Living Nightmare (5 page)

He’d intended to help her from afar, protecting her from himself, but now she was here, close enough to touch, looking at him with trust shining in her blue eyes.

She had no idea how close he was to becoming a monster.

Nika put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as she jumped out of the truck. Against his will, Madoc’s hands went to her waist, lifting her down. Through the leather and the thick bulk of her sweater, he imagined he could feel the curve of her waist. It was a trick of the mind, since he knew damn well Nika had no curves. She was skin and bones, though her face had seemed to soften a bit since he’d last seen her months ago. There was a fullness to her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. With Nika covered by all those layers of clothes, Madoc could almost pretend she was a normal woman instead of a gaunt, frail thing he could break without even trying.

His fingers tightened around her waist and she looked up at him. “When we’re done here, I want to go back and finish what I started.”

Madoc watched her mouth move, mesmerized by the curve of her bottom lip. Was it fuller, too, or had he just imagined it? Maybe if he kissed her he’d be able to tell.

“You’ll help me, won’t you?” she asked.

Finally, the words sank in. There was no way in hell he was letting her go back to that graveyard, but if he told her that,she’d just try to find a way to go back without him.And that was going to happen only over his rotting corpse.

“We’ll see,” he said. “Let Connal tend to you first; then we’ll talk.”

“I don’t want him to touch me.”

“I know. Neither do I, but you know you can’t go around bleeding.”

A voice rose up from the darkness near the house. “No, she can’t,” said Connal. “Bring her in before we have a swarm on our hands.”

He moved his hands from Nika, but the lack of contact had him squirming. He wanted to reach out and touch her again, but knew better. The less contact he had, the better it would be for her.

Nika let out a discontented sigh and followed Connal inside the house. “Let’s get this over with.”

Madoc went inside and shut the door. The living room was furnished simply, with a couch and one recliner. Everything was a mix of neutral colors that kind of faded into blah.

Connal motioned to the couch for Nika to sit.

The Sanguinar was shorter than most, and probably weighed only half as much as Madoc. He had a baby face, making him look like he should be in college partying with his frat buddies. His hair fell over his forehead in a stylish swoop, and, like all the Sanguinar, his face was unearthily beautiful.

Nika hardly seemed to notice, unlike most women, who simply stood and stared as soon as one of the Sanguinar walked into a room.

Fortunately, that meant Madoc didn’t have to kill him when this was over.

“Take off your coat and sit down,” said Connal. Nika hesitated for a moment, before she relented and shed Madoc’s heavy jacket. Beneath that was a bulky sweater that fell partway over her hands, so she pulled that off, too, leaving her wearing only a thin, snug shirt.

Madoc froze in place, staring at her.

Gone was the frail girl he remembered, and in her place was a healthy, curvy woman. She was still thin, but her body had filled out, giving her breasts and hips a fullness that had been absent before. She no longer looked quite so breakable. Sure, he knew he could still hurt her, but it wasn’t like before. She wasn’t frail.

She was gorgeous. Perfect.

Madoc had stared so long without blinking that his eyes had dried out. Beneath the fly of his jeans he felt his cock swell, and his fingers clenched into fists to keep from reaching for her.

Connal looked from Nika to Madoc and back again. “You look like you’re seeing a ghost.”

Nika’s mouth lifted in a knowing smile. “No, he’s used to seeing a ghost and now he’s seeing the real person again.”

“You’re better,” said Madoc, his voice a reverent whisper.

“I told you I was. You didn’t listen.”

Madoc’s hands itched to reach out and slide over her body. He wanted to feel the slender curve of her hip, follow it up to the hollow of her waist, and continue on until her breasts filled his palms.

Her nipples beaded up, pressing against the thin cotton of her shirt as if she knew what he’d been thinking. Of course, his stare had probably given him away.

Connal cleared his throat. “I suggest we get moving here. Clearly, you two have things to discuss.”

“We do,” said Nika. Then she sat down and offered Connal her injured hand, dismissing Madoc.

The leech took her hand in his. Madoc gritted his teeth and planted his feet on the beige carpet, refusing to move. If he did, he’d draw his blade and use it to slice off Connal’s head for daring to touch her. It didn’t matter that he’d wanted this—that he’d brought Nika here so the Sanguinar could heal her. The only thing that mattered was the fact that another man was touching her.

After poking her skin for a moment, Connal looked up at Madoc with disgust plain on his face. “You pulled me from my work to deal with this? She’s not even bleeding anymore.”

“Told you,” said Nika.

“She was bleeding.”

Connal rose from the couch. “It was just a scratch. Next time, don’t call me unless someone’s lost a limb. Understand?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Leaving Nika and Madoc alone.

The pain inside Madoc’s head had been building all night. Killing those sgath had released some of the pressure, but not nearly enough. He needed to be back out there, killing and fucking so the pain wouldn’t eat him alive.

“Time to go,” he said.

“That depends on whether you’re taking me back to the cemetery.”

“I’m taking you back to Dabyr.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, which pressed her breasts together, pushing them up toward him as if she were offering them to him.

Madoc’s mouth watered at the temptation.

“Why?” she asked. “You know I’ll just leave again as soon as your back is turned.”

“Joseph will keep a better watch over you this time. I’ll make sure of it.”

“I’m not a child. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Apparently, you do.”

“Just let me finish digging up those bones and I’ll go back quietly.”

If he did that, then he’d have to drive her back to the cemetery and spend the rest of the night shoveling dirt when he really needed to be killing something. “You can talk to Andra about that when we get home.”

“Andra is never home. She’s been chasing missing children in Illinois for the last two weeks. Besides, Andra is not my keeper. I’m an adult. I get to decide what I want to do.”

“I think you’ve shown just how intelligent your independent decisions are.”

“I’m doing the right thing.”

“Fine. Then do it with someone else. I’ve got places to be.”

“Go, then.”

“And leave you here alone?”

“I’ll be fine. There’s a main road not far—I was paying attention on the way here. I’m sure someone will stop and give me a ride.”

“You want to
hitchhike
?”

She lifted a slim shoulder. “Why not? I’ve never done it before, and after all those years in the hospital, I have a lot of living to catch up on.”

“That’s it. I’m done with this. I’m having Joseph send someone to come get you.” He pulled his cell phone from his belt and dialed Joseph. Before it could ring even once, Nika shot toward him, grabbed the phone, and raced into the kitchen.

Madoc was so shocked it took him a second to react. By the time he chased her into the kitchen, she’d already shoved the phone into the garbage disposal and flipped on the switch.

A horrible whining, grinding sound rattled the sink.

Nika stood there with a smugly pleased look on her face.

Madoc looked from her to the sink and back again. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“I’m tired of having people dictate what I can and can’t do. I don’t need Joseph’s approval for anything. Or yours.”

She was taunting him. Maybe she didn’t mean to, but she was.

Madoc stepped forward, letting the rage that always bubbled below the surface show in his face. He wasn’t going to wear his civilized mask with her—not if she was going to taunt the beast.

The garbage disposal stopped, then buzzed angrily for a moment before it fell silent.

Nika stood her ground, but some of the color in her face drained away as she watched him get nearer.

“You’re getting dangerously close to pissing me off,” he warned.

Her chin went up an inch. “You don’t scare me.”

“No? Guess that just proves how soft in the head you really are, then.”

“You’re big and tough and mean, but you won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that.” Hell, even he didn’t know if he would continue to hold on to his control.

“I do. You and I are connected the way Paul and Andra are. I don’t understand exactly how to reach you yet, but if you killed me, you’d be killing yourself, too.”

Madoc refused to let his eyes move to the luceria ring on his left hand. He knew what he’d see. There wouldn’t be any swirl of color showing him that Nika and he were compatible—that she could tap into the vast pool of devastating power he housed within himself. There would be no movement, no subtle hum like a tuning fork after it was struck. His luceria was nearly dead, just like his soul. The colors that had lain within it for centuries, waiting for the time when a female Theronai would awaken them, had faded almost completely. The pale, nearly white band would look as it had for the last year. There was no sense in fooling himself that Nika had changed that.

She couldn’t be his. She couldn’t save him, no matter how much he wished otherwise.

If he didn’t get away from her soon, he was going to forget himself and decide he didn’t care that Nika would doubtless belong to another man any day now. Dozens of Theronai had been flying in from overseas, hoping she was their miracle.

So far, the right man hadn’t yet shown up, but he would soon. Madoc needed to remember that. Keep his distance. She wasn’t a convenient fuck. He had whores for that. Nika was to be protected, even from himself.

“We’re leaving,” he told her. The sooner he unloaded her onto someone else, the better. “Get in the truck.”

“No.”

That single word froze Madoc in place. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m not going anywhere with you. Your phone is dead, so you’re not calling anyone to come babysit me, which means you’re stuck with me. Deal with it.”

“Did you seriously just tell me to
deal with it
?”

“I did.”

Madoc was done playing. The pain inside him was building, and without an outlet, he’d be crumpled in a sobbing heap by morning. He couldn’t let Nika see that.

“Get in the truck. I’ll find a phone and call someone to dig up the fucking grave, okay?”

“No. I don’t believe you.”

“Get in the damn truck, Nika.” The warning was clear in his tone. He stepped forward, intending to crowd her personal space and intimidate her, but she didn’t back down.

She tipped her chin up and warned him, “You come any closer and I’m going to kiss you.”

Hell, no. That was not going to happen. Not even if he lived long enough to watch the sun wink out.

If she kissed him, he’d fuck her. If he did that, he’d hurt her. He wasn’t exactly a gentle man when it came to sex. And if he hurt her, then the last, tiny sliver of his soul would shrivel up and die and he’d end up killing the people he was supposed to protect.

Nika eased away from the sink, moving toward him. Her body moved with sinuous grace, and for a moment, he forgot completely about how fragile she’d been only a few months ago. All he saw was the woman she was now—whole, seemingly healthy, and sexy as hell.

“Is that what you want, Madoc?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Do you want me to kiss you? ’Cause it’s what I want. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Especially when I go to bed. I keep wishing you were with me.Touching me. Sometimes I touch myself and pretend it’s you.”

Madoc’s brain sputtered, spinning around the image that created. Nika in bed, naked, with his hands the only thing to cover her. Would she shy away from him or arch into his touch? Would she tell him what she liked, or would he have the fun of figuring it out on his own?

Her hands slid over his chest, up around his neck. The slide of her fingers over the luceria around his throat made his body clench. He held his breath, waiting for his luceria to react to her touch, but nothing happened. She wasn’t meant to be his.

A wave of heat washed through him, and it was all he could do to keep his hands fisted at his sides and not pull her against him. As much as he wanted to press his erection into the softness of her belly, he knew what a mistake that would be.

It would only make him want more of what he would never have.

Her lips parted and she went up on tiptoe as if to kiss him.

Panic flared in his gut and he lurched away from her, knocking her off balance. She caught herself on the counter and stared up at him with hurt shining in her blue eyes.

“You win,” he whispered, unable to find enough air for anything else. “I’ll dig up your bones. Anything you want, just don’t . . . touch me again.”

Nika nodded her understanding and turned away, but not before he saw her blinking back tears.

He’d fucking hurt her feelings, but at least he hadn’t done worse. Yet.

 

Tori Madison heard the footsteps coming down the tunnel toward the cage where she was kept prisoner. She had no idea how long she’d been here. In fact, most of the time, it seemed like her life before the darkness was a dream—something she made up to keep herself from going crazy.

If it weren’t for the touch of her sister inside her mind, Tori knew she would have died a long time ago. Nika’s gentle presence whispering inside her was the only thing Tori had to live for.