Charles (Darkness #8) (6 page)

“We’re back to the vulnerable place, I see. No problem. I’ll wait until the evening when you go surly again.”

She gave a soft laugh, thankful he not only understood, but that he was turning it into a joke.

He kissed her neck lightly. “Just to be clear, are blowjobs out of the question?”

She laughed again, feeling that delicious length searing against her bare skin. Her sex swelled, remembering him inside of her. Her mouth salivated at the thought of giving him pleasure.

“Yes. Out of the question, yes.” It was the first time she really wanted to, though. The first time she wanted to fall to her knees in front of him and take his most precious body part into her mouth and render him speechless. Before, she had liked foreplay for mutual benefit, but now, she wanted to command him. She wanted to be the one making
him
beg.

“Prude. Fine, I’m going to jack off, because blue-balls suck. Should I go to the bathroom, outside, or do you want to get sticky?”

“Oh my God!” she laughed. “Not sticky. Gross!”

With a chuckle he rolled away from her and out of the bed. He still didn’t bother to tuck himself into his boxers. “I’m going outside. If you take care of yourself, don’t do it in the bed, otherwise I’ll just get hard again when I come back.”

“I knew you were honest, but… Jesus.” Ann laughed harder, climbing out of the bed and heading to the bathroom.

C
harles stepped
outside with a smile and lowered his boxers, letting his dick bob out. He took it in his hand as he walked around the car, doing what Ann had done earlier and taking in the scents. He didn’t smell whatever she did, though. Nothing sweet. All that registered with him was the fresh pine of the trees.

As he began stroking, he closed his eyes, letting his magic roll out around him even though there was no way he’d find anything within his range. They were dealing with either shifters or humans, not his own kind. He couldn’t be positive about that, but since the Council hadn’t heard anything, the neighboring clan hadn’t heard anything, and neither had the Boss, he was pretty sure. Not even the clever Europeans could boast that level of secrecy.

He felt his ardor rise as a soft moan drifted out onto the breeze. The window was open in the bathroom where Ann was pleasuring herself.

A surge of heat infused him, making each stroke feel like it burned in the very best of ways. He remembered the feel of her body, and the softness of her skin. As his heart hammered in his ears, nearly there, reaching for the end, he barely registered a crack sounding in the trees.

Pleasure fired in his body, but his attention split, focusing on the world around him. It was one of his many talents.

Another crack and rustle sounded off to the distant right. Something was definitely out there.

He sampled the scents again.

There, lightly nestled between the pine, floated the distinct smell of a shifter.

With the hand not employed, he sucked his finger and put it up to the air, feeling the breeze blowing toward him. He’d heard one, but it was hard to tell if that was who he was smelling.

Pleasure forgotten, Charles walked toward the possible threat, pausing at the tree line. There was no telling how many there were. If he took off after this one, it left Ann vulnerable. She was strong and capable, but if she were outnumbered, it wouldn’t matter.

He backtracked, squinting through the gaps in trees to try and minimize the glare of the sun in his eyes, looking for the disturbance.

A rustle sounded off again in the same place as before. Charles put up a hand to block the sun as another moan drifted on the breeze. Without warning, the small hairs rose on his neck and arms followed swiftly by a surge of magic. He didn’t like someone else hearing Ann at such a private moment. She’d be embarrassed.

Flexing, feeling an unspeakable, protective rage well up in him, he walked backwards, closer to her. He stopped in front of the door, his tattoos swirling with magic, as he stared out at the woods in challenge. Whoever was out there, no matter how many, might be predatory animals now but they’d stemmed from humans originally—they had a soft side. In contrast, he was made to be a predator—that was what separated him from the human fork of nature. And he would protect his own like nothing that shifter out there had ever seen before.

As if hearing his thoughts, or possibly able to see him and reading his face and body language, the creature took off as if it was running for its life. Bushes and leaves rustled, rocks flew—Charles saw a brown body dash off to the right before cutting left, heading up the mountain, no bigger than a medium-sized dog. Nothing else moved.

Charles waited, his senses on alert. Nothing else moved.

There had only been one. On this side of the cabin, anyway.

There were shifters in this wood that hadn’t been caught, and had not been sent by Tim. That might be cause for alarm.

C
harles entered
the cabin in a rush of adrenaline. Deep, burnished gold swirled around his arms. Magic crackled within the small space.

Ann came out of the bathroom with a sheen of sweat on her rosy face, eyes wide. “What’s wrong?”

“Just saw a shifter.” He flicked the deadbolt on the door and stalked to the bathroom, slamming the window shut and latching it. Back in the main room, he stared out of the window near the door, knowing he needed to lay magical tripwires of some sort. He flicked through possible spells in his head.

“A shifter?” Ann said with an incredulous voice. “What kind?”

“I only saw a flash, but it was brown and the size of a medium-sized dog.”

Ann looked out the window next to him, her shifter magic swirling around her. “Think he’s gone far? I could try and catch—”

“No.” Charles put an arm out, backing her away from the window. “This isn’t the typical war zone. This place is a danger to you. Until we know what’s out there, there is no way you’re running off on your own. Do you know anyone that fits that description?”

Ann looked down at her feet in thought. “A few, yeah, but they’re not soldiers. None of them came up here.”

“What animal could be that size and pose a threat to the group Tim sent before us?”

She shook her head. “None. Only a Tim-type animal, an alpha, would be a threat to those guys. That, or a group. You think this place is run by shifters?”

Charles slowly moved his head from side to side. “I can’t think how. The brief picture we got was of a huge facility. They have high tech, and that means they have money. There aren’t enough shifters to populate such a big place. There aren’t enough of my kind, either. That shifter is either on patrol and working for these people, or here to check things out.”

“Tim would know if someone was checking things out. He runs a tight ship with all the other packs.”

Charles let the confused scowl settle over his features. “Why would a shifter work for a lab who makes shifters disappear?”

“Could be a guard to keep things quiet. Someone being as secretive as you just said wouldn’t want anyone sniffing around.”

“Except there’ve been no records of humans going missing up here. There are plenty of hikers, and cabins like this one…”

“We can speculate all day, but we won’t know anything for certain until we check it out tonight.”

She was right. “All right fine, then go away. You smell like sex and I want to climb on. I can’t be distracted when I try to work magic or something will get messed up.”

“Do you blow things up?”

“No, that’s a Sasha and Paulie thing. Well, I guess any human trained wrong. If we—Go away. Your chatter isn’t helping. I can still smell you.”

“Prickly.” Ann moved off toward the bed and slipped in, propping herself up on an elbow to watch him.

He could still smell the aroma of her climax, not to mention her normal mouth-watering scent. It lingered in the air like a delicious beacon. The sheets were settled at her waist, giving a great view of those perky breasts through the tank top…

Charles squeezed his eyes shut to block out her image. “This would be a whole lot easier if you’d just let me screw you real quick.”

“I can imagine.”

“If you could imagine, you’d spread your legs and wave me in.” Charles took a deep breath and focused on the area outside the window. “Okay. Here goes.”

He pulled the elements and mixed them just right, using mostly earth to root the spell and water for its substance. If he set it right, if someone tripped the spell with their physical presence, he’d be alerted. Nothing more. He could then at least assess what was trying to sneak up on him.

Once the spell was formed, he spread it out in front of the cabin, just beyond his SUV. That done, he moved to the other sides of the cabin, laying out similar spells. Unlike Sasha and Paulie, he wasn’t good enough to do it all at once, but this would work, too.

A solid sweat stood out on his brow from the effort by the time he had finished. He returned to his initial position and laid a simpler spell for any magic that crossed the threshold. The principle would be the same as the other—alerting, not attacking.

Finally, he fell into the bed next to Ann. “I hate doing that stuff. It takes so much energy.”

“But we’ll know if they try to sneak up on us?”

“Hopefully. Then we can decide what to do. I didn’t want to try an attack spell because I’d probably do something wrong.”

“And it would probably only get one person. If there was anyone else, they’d know what they were up against.” Ann curled up next to his side. “I’m cold. Can I have some body heat without having to give anything for it?”

Charles lifted his arm so she could scoot closer. She put a hand across his middle and a leg over his as her head found the hollow between his neck and his shoulder. She sighed in contentment as his arm came around her, squeezing her closer.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Ann. No matter what happens, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Her arm tightened for a moment before sliding up his chest and hooking around his neck.

He hoped to hell he could make good on his word.

A
s the evening rolled through
, sapping out all the light from the day, Charles and Ann found themselves stalking through the trees near the top of the mountain. They’d taken the SUV up the main road for a while before stashing it, then continuing on foot.

Ann had wanted to change into her animal form to make the journey easier, but Charles had talked her out of it. There was something about this whole situation that meant the least amount of shifter attributes she used, the better.

“
God
it smells good up here.” Ann took a huge breath. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as a dopey smile plastered her face.

Charles’ brow furrowed as he tried to smell what she did. All he got was pine, the soft scent of mulch, and Ann’s comforting and erotic smell. Nothing else, and certainly nothing that would make his eyes glaze over.

“Where’s it coming from?” he asked, surveying what lay in front of them.

They were about a hundred yards from the fence that enclosed the large facility according to the map. And though the trees weren’t especially dense, there were a lot of them between where they were and their goal. Visibility was minimal.

“That way.” Ann pointed in front of her before she wiped drool from the side of her mouth.

“Catnip for shifters in the air?” Charles asked in thought as he scanned the ground. A smallish paw print etched the dirt lightly. It could’ve been a dog. It could’ve been a shifter.

“Sounds unlikely.”

“Yes. It does. Yet, every time you take a deep breath, you get all… hazy-eyed.” Charles stalked closer silently, monitoring the ground for traps or pitfalls. His magic coated the ground in front of him, sensing for magic or anything out of the ordinary.

Fifty yards along, he finally caught a glimpse of what they were after. He pulled out his phone as Ann bumped into him. She stumbled beside him and sat down roughly, staring with a confused expression.

Warning bled into Charles. “What’s wrong?” He rested a hand on her shoulder.

She barely acknowledged his touch. “I don’t know. I’m just… light-headed. That
smell
.”

“Stay put, then, okay? I’m going to go a bit closer. If something happens, run back to the cabin and call for backup. Don’t try to help.”

“Don’t think I could help. I don’t know what’s happening to me, Charles.” Her voice had become a plea for help. “I feel… really good. But… like I’m not in my body. Maybe it’s an airborne drug or something. Like a gas that’s aimed to affect shifters.”

“Probably.” Charles brushed her hair back from her face, feeling his chest pinch at the sight of her glassy stare, almost devoid of the sharp intelligence he was used to seeing in her eyes. “Okay, just stay put. I’m going to get a few pictures.”

“’Kay.”

Uncomfortable with leaving her alone, but seeing no alternative, Charles snuck closer to the fence, keeping his magic wrapped firmly around him. He would be mostly masked from humans with the shadows clinging to his body, and also from uneducated shifters. Tim’s crew could pick up Charles’ kind, even deep in the shadows, but they relied more on their senses than eyes. Unsuspecting shifters probably wouldn’t.

Hopefully wouldn’t.

He approached the fence, snapping off pictures with his phone, though he had no service. He’d have to call the Boss from the cabin.

The fence was a standard affair, about eight feet tall with barbed wire curled along the top. Signs every so often promised electrocution if someone touched the shiny metal. On the other side, loose dirt covered a large open area with a plethora of dog or shifter tracks. A few feet away lay a loose cluster of, what he assumed, was dog poop. He was pretty sure shifters used toilets, no matter what Jonas claimed. He caught whiffs of urine, no doubt from the same animals that patrolled, marking their territory.

Another fifty yards away stood the side of a single-story building, dotted with windows, and a single door to the right. The structure had no embellishments of architectural design; it was a solid, concrete building dominating the natural landscape.

As Charles snapped off pictures, a lone animal came trotting along the fence. Sleek and mostly black, it was a dog with pointed ears. Doberman.

It came closer, its nose twitching. A low whine started in its throat that quickly turned into a growl. It stopped ten feet from him, staring in his direction and baring its teeth.

“Shoo!” Charles whispered furiously. He sent a light, magical shock toward the animal. The dog yelped and jumped backward. The growl grew louder.

“Oh, you have courage, do you?” Charles took its picture before sending a harder shock. The dog yelped again, and jogged back a few paces before barking.

Damn dog.

Charles backed away from the fence. He had what he came for, anyway.

The dog barked again.

“I’m leaving, for cripes-sakes!” Charles muttered, backing away quicker. He didn’t want to kill the thing, but if it didn’t bugger off and mind its own business soon, he’d probably have to.

Maybe Sasha knew some non-fatal tricks for dealing with dogs.

He backtracked through the trees until he reached his starting point. Ann was gone.

“Fuck.” Heart pounding, he bent to the ground. He saw her butt print, and then a mess of disturbed dirt and mulch from when she must’ve staggered up. Her footprints led away at a diagonal toward the fence. Usually she stepped in a precise way, graceful and light on her feet, but here her prints were sloppy, as though she was half-stumbling.

Adrenaline coursed through his body as a nervous sweat broke out on his forehead. With a tight chest and barely contained panic, he followed the trail, hating himself that he had left her behind. She’d seemed fine to sit. Hazy, but not totally gone.

Maybe whatever was in the air had a compound effect…

The tracks veered right before a disturbance in the dirt showed them going left again. Definitely staggering, as though she were drunk.

He heard a soft shuffle ahead. The rustle of branches.

Charles started to jog, and saw swinging branches and raining needles before seeing Ann’s shape falter, almost at the fence.

“Ann! Stop!” Charles put on a burst of speed, jamming his phone into his pocket.

Slowing, looking around confusedly, she put out her hands as though blind and feeling her way. “Charles?” she asked in a small voice.

She staggered forward a few more feet, stopping in a cleared area in front of a gate. “Charles?”

“Hang on, Ann. I’m right here.”

He was five feet away when she took one more step toward the gate.

The sound of twisting metal rang out. Something snapped with a
clang.
Like a metallic blanket, a large net sprung up from the ground. The trap closed around Ann’s body, cinched tight at the top and connected to a hook. A cable went taut, dragging the net toward a tree a few feet away.

With his heart in his throat, Charles whipped out his sword. The cable looped through a pulley in the tree before running back to the ground where a motorized winch turned, dragging the net into the air.

“What’s… happening?” Forced to curl into a ball, Ann’s little hand curled around one of the metal cables of her prison.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Charles rushed to the side, sword glowing with magic. He swung with all his might, not sure if his magic would cut through metal. The blade bounced off, jarring his shoulder, but leaving a slash mark in the cable. He threaded more fire into his weapon and swung again, using all his strength. The blade bit deeper this time, slicing.

A door opened to his right—someone was coming out of the building.

Without a moment to lose, he slashed again. The dull clink of magical metal on cable sounded before the net fell to the ground.

“Hey!” someone shouted.

“Hurry, Ann!” Charles rushed to the net where Ann was struggling like someone in deep water who couldn’t swim. “C’mon baby. Let’s get you out of there.”

He sheathed his sword to use both hands, ripping at the net where it attached to the hook. The magic helped peel away the material.

A motor became active, shuddering the gate to life. It began to open slowly with two large men in gray uniforms waiting patiently. A dog waited with him.

“Hurry!” Charles ripped the last of the net away, bending in to grab Ann around the waist and haul her out. He could easily kill those humans and the dog, even if the dog was actually a shifter, but then the entire facility would know that something mean and dangerous had showed up on their doorstep. He didn’t need that kind of attention. Not yet, anyway.

Throwing Ann over his shoulder, he took off at a run, dodging through the trees toward his car. Barking sounded off behind him, the dog freed from the confines of its yard and in pursuit.

He put on a burst of speed. As the car came into sight, he heard the rough panting of an animal gaining on them.