Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (26 page)

“Yes,” she breathed. “I do. But something inside me doesn’t trust…I think I don’t trust Garr.”

Smothered by Kyle’s enticing scent, an overwhelming need for him sparked within every cell in her body. Relaxing into his familiar embrace, she was inexplicably drawn to the power of his presence. Suddenly, an exotic fragrance, emanating from both her body and his, permeated the surrounding air and blocked the other repulsive dog scent. Leaning into him, she gripped his t-shirt and buried her nose in his chest.

“God, you smell…amazing!”

She fanned her fingers over his broad chest, testing the feel of him as he nuzzled her ear.

Kyle tilted her chin up with a knuckle and stared at her mouth. He brushed a finger over her bottom lip then bent his head to take her lips with his. The kiss started out as if he was moving in slow motion, but the longer his lips lingered, the stronger the pull between them grew. He opened his mouth enough to slip his tongue across the seam of her lips and tested the entrance.

Home.

Opening to him, their tongues tangled in that old familiar dance. A sigh escaped from her as he pulled her closer, and she didn’t miss the moan of arousal Kyle released against her lips when he pressed her hips against his obvious erection.

His muscles bunched and bulged beneath her touch, and his scent caused something beneath her skin to ripple. She shivered when she felt the same ripple answer beneath his. He was holding back some kind of unleashed power in the muscles beneath her fingers.

Lost in the frenzy of her desire, she didn’t notice when Kyle took back control—not until he moved her away and held her at arm’s length.

“We shouldn’t…keep them waiting,” he said with obvious effort. He wasn’t as unaffected as he wanted her to believe.

That didn’t prevent her from being mortified by her own lack of self-control. Who was she? Back in the car, she’d played the role of damsel in distress. Here she was dropping at his feet the first time he glanced in her direction again, and she’d practically climbed his body. Her behavior was out of character. Especially when the image of him with that woman replayed repeatedly in her head.

The urge to hide her face in shame and run was so overwhelming she shuttered her expression against him, refusing to allow him to see the emotions clearly expressed there.

She wanted him, she needed him, and darn it…she loved him.

The fact that she was behaving like a cat in heat was even more mortifying under the circumstances.

What could be more humiliating?

She could still wrap herself around his body and rub all over him. That impulse almost surpassed the sudden desire she had to throw herself down on the bed and beg him to mount her. The urges were just so overwhelmingly irresistible.

The idea that it all sounded so darned appealing pissed her off even more.

…and that other scent?
What is it?
Trying to identify the scent plagued her like a dream she couldn’t recall—remaining a whisper beyond memory’s reach. Although, not unpleasant, they weren’t foreign or entirely unfamiliar to her, either.

And this feeling I’m experiencing…? I know what it is, but…

No, her mind was not quite ready to reveal the identity of the scent or the need to her, yet. The closest state she could compare it with was hunger.

Hunger for Kyle?

Yes. But hunger for something else, too.

“It’s blood and…”

Chapter 32 Craving

“…and sex.” The Scotsman who answered her mental question stood outside the doorway to the bedroom looking like a Highland wet dream. While she contemplated how he knew what she was thinking, he smiled, and she wondered if he just caught that thought, too.

Yes, she realized, he was right about the
sex
part anyway.
But blood?
She wasn’t so sure that sounded appetizing.

His brow furrowed before he turned away. “Don’t be concerned. Follow me. We’ll talk in the den.” He led the way with Kyle at her back, and she followed like the cream in an oversized hunk sandwich.

“By the way, I’m Dylan Macgregor,” he announced over his shoulder. There was that slight burr she picked up in his accent before. “Max and Victor have returned.”

The spacious, masculine looking den was warm and inviting. But when they stepped into the room, the fear she felt earlier threatened to swallow her.

“No need to worry.” Macgregor spoke the words quietly to her alone and something in his voice eased her racing heart. His grin warmed her. He arched one brow and with a tilt of his head said, “That wet dog smell is coming from Garr over there.”

“How did you know what I was think…?” She gasped and felt the blush rise up her neck and into her face. Darn her sensitive skin. The darkly handsome man Dylan Macgregor pointed out glared at her from the other side of the room where he sat beside Max and Victor Salazar.

“Sorry, Dr. Mackenzie,” Macgregor said, “I didn’t mean to intrude on your thoughts. I’m a very sensitive psychic, and sometimes I can’t shut out anxious thoughts projected with strong emotions.”

Shelby was instantly fascinated. “Please, call me Shelby. Psychic? I-I don’t recall any papers documenting that level of sensitivity.” She tilted her head and waved her hands as if to erase the last few thoughts, recalling she’d just insulted the poor man across the room. She glanced over at Garr and in the way of an apology said, “S
orry. I-I didn’t mean to imply…It’s just my senses are off…unusually heightened. I mean, I’m just so darned hypersensitive to…well, everything.”

His dark eyes bored into her measuring her for…she didn’t know what.

“Nothing to apologize for.” Dylan chuckled. “Come to think of it, he does smell a wee bit like wet dog after a good drizzle.”

The man turned to Dylan and emitted what Shelby could only describe as a low growl. The sound made her hair stand on end the same way his scent had.

Before she realized what was happening, Kyle stepped in front of her, and to her amazement, growled back. Victor materialized out of nowhere and stepped between Kyle and Garr. Then Max circled Kyle to stand beside him.

This was a tribute to the ultimate pissing contest. Five virile men in their prime who all looked like testaments to gym memberships surrounded her. Testosterone reeked in the air. There was no mistaking it. Shelby not only smelled it, she felt it battering her senses like waves pounding the shore after a bad storm.

“Ah, men, I think yer frightening the lady.”

The man with the wet-dog smell broke into a hard grin. “Sorry, Kyle,
mon ami
. I was growlin’ at Dylan. No offense, ma’am.”

There was a soft Cajun lilt in Garr’s speech.

“Uh, none taken…and vice versa, I hope?” Shelby asked and let out a sigh when the tension in the room visibly eased—all but Kyle’s.

He’d been coiled like a snake ready to strike and his growl sounded different. Not like the sound a dog makes—or even a wolf.
It was otherworldly in a way she’d only seen in horror movies. For a moment, she thought she saw his eyes glimmer with a crimson light.

She glanced around and met Max’s confused stare. “What’s going on?” she asked. “I feel a bit like Alice when she fell into the rabbit hole.” Max looked equally perplexed.

Victor stepped forward and held out his hand. “May I?” The Spaniard watched Kyle closely for a reaction. “We will explain everything to you. The virus has weakened you. Won’t you sit? Dylan will help you relax while we show you a few things.”

“Of course.” Shelby glanced at Max again. He nodded but Kyle didn’t move. She noted the tension still present in his jaw. He was working hard to control himself, but it seemed as if something else inside him was fighting for power.

Instead of taking the hand Victor offered, she took Kyle’s. “You’re coming with me? Right?”

For a split second, a shudder visibly traveled through Kyle, and then he forced a smile along with the composure that once before seemed so natural to him. He rubbed the inside of her wrist with his thumb, and with the heated pressure, it sent reassurance to her soul.

The man who smelled like dog finally stood. Strangely, he’d been the only one to stay seated during the confrontation. No, she couldn’t think of him like that now. There was nothing canine about him. Too big, too powerful. More wolf than dog, and a handsome, although intimidating, hunky male.

Garr strode to the door. “Why don’t ya’ll get settled? Me, I’m gonna check in with the guards. Max? You ready,
mon ami
?”

Max picked up a package and shifted his glance between her and Kyle. His gaze landed to where Kyle held her hand. A frown crossed his brow. “I’ll be right with you.”

Victor said, “I would like to accompany you. Dylan and Kyle can handle everything here.”

“Certainly, doc. I could use your help,” Max said. “Shelby, I’m going to run a few more tests, then I’ll be back to check on you. It may be a couple of days.” He tossed a questioning glance at Kyle and Dylan, then back to Shelby. “You okay with that?”

She nodded not knowing what to say to her dearest friend. The evidence of pain in his eyes was hard to miss. Knowing she’d put it there, made her ache with a need for him she couldn’t express.

The huge wolf man picked up a backpack of sorts before he moved toward the hallway. “Good. When I return and honk, follow me. I’ll lead you out of the Parrish,” Garr said.

On the way out, he looked over his shoulder, made eye contact with Shelby, and winked. “Nice meeting you,
chér
. I’ll be sure to shower before I stop by again.”

She gasped, heat rising in her cheeks once more. “
Oh, no. Please, that’s not wha...” Then she heard his deep rolling laughter all the way down the hallway and out the door and smiled.

“He’ll be a few minutes checking the perimeter. Come with us,” Dylan said. Max and Victor followed him into the library.

Dylan moved around the room, settling on a spot, and Kyle found a seat for her and himself. The location was a comfortable position. Relaxed isn’t what she’d call it—more like a battle station. She found herself looking for a spot with certain strategic vantage points. Vantage points she wasn’t aware of until that moment.

Chair. Door.
Escape.

Windows?
None.

Even more strange.

“Your thoughts are instinctive. You are feeling the beast within you practicing survival techniques,” Dylan said.

What beast?
She was already getting used to having the man in her head, although it was highly disconcerting to think he could rummage through her thoughts so easily.

“I only hear what you’re projecting so loudly, I can’t shut it out. I’d never invade your privacy unnecessarily.” Dylan sounded insulted.

“Of course you wouldn’t.” And she believed him. “I’m going to have to turn down the volume I guess. It may take a while to figure out how, though. You know, I’m still freaking out about all this.”

When everyone relaxed, he said, “Shelby, you are Kyle’s greatest weakness.”

“The council reviewed the situation and gave Dylan permission to have
the
discussion with you,” Victor interrupted. “The world holds many secrets the average person is unaware of. Max, you are both about to be introduced to some of those secrets. There’s no need to be afraid. You will be shocked, surprised, disbelieving at times, but it is all true. We are here to see you safely through this.”

“But what? Why me?” she asked and glanced from one man to the other.

“Amyra knows both these men would die for you. Because of that, Max, you are also in danger.” Victor answered first. “Shelby, while you were in Guatemala you were exposed to a virus that caused your blood to mutate. The change in your blood is causing other changes, too.”

Shelby’s stomach dropped. As a doctor, how many times had she been present when a patient was given the bad news? Hundreds? “What sort of changes? Cancer?”

“No, nothing like that,” Kyle said. “What you have won’t kill you as far as we know.”

“Something is going on that you’re not sharing.”

“She may no longer be precisely human, already,” Max said. All heads turned toward him. “When she returned from Guatemala I tested her blood and her DNA. Her blood cells are changing.”

“What?” Shelby gasped. “Why didn’t you say anything?” For a moment, she felt betrayed and isolated among these men. Glaring from Kyle to Max, she wondered what else she didn’t know.

Max shrugged. “I was still researching the mutation when all this shit with the murders came down.”

“What murders?” she asked.

Dylan jumped into the conversation and explained what happened to the couple. “I know it’s gruesome, but knowledge is power,” he said.

Shelby didn’t feel any better for knowing the details. If anything, panic tried to overwhelm her. This time she felt the instant when Dylan entered her head and took control of her mind.

Freaky.

Kyle was still soothing her with his gentle massage of her wrist.

“That’s some trick,” she muttered without fighting either man’s efforts. “You could replace anti-anxiety meds and ruin the pharmaceutical industry.”

Salazar rose and held out his hand to Shelby. “Do you mind if I work with Dr. Hamilton and examine your blood? We must work quickly. Amyra is very dangerous. It is important to keep you here and safe until we know more.”

“I don’t mind. To the contrary, I appreciate the help.” She rubbed her neck where it tingled. The one spot still ached when she dreamed of Kyle. What did it mean?

Dylan spoke next. “Before we go into more detail, I’d like to offer you access to my mental link. I can keep your emotions from becoming involved while we explain everything. It will appear to be like a movie, a visual explanation under controlled conditions.”

“I don’t know. Hypnosis?”

“Not exactly.”

“It’s best this way, Shelby. There’s so much you need to know.” Kyle looked deadly serious. “Any other way is too difficult for the mind to absorb. I don’t want you to suffer any more than you’re going to anyway.”

“Uh, that sound
s ominous.” Shelby pulled her hair out of her face and asked, “Just how much suffering?”

“You saw me shortly after I was infected. How did I look?”

“Okay, point taken.” She looked deliberately at Max who nodded, and then she turned to Dylan, searching his face for answers. There was none, just reassurance in his expression. “If there’s an easier way, I’m in. I’m no glutton for punishment. My mind is in your hands, Dylan. And I know I haven’t said so, but I appreciate what ya’ll are doing to keep me safe, even Garr.”

“You’re welcome, doctor.” Dylan laughed. “Max can let Garr know. As I told Kyle, someday I’m sure you’ll be in the position to return the favor. Now Shelby and
Max close your eyes and relax.”

Information poured through Shelby’s mind, unbelievable facts, impossible visions, and when they came to a stop, Dylan spoke.

“You may open your eyes. Remain calm. When you’re ready we can discuss anything you’d like, Shelby.”

The sound of a horn honked, interrupting their discussion. “Victor, stay with Max at all times,” Dylan warned pointing at the man to emphasize the severity of the situation.

“Of course. I will be happy to have the opportunity to spend time with someone who appreciates my life’s work.”

“My lab is pretty secure.”

“Just watch your backs when you aren’t secure. Got it? Max, are you okay with all this?”

Max nodded. “Better get going,” he said to Victor. Without any emotion, he glanced at Kyle and kissed Shelby on the forehead. “Feel better.”

“Stay safe.” Shelby reluctantly released Max so he could join Garr.

“Please excuse me. I’m feeling extremely tired. There’s so much to digest.”

Kyle said, “You should rest. I’ll take you back to your room.”