“What?”
“If I hadn’t been there, if MacCready hadn’t known about my ability, he wouldn’t have freaked. She’d still be alive.”
“No,” Noah said firmly. “You can’t think that. You’re no more responsible for her death than I am for Anna’s.” He took her arms and frowned at her. “Do you hear me?”
Madeline didn’t respond. It was her fault.
Noah released her. She met his eyes. “The Feds got a search warrant for MacCready’s house. In a closet they found skin from all the Sickle Moon killings. They’d got him.”
“I remember that… his trial… the media sensationalized it. He’s still in prison, isn’t he?”
“No. He was killed in a prison fight last year. I still can’t quite believe it. For years I was afraid he’d break out and find me. Now he’s gone.”
Noah shuddered. “That was a terrible case.”
“A lot of people got scared about the whole thing,” she said. “Even after he was caught, there was still an air of fear in some campgrounds and fishing spots. They kept me out of the newspapers, but the townspeople knew I’d played a part in his capture. I think a lot of them blamed me for Ellie, too. That experience permanently tainted my gift for me. It cost me my only friend. After that, when I was sixteen, my parents suggested I move out on my own. They still helped me with money, because no one in town would hire me. But they asked me around less and less. I rarely see them now. Until a couple weeks ago, I didn’t even think they knew exactly where I lived.”
Noah took her hands in his and squeezed. His touch was warm and comforting, full of good energy. She leaned forward and placed her head on his shoulder, and he gently stroked her hair.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said softly.
“Your life sounds as lonely as mine.”
She pulled away and looked at him. “I’m sorry you experienced such a loss. I can’t even imagine…” Her voice trailed off.
He closed his eyes and nodded. “We’ve both been through some pretty terrible stuff.”
“Including the last twenty-four hours,” she put in.
“Including the last twenty-four hours,” he agreed.
A second flesh eater. Madeline closed her eyes in horror. Finally she opened them, regarding Noah closely. “I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you, hunting him all this time, seeing one person after another killed. How many victims?”
“One hundred and sixty-four that I know of. A hundred and sixty-four whom he targeted and hunted. Maybe more. And then there are people, like that ranger, who just got in his way. It’s hard to say how many of those. He covers his tracks well. He can completely destroy a body.”
Madeline nodded. She thought of the silver spike plunging deep into the body of the men who had harassed her. Once again she felt conflict. Though he terrified her, she was relieved he had been there. She thought about the hundreds of victims over the years, bodies reduced to ashes.
“This is strange,” Noah suddenly said. “He’s blown his cover to you. Usually he insinuates himself into a person’s life as a friend, then hangs around frequently, learning more about them until he makes his move. Like he did with Anna.” Noah looked away painfully. “This whole situation with you is different. Why appear to you as a beast first?”
“Touch me.” She’d seen his true self, not a mimic. “How long has he been hunting me?”
Noah furrowed his brow. “For months, I think. At least, that’s when he first showed up in this area, though I didn’t arrive here until just a few weeks ago when I picked up on his trail.”
He grew silent, watching her openly, his secrets laid out.
She stared back. Months. And the first indication she’d had of being watched was just before the flash flood hit. They both went quiet, looking at each other, nothing hidden between them now.
At last he stood up, took her hand, and led her to the bedroom. He stretched out on the bed, rolling over on his back, and reached out to take her hand. Gently he pulled her to him, and she laid her head down on his chest. Madeline lost track of time there, feeling his chest rise and fall, hearing the deep thud of his heartbeat. Though they didn’t speak, they were united in their thoughts of their pasts, presents, and futures-how all the events leading up until now had brought them to this one moment in time.
Then Noah rolled over on his side, wrapped one arm around her, and pulled her flush with his body. She turned her head to face him. The light from the main room bathed half his face, while the other lay in shadow. Her eyes moved to his lips, and he pulled her closer, mouths inches apart. She could feel his warm breath on her and tilted her head slightly, bringing them closer. Slowly their lips met, and she felt desire bloom within her. She drank in his scent as they kissed still more passionately, their mouths meeting perfectly again and again as if they’d been kissing each other for years.
He rolled on top of her, and her stomach thrilled to the feeling of him. She wrapped one leg around him, and he brought his knee up, half kneeling over her while he kissed her deeply. His lips left her face, tongue darting out over her neck and bringing a moan to her lips. She could feel that his teeth had gone sharp as they grazed against her skin, but she didn’t flinch.
He pulled up and looked down on her, eyes gone red and gleaming in the dark. She touched his face, and he stared down at her with passionate hunger. Then his hands traced down her face to her neck, collarbones, then chest. Gently he ran his fingers over her breasts, pausing on each nipple, stroking them, making them erect. She opened her mouth in pleasure, eyes fluttering in her head, and arched her back beneath him.
His hands on her breasts caused the warmth between her legs to erupt into a fire, and he lowered his hips over hers. She could feel the heat of his erection through his jeans, pressing first against her inner thigh, then blissfully between her legs. He moaned, wrapping his arms around her and writhing against her, their lips meeting again. When the kisses grew so intense she felt herself melting away into a fiery abyss, she pulled away.
She needed a moment. Needed to digest everything. Breathlessly she said, “I’ve got to think about all of this.” Just processing that he still wanted to be close to her, even knowing her ability, was a lot.
Noah looked at her with desire, his smoky eyes making it hard for her to turn away. But she had to think, and being this close to him made that hard.
He sighed. “I suppose you’re right… Despite this strange connection I feel to you, we have only just met.” He gave her one more long kiss before meeting her gaze again with resignation. “And we do have a lot of sleeping to catch up on. I didn’t get any last night-spent the whole night creeping through the forest looking for you.”
Madeline felt a twinge of guilt at that, Noah searching for her while she slept away in the rock crevice. But she hadn’t intended to fall asleep in there. “Guess I’ll go change into my PJs,” he said.
“Okay. In the meantime, I’ll check all the locks.”
“Again?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Can you blame me?”
He sighed. “No. I can’t. In fact, I think I’ll check them when you’re done checking them.”
“And then I can check them again.”
Noah smiled, then held her gaze for a moment in silence, his eyes still burning, his lips so kissable-
She turned away, stood up, and left the room. Noah followed her out, got clothes out of his pack, and returned to the bedroom, partially closing the bedroom door behind him.
Madeline couldn’t help but glance through the crack in the door. Noah peeled off his long-sleeved cotton shirt in favor of a black T-shirt. As the cotton left his body, her eyes took in the smoothness of his skin, his muscular sides and chest, his flat stomach. His bare arms, working now to pull on the T-shirt, were muscular and toned, his biceps alone as big as a calf muscle. He was perfectly proportioned, inviting collarbones accentuating his already fiendishly attractive chest. And then the T-shirt covered him up.