Touch of Temptation (3 page)

Oh. My. God.
For a few seconds there, she actually
had
forgotten, which was ridiculous—but come on. The gorgeous hunk had honestly claimed that he’d risked his life to save hers. What woman wouldn’t get a little muddled after hearing something like
that?

Still, she’d forgotten how careful she needed to be around men, because the instant she started talking to a guy, spending time with him, the curse that had plagued the Mallory witches for centuries would start to affect him. If he had even the slightest casual interest in her, the curse would blow that interest out of proportion, heightening it to an extreme, unnatural level. She’d seen it happen before, and it was happening again…

Right. At. That. Moment.

Chloe had heard things about the Lycan sex drive—not to mention Kellan Scott’s reputation. The guy
liked
women, and with all that adrenaline he’d said was burning through his system, he was probably burning on excess mojo, and here she was, cranking it up even higher.

Though every female on the maternal side of her family tree had suffered from the Mallory curse, it had affected Chloe more strongly than anyone else in her family, and she’d never been able to figure out why. Maybe it was because she’d always tried too hard to contain it, determined to control it, that it seemed to work that much harder against her? Or maybe it was just one of those rotten quirks of nature that couldn’t be explained?

Whatever the reason, she was like a walking, talking lightning rod when it came to others’ emotions. If
someone hated her, like the Casus, then that hatred intensified until they boiled with it.

And the same could be said for desire. For lust. But it wasn’t real. Was just an illusion. Like love at first sight and happily-ever-afters. At least for her. Chloe had seen her mother get lucky with Olivia’s father, and now Olivia had apparently found her own dream stud. So that meant her chances were shot. No way in hell was lightning going to strike
three
times in one family.

Though it sounded maudlin, she’d always known she would live her life alone. So, her way of dealing with that knowledge had been to withdraw from the world, with the exception of her family and a handful of friends she’d made in college. She worked at home, running her own web design company, and made a good living. For safety, the Harcourt ranch-style family home in Kentucky had been remodeled into separate living quarters, enabling Chloe and her sisters to live close to one another, and yet retain a certain degree of privacy. As her eyes slid closed, she drew in a deep breath, and for a moment she could almost smell those familiar scents that reminded her of home. Smells she missed so much it was a physical ache inside her heart. Liv’s warm sugar cookies baking in the oven. The smoky blend of Monica’s favorite perfume. Her niece’s strawberry bubble bath.

She missed her family so much she could feel the pain like a wound. Something torn open, bleeding and raw, that no amount of time was going to heal.

After the death of their parents, the three of them had only had each other, and their sisterly bonds had grown into ones of true friendship. Raine had told her about what had happened to Monica, but Chloe could scarcely allow herself to believe it. Her heart broke for
her older sister and for her niece, Jamie, who had absolutely adored her mother. The sorrow Chloe felt over the loss of her sister would have overshadowed everything else—her fear, her anger, her worry—if it weren’t for the change building within her. That sorrow could have grown so great that she was consumed by it, but the primal creature fighting to get out of her was determined to keep her focused on survival, refusing to let her give in.

As if summoning it with her thoughts, a sharp burst of heat began to ripple beneath her skin, and Chloe could feel the Merrick stretching within her. Could feel its hunger slithering through her body. Coming on even stronger than it ever had before. She wanted to keep talking, asking Kellan about her family and confirming the stories Raine had told her about Liv and Jamie, but she could no longer focus as the Merrick’s presence took command. Words began to tickle the tip of her tongue that she never would have the guts to say. At least not when she was in her right mind. But she still felt panicked, worried the Lycan might be able to read her dirty, sexual thoughts just by looking at her, feeling like they were scrawled across her forehead in bright neon lights.

Nervously tucking her hair behind her ear, she fought to stay calm, painfully aware that she had to do something. That she had to get him to go back to his cell, before she made a complete and utter fool of herself.

If he didn’t go, she
was
going to do something embarrassing. It was inevitable. Because the Merrick had finally found something that it wanted, its hunger mounting as it took in the sight of the dark, dangerous-looking
werewolf, the need clawing at her insides like a wild animal determined to break free of its cage.

“Kellan,” she said shakily, struggling to take in enough air, “you…uh, you need to go back.”

“What’s wrong?” His rugged features were etched with concern as he stared at her through the heavy iron bars. “You’re shaking like a leaf,” he muttered, his hands curling around the metal rods in a powerful grip, as if he intended to break them open.

“No!” she gasped, holding up her hands like a barrier. “Please, don’t…don’t come in here!”

For a moment, he appeared stricken, but then he shook the emotion off with a wolfy roll of his shoulders and head, hardening his expression. “I’m not going to hurt you, damn it. I came to the compound to help you, Chloe.”

“I know that,” she gasped, licking her lower lip, her Merrick purring with anticipation as he followed the movement of her tongue with his eyes. “It’s just that…just that I’m…”

“
What?
” he demanded in an even grittier tone, his hands curling tighter around the bars, and she had the strangest sense that he was trying to hold himself back from her.

“I need…
damn it
. I can’t do this. I need…” The words felt strange in her mouth, as if they weren’t her own, and dizziness swamped her. Her pulse grew louder, deep and deafening, her heart beating faster…and faster. A wave of blistering heat climbed up over her skin, making the air around her feel charged. Alive.

She couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t see.

And then it all built into one stunning, electrifying
moment of awareness, her vision instantly sharpening, her hearing so acute she could count the heavy, ragged beats of his heart—and Chloe knew the Merrick was suddenly sharing her body, as if she had two separate entities living within her.

The cursed, introverted witch who shied away from sexual relationships.

And the primal Merrick who wanted Kellan Scott buried hard and deep inside her, riding her with all the savage ferocity of his beast.

With a throaty laugh, Chloe felt her hands flinging the blanket away as her bare legs slid over the side of the cot. Sinuously moving to her feet, her voice was nothing more than a silky purr as she said, “Break the lock on the door, Lycan. I need you
inside
me. Right now.”

The words landed between them with the jarring force of a bomb blast, and they both froze in reaction, their eyes going comically wide.

O-okay
. She’d, uh, obviously been wrong. Apparently she
did
have the guts to say those embarrassing words that had been tickling her tongue. Or rather, the Merrick did.

And she’d clearly shocked the hell out of Kellan. His eyes were still round, the color in his face so dark he looked like he’d been fried by the sun. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Finally managed to croak her name. “
Chloe?
”

“I know, I’m sorry!” Each syllable was a struggle to get out, the muscles in her throat constricted with emotion. “I didn’t mean to say that. I just…God, it’s hot in here, isn’t it?” Breathless and burning, she started ripping at the buttons of the shirt they’d given her, revealing the delicate white lace of her bra.

“Shit,” he choked out, taking a step back, and then another, while his powerful hands curled into hard fists at his sides, the veins bulging beneath his skin. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

“I don’t wanna kill you,” the Merrick drawled, fighting her for control. It wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d given them what they needed…and it wanted him now. “I just wanna fu—”

“
Enough!
” he snapped, and she flinched from the harshness of his voice, her bottom lip quivering. He looked furious, aroused and worried all at the same time, his chest heaving. The blue of his eyes overtook the green, smoldering with a hot, predatory glow. “You’ve got to fight this, Chloe. I’ve learned enough about you to know that this…this isn’t what you want.”

She tried to make sense of his words, but the fever in her brain was burning hotter…brighter, making it impossible to think. Maybe it was the mix of her Mallory and Merrick blood, or maybe it was simply the fact that she’d been fighting the hunger for so long, but she couldn’t control herself. After all this time, she finally had an outlet for the visceral need ripping her to pieces. A tall, gorgeous, mouthwatering hero who’d come to save her—who could give the ravenous Merrick
everything
it wanted.

“Please, Kellan? I need this so badly.” She wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to control her shivering, her body flashing from hot to cold. “Please help me.”

“Damn it,” he growled, while a muscle ticked forcefully in his jaw. “That’s just your Merrick talking. The hunger caused by your awakening.”

“But it’s—”

A loud thud suddenly sounded above them, as if something heavy had been dropped on the floor, and Kellan tilted his head back, cutting a hard look toward the ceiling. There were raised voices and shouts, the commotion growing louder as heavy footsteps followed.

“Get back in bed and pretend to be asleep,” he suddenly barked, his dark gaze locking with hers as he lowered his head.

“But what are you going to do?”

“I have to get back in my cell,” he told her, his expression grim. “They might be coming down here with our water, and if they catch me out here, they’ll separate us. I can’t let that happen.”

“You’re going back now?” she all but sobbed, throwing her arms wide. “You’re just going to…to leave me like
this?
”

“Well, I’m sure as hell not going to touch you when there’s an audience. I’ve promised myself not to touch you at all!” he growled, running his burning gaze over the exposed strip of flesh revealed by her gaping shirt. He seemed almost transfixed by the smooth inner curves of her breasts, the white cotton only just covering her nipples. Then he shook himself in another move that looked decidedly wolflike, before muttering something under his breath that she couldn’t quite make out.

“Kellan?”

He dared another brief look at her face, then ground his jaw and turned, heading back toward his cell, the heavy door giving a low groan of protest as he pulled it open, then let it close behind him.

Bristling with frustration, Chloe snatched up her pillow and hurled it toward the metal wall that separated
their cells, before climbing under the blanket on her cot and pulling the thin wool over her head.

I will
not
beg him again,
she vowed, shaking so hard that her teeth chattered.
I
will
beat this
.

Chloe repeated the words again and again, motivated as much by the mortifying way that she’d acted as she was by the pain still tearing through her body. It’d just…it’d just caught her by surprise this time. But next time…next time she’d be ready. If he tried to visit her again, she would
demand
that he leave. Would resist the Merrick’s attempts to lure him into feeding her with everything that she had.

You can do it. If you focus and fight, you
can
do it.

After all, they had only a handful of days to live at the most, right? Despite the Lycan’s determination, she didn’t think they had a chance in hell of actually making it out of there. She could make it that long, no matter how badly it hurt to deny the Merrick its needs.

But as another wave of sharp, visceral craving swept through her, she groaned from the agony, terrified by just how intense the hunger might become.

In the next instant, the scent of blood overwhelmed her senses, and she lifted her hand to her mouth, touching her fingers to her throbbing lower lip. Her fingers came away wet with blood, but she couldn’t believe it.

How did I…

Quickly running her tongue over her front teeth, Chloe encountered the source. For the first time since her awakening had begun, the Merrick’s fangs had descended.

She had fangs!

Dizzying thoughts of sinking those piercing points into Kellan Scott’s strong, corded throat filled her
head, and she groaned again, the sound low and keening. Voices could be heard coming from the top of the winding staircase that led down to their cellblock, but she didn’t care. All she could focus on was trying to gain control. Trying to keep herself from screaming for the werewolf to come back…begging him to give her what she needed. She’d truly had no idea the hunger could be so demanding, until Mr. Tall, Dark and Delicious had caught the Merrick’s attention. Her body’s craving for him… God, it was intolerable. A slick, eviscerating acid scraping its way through her veins. Tiny razors slicing at her insides, ripping her to shreds.

You just have to fight it….

Just have to fight….

Curling her arms over her head, Chloe pulled into a tight ball and began to rock—her jaw locked, teeth clenched—while that burning, biting hunger slowly consumed her.

Sunday evening

A
NOTHER DAY OF HELL.
Another torturous exercise in self-control that had left Kellan wound tighter than a corkscrew.

He’d paced his cell for hours, trying to wrap his mind around what had happened earlier that day with Chloe. Yeah, he’d known, after obsessing over the photograph Olivia had given him, that Chloe Harcourt was beautiful and that he wanted her. Had thought about her constantly. Dreamed about her in ways that could only be classified as insanely erotic, not to mention dirty as hell. But he still hadn’t been prepared for the intensity of the lust that had shot through his system the second she’d lifted her head from that pillow and looked him in the eye.

Pure, one-hundred-proof hunger, in the rawest, most visceral form he’d ever experienced. Potent. Devastating. And the way her mouthwatering scent had wrapped around him… Christ, he was still twitching with the need to get her naked and wet and under him.

Instead of growing familiar, her scent was calling to him in a way that grew stronger with each second that passed by. Tempting him. Daring him to act….

He didn’t know what it meant—and he didn’t want to
think about it too closely, because nothing good could come from it.

You know that, you stupid son of a bitch!

Yeah, he knew. But now the damage was done. Now he wanted to do a hell of a lot more than have sex with her. What he wanted would have probably scared the holy living hell out of her, if it weren’t for the Merrick coming to life inside her.

The Merrick wants what I’ve got to give,
the wolf snarled, its guttural voice rumbling with anticipation.
We play the same little games.

Running a hand over his mouth, Kellan almost smiled, thinking his beast was either becoming delusional…or succumbing to some heavy wishful thinking.

Chloe wanting the same things as his wolf in its most feral state? Ha. Not bloody likely, no matter how much Merrick was prowling around inside her.

Being a Lycanthrope, his sexual style was aggressive at the best of times, but now…damn it, it was crazy for him to even be thinking about touching her. He knew it was too dangerous—knew he could too easily lose control and actually hurt her. His primal instincts were in full roar after spending so much time in his feral wolf form. So far he’d managed to keep them under control, but he was tempting fate. Try as he might to act within reason, sooner or later, the beast was going to wrestle that control away from him. As the poison continued to wear him down, he would become too weak to fight it. Then all hell was going to break loose, leaving him at the mercy of those dark, predatory desires.

And yet, he couldn’t stay away from her. Not when being near her felt so good. So…
right
. When he’d stood outside her cell earlier, the cold, hollow feeling that’d
been lingering in his chest for so long had simply faded away. Instead, there’d been a warm, unfamiliar sensation of comfort. Of…peace. And it’d been fucking amazing.

So amazing that he’d had to come back for more.

As he braced his shoulder against the bars at the corner of her cell, her voice reached out to him from the far side of the small enclosure, where she lay on the cot, huddled beneath her blanket. “What are you doing?”

Kellan raked his gaze over her, making sure she was okay. “Not to state the obvious,” he drawled, “but I’ve come to see you again.”

“Why?” she groaned, pulling the blanket over her head.

With his hands shoved in his pockets, he moved along the front of her cell, until he’d reached the middle, where the door stood, which was as close to the cot as he dared. The rough gray stones were cold beneath his feet, but his body was burning with heat, the skin he’d washed earlier when the guards had brought each of them fresh water and food already sheened with sweat. “I can hear you groaning from my cell,” he rasped, “and it’s driving me bat-shit. I can’t stop worrying about you.”

“I told you I was fine,” came her muffled reply. “All twenty freaking times that you’ve asked me in the past hour.”

“Yeah, well, I needed to see for myself that you were okay.”

“For the twenty-first time, then, I’m
fine.
F-I-N-E. Now leave, before I embarrass both of us again.”

Softly, he said, “You didn’t embarrass me, Chloe.”

Peeking over the top of the blanket, she cracked open one eye. “Really? Because from where I was standing,
you looked like your grandma had just shucked her panties and asked you to do something that would be illegal in at least forty-nine states. Not to mention seriously whacked.”

He gave a gritty laugh that rumbled deep in his chest, finding her funny as hell. “You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“Ha. I’ll bet I did,” she snorted, finally moving into a sitting position on the cot. As she braced her back against the wall, the flickering firelight from the continuously burning hearth that sat on the far side of the underground level played over her feminine features, and Kellan was struck again by how beautiful she was. It wasn’t an in-your-face, porn star kind of look, like most of the women he’d bedded, but it worked for him. She had an ethereal, serene kind of beauty, like something you expected to see in the pages of a fairy tale. She was small and slim, her fair skin smooth and fine, her mouth lush in a face that held a dainty nose and slim, sweeping brows that arched over the most mesmerizing eyes he’d ever seen. They were big and long-lashed, with an unusual black ring surrounding the smoky irises. Her hair was so dark, it almost looked blue in the golden light of the fire, the glossy strands still a little damp from where she’d washed it.

Want her now
, the wolf insisted.
Don’t wanna wait….

The beast was still working on him, trying harder than ever to wear him down. It continuously whispered through his mind in a guttural rasp, the erotic phrases centered on how desirable she looked. How tender and pale and soft. It remarked upon the delicate slope of her shoulders beneath the thin white cotton. The tantalizing
shape of her small breasts. The sensual curve of her throat as she tilted her head to the side.

And it taunted him with image after image of his fangs breaking the surface of that smooth, vulnerable flesh. With the provocative promise of her hot blood pumping over his tongue, slick and warm and delicious.

Not to mention the intensely erotic moment when her own fangs would pierce his throat, her sweet mouth working as she pulled on the wound harder…and harder.

His head started to spin so badly, Kellan couldn’t think straight, his resolutions swinging from one extreme to the other with the crashing force of a wrecking ball.

You’re killing her by not giving her what she needs.

No!

Yes,
it hissed.
Look at her eyes. The dark shadows beneath. So thin. So starving…and desperate.

Damn it, what in God’s name was he meant to do here? He wasn’t trying to be a prick, but he didn’t want to harm her, either. Yeah, she needed to feed the creature awakening inside her, and he could give her what she needed. But…what if he hurt her more than she was already hurting in the process?

And then there was his less-than-stellar reputation to consider. No matter how he looked at it, Kellan couldn’t help thinking that even if he didn’t pose a serious danger to her safety because of his wolf, it still wouldn’t feel right to touch her when she was so vulnerable. Not when she would have obviously chosen another guy if she had the choice. One who wasn’t such a monumental fuckup. Who hadn’t nailed so many women, the names could have filled a bloody book.

And the fact that they hadn’t meant anything to him, had merely been a means to an end, only made it worse.

Melodramatic idiot
, the wolf snarled.
You think she cares where your dick’s been? Stop acting like such a sap.

Kellan growled in response, the guttural sound making her flinch, but she immediately collected herself, lifting her chin, as if determined not to show even the slightest touch of fear in front of him. He thought she’d order him to go away again, but instead, she said, “I overheard your visit from Spark today.”

His neck prickled at her tone, and he sensed…trouble.

Spark was an assassin for the Collective Army and one of Westmore’s new favorites. Though the two should have been enemies, they were now working together, the partnership between Westmore and the Collective Army yet another strange twist in the war the Watchmen and their friends were fighting. An organization comprised of fanatical humans who were intent on ridding the world of
all
preternatural life, the Collective operated with one goal: to kill those who weren’t a part of the human race. It made no sense for them to be partnered up with Westmore and the Casus, but they were.

And all because of greed. Not for money…but for blood.

The Collective had possession of certain items, as well as unlimited monetary and personnel resources, that Westmore wanted to get his hands on, and so he’d gone to the Collective Generals and made them a deal they’d been unwilling to turn down. In exchange for his demands, Westmore had given the Army the secret
locations of four Deschanel nesting grounds, with the promise of more clan locations to come. The deal had resulted in the gruesome slaughter of hundreds of vampires, including many women and children. It also meant that a good number of human Collective soldiers were now working directly for Westmore—though Kellan and his friends had heard rumors that the deal was no longer sitting well with the Army, and the Generals were regretting what they’d gotten into. While Westmore had assured the Collective that he would use the Casus to stop a dangerous time of anarchy that was coming to the clans, and then eventually destroy them, it was becoming obvious to all that he’d lied.

And that
, Kellan thought,
is what you get when you make deals with the evil and deranged.

He felt no sympathy for the Collective, and he sure as hell wasn’t interested in Spark. She was one of the cruelest bitches he’d ever known, and she was obviously delusional if she thought he would ever actually lay a hand on her.

What was even more obvious was that Chloe hadn’t liked what she’d overheard that afternoon.

“What? You think you’re too good for me now?” Spark had drawled in a raised voice, after Kellan had refused her offer of sex. “Or is it that you don’t want your new little jail buddies here to know that I’ve already had you?”

When he’d told her to shut up, she’d gotten a sly gleam in her green eyes and had taken perverse pleasure in talking about how raunchy it’d been between them, describing in detail all the things he’d bent her over. All lies, since Kellan had never laid a finger on her, but he knew she’d only been trying to screw with his mind,
taunting him with the suggestion that he would sleep with the enemy…since that’s exactly what he’d done in Washington. Still, he’d had to be careful how he reacted, lest the assassin pick up on the truth.

The truth being that it bothered the hell out of him that Chloe might believe anything that came out of Spark’s mouth. And he’d been right to worry, because it appeared that she had.

“What about the visit?” he sighed, rolling a shoulder.

She shrugged. “I was just surprised. I mean, I knew you got around, but I figured you for better taste than
that
.”

Crossing his arms, Kellan braced his shoulder against the bars again and stared her down with narrowed eyes. “Tell me you’re not actually buying that bullshit. Come on, Chloe. I thought you were smarter than that.”

“How could you think anything?” she asked, her demeanor changing within the blink of an eye. Her face became flushed, her gray eyes glowing like silver fire, and he knew the Merrick was rising back to the surface, as hard and fast as a torpedo. “God, Kellan. We’re strangers! You don’t know jack about me. I could be a raging bitch for all you know. An idiot. A brainless bimbo!”

Despite his worry and irritation, he snorted, which clearly ticked her off. “Are you…are you
laughing
at me?” she rasped, the low words vibrating with outrage.

“Stop talking nonsense,” he murmured, slowly raising one of his brows, “and I’ll stop laughing.”

That obviously pissed her off even more, because she growled at him.
Actually growled
.

And the rigid state of his dick told him that he’d liked it. A lot.

“And not that it matters,” he told her, “but I’ve never laid a finger on the redheaded bitch. And I sure as hell wouldn’t start now.”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “Yeah, well, from what I’ve heard about you, Kellan, a woman’s personality isn’t exactly high on your list of prerequisites for bed partners. You’ve always had more valid concerns, like breast size and how long a woman’s legs are. And Spark does have one hell of a figure.”

He didn’t say anything at first. He just pushed away from the bars and started pacing along the front of her cell, his hands shoved back in his pockets, his jaw locked so tight he was surprised he didn’t crack a tooth.

“I may be a lot of things,” he finally muttered, forcing the graveled words out, “but a masochist isn’t one of them, Chloe. I’m trying to change, and I know it sounds like a line of bullshit, but I’m not the jackass I was a few months ago. I try to think with my head these days, rather than my dick. Not that my dick would have ever been interested in that psycho bitch, either. Even
it
has standards, as twisted as they might be.”

He didn’t look at her as he kept pacing, the seconds ticking out in slow motion, stretching time, the heat of her gaze burning against his body as he moved. He was ready to launch into another spiel about how he was trying to clean up his act, when she finally said, “I get that this is a totally personal question, but do you always talk about your sex organ as if it’s a sentient being?”

His own gruff bark of laughter caught him completely by surprise, and he came to a stop, his shoulders hunched as he roughly ran a hand over the back of his neck.