Читать книгу Some Like It Wicked - Lauren Hawkeye - Страница 6

Chapter One

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Declan Steele shook his head, forcing himself out of the near trance he’d been in as he stared across the parking lot of Harry’s Bar and Grill. It had been years since he’d been back to Salem’s Hollow, and he wasn’t entirely sure why he was back now.

He didn’t speak as his lover handed him the ebony cane that he now had to use to walk. But he did study Adam’s face, the golden skin, the expressive eyes, wondering how he’d been lucky enough to wind up with someone so patient.

“I can’t explain it.” Declan frowned as he felt something prickle his cold skin—the merest whisper of something that didn’t belong on the breeze. His first taste of blood had come from a human with the ability to see things she shouldn’t have. Since then he’d often had premonitions that couldn’t be explained.

One of those had been dogging his heels for the last week, telling him to come back to the town he’d never thought he’d visit again.

“I suppose the question should be, are you okay with this?” Declan narrowed his eyes, watching his lover carefully. He had been with the werewolf for nearly two years, knew him as well as he knew anyone.

Adam knew—had always known—that a piece of Declan’s heart still belonged to someone else. To a woman.

To a witch.

Adam smiled, and Declan saw the strength that had attracted him in the first place. He’d always been drawn to those with cores of steel, those like Adam.

Like Aria.

“I’m not threatened by the little witch.” Adam raked fingers through his coal dark hair, smiling the sexy grin that made heat tighten in Declan’s gut. “You know me better than that.”

This was true, Declan realized, as he weighed the options for the final time. The supernatural creatures in the world had much more open ideas about sex and love than humans did. In the years since he’d turned, he’d been with men, with women, with other vampires, with werewolves. Adam felt the same, as had the woman who had once held his heart in her hands. But Declan had spent enough time among humans in the last few years, doing research for his report for the Council, that some of their uniquely human thoughts and feelings still clung to his skin like a mist.

“I don’t think I’ve been drawn back here just because of Aria,” Declan began, and as he spoke, he felt a tug in the direction of the bar. She was in there, he would have bet his long life on it. “Regardless, you have to know I still have feelings for her.”

Lots of feelings, ranging from throttling her pretty neck to thrusting between her creamy thighs.

Adam grinned at Declan, and Declan saw the whiteness of the wolf’s teeth flash in the artificial light of the parking lot.

“I’m looking forward to exploring those feelings. All of them.” Reaching out, Adam squeezed the fingers that Declan had clenched on his cane. There was more than just heat between them—there was caring, love.

Just as there had been with Aria, once.

Urgency worked its way into Declan’s gut as he searched the outside of the building, his eyesight keen as a hawk’s.

There was something else at play here, something besides Aria. Something that had drawn him here, and that the universe hadn’t seen fit to give him any clarity on yet.

But in the meantime, he might as well confront the little witch who had thrown him out of her life. The very air of the town seemed to pulse with her scent, and until he at least saw her, spoke with her, he wouldn’t be able to focus on much else.

Decision made, he jerked his chin in the direction of the bar. Adam’s eyes followed the movement.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

A pint glass of beer later, Aria was feeling a bit mellower. Who needed men, anyway? She had a credit card. She could buy a vibrator.

It would just be easier that way.

Lifting her glass to her lips, she drained the dregs of her drink and slid from her bar stool. She liked Harry’s, with its rickety tables, no nonsense menu and ancient jukebox that sat on the edge of a tiny dance floor underlain with horsehair. Harry never gave her any of the nonsense that so many people in the town did, but neither did he hit her up for magic.

“Thanks.” Nodding at the man in question, she slid a twenty-dollar bill across the bar. Her burger and beer wouldn’t come to more than ten, but she liked to leave a good tip when it was due.

She was shrugging back into her leather jacket when she felt tingles begin to dance across her skin. Casually—warily—she raised her head to look around the room.

She only felt that sensation when another supernatural being was around, and in the small town of Salem’s Hollow, Pennsylvania, she didn’t often come across one.

Her gaze was drawn across the room, to the tall, intimidating-looking man who stood just inside the door of the bar. There was no surprise on his face as the blaze of his bright blue eyes burned into her.

“Oh, hell no.” Aria prided herself on being tough and in control at all times. But as she looked into the eyes of Declan Steele, the man—the vampire—who had broken her heart, as she registered the heat that immediately crackled through her veins beneath his stare, she fought the urge to flee.

“Breathe, you idiot.” Shaking like a wet puppy, Aria noted the smirk that played around the corners of Declan’s eyes as she spoke and cursed herself internally. Damn vampires and their enhanced hearing, anyway.

Once she’d anticipated that he would hear things, see things about her that others wouldn’t. She’d fallen out of practice.

“Aria.”

Her breath caught in her throat as Declan began to move across the bar toward her. The music of the jukebox, the chatter of the other people around her all faded as, for one long, heart-throbbing moment the world around her ceased to exist. The air between them pulsed with a heat so tangible that it very nearly hurt her to look away.

She forced herself. Heat had never been a problem for them. It had been everything else.

“Declan. When did you get back to town?” Somewhat calmer, Aria took a deep breath and looked back at her former lover. He was as tall, dark and dangerous as ever, his licorice-black hair looking as though he’d just run his fingers through it, his eyes deep and blue. He was pale, as were all of his kind, but she noted the rosy flush on his cheeks that told her he had recently fed.

Jealousy was a blade in her belly as her hand lifted to the curve of her neck, the skin where he had once sipped from her.

Following the motion with his eyes, Declan cocked his head, taking her in.

“It’s good to see you, Aria.”

Instantly defensive, she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled.

“That’s...nice.” Her words were harsh, but truthfully, she didn’t know what else to say. Seeing him—a man who knew her better than she knew herself—was like a balm to her lonely soul.

Yes, he got to know you and then left. Even the snarky inner voice in her head couldn’t erase what Aria hated admitting even to herself.

You told him to go.

It was water under the bridge.

“Well, I was just leaving.” It wasn’t until she stepped back that Aria noticed that Declan was leaning on a cane. Her lips parted with surprise, and her eyes darted rapidly back up to his face.

“What the hell happened to you?” The cane didn’t diminish from the danger that Declan had always exuded. If anything, he made the polished stick of black wood look like a weapon capable of doing great harm, just by being in his hand.

But there wasn’t much that could permanently cripple a vampire.

“Silver. Nerve damage.” Something dark flitted across Declan’s face, but was gone just as quickly.

Aria hissed in a breath. She knew that silver was like kryptonite for vampires. When they’d been together, she’d made a point never to wear it.

She wanted to ask where he’d come into such brutal contact with it, and saw that he was expecting her to.

She swallowed the question. Five minutes in the man’s company and she wanted to pick up where they’d left off. Another five minutes and she’d be rubbing against him like an animal in heat.

“After I left, I worked for the Capitol for a while.” Declan’s words were flat, yet Aria saw a flash of anger in his eyes. The Capitol was the governing body for the supernatural creatures of the world. They left the creatures alone for the most part.

Unless they wanted something. Knowing about Declan’s precognition, it wasn’t hard to guess what they’d decided he’d be useful for.

“Let’s just say it was an occupational hazard.” His voice was wry, and took Aria straight into the past. He’d always been self-deprecating, and on his big, bad self she’d found it sexy as hell.

She still did. She’d had lovers since he’d left—human and supernatural, male and female. But none had ever made her passion burn as bright as the vampire had.

Declan made no attempt to hide his own blatant interest as his eyes slowly traveled up her body and then down. Her nipples puckered under his stare, and she felt heat gathering low in her belly.

“That’s a shame.” Damn it, her voice was breathless. What was wrong with her? She’d been feeling sexually deprived lately, sure, but this man had broken her heart.

Her traitorous hormones didn’t seem to care. They were flooding into her veins, reminding her of every reason she’d always found Declan so sexy.

Her lips were dry, and she licked her tongue over them for moisture.

Declan’s eyes followed the gesture, and she saw his expression darken.

“I wondered.” His voice was everything she remembered—dark, rich like chocolate. It sent shivers skating over her skin. “I wondered if it had all been a dream, what we felt for each other.”

Aria shuddered out a breath. She wanted him—no matter that he’d once left her, she still wanted him with an intensity that was frightening.

“The key word is felt.” Her voice was raw, and it physically hurt to step back, away from him. “Past tense. We were no good.”

“We were young.” Declan followed her, the thud of his cane sounding before his footfall. “But I never forgot you. Part of the reason I came back was you.”

“No.” Panic warred with delight in Aria’s gut.

“Let’s not overthink it.” With the hand not holding the cane, Declan reached out to touch Aria’s cheek, trailing his knuckles over her skin. A blaze of sensation followed in the wake of his touch. “Maybe this is what we both need.”

Aria closed her eyes, savoring his touch. Her body wanted nothing more than to shove Declan down on the top of Harry’s bar and have her wicked way with him.

What would it hurt, after all? She could scratch this itch with someone who knew her well enough to please her.

Only the palpitations of her heart reminded her that she might not survive him leaving a second time.

“No, Declan.”

The vampire’s eyes narrowed as, drawing her strength about her like a cloak, she pulled away from his touch. No matter what she felt in that moment, she couldn’t. “I value my sanity more than that.”

“Don’t you feel it, too?” His voice was as rich and delicious as she remembered it.

Aria still knew him well enough to see that Declan was warring with the same overwhelming need that was swamping her.

“I do.” She couldn’t lie—he would see right through it. “That was never the problem.”

“Goodbye, Declan.” These were words she’d never had a chance to say before. She couldn’t tell if she was relieved or devastated when she finally managed to turn away from him.

Despite all that had happened, she knew him. He was too stubborn, too proud to come back to Salem’s Hollow just for her. So why was he here?