What She Wants. Lucinda Betts

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СКАЧАТЬ blanket. “I was protecting you,” he snarled.

      “I don’t need your protection.” Because unless he had planned to help her fight a predator he didn’t know existed, she didn’t need his help—the magic coalescing in her blood saw to that.

      “You have no idea,” he repeated. He stood unmoving as a black cloud skittered in front of the moon, leaving them in darkness for a heartbeat. Despite the blackness, she read his expression. He showed no emotion, no fear or remorse. In that moment she realized if she were a normal woman—a human woman—she would be afraid.

      Regardless, she wasn’t normal. Ignoring him, she kneeled in the sand beside the woman. Even without her powers in full swing, she knew the woman’s left cheekbone was crushed and her eye already swelled shut. The hard cartilage of her nose sat at an odd angle, and blood poured from her nostrils.

      Ann watched blood trickle from the victim’s ear and faced an ugly, ugly truth. Her own denial had caused this. She should’ve paid more attention during their courtship, realized she’d been cast in the role of the “other woman.” Even Daniel’s perennial unwillingness to truly make love to her should have keyed her into the truth.

      She’d have more time for regrets later. Now, she needed to fix this.

      Squatting next to the woman, Ann reached for her purse, wanting her phone. She needed paramedics now, but her hand found nothing. “Where is it?” She scanned the sand where it must have fallen.

      “Wanting this, babe?” Daniel dangled her cell in front of her. His smile mocked her.

      “Let me have the phone, Daniel.”

      “I think you can heal her. You should do it.”

      The words should have chilled her, but anger boiled in her gut instead. She pointed at the woman. “You’re crazy. She’s bleeding from her ear. You’re a vet. You know what that means.”

      “Then do your magic.” He nodded at the woman. “They told me you have special powers. Use them.”

      What? “She needs paramedics now.” Or healing magic, like Daniel suggested. “Don’t rob her of her life.” Who’d said she had special powers? What nest of snakes had her mother stumbled into?

      “I’m not robbing her of anything—you are, if you just stand there. I can protect you. Let’s see you do your stuff.”

      Devils would dance across the beach in figure-skating dresses before she showed him anything. “Call 911, and I won’t tell anyone you did this. We’ll say we found her like this.”

      “No.” He shook his head and his blond hair gleamed in the moonlight. “I think you need to tell me what you were about to say before she interrupted.” He loomed over her as he said this. The moon threw crazy shadows over his shoulder, but Ann wasn’t intimidated. “Tell me now.”

      “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” How could she get this woman to the hospital? “You need help, Daniel, but she needs help more. Just give me the phone.”

      “You were telling me about your extraordinary hearing and your amazing vision.” His white teeth glittered in the odd light.

      And Ann realized he was right. She’d been just about to tell him her secret.

      With a growing disgust, she realized she’d been just about to accept his marriage proposal. Dear God. How pathetic could she be? “You would risk her life for some crazy idea?” she asked. “You’d wait for me to heal her like I’m some wizard from another realm rather than call a doctor?”

      “You’re not human, are you?”

      “No, I’m an alien from Mars.”

      “I knew it!” Harsh glee filled his voice as he jerked his hand back and pitched her cell into the crashing Pacific waves.

      “Oh, for God’s sake.” She stood so that he didn’t lurk over her. “You’re out of your mind. Do you still have your phone, or did the little voice in your head that sounds like Cthulhu tell you to chuck that, too?”

      “I have something better for you than a phone, babe.” He walked over to the cooler and squatted, rummaging through the wine and cheese. What was he going to do? Start a food fight? She considered jumping on his back and taking the phone—but the pistol stopped her.

      “You’re going to shoot me?” Incredulity rippled through the intellectual part of her mind.

      Except her animal self believed the threat. Magic began swirling through her blood, licking her veins. Ozone crackled through her hair, and she focused so her power didn’t whip from her control.

      “I’m going to bring you in. There’s a huge bounty on your head if I bring you in alive.” He centered the weapon at her heart. “Don’t be scared, though. I can keep you safe. I love you.”

      Time to state the obvious. “People don’t usually use pistols on people they love.”

      “It won’t hurt you. It’s a dart gun.”

      Her nose caught whiff of a chemical—Telazol. She’d used it herself to knock out wild horses. He was going to tranquilize her, which just might work, if she stood here and did nothing. Unlikely. “Good luck with that,” she said as she moved away from him.

      “I don’t need luck, babe.” He pointed the pistol and started to pull the trigger. “Not tonight.”

      She didn’t stop to think; she acted. Her biology worked its spell, and hot lust surged through her veins. Unfocused desire woke in her, imbued every cell in her body with a dark craving. Her lips ached for a lover’s kiss. Her neck yearned for the caress of a skilled tongue. Her breasts and nipples craved a skillful stroke, a hard touch.

      And for the first time in years, it wasn’t Daniel’s face and mouth and hands she longed for. Detective Atlanta’s slow smile flashed though her mind, searing its way through her veins—but that gave way to an image of the dark-haired stranger, the predator. And she wanted him.

      Yes, her body said. Him. The predator.

      She ignored the urge to fuck, relying on years of purposeful changes, the strength originating from resisting that temptation.

      And even as her cells pulled strength from the earth, even as her mitochondria pulsed with energy while forming iridescent green tendrils and wrapping them through her breasts and hips, she ran toward the roses, her human feet still clad in boots.

      Her fingertips craved the feel of hard muscle beneath them like a junkie craves heroin; her mouth craved the searing kiss of a magnificent lover, even her ex-lover—but all that desire was beside the point. Her rational mind craved secrecy, and it won the battle.

      Never in her life had she let anyone see her change, and she wasn’t about to let this pustulant asshat be the first. Foliage crackled beneath her feet as thorns ripped her thin dress.

      A flash of yellow whizzed past her face just after she heard a crack. She needed a heartbeat to register the truth: he’d shot at her. The glow-in-the-dark yellow was the tranquilizer dart.

      Only the ineffectual workings of the human eye in the darkness had СКАЧАТЬ