Three days later, when Deacon slipped quietly into the kitchen and grabbed a cold beer out of the refrigerator, he paused and glanced out the window. For a moment he just listened to the now familiar sounds—voices nearby, bird song from a vine twisting its way around the front porch, the hum of the refrigerator, and the soft whisper of wind through the trees.
He felt such a powerful sense of connection to this place, to these people. He’d only been here a few days, but already it was more of a home than any place he’d ever lived. Of course, when you’d been on the streets from the time you were fourteen, any bed you got to sleep in for more than one night had to feel good.
Just as any friends you kept for more than a few weeks had to feel like family. Jazzy and Logan, and now all the Chanku he’d met here in Montana…they were all family.
He was beginning to feel so comfortable here that it terrified him. Good things never lasted. Deacon glanced into the big dining room where Anton and Stefan sat with their mates and two couples he didn’t know. One of the women must be Manda, the one Daci remembered. Strangers or not, he knew they’d soon be part of his extended pack, and that sense of upcoming familiarity gave him the courage to walk into the room and introduce himself.
Anton glanced up and smiled. “Ah, Deacon. Meet our friends from Maine. Jacob Trent and his mate, Shannon Murphy.” He pointed to the couple sitting together on the small love seat at his right. Deacon shook hands with the man, nodded to the woman. Damn, she was so beautiful she took his breath, and he could tell from the twinkle in her eyes that she wasn’t at all the fragile type.
No, fragile described the slim blond woman sitting beside the big man to Anton’s left. “This is Baylor Quinn and his mate, Manda. You know Manda’s brother, Adam.”
So this was Manda. Deacon shook hands with Baylor. When he turned to acknowledge Manda, she quickly stood up and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
He hugged her back, surprised.
“Thank you for watching over Daci,” she said.
“It’s nothing. She’s…”
“She’s important to me. I don’t know if you know my past, but she was very sweet and she was one of the few people who never treated me as a freak. I can’t wait to see her. I really hope she remembers me.”
Deacon shrugged. “Staying with Daci’s no chore. She’s mentioned you, so I know she remembers.” He knew Manda had been caught between shifts for most of her life, but it was hard to imagine this tall, beautiful woman as any kind of a freak.
Anton laughed, and Deacon knew immediately he’d been inside his head. “You’d be surprised, son. Manda’s life was an absolute nightmare. Do you think Daci’s up to a visit now?”
Deacon jerked his head around and stared at Anton. No man had called him “son” before. The casual term had a deep, almost visceral effect on him. He cleared his throat to cover his reaction and turned back to Manda. “She was sleeping when I left her with Eve. I’m headed back there now. She’s got more feeling in her feet and legs, and she was able to stand today. How about I let you know as soon as she awakens?”
“That would be wonderful.” Manda sat down beside her mate. They immediately clasped hands, and he caught himself staring at the comfortable way they sat so close together. The way they touched. What would that be like? To know love. To find the perfect mate?
“I hope my brother’s being nice to her,” Manda said. “I love him more than you can imagine, but I’ve decided Adam can be a real pain in the butt at times.”
Deacon laughed. “He’s coming around. He was determined to hate Daci when he found out who her father was, but when she started talking about you in such glowing terms, he had to change his mind. I don’t think he does that easily.”
Manda shook her head. The movement sent her long, blond hair flying. “Adam is a very steady man. He kept me sane for so many years, merely with the power of his mind. We’d never met, much less had any idea we were related, and twins, no less, but we were able to communicate over impossibly long distances. I often wondered if he was a figment of my imagination, but even in my wildest fantasies, I couldn’t have come up with someone as unique as Adam.”
Deacon would like to have stayed as Manda talked about her amazing mental relationship with her brother through the long years of her captivity. Hearing her story from Daci first and now from Manda herself gave him a fascinating view into the minds of two entirely different, yet strongly connected women.
But he sensed Daci’s call. Without actually hearing her voice, he knew she wanted him near. Smiling, he left the conversation and returned to the beautiful young woman who actually seemed to need him.
“Deacon. Hello. She’s doing so much better.” Eve stood up and touched Daci’s hand. “You’ll be walking before long. Your strength is returning faster than any of us expected.” She smiled at Deacon and left. He slipped easily into the chair beside Daci’s bed.
It had only been three days since her fall, but already Daci was noticeably stronger. The feeling was back in the lower half of her body. She could stand with help, and she was able to use the bathroom on her own as long as someone helped her get there. Most important, the fear was gone from her eyes. Now, she actually seemed happy to see him.
He noticed she was scratching at her arms as if she might have a rash, and it made him smile. He remembered that itchy feeling as his body made the subtle change from human to Chanku. The pills Anton was slipping into her food must be having their desired effect.
“Is Manda finally here?” Daci scratched a spot on her wrist.
Deacon nodded. “Yep, and she’s gorgeous. She can’t wait to see you. Can I call her in now?”
Daci shook her head. “No! I look awful! I’m a mess and my skin is so dry and itchy…”
Deacon laughed. “You’re perfect. But I’ll get you a washcloth and a hairbrush if you want. And some skin lotion.”
“What I really want is a bath.” She blushed and looked away. “You’d have to help me. This bathroom just has a shower. I don’t think I can stand that long by myself yet.”
“Help you take a shower?” Deacon’s skin flushed hot and then cold. He forgot all about her itchy skin and what it meant.
“Please? I asked Logan if it was okay, and he said as long as I had someone help me.”
“Why didn’t you ask Eve? I mean, not that I don’t want to, but I…”
“I did. She said she wasn’t sure if she was strong enough and thought I’d be safer with you or one of the other men.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I can’t ask any of the other guys. I don’t know them as well as I know you.”
Was she flirting with him?
He gave up, sighed, and nodded. The last thing he wanted was another man seeing her naked. “Sure,” he said, as if it was something he did all the time. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
She smiled and he felt his heart rate jump up a notch or more. As she pulled the blankets back and slowly swung her feet over the side of the bed, it suddenly hit him why he felt such a powerful attraction to her today, even stronger than he had before.
Her scent had changed. Now instead of merely attractive, it was a powerful aphrodisiac. Deacon recognized it for what it was, the scent of a female Chanku nearing her heat. Did Daci even know?
How could she? She had no idea she was Chanku. No idea Anton had been giving her the nutrients in her food for the past three days. Was she ready to shift? Was that the reason her scent had altered? The reason she was recovering so much faster?
The reason he was suddenly hard as a post and wondering how he was going to help her shower without her realizing exactly what effect she was having on him?
She knew he would have carried her, but Daci really wanted to walk the short distance to the bathroom. She still couldn’t believe what they were doing, that she’d actually coerced this gorgeous man into helping her shower.
She had asked Eve, and Eve had suggested she ask Deacon. Was Eve matchmaking? No matter. This was exactly what Daci had dreamed about, wasn’t it? Deacon had one arm around her waist and held her elbow with his other hand. His body was so big next to hers. He was warm and strong and he smelled so good that she had butterflies in her belly, just being this close to him.
And she was walking okay, too, placing one foot carefully in front of the other. It was absolutely wonderful, standing and walking, all wrapped up in Deacon’s arms.
It was weird, too, but she felt drawn to him on so many levels. As each day passed, she’d felt a stronger attraction, well beyond appreciation for his care.
Of course, the fact he was gorgeous and smart and attentive to her every need might have something to do with it, but she’d gotten to know him better than she’d ever known any guy in her life. They’d talked about lots of things, and he’d hardly left her side since she’d been hurt. While the others had checked in on her and everyone had introduced themselves, only Deacon and Eve had actually spent the time sitting by her bed so she wouldn’t be alone.
Eve was really nice, but Deacon was the one she wanted close. He was the one she thought of at night when everyone figured she was sleeping. He was the one who ran beside her in those strange, almost hallucinogenic dreams she’d been having.
Nothing here had gone as she would have expected. She no longer thought of any of these people as killers. In fact, she thought of Deacon in far more intimate terms. So intimate she’d been hiding her thoughts, just in case he could read her mind. She’d absolutely die of embarrassment if Deacon knew what she was thinking.
She hadn’t seen any of them shift, though they certainly had unusual abilities. They reminded her of her mom. Mom had always known what she was thinking, but then, she was Romany. Maybe these people were part Romany, too. Maybe that’s all it was, and they weren’t really shapeshifters.
Maybe her father had been wrong.
The mind reading though…was it an ability that grew in some people as they got older? Over the past day, she’d discovered herself slipping in and out of Deacon’s thoughts as easily as if she were listening to a radio station…just as Mr. Cheval had said.
She’d be mortified if he knew what…no. She already knew he felt the same way. Why should she be embarrassed? Why shouldn’t she just go for it…and see what happened?
She loved what she’d heard Deacon thinking—it was all about her. He was attracted to her and seemed to want her every bit as much as she wanted him…but did he know how she felt? Was he reading her thoughts as easily as she read his?
Deacon paused at the doorway to the bathroom and looked down into her upturned face. “Yes,” he said, without any preamble at all. “I hear every word spinning through that gorgeous head of yours, and I want you even more, but we can’t even think about it until you’re completely well.”
“Oh.” Blushing, she continued on into the bathroom. How much else did he know about her? Wasn’t there any way to block her crazy mind? She thought she’d kept her thoughts to herself, but now that she knew he could read her, it felt like every private thought she’d ever had was spilling out of her head!
And on top of that, she suddenly had to pee and Eve was gone and she wanted to curl up in a ball and hide.
Deacon laughed. Daci raised her head and glared at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I’ll help you to the toilet and I promise to leave the room and not peek.”
Mortified, she nodded. He did as he said he would. When she was done, she was able to stand up by hanging on to a towel rack before she called him back in.
He helped her stand beside the shower while he adjusted the spray and water temperature. She saw his shoulders rise and fall as he took a deep breath and turned toward her.
“Daci, I know you’re in my head, so you know how much I want you. You’re still not completely healed, so we can’t have sex yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to look at you, or touch…or get naked with you.”
She blinked her eyes, shocked all the way to her toes. She hadn’t really thought this through at all, how he would actually help her in the shower. She hadn’t thought of the fact he’d be naked, too. “Oh.” She was still blinking wildly when he helped her pull the nightgown over her head. Before she had time to think about being naked in front of him, he was kicking off his sandals and slipping out of his jeans. The T-shirt came off over his head and he slipped the shower door open as if the two of them together, naked, was the most natural thing in the world.
Now that sensation was returning to her lower body, she realized this was natural. This was exactly why she’d been lying awake at night, why she’d talked him into helping her bathe.
Shameless didn’t even come close to describing the way she was acting, but even so, it felt perfect. So why couldn’t she stop blushing?
Deacon stepped into the shower first and reached for her hands. Carefully she lifted her foot over the low lip of the shower. She really needed to watch where her feet were going, but he was naked and aroused and she wanted to look.
Obviously, Deacon had a lot more self-control than she did. He held her steady as she stepped entirely inside. Then he supported her until she could sit on the molded seat at the end of the shower stall.
Her eyes were perfectly level with his groin, and his long, thick penis hovered right in front of her nose.
This time his laughter sounded a strained. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
She didn’t say a word. She couldn’t. All she could do was stare. His penis was long and fat and partially erect and there was a shroud of skin covering the end that she hadn’t expected. It took her a moment to realize he looked different because he wasn’t circumcised, the first uncut male she’d ever seen in real life…not that she’d seen very many naked men. Deacon was absolutely fascinating.
He was also getting bigger. His penis slowly gained in length and girth, turning dark as it filled with blood, rising up until it was almost touching his belly. The loose skin stretched back to expose the swollen, red tip. A drop of white fluid covered the narrow slit at the end, hanging there like a small, shimmering pearl.
She swallowed, laughed, and all the nervous tension went out of her. “It looks as if part of you is thinking about it now.”
“Ignore it. I’m going to.” He reached for the shower spray and pulled the nozzle free. The hose was long enough for him to hold it over Daci and soak her hair and body.
Easier said than done, she thought, as she shampooed her hair. Not with him so close to her mouth and some little demon reminding her she’d never once taken a man in her mouth.
Deacon rinsed her hair with the shower sprayer, which forced her to shut her eyes. She got her raging libido under control and washed carefully with the soft cloth he handed to her, but she gave him a look when it was time to wash between her legs. He turned his back without her having to ask.
His butt was just as gorgeous as his front. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on Deacon. His body was long and lanky with the promise of more weight as he got older, but for now it was all angles and planes and tautly sculpted muscle.
His skin was unusually fair. He’d told her he’d gotten his nickname because he looked like an old-time preacher with his tall, gaunt build, dark hair and thin, pale, angular face.
It was a beautiful face, as far as Daci was concerned. A serious, masculine face and a perfect body, and she wanted him so much she ached.
He soaped up and rinsed off as well, and then he carefully placed the shower head back in the holder. The water beat down on both of them, filling the shower stall with steam. Slowly Deacon knelt in front of her. Water streamed down his face and his hair clung to his cheeks and throat. He rested his big hands on top of her thighs.
“Good Lord, Daci, I want you, too. We can’t make love, but will you let me taste you? I promise to be careful.”
She had no words. His dark amber eyes were level with hers, the need in them every bit as powerful as what she felt. She nodded.
He grinned. His smile destroyed the appearance of the grim ascetic, and he looked like a boy for a moment, a young man without cares, without the tragic history Daci had been so shocked to hear.
Did he know the others had shared his past with her?
The question was forgotten as Deacon lowered his mouth to her belly and kissed the soft swell above her thighs. The water cascaded over both of them as he carefully moved her legs apart and dipped lower. He nuzzled the thick tangle of her dark pubic hair and then lapped at her sex with the flat of his tongue. She bit back a cry of pure, unadulterated pleasure.
Her feeling had definitely come back to that part of her body. Daci shivered and curled her fingers against the slick fiberglass seat when Deacon used his long fingers to separate her folds. He found her clit and sucked gently, sending more shivers up her spine.
She moaned when his fingers brushed the opening of her channel and she felt two of them slide deep inside. The combination of long fingers penetrating and his soft lips suckling took her to the edge in a heartbeat.
Then, without any warning at all, Daci fell into Deacon’s thoughts. She tasted her own flavors and they were intoxicating on a tongue that was not her own. She felt the clench and clasp of inner muscles tightening around fingers that were Deacon’s not hers. She knew his excitement, the fact he hovered on the brink of orgasm merely from the taste of her, the feel of her rippling muscles, the scent of her arousal.
Intense, overwhelming, mind-blowing sensation built higher, stronger. Daci’s thoughts looped over and around Deacon’s into a single, shared experience. Awareness intensified, perception increased, the scents and flavors of wet, needy flesh, of hot, pounding water, of the pressure of an engorged cock and aching balls, of rippling muscles and clenching sheath…growing, expanding, exploding into orgasm.
His fingers thrust deep inside her sex, his lips tightened around her clit. Daci heard him growl against her needy flesh. His free hand slipped down between them and he grabbed his erect penis in his fist. His arm jerked in time with her pulsing body as he stroked himself. Groaning, he joined Daci’s climax. Her body shuddered and her knees gripped his broad shoulders as his body bucked with each jerk of his hand.
She felt the hot jets of his ejaculate hitting the backs of her legs, like bursts of molten lava against her suddenly chilled flesh. His muscles tensed, rock hard between her thighs, until finally he relaxed against her, perfectly still except for the harsh sound of his breathing.
Panting as if she’d run a mile, Daci leaned forward and rested her cheek on his shoulder. “Oh. My.” It was all she could say between gasps for air.
She felt his body shudder. When he pulled away and sat back on his heels, he was laughing. “Works for me.” He stood up on shaking legs and grabbed the shower head once again. The water was growing cooler as he hosed off the backs of her legs and aimed the spray between her thighs.
She shrieked and slammed her legs together. Laughing, she covered her face with her hands. “I don’t think the doctor would approve,” she said, when she finally caught her breath.
Deacon carefully finished hosing her off, rinsed himself, and turned off the tap. “You’re probably right, but damn, girl.” He grabbed a towel and dried her as she sat. Daci felt so loose-limbed and relaxed she merely held up one arm, and then the other for the towel.
He helped her out of the shower, grabbed a clean nightgown for her and slipped it over her head. Then he put his own clothes back on. Daci sat on the closed toilet seat, combed out her wet hair and braided it in one long, thick braid.
Neither of them said another word about what they’d done.
They didn’t have to. Her body still throbbed with the final vestiges of orgasm and her breasts were sensitive to the soft brush of the nightgown. When Deacon helped her back to the bed, his touch was gentle as before, but somehow more intimate.
Whatever was growing between them had taken a powerful leap to an entirely new level. Smiling to herself, Daci let Deacon pull the covers up over her legs and fluff her pillows behind her. She watched him with a new appreciation, a new sense of who he was, and what he was coming to mean to her.
The quest she’d undertaken in her father’s name slipped quietly to the back of her mind.