Mating Fever by Crymsyn Hart Page A

as that was the energy that I had tasted before. That he had talked about. I shrunk back into the landing.
    “You didn’t have to kill him. I wanted to work this out. Trenton, we used to be friends.”
    A chill went through me. Something else descended over the house. The shadows were growing. The darkness surrounded me. It was cold. I tried to fight it off.
    “Keaton!” I cried.
    “Madi,” He raced over to me, still clutching the phone
    The shadows crept under my skin. They pulled at my flesh and wrenched at what was in me. The pain was excruciating. “Leave her alone. Trenton. She is my mate. I would never desecrate yours.”
    The shadow fingers scraped along my face. And then they stopped. Keaton held out the phone to me.
    “He wants to talk to you. He doesn’t believe me.”
    I took the phone with shaking hands. “Hello.”
    “So you’re Keaton’s whore.” The voice on the other end was suave.
    “I’m not his whore. I’m his mate. He just wants you to leave me alone. Leave us alone and he will do the same.”
    “If only that were the case. He’s self-righteous enough that he’ll hunt me down and slaughter me. But maybe we can come to some understanding.”
    “What kind of understanding?”
    “Meet me for a drink, and we’ll talk.”
    Keaton ripped the phone from my hand. “You will never meet with her and talk. We will settle this another way.” He hung up the phone and gathered me in his arms.
    “Are you okay?”
    I sniffled. The impressions of the shadow fingers lingered on my flesh. “What was that? What did he do?
    “He has more of the power of shadows than I do. It was one of his specialties. He must be close by or he wouldn’t have been able to get in. I’m sorry you’re in the middle of this war between us. I’ll take care of it once and for all. You’ll be safe here after you line the openings with salt. He won’t be able to get in. It will keep his evil out.”
    “Won’t it keep you out, too?”
    “That doesn’t matter. I can deal with that. As long as you’re safe and if you invite me into the room then I can come in. Come on. Let’s get away from here. Grab your things and we’ll go someplace else.”
    “Where? He can find us.”
    Keaton smiled. “Trenton might know a few of my secrets, but there are many more that have been kept hidden. Come on.”
    I got up and went back upstairs. I packed my bags. Keaton collected a few of his things. Back downstairs I gathered what I could of the salt. He stood before the door to the basement and motioned me down. I followed him down the stairs and found that it wasn’t a true basement. It was a passageway that went below the house.
    I got lost under the many twists and turns that he took, going lower and the walls shook from the rumble of the subway. We were close to it. We finally came to another set of stairs. When we emerged, it was in a garage. Keaton clicked his keys and one of the lights blinked. After we set the bags into the trunk, we climbed into the car. I sank into the seat and wasn’t sure where we were going and didn’t much care. Once we got out into the light, it burned my eyes I couldn’t look at it.
    “Light sensitivity?”
    “Yeah.”
    “It means you’re in the first stage of turning.”
    I didn’t respond, but let him whisk me away to safety.
     
     

 
    Chapter Nine
     
    I must have drifted off because when I opened my eyes again, I was in a different bedroom. Familiar laughter drifted from the other room. I got up slowly and smelled bacon, potatoes, and eggs. The enticing aroma drew me into the kitchen. Inside I found Stephania and Keaton sitting at the kitchen table. She got up and swept me into her arms. I returned the hug.
    “You look wonderful. I can already sense the coolness of the change on you. You should eat.” She heaped food onto the plate and then led me back to the table. Keaton stood behind me and began to rub my shoulders. I took a few bites of the meal and then sat back in the