Obsession Untamed (10 page)

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why don’t we both get out of here, Tighe? I can get you some help.”

“You’d help me, would you, brown eyes?” His thumb rose to stroke her cheek as if he had fluttering angel voices of his own telling him she needed him, too.

She didn’t. Of course she didn’t. Yet, heaven help her, something soft and weak inside her wanted to lean into that gentle touch. She steeled herself against the urge, but didn’t pull away. He was clearly a violent man she didn’t want to antagonize. Not when she was unarmed. But the truth was, she didn’t want to pull away. Angel voices aside, there was something about this man that drew her, something more than the flaming attraction.

There was a gentleness in his touch and a warmth in his voice that made her want to step inside the circle of his arms and lean against him, drawing strength and maybe just a little bit of comfort.

Was it more evidence of mind control, or was this her doing alone? Maybe she was starting to suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, that tendency of captives to identify with and care for their captors. She wasn’t sure which was more disturbing.

Or perhaps it was neither. Perhaps she was genuinely beginning to glimpse facets of a man who was more than he seemed.

His hand lifted, his fingers sliding into her hair, sending a soft shiver through her body. “I’m glad I didn’t hurt you.”

And, heaven help her, she believed him.

His thumb traced over her bottom lip, sending shards of excitement spiking into her blood. Her breath caught. She could feel his gaze on her mouth.

“I want to kiss you, brown eyes, but I’ve forced you enough.”

His words sent rich, warm desire pouring through her, turning her breasts heavy and her body aching to feel his mouth on hers again even as they lent more credence to her belief that he might be more than he seemed. A man who wasn’t evil but had definitely gotten himself tangled up in some nasty stuff.

She knew rationalizing when she heard it, even in her own head.She wanted him to kiss her.

“Your friends…”

“Are busy. And not going to bother us.”

She made a wry twist with her mouth. “And you don’t care if they do.”

He smiled, flashing a pair of sexy-as-hell dimples. “No.”

Ripples of need raced through her body, and she gave herself up to the desire, captured his strong face between her hands and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Some small part of her brain shouted that this was all part of the plan to get him to let his guard down, but the shout was quickly drowned out by the roar of pure, unadulterated passion.

Tighe shuddered and sucked in air through his nose as if trying to inhale her. His arms went around her and he pulled her against his chest as he captured her mouth in return.

The kiss exploded inside her, filling her with equal parts sweetness and crazy desire. She opened her mouth as he did, her tongue sliding sensuously against his. He tasted like he smelled, like rain and thunderstorms and wildness.Intoxicating.

Why? Why do I have to be so attracted to him?

His hands slid over her back as he slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss.

Pain exploded in her head.

With a gasp, she pulled back.

“What’s the matter?” he asked sharply.

“My head. Headache. I need to lie down.” Before she passed out again. This was the exact pain she’d suffered in the parking garage. Not now.Not now .

Tighe cupped her face with his hands. The light pressure of his palms seemed to ease the pain.

“That helps,” she whispered.

“Lincoln Memorial,” Tighe called. “I’ll meet you over there.”

She tried to open her eyes, to look at him in confusion. Had she blanked out after all? She seemed to have missed the other half of that conversation.

Through the haze of pain, she saw a pair of jeans and a shirt come sailing out the bedroom door.

“Change before you bring the cops down on yourself,” a disembodied voice called. “And do something about the blood.”

Tighe made a sound in his throat, that oddly animal-sounding growl, and released her. The pain in her head soared. She collapsed back against the door, pressing her hands to her cheeks, but her own hands didn’t help.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d stood there, fighting back the waves of pain, when she felt Tighe’s hand close around her wrist.

“Come on, brown eyes. We’re going for a drive.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

But he opened the door and ushered her into the night, and she didn’t have the strength to argue. She let him steer her into the passenger seat of a car, in no shape to fight him. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, her only concern to stay conscious and keep her head on her shoulders until the awful thing passed.

Finally,finally , the pain began to recede. The headache disappeared, leaving her feeling shaky
and cold. What was happening to her? The headache had felt like the kind she got before she saw the murders, but just like in the car, she’d seen nothing this time. Which didn’t please her in the least. If she had to suffer the pain, the least she could do was get a clue that might help her catch the killer.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes to find Tighe pulling to an illegal stop near the Lincoln Memorial. He released her hand. She hadn’t even remembered he was holding it.

“Get out, brown eyes.”

“What are we doing here?”

“My twin’s here.”

Her jaw dropped as he pushed from the car. She joined him, her mind scrambling and coming up with nothing that made any sense.

“How do you know he’s here?”

He grabbed her hand. “Come on.”

She ran to keep up with him as he headed toward the steps of the memorial, but they were still ten yards away when Tighe emitted another of those jungle growls, released her hand, and pulled out two wicked-looking switchblades in a single, quick move.

Delaney leaped back, watching with disbelief as he began stabbing the air. Hewas crazy. Completely and certifiably mad.

But as she stared, cuts began to appear on his cheeks and tears in his clothing as if from invisible claws.

Goose bumps rose on her skin as her head shook back and forth. She wasn’t seeing this. It wasn’t real. It was the drugs. Shehad to be hallucinating.

A dark shape above had her looking up as a huge bird of prey, a hawk, dropped out of the sky. For a terrible moment, she thought Tighe was going to turn those deadly knives on the bird, but he barely glanced at him. Instead, the bird began clawing at the air with talons and beak as if he, too, were battling an invisible enemy.

A moment later, a huge cat,a cougar , joined the fight, and sheknew she had to be caught in one giant hallucinogen-induced dream.

God. Delaney backed away. She had to get out of there. But Tighe’s words came back to her.My twin’s here . If there was a chance she hadn’t dreamed that, too, she had to at least look for him.

She ran for the steps to the memorial and started up, as desperate to get away from the impossible battle as she was to find the murderer who’d nearly killed her.

With each step the question pounded in her brain.

What if I’m the only crazy one?

Tighe stabbed at the draden, tearing them off him as he tore out their hearts by the dozen.

Dammit, I’ve got to get behind cover and shift.Hawke’s voice sounded in his head. Through the vicious swarm, Tighe could just make out the hawk, nearly covered in the ferocious little beasts.
My wings are being shredded faster than I can heal.

Since when do they attack animals?Kougar growled mentally. The draden were all over him, too, going for his eyes. Unlike Tighe, the cougar had no hands with which to stab and swat them away.I’m going to have to shift, too, but it’s too well lit here.

The Lincoln Memorial was a glowing beacon on the D.C. nightscape, and even in the middle of the night, people were known to roam the National Mall.

Do it, Tighe said.What in the hell’s going on, Hawke? Care to take a guess?

I think your clone’s behind this.He was made from a draden .I’m guessing he can communicate with them .

Tighe groaned inwardly.His own private army .

Your human’s on the run, Kougar said.

Tighe turned. Delaney was running, all right. Straight up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She finally had a shot at freedom, and she was throwing it away to try to catch a murderer. Exactly what he was coming to expect from her, but the reality made his blood run cold.

He took off after her, a swarm of draden at his back, fear stabbing through his chest like a twelve-inch blade.

If that draden spawn of a clone of his was still up there, she’d be dead before he ever reached her.

Chapter Eight

“Delaney, wait!” Tighe’s voice echoed up from the base of the stairs.

Trust him, the angel wings whispered in her head.

Why she listened to either of them, she didn’t know, but she was too rattled to fight the instinct to stop. Three-quarters of the way up the steps, Delaney doubled over to catch her breath as Tighe climbed to join her.

As he drew near, she saw he was a bloody mess again. Ghostly fingers crawled over her scalp as, deep in her head, the clanging bells of disbelief rang and rang and rang.

“Don’t ever go after him alone, brown eyes. He’s too dangerous, in case you didn’t learn that the first time.”

“You seemed a little…preoccupied.” But, jeez, she wasn’t even armed. Either the whole situation had her badly shaken, or she reallywas losing her mind.

Tighe took her hand and kept climbing, all the while stabbing the air with the knife in his free hand. That didn’t bother her nearly as much as the blood that was beginning to trickle down his cheek and neck from wounds that shouldn’t be there.

Don’t look. Just don’t look.

Sweat was rolling down her temples, her breathing labored by the time she reached the top step of the memorial. As her gaze scanned the area, out of habit her hand went for her gun and closed around nothing. Blast it.

Something caught her eye. A bare foot, facedown, poking out from behind one of the mammoth marble columns that framed the memorial.

“There,” she told Tighe.

Together they ran, Delaney taking the path outside the pillars, Tighe running inside. They converged on another murder scene. She closed her eyes against the sight, then opened them again to study the bodies of a young couple, each partially undressed as if caught in the act of sex, now lying side by side, identical ovals of teeth marks on their necks.

Not far from them lay a female police officer. Had she heard the screams and come to investigate, only to meet with the same fate? It seemed probable. A wedding ring gleamed on her finger in the bright light of the memorial. She was married.
Probably with kids, who would never see their mother again.Dammit .

“Did you know her?”

She looked up to see Tighe watching her.

“No.”

He nodded. “I’m going to try to find him.”

As Tighe kept walking, Delaney bent over the cop and checked for a pulse. Nothing, but her skin was still damp with sweat. Her murder, at least, had only just happened. She grabbed the woman’s gun and slipped it into her back waistband, careful to cover it with her shirt hem.

How had Tighe known the murderer had been here? Was he, too, getting the visions?

As she crossed to the kids, she saw Tighe again fighting something,being injured by something , which wasn’t there.

Don’t think about it.

She checked the young couple for pulses and again found none. The old fury welled up inside her at the waste of life. God, she wanted whoever had done this dead.

She saw Tighe turn and come back toward her, still stabbing the air, the blood running freely down his face now. He must be catching himself with those knives. That was the only explanation that made a bit of sense.

The gun weighed heavily against her back. If she wanted to shoot him, now was the time, when he was still far enough away that she stood a chance of getting the shot off before he stopped her. But the doubts had lodged too deeply in her head.
Thatshe might actually be the one with the mental problem.

As sirens began to sound on the wind, coming nearer, she let him close the distance between them without pulling her weapon.

His expression was tight. “Those may be heading here.”

Delaney nodded. “The cop has only been dead a matter of minutes. She probably called in the murders of the kids before he attacked her.”

“Come on, we’re getting out of here.”

“Let me stay. Let me help the cops look for him.”

“Not a chance.” He took her hand and gave her no choice as he ushered her down the long set of steps and into the car. Then he dove in on the driver’s side, slammed the door, and continued to stab wildly at his invisible foe. A foe who couldn’t possibly be in the car with them. Not unless he was the size of a fairy.

The man was crazy. Whether or not he was in league with the murderer, he was nuts. And the cops were on their way. She reached cautiously for the door handle and never touched it. One of his knives whipped out to within an inch of her face.