A Shade of Midnight Read online

  Charlie’s little brother had been sixteen the last time Mina had seen him—gangly with a bad case of acne. Strange boy, really. That had been twelve years ago during her senior year of high school. He’d been a nice kid. Too eager to please, but pleasant enough. It was the same year Mina’s empathic abilities had developed. Since she’d been in the foster care system at the time and a ward of the county, they hadn’t quite known what to make her. That same year Keane Silvertail found her and recruited her to become a warden for Caledon. In other words, a complete lifetime ago. Back then she’d been a slightly damaged teenage girl, abandoned by her father, no mother, and who dreamed of a having a family like Charlie’s. She’d worked too hard to shed that girl, but sometimes she really missed the innocence that came from never having killed another person.

  Rolling over, she checked out the clock, again. Shit, it was only seven—her prime sleepy time. She brushed her teeth and checked out the tube. An old rerun of Supernatural played. It made her think of her super hunky ex Gavriil Doyle. He was a homicide cop—and someone she’d dated for six months until he asked for more and she panicked. If she could love anyone, it would be Gav, but still not in the way he wanted. Marriage, babies, and house with the white picket fence. Normal wasn’t something she could see for her own future.

  However, Gav conveniently lived in the apartment right across the hall from hers.

  Mmm, Gav. One hot ticket, a beautiful body, curly black hair, and blue eyes. His father was Irish and his mother, Greek. The lethal combination made him look like he belonged on Mount Olympus with the other gods.

  Mina really liked him, more than liked him, but that whole life mate idea—so not for her. Gav was a leogenus, a werelion, born to it on his father’s side, and once a leogenus pair bonded with someone, it was game on. She’d already been down this path with her Gav, and it had been a colossal mistake for both of them. Why did she keep falling for the furry and determined?

  Besides, his family hated her. Specifically, his mother. Aspasia Doyle, Azzy to her friends—and practically anyone else—insisted Mina call her Mrs. Doyle. The woman talked loudly, succinctly, and with lots of gesticulations. She whole-heartedly believed that Mina wasn’t good enough for her golden child. Though, it didn’t really matter what his mother thought. She’d already told Gav their relationship couldn’t have strings attached.

  Unfortunately, Gav hadn’t seen it that way. He didn’t know about her past. Maybe if he did, he’d have less of a problem seeing her as strictly as a booty call. Or maybe he’d hate her. A man like Gav, someone moral and ethical, wouldn’t be able to get past that part of her life. But it didn’t stop her from fantasizing. The man was sexy as hell.

  Lord, just thinking about him made her twitch. She turned off the TV. Damn it! She focused on the door, wishing he would come-a-knocking. She considered doing a little early morning knocking herself.

  No, she told herself, I will not go across the hall.

  Gav had made it perfectly clear that unless Mina wanted more than a bedmate, he was out. Besides, he had started dating some woman named Linda or Belinda or Calinda—or something like that.

  She sat quietly on the couch, her frustration creating an ache that begged for release. “Fuck it,” she mumbled. Gav didn’t leave for work for another two hours, and who knew…

  Mina didn’t even bother to comb her mess of long, black hair. Instead, she bee-lined across the hallway to Gav’s apartment and knocked on his door.

  From inside she could hear, “Just a minute.” Then a small crash. “Shit, Jesus, fucking plant.” Finally, the door opened, and Gav, wearing nothing but flannel pajama pants, his broad muscular chest staring her in the face, or rather her staring at the firm pecs, stood eye to eye with Mina while holding his big toe. Not a great start.

  He looked confused. “Is something wrong? Something’s gotta be wrong if you’re ringing this early. I heard about the shooter last night. You didn’t get hurt did you?” He let go of his foot. “Not that I was checking up on you. Pierce in intake called last night. He thought we were still dating.”

  He’d gotten a call about her? Wow, cops really were a tight-knit bunch. She didn’t like that he might be keeping tabs on her, but it warmed her to know that he still cared. Still wanted to be a part of her life, even if only peripherally.

  She crossed her arms as he examined her from head to toe with a quick glance up and down. “You look like hell, Mina.”

  She put her hand up and stalked toward him. “Stop talking before I change my mind.” She kissed him. His lips were unyielding at first, but quickly they warmed to hers. His tongue slipped between her teeth. She put her hand on his groin, feeling it swell beneath the flannel.

  “Wait, wait…” he said a little breathlessly. “I can’t do this.”

  “Because of your…girlfriend?” The word was bitter on her tongue.

  “It’s not…”

  Mina’s grip tightened on his shaft, not enough to hurt, but enough to get his attention. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  Heat touched Gav’s blue eyes as she pushed him into the apartment, closing the door behind them. She wrapped her arms around him. He captured her lips in a hungry kiss and explored her mouth. His hands brushed down to caress her ass.

  “Mmmm, nice Panda.”

  Mina blushed, remembering she was wearing her panda nightshirt. She stripped the nightshirt over her head, leaving only black silk panties against her pale skin. “How’s this for something sexy?”

  Gav smiled as he stared at her leanly muscled body and her bare breasts standing erect and ready for attention—not so erect that she could pass the pencil test, but still… “It works,” he said.

  She moved closer for another kiss. “You’re just lucky I brushed my teeth.” She playfully bit his lower lip.

  Gav, a couple of inches taller than Mina, growled, lifting her off the ground. He cradled her body, kissed her neck, and carried her to the kitchen counter. Sidling between her legs, he rubbed a hand between her breasts then down to her abdomen. “You’ve got a great body, sweetheart. I love the way it feels in my hands.”

  She put her tongue in his ear and whispered, “I don’t need sonnets, Romeo. More action.”

  In response, he looped a finger around the wet silk of her panties, and she moaned as he slid the tip between the folds of her wet sex. “Damn, do you walk around in a constant state of horny? You’re the only woman I know who’s always ready.”

  “That a bad thing?” She squirmed with frustration, grinding against him as he withdrew his hand and placed it on her shoulder. Crap!

  His face grew somber and serious. He had the “we need to talk” expression. Never good news. “Yeah, sometimes it is. I want more than sex from you, and I’m not willing to settle for scraps anymore.” He stepped away from the counter and scooped her nightshirt from the floor. “I think you should go home.”

  She hadn’t expected that. Thanks to her empathy powers, she felt his desire, his anger, and his frustration. “Fine. I don’t need you,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Oh, I know.” A glint of anger flashed in his blue eyes. “You are nothing if not self-sufficient.” He gestured to the door. “Goodbye.”

  A small scream of aggravation slipped from her lips. “You’re such a… such a… pussy!” She grabbed her clothes from his hands. Never smart challenging an alpha male, but he’d pissed her off.

  Before she could get to the door, Gav was on her, shoving her against the wall. The nightshirt dropped to the floor, leaving his chest pressed against her bare flesh. He cupped her naked breast, molding the soft mound in his palm as his mouth went to her lips, her jaw, kissing her, his teeth grazing her skin.

  “You’re treading in dangerous waters, woman,” he whispered in her ear.

  She answered by sliding her hand into his pants and felt the heat of his rigid cock. Her fingers tangled in the curly hair surrounding it. Her other hand traveled to the back of his head, holding his mouth fir
mly to her skin as his mouth moved down her chest, his lips capturing her nipple, sucking it in.

  Gav grasped her leg, pulling her thigh up to his hip. Mina moved her hand from his cock and rubbed her wet core against the rigid length. A barking grunt sounded through the quiet apartment as he lifted her off the ground and carried her to his bedroom.

  He threw her on the bed, and she landed with a whoosh of breath leaving her body. He tugged the waist of his pajama bottoms down to his thighs, his feet doing the rest of the work as the flannels hit the floor. She drank in the sight of his body, fine black hair covering his broad chest with a pleasure trail leading to the rough curly hair framing his large erection.

  “This is a mistake,” he whispered, but his eyes told a different story. Gav wasn’t going to stop, and Mina’s body rejoiced.

  She slid to the edge of his bed, pulling his hips to her, and took his length into her mouth. He moaned, his hips bucking forward in response. As her lips slid along the tender skin, her hand snaked into his nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom.

  She wasn’t afraid of STIs, but she was afraid of pregnancy. It would be exactly what Gav would need to tie her to him as his mate, but Mina wasn’t mommy material. Frankly, the idea of having a kid scared the ever-loving shit out of her. She hadn’t had the best role model growing up. Her dad took off when she was eight, and her mom drank herself stupid in between bad relationships. Just thinking about her mother nearly deflated her lady boner.

  Nearly.

  She licked the slit at the tip of Gav’s luscious cock then sheathed the thick length of him with the condom. “Gav,” she whispered, nearly begging. “I want you inside me.”

  Gav, standing at the edge of the bed, reached down and pulled her legs up, pushing her thighs back to position the swollen head of his shaft at her opening. “Damn, you’re so fucking wet,” he said, sliding the tip back and forth against her clit.

  She squirmed, trying to force him inside. If he didn’t hurry, she would come before he could fill her. “Stop teasing me.”

  A ferocious grunt escaped his lips as she felt the apex of his cock enter her, followed by his entire length. He thrust his hips forward, savage. Again he thrust, holding her thighs down, her knees to either side of her chest. The angle allowed for deep penetration, filling Mina completely. She reached down to her swollen clitoris, aching to be touched. She slid her hand further until she could feel Gav, slick with her juices, slip back and forth between her middle and ring fingers. The tension in her body pulled like strings on a marionette, yanking and tugging. The pressure of unadulterated pleasure began to build, growing to volcanic proportions.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes as his fingers dug into the muscles of her thighs. Desire overwhelmed her senses…and love. His love, it poured from him, choking Mina with the enormity of the emotion. He’d never let his guard down like this before, never let her experience all of what he felt for her. Until now. “Gav,” she breathed. “Gav, Gav, oh, shit, damn.”

  A jolt of ecstasy took her, exploding into the rapture of pure joy that came with an orgasm as her hips bucked against his. Her arms flew up and behind her head as she tried to grasp onto something, anything to keep her grounded. Mina moaned into a pillow that she managed to grab. Her body shuddered as her back bowed while she came and came.

  As the orgasm subsided, Gav’s thrusts quickened, but remained steady. He used his thumb to massage her clit. Mina moaned. She could feel the pressure of a new climax building, working its way through her once again. He leaned forward, taking her breast into his mouth, sucking the nipple, teasing it with his teeth and tongue.

  “Feels so good, so good…” Her words trailed into a shout of rapture when Gav bit her breast, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to mark her as the next wave of pleasure hit.

  Mina pushed her legs upward until her feet were beside his head, taking the entire length of his shaft deep into her slick, swollen heat. Gav gripped her thighs and pulled her fiercely toward him with every hard thrust of his hips. She looked into his blue eyes, now the color of midnight, intense, possessive. With a snarl on his lips and his teeth clenched tight, he bucked forward. Mina came again as Gav pumped his climax into her. He held her tight as he spent the last of his energy.

  After a few moments, listening to the joined sounds of their labored breaths, Mina smiled. “That was fantastic,” she said.

  Unfortunately, Gav didn’t smile. Solemnly, and with regret she noticed, he withdrew from her. “What does this mean, Mina?”

  “It doesn’t have to mean anything.” She remembered the outpouring of love she’d felt while Gav had been taking her. She didn’t know how to be the woman he wanted. Mating was out of the question.

  She offered a light-hearted grin. “It was fun, right?”

  Disappointment covered his expression, she could tell by his body language, even as the look on his face went cold. She put up her own walls to block his emotions. They were too much. Always too much.

  Gav sat next to her on the bed. “I can’t do this again. It hurts too much.” Exhaustion rimmed his eyes, creating dark circles she hadn’t noticed before. “If you care about me at all, please stay away.”

  “I do care about you. But you know I’m not the hearth and home type. I’ve never lied about who I am.”

  “Maybe you’re lying to yourself.”

  Mina pressed her lips together as anger surged. “I won’t bother you anymore.” She picked up her clothes and left.

  * * * *

  Gav flopped back on his bed and put his forearm over his eyes. More than anything in the world, he wanted to stop loving Mina Vail. He knew she was empathic, which made her, like him, other worlder, but it also meant he’d had to work very hard to keep the intensity of his feelings from her. He was a leogenus, and lion shifters uniquely formed instant pair bonds with their mates. Unfortunately for Gav, his biology had chosen Mina for that instant connection. Even more unfortunate, since she wasn’t a leogenus, she didn’t have to same chemical and physical reaction. They’d dated steadily for six months until he’d introduced his mother to Mina. In hindsight, that had been a colossal mistake. Azzy could be tough to take, even for her loved ones.

  He’d asked Mina to marry him that very evening. She’d said, “No.”

  Since then, Gav had tried to move on with his life, but getting over Mina Vail, especially when she lived right across the hall, had been extremely difficult. He’d made it three months. Three whole months with only the occasional awkwardness of running into her in the hallway.

  Then she had to go and knock on his door. He rubbed his face and sat up. His phone rang, the vibration walked it toward the edge of his night stand. Gav picked up. “Hello.”

  The voice on the other end was his lieutenant, Parker Hill. “We’ve got a body in an alley on the Plaza. It’s a strange one. Your specialty.”

  Gav finished getting the details and hung up the phone. His heart quickened at the excitement of an investigation. At least now he’d have something to think about besides his broken heart.

  Chapter 3

  Mina slipped on a tight red silk-blend dress with spaghetti straps and a split up the side to accentuate her long legs. It was like a glorious path that led down to her new designer three-inch pumps. She turned her ankle out to admire them. They’d cost a pretty big chunk of change. But when you’re five-feet-eleven-inches tall, you have two choices, try to hide your height or flaunt the hell out of it. It had been three days since her fight with Gav. It still ached to know how much she’d hurt him.

  At six-fifty-nine, Charlie’s little brother knocked at the door. At least, he was prompt. When Mina opened the door to find Mr. Green Eyes wearing an impeccably tailored black three-piece tuxedo that fit his narrow waist and lusciously slim hips perfectly, she nearly fainted. “Uhm, I think you have the wrong apartment.”

  He smiled, sultry and sexy, the sizzle in the air palpable. “Hello, Semina.”

  Oh
my God, oh my God, oh my God! An orgy of emotions overwhelmed her. “Eric?”

  He looked around. “Were you expecting someone else?”

  Oh, how his voice sent shivers up and down her spine. “You’ve, uh, grown up some since the last time I saw you.”

  “Just a little.” A devilish grin crossed his face.

  Her gaze lingered on Eric for a moment longer than she’d intended.

  “Semina,” he said in a soft, deep voice.

  “I go by Mina now. No one calls me Semina anymore.” Except Charlie. You know. Best friend forever, Charlie. The Charlie whose brother you will not bang. That one.

  “It’s good to see you again.” He leaned close and kissed her cheek. “Hmmm. You smell good.”

  The touch of his lips, innocent and simple, made her feel weak and, frankly, horny as hell. I will not molest Charlie’s brother in any way.

  “By the way, does your sister know you’re OW?” OW was an acronym used amongst the other worlders when talking about their kind.

  Eric raised his brow. “I’m not sure what you mean?”

  Mina leaned in and inhaled his scent. Woodsy, a pleasant smokiness, and just a smidgeon of sweet musk. In other words, all sexy. “A leiol, if I had to guess. But how? Charlie is definitely not other.”

  Eric smiled. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You are putting off enough pheromones to start an orgy in church.” She leaned, inhaling his masculine scent. “Yep, definitely leiol.”

  “What is this leiol, and why do you know about them?” He gave her a curious look.

  “You really don’t know?” She didn’t feel any deception from Eric, just desire. “Jesus, you need to learn to put the ju-ju away. A leiol is a creature that oozes lust from its pores.”