He drank deeply, desperate to regain his strength. He wasn’t going to share his lair with his unwelcomed comrades while he was on the point of collapse. Which, of course, meant that he was forced to drain the female until she was nothing more than an empty shell that would have to be dumped in the swamps.
Damn the idiots.
Dropping the dead female on the floor, Gaius retraced his steps. Someone was going to pay for this screwup. And it wasn’t going to be him.
Although dawn was nearing, he followed the scents of the curs to the kitchen. He intended to vent his displeasure before seeking his bed for the day.
Punishment was like a soufflé. If not served immediately, they both fell flat.
He entered the kitchen, taking a moment to glance around the narrow room. At one end the walls were lined with a tiled countertop and white painted cabinets. An ancient fridge hummed in the corner and a matching stove was set under a window that overlooked the dilapidated chicken coop.
At the other end was a small wooden table with matching chairs. Not that there was much to see of the table beneath the huge slab of raw meat the two curs were consuming with gusto. In the corner the witch was perched on a stool, reading from a battered, leather-bound book.
At his entrance the three froze, smart enough to comprehend that their lives hung in the balance.
He concentrated on the dim-witted duo. He would have to take greater care with the witch.
“I trust that the two of you are proud of yourselves?”
Ingrid flinched, lowering her head in a gesture of subservience. “Caine was a lot stronger than we expected him to be.”
Gaius moved to stand in the center of the tiled floor. “You knew he’d become a pureblooded Were.”
Dolf shifted closer to his sister, his hand lifting to touch the crystal hung around his neck. “Yes, but his power isn’t just that of a Were,” he tried to bluff. “I doubt there’s anyone but Salvatore who could beat him in a head-to-head fight.”
“A convenient excuse for your failure,” Gaius said, his voice soft. Lethally soft.
“A convenient excuse?” Dolf ’s fingers tightened on the crystal, no doubt wishing he had the nerve to lob a spell in Gaius’s direction. “That bastard almost killed me.”
“Hardly a great loss,” Gaius drawled.
“Yeah?” Dolf scowled. “Well, where were you during the battle? I didn’t see you doing anything to help.”
“A good commander directs his troops. He doesn’t waste his talent by becoming a foot soldier.”
“Talk about convenient,” Ingrid muttered beneath her breath.
The bitch was dead.
Her and her perverted brother.
Gaius clenched his fists, his power slamming through the room with enough force to overturn the table and shatter the overhead light.
“Do you dare imply that I—”
“Wait.” The witch was abruptly standing directly in front of him, her hands held up in a gesture of peace. “Squabbling among ourselves isn’t going to help. What we need is a new plan.”
Utterly unaware of how close he came to death, Dolf turned the table upright and continued chewing on the bloody slab of meat. “What kind of plan?” he demanded between bites. “There’s no way in hell we’re going to be able to lure the seer and her protector into another trap.”
Sally shrugged, looking worse for the wear with her black eyeliner smeared and her pigtails drooping. “There’s no need for a trap.”
“No?” With an effort, Gaius regained command of his temper and regarded the tiny female with a mocking smile. “Do you intend to wiggle your nose and make them appear?”
“Something like that.” She reached into her bustier to pull out several golden strands of hair. “Abracadabra.”
“Hair?” Gaius rasped.
“Not just hair. The prophet’s hair.”
Gaius frowned, recalling Sally’s insane charge toward Cassandra in the cellar. Was that what she’d been doing? Yanking out the female’s hair?
“Am I supposed to be impressed?”
Sally smiled. “I can use this to track her.”
Suddenly Dolf was at the witch’s side, his face filled with awe. “You can scry?”
“Yes.”
Annoyed at being left out of the conversation when he should be in control of it, Gaius pointed a finger toward the witch. “Explain.”
She paled, swallowing heavily as his displeasure was focused on her. “Having a part of Cassandra means I can use a spell to locate her.”
A portion of Gaius’s fury eased. As much as he wanted an excuse to kill his bumbling companions and lay the blame on them for allowing the prophet and her protector to escape, he understood that the Dark Lord might not be in a forgiving frame of mind. In fact, he might just kill Gaius before he could convince him that the fiasco wasn’t his fault.
“You can locate her now?” Dolf growled, his eyes glowing crimson.
“Don’t be any more of an idiot than you have to be, cur,” Gaius snapped.
The stupid creature scowled. “What?”
Gaius waved a hand to slam shut the heavy shutters over the window. “It’s nearly dawn.”
“So . . .” Realization at last managed to penetrate his thick skull. “Oh.”
“Precisely.” Dismissing the fool, Gaius turned his attention to the witch, moving with blinding speed to grab her by the throat and lift her off the floor. “You will perform this scrying at nightfall,” he commanded, his glare warning that he would rip out her heart if she tried to find the prophet while he was imprisoned by daylight. “Not a moment before, capisce?”
She struggled to breathe, her eyes wide with fear. “Of course.”
His eyes narrowed. “Oh, and I’ll need a new female. Order one off the computer.”
“It’s not that—” She squeaked as his fingers tightened, a fraction from crushing her windpipe. “Yes, fine. I’ll have one here by dusk.”
“Good.” He released his grip, watching her crumple on the floor before turning back to the curs. “Dolf.”
The cur lowered his head, flinching as if he expected a blow. “Yes, Commander?”
“Get rid of the body upstairs.”
“Yeah.” The cur hissed a sigh of relief. “No problem.”
Feeling the heavy press of dawn begin to sap what little energy he had left, Gaius turned to leave the room. The night had been a debacle. For now he just wanted to lock himself in his private rooms and drift into oblivion. He’d reached the doorway when Ingrid foolishly halted his retreat.
“What about me?”
Gaius threw a jaundiced glare over his shoulder. “Try not to burn down the house while I’m sleeping.”
Caine stood between Cassie’s legs, gliding his fingers up and down her throat as he studied the faint color that stained her cheeks. The wolf inside him remained edgy, needing the comfort of holding this woman in his arms to reassure himself that she was safe. The man . . .
He needed something far more primitive.
“You are so beautiful,” he breathed.
She brushed the hair from his brow, her smile oddly uncertain. “Do you truly think so?”
He frowned. Was it possible she didn’t realize she was the most gorgeous creature ever to walk the earth? “You’ve looked in a mirror, haven’t you?”
“Not often. My appearance has never mattered to me.” She shrugged. “Not until now.”
His thumbs slid beneath her chin, tilting back her head to meet his curious gaze. “Why should it matter now?”
“I want you to find me attractive.”
He growled, his hands cupping her face as his body ached to show her just how damned attractive he found her.
“You are exquisite,” he assured her, his voice thick with the need pulsing through his veins. “But it’s not the shimmer of silver in your hair, or the stunning emerald of your eyes that has bewitched me.” His gaze slid downward. “It’s not even your hot little body, although that has
given me more than one sleepless night.”
She leaned forward to nip the lobe of his ear. “Then what?”
Pleasure jolted through him at the tiny bite, his erection so hard that the mere brush of the ridiculous apron was painful. Christ, he felt like he was going to explode.
Don’t pounce, Caine. Do. Not. Pounce.
Gritting his teeth, he instead lowered his hand to press his palm over her rapidly beating heart. “This.”
Her brows lifted. “My heart?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Her arms wrapped around his neck as her eyes melted into pools of emerald. “I don’t know much about these things, but I believe that was the perfect thing to say.”
He flashed a smug smile. “Was it?”
She stroked her lips along the line of his jaw. “Hmmm.”
Caine went rigid, a groan wrenched from his throat. “I try.”
“Yes.” She found a particularly erotic spot just below his jaw, using her tongue to drive him mad with need. “You certainly do.”
He muttered a curse, reaching his breaking point. There was more than one way of sharing pleasure.
“I could try better if you had on fewer clothes.”
Without missing a beat, Cassie leaned back to hook her hands beneath the bottom of her top and peel it off. “Like this?”
His breath escaped him on a hiss as she tossed the shirt on the floor, his gaze locked on the sight of her mouthwatering breasts barely concealed by the black lace bra. “It’s a start,” he managed to choke out.
“More?”
Oh. He wanted so much more.
“Let me help,” he rasped, reaching to pop the button and unzip her jeans before dropping to his knees.
Ignoring her protests, he gently removed her tennis shoes and tugged off her socks. He lifted her foot to stroke his lips along the line of her arch.
She gasped, the scent of her arousal spicing the air. “That tickles.”
He chuckled, nipping the tips of her toes. “Such sweet little toes.”
“Oh . . . Lord.”
Grasping the hem of her jeans, he pulled them ruthlessly downward. They dropped on the tiled floor as his hands lifted to worship the pale alabaster skin of her calves.
“And these legs.” His voice was rough with the power of his wolf. “They were surely made to wrap around me.”
Her breathy chuckle filled the air. “And here I thought they were made to take me from one place to another.”
“They are far too lovely for such a mundane task.”
His kissed a path up the inside of her leg, tilting back his head to savor the sight of her poised above him.
Wearing nothing more than her lacy bra and matching panties, she perched on the edge of the breakfast bar like a statue of feminine temptation. Her fragile features were flushed with passion and her hair a satin curtain of pale silver that tumbled over her shoulders. But it was the musky scent of her wolf that made his heart slam against his ribs.
Cassie might not be able to shift, but her beast was telling him that she was ready and eager.
He swallowed a pained groan, continuing to kiss a path up her leg, taking time to explore the sensitive back of her knee before performing the same service to her other leg. She shivered beneath his light caresses, her fingers gripping the marble top of the bar as he found the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.
“Caine,” she pleaded.
“Patience, pet.” He used his tongue to outline the edge of her panties, breathing deeply of her sweet scent. “There’s so much to explore. And I intend to taste every . . .” He kissed the icy tattoo just below her belly button. “Satin . . .” He grasped her hips to keep her from squirming as he continued up her flat stomach until he was able to slice through the bow holding her bra together with a sharpened fang. “Inch.”
“I want to explore,” she protested.
“Later.” His tone was distracted as the bra fell away to expose the tender curves of her breasts.
They were delectable, he decided. Perfectly shaped to fit his palms and tipped by rosy nipples that tightened beneath his heated gaze.
“And I can do whatever I want?”
“Whatever you want,” he agreed, his head dipping toward the waiting bounty.
“Do you promise?”
“Mmm.” He abruptly paused, sensing he’d just stepped into a trap. Lifting his head, he studied her with a narrowed eye. “Wait.”
She blinked, her eyes glazed with need. “Why?”
“What did I just promise?”
“That I could do whatever I want.”
“Maybe you should be more specific.”
A slow, teasing smile curved her lips. “Scared?”
“Wary,” he admitted. “I’ve told you I won’t take your innocence.” He watched as her expression tightened into stubborn lines.
“You can’t take something that I give you willingly.”
His gut twisted. What the hell was she trying to do to him? He was hanging on to his nobility by a thread. A very thin, very fragile thread.
“Dammit, Cassie.”
“What?”
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Her eyes glowed with an emerald fire. His wolf was on instant alert, sensing the sudden danger in the air.
“Are you saying I’m too stupid to decide what I want?”
Okay, so his words hadn’t come out right. He was lucky he could still form a full sentence when his brain had relocated considerably lower in his body.
“I’m saying that you don’t have enough experience to know what you want. That’s not your fault.”
She looked spectacularly unimpressed with his logic. “So you’d make love to me if I wasn’t a virgin?”
“It’s not just that.”
“Then what?”
He struggled to express his fear that he was taking advantage of her naivete. It was easy for her to become convinced that he was some sort of Prince Charming when she didn’t have a comparison.
“How many men have you known in your life?”
“I told you, there were a few.”
He cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his piercing gaze. “Briggs and the demon lord don’t count.”
“You weren’t Briggs’s only accomplice.”
He snorted. “I can just imagine the kind of scum who would work with the bastard.”
She poked her finger into the center of his chest, seemingly annoyed by his dismissal of her potential lovers. “Some were scum, but there were others who were like you.”
He frowned, offended by her comparison to Briggs’s nasty servants. “Me?”
“Yes.” She gave him another poke. “They were decent men who were simply desperate and willing to believe Briggs’s promise he could give them what they most desired.”
In a heartbeat, Caine catapulted from who-the-hell-cares about the males in her past to insane jealousy. “And you spent time with these men?”
“A few.” A reminiscent smile curved her lips, making his wolf snarl in possessive outrage. “There was a very handsome fairy who used to sneak me chocolate when he visited.” She sighed. “I adore chocolate.”
“A fairy,” he muttered. He hated fairies.
“And then there was a charming vampire.”
“Charming vampire is an oxymoron,” he snapped, deciding he hated leeches even more than he hated fairies.
She shrugged. “He swore he could release me from the demon lord.”
Lying bastard. The only way to release her from the demon lord was to cut off the creature’s connection to this world. And she still wasn’t completely free if the tattoo on her stomach was any indication. But she must have been tempted.
“Why didn’t you go with him?”
“Because I knew I had to wait.”
“For what?”
She planted her hand directly over his heart, her gaze holding his captive. “For you.”
“Oh, shit.” His eyes slid shut as he l
eaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. The warm scent of lavender filled his senses, his entire body trembling with the driving need to claim this female in the most basic way possible. “You’re killing me.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck, her lips brushing against his ear. “Take me to the bedroom, Caine.”
His nobility died a swift, unmourned death as he plucked her off the breakfast bar and headed out of the kitchen.
“Yes.”
Chapter 9
Caine registered Cassie’s soft chuckle as he charged with lightning speed through the living room and up the stairs to the loft. The soft sound brushed over his sensitized skin like a tangible caress, winding him impossibly tighter.
He was on fire. The desire he’d kept leashed for so long threatening to burn out of control.
Belatedly realizing the danger, Caine forced himself to slow his pace as he reached the loft. No matter what his instinct, he wasn’t going to take Cassie like an animal in heat.
If she was willing to offer him the gift of her innocence, then he would offer her the respect she deserved.
Crossing the polished wood floor, he gently laid her on the bed, which had been hand-carved by the finest craftsmen and matched the armoire tucked in a far corner. The ceiling was open-beamed with a skylight built into the sloping roof that allowed the early morning sunlight to pour over her nearly naked body.
His heart went crazy, skipping beats and then pounding at a frantic pace, as if trying to catch up for lost time. She was just so stunning. An exquisite work of art made of alabaster and gold and shimmering emerald.
He ripped off the ridiculous apron, his aching arousal twitching as he felt her gaze examining the hard length. He paused, searching her expression for any sign of hesitation. Then she smiled, holding out her arms in welcome, and he was lost.
With a leap he landed on top of her, pressing her slender body into the mattress covered by a hand-stitched quilt. “Last chance, pet,” he warned, his voice a low rumble.
She rubbed against him, her hands clutching at his shoulders. “Enough talking,” she protested, lifting her head to nip his bottom lip.
A growl rumbled in his throat. “You want action?”
Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity) Page 11
