Her Lycan Lover (14 page)

All other Lycans were clannish unless they were called as guardians. Not all, but some had the instinct. Luck of the draw! His DNA had him hungering for a spellcaster unlike his parents who had the run-of-the-mill Lycan attraction for other Lycans. They’d married, had children, and now enjoyed sailing as their latest hobby. They hobknobbed with royalty and had been invited to the upcoming christening of the new prince. His brothers and sisters were exactly the same. Boring sods. Not him. He spent years wandering the Earth in search of a conjurer. Talk about being the black sheep of the family. This was all more than likely a glorious mistake. One he would gladly enjoy living down with Sherry.

No sooner had he finished that thought than the sunshine disappeared under rolling grey clouds accompanied by sharp winds. His jacket whipped against his body. The howling in the distance, baying wolves were enough for him to toss his briefcase aside. The warnings were tossed by the wind. Yips and a few long trills echoed. The eerie déjà vu of his dream last night hijacked his senses. His body tensed, his skin tightened, and his wolf urge to shift crept closer to the surface.

Gone were the other people walking across the street. They were more than likely intelligent enough to get out of the weather. In the middle of spring, this was well beyond typical—it was Biblical.

Honking horns blared up ahead. With a squeal of tires, two cars collided. Quinn inhaled the rush of scents blasting past him. In a second he’d be shifting unless he consciously held back. He loosened his tie, his fingers freezing in the plummeting temperatures. His teeth clattered. Christ, he had to maintain control.

“Wolf,” the voice came from behind him.

Quinn turned to stare into two pairs of eyes. The men from the parking lot stood in back of him. Up close, it was easy to tell that they weren’t human. Castings really. They possessed another form of a flickering outer body. One that vacillated between human and creature. Clothed men, and then in a blink, their masquerade disappeared and they were hulking, naked beings. These ones had taken on horrid features. Sores covered their grey skin. They bore the defining hieroglyphic markings similar to tattoos all over their bodies. They were Dark Fae all right. A wholly dismal lot; not the beings he remembered from years ago.

“What do you want?” Quinn asked.

“You’re thwarting our work. Dismissing Carrigan wasn’t a smart move. He’s doing our bidding. And there are various ways in which we can gain your undivided attention.” They didn’t move their mouths… or the hole that was mouth. Fae did not talk. They communicated on a psychic level, devoid of emotion.

“
You? This is all your doing
?” Quinn used their telepathic channel to articulate his thought.

The Fae shot back an answer. “
We’re not here for a holiday.”

“
Doesn’t look that way.
” Quinn studied them. They were weak or they’d have already taken hold of him. “
You’ve something to bargain
?”

“
We don’t bargain. When have we ever bargained? Our kind created you and we can destroy you.”

“How? Or don’t you remember the deal?” Quinn growled out loud, and shifted into his Lycan form. His clothing ripped apart and lay in tatters on the ground. He swung, his claws tore across the midsection of one of the creatures, gouging it. That Fae stumbled backward, holding onto to his torn midsection.

“
Wolf, you’re making this personal. That’s a change.”

“You’re following me and that makes it personal.” Fuck, this creature knew something. Quinn cleared his thoughts. Easy to do in shifter form. As a Lycan he could either keep his humanity, or stow it and assume only wolf senses.

Quinn descended on the other creature, taking hold of putrid flesh at the point where the Fae’s head connected to its body. Snapping powerful jaws, Quinn sunk his teeth into grisly Fae flesh. The bitter taste filled his mouth and he clamped his jaw down on the Fae’s neck.

Pain sparked his wolf nerves. Quinn pushed the creature away. The force sent the Fae tumbling backward. It fell on the ground next to the sidewalk. The Fae writhed, not from the wounds inflicted by Quinn. It was the contact with the soil. The Fae screamed as its body disintegrated into a bubbly mass.

Quinn stalked toward the other Fae. Its wounds gapped and a darker grey liquid dripped from his body.

“This isn’t over. There are more coming. They’ll find you. And you’re right. We might not be able to destroy you in one night, but we’ll delight in torturing you for years, Wolf. A vow.”
He thumped his upper body to seal the promise.

Leaping, Quinn vaulted across the sidewalk and pushed the Fae down. Quinn began shifting back to his human form. “Hard to believe you can’t take a little dirt considering what you’re made of, Fae.”

“
Don’t. We know about the woman… the caster. Think we won’t find her?
” The Fae stared unblinking as if considering.
“We’ll let you watch what we intend. You can’t imagine the things we can do to a human. And female.”

In the short time these Dark Fae had come back, they’d manifested dark emotions. Another type of leeching perpetrated by the Fae. He considered the group these things were in league with. The Fae had access to Carrigan and his history. This pair of Fae were mistaken. If anything, this was personal.

“Wrong.” Quinn reached over and tore a clump of earth from the ground. “You just gave up your chance to go back to where you came from. You want the Earth, now enjoy. Chew on this.”

He slammed the moist dirt into the Fae’s slit of a mouth.

Backing out of her parking spot at the Den, Sherry observed the sky turn from bright blue to a blanket of grey. The wind sliced through the trees, littering the ground with spring buds. Sherry waved to the guard and turned onto the outer street, making her way to the main roadway. She could make Mile High in a few minutes.

“What the?” Sherry groaned. Freezing rain pelted her windshield. She pulled out her phone and dialed Quinn even though she’d told him no more calls. “Where are you?”

“The park. Take the perimeter road. I’ll meet you under the overpass.”

She drove down the gravel path, speeding past dumpsters and park maintenance vans. Up ahead, Quinn stood leaning against a brick wall nearly naked. Sherry pulled up beside him. “Judas priest, what’s going on? And what’s the deal with you and clothing today?”

“Freaking cold as hell weather,” he said between chattering teeth. “Get the heck out of Dodge. I met up with a couple of freaks. There’s more over there at the hotel. I think you’re right about intercepting calls. They were waiting. These fuckers communicate at different level. Telepathic.”

Sherry turned on the heater. All the way up. “Who? Who was waiting?”

“Had greyish skin. Wrinkled. Bumpy. Aliens would look better.” He regarded her for a second. “Dark Fae.”

“Fae?” she whispered, gripping the steering wheel, barely able to contemplate what Quinn said. A haze of fear choked her brain, momentarily cloistering her from the icy temperatures outside. She refocused her attention. Gazing into Quinn’s eyes, she announced, “They’ve crossed.”

“You know of them?” he asked, his stare getting more and more piercing.

A wave of apprehension swept over her. She quickly nodded. “In a manner of speaking. Not directly.”

“I’ll assume in your spellcaster training, you were taught these creatures are evil incarnate.” He drew his brows together in a dark menacing frown. “I’ll circle back around to that later if not. I had a run in with them. Nearby.”

“Run in? You’re unscathed.” Dark Fae didn’t do casual meetings. They eradicated beings. She let her gaze drift over his hard muscled body. Not a scratch to mar his perfect tawny flesh except the one on his leg. Only goose bumps covered his body. He was unclothed from head to waist, his hips barely concealed by the torn material that must have once been his trousers. “We’d better leave the area.”

“They’re not the usual marauding group. They’re weakened. In this nasty form. I can’t piece together what in blue blazes has happened to them. What do you know about this? And don’t BS me.”

They were traveling away from the center of downtown, and the sky appeared ready to open up. Could she trust Quinn? Enough to share the part of her life she’d kept secret. A Lycan could prove a formidable ally. Or a dreadful enemy.

She put aside the thoughts tearing up her insides. “They’ve succumbed to a blight. It has stolen their ability to appear beautiful. The only form is unattractive. They smell even worse than they look. Decomposing.”

“That makes sense,” he said. “It’s been decades since I’ve run into one. And now, a slew. There’s bound to be more.”

For twenty-five years she’d successfully avoided doing anything that would draw attention to herself. Then one small child skirmeter had tricked her and now the world was turning upside down. Fae openly appearing on the streets of Denver. Christ, she had to get to the shield.

From what the High Priestess said, she wasn’t the only one to fall prey to Dark Fae tactics. How many cities were affected? One never knew. The High Priestess played a cool hand in all things spellcaster. The High Priestess might have her winged special forces on the way this very moment ready to haul her in for a full-blown inquisition.

“Are you okay?” Quinn reached over to shake her. “We need to leave the city.”

“I agree. I heard from the High Priestess. Back at the office.”

“And I take it that’s not the norm.”

She laughed all of a sudden. “Very right. She’s the head honcho and doesn’t call round for idle conversation. You said we need to talk.”

“Feels like we’re going to be in this car for a while.”

“Quinn, I’ve done something incredibly stupid.” She spoke in a suffocated whisper unable to look him in the eye.

“Let’s head to my house. It’s not far. About twenty miles outside the city. Do you want me to drive?”

She glanced over to him. “I don’t think we should go someplace either of us is known.”

“Trust me. No one knows about this place. I bought it as an investment, intending on leasing it. High end. Thing is fully stocked.”

“Anyone there?” she asked.

“It’s empty. Won’t have tenants for a few weeks.”

“Key in the address… On second thought, tell me the directions.”

“Again, how about I drive? Sherry, be sensible. Are you worried about insurance?”

“Not at a time like this. I just prefer to maintain control.” By the time the heater had warmed the inside of her car, she’d worked to rebuild the parts of her personality that had deteriorated into an emotional mess. On the outside she wanted to exhibit no emotion. Nothing that would get her into more trouble.

Quinn stroked her arm. “You can be in control. I’m only talking about driving during apocalyptical weather.”

“I need to drive. It’ll be easier when we talk.”

“Fine by me. Get on the interstate.” He swung his gaze away from her and out the passenger window. Then without warning, he stared back at her. “What did you do?”

Sherry met his heated gaze without flinching. Hours before his kiss had melted her insides, but she couldn’t afford another unraveling. She needed to keep up a buffer, one that conjurers could weave as a personal safeguard. Slowly, she focused enough energy to form invisible armor around her emotions.

A low growl emanated from Quinn as soon as she warded herself. “What in Sam Hill are you doing?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“Bollocks. I can feel your life force recede. Don’t. I need to stay connected to you if only to know your whereabouts. Are you thinking of teleporting or whatever it is you like to do to escape me?”

“I’m not. It’s just I don’t want to lose self-control. You want to drive, well take over.”

“Oh, and when we exit the car to exchange places, you just suddenly disappear? Is that how this is going down?”

“I give you my word. I won’t leave you.” There was no sense in trying to pretend. Quinn had Lycan shifter instincts to the max. Totally intact.

Another slip on her part.

This had been madness to think she could insulate herself from him. Quinn stood well over six feet, and was one of the most dangerous men she’d ever come into contact with, nothing shabby about that pronouncement. At the Den she came into contact with hundreds of male shifters, each one strong in his own right, but with Quinn his strength lay in his innate abilities as well as the physical. Moses, she did not have to think too hard on that score. He’d proven his body was a lean, mean, fighting machine when he’d pressed her up against her desk.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I trust you. I don’t know why, but I do. How about the same from you?”

“I’ve never done anything to prove otherwise. This is all new. And difficult. I feel exposed.”

“You’ve still not answered the question. Maybe that is key. Your ability to evade.”

Or was it because he could hear the triple time beat of her heart and knew she’d not be able to get into position to do more than moan at this rate. His glowing, hypnotic eyes tore into her. Without saying another word, he knocked aside the shield with his own animalistic force.