21 Shades of Night, page 321
He met her gaze. “I’m two hundred ninety-five years old. I wouldn’t call that young.”
Kalena’s mouth fell open as she processed his declaration. “Shouldn’t you be dead?”
Thane laughed breathlessly. “I have no answer to that. Our creator didn’t give us the ability to estimate our moment of death.”
“Where are all your gray hairs? You have the skin of a youth. I don't see any age spots.”
“A shifter doesn't reach his prime until around the age of seventeen. We're most vulnerable during our earlier years. After we've matured into adulthood, we begin to age very slowly. Two hundred ninety-five years is the equivalent of about thirty-five human years,” he said.
“Right, you do look to be in your thirties, and you aren’t old and wrinkled.”
Thane grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Where did you inject me?”
He took her hand in his and turned her palm upward. His fingers traced up the vein pulsing against the skin on the underside of her arm. A warm thrill ran up her spine, and she craved more of his touch.
He pressed his thumb against the site of the injection. “Here.”
“And with what?”
She followed his gaze as it trailed to the end table by the cot. There was a needle sitting next to a burning candle. “It’s a good thing I passed out. I hate needles with a passion.”
“There are other ways to get the cure. Blood injections are usually the quickest. The cure can also be found in semen, and it attacks the D996 poison in ways similar to the blood.” He regarded her with a serious expression. “You don’t hate sex with a passion too, do you?”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and she reminisced about the way he’d kissed her and had held her up against the wall earlier. She could count on one hand the number of boyfriends she'd had sex with, and it had never been with much passion. She decided to avoid his direct question. No need to reveal that she was inexperienced in the ways of making love.
“So, to get the cure that will remove the harmful poison inside of me, I have to inject myself with shifter DNA or engage in sex with a shifter?”
“Theoretically.” Thane nodded curtly. “The next dose should be given soon. You were unconscious when I gave you the first one, and the cure travels faster when the heart rate is higher than normal. Based on the number of times you were exposed to D996, I estimate you will need the cure about a dozen more times.” His gaze darkened as he assessed her. “You choose the method, but I won’t let you die.”
Kalena blushed and looked away. No matter how seductive and tempting he was, she could not have sex with a stranger just to cure her ailment. But would she dare have sex with a three-hundred-year-old wolf of a man to whom she was attracted?
“The only thing I want right now is a bath. Isn’t there a bathtub somewhere around here?” she asked, knowing full well there were no bathrooms in the middle of the damned forest.
“There’s a fresh water lake less than a quarter mile from here, but I’ll need to carry you there like I carried you here. I don’t want anyone picking up your scent.”
For a moment, Kalena thought she glimpsed his eyes change in color. The brown hue was suddenly mixed with auburn and brass. She looked at his chest, remembering the symbol that had appeared when she’d touched him. There was no sign of such a symbol now. There was more to this man than he was letting on, and with what little time she had with him, she would aim to learn more about him.
Chapter 12
“I’M NOT SURE how I feel about you carrying me around all the time,” Kalena said, as Thane came to a stop near a ravine and a pristine lake.
Thane shifted his weight and placed her lightweight form on the ground. “When you’re ready to tell me how it feels, I’m all ears,” he said.
He caught her grin and it literally warmed his heart. He wanted to see her smile over and over again. When most women would be nagging about this type of situation, she seemed to hold her own just fine.
Thane glanced around, lifting his nose to the breeze. He didn’t scent anyone nearby, neither man nor wolf. This made sense since this area was the most trap heavy. Only a few miles to the left of them was the north wall, where most of the trucks entered to dump more inmates. He sensed something else though. Further to the south, dark clouds cast a shadow on the landscape, obscuring the mountains.
His nostrils flared as the realization finally set in.
He took off the small backpack and handed it to her. “Quickly. I smell a thunderstorm on the horizon. From the look of those clouds, it ain’t gonna be pretty.”
Kalena narrowed her eyes. “You should never rush a woman while she’s bathing.”
He grinned. “Thank you for that information. I was wondering why I couldn’t keep a girlfriend.”
“You’re very welcome.” She climbed down into the gully, walking closer to the bank of the lake. “Will anyone see me?”
“This is the most discreet place here, but I can’t guarantee that there aren’t any peeping toms.”
Kalena blew out a puff of air. “Great, I feel so much better. Nice way to make me feel like I can clean myself in peace.”
He grinned and leaned against a boulder near the stream. “I’ll be standing right here. No one will harm you.” He crossed his arms and glanced up at the sky again.
“No peeking either,” she stated.
“If you say so…,” he teased.
Brief silence followed, so he figured she must have begun taking off her clothes. Thane wanted to look but decided to heed her request. He heard her unzip the backpack and shuffle around in it.
“Isn’t there a washcloth?”
“In the bottom section,” he replied. “If you can’t find it, there are alternate methods.”
She unzipped the bottom section. “Like what?”
“Bare hands and fingers.”
“I’m not so sure that would be better than using a cloth,” she replied hotly.
“I could give you a lesson and show you just how much better it can be.” He’d give anything to see the expression on her face, but her heated floral scent floating toward him on the breeze told him all he needed to know about her reaction.
“I’m sure you could.” Her faint reply came moments later.
Thane had to reel in his wolf soon, before the mating urge got out of hand. He’d controlled it well for decades, but then again, no woman had affected him the way Kalena did. He’d loved many times before, but none had the ability to call out to his wolf or reveal his imprint with one touch. Most had never known that he was an almost three-hundred-year-old wolf shifter at all.
From the moment he’d first heard Kalena’s screams, to the moment she’d grazed the bare skin on his back with her fingertips, she managed to hold him under her spell. But she wasn’t a witch, she was human…gentle and pure.
He listened to the sound of the water rolling off her skin and draining back into the lake. Somehow, he wished he were there right beside her. The feelings she invoked in him were highly addictive. The sweet smell of her arousal was intoxicating. She’d be gone from this place in less than twenty-four hours. But he would make it his business and priority to get her out of here safely.
“You’re quiet,” she said, rattling him out of his thoughts.
“You said you wanted some peace,” he replied.
“It’s a little bit too quiet out here. It’s as if there’s absolutely no one around.”
“Area S2 holds just over one hundred prisoners, but you would never know that until the monthly drops when they all gather around to barter and trade. One Pack has been organized here under the leadership of Zsecar Nolan. There are about a dozen humans here, too.”
“Why would they throw the humans in a shifter prison?” she asked.
“It’s what happens when a human commits a crime against a shifter.”
“Even if I were a spy, the sentence is rather harsh, don’t you think?”
He nodded. “Agreed. When ownership of Area S2 transferred to Gavril, he abused its purpose. This truly was a facility to hold shifters who were beyond control. It was built even before we outed ourselves to humans. In ancient days, shifters would be sentenced to the gauntlet for crimes like murder. As time passed, we adopted more human practices…hence Area S2.”
“I wish I could remember more about what happened. I feel so powerless. I was literally robbed of my memory.”
“You were likely labeled a threat and thrown in here because of it,” he said.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, matching the intensity of the blood boiling in Thane’s veins.
“I’m done,” she said. “I guess we should head back before the storm.”
Thane turned to see her gathering up the backpack. She was fully clothed, and was pulling the drawstrings of the sweatpants he’d loaned her tight around her waist. His outfit swallowed her up, masking her womanly curves under all the fabric. He had this urge to strip her naked and have his way with her.
He came halfway to meet her, helping her climb the few rocks that led down into the gully. The ends of her hair were wet, some of it sticking to her face. He couldn’t help himself and raised his hand to stroke the delicate cleft on her chin.
“Were you sent by the fates to turn my world upside down?” he whispered.
She averted her gaze, briefly breaking their connection. “I don’t think I have the power to do something like that to a man, let alone a man who is more than ten times my age.”
“You would be surprised what you can do to me with just your touch,” he replied.
“I thought maybe you always glow in the dark when you’re turned on,” she replied coyly.
He laughed deeply. “I can see you remember that much, at least. I can do more than glow in the dark when I’m turned on.”
She bit into her bottom lip, the sight of it causing an instant yearning in his groin.
“I think it’s sexy,” she replied, licking her lips.
His cock twitched uncomfortably in his jeans. He could have sworn she closed the gap between them. Either that, or his cock was stretching into tempting territories.
She lifted her hand to touch his face, and heat crept up his back and along his arms. An electric charge shot through him, causing him to pull back.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to shock you.”
If Kalena only knew…
What raged through him wasn’t a shock at all. It was his wolf trying to bond with Kalena. In all of his lifetime, he’d never known this feeling.
“Come.” He hoisted her up into his arms. “Before we get caught in the rain.”
Chapter 13
THE FLAMES FLICKERED inside the fire pit, casting numerous shadows on the rocky walls of the hut. Kalena watched as Thane made room for a few more logs in the pit under the pot. The aroma of the stew smelled savory, and even though they’d just eaten fresh fish as a light meal and apples for dessert, her belly rumbled just like the thunderstorm outside. She wondered if he was a good cook in the kitchen, just like he was in the wilderness. The one thing she was glad she hadn’t witnessed was the killing and skinning of the rabbit in the pot.
“Thanks for everything you’ve done for me,” she said. “I’m not sure I would be alive if it weren’t for you.”
“You have a strong spirit. I’m sure you would have managed,” he said, brushing his palms off on his pants and coming to stand. His chest was bare, as he’d recently washed his shirt and had it hanging near the fire to dry.
She couldn’t seem to take her eyes from the sight of him, and she wondered if the markings on his body appeared out of the blue or if she’d done something to cause the reaction. For whatever reason, he acted strangely whenever she touched him now.
“Besides the women that greeted me when I first came in here, are there any others like me? Other human women, or those falsely accused?”
“I doubt it. Most have, in fact, committed crimes against a fellow shifter.”
“I can’t imagine how anyone could live out here,” she said, wringing her hands in her lap.
“We’re animals, Kalena. This is our natural habitat, but it’s not a favored one. No wolf likes to be captured, chained and restricted to one area.”
“Did you have a girlfriend out here? Someone to keep you from being lonely?”
His eyes shifted quickly over her. “No.”
“What about before you were sentenced here? Anyone special in your life?” she asked.
“There are a lot of special people in my life, but I haven’t had a girlfriend for some time. When I rose in the hierarchy…when I was called to lead my Pack, there was hardly enough time to cater to the needs of a woman. Most women need more than I can give them.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m not exactly the romantic type,” he replied.
“Oh.” She bit the corner of her bottom lip. He seemed sensitive enough to her needs. The kiss they had shared was the most romantic thing she’d ever experienced. But there had never been that many men in her life to begin with.
He grabbed a small box and brought it over to the bed where she was sitting. She glanced inside and quickly averted her gaze when she saw the needle.
“Would it help any if you looked away while I get the injection ready?” he asked.
“I think so…” She glanced at the fire. “How long will it take?”
“Less than three minutes. I’m using a low dose to remain on the safe side.” He fumbled around in the box. “Too much of the DNA at once can be more harmful than beneficial.”
“Have you done this before for anybody?”
“I haven’t, but I’ve seen it done. We have humans in our circles that were loyal to us even before we outed ourselves publicly. A small percentage of them even belong to our Packs. There are five family dynasties whose loyalties can be traced back to when we first came into existence. There are those that want the injections, and those who want to live a normal human life. In your case, this is a medical emergency…a matter of life and death. But if you ask me, I don’t see why anyone would want to live for hundreds of years.”
“Maybe because they value life and the people that share it with them,” she said.
“When you live as long as I have, you experience many adverse changes around you. Sometimes, the people around you change. The greedy get greedier, and loathing becomes hate. Then suddenly, the only thing that pleases them is power. Absolute power over those they hate.”
“A good person wouldn’t let those adverse changes overpower them, right?” she urged. “Couldn’t there be an ounce of kindness left in the heart of someone like that?”
“I don’t know,” he said. Uncertainty rang in the tone of his voice.
“You seem like a good man…and wolf.”
“People aren’t always what they seem.”
Kalena turned just in time to see him tying a rubber strip around his arm. “Wait!”
“Kalena, I don’t want you to die,” he said breathlessly. “I didn’t mean to frighten you by telling you this. Yes, there are people who live extended lives and are still kind to others.”
“That’s not why I stopped you.” She leaned into him, untying the rubber and tossing it back into the box. “I want to feel again…what I felt when I touched you. We don’t have that much time left together and I want to remember you.”
He exhaled deeply, his bronze eyes straining to see through narrowed slits. “Why would you want to remember me?”
“I want to remember how you made me feel.” She hesitated a moment before saying, “I’d like to try the other way.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “You do realize I’m not human, right?”
Kalena laughed nervously. “It’s what we’ve been talking about all this time. I don’t care about that. I mean…I do care that you’re different, but not in the way you think. Does it matter that I’m human to you?”
He didn’t answer. He lifted his hand and stroked the side of her face with his palm. She sighed in relief the moment his warmth surrounded her, but he still seemed hesitant.
“If you don’t wa—”
His mouth descended on hers full force, coaxing her lips apart gently. He tasted of something both sweet and spicy. Honey and sandalwood. She leaned into him, joining in the intense rhythm he set.
She shifted on the bed, propping up on her knees to get a better angle. Before long, she was straddling his lap. She broke away from the kiss momentarily, just to confirm again that this was real—that she was, in fact, on top of a man.
With a dazed expression, he glanced at her from under thick chestnut lashes. “You’re so beautiful.”
Kalena looked down at his chest, noting the rise and fall as he took each breath. “Tell me about the tattoos?”
“They’re imprints. Not ink. Each line and symbol represents my history. The markings increase with age, and distinct symbols form based on a wolf’s position with his Pack.”
“How do you make the imprints glow?”
“Appearance of my markings on my human skin is controlled by my emotions. An older and more experienced wolf should be able to control his emotions, and thus prevent revealing his true nature to others.” He caught her gaze. “Some emotions are harder to control when in the presence of those who can instill those emotions in both the man and his wolf.”
Kalena reached out, touching his shoulder first. The sheer coating of chestnut hair on his skin felt soft against her fingers. At first, she thought the markings wouldn’t appear, but as she began a downward descent across his shoulders and down his chest, the dim glow began to emerge, and the markings revealed themselves.
He closed his eyes and rested back onto his forearm.
It was the most beautiful thing Kalena had ever seen. A man yielding to a woman and letting all of his emotions flow to the surface. She sensed something else within him. His skin pulsed against her palm, giving off a strong electric charge, as though something else was trying to break free from within him.
