Night's Master (Children of The Night 3)

“Away where? And what about her kids? What's going to happen to them?”

“I don't know. I guess they'll stay with their grandparents for however long it takes for Susie to get a handle on her new lifestyle.” He grunted softly. “No doubt her kids will have a new father soon.”

“You think she's going to marry Cagin?”

“I'd bet my next fifty years on it.”

“But…what kind of life will that be for her boys, having a Werewolf for a mother and a shape-shifter for a stepfather? And how can they marry? I mean, he's a Were-tiger and she's a Werewolf.”

“They'll work it out. It won't be the first time such a thing has happened.”

I shook my head, amazed at his nonchalant attitude, but then, I guess after being a Vampire as long as he had, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot that surprised him.

“Where were your grandparents tonight?” I wondered aloud. “I thought they were watching Susie's house.”

“Mara needed their help with another matter. That's why Cagin was there.”

“He would have been there anyway,” I muttered. “You know, I don't understand you two. One minute you're trying to kill each other and the next you're both looking out for Susie.”

“I don't care for him much, but he's all right. He's just got a bad temper.”

“Are Mara and Clive having any luck ending the war?”

He nodded, his expression suddenly grim. “Most of our people and the Werewolves have decided to sort of fade into the woodwork, so to speak, until things die down. Mara had a hard time convincing Clive it was the smart thing to do. Sometimes I think he's got more pride than brains, but he finally agreed. The hunters are more organized and more numerous than we first thought. From what I understand, more than fifty Werewolves have disappeared without a trace in the last three months or so, and about half that many Vampires, and that's just here, in the States.”

“Maybe they were killed in the war.”

“A few perhaps, but not that many with no one knowing what happened to them or where they are. Come on,” he said, “we should get out of here.”

He was right. I didn't want to be in Susie's house if the police came by. I wondered again what Rafe and Cagin had done with Rick's body, and then decided I really didn't want to know.

When we reached my house, Rafe walked me to the front door, then took me into his arms. “You should get some sleep.”

I started to say I wasn't sleepy, but I yawned instead. It wasn't that late, but it had been a trying night. “Will you stay with me until morning?”

“If that's what you want.”

“I do.” After all that had happened, I didn't feel like being alone.

I unlocked the door, and Rafe followed me inside. He locked the door and then followed me down the hall to my bedroom. He sat on the foot of the bed while I went into the bathroom to change into my nightgown and brush my teeth. Even with the door closed, I could sense his presence in the next room, feel the tension stretching like a fine wire between us, taut and quivering. Right or wrong, I couldn't help wanting him.

Feeling a little nervous, I smoothed my gown over my hips, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Rafe was still sitting on the bed. He hadn't been idle, though. He had removed his shirt, T-shirt, boots, and socks. His chest and shoulders were a study in masculine perfection, like a handsomely sculpted work of art. I yearned to run my hands over every inch of him, but I wasn't sure I was prepared for what would surely follow.

He rose as I walked toward the bed, his eyes glowing with need, but a need for what?

Trembling, I pulled back the bedspread. My gaze met his for a long moment, and then I slid under the covers, my heart pounding wildly as Rafe settled down beside me.

“Relax,” he said quietly. “We're just going to sleep.”

Relieved and yet a little disappointed, I closed my eyes. I had always heard that Vampires were cold-blooded creatures, but there was nothing cold about the man lying beside me. Warmth radiated from him like heat from a blast furnace, or maybe it was just my own overheated imagination.

“You must think me an awful prude.” I wished I could be as blasé about sex as most of the girls in my home-town had been. Some of them had embraced the New Morality with open arms. They had changed lovers as often as they changed their hairstyles and nail polish. Marriage was old-fashioned, they'd said. People were living longer now. How could anyone be expected to stay with the same person for seventy or eighty years? I pictured Rafe in my mind, thinking that seventy or eighty years would never be long enough.

My friend, Nancy Gale, had been of the opinion that a woman needed at least three husbands. Number One should be dependable and of good stock, the kind of man you'd want to father your children. Husband Number Two should be carefree and full of fun, able to show a girl a good time, while Number Three should be easygoing and good at conversation, someone to spend your declining years with.

“An awful prude,” I repeated with a sigh.

“No, I think you're a woman who knows what she wants and won't settle for less.”

I wished he was right. I wasn't sure what I wanted. One day I wanted Rafe more than anything in the world, the next I was swamped by doubts. Could a big-city girl find lasting happiness in a small town? Could a mortal woman be truly happy with a Vampire? Tune in tomorrow, same time, same channel.

Rafe's fingertips lightly stroked back and forth across my brow. “Go to sleep, Kathy. You don't have to decide anything tonight.”

“I hate it when you do that,” I murmured.

“Sorry, love.”

“Love…I do love you, you know….”

His lips brushed my cheek, light as butterfly wings. “I know.”

His words, and the sweep of his lips on mine, lulled me to sleep.

Chapter Twenty-One

Rafe held Kathy close to his side. As always, her nearness was both pleasure and pain. Her skin was like smooth satin beneath his fingertips, her br**sts were warm and softly rounded, tempting him almost beyond his ability to resist. The lingering fragrance of her perfume teased his nostrils, the scent of her blood aroused all his senses.

So easy to take her, to make her his, to make her what he was. So easy…if he didn't mind incurring her hatred, perhaps for however long he lived. Ah, but what a beautiful Vampire she would make, forever young, forever his….

He shook the thought from his mind. She was smart not to get too involved with him. The world was turning, changing. The war between his kind and the Werewolves had jolted humanity out of its lethargy. He was amazed at how swiftly they had recognized the danger, how quickly they were responding, recruiting hunters, destroying Vampires and Werewolves alike. He wondered if the hotheads who had started the war were still alive, if they realized the full extent of what their folly might cost, or if Mara and Clive had hunted them down and destroyed them before they could cause any more trouble.