by Dannika Dark
“To him, yes. I sensed his guilt. He lacks honor, but has a conscience.”
“Don’t pretend to have honor. Keep in mind how we met.”
“You’re going to throw that at me every chance you get, aren’t you? Well just remember where you are, and it’s not with Nero.” He pulled off the damp shirt and tossed it on the floor.
“Only because someone made you a better deal.”
“I’ve always preferred the better deal. Your arms will tire of holding that grudge,” he said, rising to his feet. “Find something better to hold.”
Logan stood in front of the dresser, holding a serene expression as he quenched his thirst with a long swallow of water. He screwed the cap back on the bottle and lifted his eyes. “Why do you look at me that way?”
“I’m not used to someone…”
“Say it.”
“I’ve been told I’m difficult, and not everyone handles it as well as you do.”
“Is that all?” He cocked his head to one side. “As it so happens, I like your mouth.”
“It doesn’t—”
“Challenge me?” He set the bottle down and moved to the end of the bed. “An outspoken woman makes the world a livable place. You have fire in you, and I would never put that out.”
“Do you think I did okay out there, Logan?”
The bed rocked as he crawled over the blanket and settled on his stomach. I got a little nervous around him, because I never knew what to expect. The way his eyes fixated on my mouth reminded me of how Justus would eye a plate of prime rib.
Minus the bib.
“What is it now?”
A throaty growl escaped. “I love the way you say my name. Say it again.”
“Why?”
“Because I asked you to,” he said softly.
“Logan,” I whispered, “pick up my dirty laundry.”
He wasn’t buying it—he stopped listening after his name.
“What shall we do with our morning?” he pondered.
I thought about the water from his shower, dripping down his glorious…
“Be right back,” he said, leaping off the bed.
I braided a strand of my hair while he made a phone call. The trip was a success, and that boosted my confidence. Being an immortal with super cool abilities lost its shine months ago. I wanted my life to have meaning, because for so many nights lying awake in bed, I felt adrift. At least now, we knew who we were dealing with, and had information on Marco’s motives. Nero was still searching for other potentials. Potential what, exactly?
Logan crawled over the bed like a panther.
Instead of doing anything devious, he pulled my feet into his lap. I frowned as the shoes fell to the floor and he caressed the soles, using deep circles with his thumbs. I was highly ticklish and when I pulled my foot away, it roused a satisfied laugh.
“I’ve never had anyone give me a foot massage.”
“Tell me all the things you’ve never experienced, and I will give them to you.”
“Promise?” I asked jokingly. “I’ve never been with a man wearing a dress.”
That snagged his attention.
“Define, been with.”
My feet were ancient history when he pushed them off his lap and caged me with his arms. His body heat licked me from neck to hip.
“I would put on a ball gown—the kind with a hundred-thousand sequins. Do you want to be with me, little raven?”
“Not after that mental snapshot,” I smiled.
Logan collapsed in the empty space beside me, throwing an arm over his head.
I spent the next half hour dissecting my feelings for Logan and examining them under a microscope. Staring at his profile made me want to know more about him. The events in our lives mark us, carve away the edges, and determine our shape as a sculpture to an artist. The slaying of his mate outlined the course of his life. Had she lived, we would have never met, and I wondered why that mattered. I knew who he was, but now I was starting to understand why he was.
Logan got up and paced across the carpet when a light knock interrupted us.
A young man with pale eyes pushed a food cart across the room. Logan tucked a bill in his hand and escorted him out, securing the locks. I bounced on my knees and lifted a silver lid. Sliced fruit filled the dish, while the others contained bacon, eggs, and sausages with a tomato garnish. He poured orange juice in two glasses and buttered a crescent roll. I reached for the last lid when he flattened his hand on top. “Don’t be greedy; one thing at a time.”
Unlike Adam (who had a conniption at the idea of eating in bed), Logan encouraged my lack of manners. When I licked the crumbs of bacon from my finger, he nodded just a little bit and smiled.
“Tell me about your brothers. Do you see them?”
His face beamed and a slice of cantaloupe vanished between his lips. “Leo is the eldest and watches over us, keeping the family united. I am the second in line, and Levi is third. He’s got it the hardest.”
“Why is that?”
“Levi is gay,” he said with a shrug.
“And?”
“There’s an expectation for us to mate and have young. For that reason, many do not accept homosexuals. I have a feeling most don’t care what goes on in the bedroom; it’s the fact they’re turning up their noses at continuing our line. He’s dealt with many harsh words in his life, so we keep an eye out for him. Levi has a hot temper, to say the least. Sometimes I think we’ve accepted him more than he has.”
“Who says he can’t have any kids?”
“I don’t think the world is ready for little Levi’s,” Logan laughed. “Right now, we’d settle for him finding a male of worth. He’s angry because he fears finding his kindred. Destiny or not, that male will never lay with a female.” He licked a crumb off his lip.
“Does he date other Chitah?”
Logan shook his head. “Most Chitah in his position buckle under the influence of family and settle for the opposite sex. Could you hand me the cream cheese?”
I hated the break in conversation because I found myself curious to know more about Logan. I loved the way his eyes lit up as he spoke of his family. With no brothers or sisters of my own, I envied the connection.
“Family bonds are strong, and most aren’t willing to sever those ties,” he said, smearing the knife across his roll. “Levi doesn’t date other Chitah, although I’m not sure why that is. He prefers to interbreed—just a loose term we call for fooling around with the opposite Breed.”
“Is that a bad thing? Justus never talks about social goodies like this, and his books are…”
“Dull?”
I huffed out a short laugh. “Apparently I have a lot to learn about our riveting history, but half of it doesn’t exist in books. So tell me, is dating between different Breeds socially acceptable?” I wiped my fingers with the napkin and reached for a few grapes.
“No. Even with humans, there’s little tolerance. If it’s nothing serious, then many will turn a blind eye, but those who have offspring are expected to stay with their own kind.” Logan rubbed the side of his jaw. “Take a Chitah and Mage, for instance. We’re enemies, and that goes way back, so there’s little trust among us. I can’t think of a single Chitah female who would entertain the idea of hooking up with a Mage; it’s not a natural pairing. It’s in our nature to have young, and a Mage cannot reproduce.”
“Remind me to bring this topic up again,” I said.
“Then there’s Lucian. He’s the little man in the family. Not at all like the rest of us brutes.” He stuffed the roll in his cheek trying to wither his smile. “Levi jokes that the stork brought him because he doesn’t look like the rest of us.”
“Something tells me you boys were hard on him growing up.”
Logan shrugged. “Our births were spaced apart. He’s smaller and more sensitive. Lucian could shame us in any essay or test; he’s as smart as a whip. Our only wish is that he was more capable in protecting himself. Fighting comes n
aturally, but he fights his own instincts.”
“Let me get this straight: you’re Leo, Logan, Levi, and Lucian?” I snickered, imagining monogrammed towels and not being able to figure out whose was whose on laundry day.
“Laugh it up,” he said. “It’s our custom for all male Chitah to retain the father’s first name initial.”
“What’s your sister’s name?”
He twisted the stem of a strawberry and a large seed popped off. “Sadie.”
“The girls don’t take the naming scheme?”
“They do, after the mother. Females are harder to conceive, which is why those who have families have large ones. Women continue having male children until they are able to produce a girl. It’s important to ensure the Chitah line goes on. Our mother’s name was Susannah.”
“Was?”
“She died in childbirth.”
“I thought that you could heal and live a long time?” I knew I was treading on sensitive ground by the way he averted his eyes.
“All rules have exceptions and limitations. Once we reach sexual maturity, our aging process slows down. A century puts about five years worth of aging on our bodies. We can die, Silver. Childbirth is the greatest gift and biggest threat for our females. Their bodies are vulnerable when they carry our young—no longer able to heal or renew.”
Logan drifted off and I knew where his mind went.
“It has to shut down to allow the fetus to grow. Otherwise, the body would instantly absorb it. Our mother’s pregnancy was difficult, and she didn’t survive the birth of Sadie.”
“I’m sorry.”
I consoled him with a light touch on the hand. Logan tossed the uneaten strawberry on the plate. His face collected the pain of his past.
“When my father saw that the infant was human, he called the midwife to take it away, but not before I held her.”
I looked at him and sensed pride, as an older brother might have for their little sister.
“He left the room after they covered my mother up,” Logan said in a distant voice. “My family has opinions about what I do, but my mother insisted that I be there. I think…”
He didn’t need to finish, because I knew what his mother was attempting to do. Maybe watching a newborn enter the world would change Logan, make him see the error of his ways, and put his past behind him. He never had the chance to become a father, and if he connected with that little infant, it might be enough for him to walk away from the life he was living. His mother had hopes for him.
Logan cleared his throat. “While my father made arrangements, I held the baby. She cried a little, but I soothed her with my voice and whispered a name in her ear. Sadie.”
“How old is she?”
“She turned twenty-four this month. Are you done eating?”
“Yeah, I think that’s it for me. Thanks for ordering breakfast; it was a nice change. I usually fend for myself at home and wind up eating toast and jelly.”
I pulled up my knees and leaned against the headboard. Why wouldn’t a Chitah at least keep in touch with their human siblings? Understandably, it was dangerous for them to live in our world, but to just abandon your own flesh and blood?
Logan propped his chin on my knee and I pulled back when our faces nearly touched. The sun glinted in his eyes, and a serious expression plagued his features when his heavy brow lowered. A small strand of hair stuck to an eyelash and held my attention.
“I like that you ask about my family.”
I reached up and brushed the hair away from his face. A vibration fluttered against my knee from his throat, although I heard nothing.
“Justus doesn’t want me around you.”
“He’s your Ghuardian, and I cannot come between you. I respect a man who keeps the females in his house protected. I will be leaving when we return to Cognito.”
Logan held my foot, softly stroking the ankle. “Can I ask a favor?”
I didn’t even notice him reaching for the cart.
“Will you eat from my hand?”
Between his fingers was a small, sugar-rolled donut. They were my weakness. I used to call them heaven on my tongue, and hell on my thighs.
“Where did you get that?”
Flecks of sugar dusted my chest as he rolled it between his fingers. “Room service will bring anything you pay extra for.”
“I really don’t understand why this is such a big deal to you.”
My reluctance enticed him and he leaned closer.
“I can tell from your reaction that you’ve never had anyone feed you before.” A finger grazed my cheek, which flushed—awakened by his touch.
“I don’t like games.”
His face soured. “I don’t play them.”
“Why can’t you hand me the donut?”
“To you it may seem insignificant, but to the Chitah, it’s a sign of trust. There’s a lot you don’t know about my kind, Silver. We have different customs, and what may seem like a simple gesture to you, holds meaning to us. I want you to trust me. I want you to see me as something more than I am. I want you to eat from my hand.”
I knew what he meant, but behind all those words the only thing I heard him say was, “I want you.”
Logan’s eyes widened when I let him feed me—sugar coating my lips. I became self-conscious as I chewed, embarrassed that this might be a joke. Logan didn’t laugh, and when I leaned in for a second bite, he pulled it back so I could only get a small nibble.
He was trying to make this last, so I snatched his wrist and ate the whole thing. When my lips came together, sucking the sugar from his fingertips, Logan moved so close that his breath touched my face. I swallowed my bite with a satisfactory grin.
He examined my lips, sizing them up like prey.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he decided.
Before I even registered what he said, Logan sampled my lips like a man enjoying a decadent dessert. He adored me with his kiss, and lavished me with an affectionate pause.
I was dizzy from the unexpected passion at breakfast. Something kept me from responding, and it was the thought of his poisonous bite.
He opened his eyes, and without fear, hesitation, or regret—I looked right at him. The rims never looked so dark against the pale coloring, and if the eyes were the windows to the soul, I felt as if I were breaking and entering.
“I don’t ever want you to be afraid of me,” he said, stroking my cheek. “I will never harm you.”
“No one can promise that.” I looked at the sunlight pouring through the window.
Logan tilted my chin to face him. “I can, and I just did.”
“Maybe you lie really well.”
He sniffed. “To what gain, getting in your pants? Female, I could have stripped you down and seduced you three strawberries ago. If you want to debate, we can do that later. But right now, I want to kiss you,” he said softly. “Kiss me back, not because I asked you to, but because you want to. And I know, little raven, that you want to. Your words may be sharp, but your scent is soft and tells me that you crave this as much as I do.”
I couldn’t understand the feelings that surfaced. This wasn’t about impulse or lust, nor was it about anything that made sense. An intangible force pulled me towards Logan, and my feet dragged across the ground.
When his cheek nuzzled against mine, we were right back where we started in the woods. I tasted honey on the words that dripped from his tongue. “Kiss me back.”
Our cheeks touched and I inhaled, smelling a faint trace of soap on his skin. I moved my head to the side, brushing along his smooth jaw until I found his mouth. He waited, letting me do all the hunting. Fire burned as our lips reacquainted—no introductions necessary—and we fell into a deep, insatiable kiss. Our tongues glided in and out, tasting nothing but explosive desire. His body surged forward, arms trembling where his hands rested on the mattress. Sweet strawberries and velvet strokes stirred a hunger inside of me.
His kiss was not crushing as I expected, bu
t molten. A heat spread across my skin and filled my body, and that heat was the pulse of my light.
Logan encouraged me to take the lead, to make the choice to stop whenever I needed to. But I didn’t need to.
I didn’t want to.
The sugar melted between us, and when I nibbled his bottom lip—his body went rigid.
“Behave,” he growled in a deep voice.
“Make me,” I dared.
A challenge rested between us, and I waited for his reaction.
Logan’s eyes prowled over my body, and he took in my scent like a flower in bloom. Without warning, he dove for my neck and licked the tender spot just beneath my ear in one seductive stroke.
I shivered.
“Never dare a Chitah,” he cautioned, biting my neck gently.
There was no danger in that bite, unless you counted the raw need culminating between us—the one that had my heart in his clutches as it pounded against my chest.
Logan broke away, and when he did, I found myself upset with the abrupt cessation. His hooded eyes hung lazily on me as he wiped a smudge of sugar from my chin with his thumb.
“A kiss is all I asked, and a kiss is all I will take.” He placed the tip of his finger in his mouth and slowly pulled it out.
Was every man in my life becoming a kiss and run? I knew it shouldn’t have mattered—I wasn’t seeking a husband—but I was still a woman with feelings. He must have scented my irritation.
“I know better than to get a Mage overcharged,” he laughed. “I don’t think that would end very well for me, don’t you agree?”
I threw my legs over the edge of the bed, pushing him away. “I should have known better.”
In a flash, I was thrown on my back.
Logan dipped his nose down to my chest, slowly taking in my scent in one long inhale until he reached my neck. I felt that breath to the core of my being.
“I want you,” he declared. “I want to undress you, and taste you. I want to see the flush in your cheeks, and feel your legs tremble when they can no longer hold against me,” he spoke against my neck. “I will not take a female whose lust mingles with doubt. I will not take you here in this hotel room out of convenience. Impulse leads to regret, and I do like a good seduction,” he purred.
