A mixture of lust and fury was carved into his features, light and shadows creating a fiercely animalistic aura. And all of it highlighted by the haunting glow of his eyes. The potent combination of danger and desire only served to fuel her craving. A shiver of anticipation rippled through Rena as the unyielding planes of his chest pushed against her breasts. With each labored breath, his ribs expanded and contracted against her in wicked jags, heightening each sensation, every one more vivid than the last.
Rena probably should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. Hell no. She had never been more turned on in her life, and it was far beyond the physical. This man or dragon or whatever label was given to him knew her better than any other creature on the planet. She didn’t have to hide who she was or what she could do.
Being seen completely, with no barriers—mental, physical, or otherwise—was the most potent aphrodisiac of all.
The two of them hung there perilously, clinging to the edge of flagrant desire. Bodies humming with unfulfilled lust. Both knowing if they let go and tumbled over the precipice, into the abyss below, there would be no going back for either of them.
How could the universe want her to be with Zed but allow her to crave Zander with such merciless, wild intensity?
“Fate,” he hissed. “If you understood the kind of mayhem you were toying with, you would get the hell away from me and never look back.”
“I know you want me, Zander.” She sucked in a deep breath, knowing full well the movement would press her breasts harder against him. Zander’s nostrils flared in response. “It doesn’t take a psychic to figure that out. I don’t know your brother, and I don’t know shit about the Amoveo or the dragons or your damned curse. And I don’t care, because all I can see or feel…is you. And I know that you see me.”
Rena raked her fingernails up both sides of his rib cage, popped up on her toes, and flicked her tongue over his lip.
“I want you, Zander Lorens. Not your brother. You.” She swept her hands up his back, the muscles tensing and rippling beneath her fingers. Rena pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth and whispered, “Right now.”
Heat flashed in his eyes, and for a split second, Rena thought she had made a colossal mistake.
As a growl rumbled in Zander’s chest and his lips crashed onto hers, Rena almost wept with relief. Kissing her deeply, his tongue sweeping furiously along hers, Zander groaned and tilted her head, taking total control.
Rena surrendered to him willingly. Body. Mind. Spirit. She was offering it all.
In a flurry of effort, his mouth branding her with each penetrating kiss, Rena pushed Zander’s shirt up, wanting to see and feel every single inch of him. Before she could accomplish her goal, he tore his mouth away and dropped to his knees, pressing hot, wet kisses along her neck, breasts, and belly as he went. Rena bit her lower lip and tangled her fingers in his shaggy hair as he made quick work of undoing the button of her jeans.
“I want to see you.”
Quivering with a yearning she didn’t have a name for, Rena let out a groan of anticipation as Zander peered up at her while pulling down her zipper slowly. She gasped when his tongue, hot and hard, flicked into her belly button, and he dragged her pants and undies over her hips. She stepped out of them quickly, but before she could catch her breath, Zander ran his hands up the back of her legs and nudged them apart while brushing his lips lightly up her inner thigh.
Knowing what was surely coming next and fighting to see through the red haze of lust, Rena blindly reached for the counter’s edge behind her and held on, bracing herself for the pleasure that had been chasing her since the moment Zander Lorens had roared into her life.
“I am at your mercy, Rena.” His voice, gruff and gritty, whisked around her. “Do you have any idea what you have done to me? I’m haunted by you.”
She shivered as each word was punctuated with sharp nibbles along the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh. Rena whimpered when he curled his hand around the crook of her right knee, dragged her leg up, and slung it over his shoulder. It was wickedly erotic and decadent to be exposed to him this way.
Open and vulnerable. Zander on his knees. Rena partially clothed and splayed out against the kitchen counter, waiting for him to feast on her.
Devour her.
She wanted to say something, to tell him about the greedy way her body craved his, but no words would come. The whisper of heat bubbling beneath the surface, a slow-burning knot of need, erupted into a full-fledged flame when Zander blew gently over her sex. A needy moan pulled from her throat, and her knees buckled at the breath-stealing sensation.
If it weren’t for the counter and Zander’s ironclad grip on her legs, she would have collapsed to the floor in a boneless puddle.
“Don’t you understand, Rena?” he whispered against her thigh while stroking her backside with his other hand before cupping it firmly. “You’ll be my undoing.”
Zander’s hot mouth covered her exposed heat, and Rena’s world erupted. She cried out, and her head fell back as he licked and suckled her clit in slow, torturous circles. Her hips bucked, seeking out more of what he was offering, but Zander held fast, giving her no room to adjust her position.
He smacked her ass and pulled back, giving her a moment to mourn his touch.
“Don’t move,” he growled.
His fingers pressed deeper into her hip and thigh, and Rena watched as Zander licked her slit in one slow pass. A strangled cry of pleasure caught in her throat, and even though she wanted to urge her hips forward, she did as he asked and remained motionless.
“That’s it.” He pulled her lips apart gently and flicked her clit with his tongue in a swift, sharp pass. “You taste sweet and tangy, like a peach not quite ripe on the vine, but you’re ready for me, aren’t you? Even if only for this brief moment in time…”
Rena nodded. Every single muscle in her body was wound tight like a rubber band ready to snap, and when Zander covered her heat again, she shouted his name. Zander licked and massaged the tiny nub mercilessly, swiftly bringing her overheated body to a shattering climax with the talented lips of an experienced lover.
As wave after wave of the orgasm rippled and erupted through Rena’s body, he didn’t relent. Rena instinctively reached out with her mind, tangling her energy pattern with his. When the spiritual connection was made, light exploded behind her eyes, and a second even more powerful orgasm shimmered out in delicious, pulsating waves.
No!
Zander’s voice shot into her head, the force of it instantaneously severing the intimate connection. Both physically and mentally. The change was jarring and, as the fog of the orgasm lifted, it was humiliating as well.
Zander abruptly released her, and when Rena’s foot hit the floor with a dull thump, she held tighter to the counter to keep from falling over. Still reeling from the power of the climax and struggling to catch her breath, she shook her head, as though it might rid her of the sudden onset of embarrassment.
He stalked away. Keeping his back to her, Zander swore under his breath.
The man was still fully dressed, and she was standing there half-naked and suddenly rejected. Alone. Rena’s face heated but from mortification instead of lust. She snagged her jeans off the floor and quickly pulled them on, trying to ignore the way the rough fabric rasped over her overly sensitized flesh.
Flesh he had been worshipping only moments ago.
“Wh-what is the problem?” she said between huffing breaths while buttoning her jeans. “Don’t you want—”
“What I want is of little importance,” he shouted at her over his shoulder. “I learned that lesson a long time ago. Fate is a nasty bitch, and she doesn’t give a shit about anything other than fulfilling her twisted desires. Not mine and not yours. The sooner you wrap yourself around that, the better off we’ll both be.” He stormed to the front door and grabbed his bag.
Backpack in hand, he strode to the staircase and stood there for a minute with his back to her.
“To take a shower.”
She let out a huff of disbelief. One minute he was giving her the best orgasm of her life, and the next he was ditching her to go shower. Alone.
“Zander, wait—”
“The boundaries between us can’t be crossed again, Rena.”
“Really? Well, you probably should have thought about that before you went down on me,” she replied quietly.
Zander flinched, and his shoulders squared, but he still wouldn’t turn around and look at her. “I am to blame for this mess,” he murmured. “I know that.”
“Not entirely,” she said, a shaky laugh threading her words. “I was here too, and I made no secret about what or who I wanted.”
“Zed and I are identical twins, and you’re only reacting to my genetic pattern—not me. You’ll feel the same way about Zed.”
“Bullshit.”
“Sadly, it’s not.” He glanced over his shoulder but didn’t look at her. “You have to be his mate. It’s the only way. I’m going to take a shower.”
As he disappeared up the stairs, Rena shouted, “Better make it a cold one!”
He grumbled something she couldn’t quite make out before a door upstairs slammed shut. Rena let out a raspy huff of frustration and ran both hands through her hair, lacing her fingers behind her head. He wanted her. Obviously. Everything had been going in the right direction until she’d touched his energy pattern with hers.
Rena stilled.
That was it. The mental contact combined with the physical had somehow heightened their connection. Why was he so put off by that? A satisfied smile curved her lips. Zander could tell her time and again how Zed was supposed to be her mate, but she knew it was all bullshit.
Zander wanted her. She wanted him.
What the hell did fate have to do with matters of the heart or other parts of the anatomy?
Rena snagged an apple from the fruit bowl and took a juicy bite. She made a sound of appreciation and closed her eyes, losing herself in the sweet taste of it. She settled onto the stool and leaned both elbows on the counter while studying the half-eaten piece of fruit.
What was it Zander said about telepathy being an intimate form of communication between mates? She had done it once, so she should be able to do it again. And last time she hadn’t even been trying to do it.
Rena spun around on the stool and swung her feet while staring at the second-floor loft of the cabin. An image of Zander, naked and wet, beneath the streams of water, flashed into her mind. His hands were pressed against the blue-and-white tile wall as the water streamed over him. Rena drew in a sharp breath as desire tugged at her from deep within her core.
Eyes closed, she sent her energy signature in search of his, and when the two ribbons of power tangled, a zap of static electricity shot beneath her skin. Rena gasped when pleasure-laden warmth seeped into her blood.
It was now or never.
And by the way, dragon boy, the only thing I want to wrap myself around is you.
A shudder of pure, unadulterated lust washed over Rena when her mind touched his. She threw one hand back and braced herself on the edge of the counter as the erotic sensation, mixed with warm flashes, ebbed and pulsed in her blood. She let out a trembling laugh of wonder and disbelief.
Stop. His voice, low and gruff, whisked into her head. No more telepathy. Save it for my brother.
A second later, she was cut off.
It was like a mental door had been slammed shut and all communication had been severed. Even Zander’s energy pattern was nowhere to be found. An odd feeling of emptiness curled in Rena’s chest. She could hear him upstairs. The shower was off, and he was still moving around in the bathroom.
Zander was here…but he wasn’t.
The man had shut her out of his mind, and the rejection was oddly disconcerting. Rejecting her physical advances was something she could laugh off, but this? Getting rebuffed and ejected from his mind, cut off and left virtually alone, wounded her in a way she hadn’t expected.
For a woman who was used to being on her own, Rena had never felt lonelier in her life.
Chapter 12
When Rena had gently inspected the scars on his body, the wall inside Zander, the fortress he’d built around his heart, crumbled. How long had it been since he had let anyone get that close? It was more than the tenderness in her touch. The soft, comforting tone of her voice and the empathy woven within her energy called to him. Like a siren song filled with promises of redemption, Rena and her embrace drew him to her.
Zander had taken plenty of cold showers in his lifetime. Hell, he’d bathed in lakes, oceans, and streams that were twice as frigid as the water flowing from these pipes. But this was the only time during his lengthy life that he had done it to try and cool his eager libido. It had almost worked too, but when the wicked little vixen touched her mind to his, any control he had vanished amid the rush of lust.
When her husky voice whispered into his head, the surge of stark-naked need that accompanied it made him hard as a rock. Again. His dick twitched and throbbed almost to the point of pain. Zander pounded his fist against the wet tiles, and a growl rumbled in his chest as the overwhelming urge to claim her tore through him.
Zander had cut his mind off from hers out of self-preservation, even though it went against every single instinct he had.
When he severed the mental connection with Rena, a leaden weight settled in his chest and spread through his soul like blood seeping from a wound that refused to heal. As the ache and longing swelled, his body responded in kind. The physical craving for her may have been sated for the moment, but the haunting loneliness wasn’t.
He shut off the water with more ferocity than necessary and yanked open the glass shower door before snagging a towel off the rack. He dried himself off in swift, furious strokes, but when he caught a glimpse of his nude body in the mirror, Zander let his gaze drift over the multitude of scars. Until Rena had stopped to inspect them, he had practically forgotten they were there. Big and small, each one represented a moment from his past, battles fought and won.
His mind wandered to the feel of Rena’s fingers as they danced over the damaged flesh. However, when he caught sight of a dark shadow on his left thigh, the leg that had pained him so much yesterday, Zander froze.
Anyone else might mistake the bluish-black splotch for a bruise of some kind. But Zander knew better, and dread clamped down hard and fast.
His heart began to race as he moved closer to the full-length mirror, not sure if he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. As he got nearer, his mouth went dry when he saw that the mark wasn’t random or shapeless—not at all. He swore under his breath and leaned over, wanting and needing to get an unobstructed view of his leg.
With the truth creeping in like a long-lost lover with wild promises, Zander traced his finger around the dark edge of the figure-eight-like shape.
He swore in disbelief as he lifted his glowing gaze to his reflection.
It wasn’t a bruise, and it sure as hell wasn’t random.
If his suspicions were correct, and the universe was the merciless bitch he knew it was, then the mark on his leg was the beginning of a mate tattoo. A bitter laugh escaped his lips as he forced his eyes back to their human state and wrapped the towel around his waist. This was just one more shitty, twisted side effect of being an identical twin and only confirmed what he had believed all along—he had to get Rena to the ranch as soon as possible.
Away from him.
Far away.
Like non-touching distance.
Because all he wanted to do was touch her. Ever
ywhere.
Zander grabbed another towel and used it to dry off his wet head, which he should probably stick back under the shower for another good, long soak.
A pounding on the bathroom door pulled him from his thoughts.
“I never figured you for a diva.” The amusement in Rena’s voice was clear even though it was muffled. “I need to use the bathroom, dragon boy. I have to pee.”
“I’m not dressed.” He looked around for his bag. “Gimme a minute.”
“Don’t be such a prude,” she teased. “Jeez, man. Throw on a towel and go get dressed in the bedroom. Come on, I gotta go.”
“Right. Sorry.”
Zander grabbed his bag from the floor before yanking the door open. Rena was leaning against the wall and looked like she was about to say something but stopped in the midst of it. He stilled as her appreciative gaze drifted over his bare chest and down to the towel, which wasn’t doing much to hide his reemerging desire. He quickly adjusted the bag and held it in front of him before stepping into the hallway.
“Thanks.” Rena brushed past him and whispered, “I hope you didn’t hog all the cold water. I could use some myself.”
The bathroom door clicked closed, and Zander let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he had been holding.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
The cool, soothing mist that was ever present in the dreamrealm drifted over Zander’s bare arms as he got a handle on his surroundings. After so many years of walking the realm, it rarely took him this long to embrace the dream state. He fully expected to be in the forest with Zed. Both of them in their dragon form about to launch into battle, but this time…something was different.
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