by Cynthia Eden
Instead, he climbed into the bed with her.
Her lashes lifted. “Rayce?”
“Can’t have you trying to run again. You need rest, so you’re going to get it.” He pulled her close to him. She put her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear. Such a strong, steady beat.
That beat lulled her into sleep.
Her last thought was…an angel should never sleep in the arms of a werewolf. That was asking for trouble. He could slash away the last of her wings in an instant. She’d be completely vulnerable, at his mercy but…
Lila felt safe.
In a werewolf’s arms.
***
Kale stared at the cabin. The lights were off inside. They’d been off the entire time. He’d been in the darkness outside, planning his attack, when the angel had appeared. She’d run out of the cabin with her wings wide behind her. She’d run toward him, as if she could see him hiding in the darkness. As if she were running to him.
Just liked I’d dreamed.
Sometimes, his dreams came true. Even the darkest ones.
He’d reached his hand toward her but—
She’d hit some kind of force field. A paranormal safeguard. He’d wondered if one would be in place. She’d hit it, and she’d screamed in agony.
The werewolf had appeared then. Kale had known what the guy was from that first glance. He’d known who the bastard was. Rayce Lovel had a reputation. Most said he was the most powerful werewolf to walk the earth. Kale didn’t particularly care about that rumor. The one that bothered him…that was the story that Rayce was one of Luke Thorne’s most trusted confidants. Part of Luke’s very much closed inner circle.
Luke Thorne was an old problem. One that Kale hadn’t seen in many centuries. If Luke was trying to get Kale’s angel, though…
Then maybe it’s time I ended you, Lord of the Dark.
Did Luke realize just what the angel would become? Was that why his guard dog had her? It wouldn’t matter. Kale would get the angel, one way or another.
And when she was truly his, there would be no stopping him. Their union would make them more powerful than Luke. More powerful than his asshole brother Leo. More powerful than any other being on earth.
Then they’d rule that earth.
I just have to get my angel to change.
There was no sign of the angel right then. After she had screamed, the werewolf had grabbed the angel and forced her back into the cabin. The bastard had dared to touch her.
He would pay. Kale would make sure that he cut off the werewolf’s hands. You don’t touch what I will own.
“Kale?” It was the low, careful voice of Brody, one of his most trusted guards. Kale had spent the last few years surrounding himself with guards like Brody. Humans…but those he’d made sure were prepared for the supernatural battles that came their way.
I needed humans close to me…Luke Thorne doesn’t control humans. And Leo foolishly thinks they need protecting. That was why they were the best forces to have at Kale’s side.
“What do you want us to do?” Brody asked.
Kale cast a glance up at the dark sky. Was the angel being punished in the cabin? He could hear no sound and could detect no scent from inside. Another part of the paranormal protection, he was sure. “They won’t stay in there forever.” No, he suspected the wolf would be taking the angel back to Luke Thorne at the earliest opportunity, just like a good errand boy. “They’ll come out eventually.” He rubbed his chin. “Probably at first light. We should be ready for them.” He’d have to catch the werewolf off-guard. Kale nodded. The angel would get caught in the cross-fire, but that, too, would work well for him. In order for the angel to become what he needed her to be…well, she had to be born through pain. Pain was the only option for her. Especially if he wanted her to be perfect.
And you will be, angel. I’ll make sure you’re just like me.
Smiling, Kale said, “Here’s what I need you to do…”
Chapter Five
He wasn’t in bed when she opened her eyes. Lila stretched slowly and her hand moved to touch the pillow next to hers.
Cold. Rayce had been gone a long time.
Why did that make her feel…sad?
She dressed quickly, using her power because she was stronger after having rested, and a few moments later, she was opening the bedroom door. Scents hit her then…scrambled eggs and buttery biscuits. She could hear the sizzle of bacon.
“Almost done,” Rayce called without looking up from his bacon. “Why don’t you go ahead and have a seat?”
He’d made breakfast for them. Two plates were on the table, with utensils nearby. She hurried into the kitchen and sat down quickly, her stomach already rumbling. She was silent as he put the food in front of her, and Lila wanted to snatch out and immediately gobble everything down. Instead, she held herself in check, barely.
Rayce sat next to her, and the warmth from his body seemed to slide along her skin. “Go ahead,” he rumbled, “eat.”
She reached for her fork, but then she hesitated. “Why are you being kind to me?”
His mouth tightened. “We both needed to eat. It’s not a big deal.”
It was. “Werewolves aren’t…kind.” That just wasn’t their nature. They were savage, predatory, deadly. Everyone said so. All the paranormals, anyway.
Rayce picked up his fork and began to eat. “Let me guess,” he said after he’d downed some eggs. “Your buddy Leo taught you that, hmmm?”
“Leo isn’t my buddy.” But she’d thought he was. She’d thought he was her friend, someone she could count on in her most desperate hour. He was the Lord of the Light. He was supposed to protect the paranormals like her.
Not sell us out.
How many lies had he told her over the years? How many secrets had he kept?
She began to eat, slowly, and, just like the soup from last night, the meal he’d prepared was absolutely delicious. The werewolf knew his way around a kitchen.
And he knows his way around a woman’s body.
“You’re blushing,” Rayce noted. His voice sounded amused. “I do sure wish I knew what you were thinking right now.”
Lila almost dropped her fork. She looked up and found his gaze on her.
“Want to share?”
She shouldn’t. But…“You didn’t have sex with me.”
His eyes widened. Very slowly, he put his fork down on the table. Then each of his hands gripped the table’s rounded edge. A very tight grip. She could see his knuckles whiten. “Did you want to have sex with me?”
“I—” Yes.
“I promised you no pain. I’m a big guy, all the way around, sweetheart, understand?’
Um, yes, she did. She had seen him naked after a shift.
“You haven’t had sex before. The first time with me…it might hurt you. I’ll try to make you ready, but even then, there could be pain. I promised you no pain, so that was what I delivered.”
Pleasure. He’d given her so much pleasure. She wanted more. But…she wasn’t supposed to want that, was she? She wasn’t supposed to want him. He was wrong for someone like her. Angels and werewolves didn’t mix.
More rules. I hate the rules.
Her gaze fell back to her plate, and she ate in silence. Lila didn’t know what to say to him. She wasn’t used to being so close to a man who’d known such intimacies with her. And she…she was afraid.
Is he taking me back to Luke? She didn’t want a face-off with the Lord of the Dark. The very fact that Luke was interested in her was a bad sign. It meant…I’m becoming dark, too.
“You had help, didn’t you, Lila? Someone told you how to connect to the paranormal underworld. That’s how you knew to visit Maverick’s.”
She took a long gulp of her orange juice. Ratting out a friend didn’t seem like a good idea. “You think I didn’t find the place on my own? I’m smarter than you believe.”
“Sweetheart, I know you’re smart. You survived on you
r own, dodging me, for months.” He’d already cleaned his plate. His head tilted as he studied her. “But I still think you’ve had assistance. It would be someone you trust…so I’m figuring it’s maybe one of your companions from the time you were held captive.”
Because she hadn’t been the only one taken prisoner. The madman who’d held her—he’d been collecting paranormals, using them to create the perfect spell to bring back his dead wife.
“The witch was there.” Rayce tapped his chin. “But Luke has been keeping tabs on her. You haven’t been anywhere near her place in New Orleans.”
No, she hadn’t.
“The muse.”
She didn’t let her expression change.
“She vanished from Luke’s radar.”
Good for her.
“But she showed up on yours, didn’t she?” His gaze had turned assessing. “The muse is the one who told you about Maverick’s.”
The muse had a name. Sabrina. And yes, Sabrina was her friend. Sabrina had comforted her when Lila had been in hell, and then, when Lila had been running scared, Sabrina had found her. She’d tried to help. Lila would not sell her out now.
“You can’t trust a muse. A muse’s whole purpose is to obsess her prey. She binds humans to her, and inspires them straight into madness.” He shook his head. A low whistle escaped him. “And you think I’m bad.”
“Are you?” She squared her shoulders and knew she needed the truth. “Are you bad? Because you keep doing things…like this.” She gestured to their meal. “You cook for me. You give me pleasure. You…protect me.” And she didn’t understand. “Why? Why are you doing this if you’re just going to force me back to Luke? You don’t have to show me kindness. It’s not your nature. You’re the beast. You—” But she broke off because his face had gone so hard and cold.
“I—what? I hunt?” He nodded grimly. “I hunted you.” His hand flew out and his fingers wrapped around her wrist. He held her, with his index finger right over her racing pulse. “I caught you. Even when you tried to escape in the hours of darkness, I brought you back.”
Her pulse jerked beneath his touch.
He leaned toward her. “But I didn’t hurt you. I’ll never hurt you.”
She wanted to believe that. “I’ve heard stories about you.”
His lips twisted. “From Leo.”
Yes. Leo had spoken of Rayce before. But plenty of other paranormals whispered about the fierce werewolf. “He said you were part of Luke’s power team. His best hunter. When Luke wanted prey, he sent you out. When he wanted someone’s death, then he sent out the other shifter…the panther, Julian.”
“Since I’m here, I guess you realize that Luke doesn’t want you dead.”
Not yet, anyway.
She looked down at their hands. His hand was so big and strong around her wrist. “Why can’t he just let me go?” She drew in a bracing breath and forced herself to look up and meet his penetrating stare. “Why can’t you?”
A muscle jerked in his jaw. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
He kept promising that but… “What about Luke? Can you say the same thing about him? Are you so sure he won’t hurt me?”
Rayce didn’t speak, and she could have sworn that she saw a flash of guilt on his face. But it was gone so fast…
Lila shot to her feet. “I just want to be left alone. I’m not hurting anyone. I’m not doing anything wrong.”
“The world isn’t safe for you.” He rose, too, slowly. And his hand moved to stroke her wings. She shivered at the contact. “You’ll be killed, just for these. Every paranormal out there has heard whispers about angel wings. They know magic is in them, powerful magic, and they’ll cut them from you if they have half a chance.”
“I can hide.” She was desperate and nearly begging. “I can go where no one will ever discover me. You can—you can go back to Luke and tell him that you didn’t find me—”
He gave a short, hard shake of his head, and she knew. With a sinking heart, she murmured, “You’ve already told him.”
Rayce stared at her.
Had he told Luke before or after the guy had given her such pleasure?
“We need to get moving,” Rayce rumbled. “The sun’s up, and I have a plane waiting for us at the airport.”
She wasn’t going to beg. She’d already come close to that, and he hadn’t budged. He just stared at her with his hard gaze, and he made her want things she shouldn’t, couldn’t want. “Why did you do it?” Pain was back, like a knife sliding into her heart. “Why give me such pleasure when you were only going to turn on me?” Then, because she didn’t think that she could actually bear to hear his answer, Lila turned from him.
But he curled his hand over her shoulder and yanked her right back against him. Her lips parted. Her eyes went wide.
He didn’t look so controlled in that instance. She could see the angry desire burning in his gaze.
“I want you.” Each word was snarled. “I’ve wanted you for a long time.”
His body was so hard against hers.
“I fucking held my control with both hands for you when you were screaming my name. Remember that. It means something.” His eyes were slits of fury. “Because you mean something.”
She didn’t understand him. “But…you’ll still turn me over to Luke.”
“You aren’t safe here. I’m taking you to safety. I’m not fucking betraying you.” His lips twisted. “I don’t give a shit what you’ve heard about me. Cause you know what? Most of those stories out there—they are true. I’ve done things you never want to know about. And I’ll do them again. But you…you are different. Hurting you is the last thing on my mind.”
She was supposed to believe him? “Are you an alpha?”
His eyelids flickered. “Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Alphas rule packs. I have no pack.”
“Because you’re rogue?”
He let her go. Stepped back. Closed down. “You definitely have the good gossip.”
Was he going to deny it? “You just told me most of the stories I’d heard about you were true.” She licked her lips. This was the man who’d touched her—everywhere—in the hours of darkness. “Are you a step above the alpha power level?”
“Yes.” Said without pride. Said without any emotion. “I’m fucking powerful, as powerful as any beast can be. And since I don’t have a pack, some would say that makes me even more dangerous. But when all of the other fucking wolves in the world are terrified of you, that makes it hard to get pack mates, doesn’t it?”
“Why do they fear you?”
He smiled and she saw his sharp teeth. “Because when my beast gets past my control, nothing stops him.”
His words were a warning.
“My wolf likes blood, and he likes death. Sometimes, I think he craves them.”
And Lila found that she had no more questions to ask him. She only had fear because she knew he was speaking the truth.
***
He’d scared her.
Shit, dammit, hell! Rayce slammed Lila’s passenger side door shut and stalked around the SUV. Had he not told the woman that she was different? That she was safe with him? They could have left things just like that but no…she’d asked more questions, and he’d found himself stupidly answering her. He should have kept his mouth shut. Why in the world had he freaking shared with her? They weren’t at a damn couple’s retreat.
He jumped into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine. He made sure the heat was pouring out at her before his hands gripped the steering wheel. There was no easy way to explain who—what—he was to Lila. The truth was that his wolf was, well, wrong. He’d been born with too much bloodlust. Too much dark hunger. His wolf was the most powerful to walk the earth, and the beast got off on his strength. He liked being the baddest beast in town.
And my wolf likes you, Lila. He took one look at you, and he wanted to bite.
She wouldn’t understand just h
ow dangerous that fact was—to her and to him.
He counted to ten, then to twenty as he tried to get his calm back. Finally, he muttered, “You want to know how I met Luke?” He slanted her a quick glance.
Her fingers were shoved into the pockets of her jacket. At his question, her head turned and her gaze met his.
You want the truth, sweetheart? Here it comes in all its ugly glory. “He locked me in one of his cages.”
Her bright eyes widened.
“I was his prisoner,” Rayce continued grimly as the vehicle’s interior filled with heat. “And I deserved to be. I was out of control. I was…” Close to attacking innocents. “I can’t live in a pack. A pack is what keeps most wolves in check. There was a fight in my pack for dominance, to see who’d be the next alpha…I fucking tore through everyone who came to challenge me. There was no equal. My wolf is too strong—it’s too dangerous. The pack wanted me gone for their own survival, but without that safety net…” A place to belong. A place where I fit in… “My wolf took over. Luke had to lock me in that fucking cage so that I could get my control back.”
Because, for a time, he’d lost himself completely to the beast.
“And after you got out of the cage…you stayed with Luke?” Her question was hesitant.
“Yeah, I stayed.” He gave a slow shake of his head. “Guess you could say I found a new kind of pack.” Because Luke hadn’t just been his jailer. Despite the shit that the rest of the world talked about Luke, the guy had become Rayce’s friend. Kind of, anyway. “Luke helped me. I owed him for that.” Luke, Rayce…and the panther shifter Julian Craig had formed an alliance. Rayce and Julian had both come to Luke for different reasons—and they’d stayed on because of the bond they’d made. Sometimes, you had to create your own family in order to survive.
“You’ll never turn on him, will you?” Her voice was sad.
He reversed the vehicle. “Luke hasn’t betrayed me. Not the way that Leo turned on you. If you ask me, sweetheart, you picked the wrong team.” Because Leo and his so called “good” paranormals? Bullshit. There was nothing good about Leo in Rayce’s book.
But Lila didn’t speak. He turned them around and headed down the winding driveway. He’d made sure the paranormal shield would allow them to pass through. Luke had taught him the spells long ago for that shield—a shield Luke had at a few of his properties. Rayce just hadn’t been fucking thinking last night. No, I just hadn’t thought she’d run from me. So he’d had the thing amped up to full power.