by Nina Bangs
He glanced past her.
“No, I’m not inviting you in. Just answer a few questions.”
His gaze grew wary. “Ask.”
“I’m the only human witness. Will you have to kill me?” She didn’t believe he would, but the question had to be checked off her list.
The corners of his luscious mouth tipped up. “Not necessary. No one would believe your story.”
“Were those guys really vampires?”
Ty shrugged. “I guess so. They weren’t human. And I recognized the scent of the one who broke the car window. He killed the man we found last night.”
She fought to keep her face expressionless. But her Chicken Little mind was running in circles screaming, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
“Next question. What’re you?”
“I’m otherkin.”
“Explain.”
“Otherkin are nonhuman souls trapped in human bodies.”
“I’d say you have one assertive soul.”
His scowl said he didn’t think that was funny. “Fin and the rest of us are a little different from the normal otherkin.”
“Normal?”
His sudden smile softened the hard lines of his face. “Right. Normal wasn’t a good word. Most otherkin have no choice. Steve’s soul is a horse. He was born that way. I bet if I knew him better, I’d find out he runs in marathons. Most otherkin learn to adapt or go crazy.”
“How’re you different?” She thought about the T. rex. “Other than the obvious.”
Ty stared at the ceiling for a moment before answering. “Maybe we need to let it go for now. I’ve told you too much already. But after what you saw, you deserved some explanation.” He met her gaze. “You’re quitting, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Surprised, she realized the thought of walking away from him forever didn’t bring the relief she’d thought it would. “I study music and used to work at the zoo part-time. Neither of which qualifies me to be a part of whatever’s going down on the dark side.”
He nodded. “I don’t blame you.” He moved closer. “Then I guess I’d better do this now.”
Before she could react, he wrapped his arms around her and lowered his head.
His mouth on hers was a hot branding. No tentative first touching of lips. It was sexual hunger in its most primal form. If there was a woman alive who could resist the burn of his need, she must be packed in ice.
Kelly wasn’t a hypocrite. She’d been wondering what he’d feel like, taste like, so now she gave herself over to the experience—the tip of his tongue tracing her lower lip before demanding a deeper commitment, the heated male scent of him, the tactile sensation of firm lips and a tongue talented in so many ways.
And when he finally lifted his head, she wasn’t ready for it to end.
“I’d like to see you tomorrow before you leave.” He pushed a strand of her hair away from her face.
All she could do was nod. Then she went into her apartment and closed the door behind her. After making sure it was locked, she shed her clothes, leaving a trail all the way to her bed. Neatness wasn’t a priority tonight. She climbed beneath the covers and stared into the darkness.
A vampire had threatened her, and she’d kissed a man tonight who had the soul of a T. rex. A T. rex who’d killed for her. Where was the hysteria? True, hysteria wouldn’t change anything that had happened. Then why wasn’t she beating down her parents’ door so she could tell them her story? Because her story was so weird not even they would believe it. Besides, knowing what walked the darkness could be dangerous for them. Could be dangerous for her.
No, she’d keep what she knew to herself. She suspected Ty was counting on that. And as she drifted off to sleep, she tried to go out on a positive thought.
Maybe Ty would offer his body for her silence. She’d make that deal.
Chapter Five
Kelly played the flute while she sat on her suitcase waiting for Ty to show up at her door. Sitting on her bag was symbolic. She’d packed all her things right after she’d woken up, showered, and had a shot of caffeine to get her through the day.
Then she’d spent some time walking around the neighborhood. Thinking. Dangerous thing, thinking. When she’d returned to the apartment, she’d Googled Otherkin on her laptop and begun reading. Wow.
Now she had her behind firmly planted on her common sense and determination. As long as she didn’t move, the suitcase would stay closed. No acting on second thoughts about the job.
And there were second thoughts. A dreamless night’s sleep had left her rested and a lot calmer. Eight hours of oblivion had put some emotional distance between the horror of last night and today. She’d witnessed the unbelievable; therefore, it was now believable. Her motto? Accept and move on.
The second thoughts were oddly seductive.
First, she had this fascination with the dangerous unknown. At the zoo, the large carnivores had always drawn her. Not enough to climb into the cage with them, but enough to make her wonder what it would be like meeting one in the jungle. Well, she’d met the granddaddy of them all last night. And yes, the fascination lived and grew, along with a raging case of the hots for Ty Endeka.
Second, the cat with the death-by-curiosity syndrome had nothing on her. Once she walked away from this job, she’d never find out what was going on. Oh, and had she mentioned never getting a chance to find out if dinosaurs did it better?
She explored some haunting Celtic melodies on the flute, allowing the music to wrap itself around her, shield her from all those second thoughts. This time she’d made the right decision, even if it depressed the hell out of her.
The doorbell startled her out of her music. Ty. Kelly drew in a deep, calming breath. She’d handle this coolly, professionally, and make her exit from his very strange life with tons of dignity.
Kelly put down her flute, pasted a smile on her face as she opened the door, and got hit with an erotic blast that should’ve lifted her off her feet and bounced her off the far wall.
Backing away from him, she held her hands out to ward off a sensual sizzle that threatened to turn her common sense to hot ash. “Stop it. Just stop it.” The back of her legs hit the armchair and she sat down hard.
“I can’t.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “God knows I’ve tried.” Shoving the door shut behind him, he trapped all that superheated testosterone in the small room with them.
Waves of desire so strong she had to clench her fists made mush of her nice neat logic. “How do you do that?” She tried to contain the emotion, tried not to react.
Sweat beaded on his forehead and a slice of muscular chest exposed by his open shirt. “I heard the music. I thought of you. It happened.”
He glided his fingers over her flute, and she felt it as a slide of flesh against flesh along her inner thigh. She pressed her legs together so hard they trembled. “Music does this to you?”
“Your music. It’s sex with a melody.” His gaze was a dark lick of erotic heat. “Like you.”
Everything about him was an orgasmic trigger for her—that sensual mouth and all those sensual words coming out of it.
“It would’ve been a lot simpler in the old days.” His lips curved up, indicating the “old days” held fond memories.
Old days? She didn’t understand.
“We would’ve met, acknowledged the attraction, and had sex.”
“Blunt, aren’t we? I don’t know where you were living, but making love had a little more ritual attached to it in the ‘old days’ around here.” Sure, he was just being honest, but his honesty ticked her off. Did she want him to play out the ritual—tell her he admired her mind, tell her she was special to him, say “make love” instead of “have sex”? Probably. Did how he said it change what she felt? Nope.
He reached her and leaned down, bracing himself with a hand on each arm of the chair. “I’ve wanted you since the first moment I saw you at the airport. I controlled it then. Barely. But that music you w
ere playing…It was like you were touching my bare body with your mouth. All over. You expect me to resist that?”
“Um, no?” She was still trying to get past the mental image of his bare body. Gorgeous pecs? Tight abs? Awe-inspiring sexual package? All of the above? Jeez, things were sort of spiraling out of control. She’d never been in the let-your-lust-run-free camp. She thought too much.
Releasing his grip on the chair’s arms, he cupped her chin and took her mouth with his.
Thinking less and less. This time she was the one who slid her tongue across his full lower lip. And when his lips parted, she took full advantage. Her tongue knew no shame, exploring the taste and texture of his mouth. His scent of distant, untamed places pushed at her control while her tongue wondered if the rest of him tasted like rich, dark chocolate. No sugar added.
She wasn’t sure who pulled whom onto the floor. She didn’t know exactly when she’d worked her fingers beneath the waistband of his jeans so she could cup his perfect butt cheeks. And she definitely had no clear memory of his pushing her top and bra up to expose her breasts.
But all who, when, and how thoughts vanished the moment he circled her nipple with the tip of his tongue. Sensation flowed in to fill all the holes left by her escaping common sense. The heat of his mouth on her nipple became a heaviness low in her belly.
And when he scraped his teeth lightly over the sensitive nub and teased it with his tongue, she actually felt tears flooding her eyes. Between gasps for air to capture all the fast-disappearing oxygen she could, Kelly tried to think.
Useless, useless, useless. Right now she was a slave to sensation, and Ty Endeka was holding her chains.
She had to abandon his delicious ass as he worked his magical mouth across her stomach, then moved lower. His hand touched the button on her jeans and, and…nothing. He stopped and simply rested his forehead against her stomach.
“What?” If that one word came out a little angry, then so be it.
“I don’t want you to think this is your severance pay.” His words were muffled and sounded desperate.
Not half as desperate as she felt. “You really know how to stomp all over a mood.” With shaking fingers, she pulled her bra and top down before he could do it.
Ty flung himself to his feet and strode to the window, giving her his broad back. “A few more seconds and I would’ve raced past the point of no return. You aren’t ready for what would happen if I turned everything loose. It’s been too long, and I want you too much.”
How long? How much? She needed to know. Uh-uh, she just needed. But as the silence dragged on between them and she reengaged her brain, common sense fought its way past all that lovely lust. He was right. If they made love right now, she’d always wonder if he was getting what he could before she walked. Not a memory to cherish.
When the quiet became almost painful, Kelly filled it with words carefully chosen to have no sexual connotation. “While I was out today, I picked up something for you to remember me by.”
At first she thought he wouldn’t respond, but finally he left the window to drop onto the couch. “A gift?” His smile seemed forced. “Never got one before.”
Now that she didn’t believe. Women would bury him in offerings if they thought they had a shot at his bed. “It reminded me of you.” She got to her feet and was surprised when she didn’t collapse in a sexually deprived heap. She walked to the dining table and rooted around in a small shopping bag. She pulled out her gift, then handed it to him.
“A Tyrannosaurus rex?” He seemed ridiculously pleased with the small toy. “Thanks.”
She shrugged, but at the same time she could feel the beginnings of a big, silly smile. The grin totally canceled her attempt at a glad-you-like-it-but-it-doesn’t-mean-a-thing expression. His pleasure in her gift made her happy.
When he finally lifted his gaze from the toy, his smile had faded. “Any chance you can stay one more night?”
No, she absolutely did not feel a tiny spurt of joy. “I don’t—”
“Q said Neva didn’t come home last night.”
“Maybe she found out how…unique you guys are.”
“She didn’t.”
“No messages from her?” Worry niggled at Kelly. Even if Neva had hooked up with someone last night, she’d had plenty of time to call with an excuse.
“Nothing.” Ty frowned. “Q told her to stay in last night. She didn’t listen.”
“That’s because he probably didn’t give her a reason for staying in. You know, Fin needs to stop hiring people under false pretences. He has a moral obligation to tell the drivers what they’re letting themselves in for.” Somehow, she didn’t think Fin would give a damn about her take on his moral obligations.
“Right. Wanted: driver for otherkin who spends nights kicking paranormal butts. Yeah, people would be fighting to sign up for that job.” He shook his head. “You weren’t supposed to see any of what you saw last night. But it won’t happen again. Humans will be safe from now on.”
Humans. There it was. Out in the open. He didn’t think of himself as human. She wanted to argue the point. “No matter what you think your soul is, the rest of you is human. So don’t set yourself up as a UFD—that would be an unidentified freaking dinosaur—who can disconnect from his humanity whenever it’s convenient.”
His expression said she didn’t know enough to make that call. He was right. If she was smart, she’d run away as fast as she could before Ty dragged her any deeper into his world. And maybe someday in the distant future she could deny what she’d seen last night and actually believe her denial.
“So, will you drive us around for just one more night?”
That was a definite no. “Yes.” Or maybe a yes. She sighed. Her common sense was shaking its head in disbelief. Curiosity and lust made dangerous bedfellows.
“Good.” He looked like he meant it. “First we’ll get something to eat and—”
The doorbell interrupted him.
Kelly stood and went to answer it. Q waited on the other side. She took one look at his expression and almost closed the door in his face. Something told her he wasn’t the bearer of good tidings. Sighing, she waved him in.
He stopped just inside the door. “I got a call a few minutes ago. Some guy using Neva’s cell phone said we’d find her on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Where the hell is that?”
“It’s a mountain biking trail in Memorial Park.” In between working part-time at the zoo and studying music she’d done a little mountain biking.
“In the middle of Houston?” Q looked unconvinced.
“Memorial’s one of the biggest urban parks in the country. Almost fifteen hundred acres. Anyway, the mountain biking trails wind through some dense forest. Pretty rough terrain too. Why not call Fin for help? He’s closer to the park than we are.”
Ty met Q’s gaze. Q shook his head. In this they were one. Neva was their driver. They took care of their own. “We won’t need help. Let’s go. We’re wasting time,” Ty said.
Once in the parking lot, Kelly looked around. “Car?”
Ty pointed toward a black SUV. “Ours is in getting a new window. Fin sent that over.” During the few seconds it took to reach the vehicle, he thought about how much he’d hated calling Fin last night. He could’ve opened their mental link, but the phone put some distance between them. Yeah, Fin had been pissed, but his interest in Jude cut short the fun he was having beating Ty over the head with his own stupidity. So Ty owed the bloodsucker.
Q didn’t get a choice of seats. Ty grabbed the one next to Kelly.
They’d barely cleared the parking lot before she started with her questions.
“Why the human drivers? A vampire driver wouldn’t even have blinked at last night. Okay, maybe she might’ve blinked at you, but she could’ve accepted it easier. Why have drivers at all? Get yourself a GPS and you’re in business.”
“The things we’re fighting can’t touch humans directly. Fin thought that would be an advantage, but it
doesn’t mean they can’t get their hired help to take out our drivers.” Q looked frustrated. “And we need you. None of us know how to drive yet. Even if we could drive, a GPS wouldn’t be able to give us the insights into the city that someone who’s lived here could.”
Kelly looked like she was compiling a shitload of questions about the “things” and the “None of us know how to drive yet” comment. Personally, Ty thought Q was saying way too much. Everything he’d said would just lead to more questions. At least Q hadn’t told her the most important reason they needed human drivers.
“You think someone’s done something to Neva, don’t you?”
“Done something” translated into “killed.” Ty understood why she didn’t want to say it. “Yeah.” No use in giving her false hope.
“Why?”
Her question encompassed all her “whys” rolled into one. Why would someone want to hurt Neva when they really wanted Q and Ty? Why be so cryptic? If someone had killed Neva, then why not come right out and say it? And why lure them down to a densely wooded area in a local park? Ty could answer the last one easily.
“A trap. They know we’ll come looking for Neva. Night plus lots of trees equals no witnesses.” Ty bared his teeth in a savage smile. “I hope there’re lots of them.”
Q stared into the darkness and said nothing. Ty chose to watch Kelly. She’d drawn her sexy lips into a thin line of disapproval. He hadn’t answered her most important question.
“It’s Nine’s way of saying, ‘Hey, I might not be able to get to you, but I can eliminate the weakest members of your team.’ Fin made a mistake.” Ty shook his head. Didn’t get to say that often. “He thought if the drivers didn’t go out at night unless they were with us, they’d be safe. It didn’t occur to him that one of them might not obey an order to stay safe in her apartment.”
“Okay, back up. Who’s this Nine and why do you call him by a number?”
How much to tell without getting in too deep? “Fin’s obsessed with numbers. He doesn’t know the name of the guy we’re fighting, just that he’s part of a gang. So Fin calls him Nine.”