by Lilian Jade
Lilith pushed open the door to Angus’s room before closing it behind her. Lilith couldn’t help but look down at her body again. She felt sexy in Hannah’s bright yellow floral dress and black, three-inch leather heels. She knew the outfit complemented her very shapely body.
The women had all encouraged her to wear that particular outfit, saying it would get Angus’s attention.
Lilith wanted to do just that, but she didn’t want to come off like a cock tease. In the end, she decided that she really did like the sundress, and that’s why she would wear it. It was Gucci, so it felt wonderful, like a million feathers covering her skin. Even the black, suede Armani heels were smashing. Lilith had never worn anything so sexy or daring in her entire life.
Okay, Lilith thought, snapping out of her mini-daydream. She’d come to Angus’s room to find her keys. It was the last place she remembered having them—in the pocket of her borrowed jeans which she’d thrown on the floor and forgotten about.
Gasping, Lilith froze in place as her eyes met Angus’s very broad and chiseled dripping wet back. His hair was again tied back in a black leather band. If she ever saw it loose, she guessed that it would fall to just below his shoulder blades.
Before Lilith could assess more of him, Angus spun towards her with a startled expression on his face. “Lass, are you okay?” Lilith noticed how deep his voice was as he spoke. She watched his eyes widen as he looked her over. His observation caused her breathing to come in shallow, uneven pants. It was as though she could feel a path burning wherever his eyes roamed—first her legs, then slowly moving up to her sex. She shuddered then under his hard gaze, and Lilith saw his eyes flash a liquid silver-black as he realized the effect he had on her. Yet he still carried on assessing her, his eyes sliding up and over her belly to her breasts. Lilith’s nipples peaked instantly under his close inspection.
Lilith heard a low rumble of a growl sound from him, and she couldn’t do a damn thing but watch as Angus squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I thought that you were um, well … still in the shower. I’m so sorry,” she repeated. “I just came for my keys.”
Lilith knew that growl. He was mad at her, and for what? Kissing one of her own kind? Add it to the list looking like a whore and barging into his room without permission. Lilith turned to make a hasty getaway when she heard him speak softly. “Lass, please don’t go I … I was hoping we could talk.” His voice was way too husky. Lilith wasn’t sure if being in here alone with him was a good thing or not. She decided it was best to just get what she came for.
“I didn’t mean to intrude; I just came to get my keys. I was kind of hoping I could go back to my hotel.” Lilith turned once again to face Angus and found him standing before her. She caught her balance by throwing up her hands, which were now plastered firmly to his chest.
Just as Lilith squeaked in surprise, she felt Angus shudder under her palms. His skin was warm—beautiful skin the color of almonds. His chest was a work of art, lightly dusted with black curls that felt like silk. His dark nipples became erect as Lilith ran her fingertips softly over them.
Lilith smiled as Angus groaned and leaned into her touch. Not quite knowing why, she continued to run her hands slowly over his chest. She couldn’t see what his reaction was—she kept her eyes on his rock-solid torso.
Pulling her hands away, Lilith looked up at Angus. “You haven’t seen my keys have you?” For a moment Lilith thought that his eyes were gray storm clouds, but when she looked again, they were his normal, black eyes.
“You cannot go out there, lass.”
Lilith stepped around Angus and made her way toward his bed. “I can, and I will.” Again Lilith didn’t know why she always felt the need to defend herself every time it came to this man.
“Nay, you will not. What if—”
Lilith flinched as Angus bellowed at her. She couldn’t take his mood swings anymore. Enough was enough. “What if what, Angus? I don’t have to answer to you or anyone else. You don’t own me. Nor I you. The longer I stay here, the more I put you and your family at risk. I will not live my life knowing that I caused something to happen to your family.” Now she was yelling. Look what he’s started, she thought. It’s a damn yelling contest.
“You do not know everything about me and my family,” Angus said. “We are strong. We fight whatever comes our way, and we cannot die so easily. We have your pa to thank for that. We have talents—he gave them to us, and they get stronger almost every day—”
“Agh! Yada, yada yada. I do not give a rat’s ass what ye can do!” Lilith spat back at him through clenched teeth, mocking his thick, Scottish accent. “My pa may have given you and your brother’s gifts of some sort, but he didn’t gift the women of this keep jack shit now, did he?” Lilith noticed that Angus was about to start yelling again when she said, “No, Angus. You look here—I will not have your brothers hunting me down for getting their wives killed in a fight that wasn’t theirs. What if Hannah and Kate had miscarriages?”
“They are not even pregnant,” Angus scoffed.
“Not that you know of,” Lilith told him. “But that’s beside the point. They need to be kept safe, either way.” Lilith hated it when she got this angry, because it normally took a long time before she could calm down. Her chest heaved, heart racing as she stood toe to toe with Angus.
He took a step forward, and she automatically stepped back. Her back planted up against the far wall and she could go no farther. Angus took yet another step. His bare chest rubbed against her very hard nipples and sent little shockwaves down to her very core. Shuddering under the assault, she pressed her back completely flat to the wall, trying to keep as much distance from him as she could.
“I’m sorry, lass, but we are safer if we stay within these walls,” his voice was all husky once again. Angus cradled her face with both his hands, tilting her head up to his as he spoke. “I need you safe.” Pain and need were ablaze in the depths of his eyes.
Lilith’s jaw dropped open. Did Angus McClain just say that he wanted her safe? That he, in fact, needed her safe? Did he truly like her? But Lilith couldn’t risk their lives even if it were true. Angus must have sensed her withdrawing from him, because he lowered his head to hers and kissed her.
His lips were soft and smooth over hers, sweet like honey. Angus kissed her hard and fast, his mood matching her own—wild and angry. The kiss was way too heated for Lilith’s liking, but she didn’t want it to stop. It was everything she knew a kiss should feel like with the very man she was to spend the rest of her life with. He tasted like a good, exotic, fine wine—the kind of wine where one sip would never be enough. Lilith felt her lips part invitingly, waiting for his tongue to enter the warm sanctuary of her mouth.
Accepting her offer, Angus slid his tongue inside Lilith’s mouth, as an overwhelming feeling shot straight to her core. His mouth tasted so sweet, so intense that she hungered for more. Angus’s tongue danced with hers, his teeth nipping at her lower lip. He continued to suck that much harder on her tongue, deeper and faster, their mouths mimicking the motions of two people making love. Moaning into his mouth, Lilith moved closer to his body. She wanted more. At the same time, she needed him to understand that it was best if she left. She was stuck.
Lilith moaned even louder as Angus deepened the kiss, feeling her legs go weak as she clung to his shoulders, causing him to press that much harder against her. Kissing him was so damn heady—it was as if she were drunk on him. Her breasts ached as they rubbed against his chest.
Lilith could hear their shallow panting. She whimpered into his mouth when she became aware of his cock prodding her bare mound, sending mini-shivers coursing through her entire body. She shuddered into him.
Lilith found herself staring into the dark depths of his eyes. She couldn’t believe what she saw there—his gaze was like a hurricane storm cloud out at sea, lightning and all. His stare was so intense that Lilith couldn’t seem to look away. Instead she flung her arms around his nec
k. At the same time, Lilith felt Angus lift her up at the hips.
Locking her legs around his hips, Lilith cried out. She remembered then that she wore no panties, and the intimate contact she made with him then felt so erotic between her legs. But it had to stop now. Though her mind commanded her to resist, Lilith’s body did otherwise. She felt her hips rocking up against Angus’s bare skin of their own accord. Angus groaned at their skin to skin contact. It was far too much to take.
But then this was all she ever wanted—to be held, to be ravished, to be made to feel as if she was everything to this man.
Lilith rocked her hips into Angus again and again while she prodded his mouth with her tongue. She heard Angus groan. What was she thinking? She was a twenty-one-year-old virgin … she didn’t know the first thing about how to please a man. “Ah, Angus … enough. Please, I … I can’t. Not now. And this won’t solve my problems.” With that Lilith pushed out of his hold, letting her feet fall back to the ground and ducking out of his arms before she could fall back into them. “I haven’t changed my mind. If you were thinking clearly, you would agree that my option is the only one to keep you and your family safe.” She straightened her borrowed dress—though if Hannah knew what had just taken place in that dress, she’d most likely not want it back.
Lilith looked up to face a now expressionless Angus. Noticing that, like her, his breathing was now even. Unfortunately, he was still at full mast. Lilith couldn’t help but feel satisfied by how his body reacted to hers. Or did he react that way with all the women he met?
“Lass, if my brothers agree to it, then you may leave. But I do not think that they will accept the slightest notion of you being outside these walls.”
There he went again, thinking that she had no say in the matter. One minute he was all kissy-kissy, and the next he was Dark And Dangerous. “Look, I don’t care what you all think, okay? I want to be in my own damn clothing, and I don’t want to have to put anyone else in danger. Angus, I don’t want your blood on my hands. I don’t want to get Kate or any of the other women here killed. Please let me go while I still have the chance.”
Lilith sighed as she recalled what the other fae, Ezekiel, had said to her mere hours before. It was the one part of the terrible battle with the fae that had suddenly come back to Lilith’s memory while she’d been resting and recovering. Ezekiel’s words made her soul sing as well as cringe. He made her heart pound with so much love and heat, yet she didn’t want him ever near her again. Her body had responded to his closeness, and she wanted him to take her the very second he touched her. Yet at the same time, his body repelled her.
His words chilled her very soul when he told her that she had three nights and two days before he came for her, and that she must still be a virgin. If she was not, then he would kill everyone in this house, ripping apart their flesh while he made her watch and listen to every scream that left their mouths. The way he spoke the words to Lilith—it was as if he actually found the thought of inflicting such pain amusing.
He had also told her that even though Angus and his brothers were still human in body, they were no longer human in essence. What did he mean by that? Lilith didn’t want to know. Angus’s rich, rough brogue brought Lilith out of her thoughts. “What do you mean by still having a chance, lass?”
Damn, Lilith thought. She really hoped that he wasn’t going to examine her words too closely. “What I mean is that they won’t be back—” Lilith gasped as Angus ripped off his towel and strode to his chest at the foot of the bed in all his glorious nakedness, cock still rock hard. Damn, how she wanted to lick every inch of his caramel-colored skin.
All Lilith wanted was to feel his silky flesh against her tongue. He didn’t even look up at her as he pulled out a pair of black denim jeans. As he yanked them up, she licked her lips, her eyes following his hand as it slid into his pants, adjusting his very large cock into place. He looked so divine.
“You were saying, lass?” Lilith jerked her head up to see that he was watching her under hooded lashes with what looked to be a smirk on his face. Lilith felt her cheeks reddening. But she held her head up high, not wanting to appear weak in front of him.
Trust Angus to find it funny that he had caught her ogling his goods. What really got to Lilith was that she didn’t find it even a little concerning that she was in his room while he was dressing. To her, such a thing felt natural between them. “I, um, was saying … well, they won’t be back for a while.” Damn him for making her brain go to mush.
“And how do you know this, lass?” Lilith watched as he pulled a white fitted t-shirt over his head. The muscles on his upper torso bulged as he pulled the shirt down. It complemented his sculpted chest perfectly. With his clothes finally on, he stood there in all his grace, waiting for her to answer. Lilith wouldn’t tell him the truth, because she knew if she did, she wouldn’t get the chance to leave. Then she would be left with the weight of their blood on her hands.
“I know things before they happen. Well, sometimes I do. And this is one of those times.” Lilith wasn’t really lying, because the truth was she did know, and it hadn’t happened yet. Lilith felt Angus looking at her as he walked the short distance to his nightstand. She watched as he opened the small, mahogany drawer and pulled out a set of keys. Her keys. Angus turned to face her. He put the keys in his pocket and walked to the door. Not sure what he was up to, Lilith followed right behind, her heels clicking across the floor as Angus waited, holding the door open for her. Lilith heard the door close behind her as she made her way down the three flights of stairs.
Angus was a walking hard-on. Finding the woman standing in his room was a gift. To have her in his arms was a godsend. And to taste her was a hit of an exotic drug straight to the brain. Or cock. Either way, it hit him like a fucking tidal wave.
The little yellow dress that she wore caused his hands to itch with the need to rip it from her body. The feel of her sex up against his bare skin had been torture for him. Her pointed nipples torched his very senses; he wanted her so bad. No, he needed her. Damn how he had to struggle to keep himself restrained and not freak the woman out.
As Angus and Lilith reached the first floor of the castle, he thought again about what she had said to him in the bedroom. Even he had to recognize the truth to her words. Angus couldn’t have his family hurt; even if the men couldn’t be killed easily, the women could. And if what she said about Kate and Hannah turned out to be true, then he knew for a fact that his brothers would do everything in their power to keep them safe first and foremost.
“Angus, what is Kate?” Lilith asked.
Her question snapped him out of his daydream. “What? What do you mean?” Angus looked at the woman standing before him at the bottom of the stairs. Human or not, she was a sharp one. He knew she was intrigued by Kate’s powers, and she wouldn’t let the matter drop until she knew more. Oh well. Better come out with it. “Kate comes from a family line of mages.”
A smile crossed her sweet face. “Ha, well, that figures,” she said. “When I came running downstairs this morning, I came across Kate and Occam wielding arcane magic. It makes sense now.” Angus frowned, wanting to ask what she meant by that remark. But he didn’t have to. “At uni I studied history and ancient artifacts,” she went on. “Or relics, as I prefer to call them. And in my free time there I studied arcane energy. I don’t like to call it ‘magic’— people seem to go all funny on you at the mention of magic, so I use the term energy.”
So she was a bit of a knowhow, Angus thought. He liked her more and more. Every time he spoke to her, looked at her, or touched her … “Lass, why don’t you go find something to eat while I go chat with my brothers, and when we have come to a decision I will come to you.”
Angus looked at her as she eyed him curiously, arching a finely sculpted brow. She finally nodded and then left in the direction of the kitchen. Angus waited till she entered the kitchen before he turned and pushed open the double doors to the main hall.
Th
ere he found everyone except Marissa and the reporter … what was his name? David, or was it Matt? It didn’t matter. Angus was always bad for names. As long as his sisters were doing a good job of keeping that reporter’s nose out of matters involving faes and magic—or energy, as the lass preferred to call it—then that was the important thing.
“Angus. Glad you decided to join us … how’s the lass?” Hunter said, talking between giggles as Kate tickled him. Hunter and Kate were stretched out on the floor together, Hunter’s face turning red from laughter as Kate showed him no mercy. Angus watched as Kate suddenly hopped to her feet, then was shocked to see Hunter pull her roughly back down to sprawl across his entire frame. Kate made a funny sound as the impact knocked the breath out of her, and they both laughed even harder.
“What the hell are you doing, you brute! The lass is with child—” Angus cut himself off as all heads in the room turned suddenly to look up at him.
“What?” Hunter roared back at him. There was a small, startled gasp from Kate. Hunter looked to her and stood. He grabbed both of her hands and brought her to her feet. He didn’t let go of her hands. “Nay, surely I would know if my wife was pregnant before you, Angus, would I not?” Hunter looked back and forth from Kate to Angus.
“The lass—Lilith—she told me … well if it’s true or not, I do not know. But she told me that …” Angus trailed off. Looking at Kate and his brother, he was really beginning to regret opening his big fat mouth.
Kate looked up at her husband. “How did she know? I only just went to the bathroom not two minutes ago … I wasn’t sure, Hunter. So I went to the bathroom and took a test … and as it turns out—you are going to be a daddy. We are going to be parents.”