by Brenna Lyons
She pulled back abruptly, breathing heavily but her eyes strangely hard. “No,” she informed him. Erin planted her hands on the planking on either side of his chest and started to push to her feet.
Curt gave in to the urge that time. He clamped his hands around her hips and pulled Erin down around him, filling her with a sharp cry at how close he was to losing all self-control. Erin tried to pull out of his grip, but he held her to him. Curt moved one hand down over her thigh and drew his thumb in maddening circles over the sensitive nub nestled above his cock. Her struggling ceased abruptly, and she looked at him with heavy-lidded eyes.
“No?” he soothed her. “Are you unwilling? Will you scream for your father and have me face his blade? He’ll kill me without question, if you cry rape. You know that. What do you want, Erin?” Curt was walking a line he shouldn’t have gone near now. If she said no, he had to let Erin leave. Even now, he could forfeit his life, but if she made him stop now, he might as well.
She pushed up on her hands and knees again, and he released her. Anything less would definitely mean his life. Curt had lost his chance. He went too far in trying to convince her. Erin would walk away, and he had to let her go. He braced himself for that moment when he would slide from her body, knowing he couldn’t react when his printing would demand it.
Curt roared in shock and pleasure mixed as she drove herself onto him fully, throwing her head back with a growl of satisfaction. Erin moved over him, sending explosive sparks of arousal through Curt’s mind and body. Never, not in all his life, had he imagined her like this.
Erin drew his hands to her pebbled nipples in invitation. Curt fondled her, growing rougher than he imagined possible as she quickened her pace with every touch. He watched her expressions breathlessly, pinching one nipple and then the other. Her sheath tightened in response, and her breathing hitched.
“Your mouth,” she pleaded, leaning further over him to offer them to him. “I want your mouth again.”
He sucked at her, biting and soothing as she had him until Erin arched back and cried out wildly. Her muscles contracted around him, and Curt bowed up into her, impaling her on his length and lifting Erin off the platform fully as his seed poured into her in jerky spasms. She stilled, as he sank to the smooth wood, her hands splayed over his ribs and her chin dropped to her chest, eyes closed, panting.
She gasped, as his erection pulsed in aftershocks, sending a last draining spurt of Curt’s seed into her. Erin opened her eyes and looked at him wearily. She pushed his hands from her hips and dragged herself off of him.
“Where are you going?” he asked evenly, uncertain of what her silence meant.
“Back to bed — alone.” Erin’s voice confused him even more than her silence had. It held a hard edge that was completely at odds with the passion she was lost in a moment before.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“No,” she answered sarcastically. “You can’t hurt me. You can never hurt me. This was the last time, Curt. I’m not doing this anymore,” she informed him.
Curt rolled to his feet in a panic and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Erin, talk to me. What have I done?” I went too far, and she sees it now that I’m not leading the action.
She pulled out of his hands and backed to the edge of the platform with her belt held to her chest. “Don’t touch me,” she demanded. “Don’t ever touch me again. Listen to yourself, Curt. You don’t want to print, but you’re acting like you’re going to. Don’t do that to me. Don’t do it to yourself. Please, don’t touch me again — ever.”
“I’m not,” he began, but he knew Erin was right. Curt wanted her again and again. He wanted to take her to her bed and claim Erin there with the Königs in the room below, listening to their passion. Curt wanted her to choose him, and she wasn’t going to do that.
“You are unless I stop you. I won’t have it. You don’t want it. Not really. Not in your rational mind where it counts. I won’t be a mindless, rutting animal, mating for life because I have no more control than that. I do have control, and I will exercise it.
“I’m going back to bed now. Don’t accompany me to the cabin. I’ll find my own way,” she ordered.
Curt bowed his head stiffly, his jaw tense. “As you wish, Erin.”
She nodded and slid into the water. Curt watched until she was at the shore and dressing before he followed, letting the icy water solidify his dark mood. He dressed, dragging his clothes on roughly.
Erin’s words taunted him. “What if one of us prints and the other doesn’t?” Curt took the chance, and he knew the end results would drive him insane.
* * * *
Erin bolted to the cabin, shaking in fury. She hated her parents for starting this game. She hated herself for allowing herself to be drawn into the game — and for her appalling lack of control. She hated Curt— Erin stifled a sob. She didn’t hate Curt. She couldn’t hate him, dammit!
But, she couldn’t allow him to print either. Curt didn’t want to print, and she wouldn’t trap an unwilling man, even if the printing made him think he was happy. That made it worse. He would be trapped in the spell of printing, denied even the awareness that he was an unwilling prisoner. Erin couldn’t allow that. She wouldn’t allow it. The first chance she got, she’d settle it.
She opened the door and started across the dark room to the loft ladder. A light clicked on, and her hands flew to her weapons while she blinked her eyes in the harsh light. Erin relaxed her hold on the blades as her eyes focused on and her mind identified her father.
Her jaw tightened reflexively. This was his fault. His and her mother’s — and the stone’s. “Waiting up for me?” she asked sarcastically. “I’m not a first night. I do have autonomy.”
“Where is Curtis?” he asked, ignoring her jab at him.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Probably tracking me for you. He seems to think you want that. I wonder where he would get an idea like that,” she added wryly.
Talon smiled widely. “So, you haven’t seen him?” he asked. “I thought you two were friends?”
“You know what they say, Dad. Sex only ruins it. Guess I should have considered that.”
“You still battle well together. You train well together.”
“Not any more. Send him home.”
“Why?”
“He’s a friend, but I’m afraid he could print.”
“But not you?” Talon asked with a raised eyebrow.
Erin scowled at him. “You know me better than that. All you’re doing is hurting him. Quit playing matchmaker before he ends up at the end of your blade.”
“You think it will come to that?” he asked in surprise.
“I know it will. I’m not going to print. Deal with it.” She turned to the ladder again.
“Erin?”
She stopped but didn’t look back at him. “What?”
“I’m not sending Curtis away yet.”
“Why? This is hopeless. You’ll only hurt him.”
“There’s been unusual beast activity in Maher range. A high-level named Karelen demanded Curtis’ whereabouts, before Adam defeated him. He’s safer here.”
“No, he’s not. Curt’s a good Warrior. He can survive the beasts. He won’t survive if he stays.” And, neither will I.
“We’ll see,” he mused.
Erin retreated to the loft and dropped to her bed miserably. Curt had to go. There had to be some way to arrange it. She couldn’t let him print.
She curled into her pillow and held her breath as the door downstairs opened and closed. Erin could hear her father talking to Curt, but she couldn’t make out the words. She prayed he was being discreet. Talon would insist Curt stay if he knew she took release with him again. Her father would know he was winning.
Her cheeks flamed at the memory of the two of them on the floating dock, her riding him like a wanton in clear view of anyone who wandered close. How damned discreet was that? Erin fumed at how his touch affected her. She had
no self-control and no common sense when Curt was close to her.
Erin stifled a sob as she pressed her hands to her abdomen. No common sense. She had to get rid of Curt quickly — and he absolutely could not touch her now. Already, she was on the cusp of high cycle. Already, it might be too late. It was too dangerous tonight, and she let him. No common sense.
She only prayed he hadn’t sensed her, that his madness wasn’t so far that he would try to possess her that way. Curt still had a chance for escape if it wasn’t. It was still early enough for Erin to break printing, and it should still be early enough for him to. She prayed it was early enough for Curt to break the cycle.
It seemed unlikely that Curt had sensed her. He would have been more protective if he realized the possibility. Even if Curt said nothing, hoping for another chance to bank the odds in favor of a baby, he wouldn’t have let Erin walk away into the night. He would have insisted on seeing her back to the cabin — to her bed, if he could.
She couldn’t allow that. If Curt would have taken her to bed — even as far as the ladder, Erin would have taken him again and kept him there as long as she could. Then, there would have been a baby. Warrior genetics being what they were, there would have definitely been a baby in just a few days, and a baby would be a constant reminder of him.
Erin had to drive Curt away quickly, and she couldn’t let him touch her. If he decided to sense her, he’d see her cycle. If she conceived, he’d see that. Surely, that would drive him over the edge, making Curt think he craved her all the more when what he really craved was his son. He would insist on sealing printing then, a printing he didn’t want. That would be worse than anything she could imagine.
But what if she sent him away and it was already too late? Erin set her jaw angrily. Her parents started this. It would be their turn to pay the piper. She’d give them a choice, a simple choice. Either they allow her to have and raise her child alone, lying and hiding the truth from Curt at all costs to protect him from the Warrior nature in him, or she’d threaten to abort. Erin knew she couldn’t follow through with that threat, but they wouldn’t.
They’d have to play it her way. Erin would not have Curt come to her out of duty, and she was capable of raising a child alone. If Corwyn had found Jayde right away, he would have raised her without Anna. Warriors had raised babies when their human wives were lost at or shortly after childbirth, the health of the baby not protecting the frail human mother. If they could manage, so could Erin.
She let a single tear roll down her cheek as the light disappeared from around the closed trap door. Erin cursed that part of herself that demanded she go to Curt and bring him back to her bed. She couldn’t and she wouldn’t. It was that simple.
* * * *
Talon surrendered the living room to Curtis and returned to bed. He peeled off his jeans and slid in next to Jayde. His wife turned into his body and ran her fingers through the silver shot black curls on his chest.
“Where have you been?” she asked sleepily.
“Waiting up for our daughter.”
She startled, and he wrapped his arms around her to draw Jayde back to his chest, smoothing her hair in an attempt to quiet her upset.
“Where did she go?” she demanded quietly.
“Just for a walk to clear her head. Curtis followed her. She was well protected.”
“But, she left alone,” Jayde argued. “She takes too many chances.”
“Leave her alone on this one. Please, Jayde.”
“Why? You want her to continue giving us heart attacks?”
“I know you still fear the open night, but Erin has been raised a Warrior.”
“You know what could happen,” she argued. “Ten-megaton Blutjagd or no, she could still be killed or taken.”
“Curtis would never allow that. They’d kill to protect each other, and together they’re almost as unbeatable as Erin and Sarah with less weakness. Trust me on this. Erin needs to believe she’s escaping, but she’s perfectly safe.”
“Promise me.”
“I guarantee it. They’re not printed yet, but there are only so many times they can come in contact and fight this. It would take a fool to miss the looks they give each other. If only they weren’t so stubborn.”
“That’s Erin’s doing. You know it is.”
He sighed raggedly. “I know it is. Let Curtis protect her. He needs it as much as she needs escape.”
Jayde nodded and settled into his chest. Talon kissed her hair as she let sleep reclaim her. His Warrior woman still had so many fears. It was a sign of her explosive introduction to her existence as a Warrior after living apart from them since birth. Still, Jayde let it affect their daughter far too much for Talon’s tastes.
Secretly, he had been pleased that Hunter had first nighted Erin. Talon had been hard pressed to find a way to reason Jayde into the decision himself. His initial reaction had been borne out of shock that they had done something so underhanded, fear when he felt her light and knew for sure that she was battling, and Jayde’s barely controlled panic.
Talon’s decision to punish them had grown entirely out of their blatant lies. Had they told the truth, they would have faced nothing more than a word of censure from him. Hunter would never have made the mistake Erin described. Her brother took her out purposely, and anything beyond that was a lie.
The lie had to be punished. It was dishonorable and disrespectful. Erin was the most powerful Warrior Talon had ever met, but she required a sense of responsibility and obedience that he seemed at a loss to impart to her.
He sighed and shook his head. Erin had lied to him again tonight. There was no question in his mind about it even before Curtis told a different story.
Erin knew where the young Warrior was. Only a run-in with him could have put her in such a foul mood, and only an intimate encounter of some sort could leave the lingering smell of arousal on her that mixed with the smell of the lake water that dampened her curls and belt and soaked her bracer.
Under the circumstances, Talon decided a little fib was in order. The beasts in Maher range were restless, though they had never reached the frenzy that Jayde had caused when the “supposedly dead” Blutjagdfrau lost her virginity. The beasts knew Erin existed, after all. Karelen did make a comment about Curtis’ relationship with Erin to Adam before he was killed, but to Talon’s knowledge, none of them were hunting Curtis. Erin, as always, was their target. Few beasts saw the mate of a Blutjagdfrau as a threat.
Erin could lie to him and even to herself, if she chose, but she wasn’t balking what she so desperately needed while her father was alive to prevent it. Corwyn once argued that Jayde had ignored a world full of men waiting for Talon, giving her innocence only to her chosen mate. The moment Talon learned his little cold fish had set out to seduce Curtis, he suspected Corwyn had the right idea. Only Erin’s chosen mate would evoke such a heated response in her.
But while Jayde threw herself into that response, having patience only to save Talon’s life, Erin seemed dead-set against a repeat performance of her passion for Curtis even though they were both free to pursue it. Erin could deny her attraction to Curtis, but she wasn’t fooling Talon.
While Jayde had never perfected ghosting and still left a faint trail that Erin could detect, without Sarah, neither Erin nor Curtis could see through Talon’s. For well over a week, he had watched them avidly. Their eyes found each other often and lingered sadly. They grumbled to themselves and moped around. Neither of them was very happy, and the reason why was fairly obvious despite their denials.
It didn’t surprise Talon that Curtis told a different story than Erin did. From her attitude, he guessed the two young Warriors hadn’t planned this little outing or its outcome, whatever that outcome was precisely.
Talon shivered in the realization that he had no idea how far that outcome extended. He would have to keep an eye on things and make sure the pair didn’t screw up what should be a sure thing. He should have tracked them when he found them both mis
sing. Now, all Talon had were the lies he had been told and what little he could see and smell.
Curtis admitted seeing her, talking to her while they walked after he followed her out. His version was that they argued and she stormed back to the cabin ahead of him.
Overall, Talon was sure that story was closer to the truth than Erin’s version, but even that wasn’t the whole truth. Both of them had gone wading or swimming in the lake. Their clothing was dry, and he doubted that either of them was wearing a swimsuit beneath the clothing he could see. Barring the very remote possibility that they did so separately, the obvious conclusion was that the two were nude or near-nude in the water together at night. Only the fact that their weapons belts were damp made Talon relax about the chance they took. Whatever they did, they stayed armed for it.
Curtis came back in one piece, and Erin didn’t light. That meant, whatever transpired, Erin hadn’t balked at it — at first. Talon sighed. The two of them made no sense. How could a pair of printing Warriors spend so much time arguing after — or even during sex? Erin never did anything the easy way or the expected way.
Talon stilled as his mind worked at something just out of reach. They had been in Cross range for about two weeks. They arrived two days after Erin’s first intimate encounter with Curtis. Based on where she was in her cycle then, she should be nearing high cycle.
He smiled in the dark room. Maybe Corwyn was right about yet another thing. Erin’s initial encounter with Curtis was nowhere near high cycle, but it was an experiment. An experiment, he was sure, that they both thought they could walk away from. As her cycle peaked, ignoring the urge to print should become nearly impossible for them.
Nearly. Talon sobered. Erin was fully the most stubborn person Talon had ever encountered. He would have to keep a very close eye on the situation, after all. It would be exactly what he would expect of Erin. No Warrior took the chance of a child before printing. For that reason alone, Erin would, and knowing his daughter, she would succeed admirably.