Haulcon's Revenge (17 page)

He gave her shoulder a firm squeeze until she glanced up at him. Angling his head down, he kissed her. When he pulled away, he declared, “There will never be another mate for me. Valfs only link their souls to another once and even death does not change that.”

She smiled. This mindreading thing wasn’t looking so bad after all, if her man would be able to hear and alleviate the concerns of her heart.

“
Thank you for telling me.”

“
You’re welcome. Furthermore, my serum in your blood will expand your life as well. Maybe not as long as my own, but close enough that we will have many decades ahead of us.”

“
How old are you now?”

“
I’ve met five decades of sunsets.”

“
Wow. You don’t look a day over three decades.” Their DNA evidently kept them young, fit and attractive for a lot longer than humans.

“
I would not have reached the wisdom I hold at three decades.” His brows were pinched about the bridge of his sharp, angled nose.

She patted his chest. “It was a joke, sweetheart.”

His frown deepened as he thought about it. She could hear him running the words and phrase backwards and forward as he attempted to figure it out.

“
So, to look younger is a good thing for humans?”

“
Yes. We all want the fountain of youth.” She kissed his chin. “I have now found it, it seems.”

“
Well, as a valf higher age is honored.”

Reaching up she caressed the gray streak present in his hair that wasn’t there a few weeks ago when she saw him. “Well, being Alpha must age a valf rapidly for you to already be going gray. For a human president it at least takes a full first term before they go all snowcapped.”

“
Another joke? The snowcap?”

“
It’s a way of saying gray-haired on top.” She patted her head.

Nodding he said, “Well. I’m not entirely sure what exactly caused the transformation to the front of my hair.”

“
When did you notice it?”

“
After I killed Jacin.”

Tensing, she swallowed. “What?”

Locking his arms around her, he pulled her onto his lap. “It had to be done.”

Curling against him, she listened to his heartbeat. Her man was grieving. His thoughts were blank at the moment, but she could feel the tightness of his muscles and hear the heaviness of his breathing. She waited, not rushing him. Allowing him his time until he felt like opening up to her. If his people cared so much about woodland animals then how much more would they not want to see the death of another valf—especially at their own hands.

“
It was Jacin who plotted to kill me and take my position as Alpha. He was angry about his father’s choice. He had already been gathering sympathizers to his idea and presented them frequently to Ridok attempting to gain his support. However, Ridok did not want a war with the humans. We had seen how you all easily destroy and torture one another with such hate.” He brushed her hair back behind her ear and cupped her cheek.

“
On the night Ridok passed into the arms of the Great Spirit, Jacin had a message delivered to me. It said that another valf body had been discovered out the back gate of the compound. You see, over the last year several valfs have gone missing and their corpses found days later at the base of the mountain.”

“
What is happening to them?”

“
We don’t know the cause. Most of them are weaker valfs or young ones.” He shook his head and sighed.

“
Was there another body beyond the gate?”

“
No. It was treachery. I was attacked by a group of valf that supported Jacin. They took me far away from our territory and into the human grounds a few hours before dawn. Jacin cut open my side deep with a blade. They left me there to die either by blood loss, silver poison or sunlight.”

She shivered recalling how he had looked out there beaten, bloody and tied to trees.

Curling a finger below her chin, he tilted her head back and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I am grateful to the Great Spirit that he sent a human angel along my path.”

“
I’m no angel, but I’m glad I was there to help you.” She gave him a kiss and smiled as she pulled away. “Where does this leave your clan now?”

He leaned his head back against the headboard. “We are united now. So, I want to believe. However, valfs are still going missing and showing up dead. There have been two more since Jacin’s death. If he was not the cause, I am clueless to what or who is.”

They sat silently, both of them in their own thoughts.

“
That’s the reason you are in the city isn’t it?”

“
Yes and no. That is why I have spent most nights searching the perimeter of the city, but you my mate is what had drawn me beyond my boundaries. My need to see you and be near to you.”

Staring up at him, she asked, “Do I want to know how long you have been stalking me?”

“
Too long, since I have been denying myself a taste of your delicious body.”

Haulcon rolled over and placed both his hands flat onto the bed with her beneath him. “Dawn will be upon us soon and I will need to get back to my clan.”

“
Then let me not keep you,” she teased pretending to move away.

“
Oh, no, my sweet. I will join with you again before we must leave.”

“
I don’t recall agreeing to go with you.”

“
I am your mate……..” he recited her words back to him.

“
No fair. I said those under duress.”

“
What duress?”

“
Passion.” She laughed.

He smiled. “Then let’s see how else I can get you to agree.” He brought his lips down to hers as he slipped between her thighs and entered her slowly, as if they had all the time in the world.

~YH~

“
You must hurry and get the things you will need. Later we can come back for more.” Haulcon was dressed and passing before her window as he watched the skyline begin to change.

“
Hey, you’re the one that just had to have sex again…not once but twice.” She held two fingers up before him.

“
It is not my fault you are irresistible and I can’t get enough of you.”

“
Just like a man…blame it on the woman’s charms.” She shoved the stuff from the floor that she’d already been preparing to take with her to the Grand Canyon into her backpack. The other night she had already secured her camera in the lower padded compartment made for it.

Damn, that was something she would need to do—call Mr. Cook and cancel. She hated not completing an assignment, but realizing she was carrying a child put her life in a different perspective. A valf child at that. She didn’t want to be in the desert with no one but a tour guide to help her if the baby came way earlier than an all-human child.

“
Five months.”

“
What?” She glanced at him on her way into the bathroom for her toiletry bag.

“
That is the length of time that valf females carry their offspring.”

“
Oh.” Tossing the smaller bag into the pack, she asked, “Is there a way to turn off the mindreading thing?”

He stopped pacing and stared at her. “Why would you want to do that? Mates should be able to communicate with each other anytime they want.”

Setting her hands on her hips, she tilted her head and stared at him. “Don’t act like you don’t have some magical way of shutting me out. I know there are times you have been thinking about something serious…I can see it almost written on your face, but I can’t hear one thought.”

Shoving a hand through his hair, he said, “There is a way to put up a shield. Forgive me for doing it to you. Some of the things that happened when I confronted Jacin I did not want to allow you to experience, such as the gory details.”

“
Thanks for that. But, will you teach me the mind shield trick?”

“
I will consider it.”

She rolled her eyes. This was a debate she would return to later. “Okay, I think I have everything for a few days. However, I need to make a call really quick.” Grabbing her cell phone from the counter she dialed Mr. Cook.

The phone rang four times before his office answering machine picked up. “Mr. Cook, this is Adair Ellis. Something unexpected has come up in my life and I will need to cancel the Grand Canyon shoot. I will be…” she thought for a moment how to explain the situation at hand. She came to the quick decision that the less information provided the better. “Leaving out of town for a while. I’m okay. No need to worry, but something I need to see about that’s extremely important.”

That was the truth, her and Haulcon’s baby, even though she hadn’t been expecting to get pregnant, was still more important than anything else in her life right now.

“
Thanks for everything, Mr. Cook, talk to you soon.” That was at least the good thing about being a freelance photographer, she didn’t have to get permission not to do a shoot or take time off.

“
Done?” Haulcon asked, glancing anxiously again toward the window.

“
You’re not going to burst into flames or anything if we get caught out in the sunlight are you?”

He gave her a sharp look that said there you go again with the vampire malarkey.

“
No. The UV rays of the sunlight pull the oxygen from our blood and cause our lungs to seize up and we die.”

“
Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. “I’m ready when you are.”

When they started toward the door, her cell phone rang. Rushing to the counter where she had placed it after leaving the message for Mr. Cook, she answered it.

Immediately she recognized the number, Princess Smith. “Princess, it is almost five o’clock in the morning, I can’t image what could be so important.”

“
I need your camera skills right now, Adair.”

“
What? We already had this discussion. I’m not—”

“
Haven’t you been watching the news?”

“
No.” She glanced at the imposing, sexy man in her living room. “Other things have been occupying my time.”

“
Well, you need to turn on Channel 9 now. They found one of those things.”

“
What things?”

“
Those hideous human-devouring monsters.”

“
A valf?” As soon as the word came out of her mouth, Adair wished she could draw it back.

“
What? Valf? How do you know what they are called?” Then joy laced Princess’ voice and she was practically shouting with glee. “You have been working on the assignment for me. I knew you couldn’t walk away. You love wild creatures too much. Money always talks, darlin’.” Princess was babbling nonstop.

Adair was barely listening to the sleazy tabloid editor because her focus was zeroed in on the angry valf Alpha in her living room. His face had turned dark like a summer storm cloud was brewing inside of him. Those sexy moss green eyes appeared almost black, not with passion, but forest green.

If she could have pulled out a measuring tape, she would have sworn that Haulcon’s height and width had expanded another six inches in both directions.

She attempted to mouth to him. ‘It is not what you think.’ Then she recalled he could hear her thoughts.
Haulcon, I know this sounds bad, but it isn’t what you think.

Where is the body?
He didn’t even address what she said.

“
Princess, where was the body found?” Adair rushed to the television remote then turned the power on and a minute later the news report appeared on the screen.