Darkness Bred (Chimney Rock) Read online

  *

  Sean Black waited for her in a forest on the south shores of Washington’s Whidbey Island. He offered her the hope of her own future—with him—even though they were still strangers in so many ways.

  She quickly reached the place they had agreed on and hovered far above the small clearing in dense trees.

  Sean was there, waiting for her. She felt more than saw him and concentrated on the changes he’d made in her.

  With her ebony hair streaming across her face, Elin settled where a limb joined the massive trunk of a towering Douglas fir and watched him, wondering what he was thinking. Sean’s thoughts were closed to her but she felt his turmoil. Smiling, she reached out with her senses to touch him, and closed her eyes at his tensed reaction.

  Tonight she was glad she could fly, and even shapeshift into the little cat, Skillywidden. The combination allowed her freedoms she would miss if they were taken from her.

  When they first met while Sean’s alpha werehound, Niles, had been pursuing a mate and Elin became the go-between for all parties, she had appeared as the small, gray, violet-eyed Skillywidden. Sean was in his very large, very intimidating werehound form, Blue, a huge, blue-black animal with golden eyes, the same color as his human eyes. As Skillywidden and Blue, they had become the go-between for all parties.

  Even then the unlikely pair seemed compatible. In the following months the hound and the exotic cat met only as humans. They were not lovers, although Elin longed to join with Sean. He would only say that he could not lie with her unless they were to become mates.

  And tonight they had come to tell each other what decisions they had made about the future—to go their separate ways, or risk suffering Tarhazian’s threats by beginning a life together.

  The woman she had called her mother had made the ultimate threat. She could bind herself to Sean if she must, but unless she wanted them both to live in the pain of separation forever, separation from the worlds they knew and separation from each other, Elin must become Tarhazian’s spy on the Werehound Team.

  The Queen, her delving eyes seeking Elin’s innermost thoughts, left not a shred of hope for reprieve. “Fail me and you shall still never truly have him. You will see him and he will see you, but your skin will not touch his, your flesh will never join with his, and when your voices cry out, begging for solace, the words will be like dust falling on snow.”

  *

  Sean Black felt the beat of his heart.

  He heard it. And the shallow in, out, of his own breaths.

  Awareness tightened the muscles in his shoulders. Not for the first time, his skin registered a light stroking, as of fingertips brushing across him.

  Night had fallen, but from the forest clearing where he waited for Elin, he could see the moon’s sheen on a blue-gray sky far above his head where the swaying crowns of giant firs seemed to prick the heavens.

  Sean drew in the scent of those firs, the scent of their sap, of the thick carpet of fallen needles beneath his feet.

  Heaven or hell.

  If he defied the orders of his alpha werehound, Niles, and the wishes of the rest of their Team, and failed to break with Elin, he could be cast away from his own kind.

  For the first time in the five years since the horror of being used as a killing weapon in San Francisco, Sean had true hope. In the black hours when sleep wouldn’t come, he imagined Aldo appearing on Whidbey and trying to destroy what Sean had built with the Werehound Team. He wasn’t foolish enough to feel too safe from the werewolf who had promised never to give up hunting for Sean.

  To turn from Elin would mean the loss of the only woman he could love, the woman the other werehounds said had enchanted him, cast a spell on him. She would, they insisted, use him to spy on the hounds for their werewolf enemies, or for the local vampire scourge, who could sell the information to the wolves for blood. Almost worse, Elin could become the ultimate tool of the seething fae community bent on outwitting all of them.

  Tonight he must make his choice.

  *

  Without a sound, they touched. Sean shuddered and closed his eyes. She could do that, arrive silently and set him afire with nothing more than a fleeting caress with her fingertips. Sometimes all he had to do to feel her was to think about them being together.

  Then he heard her.

  Elin cried softly and he reached for her dark shape in the gloom. She evaded his hands and slipped from his sight. She slipped away only to layer herself against his back, her floating silk gown no barrier between his naked skin and her soft breasts.

  He could not move. Since they met, their meetings had been stolen moments to talk, haltingly in whispers, while something deep wound them more and more tightly together until this time for decisions came.

  No commitment had been made. There was so much they didn’t know about each other yet, but the fusion of their hearts had become a thing of beauty and pain, and a point where Sean feared that to break away forever would be like death.

  Her body, from her cheek, to the pressure of her hips, her slender thighs, and her toes against his heels, inflamed him until he was so tense he gritted his teeth to remain still.

  Sean found her arms and wrapped them around him, trapped them to hold her tight against him, and looked up at the sky again.

  When they met alone, it must be in darkness and he came in his hound form, with the excuse that he needed to make sure of his ability to shift. Before he saw Elin, he always changed into a man who could not help being aware of his size and power when he was with her diminutive form.

  And as a man, he had no choice but to be naked after he shifted. Another reason to meet in the darkness and keep himself mostly hidden from her. She seemed so young to him, young and unworldly, yet more unconsciously seductive than he could have imagined in any female, no matter how experienced. And so often she spoke with a wisdom that surprised and pleased him—and puzzled him. Her mystery, the dichotomy between innocent girl and wise woman, intoxicated him.

  Her tears were wet on his back but she dropped kiss after kiss along his spine.

  “Come here,” he said, keeping his voice soft but steady. “Let me see you.”

  Effortlessly, he pulled her around him until he could gaze down into her face. The bag she carried pleased him. He could hope it meant that she would agree to come with him.

  She looked at the ground, stepped back a little, and stared at him through the shield of darkness as if she saw him clearly. He believed she did and smiled a little.

  When she reached for him again, she stroked his chest, his sides, his belly, before she popped up to her toes and passed her lips fleetingly over his.

  Seeking to capture her mouth and deepen the kiss, Sean reached for her. Elin evaded him and sank rapidly lower to play the satiny tips of her fingers over his pulsing flesh as lightly as a feather made of burning breeze.

  While he could still think, Sean caught her hand. “Not yet,” he said. “Perhaps never. The decision will be ours eventually, and it will be forever.”

  “But the punishment may be inevitable,” Elin said. “Whatever we decide, they intend to sentence us to a living death.”

  chapter TWO

  Gabriel’s Place, a Whidbey Island eatery and bar near the town of Langley, had a thriving base of regular customers—but not at three in the morning.

  The most neutral and safest place the hounds could use for a meeting, Gabriel’s didn’t attract the local werewolves, who had no interest in fraternizing with humans, and other than Dr. Saul VanDoren, vampires did not venture there since they could not enter without invitation. They had never been invited. Saul was the exception because among the humans he was known as an eccentric doctor, not as a vampire.

  Apart from Sally, assistant cook at Gabriel’s, and now Elin, both of whom were banished by their Queen, visits from the fae world that was invisible to humans were rare. Occasionally fae disguised themselves so that they could move among the mortal community and there were always those fae, like El
in and Sally, who could pass as humans in their normal states.

  Wind roared in the chimney, whipping up flames and crackling sparks from the fire. The log building was tight, cozy, and fragrant with the scent of cedar, but sounds of a storm outside had started in the past hour and scatterings of debris hit the dark window glass.

  Only Niles Latimer, alpha werehound, and his sealed mate, Leigh, sat at a large, round table not far from the fireplace. Sally, also included in the early morning gathering, had hidden herself in the kitchen, away from Niles’s mounting irritation. The owner of the place, Gabriel Jones, had left Leigh to lock up. She worked there and pretty much ran the business anyway.

  “They should have been here two hours ago,” Niles said, jerking out of his chair and plunking his fists on top of the table to brace his weight.

  He stared at the front doors as if he could will Sean and Elin to materialize.

  Leigh wasn’t certain he couldn’t actually do that but Niles was not one to interfere with his Team if it could be avoided.

  Change the subject. Say anything, Leigh thought to herself. “At least we managed to talk Gabriel out of painting the inside of this place green,” she said with a hopeful smile. “I love the peeled logs. They smell wonderful.”

  Niles stared at her, a bemused look on his face.

  “Remember the last time Molly got in a big snit?” Molly was Gabriel’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. “Gabriel bought all that paint because she said she wanted that place green.

  “Now he wants to call this a bistro. That would mean changing the beautiful sign Sally had made.” The neon sign was, in Gabriel’s words, a flashing, neon monstrosity.

  “What are you talking about?” Niles said.

  “Forget it,” Leigh said. “Have patience with Sean and Elin. They have so little time together. A romantic like you should sympathize.”

  “I’m not a romantic,” he said gruffly, but he looked at Leigh and sucked in the corners of his mouth. “Except around you.”

  She pulled a chair close beside her and patted the seat. “Come here.” If she had her way, they would never be parted, not for an hour. “I need you near me.”

  Niles’s wavy black hair reached his collar, more than reached it, and his striking face mesmerized Leigh as much in this early morning as it had when they first met.

  He sighed like a harassed man and loped to drop into the chair. Big, huge beside Leigh, Niles was all muscle. At the moment beard stubble darkened his jaw and accentuated the electric blue of his eyes.

  “It won’t work for them,” he said, lacing the fingers of his right hand into those of Leigh’s left. He took her hand to his lips and kissed the back softly. “What you think and what you want are more important to me than anyone else will ever know. But you will have to trust me to do what’s right for the Team. It isn’t safe for Sean and Elin to be together.”

  “Why?” She already knew his reasons, but perhaps if he had to talk about them aloud enough times, he’d realize they could be overcome.

  “It’s too dangerous,” he said.

  “That’s what they said about us.”

  “We were different, we still are. You aren’t attached to an entire nation of unpredictable whack jobs ruled by a woman who wants to control everyone on Whidbey.”

  “There are lots of really good fae. And Elin isn’t attached to their community anymore. She’s been cast out before, but now that it’s gotten around that she and Sean are seeing each other, her separation from Tarhazian is permanent. Why would you want to push Elin out, too? Niles, you’re kind and good, you can’t want her to be alone. And she would be alone. I know she’ll never love anyone else.”

  Niles looked sideways at her. “How do you know that? She could meet one of her own kind, the right one, and be just as happy.”

  “Really?” Leigh intended to sound sarcastic and Niles met her eyes steadily. “I know you’re wrong because I’ve seen how they feel about each other. They’re like you and me. We couldn’t have lived without each other, and neither can they. Once they are sealed—once their flesh is joined—they will overcome anything that tries to come between them.” She held up the palm of her right hand to show the small, circular purple mark that matched one on Niles’s palm and signified that they were joined for all time.

  His lips parted and she got ready for some angry retort, but he closed his mouth and breathed deeply.

  She must stay focused and not think too deeply of what they were together, how they could close everything out. He was an amazing lover, who took her away from the world as she knew it. Their climaxes were mind eclipsing, and just to think of how she felt then was to wipe out all reason.

  “Niles,” she said tentatively. “Have you forgotten how Elin helped us when we needed it so much?”

  He pressed his lips together but the crease between his brows gave him away. He knew that Elin, Skillywidden as she was then, the beautiful and strange cat with violet eyes, had carried desperate news to fae Sally, who helped them outwit their enemies.

  “Niles?” Leigh prodded him.

  “I haven’t forgotten,” he said, and pushed a hand beneath her hair to caress her neck. “My concern is as much for Elin as for any of us. Tarhazian will be merciless when she wants something from her.”

  “Sean is a very strong man. In both mind and body. If I didn’t have you, he would be the first one I’d turn to for help.”

  Niles snorted. “I haven’t forgotten how you let him rest his head on your thigh.”

  “When he sat beside me as Blue the hound, you mean?” Leigh laughed. “But now I remember, you got mad at him for being too near me.”

  “I’m told he’s too damned attractive in any form,” Niles said, but he laughed, too.

  With a deep breath, Leigh forged ahead. “There’s something I’ve wanted to talk about but I’m afraid you won’t want to believe there’s anything in it.”

  He raised his upward-slashing black brows. “Now you’ve got my attention. Come on, let’s have it.” Niles reminded her of a warrior who had ridden down from distant slopes, the wind tearing at his hair and fire in his eyes. Her desire for him never faded.

  She gathered her wits. “Would you still have wanted me if I were all human?”

  He looked puzzled. “Of course. You’re Deseran but that means you’re essentially human, human with paranormal powers and blood like none other. What does that have to do with this?”

  Sally, who had connections to a secret society in New Orleans, had figured out that Leigh was a member of this rare group known as Deserans. They were considered by their supernatural parents to have no useful talents and, therefore, abandoned into foster care in New Orleans. Their numbers had become fewer and fewer until it was thought, wrongly, that there were none of them left.

  “It could be the answer to everything,” Leigh said. “I just don’t know if you will listen to me with an open mind, or believe a word I say.”

  She didn’t like his guarded stare.

  Leigh and her twin sister, Jan—who had yet to exhibit any signs of the Deseran and knew nothing about them—had been two of those abandoned children.

  Sally had found Leigh for Niles, who longed, together with the other members of the Team, to be accepted as humans. They were extraordinary warriors who fought on the side of good. For some years they had answered when the call came for contract special operations forces overseas.

  The steady loss of both the females of their species and the offspring, who usually caused those deaths when they were born—also dead—threatened the extinction of Niles’s Team and the rare strain of hounds they came from, unless fresh female blood came into the picture. Preferably human blood that would tolerate that of the werehounds. Not all types were thought to be suitable.

  It had been Sally who knew that in the realm of the unknown, the Deseran were the closest thing to universal blood donors in existence and might survive mating with this line of werehounds.

  Leigh gave him a sidew
ays glance. Some things were in the hands of fate, and she put all her faith in fate being kind.

  His features darkened and heat entered his eyes. He leaned to kiss her thoroughly, and nuzzle beneath her jaw. “It’s been too long,” he murmured. “I want you.”

  “It’s only been a few hours,” she said, smiling and rubbing her hand over his belly. Instantly, an erection strained against his zipper.

  Niles held her wrist. “Later,” he said, grimacing. “And not much later. I’ve got to have a clear head for now. So stop trying to distract me.”

  With an innocent expression, Leigh walked her fingers down his thigh and pretended not to see him jump. “You stop distracting me. I believe Elin may be completely human. Tarhazian stole her as an infant—from a demon who must also have stolen her—and trained her to perfect the skills she has. But look at her. She could be all human.”

  Niles shook his head in disbelief. “How long did it take you to come up with that? Elin is fae and she’s a shapeshifter. Square that with being human.”

  “I will. I doubt Tarhazian had any idea Elin might be human. And she still doesn’t know. Many of the fae look human. Second, Elin doesn’t really miss being in the fae community. She fits in with humans perfectly and she’s comfortable with them. I tried to suggest she might be human but she thought I was making a joke.”

  “So do I,” Niles said, but he gave her a slight smile to take out the sting.

  “But she seems more human than fae.”

  “Is that why she hangs out with a werehound?” Niles said. Then he added, “Forget I said that.”

  “She loves our house,” Leigh said, getting desperate to find her way past Niles’s resistance to Elin. “And the cottage. She didn’t grow up in a house but she’s so comfortable in them.”

  They lived in Niles’s house built on concrete bulkheads immediately above the waters of Saratoga Passage—part of Puget Sound between Whidbey and Camano Islands. But there was a cottage on top of the bluff behind Niles and Leigh’s place, Two Chimneys, which had been left to Leigh by her dead husband.

  “I don’t know where you’re going with this,” Niles said.