In the Dead of Cold (9 page)

“What happened after that?” He had to know everything.

“I knew I had to get away from him—and fast. I pretended I saw you. ‘Oh, there’s my boyfriend now,’ I said.” She smiled a genuine smile at the memory.

Milo hoped to hell he always gave her a reason to smile.

“I moved away, toward the door. I pulled my keys out of my pocket as I got outside. The snow was falling, but I didn’t dare go back for my coat. Besides, I felt so funny—hot all over but still so cold on the inside—and shivering. I thought I might throw up. I felt him, like he was right behind me, breathing down my back. I expected to feel his hands grabbing my neck at any moment. I knew I had to get here and warn Graham Masterson. If anything, I had to get out of there. Or at least I thought I did.”

“Why do you say that?” He lost his fingers in her hair, working to lessen his rage.

“Outside in the snow, I wanted to go back inside. I wanted his warmth, even though he was cold.”

“What did you do?” He needed to know if she’d gone back inside, how strong Bart’s control over her was.

“I slapped myself hard across the cheek. Then I felt the cold, and I ran.”

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, hoping she felt the love in his heart for her. He hoped it was strong enough to drown out the terror that filled her.

Between sobs, she told him everything, how Bart had caught her as she’d reached her SUV, her struggle with him, and how he’d run his tongue up her face.

“I felt so dirty I could barely breathe. It was like his darkness swallowed me up. But…”

“But what?” He pushed from his mind the fact that he’d done the same to her.

“I wanted it. I wanted his darkness.” She paused and took a deep breath. “You should let me go. I feel dirty just remembering.”

He held her tighter. “You aren’t dirty.” He forced a swallow. “How did you get away from him?”

“I thought of you again. I thought of swimming with you in the lake, feeling clean and warm in the sunshine. I thought of you inside me with cool grass beneath my back. It cleared my head. I knew I had to do something. I knew he wanted to drink my blood. I knew that lick was just his first taste if I hesitated.” She paused and drew in a few breaths.

Milo held her closer, not knowing anything else to do for her as she told him the rest—how Bart had hit her, how she’d impaled him with the rods.

”Then I drove out of there, and I didn’t stop until I reached the Moonlight Resort.”

No wonder she hadn’t said anything about any of this earlier in Mr. M.’s office. She’d been too exhausted and too terrified. He and his men might still be questioning her. Hell, Milo might still have her pressed against the wall with his arm across her throat. No, she’d have slammed him away long before now.

But here in this dream place, he knew she never held back anything from him. As the sun began to dip behind the mountains, he tightened his arms around her.

“Why did you make me tell all of that?” she asked.

“We need to know what we’re up against.” He wished he didn’t have more questions, but he did, and he needed answers now—for himself. “How did you develop your abilities?”

She shifted and molded herself against him. He felt her nipples. When she spoke, she sounded more in control. But then he thought any subject other than Bart would be easier for her to discuss.

“I fell down the stairs when I was eight. The doctor said I had a concussion. My mom made me stay in bed for a week. After that I noticed I could move things closer when I couldn’t reach them. I also noticed I heard voices others couldn’t hear—turned out it was thoughts. It progressed from there.”

Milo took a deep breath and liked the warmth of her leaning against his chest. ”Did you ever try to look for me or try to find me through Mr. M.?”

“I saw him as a vampire, remember? It was easier and safer to let go of that part and settle into the dreams we shared. But at the same time, I think a part of me knew you were here. And it’s why I come here and stay at my sister’s cabin so much. I needed to be here, close to you.”

But was she safe here in the valley of the vampires with him? He wondered how in the hell he was going to protect her from Bart—or from himself. Because like Bart, Milo wanted her. He wanted her more than life itself. In fact, there had only been one other time in his life when he’d known such uncontrollable need.

Would he still be able to control it now?

She looked up at him. “But it’s all a contradiction, every part of it.”

“What do you mean?” She swallowed hard. He saw the way her Adam’s apple moved with the action.

“When I bumped into you two years ago, I saw more than what you were.”

Her flat words caused his heart to pound. “What more did you see?” He had to force out the question.

“I saw you. With your teeth—your vampire teeth, looking like you’re ready to kill me.”

So that was why she’d never tried to find him as he had her. Yes, she was attracted to him. But she was terrified of him too.

* * * *

Milo woke a short time later.

Jane was gone.

Chapter Five

The moon was full, but its light was obstructed by the blowing snow. The room was dark, and even if Milo hadn’t had perfect night vision, he still would have sensed her gone.

With his heart racing from the dream and her sweet essence filling his senses, Milo jumped out of bed and reached for his clothes. Jane’s torn skirt and blouse were gone. “Jane?” He zipped the fly of his jeans as he made his way to the living room. The bathroom was empty. He didn’t have to look for her. Her scent lingered but for the most part was gone. His heart pounded when he saw his apartment door that led to the main corridor of the resort standing ajar. He slipped into his shoes as he pulled a black sweater over his head. With one hand, he reached for his gun. With the other, he grabbed his cell and punched his speed-dial number for Jacob, who was now in charge of security.

“Jacob?”

“What’s up, Milo? Don’t think you need to call and check in with me every hour or anything. I’ve got things under control.”

Milo would have grinned under different circumstances. “I’m not calling to check in. Have you seen Jane Smyth?” He didn’t need to give a description. Just as he was certain all of Mr. M.’s security division was aware of Bart’s breach of security, he also had no doubt Mr. M. had informed everyone regarding Jane.

“Nope, haven’t seen her, and I’ve been down here in the lobby since ten. Hell, what time is it now? Two fifteen,” he answered his own question. “Holy shit!”

“What?” Milo reached the stairs.

“She just walked out the front door. You didn’t say anything about her being half-naked and barefoot. Geez, and even though the skiers are going to love it tomorrow, it looks like whiteout conditions out there! Miss—”

“No! Wait!” Milo tried to stop him from approaching her. Jacob might not know about her abilities. Milo didn’t know what Mr. M. had disclosed about her. And if she was walking outside in the snow with no shoes, the only reason would be…

Bart.

With the phone pressed to his ear, he dashed down the stairs. He heard the crash and the yell in stereo through his phone as well as through the walls before he exited the first-floor stairwell door into the lobby.

Milo took in the scene in an instant. Jacob on the floor, a broken table beneath him. He recovered and jumped to his feet.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

Jacob turned toward the front door where Jane had exited, but Milo grabbed his arm. Through the glass front windows, Milo saw her. Her hair blew in the wind as snow swirled around her. She moved with purpose and without hesitation, as if she didn’t feel the cold, despite her bare feet and naked arms and legs.

“Call Mr. M.,” Milo instructed. “Bart’s close by. And don’t try to approach her.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Jacob punched the screen of his cell phone.

Milo headed toward the lobby door. James was right behind him.

“So Bart’s controlling her?”

“Yes.”

“Knowing what she can do, I have half a mind to let her go to him.”

Milo, with his hand on the door handle, paused and gave him a sideways look.

“Okay, so forget I said that. It was just a passing thought. How do you want to do this?” James went on. “We know she has the ability to probably toss us thirty or forty feet.”

“You’re going to distract her while I grab her.”

“Oh, thanks a lot. How about you distract her, since that will be the guy who gets slammed aside?”

“It has to be you to distract her.”

“How about we do rock, paper, scissors, and the loser of two out of three distracts her?” James suggested.

Under different circumstances, Milo would have laughed and agreed. “Sorry, buddy, no time. You have to distract her. Otherwise, you won’t know what to do once you grab her. And you’ll still get slammed. Then neither one of us will be able to grab her.”

James let out something that sounded like a growl. “Fine.”

Milo pulled the door open, and they raced out into the cold.

Milo sniffed the air, and he thought he caught a whiff of Bart’s scent, perhaps two miles away, northwest in a grove of pines. Yet he couldn’t be certain. It had been more than a hundred years since he’d been this close to Bart. Then Bart’s dark, evil essence touched Milo. There could be no denying he was near. Where was the sentinel for that area?

Milo let James get ahead.

Jane reached the other side of the parking lot and moved toward the gate at the end of Moonlight Lane, the winding road leading to the resort. A rustic iron picket fence denoted the perimeter of the main resort buildings. Vampires couldn’t enter a building or establishment without being invited in. Because the perimeter fence was gated, it required the same invitation as the walls of the buildings. Bart couldn’t get past the gates or into the compound without being invited in—which, of course, he wasn’t. And Jane had to leave by way of the gate at the end of the lane.

“Ms. Smyth! Jane!” James called out.

She either didn’t hear him or she ignored his call or she was so far under Bart’s spell she couldn’t be reached. She kept moving at her clipped pace. The wind blew up her skirt, shifted it, and Milo got a glimpse of her sweet, curvy ass tucked into sexy aqua panties.

Milo worked to stay in James’s shadow and tried to ignore the tightening in his gut. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. He hoped that when Bart commanded Jane to use her energy on James, he would be close enough to grab her without Bart knowing he was there. But if he sensed Bart’s closeness, Bart no doubt sensed his too.

That was why Milo and James had to be faster than Bart.

As they reached Jane, James doubled over with an “oof!” as if someone punched him hard in the stomach. Then he was off his feet and landing in the snow a few yards away.

Not a half second later, Milo grabbed Jane. Her arms were cold beneath his hands. Working quickly and as gently as he could, he turned her around to face him and pulled her into his embrace. “Listen to my voice, Jane. Can you hear me?”

He felt her energy gather, felt it move through her. It was strong enough to send a tingle into his fingers where he touched her arms, and was like a brush of warm wind against his face. Like an electric current, it sizzled through him. He held her tighter.

“Jane, listen to me! Listen to my voice!”

Her energy shoved at him.

Like a strange dance, they stumbled in the deep snow, but he locked his arms around her and refused to let her go.

“Look at me!”

She met his gaze, but her eyes were dark and vacant.

The lights were on, but nobody was home. Except for Bart.

Well, sorry, Bart, but you don’t get this lady.

He kissed her.

No, it wasn’t a kiss. He slammed his lips against hers with the same amount of impact she directed at him.

Milo felt the change in her. And when he pulled away, she blinked up at him as if she’d just awakened from a bad dream.

“Milo?”

“Yes.” He didn’t dare let her go.

She looked around, then up at the falling snow. “What are we doing out here?” Then she screamed. “What the—” She tried to take one step, then another. “Where are my boots! Ouch! Oooooh! It’s damned cold out here. What the hell are you doing, bringing me out here?”

“Jane, don’t look anywhere but at me. Come inside with me.”

“That sounds like a perfect idea. Let me go, so I can run! Oh, damn, my feet! The snow is so cold it hurts.” She turned and tried to head for the front door.

“I can’t let you go, but we’ll move quickly, I promise.”

“What is wrong with you?” she demanded. “Why did you even bring me out here? And how did you? Are you craz—”

She stopped. Her eyes went vacant again and even darker still with emptiness, as if Bart had flipped a switch within her mind. Without another word, she attempted to turn toward the gate. When she tried to channel her energy and knock him away, Milo was ready. He held his ground. The snow around his feet swirled as if controlled by a small tornado before falling away.

He kissed her again.

She relaxed in his arms. And groaned. She pulled away enough to mutter, “Cold…and so tired…”

He pressed his lips to hers. With their lips locked together, he picked her up in his arms and held her close. With James recovered and watching his back, the snow swirling around them and the wind blowing her hair, he carried her into the lobby, pressing quick kisses to her lips as he moved.

When Milo felt Jane relax in his arms, he broke his kiss. Jacob and several of his security team filed past them, racing out to hunt Bart. James, who was behind Milo, paused to tell them where Bart was, although Milo doubted Bart was still there. Milo mentally scanned the area. No, Bart’s sensation was gone.

Milo turned his attention back to Jane. Her bare legs were icy and wet. At least her feet were bright pink, not white and frozen. Her clothes were soaked, though. She shivered in his arms.

Yet her lips were the hottest lips he’d ever kissed, and he kissed her again so Bart couldn’t slide in and take control. When he stopped kissing her, her head fell against him as if she’d been drunk and passed out. No doubt she was exhausted.