Embraced by Darkness (5 page)

Kellen’s image suddenly rose in my mind, and I couldn’t help smiling. Part of me was already convinced that he was the
one
. The other part—the part that had been hurt before—was fighting to remain distant and take some time.

Of course, I’d always imagined that finding my soul mate would come like a bolt from the blue—that it would be an instant recognition of fate that blindsided us both—but perhaps that was simply expecting too much. The fact that I loved being with Kellen spoke volumes about the depths of my feelings for him. Hell, even the fact that I not only looked forward to uncovering more of his good points, but his bad as well, suggested I was definitely on the path to love. Whether it was soul-mate-type love, or just a deep and caring relationship was something only time would tell.

I sat down on the little jetty and watched the motorboat gradually growing larger on the horizon. By the time it had docked, other people had joined our little group, most of them couples, which left me feeling decidedly out of place. But then, that was a sensation I’d lived with half my life, thanks to Blake and his damn family.

So why was I helping him now?

It wasn’t because of the threat. Not anymore. Truth was, his story intrigued that part of me I’d denied for so long. The hunter hunts—how often had my brother said that? And yet it had taken what amounted to betrayal and repeated attempted kidnappings for me to fully acknowledge the hunter within.

But the wolf was free and there was no stopping her now. And I knew deep down that Blake really hadn’t needed the threat to make me follow up on this case. Curiosity would have had me looking, and sooner rather than later.

Curiosity would never make me like him, however, and I was glad he’d come visiting in spiritual form only. I needed to challenge the pack leader as much as I needed a hole in the head, and I had a feeling anger might have led me to do something stupid. The fact that I might have beaten him was irrelevant. I didn’t need to get involved with my past any more than I currently was.

Besides, Blake wouldn’t have taken a beating lying down. He’d make me pay, as he’d made me pay in the past. And I had a feeling his retribution now would be a whole lot worse than anything he’d done before. After all, I no longer had my grandfather’s presence to offer some protection. And Blake was too arrogant to think Rhoan would ever take on the role of protector effectively.

I waited until the others had boarded before approaching the boat myself. Jared gave me a wide smile, his blue gaze sliding appreciatively down my body and sending a pleasant tingle zipping across my skin.

It really was a damn shame he was human.

“Hello, pretty lady,” he said, his fingers wrapping around mine, trapping them in heat as he helped me into the boat. “I thought you’d already done this little tour?”

“I have, but I’m bored and needed someone decent to talk to.” I met his gaze, a smile teasing my lips. “However, most of the decent men are taken, so you’re it.”

He laughed, a warm, free sound. “Better to be last choice than no choice, I guess.”

“And I’m guessing being last choice isn’t much of a problem for you.”

His grin was almost wolfish. “Only with a certain reluctant werewolf.” He raised my fingers to his lips and kissed them lightly. “But I guess I now have another chance to work on that.”

“You can try, but I’m not going to change my mind.”

“Half the fun is the chase,” he said, then released me and made his way back to the front of the boat.

I have to admit, I enjoyed the view. Human or not, he had good shoulders, a nice ass, and long, strong legs. Legs I could so easily imagine wrapped around my waist as he drove deep inside…I thrust away the thought and blew out a breath.

Time to get back home to Kellen and the clubs, before I was tempted to do something stupid.

Jared untied the mooring rope, then backed the boat away from the dock. Once free of the beach, he gunned the engine, and the nose of the boat rose. We surged over the waves, sometimes flying free over the sea before crashing down. I raised my face to the sun and the wind, drawing the freshness into my lungs, and enjoying the sensation of freedom and the thrill of the ride. Dogs, I thought, had it right when they hung their heads out of car windows.

It ended all too soon. I climbed out with the others but didn’t follow them as they walked up the jetty toward the research center. Instead, I leaned against one of the pylons and watched Jared as he finished tying off the boat. With that done, he walked over. I had to admit, the front view was as good as the back. The man could definitely work it.

“So,” he said, stopping mere inches away from me, leaving the spicy scent and the heat to flow across my senses, teasing and arousing. “What would you like to do for the next hour or so?”

“How about we dangle our feet in the water and talk?”

“Not what I had in mind.”

He raised a hand to my cheek, his caress light but sending a flush of heat right through my body. I stepped away, and resisted the urge to fan myself. Human or not, this man was hot.

“But it’s all I’m offering,” I said, and walked over to the end of the pier.

“You are no fun.”

He sat beside me, his legs close enough to touch mine. I had to give him an A for effort. He knew my reasons for not having sex with him—I’d explained them the very first night he’d tried chatting me up—but he still couldn’t help trying it on. Maybe it
was
all about the chase for him—and the more I refused, the more determined he became.

“That depends on your definition of fun.” I glanced at him. “I’ve seen what we can do to humans. I’d hate to spoil that pretty body with a few ill-placed scars.”

“Scars attract many ladies.”

“If you’re dead they won’t.”

He grunted, but the determined flash in his blue eyes suggested he was a long way from giving up just yet. “So what do you want to talk about?”

“Adrienne Jenson.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Not recognition, but something else. Something that raised alarms deep inside. He might not have gray eyes or big ears, but he still had to be considered a suspect. He certainly knew more than he was telling. Or was I just being overly suspicious once again?

“I’m gathering by the surname that you’re from the same pack?”

“Yeah.” I got out my phone and brought up Adrienne’s picture. “You seen her around?”

He studied her for a moment, then nodded. “She did the tour here a week or so ago. I remember her hair.” His gaze raised to mine. “It’s such a pretty color in the sunlight.”

I smiled at the compliment. “Was she with anyone?”

“I don’t think so.” He hesitated. “Why?”

“Because her mom has been pestering me to find her. She thinks she’s run off with a man.”

“She looks old enough to make her own decisions about who she wants to bed.”

“She is, but this is a human man we’re talking about.”

He raised an eyebrow, amusement playing around his lips. “So the reluctance is a pack thing more than personal?”

“Both.” I switched the phone image to the sketch Blake had sent. “This is the man her mom believes she’s with.”

Again that something went through his eyes. He knew the man, I was sure of it.

All he said was, “Pretty lousy drawing.”

“But you know him, all the same?”

“Didn’t say that.”

Didn’t refute it, either. “He’s not in trouble. I just need to know if he’s got any idea where Adrienne might be.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, then shrugged. “I actually can’t tell you much. I’ve seen him on the island a few times, helping out at the bar and such, but I’ve never really talked to him.”

“Is he here today?”

“Don’t know. You could try asking staff-management. They might tell you if he’s around.”

“Do you know his name?”

He frowned. “I think it’s Jim. Jim Denton.”

“I talked to Jim Denton last night. He looks nothing like this sketch.”

Jared grinned. “Mom’s obviously a lousy artist. Or Adrienne was telling lies for reasons of her own.” He flung an arm around my shoulder, his fingers draping perilously close to my left breast. “Now that we’ve discovered I can’t help you find your friend, how about we discuss a more interesting topic?”

“Like what?” I said wryly. “You, me, and bed?”

His fingers moved, lightly brushing my nipple, teasing it to life. “That sounds like a good place to start.”

“Coffee is a good place to start.” I pulled away from his arm and stood up. “I need to be wined and dined before I can get into any sort of sexual discussion.”

“A reluctant werewolf,” he muttered, his expression a mix of amusement and frustration. “Who’d have thought there was such a beast?”

I linked arms with him as we walked down the pier toward the small coffeehouse. “Just goes to prove you can’t believe every rumor about us.”

“And isn’t it just my luck to find that one exception when I’m feeling as horny as hell.”

I grinned. “I never said I didn’t want to bed you. It’s just the whole human thing that’s the sticking point.”

“Meaning if I keep trying, I may just wear down your defenses anyway?”

“You might.”

“Excellent. Let’s get down to coffee and cake, then.”

We did. And he did keep trying.

But he didn’t get lucky.

J
ared dropped the tour group back on the main island an hour later, and left me with a promise to continue his seduction attempts during his lunch break. Grinning at his determination, I headed back to my little villa and rang my brother.

“Once again, she rings at an indecent hour,” he said, by way of greeting.

I looked at my watch. “It’s nearly lunchtime.”

“Any hour before noon is an indecent hour after the night I’ve had.”

“Self-inflicted pain garnishes no sympathy from me, bro.”

“I’ll remember that next time you want sympathy and coffee after a late night carousing.”

I grinned. He’d feed me coffee no matter what, because he knew it was the only way to soothe the savage beast. Or at least shut her up. “You had a chance to look at the file yet?”

“No.” He paused. “Why?”

“Because I’ve been asking around about Adrienne and the man she was supposedly seeing, and have hit an odd little wall.” I told him about the two Jim Dentons. “It’s rather odd to have two people with the same name, and yet no one seems to know or recognize the second man.” No one except Jared, that was.

“You done a mind search?”

“Yeah, but without much luck. I found possible evidence of memory tampering on the older Jim, but I’m not yet skilled enough to undo the fudging.”

“Memory tampering doesn’t indicate foul play. It could just be a vampire not wanting her victim to remember their encounter.”

Because drinking from unknowing or unwilling hosts was illegal in most states of Australia. Apparently Tasmania was a little more free and easy, allowing vamps to drink from whomever they pleased as long as they took minimum amounts. Which probably explained why human tourism to Tassie had fallen, and vamp tourism had increased.

“I couldn’t see any evidence of bite marks.”

“If it happened weeks ago, you wouldn’t.”

“Trust me, the fudging didn’t feel like the work of a vamp.”

“Then what did it feel like?”

“I don’t know.”

“Fat lot of good that’ll do the investigation.”

“This from the man lazing about in bed feeling sorry for himself.” I paused. “Why isn’t Liander there pampering you?”

“He had to go to work early. The apprentices are working on the goblin masks today, and he has to supervise.”

Because they’d screwed up the goblin masks previously, no doubt. Those two weren’t the sharpest pencils in the drawer from what I’d seen of them.

“So what are you going to do next?” he continued.

“I don’t know. There’s really nothing much more I can do here. I’ll need to talk to the parents of the other victims and see if there’s some other connector. There’s something odd about it all.”

“If you add ‘I feel it in my bones,’ I’m going to come up there and hit you.”

I grinned. “There’s nothing wrong with that saying—aside from the fact you hate it.”

“Mom used to say it,” he said. “Usually right before you and I got a beating for something or other.”

My smile faded. “I can’t remember that.”

“I suspect there’s a lot you can’t remember, Riley.”

He was probably right. That time of my life was not a place where I wanted to linger. “I remember the bad stuff.”

“Which just goes to show how screwed our definitions of bad are. There weren’t many good times, you know.”

“I know.” I scrubbed a hand across my eyes and fought the myriad of images that battered at the blocks I’d placed in their path years ago.

“Which is why I can’t understand you helping him.”

“I’m not. I’m helping Mother.”