“I was happy by the stream with only you and no fanfare at all.”
Surrounded by throngs of well-wishers, his deep, quiet confession uttered softly against the sensitive shell of her ear was much harder to fight than the heat of his hand.
They were enemies. Not lovers. Not mates. But she couldn’t fight what the Imprint was doing to her. Her body glowed with health unlike any she’d been able to achieve with years of exercise and vitamins and an almost obsessive drive to be fit, but whatever he had done to change her physically didn’t reach all the way to her heart. She wouldn’t let him get that close.
If he noticed her stiffness, he didn’t show it. He simply escorted her to their table and pulled out her chair. She was amazed to see the casino turned into a banquet hall for the night. Long rows of numerous tables were filled with guests who raised their glasses and cheered when she and Walker came into the room. The always-dazzling crystal chandeliers took on a much more elegant appearance as the light from their bulbs bounced off of fluted glasses and pristine white tablecloths.
It was a fairy tale setting.
Beautiful. Happy. Peaceful. And Julia could barely choke down her own bubbling champagne when she thought about these same smiling people being pulled from their homes tomorrow by mercenary soldiers.
She was all too aware of the weapon she had strapped to her thigh. Not to mention the man who sat beside her. He filled her glass when it was finally emptied and she couldn’t quite manage to avoid looking into his eyes.
Did he really see forever in hers? Or did he see impending betrayal? She could only see the reflected glow of soft chandelier light in his, nothing else. No indication that he read anything in hers at all. Instead of being reassured, she felt her pulse quicken. Not knowing what a powerful shapeshifter was thinking wasn’t safe.
Not. At. All.
She tried to close her eyes and call up the image of the charred cockpit, but it was no longer as vivid in her memory. Instead, she saw the stream. She recalled the softness in Walker’s eyes when he’d helped her with her leg. “We’ve chosen,” he’d said. “If she dies, I die.”
Just then a hawk’s cry startled her. She opened her eyes and saw the fierce bird fly in through a high open window with a sudden flurry of wings.
The same hawk from the mountain?
She couldn’t be sure, but it disappeared behind a privacy screen before she could get a closer look.
Ross had stopped with his glass almost to his lips. He watched the screen, but didn’t put his glass down until a man in a quickly donned silk shirt and black trousers came out from behind it.
The hawk.
A shapeshifter.
The pilot.
Julia’s breath caught as she recognized him. He was a striking man, impossible to forget. His hair was a rumpled mass of waves that fell to his collar in shades of sable and black just like the hawk’s wings. His jet eyes glittered. His movements were quick and sure.
He approached their table and nodded at Walker but not before shooting her a glance that seemed to take notice of everything about her from her head to her feet in an instant.
“All’s well,” the pilot reported, turning his attention to Ross.
Her mate nodded his approval and gestured for the hawk to join the party.
Did he realize all wasn’t well? Did he realize a traitor sat by his side?
***
Ross Walker’s luxurious log home sat on an otherwise-untouched hill above the casino hotel. At midnight, its windows glowed a welcoming yellow, lit from numerous lights within. It was a mansion, but one warmed by log and stone. His home married civilization to wilderness, comfort to nature, his man to his puma.
Julia slipped away from the hotel when the dancing began and hiked up the hill in her slippered feet. She held her voluminous skirts up off the dew-kissed ground. It was easy to make her way up the path, but she didn’t hurry even though she knew he followed.
Ross wasn’t a murderer. No one had died in the plane crash his people had used to save him.
The hard, heavy weight of the gun hidden against her skin chilled her deep to the bone.
She knew why she’d been so ready to believe the worst about him. After years of seeing herself as brave, her cowardice shamed her.
“Others have begged for what you discard so easily.”
Gwen had been notably absent tonight and a part of Julia ached for the other woman’s girlhood dreams even as she listened for Walker’s steps to be sure he wasn’t far behind.
Forever.
She had lost her mother and father during the attack on Washington. She had lost her friends and one special man who had promised her forever. She hadn’t slowed down to love anyone since.
The door opened easily when she reached it and the lush, sweet scent of polished pine washed over her as she stepped inside.
“Welcome home,” Ross said as he came up behind her.
There was a fire crackling in the fireplace. There were gaily wrapped presents piled on an enormous dining room table made from a slab of gleaming oak. It was warm and inviting and Julia had to swallow hard against the panic that rose in her chest. She swallowed. She breathed. But it wasn’t until Ross wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close against his firm, muscled body that the tightness around her lungs eased away.
“Living out of hotel rooms doesn’t make you tough. It makes you a nomad,” he teased into her hair.
He knew.
He knew this was hard for her, but did he know how hard? Did he know what she had almost done?
“I…” Julia began, but her words were cut off when he swooped her up into his arms.
“I have a surprise for you, a gift.”
Julia didn’t protest as he carried her up a staircase impressively framed by two uncut, whole-log railings. Then she was struck speechless by the sight that met her eyes.
At the top of the stairs two double doors opened into a room that was obviously the master suite, but its only traditional element was a plush, pillow-topped bed. Surrounding the bed, taking up most of the room, was a pool designed to meander like a mountain stream.
Its flowing water cooled the air as he carried her into the room. There were rocks and greenery and even several potted trees. It was their glade recreated.
“You seemed to find peace near the stream, so I thought…” His dark eyes were kissed into golden life by the candles that flickered through out the room. His gaze tracked over her face to gauge her reaction.
Julia tried to smile.
The entire room had taken on a watery glitter as her eyes filled with tears. They’d only been back two days. He must have moved heaven and earth to get this ready for her. Didn’t he know it was his touch, his strong arms that had given her peace by the stream, not the stream itself?
She reached up to touch his cheek.
She needed that peace and ran from it every single second of every day. She wanted him, but she had intended to deny that want and betray him in the worst possible way.
She eased down out of his arms and he let her go. Just enough so that she could stand on her own two feet encircled by his arms.
“It’s beautiful, Ross. But I don’t need the stream,” she confessed, and his eyes flashed even darker as he dipped to take the kiss she deliberately offered by tilting her chin.
The danger she faced now was the danger of letting herself care again. He held her while she faced it, so tight, so strong, that she thought maybe, just maybe forever was possible for her once more.
He moved his tongue to tease her lips and then slipped it beyond so it could twine with hers.
This time she had no injury so their bodies came together without caution or reserve. As they kissed, they found the bed and tumbled down upon it. She forgot about raids and betrayal for long moments.
He was silk-encased muscle and heat beneath her hands and soon the silk was gone, leaving his smooth chest bare for her eager fingers. This was the Ross Walker the world didn’t
get to see. He was always a blend of man and lion, but here, away from his suits and responsibilities, he was freed by the caress of her fingers.
Free to be only her mate.
Free to indulge his passion.
Julia leaned over to taste his passion on her tongue. He was fully aroused and so hot that the tip of his shaft heated her lips as she closed them over him. His hands reached for her hair and his grasp caused it to come free from its clips to spill down over his stomach and thighs.
His groan, the slide of his heat in her mouth, his fingers buried in her hair, all combined to make parts of her tighten, deep and low. She forgot everything but the taste of him, the feel of him. So hot and hard and smooth easily sliding to the back of her throat. He stretched her lips, but she didn’t mind. She held her breath and took him deep, loving the way his hips tensed every time the head of his cock was buried as far as it would go.
Before she could pleasure him completely, he pulled her up and tilted his body over hers.
“Your clothes will take longer, I think,” he teased as he slowly undid the tiny buttons down the back of her bead-encrusted bodice. So many layers. So much fabric between his gleaming skin and hers.
And one hard and harsh secret waiting to be discovered.
Julia froze in mid-gasp as his hand finally found her thigh. He froze as well for only a second before he pulled the holster free.
“I thought you had killed the pilot,” Julia said in a rush as he brought the gun out from beneath her crumpled skirts. It gleamed dully against the backdrop of white lace.
Even in the candlelight, she could see emotions flow across his face. Disappointment? Frustration? Determination.
The last took hold and didn’t fade as he took the gun and placed it on the pillow beside them, well within her reach.
“One day I’ll win your trust and your heart,” he said.
And in that moment, he did.
He had given her time to know her own heart. Even now, he left the gun where she could snatch it back if she would.
“They’re planning to raid Cherokee. Special Forces are going to move in tomorrow night. I knew it and didn’t tell you. Your people are in danger.” It all sounded ugly and horrible and final. Just when she had decided to allow him to get close to her heart, this would drive him away.
“Our people are safe, Julia. We’ve known about their plans almost from their conception and we have allies, human and shifter, who have infiltrated their ranks. There will be a coup not a raid.” Ross eased her fears with his words and his hands. He smoothed her hair back from her face gently, and it was the touch of a lover not a lover betrayed.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Julia asked, still feeling the burn of emotion in her cheeks.
“I was waiting for you,” he replied.
Julia knew he meant more than his simple words implied. He had waited for her to touch him and to accept his touch. He had waited for her to trust him so that she could be trusted. But he had been waiting for her for far longer than that.
Her tension eased.
Cherokee wasn’t in danger.
Ross didn’t feel betrayed.
The gun lay nearby, forgotten, but the clothes tossed away here and there in soft mounds of silk and satin and lace weren’t forgotten. She suddenly felt the absence of them. She was bare save for the gossamer thigh-high stockings left on her legs. When he moved to kiss her, she easily felt his arousal against her hip. She felt it and craved it and opened herself for him.
Ross found her with gentle fingers and slipped first one and then another into her heat and she gasped because she was more ready than she had known. She lifted her hips to meet the thrusts of his fingers and she whispered his name urgently with lips swollen from pleasuring his thick shaft.
He dipped to capture her heated lips with his and their sensitivity made the stroking of his tongue even sweeter. She moaned and met his thrusts with hungry thrusts of her own tongue, deep into the heat of his mouth. Wordlessly showing him the rhythm she craved. Illustrating with her tongue what she desired between her legs.
Ross understood. He held her close and moved so that he could position his cock against her moistened folds. Easily, so easily, he pressed against her to slide inside and she welcomed the fullness, the heat, as he worked his hips.
“The gun didn’t matter,” their bodies said. “All the fear and the pain from the past can be overcome.”
Julia believed it as they found the rhythm they both needed. She would have believed it even if Ross hadn’t reached to cup her face so that they could look into each other’s eyes as their hips moved together. He fit perfectly inside of her. The ridges of his shaft teased the tightened walls of her vagina so perfectly and then the head of his cock bottomed out against her womb. The heat he’d always caused in her built and burned until it exploded between them in a release more powerful than the one they’d shared on the mountain. He filled her with his hot seed, flooding her depths as they grew impossibly tight around him.
Imprinted.
They fell back together on the pillows and discarded clothes and Julia embraced the word and the deep connection it represented as she embraced her mate.
Chapter Eight
Before The Crash, thousands of people visited the Smoky Mountains each year. Now thousands upon thousands of people traveled here to find a new home and a new hope for the future. As Julia approached Walker the backdrop for his tall dark silhouette was a gorgeous panorama of majestic ridges and valleys painted with the scarlet hues and golden highlights from the morning sun.
And yet the vista couldn’t compete with the man.
He waited for her.
He had always been waiting for her.
His feet were planted and his shoulders were back. His arms were held akimbo as if he was ready to leap, to pounce, to run.
Julia walked to his side, slowly and carefully. She chose not to rush. Just as slowly, with even more deliberation, she reached for his hand.
His fingers immediately fit to hers and their palms meshed.
He pulled her close using their joined hands and she couldn’t help gasping when their bodies came together. Would he always feel as if he was too much to hold? As if being brave enough to try was the greatest challenge she could face?
“I thought you would walk away this morning. I was bracing myself,” Ross murmured into her curls.
Behind them, Julia heard rustling in the bushes. She turned her cheek against his chest and noticed several forms moving away. A bear? Or two?
“I ordered them to keep me from stopping you. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to let you go.”
He could have stopped her. The Imprint only allowed her to share his power not usurp it. He was still physically stronger than she was. But he had left her alone this morning. He had given her the freedom to decide to stay or go. He had let her be the one to decide to stop the roller coaster her life had become and get off.
“You’re the first thing to slow me down since the world fell apart,” she confessed against his shoulder.
“You don’t have to run anymore. We can put things back together,” he assured her.
“I know. I can stand. By your side.” She pressed up against him to illustrate her point.
There were no guarantees. The attack on Washington following The Crash had blindsided her, taking away everything she had ever loved. The world was dangerous and loving a wanted shapeshifter was probably the most dangerous thing she’d ever done.
Julia looked up and met Walker’s gaze. It still held mysteries and probably always would, but it also glowed with a warmth that could only mean “forever”.
She reached for him, winding her arms around his neck. She even laughed when her sudden move caused him to reach down and swoop her up into his arms.
“I seem to remember some games we have yet to play,” he growled as he nuzzled close to her neck.
His teeth nipped and Julia couldn’t help laughing again. He still caused a
nervous thrill in her. He still felt like a challenge in her arms.
And Julia looked forward to embracing the challenge of Ross Walker every day, every night, for the rest of her life, come what may.
About the Author
To learn more about Barbara J. Hancock, please visit www.barbarajhancock.com. Send an email to Barbara at [email protected] or visit her blog for lovers of paranormal romance http://www.embracetheshadows.wordpress.com
Look for these titles by Barbara J. Hancock
Now Available:
Hunger
Love might stand a chance…if they can keep from killing each other.
Hunger
© 2009 Barbara J. Hancock
Holly Spinnaker is a monster. Really. Fangs and all. Never mind the petite figure. Pay no attention to the once-bouncy blonde mane. When Jarvis Winters first encounters…it…he prepares to exterminate freak number one hundred thirty two without a flinch.
Mistake number one: following it back to its lair. Mistake number two: watching and listening to her…it…replay voice mail messages from loving, clueless parents again and again and again. Mistake number three: having an actual conversation with a bloodthirsty fiend.
“Make them see you as a person.” Holly remembers the advice from a self-defense class her mother made her take her freshmen year. She couldn’t save her own sister, who ended up a pile of ashes at her feet only one month ago. The night they both found out monsters were real. The night her sister embraced the change. And Holly began to fight it.
“Make them see you as a person.” Kind of hard when you aren’t even sure if you are a person anymore.
Warning: This title is not vampire-lite. There is blood. Sometimes sexy. Sometimes, well, not. There are fangs, fights and even a zombie or two. But most of all there’s yearning and burning and aching and angst… It is called Hunger after all.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Hunger:
The man sagged to the ground like every bone in his body had dissolved when the girl let him go. If she hadn’t been less than half the man’s size, Jarvis Winters might have been fooled. He might have thought drugs or alcohol had gotten the better of one of the partiers along Belmont Street. He might have thought a little groping in a back alley had ended with someone passing out.
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