BlindHeat (14 page)

Breathe. Find your center.
The memory of his words
came wrapped in his voice—as if he were right beside her whispering—and
rekindled her desire. She closed her eyes and counted each breath until her
mind’s chatter subsided. When she opened them again, she had pushed away
magical thinking and desire, turning her entire focus toward light and shadow.
She forgot Lila, forgot Marcus, and was caught up in the flow of composing.
Here she composed with the black and white of moonlight and shadow instead of
ink on a page. She dropped to one knee, framed a shot, clicked the shutter. She
followed the slant of moonbeams through foliage, the molding of light to form.

This living, breathing fairyland around her couldn’t be
reproduced in the glossy pictures she’d arrange on magazine pages, but Allie
tried to capture the atmosphere, a sense of mystery and magic in the soft play
of misty light across a moonflower. Lying on her stomach, she caught a shot of
the moonbeams spilling over blossoms like a spotlight between two pillars,
capturing the sense of power in the height and breadth of stones.

She stepped between the solid bodies of a stone and tree to
look down the forest where the yard sloped steeply toward a river, pearly
columns of light shimmered between tree trunks. The sounds of night creatures
drifted up from the forest. She’d never heard a whippoorwill or an owl, but she
recognized the calls instantly. She’d aimed her camera toward the wood, right
at that moment a white buck stepped into the meadow. She caught her breath,
frozen in awe. That quick, her memories of Marcus found a chink in her mental
armor and crept in.

Breathe. Find your center.

She could almost feel Marcus touching her, hands on her
shoulders, lips against her hair. Her self-talk came to her in his voice.
Easy.
Focus. There’s a girl. Gently press the shutter.
The click and whir brought
the buck’s head up. He saw her, contemplated her a moment and then blended back
into the woods. She let her longing for Marcus fade into the background of her
thoughts the way the buck had faded into the wood. She had a bad case of the
Marcus bug. She would have to get over it.

“Allie, there’s a pair of yellow eyes staring at me from
behind that tree over there.” Lila’s voice, a tight whisper just behind her,
startled. Before Allie could turn, Lila had backed up against her. Worried that
sudden movement would upset whatever watched, Allie tried to angle her head so
that she could see over Lila’s shoulder without turning around.

“Maybe’s it’s a deer. I saw one down the hill.”

“I think the eyes are too far apart for a deer. Whatever
this is, it’s big. Maybe lion big.”

“They don’t have lions in Virginia.” Allie thought she could
hear a soft chuff, chuff of breathing coming from the general vicinity of the
other side of Lila, and reconsidered. “Do they?”

“There’ve been rumors of mountain lions along the Blue
Ridge,” Lila whispered. “I doubt they’d be here, this close to a town.”

Allie saw the eyes then, glowing yellow, unblinking. She
swallowed. “I think that’s bigger than a mountain lion.”

* * * * *

“You sent Allison Summers where?” Jake dropped his duffle
inside the door of his shop and gave it a kick. It skidded across the floor and
bumped against the service counter, the thud echoing in silence as he locked
the door behind him. Maya backed up as he approached. Jake wasn’t fooled into
thinking she was intimidated. She’d thumbed her nose at the high council and
made her way to a foreign land to find shelter with the handful of people she
could trust to shelter her. She wasn’t the sort to be cowed by a show of bad
temper. Which freed him to dump his bad mood on her. He didn’t think he was
going to be able to resist the temptation to do just that.

“I sent her to Adam’s compound. There’s no one there. I
don’t see what the problem is.”

“Well, to start, Allison Summers is Allie, the magus’ Allie,
and I’m supposed to be watching over her. He will likely ship us both back to
Pantheria if he finds out she’s there unprotected.”

“Watching over a human female for the magus? Now that’s
interesting.”

“I’d tell you not to get any ideas, but…” Jake scrubbed at
his face with his hands, too tired and frustrated to keep up with his own
thoughts.

“But you think he’s hung up on her.”

“I think he’s hung up on her at mate level.”

Maya pulled a stool up to the counter, sat, propped one
elbow on the counter and her chin in her hand. “The magus take a human? Allison
Summers?”

“You’ve met her?”

“She came by about an hour ago to get the gate keycard. She
seemed sweet. A little reserved. Sort of waif-like.”

“Waif-like. Hmm. Ever known him to resist rescuing another
being in need?”

“No. He’d risk his neck to save a spider.” A fear of spiders
being one of the few weaknesses Maya admitted to, she didn’t bother to suppress
a delicate shudder. “But saving her and bonding with her are two different
things.”

Jake dropped down on the bench he’d set by the door for
customers waiting on a repair or too frail to stand for very long while they
spilled their tales of computer woes. He was feeling wiped out himself, a
reaction so unfamiliar that he hadn’t been able to name it at first. With Maya
as a sounding board he was beginning to figure out why.

“Maybe she wouldn’t have the same impact on another female,
but when I am near her, I feel compelled to stay at her side, keep her safe,
make her smile.”

Maya met his gaze and held it, as if that alone could force
some sanity back into his brain. “Don’t even go there, Jake. Even if he wasn’t
the magus, you’re Yeti.” This time the shudder was more pronounced than it had
been for the idea of saving spiders. Until he’d met Allie, Jake had shared the
Pantherian view that interspecies sex was taboo, repellant. But he had
considered, on that long bus ride, with Allie’s sweet scent filling his brain
like a drug and her sadness tugging his heart, that those rules applied to
Pantherians, not humans. Pantherian mating might begin in human form but it
rarely stayed there. Pantherians having sex with humans had to stay in human
form. So if he could keep his awareness of Marcus as a tiger out of his mind,
they could share a human female. Pantherian males preferred ménage, even with
human females. He cut those thoughts off before the idea could take root. Maya
was right. He couldn’t go there. And he didn’t want to discuss his sex life
with her. Species differences aside, he’d watched her grow up and she was like
a sister to him—a pain in the neck, but still cherished.

He rubbed at his neck and looked away. Maya was perceptive
enough to switch the subject back to safer ground.

“You didn’t say anything about Allie or the magus in your
message. You said find a centerfold-quality garden and direct the photographer
calling about it to the location.”

“It was a text message. My fingers are bigger than the
phone. Do you know how hard it is for me to type on one of those things?” Jake
spread his fingers wide, waved his hands to emphasize.

“Well you wouldn’t need to text if you were in town watching
her like you were supposed to be…”

“I was watching her. I followed her to DC where she slipped
away and apparently caught a ride back. I asked you to find a garden she could
photograph thinking I would be with her when she called here for the
appointment and later when we went to the garden. I was desperate to come up
with a lure to get her back to town before the police were called in to find
her.”

“Police?” Maya leaned to the side, peering over the counter
through the storefront window as if she expected the door to be stormed at any
moment.

“I took care of it. It’s a really long story and there isn’t
time now. When did she plan to go out there?”

“I think she planned to take pictures after moonrise. She
came by a few hours ago to get a keycard for the main gate.” Maya perched on
the stool behind the service counter. Her brow puckered. “Why are you back so
much later than she is?”

“I had to take the bus back and buses take a long time. I
probably could have walked back faster.”

“You could have asked someone to come and get you.” His
hands clenched into fists at his sides as he tried to hold back annoyance. As
if he couldn’t think of any of these simple solutions for himself.

“I couldn’t ask the magus because I didn’t want to tell him
I lost Allie. Adam and Ean are pretty busy these days. I tried Ben and the
alpha pack. Guess where they are?”

“Not in Virginia Beach?”

“That’s right. They’re at Adam’s place. A good moon
tonight…so they’re doing a geochase.”

“What’s a geochase?”

“A sex game they like to play. They hook up with human
females who are into this sort of thing. They pick a wild setting, private
enough where they won’t be disturbed and turn the female loose with a GPS. They
give her a head start. If they catch her before she reaches the spot designated
safe, human mating ensues.”

“That system hardly sounds fair to the women playing.”

“Of course the pack is in human form which evens things up
somewhat.”

“Even that’s not even.”

“I think their playmates aren’t all that into winning. The
pack is careful with them. A couple of the males patrol as wolves to keep the
players safe and when the guys playing are done they switch off with the
guards. They make sure the playmates don’t take dangerous risks.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I guess this is how they cope with the fact there
are no mateable lupine females left in their tribe. Ben said it’s hard to find
human females who will play with four males at once.”

He knew the exact moment when Maya connected all the dots.
Her eyes went round and she leapt off the stool. “Oh crap!”

“Oh crap is right. Who is with Allie at the compound?”

“Another woman, name was Lila. I think.”

“Okay, I can fix this. I’ll go over, say I’m the caretaker,
keep them from running into Ben and his playmates.”

“There’s more than just the Ben issue. This gets worse.”

Jake rubbed his temples. He didn’t want to know, but he had
to ask. “How could it be worse?”

“I think Marcus must be there. He’s supposed to be meeting
up with Ben tonight.”

“It’s Magus,” Jake snapped and pushed up from the bench.
“Remember your manners.”

Maya was not intimidated. “I’ll call him what he said to
call him. He’s getting touchy about us using his title.”

“If you think he’s touchy, check me.” Jake’s voice rose.

Maya stuck her chin out, glared right back. “Look, don’t
yell at me because you screwed up. We need to do something, not yell at each
other.”

“Okay. Okay.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll pop
through the portal and see if I can avert disaster.”

“You should take the truck. Marcus,” she emphasized the
name, “left it here.”

“If I use the mirror portal I can be there in a second. The
compound is a forty-five-minute drive from here.”

“Someone is going to need a way to bring the humans back.
I’m assuming Marcus will want Allie separated from the others. Had you thought
how he will get her home?”

Jake rubbed at his stiff neck. His stomach growled. He
wanted nothing more than a hot shower and hot food. Instead he was going to
have to trek through the forest collecting terrified females and try to explain
to the Magus how it all came about. All of that after the ever-so-pleasant ride
down winding country roads in the cramped cab of an exhaust-spouting
monstrosity that humans considered practical transportation. Everything about
automobiles was a violation of the first tenet of the Pantherian code, and the
tenth if you thought about it. “Maybe you could drive it out there?”

“I’m already in trouble with half the family for driving
here without a license.”

Maya tossed him a white paper bag and he caught it out of
reflex. It was warm. A deliciously edible fragrance greeted his nostrils.

“My dinner,” Maya said. “Looks like you need it worse than
me. You’re cranky when you’re hungry.”

“Thanks,” he said and caught the keys she tossed.

“Go,” she said. “I’ll wait up so you’ll have someone to
snarl at when you get back.”

Chapter Seven

A shadow lengthened and shifted just to Allie’s left. She
and Lila whirled to face a tall, black-robed figure.

Lila bolted. When Allie tried to block her, they landed in a
heap, rolling in damp grass with the perfume of crushed blooms spilling into
the air.

“I know him,” she whispered as Lila struggled and then
stilled. Allie shifted to ease away from a flagstone digging into her shoulder
blade. “Pretty sure I do, anyway.”

“Pretty sure?” Lila hissed. “Pretty sure means you run now and
ask questions about identity later.”

But Allie was only half-listening, caught by the glint of
silver eyes in moonlight. Beneath the hood, highlighted by stray moonbeams, his
face was outlined in planes of blue shadow. Something fluttered high in Allie’s
stomach, the same fluttery feeling that had replayed so many times last night.

“Marcus?” Allie asked.

“How can you recognize anyone in this light, in that hood?”
Lila’s asked in a tight, high-pitched whisper. He came closer.

Allie pressed a finger to Lila’s lips and she asked again.
“Marcus?”

He pushed the hood back from his head before he bent to
offer Lila a hand. His eyes were glued to Allie’s. Mentally she could hear the
thought, the unspoken demand she read there.
You tell me.

Lila looked from him to her and back. “This is your prince
charming?”

Allie’s confidence fled. She dropped her eyes.

“Is that what she calls me? I think you’ve embarrassed her
with that revelation.”

Marcus’ sexily mesmeric voice. Relief washed through her, a
wave of cold swept away by the heat of a blush. She’d been right. She’d
recognized him even when she couldn’t see him. With his hair and body concealed
by the shapeless robe, she’d known who he was. With that out of the way, a more
important question came to mind—why was he here?

Lila let Marcus pull her up and Allie scrambled to her feet,
brushing off her jeans as she did. Marcus’ gaze moved over her skin like a
physical touch. The corners of his mouth lifted in a triumphant tilt. One night
under his tutelage and she’d made progress. It didn’t mean anything, Allie told
herself. After that candle game last night, she’d have to be brain dead not to
recognize his eyes in the moonlight. Her stomach fluttered, a reminder that
she’d known him through physical awareness. It left her with no doubt he could
teach her to see with more than her eyes. She had plenty of doubt as to whether
she could survive another lesson.

Maybe Lila didn’t notice the sexual tension crackling in the
air. Then again, perhaps she did and wanted to redirect the tension back to
something more pressing. She pointed, drawing Marcus’ attention from Allie.
“There’s a bear or something, over there.”

“Really?” Marcus asked. But the glowing eyes were gone.

A distant howling from the forest moved Allie closer to
Marcus. Another howl, from just below the garden, had Lila clutching Allie’s
arm.

“Let’s get some light on the matter,” Marcus said. “A good
fire should keep all curious, furry neighbors at a distance.”

He went to the fire pit and poked around. “I know there is an
electronic lighter here somewhere. Ah…”

Allie expected to hear the
click-click
sound of a
grill lighter, but there was only the soft swoosh as flame caught tinder and
the crackle of blaze licking through kindling and then the bigger branches
arranged above. The image from last night, a flame appearing cupped in the palm
of his hand, did nothing to settle her nerves.

“I can light the torches around the garden if that will make
you more comfortable,” he said.

“No, this is fine,” Allie said. She didn’t think Lila’s
nerves could handle Marcus’ fire games. “I need moonlight to dominate for
dramatic shots. We were probably overreacting. We’re a little out of our
element.”

“Thank you for coming to the rescue. You’re our hero,” Lila
added with an exaggerated flutter of lashes. “When I get back to my element I’m
not leaving it again.”

Marcus was staring at Allie. Allie stared back. When silence
must have stretched past polite, Lila cleared her throat.

“Are you almost done with your pictures, Allie?”

“No,” Allie said. “Oh no.” She glanced around. The camera
had landed in a clump of wildflowers. Allie retrieved it and angled the lens
toward the light to inspect for scratches. She’d rather be eaten by a bear than
have to go back and tell Elaine she’d damaged the new camera. It all looked
okay. “Just let me get another dozen or so shots first. You two talk while I
finish up, then we can go.”

“If you don’t mind,” Marcus said, stepping between the two
and catching Allie’s arm. “I wouldn’t mind knowing who let you in here and what
you’re doing?”

“We let ourselves in. And I’m doing my job.” She let her
gaze travel over his robe. “Is that what you’re doing?”

His eyes had a devil’s glint. “Yes.”

“Why do I get the feeling this conversation means more than
it appears to?” Lila asked.

Marcus circled them. Allie realized her body had developed
more than the ability to see without eyes. It responded to something in his
posture, his tone. A primal need stalked her and an ache to fill it bloomed
inside her. He moved like a big cat backing prey into a corner.

“And you are?” He was looking at Lila.

Lila swallowed, uncharacteristically intimidated. “Lila
Fontaine. I work in sales at the paper. I’m helping Allie with her shoot. Well,
really, I’m just chauffeuring her. She’s the photographer.”

“How did you get in?”

He asked that of Lila, apparently he decided she was a
better source of information than Allie. He was right.

“With a keycard. We have the owner’s permission to be here.”

“That’s interesting.” He emphasized the last word, letting it
hang unexplained.

“Why?” Allie finally asked. “How did you find me? Turning up
everywhere I go is not the way to reassure me you aren’t stalking me.”

“I’ll take those questions one at a time. I am one of two
owners and I know neither of us was available to give permission for the two of
you to be here. Which leads to the second question—in a town of twenty
businesses and possibly twice that many people, it’s easy to keep bumping into
each other unexpectedly. The present circumstances being a perfect example of
accidental stalking.”

Lila turned it all back on Allie. “You didn’t know he lived
here?”

“Marcus doesn’t like to talk about himself much.” She looked
back up the hill where the mansion’s silhouette loomed, a hulking shadow
against the skyline, and considered the obvious wealth it took to have and
maintain a place like this. It had to surpass even Eddie’s net worth. She
suspected the means Marcus used to acquire that wealth weren’t any more
acceptable than Eddie’s.

“Me? I don’t talk about myself? I didn’t even know you did
photography for the paper.”

He looked at Allie. She dug in her pocket and handed him one
of the new, official business cards Lila had brought her. “It’s not for the
paper. Not exactly. It’s for a new gardening magazine Elaine mentioned when we
ran into her yesterday. I left one of these with Maya too. She gave me
permission to come out. I didn’t know you were connected to this place.
Honestly, if I had I wouldn’t be here.”

He put it in his pocket without looking at it. “And why is
that?”

“You didn’t invite me,” she said sweetly. “How did you know
we were out here?” He was saved from answering by another figure moving through
the shadow-striped yard to join them. This one appeared to be much bigger than
your average black bear.

Lila had detached herself from Allie’s arm, but now she
sidled close again and cleared her throat, pointing over Marcus’ shoulder.

Marcus pivoted and while his back was to them, Lila
whispered, “Do you think he’s angry?”

“Not at us.”

Marcus glanced back. His eyes, when they met Allie’s, said,
Don’t
count on it
.

Allie recognized Jake from the bus as he moved into the
circle of light cast by the bonfire. While Marcus was looking at Allie, Jake
pressed a finger to his lips. Perfect, the guy who’d gotten them into this wanted
her to protect him. She tried to decide if she would.

When Marcus turned back, Jake said, “I brought your truck
over. Maya thought you might need it.”

“Did she? Tell Maya I’d like a little chat with her when I
get back.”

Lila was only good for cowering in the shadows so long. “If
it’s a problem, we’ll go. We didn’t know you hadn’t approved our visit. We
don’t want to impose on your hospitality.” She emphasized the last word, her
honey-sweet Southern accent drawing it out to a degree that both men had to
know she was pissed.

Marcus caught her hand, pulled her closer, turned on the
charm. “No imposition, dear. None at all. I’m merely annoyed that my assistants
didn’t give more consideration to your safety. And now, I have to impose on you
if you’ll allow it.”

She was looking up into his eyes. “Um…”

It was the shortest response to a question Allie had ever
heard her give. Lila was going down. Marcus’ palm was against her palm, the
other hand covering the back of her hand. Allie knew that touch, could feel
energy vibrate against her palm and up her arm as if it were her hand Marcus
held. And she knew how the full blaze of the attention he turned on Lila would
incinerate her will.

“Would you give Jake a ride back to town? I’ll be here
awhile yet and Allie has to get her photographs. Jake has some important work
to get back to and there’s no need in you hanging around out here with the
wolves and bears.”

Clever of him to mention the wildlife. Lila jumped on the
chance to take Jake back to civilization. When the pair was gone, Marcus turned
his attention to Allie. Determined to resist his hypnotic qualities, she turned
quickly away, looked for something to take a picture of. Dropping first to one
knee and after snapping the shutter, dropping to her stomach, she captured the
moonlight spilling between foliage. Now instead of a fairyland, sensuality
spoke to her, something primitive, and she let the mood entwine itself with the
desire that bloomed when Marcus was around, so that the fall of light on pale
petals spoke of invitation instead of magic. Focusing and zooming in to catch
droplets of dew along the edge of a quivering blossom, she wished she could
offer herself to Marcus as simply as the flower opened for moonbeams.

Deciding natural artifacts were too suggestive, she turned
to the solid columns forming the edge of the circle, but the phallic imagery
adorned with vein-like carvings had her face heating and a soft sheen of sweat
springing up along the back of her neck. She aimed the camera at a marble shelf
jutting from a shorter pillar situated between the fire and the waterfall.

Marcus put a hand between the lens and her target. “You
probably shouldn’t take a picture of that,” he said.

“Really?” She angled her head, aware of a subtle shift in
his mood, the warmth of his body next to hers in the cool night air. Desire as
soft as the beat of a moth’s wings pulsed between their bodies. He turned
toward her and the noticeable bulge of an erection brushed her hip. She
pretended not to notice, tried to focus on her work. At first she’d thought the
object in question a fancy birdbath, but the shelf was not concave enough to
hold much water. A birdfeeder perhaps. Marcus’ reaction suggested other
possibilities. “Is it something sacred?”

“Hmm. It is to me, but that’s not why.”

She lowered the camera. “What is it?”

“It’s an altar, used to display a special type of offering.
I think some of your readers will find it offensive.” His tone deepened, that
seductive resonance had her turning to face him, inching so close that she
could see his Adam’s apple rise and fall as he spoke. Allie had to fight a
sudden, insane need to press her lips against it, taste his words while they
vibrated beneath his skin.

She closed her eyes, struggled to stick to the subject. “I
still don’t understand.”

“Don’t you?” He sounded bemused. “Let me demonstrate.” He
took the camera from her hands, tucked it safely into the bag she’d dropped in
the grass. His fingers threaded through hers, locked flesh to flesh, locked her
will to his. Last night he’d held her hand like this, his fingers entwined with
hers, as he whispered,
I’ve got you
while he calmly used the other hand
to fuck her with a candle. What were you supposed to do with a man who made you
feel safe while he set you on fire?

A warning prickle sent goose bumps over her skin. He pulled
her closer as he led her across the marble patio.

“Marcus—”

“Shh,” he said. “It’s time for lesson two.”

She shook her head, panic rising in her throat. “Last night
was too…”

“Hush now. Trust.” His voice was firm, unwavering, but still
gentle. Between his determination and her body’s all-for-the-idea reaction,
Marcus was going to win.

He swept some dried leaves from the stone shelf. As she
watched the leaves twirl and fall onto the marble, an echoing sensation fluttered
in her stomach. She felt that small and fragile, her resistance as
insubstantial as a leaf trying to hold its place against him.

He cast his spell over her in simple touches and strategic
maneuvers. First a soft press of his lips to her forehead while he freed her
hair from a scrunchie then smoothed it back so he could press his lips to her
ear and murmur, “Here, let’s get you out of this jacket, sweetheart. Your
clothes are soaked from that roll in the grass.”

He pulled on her jacket sleeve with one hand, while the
other lowered the zipper. Article by article he extracted Allie from the flimsy
shield of her practical clothes. The black hoodie landed in a heap on the
grass, followed by black jeans faded and worn to a shade of charcoal gray. Her
sneakers were sidewalk-sale-two-dollar specials—traditional black-and-white
canvas. A gray tank top and standard white bra and panties went next. The
wildest she’d gotten with her wardrobe was skipping socks. Mainly because she’d
been too rushed to completely unpack. In contrast to the plainness of her
clothes, the desire he evoked was of the black-leather-and-stiletto-heels
variety. She wanted him and each time she reached for a connection—her lips
pressed to the place where the robe parted to bare his chest, or lower still to
cup his warm balls or rigid cock—he intercepted, redirected. Why wouldn’t he
take her? Why did he always stop short of losing himself with her?