Unable to help herself, she pressed back, ignoring the whisper of caution in her mind. The warning to stop before it was too late. This might be it for them. Their only opportunity to be together.
Luc lifted her skirt, slid his hands up her thighs and around them to the soft flesh between. One touch and her knees went weak and she grabbed the balcony railing for support.
“We should go inside,” she said, although he would probably have to carry her.
“No, here.” Still behind her, he brushed her ear with his lips, sending sensation after sensation through her until every nerve ending came alive. “I’ve been imagining doing this since I met you.”
“In the open?” she choked out.
“No one can see us.”
He was right. His high-rise was the farthest east and his apartment seemed to be the only one on this side of the building. Since they were thirteen floors up, no one could see them from the ground.
Skye clung to the railing as he tugged the lace of her panties to one side to make room for him. And then he was between her thighs, tunneling a path through her already wet flesh. Gasping with pleasure, she rocked back against him so she could feel him deeper.
He nipped at the back of her neck and slid a hand down her belly to find her center. At his first touch, she sought the sweet spot that would take her out of herself. His lips trailed upward to her ear, and she could hear him breathing as hard and fast as they were moving.
And then he was whispering in her ear, urging her, “Now. Let go now.”
Closing her eyes, her mind lit as if fireworks had gone off. A gritty, tortured sound rumbled through him, and they came together.
Before she could recover, Luc had her in his arms and carried her inside, through the living area to the bedroom and into the bathroom. Kissing her as if he was trying to drink her in, he set her down and unzipped her dress. They tore off each other’s clothes and then stepped in the shower where water swirled over them.
“Tell me what you like,” Luc said, his voice nearly a whisper as he spread soap over her breasts and down her belly.
Her stomach swirled when he bit her ear. “I like you.”
“Good.”
Skye more than liked him, but she didn’t want to look at how much too closely. Not when she was so uncertain about their future.
He stroked her with soap-slicked hands, his fingers finding and exploring her inner flesh. The shower rained down on them, an added sensation that readied her. Just as she was about to come again, he shifted and his fingers splayed across her butt, lifting her onto him. He pushed her into the wall, then let go. Her shoulders were wedged against the tile as he slowly pulled back.
Touch yourself. I want to watch.
His thought sent white heat through her. Keeping one hand on him, she used the other to open herself further to him. Her own light touches lit her from the inside out.
You know what I want. Do it, please.
His silent urging made her shudder. And when she touched her clit, the shuddering wouldn’t stop. He flattened his hands on either side of her head and stroked faster and harder until she exhausted herself.
Luc picked her up and carried her to the bed, where they slept for a while, him curled around her back. He woke her up in the middle of the night so she could ride him, then they raided the refrigerator. Appetites for food satiated, Luc brought her to climax again.
He was insatiable.
As was she.
He was tender, too, holding her as if he would never let her go. It was during those moments, when he held her close and she could hear the steady beat of his heart that she wished it could be like this always. He whispered words of endearment—did she actually hear the word “love”—and held her as though he cherished her.
Was it possible? she wondered. Hope filled her with a joy she’d never known.
It was only late the next afternoon, when she showered as Luc cooked them a late brunch, that her mind cleared. Skye tried to figure out what had happened to her and wondered if Luc worked some kind of sexual spell. Had she imagined feeling cherished because that’s what she wanted? Fear made her cautious.
They were from opposing bloodlines. Kindred and Powers were mortal enemies, if history told the truth.
She dried off and slipped into her dress.
Even if he wasn’t like his brother Nik, Luc did work for his father. He could capitulate and give up his soul.
“Hungry?”
Skye turned to find Luc staring at her from the doorway.
“Yes.” She walked to the doorway and slipped past him, saying, “Feed me, please.”
Still worried, she closed her mind to him so he couldn’t get inside. Even so, she suspected he sensed her doubt. A sudden unease skittered through her. Was he angry? Disappointed?
He’d set out a feast. Eggs. Bacon. Potatoes. Fruit. Croissants. They had to talk about this thing growing between them, about the repercussions of their investigation, but she stalled by filling her plate and taking a few bites. When it came to swallowing, she could barely get the food past the lump in her throat, but she had to say something.
“What if you’re right and it’s Nik running the shifter fights?” she asked, putting down her fork. “What if he killed my brother?”
Rather than answering directly, Luc asked, “What do you think should happen to him if he’s guilty?”
“He should be arrested and tried and pay for his crimes.”
“Do you really think that’s going to happen in a human justice system?”
“No.”
Even if Nik were taken into custody, he had the power to simply disappear from his cell. And if, for some reason, he couldn’t do it himself, Cezar would no doubt come to his son’s rescue. She didn’t want to think about the catastrophe the Kindred leader could create.
“We have our own way of dealing with those who betray us,” Luc said, his voice darkening, expression morose.
“Your idea of justice—what is that exactly?” For all she knew, punishment could be to remove the guilty one’s soul and deprive him of pleasure. “You never have defined it.”
“If Nik is guilty, he won’t survive.”
“Your father isn’t going to allow that.”
“Who said anything about telling my father?”
A chill swept through her. “You would take matters into your own hands?” And with his own brother? “You’re not a killer.”
If he killed his own brother in an act of vengeance, how could they ever be together?
His expression now drawn, Luc suddenly seemed distant. “Don’t be mistaken about me. I’m a predator just like the other shifters in the habitat.”
Her pulse thudded in warning at the strange tone of his voice. Still, she said, “No, you’re nothing like them.”
“But I am.” He got to his feet. “Watch me.”
She blinked, and his features instantly changed, his jaw stretching, his cheekbones narrowing. She gasped and nearly fell off her stool. He was shifting, right in front of her.
“Stop. Please.” Her stomach knotted so tight it hurt. “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
But he didn’t stop.
Skye tried to avert her eyes, but she couldn’t. She sat frozen, cold as ice, watching Luc shift from the seductive man who’d possessed her body all night to a frightening something else. She knew he was a shifter, but she wasn’t ready to face the reality, certainly wasn’t ready to see his arms turn into legs, his hands into paws. His face contorted, telling her he was in pain. She swore she could feel that pain in her own body. When his back shortened, her back felt like a bolt of lightning had struck it. She jerked away from him with a muffled cry. Her spine burned when a long black tail that matched the pelt encasing his body twisted out behind him.
He wasn’t Luc anymore. In less than a minute, a black panther stared at her through molten silver eyes.
It tossed its head and screamed, the wild sound like a hacksaw cutting through woo
d. Her heart beat so hard, she thought it might explode. She was stunned, unable to move. Then the panther growled and bared its teeth, reminding her of the wolf attack in the habitat.
Suddenly terrified, Skye found her legs and fled. Even as the panther stalked her, she somehow undid the lock and opened the apartment door, slipped into the hall and slammed the door practically in the panther’s nose. If it wanted to come after her, it would have to shift back to the Luc she knew.
But the elevator arrived, and the apartment door remained closed. Staggering into the car, she pressed L, then collapsed against the wall in tears.
How could Luc have shifted without warning her? Maybe if she had been prepared...
she was on street level in a minute.
Wiping her eyes, she stumbled out of the building, then stood confused, unable to focus her mind. She headed east until she could clearly see The Ark gently swaying against the waves lapping at its hull, reminding her of her pledge to fight corruption. Did that mean she couldn’t stop until The Ark was no more? Until all the Kindred were gone?
Until Luc was destroyed?
Chapter Thirty-Five
Luc had known Skye wouldn’t be able to accept him. He shifted back to human form. He’d had to test her even as he’d known he would chase her away. He’d had to show her what he really was, and she hadn’t been able to accept it.
Still, walking out onto the balcony, he looked for her, hoping for one last glimpse, but she was nowhere in sight.
It was then, with the loss of her leaving him hollow inside, he knew he’d made a mistake.
Her terror had shattered his heart.
For a few hours, he’d been happier than he ever remembered being. Because of Skye. Because he didn’t simply want or desire her. He was in love for the first time in his life.
And yet, he’d had to make her see why they couldn’t be together. For her sake.
Anguished, he needed to work off the unfamiliar emotions that warred with each other. He had to think clearly about this. About her. About them. He thought about leaping from his balcony to the ground thirteen floors below. Not that he would survive the jump. But he needed to move.
Concentrating on The Ark, he thought himself there. And then he was, still in panther form. Sifting took some of the adrenaline-ladled energy out of him. Not that there wasn’t plenty left.
The slot machines sang to him in their mechanical cadence, telling him what a fool he’d been. He headed straight for the habitat.
“Luc. Are you all right?”
Nuala. He turned to face her coming from the elevators. His sister appeared to have recovered from her trauma of the day before. “I will be. I just need to run.”
He knew she understood. Running was a time-honored Lazare tradition when they needed to rid themselves of unwanted stress.
“I’ll run with you.”
“No. This is something I need to do for myself.”
He walked straight past her into the hallway, where he imagined a forest that went on forever, then simply walked through the glass wall that shimmered around him. Nuala hadn’t left. She was staring at him through the window, her expression.
I’ll be fine, he told her, moving into a small stand of trees where he could shift into panther form without being seen by any humans wandering by. After I run, I’ll be fine.
I’ll wait for you.
Don’t.
He didn’t wait to see if she would leave or not. He simply shifted and took off running.
His pulse thrummed and he could feel his heartbeat as he ran like the wind. He raced through the forest on and on, running for hours until he was so exhausted and out of breath he physically couldn’t run anymore. He stopped, legs shaking. Waited to regain his breath so he could shift back to his human self.
Quick footsteps crunching along the pathway behind him was the only warning he got before something sharp and stinging pricked his neck.
He tried to shift back to his human form.
And couldn’t.
His legs collapsed under him, and then he couldn’t move at all.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Still shaken after wandering around for hours, Skye stopped at Petopia on her way home. Phoebe was alone, getting ready to close up the store.
The moment her friend saw her, her eyes went wide. “What happened to you?”
Skye hung the closed sign on the door and locked it. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“Let’s go into the office. I could use something cold to drink.”
Phoebe followed her through the store. Skye stopped for a moment, to pet the animals in back, but she really needed to talk to someone about what had just happened, so she kept it short and headed for the office where she pulled a cola from the fridge.
“What’s going on?” Phoebe asked.
Skye had kept her out of it to protect her, but she couldn’t deal with this alone. Phoebe already knew about her abilities both with her brother and with animals, so she hoped her friend could accept the rest. She could never tell Shade about Luc, so she told Phoebe. Everything. Starting from their first encounter to the last. Her dark eyes stayed wide throughout.
“Wow,” she said when Skye finished. “That’s a lot to take in.”
Unable to tell if she believed her or not, Skye waited, her stomach whirling until Phoebe’s expression transformed from shocked to concerned.
“Why didn’t you tell me what was going on when I stopped by your place?” she asked.
“I didn’t want to involve you.”
“I’m your friend, Skye. You can always count on me.”
“I know that. I wanted you to stay safe. And for a while, I didn’t believe any of what I told you myself. But now... oh, Phoebes, I don’t know what to do.”
“You mean about Luc.”
Skye wasn’t going to stop looking for Shade’s killer, but Luc was another matter. What was she going to do about him?
“Do you love him?” Phoebe asked.
“I care for him.” Which was all she was willing to admit. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“If you care, that must mean you trust him. No matter what. You wouldn’t have those feelings for someone you couldn’t trust,” Phoebe said. “And I don’t believe you would have slept with him if you didn’t trust him, either.”
“You didn’t see him when he turned into a panther.”
“No. I’m sure it was shocking. Jeez, I would have run out of there, too. But it seems to me Luc was trying to be honest with you.”
Phoebe might have a point, but she wasn’t ready to go there. “What if he was trying to scare me?”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. To make me stop my investigation?”
“If that’s true, maybe he was trying to protect you. He never tried to hurt you, right?”
“No, of course not.”
Of course not.
“There you go.” Phoebe gave her a big, long hug. “Trust yourself. You’ll know what is true and what isn’t.”
Her eyes stung as she hugged Phoebe back. “I should have told you everything before.”
“How can I help?”
“You already have.”
Phoebe wanted to drive her home, but Skye insisted on walking. Trust herself to know what was true and what wasn’t. That sounded easy, only it wasn’t.
She tried to forget about Luc as she hurried up the stairs to her apartment, took care of the animals, then changed into jeans and a T-shirt. The sun had set and darkness fell by the time she went downstairs to find her brother. Exhausted, she meant to catch him up on what Ethan had learned.
He was in the living room, Boomer at his side.
“Where the hell were you all night and all day?” Shade demanded the moment he saw her. “I thought something happened to you.”
Skye hadn’t thought about Shade worrying. “With Luc.”
“Investigating?”
“How can I not worry?” Giving her an intent look, Shade simmered down. “Luc, huh? I don’t like it. Nuala’s kind have some power that makes them irresistible.”
She knew that firsthand. But... “How would you know?”
“Bits and pieces have been coming back. I remember Nuala. I got close to her to get information for the case.”
“You got a lot more than information.” Because she was thinking of Nuala’s pregnancy, she blocked him from reading her.
His smile was sad. “Yeah, I kinda remember some of that action, too.” Then he sobered. “Not that you should be getting any.”
“Put a sock in it,” she muttered.
Now that Shade’s memory was coming back, she thought to tell him about the baby, but still she hesitated. He’d seemed to remember having sex with Nuala, but he didn’t say anything about caring for her. Knowing that if she found that out, Nuala’s heart would be broken all over again, she clenched her jaw. Another conundrum. If she waited a while longer, chances were Shade would recapture more of his memory. Maybe even all of it. He might remember his feelings for her, assuming he had any. Then she would bring Nuala here, and she could tell him herself, which was the way it ought to be.
“So, after you left here yesterday, did you learn anything of value?” Shade asked. “About the case?”
“Ethan investigated the various fight sites. They all led back to one man. Sam Hawk. Luc said that’s a comic book character and, as a kid, his brother Nik was a fan. He insisted on being called Hawk.”
“Then Luc thinks his brother is the one in charge of the shifter fights?”
“I’m afraid so.” Her pulse pounded thinking about how he’d terrified her. That wasn’t the Luc she knew. “And it’s killing him.”
Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1) Page 19