Scions: Revelation

by Patrice Michelle

  Instead of grabbing her hand, he shoved his glove on her left hand, then motioned for her right. Emma scooted forward and while she waited for him to put the other glove on her, she watched the falling snow coat his black hair, turning it salt and pepper.

  Now that she was fully gloved, he’d let go of one hand and she expected him to let go of the other. Instead, he leaned down a bit and jerked her forward.

  Emma let out a slight yelp when she found herself lying facedown across his shoulder. “What are you doing?” Her voice was muffled against his thigh-length black coat.

  He shut the door and locked the vehicle, then jammed the keys into his front pocket. Shifting her body a bit on his shoulder, he said, “I can get you there much faster if I carry you.”

  “I seriously doubt that.” Emma snorted and reached up to tuck her coat tighter around her hips to keep out the snow. “I might be several inches shorter than you, but my legs work just fine.” A heavy hand came down on her butt. “Ow! What was that for?”

  Caine glanced her way and slid on a pair of sunglasses. “I suggest you cover your eyes. The snow’s going to sting them otherwise.”

  The snow was coming down in fat, soft flakes. A gust of wind made it blow softly into her face. “I think I’ll survive.”

  “Ready?” Caine grabbed hold of her butt underneath her coat.

  Despite the cold, her face burned at his possessive, intimate hold. “Hey!” She stiffened and smacked his thigh. “Paws off!”

  Caine grunted. “When I grab your butt for real, Emma, you’ll know it.” As if for effect, his fingers spread wide across her rear and he caressed her butt cheek, before he gave it a firm, “this is all mine” squeeze.

  Despite her flaming cheeks, Emma’s breasts tingled and her stomach clenched in response. “Caine!”

  He laughed. “Time to go.”

  Before she could say a word, they were flying through the woods. Damn, he can run fast. Maybe he’s an athlete, Emma thought, then realized with swift shock that she knew nothing about this man, other than the fact he’d rescued her and her brain refused to work whenever he was near. Then again, circumstances being what they were, they’d started off in the strangest of situations. She couldn’t explain why she trusted him, but she did. Implicitly.

  During Caine’s rapid uphill trek, snow fell on them twice from the heavily laden trees above, and now her coat and the back of her pants were soaked. She began to shiver all over. Her teeth chattered and her lips had probably changed to a lovely shade of “popsicle” blue. The wind had really picked up as he ran. She was frozen to the point of numbness. “How much longer? I’m so tired.”

  Caine’s grip tightened around her. He never broke his stride as he ordered in a sharp tone, “Stay awake, Emma. We’re almost there.”

  A few minutes later, when her eyes had begun to droop once more, Caine’s fast pace slowed. Then he stopped and set her down on her feet.

  Emma was shivering so hard, she could barely keep her eyes open. Caine’s warm fingers touched her cheeks. Tilting her chin up, his gaze searched her face and his tone turned rough with concern. “Hey, stay with me. We’ll be inside in a second.”

  They were standing on the porch of a cabin-style house. The roof above gave them some relief from the gusting wind and blowing snow, while Caine’s intoxicating smell melted her stomach and his tingling touch encouraged her frozen skin back to life.

  Without a second thought, Emma pressed his hot hands to her face, then turned her mouth toward one of his palms. Kissing the warm surface, she closed her eyes and relished in his glorious heat. “Wh-why aren’t your ha-hands freezing? I want your metabolism.”

  A low growl rumbled from his throat before the hand she was kissing slid into her hair. His fingers pressed against the back of her neck and he cupped her jaw in a possessive hold, his thumb turning her face upward.

  Emma’s breath caught when Caine leaned close. An invisible electric current hummed between them, its magnetic pull irresistibly strong. Up close, she realized with giddy delight that Caine’s bottom lip was fuller than the top—the man had such kissable lips. That sexy mouth was less than an inch away from hers and she was so ready to feel their sizzle once more. Her gaze locked with his fierce hazel one, and her stomach sucked inward as she waited for him to close the small distance between them; to warm her from head to toe.

  Caine’s fingers flexed a couple times against the base of her skull before he took a step back. “Let’s go inside and get warmed up.”

  The gruff edge in his voice confused her. A second ago he’d been about to kiss her. She’d swear he was. Wrapping her arms around her shivering body, she followed him into the cabin.

  After Caine shut the door behind them, Emma stamped her feet to keep warm. She didn’t think it was possible, but the house was even colder than outside. Caine turned on a couple of electric lanterns he’d pulled from under a cabinet in the kitchen, then walked over and handed her one. As he set the other lantern on the kitchen counter, she held hers up to see the rest of the cabin.

  To her immediate left was a sofa, chairs and a huge polished tree stump that doubled for a coffee table. There were two doors to each side of the main room, which she assumed led to bedrooms and probably a bathroom. A kitchenette took up the nearest corner to her right and a bed took up the far right corner of the main room. Emma’s gaze locked with longing on the stone fireplace in the far left corner. Her entire body shivered, rocking the lantern she held up. “Pl-please tell me you have wood out back somewhere.” Billows of frosty breath floated in front of her, making her even more aware of the depth of the chill in the house.

  “This house depends solely on heat from the fireplace.” Caine blew on his hands and rubbed them together, mumbling, “Even my body temperature is dropping from the prolonged exposure.”

  Emma shook her head when he walked over to stand near her. It was the first she’d seen him react to the cold. Sheesh, did the guy think he was immune?

  He glanced at her, his gaze serious. “Someone followed us for a while. It may have been them. I’m pretty sure I lost them in the storm, but I don’t want to take a chance. Once the snow stops falling, the smoke from a fire could alert them to our location. There’s a space heater that will provide a small amount of heat for us.”

  Emma realized she didn’t even know where their location was. She shivered uncontrollably. “Wh-where are we?”

  “We’re in the Shawangunk Mountains.” Caine’s jaw tensed. “I have a feeling the people who took you won’t give up looking for you so easily.”

  Emma’s throat closed and she blinked several times to keep tears from surfacing. “I’m so scared, Caine. They took my aunt and—” her voice began to quiver “—I don’t know what they want from me.”

  Caine put his hands on her shoulders and frowned. “You didn’t know the people who took you?”

  Emma shook her head in frantic jerks. “No! I have no idea who they were or why they took a sample of my blood. Maybe they wanted to check my blood type and see if I was compatible so they could steal a kidney or something.” Her eyes widened. “Your friend, the man you sent to that address…he won’t call the police, will he? They took my aunt and told me ‘no police.’”

  Caine began to unbutton her coat with rapid movements. “No, he won’t call the police.”

  A blast of cold air hit Emma in the chest the moment he opened her coat, and she tried to step away. “What are you doing? I’m freezing!”

  He held firm to her coat, his dark gaze snapping to hers. “Your clothes are as wet as mine. The first thing we need to do is get out of them.”

  She smacked at his hands when he tried to push her jacket off her shoulders. “The first thing we need is heat before any of these clothes come off my body.”

  His lips thinned but he turned away from her and walked over to open a door in the kitchen area. When he came back carrying a small heater no bigger than a shoe box, she snorted in disbelief. “Th-that’s it?”
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  Caine set the heater on the floor near a twin-size bed, plugged it in, then turned it on. As he walked away toward one of the bedrooms, he called over his shoulder, “Set the lantern down and finish getting undressed.”

  Emma stared transfixed at the single bed he’d set the heater beside. “Where are you going to sleep?” she called after him. Approaching the bed, she set the lantern on the nightstand next to it.

  Caine reappeared with a stack of blankets in his arms. Setting them on the end of the bed, he stepped in front of her, his expression serious. “We’re sleeping in this bed. Your metabolism apparently can’t hold heat, so I’m your best shot at getting warm and staying that way.”

  “There must be other beds,” Emma started to say when he slid his hand under her hair and cupped the back of her neck. The blast of heat emanating from his palm and fingers sent glorious shivers down her spine. It wasn’t as hot as she remembered, but damn the man had an effective way of making his point.

  His smile held a touch of arrogance as he traced his thumb along her neck, leaving steamy lightning trails behind. “Take off your clothes, Emma.”

  Heat shot up her cheeks at the idea of undressing in front of him. “Can I have one of those blankets, please?”

  Caine released her and grabbed a blanket. His dark eyebrow elevated when he handed her the navy thermal cover. “Better?”

  Emma quickly nodded and gripped the thick blanket. “You, uh…are going to turn around, right?”

  Chuckling, Caine moved to the end of the bed and turned away, stripping out of his jacket. When he lifted his shirt over his head, revealing rippling muscles along his back, Emma swallowed a gulp. His hands shifted to his jeans and paused. “I don’t hear you making any progress.”

  Emma swiftly turned around and kicked off her shoes, then took a deep breath before she began to peel off her own wet clothes. Holding the blanket around her became an impossible task, especially with her fingers refusing to work in the cold air. Abandoning the blanket, she unbuttoned and began to shrug out of the tight wet jeans. Grunting in frustration, she had to wiggle and tug in a weird dance of hopping feet and chattering teeth before she finally freed her legs from the soggy material.

  “That was interesting.”

  Caine’s amused tone jerked her to attention. Emma had all but forgotten about him in her effort to be free of the suffocating frigid jeans. Standing there in her bra, underwear and socks, she quickly grabbed the blanket from the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders. Facing him, she narrowed her gaze. “That wasn’t meant for your entertainment.”

  He approached, his expression serious. Emma noticed that he’d tied a blanket low on his hips, leaving his gorgeous upper body on full display. Broad shoulders gave way to a narrow waist, but it was the trail of dark hair that started at his sculpted abs and disappeared past the blanket’s edge that drew her gaze. God, he was built.

  Taut stomach muscles flexed as he grabbed up her clothes from the floor and then held out his hand. “All of them.”

  Emma frowned, but moved to stand in front of the space heater while she peeled off the rest. The moment Caine walked away with their clothes, she called after him, “My aunt’s meds are in the coat pocket.” Shaking the last bit of snow out of her damp hair, she wrapped the blanket tight around her body before diving under the thin quilt and sheet on the twin bed.

  Even wrapped in the thermal blanket and underneath the quilt and sheet, she shook as much as the house did with the howling wind battering its walls from all sides. A door slammed and a dryer started up a few seconds before Caine stepped back into the main room and set her aunt’s medicine container on the kitchen table.

  She watched him through slitted eyes and chattering teeth as he covered the twin bed with five layers of blankets. The extra blankets didn’t really warm her, but the heavy weight made her eyelids slowly close. I could just fall asleep and the cold wouldn’t bother me anymore.

  It didn’t even faze her when the bed dipped. Caine was getting in. That’s nice. Her mind floated on a different plane, meandering down a path of cool darkness, seeking the sleep her body seemed to need.

  “Emma, no!”

  Caine’s sharp tone made her eyelids flutter, but they wouldn’t open. His hand touched her shoulder and she shrugged it away, murmuring, “Just let me sleep.”

  “Son of a bitch!” When he began to tug hard on the blanket she’d wrapped around herself, Emma’s heart jerked and this time her eyes flew open. She gripped the blanket. “What are you doing? Let go!”

  Caine didn’t even look at her. His expression held fierce determination as he continued to unwrap her body. “Your body temperature has dropped too much. You must get warm quickly.”

  She flinched at the anger in his voice. Caine’s gaze locked with hers and his jaw muscle began to jump. “You know I can provide the warmth your body needs, Emma.”

  He was right. Closing her eyes, she slowly nodded and let him unwrap the thermal blanket completely from her body. When warm hands clasped her waist and her back was yanked fully against a warm, hard chest, Emma couldn’t help the sigh of pleasure that escaped her lips.

  Pulling the covers back over them, Caine spooned her entire body with his, from the top of her shoulders to the back of her thighs. He even entwined his muscular legs with hers, sliding his warm feet along her lower calves and feet.

  For several minutes Emma just shivered from the contrast in his body temperature and hers before she began to glory in the warmth that enveloped her. Caine leaned close and breathed hard against her neck. She tensed until she realized he was using his breath to warm her. Only then did she relax against him.

  Caine felt the difference instantly when Emma’s body fully yielded. He’d been scared when he came into the room to find her already dozing. The moment he touched her and her body temperature was so low, fear drove him. He didn’t give a damn if she’d refused to give him permission. He’d have ripped the blanket off her anyway and dealt with her affronted anger later. She wasn’t going to die on him.

  In the short time he’d known her, Emma had become someone special, someone he wished hadn’t turned out to be a panther. She claimed not to know who kidnapped her, and instinctively he believed she was telling the truth, but what other secrets did she hide? She’d yet to admit she was something other than human. And why did the other panthers kidnap her and take her blood? The man who’d shoved his way through the truck window was too strong to be human. He had to be panther.

  Tons of questions flooded his mind as he wrapped his arms around Emma and tucked one hand underneath her armpit, then slid his other hand between her legs—the two areas he’d been trained in search and rescue to warm first to prevent hypothermia. When Emma didn’t question what he was doing and her eyelids began to droop, Caine’s chest tightened. He needed to keep her awake, at least until her body temperature was back to normal. “I saw schoolbooks at your house. Do you go to NYU? That’s a heck of a commute for you from Greenwood Lake.”

  Emma gave a tired laugh. “No, I have to take care of my aunt. She’s gotten to the point where she can’t drive as well as she used to. I didn’t like to have to cut her off, but I finally insisted on driving her to various doctor appointments, running errands for her and such. I’m too busy to be a full-time student. I’m in a part-time satellite program with the community college.”

  That’s a lot of responsibility for someone so young. Caine stared at her with respect. “What’s wrong with your aunt?”

  Emma sighed. “Age and I guess a family predisposition for ailments. My mom died young. I don’t remember her at all. My aunt has a heart condition.” Her body tensed. “God, I hope she’s all right.”

  Caine regretted reminding her about her aunt’s predicament. “If she was there, Landon will take care of her, Emma. Don’t worry.”

  They lay there for a good twenty minutes before he saw a bit of color start to return to her cheeks. After what she’d told him, Caine understood why Emma had
seemed mature and confident for her age. Taking care of an elderly aunt, she’d had to grow up fairly quickly. Once again, he realized just how much he appreciated the past support of his pack. Sadness knotted his throat now that he’d pretty much cut himself off from the Lupreda and faced life alone.

  The skin along Emma’s thigh was soft under his fingers and her earthy smell was driving his wolf nuts, making him want to howl. Caine couldn’t resist. He leaned close and inhaled deeply before he let his breath flow over her neck and down her back to warm her. Fierce pride welled within him to feel her skin warming under his touch. “What are you studying?”

  “Marketing. Having some college training under my belt should help me get a better-paying job. Instead of using my aunt’s savings for school, I can contribute to her retirement. I hope to switch to the university at some point if I can convince my aunt to move closer to town.”

  He could tell she was still worrying about her aunt. “As soon as this storm subsides, my cell’s reception should return and I’ll give Landon a call.” Sensing her anxiety, Caine released his tight hold on her body and sat up and leaned on his elbow to press his lips to her bare shoulder. “I’ll find out for you. I promise.”

  “Thanks.” Sighing, she arched her spine, then clasped the covers to her chest and rolled onto her back to meet his gaze in the dim light. “What about you? You’ve risked your life to save mine and I hardly know you. What do you do when you’re not saving girls who’ve been kidnapped?”

  I was Second in my Lupreda wolf pack. “I used to be a tour guide for the Shawangunk Mountains, and on the side, I led search-and-rescue teams if a hiker got lost. Now that I’m in town, I deliver packages among other small jobs here and there.”

  She let out a surprised laugh. “All that hiking must be what kept you fit. I assumed you were a professional athlete or trainer or something. You ran through the snow as if it wasn’t in your way. I know I couldn’t have kept up with you.”