Longed-For Hunger (3 page)

“It better be,” Desiree said with a grin. “I would hate to wake up tomorrow to find Blythe had killed you.”

18

Longed-For Hunger

“I’m not that bad,” Blythe said with a laugh. She looked at Denger. “So what kept you out all day? It had to be something pretty important to cause you to miss dinner.”

He wolfed down half the sandwich before he answered. “You could say that.”

The next thing Denger knew, Blythe had her arms wrapped around him and was hugging him tight. “You found her. I’m so happy for you.”

He hadn’t made it any secret that he was out searching for his mate. Akori and Kysen, two of his brothers-in-arms, found great glee in giving him grief about it, especially Akori. That warrior thought being mated was akin to being handed a death sentence. Akori loved women, all women, and never wanted to settle down with just one. According to Ra, Akori wouldn’t be exempt from finding his mate. All the warriors would eventually find theirs.

Denger gave Blythe a squeeze before he disentangled her arms from around him.

“Yes, I found her.”

Desiree got up from the table and came to stand beside Blythe. “I guess we’ll soon have another mate joining us. Unless you already have her here locked in your quarters.”

“That better not be the case,” Blythe said, crossing her arms over her chest. When they had first met their mates, Blythe and Desiree had been witnesses to Mehen and Set taking down the undead. Since Ra had decreed no mortal could retain the memory of the undead, and neither Mehen nor Set could wipe the memory from the women, they’d brought them against their will to their headquarters for the rest of the warriors to try to wipe. None had met with success. Blythe had been quick to accept her new life with Mehen but Desiree hadn’t been quite so accepting of Set.

“No, I don’t have her locked in my quarters,” he reassured the women. “I met her this afternoon, so no undead were around to mess things up.” The undead only preyed upon mortals at night, going out to steal souls for their demon god, Apep. “For your information, I’m taking it slow with her. I’m going to meet her for coffee tomorrow afternoon.”

19

Marisa Chenery

A loud groan sounded behind Denger. “By the gods, not you too?” Akori asked in a pained voice.

“Don’t start in on Denger, Akori,” Blythe said. “I know you and Kysen in particular have been bugging him about trying to find his mate. Like I’ve said over and over again—your time will come. You’ll find your mate too. Dad said so.”

Ra was Blythe’s father, something she hadn’t learned until after she’d become mated to Mehen. Her mortal mother hadn’t taken the news well of Ra being an Egyptian god when he’d revealed the truth about himself and had left him when she was pregnant with Blythe. After giving birth, her mother had left Blythe with her grandparents and basically dropped off the face of the Earth. Now that father and daughter had found each other, they spent a lot of time together trying to make up for all the years they had been apart.

Akori moved to Denger’s side and shook his finger at Blythe. “What did I say about you saying that nasty M word? There will be no mate for me.”

“You can run, but you can’t hide, especially from a god,” she quickly shot back. Knowing where this would eventually lead, to neither one of them backing down, Denger said, “Thanks for the sandwich, Blythe. I’ll finish it on the way to the meeting room.” He then grabbed Akori by the arm and pulled him out of the kitchen. The rest of the warriors were already there when they arrived. Denger swallowed the last of his sandwich and went to sit in one of the empty chairs at the long table while Akori took the other.

Mehen nodded in Denger’s direction. “I knew you’d make it back in time to go out hunting. I don’t think you’ve missed a night to hunt the undead since you were chosen by Ra.”

It was true. Put a sword in his hand and he became an ultimate killing machine. Out of all the warriors, Denger would be the first to admit that he was the most bloodthirsty. He lived to fight, which had brought him to Ra’s attention. 20

Longed-For Hunger

Akori snorted. “That’s probably about to change. Lover boy over there found his mate.”

Mehen smiled. “Is that true, Denger?”

He nodded. “Yes, and before you can ask, since both Blythe and Desiree already did, I don’t have her locked in my personal quarters.”

“No, he doesn’t. He’s got a date with her tomorrow afternoon,” Akori said with disgust.

Kysen burst out laughing. “A date? What happened to the take-charge-take-noprisoners-Denger I know and love?”

Denger flipped Kysen off. “She’s my mate, not an enemy I have to fight.”

“Ignore him,” Takan said as he shook his long bangs into his face, something he did more often than not. “There is nothing wrong with taking things slow.”

“I agree,” Set said. “Just because Mehen and I were forced to bring our mates into our world before they were ready does not mean it will happen to the rest of you. Your blood hunger will give you a bit of a timeline, but don’t push too soon. You don’t want your mate trying to run from you at every turn.”

Set spoke from firsthand experience. Desiree had tried to escape the headquarters more than once before she had truly accepted Set as her mate. It had taken her almost being attacked by an undead to get her to stop fighting Set and the feelings she had for him.

Now that all the warriors had had a chance to comment about his finding his mate, the conversation changed to the upcoming hunt that night, much to Denger’s relief. Talking about Nyx made him long to be with her. Kysen’s comment about him was basically true. When he wanted something he didn’t back down until he got it. But with Nyx, knowing she hadn’t really moved on from the death of her husband, that type of attitude wouldn’t work. Even though it went against his nature, he’d take it easy with her. As long as his blood hunger didn’t ride him too hard, he could hold out until he got her to trust him.

21

Marisa Chenery

After Mehen assigned them each a section of the city to hunt in, Denger eagerly made his way to the docking bay. A night of hunting was just what he needed to distract his thoughts from Nyx. If it didn’t, it would be a hell of a long night. 22

Longed-For Hunger

Chapter Three

Nyx spent most of the night tossing and turning in bed. It was thoughts of Denger and their coffee date that kept her awake. She couldn’t stop wondering if she’d made a mistake by agreeing to see him again. She was attracted to him, there wasn’t any doubt about that, but Nyx found herself feeling guilty that she did. A small part of her felt as if she were betraying Derek. Thoughts such as that were part of the reason why she hadn’t let another man into her life.

Shortly after nine in the morning, Nyx gave up on trying to sleep. The couple of hours she had managed to get would have to be enough. After a shower, she dressed and got something for breakfast.

With plenty of time still left before she had to go into work, she plunked herself down on the couch and picked up the new vampire romance she’d started to read the night before. It was the third book in one of her favorite series. Usually it didn’t take much for Nyx to find herself completely engrossed in a book, letting the setting and characters take her out of her real world. But that didn’t happen this time. Every time the book switched to the hero’s point of view, she found herself picturing Denger as the vampire.

When she reached a scene where things were heating up between the hero and the heroine, Nyx had to put the book down. She could all too easily picture Denger doing the things the hero was doing to the heroine to her. Her thoughts caused her longcelibate body to come out of hibernation. Where before she was content to read her romance novels, she now found herself longing for Denger’s touch. By the time she arrived at work, Nyx was having serious second thoughts about going out for coffee with Denger. If only she’d thought to ask for his phone number, she could have called him and told him not to show up.

23

Marisa Chenery

Janet took one look at her face and said, “All right, what’s up? You look stressed as hell about something.”

Stowing her purse under the counter, Nyx said, “I’ve done something that I’m now regretting.”

“What did you do?”

Nyx took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I kind of agreed to go out for coffee on my break today with a man.”

Janet let out a whoop. “Let me guess, you’re going out with Mr. Beefcake from yesterday.”

“Yes, but now I’m not so sure I should.”

“Aw, hon, you can’t back out now. You need to do this. I’m sure Derek wouldn’t want you to be alone. He would have wanted you to move on with your life. And I knew it was you Mr. Beefcake was watching yesterday.”

Nyx shook her head. “His name is Denger. And it’s because of Derek that I’m having second thoughts. I feel as if I’m betraying him, betraying his memory.”

Janet put her arm around Nyx’s shoulders. “It’s understandable that you would feel that way, but you don’t have to. It isn’t as if you’re breaking your marriage vows. You’re a young widow. No one would expect you not to find another man to share your life with. I’m not going to let you back out of your coffee date with Denger. Even if he doesn’t turn out to be the right one, at least you’ve taken that first step. It’ll be easier when the next guy you get the hots for comes around.”

“Who says I have the hots for Denger?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Oh, please. You have the hots for the man or you wouldn’t be trying to run from him. Hell, if I wasn’t a married woman, I would be trying to jump his bones. He’s gorgeous and has a body any woman would love to have pressed against hers all night long.”

Nyx laughed. “If only poor Pete could hear you now.”

24

Longed-For Hunger

“He knows I’m all talk and that I’m all his. He also knows how to keep me well satisfied, if you know what I mean.” Janet winked.

“Too much information. The celibate in the store does not need to hear that.”

Janet rolled her eyes. “Well, hopefully the celibate won’t be celibate for too much longer. From the looks of Denger, I would say he would end your dry spell if you let him.”

Nyx did not need Janet to start on the subject of her nonexistent sex life. And she definitely didn’t need her putting any more ideas into her head when it came to Denger. She already had enough fantasy material inside her brain, all of it involving her jumping his bones, as Janet had so aptly put.

Luckily for her, a customer came up to the counter to make a purchase which had Janet dropping the subject. It would only be a small reprieve, but Nyx more than welcomed it. The closer the time came for Denger to arrive, the more uneasy she would get. Janet may have her best interests at heart but it didn’t mean she wasn’t making Nyx feel any less guilty than she already did.

* * * * *

Three o’clock seemed to creep up on Nyx faster than she wanted it to. After her conversation with Janet, she had done a lot of clock-watching. Since she was still having doubts, her stomach became more knotted with each hour that ticked by. Every time the bookstore door opened, she found her gaze drawn to it, praying it wasn’t Denger coming early.

Nix was not good for much else so Janet had her putting out new stock. Since some of the shelves were out of her reach, Nyx had to use a tall step stool to get to the very top ones. Lost in her own thoughts, she stood on the stool with an arm full of books.

“Would you like some help with those?”

At the sound of Denger’s deep, slightly accented voice coming directly behind her, Nyx jumped and let out a yelp. In the middle of reaching for the top shelf, she lost her 25

Marisa Chenery

balance. Falling, she was caught by a pair of strong arms that came around her waist and held her with her back pressed to an equally strong male chest. She turned her head to look at Denger. “I’m not usually that clumsy. You startled me.”

He gave her a sexy grin. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you again, though I’m not going to complain about the outcome.”

Nyx bit back a groan when Denger slowly lowered her to her feet, letting her slide down his front. He was hard in all the right places and there was no mistaking the large bulge in his jeans. A pounding ache formed in her pussy. It had been so long since she’d been intimate with a man that it didn’t take much for her libido to kick into gear. Shifting the books in her arms, she turned to face Denger. His pale brown eyes that verged on gold gazed down at her with longing. Nyx found herself staring back, unable to look away. An image of her and Denger in bed, his cock plunging deep inside her, appeared in her head. The image was so vivid she could almost feel his hard body moving against hers. The look of pleasure on his face while he took her made wetness pool between her legs. Then he opened his mouth to show her his extended fangs before he sank them into her neck at the same time his cock sank into her pussy. Nyx shook her head and her heart raced in her chest. Damn, she did it again. She had to stop thinking about Denger as a vampire. And she had to stop having sexual fantasies about him while he stood in front of her. It was a good thing he couldn’t read her mind.

Clearing her throat while she resisted the urge to fan her heated cheeks, she said,

“I’ll put these books aside and get my purse, then we can go.”

Denger took the armful of books from her. “Here, let me carry those for you. Where do you want them?”

“On the counter for now. I’ll finish putting them on the shelves after I come back from break.”

26

Longed-For Hunger

She led him over to the counter and slipped behind it for her purse while he stacked the books on the end of it. Nyx had hoped to sneak out without Janet stopping them, but she had no such luck.

Janet walked up to Denger and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Janet, boss and friend of Nyx.”

He shook her outstretched hand. “I’m Denger. I promise to have Nyx back on time at the end of her break.”

“No worries.” Janet then turned to Nyx. “You can have an hour break today.”