Skye's Trail (8 page)

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Candy breathed. “I can’t believe this. It’s like the best night in my life.”

“Perhaps mine as well,” Gian murmured. His dark eyes moved over Skye. “I can’t believe you’ve also been waiting outside.”

“This is Skye’s first night here,” Mike volunteered before she could answer. “She’s just getting into the scene.”

Dawn giggled and added, “Yeah, she’s a vampire virgin still.”

Something burned deep in Gian’s eyes. He studied Skye. “Is that why you’re here? You’re trying to find a vampire?”

Skye felt the pull of his eyes, as though once again he was trying to draw her into their darkness. Her lips tilted up in an amused smile. “That’s not high on my list tonight.”

His eyes lingered on her face for a long moment before moving back and focusing on Mike. “The DJ is doing a good job. Wouldn’t you agree, Mike? It makes you want to get out on the dance floor.”

Without hesitation, Mike stood. “You’re right. Come on, Dawn. The music is too good to miss. Let’s dance.” He didn’t stop to take a fortifying gulp of beer as he had before the last dance, this time he practically dragged his girlfriend to the dance floor.

Skye picked up her own beer and took a swallow as she waited to see what Gian would do next. He turned slightly in his chair. Several tables over four young men sat. Like Mike, they were completely dressed in black. Three of them had canine teeth elongated and filed into sharp points. They were animated, high or drunk. The fourth sported silver studs and chains, but was quieter than his companions. There was no obvious contact between Gian and the young man, no point at which Skye knew Gian had used hypnosis, and yet the young man looked over at where Candy sat and got to his feet.

He was hesitant, almost shy in his approach. But soon he stood next to the table, his attention on Candy. “Uh. Hi. You want to, uh, dance?”

“Yeah,” Candy answered, breathless.

Skye watched as the two young people moved through the crowd and got to the dance floor. Then she turned to Gian. “You’re very good. I’m impressed.”

“And yet you can elude me.”

Her heart began racing in anticipation as he moved so close that she could feel his warm breath across her lips. “Can I?”

“Who were you dancing with earlier?” His voice was a seductive whisper.

“A friend.”

“A lover?”

She smiled slightly, but didn’t answer.

He reached up and gently stroked her cheek then cupped the side of her face in his hand, trapping her so that their eyes met, so that she couldn’t break his hold, couldn’t look away.

Skye laughed. It was low, sensual, excited. It held no fear.

She stroked the line of skin bared by the vest he wore and slipped her hand under the smooth fabric so that it rested on his heart. Then without warning, her eyes became the endless blue of a summer sky. She felt him fall into them and beckoned him to come deeper, to rejoice in the sensation of being a hawk flying high over the desert. To embrace the warmth of the sun. The power of the breeze.

He stayed with her, though she knew he was not yet trapped in the illusion. Underneath her palm his heart began beating faster. And then his mind pulled away, took hers with it, dropping them into night-darkened woods. Into the sensation of running as a wolf runs, effortlessly, powerfully. The smell of the earth was intense, familiar to Skye. So many times this was what she’d become when she searched. A hunter, a predator rejoicing in the movement of body, in being alive.

His voice whispered across her. Commanding, compelling, his voice a smooth trap. “Come with me.”

It was a dangerous game they played.

She let the illusion go, escaping from his mind and letting him escape from hers. “Where to?” she asked and once again saw shock register on his face at being unable to trap her.

“To my table.”

Skye laughed, amused. Perhaps she’d have asked this same thing of him if she’d been able to hold him in her eyes. “Okay.”

They stood. Skye pulled her jacket off the back of the chair and followed Gian.

As soon as Haley saw Skye, her hand flew to the pendant in an agitated gesture. The man next to her noticed the reaction. His eyes sharpened, moving from Skye to Haley and back again. His posture screamed possessiveness, a willingness to do anything to protect what was his. And once again Skye wondered if he was responsible for the disappearance of Haley’s sister.

Gian indicated the empty seat next to Haley. Skye sat down. He followed her, introducing the pale blonde as Kisha, her boyfriend as Nahir before saying, “I think you’ve already met Haley.”

“If you call sharing a sink in the ladies’ bathroom an introduction,” Skye said easily, naturally. She smiled at the other woman and added, “I’m Skye Delano.”

Haley’s hand never left the pendant. “I’m Haley Warren.” Her eyes flit nervously to the man beside her. “This is my boyfriend, Kyle.”

Syke met his eyes and knew instantly that he too could use them to hypnotize. There was little doubt in her mind that by the end of the night he’d know about Haley’s visit to her apartment. If the other woman didn’t lose her nerve and confess, her boyfriend would simply pull it out of her mind.

They played cat and mouse. Parried with questions and answers until dawn approached and the club began to clear of people.

Emboldened by the events of the evening, Mike and Candy and Dawn dared to stop by the private table. Candy impulsively hugged Skye and whispered, “Thanks for everything.”

As they left, Skye wondered how many hours of sleep she’d get before having to face the music and visit Detective Caldwell. “I’d better get going, too,” she murmured.

Kyle stood, helping Haley to her feet. Skye watched them closely and saw no fear in the other woman’s face.

Gian also stood, offered his hand to Skye. She let him pull her up.

“We’ll meet again, I’m sure,” Kyle said.

“Yes, I’m sure of that, too.”

Haley’s glance flew from her boyfriend to Skye and back. Her hand reached up and began worrying the pendant. But she followed Kyle willingly as he led her away.

Gian kept a hand on Skye’s arm as they walked out to where the Harley was parked. “Nice bike,” he said.

She turned and leaned against it. “Yeah. I love it. Maybe I’ll take you for a ride on it sometime.”

He moved into her, slid his arms around her waist and pulled her against his body. She put her arms around his neck, did what she’d been aching to do since she first saw him. She slipped the band out of his long black hair and ran her fingers though it.

Gian groaned and covered her lips with his. She opened her mouth so that their tongues could touch, slide against each other, send desire shimmering through them.

His hand moved up, cupping her breast through the thin tank top and equally thin bra. Need shot through her. Hot, fierce. She moaned. Their lower bodies shifted, rubbed, strained to mimic what their tongues were doing.

When the kiss ended, both of them were breathing hard. Gian stepped back. Skye’s body screamed in protest, in frustrated need.

“Come back to the club when it opens tonight,” he said.

The survival instinct that had kept her alive warned that playing with him would be addicting, all-consuming, too dangerous. “Maybe,” she answered.

Gian moved in to her again, capturing her face with his hand. He was all predator now. His body so completely motionless that it melted into the night.

She watched him. As silent and still as he was. Two dangerous hunters sizing each other up.

Then he lowered his head again, brushing soft kisses along her throat, stopping over her rapidly beating pulse. He bit down gently, laved the spot with his tongue, and bit again. Heat burned through her, racing through every artery, every vein like a roaring fire.

“Come to the club tonight,” he whispered against her neck.

“Maybe,” she repeated.

He bit again, harder this time then moved upward, covering her mouth with his, making thought and conversation impossible. When the kiss ended, Gian said, “I’ve got to go back in now. I’ll see you tonight.”

A soft laugh escaped her. Yes, her body demanded. Maybe, her instincts cautioned. But she didn’t say anything as he moved away from her, blending with the night before disappearing into the dark interior of the club.

She brought the Harley’s powerful engine to life and headed home.

* * * * *

Inside the club, Gian tapped out a code and the door securing the private chambers opened. Kyle stood in the hallway, waiting.

“She lied about not knowing Haley,” Kyle said without preamble. “Haley sought her out and asked her to look for Jen.”

“Then I owe your companion a reward for luring Skye here.”

Kyle’s face tightened. “You take this too lightly, Gian. Skye is dangerous to us. She reeks of the Angelini bloodline. I could feel her touch on Haley’s mind.”

“And did your companion betray us?”

Kyle hissed, flashing needle-sharp fangs to show his displeasure. “You know she didn’t. You know my blocks will hold.”

“Then let me worry about Skye. She’s my problem now.”

Amazement flashed across Kyle’s features. “You plan to bind her?” This time when he spoke his fangs were sheathed.

Fire raced along Gian’s veins. In all the centuries he’d been alive, he’d never desired any woman enough to bind her to him as a companion. But tonight that had changed. He smiled in anticipation of the hunt to come. “Yes. She will belong to me.”

“And you will share her with another? A shifter? A human?” Kyle asked, disbelief sounding in his voice.

“She is not bound to another.”

“Yet.” Kyle’s face grew somber. “The Angelini have always taken two mates in order to make their hunting easier, in order to better protect themselves. You know that as well as I do.”

“She has their blood in her, but she is not completely one of them.”

“And I say again—yet. Have you ever known one of their bloodline to be anything but a hunter?” Kyle shook his head. “You take unnecessary chances. What of her family? They may well declare you rogue for binding her to you. Then they would claim it as their right to kill you.”

Gian flashed a smile, allowing a hint of fangs to show. “I do not fear the Angelini. And they can make no claim on her. Perhaps she is not even known to them. She doesn’t bear their mark.”

“But she reeks of them. She’s dangerous, as they are. She was born to kill our kind.” Kyle’s fangs glistened as he spat the words, “Vampire hunter.”

“She will be my companion.”

“And if you can’t control her then you’ll be forced to kill her.”

Gian’s eyes flashed to red, his lips pulled back, exposing his fangs. “She will be mine.”

* * * * *

The first rays of the sun had broken over the horizon as Skye pulled into the parking garage. Rico was waiting for her there.

He pushed himself away from the hood of his car. His face was taut with desire. The front of his pants stretched tight over his erection.