When He Was Bad (17 page)

Cain grunted and shrugged his powerful shoulders. “All right, now that we all know it’s a new game, this is how it’s going to work.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “The rules are simple, really. I hunt,
my
way. And I won’t stop until this bastard is brought down.”

“You back with us 100 percent, Lawson?” Santiago asked.

“No.” A pause. “I’m with her.”

And he was going to fight a vampire for her, again.

Talk about knowing how to sweep a girl off her feet.

“Miranda knows this guy,” Cain continued. “She lured him out once, and I’d bet a week of your pay, Delaney, that she can lure him again.”

Santiago rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, then it’s your game,
gato grande
.”

Miranda blinked. Her Spanish was way rusty, but she was pretty sure the agent had just called Cain a big cat.

Cain smiled. “Then let’s start the hunt.”

She was lying in her bed. The front door had been fully repaired. An FBI agent was sitting in his car outside, and Cain was asleep on her couch.

It was after midnight. Miranda
should
have been asleep hours ago. But her mind wouldn’t shut down.

Cain was too close.

Her body felt too tight, too hot. She kept thinking about the feel of his lips on hers. The touch of his hands.

Cain was too close.

And not nearly close enough.

Miranda shoved off the covers. Threw her legs over the side of the bed. Enough of this crap. Time to settle things between the two of them.

She turned on her bedside lamp and the glow of the light spilled into the room.

Miranda thought she was being pretty quiet. The thick carpet muffled her steps as she crept down the hallway. She turned the corner and—

“You know, these late-night visits are starting to become a habit for you,” he said from the darkness, his voice a deep growl of sound.

Miranda hesitated. She couldn’t see him. Could barely see anything. She inched forward, found a small lamp, turned it on with a snap.

Cain was on the couch. Hair disheveled, as if he’d run his fingers through the dark locks. Eyes gleaming. Muscled chest bare. There was no sheet over his body as there had been last night. Instead, he wore a pair of black boxers and nothing else.

Miranda gulped. The man looked
good.
“We, ah, need to talk.” Her sex quivered a bit as she stared at him.
Damn good.

One black brow rose. “Is that really why you walked so softly all the way in here? To talk?”

“You could hear me?” He’d said he had good hearing, but she’d tried to be so careful and quiet.

A slow nod. “Yeah, but more than that…” His nostrils flared just a bit. “I could smell you.” He smiled at her, showing a lot of teeth. “And like I said before, baby, you sure you came here to talk?”

I could smell you.
Understanding dawned. Cain knew she was aroused. Her cheeks burned, but she didn’t flinch. “I wanted to thank you.”

If possible, the smile widened even more, revealing the curve of his dimple. “Ah, my thank-you kiss. And here I was thinking I wouldn’t be getting another one from you.” His voice flattened as he said, “What with my being a monster and you being such a good little human.”

Okay, he was still pissed. “I shouldn’t have left last night.”

A shrug. And for a second, a flash of—hurt? pain?—appeared in his eyes but vanished when he slowly blinked. “Hey, I’m the big, bad bogeyman. You were smart to run from me.”

No, she hadn’t been. “Shifter.” She said the word softly, testing it.

His smile vanished.

“That’s what the vampire called you.” And just what the hell was a shifter?

“Yeah, well, I guess your date had come up against my kind before.” He held up his hands, and claws, fiercely sharp and long, had replaced his fingernails. “These are usually a pretty good giveaway, as are the teeth.” His lips pulled back to show just a glimpse of fang.

He was trying to scare her. Miranda kept her chin up and took a step forward.

Cain dropped his hands. “Demons can sprout claws, too, but your vamp must have known that—”

“Uh, demons?” Just how many supernatural creatures were there?

“Yeah, demons.” He whistled softly. “Lots of ’em walking the streets. Using glamour to blend in with the humans. And those bastards can get pretty strong, especially the level tens.” A pause. “Not all of the demons are real threats, though. The weak ones, level ones or twos, hell, they can’t cause much damage at all.”

Right. Good to know.

Demons.
He’d just told her that demons were real. She shook her head, tried to focus. “How many…” She licked her lips, swallowed, and asked, “How many of your kind are out there?” Another tentative step forward. His nostrils widened.

“There are hundreds of thousands of shifters. Men and women who can change into animals. Small. Big. Deadly. Course, then there are the charmers, the djinn, the—”

Her hand lifted. “Charmers?”

“The ones who talk to animals.”

She blinked. “The djinn? Would that be like—what? Genies?”

“Something like that. But it sure takes a hell of a lot more than some old dusty bottle to contain their power.”

Okay, too much information. Her head was seriously starting to spin. “How can they all be real?” Hushed words. It was too wild, too—

“I’m real.” A shrug. “They’re real, too. And the ones I’ve told you about, well, that’s just the tip of the supernatural iceberg.”

And she was the
Titanic
, going down, fast. Miranda took a deep breath. She needed to focus. At that moment, she didn’t want to find out about every supernatural creature that was strolling around the earth.

She wanted to know about Cain. “A shifter,” she repeated quietly, turning the topic back to him. She’d already seen his face change a bit. “What kind of animal do you become?” When he’d attacked the vampire, he’d looked positively predatory. His cheekbones had sharpened. Eyes glowed. “A wolf?” Jesus, like a werewolf
?

He threw back his head and laughed at that. “Ah, baby, relax. I’m not one of those psychotics.”

So the wolves were psychotic. Nice mental note for her. She took another step toward him. Her body hovered over the couch now. Just a foot or two away from him. Cain was close enough to touch.

And she did want to touch.

Her gaze swept down his body. Over the sculpted muscles of his chest. Down the rock-hard abs. Over the material of his boxers, material that was stretched tight to accommodate his thick arousal.

Her nipples tightened as a wave of yearning swept through her. She’d felt that arousal last night, but the barrier of the clothes had been between them, as it was now.

Miranda didn’t want anything between them.

“You looking to walk on the wild side tonight?” His voice snapped like a whip.

Her stare jerked back to his. Found him glaring at her. “Cain…”

“You come out here, wearing a shirt that’s so thin it shows your nipples, your sex smelling so good that it makes me ache, and then you look at me like you could eat me alive.”

Because she could. Or she wanted to try.

Hell, she was scared. Not of him, but of the world she was suddenly discovering around her.

Yet more than her fear, she
needed.

Yearned. For him.

Shifter.

“Go back to your room,” he ordered, and she saw his fingers dig into the cushions of the couch. “It’s not time to play with the animals.”

Okay, now he was pissing her off. She reached out, touched that golden skin, and trailed her fingers down his chest. “I don’t see an animal. Just a man.” The sexiest man she’d ever come across. A man who had her aching inside.

“I’m both, Miranda. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking I’m not.”

A warning, clear and simple. One that she was going to ignore.

She lowered her body over his, placing her thighs on either side of his legs so that she could straddle him. The position put her face close to his and had her sex brushing against the hard cradle of his erection.

She curled both of her hands over his shoulders. Jeez, the man was warm. “I’ve been in my room, thinking about you.” But he knew that. He knew she wanted him. Miranda brushed her lips over his. “Have you been thinking about me?”

He moved in a blur. Cain lifted her, spun around, and before Miranda could even gasp out a breath, she found herself flat on the cushions of the couch. Cain leaned over her, his face hard and lust shining in his eyes. “Don’t fucking tease me. If you yank a cat’s tail, you will get bitten.” His teeth came together with a snap.

“I’ve already been bitten once,” she said, rising up on her elbows. “Wasn’t to my liking.”

“You weren’t bitten by
me.
” Then his mouth was on hers. Tongue thrusting. Lips pressing. Taking. Devouring.

And the lust she’d felt all night went from a flame to a blaze.

She met the kiss full force, loving the slightly wild taste of the man. Her mouth was frantic on his, demanding—a perfect match for his kiss.

When his head lifted, when his eyes gazed down at her with that soft shine, she knew what was coming even before he spoke.

“Your choice.”

She’d made her choice.

“You can run back to your room, lock the door again, and forget about tangling with someone like me.” His head lowered toward the crook of her neck and he inhaled deeply, drawing in a long gulp of air as he caught her scent. “Or you can stay, and I’ll take you, and show you just how powerful sex with a shifter can be.”

Like she was going to be able to walk away from that offer.

Grandma Belle hadn’t raised a fool.

Her fingers trailed over his chest. Paused over his heart, feeling the hard and fast rhythm beneath her hand. “I’m not running anywhere, not tonight.” She was exactly where she wanted to be.

Tonight she was with the right man. Her body knew it. It was responding completely to him. Softening, moistening. Her breasts aching. Hips arching. Readying.

For him.

Only him.

The smile that twisted his lips could only be called feral. “You were warned, baby.” Then he lifted his hand, eased it between their bodies, and with one swipe of his fingertip—no,
his claw
—he cut the T-shirt she’d been wearing in half. The edges slid open, and her breasts tightened at the sudden rush of air.

“So damn pretty. Pink and round, just waiting for my mouth.” His breath feathered over her sensitive flesh seconds before his lips closed over her right nipple. His mouth was warm, wet, and he knew just how to stroke her with his lips and his tongue. Soft caresses. Hard licks. A suckle that had her back arching and her breath hissing out.

“Taste so sweet. Just like you smell. Honeysuckle.” His mouth locked on her other breast. Showed it the same sensual care. Licks. Kisses. The faintest sting of a bite.

You weren’t bitten by me.

Now she had been. Oh, God, she had been.

He eased down her body, making a trail with his mouth and tongue. His sensual caresses made her ache with need. Her sex was wet, and Miranda was so eager that her body trembled.

Her drawstring shorts were shoved out of the way. By her, by him, she couldn’t really tell for certain. Then he was touching the crotch of her panties. Feeling the warm cream that coated the fabric.

Then he ripped the panties away.

His fingers closed over her thighs, a move reminiscent of the night before. She parted her legs quickly for him, wanting to feel that hard ridge of flesh against her sex again. But he needed to ditch his boxers. She wanted to feel him, skin to skin and—

He touched the hungry flesh between her legs. Not with his cock, but with his fingers. He parted her folds. Strummed his fingers over her clit. “Miranda…” His voice was a velvet growl in the darkness. “Your scent is
driving me crazy.
”

Then he was on the floor. Crouching on his knees. One hand wrapped tight around her thigh. The other explored the secrets of her sex. His head hovered over her stomach. The dark locks of his hair were close enough to touch and—

His mouth brushed against her sex.
His tongue laved her, licking away the cream that coated her flesh, then driving deep inside her in one hard plunge.

Her fingers sank into his hair and her hips slammed up to meet his hot kiss. Moans rose in her throat, because what he was doing,
it felt so good.
His tongue retreated. Teased. Drove inside.

Her sex tightened. Her orgasm threatened. So close. The promise of pleasure was just a few seconds away.

Damn but the man was one good lover. Certainly the best at—

Another lick from that skilled tongue. A caress of his hands, fingers harder now, more demanding as her body struggled for her peak.

It had been so long for her. Over six months since she’d kicked Peter out—

Cain’s tongue drove deep and Miranda shattered, seemed to literally fall apart, as a blast of pleasure rocked through her.

The tremors still shook her sex when he rose above her. Cain was on his knees and he jerked her body to the end of the couch. He fumbled, reaching for the jeans that were on the floor. A sharp
rip
of sound filled the air. Then he was moving again, and pressing the tip of that thick cock between her legs.

“Hold on,” he ordered, voice barely recognizable as a man’s.

The beast had to be close.

No fear. Not now.

Only hot pleasure.

Her legs wrapped around his hips.

His cock slammed deep, a driving thrust that intensified the soft aftershocks of release vibrating through her. His fingers clenched around her hips and he lifted her up, plunging deep again and again in a rhythm that became increasingly wild.

And she loved it. Every frantic second. His jaw was clenched. Those eyes of his shining bright with that powerful inner light. She caught a glimpse of his fangs, but instead of frightening her, the sight caused a lick of heat to burst inside of her.

More than a man. So much more.

Cain angled her body so that with every thrust of his cock, he brushed over the tight nub of her desire. The pleasure built again. The need grew just as desperate as before and suddenly she was the one clawing at his arms. Moaning. Thrashing beneath him.

He made a low sound in his throat, one that she couldn’t quite discern. His head dropped to her chest and he licked her breasts. Rough flicks of his tongue that made her nipples tingle with arousal.

His tongue.
Wet. Strong.

Damn good.

His mouth trailed up to her shoulder.

And Cain pressed his teeth against her flesh. Not too hard, oh, God, no, not like the vampire, but
just right
.

Her body buckled as she came beneath him.

The light in his eyes burned brighter. His cheeks hollowed and she felt the faint scrape of his claws against her hips.

His hips jerked as her sex milked his thick flesh with the contractions of her climax. Then he was coming, holding her with a grip of steel and driving straight to her womb. Cain shuddered against her, threw back his head, and managed to grit out her name.