If his pride was injured by her little joke, he didn’t show it. He returned to the mare’s head, and the horse settled instantly. There was no denying that he was almost magic with animals.
A few minutes passed without any words between them. The mare pushed, and Sarah pulled. Inch by inch the foal made his way out and into the world. Grant’s hands shook to the point that he could no longer control them, and sweat covered every exposed part of his body.
"I have to go,” he said, but stayed put.
Sarah could see the ridge of the foal’s hipbone making it’s way out. They were so close. "Twenty more seconds.”
"Now.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Sarah saw a line of stitching on his shirt start to pop. She lifted her head.
“What the hell?”
“Now,” he demanded. His voice was deeper, much deeper than it had been before. She watched as his hands stretched and grew on the mare’s mane. It had to be an illusion. There was no way he could be growing larger before her eyes.
"Ten seconds," she said, her voice faint.
Ten. Nine. Eight.
“Come on now, little guy. I need you to come out now. Right now,” she whispered to the foal.
For once, somebody up above must have been listening to her. The foal’s hips popped free. After that the rest of his body slid out easily.
"Now.”
Sarah nodded. "Now."
Grant flew up from floor. He was out the door before she could blink.
Sarah stayed behind to see to her patients. The mare nuzzled and licked her new baby, all of her struggles forgotten. The foal tried out his shaky legs. It might have been the strangest birth that she had ever been a part of, but it looked like everyone involved had come out of it just fine.
Her relief was short-lived. A moment later, Grant was storming back into the stall. He grasped onto her upper arm and, with a grip as strong as iron, pulled her into the hall.
“You promised me,” he growled.
A stream of nonsense sounds sputtered from Sarah’s lips as he drug her across the hard floor. Finally, her thoughts caught up with her mouth.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with your sick games,” she protested. “Let me go.”
“I kept my word. I stayed and helped you. Now you have to help me, Dr. McIntire, or terrible things are going to happen.”
He whipped her around and into the last stall. Sarah stumbled, barely regaining her footing before she crashed into the far wall. Her hands grasped onto the heavy curtain that hung from ceiling to floor. The fastenings gave way under her weight revealing a pair of dark metal manacles dangling from chains just above her head. She looked down and saw a matching pair at her feet.
Sarah swiveled around, ready to tell him that he could go to hell. The words lodged halfway up her throat. Everything inside of her froze. All she could do was stare in disbelief as the impossible unfolded before her eyes.
Grant LaCroix was changing into someone…something else.
The angles of his face sharpened. His muscles bulged and grew. His shoulders and hips widened, and his clothes began to split under the strain.
He had one shoe off. He tried for a moment to kick off the second, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Boot,” he barked at her, as he raced to the wall. He wriggled his wrists into the massive iron bands. They barely fit.
He continued to try to scrape his boots off on the floor as she stared at him. His eyes met hers—the same drop-dead gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that had floored her the moment that she’d stepped out of the truck.
She might not have any idea what was going on, but she did know that inside that creature was a person. A creature who needed her help.
Sarah stripped off her gloves and grabbed hold of his boot. She had to dig her heels into the floor to get enough leverage to dislodge it. She wrenched the shackle up his ankle, wincing as she felt it scrape against his raw skin.
“I’m sorry,” she said, hoping Grant could still hear her.
His body went completely still under her touch. A change came over the stall. The air felt heavier, thicker. Sarah was suddenly very aware of her position lying prostrate at his feet. She drew in a shaky breath, then another. Finally, she gathered enough courage to look up.
A stranger’s face, hard and powerful, stared down at her.
Sarah scooted backward as fast as she could. Hay and dust flew out behind her. She didn't stop until her back hit the hard wood of the stable door. She sucked in breaths in giant gulps, so fast that they burned her lungs. The sound of her blood rushing in her ears blocked out all other sounds as she looked up at the monster that was before her.
No, monster wasn’t the right word. The thing tied to wall with leather and metal was very much a man, just not the one who she had put there. This one was a wall of muscle. His chest and limbs had grown large enough to rip away the clothes that had covered Grant. His face had changed as well, there was still the same ruffled dark hair, the same stubble-line jaw but it too had grown bigger and wider. Then there were those eyes—bright green, the color of damn Irish grass, for God’s sake. She had never seen those color eyes before, not on anyone or anything.
He stared at her long and hard. She knew the look—focused, determined and hungry. So damn hungry. It was a predator's gaze. She clenched her eyes shut and turned her head away.
She knew she should get up. She should run like hell to the truck. She should drive through the night until she was back home, and never come back. With enough time, she might be able to convince herself that none of this had happened—that it had all been nothing more than a dream, a stress induced delusion.
"You don't want to run.”
Sarah’s eyes popped open.
He could still talk. And he didn’t sound like a monster. No snarling. No growling. Instead his voice was low and confident. It rumbled with all the bass that she would expect of a creature of his size, but behind it was a calm control that made goose bumps run down her arms.
She lifted her head and dared another look. The longer she looked the more her fear began to subside. Curiosity took its place. What had happened to Grant? Was he still in there somewhere? How had the transformation taken place? Would he change back? Her mind swam with questions.
He was right. She didn’t want to run, not really. She wanted answers. Besides, how dangerous could this thing really be?
Exceedingly, her better judgment screamed at her.
Maybe, but he was restrained—chained to the wall. She had looked after aggressive animals before. If he started to get agitated, she had enough tranquilizers back in her bag to put this whole stable under.
Sarah tried to stand but her legs wobbled beneath her. Apparently there was still a good amount of adrenaline rushing around in her system. She leaned against the wall for support.
He smiled. The sight nearly knocked the resolve right out her.
"I knew you didn’t want to leave," he said. Smug satisfaction dripped from every word.
Sarah stared at him. "Grant?”
He shook his head, the only part of him not tied up. “You don’t need to worry about Grant right now.”
Worry about me. The threat hung in the air.
Sarah never responded well to intimidation. She risked a step away from the wall. Her knees still trembled, but they held. She narrowed her eyes. “What the hell just happened?”
“Come a little closer and I’ll tell you.”
A shiver ran from her crown all the way down to the soles of her feet at his low tone. It was not a cold shiver of warning that she would have understood. No, this was worse. This was an electric surge that awoke every nerve in her body. She wanted to step closer…but she didn’t. There was a name for creatures that fell for the seductive ploys of predators.
Lunch.
“I can hear you well enough from over here.”
“All right then,” he said, his voice dripping with control. “Let me down from here and I�
�ll show you.”
Sarah shook her head, even as she shuffled a few inches closer. She glanced up at chains restraining his massive frame. The links looked to be a good quarter inch thick. She doubted even an angry tiger could bend them.
“Grant wanted you restrained for a reason.”
He laughed. Even his mocking was alluring. “Grant is an overly cautious man, never quite willing to take what he wants. He liked the looks of you though.”
Sarah shook her head, not quite sure what she was denying anymore. His words? The transformation she had witnessed? The pull this creature exerted over her?
“This can’t be happening. None of this is real,” she said. There was nothing in the realm of reason that allowed for any of this. There had to be another explanation. It didn’t matter how farfetched. “I must be dreaming. That has to be it.”
“You don’t believe that.”
She didn’t. Everything—the crunch of the hay beneath her shoes, the chill night air on her face, even the deep rumble of his voice—was too real to be a dream.
“Nothing else makes sense,” she said.
“If this is dream, then there’s no danger in coming closer.”
“And no real reason to either.”
“I could give you lots of reasons.” His smile deepened.
“I’m sure you have plenty.”
“Oh, I do.” His gaze swept over her, pausing on each of her curves—her breasts, the tuck of waist, the v of her legs. Sarah squirmed under his scrutiny but tried her best to temper her blush. It was obvious that this thing wanted a reaction out of her. There was no way she could hope to control it if she couldn’t even control herself.
“You’re being crude,” she said.
“And you’re burning so hot I can almost taste it. You have been from the moment that you stepped down from that truck and saw Grant standing there. He turns you on. And so do I.”
She shook her head violently in denial. “That’s not true.”
“Then why are you still sneaking toward me, when all your better judgment tells you to run?”
Sarah stopped cold. She looked back at the stable wall. She’d made it halfway to him and hadn’t even realized it.
“I’m a doctor and a scientist. You intrigue me. There’s a difference.” It was true, so why did it sound like a lie?
“Then by all means, come over and satisfy your curiosity. Touch me. Examine me.”
He watched her through narrowed eyes as she took one step forward and then another. It was almost as his will was the thing pulling her closer. She stopped an arm’s length away. Maybe he’d only waited until she came closer to snap the chains. She glanced up at the bolts screwed deep into the concrete wall. They looked to be holding tight.
Hesitantly, Sarah reached out her hand. Her fingertips brushed against the skin of its chest. It felt normal enough on the surface, warm and taut and smooth. But underneath she felt an unnatural power roiling within him, an almost magnetic force pulling her closer. She snatched back her hand with a hiss.
“Again,” he said. “Touch me again.”
She should have laughed at him. Mocked him the way he’d been mocking her. He was the helpless one, the one chained to the wall. The only control he had over her was what she granted him. She didn’t have to listen to his commands.
But she wanted to. Heaven help her, she wanted to feel whatever that was pulsing through him again.
Trembling, she held her fingers out again, inching closer until her palm lay flat against him. Beneath the hard muscle, she felt the pounding of his heart. Every beat seemed to drag her deeper into his trance. She dragged her hand across the wide plane of his chest to his shoulder down his arm. Every part of him was solid. Every inch hummed with strength that called out to her.
There was something hypnotic about the feel of his skin, but she couldn’t pretend, not even to herself, that her examination hadn’t crossed into something else. She was caressing him plain and simple, touching him because she wanted to, because she needed to.
It took all her resolve to pull her hand away from his arm. Sarah looked up at his face. Those unnatural green eyes knowingly stared into hers.
She shouldn’t be touching him. She sure as hell shouldn’t be lusting after him. She should be on the other side of the stall, asking questions and making observations, not petting him like a damn puppy. She’d just watched him turn from Jekyll to Hyde, for God’s sake. She still had no idea what he really was or what he was capable of.
Sarah swallowed down past her fear. “What are you?” she asked.
“I am the monster that lives at the core of the man.”
“Explain.” Damn the shake in her voice.
“I am the truest part of Grant, the part he tries the hardest to deny. I am his curse.”
“Curse?” She tried out the explanation on her tongue.
“Every full moon I am released. All the desires he tries so hard to keep control over, I demand them.”
Sarah leaned in closer to study its eyes. She wished for a second that she had her flashlight on her, but she didn’t dare walk away now. She would just have to make do with the residual light from the hall and soft blue moon glow. Flecks of deep amber shone deep within them—the color of Grant's eyes. They caught the light and shone bright with in the sea of emerald green. He was in there somewhere.
“You’re still Grant, just a different part of him.”
“I doubt he would agree with you.” His breath drifted across her cheek like a caress as he spoke.
Sarah shuffled back a step. She’d come too close. She looked down at the floor for a moment to regain her composure. It wasn’t a good idea to forget exactly what he was—a chained predator.
But her body didn’t want to listen to reason. Everything inside of her wanted to move closer, to touch him, to press herself against him, but she resisted. She was stronger than this. She was stronger than him.
After taking a few deep breaths, Sarah raised her head to find him studying her.
“You’re a lot like him, you know,” he said.
“Grant?”
He nodded slowly. His eyes never left hers. “You both want the same things, but you refuse to give in to your desires.”
She immediately straightened her spine. “You don’t know a thing about me.”
“Of course I do. I see the longing in your eyes. I felt the craving in your touch.”
Sarah forced a laugh. “You’re just trying to manipulate me. It won’t work.”
His wolfish smile grew. It dripped with satisfaction. The sight of it hit Sarah low in the belly. “It already has. I know what you really want. You know I can give it to you. That’s why you haven’t run away, Sarah. You want me to do those things that you’ve been too afraid to ask anyone else for.”
“Liar.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. Her knees began to tremble beneath her. She locked them, praying they wouldn’t give out beneath her. She was in way over her head.
“Am I?” His gaze sharpened. “You want me above you. You want these arms to hold you down. You want me to control you. You want me take you so hard and fast that you lose yourself.”
Sarah’s head spun. She tried to shake out the thoughts but they were lodged inside. She couldn’t think of anything else. She’d never asked one of her boyfriends for anything like that. She was always the one in control, of her life, of her career, of her relationships. She never gave up control, not even for an instant. This thing was crazy if he thought that she was going to hand something so precious over to him as easy as that.
She didn’t need him to tell her what she wanted. She’d always done everything on her own—moving away, going to school, earning the respect of her peers. She could see to her own desires.
“You’re forgetting something,” Sarah said as she stepped closer again. She placed her palms flat against his torso. His skin was hot and unyielding. She dragged her fingers down the length of his chest until she reached the flat plane of his belly.
The sensation of the simple friction felt good. It felt really good. Better than a simple caress should feel. “You’re the one who’s chained up and helpless.”
His muscles tensed. The chains holding him creaked and groaned under the stress. Sarah froze. Her head snapped up. His eyes were as hard as emeralds. She only breathed out when his shackles held.
“For now.” His voice was low and heavy with the promise of what he would do if the chains ever broke.
Sarah’s head filled with images again. The warm spot between her legs began to grow. Her boldness grew with it. She looked down at the bulge of his erection. It threatened to rip through what was left of his jeans.
A wry smile lifted the corner of his mouth, as though he was amused by the unsophisticated nature of her seduction. But there was an undeniable tension there too. She might be a little out of practice, but she was still effective.
Swallowing down the dual pills of pride and fear, she plunged her hand down his waistband. His groan filled the stables as she curled her hand around the hard ridge of his cock.
She wasn't prepared for the feeling that swelled within her at the bold action. It wasn't control. She still didn't feel that, not with his steady eyes on her. But lust. It roared so loud within her that it drowned out every other sound in her head. It nearly knocked her down.
Down. That was where she wanted to go. Where she needed to go.
Sarah fell to her knees. She pulled at the last button that remained on his ravaged pants and pulled hard. She pulled his cock from his pants. Her eyes widened at the sight of it. It was indeed every bit as large as he was.
Everything about the situation felt unreal. She’d never been swept away by desire before. She’d always choose safe boyfriends and had lukewarm sex. Her body went along for the ride, but her head always stayed firmly behind. This was nothing like that. Her mind swam in a haze of desire.
"Do it," he said, his voice rough and controlling.
He might be tethered to the wall, but he was far from helpless.
Bound By Desire (The Acadian Curse) Page 2
