Watching them made Kyla’s chest warm and her cheeks hurt from smiling. Her lioness rubbed through her head like a cat between a person’s legs.
They were happy. The cutesy kind that overloaded most people with too much sugary-sweet and turned disgusting after more than a few minutes of unshielded contact. It was so different from the pairings she’d grown up around. Even her parents, who she thought genuinely loved each other, kept a cool distance between each other.
Trent didn’t lord over her. Hailey wasn’t forced to hide her thoughts or feelings so he didn’t turn mean. Even with conflict knocking on their door, they were there for each other.
Kyla wanted that. She didn’t ever want to question which side of the hot or cold coin she’d find when the truck pulled up. She’d lived with enough uncertainty to last a lifetime. She needed to know where she stood.
No more wondering.
No more waiting.
She was tougher than she thought. And she deserved some answers.
Chapter 15
“You came back. I wasn’t sure if you would,” Kyla said. She stood unmoving at the top of the stairs as Lindley slowly mounted them, craning her neck to meet his eyes.
He stopped so close she could feel the heat rolling off him. “I wasn’t sure I would, either.”
“What made you change your mind?”
He glanced behind him at a second truck. Lights slashed over them both as the driver cut to the side and pulled to a stop. Rhys stepped out and made his way into his den with barely a glance in their direction.
Lindley turned back to her. “Can we go inside? I don’t like to see you out in the cold.” He frowned and rubbed the spot just over his heart.
“It’s just as cold inside as it is out here.” Except for the bedroom. Kyla’s cheeks heated. She did not want to think about him anywhere warm, soft, or where she curled up at the end of the day. Cold suited much better.
“I’ll start a fire.”
She dipped her chin once and stepped aside. He stood on the step for a second longer, eyes searching her face, before he reached a hand for hers. Warmth spread through her palm as he laced their fingers together and pulled her toward the door with him.
Her lioness stretched inside her as more and more warmth filled her chest. Tight muscles relaxed. Even her heart seemed to thump into action again.
She followed him into his den and waited for him to say something. Anything.
He stayed quiet when he gently nudged her to sit on the couch. Silence filled the room as he disappeared down the hall and returned a moment later to drape the comforter from the bed over her lap. Filling the fireplace with wood sounded like air sirens by comparison.
Kyla shifted in her seat while he poked and prodded the logs. Flames licked up the sides as the fire took hold. It would have been nice under different circumstances. She could even imagine the cozy scene with s’mores and cocoa and cuddling under the blanket. The reality wilted the blossom of hope he’d given her when he spoke to her for the first time in days.
“I’ve been thinking,” she broke the quiet with a near whisper that seemed too loud. Her lioness rolled through her in objection. The beast wanted out, now. Anything to keep her tied to the spot and the words out of her mouth. “Maybe it’d be for the best if I leave in the morning.”
“What?” Lindley rocked back on his heels. He blinked, shook his head, and blinked again. “You can’t go.”
“I don’t want to be a burden anymore.”
“You’re not a burden.”
“Lies! Lindley, stop lying to yourself. Stop lying to me.” She threw her hands in the air as the frustrations of the past few days erupted out of her. “You think I didn’t notice you avoiding me? That all was right in this silent, cold den you stashed me away in? You won’t look at me. You sure as hell don’t talk to me. Everyone is on high alert and patrolling the territory because of me. Tell me how that isn’t being a burden.”
He growled and rose to his feet. Quick steps carried him away from her, then back again. “I’m trying to protect you!”
“You’re not protecting me! You’re pushing me away and I hate it!” A tiny growl rattled in her throat as she struggled to get out from under the comforter and stand on the couch at the same time. Wobbling, she planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Lindley pursed his lips. His brows shot together and he shook his head. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t know. It felt right to be on eye level when yelling at you!”
The tension broke with his huffed laugh. Still shaking his head, he took a seat on the couch and looked up at her. “Will you sit, please? I don’t want you breaking your neck.”
Kyla plopped down and drew the blanket around her. Fine. She was safer without the danger of pitching forward into the fireplace or going over backward and cracking her head open. But that didn't mean he succeeded in protecting her. She just chose to stay on his level. It just so happened to be on the couch.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and plucked at the blanket. “I’m sick of secrets. I’m tired of being left in the dark. Decisions have been made for me without my input for too long. My best friend hid reconnecting with you. You claim to want to help, then ignore me when we get a little too close. I just want to know what the hell is going on and not be told like I’m an afterthought.”
“I never wanted to make you feel like a burden. You’re not the one at fault here. I am.” His throat worked with a hard swallow. “My lion is sick, Kyla. He wants to fight all the damn time. You look at me and see another Levine male. A killer. It’s in my fucking blood. I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping you apart from that.” He let go of a harsh breath and said, almost too low to hear, “I don’t want you to end up like my mother.”
The air crackled with the admission. Kyla turned slowly and watched him carefully. “Lin, what happened the night your mother died? Why did you leave?”
She held her breath. He’d explained why he shut her out. Delving into the past pushed for more than he may have wanted to share.
“You know,” he said after a moment of staring into the flames, “I can’t even remember what they were fighting about that night. They sort of all blend together. But that was his magic. A fight existed and didn’t exist at the same time. He made us question everything. Thoughts, actions. Nothing was real unless he deemed it so, and even that could change if he needed his reality to look a little different.
“Roland had been talking for weeks about setting her aside and taking a new mate. Agreeable was the word he used over and over. He didn’t like being questioned, especially not by someone he considered beneath him.”
“That hasn’t changed,” Kyla murmured.
A low growl rattled in his throat, in and out with his breath. The sawing sound set her lioness on edge.
She crawled her hand across the space between them and brushed her fingers over the top of his hand. Immediately, he flipped his palm over. She slid her hand against his. And… his growl stopped.
His wasn’t the only discomfort that went away at the touch. Her own inner animal quieted and sank down inside her.
“That night… something just snapped. I’d had enough of hearing her try to keep silent when he hit her. I wasn’t a boy anymore, I realized. I could do something about it. I got down the stairs, and everything just went quiet.”
Kyla’s stomach sank. She knew the conclusion, even if the details had been lies. Laura Levine, alpha’s mate, never took another breath, another step. She never offered drinks to anyone who passed through her front door or shooed her children out of the kitchen when they tried to ruin their dinner with snacks. She died on the floor of her home.
Lindley tightened his grip on her hand. “He looked down at her with this... smirk on his face and said, ‘There. Now I have a mate who doesn’t talk back.’” A muscle jumped along his clenched jaw. “I was across the living room before I even knew I was moving. I would have kil
led him, but he called his guards before I could do more than throw a punch. Somewhere in the middle of it all, he looked at me and I saw this... glint in his eye. I wasn’t his son anymore. I was competition he needed to get rid of.
“That was when Sage came down. The others had me pinned, our mother was dead, and Roland swept an arm over the whole scene like a ringmaster. ‘Look at what your brother has done,’ he declared. And that was that. They left me for dead on the edge of the territory and Roland threatened to do the same to Sage as he did to our mother if he saw me again.
“You blame me for leaving and turning the world inside out. I had no choice. My life was on the line. I didn’t want to go, but there are only so many directions you can crawl in the dark. I had the weight of a murder on my shoulders. My mother was dead. My sister hated me.” Lindley pointed toward the door. “All I want to do is drive straight home and burn that entire pride to the ground. I should have done it years ago. I was weak then, and I’m weak now. If anything happened to you because of me, I don’t think I could live with myself.”
Kyla scooted closer until she was right next to him. Eyes locked on his, she pressed her palm over his heart. “That’s not weakness, Lindley. That’s called caring.”
Gruff man. Protective man. He wore his hurts and pains on his sleeve and called it hidden away. He wasn’t the enemy. He’d never been the problem. He was another victim of Roland’s destruction.
She didn’t need him to spell it out for her, either. He’d failed to protect his mother. He saw the past repeating when she landed in his lap. Sage was more proof of his inadequacy. In that light, shutting everyone out before he watched the seemingly inevitable end was self-preservation.
And now he’d taken the huge step of letting her in.
She didn’t know what the next morning would bring. The future was an utter mystery. Right then, the feel of his heart against her palm, she didn’t care. She wanted to feel close to someone who understood the aches in her chest. She wanted to feel close to him.
Kyla leaned in and kissed the side of his mouth.
He pulled back. “Kyla…” he rumbled thickly.
“Don’t,” she countered. “Don’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t want. I’ve had enough orders to last a lifetime. I want this, Lin. I want you.”
“I’m no good for you,” he said against her lips. “I’m still a Levine. Still an asshole.”
“Let me be the judge of that.” She leaned in and sucked his bottom lip.
He groaned and slowly raised his lids. Copper churned in the center of his eyes as his mouth hitched up on one side. “I trust you.”
Butterflies burst to life in her stomach. Three magic words unlocked her heart. She didn’t want to be coddled. She didn’t want to be protected or cared for or any of the bullshit words Roland and his males used to seem reasonable while forcing her obedience. Trust was the crucial element missing from her life. Good decisions, bad ones, they were hers to make.
Lindley trusted her enough to make them.
Chapter 16
She chose him.
The enormity wasn’t lost on Lindley. Kyla had been stripped of her choices for years, not allowed to work where she wanted, go where she pleased, or even choose the mate she desired. After all the shit she’d waded through, she chose him.
He sifted his hands into her hair as he leaned in to kiss her. Softly, at first. A small taste.
Kyla nipped at his lower lip again and dragged a growl out of him.
Lindley cupped the back of her neck and spilled her into his lap. Fire licked at his insides with the first press of her tongue against his. Her throaty moan urged him in, spun him out, tightened his balls until he was ready to explode. His gums ached with the press of fangs and bad ideas to mark her, mate her, claim her as his.
Fuck, he should pull away. He wasn’t good for her for all the shit he’d told her. He was innocent of the crime that’d been dumped on him, but others? He was rough, raw, and wanted to rip apart their old pride. Would rip them apart given half a chance.
He eased back to suck down a breath of refreshing air. All he inhaled was more of the intoxicating woman reorienting herself on his lap. Sweet apples, crisp, clean soap, baked earth… her scent made him rumble with pleasure.
He pressed her hands to his chest. “Do whatever you want,” he murmured against her lips, throwing his arms over the back of the couch.
She sucked in a breath, eyes churning with the gold of her inner cat. His beast licked his lips, suddenly very much wanting to see her other half running free.
Kyla dragged her hands down his chest, then under the hem of his shirt. Her chest rose and fell in quick pants while her fingers traced the waist of his jeans. Lindley rolled his eyes closed at the feel of her so close. So hot. He dug his fingers into the couch to keep from grabbing her waist and rocking her against him.
Slow. They could be slow. Needed to be. He didn’t want to rush her into anything she wasn’t ready for. And frankly, he’d been an ass-and-a-half. He didn’t deserve the kisses she’d given.
She slid her hands under his shirt, thumbs catching the hem as she roamed upwards. She left a trail of scorching fire where she touched that the chill of the room couldn’t compete against.
Her eyes roamed over his chest the moment he tossed his shirt to the side. Her nails dragged down his skin, then turned to tracing the faint marks of scars and bruises. Some old, some new, they were the signs of the rough life he’d led. Son of an alpha and raised to fight, he had to keep his inner beast steady with a constant supply of brawls.
A flicker passed through her eyes and he stayed utterly still as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his pec. “You can do whatever you want, too.”
Lindley let off a feral noise as he held her close and pushed off the couch. He carried her into the bedroom and kicked the door closed. He wanted her warmer as he stripped her bare.
He let her slide to the ground and held her flush to him as he nibbled a path down her neck. Her heart skittered in her chest when he pushed her jacket off her shoulders and landed his hands on her hips.
Lindley dipped his head and brushed his lips to hers at the same time he slid his hands under her shirt. She groaned into his mouth and he dragged her tighter against him, deepening their kiss. He wanted more. He wanted to feel her, taste her.
He dragged her shirt over her head and bent for another kiss as he reached around her back to undo her bra. He touched and teased every inch of skin until he dropped to his knees and helped her out of the rest of her clothes.
“Damn.” He dragged his gaze up her body slowly, taking in all the dips and flares. He wanted to lick every inch of skin she’s let him expose. Planned to, before the night was over. His job wouldn’t be complete until she sank into sleep, utterly satisfied and unable to keep going. “You’re even more gorgeous than I imagined.”
Kyla gulped, eyes wide. “You’ve thought about me?”
“Of course I have.” He threw her a roguish smirk. “I’m not a saint, sweetheart.”
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t drop her eyes. She caught her lower lip between her teeth before asking in a rush, “What sort of things?”
Lindley bent his head and planted a kiss on her hip. “This. Stripping you down.” He kissed her other hip and rolled his eyes upward. “Spreading your legs wide and licking into you. Do you know fucking delicious you smell?”
“No one has ever done that before,” she said in a husky voice.
A possessive growl rumbled through him. He didn’t want to think of anyone getting her naked, much less leaving her unsatisfied. “Then let me show you what you’ve been missing.”
He waited a second for her to stop him. When she didn’t, he kissed a straight line from her hip and licked between her folds.
Her taste exploded on his tongue, a fresh mix of sweet, thick arousal that made his cock throb. “Fuck,” he groaned and dove back for more, pumping his fingers into her.
She was enoug
h to drive a man insane. Her sweet taste, the little whimpers that dripped from her lips. She threatened to send him over the edge with the way her eyebrows drew together and her cheeks flooded with rosy color as she teetered closer to her release. Her panted breath led him on, licking, sucking, giving her everything she needed before she fell.
Kyla’s hands tightened in his hair as her mouth dropped open with a silent scream. She throbbed around his fingers, but he didn’t stop. He carried her through the last of her aftershocks and brought her back down gently before pulling free and pressing kisses to the insides of her trembling thighs.
Mate.
He didn’t have the strength to deny his lion. Kyla called to man and beast both and idiots that they were, they stuck out their necks for her to wrap leashes around. Dangerous to tempt fate and stick by her side. Just as dangerous to push her away and continue down his dark path without a bright light guiding him back.
Lindley pushed to his feet, eyes locked with Kyla’s. Clear grey churned with gold, more and more of the bright color swirling in the center. “Whatever you want,” he said, voice low and gravelly.
What fucking idiots their old pride had been to try to force her into submission. She wasn’t someone to be underestimated.
She was a damn queen.
* * *
Power. He offered her power.
The power to choose. The power to feel. To heal. There was an addictive rush in the air, and it stemmed from the man inches from her. He didn’t push. He didn’t beg. Lindley let her reach for whatever she wanted.
She wanted him.
Kyla closed the last few inches between them and lifted her chin. His mouth crashed down on hers in a hungry, devouring kiss that shot sparks down her spine and into her toes. She met him stroke for stroke, licking and nipping and taking as much as she gave.
She yanked on his belt, drawing the leather from the loops while his fingers fumbled with the button of his jeans. The world spun out of control and it wasn’t until she landed on the soft mattress she realized what had been done. Kyla lifted up on her elbows in time to see Lindley kick out of his boots and jeans.
Savage Claim: Lion Hearts Book Two Page 10