by Leela Ash
He had learned to control his abilities all these years, but the truth remained with him; a constant reminder that he had the capacity to kill a human in a thousand ways.
There was only one possible solution: he had to avoid her.
He looked at her, his eyes carefully blank and so cool they had gone a bleak gray color.
“I won’t be on the same tours as you anymore, Kelly. I enjoyed last night but we can’t do that again. It’s too… dangerous — for you,” he added after a slight hesitation.
She frowned. “Now you sound like you’re in the Mafia or something,” she scoffed as he started to turn away.
He paused and looked at her.
She gave him a mocking look. It was either that or fall at his feet in tears and beg him not to leave her. She had too much pride for that, but now, looking into his handsome face, she could feel her pride disintegrating like snow on a sunny day.
Something wild and frightening moved in his eyes for a second, then he said in a grave tone weighted with sincerity and finality, “Worse.”
One word; simple, but extremely chilling and frightening.
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Kelly shivering in the warm morning sun.
8.
Five days later, Kelly was still mulling over her last encounter with Derek. Ever since he had walked away from her, he had not spoken one word to her. True, she had caught the occasional glimpse of him, but aside from a sideways glance or the occasional nod, they might as well have been two perfect strangers who had never been introduced.
Weirdly, though, he and Tom seemed to be fast friends. The other two kids, the little Chinese girl and the other American boy, had been getting along famously with him as well, so it stood to reason that he liked kids. And they liked him back.
She wasn’t worried about pregnancy either because she had gotten her period the very next day after his lovemaking, even though a part of her wished she hadn’t. Every time that thought came, she shushed it.
She was still embroiled in custody battles with one man; the last thing she needed was yet another man beating down her door right beside Jason.
Her trip would be coming to an end in a week and she would never see the tour guide again. It was probably for the best.
In the space of five days, she had counted no fewer than twelve beautiful local ladies going into his cabin, their generous hips swaying this way and that beneath the many beads adorning their waists as they walked. Even she had been mesmerized into staring openly at them.
She had never known Kenyan women were so beautiful until the last five days when Derek’s house had become a revolving door of local black beauties. And that wasn’t all she had learned either. The man was a damned flirt! A reprobate! Degenerate!
Did he even have time to recover from one woman’s visit before the next arrived? He was the proverbial town pump ,she thought with uncharacteristic vulgarity.
Jealousssssss, her inner mind sang.
Okay, fine, so she was a teeny bit jealous. She had every right to be! He had made love to her that night as though his life depended on it and branded her with his touch until the very idea of another man revolted her. Then, he had calmly told her he was worse than the Mafia — which was utter rubbish, now that she thought about it— and then he’d strode off into the sunset, easy as you please, to surround himself with eager, young, exotic black beauties guaranteed to make her feel outclassed, outnumbered, and unappealing!
“Check out the gazelle! Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you ever saw?” someone shouted, aiming his camera at where a beautiful gazelle was running across the grasses, its strides bursting with energy and vitality. “Would you look at the firm, sleek lines of her torso?” he breathed, his voice alive with worship. “Strong firm legs, tight rump and silken skin,” he added and Kelly privately wondered if they were still talking about an animal.
Kelly’s head swiveled to watch with everyone else. They had ridden out on horses and were now beneath a wide, sprawling tree she had never seen before.
“It’s beautiful,” Therese breathed, turning to Kelly with a rueful smile that indicated she had caught the nuance of double entendre in the man’s words.
Their eyes met and then, in strained discomfort, they both looked away.
Kelly bit her lip on a silent sigh. She and Therese had been friends for years and in all that time, she couldn’t remember a quarrel. Yet somehow, today, they seemed to be at each other’s throats.
“We’ll ride the horses further out in a bit, but everyone stick close, okay? I don’t want anyone getting lost in these parts,” Murphy called as he clicked away with his camera.
Kelly privately decided that she could not handle a gallop right now. She had been feeling a headache coming on for a while.
Earlier that morning, she’d caught sight of Derek strolling toward his cabin an ebony-colored queen clinging to one arm; her body as sleek as an eel. But that wasn’t the reason for her headache, she assured herself, lifting her chin in silent stubbornness.
Kelly meandered toward the head of the line where Murphy sat atop his proud chestnut horse, “Listen, we’re not too far out. I would like to return to the cabins.”
He shot her a glance of pure dismay, “What? We can’t possibly disappoint everyone. People have been counting days until today!”
Kelly touched his arm, “There’s no need to explain to me. I can find my own way back. It’s not too far out.”
She gave him a smile, communicating a breezy confidence she was far from feeling, then she turned and cantered toward the resort cabins.
As the resort neared, she spied Derek in the distance with yet another caramel-skinned exotic beauty with legs that seemed to go on for miles.
Her heart constricted in her chest and impulsively, she pulled the horse’s reins and turned it in another direction. As her horse trotted quietly down a winding path, Kelly was lost in thought.
Men, she decided, were the very worst creatures ever to walk the earth. First, Jason had made her life a living hell with his megalomaniac, manipulative personality. Then, Derek had wandered into her life, shaken her world in a few short days and made her fall head over heels, only for him to stride off into the sunset, leaving her to pick up the pieces.
A sound to her left made her turn, her heart in her throat. She calmed down when she saw who it was: Derek.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, stilling the crazy pounding of her heart with rugged determination.
“I saw you go off by yourself. It can be dangerous in these parts,” he intoned, his voice gruff as though he were displeased that he had had to come after her.
Kelly’s chin went up. She could take care of herself, thank you very much. She hadn’t asked for his company; she didn’t want his company; heck, she resented his company!
He threw a glance at her mutinous expression and then had the unmitigated gall to bite back a grin as though she were some unruly child he found amusing.
His horse leaned over and sniffed hers, its ears flying back. He slapped his horse lightly, “Stop sniffing after the ladies, Terror.”
Kelly paused, “Terror?” The horse was a generic chestnut brown, with huge, dull eyes that made it look a bit…well, unintelligent, in her opinion, and one ear was crooked as though it had been cut or bitten off a little at the tip. The horse was as far from terrifying as it was possible to be.
She threw Derek a dubious look.
“He’s a terror with anything in skirts. Well, not skirts exactly, but you get my drift.”
She sniffed and looked away in exaggerated disdain. She got it all right. Like man, like horse. With a harrumph, she spurred her horse into a light gallop.
Derek easily caught up with her.
“Go back to your local ladies!” she spat, unable to hold back her jealousy.
She threw him a glance, expecting to see a smug grin on his lips. He looked grave.
“Those women do nothing for me; they were j
ust a ploy to keep you angry and away from me. I thought I could hide behind them, stay away from you.”
The sincerity in his tone gave her pause. Unable to help herself, she croaked the one question on her mind, “Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You affect me like no woman ever has, Kelly; just like I affect you. I know your unique scent and I can smell you from a mile away, which is why I know you’re trouble. I have tried a thousand ways to stay away from you. It isn’t working.”
Her cheeks warmed with pleasure.
A lush, African tree with branches almost hanging to the ground came into view and she couldn’t hold back her sigh of pleasure at the sight it presented. It stood off from the other trees; majestic and unapologetically different.
Kelly dismounted from her horse and traipsed toward the tree. Something about it called to her.
She sank onto the carpet grass beneath it and the moment she did, she realized what had been so appealing about the tree; it seemed like a romantic hideout!
The branches hung low enough that two lovers could have enough privacy to indulge their sensual appetites. It shielded them from view enough and yet, it still had that element of danger and excitement that was associated with sex in public.
Her cheeks warmed at the thought, and Derek — drat the man — chuckled.
He sank onto the grass beside her and promptly folded his legs into that cross-legged position Kelly always associated with Arab sheikhs.
He must do a lot of yoga. “Show off,” she muttered, sotto voce.
Derek was silent for a beat; she looked over at him, expecting a comeback. Her laughter faded beneath his gaze.
His grey eyes had taken on an impossible hue of silver that lent such intensity to his stare it was almost as though he had reached out and touched her.
She swallowed, shivered a little.
His eyes dropped to her lips and heat flared in their icy depths. Answering heat shot through her stomach straight to her pussy and a moan escaped her throat.
That was all the encouragement he needed. Derek closed the space between them in a nanosecond, wrapping his arms around her and covering her mouth with his in one smooth move.
Everything in Kelly exalted as though she had been waiting for his touch and she wrapped her arms around his neck and let his tongue slide into her mouth. He tasted of coffee, she noted, not paying it much attention, as she deepened the kiss.
Derek’s senses roared as Kelly’s soft hands caressed his cheeks and drifted lower to his chest. Suddenly, a niggling sensation intruded; all the hair at the nape of his neck started to rise and the wolf growled a warning inside of him. He felt as though someone was watching them. He started to turn his head, but Kelly chose that moment to brush a finger against his nipple and he stiffened in renewed arousal, forgetting his disquiet.
He cupped her breast, and his lips drifted to her neck. He held her close to him as he licked her cheeks, her temple, her neck. His lips drifted lower to her cleavage; he unbuttoned two buttons and then, with a growl of pure masculine triumph, he fastened his mouth to one nipple.
9.
Kelly whimpered and pushed closer, offering her breasts and her entire body to his hands and lips as he caressed and stroked every inch of her skin and set her on fire for him.
In a flash, she was naked; her shirt had been completely unbuttoned and laid on the grass right alongside his as a makeshift cover. He unsnapped the band of her jeans and shoved it down her hips and off her ankles.
Derek unbuckled his own jeans and pulled it off his legs, freeing his arousal.
Derek lifted her, and with a groan of pure pleasure, laid her on her back on their shirts and bent his head to the juncture of her thighs. His tongue licked the protruding flesh of her clit, flicking against the tiny nub in a mind-numbing repetitive rhythm.
Kelly let her hips fall wide open, her head lolling back as he pleasured her.
“Oh, Kelly, you taste good,” he groaned against her pussy.
“Don’t stop, Derek,” she cried, her mouth pursed in pleasure as she arched her hips against his lips as he drove her to mindless pleasure. “Please don’t stop.”
She wanted him in her, now! She needed him to fill her with his fat, long dick. Something in her thoughts must have communicated it to him, or maybe it was the fierce way she was pulling at his hair.
“I can’t wait a second longer, Kelly. I want you! I want you so much!” he growled as he rose to stand beneath the tree, dragging her with him.
He leaned her against the firm, wide bark, with her buttocks arched slightly. Then he positioned himself behind her and rubbed the warm, moist head of his dick against her soft ass cheeks.
Passion speared through her and a moan escaped her. “I want you too, Derek. Make love to me now,” she said in an aching whisper.
“Fuck, you’re so tight,” he groaned as he shoved into her in one sure thrust. His fat penis plunged into her to the hilt, going so deep she could have sworn it touched her womb. His hips jackhammered and he began to plunge in and out of her with sure, rapid strokes.
Kelly bent a little, offering him more of her pussy. He responded with a light slap on her butt cheeks.
Pain mingled with pleasure, and she shivered. One large, warm hand came around to her front and began to knead her breast.
He pinched and stroked her nipple as he rode her hard. Her two hands were splayed against the tree trunk, screams of pleasure escaping her throat as he loved her with hungry urgency.
Kelly felt the build-up as tension gathered in the pit of her stomach. Her head fell back, and she screamed with wanton lack of restraint as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her.
Kelly came noisily, screaming Derek’s name as she clenched and unclenched around his huge, erectmember. Her pleasure forced his to the peak and he buried his nose in her hair, inhaling her scent and branding his brain with her smell as he poured his seed into her tight wet passage.
They dressed in companionable silence. Kelly wanted him to hold her; she wanted to feel his arms around her; she wanted more.
Derek was already striding toward their horses. With a sigh, Kelly mounted her own horse.
She pasted an over-bright smile onto her face and tossed her head as she challenged, “Race with me.”
Derek grinned back at her. She looked delightfully mussed, as though she’d just been loved with intense passion. Her lips were swollen with his kisses, her clothes were creased, her short red hair was fluttering in the wind, strands of it flying into her face. She looked, he decided, like a charming pixie.
Unable to help himself, Derek leaned over and stroked her cheek. He motioned with his head for her to take the lead.
She giggled like an excited child and without shame, took the lead like he had requested. She disappeared around a bend, chortling. What did he think? That she would insist on starting off at the same time? He was one of those intensely masculine men that seemed so capable, and she was one of those women who didn’t mind winning at any cost— even if she had to cheat him to do it.
Something spooked her horse; she didn’t see what it was. But it suddenly neighed and reared onto its hind legs, effectively depositing her onto her behind before it galloped away rider-less.
She looked around fearfully. She had been so lost in thought about Derek!
Fear rose in her throat.
As soon as she climbed to her feet, she saw what had spooked her horse. It was huge, terrifying and wild, as it stared at her across the little space separating them.
The bear took one careful step forward, its golden-brown eyes locked on hers.
“Stay away,” Kelly ordered through chattering teeth as she took two careful steps backward.
The bear growled low in its throat as though it understood her and took an answering step forward.
Her eyes were two wide pools of fright. Was she suddenly some sort of twisted magnet for danger? First a panther, now a bear; but everyone said the resort was one of the safest i
n Africa!
Anger mingled with fear as she crouched to pick up a stone to throw at it. The bear was staring at her in mute fascination, its gaze following every move she made.
As her hand closed around a small stone, the bear threw back its head and roared, showing its wide pink inner mouth.
Kelly forgot to breathe as she stared, petrified, at her death.
“Kelly?! Fuck!” a familiar voice shouted.
She turned her head to look with relief at where Derek had already dismounted and was racing toward her when the bear moved at the same time.
Kelly screamed, but it thundered past her, heading straight for Derek. She stumbled to her feet, already screaming, fear roiling into her as the bear charged at the man she loved.
Loved? Her subconscious squeaked.
Yes, her heart responded with force.
Her feet were already moving toward Derek as though, by some miracle, she might be able to save him. The bear reached him first and they slammed against each other with enough force to break every single bone in Derek’s poor body. To her shock, Derek sort of vanished, and in his place was a huge, silver and white streaked wolf that was painfully familiar.
Kelly blinked furiously, trying to dispel the strange image in front of her vision. She looked again, certain she would see Derek being mauled by the bear. But no, there was no Derek, just a huge, wild, yapping wolf that was every bit as dangerous as the bear.
The bear and the wolf were so absorbed in trying to tear each other’s throats out that they didn’t pay attention to her.
Her hands shook as she held one hand to her wildly thudding heart as though she could still the frantic beats.
Had she just seen Derek turn into an animal?
With a muffled sob low in her throat, Kelly took off at a run, following the bush path back the way she had come. Her knees threatened to give out with every step, but she didn’t stop. She ran as though her life depended on it and when she reached her cabin, she was shaking and panting.
Derek was really a wolf?
She thrust her key into the hole and stumbled into the cabin. She shoved the door closed behind her; it slammed open, banging into the wall with an audible crash.
