Not What She Seems (15 page)

“How else am I supposed to win the
Challenge? Have you follow me around while I try to get an Innocent in bed?”

“No, I know you won’t allow that, though I would if I could. I think right now you need to forget about Lilith’s
Challenge, at least until the Hunter’s put away.”

“I can’t do that,” she whispered, her eyes brimming wi
th tears. She hated to see him upset but she wouldn’t give up her territory to make him happy.

His hand dropped away
from her face abruptly as he spun on his heels and stalked off to his room. Sylvia followed him and he began ripping his clothes out of the closet and hastily stuffing them back into his luggage.

“What are you doing?” she cried.

“Just what you want, Sylv. Packing, leaving, getting out of your way. You know what’s best, right? You can sneak out, run around the city all night while I sit here thinking the worst, then come back like nothing’s happened. Well, I won’t sit by for that. I’m out of here. I should have left the moment I saw it was you Lilith sent me to protect. What a fool I’ve been, thinking we could make this work. I’ll call her before I leave, have her send someone else. They can sit here rotting in this apartment while you’re out trying to win some stupid, meaningless Challenge. I can’t, I won’t.”

She
grabbed his arm to keep him from heading back to the closet to get more things to pack. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I thought it’d be no big deal.”

“No big deal? Do you know what it’s like for me, knowing you’re out there somewhere with a killer stalking you? You wouldn’t even answer your phone or text me back to at leas
t let me know you were okay. No way, Sylv, I can’t do it.” His words sounded final but he didn’t try to pull away from her.

The tears would be held back no longer and they spilled
, unbidden, down Sylvia’s cheeks. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what else I can say!” She was desperate to have him stay.

He glared at her, fury in his eyes, for just one moment before grabbing her roughly and pulling her
into a hot, steamy kiss. Where Mason’s kisses had been soft yet firm, Keith’s were aggressive and demanding, seeking no permission.

Sylvia melted in his arms as the stress of their argument melted away with every flick of his expert tongue, every pull of his gentle teeth on her bottom lip. She surrendered to the kiss without thinking, without consideri
ng the ramifications of it. It felt so right, back in his arms, just like before. Before everything had gone wrong between them two hundred years earlier.

He
could not be contained. Urgently he grabbed the zipper to her gown and pulled it down so the whole thing fell to the floor. Never breaking their kiss, Sylvia reached behind her to unclasp her bra and that too fell away, forgotten in a pile on the floor with her gown. Keith pulled away long enough to whip off his shirt and she tensed with anticipation when she saw the ripple of his muscular abdomen. A soft moan escaped him as he stood back to admire her, naked save her black thong.

“I’ve never seen anything like you,” he managed to sputter before grabbing her in a desperate kiss again. He guided her to the bed and sent the clothing he had been packing, and his luggage, crashing to t
he floor. Her eager fingers undid his jeans and worked them down. He stepped out of them and slid his boxers off as well.

His need was obvious and Sylvia felt excitement ripple through her as he straddled her on the bed. She had wanted to have sex all night, and while Keith wasn’t the Innocent she needed to win the
Challenge, she was so wound up at that point between Mason’s magical touch and Keith’s red hot passion, she couldn’t see anything beyond the aching need inside of her.

Keith moved her thong aside to sampl
e her with his fingers as she moaned beneath him, her own hand finding his straining erection. She raised her hips up to meet him as she guided him towards her, her body yearning to feel him inside of her. He refused to enter her yet and instead lavished attention on her large breasts, nuzzling and biting and suckling while she wordlessly groaned low in her throat, anxious for him to fulfill her. Even once he removed her thong he still kept himself at bay, prolonging the anticipation of their union.

Finally he could stand it no longer either and he entered her as their groans of pleasure mingled. Sylvia rocked her hips to meet
him, encouraging him to thrust harder, faster, deeper. He eagerly complied and she gasped as he filled her entirely to the edge of pain.

She
could hold it back no longer and she cried out as the dam burst, her climax overtaking her while Keith pounded her relentlessly. Pushed over the edge by her climax he came with a roar, clenching her to him as he spent himself inside of her. They lay like that, Keith draped over her sweaty body, panting and satiated for a few moments before he eventually rolled off of her to lie beside her.

Still high from the little sips of energy she had sapped from Mason earlier in the evening and now sexually satiated for the time being, Sylvia closed her eyes, lost in thought. The sex had been phenomenal, just like she remembered it all those years ago. But where did this leave them?

Keith finally broke the silence. “That was better than I remembered.”

She
grinned, her eyes still closed, but didn’t reply.

“Do you want me
to stay, or should I go?” he asked softly.

S
he opened her eyes and rolled up onto her elbow to face him. “Of course I don’t want you to go. You’re the one who wanted to go. But if you’re going to stay, we have to figure this out. I’m not dropping out of the Challenge against Elora,” she reminded him firmly.

He
sighed with resignation. “I knew you wouldn’t. You’re too stubborn.” He rolled onto his side to face her, his gaze meeting hers. “You don’t know what I went through tonight, finding you gone, knowing you were out without me when the Hunter has his eye on you. I felt sick, Sylv, literally sick. I kept waiting for a call from Lilith to say they had found you and the Hunter had gotten you.”

“I’m sorry I worried you. I knew you’d be mad,
but I didn’t realize it would upset you so much. I’m not giving up my Innocent, and there will be times I’ll need to be with him. Without you.”

An uncomfortable silence
surrounded them as they both contemplated how to move forward with all of it. She wanted him to stay. If they could work it out, they could try their relationship again, but she wasn’t willing to give up her home she had known all these years to do so. Her territory was part of who she was, and she wasn’t about to give that up, even for Keith.

“I was afraid you’d feel that way about it. I’ll stay, I guess, and not complain when you go out alone
… but only if it’s solely to meet your Innocent, and only if you promise to respond to my texts or calls while you’re gone. I need to be able to check in on you and know you’re safe.”

“Okay,” she
agreed immediately, relieved his proposal was so reasonable. If he was willing to meet her half way about it, it all might work out after all. She could seduce Mason on her terms, without a babysitter keeping watch over her, and keep Keith by her side while reclaiming her territory.

Chapter 16

The whole evening had exhausted Sylvia, both mentally and physically. Keith’s soft s
noring alerted her that he had fallen asleep so she slipped quietly out of bed and padded down the hall and into her master bathroom. Once the shower was piping hot, she stepped inside and cleaned herself, lost in thought.

The sex she had with Keith eradicated the unusual sexual yearning she had felt around Mason earlier in the evening. She touched her lips briefly as her kisses with Mason replayed in her head. That man was sex on legs, even for her, and not just for the energy she could get from him. She worried how long it might take her to seduce him with whatever hang-ups about sex he seemed to have. There was no way of accurately guessing how long it would take
Elora to seduce the Innocent she had found, if the rumors about her being seen with one were to be believed.

Her mind wandered back to Keith. Did what had just happened change anything between them? She didn’t know what his assumptions about the state of their relationship were now, after having slept together again.
Nothing to do but take it as it comes, she figured.

After her shower she was unsure of where to settle in for the night. It was tempting to go back to the guest room and curl up ne
xt to Keith but she decided to sleep in her own bed instead. As she turned back the covers her cell phone chirped, signaling she had a message. She frowned when she saw it was Lilith. Her stomach became uneasy as she dialed her number without listening to the voice mail first. Was she calling to announce Elora had slept with an Innocent and won the Challenge? Or had the Hunter claimed another victim?

“You’re home, I assume?” Lilith began without any greeting.

“Yes, I got in a while ago. What’s going on?”

“Another victim was killed, sometime earlier this evening. A jogger found her body in
a small park across the city, stuffed under some bushes.”

“When will the police get it together and get his guy? Do they have any leads?”

“I don’t think so, but there’s more. He left his calling card with the roses as usual but he did something a little differently this time… he wrote your name in rose petals next to the victim.”

Sylvia gasped as blood pounded in her ears and the world swam for a moment. She fought to regain control of herself.
“My name? Did the police link it back to me?”

“No, it was only the first
name. I believe the Lieutenant because he’s always been straight with me. He enjoys my girls too much to risk losing his freebies,” Lilith chuckled darkly before turning serious again. “I do hope you’re being careful, Sylvia. This Hunter is dangerous for all of us, but for some reason he’s obsessed with you in particular. Think carefully now. You really don’t remember coming across a man somewhere, some place, that seemed ‘off’? Made you uncomfortable?”

“No. Don’t think I haven’t been trying to figure that out.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait for the police to do their job then. I’ll let you know if I hear anything new.”

“All right,
thanks for the heads up.” Sylvia hung up and slid into bed. She tossed and turned for a long time, trying again and again to pick through each and every encounter she’d had with a man in the last few weeks. None of them seemed unusual or out of place; no man had set off warning bells in her head. Try as she might she couldn’t find a single sexual encounter, or even casual social interaction, out of place from her usual experiences with the men she encountered throughout the city. She had no answer to the question of why the Hunter was so interested in her.

~~~

Keith slid into bed with her the next morning, nuzzling her neck.

“Hey, sexy, why didn’t you come back to bed with me last night?” he murmured, his breath on her neck reawakening Sylvia’s nether regions with a jolt.

“Hey yourself,” she mumbled as she tried to pull herself out of the haze of sleep. “Sorry, I didn’t know if you’d want me there or not.”

“Of course I would,” he
frowned. “You can sleep next to me any time you like. I hope you will.”

“Okay, tonight then.” Sylvia yawned. “What are you doing today?”

“I have to hunt, tonight probably. What about you?”

“No, I’m good for a while, but I’ll come with you.”

“Sure. I’ve been feeling a little pent up since I spent all of yesterday stuck in this apartment. What do you say we go for a jog? Maybe the Gardens?”

“I’d love to!
I could use a good jog.” While she didn’t need to exercise to stay slim, she did enjoy it and a jog in the Public Gardens sounded like a nice way to spend part of the day.

“Maybe some other kind of exercise first, to warm us up?”
Keith propped himself up on one elbow so she could see his playful expression.

“I th
ought you’d never ask.” She leaned up to meet him and their lips joined. Despite their rough romp the night before she was ready for him again. More than ready, eager. The centuries they had spent apart had not dampened her longing for him, and their recent union only made her yearn more for his touch.

Whereas the night before had been fast and furious, they took
it slow with each other this time around. Keith explored and caressed every inch of her body while she shivered with pleasure beneath his touch. She pleasured him in return, releasing his erection from her mouth only when she sensed he was about to explode. She grinned up at him wickedly before throwing him flat down on the bed and straddling him. It was her turn to be in control this time.

Keith didn’t argue as she guided him into her and threw her head back, eyes closed, lost in her own pleasure. He grabbed her hips and met her rhythm, slow and sensual at first but quickly building to a frenzied pace. When h
e could stand it no longer he came, pressing her down onto him as she released in near unison with him, their cries of passion mingling in the otherwise quiet air.