Longed-For Hunger (11 page)

wasn’t getting any younger. Thinking of why he was late brought a smile to his face. Sleeping with Nyx in his arms was something he would gladly give up a night of hunting the undead for any day. Very soon, he intended to make sure he slept with her like that every night.

* * * * *

Sek moved out of the shadows and watched Denger run down the sidewalk. Well, well. He hadn’t expected that. From his hidden vantage point he had watched the whole scene take place—Denger coming out of the apartment building, the mortal woman following closely behind him and her watching him take out an undead. Then horror-stricken, she’d run back inside the building without Denger even knowing she was there. The woman was exactly what he’d been waiting to discover. Obviously she meant something to the warrior. She had to be who Denger had been with inside the apartment building.

Sek gazed up at the converted warehouse when a flash of light appeared in one of the upper floor windows. The woman stood in the middle of it holding onto either side of the drapes she’d just opened and looked down at the street. After a few seconds, she snapped them closed once again.

He now had what he needed to hurt Denger where it counted. The warrior must have found his mate, just as Mehen and Set had. Walking away, Sek had an evil smile on his lips. The warrior’s woman would be the tool to take him down, permanently. Now all Sek had to do was wait for the right time to make his move.

* * * * *

Returning to his quarters after having had his breakfast the next morning, Denger closed the door behind him and took his cell phone off the dresser. He scrolled through his saved numbers until he got to Nyx’s then hit call.

The phone rang and rang until her answering machine picked up. Thinking she just couldn’t get to the phone right then, he said, “Hi, Nyx, it’s me. I must have caught you 83

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in the shower or something. Give me a call when you get this message.” He told her his cell phone number and hung up.

When a half hour went by and Nyx still hadn’t called him back, Denger phoned her again. Same as the first time he’d called, it rang until her answering machine picked up. Denger hung up without leaving a message.

He stared at his cell phone as if he could look right through it into Nyx’s apartment. Her not answering didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t have the feeling she was in any kind of trouble. No, it was something else that started to nag at him.
Could Nyx be giving me the brush-off?

Denger didn’t want to think that was possible. Yesterday, she’d been just as desperate for him as he had been for her. And what she’d done to him after they had gotten back to her apartment—his cock throbbed with the remembrance of her mouth closing around it. Maybe something had come up and she hadn’t had time to call him and let him know.

That had to be the answer. He refused to think it could be anything but that. He’d just have to keep trying. She’d said she had to leave for work around noon. Hopefully she would return to her apartment before she left for the bookstore. When the minutes turned into a half hour and then a full hour and Nyx still didn’t answer after he tried calling a third time, Denger started to feel like a caged animal as he paced inside his quarters. Needing something to take his mind off not being able to get ahold of Nyx, he grabbed his sword and headed for the old part of the warehouse they hadn’t converted into living space.

On the way there he passed the small temple they’d built for Ra. Denger paused at the entrance, thinking about asking the sun god if he knew what was up with Nyx, but he shook his head and moved on. Ra had better things to do than snoop on a mortal for no other reason than to make one of his warriors feel less out of sorts. Reaching the old warehouse, he saw Kysen was already there with his sword. The other warrior smiled at Denger. “You look as if you could use a good thrashing.”

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Denger snorted. “Hardly. I think it should be me giving you the thrashing since you had so much fun riding my ass about being late last night.”

Kysen smiled. “I have to admit that I never thought I would see the day where a mere woman would make the mighty Denger forget about his favorite pastime—taking out the undead.”

Pulling his sword out of its scabbard, Denger walked to Kysen. “Nyx is no mere woman. She’s my mate. So watch what you say about her or I’ll have to wipe the floor with you.”

“You can always try.”

Kysen swung at Denger’s head. He easily blocked it with his own sword and took a swipe at Kysen. They soon got into the easy rhythm of block and parry. As always, whenever he had his sword in his hand, Denger found himself only focusing on the pull of his muscles as he swung it and the strikes of his opponent. All else seemed to fall away.

“Hey, dumbasses,” Akori shouted from the door that connected the old warehouse to the living quarters. “Blythe wants to know if you’ll be ready to eat lunch soon. Her exact words were, ‘I will not feed you if you come to her kitchen smelling like sweaty pigs’.”

Denger lowered his sword and turned toward Akori. “What time is it? It can’t almost be lunch time.”

“It’s five to twelve,” Akori said.

With a loud string of curses in their native language, Denger sheathed his sword and whipped out his cell phone. When Nyx’s end started to ring, he said under his breath, “Be there. Pick up.” He swore again when he got her answering machine. “Shit. I’ll have to go see her at her work and apologize.”

He crossed the warehouse and brushed past Akori who then fell into step behind him with Kysen hard on his heels. “Were you supposed to go see Nyx?” Akori asked. 85

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“Yes, damn it.”

Akori laughed. “I’m sure she won’t be mad at you for standing her up. Much.”

Denger turned on Akori. “I’m glad you can find yourself able to laugh at my expense. Just wait until it’s your turn and you’ve found your mate.”

Visibly blanching, Akori said, “Now that was a low blow. You know if I ever find the woman who is supposed to be my mate I’ll run in the opposite direction as fast as my legs will carry me.”

Thinking of how strong a pull Nyx had on him, it was Denger’s turn to burst out laughing. “You won’t stand a chance of escaping your fate, Akori. Ra has decreed we all will find our mates. What Ra decrees always comes to pass. So you’re basically screwed.”

Akori scowled. “Aren’t you late or something?”

Having reached his quarters, Denger shook his head at Akori while he and Kysen continued down the hall without him. He went inside and headed for the bathroom. He’d take a quick shower then go to the bookstore. He could only hope that Nyx wouldn’t be too pissed off that he hadn’t shown up.

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Chapter Eleven

When Nyx arrived at the bookstore, she immediately went in search of Janet. She found her at one of the bookshelves close to the back of the store. The smile her friend gave her when she first spotted her faded. Nyx knew what Janet saw. She’d seen what a sleepless night had done to her face when she’d looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror that morning.

“You look like hell, Nyx,” Janet said with concern. “When I told you to take Saturday off, I thought you would have enjoyed your weekend with Denger. What happened? Did he stand you up?”

“No. I spent Saturday with him as planned, and most of Sunday.”

“For someone who spent that much time with her new hottie, you don’t look like a woman who enjoyed herself. Did you sleep with him and he turned out to be crappy in bed?”

Her cheeks heated with a blush. “No, it wasn’t that.” She had nothing to complain about where Denger’s skills in bed were concerned. She just had a problem with him being a homicidal killer. Not that she was going to tell Janet that. Janet gave her a knowing smile. “So he knocked your socks off. Then why do you look as if you’ve been to hell and back?”

“It’s not something I really want to get into. Just do me a favor. If Denger happens to show up, tell him I’m not here.”

Janet frowned. “Let me get this straight. You’re going to hide from the man who gave you great sex and you want me to lie to him?”

“Please, Janet. Just do this for me. All right?”

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After she searched Nyx’s face, Janet nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it. I don’t understand why you want me to, but I’ll do it. It’s not about you feeling guilty about sleeping with him? You can’t let the memory of Derek come between you and the next man in your life.”

“It’s not that. I know Derek wouldn’t want that. Why I don’t want to see Denger anymore has nothing to do with Derek.”

“I won’t push,” Janet said. “Like I said, I still don’t understand but I’ll do it.”

“Thanks. Hopefully Denger will take the hint the first time and you won’t have to do it again.”

Janet waved what Nyx had said away. “Don’t worry about it. Why don’t you work at the front of the store so you can keep an eye out for him in case he does show up?”

With a nod, Nyx left Janet and went to where she’d suggested. She took a look out the front window. So far the coast was clear. Nyx had a really strong feeling that Denger
would
show up. After all the calls he’d made to her this morning, and her letting the machine get each one, the chances were really high that he would try the bookstore next.

Her fears soon came to be realized when Nyx caught sight of Denger way down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street headed her way. Running to the back of the store, she called Janet’s name to give her the heads-up, then ducked into Janet’s office and slammed the door shut.

* * * * *

Stepping inside the bookstore, Denger swept the inside with his gaze. He couldn’t see Nyx anywhere. Spotting her boss, Janet, he walked over to her. Janet gave him a friendly smile. “Hey, Denger. How are you?”

“Good, thanks. Is Nyx around?”

“Sorry, she isn’t. She called to say she couldn’t come into work today. There was some sort of family emergency. Have you tried leaving a message on her machine at 88

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home? I know when she’s out she’ll sometimes call from wherever she is to pick them up.”

“Yeah, I already did that.”

“Well, I can tell her you stopped by if she happens to call in later.”

“That would be great. I guess I’ll see you around.”

Turning on his heel, Denger headed out of the store. Janet was lying. Nyx was there hiding from him. He’d smelled her scent as soon as he’d stepped into the bookstore. It was fresh, probably only minutes old. Obviously the other woman was helping Nyx avoid him. The big question was why.

The uneasy feeling that for some reason he’d scared Nyx off settled over him. Once when they’d been kissing the day before she’d swept her tongue over one of his fangs but she really hadn’t reacted to it. So it couldn’t be that. Longing to be with Nyx, his blood hunger riding him, Denger forced himself to walk away and not look back. He’d leave her alone for now, but once he figured she’d be home from work, he’d stop by her apartment and see if she would see him then.

* * * * *

After work, Nyx rushed home and locked herself in her apartment. She’d half expected to find Denger standing out at the front of the building waiting for her but much to her relief, he hadn’t been. She’d then made a mad dash to the front entrance. Sometimes it sucked that her building didn’t have underground parking. In no mood to cook a meal for herself, Nyx threw a frozen dinner into the microwave. As she stood near it waiting, she found herself thinking the front entrance buzzer was going to go off at any minute. Feeling the muscles in her shoulders and neck tighten with strain, Nyx forced herself to relax.

She took the dinner out and slid it onto a plate. Forgoing the kitchen table, she took it to the living room and turned on the television. She put the dinner on the coffee table to wait for it to cool a bit so she could eat it.

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Her gaze landed on the piece of leather that sat on the table. Nyx picked it up and ran it through her fingers. It was what Denger had used to tie back his hair. He’d forgotten the day before when he’d rushed out of her apartment. She’d found it on her bedroom floor that morning. Her first reaction had been to throw it out but she ended up not being able to.

She rubbed the leather against her cheek. Realizing what she’d done, she forced herself to move it away from her face.
He’s a killer, Nyx. Don’t ever forget it.
God, she was going to drive herself crazy. Even though seeing Denger take out that guy in the alley had scared the crap out of her, Nyx found herself unable to stop thinking about him. She all too clearly remembered how good it had felt to be held in his arms, to have him make love to her. Her traitorous body melted each time she thought about it. And it had been good thoughts about Denger that had made it so she didn’t sleep a wink during the night.

About to put the piece of leather back on the coffee table and pick up her dinner, Nyx froze halfway when her buzzer went off. She fisted the leather in her hand as she went stiff as a board. It was Denger. She just knew it and some small part of her that had a death wish wanted nothing more than to let him in. Her more sane part had her staying exactly where she was.

The buzzer went off again. The noise seemed to reverberate inside her head. Nyx closed her eyes and took deep, even breaths. She’d ignore it and Denger would go away. He couldn’t get inside the apartment even if he managed to get someone to let him into the building. She had her apartment locked up tight. Five minutes, then ten, then fifteen went by and the buzzer didn’t go off for a third time. Nyx got up and made her way over to the living room window that looked out over the front of the building. She took hold of the curtains and only opened them a crack, just enough for her to see outside. She glimpsed the sight of Denger’s broad back as he walked away.

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Yanking the curtains closed, Nyx went back to the couch and picked up her meal. A sense of disappointment washed over her. Denger really hadn’t tried that hard before he’d given up. She then gave herself a mental slap. That was a good thing, not a bad. She picked up the television remote and flipped through the channels while she ate. She really was pathetic. The first man she started to have feelings for after losing her husband and he turns out to be a murderer. And those feelings hadn’t gone away yet. What kind of person did that make her?