“Why? What difference does it make who gives me the lessons?” she asked on a long sigh.
This was going to be complicated. She couldn’t be in the same room with him without wanting him. Being with him almost daily until she learned everything… She didn’t think she could resist touching him.
“Why?” His head tilted and he looked at her as if he couldn’t believe she’d asked that question. “Because in spite of the way you just walked away from me, I’m not letting you get away from me.”
She slowly shook her head. “It was just the danger. What we had can’t last.”
He took a slow step forward until she had to tilt her head to look at him. She had no doubt he was being deliberately intimidating. Anger rushed to her rescue. She straightened and glared at him.
“If I thought you believed that I’d put you over my knee right now. I want to know why you left when you know we have so many reasons to stay together.” His hand cupped her chin.
“It can’t last. What you feel…” She closed her eyes. “It’s all the tension and danger of the chase for Daniel.”
“And you know exactly how I feel? How is that?” He raised an eyebrow.
She blinked at the aggressiveness in his tone and the sudden hardening of his face. “There hasn’t been time for anything more to grow. Not true feelings.”
“I think you’re scared. Your feelings are so strong and you’d rather run away than take the risk that those feelings won’t be returned by me,” he said, and smiled with male satisfaction.
She didn’t know how to respond to that. She was afraid of that. The feelings were too intense already. She didn’t know how she was even going to walk away from him today. She wanted to be with him.
“You’re reaching. I’m grateful for your protection and of course the sex was great but the danger’s finished.” She didn’t want him thinking that her feelings were that strong. She wanted to sound practical, as if it hadn’t torn her apart to walk away from him.
“Do you think that I didn’t see your face just a few moments ago? I know you feel more for me than lust. I lived with you for weeks. You’re not as shallow as you’re trying to make me believe.” Marcus shook his head.
“What I feel doesn’t make any difference. I’ve made my decision.” She folded her arms across her chest and stared up at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be teaching me or advising me?”
He leaned closer. “You’ve left out one person in this relationship. I’m not willing to let you throw everything we have away because you’re afraid.”
“I don’t see what you can do. As you said, there are two of us in this relationship. If I’m not cooperating, I don’t see what you can do about it.” She gave a small smirk. Hopefully he’d leave it at that and just accept that they weren’t going to be together.
“I don’t think after I’ve eliminated the distance you’ve been trying to keep between us that you’ll even want to be uncooperative. You do want us to be together. I can’t understand why you’re so resistant right now but I’m not going to walk away from you or let you walk away from me.” His voice was calm and he didn’t take his eyes off her face. He looked as if he expected her to react strongly to his statement.
She drew in a deep breath and tried to stay calm. He was right. She wanted to scream at him, to hurl insults, but he’d take the strength of her reaction as proof of stronger feelings. She couldn’t give him any kind of encouragement.
“What are you going to do? Kidnap me? Wouldn’t that be against not only the law but the Council’s rules as well?” She titled her head and gave him a smug smile, certain he’d back off before actually breaking the law. He respected it too much.
“It wouldn’t be kidnapping. At least not in the eyes of the Council.” He drew his hand down her arm in a slow, lingering caress.
She swallowed hard. “Why wouldn’t it be kidnapping to the Council?”
“Because they know that you do want me.” He gestured to the corner of the room.
At first she didn’t see anything but then she caught a tiny flicker of light. She made out the reflective lens of a hidden camera high in the corner of the room. She grimaced and turned away from him. That had been deliberately planned. He’d wanted to get her to admit she wanted him.
“I still can’t quite understand why you’re so resistant but it’s not going to stop me from finding a way to break through that hard attitude of yours.” His hand cupped her shoulder and turned her back to face him.
“Why can’t you just let it go? Doesn’t anyone ever say no to you? Can’t you accept that?” She thrust a hand through her hair, thoroughly frustrated.
“I could accept no if I really thought you meant it. Your body language, the reactions of your body to my touch. Everything points to you wanting to be in my arms as much as I want you to be there. Did someone threaten you if you stayed with me?” Marcus asked.
“What? No.” She blinked surprised at the question.
He shrugged. “It was a possibility. If it was just lust as you’ve said, you wouldn’t have left. There would have been no reason for you to leave. You would have just enjoyed it.”
“I…” She bit her lip and dropped her eyes to his chest.
His fingers tipped up her chin. She expected him to say something, to probe or prod again. His head lowered and his lips brushed lightly over hers. The light touch seared through her. She’d thought to deny herself the feel of his lips. His tongue gently stroked over the full lower curve of her lips, asking, teasing. She couldn’t resist opening her mouth beneath his. Almost without realizing what she was doing, she curled her arm around his waist, tugging him closer. Her tongue stroked into his mouth.
His stance widened and he pulled her even closer. His hands slid down her back and cupped her buttocks. His fingers flexed on the soft rounded mounds. She slipped her hand under his shirt. The heat of his skin only drove her to explore more, to want to strip his clothes off. She had to fight that urge. She could just remember the cameras and didn’t want to give some watching security guard a thrill.
His mouth moved down to her neck. His tongue stroked over the taut cord. She titled her head and bit her lip. His mouth felt so good. She slipped her hands out of his shirt and pressed them against his chest.
“We can’t…” She managed to push out of reach of those lips. “The cameras, they’ll see.”
He lifted his head and a sensual gleam lit his eyes. “I’d like to take this somewhere more private.”
She swallowed. “Nothing has changed. I’ll be going home alone tonight. We can’t be together.”
“You’re going to tell me why. I’m not buying that garbage that it’s just lust.” His hands kept her right in front of him.
Think. She had to think. She honestly didn’t know what to say. Something told her he probably wouldn’t accept any explanation. Telling him her real reason just wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t walk away if he knew how strong her feelings for him were.
“I know you were reared to expect you’d find a wizard who’d be your one mate, a match for your magic.” His hand cupped her cheek.
“I’m not a full witch anymore, Marcus.” She wanted him off that subject.
His hand moved in a halting gesture. “Vampires don’t have a mate, a spiritual or biological match that we can recognize. We just have to muddle through and make our own decisions. We get married and like humans sometimes we choose the wrong person, but I know what’s between us isn’t going to fade. If you’ll give it time, you’ll see that we’re right together.”
He was making it so hard. She swallowed. “I’d love to just give it time but it’s not that simple.”
He smiled. “It is that simple. You’re coming home with me and we’re going to work through whatever’s holding you back.”
She groaned and shook her head. A thrill slammed through her at his persistence. He looked prepared to carry her out of her if she tried to resist him. She didn’t see any way to stop him. Somehow she had t
o do it. She wouldn’t trap him.
“Tell me, Serena. I’m not going to stop asking. You mean too much to me.” He drew one hand slowly up her back.
“Why are you being so damn stubborn?” she asked.
“Why did you share your magic with me?” he asked.
The question came out of nowhere. She’d never expected him to ask about that. She thought that he’d accepted it as just a little game. He hadn’t pressed that night. Why was he asking about it now?
“Because I wanted to. It was an impulse.” She looked over his shoulder, refusing to meet his eyes.
“An impulse, just a little game. Are you saying that sharing your magic wasn’t at all important? It’s just something you’d do with all your lovers?” The smile on his face was positively feral.
He couldn’t know. There was no way he could know that it meant so much more than any mere game. She slowly shook her head and tried to push down her rising panic. He was trying to trick her into revealing what he thought she was hiding. He had to be. She wasn’t going to let him succeed.
“I told you. It was just something I wanted to do. I thought you liked it. Why are you making such a big deal about it?” She tried to sound bored and confused. From his expression, he wasn’t impressed by her act. She just hoped she didn’t sound as frantic as she felt.
“And you’re lying again. Give me some credit for getting the information right before I confront you. You’ve been trying to deny there was anything between us at all. Didn’t you think I’d want to know why?” His fingers tangled in her hair, forcing her to meet his steady gaze.
Oh hell, he wasn’t bluffing. Somehow he actually knew the full meaning. Her mind reeled with shock. How? She knew that most of the witches wouldn’t have told him anything about what sharing magic really meant. He’d obviously found someone to tell him. Right now she’d like to get her hands on that person. They’d just made a hard situation nearly impossible.
“So you know. You expect it to change what I’m going to say?” She looked up at him.
“It makes all the difference. You would have only shared your magic with me if I was your witch-mate.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why did you walk away from me?”
“I didn’t want this situation. Before you knew, you were thinking only of a long affair. Exploring what we have together.” She groaned. She jerked out of his loose grasp and stalked a few steps away from him before spinning around to face him.
“You don’t know what I was thinking then or what I plan to do now.” His arms folded across his chest and his feet braced wider.
That stance was aggressive and his tone was demanding. Serena lifted her chin, refusing to be intimidated by his tactics. This was not the time to let him gain any ground or get the idea that she was softening. He’d take any advantage she gave him.
“I know you feel guilty that what you feel isn’t anywhere close to what I feel for you. Well, I don’t want your pity and I won’t have it. That’s why there’s not going to be anything else between us.” She put her hands on her hips.
“So because I wasn’t shouting that I love you before you left me, I don’t feel anything strong for you? Tell me where you get this amazing insight into my feelings?” Anger hardened his voice. “Because wherever you got it, it’s wrong. You don’t know anything about how I feel.”
She flinched at that staccato recitation. “Is it wrong? Before I left, it was all sex and your protective instincts. Don’t mistake any lingering concern for my safety you might feel for something deeper.”
“Stubborn witch, I felt more than protective of you. I could have assigned someone else to watch over you.” He stepped forward and cupped her shoulder.
“You’re forgetting the sex.” She tapped her foot. He was being deliberately difficult.
“Serena, if all I had ever wanted was to protect you and have sex with you I would have let you walk out after that first night. Having a woman just disappear on him isn’t exactly easy on a man’s ego.” Marcus scowled.
“Yeah, I’m sure you had happily ever after in mind all the time.” She tried to tug free of his hold.
He didn’t release her. His hand tightened, keeping her in front of him. He took a slow step forward.
“No, I wasn’t thinking of marriage when we met. I wanted to see you hot and sweaty. You looked so neatly put together that I wanted to see if you looked that way after sex. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was more than lust there.” He smiled, his eyes trailing down her body.
She rolled her eyes. “And your feelings have grown so much since then.”
“You keep up the sarcasm and you’ll find the limits of my patience. I’ve been trying to hold on to my temper and be as understanding as I can be but you won’t listen to anything I say.” His head lowered to within a breath of hers.
“There’s nothing to understand. You want me and you think that since you’re my witch-mate that there’s no reason we shouldn’t be together.” She kept her tone sharp and tried to focus on something other than the concern and sincerity on his face. She couldn’t let herself hope. It would end. She knew it would.
“Very dismissive. That’s not what I think or what I feel.” His hands fell from her shoulders. “I’m wasting my breath.”
“I’m glad to see you’ve realized you’re not going to be able to change my mind.” She tried to force a smile. She felt a little sick. In spite of knowing that it was for the best, she wanted him to push and not give up, for his feelings to be that strong. “Now go get me another vampire to be my guide.”
“I haven’t realized anything. I’m just not going to stand here arguing about it anymore. We’ll talk about it after you’re in a more agreeable mood.” His hands gripped her hips and lifted her off her feet.
She gasped as he seemed to juggle her for a moment and then he cradled her in his arms. She pressed her hands against his chest and levered back. She didn’t care if he dropped her. She just wanted him to let her down. He couldn’t just carry her away because he wanted to do it.
“Marcus put me down or I’ll cause a scene you’ll regret for years,” she threatened.
“You think that’s going to stop me when this is so important to both of us. One way or another, you’re going to start telling the truth and listening to me. You don’t know how I feel. You’re too busy running away from the pain of a future rejection that won’t happen.” His arms tightened hauling her close.
She stiffened. By the time her mind began to get past the shock, he was stepping into an elevator. How could he know she was afraid? She shook her head. Arguing with him about it would only reinforce that belief. Besides that, she needed to find a way to get him to put her down. Before he did something he might regret.
“You can’t do this. You’ll get in trouble, Marcus.” She shook her head. Even as angry as she was, she didn’t want him to do something that would get him into trouble with the Council.
“No, I won’t. They’re doing this to stop trouble. As long as you’re single, not with someone, there are going to be males around you. You’re not going to be able to choose a male since you have a witch-mate.” He leaned back against the wall as the elevator moved downward.
“I don’t have to be with you.” She shook her head stubbornly.
“Do you think you could be with another man? Just imagine having sex with another man.” He raised an eyebrow his whole expression challenging her.
The very thought made her stomach clench in revulsion. He smiled widely, satisfaction almost radiating from him. She knew she hadn’t been able to hide it from him. He was right. As long as she knew he was alive, she could never let another man touch her. It would be a betrayal of what she knew should be.
“The fact that I won’t be looking for a man soon doesn’t change anything. After I learn what I need to do, I’ll stay away from other vampires.” She gripped his shirt.
“Not going to happen. Even if I were willing to let you ignore everything we have, the male vampir
es wouldn’t stay away from you just because you didn’t mix with other vampires. They’d find you. There aren’t that many female vix and they’d definitely want to meet you and see if there was even a hint of attraction to build on.” Marcus started forward almost as soon as the elevator doors began to open. The doors didn’t open onto the bank-like lobby. They opened onto a large hallway. Now she was wondering why she’d been led up what seemed to be the secret entrance.
“Damn it, Marcus. I can’t do this.” She dropped her head to his chest. She felt panicked and didn’t know what to do. His arms tightened. Strangely, she felt comforted by his warmth and his secure hold.
“I’m not letting you walk away from this, from us.” He headed straight down the hallway. He was obviously sure of where he was going.
At the end of the hallway, he turned the corner and strode down another hallway. At the end, he pushed a door open and stepped out into the bright sunlight. She blinked at the sudden transition. Light flashed off car windshields, nearly blinding her. She really hadn’t expected to be outside.
He took her to his car. She didn’t try to lunge out of the car and make a run for it as he slid in beside her. Too much turmoil boiled inside her. She really didn’t want to leave him but the fear was still there. The possibility of him someday tiring of her and walking away from her seemed all too possible. She didn’t know if she could walk away from him again. She wanted to believe, to grab the opportunity that had been offered.
She stared out the window, almost unaware of the car moving. Her mind was going in circles. She felt the car come to a stop. She looked up and found Marcus watching her. His eyes moved over her face and a smile curved his lips.
“You’re finally calming and thinking.” He reached over and lifted her hand. His thumb brushed over her knuckles.
“I’m thinking. It doesn’t make things easier. I still don’t think this is a good idea,” she said.
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