by Cynthia Eden
She touched his cheek. “You didn’t hurt me. I liked it.”
A faint furrow appeared between his eyebrows.
“You promised me dirty and rough. That’s just what I like. So you got a little carried away and left a mark or two on me.” She shrugged. The water teased her breasts. “You’d better do a body check because I’m pretty sure my nails tore apart the skin on your back and shoulders.”
He held her gaze a moment longer. The water was so warm and the jets kept—
Harrison smiled at her. “You screamed for me.”
Yes, well… “I’m pretty sure you screamed for me, too.”
“I think I bellowed. Roared. Not screamed.”
“Semantics.”
His head cocked. Beneath the water, his left hand slid to her thigh.
She sucked in a breath.
He gave a low, sexy laugh. “Just making sure you’re not too sore…”
Her legs parted. “Better do a thorough check. Like, super insanely thorough.”
He laughed again and kissed her neck and for a moment, she forgot who she was.
What she was.
His fingers dipped between her legs. The water jetted over her as his fingers stroked her. His long, strong fingers dipped in and out of her, and she found herself pushing against him. Wanting more. Deeper.
“Not too sore?”
“If you think of stopping,” she threatened, “I will hurt you.”
More laughter. She liked his laughter, but she liked what his fingers were doing even more. His thumb pushed over her clit, strumming her beneath the water. Two fingers were inside of her, and he worked a third into her even as he kept pushing against her clit. The climax hit her hard, pulsing through her whole body. Elise turned her head toward him and she bit him, locking her teeth right over his shoulder and trying to muffle the cry that burst from her lips.
It took a moment for the aftershocks to ease. He stroked—no, soothed her—with his touch, and then his hand slowly withdrew.
She pulled away from him. Looked up into his eyes and felt completely lost.
He wasn’t smiling. Fire didn’t burn from his eyes. It was just Harrison, staring back at her.
“I…” Think of something to say, Elise. “It was my turn to bite. Hope you didn’t mind.”
“Trust me, I don’t mind a damn thing that you do.”
She wanted to smile. Because she wanted it so badly, she didn’t. Elise looked away and realized that rose petals were floating in the bath tub with them. The honeymoon suite. He probably had no clue just how perfect that was. Harrison didn’t realize that they’d sealed the deal, so to speak. As far as her people were concerned, she was married. A marriage that they had just well and truly consummated.
Her gaze drifted around the immense bathroom and she saw the shadows lurking in the corners. Such heavy, thick shadows. There was only faint, sort of…mood light in the bathroom. That soft light that fancy hotels favored. A light that created too many shadows.
Shadows.
She grabbed for Harrison. “Let’s go back to the bedroom.”
“Of course.” He rose. Water poured down his body.
His body…oh, wow. The man had abs for days and a cock that was long and thick enough to make a woman drool. He’d touched her everywhere. Stroked her. Tasted her. But she’d barely gotten to touch him. During sex, he’d caught her hands and pinned them on the bed.
That wasn’t going to do. She wanted to learn every inch of his body.
He brought a towel back to her. When she stepped out of the tub, he dried her off. It was odd, having him take care of her. “You don’t seem like the big, bad hunter right now.”
He dropped the towel. It fell near her feet. “I am. Don’t ever forget that.” His jaw hardened.
She stood on her toes and kissed his jaw. “Then it’s a good thing I think you being all big and bad is sexy.” She walked away from him, giving him a nice view of her ass. She hoped he enjoyed the show. She hoped—
“What…in the hell?”
Elise stilled.
His steps rushed toward her. His hand flew out—
And touched her back.
Her breath shuddered out. He’d touched her left shoulder blade, and the area was so incredibly tender.
Sensitive. She bit her lip to hold back her moan.
“Elise…” His voice was rough. Dark.
“Y-yes?”
“You have wings on your back.”
Her eyes closed. “T-tattoos…” She knew what they looked like. She’d stared at them in mirrors often enough since her curse. “Don’t they look like beautiful tattoos?” He was lightly tracing the designs on her shoulders and her sex quivered in response.
“Tattoos…” His voice was thick. Unreadable. And he was still tracing the markings on her skin. Markings that she knew looked like small wings on her shoulders. Delicate, blue and gold, almost like butterfly wings on her shoulder blades.
She opened her eyes and glanced back at him. “Don’t you like ink?”
“You’re sexy as fuck. They are sexy as fuck.” But a furrow was between his eyes. “I saw your back before—when we were at my place—and I didn’t notice them.”
“Um, you were probably distracted by my stellar ass.”
“It is stellar but…I swear, I think the tattoos were just glowing.”
Oh, shit. She laughed. “You know what that could have been? Maybe it was a trick of the light.” She hurried into the bedroom, mostly so she could get away from his touch before he gave her an orgasm just from touching the design of her wings. Explaining that one wouldn’t be easy. She dove under the covers and made sure her back was away from him. Elise looked up—
He filled the bathroom doorway. His shoulders were so huge they brushed the wood on either side of him. He was naked and gorgeous and he made her mouth water.
But Harrison stalked all determinedly toward her. “I have questions I need to ask you.”
Questions? She’d rather get back to the mind-numbing sex, thank you very much.
He neared the bed. “There’s something that Ward told me. Guy had to be confused, but…” He stopped.
Uh, oh. What was it now? “Harrison?”
He touched the side of the bed. Lifted the sheets. “What did this?”
She glanced down. Felt her eyes widen. They were slices in the sheets. In the mattress. She’d been so distracted that she hadn’t noticed them. “I—”
“Claws. Claws did this.”
Elise gulped. The man wasn’t wrong. Yes, claws had made those marks.
He grabbed her hand. Rubbed his fingers over her short nails.
“I don’t have claws,” Elise told him.
And it took all of her strength, all of her control not to say…But you do.
***
Gray pulled into the swanky hotel’s parking garage. He needed to see Harrison, right the hell then, and he didn’t care if he interrupted the guy’s beauty-freaking-sleep.
They had to talk about Elise. They were going to clear the air. But his phone rang as he rushed toward the elevator, and he glanced down, just for a moment.
His ex-wife’s number flashed on the screen. Shit. He stilled. They weren’t on good terms. Mostly because she knew what an asshole he was. He’d screwed up with her far too many times, and he hated it every single time. If she was calling, then it was important. He turned away from the elevator and put the phone to his ear. “Look, Cassie, this is not a good time—”
“It’s not fucking Cassie,” a low voice snarled back at him.
Gray’s body swayed. No, no.
“Found your secret, hunter. Thought you could have a wife? A kid? Thought you could hide them from the monsters?”
He’d damn well tried.
“That’s not the way this shit works. You get none of this.”
Gray eased out a low breath. “I want to talk to Cassie.”
A scream echoed around the parking garage. He whirled—and there was Ca
ssie. Standing near a black van. Some bastard had a knife to her throat. A bastard who wasn’t alone. Three other guys were with him. All were tall, muscled, and blond. Their hair was long and braided on the sides. They kind of looked like old school Vikings as they stood there. Soon to be dead Vikings.
The asshole holding Cassie dropped the phone he’d held in his left hand. His right hand tightened on the knife. “She’s alive. I could’ve killed her and brought you her body, hunter.”
Tears streamed down Cassie’s cheeks. “What’s happening?”
He’d never told her the truth about himself. There were some secrets that were better off not shared. “It’s going to be okay, Cassie.”
“Yes,” the man with the knife hissed at her. “You’ll be okay. Because I’m going to let you go. A gesture of good will.” He lifted the knife.
Gray lunged forward even as he yanked out his gun. He was packing silver that night, and he didn’t know what those guys were, but silver could hurt pretty much any mother out—
“I have your daughter.”
Gray froze.
“Shoot me, hurt me in any way, and my men will kill her. You’ll find her broken body and all you’ll be able to do is mourn at her grave.”
Cassie’s tears came harder. “He has her. He took her from me!”
Gray grabbed Cassie and yanked her behind him. “What the hell do you want?”
The man smiled. His eyes were pitch black. His lips a pale pink. “I want a trade.”
“I don’t even know you, asshole. I don’t have anything to give you.”
“We have…friends…in common.” A shrug. “Friends, enemies. Sometimes, they can be the same thing.”
The men around the leader were silent as death.
“Elise Aine is upstairs.” The SOB pointed up with his index finger. “I want her. Bring her to me—alive or dead, really makes no difference—and I’ll give you back your child.” He stepped forward. A cold wind seemed to sweep from him. “But if you don’t do my bidding, the child will die screaming.”
Gray smiled at him. “You’re dead.”
“No. Not even close.” The stranger lifted his chin. “Meet me in the Colonial Park Cemetery in an hour. Have Elise with you. If you don’t, then you’ll find only your daughter’s grave waiting.”
A ragged scream tore from Cassie. She lunged forward and ripped the gun from Gray’s fingers. “I want my daughter!” She fired the gun.
But the bullets didn’t hit anything because the men in the black—the fucking dead-looking Vikings with their braids and their black eyes—were gone. They’d just vanished.
Cassie’s breath sobbed out. “Gray?” She grabbed his arm and swung him toward her. “What in the hell is happening?”
He stared into her golden eyes and didn’t know what to say. He saw pain and horror and confusion. And fear. So much fucking fear.
“We’ll get her back?” Cassie whispered. “Tell me that we’ll get her back!”
“Yes.” He’d do whatever was necessary, but he’d get his daughter back. “We will. I swear it.”
Chapter Ten
A pounding at the door had Harrison’s shoulders stiffening.
“Oh, please,” Elise muttered as she let out a dramatic sigh and stretched in the bed. “Don’t let that be someone else who wants to kill me.”
His eyes glittered. “No one is killing you. Not on my watch.”
That was exceptionally good to know.
“Stay here.”
In the bedroom? Sure, why not?
He dressed then rushed away, all dramatic and strong-like, and Elise blew out a breath. Her fingers went to the torn—correction, slashed—sheets. She had made some definite progress in her campaign that night. Not like she’d be forgetting what it looked like when Harrison’s eyes burned any time soon. His beast was close to breaking free from his chains. She should have been thrilled.
So why did her stomach feel all hollow and empty?
“Maybe I’m hungry.” She toyed with the sheets. Or maybe it’s something else.
Her eyes squeezed closed.
“Ahem.”
She’d known the voice would come, sooner or later. Night had fallen and even with the lamps on in that bedroom, shadows persisted. He’d always been good at spying from the shadows.
The familiar voice poked at her as he added, rather proudly, “You’ve made progress!”
She kept her eyes closed. “Not now. I can’t talk about this now.” Harrison was just in the other room.
“I saw you with him! He couldn’t keep his hands off you, he couldn’t—”
Her eyes opened. She glared at the big, heavy shadow to her right. “You are such a voyeur. Don’t watch me all the time, stalker.” Elise climbed from the bed, fumbled around the room, and yanked on a t-shirt. It was huge, had to be one of Harrison’s. It completely swallowed her.
“I’m not a stalker!” Now he was acting all offended. Like she bought that. “I am a loyal follower. A sworn protector! I want to help you. I want to see you returned to your rightful place. I want—”
“To get on my last nerve? Because you’re close. Really close.” Now that she had on a shirt that smelled nicely like Harrison, Elise climbed back into the bed. She settled comfortably beneath the covers.
“You’re the one who taught me to be a voyeur.”
Her lips twitched. He was right on that score. Looking through the veil at the human world had provided them with countless hours of entertainment, and they’d learned so much about technology. Not like they had TV where she was from. Technology didn’t work in her homeland. Magic ruled there. When she was bored, instead of flipping on a TV, she’d peeked into the lives of humans. That was how she’d known so much about the modern human world when she’d found herself stumbling along the streets and searching for Harrison.
But… “I didn’t watch people have sex. I gave them privacy.” Elise sniffed.
“I didn’t watch that part! I just—look, I know you mated him. Mission complete! You’ve got him, and he can cross over with you now. Bring him back and sic him on your enemies!”
She had to unclench her back teeth. “He’s not a pet. Not an attack dog. I’m not going to sic him on anyone.”
Silence. Then… “This was your plan, my queen.”
Like she needed the reminder. But…my queen. The title felt foreign to her. Wrong. “I’m not a queen.”
“Fine. Prince-ass.”
Oh, he’d done that deliberately. He did that all the time. Stretched it out so it wasn’t princess so much as prince-ass. “Not funny.”
“Nothing about the situation is funny! You’re there, I’m here, and I can only see you when I use all my power to focus through the shadows. I can barely slip in to you, and when I do, you won’t let me help!”
“Because you’re not supposed to show your allegiance to me!” Her voice was low but angry. Worried. Sure, he could drive her crazy, but she didn’t want anything happening to him. “If the wrong people find out that you’re trying to help me, you know what they’ll do to you. I told you to stay away. I told you to act like you’d turned your back on me. You have to look after yourself. Not me.”
“But…” So quiet. Almost lost. “But you’ve always looked after me.”
She had. She’d tried, anyway. But if her plan didn’t work, she wouldn’t be there any longer. He’d have to learn to fight without her. “Put yourself first. Forget about me.”
“You are my princess.”
Princess. Not prince-ass. She had to swallow.
“I will not forget you.”
And I will never forget you.
Silence a moment, then, “Bring him to our world. I’m here waiting for you, I’m—”
The bedroom door flew open. It slammed back into the wall with a hard bang, and Elise jumped even as she gave a wild, startled cry. But no attacker—no vamp or werewolf or any other angry beast—stood in the doorway.
It was just Harrison.
His
breath heaved in and out, making his chest rise and fall. His hair was wild and his eyes so intense. His fierce gaze swept over the room. “Who’s here?”
She moved to her knees as she knelt in the middle of the bed. “Me?”
His gaze flew back to her. “I heard voices.”
“My voice.” Elise tried a laugh. “Just me and the shadows—that’s all—”
He blinked. “You don’t like the shadows.”
“Ah, well, it’s not that I don’t like them. It’s that—”
“You wanted the lights on earlier. You didn’t want shadows.” In a flash, he’d crossed the room. He turned on even more lights—lights she hadn’t even known were there. Why hadn’t he turned those on earlier? The new shadows disappeared as all the illumination flooded in—
A fat, black spider shot from the dying shadows. He raced across the room and hurtled right toward Elise.
Harrison grabbed for the spider.
“Don’t!” She threw out her hand and the spider jumped onto her palm. He was shaking. She felt the tremors in his body. The spider shimmed up her arm, rushing to her shoulder, and then rubbing against her neck.
Harrison gaped at her. “What in the hell?”
“I, um, like spiders.” She did. The poor guy was still shaking. She hadn’t realized that he’d managed to take form and sneak through the veil to her. She’d thought that he’d just been spying. He must have been very worried about her to take such a huge risk. “Calm down,” she whispered. “You know I would never let anyone hurt you.”
“Elise, you have no idea what’s fucking happening right now outside of this suite. Trust me, I won’t be calming down.” His eyes were on the spider. “Is that a black widow?”
“No, he doesn’t have an hour glass. He’s just a harmless spider.” At the moment.
“Is it rubbing against you?”
Yes. “Does it look like he is?”
She saw a muscle flex along Harrison’s jaw. “Put the spider down and come with me.”
“I will, if you promise you won’t kill him.”
The spider’s legs did a happy tap against her skin. He really liked that request.
Harrison rolled his eyes. “I won’t kill your weird new friend.”
