Carnal Knowledge (2 page)

girls in clubs--wait, that sounded like home. Mental forehead smack.

“On the dance floor. We were grinding and then he just up and bit

me. I smacked him good. You know I don’t allow that without dinner

first.” Mina grinned. “Now, quit stalling and go.”

Kaeli nodded and hugged her friends, then headed to the front

entrance. She knew he’d come through the alley. There was a good chance

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he’d leave that way too. Liquid courage surging through her veins and ears ringing, she walked as fast as she dared. It was as she neared the corner of the building that the sounds of a fight finally registered in her brain.

Someone was getting the shit kicked out of them. She rounded the

edge and froze, heart suddenly pounding. “Jesus H. Christ!”

Navarre thought Raoul was a fool for risking his heart and his life for

a human mate, be they ever so tempting. A fling perhaps, but he would not chain himself to a woman who could never be his equal. As arrogant as that made him sound, he couldn’t help the thought. They were too fragile. And to risk war for a woman not their kind was suicide ... and worse. Not that the shaky truce between vamps and Lycans held when pressed. Each stayed

on their own ground. Crossing over almost always meant a fight once the

vamps had risen from their slumber.

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He’d risked attack coming here to talk his friend out of this

foolishness, but Raoul would not be swayed. He’d chosen the course of his life and Navarre could not stop him.

Of course, he would not have met the brazen Kaeli had he not come....

Navarre put the tempting vixen out of his mind. He could not chance

embroiling more humans in their affairs--it always ended in their death.

To think of her caramel skin bleached and lifeless, the sassy glint of

her hazel eyes snuffed, fouled his mood.

Navarre took a deep, cleansing breath as he exited the club. His ears

rang with residual beat, and he shook his head as though that would clear it.

The stench of sweat, smoke, and liquor clung to his nostrils, near

overpowering him but lessening in potency as he walked past the club’s

facade. Rounding the block, he strode into the alley, ears perked for danger.

He’d parked his car on the other end of the building as a precaution from

thieves and alerting vamps of his presence. Not that it mattered this early.

He slowed his steps as a hush settled. The wind whistling through the

confines halted in anticipation, as though sucked into greedy lungs.

He wasn’t alone.

Navarre crouched, muscles tensing, scanning the edges of the roof for

attack. The trace scent of blood drifted to him--a scent of vampire--

permeating the air just as the vampires struck.

A dark shape whipped past him, seemingly from nowhere, though he

knew it a trick of the mind--
flashing
. Navarre extended his claws in an instant, slashing as it rammed his side just as a second slammed into him

from behind.

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Navarre whirled with the hit, striking flesh, felt the stinging rain of

blood shower upon him--his own and that stolen from an innocent victim.

The vamps stopped in the alley, and his gaze shifted back and forth,

keeping them in sight, his muscles fluid, ready to attack, yet he waited to see what they would do next. Long had it been since he’d killed a vamp, and he would not do so now if he could help it. If they continued their attack,

however....

“It’s hardly fair two of you attackin’,
mon ennemi
,” he said, leveling his stare on the dark one but continually glancing at the heavy blond.

The dark haired one glared at Navarre, hissing as he clutched his side,

stemming the flow of blood. “You don’t belong here,” he spat out. He

examined the shredded jacket and slowly closing wound on his side. “I just finished feeding. You’ll pay for the meal you stole.”

Navarre grinned, lengthening his claws to daggers. “Gladly.”

They rushed him as one, right and left. Navarre spun from the slash

of their nails and teeth. He couldn’t allow them to bite and inject their venom. Running along the alley, one vamp breathing down his neck, he ran

at one of the walls and jumped, hitting high and bounding off it. Chunks of brick shattered under the grip of his hands and the strike of his feet,

scattering like pebbles. He slammed into the thick middle of the blond

vampire just as he launched at Navarre.

Navarre straightened his arms like swords, tearing into the vamp’s

soft belly. Hot blood gushed over his arms, showering the pavement in a

widening slick. The blond screamed and hit the pavement with a meaty

thud, slipping in his meal as he struggled to hold his belly together.

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Navarre shook the tainted blood from his hands, landing on his feet,

staggering as his boot heels struck scattered brick, rolling beneath him.

The lead vamp grabbed him from behind as he recovered his balance.

Navarre twisted in the vamp’s grip, baring his neck as he punched his right hand back across his chest, driving into the vamp’s side, reaching for the heart. The grip tightened. He heard the pop of his shoulder as it slipped out of the socket. Navarre continued driving his claws into the dark haired

vamp, faster and faster, but his hold didn’t loosen. He growled in wolfen fury, barely noticing the pain as the fangs sank in and savaged his throat and shoulder, shredding his skin.

The vampire’s poison flooded his veins, paralyzing him. His arms

dropped as the paralytic drug consumed him. The blood pulled from his

body, sucked away like the remains of a thick shake. Sluggishly, his wolfen powers worked to heal him, but he could do nothing so long as the vampire

fed off him.

Navarre sank to his knees, barely feeling the pavement dig into his

flesh through the thin leather pants.

Heat singed his hair with a whining zip--a bullet buzzed by his head,

slamming into the vamp holding him in thrall. He was released abruptly,

and then he heard the scream of a woman echoing through the alley.

* * * *

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Some
thing
was eating Navarre. Kaeli looked at it in horror, the

blood frozen in her veins, her stomach convulsing in an agonizing clench to empty its contents. Even at this distance, she could see wildness in its--the man’s eyes. Thick red coated his blinding white skin, long ivory nails dug into Navarre’s bronze flesh. His mouth latched on to Navarre’s neck,

shaking him like a dog with a chunk of meat.

Kaeli choked back the sickness threatening to overwhelm her and

pulled her gun out of her purse without conscious volition. She aimed and pulled the trigger, feeling sluggish, as though she moved under water.

The gun popped with a small crack like a roman candle, kicked back,

waking her from her stupor. She blinked rapidly at the muzzle flash,

watching with morbid fascination as the man thing fell back from Navarre,

dazed. A hole blossomed on his cheek like a crimson rose. Navarre

dropped to his hands, freed at last, shaking his head in confusion, his blond hair matted with blood.

The world returned to full throttle in an instant.

“Get the fuck away him!” she screamed. The man looked up at her, a

killing look wiping the stunned surprise off his face. With amazing speed, he gained his feet and rushed her.

He should be dead. Not running. Not attacking
.

Kaeli didn’t hesitate, fired straight into him. The gun popped rapidly,

smoke filling the air. He didn’t pause a second, as if the slugs were no more a nuisance than mosquitoes pelting his hide.

He reached her and she fired again, heard the tell-tale click of the

empty chamber.
How could she have emptied the gun so fast?
He snatched her gun from her steely grip with breathtaking speed, slashed at her. She CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

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dropped to the ground and his nails glanced through her braids trailing in the air as she ducked. He ran past, and she whirled in her crouch, kicking her leg out, saw he was gone--as though he’d flown away or something.

Kaeli straightened and shuddered, then turned and ran to Navarre as

he gained his feet. He moved his arm, and it crunched with a sickening pop.

He gave her a wry smile then slumped against her. “My thanks,” he

murmured against her shoulder.

She wrapped her arms around him for support. He was wet, sticky.

His shirt squished as she hugged him.

“Oh, Jesus!” she gasped. His back was soaked through with blood

she found as she pulled her hands away, the thick liquid black in the

shadows. She swallowed against the nausea, felt around, but she couldn’t

find a wound, no bullet hole telling she’d missed his attacker and hit him.

There was only a small tear on his neck. She wiped at the blood with her

palm, trying to see the wound, but after a few seconds, even that didn’t seem so bad. But the head area bled the worst. That could account for his

drenching, and not all of it could be from him.

He could barely stand though and moved like he was drunk, his limbs

too heavy to lift.

“We have to get you to a hospital. I’ll get someone to call inside.”

No one could have heard that commotion over the music pounding inside--

her suspicions confirmed when no one rushed outside to see what had

happened. She had to go back and get help. She didn’t even consider

calling the cops because, frankly, she despised them. And they’d probably haul
her
in for having had a gun.

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“No,” he said and pushed off her, his strength returning. “No

hospital. I’m goin’ home.”

“You stupid son of a bitch. You’re hurt. Bad. You’re going if I have

to carry you myself.”

He smiled, and some of the color seemed to come back to his face,

though it was hard to tell with the shadows. Moonlight and security lights could only reveal so much.

He started walking down the alley.

“You’re gonna fight me, huh?” she asked, jogging up beside him,

glancing back to make sure the thug wasn’t sneaking up behind them.

He spared her a backward glance over his shoulder. “But of course,

petite. Don’ worry, they’re both gone.”

Two? Two had jumped him? She hadn’t even seen the other. It was

no damned wonder he was hurt. She didn’t even want to think about how

she’d emptied her clip into one of the bastards. She wasn’t ready to

question that just yet. Navarre knew something, and as soon as she made

sure he was all right, she’d get the truth from him. Besides which, that
thing
had stolen her gun and she wanted it back.

“You got a car?” she asked, feeling doubtful. She didn’t relish the

idea of walking him home, in the dark, without protection. Plus, she was

wearing heels and they weren’t conducive to long nature walks.

“Jus’ ahead.”

“Good. I’ll take you home since you’re so damn hard headed.”

She ducked under his arm, ignoring the fluttering in her stomach at

being pressed against him. He was hurt. You can’t lust after a half dead man. Hell, she was as bad as a damn dog panting after a bitch in heat.

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“You know it’s illegal to bring a gun into a bar, chere?” It was more

of a riling statement than any question.

“Huh,” she grunted. “Saved your ass, didn’t it?”

“I ‘spose it did.”

She grinned and they continued on until a sleek silver viper appeared

in sight, parked under a flickering light pole. Without a touch of concern, he tiredly fished the keys out of his pocket and handed them to her.

She accepted them and helped him to the passenger side, disengaging

the alarm before opening the door. He dropped into the low ride, and she

watched in dismay as he bloodied the black leather interior. It was his car, his blood ... maybe--what did she care?

Kaeli sunk into the driver’s seat and adjusted it for her height, giving

him a once over before she fixed the mirrors to her line of sight.

Unfortunately, she had no clue how to get to the hospital, or she would have abducted him and gone straight there. Instead, she followed his directions to the old industrial district. The traffic was light and it didn’t take long to reach their destination. She’d worry about getting to the hotel when that time rolled around.

He slept as she drove to his address and pulled along the end of the

block. He woke as she slowed the car and directed her to the entrance. A warehouse rigged with motion sensitive cameras attached to a keypad

allowed them inside, and she parked the car in the cavernous sub-level. She got out and shut the door, jumping as the slamming thud echoed in the large interior. She was breathing heavily and sweating by the time she walked

him to the elevator, knowing she’d never make it up the stairwell with him slumped over her shoulders.

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The elevator groaned as it took them up, and she supported him as it

made its shaky way to the second floor. She couldn’t help but notice how

hot he was, compared to her own body temperature. Could fever be setting

in so quickly? They reached the level, and she halted the elevator, freeing herself from him to open the heavy gate.