Heroes Among Us: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Ditter Kellen

  “Are you hungry?”

  “No, but a drink would be nice.” Charlie trailed off through the kitchen to the hallway beyond. The door to his bedroom stood open. It was the first time she’d had the opportunity to see inside.

  She peeked inside the room, finding a massive wood-framed bed sitting against the far wall. It looked to be made of oak and was obviously hand carved. The dresser matched the bed frame, as did the night stands perched on either side of the big bed.

  His incredible manly scent drifted out to meet her, teasing her senses and triggering memories of her grinding on him on her sofa not long ago.

  Heat immediately rushed to her face, spurring her to hurry on to the bathroom.

  After taking care of her needs, Charlie washed her hands and returned to the living room to find Kash setting two glasses of wine on a coffee table.

  She skirted the couch and lowered herself onto its center. Charlie knew that doing so would force Kash to sit next to her no matter which side he entered from. And if she had any hope of seducing him, she would need to get started right away.

  As if written in a play book, he took her cue and dropped down next to her. Charlie couldn’t help but breathe in his masculine scent. Damn, he smelled good. Yet, as good as he smelled and looked, she was running out of time. If she didn’t bring Celia a vial of his or Mauve’s blood, Charlie would die…and soon. Her headaches had already grown to monumental proportions, and she’d begun to experience nausea. Yeah, it wouldn’t be long now if she didn’t get the hell out of there.

  She took a fortified breath and angled her body toward his. “How old are you, Kash?”

  He seemed surprised by her question. “I’m thirty-six.”

  “How long have you been…a werewolf?”

  Kash ran a hand through his short, dark hair. “What’s with the questions?”

  “Just answer, please.”

  “Since age four.”

  That shocked Charlie. “You were just a baby.”

  “Yeah, well I probably wouldn’t have survived out here, otherwise.”

  “But why bring you out here at all? This is no place for a kid.”

  Kash ignored her question, instead, asking one of his own. “What are you doing in the swamps of Louisiana? I know you said you were on vacation, but most people vacation with family…husbands, children.”

  Charlie found herself uncomfortable looking into his eyes. “I don’t have a husband or kids. All I have is my dad. And being the chief of staff at the hospital where I work, he stays far too busy to travel.”

  “You’re a doctor?”

  Charlie studied the beautifully woven rug in front of a chair across the room. “I was studying to be. I’m currently a Registered Nurse.”

  “Was?”

  The old familiar pain from knowing she would never be the doctor she’d always dreamed of rolled through her. “It’s…complicated.”

  Kash shifted his weight, slightly. “I see. And have you never been married?”

  “No, never.” She thought about the years she’d spent in school before the tumors had wrecked her life. Charlie had worked so hard to overcome the devastating effects of chemo and radiation, only to fall victim to cancer’s affliction once more. She’d never had the luxury of something as precious as love, and now she lacked one of the most important aspects of any relationship…time.

  Kash abruptly rolled to his feet and moved to a window facing the back side of the house. The stiff set of his shoulders spoke volumes of the shift in his mood. “If it were only me I had to worry about, things would be different. But it’s not. Mauve and I are the last of our kind, and she is nearly out of time.”

  Charlie could definitely relate.

  Her gaze fell on the two glasses of wine perched on the coffee table. She slowly reached into her pocket, while shifting her attention to Kash’s back, and pulled the small vial free.

  With her heart pounding wildly, she uncorked it and quickly poured a few drops into the wine glass on the right. Her hands shook so bad, she nearly dropped the vial before she could recork it and stuff it back into her pocket.

  He turned to peer at her over his shoulder. “I used to think that I had been cursed. It took me many years to move beyond my bitterness and see that, without Mauve, I wouldn’t be here now.”

  Pushing back her nervousness, Charlie faced him without blinking. She could understand not wanting to die. She would gladly trade death for a life in the swamps if it meant she could live. “What does the Voodoo priestess want with you?”

  Kash moved to stare out the window once more. “The blood of a Rougarou is said to hold certain powers. But it comes at a great cost.”

  “So, Celia wants your blood for the power it will give her?” Charlie stood, picked up their wine glasses, and trailed over to stand next to Kash. She handed him the one she’d poured the vial’s contents in.

  Kash accepted the glass and took a healthy drink. “Something like that. She would become our worst nightmare. Saint Malo would no longer be safe from her, and neither would Mauve and I.”

  Guilt assailed Charlie. She had just drugged Kash. And if her plan worked and she managed to get the vial of blood Celia wanted, the Voodoo priestess would destroy Kash. But the alternative for Charlie would be certain death if she didn’t return with that blood.

  Maybe Charlie could kill Celia after the Voodoo priestess cured her of the cancer? Or perhaps she could demand to be healed first, before giving her the blood. Charlie would need to think this through. In the meantime, she couldn’t do anything without that blood.

  He took another drink of his wine.

  Charlie sipped at her own. “Why don’t you just kill her?”

  Kash barked out a laugh. “I wonder why I never thought of that?”

  Realizing his voice dripped with sarcasm, she turned back toward the couch. “Forgive me for trying to help.”

  Kash caught her by the arm before she made it halfway across the room. “You can help by telling me what you were doing at Celia’s.”

  Charlie pulled her arm free of his hold. “I already told you. I was—”

  “Brought there by a girl named Trudy,” he finished for her. “So you say.”

  Charlie gritted her teeth, her fingers gripping the stem of her wine glass. “You believe what you want, but I’m telling you the truth. I have absolutely nothing to gain by lying to you.”

  He took a step closer, leaning down until his nose nearly touched hers. “Whether you’re lying or not, remains to be seen. And until I get the answers I seek, you aren’t going anywhere.” He set his wine glass on an end table.

  His temptingly masculine scent floated up her nose, taking a little of the wind out of her sails. She barely noticed when he eased her glass from her fingers and placed it next to his own.

  Charlie’s gaze lowered down his face, from the angry flare of his nostrils to the tight set of his jaw. She avoided his sensual lips with everything in her; those lips that had kissed her breathless only days before. She saw them in her dreams every time she closed her eyes.

  She looked at his damn lips.

  He was suddenly closer, his nose next to her cheek. The choppy sound of his breathing, echoing inside her ear. “My supernatural senses are far more superior than any ordinary man’s. I can sniff out a lie from a mile away.”

  Charlie’s stomach dropped. What if he had smelled the drug she’d put in his wine?

  Kash dragged his nose around her face until his lips rested next to her other ear. “I can also smell desire. You want me, Charlene Howard, regardless of who and what I am.”

  Relieved that he hadn’t mentioned the contents of the wine, Charlie moved back a few inches, putting enough space between them to see his eyes. “I—”

  His mouth closed over hers.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kash slanted his lips across Charlie’s again and again. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her taste, the feel of her soft mouth moving beneath his.

  S
he had been a prisoner in his home for nearly a month, tempting him with her intoxicating scent, her sky-blue eyes. Why couldn’t he seem to shut down his attraction where she was concerned?

  A breathless moan vibrated deep in her throat. It washed through Kash’s body in a slow, sensual slide.

  He could feel the blood rushing to his shaft, hardening him to the point of near pain. He’d accused Charlie of desiring him, yet there he stood, his throbbing erection taunting him from the confines of his jeans.

  Her hands came up to cup his face, and Kash suddenly didn’t care how he appeared. His arms encircled her slight form. He pulled her tightly against him, his pulsing erection pressing against the softness of her stomach.

  He broke off the kiss, his uneven breathing stirring the wisps of hair that framed her face. “Charlie…I—”

  The front door opened, forcing Kash to release his hold on Charlie. He looked up in time to see Mauve enter the kitchen.

  Mauve’s faded brown gaze met Kash’s before settling on Charlie. “She still lives.”

  Kash glanced at Charlie, noticing the shift in her demeanor. Gone was the spitfire he’d been kissing a minute ago, and in its place stood pale, frightened woman.

  An overwhelming need to protect rose up inside him. He moved to step in front of Charlie before turning his attention to Mauve. “We talked about this.”

  Mauve ventured deeper into the room. “The longer you keep her alive, the more dangerous she becomes.”

  “She’s not a danger to us,” Kash ground out. He briefly closed his eyes, softening his tone. “I realize that you’re concerned, but I know what I’m doing.”

  He spoke to Charlie without taking his attention from Mauve. “Get below.”

  Charlie didn’t argue. She skirted around him, giving Mauve a wide berth, and disappeared through the open basement door.

  Mauve moved past the island in the kitchen, stopping a few feet away from Kash. “You are smitten with her.”

  Kash’s anger surfaced. “You’re wrong.”

  “Am I?” Mauve’s gaze strayed to the basement door. “There is something off about her. I can’t put my finger on it, but I sensed it when I arrived.”

  Kash had sensed it, too; he couldn’t put a name to it either. “It doesn’t matter. As long as she remains here, she is no threat to either of us. Celia can’t touch us here, nor can she touch Charlie.”

  “She has already touched her.” A faraway look entered Mauve’s eyes. “The priestess has set things in motion. Even now, she sits and waits for her plan to unfold.”

  “What plan?”

  Mauve blinked, lifting her ancient gaze to Kash once more. “Only the girl can tell you that. She alone knows the truth.”

  She turned and shuffled back through the kitchen toward the door. “If you cannot find the strength to do what must be done, then I will do it for you.”

  Kash didn’t respond. He stood next to the couch, staring at Mauve’s departing back. She expected him to kill Charlie; the woman he’d held in his arms…the woman he was coming to care for.

  Nausea rolled through his gut at the thought of hurting Charlie. No matter who or what she was to Celia, Kash knew he couldn’t harm her. Keep her locked away in the basement forever, maybe, but he wouldn’t take her life.

  He glanced at the basement door, debating on whether to lock it, or go down there and force the truth from her. He chose the latter.

  Charlie was seated on the side of the cot wringing her hands when Kash descended the steps to the basement. She appeared pale and fragile. His steps faltered.

  She slowly got to her feet. “Did you come down here to kill me?”

  Kash inwardly flinched. “Mauve is convinced that you’re hiding something, Charlie. And frankly, so am I.”

  “I’m not hiding anything,” Charlie whispered. “Why won’t you believe me?”

  “I sense something in you, Charlie. Something off. My gut tells me it’s most likely Voodoo.”

  She lifted her shirt over her head. “What does your heart tell you?”

  Kash was a little surprised by her antics. He’d expected an argument of some kind. Not a half-dressed Charlie, staring back at him with determination in her eyes.

  His gaze lowered to her softly rounded breasts, incased in a lacy pink bra. And just like that, he was fully erect once more.

  Two could play at that game. He gripped the hem of his T-shirt and tugged it over his head. If she thought to seduce him into letting her go, she was sorely mistaken.

  Chapter Twenty

  Charlie’s mouth went dry at the sight of Kash’s bare chest. Even under her current circumstances, she wanted him.

  More guilt assailed her for drugging his wine, but he’d left her no choice. She had to get out of that basement and back to Celia before it was too late. If her doctor was correct, she only had a couple months left to live…at best.

  She could tell Kash the truth, she supposed, but what good would that do her? Kash’s pity was the last thing she wanted; and he would surely pity her, if he believed her at all.

  No, Charlie would hold fast to her plan; seduce Kash, obtain a vial of his blood, and take it to Celia. Once the Voodoo priestess rid her of the cancer, Charlie would come back and explain everything. Until then, she needed him beneath her.

  She removed her shoes, unzipped her jeans, and stepped out of them.

  Kash’s gaze traveled down her body before straying back to her face. “If this is some kind of game you’re playing, you better be damn sure you know what you’re doing.”

  “Shut up, Kash.”

  He toed off his boots, never taking his gaze from her eyes.

  Charlie watched his every move, regret and desire warring within her. He would hate her for what she was about to do, and that scared her almost as much as dying.

  He removed his jeans, sliding his boxer briefs down with them.

  All thought fled for Charlie when Kash’s thick erection came into view. Gone were the regrets, the fear and uncertainty. All she knew in that moment was that her desire for Kash was as real as the man standing proudly before her.

  He stepped in close, his eyes burning with a brilliant, golden light. “If you’re going to stop, do it now. Once I touch you, there’s no turning back.”

  Charlie wasn’t about to stop. She had set this plan into motion the moment she’d drugged his wine. It was too late to back out now. She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slid them down her legs.

  Kash closed the distance, his powerful arms coming around, his lips seeking hers once again.

  Charlie opened for him, loving the feel of his mouth moving on hers.

  He turned her slightly, dragging his lips down her neck to her breast. The feel of his tongue encircling her nipple sent goosebumps scattering along her skin. He sucked the hardened tip into his mouth.

  Charlie’s hands went to his hair to hold him tightly against her as sensations from the pull of his mouth shot from her breasts to the juncture of her thighs. Her legs grew weak.

  Kash lowered his weight to the cot without breaking the suction he had on her breast. His hands were everywhere; coasting down her sides, her back, and finally her ass.

  He released her breast, slipping a hand between her thighs to cup her aching center. Instead of entering her with his fingers as she expected him to do, he gently massaged her; the palm of his hand creating friction against her mound while his fingers slid along her opening.

  Charlie’s hands automatically went to his shoulders. She stared into his brilliant golden eyes, begging him without words to give her what she desired.

  “Is this what you want?” He penetrated her with a finger.

  She could only moan; a soft shuttering sound that seemed to come from deep within.

  “Or this…” His thumb circled her sensitive bundle of nerves. He inserted another finger.

  Charlie’s gasp lodged in a throat closed with emotion. She’d never experienced anything as seductive as Kash�
��s large, calloused hand teasing her into a frenzy. But that’s exactly what he did. It was as if he knew where to touch her, how much pressure to use, and when to back off.

  Without taking his gaze from hers, he demanded, “Move forward and put your legs over mine.” His fingers continued their gentle onslaught.

  She forgot all about her cancer, and the hope that Celia could help her. All Charlie knew in that moment was Kash…and how he made her feel. She eased forward and straddled his lap.

  His free arm came around her to support her weight while his fingers moved inside her, his thumb circling her wet flesh again and again.

  Charlie’s head fell back, her hips moving in time with his thrusting fingers.

  “Come for me, Charlie.” He curled his fingers in to press against a place that took her breath.

  Thousands of nerve endings came alive inside her body. They spread from the point of contact to travel up her abdomen, only to begin all over again.

  Charlie couldn’t breathe…think…or move for that matter. She remained suspended in her current position, chasing a feeling that seemed just out of reach.

  His circling thumb, grew in strength, giving her just the added pressure she needed to sail off into the abyss.

  “That’s it,” he coaxed, tightening his hold on her back. “Just let go…I got you.”

  And then it happened. The nerves that had been racing through her abdomen suddenly ignited. Charlie’s back arched, and a cry wrenched from her in hoarse surrender. Her entire body seized, her muscles locking up with the power of her climax.

  Her release seemed to go on forever, holding her in a state of euphoria she never wanted to come back from.

  Kash waited for her orgasm to slow and then eased his fingers from her body. He carefully lifted her, laying her on her back in the center of the cot.

  Charlie stared up at him, watching his every move through a haze of desire.

  He rested a knee near the foot of the cot and eased her legs apart once more. “So wet…”

  Slipping his arms beneath her knees, he lifted her legs over his shoulders and settled between her thighs.