by Kim Faulks
Heavy throbs of light flared, sinking deeper than flesh and bone to fill her chest. I could see her armor now. Her walls straight and high made from tempered steel, hard enough to keep everyone out. Everyone who left her…everyone who hurt her.
“No one ever stays…they all leave.” Her breathless whisper drew my gaze from the thick, raised cut on her ankle. Light caressed her skin, working deeper into bone, and drifted along her calf. “They always die, they always leave me.”
I lowered my head. Neon green flared in the glistening reflection of her eyes as I growled. “Lucky I’m immortal then.”
The lucent throb kissed her breasts, her stomach, and found a home around her heart.
She arched her back, resting her head against my wing as the throb found the juncture of her thighs.
A cry slipped from her lips—desperate, frightened.
“Do I frighten you?”
She shook her head and grasped my wing. “More…I need…”
I curled my hold, cupping her body. Her feet left the ground and fell against the webbing of my wing. Light filled her, swallowed her…and became her.
Still that wall around her emotions held strong.
“Let me in.”
She opened her eyes and that seductive gaze found me. She was radiant, bathed in the warmth of my love. Her fingers sparkled like a thousand diamonds as she lifted her hand in the air. Her gaze narrowed, that perfect crease cut between her brows. She wrenched her focus to me. “How?”
A growl of desire echoed as I met her quizzical gaze. “How do you think?”
“You,” she whispered, and stilled.
I could see the pieces of the puzzle fall into place as she followed the lustrous sheen of her skin. She shimmered like a perfect full moon in a midnight sky as I answered. “Me.”
Did she understand what this meant? For me…and for her?
The glow pulsed, burning brighter in her chest and in that moment, the wall around her trembled. Her steel defenses bent, but didn’t break, drawing out of her and around, until it closed in…with me inside.
Darkness crowded her place. Darkness and hurt, and loss and pain. But my light coursed through her body. And it was that luminous shine she clung to.
The throb of light deepened and her pulse picked up pace. I rode every curve of her body underneath those rumpled clothes.
Her nipples tightened, hard peaks formed. Her breath caught, eyes fluttered.
“Tell me what you want,” I whispered.
She jerked and shuddered. One hand rose to cup her breast and I followed that motion, sending the warm lick under the satin of her bra and between her legs.
Her lips parted with a breathless whisper as she arched her spine.
“This?” The guttural purr echoed from my chest. “Is this what you want?”
She nodded with a violent jerk of her head, and the beat came again. It was my mouth she felt, my heart…my soul. She had everything in her hands.
“You…you’re what I want.” The moan slipped from her lips as she thrashed. “You saved me. You kept me alive. I want you.”
“Yes, I saved you,” I growled sending a soft thrust of light between her legs. “And I would again.”
She clenched her thighs and drove her ass into the air. Heat flushed her cheeks, sticking her hair to her face in a sheen of sweat.
“That’s it,” I whispered. “Take everything.”
She let out a soft whimper as the heavy beat came again.
“Come for me,” I whispered.
Her hand skirted my wing and gripped a talon as she opened her legs. She ground against the pulse as a breathless urgency rode her body.
“Please,” she cried and whipped her head side to side.
I slowed the pulse, sending slow, deep thrusts between her thighs. She bucked and delved a hand between her legs, riding the soft cotton of her slacks all the way to the crease.
The lucent glow kissed her fingers and lapped her flesh through her clothes. A bead of sweat broke out along her lip with the tremble. I wanted more, longer. I wanted to kiss the sweat from her skin and bury myself deep inside.
I wanted her naked and writhing under me.
I wanted to look into her eyes and whisper mine.
But for now, this was enough.
Her body quaked, leaving the hard rhythm for a slow ride. A sensuous moan echoed as she rubbed her thighs together and collapsed against my hold.
The glistening glow ebbed, pulling away from plump spent flesh to linger in its new home. Her heart pulsed against the shimmering backdrop, bathed in a sea of my light.
Her hand slipped from around my claw. Her lips parted, breaths nothing more than a shudder. The scent of her honey filled me, musky and sweet, stained with release and love. God I loved that smell.
And as the light softened around us, we slipped away from that misty place, leaving behind its sex and its magic for her sterile lab. I opened my eyes and watched her slowly drift back to reality as she clutched her desk. Her lips parted and eyes fluttered open and that seductive bead of sweat remained, lingering on the top of her lip.
I closed the distance, placing my hand gently over hers, and whispered. “You were saying?”
Her heart was frantic, thundering in my ears as her tongue snaked out, licking soft, full lips. Confusion clouded her gaze as she whispered. “What?”
“You were saying you didn’t want me to leave. You were telling me about Angel Home.”
A tiny shake of her head broke free. “I was…I…”
The corner of my lips curled as I dropped my gaze, finding her flushed cheeks and the goosebumps on her neck. But it was the valley of her breasts I was drawn to, where part of me mingled with the pulse of her heart.
“I’m not sure what happened there.” Her husky words filled the space.
The light around her heart called to mine. My fingers twitched on top of hers. It was all I could do not to take her against her desk. “Are you okay?”
She jerked her gaze to mine and forced a smile. “Yeah.” She swallowed hard. “Sure.”
I dropped my hand from hers and motioned toward the staff lounge. “Then lead the way, Doc. Show me this place of yours.”
She couldn’t move, not at first. One tender step tested the strength in her knees. I waited for her to lead the way. “You okay?”
“Sure. Yep. No problem.”
I bit the sides of my mouth at her gunfire answers and watched her grasp the corner of the desk as she made her way to the door.
The sex wasn’t fair, not right now. Tomorrow she’d thank me. But days, weeks and months from now, when she was completely healed and I made her mine, might be a different story.
I closed my eyes and tracked the radiant light inside her. My heart sped, matching the rush of hers until we were almost one.
“Coming?”
I smiled, opened my eyes and strode across the room. “For you? Always.”
There was a spark in her eyes, soft, calling. Her lips curled at the corners as I grasped the door from her hands.
“Where was I?” she asked.
“Your sister.”
“Yeah, Meg,” she started, and even though her voice dulled with the pain of her memories there was a strength in the way she carried herself.
No longer did the weight of the world bring her down.
“You know it’s strange. Some people say when someone dies that you remember the good times, others say the bad. But it wasn’t the midnight cuddles when the storms raged outside our window or the fights when she broke my favorite butterfly hairclip that stayed with me. It was the sobbing, the crying when she was stuck in that hospital room all alone. She used to beg me to stay, can you imagine that?” She lifted her hand and stared. “She clutched my fingers and begged, Please don't leave me, Angel. Just stay here.”
The memory stole her as she walked through the staff lounge and out into the hallway, taking her back down into the darkness where her steel walls waited.
I followed her, listening to every word as we left the breakroom behind and headed down the hallway.
“One of Meg’s doctors took a shine to me. I think Doctor Richmond felt sorry more than anything. She asked if I wanted to help out in her surgery an afternoon a week and paid me a dollar to sit with patients and tidy magazines. Every week I saved that money and when I had enough I asked my parents to take me shopping. I spent it all one thing…a stuffed wolf.”
I tried to piece everything together, her story, this place. But the connections weren’t happening.
“She loved them, the wolves I mean. She always had this fascination with those people who lived in the woods, and I guess it rubbed off on me.”
The sound of voices filtered from farther down the hall. Soft, yellow light spilled out of an open door and the sharp squeal of a child's laughter cut through the air, catching me by surprise.
“That’s why this place is special.”
A man stepped out into the hallway. Tall and skinny, dressed in doctor’s whites. His gaze narrowed as he turned to Doc and then shifted his focus to me. “Thought I heard voices.”
Doc motioned to the doorway. “How’s she doing?”
The shake of his head was brutal.
“Is Jonah in there?”
“Just arrived,” he answered and glared at me. “John and Katy are asleep in the east wing. We won’t need them, not tonight. Not now… Want to introduce me to your friend here?”
She whipped her gaze to me. Confusion crowded in. “This is…ah…”
“Michael,” I answered and took a step closer and reached out my hand.
The bastard just looked at the damn thing, curled his lip and snarled. “A bit late for visitors, especially those who aren’t family.”
My stomach clenched. The guy was acting like some jealous lover. Maybe he was, maybe the doc and this stuck-up asshole had a thing.
Acid burned in my stomach. I wasn’t about to start a damn pissing competition. I had no need—I turned to her, finding that soft glow pulsing bright in the center of her chest—the woman was already mine.
“We won’t take long and Michael is…” She searched for the words. “Michael is the one who saved me.”
I dropped my hand and smiled. The poor bastard didn’t have a chance, not with her.
The hint of a growl filtered out of the cracked open door, and the faint sound of a snigger followed once more.
“You’re getting bigger, aren’t you?” The soft sound of a girl’s voice filled my ears. “Mum says I’ll get bigger. Says I’m going to be as big as a house.”
And all of a sudden jealousy seemed so small.
I took a step, drawn by the tiny voice.
“You think I could get as big as a house?”
A soft rustle of sheets followed, by a little ruff.
Yellow light spilled across the tops of my boots. Mint green walls came into view filled with pictures of baby wolves and happy children with grubby faces and big smiles…shifter children.
My heart thundered, drowning out the sound of my steps, but not that sweet voice.
“Do you think we’ll be friends forever?”
Ruff…
“I think so too.”
The bottom edges of rumpled coverings came into view. They were cast aside in a mountain of sheets and blankets. The mattress dipped, nails skimmed across sheets as they moved and the low beep of a machine filled my ears.
“Maybe we’ll get married?” she whispered. “I was going to marry Daddy, but he said I’d meet someone special, more special than him. You’re special, Jonah, and you’re my friend.”
I caught the flash of a tiny dappled gray tail with one more step. Tubes ran underneath tiny paws from one side of the bed to the other. He was young, no more than six months old, sitting on the side of the mattress. I almost didn’t see her…until the pup lowered his head to the sheet.
“Hey,” the sleepy voice followed. “Your nose is cold.”
I caught the sound of Doc’s steps behind me. Her breast glanced my shoulder as she moved close. No words were needed. The tiny pup collapsed to the mattress with a huff and curled around the feeble mound in the middle of the bed.
The little girl was a ghost with form—faint, white—tubes ran into a machine at the side of the bed, another into a drip. An ache swelled at the sight, filling my chest with a hunger…a hunger for life, for something more than this fleeting presence.
“Yeah,” a murmur slipped from the little one’s closed lips. “We’ll get married.”
I stared at that machine, and then turned to the monitor, watching the rhythm rise and fall. The little wolf crawled closer, curling harder…giving her strength when she needed it the most.
And all of a sudden it all made sense.
I turned my head and stared into Doc Angel’s eyes. “The toy.”
She met my gaze. The corners of her mouth curled, but there was no happiness in her eyes, only a sad longing, an endless hole left unfilled.
The low beep of the machine dragged her to the open door. “What better medicine than shifter therapy? That’s what Angel Home is, a place where I can comfort—where I can bring our worlds together and it’s all because of Meg.”
14
Doc Angel
Don’t go…
I swallowed the words as Michael stopped at the edge of the darkened path. The streetlight’s glow captured his face as he turned, leaving thick shoulders half hidden by shadows, as though this man, this being stood with one foot in Heaven and the other in Hell.
Green eyes blazed, finding me like a laser as I stood at the door. If I called his name, would he come back? Would he kiss me and protect me? Would he keep the Vampires from my door and the beasts from my dreams?
Would he help me find a way to save Thorn?
My heart picked up pace. Yes, lingered on my lips—he would. He’d fight. He’d kill. He’d take me to that foggy place where death, desire, and his Dragon waited, and never let me go.
And I’d let him. So help me God I would.
I shoved the handle and twisted the lock, sliding the bolt home before he gave a gentle nod and turned away.
I wanted to tear open the door and call his name. But I couldn’t tell him what he wanted to know…I couldn’t tell anyone.
Tell no one, Doctor or you’ll never see the baby again. The threat rang loud and clear as Michael left the path and slipped from view. Call him…part of me urged. Tell him everything.
I opened my eyes to the endless dark and then what?
Fists and guns, and war.
Would that get Thorn back? I swallowed the guilt and the pain and stepped away.
Would that give the Huntress the thing she wanted most?
No.
They had their time. The Dragons and the wolves had fought, they’d hunted—they’d tried to find her.
They’d done their best. But their best had turned up nothing.
The Huntress would never give up, not until I gave her what she wanted. The one thing I’d devoted my career to finding. The one thing that would not only save my kind from death and disease—but would now keep Thorn safe.
And the one thing I’d been unable to do.
Break the immortal code and recreate life.
My hands shook. I turned from the door and left the Dragon behind. Broken strands of DNA filled my thoughts. I lifted my hand to brush my hair and stopped. The gash across my palm ached. Her little cries still echoed in my head.
Did you think it was by chance you were drawn into this, Doctor?
The Huntress has plans for you…now get to work.
My steps fell away as I headed for the lab. I could do this. I’d run the trials again, find a new match, break the code. Panic crowded the edges. What if there was none? What if every match was incompatible?
How did I save my girl then?
I pushed through the staff lounge door and cut across the room. The cold blast hit me as I stepped into the lab. Memories waited in
here, new ones filled with love and lust.
I couldn't think about that now.
Nothing else mattered…not sex…not love—not even safety.
I sat down and hit the mouse. The dying strand filled the screen. I needed to run the tests again, change the variables…change everything.
I grabbed my gloves and pushed, scooting across the floor on my chair to the typed list of shifters and mapped the numbers. The bank of frozen cells sat in the culture room. Nitrogen froze the samples, most were stem cells taken at birth—like Jonah and Kitty’s…and Thorn’s.
I’d kept both Joslyn’s placentas after their births, harvesting and freezing the cells from the wolf, the Dragon, and Joslyn herself.
I’d heard the rumors about these beasts that lived secluded from the rest of the immortal races—but I’d never…ever thought they were true.
I’d tested wolf, bear, panther, even paid a dealer in a shady bar to get my hands on Hellhound cells, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d find Dragon.
How many times had I relived those moments? I thought it’d been an accident that Thorn was taken and not the wolf. But maybe that had been the plan all along.
Strands of DNA took flight inside my head as I stood from the chair. I’d run the tests, change the shifter. But this time something I’d never tested before. My pulse sped with the thought, confusion fell away with the blinding surge of determination.
This was what I knew. This was what I could do.
I had no gun. I had no claws…but my mind was a weapon…
And my weapon was goddamn lethal.
I shoved from the chair, yanked on pink gloves and headed for the tank room. Three round vase like cryotanks stood waist high in the small space. I moved to the third and lifted my hands, checking the integrity of my gloves before I reached for the valve. The biting stench of plastic was consumed by a hiss. I stepped backwards as white nitrogen plumes filled the air and then moved in, plunging my hands inside and grasping the handle.
I focused on every movement, dragging the steel shelf from the side and replaced the tower. The whir of machines faded into the background as I returned to the main room and yanked the gloves from my hands.
