Eliana (12 page)

To humor Kon, she stood there, breathing, staring at a snowdrift as yet untouched by street grime.

So lightly she thought she was imagining it, a tingle encompassed her body. It flowed through her, lingering on the aches and soothing the heat and inflammation. For a while she remained unmoving, letting the energy do its work.

Then the sensation freaked her out. She flinched and shook her arms, trying to rid herself of the strangeness. It reminded her uncomfortably of the melting man and the flashback when Dane had touched her the first time. There was definitely too much weird shit going on, and she’d rather leave it behind as soon as possible. “I’ve had enough. I’m ready to leave.”

Kon finally ended his meditation. He inclined his head. “We can’t for a while. Dane drank a little too much last night. I think it would be kinder to him—and us—not to put him in a car.”

“Is he all right?”

“He will be. He knows better than to drink cheap beer. I should have stopped him. He’s a lightweight and always seems to forget that fact.”

“Can’t you do anything to help him?”

“I could, but there are times when a man wants to deal with his stupidity alone. I’m inclined to let him.”

And without Dane, they were stuck here for who knew how long. “I’ll be in my room. Come get me when you’re ready to leave.” And in the meantime, she’d be paging through the phone book, looking for the nearest bus stop.

“Would you like some breakfast?”

The incessant kindness frayed the last of her nerves. She limped toward him and thrust the cane into his chest. “I’d
like
to get on the road now and get out of this dump of a hotel before I go crazy.”

Her voice echoed against the building. Someone opened their door to look.

Kon grasped her arm. “What makes you think you’re going crazy?”

Frustrated, she shook her head. “I don’t know. You and Dane. You’re fucking strange.”

“Why?”

She jerked her arm away and started toward her room. “Forget it.”

“Eliana.” In a few quick strides, Kon was in front of her, blocking her way. “Is there something you need to ask me? Ask. I don’t care how bizarre it sounds.”

Just do it
. She didn’t want to sound like a fool, but leaving the question unspoken would be worse. “Was it just me or did you see that man melt into a steaming puddle of goo?”

Unexpectedly, Kon grinned. “It wasn’t just you. I’ll tell you everything you want to know but not here. Let’s get something to eat, and I’ll explain. I promise.”

“Fine. But if you pick me up again, I’ll beat you into next Tuesday.” She jabbed the head of her cane into his gut.

He escorted her to the diner and back to their room with french toast, pancakes, eggs, and an order of plain toast for Dane.

In Eliana’s room, Kon set the foam containers on the table along with silverware. The lids squeaked as he popped them open.

Eliana helped herself to the food. The pancakes were dripping with butter, just the way she liked. A strange feeling twisted in her belly at the thought of being alone with him in a bedroom. The intensity of the dream hadn’t yet left her consciousness, and seeing him was making it doubly difficult to concentrate. Watching him eat, using the same mouth that had wrapped so succulently around Dane’s cock, roused her appetite for something other than food.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll get something else,” Kon said.

“It’s fine.” She forced down a few more bites. Strawberry syrup trickled across her pancakes, as red as Kon’s ass after Dane had spanked it. She slid her plate back. “I’m not hungry. Talk. Who—what—are you?”

Kon wiped syrup from the corner of his mouth with his napkin. “I’m a Warden. Someone who hunts incubi—”

The answer was so absurd, so preposterous she laughed. “Incubi don’t exist.”

Kon’s professorial tone didn’t change. “They’re real. Don’t think with your head. Think with your gut. What did you feel from that man when he touched you?”

“It was vile. Though, not at first. I almost…” She shivered, recalling how seductive the creature had been.

“Be glad you didn’t. If you would have had intercourse with it, you would have become addicted to its touch.”

She didn’t answer. Couldn’t. His matter-of-factness meant he was either crazy to believe such tales or…he was telling the truth. Nothing in his demeanor suggested he was mentally ill, and over the past few days, she hadn’t had the feeling he was anything but honest. “And Dane? Is he an incubus too?”

“He’s a cambion. His demon—the incubus half—feeds on sexual energy to stay healthy. I’ve sworn to love and protect him and offer my body whenever he’s hungry.”

“He must have been famished last night.”

Kon’s cough almost sounded like choking. He wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “I should go check on him.” Crumpling the napkin in his hand, he stood and headed toward the door.

Coward
. “Sit down. We’re not done.”

Slowly, he turned and reclaimed his chair, head bowed, palms flat on the table.

The sight both amused and bothered Eliana. She liked the power of knowing he’d do what she asked, yet the same authority triggered emotions she didn’t care for. She was intensely afraid of using someone for her own benefit—something her stepfather had done frequently. “What sort of hotel did you take me to?”

“We—the Wardens—call it an enclave. There are hundreds all over the world. They’re bases from which we hunt incubi and protect cambions—their half-human offspring—and those the incubi have harmed. The enclave can be considered a safe house, though we often provide alternative healing and counseling to ordinary men and women both as a front and as a means of income.”

“Like you do on TV.”

“Like that, yes. My colleagues practice related work. They do physical therapy, acupuncture, counseling, yoga, all sorts of healing arts.” He stretched across the table for her hand, looking downcast when she pulled it out of his reach. “I’m sorry. I know this is a lot to take in.”

When she was young, she’d had enough extended family who believed in spirits and demons that she hadn’t really abandoned the beliefs herself. Much as her brain didn’t want to accept what she’d seen, her gut knew the truth. Normal human men didn’t melt when they were shot. She didn’t know if it would have made a difference if she’d known about the incubus sooner. Most likely she would have run and kept going until she reached North Dakota.

“Is there anything I can do? Anything at all to make this easier?”

“If you’re expecting me to act like some damsel in distress and faint or cry or freak out, I’m sorry. I’m not that kind of woman.”

“I know. Your courage is one reason I admire you. You’re not some flighty, ignorant teenager. You’re far more grounded and self-aware than most people your age.”

The answer both relieved and embarrassed her. No one had bothered to tell her anything flattering about her mind—only her body, and she’d had enough of that. “So you’re not some madman taking me to a whorehouse?”

She meant it half in jest, but Kon’s tone changed to deadly seriousness. “Any sexual contact within enclave walls is entirely consensual. We
never
force ourselves on anyone, especially those who aren’t Wardens.
Comprende
?”

“Yes,” she said, more relieved than she cared to admit. “Must be a good deal for Dane.”

“It isn’t, always. Trust me, it’s not easy to live a life at the mercy of a demon that constantly craves sex. There are other cambions less in control of themselves than Dane. If their Wardens aren’t careful, they can be killed.”

“And you
chose
this profession?”

“It chose me. I’m happy with it. I get to help people like you and Dane.”

But Dane’s the one who shares your bed
. And just because Dane was willing to cuddle with her despite the lack of physical attraction didn’t mean Kon would be. Her fantasies were just that—fantasies, ones that bled into her dreams. Even if she could move without pain, any sort of intimacy would be…lacking. The knowledge saddened her.

She remembered the dream, how well they’d fit together, how perfect the joining had been. He was gorgeous. She’d seen him naked and at Dane’s mercy, sucking his cock, offering himself. She couldn’t stop the longing to feel his mouth against her skin, between her thighs and against her—

“I think I should ask the desk clerk where the nearest bus station is and let you and Dane get back to Denver. I’m sorry to be so much trouble.” She groped for the cane.

“Eliana.” He stood, rounded the bed, and put a hand on her arm. It was warm. Tingling. Her body wanted nothing more than to fall into his embrace for comfort, but her head urged her otherwise.

She smacked his hand away. “Don’t stop me. I shouldn’t have gone with you in the first place.”

“I don’t recall giving you much of a choice.”

No, he hadn’t. She’d thought him an angel that night. Now she wasn’t sure
what
he was.

He moved closer. His body nearly touched hers, so warm and vital it was all she could do not to give in.

She pushed him away. “Stop it. You have no idea what I’ve been through, how much I’ve put up with.”

“Yes, I do.” He took her hand in his and kissed the palm. “It’s why you didn’t like it when Dane drank and why you fight so hard for control.”

“Fuck you.” Tears burned her eyes.
Not again, damn it. I’m not going to cry in front of him
. Here was a man who somehow knew her better than others, but now that she had him, she was terrified. He gazed at her with that heartbreaking compassionate gaze she couldn’t stand. “I’m going to leave. I’ll find a bus stop and—”

“Eliana.”

Her legs went weak. She had to lean on the mattress to stay upright.
Damn him
. Any more words like that and she’d break down, and there’d be no going back. Her fantasies would be ruined by the real-life experience which could never live up to her imagination.

Yet one look at him and her heart pounded with desire. She wouldn’t be able to feel anything physically, but she
wanted
him, and she’d be damned if she let fear stand in her way.

Before she could change her mind, she took his face in her hands and tilted his head down for a kiss. She touched only his lips and went no further, yet her entire body filled with calm and warmth and the rightness of having him right there.

Within her grip, Kon went limp. He didn’t fight or react but let her go as far as she wished.

As far as she dared.

When she let go, she could hardly breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Kon eased her back, expression guarded. “Eliana. I’m thirty-four.”

The fact that he was afraid of hurting her, of being afraid he was too old produced a spurt of panic. She didn’t know how to deal with such consideration and was annoyed at him for causing her such confusion. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I can’t…”

“Can’t what?” He sat on the bed beside her.

“My hip. The surgeries…”
Hell, is he really going to make me say it out loud?

Frowning, he curled an arm around her waist and rested a hand against her damaged hip and belly. This time, there was a tingling heat where he touched her. “You’re right in that there won’t be any more children, but there isn’t any physical reason sex should hurt.”

Embarrassed beyond all measure, she said, “I don’t care about the pain. I can’t…
feel
anything.”
Not outside of a dream, anyway.

“Did the doctors tell you that? Because they’re wrong.”

She cringed, feeling another bubble of emotion about to burst.
Damn it
. She hadn’t expected Kon to be so kind and caring and didn’t know what to do with it. “Not the doctors. Before. I couldn’t—it never… Damn it. Get the hell out of my room.” She elbowed him away, angry at his insistence. “Get
out
.”

But despite his propensity for taking orders, he didn’t leave. He edged around so he could face her. “When you touch me, you feel something, don’t you?”

Mortified, she nodded.

“When you watched us last night, you felt something, right?”

Another nod.

“And when Dane kissed you?”

Again, she agreed.

“Then it’s not impossible.”

Not in my dreams, anyway
. But he was so serious, so sincere she couldn’t help but wonder if he might be right. “Prove it.”

PROVE IT.

Kon had never heard two sweeter words in his life.

But how do I do this without revealing too much?
He’d already told her more than he should have about Wardens, incubi, and cambions. There was always the danger of someone seeking a cambion on their own and exploiting them or running afoul of an incubus, not to mention the media getting wind of a story and blowing it out of proportion and turning the populace against them all.

He believed Eliana was too practical to abuse her newfound knowledge, but there was always a chance, and the risk multiplied if he made the wrong move and frightened her. Revealing the extent of his Sensitivity was out of the question.

Gentle. Slow. Training and instinct had ingrained him with the need to please his partner. He curved a hand behind her head, tangled his fingers in her thick black hair, and kissed her. He took his time sucking the last sugary remnants of strawberry syrup from her lips.

When he drew back, she was breathing hard. “Take off your shirt,” she said.

He crossed his arms and pulled his sweater and T-shirt over his head. Eliana sucked in her breath.

For a long time, she simply watched the rhythmic movement of his chest and belly. “Is that how you were trying to get me to breathe?”

“Yes.” He grasped her hand and placed it just above his navel. She soon matched him breath for breath. Her tension dissipated as she explored his exposed skin, running her fingers along his ribs and the dips between. Unlike Dane, he didn’t have a six-pack of abs, but he didn’t lack for strength.

“You’re so…different.”

“Different how?”

She didn’t look him in the eye but continued to explore his body, her palms warm and welcoming against his flesh. “You’re clean. Sober. Not hairy. And pretty.”