Embrace the Night

6

Four days later they were on the craggy coast of northern California. Chloe flicked her fingers and turned on a lamp before she even entered the living room. Wandering across the room, she lifted the edge of the curtains to peek out the window of their oceanfront condo. She’d have liked to go out onto the balcony and let the sea breeze ruffle her hair, but if Merek found out, he’d freak over the exposed position. He didn’t mess around about security, so she propped her shoulder against the wal and contented herself with staring out the closed, locked, and spel -warded window. The moon hovered in the sky, heavy, bright, and almost ful .

She wanted to tel herself that this was just a vacation she was on, an extended road trip, but worry gnawed at her. It wasn’t just the extra security measures. Alex had become more and more distant as the ful moon approached, the silent intensity that burned in his eyes growing more feral with each day that passed.

He’d have to Change soon, compel ed by the lunar cycles. Worse, she saw a creeping fear haunt his pale gaze, echoes of horror from watching his mother die of Change. It was always like this before ful moon, but she’d never spent so much time in close proximity with the boy. They’d never lived together as they were now.

It was awful.

Her determination to find a potion to control the lycanthropic disease redoubled. If Alex was this terrified every month, then she didn’t want to know what others went through. She just knew she needed to stop it.

Frustration heaped on top of her worry. If she were home, if none of this had happened, then she might have already finished her experiments. They might already have a prototype for the potion to inhibit ful moon Change.

“Damn it.” She rubbed a tired hand over her eyes.

Big hands closed over her shoulders, rubbing the tension from her muscles. She sighed as her body went limp. Merek’s voice was a low rumble in her ear. “You should have been in bed hours ago.”

“I did go to bed hours ago,” she groused. She’d gone to bed exactly when Merek and Alex had. And then stared at the ceiling with gritty eyes. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Clearly.” He pul ed her back against his warm chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Keeping yourself up at night isn’t going to help anyone, sweetheart. You need to rest.”

“I know.” She sighed, quenched the desire to tel him she hated nights too much to sleep sometimes, and rol ed her head on his shoulder to look up at him. He bent forward to brush a light kiss across her temple.

A shiver went through her, the lust that was never far from the surface bubbling up. They’d done their best to be discreet for Alex’s sake, but the calm, worldly eyes of her godson missed very little. She didn’t try to lie to herself—Alex was no innocent child, whether he was of legal age or not. Outside of that, she wanted no details, and thankful y he’d never felt the need to share. She’d caught the looks he gave her and Merek, but he hadn’t felt the need to broach that topic with her either, for which she was even more grateful.

The bottom line was, if she might die, she was going to squeeze every last ounce of living out of the time she had left. That meant she’d turn herself over to the passion that erupted between Merek and her. It was madness, it was stupid, and she didn’t care. She didn’t want to deny herself or him. She wasn’t even sure she could. Something about this man had reached down deep inside her from the very first, and pretending she didn’t want him was even more stupid than indulging herself.

Though they went to bed separately every night, not one had passed that they hadn’t ended up together.

Irresistible temptation. “Kiss me.”

“I’l do a hel of a lot more than kiss you, sweetheart.” Merek stroked his fingers down her torso until he could dip below the edge of her T-shirt.

He let his lips play over hers, a sweet savoring. Fire licked at her bel y, spreading liquid heat throughout her body. Her concerns from just moments before drifted away as the endless desire she had for this man enveloped her in a slow fever. His tongue slipped between her lips, deepening the kiss. The taste of honey fil ed her mouth. She now knew it was because he used it instead of sugar in his coffee. The daily habits, the little details of him, were becoming familiar. Al the things he liked best. She bit his lip, sucking it into her mouth, just the way she knew would make him groan. She grinned when the sound vibrated up from his chest.

The hard ridge of his cock burned through the thin material of her pajama pants. Excitement spiraled deep inside her, and her sex slickened. The feel of him, the delightful flavor, the musky masculine scent of him, made her want anything and everything he had to offer. One of his hands slid up her midriff to cup her breast. She broke her mouth away from his and arched herself into his touch.

“Please,” she breathed.

“Shh.” His talented fingers caressed her nipples, drawing them into tight peaks. He plucked at them, twisting them just enough to make her squirm. Her pussy pulsed in scorching waves, the lips wet with juices.

Just that quickly she was ready to beg for him. Gods, the man did it for her.

Her breath sped to shal ow panting, a whimper breaking from her throat as the lightest sizzle of magic met her nipple. Now. Gods, now. She wriggled against him, but he tightened his arms around her to hold her in place. He skimmed one hand down her stomach until he dipped beneath the waistband of her pajama bottoms. She wore no underwear, so there was nothing between his fingers and her needy sex.

“Spread for me.” His words rumbled like thunder in her ear, and she was more than ready for him.

Easing her legs apart, she tilted her pelvis up in offering. “Touch me.”

He did.

First, a light brush over her soaking pussy, a barely there stroke that made her anticipation spike and her breath strangle in her throat. She closed her eyes and swal owed hard. “Please, Merek.”

“Soon, sweetheart. I promise. Soon.” His mouth opened against her throat, and he bit down. At the same time, his fingers opened the lips of her pussy, dipping into her thick cream. His other hand stil fondled her breasts, kept her nipples in beaded crests. She could feel how wet she was, and every movement of his hands only made it worse. Goose bumps rippled down her skin as his thumb grazed her throbbing clit.

Every muscle in her body locked at that single touch. A deep shudder passed through her, and she twisted in his embrace. She felt him smile against her neck, then he licked a hot path up to her ear and sucked her lobe between his teeth. A delicate sizzle from the tip of his tongue hummed along her overstimulated nerves. Tipping her head to the side to give him greater access, she moaned.

His finger stroked her again, drawing circles from her soaking channel to the hard nub of her clit. Her hips undulated with his movements, trying to deepen the contact. He chuckled, and the sound vibrated against her back. Frustration ate at her. She wanted, she needed. “Now, now, now. ”

Digging her nails into his forearm, she tried to force his fingers into her sex. Shock ripped through her when he didn’t resist. Two big fingers plunged deep into her pussy, scissoring to stretch her sensitized flesh.

It was more than she could bear.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and she came apart. Her sex fisted around his fingers, milking them in endless waves. Lava-like heat spread through every inch of her body, and she threw her head back against his shoulder. The heel of his hand ground against her clit, and his fingers thrust inside her pussy until she crashed headlong into another orgasm. Stars exploded behind her eyes when he sent a spel sparking and dancing from her clit to her channel. Her knees buckled, and he caught her close, stil stroking into her sex.

A door down the hal opened, and then the bathroom light flipped on before that door closed. Alex.

She jolted, but it only drove Merek’s fingers deeper between her slick folds. She had to bite her lip hard enough to draw blood, to keep from crying out at the delicious sensation. He slipped his hand out of her pants, but not without a final flick of his fingers and sizzle of magic that left her arching and gasping.

“Oh, gods.” Her fingers dug into his forearm. “We need a bedroom with a locking door now. ”

“Yes.” He stepped away, reaching to flip off the lamp on their way out.

Her heart thumped hard just thinking about how dark the room would be. “No, leave it on.”

“Why? We’re going to a bedroom with a locking door now, ” he drawled, and turned out the light.

The terror was al -consuming, locking her muscles into unresponsive tightness. She couldn’t move, couldn’t make her body react at al . Cold sweat slicked her skin as the blackness seemed to press down on her, smothering her like a wet blanket. Panic shrieked through her until she began to shiver. The contrast with the fiery lust punched shock through her.

“Chloe?” Merek’s hand groped for her in the darkness, and she clung to the contact like a lifeline. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t . . . I don’t like the dark.” The words jerked out past stiff lips.

“Let me get the light, then.” His voice had gentled to quiet soothing.

“No, don’t leave me!” She hated the shril ness of her tone, but she couldn’t let go, couldn’t be alone in the blackness. Not again. Not like— She shuddered away from the thought and threw herself into his arms, needing to recapture the passion of moments before. Her mouth was hungry, consuming, when it met his. He hesitated for a brief moment before he gave her what she wanted. His tongue plunged between her lips as he scooped her up in his arms.

What was going on?

The fear in her voice had made Merek’s heart trip, but he ignored that and met her kisses with equal ferocity as he swiftly carried her into the closest bedroom—his. He kicked the door shut just as Alex emerged from the bathroom. The werewolf could make of that whatever he wanted—he knew what they did at night.

Merek strode across the room and sat Chloe on the side of the bed. He flicked on the bedside lamp, which captured her in a circle of warm light.

Now he could see her expression, the wariness in her eyes that contrasted with the flush of desire in her cheeks. “Al right, you want to tel me—”

“Don’t just stand there. Come here and finish what you started.” She slipped out of her clothes and arched on the mattress, going on the sexual offensive to cover whatever she didn’t want to discuss. She stroked her clit for him, teasing more cream from her body. He forced himself to ignore the way his dick throbbed at the erotic sight.

Cajoling entered his tone. “There’s nothing you can’t tel me, sweetheart. I can help you. You can trust me.”

“I’m already trusting you with my life. More important, I’m trusting you with my godson’s life.” She sat up on the bed. “There’s nothing I can do to make being afraid of the dark go away, and talking about it won’t help.

Therapists with way more training than you have taken a crack at it and failed.” She looked away, dropping her sexy pose. “I realize I should have told you about my fear from the beginning, because it makes me more difficult to protect and makes your job harder. I apologize for keeping that from you. It’s just not something I even consider discussing with people, so I didn’t think about saying anything to you.”

“But you won’t tel me where the fear came from?”

“No.” Her eyes closed tight, her arms crossing defensively over her breasts. “That part isn’t relevant to anyone but me.”

He sighed at how stiff her words were. More secrets she was keeping from him, but he couldn’t force her to tel him everything, and somehow he knew pushing would make her less likely to talk in the future.

“Someday you’l trust me with it, Chloe.”

Her laugh was a painful thing to hear. “It wouldn’t solve anything.”

“Maybe not, but I’d stil like to know.” Gods, but didn’t he know how that could be? A wound so deep nothing would ever fix it. A problem so huge nothing could overcome it. He understood that kind of pain, and what it took to live with it.

He settled himself on the bed beside her, stroking his fingertips over her jaw until she looked at him again. “What do you need, sweetheart?”

“You.” A little smile tilted up one side of her mouth. “I don’t want to think about this at al . It’s bad enough without dwel ing on it, you know? I just want to pretend the last ten minutes didn’t happen, and to get back to where we were before.”

“The last ten minutes did happen, and I’m glad they did. This was something I needed to know.” He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over her mouth.

“I wish it wasn’t.” Her hands pressed to his chest, stroking over his T-shirt. She lifted her lips to his, tentative, as if she feared he’d push her away. The thought made him ache inside.

“Come here.” His voice was gruffer than he intended, but he pul ed her into his arms, and she came wil ingly. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her mouth slanting under his as she kissed him harder, her tongue probing for entrance. His cock surged with need as her taste exploded over his taste buds.

Her hands tugged at the bottom of his shirt, and he yanked it over his head. Then her bare breasts rubbed against his flesh, and he groaned. She explored him with her fingers, teased his nipples, stroked his stomach. When she reached for his dick, he broke, shuddered, jerked to his feet to shove his sweats down his legs.

The heat in her eyes as she took in his body made him burn.

Gods, it had never been so hot for him. Her touch, her scent, the eagerness with which she responded to him. His hunger for her went far beyond the physical, but the physical was so fucking good. His cock was so hard, it ached, and he needed inside her so badly he was shaking. He couldn’t wait another minute.

Crawling onto the bed beside her, he pressed her thighs flat to the mattress and mounted her. “Chloe, I need you.”

“Have me.” She held her arms out to him. Her hands slid up his biceps to his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his waist. She chuckled low in her bel y, and it rubbed her against his dick. He gritted his teeth to keep from coming then and there.

“Now,” he groaned. And then he was inside her, no gentleness, just lust and sharp craving driving him to orgasm. His self-discipline went up in smoke as it usual y did with her.

His hips bucked, and he slammed his cock into her hot, sleek sheath. She was tight, wet, and the feel of her inner muscles gripping his cock each time he thrust inside her made him lose what was left of his sanity.

“Kiss me.” She licked her lips, and her face was rosy with passion. Passion that was just for him. He liked that. He liked that far more than he should. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, a tiny, knowing smile kicking up the corner of her mouth as she deliberately fisted her pussy around his cock.

“Fuck, Chloe.” His breath whistled out between clenched teeth. “Do that again, and this wil be over right now.”

Her grin turned evil, so he did what she’d asked. He kissed her. If he didn’t distract the woman, she’d let that inventive mind of hers cause al kinds of trouble. He chuckled as he plunged his tongue between her lips to the same rhythm he set between her legs. A helpless moan was her only response.

Tilting his head, he sipped at her lips before twining his tongue with hers again. The taste of her was almost narcotic. Fire twisted in his gut, heat and need wrenching through him as he picked up his pace.

Their skin smacked together, the impact loud in the smal bedroom. She gasped against his mouth when he rubbed over her clit. He was going to come soon, and he was going to take her with him. He wanted to feel that hot milking of her pussy on his cock.

Sweat sealed their bodies when they pressed together, made them slippery when they moved apart. She walked her feet up the backs of his thighs, pushing down to keep him close. He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and scraped the swol en flesh while he pul ed back and broke the kiss. “Gods, Chloe.

This is fucking incredible.”

“Oh, yeah.” She slipped her palms down his back to grab his ass and pul him deeper into her. A laugh bubbled out of her, and she arched her hips up to meet his, clenching her inner muscles tight around him when he withdrew to thrust back in. “Faster, Merek. Harder. I love it.”

How was he ever going to give her up?

It was the last coherent thought he had before the world dissolved around him, and he exploded into orgasm. Desperately, he reached between them and flicked his finger over her clit, pouring hot waves of magic into the touch. Her entire body arched, stiffened, and she convulsed around his cock. He jetted into her slick pussy, and heard her sob his name. He groaned, the sound half pleasure and half pain. It went on and on, but was over too soon, his come pumping deep inside her as her sheath fisted on him. More. He wanted more. Always with her, he wanted more. He wanted to stay inside her forever.

Her hands slipped up and down his sweat-dampened back before fal ing limply to the pil ow beside her head. “Mmm. That was just what I needed. I bet I’l sleep really wel now.”

He chuckled, letting his forehead rest between her breasts. “So, I’m a sleeping pil now. You’re welcome. I think.”

Turning his head, he nuzzled and kissed the inner curve of one plump breast. His hand petted her hip, the silkiness of her skin irresistible. He couldn’t get enough of touching her. A part of him suspected he might never get enough, and the thought worried him far less than it should. He’d been in far deeper than he should have been since the very beginning, and he didn’t even want to wonder why. There was no end in sight, so he could only control the here and now. And at that moment al he wanted was to sleep with his woman in his arms.

Using the last bit of strength he had left, he shifted to the side so he wasn’t crushing her, but could stay inside her. Yes. Perfect.

Automatical y, he reached out to turn off the light, and felt her tense beside him. It was only then that he realized they’d never once slept with al the lights out. Normal y, they just crashed into slumber after sex, but what he had thought was a mere oversight had been deliberate on her part. He should know by now not to assume anything with Chloe. Unlike with other people, he couldn’t predict her reactions or the reasons behind them. He hesitated briefly, then switched the lamp to its lowest setting. “Is that al right?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

When he didn’t push her for more answers about what could make an adult woman so scared of the dark, the tension leeched out of her muscles. She swal owed, and he could almost feel her groping for something else to talk about. “I was thinking . . . before you came into the living room . . .”

“You know, you think too much, Doctor.” He kissed her to take any sting out of the words.

Humming against his lips, she broke away after a long moment. “No, I mean . . . The ful moon’s in a couple of days. We need to get Alex somewhere safe.”

Somewhere safe for him to shift. Somewhere it would be unlikely that anyone would look for him at ful moon, when werewolves were forced to change shape. The process was grotesque, and Merek couldn’t imagine it was anything less than torturous. He’d watched wolves shift before when they were trying to evade capture. The sound of every bone in the body breaking in rapid succession was one he’d never forget. A shudder racked him. He swal owed to rid his mouth of the faint taint of bile. These were not the kind of thoughts he wanted to be having after a mattress session with Chloe. He sighed and stroked his fingers down her hip again, but his mind refused to shut down.

Ful moon was going to be a problem, Chloe was right about that. Depending on how long this job lasted, he would have to deal with this every month.

Shifting was what wolves did, and he wasn’t sure what exactly it was about ful moon shifts that made them more dangerous, but a lot of wolves died that way. Maybe it was that they were compel ed and so weren’t total y in control of the Change. Maybe it was the added stress on top of an already dangerous situation. It didn’t real y matter, other than how it affected Alex.

Merek sighed, burying his nose into the soft hair at Chloe’s temple. “There’s a couple of places up in eastern Oregon, remote campgrounds, that would be good.”

Nodding, she turned her head for a ful kiss. “Places where no one can tel the difference between the werewolves howling and the real wolves?”

“Yeah, and run by Magickals who wouldn’t think anything of a little howling at that time of the month.” He obliged her, letting his lips play over hers.

“Okay.” She pul ed away, then came back for another round. “How long wil it take us to get there?”

“We can be there before nightfal if we hit the road first thing in the morning.”

“Okay, sounds good.” The lines of worry eased from her face. She yawned and snuggled into him, her eyes blinking slowly. “I’l be good to go as soon as I get coffee.”

“Can you sleep now? ”

“Yes, thank you, Detective.” She pinched his side, but he felt the silent laugh that shook her chest. “If I’m lucky, Alex wil be up first and have coffee ready. He’s a good kid like that.”

Yeah, he was a good kid like that. The wolf had treated Merek with courteous caution from the beginning, and nothing had changed. If Alex had a problem with Merek and Chloe’s relationship, he hadn’t said anything. Then again, the teen didn’t say much anyway. He just watched and waited for Merek to fuck something up—his distrust of adult males was plain to see, and from what little Chloe had said about Ivan Nemov, the kid had a right to his misgivings. There was nothing Merek could do about that, so he just went about his business with Chloe and keeping them al safe and treated the kid with the same tolerance and cool civility that he received. Whether or not that was the best approach to take, he had no idea, but he did know he wasn’t about to give up the pleasure of being with Chloe.

He smiled when she cuddled closer, sighing in soft contentment. Smoothing her inky hair back, he let himself relax, let his thoughts drift where they would. They’d made it out of Seattle without incident, and the few days since had been spent in placid normalcy, but his shoulder blades stil twitched. They weren’t out of danger. Even as he understood that, he cursed his inability to know what danger was coming. He’d never had to fly blind during a case before—even a case that was off the record. It was disconcerting as hel , and he didn’t like it, but there was no putting the brakes on this runaway train. He’d chosen to contact Mil ie, and Chloe had wil ingly gone along with their plans without a single complaint.

She trusted him whether she wanted to admit it or not. She would trust him enough to tel him about her fear of the night someday.

Why that was so vital to him, he didn’t know, but it was. He wanted her trust as much as he wanted the woman herself. She’d gotten under his skin that first night, and every moment that had passed since he’d seen her again had only sharpened the addiction.

It also sharpened the urgency of keeping her safe. Her and Alex. Despite the constant cold shoulder, he liked the kid, thought he’d handled the upheavals to his life with a maturity people three times his age couldn’t manage.

Merek had a feeling if anything happened to either of them, he’d never forgive himself. A huge, gaping hole would be ripped into his heart, and he doubted he’d ever real y recover. They’d become that important to him, that quickly.

He swal owed, and Chloe gave a sleepy murmur, burrowing deeper into his chest. Her lips brushed his skin when she spoke. “Sleep now, remember?”

“Yeah. Sleep now.” He pul ed in a breath, smel ed the sweetness of her skin, and felt something loosen inside him, a constriction that had been there for so many years, he didn’t recal his life without it.

Letting out the breath on a shaky sigh, he squeezed his eyes closed. He expected to stay awake, working things over, his mind obsessed with the problems presented to it, but it didn’t happen. Drowsiness swept over him, dragging him under. It wasn’t like him to ever unwind, but when had he acted like himself since Hurricane Chloe had swept back into his life? A smile touched his mouth, and he went to sleep with it stil on his face.