Dance With Darkness

by Sheri-Lynn Marean

  “I know you don’t want to be tied down to anyone, and I can’t blame you. I … I guess I can—”

  “You’re still in mourning.” Enyowas cut him off, knowing it would hurt his brother to be with another female after his recent loss.

  “Yeah, but … if it means helping this female, and … well, if she, ah, … ends up pregnant, I’m good with that. Sally wanted kids,” Veldi said, though there was a tremble in his tone.

  “And you didn’t,” Enyowas said.

  “I didn’t say I never wanted any, I just wasn’t ready, but …” Veldi didn’t have to say the rest. Life as a shifter was generally very long, but it could easily be cut short as well.

  Hellfire interrupted their mind link. “If you can’t help us, can you direct us to someone who can? Elianna hasn’t exactly endeared herself to us. Our friend’s a really sweet guy who’s been through hell, and we don’t want him being forced into the mating bond with her.”

  Wait, what? Ice chilled Enyowas. “Forced into the mating bond?”

  “Yes, apparently the clan she was raised in employs that practice. She already seems to think Kitty belongs to her,” Sami bit out.

  “Kitty?”

  Sami shrugged.

  Veldi downed one drink, then the next, hand shaking.

  Enyowas sighed with frustration and looked back at the dancers on stage, trying not to dwell on what he was about to do, and the many ways it could change his life. A life he was barely hanging on to as it was. He didn’t like change. It came with too much pain.

  He caught a flicker of invite in Gaia’s eyes, and decided he’d do it. When all this was over, he’d make a bid for her attention. “I don’t have anyone else to direct you to,” he told Hellfire and Sami.

  A sensation of being watched prickled his conscience.

  “I told you, I—” Veldi started to say.

  “No.” Then without being obvious, Enyowas took in everyone around them as he stood. “Let’s go. The clock is ticking and there’s no time to waste.” He couldn’t figure out who it was watching them, but the feeling of eyes upon him didn’t let up.

  “Enyo—”

  “No more about it,” he said. He had no choice. Out of the two of them, he was the only one who had not once, but three times, successfully resisted a female trying to force the mating bond on him.

  “Tell me more about this female,” Enyowas said as they left the club.

  “Her name is Elianna and she’s twenty-two,” Sami answered.

  Chapter 7

  Brutal pheromones blasted Enyowas as soon as he entered the former resort-turned-home. Beside him, Veldi gasped.

  “She’s up here.” Hellfire led the way through a kitchen, a very large, very nice common room, and to a set of stairs.

  As they climbed to the next floor, Enyowas drew upon his enhanced cat senses, and an alluring jasmine-and-sweet scent had him growing hard in his leather pants. Then he heard the female’s heart beating way too slow. It was weak and growing weaker.

  “She doesn’t have much longer,” Veldi said, stating the obvious.

  Enyowas brushed past Hellfire and Sami, stopping a few feet from the female.

  On the floor outside one of the bedrooms, Elianna was wrapped in a sheet. She was a tiny thing—not his usual taste in women.

  “What’s she doing out here?” Enyowas asked. With shimmering black hair to her shoulders, Elianna had pale skin, but it was the tears running down her face that tore him apart.

  Sami grimaced. “Jax just now got her out of his and Tierney’s bedroom where she was trying to get Thaniel to have sex with her.”

  Enyowas fought to draw air into his lungs as wave after wave of pheromones shuddered from Elianna in a last-ditch effort. He could hear her heart gearing down.

  He inhaled more of her lush fragrance, and his body hardened in a way it never had for anyone before.

  “Shit.” Veldi moved up beside him. “She looks like—”

  “I know,” Enyowas said, a hiss escaping him as he shot Hellfire and Sami a glare. How could they have let her get to this point?

  At the shocked expressions on their faces, he calmed. They hadn’t known that Elianna could die, and in their defense, they had come seeking help even though she’d hurt one of their own.

  He could almost feel—hear—the female’s life force seeping away.

  Then he recalled what the phoenix shifter had told him.

  This slight female had broken one of their most taboo laws. You never turn someone unless they were an adult and you had their consent and your clan’s, or pack leader’s, consent. Not only had Elianna turned this Kitty, but she also left him to transition alone. He didn’t envy the guy who was lucky to even be alive.

  Enyowas had come here prepared to do his duty, possibly help this clouded leopard find a clan to take her in, and then never think of her again. Except Elianna opened her exotic, almond-shaped golden eyes and met his.

  The world slowed. Stopped. Then another wave blasted from Elianna. The beast inside him began to prowl restlessly. As Veldi started to move, Enyowas sent him another warning. “No.”

  The cat within Enyowas calmed once he scooped the female up into his arms, and he marveled at how little she weighed.

  “Who are you?” she mumbled, eyes falling closed.

  “Shh, it’s okay, I’m here to help.”

  Elianna passed out in his arms.

  Enyowas looked at Sami and Hellfire. “You said I could use one of the cabins?”

  “Yeah, take your pick, the only one in use has a porch light on. You’re welcome to any of the others,” Sami said.

  Heart racing and the blood in his body roaring, Enyowas hurried back down the stairs, fighting the burning need to toss Elianna on the floor and take her right there where anyone could see.

  Through the thin sheet, the heat of her body sent wildlife licking through his veins. Enyowas groaned.

  He hurried outside, and as the chill air hit them, Elianna’s eyes opened and her whole body tensed. “What—who are you? What are you doing with me?”

  Her voice, though weak and full of fear, sent a shot of molten lava slithering through him. His cock twitched, and his heart began to thump even harder. What the hell? Enyowas would have blamed his reaction on the fact Elianna was in heat, but he’d been around females in heat before, and none had ever affected him this badly.

  “I’m Enyowas.”

  “I’ve heard of you. You’re the leader of the Spite … Cats … mixed-breed clan.”

  “That would be me,” he answered.

  “You here to kill me?” She started to shift. Dark spots formed on her tawny skin and claws grew from her hands. A golden light flashed in her eyes.

  “Shh, relax, I’m not here to kill you. I promise.”

  “Why should I believe you?” she asked, still trying to shift into her cat and break free of his arms.

  “Knowing who I am, do you really think if I wanted to hurt you that you’d be able to stop me?”

  She struggled even harder. “Let me go.”

  “Sure. Fine.” Enyowas gently set her on her feet, and for a moment, he thought she was going to flee, but then she started to collapse.

  She let out a low growl, more in frustration, as he scooped her back up.

  “I give you my word, I’m not here to hurt you, only help.”

  “Why—” Another wave of pheromones swept her words away.

  Enyowas drew in a swift breath as his own power surged right alongside his cat.

  Elianna’s heartbeat picked up a notch as she stared at him.

  Enyowas clenched his jaw and continued over to one of the cabins, trying to fight the fresh bout of mating magic eager to drive him insane.

  “Where are you taking me? To your clan?” She shuddered, skin impossibly hot against him.

  Enyowas struggled to breathe as wave after wave pummeled him, clinging, tempting, luring, sucking him in. He tried to resist, but it was impossible. “No.”

 
; Relief, followed by disappointment, flashed in her eyes before she lowered her head against his neck. Her hair felt like the finest silk as it brushed his skin, and her breath tickled his throat, sending the most intense craving racing through his veins. He wasn’t an inexperienced boy, yet he felt like he was ready to come.

  “Then where?”

  “I’m here to get you through your heat,” Enyowas said as he approached the last cabin tucked in along the tree line.

  Elianna lifted her head to stare at him and a wary distrust entered her eyes. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “So, you and I are going to …”

  “That’s right,” he said.

  “What’s the catch?”

  “Catch?” he asked with a frown, then shook his head. “No catch.”

  She studied him for a long moment and the look in her eyes said she didn’t believe him, but then she nestled back in against his neck.

  Enyowas faltered, stunned at how nice, how right it felt to have her tucked against him.

  An overwhelming urge to protect her. A strange, albeit a very enticing one, filled him. A reaction that left him baffled and confused.

  Sami and Hellfire had depicted a little she-devil, and while he believed everything they said, Elianna was so not what he’d been expecting.

  Enyowas should have just let Veldi deal with Elianna, but he couldn’t do that to his brother. Although Veldi believed he could service this female, he’d just lost his girlfriend and the guilt he’d carry over betraying his lost love would have destroyed him.

  Enyowas couldn’t let that happen.

  Right, like that’s the only reason.

  Enyowas tried to deny it, but from the moment he’d caught Elianna’s scent, a feeling of possessiveness had taken over him. Even his beast, which was normally silent, was prowling around eagerly.

  “Then you should know what you’re getting into,” she said. “I’m Elianna, and I’m a … clouded … leopard.” Her whispered words claimed that to be a horrible thing.

  “I know, that’s a very rare but beautiful breed.” Enyowas clenched his jaw against the desire to rip the heads off those who had hurt her for something she had no control over.

  Anger sizzled in her eyes, turning them a darker, deeper gold.

  “What?” he asked, unsure how he’d pissed her off.

  “Why would you say that? Clouded leopards aren’t beautiful, they’re mongrels.”

  Enyowas scowled and his heart clenched. “No, they are not. Who brainwashed you to believe such a despicable lie?”

  “I—” She appeared confused by his words. “You still want to help me?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because—” Her voice was weak and shaky. “Why would you? You have to want something in return, what is it?”

  “I already told you, I don’t want anything.”

  Eyes returned to her normal brilliant gold studied him. “I don’t deserve your help or anyone’s.”

  “Why do you think that?” Enyowas asked.

  “I’ve done some bad things to someone who didn’t deserve it.”

  “You mean turning someone without his permission?” he asked.

  “Hellfire and Sami told you.”

  “They did. You sound like you regret what you did,” he said.

  “I do. It was wrong of me, and I knew it. I was stupid and desperate, and couldn’t seem to stop myself. And tonight, I threw myself at him and tried to force him to take me.” She lowered her gaze. “I’m so embarrassed. I just … it was like I wasn’t in control of me, I couldn’t seem to help it, and now …”

  “Now what?”

  “I feel … so weak, I-I’m not ready to die.”

  “I can definitely understand that.” Hell, he’d been fighting all his life to stay alive.

  Elianna laid her head against him once again, and Enyowas wanted to sigh.

  What was wrong with him? His reaction to her was beginning to spook him. He really needed to get this done and get out of there. He held her easily with one arm and reaching around, opened the cabin door.

  The moon’s rays shone through the window, illuminating the small but tidy and very cozy space. There was a couch, a faux bearskin rug in front of a nice little stone fireplace, a kitchenette with an eating area, and a queen-size bed. Striding over, he deposited Elianna onto the bed, and it was all he could do not to rip the sheet from her and plunge his throbbing cock deep between her legs. As more of the enticing, evil magic drew him to her, he paced away, fighting for a semblance of control.

  Elianna’s clutched the sheet tighter around herself, and studied him warily, but then she twitched. Pheromones permeated the cabin, and with a little groan, part of the sheet dropped away.

  Enyowas froze, eyes riveted on her tawny skin. Faint leopard prints covered her skin at the shoulder and trailed down her arm. He imaged the other had the same markings as well. But it was the creamy swell of her right breast that held his attention.

  His fists clenched at his sides, and as the pulse in her neck increased to match the rise and fall of her chest, his cat rose to the surface.

  Elianna licked her lips and watched him, as if waiting for him to pounce on her.

  The sheet fell even lower.

  Control rapidly slipping, Enyowas fought to remain still.

  “You said you’re going to help me get through my heat?” she asked.

  He did? Right, he did.

  When he didn’t answer, her eyes grew cold and she raised her chin, as if expecting him to turn and leave. Maybe even daring him to do so.

  He should do that, he should just go, run. But she was right, he had said he’d help her, though he had a feeling doing so was going to end up being a mistake—his reaction to her wasn’t something he wanted. No, he should never have agreed to come here. “I … did.”

  He swallowed deeply, aching to pull her firmly against his body, to strip the cover from her and touch her everywhere. To slide his tongue between her lips and taste her, as he thrust himself deep into her warm, wet core. To run his fingers through her straight, silky black hair, and watch her stunning, exotic golden eyes fill with passion.

  An appreciative light entered her eyes as she tore her gaze from his and raked him slowly down to the tent in his pants. She gnawed on her lower lip as she studied him.

  His cock swelled and an urgent, furious need licked like lightning through him.

  “Well then”—her eyes met his again—“you probably want to see what you’re getting.” She let the sheet fall away completely.

  The cat inside Enyowas began to purr. Yup, he was right. She had her leopard pattern on both arms from her elbow to her shoulder. It added to her stunning, exotic looks.

  Elianna was nothing at all like the voluptuous, full-breasted women he was usually drawn to. Breath suddenly ragged, Enyowas’s mouth went dry at the sight of both small pert, yet plump breasts. Her skin was tawny all over and his gaze was drawn down her smooth pale belly, narrow hips, and to the V of silky black curls nestled between her legs.

  He almost went to his knees as another wave of pheromones hit him, and his cat growled its demand that he make her theirs. His nails dug into his palms as his craving deepened until it was a driving hunger, the likes of which he’d never known.

  And for some reason, despite the pheromones, Enyowas didn’t think that was the reason for his attraction. Yeah, this was a really stupid decision, yet he couldn’t leave this girl to die. In fact, every bone in his body demanded he take care of her, protect her with his life.

  Enyowas wanted to gut himself. He didn’t need anyone else relying on him, and he’d been arrogant to believe he was strong enough to take her and not lose himself. Or at the very least, judging by his body and inner beast’s reaction, lose all control. Normally the women he fucked could handle him, but Elianna touched him in a way they didn’t. Brought out his protective side full force, and if he lost control, he’d hurt her. That was the last thing he
wanted to do.

  “I understand if you’ve changed your mind.” Elianna wilted, lowering her gaze to the floor.

  “I’ll help you, I just … need a moment,” he rasped out, trying to regulate his breathing.

  Hope lit her gaze, then she shivered, her nipples beading.

  Desire flared, a unique scent that smacked him hard and drove the air from his lungs.

  Enyowas moved forward, riveted to her pointy little breasts. He ached to take one into his mouth. What would she taste like?

  The need to know completely consumed him.

  Unable to stop, he moved close and gently hauled her up against him.

  Elianna shuddered, and her hands slid under his leather jacket and black tee, roaming all over him in desperation.

  Enyowas lowered his lips to her soft pink ones.

  Liquid fire lit him up, and with a moan in the back of his throat, his eyes slid shut.

  She tasted utterly divine. Like honeysuckle, cinnamon, and sweet bubbly wine, and her fingers on his skin sent his senses into overdrive. The cat within him purred even louder.

  Then she pulled her lips from his and, holding up his shirt, lowered her head to his collarbone. The first lick drew a ragged breath from him, then she attempted to slide his leather jacket off. “Why’s this so heavy?”

  Without responding, Enyowas shrugged out of his weapon-clad jacket and draped it over a chair.

  Elianna pulled his T-shirt off and her eyes widened. “You have paw prints.”

  Enyowas didn’t tell her they were from when his sire had struck him especially hard as a boy, because for the first time in his life, they didn’t bother him. No, as Elianna’s lips traced and kissed the ones she could see, he realized that he didn’t mind at all. Heat infused him as she proceeded to taunt him, lips burning a trail over his skin while her little teeth nipped and teased, and her fingers sent tingles racing all over him.

  Enyowas tangled one hand in her silky black hair and slid the other over her smooth pale skin.

  A fever of hunger ignited and flooded his whole being, both man and beast, unable to get enough of her. He wanted, needed. Hungered.

  Mine! His cat clawed at his insides, demanding, sending visions of him taking her hard and fast—claim her—making her his for all time—mate.