Branded by Lust: 4 (Night Seekers) (13 page)

Her heart was racing so fast Rebecca could barely breathe.

Now, now, now
, she chanted in her head, eyes closed
as she silently urged Logan to take her over the top.

And then she was there, the orgasm breaking over her and
shattering her like fragile crystal. Logan was right with her, his cock pulsing
inside her stretched vagina, her muscles clamping down tight on him as they
spasmed over and over. She was weightless, falling through space with crystal
lights flaring behind her closed eyes. As her body went lax the harsh sound of
her breathing mingled with Logan’s, cutting into the sudden silence in the
room.

Finally Logan rolled to his side, his cock still buried deep
in her cunt. He stroked her damp hair back from her face and dusted kisses over
her cheeks, her nose and her mouth. Then he gently eased from her body and off
the bed.

Smiling down at her, he said, “I think we need another
shower.”

* * * * *

Ben Crater paced restlessly in front of his fireplace, facts
and feelings churning together in his gut like marbles tumbling in a cage.
Today was unsettling to say the least. If he closed his eyes he could still see
the creature in the barn, fiery red eyes glowing from its horrific body. He was
sure he stopped breathing until the beast turned and ran off. And somehow
vanished into thin air.

After Rebecca Black and Logan Tanner had left, assuring him
he wasn’t hallucinating, he’d booted up his computer and googled the Chupacabra
on the internet. What he found terrified him as much as seeing the creature
itself. He separated the really far-out stuff and the articles that were
obviously fiction but what he was left with made him sweat.

Logan Tanner had actually
seen
the creature. Stood
next to the dead body. Only to have another one show up hundreds of miles away.
Ben had been through some bad shit in Afghanistan and Iraq but today he’d found
out what real terror was. He was doubly glad he’d bought the Remington 7600
pump action 30-06 rifle. He had hunting in mind when he made the purchase, but
since the episode earlier today he kept it by his side. He’d certainly made
sure he had it strapped to his snowmobile when he went out searching that
afternoon.

“Keep it handy,” Logan Tanner had told him.

Amen to that.

He’d covered miles today and hadn’t even found a trace of
the beast, or a snow cave where it might be hiding.

But that wasn’t the only thing making his spine tingle. The
moment he touched Tanner’s hand his nerves went on high alert. It wasn’t just
the contact that sent him a signal. It was the faint trace of scent that caught
him, a scent he was familiar with because it was also his own. A scent he’d
learned how to disguise out of necessity. But he caught the very faint trace of
it with Logan.

Was it possible that the man was actually a shifter? Maybe a
wolf like he was?

Ben sat back in his chair and raked his fingers through his
hair.

Holy shit.
What was happening to his dream of hiding
away in a quiet place in Montana?

He powered down the computer and went to refill his coffee
mug. In the morning he’d report to Sheriff Danvers’ office and begin the hunt
again.

* * * * *

Jade Robinson parked her car in the garage, walked into her
house and dropped her purse and her keys on the kitchen counter. It was almost
eight o’clock. She hadn’t meant to stay so long but having dinner with her
friend Claire was always a treat. And she hadn’t been doing much in the way of
relaxation lately.

Certainly Logan’s warning hadn’t done anything to ease her
nerves, and she couldn’t seem to get it out of her head. She wished he’d been
more explicit about what kind of danger she was in. She’d left lights on when
she headed out for dinner, not wanting to come home to a dark house. But even
with that she had an inexplicable jittery feeling.

He’s just being an old woman about this. That’s all.

It wasn’t as if she was totally isolated, for heaven’s sake.
She might be the very last house on her street but she did have neighbors.
Okay, so maybe the houses were much farther apart here and her nearest neighbor
was a mile away. Still, there were places more isolated than hers.

And she did have an alarm system. Which she reset as soon as
she parked her car and entered the house.

She also went to fetch her shotgun, a Mossberg 500 that her
father used to hunt with. It had long-range capabilities and bullets that
packed a punch as they blasted from the three-inch chambers. Jade was more than
capable of handling it. Whether the “danger” came from an animal or a human,
Jade was fully prepared to protect herself. Still, she went around checking all
the doors and windows and turned on all of the outside lights.

Fixing herself a cup of tea, she curled up on the couch and
tried to watch television. But after jumping at every little noise she went
upstairs to her bedroom, taking the shotgun with her. Maybe tomorrow she’d call
Logan and get more details out of him.

Another chance to talk to him. Maybe get him away from
that little bitch hanging on to him. Or maybe not.

Whatever he was talking about she could more than handle.
She’d hunted with her father for years and was no novice with wild animals. She
and her Mossberg had bagged many a kill. She’d be fine. No worries.

* * * * *

There was nothing less tempting for Logan and Rebecca than
getting dressed and going out into Overlook.

“Where’s the best place to pick up gossip?” Rebecca asked.

“Bar in Overlook called The Thirty Aught Six.”

She lifted an eyebrow.

Logan grinned. “Named for the kind of bullets Dan Chizeck
uses when he hunts. A 7.82 mm cartridge.”

Rebecca chuckled. “I guess it’s as good a name as any. Do
they serve food?”

“Most local bars do,” he told her. “Why?”

“I think we should go there and hang out. Maybe pick up some
gossip.”

Logan reached for her. “I think we should hang out in this
nice big bed.”

“I think we should hang out in the bar in Overlook,” Rebecca
said. She laughed and batted at his hands. “Come on. We can get dinner there
and maybe slip in a few questions.”

He rolled himself on top of her. “Persuade me.” He licked
her lower lip. “Or at least promise me I’ll get a reward.”

“I think you’re turning into a sex addict.”

“Then it’s your duty to help me get over it. By giving me as
much as I want.”

She pushed at him. “Yeah right. But if you drive us into
Overlook I will sufficiently reward you when we get back.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” He nipped her lip. “And a lot more.”

Rebecca was sure it was close to freezing—maybe even below
that—when she and Logan left and climbed into his big truck.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” she teased.

Logan laughed. “Should we go back inside and warm up?”

She rubbed his thigh. “Later. Work first. Then I can promise
you plenty of heat.”

“And by the way, just in case you were wondering, I’m well
prepared if we run into the beast. I have a Mossberg 935 Magnum Autoloader. It
will stop an elephant. And if we need the helicopter like we have the last few
times, Ric will have one in the bird with him.”

“Doesn’t it scare you,” she asked, “that we need such
firepower to destroy the devil beast?”

“What scares me more is we never seem to run out of them.”

They were each lost in their own thoughts as they entered
Overlook. The Thirty Aught Six was located just off the main street. A square
building set off by itself. Rebecca noted that the parking lot was full.

“Is this kind of crowd normal for a cold night in the middle
of the week?”

“This place stays busy all the time,” Logan told her. “And
it’s the best place to pick up gossip. Come on.” He went around and opened her
door for her. “There should be some nice little tidbits floating around.”

The place was as crowded as Rebecca expected. Mostly men
with a dozen women scattered around the crowded bar. Peanut shells covered the
floor and lanterns cast a soft glow over the room. A couple was just leaving a
table in a back corner and Logan immediately claimed ownership of it. They had
barely removed their jackets when an older waitress came over with her order
pad in hand and a big grin on her face.

“Lordy, Logan. I wasn’t sure we’d ever see you here again.”

He smiled at her. “Can’t keep a bad penny from turning up.”

“If all the bad pennies were like you I’d start collecting
them.” She looked at Rebecca. ”This your lady friend?”

“Rebecca and I work for the same company right now.”

“That still a big secret, whatever took you away from the
ranch?”

“We playing Twenty Questions, Lil, or are we gonna get
something to eat before we starve to death? Not very good customer relations.”

Lil grumbled but took their order and headed to the kitchen.

Rebecca giggled. “For a minute I thought she was going to
ask me for my driver’s license and a short bio.”

“Lil’s worked here forever. Hardy Melton, who owns the
place, says Lil’s gotten to where she thinks
she’s
the owner. He just
laughs about it. Says he gets more work out of her that way.”

They were eating their burgers and fries when a man wandered
over, nodded at Rebecca and looked at Logan. “Mind if I sit down for a minute?”

“Sure, Mac.” Logan pushed a chair out with his foot.
“Rebecca, meet Mac. He’s been around forever.”

The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair, glanced at
Rebecca then back at Logan. “This your lady friend I heard about?”

Wow! Gossip really does spread fast around here.

She opened her mouth to say something but she heard Logan
say, “This is Rebecca Black. We work together. Whatever you can say to me you
can say to her.”

“Well,” Mac drawled. “The first thing a bunch of us are
wondering is why the death of a park ranger would bring someone from whatever
alphabet agency you two work for all the way to Overlook. We’re hardly a blip
on anyone’s radar.”

“It has similarities to some other deaths we’re
investigating,” Rebecca said smoothly.

“I was sent because I lived here,” Logan told him, then he
added hastily, “And I still do, Mac. Maybe not all the time these days but I
plan to come back to the ranch when…this is over.”

“I don’t suppose you can tell me exactly what
this
is?” Mac asked.

“I would if I could. Believe me.”

The older man rubbed his jaw. “Sheriff’s been passing the
word about two escaped inmates who might be headed this way.”

Rebecca nodded. “So we heard when we checked in with him.”

Mac eyed both of them skeptically. “Well, we’ve been talking
and we wondered if that had anything to do with this hush-hush case you’re
working.”

“If everyone knows about it, it can’t be so hush-hush, can
it?” Logan asked. He wondered exactly how much people were aware of and what
they’d been saying.

“You know how things are here,” the older man said. “They
haven’t changed that much.”

“Well, in all that chatter, are people talking about the
park ranger’s death?” Logan tried to make his voice as casual as possible.

Mac looked startled. “Is that what you both are here about?
The word is he was attacked by a wild animal. Maybe a big horn elk.”

Logan shrugged. “Could be, but it could also be someone he
stumbled on who shouldn’t be around here.”

“And the sheriff thought he should call in whatever secret
organization you work for to investigate?”

Rebecca leaned forward. “The signs are similar to other
cases we’ve worked on. We offered our help with this.”

Mac’s eyes widened. “Are you saying we have a serial killer
around here? Holy shit!”

“No, no, no.” Logan tried to reassure him. “That’s not it at
all. But maybe a criminal on the run who doesn’t want to be found. Maybe the
ranger stumbled on him and that’s what cost him his life.”

“But from what I’ve heard,” Mac objected, “the signs were
definitely those of some kind of animal.”

“We’re not ruling anything out, just covering all bases,”
Rebecca told him.

“So what are people saying?” Logan asked again.

“All kinds of things,” Mac said. “Even stuff as farfetched
as it might be some animal not indigenous to the area. One who strayed here
somehow.”

“Everything and anything is possible,” Rebecca said. “But if
anyone has seen anything that is out of the ordinary—animal or man—you’d hear
about it, right?”

Mac snorted. “We’d hear about it in this place, that’s for
sure.”

They all sat there for a long moment, letting the sounds of
the bar wash over them.

“You really mean that about stray animals?” Mac asked.

“Mac.” Logan leaned forward. “You never know what’s going to
wander into your area.”

“By the way.” The old man shifted in his chair. “Did you
hear Jade Robinson is back in town?”

Logan exchanged glances with Rebecca.

“Yes,” Logan answered. “We ran into her, as a matter of
fact.”

“Oops.” Mac grimaced. “Didn’t mean to bring up a touchy
subject.”

“Not at all,” Logan told him. “Whatever there was between
Jade and me is long over. I’ve moved on and so has she.” He exchanged another
look with Rebecca. “I do worry about her living all the way out of town like
that though. Anything can happen, as unprotected as she is.”

“Jade can shoot the eye of an eagle at five hundred paces. I
think she can defend herself pretty well.”

“Just saying,” Logan told him, “if there’s something weird
wandering around in this area she probably shouldn’t be out there all alone the
way she is.”

Mac laughed. “Shall I pass along your concerns?”

“We already did,” Rebecca said. “She didn’t seem to be too
alarmed.”