The elevator doors opened on the fourth floor and she stepped out onto the plush burgundy carpeting. Instead of guiding her, Tre reached down and scooped her up in his powerful arms and headed down the hallway in long strides. “In a hurry?” Alex couldn’t help the smile in her voice. He hadn’t spoken since he’d whispered her name in longing down on the street. But the heat of his gaze and the warmth of his touch on her skin made words unnecessary. She was burning for him and, if she were honest, her reaction to this man scared her a little. She enjoyed sex, even though her experience was somewhat limited because of her work and who she was. But her body had never responded to a man so quickly and intensely as it had to this man. Was it the danger of being with a Coteri, a warrior no less? Was it because she’d gone for so long without sex? Or was it Tre specifically? He tightened his hold, surrounding her with his strength as he continued toward what she assumed was his room. Alex realized she didn’t care what the reasons might be. She was simply going to take full advantage and enjoy herself for once.
Tre let out a low growl and looked down at her with a burning intensity. It was obvious he was more than ready to give her what she had been looking for tonight. And once the door to his suite slammed closed, he did just that. Gave her memories she would live on for years to come. Took her in every possible way and on every surface of the room. Walls, tables, floor, bed…all of it served as props in her night of sexual bliss.
Alex quickly shook her head and brought her thoughts back to the present. She had to get out of there without him knowing. She could revisit her memories of the night once she was safely away. Tightness formed in her chest at the thought of leaving, but she knew she had no choice. Her fantasy night was over. She turned to leave the bedroom and ventured one last look toward her warrior. She froze as her gaze met Tre’s. He was lying on his side with his head propped on his hand. A slow, seductive smile curled his full lips as he held out his free hand and motioned her over to the bed.She felt her legs respond to his unspoken command as she moved to sit beside him on the edge of the mattress. “Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey yourself, beautiful. I’d give just about anything to know what you were thinking about just now.” His deep voice had her insides melting and she closed her eyes, too afraid he’d see the truth if she met his gaze directly.
Tre reached up to move her long black hair away from her face. “You going somewhere, baby?”
Alex looked out the window and noticed the night was quickly fading. The telltale orange and pink hues were starting to highlight the sky. Time to go.
Resigned, she looked back down into his beautiful amber eyes. The same eyes she had gazed into for the entire night as he’d pleasured her beyond all her expectations. Alex gave a brief smile and leaned in to place her mouth on his. He immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her on top of him. She instinctively threw her leg over his hips and ground her pelvis against him, realizing he was more than ready to go another round.
“Stay,” he murmured against her lips before the kiss became deeper. Hotter. And she felt herself becoming lost in him once again, even though she knew she should temper her response. Her hips churned and she felt herself getting wet at the thought of having him inside her again. Of riding him until they both screamed with pleasure.
Alex forced herself to pull away and sit up, moving once again to the side of the bed. Damn, this man was beautiful—and if things were different, maybe they could have something together. But not now. And definitely not given who and what he was and, more importantly, what his people stood for. She closed her eyes and tried to hide from the truth. The Coteri were evil, cruel, and she knew if Tre knew she was Valta, he would see her dead for that fact alone. She shook her head in resignation. None of what she felt for him made sense, and the facts she knew about the Coteri didn’t fit with the man he’d shown her throughout the night. But last night had been fantasy. She knew that, and now she had to get the hell out of there.
He reached up and cupped her breasts in his large hands, rubbing his thumbs over her straining nipples. “You’re dressed. I don’t like it.”
Alex smiled and leaned over him. She didn’t like using her gift, felt it was invasive, but knew it was her only chance of getting away from him. That heated look in his eyes told her he wasn’t going to be denied and she knew her body would be too weak to refuse him. But she wanted one last kiss to seal her memories of this amazing night.
“I was just going to get some coffee. I’m no good in the morning without my caffeine.” She slowly caressed his bristled jaw with her fingertips.
Tre let out a low, rumbling growl that sounded as sexy as hell. “I think I would argue with you on that point, baby. You were more than good about an hour ago. In fact you pretty much blew my mind all night.” He caught her fingertips and gently nipped the pad of each one before placing a heated kiss on her palm.
Alex felt her core contract and her panties dampen further. She smiled. “I could say the same about you, Tre.” She shivered at his continued touch.
Tre lost his smile and turned serious. “Then take off those clothes and come back to bed so I can show you how much better I can make it, baby.”
Make it better? Alex startled. Any better and I won’t be able to walk for a week! She knew it was now or never. The seductive timbre of his voice was once again pulling her in and she couldn’t allow herself to succumb. She leaned over his muscular chest and stared intently into the heated depths of his eyes. “I wish it could be different, Tre, but thank you for last night. I’ll never forget it—or you.” She brushed her lips gently across his just before she summoned her gift to the surface. It was something she rarely used, as it scared the hell out of her to have power over another person’s mind. But in this case, she didn’t want him hurt and she had to get out of there and ensure he couldn’t track her home. He was the enemy, she reminded herself again, even though she could picture herself crawling back into bed with him and never leaving his side. Her emotions warred with what she’d been taught to believe. Tre wasn’t like the stories she had heard. He wasn’t vicious. He wasn’t destructive or evil. If fact, everything she had witnessed and experienced through the night with him had been the complete opposite.
Nevertheless, she had to leave, and with no trace. Fantasy time was over. Alex’s fingers brushed his lips and her gaze locked with his as she sent the command to his mind to sleep. His lips went lax, his eyelids drifted closed and she felt like three kinds of shit. But she knew it was her only option if she was to have any hope of leaving this room without him.
Alex quickly jumped off the bed and pulled on her shoes. She scanned the room once more to make sure all evidence of her presence had been removed. She made her way to the door and quietly turned the knob and pulled. She looked over at Tre one last time and watched as he struggled to move. Damn, the man was strong. His eyes were still closed but it was obvious through the tension in his body that he was fighting the command to sleep. The veins in his neck strained as he tried to will his body to move. Shit, she didn’t use her gift often but when she did it was usually a hell of a lot more effective than this. She was out of time. Just as she was about to turn away, his head moved and his eyes locked with hers.
He was furious. She could feel it coming off him in hot waves, even though he was still immobile. And for the first time, she felt real fear in his presence. He would kill her the next time he saw her. He was Coteri, after all, and that was what they did. Her seductive lover was gone and in his place was the hardened, cruel warrior she had been warned against all her life. Her heart broke a little at that thought.
Alex sidestepped into the doorway and said in a choked whisper, “Don’t worry, Tre. This will wear off quickly with no ill effects. And I promise you’ll never have to see me again.” She paused and swallowed, her eyes locked on his furious gaze. “I’m truly sorry, Tre.” She had to force the words out.
Alex moved quickly and closed the door behind her. She took off
down the short hallway that led to the front door of the suite. She placed the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the handle before firmly closing the door. She raced down the stairs and continued out of the hotel and into dawn’s arrival as if the hounds of hell were after her. And given Tre’s furious gaze, that euphemism wasn’t much of a stretch. As she made her way through the relatively quiet streets, she quickly realized the stale and tattered remnants of last night’s French Quarter festivities reflected a perfect echo of her own emotions. What the hell was I thinking? she berated herself. I slept with a killer—my enemy. She had to force her mind to clear, to forget the passions of the previous night, because she knew without a doubt if her family ever found out about this, she would be better off just letting Tre kill her.
She turned down a narrow alley and scanned the area. No one sober enough would take notice of her much less remember what they were about to see. She stretched out her arms and assumed her preferred form, a beautiful white-horned owl. As she took flight over the city, she didn’t look back. She had a job to do. She had one destination in mind, and once she got there she would need to completely immerse herself in her work in an effort to refocus all her energies into helping her people. And she had to figure out a way to block this disastrous mistake of a night out of her mind forever, or at the very least, hide the knowledge of what she’d done from her family.
Chapter Two
Six months later
“I hate this fucking place,” Tre muttered to himself as he stood on the balcony overlooking Royal Street. He just wanted to get the hell out of the heat and away from the pressure in his head. Six months of trying to find out where the Valta were hiding their labs. Six months of trying to find any sign of hybrid babies. Six months of trying to hunt the raven-haired temptress he couldn’t seem to forget. Six months of not finding shit.
He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead and it came back sopping with sweat. Louisiana was getting to him. And not in a good way. Walking outside in the August heat felt like wrapping up in a wet electric blanket set on high. And to make matters worse, he couldn’t concentrate anymore. Not only was failing to find anything on the Valta eating away at his normally cool reserve, memories of Alex still flooded his mind.Before meeting her that night six months ago, Tre had known he was in trouble. His beast had been raging, demanding attention. And Tre knew if he didn’t find relief soon, his beast would win out and his façade of control would disappear.
Unlike most of his brethren, Tre’s animal was more dominant than his human side. Only a select few of his closest friends understood the lengths he went to and the tools he used to keep his darker side in check. Everyone else saw only what he wanted them to see—the jokester warrior who liked to bake, liked to fight and most especially liked to fuck.
Unfortunately, six months ago he hadn’t been doing enough of any of those things and his beast had been close to the surface. That was until he’d seen Alex. With her dark, flowing hair, porcelain skin and cerulean-blue eyes, both man and beast had wanted her with an almost feral ferocity. And that night, Tre had known his beast wasn’t going to be denied. Being with Alex had tempered his darker side, the sex so hot it knocked him on his ass, at least until he’d realized she’d tried to mind-fuck him into a coma so she could slip away from him undetected. And just why the fuck did she do that? What is she hiding? he asked himself for the thousandth time.
He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and silently cursed his idiocy for not being able to put the mysterious temptress out of his mind. Tre leaned down and placed his forearms on the wrought iron railing but immediately jumped back as the hot metal came in contact with his skin.
“It’s hotter than the hinges on the gates of Hell.”
Tre turned and found Devereux, his general, standing in the doorway. “No shit. What’s up, Dev? Any news?”
Dev shook his head as he slipped his hands into the front pockets of his black trousers and walked out onto the balcony to stand next to Tre. He looked down at the street filled with summer tourists and smiled. “They don’t seem to mind the heat, though. It’s the lure of the magic of this town. They think they can bottle it up and take it home with them along with a Pat O’s hurricane glass and some plastic beads.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked back at Tre. “But if they only knew what was really here. They’d run like scalded dogs.”
Tre looked at Dev as if he had lost his mind. “What the hell does that even mean?” He was frustrated and not in the mood for small talk at the moment. And the thick southern drawl that permeated his general’s vernacular whenever the man was back home in Louisiana was starting to grate on his last nerve.
Dev laughed and turned his gaze back toward the throng of tourists. “I’ve picked up some crazy sayings after living in this town for so long. I guess they just rubbed off over the last couple of decades.”
Tre looked back over the railing and kept people-watching, unable to even imagine living here for decades as Dev had. He was ready to crawl out of his skin after being here for just under a year. He hadn’t felt like kidding around with anyone in months. Normally he was the source of fun around this forsaken place. Playing pranks and giving everyone around him shit. The other guys had wanted to be with him on all of his earlier patrols, knowing by the end of the night, even if they hadn’t found anything, Tre would still somehow make them feel valued and they would have a hell of a time together. But lately his mood had warned everyone away. Everyone but Dev, unfortunately.
“What do you want, Dev? If you haven’t found anything, I’m going to assume this is another one of your attempts to psychoanalyze me, and we both know you aren’t gonna get shit, so let’s dispense with the niceties and just get down to it so I can get to work.”
Dev turned to face Tre, his expression devoid of any of its previous humor as he took a step forward. “You’d better remember who you’re talking to, pup.”
Tre backed away from the railing and ran his hand through his too-long hair. Shit, he hadn’t meant to snap, especially at his general and friend. He had respected Dev before but since working with him through these long months, that respect had grown even more and now he counted his general as one of his true friends. “Yeah, Dev. Sorry. All of this is just getting to me. The oppressive heat, the long periods of downtime and the constant frustration of not finding anything.”
Dev leaned back against the balcony and cocked his head. “Frustration with not finding anything on the Valta, or not finding the woman who successfully fucked you over and tried to fry your brain?”
Tre blew out an irritated breath. “She didn’t try to fry my brain, she just immobilized me, but both, I guess. I’m one of the best trackers out there, damn it. And that’s not ego talking, just fact. You know that. I’ve always been able to find what I’m after. This nothing shit is pissing me off, Dev. It’s like she’s disappeared. And what pisses me off further is that the more I think about that entire night six months ago, the more I realize she had to be Valta. There’s no other explanation that makes any sense for why she did what she did. And if I’m right, that means the rest of them are close. No way would a female Valta be too far from the rest of her kind.”
Tre rubbed the back of his neck in irritation as he continued. “Although, throughout all the years of the Valta’s existence, I’ve only ever heard of a few Coteri females defecting to their side. And most of those defections tend to be females following a male they’re attracted to or mated with who defected first. But if that’s the case, what the hell did she want with me? She certainly didn’t act as if she was already attached to another male that night, and if she’s not, why the hell was she out alone, left vulnerable to an attack? And if she really is with the Valta, she could have taken me out in my sleep or with her mind-fuck ability. So why didn’t she? None of this makes any sense, damn it.”
Tre paced the length of the balcony, questions swirling around his mind like a windstorm. During their entire encounter, nothing about
Alex had screamed Valta, at least not until she’d tried to command him into unconsciousness with her mind. She had been sweet, smart and even a little timid in the beginning until he’d got her warmed up once they’d made it to the hotel suite. And he realized now that even as she left him she’d seemed torn, sad, maybe a little regretful that their time had ended as it had. Tre just couldn’t wrap his head around the thought that the beautiful creature he couldn’t forget could actually be his greatest enemy.
Dev sighed and shook his head. “I have no idea, Tre. Who the hell knows why those crazy bastards do any of the things they do? Maybe she was trying to gather intel and wasn’t sent to do you harm.” He shrugged. “Maybe you’re wrong and she’s not Valta.”
Tre cast Dev a sardonic glance in response to that last statement. Dev obviously got the message, since he shifted his focus. Tre watched as his general lowered himself into one of the cushioned balcony chairs and stretched out his long legs.
Dev let out a weary sigh. “With two more bodies found in the last month and no sign of babies or a lab or any kind, Isla is getting restless and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her show up here soon. Needless to say, Mathias is crawling out of his skin now that Vivienne has been born. He is hell-bent on ensuring the Valta don’t ever get their hands on his little girl or Mina. His mate and daughter are his only priorities now.”
Infinite Desire Page 2