by Dana Archer
Ezra looks in my direction, his gaze on my face. Exactly on my face. I can stare into my twin’s eyes. Still cold. Still empty. Still sightless. The familiar brush of his soul to mine, a greeting we’ve shared since the womb, tells me more, however. There’s a hum within him. Excitement, maybe. Or curiosity. I can’t tell exactly as it’s not an emotion I can associate with Ezra. I can, however, draw a conclusion from it.
This time we’ve spent apart has been good for both of us.
“Things are working out well with Odin, then?”
“You’d ask of me before your mate?” Ezra tilts his head. “That makes no sense. I’m immortal. She is not. Aren’t you anxious to know she still lives? It has been over a day since you saw her.”
If anything, his voice is still as rough as ever. Likely, it’ll always be this way. He’s relied on his animals too long. Some habits are nearly impossible to break.
Conscious of the other senses my twin must be utilizing, I shake my head. Although the movement is slight and several feet separate us, my twin’s senses are enhanced by three predators. He simply needs to learn how to take control from them and interrupt the details they “see” that our human forms normally don’t pay any attention to. “There’s no need. She’s been with you this past day, and you’re here, relaxed. So is Odin. If my mate was endangered or hurt, you wouldn’t be relaxed. You’d be poised to hunt.”
“Big cats aren’t native to West Virginia. It makes hunting difficult, especially in this suburban development where your mate lives. She has neighbors right across the street. On either side of her. Kade pointed the homes out, giving me an approximate distance and direction for each in reference to the moon.”
The moon—the one object Ezra would always be able to home in on. We are connected to the celestial body, experiencing its waning and waxing and its path through the night sky.
With a smile, I nod at the ingenious hack. “That’s an excellent association. I’ll have to thank Kade for thinking of it.”
“Thank Lyla, not Kade. She chastised him when he offered to allow me to share his vision to take in the area I’d be guarding tonight. The moon was her idea. All Kade did was translate the feet Lyla gave into units of measure I remember from our childhood. The conversions aren’t difficult, though. I’ll pick up on the differences between feet, miles, and inches soon.”
Warmth spreads outward from my heart, an odd but very pleasant sensation. I want to go to Lyla, pull her into my arms and thank her properly for the gift she’s given my twin. “Then the two of you got along?”
“Kade’s fine. Mostly angry, somewhat amusing, but with a good sense of those around us. I won’t have any trouble partnering with him. Honestly, it’ll be good for him. He needs to talk more, not simply scowl at people to get them to do what he wants.”
“I was talking about you and Lyla, actually.” But his spin on his partnership with Kade echoes my thoughts about our alpha leader.
“She saved you from your guilt when I couldn’t. Why wouldn’t we get along?”
With an exhale, the last of my tension slips from my body. “It took us a long time to get to this point.”
Ezra shakes his head. “Just as long as we needed.”
“True.” No other words need to be said, and if I’m wrong, Lyla will remind me to utter them.
I lift the leather bag Lyla once eyed with interest over my head, then take off the trench coat and hang it in the kitchen with Lyla’s borrowed jacket. No other coats hang there. There are no sweatshirts lying on the ground either. The key hook is empty too.
“Where’s Sam and Colin?”
“Not here.”
“I can see that.” I kick off my boots, leaving them next to Lyla’s shoes, and make my way to the living room. “Where did they go?”
“Sam’s working a case. Colin snuck out after her.” Ezra pushes his upper body up and props himself on his bent elbow. “It’s just me on guard here tonight. Do you have a problem with that?”
Apparently, there are more words to say. “No. Do you have a problem guarding the living keeper of my heart and soul?”
Ezra shakes his head, then stretches back out on the couch. “As long as you won’t have a problem guarding mine.”
Every inch of my body tenses. “Have you met your true mate?”
“No, but if you found yours, there’s got to be hope for me.” Ezra closes his eyes on a snort. “And in the meantime, I need to move, walking among the shadows until my hand touches the light. I’ll know when I find it too. The dark is chilling, something I can’t help but recoil from. I have enough darkness in my soul. I don’t need any more.”
“Good luck, brother.” That’s all I can say. This is a journey he must make.
“Luck is for the weak. The strong make their own destinies.” Ezra waves me off. “Go to your woman, before I remind you of your promise to live your own life and—”
“Let you live yours.” I laugh. “Yes, I remember. Anything you need, though—”
“You’ll do for me. Just as I’d do for you. That doesn’t need to be said.” Ezra rests his hand on Odin’s head. “Now that you’re here, I’ve reached out to Kade. He’s going to swing back around and pick us up. Odin likes the plush bed you bought for him better than lying on this hard floor.”
“Odin deserves to be pampered.” And considering the number of toys our pride mates have given him in the days since Ezra brought him home, I’m confident Odin will live a spoiled life.
“Yes, he does.”
I grab the strap of the leather bag Lyla once eyed with interest and jog up the stairs. Ezra might not need any other words, but Lyla does. And I need hers. All my plans hang on the contingency she’ll accept me as her eternal mate.
Twenty-Seven
Lyla
The sound of Uri’s voice in my house means one thing—he’s here for sex.
And I’m not ready.
Cursing, I fan my hair in the spray of steamy water, washing the thick conditioner from the strands. I wanted to style my hair until loose waves caressed my shoulders. Some makeup to cover up my under-eye circles would’ve been nice too. Heck, I’d settle for blow-drying my hair straight and throwing on a little moisturizer at this point, but I’m not going to get the chance to do either.
My oh so very talkative lover and his equally chatty twin won’t spend that much time chitchatting downstairs. I’ll be lucky if they say a couple of words to each other before Uri makes his way upstairs. And, I’m not ready!
Shaving and waxing until every inch of my body is as smooth and as perfect as can be for my lover’s first time with me was stressful, and it took way too much time. Okay, so technically, tonight will be our second time locked together, but Uri didn’t come last time. He will tonight, though. Multiple times, if I have a say in the matter.
Smiling, I turn into the spray of water, washing the last of the soapy bubbles from my body. Never before have I trembled with excitement for sex. Not even when I lost my virginity. Frankly, I didn’t even realize it happened back then. My too-excited teenage lover turned that thirty-second blip of my life into a disappointment. Uri won’t leave me lying there unsatisfied, though. All he has to do is finish what he started: both when he had his face between my legs and when he filled me more completely than any man ever has.
I blow out a breath that intensifies the trembling in my limbs instead of calming me and kill the flow of water with a firm push against the knob. The curtain squeaks with my shove, and then my own pounding pulse echoes in my ears. That’s it. No sound of Uri’s voice. No sight of him either. He didn’t come into my bedroom. I left the door partially open for him. Ready or not, I wasn’t locking him out. I ache for him.
But he’s not here.
With a towel wrapped around my chest and my hair dripping water down my back, I take a single step into my bedroom. Empty. No Uri hiding in the closet or under the bed, not that he’d even fit there. Desperation has me looking, though. Uri texted earlier and told me he
was staying the night. He didn’t ask permission. He told me.
And I ran around like a crazy woman getting ready for him.
Of course, he didn’t actually mention he wanted sex. Eh…if he doesn’t initiate it, I’ll seduce him. I shrug, the thought of coercing him into sex not even fazing me. He might own me, but he’s mine too…every last, delish inch of him.
With a sway in my step, I pad across the room, leaving wet footprints in the thick plush carpet. If Uri doesn’t want to come up, he’ll just have to be informed he’s sharing my bed tonight. There’s nowhere else to sleep. We only have one couch, and Colin gave that up for Ezra. Not sure where Colin’s expecting to sleep. Sam hasn’t spoken more than a grunted response to his questions since she stormed out of my basement lab. Not my problem. Colin’s a big boy. He can sleep outside in his jaguar form if he wants. Uri, on the other hand, doesn’t get that option.
I catch my foot on the partially open door and pull it toward me while I tuck the towel end more firmly into the top edge. The door swings open, and I step back, my hand against my chest.
The huge golden lion blocking my hallway lifts his head and zeroes in on me with pale yellow eyes.
A small squeak escapes me, the sound as primitive as the urge to run tensing my muscles. I grip the doorframe, my nails digging into the wood, and fight the prey instinct. That’s what it is too. This is Uri in his lion form. It has to be. I heard his voice downstairs. No other shifter would come up here and sit in front of my door looking like he wants to devour me. Then again, the predatory way this lion is watching me doesn’t give me any indication of sexual interest. It looks like it wants to hunt me.
“Uri?” My voice sounds as afraid as I feel. There’s no hiding it. I want to run.
The lion pushes to his feet, and the leather purse hanging from his neck swings before settling against his chest.
Tension drains from my body. It is Uri. That’s his man bag that I accidentally teased him about. And the lion’s sleek, powerful muscles and the slight sway to his body as he walks echoes the way Uri moves—confidence and strength in every step.
The lion’s rough yet soft mane brushes against my hand as he passes me. With purposeful strides, the lion walks to my closet, catches the purse’s strap on the knob, then lowers his head, extracting himself from the purse and shaking his mane once free.
My hand over my mouth hides my smile, but no doubt the hope—the excitement—show. I drop my hand.
“Are you giving that to me?” Either that or he’s started carrying it again. He hasn't worn it the last few times I've seen him.
The lion turns his big, shaggy-maned head and focuses on me, studying me with the intensity of a predator before lowering his head in what resembles a nod.
I shut the bedroom door, slamming it a little too hard and shaking the pictures on the wall, but I don’t care. The hand-me-down purse hanging on display is the most beautiful present I’ve ever gotten from any man. I hurry over to where Uri’s lion hung the purse, drop to my knees, and skim a finger over the worn seams and the scratches in the leather, then look over my shoulder at the lion standing at my back. “Is this a present? For me? As in, you’re giving me a present?”
Again the lion nods, his mane brushing my bare shoulder.
Lip caught between my teeth, I unzip the purse and peek inside. A small copy of the Shifter Affairs handbook and a box of bullets for the gun I still haven’t gotten a chance to shoot are tucked neatly at the bottom. I jerk my head and come face-to-face with the lion. His pale yellow eyes still aren’t exactly warm and friendly, but I let my happiness show anyway. “Thank you, Uri.”
After a moment of observing me, the animal raises a paw. I don’t flinch as its paw flexes, exposing wickedly wide, long claws, and snags them in the towel covering my back. Uri’s inside this lion, watching me.
The lion is majestic, a true king, but this isn’t the form I want Uri in tonight.
“Shift for me, Uri. Please?”
As if that’s what he was waiting for, the lion sighs. The hairs on my body stand on end and the air around me warms as the lion’s shape fades, turning him from a sleek killing machine to a mere translucent ghost. Another image merges with the lion’s disappearing one: the walking sex god I’m falling in love with. Color and dimension flood Uri’s image, giving the see-through picture life.
After a long heartbeat, a solid and very touchable Uri stands where the lion had, his clawed hand gripping my towel. Warmly golden and tanned skin covers his muscled body. No clothes. Nothing to hide his true self. Not even the contacts I knew had to be hiding his true eye color. The pale yellow color—the color of his lion’s eyes—burns with all the heat and hunger I didn’t see in his animal’s expression. And his hair…
“Oh God.” I push to my feet, Uri’s clawed fingers dragging the towel from my body as I stand, and touch the pure white strands with shaky fingers. “You have an angel’s hair.”
Uri’s deep laugh and smile spreads heat through my body. I lick my lips, my attention on his mouth and the tips of fangs poking past the line of his teeth. Not dainty, these promise to be as wide and deadly as his cats’ fangs. He could kill me with those fangs, probably has killed people with those fangs, but danger is not the feeling skipping energy down my spine to settle low.
“And you’re my golden girl.” Uri traces my jaw with his sharpened nail. “Aren’t you, baby?”
“Yes.” The answer burns strongly within me, a scream from the depths of my soul. “I’ve always been yours.”
Uri tips up my chin with the same modified claw he traced my jaw with. “But you didn’t wait for me.”
Not a question. Uri’s stating a fact I can’t deny. “I didn’t know there was someone to wait for.”
“But I knew, my little golden girl. All shifters know there’s a chance they’ll meet their true mate.” Uri’s brows turn down, and his eyes narrow, drawing attention to his lightly golden eyebrows and eyelashes, the perfect complement to his skin color. “And I still paid to use a hooker’s body.”
“But you didn’t come.” My argument doesn’t help me. I might not have orgasmed every time I had sex, but I’ve had some good lovers over the years. Other times, I was just so aroused, all I needed was some dirty talk and a little grinding, my lover’s skills not even factoring in.
“No. I didn’t.” Uri shakes his head. “I felt like a failure too. Other than my twin, I didn’t know of any other mature shifter who hasn’t at least jerked off on a woman after riding her body. I couldn’t even do that. I wanted to get away from her as soon as possible.”
With Uri’s pure white hair draped over my palm, I study the angelic strands and try to put my thoughts into words. “Then you’re a better person than I am.”
Uri’s laugh yanks my attention to his face. “Don’t try to make my actions into something romantic or heroic. I felt guilty because Ezra wasn’t with me. I’d tried to get him to go out with me. He refused.” Uri leans close, his lips brushing mine. “It had absolutely nothing to do with waiting for you. I never wanted you. Had planned to ignore you if I ever found you. I failed at that too, didn’t I?”
“Are you trying to hurt me? Punish me because I didn’t save my virginity for you? Is that what this is about?” Sidestepping him, I back up, keeping Uri in my line of sight. “Well, I didn’t know you back then, and I didn’t know I was supposed to be yours. How would I? I’m human. A plain and ordinary human. There’s nothing special about me. Nothing that would make me think I deserve my own angel. Nothing that would make me want to save myself for you. You weren’t even a dream. You were just an awkwardly weird but hot guy assigned to be my mentor. That’s it. You weren’t supposed to be my everything.”
The rambling and cruel words are out of my mouth before I can think them through, just like when I overreacted after oversleeping in Ella’s office. Although those words hadn’t been as sharp, the sentiment is the same.
“Darn you.” I fist my hands and take a few more step
s back, my bed stopping my retreat. “You’re supposed to be loving me, not knocking me so off my game, stupid stuff comes out of my mouth I don’t mean.”
Uri’s heated but condescending stare peruses my naked body, lingering on my breasts that aren’t quite as perky as they were in my twenties and my soft stomach that isn’t as firm or flat as it could be. “That’s what you expect men to do when you stand naked in front of them? Use you. Just as I told you I would.”
Closing my mouth, I stare at him. I don’t know what’s the right thing to say that’ll fix this. Uri’s unlike every other lover I’ve ever had. Then again, that’s what draws me to him. He’s what I need.
The twist to Uri’s mouth hardens. Chin lowered and his focus locked on me, he closes the distance between us, a purposeful stride that speeds my heart. “Well, my golden girl? Is that what you expect? For men to use you? Or to give you exactly what you want, when you want it.”
“Stop.” Bristling, I raise my chin. “Just stop. This is hurting me. Hurting you. Say what you’re getting at or leave. I’ve had enough of this game.”
Uri lowers his upper body, bringing us face-to-face but not touching me. “You don’t get the right to end this. You started this game, baby. You tempted me. Freaking teased me until I hungered. Until I couldn’t walk away from you.”
“Then make your point.” With my palms on his chest, I lean into Uri and lower my voice to a whisper, my plea a cry I don’t know how else to convey. “Please, Uri.”
“You’ve taken other men into your body.” He moves his clawed hand to my neck. The deadly points press against my throat in a gentle hold that keeps my gaze locked to his, waiting for his next command. “Found your pleasure with them. Let them find theirs with you…in you.”