Chosen Darkness (Chosen Series) Read online

  “That’s a great plan!” she said cheerily.

  Of course she would say that! It seemed nothing fazed the girl.

  The next exit came up quickly. He turned off the highway. The town they came to was small but it had food along with a hotel. So after Falyn ate they went to check into their room. He’d wanted to get two, but only one room was available.

  Falyn had gone off to walk the beach she asked if he would like to join her. He begged off with the excuse he had to do a few more things first.

  It was sunset and he needed to feed before it became an issue. In small towns it was harder to find a food source, yet even small towns had scum.

  The small buildings lining the dock held two bars. One was classy, the other for the wilder breed of Arch Cape. He picked the latter. Inside it was smoky and dimly lit. Loud music pulsed through the bar. Alex ordered a whisky downing it while he let his mind scan the people around him.

  It did not take long to find a lowlife who was more than passable for a blood donor. His victim was watching a woman who, unlike the other females around, was not used to this scene. She was testing the waters on the wrong side of the tracks.

  With one rejection already from the woman, the man Alex had honed in on made up his mind to take what he wanted once she left. Alex waited too, watching the man as he watched the woman.

  Soon she was heading out. The man also got up. Once the girl was close to her car, the man started to speed walk toward her. He never made it – Alex had a hold of him before he could even let out a yelp. He was down on his back, looking up at a deadly sight.

  Alex knew what the man was seeing at that moment. His fangs were out, his eyes a bright red, the look of a predator all over his face. Oh yes, the man was indeed feeling fear.

  “You will not touch any female again unless she begs, you got it?” With that demand planted firmly in the man’s head, Alex put his mouth to the man’s throat and found the vein he wanted.

  Alex left the loser on the docks. He would wake feeling weak. He would not remember Alex, only the new thought in his head. This man would not touch another woman without her consent.

  With dinner out of the way, Alex could get back to the issues at hand. It was now dark and the wind had picked up. Falyn was not in the room when he got back. This immediately made him worry about her. Alex headed down to the beach, seeking her scent.

  He found her sitting on the sand watching the dark water. Her hair was pale gold in the light of the moon which peeked through the clouds.

  “Do you plan to freeze to death in this spot?” Alex asked her as he came to stand by her.

  “No, I was getting ready to head back in,” she told him softly. “Hey, ever swum in the ocean at night?”

  Alex froze in his spot, fighting all the urges aroused by imagining her swimming naked in the water.

  “A little cold for that, don’t you think?” he asked in a small voice.

  “Cold water never hurt anyone,” she answered with a half-smile, as she pulled her sweater over her head.

  Chapter Three: Reckless Behavior

  Falyn knew she was being reckless as she flung her old sweater onto the sand. She saw Alex’s jaw drop as she stood there in her jeans and red lacy bra. But she was not finished yet – she planned to seduce this man, and by all that was holy, she was going to!

  “I know I said before that I wouldn’t take my pants off, but wet jeans are a pain to walk in.”

  With that she slid them off. She was now standing in her undies.

  “Falyn,” Alex growled, as she ran toward the waves.

  “Come on Alex, live a little!” she called back.

  She always played by the rules, even if they were only her rules, with Alex she wanted to do anything besides play by the rules!

  Alex stood for another minute, staring at her, before he pulled his shirt off then dropped his pants. The moon showed his perfectly toned body as he moved toward the water. She could feel the cold, although she ignored it, the way Alex walked in it was as though he was strolling into a heated pool. He put her to shame. He kept moving until he was in front of her. The waves crashing into their bodies pushed Falyn onto Alex’s hard chest. It was really too bad he’d left his boxers on!

  “You’re either the bravest woman I ever met, or the craziest!” Alex scolded.

  “I like to color outside the lines once in a while,” Falyn informed him between chattering teeth.

  “Hey, those kinds of artist only become famous after they die!” Alex said with a laugh.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she whispered as another wave pushed her even closer to him.

  “Falyn, are you trying to get me into bed?” Alex asked her, point blank.

  “Am I being that bold?”

  “Any more bold and you would be dragging me back to our room and forcing me onto the bed!” Alex informed her.

  “Oh well, in that case…”

  She stepped away, but didn’t miss the brief look of disappointment in his eyes just before she took his hand and dragged him out of the water.

  She didn’t stop to grab her clothes, and she didn’t let him get his either. She kept moving until they stood in front of the door. With no key card, she suddenly realized they could not get into the room, but then she watched, amazed, as Alex pulled one from his boxers.

  “Where was that?” she demanded, wondering where exactly he had put it.

  He laughed. “Secret,” he grinned.

  Falyn didn’t need to know where he pulled it from, not right now. All she wanted was to get him on the bed! Within twenty seconds he had thrown her onto it. Before covering her with his huge body, those dark blue eyes hovering inches above her face, she felt herself slipping away.

  “What are you, little girl?” he asked in a soft voice as he traced the shape of her face with his finger.

  “Just a girl,” she whispered to his lips that moved above hers, just barely.

  “Come on, you are anything but ‘just a girl’,” he appraised as he kissed a path down the side of her face, then lower to her throat. “Tell me why you make me forget everything! Why I want you, even though you’re a kid?” His voice was so sexy it made her stomach twist in a way she had never felt before.

  “I don’t know, but if you really saw me as ‘a kid’ I doubt you would be doing this!” she answered him honestly.

  “Me either.”

  With those words she about lost it right there. All she could think about were his hands moving over her body.

  He brushed his lips down her throat and back up to her earlobe before once more taking her mouth in a hard, demanding kiss. She felt drunk as she raked her fingers down his back, and as he moved his mouth down her body, she held tight to his massive shoulders. His skin was so hot it felt like it would burn her hands.

  “Falyn, you are perfect!” he said as he kissed her stomach, making her arch upwards off the bed.

  “Alex! Please,” she begged him, not even really knowing what she was begging for!

  But he seemed to know as his hands moved lower to the heat of her, his fingers pushing into her body making her lose all sense of reason. She did not care about anything other than him and what he was doing to her.

  He kept up the magic with his hand as he kissed her thighs before moving back up to her breast. She was now fully naked, yet she could not recall how it happened.

  Alex brought his mouth back up to hers, stealing her breath once more, making her moan with her need to feel him inside her.

  “God Falyn, I have never wanted a woman as badly as I want you. I can taste your passion. I can sense your need and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before! You consume me,” Alex told her in a rough voice.

  He rolled her over onto her stomach. His lips grazed her neck, then nipped at her shoulders as he kissed his way down to her buttocks.

  “You’re so wet!” he murmured in her ear.

  She groaned. His fingers o
nce more entered her, growing a fire there that was so hot it would surly burn her.

  “Tell me what you want, Falyn,” he demanded of her.

  “You… I want you!” she cried out.

  “You want me in you?” His hard voice was full of passion.

  “Yes!” she purred.

  Hearing this, Alex thrust into her body. The pain lasted only a second before the pleasure overtook her. He froze for a moment, feeling her go tense, but then he started to move, gently at first, then harder, making her once more lose herself in the feeling.

  She bucked back into his thrusts, making him grip her hips as he plunged into her over and over again. Her pleasure ripped through her like a tornado. She cried his name as her climax hit its peak. When he found his own release, he called her name too.

  Afterwards, she was trying to catch her breath as he rolled over, pulling her down next to him. Falyn lay on her back, her hair a mess of curls around her face, feeling something inside she had never felt before. Alex moved to his side tucking her into his arms. She rested her head on his chest, trying to find something to say but failing at words altogether.

  “Falyn, I was your first, wasn’t I?” Alex’s question came to her drowsy mind.

  “Um yeah, is that an issue?”

  “Only if it is for you, most girls are touchy about such things.” He kissed her fingers as he waited for her answer.

  “Ah well, I am not ‘most girls’, Alex.”

  “I’m starting to see that,” he murmured, with a kiss to her temple this time.

  She nodded off shortly after, and her dreams were full of darkness. When she woke up she was alone in the bed. At first she panicked because Alex was not there, but then she heard the shower running, making her feel silly for worrying.

  Embarrassment at her bold action last night hit her all at once, not lasting longer than a minute before she pushed it away. With a wicked smile on her lips, she headed toward the bathroom.

  Alex stood with his legs apart, his back to her. Steam from the hot water filled the room. He did not turn as she pulled the shower door open. She slipped her arms around his wet body, feeling the hard muscles of his stomach.

  “Falyn, you should rest,” he said in a tight voice, but the growing of his manhood was proof he wanted her again.

  “I’ve rested enough.”

  She smiled as she slid to the floor in front of him, taking his cock into her mouth. He grabbed her hair as she worked her mouth over him.

  Falyn had never tasted a man like this before. She had never wanted to, but with Alex the desire was so strong it urged her to take him in her mouth, to run her tongue over his sleek hardness. There was no repulsion in the act of having her lips around him.

  “I’m going to lose it,” Alex warned.

  He pulled her up to kiss her lips, then pushed her into the shower wall. Holding her in place with his arms, he told her to wrap her legs around him.

  He made love to her again this time, slower, his mouth hardly ever leaving her own except to trail hot kisses down her neck. She felt herself rushing toward the breaking point. Unlike before, they came together, their moans mixing in the hot steam of the shower.

  Back in bed, they both fell asleep within minutes. This time Falyn had no dreams, when she awoke, Alex was still holding her.

  Chapter Four: Reflections

  Alex was reeling between bliss and disgust. How could he let himself get so swept up in this girl that he forgot everything he’d come to do? Yet being with Falyn was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his long life. She was wild but innocent. She was funny, smart even, brave. Yet she was so young, just nineteen! What the hell was wrong with him?

  He could not say. Normally he never wanted anything more than a one night stand with any female, human or otherwise: he was not the long term kind. His life was all about the next hunt, the next job. He hadn’t even been home to see his family in… He paused. He genuinely could not recall how long.

  He had but a handful of people he kept in regular contact with – the ones he would dare call friends. He didn’t have any strong ties with anyone, or even a desire to be close to them. Until Falyn. Somewhere in the back of his mind flashed an image of another girl, one with red hair and light eyes. He quickly shoved the memory away: he never allowed himself to think back on his past.

  He should be able to fight his own lust better than this! And he had, every other time he had found himself tempted by a pretty face. But who was he kidding? Falyn was not just a pretty face – she was captivating in an all-consuming kind of way.

  He didn’t understand it, and he didn’t have time to figure it out now, not when he had a job to finish. He had to find the missing girl. Falyn was working for him, meaning she would be around for a while. He should fight the feelings he had, but knew he wouldn’t because the simple fact was he didn’t want to!

  Alex knew the moment she awoke – her heartbeat picked up then slowed down. He wanted to talk to her. He knew for sure she had never made love to a man. He’d felt it the first time they had made love. But since she had not made a big deal out of it, he figured he shouldn’t either.

  “You ready to start our search?” Alex whispered in her ear.

  He felt her shiver as she twisted in his arms to face him. He was struck again by her unnatural beauty. It seemed like she should be an angel. Meaning something he definitely shouldn’t have!

  “What are you?” he asked, searching her dark brown eyes.

  He noticed a faint blush as she rolled away. She got out of the bed, pulling on her clothes as she went.

  “Why do you keep asking me that?” Her dark eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “I told you, I am just a girl.” Her fleeting smile barely graced her lips.

  “I doubt ‘just a girl’ could do what you do to me,” Alex told her.

  Falyn rolled her eyes at him as though she did not buy into a word he was saying. It did sound like a bad pick up line, he got it, but it was nothing but the simple truth.

  “Just a girl with a gift, is that right?” he asked her.

  “Yep, a girl with a gift.” Her smile reached her eyes this time.

  “Okay then, my talented girl, let’s go find this missing person.”

  Alex got out of bed. He noted how Falyn watched his every move as he dressed. He hid a smile so as not to give away he’d noticed.

  “Where are we starting the search?” Falyn wanted to know.

  “The part of the coastal forest that was home to a tribe of Native Americans,” Alex answered.

  “Oh, the girl was Native?” Falyn asked.

  “Part Native, I think,” Alex told her.

  Falyn didn’t ask anything more, just nodded and headed for the door.

  Alex sensed the change in her mood but was not sure what had caused it. He thought maybe it was lack of sleep or maybe she needed food.

  “You want to grab something to eat before we hit the road?” Alex asked.

  “No, I’m good, but maybe some coffee.”

  Alex had not seen much in the way of a Starbucks but he had spotted a small coffee shop next to their hotel. With her cup of coffee in hand, he hoped her mood would pick up, yet he still sensed she was not herself. He could not think of what to say to bring it up, so he left it alone for now.

  Once in the car, both of them were lost in their own thoughts. Alex was still trying to work out what had happened between them.

  The old Reservation in the Siuslaw National forest was only twenty minutes from their hotel. As he pulled off onto the road which would lead them into the woods, he could not help but feel the unease washing over Falyn. She didn’t say a word but her eyes got bigger as she gripped her seat tighter.

  The parking area was overgrown but accessible. Falyn was out of the car the second it stopped.

  “Hey, you have something already?” he called after her as she moved toward the woods.

  “Yes.”

  Ale
x didn’t have to ask if she needed her space because it was clear she did. Falyn kept a good ten feet between them as she made her way along the old trail.

  They came to stand at the river’s edge. Falyn knelt down on the sandy bank, the leather band in her hand held to her chest. Falyn’s faced looked pinched, as though she were in pain.

  “Falyn, are you all right?” Alex asked, concerned.

  “Hush,” she snapped.

  Alex watched in amazement as magic rippled like a clear band around her. There was a faint hint of light, then it was over.

  “She’s dead,” Falyn announced, her voice harsh.

  “What!” Alex felt the blow of disappointment as it hit him.

  “She’s gone.” Falyn stood up.

  “Not what I expecting,” Alex uttered.

  “Clearly,” she said. “What were you expecting?”

  “I was excepting to be able to bring her back to her father,” Alex told her.

  “Is her father someone it would have been worth bringing her back to, if she had still been alive?” Falyn demanded.

  “Why does it matter to you?”

  “It doesn’t. Let’s go.”

  Alex only gave her a look as they started walking out of the woods. He was not sure what was behind Falyn’s mood swing, but he needed to call his client.

  “Bad news, the girl is dead,” Alex said into the cell phone. He listened for a moment. “I’m not sure of the details but I’ll see what the girl knows.”

  He ended the call.

  “Hey, wait up!” Alex jogged to catch up to her. “How did she die?” Alex had to get an answer.

  “The elements. Her mother left her in the woods.” Falyn’s tone was flat.

  “So, she died as a baby?” Alex asked.

  “Yes. There is nothing more to tell. The girl died as a babe, soon after birth.”

  “Thank you for your help. I guess we should head back to the hotel,” Alex said.

  Falyn stopped with her hand on the car door. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced back up at him.