Deeper than the Night - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,42
as frightening, as it had the night before. And yet . . .
She stared out the window. Except for that peculiar ridge of flesh on his back, Alex looked like any other man, but what if they were incompatible sexually? Maybe the people of his planet didn't procreate in the same manner as those of earth.
She frowned, then shook the thought from her mind. She would worry about that later. For now, she wanted, needed, to see him.
She brushed the crumbs from her lap, wiped her mouth, then drove to the gas station to fill the tank. And then, her heart pounding with anticipation at seeing Alex again, she turned the car toward Eagle Flats.
He rose at dusk to prowl through the wreckage of the cavern. He hoped Kara had the good sense not to go home. He knew she would be unable to resist calling her grandmother, but a phone call should be harmless enough, if she kept it short and made it from a pay phone.
He swore an ancient oath. It was no longer any of his concern what she did or where she went. Tomorrow he would leave here. He would return to Moulton Bay and collect his things, and then he'd leave town. Leave the country. Perhaps he'd go back to Australia. He'd always planned to go back some day. Now seemed like the perfect time. He had no ties here, nothing to keep him. He could write anywhere.
He kicked aside the wreckage that had once been the kitchen table, overcome by the ancient urge to hunt in the old way, to kill his prey with his bare hands, to taste its sweet, warm blood on his tongue.
The men of ErAdona had overcome their bloodthirsty nature centuries ago, but he was a throwback to an older, more violent time. It was a part of him he loathed, a part of him that lay dormant,all but forgotten, until rage unleashed the beast within him, and it woke, ravenous and all but uncontrollable. It was the reason he felt such an affinity for the vampires he wrote about. He knew what blood lust was, what it was like to be caught in the clutches of a hunger that was both repugnant and pleasurable.
Feeling confined by the cavern's walls, he went out into the night. Stripping off his clothing, he lifted his face to the moon, absorbing the pale light into himself, hoping it would calm him, but the beast within would not be pacified.
With a growl, he started to run up the mountainside, surrendering to the anger and the frustration surging through him.
Soundlessly, effortlessly, he ran through the darkness, blending with the shadows, his heart and soul at one with the other predators of the night.
Kara switched off the ignition, ran a hand over her hair, and took a deep breath, wishing she knew what she was going to say to Alexander when she saw him again.
Gathering her packages and her purse, she slid out of the car, locked the door, and made her way to the cavern's entrance.
She placed her hand over the odd-shaped striation in the rock face, felt her heart beat with excitement as, with a dull rumble, the portal slid open.
"Alex?" Calling his name, she stepped inside. The rock slid back into place automatically; a light came on as soon as the door closed behind her.
"Alex?" Dropping her packages inside the doorway, she walked down the narrow corridor, gasping when she came to the living room. Furniture, tables, bookcases, all had been destroyed. The kitchen was also a shambles.
She made her way down the corridor to the bedroom. Relief whooshed out of her lungs in a sigh. This room, at least, had not been demolished.
She stepped into the room and looked around, wondering what had caused the destruction in the other rooms. Where was Alex? Had Barrett found him after all?
A noise from the other room made the hair rise along the back of her neck. And then she heard footsteps walking down the corridor.
Mouth dry, palms damp with fear, she turned toward the door.
Chapter Thirteen
Alex came to an abrupt halt when he saw Kara standing in the bedroom. He had caught her scent as soon as he entered the cavern but, trapped in his own misery, he had ignored it, thinking it to be nothing more than a cruel reminder that she had been there and gone.
"Kara!"
"Hello, Alex."
Hands clenched, he stared at the woman he had never thought to see again. Hope smothered