Nic stopped at her chair and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Tam.”
His smile made her mouth curve in an answering grin then she watched him as he headed out the door.
Tam wondered if Duke’s animosity was for her in particular or if he treated all eteri that way? And would the rest of the lucani be more like Duke or Nic, who had at least not ignored her completely?
What does it matter? It’s not like you’re going to marry the guy?
But isn’t that what you want?
God, what the hell was she thinking? She’d known Kyle for three days. Three days filled with revelations Tam never would’ve believed if she hadn’t experienced them herself.
Things that shouldn’t be possible. Magical things.
But none more magical than what she felt for Kyle.
She fixed her gaze on the closed door and drew in a deep breath, trying to calm the dizziness threatening to spin her out of control.
“Tam.”
Kyle stood behind her now so she couldn’t see his face. She heard movement then Kyle’s hands landed on her shoulders, starting to massage the tight muscles there. She hadn’t realized she’d been so tense until her body started to loosen under his touch. And heat from the inside out.
None of that now.
“Duke doesn’t like me,” she said.
“Duke doesn’t like anyone. Don’t take it personally.”
“Are they a couple?”
Kyle’s muted laughter rumbled through his chest and into her back. “No. But I see where you might get that vibe. They’re pretty much a team in everything they do, have been since they were kids. We used to call them the Terrible Twosome. Now they’re known as the Dynamic Duo.”
“Bet they’re a hot item with the women.”
Kyle’s hands paused for one brief second. “Do you think they are?”
Something in the tone of his voice made her glance over her shoulder at him. With his gaze narrowed, he looked almost… “Are you jealous?” The thought made her all warm and fizzy inside.
He snorted, but it was tinged with self-disgust. “Honey, I’m thirty six years old. I don’t do jealous anymore.”
She tsked, slowly losing the sense of dread that’d been weighing her down. She wanted him to lighten up just a little, as well. “Wow, you’re so ancient.”
He didn’t rise to her tease. Instead he released her and walked around to sit across from her again, those amber eyes narrowed to slits. “Does that bother you? The age difference?”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you really think the fact that you’re thirteen years older than me makes me think you’re decrepit? Hello, we had sex twice today already. And I’m sure if I want more, you’ll be able to perform.”
The stunned look on his face made her smile widen and his expression shifted to lustful and predatory. He reached out to run one finger down her cheek, sending shivers through her.
“So brave now,” he murmured. “But you’re playing with fire, sweetheart. Don’t tempt me because you’ll find yourself flat on your back and naked in no time.”
And she wouldn’t mind that at all. Still, a question popped into her head. “Why aren’t you married or mated or whatever you call it already? Cat told me a little bit about you and Dan and her mom. Do you still… I mean, was she…”
She didn’t exactly know how to ask what she wanted to know but his expression lightened as she continued to stumble.
“No, I don’t and, no, she’s not. I’m not mated because I never found a woman I wanted to give that much control of my life to. When a lucani finds his mate, they give up some part of their control over their pelt to that person. In some cases, a mate can control your change, can control a part of your magic. I’ve never met anyone I’d be willing to give that much power to.”
Yes, she could understand how that would be a problem for Kyle. She opened her mouth to say just that but Kyle’s head swung toward the door. Automatically, she turned as well but didn’t hear anything but his resigned sigh.
“Shit. The second wave’s about to descend.” Kyle brushed his thumb across her lips, his gaze holding hers steady even as she wanted to bolt.
Everything was coming at her so fast. Tam wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and just sit. Alone.
She needed to process information, something she could only do by herself. She felt walls closing in around her, not threatening, just…confining. Through the ordeal of the rape and its aftermath, talking to so many people about herself and what had happened had given her the first panic attacks of her life.
She’d actually felt like she was dying. Her heart had raced and she couldn’t breathe. Every other second, she felt like she was either going to pass out of puke.
She felt the symptoms now, the shortness of breath, the slight dizziness. If she didn’t get a handle on it soon, she’d have a full-blown attack in minutes.
“Tam.”
She blinked, refocusing on Kyle’s narrowed eyes.
Her heart began to pick up speed and she knew he’d be able to tell. She didn’t want him to think she couldn’t handle this, think she wasn’t strong enough. She hated feeling like she wasn’t strong enough.
But the air in here was getting thin and her lungs felt starved for air.
As if he knew exactly what was happening, Kyle stood and grabbed her hand, pulling her off the chair and heading toward the door.
“Come on, babe. We’re going for a walk.”
In silence, they left the building through the back door. She heard other voices in the distance now, though she had no idea from which direction they came. The thick forest around them seemed to distort sound.
Kyle headed for the treeline then they slipped into the woods. Now, all she heard was the call of birds in the trees as Kyle led her along a barely visible path that headed deeper into the forest, away from the lodge.
Tam followed Kyle, who had no problem picking his way along the trail. She stumbled a few times on the rocks poking through the dirt but Kyle’s firm grip on her hand never let her fall.
As the air cooled and the sunlight dimmed due to the treetops, she let herself do nothing but take in the beauty of the trees and the birdsong.
And in a few minutes, she heard the soft trickle of water.
When Kyle finally stopped, they stood before a huge rock that looked like someone had slammed it into the ground from far above. A trickle of water bubbled out of a tiny fissure at the top and ran down into a pool of water that couldn’t really be called a pond. It was too small.
Ferns crowded around the moss-coated rock and tiny pink flowers covered the surface of the water like someone had sprinkled confetti.
“I used to come out here after training when I needed to get away from everybody.” Kyle pointed to one of the rocks by the pond that had been worn smooth, so she plopped herself there and watched him settle onto the ground at the base of the nearest tree. “It’s quiet.”
“And beautiful,” she added, taking a deep breath and feeling the tightness around her chest ease a little more. “It looks like a scene out of a fairy tale. Like Tinkerbell should be flitting around.”
“If you’re out here at twilight, you might actually see some candela,” he said. “They’re fata, not exactly human-looking. They glow and have wings, kind of like fireflies. They’re hard to describe.”
As Kyle proceeded to tell her about other kinds of fata, Tam sat, mesmerized by his voice and by the magic of his world. Not only could he turn into a wolf but he’d seen an actual Tinkerbell.
For several minutes, she simply sat there and breathed until she’d pushed everything but the sound of his voice out of her mind. Her body began to relax until, finally, she felt in control again.
“Will you show me your wolf?”
He didn’t say anything right away, just watched her for several seconds. Then he stood and began to remove his clothes.
Her body began to burn with desire as he uncovered every inch of his gorgeous body.
Her gaze traced the breadth of his shoulders and chest, the powerful muscles of his arms and the menacing black ink of his tattoos. Her gaze caught on the ridges of his abs as he pulled his shirt over his head then fell to watch as he unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down his strong legs, the tattoos there flexing.
When he was naked, he knelt on the ground, planted his hands in the forest floor and closed his eyes.
Drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on her forearm, her eyes widened as fuzzy, colored light enveloped him, almost as if he glowed from within. She didn’t want to blink, didn’t want to miss a moment as Kyle began to transform.
His human shape vibrated, almost as if she was watching bad reception on a television. Then she must have blinked again because she missed the moment Kyle went from man to wolf. Or maybe it just happened that fast. Because between one second and the next, the huge, beautiful black wolf she remembered from the other night at her cabin sat on his haunches on the other side of the pond, watching her with Kyle’s amber eyes.
She’d seen Cat change into her wolf and back into her human body. Cat’s small, black body and pointed, whiskered face had been adorable.
Kyle’s animal was deadly beautiful, though not at all frightening to her. His sleek fur shone blue-black in the sunlight, the wolf’s haughty expression somehow comforting. And familiar.
Would he object to being petted? He hadn’t seemed to mind the other night on her porch.
He didn’t move and she wondered if he thought she was scared.
“It doesn’t freak me out,” she said. “The magic. I’m actually thrilled to know there’s real magic in the world, that it’s not all darkness and gloom. It doesn’t even freak me out that you can turn yourself into a wolf. Does that mean I’m not normal to start?”
Kyle yipped and shook his entire body, his tail hitting the ground in an angry thump.
She held up one hand. “No, just listen.”
His head tilted again and she knew if he had eyebrows, they’d be arched.
Warmth filled her at the thought that she knew him so well in so short a time.
Could you really fall in love with someone at first sight? Or even over the course of a couple of day?
It would break something in her to leave him.
So don’t leave.
Damn it. What the hell was she going to do?
If she left, Cat would be hurt but Kyle would be safe.
And if she stayed…
“I’ll never betray your secrets, Kyle. Not to anyone. I don’t really have any friends. My family is gone. I’ve never blabbed to other people about my life or my problems. I just wasn’t raised that way.”
The wolf huffed, rose to his paws then walked over to her and rubbed against her legs. His fur felt like rough velvet on her skin, sending shivers of sensation through her.
His snout bumped against her arm then nuzzled her cheek, his whiskers tickling.
“You really are beautiful, but you know that, don’t you?”
He shook his head, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t a denial. He seemed to be preening.
She smiled as he let her pet him, just sat there with his snout pointed up as she ran her hands down his back.
After several minutes, he gave a full-body shake, took several steps away from her then threw his head back and howled. And between one blink and the next, the outline of his body grew hazy again.
His transformation seemed to go slower this time, or maybe her eyes were becoming accustomed to what they were seeing.
She thought she actually caught the moments when his body passed from wolf to man and the expression of agony on Kyle’s face as he changed.
Then Kyle sat there again, naked and beautiful and staring at her with blazing amber eyes.
He didn’t move right away, just watched her, as if waiting for her to run screaming. Instead, she rose and closed the few feet between them. Reaching out, she ran her hand through his silky hair, almost as if she were petting him again. He tilted his head back, his eyes half closed as she scraped her nails on his scalp.
She wanted him, wanted to have him right here and now. She didn’t think he’d object.
Sinking down onto her knees, she combed her other hand into his hair and pulled him to her, molding her lips to his and kissing him. Surprisingly, he gave her the control. He let her brush her lips against his before settling against them and sliding her tongue into his mouth. She licked at his teeth, wrapped her tongue around his and felt him groan deep in his chest.
His hands came up to settle on her waist, tightening on her hips before reaching down to slide under her skirt to get to her skin. His hands had nearly reached her mound when she pulled away and looked into his eyes. He froze.
Her hands had settled on his shoulders but now they slid down his arms en route to his erection. She felt the heat of it through the thin material of her dress, a branding iron against her stomach.
Wrapping one hand around the rigid length, she cupped his heavy sac in the other. He groaned again, his hands splaying over her hips, fingers tightening as if she might try to get away.
Pumping her hand up and down his shaft, she showed him without words that she was going nowhere.
Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his chest. His musky male scent inflamed her desire, making her hunger for him a beast clawing to get out. Bending further, her lips reached his navel and she flicked out her tongue to taste the bead of sweat she found there.
“Tam.”
Kyle’s voice sounded rough, almost wild, but she ignored him as she bent further, scooting back an inch so she could get her mouth where she wanted it.
Positioned over the tip of his cock.
She swore he was holding his breath, his hands almost painful on her hips. Before he could speak, she parted her lips and took him inside. He tasted salty, the skin stretched tight and oh so hot.
She wanted more and slid down until his cock hit the back of her throat then retreated back to the tip.
He started breathing again in a rush and pulled his hands from beneath her dress to cup her head. She wanted to make him crazy, wanted him to feel as out of control as she felt when he made love to her.
She flattened her tongue along the shaft when she took him deep then swirled around the tip as she pulled back. His cock hardened even more and moisture seeped from the tip, tasting uniquely like Kyle.
“Tam.”
She knew what he wanted to tell her, and she tightened her hands on his hips so he couldn’t pull away. Letting him know her intentions.
He’d given her so much, she wanted to give him this in return. Wanted it for herself. Wanted to make him cry out her name she brought him to orgasm.
And he did, as his cock jerked in her mouth. When she finally raised her head, she had only a glimpse of the carnal pleasure on his face before he grabbed her, laid her flat on the soft mossy patch and threw her skirt up over her belly.
Lifting her hips off the ground, he bent until he could put his mouth over her core, giving her only one long, slow lick before plunging his tongue into her sheath and fucking her with it.
Wicked flicks of his tongue against her clit alternated with the plunges. She reached for his shoulders, needing to touch his skin, to make sure he didn’t stop.
This man made her feel so much more alive than she ever had. Before her attack, she’d only been living half a life. Afterward, she hadn’t even had that.
Now, here with him, she burned with desire.
Closing her eyes, she saw flashes of light, almost like the magic that surrounded Kyle when he shifted. Her body tightened to the point of pain then shuddered and broke apart as she climaxed.
Practically panting, her hands flopped to the ground as Kyle stretched out beside her on his back then lifted her so she sprawled over his body.
“I know you’d never betray us, Tam.”
Quiet confidence filled his voice and she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.
&nb
sp; “Everything’ll be okay, hon. We’ll do this together. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She knew that. She knew he’d take a bullet for her if he needed to. Which was exactly what Tira had predicted.
Tears formed and she blinked them back before they could escape and Kyle would notice.
Leaving him is wrong.
But leaving would ensure his safety. And that was more important to her than anything.
She’d managed to keep out of the clutches of whoever had been searching for her, even before she knew they’d been looking for her.
Surely she’d be able to keep one step ahead of them until Kyle caught them. And he would catch them.
She just hoped he’d still be alive afterward.
Chapter Seven
“Is your fucking phone off?”
Kyle’s head snapped up as Dan stormed out of the lodge the second he and Tam hit the steps.
“What are you do— What’s wrong?”
Dan’s face tightened into a tight mask that made Kyle’s balls want to crawl up into his stomach.
“We’ve got trouble.” Dan slid one, quick glance at Tam. “Tam, would you please give us a minute?”
Kyle’s hand tightened on her arm as she started to pull away.
“What kind of trouble? What the fuck—”
“Something I can’t talk about in front of her.” Dan shook his head. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Kyle felt a growl start low in this throat. “She goes nowhere—”
“Vaffanculo, Kyle. You don’t know what’s going on.”
“Dan, stop shouting.” Margie stepped out onto the porch, her worried expression shutting Kyle up faster than Dan’s raised voice. “Cat can hear you and she’s already scared enough.”
Why the hell was Margie here? And Cat?
Kyle caught and held Dan’s gaze. And smelled his best friend’s rising anxiety.
No, not anxiety. Fear.
He and Dan didn’t feel fear. It’d been bred out of them long ago.
Shit. Whatever was going on was big. And bad.
He slipped into soldier mode without a second thought.
“Tam, go with Margie. Now.”
He made it an order and knew the second the words left his mouth, he never should have spoken to her like that.
Kiss of Moonlight (Lucani Lovers Book 1) Page 14
