Heat . Amy Blankenship

truth or dare now?”

      Tabatha blushed remembering the few times she’d played the game while in high school… talk about embarrassing situations. “Without the dare and you will answer first.” she whispered.

      Kane nodded, “All right. Since I’m the stalker, we will play by your rules.”

      Tabatha felt a thrill run through her at his easy admittance that he was indeed stalking her. “Why does Kriss not like you? He won’t give me a reason why.”

      “Because you don’t belong to him,” Kane answered a little too quickly.

      “What kind of answer is that?” Tabatha demanded.

      “Your turn,” Kane pointed out.

      Tabatha grumbled, “Fine,” then she tensed not knowing what to expect.

      “Do you like dogs?”

      Tabatha blinked. That question was about the furthest thing from what she’d been expected. She relaxed then smiled fondly, “I love them. When I was little we had a little Yorkie puppy but he ran away. I never really got over it… I still miss him sometimes.”

      Kane returned her smile with a slow smile of his own as their eyes locked, “You must meet my Yorkie sometime then… his name is Scrappy.”

      Tabatha got cold chills through her body and literally jumped out of her seat when the phone rang. Getting up, she rushed to the phone to pick it up hoping it was Kriss calling in. Picking it up, she turned around to look at Kane but he was gone without a trace of him ever being there.

      She did a quick search of her bedroom, only to find nothing. With a sigh, Tabatha pressed the phone against her ear, “hello?” she cringed when she heard Jason’s voice.

      “What happened to you? You just disappear and don’t call me to let me know why?” Jason paced back and forth. “Damn it Tabby, You had me worried sick.”

      Tabatha smiled into the receiver. Somehow being yelled at by Jason made her feel a little more normal. She quickly did the math in her head as she started explaining what happened without giving him a single detail about anything that had to do with the paranormal.

      Kane moved the limbs of the bush over a fraction as he watched Tabatha relax for the first time since Trevor had dropped her off. His lips hinted at a smile as he listened to her tell the truth to whoever was on the phone and lie like crazy at the same time. His smile faded and his expression turned longing. What he would give to have her smile at him with such ease. Backing away from the window, he knew it was time to go… he could feel Kriss closing in on him.

      “Hold on a minute Jason,” Tabatha frowned as she got the odd feeling of being watched. Turning her head toward the window, she froze seeing Kriss standing there watching her. “Jason, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” she turned and hung up the phone but when she looked back Kriss was gone.

      Chapter 3

      Mrs. Tully shook her head as she came out of Micah’s room and closed the door behind her before turning toward the crowd gathered in the hall. “He’s fine… still sleeping, but he is fine.”

      “Then he’ll make a full recovery?” Quinn asked skeptically.

      Mrs. Tully positioned herself between them and the door. “I mean it looks like he may have already made a full recovery. He doesn’t seem to have a single scratch on him.” She backed up a step and threw her arms out like a barrier when several of them tried to dart around her to go look for themselves.

      “No,” she said firmly. “For now, I don’t want him disturbed. He’s in a deep sleep and that may be part of what’s speeding the healing. If you wake him up before he wakes up on his own, you may disturb whatever magic is being used on him.”

      “Magic?” Jewel asked in confusion. She was starting to understand where the term ‘you learn something new every day’ had come from.

      “Magic or miracle… they're both the same as far as I’m concerned,” Mrs. Tully smiled at the new edition to the cougar family.

      “Already healed?” Steven said with disbelief then held the arm that was still in a sling up a couple inches and pointed at it, “This still hurts like hell and nowhere near healed yet.”

      “This isn’t no time to be getting jealous over your brother's good fortune,” Mrs. Tully pointed toward Steven’s room, “Maybe if you listened to your doctor and stayed in bed, it would heal faster.”

      Steven turned and looked down at Jewel. “Bed sounds really good.”

      Jewel’s eyes widened and she blushed ten shades of red making Steven smirk.

      Mrs. Tully just shook her head at the honeymooners knowing love was one of the best miracle healers available. He’d be fine within a couple days… exhausted but fine.

      “I’ll make sure he isn’t disturbed,” Quinn added as he gazed longingly toward his own bedroom where he’d left Kat sleeping.

      “Off with you too,” Mrs. Tully shooed him away.

      Hopefully it would be several hours before either of the brothers would come up for air again. She silently wondered who Micah’s guardian angel was and where she could get one. Once the hallway was empty, she glanced back at Micah’s door one more time before making her way out of the club.

      *****

      Alicia felt his hand on her shoulder caressing her bare skin and she rolled toward him seeing the heated look in Damon’s amethyst eyes as he touched her. He was fully clothed … wearing all black. His hair was mussed and had never looked so sexy. She reached up and ran her fingers through the dark locks. His lips followed the action, kissing the vulnerable area of her wrist then smiling devilishly, letting her catch a glimpse of his fangs.

      She inhaled deeply and rolled away from him… only to be caught in Michael's embrace. As she parted her lips in dazed surprise, Michael descended for a demanding kiss, stealing what little breath she had left. His hands were locked with hers as he pressed them into the soft mattress and hovered over her, making love to her with the deep kiss.

      She felt a hot hand on her thigh… slowly drifting upwards under the long t-shirt. She knew it wasn’t Michael because his hands were on hers. When Michael released her from the kiss and whispered a path down to her neck, she turned her face to the side to find Damon still there… watching them with those unnerving eyes and touching her so intimately as if Michael didn’t matter.

      As Damon’s fingers drew closer to her core, Michael’s passion also increased, making Alicia whither under him at the same time she strained toward Damon… wanting him to reach his goal. Just as the tips of Damon’s fingers swept their fleeting touch across her nether lips, Michael breathed his hot breath into her ear and Alicia felt the quick downward spiral of tingling spasms as she came hard.

      Jerking up from the bed she blinked, at first seeing the silhouette of someone looking in her balcony doors. As her vision cleared, the image vanished. She sat there for a moment trying to catch her breath from the dream while staring out at the sun that was now pretty high in the sky.

      Wrapping her arms around herself, Alicia noticed how hot her skin was and the way the cover felt against her as it flowed with her movements. It felt like a caress on her overly sensitive skin and she had a sudden flashback of the dream, making her quickly crawl out of the cover and stand beside the bed.

      She looked down at the innocent blanket as if it had lost its mind then tried reasoning with herself.

      Maybe she was wrong about going into heat and was just running a small fever from the injuries she’d suffered the other night behind Moon Dance and that had caused the erotic dream. She blew her bangs out of her eyes wishing it was easier to lie to herself. Either way, it didn’t matter right now because she didn’t have time to deal with it.

      She glanced back out the glass door wondering how she could have slept this late when she