Magic, New Mexico_A Touch of Death Read online

  Her touch. Her concern for him. He could barely remember to breathe. He was overwhelmed by her presence.

  Is it just that I’m her champion? Or could she actually care for me?

  As she closed his flesh, placing the pointless Band-Aids on his skin, he watched her. She was the most stunning creature he had ever laid eyes on. She always had been. Even in high school, she was different than the others.

  In the alley, she’d seemed like a hallucination. But here and now, she felt real…which was even stranger. How could a woman like her actually exist?

  Years spent tied to a table, experimented on, trapped in rooms where his abilities were tested to the limits, he’d thought of her. In the back of his mind, he always believed that he had placed her on a pedestal. That no one could truly be that perfect.

  But here she is, proving that I was wrong.

  A shiver ran through him.

  She looked up, her eyes, a light brown ringed by both green and blue, took his breath away. In high school, she had called them hazel. But hazel could never describe eyes of such beauty. “Did I hurt you?”

  How could he tell her? How could she possibly understand how badly he craved her? He wanted to beg her to keep touching him. To touch him forever. Despite how weary he was…a bone-deep weariness that blackened the edges of his vision, his hybrid shifter blood wanted to claim her. He wanted to pull her to the bed. To remove the bloodstained clothes from her body. To lay her beneath him and meld their bodies together.

  He would please her, because nothing would make him happier. He would kiss her pale pink lips and taste her. See if she tasted as good as she smelled, because she smelled…amazing. She smelled like nature, the trees, and the wind, it seemed to be weaved into her soul. She also had an underlying sweetness that was all feminine.

  And delicious.

  Once he kissed her, he would move down her body. Touch every inch of her with his hands, and his lips. And if she let him slide inside her, to make them one, that moment would be the best moment of his so far short, miserable life.

  She frowned and looked away. “You can tell me if I’m hurting you.”

  He stared. How did a man tell a woman that she was making him feel alive in a way he hadn’t for years? “You’re not hurting me.”

  She gave him a faint smile and began again, and then his worshipping, aroused thoughts turned on him. He was pining after Alexa Darkmore. A wealthy, beautiful vampire who was apparently now the leader of her clan, being challenged for her position. She needed to marry another powerful vampire.

  If she was out of my reach as a poor human…she is certainly out of my reach as a freak alien hybrid. Disbelief uncoiled within him, leaving his entire chest hurting in an entirely new way.

  “So, you’re an alien then?” she asked in a voice that was too casual.

  “A hybrid.” He clenched his teeth. “Although after the experiments, I’m not sure if there’s any human left in me.”

  She ran a hand over his stomach. “Well…you still feel human to me.” Her words hung between them.

  Did she mean that to sound so…sexy?

  She finished dressing the bleeding wounds on his arms, then slid from the couch. She parted his thighs, kneeling between them, moving her focus to the wounds on his stomach.

  He caught himself before a groan could tear from his lips. He couldn’t let her see how much she was affecting him. She probably thinks I’m half-crazy. And I’m covered in bites from head to toe. She’d probably be disgusted by his interest.

  But even though he ordered himself to hide his attraction, his cock had a mind of its own. It rose eagerly, straining against the white towel he wore.

  As she reached behind her for more Band-Aids, his gaze went to her ample chest. Her jumpsuit was dangerously low-cut. From this angle, he could see straight down to the lacy white bra that held her breasts so lovingly.

  His fingers twitched to reach out and touch her creamy flesh. Instead, he fisted his hands. She’s not mine to touch.

  When her elbow brushed his manhood, a groan tore from his lips.

  His sensitive hearing picked up the way her heart suddenly started racing and the sound of her breathing as it became more rapid. He shook his head. His damn body wanted to imagine her response was a reciprocal attraction, but his mind told him that was more hopeful than real.

  “I’m so sorry they did this to you.” Her hands brushed the skin of his chest, then lingered on his stomach. Again. It was pleasure and pain all in one. He had never ached so badly for another person.

  “Is that where you went all those years ago when you vanished?”

  She had noticed.

  “I went for a hike. They found me and took me.” He hadn’t seen the light of day for three years after his capture. Three long years. And after that, he was watched. Always watched. A young man with confusing abilities and nowhere to go. It wasn’t hard to become their little soldier…at least their soldier with his moral limits…

  “I,” she hesitated. “I was upset that you left without telling me. But after, everything, I hoped maybe you found a woman, maybe even had a family.”

  He couldn’t take his eyes off the way her lips pulled into a thin line. “I’m surprised you thought of me at all.”

  Her head jerked up. “Brendan…”

  Yes?

  She sighed. “Of course I did.”

  Was he imagining the pain in her eyes?

  “I…we’d spoken only a few times.” She continued after a moment. “But I thought…”

  It was absolutely true. They’d spoken only a few times. But he was sure the bullies at school left him alone because of something she did. He was sure the backpack and school supplies someone left for him each year in the office was from her. And the night his foster father disappeared, he didn’t know how, but he felt sure she had something to do with it.

  Afterward, a strange lawyer had been appointed to him. He successfully became emancipated, and someone had helped him to get a job as a maintenance worker in a crappy apartment building, but it paid his rent and left him money for food.

  Even though it had seemed insane that a teenage girl could do all those things, his gut told him that she was involved.

  Yet they barely spoke, even though they saw each other every day at school. Other than that night.

  “I know we were basically strangers,” she said, dropping a Band-Aid on the floor between them. “It was silly that I was so upset.”

  She leaned down to pick it up, and her cheek brushed his cock.

  He inhaled sharply

  She sat up and stared pointedly at his erection. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips.

  Looking up at the ceiling, he sent a desperate thought out into the universe. Damn my cruel imagination, stop it!

  Because in his mind, he saw her pulling back the folds of his towel to reveal the evidence of his desire. Her small hand curling around his girth as she pumped him slowly, and then faster and faster. And then her lips closing around him, taking him into her hot mouth.

  He shuddered, his eyes flying open as he felt his control sliding through his fingers. Grasping the side of his towel, he stood, scrambling away from her.

  She stared, her eyes wide. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” The word came out more harshly than he expected, so he added to it, trying to soften the blow, “Tomorrow we have a long day.”

  “But I wasn’t finished!”

  But I nearly was.

  “It’s good enough.”

  After a long minute, she nodded. “So tomorrow…”

  “We find someone to help us find the communicator.”

  She walked across the room. “I’ll change and then we can climb into bed.”

  Bed?

  He looked at the one large bed dominating the back half of the cabin. Then he looked toward the sky and closed his eyes. It looks like I won’t be sleeping tonight.

  Chapter Five

  Alexa shielded her eyes with her
hands as she looked up at the post office. It had a rugged look, very different from the charm of downtown Magic. It was a squat tan adobe structure with darkened windows and large cacti planted evenly around it.

  This place is so different from Mist in every way.

  Just the thought of her home sent a stabbing pain through her chest. She had to get back. Her people needed her. But at the same time, Brendan’s goal was no less important than her own. She could be delayed to protect innocent lives.

  Although no matter how this ends, I’ll be making certain the Shadow Keepers no longer have a home on Draven Cerberus’s lands. Draven may think he’ll usurp me soon, but until then, I am the overlord of all our lands, and I will get to the bottom of how the alien shifters were able to conduct such awful things under our noses.

  Especially if he had anything to do with it.

  She glanced back at the post office, taking a deep breath. Brendan needed to use this fairy to get the communications device. Then, they would leave Magic, New Mexico far behind and return to her lands.

  Still, she felt tension crawling beneath her skin. There was so much to do, and time was of the essence. And she was tired. The bed they’d slept in last night had been much too small, and she’d been aware of his every movement. She could have sworn he didn’t sleep a wink, either.

  Her mother’s voice floated through her mind. “Smile, Alexa, never let them see what’s below the surface. Your people want to see a flawless queen, not a person. You can never be a person to them. Familiarity breeds contempt.”

  Looking down at her pale blue dress, expertly cut so the long, lightweight material flowed around her legs when she walked, she realized that she might look at tad out of place. The thought came and went in a flash. Oscar de la Rentais always appropriate.

  “It doesn’t look like the kind of place a fairy would hang out, but who am I to judge?” she asked herself, patting the sides of her hair. She’d done a simple fishtail braid down her back, but without all her hair products, she worried it would loosen and look foolish.

  Calm down, no one knows you here. You don’t have to be Alexa Darkmore. You can just be another girl. Somehow, the thought brought a smile to her face. She dropped her hands, her anxiety melting away.

  “Ready?”

  But Brendan’s gaze was slowly scanning the area around them, and his eyes narrowed.

  “What is it?”

  After a second, he answered, “Nothing.”

  When she raised a brow and planted a hand on her hip, his gaze snapped to her. It took her too long to realize that he was only confused by her annoyance. Tapping the toes of her beautiful leather thigh-high boots, she let out a slow breath.

  He isn’t your brother. He isn’t going to be able to read your every move.

  But to her delight, after a moment he spoke. “I just,” he shrugged as he said, “feel like we’re being watched.”

  Every good feeling quickly vanished. Watched? She squinted her eyes in the bright morning sun and scanned the quiet street to one side and the desert to the other. Was there really something out there?

  “Do you think it’s them?”

  Are those aliens still hunting Brendan? It makes sense they wouldn’t have given up on their search to find the communications device.

  “I don’t know. But let’s head inside. And be careful.”

  As they walked to the door, his long strides meant she fell behind. Her gaze instantly went to his incredible ass. The jeans he wore were ridiculously tight, which felt like a special gift just for her.

  A delightful distraction.

  Unfortunately, his clothes from the night before had been torn and bloodied past usage. She’d finally searched through the cabin and found a dark blue flannel shirt and jeans. Both were at least a size too small. Or just the right size, depending if you’re asking him or me.

  She hated how good he looked. The jeans hugged his hard ass and clung to the bulge in his pants. Even the shirt looked like it was about to explode off him like the Incredible Hulk. It stretched tightly at the shoulders, and she got to see peeks of his hard stomach and chest where the buttons were pulled too tightly.

  “Coming?” he asked, holding open the door and looking utterly confused.

  She shook herself, ducking her head as she hurried toward him, so he couldn’t see her blushing. What’s wrong with me? Yes, he looks good, but I need to show more control than this!

  But she didn’t have time to consider it further because she was suddenly overwhelmed by a room that was smaller than her great-aunt’s cabin and cluttered with cheesy Western decor. Shelves by the door had dead scorpions preserved in glittery, plastic half domes, postcards with half-naked cowboys, and a variety of other odds and ends.

  She reached out and touched one of the scorpions with her fingertip and smiled. Magic was certainly an interesting town, but it was growing on her more and more each day. It was fun visiting as a kid, but seeing it through adult eyes is certainly different.

  A man cleared his throat.

  She whirled to see that a man, well, a dwarf, had climbed onto a stool behind the counter. One of his brows was raised in question at them.

  Brendan crossed the small space and put his hands on the counter, leaning forward ever so slightly. “I’m looking for a fairy. A Sabrina.”

  The dwarf’s lips puckered. He may have been far shorter than Brendan, yet he had the attitude of a giant as he spoke. “And who’s asking about her?”

  Brendan’s eyes narrowed.

  She sighed, and strode toward them, placing a hand on her shifter’s shoulder. “I’m Topper’s great-great-niece, or something like that. We’re looking for an item that we lost, and Aunt Topper indicated that Sabrina might be just the one to help with the job.” Then, she flashed him a smile.

  His anger instantly melted away, and he ran his hands through his strawberry blond hair. “Well, why didn’t he just say that? You must be Alexa.”

  “Why—yes, how did you know?”

  He grinned and leaned forward, winking as his gaze ran over her. “She told us all about you. She said not to be mistaken about your vampire looks, that you were a witch through and through.”

  Oh boy, who else has my aunt told that I’m here—and will that complicate things further?

  “Is Sabrina here, or not?” Brendan asked, his words clipped.

  The dwarf looked from him to her. “How come all the beautiful girls like the brooding, dangerous guys? You know dwarves are well-known for their charm, wit, good manners, and—”

  “Ability to waste the time of those around them,” Brendan interrupted, folding his arms over his chest.

  The dwarf’s eyes flashed with anger.

  Great. This little manly argument isn’t getting us anywhere.

  Alexa patted his shoulder again. “What my big, grumpy friend here means is that we’re pressed for time. Is she here?”

  After a moment, the dwarf huffed and turned behind him, shouting, “Sabrina! You got people here for you!”

  A second later, a woman about a head shorter than Alexa walked out of the door to the back. She had the delicate features of a fairy, with curly blond hair and deep brown eyes. Like most fairies, her age was impossible to tell, but Alexa suspected she was around eighteen. The golden, glittery dress she wore added to the illusion, delicate spaghetti straps and an outward flare at the bottom reminded her of a modern version of a fairy tale. Her skin glittered slightly, whether it was due to a glamour or actual glitter, Alexa wasn’t sure.

  “Tell those twins they need to find another game to play because I’m done with their—?“ Her gaze went to Brendan and her eyes widened. Her lips formed into an O, and she simply came to a stop. “Wow!”

  The dwarf rolled his eyes. “They need you.”

  Sabrina strolled right up to Brendan and leaned forward, only the counter between them. “You wanted me?” Her voice was husky, and frankly, desperate.

  Seriously? Does this fairy really think Brendan would
be interested in someone ten years younger than him? She eyed the fairy’s small, perky breasts. Most men prefer a bit more to work with anyway.

  “We wanted your help,” Alexa said, straightening her shoulders.

  The fairy didn’t look at her, but her smile for Brendan grew wider. “What can I do for you?”

  Brendan didn’t seem to notice that the girl was almost drooling on him. “I’m looking for a lost item.”

  “I’ll help you with anything you need. Anything at all.”

  He nodded. “Thank you. Can you help us now?”

  She put her hands on the counter and climbed over, practically knocking Alexa over in her haste. “I’d go anywhere with you.”

  Brendan looked to the dwarf. “Do you have a map of the area?”

  The other man looked more than a little annoyed. “There’s a pile of free ones right over there, pretty boy.”

  Brendan ignored both him and the fairy, crossed the room, picked up a map and brought it back. He spread it out on the counter, then peered down at it. Alexa’s gaze snapped to a small movement in one corner—a little gray mouse ran from one end of the room to behind a bookshelf. This place just keeps getting better and better.

  “What are we looking for?” Sabrina whispered, leaning down closer to him, her nipples brushing his arm.

  Alexa glared at her. “Like we said, something we lost.”

  After a minute, Brendan grabbed a pen from the counter and circled a spot on the map. “Something here.”

  She leaned in closer to him. “I’ll need more to go on than that.”

  He frowned. “It’s a metal…device. It looks like this.” He drew a picture of something on the top of the map that looked like a metal walkie-talkie. “Is this enough for you to work with?”

  She looked from the picture to the spot circled on the map. “It should be.”

  “Great,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  They walked back to Alexa’s Bentley.

  Sabrina grinned. “I can sit in the back with you.”

  I’ve had about enough of you. “He’ll sit in the front.”