Oh, he had it bad when her fucking feet gave him a hard-on.
Eli wished he could have gotten out of coming here, but Derek was driving him back to his ‘Stang. He couldn’t very well tell the man he didn’t want to go to his home first, and since his best friend was doing him a favor, he was stuck. Derek had been leaving some lucky lady’s bed this morning when Eli had called. So now here he was, sitting in Nikki-Raine’s kitchen, waiting for Derek to take a shower.
Eli skimmed his gaze up the length of her legs to the boxer shorts she wore. Men’s boxer shorts. He jerked his head up, snarling before he could stop it.
One of Nikki’s eyebrows shot upward. “Did you get a good enough look?”
“Who the hell’s trunks you got on there, Nik?” he demanded, ignoring her question. Fuck no, he didn’t get a good enough look. He’d have to strip her naked and spread her out on his bed in order to do that.
Her other eyebrow rose to meet the first. She eyeballed what she was wearing. Those damn pink painted toenails lifted when she rocked back on her heels.
“Hmm. I don’t remember his name.”
Eli saw red. He’d put his fist through the bastard’s face for touching her.
Christ. If he didn’t get this business done soon and claim her, he would go insane or take her before it was safe. He didn’t want to put her in that kind of danger. Things were too tense right now. His brother didn’t know Nikki-Raine was Eli’s mate yet. He hadn’t told anyone. Especially not Derek. And if he didn’t want Caelan to know and add one more worry to the pot, he’d have to keep it quiet for a little while longer.
No matter how much the little witch tempted him.
“Geez, calm down, E.” Nikki laughed. “I bought them for myself.” She brushed by him, rubbing her damn apple scent on his clothes.
Great, now he’d have to smell her all day. And probably suffer this steel rod of an erection until he showered later.
“I am an adult, you know.”
“Every damn male for a hundred miles can see you’re an adult,” he muttered.
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottled water and a yogurt. “Between you and Derek, I’ll probably never get a man.”
You won’t need another man once I get my hands on you, he vowed. She was the one woman in the world who had the ability to tie his dick in knots. All the rest were superfluous to him, no matter how much he tried to look like he was playing the field.
Nikki turned to him, taking a long drag on the water. The smooth column of her throat worked, making him wish it was his cock she was sucking on instead of the fucking piece of plastic. With her head tilted back and her eyes closed, Eli admired her beautiful body. Her small breasts pushed against the stretchy fabric of her tank top, the nipples poking out in twin beaded points.
Imagining how soft her flesh would be and how perfectly they would fill his hands made his mouth water. He reached down and adjusted his swollen cock so it wasn’t pressing quite so painfully into the button-fly of his jeans.
Taking one last swallow, Nikki set the bottle on the counter. Her tongue darted out to capture a drop of water on her upper lip and Eli groaned.
“I swear,” she continued, “if you guys don’t stop scaring off my dates, I’m gonna move to another state.”
“Like hell you will,” he growled.
She stared at him, a bewildered look on her face. Who could blame her for being confused? He’d never talked to her like this before. In the past he’d always been able to keep up his big-brother act. Now, every time she was around, his wolf came closer to the surface. Closer to revealing itself, when Eli wasn’t ready.
“What on earth has gotten into you, E?”
You have, he nearly snapped, but held his tongue. There were too many things to hash out between them, but now wasn’t the time.
Derek stomped into the kitchen, breaking the static tension between her and Eli. “All right, let’s get this done.”
Nikki turned to rummage through a drawer.
“Yo, E,” Derek said, snapping his fingers, “You ready?” He grabbed his keys off the counter.
“Yeah,” Eli grunted.
“Where are you guys headed?” Nikki asked, sounding as if nothing strange had happened between them. She ripped the top off the yogurt and licked it clean. After dipping her spoon into the pink cream, she stuck it in her mouth, upside down. Her lips closed sensually over the metal. Eli almost came in his jeans picturing those lips taking in the head of his cock.
“E’s ‘Stang broke down last night. We’re going to get it.”
Nikki’s eyes widened. “You’re kiddin’ me. Did you forget to screw something back in the last time you worked on it?” She smiled, twisting his gut into a tight knot, and spooned another bite.
“Yeah, and what the hell were you doing way out on 49 anyway?” Derek asked, and snagged an apple out of the basket on the table.
“Highway 49? That’s pretty far out there. How’d you get home, E?” Nikki’s voice was laced with concern.
Oh, I shifted into a wolf and ran home. Eli glanced over at Derek who grinned from ear to ear. Asshole. Derek knew exactly how Eli had gotten home last night. Apparently he was content to let Eli worm his own way out of Nikki’s question.
Eli rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and cleared his throat. “Caelan,” he offered as his only response and turned back to Derek. “Can we go now?”
“Yep.” Derek laughed, slapped Eli on the back and led the way to the door.
Eli took one last look at Nikki. She’d already settled herself at the table, one leg crossed over the opposite knee, engrossed in the remainder of her breakfast.
She wouldn’t even know what hit her when he was ready to make his true self known.
Chapter Eight
Caelan gritted his teeth against the silence filling the car. It had been this way since the moment they’d gotten in his truck a half an hour ago and the ominous mood was starting to grate on him. In fact, she hadn’t spoken since eating breakfast this morning. And they still had a good thirty minutes to go before reaching the ranch.
Perhaps they should get this conversation out of the way before he brought Tieran in front of the elders. As his mate, she would attract a ton of commotion, making it difficult for them to speak again until they were on their way home. Unless she was still itching to give him the silent treatment, that is.
“Maybe if I tell you what I know, you’ll tell me what you know?” he asked, breaking the silence. Tieran shifted in the seat next to him, releasing a puff of her peachy scent that drove him crazy ninety-nine point nine percent of the day.
She cleared her throat. “I haven’t remembered anything new. Besides, I’m sure you don’t really want me to tell you what I know.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her cheeks were red. Her hands were fisted in her lap so tight the knuckles were white and he wondered what was making her so nervous.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because the last time I tried to talk to you about it, you had a cow,” she muttered.
For the love of… “Tell me again,” he gritted out, “and I promise to keep my cow birthing in check.” Then it occurred to him that she didn’t want to tell him because she still thought Eli did it.
“Forget it. I’ll go first. We’ve been hunting a man who’s killed four of our mates.”
“Probably more like six,” she grumbled, “and you’ve already told me this.”
“I’m going to tell you again and again until you get it through your thick skull how serious the situation is. What do you mean, six?” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. She’d seen two more and not told him? Fuck.
Tieran dropped her chin to her chest. She picked at a fingernail and seemed to be having some type of internal debate.
“What do you mean, Tieran?” he asked again, trying hard not to lose his patience.
“That woman, in the paper this morning.”
What woman? T
here’d been women all over the paper. Dozens of them.
“Her picture set off my little warning system. Since lately my visions have all been about your killer, I’m assuming this one is too. He’s either already killed her or is going to.”
“Jeeesuus Christ.” The leather creaked beneath his fingers. “Why didn’t you say something this morning?” Damn it. He’d thought he was getting closer to earning her trust. Apparently not. Whatever the little fucker from her past did to her, it destroyed her ability to rely on other people. It made him want to pull his hair out.
“All right,” he said, biting back the words he wanted to shout when she remained silent. It wouldn’t help. “So she’s five. Who’s the sixth?”
Tieran sighed deeply beside him. When she spoke he could barely hear her. “The one the man in the car kept thinking about.”
Son of a bitch, she was one tenacious woman. He held on to his temper by a hair. “Right, but since we’ve already established that was Eli, then whatever woman he was thinking about doesn’t count.”
“We didn’t discuss anything. You decided the little black car from my dream was Eli’s Mustang, that doesn’t mean I’m convinced, and why shouldn’t she count?” Tieran snapped, jerking around in her seat to face him.
“Because,” he ground out, “I can guarantee if Eli was fantasizing about her, he wasn’t thinking about killing her. Unless it involved killing her with pleasure.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“My brother likes women, Tieran. Too much to ever hurt one. He’s the ultimate playboy. Hell, he tried to pick you up at the bar the other night.”
“And what does that have to do with the price of beans in China? The fact is I had a vision about him thinking of a woman and so far everything I’ve seen has been about your killer. Tell me what you would think if you were in my shoes?”
The muscles in his jaw bunched. “God help me, you are the most stubborn… I knew there was a reason I didn’t want a mate right now.” He laughed. He couldn’t help it. The whole situation was becoming one big clusterfuck and if he didn’t convince her otherwise, she’d end up having his twin turned in for the murders.
“Do you know the elders in my pack have been pushing me to find my mate? But I said, ‘no, not until we find the shifter responsible for this and bring him to justice.’” He pounded on the steering wheel. “It isn’t safe for me to have a mate right now,” he growled, his face heating in rising agitation.
“So what did I do?” he continued. “I went out with my brother to this bar. And lo and behold he spots a woman he wants to take to bed for the night. Surprise, surprise.” He leaned closer to her and swung his gaze back and forth between her and the road.
“I had to physically stop my brother from going after a woman he wanted to fuck all because I decided to take a whiff of the female who’d given him a hard-on.”
Tieran bit her lip and edged away from him. He continued to crowd her, keeping one hand on the wheel and one eye on the road. Her shoulders pressed up against the door and her eyes were wide.
“Do you know why I had to stop him, Tieran?”
She started to shake her head. “I have no idea why men behave like Neanderthals.”
He ignored her remark. “Because I knew from the second I’d seen—no smelled—you, what you were to me. That’s why I didn’t let Eli come after you. To do so would have been paramount to giving my wife to another man for the night. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t met, or that you had no idea about being a mate-in-waiting for a healthy, red-blooded, shape-shifting Prime.”
He watched her eyes grow even rounder and after sucking in a quick breath she nodded slowly.
“Dammit.” He swung the truck off the road and slammed on the brakes, throwing the gear into park before the truck even settled. Tieran shrieked and lifted her hands to catch herself on the dash. Her seat belt locked, holding her in place. “I’m sorry,” he said immediately, thinking he might have harmed her or the baby. She flung him off when he tried to touch her.
“He was honing in on the one woman destined to be mine, Tieran. Mine. Not his. Mine, and fate doesn’t give a rat’s ass that this is absolutely the most piss-poor time for me to finally find you.” He was so close to her face now she had to feel his breath puff out on her lips with each word. His voice grew softer, calmer, and he begged her to understand with his eyes.
He cradled her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. Christ, he just kept making this worse and worse. Even he could see that his words had cut her deep to the bone.
She hadn’t asked for this any more than he had. In fact, if anyone should feel put out here, it was her. He’d known about taking a mate his entire life, she’d only known since yesterday. So fuck him for thinking that this was a piss-poor time to finally find her. If he felt so damned strongly about not wanting her, he should have stayed away.
Then maybe she wouldn’t be having goddamn visions about men and wolves killing women. More importantly, she wouldn’t be having these doubts in her mind about Eli and the fact he shared a few strange characteristics with both the wolf and the man from the car. The eyes of all three were the same, the scars, the hands. Jesus, she must be losing her mind to be connecting the smallest things the way she was.
When she realized he was still practically on top of her, his cheek nuzzling hers like he hadn’t said that he didn’t want her, she shoved hard at Caelan’s chest with both hands, drawing on the element of surprise to push him away. “You know, Caelan, what you just said proves how shitty the whole idea of matedom really is. Excuse the hell out of me for not being a werewolf and knowing the laws of…wolvery.” She shot him a look, leaving him in stunned silence and staring at her like he was wondering what had happened to her. Good. Maybe it was time for him to see things from her vantage point.
“It’s not my fault that any of this is happening. In fact, it’s yours, because I was going along just fine before you. Now I’m having visions left and right, and puking, and being accused of being pregnant, and…and forced to eat pancakes, when I don’t want any goddamn pancakes,” she yelled.
Several heated moments passed while they studied each other. Caelan’s body seemed to deflate. He was the first to break the silence between them. “Don’t get me wrong, now that you’re here, I wouldn’t change having you for anything in the world,” he placated.
Damn. She wanted to stay mad at him, not forgive him.
He leaned over again, tugging at his seatbelt until it was as loose as it could be, and nuzzled her cheek with his. His deep breath tickled her ear and she breathed in his familiar scent. Whimpering, she sagged into him. The man could control her like no other. Even pissed at him, he made her feel safe, comforted. It wasn’t an altogether good feeling to have no control where he was concerned.
“I love you.” He wrapped his hands around her face and kissed her eyelids and the tip of her nose. “No matter how weird that sounds, it’s the truth. If something happened to you, it would kill me.” Caelan moved to her lips, tasting them and begging her to open for him.
When she complied, melting into his arms even further, he dipped his tongue inside her heated mouth and tangled it with hers.
Stop. They had to stop or they’d be fucking right here on the edge of the highway. She groaned and pulled away from where she really wanted to be and put herself at arm’s length, or at least as far away as she could get within the confines of the truck. Her breath came in shallow pants and she knew her eyes must be glazed over.
He smiled at her. He knew exactly what he’d done to her.
“If we take this any further it might lead to our arrest.”
At least she wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines.
Touching her fingers to her swollen lips, Tieran cleared her throat and twisted forward in her seat. Damn but the man could kiss. Almost as well as he could compel her to talk about things she didn’t normally. She hadn’t realized before now what he was facing by havi
ng her as a mate. Of course, she hadn’t truly come to terms with being a mate yet herself. Or having a baby.
She rested her hand on her flat belly. There couldn’t be one there. Could there? A tiny spark of something flared to life inside her. What was it though? Hope, want, need? When was the last time she’d felt this way? Too long ago, for sure.
Caelan gunned the truck onto the highway while her thoughts continued to race. If everything he’d said was true, then despite his vow of love, she was an inconvenience to him right now. Should she leave him to whatever it was he needed to do? Maybe if she weren’t in the way, he’d be free to catch the killer. She didn’t want to be a detriment to him.
Her chest hurt with the thought of not being close to him.
“So, you gonna talk, or do I have to torture it out of you?”
Tieran smiled at Caelan’s attempt to lighten the mood. She had to give him more credit than the Florida Police. So far he hadn’t gone running around laughing at the mere mention of her abilities. He’d listened.
Yes, he’d jumped down her throat about Eli, but he still wanted to know more. The thought made her feel used. Doubts flooded her mind. Was Caelan claiming all this mate stuff just to use her abilities? Had he wanted to make her think she was pregnant just so she would stay with him?
Every uncertainty she felt with Peter came swarming to the forefront. No way would she go through that again.
“If there were any other way, I wouldn’t make you go through it again, baby. I can see what it takes out of you.”
Oh, good Lord! She’d said that out loud?
“Yes, my dear, I believe you did. You should feel ashamed of yourself for even thinking Caelan could be so callous.”
Damn it, her gramama was right. Caelan hadn’t known she was clairvoyant when he met her or, if what he told her was true, even before they made love in her kitchen. She sighed.
“Can you describe the wolf to me?”
Of course I can, she wanted to scream. Tieran swallowed back the fear and frustration choking her. Somehow she had to find a way to tell him what he wanted to know without adding her own opinion about who she thought the killer was.
Seeing Eye Mate Page 13