Page 9 (2/2)

He leaned forward to pick up the other plate of cake, and h his thick, dark hair I gripped the spoon harder

"Other than that," he continued, "we just have to hope the bait plan works"

"It&039;s difficult to catch someone when they can up and fly away"

"If it was that easy for him to shift shape, he would have flown the coop earlier Are you going to sit down?"

"Are you going to ain that sexy smile teased his mouth "Do you want me to?"

Yes, yes, yes "No"

"Why not?"

I just about choked on my cake "Why do you think why not?"

"Because I&039;ot to call you for Christmas?"

"And my birthday And Valentine&039;s"

"That&039;s true I did, however, buy you presents for both Does that count?"

Yes No "Damn it, Brodie, stop This isn&039;t fair" I shoved the half-eaten cake on the table and thrust my hands into

Because it wasn&039;t fear It was the need to reach out and touch him, caress him, love him Just like we used to Just like I dreahts I&039;d spent alone

He placed his plate back down then rose Only the coffee table separated us Only the coffee table stopped th of his arms

"I know it&039;s not fair," he said softly "But I never intended it to be"

"But why?"

The question was practically torn out of ri to talk to you, and you&039;ve barely given me the tihly frustrating, though"

"Damn it, Brodie, this has to stop I can&039;t" My voice broke a little I stopped and took a deep, quivering breath "I can&039;t go through another Christ you never will"

He raised a hand and gently brushed ers were so war , to press into his touch To ask for ht caress

But that way lay heartache

I went to step back, away froht the end of the robe belt and held it lightly If I stepped back, the loose knot would undo

Part of ive in to the heat and power of what still lay between us But the part ofto sanity and reason made me hold still

"What if I proain?" he said softly

My gaze searched his, saw the sincerity and the coht depths I wanted to trust it - trust him - I really did But I just couldn&039;t

"I don&039;t believe in promises anymore I don&039;t believe in you"

The words hurt him, as I knew they would But the flash of pain in his eyes, and the lingering, aching regret in his expression gave me no sense of satisfaction at all Because in truth, I didn&039;t want to hurt him, and I didn&039;t want retribution for all that he&039;d put h Part of et on with my life

A life that didn&039;t involve him Didn&039;t involve the hurt or the pain that he&039;d brought intothat I haven&039;t delivered," he said eventually

Maybe not out loud, but in deed and action you promised me the world And then you ran away "You proo, Brodie But you never did"

He blew out a breath and had the grace to look guilty "There were reasons - "

"It&039;s too late for reasons," I cut in Too late for us

"I refuse to believe that," he said, leavingthe spoken or unspoken comment

Then he stepped around the table, wrapped his hand around the back of ed me forward, into his ar thing, but rather a long and erotic exploration that hadto juood, to be kissed like that again Like this s that s that would ever matter to him

It was a lie, of course, but one I was so ready to believe, even if only for this moainst his long, lean length, until I could feel his every intake of breath Feel the rigid hardness of his erection pressing against ood

His free hand brushedakin to electricity flashed through every nerve ending, and a lon ache leapt into focus Tiny beads of perspiration skated across my skin - moisture raised by the sheer heat of his body, and

I knew I should step away, should retreat froled, unsettled emotions that it raised But I couldn&039;t Call me weak, call me a fool, but the reality of this kiss was so much better than the dreams that I could only stand there and enjoy

It was just as well his cell phone chose that , because we both knehere that kiss would have led otherwise

Brodie growled lon in his throat, a sound that seehharsh as he dragged the phone from his pocket

"What?"

To say he sounded annoyed would be an understaterowl froot darker as he continued to listen, and I kneithout doubt it ork I took a deep breath to regroup hts and steady my riotous heart rate, then, rather deterown It wouldn&039;t stop him or me, but it was the action thatmy scattered self-control and exuberant hormones that I did have a choice, and that I could do as best for h after that kiss, I wasn&039;t so sure what, exactly, that was right now

I picked up my coffee and moved back to the fire I wasn&039;t cold - far froetting too obvious about retreating

He hung up andnot to sound relieved and failing ave me a dark look "Yeah, there&039;s been another ht"

"I noticed He obviously didn&039;t"

"Why can&039;t they send someone else? Why us?"

But I knew the answer The squad was a s as standard hours or being off duty when it caations squad

He siet dressed?"

"I really don&039;t want to wear that elf costume - "

"Well, Moer than you So unless you want to wear the robe, we&039;re stuck"

I swore under my breath and stomped out of the room "We wouldn&039;t have been stuck if you&039;d just taken me back home like I asked"

"But I wouldn&039;t have had the chance to kiss you if I&039;d done that, noould I?"

"Not a snowflake&039;s chance in hell," I muttered I closed the laundry rooot dressed There was a thick pair of woolen socks sitting on top of soing onin the kitchen when I opened the door, and his gaze drifted downme as quickly as any caress or kiss "The white socks spoil the look And they&039;re my brother&039;s"

"Well, your brother just donated the?"

"The cemetery"

"So he didn&039;t attack a collector this tiraves at this hour of the night?"

"Death doesn&039;t stop just because it&039;s alainst ledathe hell out of me So I bent and ripped the stupid bells off

Silence fell It was heavenly

We zooh the streets at record speed, and all I could do was thank the stars that there wasn&039;t ates were locked but that wasn&039;t much of a problem to a olf Once he&039;d broken the lock and opened the gates fully, we drove around to the left, following a road that was lined by bare rosebushes

"Who reported the ravestone-filled darkness with some trepidation Cemeteries were not a favorite place ofabout, and not all of them were the pleasant type

"It ca enough for a trace"

"No caller ID, then?"

"Nope"

"Unusual"

"It could be, but a lot of folks don&039;t want to get involved any more than necessary"

Especially when it caled, and I had no idea why He pulled to a parking spot and clirabbed the stakes and my coat, then followed suit, relieved that I&039;d torn the bells off ainst the somber feel of the cemetery

I slammed the door shut and moved to the front of the car "Where is the body?" I said,in orderly soldier rows There were no ghosts out there, and for that I had to be glad I wasn&039;t in the htly, then he caught my hand in his and said, "It&039;s this way"

I didn&039;t question his certainty He was a were, so if there was blood on the breeze, he&039;d be sh the headstones, a chill began to creep acrosswas out there

My steps slowed "Brodie - "

"I know," he said softly "We&039;re being paced at the moment"

"Can you shtly doind But I can hear their steps" He squeezed , then it failed miserably "There&039;s only one, so it won&039;t be a probleh I could fight, I still had nowhere near the strength or speed of a non-huht the bad apples aet to you, and trustto happen"

I couldn&039;t help shting prowess it was sometimes scary But at ti

The sht air, and withinon his back beside a tractor, right next to a freshly dug grave, and the look of shock frozen onto his face suggested he hadn&039;t even seen his attacker His neck had been slashed wide open by soed, but not much blood had seeped into the collar of his overalls and thick jacket Someone - probably our vamp with the shattered canines - had sucked it all up

"Why would he be digging a grave at night? And without a light?"

"There&039;s a lot of non-hu this sort of stuff now, and uy doesn&039;t smell human" He releasedhere is the one I chased earlier tonight But there&039;s also a fainter scent that&039;s the same as the one I found near the other victims"

"So we have two vaether" I studied the darkness surrounding us "You think they could be hiding out here?"

"Wouldn&039;t be the first time vamps have made themselves at hoends of vaht was hungry enough to attack this gravedigger, surely he would have attacked so more than a little cold and forlorn, and he showed no inclination to attack ured you&039;d put up too much of a - "

I didn&039;t hear the rest of his sentence, because so darkness and cali the stakes froround

I landed hard enough to leavestars Stars that were quickly shattered by the growls of the varound and the smell of him - earth and unwashed flesh - filled every breath He snarled, revealing those shattered bloody canines, confirravedigger And he intended to feed off me as well

Not that I was about to let hiet hihed harshly - a sound that was abruptly cut off when ht be hu blood flying

He growled lon in his throat, a sound that was suddenly echoed Then he was gone froht like so ht

"Are you okay?" he said, voice harsh and green eyes afire with anger and concern

"Yeah, I&039;m fine - "

"Good Stay here while I take care of that bastard"

"Brodie, no, wait - "

Once again, I was speaking to nothingdarkness Whatever had been watching us before was still watching me now, and the feel of it made my skin crawl It was an older evil than the one Brodie was chasing, and there was an odd sense of satisfaction cohtly and looked around for the stakes I found one I&039;m sure the other one was out there in the darkness soo too far to find it And while one stake ht not help if whatever-it-was out there in the darkness attacked as suddenly as the first vaave me some sense of security

With stake in hand, I knelt down beside the body and studied the poor man&039;s neck What a er have a partner who&039;d fled the scene, or was he also lying out there in the darkness with a savaged neck? If so, why hadn&039;t Brodie scented hilanced at the surrounding gravestones,rapidly and the taste of fear in uys over the years, but I was still human Humans were easy kills for vampires, even one as well trained as me

God, Brodie, where are you?

Why had he left me alone? Why hadn&039;t he sensed that our other watcher was still out there? Or had his anger atelse?

I blew out a breath, and tried to reloith the force of rip on the stake, and every sense I had was tuned in the direction of the thing that still watched

Still oozed an evil that wasmy senses and sto for the tractor, toto be uncovered in the cabin

I didn&039;t get more than five steps when I sensed the approach of evil Before I could react, he hit froround Suddenly all I could breathe was dirt, and the panic that had already been stirring surged to new heights I struggled with all ainst the back of my head pressed me down harder A screahatmy skin, his flesh cold and cla hi backward

He chuckled A heated, lusty, and totally evil sound

Clothes tore His fingers forced thehting nausea and feeling roped blindly around rasped it frantically,around it spasmodically as I lifted th I had left

I hit flesh, felt it give way He roared in pain and jerked away Not getting off, but giving ulped down air,with the effort

"Bitch!" The sound rode the air, harsh and forced "For that, I will do you slowly, and then I shall let irl"

"Your brother is dead," came a voice so flat, so deadly and so danize that it was Brodie&039;s, "as you soon will be"

Then the weight was offlimbs into action and pushed up, the now-bloody stake still in ers were around the neck of a thickset ood six inches or so That took , but he didn&039;t even seen of effort was in the whiteness of his fingers Fingers that were ever-so-slowly squeezing the life out of ht have said

"Brodie - "

"No one attacks you and lives," he cut in, his gaze not leaving the thickset er in his voice, but possessiveness It was the wolf speaking, and the as protecting what belonged to hie would have made my heart dance, but such a reaction see his quarry in the raveyard And the fact that this vamp entirely deserved it was beside the point

"Damn it, Brodie, kill him quickly You&039;re not him I don&039;t want you to be like him, or any of the others we kill" Didn&039;t want him to enjoy it, as the protector within undoubtedly was

His fingers ht The va hiround like so much rubbish

"God, I&039;m sorry," he said, his voice soft and suddenly weary as he turned to face me And the pain in his eyes, the fear still etched in his face, made my heart ache "I&039;m so damn sorry - "

I didn&039;t let him finish I ran into his eht Ar more than I was

"It&039;s okay, I&039;ht my stupidity had taken you from me a second time" His breath whispered heat past ht of a life without you in it hit me, and I panicked I can&039;t live without you, Hannah I don&039;t want to live without you"

I broke free of his fierce grip, and stared into the glory of his green eyes Seeing the honesty there Seeing the love Wanting to return it twofold, but still trapped by the hurt of Christmas past "Yet you walked away for a year I can&039;t just forget that, Brodie" And while I ht have told hihed, and ran a finger lightly down my cheek My body trembled in response, and it was all I could do not to step into his eet the past and just enjoy the promise of the present

But I couldn&039;t I owed my tear-soaked pillow more than that

"I was an ass - "

"I think we&039;ve both agreed on that point," I said dryly "The point we need to clarify is why"

He thrust a hand through his hair, then said, "We happened very quickly I just wasn&039;t ready for it"

"So you coped by running away? That&039;s logical"

"Loving a hu a human isn&039;t a reason, Brodie It&039;s an excuse I need a reason" Needed to believe he wouldn&039;t do it to hed "You scared me"

I almost choked onbad hairy monster, not me"

He half smiled "I never expected - or wanted - to fall in love with a human, Hannah And ht of ed, his expression a little sheepish "So I convincedmore than an infatuation, and walked away"

"Just like that," I said, and all the hurt and the pain of that tiht there in my voice "So darireen eyes held a loneliness as powerful as anything I&039;d been feeling over the last year "You have no idea how many times I picked up the phone to call you No idea howan apology" He hesitated, and smiled ruefully "And no idea howyour dates and punching out whatever man you ith It was that need to destroy thethat finally convinced ht to talk to ht about it, trust me But it&039;s never easy for a olf to ad, especially in the face of such anger and hurt And the longer I left it, the estwouldn&039;t undo the daht have lost you forever"

"So why are you finally apologizing now?"

"Because I think about you every day, and dreaht We were never a , and e have will never go away I love you, Hannah I need you" He let his fingers run over le, then dropped his hand "Please, tell ivethere could only ever be one answer That there had only ever been one answer froht not be able to totally forget the year of loneliness, or the pain he&039;d caused ht or wrong, I wanted this man in my life

For Christmas

For ever

I blew out a breath, and said hesitantly, "I don&039;t know, Brodie" Tension flitted across his shoulders, and for a moment, utter bleakness shone in his eyes I let a smile touch et to finish my chocolate cake And there&039;s still theValentine&039;s Day and birthday presents to be resolved"

He laughed - a sound so joyous, so happy, that goose bumps ran across my skin He wrapped an arm around my waist and hauled me close "What if I promise to bathe you in chocolate cake for the rest of your life?"

I snuggled closer, letting the heat and scent of hiht be a step in the right direction"

"And give you two birthday presents for the next ten years?"

"And at Christ those, remember"

"It&039;s a deal," he murmured, then his lips claiht Like I was finally hoht have been a nightmare, but Christhty damn fine