“I’m not leaving,” Reagan said.
“You should,” I said and turned, moving away from her. “You should do that, and be a lot of other things.”
“Like what?” Reagan challenged.
I thought of all the hell I’d brought into Reagan’s life and the lives of others I’d loved.
“You should be afraid of me.”
“When will you get it through your thick head, Luke Swiftlore? I’m not. I never have been. And I never will be.” Reagan stepped in front of me, eyes blazing and shoulders back. “I’m afraid of one thing, though—I’m afraid of losing you.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Reagan
It had been a gamble, my wager with the wolf. And now, I waited.
I couldn’t quite make out Luke’s face, lost in the shadow of dusk, though I’d seen the way he’d gone still. The air sharpened with pure, shaking energy.
I’d been shaking since I walked outside. It only got worse, the more I tried to stop.
Finally, unable to take another moment of waiting and searching in the shadows, I looked down. No matter what Luke said, I wouldn’t regret saying that to him. He had to know.
I’d known, the second Deena had shown up with a message from Luke, what it would entail. I knew Luke was worried, that he was afraid for me, and that he thought this would be the best course of action. Maybe the SB had posed a bigger danger than he'd let on.
While I appreciated how much he cared, his vision had been myopic with me. So desperate to protect me, he failed to see the bigger picture. Or the fact that I wasn’t going anywhere. I couldn’t.
At least, not without making it perfectly clear where I stood and why I didn’t want to leave.
I belong here. I belong with you. I’ve found myself.
Thinking of all this now, I tried to get those words out, to marshal my arguments for why I needed to stay with him. But I was too caught up in waiting for his response, straining my ears for the slightest movement or tell-tale breath.
I jumped when heavy footsteps closed the distance between us, then recoiled, prepared for the worst. I wasn’t prepared for anything else, I realized. Luke could still wear me down with arguments and worries and common sense. I’d do anything to make him happy.
Luke’s hands caught my face. “Reagan.”
His voice was all force, a jumble of hard and soft edges, a tone I’d never heard before.
Pulling in a deep breath, I lifted my eyes to his. My sight had adjusted, and I saw the bright swirl of green and blue in his eyes. He gazed at me, saying nothing. Well, two could play at this game. I didn’t break eye contact, not flinching once.
I couldn't help tracing my eyes across his face, though. Those hard lines of jaw, cheek, and brow. Those glints of gold in his hair and stubble. But then my gaze swooped down. Those lips.
Lips that pulled into a slow, wicked, and satisfied smile.
Lips that claimed my own.
I melted into Luke’s rough and sudden kiss, gripping him back just as tightly as he lifted me off the ground. His big hands splayed across my back, and my legs went around his waist. When my lips parted in a gasp of relief, Luke claimed me again.
His tongue stroked and danced against mine, and I was gone. You win.
It was like no other kiss I’d ever had. I was soaring in Luke’s arms, and we were kissing.
Kissing like it was breathing, like we’d been running towards this moment all along, and we’d always end up here. Together.
The energy between us rose to urgent and demanding heights. My hands were in his hair, and his hands gripped my ass, causing me to arch against him. At that, Luke groaned, and his fingers dug in so hard that somewhere, in the brief, tiny space where some semblance of my brain functioned, I wondered if he’d leave bruises.
Mark me as your own—I don’t care, I thought in a daze.
In fact, I was so lost in these kisses, I didn’t realize Luke was lowering us to the ground until grass tickled my cheek. Not once did he break contact, and now his fingers were tracing up the backs of my thighs, then back down to behind my knees, and causing me to whimper.
I felt Luke’s smile, and our kisses grew more playful. He tugged me against him, and we rolled in the grass, the smell of spring all around us. I was young, free, and safe. Whole.
Giddy, with grass sticking to my cheeks and Luke’s body pressing mine into the earth once again, I never wanted this to end. I wanted this every night. I wanted to memorize his lips. I wanted to know how his body fit against mine. I wanted to remember this feeling.
More than that, I wanted to plan for this happening, again and again.
When we came up for air, I had no idea how much time had passed. My heart thundered against his, and I almost felt absurdly shy as I looked up at him.
Luke hovered over me, outlined against the night sky and wisps of northern lights. I could see his face. The wonder and the joy, the deep meld of blue and green, and a smile I’d never seen on his face before. I couldn’t help but smile back and put a hand on his warm face.
Turning his head, Luke kissed my palm. I watched in absolute bliss. Then his lips moved to my wrist, and I tingled all over, then gasped as his other hand cupped the back of my neck. Fingers rolled sweet circles on the skin there, and I let out a sigh, eyes closing.
Luke’s lips moved up my arm, to the tender skin near the inside of my elbow, my bicep, my shoulder, and then across my clavicle. By that time, I was breathing harder and trying not to rock my hips against his—although I thought I could feel a defined hardness brushing against me.
“Oh,” I gasped and dug my fingers into his shirt. He was kissing my neck. “Oh, Luke.”
Something rumbled through him in a response, like a groan and a growl in one. His arm had gone around my back and was pulling me closer. He continued to kiss my neck, nipping at the skin and then pressing his lips against it. I was starting to lose all coherent thought.
Now Luke’s lips took their time along my jaw, then a shudder went through him, and he seared his lips to mine again. This time it was both indulgent and frantic, our hands sliding underneath fabric and finding bare skin. When Luke’s callused fingers brushed up my sides, I moaned, and a frenetic wave of pleasure writhed through me. I needed more, with fewer clothes.
"Reagan," Luke groaned against my lips as he broke off and looked down at me.
"Luke," I murmured. "Hi, yeah, please don’t stop.”
“This isn’t how I pictured this happening.”
A smile broke across my face. “You pictured this?”
“Every day since I met you, yeah, it mighta been in the back of my head,” Luke said. “Sometimes in the front. Sometimes in my dreams.”
I flushed even more with pleasure. “Good to know.”
His fingers brushed my cheek. “We should go in. Talk.”
“Later,” I murmured and pulled him closer. “Tomorrow. Or the day after.”
But it had grown colder, and there were thick clouds moving in. He did have a point. He also didn’t move, looking down at me with that blazing awe and joy.
“I don’t want to.” His voice was a wicked, husky note. “Not in the least. I also never want to stop. But I have to before I take you in the garden.” My entire body lit up, and his smile grew dangerous. “I would’ve if I didn’t have to be up early.”
“I thought you said you could handle a night without sleep, no problem,” I teased.
Luke’s breath caught hard. “Save me a scrap of my sanity, woman.”
At that, I relented, remembering what he’d had to deal with today. He helped me up, and we went inside, the dogs sniffing and wagging around us. Only then did I get a good look at Luke. He had grass in his hair and stuck to his clothes. Then my eyes went down, to the sizeable bulge in his pants, and I stifled a noise, whipping my eyes away.
Desire kindled in every last tendril of my body and made it hard to walk. Following him out of the kitchen, my limbs were shaking. I could feel my hea
rtbeat in my fingertips. Luke glanced around and rubbed the back of his head, pulling away grass.
“Never look at grass the same way again,” he said.
My toes curled, and I let out a small laugh. “Me neither.”
He turned around, and his eyes tracked over me. “You’re covered. Need help cleaning up?”
“Sure,” I said.
Luke gestured with his head, and we went into the living room. Instead of turning on the generator, he pulled out a lighter and proceeded to light the candles in the room, something I'd never seen him do before. In the flickering light, all of my nerves settled, and I perched on the couch, hugging my knees and smiling.
“Here,” Luke said and sat down next to me. His fingers were gentle in my hair as he plucked out twigs and grass. “You okay? I didn’t maul you too much?”
“You hear me complaining?” I asked.
“I’ll remember that for next time,” Luke murmured in my ear and ghosted a kiss on my jaw.
“Next time?” I asked and leaned back against him, tipping my head on his shoulder. “You mean right now?”
“Reagan, I wish we—but no, I should ask your parents,” Luke said, and I sat up, incredulous and on the verge of laughter. “Before you sass, it’s not only the Northbane honor code—it’s my dad. Pop was old-school, and he always said part of the problem was I never got to know my girl’s family.”
“Your girl?” I asked, and my heart might have exploded into butterflies.
“Of course,” he rumbled, and it vibrated through my back.
“My family loves you, Luke,” I said and brushed my knuckles along his jaw. “And I get that, but is there more that you’re not telling me?” I sat up a little. “Did something happen today?”
Luke groaned. “I don’t want to think about that.”
“I get it, but at some point, you’re going to tell me why you tried to kick me out.”
“I don’t want to put you in danger because of who I am,” Luke said.
“And I’m more than willing to take that risk,” I said. “I’m where I want to be. Where I should be.” Luke’s eyes went soft. “Yes, with you, you stubborn, impossible, infuriating—”
I was cut off by a rough spin into a rougher kiss.
“Careful,” Luke said when he pulled back. “I might start thinkin’ you like me, Grace.”
“And we wouldn’t want that,” I teased, adjusting my knees so that I was straddling him.
“I mean it, Reagan,” Luke said, biting back a groan and breathing hard. “Our situation here is unusual. I don’t want your parents thinking I’m takin’ advantage. Or some kind of lothario who went after you.”
I repressed the urge to roll my eyes. Of course Luke would be worried about that and probably a hundred other things. I had no idea how he balanced the bad boy and the chivalrous knight—I really didn’t. But I liked that I wasn’t making it easy on him.
“Today was a long day, too,” Luke confessed, and I snapped back to him.
“What happened? Why were you trying to send me away? Is it about the vryke?”
“In a way,” Luke said in a deliberately cryptic fashion, and his eyes fell. When he didn’t speak, I prodded his bicep, and he sighed. “We need to harness your abilities, and soon.”
“Why?”
Reluctantly, in terse terms that made the tendons on his neck strain and his jaw crack, Luke told me what the SB had wanted.
Me.
Me, in exchange for a ceasefire with Winfyre. I stayed quiet, knowing I needed to let him finish. Not once did he mention Lind, but the darker hues in his eyes said enough. But when he mentioned what Xander wanted from me now, I perked up.
“You think I could be an asset?”
“You already are,” Luke said, and then he gave me a look. “Got anything else you maybe want to tell me, Rea?”
“In regard to what?” I asked.
“How you saved my life, maybe.”
My lips parted, and a spike of guilt went through my chest. I’d forgotten all about the beach incident and the poisoned blade.
"I wasn't sure," I confessed. "I'd never done anything like that before, but, I don't know, I remember all of a sudden feeling this warmth under my skin and connecting with you…and I had no idea how to trigger it, or if it was a one-time thing."
“Thank you,” Luke said.
"Of course. I couldn't let you…" A shudder went through me. "But sometimes, honestly, I hate this power. It's like something is inside of me, trying to wake up, and…"
“You’re afraid if you let it, you’ll lose yourself,” Luke said.
I’d never put it in those terms, but that was exactly it. “Yes, how did you…?”
“Shifters go through the same thing. Only I think our powers tear free a little easier. Hell of a lot wilder, that’s for sure. Or maybe it varies person to person. There’s still so much we don’t know.” Luke gave me an encouraging smile. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Do you think I’m dangerous?” I asked.
“To me? Yes,” Luke said, and I lightly punched him. “No, Reagan. If I’ve learned one thing that has held true, it’s that life doesn’t throw at you more than you can handle, and you never can be sure of what’s coming next.” His grin became crooked. “Or who.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Luke
Leaving the Graces’ house, I couldn’t stop grinning and hooked my hands behind my head.
The air was bright with spring colors and smells, and birds were chirping and arguing. The sky was a deep, glorious blue, with a few fat white clouds floating by. It was nice and warm.
As their name would suggest, Reagan’s parents had been gracious. A little surprised, too, but gratified. After I’d explained about Pop’s insistence on old-school chivalry, they’d looked at each other, smiling.
“You do your father proud, son,” Mr. Grace had said. He was looking far better than when he’d first arrived at Winfyre, with color in his cheeks and a job that kept him moving. He’d gotten over his brief spat with a bad cold quickly, too. “I appreciate your asking.”
Mrs. Grace had also improved, and was much more relaxed and content. Winfyre had a strange charm that could soothe even the most frantic of souls.
“It’s up to Reagan,” she’d said. “If she’s made up her mind one way or the other, I’m not sure we could influence it. Although, I do think she cares for you a great deal.”
“Yeah, she's a determined one,” I’d said in an affectionate voice, and they’d both beamed.
After that, they’d given their permission, sounding both amused and a little bewildered. Then, they’d wished me luck. I’d smiled to myself, unable to wait to tell Reagan about that later.
I’d talked a little more with them, always happy to spend time with Reagan’s family. We’d been interrupted by the kids, bounding in and climbing all over me. Even Cassidy had stopped in to give a polite hello.
From what I’d heard, Cassidy was doing a lot better. I still worried that she might never come around, but her health was staying level, according to Niles. Those two had been spending a lot of time together, too. More than once, I’d spotted the big blond Russian walking with the slim girl, talking and arguing amicably.
Spring is in the air.
Swinging into Cobalt, I stopped and got Reagan a bouquet. For once, too, I didn’t care who saw me. On the walk back to the house, my mind turned from her family to her abilities. I’d been trying to figure out how to coax out her abilities every spare moment I got.
Up in Veda, there were far more Riftborn, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to send her there. It had a busy port, and they’d had problems with Skrors over the past few weeks. Plus, if I were from the Stasis Bureau, that would be the first place I would look.
That, and I didn’t want her so far away.
Back at the house, I went in through the kitchen door and was glad I did. I’d wanted to find a vase for Reagan’s flowers, and then I heard voices in the living room. I�
�d narrowly missed walking in with flowers under the eye of Xander, Kal, and Tristan. I’d have never heard the end of it.
I’d never been a big flower guy, and I wasn’t even sure Reagan would care for something like this. I’d done it more as a gesture, to tell her that things would be different between us. To celebrate her parents’ enthusiasm. Come to think of it, maybe I should have gotten them a gift, too.
Once I’d hidden the flowers, I grabbed a snack and entered the living room. Xander was lounging in a chair by the window, with Kal across from him, and Tristan was sitting on the couch with Reagan and another woman. She turned and smiled at me. It was Olenna Drake, a Riftborn from Veda and the second-in-command of a group called the Coven.
Does Xander want Reagan to join them?
The Coven was a powerful group, dedicated to honing their abilities and protecting Winfyre’s northern border. They had also started compiling information on the Rift and the Excris.
Sometimes I thought of them as the Shadow Command, the secret power we kept in reserve in case things went really badly. The Bureau might have known that more Riftborn lived up there, but I doubted they had any idea about the Coven or what they were capable of.
Olenna had short reddish hair, caramel-colored skin, a wide smile, and cat-like grace. But there was a darkness in her eyes for all that. She’d been the only one in her entire family to make it to Winfyre. Every other Drake had been taken by the SB. She'd tried for almost six months to get them out, until someone had informed her they were dead.
By that time, she’d started manifesting powers of her own and had fled north. There, she’d run into Tristan, who’d gotten her to Veda. During the first few months, she’d been withdrawn and angry, but, in time, she’d become a leader. One of the most resilient people in all of Winfyre.
When she wasn’t working for the Coven, she was helping people adjust to life here. Her abilities lay in healing and sensing. With a simple touch, she could distinguish a stasis from a Riftborn, although she couldn’t differentiate out specifics to a great extent. Or, at least, not yet.
“Luke,” Olenna said with a polite nod. Like me, she wanted nothing more than to wreak hell on the SB. “How are you?”
Wolf's Wager (Northbane Shifters) Page 21