Hotter After Midnight tmt-1 Page 10

  The last time she’d ignored that little voice, she’d fallen for the wrong man and ended up unconscious on the floor of Paradise Found. Then she’d had a not-so-nice two-week stint in the hospital.

  Colin was just as strong as Myles, she’d bet her life on it. Shifters didn’t have demon levels, but they had their own power scale. She’d seen the way he’d taken down the demons who attacked them.

  And when a guy was that strong, he was also very, very dangerous.

  Her hands pushed between them. She crossed her arms over her chest, covering her breasts.

  Colin drew in a long, hard breath. A muscle flexed along his jaw, and she saw the struggle for control flash in his eyes.

  After one moment, two, he lifted his hands, stepped back.

  "Like to tease, do you, Doc?"

  His words lashed right to her heart. They should have pissed her off, but she knew that he was right. She had teased. Gotten them both ready, minutes from release, then pulled back. Emily wrenched her bra into place. "Things got"-wild, hot-"out of control."

  Colin’s hand ran through his hair.

  Emily slid off the sink. Water was still pouring behind her. With slightly shaking fingers, she jerked the handle, stopping the flow.

  "You wanted me."

  She couldn’t very well deny that. She’d been clawing the man, moaning, rubbing her body against his.

  "You still want me." His knuckles grazed down her bare arm. "Don’t you?"

  Emily lifted her chin. "Sometimes we don’t get what we want." Because what we want may not be good for us.

  She swallowed, fought to hold tight to her own newly found control. How could she hunger so much for someone that she feared?

  "Sometimes we do." But his hand dropped away. "Sometimes all it takes is a little waiting."

  Emily scooped up her shirt. "I didn’t mean for things to go so far." So fast. She hadn’t realized need would explode with the touch of his lips, his hands, against her.

  "Then how far did you mean for them to go?" It was then that she heard the icy edge in his voice that alerted her to his rage.

  Well, hell, what had she expected? That the guy would be all thrilled that she’d stopped their lovemaking? Not likely. She jerked on her shirt.

  "Tell me, Doc. I really want to know." He rolled his shoulders back, and the muscles in his chest rippled. "How far did you want to go? A few kisses? A few feels through your clothes? One lick on your breast?"

  A flash of heat stained her cheeks. Oh yes, Colin was definitely pissed.

  "So I’m good enough for a little light play but not good enough for a fuck?"

  Okay, enough was enough. Emily’s eyes narrowed on him. "I don’t know you well enough for a fuck, Detective." She sure as hell didn’t go around giving those out to strangers.

  His lips thinned.

  "And for the record, I’m not a first-date-screw type of woman." Despite what she’d just done. Emily shook her head. "I want you, yes, I won’t deny it, but I’m not screwing you tonight." No, she wasn’t about to make herself that vulnerable to him, not until-

  "Sonofabitch." Understanding flashed across his face. "You’re scared of me."

  Not of him so much as what he was. Time to cut to the chase. "What kind of shifter are you, Colin?" He had claws, sharp teeth. She’d seen both of those telling changes. Ruled out snakes. And it hadn’t been the look of a bird or even a bear.

  His hands fisted at his sides. "So that’s what this is about. You don’t want to screw a shifter."

  "No." Her back teeth were beginning to ache from the whole grinding exercise she was doing. "It’s not that."

  "Isn’t it?" There was a sharp bite to his words. "You’ve been acting skittish around me from the moment we met, from the moment you realized what I was."

  "I’m not saying no because you’re a shifter." Confession time. "I’ve actually been with a shifter before." The affair had been very, very brief and back when she’d been a grad student.

  "Then what the hell is it?"

  "You’re going too fast!" Everything was going too fast. "I just met you a few days ago and-" Damn, why stop now? "I’m not sure I can trust you, Gyth. Shifters have a reputation." Some would say a very well-deserved reputation. "And while I don’t know what beast you carry, I think he’s strong, and he’s dangerous. And before I crawl into bed with you, I want to know more about what’s going on in your head." And in the head of the beast you carry.

  Because there was a chance, a very definite chance, that Colin was one of the shifters that folks knew to give a very wide berth. A panther. A cougar. A wolf.

  "You wanna know me?" The force of his feelings, his anger, his need, his…fear, lapped at her. "Then why don’t you just take a peek inside my mind?"

  Oh, she was tempted. It would be so easy. But…

  It would also be wrong. Because once she stepped inside his mind, she wouldn’t get a glimpse of just his life. No, if she went in, fully in, she’d see everything. Every secret. Every lie. Every fear. Everything.

  And she didn’t think that either of them were ready for that.

  Emily shook her head. "That’s not the way for us."

  "Then what is the way?"

  She stared up into his eyes. "To take some time."

  "Shit." His hands slowly unfurled. "I’m not good at being a gentleman, Doc."

  Yes, she’d rather figured that one out already.

  "But I’ll do it." He reached out, stroked her cheek. "For now." The rage had dimmed in his eyes, but the hunger remained.

  His hand felt so warm against her.

  His fingers trailed over her lips. "Just don’t make me wait too long. I won’t be a gentleman forever." Then he stepped back, clearing her way.

  Emily snagged her glasses, drew in a deep breath, and was immediately wrapped in his rich, masculine scent. "Wh-where should I sleep?" Jesus, she was stuttering like some kind of schoolgirl.

  "Well, I’d hoped you’d sleep with me." Yes, that was another point she’d managed to figure out on her own.

  "But since I’m not…" Her brows lifted as she stared meaningfully up at him.

  His lips hitched into a half smile. "Since you’re not, you can take the bed and I’ll take the couch."

  "Wow. You are trying to be a gentleman, aren’t you? I’m impressed." And she was also planning to jump on his offer. Bed versus couch. She’d definitely be selfish and take the cushy choice.

  Emily brushed by him.

  "It’s the second door on the right, Doc." His hand slipped down her back, rested for the briefest of moments on the curve of her buttocks. "Have good dreams."

  Since her dreams would probably all be about him, and he’d be naked in them, she figured her dreams would definitely be good, if extremely frustrating.

  It was going to be a long night.

  And she didn’t even have dry panties to change into. Talk about sucking.

  He gazed up at the doctor’s house. All of the windows were black. Had been black all night.

  She hadn’t come home. He’d waited for her, waited hours to see her, and she hadn’t come home.

  Where was she? Where?

  A slow rage had been building inside of him. Building, building…

  The demon was out tonight. She was somewhere in the city, working her evil.

  He couldn’t let her continue. Couldn’t let her keep attacking innocents.

  He would stop her.

  Evil had to be destroyed.

  She had to be destroyed.

  Soon. The doctor’s time would run out.

  The demon would die.

  Chapter 7

  "I think it’s time for an Other 101 lesson."

  Emily glanced up from her files, brows raised, as Colin walked into her office.

  Vanessa stood behind him, a rather sheepish expression on her face. "Sorry, boss, but when he found out you weren’t with a client-"

  "I decided to let myself in." He flashed her a smile and strolled toward the couch.
"We need to talk."

  "Well, that is what most people do when they come here," she murmured. She looked back at Vanessa, certain her assistant had heard the Other 101 comment. Since Vanessa was Other, a hereditary witch, she figured it didn’t really matter. Vanessa had been with her for five years, and Emily trusted her to keep quiet about the cases and people in her office. "It’s all right, Vanessa. I can talk to the detective for a few minutes." Until her twelve o’clock arrived, anyway.

  Vanessa’s eyes narrowed, and Emily realized she wasn’t quite as taken with Mr. Sexy Voice as she’d been when he’d called on the phone.

  "Fine." Vanessa’s plump lips had little white lines around them. "But next time"-she jabbed an index finger in the air toward him-"he’d better wait until I escort him inside."

  "Sorry." Colin looked anything but.

  Vanessa spun on her heel and marched out, shutting the door smartly behind her.

  Perhaps a mild warning was in order here. After all, the man had come asking for information on the Other. "If I were you, I probably wouldn’t make her angry."

  He lowered himself onto the sofa. The leather creaked beneath his weight. "Cause she’s a witch?"

  Emily blinked. How had he-

  Colin laughed. "Don’t look so shocked, Doc. I might not have your handy little gift, but I am a detective. Trained to observe." He winked. "And I observed her reading a spell book when I walked inside the lobby."

  Mental note. Tell Vanessa to keep her private reading material at home.

  She cleared her throat. "Just what is it that you want to know?" She was trying to keep things professional between them, trying hard despite the fact that she’d awoken less than five hours ago to find him standing at the foot of her bed-his bed-wearing only a towel wrapped low on his hips and gazing at her with lust in his eyes.

  She shifted her legs beneath the desk, feeling warmth rush through her at the memory. He’d told her he’d come inside for some clothes. But she could tell he’d wanted more than clothing. The thick bulge of his arousal would have clued in even the most naive of women.

  And after a night of dreaming about him, she’d wanted more, too.

  But Colin had turned away from her, grabbed a handful of clothes from his closet, then disappeared.

  He’d taken her home less than thirty minutes later, and after he’d done a thorough check of her house, he’d left her.

  He’d kissed her, then he’d left her. A hard, swift kiss that she could still feel.

  "So this is where the magic happens, huh?" He wasn’t lying on the couch, but sitting up, hands draped over his knees.

  "I don’t necessarily think of it as magic," she said carefully. Magic was a word generally reserved for the Other. They had magical powers. She was just a human who had a high psychic sensitivity to the Other.

  "Umm." He cocked his head to the side. "Tell me about them."

  "Them?"

  "The Other." His eyes never left hers. "I realized last night that I know damn little about"-a brief hesitation, then-"my kind. And that lack of knowledge could get me into some serious shit."

  Ah, yes, it could. "You’ve known others like yourself before, of course?" She’d figured it’d be better if they started with something he knew. They could begin with shifters and then build from there.

  "I’ve met a few others. Haven’t exactly had deep meaningful conversations with ’em, if you know what I mean. And I’ve seen some vamps, a few demons-"

  "What?" The pen she’d absently picked up fell from her fingers. Haven’t exactly had deep meaningful conversations? He made it sound as if other shifters were as foreign to him as vampires. "But your parents-"

  "They died when I was a couple of months old." He shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him, as if it were just some random event that had happened long ago and didn’t have any meaning to him now. "I got put in foster care after that."

  Her breath rushed out in a fast expulsion. "What did you think was happening the first time you changed?" To shift without someone around for guidance, God, it must have been a nightmare.

  He turned his head. Gazed out the window. "I thought I was dying."

  Emily said nothing. Just waited.

  "My bones snapped, twisted." His lips thinned. "Do you know what it’s like to hear the crunch of your own bones?"

  No, she didn’t. "B-but I didn’t think the change was painful." She’d been told it sometimes felt like a mild sunburn spreading through a person’s body.

  "The first time it is. Damn painful. Like your insides are exploding. Everything reshapes, transforms. My nails changed first, grew into claws. Then my teeth-they got sharper, longer. Then the fur grew." Colin stopped, shaking his head. He looked back at her, and she could see the painful shadows of his past in the depths of his eyes. "I tried to call for help, but by that time I didn’t have a human’s voice anymore."

  "Once you’d changed, how did you feel then?"

  "Like a freak."

  Emily grabbed her pad, began jotting notes by rote. Traumatic first shift. No knowledge of his kind.

  "I was an animal." His jaw clenched tight. "I didn’t know what the hell had happened to me or how the hell I was going to change back. And for a while I thought…"

  Her pen was poised over the pad. "What did you think?"

  His eyes narrowed, dropped to the pen and paper. "I’m not one of your patients, Doc. I don’t need an analysis."

  Her fingers tightened around the cool metal base of the ballpoint pen. "I thought you might want to talk about-"

  "About what? My screwed-up childhood? The ten foster homes I lived in? The first time I changed into a damn animal and thought I was going insane?"

  Actually, yes. The pen scribbled across the pad. Feared insanity. Serious hostility issues.

  "Emily."

  She froze. Lifted her head to stare at him.

  Colin rose and stalked toward her. He leaned over her desk, bracing his hands on the old wood. "I don’t need you to poke around in my past and figure out why-" For a moment, his gaze dropped to the pad and his lips tightened as he said, "I’ve got hostility issues."

  She decided it would be best not to point out right then that he was definitely exhibiting said hostility issues. So she tried to be tactful. "Some people think the key to a successful future is facing a painful past."

  "Then those people are fucking idiots. A painful past needs to be shoved in a cold, dark grave and left to rot."

  Well, that was one perspective. Very carefully, Emily placed her pen down. "I shouldn’t have started to-" She broke off, clearing her throat, and realized that she was embarrassed.

  Slipping into psychologist mode was second nature to her. And Colin’s pain, it had just called out to her. She licked her lips, tried again, "I shouldn’t-"

  "Shouldn’t have started screwing with my head?"

  Her eyes narrowed. "I wasn’t screwing with your head, as you so kindly put it."

  "Lady, you make a living screwing with people’s minds." He leaned forward another inch.

  She didn’t like the way he was towering over her. Asserting his dominance. Showing that he was the big, strong detective and she was the psychologist who needed to mind her own business.

  Her own temper began to spark. Emily shoved to her feet. "I was trying to help you, Gyth. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re carrying around a hell of a lot of baggage." And rage. Lots of rage.

  She placed her hands deliberately on the table and leaned into him. Close enough to kiss. Or hit. And she was very tempted to do both.

  Colin stared back at her, those crystal blue eyes of his glinting with emotion. "I told you about my past because I was talking to you, Emily Drake. Not the Monster Doctor."

  Understanding filled her. "It’s hard for me to stop being the Monster Doctor." Her voice was softer. She’d been working with the Other for so long, trying to heal their minds, and she’d nearly forgotten how to turn off the doctor.

  "We’re way off topic," he mutt
ered, and stepped back, rolling his shoulders. "I didn’t come here to drag up my shitty childhood."

  Emily licked her lips and realized that she’d very nearly screwed things up with Colin. She needed to think more like a woman with him and less like a psychologist. "Right. Sorry." And she was. Sorry that she’d pressured him, sorry that she’d tried to make him into a patient.

  "Just don’t try it again, Doc."

  That she couldn’t promise. "Look, Colin, it’s kinda hard to turn off, you know?" He’d been on her couch, in her office, and when he’d started talking she’d slipped into counselor mode.

  "Try."

  Her eyes narrowed. "I’ll see what I can do, and, hey, how about you try not to be such a jerk?"

  He blinked, obviously caught off guard by the insult she’d just delivered in her soft, I’m-a-Professional voice.

  Then he tossed back his head and laughed.

  Emily fought the smile that curved her lips. Good. Looked like they were back on even ground.

  "Agreed." Colin strolled around her office, eyeing her bookshelves and the framed Rorschach inkblot pictures on her walls.

  After a few moments, he said, "I need to know about them. Need to know what I’m gonna be dealing with."

  Yes, she understood that. Colin was ill prepared to deal with the world of the Other, especially considering his own rough introduction to the Other world. But before she could begin his lessons, there were a few other questions that she needed to ask.

  "So you’ve come across other shifters?" All of the Other were born with an instinctive ability to recognize their own kind. Demons saw through the veil of glamour to other demons. Shifters could scent one another, thanks to their heightened sense of smell. Witches and wizards felt the power pull of their brethren.

  Like to like. It was the way it had always been.

  And for whatever reason, Emily had been born with the ability to sense them all. Even though she wasn’t kindred to any of them.

  Colin touched the spine of one of her books. "Yeah, I have. Once or twice."

  "You could…smell them, right? Smell the difference between a shifter and a human?" As far as she knew, shifters didn’t see the beasts they carried. They didn’t know about the golden glow that cloaked their bodies. It was just something she saw.