Lydia laughed out loud again. "You're really funny, you know that?"
Eric grinned again.
There it was again. Something about that smile. Lydia bit her lip.
"Like I said," he continued, "you be careful."
"Don't worry. By the way, if I do need something, how will I get in touch with you?"
Eric winked. "I'll know." Then he turned toward the woods and disappeared into the shadows.
Lydia smiled to herself. Maybe this research project is going to turn into a bit more than I bargained for, she thought. She sure would like to do some research concerning one hunky looking logger. Name of Eric Raven.
Lydia headed for her food stash and dug around for a can of soup. As she set about warming it up, she let her mind wander. And listened to the sounds of the oncoming night.
* * * *
Eric watched from the edge of the woods as Lydia made herself something to eat. From the scents coming from her camp, it smelled like vegetable soup. His stomach growled. She had offered to feed him but he didn't dare let the others see him eat anything. After all, he was supposed to be a vampire, wasn't he? How would it look if he sat down and ate a bowl a soup when there was a perfectly beautiful, hot-blooded woman there for the taking? Not vampire-like, that was for sure.
The thought "beautiful, hot-blooded woman" stuck in his mind.
Eric quickly used his mind to scan for the black void that would tell him where Barack and the females were. He closed his eyes, his mind traveling across the landscape. There. Four miles away. To the east. Three absolute voids. That was the mark of a vampire's mind. It was completely void of emotion, like a black hole.
He opened his eyes. They were a safe distance away. Feeding. A moose, he thought. He had felt the moose's fear. And pain. Eric shook the feelings free.
He turned back to Lydia.
Eric wanted her. She reminded him of a dream he once had. A dream of a woman with long blond hair and a quick tongue. Of course, that had been when Eric was a teenager, before he had started to hunt. Eric had imagined what his dream girl would look like before he had resolved himself to a hunter's solitary life. He had abandoned that dream years ago. But meeting Lydia Cross had brought that dream back to life. His brother, John, had settled down with his wife. Would Eric ever have the chance to do the same? He slowly let out a breath.
He wanted to touch her.
He moved a bit further into the shadows and braced himself against a tree trunk. He wanted to watch Lydia for a while. Get a sense of how she moved.
Touch her mind.
* * * *
Lydia finished off her soup and cleaned everything up. She made the camp animal-safe, then stretched, arms high in the air.
The two-day drive had made her extremely tired. She could use some rest. She wasn't sure just how much rest she would get though, because every time she let her mind wander, Eric Raven entered her thoughts. And oh what thoughts he could inspire. Lydia had never been shy when it came to men but Eric incited an urge in her so powerful, it almost scared her. An urge to run her hands through his hair. Draw him close. Maybe it was how he had appeared just when she was thinking about meeting a dream-lumberjack. Lydia grinned. Yeah, a pure lust-rush, she thought. That's what it must have been.
Lydia took one last look around her camp, banked the fire then crawled into her tent.
She turned on the light that hung from the center bar. Lydia shook her head as she pulled her t-shirt up. She probably should have brought along more batteries. Using a light was going to end up costing her. She was just going to have to learn to get up with the sun and go to bed with the sun.
Lydia flung her t-shirt into a corner of the tent and unzipped her jeans, sliding them down her legs. She kicked them off and into the same corner as her t-shirt.
Suddenly, her vision went black. "What in the ...?" Lydia put her hands out in front of her. The whole world had gone dark.
Then, she felt a warm hand slide around her waist from behind. Lydia sucked in her breath. Heat radiated from behind her, as if someone was standing there, an inch away.
"Don't be afraid," a voice whispered in her ear.
Lydia cocked her head. She recognized that voice. "Eric?"
"Shhh," he said, his breath hot against her ear.
Lydia's body began to tingle. Another hand slid around her waist to join the one already resting just above her navel. Lydia's vision began to lighten. She frowned. This was strange. It was as if she had been blind and now was regaining her sight. But what she saw could not be real.
In front of her was a mirror the size of one wall of the tent. It reflected the interior of the tent all right, but it also reflected Lydia herself, dressed only in her pink lace panties and matching bra. Behind her stood Eric Raven. His eyes bored into hers in the reflection, his hands moved over her waist, one moving low, the other moving high.
She was trapped in his arms. But it can't be real, can it? she thought. There was no mirror in the tent. And Eric had left a while ago.
"Just let yourself feel, Lydia," Eric said, his eyes never leaving hers in the mirror.
"But you're not really here," she said, fighting for control. But she wasn't going to win. His hands felt too delicious on her chilled skin. She watched in the mirror as Eric rested his chin on her shoulder and slowly moved one hand up to cup her breast.
Lydia breathed deeply, leaning back against him. Why not? she thought. It's only a fantasy. A very vivid one. In the mirror, she watched as his fingers played over her breast through her lacy bra, bringing her nipple to a sensitized bud. "Does that feel good?" he breathed in her ear.
Lydia felt full of molten heat. "Oh yeah," she said, arching her neck back.
He chuckled. His eyes, dark and sparkling, watched her in the mirror.
Lydia licked her lips. She was definitely aroused. Her panties were already damp and getting wetter by the second as his fingers drew slow circles around her nipple through the fabric of her bra. She wanted the bra off. Now.
As if reading her mind, Eric reached behind her and unfastened it. Lydia pulled it from her shoulders and tossed it to the floor. Still facing the mirror, she snaked her arms up behind her and draped them around his neck. Eric groaned, cupping her bare breast in his hand, using the other hand to pull her against him.
"I want to see you squirm, Lydia," he said.
Damn, she thought, if this is a dream don't let it end. She moved her bottom back against him and felt his welcoming hardness. Lydia smiled and started to turn around.
Eric stopped her with the hand at her waist. "No," he said. "Stay like you are."
"But, I want you," she said, fully playing into the fantasy. And why not? It's my fantasy, she thought. Even though I know that I'm not asleep this feels too darn good to stop.
"You want me?" Eric asked, his smile widening. He tweaked her nipple between his fingers. "Let's see." Then the hand at her waist slid lower, down inside her panties.
"Yesss," Lydia said as his fingers found her cleft. She locked her hands behind his neck for support and moved her feet father apart. Through hooded eyes, she watched in the mirror as Eric's eyes darkened even more, turning to a deep black.
"How wet are you, Lydia?" he whispered. Eric slid his fingers deeper, opening her. Using his middle finger, he toyed with her clitoris before delving inside her slickened vagina.
"Oh yeah," Lydia said. She felt her juices increase with every stroke of his finger as he slid it in then out, each time rubbing over her clitoris. She writhed against him, wanting to feel his hard member against her bottom, but wanting to thrust herself against the hand that was doing such delicious things to her private parts. Lydia wasn't sure what she wanted to do first. Her body was flaming with desire as she watched both of them in the mirror. She'd had wet dreams before, but never like this.
Eric stood behind her, his head resting on her shoulder, eyes alight with an animal sexuality, while his hands played her body like an instrument he knew well.
Lydia began to pant, his hands nudging her toward what she knew was going to be an earth-shattering orgasm.
The hand that had deftly played with her breast moved toward her mouth. She watched their reflection, felt his fingers graze her lips. Lydia opened her mouth. Eric slid a finger inside. Lydia began to suck, pulling it in, wishing it wasn't just his finger.
Eric groaned behind her. He breathed in deep. "I smell your scent," he said, running his tongue along her neck.
Lydia moaned, running her tongue around the finger in her mouth, shoving her pelvis against his hand. Eric pulled his hand away from her hot, secret place and caught the edge of her panties. He slid them halfway down her thighs.
Lydia turned her head, removing his finger from her mouth. "Take them off," she said, her voice almost breathless.
Eric obliged, sliding her panties down to her knees.
Lydia worked them the rest of the way down and stepped out of them.
Eric brushed his saliva-slickened finger over her breasts.
Lydia whimpered. Her body was quivering, straining for release.
Eric used his hand to delve inside her hot center, this time forcing her to spread her legs wide. He dipped his fingers into her juices, then slid them over her labia, opening her wide. "Look," he said. "Watch yourself. You are beautiful."
Lydia looked in the mirror, caught Eric's eyes. He met her gaze for an instant, then his eyes moved to her nether lips.
Lydia's most private place glistened with the cream of her arousal. She watched as he slid two fingers inside of her, stroking slowly. Lydia began to move against his hand, making love to it. "Damn," she said, her legs starting to tremble.
Eric began to stroke faster. She was so wet now that every time he stroked her, there was a sucking sound. "Come, Lydia. Let yourself come," he said.
Then her world exploded. Lydia doubled over, the orgasm rocking through her body. It was cataclysmic, fireworks going off behind her eyelids. Eric caught her around the waist, preventing her from falling. Still, he stroked her swollen bud, driving her to heights she had never known. When she could take it no more, a scream ripped from her throat. Then everything went black.
A few minutes later, Lydia opened her eyes.
She gasped, sitting up. What the hell had just happened? She looked around the tent.
There was no mirror wall. There was no Eric Raven.
But here she was, sitting on her cot tangled in her sleeping bag, stark naked with wet thighs.
Damn, if she hadn't had the best orgasm of her life with no one there to share it with.
With a shaky hand, Lydia shoved a strand of hair out of her eyes and started to get up. Her thigh muscles still quivered from the force of the orgasm. And she was thirsty. Damn thirsty.
"Get a grip, Lydia," she said to herself, grabbing her nightshirt from her suitcase. She drew it over her head. "You need a man, that's all. Either that or keep having these dreams ... if that's what they are."
Lydia shook her head. Weird. Had meeting Eric Raven had that much of an effect on her? Sheesh. She'd better watch it or she'd be jumping him the next time she saw him.
Lydia crawled into her sleeping bag and reached up to turn out the light hanging from the center pole.
"Get some sleep. You're just overtired," she told herself. She rolled onto her side and pulled her pillow close.
At least she hoped lack of sleep was the only problem.
* * * *
Eric sucked in a deep breath and slid down the tree trunk.
He had only meant to touch her mind for a moment but whoa ... that woman was a wildcat.
Eric ran a shaky hand through his hair. That had been the best out-of-body sex he had ever had. And he hadn't even come himself. But Lydia ... watching her, pleasuring her, had been an experience. Eric wished he didn't have this assignment to deal with. He wanted to head straight for her tent right now and make love to her for real.
But did she realize what had just happened? Should he just continue to let her think it was a dream?
Eric didn't know. He pushed himself up to a standing position. Immediately he scanned for Barack and the females.
They were getting closer. They must be done feeding, he thought. He glanced back at Lydia's tent. He'd better intercept the vampires, try to steer them away.
He didn't want them to find her.
Not when he had just found her himself. Lydia Cross had entered his world, stepping right out of an old dream he had once thought impossible. Eric Raven would guard this woman, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
* * * *
Anthony Barack stood on a small rise in the trees, upwind from Eric.
A slight breeze ruffled through his dark fur. He raised his head, nose to the wind, scenting. His wolf form was something that, even after centuries of existence, still amazed him. That's why he chose this form to hunt. He loved the drama. First tracking, then the chase. Then the kill. Barack rarely took a human, preferring to match his instincts with that of another animal. He saved humans for special treats. That's how he had acquired the two females. Alison and Susanna. He had taught them how to shift and now the three of them roamed the night in a pack.
Then they had met Eric.
Barack was still leery of the male. Eric didn't shift, opting instead for his human form. If it hadn't been for the females, Barack would have killed him. But the females had wanted to bring some new blood into the pack. Barack wasn't worried about Eric displacing him as the alpha male. As far as Barack could tell, the females had not been able to entice Eric into mating with them as yet.
Barack wasn't quite sure why.
He took one more deep breath, pulling in the scent. Hmm, he thought. Tonight Eric has other inclinations.
Barack shuddered, his muscles rippling as he began to shift back to his human form.
In seconds, Barack stood tall, his yellow-brown eyes gazing down at the human female's camp. He heard Eric approaching from his left but that didn't concern him in the least.
Barack licked his lips, his eyes locked on the woman's tent. Her scent was what had drawn him. The scent of her lust, her passion. It had been a long time--a very long time--since Barack had tasted the rich cream of a fully aroused human female. His mouth watered at the thought of it.
But he also knew why the woman was so aroused.
Eric Raven had touched her with his mind.
Barack chuckled as he turned away and moved further into the forest. He'd let Eric toy with this woman for a while. It would be amusing to see how Alison and Susanna dealt with the situation.
But Barack would have a taste of her before things got too ... messy.
Yes, he thought. I'll let this little drama play out.
Then, I'll take what I want.
Chapter Two
Lydia jerked awake. She blinked, trying to pry her eyes open. It was still dark outside, but something had ripped her out of sleep.
She rubbed at her eyes and listened. Then she heard it.
The most mournful howl echoed through the woods, rising in pitch, then slowly lowering and fading away.
Lydia shivered in her sleeping bag. Poor thing, she thought, pulling the bag up over her shoulders and settling back down. It hadn't been the howl that had made her shiver. The early morning air had a chill to it. Lydia waited to see if the wolf would call again. It wouldn't be long before dawn. Lydia frowned. Seemed like the wrong time of night for a wolf to be howling. But then again, she could be wrong. She had heard that some wolves had migrated down from Canada. Lydia hugged herself inside her sleeping bag, thankful she had brought a cot to keep herself off the ground.
Another howl drifted through the woods, rising and falling, calling in the last vestiges of night.
Lydia strained to listen, wanting another to answer the lonely wolf's call.
Her mind drifted back to the experience she'd had earlier. Her body immediately came to life, tingling in all the right places. She remembered the strange dr
eam-like state she had been in as she'd imagined herself standing in front of a mirror while that hunk, Eric Raven, brought her to heights of pleasure she didn't think any other man would ever be able to match. Lydia shifted in her sleeping bag, a new kind of ache filling her. She wanted Eric Raven. And next time she saw him, she just might let him know.
Another wolf answered the lone wolf's call.
Lydia smiled, a new warmth filling her. At least someone is going to get some, she thought. Maybe it was an omen. Maybe she and Eric Raven would get to be ... closer.
She drifted back to sleep, listening to the love calls of two lonely wolves, and the sounds of the Maine woods. Lydia was going to love this place, that was for sure.
* * * *
Eric strained to listen as Barack howled just before dawn, calling to the females. As they answered, Eric could tell they weren't ready to head back to the lair. The females were flighty, young to the vampire life yet. They liked to push the limits. Barack had his hands full keeping them under control. But he liked it, it seemed. Barack himself rode the edge.
Eric finished chewing the beef jerky that Dirk had stashed for him in one of their secret places. Dirk, his brother, was staying on the outside of the Clutch this time. This was the first field assignment Dirk had taken on. Eric usually worked with his older brother, John. But the last job had taken a toll on all of them, Eric especially. He had been bitten by the female of the Clutch they had been sent to destroy. Eric hadn't been sure he was going to make it out of that little snafu. But John had come through for him. And right after they had destroyed the Clutch, John had announced his retirement and that he was getting married. Eric was happy for him. John deserved to have some happiness in his life. And John's new wife, Madison, seemed just the person to fit the bill. That's why Dirk was working with Eric now.
It was still the objective of the Unkindness of Ravens to rid the world of the threat of vampires. The only problem was, there were only five of the Raven family left. John, the oldest brother, was now at headquarters, monitoring the other four as they moved about the country on assignments. Eric and Dirk, the other two brothers, were taking care of the Clutch centered here in Maine. Then there were Drake and Holt, the cousins. Eric didn't know exactly where they were at the moment and it wasn't his concern. His only concern was getting himself into a position to destroy Anthony Barack and his females, Alison and Susanna.
Eric The Guardian - Book 2 of the Raven Series Page 2
