The Willow

by Stacey Kennedy

  He laughed loudly and gave my ass a good smack. “Don’t kid yourself, Álainn. I can be that.” He wrapped his arms around me, kissing me deep enough to forget the entire conversation completely.

  Chapter Eight

  The next night, we were at a small park adjacent to a dingy motel with a playground resting in the center. Just past the slide was a man lying flat on his back with his throat ripped out gruesomely.

  “A vampire did this?” I asked Kyden, confused. “Wouldn’t he need his neck?”

  “A wolf did this,” a deep raspy voice said.

  When I glanced toward it, a big, burly weretiger was leaning up against the swing set. I was pleased that he had chosen his human form, but even still, hesitation trickled in. His shaved bald head, grayish blue eyes, and overall tough guy demeanor screamed, piss me off and I’ll squish you with my pinky finger. And I didn’t doubt for a moment that he was capable of doing it.

  “Detective Foley, I take it?” I said.

  “The one and only,” he responded as he began his approach. “You the new Guardian?”

  “The one and only,” I laughed, reaching my hand out. “Nexi.”

  He shook it in his strong grip. “Glad to have you aboard.”

  “Do you know what happened here, Foley?” Kyden asked.

  Wolf attacks were rare. Kyden mentioned a while back he’d only ever seen one. So, this seemed a little odd that on my fourth assignment we’d run into this. Judging by Kyden’s serious expression our thoughts were running along the same lines.

  “No idea,” Foley responded. “A kid called in the murder. This is what we found.”

  “Haven,” Kyden called out to her.

  She gave him a nod as she raised her hands to the sky. Within seconds the scene appeared.

  The man was scrambling back, trembling with fear as the wolf stalked him. He never made a sound, never screamed out for help—his terror wouldn’t allow it. A second later, the wolf pounced, tore into his throat, killing him instantly. The wolf shifted and the vision froze.

  “Go on, Nexi,” Kyden said. “Have a look.”

  This was serious. He rarely called me Nexi, which led me to believe this concerned him more than he was letting on. Looking at the suspect, he looked like a Sunday school teacher. Soft eyes, short cropped dark hair and a face that looked pleasantly kind.

  “Why would he do this?” I asked Kyden. When a vampire kills, at least it made sense. This was just senseless.

  “That is what we need to find out,” Kyden responded, studying him intently. He finally let out a deep sigh and met my gaze. “A wolf kills because their animal takes over. They cannot control the urge to kill.”

  I examined the man. “He looks in complete control here.”

  “Exactly.” Apparently, I hit the nail on the head. “If he had lost control he wouldn’t have been able to shift.” He turned to Haven. “Go on. You’re done.”

  “Okie dokie!” she squeaked. “Come see me later, Nexi.” Then, she vanished.

  “Tread lightly,” Foley said. “Something feels very wrong here.”

  Kyden gave him a firm nod and reached for my hand. “Let’s go. The New York pack owns a club near here.”

  “Do supes have nothin’ better to do than spend their nights at clubs?”

  He smiled down at me. “Supes are sensual invigorating creatures. It’s a good outlet.”

  I snorted. “Hard life.” I glanced at Foley. “I’d say I hope to see you again,” I said to Foley, “but that doesn’t seem at all appropriate.” Considering if I saw him again it meant that another human was dead.

  “Right you are.” He chuckled.

  * * * *

  Ten minutes later, we arrived and one thing is certain—supes clearly knew the entertainment industry. This bar was upper class all the way. Everything looked expensive, including the red leather couches, dozens of crystal chandeliers, marble bars, and huge tropical fish tanks lining the walls. Kyden had me nestled in beside him as we leaned against the bar, scanned the crowd, and tried to spot our wolf.

  Suddenly, a woman sauntered over. Basically, the jet-black version of Carmen Electra—boobs and all. Jealously hit, but instantly vanished when she sauntered past Kyden and headed straight for me.

  “I’m Kimberley,” she purred. “Who are you?”

  “Ahh—” She didn’t…? She wasn’t going to…?

  She was and she did. Quicker than I could move, she began to grind her body tight against mine, dancing slowly to the music.

  “What the hell?” I gasped at Kyden.

  He had a huge grin smacked on that handsome face.

  I snorted, meeting back with her gaze. She was definitely interested, and it wasn’t friendship she was looking for. “Umm—sorry—I—ahhh—don’t do the girl thing.” This was much harder to do to a girl. I had no experience with this and I felt ridiculous.

  My refusal only egged her on. She spun around, pulled her body tight with mine, and began to grind her ass against me.

  Sighing deep with annoyance, I rolled my eyes at Kyden. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  He winked, returning his gaze to the crowd.

  Seconds later, he went rigid beside me. Before I could even ask what he saw, he was taking huge strides toward the dance floor.

  “Get off.” Pushing the woman aside, I charged toward the dance floor. By the time I reached Kyden he already had our wolf by the throat, dragging him to the back of the club.

  Following in behind, I scooted through the door he entered and slammed it closed behind us. Luckily, the room was a private one and presently not in use.

  Kyden threw the wolf to the floor. “You know why we’re here. You will answer for what you’ve done,” he growled. “What is your name?”

  “Kai,” the wolf replied.

  “You killed a man, Kai. Tell me why?”

  The wolf’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting this. It occurred to me to wonder what other trouble he’d been into that would make this a surprise. His gaze skipped from Kyden to mine and his look was so callous. Why was he looking at me like that? I’d never met him before, I was sure of that.

  Kyden obviously didn’t appreciate the look either since he punched him across the face hard enough to send his teeth flying. “Go on. Look at her again like that,” he threatened.

  Kai spit blood from his mouth, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor. Smart wolf.

  “This is the last time I will ask,” Kyden demanded. “Why did you kill the man?”

  Kai threw a hateful look. “I was ordered to.”

  “Ordered?” Kyden appeared taken back. “By who?”

  Kai chuckled evilly. His gaze returned to mine. “Soon you will know the answer to that question.” Then, he lunged at Kyden.

  Kia didn’t stand a chance of defeating him. Every hit he made, Kyden blocked it easily. It appeared almost effortless.

  My my. He was glorious.

  The importance of this situation began to fade from my mind as I focused on each bulging muscle, admiring the gracefulness of his skilled moves. No matter how inappropriate this was—and it was completely inappropriate—arousal began to stir. Sighing deeply, I put a voice to the sensual energy simmering through my veins, and Kyden’s head snapped toward me instantly. His gaze smoldered as he drank in my reaction to him, and in the moment of distraction, Kai slammed a hard punch to his jaw sending him stumbling back.

  Whoops! Hell, who cares!

  Kyden groaned deep with annoyance and stepped forward full of purpose. “I have better things to do than play with you, wolf.”

  Not a second later, Kia was dead. When the body vanished, my gaze met Kyden’s just as he began stalking toward me fiercely.

  A few feet away, he dropped his kilt and I licked my lips in anticipation. The seriousness of this situation didn’t stand in comparison to the desire sparking between us.

  In two giant strides, he was on me and slammed me aga
inst the wall. I gasped out loudly as his fingers dug into my thighs, molding my legs around him. He began to grind against me and positioned himself directly on my source of pleasure to stimulate it perfectly.

  With every sharp turn of his hips, a raging spark flared within me and sent quick flashes of sizzling heat blazing through my senses. He nudged my head to the side with his and consumed my neck as if he was starving—hungry for the taste of my flesh. I gripped his shoulders tight, struggling for breath from his intensity.

  Instinctively, I began to move with him. He growled a warning. I heard it loud and clear. I was not to control any of this. Tonight wasn’t about pleasuring me. It was for him to take what he needed, what he desired. He was craving my body with a fever pitch and the control he’d been keeping was now gone.

  Knowing exactly what he wanted, I submitted, relaxed in his arms. He groaned deep in approval and took my mouth again as rough as a predator might. He had me pinned against the wall—forcing me to grasp the difference in our bodies, to appreciate the size of him, the strength, and I did. I felt tiny in comparison as he forced my thighs wide, moving quickly and forcefully to satisfy his urges.

  He encased my ass in his tight grip and angled my hips to intensify the sensation. My breath became raspy and quick. He was calling for my release, demanding that I finish with him. Not because he was insuring I was satisfied—oh no—this was because he wanted to know he controlled me. I was left gasping, panting against his mouth while his kisses became urgent. His groans deepened as his movements became harder, faster.

  Moments later, he growled. “Let go.” As if he was in control of my body, I responded. The wave broke. My entire body clamped down, gripped the very edge of my climax. “Now.” His growl was deeper.

  Answering his demand, I gave in and released it the full extent of its possibility. I screamed and bit down on his shoulder, attempting to quiet my loud roars just as Kyden trembled and grunted deeply as his body erupted into shuddering convulsions.

  “You’re not allowed to be in here,” a voice shouted. “Get out!”

  Kyden’s head whipped to the side as a bouncer entered through the door. He dropped my legs and rested an arm against the wall, still recovering.

  “Did you not hear me?” the bouncer snapped. “I said get out.”

  “Alright,” Kyden responded, a little breathless. He reached for his kilt and took my hand, leading me from the room.

  He stopped just outside the door.

  “We’re sick,” I laughed, stating a huge understatement. A normal reaction to slicing a wolf apart would to be disgusted, horrified, not horny like a teenager.

  He clipped his kilt and slowly met my gaze. “Fighting. The adrenaline.” He hesitated then said, “It excites me.”

  “Yeah, I gathered that.”

  He slapped my ass. “Serves you right for looking at me the way you did. Do it again and you’ll get worse.”

  Yum!

  He gave me his devilish grin and ushered me toward the bathroom. “I will meet you by the bar.” Then, headed to the men’s room.

  Washing up quickly, I slinked past the hoards of wolves to wait for Kyden at the bar. The dance floor was packed full and it appeared my lap dance had found herself a vampire who was quite happy to have her affection. They were locked in a deep kiss. In closer examination, he was actually feeding off her bottom lip.

  He met my gaze and gave me a sinful smile. Impressive. How he could give that smile while his fangs were attached to her mouth was pretty talented in my books. He looked oddly familiar. Meeting so many vampires recently, it was very possible we’d been introduced. He was wearing all black, which seemed to be a norm for the vampires. It was apparent why they did it, it looked incredible against their pale skin. The look suited him even more, since his coiled hair was equally as black. His features were strong, extremely sharp—everything fine and tight. He detached from her mouth, sending a big drop of blood to splash to the floor.

  My stomach heaved. “Eww…disgusting.”

  He pushed the girl aside and approached me. His dark eyes never left mine as he stopped just a few feet away and ran his gaze thoroughly over my body—lingering on my breasts. Good thing Kyden wasn’t around to see this. This vampire would be dead for real!

  He finally spoke with a deep purr, “Hello, beautiful.” His voice was cool, smooth with each spoken word. This vampire oozed confidence.

  “Does that normally work for you?” I replied, annoyed.

  “Usually. Hmm…” He smiled crookedly. “I’ll have to try something different with you.”

  “Don’t bother. I’m not interested.” I turned my back to him.

  He moved in closer and leaned his body directly against my back. You know what they say, “go with your intuition”. Well right now, everything was telling me that I needed to get far away from this vampire and quickly. Every hair on my body rose as his hands skimmed the sides of my arms.

  His voice deepened with an edge of danger. “But I am interested in you, my beauty.”

  “Get your hands—” But when I spun around, my words hit air. He was gone. Suddenly, my arm was grabbed in a firm grip. I jumped, pulled my arm back, then glanced up to see Kyden. “Oh, thank God. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

  “Alright?” he asked, arching a brow.

  I shrugged and hoped the movement would send heat back through my body. I felt cold—very, very cold. “Did you see that vampire talking to me?”

  “No.” He stepped forward looking for someone to kill. “Was someone bothering you?”

  I laughed at my caveman. It didn’t sound like my usual laugh. It was shaky and deep. “No—no—it’s fine. Come on, let’s go home.” My words didn’t reassure me. Something about him made my skin crawl.

  The entire way back to the scene, I couldn’t shake the creepy feeling off. His breath still lingered on the back of my neck and no matter how many times I rubbed it, it wouldn’t go away.

  We reached the park and Kyden took my hand. In a blink, we were back in the foyer and on our way to see the Council.

  Zia stood when we entered. “What’s this?” She cocked her head, examining me. Moments later, she shook her head. “What happened?” she asked Kyden.

  “Okay, that was just weird,” I said under my breath.

  It only took minutes for Kyden to tell them every detail of the killing and of what we learned from Kia.

  “A wolf in control of himself?” Brax rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “Did he want something from the man?”

  Kyden shook his head. “Nothing was said.”

  “And you said he was ordered,” Zia said. “You don’t think? It couldn’t be?”

  Talon shook away her remark with a wave of his hand. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Zia.”

  The room went silent, as they were all deep in thought. It was odd for wolves to kill that much I knew, but why this seemed like such a big deal was beyond me.

  “Is there anything else?” Talon finally asked Kyden.

  “No. That was all.”

  “Go on then.” Talon nodded toward the door. “You both look wiped.”

  Kyden laughed and so did I. If they only knew we were bushed from some seriously earth-shattering orgasms—not the assignment itself.

  Zia chuckled under her breath and winked at me. “That’ll do it every time.”

  “What?” I snapped.

  “Never mind,” She waved it away. “Just thinking aloud.”

  I squinted my eyes at her. “Sure you were.” I was beginning to suspect she could read my mind. Disconcerting to say the least, since most of my thoughts were spent in the gutter.

  Chapter Nine

  Talk about déjà vu. The large parking lot was only a block away from our last assignment. To the left, a factory sat with a loading dock farther down. Apparently a shipping company of some sort. The area was dark, the only light was from a few parking lot lights, which made seeing
the body difficult.

  Kyden began walking forward, Haven and I followed behind.

  “We should go dancing after this,” Haven said. “Whatcha think?”

  “A night out sounds great.” Then, I glanced at Foley. “You want to join us?”

  “Can’t,” he answered. “On duty till the sun rises.”

  Abruptly, Kyden growled, “Bloody hell.”