The beautiful red glow that had marked his shift before fired bold before her, the power of it so intense it surrounded her as well.
And then Tate was there. Shoulders back. Arms loose at his sides and feet braced hip-width apart. Nothing about his stance communicated danger. No threat of any kind.
But his expression was another matter. Harsh. Focused. Eyes blazing and scanning her face and body as though looking for something. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were fine and then something changed.”
Her heart lurched and took off at a jog, the rhythm uncomfortably unsteady. He couldn’t have known what she was thinking. Voláns had all kinds of magic—healing, vision, physical strength and textbook sorcery—but she was pretty sure mind reading wasn’t in the lineup. “What do you mean something changed?”
“Your scent. Most emotions have one.” He cocked his head and narrowed his gaze. “Yours is sad. Why?”
Shoot.
Talk about your bad times to stumble onto clan knowledge. She shrugged and clamored for an answer that might somehow make her not come off like a pathetic loon. When one wouldn’t come, she fell back on the truth. “Tonight was a good night.”
He crept forward. “But that’s good.”
She nodded, her pulse ramping higher the closer he got. The next time she spoke, it was barely more than a whisper. “It’s good until it has to end.”
Comprehension settled on his face and a tiny grin lifted his lips. He stopped with only inches between them and cradled her face in both hands. His deep voice sent fire licking along her chilled skin and his warm breath teased her lips. “This isn’t the end, Elise.”
She braced both hands on his chest, torn between pushing him away long enough to get her emotions and mind under control, and simply allowing herself the joy of sampling the hard muscle beneath the soft cotton. Logic told her to follow up with another question. To dig deeper and unearth what sounded like a whole lot of missing but pertinent information.
But the instinctive and purely physical side of her didn’t give a fig about logic. Or questions. The only thing it cared about was the primal male in front of her. In the heat of his hands. In the tantalizing proximity of his full lips and the ravenous gaze locked squarely on her.
“What are you doing?” Her lungs barely managed to support the question, and given how light-headed she was, they weren’t doing much to support the rest of her either. But man, if she was gonna go, dying from an overdose of Tate was a stellar way to do it.
“Unless you stop me, I’m going to kiss you.” He shifted one hand and gently dragged his thumb along her lower lip. “Do you want that, mihara?”
Want? Was he joking? Want was staring at your favorite dessert when your belly was already full of Grade A fillet, tossing aside guilt and not caring how uncomfortable your waistband felt on the way home. Feeling his mouth on hers was necessary. A primal connection she had zero experience knowing how to claim for her own, but knew on the most intrinsic level would re-chart every truth in her life.
“Elise?”
“Yes.”
She was pretty sure the word made it past her lips. Tried to at least pair it with a dip of her chin. Whether either worked was hard to tell. Not with the prickling anticipation skittering across her skin and his hot gaze holding her rooted in place.
He slowly lowered his head.
Her heart kicked and thrashed like a frantic animal desperate to escape a trap.
But her lips parted.
Willing.
Desperate.
Ready.
His warm breath fluttered against her skin a second before contact, her lungs reflexively drawing the unexpected gift into her lungs along with his earthy scent.
And then was there. The full press of his mouth fitted perfectly with hers. The soft whisper of his beard. The teasing glide of his tongue along her lower lip, coaxing her to open. His soft groan as she gave him what he wanted, and the wet heat of their kiss.
She was lost. Floating through a riot of sensations she’d never dreamed existed. Drowning in all that was Tate. Absolutely nothing else mattered except the taste of him. In following where he led with each slick glide of his lips against hers. In savoring the decadent feel of his tongue sliding against hers.
He angled his head and deepened the kiss, sliding one hand to the back of her head and holding her firm as his other hand slipped around her waist and anchored just above her ass, pulling her flush against him.
So much muscle and heat. His arms banded around her. His muscled torso against her breasts and questing palms. His powerful quads pressed against her hips and—
She gasped and jerked away, the startling realization of what she’d felt hard against her belly knocking her headfirst back to reality. She staggered back a step. Then another. Willing her lungs to function despite the air thick with need around her.
A low growl surrounded her before she could take a third. “Don’t run.” Chest heaving and chin lowered as though he were seconds from charging forward, Tate pumped both his hands in fists. “I won’t hurt you. Not ever. But you can’t run.”
Something in his tone suspended her fear. A desperation that put the brakes on all thoughts of distance and made every protective instinct fire bright. “What’s wrong?”
“Just promise me, Elise. Whatever you do...don’t run.”
Common sense and every deeply entrenched self-preservation coping mechanism she’d built in her teenage years told her to just agree, give Tate time to gather whatever control he needed and not ask any questions. But apparently, common sense and self-preservation didn’t hold much weight when Tate was part of the mix. “Why?”
The growl rumbled free again, this time lower and vibrating with so much energy the air between them pulsed with a living current. He prowled toward her. “Because I want to chase you.”
Pleasure speared through her belly and her sex clenched, the image of him above her and pressing her into the soft ground all too easy to conjure.
He moved in close and cupped the back of her neck, trailing his thumb along her pulse point. “Why did you pull away?”
Diversion would be best. Some innocent half-truth along the lines of not wanting to go too far too fast so she wouldn’t look like a naive idiot. But with Tate, anything less than complete honesty felt wrong. A slight dealt through lack of courage. “Because I don’t...” She swallowed and tried to steady her voice, but it came out raspy and uncertain. “This is new to me.”
His nostrils flared and his eyes widened with shock and comprehension.
She pushed against his chest and tried to slip from his hold, but his grip tightened and he pulled her closer, anchoring his other hand on her hip. “How much is new?”
Never in her life had she been so grateful for night’s forgiving shadows. Though, with the way he’d been able to navigate the woods, he probably still saw the flush burning her cheeks.
Give him the truth. All of it.
The thought rang crystal clear in her head. One of those peacefully quiet messages that rang with divine certainty. A gift from the unseen to navigate an unclear path. She forced her mouth to move. “Everything.”
Pure, masculine pleasure washed across his face. A predator who’d triumphed in the most primal of feats and earned the ultimate prize. And yet, despite the surge of power emanating from him, his grip gentled and shifted to cup the back of her head. “Was that your first kiss?”
She ducked her head—or tried to—but he stopped her with fingers at her chin before she could so much as steady her thoughts. “Elise?”
She was twenty-three. Far too old to be in this position. But it was who she was. “Yes.”
Of all the responses she might have expected, the groan and all-encompassing hug he enfolded her in wasn’t one of them. He rubbed his temp
le against hers, the rumble emanating from his chest oddly soothing despite the ferocity behind it. Only when her heart had settled and the rise and fall of her breath had evened did he speak. Even then, he kept her close, his voice low and deep at her ear. “Have you been on a date?”
“No.”
He stroked the length of her spine and inhaled deep. “Then we’ll start there. Wednesday night after your finals are over.”
She snapped her head up and dug the heels of her palms against his chest, surprise and panic fueling the move enough to garner eye contact. “What?”
“A date.” As if he sensed her growing panic and the need for time to process, he pulled away, but captured her hand with the same casual determination he’d used throughout the party and led her toward the forest’s edge. “We’ll grab dinner and I’ll show you around town.”
“But Priest said I couldn’t leave the property.”
“I’ll talk to Priest. You’ll be safe.”
Safe.
Such a simple word with comfortable and confident implications. While she had no doubt Tate would do everything in his power to keep her out of Draven’s hands and any physical harm, she wasn’t entirely certain her heart was as well protected. She’d certainly not done her part in those early years to teach herself how to guard it on her own, and by the time she’d reached out for help after high school there’d been no real threats left to guard her heart against.
Skirting the back patio with its modest view of the lake, Tate released her hand and guided her to the front of the house with his hand at the small of her back. The raised wood porch that wrapped around the simple cottage had the same homey feel as the one they’d left behind in Butte La Rose, only the coloring was vastly different—a rich hunter green with terra cotta trim that would blend with the woods around them no matter the season. And it was far more isolated. More intimate with a single old porch light behind a heavily frosted globe painting a tiny perimeter close to the front door.
Tate stopped her at the top of the steps, halfway in and out of the shadows, and turned her to face him. He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her close with a familiarity her body still processed as if it were the first time, the jolt forcing her hands to his shoulders to keep her balance. “What are we doing?”
With the porch light at her back, the sharp angles of his face were more pronounced and his gold eyes as breathtaking as a cloudless sunset. His lips lifted in a lopsided grin. “Well, unless you stop me, I’m going to give you another kiss.”
A shudder wriggled down her spine and her breath caught, her mind and body both chiming in with wholehearted approval. But that wasn’t the answer she was after, and there was no way she was walking through her front door without making sure her brain wasn’t twisting the night into something it wasn’t. She’d done that once before with painful results. Granted, it had been more along the lines of catastrophizing instead of fantasizing, but both were a dangerous game for her psyche.
“I meant what’s going on with us,” she said. “You said, ‘We’ll start with a date.’ What’s that mean?”
His gaze softened and he skimmed one hand up her spine to the back of her head. “Let me kiss you and I’ll show you.”
A request. Not a demand. Not a violation of her privacy, or an uncomfortable advance. Aside from the altercation between him and Alek tonight, he’d always given her a choice. Shown a forthright interest that lifted her up and empowered her despite her lack of experience. If she hadn’t been so overloaded with surprise, wonder and sheer delight all night she might have recognized the gift for what it was sooner. “Okay.”
The word had no sooner slipped free than his mouth was on hers. Tasting. Tempting. Nudging her deeper and deeper into an intoxicating place outside the real world. Here there was no need to think, rationalize or dissect. Only to feel. To let go and explore the sensations as they were given. The steady beat of his heart. The soft rasp of his T-shirt against her palms and the hot muscle underneath. The unscripted, but oh so perfect press and glide of his lips against hers.
She rolled up on her toes and circled her arms around his neck, the crush of her breasts against his chest pushing everything higher. Hotter. And yet it still wasn’t enough. Something was missing. A hunger hiding in shadows with no ready path to feed it. An ache she couldn’t ease. She rolled her hips and moaned at the unmistakable press of his cock against her belly.
Not a threat.
A promise.
He fisted his hand in her hair and tore his mouth away, resting his forehead against hers. Like hers, his breath sawed in and out in a ragged rhythm, but where she was soft and pliant, his body vibrated against hers with barely restrained control. When he spoke, his lips whispered against hers and his voice vibrated with hunger. “That’s what we’re starting, mihara.”
A start.
Good God, if that was the start, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle what came farther down the road. Or worse, the ending. And the start of what? A fling? Something purely physical? “I’m not sure I know what that means either.”
Tate loosened his grip and lifted his head, his eyes smiling when they finally met hers. He cupped the side of her face and fanned his thumb along her cheekbone. “It means you’ll never go without what you just felt again. You don’t have to worry. Don’t have to process what it means, or what comes next. With me, all you have to do is be who you are.”
Never go without.
No worries.
Just be.
Three promises that whispered to her soul and cast a soft glow on every hope and dream she’d harbored close. Logically, she knew they were ideals at best. Definitely not absolutes. People were human. Fallible. But, the hope was there, striking a spark.
He sucked in a slow breath and tucked her hair behind one ear. “Go inside. You’ve got to study tomorrow.”
Right. Like she’d be able to process anything except the things that had happened tonight. Still, standing there and clinging to him for fear that the memories might evaporate the second she let him go wasn’t an option either. She slid her hands over his shoulders, then lower to his biceps, pausing for just a moment to savor the unhindered skin-to-skin contact the tee provided. “Thank you.” Meeting his eyes, she stepped from his arms. “For everything.”
He smiled as though she’d said something funny. “You’re thanking me for something that was all pleasure on my end.” He dipped his head toward the door. “Now, go inside before I can take even more.”
It was the longest three steps of her life, the weight of his stare on her back and the sheer loss that came from simply walking away from him leaving her cold and empty. She twisted the knob and put a shoulder to the door.
“Elise?”
She paused with one foot across the threshold and twisted enough to meet his steady stare over one shoulder.
God, he was something to look at. All male. Rugged and dangerously alpha. “I need you to remember what I said. If you run, I’ll chase you. Trust me and don’t run.” The sincerity in his gaze shifted to something heated and she’d swear both man and beast spoke to her at once. “At least not yet.”
Chapter Five
“I’m tellin’ you, we’re dead in the water and the only way we’re gonna change that is if we pull in someone from the outside.”
Alek’s comment should have bothered Tate more than it did. Hell, a few weeks ago it would have been one of the few things worthy of dragging his attention from work or honing his warrior skills, but with his date with Elise just over twenty-four hours away it was background noise at best.
With his hip propped on the waist-high windowsill, Tate crossed his arms and scanned the tourists and locals on Main Street from Priest’s second-story office above the tattoo shop while one of the newer warriors who’d just relocated to Eureka Springs second-guessed the wisdom of outsiders. His first hurdle was gett
ing Priest to agree with taking Elise off protected land. Then there was the delicate decision on where to take her for dinner. She’d probably be more comfortable with something casual, but the idea of taking her anywhere less than stellar and special rubbed him wrong. She needed spoiling. Attention and a whole lot of time and touch.
Of course, she also needed patience. And while he’d done a halfway decent job of keeping himself in check last night, he wasn’t sure how long his control was going to last. Christ, but the woman could kiss, and she tasted like heaven. How he’d kept from carting her off when she’d all but rubbed herself against him, he still didn’t know. She might have been shocked and afraid the first time she’d felt how hard she made him, but that second time, she’d reveled in it.
“Tate?”
Tate jerked his gaze away from the old three-story brick building across the street and zeroed in on Priest seated on top of his old desk with Kateri standing between his legs, his arms loosely banded around her waist. “Sorry. I zoned out a minute. What’s the question?”
One thing about Priest—when he studied a person the way he was studying Tate now, they felt it clear to their bones. Like their whole damned life and every secret harbored was being consumed in the span of a heartbeat. “Where’s your head with using an outsider?”
“We already are. Or have been.” Tate looked to Alek where he stood leaning against the far wall. “Your buddy David’s been decent about getting us what we need so far.”
Katy shook her head and intervened before Alek could answer. “We can’t use him anymore. David’s a nice guy and would probably do anything for me or Alek, but he’s asking too many questions. We need someone who doesn’t know about our past. Someone impersonal who’ll do what we ask and not insist on knowing all the whys.”
“We’ve got nothing,” Alek said. “No sightings of Jerrik. No seer leads. Nothing. We need someone with real connections to turn things around.”
One of the clan’s oldest warriors kicked back on the legs of an old wood chair that had occupied their building when they’d moved in almost ten years ago. Garrett’s hair might have been full silver, but paired with its length hitting his shoulders and his physique, he looked like a retired rock star. No way any singura who met him would realize he was 163. “I’m all for supplementing where we can’t handle things ourselves so long as we get someone worth their salt, but how are we going to explain to a PI why we’re looking for these people?”
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