Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (19 page)

Tom had always
accused her of being too nice. He claimed her conscience was her worst enemy.
In a way it was true. Having a clear-cut sense of right and wrong was what
caused her to confront her father about his illegal activities. Life would’ve
turned out much less tragic if she just hadn’t given a damn about other people.
The thought made her laugh. She wasn’t going to change. She was who she was.

She would never
take advantage of other people. She didn’t have any desire to kick a person
when he or she was down.  But…oh, crap. The woman she’d just paid off
would do both and worse. If her father’s men offered the woman money she would
likely give them the key and detailed directions to the room. The disturbing
reality stopped Kara in her tracks. Should she offer the woman more money to
insure her silence?

No. She started
walking toward her room again. It didn’t matter how much money she handed over
to her. The woman had already proved she could be bought. She would likely rat
her out no matter how much money she received. It was a tragic fact. An
atrocious reality. Greed was a backstabbing, compassionless killer. She could
only hope her father’s men wouldn’t stop at the hotel. 

While making her
way down the sidewalk to her room she took a careful look around the parking
lot for anything out of place. One vehicle stood out from the rest. It was a
restored 1969 Shelby Mustang Fastback. It was her dream car. Well, it was one
of her many dreams cars. She loved the older muscle cars. The brilliant black
diamond color with polished chrome bumpers and accessories looked absolutely
beautiful in an ass kicking, sexy beast muscle car sort of way. As far as she
was concerned, it was far too valuable; too treasured by its owner to be parked
anywhere near the old decrepit motel, but its presence didn’t worry her.

It was too out
of place to belong to her father’s men. They knew how to remain unseen. They
would never do anything to broadcast their presence. They were as well trained
and sneaky, as they were armed. Besides, her father had never shared her love
for the classics. He believed newer was better. He always made sure his men
traveled in the newest, most expensive vehicles available. It was one of the
many annoying ways he enjoyed flaunting his wealth in front of his enemies and
allies.

She hadn’t
realized she’d stopped to stare at the car until the driver’s side door opened
and a man got out. He took off a black leather jacket and tossed it inside the
car before shutting the door. The first thing she noticed was that he was built
like a professional fighter, muscles bulging everywhere, but his movements were
smooth and fluid.

A streetlight revealed
that he had a deep dark tan. He was an exhilarating combination of raw power
and masculine beauty. Time seemed to stop. She’d never been a woman with
an exuberant admiration for the opposite sex, but for some reason watching him
walk was a treat. She took a deep breath and sighed. She wouldn’t mind
stripping him down and checking out his tan lines.

And his hair…oh
yeah. His hair rocked. Looking as if he’d just crawled out of bed it was
perfectly messy, thick black and nearly reached his shoulders. She wanted to
get it tangled around her fingers as she leaned back on the hood of his car and
he lowered his body over hers.

He was just as
much of a sexy beast as his car. It didn’t take much of an imagination to
envision women flocking around him and giving him whatever he wanted. He was
the perfect candidate for a one night stand.

He was a devil in disguise. It wasn’t
his fault. Not really. He was born to be a mouthwatering stud. Oh, yeah. He was
a yummy, scintillating sin she would’ve enjoyed committing if she had more
time, but she didn’t. It was a disappointing shame. Taking him for a ride
would’ve been a great adventure. 

She wasn’t sure which was the cake or
the frosting when it came to him or his car. She laughed at her naughty sex
thoughts right up until the second she recognized him and realized he was
headed straight for her. He was Eli, the man from the gas station. “Yikes.” She
turned to walk away, but found herself face to face with another man. He was
young; perhaps even a teenager, with greasy hair and dirty clothes. He looked
and smelled as if he hadn’t washed his clothes or taken a shower in several
days. “What do you want?” She glanced down at the knife clenched in his fist at
his side.

“Give me your bag.” The odor of his
breath nearly knocked her out as he lifted the knife and held it in her face.

“Hell no! Not today. Not any day. Put
the knife down before you get hurt.” She knew he wasn’t going to put it down,
but it was worth a try. She studied his eyes. The whites were inflamed and red.
They looked wild and angry. No. He was insane. Keeping calm, she focused on and
merged her mind with his in hopes of taking control of him. If it worked he
would simply walk away and forget about her.

She quickly realized it wouldn’t work.
He wasn’t insane. Not really. He was out of his mind, but it wasn’t caused by a
natural chemical imbalance. She could’ve worked with that. He was on drugs.
Regrettably, her physic abilities weren’t strong enough to deal with that. As a
matter of fact, she’d learned the hard way that she couldn’t do a damn thing to
take control of anyone under the influence of drugs.

To end the encounter she was going to
have to fight. Setting her sights on the knife, she set out to take it away
from him. After a brief struggle, she won the knife, but then he ripped her
backpack off her shoulder and shoved her to the ground. She immediately got to
her feet to chase after him, but Eli, who she’d somehow managed to forget
about, had already pinned him down on the ground.

The thief was cussing and struggling in
vain to get up. With his knee pressed into the thief’s back and her backpack
over his shoulder, Eli turned his head to look at her. He was just as sexy up
close, but she wasn’t so sure she would ever dare to make a move on him. During
the time she’d been unconscious because of her head injury he’d haunted her
dreams. She’d been wrong in her assessment of him. He wasn’t a devil in
disguise. He was the Devil. For the first time since she’d found herself face
to face with a knife wielding man her heart started to pound.

He looked up at her. Instantly she felt
the power and mesmerizing pull of his stare. He looked wildly erotic. His
perfectly proportioned muscular body was a delicious treat for her eyes to
feast on. He looked hot. So hot and sexy she was helpless to look away. His
lips parted and slowly curved upward. A shiver running through her body, she
felt bewildered and disoriented. Attempting to warm herself she rubbed her
palms up and down her arms.

A shadow moved in her mind. It was him!
Oh, damn. He was in her head, reading her mind. Heat steadily rose up her neck
and centered on her cheeks. He was seriously reading her thoughts, her
embarrassingly jumbled thoughts of him, of his sensual appeal.

He nodded his head slightly.
That’s right. I am. And I won’t lie. They’re
truly distracting.
No. It wasn’t true. She took a step back. You know it’s
true. Then, causing her body to come alive, his smiled widened.
When you realized it was me, you tried to
get away. Why? Were you afraid I was going to kiss you again?

“Stop it.” She frowned at him, doing her
best to appear vicious enough to convince him to obey rather than face the
consequences of not obeying.

Moving slowly, he rose to his feet and,
completely closing the gap between them, he took a step. “And if I don’t?”
Appearing amused, his dark gaze bore into hers. He was a thousand times more
than sexy. He was mysteriously, darkly sensual.

Gritting her teeth, she looked up at him
defiantly. “I’m not alone.” 

“Not anymore.” His words came out a deep
throaty murmur of silver-tongued seduction.

 Something was seriously off with
him. She’d read many people in the past. Some were good. Some were bad. All
were slightly unique. His thought patterns were completely different from
anyone she’d ever encountered.

He was wild. An animal. A
predator.  And that was when she remembered the one thing she’d worked
hard to forget for the past twenty years. Werewolves were real. He wasn’t a man
at all. He was a werewolf!

“Did he cut you?”
She felt him merge with her and touch her mind. He was searching for
information. She quickly focused on building a solid wall to keep him out.
Wincing, he shook his head as if her attempt to shut him out had hurt him.
“Damn it, Kara, stop messing around. Did the bastard fucking cut you?”

She looked down
at the knife still clenched in her fist. “No. I took it away before he was able
to use it on me.” Staring into his eyes she took step back. “Why are you here?”
She didn’t know whether to run or stay.

“I came to meet
up with you.”

When her
attacker had quieted and no longer struggled to get away, the Eli picked him up
and held him against the wall with one had clenched around the his throat.
“You’re lucky. I don’t want to see you anywhere near her again,” he growled
between clenched teeth. That said, in move swift movement, he lifted, turned
and threw the young man several feet away from them as if he weighed nothing
more than a pillow.

Apparently
focusing his attention on her Eli stared at her for several seconds. He
appeared to be confused about something. He opened his mouth as if to say
something, but nothing came out.

Wanting to know
what he was thinking she was tempted to tap into his thoughts, but she didn’t
dare do anything to damage the barrier she’d made to keep him from going deeper
into her mind.  She felt something inside her wanting to reach out to him,
to touch him. For a moment she was taken aback by a flood of emotions. No. She
rejected the thought. It wasn’t emotions. It was hormones.

She reached out
to take the backpack from him. “Thank you. I didn’t see him until it was too
late.”

“You weren’t
paying attention to all of your surroundings.” His lips parted in a sexy smile
that captured her. “This is a dangerous part of town for a woman standing
around daydreaming and waiting for trouble.”

Talk about
awkward. He’d heard every single one of her the thoughts she’d had about him.
Her mom, also a physic, had taught her that werewolves had a natural ability to
read minds and influence people. He wouldn’t need a lot of power to hear her
thoughts. She hadn’t tried to hide them. She’d practically hit him upside the
head with them.

She decided the
best way to proceed was to be as non-combative as possible. “You’re right. I
don’t know what I was thinking.” She tried to pull the backpack away from him,
but he held it firm and actually used it to pull her closer to him.

“I do.” He made
a show of allowing his gaze to slowly move from her head to toes and then back
again. He closed the distance between them. He was close. Too close. “It was
partially my fault. You were distracted.”

“What?” She took
a step back. She realized he was doing more than invading her physical personal
space. The sneaky bastard was stalling because he was working his way through
the wall she’d built in her mind.

“You weren’t
thinking with your brain.” With his free hand he lightly tapped her forehead
with his index finger. “It’s there for a reason. Do yourself a favor and use it
next time.”

He was an
asshole. The biggest asshole of all time. She had to bite her tongue to keep
from telling him so. She tried to pull the backpack away from him. “You’re
right.” When he didn’t release the bag she got angrier and tried to pull a bit
harder. It had no effect on him, other than to make him to chuckle.

“Being alone
makes you vulnerable and it would be prudent for you to avoid distractions no
matter how appealing they might be. Luckily, you won’t need to watch your back
in the future. I’ve got it covered. And, for your information, I don’t want
your bag. Unless you want to fall flat on your ass when I let go of it you
should probably stop pulling on it.” The moment she stopped, he released it.
Grinning, he winked. “That’s a good little girl.”

She opened her
mouth to give him a proper tongue lashing, but she miraculously took control
and stopped herself before one single syllable left her lips. At that moment
she thought about the day she’d met him. He was the idiot. He’d grabbed her and
kissed her as if she wanted him to do it. Okay. A small part of her had enjoyed
it. Absolute control when dealing with an arrogant bastard had never been her
greatest strength.

Reaching into
her bag, she smiled. It was a real smile this time. It was nothing even close
to the sweet fake smile she’d learned to flash at all the right times. “You
deserve a treaty treat for being such a
good boy
.” Knowing she was about
to put him in his place gave her a great measure of joy. Real joy. Heartfelt
joy.

“Do I?” His deep
voice, she noted, was just as sexy as the rest of him.

“Of course.” She
knew better but sometimes, having a hot temper, knowing better didn’t mean a
damn thing once she’d been pushed too far. She pulled a piece of beef jerky out
of her bag and tossed it. “Fetch.”

Appearing shocked,
his eyes widened as he stared at her. “What?”

“You look
upset.” She took out another strip of jerky and bit a piece off. “It’s really
tasty. I can’t believe you’re not interested in it.” She bit off another piece.
“I used to know an aggravating as hell, leg humping poodle that couldn’t get
enough of this stuff. Once he had a bite he would beg and do a little dance on
his hind legs for more. It was super cute. Don’t wolves like beef jerky?”