Ryan’s cabin came into view, and she was gratified to find a light on. Without waiting to knock, she let herself in and put her flashlight on a side table. The sound of a shower running reached her, and she smiled, thinking she’d join him in there. Their sessions in the shower had been mind-numbing.
Keena passed into the bedroom and stopped cold. The bed was unmade, and clothes were strewn about the floor, both male and female items. When something shifted on the bed, she retuned her shocked attention to it to discover someone lay in it. A sigh escaped the person, and they rolled over. A thin arm shot up from the overstuffed comforter, pushing it back, and there lay a sleeping—very naked—Jade!
Somewhere above the roaring of blood rushing through her ears, Keena heard the water shut off in the shower, but all she could do was stand there watching Jade lie there, looking so peaceful, so satisfied. Ryan’s distinctive male scent permeated the air. Even his boxers lay in plain sight, with Jade’s thong panties slung about a lamp like they had been mad to get at each other.
Then what had Ryan planned? To shower off the evidence and come to her? She took shuffling steps backward, shaking her head. He had no obligations to her. They hadn’t said, “I love you,” or made commitments to one another. I don’t care. I don’t care!
Pain ripped through her insides. Her mind clouded to the point that she didn’t know what to do. All she knew was she had to get away from this scene, from the horror of having an instant replay of the devastation she’d suffered just weeks ago. She tore the door open and ran full tilt outside. She stumbled down the two steps to ground level and fell but pulled herself up in a flash.
Rain pelted her face, but it wouldn’t last, she remembered. The rains here were short. Her mind raced. She’d forgotten her flashlight, and she couldn’t see where she was going. It didn’t matter. She just needed to get away and never see him again. Liar! You stupid liar. They are all liars.
Tears mingled with the rain. Tree branches slapped at her face. She was going the wrong way, had ventured too far, but she didn’t stop. A small whimper nearby must have been her own, and the ragged breathing. Nothing mattered, just making the hurt dull. She ran faster, harder and ignored the stitch in her side.
Her toe caught on a root, and she crashed to the ground. Her braids hung in heavy, wet ropes across her face. Mud squished between her fingers, and her feet slipped as she tried to stand. She sobbed, shaking as much from her emotional pain as from the chilly, wet weather. At last a little more alert to how stupid she was to come out here, Keena used a tree to help herself to stand and pressed her back to it while trying to get her bearings.
She peered around her, but nothing looked familiar, just trees and more trees, seen only when lightning flashed. All at once, the rain stopped, but the silence tightened her chest, making her feel like the dark was closing in. She struggled to calm down, to think. Straight ahead must be where she had come from. If she retraced her steps, she’d find her way back to the ranch.
Taking tentative steps, she moved ahead, her arms outstretched to keep from smacking into something. Soon the clouds cleared from the moon, and she could see better. When she came upon a small lake, hope rose. A trail couldn’t be far. But this body of water seemed smaller than the one she had come across when she ventured out with the riding group. After circling it twice, she knew it wasn’t the same one. No trail led away from the water, and come to think of it, she hadn’t passed water when she’d run out here.
Panic began to set in. Someone would have to find her soon, right? No, not if that bastard was still with Jade. Everyone else was asleep by now, and no one would wake up until four at the earliest. Even then, she was known to stay in bed until eleven if Ryan had kept her up half the night. Tears choked her again at that thought.
A growl nearby caught her attention. She froze in place, eyes aching from her straining to see where the sound came from. Then a dark shadow shifted in the trees several feet away. Keena swallowed.
“Ryan?” she called out.
The growl came again, and this time, she knew without a doubt what it was—a bear. She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from screaming as it advanced, and pressed against the tree behind her until the bark bit into her back. The gigantic black beast loped closer. Keena couldn’t help herself. She screamed.
The bear reared up on its hind legs and roared. Keena’s head began to spin, and just when she thought she would die in the night alone, something zipped between her and her attacker. She squinted to see him closer, the man who would try to fight this animal bare-handed.
“Oh no, Ryan, get away. It will kill you,” she shouted, but he didn’t listen.
The bear swiped thick, long claws at Ryan, which sent him flying backward, but no matter how hard it knocked him down, Ryan rose up and fought again. Keena searched the area for a stick, anything that would help him, but all that littered the ground were small branches that the storm had knocked free from the trees. She was useless.
Ryan went down several more times, and Keena sobbed for him. When she watched the bear bring a paw down across Ryan’s head, sending him to the mud, she knew he could never live through a blow like that. She dropped to the ground, all strength and will gone. The distinctive scent of blood choked the air.
When Ryan didn’t move, the bear seemed to think it had won the fight and looked like it would move to her, but when it was alongside Ryan, he reached out and wrapped his arms around the bear’s neck. The two struggled, with the bear shaking his massive head back and forth to dislodge Ryan. Ryan squeezed the bear’s neck harder, cutting off his breath. At last, the beast gave in and slumped to the ground. When Ryan let go and took a step back away from it, the bear stumbled to its feet and turned to lumber away. After the bear disappeared, Ryan fell to his knees and collapsed facedown.
“Ryan, are you okay?” She crawled over to him.
One of his hands moved, but he didn’t turn his head toward her. “Get away from me.”
She gasped. “What? Ryan, just let me help you.”
“Keena, for your own safety, get away, damn it!”
He struggled to sit up, clutching his side. Even in the dim light of the moon and the flashes of lightning, she made out the blood coating the grass under him. If he didn’t get help soon, he would die.
She ignored his warning and lifted his arm to lay it across her shoulders, but he tugged against her. The fact that he couldn’t shake her off attested to how weak he was from the blood loss. Keena brushed his hair, which was plastered to his skin, from his forehead. “Let me help you, Ryan. You can do what you want to once we’re both okay.”
She tried to look into his face, but he turned his head. When they were on their feet, all at once, his strength returned enough for him to flatten her on a tree and press his length along her body. She winced at his roughness, but attributed it to his injuries. The fact that he was able to stand said a lot about how strong he was.
Because his back was to the moon, Ryan’s face was in shadows above her. He lowered his head toward her. “I told you to back off, Keena. I don’t want to hurt you, but I
need . . .”
Lightning flashed, and Keena screamed. Ryan’s canine teeth were sharpened. She fought against him, but his hold had turned to steel. Keena beat at his arms and kicked him. The points of Ryan’s teeth edged her skin. She whimpered, knowing this was it. This was his secret that everyone knew but her. This was what Jerry had meant when he said what if Ryan hurt her and what Mirabelle referred to when she said Ryan was better off alone.
“Ryan,” someone called.
Her lover froze and raised his head to look into her eyes. The pain and anguish she saw there almost made her collapse all over again. He released her and stepped back. Several men filled the area, and one woman Keena didn’t recognize. She watched with her heart aching as Ryan zipped across the space toward the woman, but someone blocked her vision before he got there. She glanced up to see Jeb.
He offered a gentle smile
. “Come with me. I’ll get you back to the ranch where you can rest.”
She opened and closed her mouth, but couldn’t speak. Her knees felt like Jell-O. Unable to stop him, she just stood there while Jeb turned her head to look at her neck and tsked like she hadn’t just been about to be sucked dry by a vampire. Jeb put her on his horse and hoisted up behind her. When they were back at the ranch, he saw her to her cabin. Keena went in, in a daze. Jeb speaking from behind her made her stop.
“I think it’s better that you leave here in the morning, Keena.”
“Better for me?”
He shrugged. “And for Ryan.”
“You’re probably right.” She turned to shut the door. “I’ll pack my things now because it’s not likely I’ll get any sleep at all.”
Chapter Eleven
Vampire. The word reverberated around her head while she sat on the plane going home. The whole thing was unreal. Vampires were not real. She’d read about Count Dracula in English class while still in college, had laughed at how unbelievable the story was while her classmates had been spooked, most refusing to read the material at night. Now here she had been face-to-face with one who had been ready to drink her blood. She closed her eyes, and tears welled in them. Worse, she knew she loved Ryan, loved him more than she could ever have loved Steven.
Over the last couple of weeks, she’d had the time of her life—spending time with him, making love. He had been attentive and eager to stay by her side. Only at night did he have to work and come to her later. Now she knew it was because he went out to feed, to drink someone else’s blood. Jeb had explained some of it to her.
“I think I can see it in your eyes that you love him,” Jeb had said. “So I can share a little of what it means to be Ryan.”
Keena had wanted to say never mind, she didn’t need to know because she would never see him again, but she remained silent anyway, listening.
“He can never have someone in his life, someone to love. You already know the story of his wife and how she left him after that attack in Paris.” He noticed her questioning look about how he knew she knew. “Mirabelle reports everything. She loves Ryan, as we all do. We’ve known him for many years, when his uncle owned this place. I guess we were glad that coldhearted bastard died. He made Ryan earn the money to buy the place from him instead of inheriting it. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The night Ryan became a vampire, his wife left him. He came home devastated, half out of his mind. I got the truth out of him about what happened. Like I did for his uncle, I did what I always did, took care of business. I found him donors. I helped him find support.”
Keena frowned. “Support?”
He smiled. “Vampires Anonymous?” He laughed. “No, but I did find another like him. Wasn’t easy. He taught Ryan how to survive, and through a series of unfortunate accidents in his training, most of the staff learned what he was. Some left in terror, and some we bought off to keep silent. Most of the long-term staff loved him enough to stick by him. But it’s a lonely existence, one where he has to be very careful. What happened to you last night should never have happened. I advised him against seeing you when Mirabelle phoned me about how he kept seeking you out. Ultimately, Ryan is the boss. We can’t stop him from doing what he wants.”
Although flashes of his fangs ran across her mind at a constant rate, she still couldn’t take it all in. “That woman last night . . .”
Jeb nodded. “A donor. With the amount of blood Ryan lost, he needed to feed, and it took all his strength not to take it from you. He never wanted to hurt you.”
“You say that like he gives a damn about me,” Keena muttered. “If he did, he wouldn’t have—” She fell silent. She was relieved when Jeb didn’t push to know what she was about to say.
“Ryan is cursed for protecting the woman he loved with all his heart, and he knows more than anyone that loving is not something that’s in the cards for him. He won’t take on the wild life that his tutor lived, a different woman in his bed every night just because he can, but Ryan will never allow himself to love one woman either. And as you saw, a human woman could never be enough, ever again.”
“Except Jade,” she said with bitterness she hadn’t intended.
Jeb had glanced at her as he turned off the highway toward the airport exit. “My spoiled daughter will return to Denver where she belongs. We keep her in the dark, because there’s no way she’d be able to keep such a valuable secret. She’s just like her mother.”
Jeb released a little of his own bitterness, but Keena was surprised at his words. “So she doesn’t know what he is?”
He shook his head. “No, and that’s how it will be. So, I guess it’s at least one good thing, that he’s a day walker.”
“A day walker?”
“A vampire who is unaffected by the sun.”
Later, on the plane ride home, Keena had gone over the conversation with Jeb over and over, but nothing in his words soothed the hurt inside her. Jade might not know Ryan was a vampire, and he hadn’t worried about his secret when he slept with her either. Keena leaned forward and cried. Why did she have to love him? Of all men, why him?
* * * *
Two weeks later
Keena sat at the desk in her room, going over student posts on her computer. She hadn’t the foggiest idea what anyone was saying because she could not focus. Deciding it was hopeless for the time being, she pushed her chair back and rubbed a hand over her eyes. Maybe if she lost herself in good book, time would pass, her aching heart would heal, and life would go on. She glanced up to her small stock of books on the shelves above her computer. Every one was a romance.
She scraped her chair back farther, jumped to her feet, and gathered up all the books. Each one tumbled from her arms into the trashcan. And when that wasn’t good enough, she carried the trash out to the hallway and slammed the door behind her. Pain arrowed to her heart, and she slumped to the floor and sobbed, something she had been doing every day since she returned. Aunt Delores didn’t know what to do about it, and Keena refused to say a word. Mr. Creighton was the one who made her aunt back off and give her time. For that she was grateful.
Her cell buzzed. Knowing it wasn’t him because no one out there had her cell number, she picked it up with little interest and frowned at the display. “What, Steven?”
“Dang, Keena, do you have to sound so harsh? I thought enough time had passed so we could talk. Look, sweetie, I love you, and I want you back.”
“Not interested. Sorry,” she snapped.
He paused. She imagined her lack of emotion shocked him. “You can’t tell me you don’t love me anymore, Keena. You sound like you’ve been crying. I know you, remember?”
Rather than go into that she didn’t loved him by any means, she said, “Let’s get something straight. I don’t love you. I can’t stand you. I never want to see you again, and if you call me or come to my house, I will press charges for harassment and get a restraining order against you. Is that clear enough?”
She disconnected the call only to get a knock on her bedroom door. She sighed. No one would ever give her a break. She wiped her face and stood up to unlock the door.
“What’s up, Aunt Delores?”
Her aunt held out the phone. “For you, sweetie.” She reached out to stroke Keena’s cheek but then drew back. Keena smiled. Her poor aunt was suffering because she was. On impulse, Keena drew the older woman into a hug and kissed her cheek.
“Thanks for being here for me,” she said.
Her aunt sniffled and turned away. Keena put the phone up to her ear and went back into her room.
“Keena, are you there?”
Her heart pounded. Mirabelle was on the phone. “Yes, Mirabelle. Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s not.” Her voice dropped low. “Is this a secure line?”
Despite her fear and unhappiness, Keena chuckled. “Yes, don’t worry. I live only with my aunt, and she wouldn’t stoop to listening in on my calls. Tell me what’s g
oing on. He’s okay, isn’t he?”
“We’re back where we were years ago, with him half out of his mind. He won’t feed. He’s locked himself in one of the rooms at his house and won’t let anyone in. Jeb tried to get his tutor to come, but he’s a cold you-know-what! He says the hunger will drive Ryan out soon enough, and if not, well, he can waste if that’s what he wants to do.”
Fresh tears pricked Keena’s eyes. She had to pull herself together before she could speak. After she had wiped her face and cleared her throat, she said, “Why would he do that? I thought he accepted what he is.”
“Because the silly man has fallen in love with you, something we never thought could happen after Anne.”
“That’s not true!” Keena blurted out. She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “I don’t believe that, Mirabelle. He doesn’t love me. He lusted after me, but that can be replaced with the next woman. I’m sure if you give him time, he’ll get over it.”
“Are you getting over it?” she asked.
Keena didn’t answer.
“I know you love him, sweetie. I saw it in your eyes so many times when you looked at him, but I told myself it wouldn’t last, that you were just like all those other women that throw themselves at him, even the married ones sometimes. But watching you two together, it was like no one existed in the world but you and him. From the moment he saw you, and vice versa, you couldn’t stay apart. You were drawn to him as much as he was to you.”
Keena muffled a cry and sniffled. “No, you’re wrong. He-He just used his power on me. I felt it at different times.”
“He wouldn’t do that. That other one taught him how, told him he could control people, but Ryan said he wouldn’t do that. That other one said he was an idiot for not taking advantage of all they could do. You see why we love Ryan? He’s still a good man, like he always was. He does have something special, always did.”
Rein in the Night Page 9
