as savage. She would never find another man like him. Never.

  Oh yeah. The rest of her life would be full of regrets, all right. But it wouldn’t be because of what she’d done with Kody. It would be because of what she’d tasted and lost.

  “You want me to come help you in there?” he asked with a chuckle. “I’m a genius when it comes to washing backs.”

  “No,” she said, more forcefully than she would’ve liked. “No, thanks. I’m good. But I’m starving…for food…. I’ll just be a few minutes.”

  “Okay. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

  She didn’t want to think of meeting him again anywhere, so she ducked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The memories of what they’d done during the night were seizing her heart with subtle hooks.

  Reagan couldn’t avoid or stop the images of his hands on her body. Or put an end to the pictures in her head of his mouth touching and especially tasting her into a wild frenzy. The thoughts of how she had behaved both excited and shamed her.

  The whole thing had been such a paradigm shift in her ordered existence that she couldn’t quite catch her breath. Hiding under the hot water and forcing her mind to go blank by her own will, she refused to consider the what-ifs.

  Dammit. He’d made her breakfast.

  A whole half an hour later, and she was still kicking herself for the loss of control last night.

  But how could you hate a guy who was able to drive you crazy with one touch, and who also managed to cook a decent meal?

  This was nuts. She was madly, desperately in love with Kody Long. And clearly, it was all wrong.

  The way the two of them mixed was like a complicated formula in quantitative analysis that was nearly impossible to solve.

  They could never have any kind of a future. Kody belonged here. It was as plain to her as prime numbers. He had roots and family. People who cared about him.

  And she belonged…exactly nowhere.

  Well, maybe she belonged with her Internet buddies online. But that was so nowhere. It was not as if any of them belonged in a real place. The guys on all her loops had addresses like “In-10-se,” “4Pla” or “Super-Cyber-Guy.” They were geeky outcasts like her.

  She looked over at Kody, who was silently finishing his coffee, and felt warmth move along her arteries from her gut to her heart. He was so very real. So virile and exciting, yet comfortable and friendly.

  Damn him, anyway.

  Never before had she even so much as met a man who turned her on this way, let alone a guy who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She’d thought she liked having men as friends—distant friends.

  And her online friendships were certainly a lot better than the guys she’d gone out with who’d wanted to hook up with her physically. Ugh. But there was no “ugh” factor where Kody was concerned.

  Just the opposite, in fact. Crap. Wouldn’t you know it? A guy who was totally wrong for her.

  The ringing of the cell phone pinned to Kody’s belt broke the silence in the kitchen. He answered, threw her a dark look and stepped outside as if he didn’t want her to hear his side of the conversation.

  Well, that was fine. There were some things going on around this reservation that she didn’t care to know about.

  But then it hit her that the conversation might be about her father, and she changed her mind. Heading for the door, she met him coming back inside.

  “Was that about my dad?”

  “Not really, Red. But I’m needed. I have to go.”

  “What do you mean by ‘not really’? And you sound like you expect to go without me. No way that’s happening.”

  “Reagan,” he began in a most patient tone of voice. “Sit down a minute.”

  His touch was more than gentle when he guided her back into the kitchen chair. But his eyes were saying something entirely different. The look in them said he would rather be touching her the way he had last night.

  And that same expression also said it wasn’t going to happen.

  “Look. I…” Instead of joining her at the table, he turned and paced the kitchen floor. “Remember the discussion you had with Lucas at the café? The one about the silver bracelets and the Navajo men who wore them?”

  She nodded. But he didn’t seem to be paying much attention at the moment.

  He glanced over at her, then quickly looked away. “A number of Navajo men, me included, have formed a special group in order to protect and serve the Dine. Sort of like an adjunct to the tribal police, who are always overwhelmed with work.”

  “That’s cool. It sounds like a great volunteer job. Like being a volunteer fireman or something.”

  “Um, yeah. Like that. And they need me to serve with them this morning.”

  “Okay. I understand. But I thought you weren’t supposed to leave me alone?”

  He paced to her side and hesitated before he gently reached over and stroked her cheek. It was such a reverent gesture, so full of tenderness and silent longing, that she found herself battling sudden tears.

  “You need to be safe. Roaming the countryside has not proved to be a terribly secure thing for you to do. The ones who took your numbers away…” He shook his head and turned to stare out the window. “You don’t want to meet them in person. I can’t worry about your safety and be a competent member of the Brotherhood at the same time.”

  “The Brotherhood?”

  He turned back to her with a smile. “It’s a cool name for a Navajo group dedicated to helping their clans and families on the reservation, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah. I like it a lot.”

  “Then you’ll stay here, hidden and safe, while I go? It’ll only be for a few hours. I’ll have my mother’s neighbor come here to stay with you. She’s special. You can depend on her.”

  The thought of being without him, even for just a few hours, hurt. However, she figured she had better get used to the pain. She didn’t belong on the reservation. And when her father was located and they were a family again, she would be going back to her old way of life—away from Navajoland…and away from Kody.

  “Okay,” she said, trying to hide her anguish. “I’ll stay.”

  13

  B lood everywhere.

  Kody’s first impression of the scene shocked and horrified him. The SUV’s burned out interior did not disguise the bloody evidence of murder. Kody cringed and his stomach rolled as the metallic scent of dried blood assaulted his senses.

  A man’s body lay up against a dry, dusty boulder, his limbs twisted into unnatural positions. He was obviously dead. His face and head of thick black hair appeared to be pretty much intact, which seemed odd, considering that his neck and upper chest had been ripped to shreds by some unknown, savage entity. Still, the victim should be easy enough to identify.

  “What do think happened here?” he asked his brother.

  Hunter Long scanned the sandstone cliffs above them. “This was a Skinwalker attack. But we have only one victim, and more blood than could’ve come from a single man. We don’t have any motive. And there were no telltale vibrations beforehand.”

  “Then why are you so sure the attackers were the evil ones?”

  Hunter answered by pointing to the ground near the passenger door. “Check it out.”

  Kody slid a quick glance toward the print in the clay under the car. “A coyote?” He squatted to inspect the damp impression, half-hidden under the SUV.

  “No,” he said, contradicting himself. “A wolf.” Spreading his fingers along the ridges, Kody tried to judge the size of the animal who’d left the huge track.

  “The Navajo Wolf,” Hunter agreed. “The wolf of legends. And quite likely also a real-life modern m
an who heads our enemy band of Skinwalkers.”

  Hunkering down beside him, Hunter continued, “The vic’s death appears to have been caused by a wild animal attack, but it looks almost surgically clean. We’ll have to wait for a final judgment.

  “And, bro,” Hunter added with a glance around, “there’s also evidence of a large snake who accompanied the wolf.”

  “A snake?” Well, damn. Kody had seen a large snake recently. And he’d seen it less than a half mile from here, in the newly discovered ruin at Backwash Monument.

  That first night when Reagan had lost the numbers.

  The two brothers stood, but kept their voices low. “You think a Skinwalker has found the secret of turning himself into a snake? That’s not one of the animal forms that legends describe.”

  Hunter shrugged, but eyed the rocky surfaces nearby where a snake might be concealed. “There have long been stories of such shape-shifting, but most people chalked them up to drunken rumors. I believe these modern Skinwalkers have turned the legends upside down. All things are possible.”

  Hunter continued when he seemed sure Kody had gotten his meaning. “Our Brotherhood cousin from the Red Lake area, Michael Ayze, the high school teacher and part-time anthropologist, is tracking the signs right now.

  “He’s farther up in this canyon. And predictably, he just called to say they all lead in the direction of your newly discovered ruin.”

  Hunter hesitated again, but after a moment’s consideration, he added, “It’s not for certain, but in my opinion, the depth of the wolf’s tracks indicates that something…or someone…was carried away from here.”

  “You believe another person was in the SUV and the Skinwalkers have taken him away?”

  Hunter nodded.

  Kody understood what his brother was really saying. Hunter was the best tracker Kody knew about. That included uniquely trained U.S. Special Forces and so-called expert Native American trackers who claimed to be world class.

  Was it possible that this apparent kidnapping was evidence that Reagan’s father had really been captured by Skinwalkers? Though he hadn’t said it in so many words, Hunter believed someone important had been spirted away from this bloody scene.