Pool of Crimson (16 page)

I wasn’t imagining it this time. Those hazel irises had turned a warm deep amber. He watched me like he had a tiger by the tail.

“You wear a lot of silver and you smell like magic.” He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes as the faintest shiver ran through his body. “Old magic,” he breathed in a voice that was riddled with desire.

“How can you smell that?”

He opened his eyes and met my gaze. My heart hammered inside my skull and my palms were wet with panic-induced sweat.

He couldn’t know that something about me was wrong. There was no way he could know. No one knew.

We stood on the sidewalk with the cool autumn wind whipping around us, blowing my hair and almost burning my skin with the chill, staring at each other, silent.

“You don’t know what you are, do you?” he asked, a pleased expression pulling his lips into a bright, satisfied smile, his hand still firmly clenched to my arm. He didn’t let go. I looked down at his tan skin against the black leather of my jacket and swallowed hard before lifting my gaze back up to his. His eyes glowed a beautiful, inviting amber, reminding me of a burning sunset over a tall wheat field. His eyes were beautiful.

“No,” I answered, feeling ashamed as I shook my head.

“If it makes you feel any better, I can’t tell what you are either,” he said, sniffing the air around me.

That didn’t make me feel better. “Now, answer my question. How can you smell
that
?” I asked, authority inching back into my voice as I finally yanked my arms away from his grasp and stood on my own. It was about damned time I remembered who the hell I was.

“Me? I’m a werewolf,” he said flatly, as if he were a card-carrying member and proud of it.

I digested that for a moment. “And
Candy
?”

“She’s Beta.” He hung his head, avoiding my questioning gaze.

I bit down, clenching my jaw hard to keep myself in check as the distant voice in my brain growled, low and threatening. I wanted to hurt her.

“She wants me to be her mate.” He scrunched up his face, as if he had eaten something that tasted bad. “That’s the one thing she can’t force.”

“What does that mean? What else can she force?”

He took a deep breath and gazed up at the crisp autumn sky above us.

I remember the sky when I was little. In the country, there were millions of stars, but in the city they disappear in the lights from the city. There weren’t any stars out now. The sky and Danny had something in common; they both seemed empty, lonely. I wondered if he could remember looking at the stars with his animal eyes and what they looked like. Would he ever tell me?

“I think you know what that means,” he said grimly. He turned his gaze and those amber eyes back to me, his face firm with hard edges that I’d never seen before.

I hated Candace for doing that to him. His eyes no longer contained the easy simplicity that I’d associated with Danny, now they were hard. “She can ask me to do anything until I find my mate, including pleasure her, and I can’t refuse. It would be a direct challenge otherwise.”

“I don’t understand,” I said softly, confused horror filling my voice.

“Every pack has a Gaoh, an alpha as their leader. As he commands, we must obey. It’s physically painful for us to disobey. Luckily, Dean’s a decent guy,” he said. A weight seemed to lift off of his shoulders as he confessed. “Second-in-command is the Beta, the enforcer. They’re usually the second strongest and answer only to the Gaoh. Candy isn’t more powerful than the others, she’s just more sinister.” He paused. “The pack women compete for the Alpha males’ attention since we mate for life. It’s a powerful position to be in.” He sounded self-assured and cocky, like he knew first hand. The smirk on his face didn’t dissuade me either.

“Where do you stand in the pack?” I asked curiously.

“I’m third, actually, but I’m able to shift in and out quicker than Candy. She doesn’t like that.”

That’s a dangerous place to be.

“So she gets to fuck you or anyone else she wants and no one can say anything about it?” Rage made my hands shake and my eyes water with frustration.

I am not going to cry. Damn it! I am not going to cry.

“That’s her right,” he said with a quick unapologetic nod.

“I’m sorry! Are you defending her?” I took a step back, indignation seeped from every word.

“It’s our way. I don’t have a choice.”

I wasn’t fooled. He was shouting at me, angry. He actually growled at me. I took another step backward so I could see him fully. Shifting my shoulders back, I stood my ground with a firm, fighting stance.

He watched me bracing for a fight, then stepped back, surprise etched on his brow. “Dahlia,” he said in a much calmer voice but it had taken some effort, though. “I wish you could understand,” he breathed.

“Then make me understand,” I ordered with the same detached agitation that had saved my life on too many occasions to count. “How are you ever going to be able to find your mate,” I asked with emphasis and a sharp tongue, “if you’re sleeping with another woman? No woman in their right mind would stand for that,” I snapped, throwing my hands up in frustration.

“I think that’s her plan,” he said softly with resignation. “I think she believes that she can drive any other woman away. You’re not the first date where she’s shown up. You are the first, however, that I was able to chase after. That should say something, shouldn’t it?” he asked with ... hope.

I knew how powerful the pulls of nature could be, I felt it in my gut and along my skin every time the undead came near me. I also knew how powerful the preternatural world was; it created creatures that could defy death or change their own natural body structure. More importantly, now that I knew that she was doing this on a repetitive basis to alienate Danny, it focused my anger. I would have stuck around even if I didn’t like him just in spite of her. Lucky for me, I did like him. I wasn’t going anywhere and if it got stuck in Candy’s craw, then so be it. Sometimes, even I knew I was a bitch.

“What does that mean?” he asked, leaning away from me, fear scrunching up his face. “What does that look mean?”

“It means that I am not going anywhere.” Oh, I was still mad as hell, and I was going to hit the heavy bag in my basement until I either knocked it off or it broke my hands, but the expression on his face told me I’d made the right decision.

He picked me up quickly and pulled me into his arms. I should have mentioned the fact that Candace had tried to kill me, but I didn’t want Danny involved in my revenge. In my gut, I felt he knew nothing about it, and my gut was usually right. She would have made a point of flaunting that fact in my face if he’d known. I worked better on my own anyway.

He set me back on my feet, then kissed me hungrily in a crush of passion I hadn’t expected. Shit, I either just made the right decision or I was the biggest dope in the world. I guess I’d find out.

I opened my front door and stepped inside. Danny grabbed my hand in his warm, strong one and pulled me quickly into his arms. His large fingers slid up into my hair and he caressed my cheekbone with his thumb. The heat in his fingertips seared me to my core. The rush of arousal pushed through my body like a freight train. My heart raced. The thump, thump, thump of my heart pounded in my ears as he drew closer. My breathing grew shallow and rapid, pushing my chest and heavy breasts out. He pressed his lips softly against mine in a light caress of hot flesh that seemed too chaste and too calm for the reaction my body had to him. I was lost in the sultriness of his touch and the yearning in my soul for something more.

My head swam as he deepened the kiss. He pushed my lips apart with his tongue. I urged him closer until there wasn’t more than a breath between us. My hands trailed down his back, and my fingertips tingled with a need and a warmth that was distinctly Danny.

His muscles flexed and tightened as he reacted to my touch. His heat pressed against me from beneath his jacket. He edged me inside the door without taking his lips from mine, then kicked the door closed behind us as his tongue caressed mine gently, licking the inside of my mouth. His hands slipped over my shoulders, down my arms, stopping on my hips. His fingers dug into my flesh and held me tight against his groin. His arousal pushed hard against my lower abdomen and I crumbled at the thought that he wanted me. That little voice inside me was almost purring as his hands guided me back into the living room. His fingers slid to the softer flesh of my ass, grabbing me in his large hands. I moaned softly into his mouth as he continued to devour me whole.

The back of my calves pressed up against the base of my couch, and he lowered me down. He hovered above me, tasting me, caressing me in ways that made the warm heat of arousal flow between my thighs.

God, I have to stop this before it goes too far
.

He pressed his warm lips to my body, dragging his scorching tongue down my neck as he kissed along my jawline and beneath my ear. A small moan escaped my throat. I knew that if I didn’t stop it now, I would definitely do something I couldn’t take back in the morning. It was now or never.

I placed my hands on his chest and hesitated. The hard muscles of his chest tensed underneath my palm.

God help me! His chest is solid rock
!

I hesitantly pushed myself away, taking a moment to breathe and collect my thoughts before I looked up at him from under my lashes. Once I met his amber-flooded eyes, my heart sped up. I didn’t think it was possible for my pulse to beat any faster. He gazed down at me, and I could read the naked hunger on his face.

“Thank you,” he said, breathing heavily. “I couldn’t have stopped.” His lips turned up in a mischievous smile as he stood up and away from me, putting some distance between us. He straightened his clothing, fidgeting with his shirt and corduroy jacket.

Knowing that he wanted me and seeing the proof pressed firmly against his jeans made me rethink how the night should end.

STOP IT!

“I’d better go,” he said. “I won’t be able to restrain myself if I stay here with you any longer.” He moved, bungling to the door. He glanced over his shoulder at me a few times in the short distance to the front door, as if trying very hard not to come back to me.

Drained and sexually frustrated, I dropped onto the couch. I liked that Danny had reacted to me so strongly. I liked it very much. When I didn’t hear the door shut, I raised my head to find him standing in the entryway, watching me.

I stood, but he placed his hands up with his palms out, in complete surrender. I liked that, too.

“My virtue can’t handle it,” he said with a soft laugh and a sly smile.

I stalked over to him with a sultry swagger in my walk, sashaying my hips back and forth with each step. His eyes grew large with wonder and dread as he watched me.

He stumbled a step or two over his own feet as he moved backward through the front door and farther away from me. “Woman, you’ll be the death of me.” He opened the door quickly. A cool rush of autumn wind swept in from outside, sizzling and burning against my warm skin, and I almost purred at the sensation.

“Please tell me you’ll see me again?” Hunger lingered behind his eyes. I could have sworn that I saw a flash of amber again as I nodded. When he smiled brightly at me, the amber was gone and his beautiful hazel gray irises were once again on me ...
mine
.

He placed one gentle finger under my chin and tilted my face up, still maintaining that careful distance between us. For his safety or for mine, I wasn’t sure.

His goodbye kiss, chaste, but scorching, left me breathless.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, backing away from me.

“Uhmm,” I groaned as he got in the SUV and drove away.

I took a deep breath of the chilled October air and shivered.

Patrick’s face, his dark eyes, and soft touch flashed through my mind as the chill bit through my clothing, reminding me of his cool power prickling along my skin. What was wrong with me? It was as if I was living in two different worlds and I wanted both.

The air filled my hot lungs with its cool breath. Somehow, I always felt warmer when Danny was around, like he carried a furnace inside of him. Now, all I was left with was the chill of early autumn and the knowledge that Candace had to be stopped. And I was just the girl to do it.

Chapter 12

I’d gone back and forth from work to my car for the last three days. At 3:45 a.m., I was three hours away from starting another new day, nowhere near sleep and driving through downtown, trying to keep my eyes open. The caffeine had worn off hours ago.

The city was dead. The only lights at four in the morning were the street lamps along High Street and the epilepsy-inducing LED lights flashing advertisements and news headlines from the square at Broad Street and High.

Candace Capeloni charged through downtown like someone was chasing her, revving her engine and squealing tires at every light.

I followed a block back and a street over on Fourth Street heading North. Her engine revved like a lion’s roar in the silent city as it bounced off the buildings and filled the empty space of downtown. I crossed over a block, closing that distance as I stopped at a red light. The Charger crossed in front of me. I made the right on to High Street and followed for another block and a half until she made a left onto Vine, off the main drag.

I circled the block and waited for the lights to come out on the other side. When they didn’t appear and I didn’t hear the roar of her engines, I parked the car and took off toward the North Market on foot.

The air was frigid as the crisp early morning breeze funneled through the dark alley behind the Hampton Inn. It was like walking through a wind tunnel. The glare of headlights reflected off the tinted windows of the hotel up ahead. I made my way toward the end of the alley in an easy, quick jog.

The North Market sign stood tall above the two-story building. The glare of light from the sign cast its blood red shadow over the empty parking lot. The parking lot in front of the building and the spaces along the alley were empty with the exception of a familiar white Charger and a dark-colored town car. The two vehicles sat quietly kitty-corner across several spaces.