Dangerous thoughts. But impossible ones to ignore. Not that he knew what to do about them.
“You’re staring at me,” she whispered, her breath hitching as she lifted herself on her elbows, staring at him over the trembling line of her body. “And you have the strangest look on your face.”
“Not strange,” he rasped, the corner of his mouth twisting with a tight, wry smile. “Believe it or not, honey, that’s just my happy look. Feel kinda like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
She fell back against the bed again as she gave a soft laugh, her hands clutching back onto handfuls of the sheet. “You’re a madman, Aiden.”
Yeah. Probably. God only knew that he must look like one. Sweat covered his face, his chest, the craving twisting him up inside, scraping and raw, no doubt etched into his expression. He wanted to mark her, branding her body in ways that would let every other male out there know they had no claim on her.
That she was his and no one else’s.
For the moment, sneered an all-too-human voice in his head. Only for the moment.
He snarled the bastard back into hiding, unwilling to listen to his bullshit. Not now. Not when he really was about to experience the closest thing to heaven he knew he’d ever get.
“You’re so beautiful,” he groaned, lowering his face, unable to fight the urgent need to get his mouth on her. He’d feared that panic might take hold of him when he got to this point, but he shouldn’t have worried. There was no reminder from his past. No unwanted memories or emotions. There was just Liv, the intoxicating feel and taste of her exploding through his body, drenching his senses in pleasure.
“So good,” he growled, licking her, his tongue in ecstasy as it lapped at her glistening flesh, then thrust inside the tiny opening, going deep. She didn’t taste as good as she smelled. She tasted better. Like strawberries and sugar and heaven. Yum.
She writhed beneath him as he whispered hoarse, broken phrases, telling her how gorgeous she was, how incredible she tasted, using carnal words that had her pale skin burning with heat, her entire body covered in a dark, brilliant blush. Aiden couldn’t get enough of the taste of her skin, her flavor, nearly dying when her back arched, a throaty cry spilling from her lips as she crashed over the edge, pulsing against his mouth in a sweet, melting rush of pleasure.
“That was…I didn’t know how it would…that I could actually…” She struggled to get the husky words out between her panting breaths, her voice blissed-out and dreamy.
Aiden licked his lips, starving for her. “Yeah, it was. I want more.”
“No, wait. I want to be able to touch you, too.”
His beast roared at the idea, and Aiden knew he was pushing it. He’d known that going down on her would whip the animal into a frenzy, but he hadn’t been able to deny himself a taste of her. And now that he’d had one, he needed another.
“You can touch me after,” he groaned, flicking his tongue against the swollen knot of her clit. “Right now I just need to keep doing this.”
And boy did he do it well. Taking a deep breath, Olivia lifted her head, needing to see it. Aiden. Between her legs. His pink tongue lapping at her, licking her. Those hard, beautiful features pulled into an expression of pure, breathtaking lust. Need. Hunger.
She moved her gaze down his body, his weight balanced on his left arm and his knees, and almost came again when she saw him stroking his cock in a hard, brutal-looking grip with his right hand. She blinked, wetting her lips, thinking it was incredibly erotic, not to mention sexy as hell, that going down on her made him want to touch himself.
He flicked his golden eyes up to her face and found her staring at him. “The beast,” he growled, his mouth slick with her juices. “If I don’t take care of this, I’m going to…” His voice broke, his eyes flashing…the sharp points of his teeth edging beneath the sensual curve of his upper lip, and she realized his fangs were descending. That he was…changing, at least partly. The hard, hungry look on his face as he started to crawl his way over her—his body moving like a sleek, powerful predator—should have scared the hell out of her, but it didn’t. It just made her hotter, needier…everything inside her screaming to get as much of this man as she could.
You’re losing your mind, woman. We’re talking grade A certifiable.
Maybe. But in that moment she honestly didn’t give a damn.
“Aiden.” She cleared her throat, trying to talk past the twisted knot of lust and emotion that was choking her. “Come closer.”
When his face was just above hers, he stopped, his sweet breath warm against her mouth as he stared down into her eyes with a dark, hypnotic look that made her burn with heat. He lifted his right hand, laying it against the curve of her cheek, his thumb stroking the corner of her mouth. His gaze fell, following the lazy movement of his thumb as he swept it across her lower lip, his breathing loud against the heavy silence of the room. Flicking her tongue out, Olivia licked the tip of his thumb, and his gaze flew up, locking with her own.
A rough, guttural sound vibrated in his throat. And then he was kissing her. Or rather, consuming her. His tongue swept past her lips, claiming…seducing, with bone-melting, heart-pounding skill.
“Touch me, damn it.” The low growl blasted against her mouth, and then he was kissing her again, harder, wetter, his head angling to the side for a deeper connection as she reached between them, wrapping her fingers around his heavy cock. She squeezed, milking him, and he broke the kiss, chanting a breathless, sexy string of swearwords against her cheek, her temple, his lips moving against her skin in a soft, sensual brush.
Knowing she’d go crazy if she didn’t get him inside her, Olivia arched her hips. She was angling his cock toward that part of her that so desperately needed to be filled, Aiden’s right hand roughly shoving up her sweater, when the first knock sounded against the bedroom door. They both froze, her eyes wide, his narrowed with fury.
“What?” he snarled, dropping to his side as a second knock came, this one louder than the first.
“Sorry to, uh, interrupt,” Kellan called through the door, “but Jamie nodded off during the movie and we think she must have had a bad dream. She woke up asking for Liv, and she’s starting to get a little anxious.”
Olivia scrambled to her feet, quickly pulling her jeans back on, while Aiden remained on the bed, one arm thrown over his eyes, his cock rising high against his ridged stomach, so hard it looked painful. His chest rose and fell as he took a series of slow, deep breaths. “Sorry,” she whispered, biting the corner of her lip. She hated that she had to leave him like that, knowing damn well he didn’t deserve it after everything he’d done to her. For her. “I…you know I have to go.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” he rasped, still covering his eyes. “She needs you, and it’s not like a hard-on is gonna kill me.” Another deep breath lifted his chest, the light glinting against the tip of a fang just beneath his upper lip. “It’s probably better this way. I seem to be a little low on control tonight.”
“Is control so important?”
A gritty, bitter laugh. “Honey, you have no idea.”
Wondering what he was hiding, she turned away, her heart still beating like a trapped bird within her chest. Somehow she managed to make her way toward the door, even though her legs felt like overcooked linguini.
“Liv.”
With one hand on the door, she looked at him over her shoulder.
He’d lifted his head, his gaze shadowed by the thick, golden fringe of his lashes. “Just so you know, that’s how it’ll be between us every time. You won’t ever have to fake it or pretend something you don’t feel.”
She gave him a tremulous smile, painfully aware that she was feeling so much more than she should. Certain, now, that there was nothing she could do to stop it.
You’re gonna be sorry. And then you’re gonna feel like a fool.
“Try to get some rest,” she told him, turning a deaf ear to the words being whispered through her mind. Then
she hurried through the door, leaving the ultimate temptation behind her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Iowa
Late Sunday afternoon
IT’D BEEN A BITCH OF A DAY, the traveling taking its toll on each and every one of them. Not to mention the stress. Aiden had wanted to say to hell with the tedious way of traveling—the constant backtracking to throw off any Casus who might be on their trail—and make a fast, straight run for Colorado. But Kierland had cautioned him against it, claiming that the safest place for them right now might very well be out in the middle of nowhere. At least until they had a better understanding of what they were up against. When he’d talked to Kierland that morning, he’d learned that another Watchman had been killed, this one in South Africa. Compounds were going on high alert all around the world, and Quinn was keeping a close eye on things back at Ravenswing. They had the most high-tech security available at the Colorado compound, but there was no way of telling how it would hold up against this strange new threat that was targeting the shifters.
Determined to offer Liv and Jamie as much protection as possible, Aiden had called in one of their colleagues, Morgan Cantrell, from the Watchmen compound in Reno. Morgan had been on the road for hours, after flying in to Des Moines, and was set to catch up with them any time now. They’d pulled into a populated rest stop about ten minutes ago to wait for her, giving everyone a chance to get out and stretch their legs for a bit.
While Kellan and Noah were grabbing sodas from the small shop set up at the far end of the parking strip, Aiden stood beside the truck and smoked a cigarette, the late-afternoon breeze whipping at the shoulder-length strands of his hair. Liv was still sitting in the truck with Jamie, who hadn’t woken up from her nap yet, the engine left on so that they could have the heater running on low.
Leaning back against the driver’s door, Aiden tilted his head back and stared up at the dark blue of the sky, trying to find a moment of stillness…of peace. But his head just kept spinning around and around.
Something had changed between him and Olivia during those minutes they’d spent in his hotel room the night before, the stakes even higher now than he’d imagined they’d be. The rational part of his brain knew he should cut his losses while he still could, but being with her just felt too good.
Better than good. Damn it, being with her felt right.
He’d been sucked in, and now he just wanted to wallow for as long as he could, soaking in the warmth and sweetness before he found himself shoved back out into the bitter, biting cold. And he had no doubt that the cold front would hit, leaving him right back where he’d started, fucking his way through an endless stream of women who didn’t mean jack to him. Who never reached beneath his skin. Never made him think about impossible things he knew he had no business thinking about. Especially with a human.
It had been dangerous enough getting involved with her when the only thing drawing him to her was that lush, evocative scent. That brutal, intense physical pull. Then he’d had to go and get to know her, discovering that he actually liked her. A lot. Enough to make every moment he spent with her a monumental kind of mistake, for the simple fact that Olivia Harcourt was not the kind of woman he could keep.
Hell, even if he ignored his messed-up past and the fact that he would never truly trust her not to betray him, there was still the fact that she wanted that nice little slice of normal for her life. And God only knew that he was anything but. Even in the bizarre world of the clans, Aiden was something screwed up and different.
And yet, despite the fact that he couldn’t have been further from what she wanted for a serious relationship, there was no denying that she was attracted to him sexually. They had lust, and Aiden was desperate enough to use it. He just had to figure out a way to touch her without almost losing it, as he had last night.
And if you can’t? What then?
Before he could start another internal debate over his pathetic lack of control, the door opened on the opposite side of the truck, her scent hitting him like a physical punch as the wind whipped it around his head, making his mouth water. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the verbal lashing he expected she’d been itching to deliver, considering he’d been acting like a prick for most of the day.
From the corner of his eye he watched as she came around the back of the truck then leaned against its side, leaving a few feet between them, as if they needed the buffer zone. “Are you okay?” she asked.
A low, gritty laugh rumbled up from his chest, and Aiden shook his head, still staring up at the fiery blue of the sky, thinking that this woman would never cease to surprise him. Here he’d been expecting her to lay into him like a shrew, and instead her soft voice held only the tender, resonating notes of concern.
Taking a deep drag on the cigarette, he slowly exhaled, watching the billowing thread of smoke fade to blue. “I’m fine, Liv.”
“You look as if you’re a million miles away.”
“I’ve just got a lot on my mind. Molly called a few minutes ago.”
“Did she hear from Monica again?”
“Yeah.” He took another deep drag on the cigarette, letting the smoke burn his lungs. Exhaled with a hard breath that revealed his frustration. “But I don’t know what to believe.”
“Why? What did Monica say?”
“Not much.” Lifting his free hand, he worried two fingers against the hard set of his jaw. “She can’t give us anything solid about that bastard that attacked us, or the other Watchmen murders. But it sounds as if she agrees with Kierland.”
“You mean about us staying on the road right now?” she asked with a soft note of surprise.
He responded with a sharp nod, took another drag, then flicked the cigarette onto the asphalt and ground it out with the bottom of his boot. “But it doesn’t make any sense. I can surround you with protection at Ravenswing. But the longer we wander around out here, their chances of getting to us are only gonna get better.”
She was quiet for a moment, the heat of her gaze burning against his profile, and then she asked, “Did Monica have any information about Chloe?”
Aiden shook his head again, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “No, but Mols told me that a teenager’s been reported missing back in Lennox. The girl lived next door to your friend’s house.” Turning his head, he met the wide-eyed surprise of her stare. “We don’t have any proof, but I’d be willing to bet my ass that more Casus must have arrived after we left on Friday night.”
“Oh, God,” she gasped, her face completely draining of color as she pressed one slender hand to her mouth.
Knowing damn well what she was thinking, he said, “It’s not your fault, Liv.”
“You…you said that she’s missing,” she whispered unsteadily. “So…they haven’t found a body. Couldn’t…couldn’t she have maybe run away?”
“I doubt it.” He cut his gaze toward the tall woods that edged the rest stop, hating that shattered look on her face. The watery sheen of tears in her violet eyes. “We wouldn’t have expected there to be a body. They probably took her somewhere and charred it.”
“Ch-charred it?”
A muscle ticked in the side of his jaw, his hands itching with the need to reach out and grab her, pulling her against his chest, where he could just hold on to her. Do his best to offer what comfort he could, though he didn’t have a clue how to do it.
Clearing his throat, he answered her question. “For the most part, the Collective have been using a chemical compound to cover the evidence of any Casus kills. It’s one that they bioengineered to burn a body down without any flames, making it impossible to determine how the kill was made.”
“But Monica’s body wasn’t burned.”
“There have been a few cases where the compound wasn’t used. Monica was one of them. We think they were probably scared off and her body discovered before they were able to come back and destroy it.”
Though she didn’t say anything, Aiden could feel the force of her
anguish blasting against him as she thought about her sister and the teenage girl. He was usually clueless at reading a woman’s emotions, unless she happened to be pissed off at him. But for some reason, he felt completely attuned to Liv, sensing her pain as if it were his own, which just set him even further on edge, cranking up his tension.
Silence settled between them, as heavy as the clouds that were rolling in from the east. He was about to suggest they wake Jamie up, so that she could get out and run around for a bit, when Liv finally spoke up. “Are you sure there isn’t something else that’s bothering you?” she asked, the change in subject not one Aiden would have chosen. But he figured he might as well go ahead and get it over with.
“I can tell you’re hankering to bitch about something.” He slid her a wary look, knowing that he sounded like a jackass. “So why don’t you go ahead and just spit it out?”
For a moment she looked as if he’d slapped her, but then she shook it off, saying, “You could have just stopped.”
Aiden arched his right brow. “Stopped what?”
“Last night.”
“Yeah.” Another low, gritty bark of laughter scratched his throat, and he rolled his eyes. “Like that would have ever happened. You really don’t understand much about guys and sex, do you?”
She blanched, spinning around with the obvious intent of getting away from him. Quietly cursing himself for acting like such a jerk, Aiden reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her before she could walk away. “Liv,” he said softly, “look at me.”
She took a deep breath, cast a cautious look over her shoulder.
“I’m in a shitty mood today,” he told her, reaching out with his free hand to catch loose strands of her hair, tucking the fiery curls behind her ear. “But that doesn’t mean I regret what happened between us.”
She narrowed her eyes, obviously trying to decide whether or not she ought to believe him. “If that’s true, then what’s your problem? You’ve been acting pissy all day.”
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