Red Blooded

by Amanda Carlson

  I was totally naked.

  The portal had literally stripped us of everything, including our clothing. My scalp tingled as new hair began to grow back. I hadn’t lost it all, but there were definite patches missing. I reached an arm up to feel my head, assessing the damage. Sand trickled down on my face. “Hey,” I said, spitting the tiny grains out of my mouth as I realized where we’d landed. “I think we’re on a beach. This isn’t the worst place we could’ve been sent.”

  “I don’t care if we landed in the middle of a five-star resort. We’re never doing that again.” Rourke eased his massive frame up. I knew he hurt as much as I did, but he hadn’t complained once. He was behind a screen of scrubby brush and I couldn’t get a good look at him. He was healing faster than me because he was older, but I wasn’t too far behind. “Are you okay?” he asked as he stood. “All your pieces back together?”

  “Working on it,” I said, trying not to groan as I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. Another cascade of pain rippled through me as more bones set and the gashes healed. Hard shells and rocks poked me from underneath and the ocean roared not too far away. “I think we’re behind a dune or something,” I mumbled. “I don’t scent any humans.”

  He rose and walked out from behind the brush—I opened my eyes and he took my breath away, effectively making me forget any pain I was in. He was so perfectly made, with his incredibly defined abs, broad shoulders, those muscles that made a delicious vee toward his very ample… parts. His body glowed with energy. The heat from the portal, coupled with the quick healing, had covered him in a sheen of sweat. It didn’t even matter that half his body was covered in sand.

  The man was magnificent.

  “We are indeed at the beach.” He grinned down on me. “It’s almost dusk and the ocean is right over that hill.” His head inclined to the right. “I don’t hear or scent anyone either, but you’re proving to be quite a distraction right here. I don’t think I need to investigate anything else.” His eyes flashed with intensity as he knelt down beside me. “Are you still in pain?” His hand lightly caressed my forearm. “Your body looks well on its way to being healed.”

  I angled an arm up to caress his chest. “I’m not in pain any longer,” I replied. “Everything is finally right with the world.”

  He growled as he scooped me up.

  His lips met mine, our tongues intertwined instantly and our kiss deepened as he lifted me like I weighed nothing. I moaned in pleasure. Without stopping, or looking back, Rourke walked us over the dune and straight into the ocean.

  My hands tugged at his hair as the cool water lapped deliciously around our naked bodies, rinsing us clean in a single instant. There were no big waves, only beautifully calm turquoise waters. “You know,” I teased, breaking our kiss, “we could’ve landed in the middle of the desert. Possibly during a migration of wildebeests. Or maybe in a den of hungry hyenas. But instead we landed on a deserted island. This was a very lucky break.” I didn’t bother to dwell on the fact that nothing in my life thus far had been lucky.

  Except for meeting Rourke.

  Fate had played its part in us coming together, but I also knew how very lucky I’d been that it’d happened when it did. Or at all. Our paths could’ve been separated for much longer, but now, looking at him and feeling his closeness, I couldn’t imagine finding my way through this life alone.

  “Luck may have had something to do with it.” He grinned. “Or Fate has finally decided to give us a five-minute break. But I plan on showing you exactly how lucky we are right this minute.” He readjusted me in his arms. I gripped his shoulders as he slid me down his chest. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist as his hands kneaded my backside.

  My mouth connected with his, my tongue seeking as he positioned me over his hardness. He wasted no time, both of us already frenzied as he guided himself into me in one motion. I was more than ready, my head falling backward as he filled me, a cry of pleasure on my lips.

  We both needed this so badly.

  As my body arched in ecstasy, his mouth latched onto me, sucking hard. I could feel his need, which matched my own. We’d been apart too long. I rocked forward and backward, building a rhythm, the cool water lapping against us, earning a moan from him. “Jessica,” he whispered, his hands running up to my shoulders and back down. “I can’t be apart from you this long again.”

  “I know,” I replied. His hands found their way to my hips and gripped me firmly, rocking us together hard. “But if you keep that up, it’s going to end quicker than I’d like.” I wrapped my hands around his neck and smiled into his lips, resting my forehead against his as my eyes slid shut. “You feel so good.”

  “There’s a lot more where this came from.” He slowed to a more languorous rate, which made my toes curl. “You realize we can’t think about getting off this island until morning. Once it’s full dark, it will be impossible.” He growled into my lips, his possession making me shudder with pleasure. “So I’m going to make this night as enjoyable as I can.” He punctuated that statement with a firm thrust.

  I answered by covering his mouth with mine and taking him deep, my body responding in kind. I rocked against him, my abs flexing against his with each thrust. I moaned.

  “Let go, Jessica,” Rourke whispered, his hands gripping me tightly, increasing the rhythm, pounding against me, each thrust more delicious than the last.

  I threw my head back as did exactly that, ceasing to care about anything in the entire universe.

  Except for him.

  I squinted into the morning sunlight. We were curled up under a palm tree, one of my arms was casually draped over Rourke’s torso. I yawned, turning to nuzzle my face into his neck.

  “Um, excuse me, ma’am,” a polite voice interrupted the silence. “I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re about to set this beach up for a wedding. You may want to head back to the main island before more… people arrive. There should be a ferryboat coming in about fifteen minutes. There’s a nude beach on the main island, on the north side.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I shot straight up, shielding my delicate parts with my arms as best I could. I was so surprised by the sudden appearance of what looked to be a very nice waiter, the question had come out much louder and harsher than I’d intended.

  The poor worker, who could not have been more than twenty-one, took a surprised step backward at the alarm in my voice. He was dressed all in white, his uniform crisp and formal. “Um… I was telling you about… the ferry…”

  Good grief, we had landed in a five-star resort.

  Rourke opened a lazy eye next to me, a full grin playing on his lips. He had known this guy was coming up on us and I socked him in the arm for not warning me sooner. He chuckled as he rose to a sitting position. I leaned behind him to further conceal my nudity as he addressed our poor shaken waiter. “Glad you found us. We got a little tipsy last night… after the last ferry ride… and seem to have gotten lost. We decided it was safer to stay here instead of trying to find our way back.”

  “It’s no problem at all, sir,” the waiter answered gravely. “I have some linen on my cart and you can use it… to cover up.” He gulped as Rourke flexed his arms to brush the sand off. “I think the tablecloths will be big enough to conceal most of you. But you both should head out before the others start coming. I,” he stammered, “I… don’t want you to be…”

  I nodded, trying to swallow and not choke on my tongue from laughter. “It’s no problem, really,” I managed. “We’d be grateful for the linens, and then we’ll be on our way lickety-split. If you could be so kind as to direct us back to the docks, since we got turned around last night, that would help immensely.”

  As he scurried away, Rourke let out a bellow of laughter in a delicious deep bass and I slapped him on the shoulder, giggling myself. “That wasn’t funny! I think we scarred that poor boy for life.”

  “I’m sure he’s seen worse, especially if there’s a nude beach on the main island.” He chuckl
ed. “I heard the boats this morning, so I knew we weren’t alone. It was only a matter of time.”

  “Good grief,” I muttered. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” I scooted back to the base of the palm tree, pulling my knees up tight and wrapping my arms around my legs, making sure everything was covered. At the last minute, I piled some sand around my bottom.

  “Because you hadn’t slept in days,” he replied, arching an eye over his shoulder at me. “The only time your body can truly shut down is when you’re with me. Your wolf knows I will protect you. And don’t sit there and tell me you didn’t need it, because that’s bullshit. You slept like the dead, snoring with your mouth open, and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

  I couldn’t argue. Just that little bit of sleep had invigorated me. Not to mention all the other relaxing releases I’d had during the night. I actually felt great. “Grab the summoning stone. It’s by your foot. And I don’t snore.” After we’d finished in the ocean, I’d realized the stone had popped out of my mouth upon impact. We’d found it a few yards from where we’d landed. It gave off a wave of otherworldliness, so it hadn’t been hard to find.

  Rourke palmed the rock right as a throat was politely cleared beside us. “Um,” the waiter said, approaching slowly. “Here you go.” He held out two nicely folded tablecloths. “If you exit the beach by my cart, just over the rise you’ll hit a path to the ferry dock. It’s about two hundred yards through the vegetation on the other side. The ferry should be there once you arrive.”

  I took one of the proffered linens from his outstretched hands and Rourke took the other. “Thank you so much,” I replied. “We’ll head out right away. And we’re so sorry to have bothered you.”

  “Really,” the waiter said. “It’s not a problem. You aren’t… even the first I’ve seen here. Overnights… do happen.”

  Rourke shot me a pointed look as he stood, wrapping the cloth around his waist and tying the ends.

  I shook the cloth out before I stood, rising behind it. Then I fashioned it into a toga, looping the ends in a bulky mess over my shoulder. Thank goodness it was thin enough to tie. Once I was done, I shook out my hair and readjusted myself, smoothing the front, trying to find some grace in this awkward situation. “Again,” I said as I stepped forward. “We truly appreciate the help… and the linen.”

  I glanced up to find the waiter’s eyes fastened on me, his mouth slightly ajar.

  Rourke scowled, coming up behind me, wrapping one arm around my waist as he nudged me forward. “We’ve got it from here. Thanks.”

  Almost like a spell had been broken, the boy shook his head. “Um, yeah, no problem.”

  As we started to walk away, Rourke whispered in my ear, “One more look at you like that and he was going to find himself taking an impromptu swim in the ocean. Facedown.”

  “Don’t forget, you let that very same boy see me with all my bits and pieces hanging out, so you can’t possibly be angry with him now.” We found the small path by the cart and followed it.

  “The kid wasn’t looking at any of your parts, he was looking into your eyes.” There was more possessiveness in his voice than I’d expected, especially over a human waiter. “I watched him fall in love with you in that very instant.”

  “Shut up.” I laughed. “You can’t fall in love in one glance.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  29

  The ferry was nothing more than a very expensive speedboat meant for shuttling guests to and from the main island, which was located less than three miles away. The captain had merely risen an eyebrow as we’d boarded and said nothing.

  Explaining to the front desk that we had somehow misplaced our room key and “couldn’t remember” our villa number took more energy than I had once we arrived. I left it to Rourke and went to find a courtesy phone.

  Ignoring the passing looks from the other hotel guests, I folded myself into one of the nearby couches in the lobby, pressing the phone against my ear as I dialed. “Marcy?” I asked as soon as the collect call was accepted. “Is that you?” I was so relieved to hear her voice I almost wept.

  “Who else would it be?” She had answered with her usual sarcasm and I wanted to kiss her on the lips.

  “I guess I didn’t expect you to be at work,” I replied lamely.

  “Why wouldn’t I be at work?” she said. “It’s nine o’clock on a Wednesday morning, of course I’m here.” Because Marcy was in such a good mood, and she was acting like it was just another normal day, she clearly had no idea what was going on with the witches. Before I could answer, she added, “Are you calling me direct from the Underworld? Or is this caller ID correct and you’re actually calling from a place called Rum Cay?”

  We were in fact on the tiny Bahamian island of Rum Cay. The island name had been scrawled on the outside of the resort, which had been helpful. I’d been relieved we weren’t farther out of the United States. “We are in the Bahamas, but how we got here is a long story. There are far more pressing things we need to discuss at the moment,” I said.

  “Like the fact you’re alive,” she snarked. “When you went through that circle unexpectedly, that man of yours nearly decapitated us all with one swipe of his meaty paw. It was touch and go there for three solid minutes. I hope he found you, or there’s one pissed-off cat roaming around in Hell right now killing things.”

  “He’s with me.” I glanced over to see both receptionists batting their eyelashes at him. It was hard to look away from his bare chest, so I could hardly blame them, and because only I knew what lay underneath the tablecloth, I let it go. I planted my eyes firmly on the table beside me. Whatever yarn he’d spun, we’d be lucky if they bought it. There was no need for jealousy, even though my wolf was emitting a low, continuous growl. “Marcy, I’m going to need you to wire money to this resort pronto. You’re also going to have to call the front desk back on behalf of your ‘clients’ and bitch and moan about the service, and blame their lack of check-in records on some kind of computer glitch.”

  “Got it,” she answered. I heard her scratching notes on paper. “How are you getting off said island with no passports or ID? Need me to book you a private plane?”

  “Can you do that?” I’d never needed a private anything before.

  “Of course. If you throw enough money at anything, no one asks any questions. But the funds will have to come out of Pack moneys, since you are currently stone-cold broke.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “Get in touch with Nick then. He has access to the Safe House and he’ll give you the bank numbers you need.”

  “Um.” She hesitated. “I can’t really do that right now.”

  I sat up straighter, detecting the cadence of her voice shift. “Why not?”

  “He’s sort of gone… along with the rest of your Pack.”

  “Marcy,” I said, wrapping my fingers around the edge of the table, trying not to break anything. “Gone where? What’s going on?”

  “You’ve been gone kind of a long time,” she said. “Things have been… happening.”

  “How long?”

  “Ninety-six days.”

  Ninety-six days. Shit. “Where are they?”

  “The last I heard from James, a day ago, they were circling a nonexistent town not found on any map, deep in the Everglades. It seems the horrible man-eating wolf predators were hurting humans or something. They’re trying to contain the damage before everyone is found out. All hands on deck.”

  “Why are you still at home?” I couldn’t believe she’d willingly leave her new man’s side. A mated pair didn’t go very far without each other, especially when danger was involved, and now I knew firsthand why.

  “He made me swear an oath, that big, fat hunk of a potbellied weasel.” Then she swore, which was highly unusual for Marcy. “And I promised I’d stay home—that is—until you got home. And you can bet I’m counting Rum Cay as home. So now I’m free to find him and you better believe I’m going to.”

  “Erm, there’s something else
you need to know before you go,” I said quietly, cupping my hand over the receiver as a couple walked by, the woman eying my getup with interest. “Have you been in contact with Tally since I left?”

  I heard her slump back in her chair. “No, those witch asshats threw me out of the Coven after you left. They said they needed more time to decide whether or not I was ‘qualified’ to join them, even after I’d done everything they’d asked—and I’d done it perfectly, I might add. So I stomped out and haven’t been back since. I’m still pissed. Why?”

  “Something’s going on. I think Tally may have… disappeared.”

  “What do you mean disappeared?” I heard her sit up, her stack of pencils clattering. “I would know if my old battle-ax of an aunt had left the country. She would’ve found a way to tell me, even though I wouldn’t have taken her calls. She could’ve sent an owl. Or a honey badger with a note attached to his collar. That would be more her style.”

  “When we tried to come back from the Underworld the circle was dead. We were forced to take a portal back, which is why I’m sitting here wrapped in a tablecloth on a small Bahamian island. Tyler and Danny came through before us, but I haven’t tried the Safe House phone yet. They may have gotten stuck in a worse locale than we did—”

  There was a jumble of muffled noises as Marcy covered the phone with her hand and spoke with someone else.

  “Who are you talking to?” I asked. “Is that Naomi?”

  More rustling, and then Marcy came back on the line. “Yes, that vamp has turned out to be one very talented investigator. Someone had to do your job while you were on vacation, so I added her to the payroll. I just sent her to the Coven to check it out. There’s been no gossip about the witches deserting at all. Damn. If they’re gone, the entire supernatural community should know about it. If you’re right, and they’re gone, quiet spells huge trouble.”

  “Let’s not get too worried yet. Jumping to conclusions won’t help us.” Marcy had no idea what had gone on in the Underworld and I didn’t have the time or desire to worry her about the Coalition, Hags, or anything else right now. “It might be nothing at all.”