Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (34 page)

“You don’t have a choice if you plan to
stay out of prison.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Kara survived,” Mary said as she walked
up behind Demetri.

Mary had been a real pain in his ass.
She stuck to him like glue. He couldn’t even take a shit in peace. He wanted
her gone. And that’s why he’d been trying to arrange a secret meeting with his
body guards. He planned to offer a million dollars to the man willing to rise
to the challenge and kill her. He was shocked to hear Kara had survived. “I
drugged her. I know it was a lethal mixture and dose. How do you know she’s
alive?”  The moment he asked, he remembered Demetri’s abilities to hear a
person’s thoughts. He risked a quick glance at Demetri. Did he know about his
plan to kill Mary?

“It was much more than your daughter
having a sexual encounter with Eli Thomas at the hotel. He gave her his blood.
And now, he’s marking his territory, protecting her, spreading word that she’s
his mate,” Mary explained.

 “I don’t give a fuck what he's
claiming or marking. I’ll have both of them killed if he gets in the way. How
do I kill him?”

“You and your men don’t have any chance
of killing him.” Demetri said.

 “How do I kill Eli?”

“You can’t.” Demetri lifted his lip in a
smile that appeared to be more of a snarl. “You will never even see Eli until
he wants you to see him. Most likely that’ll
be
about two maybe three seconds before he rips your throat out. Unless he’s the
type of wolf that takes pleasure in playing with his kill for a while longer.
If that’s the case you might have the tragic luck of seeing him for a few
minutes before he puts you out of your misery.”

Leland stared at Demetri. “I suppose you
can kill him.”

Demetri shrugged. “Of course.”

“Name your price.”

“I want the bar on the waterfront Tom bought
before you killed him,” Mary said.

“I can’t give what I don’t own.”

“I know better. You didn’t give him the
cash to buy it unless your interests in it were secured.”

“You already have a club.”

“I want another.”

“Fine. If Demetri kills Kara and Eli… it’s
yours. Now get out of here.”

“You’re coming with me,” Demetri said.

“No,” Leland said. “You take care of it
on your own.”

“Why?” Demetri laughed out loud. “Are
you afraid the big bad wolf will get you?”

“Not at all. I’ve a business to run.”

“You won’t be running a damn thing if
Kara gets away. Demetri will have his hands full with Eli and the pack. You’re
going to get another chance to kill Kara yourself,” Mary said.

“Actually, I like that idea.” Leland
grabbed his jacket from his chair. “Where are we going?”

“They’re near his father’s old territory
in the Columbia River Gorge area. He must be attempting to hide. His family
abandoned the area a long time ago.”

~Twenty~

BY
THE TIME Eli had taken Kara up to his bedroom it was well into the middle of the
night and heavy rain and wind were beating against the house. The approaching
storm didn’t bother her. Not really. Not this time. What bothered her was the
reality that this particular storm might cause a power outage. The lights had
already flickered off and on a few times. Being surrounded by darkness is what
bothered her at that moment. It frightened the hell out of her.

Hoping to avoid having a total meltdown
in front of Eli, she tried to pretend nothing was wrong as her enormous fear of
the dark continued to escalate.

“Your heart is pounding. Panic isn’t
something easily hidden when in the presence of someone who was able to hear
the beat of your heart.”

She frowned. “It also isn’t easily
hidden when someone raids your mind and snoops around for personal information.
I’m not panicking. I’m just a bit on edge.” Of course it was a lie. She
was a nervous wreck. She’d just learned that her mother was still alive. Her
thoughts should’ve been positive, but they weren’t. They should’ve been
centered on being reunited with her mother. All she could think about was
whether or not the lights would go off and stay off.

“I haven’t been raiding or snooping. As
mates we naturally share a solid mental link. You’re worked up so your thoughts
are very strong. You’re not shielding them from me at all. As a matter of fact
you’re tossing them out at me.”

She could feel him pushing at her mind,
attempting to gain access to her deeper thoughts. She pushed back, refusing to
allow him to press any deeper. “I don’t like it, Eli. I can’t stand the thought
of you being in my head when I’m unaware of it. I’m a private person. I like
solitude. I shouldn’t have to shield my thoughts from you. When you know I
haven’t intentionally shared them, you should respect my privacy enough to back
off.” He blinked. Her statement had hurt his feelings. She refused to feel bad
for telling him the truth.

“It’s natural for me. I didn’t mean to
offend you.” His complete withdrawal from her mind was sudden. “It that
better?”

No. She didn’t like the empty feeling of
his absence. “Yes. Thank you.” She waved him off. “I thought you were going
downstairs to get the matches.”

The lights flickered off and then back
on. “That’s right. I was. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“What?” One look at his slightly
upturned lip told her that he’d been bluffing and she’d fallen for it. Why was
it so important to him for her to go into detail concerning her fear of the
dark? Obviously he was in her head. He knew she didn’t want to revisit it. Back
peddling, she lowered her gaze to avoid his and nodded. “Okay.”

He lifted her chin so that she had no
other choice other than to look into his eyes unless she closed hers. “Tell me
why you’re afraid of dark.”  He looked uncertain. Oh, crap. Not uncertain.
He was worried. “Fine. Don’t tell me. Come with me. We’ll get the matches
together.”

“No. Don’t be silly. Go and get them.
Stop looking at me as if you’re waiting for me to have a complete mental
breakdown. I’ll wait here.”

“I hadn’t even considered the notion
that you might have a partial mental breakdown. I know you’re afraid. I care
about you. That’s all. I care.”

“Go and get the matches. I’m fine.”

“I’ll only be a minute,” he explained,
but she could tell by the look in his eyes that he was hesitant to leave her
alone in the room.

She shrugged her shoulders in an attempt
to appear as calm and laid-back as possible. “So go and get them.”

She watched him walk out of sight after
he took one more backward glance at her. It was good for him to leave. She needed
a minute to regain her composure. He’d already had the misfortune of seeing her
go nuts over a spider at the hotel. She didn’t want him to see her lose it
again. She’d come very close to grabbing onto him and begging him to stay with
her or take her with him.

Her mind was a churning pot of memories
from every time her father had locked her in the dark, unfurnished and
soundproof room in his home. Why couldn’t she let it go? Why couldn’t she
forget? Willing the storm to turn away she stared out the window as bolt after
bolt of lightning slashed across the distant sky. The volume of the low rumble
of the thunder increased with each flash of lightning as the storm made its way
upon them.

“I’m back.”

She turned away from the window to watch
Eli as he lit candles all around the room just in case the power went out and
stayed out. And it did, just as he lit the last candle and turned to face her.
Her gasp of alarm was lost to a crack of thunder. He was all the way across the
room when it happened but, though she didn’t see him move, he was instantly
standing in front of her. In an attempt to keep from losing it she reminded
herself that the memory had no power over her. It was all in her head. She took
a deep and calming breath as his woodsy, spicy, masculine scent filled her
lungs. “Do you like it?”

“What?”

“The candle light.”

“Yes,” she answered while shaking her
head. “I like it. Thank you.” She reached deep within herself for the strength
to keep her mouth from trembling as she smiled at him. She didn’t like the damn
candles at all. It was better than no light, but it wasn’t enough. Not even
close. The flickering candle flames, similar to the flashes of lightning, cast
frightening shadows in every corner of the room as the wind and rain battered
the walls and windows.

Laughing softly, he reached out and
framed her face between his palms. “You’re lying. You don’t like it at all.” He
bent down and kissed the corner of her mouth and then nibbled his way to her
chin.

“No. It’s great. Really. It’s wonderful.”
She pulled her hand out of his, but before she could turn away from him he took
her other hand.

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

“I don’t want to talk about the past.”
She didn’t want him to question her. She didn’t want to tell him why she was afraid
of the dark. It was pathetic and humiliating. She was an adult after all. She
didn’t need him to tell her that her fear was caused by nothing more than a bad
childhood memory and that everything was going to be alright. 

Holding her gaze hostage, he brought her
knuckles to his mouth and nibbled on them. “Talking isn’t what I had in mind.”
The erotic sensation of his teeth moving on her skin and the way he looked at
her caused her feminine core to ache. She was under a spell of physical and
emotional sensations that exceeded anything she’d ever hoped to feel. He made
her feel sensual, beautiful and loved.

A storm raged all around them, but her
concentration was on the more ferocious storm raging through her body. He kissed
his way from her chin and then along her jaw line to her ear His hands moved
over her, touching her everywhere.

He pulled his shirt over his head and
tossed it to the floor. She stared at him. He looked so good. His body was her
super sexy playground. A hot temptation she didn’t even want to find the
strength to resist. And he belonged to her. Only her.

The candle light shimmered over his
tanned skin. It touched and flickered over all of the muscular contours of his
arms, shoulders, chest and belly. She’d never needed or wanted anything more
than him. He caught the nape of her neck and hauled her into his arms. “Kiss
me.” His words came out sounding like a command, but she knew it was a plea. He
bent his head, his lips finding hers with sensual hunger. His tongue moved over
her lips gently and then, more aggressively demanding entrance, as it forced
her lips to part.

She surrendered to his intoxicating
kiss. Fully. Completely. She lost herself in his taste and passion, moving her
body provocatively against his hard swollen erection that was straining his
jeans. She craved the heat of his lips on hers and the feel of his tongue
delving deep into her mouth tangling with hers. He was drawing her away from
her fear of darkness. He forced her focus to shift until it narrowed in on her
heightened desire and the deliciously intensifying ache between her legs.

His wickedly hot mouth moved down her
neck to her shoulder as his fingers gripped her hips and held her firm against
his body. Teased by the hard throbbing heat of his cock pressed against her
belly, his teeth scrapped her flesh as if he might bite down on her shoulder.
She could hear herself moaning, low and soft. He buried his face between her
neck and shoulder. Besides breathing, he went completely still as she reached
up and ran her fingers through his thick, shoulder length hair.

“Are you having second thoughts about
us?”

“Hell no,” he growled, and then he
gently bit down her collarbone. His teeth were driving her mad, grazing her
skin while his mouth moved over his shoulder and to her neck. “Are you?”

She was obsessed by his teeth. From the
moment he started kissing her every one of her thoughts wandered back to his
teeth. She was taken aback but not put off by the realization that she was
waiting, wanting to feel his teeth sink into her flesh. “Not at
all.”  

Moving back just enough to stare into
her eyes he reached up and gently, affectionately placed his hands on her
cheeks. “That’s good.” His thumbs lightly caressed her lips before he bent his head
to kiss her. “Really good,” he whispered against her lips.

***

Eli
had felt her lengthened, sharpened canines on his tongue while kissing her. He
wasn’t expecting the change in her to begin so soon, but when he stopped
kissing her and looked into her eyes he saw it. Nearly fully converted she
stared back at him wanting him, needing him to claim and possess her body and
soul again and again. She’d made the decision to give herself to him. He wanted
her to see in his eyes what he saw in hers. Love that would stand the test of
time. Love that would grow and endure for forever.

He took her hand in his. “I will protect
the bond between us above all else.”

“How do you intend to protect our bond?”
she asked.

He brought her hand to his mouth and
kissed it. “I will cherish and respect it.”