Eternal Temptation (7 page)

Some part of her, a part that was surprisingly not driven by her sex hormones, told her she could help. It told her that his man needed her. It was probably a load of bull, and she was just drawn to him because he was sexy. But no, even thinking that felt wrong.

Darien Kategan did intrigue her like no other, but how often was it that someone met a total stranger and felt such a wild, magnetic pull towards them? Often, she thought, thinking of many quick Vegas weddings. This was different than that, real. He troubled and needed help. Her help.

With a cocky smile, Cassie turned around and put the jeans and t-shirts she’d picked up back on the shelf. Instead, she went and grabbed a flowery skirt that dropped just to her knees and a white button-down silk shirt. The thought of him ripping open her shirt eagerly totally had nothing to do with that decision.

She grabbed some flat shoes that would be comfortable for walking, too. She found a couple more skirts, shirts, and some cute panties to add to her cart. She
loved
cute panties. She pouted as she thought of her big, two-drawer filled dresser back at home—err home wasn’t quite the word she wanted to use for that
place. More like hell. Yeah, that fit much better.

Checking the time on the clock on the wall, she saw that she still had another thirty minutes. A happy thought came to her as she paid for her items. Her lykaen needed a gift. She spotted the perfect store out the window and marked that as her next location.

She grabbed her change from the young cashier and was practically skipping as she left the store. The sun was shining brightly in the clear sky and the whip of the wind was growing sharper, making her hair hit her face like soft slaps. She waited for traffic to pass and started to step out onto the street, but as she took her first step, the wind brought along a scent she was all too familiar with.

Cold fear lodged in her stomach, immobilizing her for several seconds as her mind tried to comprehend the danger. In slow motion, her head whipped to the left and caught sight of him.

Oh no.

She turned to the right and started running. It was like being in her dream and knee deep in mud though. No matter how hard she pumped her arms or kicked out her legs, she couldn’t move fast enough. She reached the top of the street and turned to look over her shoulder. He still stood where he’d been.
I can still get away.
The wind was in her favor, he couldn’t scent her like she did him.

Then his head turned and his eyes latched onto hers. His face contorted into a mask of rage, and then he shouted, the sound so loud, so terrifying the windows along the street vibrated and cracked.

Cassie cried out and kept running. He was coming. He was coming after her, and this wasn’t a dream. She had no time to stop and think, to figure out how he’d found this little town. Her only thought was of survival.

* * *

Cassie sprinted through the streets, turning left and right, without a clue as to where Darien was. The one thing she knew was that she had to find him.

Brick buildings flew past her as she ran, turning into a blur. She circled around, went down streets only to turn back up them again, anything to muddy up her scent—to spread it around so far he wouldn’t be able to track her.

She panted hard, completely out of breath and her sides were aching hard like a knife had taken up living between her ribs. She ground her teeth together and ignored it, had to.

There! She finally found his black truck parked out front a florist shop. She turned to go to it, but something caught her foot and she went flying down to the ground hard. She barely managed to keep her face from having the skin rubbed raw, but her hands and knees took the brunt of it anyways. She bit her lips to keep from crying out.
Don’t let him hear you.

Picking herself back up, she half-ran, half-wobbled to his truck. Her ankle was throbbing like a jackhammering pulse and her hands and knees burned hot. She sniffed and smelled blood. Looking down, she gasped at the sight of her blood coating her jeans around her knees. From her hands, blood splashed in drops down onto the concrete.

She had little time. He knew the scent of her blood better than his own. After all, he’d been using her for years.

Biting her lip to stifle a cry, she ran to Darien’s truck. The door to the florist chimed and she flinched hard, coming to a stop, expecting to see his cold face there.

Her heart soared at the sight of her lykaen--her Darien. His eyes shot to hers and took in everything at once. She rushed to him, but she didn’t need to. He met her and wrapped her in his big, strong arms.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“What’s wrong?” She could feel his head turning to look up and down the streets.

“We n-need to go n-now,” she said. Her fingers curled into his shirt, hanging on for dear life.

“Come on,” he said and quickly put her in the truck. He got into the driver’s side with a speed that had his lykaen glowing in his eyes. “Now tell me what’s going on,” he demanded.

Her head shook to match the trembling in her body. She was shaking like a damned leaf in the wind. Her eyes darted everywhere, looking for him.

“We need to go
now.
” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. Now her teeth were chattering like she was sitting in a pool of ice water. Her hands burned and her knees hurt, yet none of that mattered to her. “Go now,” she said between chattering teeth.

Sighing hard, he started the car, and sped off. Cassie ducked down in the seat, and she pretended that Darien wasn’t completely noticing the move.

“When we get back you’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on, Cassandra.” She winced at the use of her full name. She didn’t release her grip on the seat until they were out of town. Slowly she sat up and looked in the side view mirror. A part of her was afraid that he’d be right behind her sprinting to catch up to the car or burning rubber in his own.

She sighed and slumped back in her seat. Finally her heart had a chance to slow to a normal speed. Now that her body was returning to a semi-normal state she got to feel the full force of the burning pain in her hands and knees. And she had to deal with the lykaen next to her.

Darien gripped the steering wheel like he was trying to meld with it. His lips were pulled hard and flat in anger, and barely restrained fury radiated off him in waves. Suddenly she had the urge to tell him sorry and cry. She couldn’t stay with him any longer.

He’d already found her. It was only a matter of time now. If something happened to her lykaen, she’d...

“God dammit, tell me what happened.” Hearing his deep voice raised in anger made her want to plaster herself to the far window. This was not a man she wanted to see angry, especially at her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered raggedly. If anything her words managed to make him look angrier. He formed a fist with his big hand and slammed it into the dashboard. She flinched and drew her knees up to her stomach, wrapping her arms around herself. She wanted nothing more than a hole in the earth to open up and swallow her up.

She heard his ragged sigh. “Don’t be afraid of me, Cassie. I’m sorry. I lost it for a second, but I’m fine now.” Cassie chanced a watery peek at him and saw that his grip was slightly more relaxed on the steering wheel and his nostrils weren’t flaring angrily.

A cold knot was fixed in her chest and wouldn’t go away. “I am sorry.”

“I know, honey. Listen I’m not mad at you. I just smelled your blood and... Sometimes the beast comes up whether you want it to or not.”

Cassie blinked; she hadn’t even thought about that. He called her honey, and boy did he make her feel like honey. With that one word, he melted her from the inside out until she was scooting across the seat and leaning her tired head against him. She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling as if she hadn’t slept in a week.

She wondered if he’d push her away, when he started to move she pulled back. He didn’t. He wrapped his big warm arm around her. He tucked her against him like a big blanket and she sighed, snuggling close to him. The rocking motion of the truck and the safety of his arms were too much and soon heavy sleep drifted over her.

Chapter 6

Cassie came awake with a start.

When had she gotten to the cabin? The last thing she remembered was falling asleep against Darien. She looked down and saw that Darien had tucked her in, even going so far as to pull the covers up over her. Her heart filled up like a balloon. She had to take a deep breath to keep from doing something stupid like ask him to mate with her. Or at least be her boyfriend.

She took stock of her body with a grimace. Her hands looked like ground up meat, but he must have cleaned them for her because there was no longer any gravel in them. And... her jeans were gone. Her eyes widened and then a slow grin formed on her face. He cleaned her knees and left her in her panties. Did he like what he saw? Did he struggle over the job? Her ego could only hope.

“Darien?” she called out hesitantly. Nerves had her walking on tiptoe around the cabin. She stuck her head out the front door but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. A horrible thought hit her like a sledgehammer to the gut. What if Daniel got him? What if he found her out here?

Quickly, she pulled on her jeans and ran barefoot out the front door. She spun around in a circle but didn’t see anything. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest it was the only sound she could hear. She stopped turning and opened her senses. She found Darien’s scent and locked on to it. Her eyes snapped open and she took off after the smell of raw, lykaen man.

She would fight for him. She would sacrifice herself for him.
Just don’t let Daniel find him.

The further she ran, the closer the smell became. She thanked God she didn’t smell blood. She broke past a tree and came to a cold stop.

Several emotions flitted through her: surprise, relief, sadness. Darien knelt before a gravestone with a beautiful, incredibly full bouquet of flowers. She realized then that when she’d run to him in town, he’d had them in his hand when he came out of the florist shop, but she hadn’t even noticed. Now she realized, and she felt horribly rude and intrusive.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to...I—” she fumbled for the right words. Something that wouldn’t involve her spilling her secret about Daniel. Thinking of none she finally settled with, “You were gone when I woke up, and I was worried.”

He nodded at her and motioned with his head for her to come closer. She didn’t want to. This place was filled with sadness, the same deep sadness that he held so closely wrapped around him. And this gravestone, this place, was the reason for it all.

But what about helping him? If she wanted to help him, and she wanted to so very much, then she must be strong for him. A part of her longed to see this lykaen whole. It would be an amazing sight.

She sat next to him and looked at the gravestone. The gravestone was smooth marble. The front had a glossy finish and not one but two names were on it. A lump formed in her throat as she read the words: Dana Carrow and Renee Carrow. Below the names were the years. Her brow furrowed as she read the date under Renee’s name. It said simply: 2008.

The stone was cleared off any leaves or twigs that might have fallen on it. It looked almost brand new. She looked over at Darien, unsure what she would see in his face because this place obviously meant so much to him.

She stifled a cry at what she saw there. Raw pain. Agony. This man had suffered something terrible and had never gotten past it. The pain looked as fresh as if he’d just buried whoever laid here.

She stayed quietly as his side, hoping, waiting, for him to say something.

He pulled the plastic wrap away from the flowers and gently spread them across the front of the stone like an offering. Cassie’s heart was breaking watching the gentle reverence with which he touched the white flowers and then the headstone. Finally he rested his forehead to the marble as if in prayer.

Cassie swallowed hard at witnessing this strong, lykaen man in such pain. Who could have cause this much grief in him? His mate? His child? She wanted to cry out for him.

The sound of his voice startled her. “I met Dana at a bar. That night the bar was packed full and everyone was into their drinks. Except her. I remember the song playing on the jukebox was
Behind Blue Eyes
. When I first saw her I thought she looked so lonely, not even a smile on her face, sitting all by herself. I had to talk to her.”

He laughed a little; the sound raw in his throat. “I asked her out to dinner and she kept refusing me. She always said I was too this and too that. It took a few weeks but I finally convinced her. That night on our first date she admitted she was pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s baby. I didn’t care. I still don’t. I just liked her. She made me feel good and whole. We moved in together and had eight months together. Then in one night it all stopped.”

Cassie couldn’t hide the tears shining in her eyes. She shook with the need to put an arm around him and hug him. But she was afraid he’d shake her off with how raw he was. Right now she knew she was learning more about this man than most people had a clue to.

“We were gonna name the baby Renee after my mother. Nature’s a real son of a bitch sometimes. It gives and gives, then snatches away those that are precious to you in a matter of hours.”