Dark Awakening

But when she whirled around, stumbling a little in her haste to confront whoever was behind her, she saw nothing. Only the empty expanse of lawn, dotted with the skeletal shapes of slumbering trees, an empty bench, and beside her, the dark shape of the house. Nothing.



Nowhere even to hide.



Lily felt her heart kick into a quicker rhythm, and her breath became shallower as her eyes darted around, looking for a shape, a shadow, anything that would explain her sudden, overwhelming certainty that she wasn’t alone.



Stupid, she told herself. You’re walking through a horror movie setup, and it’s just got your imagination running, is all.



Lily knew that was more than likely it, but she still wanted to reach her car and get out of here. Soothed a little by the thought that there were a whole bunch of people inside the house who would hear her scream if anything did happen, she turned to continue making her way out front, casting a lingering look over one shoulder.



Though the moon rode high in the night sky, nearly full, and the air was still rich with the very scents she’d just been enjoying, all her pleasure had vanished in favor of the insistent instinct that had kept humans walking the Earth for as long as they had: flight.



“Hey, are you all right?”



She gave a small scream before she could stop herself, jumping at the sudden appearance of another person in front of her when there’d been no sign of another soul only seconds before.



He raised his hands in front of him, eyebrows lifting in an expression that plainly said he was as startled as she was. “Whoa, hey, don’t do that! I’m not a ghost or anything. You can start breathing again.” One eyebrow arched higher, plaintive. “Please?”



It was the faintly amused concern he put into that last word that finally got her to draw in a single, shuddering breath. But she still shot a quick look around, gauging distance in case she had to run.



“Look, I’m sorry,” the man said, drawing Lily’s full attention back to him. “I needed to get out of there for a few. Too many people, not enough ghosts, you know?”



“I… yeah,” Lily said, still trying to figure out how she should deal with this. Had he been inside too? She wasn’t sure…. There’d been a cluster of people, and not everyone had shown up at the same time. It was certainly possible. But when she looked more closely at him, she was sure she would have remembered if they’d crossed paths.



“Let’s start over,” he said.



This time she picked up on the lilting Scottish accent in a voice that was soft and deep but with a slightly rough edge.



He extended a hand to her. “I’m Tynan. MacGillivray.”



Yeah, it didn’t get any more Scottish than that. Lily hesitated for a split second, but her deeply ingrained sense of politeness refused to let her keep her hand in her pocket. Tentatively, she slid her hand into his and watched as his long, slim fingers closed around it.



“I’m Lily. Lily Quinn,” she said, surprised by the sensation of cool, silken skin against her own. But at the point of contact, warmth quickly bloomed, matching the heat that began to course through her system as she finally noticed that Tynan MacGillivray was incredibly good-looking.



Not handsome, she thought. That was the wrong word for what he was, though some people might have used it anyway. He was more… compelling. She let herself take in the sharp-featured, angular face with a long blade of a nose and dark, slashing brows. His mouth held the only hint of softness, with an invitingly full lower lip that caught her attention far more than it should have, under the circumstances. His skin was so fair as to make him pale, though for some reason it only enhanced his strange appeal, and was set off further by the slightly shaggy, overlong crop of deep brown hair that he’d pushed away from his face.



It was his eyes, though, that Lily couldn’t seem to avoid. Light gray, with a silvery cast from the moonlight, they watched her steadily, unblinking. She wanted to believe he meant her no harm. But there was an intensity in the way he looked at her that kept her off balance. I should get moving, get out of here, Lily thought, feeling like a deer that has picked up the scent of a predator.



But she was caught by those eyes, unable to look away. She shuddered in a soft breath as he stepped in closer, never letting go of her hand.



No, she thought, her eyes locked with his, her legs refusing to move. But then, right on the heels of that: Yes.



“Lily,” he said, his voice little more than a sensual growl. “Now, that’s a pretty name. Fitting.”



No one had ever said her name quite like that before, savoring it, as though they were tasting it. Desire, unexpected, unwanted, but undeniable all the same, unfurled deep in her belly. She tried to think of something to say, something that would break this odd spell she was falling under, but nothing sprang to mind. There was only this dark stranger. Everything else seemed to fade away, unimportant.



“You’re shivering,” he remarked. “You shouldn’t be out here in the cold all alone.”



“No, I… I guess not,” she murmured, mildly surprised that though she was shivering, she hadn’t even noticed. She certainly wasn’t cold anymore. And for some reason it was difficult to hang on to her thoughts long enough to form a coherent sentence. “I was… just going to my car.”



His eyes, she thought, caught up in a hazy rush of desire that flooded her from head to toe, banishing any awareness of the temperature of the air. His eyes were silver, she realized as they grew closer. Silver, and glowing like the moon. Strange, beautiful eyes.



“Why don’t you let me walk you?” he asked.



The words barely penetrated her consciousness. After struggling to make sense of them, she found herself nodding. Car. Walk. Yes. Probably a good thing. “Yeah. That would be great.”



Tynan smiled, a lazy, sensual lift of his lips. It seemed the most natural thing in the world that, despite what each of them had said, neither of them made a move to go. Instead, he trailed his free hand down her cheek, cool marble against her warm flesh, and rubbed his thumb slowly across her lower lip.



Lily’s lips parted in answer, and her eyes slipped shut as a soft sigh escaped her. She’d never felt such pleasure from such a light touch, but all she could think of, all she wanted, was for it to continue.



“Lily,” he purred again. “How lovely you are.”



“Mmm,” was all she could manage in response. She turned into his touch as his skilled fingers slid into her hair, as he let go of her hand to slide his around the curve of her waist as he stepped into her. It was like drifting in some dark dream, and Lily embraced it willingly, sliding her hands up his chest and then around to his back, urging him even closer.



She wasn’t sure what she was asking for—but at Tynan’s touch, something stirred inside of her, some long-dormant need that arched and stretched after a long sleep, then flooded her with aching demand. She turned her face up to his, a wordless invitation. His warm breath fanned her face, and even through the strange haze that seemed to have enveloped her, she thrilled a little at the ragged sound of his breathing, at the erratic beat of his heart against her chest.



“Lily,” he said again, and this time it was almost reverent.



He bent his head to hers, and Lily’s lips parted in anticipation. She had never wanted a man’s kiss so desperately; her entire being seemed to vibrate with desire. Her breath stilled as she waited for the press of his lips against her own. But instead of taking what she offered, Tynan’s mouth only grazed her cheek, and his long fingers deftly cupped her chin to turn her head to the side.



Lily made a noise then, a soft, frustrated moan that drew a chuckle from her tormentor.



“Patience, sweetheart,” he admonished her, his gruff brogue more pronounced now. “Too fast and you’ll spoil it.”



Tynan trailed soft kisses along her jawline, the relative chill of his lips against her warm and sensitive flesh a shocking pleasure. Lily writhed in his arms, wanting to be closer, wanting some nameless more that she couldn’t identify. But Tynan seemed to be relentlessly controlled, the uneven intake of his breath the only clue that he might be as close to undone as she. Lily heard his voice then, seeming to echo right inside her head.



Let me taste you.



Powerless to do anything but obey, Lily let her head fall back in submission, baring her throat to him, willing him to touch more, take more. In some dim recess of her mind, it occurred to her that this entire situation was madness at best, suicidal at worst. But the harder she tried to hang on to any rational thoughts, the quicker they seemed to evaporate. And wasn’t it so much more pleasurable to just give up, give in? As though Tynan wanted to illustrate just that point, he nipped at her ear, flicking his tongue over the sensitive lobe.



“Please,” Lily moaned, moving restlessly against him, not even sure what she was asking for. Then he was drawing her hair away from her neck, tugging her head to the side to gain better access. He forced the collar of her shirt down, baring her collarbone to the cold night air. Lily allowed it all, her only desire to feel his lips on her skin again, to give him whatever he wanted. All the world had vanished except for Tynan. She could feel his hands shaking as his handling of her roughened, and she sensed his need was even greater than her own.



Suddenly he stopped, going stock-still as he expelled a single shaking breath. Lost in the deepening fog of her sexual haze, Lily gripped the thick wool of Tynan’s coat harder and made a soft sound of distress. Why had he stopped? She needed… she needed…



All she heard was a softly muttered curse in an unfamiliar tongue.



Then, a ripple of air, a breath of chill wind. Lily slowly opened her eyes, only barely beginning to register where she was and what she had been doing. Her hands were fisted in nothing but empty air. She blinked rapidly, taking a stumbling step backward, feeling a crushing, if nonsensical, sense of loss. She turned in a circle, knowing that he had to still be here. He couldn’t have left. It was impossible for a man to vanish into thin air.



But whoever—or whatever—Tynan MacGillivray was, Lily was soon forced to acknowledge the truth.