Authors: Cyndi Friberg
He turned to go then hesitated. “I’m on duty for the next four days. If you need anything, anything at all, just call the station.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sanders.” Was he flirting with her? It had been so long she’d forgotten the signs.
She just wanted him to go away. Between the painful memories and her bizarre hallucination, Valium tempted her more right now than a strapping firefighter.
He finally left and she rushed into the cabin. With a sigh of relief, she leaned against the door. It hadn’t happened. It couldn’t have happened. How could it have happened?
As much as Charlotte tried to dismiss the incident as a stress-related hallucination, she
knew
it was real. She had touched the man, felt him press her into the ground, felt the pull of whatever he drained from her body.
A simple, rational explanation eluded her, dancing on the fringes of her consciousness like a mischievous sprite.
But one thing was certain—it hadn’t been her imagination.
Charlotte staggered across the room, her legs wobbling beneath her. Had someone gotten their holidays mixed up? This felt like Halloween not New Year’s Eve.
“I wanted something to keep my mind off the past,” she whispered to the shadows. “I just didn’t expect the distraction to be so bizarre.”
She shrugged out of her coat and kicked off her much-abused slippers. Grasping the back of the small sofa, she closed her eyes. A shadowy image of the man formed within her mind. She hadn’t been able to see him clearly.
Even the memory sent little shivers through her body.
He’d been strong yet utterly vulnerable. Whatever he’d drawn from her body left her weak and tired.
Where had he gone?
Where had he come from?
Why was he here?
Shaking away the useless speculation, she turned toward the bathroom. More than enough excitement for one night. She was going to take a shower and go to bed.
Warm water cascaded down her body, melting the tension from her muscles if not her mind. What was happening to her? First the coffee cup and then the man.
She couldn’t rationally explain either one and her analytical mind demanded understanding.
Ceramic could crack after a period of time, but that mug had spontaneously shattered.
She turned toward the spray, rubbing her face as the water slicked her hair back.
This was the anniversary of that horrible night.
Everyone had advised her to stay busy, keep her mind occupied and not to be alone. She chuckled. She had never been good at taking advice. She was far more adept at giving it.
Scrubbing her hair with shampoo, she continued to analyze the bizarre events. The thunderstorm was strange but Colorado was known for rapidly changing weather.
But the man…how could she explain the man?
With a frustrated jerk, Charlotte turned off the water and snatched back the shower curtain. Steam rolled out, instantly fogging the mirror hanging over the sink. She grabbed a towel and dried off then donned the terrycloth robe hanging on the back of the door.
She dragged a wide-tooth comb through her hair and wiped the mirror with her towel. Her gaze lifted to the mirror and she dropped the comb. Paralyzed by fear and disbelief, she couldn’t even make a sound. The woman in the mirror had strange, swirling eyes. Her features were the same but her eyes…
Charlotte snapped her eyes shut and a shuddering gasp left her lungs. She was hallucinating! None of this was real.
She needed to call her grief counselor or—Ghostbusters?
She managed a shaky laugh. Okay, that was better.
Very slowly, she raised her face and found her own frightened blue gaze reflected back from the mirror. She opened the door and wiped the mirror more thoroughly.
It had been a trick of the mist. Smoke still clouded her vision. There were any number of explanations for…
But how did she explain the man?
Hurling the towel into the bathtub, she walked from the room less relaxed than she had been before the shower.
She stepped into her bedroom and the door slammed shut behind her. A scream caught in her throat, sounding more like a strangled yelp. Tugging and twisting did nothing.
The doorknob wouldn’t budge.
Sparks danced across the floor and encompassed the shapeless mound lying at the foot of her bed. Turning slowly to face it, she pressed her back against the door. The mound undulated and expanded. Small flashes, like arcs of electricity, broke out all over its surface.
An arm suddenly thrust out, the fist tightly clenched.
She gasped, her gaze desperately searching for options.
Escape?
A weapon?
What in God’s name was that thing? The mass lay between her and the window. She was trapped. Other shapes formed and rippled. A head, a leg, a torso, but the shapes soon shifted, becoming part of the mass again.
A crack of thunder echoed in the room. Charlotte covered her ears with her hands, bracing her feet against the shaking floor. The mound began to glow, illuminated from the inside until the entire room pulsed with light and energy.
There was no way she was waiting around to see what emerged from this cocoon!
She dove for the bed. Scrambling across the mattress, she bound to her feet on the other side. She kept the mass in her peripheral vision but focused on the window.
In one sustained motion, a tall, broad-shouldered body arose from the mound. Or more accurately, the mound
became
the body.
Charlotte gasped and yanked the curtains aside. She tried to move the latch, but her hands shook so badly she couldn’t work the lock.
She could see his reflection in the glass. Long black hair cascaded all around him as he stalked toward her.
Moonlight offered a glimpse of his features before he stepped into her shadow.
Warm fingers curved around her upper arms. She cried out. The contact produced a subtle shock like static only hot. She clung to the wooden frame as he dragged her away from the window. He turned her to face him but she immediately backed away.
She bumped against the wall. “Take whatever you want. Just don’t hurt me.”
His hands still circled her arms and she raised her gaze.
Moonlight from the window allowed her to study his face for the first time. Silky black hair framed features so perfect she could hardly breathe. A strong, straight nose divided the lean, angular plane of his face. Hard, hollow cheekbones and ink-black brows drew attention to his strangely beautiful eyes.
A startling combination of gray, blue and black, the entire surface of his eyes swirled behind his lashes like smoke. There were no pupils, no rings of color, only an ever-changing blending of hues.
She had seen eyes like his before. Staring back at her from the mirror!
He said several words in a slow, even tone. Charlotte tried to calm herself, to control her breathing, to accept that this was real.
Something soft and warm brushed against her arms and sneaked under the edge of her bathrobe to touch the bare skin of her upper chest. She glanced down and screamed. Like long, silky tentacles—he could control the movement of his hair!
His hands framed her face and he spoke again. She pushed against his chest, desperate to free herself. Terror burned away the fragile remnants of her rationality.
“Don’t touch me.
What are you?
Let me go!” Feeling a gentle penetration into her mind, she yelled for help. She thrashed and kicked, pounding her fists against his chest. The subtle tingling intensified. She arched away from him, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes shut against the invasion. He was in her mind. He was inside her! He was…
Tal Aune barely caught the woman before she hit the floor. Lifting her into his arms, he groaned. His entire body protested the exertion. Curse the ghosts of the night moon, he was weak as a babe. What had interrupted the spatial transmission? He must have a complete energy transference or what little ground he’d gained with their liplink would be lost.
He moved to the sleeping station and laid the female down. He hadn’t really looked at her before. She wasn’t as distasteful as some Earthlings he’d seen. Her skin appeared healthy and smooth. The arrangement of her features was acceptable but her hair… He lifted a lock and shook his head. The color was a nice warm brown with a touch of gold, but the strands would barely reach her shoulders. Was she being punished for some offense?
Surely this abomination was not intentional.
The most efficient way of replenishing his energy was to join his body to hers, but if she happened to rouse while he was inside her, he knew she wouldn’t be pleased. He chuckled at the galactic understatement. Judging from the struggle she launched when he caressed her with his hair, he could imagine the resistance he’d encounter should he join with her. Besides, he had never joined with an Earthling. It was possible that energy transference couldn’t be accomplished in such a manner.
She would have to be naked. There was no avoiding that. He couldn’t absorb energy with any sort of barrier between his skin and hers—and he was in desperate need of energy.
He hadn’t meant to overload her senses but Earthlings were so fragile. And her irrational resistance had only complicated the matter. She’d reacted as if he meant to erase her mind, not perform a simple scan.
He leaned forward and his hand brushed across her foot. Her toes were ice-cold. Again he chuckled, amazed by the helplessness of Earthlings. They couldn’t even control their body temperature.
Unknotting the belt at her waist, he parted her garment and paused, surprised by her appeal. She had beautiful breasts, high and round. They would easily fill his palms.
Without her clothing, the female was downright interesting.
Tal felt his hair flutter and swirl around his torso. This was ridiculous. He must garner energy from this woman and then figure out what had gone wrong.
Shifting out of his clothing, he crawled onto the sleeping station and pulled the little Earthling into his arms.
Charlotte snuggled into the warmth enveloping her.
She splayed her fingers to better absorb the heat and curled her toes. Her skin tingled and her mind swam within a sensual haze. She was aware of the sensations, yet coherent thought was just beyond her grasp. Her face was buried against something warm and solid. Long arms encircled her back, molding her body against another body—a hard, heated body. Her legs tangled with other legs—muscular, masculine legs. Pressing her breasts more firmly against the solid wall of muscle in front of her, she arched into the heat. It felt strange. It felt wonderful. But it felt wrong.
There was no man in her life. No lover to keep her warm.
She had just begun to sort through the confusion when his mouth touched hers. Gently, he pressed his lips over hers, caressing her, luring her. She parted her lips, responding instinctively to the velvety slide of his mouth against hers. The tip of his tongue touched hers and she groaned. It had been so long since she reveled in the intimacy of a deep, passionate kiss. She offered her mouth and accepted his tongue.
Her hands clutched his broad back and her legs moved against his until her sex made contact with one thick thigh.
Aching heat flared within her, making her wild. She arched and undulated, her hands tangling in his long hair—impossibly long hair.
Charlotte dragged her mouth away from his and forced her eyes to open. His hot, seeking mouth moved to her throat. She didn’t need to see his face to know who held her. His embrace was strong, demanding, and his silky hair was stroking her entire body all at once. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever felt. Like silk fringe or the fur of a Persian cat, the strands moved over her skin, circling her limbs and caressing her flesh.
She couldn’t think, couldn’t struggle. Heat and liquid desire rolled through her body. She tried to disentangle herself from the silken web, but he only rolled with her, dragging her beneath him.
His weight pressed her into the bed and his face hovered above hers. She stared up into his otherworldly eyes, panting and rigid. He was a stranger to her. She didn’t even know his name.
He wasn’t human!
He spoke in a hushed, tender tone, but his words were as alien as his eyes. She could still feel his hair wrapped around her, clinging to her, caressing her. “What do you want from me?” Her voice broke and tears gathered behind her lashes.
He spoke again and she closed her eyes. He was trying to soothe her but his eyes, combined with their sexual position, terrified her. His warm palms skimmed up and down along the sides of her body and his hair continued to slide against her skin. Charlotte fought against the stimulation. She couldn’t let herself be seduced. But, boy, did it feel good!
This couldn’t be happening. Why was this happening?
“I will not hurt you.”
She gasped and opened her eyes. An odd accent flavored his words but they were clearly English. “Who are you?” she asked. “Why were you kissing me?”
“I must have more of what I took from you on the mountain.” He spoke slowly, as if searching for each word.
“This will not harm you but it will restore me to health. Do you understand? My levels are low—no, not just low. I am dangerously weak. If I do not have more energy, my essence will disperse.”
“What you were doing a minute ago is different than what you did on the mountain. On the mountain you only…” She gasped and squirmed as she realized just how much of his warm skin was rubbing against hers. “Why the hell am I naked?”
“Do you have a mate?”
“If this exchange involves something I would ordinarily do with my mate, forget about it.”
He shifted his weight, touching her face with his fingertips. “A full-body joining would afford me the highest concentration of energy but it is not necessary.”
“Glad to hear it because I’m not doing
that
with you.” He chuckled and nuzzled the side of her neck. Charlotte tried to push him away. He moved again, rolling them onto their sides, facing each other.
“May I touch you?” he whispered near her ear.
Charlotte’s head began to spin. “Touch me how? What exactly is necessary for this exchange?”