“Take it,” he said softly.
The floret or him, she wondered.
Him, her mind answered.
She pushed that traitorous thought aside. She would not entertain any ideas of getting naked and wet with Elliott. Nope, not happening.
Firmly thrusting images of naked Elliott from her mind, she tentatively took the broccoli between her teeth and closed her lips around it. She chewed and swallowed, all the while watching him watch her.
He looked utterly fascinated, as if he’d never seen another person eat before.
“There,” she said. “I ate.”
He continued to study her mouth. “Hmmm?”
She smiled.
His gaze shot up to hers. “Have one more,” he said hastily. He picked up another floret and held it to her lips.
“You know, I’m really not all that hungry,” she told him. “I had dinner earlier with Bryan.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I know.”
“Then why are you feeding me?”
“I wanted to,” he answered simply. “And I mean what I say. I’m taking you out of here tonight. You need to be ready.”
Was he kidding? She was ready now. “I will be.”
“Then eat,” he said, pressing the floret to her lips. “I insist.”
Well, what could it hurt? It wasn’t as if Elliott was trying to seduce her. After all, she was quite certain he wouldn’t so much as think of trying to steal her away from Bryan.
His boss.
No, of course not.
With that settled (a very small part of her was disappointed that he wasn’t trying to seduce her), Sara decided she could play Elliott’s game, too. Tease him a little bit. They had time. For the moment, they weren’t in danger and she could certainly use a small break from the tension. Frankly, she’d had more than her fair share tonight.
And, truthfully, Elliott intrigued her. At times, he seemed as worldly and elitist as his employer. Other times, he was easy going, comfortable no matter where he was, and self-assured.
He was always incredibly sensual, strong, protective, gorgeous, intelligent, and kind. She liked that best of all, that he could be so amazingly good looking and have such a big heart.
And now, he was playing with her, teasing her, to take her mind off the days’ unsettling events. How could she not play along?
With her gaze locked to his, she let her tongue slip out to sample his offering. Once. Twice.
His nostrils flared. His full, soft lips parted.
Then, she opened her mouth enough to take in the small floret, purposely catching the ends of his fingers with her lips and tongue in the process.
He hissed and seemed, oddly, unaware of it, so wrapped up was he in what she was doing. Or maybe he was aware and didn’t care that she saw his reaction to what she was doing. Maybe he wanted her to know what she did to him; how his eyes dilated and his breath just stopped in his throat.
Quite suddenly, he wasn’t Elliott, the delivery guy and general gopher. He was Elliott, the intensely sensual, fully aroused male.
Sara should’ve left it at that, but some little vixen inside her raised her mischievous head and decided to tease him a little more.
She let her tongue snake out to give those fingers a slow, wet lick.
Elliott’s mint-green gaze remained riveted to her face, as if it beheld some bit of magic he couldn’t quite ignore. In fact, those eyes were so intently focused on her, he didn’t seem to realize his fingers had come to rest ever-so-lightly against the bottom of her chin.
His breath quickened and all at once, his strong, hard body was very close to hers, and his hand had slipped around to cup the nape of her neck. The cold chain that secured his shackles rested against her neck.
She lowered her head and let her eyes close, stealing a quick glance at the bulge in his black jeans. As if the walls had closed in around them, her world became only him. His body, his golden skin, so close to hers. She savored the feather-light touch of his fingers, the electrifying sweep of his gaze. It made her dizzy and hot in places she’d never expected to feel hot around him.
How? How had he done that? With just a simple touch, a heated gaze, a brush of warm skin and suddenly, she was under his spell. Just like that. Just that fast.
She stole another swift glance at his body. Every inch was taut, and when her gaze returned to his, time simply stopped.
He lowered his head and fastened his mouth to hers. The wanton vixen inside her opened for him, let his tongue drive into her mouth. He tunneled his fingers into her hair, pulling her to him so her nipples dragged across his chest.
A soft moan, barely audible, escaped his lips.
Sara’s world nearly turned upside down. With no more than a deliciously soft whisper of a moan, he’d done something to her she’d not expected at all.
He trailed soft kisses along her cheek and jaw, down her neck to the tender hollow above her collarbone. “Sara,” he whispered. “There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything so utterly beautiful as you. Bryan has no idea the treasure he’s found in you.”
Bryan…
Startled, Sara pulled out of his embrace, away from the heat of his body. The moment had gotten to her and now she’d made a horrible mistake. She belonged to Bryan. Not Elliott.
Stupid, stupid mistake.
“Elliott… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…” she whispered. “I can’t imagine what got into me. Please, forgive me.” Idiot, she chastised.
She’d foolishly thought herself in control of her emotions and the situation. How stupid? How freaking stupid!
That wasn’t even the worst of it. Oh no. Not by far. The whole, wicked, sordid truth was that she was equally entranced. With him. Elliott. The one who wasn’t Bryan.
Wicked vixen, she was. Wicked.
Elliot’s eyes blazed. “You opened for me, Sara,” he said, his voice so utterly soft and low it gave her chills. “You allowed a small part of me inside you. Do you regret it now?”
She almost wished she could. “No,” she whispered. But I’m with Bryan, she thought.
Should’ve thought of that before you kissed him, her conscience snapped.
Gathering her resolve, she did what had to be done. “It’s not happening again, Elliott. You know it can’t and you know why.”
His lips parted, as if he were about to say something. But then he must’ve changed his mind, for he closed his mouth again and looked away. A moment later, he rose and crossed the floor to the window. He rubbed his palms against his thighs and didn’t look at her once, not even when Bobby’s missus came back for the platters.
“You didn’t eat much, Missy,” she said, eyeing the full plates.
“I couldn’t” she lied, pressing a hand to her stomach. “Nerves.”
Bobby’s wife nodded empathetically. “I know how that goes. You’ll need your strength, though, Sara. I’ll leave the meat for you—”
“No,” Sara said, interrupting. “If you’re going to leave anything, leave the veggies. I am not a meat eater.”
“Fine, then. I leave the veggies. You just give a holler if you want some real food.” She grinned, and that frightened Sara. It was a smile that said she knew what Sara was about to endure, assuming that song-and-dance about dogs was all true.
Sara didn’t want to think it was.
But if it was, that smile—that leer was telling her something. And Sara wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know.
* * *
Sara awoke with a start. Instinctively, she knew some time had passed. She also knew most everyone in the house had gone to bed and–
How had she known that?
She thought about that for a moment, and realized that the natural scent they wore had diminished, or softened. That happened only in the deepest of sleeps, yet another baffling bit of insight that just came to her, seemingly out of nowhere.
Seemingly.
Sara knew better. She was trying like hell to ignore what her gut was wh
ispering to her, because it was flat out impossible. People just couldn’t turn into animals whenever they wished for it.
Deep inside, though, she knew there were things that defied logic, yet still existed. Stories had been told, long ago, of a people who lived as both human and animal. When Sara was just a young girl, her beloved father had told her many stories. They were all tales of shape shifters. Dogs. He’d called them dogs, even back then.
She’d believed them to be fairytales.
Now, she suspected, a sick feeling seeping into her stomach, they’d never been dogs, or fairytales at all.
They’d been her father’s memories. When he died suddenly, just two months before her thirteenth birthday, her chance to find out the truth went with him.
Her mother had never known about those stories. Her father told her she was like him and also like her mother. Sara wasn’t like the shifters. She was unique, he’d said. Special, and someday, she’d know about it. When she was ready.
Sara clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle any and all sound.
Don’t scream.
Don’t move.
Center yourself, she commanded. Don’t let anyone know how scared you really are.
The memory came back then, searing her mind with a terror so raw, she couldn’t imagine how she’d forgotten it in the first place.
Sit right here, her father had said.
Why are we here, daddy?
Don’t move, honey. This won’t take very long, he’d assured.
But it had. It took forever. And it hurt like hell.
It was the mark on her back, just above the shoulder blade. She’d forgotten about that day. About the scabby old man with that thing in his hand. The thing that hurt when he pressed it against her skin.
Good girl, her father had whispered. I love you, Sara. This is so your kind will know who and what you are.
I don’t know what that means, she’d cried.
Don’t be afraid, Sara. Never live in fear. You’ll find out what it means when the time is right.
Sara looked up, forcing the memory from her thoughts. The lights were out, but, for the first time in her life, she could see perfectly in the dark
She was changing. Oh, God, it was true.
Yet another thing that made her skin crawl, now that she knew what it meant. Knew she was helpless to change any of it.
How could you do this to me, Daddy?
Elliott leaned up against the far wall, one booted foot propped over the other. His arms folded across his chest as much as the shackles allowed, he stood so completely still, she wondered if he’d gone to sleep.
“It’s true,” she blurted, not really meaning to. What was the point in hiding it, though? Really, why bother?
“What?” he asked, snapping to alertness.
“What they said. About me.” Her stomach turned over. Not fair, she wailed silently. I am not a dog!
But she was. Oh yes, she was most certainly a dog.
Sara whimpered, the frustration and futility of it swamping her completely. “I am what they named me, Elliott. Oh, God,” she said softly, her cheeks heating painfully. “I didn’t realize it was true until just now. I have memories…”
Elliott’s anger seemed to fizzle. He pushed the curtains apart, allowing the soft gray light from the moon to fill the room. Crossing the floor, he knelt at her side. “What memories?” he asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
The cold chain followed, the weight of it sliding across her back made her shiver. A reminder that she was truly in deep shit this time, with no idea how to get out of it.
She leaned into him, allowing her eyes to close, grateful for the warmth of his body. Grateful he was talking to her again. “My father told me stories about those dogs. Not the Xylan dogs, though. I’m not so sure about them. I have a sense I’m not the same as they are. I think Bartell’s dogs do bad things. Horrible things.”
His brow furrowed. “You believe they kill people, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“I’m not so sure that’s true, Sara. If they were going around killing people, bodies would’ve been found. Someone would’ve investigated. We’d know if something like that was going on. People can’t keep secrets like that.”
She wanted to believe he was right. She needed something like that or she’d lose her mind. The thought of becoming one of those smelly beasts was more than she could handle, especially if she was one of Bartell’s nasty creatures.
“It’s time to go, Sara. We have to find out more about these dogs, and since I’m not quite ready to become your dinner, I think we need to get back to Bryan’s.”
Sara didn’t like that idea at all. “I was taken from Bryan’s, Elliott. I don’t want to go back there. Can we go someplace else?”
Elliott rose to his feet, dragging Sara up with him. “We can go anywhere you wish.”
Chapter Five
Bartell cocked his head. The small hairs on the back of his neck had raised, and that could mean only one thing.
The tiny sound that had barely caught his attention was the girl trying to escape. He knew it with absolute certainty, for that was part of the plan. Putting the chauffeur in with her guaranteed they’d make a run for it. On her own, she might accept her fate as they’d described it to her, and most of it was true and real. They’d just left out one major detail.
The catalyst, he thought, a slow smile coming to his face.
He closed his eyes to listen carefully for another sign of movement. Sending his dogs prematurely would screw up the transformation. No, bringing forth the change too early wouldn’t do at all. If it came too late, the other faction might have a chance to save her.
That was wholly unacceptable.
No, the half-blood bitch had to die and she had to do it inside the Xylan circle.
Then it would be done. The Xantu Guardians would recognize her death for the execution it was. Leadership would return to the Xylans and Apollo could find someone else to guard his precious temple.
Chapter Six
“You were supposed to protect her,” Aphrodite said softly. “Zeus will not be pleased to hear you have failed.”
Bryan growled in frustration, shoving both hands through his hair. Aphrodite had plucked him from the human world to this–this alternate hell where he could see and hear everything around him, and yet he was not a part of it. Like a ghost, he no longer existed in the physical world. “I know what I was supposed to do, Rodie. You don’t need to rub my face in it.”
“Oh, but I do, my dear Prometheus. She wasn’t supposed to know what lies ahead and now she’s beginning to understand what she is. You were supposed to make sure that didn’t happen. What did you do instead?”
Bryan glared at her. “That’s none of your business. As long as I do my job, it doesn’t matter that I love her. Elliott knows better than to try to keep her for himself. He wouldn’t dare cross me. She will keep her date with destiny and Elliott will return to this lovely place.” Bryan glanced at the soft mist surrounding them, the barrier between this ethereal world and Sara’s.
“Make certain you don’t fail again. I cannot have my brother leaving the mid-world, yet. Not until I’ve convinced him of my innocence. Zeus must never know what I’ve done.”
Bryan smirked. “I’ve no doubt you’ll convince him. He wants so much to believe in your goodness, he refuses to see you for the siren you really are.”
In the blink of an eye, Aphrodite had moved to strike him. He easily subverted the attempt, raised her captured hand to his mouth and kissed the delicate fingers. Studying at her from beneath his brow, he leisurely nipped and teased her porcelain skin until the anger in her beautiful blue eyes finally dissolved.
“You are a master at seduction, my sweet warrior,” she cooed.
Bryan smiled. It was one of many things he did well. “There’s more where that came from. You have only to tell me where the little mortal has been taken.”
* * *
Elliott laced his fingers through Sara’s and tugged her toward the door. “Stay as quiet as you can once I open this door. If I get into trouble, and you have a chance to escape, take it and don’t look back.” He stopped at the door, turned, and claimed her lips as he should have earlier. His tongue delved into her mouth, tasting and savoring the perfect fit of his body against hers, of warm flesh against flesh. Her free hand crept up to casually cup his jaw, as if she’d done it a million times. Then it slipped to his shoulder, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.
Sara was everything he knew she’d be: fierce, proud, courageous. Beautiful. Intelligent. His.
She might’ve given her body to Bryan, not her heart. Until she did, she was fair game. Not that Elliott intended to play fair where she was concerned. No, this one he meant to possess forever. Nothing and no one, not even the gods themselves would keep her from him.
He stepped back, suddenly unable to breathe.
Yes, whatever the cost, whatever it took, she was worth it.
“Sara,” he whispered.
By Zeus, his skin was hot. He was burning alive, and the only thing that would save him now was her. Their lives were in danger, but with the scent of her arousal in his nostrils and mouth, he could think only of dropping her jeans, spreading her thighs, and filling her with his cock. And he would. There was no doubt he would.
Bryan could just go to hell.
Her eyes were closed. She ran her tongue over her swollen lower lip and it was all he could do to watch. Everything inside him screamed to draw that luscious thing into his mouth and suck on it until she whimpered for more.
But now was not the time. He took in a sharp breath, held it for long seconds, then released it. Focus, damn it. They had to get out of there. Now. His hard-on would have to wait a little longer. “Stay behind me. And stay silent,” he ordered irritably, reaching down to adjust himself so it didn’t hurt so damn much.
He snorted. Like it was possible to find any comfort inside these fucking tight jeans.
Elliott cracked the door open, enough to peer into the darkened hallway. He knew the Dogs would never just let them go. The trap could be anywhere along the way. Might not even be within the house. But it was there, all the same.
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