Lover Eternal

feet back in the pool, he took off a pair of ratty sneakers, rolled up his baggy pants, and picked a spot about three feet from her.

God, he was so small.

He slipped his feet in the water and smiled.

It's cold, he signed.

'You want a sweater?'

He shook his head and moved his feet in circles.

'What's your name?'

John Matthew.

Mary smiled, thinking they had something in common. 'Two New Testament prophets.'

The nuns gave it to me.

'Nuns?'

There was a long pause, as if he were debating what to tell her.

'You were in an orphanage?' she prompted gently. She recalled that there was still one in town, run by Our Lady of Mercy.

I was born in a bathroom stall in a bus station. The janitor who found me took me to Our Lady. The nuns thought up the name.

She kept her wince to herself. 'Ah, where do you live now? Were you adopted?

He shook his head.

'Foster parents?' Please, God, let there be foster parents. Nice foster parents. Who kept him warm and fed. Good people who told him he mattered even if his parents had deserted him.

When he didn't reply, she eyed his old clothes, and the older expression on his face. He didn't look as if he'd known a lot of nice.

Finally, his hands moved. My place is on Tenth Street.

Which meant he was either a poacher living in a condemned building or a tenant in a rat-infested hovel. How he managed to be so clean was a miracle.

'You live around the hotline's offices, don't you? Which was how you knew I was on this evening even though it wasn't my shift.'

He nodded. My apartment is across the street. I watch you come and go, but not in a sneaky way. I guess I think of you as a friend. When I called the first time… you know, it was on a whim or something. You answered… and I liked the way your voice sounded.

He had beautiful hands, she thought. Like a girl's. Graceful. Delicate.

'And you followed me home tonight?'

Pretty much every night. I have a bike, and you're a slow driver. I figure if I watch over you, you'll be safer. You stay so late, and that's not a good part of town for a woman to be alone in. Even if she's in a car.

Mary shook her head, thinking he was an odd one. He looked like a child, but his words were those of a man. And all things considered, she probably should be creeped out. This kid latching on to her, thinking he was some kind of protector even though it looked as if he were the one who needed to be rescued.

Tell me why you were crying just now, he signed.

His eyes were very direct, and it was eerie to have an adult male stare anchored by a child's face.

'Because I might be out of time,' she blurted.

'Mary? Are you up for a visit?'

Mary looked over her right shoulder. Bella, her only neighbor, had walked across the two acre meadow that ran between their properties and was standing on the edge of the lawn.

'Hey, Bella. Ah, come meet John.'

Bella glided up to the pool. The woman had moved into the big old farmhouse a year ago and they'd taken to talking at night. At six feet tall, and with a mane of dark waves that fell to the small of her back, Bella was a total knockout. Her face was so beautiful it had taken Mary months to stop staring, and the woman's body was right off the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition.

So naturally John was looking awestruck.

Mary wondered idly what it would be like to get that reception from a man, even a prepubescent one. She'd never been beautiful, falling instead into that vast category of women who were neither bad-looking nor good- looking. And that had been before chemo had done a number on her hair and skin.

Bella leaned down with a slight smile and offered her hand to the boy. 'Hi.'

John reached up and touched her briefly, as if he weren't sure she was real. Funny, Mary had often felt the same way about the woman. There was something too… much about her. She just seemed larger than life, more vivid than the other people Mary ran into. Certainly more gorgeous.

Although Bella sure didn't act the part of the femme fatale. She was quiet and unassuming and she lived alone, apparently working as a writer. Mary never saw her in the daytime, and no one ever seemed to come or go out of the old farmhouse.

John looked at Mary, his hands moving. Do you want me to leave?

Then, as if anticipating her answer, he pulled his feet from the water.

She put her hand on his shoulder, trying to ignore the sharp thrust of bone just under his shirt.

'No. Stay.'

Bella took off her running shoes and socks and flicked her toes over the surface of the water. 'Yeah, come on, John. Stay with us.'

CHAPTER 4

Rhage saw the first one he wanted tonight. She was a blond human female, all sexed-up and ready to go. Like the rest of her kind in the bar, she'd been throwing him signals: Flashing her ass. Fluffing her teased hair.

'Find something you like?' V said dryly.

Rhage nodded and crooked his finger at the female. She came when called. He liked that in a human.

He was tracking the shift of her hips when his view was blocked by another tight female body. He looked up and forced his eyes not to roll.

Caith was one of his kind, and beautiful enough with her black hair and those dark eyes. But she was a Brother chaser, always sniffing around, offering herself. He had the sense she saw them as prizes, something to brag about. And how irritating was that.

As far as he was concerned, she put the itch in bitch.

'Hey, Vishous,' she said in a low, sexy voice.

'Evenin', Caith.' V took a sip of his Grey Goose. 'What up?'

'Wondering what you're doing.'

Rhage looked around Caith's hips. Thank God the blonde wasn't put off by a little competition. She was still coming toward the table.

'You going to say hello, Rhage?' Caith prompted.

'Only if you get out of the way. You're blocking my view.'

The female laughed. 'Another of your cast of thousands. How lucky she is.'

'You wish, Caith.'

'Yes, I do.' Her eyes, predatory and hot, glided over him. 'Maybe you'd like to hang with Vishous and me?'

As she reached out to stroke his hair, he caught her wrist. 'Don't even try it.'

'How is it you'll do so many humans and deny me?'

'Just not interested.'

She leaned down, talking into his ear. 'You should try me sometime.'

He jerked her away from him, tightening his hand on her bones.