EdgeofMoonlight

by Steph2

  And he really wanted to know what the hell was going on.

  “Kaine updated me on the situation with your sister. Why don’t we go inside so we can talk to Dane and Nica? I’m sure you’ll want this taken care of as soon as possible.”

  So you can get the hell away from Kaine that much faster.

  Kyle didn’t have to say the words. His expression made it perfectly clear that’s what he meant.

  John bit back the urge to tell the guy to mind his own damn business but he couldn’t fault Kyle for trying to protect one of his own.

  A quick look across the porch and he found Kaine and the woman Kyle had arrived with huddled together. Kaine had her back to him so he couldn’t see her face but he could read her body language. Her shoulders had hunched again, her head was down and she was shaking it like she disagreed with whatever the other woman was saying.

  God damn it.

  With a sharp nod, he followed Kyle into the house and back to the bedroom, where the new doctor and Nica stood next to the bed.

  John was actually a little surprised to see the doctor with a stethoscope in his hand as he listened to Evie’s heart.

  “Dane,” Nica touched the man’s shoulder, “this is Evie’s brother, John. Maybe he knows the answers to your questions. John, this is Dr. Dane Dimitriou. ”

  John took a good look at the doctor. The guy looked as clean cut as any serviceman he’d ever met. At least six-two and a solid one-eighty, the guy was built like a swimmer. Strong upper body and arms. Long, lean torso and legs. Short brown hair barely brushed his ears and sharp gray eyes took John’s measure at the same time.

  “Has your sister been having any muscle cramps? Nose bleeds? Convulsions?”

  For the next ten minutes, John answered as many of Dane’s questions as he could, feeling more and more useless every minute.

  Had he ignored warning signs that there was something seriously wrong with her? He remembered the incident two months ago when she’d blown out the light bulbs in the apartment. He’d tried to ignore it then.

  Had he ignored it too well? What else had she been dealing with and hiding from him?

  What if Evie had had her meltdown before he’d met Kaine? Would his sister still be alive?

  That one really tore at his guts. And twisted his brain into knots.

  A brain still trying to come to terms with magic.

  When Dane finally stopped, John felt like he’d gone a few rounds with a champion prize fighter. Too much information in his head to make sense of it all. Too many questions.

  His eyes wanted to close, he was so damn tired. But he shook his head and tried to think.

  “It’s going to take me a little while to consult with Nica and figure out a plan of action,” the doctor said. “Maybe you want to get some rest.”

  “The house next door is empty right now,” Nica spoke up. “It’s quiet.”

  Quiet time. Right. Time to think. Christ, just what he didn’t need.

  What he did need was a drink.

  “I’ll take him.”

  His head whipped around at the sound of her voice.

  Kaine stood in the doorway, her gaze on Kyle. She looked to be standing at attention, her shoulders straight, expression stoic.

  He didn’t have a clue what she was thinking now. Before, he’d gotten the impression she felt guilty for whatever role she’d played in Evie’s meltdown.

  Now, she’d had time to hide.

  “Kaine—”

  “I’ll take him. Sir.”

  Damn, the woman had claws. He liked that about her.

  And Kyle understood exactly what she was saying, as well. The guy could have ordered her to step back. Instead, his jaw set and he nodded, just once.

  “Fine. I’ll come get you when Dane and Nica have something to go on.”

  Then Kyle turned to John again with a warning look he couldn’t miss.

  And couldn’t care less about, at the moment.

  John turned to Nica. “If anything happens…if Evie wakes—”

  “We’ll come get you right away,” she assured and John knew she would. He trusted Nica.

  Just as he trusted Kaine.

  She turned her gaze his way, but he could tell she wasn’t really looking at him. She was looking through him and that pissed him off. Which just meant he really did need time to get his head together.

  With one last look at his sister, lying still and quiet on the bed, he followed Kaine out of the house and across the small lawn to the next house.

  The sky had lightened and the sun was just about to break the horizon. A cool breeze blew past him but he barely noticed. His gaze focused solely on Kaine.

  He ached to touch her, to hold her. To press her against him while he kissed her. Wanted her to return his passion.

  Which was ridiculous.

  Reaching for the handle, Kaine pushed open the front door. Guess if they had magic at their fingertips, they didn’t need to bother with keys and locks.

  Yeah, sure, whatever.

  What would she do if he put his arms around her, pulled her against him and kissed the hell out of her?

  Would she push him away? Could he get her to respond before she realized he was using her to avoid everything else? To avoid the situation with his sister? Or avoid the fact that he didn’t know exactly what Kaine was?

  He barely noticed his surroundings, he was so intently focused on her.

  His brain registered furniture, light-colored walls and wood floors. But nothing else mattered except Kaine.

  Tracking her, he watched her head directly toward the back of the house. The dark still lingered here but she moved without hesitation. As if she knew her way around.

  Or she could see clearly.

  He followed her to the kitchen, where she opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle, which she held up to show him.

  He hadn’t made a sound but she’d known exactly where he was.

  How?

  He couldn’t make out the words on the label so he just nodded and watched her turn to another cabinet for glasses.

  “Is this your home?” he asked, unable to keep quiet any longer.

  “No.” The sound of liquid spilling into a glass sounded loud in the quiet. “The women who live here are friends.”

  “But you live in this village?”

  “No.”

  Okay, he could pull teeth with the best of them. “So where do you live?”

  She handed him a short glass filled nearly to the brim with a dark liquid. He lifted it to his nose. Jack Daniel’s. He knocked back half of it and watched her take a healthy sip.

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “I know we’re in Oley Township. Do you live close?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t live alone and I can’t compromise my friends’ safety.”

  Well, shit. Who the hell did she live with? His eyes narrowed. “Are you telling me you have a lover or husband or mate or whatever the hell you call it?”

  Her expression showed no emotion at all. “No, I don’t. That’s not what I meant.”

  Blinding relief shot through him but frustration bit at its heels. He wanted to know more about her. Wanted to pick at her until he forgot everything else going on in the neighboring house.

  But Kaine didn’t seem willing to help him.

  “Then what the fuck do you mean? Jesus Christ, Kaine. Give me a break, will you? I’m getting really sick and tired of feeling like the idiot in a school for geniuses. Obviously, there are things I don’t know, things I need to know. And I need you to tell me.”

  She downed the rest of the Jack in one gulp then deliberately turned her back on him to put the glass on the counter.

  Shaking that gorgeous hair, she began to walk away.

  And John’s control snapped.

  He practically threw his glass on the counter and snagged her arm, spinning her back to him.

  She didn’t g
asp in surprise, didn’t fight him at all. She didn’t put her arms around him, either.

  He needed that. He needed her to cling to him. Or fight him. He wanted her to push him away or grab his head and pull his mouth down to hers.

  But she just stared up at him like a sacrificial fucking lamb.

  So he dropped his mouth on hers and kissed her. Hard. Put his hands on her shoulders and dragged her against him, until he felt every slight curve of her body pressed against his.

  Lips smashed together, he worked at her until she opened to him, until he could slide his tongue into her warm mouth and curl around her tongue. He pushed her deliberately, sucked her breath away and felt even more desperate when she let him.

  She stood there and let him kiss her, let him ease the ache in his chest with her lips and her taste and the feel of her body against his.

  But he didn’t want her docile. He wanted… No, he needed her to respond.

  One hand slid to her neck to hold her to him while the other slid from her shoulder to her breast. He cupped the small mound and felt a primal rush when the hard tip of her nipple pressed against his palm and she moaned into his mouth.

  Yes. More.

  Releasing her neck, he let that hand slide down her back until he reached her ass. Sleek and firm, her body was made for him to touch her. He wanted to rip her jeans down her legs and bend her over the nearest table.

  Just the thought that he would treat her like that should’ve brought him to his senses. Instead, it made him kiss her harder.

  And finally, finally, she began to come to life.

  Her hands, which had been hanging at her sides, reached up to clutch at his back, her slim fingers kneading, stroking. Inflaming. Her mouth moved beneath his, caressed his lips. Her tongue stroked along his.

  Gathering her shirt in his hand, he pulled it up until he touched bare skin. She didn’t wear a bra. She didn’t need one. Small but perfect, her breasts drew his attention away from the sweetness of her mouth.

  She was so slight it didn’t take much effort to lift her with one hand on her ass so those pretty little nipples were right where he wanted them—at mouth level.

  Clutching at his shoulders now, she arched her back as he sucked one hard tip between his lips then closed his teeth around it.

  He wasn’t in the mood for foreplay but he had to taste her and he knew from before that she liked his mouth on her breasts.

  “John.”

  His name sounded like a plea. A plea for more.

  God, he wanted more.

  “I want you right here, right now,” he murmured between her breasts. “Tell me you want me, too.”

  “I do. I absolutely do. Right here.”

  Nothing else she could’ve said would’ve been better.

  With one last nip at the fleshy side of her breast, making her squirm in his arms, he opened his eyes and focused on the first piece of furniture that would work. The table directly in front of him.

  He took the few steps needed to close the distance, set Kaine on her feet and spun her around to face the table.

  Bending without any direction from him, she fumbled with the buttons on her jeans as he tore at his own. He had the zipper lowered just as she pushed the material over her hips, baring her beautiful ass.

  One of these days, he wanted that ass. Jesus, he hoped he was still around to take it.

  Sliding his fingers between her thighs, he felt the wet proof of her desire. God, she was hot and she was gonna be so damn tight. With the jeans restricting how far apart she could spread her legs, she’d feel like a damn vise.

  His cock throbbed at the thought, his balls tightening.

  He grabbed her high on the inside of her thighs and spread her as far as he could, which wasn’t far at all. In the faint light now spilling through the front windows, he saw the bare lips of her sex glistening.

  The thought flashed through his mind that he should taste her. Drop to his knees, put his mouth on her and get her off.

  But his body had moved ahead of his brain. With his cock in his hand, he bent his knees just enough to align the tip of his shaft with her entrance.

  He spread her slick heat over the head, let it tease his senses until he couldn’t stand to not be inside her.

  Then he thrust.

  Kaine’s guttural moan echoed his own as she lifted her ass into him, trying to get him deeper.

  Pausing for a few brief seconds, he felt the glove-like fit of her sheath ripple around him. He already felt his climax building in his balls and he knew he wouldn’t last long.

  Ecstasy beckoned. Pulling out proved to be difficult, she was that tight.

  And synapses all over his body snapped and crackled with sensation. Her sex pumped him like a fist as he pushed back in.

  She struggled to open her legs wide, her back arching and her hands grabbing onto the sides of the table to hold herself steady as he thrust into her.

  “Christ, Kaine. I’m gonna blow. Are you close?”

  “Yes, just don’t stop. Gods, don’t stop.”

  Her hoarse words released his restraints and his hips began to pound in time to his raging heartbeat.

  He had only one objective. Come inside her, fill her and make her his. She was his.

  Spread out before him, pinned to the table, she could only move if he allowed it. He bent over her, covered her with his body as she gripped the edge.

  His pace never slowed and now she truly was at his mercy. Through the fever in his body and brain, he recognized the need to mark her somehow.

  He had his mouth on her neck before he realized what he was doing and when he bit her, he had the satisfaction of feeling her cry out as she shuddered.

  Her orgasm made her sheath clench hard around him, milking him like a fist and he exploded inside her on his next thrust.

  With her name on his lips, he held himself deep.

  Christ, she felt so damn good. Because he wasn’t wearing a condom.

  The animal in him, the one that had pinned her to the table, howled. Satisfied.

  The rational part of his brain couldn’t even begin to care that he’d gone without.

  And that could be one hell of a problem.

  Chapter Six

  Still trying to catch her breath, Kaine felt John watching her as they straightened their clothes by the table.

  Her body was sated but her brain wouldn’t give her a break. It wanted to analyze every detail of their time together, to break it down and compartmentalize every touch, every sigh, every thrust.

  Wanted to rejoice at the fact that he hadn’t used a condom.

  Had he made a conscious choice to go without it? It would imply a certain level of trust if he’d done it consciously.

  More likely, he’d been so caught up in the moment, he’d forgotten.

  She understood. Every time she touched him, she felt feverish with an almost insane need to have him.

  So not good.

  “Kaine. Are you alright?” John’s voice was pitched low and held an undercurrent of self-disgust. “Christ, I feel like I attacked you.”

  She tilted her head back until she could meet his gaze. “You didn’t. Believe me, I was right there with you.”

  He nodded but his expression remained tight. “Good to know. But I still feel like I—” He ran a hand over his head, barely mussing the short strands of hair. “Damn it.”

  “Used me?” She shrugged, buttoning the last button on her jeans while trying to hold an impassive front. “If you did, it was mutual.”

  He stilled. She actually felt his complete lack of movement and realized she’d taken the wrong tack.

  “You know,” his voice sounded way too calm, “I’m getting really sick of this front you put up. I’d rather see you get pissed at me than put up this wall.”

  She forced herself to hold his gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah, you do. I don’t know what the hell to say to you, Kaine.” His frustration began to lea
k through in the tone of his voice. “I don’t know what to think about Evie. I don’t know what the fuck I should do here. And I’m typically the one who’s got the god damn plan.”

  She saw his frustration, his confusion, and wanted to take it all away. Or, at the very least, ease it. She’d thought sex would help him calm down. Seems she’d just added more weight to what he was already struggling with.

  Her hand clenched at her side, wanting to reach out to him. “You’ve already done the best thing you can do for Evie. You brought her here. Dane and Nica will figure out what’s going on.”

  His gaze narrowed in on her. “And what about you? I feel like I’m making all the wrong moves with you.”

  Did he actually care about her feelings? Blessed Goddess, she wanted to believe. Truly, she did. But she couldn’t let herself go there.

  She stiffened her back. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “What if I want to?”

  Her breath hitched in her lungs. “Then I’d suggest you wait until you know me better.”

  She turned, needing a little space. But he came after her, put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her back against him. Solid and so damn warm, she wanted to bask in his heat. And she wanted to fix this.

  “So, you said you had a lead on the woman who kidnapped Evie. What were you talking about?”

  He paused, as if considering what to tell her. Or if he should tell her anything at all.

  Finally, he took a deep breath and released it in a warm rush by her ear. “The warehouse where Evie was being kept. I found a name on a courier receipt. I could be completely off track that it belongs to the same woman. It may not lead to anything. But…I may get lucky.”

  “What’s the name?”

  Again he paused and she wondered if he was going to tell her. If he’d trust her enough to give her more information.

  “Grace Bell. Has to be an alias. It’s too simple.”

  “True. But it’s something to go on.”

  “Yeah.”

  Weariness made the normally deep tone of his voice even more husky. And sexy.

  She turned, trying not to love the way he kept his arms around her so she couldn’t go far. Glancing up, she noticed the shadows under his eyes. “You’re tired.”