by Unknown
“You’re nothing but a liar. An animal that wouldn’t see the truth if it bit him on the ass.” Power flared through her as the edge of her control frayed.
“That’s right, honey. I’m an animal and right now I can smell just how full of shit you are. You think you can hide your wet little pussy from me? That I can’t sense arousal?”
Lara ground her teeth at his gall. He was baiting her, messing with her head while he came up with a plan, or until she made a mistake and did something stupid. Neither of which would happen.
She’d lived for years making these plans with not a shred of doubt, until she’d run into Kane. She met his gaze, searching for a sign of what she didn’t know. Tension filled the room as they both realized this discussion had nowhere to go. Neither believed in the other. Problem for her was she’d suffered doubts and did her best to overcome them. Now, with him here, her need to kill him had eroded and been replaced with something else. Something softer.
She broke the showdown, unable to stay focused when he looked at her with equal parts—I’m going to kill you and I’m going to fuck you. Instead she watched the serene slash of his lips. He didn’t smile at her, but he quit frowning. Always the levelheaded brother, able to take things in stride and move on, or so she’d heard repeatedly.
She imagined those full lips of his would be soft and patient when they pressed up against her skin. That image made her nipples tighten against her t-shirt, and she prayed he wouldn’t notice. He already knew too much. When her thoughts strayed to his neck and chest, the spots she wanted to lick the most, she thought she heard a noise not unlike a purr. A low rumble, so quiet she wondered if she was mistaken.
She had to be. He had hunted her. He wanted—
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not safe,” he said.
“Like—like what?” Something had gone all wrong. Now that he was here, she felt her control slipping fast. Another rattling sound came from his chest, louder than before.
Damn, he really was purring. Goosebumps rose along her flesh and a shiver trembled down the length of her body before she could stop it.
“Like you want to eat me more than kill me.” He whispered the words so low she leaned in closer to hear them.
His hand shot out and circled her waist, dragging her body against his. Her shock of utter surprise disappeared when he slanted his mouth over hers, swallowing her cries. He took easy advantage of her gasp to plunge his tongue past her lips and taste and devour every inch of her.
Sensations exploded throughout her, including a hunger firing through her veins. He tasted so damn good. Warmth and spice flooded her as she struggled to comprehend what had happened. Hot hands roamed and clutched at her back and burned straight through to her skin. Arousal grabbed her body and fought for control. Heated moisture gathered between her thighs as common sense fled at the thought of him finally taking her like she’d dreamt.
She had to have him.
His raw kiss deepened and her hands pressed against his chest. The hard wall of muscle flexed underneath her fingers and she fought the unusual instinct to rip his clothes to shreds.
No. No. No.
They couldn’t do this. It was beyond wrong. She pushed against him, desperate now to force him away, but he didn’t budge even an inch. Instead his next purr rumbled straight through her belly to her clit. Her arousal beat a harsh rhythm in her system with nowhere to go. She pushed him again, harder, and this time he stumbled back, slamming into the wall. Something primal took over, an urge so basic she flung herself against him and kissed him back with lips, teeth, and tongue while her hands frantically clawed for skin. She connected with bare arms covered by a soft thin layer of hair that tickled as she stroked his bicep.
She struggled not to moan as she once again fought for control. This had to stop before she did something crazy, like beg him to take her right here against the wall. She tried to pull from his embrace but he only tightened his arms around her. When she was certain he wasn’t going to just let go she did the only thing she could to bring them to their senses. She bit down on him with sharp and precise pressure, drawing blood along his tongue.
He reared back and away, releasing her long enough for her to move away from him. “What the fuck?” His voice sounded funny as she imagined his tongue would be swelling already.
She licked the few drops of blood she’d drawn and savored them. She might have gotten his attention, but she was still lost in a haze. She still wanted to jump him right now, and it wasn’t so she could kill him.
“Why the hell did you do that?” His loud, angry words penetrated her thoughts as she stared him down and considered her options. Her muscles twitched and burned while fighting the instinct to go to him. Her brain tried to process what options she had now, but in the end she kept circling back to how much trouble she was in.
“How the hell did you do it?”
“What? Break your circle?” The mocking tone of his questions grated on her nerves. “Did you really think it would be that easy? That I would just show up here and not be prepared?” When she said nothing he continued, “You have far too little faith in my abilities, sweetheart.”
“I’m not your sweetheart.” She’d meant to yell at him, but instead her voice betrayed her with a husky whisper.
“No, I guess in a literal sense that term doesn’t apply to you one bit now, does it?” Somehow when he insulted her in that southern drawl of his it almost didn’t sound too bad. Almost.
“But you were in the circle, and I know shapeshifters are not immune to the binding. I can still feel the power.”
“Easy, I saw the circle coming in the door and I broke it.”
Violent rage filled her. Oohh, she wanted to smack the smirk off his face so bad. She thought to walk away, to get farther away from him, but she couldn’t—she pulled back her arm and plowed her fist into his face with the full force of her body behind it. Pain exploded in her hand at the same time his head swung to the side from the punch. Spittle and blood flew from his mouth where she must have busted his lip. Adrenalin rushed through her now as she sprang back several feet with her fists up in front of her. Ready.
His hand came up and touched his lip as he swiveled to look at her. The anger nearly glowed from his gaze. He glanced at the blood on his fingers before slowly licking them clean.
“You’ve got nowhere to go, baby, you’re trapped.”
Based on where she’d retreated, her options were limited. His big body blocked her path to the doorway and there were no windows on her side of the room. Her only choices were to fight her way through or give up. The kind of magic she wielded took time to prepare and he would have her trapped and maybe dead before she could even raise a breeze.
“So, what now? Fuck me and kill me or just kill me?”
“That was the plan.” He didn’t specify which one and she damn well didn’t want to know as either one involved her death. Something she wasn’t about to take lying down.
Chapter Three
Kane watched her fidget nervously. His patience had worn thin as she’d tried to toy with him. But damn, when he touched her his body lit up like a Christmas tree on overload, and every instinctive fiber in him had screamed to take her. If she hadn’t bitten him when she did, there was no telling where they’d be. He rolled his tongue against the roof of his mouth, gently stroking the spot she’d hurt. Funny, if he didn’t know better he’d swear she had some feline in her. She sure fought like one. Not to mention he’d about come in his jeans when she licked his blood from her lips.
She made him want to stand back and study her. While average in height by human female standards, she was downright petite in his arms. But it was her curves that made him itch to get his hands on her.
He wanted to feel her full breasts and flared hips pressed against him.
What would it be like to watch her eyes go wide as his hands roamed her naked flesh? Maybe rub and pinch her nipples a few times before traveling down her torso to her slic
k, hot pussy aching for his touch. And yes, she was wet and aroused even more now because her scent had gone from a subtle waft to filling every inch of the room, further driving him mad.
He shifted his legs and willed his dick to go down because so help him, if she glanced one more time at his crotch they were done. Done.
Distracted by his thoughts, he almost didn’t catch her making a move until it was too late. Fortunately, he threw an arm out and grabbed her by the foot she’d been about to nail him with, flipping her backwards towards the bathroom. Her head missed the wall by inches but she caught herself on her hands before she smashed into the floor.
“Good reflexes.” Really good.
“Whatever,” she spat. She sprang from her crouched position in one smooth and surprisingly fast leap, attached her body to his as she hauled him to the ground. The air whooshed out of his lungs at the force of her weight on top of him when they slammed against the unforgiving wooden floor. For a split second her warm pussy nestled over his metal stiff erection and neither of them breathed.
When he bucked his hips against hers to knock her off of him, her eyes widened to huge saucers but she held on like a tough bronc. He managed to wrap one of his legs around hers and flip them over until his weight crushed her. Under his bruising pressure she bucked wildly, trying to get out from underneath but he held fast, not allowing her escape.
“It’s like fighting fire with fire, Lara. All you’re doing is making my dick harder.”
“Oh, you bastard, get off of me.” Her skin glowed with the heat and color of her anger as well as good old-fashioned sweat from fighting him so hard.
“You started it, remember? If I let you go are you going to calm down?”
“Are you going to kill me?” Her breath came in short pants as her chest heaved from her efforts.
He didn’t answer. What could he say? The council had given him an execution order for her, which left him with no choice. Kane rolled over to lie beside her, frustration rolling off both of them in heated waves. He pushed his fingers through the scant few inches of hair he had and covered his face.
“Why shouldn’t I? You tried to kill my brother multiple times.”
“C’mon, Kane, give me a break. Your own brother tried to kill your other brother multiple times. Do you have to kill him, too?”
She knew he didn’t, he could tell from the sarcasm in her voice. The council had already decided that Malcolm had suffered extenuating circumstances that made him behave out of character. His sentence had been another long period of banishment. Which was bound to make things worse.
“Give me something. Anything. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t.”
“You killed my mother.” Her words hammered through him. She couldn’t have shocked him more if she’d pulled out a shotgun and put a hole in his gut. He sat up and stared at her, searching for a sign she was playing him or just stalling again. But, the naked honesty vivid on her face rattled him, and there wasn’t a trace of deceit coming from her scent. She wasn’t lying.
“That’s absurd.” The pain in her eyes doubled at his words, forcing him to turn away from them. Something was very wrong here. His gut had told him weeks ago there was more to this story so now it was time to find out exactly what he was missing. More than ever, before he found it damned difficult to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys were.
“It’s true.” Her simple statement cracked at the shield around his heart.
“No. It’s impossible, Lara. I have never killed a female. Nor have I ever been asked to until you.”
Tears welled in her eyes that she quickly brushed away. “A black cougar murdered my mother. So, if not you, then one of your siblings. To me it’s all the same. You kill who you are told to without question and this time you made a big mistake. Vengeance will be mine, one way or another.”
Kane sighed. He needed her calm and rational, not acting on impulse if they were going to get to the bottom of this. He stepped in front of her and held out his hand. “I think it’s time for us to have a long talk, don’t you? I get the feeling there’s more going on here than either of us is ready for, the least we could do is help each other understand.”
She hesitated, staring back at him for a few unsure minutes before she finally broke eye contact, reached for his hand, and allowed him to pull her to a standing position just inches in front of him. This close, she refused to meet his eyes, and instead he only saw the top of her head. She stood the perfect height to tuck into his shoulder and hold close. With this view the silky black fall of her hair beckoned him still, despite the damage she had inflicted on him. Good thing he healed faster than a normal man, or he might have felt more of an urge to make her pay. He bit back a smile at the thought. He doubted she was ready for that. He’d rattled her enough with just a kiss.
“Are you offering a truce?” She looked up at him then, and the cool green depths of her eyes betrayed the wariness within. Lara didn’t trust him at all, and who could blame her, as he didn’t trust her one bit, either.
“Temporarily, yes.” He held up his hand between them and she cautiously took it, offering a brief shake of a deal. “Good, now that we have that settled, do you mind if I get cleaned up?” He pointed to his busted lip. “I think I could use some ice. Can I trust you to stay here while I get some? I mean, if you run again now we’ll be right back where we started, and I don’t think there will be a second truce between—”
“Stop now, Kane, while you’re ahead. I agreed to a truce and I’m not going anywhere for the moment, but if you keep running your mouth, I’ll be damn tempted to shut it again.”
“Ouch, point taken, my little hell cat.” He walked toward the door laughing, amazed at her ability to get all worked up over just a few choice words. Under different circumstances she would sure be a lot of fun.
***
When he returned with his ice he decided to get comfortable before they started. She still fidgeted around the room and he wanted to give her some time to settle down, otherwise this was going to take all night. Kane removed his boots and padded over to the sink to prepare an ice pack. Grabbing one of the small towels from the rack, he filled it with ice. As he worked he noticed the worn picture behind a bowl. Why did Lara carry a picture of herself? He leaned closer for a better look and stared into the eyes of a different woman. Blue, not green, and filled with a resigned sadness unlike the heat he’d seen in Lara. This had to be the mother, and judging from the frayed edges and wrinkles, he’d guess she carried her close. That kind of family tie he understood all too well.
He gently placed the cloth against his mouth and ambled over to recline in the chair in the corner, keeping an eye on her the whole time. She sat on the opposite side of the bed, giving them a little space apart, which was probably a good thing at this point. Not only did he not want to be tempted, but he didn’t need any more bruises.
“Tell me about your mother.” He wanted to get straight to the heart of the matter, but he wasn’t heartless like she believed, and he could see her demeanor had changed. She needed to do this for herself at her own pace.
“My mother was a witch, but so much more than that. She didn’t practice black magic and actually used her power very little. I think she was afraid of it; at least, that’s what I thought back then. Now I’m not so sure.” On a deep breath she continued in a clear and steady voice. “I was a teenager when she was killed, and as you can imagine we argued a lot. She did her best to keep me in line and tried to impress upon me how important it was to respect the magic. I learned a lot from her, but back then I never listened to her warnings and definitely didn’t appreciate her knowledge.”
Kane tried to imagine Lara as a teen and pictured a rebellious girl who must have been hell on wheels. Her father probably needed a shotgun or two. “What about your father?”
“I don’t know who my father is, she would never tell me. She always made up excuses about how she couldn’t yet face the story, but I could tell she was lying. The d
arkness clouding her eyes every time I asked was a dead giveaway. We fought about that a lot, too.”
“When did your mother die?” Best to establish a timeline now.
“She didn’t just die, so don’t try to whitewash what happened to her. She was murdered when I was fourteen.” Lara stood then, moving to the far corner of the room as if she needed to put more distance between them. “After her death, I had no one and I was afraid and lived in fear of being next. I didn’t understand anything so I ran.”
Kane noticed her reflection in the mirror on the back wall of the room. There were no tears, but the anguish was clearly written on her face. Instinctively he wanted to comfort her but knew he couldn’t.
“How can you be sure it was a black cougar? There aren’t many you know and we don’t kill indiscriminately.”
She turned to him, her pain turning to rage in the blink of an eye. “Do not go there with me, Kane! Over the years I have learned all I need to know about your archaic justice system. It’s your turn to face the truth that there is a serious flaw when an innocent woman is killed!”
He absorbed her anger as well as the pain she delivered with every word. She still smelled of the truth, and he would know. But her truth could be different from reality. She had been a child, although arguing the point with her right now seemed futile. He took a cautious step toward her and she held up her arms to stop him.
“No.” She didn’t say anything else, she didn’t have to.
He wanted to push her for more, but his gut warned him now was not the time. If her mother was killed when she was fourteen that had to be what, twelve or thirteen years ago? He’d been too young anyways, so that left either Lucas or his father as the executioner. Already he had an uneasy feeling about the whole situation. Her crimes had seemed so clear cut, even Malcolm had kept silent about her motivation. That’s because if what she said was true then she had the right of...