Guardian (The Protectors Series) (17 page)

The only other person in Wayfarer who knew part of the truth was Ben Hayes at the
Oracle
. Needing his help for Griff a few weeks ago, Val had told him they had unusual abilities, but she hadn’t given him nearly the full truth.

Stefan pushed Will’s speed dial. A moment later, his favorite research nerd said, “You good to talk?”

“Shoot.” Hettie’s big golden retriever, Magnus, chased a squirrel around the corner of the house and up a live oak. After one satisfied bark, the dog sat, staring upward.

“I didn’t find much on that creativity thing you asked me to look into. However, there was some thought in the mid 1700s about people who demonstrated high levels of creativity being sensitive to magic.”

“Define ‘sensitive.’”

“The materials I saw, mostly old journal entries, speculated a lot about whether creative Mundanes—artists and musicians, in their world, but I’d bet you could widen that to embroiderers, cooks, writers, pretty much any virtuoso—could actually sense magical energy even if they couldn’t wield it.”

“That might be why Mel thought there was something ‘off’ when she walked into Boone’s hospital room right after I finished healing him. Did anybody ever do a study to see if there was any biological basis for that?”

“Not that I found. The American Revolution came along, and some of the people thinking about this were casualties. Most were busy with their own affairs. The theory seemed to fall out of favor. Magekind were caught up the distractions of war and chaos like everyone else, and there was some resistance to the idea that Mundanes might possess mage abilities, that the line between mage and Mundane might not be as clear as we’d thought.”

“Needed somebody to push the theory, maybe. Somebody with a name.”

“That always helps. Even if you tried to set up an experiment, how would you get a control group? What would you say to a bunch of Mundanes to explain what you’re doing? ‘Do you feel something now?’ kind of harks back to those ads where the guy asks if people can hear him. Except with a big suggestibility factor.”

“I guess.” Stefan told Will about the discussion at lunch. “Despite what you’ve found or haven’t, I can’t help wondering if Griff’s onto something with that idea. Miss Cinda was kind of frail, but there are people who’d be easier prey than Wiley Boone and his shotgun.”

“If bullets bounce off me, I don’t care about the shotgun.”

“There is that. And two incidents don’t make a pattern. Could be coincidence.”

“Except we hate coincidence,” Will said in a dry voice.

“Yeah, we do. Anything else?”

“Nope. Gotta run. I have a date. I’ll call you if I find anything else.” Will disconnected.

Stefan stared out into the yard, where Magnus trotted along, nose to the ground, on the trail of something. At least the dog had a clear trail to follow. Stefan’s mind was all over the place, particularly in regard to his feelings for Mel.

On the one hand, his limited revelations hadn’t changed anything. On the other, if he and Mel were to make a relationship work, he had to be completely honest sooner or later. Which meant demonstrating more advanced magic. If she handled that as well as she’d dealt with his limited revelations so far, he’d seek Council approval to tell her about the many races of magical beings.

Pondering strategy, he walked back into the house. Mel sat where he’d left her. She was skimming an article in a scrapbook while rubbing her neck with her left hand.

“Cramp?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She flashed him a quick smile. “I’m going to have to get up and move around when I finish this article.”

“If you found one worth reading, that’s progress.”

Mel shook her head. “I’m not sure how much it’s worth, but I’m taking notes. It’s about swamp demon legends.”

Stefan peered over her shoulder. Before he realized what he was doing, his hands settled on either side of her neck. Mel stiffened, but he brushed his thumb over the spot she’d rubbed.

“Oh, yeah, seriously tight,” he murmured. “Let me see what I can do. I’ll give you the colleague discount, so no charge.”

She laughed, and her shoulders relaxed a little. “Okay,” she said at last. “Thanks.”

Stefan found the knots and dug in. “You feel as though you have steel cables bunched up in here.”

“I’m worried. We’re not making headway, and I keep thinking about the similar case near the Great Dismal Swamp that was never solved. And now we have a disappearing body.”

“Sometimes it’s a matter of different angles, a shift in perspective. One change in viewpoint can make everything fall into place. In medicine, anyway.”

“Investigations are the same.” Mel sighed and set down her pen. “That feels great. You know your stuff, Stefan.”

He smiled down at the top of her head. “Not to brag, but I did take honors in Anatomy.”

“And most other things.” Judging by the warmth in her voice, she was smiling.

“Why do you think this article could be useful?” he asked.

“It talks about a big guy with glowing eyes clawing some poor gator hunter. It’s from 1927, though, and the
Oracle
archives burned in 1972. I’m not sure how anyone would know about this to imitate it unless it’s some kind of local cult.”

“Hmm.” Her shoulders were loosening, and he became more aware of the warm, firm muscles under her cream silk shirt. “Descendants of cultists might know what they did,” he mused, “though a copycat here wouldn’t explain the Great Dismal Swamp case.”

“I’m happy to worry about our problem for now, although if it turns out to be a previously unknown cult, it could be widespread.”

“That’s a point.”

Mel sighed again, this time sounding more frustrated than content. “I know newspapers tended to be lurid in the twenties, despite the more formal language, but this article talks about big fangs and a slavering mouth and a beastly roar. Come on!”

“Could be a bear they didn’t get a good look at. Bears live in the swamp.”

“Maybe it’s a gator walking upright,” she said in a dry voice.

Stefan chuckled. “You never know. Moonless night, scary thing coming out of the dark.”

“The guy we took down in the road roared,” she noted, “but he didn’t have fangs or a giant mouth.”

“True.” Her shoulders felt fully relaxed now. He could stop, but he liked the feel of her under his hands. The trust she showed by letting him work on her and relaxing while he did was more seductive than she could know.

“Do you like your job?” Mel asked. “I mean, really like it?”

Stefan almost froze but managed to keep his hands moving on her shoulders, not let her realize the question surprised him. “Sure. I told you, it gives me a lot of freedom. I have plenty of research time but still work with patients. What about you and the FBI?”

“I love it. I fit there, and you know that’s never been an easy thing for me. And I feel like the work matters, either to protect people or, if it’s too late for that, to get them justice.” She paused, and new tension crept into her muscles. “I wish I’d been in time to protect Cinda. Since I wasn’t, I
will
see her killer punished.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Mel sat quietly as he rubbed the new knots in her neck.

Suddenly, she said, “I guess that’s why I have so much trouble with your job.”

She turned to look up at him, and he jammed his hands in his pockets to keep them from revealing his mood. “You wanted to make a difference,” she said. “I know I have no right to an opinion. I just don’t understand what happened.”

He set his jaw against the frustration clawing at his throat, the words burning to rush out. He did make a difference. Every damned day, he did something that mattered to someone.

“I’ve pissed you off,” she said. “I’m sorry.” Eyes dark with misery, Mel gently touched his arm. “Can we forget I said anything?”

Stefan blew out a hard breath that relieved none of the pressure in his chest. The hell with second-guessing.

He leaned down and kissed her.

S
tefan’s lips brushed Mel’s, then pressed, warm and soft, against her mouth. With a sigh at the pleasure of it, she opened for him. His breath caressed her face as his tongue slid into her mouth, not demanding but seducing in a slow, tender glide that rolled liquid heat through her body and fogged her brain.

As he pulled back, the fog slowly cleared. She found her hand cupping his nape and his arm around her.

When he raised his head, a question lurked in his eyes. He didn’t straighten but waited, looking steadily at her.

It has to be all or nothing this time, even the weird parts…and that’s okay.
Mel tugged his face down to hers again.

The second kiss was deeper, hotter. She turned in the chair as Stefan pulled her to her feet and against his tall, hard frame.

A screen door banged.

They jumped apart, scrambling back to their chairs. Mel’s cheeks felt fiery, and Stefan’s breathing sounded no steadier than hers felt.

She cleared her throat. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“Say you’ll have dinner with me tonight.”

“I’d like that.” Gathering her courage, she added, “I want to hear more about your energy manipulation, even though it still makes me uneasy.”

“I understand, Mel, honestly.” He caught her hand and raised it to his lips. Her heart melted. With his eyes tender and his breath soft against her knuckles, he continued, “You caught so much hell over claims that weren’t real that you decided it was all impossible. But think about this—if energy healing is real, maybe some of the things your mom aspired to do actually were possible.”

Everything inside Mel seized up and went cold. His intent expression, the longing in the depths of his eyes, compelled her to think past her first reaction. He did understand.

“I know I felt something last night. Yet it’s so illogical, so irrational and impossible, I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“Cognitive dissonance,” Stefan murmured.

“What?”

He shrugged. “Evidence conflicts with a long-held belief, so your brain can’t choose.”

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that. It’s so clinical.”

“I’m a doctor.” His smile briefly flashed, without wiping the disappointment from his eyes. “We tend to think clinically.”

Mel sighed. “It’s probably crazy, but I can’t stop thinking about how good we were together. And that kiss just now…” She hesitated, feeling her face heat.

He was still holding her hand, watching her intently.

Gathering her courage, she said, “I need you to be patient with me, to give me time on this energy business, but…I’d like us to try again.”

Stefan’s grin made her heart soar. He drew her hand to his mouth and kissed it again. Heat flashed up her arm, tightening her nipples, and his eyes darkened.

“Slowly,” he murmured, holding her hand in both of his. “I can do slow. We’ll work this out, sweetheart. If you’ll trust me.”

Mel smiled as hope bubbled inside her. “I doubted you once. I don’t like to repeat a mistake.” This time, without secrets between them, they really might have a second chance.

Driving back to Miss Cinda’s house after dinner, Stefan considered his next move. Will’s findings about creativity and magic made the idea of Mel alone in that isolated house less appealing than ever, but they could have that fight later.

She laid her hand over his on his knee, and he went instantly hard. Her thumb rubbed the back of his hand. “If this is a date, you’ll come in for coffee, won’t you?”

“Of course.” He smiled at her, but she’d given him an opening. “I want to check the house, too, be sure it’s clear.” Though the police radio had been silent tonight.

Her hand stilled, and she gave him a
really?
look. “That isn’t necessary.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being out there alone, especially after what Griff suggested at lunch.”

“About creativity? Stefan, no more than a handful of people in Wayfarer know I have any musical aptitude at all. Most of them are deputies.”

“Uh-huh, and they all have friends who’ll wonder why an FBI agent cares about a local murder. So the deputies, seeing no reason not to enlighten them, will explain. Then there’s the regular grapevine. By now, sweetheart, the whole town knows you were Cinda’s student.”

Stefan turned into her driveway and parked. “Please wait by the front door while I clear the house.” When she rolled her eyes, he added, “Come on, humor me.”

“It’s sweet that you want to protect me.” She patted his hand. “Really, but—”

“Mel, I’m not only an expert with a sword. I train in full contact, full speed, hand-to-hand combat with two tigers called Griff and Will. If you try to go into that house by yourself, you’ll force me to prove it.”

Her eyebrows rose. An odd gleam lit her eyes, and she tilted her head, studying him.

That glint was strangely arousing, but he held his game face together. She couldn’t doubt he meant what he said.

“You know,” she commented, “the caveman routine should piss me off. Instead, it’s appealing and…sexy.”

Their gazes locked. The air between them sizzled.

Mel leaned over to kiss him. “We’ll compromise. I’ll check the house with you, and then we’ll have coffee.”

“Okay, but I take point.” After coffee, somehow, he would talk her into letting him bunk on the sofa. He’d prefer her bed, but that wouldn’t qualify as
slow
.

They walked into the house together, locking the front door behind them, and went from room to room. Mel had her gun out, but Stefan figured that was mostly to humor him.

After they checked the last closet, she said, “All clear,” with
I told you so
implied in her tone. “Why don’t you wait in the living room? I’ll put the water on for coffee.”

Watching the gentle sway of her hips as she walked down the short hall ahead of him, Stefan decided coffee was low on his list of priorities.

When Mel headed into the kitchen, he followed her.

“There’s still chocolate cake, too,” she reminded him. She stood at the sink, running water into a big plastic cup for the coffeemaker.

He set his hands at her waist and nuzzled her neck.

Mel shivered. “Stefan…”

“I know something better than coffee.” Brushing his lips against her throat, he slid his arms around her and gloried in the way she trembled for him. “Better than cake, too.”

She dropped the cup into the sink and turned in his arms.

The kiss blazed from soft and searing to no-holds-barred in a heartbeat. Everything but Mel blurred into nonexistence as his hands roamed her trim curves. She was touching him, too, exploring. Caressing.

He pressed his open mouth to her neck and flicked his tongue over her skin. She whimpered and tugged at his shirt. Then she was nipping his jaw, his ear.

Somehow, they stumbled down the hall and into the living room without falling. His tie was gone, his shirt open. Even better, her shirt was gone.

As they fell onto the sofa, his mouth found Mel’s unerringly. Their bodies aligned, and the softness of her groin cushioned the aching hardness of his.

With a soft moan, she rocked against him. Stefan groaned.

He cupped her breast, thumbing the nipple through lacy silk. With a gasp, she arched against his hand. Two seconds, that was all he’d need to have her bra off, to taste that warm, firm flesh. He kissed his way down her neck, nibbled the mounds of her breasts.

Mel shuddered under him. “Stefan. Oh, God, Stefan.”

Lifting his head, he looked at her flushed face and savored her rapid breathing. “You are so damn gorgeous.”

Her smile lit her eyes. “I’m really glad you think so.”

She was not only gorgeous. She was also trusting him. He’d be a dickhead to take this further without knowing she could handle the next phase of revelation. If she couldn’t, he would have to walk away.

He blew out a breath and brushed her tangled hair out of her face. “We should stop, sweet.”

Her eyes searched his. “Because you want to, or because you think we should?”

“Wanting has nothing to do with it. We said—”

“I know what we said.” Mel drew his head down and flicked her tongue over his mouth. “I changed my mind.”

For one moment, he scanned her face. Her flushed skin, the heavy-lidded eyes hot with desire, reinforced her claim. She arched against him again.

Screw caution
.

He stood and swept her into his arms. “I need more space than this sofa to do this right.”

Mel nibbled Stefan’s neck as he carried her down the hall. His breathing sped up, and he made a wordless sound in his throat. Under her palms, the planes of his chest combined smooth, sleek muscle with soft hair and the tiny buds of his nipples. She scraped her nails lightly over one, and he shuddered.

Stefan swung into the bedroom, laid her down, and covered her with his body. Grinding his hard erection into her cleft, he sent flashes of lightning, pleasure spiked with need, zinging through her. Mel’s inner muscles clenched with want.

“Naked,” he said, eyes blazing with passion. “Now.”

He slipped the catch on her bra as she unbuckled his belt. They tugged off each other’s remaining clothes.

Claiming her mouth in another deep kiss, he drew her leg over his hip, pressing her core against his bare, warm cock. Mel gasped with the intense sensation of his hard erection against her most sensitive spot. Having nothing between his bare skin and hers let her feel his warmth over her entire body. His weight pressed her into the mattress, familiar and more exciting than she’d remembered.

Her hands roamed his muscular chest and back, the curves of his biceps, then the taut, trim lines of his ass. Groaning, he nibbled her ears, breathing in them until her blood fired.

Heat became craving as his caresses—her throat, the sides of her breasts, her ass—grew more urgent. She traced the divisions of his ripped abs with one finger, exploring him. Under her palms, his muscles tensed at her touch.

He kissed her chin, nudging her head back so he could suck the tender underside of her jaw. Each touch sent a ripple of pleasure through her, then a stab of need.

“So damn gorgeous,” he murmured, cupping her breasts. When his thumb found her nipple, stroking and gently pressing, Mel writhed.

Wrapping her fingers around that hard, thick shaft, she massaged it. Each hitch of his breath and tensing of his muscles under her fingers or her lips gave her a heady thrill.

They explored each other with hands and mouths until their breathing came fast and their movements grew frantic. He kissed the tender spot at the hinge of her jaw and slid a finger into her. Mel gasped, hips jerking upward and hands clutching his shoulders.

“Oh, yes,” he murmured in her ear, stroking inside her as she whimpered. “So wet and hot and snug. Perfect.”

He added a second finger, then licked her aching nipple, the touch like warm, moist velvet. The craving for more tightened her belly. Mel made a choked sound. Her back arched in a silent plea. Everything inside her felt hot. Needy.

Fumbling, she forced her hand downward to grip his cock again. Stefan’s body jerked. With a groan, he took her breast in his mouth and sucked hard.

Mel cried out as the tension released in a rush of blinding heat.

When she surfaced, she had both hands in his hair, holding him to her as he kissed and nibbled her breasts. He was still stroking his fingers inside her. Her hips moved to the rhythm he set, desire already building again. Despite her pounding heart and rasping breath, she managed to gasp out his name.

Stefan lifted his head. His eyes burned with desire that ignited new craving in her core. When his thumb pressed the sensitive nub between her legs, she shuddered and went momentarily blind.

“I love to see you come for me.” Tense with passion, his words wrapped themselves around her heart. He nibbled the side of her breast, next to the nipple, teasing her and building her need.

“Your turn. You come for me,” she choked, struggling to focus as his stroking hand built the tension within her. She managed to grip his erection again, squeezing.

Stefan let out a wordless cry and thrust against her hold. His eyes lost focus, and Mel felt a rush of power at affecting him so.

She thrashed, whimpering as she bore down on his fingers within her.

Holding her gaze, he drew his fingers out and licked them. She could almost feel the strokes of his tongue where his fingers had been. When he trailed one finger over her mouth, she opened for him. Sucking his fingers, stroking his erection, she watched his eyes fog.

“Wait,” he ground out. “Condom.”

“I take the pill.” Panting, near desperation, she gasped, “And I’m healthy. Please, Stefan, don’t wait.”

He settled into the cradle of her thighs, his weight a delight and a torment because it made her want more. Easing his hard shaft into her cleft, he said, “Tell me again that you want me. I need the words.”

“I want you, Stefan.”

Possessiveness and fierce satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. “You have me, sweetheart.”

Her back arched with pleasure at his penetration, his fullness, and she breathed, “I’ll always want you.”

Shock widened his eyes, echoing her surprise, but she’d spoken the truth.

He thrust deep and hard. “Don’t move,” he gritted out, body vibrating with tension.

Seconds ticked by while she ached with frustrated desire. Then, suddenly, he withdrew and thrust, again and again, and found a rhythm that echoed in her blood.

Mel drew her legs up, around his waist, and Stefan groaned as he slid deeper, all the way into her now, touching her womb, taking her completely. He cupped her ass, stroking, and she gasped with the unexpected pleasure of it.

Stefan sped up his movements, his eyes on hers, and pushed her to the brink. Half mindless with want, she thrashed under him. She couldn’t bear much more of this—needed—

He plunged deeply, his body grinding against hers, and the tension in Mel cracked under a tidal wave of white heat. It swamped her body, her brain, everything but the awareness of Stefan shuddering above her.