I couldn’t find my voice for a moment. Being held by him was all I needed. Nothing made sense except huddling in his arms, being kissed.
“Why did you have to be married, you jerk?” I mumbled, burying my face in his chest.
He squeezed me and kissed my head, tender as a dove.
* * *
I must have drifted into sleep, or lost consciousness, because the next thing I knew, I was lying flat across the helicopter seats and a white tiger was sniffing all around me.
Make that two white tigers.
And some sort of… what the hell was that? It looked like a big gangly lion, with no mane.
All three animals were sniffing me. I froze, trying to tell myself it was perfectly normal to be suspended in the air in a helicopter while three wild animals decided whether or not to make you their lunch.
Logically, I knew it was just Sebastian, Isabel and presumably Lucas in shifted form. My human survival instinct wasn’t so easily calmed.
One tiger transformed back into a naked blonde woman. Right in front of me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, hardly believing what I’d just seen.
Isabel shook her blonde hair out, totally unselfconsciously. Pulling her clothes back on, she called out “It’s okay, Seb. Lucas, you can come back too. She’s okay.”
The tiger and the liger - was that what Sebastian called Lucas? A liger? - circled the seats. Then, before I could say a word, they pinged back into human form. Two naked men, a decade apart, stood next to the now clothed Isabel.
It was breathtaking. I gawped at them, speechless.
Lucas threw his jeans on, but Sebastian came straight over to me, in the buff.
“We had to shift to be sure you were fine,” he said. “Our animal senses are so much sharper than our human ones.”
I nodded, dumbly.
“It’s looking good, Fin!” Lucas grinned, stretching his slouchy jersey shirt back over his head. “You didn’t have a stroke or anything.”
Isabel shook her head, annoyed. “Don’t frighten her with that sort of talk! Finola, we just needed to be sure there was nothing untoward going on. Anything that my human medical training couldn’t pick up without equipment. I’m delighted to say you seem in perfect health right at this moment.”
Words still escaped me. The moment of their transformations kept replaying in my head, like a YouTube clip.
Finally, I managed to say something.
“You people,” I croaked, “are fucking incredible.”
“Thanks,” Lucas beamed.
I looked up at Sebastian. “You might want to put some clothes on, though.”
“Ah.” He looked down at himself. “Why change the habit of a lifetime, though?”
He hugged me close and I felt right at that moment like it was all going to be all right. The feeling evaporated immediately after. It was nice while it lasted.
22
The hotel was plush and airy, with modern, minimalist decor. Quite the opposite of Sebastian’s stately home, with its tapestries and antiques everywhere. The clean lines and emptiness were kind of therapeutic. I needed calm and quiet, after the urgency of our escape.
My room was huge and white, with vast windows on two sides overlooking the Dublin streets. The drapes were drawn closed for the night. I peeped round them.
A few people ambled round the city streets, even at this late hour.
How many people out there knew shifters existed, I wondered to myself?
How many of them were shifters? The thought blew my mind for a second.
Sebastian shut the door and undid the buttons at his cuffs.
“You should lie down. You fainted, remember?”
I didn’t feel like lying down. The industrial-strength painkillers Isabel had managed to get me from Reception were helping. My legs still trembled, but the pounding in my temples had subsided a little.
“Are you going to explain to me what’s going on?” I slid back into a dove-grey armchair and tucked my legs under me. “You said there was nothing seriously wrong. So why do I need to lie down?”
“We’ll wait for the others. We just need to ask a few more follow-up questions. There’s something we need to check out.”
“But what for?”
Just then, the door opened. Isabel and Lucas walked in, followed by Rufus. They sat down on the various sofas and chairs dotted around that part of the room. Sebastian paced the floor, waiting for everyone to settle.
“Okay,” he said. “Finola, tell us exactly what happened in the helicopter.”
Isabel sat forward and watched me closely.
I tried to remember what had hit me just a few moments earlier.
“Okay. Well… I had a sort of hallucination, I guess. Brought on by the migraine.”
Sebastian, Lucas, Isabel and Rufus looked at each other in turn.
“A sound-based hallucination, or a visual one?” Isabel said, with an intensity that took me aback.
“Kind of both. Like… I don’t know, like a fully immersive experience. It’s nothing to worry about, guys. I’ve had migraines like this before. For years.”
Nobody said anything. They caught each other’s eyes once more and glanced away.
“Guys, you said it yourself. There’s nothing medically wrong with me. Migraines are normal. I used to get them a lot in my teens. What’s the big deal?”
“Could you describe the hallucinations a little more?” said Rufus.
Why they were all suddenly so interested in my headaches?
“Right. Well, it’s a cave. Or a tunnel underground. Something like that, I guess… So there’s this cave, and I’m inside. And… and it’s dark. People are singing or… something.”
Sebastian cut in. “Is every migraine the same? Or do you have lots of different hallucinations?”
I tried to think carefully about the words he was saying. My brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool.
“Yes. No. Well, yes. Whenever I’ve hallucinated, it’s always been the same stuff happening. Underground, darkness, yadda yadda. Sometimes I’m running toward something. Sometimes I’m being pinned down. I don’t know. It must be claustrophobia or something, acted out by my brain when it’s under stress. Right?”
This explanation was the one the emergency room doctor had given, when I was doubled over with pain at fifteen. It sounded pretty logical to me.
Isabel gasped. Lucas swore softly to himself.
With a featherlight touch, Sebastian smoothed a wave of hair back from my forehead. “You need to tell us more detail about these migraines. And the hallucinations.”
I thought for a moment. “I just told you all this. Well, I guess it starts with a headache. Just a regular headache. Then that gets worse and I know the migraine is coming, long before it hits me. I’m always in a cave, or underground. It’s dark. I’m on the ground, or in a big hollow, or dark space of some kind. There’s a standard soundtrack too. Chanting and yelling and water dripping.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “And you’ve had this since your teens?”
I looked between them all, confused. “Well, yeah. Not so many these days. Teenage hormones made it all worse, the doctor said. I used to just take real heavy duty pain meds and go to bed for a day. Keeping still and lying flat helped.”
Sebastian grimaced and rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger. “Oh, Finola,” he said.
His tone was altogether too muted. He almost sounded upset.
It made me nervous.
Why wasn’t he teasing me, or trying to lift my spirits with a joke? Why was everyone behaving so oddly?
Dread snaked through my veins.
“Please. Sebastian. What are you trying to say? You think I’m sick after all? Is it serious?”
Again, the silence was overwhelming.
I tried again, desperation rising in my gut. “Isabel? You’re the doctor. You said I was okay back there. Am I sick?”
But Isabel still didn’t say a word. She just looked at Sebast
ian, her face pinched and pale.
Sebastian’s brow furrowed deeply. Without meaning to, I reached out my thumb to smooth it back down. He let me, but he didn’t say a word for several minutes. His face seemed to cloud over.
“Finola,” he said, finally. “I think perhaps you have the gift of sight.”
No one moved or spoke. The discreet hum of the air conditioning was the only background noise.
I laughed, slightly too loudly. Sebastian’s words sent a chill down my spine.
“Who doesn’t have the gift of sight, in this room? We can all see, right?” I looked around the room with a big grin on my face..
Still nobody laughed. They just looked at me, solemn and somber, then at each other.
“Finola,” said Isabel. “This is important.”
“You need to listen to Sebastian now,” added Lucas.
“Okay, I’ll listen,” I said, brightly. “I’ll listen. Hey, you know what? That’s no problem at all, because… I have the gift of hearing too!”
I laughed uproariously again, a hysterical note creeping in.
Sebastian steadied my head with both hands.
“Finola. You’ve got to take this seriously.”
I squirmed in his grasp, but then gave in to it. “I am.”
He pulled me a half-inch nearer. “If I’m right about this, you’re going to have more experiences like this. You need to focus. Stay calm.”
“My team on the ground think Lavery is pretty nearby,” said Rufus. “It could be because of that.”
Sebastian nodded.
There was a lump in my throat. My voice shook as I said “What do you mean? How do you know he’s near?”
I tried to hop off Sebastian, but he held me firmly.
“We’re all wondering if a dormant visionary ability has been reactivated in you,” Isabel said. “Certain types of migraine in Plainfolk are actually caused by latent magical ability. It happens sometimes when magical genes are suppressed by the non-magical side of the self. Or if magical ability has been pushed back consciously, by the brain.. After a while, it… bursts through.”
“Huh?” I rubbed the back of my neck, perplexed.
“Isabel’s right,” Sebastian said. His face looked tragic.
I snorted, still chuckling to myself. The laughter concealed a very real sense of panic at their reaction.
“What is up with you guys today? You’re talking in riddles. Why the sad clown faces? What are you trying to say?”
“There’s more to it,” Isabel began. “There’s something you ought to-“
“Enough,” barked Sebastian. His face was terrifying. Isabel stopped talking, a strange look on her face.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” All of a sudden, I felt scared and vulnerable.
Sebastian gripped my face in both hands. “Finola, listen to me. This sucks for you. And I wish it wasn’t true, because you’re completely unprepared for it. But-“. He cleared his throat. “If you really do have… an ability, you’re going to need our help.”
Isabel stared intently at Sebastian, eyebrows raised. “Are you going to pass on the rest of that information, Seb?”
“No.”
“She deserves to know the truth,” insisted Isabel.
Sebastian glared at her.
Lucas put on a cheerful face. “Hey Fin, you’re part-witch!” he said. “Sweet!”
The nervous laughter stopped abruptly. My face dropped.
“What did you say?”
“Finola,” said Sebastian, “I think we might have found your magical heritage.”
The hotel room spun around me and the sides seemed to fall away. I buried my face in Sebastian’s neck, while he hugged me tight enough to block out the world.
23
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”
I stood with my hands on my hips as Sebastian closed the door behind the others.
“You need to stay calm.”
“Don’t tell me what I need to do. Answer the question.”
He locked the door and switched off the overhead lighting, leaving on just a couple of softly-lit lamps. The room was cast in a twilight glow.
“Finola, I’ve told you about the very strong likelihood that there’s magical DNA of some sort in your lineage. This just proves it further.”
“But what did Isabel mean? She said there was more to it. And you stopped her talking. Why?”
He stood before me, staring down at my upturned face. As always, his solid frame made me feel small.
“Can I let you into a secret, Finola?”
I nodded, bracing myself for the revelation.
“I’ve been wanting to get you alone again all evening. May I?”
He took my hands off my hips and kissed each of them in turn.
It was so corny, but I couldn’t help but smile.
“You’re such a silver-tongued charmer, Sebastian Chase,” I said. “I won’t forget this question, you know. I’ll keep asking.”
“Of course,” he said. Then he turned my hand over and kissed very lightly just inside my wrist. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
There was a brittleness to his manner, even though he was smiling and flirting a little. There was something wrong. I couldn’t puzzle out what it was.
He already knew I had some magical blood. In fact, he had been matter-of-fact about it, when I freaked out.
So what had him so rattled now?
“Sebastian? Can you do something for me?”
He looked deep into my eyes. “Anything. Everything.”
“Can you be honest with me, right now?”
He breathed in fully, then exhaled with a groan. “All right. Yes, I can. Ask me anything and I will answer you truthfully.”
“What are you feeling right now?”
He looked relieved at the question. His hands moved up to circle my wrists. Stepping forward, he looked right down to my face, close enough to press his lips to mine if he wanted to. Then he guided my hands round his waist so I was holding on to him.
“Hard.”
“Sebastian-“
“You can confirm it, if you like.” He brushed his lips across my cheek and up the side of my neck to my jawbone. My eyes began to close with the rush of desire he caused.
I didn’t check. But I really wanted to.
“What else are you feeling?” I whispered, tipping my head back and letting him trace patterns over my neck with his lips.
“Concerned. Tired. Frustrated. Angry.” He guided my hand from his waist to the bulge in his pants. “Keen.”
I bit my lip and stroked the rock-hard form under my fingers. My heart fluttered. He set off a wild longing in me that I couldn’t keep under wraps, no matter how much I tried.
As I caressed him through the fabric, he pushed back a little against my hand. Then, unapologetically, he just grabbed me and kissed me full on the mouth.
Grabbing each side of his face, I dug my fingernails into his scalp as we kissed. I felt feverish with the need to align our bodies once more.
Our teeth clashed and my lips were sore, but I didn’t care. We couldn’t slow down. We had to consume each other.
We kissed fiercely and boldly, running our hands over each other’s clothes like we couldn’t control ourselves. Maybe we couldn’t. I’m not sure I could have stopped touching him, right there in that moment, for anything.
It was as though nothing in the world mattered except making sure his hard cock found its way inside me, shoving right into the very core of my being. Like that was the entire point of living.
His tongue danced around mine and the throbbing between my legs was only heightened. I clawed at his shirt, still locked in our kiss.
“Rip it, if you want,” he said. “Do it.”
The desperation to be filled and possessed by him reached its peak. I wrenched the front of his shirt apart and the buttons whizzed off like popping corn. His sculpted chest lay underneath, luring me in.
He kicked it aside as I covered his chest in tiny kisses and traced the contours of his muscles with my tongue.
My tongue reached his bellybutton and the hard slope of his hips. I looked up at him, aching with longing.
“I need to taste you,” I panted. “I want to feel you in my mouth now.”
He said nothing, but laced his hands into my unruly hair, letting me yank down his pants and free the part of him I craved most at that moment.
I moaned a little as Sebastian’s massive cock sprang into sight, twitching urgently to his bellybutton.
He stood tall and immoveable before me, almost nude. His thigh muscles flexed and I bit one impulsively.
With a quick pull, and a little cooperation from him at stepping up and over, I discarded his pants as fast as his shirt.
“You’re mine,” I hissed. “Mine.”
Sebastian grunted sharply as I slipped the glossy tip of his cock between my lips.
“Always,” he muttered. “Fuck, yes… Always.”
I lapped at the ridge and darted my tongue across its opening, tasting the tangy juices. Gliding my mouth down the shaft, I slipped it out and into my fist, licking and sucking at his balls.
He grunted his pleasure at me, hands wrapped so tightly in my hair it almost hurt. I felt his rigid member engorge even more in my mouth and hands, pulsing with the need for release.
Just as I thought he might shoot his load down my throat, he pulled away from me.
“On there,” he growled, pointing at the bed. “Now.”
Before I could move, he picked me up with just one arm and threw me onto it. His eyes gleamed with predatory lust as he climbed on, kneeling in front of me. His cock bobbed angrily.
I wriggled and squirmed, soaking wet and burning for his touch. Without waiting to be asked, I pulled off my own clothes and shoved my hands down my drenched panties.
He nodded, watching every move.
“Touch your clit, Finola. Take your panties off so I can see you.”
I obeyed, spreading my slick juices all over my red-hot pussy. The feeling made me cry out.
Tiger Billionaire: The Whole Story (BBW Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Box Set) Page 15
