“Get out,” Loc said.
Was that a flash of red she spied in his dark eyes? Cat couldn’t tell for sure; it could have just been a trick of the lighting from the candles that flickered in the chandelier above him. Maybe Channing saw it, or maybe not. Either way, he sent her a baleful, sideways glare before he hurried from the room, fists clenched in impotent rage.
As soon as Channing had left the living room and slammed the front door behind him, Loc came over to her, his expression now only one of concern, all of the venomous rage he’d shown her attacker gone as if it had never been. “Are you all right, Cat?”
Her hands were shaking a little, and she clenched them into fists to make them stop. “I’m fine,” she said, although she didn’t know for sure whether that was really the truth or not. Channing’s assault on her had been completely unexpected. All right — maybe not as unexpected as she’d wanted it to be. She knew she hadn’t felt entirely comfortable bringing him inside the house, but still, she really hadn’t thought he’d be so brazen, would at least try a little sweet talk before he swooped in for the kill. “Thank you, Loc.”
“It’s nothing,” he said. He hesitated for a moment, then added, “I don’t want you to think that I was spying on you. It’s just…something your cousin said made me think it might be a good idea to come in here and make sure everything was all right.”
Well, thank God for Tony. He often came off as someone who really wasn’t paying that much attention to the world around him, but Cat knew better. His devil-may-care attitude tended to mask a man who was actually a keen observer of other people, even if he didn’t often step in and try to interfere.
“Even if you were spying on me, I’m glad,” Cat said frankly. “And honestly, I never thought Channing would pull something like that. Back…before…he hadn’t really seemed any more interested in continuing the relationship than I was. I figured he’d come here more to satisfy his curiosity about how I was doing than anything else.”
Loc’s dark gaze was focused on the front door, even though Channing was now long gone. “Perhaps. Unfortunately, men who have early success in life tend to think they have a right to anyone and anything that crosses their path.”
That sounded plausible enough. Even though Cat had lived in this world far longer than Loc had, she realized that in some ways she was a lot more sheltered than he. At least he’d gone out and traveled, had seen other cultures and probably met all kinds of people. She found it entirely plausible that, in some ways, he was a far better judge of human nature than she could hope to be.
“I should never have invited him into the house,” she said, arms wrapped around herself. Even though the night was warm, she felt cold, and she wondered what would have happened if Loc hadn’t intervened. If she’d been lucky, maybe someone would have come inside in search of the bathrooms, but….
“Don’t do that,” Loc replied. “Don’t try to make this your fault. You were only trying to be friendly.”
“I suppose so,” she said, but deep down, she wasn’t sure whether or not she entirely believed him. The warning signs had been there, and she’d chosen to ignore them.
He began to reach out a hand, as if to lay it on her arm to reassure her, but right then the front door opened, and a laughing, obviously tipsy couple entered. “Bathroom?” the girl asked. She was clearly younger than her companion, whom Cat thought she recognized from the world history class she’d taken in eleventh grade. Well, hopefully the girl was at least old enough to drink.
“Down the hall,” Cat said, pointing, and they stumbled off in that general direction.
The mood lost, Loc turned toward the door. “I should check on the refreshments.”
“Thank you.”
He lifted his shoulders. “I told you that I would manage the food and drinks.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
For a moment, he was quite still, and only stood there and gazed across the living room at her. Although it was a fairly cozy, intimate space, right then he felt as though he was roughly a thousand miles away. At last he said, “It’s fine,” and let himself out.
Not sure what she should do, Cat remained where she was, leaning against the couch. Then she realized that she still had roughly a hundred people partying a few dozen yards away, and that she’d better put in some face time with them if she didn’t want to be branded as more eccentric than most of her former classmates already thought she was.
Luckily, it didn’t seem as if anyone had missed her. Although Loc hadn’t really mentioned that he was going to provide any entertainment, now there was a local band set up to one side of the patio, playing Spanish-language songs. Some of the tables and chairs had been pushed out of the way to create an impromptu dance floor, and four or five couples were swaying to the music’s beat.
Cat realized her hands were shaking. She had no idea what had happened to the cup she’d been drinking from previously, so she fetched herself a new one and poured some sangria. Several people waved at her and called out, “Great party!”, and she made herself raise a hand and wave back. Somehow, she even managed to smile, even though what she really wanted to do was disappear into her room and not come out for roughly a hundred years.
On the other side of the patio, Loc stood talking to Ashley. Was he reporting how badly her invitation to Channing Ellis had backfired? No, it looked like they were both smiling, so they were probably congratulating each other on a well-executed event.
“You all right?”
Cat turned to face her cousin Tony. For someone attending a blow-out party, he seemed pretty serious, his gaze intent, as if he was looking for any sign that she might have run into trouble.
“Is it that obvious?”
He shrugged. His hands were empty, which meant he must be taking a break from drinking for a while. She’d noticed a while back that he tended to carefully space out his alcohol consumption so he could last all night at a party without getting completely plowed. “I saw you walking around with Channing Ellis earlier, and he’s conspicuously absent now. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that something must have gone wrong.”
The last thing she wanted to do was tell her cousin about what had just happened. Besides, Loc had made sure to send Channing packing, so there really wasn’t anything left to talk about, was there?
She answered with a lift of her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. He’s an asshole.”
“I’m glad you finally figured that out.”
What was that supposed to mean? She’d been very careful to keep her dealings with Channing a secret from her family, so why was Tony talking about her relationship with the guy when no one was supposed to know there had even been a relationship at all?
As she stared at him in consternation, Tony said, “I knew about it, Cat. You thought you were being discreet, but I saw the two of you together a couple of times. Like I said, this sort of thing isn’t exactly rocket science.”
“Did — ?” She broke off, then swallowed. “Did anyone else know?”
“If they did, it wasn’t because I told them. I knew your mother would have raised hell about the whole thing. And then that jackass went back to college and didn’t seem inclined to come back to Santa Fe any time soon, so I figured that was the end of it.”
“Well…thanks.” Suddenly, she felt very tired. If there had been a convenient way to get all of these party guests off her property and back to their respective homes, she would have done it that very second. Actually, since Tony’s talent was controlling the wind, Cat supposed she could have asked him to summon a convenient gale to chase everyone away, but that seemed like the coward’s way out.
“It’s nothing.” He paused for a moment, studying her face. “You need me to help you get rid of these people? I can start spreading a rumor about an awesome after-party happening back down in Santa Fe. That should clear out the place pretty fast, especially since I heard a couple of guys complaining about there not being any tequila.”
“Would you?” Cat asked, and hated how tremulous her voice sounded. She wasn’t going to break down in tears on the spot, was she?
“Consider it done. Cousins have to look out for each other.”
Tony gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then went back to mingle with her guests. Sure enough, within a few minutes, people started coming up to her and saying what a great party it had been, but that they needed to get going. Faster than she would have thought, the patio had emptied out, with even Ashley stopping to breathlessly say that it was great and she was really glad to have helped plan the party, but now she had someplace she needed to be. Then she was gone, too, wobbling a little on her platform sandals as she headed back to her car.
The musicians seemed to have disappeared, too. Cat honestly didn’t know whether they’d even been real, or some kind of illusion Loc had conjured once he realized the party needed entertainment. It was very hard to understand the scope of his powers, whether they had any real limits. The thought troubled her, but she pushed it aside for later. She had enough to worry about right now.
He approached her as she stood there in the center of the patio, party lights crisscrossing overhead. They revealed all the empty cups and plates left behind, the uneaten tapas and undrunk sangria still sitting on the refreshment table.
A wave of his hand, though, and all that was gone, except a fresh pair of glasses filled with sangria on the table closest to where she stood. Loc picked them up and handed one to Cat.
“Your friends seem rather fickle.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “Actually, that was my idea. Tony only implemented it. I just couldn’t take any more partying.”
“I suppose I can’t blame you for that.” He raised his glass, and she lifted hers as well so they could clink their glasses together. “Here’s to peace and quiet.”
Amen. “To peace and quiet,” she echoed.
They both took a few sips. While it felt good to have everyone gone, Cat couldn’t help realizing that she and Loc were now alone together. True, they’d been alone here before, but this felt different, standing on the patio while the warm wind of a summer night touched their hair and the soft glow of the party lights illuminated just enough of the space to make it seem exotic, enticing.
Or maybe it was just Loc who was exotic and enticing. He looked so handsome standing there in his dark shirt and his jeans, the breeze ruffling his black hair. For the hundredth time, Cat reminded herself that the face he showed the world was only an illusion, that beneath it was something far, far different, and yet…
…and yet, she wasn’t sure whether she cared. He’d come to her rescue tonight, had shown that he was perfectly fine with putting Channing Ellis through a wall if that was what it took to get rid of him. No, she’d never thought of herself as the sort of person who needed a man to protect her, knew she could take care of herself, but still, it was kind of nice to know he would be there for her anyway.
Very gently, he plucked the glass she held from her fingers and put it down on the table next to them, then set his down as well. He watched her carefully for a second or two, as if trying to see something in her expression that would tell him to stop.
Cat knew it wasn’t there, though.
His hands touched her face, fingertips moving over her skin, slowly, as though he wanted to familiarize himself with the sensation. Heat surged in her veins, even though he’d barely made contact with her. Still, that was enough. Probably more than enough.
There must have been a moment where she could have stopped him, could have said they shouldn’t do this. However, that moment passed, and she remained silent, heart pounding in her chest, hoping…
…hoping that he would bend down and press his lips against hers. Once again, his touch was tentative, although Cat honestly didn’t know whether that was because he kept expecting her to stop him, or because he’d never done this before and didn’t know whether he was kissing her correctly.
Oh, yes, that certainly felt right. Now her entire body was on fire, aching with need, even though the kiss he’d given her was just as chaste as the very first kiss she’d ever experienced, back in seventh grade when Gregory Luna had stolen a kiss from her during a slow dance at the school’s Halloween party.
She let her lips part slightly, and she reached out with her tongue — gently, but enough for Loc to know this was how things should progress. He startled slightly, but then his mouth opened as well, and she could taste the sharp sweetness of sangria on his tongue, could feel the way his arms tightened on her, holding her tightly against him, the heavy muscles of his chest pushing against her breasts.
And the whole time that rich, sweet warmth was swirling around her. Cat pressed herself against him, wanted to feel as much of his body as possible, even as she knew this was crazy, that the last thing she should be doing was kissing him. The problem was, she wanted to do a lot more than kiss him, and that was the craziest thing of all.
Then, very gently, he pulled away, although his hands slid down to hold her gently by the arms. If she had wanted to, she knew she could have stepped back and he would have let her go. It was more that he held her in such a way so she would know he hadn’t wanted to break the contact, but thought perhaps he should give her enough space if she needed it.
When he spoke, his tone was wondering. “Now I see.”
He didn’t say anything more than that, but Cat thought she understood. Probably before this moment, he had wondered why humans put such an emphasis on sex and love and desire. When he’d ruled as the Lord of Chaos, it most likely hadn’t made any sense to him. Now that he inhabited a human body, on the other hand….
She let out a shaky little laugh. “And I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to do this, but here we are.”
One hand let go of her arm so he could reach up to lightly trace the curve of her cheek. “You did?” he asked, sounding surprised. “I thought perhaps there might be some kind of attraction, but I didn’t want to flatter myself.”
“‘Some kind of attraction’?” she repeated, and chuckled again. “Something like that. Only….” Her thoughts roiled, and she wasn’t sure whether she should say anything at all. The moment had been so perfect, she really didn’t want to spoil it. But sooner or later they would have to hash this out.
He was studying her in that way he had, his dark gaze speculative. “Only what?”
“Only…what’s the point, Loc? You want to go back to your own world, and I can’t stop you.” Channing Ellis’s sneering face rose in her mind, and she resolutely pushed it back. He hadn’t been her only fling, although she had been “living like a nun” lately, to use Ashley’s careless phrase. But even when she was having those brief affairs, Cat had known she wanted something else, something more, even if the perfect warlock hadn’t yet crossed her path.
Now she had the perfect man, except he wasn’t really a man at all. Even ignoring that fact, if they went further with this, became truly intimate, what then? Loc would still be gone as soon as he found the right person to cast the right spell that would send him back to where he’d come from.
Cat was pretty sure her heart couldn’t take that.
Loc’s brows drew together, his expression darkening. “True. This is not my world.”
“Well, there you have it.” She pulled in a breath and hoped it wouldn’t choke her, since she could already feel her throat tightening. “I — I like you a lot, Loc. But I think we need to leave this here, because it’s not going to work. It just isn’t.”
He didn’t move, but his dark eyes met hers, imploring. “Can’t we enjoy the time together that we have?”
“We will,” she said firmly. “I’ll take you to museums and my favorite restaurants and whatever stupid action movie is out right now. We’ll have a good time. But we won’t — we won’t — ” She faltered there, and he gave a grim nod.
“But we won’t have that sort of connection,” he said. “I understand.” For a second he was quiet, s
urveying the patio. The only signs that a party had been held there not even a half hour earlier were the lights twined in the trees and swagged across the open area between the grapevine trellises. However, he added, “I’ll finish cleaning up here. You go on to bed.”
“Loc, I — ” Cat began, although she wasn’t even sure what she’d intended to say.
His tone was inflexible. “Good night, Catalina.”
Any further protests would have sounded ridiculous. She swallowed, hard, and turned away from him to head up the path that led to the house.
She made it halfway there before the tears came.
10
Loc sat on the roof of Cat’s house, watching as the great filmy expanse of the Milky Way moved in the dark heavens above him. He knew she was asleep because he had made a heavy veil of weariness drape itself over the house, forcing her into slumber. Otherwise, he feared she would have wept far too long, and he could not have that.
With everyone gone, and another subtle form of magic making sure that no one would come here before the next morning, he had allowed himself to take on his natural form. It had felt good to stretch his wings and fly up here where he could have a commanding view of the dark landscape around him. Now, though, as he looked down at the black-scaled skin of his hands where they rested on his knees, he couldn’t prevent himself from frowning.
If Cat looked at him now, would she recoil, realizing that these were the hands which had held her, that it was this inhuman body she’d pressed herself against?
He didn’t want to believe that, because in the past she had seemed remarkably unconcerned by his hideous — to humans, at any rate — appearance. But Loc wasn’t sure she would be quite so calm about it now that she’d allowed herself to share such intimacies with him.
One hand went up to touch his mouth, claws tracing the outline of his upper lip. Hard to believe that she had kissed this, had opened her mouth to his so they could taste one another.
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