Edge of Darkness

by Adrian, Lara

  He drew in a ragged breath through his teeth and fangs. “I couldn’t tire of seeing you like this if I had a hundred years to look at you.”

  She held his transformed gaze, her eyes drinking him in. There was no fear in her face, only heat and desire. Only warm acceptance.

  Knox undressed, then took her under the warm spray with him.

  What he wanted to give her now wasn’t sexual, despite his rampant arousal. She deserved care and compassion tonight.

  He wanted to give her everything. Not only tonight, but for as long as she would have him.

  That he cared deeply about her was no longer a shock for him to admit, at least to himself. But this other feeling was far more profound than simple affection.

  In the short time since he’d met her, Leni had become the primary cause in his life. She’d become part of who he was. His heart had known it for a while now. It had taken his Hunter’s coldly logical brain a bit longer to clue in.

  He loved this woman.

  The realization staggered him.

  And it was piss poor timing, considering the phone call he’d made earlier today.

  He soaped her shoulders and pretty breasts as she stood in front of him, wreathed in clouds of billowing steam. Her hands moved over him too, slick and warm, each stroke making the coil of need inside him twist tighter, more demanding.

  He groaned when she reached down and found his jutting erection. “Ah, Christ, that feels too good,” he admitted, his throat as dry as ash while she pumped him. “I promise, my motives were honorable when I brought you in here.”

  She leaned her head forward and took his nipple between her teeth. When she released it, her breath skated hotly against his chest. “That’s too bad, because I need to feel you inside me, Knox.”

  Holy hell. His body responded with eager interest. The rest of him had equally tenuous resistance.

  “Then turn around,” he uttered thickly, his fangs surging against his tongue.

  His fingers cleaved into the slick heat of her sex, readying her for him. He entered on a long, slow thrust. As hungered as he was, he took his time. She came twice before he let his own release roll over him.

  Afterward, they lathered each other again, kissing and caressing until the water ran cold and they had no choice but to leave.

  Knox could see the exhaustion still clinging to Leni even after they had toweled off. She was emotionally drained, half asleep on her bare feet.

  “Come here,” he said, scooping her into his arms.

  He carried her to the bed and laid her on the cool sheets. Then he slipped in beside her.

  He was still hard, never fully sated when it came to his desire for her.

  A different hunger raked him as well, but the thought of leaving her side to feed held little appeal. He only wished he could claim the same about the steady drum of her pulse as she drifted off to sleep in his arms. It echoed in his own veins, a siren’s call that took all he had to resist.

  He needed blood after the recovery of his burns.

  But there was something else he needed even more.

  He had no doubt that the threat posed by Travis Parrish was only going to worsen. He had no intention of waiting for that to happen.

  He was going to take great pleasure making that point clear.

  Lenora Calhoun was his, and he protected what belonged to him.

  CHAPTER 19

  He hated the idea of leaving Leni and Riley unguarded, even for a minute.

  Knowing they were both asleep in their beds, vulnerable to any threat, added urgency to Knox’s lightning-quick pace across the frozen woodlands. He followed the river, heading for the large spread of forested land northwest of town.

  He’d had several hours of daylight to wait out back at Leni’s house today, and he had made use of it by doing a bit of internet reconnaissance on the Parrishes. He’d dug up a handful of interesting articles about their impressive twenty-eight-thousand-acre domain and the once-lucrative lumber operation that had been on a steady decline for the past decade.

  Leni mentioned they were far from hurting financially, but it was clear their fortune was only a fraction of what it had been years ago. Public records showed they’d been quietly selling off parcels of the farmable timberland that had been in their hands for generations, relying less and less on the lumber that had made them rich and put their tiny, eponymous town on the map.

  Hard times or not, long-widowed Enoch Parrish and his three sons evidently hadn’t scaled back on their lifestyle as their business declined. Where the rest of the Parrish Falls’ population lived in aged clapboard farmhouses, brick ranches, or mobile homes, the founding family resided in a palatial, well-secured compound adjacent to their lumberyard and sprawling forest land.

  Knox stalked up to the electrified fence separating the house’s long driveway from the snowy two-lane that rambled past the wooded property. The barrier wouldn’t be enough to keep him out tonight, but he paused there for a moment and watched as a light-colored SUV roared to life inside the multi-bay garage.

  Headlights pierced the darkness as the vehicle barreled up the drive toward the road. He melted into the shadows of the thick trees as the gate slowly opened to let the driver exit.

  Knox had found an inmate photo of Travis Parrish online, and his blood seethed as he watched the newly freed son of a bitch roll out onto the two-lane.

  He followed behind the SUV on foot, staying hidden on the tree-lined shoulder. He didn’t have to run for long. About five miles up the road, Travis turned in at a squatty roadside tavern. The place was obviously popular, even in the dead of winter. Warm light and loud country music filtered out of it, the only signs of civilization for miles.

  Travis drove the gold company vehicle around to the small parking lot in back. Knox crossed the road in a flash of motion, then casually entered the busy establishment from the front door and slipped onto one of the few empty barstools to wait for his target.

  Travis Parrish’s harassment of Leni today hadn’t warranted a lethal confrontation, but that didn’t mean Knox was going to let his threat of harming her go unanswered.

  The bartender eyed him as the stranger he was as Knox placed an order for a beer he had no intention of drinking. Travis came inside through the back door reeking of cologne and dressed in stiff, new denim jeans and a sweater that strained across his puffed-up pectorals beneath his unzipped jacket. If the fresh clothes and penitentiary-short cut of his dark hair didn’t give him away as a recent inmate, the harsh, predatory look in his eyes left no doubt.

  Not that the tavern’s patrons seemed to notice, or care. He was mostly greeted with friendly slaps on the back and fist-bumps as he cut his way through the cluster of patrons on his way farther inside.

  A cursory glance bounced off Knox before Travis’s attention zeroed in on a pretty young redhead seated with a friend at the bar. Emphasis on young. Neither one of the women looked old enough to be drinking, not that the small, far-flung tavern appeared to be living in fear of the law.

  Travis sidled up to them, murmuring something to the man currently occupying the stool next to the redhead. The guy gave Travis a rankled look, but vacated his seat just the same.

  Knox scoffed low under his breath as Parrish attempted to turn on the charm for the ladies. He was clearly on a mission, and the lecherous gleam in his dark eyes made it obvious that he’d come to the local watering hole to scratch an itch.

  He ordered a round of shots for himself and the women. They had no sooner tossed back the first than he hailed the bartender for another. Then a third.

  “Doubles this time, Steve-O. I’ve got a lot of partying to catch up on.”

  The women giggled. Travis wrapped his arm around the redhead, pulling her close.

  He’d already made his choice. The new round of shots arrived and his hungry gaze stayed glued on her as she threw her head back and gulped the heavy pour. Liquor ran down onto her chin. She tried to catch the spill with her fingers, but her ha
nds were clumsy, her reflexes slow.

  Travis leaned over and licked some of the alcohol away. “You wanna get out of here?”

  She shrugged, then the liquor seemed to wash away her reservations. With an apologetic look slanted at her companion, she hopped off the stool and let Travis escort her toward the back door.

  Knox got up too.

  He cleaved through the knots of humans like a blade, on Travis’s heels before the door had closed behind the big human and the staggering young woman under his muscled arm.

  Knox grabbed the back collar of Parrish’s coat, nearly yanking him off his feet.

  He wheeled around on an explosive curse, his hands curled into fists at his sides. Rage burned in Parrish’s dark scowl as he took a threatening step forward. “The fuck you think you’re doing, bitch?”

  Knox ignored him, speaking to the young woman. “Go back inside with your friend. Now.”

  Eyes wide, she scrambled away to do what he ordered.

  “You just made a serious mistake,” Travis sneered, although some of his prison yard confidence leeched away when he saw the size of Knox. He was a big man by any standard, but he had nothing on the preternatural power and brute force of a Breed male.

  Still, liquor and arrogance kept his mouth running. “You do not want to fuck with me, asshole. Do you have any idea who I am?”

  “Yeah. I know exactly who you are. You’re the worthless piece of shit who attacked Shannon Calhoun seven years ago. Same piece of shit who went into Lenora’s diner today and harassed her with threats and a court order to take her sister’s boy away.”

  Travis’s liquor-soaked scoff scraped in his throat. “Am I supposed to know you?”

  “Why don’t you ask your brother Dwight about that?”

  Realization drained some of the color from his face. “Holy shit.”

  “Surprise.” Knox bared his fangs.

  Travis bolted for his vehicle. Two steps and he ran right into Knox’s chest. Staggering on his heels, he pivoted and tried to make a run for the tavern.

  Knox was in front of him again in a fraction of an instant. He grabbed the human’s throat in one hand. Travis sputtered under the hard grasp, fighting uselessly against the iron hold of Knox’s fingers. He flailed and struggled, wild fear in his eyes as Knox walked him backward into the shadows of the small parking lot.

  With his hand clamped around the human’s neck, Knox’s gift jack-hammered to life, as powerful as a kick to the gut.

  Thick and oily, rife with the stench of corruption, Travis Parrish’s sins poured through his senses. There were too many to sort or catalog. One after another, violence upon violence, and the sick enjoyment of the man who perpetrated them.

  Shannon hadn’t been the first woman Travis had brutalized. Nor the last.

  Prison had put a halt to his sadistic pleasures, but he was eager for the chance to start again. The young woman in the tavern would have found that out for herself if she’d gotten into his vehicle tonight.

  And there was more.

  Knox squeezed harder, unable to rein in his own violence when he read the truth about Shannon’s disappearance. Leni was right. Her sister hadn’t abandoned her child. She’d been ripped away from him, drugged, then dumped with some bad people Travis knew across the border in Quebec.

  “Where is she now?” he growled into Travis’s terrified face. “While you were in prison serving your time, you arranged to have Shannon sent away. What happened to her?”

  “I—I don’t know.” The words were choked, barely audible under the crush of Knox’s hold. “I swear, I don’t have any idea where she is!”

  Knox believed him. He didn’t want to, but he knew Travis would have already spat out the answer if he had it to give.

  “P-please,” he sputtered. “I can’t—can’t breathe.”

  “You want mercy from me?”

  “Yes!”

  “Then beg for it.”

  “Please,” Travis whined. “Please . . . let go. I’ll do anything! I’m begging you!”

  Knox’s head echoed with a dozen similar cries for mercy. All of them gone ungranted by the sick son of a bitch flailing in his punishing grasp.

  He leaned his face down toward Shannon’s assailant—her betrayer, who’d ruined her young life with drugs and abuse, then threw her away like garbage.

  “No mercy for you,” he uttered, not a trace of emotion in his voice, nor in his eyes.

  Increasing the pressure on Travis Parrish’s larynx, Knox watched with detached calmness as the man’s life evaporated, second by agonizing second.

  CHAPTER 20

  Leni came awake to the gentle warmth of Knox’s hand stroking her hair.

  “Wake up, sweetheart.”

  “Mmm, that feels nice.” She moaned in pleasure at his touch. Her heavy eyelids lifted as she slowly rolled over to find him seated on the edge of the bed. She blinked in the darkness of the quiet room. “What time is it? Why are you dressed?”

  “I need you to get out of bed, Leni. Put some clothes on.” His voice was grave. His expression was even more so.

  She sat up, cool air chilling her naked skin, though not as much as the grim solemnity of Knox’s entire demeanor. “What’s wrong?”

  “We have to leave. Now.”

  Confusion swam through her. The cobwebs of sleep fell away swiftly as she realized the urgency behind his steady voice. “What’s going on? Where’s Riley?”

  “He’s fine, still asleep.”

  “Then what—”

  “Travis Parrish is dead.”

  “What?”

  “I killed him tonight.” Knox moved the sheets and coverlet aside, then stood up beside the bed. He took her hand and urged her to her feet. “It won’t be long before his body is discovered. Before that happens, I need to get you and the boy away from Parrish Falls. I need to take you somewhere safe.”

  She struggled to process what she was hearing. Travis, dead. She felt no sadness over that fact, but it was impossible to hide her shock. And while Knox’s emotionless confession didn’t scare her, his obvious concern for her and Riley in the wake of the killing put a chill in her marrow.

  “Now, Leni. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  She hurried to get dressed while Knox turned on a light for her, then fetched her coat and boots. “Tell me what happened. Did you leave tonight looking to kill him?”

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t let his threat against you stand. But no, I didn’t set out to kill him. I followed him to a bar several miles past the Parrish property. I confronted him, and that’s when I realized I couldn’t let him live.”

  Leni stared at him, realization settling over her like a cold rain. “You read his sins.”

  He gave a grim nod.

  “What did you see?”

  “Enough to know that you were right to be afraid of him.” He handed her coat to her. “Pack some things for you and Riley for the next few days. I’ll bring him downstairs while you get ready to leave.”

  When he started to head toward the door, Leni grabbed his arm. “There’s nowhere to stay between here and the Canadian border, and the nearest hotel in the other direction is all the way out at the Interstate eighty miles away. Where are we going to go?”

  Something unreadable flickered in his stormy blue eyes. “I’ve already made arrangements somewhere safe, somewhere no one will be able to find you. Pack your things. I’ll be waiting with Riley for you downstairs.”

  He didn’t wait for her to argue or to ask any of the dozens of questions swirling in her mind. With his brows knit, his expression grim with purpose and resolve, he stalked out of the bedroom like the soldier he was, leaving her to follow his sober instructions.

  Leni raced for her closet and began filling a duffel bag.

  ~ ~ ~

  Knox drove Leni’s red Bronco as fast as the old vehicle could handle, following the GPS coordinates Razor had given him for the Order’s safe house location about an hour northeast of Parrish Falls
.

  He didn’t think the state of Maine could get any denser with forest than where he’d just left, but as the truck bounced and jostled over the snowy, unmaintained road, all he could see ahead of them was darkness and endless miles of tall evergreens.

  Leni had kept quiet for the duration of the drive, but he could sense her unease over their sudden flight away from her home—and the reason for it. With Riley sleeping in the backseat, she hadn’t said a word about Travis Parrish’s death, but Knox knew her silence was filled with unasked questions.

  Questions he would have to answer for once they were alone at the safe house.

  As the Bronco rambled deeper into the uninhabited woodland, his phone announced they had reached their destination.

  “I don’t see anything but trees,” Leni murmured from the passenger seat.

  “Up there.”

  He pointed to the left where a narrow path broke off from the main road—if the narrow one-lane trail through the pines could be called a road. The entrance they turned on to was even less welcoming. Branches nicked against the windows as the truck pushed forward, moving at a crawl through the thick new snow covering the ground.

  Although the terrain was forbidding and remote, he trusted Razor and the unmapped satellite coordinates he’d sent to Knox’s phone after the Order had okayed the arrangement.

  Leni glanced at him. “Where exactly are you taking us?”

  “Somewhere safe,” he said. “Somewhere the Parrishes and county law enforcement won’t know to look for us.”

  It was the same answer he’d given her as they’d set out on their trek tonight. Eventually, before the night was over, he would have to tell her everything.

  Based on the rustic condition of the road leading to the location, he wasn’t holding out much hope for the safe house that was to be their hideout, even though Razor had told him the Order kept the property maintained and stocked on a monthly basis so it was always ready for use at a moment’s notice. Knox expected to find a ramshackle bunker waiting for them at the end of the long, twisting approach. Instead, they drove up to a sprawling lodge-like mansion. One that looked capable of housing a small army.