In a Dark Embrace (8 page)

A chicken Caesar salad landed in front of her. She stole some of Jeremy’s fries and offered up her salad. The conversation shifted to the predominantly female urge to share food. Lee argued that men were programmed by nature to be possessive over food—the survival of the strongest being their imperative. On the other hand, women were programmed to share so that their children stood a better chance for survival.

Jeremy ordered dessert again and offered her a fork with a wicked smile. “See…men can share too.”

“When you’re already stuffed and there’s an ulterior motive,” she said but took the fork. The apple pie looked delicious.

When the bill arrived he made no move to pick it up.

“Should we go for a walk?” Jeremy asked after she paid.

“Definitely.”

They tossed her leather jacket into Jeremy’s SUV and then walked down the long wooden pier. The sun was setting out over the water in brilliant pinks and faded orange. They stopped to appreciate the view and Lee leaned back against Jeremy. He put his arms around her and she felt blissfully happy for moment. She loved the ocean and this beach was a particular favorite. Not that the beach itself was great. Spanish Banks was nicer. But she liked the way the street hugged the shore and was filled with lively restaurants, coffee shops and ice-cream stands.

One of Jeremy’s hands slipped under the edge of her t-shirt. It made a pleasant pool of warmth on her belly and started just the faintest tingle down below. He made no move to caress her however and she was glad. They needed to spend time together, to talk without the distraction of their insane physical chemistry.

By unspoken agreement they strolled back down the pier and turned right. The pier intersected a walking path that ran for a good mile in either direction. She came here for her late-night outings sometimes.

Lee held Jeremy’s hand and marveled at how nice it felt sharing this place with him. They talked lightly about summertime pleasures. She found out that they both liked to go camping but not in the busy parks and commercial campgrounds where everyone was jammed in like sardines. There were forest service sites off the beaten track that hardly anyone used. The facilities were limited to smelly, cobweb-laden pit toilets but she could put up with that in order to get away from the crowds.

They wandered down to the beach and sat on a log. Jeremy started tossing pebbles into the water. The rocks flew a hundred yards or more without any apparent effort on his part.

“Did you go camping a lot as a child?” she asked.

“Sort of.”

“How sort of?”

“We’d drive out into the wilderness and change. Spend a few days as wolves. Hunt, run, sleep curled up under a tree somewhere.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It was. My dad’s a fun guy…sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?” She could feel his mixture of love and something else, perhaps fear.

“He can be a bit…rough. Not a lot of sympathy for anyone or anything. Werewolves are like that. Show a weakness and they go for the throat. Even with family.”

She shot him a look. Did he even realize what he’d just said? “Are you…like that?”

“Of course. I’m a werewolf, aren’t I?” He turned and caught her looking at him. A hard little smile twisted his lips. “Good thing you haven’t got a lot of weaknesses.”

Lee didn’t say anything for a moment. She wasn’t about to argue with him. He’d learn soon enough that she had her wounds. She wondered what he would do then. She also wondered how she would react. “Do you really think it’s a natural part of being what you are to attack when someone exposes vulnerability? Real wolves protect the weaker members of the pack, don’t they?”

“I suppose they do. The cubs, the omegas. But they can be brutally cruel as well. If any female other than the alpha has cubs they’ll kill them. Limited resources can’t be wasted on an inferior litter.”

“Is attacking weakness a survival trait…or a consequence of being raised without a mother?”

He shot her a sideways glance. “Being a counselor, Lee?”

She shrugged. “It’s what I am.”

He changed the subject. “You said you had cousins with your gifts. Are there many real witches then?”

“No. We’re the only family in western Canada. There’s another family in Quebec, a couple in Ontario, four families in the Maritimes and at least a dozen that I know of down in California—that’s kind of the hotspot for witches in North America. Europe is more dense with witches, it’s where we came from after all, but I haven’t had much contact with them. Of course there’s magic in other parts of the world—aboriginal shamans, India mystics and so on—but it’s different and I know very little about those forms of magic. Rough guess a couple thousand European-type witches in the world.”

He was quiet for a minute. “From what I know there are maybe two hundred werewolves.”

“Wow. Not a lot.”

“No. We don’t tend to multiply. Don’t breed well apparently and if a werewolf has one son that’s about it. Hard to have multiple children when you have to pretty much steal the kid away. And that’s getting harder to do these days.”

“Why steal the children?”

“Because the women don’t know they’ve been sleeping with a werewolf. If she gets pregnant and the baby is a boy the father takes the kid and runs. Can’t have boys growing up untrained, can’t train them if they are with their unsuspecting mothers so…” He shrugged.

It sounded ugly. She wondered how many boys on the missing children posters were werewolves. “We’re pretty secretive about our existence too but our families know.”

“Probably easier to tell a man you’re a witch than to tell a woman you’re a werewolf. Don’t figure you have guys running away in terror quite as often. Not the same risk either. These days you’re almost in vogue. People calling themselves Wiccan all over the place. Werewolves, on the other hand, still have a bad rep.”

“That’s true. It would be horrid if someone sold your story to one of those tabloids.” She paused then asked, “You ever told anyone else?”

“No. My dad beat the facts of werewolf life into me pretty hard. As a kid I knew that if I told anyone our secret he’d kill them. As an adult I knew he was right. Too dangerous to trust anyone with this. Craziest damn thing I ever did was reveal myself to you. I figured you’d probably run away screaming once you put the wolf and me together. But what could you really say about some guy you only saw in the dark?”

Lee chuckled. “I’ve got good night vision. I saw plenty.” Then she turned serious. “Your dad, have you told him about me?”

“No.” Jeremy noticed her discomfort and put an arm around her. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he and the others know they’ll have me to contend with if they try anything.”

“That’s so comforting, Jeremy.” She couldn’t help the dripping sarcasm in her voice. “Could you also let them know that if I sense a werewolf nearby who hasn’t been properly introduced I’ll act first and ask questions later?”

“Sure but, ah…what would you do?”

“Depends where I am. Out in the woods I’ve got a few options—one of which was the statue spell I almost used on you. In the city it’s harder because there are always people around. As soon as he touches me I’ll have him, of course. But I know how fast you are and I’d prefer to get the situation under control before then. I’ve been thinking about a spell that might serve but it needs more work.”

“What do you mean ‘as soon as he touches you’?”

Lee groaned inwardly that she’d let that slip. It was true confession time. “Physical contact allows me to invade another person’s mind. I can read your mind as well as mess with it. Much, much more powerful stuff than that little bit of panic I fed you the other day.”

He stiffened and drew his arm away. “Holy shit.” Jeremy stared at her. “You’ve read my mind?”

“I only did it once, when you first touched me in the park. Just to make sure you weren’t some serial killer or something. I didn’t go below the surface thoughts, never touched your memories. And I won’t either. I don’t like reading minds.”

“So you can do it but you won’t. And I’m supposed to believe that?”

She sighed. “I’ve had plenty of opportunity, haven’t I? Do I seem to know all your secrets, Jeremy? Do you think I could pretend that I’m only just getting to know you when I’d already ransacked your memories?”

He frowned. “No.”

“So you’ll have to trust that I won’t do it. And I have to trust that you won’t actually puncture my skin with one of your bites or break my neck with your hands.”

“Trust. That’s a big word.”

“Are you going to run away, Jeremy?” she asked softly. Her eyes challenged him in the growing darkness. Time to pull off the kid gloves. Might as well get the whole thing over with and see if he could take it. “And spirit magic isn’t even my strong suit. My mother can read minds at a distance. Make you believe night is day. I’m a weakling in spirit stuff compared to her. My strength is earth magic. The land itself talks to me and I can tell it what to do. I could open up a hole under your feet and have the earth swallow you up. I can cause an earthquake or pull down a mountain. I’m a very powerful witch.” She paused and let that sink in. “You’re afraid. I can sense it. Not used to meeting someone that can make you feel fear, are you?”

He swung a leg around the log to straddle it, facing her. “Afraid? Maybe a little. I didn’t believe that you could kill me. I thought you were relying on a false sense of security to not be afraid of me. But you’ve convinced me that it’s real. And that takes some getting used to. Spirit witch. Earth witch. It’s obvious that I don’t really know you at all.” He smiled. “You did warn me. I just didn’t listen. Listening isn’t one of my strong suits.”

“I deliberately didn’t tell you much. Just vague warnings. I’m not surprised that you didn’t believe me. I was probably hoping you wouldn’t.” She wanted to reach out and touch him but knew he had to make the first move this time. She had to know if he could do it, given what she’d just revealed. “Remember you asked me if I could understand how glorious it was to have someone know what you are and not be afraid? I understand perfectly, Jeremy.”

He looked into her eyes for a moment then shifted his gaze over her shoulder and seemed lost in thought.

“You had it right at the beginning. We should be terrified of one another,” he said softly, returning his gaze to her face.

“Yes. But at the time only I knew how true that was. Now you do too.”

Her senses were tuned on him, trying to catch every shifting emotion. The fear had spiked and settled. Not gone but calmed. He was still dealing with discomfort over her ability to read minds, hesitating to trust her. She felt it when he made his decision. He lifted a hand to her face. The gentle brush of his fingers against her cheek was the most wonderful thing she’d ever felt.

“I still want to kiss you,” he said.

She smiled. “Good.”

Jeremy’s lips brushed hers lightly. “Being vulnerable is a novel experience,” he murmured against her mouth. “But I do trust you, my little witch.” He shifted closer and forced her lips apart with his tongue. Lee responded by wrapping a hand around his neck and swinging her legs over his. Jeremy lifted her up and brought her against his body. His hand found her breast and began to tease a nipple.

“I love it that you don’t wear a bra,” he whispered. “My hand has been wanting to sneak under your shirt all evening. Play with these perfect breasts. I want to kiss them too.”

His mouth started on a track down her throat. She tried to push him away but he wasn’t listening to suggestions. People walked along the path not more than thirty feet away. “This is a little too public, Jeremy. Why don’t we go to your place?”

“We will. Just one lick.” His tongue brushed the edges of the t-shirt’s deep v neckline. Then he flicked the hem of the shirt up and grabbed her nipple with his mouth. He sucked hard and she couldn’t stifle a moan. Heated desire spiked in Jeremy and she felt the growing lump of his erection pressing against her. He released her nipple and let the shirt cover her again. But now his hand moved lower, rubbing the crotch of her jeans.

“I can smell it when you get aroused. It drives me wild. Even more than the sight or feel of your body. You want me and my cock answers. Other women have wanted me and I’ve turned away in disinterest or even disgust. The smell of lust combined with fear sickens me. But you…your smell is hot and sweet. From the first moment I walked out of the trees you wanted me, didn’t you?”

“Hell yes. You were the sexiest damn thing I’d ever seen. I was already intrigued by the power and self-confidence you were projecting. Even the hunger. There was a thrill in that. Then this gorgeous hunk of a man walks toward me in all his naked glory and my body temperature went through the roof.”

He grinned. “And I got the mother of all erections. I thought you might run then but you kept that totally unperturbed expression. Like a werewolf with an erection is something you encounter every day.”

She chuckled. “Everything about you screamed ‘danger’ but I still wanted to fuck you in the worst way.”

He closed his eyes. “Time to take you home and tear your clothes off, I think.”

“Good plan,” she said and stood up.

* * * * *

Lee parked her bike in Jeremy’s garage next to his black SUV and hurried to pull off her helmet. The vibration of a motorcycle between your thighs when you’re horny as hell does nothing to dispel that feeling. She opened the door to the house and Jeremy pounced on her. He was already naked. She managed to hold on to her helmet with some difficulty. He let her go only long enough for her put the helmet down on the washing machine. Then he was undoing her pants as she stripped off her jacket and t-shirt. He pulled her jeans down past her hips and lifted her up to sit on the dryer. She kicked off her boots and he tugged the jeans from her legs.

Lee giggled. She’d never gotten naked so fast in her life. Then Jeremy was in her arms and all impulses to laugh were swamped by his heat. His tongue dove into her mouth and his hands were roaming her body. His mouth released hers in order to make its way downward. He licked and sucked each breast until her nipples were hard throbbing knobs. Jeremy leaned back and admired the effects of his handiwork.