Seduction

by Laxmi Hariharan

  He had to back off—no, really. Why did he feel this incredible need to shield her from the sight of all other men? He set his jaw and curled his fingers into fists at his sides.

  Logan raised his arms, palms up, his gesture placatory. “Ten years, and nothing has changed.” He jerked his head, drawing attention to the remains of the stage. “The last I saw you, you were wiping the floor of a pub in New London with a wolf shifter.”

  Neo glared at him. “You started that brawl as I recall. Over a woman, no less.”

  “Look who’s talking.” Logan flicked his gaze at Trinity, then back to Neo.

  He didn’t even like him looking at Trinity. He was going crazy. Giving in to the need to protect her, Neo slid forward and stepped between Logan and Trinity. He made sure his shoulders hid her from Logan’s sight.

  “Ah. Like that?” Logan shook his head, his lips turned down.

  “Like what?” Neo grimaced and raised his fists. “Ten years, and you still haven’t lost your annoying habit of talking in riddles.” He jabbed a mock punch at Logan. His shoulder screamed in protest. The breath rushed out of him.

  “You’re hurt.” Logan’s gaze narrowed. “We’d best get the both of you to the infirmary.”

  “You didn’t tell me why you’re here.” He propped his hands on his hips and spread his legs. His stance was aggressive, but he didn’t bother to hide his anger. It was ridiculous, this need to shield Trinity from Logan.

  He knew Logan, but that didn’t pacify his dragon. His beast didn’t want any other male coming close to her.

  The emotions racing around in his head were confusing. “The Bureau send you to watch my back? They don’t trust me to handle missions anymore?” He thrust his chin forward.

  “The Bureau?” Trinity stepped around him.

  Logan’s gaze dropped to her.

  Neo growled again. His dragon brushed up under his skin, clearly not happy. He was losing it. There was no other explanation for the possessiveness he felt toward the tiny woman.

  “You fine to talk about your involvement with the Bureau with her, eh?” Logan scratched his chin. His eyes gleamed.

  Bastard was having a good ol’ time at his expense.

  But Logan had a point. Other than a select team at the Bureau, only a handful of high-ranking officials from the Alliance of the shifters, the Elysians, and the Council of Bombay, knew about his dual identity. He shuffled his feet. Both the dragon and the human part of him agreed it was best to share the details of his mission with her. It would give him even more of a valid reason to keep close watch over her.

  He turned to her. “Logan and I are both undercover officers of the Bureau for Investigation of Unexplained Psychic Phenomena.”

  Her forehead furrowed.

  “Just call it the Bureau for short,” Logan piped up.

  Neo glowered at him.

  Logan made a motion of zipping his mouth.

  Yeah, the man was more of a nuisance than he remembered him to be. Logan always did have a habit of appearing when he was most not needed.

  Neo grimaced, then glanced back at Trinity. “We sensed heavy psychic activity build-up in this city. It’s why I chose to perform here. I use my rockstar person to cover up the investigations.”

  “So you are a rockstar and a secret agent?” She chewed on her lower lip.

  He wanted to lean forward and lick her mouth right then. Heat pumped through his blood. He was instantly hard. This wouldn’t do. He changed his stance just enough to better accommodate his growing arousal.

  All he could think of was sinking into her sweet softness and finding respite. Dios. He resisted the urge to drum his fingers across his chest.

  Not that Trinity seemed to notice how turned on he was. She tossed her head, spine straight, so that gorgeous blonde mane of hers rippled down her back.

  “It seems the psychic build-up was directly attributable to you and the brute with the bad attitude, who you chased out of here.” Logan’s tone was relaxed.

  But Neo wasn’t fooled. The immortal was a sharp investigator and a soldier who could hold his own in any fight. He’d come to the same conclusion that Neo had arrived at a few minutes ago.

  Trinity slid her hands through her hair. She moved the heavy strands to hang over one shoulder. It bared the side of her neck.

  Neo couldn’t take his gaze away from the delicate shell of her ear, the stubborn angle of her jaw. The thought of anyone harming her had his dragon digging its claws into his skin from the inside. “Why was he tracking you?”

  She raised her chin, a defiant look on her face. “How do you know Igor?”

  Not what he’d expected. The blood drained from his face. A part of him noted she’d answered his question with a question. She was no submissive shifter, that one.

  His dragon growled, the thrill of the chase shuddering through him. The rational part of him honed by the Bureau to question everything took charge again. “He killed my adoptive parents.” Even as he said it the emptiness inside him grew.

  She winced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

  “I joined the Bureau to track down those responsible for their deaths.” The memory of how he’d been too defenseless to protect his family was something he’d never forget. “I hadn’t quite expected him to stumble upon me in the middle of the concert. Or you.” He sounded nonchalant, but inside, anger twisted his guts.

  Seeing her, feeling this insane attraction to her, he wanted to push aside all thought of Igor and simply focus on her. It made him feel helpless all over again.

  It made him feel he was being untrue to the memory of his adoptive family. For the first time, he felt more than just the need for revenge. She made him feel. It hurt too much.

  He couldn’t take it. He didn’t want this. He hadn’t asked to find his mate, had he?

  Mate?

  His knees shook. No, that wasn’t possible. The dragons were the most powerful of shifter species. Very few non-dragon species could take the psychic impact of mating with a dragon.

  Could he risk her life that way? Could all the threads of his life come together in one instant, only to snap?

  He took a step back.

  The part of his chest above his heart throbbed. “We should take you to the infirmary.” He turned and started to walk away.

  “I owe you an answer.”

  His dragon growled and dug its claws into his skin, urging him to return to her. He ignored the beast and kept going.

  “Igor, the Leader of the Dark Fae?” her voice followed him. “I am promised to him.”

  6

  Trinity

  She shifted her weight from where she sat cross-legged on the examination table in the infirmary. Her right shoulder throbbed. Her back hurt. Every part of her body seemed to ache from that encounter with Igor. She felt filthy, her pants and shirt were torn and dirty, from the earlier fight.

  She swung her legs over the side. Her calf muscles screamed in protest, and she hissed out a breath.

  A low growl rumbled up from the window where Neo skulked. He was a large, brooding presence in the room. He hadn’t said a word to her since they’d arrived there.

  Logan had left to make sure the rest of the band members were being attended to by the other medical personnel.

  The hair on her forearms rose. She could feel Neo’s gaze on her. His dragon was watching her, stalking her. The tension in the room built steadily, ratcheting up, stretching her nerves until she was sure she was going to scream any minute.

  He didn’t speak, his eyes just bored into her. He was pissed off at her. Well, he had reason to be. Not that she owed him any kind of explanation. She’d just met him after all. Yet there was no denying that instant flare of attraction…no, it was more. That something primal that connected them. Something she didn’t want to examine too closely.

  It was precisely that which had pushed her to make that announcement earlier. She had to make it clear to him that her future was set. Tha
t try as she might, while she could evade Igor, it was only a matter of time before he hunted her down and claimed her. If Neo got in the way, the Fae Lord would simply kill him.

  “You’re making me nervous,” she stammered.

  “You ain’t seen anything.” His tone was rough.

  She felt his hurt as keenly as if it were her own. It called her. She wanted to soothe him. Wanted to just reach out and hold him. Just for a few seconds she could pretend the outside world didn’t exist, right? She raised her eyes to his and flinched.

  He’d stalked over to her and stood right in front of her, all angry and brooding.

  That familiar steady thunking filled her ears. Whose heartbeat was that? Hers? His? Did it even matter? What was the connection to this stranger who she hadn’t known until a few hours ago?

  “Neo…I owe you an explanation for what I said earlier—”

  “He’s not going to let up until he finds you, is he?” Tension radiated from his big body.

  She bit her lip. She had no choice but to see this through. She’d opened that window with her thoughtless words, and now she had to dive through it.

  Her arms shook, and she placed them in her lap, gripping her fingers together. “He’s pursued me for years.” Her insides twisted, but she was pleased she sounded almost normal. “It won’t be long before he’s back or before he sends his soldiers to get me. I didn’t expect him to follow me all the way here…” She trailed off, shrugging.

  “Why?” The word seemed to be torn from him. The cords of his neck trembled. “What claim does he have on you?”

  The blood drained from her face, and she shook her head.

  She sensed his heart was racing so hard. No, that was her heart. The pounding resonated through every part of her. She was one big pulsating mass of need. The urge to confide in him, to lean her forehead against his broad chest was so strong, and for just once she wanted to let someone else shoulder this burden she’d carried for so long.

  But she couldn’t.

  If she did it would only make it harder to walk away from him. And she had no doubt that was where this would end.

  His death.

  Her living death.

  She’d been foolish to follow her racing heart and come all the way here. What had she expected? That Igor would have let her go? She’d only made things worse by bringing the wrath of the Fae on Neo, and on this city.

  She had no choice; her destiny was set. But she could make sure he lived. That nothing happened to him. She raised her chin.

  “Tell me. Let me help you.” His jaw tightened, a pulse beating at his temple.

  “No.” Her voice came out high-pitched. What was she saying no to? She wasn’t sure anymore.

  All she knew was if she stayed this close to him for another second she was going to throw herself at him. She wanted to beg him to take her right there. Just for then she wanted to feel what it meant to be alive, to feel his skin slide over hers, to feel his hardness thrust into her and… Heat streaked into her cheeks, and she clenched her thighs, even as her mind willed her body to move.

  His nostrils flared.

  She knew without a doubt he’d sensed her arousal. She had to get out of here. She slid from the examination table. Her feet touched the floor.

  His gaze narrowed. He took a step forward, closing the distance between them.

  Her legs trembled, her knees shook. She took a step sideways, her fingers grazing the hard surface of the examination table.

  His irises snapped vertical. The predator in him was back. He was stalking her.

  She gulped. Her throat went dry.

  He followed her, matching her step for step.

  He was calling to her, pulling her back. She had to resist him. She couldn’t take her gaze off his face.

  Without taking her attention off him, she straightened. Still facing him, she walked backward, aiming for the exit.

  What he was to her, she didn’t know. Oh, she sensed the connection between them all right, but she dared not acknowledge it. She couldn’t let herself acknowledge it. It would only weaken her resolve, weaken what she had to do. She had to get to Igor, before he returned for her and hurt Neo.

  Her back brushed the smooth surface of a wall and she almost cried out in frustration. She’d misjudged the angle of the door and hit the space next to it.

  He closed the gap between them, shutting off all her escape routes.

  His body was so close to her, the scent of the first rain on parched earth wafted up. Intoxicating. It went straight to her head.

  He wasn’t even touching her. But she felt his emotions. They reached out to her and tugged at her. She was drowning in his presence.

  His gaze dropped to her lips, and her mouth pooled with saliva.

  He looked at her chest. Her nipples pebbled and thrust up at the shirt that covered her breasts. When he raked his gaze lower still, a pulse leaped to life between her legs. It beat in tandem to her heart—his heart.

  It was like they were on their own personal wavelength.

  The heat from his big body slammed into her chest. She gasped. It made her very conscious of the difference between their physical selves.

  When his gaze captured hers again, those haunting eyes of his had gone a shade of blue, so unique, it was like she was drowning in them.

  She sensed the conflict he was feeling, the incredible attraction between them, yet she knew he was holding himself back.

  The combination was potent.

  It made her feel like she was walking on the edge of a cliff, and for just a few seconds she wanted to hold on to him. She wanted to beg him to take her away from all this. She wanted to find a way to be with him. She wanted something she couldn’t have.

  She felt protected by him. His masculinity dominated her.

  How could one man make her experience so many contradictory feelings? And all at the same time? Her chest hurt, and her lips throbbed with the need to close the gap between them and taste him.

  He gazed down at her through hooded eyes, his features shuttered, his jaw firm. Those mesmerizing scars down one side of his throat rippled, and she knew he wasn’t as unaffected as he was trying to seem.

  She couldn’t move. She had to do something to break the spell. She tried to look away and found she couldn’t.

  Nothing in her life had prepared her for this.

  He leaned in so close his breath seared her cheeks.

  She raised her chin, licked her lips.

  He made a sound in his throat, something between a growl and a curse. “I should have killed him when I had the chance. I’ll never forgive myself.” His fist slammed into the wall next to her head.

  The barrier behind her shook, bits of plaster falling around them.

  She tore her gaze away from Neo, and oxygen rushed into her lungs. A wave of dizziness washed over her. She forced her legs to move. Swerving around him, she darted for the exit and slammed straight into the man who’d just walked in.

  7

  Neo

  “Didn’t realize I was driving away my patients nowadays,” Vance drawled from the direction of the door. “Or perhaps it wasn’t me you were running away from, hmm?”

  Neo sensed the doc look in his direction.

  “Yes. No. I mean, I’m good, I don’t really need to see a doctor…” She sounded flustered.

  At least she was as affected as he felt. Not that it helped him one bit, of course—not when lust still hardened him.

  “Yes, she does.” He dropped his fist to his side, straightened his shoulders, and turned. “She’s hurt, she needs to be examined, and you need to make sure no bones are broken and…”

  Vance raised an eyebrow at him.

  Neo shut his mouth. Trinity’s back stiffened, and her head snapped up.

  Yeah, okay, so that had come out all dominant and alpha, but hell, that was what he was, wasn’t it? A rockstar who could make the world dance to his rhythm. Well, everyone except her, it seemed. And the doc for that matt
er. Trust his friends to take him down a peg or two after the high of a concert.

  Vance seemed not at all put out by Neo’s outburst. The doc stepped back, putting distance between himself and Neo’s woman. Neo’s shoulders loosened.

  My woman? Fuck! He was sinking fast. Caught in whatever spell she had woven over him. He had to find a way to snap this connection between them. Especially since she was promised to another. But Igor? The Dark Fae Leader was pure evil. He’d kill her. No way was he going to stand by and watch her sacrifice herself, whatever be the reason for her needing to give herself up that way.

  Vance turned to Trinity. “Not that I take kindly to being told what my patients need, but in this case, I’m afraid I agree with our overbearing, headstrong Rockstar there.”

  Neo’s cheeks flushed. He rarely allowed the rockstar part of him to intrude into real life. It was a front for his real job, and yet the lines were blurring. In pretending to be a rockstar, he’d become one.

  “Sorry, Doc.” He huffed then winced when his ribs protested.

  Vance’s gaze sharpened. “That goes for you, too.” He jerked his chin toward the chair by the window on the other side of the room. “If you’re done destroying this space, perhaps you’d wait there while I take care of…”

  “Trinity…” Neo’s voice echoed hers.

  Her shoulders went rigid. She still didn’t turn around.

  Neo gritted his teeth. He needed to stop acting like an overbearing, overprotective, alpha male.

  Vance didn’t react to that. Unusual. He’d have expected the doc to lay into him with another acerbic remark. Vance was not only the sharpest surgical brain in this region, he was also known for his cutting, dry sense of humor, which he used with great effect to get his patients to fall in line.

  “You okay, Doc?” Neo frowned.

  Vance didn’t meet Neo’s gaze. That only confirmed to him that the doc was not himself.