She rocked her hips upward just as he withdrew, only to thrust forward again. He rewarded her efforts with more of the same, picking up speed and strength with each surge, until she no longer knew anything except the slide of his skin against hers, his body in hers. Trying to anchor herself in the swirling vortex of pleasure, she dug her fingers into his hips and held on, loving the flex and play of his muscles.
Then she arched up off the bed, calling her lover’s name as she reached the breaking point. In response, Larem growled something in his native language as their bodies crashed together in a final explosion of pulsing heat.
She cried out at the beauty of it all as Larem buried his face against her neck. Then abruptly, he withdrew from more than just her body.
As he disappeared into the bathroom, she had to wonder if the chill in the air had anything at all to do with the air-conditioning.
Chapter 13
Duke sipped his third cup of coffee, needing the jolt of caffeine to stay awake. He’d been parked outside of Sasha Willis’s hotel for over an hour now, and it looked as if he had a long night ahead of him.
He’d received more orders by e-mail, asking him to keep a closer eye on what the new administrator was up to so he could report to the others at their meeting tomorrow. He glanced at his watch. Make that today, since it was now after midnight.
Earlier, he’d followed her to a barbecue at Lacey Sebastian’s place. Most of the local Paladins had shown up for the festivities along with their pet Others. No surprise there since one of the Sebastians—Lacey—was shacked up with one of those freaks.
The Willis woman had taken a cab to the party, so he’d expected her to call another one to take her back to the hotel. Instead, she’d walked out with Lonzo Jones and his Other roommate, Larem. Yeah, that crazy Kalith had even lifted her up into the truck cab. She hadn’t looked happy about having him touch her—it spoke well of her.
Afterward, Duke had hung back to make sure there wasn’t any more to it than the two guys saving her cab fare. But that wasn’t how it played out. Once they reached the hotel, Larem had once again put his hands around her waist and set her back down on the pavement. This time she’d smiled and leaned on his shoulders, where they’d lingered a little too long.
Lonzo had taken off right after that, leaving the two of them standing outside the hotel. Rather than see Sasha heading inside, though, Larem had tugged her around the corner into a pool of shadows. Duke had actually spilled part of his coffee in his lap out of shock at what happened next.
Sasha had not only let the Other kiss her, but Duke wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d let the Kalith fuck her right there up against the wall. How sick was that? He used his cell phone to snap a couple of pictures to forward to his contact.
How could yet another human woman allow herself to be used by one of those crazies? She had to know what he was. Furious, he’d driven by and taken a potshot at Larem with his paint gun, the only weapon he’d had with him. He’d aimed at the back of Larem’s head, but he’d been off by a couple of inches. Still, it was fun watching the lovebirds go diving for the ground.
Knowing the Kalith’s uncanny night vision, Duke had taken off right after to avoid being recognized. He’d driven to the rear of the hotel to park and then slipped into a back corner of the lobby just in time to see Sasha and Larem duck into an elevator.
After hanging around for fifteen minutes with no sign of Larem, Duke had bought a cup of coffee and headed back out into the night. He’d circled the block until a parking spot opened up that would give him an unobstructed view of the hotel’s front entrance. Sure, Larem could go slinking out the back, but that would be the wrong direction if he was heading home.
Duke’s orders had been to watch, and that was what he was doing. Once he knew how long Larem spent in Sasha’s room, he’d go home and report in tomorrow. Although he had little info about the group that had contacted him, he knew enough to know that they’d be outraged by this development. He set his coffee aside and picked up his paint gun, staring down the sights at the bright light pouring out of the hotel entrance.
Too bad it wasn’t a real gun instead of a wannabe weapon. He imagined the satisfaction of watching a bullet hitting the center of Larem’s chest, exploding in a spray of red blood instead of blue paint. Yeah, that would feel damn good. Maybe next time.
Then, as if his imagination had conjured up the alien, Larem walked out of the hotel, stopping long enough to zip his jacket before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking off into the darkness. It was damn well about time the freak left. Duke checked his watch. The bastard had been inside for close to two hours. Plenty of time to get it on with the Willis woman.
Duke turned the key in the ignition. If he hurried, he’d have enough time to get a few hours’ sleep before heading to Whidbey Island in the morning. Maybe he’d come home from the meeting with a new set of orders to follow, ones that involved settling the problem of the Kalith permanently.
Larem skirted the dim light of the sidewalk, preferring to keep to the shadows. It definitely fit his mood better than the warm glow cast by the streetlights overhead. He could’ve flagged down a cab, but he figured he stood a better chance of outdistancing the demons nipping at his heels if he walked home.
What kind of fool leaves the warmth of a willing woman’s bed to hike his ass home through the damp mist of a Seattle night? His kind, evidently. Even now, it was all he could do not to go back and beg Sasha to forgive him for taking off as soon as . . .
As what? As soon as he’d poured everything he had, everything he was, into her? He’d planned to show her how good it could be between them and ended up learning something far more important about himself: he was a fool. And not just an ordinary fool. No, he was the kind who managed to destroy his own honor and hurt the woman he cared about, all at the same time.