Hot waves of power tumbled out of him, sinking into her flesh wherever he touched. He was trembling with barely held control. There was a deep flush across his neck, disappearing down beneath his shirt. Thick veins throbbed under his skin, pulsing fast.
“You weren’t supposed to see that,” he told her.
The low, sexy sound of his voice stroked across her senses. The curve of his lips caught her attention and held on tight. Had her hands been free, she would have reached up and traced that line with her fingertip.
But her hands weren’t free, and he showed no sign of letting her go anytime soon. Oddly, that gave her a feeling of safety so intense, she wasn’t in any hurry for him to let go.
“I thought you were keeping secrets.”
His gaze dipped to her mouth. “I was. But for good reason.”
“What reason is that?”
“I really didn’t want you to know just how much I’m dying to fuck you, kitten. At least not yet.”
His rough words should have offended her, but instead they made her toes curl in her shoes. “So there was a time you wanted me to know?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When I’m buried balls-deep inside that sweet pussy of yours. That’s the appropriate time for you to know exactly how much I need you.”
She had no idea what to say to that, but knowing what he wanted from her—hearing his thoughts spoken aloud—made her own sexual hunger rise, answering the challenge.
Lyka couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t give in like this.
She knew that Theronai couples frequently engaged in sex. Most of them considered the bond a form of marriage—one far more permanent and binding than any piece of paper issued by some governing body. But she hadn’t been raised as one of them. She didn’t have to follow the path they did. She could still be connected to Joseph and mate with a Slayer male.
Couldn’t she?
“If you think I’d ever let another man touch you, you’re insane,” he said.
“Get out of my head. I didn’t invite you to listen to my private thoughts.”
“And I didn’t invite you to drop in on my deepest fantasies.”
He had a point. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. But you did. And now that you’ve opened Pandora’s box, there’s no closing it. You’ve seen how I feel about you. Do you really think that I’d let you go in search of another man, another mate?”
“I really never considered that you had a right to let me do anything.”
His grip on her wrists tightened. She thought about trying to break his hold, but she doubted she was strong enough, even on her best day. And today was definitely not her best day. She was weak, shaky, unsteady, both mentally and physically.
He closed his eyes, pulled in a deep breath. Let it out again. She watched as he reined himself in, shoving down his frustration and lust an inch at a time until it was all tucked neatly away, out of sight.
But she knew it was still there. She’d been inside his thoughts—felt his emotions too keenly to ever pretend they weren’t real.
No man had ever wanted her the way Joseph did. It was as thrilling as it was terrifying.
“You’re too weak,” he said as he let her go and moved back into his own seat. He started the truck and pulled back onto the gravel road. “It’s my duty to see to your care, and right now, you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself if we were attacked.”
“I’m fine,” she lied. All that brain hopping she’d done had worn her down even worse than before.
“You can’t lie to me about this. I know I’m right. You need me to revive your strength.” Even though they were out too far in the countryside for streetlights, her vision was good enough that she could make out fine details in his skin. Freckles, a light dusting of hair, scars faint with age.
He really was sexy as hell—built just the way she liked her men. Tall, strong, sturdy enough to take whatever she might throw at him. Joseph wasn’t the kind of man who was easily broken, not even once her two brothers got their hands on him for staking a claim on her without council permission.
“How do you do that?” she asked. “Because I’d really like to have the strength to keep moving tonight.”
“I can pull power from the earth and feed it to you.”
“How does that work?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I’ve never done it before, but my instincts are strong, and I’ve seen bonded pairs do it over and over.”
“So, we never need to rest?” she asked.
“Not never. What I’ll do for you is only temporary—just enough to get you on your feet in an emergency. Think of it like an energy drink.”
“How long will it last?”
“I don’t know. We’re going to have to figure it out together.”
“Pull over. We’ll do it here.” She was worried she’d piss him off and he’d refuse to work his magic on her. The longer she kept talking, the more likely it was she’d say something that would set him off. She simply couldn’t take the chance that he’d change his mind.
“No. I’m not risking an experiment with something I’ve never tried before out in the open like this. We’ll do it at a Gerai house, so that if it goes badly, at least we’ll have shelter for the night.”
Lyka knew about Gerai houses—safe places stocked with food and supplies, magically warded to increase their security against attack—but she’d never been to one before. “You’re going to trust me with the secret location of one of your safe houses?”
His shoulders seemed to droop in frustration. “You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?”
“There are no secrets between us anymore. You saw my last one. Soon you’ll let me see all of yours, too.”
She didn’t scoff, but nearly pulled a muscle restraining herself.
“I’m serious,” he said.
“I know that you want us to share a brain, but I’ve told you it’s not going to happen.”
“Too late, kitten. It already has.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, dread rising like a flash flood.
He turned onto another gravel road. Moonlight spilled over his face, showing her just how grim his expression had become. “You were in my head a minute ago.”
“So?”
“It works both ways. While you were in my mind, I read your thoughts.”
Uh-oh. He couldn’t know. She kept all her secrets carefully locked away behind doors so hidden, even she had trouble finding them.
But she’d been drawn to the thing he’d tried to hide from her. Maybe when she wasn’t looking, he’d been drawn to the same thing in her mind. She hoped that she would have known that he was poking around, but maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she was too new at this conjoined brain garbage to even sense his intent.
He could know. All of it. Everything.
Fear trickled through her like ice water. Her muscles stiffened against it, making it hard to breathe.
One of her hands strayed to the door handle while the other got ready to unbuckle her seat belt so she could make a quick getaway.
“What thoughts did you read?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Instead, there was a slight waver in her voice she was certain he’d heard.
He didn’t look her way. He stared straight ahead, his big hands tight on the steering wheel. “I know what you’re hiding.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” she lied.
“Yes, you are, and it’s time we deal with it,” he said as he turned down yet another deserted country road—the kind where no one would ever find her body. “What it do you mean?”
He glanced her way, his face drawn tight with intense emotion she couldn’t decipher. “You killed one of my men, didn’t you?”<
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Chapter 20
Joseph felt Lyka’s panic an instant too late to predict her actions.
She sprang from the moving truck and tucked into an acrobatic roll as she hit the ground. He skidded to a sloppy stop on the gravel road and slammed the truck in park.
By the time he was out of the truck and headed in her direction, she was already on her feet, running into a nearby tree line.
Joseph couldn’t leave her alone out here, unprotected. She was weak from her efforts to heal him. He’d sensed her fatigue clouding the minute connection between them. She was practically weaponless, with only those short daggers and a puny knife to hold demons at bay. And even if all of that hadn’t been true, he would have been forced to pursue her because of his vow to protect her.
If she’d already become comfortable in her power, she could have pulled strength from him to speed her flight. But she wasn’t comfortable yet. She probably didn’t even realize that she could use him in that way.
He’d never been more grateful for ignorance in his life.
Joseph pulled specks of energy into himself, gathering them from the chilly night air. He was unable to access the huge reservoir of magic he housed, but he could make instant use of what was available to him in the environment. As he drew power into him, some of it overflowed his need and became a part of him. It wasn’t fun or easy to add onto the bulging stores of energy inside him, but it was effective.
His pace quickened until he was easily gaining on her. Branches batted at his face as he passed, but she seemed to have no such trouble. She dodged and ducked, weaving through the forest with such ease, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she’d planted every tree and rock herself.
He finally caught up to her on the far side of a creek. She’d leapt across it, and the slick leaves littering the ground slid beneath her foot. Her arms whirled as she scrambled to find a handhold to keep her upright, but there was nothing low enough for her to grab.
She started to fall. Joseph caught her up and swept her to the top of the steep bank. She spun around, striking out at him with her bare hands. Panic still ruled her mind and controlled her actions, so he grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her before she could draw blood—and the demons that would smell it.
The last thing they needed was another pack of sgath closing in on them.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her, though his words came out through clenched teeth, making them harder to believe.
“I won’t let you hurt me.” She snarled, baring her teeth at him as she tried to get away.
He bore her to the ground, pinning her arms with his hands and her body with his. She squirmed against his hips and thighs, lighting a fire of sexual need in his groin.
He’d spent the last few miles trying to shove all of his lust back in its box, and here she was, inadvertently destroying his efforts. Only a few minutes ago, he’d been faced with every one of the fantasies he’d had for this woman. Dark and nasty, sweet and loving . . . they were all on display, reminding him of exactly how much time he’d spent fighting his baser urges.
He’d wanted Lyka for too long to deny how he felt. There was no stopping the immediate response of his body. Despite her anger and her struggles to free herself, she felt good under him—really good when she squirmed and rubbed against him.
“Stop fighting me and listen.”
“Never.” She fought harder, nearly breaking his fingers in an effort to free her wrists.
He had to fuel his strength to keep her in check. He was no lightweight, but her Slayer blood made her both strong and ferocious.
It was one of the things he loved most about her.
He tried to keep his voice calm, but he was quickly running out of what little patience he had. “Stop or I’ll knock you out and carry you back to the truck.”
“I won’t let you hit me. I’ll rip you apart first.”
“I don’t have to hit you. I’ll shove my way into your head and just turn out the lights. You don’t know enough magic to stop me.”
She stilled. The flush of color their chase had given her evaporated as she went pale. “You’re bluffing.”
“Keep being a pain in the ass and you’ll find out I’m not.”
Panic was still hovering inside her, looking for the slightest excuse to come out and play. He knew she was terrified, but he had no idea why. “Why did you run off like that?”
“I don’t want to die until I find my brother.”
“Who says you’re going to die?”
“I killed one of your men. That’s not the kind of thing you can let go unpunished. Just give me a stay of execution until Eric and the young are home safe. Then I’ll turn myself in willingly.” Her chin lifted with an air of defiance but trembled with unshed tears.
That was why she was upset? She thought he was going to execute her?
“Lyka, even if you deserved to die, I couldn’t be the one to do it. My vow to you prevents me from ever hurting you.”
Some of the tension drained from her body. “So it won’t happen now? You’ll let me keep searching?”
He loosened his hold on her arms and stroked the inside of her wrists with his thumbs. He wasn’t foolish enough to let her go, but her need for comfort and reassurance drove him to act. “Did you kill my man in self-defense?”
“No.”
“Did you kill him in anger?”
“No. Even if I wanted to, Andreas forbade us from attacking your people.”
“Had his lifemark fallen bare? Did you see that his soul had died?”
Her gaze moved past him to the bare branches behind his head. “No.”
“Then why did you kill him?”
“He asked me to. He only had two leaves left. He was in horrible pain. He begged me to end his suffering.”
Joseph understood the urge to let go. Stop fighting. End the pain. Rest. There had been times when he’d let idle thoughts of ending his life pass through his mind. He’d always shut them down before they could take root and grow, but not all of the Theronai were as disciplined.
“Who was he?” asked Joseph.
She shook her head. “I don’t know his name. I didn’t let him tell me. I didn’t want to know.”
“How did you do it?”
“I can’t tell you that. We Slayers are forbidden from talking about it.”
“Let me touch your memories of the event. I need to see his face. I need to know who he was and that he met with a clean end.”
“I’m not letting you in my brain again. You’ll have to take my word for it. I gave him an easy death.”
“How?”
She shook her head. “In the way all of your men meet their end when you send them to us.”
Whenever one of the Theronai males’ souls died, they were delivered to the Slayers for execution. It was a secretive affair, steeped in millennia of tradition. When he’d been young, Joseph had wondered how the Slayers managed the task, but now that he was grown, he refused to let himself think about it.
As leader of the Theronai, he’d sent too many men to their deaths. Lingering over the details of how they died was a good way for him to drive himself mad. They were dead and unable to hurt anyone else. That was all that mattered.
“I felt your guilt, your disgust. You were the one who killed him, not one of the Slayer warriors. Why is that?”
She looked away from him again.
“What are you hiding?”
“Let me up.”
She thrust her hips against his in an effort to get free, but all it did was remind him that he had a soft, beautiful woman—his woman—beneath him.
He hadn’t yet staked his claim in a physical way. He’d told himself there was plenty of time for that, that if he gave her time, she’d come to know him, maybe even grow to like him. After they work
ed together for a while, she’d learn to trust him. Maybe even with her body. He couldn’t help but hope it would happen. After all, she was the only woman he’d allow himself to be with for the rest of his long, long life, and the idea of never having sex again seemed inconceivable. Especially when he would be working side by side with the woman of his dreams.
But now, with her sleek body stretched out under his, all he could think about was how fast he could get inside her. How soon he could strip her bare and kiss what lay beneath those stretchy clothes that hugged her curves.
Maybe if he gave her time to reveal her secrets, it would begin forging a link of trust between them. The man she’d killed was already dead. Nothing more could happen to him. What harm was there in Joseph giving her the time she needed to tell him what he wanted to know?
He released her wrists but didn’t move his weight off her. Instead he slid his finger across her forehead in a light touch. Her skin was as warm and soft as sunlight. “You were sure I was going to kill you and all you could think about was living long enough to find your brother?”
“I can’t let him die. He and Andreas are the only reason I’m alive. They protected me the whole time I was growing up. They helped me hide what I was so I wouldn’t be cast out. I owe them everything.”
He admired her sense of loyalty even as he cursed it. He knew there would be no stopping her, but simply coming along with her to help her find Eric wasn’t enough—not when there was more he could do.
More he could give her.
This was his chance to form a bond with her—one that would start them on their journey together. Without knowing it, she was offering him the key to her trust, and he’d be a fool not to reach out and grab it.
“Then I owe them a debt, too. They kept you alive and well so I had time to find you, and now you’ve stopped the decay of my soul.”
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