I snapped the locks open, jerked the passenger door ajar, and shoved him into the seat.
Curran’s eyes glowed with gold. He shrugged off his leather jacket, grabbed the neck of his turtleneck with both hands, and ripped it in half.
I dived into the car and floored the gas pedal.
In the rearview mirror Curran tore apart his pants. His flesh boiled, and a monster spilled forth.
“What’s the rush?” Saiman wondered.
“Look back.”
The man was gone. In his place stood a beast, dark gray and corded with muscle. I caught a glimpse of huge fangs on a face neither lion nor human, and then he leapt off the balcony onto the neighboring roof.
“He’s chasing us.” Saiman stared through the rear window. “He’s actually chasing us!”
He’s chasing you. He wouldn’t hurt me. “Well, what did you expect?”
Shock stamped Saiman’s face. “He’s abandoned all pretenses at humanity.”
I took a sharp corner. The tires skidded. The vehicle slid, brushing a snowdrift. I wrestled with the wheel, righting the car, and we hurtled down the street.
Curran appeared above the building behind us. He sailed through the night sky like he had wings and landed on the shingles. The moonlight clutched at his shaggy mane. He took a running start, cleared another gap between the buildings, and followed us, bounding from roof to roof in great leaps.
I tried to speak clearly, hoping it would penetrate the fog of Saiman’s brain. “We go to my place. I get out. You get behind the wheel and drive as fast as you can. It’s your only chance.” And my only chance to settle all that ailed me without outside interference.
Saiman didn’t answer. Flesh flowed on his face and hands, changing into a new shape and instantly shifting into another, as if his body had gone liquid.
“What are you doing?”
“Burning off the alcohol.” He glanced back. “He’s still there!”
“Help me navigate. I don’t know where I’m going.”
“Take the next left. You’ll see a bridge. Go up.”
I made the turn, praying the tech would hold. If the magic hit us, we’d be in deep shit.
CHAPTER 17
THIRTY MINUTES LATER WE SCREECHED TO A halt before my apartment building. I jumped out into the snow, Slayer in hand. Saiman lunged into the driver’s seat. The wheels spun, spraying snowflakes. I jumped back. The car reversed, rolling over the spot where my feet were half a second earlier, and sped into the night.
He almost ran me over. Coward. Let’s have a partnership, Kate. I offer honesty, Kate. I don’t have to outrun the Beast Lord I just pissed off, Kate. I only have to outrun you and hit you with my car as I hightail it out of here.
The dogs down the street exploded with frantic barking. Speak of the devil . . .
I needed to attract His Majesty’s attention and take this off the street. In the open, he could take a running start and bulldoze over me. In my apartment, he’d have a harder time maneuvering and I’d have the home turf advantage.
I hiked up my dress and ran into the building, taking the stairs two at a time. It took me three precious seconds to get the door open. I burst inside, dropped the sword, ran to the living room window, and slid it open. A thick grate of steel and silver bars guarded my window. I grabbed the two handles and twisted. The lock snapped open. The grate swung to the left and I saw him, a nightmarish beast charging up the roofs across the street, like a demon caught between the black sky and the white snow.
Dear God.
He saw me and changed direction in midleap. That’s right. Come let me kiss you with my fist, baby.
I backed away from the window. Shoes. I had spiked heels on. I pulled them off and tossed them into the hallway. If I had to kick him, the heel would go right into the body like a knife. It would hurt, but not enough to stop him, and I’d have a hell of a time getting free.
Curran dropped off the roof and dashed across the street to my building. I backed away, giving myself room to kick. My heart hammered. My mouth went completely dry.
A second passed.
Come on. Come on.
A clawed half-paw gouged the windowsill. Curran lunged through the window.
He was huge, neither a man, nor a lion. Curran’s usual warrior form stood upright. This creature moved on all fours. Enormous, bulging with muscle under a gray pelt striped with whip marks of darker gray, six hundred pounds at least. His head was lion, his eyes were human, and his fangs were monster.
So that’s what the Beast Lord with no brakes looked like.
He landed on the floor of my living room. Muscles twisted and crawled, stretching and snapping. The gray fur melted, fading into human skin, and Curran stood on my carpet, nude and pissed off, his eyes glowing gold.
His voice was a deep snarl. “I know he’s here. I can smell him.”
I felt an irresistible urge to brain him with something heavy. “Did you lose your sense of smell? Saiman’s scent is two hours old.”
Golden eyes burned me. “Where is he?”
“Under my bed.”
The bed went airborne. It flew across the living room and slammed into the wall with a thud.
That was just about enough of that. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving you from whatever mess you got yourself into this time.”
Why me? “There is no mess! It’s a professional arrangement.”
“He’s paying you?” Curran snarled.
“No. I’m paying him.”
He roared. His mouth was human, but the blast of sound that shot out of it was like thunder.
“Ran out of words, Your Majesty?”
“Why him?” he growled. “Of all the men you could have, why would you hire him for that?”
“Because he has the best equipment in the city and he knows how to use it!”
As soon as I said it, I realized how he would take it.
The beginnings of another thundering roar died in Curran’s throat. He stared at me, mute.
Oh, this was too good. I threw my hands up. “The lab! I’m talking about his lab, not his dick, you idiot. He’s the only one I know with a Class Four lab in the city. He can take a blank piece of paper and read an invisible incantation on it.”
It must’ve penetrated, because he regained his ability to speak. “That’s not what I was told. Don’t lie to me, Kate.”
“Get out of my apartment!”
“I know he was planning a long night and you had no choice about it.”
The next time I saw Jim, I’d kick him in the throat. “Do I look like a fragile flower to you? I can kill Saiman three times before his body ever hits the ground. If I don’t want to sleep with him, no force on earth would make me. See, in our world, we have this pesky thing called reality. Before you ran over here in your beastly glory to rescue me, did that concept ever cross your mind?”
He opened his mouth.
“No!” I growled, pacing back and forth. “I’m not done. I need him for the Order’s investigation. He made going out with him a condition of his services, because you made him spend the Midnight Games between Mahon and Aunt B and this is his petty version of revenge. You knew I was guarding him, and you still went after him. You fucked up my personal life, now you’re trying to destroy my professional one. If you kill him tonight, I swear to God I will murder you.”
“Is he forcing you to sleep with him?”
One-track mind, Your Majesty. “No. But even if I wanted to jump into the sack with him and screw his brains out, you have no right to an opinion on it.”
Rage shivered in the corners of Curran’s mouth. He stalked back and forth like a caged cat. “I have every right.”
“Who says?”
“You. You gave me that right when you dumped catnip all over my bed.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. He had me there. “I changed my mind.”
“What, again? Why am I not surprised?”
“What do you mea
n, again? You stood me up, remember?”
“You were relieved I didn’t show up.”
Argh. “Let’s review. I cooked the dinner. I made you a pie. I set the table. I took a shower. I put on makeup. I bought condoms, Curran. And then I sat in my kitchen for hours, waiting for you. I sat and waited for three hours. Then I called to the Keep and was told not to contact you again. And you have the audacity to snarl at me?”
He showed me his teeth. “The phone call came when Doolittle was setting my bones. It went to Mahon, who thought it wasn’t important. It never got to me. I had no idea you had called. It was a fuckup, it happened on my end, and I accept full responsibility for it. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“On that we’re in complete agreement.”
His eyes flashed. “But you, you didn’t even try to find me and figure out what happened.”
“You made me feel this small.” I held my thumb and index finger barely apart. “Was I supposed to crawl to the Keep, collapse at your feet, and beg you to take me?”
He snarled. “You were supposed to march to the Keep and punch me in the face. That would’ve been fine. But you ran away.”
The fury in his eyes made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“I was trying to avoid a conflict between the Pack and the Order, you stupid idiot!”
“Bullshit.” He kept going like he didn’t hear me. “You could’ve found me. You could’ve demanded an explanation. Instead your bright idea to deal with this mess was not to talk to me. Do you get off on having me chase after you like some sixteen-year-old?”
“Twelve tops. Sixteen is giving you too much credit.”
He bit the air. “Look who’s talking.”
My voice was so bitter I could taste it. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you wanted to be with me. You made me want”—I struggled with words—“things I didn’t think I would ever get. I thought we had a chance. But it’s over now. Thank you, Your Majesty, for curing my temporary madness and showing me how it was all my fault. I apologize for trashing your love-me gym. It was a mistake on my part. I will replace your bench and comforter. You can leave now.”
He stared at me. If he didn’t leave, I would kill him.
“Do you want me to spell it out? I’ll speak slowly. You broke my heart and now you’re stomping on it. I hate you. Get the hell out of my apartment, or I swear I’ll beat you bloody.”
His face was dark. “You want me to grovel? Is that it?”
“Come to think of it, groveling would be nice, but no, I just want you to go. Leave.”
His eyes flashed at me. “Make me.”
I lunged left and kicked him. He made no move to avoid it. My foot smashed into his stomach. Like kicking a tree sheathed in rubber. The kick knocked him back a couple of steps. He grunted. “That’s it, baby?”
I whipped about, picking up momentum, and kicked him in the head. He staggered back, looking a bit unfocused.
I forced a grin out. “Rang your bell, baby?” Shit. I’d hit him with everything I had and he didn’t go down. He should’ve been out like a light.
Curran shook his head and spat blood onto my carpet. The gold in his eyes burned me. He started toward me, his jaw set.
He wouldn’t take another kick to the head, and kicking his body was useless. I snapped a sidekick to his knee. He knocked my foot aside and grabbed at me. I dodged and hammered a punch into his side. He turned into it and my fist bounced off his back. Ow. I sank my heel into his knee again, driving it with all my power. He grunted, but kept coming. I grabbed a lamp off the nightstand and bashed him with it. He caught it, ripped it out of my hands, and tossed it aside.
I was almost to the wall. My room to maneuver shrank to nothing.
I smashed my knuckles into his solar plexus. He exhaled in a sharp breath and drove me into the wall. His forearm pinned my left arm. I hammered my right fist into his ear. He growled, caught my wrist, and locked it against the wall above my head.
I had no room to move. Game over.
He crushed me against the wall, bracing me with his body. I strained, trying to break free. He might have been made of stone for all the good it did me. Except he was made of flesh and he was stark naked.
I strained every muscle I had. Nothing. Outmuscling him was beyond me.
“Feel better?” he inquired.
“Lean over to the left, Your Majesty.”
“Want a shot at my jugular with your teeth?” He leaned to the right, exposing his thick neck. “Carotid’s better.”
“My teeth are too small. I wouldn’t cause enough damage for you to bleed out. Jugular is better—if I rip it a bit and get air bubbles into the bloodstream, they’ll be in your heart in two breaths. You would pass out at my feet.” A normal human would die, but it took more than an air embolism to bring a shapeshifter down permanently.
“Here you go.” He leaned his head to me, his neck so close to my lips, I felt the heat coming off his skin. His breath was warm against my ear. His voice was a ragged snarl. “I miss you.”
This wasn’t happening.
“I worry about you.” He dipped his head and looked into my eyes. “I worry something stupid will happen and I won’t be there and you’ll be gone. I worry we won’t ever get a chance and it’s driving me out of my skull.”
No, no, no, no . . .
We stared at each other. The tiny space between us felt too hot. Muscles bulged on his naked frame. He looked feral.
Mad gold eyes stared into mine. “Do you miss me, Kate?”
I closed my eyes, trying to shut him out. I could lie and then we’d be back to square one. Nothing would be resolved. I’d still be alone, hating him and wanting him.
He grabbed my shoulders and shook me once. “Do you miss me?”
I took the plunge. “Yes.”
He kissed me. The taste of him was like an explosion of color in a gray room. It was a fierce, possessive kiss and I melted into it. His tongue brushed mine, eager and hot. I licked at it, tasting him again. My arms slid around his neck.
He growled, pulling me to him, and kissed my lips, my cheeks, my neck . . . “Don’t make me leave.”
Not a chance. I gulped to catch my breath. “If you leave, how will I strangle you?”
He hoisted me up onto his hips and I molded myself to him and kissed him on the mouth, stealing his breath. I didn’t want to let go. His hands slid over my body, caressing my neck, moving to my shoulders, then my breasts. His fingers brushed my nipples, sending shivers through me. I arched my body, grinding into him, faster and faster.
He made a noise, halfway between a growl and a purr. It triggered something deep, on a primeval female level, and I pressed tighter to him, running my hands over the cords of the muscles on his back, licking his neck, kissing him over and over, so he would make it again.
Curran swung me off the wall and carried me across the room, bumping into things. We stumbled onto the bed, tipped over at an angle. Curran pulled it down with one hand and we fell on it, his big body on top of mine. He dragged his mouth from my lips and kissed my neck, painting heat down my throat. My nipples ached. He pulled the gown down off my shoulder and sucked on my breast. Heat shot through me, making me hyper and impatient. I felt so empty and I wanted to be full of him. His scent and the heat coming off him made me drunk.
Curran caught my arms and pushed them above my head. His left hand closed on my wrists. He kissed me with a low hungry growl, teeth nipping at my skin. His hot hand slid up my thigh, sending me into shivers, and I heard my underwear rip. He tossed it aside, thrust his hand under my butt, lifting my hips, and bent down between my thighs.
Oh, my God.
I screamed.
He licked me, sucking, and all of me faded except for the hot knot of pleasure down below. Every stroke, every touch of his tongue, made it grow hotter and hotter, building the pressure, unbearable, wonderful, overpowering. Finally it burst through me in a searing jolt, from inside all the way to my skin. Curra
n released me. I cried out and grabbed at him. The heat dissolved into a cascade of waves.
“Condoms,” I breathed.
“Where?”
I pointed past him to where the bed used to be.
He strode off and I almost growled. I didn’t want him to let go of me. The world reeled. I was light-headed, as if drunk.
Curran reappeared with a condom.
He peeled open a packet. For an absurd second I thought the condom wouldn’t fit. Somehow he got it on, loomed over me, and kissed my neck. His teeth grazed my skin. He clenched me to him.
I swung my legs around his hips.
The huge muscles of his back bulged under my hands. He thrust, and I cried out again as he slid inside me, filling me, hot and hard. My body shuddered. He thrust again and again, building into a smooth rhythm, and I moved with him, rocking and trying not to pass out from bliss. Another orgasm exploded in me, tearing a scream from my mouth. Curran thrust deep. My body clenched around him. He growled and emptied himself, and we collapsed onto the blankets.
I was out of breath.
It had to be a hallucination, but I was so happy, I didn’t care.
He pulled me to him, and I put my head on his chest. His hand caressed my hair. His heartbeat was even and strong. We lay together as the sweat slowly cooled on our skin.
I rolled over and punched his ribs. He grunted.
“That’s for that damn phone call.”
He caught me into a hug, pinning my arms. “I think a mosquito bit me.”
I tried to pull away but he had me wrapped up.
Gray eyes looked into mine. “Why didn’t you come to the Keep?”
“Oh, I planned on it. Had my boots on, ready to go, when I remembered it would cause an interagency disaster. I was being responsible.”
He shook with laughter.
“What?”
“You? Responsible?”
“Shut up. How was I supposed to know that you let two little bears hurt you, Goldilocks?”
“Ah, yes, that mouth. I missed it.” He crushed me to him in a fierce hug. “All mine now.” My bones whined.
“Can’t . . . breathe,” I squeaked.
“Sorry,” he whispered, letting me go just enough to inhale.
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