Tempting Evil (19 page)

He came with me, his lips capturing mine, kissing me urgently as his warmth spilled into me and his body went rigid against mine.

For several minutes we didn’t move, just allowed the cool night air to wash the heat from our skin. Then he stirred, releasing my arms and giving me a sweet, gentle kiss.

“If that wasn’t what you had in mind, give me a few minutes and I’m willing to try again.”

I chuckled softly, and touched a hand to his sweaty cheek. “That was brilliant.”

He raised an eyebrow, velvet brown eyes amused. “Does that mean there’s no second round?”

“Did I say—”

I cut the rest of the sentence off as the squeak of a door opening cut across the stable’s restless silence. Kade stepped back, the shifting haze scooting across his body until he was horse once more. He walked to the stable door and peered out. I kept in the shadow of his form, knowing that anyone but a vampire would have trouble sorting out the beat of Kade’s heart from mine, the heat of his body from mine.

For several minutes, there was no sound, no movement, from the person who’d opened the door.

Then footsteps echoed, a whisper-soft tattoo of sound that had purpose, threat.

And they were bypassing all the stalls, coming directly toward us.

Chapter 9

I
stepped back from the door and looked around for a weapon. A stupid reaction, really, when all the training I’d had over the last few months had made me as much of a weapon as anything made of steel or wood.

And there wasn’t anything more dangerous than a water bucket in the stall, anyway.

I flexed my fingers, trying to ease the tension curling through my limbs as the footsteps drew closer. Kade flattened his ears and bared his teeth, yet his actions seemed to stem more from dislike than any attempt to attack.

The tingle of awareness suddenly caressing my senses told me why.

It wasn’t a stranger, wasn’t one of Starr’s guards, who approached.

It was Quinn.

He stopped several paces short of the stall door. The anger
I’d
felt at his actions earlier crashed through me again, and for several heartbeats it was all I could do not to burst through the door and attack him. Not that physically attacking him would do me any good, because he was stronger and faster, but I’d always been inclined to use my fists more than my psychic talents.

Besides, I was pretty sure the latter wouldn’t be effective, no matter how much stronger they might have gotten. I’d caught him by surprise last time. There wouldn’t be a second time. I was sure of that.

So I settled for stepping forward, keeping the door a barrier between us, and growling, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

He had his “vampires don’t do emotion” face on and his smile was cold. I wasn’t picking anything up from him along the sensory lines, which meant he had shields on high and his feelings locked down as tightly as his expression. “Did you think I would give up on my revenge so easily?”

I snorted. “I’ve experienced the lengths you’ll go to for your revenge, so no. What I meant was, how did you get here?”

“On the bus.”

“With Rhoan? Somehow I doubt he’d have allowed that.”

“I said I was on the bus. I didn’t say I was
in
the bus. One of the benefits of being an old vampire is the ability to slip past perception when I wish.”

“Rhoan is a psi dead-zone. You couldn’t have touched his mind and stopped him from sensing you.”

“I didn’t have to. I simply ceased to exist in any term the human mind recognizes.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What the hell does that mean?”

“That there are more talents in this world than you and Jack and others know of. And it’s also a reminder that when I crossed the lines between life and death, I not only inherited the talents of my maker, but I brought with me those talents I had in life.”

“Humans don’t have the sort of talent you just spoke about, and you told me you were human.”

“I considered myself so.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that I was raised human, but technically was only partially so.”

“So the other half was…what?”

“Something that no longer exists.”

I snorted softly. “And you wonder why no one is trusting you or being open with you at the moment? I mean, it’s really hard to open up and give a direct answer, isn’t it?”

Anger sparked deep in the dark depths of his eyes. “A fine statement considering the secrets you and Jack have kept. If you
had
confided in me more, I would not have been forced to such extremes.”

Energy ran across my skin, and I knew without looking that Kade had once again shifted form and become human. The heat of him moved up behind me, a solid, comforting presence I was suddenly thankful for. Not because I was afraid of what Quinn would do, but rather, what I might do. I usually kept a fairly good leash on my temper, but right now, with everything that had happened and everything that was still left unsaid between us, those restraints were being tested to the limit.

Quinn might have betrayed my trust, but I didn’t actually want to hurt him. And no matter how certain I was that I wouldn’t be able to breach his defenses a second time, the mere fact that my psi-powers seemed to be developing at the rate of knots meant that if I
did
lash out again, it might be with more than I intended. Might do more damage than I intended. Not just to Quinn, but to Kade.

“Jack hasn’t confided in you fully because of your single-minded determination to get revenge. There is more to bring down than just one man, you know.”

“I realize that—”

“Do you?” I cut in. “So why tell me earlier that you will have your revenge, no matter the cost?”

“Jack would not have let me in on this section of the mission, no matter how big a team player I was, and we both know it.” His gaze moved beyond me. “Though why the horse-shifter is considered more worthy is anyone’s guess.”

It was the sudden flash of vehemence in his eyes more than the slight edge in his voice that suggested he wasn’t exactly talking about the mission, and a fresh wave of annoyance ran through me. This man was always judging me, always questioning my choices. Expecting me to rise to his standards, when his standards were totally alien to a werewolf’s beliefs.

“Kade is here because he plays by the rules. In the field, and in the bedroom.” At least he was willing to accept what I was, the way I was—and what I was willing to give. Probably because a stallion played along similar sexual lines as a werewolf. Quinn just wanted to play it his way, and given he was a vamp and I was a wolf intent on finding my soul mate, that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Kade’s big hands pressed warmth on either side of my hips. Before I realized what he was doing, he’d claimed me in the most basic way possible, slipping so very deep inside.

“Playing by the rules has its benefits,” he said, his deep voice somehow managing to be both mocking and amused. “You should try it sometime. It feels extraordinarily good.”

Annoyance ran through me at Kade’s actions, yet part of me also wanted to stick it to Quinn, to play along with Kade and make Quinn even angrier.

But then, common sense isn’t exactly my strong point when I’m pissed off at someone.

So instead of stepping away from Kade, as sanity suggested, I pressed back against him, thrusting him deeper still. Quinn’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Though he wasn’t close enough to the stable door to actually see what we were doing, he was a vampire and an empath. He not only would have heard the sudden leap of my pulse, but would have felt the heated rush of pleasure and annoyance.

I met his gaze, held it. Awareness burned deep in those obsidian depths, an awareness that bounced right back to me, making my heart stutter and causing goose bumps to tremble warmly across my skin. Kade might be the one who’d claimed me sexually, but truth be told, it was Quinn I wanted inside—attitude, anger, and all.

Not that wanting him would make me go any easier on him. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“What are you intending to do next?” I asked, as Kade began to move ever so slightly, sending little quivers of pleasure shooting across my skin.

“I came here to inform you of my presence, and to get an update.” His gaze was still on mine, and the awareness deep in his eyes had morphed into fierce desire.

The ever-pragmatic vampire might not approve of who was doing me, but he sure as hell was turned on by watching it. And who’d have guessed Quinn had leanings toward voyeurism?

“So you’re not going to charge right in and kill Starr?”

“To do so might risk your safety, and Rhoan’s. I have no wish to do that.”

Meaning he had every wish to harm Kade. “In other words, you’ve realized it’s not going to be as easy to get to Starr as it was to get onto his estate, and you’ll bide your time until the chance appears.”

“A very cynical statement.”

“But a truthful one.”

He paused for a second, his gaze filling me, consuming me, in a way that went way beyond anything physical. As if we were on the verge of sharing the best erotic dream ever, even though neither of us were asleep.

“Yes,” he agreed softly, leaving me uncertain as to whether he was agreeing to the statement or the thought.

“If you didn’t come here as a guard, you won’t be able to move around freely.” The words came out breathy, and it wasn’t because of what Kade was doing. It was Quinn—the way our eyes connected, the way his thoughts seemed to be merging into mine, the sensation that we were becoming one in a way that went far beyond any sort of physical connection.

“The night is my servant.” His soft words echoed around me, through me, full of power, full of passion. Somehow, he used the night and connection he’d formed between us to enhance the growing sense of intimacy and arousal, and it was a connection I couldn’t fight. Not that I really wanted to. I wanted to see where he would take this. How far he was willing to go.

“But the day isn’t.”

“Not yet, it’s not.”

The heat in his eyes would have melted steel, and I have never claimed to be that strong. My body was trembling under the force of it, and though I was vaguely aware of Kade’s body moving in mine, all my senses were attuned to Quinn. To what was happening between us. To what was building between us.

“The day will never be yours, Quinn. You are a vampire, and that is a fact you can never escape.”

We both knew I wasn’t only referring to the day, and his smile was almost arrogant. But oh so sexy.

“Do not bet on that. I have been around a very long time, and I intend to be around for many more centuries yet. All things come to those who are willing to wait.”

“Not all things can be claimed with time.”

“But many things can be claimed with patience.”

Sweat trickled down my forehead, tickling my cheeks. I wanted to swipe at it, but I couldn’t seem to move, held in thrall by the furnace burning between us, by the sensations and desire tingling across my skin, across my senses. I licked my lips and somehow said, “Really? I haven’t seen much evidence of patience lately.”

“Perhaps not.” He raised an eyebrow, his expression knowing, mocking. “But the real question is, would you like to see it now?”

“No.” God, no.

His smile grew, and suddenly he was simply
there,
all around me, all through me, filling me with heat, filling me with passion. While it was Kade’s cock that thrust deep inside, it wasn’t Kade I could feel. Wasn’t Kade I could smell. It was Quinn. All Quinn. He touched me, caressed me, claimed me. Perhaps not physically, but in a way that was total, absolute, and unlike anything I’d ever felt before. In reality our flesh might not be joined, but it didn’t matter, because our spirits had combined and this dance went beyond intimacy, beyond mere pleasure.

It was all passion, heat, and intensity and I was drowning in it. Willingly. Wantonly. My heart pounded furiously, my body screamed for release, and every muscle, every fiber, felt so tightly strung that everything would surely break.

Then everything did break and it was such a sweet, glorious relief that I wept. His fingers touched my wrist, holding lightly, then his teeth grazed my skin. I jerked reflexively when they pierced my flesh, but the brief flare of pain quickly became something undeniably exquisite, and I came a second time.

As I remembered how to breathe again, I became aware of Kade, of his sated body still inside me. His sudden stillness, which was too unmoving to be natural. I glanced at Quinn, at his mocking, knowing expression, which was so at odds with the deeper depths of barely quenched desire in his dark eyes, then looked down at my wrists. At the two fast healing holes. Some of it, at least, had been real. I very much suspected that all of it had been, that he’d somehow crossed the boundaries of reality and imagination and merged the two.

I looked up at him again. Saw on the tip of one finger a droplet of water. A tear. My tear. He raised it to his mouth and slowly sipped it, and it was as if he were savoring the sweetest wine. Somehow, that one action seemed more intimate than anything he’d done in the last few minutes, as if he were drinking in my essence, my soul, making me his in ways I couldn’t even begin to understand just yet. I crossed my arms to ward off the sudden chill.

“One day, you will be mine.”

His rich voice was so soft, so sure. I licked my lips and tried to ignore the sensation that there was more going on here than I either realized or wanted. “You are not a wolf. We can never be what you wish us to be.” Could never be what part of
me
wished we could be.

“Time will tell.”

Yes, it would. And I had a feeling that only my death would dissuade him from his beliefs. But I didn’t intend to die anytime soon, so my next bet was simply to ignore his statement, ignore my deep sense of uneasiness, and move on to other subjects.

“Horse-shifters can’t be mind-read or mind-controlled. How are you holding Kade so still? How did you take control of him?”

“As I have repeatedly said, I am a very old vampire. And for a vampire, the older you are, the more power you have. Horse-shifters
are
difficult to read or control, but they are not impossible. No race or person is.” He paused, his gaze sweeping the top half of me. “Except, perhaps, one.”

I raised my eyebrows. “So are you telling me you can read Rhoan as well?”

“Two, then.”

I let my gaze drift downward, and noted that he didn’t have an erection. Either he wasn’t turned on by what had happened between us, or Kade’s release had somehow been his.

“There are more types of releases than mere physical,” he said softly. “Emotional release is often far more satisfying.”

He was reading my thoughts again, and though it should have pissed me off, it didn’t. Right now, curiosity was stronger. I raised my eyebrows again. “So you’re not standing there with a wet spot in your pants?”

Amusement touched his lush mouth, and made my hormones do their usual little dance. Sated they might be, but I was a wolf and it wouldn’t have taken much to get them interested in another round.

“No, I am not,” he said.

“Then how come all that affected me physically and not you?”

“Because you are not ready to step entirely beyond the physical.” He paused. “You once said that it must be amazing to share sex with another telepath. What you just experienced was merely an appetizer.”