Unquenchable Desire (26 page)

Oh, no
. It would be impossible for
him to fight its call and he’d be vulnerable out there alone. Her heartbeat
speeded. If she tried to find him, without her wolf powers, she’d be stupid and
begging for trouble. And perhaps she was worrying about Brian for nothing. Maybe
he was out there with Uncle Hugh or even Victoria.
Please, Lord, protect him wherever he is.

Uncertainty curled around her, shaking her faith as she
walked slowly back to her room. Shedding the curse had turned out to be a double-edged
sword. Until Brian returned, sleeping would be out of the question. Although
nothing could ease her concerns and sense of helplessness, she wondered if
perhaps some hot chocolate would relax her. She thought of the lonely kitchen and
the door to the hills beyond. Fearing she’d be tempted to open the door and
look
out,
and knowing the hot chocolate wouldn’t
really help, she returned to her room and stepped into the moonlit darkness.

Cast out like fish netting, a mesh prison closed around
her. Before she could scream, a hand on the outside of the net clamped a cloth
over her mouth and whole face. Memories of her traumatic kidnapping experience
and the barrio encounter with the acrid smell of chloroform shot through her. She
attempted to twist her head away—the steely grip of the hand prevented
movement. She kicked out, held her breath, and tried not to breathe in the evil
smell, but finally, she had to take a breath…

****

Valerie blinked open her eyes. Her head hurt and her
nostrils burned from breathing in the toxic chloroform. Dizzy and mentally
off-balance, she tried to move and discovered the werewolf had bound and
spread-eagled her across a huge flat boulder, highlighted by the full, mocking
moon.
 
She shivered as a chilling breeze
wafted over her nude body. Her urge to scream was thwarted by the gag in her
mouth. She wriggled her fingers, searching for a sharp place in the rock to saw
the ropes cutting into her wrists. She flinched when she touched the tips of
calloused fingers. Her skin prickled when she glanced over at the body
spread-eagled next to her.
Dear God, it
was a nude man with his throat gapping and bloody.

Tears filled her eyes. She couldn’t stop trembling. Although
she’d never met Mike the new security guard at New Beginnings, she strongly
suspected it was him. What a horrible way to die. Based on the amount of blood
around his head, she speculated he was slaughtered while helplessly tied to the
boulder. Then the black-hearted werewolf, apparently unsatisfied with the
horror of the execution, striped the guard nude to steal his last visage of
dignity and humanity. The cruelty of the carnage had all the earmarks of
Reeves. Was that what her evil uncle had in store for her? Ripping out her
throat and then leaving her nude to be eaten by wild wolves or found by her
parents. She recalled he’d raped Kit and the other women.
No, Lord, please not that,
she cried silently into the encroaching
shadows.

Another bone-chilling awareness hit her. It was clear
now why he hadn’t killed her in her room. She was alive only for one reason—she
was the bait to draw Brian into Reeves’ vindictive and violent clutches.
Stay away, Brian, stay away.

****

Unaware of Valerie’s imprisonment
and believing she was still safely in her
room,
Brian
fought lust and a driving urge to leave the mansion. But the call of the full
moon was too strong. Craving air, freedom—and the unknown, he raced through the
darkness and thick underbrush, silent as the night. He despised the relentless
call as much as it excited him. He sniffed the wind and caught Valerie’s scent.
Without slowing his pace, he melted into the shadows, feeling the compelling
lure of her scent tugging at his feral soul.

At first, he reveled in it—then an
icy awareness slithered over him. It wasn’t in the direction of the mansion as
it should’ve been but deeper into the
Mt.
Baldy
foothills. What did that mean?
Did she
risk the night to come to me?
Other scents came from the same direction—including
the scent of evil. This was bad, very, very bad.

Brian curled his lip and let out a
long howl. The cruel-toned, hungry bay that ricocheted back came from the
direction of the scents. He rubbed together his incisors, now as sharp as ivory
tusks, readying himself for battle. From the hills came that husky howl again,
beckoning him, daring him. Feral instincts overpowered his sense of reason.
With sharp teeth and claws, he headed deeper into the wilds and the subtle
scent of Valerie. Within the fragrance of her, he detected the acrid scent of
fear and cold desperation, warning him that he was racing full speed into a
trap.

In the shifting shadows, he slipped
through the dense foliage, his jaws open wide, baring his sharp fangs in
readiness for a surprise attack. In the past Reeves had proven to be formidable
opponent, his greater weight and thirst to kill was an advantage that he must
overcome with swift-alertness and skill.

With his intensified wolf-hearing,
he detected the snap of a twig. His animal sight focused ahead and picked out
the shape of a huge, black wolf crouching in the shadows.
If I have to die in this battle,
he prayed
, at least, let me save Valerie.
Brian skulked closer until he
spotted her and a nude man spread-eagled on a huge, table boulder highlighted
by moonlight. Valerie’s lemony blonde hair shone like rich silk in the
luminance. A wispy, white lace nightgown lay tossed across her ankles.

He growled and narrowed his eyes at
the cruel display of her graceful nude curves. He paused mid-step, stunned to
see she still wore the filigree cross he’d given to her for protection. It
rested like armor; its gold glowing between her lovely breasts in the deep
shadow of her cleavage. The fact that Reeves hadn’t removed the valuable
jewelry meant something.
But what?

****

Valerie shivered when her wolf-man
skulked into view. In spite of the situation, her breath caught at his
dominant, feral beauty. The luminous glow from the full moon highlighted his
silvery-gray coat and startling, bold markings that extended from the neck all
the way along the spine to the tip of the tail. His piercing stare, attack
posture, and resolute attitude gave this creature of the night a fierce power,
but would it be enough?

She suspected Reeves crouched
nearby, waiting for Brian to get closer before he pounced on him.

Her beautiful, silvery-gray alpha
wolf stood in the center of the clearing, deadly still. He lifted his head, his
ears thrust forward. He crouched low and issued a throaty growl that cut
through her. The timbre was low, yet as sharp and jagged as splintered glass. He
stepped closer, and a ray of faint moonlight fell across his wolfish face,
highlighting that strong jawline, a slender nose, and full, sensual lips that
revealed terrifying protruding fangs. His intense-brown feral eyes glowed like
hot coals.

With his sleek, alert, four-footed
posture and thrust-high chin, he waited, undoubtedly his impatience rubbed raw
by a breeze sizzling with tension.

Suddenly, the black wolf leapt from
a nearby shadowed boulder onto the back of the slivery-gray wolf. With animal
swiftness, the gray wolf rose upright and erect and reached back with hairy,
muscular arms. He lifted the black wolf upward, using the creature’s weight,
and slammed him to the ground. The black wolf righted himself, kicking up gusts
of loose dirt, and then stood upright on his hind feet. Immediately, the rivals
circled, raised hackles around the neck and shoulders, lips curled, incisors
bared, and growling, low and throaty with increasing intensity. Brian splayed
his ears sideways.

With defiance apparent, he crouched
into a karate stance, leaning forward, arms and clawed hands rotating in
exacting yet deceptive motions while his beautiful muscles flexed. The equally
muscled black wolf assumed a similar stance and gestures. The deafening rumble
of the two werewolves growling echoed through the hills.

She had wanted her loved ones to
stay away, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Would
Uncle Hugh or Victoria hear the roar? Would they come to help? Is that I want? No,
stay away family, stay away. She tugged at her ropes until her wrists bled. If
only I could get free to help.

The werewolves whirled, kicked, and
thrust at each other. Her alpha werewolf moved smoothly and effectively while
looking confident. The full force of his powerful aura hit her—tall, dark, and
dangerous. The light of the moon reflected the fierceness of the battle. Brian
went for the throat. The evil wolf twisted and Brian bit into his shoulder. Blood
gushed out. But this time the evil wolf didn’t run away. This was a battle to
the death. Was Brian still opposed to killing? He’d better not be because Reeves
lived to kill.

Fear, frustration, and fury rose so
quickly in Valerie she felt she might explode. She wriggled and tugged against
her bindings frantically, while keeping an eye on the battling werewolves.

The black wolf lunged for Brian’s
throat. She tried to scream out, but the gag muted all sound.

Brian dodged, and counter attacked.
With a riveting sense of rising panic, she struggled to get free. The black
wolf curled his lips, his gleaming incisors bared, and leapt at Brian again. He
missed clamping them onto his throat by millimeters. Inside, she was screaming,
but all she could do was watch. She struggled again to get free. Brian thrashed
about to stop the crazed wolf from closing his jaws on his throat.
God, protect Brian and end this perpetual
reign of terror.

Suddenly, Brian made the sign of a
cross, rose on his hind legs, and charged, jaws wide open. The black wolf
dodged and rushed at Brian again. Brain eluded the neck-clamp, but as the black
wolf lost his balance, he closed his jaws around Brian’s leg. Blood gushed forth
like a fountain and her wolf man went down hard.

Valerie cried inside, fearing
Reeves would finish off her alpha love while he was down. Instead, he whirled and
jumped up on the boulder next to her. Highlighted by the dawning sun, he loomed
over her, casting a dark, threatening shadow. He opened his jaws. Warm, sticky
blood dripped from his incisors onto her breasts. He narrowed his crazed,
glowing eyes.
Oh, dear God he’s going to
tear out my throat and make Brian watch.

She stared up at Reeves’ wide open
jaws, dagger-like incisors and prayed for her everlasting soul. Also, please,
God allow Uncle Hugh and his backup to rush to the rescue and save Brian.

Reeves mounted her, touched her,
and uttered a lusty low growl like he might rape her. Bending and retreating,
he tortured her, opening and closing his bloody jaws, teasing and threatening
to take the deadly bite that would end her life.
God, please don’t let him rape me.

Suddenly a growling force yanked
him off of her and slammed him to the ground. Brain wielded a spear-like branch.
He darted a fleeting glance at her as if to ask her permission to break a
commandment.

Whatever
you do, Brain, it will be the right thing
.

As if he heard her message and without
further hesitation, he drove the spear into Reeves’ black heart.

Brian watched Reeves intently, as
if expecting him to rise again. Then, looking crazed, he drove the spear into Reeves
again and again. Finally, he threw the sharp, bare branch aside and, breathing
hard, he crawled up on the boulder, leaving a trail of blood, and untied her. He
removed her gag gently and touched her lips with calloused fingers. The love in
his intense- eyes moved her more than her favorite symphony ever could.

She rose to a sitting position, not
even bothering to rub her aching wrists, and while keeping an eye on the black
wolf’s limp body, she wrapped her arms about
her
beloved
wolfman
.

In the dawning light, the black
wolf jerked once, morphed into Rory, jerked again, and then lay still as death.

As Brian lifted her gently off the
boulder, she said, “You were right about him all along.”

She glanced at Brian. He was
morphing back to his human form. He bent to kiss her, but stopped as though
needing to take a breath. She watched in wonder and joy as his wolf-self vaporized
and gusted out of his mouth like genie smoke caught by a breeze.

“Brian, your wolf left you, as if
you finally held nothing back. You really do love me.”
 

“I’ve been telling you that all
along. But I guess it took suffering through the pain of fearing I might lose
you forever to finally allow myself to feel, to the depth of my soul, every
emotion in my body.”

He was studying her, making her suddenly acutely aware of their nudity.
“It seems so simple now. Our willingness to forfeit our lives for each other
was well worth the deadly risk. But we both almost ended up dead.”

She shivered, feeling the cold fear
still lingering in her bones. “As grateful as I am, I realize we still have a
big problem. How do we prevent the devil from resurrecting Reeves again so he
can morph again into another person? I don’t want my family to live with that
fear into eternity.”

Suddenly Victoria and Hugh, half
morphed, entered the clearing looking dirty and bedraggled, like they’d been
through a hurricane. “What happened to you two?” Valerie asked.

“We heard the growling across the
miles,” Uncle Hugh said. “And while trying to race to your rescue, we fell into
two deep, hidden snare-traps.”

“How did you escape?” Valerie
asked.

“We can talk about that later.”
Uncle Hugh stared down at Rory. “Right now we have to take care of this ugly
business. He’s my step-brother Reeves, isn’t he?”