by Kimber White
“Come inside,” I said. “You can keep it together enough to handle standing under a regular old ceiling, can’t you? I promise I won’t...try to touch you.”
Gideon let out a low growl, but didn’t put up a fight as he followed me into the house. The back sliding door led into the kitchen. Of all the rooms in the house, it somehow seemed the safest to be in. The bedroom was out of the question, no matter how much I wanted to have him throw me over his shoulder and take me there.
“I came because of your father,” Gideon blurted out.
“My father?”
“I don’t know how to...you’re not safe, Grace.”
I leaned against the counter and eyed him. Gideon started to pace around the kitchen table. “Right. We’ve covered this. You get too close, we get too horny, things start catching on fire.”
“No!” he said. “There’s something I have to tell you. I’ve been torturing myself for two days trying to figure out how. That night...when I brought your cousin back, your father was in the yard next door.”
“He saw you!” I put a hand to my head like it might pop off. Papa hadn’t said a word. Neither had Leo. Maybe this was why.
“No. That’s just it. He was there with four other men. Russian wolf shifters. One was Pavel Vadim.”
My heart flipped. Pavel. He was here? In Chicago? Why in the world hadn’t Papa mentioned it? “He’s one of the more powerful pack Alphas in Russia,” I explained. “It was his pack my father got banished from for mating with my mom.”
“And they killed her for it,” Gideon finished.
God. This was bad. Catastrophic.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, going to Gideon. Smoke wafted from his fingertips. His eyes were pure golden fire. I could sense his urge to shift. I grew bold, putting a light hand on his arm. He jumped at my touch at first, then grew more calm. His eyes settled back to green.
“It’s not,” he said. “Grace, you have to listen to me. I have to get you out of here. You need to be as far away from your father and Vadim as possible. My family can protect you.”
“From what?”
“Did you ever question why they let your father live? I’ve done my homework. The Vadim pack is well known. They’re Russian mobsters, Grace. As dangerous as they come. If they wanted your father dead, he would be. They let him live. Their ties are deep, especially here in Wicker Park.”
“They let him go because he promised to never to come back and cause trouble. A few generations back, it was a Kalenkov who led that pack. That’s why Milo and I had to change our names. My father swore an oath to relinquish any claim he had to lead it.”
“That’s not how it works with wolves,” Gideon said, his eyes wild. “You of all people should know that. Alphas rule with blood and power. If Vadim thought your father posed a threat to his leadership, he would have killed him. Straight up. He didn’t though. Because he wanted something from him. Keeping him alive suited his needs, but only if he could be certain your father would toe the line.”
“What are you trying to tell me?” I took a step back. It was as if the air had been sucked from the room. Gideon charged forward, wrapping his hands around my upper arms. His touch seared me.
“I heard it all, Grace. I heard enough. Vadim was here making sure your father intends to honor his part of a pact they made. He let your father live and come to Chicago because he promised to give you to Vadim on your twenty-first birthday. He wants to mate with you. You’re not a shifter, but it’s pretty much a guarantee if you mate with one and give him a son, he’ll be a shifter too. That’s how Vadim is planning to neutralize any further challenges. It’s how it was done for centuries. Join the families. Consolidate the gene pool and the power.”
I couldn’t hear this. I couldn’t even see straight. My heart turned to ash. I tried to pull away from Gideon, but his grip was too strong.
“No!” I shouted. “You’re nuts. Papa would never agree to something like that. He sacrificed everything to keep us alive.”
“I know what I heard. I have to get you out of here. I will not let that man get his hands on you.”
“Who, Vadim or my father?” I felt myself slipping, hysteria tickling the edges of my mind. This was crazy. Papa would never agree to pimp me out like that. Gideon had to have misunderstood.
“Both!” he shouted.
His grip was firm, but he loosened it as I twisted my arm. “Gideon, I know how you were the other night. You were half out of your mind. I don’t know what’s going on. If Pavel Vadim has come all the way to Chicago, there’s something terrible going on. I haven’t seen Papa since we had dinner before Finn came to get me. Tell me the truth, have you done something?”
Gideon’s eyes went wide. “Like what?”
I didn’t know what I was saying. I couldn’t think straight. He must have heard wrong. Even if I was living in some bizarro world where what Gideon said about my father was true, he had to know I would never consent to something like that.
“I don’t know! I just...this is crazy, Gideon. God. Since the moment you came into my life, everything else is just upside down. I’m lying to my brother. To my father. They’ve driven me out of my mind with it, but they’ve been protecting me. Papa blames Pavel’s father for what happened to my mom. Do you really think he’d offer me up to his son?”
Gideon knocked a kitchen chair over. Fire shot from his fingertips. He took a deep breath and waited for a beat until he had his dragon back under control.
“Is it protection? Or have they just been keeping you under your father’s thumb until it was time to turn you over to that...that…”
“Gideon.” Scales covered his arms. His eyes were molten gold. I was torn. Gideon needed me. His fire burned for me. But, mine burned for his too.
“You’re mine!” he said. “Grace, I can’t even think of anything else.”
Hot tears stung my eyes. Damn it all to hell. I needed him too. I wanted to rip his eyes out for what he was saying. It was a mistake. It had to be. But, his torture was real. He wanted me as much as I did him. If the idea of me being with anyone ripped him apart, it did the same to me.
“You’re mine,” he whispered.
It was as if everything outside these walls had turned to chaos. But in here, with Gideon, one thing made perfect sense. I belonged to him. As the storm raged inside of him, a similar one brewed in me. We could quiet it for each other.
I went to him.
“Grace.” His voice was broken. Shattered.
“Just let me touch you,” I said. “I don’t know how, but we’ll figure it out. We have to. I just can’t believe fate would bring us together like this otherwise.”
“This is killing me,” he said. “I won’t hurt you. I can’t…”
“Shut up,” I said, a fat tear spilling down my cheek. “Just shut up.”
He lifted me off the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist. Gideon groaned into my mouth as I kissed him. My doubts fell away. Reason fell away.
“Shower,” I whispered. Gideon’s eyes flashed as he realized what I was about.
“It won’t be enough,” he said. “My fire is too strong.”
“Then we’ll stop when we need to.”
I pointed the way. I threw my shirt over my head and tossed it to the ground. Gideon kicked open the bathroom door. He set me on the ground and reached in to turn on the shower knobs. The Petrovs had a huge, walk-in shower with three jets. Gideon put them at full blast and all the way to cold. I wriggled out of my jeans and went inside.
The frigid water hit my skin and made me gasp. Then, Gideon was there, taking away the cold with his hot as sin kisses. He sat me on the bench.
“We can’t,” he said. “I can’t.”
“I just need to touch you. For a little while. Can we do that? You’re in control now. I can feel it.”
Gideon moaned and went to his knees. I threaded my hands through his hair. I was wearing nothing but my underwear. The cold water made my nipples stand out
in hard peaks. Gideon lapped at them, leaving a trail of heat that made me shudder.
I wanted to feel him. I reached for his jeans. They were soaked through as the water hit his back and sizzled as it dripped down.
“No,” he said. “Just you. It’s too dangerous, Grace.”
I threw my head back, desire making me weak. Gideon slid my panties down and threw them out of the shower. Then, he gently parted my thighs.
“Please,” I begged.
Then, he was on me. With the expert flick of his tongue, he opened my folds. His hands were everywhere, kneading my breasts, sliding along my leg. He entered me with his tongue and light exploded behind my eyes. It was heaven. I gripped the wooden bench and brought my knees up, exposing myself to him more fully.
He teased me, coaxed me, brought me sky high, then let me coast down just before I found my release.
“Gideon,” I whispered. “Please. Let me touch you.”
“Be still,” he commanded. My body responded.
With the tip of his tongue, he teased my tiny clit, driving me wild. Then, he slid two fingers into me, working me from the inside. I bucked and thrust toward him, feeling myself slip out of control. But he was in complete control.
“Come for me,” he whispered. “Let me taste you at least.”
As if I had the power to stop it. He had me too far gone. I threw my head back and let out a scream of passion that echoed off the tile walls.
I came so hard, so deep. Gideon lapped it all, drinking me in. I opened my eyes and looked down at him. He was watching me, his golden eyes burning bright.
“That’s it, baby,” he said. “Give it to me.”
I did. He wrung every drop out of me and brought me so high. I don’t know how I stayed seated on that bench. It was so good. It was almost perfect. But, I craved so much more.
The last tremor of my orgasm died down and I brought my legs back to the floor. Gideon sat back on his heels and reached up to turn off the water. Fat droplets hung from the tips of his dark hair. He shook his head, spraying water everywhere.
“Now you,” I said, sliding off the bench. As I reached for him, Gideon stood.
“No,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. I told you. My fire is far too powerful to be doused with a little tap water, Grace.”
He was bulging out of his soaked jeans. God. I wanted to feel him. Taste him. Take him in. At that moment, I didn’t care about burning. I just...wanted.
“Come here,” he said. “This is enough. It has to be enough.”
Tears filled my eyes again and sorrow filled my soul. “It isn’t, and you know it. Oh, Gideon. This can’t be all there is.”
He grabbed a towel from the rack and handed it to me. “Just let me hold you tonight. We can have at least that.”
I tucked the towel under my breasts. As his eyes fell there, a fresh flare of heat settled in my core. I wanted him again already. He’d quenched one fire, but ignited another.
“Okay,” I said. “But in the morning, we have to find my father.”
Gideon clenched his jaw. The flame went through his gaze again. But, he took my hand and let me lead him to the bedroom.
Chapter Thirteen
Gideon
Grace slept. I took in every delicate detail of her face. Her lashes, thick as sable, fluttered as she dreamed. Her full lips parted and the light breath of her whisper kissed my cheek.
My fire coiled through me. Desire so fierce it might have blinded me rumbled in my core. Yet somehow, I contained it. Control. I hadn’t felt so much of it in decades. I could lie here, two inches from the most desirable woman I’d ever known in three centuries, and still keep my dragon calm.
It was Grace. She gave me this new power. My fated mate.
“Gideon,” she whispered my name, still deeply asleep. I pulled the sheet down, exposing her perfect breasts. Her dark nipples peaked as the air hit them. I grew bold, testing the limits of my control. I leaned down and licked each hard pebble, savoring the honey taste of her skin.
She arched her back, her body already tuned to mine. I peeled the sheet all the way down. Grace’s dark hair fanned out beneath her, soft as silk. Long, lean muscles, toned arms, the powerful thighs of a runner. A bead sparkled in her belly button. I hadn’t noticed that before. She had a tiny diamond stud there. I flicked my tongue over it, wondering what other sexy secrets my Grace’s body would reveal.
She thrust her hips in the air. Fuck. She was dreaming of me. She whispered my name again. A tremor ran through me as my fire burned even hotter. It would be so easy to just slip inside of her. I was hard as granite. Lust built along with the fire.
I couldn’t help it. I had to feel her. I slid my fingers over her creamy thighs and tapped the hard little bud between her legs. She jolted in her sleep, then settled back down. God. She was soaked. Her juices coated my hand. I crossed three fingers on my right hand and slid them inside her.
Grace had a fire of her own. Instinct took over. She was mine. Her body responded to me. She fucked my fingers, spreading her legs even wider for me. In the middle of it, her eyes fluttered open. She fisted the sheets and gasped as she saw I was real. She said she’d dreamed of me before. She wasn’t afraid.
She came all over me, soaking me with her sweet nectar. My Grace. My mate. Only it was far too dangerous for me to claim her the way I wanted.
Mine!
I may not have been able to have her the way I wanted, but I’d be damned if I’d let Pavel Vadim or anyone else get near her.
The instant the thought crossed my mind, cold reality slammed in behind it. That wasn’t fair. Not to Grace.
As Grace settled back down, a slow smile brightened her eyes. She threw one leg over mine and cupped my face in her hands.
“Please,” she whispered, finding my lips. She tasted like honey there too.
“Please what?” I asked, knowing full well what she was going to say. My dragon woke, ready to answer.
“I’m not afraid, Gideon. I told you, I’ve dreamt of it.”
“Dreams are dreams,” I said. I kissed her on the forehead and slid out from under her. It nearly killed me to do it. She belonged wrapped around me like that. I wanted her to fall asleep with my cock deep inside of her.
“We can stop if it gets too hot. Can’t we?”
I shuddered. “I’m strong. I’m not that strong. Once we start...if I let myself go...Grace...I won’t risk it. I won’t risk you.”
“But you’re better,” she said, rising up and leaning on her elbow. “I can feel it. Your control. I mean, I feel your dragon too, but he’s not overpowering you like before.”
“My love,” I said. It was the first time. It just came out. The moment I said it, I knew how true it was. I loved this woman. I’d loved her before she was even born. “I’m sworn to protect you. Even from myself. Especially from myself.”
She grew quiet. There was something else we needed to talk about. Though I didn’t want to conjure it or even bring that bastard’s name into her bed. My dragon stirred. It was somehow easier to control when passion brought it forth. Protective rage was something quite different.
“I need to talk to my father,” she said, pulling the sheet back up. I had to resist the urge to slide it back down. If I couldn’t have her all the way, I damn well wanted to admire the view.
“And I don’t want you near him or any other wolf shifter alone. I told you. I’m sworn to protect you no matter what.”
She reached down to the floor and found her t-shirt. She slipped it over her head then slid back to the head of the bed, hugging her knees to her.
“He had a reason. A plan,” she said. “I know you can’t see it, but it has to be true. I know my father. You say you’re sworn to protect me. Well, so is he.”
I growled. “It’s different. He may see this arranged mating as a way to protect you. Vadim said he let you all go on this condition.”
“That’s no justification. You think my father was willing to subject me to basically
rape? No way.”
I turned away from her, unable to control the short blast of fire. It dissipated quickly in the air, but the anger bubbling under it was getting worse.
“I can’t,” I said. “We aren’t going to even talk about that. It’s not happening, Grace. He’s not getting his hands on you. Ever.”
“Gideon, everything my father has done for my entire life he did to protect me. He left Russia, the only home he’d ever known so that Milo and I could have a chance at a better life away from the Vadim pack. He changed our names to Call so it would be that much harder for any pack loyalists to know who we were. We were never allowed to speak Russian once we got here. My cousins, Erik and Edward, their father was my father’s oldest brother. He was killed by Pavel’s father too the same day my mother was. Leo’s father was killed by him a few years before that. The only brother he has left is my uncle Val.”
“They let him go,” I said. “Don’t you see that? The Vadim pack’s reach is long. That’s what your father has been afraid of all these years. He was only safe here because they let him be. You think Pavel would have let your uncle or your cousins go out of the kindness of his heart?”
She was angry. She leaped out of the bed and rummaged through her dresser, pulling on a pair of underwear and denim cutoff shorts. I reached down and grabbed my own pants. They were still damp from the shower, but my heat would handle that in about two seconds with the rage I had brewing.
“Bullshit,” she said. “Your theory is that my dad paid for my family’s safe passage by agreeing to breed me to some other wolf. It’s sick, Gideon. You don’t know my father.”
“I know wolves!” My voice boomed, rattling the windows. I had to get outside and fast. If I shifted here, it would tear Grace’s house down.
“You’ve been fed stories your whole life,” I said, through gritted teeth. “Lies. You know why my brothers and I are the only dragons left in the world? Because wolves and other shifters hunted us to extinction. They harvested dragonstone...no...stole our dragonstone and used it to kill us. But not outright, Grace. No. They tortured those dragons they captured. Bled them. Held our mates as hostage to get us to do what they asked. I know what wolves and other shifters are capable of.”