Dark Awakening

Except, of course, when given by a man who seemed to have been made entirely from moonlight and shadow.



“Be careful on your way home, then. I’d offer to drive you, but I know how far that would get me.”



“You’re finally learning.” Lily gave Bay a quick squeeze and then drew back, frustrated that Tynan had reappeared in her thoughts so quickly. All she needed was sleep, she decided. Lots and lots of sleep. She could take care of herself perfectly well, just as she’d told Bay. And there was nothing wrong with her.



“I’ll bring burgers by the shop tomorrow so you can tell me all,” Lily said, forcing a cheerful note into her voice.



“Sounds good,” Bay said with a nod. “I’ll probably need the moral support. Moses comes in tomorrow.”



Lily shuddered in sympathy. Bay owned a successful dog-grooming business, and a lot of that success had come because she loved pretty much anything with fur, even if it was ornery. She even loved Moses, the excitable Saint Bernard that, though friendly, seemed to have some kind of canine ADD. And he was a serious drooler.



“Burgers from Frank’s it is, then,” Lily said. “I’m sure we’ll be able to find some tiny spot to eat that isn’t covered with slime.”



“Your lips to God’s ears,” Bay said. “And speaking of covered in slime, I guess I’ll go get beautiful for the cute techno-geek. Wish me luck!”



Lily did, and watched Bay bounce back up the aisle and out the door. As the door clicked shut, Lily’s smile faded. She turned to slowly finish gathering her things, feeling her fatigue weighing on her as though sandbags had been tied to all of her limbs. She wasn’t even going to stop by her office. She was just going to get in her car, drive home with the window open so she was sure to stay alert, and then collapse into bed.



After that, well, she could only hope that her sleep was full of pleasant dreams, or at least unmemorable ones. Or even just dark oblivion. All of those options were far better than watching the woman with the red hair be slaughtered again, her blood turning her green silk dress black while her baby screamed somewhere in the darkness beyond and all the world went up in flames.



Better than waking up with her strange tattoo burning with white-hot pain.



It tingled even as she thought it, and Lily shuddered, pushing the visions from her mind and focusing on the tasks at hand. She slid the papers into her messenger bag, along with the notes she’d used for the day’s lecture, then shrugged into the soft leather jacket that had been one of her splurges for the fall. The bag slung over one shoulder, her travel mug collected, she was off. A couple of her students waved at her as she exited Digby Hall and headed down the path that led to one of the smaller parking lots tucked behind the lecture halls.



She breathed in the crisp autumn air, surprised at how dark it was getting this early in the day. The sun was gone, and what light was left had turned the sky a deep bloodred that was rapidly fading in the west. Her steps were quick, the sound of her low boot heels clicking against the pavement in the quiet being punctuated only occasionally by the sounds of distant chatter. Lily watched a student hop into her car and drive off, the only other person in sight. Unease unfurled, quickly and unexpectedly, in her stomach. What was she trying to do, become a poster girl for how to get bad things to happen to you?



“I’m not the stupid girl who always dies first in horror movies,” she told herself. “My boobs aren’t big enough.”



The thought made her smile a little, but Lily still sped up as she caught sight of her car, now surrounded by empty parking spaces. She was just pulling her keys from her pocket when she felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to rise. Her steps quickened. Instinctively, she knew she was no longer alone—and she was being very carefully watched. Every movement. Every rapid beat of her heart.



Lily swallowed hard, drew in a shallow breath. Without even looking, she knew who it was. Her encounter with Tynan MacGillivray might have sent her into a tailspin, might have left her in a fog that hadn’t completely lifted, but she would never forget how his very presence had made her feel, as though she were nothing but a tiny, insignificant planet being pulled inexorably into the orbit of a powerful, and potentially deadly, star.



Over the last couple of days, she’d almost managed to convince herself that she was making too much of the strangeness of their meeting. But now, confronted again with the way every cell in her body tingled at his nearness, her normally iron will already softening and threatening to desert her, she knew her initial instincts had been right.



There was something very wrong about him. Something dangerous. And yet she found herself turning to where she knew he was, wanting desperately to see his face again.



He stood at the edge of the deserted parking lot, just outside the bright glow of the lights that illuminated the few cars, looking as though he’d been conjured out of her darkest longings and made flesh. There was little shadow to be had anywhere near the lights’ fluorescent glow, and yet it seemed he’d managed to find some to stand in. Or, Lily thought as she drank him in, maybe men like Tynan simply created their own shadow. That was crazy—but no crazier than the rest of this.



“Lily. You and I need to talk.”



His voice was just as she remembered, deep and slightly ragged. And at its sound, it took every ounce of her willpower to stay still. Every word he said seemed to translate to the same thing when it hit her ears: come to me. But this time, there was a difference. She’d had time to think about what he might be, what he might do to her before vanishing again into thin air. Things that would be worse than any nightmare.



Mentally, she dug in her heels, envisioning her feet encased in cement right where she stood. Whatever he was trying to get her to do, it wasn’t going to happen, no matter how good he looked just standing there in his own little pool of darkness like some modern-day version of Dracula. She felt light-headed, almost a little drunk, and Lily dug in harder, pushed back.



A quick flash of emotion crossed Tynan’s face as she concentrated, forcing the fog in her mind to lift a little. She saw both anger and bewilderment clear as day in the split second he let them show before schooling his expression into inscrutability.



Her blood turned to ice, but her fear, unwelcome though it was, anchored her that much more firmly in reality.



“Look,” he said slowly, holding her gaze with his own. “I’m sorry for the other night. I wasn’t trying to scare you, and I shouldn’t have run off so quickly. But I didn’t realize…” He trailed off, seemingly at a loss as to how to continue.



Lily just watched him silently, while in her mind she began gauging how quickly she could get to her car, open the door, and lock herself in.



He seemed to know.



Tynan sighed, an irritated little hiss of air through his nose. “You’re not really hearing me at all, are you? It’s always fight or flight with your kind, never any room in between.” He closed his eyes for a moment, obviously grasping for whatever patience he had.



“I’m not a bloody negotiator,” he muttered to himself.



Well, you don’t look like one either, she thought, watching him warily as she began to edge toward her car, which was tantalizingly close, though not quite close enough. Without his strange eyes locked on her own, she felt freer to move again, more in control of herself. Right at that moment, all she wanted was to go home and forget Tynan MacGillivray ever existed. Because even now, when she knew he had stalker written all over him, she couldn’t help but stare at him, appreciating the jagged, masculine beauty of him.



Couldn’t help but want him.



It terrified her that she could feel this kind of desire for someone who was probably going to kill her in very short order. But she couldn’t seem to turn it off any more than she had been able to banish the images of him from her mind since the night they’d met. Which meant only one thing for certain: she had to get out of here as quickly as she could and call the cops.



His eyes opened again to refocus on her with laserlike intensity. They were as silver as she remembered, and some trick of the light made them seem to glow faintly as he watched her, unblinking. As soon as his gaze touched her again, she felt her limbs go liquid, and a queer sense of calm tried to smother all of her misgivings and inhibitions.



“No,” Lily said softly, the sound of her own voice in the thick, heavy atmosphere surprising her. But she could immediately tell that Tynan didn’t like the simple refusal, so she shook her head and said it again. “No.”



His eyes narrowed, and in that instant Lily saw clearly that beneath the dark, attractive veneer was something predatory. She took another step backward, testing her luck. He didn’t move a muscle, but when he spoke, he didn’t sound happy.



“If you haven’t figured it out by now, woman, I’m not going to attack you. I could have ripped out your pretty throat a hundred times over by now if I’d been inclined that way. But you are going to hear me out, one way or another. There are some questions I need answered.”



“We have nothing to talk about,” Lily said. Another step. The night had gone still and silent around them, as though they were the only two people on Earth. Had he really just said he could rip her throat out? Who said things like that? And with every step away from him, from that strange pull he exerted, Lily felt reality returning, along with emotion undulled by Tynan’s influence. Fear crept in, intensified. And began to pulse in time with her heart, which sped to a trot, then a full gallop.



It was then that she saw another emotion on his face, so raw and primal that it was all she could do not to turn and run.



Hunger.



“Don’t,” he said softly, his voice little more than a growl. “I don’t blame you for your fear, mo bhilis. But you’ll have to learn to hide it if you want to survive. Blood that runs so hot and fast is a temptation many won’t even try to resist.”



She stared at him, horrified, and this time Tynan couldn’t hold her gaze. He looked away, a pained expression tightening his features.