A Wolf's Heart (Harlequin Nocturne) (11 page)

Chapter 15

F
or the rest of the day, Gabriel and Elise fell into a comfortable routine with each other. Their lovemaking had cut a certain edge off their interaction and they were both able to relax a little.

After a hearty breakfast that they prepared together, they set out to tend to the garden. Gabriel pulled the weeds while Elise reaped the rest of the vegetables that they would use for their meals to come.

Gabriel enjoyed the menial task of digging out the weeds from the dirt. He hadn’t used his hands for more than collecting evidence and writing reports in a long time. When he was a boy, he loved nothing more than to till the land and plant seeds to watch them grow. He was a farmer’s son through and through. But his other needs, his other hopes and desires, had pushed him toward a life in law enforcement when he grew up. He was never sure his dad ever understood his ambition to be a crime-scene analyst.

He supposed it never really mattered though, as his father and he never got along, never saw eye to eye in any matter. And that was especially true when it came to Elise.

His father had forbidden him to see her, to form a relationship with her. The feud between their families was very much ingrained in his father. As it had been instilled in him from his father before him. And so on, all the way back four hundred years earlier to the first Bellmonte and first Leroy, one a lycan and one a vampire, who had once been the best of friends but had fallen out over a woman and a chunk of land.

Lifting his gaze from his work, Gabriel watched Elise as she dug up potatoes. She was barefoot, ankle deep in the soil and, by the radiant smile on her face, loving every minute of it. Sometimes it took his breath away to look at her. She was crazy beautiful, but it was more than that. She had a light inside her. Something that glowed when she was truly happy. And it was glowing bright right now.

It filled him with joy to see her like that. And to know he had turned the light back on inside her.

But he wasn’t sure how long he could fuel it for. After the case, he was unsure how to proceed. He wasn’t convinced they could truly be together. He had never been certain of their relationship. He wanted her—that was no lie, and impossible to fight any longer—and he knew she wanted him as well, but he wasn’t sure it was enough. Love sometimes just wasn’t sufficient to survive the heartaches and heartbreaks.

He stood, wiped his dirty hands onto his increasingly soiled jeans and stretched out his back. It was a good stretch, one birthed from good hard labor. He walked over to where Elise still dug in the ground and bent down to collect the potatoes she’d unearthed.

“Looks like potatoes au gratin, tonight,” he said.

“Oh, really? And are you cooking it?” She put one elegant hand, streaked with dirt, on her hip and cocked her one eyebrow. It was a stance he’d often seen her take. It was flirty and sexy and one-hundred-percent Elise Leroy.

“Maybe I can be persuaded.”

With a spark in her eye, she dropped the spade and literally pounced on him. As he caught her around the waist, he brought her mouth against his. The kiss was hot and hard and furious. He could taste the earth and the sun and the sweat from her body. Tastes he savored as he sampled her mouth with his lips, tongue and teeth.

As he kissed her, she wrapped herself around him and he carried her over to the water tap and hose. He set her down and pulled away from her. Smiling, he bent down to grab the hose.

Hers eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?” With a quick twist of his wrist he turned the tap and cold water burst out of the hose. He swung it around and aimed it right at her.

Laughing hard, she rushed him. Any other woman would’ve gone screaming the other way, to get out of the spray. But not Elise. No, she rushed headlong into the situation and tried to wrestle the hose from Gabriel.

Within minutes, they were both soaked and muddy and wrestling for control of the water on the ground. Gabriel felt twenty again and foolishly in love. He let go of the hose and rolled Elise onto her back, trapping her there with his body. She smiled up at him, her face streaked with mud, her hair a wild, tangled, golden mess. She was spectacular. There would never be another woman as amazing as she was in his life.

Lowering his head to hers, he softly brushed his lips against hers. On a sigh, she opened up for him and he deepened the kiss. Within seconds, they were kissing and tearing at each other’s clothes.

“Hurry,” she panted as he fumbled with the buttons of her shirt. “Just rip it.”

He did as she demanded and tore at the fabric of her shirt, ripping it in half and capturing her bare breasts with his mouth. He suckled on one nipple then the other, and then slowly trailed his tongue down her sternum to her navel. She giggled a little when he dipped the tip of his tongue in. She was ticklish there on her belly.

He loved her laugh, and her giggle was so sexy it drew shivers up and down his body. Nipping at her hip bones, he slid his thumbs into the band of her shorts and prepared to shuck them down her legs so he could indulge himself with other parts of her delicious body.

But before he could, her hands came on top of his head to still him. “Someone’s near the cottage,” she whispered.

He didn’t move. “Where?” he whispered so only she could hear him.

Her gaze moved past him over his right shoulder. “Along the side, just at the edge of the yard.”

“Can you tell who it is?”

She shook her head.

Releasing his hold on her pants, Gabriel slowly pulled up until he was on his hands and knees. Before Elise could even blink again, he was turning and sprinting for the side of the house.

The trespasser must’ve sensed him, because he was already running back across the yard toward the woods and the road. But he wasn’t fast enough.

Gabriel shifted in midrun. It took more effort and was ten times as painful as a regular shift, but he didn’t have time to stop and change. Within two minutes, his clothes shredded, he was on all four furry paws chasing after the vampire who had been in the woods the previous day. He could tell by his scent.

The vampire was fast, sprinting like an Olympic athlete across the grass. But as a wolf, Gabriel was impossible to outrun.

He bounded forward and came down, catching the man around his right leg with his claws. Gabriel brought him down to the ground with a low, angry growl. The vampire screamed and kicked out at Gabriel with his other leg. He caught the wolf in the side of the head, but Gabriel didn’t relinquish his hold. In fact, he dug in a little more, his claws puncturing the vampire’s pants and his flesh.

“Let me go, damn it!” the vampire yelled as he punched and scratched at the wolf’s face. The vampire’s hat flew off in the struggle.

Gabriel opened his jaws and bared his fangs.

The vampire hissed and bared his own.

But Gabriel’s were much bigger and sharper and could rip the guy’s arm off in one yank.

“Fine. I give up. You win.” The vampire lay back on the grass, baring his belly. It was an act of submission.

But Gabriel didn’t want to let go. In fact, he had a strong urge to rip this guy to shreds. An urge that rushed down his body, making every muscle twitch and flinch in response. He opened his mouth… .

“Stop.” It was Elise. She had obviously found a shirt and come running after them. Alongside him now, she stroked her hand down his body. He shivered in response. “Release him.”

Whining to show his displeasure, Gabriel pulled his claws from the vampire’s leg and shuffled backward, giving himself room to shift back.

“I suggest you stay still,” she said to the vampire.

Lucky for him, he did as he was told.

Shutting his eyes, Gabriel forced the shift through his body. After another couple of minutes, he was back in human form, shaking and covered in sweat.

He stood, but his legs shook. Elise reached out and steadied him. He nodded his thanks to her and then glared down at the fallen vampire.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Can we do this inside?” He gestured to the sun blazing down at them. “I’m getting a little hot.” Sweat was dripping down his forehead and off the end of his long nose.

“No, we’re not going to do this inside. We’re going to stay like this all day until you answer the damn questions,” Gabriel growled.

The vampire sat up and inspected the slash in his pants. “You ruined my leg.”

“You’re a vamp. You’ll heal. In an hour it will be like new again.”

The vampire adjusted his sunglasses and fiddled with the rip in his pants.

“Answer me, asshole. Or we’ll go another round.”

Sighing, the vampire said, “The name’s Rob, I work for the
Nouveau Monde Chronicle.
”

That was when Gabriel noticed the camera that had been flung about six feet away in the grass. He walked over to it and picked it up.

“You’re a reporter?” Elise asked.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“How did you find me?”

He smirked. “Funny coincidence actually. My cousin lives around here. She saw you at the market the other day and called me.”

Gabriel gestured with the camera. It was a nice one, expensive, with a telephoto lens. “Did you take a bunch of pictures?”

He nodded again. “Yeah, sorry. I couldn’t resist.” He gave them a wry smile.

Without comment, Gabriel crushed the camera with his hands, and flung the pieces in several different directions.

The vampire jumped to his feet, wobbled a little because of his injury. “Whoa, dude. That was a three-thousand-dollar camera.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

“You son of a—”

Gabriel took a step toward him. “I’d watch yourself, Rob. You were trespassing. That’s a criminal offense. I could arrest you right now.”

Rob put his hand up and took a wobbly step backward. “Hey, just chill, okay. I’m cool.”

“Did you tell anyone else that we were here?”

He shook his head. “No, man, once I got off the phone with my coz I jumped in my car and came here. I didn’t tell anyone else, I swear.”

Gabriel nodded. “Keep it that way. If I find out you’re lying I will find you. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah, I totally understand.”

“Now get the hell out of here.”

Rob, the vampire, turned and started his long walk toward the road. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “I could sue you, you know, for assault and destruction of property.”

“Yeah, you could try, but do you really want me to know where you live?”

Without another word, Rob continued his long walk.