Merrick's Destiny (7 page)

Paralee covered his hand with hers and murmured encouragement. “Don’t stop.”

He had to stop. This had to be the last time, because rations were wearing thin and they
had
to get out of the Deadlands. He couldn’t indulge himself by spending the last of the new moon in lazy lovemaking and soft touches, couldn’t linger until need faded completely.

Unfair, when this new moon could be one of his last. Would be, if she refused to stay with him.

He pulled her hand to his lips, kissed her fingers and kept up his slow rocking. “One more,” he whispered. “Let me feel you come again.”

“You always say that.” Her voice had gone hoarse, husky with pleasure. “But it’s never enough, not for either of us.”

“It never will be.” That slid dangerously close to the truth, so he licked her fingertips again before guiding them down to press against her clit.

Her breath hitched, and she circled her fingers slowly as she pushed back to meet his next easy thrust.

The past three days were a blur, but this he would fix in his memory. The flush in her cheeks, the way she moved, sleepy and soft, the way she sounded when he sharpened the angle of his next thrust. He’d memorize her, all of her, just in case—

Her breathing quickened to a rough pant. Soon, so soon, her gasps gave way to cries and finally his name as she peaked. She shuddered, her body clenching around his cock so beautifully it only took two more thrusts to follow her.

Bliss—until he realized it was over. He whispered her name into her hair and told himself he couldn’t start again. Not just because of the danger, but because he’d ridden her hard for three days and she needed a respite.

She arched her head back against his shoulder and stretched. “What time is it?”

“Time to get some food in you.” Light filtered through the boarded up windows at a sharp angle. Still early, then, which made it harder to ease away from her.

“I’m not hungry.” Her hand wrapped tight around his. “Don’t, not just yet.”

With a silent sigh of relief, he relaxed. “Not sick of me?”

“No.” She turned, rubbed her cheek over his shoulder. “We could stay in bed this morning. We have a long enough journey ahead of us without rushing.”

“We shouldn’t waste the daylight.” The protest lacked force, because his resolve melted at the way she snuggled close. She was cuddling with him, which was for damn sure a new experience. “But I suppose a bit of rest wouldn’t hurt.”

Paralee traced her fingertips through the hair on his chest. “They must be missing you in Chicago by now.”

“Maybe. Though they’ll have figured I’d have to hole up for the new moon.” He closed his eyes and focused on that soft touch. The Guild
would
be missing him, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. This must be what all the mated fools had blathered about. A quiet peace that made what should be more pressing concerns melt away.

No wonder the Bloodhound Guild didn’t want them taking mates.

“Would they trust you could contrive to find a companion on your own?”

“Undoubtedly. Every brothel that takes in a bloodhound for the new moon can claim a shiny stack of coins from the Guild.”

She regarded him with wide eyes. “And if you alone had survived the crash? Not a brothel in sight?”

He swallowed hard. “It happened before, about twenty years back. Once or twice won’t kill a hound, but it’ll make him awful cranky.”

“Then it’s a good thing I made it.” She grinned. “Not only because I like life as well as living it, but…I’m glad you haven’t been alone.”

Merrick dragged her on top of him and wrapped both arms around her body, as if he could keep her trapped there forever. “I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.”

Her tousled hair fell down around him as Paralee propped her chin on her hand. “You protected me,” she agreed, “though I think we both know things don’t always go according to plan.”

Wrapping a lock of hair around his finger, he told her the truth. The whole truth. “I’ll always protect you. Nothing will be more important to me than you, from now until I last draw breath.”

Her eyes lit, though it faded quickly enough. “That’s not a misguided declaration of love, is it? You’re being literal.”

“Serious as a preacher.” He sighed and tugged on her hair. “I should have told you, but you haven’t known me long enough to start loving me, and I don’t want you to stay out of guilt.”

She carefully disengaged her hair from his hand. “You told me you’d get over the mating once we went our separate ways.”

“Not exactly. You asked if I could make it stop, and I said only after you were gone.” What a clever bit of misdirection it had been too. Somehow he doubted she’d appreciate it. “A bloodhound who loses his mate doesn’t usually suffer for long. Death’s a mercy.”

“Merrick!” Paralee shot upright. “You can’t say you don’t want me to stay with you out of guilt, then tell me you’ll die if I go. You just
can’t
.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?” he snapped back, more defensive than he wanted to admit. The angry rumble of the inner beast didn’t help—the new moon was still too fresh for him to handle his mate’s distress. “You want me to keep on lying to you?”

She flashed him an exasperated look. “No, of course not.”

“But it’s not fair.” He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, wishing he had the words back. Damn sentimentality, and damn her sweet, soft eyes. “I know it’s not fair, but my only other choice was not to tell you at all.”

Paralee sighed. “We’re both in dire shortage of valid choices right now, love, but I think it’s important that we not let it blind us to the obvious.” She met his gaze. “If you had the choice, free and clear, what would you
want
?”

Finally, a question with a simple answer. “You, sweet girl.”

“I—I want you too.” She tucked one unruly lock of hair behind her ear. “Bearing both those facts in mind, arguing seems silly.”

He needed to hear it again. Needed to believe it. “You don’t want to leave me?”

“No.” Her gaze locked on his mouth, and she smiled slowly. “I never turn away from adventure—and you, Merrick Wood, seem like one hell of an adventure.”

Laughing his relief, he dragged her down for a quick kiss. “Honey, this may be premature, seeing as we’ve got a hell of an adventure coming just getting out of the Deadlands in one piece.”

“Mmm, I have faith in us.”

“Do you, now?” He smoothed a hand over her ass. “I don’t. Not if you don’t put on some pants. I’m useless while you’re naked.”

“Fine.” She climbed from the bed, only instead of grabbing her own clothes, she slipped her arms into his shirt and left it unbuttoned as she began to roll up the sleeves.

Not better. The lingering madness surged as she wrapped herself in his scent, and there was something damn intriguing about all that bare skin peeking out from inside his clothing.

He needed to find a cold mountain stream and take a long soak in it.

“You’re
huge
,” she observed in a lazy drawl tempered by a spark of mischief.

For the first time in fifty years, he thought he might be blushing. “You complaining?”

“Never.” She buttoned the shirt and tilted her head toward the door. “I’m going downstairs to look around, find those supplies you mentioned.”

“Hold up.” He rolled from the bed and dragged on his pants. “I’ll go with you. Last I checked, the boiler was damn near out of fuel. The least I can do is fetch more.”

They’d neglected most of the dwelling for three days, only emerging from the bedroom—and the bed—when absolutely necessary. Paralee descended to the first-floor landing and looked around as if seeing the place for the first time. “It’s nice. A shame the Guild hasn’t been able to reclaim it.”

“Wouldn’t have abandoned it, if I’d had a say.” The table held the remains of dinner—more of that clever stew of hers—and he could only vaguely remember watching over her as she ate. “The government gave up the mountains too easily. Sometimes I wonder if they’re going to roll over and stop fighting the vampires completely.”

“Surely they wouldn’t.” She stopped in front of a door in the kitchen, jiggled the knob and peeked inside. “It’s a workshop of some kind.”

“Outposts usually had at least one member of the Inventor’s Guild in residence.” He retrieved his knife on his way to the front door and studied his hand. “Why don’t you take a look while I head outside for more wood?”

“It looks almost like…” The words trailed off as she slipped into the workshop.

She’d be safe enough there, so Merrick jabbed the tip of his thumb. It took only a few drops of blood on the markings for magic to zip through him, a low level hum that left a sick emptiness in its wake.

That
wasn’t supposed to happen.

The gears inside the door turned with a squeal of complaint, but he ignored the sound and pondered the gnawing void in his gut. It grew as he focused on it, grew until he tore open the front door, dispelling the last of the magic.

Death.

He hit his knees with a choked noise, his fingers twitching. Aching, like they’d twist into claws any second. Death throbbed in his skull, the pressing weight of the undead coming from every direction.

He heard Paralee’s soft, bare footsteps behind him. “Merrick, there’s a—oh God, are you all right?” Her hand slid over his back as she knelt beside him.

“The door—” He reached for it blindly, his hand spasming around the wood. “Close it.
Now.
”

She complied immediately, slamming it shut with a clang. “What happened?”

The press of death remained. Only the wards had blocked it out, and Merrick struggled to his feet. He fumbled until his bleeding hand hit the right spot, and magic flared, sealing the outpost against the outside.

Paralee’s face swam into focus. He inhaled her scent, hoping to steady himself. “Vampires. More bloodsuckers than I’ve ever felt before in my life. They must be sleeping in the caves around us in every damn direction.”

She paled but nodded. “Do you think they followed us, or that they’ve been here? No, you would have felt them when we arrived.”

“They must have followed us, maybe even from the crash.” He closed his eyes and tried to visualize the trail that lay between them and the safety of the border. “Even if we set out at dawn, we couldn’t get far enough to be safe before nightfall. Not on foot. Maybe if we had a raft or a boat for the river...”

Paralee swallowed hard. “That’s what I was coming to tell you. There’s a flying craft in the workshop—small, good for two or three people at most, but that’s all we need, right?”

That made his stomach flip in a different way. Airships were one thing. They were large, reliable—when they weren’t being shot down—and they stayed afloat through means his unscientific mind could at least vaguely comprehend.

The smaller, newer inventions, on the other hand… “Do you know how to fly something like that?”

“I should be able to manage.
If
we can fuel it.” She took a deep breath and released it on a shaky laugh. “
If
the damned thing works at all. Those are very big ifs.”

“All right.” He set the knife on the table. “Let’s see it, then.”

It looked like a fucking wooden bird.

Paralee ran her hand over one polished wing, all the way down to the pointed nose. Then she gestured toward the tiny cabin. “The controls are different from a larger ship. More like a glider.”

He eyed it dubiously. “How does it stay in the damn sky?”

“Its propellers spin.” She gave one a demonstrative whirl. “It has internal combustion engines. Probably runs on oil or some such. I can crack it open and find out easily enough.”

“And it’ll go fast?” Fast was their only chance. Even if they stuck to the daylight, the vampires might have ghouls to set on them.

“Fast enough, assuming it goes at all.”

On the ground, he could fight. Use guns and knives, or tooth and claw if it came to that. If it had been just him, he might have taken the risk. In his bloodhound form he could cut a path through a dozen of vampires.

But not with a mate at his side. The distraction would get him killed, would get them
both
killed.

He had to trust her. “All right. Crack it open and find out what we need.”

Chapter Six

Paralee swiped her wrist over her forehead and grimaced. “Hand me that wrench, would you? I have to clean this section. Hopefully it’s got more than grease holding it together.”

Merrick passed her the wrench as the electric lights flickered above them. “I’m going to have to start burning furniture to hold us until dawn. There’s plenty of it, though.”

It still might not be enough time to get the craft flight-ready, but Paralee wasn’t willing to admit it—not until she’d ticked down her last hour of desperate effort. “I don’t think the Guild will miss a few tables and chairs, do you?”

He huffed. “They won’t miss much of anything, I reckon. Feel free to steal the fine silver.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Trust me, if I thought this bucket would hold it along with us, I would. It’d be nice to have my ship back.”

“I might be able to help with that if you get me out of here in one piece.”

She fixed him with a glare, but it didn’t seem like quite enough, so she shook the wrench at him too. “You’d better not be implying what I think, Merrick Wood. I will not be a kept woman.”

The man actually laughed. “Sweet girl, no bloodhound in this country has any business trying to keep a woman. I need a partner, not a pet.”

“You’re talking about a job?”

“I get coin to hire pilots and pay bribes and the like.” He grinned. “So do the other hounds. Sometimes it’s hard to find captains crazy enough to fly where we need to go.”

Crazy.
An apt enough description, considering the circumstances of their acquaintance. “I’ll tell you what. If you do, indeed, get out of here in one piece, I promise to let you help me. After that, I’ll fly you wherever you want to go, honey.”

“I’ll even let you charge my friends.” Merrick leaned in and pressed a kiss to her grease-smeared cheek. “Just don’t flirt with them. I’ll toss them overboard and run out of friends awful quick.”