Forever The World of Nightwalkers - By Jacquelyn Frank Page 0,33

then she was gone. He exhaled hard, finally turning around and leaning his back against the cold surface of the wall.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded of himself.

Being human, Menes, his new conscience answered. There is nothing shameful about craving a thing of beauty.

“I thought you were a one-woman man,” he muttered petulantly.

My woman … There was a distinct hesitation and Jackson felt as though there was an omission taking place … My woman is not here as yet. When she arrives you will know it without a doubt. You will feel the power of what I feel. In the meantime … there is no betrayal if you have desires counter to my own.

But Jackson found the idea settling ill within him. He wasn’t about to make advances toward Marissa when he knew there would be no future in it. Marissa Anderson was a forever kind of woman. She didn’t strike him as the type to have casual sex just for the sake of scratching an itch. She would be looking for more. More than what he could give her.

No. Marissa was off-limits. And the sooner he reconciled himself to that the better off he would be.

And on that thought he left the cave, following behind her.

Marissa broke free of the tree line and hurried directly for Jackson’s vehicle. Luckily she had seen him use the concealed trunk release earlier when he had gotten water for Sargent. She reached into the car and engaged the release. When she straightened and turned, it was all she could do not to scream when she nearly ran into Captain Avery Landon, Jackson’s boss.

“What are you doing? You’re not allowed in the front of an official vehicle, Dr. Anderson, without an officer. And there are weapons in the trunk.” Langdon reached back and put a hand on the trunk lid, slamming it down into place again.

After all she had been through in the past half hour, it was the straw that broke every single ounce something else entirely. and the lof self-control she had. She rounded on the captain with a fury.

“Of course I know there are weapons in the trunk!” she spat out. “And I also know that I don’t belong in the front of this car without permission. But did it ever occur to you, you pompous jackass, that I was sent here to retrieve something for Officer Waverly? He’s in the field with his K-9. And I know you know how dedicated he and that damn dog are. Too dedicated to take a break and fetch the supplies they need to keep hydrated and their energy up!” She reached back into the car and snapped the lock release again. “Jackson sent me for his supplies, and I damn well am going to bring them to him. Now back off and stop getting in the way of his work. Christ, you’re your own worse enemy, Captain,” she ground out at him as she pushed past him and looked into the trunk. “You’re so busy trying to tighten your control freak noose around everyone’s throat that you don’t even realize what a hindrance you are to these men and women beneath you.” She found the bag and snatched it up. She reached to slam the trunk closed, putting so much force into it that the patrol car rocked. “These are good cops, Captain Landon. If anyone would know that, it would be me. And I’m telling you what they can’t, that you need to back the fuck off!”

With that she pushed her way past the flabbergasted captain and stepped toward the woods. Only there was a phalanx of officers standing in her way, the group having gathered, obviously, when they had begun to overhear her tirade. She faced them, her entire body flushing hot with embarrassment because she knew damn well how unprofessional she had been. But she would worry about the consequences of that later. She had more important worries on her mind at the moment. But just as she was about to bulldoze her way past everyone, one of the officers began to clap his hands together. Like wildfire it spread, until she was facing a platoon of applause. She winced, picturing in her mind exactly how furious the captain behind her would be because he was head to toe a classic narcissist who defined himself by the value of his position and his job. He would not appreciate anything that undermined that. He just wasn’t the sort to