Embraced By Darkness

He was tall, blond and athletic, with long strong fingers and a totally wicked smile.

Had he been wolf, I would have jumped his bones in an instant. As it was, I flirted with him probably more than was wise but, as tempting as he was, I just couldn't get past the whole human thing enough to bed him.

'I know him,' I said, after a sip of beer. 'Why?'

'Well, he likes to chat up all the pretty girls, so there's a good chance he talked to your friend. He might know more than me. I've got a wife, like.'

Meaning, obviously, that he was restricted in the bedding department, but Jared the serial flirt was not. Why did humans bother getting married if they resented the vows that kept them together and exclusive? It was a weird way of doing things. At least us wolves didn't have that worry—once we made a vow to the moon, we were together for life. No ifs, buts, or maybes. Which is why we had to be very, very sure we'd found our soul mate before we committed. 'Is Jared. on tomorrow at all?'

'I think he's manning the research station boat.'

'That service starts up at ten, doesn't it?'

When he nodded, I lowered a shield and reached out psychically, quickly sorting through his thoughts and memories, looking for secrets or lies. There were a couple of odd smudges, as if someone had deliberately blurred certain memories, but it might have been alcohol induced, too. The results tended to look the same.

If someone had been in this man's mind, then they were damn good, because I could find no other trace of them. And certainly there was nothing more to add to the information Jim had already told me.

'Anything else I can help you with, Ms. Jenson?' he said, barely skipping a beat as I withdrew from his thoughts.

'No. But thanks for helping.' I finished the rest of my beer, then, with nothing—and no one—else to amuse me, I headed back to my villa and tried to get some sleep. It was a long time coming, but I did eventually drift off, dreaming of bodiless faces who forced me off cliff tops.

I woke sweaty and less than rested. After showering, I got dressed, choosing tight shorts and another low- cut T, then grabbed my phone and wallet, and headed up to the hotel for breakfast and a little staff interrogation.

No one, it seemed, could remember seeing a staff member resembling the sketch Blake had sent. Plenty could remember Adrienne and, as the bartender had mentioned last night, they all seemed to think she was some sort of reporter or private investigator.

And she might have been, for all I knew.

Occupations had been absent from Blake's report, and I wasn't about to ring him and ask. The less contact I had with that bastard, the better.

One interesting point did come out of my questioning, however. Despite Blake's belief that she had danced with someone up here on the island, none of the staff could remember seeing her with anyone at all. She'd simply appeared on the island, stayed for several days questioning everyone who worked here, then left.

Which certainly smacked of reporter-like behavior. So if she was, how did she get onto the disappearances in the first place? The family trait of clairvoyance, perhaps? And had she come to this island investigating the disappearances, only to become a victim herself?

It certainly seemed that way.

But where did the sketch of the man parading as Jim Denton fit in?

There was the possibility that he was the man the other women had met on the island, and therefore the connection between the three disappearances. But if that were true, you'd think at least one of the staff would remember seeing him. But there wasn't a glimmer of recognition anywhere.

I leaned back in my chair and studied the ocean foam as it crawled up the sand only feet from my table. The first thing I had to do when I got home was check whether the man the other women had met here matched the description Blake had given me. If he did, then at least I'd uncovered the connection between the man, the other women, and Adrienne. Although it still didn't explain why no one here could remember him.

I glanced at my watch. It was nearly nine, so I only had an hour to kill before the research center opened to visitors. I ordered another cup of coffee, helped myself to some fruit and Danishes, and watched the cute waiter bustling around the room. My hormones were getting restless. Just as well I was going home to the man I cared about soon.

At ten I rose and wandered across to the little canteen that sold the entry tickets for the research center. Most of the activities on Monitor were included in the overall fees, but the research center and diving trips had to be paid for.

It wasn't until I'd opened my wallet to grab some cash that I realized my driver's license was missing. All my credit cards and cash were still there, but my license was gone. And no matter how much I looked in all the other little pockets or slots, I couldn't see the damn thing.

Either I'd lost it or I'd somehow managed to leave it at home. I rang Rhoan, left a message for him to check the apartment—and to use the Directorate system to report it as missing if it wasn't there—then walked across to the concierge. No licenses had been handed in, he said, but he'd let me know if it did appear.

With little else to do, I went down to the beach to wait for the little boat that would take me to the island. There was already an older couple waiting, and though they gave me a smile of greeting as I strolled up, they didn't actually say anything, too wrapped up in each other's company. Which was nice, I thought, I wondered if I'd ever find anyone to grow old with like that.

Kellen's image suddenly rose in my mind, and I couldn't help smiling. Part of me was already convinced that he was the one. The other part—the part that had been hurt before—was fighting to remain distant and take some time.

Of course, I'd always imagined that finding my soul mate would come like a bolt from the blue—that it would be an instant recognition of fate that blindsided us both—but perhaps that was simply expecting too much. The fact that I loved being with Kellen spoke volumes about the depths of my feelings for him. Hell, even the fact that I not only looked forward to uncovering more of his good points, but his bad as well, suggested I was definitely on the path to love. Whether it was soul-mate type love, or just a deep and caring relationship was something only time would tell.

I sat down on the little jetty and watched the motor-boat gradually growing larger on the horizon. By the time it had docked, other people had joined our little group, most of them couples, which left me feeling decidedly out of place. But then, that was a sensation I'd lived with half my life, thanks to Blake and his damn family.

So why was I helping him now?

It wasn't because of the threat. Not anymore. Truth was, his story intrigued that part of me I'd denied for so long. The hunter hunts—how often had my brother said that? And yet it had taken what amounted to betrayal and repeated attempted kidnappings for me to fully acknowledge the hunter within.

But the wolf was free and there was no stopping her now. And I knew deep down that Blake really hadn't needed the threat to make me follow up on this case. Curiosity would have had me looking, and sooner rather than later.

Curiosity would never make me like him, however, and I was glad he'd come visiting in spiritual form only. I needed to challenge the pack leader as much as I needed a hole in the head, and I had a feeling anger might have led me to do something stupid. The fact that I might have beaten him was irrelevant. I didn't need to get involved with my past any more than I currently was.

Besides, Blake wouldn't have taken a beating lying down. He'd make me pay, as he'd made me pay in the past. And I had a feeling his retribution now would be a whole lot worse than anything he'd done before. After all, I no longer had my grandfather's presence to offer some protection. And Blake was too arrogant to think Rhoan would ever take on the role of protector effectively.

I waited until the others had boarded before approaching the boat myself, Jared gave me a wide smile, his blue gaze sliding appreciatively down my body and sending a pleasant tingle zipping across my skin.

It really was a damn shame he was human.

'Hello, pretty lady,' he said, his fingers wrapping around mine, trapping them in heat as he helped me into the boat. 'I thought you'd already done this little tour?'

'I have, but I'm bored and needed someone decent to talk to.' I met his gaze, a smile teasing my lips.