Malakai (3 page)

"Rissa?" he called out, but knew he wouldn't
get an answer.

Sitting up, he eased his arms forward,
stretching his lats and back muscles. Talk about satisfying his
wolf, and then some. He'd never met a woman who could give it as
good as he did.

Yet the fact she'd slipped out without so
much as a goodbye pissed him off. What was that about? Maybe she
had a job to get to.

A twist of his waist spied something shiny on
the pillow. Kai flinched when he saw what it was. He touched the
sparkly substance with a fingertip.

"Just glitter," he decided, "from her
costume."

And yet…

He sniffed the glitter on his fingertip. It
smelled sweet and sugary—like her—as opposed to chemical or
manufactured, like garishly colored plastic crushed finely and sold
in fancy pots for women to decorate their faces.

Unsure why he did it, Kai dashed out his
tongue and tasted the glitter. Suddenly a wicked hot sense of
euphoria melted over him. His shoulders shuddered and he clutched
the pillow and pulled it to his nose, seeking more of the
intoxicating dust. It occurred to him that if he were a vampire,
he'd surely be tempted to lick the pillow clean—if it was real
faery dust, that is.

Real faery dust was like a drug. Pureblood
vamps could become addicted to the stuff
like that
. As for
werewolves, it might give them a sensory tingle, as he had just
experienced— "No!"

With a disgusted roar of awareness, Kai tore
the pillow apart, spilling white feathers over the bed. Stomping
out of the room, he tore down the stairs and into the kitchen. He'd
slept with a real faery?

But her wings had been fake, made of fabric
complete with a tear.

He rubbed his eye with the heel of a palm.
Some of the glittery dust had embedded in the whorls on his skin.
It had to be real.

Why didn't she tell me?"

Same reason he never revealed he was a
werewolf to the women he took home. It wasn't necessary, and the
shock factor wasn't worth the risk for a one-night stand.

Rissa had kept her truth a secret. And now he
could suffer gravely for it.

Slamming his elbows onto the kitchen counter,
Kai shoved his hands back through his hair and searched his brain
for that stupid curse his parents had repeated in warning to him
over the years. The curse spoken by Malrick, the Unseelie king, to
he and his twin sister hours after their births.

…
should you ever win the heart of any of
my kind, you, the both of you, will suffer and Faery shall have its
recompense as you must then ransom your very heart…

Kai clutched his chest over his beating
heart, wincing. He liked his heart exactly where it was. It hadn't
been his fault the original boon to Faery had not been paid upon
his birth.

His mother had often whispered while tucking
them in as children, "Faery blessed, Faery cursed." Kai had only
grown to understand the true meaning of that phrase when he was a
teenager.

His parents had, each of them separately,
promised a faery a boon should they be allowed to conceive.
Werewolves could not conceive a vampire's child. Yet Kai's parents
had wanted children so desperately they had been willing to make a
horrible promise in return for such a boon. Blu, his werewolf
mother, had promised her firstborn, thinking she could have
another—perhaps many more in the future. A grave sacrifice, but at
the time, she had deemed it worthy. Yet Creed, Kai's vampire
father, had—unknowing of his wife's promise—offered his second born
child, thinking they would have the first, and never any after.

When they had learned Blu carried twins, and
both had been promised to Faery, the Saint-Pierres had been
devastated. Yet upon Kai and Kambriel's birth, something miraculous
had occurred. Their umbilical cords had been wrapped about each
other's necks, literally strangling one another. During an
emergency C-section, the doctor had lifted them both from Blu's
womb at the same time. Neither had been born first or second. The
boon did not have to be paid.

Thus, the curse, struck in retaliation for
the lost boon.

Now Kai swore at his foolish behavior. He'd
been horny, focused only on getting another pretty woman into his
bed to appease his werewolf's insatiable need for sex. If he'd been
sharper, paid more attention, would he have figured out she was a
real faery?

Faeries had violet eyes. Why hadn't he
noticed that? At the festival, as the sun had been setting, her
eyes had been shadowed, and the fire had given them an amber cast.
Then here at home, the lights had been out. Sure, the moonlight had
played across her skin and hair and—hell. He'd been more focused on
pleasure than gazing into her eyes.

"Damn it!"

He kicked the base of the dishwasher with his
bare foot, denting the stainless steel front.

But wait. The curse implied he must
fall
in love
with a faery. He wasn't about to do that. Hell, sex did
not equal love.

It was one night. No man could fall in love
that fast.

Blowing out a breath, Kai decided he was
getting worked up over nothing.

"I'll never fall in love," he muttered.
"Especially not with a sparkly faery who knows how to make this
wolf howl."

But damn, if he hadn't howled last night. As
had she.

Pride straightening his spine, he wandered
into the bathroom and took a long, invigorating shower, but
couldn't block thoughts of Rissa's expert hands gliding down his
slick skin. It was enough to render him hard, and he jacked off
thinking about the pretty blonde doing the same to him with her
hands and mouth.

Switching off the water, he pressed the towel
to his face and growled. Even now, as he dropped the towel, a few
bits of glitter sparkled in the lines of his palms.

"I'll run it off tonight."

Tonight he didn't need a woman to satisfy his
sexual desires. On the night of the full moon, he let his werewolf
out for the freedom it deserved.

But what of the night following the full
moon? Well, it was back to being horny again.

***

The oranges were yellow. Didn't seem right.
They were called oranges for a reason. Rissa set the pale, dimpled
fruit on the produce stand and sighed. She should move back to
California where fresh greenery and produce were offered in
abundance. Handsome men, as well. Why she'd thought Minnesota would
offer an interesting change of scenery was beyond her.

Now she was here, she'd decided to stick it
out a few months. Things could look up. People went missing in
small towns and were never seen again.

Yet if Malakai went missing people would
certainly notice.

It had been two days since she'd seen him.
The wolf had been an amazing lover. He had not taken until he'd
given. And oh, how he had given. Achy, fulfilled, and lusciously
used following their escapades, Rissa could entirely see returning
to his bed again and again.

A dark whisper from within reminded that,
more than wanting the man, she
needed
him.

And for that reason, she mustn't see him
again. She wouldn't give him that misery. The man was too good.
Unaware. Not deserving of the horrors she could visit on him.

She liked Malakai Saint-Pierre, and admired
his strength. That made everything right so terribly wrong.

He'd asked for one night. She would honor
that request and find someone else. A nameless someone else. It was
easier when she didn't learn their names.

Rissa turned and her face landed right before
the wide chest of a man who smelled like coal smoke, coupled with
the barest hints of earthy green forest. Before she could shuffle
away, Kai gripped her upper arms with his powerful hands, there,
where he'd held her previously and her skin was slightly bruised. A
sinister brow arched above his gray eye. And he didn't smile.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he insisted.

"Tell you what?"

"That you're a freaking faery."

"Wh-what's wrong with faeries?"

"Everything. Nothing. I just…" He adjusted
his tone to a quieter level so shoppers poking about the apples and
lemons wouldn't hear. "Don't. Do. Faeries."

"And yet, you did me up, down, and sideways.
Interesting."

"You're telling me."

Pushing out of his grasp, Rissa made show at
brushing at her arms where he'd touched her. "What is so wrong with
my kind?"

"Nothing." He straightened and hooked his
hands at his hips, looking down on her with fierce intention. His
shirt looked a size too small, hugging his pecs and teasing her to
stare a bit too long. "You were gone the other morning. No one
walks out on me."

"I see. You're offended then. Forget the fact
I rocked your world, you can't get past waking up alone."

"I rocked your world too, sugar cube."

Rissa grimaced at the ridiculous pet name.
"Was it something I did? Didn't do? Because I think we covered all
the positions, so if you were missing out on something—"

"Rissa, you were amazing. Best night of sex
I've had. Seriously. But it's not going to happen again,
right?"

The heat of him permeated her thin tee shirt,
and her nipples hardened. Kai sucked in a breath.

Rissa breathed out a forced, "Hell no. Not
when you feel the need to stalk me and curse me for what I am."

She turned and made show of looking over the
wilting strawberries. What was he doing here? He didn't do faeries?
Fine. Then move on, big bad wolf. She didn't need his kind of
crazy.

A stroke of his thumb moved over the bruise
on her arm, and she heard his pleased growl. That deep baritone
curled into her being and tickled her suggestively in all the right
places as if it were his fingers and not his voice.

"So how did you guess at what I am? The wings
were fake."

"There was faery dust left behind on the
pillow, and…"

"I see." She hadn't unfurled her real wings
that night, which would have left behind plenty evidence on the
sheets, because she hadn't wanted him to know her truth. Hadn't
needed him to know.

The man was imposing, and oh, did he smell
good, like wild forest and musk. The way he stroked her arm swept
her right back into his bed, lying beneath him, breathing heavily,
gasping for more, more, and more.

"I should go," she said, but it came out as a
reluctant murmur.

"Me too. I hadn't planned to run into you
here." Yet he stood there, looking at her, burning his want into
her gaze with those stern gray eyes.

Rissa almost let out a chirp for mercy, but
instead she stepped back and placed her hand on the fruit cart for
support. Promptly sinking her fingernails into an orange, she
squeezed it hard enough to crack its ripe skin and send forth a
thick orange spurt.

So much for steadying her emotions.

"So leave," she forced herself to say.

She followed his eyes down to her chest where
her nipples poked up. Should have worn a sweater. The man licked
his lips.

"I knew you were wolf when I first saw you at
the festival," she said, attempting to redirect his thoughts.

He nodded and stepped closer. "Then we have
all the important stuff out there. Just wish I would have known
about you sooner."

Would that have kept him from taking her home
with him?

She squeezed the orange harder. He noticed
her uncomfortable reaction and took the mulched fruit from her and
set it aside. The juice trailed over his palm and he swiped a
citrus-oiled finger over her mouth.

Rissa choked on the sweetness. "Oh, Kai, we
can't do this."

"No, we can't."

The hard column of his thigh melded against
hers. With the cart right behind her, she couldn't move away from
him. Yet Rissa was drawn to his aggressive command. To the power
that emanated from his muscles and teased her to touch once more.
Never had she been so compelled by a man. And all she could think
was how he'd mastered her body and treated her like a queen by
worshipping her over and over in the moonlight.

"Sugar," he said, his eyes falling on her
juice-stained lips.

Shoved against the oranges, Rissa's body bent
backward over the sweet fruit as Kai leaned over her, and gripped
her hair none-to-gently. "I want you, despite the fact that you're
a—" He glanced around cautiously. "I don't do faeries."

"So you've said."

She couldn't find admonishing words because
he'd spoken what felt to her like truth. The man had something
against her breed, and yet, was compelled to her despite that
prejudice.

If she cared the tiniest bit for him, she
should struggle free and run from him. Instead the heat of him, the
exquisite scent of wild, horny man called to her senses and teased
her need to remain staunch into a soft melty puddle of girlie
desire.

"I want you again," he said in that deep,
growly, between-the-sheets tone that melted her even more. Cleanup
in the produce aisle, anyone? "One more time."

He glanced aside. An elderly gentleman
picking over the apples held one aloft as he observed their
clutch.

"Much as it kills me not to kiss you until
you moan and beg me to move my mouth lower, I'll save the public
display of affection."

"F-for later?"

"For fifteen minutes from now. That's how
long it'll take me to drive you to my home and put you up against
the wall in the kitchen."

Rissa's legs weakened and all parts of her
that she'd gathered up from the girlie puddle again grew hot and
moist. Wanting. Hungry.

Screw her better intentions. If he wanted to
get busy again, she wasn't about to protest. Let her vampiric curse
fall where it may.

She'd never claimed to be a good girl.

***

True to his word, Kai lifted her and shoved
her against the kitchen wall. The sun was setting but the few
golden strands that beamed through the surrounding forest landed
his shoulder-length hair in glints of hematite blue. He kissed her
neck and down her breasts, tugging away her shirt as if a nuisance.
Hungry—like a wolf?—he devoured her skin.