by Cecy Robson
Aric’s face split with sadness and guilt. “Because as pureblood I wasn’t supposed to love you, but as man I can’t stop.”
He kissed me. It was so different—new in a way. Our passion exploded so quickly we yanked each other’s clothes off. His left hand stroked my breast to tease my nipple with his thumb. The other hand traced down my stomach until he found my building moisture. My back arched and I grunted while his hands rediscovered me inside and out. The salt from his skin made me hungry to taste other parts of his body. My tongue slid down his chest. Aric was in such need. He thrashed and grunted, completely turning me on. My mouth hadn’t been around him long before he pulled me on top of him and I began to move.
CHAPTER 20
Water slid down my arms. My cheek and breasts cooled against the slick tile as I panted. Aric kissed his way along my shoulder. “Are you ready?” he asked breathlessly.
I didn’t want him to separate us, but nodded. Dawn was quickly approaching. He needed to return to his pack and leave for the mission. I’d convinced him not to go lone, at least for now.
His groan matched mine upon his release. I opened the glass door and staggered out of the shower, aching in all the right places. “You’d better get my scent off you.” The twinkle in Aric’s face made me laugh. That’s exactly what I’d said before he’d yanked me into the shower to wash the latest aroma of our lovemaking.
Aric lathered his skin, watching me slip into my robe. “Four times in one night. Brings back some sweet memories.”
I shuddered from his deep murmurs and from the rush of images his words flashed across my mind. My brain reasoned my body should be more than satisfied, but my tigress insisted we hadn’t made up for lost time. I sat on the edge of the bathtub and admired his luscious physique. “Do you think your Warriors know you’re here?”
“Koda and Liam don’t. Gemini must. He didn’t blink when I asked to borrow his phone. While he recognizes the importance of continuing our race, he also knows I love you. He told me tonight that, for once, he’s happy not to be of pure blood. He said he didn’t know how I’d been able to stay away from you and that no one would keep him from Taran.”
Aric’s hands passed along his chest as he washed, just not with the same enthusiasm I’d demonstrated. “At least he’s supportive,” I said.
“As much as he can be. He knows being away from you has tortured me. I’m pissed all the time and I’ve been a bastard to be around.” He placed his hands against the tiled wall and dropped his head. “I can’t believe I ever left you. I couldn’t even bring myself to touch you that day. If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I thought was right for the sake of my race.” His bruised gaze met mine. “I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you.”
I hugged my arms and turned away for a moment. The pain I experienced that day still affected me. And it still wasn’t behind us. “What happened when you met with the Elders tonight?”
Aric stepped out of the shower and took the towel I handed him. “It was damn obvious we’d been together. I couldn’t hide our scent, nor did I want to. We . . . had words, and Anara ordered me never to see you again.”
I frowned, confused. “As Beta, Anara closely matches Martin in were magic.”
“Yeah, he does.” Aric answered as if he didn’t care, and that the Elders’ supremacy meant nothing.
“Then how are you here, especially after a direct order to stay away? I thought that whole blood bond wolf mojo thing prevented you from disobeying.”
He toweled off, smirking. “There are certain loopholes to the blood bond. When Anara ordered me to take Barbara as my fiancée, I had to obey. During the ceremony, my bond to you as my mate helped me resist.”
“But the Elders are aware of the loopholes, right? I would think they would have tightened them somehow.” I scoffed. “Especially given all the power they can draw from the pack.”
Aric wrapped the towel around his waist, his grin widening. “They’re aware. And I’m sure they used some of our collective magic to help strengthen the order. But I don’t think they realized how strong I’ve become, and I’m not planning on telling them.”
I reached for him, but thought twice before touching him. “What happens if Anara or the others discover you disobeyed them?”
Aric stopped smiling. “Let me worry about that.”
“Aric . . .”
“Celia, I hate hiding our love like it’s something wrong. If they find out, I’ll deal with it.” Aric’s eyes held the strength and determination that first attracted me to him. “I’m going to fix this, Celia. Somehow I’ll find a way for us to be together.”
I returned with Aric’s clothes after running them through the dryer with a softener sheet to remove my scent. I watched him dress, my growing need to hold him worsening. We were together again, but still so much apart. “Be careful,” I said softly.
Aric slipped his long-sleeved black shirt over his eight-pack. He leaned forward. “I’m going to come back to you. Don’t worry.” He stilled. “In the meantime, I want you to stay sharp. The only reason I’m not dragging you out of here is that, assholes or not, the vamps have the muscle to protect you and keep you safe in my absence.”
My body tensed. This was so not the moment to tell Aric I was jumping off the S.S. Bloodsucker. Maybe I could crash at Bren and Danny’s. Two wolves and a tigress should be enough to thwart scary monsters, right?
“Okay, love. I promise to keep my eyes open.” I walked him to door, smiling when his lips found mine. He licked his own lips, camouflaging my scent and having one last taste of me.
No sooner did he disappear into the breaking dawn than the snow began to fall and Maria appeared at my door.
She followed me into my bedroom. I ignored her and hauled my large suitcase from beneath the king-sized bed. Her walk lacked her usual shimmy and she kept quiet despite her typical tendencies to say something wretched. “You are really leaving, aren’t you?”
“Yup.”
“It will not be de same without you. You are crazy bitch weird and all, but okay.” She made an irritated gesture with her hand. “Just okay.”
I couldn’t help but smirk. “Gee, thanks, Maria.”
A breeze slapped me in the face and I felt someone behind me. “Do you need something, Liz?” I asked.
She flung her ice blond hair back and started filing her nails. “Chef prepared you some breakfast. You should go eat.”
It was too early for the vamps to be up, including Chef. Misha’s anger must have kept them up. “Is Misha there?”
She stopped filing. “No. The master is not there now.”
“But he will be.”
She tried to sound indifferent. “Yes, most likely he will be.”
Misha and I would have to talk eventually, and I’d never been one to walk away from a fight. When I entered the kitchen there was a whole spread laid out. The vampires I was most familiar with loitered around, watching me with solemn faces and unusually quiet mouths. I tried to smile encouragingly, although it was foolish of me to do so. They were annoying, oversexed, selfish, and downright vicious. Still, I didn’t want the so-called creatures of the night to feel bad.
I thanked Chef and proceeded to eat like I was going into hibernation. I was almost done when Misha appeared with Virginia in tow. “Leave us,” he said to the others in the kitchen.
Everyone scattered like dropped marbles. Misha sat at the table and watched me as I drank my orange juice. Our eyes met with equal stubbornness, but I didn’t want to play “who blinks first.” I wiped my mouth and threw my napkin on the table. “I’m sorry about what I said last night, Misha. I was angry, but I didn’t intentionally mean to hurt you.”
“What do you hope to accomplish by seducing that mongrel?”
“What?”
“Are you trying to convince him to leave his pack?”
My hackles rose and my tigress readied us to strike. “Misha, you’re way out of line.”
“Do you know what happens to a were of his stature who decides to turn his back on his race?”
I stood, knocking my chair back. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” My body shook. “I suggest you shut the hell up!”
Misha’s stare fired with malice and his voice thickened with spite. “Yes, I do. The reputation of your wolf’s family will be destroyed. All his finances and those of his closest relatives will be depleted—”
“Misha, stop it.”
“He has an elderly mother, does he not? Are you prepared to take her home from her? All her valuables—”
“Shut your fangs now!”
“They will all be disgraced and shunned. All because of you—”
My hammer fist strike to the table quieted him. The table split in half and all the contents splattered to the floor. I threw the sections aside and went after him. “You want to do this?” I shoved him through the door. “Fine. Let’s go.”
The snow fell in large thick flakes, coating my long hair almost instantly. The sky had darkened and thunder roared in the distance. I continued to push Misha until we reached the large section of lawn separating the garden from the main house. Misha’s vampires gathered, forming a wide circle around us. I expected them to hiss and attack me. Instead they stood silent, watching us closely while their rising anxiety danced around me.
Misha’s eyes never left mine. He stooped in a crouch and charged. He was fast, but not fast enough. I spun him past me and sent him face-first into a dirty pile of snow. The vampires gasped. Misha rose surprisingly slowly and turned to shoot me a death glare. Slush dripped down his perfect face to stain his white silk shirt.
“Not as fast as you thought, are you, old man?”
The vamps jumped at my words with their mouths covered. Misha seemed oddly amused and laughed. However, it wasn’t a “golly, aren’t you funny?” kind of chuckle. It was more like an evil scientist laugh complete with thunder crackling above us. Like shot from a gun, Misha attacked.
This time he was prepared. He turned his momentum in the opposite direction at the last minute and tried to flip me. I grabbed his hair and we both went down, hard. We wrestled in the snow, digging our feet into the ground for leverage and kicking up dirt. We were soiled and saturated within minutes. It was a mean, dirty, ferocious match. But as mad as we both were, neither of us exchanged blows. We grappled and twisted and even yanked hair, fighting to pin each other.
Large hills of dirt and snow formed every time we shoved and slid across the lawn. Misha was stronger, but I was faster and used all my training against him. I snatched his wrist into a lock. His slippery skin allowed him to break free. He tossed me across the lawn. I landed on my feet, searching for an opening. “What’s the matter, kitten? Too weak to hold an old man?”
I dove across the lawn and shifted beneath him. I surfaced in a high leap and snagged him in a choke hold. “You’re calling the wrong cat a kitty, Goldilocks.”
He forced an arm through my hold and yanked hard. I landed on my butt and scrambled to my feet. Misha tackled me before I found my footing and sent us rolling down the small incline. We barreled into the garden and right smack into one of the stone waterfalls. I landed on top and slammed him against the granite slab with the might of my arms. “Nice try, Rapunzel, but you won’t beat me that easy,” I growled.
Misha exposed his incisors and flipped me over, pressing his weight against me. “Our encounter the other night in my bed should tell you I am all male. Or need I remind you?”
I shoved him off me and shifted him down, burying him up to his neck. Misha’s face deepened to purple as he thrashed about. “This is how you choose to treat me after all I have done for you!”
I staggered back. Being the mature gal I was, I pointed an accusing finger at him. “You started it!”
Misha broke through the frozen ground and sloshed to me. “No, you did. I merely elucidated that your actions are severely misguided.”
He encircled my waist, but I hooked his leg with mine and twisted. We fell and rolled back, all the way to the guesthouse. The minute Misha hit the side of the house I released him and hurried back. The snow fell hard. It felt good against my heated skin. Again, we faced each other.
“You’re wrong about Aric. He’s not going lone. I won’t let him.”
Misha grabbed me in a painful arm lock. “And why is that?”
I twisted and flipped, grabbing his neck in a scissor hold with my legs and bringing him down with the brunt of my weight. “Because I love him, damn it. It would hurt him to leave his pack.”
He entwined his arm in between my legs and broke free. “I know. You’ve made it clear that it’s him you love.”
We were a few feet from each other, trying to catch our breaths. I paused to take in his face once my brain listened to what he had to say. Really listened. Misha was angry—furious even, but there was something else. Not resentment. Not bitterness. Not even arrogance. No. Misha was . . . heartbroken. His brows curved as if he was in agony, and the creases in the corners of his eyes expressed his lack of sleep and torment.
I threw my hands in the air. “Is that what this tantrum is about, Misha? You think I don’t love you?”
He took a step toward me. “What are you saying?”
Mud dripped down our panting faces and our drenched clothes clung to our forms. Misha continued to frown, but his pained expression had softened. I wiped my face and gradually ambled toward him. My shoulders dropped with a heavy sigh and I shook my head. Without giving it much thought, I extended my hand and touched his cheek. Slowly, he covered it with his palm. “I do love you, Misha,” I said softly. “It’s just not in the way that you want me to.” The frown erased from his features and the familiar tenderness returned. “I don’t want to lose you. But if you’re expecting more than my friendship, I have to walk away.”
Horrible screaming interrupted before he could answer. Virginia broke away from the crowd of vampires and rushed me. Misha yanked me behind him.
The gleam in Virginia’s eyes bordered on psychotic. She lunged at Misha and clawed at his chest. I gasped, knowing it was me whose skin she wished to rip apart. Maria and Agnes yanked her from him, hissing and snarling through their fangs.
“Take her away,” Misha ordered. His voice remained strangely calm, but his stare stayed on Virginia as if encountering another preternatural. Maria and Agnes lifted Virginia with ease as she sobbed and kicked all the way back to the main house.
I watched her go, disturbed by her volatile response. If she hadn’t been obsessed before, she certainly was then. Misha took my hand and led me to the front door of the guesthouse. More yelling echoed from the house. We turned to find Kuan Jang Nim Chang racing barefoot through the mess we’d made of the garden, wearing nothing more than his gi to protect him from the heavy snowfall. He smiled wide and waved the broken leg from the kitchen table at us. He jabbered on in Korean before finally pointing and motioning me toward the dojang. He then practically skipped toward the building while I blinked back at him like the nutcase he was.
I turned to Misha. He wiped some of the muck off the back of my hand and kissed the tips of my knuckles. “Chang hopes that you will stay. I hope that as well. Now, if you will excuse me, I must take my Metamucil.”
As I watched Misha march through the mounds of destroyed landscaping, I wondered if I should just leave. I’d already hurt him once. And I knew more pain was yet to come. I just didn’t know I’d receive the brunt of it.
CHAPTER 21
“Shit. You’re staying?” Taran asked.
I dodged the electrically charged balls Kuan Jang Nim Chang launched at me, shifting right, then left, then dropping into a split. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do.”
Shayna’s sleek black
ponytail whipped back and forth as she watched Chang and his bouncing balls. “Dude, what the heck are those things anyway? They look like they have little lightning bolts in them.”
“Oh!” my sisters yelled when one hit me.
A shock ran up my spine and my hair sizzled. I hadn’t rolled fast enough. Damn it. I groaned and flopped into a kneeling position. “As a matter of fact, they do have little lightning bolts in them.”
Kuan Jang Nim Chang fired a string of rapid Korean before laughing hysterically.
My eyes narrowed. “I am so trying!”
“You understood what he said?” Emme asked.
“Not a word.” I stood and tried to beat down my hair. It didn’t work. “He laughs more when I mess up. I think it’s his way of saying, ‘If you’d try harder, you wouldn’t get hurt.’”
“Do you think the little man will mind if I try?”
I couldn’t face Shayna directly. Chang continued to fling his balls, all the while inspiring me with comments like, “Tribe coming. Faster. They eat you. They kill you. You die like dog not tigress.”
Heaven forbid he stop his oh-so-fun training session just so I could engage in conversation with my sisters. “Shayna, that’s not a good idea. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“No worries. I have werewolf blood pumping through my veins.” She flexed her string bean arms. “See? I’m just as tough as you are now.”
That made me smile. “Is that right?”
“I sure am! Plus, it looks like fun.”
Was she kidding? “Fun? Did you say ‘fun’? Okay, Shayna, be my guest.”
“Um, I don’t think you should let her do this,” Emme warned.
Taran flashed a wicked grin. “Aw, hell. I think you should. It might knock her off that high horse she’s been straddling.”
• • •
It took us less than seven minutes to return to the guesthouse. Shayna zinged, zapped, and pa-chinged the entire walk back. Snot ran down her nose like a leaky faucet and her once pin-straight black hair stood out like a large Afro. “Whaaaat the heckkkkk isss wrrrronng with that maaann?” she asked.