Born of Night (7 page)

In the dark, the men snarled and growled like pit bulls at a dog fight. Jessica didn’t know if she was more scared or relieved. Had some guard dog come to defend her?

Feet scuffled on the worn path, grunts echoed meaty strikes.

“It’s because you are pups I don’ kill you for dis,” a voice growled in the dark to the accompaniment of heavy thuds.

Jessica’s bones nearly melted from her body at the velvet drawl she’d recognize anywhere. Gabriel. Somehow, he’d come for her, known she was in trouble.

Jessica huddled on the ground, not daring to move lest she distract him. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t see a damn thing and she was too scared she’d injure him if she entered the fray.

Something liquid splashed against the ground next to her feet, and the coppery scent of blood filled the air as the beatings continued, interspersed with painful groans and shouts.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of unbearable tension, someone touched her shoulder. Jessica startled, looking up to see the faint, star framed silhouette of a man above her.

“Chere?” Gabriel asked.

“Gabriel!” Jessica breathed in relief, getting to her feet. She hugged him fiercely and felt her thin dress soak through with sweat or blood or both--she couldn’t tell. He ran his hands against her back in soothing circles.

“Did they hurt you?” he murmured against her hair.

“No. Nothing I can’t handle.” She pulled back, wishing she could see him. “Thank you, Gabriel. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

He stifled a groan and slumped heavily against her.

“Oh my god. You’re hurt. Gabriel, where is it? Where are you hurt?” His silence unnerved her. Jessica felt around his body, but she couldn’t find anything that could have weakened him so much--unless it was something internal. The thought galvanized her. “We have to get you to a hospital.”

“No,” he said and pushed away from her.

“Yes.”

“No,” he said emphatically. “You can ... take me ... home.”

He sounded like he was just before passing out. She couldn’t blame him. He’d run off three men nearly as big as he was, and from the sound of them, they’d been insane. She didn’t have time to be impressed. They had to leave before the thugs had a chance to come back. “I’ll take you home. But first we have to catch a cab or something.”

“My car is out front,” he said, and leaned into her for support.

Jessica stood under his arm and they hobbled their way to his car--an old Camaro, its color indistinguishable in the faded dark.

She followed his directions, and he fell asleep as she drove up the Ponchartrain Expressway, getting off once they’d passed the fair grounds. A wooded area came into view, and she stopped at the first house as he’d instructed: a sprawling two story Victorian with a gazebo and porch swing on one end, interconnected with the porch curving around the house.

Jessica didn’t stop to admire the house, pulling the Camaro onto the lawn along a roughened patch of dirt until she neared the front entrance. She stopped the car and switched it off, giving Gabriel a concerned glance before she got up and went around to help him.

He came awake as she opened the door and got out on his own, but Jessica fussed and continued to help him walk. It was just like a man to try and be macho about serious injuries. She didn’t know about his, but she wasn’t about to take any more chances than he was already forcing her to take.

The front door was unlocked, which she found oddly trusting considering the state of this day and age, but she pushed it open and went through. A long, wide hallway shot straight through, past the narrow staircase, to the back door, and large rooms parted off from each side.

“Dere’s d’livin’ room,” Gabriel said, pointing to the right tiredly.

Jessica shuffled to it, feeling on the wall for the light switch. She found it easily enough, flipped the lights on, and guided him onto a worn, leather couch facing an old TV. He collapsed on it, closing his eyes and throwing an arm above his head. He was wearing the same basic outfit she’d seen him in before: Jeans and no shoes or a shirt. Blood smeared his chest and throat, and she knew she had to clean him off to properly to assess the situation.

Jessica left, in search of a bathroom or a kitchen. She found the kitchen in the back of the house on the left. A small cupboard above the sink revealed clean dish rags, and she pulled several out and wet them before returning to Gabriel.

She stopped in the doorway, watching him a breathless moment as she waited to see the rise and fall of his chest. Breathing a silent thanks, she went in and dropped onto the hardwood floor on her knees, leaning over his chest as she slowly wiped the blood away.

There were no wounds anywhere, not even the beginnings of bruises. She kept wiping at him until she’d cleaned his chest, then moved up to his throat and face.

Gabriel slept through her ministrations. Still, she found nothing, no wounds to explain his weariness. She changed rags and cleaned his arms and hands. His knuckles were only slightly reddened, when she’d expected to at least find them split open. She frowned down at him, wondering how he could be unscathed after a fight like that.

Some residual blood clung to a patch of skin bared by a rip in his jeans, and Jessica wiped it away, flushing as she realized how close she was to his groin. She looked back at his face to see if he’d woken up, and nearly choked when she saw him watching her with a hungry look to his eyes.

He looked at her with such heated interest, she could almost swear she knelt before him naked.

“Gabriel, are you okay?” she asked with a breathless little whisper.

He said nothing as his hand snaked out and grasped the hand still holding the towel, lingering near his groin. She dropped it and it rolled down his hip into the cushion of the couch. Jessica gasped as he pulled her toward him, closer, until she was laying splayed atop his bare chest, her mouth inches from his own.

His faint, warm breath made her insides quiver with anticipation. If felt good to lay on top of him, with her breasts squashed into the hard planes of his chest, her belly melded to his rippled, washboard abs. She felt as malleable as molten metal.

His mouth curled into a satisfied smile. Jessica was caught between the urge to strangle him for making her worry, and the urge to kiss him breathless and wipe the grin from his face.

“You weren’t even hurt, were you?” she asked with an exasperated, accusing breath.

“I was wounded more than you know, chere, t’think you cou’ be harmed.”

The reminder of what had almost happened made her shudder, and his eyes darkened until they appeared almost black. A primal look flickered in them, strengthening as he pulled her head down to greet his lips.

Jessica gave in to him, her concern weakening her defenses. Her lips throbbed under the insistent pressure of his mouth, and an electric thrill of excitement rippled through her veins, dancing like heat lightning before a storm. He nibbled her lips, coaxing her, running his hands over her back. Her skin sensitized to the pressure of his hands, and suddenly she had too much clothing on. She wanted to know what it would feel like to mold against him, skin to skin. His whispery touch made her burn, sent her blood pulsing through her body.

He hooked a hand firmly around one thigh, pulling it up and over his hips to settle against the opposite side, hoisting her off the floor until she lay on him completely, pressing him deep into the soft folds of the couch. Her dress rode up from the movement and position until she felt air in places that had never seen the sun.

His mouth grew rough, hungrier to have her above him. Her pulse thundered, echoing in the tight clench of her pussy. His right hand eased around her back, a thumb skating against the side of one breast. Jessica trembled with excitement at his daring, the steady pull of his hand on her thigh, the touch at her breast.

Jessica moaned as her legs parted and his jean clad erection connected with her bare cleft. He thrust upward with rough, sensual promise. She’d forgotten her panties were gone ... until his hand slid up her thigh and he cupped one bare buttock, slipping his fingers in the bottom cleft of her cheeks. Her skin suddenly sensitized, his possessive fingers lighting a sizzling fuse in her body.

Heat curled through her slit, and Jessica gasped at the feel of those callused digits strumming a heady tune on her nether lips, dangerously close to the core of her femininity. He played with the wetness he aroused, smoothing it on her lips to cool in the air, skimming through her swollen folds as though she belonged only to him.

Jessica whimpered into his mouth, jolted with the white hot pleasure shimmering between them.

Distantly, her subconscious railed against giving in, but she could no more resist him than she could cease breathing. She was helpless against his devouring mouth, helpless to keep from drawing further under his spell.

She groaned and plunged her tongue into his mouth, rubbing her body against him, eager to put the fire out that raged in her blood. Her clit throbbed with the rough abrasion, the frantic movement of her hips. He tasted addictively sweet, as delicious as chocolate, as potent and stimulating as coffee. She drowned in his scent and the molten feel of his muscular body trapped beneath her.

Gabriel growled and sucked her tongue, digging his hand into her ass cheek, slipping his fingers into her pussy from behind. She wanted to scream from the pleasure of it, the tight stretch of two fingers pumping inside her, curling into her with deliberate, probing strokes.

Jessica broke away from his mouth, arching her head back as he kissed along her throat with sucking, nibbling kisses. He scored her flesh with his teeth. Shivers chased over her skin.

“Your scent drives me mad, petite. I wan’ to taste you all over,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with passion and need. He nipped her throat, marking her with tongue and teeth and lips. Jessica’s nerves jolted down to her core. Her body wept with the fierce, demanding need.

Small, harsh whimpers escaped her, marking a change in him, a ravenous intent that hadn’t been there before.

An animalistic growl vibrated from his throat as he thrust his fingers into her again.

Harder. Her pussy creamed with the forceful drive. She felt the excess trickle down her parted folds to her clit, soaking her, soaking his jeans. Her womb contracted with a hard, violent spasm of pleasure. The strength fled her muscles. She moaned mindlessly, rocking her hips on him, trying to envelop him in her heat. She was empty deep inside, where not even his fingers could reach, needing the thick heat of him within her, begging for it with every jerky move, every shaky breath. Her clit throbbed with achy want, engorged to the point of pain. Each brush against his hard cock had her pussy spasming near ecstasy.

Her mind shut down to everything but the steady, driving pump of his fingers, pushing her toward rough climax. She felt herself getting closer, and moved on him with mindless abandon.

A harsh voice interrupted them like a dowsing of ice water. “What is this?” it demanded gravelly.

Jessica came off Gabriel so hard, she landed on the hardwood floor with a bone jarring thud to her knees. She ignored the pain, pushing her dress down her legs to stare up at the intruder, wide-eyed with shock.

If god had any mercy, she would have died of embarrassment on the spot. Her pale skin turned bright pink, the heat of desire changing to the burn of shame.

Gabriel sat up on the couch, giving the intruder a look to kill. “What are you doing here, Nardo?” he ground out, standing, his chest rising and falling with sharp, angry breaths. His hands fell to his sides, clenching and unclenching with repressed violence.

“Your demands are not important....” He trailed off as Jessica stood and moved beside Gabriel.

The man was huge, looking like nothing so much as a muscle-bound wrestler. His insolent stare lingered on her breasts, and Jessica covered them uncomfortably, moving closer to Gabriel as if she could melt into his side. She wanted to slap the knowing look right off the man. She worked up her anger, eager to put her embarrassment behind her.

“I have as much say in the pack as you do ... and every right t’claim a mate,”

Gabriel ground out.

The man laughed, grating on her nerves, keeping his eyes trained on her. He looked like he would jump her at any moment, and what desire Jessica’d had quickly slipped away as nervous fear took over.

His laughter subsided, and a cruel glint entered his black, soulless eyes. “Gabriel,”

he growled, “did you really think you could keep her from us?”

* * * *

Nardo “escorted” her and Gabriel outside, keeping steady watch on them both as if expecting them to bolt at any minute.

Outside on the lawn behind Gabriel’s Camaro, a truck waited. As they came out, the driver looked up at them and started the truck. It came to life with a deafening roar, and a chug of smoke rose from the tail pipe, clouding the air like city smog.

“Where are we going?” Jessica asked, wanting nothing so much as longer legs or faster feet ... or a gun. She despised this feeling of helplessness and not knowing what was going on.

“A meeting’s been called. You’re the guest of honor,” Nardo said behind her, snickering. She felt his eyes bore into her back and buttocks, and it took supreme effort of will not to cover her cheeks with her hands. Or turn around and knock his head off.

Gabriel said nothing to Nardo, but his tension was evident in every move of his body and the angry clench of his jaw muscles. He seemed ready to snap at any moment.

Jessica didn’t know what to think about what was happening. That intuitive warning she’d ignored before came back full force. She should not have ignored her inner voice. She should’ve left town without answers. But then, she would likely have never met Gabriel....

Nardo pulled the back gate of the truck down, and Gabriel helped her climb up. She settled down in the back, the metal cold against her back and buttocks, making her shudder. Gabriel climbed up and sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her tightly against him. His heat made her feel better, warmed her when she felt unaccustomedly cold. Jessica appreciated his comforting, protective gesture, but she didn’t know how much good it would do them.