by Kita Bell
“Then work on it,” he murmured, and kissed the lids of those phenomenal eyes. “If you want easy…I can make it easier.”
“Brand, facts are facts, and what we have, it won’t last. Things like this never do…”
He caught her earlobe in his teeth and gave a gentle bite – nothing like he wanted to do – but it effectively cut off what she had been about to say. Her words had sounded stilted anyway, as if Eva didn’t believe them any more than he did.
He hoped to god Eva didn’t believe them.
Brand nibbled his way down to her lips, tracing her jaw. He licked the seam of her mouth, and stroked the line of her back, coaxing Eva until she gasped and opened to him. Brand swept his tongue inside, tasting Eva, and gave a low, appreciative growl. She tasted of clear spring rain, of cool morning, of the running breath of freedom.
She tasted of desire and of him.
Brand cradled her neck and kissed his way down her throat, tasting the delicate skin on his tongue, enjoying her flavor. She tasted like a female should taste. His female. He growled and moved back up to claim her mouth again.
“It’s not just that, Brand. I need to go home,” she breathed against his lips.
Brand stilled, pressing Eva’s body to his as he tried to fit her words into his mind. “You want to go back to the rooms Nikandria gave you? You’d prefer to do this…there?” he asked, deliberately misunderstanding what she said as he tried to gather his thoughts. He let a low purr creep into his words and he dropped his palm to smooth over the soft warmth of her breast.
Eva shivered, but her hand was over his heart, pushing him again so that he was forced to look into her serious gaze. Her brows were drawn, and he watched as she licked the taste of him from her lips. “No, Brand. Home. To the Gens. To North Carolina. I need to talk to Rainey.”
His reaction was instant, visceral: No.
No.
Perhaps Eva saw the answer in his face because she froze, then abruptly shoved off him. Brand struggled to control himself. He needed more time. A week, maybe two. Perhaps another month.
Forever.
“You need to talk to Rainey,” he repeated flatly as her gaze caught on his, as unreasoning anger rose inside him.
Eva scowled. “She’s not taking my calls, and she’s not responding to my emails. She’s pissed, Brand. She thinks I abandoned her. I can’t let my sister believe I abandoned her. You wouldn’t do that to your family, and I won’t do that to mine. And I’ve needed…” Eva’s slender throat worked, her eyes misting – but as ever, she held those tears back – “I’ve needed to talk to her. I’ve needed her since the day I was taken by Rohe,” Eva said quietly, eyes focusing on his with a silent plea for understanding, “and I delayed that so I could come here and help you. But I helped. That’s over. Now I need to go back.”
“Stay here. With me. We can get your sister. Bring her here,” the words came out without conscious thought.
If she was so willing to leave him, so ready to leave him already…
He needed more time.
Eva blinked, an odd, hopeful expression flitting across her face before it hardened. “That’s just unreasonable, Brand. If anybody is going to ‘get’ my sister, it’s me. And I have no right to stay at Stronghold. I don’t belong here.”
Don’t belong here?
Brand narrowed his eyes as Eva moved across the bed. He gripped her knee in his left hand before she could slide further away. “I remember what you told me about Seattle, Eva. And your job. And you should know that plenty of Kaspian who live at Stronghold don’t carry the Kade name or the heritage, Eva. In fact, most who live here aren’t tied to my family by anything more than vows or purpose. There’s plenty of room for Rainey here. At Stronghold. We will send for her.”
“I’m getting Rainey myself,” Eva’s voice rose, laced with anger and determination, and her eyes flecked gold as they met his. Brand raised an eyebrow, and let the challenge in her voice go as he focused on what she hadn’t said.
“So you agree to stay at Stronghold.”
Say yes. Eva wasn’t ready to be Marqued any more than she was ready to bond with him, but if she agreed to live at Stronghold, she would be safe. Brand had seen her earlier with Bryan’s amati, Shiri. Perhaps if Eva spent more time with the other amati, she wouldn’t mind so much when she finally learned about the bond. She needed time to accustom herself to the idea. To him. And if Eva had that time, perhaps…
Perhaps she wouldn’t run.
“Brand,” Eva said, and the sharpness to her words pulled his attention back to her and started a low growl in his chest, “this relationship is temporary. It can’t be anything but temporary. We both know I have to leave,” she said as he snarled. But then she touched his face, ran her hand down his jaw to cradle his chin, and Brand saw the sadness in her silver eyes. She wasn’t any happier about the idea of leaving than he was.
She didn’t want to leave him.
So perhaps Seth was right. Maybe Eva felt a bit of the bond after all.
On some deep level, she must at least sense that they belonged to each other.
“Stay,” Brand said fiercely, running his fingers through the dark silky waves of her hair to hold her still. He studied Eva’s expression, tracking her surprise, the disbelief – then rejection – of his offer. It stretched something inside Brand to the breaking point. “You should stay at Stronghold, Eva. Here. With me.”
“How many women have you asked to stay?” she asked and touched the corner of his mouth, sounding almost amused as she avoided answering.
“Just you. Only you.” His snarl wiped the laughter from her eyes. Then he leaned to kiss Eva in earnest.
Stay at Stronghold.
It was tempting. God, it was tempting.
This place, the people here…Eva loved it. Eva loved them. And she knew nothing would ever happen to her at Stronghold. Rohe would never have a chance to get to her. No one would be able to kidnap her, take her from her Gens or her family. She would be safe.
At Stronghold, she would always be safe.
With Brand.
Eva moaned into his kiss and tangled her hand in his hair as she traced the strong line of his shoulders. He growled deep into her mouth, his kiss forceful, as if somehow he could convince her to do what he wanted.
He wanted her to stay.
He wanted her here. With him.
Relationships are temporary.
Yes, but if Eva stayed at Stronghold, it would kill her when their relationship died. When Brand lost interest and looked elsewhere. The thought of him with another woman, in these suites, in their bed…
Eva snarled and dug her fingers into Brand’s shoulders, sinking her nails into the material and he growled, his body tightening over hers.
So maybe she was young. Maybe she wasn’t a warrior, maybe she couldn’t ‘fight.’ But if she ever had to watch that happen, if Brand ever took another woman…an almost physical pain shot through Eva.
It was better to end the relationship now. To go back to North Carolina for Rainey, then to find her own place. She and her sister could build their own lives together, and Eva wouldn’t ever have to witness another woman enter Brand’s life. She wouldn’t have to worry about him moving on, or worry about watching for when their relationship ended.
He wanted her to stay.
She needed to leave. The sooner the better.
As Eva dug her nails into Brand’s shoulders and twined her legs up around his hard body, a tiny voice in her mind that sounded suspiciously like Rainey’s pointing out that she was behaving like an idiot, but Eva silenced it. I’m thinking of what’s best for us, she whispered back. She was thinking of Brand. She was thinking of Rainey. She was thinking of the future.
Obviously Brand wouldn’t listen, so…tomorrow she would talk to Nikandria about plane tickets. But tonight…Eva slipped her hands under Brand’s sweater and pulled it over his head with her own share of possessiveness. Tonight was about enjoying what she had.
/> Every moment of it.
Eva’s throat was tender beneath his lips and he could feel the beat of her pulse against his teeth as he worked his way down to her collarbone. Brand lingered over that fragile skin before moving on to the forgiving flesh of her breasts. He took his time, kissing the full globe of the left before moving to lick the upward slope of the right, nibbling over the warm, strong beat of her heart.
She had such a beautiful, stubborn, infuriating heart.
Eva twined one hand into his hair, and dipped the other down his side, tracing the sensitive muscles of his abdomen until she found him. Her silver eyes looked up, met his…she gripped.
Brand groaned and gritted his teeth. For a moment everything went red inside his skull as Eva’s fingers settled over the ridge of his shaft, taking the moisture she found there and spreading it across the throbbing head of his heavy erection. He pushed into her palm, and she gasped. Her breath hitched, spread warm between them like life itself, and then she was shifting, canting upward, positioning herself for him.
“Not yet,” Brand snarled, knowing what she wanted.
Eva wanted to leave him. He was going to make this last as long as possible.
Forever, if he had a chance.
She reached between them, pumped her hand around his cock, more need in her touch than teasing, and he strained; he thrust forward, and then – god – she wedged his erection just inside her entrance.
She was pure, tight warmth. Spring rain, cool summer mornings and hot sleek Kaspian tigress. Eva was everything he had ever missed. To let her go would be like ripping out his heart with his own claws. It would shred him. Brand tightened his grip on Eva as the heat of her surrounded him; she trailed her fingers over his hips, following the trail of his spine to his shoulders. Eva wrapped a leg around him and dug her nails in. She pulled herself up, slowly pushing the heavy length of his cock into her moist depths.
Brand froze.
“Don’t make me do this myself,” she whispered, half-gasping, as she trembled beneath him. The silver and gold mixed together in her eyes, dwindling beneath the ruby red of her desire. She pushed roughly up, taking his base into her sweet, tight sheathe. “Brand.”
Brand groaned. He kissed her throat, kissed her breasts as he cradled her to him.
Then he put Eva’s back to the headboard, knelt to grip her hips and pushed.
She cried out, arching; her sleek long legs tightened as they came together behind him, her heels clenching into his ass. Her fingers dug into his shoulders like steel points as he helped her ride up over him and down again. “Brand,” she whispered, eyes fluttering and this time his name wasn’t a request, but approval…and a demand for more. Brand complied, tightening his grip on her hips as he looked into her eyes. This is for her. He let Eva set the pace.
She came around him in a hot tide of hunger and he buried his face in her breasts and held on, not ready, just yet, to succumb; he kissed her sharp little nipples, catching the round soft flesh between his teeth but not too tight, playing the lines of temptation and desire as he continued to drive into her tight body.
Then Eva shuddered again, crying out as she arched back, and the sweet spring rain tang of her blood cut through the air, through the scent of their arousal.
The tang filled Brand’s lungs, his consciousness, and he jerked back, afraid even as he groaned at the sensation. “Eva.” Shock battled with clawing hope, a hope that erupted through everything he was and refused to be put down. Control spun away from him as the need to conquer her flesh filled him; he found himself straining against her depths, holding to the fine line between coming and not. And still, that scent filled his lungs…not a delusion, not a prayer. Real.
“Evita. You’re bleeding.” His voice was guttural, as if rocks had lodged in his throat, and he realized he’d spoken in Catalan. He forced himself to repeat in English. “Eva. Did my teeth…did I Marque you?”
“Bit myself. My tongue,” she gasped, coming down from the orgasm, hands beginning to unclench from his hair and as her shuddering smoothed about his own driving need, she gave a soft rueful laugh, “You made me bite my tongue.”
Everything in him strained. He ran his tongue around the inside of his own mouth, trying to taste…he thought, but he wasn’t sure… “You’re certain.”
If he had Marqued her – if he had accidentally fucking Marqued her – Brand edged back, the tight slide of her flesh fraying his concentration as he tried to see Eva’s skin. To make sure.
Eva groaned, shifted around the fullness of his cock, and his line of control became insubstantial. She looked at him, delicate throat arched. Her eyes met his, a clear, pure dark ruby that held a stunned, powerful, awareness of her own sensuality. She licked her lips and he saw that blood tinted them. “I bit myself,” she whispered again. Relief welled in Brand. Relief…and despair.
He hadn’t bit her, hadn’t Marqued her. Not yet.
He should have. He fucking should have.
Then Eva rode down, taking all of him inside as she breathed, “See? Taste,” and before Brand could respond, she leaned forward and sealed her mouth to his.
Eva’s flavor exploded through Brand; he lost his control. He was lost. He jerked. Her torn tongue moved on his and he groaned. He shuddered as the orgasm rose inside, thundering out and into her as he came. The ejaculation ripped though them both, taking each by surprise. Eva gasped, rocked and moaned, and he desperately pinned her still with his hands.
Here was pure Eva. Her blood. It stained his lips, it stained his soul. It was a gift he would never forget. So close to a Marque, but not.
So close to the sharing of the bond, but not.
He would fucking taste her to the end of time. He would fucking crave her to the end of time.
He did already.
She was beautiful.
Later, as they lay beside each other in the darkness of the tangled sheets, he caressed his hand over the line of her hips, her spine. She shivered against him as he pulled her back into his body, then reached a hand to tangle her fingers into his hair, staring out across the quiet bedroom.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, sounding embarrassed, and almost puzzled. Her body was hot against his own, her discomfort palpable. “About the blood. When I kissed you. I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t know I was going to do that. Did you mind?”
Abrupt, dark humor twisted through Brand, and refused to be contained. He snorted, and then muffled his laughter against her smooth shoulder. And then, feeling the tension of her body against his own, he leaned to kiss Eva’s nape, breathing her sweet scent deep into himself.
For a moment, Brand thought he saw the Changing mist lingering in the air from the corner of his eye, but he knew that was wrong. He smiled.
“We’re Kaspian, Eva. I’ve never minded a little blood.”
Chapter 11
Eva woke when Brand’s body heat slipped away from the bed beside her.
She shifted, drowsily curling into the warmth of the sheets he had just vacated. The bed dipped and a hand smoothed over her hair as Brand’s scent hovered, then he moved away; Eva heard the soft pad of his feet as he crossed through the dark bedroom. The door opened, and quietly closed behind him again.
Eva closed her eyes. Time passed. She didn’t know how long she lay before the coolness of the room settled around her like a chill reminder of winter outside; she shivered, turning toward Brand’s steady warmth…then woke completely as she realized that Brand hadn’t come back.
Eva sat up, clutching the sheets around her; she strained her ears, listening to the sounds of the rooms. The soft drip of water from the bathroom sink, the faint whirr of the ceiling fan. The tick of the kitchen clock. The hum of the refrigerator. The rattle of a heater. “Brand?”
Nothing. An odd, dim sensation leached through Eva’s heart.
She slid forward, pulling the rumpled sheet around herself as she stepped from the bed and went out onto the upstairs loft. The large skylight illuminated Brand
’s desk so the rich wood gleamed with an icy sheen in the moonlight; stacks of paperwork were piled around the room like snow. The air was cool as Eva moved down the stairs to the main floor. She glanced into the kitchen as she breathed in the apartment’s air, trying to separate out Brand’s unique scent – but she already knew: Brand wasn’t in his suite.
An unsettled feeling moved through Eva and lodged inside her chest. The fine hairs prickled on her arms.
What possible reason would he have to leave in the middle of the night?
Stay, he had told her. Stay at Stronghold. But he was the one who kept secrets. He was the one who was never truly there. He was the one who left in the middle of the night without saying why.
Eva bared her teeth at the low-grade pain she felt; she rubbed her chest. “It’s temporary,” she whispered into the darkness of the room.
It was ridiculous that she had to keep telling herself that.
All relationships were temporary.
But somehow, Eva kept forgetting. With Brand, she wanted to forget.
Eva growled and ran a hand through her hair as she stood in the empty living room. Her frustration peaked, but she had no idea why. Except, Eva knew, Brand was the cause of it.
She had stayed too long. At Stronghold. With Brand.
In Brand’s bed.
I was with my high school boyfriend for two years, she reminded herself. Her boyfriend had been captain of the track team, and Eva – well, Eva liked to run. After graduation, her boyfriend went to college in New York, and Eva found a night clerk job.
Their parting had been clean, polite. Distant, Eva realized now.
But her boyfriend had been obsessed with becoming a lawyer, and Eva had needed someone who wasn’t obsessed with her. Someone who didn’t ask questions, and who didn’t care that the only things they did together were jogging and checking each other’s Trig before class. And sex. Eva had needed someone self-obsessed enough not to mess with her life, yet smart enough to always buy condoms.
Though, Eva admitted, the sex hadn’t been good. Not at the beginning, and only marginal at the end.