by Vanessa Jaye
At some point his mission had changed from revenge to reverence, from gaining justice to holding on to something greater. Their lips parted with a shared gasping breath.
“Tessa?”
The silence was uneasy and Nate felt his insides shred under her searching gaze.
“I promise.”
But inside her head he heard the echo of Templeton’s voice, “Belief can kill or belief can cure.”
“It’s a cure, Tessa.” It had to be.
She nodded. “We should probably get going, before Mitch and Angelica wonder if we’re going to show at all.”
It was an easy way out. They both knew there was more to be said, but not now.
There was another reason for his relief. Another concern he was hiding from her. Rod’s persistent interest in Tessa mirrored the Pithcus’s interest in her a little too closely for comfort. Just as shifters had companions, the creature might’ve found itself a human ally. He would halt the hunt for Rod, for now—Nate’s gums ached, his teeth lengthening—but not forever.
When they got to the restaurant, Mitch and Angelica were easy to spot. They made a striking couple. Even sitting Mitch was larger than most men and his profile called to mind one etched on an ancient coin. Then, with a slight turn of his head, Tessa got the full effect of his exotic eyes gleaming bright against dark skin.
Beside him, Angelica was like a live flame in comparison. Her red-gold hair tumbled over shoulders, sun-kissed to the softest shade of honey. Her white teeth flashed from between lushly plump lips. And then there were her double-Ds. Those magnificent mammaries that Tessa could vouch for as being both real and spectacular.
Heat prickled up her neck to her face and she closed her eyes briefly.
Nate leaned close. “She kissed you?”
“Stop reading my thoughts.” At the hostess’s startled look, Tessa smiled brightly. “Our friends are just over there. We’re joining them.”
Angelica took that moment to wave enthusiastically at them.
“Someone’s happy to see you,” Nate murmured.
They started across the dining room with Tessa leading the way. “Zip it. And stay out of my head,” she added when she felt him probing.
“I couldn’t help it once you started checking Mitch out.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Nate. “I was not checking him out. I was checking them out. Half the people in here are staring at them.”
It was true. The twosome was garnering a lot of attention. Although that had as much to do with their striking appearance as with the fact they could barely keep their hands off each other.
Angelica caught sight of them and straightened from Mitch’s embrace.
“Tessa, love the dress.” Her gaze skimmed over Tessa’s body, lingering at her chest and hips.
“Thanks.” She quickly turned away. “Mitch.”
He inclined his head. His smile was expansive, his drawl like taffy. “Heard you had quite the evening.”
She shrugged. She knew Nate had told him about the Pithcus, but what had Angelica—sitting there like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth but ice would evaporate in her crotch—told him?
“I think I’ve had enough excitement for a while.”
“You only say that now. But give it a chance.” Angelica winked and patted the seat beside her.
Nate gave her a gentle nudge. “I’ll sit on the outside.”
“Aww, he’s so protective,” Angelica said in that cutesy voice usually reserved for commentary on puppies, kittens and babies. “You two are too sweet for words. Ain’t love grand?”
Tessa dropped onto the banquette. Love? Her heart hung on the previous beat.
Love, Nate?
He sat beside her, and she was only aware of his heat and the light brush of his arm. Aware of the muscular leg that pressed against hers under the table now, but had held her thighs spread wide last night. She could almost feel again the downy hairs that sprinkled his body rubbing deliciously on the sensitive skin he’d exposed to fit their bodies together.
Nate caught her hand on the tabletop and squeezed hard. “If you don’t stop thinking those thoughts, I’ll take you right here on this goddamn table, right now.” He sent her an image—as if she needed one—and her breath stuttered in and then whooshed out.
“Love.” Mitch snorted derisively. “Give me a more practical emotion. Something a little more—” he traced a finger up Angelica’s arm and dipped it into her cleavage. “—direct.”
“Hmm. Sometimes indirect is better.” She took his finger, sucked on it lightly, and released it with an audible pop, leaving a lipstick ring around its circumference. “It lets you use your imagination.” Her hand slipped under the table.
Mitch’s narrowed eyes seemed to glow and a flush swept his high cheeks as he locked gazes with Angelica, who made the barest effort to disguise the movements of her out-of-sight hand.
Who needed an imagination when Angelica was willing to mime the whole thing, including sound effects?
Nate leaned back in the banquette, his arm stretched out behind Tessa. “Funny, you don’t strike me as being particularly indirect, Angelica.”
Tessa nearly choked on her water.
“Then we have that in common.” The corners of Angelica’s lush mouth curled up. “I pegged you as the type who wears his heart on his sleeve.”
“You pegged wrong.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Angelica swayed towards them, her bodacious breasts leading the advance. “What do you think, Tessa? Have I figured out your man?”
Tessa turned to Nate. “I think…” she began slowly, taking in the features that added up to more than just a handsome face. She could make a study of him and never be quite satisfied she knew enough, there’d always be something else to memorize. “I think Nate may feel deeply, but the things he cares about the most, he keeps close to his heart. Not on his sleeve.” She stared into his eyes.
The wolf stared back.
For the next half-hour the other couple’s antics kept Tessa from thinking too deeply about her own predicament. Angelica was a good storyteller. She’d traveled extensively in her role as a vice-president of marketing for a major cosmetics company and had many anecdotes to regale them with.
Nate and Mitch threw in the odd tale of their own based on their collective experiences as consultants for an international security firm—though she suspected given the happenings onboard that what passed for security for them was beyond the sanitized, edited version that was presently being dished up for public consumption.
Under other circumstances it might have bothered her that she had nothing to add to the general conversation. This cruise was barely comparable to the exotic and sophisticated locales the others had visited, but Nate’s casual, “We’ll have to go there,” or, “I’ll take you there one day,” took the sting out her self-consciousness.
But none of the on-going banter could completely mitigate Tessa’s vague sense of foreboding. And she wasn’t the only one distracted.
Despite the facile chit-chat, she could feel Nate’s tension, and almost every time she looked his way, he seemed to be scanning the room, eyes narrowed, mouth hard, his profile a sharply etched mask of a stranger.
As for Mitch, even with Angelica slobbering all over him, there was something equally distant and alert about him. Periodically he’d stare at one spot so dispassionately and with so much cold intent that it sent a shiver down Tessa’s spine. Then in the next second he’d respond to some provocative thing Angelica had said with a disarming smile, as if he’d been following along all along.
For the most part Tessa pushed her food around her plate. Yet something niggled at her, and the feeling only intensified with time. She pressed fingers to her temple.
“You okay?”
“Headache.” And nausea, she could add. She leaned into Nate as he dropped an arm around her.
“Looks like we’re going to have to cut the evening short,” he said to the other couple.
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“We don’t have to—”
“But the night is still young.” Angelica pouted, then offered, “I have some aspirin in my bag. Do you want some?”
“No. I mean, that’s okay.” Since witnessing Mitch’s pharmaceutical hocus-pocus, she was disinclined to pop even a vitamin.
“Tessa doesn’t take drugs from strangers,” Mitch said now with a wink. “I tried.”
“Well, maybe some fresh air might help,” Angelica suggested.
“It might.” Some of Tessa’s tension drained away. She didn’t want to go back to the cabin too soon, because she feared Nate wouldn’t stay the night. Safe and whole in her arms.
There was a restlessness about him. He wanted to hunt. And it was a tossup whether it was the Pithcus or Rod who was his prey. With a sinking heart, she realized Mitch was right, Nate would never give up his quest.
Nate eased out of the banquette then helped her exit. He held her hand a little too long and gave her a searching look, which she evaded while keeping her thoughts locked away from his tentative probing. Thankfully, he didn’t push it.
They all made their way out to the deck, with Mitch and Angelica pulling ahead. Night was falling fast with the sun half-sunk below the horizon in a fiery mound of streaking golds and fuchsias while directly overhead the moon hung, pale and heavy. Like most evenings, the temperature had dropped precipitously from the sultry heat of mid-day. It was almost too cool. A fact borne out by the dearth of other passengers.
Lucky for her, she had Nate to keep her warm. Tessa snuggled closer under his arm.
“How’s the head?”
“Better. Honestly, I think it was partly Angelica’s perfume.”
He chuckled, squeezing her shoulder lightly. “I think she applies her perfume with the same subtlety she does her come-ons.”
“That would be industrial strength.”
“That would be correct. She’s not shy. That’s for sure.”
Tessa looked in the direction Nate had jerked his chin. Mitch was reclining on a lounger with Angelica straddling him.
She giggled, a silly thought popping in her head. “Do you think he fainted? Maybe her perfume finally got to him too.”
Nate didn’t immediately reply.
“He doesn’t seem to notice it,” he said thoughtfully, frowning. “It only seems to bother you and me—what the…”
Tessa glanced back at Mitch and Angelica and did a double take. At first it looked like the lusty duo was actually getting busy, right here on deck. The way they’d been behaving all evening, it wouldn’t surprise her. But they seemed to be struggling more than—
Suddenly Angelica went tumbling off the lounger; Mitch staggered to the opposite side. Tessa saw bright red stains all over his white shirt before he shifted into a sleek black panther. Seconds later, Angelica shot up, and in that moment she changed from bombshell to—
Tessa stepped back with a gasp. Her blood iced over in her veins.
Mitch lunged at the creature that had once been Angelica and they both went down in a tangle of dirty, matted hair and lush black fur, whirling across the deck with unholy howls and screeches.
They came apart and attacked again, all slashing claws and sharp teeth, bowling through the neat line of loungers that went flying in their wake. Chaos reigned for the few passengers who were on deck, their screams of terror fueling confusion as they scrambled for safety.
Nate gripped Tessa’s arm. “Go back to the room. Lock the door. Don’t open it for anyone.” He gave her a little push, but she grabbed on to him. Fear put a tourniquet on her heart.
“Come with me, Nate. Please don’t do this.”
He looked down at her, eyes gleaming pure glacial silver, his expression remote and his face already distorting.
“Go now, Tessa. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He didn’t just mean by accident during the fight. He means he might hurt me. Deliberately.
An oily darkness oozed from Nate. Its tentacles brushed her senses and she recoiled. This was the part of him he’d kept hidden away. The reason why he’d locked her out of the deepest recesses of his mind. Her fingers went numb on his arm, yet she couldn’t let go.
“Nate?”
He blinked, and for one precious moment his eyes shone blue-brown with a wealth of some emotion that scored her to the heart, then a great wave of sadness and loss stormed from him to wash over her.
“Nate, no. Please don’t. You don’t have to do this.”
He shrugged her off as his eyes regained their gunmetal hardness. “Go now, Tessa. Last chance. Run!” He stamped one foot towards her, long hideous teeth bared and she jumped back.
Nate whipped around to face where Mitch and Angelica were still locked in furious battle. Between one breath and the next, he doubled in height, muscles bulging, shaggy, matted fur replacing smooth skin and clothing, and neat blunt-tipped fingers morphing into wicked curving claws.
Tessa stumbled backwards in horror. Oh God, no. Nate is a Pithcus.
Chapter Sixteen
She pressed a fist to her mouth to stifle her scream, but one pointed ear twitched and he glanced over his shoulder at her with eyes the color of polished blades. Slowly, he came around again, tilting his head to one side. A black tongue flicked out and he growled, “Want you.”
As he stepped forward, something large and black came hurtling into him from behind and they tumbled over each other in caterwaul of yowls and screeches. The pair passed within a hair’s breadth of Tessa as she scrambled out of the way, jumping over a lounger. She fell, got up and ran behind the bar. Her only intent was to escape out the other side. She’d gotten one knee up on the counter when gooseflesh swept her body and she froze. The thing that had once been Angelica was tracking her movements.
Tessa tried to climb back down, but her legs collapsed beneath her and she fell on her ass. From the floor behind the bar, she peered through a seam in the bar’s base. The Pithcus was coming closer, kicking chairs out of its way and overturning tables.
She looked around frantically. A box of liquor was just behind her. Matches! She needed matches. Tessa looked around frantically, head swiveling between the back bar and her impromptu spy hole, trying to keep a bead on Angelica. She swept her hand along the counter, spilling bowls of nuts, olives and mints. Finally one emptied a cache of matchbooks.
She jumped up, grabbed a bottle from the shelf and started splashing it out in front of the bar. “Don’t come closer!” She dropped the empty bottle and grabbed another, whipping it at the Pithcus. The creature boxed it aside, but some liquid wet its fur.
“Wrong drink, honey. I prefer champagne…blondes.” Angelica chuckled.
“How’d you like some barbecue with your drink?” Tessa struck a match.
A roar came from off to the side followed by a crash, then Nate was standing at one end of the bar, facing Angelica a few feet in front of it.
“Remember me?” he asked, pacing towards her.
“So, the little wolf grew a pair in the last five years.”
“All the better to fuck you up with.” He heaved a table like a discus out of his way. It sailed off into the night out to sea.
The creature drew in a shuddery breath. “Ooo, I’m going to love feeding on your heart, wolfie. All that hate flowing through your veins…? Hmm, hmm, hmm. So tasty.”
Then it narrowed its eyes. “And all that guilt and pain that you’ve been marinating in for years? Alone and missing your mate. Delish. Did I mention how she cried and begged for her life? How satisfying it was to crack her bones between my teeth and suck the fear from her marrow?” Angelica licked her thin, cruel lips lasciviously with that long, repugnant black tongue.
A low keening erupted from Nate. The sound was so full of pain it cut Tessa to the quick.
“She called to you in the end, didn’t she? ‘Ooh, Nate, I love you’.” Angelica went on relentlessly, mimicking a woman’s breathy voice.
“But you couldn’t help her. You were too late an
d too weak. And you’re still too stupid to realize you can never take me on. I’ve been Pithcus longer than you. You were made from me, little wolf. A second-rate copy at best, made from some stray pubes.”
Tension cracked the air as the pair slowly circled each other. Heat scorched Tessa’s fingers and she flashed the match out with a sharp cry before dropping it. Two sets of shifter eyes lazered in on her. She froze, a hard lump lodged in her throat.
“I must compliment you on your choice of mates though. I’ve already had a taste of this one—”
Nate attacked. If the battle with Mitch had been brutal, this was terrifying. They leapt high in the air, slashing claws spraying blood like crimson rain, while the howls they made could’ve come from the deepest bowels of hell.
Tessa started praying to a god she hadn’t spoken to in years. She begged and pleaded, promising all sorts of things, if only Nate would be spared.
From her periphery she saw someone stagger forward. It was Mitch. The counter hid his lower body, but from the waist up he was naked. His powerful upper body covered in bruises and bloody smears, with various gashes still bleeding. One eye was discolored and almost swollen shut, while his bottom lip was torn, gapping at one corner. Curiously, the necklace was still intact around his neck lending him the air of a beaten but unbowed warrior.
Their eyes met briefly, and in that moment she knew he was going to join in the fight again. And like Nate, there was nothing she could say to dissuade him. She was surprised she even wanted to, given their history.
He shrugged and cracked his neck side to side, then he did that thing with the rings, and the knife-point pendants came away from the necklace, slotting into the rings on one hand like brass knuckles gifted from the devil himself.
Tessa knew something else in that instance, why she’d always been afraid of Mitch. He meant to kill Nate as surely as the Pithcus did.
“Don’t hurt him. Please.”
He swiped his other hand over the remaining pendants and the second brass knuckle was complete.
“His eyes, they’re silver. He’s the one with the silver eyes,” she said as Mitch stalked forward.