Desire the Night

by Amanda Ashley

  He undressed her slowly, savoring each inch of honey-gold skin exposed to his gaze. She had the body of a goddess, firm, smooth, warm. He nuzzled her breasts, stroked her thighs, ran his tongue along the curve of her throat. Sweet, so sweet. His yearning kicked up a notch when she began to undress him.

  She explored his body boldly, her beautiful golden brown eyes glowing with passion, her hands like living flames as they moved seductively over him, igniting his desire still more. She clung to him, restless hands measuring the width of his shoulders, admiring the way his muscles flexed at her touch. Her fingers tangled in his hair, slid over his chest and down his belly.

  He pulled her body against his, his mouth claiming hers, his tongue dipping inside to mate with hers.

  Tucking her beneath him, he kissed and caressed her, arousing her until she trembled with need, her voice sobbing his name, begging him to take her.

  With a low growl, he buried himself deep within her, felt her body convulse as he carried her over the edge into paradise.

  Kay stretched her arms over her head, then smiled languidly at Gideon. “That,” she drawled with a smile, “was absolutely amazing. Can we do it again?”

  “Maybe later,” he said, one hand lightly stroking her bare belly. “Right now, we need to talk.”

  The smile faded from her face. “That doesn’t sound good,” she said, rolling onto her side. “If we were going steady, I’d think you were about to break up with me.”

  “Not quite. I made a stop at my place in New York while I was out.”

  “Do you think that was safe?”

  “I didn’t give it much thought. You needed something to wear. I can’t be buying you a new wardrobe every day, you know.”

  She grimaced, annoyed by his attempt at humor. “Magic or no magic, I can’t believe she found us so quickly.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. The way I see it, she didn’t find us. She found you.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “All she needed for a tracking spell was something that belonged to you,” he explained, thinking out loud. “Clothing, hair. Blood.”

  “How do you know it was me she was following and not you?”

  “I don’t know a lot about witches, but I know they can’t compel vampires, and they can’t work their magic on the dead or the Undead. Only on the living.”

  “Then we’re probably not safe here, are we?” Kay bolted upright, one hand clutching the sheet to her breasts, her eyes widening in alarm as she glanced around the room, her gaze searching every corner, as if she expected to find Verah lurking in one of them. “Are we?” she repeated when he didn’t answer.

  Gideon shook his head.

  Kay stared at him a moment, and then her eyes widened. “You’re not safe, either, are you, as long as you’re with me?”

  “I’m not worried about me.” His existence wasn’t in danger, only his freedom. He was the one Verah wanted. Kay was only the means to an end. If they split up, Verah would hunt for Kay until she found her. When that happened, the witch would try to use Kay as bait to trap him. If that didn’t work, Verah would have no reason to keep Kay alive.

  He knew by Kay’s expression that the same realization had occurred to her. “How long do you think it will take her to concoct another spell?”

  “I don’t know. A few hours. Maybe a few days.” Whatever the future held, he wasn’t about to let Kay face Verah alone.

  “We should leave, right now.”

  “Right now?” His gaze moved over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts.

  Blushing, she pulled the sheet higher. “After we get dressed, of course.”

  It was a shame to cover that luscious body, he thought regretfully, but with Verah breathing down their necks, Kay was right. It was time to get the hell out of Dodge. They couldn’t afford to stay in any one place too long.

  Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to the hollow of Kay’s delectable throat. “I think you’re right, dammit,” he muttered. “We need to get out of here.”

  * * *

  Chapter 15

  Verah paced the floor in the windowless room where she performed her magic, her anger and frustration growing with every step. From time to time, she plucked a jar or a bottle from one of the floor-to-ceiling shelves that lined the east wall and hurled it into the small brick fireplace.

  She had found the perfect location spell. Quick and easy to execute, it had worked flawlessly, yet when she had arrived in New York City at the place where the vampire and the werewolf were supposed to be, they were gone. She had found evidence that they had been there in the scattered clothing they had left behind, and the arrival of the pizza deliveryman who had shown up only moments after she did. Since the pizza had already been paid for, she had taken it home with her.

  A swipe of her hand cleared the rough, wooden table in the center of the room. If the location spell had worked once, it would work again. But it would have to wait. She could feel her body aging, her steps becoming slow and uncertain, her joints aching. When she’d looked in the mirror last night, she had noticed several strands of gray in her hair, fine lines around her eyes, faint age spots on her hands.

  It was galling to know that the vampire would never have taken her to bed if he had seen her as she really was. The spell she had used to transform herself into a young, beautiful woman had been fleeting, lasting just long enough to get him into bed and bind him with silver.

  She plucked a vial filled with dark red blood from a glass-fronted cabinet and poured it into a delicate crystal goblet.

  She stared at the liquid with mixed anticipation and revulsion. After taking a deep breath, she lifted the goblet to her lips. Warm or cold, the taste was incredibly vile, but the results made the horrible taste worthwhile.

  Shuddering, she drained the glass in a single swallow, then threw it into the fireplace.

  Only one vial of the vampire’s blood remained. She would have to use it soon, or it would lose its effectiveness.

  Time was of the essence.

  * * *

  Chapter 16

  Leaving Kay to get dressed and pack, Gideon made a quick trip to a car rental agency where he rented a late-model black Lexus. His next stop was a shopping mall where he bought two large suitcases for Kay and a smaller one for himself. He also picked up a case of bottled water, a family-sized bag of chips, and three dozen assorted granola bars.

  Kay was still folding their clothes when he returned.

  “Where are we going?” she asked as she began placing her clothes in one of the suitcases. It wasn’t easy, cramming everything Gideon had bought her into two suitcases, but she couldn’t bear to leave anything behind, and who knew when they might be here again?

  “Beats the hell out of me.” He threw several changes of clothes and underwear into the remaining suitcase and closed the lid. “You about done there?”

  “Yes.” She tossed in the last pair of jeans. “Are you sure we should stay together?”

  Gideon picked up the three suitcases and headed for the door. “Would you rather be alone?” he called over his shoulder.

  “No,” she said, hurrying after him, “but …”

  “Hush, then. She has no power over me, and you can be damn sure I won’t fall for her tricks a second time.”

  Outside, he stowed their luggage in the trunk, then held the passenger door open for Kay. “Anyplace in particular you’d like to go?”

  Kay shook her head. “Do you think it matters?”

  “Probably not.” Gideon slid into the driver’s seat, his fingers tapping the steering wheel. As long as Verah was able to locate Kay, it didn’t really matter where they went.

  Pulling out of the driveway, he headed for the open road.

  Kay stared out the window. She didn’t know where Gideon was headed, but what was the point in running? Weren’t they just prolonging the inevitable? She frowned. That kind of negative thinking wasn’t going to get them anywhere. She was a werewolf, not
a wimp. No way was she going to give up without a fight, or let Gideon fight her battles for her.

  Gideon. She glanced at him, admiring his profile. Why was he putting his life in danger by staying with her?

  He turned his head, his gaze meeting hers. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Kiya. That’s why.”

  Kay looked at him in astonishment. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “But … we’ve only known each other a few weeks.”

  He shrugged. “I’m just as surprised as you are. Maybe more so.”

  Unable to think of anything to say, she continued to stare at him. He was falling in love with her? She shook her head. Considering all they’d been through, when had he found the time?

  “I think it started that first night,” he said, returning his attention to the road. “I knew you were scared out of your mind and yet, even though you didn’t have a chance in hell of stopping me, and there was nowhere to run, you tried to fight me off.” He grinned with the memory. “Out of all the women the witch brought me, you were the only one who didn’t give up without a fight. I had to admire that. Of course, the fact that you’re a knockout didn’t hurt.”

  “Thanks,” she muttered dryly.

  “Don’t write us off yet,” he said. “We might get out of this just fine. Nothing is impossible.”

  “Except keeping you out of my head.”

  He flashed her a shameless grin. “Except that.”

  Kay settled back in her seat, her mind replaying Gideon’s words. I think I’m falling in love with you. His confession had surprised her. More than that, it pleased her, because even though she couldn’t admit it—didn’t want to admit it, even to herself—she was falling in love with him, too. And that was wrong on so many levels. He was a vampire. She was a werewolf. He slept days. She slept nights. He hunted people. She hunted animals. But the biggest impediment of all was her father, not to mention the fact that she was about to be engaged to another man.

  She was staring out the window again when satellite radio filled the car with the latest love song.

  “You’re not playing fair,” Kay muttered.

  “Should I change the station?”

  “No.” Even though a lasting relationship between them was impossible, there was no reason not to enjoy what little time they had left.

  The soft music and the darkness soon made Kay drowsy.

  Gideon heard the change in her breathing, knew the exact moment she fell asleep. He shook his head, wondering what had possessed him to tell her that he was falling in love with her. He drummed his fist on the steering wheel. Who was he kidding? He was already in love with her.

  He glanced at her again, noting her sweet feminine curves. He never should have made love to her, but what man past puberty, dead or Undead, could resist her? She was warm and vibrant, so easy to love with her gentle laughter and sparkling eyes.

  Staring at the road ahead, his thoughts turned to Verah. The only way to stop the witch once and for all was to kill her. True, she had her magic, and that was formidable, but she was still human. He was confident that his preternatural powers were stronger than her witchcraft. All he had to do was get close to her.

  But first he had to ensure Kay’s safety. And try as he might, he could think of only one place where she would be safe. And that was in Wyoming, with her father’s pack.

  When Kay woke an hour later, he told her what he had decided. She was less than enthusiastic at the idea.

  “I don’t want to go home.” She loved her mother and her father, but she wasn’t ready to surrender her freedom, not yet. Once she returned to the compound, she would be absorbed into the pack again, no longer truly an individual but a part of the whole, subject to her father’s will and the law of the pack.

  She couldn’t help but envy Gideon. His life was his own. He had no one telling him what he could or couldn’t do, no one deciding who or when he would marry. He enjoyed the kind of freedom she would never have once she returned home.

  On the other hand, he didn’t have anyone to care for him, either. No one to share his life, or comfort him when he was down. Still, it would be nice to be her own woman, to make her own decisions.

  “Be reasonable, Kiya. It’s the only place I can think of where you’ll be safe. You know, safety in numbers. Even Verah doesn’t have the cajones to go up against a pack of werewolves.”

  “But …” She shook her head. “I’ll never get the chance to be on my own again.”

  That wasn’t the worst of it, he thought. Once she was back home, it was unlikely they would have many chances to be alone together. But it was just as well. She was practically engaged to another man. He had to remember that.

  Kay stretched her back and shoulders. “How long will it take to get there?”

  They had been driving for almost ten hours, stopping only to buy gas, or when she needed to get something to eat or drink. Gideon had left her alone in a truck stop restaurant for a few minutes while he preyed on one of the truckers.

  He glanced her way. “Another ten hours or so. We’ll have to stop at the next hotel. The sun will be rising in about thirty minutes.”

  Kay nodded, her thoughts turned inward. When she had convinced her father to let her leave the pack for a year, she hadn’t stopped to consider how she would feel about going back home when that year was up. It had never occurred to her that she wouldn’t be happy to go back. She hadn’t expected to find such joy and satisfaction in making her own decisions, or such relief at being away from her father’s constant demands. Knowing she was going home filled her with resentment.

  There was a hierarchy in the pack that couldn’t be broken. As alpha male, her father was the undisputed leader. His word was law and pack members disobeyed him at their own peril. Kay’s mother was treated with the respect due the pack leader’s mate, but, as a human female, she had no say in pack affairs. No other pack Alpha had a human woman for a wife. If any of the pack’s members had objected to his choice, it was their right to protest, which would have involved challenging the Alpha, something that had never happened in Kay’s lifetime.

  Kay’s aunt Greta was the Alpha female. Since Kay was only half werewolf, she had no more influence in the pack than did her mother. That had never bothered her until now, when she had lived on her own for almost a year and made all of her own decisions.

  Among wild wolves, only the Alpha pair mated, but that wasn’t true with werewolves.

  There were eleven other pairs in her father’s pack, thirteen children ranging in age from eighteen months to eighteen years, and three adult females who were in their early twenties.

  Her aunt and uncle had one son, Isaac, who was sixteen. If he showed any Alpha tendencies when he reached adulthood, her father would send him away.

  During the full moon, the dynamics of the pack changed, becoming more like that of feral wolves. As Alpha, her father stood more erect and carried his tail higher than the others. Lower-ranking wolves slouched toward the ground in his presence. The Alpha urinated by lifting his leg, the other males squatted. When a submissive wolf approached her father, it would lower its ears and put its tail between its legs, or show its throat to demonstrate subservience. Most of the pack did this without conscious thought.

  Although Victor was the eldest son of the Green Mountain Pack’s Alpha, he was still subservient to his father, something she knew didn’t sit well with Victor. He had never said or done anything to indicate he coveted his father’s position, and yet Kay knew he resented his placement in the pack. She had often wondered if the day would come when he would openly challenge his father for leadership.

  Kay sighed. One thing she had missed about being home was running with the pack during the full moon. In her wolf form, the world was a remarkable place. Wolves detected scents ten times better than dogs and a hundred times better than humans. She could determine where a particular scent had come from, who or what had made it, and how long it had been there. The males scent-ma
rked pack territory by urinating on targets above the ground, like tree trunks and bushes, which warned members of other packs to keep out.

  A short time later, Gideon pulled up in front of a five-star hotel, putting an end to her random thoughts.

  She was all too glad to get out of the car and stretch her legs, even though she could scarcely keep her eyes open.

  Gideon pulled their suitcases out of the trunk, then locked the car. Inside the hotel, he registered them as Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Adams of Palm Beach, Florida. He waved off the bellboy, picked up their suitcases, and headed for the elevator.

  “Samuel Adams?” Kay lifted one brow as they stepped into the elevator.

  Gideon shrugged. “You don’t want to be Mrs. Adams?”

  “Why not?” she replied, chuckling. “I hear he makes a great beer.”

  When they reached their room, Gideon inserted the keycard into the slot and opened the door. He took a quick glance around, grateful for the room-darkening drapes.

  “Nice place.” Kay stifled a yawn while she waited for Gideon to lock the door, then she followed him into the bedroom.

  “I don’t want you to leave the room,” Gideon said, dropping the suitcases on the flat wooden bench at the foot of the bed. “Not for anything. Understand?”

  Nodding, Kay quickly changed into her nightgown and crawled under the covers. Five minutes later, she was asleep.

  Stripping off his clothes, Gideon slid into bed beside her. He watched her until the sun came up and then he tumbled headlong into oblivion.

  Kay sat up, yawning. A glance to her right showed Gideon was, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world. Undead or alive, awake or asleep, he was still the most gorgeous hunk of man she had ever known. She traced his lips with her fingertips, then leaned forward and kissed him. His lips were cool beneath hers. She brushed a lock of hair from his brow. It must be nice, she thought, never growing old or sick or feeble. Gideon would always look just as he did now, exactly the way he had looked when he became a vampire. Her people aged, but at a much slower rate than humans.