Red Night ((Book 1) Timewalker Chronicles)

by Michele Callahan

  He didn’t answer, just rested his head against hers with his eyes closed and stilled his roving hands. They rested on her hips, torturing her with their heat through her thin cotton Capris.

  “I’m sorry.” She felt like the worst kind of tease. But she was suffering too.

  Her hands had a mind of their own and still explored the planes of his chest. His body was too close, too hard, too tempting. She pushed away from him and hurried over to the cushioned porch swing. Legs curled beneath her, she sat on her hands so she couldn’t reach for him, and watched Luke get himself under control. Gradually both of their breathing rhythms returned to normal. Unconsciously, her hand moved to her chest and massaged the still pulsing symbol there. The symbol her daughter, their daughter, would carry.

  When his eyes finally opened, his attention was immediately drawn to the hand over her heart. “What does the mark mean?”

  Alexa lifted one shoulder in a quick shrug. “It’s a birthmark. The Shen, my mother called it.” For probably the thousandth time in her life, she traced the half-inch ring with her fingertip. Such a simple mark. Her mother said it was a rope looped around. No beginning. No end. It looked like a circle sitting atop a straight line. How she’d hated that mark growing up. Kept it hidden. Resented what it meant. Only when the Archiver’s call had come had she begun to understand the honor. And the cost. “It means eternity and protection in a language so old and powerful only the Archivers are trusted with the knowledge.” Their gazes locked and held in the shadows. “It’s the mark of the Taken.”

  “The Taken?”

  “Yes. I've been told that Timewalkers and Archivers carry the mark. As do their descendants.” He seemed to be taking this pretty well, considering. But what had he said earlier? She almost regretted the fact that her brain had begun to function again. “Did you say you’ve known me for sixteen years?”

  “Yes.”

  That was all she got out of him. Great. Come to think of it, he hadn’t said more than about two words the entire time. He was accepting all this much too easily. “How?”

  “My dreams.”

  Had he truly dreamt of her? She struggled to speak over the lump in her throat. “What kind of dreams?”

  “When the time comes, I’ll be happy to show you. Until then, don’t ask if you aren’t ready for the answer.” Luke’s smile melted her insides and she was thankful the semi-darkness covered the flush rising on her face.

  “So, you knew I was coming?”

  His gaze locked her to him, the intensity she saw in his eyes left her unable to move, or breathe. Like a predator, he came to kneel before her and started to unbutton his shirt. Her pulse skyrocketed. The hard back of the swing stopped her retreat. Trapped. “What are you doing?”

  Now open to his waist, Luke pulled his shirt aside. Suddenly, Alexa wished the porch light was on. He grabbed her hand and pulled it, slowly, toward his heart. “I didn’t know you would find me.”

  He pressed her palm to his heated skin, to the flesh she desperately needed to taste. Alexa closed her eyes to keep herself from lunging at him. An unnatural heat radiated beneath her palm, pulsing in time to her own throbbing birthmark. She gasped in shock and lifted her hand to inspect his chest in the dim light shining from the window behind her. There, branded into his flesh, was a mark that exactly matched her own. “How -- ?” Once again, she met his gaze and another rush of heat threatened her self-control. “Your dreams?”

  He nodded. “Sometimes, I thought I was crazy. But after the first dream, I woke up with this.” Hand locked over hers, he cradled her palm against the mark on his chest. “So, I didn’t know you were coming, but I was promised. And I hoped.”

  “I can be a difficult woman to deal with.” She pulled her hand away from the gentle seduction of his caressing fingers, the nearly irresistible call of the mark on his skin.

  “I’ll take my chances.” His snort made her want to jump up off the swing and show him just how difficult she could be. She held herself in check. Barely. What was wrong with her? Her moods were never this mercurial. With eight younger brothers, she was used to much worse.

  Hormones. She hated hormones. And the meddling of a jerk in white. How dare he choose a mate for her, brand him, and then tell her she may have to kill him? There could be no doubt now. He was hers.

  A Cheshire cat grin fell into place on her face. “Listen. I won’t deny that I would love to go roll around naked with you and explore this…” She searched for a word to describe the miniature explosions that happened inside her body every time she even looked at him. “…attraction between us.”

  “Attraction?” Six feet of pure temptation slid onto the seat next to her. She pulled back from his warmth as if burned. He had the nerve to notice. And grin.

  “Yes, attraction.”

  His long index finger reached out and rubbed the sensitive skin above her knee through her pants. “I like the rolling around naked idea.”

  God, so did she. She bit into her lower lip. Hard. She wished he’d button that damn shirt. His hand lifted from her knee to caress her cheek before he spoke.

  “Come inside. There’s something I want to show you.”

  Chapter Four

  Strong hands enveloped hers and led her through the dark hallway. Blindly, she followed, taking on faith that the Archiver knew what he was doing when he chose Luke to be her mate. Already, his body lit hers on fire. He’d listened, promised to help her, and hadn’t accused her of being crazy. Three big marks in his favor.

  “Close your eyes.” Luke backed into a darkened room, pulling her inside after him. She grinned in anticipation and allowed her eyelids to drift down. When she was somewhere in the middle of the room, he left her. “Don’t move, and don’t open your eyes.”

  “All right.”

  Like a whisper, he moved past her back toward the door leaving her alone in the shadows. Light burst through her closed eyelids, tinged pink from passing through her flesh. Her toe tapped impatiently as she waited for the command to see. Luke’s warm body pressed into her back and she inhaled sharply. Eyes open, he was enticing. Eyes closed, pure sensation ruled and Luke Lawson was devastating to the senses. Her body hummed with awareness. The emptiness she’d felt before flared back to life with a vengeance.

  Hot breath tickled her ear, her neck, sending shivers racing down her spine.

  “Okay. Open your eyes.”

  “Oh, my God.” Nothing could’ve prepared her for this. Four large canvasses covered the wall in front of her. Lovingly drawn, in exquisite detail, was her face. Four different angles. Four different expressions. But her, right down to the tiny mole on her cheek and the small scar over her left eye. The scar was a gift her brother, Bryne, gave her when she was eight years old. Her legs were so weak, only the intoxicating arms wrapped around her waist held her upright. “How did you…?”

  “There’s more.” Gently, he turned her to the opposite wall. There, much smaller but no less detailed, was a perfect rendering of every member of her family. Everyone she loved was on that wall, dispersed between framed black and white photographs of nature. Scattered. Faces she thought to never see again.

  White-hot pokers stabbed behind her eyelids. Her head felt like it was being squeezed by a giant fist. Deep inside her chest, her heart actually hurt. Oh, how she loved them all. Missed them. Now she’d never forget their faces, never forget the people who were everything to her. This gift Luke gave her was priceless, and filled with love. Tears streaked her face, but she didn’t fight them, didn’t close her eyes to trap them inside. Greedily, her gaze roamed the room. Luke’s arms tightened around her waist.

  “Do you like them?”

  She tried to answer, but a soft sob was all that managed to break through the tightness of her throat. Luke turned her to face him. With a lover’s tender touch, he wiped away her tears with his thumbs. Worry creased his brow.

  “I’m sorry, Alexa. Maybe I should’ve waited to show this to you.”

  “No.”
Turning her head, she kissed the palm of first one hand, then his other. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. But it wasn’t supposed to make you cry.”

  He looked genuinely upset at her reaction. Heaven help her. She was pretty damn sure she’d just fallen head over heels in love with the man. And she wanted to make love to him. Right now. To hell with waiting. He was hers. He’d been branded! Not to mention that they might both be dead in a few weeks anyway. She wanted every precious moment she could get.

  Fingers curled around the hem of her shirt, she lifted it off over her head. His hungry gaze devoured her naked flesh. Stepping close, she slid her hands up his chest and shoved the already gaping white dress shirt off his shoulders. He shrugged out of it and pulled her roughly against him. With a soft moan, she pulled his head down to hers, tasted his lips, his tongue, before sliding down to caress the mark on his chest with her tongue.

  The Shen pulsed with heat beneath her tongue. Hers answered, sent an electric shock straight to her core.

  Luke’s hands slid over the bare skin of her back. His thumbs linked in the waistband of her pants. Stopped. “Now will you admit that you’re mine?”

  “Yes.” He was hers, but she could remind him of that fact later. Right now, his scent filled her nostrils. The emptiness of her body ached to be filled by his.

  His lips nibbled a trail of fire down her neck, over her collarbone. Cupping her breasts in his palms, he teased her nipples into hard peaks. “Tell me what you want.”

  “You.”

  “Good.” That fast her gentle lover was gone. Shoving her pants down her legs, he dragged her lace thong with them. When she tried to step out of them he simply lifted her off her feet and crushed her to him. He took command with his mouth, tasted, invaded, demanded a response while one hand cupped her bottom, held her throbbing core against his cock. Frantic, she tugged at his pants. She needed him inside of her, filling the emptiness.

  “Not so fast.” Luke laughed at her, lifted her to raze her nipples with his five o’clock shadow as he carried to another room, to his bed. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

  She didn’t notice much. Sparse furniture of dark wood. Huge windows flooded with moonlight. Dark sheets that felt like silk beneath her heated skin when he laid her across the bed. For a moment he left her, then returned, naked. Hard. Ready. Alexa held out her arms and he covered her with his body, crushing her into the pillow-top mattress.

  A sigh of pure relief escaped. Then he took possession once again. Dominant, his mouth captured hers, ruled. Sliding lower, he kissed her stomach before lifting his body off to her side. Sucking one nipple into his mouth, he gently nibbled with his teeth. She arched up off the bed, needing more. He sent one hand to wander over the smooth plane of her stomach, then lower to cup her moist heat, to grind his palm against her. His mouth wandered over her rib cage, down the soft plane of her stomach. Lower. One hand pulled her folds apart, offering her throbbing nub up for attention. Hot, hard, his tongue stroked the sensitive flesh while he slowly pushed two fingers from his other hand inside.

  Alexa’s only thought was that she was going to die of pleasure. Without conscious thought, she shoved her hips against him, pushed forcefully against the dual onslaught of his hands and mouth. She moaned. She writhed. She whimpered with need.

  Relentless, savage, he claimed complete ownership of her body. Flicking faster, the heat of his mouth incinerated her flesh. Moving in and out, his fingers stroked her to a frenzy. When she was close to shattering, his mouth closed over her, sucked, pulled rhythmically. Deep inside, he attacked the tip of her womb with his fingers, rubbed against her deepest core until she shattered in his arms.

  Without giving her a chance to breath again, he inched his way up her body, rubbed his heated skin over hers, settled his hips in the cradle of hers. She lifted her hips in welcome, giving him a better angle. Moving feverishly, he coated himself with her juices before ramming home in one strong thrust.

  Searing heat leapt between their Shen, binding them together. Alexa felt the difference in her body, knew she’d be able to find Luke anywhere on this earth. Bonded until death. Luke moved harder, faster, burying himself so deeply inside of her she knew she’d never get him out. The power of the Shen surged through them, heightened their senses and sizzled their blood, until her body exploded with pleasure. The muscles of her core clenched and pulsed around him, pulled him over the edge with her.

  * * * * *

  “I’ll go in alone. I don’t want you in there.” Luke knew he looked like a fool whispering to himself as he walked down the hallway. He didn’t care. Alexa could hear him. Her hand was scorching the skin on his shoulder where she hung onto him, making him remember things he’d rather not be thinking about right now. Like her…naked.

  She pinched him.

  He paused at the door to the men’s locker room, then punched in the security code. How had she talked him into this? He should’ve left her at home, like he’d wanted to. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to risk her life, or anyone else’s, by allowing her into the Hot Zone. But he hadn’t thought of the locker room. The thought of her looking at the other naked men made him crazy. Undressing himself, knowing she was watching. Wishing she’d touch him. Wondering if she would.

  This was a terrible idea. Time to turn around and drive her home.

  As if she could read his thoughts, she shoved him through the door and three friendly faces looked up in greeting. They were all partially undressed, their clothes thrown haphazardly into the steel lockers. He hurried to the far side of the room and the oversized locker with his name on it. Gritting his teeth, he fumbled with the combination lock. Cold awareness nearly made him shudder when her hand abandoned his shoulder. Now he had no idea where she was, what she was doing. Who she was looking at.

  The friendly banter of his buddies didn’t help his mood. He tried to sound normal, to speak when spoken to, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was. They were all going in to feed the mutants this morning. Make sure all the cultures were growing. Count bacterial colonies. Count cells. Count petri dishes. Count death.

  With great care, he peeled the clothing from his body slowly, thankful for all the hours he’d spent in the gym. Hoping she was watching, he took his time and made damn sure the others were gone by the time his pants came off. They’d all wonder why the hell he had an erection if they saw him. He hoped Alexa saw him. Saw him, and wanted him slamming home.

  Get a grip, Lawson. He had a job to do. The sooner he destroyed all the mutant cultures, the sooner he could pursue his other, much more enjoyable, interests.

  His research career with the Army was going to be over after today. Today he was going to deliberately break an order. He had pending orders to destroy M-6, but he was going to jump the gun a little. In light of everything Alexa told him last night, his career was irrelevant. Money wasn’t an issue. More than enough was stashed in investment accounts. He’d get a job teaching at a university. Something low key. Low stress. Somewhere a single mistake couldn’t get him, and the rest of the world, killed.

  He’d found heaven with Alexa last night, holding her in his arms while she slept. Lying there, awake all night, his fingertips memorized the soft curves of her face while his analytical mind pieced together their future. Afraid to go to sleep. Afraid if he did, when he woke up, she’d be gone.

  That’s why he’d been so easy to persuade this morning. She insisted this was her mission and she needed to see it through. Only one thing had swayed him into allowing her to tag along. Plain and simple, he didn’t want her out of his sight.

  Hell of a lot of good that logic was doing him now. He couldn’t see her anyway.

  The other men moved into the next room to suit up. Alone at last. “Alexa, I want you to wait in here. Don’t move. It shouldn’t take me more than a half hour to get them all in the oven.”

  Silence.

  “Alexa?”

  Cold fear squeezed Luke’s diaphragm,
making it difficult to breath the canned air. She wouldn’t. If she went in there… She didn’t have any training in the suits. She was going to get them all killed. “Shit.” Pulling his pants off in a frenzy, he threw them in the general direction of his locker. He wanted to strangle her. But even more powerful than his anger was his fear that he’d lose her. “God, woman. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  “Relax. I’m not an idiot.”

  All the air left his lungs in a giant whoosh. Alexa was taking him on one hell of a roller coaster ride. The touch of her hand on his bare shoulder jolted him back into high gear like an electric current. “Don’t even think about going in there.”

  “I admit, I was going to try. But after your lecture last night, I’d have to be suicidal to go in there with no training.” Soft, delicate, her hand glided down his back to linger on his left buttock.

  “Damn right.” There was only so much torture a man could take. Whirling around, he grabbed at the spot where he knew she must be standing. Closing his arms around her soft frame, he pulled her to rest against his naked flesh.

  “This was a bad idea.” Shimmering into view, she locked her blue eyes onto his. “I’m sorry. I’ll be a good girl now and wait out in the hallway.”

  “Too late.” Lowering his lips to hers, he breathed a question into her mouth. “Do you like what you see?”

  After a quick kiss she shoved him away from her. “Go.”

  He reached for her, but she vanished. In vain he tried to grab her, but she was bent on hiding from him now. Her voice echoed off the cold tile floor. “Go. Kill them all, Luke. Kill every single one of them.”

  Why did thirty minutes have to feel like an eternity in this cold locker room where her own heartbeat echoed too loudly in her ears? She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake, trusting Luke to finish it. But she couldn’t go in there. She didn’t know how to put on the suit or run the equipment. She didn’t know where the cultures were kept or how to destroy them. Not a chance in hell she was going in there. Talk about a fish out of water! A guppy flopping around in a room so dangerous just breathing the air would kill her. “C’mon Luke.” Raw nerves drove her sandaled feet across the cold tile floor. Back and forth. Waiting.