Текст книги "One Immortal"

Автор книги: Tia Louise

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“Good,” he says before covering my mouth with his.

Our lips part quickly, and our tongues entwine before he continues his progress down my neck. Tasting. He wants to taste me. I’m burning with the same desire.

A swift pull and the top of my strapless dress is at my waist, revealing my bare breasts. A low noise of approval, and he rolls a hard nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

“Oh, god,” I gasp, as he leans down to give it a little suck, a teasing bite.

Heat floods my panties, and with every inhale, my need for him rises. Only tonight something is different. My heated lust is burning at both ends. My core is throbbing, begging for him, but something else—a consuming hunger is in my throat.

“Take me,” I barely speak, and he drops to his knees.

With one powerful lift, I’m off my feet, my back pinned against the wall as he holds my legs, pulling my thong to the side with his thumb.

Large, strong hands grip my inner thighs, opening them, and his nose touches my skin as his tongue covers my clit. A cry trembles from my throat, and he pulls back, pressing his mouth against my leg.

“I had to hear that sound again.” His voice is a sexy vibration against my skin, his beard scratching my most sensitive parts. I can’t help another shudder.

He holds me with strong hands, as if I weigh nothing at all, and his mouth returns to my center, his tongue making slow, languorous sweeps mixed with little pulls.

“Ooh, god!” My head drops back against the wall as my eyes roll closed. I thread my fingers in his soft, dark hair never wanting him to stop.

My back arches against the textured wallpaper. My entire focus is on his mouth, his tongue, slowly massaging, tasting and teasing me to the very edge. Pressure builds tight, low in my pelvis, then expands, snaking down my legs with every stroke of his tongue.

Another deep kiss, it slides lower, plunging into me.

“Ah, yes!” I cry as he does it once more before returning to my clit. The circles quicken, and my entire lower body explodes in fiery orgasm.

“Oh, Derek! Oh, god!” My hips buck against him. I can’t stop the shuddering in my legs. I’m wailing and shaking and grasping his shoulders as I come.

He strokes me a few more times until I can’t take the sensation anymore, then he gives me a quick kiss, stands, and sweeps me into his arms. I’m in a daze of euphoria as he crosses the small space to his enormous, king-sized bed.

My dress is quickly removed along with my panties, and I push to the center, watching him with hooded eyes as he steps out of his boots while unfastening his belt. Yes, I’m thinking, Oh, yes.

I want him inside me again, stretching me, filling me. His pants are finally off, his navy eyes never leaving mine, but I break away to admire his full erection. So big. Crawling toward him, I grasp his thick shaft, flickering my tongue across the tip before pulling it into my mouth.

“Shit,” he hisses, smoothing my hair off my cheek with a large palm as I suck him.

I lower my head as far as possible, grasping the base and pulling it into my throat. I’m rewarded with a deep groan, and I pull back, looking up at him with a naughty smile. His lips press together in a stern line, and he shakes his head.

“I’m not coming in your mouth.” All at once, he’s got me under my arms, pushing me back on the bed forcefully.

Excitement flashes in my chest. I want him to be rough. I want him to show me his strength. He only pauses a moment to whip his dark shirt over his head before crossing the bed toward me.

“What do you want?” I say in a low voice, rising to meet him in the middle. The white cotton sheets are as soft as silk, and I grip his strong arms in both hands. “You want to fuck me?”

His eyes cloud with desire, and I turn around quickly, leaning my back against his bare chest. I drop my head onto his shoulder and grind my ass against his rock-hard dick.

“Fuck,” he growls, grasping my breasts in his large hands. Scratchy kisses tease the backs of my sensitive shoulders as he glides a large palm down my flat stomach. Two thick fingers plunge deep into my core, and I moan loudly.

“You’re so wet,” he groans.

“Fuck me hard,” I whisper. “Don’t be gentle.”

An animal sound fills my ears, and he lifts me quickly before lowering me firmly onto his lap, onto his cock. His sudden invasion is shocking and erotic, and I cry out from the pleasure tinged with pain. The back of my head is against his shoulder as he lifts and lowers me again, thrusting further into me.

I have to help. I rise on my knees and drop, sending him even deeper. A ragged groan coughs from his throat. “Jesus… So fucking good.”

His forehead is pressed to my back as he grips my hips, slamming me harder up and down his shaft. I feel a trickle of his sweat roll down the line of my back, and it’s as if I go into a trance.

The memory of his taste floods my senses, and it begins. Something more powerful than my will takes over. The hot pressure of my orgasm tightens low in my pelvis, but the drive of hunger burns hotter in my throat.

My jaw drops open, and I let out a long wail as my canines stretch from my gums. “Ahhh!”

It’s like fuel to his fire. He’s pumping harder, faster, and I fumble one hand to the back of his neck. His muscles are rippling and strong. Turning my head, he’s right at my mouth. I lick the sweat from his skin, but it’s not like before. His taste overwhelms me. I must have more.

Feed. The low voice of my demon speaks directly to my soul.

No! A small voice whimpers back.

Derek’s heartbeat is loud in my ears, drowning out everything. The strength of his blood fuels my orgasm. He releases my hip with one hand and touches my clit, circling quickly with his fingers, and all my control is lost.

Another burst of intense pleasure scrambles my brain, and my hips begin circling with his movements. Don’t stop. Oh, god, please don’t stop. My brain repeats the phrase like a mantra as my legs begin to shudder and jerk.

FEED! It’s a direct command I can’t resist. My extended canines burn.

“I’m coming,” Derek grinds out. So much raw hunger is bound up in his words.

“Yes, Derek, yes.”

I arch my back, grazing my razor-sharp teeth lightly across the skin behind his ear, right at the base of his hairline. A little pinprick, and I pierce him. As my teeth sink into him we’re both swept up in a powerful orgasm.

“Fuck!” He shouts, coming deep inside me.

My body goes rigid, as if electrocuted. The onslaught of erotic pleasure blanks my mind. My mouth is attached to his skin as his blood pulses into me. He doesn’t seem to notice I’m drinking him. He groans, and I can feel his cock deep inside me, throbbing.

I swallow, and my eyes squeeze shut. I’m on another plane where sound and sight—nothing exists but this man. He penetrates me; I penetrate him. It’s the most intense experience of my life. Had I known it would be this way, I’d never have been able to resist it last night.

His ragged groans are little after-shocks of pleasure. He’s still coming; I’m still coming as I drink. Until, from somewhere, some other place inside me—a place filled with sadness and loss, a place still clinging to the smallest hope of mortality—a word appears: STOP!

It’s my voice, not the demon’s. I have to stop. I don’t want to kill him. I don’t want to lose him. Pulling out quickly, I swallow the last drops as the haze breaks. As if released from a trance, he pushes us forward into the pillows never once breaking body-contact. His hips rock twice more before we both are able to control our breathing and slowly start to come down.

“Jesus.” His voice is a hoarse whisper at my shoulder as he makes another slow thrust.

I can’t move. I’m floating in space, attempting to manage the legions of emotions spinning and warring in my mind. His blood races through me, a slight burning at first. Curious. The discomfort passes as it mixes with my blood in my veins. It’s in my brain, filling my mind with everything about him.

Derek Alexander. Strong… so strong… so incredibly strong. He’s a soldier. No… a Marine… A commanding officer… There’s something more. Something different. Something… like me? No… it’s not like me, but it’s supernatural. What have you done, my Derek?

I pull my lips between my teeth to capture any last essence of him lingering there. I want more. I want to swallow every drop of his sensual blood. I want more. I want to fuck him all night. I never want him out of my sight. I want him to be a part of me always. Mine.

My eyes are pressed closed as all these messages flood my brain, but I realize he’s above me now. He pulls out slowly, moving to his side. I feel his absence intensely. His large palm smooths my skin from my shoulder, down my torso.

“That was… incredible.” His voice is husky, but I can’t answer yet. I’m still trying to find my feet. “You make me crazy.”

I make him crazy? He has no idea what he does to me. He sends me to another galaxy. Focusing all my strength, I force my teeth to retract. He can’t know what I am.

When he speaks again, I hear a smile in his gentle tone. “Did I break you?”

I have to move. My chin dips, and I push up onto my elbows, hoping to buy time for my mouth to return to normal. I’ll be able to face him in a moment. In the meantime, I allow my long, dark hair to form a glossy curtain between us.

“I’m not broken,” I whisper. As I say the words, I realize how untrue they are.

He kisses my lower back, and the scruff of his beard is almost painful against my hypersensitive skin. “Good, because I hope to repeat everything we just did a few more times tonight.”

It’s safe, and I lift my heavy locks over my shoulder. “A few more times?” I give him a coy smile, and his gorgeous blue eyes twinkle.

“Naturally, the number of times is up to you, Miss…” His dark brow furrows. “I don’t know your last name.”

I quickly scan the suite looking for something I only vaguely spotted when we entered—before he had me against the wall. There it is.

“You have a Jacuzzi.” My chin drops and I lift an eyebrow. “We should test it out.”

He smiles, revealing straight white teeth. He really is perfect. I feel a strange surge of pride over the few ounces of his blood I’ve stolen, a peculiar possessiveness of him buzzes in my veins.

“So it’s like that?” He levels that steely gaze on me, and it’s breathtaking.

“You’re a private investigator?”

“Yes, Melissa.”

“Last names aren’t a good idea.” I can never explain the fucked up nature of my existence, and anyway, it doesn’t matter. He’s my last fling, my final heavenly indulgence before I accept my fate and return to Baltimore to die.

He doesn’t move as he watches me. I wait while he weighs my words against the mind-blowing experience we shared only moments ago. He’ll either insist on knowing more, in which case I’ll leave, or he’ll accept my answer.

“You want to test out my Jacuzzi?” I release the breath I’m holding with a grin and a nod. “Give me a sec.”

He pushes off the mattress, and I watch his perfect ass flex as he crosses the beige marble floor to the large tub. Two low steps lead to it, and he sits on one as he opens the faucets.

No need to worry he’ll change or be like me. We didn’t complete the ritual. I only have him inside me. He doesn’t have me in him. I didn’t force him to drink from my veins the way I was forced. I didn’t rape his only hope away.

I, on the other hand, am running out of time to complete my transition. I have to kill or die. I’ve already decided which it will be.

Leaning on one elbow, he reaches out to me, and I stifle a gasp. His body is Michelangelo’s Adam, reaching out for the hand of God. Only he’s reaching out to a devil.

Horror and guilt hit me like a freight train. My chin drops, sending a dark curtain across my cheek, but I know he saw the change in my expression. I hear him crossing back to the bed at once.

“What’s wrong?” Concern fills his voice. “Melissa, look at me.”

He catches my chin, and my eyes travel over his olive skin, his smooth muscles, the light dusting of hair on his chest. I have to leave. Now.

I can’t believe I would risk my one hope at escaping my fate—not only that, I risked his very life! Has my animalistic nature truly become so strong? I stole from him. I bit him. I can’t rationalize this away any more. I’m too weak to fight my lusts. I’m lost.

His hands are on my shoulders, pulling me onto his lap. “Stop,” he orders.

I try to resist his arms, but he’s stronger than me. Or I’m too weak to fight him.

His stern voice continues. “Whatever you’re saying to yourself, stop it.”

I shake my head. “We can’t do this, Derek. It’s wrong.”

“It’s not wrong. It’s fast.” His chin drops, and I watch as he collects his thoughts. I confess, I’m incredibly curious as to what he might say next. “I’m sure this is new for you. Hell, it’s new for me.” His eyes fix on mine, and his expression is so earnest and lovely. “Don’t shut us down yet. Give us a chance.”

“You don’t know me,” I argue. “We don’t know each other—”

“So let me get to know you.” He takes my hand carefully in his. “I want to know your mind the way I already know your body.”

His blood sings in my veins, and my eyes close at the sensation. Tasting him has only made him harder to resist.

“We don’t have time.”

“We have plenty of time.” He smooths my hair back, cupping my cheek with his large palm. “My life has been so empty these last six years. This is the first time I’ve wanted to live.”

Oh, god, the terrible irony. “You want to live?”

“I’m not explaining it right. I’m jumping ahead.” He takes both my cheeks in his hands, and looks deep into my eyes. “But you feel it, too. I know you do. Please stay.”

I want to cry. My heart is breaking because I can’t tell him we don’t have a chance. I can’t tell him that if he wants to live, he needs to run as far and as fast away from me as possible.

I’m either the worst coward or his blood is making it impossible for me to say no, because this beautiful man holding my face overwhelms me with his words.

“Okay.” My voice is soft, and I feel my cheeks turn pink. It’s a ridiculous response. I know all of this is a fantasy, yet I want to indulge it so badly. “What do you want to do?”

He glances over his shoulder at the now-full Jacuzzi tub and pushes away to walk over and shut off the water. Reaching into the pool, he tests it. Then he smiles and dries his hand.

Returning to me, that sexy grin is on his lips. “First, we finish what we’ve started tonight.” Catching me by the legs, he roughly pulls me across the sheets, making me squeal a laugh. I’m in his arms as he carries me to the tub. “Tomorrow, I’m going to buy you brunch.”

“Brunch? So I’m sleeping in?”

He laughs as he steps down into the swirling water, me still in his arms. It surrounds us in bubbling warmth, soothing away my tension, making me believe I could be a normal girl with a normal life, who only needs to give this incredible man a chance. As if we have a future. As if I get a happily ever after.

“You’ll probably be tired after tonight. I wasn’t planning to wake you.”

I’m on his lap, straddling his waist, our faces close. My hands are on his shoulders, and I wouldn’t push him away for anything.

“And then?”

He leans forward and captures my lips with his. Our mouths open to let our tongues touch, and I feel a stirring low in my pelvis. At the same time, energy surges through my chest. His blood is in my heart making me burn for him.

He pulls back, nipping my lip. “We take it as it comes.”

6

Complications Melissa

Nighttime sleep is slipping further from my grasp. We make love in the Jacuzzi; we make love on the table. He takes me from behind, pulling my hair and holding my throat. I ride him reverse-cowgirl, so he can’t see me change when I come, moaning his name as my canines stretch out for him. I use every ounce of willpower I possess to keep my hunger in check. I won’t steal any more of his life.

He sleeps, his gorgeous form wrapped in the crisp white sheets, and I sit in the darkness watching him, longing for him. My evolving mind has the capacity to focus on him for hours, losing all sense of time.

What shall I do, my love? You’re mine, but you don’t know it. In my audacity, I stole your essence, but I can’t hold it for long. We’ll share these few days, and then I’ll return to face my fate. As I take my last breath, I’ll dream of your beautiful soul.

He rolls onto his side facing me, but I can tell he’s not entirely awake. He can’t see me very well in the darkness, but I see him plain as day—the bright day that now hurts my eyes. He blinks slowly at me sitting in the soft velvet chair completely nude.

“You’re so beautiful.” His deep voice is husky with sleep. “You’re even more beautiful now than you were earlier.”

“You’re dreaming,” I whisper, using my glamour to lull him back to sleep. He doesn’t know how his blood enhances my appearance, how it causes him to want me more. Sadly, it’s all part of the trap—only I won’t make him my victim.

He studies me a moment longer before closing his eyes again. A few moments, and he’s drifted away. As much as I want to sit here and gaze at him, I can’t stay any longer. My heart aches as I stand and collect my things.

Quickly, silently, I step into my dress and sandals. I search everywhere, but I can’t find my thong. It must be wound up with him in the sheets. I’ll have to leave it.

My lips throb with desire to kiss him one last time. My fingers tingle with wanting to slide through his soft, wavy hair. I can’t take the chance he’ll wake. Instead I go to the door and slip out, down the hall, down the stairs, into the pre-dawn night.

People roam Bourbon Street even at this hour. It’s the darkest hour before dawn, but I’m not afraid. I’m the most dangerous thing they’ll encounter tonight.

Not in a hurry to return to my hotel, I take Toulouse Street, away from the bars and the dying noise of revelry, toward the river. I walk slowly up the damp alley, under balconies of black wrought iron. Dark-green ivy climbs the sides of hotels and apartments, transforming their hard edges into rounded black shapes.

If my night vision weren’t so acute, they would look like hulking monsters, swaying toward the levee. The air is heavy and damp, and even without the sun it’s warm. Could it be another reason so many of my kind come to this city? The heat disguises the cold of our skin. Only, my skin isn’t cold yet.

My eyes… I’m not sure what my eyes look like this morning. I drank his blood, so it’s possible they have a faint red hue. Oh, god, I hope they don’t. I’m not sure I can handle seeing that, and it won’t help me with Elaine and Mariska. A shiver passes over my shoulders, and I hug my arms across my chest. I’ve never felt so alone in my life.

I wonder if Elaine is in our room. Somehow I know she isn’t. We’d been walking back from dinner at Antoine’s last night when she asked to take a detour through Bourbon Street. I had no desire to be around loud, rowdy drunks. Still, I went with her to the crowded street.

She was looking for someone, but she wouldn’t tell me who. I watched as she followed the voice in her head—or the sensation of a voice. I’m not sure how her power works. I’ve only watched her use it since we were little girls. When we arrived at the place, she left me to go to him.

It was the same man she met in Maspero’s before lunch, and I had the same sickening response to his presence. My stomach roiled, and I couldn’t enter. I could only hide behind the pane of glass and watch them talking, her touching his arm. He was incredibly attractive and seemed very sure of himself, yet when she touched him, he stilled as if she had some influence over him.

My brow lined as I focused on them, not understanding what was happening. Then Derek appeared, and I forgot Elaine. I forgot everything but him. For a moment, I close my eyes and savor the memory of last night. All of it is as vivid as the sunrise in my mind.

Turning west, I walk back toward our hotel. When I reach the Hotel Monteleone, a pale glow is just lighting the edge of the horizon. My eyes are heavy. Our room is empty as I suspected. Digging my phone out of my bag, I see a text from her. She sent it hours ago, when I was still blissfully wrapped in Derek’s arms.

Am with Patrick. See you tomorrow. Lunch with Mariska.

Crawling into my bed, I study the words. Patrick. The man from the bar. She’ll want me to meet him, and I’ll have to say no. I don’t even know why his presence makes me so violently ill. I don’t know anything about the changes happening inside me. Again, waves of loneliness consume me.

Lunch. Mariska. If only she has answers. A yawn surprises me. The sun streams through our windows, and with a groan, I pull myself out of the bed to close the heavy blackout drapes. I barely make it back before I fall into a deep sleep.

Derek

Stuart sits across the booth from me studying his menu with a frown. I touch the lip of my coffee cup, but I’m not thirsty. I’m not hungry. I’m angry and frustrated and miserable. I opened my eyes this morning and Melissa was gone. No note, no number, nothing.

The last I remember is waking to see her sitting in the silvery moonlight looking like a goddess. She told me I was dreaming, but no dream of mine was ever that beautiful. I wanted to take her, carry her back to bed and make love to her, but strangely, sleep overwhelmed me. When I opened my eyes again, she was gone. After everything we said last night, everything we did, she still walked out.

I want to forget her. I want to say fuck it and wash my hands of the situation. The problem is I can’t. I’m drawn to her in some inexplicable way. She’s like a drug, and being apart from her leaves me hollow. Without thinking, I rub my stomach.

“What’s wrong with you?” Stuart snaps.

I sniff and raise my eyebrows, sitting straighter in my seat. “Didn’t sleep well last night. I was pretty fired up after… what happened.”

It’s not entirely a lie.

Stuart nods, accepting my excuse. “Where’s Patrick?”

“He’s with a woman.”

“Big fucking surprise. You didn’t stop him?” Stuart cuts angry hazel eyes at me, but I’m in no mood.

“What Patrick does on his own time is his business.” My tone matches his in sternness, but it changes when I add the last part. “Besides, I think this one’s different.”

His brow lines. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I was with him when he met her. It was strange.” I think back to last night, the pretty girl who walked straight up to him as if she were reading his mind. “She had some kind of… power over him.”

“Are you trying to say he’s imprinting?”

I cut him a look as our waitress appears, and we pause our conversation.

“What can I get for you two?” She gives Stuart a little wink, but he’s not receptive.

“Steak and eggs with a side of bacon. Hold the toast.”

She does a little smirk. “In the mood for some protein, I see.”

He only grunts and hands over his menu.

“I’ll have the house omelet with wheat toast,” I say, with a slight smile. It earns me a wink.

“You got it, sugar. And I’ll keep the coffee coming. Let me know if you need anything else.”

She sashays away, and Stuart leans forward against the table. “We need Patrick to get his ass here now. Did you call him?”

Shaking my head, I lift my coffee. “He’ll be here.”

If I’m right about what’s happening to him, I don’t have the heart to disturb him, especially after my disappointing wake-up.

“Well, I’m not wasting time. Tell me what happened.”

“He got a lead on Alison’s killer.” Leaning forward in the booth, I lower my voice. “It was an ambush. We walked into a nest. I had to shoot us out.”

A low whistle, and he lifts his coffee. “How many?”

“Couldn’t say. We were led to believe it would only be one. We saw three, and one of them was... Old.”

Stuart makes a disgusted face. “The older they get, the weirder they get.”

“No shit. I can still see that fucked-up grin.”

Patrick’s breezy voice interrupts us. “Morning, ladies! Captain Asshat. I assume you’re here to bust my balls.”

“Where the fuck have you been?”

“Heaven, big brother.” He drops into the booth beside me, his player grin in full effect. “I have been in heaven. And it smells like honeysuckle and tastes like sugar.”

“You smell like you’ve been eating honeysuckle all night,” Stuart sniffs.

“Jealous?”

Our waitress is back, and she’s more than happy to see our new addition. “Hey there, darling.”

“Hey, Polly,” Patrick beats her to the wink, and I am not surprised he knows her name. “Can I get the Spanish omelet with a side of bacon?”

“Sure thing, handsome. Coffee?”

“No thanks. O.J.”

She smiles and heads for the kitchen, and he turns back to me. “Have you filled him in?”

“Derek says you’ve had a little change overnight? Met your mate?”

Irritation flashes in Patrick’s eyes. “That’s none of your damned business. I’m talking about our case.”

Everything changes when Stuart laughs. “Shit. You did.” He shakes his head and looks at his coffee. “Can you keep your head in the game?”

Patrick’s hackles are up, and I see the muscle in his jaw move. Last thing I need is for these two to start fighting. Even if Stuart is the oldest, the alpha, his younger brother still kicks against his authority.

Reaching over, I slap his shoulder. “Patrick’s with us. Now let’s focus.” My voice lowers again. “We’ve got to find out as much as we can about this nest—how many, how old. If it’s truly our target, we need to get back there tonight before they regroup.”

Stuart’s expression is grim. “If you surprised them early last night, they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for us. How sure are you about our intel?”

The waitress appears with a busboy carrying a large black tray and our orders. We wait as they put everything in front of us and ensure we have all we need. As soon as they’re gone, Patrick answers him.

“Based on what I read in Sloan’s notes, this could be the one. We can’t walk away.”

Stuart cuts his eyes to his little brother. “The actual killer?”

Patrick nods as he puts a bite of beans, cheese, and sour cream wrapped in egg into his mouth. I’m as energized as when we got here, knowing we’re so close to the end of my quest. The revenge I’ve been obsessed with for years is right here in our grasp.

Yet, it’s interesting how my outlook has changed. I’ll be glad to end my search, to find resolution, but whereas before, it was the only thing I cared about—it was my life—now I see a different future, a future where I put the past behind me and start to live again. That is, once I’ve convinced Melissa to try.

Stuart snaps me back to preparations. “You, go sleep. I’ll gather what we need for the ritual.”

I nod, but Patrick cuts in. “Where can we do it?”

“My suite,” I say. “I have a Jacuzzi tub.”

“What the hell?” Patrick leans back. “How did you get a fucking Jacuzzi tub?”

“Came with the room.”

“Good,” Stuart says, getting us back on track. “In two hours, we meet in Derek’s room. It should give you enough time to recover before we have to head out tonight.”

Patrick stands to let me out of the booth. I’ve only eaten half my breakfast, but I wasn’t hungry. Anyway, the ritual always leaves my stomach queasy. The most important thing I can do now is sleep. My beautiful Melissa will have to wait.

Tonight is critical.

Melissa

The sound of someone attempting to be quiet, bumping around the room rouses me from the dark waters of slumber. I hate to open my eyes, because in my dreams I’m wrapped tightly in the cocoon of Derek’s strong arms. His masculine scent is all around me, and the luscious taste of him is on my tongue. It’s the closest to heaven I’ve been in so long.

A little crash followed by a sharp yelp makes me sit up in the bed and reach for the lamp. “Elaine?”

“Oh,” she laughs. “I’m sorry. I was trying to let you sleep.”

“What time is it?” I rub my eyes as she goes to the window to pull back the curtains.

“Almost two.”

“Lainey!” Throwing the sheets back, I jump out of bed. “I need to shower, change…”

“It’s okay! I already called Mariska. She’s meeting us at ACME at three. We’ve got plenty of time.”

“Oh, good.” Exhaling, I slow my pace. ACME oyster house is a half block from our hotel, and one of my favorite casual restaurants in the city. “Mind if I shower first?”

“Go ahead.” I watch as she climbs onto the bed and seems ready to nap.

My eyes narrow. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

She starts to giggle. “Did you?”

“Doesn’t count. Every night that passes, I sleep less and less.”

“Particularly the nights involving Mr. Tall, Dark, and Sexy.” She sits up and wraps her arms over her knees. “He’s really into you. I saw it in his mind.”

My jaw clenches. “That is not cool, you know.”

“Trust me, I know.” She nods quickly. “But when emotions are that strong, it’s impossible for me to stop them flooding my brain.”

I know from experience she’s telling me the truth. She’s often complained about not wanting to hear everything people are thinking.

I go over to the bed and sit beside her, lifting her hand in mine. “Derek is… the most incredible man. But I can’t pull him into my troubles. You know that.”

Her lips press together, and the way she blinks down, I can tell she’s hiding something. “What is it?”

She hesitates before answering. “Actually, he might be exactly who you need to pull into this.”

Frustration overwhelms me, and I snap. “Don’t be cryptic. Just say whatever the hell you know.”

“Hey! Whoa,” she rubs my hands. “Give me a chance! I know you’re scared.”

Dropping my chin, I cringe. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to control my moods anymore. My emotions are all over the place.”

She gives me a little squeeze. “It’s okay. Now listen to me. When we met Patrick at Maspero’s, we both had a reaction to him.”

“You had a reaction, too?”

“I didn’t want to upset you. It’s why I suggested we go to K-Paul’s instead.”

My brow lines. “Did he make you feel sick? Nauseated?”

She starts to laugh, then clears her throat. “No. Just the opposite.” I watch as her cheeks flood with pink. “He made me feel very sexy, and… I don’t know… like I’ve never felt before. Like the crown jewels or the Hope Diamond. Like—”

“I’m confused.”

“He’s a shifter.”

“Oh my god.” I jump off the bed and start to pace the room. “How do you know? Did you see it in his mind? Can you read shifter minds? Is he going to kill me?” In a flash of horror, I have another thought. “Is Derek a shifter?”