“Enyowas knows people who will take care of the bodies,” Soroyan said.
Mark nodded. “You have his number?”
Soroyan shook his head and Mark slid his phone from his pocket. “I’ll call Jax, he’ll know.”
They waited while Mark spoke to Jax who called Enyowas. Finally, Mark slid his phone back into his pocket. “A clean-up crew is on the way,” he said.
With a nod, Soroyan pushed away from the car he was leaning against. “I want to question him,” he said, spitting a mouth full of blood on the ground.
Raven frowned, then she noticed Soroyan holding his side as he made his way toward the male Mark had left tied and leaning up against the side of the building.
“You’re hurt,” she said, sudden anger filling her. As unreasonable as it was, she felt as if she failed at protecting him. Then she shook her head, knowing how he’d feel about that thought.
Soroyan pulled his hand from his side, surprised at the blood. “It is nothing.”
Raven closed the space between them and peeled the shirt away from his side. “You can question him later.”
“It’s not that bad,” he said, and she could tell he was puzzled by her worry.
Mark sighed. “I’ll wait here for the clean-up crew. You guys go on home. I’ll bring asshole home with me, stick him in the cell beside the woman.” He glared at the bound Were-wolf and Raven wondered if they’d once been friends. If so, Mark didn’t let on.
Raven nodded, confidant that Mark could take care of any nosey passerby. Soroyan was about to protest when Mark held up a hand and met the big bad wolf’s gaze. “Your wound may not be bad, but with that collar on you, you can’t afford to let it get infected. Don’t worry, you can question him, but I have questions, too.”
“Fine, just don’t let him escape,” Soroyan growled. He started to turn toward Tierney’s car when Raven noticed the trail of blood on the ground.
“We’re going to stay at the apartment, we will see you tomorrow,” she told Mark, then turned and hurried to catch up to Soroyan as he made his way between cars.
“Let me help you,” she said and started to slip her arm around him when he snarled and waved her away.
“Don’t, I’m fine.”
With a shrug, she dropped her arm. “Are you able to drive?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Yeah, right.” Raven sighed, aware he’d never admit that he wasn’t capable of doing something. “Well, I hope you don’t pass out, because I don’t know how to navigate this hunk of metal,” she muttered.
“What?” he asked, but she shook her head.
“Nothing. Stupid stubborn male,” she muttered to herself as they neared Tierney’s Challenger. “What were you thinking, taking on all those Weres anyway?” she asked, for some reason hating that he was hurt.
“I didn’t think. They pulled into the parking lot and I caught their scent.” He paused. “They were the ones who killed Enyowas’s friend and that boy,” he said. “Besides, Mark showed up right after them, he’s been tracking down his pack.
Raven sighed. She really couldn’t blame either of them. She’d have done the same thing. She waited while Soroyan unlocked the car doors.
Raven opened her senses and reached out to see if any other angels had come to collect souls. Finally she gave an aggravated sigh and looked at Soroyan. “I’ll just be a minute.”
She felt Soroyan’s eyes on her as she walked to the back of the car, but ignored it.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. She drew on the elements around her and quickly, one after the other, she sent the rotten souls down to hades. When she was done, even though she now had a boost in energy, she felt weary. She needed to get Soroyan back to the apartment, and look at his wound, but she really didn’t want to climb back in that car with him.
If she thought he’d be okay without her, she’d have left him to drive on his own. As it was, she had her doubts. With renewed energy surging through her along with the intense hunger for wolf that she seemed to have, she climbed back in the car.
She thought about the Weres they just fought, trying to keep her mind off of the intense male beside her. She knew she should just go, get away from him, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Finally, she took a deep breath and shoved her emotions back down where they belong.
“Why did you come back?” Soroyan asked, voice gruff with pain as he pulled out onto the road.
Raven shrugged. “I knew something was wrong.”
Raven could sense the wolf inside him assessing her and even hurt, she felt the desire that he was trying so hard to fight. Raven studied Soroyan while he drove. She didn’t like the emotions that were slowly consuming her and she was well aware of his burning need, the beast lurking ever present just beneath the surface.
When she pushed him to kiss her, she had thought to help him, to ease his discomfort and scratch an itch in her at the same time. Yet his need quickly became hers and in the end, she just couldn’t do it. She wasn’t ready to give up her cold, lonely existence. She no longer knew how.
She had thought that she could play with fire and not get burned, since she’d been doing it for so long, but something about Soroyan touched her and she found it near impossible to remain aloof.
The urge to run her fingers through his hair, over the dark stubble on his face, and feel his lips on hers again wouldn’t let up. She rubbed her hands on her thighs for something to do. Still, the intense need to touch, to run her fingers over his chest and back, feel those rope of muscles that lined his exquisite physique, squeeze his ass and feel him wrapped all around her, wouldn’t let go.
Raven gulped at the idea of him filling her, taking her to new levels of ecstasy that made her pulse begin to race. Stop! What are you thinking? Turning, she lowered the window, letting in the crisp winter air and took a deep, refreshing breath into her lungs. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t afford to lower her guard, not with the way she reacted to him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
On Edge
Soroyan set his sights once again on the road. His side burned like a bitch, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as the hunger that continued to mess with him. What the hell was happening to him? Could it be this collar making him react this way to her? Yet as he thought of it, he knew his emotions had been awakened weeks ago by Tierney. When he’d touched her that day he tried to teach her how to use the soul stones in her choker, he’d been filled with pure light.
It had been so intense it had pushed back his ever-threatening rage, the dark, deadly beast lurking inside of him.
Then, when Raven had taunted him beyond all control, the beast had risen up with such fierce need, he’d had no power over it. Good thing she had stopped him, he’d been ready to take her then and there!
Though she was stunning to behold, and could fight like the devil himself, he still didn’t understand why he was so attracted to her. He’d been around plenty of sexy women and none affected him this badly. Part of him wished she had stayed gone, left him alone to fight the Weres, even if they managed to kill him. Though the other part was thrilled, if on edge, over the fact that she had come to help him and was still here.
She’d surprised him with her worry. He hadn’t expected that, and didn’t know what to think about it. Could she actually care? He knew that his brother cared, and he finally understood that Tierney cared about him. She was his friend. But Raven’s worry over him felt different, good, and while it confused him, it also touched him deep inside and made him burn even hotter for her.
Still, the thought of going back to the apartment and trying to act like everything was fine, never mind trying to sleep, made him want to roar with frustration. Instead, he ground his teeth together, hunger a never-ending flame burning out of control.
“You doing all right?” she asked, her voice a whisper that soothed his parched soul.
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and nodded without looking at her.
&nb
sp; Chapter Thirty-Five
Stupid Tough Men
Raven sighed inwardly. Stupid tough men.
This time when they entered the building, she didn’t mention the stairs and instead led the way over to the elevators. Soroyan silently followed her and if he was nervous about stepping into a small enclosed box, he didn’t show it. Raven figured he was too weary or in too much pain to worry about it.
“Go sit in the kitchen,” she directed once in the apartment.
“No, I’m going to shower first,” he said and she admired his tight ass as he walked down the hallway.
Hm, how she’d love to take a bite out of that ass, she thought, then with a deep sigh, she contacted Tierney.
She was waiting in the kitchen with the first aid kit on the table when Soroyan walked in a few minutes later. Raven swallowed deeply at the sight of him in only a pair of blue jeans.
Even with old bruises and cuts, and the wound he’d just gotten, he was yummy to look at. “Sit,” she said and forced herself to look away.
“I told you, I’ll be fine,” he said, running a hand through his black hair and sounding grumpy. He had a black towel around his shoulders catching the water dripping from his hair, though the towel didn’t catch it all.
Raven licked her lips as a few rivulets trickled down and through the light sprinkling of black hair on his chest. Yup. He is definitely fine, she agreed. “Yeah, you’ve said that, but I’m still cleaning and binding it anyway,” she said and turned to the box on the table. “I contacted Tierney, she told me where to find the first aid kit. I guess Jax used to heal really slowly,” she said, talking more than she normally did to someone she didn’t really know as she rummaged through the box.
Soroyan reluctantly lowered himself into the chair she’d pulled out for him. Then, without another word she began to clean his wound and tried not to drool.
“Am I hurting you?” she asked when he tensed up at her touch. He didn’t answer and she bit her bottom lip as she worked. Then she wound the bandage around him and secured it. “There, that should do,” she said, straightening up. She met his gaze and sucked in a breath at the fire blazing in his turquoise depths.
Heart beating out of control, Raven turned and packed everything into the box, then feeling like a coward for the first time in her long life, she left to return the kit to the storage closet in the laundry room. A moment later she felt, rather than heard as Soroyan walked by and into the bedroom he’d picked out earlier.
***
In Tierney’s room, Raven found a drawer with a few small t-shirts and picked out the biggest, a black one, to sleep in. She undressed and snorted at how tight the shirt was on her, feeling like a giant compared to her niece. No one will see me in it, she thought, Yet the voice in her head playing couldn’t resister playing devil’s advocate.
What about Soroyan?
I’ll dress as soon as I wake in the morning, she replied. Then shook her head. I really am starting to lose it, talking to myself. Leaving her undies on, she slipped between the sheets and reached out to shut the bedside lamp off.
As darkness filled the room, Raven’s eyes adjusted and she thought about all that had happened since she’d arrived on this world. Then her thoughts shifted to one large predatory male just down the hall from her. Body suddenly alive, she sat up and sighed. The need, a slow, burning ache inside her, just wouldn’t let up. With an angry groan, she dragged the quilt with her into the living area and slid open the patio door, then went and sat in one of the chairs on the balcony, wrapping the blanket around her.
She gazed up at the stars, noting how different the constellations were on each planet. They were always different, she thought as she tried to take her mind off of Soroyan, but that turned out to be an impossible task. I am not usually so reckless, what was I thinking earlier? She should never have followed him to the club. She’d mistakenly thought that if she could just fuck him, she’d feel better and then go on with her life.
At first her intense reaction to him first stunned her, now it terrified her.
She pulled her feet under her and analyzed her feelings. It had actually been a long time since she’d had sex with anyone, maybe it was because while she didn’t really know Soroyan, he wasn’t a complete stranger.
Then she thought about that and realized that while she’d locked her shields up tight so no one’s emotions could slip through, somehow, she was aware of Soroyan on a whole other level than she was most people.
Although not a strong empath like her niece, Raven still had a minor emphatic ability. After Lukkah’s death, she’d locked that part of herself up and forgotten about it.
She’d grown so cold, so hard over the years that it wouldn’t have surprised her if she had completely lost that ability. Now, though, she had to wonder. Could that be why she felt so in tune to the wolf, and why just him? If her shields had been weakening without her noticing, surely she’d have felt the emotions of others. Still, it didn’t make any sense. Why else would she react to Soroyan the way she did?
Sure, he was sexy, but she’d met her share of sexy over the years and none of them made her body betray her in such an all-consuming manner. Demons! Just watching him fucking that woman had made her throat dry, her pulse race and things tighten down below. And, if she were honest with herself, a twinge of jealousy had shot through her. Her, jealous? No way. She refused to believe it.
Yet Soroyan’s sexy-dark good looks literally made her insides quiver. This is fucked up. She just needed some hot, wild sex. Surely that was all, wasn’t it?
She thought of Soroyan’s mouth on hers, how out of control and intense he’d been. He tasted of the night, wild and free, so masculine it had been dizzying. With a groan, she rubbed her hand against her eyes. Why? She didn’t need this, she was quite happy with her life. Drift from place to place, sleep out in the open, or in hovels, eat what she hunted, while stalking the bastards that wanted to kill all supernatural beings, and then move on to the next place, the next Ilyium, the next kill. All of a sudden, the thought of going back to that life no longer held the same appeal as it did.
She’d spent twenty years avenging her dead mate and while part of her knew it would never be enough, another part was weary of the killing. In fact, she was well aware of how reckless she’d grown in battle, waiting for the right person to come along, someone strong, someone capable enough to end her life so she could finally join her mate.
She had given up the idea of a normal life with a mate and children the day Lukkah died and yet, for a brief moment, she wondered what that would have been like. She tried to imagine such a thing, possibly with someone strong like Soroyan, then let that brief, impossible dream drift away on the night breeze.
No, such a thing was not in her cards, better to not even dream. Besides, Soroyan wasn’t anything like Lukkah had been. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she thought of her sweet mate. Angels, how she’d loved him and he’d been so good to her. She knew he’d have given her the world had he lived. As it was, he’s given her his very soul.
She thought of her deceased mate and then the male in the room not far away. Soroyan was so completely different from the lightness Lukkah had been and in no way could she imagine having any sort of life with the wolf. In fact, the darkness inside the wild beast matched her own. No, they’d be a terrible match. Then she realized he wasn’t even offering her anything. Gah, what is wrong with me? He hadn’t even really offered her sex, she’d been the one to push him.
Demon hell, I need my head examined! Disgusted with herself, she stood up and had just slid the glass patio door shut when a mental cry of such intense anguish had her gripping the door frame for support. What in hades? With a frown, she opened her senses, stunned at what she found. Soroyan, and he was roiling in a flux of agony and inner torment. Heart thundering in her ears, she quickly made her way down the hall to the room he slept in and stopped. Not sure what she might be getting herself into, she peered inside. She didn’t see him anywher
e in the room but the curtains were moving and moonlight streamed into the room through the open patio doors.
A gasp slipped out as she spied him.
No!
Hurrying through the room, she slowed as she stepped out onto the balcony, her heart thundering.
Soroyan stood, wearing only a pair of black boxers, on the foot-wide ledge looking down.
“Soroyan,” she whispered, and the eyes that met hers were bright red.
The ripping, soul-deep torment she experienced from him was brutal and too much for anyone to bear. Raven bit her lip, scared for the first time ever that she could remember.
“Come down, please,” she said, holding her hand out to him.
His wolf stared at her hungrily, then he easily jumped back down beside her and she could feel the battle going on inside of him.
Raven continued to hold out her hand. “Come, come inside,” she whispered, voice shaky, not because she feared he’d hurt her physically. She knew he wouldn’t. It was the knowledge that she may not escape unscathed. She was too connected, too close to the edge with the strange attraction she had to him, for that to happen.
“Soroyan,” she called to get his attention, but received no answer in return other than his eyes flickered turquoise, then back to red.
When he took her hand, she sucked in a deep breath in stunned horror. The agony of both him and his wolf fighting to get out was unbearable.
She led him inside and over to the bed.
As he sat down, she could feel the pull on her own power, then he fell back as his shift whirled faster. Even though the collar prevented him from using his power, she still felt the tingle like a ghost of it as he shifted from man to beast for a split second, and then back again.
Although Tierney had told her some of what had happened to Soroyan, she hadn’t mentioned how brutally painful or horrifying this had to be for the wolf.
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