Charles (Darkness #8) Read online

  “I don’t smell any people or strange scents.”

  “I think if danger was obvious, half your pack wouldn’t be missing.” He took out his sword and approached the door slowly, letting his magic unfurl and coat the ground, looking for magical traps of any kind. After three years of developing his skill, he could manage twenty feet, a rough semblance of the spell Sasha could use for miles. Still, it worked great for that twenty feet.

  He tried the door handle, finding it unlocked. He didn’t bother reaching for the keys someone had obtained from the human who owned this place. Pushing the door open, a sparse, mostly empty space greeted him, smelling dank and musty.

  Charles let his magic tumble across the floor ahead of him. He didn’t see anybody or any other magic. After a quick check in the bathroom, he walked back out to Ann, who was facing East with her eyes closed, standing perfectly still.

  “If that’s yoga, you’re doing it wrong.” Charles moved around the SUV to get the luggage.

  “The breeze is rolling off the mountain. Something smells… really delicious. It’s extremely faint, though.”

  “Smells like me, then?”

  “Despite its popularity, I don’t find the aroma of ball sweat particularly enjoyable…”

  Charles hefted their bags and moved toward the cabin. Ann crossed to the back of the SUV.

  “Leave it—I can get it.” Charles sighed when she grabbed the last bag and closed the trunk behind her.

  “This must have the tech in it. Of course you leave the heavy one for me.”

  “I did just say to leave it.”

  “Listening to you is a bad habit I don’t want to develop. I’ve lasted this long, I wouldn’t want to ruin my track record on one mission.”

  Charles dropped the luggage next to the bed and gave another glance around. “That one has some tech, and all the groceries.”

  Ann opened the bag and went through the items as Charles looked down at the round table between the fireplace and kitchen. Everything in here was close together. The place was no more than ten feet by fifteen. There was not a lot of space.

  The table was filthy.

  Charles spotted a towel hanging on an empty dish rack but even that was covered in heavy dust. He turned to the sink. The faucet sputtered a couple times as he turned it on before coughing to life. The water at least looked clear and clean.

  “Looks like it works. The man said as much, but Jameson thought he was mostly senile.” Charles put the dirty rag under the stream of water, grimacing as brown liquid coated the bottom of the kitchen sink.

  He shut off the water before looking in the cabinets under the sink. Finding a little pail, which was being used as a garbage can, he threw the disgusting towel in and closed the cabinet. Next he stripped off his shirt and started tearing it into sections.

  “What are you doing?” Ann asked, looking up with a can of beans in her hand.

  “We need rags. This shirt was getting old, anyway.”

  “In that big of a hurry to get naked?” Ann reached into the bag with her other hand and pulled out some paper towels. “These would probably do the trick…”

  Charles paused, clutching two fistfuls of fabric. He looked down at his shirt, which was now in four pieces.

  He shrugged and continued ripping. It was not like he’d be sewing it back together.

  “So, these guys Tim sent, they’re well trained?” Charles asked, sitting down to the table on a wobbly chair.

  “Some of the best we have, actually. All are ex-Special Forces in one army or other—not all of them were American. They were elite. Been in combat zones, snuck into enemy facilities…” Ann sighed and shook her head. “They just cut out one day.”

  “Huh. So they got captured and you thought: they’re idiots. I’m way better at sabotage and spy games. I think I’ll go next.”

  “No. I thought: Sasha’s bodyguards are idiots. I think I’ll take a mission as far away from them as possible. Joke’s on me.”

  “I’ll say. Wait until I tell Jonas what you said about him.”

  Ann opened the cans before dumping the soup contents into a pot. She rested the pot on the burner and then lit it with a match.

  “Camp often?” Charles asked, watching her for lack of anything better to do.

  “Yes. I love camping. Which you should expect as I turn into a furry creature that lives in the mountains.” She glanced over, her eyes snagging on his chest for a little too long, before looking back down at her task with a light scowl. “Shouldn’t you be planning our route for tomorrow?”

  “Yes. First I thought I would watch your ass, though.”

  “Cute.”

  “Yup, it is. Do you like things put in it?”

  Ann scoffed, her scowl becoming more pronounced. Charles smirked and bent to the map.

  * * *

  Ann helped Charles finish the dishes and put them on the rack before taking a large breath. Her gaze settled on the full-sized bed then looked at the large man entering the bathroom with a gloriously muscular back and broad shoulders.

  He’d take up that whole bed. There wasn’t a couch or even extra blankets to sleep on the floor. Just a ridiculously handsome, large man, a small bed, and her.

  She sighed, moving to her duffle bag.

  She slipped into a tank top as he came into the room. He froze, his eyes immediately on her disappearing breasts. She smiled to herself as she stripped out of her jeans and pulled on some small shorts. At least it wouldn’t be easy for him, either. It was a tiny consolation.

  She slid between the sheets and immediately sneezed as dust sifted into the air. Charles stepped forward quickly and pulled the outer layer off, leaving only a sheet and a light blanket.

  “We’ll be fine—you sleep hot.” He still wasn’t wearing a shirt after sacrificing his like a lunatic, so he stripped out of his pants, leaving him in a pair of boxers. His large erection poked out of the hole.

  Her mouth went dry.

  She yanked her gaze to the ceiling. “What does that mean, I sleep hot?”

  “You shed body heat. You’re warm. I am, too, so we don’t need that outer blanket. We’ll be fine.”

  “Okay.” She cleared her throat before willing moisture back into her mouth. “I should know the answer to this, but doesn’t exposing a raging hard-on bother you?”

  “Why would it? It does the talking for me. I want to screw you. Now you know. So let’s get to it.” He slid into the covers until his body was firmly pressed up against her. His hard length pushed against her hip.

  A grin tickled her lips as her core tingled. “Nah. Not interested.”

  “No problem. I can get you interested.” His hand slid up her thigh and over her hip before rubbing across her stomach. She closed her eyes and exhaled, the feeling heavenly. His fingertips glanced the base of her breasts, but he didn’t engage. Not only that, but he was staying on the surface of her clothes. He was enticing her, but not pressuring her.

  That made him that much hotter and much harder to say no to.

  Her body heated up and her blood boiled. She couldn’t control her panting. In a wispy voice, she managed, “No thanks.”

  “How about a blowjob?” He nuzzled her neck, kissing her softly, raising her small hairs as shivers coated her body.

  “Not in the mood.”

  A wet, warm tongue tickled the spot where he’d bit her.

  She really wanted him to bite her again. It was so erotic, and felt so good.

  “Does it feel good to you when someone takes your blood?” she asked, doing everything in her power not to spread her legs and direct his fingers to the sweet spot.

  “Very. Very, very good. We don’t do it often because we boost the other person’s power—or, at least, I would generally boost someone else’s power.”

  “Do I boost your power?”

  His hand moved over the swell of her breast. She moaned as he kneaded lightly. “Yes. I’m the first that has taken shifter blood as far as I know. We had no
idea it would, but it does. Somehow, it changes my magic a little. Incorporates yours.”

  “What would happen if I took your blood?”

  His mouth lightly sucked at her neck. “Do you want to find out?”

  She let her head fall slowly, her cheek glancing across his mouth before her lips softly touched his. He leaned forward enough to connect, the kiss turning deep and sensual almost immediately. His erection pulsed against her, begging her to turn toward him. Begging admittance.

  And his mouth. The man had a gift with that mouth. Kissing, nipping, licking—he could do no wrong with it.

  She wanted more, though. She wanted all of him. And if she tormented herself with just having him physically, eventually it would do exactly as Sasha warned it would. The pain of not being able to have him, or seeing him with another, would break her in half. She couldn’t keep up the intimacy if she expected to be able to walk away. She was in a great place right now, more sex would blow it.

  “No.” Her voice came out as a breathy sigh. Talk about mixed messages.

  She cleared her throat to say no with more conviction when his hand moved off her breast. It took everything she had not to snuggle in a little closer with gratitude for him understanding and not pushing the issue.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t want this, Charles.” She laid her hand on his, which was resting on her stomach. “I don’t want sex.”

  “We’re back to the vulnerable place, I see. No problem. I’ll wait until the evening when you go surly again.”

  She gave a soft laugh, thankful he not only understood, but that he was turning it into a joke.

  He kissed her neck lightly. “Just to be clear, are blowjobs out of the question?”

  She laughed again, feeling that delicious length searing against her bare skin. Her sex swelled, remembering him inside of her. Her mouth salivated at the thought of giving him pleasure.

  “Yes. Out of the question, yes.” It was the first time she really wanted to, though. The first time she wanted to fall to her knees in front of him and take his most precious body part into her mouth and render him speechless. Before, she had liked foreplay for mutual benefit, but now, she wanted to command him. She wanted to be the one making him beg.

  “Prude. Fine, I’m going to jack off, because blue-balls suck. Should I go to the bathroom, outside, or do you want to get sticky?”

  “Oh my God!” she laughed. “Not sticky. Gross!”

  With a chuckle he rolled away from her and out of the bed. He still didn’t bother to tuck himself into his boxers. “I’m going outside. If you take care of yourself, don’t do it in the bed, otherwise I’ll just get hard again when I come back.”

  “I knew you were honest, but… Jesus.” Ann laughed harder, climbing out of the bed and heading to the bathroom.

  * * *

  Charles stepped outside with a smile and lowered his boxers, letting his dick bob out. He took it in his hand as he walked around the car, doing what Ann had done earlier and taking in the scents. He didn’t smell whatever she did, though. Nothing sweet. All that registered with him was the fresh pine of the trees.

  As he began stroking, he closed his eyes, letting his magic roll out around him even though there was no way he’d find anything within his range. They were dealing with either shifters or humans, not his own kind. He couldn’t be positive about that, but since the Council hadn’t heard anything, the neighboring clan hadn’t heard anything, and neither had the Boss, he was pretty sure. Not even the clever Europeans could boast that level of secrecy.

  He felt his ardor rise as a soft moan drifted out onto the breeze. The window was open in the bathroom where Ann was pleasuring herself.

  A surge of heat infused him, making each stroke feel like it burned in the very best of ways. He remembered the feel of her body, and the softness of her skin. As his heart hammered in his ears, nearly there, reaching for the end, he barely registered a crack sounding in the trees.

  Pleasure fired in his body, but his attention split, focusing on the world around him. It was one of his many talents.

  Another crack and rustle sounded off to the distant right. Something was definitely out there.

  He sampled the scents again.

  There, lightly nestled between the pine, floated the distinct smell of a shifter.

  With the hand not employed, he sucked his finger and put it up to the air, feeling the breeze blowing toward him. He’d heard one, but it was hard to tell if that was who he was smelling.

  Pleasure forgotten, Charles walked toward the possible threat, pausing at the tree line. There was no telling how many there were. If he took off after this one, it left Ann vulnerable. She was strong and capable, but if she were outnumbered, it wouldn’t matter.

  He backtracked, squinting through the gaps in trees to try and minimize the glare of the sun in his eyes, looking for the disturbance.

  A rustle sounded off again in the same place as before. Charles put up a hand to block the sun as another moan drifted on the breeze. Without warning, the small hairs rose on his neck and arms followed swiftly by a surge of magic. He didn’t like someone else hearing Ann at such a private moment. She’d be embarrassed.

  Flexing, feeling an unspeakable, protective rage well up in him, he walked backwards, closer to her. He stopped in front of the door, his tattoos swirling with magic, as he stared out at the woods in challenge. Whoever was out there, no matter how many, might be predatory animals now but they’d stemmed from humans originally—they had a soft side. In contrast, he was made to be a predator—that was what separated him from the human fork of nature. And he would protect his own like nothing that shifter out there had ever seen before.

  As if hearing his thoughts, or possibly able to see him and reading his face and body language, the creature took off as if it was running for its life. Bushes and leaves rustled, rocks flew—Charles saw a brown body dash off to the right before cutting left, heading up the mountain, no bigger than a medium-sized dog. Nothing else moved.

  Charles waited, his senses on alert. Nothing else moved.

  There had only been one. On this side of the cabin, anyway.

  There were shifters in this wood that hadn’t been caught, and had not been sent by Tim. That might be cause for alarm.

  Chapter Six

  Charles entered the cabin in a rush of adrenaline. Deep, burnished gold swirled around his arms. Magic crackled within the small space.

  Ann came out of the bathroom with a sheen of sweat on her rosy face, eyes wide. “What’s wrong?”

  “Just saw a shifter.” He flicked the deadbolt on the door and stalked to the bathroom, slamming the window shut and latching it. Back in the main room, he stared out of the window near the door, knowing he needed to lay magical tripwires of some sort. He flicked through possible spells in his head.

  “A shifter?” Ann said with an incredulous voice. “What kind?”

  “I only saw a flash, but it was brown and the size of a medium-sized dog.”

  Ann looked out the window next to him, her shifter magic swirling around her. “Think he’s gone far? I could try and catch—”

  “No.” Charles put an arm out, backing her away from the window. “This isn’t the typical war zone. This place is a danger to you. Until we know what’s out there, there is no way you’re running off on your own. Do you know anyone that fits that description?”

  Ann looked down at her feet in thought. “A few, yeah, but they’re not soldiers. None of them came up here.”

  “What animal could be that size and pose a threat to the group Tim sent before us?”

  She shook her head. “None. Only a Tim-type animal, an alpha, would be a threat to those guys. That, or a group. You think this place is run by shifters?”

  Charles slowly moved his head from side to side. “I can’t think how. The brief picture we got was of a huge facility. They have high tech, and that means they have money. There aren’t enough shifters to populate such a big place. There aren’t enoug
h of my kind, either. That shifter is either on patrol and working for these people, or here to check things out.”

  “Tim would know if someone was checking things out. He runs a tight ship with all the other packs.”

  Charles let the confused scowl settle over his features. “Why would a shifter work for a lab who makes shifters disappear?”

  “Could be a guard to keep things quiet. Someone being as secretive as you just said wouldn’t want anyone sniffing around.”

  “Except there’ve been no records of humans going missing up here. There are plenty of hikers, and cabins like this one…”

  “We can speculate all day, but we won’t know anything for certain until we check it out tonight.”

  She was right. “All right fine, then go away. You smell like sex and I want to climb on. I can’t be distracted when I try to work magic or something will get messed up.”

  “Do you blow things up?”

  “No, that’s a Sasha and Paulie thing. Well, I guess any human trained wrong. If we—Go away. Your chatter isn’t helping. I can still smell you.”

  “Prickly.” Ann moved off toward the bed and slipped in, propping herself up on an elbow to watch him.

  He could still smell the aroma of her climax, not to mention her normal mouth-watering scent. It lingered in the air like a delicious beacon. The sheets were settled at her waist, giving a great view of those perky breasts through the tank top…

  Charles squeezed his eyes shut to block out her image. “This would be a whole lot easier if you’d just let me screw you real quick.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “If you could imagine, you’d spread your legs and wave me in.” Charles took a deep breath and focused on the area outside the window. “Okay. Here goes.”

  He pulled the elements and mixed them just right, using mostly earth to root the spell and water for its substance. If he set it right, if someone tripped the spell with their physical presence, he’d be alerted. Nothing more. He could then at least assess what was trying to sneak up on him.