Night Fall on Dark Mountain Read online

  Navarro shook his head. “Don’t kill each other until this mission is done. You have use of my jet. Pack and say your farewells.”

  *

  Max followed Pia, crowding her from behind into the room, not allowing her a moment to regroup before he was on her, pressing his aching cock against her sweet ass.

  He rucked up her skirt, reaching beneath for the sliver of silk shielding her pussy. “Baby, I can’t wait. I have to be inside you now.”

  “Hurry,” Pia sobbed.

  He tore away her underwear and pushed her face down, bent over the mattress. “Open up, baby.” Smoothing his hand over her naked backside, over the soft globes of her ass and between, he kneed apart her thighs. “I need you higher.”

  Pia moaned and knelt on the edge of the mattress, widening her legs, letting him see everything he craved to cram himself deep inside. She sobbed and her head sank to the bed. “Hurry please, Max.”

  He unzipped his jeans, and from one breath to the next, slid inside her melting warmth. “Goddamn, Pia,” he said, his voice harsh. He stood over her, one arm braced on the mattress, as he pressed inside, shoving past muscles already constricting and pulsing with arousal, massaging his shaft until he was ready to blow. He cursed. “Gotta slow down.”

  “Do, and I swear you’ll be sorry.” Her voice was thin and high.

  He grunted, unable to tell her everything he felt. “Been hearing a lot of that lately,” he grumbled, glad to be alive, and thanking God he had one more night with this woman. He withdrew partway and slid back inside, setting the rhythm of their upward climb, sharp and fast.

  “That’s better. Oooh, just like that!” Now, her voice was urgent, crooning.

  His thighs slapped her bottom and upper thighs, harder, louder, and he bent over her, surging in powerful glides that rocked her body. He reached beneath her and palmed a breast, wanting to connect with her every way he could, cock, body, soul. Hell, if he could climb inside her he wouldn’t be close enough. He never wanted to leave.

  He squeezed her breast, grunting again when she squealed and slammed backward, her cunt clamping hard around his cock.

  He couldn’t hold back a second longer.

  “Now, Max, I’m coming now!”

  He growled and pounded into her, his strokes so powerful she toppled from her knees. He followed her, hammering faster, climbing onto the mattress, dragging her up by the waist to hold her where he needed her.

  Pia’s hands fisted in the coverlet, and she writhed, her face pressed into the mattress, her breaths coming in short gusts with each stroke.

  When the moment came, his orgasm swept over him like a dark wave, blinding him and sucking the air from his lungs. Come gushed, emptying his balls, flooding her channel with the salty spray of his release. He bit her shoulder to anchor himself until the storm passed.

  For long moments afterward, he continued to rock against her, loath to see their joining end. So little time left.

  “Max,” Pia whispered.

  He murmured and kissed the indentations he’d left on her shoulder.

  “Max, you’ll come back for me, won’t you?”

  He stilled, his arm tightening around her waist. Knowing the vampires’ penchant for bugging rooms, he kept his response cryptic. “I can’t make any promises. I’m not sure what I’m heading into.”

  Her breath caught. “I love you.”

  Max slid out of her body and rolled her toward him, settling her close to his side. “If I’m left a choice, I’ll come back for you, Pia.” He pushed back a lock of hair sticking to her moist cheek and cupped her face, memorizing its heart shape and the golden brown of her eyes. Then he glided lower over her soft, slender curves, amazed as always that she could take all of him. And not just his body.

  He remembered too how defiant and passionate she’d been when he’d fucked her with a wooden stake. She’d trembled and moaned, trusting even before she knew him well not to harm her. “You believe me, don’t you? That I didn’t have anything to do with what happened here tonight.”

  Pia’s eyes welled with tears. “You know I do. I know better than anyone what’s in your heart. You couldn’t have wanted anything to happen to Darcy or her baby.”

  His jaw clenched. “I know I don’t say it much, but I love you, baby.” He leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

  If there was a god, he had one helluva warped sense of humor. He’d given Max the only woman he would ever love—and made her a vamp. Lifting his head, he stared into her moist eyes. “Again?”

  *

  Max cranked up the radio in the rental car.

  “Oh, for fuck sake!” Joe said from the back seat, where he lay with a blanket covering all exposed skin. “Will you turn it down? I’m trying to get some sleep back here.”

  “What’d you say?” Max shouted, a grin stretching his mouth. He’d had as little rest as Joe, but had the advantage—his body wasn’t ruled by the daylight.

  The back of his seat bounced.

  “It’s almost dusk,” Max called over his shoulder, smirking. “Quit your fucking bellyaching. You should have fought Navarro’s order a little bit harder if you didn’t wanna come.”

  “Didn’t know I was coming to Mayberry-fucking-RFD,” Joe said, sounding grumpier by the minute. “It might help if you’d turn on the freakin’ AC, too.”

  As soon as they’d left the Asheville airport, Max had rolled down the window. The scents from the North Carolina forest had been irresistible after years of salty sea air.

  Soft, dappled light sifted between the oak and chestnut tree canopy above. Thick forest, still green despite the onset of fall, smelled of resin and greenery and the smaller insentient wildlife. Cooler here than South Florida, the air still held more than a hint of the warm humidity that sweltered all summer long.

  Another powerful jolt from behind tightened the seatbelt across Max’s chest.

  “AC dammit, Max!” Joe shouted.

  “Thought you bloodsuckers preferred the heat.”

  “We do. But the backseat’s a goddamn oven.”

  Max’s seat jounced again, and he relented, rolling up the window and turning on the air. “Keep your shirt on. We’re almost there.”

  The mile marker whisked by, and Max straightened in his seat. He’d pushed aside his growing anxiety, but the moment of truth was fast approaching. He wasn’t at all sure he’d receive any friendlier a reception from the folks of his hometown than the vamp in the back seat.

  In fact, he might be biting a silver bullet within the hour.

  “Where do you think Quentin took her?” Joe’s voice was more subdued this time, the words sounding gruff and forced.

  Max knew exactly who he meant, but didn’t really want to talk about it. Each time he remembered the description Pia had given him of Darcy’s grievous wounds, he cringed inside, and his heart ached. He wished he hadn’t let his prejudice get in the way of their long friendship.

  So she’d fucked a vamp—so had he.

  In the end, there just hadn’t been time to mend fences. He’d been harsh and judgmental. He’d hurt her, and he’d wear the guilt like a sodden coat for the rest of his life.

  That the same rationale ought to apply to his relationship with Joe occurred to him, but Max wasn’t ready to forgive Joe for embracing his inner demon just yet.

  Not when Max had resisted his darker side for so many years himself to exist among vamps undetected. He’d learned a thing or two about his human side.

  The darkness was a soul-eater.

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Where do vamps take their dead lovers? Maybe he’ll do us a favor and dig her a deep grave and crawl inside with her.”

  “Dammit, Max!” Joe said, his voice hoarse. “Don’t you care? This is Darcy we’re talking about. He should have let us give her a decent burial.”

  “You pissed because you didn’t get to kiss her goodbye?” He knew it was a low blow, but he couldn’t resist sinking the stake deep.

  “Y
ou goddamn were-dog! Navarro should have let me put you down when we had you collared.”

  Max’s smile was grim. “His mistake.”

  He passed the city limit sign for Dark Mountain and slowed down, taking a right at the first intersection. He’d been gone a long time, but some things never changed.

  The white bell tower of the courthouse rose high enough to peek between the tall trees. The red-brick courthouse and jail abutted each other—a short walk from the judge’s gavel to a cell.

  The law was the center of power in Dark Mountain. And his wolf clan held every elected office. The job of sheriff fell to the ranking alpha male. No election for that position—rather the decision was decided by a blood fight. The last male standing earned the tin badge.

  While Max might have liked a less conspicuous arrival, he didn’t have time to ease into town. Better to head straight to The Man himself…

  He pulled into the handicap slot closest to the doors and put the sedan into park. “Sun’s not too intense now. Lose the blanket—no use giving yourself away before you even get to the door.”

  “And you don’t think the sizzle will do that?”

  Max unbuckled his seat belt and glanced into the rearview mirror. “Don’t be a pussy.”

  Joe pulled the blanket from his head, his expression sour. “Just make sure the doors aren’t locked.”

  “You trust me not to hold ’em closed once you’re out of the car—after you zapped me with a fucking Taser?” Max asked, lifting one eyebrow.

  Joe’s glance narrowed. “Can it, Weir. We have a mission. Or have you forgotten Pia waiting back at the compound for you?”

  “I’m not forgetting a damn thing.” He turned and opened his car door. “Let’s do this.”

  Max climbed out of the car and strode to the double-doors, thrusting them open, not sparing a glance behind him to see whether Joe followed him into the foyer.

  The door behind him whooshed, accompanied by the odor of singed flesh. “Could we have stopped someplace less infested?” Joe hissed. “It reeks of dog here.”

  “Scared, Garcia?” Max drawled, while his own heart rate thumped faster.

  “Screw you!”

  Max pushed through the inner doors and walked down the line of metal desks. The few officers not on patrol turned, their senses alert.

  A few had been deputies when Max had run the store, but their expressions weren’t welcoming now. Their gazes narrowed, and he knew hackles rose.

  One deputy hit the intercom switch. “Sheriff, you won’t believe who just crawled through the fuckin’ door—”

  Max gave Todd McGwyre a lethal glare and continued to the oak door at the end of the row.

  Behind him, chairs scraped the floor and booted footsteps closed in.

  There would be no retreat.

  The door swung open, and Max’s breath caught. Oh shit, one more complication. With his heart squeezing inside his chest, he braced himself. “Hello, brother.”

  Chapter Four

  ‡

  With his hackles rising, Alec eyed his older brother, barely sparing a glance for the vampire at his side.

  Is he so arrogant he thinks I won’t kill Garcia where he stands? Yeah, he knew who the vamp was—he’d shared a beer or two back in the days before Joe joined the fanged brotherhood. Before he’d become “the enemy”. But he could dust the bastard later. Instead, he narrowed his gaze at Max.

  What was Max thinking, entering were territory when he’d aligned himself with the other camp? He’d fucked a vamp female and not by accident. He decided to cut him where it hurt. “Put the vamp in the pit,” he growled, looking over Max’s shoulder to his deputies.

  “Back off!” Max glared behind him, halting the deputies, and then shared a charged glance with his buddy.

  That little look riled Alec even more. Max had chosen an enemy over family. “You aren’t in charge here,” he said, his voice low and lethal.

  “And you’ve been in charge about two seconds.” Max’s eyebrows lowered, and his shoulders bunched. “But this isn’t about us. This isn’t about The Wars either. It’s bigger, little brother. We’ve come to ask for your help.”

  Alec’s lips lifted in a snarl. Max’s life was in his hands—and his older brother knew it by his wary stance. The knowledge was gratifying after the way Max had turned on him in Vero when he’d taken the battle into his own hands. But curiosity about Max’s “problem” and the need to prolong his satisfaction had Alec raising a hand to stay the deputies surrounding the two interlopers. “Put them both in the pit.”

  Max’s hands curled into fists. “We don’t have time for this shit.”

  Alec snorted. “Sure you do.” He nodded to Todd and another deputy who clamped handcuffs to the men’s wrists.

  He was disappointed when neither resisted. So rather than stay there and let Max’s frustrated glare undermine his authority, he swept past them and strode down the long aisle to the doors and out into the parking lot.

  Darkness had fallen, and a hot breeze stirred the trees.

  A pickup turned into the lot, lights arcing, and his body roused instantly—urgent and hard. Stasia.

  The driver’s door opened and slammed, and Stasia’s light footsteps slapped the pavement. She drew around the end of the pickup and planted herself in front of him, hands on her hips. Her dark gaze pinned him and fevered color filled her cheeks. “Is it true? Did Max bring a vamp here?”

  Alec smothered his irritation that she hadn’t bothered to offer him a greeting first before launching into a conversation about Max. The oversight only reminded him that once, a long time ago, Stasia had shared his brother’s bed, too. When he’d been top dog in Dark Mountain.

  Alec ran a finger along her cheek, his gaze falling to her mouth and that full upper lip that formed a permanent pout. “Are you asking because you’re curious or because you’re worried about your old boyfriend’s safety?”

  She slapped away his hand. “He’s fucking a vamp. What interest would I have in him now?”

  Her vehemence sounded a little forced to his ears. Alec gripped her upper arms and dragged her close, bending to glide his lips along her cheek. “Run with me tonight,” he whispered.

  She jerked her head back and glared. “Will you tell me what he’s doing here?”

  Alec let her go and raked a hand through his hair. “Stasi, must this always be a transaction?”

  Her gaze faltered.

  Another sin to lay at Max’s feet. When the warlairds had called for volunteers to infiltrate vamp territory and keep tabs on their activities, Max had been so eager he’d left Stasia without a backward glance. What remained of her heart was a hollow space.

  At least her hormones were still ruled by the moon. “Run with me,” he repeated, his hand slipping beneath her T-shirt to cup a heavy breast.

  Her breath caught, and a hardening nipple poked against his palm. “Is our clan alpha asking?”

  He squeezed her breast hard. “Yes, damn you.”

  She shrugged from his embrace and turned, pulling her T-shirt over her head. “Can’t say no, can I?” she drawled, her gaze boring into his.

  Alec trembled with rage. Does she think to shame me into rescinding my invitation? While he seethed deep inside, he reached for the button at the top of his uniform shirt and flicked it open. Stasia needed what he was about to give her, and in precisely the way he would do it. “Just strip.”

  The parking lot lights illuminated them, so that anyone looking out the station windows could see them both tearing away their clothes. Alec didn’t care. His body tightened, reacting to the rage his brother’s return and Stasia’s continuing rejection had built. Through the blood challenge just weeks ago, he’d won the right to choose his mate—choose as many as he wanted. He’d have Stasia whether he was her first choice or the very last. Damn her.

  Naked, he felt the breeze lift the hairs sprouting from under his skin. He watched hungrily as she pushed her jeans down her slim, muscular legs and flipped
them into the bed of her pickup truck. Her long brown hair curved around her shoulders and her full breasts. Her eyes, with their slight upward cast, glinted mysteriously in her oval face.

  The start of her transformation shone in those eyes, light reflecting against the golden irises. “Think you’ll catch me?” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder, not caring she’d just bared her breast to his view.

  Alec growled and let his change flow rapidly. When he dropped to his paws, his intellect faded, replaced by a hunger that burned in the wolf’s loins.

  The wolf raised his head and howled, and when the woman melted and shimmered into a lean, brown-furred bitch, he loped across the parking lot and into the forest beyond.

  *

  Alec rolled from his side to his knees, leaves sticking to his moist skin. Beside him, Stasia stirred and sat up. He cursed. His cock was limp and wet, and he had only fading memories of mounting her body.

  “Well, that was quick,” she said, shaking out her hair, a trace of mockery in her voice.

  He flushed, angry she’d prodded him into taking her in his wolf-skin—again. Frustration, sharp and fierce, rushed through him. He sprang on her, forcing her back against the carpet of leaves. When he stretched over her, pinning her limbs beneath his, he held his lips a fraction of an inch above hers. “Did I disappoint? I can remedy that,” he drawled, slipping a knee between her thighs.

  “I wasn’t disappointed,” she blurted. Blood pulsed at her temple. Her nostrils flared.

  Was she wary or aroused? “No?” he said, dipping his head to drag his lips across hers. “Then you came?” he asked, his tone silken.

  She arched, trying to lift him. “I don’t remember,” she ground out.

  “Can’t have you wondering.” He centered his hardening cock between her thighs and nudged between her slick folds.

  “Alec, enough.” Stasia tried to roll to the side.

  He braced his legs, resisting. His gaze was unwavering—as was his intent. He had her attention now.

  After several moments of futile writhing, she went still beneath him and glared. “Don’t you think we should get back? Max and that vamp—”