The sky turned black quickly, nearly making Emma forget it wasn’t even late afternoon yet. Trees swayed as the wind picked up, and she studied the forest behind the hospital.
Placing her hands against the glass, she leaned in closer and narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to see well into the trees. That’s when she saw it. Two burning, bright red spots of light. Her nose touched the glass as she leaned in more. The light disappeared and quickly reappeared. Blinking?
Holy shit.
Emma stared hard into the growing darkness, her focus on those red spots and a powerful spell on her lips. But before she could unleash it—and possibly destroy the entire forest in the process—a strong arm reached around her, the fingers touching the glass.
“I guess you’re going to see one of our storms, darlin’.”
Her entire body tensed and she barely stopped herself from spinning around and screaming.
Kyle’s hand fell to her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
She looked back at the spot where she saw those red eyes and, not surprisingly, they were no longer there. Damn.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
He turned her to face him, his gaze searching her face. “Are you sure? You went tense on me awful fast.”
Emma took a deep breath to calm her nerves and immediately realized that had been a big mistake. Having Kyle this close to her, smelling so very nice, did nothing for her composure.
Maybe she simply needed to admit she wanted the man. A lot. And if she were like the women in her coven, she would have had him by now. She wasn’t them, though. She was Emma. Boring, plain, safe Emma. Christ knew that wouldn’t change anytime soon, since it hadn’t changed for thirty-one years.
“I’m fine, Deputy. Thanks,” she tacked on for no particular reason. Emma moved to step around Kyle, but he stepped in front of her and blocked her path.
Confused, she stared up at him. “What?”
“Tell me, Emma. Did you dream last night?”
She blinked and lied. “Not that I remember.”
“Did I mention, Emma, I can tell when you’re lying?”
Unable to help herself, she raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Is that right?”
“Yup. I sure can.”
“I’m not lying,” she calmly lied.
He stepped toward her and Emma immediately stepped back.
“I think you are.”
Emma shrugged, even as she kept backing up and he kept moving forward. “You believe what you want to believe.”
“I do.”
Her back slamming into the wall behind her, Emma could only stare up at Kyle as he stood in front of her, blocking her way out with his big gorgeous body.
“Are you trying to intimidate me or something?” ‘Cause it was kind of working.
Kyle shook his head. “No.”
“So what are you doing?”
“I don’t rightly know.” He slipped his hand behind the back of her neck, his fingers massaging the tense muscles while holding her in place. “But I do know what I want to do.”
Then he leaned forward, his eyes locked on her lips. Emma knew she should do something, but her brain took that moment to completely shut down on her. She ended up watching Kyle lean down until his lips were barely a breath away from hers.
“You gonna stop me, Emma?” he whispered softly, his lips barely touching hers.
Emma was confused. Hot, horny, and confused. She didn’t know what he was talking about because she kept waiting for him to goddamn kiss her. “Stop what?” she finally asked.
Kyle grinned. “Good girl.”
He kissed her and Emma realized she might be in the biggest trouble of her life.
She tasted the same now as she did in the dream—amazing. He coaxed her lips open with gentle swipes of his tongue, and she responded with a heartfelt groan. Her, hands reached up, and one dug in his hair while the other gripped his shoulder. He used his free arm to pull her small body tight into his.
Her tongue shyly touched his and his knees almost buckled, because she went from shy and delicate to hot and demanding in seconds.
Kyle had finally begun to realize something about his little Emma Lucchesi. Although definitely shy and cautious, once you got past those walls she’d built up … Lord, you were in heaven.
Her fingers dug into his shoulder and hair while her tongue boldly stroked his. She wanted him. And Kyle was more than happy to accommodate her. If he could only maneuver her over to the bed. A bit small, but it would do to get this first time out of the way …
“And how’s our Miss Emma today?” Dale Sahara asked, pushing through the door of Emma’s hospital room.
Kyle pulled away from Emma, his fangs bursting from his gums as he snarled his displeasure at Dale. “Get. Out.”
“All righty then,” Sahara said, turning right around and walking back out.
Realizing his fangs were out, Kyle hugged Emma to his body, his chin resting against the top of her head. It took much to get the cat in him leashed.
He didn’t know what this woman had done to him, but he knew he had to get himself under control. She was human. A human who wasn’t staying. Flash his fangs or his claws, and he’d have a very big problem on his hands.
“I’m sorry, Emma,” he whispered into her hair, barely forcing his fangs back.
Those hands that had gripped him like her life depended on it moments before now landed on his shoulders to push him away.
“Don’t apologize,” she said. But she wouldn’t look at him. “It’s not a big deal.”
She tried to walk around him, but he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.
“What’s going on?”
Still without looking at him, using her hair to hide her face, she said, “Nothing.”
“Don’t play this game with me, Emma.” He tipped her chin up with his knuckle. “Tell me what’s going on.”
She blinked once, and then she lied. “I gotta pee. Is that okay with you, Deputy?”
He couldn’t exactly argue with her on that one, so he released her. She didn’t run like he thought she might. Instead she walked away from him, throwing over her shoulder, casual as you please, “When I come out, you won’t be here anymore.”
The quiet closing of that bathroom door sure did sound mighty final.
Seven
“I have no idea what I did, but I screwed it up somehow.”
“Maybe you should have kept those lips to yourself, big brother,” Katie Treharne-MacClancy teasingly chastised. “You know those weak, full-human women can’t handle the mighty men of Smithville.”
“You come up with the biggest load of—”
“Besides,” she cut in, “maybe you took her by surprise. You should try again.”
“Nah. She made it clear she doesn’t want me trying anything again.”
“I’m sorry, Kyle.” And she meant it. That’s why he loved his baby sister. She got the best of both cat and dog emotionally and was a gorgeous woman. Unfortunately, her shifted self had not been so lucky. Funny-looking didn’t quite describe the awkward mix of cat and canine his parents had forced upon his poor baby sister. Especially her snagglefang. The snagglefang broke his heart and made him laugh at the same time.
As a deputy, however, no one dared push his Kit-Kat past her tolerance point. Unlike her brothers, she put up with a lot more, and the town loved her for it. Unlike her brothers, however, when Katie snapped … well, it was never pretty, although he and Tully often found it damn entertaining.
“Don’t be sorry, Kit-Kat. It isn’t your fault. It’s his fault.”
“Who?”
“His. That big, shaggy-haired, interrupting bastard.”
Katie laughed. “Do you mean Dale?”
“If it hadn’t been for that lazy, twenty-hour-sleeping son of a bitch, I wouldn’t have to spend the night in this goddamn SUV.” He moved around again, trying to get comfortable in the front seat.
“That seems a little unfair, big brother.”
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Kyle had to spend the night in his SUV, staring at a dark hospital and hoping Emma would walk by her room window every once in a while. As far as he was concerned, that was the only unfair thing here.
“The man’s an asshole.”
“Kyle Treharne! You stop that.” But he could hear his sister trying desperately not to laugh. “Now, if I were you, I’d go back in there and show that Yankee what a nice Southern boy can do for a gal.”
“I better not, Kit-Kat. Getting involved with a full-human who doesn’t plan on staying? A very bad idea.”
“How do you know she won’t stay? Maybe she’ll stay for you.”
“I’ve barely known the woman five minutes.”
“And?”
“What do you mean, and?”
“I mean, maybe she’s the one for you, if you’d stop being a gawd-darn cat for two seconds.”
His sister always wanted to believe in love at first sight. Shame Kyle and Tully knew better.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sure when she finds me eating a whole deer on my dining room table, she’ll say, ‘Well hey, pretty kitty. Make sure to save me some.’”
Katie sighed, long and loud. “Kyle—”
“Forget it, Kit-Kat. I’ll just keep my dumb hick ass out here. And leave her adorable Yankee ass in there. Then tomorrow, I’ll send her on her way.”
“As always, you’re as hardheaded as Daddy. But, and I’ll leave you with this, Kyle, ‘cause I gotta go kick a little hyena ass downtown, there are more than one or two humans who live in this town, and they seem quite happy with their mates. Definitely happier than your miserable cat ass. But don’t worry, darlin’, I say that with love.”
Laughing, Kyle hung up the phone.
True enough, there were full-humans mated to shifters, but that was rare and most of those full-humans were more animal than human in their soul. Whether it was in the way they moved or lived, they were comfortable with both sides of their mates.
Emma didn’t seem comfortable with much of anything, so Kyle didn’t really expect her to understand or accept what he was and always would be. No, he was better off waiting for the right leopard to come walking through his door. He needed a predator in his bed. A female who could handle a Pride of lions running by her front door in the morning and not start screaming when Tully showed up covered in blood, his Pack in tow, looking for cold beer and some of their momma’s key lime pie.
Knowing he’d made the best decision, Kyle settled back in his SUV, very glad he’d run home and put on his sweats so he could be comfortable. Because it would definitely be a long, lonely night.
He didn’t come back. Not that she wanted him to, but … he didn’t come back.
You threw him out, you idiot.
What was she supposed to do?
Toss his fine ass on the bed and fuck him within an inch of his gorgeous life?
Oh, yeah. Sure. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Emma tossed the magazine against the opposite wall as lightning outside her window lit up the entire room.
She jumped from the explosion and sighed when the hospital’s electricity went out. How could they not have a generator? Or maybe they did and it wasn’t working. But why wouldn’t it?
Taking a deep breath to calm the warning bells screaming through her system, Emma used the lightning outside her room to illuminate her way to the window. More lightning flashed by, and even in her current state Emma had to admit how beautiful the natural power of the goddesses could be. This was where they ruled, and this was where some of the energy and power that her coven tapped into came from.
Emma placed her hand against the glass, fingers spread out, palm flat. She focused her thoughts, her energy, and called down the lightning. Multiple strikes slammed into the ground outside her window, moving closer and closer to her as her spell gained momentum. Then, when it got close enough, Emma called a strike right to her. It hit the glass, sending electricity through it and into her. Emma gritted her teeth and reveled in the feel of the Dark Mothers moving through her. She lifted her hand and watched white sparks flicker between her fingers.
With another deep breath, she centered herself. Focusing all her energy and strength, streaming it, making it even more powerful. Then Emma spun around, unleashing that lightning on the thing that had just launched itself at her back.
The thing that had already tried to kill her once.
Its black, filth-encrusted fur sizzled as its body flipped back and slammed into the opposite wall. It moved and, in a panic, Emma hit it again with the remaining energy in her body.
It twitched and Emma jumped. Good gods, the thing wasn’t dead. After all that, it wasn’t dead.
It blocked the door to the hall, so she ran for the bathroom, slamming the door as the beast crashed into it. Anything natural or from this plane of existence would have disintegrated instantly from all the lightning she’d poured into it. Instead, this thing still fought even while its unholy body dissolved around it.
Unholy. Unnatural. Goddess, did they actually do this? Did her Coven conjure this thing?
She couldn’t worry about that now. Not when it kept throwing itself against the door, trying to get in. She knew that it would try to kill her until it took its last breath.
Emma only had one way out and she took it, scrambling up onto the toilet and pushing the lone window open. Shoving herself through, she slipped on the toilet lid, and suddenly Emma had the ground rushing up to meet her as she tumbled out—head first.
He’d been seconds away from contacting the Water & Power guys to tell them the generator at the hospital had failed again when he saw the vicious lightning strike slam right outside Emma’s window and then ricochet up, slamming through the glass and into the hand Emma had pressed against it.
Kyle was already moving when he saw Emma turn, faster than he’d ever seen her move. In fact, he didn’t know humans could move like that.
That’s when he saw it. Some kind of big black dog stood behind her. Kyle had never seen it before. It wasn’t local. To be quite honest, he didn’t know what the hell that thing was. He only knew it moved on Emma with unholy speed. But she used the lightning she’d pulled into her body and slammed the thing back away from her—twice. Then Emma ran. Not out the door, but into the bathroom.
Kyle changed direction and went around the hospital. He found Emma tumbling out the window, head first, as the thing inside her room raged and slammed into the bathroom door, nearly taking it off its hinges.
Sliding under the window, Kyle caught Emma in his arms before she hit hard, pain-inducing earth.
She screamed, fighting him.
“Emma! It’s me!”
Those brown eyes of hers looked up in shock. Then her small hands grabbed his shoulders.
“We’ve gotta—”
“I know, darlin’.” He placed her on her feet. “Move.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. She took off running, heading around the hospital building.
“Get in!” he yelled over the storm that seemed to have worsened in the last three minutes. Emma pulled the passenger side door open and scrambled into the front seat. Kyle got in and slammed his door, turning the key he’d left in the ignition. The SUV rumbled to life and Kyle pulled out onto the road. Emma looked through her window, then she kneeled on the seat, her knees pushing into the leather.
“It’s behind us.”
“It won’t be for long. Buckle up, darlin’.”
She did as he ordered and once she was securely belted in, he made a wild turn into the woods. One small hand gripped the armrest between the seats while the other gripped the handle over the door that Tully always called the “oh shit!” bar.
Emma didn’t say anything, which Kyle appreciated.
He made a few more wild turns, knowing he couldn’t stop until he heard it. Knowing he wasn’t safe until he heard it.
As soon as he’d stepped out of his truck to get Emma, he’d sensed them heading toward the hospital. They’d known an outsider ha
d come to their town. Not sweet little Emma but something else. Something they’d have to kill.
Now that he had Emma, Kyle knew some of them would split off to protect his back while others would continue on to track and kill that thing. So when he heard it over the driving rain, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Tully’s howl. Calming him as it never had before.
A roar answered Tully’s howl. A loud lion roar. Followed by another roar. The roar of bears.
Kyle slowed down his truck and passed through two boulders leading to his house. On top of it stood Tully, his small hoop earring glinting as lightning flashed nearby.
He nodded at Kyle, his wolf head dipping just a bit to let Kyle know they were watching out for him and that Emma would be safe.
Because at the moment, that’s all Kyle really cared about.
Eight
Emma didn’t look at Kyle when he pulled the passenger side door open. She couldn’t. Instead she sat in his SUV, her entire body shaking. Not from fear, although she was woman enough to admit she was scared shitless, but from shame. What if her Coven had done this? What if, in their quest for power, they’d unleashed this thing on Smithville? They’d put all these people in danger. Bear. Tully. Dr. Sahara.
Kyle.
“Come on, Emma.”
Strong arms slipped under her knees and her back, easily lifting her out. A few steps took them to the porch of a small house while he tried his best to protect her from the rain with his body.
He carried her up the stairs and pushed the door open. Without a key.
She nearly moaned in despair. Kyle, who didn’t exactly seem to be much of a trusting fellow, felt comfortable enough in his town to leave his door unlocked for hours at a time.
Kyle stepped into his house, reaching over to flip a switch. No lights came on, and he sighed. “Electricity’s out here, too.”
He released Emma’s legs and slowly lowered her to the ground. “Wait here.” Gentle fingers brushed against her cheek, and he disappeared into the darkness.
She shouldn’t stay. She should leave. She was putting Kyle in danger, and she’d never forgive herself if something happened. “Kyle, maybe I should—”
My Kind of Town Page 6