Embrace the Night

7

The sun was just beginning to set when they made it to the lakeside campground. The elf who ran the place was delighted to rent them the last site he had. Chloe had handled most of that transaction because Merek had given the elf the oddest look imaginable. She had a feeling her warlock had seen something ugly in the elf’s future, and Chloe was very sure she did not want to know what it was.

She sighed and shoved her hair out of her face. When Merek said they were headed for the ass end of nowhere, the man wasn’t kidding. They were sleeping in an honest to goodness tepee. She was clearly in an alternate reality. The real her was back in Seattle sipping a latte with Tess, lamenting a recent run-in at work with That Jackass Damien. The real her was not trying to wrestle her familiar into said tepee, while Merek and Alex did very little to smother their guffaws as they did something manly with red meat over open flames.

“Come on, Ophelia.” The cat hissed and took a swipe at her with claws bared. Chloe managed to get out of the way. This time. She had several long scratches down both forearms. “The other option is sleeping alone in an SUV. I can’t let you run around in the wilderness. There are bears and real wolves and things.

This isn’t Seattle, baby. We are not in Kansas anymore.”

With a graceful sideways leap, Ophelia made a dive for the tepee’s exit. A quick spel blasted from Chloe’s fingers in a beam that she hoped looked like a flashlight to any Normal who might be camping along this lake. The familiar shot backward and whipped around to snarl at Chloe, her fur standing on end.

“I know this isn’t any fun, baby,” she crooned, holding out a placating hand and praying she didn’t get it torn to shreds. If anyone understood her familiar’s hatred of the isolated wilderness, it was Chloe. She wanted civilization back as much as her cat did. “Next time, we’l have a real house with a real kitchen, and we’l stay in a real town with a real grocery store to buy you gourmet kitty food. I promise.”

Ophelia growled, her tail thrashing, but her fur settled into a smooth layer again.

“A real litter box, too. I’l even make Merek clean it for you while you watch.” The cat had taken an instant liking to Merek, which Chloe could neither explain nor justify, but she was too grateful to care. She didn’t want to think about how difficult this trip would be if Ophelia had disliked anyone in their party.

“Gee, thanks. Throw me under the bus.” Merek’s deep voice preceded him into the tepee as he crawled through the opening. He held an unopened can of cat food in one hand. Sitting cross-legged on one of the single-sized futon mattresses ringing the inside of the tepee, he cracked the lid on the can and held it enticingly toward Ophelia. “Come here, sugar. Don’t let roughing it upset you. It’s only temporary.”

The familiar sniffed, her tail stil snapping in irritated little jerks. After a few tense moments, she relented, gliding over to Merek and climbing onto his lap where she al owed him to hold the can for her to eat out of.

He rol ed his eyes, but gamely kneaded his big hand down the Siamese’s narrow back until she closed her eyes in ecstasy and purred.

Chloe’s heart squeezed at how good he’d been with her familiar. And her. And her godson. He’d been amazing about everything. She never would have suspected someone who liked to be in control as much as he did could be so . . . tolerant. Kind. Sweet.

She also stared at her familiar in blatant jealousy. Who would have thought that would ever happen? But she’d love to climb in Merek’s lap and have him slide his hands al over her. If this business with being on the run was ever over, she was locking herself up with the man for a week straight until she burned him out of her system. This level of intensity and craving just couldn’t go on this way. She’d go crazy.

Licking her lips, she looked up to find Merek’s heated gaze moving over her face. A wicked knowing reflected in his eyes. “I want you, too.”

Her breath froze in her lungs, her heart slamming against her ribcage. Need fisted deep inside her, tightening some muscles, loosening others, and she was damp and ready for sex in seconds. Sucking in a lungful of air, she forced herself to look away from him. “There’s no wal s in this thing, no doors we can close. Alex—”

“I know.” He sighed, lifted a sleeping Ophelia off his legs, and set her on the mattress beside him. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want you. It doesn’t mean I won’t be lying in my sleeping bag, thinking about you, and wishing I had you under me.”

She closed her eyes and wil ed that mental image not to form. No such luck. She could too easily imagine herself stripped and spread beneath him while his cock fil ed her until she screamed because it felt so fucking good. A shiver ripped through her, and her nipples tightened to the point of pain. She grabbed a jacket from her suitcase and jerked it on to cover her breasts.

Merek chuckled as he watched her, but she refused to look at him or she knew she’d jump him. Then they’d see who was under whom. Luckily for her self-restraint, Alex cal ed from outside the tepee. “Hey, you two. Dinner’s done. Hurry up before the bugs get it.”

She winced. “Fighting off Godzil a-sized insects for my food. Ah, the glamorous life.”

A snort was Merek’s only response before he crawled out of the opening, stood, then turned to help her to her feet as she crab-walked through. She looked out across the gorgeous lake, at the sheer red rock cliffs that dropped straight to the water’s edge on the far side of the lake. She drew in a deep breath of cold, clean air. The last rays of the sun shimmered across the cliffs and made the waves glitter. “Wel , it’s pretty, even if we have to fight for our food.”

He grinned, looped an arm around her neck, and reeled her in to pop a kiss on her forehead. Gods, it felt good to have a man touch her, not just for sex, but with the little affectionate gestures, the private glances and smiles that spoke of secrets only they knew. It was something she’d never let anyone close enough to enjoy before—even the years with Damien had never been more than a good professional relationship with hot sex on the side. This thing with Merek scared her, but it felt too good to stop. The sex was one thing, but this was something entirely different. Something vastly more intimate. Caring.

Terrifying.

Her heart rate kicked up a notch, and a twist of anxiety tightened her insides. She swal owed, and managed a weak smile for Alex. They al took seats around the picnic table, and Merek and Chloe pointedly did not mention the fact that Alex’s hamburger was rare to the point of raw. The moon flickered in the darkening sky, and a silent Alex stared at it, his eyes gleaming with untamed wildness as a shudder went through him.

“We’l be staying here for a few days, until ful moon passes, then I think we’l head further inland.” Merek, being Merek, didn’t skirt around the issue that was on everyone’s mind. “We’l find some place similar to this next month. If there’s anything more than this you need, let us know, and we’l make sure you get it.”

“Thanks. I wil .” Alex’s chin dipped in a nod, polite, but not trusting. He unbent enough to meet Merek’s gaze. “This should be fine, though. Just . . . a place to run that’s isolated enough that I won’t get into too much trouble.”

“Yeah. Not a lot of Normals around here. I asked.” The warlock shrugged, crunching on a potato chip.

“That’s helpful, actual y. If we can stay somewhere away from Normals next time, too, that would be best.”

A faint smile touched the werewolf’s lips. “I can’t stop the Change, but I can keep from rampaging and biting anyone. It’s not easy, but I can do it. Fewer Normals to tempt me is . . . better.”

Merek gave an easy nod, total y accepting of the wolf’s nature, which made Alex relax in his seat. “I’l make sure we have appropriate accommodations for you.” A grin crinkled the corners of his gray eyes.

“Though you may have to explain the situation to Ophelia.”

Alex barked out a laugh. His gaze slid to Chloe. “Did she scratch you up too badly?”

She held up her arms to show the long scratches. “Not too badly considering how pissed she was, but she did get me a couple of times.”

Merek frowned, grabbed her wrists, and bent his head to inspect the damage. He glanced at the lantern burning on the edge of the table, and it glowed brighter. Far brighter than a lantern could actual y glow. The flames dancing in the fire pit roared higher, casting their light across the table and Chloe’s arms. Alex made a smal , impressed noise in the back of his throat, but he, too, leaned forward to get a good look at the scratches.

Warmth spread from Merek’s cal used fingertips in waves as he stroked over the scraped flesh. His touch was barely there, the delicate brush of a butterfly’s wings, but the heat of his skin, the power of his magic, burrowed deep inside her. Goose bumps spread up her arms and down her body until she shivered. She closed her eyes and swal owed, trying to keep the incessant longing at bay.

“Am I hurting you?” His voice was low, but the anxious edge to the words made her eyes fly open.

“No, you’re not hurting me,” she whispered. In fact, the ache in her arms had faded to nothing. When she glanced down the scratches were gone, healed by his spel .

That was sweet. Alex’s voice echoed in her mind, and he leaned further over the table to get a better look.

He narrowed his gaze, and she could almost feel the sweep of his lupine senses moving over her, checking her injuries. Gone. I didn’t know anyone who wasn’t a Magickal doctor could heal like that.

“I can’t do anything fancy, but cops have to have first aid training.” Merek’s gaze sharpened on Alex’s face. “Your fangs are showing.”

He winced, pushing to his feet. “I’m going to go Change in the tepee. It . . . makes it easier to stay in control at ful moon if you make a regular habit of shifting a couple of days before.”

Putting action into words, he strode away, and a few moments later, Chloe tensed at the distinct and horrifying sound of every bone in the human body snapping and reforming into a new shape. Her stomach heaved a bit, and she clamped a hand over her mouth. Merek rubbed a hand up and down her arm. “I hate that noise, too.”

“You never real y get used to it, do you?” She pitched her voice low, hoping Alex was too involved in his shift to eavesdrop.

Merek shrugged, again with that quiet acceptance. “If you’re a wolf, I imagine you do. Or if you spend enough time around wolves, but I haven’t, so no.”

Alex, now in ful wolf form, shot from the tepee, shaking from head to tail. He froze when he came into the moonlight, his gaze lifting to the heavy orb. His chest expanded in a deep breath, and then he threw his head back, and let loose a long, keening howl. It was answered from several different directions. Chloe’s eyebrows arched. Real wolves or other werewolves? She couldn’t tel , but she’d bet a werewolf could.

Alex loped over, his long body lithe, his fur as dark as his human hair, but shaded with lighter brown and tawny. Chloe reached out to scratch behind his ears. He closed his pale eyes and leaned trustingly into her touch. She stroked the rough silk of his coat and bent forward to drop a kiss on his muzzle.

“Did you freak out Ophelia?”

His tongue lol ed out in a wolfish grin. No, she’s asleep. The fur would have flown otherwise.

“Your fur, not hers, I bet.” Chloe looked down her nose at him. “My familiar is feisty.”

He snorted, then froze, every muscle in the wolf’s body going on alert as he stared at a copse of trees beyond their campsite. Chloe and Merek turned in unison to fol ow his line of sight.

A slim young wolf slipped from the underbrush, staring at Alex, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. He glanced back at them, instinct warring with caution as his body shuddered. I know it isn’t smart, but I sense no deception from her. She’s just another werewolf here for full moon.

Merek closed his eyes and swore softly. “Be careful. Don’t run too far.”

I’ll be back in a few hours. With that final thought, Alex spun on his haunches and launched himself into the trees. The bushes rustled slightly as he passed, but soon there was nothing to indicate the wolves had ever been there.

Chloe bit her lower lip, the darkness closing in around her as her godson disappeared. Too many worries warred for dominance inside her, and she swal owed.

“He’l be al right.” Merek reached out to catch her hand.

“I know. I’d know if he wasn’t.” She tapped a finger to her temple. “The voices in my head would tel me so.”

His eyebrows arched. “That is an entirely disturbing mental image.”

“Says the man who can see the end of days in his head. You can just leave my little voices alone, thank you very much.”

He snorted. “Fair enough.”

She shivered, pul ed her hand away from his, and wrapped her arms around herself. Instinct, more than anything, drove her to her feet. Anxiety sliced through as the darkness deepened. She tried to reassure herself that there were other people close by. She could even see the faint flicker of distant campfires, but it wasn’t the reassuring bustle of a vibrant city.

Distraction, that was what she needed, but reaching for Merek would only make him ask questions. His gray eyes already saw more than she’d like. After last night, he definitely understood something was wrong with her. He’d sense her desperation was for something far deeper than sex.

Pathetic. Clingy. Needy.

The last thing she wanted from any lover was pity, especial y not from Merek. She winced and stepped further away from him and closer to the light of the fire, drawn like a moth to a flame. Her jaw tightened as she clenched her teeth. She’d done so much to conquer her fears, had come so far, but it took everything she had to move past the fire and toward the blackness of the rippling lake. Every step away from the brightness of the flames sounded like a death knel , though her feet hardly made a sound on the soft shore.

She toed off her shoes and left them behind to let the chil y water lap around her feet. Making a quick decision, she stripped out of her clothes and tossed them toward her shoes. Then she waded into the lake until she could dive below the surface. It felt like a fist closed around her chest, it was so cold, but some defiant triumph burst within her. She was out here—she wasn’t huddled in terror beside the fire.

Then the complete darkness of it punched through her minor victory, and she clawed her way to the surface, spinning in the water until she could see the dancing flames again, beckoning to her.

“Chloe!” Merek stood on the shore outlined by the fire’s light, his arms crossed, his feet braced apart.

“What are you doing?”

Shoving her hair out of her eyes, she arched her eyebrows. “Uh . . . skinny-dipping?”

Relief she hated herself for feeling exploded inside her, obliterating what was left of her triumph. Merek was here, and he would never let anything bad happen to her. She rol ed her eyes in self-disgust at her weakness.

“The lake has to be freezing.”

She treaded water. “So come warm me up.”

Shaking his head, he beckoned to her. “Come out of there, and I wil .”

“Chicken.” Feeling outrageously brave, she skimmed a hand across the top of the lake, sending water spraying in his direction.

He snorted, but jerked his T-shirt over his head and dropped it to the ground where she’d tossed her things. The rest of his clothes joined the pile. The flickering light cast shadows on his bare skin as he moved. Gods, he was a beautiful man.

His muscled legs flexed and stretched with every movement, and he was built like some great predatory cat. Huge and golden as a lion, his coloring only showcased by the amber firelight. Broad shoulders and heavy pecs tapered to a hard slab of a stomach and narrow flanks. Her gaze caught there and went no further. His cock stood in a hard arc, and her entire body clenched with want.

Every single sense she had focused on him, and even the uneasiness in the pit of her bel y at the deepening night faded before the sensations he generated within her. It was unnerving that anything could hold that fear at bay, but then he towed her through the water and into his arms and nothing else mattered.

A wave of warmth enveloped her, as shocking as the cold had been when she’d entered the lake, and she gasped. “You used a heating spel on the water. That’s cheating.”

“Hel , yes. It’s fucking cold in here.” He hauled her closer until she was plastered against him, his erection prodding her bel y. “I don’t make a habit of icing down my cock right before I put it in a woman.”

A shriek of laughter ripped from her. She buried her face in his neck, giggles bubbling out of her for several moments before she could speak. “Oh, wow. That’s so romantic.”

“It’s more romantic than a case of the wilts, I promise.” He shifted his stance, and it was then she realized he was standing, tal enough to touch the bottom of the lake.

“That’s stil cheating.” She nipped at his throat, sucking his flesh while she held it between her teeth.

“Yeah, wel . I’m a warlock, honey, not Superman.” He thrust himself against her, long and hard and so hot it made her want to whimper. “I work with what I’ve got.”

“You have more than enough. Share.”

He snickered, but his broad palms cupped her bottom, lifting her into his hard length. The play of al those muscles against her skin, the rush of water around them, pressing them together, was incredibly erotic.

She twined her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Just opening herself for him made her heart trip and then pound in her chest. Her nipples rasped against the soft hair on his chest, and she rubbed her breasts against him to increase the stimulation. Her breath sped to shal ow pants, and she could feel his breath brushing over her lips. She had to taste him, needed that honey flavor fil ing her mouth.

Flicking out her tongue, she ran it along his bottom lip, pressing for entrance. He groaned, letting her take his mouth, tangling his tongue with hers, while his hands moved over her back and buttocks. His fingers dipped between the globes of her ass, parting the cheeks so that water swirled in to caress her heated flesh.

Excitement blasted through her when his fingertips fol owed the water, teasing her anus until she shuddered and pushed back against his probing touch. She wanted. Oh, gods, she wanted. She ripped her mouth from his, throwing her head back to gasp for air. His finger slid deeper inside her, stroking her rear passage.

“Merek,” she pleaded. She didn’t even know for what. Her hips rocked against him, blindly seeking more of him. Al of him.

“I’m going to fuck you here,” he whispered, sucking kisses down her neck. “Not tonight, but soon.”

Then he bit her throat, and her body flashed over into orgasm. She sobbed, arching as spasms rocked through her. Her pussy fisted on nothingness as his finger worked her anus, thrusting deep and fast. The water around them began to steam and hiss as her magic exploded into boiling heat. “Please, Merek.”

“That didn’t please you?” He licked the spot he’d bitten, his voice teasing and warm. His cool breath against her damp flesh made her shiver, her nipples tighten even further.

“You know it did.” She closed her eyes and pul ed her bottom lip between her teeth. His flavor was stil there, lingering on her swol en mouth. Her sex clenched, her needs not quite satisfied. “I want you inside me.”

His finger moved within her ass, stretching her even further. “I am inside you.”

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” She pinched his shoulder when he hummed an agreement.

“Fine. I want your cock in my pussy.” She grinned and writhed against him in a way that made him groan, but also made wicked heat flood her system. Teasing him meant teasing herself. Her voice dropped to a low purr. “I want you inside me. Both ways. I want you to make me come for you, make me squeeze your cock so tight you can’t even think. I want you to make it so good for me, I forget my own name.”

“Fuck, Chloe.” He lifted her so she could take his cock inside her, but she could feel how his body shook in reaction to what she’d said. It was heady, knowing she could make this big, powerful warlock shudder with want. For her and only her.

Sliding her hands into his hair, she pul ed his head back so she could kiss him again. He arched his hips, pressing slowly into her pussy, and she moaned at how good it felt. Inch by inch, his thickness stretched her wal s to their limit. Sweat slipped down her flesh until it reached the waterline; the cool night air combined with the heated lake made her shudder at the contrast. Even the magic warming the water around them was nothing compared to the white-hot need they generated between them.

He rocked into her, and she sighed into his mouth, twining her tongue with his. The kiss went wild in moments, and they bit and sucked at each other’s mouths in their urgency. Their breaths were mere gulps of air as their lips clung, fed from each other.

Her legs tightened around his hips, giving her leverage to lift and lower herself on his cock. His finger pushed deeper into her ass, rubbing his thrusting cock through the thin layer of flesh separating them. The sensation was incredible . . . and then he used magic. The spel was wicked, dark with passion. It sizzled along her nerves, sparking from his penetrating fingertip. Her breath seized as it hit her, dragged her into a place where there was nothing but this moment with him, his hands, his mouth, his cock.

Power fizzed through her, their energies blending, merging until they were one, locked together in a search for surcease. The water swirled around them and between them, sealed them together, growing hotter and hotter as it caressed their skin. She could feel his desire, how every plunge into her made his control of his magic slip a little. She fed her own needs back to him, the way tingles raced down her flesh, the way she couldn’t hold back the pleasure spel s. Fire and ecstasy, fueled by their bodies and their magic, whipped the lake into a whirlpool around them. It surged as they did, caught in the storm with them.

The muscles in her legs strained as she clung to him, rode him as fast as she could. He growled deep in his throat and plunged into her, his cock, his finger, taking al of her. She screamed into his mouth, her back bowing as she came. Her nerves convulsed, her sex pulsing around him as pleasure rocketed through her.

His pleasure, her pleasure. It became one, dark and hot and greedy, consuming them. His come flooded her pussy, and she flexed around his cock, milking him until they both cried out. She tried to pul her mouth from his, tried to sob, but his free hand wrapped in her hair, holding her to him, plunging his tongue between her lips. Arching helplessly, she fisted around his thrusting cock again and again, moaning against his mouth, her sex so sensitized she came each time he entered her.

She col apsed in his arms, boneless. If he hadn’t tightened his hold on her, she’d have gone under. He gathered her close, kissed her forehead, and carried her up to the shore. Sagging to his knees as they cleared the water, he groaned, the sound of a man barely conscious.

“Can you think?” she gasped.

“Nope.” He chuckled. “Do you remember your name?”

“Nuh-uh.” She sighed, shivering as a stiff breeze chil ed her. Pushing out of his embrace, she went to their discarded clothing to get something to cover herself. Twitching her fingers, she warmed the air, sent it in a swift flow to encase Merek as wel .

“Nice,” he said.

Joining her at their tangled pile of clothes, he bent and scooped up two items, reaching over to hand her one of them.

She blinked down at what he’d given her, then shot him a grin. “Two towels? You knew you were coming in before you even—”

“Yeah, so?” He rubbed the terry cloth over himself swiftly, then reached for his shorts.

Fol owing his lead, she scrubbed the water from her skin, then wrapped the towel around her wet hair.

“Why’d you tel me to get out, then?”

“Because it’s freezing in there, and it wasn’t until I hit the water that I thought to use a heating spel . Before that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to come in after you, but this is you we’re talking about.”

She grinned, shook the sand from her clothes, stuffed herself into them and her shoes, and hurried for the fire. The apprehension she’d never quite rid herself of came back with sudden force without the distraction of sex. She tossed another log on the fire, using magic to speed the burn, and soon golden light poured over their campsite.

“Where’s the big lantern?” She plopped down on a tree stump on one side of the blaze while Merek sat opposite her on a giant log.

“I took it into the tepee so I could get the towels.”

“Ah.” After that, a companionable silence stretched between them, punctuated only by the pop and crackle of the sputtering flames.

He sighed, lifted his gaze to the sky, and smiled. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

Squinting upward, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “The stars?”

“Yeah, you don’t see them this clearly in the city. Too much light.”

She craved al that light with a suddenness that made her shake. An ocean of streetlamps and tail ights and glowing windows. People. Thousands of people around her, and lots of lights. Electricity and al the other conveniences right down the block. Restaurants that delivered. Cel phones and e-mail and al kinds of ways to get in touch with people.

“I’l take the city any day, thanks.” She tried to keep her voice teasing, but knew he saw too much, as usual.

When she met his gaze, his expression had sobered. “Wil you tel me about it?”

Because the question was gentle rather than accusing, she found she couldn’t pretend to misunderstand him. She closed her eyes and tugged the towel away from her hair. “What do you want to know, exactly?”

“Everything.”

She flinched a little. Everything. No one real y wanted everything. She had way too much baggage to ever dump it al on any one person. A soft breeze stirred, and it chil ed her damp hair. She’d been wet that day, too. And cold. So damn cold.

“I know something bad happened, sweetheart.”

Of course. Why else would a grown woman be scared enough of the dark, she stil needed a night-light?

Hot tears of shame pricked her eyes, and she blinked them back. She’d come to terms with her fears and what she could and couldn’t deal with years ago. This trip stomped on al her shiny red buttons, but that didn’t change anything.

A sigh eased passed her lips. “I was seven years old.... No, wait. You’re going to need some family history. You know I’m half-Normal, and that my grandfather disowned my dad for marrying my mom, but you don’t know that they had to run away to escape from Grandfather Standish’s vengeance. He tried to ruin Dad’s career so he’d come begging for family handouts. Dad was a doctor, you know.”

“Like you.” His voice was low; obviously he wasn’t intending to rush her. She had a feeling he’d sit there and listen for as long as she wanted to talk. It was as sweet as it was scary.

She shook her head. “No, he was a practicing physician. A country doctor. He and Mom escaped to Montana, out in the middle of nowhere, like fifteen miles from the nearest town.” Magickals either lost themselves in the anonymity of a sprawling metropolis, where anything odd a stranger did would be written off and dismissed, or they lived in the boonies, where they didn’t interact with people often enough for them to notice anything odd. “The people in town thought he was just into homeopathic medicine with his herbal remedies, but he could make them better, and they didn’t ask questions besides that.” A faint smile curved her lips. “He used to let me help grind the herbs and mix them.”

“Potions.”

“Yeah, I inherited the knack from him.” Her smile widened, then faded just as quickly. “He passed away when I was five. He got hit by a drunk driver going around a blind curve at over a hundred miles an hour.

Magic can’t always save you, you know?”

“Yeah. My parents died in a car crash, too. They were gone before anything could save them.”

She nodded. “They said Dad died instantly. I hope so.”

He swore softly, leaning toward her, but not leaving his seat, as though he understood she’d never get through this story without breaking down if he held her in his arms and comforted her. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

“I . . . felt it when he passed away. That was the first time my precognition presented itself.” Her voice went almost clinical, a doctor diagnosing. She swal owed, feeling like anything but a level-headed scientist.

“My little voices warning of bad things coming.”

“Sweetheart . . .”

She shook her head, staring into the fire as she started the worst of it. Her hands bal ed into knots to hide the way they started to tremble. “They didn’t warn me the day my mom died. Or, if they did, I don’t remember it. Maybe I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t know anything about magic, then. Not real y. By the time I was seven, my dad was already sort of . . . fuzzy . . . in my head. The stories Mom told about him sounded like fairy tales from the books she read to me at night.” She held her hands out toward the flames, wishing the warmth could seep inside her, but she felt the ice freezing her very soul. “I think maybe Mom thought I was Normal like her because I hadn’t done anything like my dad could do.”

“You didn’t tel her about the voices when your dad died?”

“No. I didn’t know what they were, what they meant. Not until years later.” Not until Mil ie had told her. By then it was too late. Far too late for any of them.

“How did she die?”

Such a simple question, and such a complicated answer. “There was a storm. A massive storm. It knocked out our electricity and phone lines, washed out the roads, made mud slide down the mountains, and left us total y stranded.” She pul ed in a slow, deep breath. “So, when Mom slipped and cut herself while she was chopping some kindling, there was no way to get help.” Her laugh was dry, painful. “If I’d known then what I know now, if Dad had stil been alive, my mom wouldn’t be dead. But there was just so much blood, and it happened so fast, she was gone before I real y understood what was going on.”

And she’d been alone with a dead body that used to belong to her mother. She didn’t tel Merek how she’d huddled in the corner of their living room, too scared of the blank, staring eyes of that corpse to move.

How she’d vomited at the smel . How she’d sobbed until there were no more tears left, but she was trapped for two more days until the storm passed.

Even when it was over, no one came for them. No one knew they needed help. No one cared.

“I went for help, but the storm had washed away trees and rocks, so the landmarks were al wrong. I got lost. When night came, it was pitch black because there were stil too many clouds to see the stars. It was so dark, and I was so alone.” Over and over again, she’d gotten lost in the gloom of that alien landscape.

For as long as she lived, she’d never forget the utter sense of aloneness, of isolation. Her stomach turned, but she forced back the nausea. “Ophelia found me there.”

“Ophelia was in the woods?” The question, quiet as it was, startled her back into reality. For a few moments she’d been so lost in the tel ing, she’d forgotten he was there.

She cleared her throat. “Yeah. She doesn’t like the wilderness any more than I do. I don’t know how or why a Siamese purebred familiar got al the way out there. Al I know is there was a bear, and I got between it and its cub by accident. It was going to tear me apart.” She snorted, shook her head, and smiled. “Then there was this mangy, half-starved cat attacking the hel out of that bear’s face while I ran.”

“Suicidal cat.” But his tone was almost admiring.

“Yeah, wel . I named her that for a reason. She caught up with me after she was done with the bear, and she’s been with me ever since.” Chloe rubbed her nose, remembering the freezing cold at night, the meager warmth of Ophelia’s skinny body as they curled together in the blackness. The hunger and terror.

Those details she kept to herself. There was only so much she could strip bare for anyone. No one real y wanted everything. She picked up a twig and spun it between her fingers. “It took me another two days to make it to town and another week for them to track down my next of kin.”

Both she and her familiar had been malnourished and dehydrated when they’d staggered into the sheriff’s department. Chloe had almost thought it was a delusion, final y reaching light and warmth and people.

People with food and water.

“Mil ie came and claimed you.”

“She did.”

“And you’ve been in Seattle ever since.”

“No, I went away to col ege and med school. I didn’t come back until I did my residency.” She’d had to get away or she’d known she’d never be able to. For years, she’d had nightmares, terrified of being alone in the darkness. She’d clung to Mil ie like the lifeline to sanity she’d been for a broken young girl. It would have been too easy to let her aunt shelter her, coddle her, protect her from life, but she’d never have been a whole person. The thought of needing anyone as much as she’d needed Mil ie then stil had the power to terrify her.

She’d had to prove to herself she could be alone, that she could cope with the night, even if it meant sleeping with a lamp turned on or getting up to stare at the mil ions of twinkling lights of the city around her to remind herself she was not lost in the woods anymore.

She’d made her own way, such as it was.

Merek stood up and walked around to her side of the dwindling campfire. “You’ve always been in big cities since then though? Until now?”

A smile twisted her lips. “Yeah, I’m a wimp like that. City girl al the way with my cute clothes and nightclubs, like you said. Los Angeles and New York for school. I did a year of foreign exchange in London.”

She shrugged, looked away. “Lots of people and lots of light, even at night.”

His hand appeared in her line of vision, his fingers offered in invitation. “Come on.”

“I think I just want to sit here for a while.” She felt... drained. Emptied out after tel ing him al that she had.

As if she had nothing left.

He just reached down and scooped her up to carry her to bed. She stiffened for a moment, wrapped her arms around his neck for balance, but then went limp against him. He felt so good, so warm when she was frozen inside. She wanted to tel herself it was the dip in the icy lake, but she hadn’t the energy left to lie to herself. For once, she didn’t want to be brave. She wanted to let him hold her and make her feel safe in this nightmare she was reliving, but she couldn’t.

With Alex sharing their “room” tonight, she was sleeping alone. Best get back to sucking it up like a big girl and dealing with the darkness. She’d done it for years, and the last thing a man like Merek needed was a clingy woman. The last thing she wanted was to be that kind of woman.

She’d stand on her own two feet, no matter how much it scared her.

Gods, seven years old. Merek shook his head. She’d been just a baby. Emotion he didn’t want to feel, let alone put a name to, banded so tight around his chest he couldn’t breathe. He swal owed hard; he didn’t ever want to put her down, wanted to make sure she never went through anything like that again.

And yet she was already going through it again. Voluntarily. For Alex. So he could be safe for his ful moon Change.

Merek closed his eyes for a moment, feeling that band tighten. He’d seen a lot of shit in his life, had been through more than his fair share, but it made his hands shake to think of anything else happening to her, even with his intimate knowledge of just how many things could go wrong for people.

Al he could do tonight was make damn sure that she didn’t have to be alone in the dark. Hel , if that was the worst of the fears she’d come out of al of that with—he shook his head again. He’d thought it was the worry and maybe nightmares from being tortured that kept her awake at night, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Maybe it was al of those things, but he’d never met a stronger person in his life. She humbled him.

“I don’t need to be carried, Merek. I can stand.” She wriggled to try to get down when they got inside the tepee.

He tightened his arms and kissed her forehead, savoring the feel of her against him, vital and alive. It so easily could have been different. He could so easily have missed out on the chance of ever knowing her.

The thought hit him like a blow. “I can’t stay with you tonight, but you don’t have to go to sleep alone. We have some time before Alex gets back from his nocturnal activities.”

A breathy laugh escaped her. “Nocturnal activities, huh? Is that what they cal it these days?”

“That’s right.” He let her feet slide to the floor, but kept her snug against him, so she was stil on her tiptoes with her fingers linked behind his neck.

She glanced at her sleeping bag and then back up at him. “So you’re just planning to lie there and hold me until I fal asleep?”

“Yep.” He dropped his forehead to hers and dragged in her feminine scent, grateful beyond words that she was here with him, that she was the person she was. Unstoppable force of nature, and he wouldn’t have it any other way, even when she made him crazy.

“I won’t want you just to hold me if we’re that close and in a horizontal position.”

He closed his eyes and ran his hands up and down her back, a laugh straggling out of him as his body had a predictable reaction to her words. “Whatever you need, sweetheart.”

“Nocturnal activities, I think.” And then she pul ed him down for a kiss.

It was like setting a match to a powder keg. Al the emotions roiling around inside him suddenly had a focus, somewhere to go. The relief was so sharp it almost drove him to his knees.

He wanted to go slow, wanted to be gentle, to show her how he’d come to cherish her. Hel , he wanted to be in control enough to do any of those things. Instead, he jerked at her shirt, wrenching it over her head. He didn’t even bother to remove her bra before he latched onto her nipple. He sucked her through the lace, used the fabric to stimulate her to a thrusting little nub. His fingers offered the same rough treatment to her other nipple, and she squealed when he bit her lightly.

“Merek!” Her fingers splayed over his chest, moved down his T-shirt to his pants, and she fumbled with his fly. Her hand on his cock was enough to make him wild, lust eating away at his restraint. He divested them both of their clothing in short order and dragged her down to her sleeping bag.

He jerked her thighs wide, and thrust himself deep inside her. She hissed between her teeth, not quite wet enough for his entry to be easy. He shuddered and buried his face in the crook of her neck, a low groan ripping from his throat. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t wait.”

She stroked her hands down his back, turning her head to kiss his ear. “Then you’d better make it up to me.”

A chuckle slipped out, and he lifted his head to look down at her. “Would two or three orgasms before I get to come be penance enough?”

She sniffed. “Three.”

“I’l see what I can do.”

“Good.” Humor glinted in her eyes, the shifting kaleidoscope of greens and browns, blues and golds, al the clearer from this close.

He licked his fingertips, lifting his torso to be able to reach between them. Stroking his damp fingers over her clit made her gasp and writhe, which forced his cock even deeper inside her. They both groaned, but he continued toying with her while her flesh grew wetter, her muscles flexing around his shaft. She squirmed beneath him, the gold flecks in her eyes glowing with magic.

“Do you want me to use spel s, or should we do this the old-fashioned way?” He let his fingertips circle her clit with slow, deliberate promise, so she’d know exactly what she was in for.

She lifted her hips into his caress. “Is that real y a question?”

Chuckling, he let a spel vibrate down his arm and out through his hand. Her eyes went wide, and she screamed, arching as she came for him, her pussy fisting around him. A wave of her magic hit him, skated over his skin, and lodged in his bel y, a slow fire that made his cock jerk. He had to grit his teeth and run through police procedure in his mind to keep from coming with her.

“That’s one,” he said when he could speak again. Sliding out of her made him groan, but he knew he wouldn’t last if he stayed inside her for her next orgasm.

Kissing his way down her torso, he let his tongue flick out to taste each plush nipple in turn. They tightened for him, darkening to a deep raspberry. He sucked one hard, and his fingers plucked and twisted the other.

Sending a light shock from the tip of his tongue made her jolt and squeal. Her thighs closed around one of his, and she rubbed herself against him.

He grinned, kissed his way upward to lick her throat, and sent a swift tingle to her from every inch of skin that touched her. She shivered, gooseflesh breaking out. Working her with his thigh, he rocked against her pelvis until she gasped his name in his ear, nipped at his shoulder, and sucked on his earlobe. “Please, Merek. I’m going to come again. Please.”

He rode her clit with his leg, flexing the muscles until they burned with the strain. Her nails raked down his back, sending wicked pleasure into his flesh, a spel that made him choke with need. She arched under him, the magic they used cycling, reverberating, expanding their ecstasy until a hoarse cry burst from his throat.

Her wetness increased, the scent intoxicating as it dampened the hair on his thigh. Gods, he wanted inside her, wanted that wet heat hugging his cock. He groaned against her neck, biting down on the tendon.

“Merek!” Her fingers dug deep into his shoulders, and he felt her pussy spasm against his leg. She gave a little sob as she bucked in his arms. He held her in place, sliding down to kiss the soft curve of her bel y, nip at her navel, until he reached the part of her he wanted most. She whimpered, “Oh, gods. I don’t think I can . . .”

“Nuh-uh. Two more for you, and one for me. No backing out now, Standish.” How many times would he need to make her come before she was exhausted enough to sleep through a dark night in the wilderness?

He was about to find out. Flicking his tongue against her swol en clit, he heard her broken moan.

“Please,” she whispered, but her fingers slid into his hair, holding him close to her slick sex. Gooseflesh broke over his scalp from a fresh pleasure spel . His hips arched in reflex, rubbing his cock against her sleeping bag.

It felt too good, and he fought to keep from moving his body in the same rhythm he worked hers. Turning his head, he bit the inside of her thigh. Hard. She choked, her fingers clenched painful y in his hair, and her back bowed. “Yes, Merek!”

Forcing her thighs flat to the sleeping bag, he opened her for his feasting. The sweetness of her cream flowed into his mouth, and he buried his tongue in her soaking pussy, thrusting until he felt her excitement crest. Her low cries, her pleading moans, kissed his ears. He formed his lips around her clit, sucking it hard.

Sinking his fingers into her hot sex, he stroked her until she could take three fingers easily. Her channel clamped down on him, and he bit her clit, holding it between his teeth as he flicked his tongue rapidly across the little nub.

“Merek . . . Oh, gods. Oh, gods! ”

The feel of her squeezing around his fingers, the scent of her musky passion, the sobbing cries, snapped his control. He bolted upward, settling on top of her, and shoving her thighs even wider with his. He thrust deep, the last of her contractions wringing his cock. Kissing her lips, he let her taste her own wetness while he began moving within her. He couldn’t hold back, couldn’t stop.

Inside the tepee, he didn’t have to worry about a Normal seeing the lightning bolts of his favored pleasure spel s like he had in the lake. Here, he could make her writhe and scream for him. He licked a slow path up the side of her throat, sending a jolt here and there with the very tip of his tongue. She sucked in a breath, but arched her neck for him. Her nails raked down his back, her own spel s making the pleasure-pain burn beneath his skin and spread.

The pace he set was hard, pounding, punishing. She wrapped her legs around his waist, lifting herself into his thrusts.

“Sweetheart, you feel so fucking good.” And so fucking tight. Her passage was so narrow and swol en, she squeezed him in an iron grip.

Grinding his hips downward, he sent a bolt of magic sizzling into her hard little clit, down the length of his cock and into her creamy pussy, stimulating them both until they groaned and shuddered at the intensity.

She squirmed beneath him with a gasp, her lush breasts rubbing against his chest. “Merek! Gods, yes. I love it when you— Merek! ”

His name on her lips was enough to send him over the edge. He forced his eyes to remain open, to watch her come with him. He loved the look on her face as those sharp hazel eyes glazed with fulfil ment.

Fulfil ment he’d given her. It was the most potent aphrodisiac he’d ever known. His back hunched, his hips bucked, and he slammed his dick hilt-deep into her sleek pussy. He jetted his come into her, letting go of the unraveling edges of what remained of his discipline. “Chloe!”

Long, long moments later reality began to return by degrees. He lay sprawled on top of her, breathing in the female scent of her. He had to be crushing her, so he hauled himself up onto his elbows to keep from smothering her.

Gods, he’d been wild, out of control, savaging her. He winced as his gaze snagged on a lurid bite mark forming just below her col arbone. It wouldn’t be visible with a shirt on, but he’d know it was there, know he’d marked her. What the hel was wrong with him that he liked that idea? He wasn’t one of the fanged races, but it didn’t stop the primitive, possessive pleasure that coursed through him at seeing his bite on his woman.

She could heal the mark in the morning, and she’d probably hex his ass if she knew what he was thinking.

But she hadn’t said so much as a word since they’d climaxed. Concern punched through him. He swal owed a hard lump of dread, and forced his gaze away from the bruise.

“Are you al right? Did I hurt you?”

But she was already asleep, her hair fanned out on the pil ow, her cheeks ruddy, and her breasts rising and fal ing in the slow cadence of deep slumber. He let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and couldn’t help the smile of satisfaction that curled his lips. Sliding out of her made him grit his teeth and sweat break out on his forehead. Gods, but he wanted her. Stil . Again. Always.

Rifling through her suitcase produced a nightshirt, which he managed to work over her head without waking her. If he lingered when tugging the shirt down over her breasts, smooth bel y, and supple thighs, no one would ever know except him. She was so beautiful.

He forced himself to move away from her to go and dig through their camping supplies until he came up with a smal , battery-powered lantern. Flipping it onto its lowest setting, he deposited it beside her. The batteries were new, so they should last al night long. Then he went and gathered up Ophelia. She mewed in annoyance, but he petted her until she relaxed. Laying her in the sleeping bag with Chloe, he covered them both up. He might not be able to hold her, but he wouldn’t make her spend the night alone.

Bending forward, he kissed her forehead gently, so as not to awaken her. “Sleep al night, and have only sweet dreams.”

It was a benediction, a prayer, a wish, and if he was lucky, a spel that would make it so. Her inner demons could unravel his magic, but he hoped they slept tonight, too.