Carnal Knowledge (6 page)

two vampires--for she now knew that’s exactly what they were, that he’d

been telling her the truth all along.

She had to help him ... somehow.

The car door was stuck, and trying to open it left her panting for air.

The windshield was gone though, and the only escape route she could see.

Breathing through her teeth, Kaeli dragged herself along the car roof,

grimacing as the car shuddered from her movement, afraid at any moment it

would just collapse on top of her.

It didn’t, and she managed to pull herself out onto the wet, muddy

grass.

Heavy boots stomped in front of her, and Kaeli tried to roll away, but

she wasn’t fast enough. The man grabbed her hair, nearly snatching it out of her head as he pulled her to her feet.

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He jerked her hair, wrenching her head back. With her last strength,

she kicked him, gasping at the movement. He laughed and squeezed an arm

around her middle until she screamed and black light danced before her

eyes.

Kaeli knew in that moment, she was going to be the death of Navarre.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

* * * *

blond--
flashing
... mind tricks. Navarre kept his eyes on the second, weaker vamp, kicked off the ground, lunging at the blond before he could react.

He hit him square in the chest, knocking him to the ground. The

vamp hissed, kicking, shredding Navarre’s arms as his extended claws

struck the vamp’s belly, digging in.

There were only a few ways to kill a vampire--and Navarre knew the

most proficient. The vamp screamed in agony as Navarre’s hand reached

like a scalpel through his body, bucked, trying to free himself. Blood

flooded the air, pooling around Navarre’s arm.

The muscle pumped against his fingertips as he reached the heart,

wrapping his clawed hand around it. Biting back his disgust, he crushed it, and the vampire went still, his screams suddenly silenced. His body

crumbled instantly around Navarre’s arm ... crumbling to dust that mingled with the mud.

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It was kill or be killed. He should not have been disturbed--but he

had been. It had taken mere seconds to kill the vampire. Seconds more to stand and face his remaining foe.

He wondered that the dark haired vamp hadn’t attacked him from

behind, but saw he had better quarry.

He held Kaeli.

Navarre hardly recognized her. Her face was a mask of blood. It

matted her hair, and the headlights made her eyes shine with wild pain.

Navarre tensed, dropping his arms for a killing stance. He moved

forward, halting only when the vamp twisted her head back, threatening to

snap her neck. She grimaced, digging her nails into her captor’s arm around her chest--to no avail.

“Don’t come any closer,” he said, smiling with a confidence that

boiled Navarre’s blood.

Navarre’s fingers curled with the urge to take his heart.

He licked the blood from her neck with one long swipe, drawing a

strangled gasp from her throat. “Mmmm. She tastes almost as sweet as

Lycans. Maybe it’s because she fucked one.”

“Why are you ... doing this?” she gasped out, her hands falling limp

to her sides.

He gave Navarre a look. “Why not?”

“Did Danior send you?” Navarre said between his clenched teeth.

Was this some twisted method of revenge on the Lycans? He would kill

Danior if it were true. If he lived through this night.

He laughed, a mocking, snickering sound that grated Navarre’s

strained nerves. “Danior has gone. Disappeared. He told us not to touch CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

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the Lycans, but he is nowhere to be found, so we do not obey his

commands. Perhaps I will be the new master.”

“Perhaps not, mon ennemi. Perhaps we all die this night.” Navarre

tensed imperceptibly, waiting for the moment of inattention that would be

her salvation.

“I think you are right. Let’s start with this bitch.” He slammed her

head to the side and sank his teeth into her neck, shredding her throat.

Kaeli’s scream cut off almost before it began, her body going limp as

the poison paralyzed her body. Blood bubbled from her lips.

It was his only chance. Navarre jumped, shifting in an instant,

ignoring the pain of transformation. His pants fell away as his body melded from man to wolf, sailing through the air, propelled by inhuman strength.

He hit them both with his heavy forepaws, knocking her to the side, out of the vamp’s grip.

A fountain of red liquid streamed from her neck as the suction of his

mouth broke away. The vamp’s eyes had gone red with his glut, her

precious blood flowing down his chin.

Navarre landed on the ground, his veins singing with his beast. He

twisted, tearing at the vamp’s belly, forcing him back. The vampire slid on blood slickened grass, his feet flying beneath him as Navarre pressed

forward, going down.

Navarre was on him before he could
flash
and use his own mind

against him. He landed on the vamp’s chest, teeth sinking into his throat.

He shook him like a rag doll, the taste of blood fueling his rage, taking over his human half, drowning out his reason.

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There was nothing but the taste of the kill, the flutter of his heartbeat, hands ripping at him, feet flailing ... and then nothing. The head rolled away. He’d severed it without realizing it, so fogged with bloodlust had he become.

Seconds only had passed, an eternity for the last moments of life.

Navarre released the vampire, padding to Kaeli as the vamp crumbled to

dust.

She lay in a crumpled heap, her eyes closed with the pain. Blood and

saliva frothed her lips, thick red pumping from her jugular.

In a moment more she would be dead. He had but one choice to save

her. If it failed, she would suffer a more horrible death than he could

imagine.

Kaeli was mercifully unconscious as he knelt over her and pressed his

snout against the wound on her neck. One bite, one scratch in this form was all it took to infect her. The full moon had risen above them, dappled light CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

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shining down through the edges of the trees. The change would be almost

instantaneous ... if she survived.

May god have mercy on his soul.

Navarre sank his wolf’s teeth into her neck. She moaned softly,

whimpering as he released her. He shuddered, shaking off his shift as he

changed into his human form. He crouched next to her, naked, touching her body as the first spasm wracked through her.

Her eyes flew open, looking up at him but not seeing, filled with pain.

She screamed, grasping his wrist with a strength that would break a mortal man. A ripple flowed over her skin like water. The blood from her wounds ceased its flow abruptly. Fire flashed beneath his palm, her skin going

feverish hot, and he felt the movement of bone, heard the sharp crack as it shifted, collapsing upon itself.

She screamed again and again, arching her back, releasing him as her

body seized. Bile rose in his throat, and he choked it back, his gut

clenching with her pain. He wanted to halt her torment, but he was as

powerless to kill her as he was to let her die. She rolled onto her side, convulsing, curling into a ball. Her limbs drew up, shortening with

agonizing slowness as she became wolf.

Fragile hope spread through him as he watched, unable to look away.

She was going to make it. Never had he met a human woman who’d

survived so much.

She gasped, hassling as fur sprang from her skin, growing like some

bizarre plant in time release video.

He blinked, unable to believe his eyes. The wolf lay on the ground,

panting, then slowly stood and shook its fur as if wet, throwing off the

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remnants of her gown. Glowing, golden eyes met his as the wolf regarded

him. He reached for her, slowly, and ran his fingers through her silky hair.

She tilted her head, watching him as he petted her, marveling that the

change had completed. He smiled wryly, allowing his racing heart to slow

to normal. He should have known better than to misjudge her strength and

tenacity to survive. No woman had ever fought so hard. No woman had

ever captured him so completely.

“Are you ready to change back?” he asked softly, rubbing her fur in

soothing circles.

He sensed her acceptance, her eagerness to return to human form with

the slight tensing of her body. “All you have to do is wish it. The first change always comes with the moon. Once you survive it, you can change

back and forth at will. It gets easier with time.” Until then, each shift would be painful, but never like the first time. The body acclimated with the cellular change, able to heal and recover faster as it took hold, until shifting could come as easily as a thought.

And with experience, the rising full moon would not shift her

immediately to wolf, though it was hard for even an old hand as himself to resist the seductive lunar call.

“Concentrate,” he whispered. “See your human self and it will

come.”

Long moments passed and nothing happened. She whined, and he

knew what was wrong. The moon was as yet too strong, still in the sky.

Once it set, she could shift back. He’d forgotten something so elementary.

“Soon,” he promised. He scooped up his jeans and led her to his car

for a night that promised to be long.

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She hopped into the passenger side and curled in the seat, watching

him as he settled inside and cranked the car, heading back to his apartment.

One step more and she would be his ... if she didn’t kill him first.

And he rather hoped she wouldn’t since she hadn’t yet ripped his throat out.

* * * *

being savaged, having her blood drained, her body crushed. Had it been

real? Or was it just a nightmare? Her questing fingers brushed down her

throat, felt tender ridges that had not been there before.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and discovered she was in his apartment,

in his bed. Silk sheets clung to her naked curves, rasping across her skin as she sat up and clutched the top edge to her breasts. Her skin tingled,

responding to the caress of silk.

She shivered, looking around the dark room. The door was closed,

only the barest sliver of light escaping beneath its lowest edge. And yet every shape in the room appeared clearly to her. She could see her hand

touching the bed, the edges of a night stand at one side. Further, her gown lay crumpled on the floor, and she could see the tears in it, smell the blood that stained it.

Her heart quickened with fear ... and excitement. She swung her legs

out from the bed, wrapping the sheet around her. No weakness assailed her CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

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as she walked lithely to the door. She breathed deeply, smelled the aroma of brewed coffee, the cooking fat of bacon.

It was real. Somehow, she’d become more than human. And she was

suddenly ravenous for the man responsible.

Kaeli opened the door and padded lightly through the apartment to

the kitchen area. He stood with his back to her, turning the bacon. She

tiptoed closer, grinning inside.

“If you mean to frighten me, it won’ work, petite,” he said with a

teasing note to his voice.

Kaeli nearly jumped out of her skin. Her heart flopped in her chest.

He took the pan off the burner and turned the stovetop off. He faced her

with a smile, heat gleaming in his eyes as his gaze roamed down her body.

Kaeli’s flesh warmed at his look, at the scent of him and her own

arousal. Already she was wet and wanting. He’d put her off before. She

wouldn’t allow it now. Not with everything that had happened. But first

she had to know if her suspicions were true.

“What did you do to me?” she asked quietly, stopping mere feet away

from him.

His eyes darkened, pain flashing across his sultry features. “You

were going to die. I made you Lycan to save you.”

“Why?”

He took a step closer, then another, stopping only when their bodies

nearly touched, when all it would take was a deep breath to feel him brush against her nipples.

“I did it because I couldn’ stand the thought of you not being in this

world. Perhaps we suffer from misguided honor and old superstition. It is CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

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not every woman who is willing to sacrifice so much ... nor any Lycan who

would risk losing his love.”

Kaeli felt breathless, dizzy. “How can this happen so quickly?”

“Love cannot be measured in time, ma chere. It consumes in an

instant. I’ve known you mere days, and yet it seems a lifetime I have longed to be with you and make you my mate. I love you, petite, and now I am

going to make you mine.”

His sulky mouth curved in a smile full of wicked promise as he

wrapped his arms around her. She’d heard once that extreme circumstances