I studied the pendant. It was a lovely sapphire, about the size of a quarter, inlaid in gold and surrounded by diamonds.
It occurred to me then that perhaps the gift was from Tez.
Knock, knock, knock.
Silly, wishful thinking. I glanced at the staircase. I shouldn’t touch it until I knew for sure how it had gotten here, and who had put it in my room. I didn’t want to issue another invitation to the brutal phantom. He’d only shown up, and managed to strangle me, when I was holding the silver box. So, he needed a conduit—something from the past in order to touch the present.
I hated feeling vulnerable in my own home. Until we were able to figure out the shadow’s purpose, and what my role was in the whole debacle, I couldn’t assume anything was innocuous. Not even very lovely jewelry.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Elizabeth. Can I come in?”
I stood up, tossed the pillow onto the bed, and made my way up the staircase. I opened the door. “Did our guests leave?”
“Yeah.”
His gaze flicked over me, and he frowned. “Why did you disappear?”
“I have other things to do than entertain your potential girlfriends. If you’ll excuse me, I have some chores to finish.”
I tried to shut the door, but he grabbed the edge and held it open.
“I expect better from you,” he said. The disappointment in his tone raked me like a shard of glass. “You know I’m not interested in them. I’ve made it clear I want you. Only you.”
“Hah! How egotistical of you to assume I will simply swoon at your feet.”
“No, you don’t, princess.” He pushed open the door and grabbed my wrist, yanking me through the door. He spun me around in his arms and kissed me.
I tried to protest such a he-man move. Honestly! Did he think I would just melt under the assault of his wonderful mouth? I had pride. I had strength of will. So what if his arms felt good around me? And the hot press of his body against mine made my shiver?
“I really must protest,” I managed, pulling away just enough to attempt to glare up at him.
“Okay,” he said. He held me tight, giving me no room to wiggle free. He leaned down and nibbled my bottom lip. Then he looked at me, challenge glittering in his eyes. “Go on, princess. Protest.”
Chapter 10
“We shouldn’tget involved,”I said,though my voice held little resolve. “You should date your own kind. And m-marry and have children. You would be an excellent alpha for the Broken Heart were-cats.”
“Alpha,” he stated flatly.
“Oh. Um, yes. Serri told me that Calphon is dying. They need a new alpha. They want you.” I tried for a smile and failed. “Didn’t you know?”
His gaze flicked away, and hurt ghosted through me. “You did know.”
“I came to check it out,” he said. “I was tired of being alone. I could never get close to anyone. Being a shifter isn’t a secret you can share with your pals.” He captured my gaze. “I haven’t agreed to anything.”
“But you’re considering it.”
“I didn’t know I’d meet you, okay?” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You . . . you . . . goddamnit!” He kissed me so hard my lips felt bruised and swollen when he came up for air. His breath feathered my mouth, and I noticed that the irises of his eyes were diamond shaped. The jaguar was stirring. “I have never wanted anyone like you, Elizabeth. I want to be near you all the time. I love the way you smell. I get a jolt at the sound of your voice, your laugh. I know it sounds crazy.”
He was doing it again—using his words to show tenderness. Yet, there was a raw quality to his tone, as though he were not used to saying such things. Of course, that could also be the perception of my romance-starved imagination. His honesty carved through my jealousy, my doubts, my self-control.
“You deserve a life with a wife, or two, and children, Tez. I can’t give you a family. I can’t lock you into my marital curse, either.”
“Uh-huh.” He stared at me, his expression inscrutable. “You through with all your protesting?”
He sounded angry. I was just trying to be practical! For both our sakes. “I believe so, yes.”
“Sure?” he asked impatiently. “All done?”
I nodded.
“Good.” He kissed me again—administering a full-on sensual attack with teeth and tongue, and his hands stroked from my hips to my rib cage, and dared to touch the undersides of my breasts. My body tingled with need, and all points south were experiencing quite the reawakening. I heard a moan, and was shocked to realize the low sound had come from me.
Tez stepped back, his hands settling on my hips. “I’m not interested in any other woman, human, undead or were-cat.”
“Tez, it’s premature to make any decisions about your future.”
“Our future. Fine. Let’s focus on the right now, princess.” He rubbed his knuckles under my jaw. “I want you. You want me.”
“Yes.” Why deny what was so obvious?
To my astonishment, he dropped to his knees. His fingers dipped under my shirt and undid my pants.
“Tez!”
“Don’t give me the ‘sex is marriage’ lecture again, all right?” He peeled back my trousers and wiggled them down my hips. I felt exposed . . . and expectant. The impromptu eroticism shushed my common sense.
He pressed his mouth to the vee of my thighs. Oh. My. God. His accuracy was uncanny. The wet warmth of his lips penetrated the thin lace of my panties. His breath fluttered through the barriers and ghosted over my labia.
Shock and pleasure reverberated in my core as I tried to form words of protest. No, enough of protests. Yet, I couldn’t even form words of encouragement.
“The black ones are nice,” he said. His fingertips dipped under the band. “I can’t wait to see you in red.”
I didn’t even bother to deny he would see me in red. I already knew we’d be getting naked soon enough. I just didn’t know how we were going to effectively manage this affair.
I grasped his shoulders to steady myself, and to readjust a tiny bit to the left.
He took the hint. He pulled my panties down, and took precious seconds to strip off shoes, socks, pants, and undies. I was completely exposed, and vulnerable—physically and emotionally.
Tez pushed my legs apart and studied the thin strip of blond curls between my legs.
“Brazilian waxing,” I stated unnecessarily. I was nervous. He was being too quiet—channeling that jaguar stillness of his. “One of the last beauty treatments I did before dying. I had no idea I’d never need to suffer through it again.”
“Beautiful,” he murmured. Then, because he obviously took torture lessons from the CIA, he blew on my exposed clitoris . . . and then he sucked it between his lips. His tongue flickered over the sensitive nub, and the floor tilted. Or maybe my knees just gave way.
I couldn’t believe I was standing in my kitchen while a man I’d know forty-eight hours pleasured me with his very talented mouth. And tongue. Dear God. Did I mention his tongue?
He spread me apart and slowly licked the titillated flesh. Honestly, I didn’t know how I managed to remain standing. My thighs quaked and my knees kept threatening to buckle. I had never known this kind of wicked pleasure, not even with my husband. I wasn’t naïve about the ways to make love; I’d just never had much of a chance to explore the possibilities.
He rained kisses everywhere, his lips soft and warm and persistent.
His tongue swiped me, deeply, and I grabbed his hair. I’m afraid I pulled rather hard, but Tez didn’t seem to mind at all.
He cupped my buttocks and pulled me to his mouth . . . kissing . . . licking . . . sucking. Then he pushed his tongue inside me, and thrust over and over, until I was soaked and panting (Breath? Who needs breath?) and squirming.
He pulled back and looked up at me, breathing hard, his eyes glazed with passion. “Come for me, Elizabeth.”
His words were as powerful an aphrodisiac as his actions. His fin
gers dug into my buttocks as he returned to suckling my clit, alternating the tender assault with sweeps of his tongue.
“Oh!” I tipped over the edge, falling into white-hot bliss. The intensity of the orgasm was nothing like I’d ever experienced. It was a free fall into electric pleasure, and I wanted it to last forever.
Alas, it did not.
When I was finally able to form a coherent thought, I looked down at Tez. I was still shaking, but he held me upright. He was lazily licking away the evidence of my enjoyment.
“Tez.” It’s all I could get out. I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to say, except maybe, thank you.
There was something to be said for he-man behavior.
He helped me to redress, all the way to putting back on my shoes; then he climbed to his feet and gathered me into his arms. “You are delicious.”
His hard-on was very obvious. I lightly touched the ridge of his shaft through his jeans.
He took my hand and brought it up to his lips. “Don’t worry about me, princess. We’ll have time later to play.” He smiled. “Unless you’ve thought of more protests.”
“Me? Protest? Don’t be ridiculous.”
“ ’Atta girl.” He smoothed away my hair, and looked deeply into my eyes. I could see he was still feeling rather lusty, and I was more than willing to reciprocate the pleasure he’d given me. Granted, I wasn’t well-versed in fellatio, but I was certainly willing enough. Tez put a finger to my lips. “Don’t even offer. I wanted to give something to you, Elizabeth. You don’t owe me.”
“I don’t feel as though I would be repaying a debt.”
“Good to know. I have every intention of exploring that luscious body of yours, and allowing you to take whatever liberties you want with mine.” He stepped back a little, but kept his hands on my waist. “When you said I was sure about us, you were right. I am. My mother was a human, but she raised me the best she could in the shifter ways. My father told her a lot about our kind, and she used that knowledge to help me.”
“She sounds like a marvelous woman.”
“She was.” He swallowed hard. “She died last year.”
“I’m so sorry.” I laid my hand against his cheek and turned his face to kiss my palm. I realized now that for so long as Tez had his mother, he probably didn’t have the desire to seek out others like him. How lonely he must now be without the only person who’d known, and accepted, his true nature. My heart ached for him. He probably needed the connections with other parakind, and that’s why he traveled to Broken Heart.
“She told me that when I met my mate, I would know and the knowledge was absolute—two pieces clicking together perfectly. Mom said I would always feel like half a person, until I met the woman who made me feel whole.”
“Well,” I said, somewhat dismayed by this news, “I will be happy to be yours until that happens.”
Tez looked at me as if I were crazy. “It already has, Ellie Bee. That night on the path, even in the rain, I could smell you. Feel you. Mine. It beat in my heart, pulsed in my veins. I saw you, and I knew.” He cupped my face. “You are my mate.”
I gaped at him. “I’m not a were-cat.”
“We’ve established that.”
I pointed to my stomach. “I can’t have your babies.”
“Again, facts in evidence.”
“Why would a vampire be your mate?” I asked, still grappling with the idea Tez thought I was his by virtue of an absolute feeling wherein he suddenly felt whole. Talk about a leap of faith! (Not to mention a really screwed-up version of the birds-and-bees talk.) No wonder he’d been unconcerned about the hundred-year-marriage contract. The delusional man thought I was his destiny.
“I don’t know how to feel about this,” I said. “It’s . . . it’s a little . . .”
“Crazy?”
“Overwhelming.”
He nodded. “I understand. But I’m not going anywhere.” He kissed my forehead, and then let me go. “Couple hours before dawn. You wanna watch a movie and make out?”
I laughed. “You sure know how to change a subject. Yes, I’d love to do both of those things.”
“All right. You got popcorn?”
“And an air popper.” We separated to gather the needed supplies, and that’s when I remembered the pendant in my room. I didn’t want to ruin the moment. The idea of spending my last awake hours snuggling with Tez was a temptation I couldn’t resist. Almost. I had to tell him about seeing that stupid necklace; we had to deal with it. Once we’d solved the problem of the demon shadow, I’d have plenty of time to spend with Tez. At least, I hoped so.
“Tez, I found a pendant in my room, just hanging on my lampshade. I don’t suppose you left me a present.”
He stopped poking through my cabinets, and turned to face me. “What pendant?”
The hope for a cozy evening with Tez evaporated. “It’s in my bedroom.”
We went downstairs and I led him to the nightstand. “If it is from that thing, I don’t know how he got in here. Last time, he used Rand as a delivery boy.”
“Maybe he’s trying a more direct approach. Where is it?”
“There,” I said, pointing to the shade. “It’s on the—” I stopped abruptly as I saw exactly what Tez saw.
Nothing.
No pendant necklace.
“I swear it was there. It was a gold chain with a large sapphire.”
“I believe you,” said Tez. “But it’s not here now.”
We searched the nightstand, looking behind it, and then inside the lamp itself. A perusal of the floor revealed nothing more than a need to vacuum up dust bunnies. I couldn’t believe it had just disappeared. Had I imagined it? Was it some sort of ominous gift from the shadow, or a ghostly vision from Elizabeth? I doubted she was still around. What I didn’t understand was why Patsy so clearly hadn’t seen any ghosts around me.
“He put Patsy out of commission on purpose,” I said, suddenly sure. “She’s the biggest threat. She can see ghosts and she can raise the dead. If she could see him, she could bind him with her powers. He drove her crazy enough to attempt murder.”
“Why not just kill her?” asked Tez.
“She has another purpose to serve. Or maybe he knows that killing Patsy means the end of all vampires—and he wants that pleasure himself.”
“Whoa. Wait a freaking minute. If Patsy dies, you all die?”
“Well, she is really hard to kill,” I said. “But, yes. The vampires lost one-eighth of their population thousands of years ago because a demon killed an Ancient named Shamhat.” I waved my hand. “That’s a long story, one for another time. Before Patsy became our queen, the vampires were ruled by seven Ancients. Two were banned—sent into paranormal limbo—and a third named Lia was killed. If Patsy had not assumed all the powers, then a lot of vampires would’ve died with Lia. At least, that’s the working theory.”
“It seems kinda stupid to put all your eggs in one basket,” said Tez. “That has gotta be hell on her. She’s gotta be a wife, a mother to triplets, and ruler of an entire species?”
“The lycans, too,” I said. “They follow her edicts as well.”
“I can’t believe she didn’t go crazy way before now.”
He was right. Hadn’t I thought the same thing? I worried about Patsy. I very much sympathized with anyone trapped by duty, as I had so often felt trapped by my own circumstances and choices made to benefit others. Women were predisposed, most of the time, to take care of others, but not themselves. Patsy had Gabriel, of course, which surely helped—but she bore the full responsibility of leadership.
I shook off thoughts of Patsy, and returned to the issue at hand. Chased by a vengeful . . . something. Spirit. Shadow. Bogeyman. I sat on the edge of my bed, feeling miserable. “He can get in and out of here anytime he wants. I don’t think I’m ever going to feel safe again. Not until we catch him.”
“I could sleep with you down here,” offered Tez. He put up his hands. “Just sleep. Promise.”
I hugged myself, feeling unaccountably chilled. “It’s this house,” I said. “I don’t want to be here. I hate feeling afraid.”
“Let’s get out of here for the night. You got somewhere we can go?”
I considered all my friends, and one by one discarded them as potential spots to spend the day. Jessica had her hands full with her own children plus the triplets, Phoebe and Connor had returned to Tulsa, Patsy was mad as a hatter, and Eva and Lorcan really didn’t have the extra space. Then I thought of the perfect place.
“We can go to the Three Sisters,” I said. “It’s the bed-and-breakfast that Lenette and her sisters run. They have special rooms for vampires.”
“Call ’em up, princess. Get a room for two.” He waggled his eyebrows, and leered outrageously. I laughed. I had to admit staying the night at the Three Sisters with Tez made me feel much better.
I resented not feeling at ease in my own home. It was disturbing to realize the shadow could come and go as he pleased, although he seemed to wait until I was alone to attack me.
If he had left the necklace . . . why take it away again?
There was so much I didn’t understand about the situation.
“Hey, Velma,” said Tez. He took my hand and squeezed it. “Let it go. We’ll sort fact from fiction tomorrow, okay? Everything’s gonna be all right.”
You know what? I believed him.
Lenette, and her sisters, Dorica and Nell, welcomed us warmly. Even with a mere hour before dawn, the pull of vampire sleep already upon me, Tez and I took up their invitation to enjoy tea and scones. The sisters were very well known for their excellent baked goods. I often purchased their mango-lemon muffins to enjoy with my afternoon tea.
As I mentioned earlier, Lenette and her sisters practiced Wicca, and wielded quite powerful magick. They often added little enchantments to their aromatherapy products, which they sold in the gift shop.
Cross Your Heart: A Broken Heart Novel Page 13