"I'm your father, Sunshine. Worrying about you is my full-time occupation."
She smiled at him. "And you do it very well."
Still, he looked less than appeased.
Talon stepped forward. "Daniel, could I have a word with you?"
Sunshine frowned at the ominous note in Talon's voice. Her father's eyes narrowed even more before he nodded subtly. "Sunshine, stay with Storm."
She watched as the two of them drifted off and a wave of terror crashed over her.
Something was definitely wrong.
Talon led her father to another corner of the bar. He glanced over to Sunshine and his heart wrenched. "What is it you want with me?" Daniel asked.
"Look, I know you don't like me."
"Don't like you? You're a soulless killer. Granted, you do it protectively, but it doesn't change the basic fact that you are no longer human."
"I know that. It's why we're here. I'm going to release Sunshine into your protection tonight. There are some people who are out to harm her and I would really appreciate it if you watched out for her. I'll be staying nearby, out of sight, until after tomorrow night just in case the thing after her tries to take her again."
"From what my wife tells me, Sunshine won't let you leave her voluntarily."
"In another four minutes, she won't ever want to lay eyes on me again. I promise you."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
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Talon cleared his throat as he glanced to the large Budweiser clock on the wall over the bar. Their time was almost up.
Damn you, Fates.
"Nothing," he said quietly. "Just take my word for it, your daughter is yours."
Daniel nodded.
As Talon walked back to Sunshine, his entire being ached. He couldn't stand the thought of what Eros was about to do. It cut him on a level so deep it was unfathomable.
But it had to be done. They couldn't be together. It was foolish to think otherwise. He had to do this to save her life. From the corner of his eye, he saw Eros appearing in god-form. Invisible to humans, the god of love was easily discernible to Talon's Dark-Hunter senses.
"You sure?" Eros's voice echoed in his head.
Talon leaned over, kissed Sunshine gently on the lips, and then nodded.
He held her face in his hands, and stared at her brown eyes, waiting for the moment when they would turn dark with hatred. Waiting for her to stiffen and curse him.
Eros raised his bow up and shot it straight into Sunshine. Talon swallowed as painful expectation tore through him.
Goodbye, my love.
She grimaced at him. "Ow! Talon, did you hit me?"
He shook his head and waited for the hatred to come into her eyes. It didn't.
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Seconds ticked by slowly as her frown deepened. "I don't feel right." She rubbed her heart where Eros had shot her.
Then, amazingly, she looked up and focused her gaze on Eros. "Cupid?"
Eros looked around nervously. "You can see me?"
"Well, yeah," she said.
Eros shifted and looked a bit green.
Talon frowned as a bad feeling went through him. "What happened, Eros? Why doesn't she hate me?" Eros looked even more uncomfortable. "You two wouldn't happen to be soulmates, would you?"
"Yes," Sunshine answered. "Psyche said we were."
Eros gave a sheepish grin. "Oops. I think I need to have a talk with my wife. Damn, she should have told me."
"Oops?" Talon repeated. "Eros,oops better not be in your vocabulary."
Eros cleared his throat. "No one told me you two were soulmates. See, this"--he held up his bow--"only works on lust and infatuation. Soulmates are a whole 'nother ball game. That kind of love, I can't kill. Nothing can."
Sunshine gaped as she understood what was going on. In that moment, she wanted to strangle Talon. "You tried to get him to make me hate you?"
Now Talon looked as sheepish as Eros. "Honey, I can explain."
She glared at him as rage rocked every particle of her body. "Oh, you're going to explain all right. How dare you try to monkey with my mind and heart? I don't appreciate Dark Hunter Series (04) - Night Embrace - Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 369 of 460
your doing something so underhanded."
"Sunshine," her father said. "He's right. You can't have a future with him. He's not human."
"I don't care what he is. He and I have something together and I can't believe he'd do something like this."
"I forbid you to see him anymore." Her father's tone was stern.
She turned her anger toward her father. "And I'm not thirteen. I don't care what you forbid or not, Daddy. This is between me and him."
"I will not watch you die again," Talon said slowly, stressing each word. "And I will not be manipulated. Nor will I just give you up."
Talon turned and stormed out of the club, his emotions churning. He couldn't do this. He couldn't. He had to let her go. It was for both their sakes. Without looking back, he went to his motorcycle. He got on it, but before he could kick-start it, Sunshine grabbed his arm.
"You're not going to get rid of me like this."
He bared his fangs at her. "Do you not understand what I am?"
Sunshine swallowed. Suddenly everything Psyche had said made sense to her. He wasn't Speirr, the leader of his people. The frightened little boy who had turned his heart to stone in order to live. The man who had stolen Nynia's heart and then claimed her when no other would have.
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evil of the night. She loved him even more.
He made her heart sing. Without him, she couldn't even imagine her future.
She didn't know how to conquer everything that stood between them, but he was worth fighting for.
"I know what you are, Talon. You are the man I was born to love. Theonly man I was born to love." "I am not a man. Not anymore."
"You are mine and I will not let you go without a fight."
Talon didn't know what to do. The tone of her voice tore through him. He wanted to crush her to him and hold on to her forever. He wanted to push her away and curse. To make her hate him. She stepped into his arms and kissed him deeply.
Talon groaned at the taste of her. Although he knew he shouldn't, he pulled her across his bike and started it, then headed off into traffic.
His love and anger roiling, he drove them out of the city, all the way to the edge of his swamp. The entire time the scent and feel of her permeated him, making his emotions even more volatile. Her body was pressed so close to him that it was all he could focus on.
Her warmth, her love. He had to have her. Unable to stand it, he pulled up into the woods and turned the engine off. Sunshine was partially afraid of the feral look of him as he stared at her.
His eyes were blazing with fire and passion as he seized her and kissed her roughly.
His hunger tore through her, incited her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he leaned her back over his gas tank. She'd never seen him like this. It was as if all his emotions were out of control, as if he were living only to touch her. He kissed her neck and face as his hands loosened her blouse so that he could cup her breast in his hands.
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He was wild and untamed and it seemed to her that he had more than two hands. It was as if he were touching her all over at once. She wanted him desperately. Wanted him with the same need he had for her.
She kissed his lips, rubbing herself against his swollen groin as she pulled his T-shirt off, over his head. She ran her hands over the wide expanse of his chest, feeling his muscles bunch and flex. He shoved her full skirt up over her hips.
"I need you, Talon,
Talon wanted to possess her. Every part of him screamed out for it. He'd never in his entire life felt like this. He had to get inside her. Had to touch her. Had to feel her hands on his skin, her breath against his neck. It was a need so powerful that it shook him.
She fumbled with his fly before she unzipped his pants, freeing his erection. He trembled as she sheathed him with her hands. He choked at how wonderful her hands felt on him. "That's it, Sunshine," he breathed against her hair. "Bring me home."
She arched her back and gently guided him into the wet heat of her body. Talon growled ferociously at the feel of her.
Like an animal, he made love to her furiously. Panting and weak from desire, Sunshine clutched him to her as he thrust himself against her until she was dizzy with pleasure.
For the first time since they had met, he didn't hide his fangs from her. He let her see him as he really was.
Let her know the untamed beast that inhabited this man's body. Their gazes locked, she watched the ecstasy on his face as he rocked himself between her thighs. She cupped his face in her hands, mesmerized by the man and the predator he was. All her life she'd heard tales of immortal beings, of vampires taking possession of their victims.
Tonight, she wanted to be his.
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Talon was out of control with her. He knew it. His emotions surging, he couldn't think.
He could only feel. She was his focal point. His everything. Her scent permeated his head, covered his body, heightening his senses. He heard the blood rushing through her veins, felt her heart pounding against his chest. The heat of her soft, feminine skin sliding against his.
Take her!
It was a feral command. Primal. Demanding. Had he been in his right mind, he would have controlled himself. As it was, he couldn't. Now, he was the beast that stalked the night. His only thought having her, he slid himself deep inside her and then he sank his fangs deep into her neck.
He felt her surprise for only an instant until complete sexual ecstasy tore through them both. Their bodies and minds were united. Joined. He felt every thought in her head.
Every emotion. Every fear. Every joy.
He saw inside her heart down to her fear that he didn't love her as much as he loved Nynia. That he would never love her as much. He felt her hopelessness and her determination.
Most of all, he felt her love. Growling fiercely, he let her essence wash over him. Let her seep into every corner of his being. There were no more secrets between them. No more places to hide.
She was as bare to him as he was to her. And her love for him was the most incredible feeling he'd ever experienced. Talon thrust himself in deep as his head and body exploded. Their orgasms were so fierce that he couldn't keep the motorcycle upright.
Before he knew what had happened, they were lying on the ground, still entangled as his sense returned to him.
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Sunshine stared up at him in the moonlight, her clothes disheveled and her face adoring. In her mind, she could still hear his thoughts. His fear of losing her, his need to protect her. She saw his guilt that he had allowed his sister to die. His need to right the wrong that had been done to Nynia.
The sadness and grief that lived inside him as constant companions. Most of all, she saw his need to hold her. His need to not fail her. She felt his power and strength, which were unlike anything she had imagined. He was a predator. And he was the man she loved. One who loved her and one who was willing to do anything for her. Even give up his own life.
"I love you, Talon," she breathed.
Talon couldn't believe what he had done as he brushed his hand against her neck and removed the telltale signs of blood. Her taste permeated his mind, his senses. Zarek had been right, that was the most incredible high he'd ever known. And now that he'd seen inside her heart
Gods, what had he done?
In one moment of careless passion, he had sown the seeds of both their destruction.
Chapter 16
Talon took her back to the cabin, but he didn't speak to her. He wasn't sure what to say.
She didn't seem to mind the fact that he'd bitten her, which was a very good thing. But he couldn't get it out of his mind.
Her taste. Her feelings. Her love. It would haunt him forever. Sunshine went to the bathroom to freshen up while he turned on his desk lamp. A few seconds later, someone knocked on the door.
Talon pulled his asrad from his boot. Visitors didn't come often to his house. "Who is it?"
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"It's Ash, Celt. Don't have a coronary."
"Is it Acheron or Styxx?"
"It's T-Rex and I'm not wearing sunglasses."
Prepared for a trick, Talon opened the door carefully. It really was "old spooky eyes"
and he didn't look pleased.
"What are you doing here?" Talon asked.
"Fighting Daimons. What about you?"
He caught the sarcasm and the condemnation in Ash's voice. "There were Daimons here? Where?"
"They attacked the Katagaria den and I went to help Vane and Fang."
Talon winced at the news. He should have been here to help fight. Damn, he'd screwed up royally. "Are they okay?"
"No. Their sister and her pups were killed in the fighting."
Talon's heart clenched at the news. That was one pain he knew all too well. The brothers would be devastated over her loss. "Man, I'm sorry."
"So, where were you?"
Before he could answer, Ash answered for him. "Wait, I know this one. You were at Sanctuary showing off your powers to a busload of Japanese tourists who were armed with digital cameras and camcorders. Congratulations, bud, we just went global."
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Talon covered his face with his hand. "Oh jeez, are you serious?" "Do I look like I'm kidding?"
No, he looked really pissed off. "I can't believe this," Talon said.
"You? You can't believe this? I'm the one who has to go to Artemis to save your ass.
She was freaking out over Zarek, now how the hell do I explain to her that Mr. Cool-Calm-and-Collected was doing his impression of Spider-Man in a bar loaded with tourists and ended up as the main feature on Tokyo news as what's wrong with American culture?
"Question. How many rulesdid you break in less than a minute?
"Worst of all, I now have Nick calling me up, wanting to know why he has to keep everything secret while you guys are running around exposing yourselves at random.
The little prick even wants a raise because he can keep a secret while none of you can."
"I can explain."
"Okay, I'm waiting."
Talon tried to come up with a reason for what he'd done. There wasn't one.
"Okay, I can't explain. Give me a minute."
Ash narrowed his eyes. "I'm still waiting."
"I'm thinking about it."
Sunshine came out of the bathroom, then blanched as soon as she saw Acheron. She grabbed one of Talon's staves from the wall and went after him. Acheron caught it in his Dark Hunter Series (04) - Night Embrace - Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 376 of 460
hand as she swung it for his head. "Hey!" Sunshine turned to Talon. "He's the one who kidnapped me!"
"I did not," Acheron said huffily as he tugged the staff from her grip.
"This is my boss, Sunshine. Acheron."
She formed a small O with her mouth. "Vane said you two looked alike. He wasn't kidding. Although now that I'm a bit calmer, you don't really look like him that much. He was scary, but you
you're really scary."
"If I had more time, I'd feel complimented." He handed the staff to Talon. "Outside, Celt, so we can finish our talk."
Talon didn't like being ordered about, but in this case he had no choice. He had truly messed up and Ash had a right to vent. Talon had put all of them in a very bad situation.
He went outside to stand on the dock where Ash was waiting with his hands on his hips.
Ash's face was mottled by fury. "You know, I've had a really wonderful night tonight. I got to tell Kyrian and Julian that Valerius is in town and spent, oh I don't know, three, four hours trying to keep them from going after the Roman. Then, just when I could relax and do my job, I find out there are Daimons in the swamp and no Talon to kill them. And why wasn't Talon here? Because Tarzan was swinging off a balcony to save Jane from Cheetah. Now all I can do is stand here and say, next fiasco, please, right this way."
Talon glared at him. "You don't have to be so sarcastic. I know I screwed up, okay?"
"No, screwed up is getting caught without your pants in Sunshine's apartment. This is a little bigger than just screwing up."
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"I'm not going to apologize for what I did."
A tic beat in his jaw as Ash glanced away. "There are a lot of things that are still up in the air about tomorrow night. A lot of unknown factors. What we do know isn't good. I have Julian and Kyrian, who want to put Val in a pine box. Val, who doesn't want to lift a finger to help anyone not descended from the Romans. Two pissed-off wolves who are going to want revenge over what happened tonight. Zarek, who is mental on his best day, and who is currently wanted by New Orleans' finest. Nick screaming that he's quitting because he's tired of cleaning up after psychos. An angry goddess who is going to want everyone's head over this. And the only Hunter I have who is reliable is you."
Ash paused and gave him a stern glare. "And buddy, no offense, but you haven't been reliable in days."
"I'm okay, T-Rex."
"No, Talon, you're not. You were swinging from the rafters and punching out innocent humans because of Sunshine. You risked not only yourself, but all of us and the Peltiers just to protect one woman from hurt feelings. Where was your head?"
Anger tore through him. "I'm not a child, Ash. I know how to prioritize."
"Normally, you do. But you're thinking with your heart, not your head, and that will get us all killed. We're Dark-Hunters, Talon, we don't feel."
Any other time, he would agree with that, but at the moment Talon was feeling a whole lot of frustrated rage. He didn't need this lecture. He knew the risks and the dangers even better than Ash did. He more than understood everything at stake.
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