Black Heart: Wild On (17 page)

            I'd be surprised if Kelly didn't sniff me out before the night was out, so we could finish what we started. Werewolves had reputations for their tenacity, and I thought Kelly very interested. It was a long night.

            Three wolves, in full furry mode, ran past. Two males chasing a female. They barely paid us any heed. I could feel all the couples half hidden between the cedars, then we topped a rise and looked down into the Trinity River bottom, and an open field. Below us, on the other side of that field began the hardwoods. But it wasn't the promise of that thick press of gnarly trees that held the three of us spellbound. It was the press of humanity circling the bonfire.

            "Wow," Gabe said.

            "Like a scene from Dante's Inferno," Dane said.

            "Yeah? Which scene is that? The dance of the degenerates?" I said. I read that story, once long ago, and didn't recalling anything like that. "Well, looks like they started without us."

            "Let's jump in," Gabe said.

            "Caution was never one of your character traits," Dane said.

            I understood Dane's apprehension. There were a good thirty werewolves, mostly male, circling the fire. Really, they were dancing. Hardly any clothes on, and some were completely naked. With them were another twenty or so vampires, about half female. They had even less clothing. Then there were another twenty human females, also with few clothes on.

            There were couples on the ground all around, well into whatever mating rituals werewolves indulged in. Most of the women were either humans or vampires. Very few female werewolves were in evidence.

            "Vampires, werewolves, and witches," Dane said. "Oh my."

            I couldn't help but laugh. I'd forgotten about witches. In some ways witches were scarier than werewolves. I understood werewolves better. I doubted any witches in attendance would be white witches.

            Gabe led the way toward the bonfire. We had to wend our way through writhing couples. I was surprised to find most of the couples were vampire males with mortal women. Did they bring their fang whores? Of course, I couldn't tell the difference between a witch or mortal aura. Though, I knew other vampires could tell the difference perfectly fine.

            Witch auras looked like other mortals, but they tended to radiate out more. But some really strong normal mortals had strong auras, too. Dane, for instant, had a huge aura. Vampire big, but purely mortal. Vampires had the largest auras of all, but very dark and gray. Vampire auras were so dark it was easy to overlook them.

            Since alpha werewolves had larger auras that the average werewolf, they were easy enough to pick out. In fact, I thought it was Dane’s big aura that attracted the werewolves to him. Boney didn’t think werewolves could see auras, but I thought they could. Or at least the alphas could. Otherwise how would they know someone might be an alpha if bitten? I guess it could be some supernatural sense they have, but aren’t inclined to share with the world.

            "You be very careful around the wolves, Dane," I said, wagging my brows at him. "I don’t want you bitten, and then going all furry on me on Wednesday."

            Once bitten, a person didn’t become a werewolf until the next full moon. That was just two days away. Most werewolf bites happened within a week of the full moon. Part of it was the effects of the moon on their psyche and part was an eagerness to "enrich" the pack.

            "Too late for me," Gabe said, and pulled his shirt open.

            "God help us," I said, grinning wickedly at him. He returned the grin. I turned to Dane, "But I don’t want you sprouting a snout and tail, and chasing rabbits through the woods on all fours. I want you to remain fully mortal."

            It was really a jab at Gabe, and at the wolves all around us listening in. Really, I don't know why I keep taking jabs at werewolves. They just push my buttons.

            "Sorry to disappoint, Sable, but dhampirs don't go furry," Dane said, waggling his brows at me. His lusty leer left me breathless and with a tight throat. A supernatural Dane was kinda scary and exciting. "But if one of these vamps bites me, I'll Change into an uber vampire."

            And the vampires knew it. He would be uncontrollable even by his sire, so that's why there was very little chance he'd ever be bitten. There was some debate on whether I was an uber vamp, since I broke free of my sire's control quite easily.

            "Not worth it," I said. "Believe me."

            "It's not?" Gabe said, leering, too. "Image the stamina he'd have in bed if he was a vampire."

            "Well, it has it benefits," I said, and laughed.

            I felt Dane losing interest in our banter.

            "It changes you, makes you a different person." He glanced at me with sad eyes. That kinda killed our fun. "It's not worth it."

            "But werewolves cannot be Changed into vampires," Gabe said. He was taunting us. I could tell, but I don't think Dane understood that. "I'm on more of a par with the vamps, and don't have to worry about blood and bites."

            "You have to worry about moon phases, and how they'd affect you. Also, pack politics, your place in the pecking order," Dane said. "Wolves are constantly defending their spot in the pack hierarchy. Every time someone joined the pack, the fights and posturing would start all over again." He shook his head dolefully. "It never ends. The ones that thrive in that kind of world do the best."

            "Yeah, but if you can't shift into a wolf, then you can't go on the run," Gabe said. He looked at me and nodded. "I think you should hunt with me, Sabe. Together, we'll take that elk down and then celebrate our kill under the moon."

            "I think you're going to be real sorry if you don't stop calling me Sabe," I said, and he grinned.

            I looked at Gabe's aura. I was pretty sure he was alpha. Nothing saying I understood what made an alpha, or the same traits that gave someone a super-sized aura were the same that ensured they'd be alpha if bitten by a werewolf.

            "You don't think I can hunt with wolves?" Dane said, looking more curious than offended. I could feel his tension, though. He cared far too much what I thought.

            "Ask Gabe. I don't have a dog in this fight," I said. "I'm still trying to figure out vampires. I know nothing about werewolves." Before he could protest, demand an answer one way or the other, I stepped past them and headed toward the bonfire. "I'm joining the party before they all run off on all fours."

            It wasn't much longer until midnight. The run would begin then. I wanted to speak with Henri before that. I didn't expect anything more than I got from Jeff, Vanessa, Tara, and Antoinette, but one never knew. Besides, he was mafia and they did things a little differently than the run of the mill vampires.

            Dane and Gabe were hot on my heels as I moved through the fire-lit landscape. To my eyes everything was lit up like high noon on a cloudless day, thanks to an almost full moon and a raging bonfire. I doubted Dane and Gabe saw much more than the dancers around the fire.

            "Gabe, how well do you see in the dark?" I said. I'd barely really acknowledged his "condition" before that night. I understood he didn't care to discuss it, so I said next to nothing. But he was really my best source of what it meant to be a werewolf. "In human form, I mean."

            "As well as a real wolf," he said.

            "You don't have to be in wolf form to see and hear better?" Dane said.

            "No."

            "I didn't know that," Dane said.

            "I knew they could hear better," I said. "I wasn't sure about the night vision. Thanks, Gabe."

            "No problemo, babe," he said.

            Looking back away from the fire, I saw half a dozen sets of eyes glowing red and green. I expected the red eyes, not the green. I wasn't sure what that meant.

            Seconds later a set of redheaded twins raced across our path, giggling. They had athletic bodies glistening with sweat. They reeked of recent sex and insatiable needs. Their matching blue eyes raked my body briefly, then locked of the two men following me. Their arousal peaked as they cut Dane and Gabe off.

            That kinda alarmed me, but both men were excited. I checked out the twins' auras. Perfectly human. Didn't mean they weren't witches, so I looked them over closely. Neither wore anything at all, not even jewelry. Witches never took off the crystal that channeled their magic power. So they were as safe as anyone there.

            "Y'all wanna pair off with us?" they said in unison.

            I didn't make it halfway down to the fire before spotting Henri and Mercedes in the dance around the bonfire. Henri only wore a pair of tight jeans, while Mercedes had stripped down to a pair of bikini panties and matching bra.

            They spotted me and headed my way. I was glad Dane and Gabe had been cut off by a pair of mortal women. While Henri only had eyes for me as they approached, Mercedes had a hard time not looking at Dane. But she looked me over closely when they reached me.

            "Like your shirt," Mercedes said. She walked around me, brushing against me, and running her fingers through my hair about shoulder level. "I have it in white, black, and red."

            Henri stepped in front of me, demanding all of my attention. So close. His hands came up to cup my face, but I stepped back a step. He followed, moving a bit closer. My boobs were pressed gently into his naked, muscular chest.

            "Damn," I said. Though I wanted to feign indifference to Henri and Mercedes, I wasn't fooling either one of them. I licked dry lips and looked up into Henri's fierce gaze. Yeah, it was kinda hard to keep my train of thought. "I'll burn it later."

            Mercedes laughed, then glanced over at Dane. She looked ready to smack her lips.

            "He's not interested," I said.

            She smiled knowingly. "Wanna bet?"

            "Yeah," I said. Snappy comebacks are my forte.

            Henri leaned forward, and breathed in the scent of my hair. He let out the tiniest groan of pleasure, igniting something deep within me. I couldn't help myself, I took a deep breath, too, pulling in his manly scent.

            "Like you're not interested in Henri?" Mercedes said.

            Mercedes stroked my hair with one hand and traced my bra straps with the other. Then she pressed up behind me. Tight. I felt the seams of her bra. Her legs spooned my legs. Both of her hands reached around and started rubbing my belly, sometimes moving dangerously low. I fought the urge to reach back and caress her body.

            Henri caressed my left arm. I didn't pull away from either of them. Vampires craved touch. Not as much as werewolves, apparently, but we longed for it like we longed for blood.

            "You people have no sense of personal space, do you?" I said.

            Focus. I had to focus, and keep my mind and libido in check. There was a reason I was there.

            "Dane doesn't complain when I get this close and personal with him," Mercedes whispered in my ear. One of her hands started sliding up my belly towards my boobs, while the other dropped quickly toward my nether regions. I immediately grabbed both of her wrists and stopped her.

            "Oh, he might be willing to jump your bones, Mercedes, but he isn't interested in becoming a werewolf," I said.

            "Really?" Henri said, looking Dane over with hard eyes. I got the distinct feeling Henri didn't like Dane at all. Did Dane stake one of his lieutenants in years past? "You want to recruit him?"

            I perked up at the use of that term. Both Henri and Mercedes noticed. Their eyes narrowed.

            "He would be alpha, maybe even stronger than me, Henri," Mercedes said.

            He cut a look at Dane, not quite twisting his lip into a snarl. Then a look of distaste flashed across his face before he composed himself.

            "No, Mercy. You're wasting your time," Henri said, starting to look me over with hungry eyes. "Find another."

            "But he's so powerful," she said. She turned worried eyes on Dane, gnawing on her lip. "Can't you feel him?"

            "Yes. His kind always radiate power like vampires," he said. "He cannot be changed into a werewolf. It's impossible."

            What did he mean by that? I cut a glance at Dane, who was politely chatting up a pretty little brunette with pigtails. I felt his anxiousness to get away from her. No interest in her, despite the fact she was very pretty, half-naked and willing.

            "You're wrong," Mercedes said.

            "No, I'm not," he said. "Bite him all you want, he'll never become one of you. He cannot be changed any more than Sable can be changed into a werewolf."

            "No biting!" I said, turning flashing sapphire eyes on Mercedes. She took a single step back, eyes round, then regained her composure. "Leave Dane alone."

            I was rather pleased I frightened her. It was a first. At the same time I didn't want her leaving and going after Dane. I was learning so much from their conversation.

            Mercedes turned and strode off. I looked around. Dane was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Gabe. Henri pressed up against me, his left hand sliding up into my long, black hair. His right hand started stroking the small of my back.

            "I didn't come here to be seduced by you," I said, locking eyes with him.

            "You're not pushing me away."

            "How can I? The air is thick with the stench of pheromones," I said. I did manage to take his right hand in my left, and remove it from my rump. His deft touch was doing a number on me. "Why aren't you telling her the truth about Dane? And then I have more questions."

            "About Dane?"

            "About an accountant," I said.