by Shania Tyler
He closed his eyes and groaned.
She wanted him. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted another man.
His jaw tightened and his fingers flexed into the walls so hard she’d be surprised if he didn’t leave holes. His heartbeat was quick under her fingertips. She took a step toward him.
His eyes opened, and he stared at her in bewilderment. “Pava.”
Her eyes widened. The word had no translation, but she recalled Kelly telling her about it, saying it was what she was to Mason. His destiny. Piper didn’t think her lust would go beyond a single night, but she’d let him think whatever he wanted if it would get him to touch her.
His eyes softened, and she could not read the look in them.
“You can touch me,” she whispered.
His fingers moved against the wall, and his eyes fell to her lips. “I shouldn’t. We should talk.” Desire made his voice rougher, and she saw fangs peeking from behind his lips. That should have made her scared.
Instead, she found herself squeezing her legs together. “We can talk later.”
His eyes returned to hers, and he shook his head. “You should stop touching me.”
She took the final step that would bring their bodies against one another. His chest was solid, and her eyes widened when she realized what other part of him was very solid. She pressed her hips forward.
He threw his head back and a muffled groan came from within him. He obviously wanted her. Why wouldn’t he touch her? Maybe the vampire had a sense of honor?
“I’m not drunk.”
He brought his gaze down, and his fangs were longer. “No, you’re trussed, which makes you more susceptible to magic. This connection between us is already strong, but the wine will lower your inhibitions when faced with magic.”
She had no idea what magic he was talking about, but she knew they’d be good together.
He lowered his voice. “You need to step back.”
“You don’t want me to do that.” She pressed into him again.
His fingers on her hips held her still. She jumped. She hadn’t even seen him move. Then he lowered his mouth to her ear and said, “Keep pressing into me, and I’ll rip the clothes from your body and take you right here against this wall.”
“Promise?” She tried to get closer. She ached for him now. It was almost painful. It was all too much. His nearness, the feel of his breath brushing against her neck and cheek, his dark scent. She didn’t care where he took her, she just knew she needed him inside her immediately. She was wetter and hotter than she’d ever been in her life. She turned her head and brushed her mouth against his.
He shook with his next breath and then he took her mouth.
She attacked him. He tasted so good. Better than anything she’d ever had. Her hands went around his neck while one of his hands slid up her body and took hold of her ponytail. He yanked, her mouth opened, and the kiss deepened. His tongue swept into her mouth just as his other hand cupped her mound.
She exploded, groaning into his mouth and withering against him. Her body felt as though she’d shattered into a million pieces. The sensation was so blissful she couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes. She’d never felt his way before. She wanted to weep, but didn’t know why.
His hands moved back to her hips as he slowly broke the kiss. Then he moved her back. Her fingers slipped from him. He took advantage of the moment and moved out of her reach and then he was gone.
She looked around the room and was surprised to find no one staring at her with bewilderment or disgust, but everyone’s eyes were pointed toward the center of the room. Had she really just had an orgasm in a room full of people? And all he’d done was touch her.
She wrapped her arms around herself. Her skin was moist. She needed to change and shower and then she would find Theo, because she was nowhere near done with him.
* * *
Theo took a deep breath and leaned his head back against the wall. The party on the other side was muffled behind the closed door. He ached to go back inside, rip Piper’s clothes off, and take her right there just like he’d promised. It was that thought that had him walking farther down the hall and farther away from her.
Piper was his pava.
He couldn’t believe he’d found her, but he should have known that it was more than bloodlust when he’d first seen her. He’d never wanted to drain someone before, but now he understood that it was not her blood he longed her… at least, not completely. He wished to get his fill of her body.
He balled his hand into a fist, the one that had cradled her womanhood, and pressed it again his nose. Her scent lingered on his skin.
He needed answers.
He headed down the hall and took the back stairs that led down to the servants’ quarters. He stopped at the first door and knocked.
“Enter,” came the feminine call from inside.
Theo turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Vivi swung her long silver hair around to stare at him with sharp gray eyes that not even the darkness of the room could hide. Her young daughter, Aymee, who was her mother’s spitting image, smiled at him.
“Hello, Colester Theo,” the young girl said.
Vivi got to her feet and smiled as well. “How may I be of service?”
Theo stepped in and closed the door behind him. Not letting go of the door knob, he asked, “Have there been any… visions of me?”
“I haven’t had any,” Vivi said before turning to look at her daughter. The two were of the House of Milena, the Goddess of Sight. But while Vivi was elf and only saw glimpses of the future, Aymee’s father had been a vampire, and as a rare blessing, she’d been given the gift of both hindsight and foresight. The little girl was one of the Rebels’ secret weapons.
Aymee shook her head. “None that we are willing to share.” Like when and how he would die. They’d had a vision of his death, but refused to let him know when his end would come. They didn’t warn anyone of their deaths, claiming it would interfere with destiny.
Vivi asked, “What has happened that has made you come to us? Have your guests settled in well?”
“Why?” Theo asked. “Have you had any visions of them?”
“Maybe one or two.”
“But not me?” he pressed. “Or me with one of them?”
Vivi asked, “Should we have had visions of one of them with you?”
“It would have helped.”
“Helped how?” Aymee asked.
Theo looked at the child. He didn’t feel comfortable speaking with her about subjects she should know nothing about, but then Aymee had seen things both in and out of visions that children should not have to. She’d watched the killing of a young boy a few months ago. He’d been a traitor, and Maurice had carried out his punishment. Theo would be grateful when the war finally came to an end.
“Never mind,” Theo said. He would obviously find no help from them.
Vivi stopped him when he was halfway out the door. “When it is convenient for them, I would like to meet your guests.”
Theo nodded and left.
* * *
7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
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Theo was avoiding her again. Three days had gone by and Piper had finally given up the search for Theo. She’d searched the entire mansion for him, and there had even been days when she’d thought she’d found him, though she couldn’t see him. But her body, in a strange way, seemed to be aware of his nearness. She would get the sensation of being wrapped in a heated blanket before the feeling vanished. She’d tried to blame it on the wine, but knew better.
It was him. She wanted him. She was convinced of it, but she wouldn’t go as far as to believe them to be ‘destiny.’ It was lust. She’d had bouts of it before, though she admitted it had never happened on this scale.
She sat on the floor in an empty
room while Meg, Kelly, and an elf named Thommas stood over a desk and conversed in a low voice. The room, with its freshly waxed dark wood floors and walls, would become the Temple Room, and Meg was already at work on the second temple. The first temple, the Temple of Seocan, had been placed on a short white column in the middle of the room at waist height so that anyone could stick their hand in and receive their blessing.
Piper was still a little lost on how the whole system worked, but she’d tried to follow for as long as she could. Right now, the discussion was whether a temple needed to be exactly like the one in the god or goddess’ home country.
Kelly said, “Mason says no book contains a portrait of the Temple of Seocan. They were all destroyed so that no one would think to rebuild the one that the Evaness tore down. He thinks the government might have a copy, but he isn’t sure.”
“But no church or mosque looks the same,” Meg said. “Some have similarities, but detail might not be a big deal.”
Kelly scoffed. “Well, I’ve met the gods and would be very surprised if they accepted anything different than what they’d specified.”
Piper smiled at them, as she leaned her arms against her propped up knees. Anywhere else, this conversation would have been ridiculous, but she was in another world. A world her parents had come from. She was also glad for the speed at which she’d caught onto the language. She and Meg had drunk the wine the last two nights and had gone to a local concert in the village after being told that listening to the Asean music would help them pick up Chabar as well.
She loved the music and had to restrain herself from singing along once she’d caught the tune. Both Kelly and Meg had begged her to join the singers and band on stage, but Piper had refused. It wasn’t her stage or her show, so she wouldn’t steal the limelight. However, she did love to sing. Her college had already hired her for the next semester to teach voice lessons, and she planned on doing that until she could come out with her own album.
She moved her eyes over to find Thommas looking at her. When their eyes connected, he quickly looked away and she frowned. He was the not the first person she’d caught staring at her and the look had come from both men and women. It happened during dinner or when she walked through the village. She’d even gone to the training field with Kelly once to watch the army practice, and she’d seen that many of them had been distracted from looking at her. She hadn’t gone back after that.
Thommas looked her way again.
Piper stood. She was going to confront him, but she stopped at the soft sound of a horn. It blew twice and then there was silence.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Meg said.
“It usually isn’t,” Kelly replied.
Ethan and Mason walked in and their speed said something was up. Ethan grabbed Meg’s arm and asked, “Where’s Pipes?”
“Over here,” Piper said, moving toward him. “What’s going on?”
“You and Meg need to go to your room. We’re about to have guests, and you can’t be around.”
“Why not?”
Mason grabbed Kelly’s hand and said to his wife. “You can come with us or you can go with your friends.”
Kelly asked, “Who is coming?”
“The council.” The Evaness.
Kelly’s eyes widened. “Here? Why? Are they welcomed?”
Mason turned to Thommas. “Go find your team and get into position.”
The elf left, but not before giving Piper one final look.
Mason said to Kelly, “They’re coming whether they are welcomed or not, and we’d rather your friends not get hurt.”
Ethan said, “Sorry, guys, but once they’re gone, we’ll continue the vacation.”
They all headed out the door and turned down the hall. Piper froze as she sensed him. She turned in the opposite direction of the group and saw Theo standing a few yards down the hall, watching them.
She moved toward him.
She turned the same corner, and she went after him and was yanked into a room.
Theo closed the door and glared at her. “Why didn’t you follow your friends?”
“Where have you been?” she asked.
He moved a hand through his dark hair, the same way she wanted to, and said, “That doesn’t matter. You can’t wander around the house without escort. Not right now.”
“I’m not wandering.” She crossed her arms. “I followed you.”
His dark eyes turned to slits. “Well, you shouldn’t.”
She smiled. “You seem to like telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing. Are you this way with everyone?”
“No, people around here usually listen to me.”
He wore another suit, this one a cool midnight blue. The shirt underneath was white and the gold chain was there. She wanted to know what weighed its end down. All in all, he looked good and she sighed.
Theo shook his head and moved toward the desk in the room. She realized then that they were in his office. She glanced around at the large window on the other side of the room, knowing it overlooked the training field. Books lined one wall. She smiled when she recognized some of the titles.
He spoke, drawing her attention. He sat behind the dark wooden desk and said, “You should go find your friends.”
She walked over to him, gazing at him from the other side and said, “Can’t we be friends?”
Her question was met with silence.
Theo stared up into her and licked his suddenly dry lips. She’d painted hers red again and the dress she wore was the same color and fell to her feet. It barely touched her body, but he didn’t need it to. He remember what it had felt like pressed against him. He remembered the distance of her hips and he remembered the kiss... It was all he’d thought about after it happened. The kiss. The touch. The revelation.
She was his pava, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do with her. He knew what he wanted to do with her. Bed her. Or they could skip beds completely and do it right there in his office and he knew she would not refuse him. But then, after he bedded her, he would want to keep her, and in order for that to happen, they would need to talk.
But there was something about the way Piper looked at him that he didn’t like. She watched him as though he were some toy she wanted to play with, use for a while, and then leave once it was broken. He was not a toy. He was a man, and she needed to know that.
But for now, he needed to distance himself from her and find some self-control where she was concerned. He needed time for his body to adjust to her nearness, and not go mad when he smelled her scent in a hallway or her presence on the other side of a wall.
He shouldn’t have been in the same hall when Mason and Ethan went to get her, Meg, and Kelly, but he’d wanted to see to her safety. His concern had gotten him her, leaning over his desk, her dark hair engulfing her shoulders, and smiling at him in way that asked him to lower his inhibitions and accept whatever it was she wished to offer.
He let out a breath that was shakier than he wished. “We need to talk.”
“About?”
“You’re my pava,” he told her. “Do you know what that means?”
“Yeah,” she said in a lazy tone. She then straightened her lean body and walked over to the window. He watched her hips and hair sway with every step and gripped the edge of the desk. Everything about her woke him up.
She placed a hand on the glass and then looked over her shoulder at him. Her hair stopped right at her elbows. “I don’t think it’s like that between us.”
He lifted a brow, wondering if she were mad, but then he saw something in her eyes. As her brown depths looked away before returning to him. Denial. She knew better. She knew what she was to him and what he was to her, but he would settle this now so it would not be questioned again. He would prove her wrong and then he would escort her to the room she and Meg were staying in so that he could prepare for his new arrivals.
He stood.
She turned around to face him. A flash of fear quickly chang
ed to longing. He wondered at the fear however. Was it because he was a vampire? Or was it because she knew what he was about to do?
He walked over to her and after a long moment stretched out his hand.
She stared at it.
“Come on,” he told her. “Touch my hand.”
She smiled and gripped his hand.
Theo planted his hand on the wall over his head as their connection, the scorching heat of it, overtook his body. He locked his muscles to stop himself from touching more of her and looked into her dilated pupils.
He watched in fascination as Piper swallowed and then licked her lips. Her grip tightened, and she closed her eyes and moaned.
“Do you see? This is not usual.” Sweat broke out over his brow.
Her cheeks grew flushed. “W-why is it like this?”
“We’re supposed to mate to open our connection and become one. It will settle down after that.”
She met his eyes and said, “Then let’s do it.”
Gods, he loved her voice. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard a woman sound so throaty.
Her skin burned his flesh as he trailed up her neck. Her fingers wrapped around him tightly and began to pull his head down.
He shook his head and resisted, but he was quickly becoming weak. “No, first we talk.”
She kissed his chin and part of his lower lip. Theo curled his toes.
“Piper,” he hissed.
She leaned away and with irritation asked, “Theo, what do you want?” The spark of anger made her brown eyes more vivid.
He held those gorgeous eyes and said, “You.”
“Okay,” she readily agreed.
“Forever.”
She snatched her hand away, cradled it in the other as though it had been injured, and pressed her back into the window. She closed her eyes and one expression after another moved over her features before she opened her eyes again and settled on anger. “Theo, you don’t even know me.”
