Three Days of Night (9 page)

“What are you doing in my bathroom?” My tone was light. I really didn’t mind him being there. Truthfully, I had wanted to see him. The fact that he was naked made it even better.

“Who said this was
your
room?” He stepped farther into the room, wearing nothing but a smile. “This is where the incense led me.”

“Me too.”

“Hud said it would take me where I needed to go. Guess he knew what was on my mind.”

The same could be said for me, but I couldn’t think of anything to say at all. I moved with superhuman speed, taking Morgan into my arms even faster than I’d done to Hud.

“We need to talk,” I said breathlessly.

Damn he smelled good. Whatever soap he’d used was amazing. His skin was still damp. Hot and fresh beneath my hands. I pressed my face into the hollow of his throat and he moaned.

“Yes. But, what about Hud?”

Chapter Eight

That shocked me enough to pull back. “What about him?”

Morgan smiled and I ran my hand between our bodies.

“I saw the way you looked at him. The connection between the two of you is tangible. I am a wizard, you know? I recognize magic when I feel it.”

I took his cock in my hand. “You feel magic between me and Hud?”

He groaned and his eyes rolled slightly as he answered, “I feel it between us too. So, what should we do about this?”

I stepped back and unzipped the front of my suit, peeling out of it quicker than I’d thought possible. There was much to be said for superhuman speed.

“What are we talking about here?” I asked. “You wanted to kill that vendor for even looking at me and now …?”

He spread his arms wide in a helpless gesture. “You know what they say. What happens on Tarnak stays on Tarnak.”

“I’m serious, Morgan. What are you really asking me?”

All traces of mischief were gone from his voice when he replied, “I want you. I’ve made no secret of that for as long as we’ve known each other. And I know you want me. Only now, you want Hud too. So, what are we going to do about this?”

I kicked off my boots and tossed them aside along with my suit. “Forget about Hud for a minute. When we were together it was so …” I placed my hands on his chest, lightly tracing the scar above his heart. “It was the best sex I’ve had in a hundred years.”

“Me too.”

And just like that he was on me. There was no time for thought, only breath, skin, and desire. The air practically crackled between us as Morgan ran his hands over my body. The way I felt was undeniable. I was definitely falling for Morgan. His touch inspired much more than arousal. It made me feel things I hadn’t meant to feel. Things I hadn’t felt in a long time.

He cupped my breasts, pinching the nipples softly as he kissed me. His tongue explored my mouth with fervor. My moan of pleasure was lost against his lips. He stepped back and gave me a gentle push onto the bed. His smile was playful as I scooted back across the covers. I watched him crawl toward me and tried to smile, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t sad. I was just in tune to what his body was saying. His heart had begun to flutter and his breathing was much faster than before. A soft flush had begun to spread across his chest and neck. And he had started to sweat.

But those were the subtle signs of his arousal. The not so subtle signs were much more obvious. His cock was already rock hard and when he leaned over me, it brushed against my hip, burning my flesh.

Morgan kissed along my collarbone as he asked, “Would you be terribly disappointed if we skipped the foreplay?”

My laughter was throaty. “The past two weeks have been foreplay to me.”

He spread my thighs with his legs and took me so fast that I cried out. Damn he was hard. He nibbled my ear and I shivered, arching against him as my body adjusted to his length.

He moved slowly as he whispered, “Your pussy is so wet.”

“I told you, the past two weeks have been foreplay to me.”

He thrust in deep and hard and I growled my approval. “How bad have you wanted me?”

I ground my hips against him as I answered, “Bad.”

“Oh, yeah?” He slammed into me again and I nearly came.

I dug my nails into his ass, urging him faster, deeper. “
Really
bad.”

Morgan picked up the pace then and I couldn’t take it. I came so fast and hard that for a moment I didn’t realize what had happened. The orgasm was so intense that it started as a sensation closer to pain. But pleasure quickly flooded my body. And as my muscles spasmed around him I threw back my head and screamed.

Moments later as we lay together in silence, Morgan rolled toward me and placed his hand flat against my stomach. I could tell there was something on his mind. He stroked my skin lightly. His eyes were on me, but his mind was somewhere else. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

“Why didn’t things work out between you and Ash? It’s obvious that you still care about each other. So, what happened?”

He asked about the one thing that still broke my heart. “I’m immortal.” I took a deep breath and decided to elaborate. After all, this was the same reason I feared a relationship with Morgan. “Fifty years ago I fell in love with a human. I always thought we would have a conversation about eternity one day. I didn’t want to lose him, but I didn’t push the issue. It’s a tough choice to make. Everyone you love will die and all that you’ve known will eventually pass away. But you will remain.”

Morgan nodded as I spoke. He seemed to understand what I was saying. But how could he? Wizards weren’t immortal.

“His name was Mark and he was in an accident before we could discuss the possibility of turning him.”

“He died instantly?”

“No.” My voice broke. “He was unconscious for a few days before…” I started to cry, sat up and put my face in my hands. “It wasn’t my choice to make, Morgan. What was I supposed to do? What if he didn’t
want
to live forever? I watched him die when I could have saved him.”

Morgan pulled me to him and I turned so that my face was pressed against his chest. He let me cry for a minute before asking, “Did you choose eternity?”

“Yes.” I pulled back and wiped my eyes. “You know the stories about tall, dark and handsome vampires seducing women in the night?” He nodded. “Well, forget that. I was bitten by a woman.”

Morgan laughed. “A woman seduced you?”

“Nope. She was a friend of mine. She gave me a choice and I chose eternal life. It may seem rash, but I was afraid of death. My great grandfather had recently passed away.” I paused, fighting back more tears in order to finish my story. “I remember my great grandmother sitting down front at the funeral home. Everyone else was walking around, talking, hugging. But she had her wheelchair right down front. She wasn’t crying, she just couldn’t stop looking at him. I knelt down and hugged her, told her how sorry I was. She patted my hand and said, ‘I’ll be all right.’ I asked, ‘Are you sure?’ and she said, ‘It just wasn’t enough.’” I couldn’t fight it anymore. My tears came with great wracking sobs as I spoke. I had never shared my reasons for choosing immortality before. “They were together for seventy-three years and it still wasn’t enough. That’s the saddest and most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. She looked so lost. I didn’t ever want to go through that. I wanted to live forever and find someone who would live forever with me. But I fucked up. Now I’ve got to live forever with a memory that should have only haunted me for
one
lifetime.”

Morgan rubbed my back, whispering words that must have been magic. I couldn’t understand the language he spoke, but his touch soothed me. It seemed so strange to find magic in a place where high-tech gadgets helped out with most of my jobs and an android was one of my best friends.

“So, that’s why things didn’t work out with Ash.”

It wasn’t a question, but I answered him anyway. “He’s happy with a mortal life. He said he wants to live and die and have the time he lived mean something. I couldn’t love someone else and watch them die. That’s why I’m so afraid of
this
.” I gestured to him and then me. “I’m not saying I love you. But I’ve worked with you for ten years and I care about you. What’s happened lately has only strengthened that. What I’m saying is, I could very easily love you. And wizards don’t live forever.”

“There might be a way around that.”

I pulled farther back to look at him. “I know that wizards don’t age like other humans. In the past ten years Ash has changed and you haven’t. He’s thirty-five and you
look
thirty-five. What are you really, fifty?”

He laughed and the sound made me smile. “Maybe I’ll tell you my age someday.” He put his hands on my shoulders, still lightly stroking my skin. “Trust me when I say that you don’t have to worry about losing me for a very long time.” Morgan stretched back against the pillows and I ran my hand down his abs, admiring the way his muscles rippled beneath my hand.

“I know that immortal beings are drawn to one another.”

I sighed. “Are you talking about the djinn? I thought we weren’t going to talk about Hud for a while.”

Morgan’s smile was still there, but something changed in his eyes. For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of electricity, like lightning behind his irises. “You know his name, don’t you?”

I gasped. “How did you know? I didn’t say anything. I swore to him that I wouldn’t.”

“And I’m not asking you to tell me.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “I’m asking if you know it.”

“Yeah, I know it.”

He winked. “Then you have power over him.”

“I don’t want power over—”

Morgan held up a hand to stop me. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing. In order to have full power over a djinn you have to have several things. One of them is his name.” The look on my face must have shown how I felt, because Morgan instantly said, “I don’t want to enslave him. I’m just saying that to even know his name gives you some room to play.”

“With what?”

This time his smile was purely wicked. “With whatever you want.”

I finished wiping away my tears and slid off the bed. “Don’t tempt me.”

Morgan followed me out onto the balcony to enjoy the night air. Both of us were still completely naked. A garden bloomed below us, looking like an oasis in the middle of the white sands. Flowers of every color were scattered about and their soft fragrance seemed to brush past us on the breeze.

Even though he had tried to change the subject to something more playful, I’m sure Morgan could tell that my mind was still on his first question. He stood so close beside me that my hip brushed against his thigh. His touch comforted me now more than it aroused me. I wondered if he was using his magic on me, because even when we didn’t get along, Morgan always turned me on. In all these years I had never seen him use his magic except in battle. I’d started to think of him as more human than wizard. The touch of his magic felt familiar, and yet it was like truly meeting him for the first time.

“How do you feel about Ash wanting to die someday?” he asked softly.

“It’s his decision to make.” That’s all there was to it. Whether I was okay with the idea or not was irrelevant. It was something I’d have to come to terms with.

“That whole living and dying and having it mean something, sounds like Ash might really be a superhero.”

“You don’t consider yourself hero material?”

Morgan laughed. “Come on, Jester is more of a villain’s nickname.”

I put my arm around his waist and he held me tight against his side as we looked up at the stars.

“I’m sorry to get so emotional before. It’s just that I never told anybody why I chose to be a vampire. I probably sound like an idiot.”

Morgan rubbed my back as he replied, “No. There’s nothing wrong with fearing death. We aren’t cowards because we have fears. We’re cowards if we don’t ever face them.”

I looked up at him, unsure of his meaning. “Then that makes me a coward, because I’ve never faced death.”

His smile was kind as he looked down at me and brushed the hair back from my face.

“No, it doesn’t. In living so long, have you seen more of anything besides death?”

“No.”

“Then I’d say you’ve more than faced your fear.”

I moved to stand in front of him and ran my hand over the scar on his chest again.

“How did you get this?”

He placed his hand over mine. “When I was forced to face
my
fear.”

For a moment he looked older then. It wasn’t in his features, there was something very old in his eyes. Some might have called it wisdom, but I called it the look of someone who had seen too much.

“How old are you really?”

“We should get dressed for dinner.”

He completely avoided my question and for the moment I decided to let him. If Morgan didn’t want to tell me all his secrets then I wasn’t going to force him.

“About that, I didn’t see any clothes.”

I had just gotten the words out of my mouth when clothes appeared on the bed. I also noticed that the bed had been remade while we were on the balcony.

“There you go,” Morgan said, gesturing toward the bed.

He tossed a long white skirt my way. When I held it up, I knew a mistake had been made. I threw it back and laughed at his confused look.

“I think that’s for you.”

He held the long skirt to his waist. It was made exactly like the blue one Hud wore, right down to the golden belt and cloth that ran down the front.

“Shit. I think you’re right. Then what are you wearing?”

“This.” I held up a thin piece of gold material. “That is if I can figure out how it goes.”

A short while later, Morgan and I were both dressed. My ensemble had turned out to be two pieces. The top was little more than a bra. The bottom was a gold thong with sheer pants worn over it. Decorations began to appear as we dressed and I couldn’t resist wearing them. I had a belly chain and ankle jewelry that jingled when I walked. I also put on what looked like a sleeve over my hand that was made of tiny bells. I even used a few strands of bells to pull back my hair.