Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

Claire met his gaze and nodded. “Believe me, I understand that very well. I know that I’m grabbing at straws here, but any straw might be the one that leads me to my sister. So I don’t care if I seem to be wasting my time. And I’m certainly not going to blame her or anyone else if I don’t get any useful information here tonight. I swear to you.”

The Alpha searched her face for a moment before he stood. “All right. Let’s do this, then.”

* * * *

Hawk followed Claire down the hall, unable to stop his eyes from admiring the gentle sway of her hips as she walked beside the Alpha. No doubt about it, she had captured his attention. The question was…what was he going to do about it. He saw her cast a glance back at him over her shoulder, a worried line between her brows. He tried to reassure her with a slight smile and nod. It seemed to settle her, because she turned back around just as they entered into the brightly lit kitchen.

His eyes sought and found the two women seated side by side at a table near the windows. One quick look told him immediately that the woman on the right was the one they had come to see. She was small and dark haired. Her head was tilted downward, and the other woman was leaning over whispering something to her.

“Anya?” At the Alpha’s voice, the young woman raised her head, and her face lit up at the sight of the werewolf. “How are you doing?”

“Okay,” she replied. She spoke hesitantly in heavily accented English, and Hawk could see that the girl was nervous. He only hoped that she would be able to get through the interview without having a meltdown.

Diaz gestured toward them. “This is Claire Landry and Hawk. Claire’s sister is the one who is missing. The one who was captured by Simone’s men. She is hoping that you might be able to help her locate her sister. And Hawk is a private detective who is helping her.”

Anya gave them a soft and shy greeting. Then Diaz turned to the other woman. “And this is Bethany Clark. She’s helping Anya with her English.”

Hawk nodded at them. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

Claire and the interpreter greeted one another briefly. “Thank you so much for being here and helping out, Miss Clark.”

“I’m glad to do whatever I can. And please, call me Bethany.”

“Thanks, Bethany. I’m Claire.”

Anya nodded when Claire turned to her, and Diaz indicated the chairs for Claire and Hawk to sit in. He himself went to sit beside the young woman. His presence seemed to settle her, and Hawk could see the tension ease somewhat from her features. She cast him a wary glance but then focused all her attention on Claire.

He saw Claire smile at her reassuringly. “Thanks for agreeing to see us, Anya.”

“I am happy to help.” The words were spoken in heavily accented English.

Claire reached into her purse and pulled out a photograph she had of her sister. “This is Cassidy. I thought maybe Anya might remember her better if she saw her picture.” Hawk watched as she looked at Diaz, who nodded his permission. She passed it across the table. While Anya bent to study the face in the photograph, Hawk allowed his attention to return to Claire. He knew that she had to be anxious, but she betrayed no sign of that except in the tightly clenched hand in her lap. Giving in to the impulse, he slid his own hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. She swallowed and looked over at him before turning her hand over and clasping his tightly in her own.

After a few minutes of gazing at the photograph, Anya turned toward the interpreter and spoke in a rush of words that Hawk couldn’t understand. Finally, Bethany looked at Claire. “Anya says that she doesn’t recognize your sister. She doesn’t believe that she was with her during the time she was being held. Although she is not sure, because some details from that time are very unclear to her.”

Claire’s hand tightened on his even harder, and he could feel her whole body tense at the blow. Hawk looked at Anya. “We understand. I wish I could say that it was a surprise. Unfortunately, I knew that this was a long shot at best.”

He could tell that Claire was trying to gather herself together despite the severe disappointment she must be feeling. Then Anya spoke again and pointed toward the photograph. Bethany’s face betrayed her surprise at whatever the girl was saying.

“But she says that, although she doesn’t remember your sister, she thinks she recognizes the necklace that the girl in the picture is wearing.”

Anya smiled and nodded at Claire’s choked cry.

Hawk reached out for the picture and studied the young woman, Claire’s sister. Until now, he hadn’t known what she looked like, but he could easily see the resemblance between the two sisters. Her hair was just as pale, silvery blonde as Claire’s, but it was cut very short. Her eyes and mouth were very similar to her older sister’s as well, and the tilt of her chin. There was a carefree air, though, in her sister that was missing in Claire. He was sure part of that was caused by her worry over finding Cassidy and partly, too, the young age at which she had to assume responsibility for her younger sibling. Claire didn’t really get to have a fun and untroubled young adulthood. He found himself wishing that he could have given that to her then almost laughed at himself. Since when had he become so maudlin over a woman he hardly knew?

His attention focused on the necklace that hung around the young woman’s neck in the picture. It was an oval stone, milky white, in one of those fancy, almost baroque-looking settings. An opal, he thought, and probably expensive.

“Are you sure? Anya, are you sure?” He could see the excited gleam in her eyes, and Hawk knew hope had sparked within her again.

“I am sure. The girl who wore it was not this girl.” Hawk could barely understand what Anya was saying, but there was no mistaking the nod of her head. She turned again to the interpreter and spoke some more.

Hawk cautioned Claire as she turned to him. “Claire, it could be a necklace that just looks like the one Cassidy is wearing. You can’t know that it’s the same one.”

Hawk looked inquiringly at Claire as she vehemently shook her head. “That was Cassidy’s grandmother’s necklace. It’s one of a kind. I just know it’s hers. Oh, Hawk.”

He nodded and faced Bethany. “Could you please ask Anya who was wearing the necklace?”

After a short exchange between Bethany and Anya, the interpreter nodded and turned back to Hawk and Claire. “Anya says that it was one of the girls who was rescued with her. She thinks it was Tatiana who she saw wearing the necklace. She remembered it because the girl played with it a lot. Like it was important to her.”

“Ask her if she ever saw the back side of the necklace.”

Bethany did and waited for Anya’s brief reply. “She says no. I’m sorry. That’s all she remembers.”

“That’s okay. It just…Cassidy’s had some engraving on it. But I’m sure that it’s hers.”

“You’ve helped us a lot, Anya,” Hawk added. The girl ducked her head shyly, but she looked pleased.

Hawk looked toward Diaz, who had been sitting there silently, observing the whole conversation without interruption. He stood and put a hand on Anya’s shoulder. “Yes, Anya, you remembered more than I thought you would.”

Hawk agreed. “Thank you so much for seeing us.”

Anya nodded, and Bethany smiled and said, “We’re glad that we could help.”

In her halting English, Anya added, “Yes, very glad we could help. I hope you find your sister.”

Hawk reached out to touch Claire’s arm lightly, and she turned to him. “It’s a great lead,” he told her. “We’ll head on to Hattiesburg and see if Tatiana can tell us where she got the necklace.”

She stood up, and Hawk followed. He reached across the table and shook Diaz’s hand. “We really appreciate it. And we owe you.” He saw Diaz’s acknowledgment of the debt in the brief nod.

Several more minutes were spent saying their good-byes to everyone. Soon they were climbing back into the SUV and preparing to leave. He was about to reach out to turn on the ignition when Claire’s hand on his forestalled the movement.

As he turned to her, she was leaning toward him. She pressed a brief, warm kiss to his mouth. Before he could react or reach out to pull her closer for a longer kiss, she had moved back into her seat and reached for the seat belt.

“What was that for?” he asked gruffly. Just that short contact had him aching for more.

“Just…thank you. Thanks for thinking of this. Thanks for bringing me. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what I would be doing right now.”

“We still don’t know where Cassidy is.” He hoped that she realized they still had a lot of unanswered questions.

“I know. I know. But…thanks anyway. This is the first real sign of her I’ve had since the night I ran away. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. And I would never have made it this far without you.”

Although he knew he shouldn’t say it, he couldn’t keep the words back. “We’ll find her.”

She smiled. “I know.” Then she turned to look out the window, and he cranked the SUV and pulled away.

They’d been on the road to Hattiesburg about thirty minutes, and the silence in the car was deafening. The tension between Hawk and her had grown with each mile. She’d been distracted earlier by her thoughts about the girl, Tatiana, and what she might possibly know about her sister. But now her mind started circling around again to the events of the previous night. She felt like she should say something, but she had no idea what. She’d never had much luck with men in the past, focusing more on her studies than she had on parties and dating. And then her parents had died and she had assumed responsibility for her younger sister. That had pretty much been the death knell to any possibility she’d had of a relationship. What man wanted a woman with a teenaged sister in tow? She knew the answer to that question. Nobody.

So Claire had spent the last several years concentrating on establishing herself in her career and raising her sister. Dates had been few and far between. She’d had everything so carefully planned. Then one night she and Cass had decided to go for a walk, and that had been the end of it all. Everything she had worked and planned for so hard was now nothing but a pile of rubble. And she was doing what she could to hold the few remaining pieces together. She’d thought she was finally getting things under control again. She knew what she had to do and had focused all her energy on reaching that goal. She just hadn’t planned on her response to Hawk, and it intrigued her even as it frightened her.

She darted a quick glance toward the man himself. She’d been attracted to him before, when she hadn’t really known anything about him. After all, he was an incredibly gorgeous man. But he’d been so supportive to her that her attraction to him had become more than just physical. Underneath that badass exterior lurked a nurturer. It had been a surprising revelation. During the interview with Anya, she’d felt him there beside her, giving her his strength as she’d feared Anya would not be able to help them. It made him hard to resist.

She thought back to the night before and couldn’t hold back a quiver of arousal as she remembered how good his hands had felt on her. Or the way his voice had sounded so husky with passion. He’d been so forceful, controlling everything that had happened. She was surprised at how much that had added to her enjoyment of the experience. Plus the fact that he didn’t press her to reciprocate, and—

“So do you wanna talk about it?”

She started at the sound of his voice in the silence of the vehicle. “What?”

“I can feel you sitting there analyzing everything that happened between us last night. Do you want to talk about it, or would you rather we just continue to ignore that it happened?”

She could feel her cheeks getting hotter. “I’m not ignoring anything. And I don’t really know what there is to discuss.”

“Well, I’d be pretty interested in what you thought about the experience.”

She raised her eyebrows. “What? You want a critique on your performance?”

He chuckled. “Nope. I just wanted to know if you had admitted yet to yourself how much you enjoyed it. And how much you’d like to do it again.”

Outraged, she turned to face him. “That is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Is it?” He slid a look at her. “I was there, too, remember. You were begging me. And I liked that. I liked it a lot.” He reached out to stroke a quick trail down her cheek. “A whole lot. It was damn hard not to fuck you like you wanted me to. But I knew you’d regret it tonight, so I didn’t press it.”

“You…I…Jesus!” She couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.

“I can tell you don’t have a lot of experience, probably none with a man like me, but you’re extremely responsive, Claire. More so than I had expected, given the fact that I pressed you pretty hard.” He shrugged. “I want you, and I know you want me, too. I just need to know if you understand the kind of man I am. The kind of lover I will be to you. I don’t do nice and easy too often. I have rough edges. I don’t know if you can handle them. I’ve been fighting my desire for you ever since I first saw your picture, and quite frankly, I’m damn tired.” She bit her lip to stop it from trembling. “The things I want to do to you, sweetheart, would probably stop that little heart of yours in shock. What we did last night was just the tip of the iceberg.”

“You know I have to focus on finding my sister.”

“Of course. And I won’t let anything interfere with that. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t have some time to do a little exploring. If you want to. If you can handle it.” His eyes bored into hers before returning to the road.

“I’m not that inexperienced, either. I told you about what happened.” She looked away, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes.

She saw his hand tighten on the steering wheel. “Rape isn’t the kind of experience I mean, sweetheart. Just because you were forced doesn’t mean you know the kinds of demands I’ll make on you. I won’t be easy on you just because of what you’ve been through. I’ll push you. I’ll tie you up. I’ll taste every inch of that sweet little body of yours. And I’ll fill every hole you’ve got and make you come so many times you won’t remember any other man’s touch but mine. Can you handle that? Do you even want to?”