Ever Tempted (2 page)

More bone and muscle grating.

Stop that, dammit.

Standing on the chair, I unscrewed a vent cover and took it down. Dust bunnies floated down. Spitting and cursing, I put the phone on the other side of the filter. I wiped my hands on my pants, pulled the chair back to its former post, and nodded with satisfaction.

I’d need to feed soon, but it wouldn’t be safe until nightfall. Maybe if I could get the animal on a schedule, train him in a sense, I might get better control of him during heightened moments of emotion.

Rolling into the dip of the sagging mattress, I lay back and rested my eyes. On the back of my eyelids, Allie reappeared, beckoning me in another dark setting. Vexed, I clenched my eyes until they hurt.

The ceiling rattled and through the vent, my phone flashed.

I jerked up.

What if something had gone wrong? What if it was Thomas calling to say Allie had left?

Tangled in the sheets, I fell off the end of the bed, catching my toe on the bed rail. I limped to the chair, and jerked it into place under the vent.

The pain in my toe sobered me. Screws holding the vent cover in place served a purpose more than fixating on the piece of metal. They kept my sanity intact too. The difficulty of getting to the phone gave me just the right amount of time to rethink calling her.

I’d feel it in my soul, if something were wrong.

Thomas knew my room number and would have called me if there was something I needed to be informed of.

So the call was probably Allie. Mad. Dejected.

Covering my ears, I sat in the chair, each incessant ring of the phone pulsating in my head. When it finally stopped and told me I had a new voicemail, I sank back.

Why I hadn’t turned it off before I put it up there?

Thinking clearly would be touch and go for the next few days or weeks. I couldn’t consider that amount of time, so I focused on today. I had waited over a hundred and twenty years to finally allow myself to touch her. It was just a few days.

What is wrong with you, man?

You’re in love.

No. This is worse.

It’s finally being reciprocated, and you don’t know what to do with yourself.

Stark raving mad is what it had made me.

By the time I got back to her, I’d be about as sane as Grace, Allie’s deranged sister from her first life. When you talked to yourself and answered in full conversation, that was a sure fire sign of impending insanity.

Having the animal in check would do me no good if I was crazy. And it was only the morning of day one.

Sitting alone in this room, pining away over her for two weeks, would be counterproductive. To save me from myself, I would have to be active. I needed to get my mind straight and be in places where every second wasn’t the misery of Allie tempting me beyond my limits. I needed a balance between her and my primal instinct.

I also needed food and lots of it, so if I couldn’t hunt, I’d have to go human and eat the way they did. The way I would be able to, if I could reintegrate myself into the human world.

* * * *

A nearby diner on a lightly traveled road looked inviting enough. I slid into the darkest booth in the back corner of the restaurant. A white and black sign on the wall near the entrance boasted a 93.5 sanitation grade. It wasn’t the highest I’d ever seen, but it was better than what I was used to in the forest.

Dining at The Greasy Spoon had to be healthier than feasting on dead animal flesh on the floor of dirt, pine needles, and bugs.

“A meat-only omelet, I don’t care what kind you throw in. Surprise me. A waffle, hash browns, and a gravy biscuit.” I handed the menu back to the attractive waitress and stared out the window.

I would have to consume an enormous amount of food to sustain my ever-increasing metabolism, and today I would indulge in excess to keep up the energy my will power would need.

The waitress brought the load of food balanced on each arm and set the plates down with ease. Her nametag read Sage.

Sage had long brown hair and a sweet smile, but the interested perk in her brow would have to be vanquished.

“All this for you?” Her flirty tone curdled my stomach.

I hated to dash young girl’s hopes, and for some reason, I had to do it a lot. I had a decent structure for a guy, I supposed, but I wasn’t much better looking than the upper half of the male population. Maybe it was some animalistic attraction the women couldn’t overcome.

“Um, yeah. I don’t know where I put it, either.” I tried to sound dismissive.

She leaned on the opposing seat with one knee.

I dipped my head and focused on lightly salting the buffet before me.

“So, you can seriously eat all that? What do you do to burn it off?” She gave me an appreciative grin and a onceover.

“Triathlons and long distance swimming.” I took a sip of water. If my mouth was full, maybe she wouldn’t expect me to talk.

“If you’d like some assistance with that, let me know. We stay in the same place. I saw you this morning when I left for work.” She slipped into the booth across from me.

So she was at the Starlight Motel too. Great. Another woman to hide from.

Unbothered by my silence, she continued. “I rent by the week. I’ve been staying there since I got this hole in the wall job. I go to school nearby, and my family isn’t the most supportive. Will you be staying long?”

“Not long. A business trip.” Lies had become my life.

“Really. I can’t imagine your girlfriend would let you go anywhere alone.” She ignored my obvious disinterest.

“She had no choice.” I picked up my fork. “You have ketchup anywhere in this joint?”

“Sure. And if you need anything else, you know where I am.” She gave me a quick flirty smirk and turned to fetch the ketchup. Finally. But her thoughts did exactly the opposite of flattery.
“The things I’d do to him, given the chance.”

Scraping the food into a pile, I shook my head. That’s why I stayed on a remote property in the country. Other than the fact that being there created a sense of closeness with Annabeth. It kept me from having to face the normal male stresses.

Staring out the window, I dodged the girl’s unwanted affections for the rest of the meal. Dust rustled up behind a car outside.

A happy couple holding hands entered the establishment. After choosing a seat nearby, they absorbed themselves in cheerful conversation and leaned close to each other.

They could show their affection without the threat of a bloody murder scene. Must be nice.

I finished off the food and paid for my bill, leaving an unusually scant tip. It was still more than what most customers would have left her, but a larger tip might lead her on.

A mall nearby held all the shops I could ever need for my two-week stay. With a bag of only the bare essentials, I fled the mall because every store had something that either looked like it would look great on or off Allie.

Shutting the real world away behind the ratty hotel room door, I leaned against it. Maybe the waitress wasn’t off work yet. I could only hope.

The room phone rang as soon as I put my bags on the long scratched dresser.

The night before, Thomas had promised he would check in.

“For a recluse locked in a room, you sure haven’t been in today.” His voice bordered irritation.

“I’ve been out getting supplies. And as much as I thought being by myself in a motel would help me, it’s done very little. But it is day one.” I sat on the bed beside the phone. Not sure if I wanted to know, I took a chance on the next question. “So how irate is she?”

“She’s better than I thought she’d be.” Thomas cleared his throat and made a funny noise.

“Is she extremely mad, or is she just sort of mad but understands?” Dreading the answer, I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“I wouldn’t say she’s angry, just frustrated and on the verge of driving us all nuts with questions. I think she ran a rut into the marble between the windows overlooking the driveway in the vestibule and the rear entrance of the house facing your cottage.” Thomas chuckled. “But she’s definitely not without spunk. You’re going to have to get home soon.”

“I don’t know how soon I can come, Uncle. I have to keep some distance between us for a bit longer. I want to be sure I’m safe for her to be around before I come. Please do your best to make her understand.” I leaned back against the headboard and pulled my feet up onto the bed, shoes and all. It wasn’t like my lounging on the comforter could do it anymore damage.

“If she demands to know your exact location, how should I respond?”

“Honestly, you don’t know my exact location. And you can’t give her the phone number because if you don’t let it ring once, hang up and call back, then I won’t answer.” New determination I’d gained from staying away for even one day made me feel a little stronger.

“I’m proud of you, Son. It takes a true man to back away like this. I can say she’s never looked prettier since the threat of Grace has been diminished. She’s got a new glow. Even when she’s frustrated with you.”

“Don’t stroke my ego too much. I can’t promise you won’t find me on the doorstep in an hour or less. Every second is touch and go. I never had this much problem staying away from her in any other life.” Even hearing about how gorgeous she was gave me the uncontrollable urge to touch her soft cheeks and kiss her stubborn chin. I tried not to crush the phone with a bear’s grip.

“You also never had the chance to be with her without Grace’s involvement in any other life. You focus on the job at hand, and I’ll keep everything under control here. At least as much as possible. This woman is a force to be reckoned with. Once she has her mind set on something, it’s hard to knock her off course.” Thomas sighed.

I tried to slow my breathing. “I’m sorry I’ve put you in this predicament. But you know as well as I do that I can’t be around her. She’s shed blood more than she ever has in all her lives in one month there.”

“Since I first heard your voice on the line, I’ve been trying to figure out how to clue you in on some of the current events around here without sending you right back in Allie’s direction, but there’s something you might need to be made aware of.” Thomas cleared his throat. A bustling in the room behind him and a barrage of women’s voices interrupted us. “I’ll talk to you later. I appreciate your help. No. I don’t think I’ll need any more lumber. We’ll call if we need further supplies. Thank you.”

The phone went silent. Just like that. And I had to sit fifty miles away, in a remote torture chamber the owners hoped to pass for a top quality overnight stay and wonder why the hell Allie would need lumber. Was she building her own house away from me? Was she changing some part of the property?

I almost called Thomas back, but then if Allie was anywhere near him…

I could hear her voice.

I could talk to her for just a second.

No, the hell I could.

I had to stop this.

She wouldn’t change anything on the property for the worse.

And she wouldn’t build her own home with thoughts of leaving me after only one day in my absence.

Feeling nauseated, I put my head between my knees. The indoor-outdoor carpet was so dirty I couldn’t tell what color it had been.

My cell beeped and vibrated.

I stood on the chair. Disregarding the screws, I tore the vent cover from the ceiling.

Covered in dust, my phone vibrated.

“Be home before June twenty-sixth,” Thomas had texted.

I lost my balance on the rickety chair and almost fell on the floor. I never lost my balance. I could pounce on a wild deer from twenty feet away, for God's sake. My heart slammed against my chest.

The text told me no more than I’d known before other than now I had a time limit to my impending coronary attack. Of course she was leaving. I had killed her and without the amazing CPR abilities of Kaitlyn and Shelby—telepathic twins Ava had hired in the guise of being housekeepers—she would still be dead. What good, respectable girl would stick around for a dangerous guy with a psychotic ghost stalker to get his shit together?

A night’s sleep had brought her to her senses. That had to be it.

I dropped the phone on the bed. The veins in my wrist pulsated and the bones began to ache.

I couldn’t lose her again.

I called Kaitlyn.

I could depend on her to get a message to Allie better than I could Shelby. Shelby had been so angry with me for leaving, she wouldn’t talk to me before I left and now wouldn’t answer my phone calls or texts.

Kaitlyn had hugged me. She acted less on impulse than her sister.

“Hello, John.” Kaitlyn’s voice was tense.

“Why are you calling me John? Is Allie nearby?” My hands shook harder. Holding the phone was difficult.

“I’m glad you got back to me so soon. I need you to do something for me. Make sure what we talked about happens before June twenty-sixth. You’ll need to be here.”

“Why is everyone talking in code? I knew I shouldn’t have left. What the hell is going on over there?” I wanted to slam the phone against the wall. Composure. Get it under control. “Will you let your boss know that if she tries to leave, I have great tracking skills?”

“Yes. And I do realize it’s short notice, but if you want to keep your position, you’d better see to it that you’re here. With the supplies I ordered, of course.” Kaitlyn hung up.

I texted her. “What supplies? Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on? Is she going to leave if I’m not there by that time? You of all people should know I might not be able to be back that soon.”

“You’ll do what it takes to get the job done. I have faith in you.” And that was the end of her communication.

I texted various times, but she wouldn’t answer.

I couldn’t deny the shaking, nausea, grating and stretching any longer.

The motel had been the only one near a forest within a fifty-mile radius, which is why I’d chosen it. Giving in to the sting of the bones stretching and popping, I staggered to the woods behind my room before the full change took place.

Searing knives sliced through my muscles. Torturous reformation of my bones took me to the ground. Needles of black hair stabbed through my skin and sprouted into a full thick coat.