by Wolf,Terra
That had been the best sex of my life, and here he was, ready to bail at the drop of a hat.
“I really do hate to leave you right now. I had a nice time tonight.” His voice was caught somewhere between panic and desperation. It threw me off and snuffed out my building anger.
Maybe the call had been something important.
It didn’t matter, anyway. I wasn’t supposed to get involved with anyone. There hadn’t been enough time since my divorce and meeting Silas for this to go anywhere. He was a rebound.
God, I’d told Casey hours before I wasn’t the rebound kind of girl and I’d meant it. Never had I been that woman.
Until now.
“I had a nice time tonight too.” I struggled to form even a small smile, because what I was thinking and what I was feeling were two very different things. I didn’t want him to go, but knew it was for the best if he did. Even though the sex had been hotter than hell, it shouldn’t have happened.
“We should make plans to have dinner together sometime.” Another text came through on his cell. His eyes dipped to it. Whoever it was had his undivided attention now.
Even though I tried to make my facial expression as neutral as possible, he seemed to see right through it, because in the next instant he was moving toward me again. He cupped my face between his warm hands and leaned in to stroke his lips against mine in a tender way that had my libido sparking to life again.
My entire body responded to the kiss. I laced my fingers through his silky smooth locks and pinned him right where I wanted him to remain. My grip didn’t last, though. When he pulled away this time, it wasn’t because of a call or text, it was because we both desperately needed to come up for air.
There was something intoxicating about Silas. He had me ready for anything he might ask with one look or a simple brush of his lips against mine. It was unreal. My body quivered, eager for more as I watched the same hunger enlarge his pupils and swirl through his golden eyes.
“You have no idea how hard it is for me to walk away from you right now,” he said in a low timbre that toyed with my racing hormones.
My stomach clenched as a craving to have him again rushed through me. I was hopeless.
“Then don’t.” I couldn’t believe the words had fallen from my mouth. Sure, I’d thought them, but I never intended to say them. They were too bold and very unlike me. I’d never said what I wanted in situations like this before. But it felt good to.
If the words hadn’t made me feel powerful and sexy, then the heat flickering through Silas’s eyes from hearing them sure as hell did. It was clear to see that I’d turned him on. The ghost of a smile twisted at the corners of my lips because this was a first for me. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d said something so brazen and sexy, so forward to a man, and managed to turn him on.
His cell rang again, and I knew from the look in his eyes I wouldn’t win against whoever was on the other line. Maybe it wasn’t fair of me, but I reached out for him and pulled him toward me to crush my lips against his once more, hoping to stain my lips with the taste of him before ending the night for good. His tongue was quick to dip into my mouth and take control of the kiss away from me. I allowed him, enjoying the adrenaline rush bursting through me from my bold move. However, I was the one to break us apart this time. It needed to be me. Rejection had become too much of a familiar feeling for me in the past and I didn’t want to end another night treading water in its ocean again.
“Good night, Silas.”
“Good night, Violet.” He pulled on his pants and then started toward my door.
I remained where I was, allowing myself to sink further into the cushions of my couch. The sound of my front door clicking closed made its way to my ears and I released a long sigh. Lust continued to pulse through me and I decided to make my way upstairs. A hot bath and some one-on-one time with my thoughts was exactly what I needed.
Chapter 8
Silas
Every cell in my body was begging me to stay with Violet. There was something in her eyes—a hungry, eager reaction to the way I’d kissed her—that had me reeling with need again. I was hard as a rock and in desperate need of a second release, but there were more pressing things to be dealt with. I glanced at the text my good friend Batch had sent me, rereading it, and let out a growl.
Vanessa had found me. He was sure of it.
Batch had been tracking her and the group of hunters she was with since we left our hometown. I trusted him with my life. He wouldn’t lie about something this serious. He had no reason. Batch was loyal. Always had been. However, there was more to his loyalty than his current standing in our den. He had a thing for my sister, but he was too good a friend to cross that line with her. He’d never made a move, no matter how much I knew he wanted to. I respected him for it.
My eyes scanned over the text he’d sent again.
Vanessa is headed toward Willow Vale. I’ll try to cut her off before she gets to you, but I can’t make any promises. I lost her a day ago.
While I wished he told me sooner, I couldn’t dwell on it. If Batch had lost Vanessa a day ago, it meant she could be here now.
I broke out in a jog toward my place. I needed to get a hold of Sebastian and Scarlet. They needed to be prepared in case they spotted her.
As I unlocked my front door, thoughts of the chaos Vanessa’s presence in this town could bring about pounded into me. Hunters were vicious. While there weren’t many of them, at least not in comparison to shifters, they were still something to be feared. Their strength and speed were a forced to be reckoned with. This thought brought me to the conclusion I’d been dreading since the day I found out what she was—that she needed to die.
I stepped out of my shoes at the door. Before I’d thought on how I should break the news to Scarlet, so she wouldn’t freak out, I typed out a text and hit send.
Batch lost Vanessa close to here a day ago. She could be in the area as we speak. Be careful. Work and home. Nothing more until the situation is handled.
Simple. Direct. It should suffice. While Scarlet wasn’t one to take orders from anyone, and she didn’t scare easily, she knew what Vanessa was capable of and I knew she would listen without a fight.
Are we running again?
I didn’t have to think about my answer. It came without hesitation.
No.
I was tired of running. That, and I didn’t want to leave Violet behind. There was something different about her I craved. The woman had gotten into my bloodstream.
Vanessa needed to be dealt with the correct way this time.
Okay. I’ll keep a lookout for her.
I opened a text to Sebastian and sent him a warning next. His response was instantaneous.
Fight or flight this time, brother?
My lips quirked into a smirk as I stared at his text. I enjoyed the fact that he was down for either—all I had to do was say the word.
Fight.
I swallowed hard as I tapped send. Who would have ever thought I’d be in this position with Vanessa, the woman I’d once thought I was in love with? I slipped my cell in my pocket and ran my fingers through my hair as I thought about how blind I’d been to what she was.
Her hair felt like fine silk as it slipped between my fingers. How many times had I done this very thing? Why was this time so different? The words blasted through me as if shot from a cannon the instant she looked me in the eye.
I loved her.
There had to have been a subconscious part of me that had always known, but I’d never listened. Not really. Until now. Beneath the stars and light of the full moon, I was certain.
Vanessa was the woman for me. She was destined to be mine.
I could feel the pull to her now. All along, there had been something about her that fascinated me, something that made me leery of her as much as it spellbound me. I hadn’t known what that something was until tonight.
I would claim her tonight.
She was already mine, whe
n I thought about it. Vanessa and I had been together for months. But there was something different, something passionate, about claiming someone as your mate. Tonight I would lock us into that bliss.
Tonight we would celebrate.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” she surprised me by asking.
We’d been trapped in a comfortable silence that seemed to stretch on forever. The sound of her beautiful voice shook it to pieces, but I didn’t care. It was time I told her how I felt about her.
“Because I love you.” The words were easier to say than I thought possible, but it was the reaction they garnered from her that had me second-guessing myself.
Vanessa didn’t speak. Her lips pressed together into a thin line as though she were trapping the words she wanted to say inside with force. Her eyes told me she loved me, but her mouth betrayed them by keeping the words at bay.
When her gaze left mine in favor of the soft blades of grass beneath us, I reacted in a way I knew I shouldn’t. My emotions were too distraught to control the change and my dragon began to emerge.
Scales erupted along my skin and my eyes formed into the wide ones of my dragon before I could gather myself enough to stop it.
Vanessa saw.
She saw everything.
There was no fear in her eyes, no repulsion like I’d expected. Instead, there was something else entirely that emerged from the surface of her being. Something deadly, even more so than me.
Vanessa was a hunter. I could taste her history with them and the skill of her abilities on the air now. It sidelined me, and had me wondering how I could have missed the warning signs, how we all had. The thought of how many times I’d placed my family in danger by inviting her into our home sickened me.
She had to have known what I was, what we all were, which meant she’d withheld what she was for a reason. It didn’t take me long to realize what her reason could be—dragons were an endangered shifter breed and to finish us all would be a victory of the highest regard for her and her crew.
I folded into the recliner and reached for the lever to release the footrest. My hand smoothed along my forehead as all the memories and emotions I thought I’d been able to tuck away resurfaced in my mind. Again, I wondered how I’d fallen for her when everything in the world had labeled us as anything but lovers.
Vanessa was supposed to be my enemy. Hunters were born to kill shifters of all kinds. Their main goal was to see the world rid of us.
In reflection, I could see now what I’d felt for her, the leeriness and spellbinding sensations I’d harbored, had made perfect sense. She was the beautiful hunter and I was the foolish prey. It was nature’s way of saying screw you.
A familiar scent lingering in the air captured my attention, causing the fine hairs along the back of my neck to stand on end. I sat up and tipped my head to the side, carefully listening. Someone was inside my house, and I knew exactly who that someone was.
Chapter 9
Violet
Hot water slipped over my bare skin, washing away my evening with Silas. While I could wash away his scent and his touch, I was having a very hard time forgetting what both had done to my attention starved libido. Thank goodness my sister had given me a parting gift. The purple toy I held in my hand felt unfamiliar and foreign, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me from obtaining the release I so desperately needed again.
I twisted the end, bringing the thing to life in my hand, and bit my bottom lip. Everything about it seemed lifelike, except for the color. My eyes trailed over the curves and ripples I knew would bring me pleasure. Still, I was stalling. Embarrassment tinted my cheeks, even though I was alone. I went to war with myself, telling myself that no one was here to witness what I was about to do, that no one had to know. Even so, the idea of masturbating, of pleasuring myself, was not something I was accustomed to.
Jackson had made damn sure of that. He’d humiliated me the one time he’d caught me.
The mere thought of him had my blood boiling. It ate away the lustful need I’d felt building inside me. Anger enveloped me as I cursed Jackson for taking that all away from me so soon. Touching the tip of my index finger to the end of my pleasure stick, I decided to grab the reins on how I felt.
I wasn’t with Jackson anymore. I’d shed that baggage. I was in control of my life now, and with the help of this magical stick I could give myself as much pleasure as I wanted.
Feeling bold and powerful, I closed my eyes and shifted through the images of Silas and me from the night. I could feel his mouth on mine, taste his tongue, and smell his cologne. My hormones surged into overdrive and before I could think about how easy it was to kick-start such a thing that had seemed so sluggish before, I slipped my hands into the warm water and found my center with my glorious new piece of equipment. Tingles of pleasure built in my lower belly as I flexed my toes beneath the water. My head fell back to rest against the rim of the tub as I moved my hips. Thoughts of Silas pounding in and out of me had me in a frenzy.
In seconds, I was quaking with an orgasm.
I dropped my new best friend outside the tub and melted deeper into the water. My limbs were liquid from the heavy dose of physical satisfaction I’d received tonight. I felt boneless as I floated. It was a sensation I hadn’t felt in far too long. One I enjoyed, and one I knew I could have whenever I wanted. This thought brought a smile to my face. However, the smile disappeared the second the sound of something shattering next door filtered through my open bathroom window.
I slipped out of the bathtub and wrapped myself in a towel before padding over to my window to peek out. Lights were on inside Silas’s house, but I couldn’t see anything that might be a cause for concern. Maybe he’d broken a dish or glass? It wasn’t until the silhouettes of two figures stepped into view through the living room window that I realized there might be something more happening. While I was positive one of the figures was Silas, I couldn’t be sure who the other was.
As the person shifted, I was able to determine it was a woman. I figured it was his sister, Scarlet. I wrapped my arms around my middle, securing the towel in place as I ducked closer to the window, wondering if they were having an argument. After a few seconds of staring, I began to feel as though I was prying into a private family matter and took a step away. The second I did, the sound of something else breaking floated to my ears and I swore I could hear the yelp of someone in pain accompany it.
I pressed my face to the window again. While I wasn’t an expert on body language, I could clearly make out that the two were having a heated argument. Maybe it was a bit self-centered, but my mind jumped to thoughts of Silas and me. Had his sister been home to witness our make-out session at my front door? Had she seen us head inside together? I’d only met Scarlet once, but I’d waved and smiled at her numerous times in my few short weeks of being here. Never once had she indicated she didn’t like me. Before I could think on the subject too long, I witnessed Silas do something that shocked me—he shoved his sister. Hard.
Her head jerked back from the force, but she seemed able to regain her bearings quickly. Fast enough to rear her arm back as she lunged forward with incredible speed. I watched as Silas attempted to strike her, but she was able to dodge the below. Anger burned through me as shock had my heart racing. Was Silas a woman beater? Who the hell did he think he was treating his sister like that?
I dropped my towel and reached for my robe as thoughts of how I could have missed something like this about him pierced my brain. I knew I should have stuck to my rule about giving it time before I decided to become involved with anyone. This was a prime example of why, because I wasn’t able to choose the correct type of guy when all I thought with was my damn hormones. I needed my brain. I needed my heart. And right now, both were out of commission because of Jackson.
Before I could stop myself, I’d slipped on my fuzzy house slippers and bolted out my front door. I was halfway up his porch steps when what I was doing sank in. What the hell was I thinking sto
rming over here? What could I possibly do that would make this situation any better? I bit at the edge of my thumbnail while I paced the length of the step I was on, debating what I should do next. Should I knock on the door and figure out if Scarlet was okay? Or should I head back to my place for my phone to call for help?
The sound of Scarlet grunting and furniture being moved around made the decision for me. I was here right now. I could help her. Calling for help could come next. After all, there had to be a phone in there somewhere.
As I made my way toward the door, I forced my lungs to suck in a deep breath and attempted to screw my face into a look of confidence and rage. I gripped the doorknob and let myself in.
The house was in shambles. Furniture had been skewed sideways and a lamp was broken. Standing in the center of it all was Silas and a gorgeous woman who definitely was not his sister. My heart dropped at the sight of her.
Was Silas involved with someone and had he forgotten to mention it?
“Violet, what are you doing here?” Shock pooled through his golden-colored eyes as he spotted me, my presence having taken him by surprise. My mind jumped to accusatory thoughts as I wondered if I was seeing someone I shouldn’t. Was this gorgeous woman his girlfriend or his fiancée? Was she his wife?
I felt sick.
Before I could take in the woman’s reaction to my presence, she clobbered Silas along the side of his face. It was a blow he hadn’t seen coming. One that had him falling backward.
“I was hoping we would get to meet face to face at some point,” the woman called to me from over her shoulder as she continued to advance on Silas. There was a surprising coldness to her.
This woman was disgusted with him, and quite possibly disgusted with me as well. I couldn’t blame her.
Repulsion dripped from her words and sharpened her movements. While it was clear these two had a history, it was unclear whether or not I was the cause of this argument taking place.