Eternal Hunter

Chapter 9

“You just missed my exit.” The first words she’d spoken since they left the parking garage. Erin thought the words came out pretty calm. Pretty steady.

Did you like my present?

She’d managed, barely, not to flinch when Jude told her the words of the note. But even before he’d said them, she’d known.

It was the freak’s MO.

Her gaze lifted to Jude’s face. His jaw was clenched, the eye she could see narrowed. “Jude?” Her hands were balled into fists. The better to not touch him.

“We’re not going to your place.” He didn’t take his gaze off the road. “The bastard was there last night, he was inside the night before that. Sweetheart, your place is sure as shit not safe.”

But it was hers. And right then, she needed some security, some—

“You’re spending the night with me.”

She blinked.

The truck slowed, then turned off on the next exit. “And before we get there, you’re gonna start talking. You’re gonna tell me everything I need to know about that asshole.”

He’ll turn from me. Jude won’t touch me again.

He wouldn’t look at her with hunger in his eyes. Wouldn’t touch her with desire.

Her fingers uncurled and pressed against the tops of her thighs. No choice. “I–I think he attacked Burrows and Lee because he was…giving them to me as presents.” Yeah, sounded sick and twisted as all hell — because it was.

His knuckles tightened around the wheel but he didn’t speak.

“He watches me. It’s what he does.” Always watching. “If he sees someone that he thinks hurts me or disrespects me, then he attacks.” And in the case of Burrows, leaves a body for her to find.

Because that was the kind of present every girl dreamed of. Forget diamonds. She wanted mutilated dead men.

No, no, even she wasn’t that broken.

“One hell of a Prince Charming you got there.” The engine revved as he shot off the exit ramp and down the long, deserted stretch of road.

Tell me something I don’t know. “He hurt a man I dated back in Lillian. My…friend was shot. The bullet barely missed his heart.” A human. He’d been in the hospital for weeks. When he’d gotten out, she’d stayed the hell away from him.

Stayed away — yeah, leaving the city definitely counted as staying away. The real bitch was…she’d cared for him, but she’d had to leave to keep him safe.

Ben wouldn’t have survived much longer in her world.

“No one else but me. You’re mine, Erin. Blood, bones, beast — mine.” She’d never forget that voice. Whispering to her in the darkness.

“The first time I ever heard from the guy,” she licked her lips and said, “he sent me roses. A dozen red roses.”

Jude flinched.

Roses. Just like the ones that had been left in Lee’s parking spot. The truck flew under the streetlights. “I used to love red roses.” He’d taken that from her, too. Now when she saw them, her entire body tensed up, and she could only think of blood and death. She swallowed and looked out the window at the blur of pine trees. “He sent me a note with them. Told me I was the woman he’d been looking for his whole life.”

And she’d been flattered. Excited. Nervous. Smiling and looking around the office as she tried to figure out who her secret admirer really was.

“I got mugged a few nights after that.” A rough laugh broke from her lips. “I could have taken the guy. He was a kid, couldn’t have been more than fifteen, but I was with friends.”

“Humans.”

A nod, one she didn’t even know if he saw because she wasn’t ready to look back at him yet. Since moving in with her father, she’d always stuck with the humans. They might fear her sometimes, when she slipped up, but at least they’d never thrown her away. “I didn’t want them to see”—how strong I am, how deadly I can be—“so I gave the guy my purse.” Not like she’d had much money in the bag. Maybe thirty bucks. No credit cards.

“Let me guess.” He turned off the winding road. Took a left. “Romeo punished the mugger.”

“Used his claws to slice open his throat.” She glanced down at her own nails. Short now, manicured. What a joke. “Someone saw them fighting and called the cops. He didn’t get to finish the kid.” The boy had survived, barely. “I wouldn’t have even connected the stories. I was mugged. Some kid on the news had a knife wound.” Right. “I mean stuff like that happens every day.”

He pulled into his drive. She could see his cabin. Right where the woods and the swamp seemed to meet. A stark building standing against the glittering stars and the glow of the moon.

Jude killed the ignition, but made no move to get out of the truck. Neither did she. Get it over with. Tell him everything.

A touch on her shoulder.

Erin whirled around and found Jude staring at her with blue eyes that shone in the dim interior of the pickup.

“How’d you find out it was your admirer?”

She licked her lips again. Nervous habit. Erin saw his gaze drop, then rise, slowly, back to hers. “When I–I got home from work the next night, my purse was there. Stained with blood. He left me a note. The bastard always liked his little notes.” Though he’d never left a fingerprint on them. She’d checked. The guys in the lab had owed her a few favors back in Lillian.

His note had been simple. Terrifying.

I made the bastard pay.

After that, he’d broken into her house. The first time. No security system had kept him out. And, being like she was, getting a dog, a really big, mean-ass dog, hadn’t been an option.

Not that a dog would have stopped him. Or even slowed him down.

Erin wanted to drop her gaze and because she wanted to, she didn’t. Lifting her chin, she stared into Jude’s eyes and said, “Things escalated from there.” The scar seemed to burn.

Tell him.

“And you ran.” Flat. Jude shook his head and drummed the fingers of his left hand against the steering wheel. “No cops—”

“Lillian isn’t like Baton Rouge.” Too small. Not quite the atmosphere and size most paranormals craved. “The cops there wouldn’t have had the first clue about how to deal with this guy.”

The drumming fingers stilled. “I’ve got a clue.”

Yeah, she knew that and Jude had given her hope. Maybe the nightmare would finally end. Maybe.

Not alone now.

She reached for him, skimming her fingers down his cheek. She loved the soft sting of the light stubble on his flesh.

Jude stilled. His gaze held hers. Then his head moved, a graceful curl into her touch, just like a cat seeking a good rub.

The truck’s cab suddenly seemed very, very small.

Tell him.

But he was looking at her with hunger and need and such lust on his face. In his eyes.

I want him. Just like before. No holding back. No worrying about hurting him.

They were alone out there. Far away from prying eyes and listening ears.

Alone.

One more time. She wanted him again. Couldn’t she be greedy? A little greed never hurt anyone.

Her tongue swiped along her lower lip and she wished that she could taste him.

Do it.

She leaned toward him and heard the hard rasp of his breath. Her lips hovered over his.

“Don’t you know”—the words were a growl, so deep and rough they sent a shiver over her—“not to play with a tiger?”

Oh, but a tiger shifter was exactly the kind of guy she wanted to play with. “I can’t hurt you.” The words slipped out and after a second, she jerked back, horrified. No, she’d said—

His head tipped back and his brows lifted. “Ah…makes sense.”

What?

He caught her hand, pulled it between them. “The humans didn’t like it when you played rough, huh?” The tips of her claws had just begun to appear.

“I have a…hard time holding back.”

“Not gonna complain over that.” His hold on her hand tightened. “Not gonna complain one bit.”

“You’d be the first who didn’t.” Could she not keep her mouth closed? Erin tried to tug her hand back.

No dice. The tiger wasn’t letting go. She could force the issue but…

“Then you’ve been with damn idiots. A woman with power is a fucking beautiful thing to behold.” His eyes held the glow of the beast. “You’re fucking beautiful.”

He’d just — oh, hell. “I got to third base for the first time when I was seventeen. The guy was the high school quarterback. I–I’ve always been strong and — I didn’t mean to hold him so tight.” But she’d almost broken both his wrists. When she’d realized what was happening and eased her hold, he’d run, much faster than he’d ever moved on the field. Come Monday, no guy at the school had so much as given her a second look.

Freak.

“In college, I’d been seeing this guy.” Lyle had always been able to make her smile. “Things got hot and my claws came out.”

Erin, what the hell? You cut me! How did you…?

Her teeth snapped together. “After that,” she gritted, slamming the door on that particular memory, “I learned fast that I had to always have control and be very careful in bed.” Human lovers were too weak. She could break them if she wasn’t careful. So she’d taken her pleasure, weak though it had been, and she’d done it by always holding herself back during sex. If she let go, her partners would have found out what she really was.

Not an option.

Jude unhooked his seat belt and leaned over her. “I like your claws and you’re welcome to hold me as tight as you want.” His lips pressed against hers. Took. Tasted. His tongue slipped inside.

A moan rose in her throat.

His head lifted and he told her, “You don’t have to hold back with me. Last night should have proven that to you.”

It had. And being with him had made her want so much more.

The past was all around her then. Reaching out with greedy hands and claws, while the only man who’d ever made her feel like a normal woman waited before her with bright eyes and a mouth that made her sex clench.

One more time. She needed him, just once more.

And she was going to have him.

Screw the voice that demanded she tell him all of her secrets. She didn’t want to see pity in his eyes.

She wanted the lust that burned hot enough to singe her flesh.

Her fingers sank into his hair as she urged him close again, and she took his mouth.

No holding back. As wild as she wanted to be. Finally.

The fury of lust was in his kiss. She could taste the reckless need and the hunger. She loved it. Her heart pounded, drumming hard and fast in her ears, and she pressed against him, loving that thickly muscled chest. Damn, the guy was perfect.

But he had on too many clothes.

So did she.

Her tongue snaked over the raised edge of his scar, and, this time, the moan was his.

Her nipples pebbled, the points aching and hard. She knew that he’d smell her arousal in the close confines of the truck’s cab. It would be impossible for a guy like him not to notice.

If only the gear shift weren’t so close to her leg, she could try to straddle him and—

He jerked back. “We…have to talk…the guy after you—”

Talking wasn’t what she wanted. “We’re safe here, aren’t we?”

A nod. “Out here”—he ran his tongue over his lips as if catching her taste—“I’d know long before anyone got close.”

That’s what she’d thought. Out in the wild. The perfect place for her tiger. “Good.” Her right hand dropped between them and rubbed over the obvious bulge of his arousal. “I want you—now.” Oh, hell, had she just said that? Sounding all confident, like she wasn’t shaking inside? What if he could see right through her? What if—

“I know.” The edge of his growing canines appeared when he gave a hard grin. “Your smell is driving me insane.” Then his hand was on her thigh, shoving up her skirt. She hadn’t bothered with panty hose. Living in Louisiana, a girl learned to ditch those at an early age. So his callused fingertips touched skin and sent a little shock right through her. Especially when those fingers curled around the inside of her thigh and slid up…

Her breath hitched. “Inside.”

His mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Hell, yeah, sweetheart. I’m going right—”

Her cheeks flamed. “I mean…” His fingers worked up an inch and brushed against the crotch of her panties. Those panties were getting damp, fast. “Not…here.” Because the fear was always there in the back of her mind.

Watching.

He’d be smart enough to stay back, so Jude wouldn’t hear his movement. But he could use binoculars. She knew the guy would do just about anything to keep tabs on her.

No, no, she didn’t want that asshole to see a thing. “Your house.”

One finger eased under the elastic edge of her panties and pushed up between her folds. Erin stiffened.

Not because she didn’t like his touch, but because she did. Too much.

That finger stroked over her, spreading her cream in a long swipe and Erin gasped. “Inside.” The house. She meant the house.

He pulled away. It seemed like more beast than man stared at her from his eyes. “You’d better move fast, sweetheart.”

She shoved open the door. Fought to untangle herself from the seatbelt. Then she was all but racing for the porch, ignoring the chirp of insects and the distant lap of water.

He reached the door first, by about a good two seconds. She flew in behind him, mouth dry, body throbbing, so ready.

Jude caught her, yanking her close and crushing his lips to hers. Her back rapped against the wall and her mouth opened wider.

His cock pushed against her belly. Long and thick and just what she wanted.

No, he was what she wanted.

She grabbed the front of his shirt, jerked, and heard the pop of buttons.

He didn’t lift his head. Didn’t look horrified. No, he growled against her, and caught her skirt in his fist.

Her hands slid over his chest. Hot flesh. Strong man.

The skirt was bunched at her hips now and she knew her panties weren’t going to last long, not when he got his claws on them.

But she didn’t just want to be taken. She wanted to take. The tiger was about to see just how wild she could get.

The fingers that had curled to caress now flattened and she pushed against him, hard enough to make him stumble back.

“Erin? What the hell?”

She caught his arms and spun them around so that he was the one pinned. And she smiled. “Let’s see how much you can handle.” Power pulsed through her. The kind she’d never really felt before because she’d had to be so careful.

Not this time.

She locked his hands against the wall. His eyes widened. But then he flashed her that grin, that wicked grin that made her sex melt and her heart kick-start too fast. “Take your best shot at me.”

She would.

Erin rose up on her toes and pressed her mouth against his throat. Right there. Where the pulse raced, where she could taste the beat of his heart. She touched him once with her lips closed. Then her mouth opened and she tasted him with her tongue.

And let him feel the edge of her teeth.

“Oh, fuck.”

“Not yet,” she whispered, and her mouth moved to his shoulder. He’d played with her before, an almost exact reversal of this position.

Only she wasn’t playing.

For shifters — this spot, oh, yeah, it could sure be very sensitive.

She bit.

Jude shuddered against her.

Erin’s hands released their hold and her fingers skated down his chest. And her mouth followed them. Lips and tongue. She touched the small, brown nipples. Then her mouth closed over one nubbin, and she sucked.

“Erin…” His hands clenched around her hips and he tried to yank her closer.

Not yet.

She used her grip to hold him back against the wall. “Just getting started.” There was more of him that she wanted to see, to touch, and most definitely to taste.

Her eyes dropped to the buckle of his belt. Her hands skated down his body and she lightly raked his skin.

Her fingers were steady when she unhooked the belt. The button popped free, and his zipper slid down with a nearly soundless hiss.

No underwear.

His cock bobbed toward her, the thick head glistening.

She just had to touch.

Her fingers curled around his shaft and he jerked, choking out a breath. Oh, she liked that. Erin squeezed, then stroked, a root to tip pump that had Jude tensing.

Erin lowered before him, her knees hitting the hardwood floor and her skirt fluttering around her. Just a taste. A quick sample.

Her lips closed over him.

“Erin.” Gravelly, barely human.

She took more of his length. Licked him. Sucked.

Enjoyed the hell out of the moment.

Her hand cradled the base of his cock, controlling the depth and motion as she tasted and took and licked.

His hands clamped down on her shoulders. He didn’t push her away. Didn’t pull her closer.

She looked up at him. Saw that his jaw was clenched. Those burning blue eyes were locked on her. Red stained his cheeks. And his expression—

Erin swallowed.

A ragged groan broke from his lips. “Enough.”

One more swipe of her tongue then she rocked back on her haunches. “Not yet.”

He jerked her up. “Now.” A table was beside them. A big, sturdy wooden table with a lamp sitting back on the far edge. He dropped her on top of the table. Pushed her legs apart. “Now.”

He grabbed her panties. One slice of his claws and they fell away.

Erin knocked the lamp out of her way. She heard the thud when it hit the floor. At least it hadn’t bro—

Long, strong fingers pushed between her thighs. Her head fell back against the table.

“Hot and wet.” His voice was pure sex. So low and deep and rumbling.

Her legs dangled over the edge of the table.

“You’re driving me crazy,” he charged.

Yeah, like she was feeling all sane and in control right then. Erin squirmed beneath him. “Jude!”

One finger thrust inside. He lowered over her. His left hand caught her shirt, wrenched it open. Then he shoved her bra out of the way.

When his mouth closed over her nipple, she gasped because dammit, she’d wanted this. Erin arched toward him, riding his finger and twisting as she fought for her pleasure.

“Aw, damn, sweetheart.”

The eyes she couldn’t remember shutting flew open. “Now.” This time, the demand was hers.

A grim nod. Then he pulled her closer to the table’s edge. Fitted himself to her opening as he positioned the head of his cock. She loved that first brush of flesh on flesh. No condom for them. Just sex to sex and—

His cock drove into her. No tentative thrust. Just a hard plunge. Balls-deep and so thick.

Her legs locked around his hips, and she slammed up to meet him. Again and again. Her body tightened.

His mouth took her breast again. Licking and sucking, scoring her lightly with his teeth while he kept thrusting. Driving as far into her as he could go. Hard and fast.

Just the way she wanted him.

His cock withdrew, then slid right back inside her, the length rubbing along her sensitive flesh. Her sex clenched as her climax approached. So close, so close.

He kissed her when she came, drinking in the sounds of her pleasure even as his hips pumped faster, faster, against her.

Her fingers dug into his back. She wanted to feel his release inside her, the hot splash of his climax.

Jude raised his head and stared down at her.

An aftershock, warm and sweet, rippled through her sex and he erupted. Her name broke from his lips as she saw the wave of pleasure sweep over his face.

She held him, with arms and legs, as tightly as she could. Held him and tried to make the pleasure last. Tried to memorize every feeling, tried to imprint the feel of his body on hers.

Because moments like this didn’t last. Especially not for her.

After a time, he sagged against her, sweat slick on his body. Erin didn’t loosen her hold. Not yet.

Not yet.

A squeak sounded beneath her. Then a weird little creak. Then—

They fell to the floor as the table gave way beneath them.

Her breath was knocked from her and the wood bit into her back and arms.

“Dammit!” Jude’s flushed face. “Erin? Sweetheart, are you all right?” He pulled her up, cradling her in his arms as his gaze darted over her body.

They’d broken the table.

He was still lodged inside her. Spikes of pleasure still trembled through her body.

And they’d broken the table.

Erin laughed, a helpless, rusty bubble of sound that lifted her lips.

Jude shook his head. “I didn’t mean—”

She kissed him. And laughed again.

A deep rumble burst from him. Small lines appeared around his eyes and his mouth curved. She’d never seen him smile so fully before.

And she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed. Laughed, and meant it. Not the fake crap that so often slipped out. But really laughed.

She stared up at Jude. The man really was gorgeous. She should have noticed it from the beginning. How had she ever thought that he looked cruel or cold?

She traced his scar with a fingertip.

Sexy.

And — damn it all — she was very afraid that she was falling for him.

Erin hadn’t come home.

He stared up at the dark house, his body taut as a slow anger pumped through him.

He’d expected her to run home. Expected her guard to be there, standing watch again. He’d planned for the asshole. He’d been more than ready to rip the hunter wide open.

But she wasn’t there. Neither was he.

A growl built in his throat. Not part of the plan.

This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go, dammit. Why couldn’t she ever show her appreciation? Why the hell did she keep jerking him around?

And if she’d let that cat touch her…

His teeth snapped together.

The tiger shifter would be dying soon. And it would be a long, painful death.

This time, he’d let Erin watch — every moment. She’d understand then. She’d realize how much he loved her. She’d see that he would do anything for her.

When he offered her the blood, she’d smile that slow smile, and be his.

Forever.