Calling the Wild Page 24

  “We’re friends, aren’t we, Drak?”

  “But, I want you.”

  “I know you do. Just think about what good friends we are.”

  “Friiiends. Yes, friends.”

  Gottcha.

  “Drak, I need some information about Vegas, I’m looking for something. Do you know anyone who would be able to help me?”

  “Lots of friends in Vegas, good jobs, good tips.”

  “Do you know anyone at the Luxor?”

  “Danny, my friend Danny.”

  “What’s Danny’s last name?”

  “Dunno.”

  “Where does he work?”

  “Club.”

  This was getting ridiculous. “What club, Drak?” She bit off the last word.

  “Curse.”

  Moira remembered seeing the signs for a club called Curse as they stood in line for the King Tut museum.

  “What do you know about the club, Drak?”

  “Fancy, rich bitches, line. Not like my club.”

  “I’m sure it’s not nearly as nice as your club, Drak.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Is there anything else I should know about Danny or the club?”

  “No.”

  “Thank you, Drak.”

  Moira carefully hung up, knowing whatever small hold she had on him would be broken when he could not longer hear her voice. Served him right, she wouldn’t have been able to bespell him so easily if he hadn’t been drugged up.

  “We’re going to a club,” she announced, rolling off the bed to check her bag for clothes.

  “Another one?”

  “A fancy Vegas club, not a Goth club.”

  “That sounds fun.”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t help.”

  “I feel better.”

  “Did you find anything in the grimoires?”

  “Nothing, and everything.”

  “Meaning?”

  “There are passages that could apply to some of the Dark Prophecies, but none of them say much.”

  “That’s what I thought when I read through it.”

  “It would help if I knew which of the prophecies we are after. You said that there is only one you need, correct?”

  Moira slid on a second pair of jeans, taking her time with the button and zipper. She heard the grimoire snap closed.

  “Moira, have you known this whole time?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Moira?”

  She pulled on a shirt and started braiding her hair, her back to him. It was childish and silly to pretend that if she didn’t look at him his questions would go away, but she couldn’t face him, didn’t want to see his reaction.

  “Moira,” he took her by the shoulders, turning her and tipping her chin up. “We said we would trust one another.”

  “I know, but I don’t want to share this with you.”

  “Why?”

  “I just can’t. If there were anyone in the world I was to tell, it would be you.”

  “Then don’t tell me which it is, but tell me, have you known the whole time what we were searching for?”

  Moira took a deep breath. “Not really. I didn’t know what it was called until Chicago, but I had an idea.”

  “And you kept it from me.” There was no accusation in his voice, it was merely a statement.

  “Yes,” Moira raised her chin, trying to stand strong, to believe that what she’d done, and what she was doing, was the right thing.

  Kiron nodded and turned away. She almost told him then, if only to make him turn back to her, but instead she slipped on socks and tennis shoes and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need…to buy something.” I need to get away from you before I fall apart. She pressed her hand to the doorframe and deactivated the boundary spell.

  “Do you think that is wise?” His tone, that of a patient teacher to a particularly dense student, enraged her.

  “Don’t treat me like I am stupid. I know you don’t agree with everything I am doing, and yes, if it weren’t for you I would probably already be dead, but I am not stupid.”

  “I never said you were.” His tone had not changed, and Moira turned away in disgust.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  “What?”

  He tapped his cuff against the edge of the table. “Your spell.”

  Crap.

  Moira wanted out of this hotel room, and away from Kiron, if only for a few minutes. Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned her forehead against the wall. She heard Kiron moving around behind her, and was not surprised when his hand came around her from behind, sliding across her belly.

  A second ago she’d wanted nothing more than to be away from him, now all she could think about was getting him naked.

  Moira turned to him, expecting him to pull her towards the bed, but instead he opened the door, pulling her out into the corridor.

  “Give me some money,” he demanded, as they rode in the elevator.

  “What?”

  “Give me some money. I want to go play the games.”

  “Uh, okay.” Moira dug through her purse and handed him a twenty. That would only last about five minutes, but that was all she was giving him.

  “The games are near the shops, aren’t they?”

  Moira finally realized what he was doing. He was going to play on the casino floor so she could shop. She changed their hands so that their fingers laced together, then cupped his neck and kissed him softly.

  “Thank you.”

  The elevators dinged open and Moira led them out onto the casino floor. They stopped at the concierge desk again and asked if “Danny” was working at Curse that night, and what time the club opened.

  He was, and they had a little more than two hours.

  Moira helped Kiron exchange the twenty for chips, and then left him at the blackjack table. She’d hadn’t had time to teach him to play, but the pretty dealer gave him a once over as he settled at the table, and Moira didn’t think he’d have a problem getting instructions. Moira stayed just long enough to make sure the dealer saw her hanging all over him, and knew he was taken. Leaving him with a long kiss, she wandered towards the shops.

  Shopping had just been an excuse to get out of the room, but now that she was here, she felt like she had to at least look.

  They’re been a time when she’d considered herself quite fashionable. She’d taken pride in her appearance, and considered herself quite a rebel for bucking the “witch” stereotype and dressing like a young urban hipster when she wanted to. She’d also enjoyed the dark Goth culture that often ran side by side with the occult, but had considered herself better than either world, because she could walk in both.

  Those days had disappeared when she had gone on the run. Tennis shoes had become her footwear of choice and pencil skirts and designer jeans gave way to cargo pants and loose jeans she could run in.

  Moira wandered into a little boutique, the bright white walls the perfect canvas for the bright, expensive, clothes displayed. She wandered aimlessly, stroking the satiny skirts and beaded dresses.

  She didn’t even look at the price tags.

  “Can I help you, miss?”

  “I’m just looking, thank you.”

  “I have a lovely little dress that would be perfect with your coloring.”

  Moira stared blankly at the clerk, having actually forgotten what color her hair was at the moment. Following the clerks pointed finger Moira saw The Dress.

  It was a flirty, short, halter style-dress, gold and black.

  Like a magpie she was drawn the pretty thing. She stroked the band of black lace just under the breasts and cooed.

  “What size?” the clerk asked.

  “Six.”

  “I’ll just put it in the dressing room for you.”

  Cursing herself for being ten kinds of fool, Moira slipped into the dressing room and stripped. A sigh of
happiness escaped her as she slid on dress, bending to make sure her breasts were in place. Taking a step back she looked herself over.

  It was almost startling to see the real her, black haired, with intense eyes, looking back at her. Turning to the side she smoothed the dress over belly and ass.

  She wanted, no, needed, this dress.

  The material was thick and the dress was more tailored than it had looked on the mannequin. The neckline flared out to the edges of her chest, then scooped across her breasts, which glowed a glossy caramel against the gold of the dress. A band of black lace just below the breasts was studded with jet beads that caught the light when she moved.

  From there the fabric hugged her waist, before flaring over her hips, falling to upper thigh.

  There was plenty of leg, and enough boob to let everyone know she was packing. Moira bent forward and scrubbed her hands through her hair.

  Flipping her head up she blew her reflection an air kiss, her tousled hair pouring around her, caressed her bare back.

  Moira walked out into the boutique and hopped up on the stand to examine herself in the three way mirror.

  The clerk came next to her, and Moira obligingly twirled. She smiled and pointed at Moira’s bare feet, “Size?”

  “Seven.”

  The clerk slipped gold stilettos onto her feet, fastening the wide ankle straps. The shoes and ankle strap were gold with a web of black crystal embellishment stretching between the ankle strap and the second wide band over her toes.

  Moira pointed to the little clutch on the wall and the clerk handed her the black beaded bag. They both signed in satisfaction.

  “I love it when an outfit comes together.” Moira sighed.

  “Absolutely. I’m glad you came in. That dress is fantastic, but few people can wear that color.”

  “It is interesting. Gold, but darker.”

  “Exactly.”

  Moira retreated to the dressing room to put her own clothes back on, and then made her way up the counter with her loot in hand.

  She was a few steps away when reality crashed in. She couldn’t buy this. Even if it was only a hundred dollars, and she knew it wasn’t, it was an indulgence she couldn’t afford.

  The clerk was busying herself unfolding a box for Moira’s dress. She could drop the dress and run.

  Large warm hands slid around her waist, and Kiron pressed a kiss to her neck.

  She pressed the hand not holding the dress and shoes over his and turned to whisper in his ear. “We need to get out of here. I can’t buy this.”

  “Why not?” he whispered.

  “Don’t need it, too expensive.”

  “Let me buy it for you.”

  “Kiron, I don’t even know how much it is, and it is probably a hundred times as much as the twenty I gave you.”

  “Let me buy it for you,” he repeated stubbornly.

  “Kiron, listen to me. I can’t afford it, and I don’t need it.”

  “But it makes you happy. I could feel your happiness through the spell.”

  “There are other things that will make me happy.” She nudged him with her hip, trying to distract him with the possibility of sex. Kiron straightened and grinned at the clerk.

  She smiled indulgently at them, and when Kiron pushed Moira up to the counter, she reached across and took each item and set them one by one into boxes. When each piece, dress, shoes, clutch, was appropriately packaged, she carefully punched the numbers from the tags into the register.

  “Your total is one thousand two hundred and seventy five dollars.”

  Kiron smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a money clip full of hundreds. Moira’s eyes popped out while the clerk seemed to take it all in stride. Kiron fumbled with the money, holding up a bill to peer at it. “They should make it different colors.”

  “They’re starting to, but you’re right, I think colors would be lovely, like they have in Europe.” the clerk gushed.

  “You’ve been?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “Have you been to Greece?”

  “Why yes.”

  Kiron and the clerk continued to chitchat as Kiron handed over a stack of hundreds in exchange for their bags. He waved away the change and the clerk raved with her thanks. Moira, shell-shocked by what had just happened, let Kiron lead her out of the shop and to the elevators that would take them to their suite.

  “Where did you get that money?” Moira hissed when the elevator doors closed them in.

  “I won it.”

  “How?”

  “I told you that whatever spells they’d placed on the place would not be a match for The Wild.”

  “How much did you win?”

  “I paid the hotel for letting us stay for the next few days.”

  “Holy shit. How much was that?”

  Kiron named a figure that had Moira staggering back against the wall. “That’s highway robbery! We’re having sex on every flat surface in there.”

  Kiron roared with laughter, and led a sputtering Moira into the room. She activated the spell and then started stripping, heading for the shower.

  Once she was squeaky clean, Moira used a glamour spell to dry her hair, letting it fall in an obsidian wall around her shoulders and back. Deciding she looked a bit too much like Morticia Adams, she pulled the nail scissors out of the overnight kit the hotel had given her, and gave herself some slanted bangs. Knowing it was dangerous to leave the hair lying around, she curled the discarded locks on her palm and set fire to them, wrinkling her nose at the smell of burning hair.

  She sighed in pleasure as she pulled on the dress, which looked even better on her freshly washed body. She used glamour to apply make-up, experimenting with several variations until she settled on brown and gold eyes with a high gloss burgundy lip.

  Slipping on the shoes, she bemoaned her lack of pedicure, and left the bathroom.

  Kiron was decked out in brown. Chocolate slacks, a café shirt open at the neck and brown leather shoes. It was a deceptively simple outfit, but when he stood up, Moira couldn’t help but lick her lips.

  Kiron looked her up and down, then did it again.

  “You’re gorgeous,” she told him.

  “Nothing compared to you. I like that dress. Bend over.”

  Moira laughed. “No.”

  “I just want to see what would happen.”

  She tipped her bag out on the bed and started transferring things to her clutch. She’d discovered, much to her delight, that the clutch had a thin gold chain strap, long enough to be worn over the shoulder.

  She picked the emerald up from her pile of discarded clothes, and slipped it into her dress, hiding it at the bottom of her right breast.

  “What are you doing?”

  “It doesn’t match my outfit, but I want to have it with me.”

  “What else do you keep in there?” he asked with mixed curiosity and suspicion.

  “All kinds of stuff.”

  “Let me see.”

  Moira laughed and batted him away, laughing harder as Kiron mock leered at her.

  “Leave my poor mutant right boob alone.”

  “Mutant?”

  “It’s smaller than my left boob. Having the emerald in there actually helps even me out.”

  “It is? Clearly I have not been given enough opportunity to properly study your breasts, we must remedy that.”

  Kiron’s fingers played over her breasts, seeking the outline of the emerald through the fabric of her dress. One finger brushed her nipple and that was all she needed.

  They came at each other like a summer storm, sudden and fierce. Lips locked, Kiron backed her up against the wall, dragging her body up the wall and hooking his forearms under her knees. He pressed his hands against the wall, supporting her body on his arms, which were planted to the wall at waist level. Moira pressed lighting-fast kisses down his neck as she fumbled with his belt and pants. When they finally came free Moira shoved them down his thighs and took him in her hand. She
wanted him as hot for her as she was for him, and stroked him with demanding fingers.

  Though he pinned her to the wall, his hands were trapped, and that gave her control. She teased the tip of his cock with light stroking touches, and Kiron shivered.

  “I will not last.”

  Moira unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it open so the tails wouldn’t interfere with their pleasure. Taking him in hand, she reached between her legs, moved her thong out of the way and guided him in.

  His first stroke was slow and sure, easing them both into it, letting her get used to this angle. His second stroke was very different. Moira screamed in pleasure as he slammed into her, and he drank in her cries, nipping at her lips, as if the rough pounding of his cock into her was not enough, and he wanted to abuse her soft lips too.

  Faster, harder, he pounded into her, until Moira shuddered through an orgasm, her fingers creeping between their legs to bring him with her. Kiron’s hot breath fanned over her cheek, his arms dropping from the wall so she could lower her legs. He staggered back, nearly tripping because he forgot his pants were around his knees. Moira pushed away from the wall, her dress falling around her hips.

  Kiron looked at himself, then at her.

  “Why am I the only one who is naked?”

  Moira laughed and went to the bathroom to clean up. She brought back a damp washcloth for Kiron to do the same. Once they were both fully dressed, Moira finished stuffing her clutch, and looked at Kiron.

  “Ready to go?”

  “I am.”

  “Then God and Goddess protect us, let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Even though it was early, barely nine o’clock, there was a line outside Curse that snaked across the carpet. Well-, and scantily, dressed people stood in groups, the girls trying to hide the fact that they already regretted wearing stilettos, and the guys anxious to be let into the dark club, where they could grope the girls with abandon.

  Moira didn’t have the patience for the line, and after a whispered conference with Kiron, they headed to the front. One hand on her back, Kiron guided her up the velvet rope. Two beefy bouncers stood there, but it was the rail thin girl with the clipboard who was the real obstacle.

  She smiled at Kiron and gave Moira a once over.

  “If you want to make your way to the back of the line…”