Embraced by Darkness (19 page)

“Not yet. Was there anything else on her desk? Notes or anything?”

“If there were any notes, it’d be on her laptop. Which,” he added, “has disappeared along with her.”

She’d had the laptop on the island, so her disappearance had to have happened sometime between her stepping off the island boat and getting the plane back to Melbourne.

Was that drawing of the man she’d bumped into at the club, and was he connected to the disappearances? Or something else?

“There were no notes on the drawing itself?”

“Nothing at all.”

Then how the hell did he get the name Jim Denton? I doubted that he just plucked it out of thin air. “If there’s nothing else, then you and I have nothing more to talk about. So you can just fuck off and leave me alone.”

He glowered at me for several seconds, then said, “Patrin and Kye are coming to Melbourne. Patrin wants a full report.”

Great. Just what I needed. One arrogant son of a bitch harassing me in person. “Who the hell is Kye?”

“His bodyguard.”

“So the great Patrin needs a bodyguard?” The thought cheered me no end.

“Patrin has been helping police with certain inquiries and, as a result, has been receiving threats. Hence Kye’s presence.”

“And these threats have absolutely nothing to do with Adrienne’s disappearance?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely. He should be in Melbourne tomorrow. I expect you to be helpful.”

“If Patrin comes anywhere near me, I’ll break his fucking neck.”

“Remember your mother,” he said, and disappeared from sight.

Bastard, bastard,
bastard
.

I blew out a breath, then drained the rest of the beer and tossed the can into the trash. The buzz of anger and alcohol running through my system suggested that while I might need to sleep, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. For several seconds I internally wrestled with the idea of going to the Blue Moon and catching some action, but Kellen’s image kept swimming through my mind. If I wanted to explore the depths of our relationship, then I would have to start getting serious. Maybe not commit-to-a-solo-relationship serious—not just yet, anyway—but I would have to start proving to him that he—that we—were important.

Giving up the clubs would be hard. I loved them, loved the feel of them, loved the passion and excitement within them—but if I had to ditch the Blue Moon to prove that I didn’t want to lose what I had with Kellen, then I would.

Because there was a whole lot of passion and excitement there, too.

So I settled for the next best thing to the Blue Moon—a hot, scented bath and several bars of chocolate.

M
irror Image sat in the hub of an industrial estate, far away from any residential area, nullifying any complaints they might otherwise have gotten over the bass-heaving music issuing from the joint.

I slammed the car door shut and let my gaze run over the neon-lit club. It was a typical factory design—metal roof, high concrete walls, and few windows. What glass there was decorated the front, in what would have been an office area in any normal factory. Unlike regular wolf clubs, this one had no line of people waiting to get in, but given the fact this particular club dwarfed most wolf clubs, I guess that wasn’t really surprising.

Just for a moment, I felt something…odd. There was something here, something dangerous, and it reminded me of the evil I’d sensed at the murder scenes. Only it wasn’t coming from the club, but rather from behind me.

I turned around, but couldn’t see anything but the smoke from the nearby factories blowing along with the breeze. The sensation faded and I mentally shrugged. Maybe the near misses had made me jumpier than I’d realized.

Kellen looked at me over the roof of the car, his expression bordering on dubious. “You really want to go in there?”

“Doesn’t look like much from the outside, does it?”

“No.” He took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring widely. “I can smell humans. Lots of them.”

“That’s because there are.”

“And our government thinks this is a good idea because…?”

“Because the government is mostly men, and men tend to think with their little heads more than their big heads.”

He laughed, a warm and merry sound that had a smile tugging my lips. “That is such a female thing to say.”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?”

“Only every other minute.” He held out his hand. “Shall we go check out the joint?”

“Let’s.” I walked around the front of the car and clasped his fingers. His touch was warm and chased away the chills skating across my skin. Whether those chills were caused by the cool night and my somewhat scanty clothing, or something else, I wasn’t entirely sure.

My heels clicked on the pavement, a sound that seemed to echo across the night, jarring sharply against the heavy music and rumble of voices emanating from the club. The double glass doors opened as we approached, and the noise hit harder, briefly making my ears ache.

A thick-set shifter with cat-green eyes gave us a welcoming grin. “Here to party?”

“Yeah,” Kellen said, voice almost getting lost in the thump of music. “Heard it’s the place for couples to be.”

“That it is.” The shifter’s gaze skimmed my body appreciatively, and Kellen’s grip went from my hand to my waist. “Come on. You folks been here before?”

When we shook our heads, he escorted us to the payment window, then ran us through the rules. Basically, they had much the same regulations that ruled wolf clubs the world over, along with the addition of the “no harm to the humans” rules Jodie had mentioned. The bouncer didn’t ask us to sign a waiver, but then as a shifter himself, he would have sensed we weren’t human. Still, I could see forms sitting on the cashier’s desk, some of them signed, and figured that’s what they were. Humans would
have
to sign a waiver against their right to sue, otherwise the club wouldn’t be able to operate, simply because no one would insure them. Weres, the moon fever, and humans could never be a good mix in a sexually charged environment, and anyone who thought otherwise was a fool.

Once we’d paid, we entered the club.

Immediately we were hit by the noise, the lights, and the thick heavy air that burned down the throat and smashed into the senses.

There was nothing subtle about this place, no pretense about what it was and what it was catering to. It was in-your-face, no-apologies sex and indulgence, and the richness of it was almost mind-numbing. I took a deep breath, allowing the heated, lusty atmosphere to soak through my body, and felt the familiar ache begin.

The main room was large and long, and there were plenty of people packed inside. Lights scrolled across the vast expanse—flickers of yellow, red, and blue that highlighted the masses moving on the dance floor while leaving large areas in shadow.

Kellen’s fingers squeezed mine, and he nodded toward an empty booth on the outskirts of the left side of the dance floor. “Want to grab that, or would you rather dance?”

Given my near miss with Shadow, and the hankering need that had been plaguing me ever since, there was only ever going to be one answer to that question. “Dance.”

We made our way down the stairs, my heels slipping slightly on the highly polished white tiles. The whole place was white, in fact. Floor, ceiling, furniture. White on white. It should have felt as cold as hell, but it didn’t, thanks to the lights and the sheer mass of people loving, laughing, and generally having a good time.

Kellen led me onto the dance floor. Down here, the grunts of pleasure and the slap of flesh against flesh mingled heavily with the thump of music, and the air was thick with the rich aroma of sweat and wantonness. But it was mixed with a sense of almost guilty recklessness, and I put that down to the kids-in-a-candy-shop mentality. The humans here might be enjoying themselves, but it was almost like they knew that at any minute they’d get caught and the fun would stop.

Still, the heat of their desire was as thick and as strong as any were’s, and my breath caught, then quickened. The press of so much flesh—even if it was mostly clothed flesh—made my skin burn and my already erratic heart race that much harder. I wanted—needed—to be loved.

Kellen wrapped his arms around my waist, then pulled me close and began a slow dance that was totally out of sync with the music. Music that was barely audible over the frantic pounding of my pulse. Sweat formed where we touched, and the air was so thick with the heat of our desire I could hardly breathe.

“Everyone is either dressed or half dressed,” he murmured, his hands sliding sensually down my back to my butt. “Do you think we should go naked and stir them up?”

“Not when I’m trying to avoid attention.” I pressed closer to him, rubbing myself across his erection. “Besides, the important bits of me are naked.”

“Hmm,” he said, sliding his hands under my skirt and discovering my bare butt. “So they are.”

“And now,” I murmured, as I slid down his fly and released him from his jeans, “so are yours.”

He smiled and kissed me, and oh, what a kiss. From that point on, there was little conversation. We danced, we played, and we teased each other, nipping and caressing until our breathing was harsh and the need that pulsed between us became all-consuming.

And when it finally became too much to stand, his mouth claimed mine again, his kiss fierce as he lifted me up and onto him. Then he was in me, filling me, and it felt so damn good I groaned.

With my legs wrapped tightly around his waist, I began to move, riding him slowly, savoring the feel of him, the power of him, until the waves of pleasure rippling across my skin became a molten force that would not be denied. A howl of pleasure tore up my throat—a sound lost to the overall noise—as the shudders of completion ripped through us both.

“That,” I said, when I’d finally caught my breath, “was amazing.”

“Yep.” He dropped a kiss on my nose. “Seems you and I are not put off by the scent of humans.”

“I don’t think anything would put us off if we were horny enough.” I unlocked my legs from around his waist and stood. “I need a drink, and I need to find the bathroom.”

“The bar is to our right. I’ll get the drinks and find a table, which means you’ll have to find the bathroom by yourself.”

“A tough task, but I think I’ll manage.” I leaned forward, dropping a quick kiss on his lips, then made my way back through the crowd. There was a good amount of space between the dance floor and the booths, so the overheated air seemed a little cooler around the edges. I fanned my dress as I walked, but it didn’t do a whole lot to stop the sweating.

One thing I did notice was the fact that there didn’t seem to be any vamps here. Shifters and weres of all types, as well as hundreds of humans, but no vampires. Perhaps there was too much temptation for the young ones, and too much noise for the old ones.

I certainly couldn’t imagine Quinn liking a place like this. But then, he’d dislike it for reasons that had nothing to do with the noise, and a whole lot to do with my werewolf lifestyle.

And, I thought grumpily, I really should stop thinking about him. He was out of my life, and I was better for it—no matter what my somewhat treacherous heart might think.

I continued on, skimming the edges of the dance floor, looking for the bathroom and anything out of place. But there was nothing more than sex and a whole lot of enjoyment happening. Which in itself was amazing. Who’d have thought humans could be so sexually free after all the years of giving us crap?

The air near the rear of the room began to get hot again, the air-conditioning obviously struggling to cope with the sheer mass of people down at this end. I went to the bathroom, then stopped under one of the vents just outside the door, sucking in the cool air and letting it caress my sweat-beaded skin. It felt like a tiny spot of heaven in this oven-like environment.

And that’s when I felt it—an odd tingling buzz around the edges of my thoughts. Someone—or something—was trying to read me. I scanned the room quickly, but the touch was gone before I could really pinpoint it.

For no good reason, I remembered Shadow’s comments about the brief intrusion one of his vamps had felt the night they’d serviced Callie’s party. A shiver ran across my skin, and I rubbed my arms lightly.

In a crowd this size, it was a given that there’d be psychically talented people here, whether they were human or nonhuman. There was absolutely no reason to think that that brief touch was, in any way, connected to Callie or the other murders.

But I was oddly certain that it was.

I walked on, my gaze scanning the seething crowd on the dance floor, but I’d barely taken two steps forward when my other talents kicked in, and I felt it.

The thick sense of evil.

It was here.

Here because it had followed me here. I
had
sensed it in the parking lot earlier. Why it was following me I had no idea, and right now, I couldn’t afford to worry about it. Because the overwhelming feeling I was getting from the spirit or monster or whatever the hell it was, was excitement. This place was like a newly found candy store to a hungry kid.