Dawn Redeemed

Ruby could cry now. She could mourn Ramon now, as a woman still so deeply in love. She didn't have to be ashamed of her sobs or the tears. She could let them go. Luxuriate in them. Let them wash her clean.

"If it were any darker in here, you'd have to have a miner's hat," Carter teased. Shayla was still fussing with the heavily lined draperies meant to keep the worst of the daylight out.

"Are you sure it's good enough?" Shayla asked. The drapes were drawn as tightly as she could get them. Yet, she could still see a faint stripe of sunlight sneaking in beneath the edges.

"Its so dark in here that I can barely see," Carter said. He slid in behind her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, cinching her against his chest. "The rooms are perfect. The lighting is perfect." He gave her a light peck on the cheek and rested his chin on her shoulder. "You are perfect."

Carter's praise heated Shayla's cheeks. " Are you sure you can handle being in the midst of such perfection?"

Carter chuckled, "I shall persevere in my efforts to prove myself worthy of the magnificence of your presence." His fingers trailed along her arms, up to her chin. Clasping it gently in his grip, he tipped her head for more than just a brief sampling of her lips. He took his time, savoring the warmth of her mouth. Slowly and deliberately, he worked her lips and tongue with the tip of his tongue. Shayla responded by rubbing her butt against his lengthening erection, teasing him playfully. He trailed his fingers down, along the curve of her waist to grip her belt loops in his fingers and press her hips tightly against his.

"You feel pretty magnificent right now," Shayla teased. His erection pressed into the seam of her jeans in a hard jut of male need. "I just put R.J. down for a nap. We've got an hour or two to ourselves. Unless, of course, you have something else you'd rather be doing."

She giggled as Carter drove her to the bed and bent her over the mattress. His fingers tugged the end of her t-shirt free from her jeans and slid along the curve of her back. Long, cool strokes tickled along her skin. He worked her t-shirt over her head and wove a trail of kisses down her bare back as deft fingers unclasped her bra and slid it free. He had the skillful hands and the seductive, soft lips of a well experienced lover. He knew every inch of her as well as she knew herself.

Carter worked the button and zipper of Shayla's jeans open and smoothed his fingers over the sleek skin of her hips as he worked the confining denim down her slender thighs. Her skin was sleek against his palm. Gently, he wedged his fingers in between the tops of her thighs and worked them apart. Her sex was hot against his fingers. Moisture from her desire slick on his skin. She was so wet for him already and he'd just gotten started. He intended to torture her until she begged for him and for the release that he could give her. Instinctively, she bucked her hips against him when he invaded her tight space with a finger and worked it along her walls.

Shayla panted against the effort it took to stay face first on the bed. Carter was enjoying his exploration of her body. But, she could not touch him from this position. He was able to push her to the point of throbbing, blinding madness and she could no so much as lay a finger on him. So unfair. So damned good. A moan escaped her parted lips as he guided her thighs farther apart and dipped a second finger in between her wet folds to join the first.

Two fingers created just the right amount of friction on her favorite of all places and just the right amount of gentle, pleasurable stretch along her walls. She stretched out over the edge of the bed and lifted her hips. As she moved, the sleek fabric of the comforter rubbed against her hardened, aching nipples, spreading the throbbing need throughout her body. "Carter, I need you. Need to touch you too," she rasped. She couldn't hold off the orgasm building in her core for much longer. When she came, she wanted him inside of her. She wanted him right there with her.

"I'm having too much fun touching you," Carter replied in a husky voice filled with want. Her center was hot, drenched with need, and so tight. She was close to losing control and toppling over. He kept up the stroking rhythm of his fingers and pulled his shirt over his head in a single tug. His groin was tight and throbbing with desire for her. He could practically feel her walls squeeze down on his erection. As soon as she came for him, by his hand, he'd plunge deep inside of her and pump in long hard pistoning motions till she came again. He'd keep going and holding back till she was limp and sated in his arms. Only then would he let go and satisfy his own dizzying need.

"Not fair," her protests turned into moans of delight as Carter massaged that special place deep, deep inside of her. Gasping and writhing beneath his touch, Shayla couldn't hold back and gave herself over to the pleasure wrought by his delicate, long strokes.

Carter didn't give her time to catch her breath. He unzipped his jeans and let them fall into a pool around his ankles. Cupping himself, he plunged into the wonderful, sleek wetness of her body and grappled at her hips with his fingers. Pulling her back onto his length. She came for him, with the first meeting of their needy flesh. Her walls gripped and milked him until he ascended to the place where flesh and blood melted into nothing but pure sensation and pleasure. Her name was on his lips in a heated whisper as he filled her with every drop of his release. Together, they collapsed onto the bed in a mound of sated flesh.

Shayla caught her breath and slid out from under Carter's weight. His breath was hot on the back of her neck. His sweat trickled down the curve of her spine. She turned onto her back and cradled his cheek against her breast, idly playing with his tangle of blond curls. "That was...," she paused searching for the right word. No one word was adequate enough to describe the twinges of pleasure that zinged throughout her body.

"Perfect?" Carter sighed contently. He draped his arm over her belly and tucked his hand beneath the curve of her hip, giving her rump a gentle, playful squeeze. The flesh of her breasts was warm against his cheek. His head rocked with the rise and fall of her breathing. Happily sated, and very, very, relaxed his eyes slid shut.

Shayla nodded, "Yes, perfect."



Chapter 53

Erica spent the rest of the afternoon and a majority of the evening learning the intricacies of the system Toby had installed. Self-consciously, she kept what she hoped was a casual, safe distance from him. No need to tempt him more than what she had to. She tried not to think about how he might think of her. Like she was a big plate of cookies or a nice rare steak that he could simply reach out and take a bite out of. "I think I've got it." What a day to forget to wear the silver cross necklace she'd gotten for her sixteenth birthday.

"I think you do. Really, once you get the hang of it, the software is very user friendly." Toby straightened from his crouch and stood, luxuriating in a long, languid stretch. She was still freaked out about him. The way she danced around him. Trying to hide that she was keeping as much distance between them as she could was almost comical. If he'd wanted a bite of her, he'd done it before she knew what hit her and there wouldn't be a damn thing she could do to stop him. Being afraid of a vampire, he understood, but being afraid of him? He was a Son, fully and whole heartedly committed to the cause. He'd never had a slip up, not one. Toby snapped the laptop shut. "You know I'm not the bad guy. You don't need to be afraid of me."

"I...I'm not," Erica stuttered, embarrassed and ashamed that he'd picked up on her behavior.

"I know you are. I can sense it. That's ok. I want you to be afraid of vampires. They're dangerous. We're not, but a Rogue could drain you in the blink of an eye."

"How am I supposed to know the difference?"

"Sometimes, you don't. We all look alike to an outsider. If you're here and you know about us, you're not an outsider...not any more. Ask Alex to teach you. You're in a dangerous place. You don't know who to be afraid of and who not to be afraid of. And you have to learn the difference." Toby turned his attention to the keyboard for a last minute adjustment.

"I...I meant no offense," Erica blushed. Pissing these guys off was probably not a good idea. Nervously, embarrassed, she fiddled with the stapler on her desk.

"Says the prey to the hunter," Toby muttered as he pushed the chair back from the desk and stared up at her. "Look, all I'm saying is that you're a babe in the woods. The world isn't entirely the world you thought you knew. There are monsters out there, real ones. Just be careful." He stood and offered his hand.

Timidly Erica slid her fingers into his grip and gave his hand a quick shake, "I'll do my best."

"That's a girl," Toby smiled and released her hand. In a thick, heavy scroll, he scribbled his number on the blotter pad. "Call if you have any problems. I mean any problems at all."

"I'll do that."

"Well, I'd better go. Don't like to keep the wife waiting," Toby gathered up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "I think you've got someone waiting on you too," he said, smiling at the little girl peeking her head through the door. He looked over his shoulder and pinned Erica with his brown eyes. "I mean what I said. Call anytime."

"Ok, thanks." Erica couldn't help herself, cringing as Toby stopped to tousle Fallon's curls playfully on his way out.

Fallon waved off the man's hands with a huff and scowled up at him. She hated it when adults thought that just because she was a kid she enjoyed having her hair mussed, her cheeks pinched, or any of the dozen other ways adults conjured in their minds to torment her. "How was your first day?" Fallon asked picking her way through the narrow aisle between the wall of filing cabinets and the desk.

Erica sighed and leaned against the desk. "Oh, it was a day," she answered vaguely. "How was school?"

Fallon grinned and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, "Oh, it was a day. Marianne wants to know if we can stay for supper." She climbed up into the big black desk chair and swiveled it in half circles with the toe of her shoe.

Erica bent over behind the desk and fished her purse out of an empty drawer. "Sorry kiddo, not tonight. Mom's... tired." The beginnings of a tension headache were tap dancing across her temples. She'd be lucky to get Fallon home before the headache went from a dull grumbling ache in her forehead to a full skull pounding roar. Deep in her gut she had a sinking feeling that left her wondering just exactly what had she gotten into and exactly how deep was she into it? "C'mon, Aunt Leigh and Uncle Alexander are expecting us."

Fallon stopped the chair in mid spin with the heel of her shoe. She knew the look on her mom's face. No matter what she said or did, she wasn't going to get her way. Not tonight. She knew better than to push the issue. If she did, she'd probably get her butt sent to bed right after supper. "Ok," she said dejectedly. There'd be other times. Snatching her pink backpack off the floor, she followed her mom out.

"You're not staying for supper?" Nash asked. Casually, wiping his hands on a dish towel.

"We really can't," Erica answered. Nash's broad shoulders blocked the exit to the hallway. "I feel a headache coming on and I want to get home before it hits." She rubbed her temples with her index fingers to reinforce the point.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Mouse really had her heart set on Fallon staying for supper. If you'd like, I could send you home with some of Nana's patented tea guaranteed to cure whatever ails you. Fallon could stay here for supper while you relax in a hot bath and sip some tea. I'll bring her home after she gets done eating."

A cup of herbal tea and a long soak in a tub sounded like sheer heaven. Erica had never been one to pawn off her responsibilities to her daughter onto someone else. She barely knew these people. "That's a generous offer, but I don't want Fallon to wear out her welcome." She put her hand on Fallon's shoulder and steered her closer to Nash. Saying no to him was almost as difficult as saying no to her daughter.

"Oh, its no trouble. We make enough food to feed an army." He crouched down low and met Fallon eye to eye. "You like fried chicken don't you?"

Fallon could sense her mom beginning to cave. Maybe she would win this battle after all. "Do I ever! Mom can I? Please?" She stared up at her mom with the wide pleading eyes her mom rarely said no to.

Nash had the aura of someone who rarely got told 'no' and was used to getting his way. Fallon didn't have class tomorrow and could sleep in as late as she wanted to. Erica didn't have any plans baring going home and dropping a few aspirins. She dismissed Nash's pushiness as being overly friendly. After the day she had, a few hours of alone time would be nice. "Ok. Are you sure you don't mind?"

Nash straightened and smiled, tucking the dishtowel into the waistband of his jeans. "Not at all." He shot Erica his best grin. "Mouse has kind of become attached to Fallon. Unfortunately, most of her cousins are male and after being raised with two brothers, I think she's adopted Fallon as the little sister she always wanted."

"I can understand that. I can't tell you how many times I've fielded Fallon's questions about why she doesn't have any brothers or sisters." Her fingers were cool on the back of her neck as she worked at the knots of tension along her spine. "I think I will go home, take a hot bath, and try to relax a little."

"Let me get you the tea. It's a little bitter at first, but a little bit of bitterness is worth it." He slid his hand over Erica's elbow and deposited her on the sofa while he went to get the tea.

The house was a bustle of activity around Erica, which did not help her headache in the least. Fallon was huddled around the big screen T.V. with the other kids, watching a program on of all things, wolves. Her daughter voluntarily watching an educational T.V. show instead of mind numbing cartoons? Erica shook her head, not sure of what to think about it, but impressed nonetheless.

She watched the big, multicolored wolf stalk out from behind a tree on the screen and stalk its prey with the lethal grace of a predator. That's how Toby had referred to her, prey. Erica watched the doe waggle her cottony white tail and dip her neck to nibble at the tender shoots of grass beneath her hooves, completely oblivious to the danger she was in. The kids gathered around the TV whooped and hollered, clapping as the wolf took down the doe. She thought the little ones would be terrified. They clapped louder than the older kids.

Erica swallowed hard as the wolf leapt out of the cover of a thick copse of evergreens and pounced on its prey. Bile rose in her throat as the wolf, its nose dipped in a wash of red blood, eagerly snapped powerful jaws and tore at its dinner. Toby had called her a babe in the woods. He'd warned that there were other things, other monsters, out there. She smoothed a shaky hand over her throbbing forehead. Alex wasn't a predator. She couldn't think of her cousin, her best friend, as such a thing. Toby had been deceptively innocent looking. If she hadn't known better, she never would have guessed what he really was.

She just didn't know who the monsters were, not any more. Before, her world had always been so black and white. Bad guys wore black ski masks and carried big, big guns. The good guys wore badges and rode in on white stallions to save the day. Now, her world was tinted in shades of gray. The bad guys looked just like the good guys and she couldn't tell them apart anymore. She couldn't tell whom was who. The thing that frightened her the most... the thing that made her head throb even worse and would keep her up at night was that it didn't really matter who the bad guys were or what they looked like. She and her daughter were definitely, undoubtedly, prey.

"Erica, are you all right?" Nash asked with a frown. Erica's face was pallid and drawn. Her eyes were focused in terror on the images flashing across the T.V. screen. Nash plucked the remote off the coffee table and aimed it at the T.V. , snapping it off with the punch of a button. "Kids, go get ready for dinner," he ordered sternly, deflecting their protests.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm fine," she answered as she blinked at the dark screen. Erica blew out a long breath. "This headache," she said lamely. The arm of the couch was upholstered in a soft, luxurious fabric that whispered beneath her fingers as she pushed herself to her feet.

"You're sure you're ok? I could have someone drive you home," Nash asked in concern. He dropped the tin of herbs into her trembling fingers. "Nana's tea."

"I'm fine, really. You're sure its ok if Fallon stays for supper? I don't want to impose." Erica shoved the tin, small enough to fit into her palm, into her mammoth sized purse.

"No imposition. You and Fallon are always welcome here. Anytime. I want you to consider us your friends, a part of your family. We already consider you and Fallon a part of ours." He walked Erica to the door and held it open for her. "You're sure you won't stay?"

Erica forced a smile through the pain of the herd of elephants stampeding through her brain. "That's very generous of you Nash, but I think a hot bath and some alone time will do me a world of good. Maybe sometime Marianne can come to our house for supper?"

"She'd like that," Nash said with a gentle nod.

Erica returned his smile. "Well, I'd better go. I'll see Fallon in...a couple of hours?"

"Sure."

Erica's heels made a light echoing tap across the wooden front porch. Nash watched from the doorway. "Nash," she said spinning on a heel, "thanks, for everything."

Nash nodded, "You're welcome." He watched as Erica picked her way across the gravel drive and started her car. Her headlights cut through the darkening purple of the evening as she backed out and navigated down the lane. He backed away and closed the screen door before the moths attracted by the porch light, found their way inside.



Chapter 54

"Aunt Shayla!" Evan leapt from his booster seat at the dining room table and bounded across the dining room.

Shayla bent low and swept Evan into her arms. Tears burned against her closed eyes. She didn't realize how much she'd missed the little ball of energy in her arms. "How have you been?"

Evan cupped his aunt's cheeks in his tiny hands and squished them together watching her mouth squeeze into a pucker. "I missed you," he said as he gave her a sloppy kiss.

"I missed you too." Shayla slid Evan down to the floor and ruffled his hair playfully with her fingers. "I see your dad eying that chicken leg on your plate. You'd better get it before he does." She gave Hanning a warm smile and waved her fingers at him. He returned her smile with a nod to the empty chair beside him.

There were still a few stragglers left in the dining room, engaged in quiet conversations of their own. Leaving Hanning to speak with Shayla in relative privacy. Once he was certain that Evan was finished with his plate and was wasting time playing with the half eaten chicken leg, he shooed him into the living room with the other kids.

"Hanning, I can't tell you how sorry I am," Shayla said.

Hanning slid back into his chair and waved Shayla off with his hand. "No need. For the first couple of days, I was sorry enough for all of us. I didn't realize. No. I didn't want to believe the truth about how Ruby really felt about me...about our marriage. We're over. Its over, all but the fighting over Evan. He's the only thing I've got left to fight for. I'm only sorry she dragged you into the middle of this too. You deserve to be happy."