Dead After Dark_Shadow of the Moon

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

It took her a minute to realize he thought she'd held back when they were together before. "That's never happened before."

  His gaze relaxed then shifted to a possessive look. He cared. Sasha's heart pulsed, happy to see the truth in his face. He had to know they were bound to each other like no two other people had ever been.

  If not, she'd enlighten him .. . later. Without another word, Trey leaned down, his penis prodding her slick opening. She opened to him and he eased inside, filling her. How could he move like a rocket at the park one minute and be so incredibly patient the next? He stroked deep into her and unimportant issues faded away.

  Sasha locked her legs around his back and Trey held her to him then sat upright. He kissed her, his tongue lazily dueling with hers until the kiss turned hot and serious. He scooped his arms under her knees, his hands supporting her back as he lifted her up slowly then slid her down his shaft with the same excruciatingly measured pace. She lost track of everything around her, swept up in a world that belonged only to them.

  Sasha held his face in her hands, reveling in the feel of his mouth on hers and him buried inside her where he belonged. Her orgasm was building again, wicking all her thoughts to the man who held her close. He leaned back, which shoved him deeper on his next drive and she gasped with the pleasure.

  He murmured something she didn't understand and could feel his fingers stroke her nipples even though his hands were on his back. Lovemaking reached new highs with kinetic ability.

  The sensation torturing her breasts moved lower, targeting the tiny nub that controlled her immediate world. His rhythm turned urgent just as he kinetically fingered the spot.

  Stars zinged through her vision in the turbulent wake of coming again. Had Trey not held her close to him she'd have shot to the ceiling, but his arms clenched tightly when he growled her name with his release right behind her.

  The familiar fragrance of their lovemaking cloaked the air and washed away all those years she'd missed him. She slumped against him. He lowered them both to the bed on their sides, stretching his body and tossing one huge leg over her.

  Tracing a fingernail across his lips, she wanted to say, / love you, but whispered, "I've missed you," instead.

  Trey brushed a long strand of hair over her shoulder, his verdant gaze filled with love she'd never expected to see again. "I've missed you, too. You'll never know how much."

  "So why did you leave me?" He glanced away, just like he used to do when he'd gather his thoughts before speaking, then sad eyes met hers. "After I got over the shock of finding out there was a reason for all my odd behavior and that my abilities were needed to protect others, I accepted the responsibility that came with my destiny . . . as a Belador. That's the tribe I belong to. I had little choice but to accept my destiny since the other option was to end up an enemy of our tribe and possibly go insane from my undeveloped powers. I wouldn't subject you to that life."

  He'd cared enough to walk away to keep her safe, but she sensed something more. She'd felt his love in all the silent ways a man showed a woman, but knew in her heart he held back something he wouldn't talk about.

  "Was that the only reason, Trey?" Sasha asked, recalling the day he came to tell her good-bye. He'd stared into her eyes for a long time as if trying to discern something.

  "I can deal with the truth, no matter what it is," she assured him.

  He touched her cheek, indecision playing through his frown. "There is something else, but I don't want you to take it personally." When she nodded her encouragement, he took a breath and continued. "I realized as a . . . child that I could read minds; then later on as a Belador I learned how to communicate telepathically."

  His face had flinched when he'd said "child." What had happened then? "Tell me about the first time."

  "It was with my mother." Trey's fingers drifted through her hair. His eyes seemed unfocused and distant as he strived to recall a memory. "I always told her I loved her when I headed out to school or when she put me to bed. She'd answer back automatically with a 'love you too,' but she never looked me in the eyes when she said it. I was in third grade when I came home to find her and my dad arguing. Her suitcase was sitting by the door. When she lifted it to walk out, I panicked and begged her to stay. I asked her why she was leaving."

  Sasha had never seen the hurt Trey had surely carried all these years behind the jovial mask he showed the world, but she witnessed it now in full force.

  He lifted a handful of Sasha's hair to his nose and inhaled, then let the fine strands sift through his fingers and spill across her chest. "My mother didn't speak, but I could hear her thoughts as if she'd shouted them. I heard 'Why? Because I was a stupid teenager who married that truck-driving oaf and got knocked up with you. Giving birth to an ox would have been easier. You were one big mistake I should have aborted.'"

  Sasha sucked a breath in horror that any mother could say such a thing. But she hadn't. Trey's mother had lied to his face. Memories of times with Trey raced across Sasha's mind. Times in the past when he'd look at her as if he questioned what she said, but never openly challenged anything she'd said to him. How many times had he struggled to accept whatever she said at face value rather than hurt her feelings?

  "You've never been able to read my thoughts, have you?"

  "No," he admitted. "But you deserved a normal life without the danger my world presents. One without being at risk."

  Sasha wanted to argue. Trey would always protect her, but she wouldn't force the issue tonight after he'd shared a part of him she doubted anyone had ever been privy to. Instead, she tossed logic at him. "Normal? What was normal about my life back then? I had a closet-alcoholic father and a mother who couldn't leave the house for fear aliens would steal her human eggs. She never seemed to notice inanimate objects moving around the house with autonomy." Sasha relaxed. "Of course, even I excused it as my weird imagination or ghosts."

  A smile tilted the corners of Trey's mouth. "Your family was pretty odd, but tonight you saw the kind of 'things' I deal with on a daily basis. I don't want you around that." "I have powers, too. I can cloak myself. I can—" That drew a scowl. "And if you don't stop using those powers until you're proficient you're going to get injured or killed. What if you'd unleashed a legion of warriors like him?"

  "Ekkbar controlled who came through his end of the portal."

  "Precisely the reason you should stop playing around with magic until you get a certified witch license."

  In a swift movement, she rolled from his arms and hovered above him. He flipped to his back, her body stretched above the length of his, her black hair curtaining each side of her face. She clenched her fists. "I'm not that bad."

  "Baby, come down," Trey said quietly as though he didn't want to frighten her.

  "Why?" She'd had enough of everyone patronizing her. "I didn't mean to insult you. I just can't live with the thought of anything harming you and felt like a heel for leaving you. I constantly worry about you. That's why I've spent every free minute for the past nine years coming back to Atlanta to make sure you're okay. Now I'm more concerned than ever."

  Well, hell. Her heart was melting and she'd never get the fickle organ back to a normal shape again.

  Sasha wanted to lash out at him for tapping her phones and following her, for leaving her, but couldn't. This was the Trey she knew, the one who had always stood between her and harm. She might not care for his tactics, but he'd acted out of concern, not with a malicious intent.

  He opened his arms. She sighed then drifted down to settle along the length of his torso, propping her chin on her hands lapped over each other on his chest.

  He had come back, had always been near. She hadn't intentionally lied to him earlier, but she'd lied all the same when she agreed to let him go. Sasha was not allowing him to walk away from her again. Not if the only reason he had for breaking up was his job and supernatural abilities. She realized now that he loved her but feared hurting her too much to admit his feelings then leave again.
<
br />   What about this telepathy issue? She didn't have an answer yet, but would think of some way to get past it. . . she hoped.

  All she had to do first was figure out how to cure her sister's madness and send the crazy warrior back to where he belonged before he kidnapped her or killed Trey.

  4

  Trey finished showering late the next morning, annoyed no one from VIPER had shown and Brina still ignored his telepathic messages. He'd stepped from the bedroom in search of Sasha when the slap of the back door closing drew his attention. He swung around and strode to the rear porch where he found her in the yard tossing bread over the small patio and what little grass sprouted in the shady area.

  "What are you doing out here, Sasha?"

  "Duuhh. Feeding the birds."

  "That's not what I mean. We agreed you would stay inside."

  "Nope. We agreed I would stay home. This is part of my home." She continued moving around the small backyard filled with an eclectic array of potted plants and outdoor metal sculptures. An oak tree with branches too thick to reach around fanned wide across a third of the space.

  God knew, he loved this woman, but if he bound himself to her she'd be linked to his fate if he screwed up. Stirring up a war between the Beladors and the Kujoo probably qualified as a serious screwup with Macha.

  The Celtic goddess held all power over the Beladors. Trey scanned the area for any threat, then sauntered down to where Sasha stood next to a cleaned-off potting table. Leaves and branches crackled beneath his heavy steps. The smoky aroma of a fireplace in use swirled through the crisp air, rolling a sense of deja vu over him when he'd spent a weekend in a mountain cabin with her. Seemed all the memories he held dear were wrapped around Sasha.

  When she tossed the last pieces to the greedy flock of pecking birds, he picked her up and sat her on the table.

  "Trey!" "Yes?" He ran his hands up her legs, bunching her skirt as he searched for . . . oh, man. No panties. Instant hard-on.

  "What are you doing?" she hissed, glancing around.Thick bushes boarded each end of the potting table. "Shh, no one can see what I'm doing unless they look over my shoulder and you'll figure it out in a minute." He kissed her into silence then moved his lips to the sweet skin behind her ear. He parted her legs, running his hands up to caress her. He'd hardly teased her and slid a finger inside her damp and hot opening when she came so fast he barely had time to cover her mouth with his and protect her moment.

  What woman would ever feel this passionate in his arms again? None.

  Sasha slumped against him and muttered, "I know what you're doing. Wiping me out physically so I won't go anywhere today."

  He laughed. "Is it working?" Trey held her close, savoring these stolen minutes of contentment for later when his world returned to an endless string of lonely nights.

  "Yes. At this rate, I won't be able to reach the front porch unassisted." She started rising off the table.

  "Trey! He's got me again!" She dug her nails into him. He drew her to his chest as he swung around to face the threat. "I'm going to kill the bastard."

  No! You can't, wicked through his thoughts with a sharp bite. Brina had finally shown up.

  Why not, Brina?Oh, I don't know—the end of civilization as you know it. Got no time for this right now. Trey snapped his mind shut and focused on saving Sasha who was being dragged away from him, stretching his arms to the limits. Something she'd told him last night popped in his mind. "Cloak yourself now!"

  She stared at him for a second then closed her eyes. The minute her cloaking took effect, she dropped into his arms. Trey made three strides to reach the back door where he set her on her feet and waited until she was steady. "Go inside, keep up your cloaking, and don't come near the doors or the windows."

  She nodded, backing away until she bumped into her sister whose arms went around her. "I have her," Rowan called out.

  Trey swung around to find the Hindu warrior standing twenty feet above the ground in the oak tree. "Who are you and what do you want?"

  "I am Vyan of Batuk's first guard. I am here for the witch to save my race. She will break the curse. Beladors killed my family, my woman. This is only fair."

  "No." Trey knew some of the ancient history, how his Belador ancestors had murdered and pillaged. A part of him could sympathize with the Hindu warriors pain and what it would be like to lose the woman he loved. But this guy was out of his mind if he thought he could have Sasha as payback or that Trey would allow him to use her to release the Kujoo warriors.

  "I will take her," Vyan taunted."Try it and you'll die." "I would welcome death after eight hundred years beneath a mountain. Give me the woman, Belador. She sent for me."

  "She sent for Ekkbar, not you. What'd you do, kill him?"

  Vyan shook his head, his mouth curving in a wry smile. "You know no one can die beneath Mount Meru." He's baiting you, Trey.

  I realize that, Brina. Let me kill him in a fair fight and be done with this. If the others had a way out they'd be here.

  Doesn't work that way with the gods. If you battle him without being physically attacked first, you start a war. The truce will be broken.

  He started the war, Trey argued hotly. Not me. Sasha called him up, Brina snapped back at him so loud his head felt as though she'd slugged him, which was a good trick since she was literally thousands of miles away on a mystic island in the Irish Sea. Sasha opened the portal so she's the one who should send him back, Brina pointed out.

  That's not going to happen. He's not getting near her. Men will be the downfall of Beladors, always wanting to fight.

  Why the hell make us warriors if you didn't intend for us to battle!

  Do! Not! Curse!Something sharp cuffed his ear. Vyan lifted his hand which held a glowing rock. "She will come to me willingly, Belador." The back door swung open of its own accord, exposing Sasha huddled against her sister, terrified.

  Fury lashed every protective gene in Trey's body to a fever pitch. He snapped his mind shut, unwilling to debate further with Brina. She was not here facing this demon and not helping. He took a step forward, bent at the knees, and leaped up to the branch two sword lengths from Vyan. The oak's mighty limb creaked under their combined weights.

  Trey entered Vyan's mind for an insight to this man's intentions only to find raging emotions—aggression and anguish.

  As if he realized what Trey was about, Vyan smiled, his gaze sinister. Double-black pupils floated in each of his swirling gold irises. "I will enjoy touching her, Belador."

  Trey's discipline snapped. He lunged forward, but came up empty when the warrior disappeared. Momentum sent him one more step into thin air. He landed on the ground, searching for Vyan.

  He's gone, Trey. Brina could never be locked out of his mind for long.

  Where? Tell me the location of his hideout. No. Our tribe's survival depends on not warring. I cannot interfere. I merely sent him away so you could cool off, but that is all I can do. You do realize what tonight is, don't you?

  Yes. Trey rolled his eyes and headed for the porch. Every Belador across the world would lay low during the one day of the year they were most vulnerable to be killed. But he did not have that option with Vyan clearly after Sasha.

  Do not sacrifice your tribe for one woman, Brina ordered.

  Trey stepped up on the porch where he could see Sasha. She stood with her shoulders back, proud, trying so hard to show him a strong front. Impressive, if her face hadn't lost all color. He considered his options, but only one thing mattered to him right now—keeping Sasha safe.

  I/ took an oath, Brina, Trey replied. Honor above all else. Those four words have ruled my life. I'm trying to protect our tribe and Sasha, but I will not allow that demon to take her.

  I took an oath as well, Brina countered. I will also do whatever it takes to protect my tribe . . . even if that means turning my back on you. There is no honor in sacrificing an entire race for one woman.

  That's your perspective. I have mine. He waited for her to s
nap at him, but she'd withdrawn without another word. Not an encouraging sign. He'd hoped Brina would show up with a solution, to give him a dragon to slay. Not to leave him even more guilt-ridden. Was he being selfish to protect Sasha?

  "He's gone." Trey stepped inside the house and reached for Sasha, who rushed to his open arms. She trembled. He hugged her tight and whispered, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She nodded against his chin. Damn that Hindu. He'd scared a woman who wanted to take on a gang the other night.

  Trey walked Sasha to the kitchen where pots and pans clattered. Rowan was starting to cook. He appreciated her effort to settle things down for Sasha by the simple activity of preparing breakfast. A knock rapped at the front door.

  "That's for you," Rowan said to Trey. "Bring him to the dining room. I've prepared an early lunch for four."

  Trey opened the front door to a dark-haired Hispanic guy standing several feet back. Most people wouldn't realize that the body shielded by a black turtleneck, black nylon jacket, and black cargo pants was close to Trey's build. The color suited the agent's dark gaze, wavy black hair, and brooding attitude.

  "You Lucien Solis?" Trey asked, not extending his hand. So this is the son of a bitch nobody wanted to work with.

  "Yep, but you got the wrong species. My mother wasn't a female dog." Trey hadn't even felt Lucien enter his mind and instinctively went into Lucien's mind where he heard, Damn, Findley. Wasting my time on this when I should be—

  Should be where, Lucien? Trey asked, interrupting. Silence. Black eyes flashed irritation just before Trey felt an impenetrable wall slam into place between their minds. Impressive and interesting, but not something he had time to investigate right now.

  "Just so we're clear," Trey said, "I don't like Findley, either. If you don't want to be a part of this, then go."

  Lucien shrugged. "I'll stay . . . for a while." "In that case, Rowan has lunch ready. I'll catch you up while we eat."

  Trey followed the aroma of warm bread and vegetable soup to the dining room where Rowan paused from pouring coffee and did a double take on Lucien who answered her curious glance with a scowl. Wonder what that had been all about. He didn't care enough to find out right now so he settled down next to Sasha and began reviewing the situation for everyone. By the time they had finished eating, he'd filled in Lucien on what they knew to this point, including Rowan's illness though she still had not shown signs of madness. Could Sasha be exaggerating?