slender legs around his waist. With a low purr, she rubbed herself against him.
Torture.
Beneath his boxers, his cock turned to steel, pushing against the warm, wet cotton of her panties. Kneading her ass, he kept kissing her, giving her what she instinctively needed, rubbing his hardened cock along her wet slickness.
So close, he wanted badly to shed the last barrier between them and slide into her. Banish the nightmare with her soft female flesh sheathing him, the perfume of her scented hair tangled in his senses. Kelly made eager sounds against his mouth as he gently laid her down and straddled her hips. Shay nuzzled her neck, kissing his way down to the slope of her collarbone. His hand eagerly palmed one breast, thumbing her taut nipple. So good, felt so damn good...
“I want you so much,” he said thickly. “Kel, tell me what you want me to do.”
“I...don’t know,” she whispered.
Sliding a hand beneath her nightgown, he ran a finger along the lace waistband of her panties. “Do you want me here?”
Shay gently cupped her mound.
“Or something a little slower...” He rubbed a finger along the soaked cotton between her legs. “What do you want, Kel? Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.”
A little sob escaped her. “You can’t. Because I want what we used to have.”
Breathing hard he drew back, staring into the depths of her wide blue eyes. Seeing cold doubt.
Dammit. Coming to his senses, he rolled off and smothered a curse. “Right.” Shay ran a hand through his damp hair. “Let’s get some sleep. Early day tomorrow.”
He switched off the lamp. Back on the floor, he punched his pillow. Lost control. Hadn’t done that in years. Not since he’d become a feral wolf, allowing emotions to ride him.
“Sam,” she whispered.
“Get some sleep,” he said hoarsely.
Shay closed his eyes, telling himself he imagined the sadness on Kelly’s face as he’d turned off the light.
It wasn’t turning out to be a great day.
First, his plans to swipe a motorcycle turned south when Kelly told him the Honduran police would stop them and ask questions. Two people on a motorcycle broke the law.
“Because that’s how drive-by shootings happen. One person drives, the other aims.” Her mouth turned down. “It happened to a staff member of mine as he went to open the office. They left him for dead.”
A good reminder of the dangers they faced. Hell, it could have been her who took the hit. Shay’s guts wrenched at the thought of Kelly innocently turning the key to the building and then facing a hail of bullets....
Instead, they rode another chicken bus. Shay had shifted into the form of a young Honduran in a black baseball cap, black jeans and sleeveless T-shirt. To draw attention to himself, he carried a live chicken, trussed at the ankles.
Kelly’s magick had failed when she’d tried to shape-shift. “I’m too drained,” she’d told him. “Maybe later, after I’ve recharged.”
Instead, she covered her silky hair with a bright scarf and wore loose clothing. Men still stared and one even boldly propositioned her in Spanish, making her blush. The protective male in him overcame good sense. He’d punched the guy.
As a result, they got tossed off the bus.
The good news? La Aurora was only a mile away.
They began walking along the dusty road. Shay clutched the chicken by its legs, his trepidation growing. He’d heard the whispers in the bus of the haunted village where darkness reigned and no one dared to visit.
Hell, he’d feel better doing this solo. Too much risk for Kelly. The nightmare images from last night seemed too real.
As they drew closer to their destination, an oppressive silence met them. No birds cackled in the trees, no goats bleated, not even a cow grazing on the roadside.
Not even the hum of insects.
“Time to test the air,” he muttered.
Shay untied the chicken and set it down. It pecked the ground a minute and then wandered toward the village.
Suddenly the bird flapped its wings and ran in the other direction, squawking loudly.
“It’s a sign.” Kelly drew in a breath. “Not good.”
“Like miners releasing canaries into shafts to check for gas. Looks like our chicken doesn’t want to get near the village,” he muttered. “Stay alert. I’m going to transform back to conserve my powers.”
Afterward, they walked into town on the cracked sidewalks hugging the narrow cobblestone road. The colonial buildings flanking the street seemed deserted. There was no one lingering in the doorways, no women carrying baskets of goods to sell.
No children, either.
Place was a damn ghost town.
Itching to palm a weapon, Shay nudged Kelly to the cracked sidewalk and the shadows. A wood sign creaked in the breeze, a ghostly sound in the seemingly deserted village. Goods and Sundries, it read in Spanish. His Mage instincts tingled. Something nasty had passed through. He glanced at Kelly.
“Evil,” she whispered in English. “Whatever was here is evil, but left. I can see the faint traces of white magick. The kids. They were here, as well.”
“Let’s check it out.”
A woman cranked open a window across the street, saw them and shut it, drawing the blinds. Shay tensed. They had to hurry. If she were a spotter, they were toast.
With a faint creak, the door opened beneath his palm. Stale air greeted them inside the store. Metal shelves created two small aisles. On each shelf were glass jars, labeled neatly in Spanish. Canned tomatoes, peppers, corn.
Then he took a closer look. Kelly slapped a hand to her mouth, covering her gasp.
Not canned vegetables. Body parts, swimming in fluid. He detected an eyeball squeezed between bloodied organs.
“They’re not human,” she said.
“Gods, I hope not.” Shay squinted at the spidery writing below one label. “They look like recipes.”
“Spells. Black magick spells written in the Old Language. This is the den of the rogue Arcanes.”
The hell with this. From behind his jeans, he withdrew his Sig Sauer and then pulled the slide back. Cocked and loaded. Cupping his gun, he turned down each aisle. No one. But the miasma of evil filtered through the air.
“Kelly?” Shay glanced around.
“In here.”
She was in a back room, studying a leather-bound book on a dusty counter. Excitement filled her gaze as she looked up. “Look at this! The ancient texts of my Arcane ancestors! This is the book of spells the Elementals hid from us after they killed the Dark Lord three hundred years ago.”
“Never enter a room before I check it out first.” Shay blew out a frustrated breath and lowered his weapon. “Understand?”
Her face fell. “I’m sorry.”
He gave a gruff nod and holstered the gun.
The shop reeked of darkness. Stale air, no signs of life, not even a spider. And his own spidey senses were tingling. Automatically he scanned for an exit. That back door. He unlocked it. The door led to a square of dirt yard.
Leaving the door unlocked, he turned back to Kelly, who used a corner of her shirt to leaf through the pages.
“These are the most powerful Arcane spells, both dark magick and light. If I can find the spell for creating a
