Unquenchable Desire (27 page)

Valerie shivered. “Yes, we’re sure
of it now.”

Victoria
kicked the corpse’s feet. “What’ll
we do his remains?”

Hugh took a long breath then blew
it out. “We have to dispose of the body. I suggest burning him to ashes.”

Valerie wasn’t sure she agreed. “Dad
said cremation wasn’t final enough. He still rose from the dead.”

“We’d better do something quickly,”
Victoria
said, looking up and scanning the coral sky. “The police could come anytime. They’ve
been combing the area by helicopter since your security man
disappeared
.”

Valerie gestured with a nod toward
the table boulder. “He’s no longer missing.”

“Oh, My God!”
Victoria
said.
“How ghastly.”
Her tone took on a deadly calm. “I
suppose we should dispose of him, too.”

“No, not a good
idea.”
Valerie realized there was no perfect answer. And, even though
Reeves was dead, the trouble was far from over. “We should report our discovery
and let the police take care of him.
Reeves is
another
matter. He must be handled quickly and internally for the sake of our family.” She
tried to sound as calm as her sister.

“I wish we had a shovel,” Uncle
Hugh said. “But we can’t wait to get one, so grab some sturdy branches and
start digging, folks.”

“First,” Brian said, “I have to
untie the security man and drag him into the shade. He’ll fry up there in the
sun.”

Valerie loved his humane
intentions, but touching the guard would only bring more trouble. “No!” she said,
knowing she’d touched the guard with her fingers. But she’d find a way to
explain that later, if she had to. “You can’t touch him. You mustn’t get your
DNA on him.”

Brian nodded. “You’re right, but I
hate leaving him there. At least, I must cover him.”

He grabbed a hefty branch, stripped
it of its leaves, leapt onto the boulder, and covered the guard with the
greenery. Then he jumped off of the boulder and began digging with the sturdy
limb.

Everyone stripped branches and joined
him.

Valerie regretted that they didn’t
have the right tools or sufficient time to dig an adequate hole.

Uncle Hugh rolled the corpse into
the grave. It was barely deep enough to cradle the body. He placed kindling in
with the cadaver and was about to light the wood chips when Brian said, “Stop! I
have an idea. Valerie, give me your cross.”

Puzzled, she removed the warm cross
from around her neck and handed it to him.

She felt a spark when their fingers
brushed.

Brian met her gaze a moment then
tossed the golden treasure into the hole on top of the black wolf’s chest and the
kindling. “Wait, that’s not quite right.” He kneeled down and looped the chain
around the wolf’s neck. The sun beat down unmercifully on the gold, almost
blinding them with its brightness. Suddenly, the kindling and the corpse caught
fire. Flames rose in the air. Screams echoed around them as though hundreds of
dead spirits were writhing in pain.

With her heart pounding in fear,
Valerie moved closer to Brian. He placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Pray,” he told her and the group. “Pray like you’ve never prayed before.”

He sank to his knees, drawing her
with him. Valerie felt deeply moved when everyone in the group joined them,
their hands clasped, tips pointing to their higher power.

Then Brian’s voice rose, deep and
controlled, above the others. “Dear God in Heaven, if it is your will, please
bless the cross and give it the power to keep the devil away, and allow Reeves
to cease to exist in any form. Let the Lamont family and all of its off-spring
have peace at last and remain free of the reign of terror that has spanned
generations. After a resounding “Amen,” the group covered the ashes and oddly
still gleaming cross with dirt and then headed home.

Valerie wondered how she’d explain
the vicious and deadly attack on the guard to the police. This was the time to
prove she could think on her feet and was worthy of her CEO title. And that she
was worthy of Brian who’d risked his life to save her more than once.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Upon her return to the mansion,
Valerie reported the security guard’s murder to the authorities. Then she waved
away her parents’ questions and told them
Victoria
would explain. Quickly, she ran
upstairs to throw on some clothes. Brian did the same. She and Brian barely
made it back downstairs before she heard the swish of rotors beating the air
and then the thud of wheels touching down as the
PD
helicopter landed in her yard.

“I shudder at what they’re doing to
the landscaping,” Brian said.

She laughed without humor. Only a
man who loved gardening would say something like that. “We have more to worry
about than messed up grass.”

When she recognized the officers,
her stress-level skyrocketed and her knees began to tremble. Haywood swaggered
toward her, his round face smug as usual. His partner, Officer Montoya, shook
his head as if she’d been a naughty child.

Haywood lowered his dark,
impenetrable aviator sunglasses, and with narrowed, muddy eyes he glared at
her. “So you found the guard, did you? Like I said before, it seems whenever
there’s trouble with wolves in this community you and your dad are always mixed
up in it.”

She took a deep breath and met his
gaze head on. “Do you want us to take you to the guard, or not?”

He stared at her coldly. “Most indubitably,
Ms. Lamont,”
Haywood
said in a superior tone. “Lea
d
away.”

Brian assisted her into the chopper
and then climbed in next to her and clasped her hand tightly.

They were flying toward disaster.
 
She’d told the police about the wolf attack
and they’d have no doubt that a werewolf had torn out the guard’s throat. Although
she and her family would suffer the repercussions, reporting the murder was
still the right thing to do. The guard needed to be discovered and returned to
his loved ones for a proper burial.

At the murder site, Haywood rubbed
his gloved hands together as if he relished the ghastly, bloody sight. “Well
I’ll be. It’s like you said, another werewolf attack.”

Montoya went to the bushes and
threw up. On his way back to the group his path took him close to the loose
dirt. Feeling uneasy, she glanced over at the shallow grave marked only by
smooth dirt and a scattering of pebbles and leaves that had blown in since
they’d left it. She felt her knees go weak when officer Montoya looked down at
the fresh dirt. Montoya, looking pale and tired, glanced at her but said
nothing.

She was terrified about the look
that passed between them. But when nothing came of it, the knots in her stomach
disappeared.

In the following weeks it was touch
and go with police, but when they couldn’t find any direct evidence linking any
of the Lamont family to the murder, they put the case into an unsolved file and
warned they’d be watching her and her whole family. But what else was new. The
Lamont family had lived under a microscope for years.

****

With the wolves within her and
Brian gone, and some assurance and lots of faith that Reeves would never
return, Valerie copied her sister and made a quick trip to
Las Vegas
to get married. She and Victoria
promised their dad that they would plan a formal double-wedding in April or
June, whatever he wanted.

For the present, Valerie was more
interested in the man than the marriage, and now that both of them were free of
the curse she wanted to be gloriously and legally married when they made love
again, just in case she was truly as fertile as she felt.

When they returned, they wanted to
make love out in the wilds like their first time. They ran like children to a
secret spot out of the sight of the mansion and the world, under a lone mesquite
tree that promised shade. Brian snatched a rolled up gray blanket from his
backpack and dropped to his knees. He placed a stone on three corners of the
blanket and a small cooler with wine and cheese on the other. The smell of
brush, mesquite, and newly planted grape vines drifted on the breeze and
rippled the dried brush. The gentle movement soothed her inner turmoil and
helped to bring her racing heart back to normal. The surroundings in the hilly
mecca she’d learned to love as a wolf were breathtaking, but rather than drink
in nature and fill her thirsty soul, she brazenly studied Brian. His dark, sexy
magnetism never ceased to amaze her. And she knew as long as she lived, that
this man with his unusual up-bringing would continue to surprise her.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. She no longer had to fight the
spell this man had been weaving over her since the moment they met. Nor did she
have to fight the curse.

A grin played at Brian’s lips. And although her nerves were taut, she
grinned back, loving him so much she ached.

When Brian stroked her hair
and looked into her eyes, she entwined her arms around his neck and drew him
closer. His heat flowed over her like a soothing, warm bath. Her gaze fixed on
his lips. They parted slightly, all man…all hers.

He didn't move. Brian's face
was a sculpture of strong angles and planes. He let out an agonized groan that
was very human, very passionate. Then he bent and captured her lips in a gentle
taking.

Brian’s tongue traced her
lower lip with maddening slowness, sending sensations racing through her. She
moaned.
His glinting gaze
met hers and he looked deep into her eyes,

searching a moment. Then he lowered his lips to hers, his mouth open,
moist, and faintly tasting of mint. He sought her tongue.

A
s their passion heated and soared, kisses weren’t enough. She
tried
to calm her
excitement as they slowly disrobed one another. Then, laying nude in Brian’s
arms, pressed against his hard, leanly-muscled body, she was oblivious to the
hills around them or the purple mountains to the East. Beneath the gentle,
sun-warming breezes, a hot unquenchable passion seared her soul. In Brian’s
powerful arms, she felt a wildness rage through her that she’d thought she
could only experience in the radiance of the full moon. With a soft sigh, she
drew him close. His heat surrounded her, seeping into her bones, spreading waves
of flames until every inch of flesh was on fire and begging for release.

She wildly raked her long fingers
through Brian’s midnight black hair and drew him on top of her. He needed no
prompting. She’d learned during their short honeymoon that living wild with a
pack of wolves in his youth had only made him more confident as a lover. And
now that he’d allowed himself to feel the full impact of his emotions, he was
even more incredible, letting his love for her shine in every whisper, in every
caress. “Oh, God, Brian, I love you more than I ever thought possible.”

He whispered in her ear, “How many
memories these hills call to mind, the first passions, desperate and
unrestrained. And now this beautiful love and unbreakable bond that has grown stronger
every day since we met.”

Tears flashed to her eyes. With her
heart over-flowing with the emotion he conveyed and the emotion he inspired,
she clung to him.

While kissing away her tears, he slipped
inside her, filling her with his heat and bold strength. Suddenly, she was
oblivious to everything but his woodsy scent and powerful thrusts. Wildly, she
lifted her pelvis, wanting more.
And wanting it only with
him—forever.

Epilogue

Hugh slipped into his brother’s
office and watched him for a few minutes. A great, aching, brotherly love rose
within so swiftly that it took his breath away, assuring him that he was
capable of giving and receiving love. He didn’t know how Damon would take the
news, but he decided to just come right out with it. He cleared his throat then
said, “You and your family don’t need me anymore.” A constriction rose in his
throat and he swallowed. “So, I’m moving on.”

Damon looked up, frowning. “Don’t
be silly, we’ll always need you. Let me rephrase that…” He got up from his cluttered
desk and hugged his brother. “What I meant to say is
,
we’ll always want you.”

“I appreciate that, but I have this
great need to try to make a life of my own for a while. When the serum didn’t
work on me, I decided it was because, like it or not, I’m still a member of the
walking-dead and since I died a werewolf, I’m probably destined to be a
werewolf for as long as I’m granted the blessing of remaining here on Earth.”

Damon shook his head, looking
thoughtful. “Unless you fall in love and save a damsel from some terrible fate.
Maybe then…”

“With me that
probably won’t work.
But that’s why I’m leaving. I’ve never felt the
love of a woman and I’d like to experience it before I die. But first I must
meet some women. Hence, dear brother, I’m off to do some traveling. I’ve signed
up with a traveling circus that goes all over the world. Wish me luck….”

The End

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