Harlequin Nocturne January 2014 Bundle: The Vampire HunterMoon Rising

by Michele Hauf

  He’d known something had begun with that first kiss. And he wasn’t eager to run away from it until he figured exactly what that something was.

  Sighing heavily, he thought once about slipping out from under Zoë’s arms—of running—and then...he began to snore.

  Chapter 11

  Kaz woke to spy a bowl of oatmeal in Zoë’s hands. She wore a black robe edged in some kind of fluffy, feathery stuff—what did they call it?—marabou. She looked glamorous, and she wore no makeup. Her bright blue eyes held court against her pale skin and lips and drew attention from her hair.

  He blinked and shook the sleep from his brain. “What time is it?”

  “Noon. But I was in the breakfast mood, so...”

  “More chia seeds?”

  “I’ll make you a believer sooner or later.”

  “The day you start believing in faeries is the day I’ll start believing in the healthy stuff.”

  “Deal. I thought you were going to slip out after I fell asleep?”

  He sat up and took the bowl with no intention of eating the stuff. “Couldn’t bring myself to walk away from you.” He cast her a glance, then looked away quickly. It was too early for emotional stuff, right?

  Yet Zoë beamed at him. It was like standing in sunshine and his heart opened to suck up the warmth. Man, he was getting mushy in the brain. But he couldn’t avoid the obvious: that he had stayed because he hadn’t wanted to leave her.

  “It was nice to wake in your arms,” she said. “I didn’t even mind your snoring. I’ve got pancakes for you in the kitchen. The chia was a tease. It’s mine.” She took the bowl from him and walked into the kitchen.

  Kaz picked up the sweet smell of pancakes and followed his nose. Waiting for him on the kitchen table was a stack of fluffy pancakes topped with fresh blueberries and raspberries and oozing heavenly dribbles of butter and berry syrup.

  Kaz dived for a fork and shoveled in a bite before he even sat on the chair. Zoë set a steaming cup of coffee near his plate and seated herself across from him.

  He dragged his tongue across his lower lip as he considered what waking to such a gorgeous sight meant to him. It felt like...home. Something he hadn’t known in well over a decade. The feeling planted itself in his core, and he didn’t want to kick it out.

  “What?” she asked.

  “These pancakes are good, but you look even more appetizing.”

  “Is that so?” She blushed and tufted the feathers on her collar.

  A black cat jumped onto the table and seated himself a paw’s reach away from Kaz’s plate.

  “Kaz, meet Sid. I don’t think the two of you have been properly introduced. Sid is my guy. He likes to chase mice, but never kills them. He’s not a familiar. And he loves pancakes.”

  “I see. So just a plain ole alley cat, eh, Sid? No changing into a man? You don’t know how relieved that makes me feel.”

  Not willing to give up any of his food for the cat, Kaz busied himself with plowing through the booty. Never had he tasted such fluffy pancakes, and they had little black seeds in them that crunched with each chew. More chia, no doubt.

  Sid placed a polite paw on the back of Kaz’s hand.

  He looked to Zoë, but she gave him the big, sweet eyes. Two of a kind, the witch and her cat. Both wielded a soft touch to his hardened heart.

  “Hell.” Kaz broke off a piece of pancake and held it out for the cat. The feline snatched the whole thing and jumped to the floor. “Polite little bugger,” he commented.

  “Sid knows he’s not supposed to eat at the table.”

  He sipped the coffee and—gasped. Eyes welling, Kaz tightened his lips and sucked down the dark brew.

  “I hope you like it strong,” Zoë commented sweetly.

  “Hell, Zoë, this is like something a hillbilly would brew in a still!”

  “Gets your day started, doesn’t it?”

  “Started? I’ll have to run all the way home to work off this turbo-charged octane.”

  “You going vampire hunting today?”

  “Uh, yes?”

  “You can tell me, Kaz. I know it’s your job.”

  “It’s got to be done. You saw proof of that last night.”

  “Yes.” She touched the diamond pendant at her neck. She must have fixed the clasp, because surely it had broken when he’d torn it off her.

  Kaz wiped his mouth with the napkin and then, closing his eyes, downed the last of the coffee in one fast swallow. Octane, to the highest power. But he liked it. “I should have had some of this last night before we went out. Would have kept me dancing a lot longer. Might have avoided the vamps on the Metro.”

  “It’s okay, Kaz. I can deal. Can you deal with the fact that I can deal?”

  “I...uh...” He wasn’t sure. He’d never dated anyone who had a clue as to what he did or that an entire paranormal universe existed within the mortal realm. Should make things easier. So why wasn’t he feeling kosher with it all? Dating? Were they dating? “Sure?”

  “Wow. That was the least sure-sounding sure I’ve ever heard. Want to try again?”

  “I can deal,” he avowed. “It just surprises me that I can. You’re new to me, Zoë.”

  “Strange kind of compliment.”

  “You know what exists in this world.”

  “Right. We all exist, even those things you might still believe are stuff of nightmares. Banshees and kelpies. Valkyries and dwarves. Demons and angels. All of them.”

  “But certainly not trolls.”

  She winced and nodded.

  “Really? Ah, man.” Kaz rubbed the back of his neck. “I had nightmares about those things after my mom read me a story about three billy goats.”

  “Trolls tend to stalk the Northern climes, but you’ll find them abundant in Faery.”

  “Peachy. So, uh, have you been to Faery?”

  “No, and I never intend to visit.” She stood and set the breakfast dishes in the sink. “Bad things happen in Faery to those who don’t belong there.”

  Kaz eased a hand over his hip. Yep, bad things came out of Faery, too. “But if you don’t believe in them, then you couldn’t possibly go there for a visit, anyway.”

  “Exactly. I shall make a nonbeliever of you somehow.”

  “I prefer to see when something is coming after me with a deadly weapon, so I’ll stick with belief for now.”

  “Whatever makes you happy.”

  Kaz raised a brow. There was one sure thing that made him happy.

  “Come over here,” he said, pushing back on the chair and holding out his arms to invite her to sit on his lap. “You know that robe hangs open just low enough so I can see the good stuff?”

  She teased the tip of her finger between her lips and blushed. Man, he loved when her cheeks pinkened like that. Made him want to glide his tongue over the color to see if it tasted as sweet as it looked.

  “I took a shower while you were sleeping, and was going to get dressed, but Sid insisted on being fed, so...” She fluffed the feathers that, unfortunately, covered her breasts and sat in his lap. “I’ve a thing for the American television show Green Acres.”

  “You want to live out in the country and scamper about in sexy underthings while your husband drives a tractor nearby?”

  “Doesn’t that sound like a dream? Living off the land. Growing your own food, with chickens scampering about. But still living close enough to the city to buy pretty things that sparkle.”

  Pretty things that sparkle were exactly what he should be paying attention to right now instead of Zoë’s soft mouth.

  Kaz tapped the pendant at the base of her neck. Vampires going for the sparkle—and taking lives. Focus, Kaz.

  He was almost there, prepared to stand and march off to work, ut
ilizing the octane high of the coffee as muscle fuel, when Zoë put her arms around his neck.

  The marabou tickled his chin as she leaned in to kiss him. “Come back later, pretty please?”

  “I don’t need to leave right this moment.”

  She wiggled on his lap, which brought things up and hardened them to a wincing tightness. “You want to fool around?”

  “Is that a question or a challenge?”

  “Both. I do have some spell work to tend to today, but I don’t have to get to that immediately.”

  “What does a witch do, exactly, when she says spell work?”

  “Oh, a little of this, a little of that. I’m always practicing and perfecting. A witch can study for centuries and still never master an element of magic.”

  “And what elements can you control?”

  “Earth, air, water.”

  “No fire? I heard something about witches and fire.”

  “It’s our death. We can be burned to death even after we obtain immortality.”

  “And immortality comes from the vampire heart thing, right?”

  “You don’t want to talk about such things, do you, my big, strong hero?”

  Her eyes danced over his face and she trailed a finger along his hairline. The touch tickled one of those good shivers over his scalp that then skittered down his arms and coiled in his chest. He was beginning to associate the feeling in his core with home and rightness.

  Zoë nuzzled aside his cheek and lashed out her tongue to tease his earlobe. And everything on him that was hard grew adamant.

  Kaz slid a hand down the slippery fabric that covered her back, wanting to feel skin. Zoë twisted on his lap and straddled him. Her tickling ear tease glided lower, along his jaw and to the divot in his chin.

  “This is cute,” she said of the odd dent he’d once thought was because his father had punched him too hard. It hadn’t become defined until he was a teenager and he knew better. It was a cleft. But blaming his father came naturally to him. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend, Kaz? Don’t tell me your job keeps them away or that you have to remain single because your life is too dangerous. You’re a sexy man. I can’t believe I’m not fighting off hordes right now to kiss you.”

  “If this is what a horde looks like—” he tapped her lips “—then bring it on.”

  The kiss was immediately dangerous and daringly deep. Zoë dived into him, passionate and bold. She crushed her chest against his and moaned into his mouth, and he answered with a rousing agreement. She grasped his hair and squeezed his hips with her thighs. Cleaving to him, melding herself against him.

  “If I’m the only one,” she said between kisses, “then I have to ask, what the hell is wrong with you?”

  Kaz laughed because he wanted the answer to that one himself. “It is the job,” he said. “Believe it or not. But it could be me, too.”

  “I don’t think it is. But I’m one lucky girl if I’m the only one on your dance card.”

  “You don’t think I keep returning to this place just because I like cerulean, do you?”

  “Maybe it’s my chia pudding?”

  He lifted her, putting her legs about his hips, and walked her over to the counter where he set her down and kissed her again. “It’s your kisses, and your sweet smile, and your pretty eyes and your mysterious hair, and you can even toss in the cat if you want to.”

  “I adore a man who likes cats.”

  “Only the polite ones,” he said. “Can I make a confession?”

  “Mmm, sounds intriguing.”

  “It’s about you and...well, women in general.”

  “I’m not sure I like being lumped in with women in general.”

  “Oh, you’re not. You stand all on your own, Zoë. And that’s what I mean. I’m kind of a player. I love ’em and leave ’em. And I’m going to use the excuse of my job for that, even though you said I wasn’t allowed. I just never want anyone to get too close, you know?”

  “I can understand that. But still, that doesn’t give a Lothario good reason to ditch out of bed before his lover even opens her eyes.”

  “I suppose not, but it’s worked for me.”

  “So your confession is that I should set a trap on your side of the bed?”

  Kaz chuckled. She was way ahead of him, but he liked that about her. Nothing about him seemed to put her off.

  He caught her sigh in the next kiss and it felt like an angel had settled on earth and he held her in his arms. Though, from what he had heard about angels, perhaps he’d take a creepy witch over one of those malicious and deadly winged beings from Above.

  “Your kisses are something to linger in,” Zoë said. She tilted her forehead against his and trailed a finger down his chest. “Anything else you want to take your time with?”

  He nuzzled his nose into her hair and kissed the edge of her jaw. Drawing his hands around and up her torso, he sought the softness beneath the robe, cupping her breasts. “How about this?”

  Her back arched, lifting her breasts, and Kaz nuzzled against the fabric and mouthed her nipple. “I approve of your confession, hunter.”

  He chuckled against her breast and peeled aside the robe. With a dash of his tongue, he teased close to her nipple. She wrapped her legs about him. A glide of his fingers released the robe to fall to the crook of her elbows and expose her breasts.

  She moved against him, daring him to suck hard and long and swirl his tongue about the rigid tip of her. She tasted fresh from the shower and a little salty, and her moans seasoned the treat.

  Every part of him wanted to tear off the clothing and ram his cock inside her, satisfying need and desire. Yet never to satisfy that core swirl of emotion that he was beginning to tap into. Slow. Yes, slower and he would probably tap into that emotion he’d always put aside. Whether or not he’d know what to do with it when he got there, he wasn’t sure, but he was determined to give it a go.

  The magic of Zoë wasn’t a white mist that soothed his wounds but rather the easy confidence she gave him to not be the one who demanded and took, and then ran off.

  A musical ting sounded somewhere above their heads.

  “Oh.” Zoë pulled from Kaz’s licking kisses. “That’s my spell room. I’ve work to do.”

  “Seriously?”

  She nodded, sucking in a corner of her lip in regret. “Terrible timing, but I’m working on something that demands a specific schedule.”

  She gripped him by the back of the head and pulled him in for a hard kiss. “I don’t want you to go, but—”

  “I have work to do, too. Besides, maybe this is the universe telling us to keep it slow.”

  “I’m beginning to have a change of heart regarding slow. We could skip entire chapters if you’re willing.”

  “I have no idea what that means.”

  He bent to lash his tongue over her nipple and her entire body shuddered. Zoë drew up a leg and cooed sweetly. “You don’t need to know what it means. You’re already on the pages, and that’s all that matters to me.”

  “You are most certainly made of magic,” he commented as he watched goose flesh rise on her skin and recede. “I’m coming back.”

  “You’d better. Tonight?”

  “Nothing can keep me away from you. I’ll think about you all day.”

  “Don’t do that. I’d hate to have you off your game when you need to be on the alert for fangs.”

  Crushing her in a hug, Kaz buried his face in her hair and held on to her as he’d wanted to cling to someone for over a decade. Had he finally found home?

  “You’ve bewitched me, Zoë. And I’m not sure if that’s good, bad or crazy as hell.”

  “And here I thought you had bewitched me.”

  “Really?”

  “From the fir
st moment we touched, you began the bewitchment.”

  “Cool. I’ll take credit for that one.”

  With one final kiss, he left her there, sitting on the counter, and retrieved his shirt from the laundry. Standing in the threshold of the witch’s home he palmed the key in his pocket. Safe.

  He stepped outside. Turning back to the cerulean door, Kaz couldn’t stop a smile.

  Chapter 12

  Kaz jogged the quarter mile from the Metro station to his apartment. Since meeting Zoë, he’d been doing a lot of running home to shower and change. Tor had found the apartment for him in the fifteenth arrondissement. When Kaz had officially taken vows and joined the Order at seventeen—and being formally homeless—he hadn’t the finances for inner-city living. Yet he did appreciate being away from the bustle and tourists.

  The downside to his address was he risked luring dangerous vampires into a residential neighborhood. So he kept his head down, and always looked over his shoulder. He’d been a knight for ten years and hadn’t any incidents, and intended to keep it that way. He could separate his home life from work.

  But could he separate work from the pleasures of all that was Zoë? Business had mixed with pleasure when he was forced to slay vampires to keep her safe. Why had those vamps come at him in the subway, anyway? He hadn’t been wearing the Order uniform and certainly hadn’t been tracking them.

  A few vampires did know him by name and appearance. Who had it out for him? Vaillant, he trusted. That vamp was good to the core, much as he looked like some kind of rock-star wannabe, and woe to the person who got in his way while that vamp was out for a drive.

  Could it be Switch? He’d thought he’d lost in the scuffle against her and her henchmen. She had no reason to come after him, unless she felt the job wasn’t finished until he stopped breathing.

  The only other guess was that the vampires in the Metro had seen the diamond at Zoë’s throat.