A month of research pointed shapeshifter Cole to nurse Alicia Ortiz as the only hope for his people’s survival. Yet he hadn’t needed any of that research the moment he saw her. Her kindness and power shone as strongly as her beauty, and Cole had to fight his desire for her. His duty was to convince Alicia to embrace her heritage, not give in to his passion. But even though it may mean failing his mission, Cole could not resist the urge to claim her as his own…

Marked
Lydia Parks

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Don’t miss the other spooky and sensual NOCTURNE BITES, available at www.millsandboon.co.uk and wherever eBooks are sold. Titles include:

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The Bewitching Hour by Vivi Anna

Looking for more paranormal romance? The sizzling and spine-chilling books of Silhouette Nocturne are available at www.millsandboon.co.uk or your local bookstore.

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Chapter One

Cole caught her scent long before she passed his door. Fruity shampoo, floral soap and sweet female sweat drew a groan from deep in his chest.

He rose from his chair, crossed the room in two strides and stood with his palms and forehead pressed to the door, his eyes closed. Alicia’s heels thudded on the concrete walkway and her keys jingled. She stopped in front of her door, unlocked it and disappeared inside her apartment.

A month of research pointed to her being the one, but he hadn’t needed any of that research the moment he met her. He’d been drawn to her, not just as to one of his own, but with a force stronger than anything he’d ever faced. She was beautiful, yes, but so much more. She was special. Her kindness shone through like a beacon, insight glistened in her eyes, and her power was a golden aura.

His hands curled slowly into fists against the cold wood.

He wanted her so badly he shook.

Music seeped through the wall between them, something with a quick, steady rhythm to match his heartbeat. He pushed away from the door and paced the room. One quick circle. Two.

It was well past time to approach her. He’d put off this moment for fear of failure.

He couldn’t return without her. And the thought of staying away much longer was unbearable. The confines of his secret, being surrounded by strangers, existing only as a human: these things were taking their toll. His muscles longed to burn, his soul to fly across open ground. He could almost hear the wind whistling past his ears.

He stopped in the middle of the room, staring at the door.

He must take the risk. This was the moment of truth.

With a deep breath he started forward.

Alicia dropped her pack on the table as she went to the kitchen, where she filled a glass with water and gulped it down. She kicked off her shoes. Even comfortable shoes were painful after ten hours on tile floors.

She was halfway through the water when the doorbell rang.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she left the glass on the counter, turned down the stereo as she tiptoed past it and peered through the door’s peephole.

She smiled at the distorted view of Cole’s face. Even like this, her neighbor was way past gorgeous.

For a moment, she considered leaving him there so she could watch him. Would he ring the doorbell again? Or would he give up?

He ran his hand across his sensuous mouth and glanced around. That mouth had been causing all kinds of erotic thoughts for months, since the first day he’d smiled at her. She wondered how his lips would feel against hers.

Alicia pushed her hair into place and opened the door. “Hi.”

Cole’s amber gaze slid quickly down her body and back up. “Hello.”

A shiver tripped up her spine in response.

Shifting his weight to one foot, he shoved his hands into his pants pockets as if he were a kid selling magazines. “I know you just got home, but do you mind a little company?”

He was anything but a kid, although she wasn’t sure if he was closer to thirty or forty. Broad shoulders and a flat stomach on his six-foot frame did nothing to give away his age. Long, sandy hair, always a little wild, set off his tan nicely as did his golden eyes, no doubt a contact-altered shade. Except for the light scar down the left side of his face, he could easily have been a model for expensive men’s clothing.

Actually, the scar didn’t detract from his appeal. It just hinted at a rugged side.

“Come in,” she said, stepping away from the open door. “Want a beer?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Grinning, she walked to the kitchen and drew two bottles from the refrigerator. She’d certainly never met anyone as polite as Cole. Almost old-fashioned. In the three months he’d lived next door, she’d never heard him raise his voice or his stereo, and never seen him fail to help anyone with their grocery bags if he happened to be passing by. He’d spoken to her quite a few times, mostly small talk about the weather.

This was the first time he’d dropped by.

Alicia had just about decided he was gay. She knew she wasn’t a knockout but, at twenty-nine, she was still relatively young and she had a good figure. Hard work kept her weight down. Most single guys in the complex had asked her out within the first month of moving in. Cole hadn’t even hinted at being interested.

He stood in front of the overused orange living room suite watching her approach with more than a hint of interest.

Why the sudden change? Maybe he’d broken up with someone and was just getting over it. Or maybe he was incredibly shy.

He accepted a beer and waited until she dropped onto the sofa before sitting in the chair. His forearms, exposed by rolled sleeves, roped with muscle as he twisted off the cap. He didn’t wear jewelry of any kind, not even a watch.

His first drink emptied nearly half the beer, and Alicia matched his action. Their gazes locked over the tops of the bottles. Vibes slipping across that connection suggested an upcoming invitation to a movie or dinner, or maybe more.

She reminded herself that she didn’t need a man in her life, no matter how good-looking. The last boyfriend had been more trouble than he was worth. She liked keeping her life easy.

Still, Cole might be worth a little trouble.

He lowered his beer. “How was your day?”

Was he too shy to just ask her out? Or was she wrong about the vibes?

“Okay. Hospital’s a little busy this time of year, but not impossible. How was yours?”

He nodded. “Fine.”

She waited but he didn’t elaborate. Instead, he stared at her necklace. She raised her hand to finger the metal twisted long ago into strange symbols. The action yanked his eyes back to hers.

Alicia lowered her beer to her lap and settled back on the sofa. Cole drank again, sipping this time, and he glanced around her apartment.

She waited.

Finally, he placed the bottle on the coffee table, leaned forward with his elbows on his jean-clad thighs and clasped his hands, lacing his fingers. “I must tell you something.”

“Yeah?” She shrugged. “Okay, shoot.”

“It’ll probably be hard for you to believe.”

“Okay.” Strange opening line, but he had her attention.

He suddenly rose from the chair and stepped around the coffee table to cross the room. With his back to her, he stood perfectly still and stared out her front window. All he could see from there was the parking lot and the side of the next building, but he watched as if a parade were passing.

“I know you were raised by your grandmother,” he said.

Had she told him? She didn’t remember having a conversation with him about her grandmother.

“Her name was Mildred Ortiz,” he continued, “and she was from the Ohkay Owinge Pueblo.”

“You knew my grandmother?” An uncomfortable warmth spread down her back. Had he been spying on her for some reason? If so, why?

He turned to face her, but remained across the room. “Your mother’s name is Pearl. You were told your father died in a vehicle accident when you were three years old. Your mother, lost in her grief, left you with your grandmother and disappeared. You haven’t seen or heard from her since.”

Cole wasn’t here to ask her out, and he had definitely been spying on her. Her throat tightened and a sour knot started in her stomach.

“Why—?” She swallowed hard. “How do you know so much?”

“Alicia,” he said in a purposely soothing voice. “I’m not here to frighten you.”

No? He was doing a fairly good job of it.

“Then why the hell are you here?”

“To tell you the truth about who you are.”

Where should he start? How would he convince her?

Cole sat in the chair, gripping the arms, fighting the desire to pace. He listened to water run, and then the bathroom door open. Alicia returned to the living room looking even more wary than when she’d excused herself.

She eased onto the sofa, watching him, and drew her bottom lip between her teeth.

Cole stared at her mouth and imagined her under him, her eyelids heavy with passion, her lips parted. A ripple of desire ran through him.

He must stop thinking about her this way. She wasn’t some potential mate, or even a woman he could bed and leave. She might be the only hope for the future of his people.

This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. One thing he’d discovered about those on the outside was that they didn’t connect with the Earth anymore. So few of them believed in possibilities beyond their experiences, or even wondered what might be. Instead, they focused on their electronic, high-speed worlds and thought their futures would survive through technology.

“You said I was told my father died in a car crash. Is he still alive?”

He admired the fire in her emerald eyes, even when flashing suspicion. “No, he’s dead.”

“But?”

“But he wasn’t the man you think he was.”

She frowned. “My father was Joseph Ortiz. He was—”

“Your father’s name was Lorne. He was…like me.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, like you?”

Cole let his gaze sweep quickly over her body. She had skin the color of potent earth, smoothed by water, dusted by wind, and holding the promise of the sun’s warmth. Her long black hair she wore pulled back, but shorter strands outlined her face like an artist’s brushstrokes. She was beauty born of both nature and man, and her soul whispered to him.

His gaze returned to hers. “I come from a place few people outside know of.”

“Where?”

“I can’t tell you that, but it isn’t far. When you’re ready, I’ll take you there.”

Her brow furrowed, and she stood.

He also rose and stepped closer to her, leaving only an arm’s length between them. “It’s a place where—”

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“No.”

“What makes you think I’d go anywhere with you, much less to some secret place?” She crossed her arms.

Standing so close, it was all he could do not to draw her to him and take her tempting mouth. “I hope I can convince you to trust me.”

Her gaze snapped to his and stayed there, unblinking, as though she were reaching inside him, studying his soul, measuring his worth. He saw her strength, felt it in his mind, and he suddenly believed she was the hope for his people.

“What difference does it make who my father was?” she asked.

“Your father was one of the leaders of my people who devoted his life to helping others.”

She waited.

He had to risk it. “I hope to convince you to follow in his footsteps.”

Her eyes slowly widened. “Me?”

Cole nodded.

Alicia shook her head as if to loosen stray thoughts. “This is too much.” She stepped around him and crossed the room. “I’ve heard some pretty good lines, but this one’s out there. I think you should go now. I’ve got stuff to do.”

He followed her to the front where she waited, holding the door open.

“Alicia—”

She raised one hand. “Look, I had a long day at work. I’m tired. Please go.”

He could tell by the set of her mouth and the disappearance of her hospitality that this wasn’t the time to argue the point. Nodding, he walked past her, trying his best not to notice her scent. “Thank you for the beer.”

She closed the door as soon as he crossed the threshold.

He stood in the breezeway, filling his lungs with dry New Mexico air, easily sorting out diesel fumes, grilling pork, wild rosemary and honeysuckle. A faint hint of rain raised goose bumps in his flesh. He loved the way it smelled in The Valley when clouds built over the Jemez Mountains. Everyone always moved a little faster and smiled a little more, knowing the cool rain would soon fall. Were they gathering around an evening fire now, waiting for thunder to fill the canyon, looking for potential mates with whom to share nature’s excitement? Feathery pink clouds in the northwest pointed to home as clearly as a highway sign.

Cole glanced back at the closed door and sighed. His task wasn’t an easy one, but nothing could be more important.

Distant thunder rumbled across the horizon, accompanying dark clouds that carried in the night. Alicia turned off the TV and tossed the remote aside.

She often felt restless during thunderstorms, but this was something more. Cole’s bizarre statements had stirred her psyche, bringing to the surface doubts she’d carried since childhood. She’d doubted that her father was really dead, and she’d often doubted the memories she had of her mother. So many of her memories felt like dreams that she couldn’t tell which was which.

She couldn’t remember her mother’s face, but she remembered the kindness in her mother’s dark eyes, and the love in her kisses and touch. She didn’t remember her father at all, and her grandmother had always refused to talk about him, claiming that the memories were too painful.

One thing Alicia had seen in a dream as a child that she associated with her parents was a beautiful valley viewed from high up in the mountains—a valley filled with mountain lions. She knew this wasn’t real. Mountain lions didn’t run in packs like dogs; they were solitary creatures. In her dream, forty or fifty giant cats, all beautiful, sleek, their tawny hides golden in the sun, romped and played like kids. Just the memory of that dream brought her joy, but also made her lonely.

She hadn’t thought of her dream of the valley of mountain lions for years. Cole had stirred up too much of her past in few short seconds. Damn him.

She wished she still had her grandmother to call for support. The woman’s death was too fresh a wound to have healed and, as she sat on the sofa thinking about her, Alicia felt as if she’d just ripped off the scab. Tears burned behind her eyes.

Lightning flashed in the front window, followed by a crack of thunder. The storm moving in might even drop snow on Sandia Crest.

Fighting the urge to scream, she yanked open the front door, stepped out and crossed to the railing, where she faced the parking lot. Beyond the asphalt and buildings, she studied the veiled face of Sandia even as clouds crowded in to block her view.

Lightning forked from the sky, popping in the distance where it met the ground. Nearly instantaneous thunder shook the walkway and railing, and filled her soul with excitement. She squinted against a gust of sand-filled wind and gripped the railing tighter.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?”

Alicia jumped at the voice from behind her and spun around to find Cole looking out at the storm, his face raised toward the clouds. He stood less than two feet away.

Apparently not noticing how he’d startled her, he moved forward to stand beside her at the railing.

She turned, gripped the cool metal and looked out. Below them, the parking lot and lawn had been abandoned for the storm and the night. Although it couldn’t be later than six-thirty, building lights on photocells blinked on.

“This is the time of year when everything is full of energy,” he said. “Rain carries life from the sky to the ground where it’s soaked up by the young corn and the sage.”

His voice was deep and soothing, and, surprisingly, she found his presence comforting.

“You sound like my grandmother.”

He turned his head and smiled down at her, studying her face with his golden eyes.

Alicia’s mouth instantly dried out and her throat tightened. She saw smoldering desire in his gaze and felt as though it were more important than it should be. What difference could it possibly make that this gorgeous man wanted her? Lots of men had wanted her, and she’d wanted more than a few of them.

But this was different, more personal somehow.

Lightning drew her attention from him, and she closed her eyes to enjoy the vibration of thunder in her chest.

“It’s not surprising,” he said.

“What? That you sound like my grandmother?”

“Yes. Her people and ours have been bound together for centuries.”

Alicia turned to face him. “By ours, you mean yours and mine?”

“Yes.”

“This is bullshit, Cole. I don’t know—”

“You feel the connection. I know you do.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She did feel some kind of connection to him, but it made no sense. He was little more than a stranger.

She shook her head. “No, it’s…”

“What?”

She met his gaze. “It’s just lust.”

His eyes widened as if with shock, and she laughed. In that instant, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, no matter how strange he was.

Cole shook his head and looked away. “No,” he said. “I wish it were that simple.”

Exasperation swelled under her rib cage in spite of her laughter, and she wanted to yell at him in frustration. “Okay, then, explain it to me.”

His gaze slid to hers. “If I do, you must promise to listen with your ears and your heart.”

God, he did sound like her grandmother.

“Sure. I promise. Tell me the big secret.”

Cole straightened. “Not out here.”

“Fine. Your place or mine?”

He frowned down at her. “Yours.”

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