Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter 4)

Wulf appeared bemused by her humor. "Are you all right?"

"No," she said, trying to sober. "I think I snapped a wheel at some point tonight. Or at the very least stepped over into the realm of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone."

His frown deepened. "How do you mean?"

"Well, let's see..." She looked at her gold Harry Winston watch. "It's only eleven o'clock and tonight I have gone to a club that seems to be owned by shape-shifting panthers, where a group of vampire hit men and one possible god attacked me. Went home only to be attacked again by said hit men, god, and then a dragon. Had a Dark-Hunter save me. My bodyguard may or may not be in the service of a goddess and now I just met a sleep spirit. Hell of a day, huh?"

For the first time since meeting him in the flesh, she saw a hint of a smile on Wulf's roguishly handsome face. "Just a typical day in the life from where I'm standing," he said.

He moved closer to her and examined her neck where Stryker had bitten her. His fingers were warm against her skin. Soothing and gentle. The scent of him filled her head and made her wish for a moment where they could go back and just be friends again.

There was very little blood on her shirt. "It looks like it's closed up already."

"I know," she said quietly. There was a coagulating gel in Apollite saliva, which was why they had to continually suck for blood once they opened a wound. Otherwise the wound would close before they had a chance to eat. The gel they secreted could also blind humans if an Apollite spat in their eyes.

She was just grateful that the bite didn't unite her with Stryker in any way. Only Were-Hunters had that ability.

Wulf stepped back from her and led her into his house. He wasn't sure why he had been given the task of seeing to her safety, but until Acheron told him otherwise, he would do his duty. Feelings be damned.

As he opened the door, his cell phone rang.

Wulf answered it to find Corbin on the other end. "Hey, did you find Kat?"

"Yeah," Corbin said. "She told me she only went to take out the garbage and came back to find Cassandra gone."

He relayed the information to Cassandra, who looked confused by it.

"What do you want me to do with Kat?" he asked Cassandra.

"Can she come here?"

Yeah. When the equator freezes. He wasn't about to let Kat near Chris or his home until he knew more about her and her loyalties. "Hey, Bin, can she stay with you?"

Cassandra narrowed her green eyes at him with malice. "That's not what I said."

He held his hand up to silence her. "Yeah, okay. I'll call you once we get settled." He hung up.

Cassandra bristled at his high-handed manner. "I don't like being shushed."

"Look," he said, clipping his phone back on his belt. "Until I know more about your friend, I'm not inviting her into my home, where Christopher lives. I don't mind wagering with my life, but I'll be damned again before I wager with his. Got it?"

Cassandra hesitated as she remembered what he had told her in their dreams about Chris and how much Chris meant to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about that. So he lives here too?"

He nodded as he turned on a light in the back hallway. To her right was a staircase and on the left was a small bathroom. Farther down the hallway was the kitchen. Large and airy, it was scrupulously clean and very modern in design.

Wulf hung his keys on a small rack by the stove. "Make yourself at home. There's beer, wine, milk, juice, and soda in the fridge."

He showed her where the glasses and plates were kept above the dishwasher.

They left the kitchen and he turned the lights off before leading her into an open, inviting living room. There were two black leather sofas, a matching armchair, and an ornate silver box of medieval design for a coffee table. One wall held an entertainment center, complete with large-screen TV, stereo, DVD and VHS players, along with every game system known to mankind.

She cocked her head at the sight as she imagined the large, cumbersome Viking warrior playing games. It seemed completely out of character for him and his overly serious attitude. "You play?"

"Sometimes," he said, his voice low. "Chris plays mostly. I prefer to veg in front of my computer."

She refrained from laughing at the image she had of that. Wulf was far too intense to simply "veg."

Wulf shrugged off his coat and draped it over his couch. Cassandra heard someone coming down the hallway toward the living room.

"Hey, Big Guy, did you see..." Chris's voice trailed off as he entered the room wearing navy flannel pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt.

His mouth fell open.

"Hi, Chris," Cassandra said.

Chris didn't speak for several minutes while he looked back and forth between them.

When he finally spoke, his voice was a cross between aggravation and anger. "No, no, no. This ain't right. I finally find a woman who'll actually let me into her place and you bring her home for you?"

Chris's face went pale as if he had another thought. "Oh, please tell me you brought her home for you and not for me. You didn't pimp me out again, Wulf, did you? I swear I'll stake you in your sleep if you did."

"Excuse me," Cassandra said, interrupting Chris's tirade, which appeared to amuse Wulf. "I happen to be standing right here. Just what kind of woman do you think I am?"

"A very nice one," Chris said, instantly redeeming himself, "but Wulf is extremely overbearing and tends to bully people into doing what he wants them to."

Wulf snorted at that. "Then why can't I bully you into procreating?"

"See!" Chris said, raising his hand in triumph. "I'm the only human in history to have a Viking yenta of his very own. God, how I wish my father had been a fertile man."

Cassandra laughed at the image Chris's words conjured in her mind. "Viking yenta, huh?"

Chris let out a disgusted breath. "You've no idea..." He paused and then frowned at the two of them. "And why is she here, Wulf?"

"I'm protecting her."

"From?"

"Daimons."

"Big bad ones," Cassandra added.

Chris took that better than she would have imagined. "She knows about us?"

Wulf nodded. "She knows pretty much everything."

"Is that why you were asking about Dark-Hunter.com?" Chris asked Cassandra.

"Yes. I wanted to find Wulf."

Chris was immediately suspicious.

"It's okay, Chris," Wulf explained. "She'll be staying with us a while. You don't have to hide anything from her."

"You swear?"

"Yes."

Chris looked very pleased by that. "So you guys fought some Daimons, huh? Wish I could. Wulf goes nuts if I even pick up a butter knife."

Cassandra laughed.

"Really," Chris said sincerely. "He's worse than a mother hen. So how many Daimons did you two kill?"

"None," Wulf muttered. "These were a lot stronger than the average soul-sucker."