Hour of Darkness

by Lara Adrian

  Sitting at the counter with him and talking with Lana and Bram over breakfast felt like the most natural thing in the world. In the strangest sense, it felt as if she had come home.

  But not to any home she’d ever known.

  A home she hadn’t even realized existed.

  More voices carried from the corridor as Logan and Razor entered the kitchen. Marina smiled at Logan, who had made her feel welcome from the moment she first arrived. The massive, dark-skinned Breed male shot her a wink, a broad smile breaking over his handsome features as he glanced from her to Cain. “Someone called a family meeting and didn’t tell us?”

  Razor seemed equally amused to find them there, but the only indication he gave was the slight quirk of his lips and an upward flick of one tawny brow. He dropped onto the stool on the other side of Marina, his loose blondish-brown hair like a mane around his ruggedly attractive face. “This looks cozy. We interrupting?”

  Cain grunted. “Yes.”

  “Not at all,” Marina and Lana replied at the same time. Marina smiled at her friend, who had moved on from the toast and was now digging into the fruit and berries.

  “How was the hunting last night?” Bram asked the two males in a wry tone.

  “Plentiful.” With a smirk, Logan leaned against the end of the long counter. “Bachelorette party sailed in around midnight. Nothing like a dozen drunk babes in tiaras and miniskirts to liven up an otherwise dull night.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Razor interjected. “By my count, you’d charmed your way around the carotids of the whole party, including the bride-to-be, before I finally dragged your ass out of there. Save some for a brother once in a while, why don’t you?”

  Logan barked a laugh. “Fuck that. You weren’t even trying last night. Lately, you’ve been making it damn easy for me to outpace you.”

  Cain’s low chuckle drew Marina’s gaze along with Razor’s. “Maybe Raze’s tastes are shifting away from the tropics and toward more rugged terrain. I hear the mountains are full of good game.”

  Razor flipped him off, the two males exchanging a cryptic look. He swiveled his head toward Bram. “Knox joined us in town. Showed up about an hour before we were cutting out. He was in a hell of a mood.”

  “Not like that’s a newsflash or anything,” Logan said. “But Raze is right. Dude wasn’t even trying to act civilized. I swear, he was hot to kill something.”

  “Or someone,” Razor added.

  Cain crossed his arms. “I gave him his chance to do that last night.”

  “No shit?” Razor narrowed his gaze on him. “You run into him here at the Darkhaven?”

  Cain nodded. “Yeah, ran into his fist. We also did some minor demo work on the corridor walls down near the pool. You know how rowdy family reunions can get.”

  He was playing it off lightly, but Marina couldn’t find any humor in the memory of Cain and his brother nearly tearing each other apart. The fact that she had been the spark that ignited their confrontation only made it harder to bear. Her heart ached for the friendship the brothers had lost.

  Cain cared about the other male, even if he wouldn’t admit it. That much she knew. But she worried that Knox’s festering animosity and pain were eventually going to cost him even more than he’d already lost.

  Bram cleared his throat, his stare fixed on Cain. “You two knuckleheads are going to fix those damn walls, by the way. And I mean you’re going to do it together.”

  Razor snorted. “That ought to be interesting.”

  Cain’s impassive expression told Marina the odds of getting him anywhere near Knox were slim to none. But he remained silent.

  “Where is Knox?” Lana asked, her fork pausing on her third bite of scrambled eggs. “Did he come back to the Darkhaven with both of you last night?”

  Logan shook his head. “No. I saw him take a blood Host into a corner booth at the bar, but next time I looked for him, the woman was chatting up someone else and Knox was gone.”

  Bram stroked Lana’s arm. “He’ll come around, love. He always does.”

  “Right.” Cain grunted, a sober look in his eyes. “Until the day he doesn’t.”

  A muffled chime sounded from beside Marina. Razor checked his phone and slid it back into the pocket of his jeans without comment or reaction. “I’m out of here. Gotta check on something.”

  Cain studied him, a vague but wry tilt to his mouth. “Give her my best.”

  Swiveling off the stool, Razor bared his fangs in a parody of a smile. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”

  “Yeah,” Cain said, smirking. “But tell me you haven’t missed me.”

  The other male chuckled. “You be sure to let me know when the renovation party starts. I wouldn’t want to miss watching Knox kick your ass in person. Hell, I might even help him.”

  As he headed out of the kitchen, Logan made his excuses to leave, too, and fell in behind him.

  Once they had gone, Lana pushed the breakfast tray away from her on a sigh, her hands resting on her belly. “That’s it for me. I think I’m ready for a nap now.”

  Bram kissed the top of her head. “You just woke up.”

  “Yes, I did,” she said, glancing up pointedly at her mate’s questioning gaze. “But now I’m saying it’s time for us to leave Marina and Cain to enjoy a little privacy—and whatever else they were enjoying before we all intruded on their morning.”

  Marina never blushed, but when her eyes met Cain’s a rush of heat filled her cheeks. She didn’t have to guess if he was thinking about how good they felt together, or how quickly they could get naked and into the nearest bed. The glimmer of fiery amber in his gaze told her he was just as eager as she was.

  Still, Marina didn’t want to be rude. “Lana, Bram.” Her voice sounded raspy and a little out of breath. “Please, you don’t have to leave.”

  “I know, but we will.” Lana squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry I gobbled so much of your breakfast. Who knew Cain had kitchen skills?” She shot him a teasing smile. “It’s really good having you home.”

  He didn’t respond, and Lana didn’t wait for him to say anything. Looping her arm through Bram’s, the couple said their goodbyes and walked out.

  “Sorry about all of that,” Cain murmured once they were alone again.

  “You don’t have to apologize. They’re wonderful. Even Razor.”

  He smirked. “Now, you’re pushing it.”

  “I’m serious. Your family is great, Cain.”

  She didn’t miss the shuttered look that dimmed his gaze in the instant before he glanced away from her. “I’ve been away too long. Everything is different now. I can’t believe Lana and Bram lost a baby. Now, they’re struggling to carry another. Meanwhile, Knox is self-destructing in front of everyone’s eyes. And Razor is hung up on a female he’s stalking from several thousand miles away—”

  “What? He is?”

  Cain cut his hand through the air as if he hadn’t intended to say that much. “Logan’s the only one of us who seems to have his shit together, which is ironic as hell considering he was the most fucked-up of anyone when we broke away from the program.”

  “What are you trying say?”

  “I don’t know these people anymore. They don’t know me, either. We were part of one another’s lives for a short time several years ago. That’s all.”

  “I think that’s what you want to believe. But it’s not the truth.” He picked up the plate of cold eggs and took it to the sink as if the conversation was over. Marina slid off the stool and walked up next to him. “Growing up, I had everything I could possibly want. My uncle took me in when I had no one else. He gave me an amazing home, a rich and full existence with every luxury money could buy.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t want for anything.” Cain turned a hard glance at her. “I don’t have much respect for your uncle’s choices, except for that. Because you deserve all those things, Marina.”

  She slowly shook her head and reached up to cradle his taut jaw.
“I never had anything close to what I see here. The kinship, the bond, the love. All my life I’ve longed for ties like that. The kind of ties you have here, just waiting for you to grab hold of, yet you can’t seem to cut away from them fast enough.”

  “It’s easier to be alone.”

  He said it so firmly, she knew his mind was already made up. He pulled out of her loose grasp and she had to work to bite back the anger that crept up her throat.

  “You’re not going to be here when Lana and Bram have their baby, are you? You and Knox aren’t going to patch up anything—least of all the rift between you. You’re going to walk away again.”

  “And if I do? Why the fuck does it matter to you?”

  “Because I care. I care about you, Cain.”

  “Don’t.” He exhaled a tight curse. “Jesus Christ, I’m the last person you should say that to.”

  “Why shouldn’t I say it?” She scoffed softly. “Because you’re afraid it’s true? Or because my saying it forces you to acknowledge there’s something happening between us? Something deeper than just a one-time fuck that you can dismiss and leave behind you like everything else that should matter to you?”

  She wanted to stay and argue her point, if only to make him admit she wasn’t the only one taking part in the wreck they were making in an already fragile relationship. But there was an ache building in her breast as she stared up at his bleak expression. Her heart had formed a fissure where Cain was concerned, and she was terrified to realize just how inadequate the word “care” came to describing how she felt about him.

  She took a step back, needing the distance now.

  Cain uttered a wordless sound of frustration as he reached for her nape and held her in place. “Your life is the only thing that matters to me. Not because you have a Breedmate mark on your ankle, Marina. But because I can no longer imagine the world without you in it. I refuse to live in that world.”

  His grasp remained firm at the back of her neck, his thumb stroking over the pulse point that kicked in a frantic tempo below her ear. Every fiber of her being arced toward him, her breath hanging on every tender, urgent word that left his lips.

  “My first and only priority is keeping you alive, making sure you get that safe future away from men like Karamenko and any other Bratva thug with the capacity to hurt you. I will make it happen for you, Marina. You will be safe. And I will take out anyone who stands in the way of that goal. Anyone. Including your uncle, if I have to.”

  She shrank back at that, cold horror jolting her. “No, Cain—”

  He gave a harsh shake of his head. “That’s what my caring about you means. Nothing else matters but your next breath. If you’re not ready for that, then you never should’ve let me touch you.”

  With that, he hauled her into the hard planes of his body, then slowly lowered his head and covered her mouth with his. Although he spoke of no mercy, of all the brutal things he vowed to do in order to protect her and pave a path toward her safe future, the kiss he gave her now was shocking for its gentleness.

  She melted against him, giving herself over to the soft unfurling of her defenses. She had none with him, not anymore. If the gale-force power with which he’d overtaken her body and senses last night hadn’t shown her that truth, this tender assault left no doubt.

  She melted against him, into him . . . lost to him completely.

  A low vibration pulsed at her belly. At first, she was so swamped by desire and emotion, she didn’t understand what the insistent, electronic buzzing could be. Not until Cain hissed under his breath and broke their kiss.

  The satellite phone. It pulsed again with the incoming call.

  Her meeting with Uncle Anatoly’s contact was finally going to happen.

  Cain dug the phone out of his jeans pocket and met her with a grim stare. “Are you sure you’re ready to do this?”

  She nodded, even though her thoughts were scattered and desire-soaked, every nerve ending lit up from the revelation of Cain’s kiss. “I’m ready. Give it to me.”

  He held the phone from her for a moment, his expression grave. “I’m going with you, Marina. Whenever and wherever this meeting with Fuentes takes place.”

  “He won’t like it. He won’t be expecting me to show up with a Breed bodyguard.”

  “Without me, there is no meeting.”

  The flash of amber fire that crackled in his transformed eyes left no room for argument. Marina took the phone from him and put it to her ear.

  “Hello, Mr. Fuentes. Yes. My uncle Anatoly told me I should expect your call.”

  CHAPTER 16

  The meeting with Ernesto Fuentes was set for nine o’clock that evening at a waterfront park on Key Largo.

  Cain had to give Marina credit for how smoothly she had handled the conversation with the notorious Cuban mob boss. Leveraging all the advantage she had as the courier of the high-value intel she had to trade with Fuentes, and putting into play every ounce of the cool confidence Cain had witnessed in her from the moment he first laid eyes on her, she had not only secured a meeting time well after sundown, but had also insisted on a public, open-air location.

  All without tipping her hand to Fuentes that she would be arriving at the rendezvous with the lethally skilled Breed male who was currently guarding her body.

  That is, when Cain wasn’t busy doing other things to that same incredible body.

  Those other things were foremost on his mind in the hours after Fuentes’s call. Marina had gone to her guest room for a shower and a fresh change of clothes, while Cain had returned to his quarters to gather a few attack and contingency plans, as well as the various weaponry he might need on hand should things go sideways with Anatoly Moretskov’s criminal ally.

  And all of his Hunter instincts were still prickling with the knowledge that the target Marina had acquired back at the hotel had yet to make another move. Yury’s apparent sniper comrade had been a bur in the back of Cain’s conscience since he and Marina left Miami.

  Sooner or later, that bastard was going to lock his sights on her again. When he did, Cain would be ready. And if her attacker didn’t come out of the shadows on his own, Cain would turn the crosshairs on him instead and hunt the shooter down. He wasn’t going to rest until he’d annihilated every potential threat to Marina’s life.

  Because he’d meant every word he’d said to her in the kitchen earlier today. She mattered to him. In spite of all his determination to keep her at a distance—hell, in spite of the often cruel way he treated her and spoke to her, all in an effort to keep a wall firmly in place between them—he cared for Marina.

  He wanted her.

  Right now, with only a few hours before they would need to depart for the meeting with Fuentes, he just wanted to see her.

  “Hi,” she said, opening her guest room door to him after the first knock. She took his hand and pulled him inside, closing the door behind him. “I need your help.”

  Although it was obvious she’d been showered for some time, she wore a white bathrobe tied with a sash at her waist. Her pretty face was enhanced with its usual minimum of makeup, just some mascara that made her wine-colored eyes look impossibly deep and wide, and dusky rose gloss slicked on her pillowy lips.

  Instead of leaving her long blond hair loose around her shoulders, she had gathered it into a sleek ponytail that rode high on the back of her head, giving her the appearance of an innocent girl-next-door who could probably also kick someone’s ass if she needed to. It also bared the graceful length of her neck, and for a dangerous instant, there was nothing Cain wanted more than to feel that smooth skin give under the sharp points of his fangs.

  Fuck.

  He stood there with a hard-on rising fast against the zipper of his jeans and his gums prickling with the pressure of his lengthening canines.

  “What can I help with?” He had several excellent ideas, all of which began with peeling her out of that robe as quickly as possible.

  “I’ve changed my clothes four tim
es and I still can’t decide what I should wear tonight.”

  Not exactly what he had in mind, but he could work with it. For now.

  Marina left him standing near the bed as she disappeared into the large walk-in closet. She came out holding two hangers in her hands, each with a different outfit on it. “What do you think? Wrap dress, or skirt and blouse?”

  Both were classic and understated, equally solid choices that would command respect from anyone who saw her in them. Cain stared at the dove-gray wrap dress, picturing how lovingly it would hug her curves. A growl curled up from his chest, his cock straining now.

  “The skirt and blouse,” he muttered thickly. “Save the dress for me.”

  “All right.” She smiled, a sparkle of invitation dancing in her eyes. Laying the outfit he chose on the edge of the bed, she returned the dress to the closet, then came back out and began to unfasten the knotted sash at her waist.

  Cain reached for the end of the tie and reeled her in close. “Allow me.”

  He opened the robe and pushed it off her shoulders to pool at her feet. He’d hoped to find her naked underneath, but the sight of her in nothing but a lacy bra and matching panties was even more enticing. He cupped her breasts, coaxing the nipples to attention as he stroked his thumbs over the top of the delicate lace that covered them.

  “You look good enough to eat,” he whispered, leaning in for a kiss.

  She sighed as he caressed her, dropping her head back on a moan when he scooped one perfect globe into his hand then bent forward to suck its tight little peak into his mouth.

  “Even sweeter than strawberries,” he murmured, flicking his tongue over her soft skin.

  The scent of her Breedmate blood rushing so close to the surface in the delicate web of veins under his mouth and fingertips nearly undid him. His fangs ached for her, agony that was echoed in the raging throb of his cock.

  Her hand pressed against his erection and he groaned with need. “I’ve been waiting for you all day, Cain. I want you inside me.”