Night Play(38)

"I'm sorry, I just heard this horrible cliche in my head of 'Will you still respect me in the morning?'"

He looked baffled. "Humans don't respect each other after they have sex?"

"You know, when you say things like that, you sound like an alien from outer space."

"I feel like an alien from outer space. A lot."

What an odd thing for him to say. "How long did you live in that commune of yours?"

"All my life. Up until eight months ago."

"Oh, my God. Really?"

He nodded.

No wonder he didn't know how to date. She couldn't imagine living isolated from the world.

He brushed his hand over her shoulder. "Since then I've been staying with… friends who own the Sanctuary bar on Ursulines. They've taught me a lot about how people behave, but Amanda said that you wouldn't appreciate my using the lines and moves that the men in the bar use to pick up the women they meet there."

Bride tried not to focus on how warm his hand was on her bare skin. How good his caress felt. It sent chills all the way through her, straight to her breasts, which hardened, aching for his touch. "Amanda who?"

"Hunter."

Bride started at the name. "Tabitha's twin sister?"

He nodded.

Good grief, what a small world. But if he knew Amanda, that was a relief. Amanda, unlike her twin sister, wasn't a lunatic and didn't, as a rule, hang out with psychos. If Amanda had really helped Vane, then he was most likely safe.

"You said no one dated in your commune. What did you do when you found a woman you liked?"

He looked a bit frustrated. "'Like' doesn't have the same meaning where I come from as it does to you. We didn't really 'like' anyone. If you were attracted to someone, you slept together and then moved on. We didn't get our emotions tangled with our bodies the way you do."

"How is that possible? It's human nature."

Vane sighed. It might be human nature, but it wasn't animal nature. "We just thought differently."

She stiffened indignantly. "So you think nothing of sleeping with me and then moving on to the next woman?"

Shit!

"No. That's not what I meant." He toyed with a curl that was brushing her bare shoulder. "I want to be with you, Bride. Only you. I want you to accept me."

"Why?"

"Because I need you."

"Why?"

Vane ground his teeth. How could he explain to her the feral yearning inside him to claim his mate? This infectious insanity that wouldn't rest until they were joined.

He'd never understood what had driven his father to attack his mother. Now he did. Every part of him simmered for her. It was feverish and raw and he wasn't sure how to control it.

How did a wolf mate with a human?

"I'm scaring you," he said as he smelled her fear. "I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone now."

He started away from her.

Bride took his hand. She was being stupid and she knew it. Vane had done nothing to hurt her. He'd gone out of his way to make her happy and to be kind.

What was she so afraid of?

The mere fact that he was willing to just walk away told her he would never do her harm.

Before she could stop herself, she pulled his lips down to hers and kissed him soundly.

Every hormone in her body sizzled at the taste of him. He crushed her against him, holding her in those steely arms she remembered so well.

He was overwhelmingly masculine.

His breathing ragged, he pulled back from her. "Tell me to go, Bride, and I will."

She stared up at him in the moonlight and saw the sincerity of those hazel eyes. "Stay with me, Vane."

His smile made her knees weak as he threw his head back and let out an eerie howl.

Before she could move, he picked her up and carried her through the door of her apartment.

"You were right. They're not dead."

Markus Kattalakis looked up from the bonfire where his wolf pack was gathered around as fury grabbed hold of him. For the last two months, his pack had been out in the backwoods of Nebraska, tending their young and biding their time until the pups would be old enough to jump time periods under the light of a full moon.

"What?" he asked his second in command, Stefan.

"Your senses were correct about Vane and Fang. I shifted to Sanctuary myself and saw Fang there."

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"He wasn't alone. One of the bears was with him. Their female cub. It appears the Peltiers have made them welcome. I can't strike at either of them while they are there. Not unless you wish a feud with the Peltiers."

Markus curled his lip at the news. It was tempting. But wolves and bears…

It had been a long time since Katagaria clan had fought clan. To engage the bears, who were renowned for maintaining one of the few Were-Hunter sanctuaries, was suicide. If the bears and their miscreants didn't kill his clan, others would. The Peltiers were respected by all.