“With what?” she ground out, her skin way too tight all of a sudden.
“Turns out my friends invested my holdings through the years,” he said. “I can buy you anything you desire.”
The word desire. Hearing it from his lips sent her system into overdrive. She shifted, just a little, and her thighs rubbed together. Sparks shot through her lower body. A moan almost escaped her, but she shoved it down. How was this possible? She was a doctor, for goodness’ sake. Sure, there were pheromones, but this was over the top.
This was unreal.
His nostrils flared and the green turned to blue in his stunning eyes. “Faith.” He slowly reached out and slid the hair off her cheek. “So pretty.”
She couldn’t breathe. For years, she’d taken care of her sister after their parents had died. She’d worked hard, she’d gone to school, she’d become educated and strived to be the best in her field. Financially, she was independent. But here, in this bed with him, she felt…feminine. Female and somehow not in control.
His thumb caressed her cheekbone. “Stop thinking so hard,” he rumbled.
“I’m a scientist. A doctor,” she said.
“I know.” He caressed down to her jawline, his gaze following his warm fingers.
Such a simple touch, yet it stole her ability to think clearly. But she tried anyway. “I don’t believe in fate or coincidence. In soul mates or even…mates.” It all contradicted her entire belief system.
A smile played on his generous mouth. “I do believe in fate and soul mates. Definitely in my mate.” He cupped her jawline with warmth and gentle strength. “There’s probably a scientific explanation for all of it, and I’m sure you’ll figure it out at some point. Maybe in a thousand years or two.”
Was he laughing at her? She pulled her face away and studied him. She read amusement and indulgence in his expression. “I could figure it out,” she answered evenly, meaning every word. “Doesn’t mean I’ll choose to do so.” However, one thing had been eating at her since meeting with Dayne. “I think you can help my sister, and if you will, I’ll do whatever you want.” It was an easy deal to make.
His head lifted and his eyes flared. “I’ll not blackmail you into mating me, Faith Cooper.”
“Then help my sister.”
“If her brain is injured to the point that she cannot consent, she cannot be helped.” His wrist twisted, and he grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You will choose to mate me, and it will be for no other reason than you want to be my mate.”
The audacity of the man. “Want to bet?” she burst out.
“Absolutely,” he said instantly. “Whoever wins gets to name our firstborn.”
Her breath heated. “You’re impossible.” An image of a cute little boy with curly dark hair and bright greenish-blue eyes flashed through her mind and then disappeared. Now she was becoming fanciful. She lifted her arm and dislodged his hold on her chin.
His hand dropped to the bedspread. “Just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Then he grasped her wrist and tugged her slightly toward him, flattening her palm over his thorax. “You feel my heart. For centuries, even when I thought I’d sacrificed my life, this has beat for you. Every second, of every minute, of every day, of every year…I was trapped in that bubble.”
His heart pumped steadily beneath her palm. A part of her, waaaay deep down, wanted to believe him. To fall right into his fantasy. But he really believed this, and it didn’t make sense. Would she be taking advantage of him by pretending? Just for a minute?
“Ah,” he murmured, tugging her closer. “You’re tempted. I can see it.”
Of course she was tempted. He was the sexiest thing in this or in any other dimension, and it made sense that he was something other than human. But the fact that she was tempted didn’t mean anything more than he was hot…and she was aroused. “Ronan. I don’t want to hurt you,” she murmured.
He paused. His head lifted. Those sexy lips parted slightly. “Explain.”
Warmth infused her face. “I’m attracted to you, and you’re incredibly alluring. But I don’t believe in your ideals, and I don’t want to, um, lead you on.”
“Lead me on,” he repeated. “I am unfamiliar with this idiom.”
Her blush intensified until her cheeks ached. “I don’t want you to read emotion into this situation. To think or believe there’s more here than there is.”
“What is here?” he asked, his lips twitching again.
“Attraction,” she burst out. “I know you feel it too.” Right? Man, she hoped so.
His wide hands encircled her biceps, and he pulled her while rolling onto his back. She landed easily on top of him, and his heat pushed right into her muscles. “I believe I understand,” he said.
Her mouth gaped open. It was like lying on a solid rock that had been warmed by the sun all day. A rock with an obvious erection. “Ronan, I think I’ve confused you.”
His smile made him look years younger. “You’re the one who is confused.” His command of contractions in his speech was becoming evident.
Only her thin panties and the boxer briefs she’d purchased for him separated them. Her knees naturally fell on either side of his hips, and she balanced herself with her palms on his muscular chest. “I’m not confused,” she countered, her mind fuzzing despite her words.
He flattened his palm above her knee and caressed up her thigh. “I believe what you are saying is that you’d like to explore this attraction we have without causing me heartache?”
Was that her intention? Why did she suddenly feel like she’d walked right into a trap? “I’m admitting there is an attraction,” she murmured, her panties getting damp. “I’m not agreeing that we should act on it.” Right? Man, she couldn’t think. He was just too…male. Yeah. Too male.
“Hmm.” His other hand went to her other knee and traced a similar pattern until he clasped both her thighs. “I’ve been trying to ease you into reality.”
Forget reality. Those hands were heating her legs and entire lower body. A pulse set up between her legs. If she moved just a little, she could rub against him. But then it’d be over. She’d be lost and she knew it. “I don’t need easing,” she said, trying to track the conversation.
“I’m beginning to realize that,” he agreed. His eyes cleared. “You think I’m simple.”
She blinked. “No, I—just—”
He chuckled, his body moving deliciously against hers. “You do.” Wonderment now filled his voice. “This is truly unexpected.”
“No, you’re not simple,” she rushed to say, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “It’s just, to believe in fate and magic and all of that.” He was from a time long ago, when they probably still thought the world was flat. “There’s an innocence to such beliefs.”
He coughed, paused, and then laughed out loud. The rich sound warmed the entire room. “Innocence? You believe me to be innocent?”
She couldn’t find the right words, so she just started babbling. “No, it’s just the mating thing and all this talk of one true love. I mean, have you waited for your mate?” She couldn’t take advantage.
His eyebrows rose. “Have I waited?”
“Yes,” she whispered, feeling his dick pulse between her legs.
“For sex,” he said slowly, his gaze penetrating hers.
She nodded.
He had dimples. Who knew? “No, Faith. I lived for nearly four hundred years before sacrificing myself into the shield. I did not wait.”
She breathed out. All right. “I don’t want to ruin anything for you, Ronan.” Sure, he was mistaken about a lot of things, including the Kurjans, probably. But he’d just discovered that his brother and a couple of good friends had died. “You understand that the physical aspects of being together don’t always include an emotional component?”
His eyes softened. “Yes, Doc. I understand that we can fuck like rutting wolves without professing undying love.”
There was something indulgent about his gaze now. “You’re making fun of me.”
“No.” He lost the smile. “Most people were afraid of me. Or at least cautious around me. To find a woman who’s worried about my, ah, long-gone innocence is different. I do like your sense of freedom around me, and yet, your naïveté concerns me.”
Her naïveté? If anybody was naive, it was the vampire. “My eyes are wide open,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
“It’s as if we are speaking two different languages using the same words,” he murmured.
“I don’t understand.” Her nipples hardened beneath the T-shirt even as she tried to have a normal conversation.
His gaze caught sight of her breasts and his eyes flared, turning a startling green.
Whoa.
He lifted his glowing gaze to meet her eyes. “You believe your view of the world is correct, and I believe mine is.”
She nodded, her body rioting in a craving that actually hurt. “Agreed.”
“My view has existed for several thousand years,” he said, his hands tightening. “Your view, that of modern science, has existed for how long? Maybe two hundred years?”
He might be making some sense.
“How about we reach an agreement. We can explore this attraction, as you put it, without trying to influence each other about our worldview? Once?” he asked.
She tilted her head. “Once?”
He nodded. “Yes. I can give you once, if you like. With no talk or expectation regarding the future.”
“Then what?” she asked, already imagining what it would be like with no clothes between them.
He studied her, obviously searching for the right words. “I’m a Kayrs. A leader of two species more dangerous than you can possibly imagine.”
She stretched against him, unable to help herself. “What’s your point?”
“When I want something, Faith, I get it. Always.” He pushed her thighs back, upsetting her balance, and she fell flat on top of him. Faster than a thought, he rolled over until she was trapped beneath him.
She opened her mouth in surprise and he swept in, taking her mouth hard. Fast and deep, he kissed her, stealing every objection she might’ve made.
Her body went from slow heat to full burn in seconds.
He lifted up, his gaze intense, his huge body bracketing hers and pressing her into the mattress. “Say yes,” he ordered.
Oh, hell yes. Just once. As she opened her mouth to agree, an explosion ripped through the morning, blowing a hole in the entire wall.
She screamed.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ronan went from playful to deadly in a second, wrenching Faith to the side and leaping between her and the gaping hole in the wall. They occupied a guest room on the third floor, so he had not expected an attack from the east.
Bricks crumbled down and wires hung haphazardly. What the hell had happened? Smoke billowed through, and he moved closer to the devastation, looking down. Rain blew in to cover his legs. The alleyway below was quiet and empty. He moved closer, searching for the threat through the smoke and dust. What had blown a hole in the building?
“Ronan!” Faith jumped from the bed, landing hard against him in an attempted tackle.
He caught her and instinctively leaped away from the window, where she wanted him to go. “What?” He swung her around, putting himself between danger and her.
Something clinked on the floor, shot from the building across the street.
“Run,” Faith bellowed, fighting to climb off him. “Grenade!”
He tucked her closer and lunged for the door, bursting into the hallway and running down the stairs. Their room exploded and heat flashed against his back. He kept running, nearly slamming into Benny on the second-floor landing.
“They’re coming through the front,” Benny said tersely, handing Ronan a gun. “Point this and squeeze the trigger.”
Ronan shifted Faith from his front onto his back. “Got it.” He’d researched weapons the night before after having put Faith to bed, not only on the Internet but on private Realm websites. Immortal guns shot lasers that turned into steel upon impact. “Is it the Kurjans?”
“Dunno,” Benny said. “Follow me.” He was bare to the waist but had obviously yanked on some jeans and boots. He hustled down another set of stairs, leading them into the bar, where Ivar was waiting by the bottles of liquor with a shotgun in his hands. He lifted a divider and kicked open a door near the cash register. “Let’s go.”
The front and back doors blew open, and soldiers wearing all black rushed inside, guns pointed. At least three from each entry point fanned out, with more running boots sounding from outside. They’d brought an incredible force.
Ivar hit a lever beneath the booze, and metal-enforced walls dropped from the ceiling, blocking both exits and preventing more soldiers from entering.
Smart.
Ronan ran for the bar and set Faith behind it, pressing the gun into her hand. She appeared fragile in her thin T-shirt and panties, her long legs bare and vulnerable. Fury gripped him. What he wouldn’t give for his ability to teleport her to safety before returning to fight. Then he turned and vaulted over the bar, tackling two of the enemy to the ground. Their faces and heads were covered with black material, leaving only their eyes visible.
Gunfire pattered and bottles exploded, sending glass in every direction. Faith screamed.
That sound settled Ronan into killing mode. It had been centuries since he’d really fought, so he went silent inside and let training and instinct rule.
The first guy punched him in the neck, and Ronan clipped him on the wrist, sending the weapon spinning beneath a table. Then he lifted a knee and kicked the other soldier’s weapon just as the guy was beginning to rise. The guy kicked Ronan beneath the chin, and he flew back to smash into a barstool. Pain crashed through his shoulder and his temper exploded.
Growling, his fangs sliding down, he straightened to his full height.
Benny fought two guys at the back door, while Ivar battled the two near the front.
These assholes were his to take care of. He rolled his neck and steeled his shoulders, moving forward.
The first guy rushed him, removing a knife from his waist and striking out. Pain slashed down Ronan’s left arm. He pivoted and ducked, throwing the soldier over his shoulder with a hard push. The soldier spun in the air, careening into the metal barricade and denting it with a loud bang.
The second soldier yanked a gun from his pocket, and Ronan kicked it away with his bare foot before it could fire. His knees weakened and he growled again at his lack of strength. The soldier attacked, wrapping Ronan in a bear hug and taking him down to the floor. Fury lit sparks behind Ronan’s eyes and he clapped both hands against the asshole’s ears. The guy snarled, his protective mask remaining in place.
The punch to the jaw came from out of nowhere and Ronan saw stars.
Something battered the front protective wall, and it cracked.
“We have to get out of here,” Ivar bellowed as the sound of the fight continued.
The guy on Ronan grabbed a knife from his back pocket and lifted his arm. Ronan punched up, nailing the guy in the throat. Then he struck again, sweeping out, and rolled them over. Several hard punches, and Ronan broke the guy’s throat. Temporarily.
He staggered to his feet.
An explosion ripped from the back, and the rear shield began to crumple.
Faith yelled and Ronan turned to see her hitting an attacker with a serving tray. Her face was fierce, and in her limited clothing, she looked both fragile and determined. She grabbed a bottle of vodka, smashing it against the soldier’s h
ead. Glass cut into her bare thigh and blood spattered.
Fury lit him and he ignored his waning vision, leaping across the space and taking the attacker down. Faith followed him, shattering a bottle of rum against the guy’s ear. The mask took most of the brunt, and the male punched up, hitting Ronan in the mouth. Blood burst from his lip.
Damn it.
He drew on his remaining strength and punched down with all his might, crushing the guy’s larynx. The injury would only keep him down for a minute or two, but it was long enough.
Shoving himself unsteadily up, Ronan grasped Faith’s liquor-covered hand and pulled her through the doorway with Ivar and Benny on their heels. The door shut behind them, and Ivar ran forward, taking the lead. They reached stairs and started running down. Ronan released Faith so he could balance. His vision was black now, and he was making his way by sound alone.
The air cooled.
“Where are we?” Benny asked from behind Ronan, his boots loud on the concrete.
“Safety tunnels,” Ivar said as it became pitch-black.
Benny coughed. “You fuckin’ think of everything, Ivar.”
That was true. Ivar was apparently the planner in the group. Good. They needed one. Ronan kept his senses tuned into his mate. She kept pace in her bare feet, not complaining, her breath a series of soft gasps.
She’d bounced back incredibly well from being kissed to having the world explode around her. Pride swept him, even though his feet had gone numb. Fate had chosen well for him. Faith Cooper was an incredible woman.
Ivar held up a hand. “All stop for a second.”
They came to a halt, everyone breathing heavy.
Ivar fumbled around loudly and something creaked. Light ignited and he handed back a flashlight to Benny and then a couple to Faith and Ronan. “Stay right behind me. These tunnels are old, and I’ve altered many of them through the years as escape routes. The paths twist and turn, and if you go the wrong way, we won’t find you. There are also some booby traps along the way.”
Of course there were. Ivar’s planning abilities were impressive. Igor would be proud of this younger brother of his.
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