by Rebecca York
Then Caleb had arrived and changed the odds.
She walked carefully over the ground, keeping her gaze down, looking at where the leaves were scuffed. When she reached the place where she thought the man had fallen, she was hardly able to believe what she was seeing.
The body was missing.
CHAPTER TEN
“I took care of him.”
The voice came from behind Quinn. And she knew who it was.
Turning, she saw a dark-haired man with intense eyes and a strong jaw. Well, she mostly saw him. He still wasn’t entirelysolid, but he was definitely more visible than before.
He looked very masculine and very aggressive, and she wondered if his werewolf traits were rising to the surface now that he had changed from wolf to man and back again last night.
She took an involuntary step back.
“I won’t hurt you.” He took a step forward, keeping the distance even between them.
“What did you do? Carry him away?”
He made a frustrated sound. “No. I can barely touch the world.”
“You can touch me.”
“It’s strongest with you.”
She felt his words as a gift—and a responsibility.
Looking away, she gestured toward the empty place on the forest floor. “Then what happened—to the man?”
“A bear dragged him away from here.”
“A bear! I didn’t know they had bears here.”
“Not many. You do not have to fear him. I led him here. And he is gone now, after a good meal.”
Quinn shuddered, struggling to get the image out of her mind.
“And then coyotes fought over the rest. So if anyone finds the . . . remains, they will think that the bear killed him.”
“Yes.”
She had come here prepared for an unpleasant task, and now she was relieved of the duty.
Caleb didn’t speak, and the silence between them stretched.
Really, she wanted to talk to him about Logan, but she wasn’t sure how to introduce the subject. She could make things worse by saying the wrong thing.
Caleb finally broke the silence, his voice husky. “I’m glad you came back.”
“For business.”
“But the business is finished.”
“I should . . . go.”
“Is your friend all right? The journey must have been hard on her.”
“Yes, thank you.” She moved away from the clearing.
“Don’t leave yet.”
His voice tingled along her nerve endings. She took anotherquick step back and found that her shoulders were pressed to the trunk of a tree.
Caleb stepped forward again, and this time there was nowhere for her to go. She was trapped between the tree and the man standing in front of her.
Yes, a man, because he seemed more like a living, breathinghuman than he ever had before.
“What do you want?” she whispered.
His voice was warm and intimate. “We mean something to each other.”
“Yes,” she breathed. “You risked your . . . existence to save me.”
“I had to.”
“Why did you do it?”
“You know why. You change the colors of the world for me. You make the sounds and the textures richer. Only you can give that to me.”
She had felt something similar, but she couldn’t say it out loud.
“Doesn’t changing to wolf form make you feel . . . alive?”
“Yes, but what we have is different.”
“I shouldn’t stay here.”
“You don’t want to be with me?”
She’d be lying if she said no.
Before she could form an answer, he bent to brush his lips against hers. She might have gotten away in the moment beforehis mouth came down firmly on hers. When it did, she was lost.
She wanted to fight her response to him, but that seemed to be impossible.
She sighed out his name as his mouth settled on hers, and it was the most natural thing in the world for her arms to slide around his shoulders and clasp him tightly.
It felt as if she had finally come home to her long lost lover. But it couldn’t be. She had met him only days earlier. And he wasn’t even a man.
Still, she was swamped by so many sensations that coherentthought fled. His shoulders felt so solid. His mouth was warm and wet over hers. And once again she could detect his scent—he smelled like the woods.
Incredibly, his body felt hot, a heat that transferred itself to her.
His lips on hers were exquisitely erotic. She knew that she wanted everything from him that a man could give a woman. And she wanted to give it back to him as well.
Could she?
“Caleb.” His name tumbled out of her, and he sighed in response.
“Quinn.”
His fingers tangled in her hair, tipping her head first one way and then the other. He was good at kissing. She had already found that out. He slid his lips over hers, then took her bottom lip between his teeth, nibbling at her in a way that sent the blood surging hotly through her veins.
She knew he loved her response, knew he was intent on giving more than he took.
He drew back, holding her gaze for a long, potent moment.She had time to think that looking into his eyes was so strange.
Then he dipped his head again, his arms tightening around her as he took the sensuality to another level. His tongue swirled inside her mouth, stroking the sensitive inner tissue of her lips, then probing more deeply, claiming possessionas though she were his mate.
Before she could let that thought disturb her, he eased her far enough away so that his hand could cup her breast, his fingers playing over her beaded nipple, sending hot currents through her body.
His other hand cupped her bottom, pulling her center against his erection.
“Oh!”
The position was so elemental. Male to female. And when he swayed her hips against his, she cried out again.
She should tell him to stop.
No. Why should she? This wasn’t real. Maybe it was only a dream that the Great Mother had given her as a gift. Her most heartfelt wish. A man of her own, but only for a little moment in time.
He was more real and solid than he had ever been before. Although she knew he could have touched her through her clothing if he wanted, she felt his hand open the snap at the top of her jeans and slip inside to flatten against her abdomen.It was a very sexy gesture. With his hand wedged against her body, he moved his fingers, playing them over her heated flesh, making her cry out. Making her want to feel his hand travel lower.
Finally, when she thought she might go mad if he didn’t do more, he opened the zipper all the way. Slipping two hands into the sides of the jeans, he dragged them down, along with her panties.
The pants tangled around her legs, and she kicked them away, feeling the cool morning air on her heated flesh. With one hand holding her in place, he reached under the back of her T-shirt and pulled it up, stripping it off as easily as he had dispatched the jeans. She hadn’t worn a bra. She’d told herself it would be uncomfortable when she used the shovel. Now she wondered if she had been thinking about somethinglike this.
He held her a little away, his hot gaze traveling over her body.
“You are amazingly beautiful,” he said in a husky voice.
She didn’t question him. Or question herself. She was caught up in the spell he was weaving around her.
But she was completely naked, out here in the woods. And he was still dressed. When her hands went to the belt buckle at his waist, he stopped her.
“Don’t.”
“You’re so different from when I first met you. I want you naked, too. So I can touch you. Touch all of you. Feel your body. See you.”
His words were rough and jerky. “You can’t.”
“Why not?”
He didn’t answer the question. “Just let me do all the things I’ve longed to do. Let me give you pleasure.”
Before she could protest, he captured her mouth again, using his lips, his tongue, his teeth to feast on her.
At the same time, his hands moved over her body. He cupped her bottom, caressing her as he slid his fingers over her exposed flesh, then slipping lower, reaching from behind to dip into the folds of her sex.
“I love the way you feel. You’re so alive, so warm and wet for me. Like thick, warm cream,” he murmured into her mouth.
He continued to kiss her as he brought both hands to her breasts, holding their weight in his palms while he played his fingers over her aching nipples, then caught them between his thumbs and fingers, pulling and twisting.
His touch was so real. So masculine. So intense.
Nothing in her life had ever felt so good, yet she wanted more, wanted it with a desperation that made her senses spin.
“I need you inside me,” she gasped out.
“We have to do it this way. But it will be good for you. I promise I’ll make it good.”
One hand traveled down her body. He stopped at her clit, circling that throbbing place, bringing her to a higher level of need.
“Please.”
“I know. Soon.” His lips were against her ear now. His teeth worried her lobe, then he pointed his tongue and probed her ear canal, sending tingles through her.
“That’s good,” she gasped in surprise that such a place could be so erotically sensitive.
“For me, too.”
His lips traveled to her jawline, then her neck while he stiffened two fingers and slipped them into her vagina, going in at an angle so that the edge of his hand could stroke back and forth across her clit as his fingers made love to her.
Great Mother, he knew how to pleasure a woman. Exactly how.
She hung on to his shoulder with one hand. The other slid down his body, pressing over his erection, seeking more intimatecontact as her hips worked frantically against his hand.
“You are so sexy. So alive. So beautiful,” he whispered as he brought her up and up, so that her body tightened as she felt climax approaching.
Then she was spinning out of control, her whole being vibratingas a wave of pleasure crashed over her. It was followedby another and another so that she had to cling to him to stay upright.
She heard her own breath racing in and out of her lungs. Again her hands went to his waistband, but when she pulled at the button that closed his jeans, she couldn’t open it.
“I want to touch you there.”
“I want that, too, but we can’t.”
Her eyes flew open, and she stared into his dark eyes. They were resigned—and sad.
“Why not?”
“Because my clothes are part of me. They don’t come off.”
She blinked, trying to take that in. And then the truth slammed into her like an iron ball from a siege cannon. He had changed so much that she would have sworn he was a flesh and blood man. But he was a ghost, not a man.
“This isn’t real.”
“Yes, it is! As real as we both want it to be.”
“No. You gave me pleasure, and there’s nothing I can do for you.”
“That’s not true! You did something for me. You let me bring you to climax. I loved doing it. I loved knowing I could do it.”
“But . . . it’s not . . . normal.”
“Don’t use that word!”
“Why not?”
“Don’t make rules for the two of us. Sex between two people is whatever they agree on.”
She struggled to speak around the lump that had formed in her throat. “Where can this possibly end up? You’re in one reality and I’m in another.”
He waited a beat before answering. “We can be together— here in the forest.”
She stared at him, seeing the solid man’s body and yet still seeing the shafts of morning light cutting right through him. He felt so alive. But when she really looked at him, she knew the truth.
“For how long?” she asked with a catch in her voice.
“As long as you want.”
“And then what? I have to go back to my own world. In the end, I’ll be left with nothing. And so will you.”
“You can stay here. Don’t you like it here?”
“I do. But it’s not where I belong. I only came to help Zarah. Then I have to go back.”
“Why?”
She felt like she was talking in circles. “This place isn’t my home.”
Sadness tore at her. They had made a very intimate connection—a connection they both craved. He was a wonderful lover. He knew the secrets of a woman’s body, and he had given her more pleasure than she would have imagined possible. But there could be nothing beyond that. She couldn’t even offer him the same satisfaction he had given her. And that was the worst part of all.
She couldn’t risk another look into his eyes. She didn’t want to see his sadness—or her own mirrored there.
Stepping away from him, she looked down and saw her clothing scattered across the ground. Quickly, she bent and scooped up the discarded articles, then began pulling on her panties and jeans.
She didn’t look at him, and he didn’t speak, didn’t try to persuade her that she was making a mistake by leaving.
When she was dressed, she picked up the shovel, then turned and started walking back toward Logan’s house. She must not come here again. No matter what Caleb said, there was nothing real for her in this forest. If she came back, she would just slip farther into a fantasy that would consume her.
She walked slowly, dragging her feet. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Maybe she could hide what had happened from Logan and Rinna. But Zarah would know right away that she’d had sex.
She made a strangled sound.
Had sex!
Caleb had been incredibly generous. He had brought her to a blinding climax. She could go back, and they could do it all over again.
It was so tempting. She had been alone for a long time. And she was envious of Zarah and Griffin. And Logan and Rinna, too.
She thought she might have had that same kind of relationshipwith Caleb Marshall. If he had been alive. If they could have made a life together.
But that was impossible, no matter how much she wanted to be with him.
She trudged on, wondering what she was going to do when she got back to the house. She could see it through the trees now, and she stopped, feeling so alone and isolated.
She sat down on a fallen log and cradled her head in her hands, struggling not to cry. There was no use crying. It wasn’t going to help anything.
Resignation settled over her as she got up and started off again, her legs stiff and wooden.
When she walked in, she found Logan, Rinna, and Zarah sitting at the table in the breakfast room.
“Did you bury him?” Rinna asked.
“I didn’t get a chance. Animals took him away and scatteredhis bones.”
“Did you see them?”
“No. The ghost told me.” She gave Logan a guilty look. “I took a shovel from your toolshed. I hope that’s okay. I put it back,” she added quickly.
“That’s fine.”
Zarah was watching her with assessing eyes. She could almost hear her friend’s thought. Zarah knew something had happened between Quinn and Caleb.
“You talked to the ghost?” Zarah murmured.
“Yes.”
“How did he look?”
“More like a man.”
“He’s getting stronger,” Rinna said. “You have to . . .”
“What? Kill him?” Quinn challenged, hearing the sharpnessin her voice. “He’s already dead,” she said more softly.
“Make sure he can’t hurt Logan.”
Quinn winced. “In our world, there would be books that would explain how to put a . . . prohibition on him.”
“But you can’t go back and get them now,” Zarah said.
Quinn nodded.
“There’s information on ghosts and psychic phenomena here,” Logan said. “Maybe there
’s a clue in my library. Or on the Web.”
“A spiderweb?” Zarah asked.
Logan grinned and launched into an explanation of computersearch engines.
When he finished, Quinn said, “I’ll start with your library.” That would give her something to do. And maybe it would keep Zarah from asking questions about what had happened in the woods a little while ago.
To Quinn’s relief, Rinna changed the subject. “Zarah and I are going to some shops where we can find some more maternityclothes for her.”
“I don’t have money from here,” Zarah said softly. “But I can pay you in gold coins.”
“You’re our guest,” both Rinna and Logan said.
“But I don’t want to be a burden. Let me pay you.”
“Yes. Thank you,” Rinna answered, then turned back to Quinn. “So, do you want to go on a shopping trip?”
“No. I’ll stay here and read,” she said, glad that she had a reason to be separated from her friend.
Zarah gave her a long look, a look that said, “We’ll get back to this later.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Later turned out to be that afternoon, when the women had come home, and Logan and Rinna went out to buy groceries. And probably to be alone, Quinn thought. She could imagine that having two strangers in the house all the time was hard on them, but they weren’t going to say so. Maybe they were stopping somewhere in the woods to have some quality time together.
As she thought of quality time in the woods, she took her lower lip between her teeth.
“What?” Zarah asked.
“Nothing.”
“Did things go badly with Caleb this morning?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I gather that,” her friend answered immediately.
“It’s personal. And I have to work it out by myself.”
Zarah was silent for several moments, then she cleared her throat and began to speak very quickly. “You remember when we were both slaves. I was humiliated in that auction and sold to Griffin, and I knew I was going to end up in his bed—and I had no experience with men. You told me things that helped me get through it. More than that. You told me it would be so much better for me if I let myself respond to him. You gave me the courage to help myself. So can I do the same for you?”