Merrick's Destiny (2 page)

That sent his gaze sliding from her face to her breasts, almost as if the reminder had given him permission. He looked away a second later, returning his attention to his pistol. “We’ve got fire, shelter and water in the creek. Next thing we need to see about is food.”

It felt too much like a dismissal, as if he’d considered her revelation and found it lacking, declined to offer one of his own.
Silly, Paralee.
“Check the pack. Dried beef and crackers, I think.”

“Enough for the night, then.” He turned the weapon over in his hands and sighed. “That’s a damn good thing, because I don’t think I could leave to go hunting.”

Bloodhounds supposedly healed fast, but she hadn’t been sure at first that he was even
alive
. “Are you hurt that badly?” she asked, rising. Two quick steps took her to his side, and she ran a questing hand between his shoulders, up to the back of his head. “Perhaps I misjudged—”

“No,” he rasped, twisting fast enough to catch her wrist. He stared up at her, the look in his eyes far too intense—too
intimate
—for a stranger. “I didn’t say I couldn’t hunt. I said I can’t leave. I can’t leave you here before dawn.”

He still spoke as if it were a matter of his own strength, not hers, but that made no sense. She opened her mouth to tell him she could take care of herself, but the words died on her tongue. “Why not?”

“Because, my sweet.” Merrick rose abruptly, crowding into her space. “Sometime between when I set foot on that ship and tonight, fate started dealing from the bottom of the deck. After sixty years, she finally saw fit to give me a mate, but damned if I can remember how.”

A mate. Paralee stared at him, her concern melting into irritation. “No. No, fate did no such thing. I haven’t even touched—” Belatedly, she snatched her hand away and backed up a step. “We don’t know each other, and we’ve certainly never been intimate.”

“Doesn’t take fucking,” he grumbled, looking away. “Or knowing a woman all that well. If you take issue with that, you’ll have to bring it up with the crazy half-cracked scientists who made me.”

“Gladly, once we get back to civilization.” Oh shit, the new moon. She swallowed hard. “What does it mean? I mean—no, what does it
mean
?”

He released her, his face closing off. “It means that I’m going to a kick up a fuss if you get scared or put yourself in harm’s way, and I’m fully capable of losing my good sense if you get hurt.” He cut her a slashing look. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to force myself on you like a fucking animal, so don’t give me those big eyes.”

Indignation stiffened her spine. “I’m not an idiot. If you were planning to do that, you wouldn’t bother trying to sweet talk me.”

Merrick stared at her, seemingly torn between outrage and laughter. “You think this is sweet talk? Christ, woman, what sort of men do you fuck?”

“None of your business.” She turned away, her cheeks flaming, and reached for her bag. A quick search yielded several small packs of rations, and she shoved two at Merrick’s chest. “Do I need to take a watch shift, or will you wake up if we have company?”

“Paralee—” He caught both her hands and brought them to his chest with a sigh. “Hell, this isn’t how I should have done it. But you need to know, because surviving a trip out of the mountains is hard enough when the place isn’t overrun by vampires. We need to understand one another.”

The mountains were always crawling with vampires, at least as long as she could remember. “We stick to the sunlight, and we work together on the trail. That’s all we can do.”

“You need to understand me,” he said as if she hadn’t spoken. “You’re going to be the most important thing in my world, and if you’ve got a scrap of compassion for me… Well, you’ll let me care for you a little, whether you need it or not.”

He spoke of emotion, sentiment—unthinkable things. Things that could hurt worse than anything else. “Can you make it stop?”

He stared at her for too long. “Only once we’ve parted ways.”

“Fair enough.” For the time being, it changed nothing. He might be more solicitous of her, concerned about her, but the end result was the same. They would be traveling together, helping each other. “I understand.”

“Good.” Merrick’s hands still held hers, and he stroked his thumbs over her knuckles. “You sleep tonight. We can find somewhere more secure to tuck in before dusk tomorrow.”

The tiny, careful touch left her trembling. “All right.”

He released her, and she almost swayed at the loss of contact. She needed something to occupy her thoughts, keep them—and her hands—off him, so she busied herself with readying a sleeping spot near the fire.

Smoke drifted from it toward a certain spot on the high ceiling of the cavern, and Paralee watched it curl upward as she absently consumed her rations. An opening—perhaps nothing bigger than a crack, but it pulled the night air in from the mouth of the cave, creating a chill that permeated everything more than a foot from the fire.

She shivered and stretched out as close to the fire as she dared, using her leather pack as a pillow. A heartbeat later he crouched at her feet, his face half illuminated by the fire and half in mysterious shadows. “It’s going to get colder. Will you lie close to me?”

He was a bloodhound, not a human. She’d given him double rations from the pack because his body was built to work harder at everything—fighting, healing, even regulating temperature, so it was entirely possible he really would put off more heat than the fire.

She nodded. “Uh, where?”

He gestured to the space between her and the wall. “I can stretch out behind you.” With the fire burning cheerfully, she saw half of his teasing smile. “I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

An answering smile curved her lips before she could stop it. “I could break your fingers. They’d heal, but it would still hurt like hell.”

He was handsome when he laughed, face unguarded, smile real. “You keep flirting with me, sweet girl, and I’ll think you don’t
want
me to keep my hands to myself.”

She was blushing again, and far too pleased with the fact that she’d made him smile. She turned away and punched at the pack until she’d molded it into a satisfactory shape. “Shut up and get some rest.”

“So sweet and demure.” Merrick stretched out behind her, and even though he wasn’t touching her, he
was
damn near as hot as the fire.

“Watch the name-calling,” she shot back—and Christ, her voice had gone husky. Inviting.

One hand settled at her hip. “If you aren’t careful, I’ll call you charming.”

Giving in to the heat his touch generated could spell disaster, but actually liking him would be even worse. “I’ll settle for that. Now
sleep
.”

“Not likely,” he muttered, just low enough that she imagined she wasn’t meant to hear it.

All she could do was close her eyes, let exhaustion claim her, and hope she wouldn’t dream of him.

Chapter Two

Three hours until dawn, and Merrick thought taking his own life might be a mercy.

All of Paralee’s intriguing sharp edges softened in sleep. It should have made her less appealing. Undoubtedly it was her fire that had first attracted him. The bits of memory that fell into place during the night gave him no better basis for his current situation.

Mating wasn’t supposed to happen. The Guild had never planned on it, that was for damn sure. Hadn’t been prepared for it, either, the first time it had happened. Ten years into the program, one of the first bloodhounds had fallen hard for a feisty little scrap who worked a border brothel. Reason vanished. Obedience fled. The besotted fool had broken rank to return to her for the new moon, and Merrick had been among those sent to retrieve him.

If a senior bloodhound no one dared to defy hadn’t been there to call off the guards, the mated hound might have torn the town down around them. The Guild had still drugged the poor bastard and hauled him back in chains, only to watch him waste away in a dingy cell. Other women couldn’t tempt him. He pined during the new moons, savaged himself and began to refuse food and water.

The scientists had been ready to keep him there, just to see if a broken heart could truly kill him. Merrick hadn’t been the only one who threatened to walk out that day, and the Guild had buckled under the threat of mutiny.

Easy to give in when they’d known they wouldn’t have to wait forever to get their answer. Life was hard on the border. The woman died eight years later, and the first bloodhound to take a mate followed his heart into the grave inside six months.

And now Merrick would be facing the same damn fate, if the sweet little thing curled around him decided she’d just as soon do without him.

She turned, her legs tangling with his as she murmured something unintelligible and breathed a soft sigh. He laid his hand on her hip, his fingers just short of the tempting curve of her ass.

To distract himself, he shifted to his back. Her head had slipped from her pack, so he lifted her gently and put her cheek on his shoulder. “Settle right in, sweet girl. Make yourself at home, hmm?”

Another murmur, and she clutched at his shirt. After a moment, her hand relaxed only to close tight again, kneading like a cat.

Much more of that, and his cock would be testing the seams on his trousers. He tightened his fingers around the back of her neck. “Paralee, sweetheart, maybe not
that
much at home.”

Her lashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes. She blinked, focused on him and licked her lips. “Sorry,” she whispered, her pulse quickening as she rolled away to face the fire once more.

“Hey, you can snuggle right up to me, but I figured I ought to give you a chance to stop before you touched anything you’d regret.”

She laughed, sleepy but wry. “Better to keep to myself. Safer.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have woken her. “You’re not even curious enough to steal a kiss while I’m all helpless and sleepy here?”

Her breathing hitched. “That’s about ten leagues from fair, especially when you know I couldn’t call your bluff even if I wanted to.”

He didn’t know any such thing. “You don’t like kissing?”

She sat up and twisted to peer down at him. “It’s about more than taking care of me, right? Being mated. You need me.”

Faced with a woman with sex in her eyes and heat in her blood, he did the only thing he
could
do—he lied through his teeth. “I want you, that’s the damn truth. But I’ll make it through the night even if you don’t climb onto my dick.”

“I didn’t say want.” Paralee leaned over him. Her heavy braid slipped off her shoulder, and the curled ends tickled his neck. “I said
need
.”

He wanted to tangle that braid around his hand and kiss her until she didn’t have enough air left to poke at him. “Some might call it such, yes.”

“Well, that’s what makes it unfair.” She huffed in exasperation. “I can’t kiss you because I’m not about to start something that every instinct in you will demand we finish. I’m not that cruel.”

She was worried about him, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Maybe feeling a little soft on him, and he was bastard enough to take advantage of it. “That’s where you’re wrong, sweet girl. I don’t need sex. I just need you. Cuddling, kissing… Anything’s better than nothing.”

Her exasperation melted into puzzlement—but also interest. She brushed her thumb over his lower lip and met his gaze, then bent and pressed her mouth to his.

He’d been less aroused at the bottom of a pile of naked women, and it wasn’t even a dirty kiss. It was slow and soft, his hissing cat melting into a warm armful of purring woman.

She wasn’t the only one purring. The damned beast inside him might as well have bared its belly in submission, all of its usual violence and impatience leashed in favor of enjoying the sweet, nervous taste of her.

Her lips parted as she tilted her head, continuing her exploration. She flicked her tongue over his, a quick gesture followed by a slow, sinuous return, and Merrick’s control snapped. He tried to sink his fingers into her dark hair and snarled when the braid foiled him.

In a heartbeat he switched their positions, rolling her to her back with his hand protecting her head from the hard stone. He slanted his mouth over hers and licked at her lips, savored her taste before driving deeper.

She tugged at his hair, and the gentle pressure of her fingernails drifted down his back. A low whimper vibrated against his tongue, and one of her hands slipped under the hem of his shirt to stroke his skin.

No, he’d never had her before. It would have taken more than a cracked skull for him to forget the warning press of her nails, the taste of her mouth, and most of all the sexy, hungry little noise she made when he teased the tip of his tongue across hers. He’d never kissed her before, and if he didn’t stop now he’d be fucking her on the cold, dirty stone beneath them.

A fine way to seduce the woman who held her life in his hands. Groaning, he jerked away and rolled to his back. “Damn.”

Paralee lay there panting, but instead of slowing, her breathing began to hitch in odd little gasps and starts.

The damn woman was laughing at him.

Merrick growled and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m glad I amuse you.”

Her laughter subsided into giggles. “Cuddling may be better than nothing, but it sure the hell can’t hold a candle to
that
.” She propped herself up on one elbow and grinned at him. “You’re a liar, Merrick Wood, and now I’m wondering why.”

Because ego and pride wouldn’t let him put his life on her shoulders. No woman should be backed into that corner. “Maybe I’m just as confused as you, sweet girl. This is my first time being mated.”

“Oh.” She sobered. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. That’s—I wouldn’t do that.”

“Yes, you would,” he grumbled. “You’re a fierce, merciless little thing, and I wager I wouldn’t find you half so interesting if you didn’t love to poke a man’s ego now and again.”

“Flattering, but untrue.” She brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead and bit her lip to hide a smile. “I’m not merciless.”

“No?” This was torture. Like filling his hand with grain and waiting patiently for a wild creature to trust him enough to eat from his palm. But patience had its rewards…like that pretty smile. “Tell me what you are then, love.”