by Lara Adrian
It wasn’t only her thoughts Knox had dominated. He had commandeered all of her senses too. Without trying, she could still feel the warmth of his hand pressed against her cheek. She could still see the molten amber of his transformed irises as he’d gazed at her, glowered at her, growled at her.
She could still see the torment in his handsome, unearthly face in those fraught seconds when she couldn’t tell whether he wanted to take her in his arms or get as far away from her as he possibly could.
She figured she had his answer now. After waiting up confused and uncertain for a couple of hours following his furious departure, Leni had finally turned off the lights in the house and gone to bed.
Knox had to be miles into Canada by now. She told herself it was for the best.
She cringed in shame for what she’d asked of him last night, or tried to. Knox may have been raised and trained to kill, but that didn’t give her the right to treat him as if he were some kind of weapon at her disposal. He’d been right to refuse. He had said no to prevent her from living with the guilt, but it didn’t erase the fact that she’d asked.
As for the rest of it—the other impossible things she wanted from Knox, things he’d also refused her, much to her humiliation—she simply wanted to forget. Forget her selfish needs and desires, forget Knox, and move on.
God, what had gotten into her? Her first concern, the only one that truly mattered, was the little boy who depended on her for everything.
She sat up in her mussed bed, her thin cotton sleep tank askew over her bare breasts. She straightened it, then swung her legs over the edge of the mattress. From downstairs, the muffled sound of Riley’s voice drifted toward her open bedroom. It wasn’t unusual for him to walk around talking to himself, or, rather, to his favorite stuffed animals and an ever-changing roster of imaginary friends. Leni had learned to play along, even when it meant setting extra places at the dinner table or waiting a few extra minutes on those school day mornings when one of Riley’s invisible friends had delayed him getting ready to leave.
There was no school today. The storm had passed overnight, but the weather had shut down services across the county for the rest of the week. Her phone had buzzed with a closed-classes notice sometime before dawn.
She didn’t expect she’d have many customers at the diner today, either. Since she couldn’t recall the last time she’d taken a full day off, Leni decided what she needed more than anything right now was some uninterrupted Riley time.
Gathering her dark hair into a messy knot atop her head, she slipped into a pair of loose cotton pajama bottoms and her fluffy winter slippers, then shuffled into the bathroom to brush her teeth and run a wet washcloth over her face. She groaned at her haggard reflection. It would take a hell of a lot more than toothpaste and cold water to fix the dark circles under her eyes and the sleep-deprived sag of her cheeks.
Maybe she could persuade Riley that their day of fun together should begin with a good, long nap. Yeah, not likely. His energy was about as tireless as his sharp little mind.
On a resigned sigh, she snatched a thick pink terry bathrobe from its hook near the door and pulled it around her as she headed downstairs to get her nephew’s morning started with some breakfast and her own with a giant mug of strong coffee.
A tiny race car and a scattered handful of plastic action figures lay on the rug at the bottom of the staircase, evidence of an unfortunate traffic incident and a nonstop child’s short attention span.
In the kitchen, she heard her nephew talking in between slurps and crunching while his spoon clicked against a hard plastic bowl. “Fred doesn’t like cereal ‘cause the milk gets warm too quick. Sometimes, Aunt Leni lets me put honey in my bowl when I share with him. Then he eats it all up, ‘cause honey’s his favorite thing ever.”
Fred being his cherished stuffed bear, who had recently informed Riley—and by extension, Leni—that he was too grown up to be called Freddy Bear anymore. Leni stooped to pick up the mess at the bottom of the stairs, smiling in spite of herself. She wondered which imaginary friend had decided to join them for breakfast today. Would it be Tyler the invisible T-Rex, or someone new?
With the collection of toys gathered in her hands, she headed for the kitchen, trying to look serious.
“Riley, what did I tell you the other day about leaving toys where someone might step—”
She stopped short, her words drying up as her gaze collided with Knox’s stormy blue eyes. He stood there as if he belonged, leaning casually against the sink across from her nephew who was seated at the small breakfast table, hunched over his cereal bowl.
Riley gave her a sheepish look. “I’m sorry, Aunt Leni. I forgot.”
“It’s um, it’s okay, sweetie.” She glanced away from him to stare incredulously at the Breed male in her kitchen. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s my new friend, Knox,” Riley said. His blond head tilted in question. “You mean, you can see him too, Aunt Leni?”
“Yes, I can see him,” she said, trying to keep the confusion—and the disapproval—out of her voice. “How long have you been here inside my house? And how did you get in? I locked all the doors and windows after you left last night, just like you told me to do.”
One dark brow arched in response. Of course, locks would be no use against him, against one of his kind. That probably should have given her more pause than it did.
At the moment, all she felt was surprise . . . and an annoying prickle of awareness as her eyes drank in his broad chest and shoulders under his dark shirt and the massive arms that were crossed casually under his pecs.
If Riley had seemed the least bit nervous around him or afraid, Leni would have already shown Knox to the door. But he seemed perfectly at ease, munching away on his cereal as if he and the immense Breed male were fast friends. Typical for her nephew. The boy had an uncanny openness, a trusting innocence, that Leni would do anything to preserve.
Railing in front of him at Knox for barging into their home might make her feel good, but it would only upset Riley.
She gave Knox a look she hoped would convey her feelings as she set her armful of toys on the table. An open box full of tools and bagged hardware supplies sat there too, dusty and faded with age. Leni recognized it immediately, and her chest squeezed at the reminder.
“What are you doing with these things?”
Knox took a step toward her. “I found them in the garage out back last night.”
“I know where you found them. I asked what you think you’re doing with them.”
“I’m going to install them for you. A box of new deadbolts and window locks isn’t doing anyone any good packed away in storage.”
His deep voice was level and calm, no doubt for Riley’s benefit, but she heard the gravity in his tone. She couldn’t miss the sober warning in his eyes.
Something happened after he left her last night.
Something involving the Parrishes.
A chill seeped into her veins as she held his grim stare.
Riley abandoned his empty cereal bowl, getting up on his knees in his chair to try to peek into the grit-coated box. “What is all that stuff?”
“Just some things from the hardware store,” Leni replied.
Shannon had purchased all of the tools and new locks only a few days before she disappeared. Leni hadn’t discovered the stash until afterward. By then she didn’t see the point of having it installed. She didn’t think new locks would prevent the Parrishes from coming after what they wanted.
There was only one thing that would do that. And as Knox had said last night, if she meant to go up against one of the Parrishes, she had better be prepared to fight them all.
“Riley, if you’re finished with your breakfast, please go brush your teeth.”
“All right.” He settled back on his chair, then hopped down with Freddy Bear under his arm. On his way past Knox, he turned a hopeful glance up at him. “Can I help you ‘stall that stuff?”
“You’d better ask your aunt,” he murmured. “After you brush those teeth.”
Riley gave him a nod, then raced out to do as he’d been told.
“He’s a good kid,” Knox said.
“The best.”
Leni retrieved the empty cereal bowl and carried it to the sink. Knox stepped aside as she rinsed out the last drops of milk and a few soggy oat rings at the bottom. She didn’t want to react to the heat of his big body so close to her, or the power that emanated off him even when he was standing still.
Nor did she want to think about the fact that while he was sending her senses into hormonal overload, she was dressed like a middle-aged hausfrau with bags under her eyes and her hair in a bedraggled rat’s nest on top of her head.
Lovely.
Not that she needed to worry about looking good for Knox. They weren’t together and this wasn’t an awkward morning-after, no matter how much it felt like one.
Now that she was thinking about it, seeing him inside her house after having only met last night felt a lot less awkward than it should.
She had to remind herself that she was still pissed off and confused after their heated conversation before he’d stalked out the back door and vanished like a ghost. Just because she wasn’t half as furious to see him again now didn’t mean she wasn’t due some kind of explanation.
“Where did you go last night?”
There was no way to ask without sounding like a suspicious lover who was overstepping her bounds. Especially given that she was standing next to him indignant in her pajamas and about ten yards of terrycloth. But so be it.
When he didn’t answer, merely held her in an inscrutable stare that left her to imagine a dozen different scenarios, she pivoted to face him full-on and fisted her hand at her hip. She didn’t miss the subtle quirk of his lips as he took her in.
She cleared her throat. “I’m sure you didn’t spend half the night turning my garage inside out looking for handyman supplies.”
“No.” A sober, unsmiling reply.
“So, where did you go? Did you do . . . something I should know about?”
“I just needed to blow off some steam, Leni.” His gaze lowered to her parted lips. “I think it should’ve been obvious we both needed to let things cool off last night.”
He was right. If he hadn’t gone, she felt all but certain she wouldn’t have been able to put the brakes on whatever was happening between them. Part of her still wasn’t certain she was capable. Seeing him with Riley just now hadn’t helped dim her curiosity about Knox, or her desire.
She looked at him and struggled to see the dangerous predator he was. Now, with his eyes the dark blue-gray color of a thunderhead and his pupils fathomless ebony pools, he looked like a man, not a lethal Breed male. When he’d been listening patiently to Riley talk about his stuffed animal as if it were flesh-and-bone, Leni couldn’t imagine viewing Knox as the trained assassin he’d been bred and raised to be.
He was steady and strong, powerful and commanding. He was a man she wanted to know better. A man she desired, after having gone a very long time without knowing the feeling.
She let her hands fall slowly to her sides. “The way you left last night, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted. You deserved more from me than snarling and barked orders.”
“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my mark. It’s become a habit to keep it a secret. No one in Parrish Falls knows except my best friend, Carla. My mom told me from the time I was a little girl that I shouldn’t let on to anyone that I was different, not if I wanted any kind of normal life. Especially here. There’s not a lot of room for different in this town.”
He grunted. “Just one of many things about this place that needs to change.”
“Why did you come back?”
It took him a long moment before he answered. “Because I couldn’t leave. If I did and something happened to you . . .” His voice faded out with his deepening scowl. “I’m not going to let that happen, Leni. I can’t now.”
She swallowed, her heart thumping hard in her breast. As stoic and detached as she’d seen him last night, as enraged as he’d been at discovering she was a Breedmate, there was no denying his concern now.
“I’ve decided to stay in Parrish Falls for a while.”
“How long?”
He shrugged noncommittally, but there was no lack of resolve in his expression. “For as long as it takes for me to be certain you’ll be safe. I need Travis Parrish and the rest of his family to understand that both you and the boy are under my protection. And if anything happens to either of you, all of them will pay.”
That heavy drum of her heart galloped harder as he spoke. She had never needed or wanted the things he was pledging now. Her pride fought against the idea, a denial pushing its way to the tip of her tongue. It melted away under the ferocity of Knox’s solemn expression.
She couldn’t believe he would alter his plans just to look out for her.
After the way he’d responded to seeing her Breedmate mark last night, she thought she’d forfeited not only his trust but any trace of respect he might have felt toward her.
Now this.
She wasn’t sure what to say, how to accept the gift he had just offered her.
“Where will you stay, Knox?”
“As close as possible.” He cleared his throat, a frown deepening between his dark brows. “I can install new locks on all your doors and windows, but doors and windows can be broken. Nothing, and no one, will get through me.”
She gaped at him. “You mean you want to stay here? In my house?”
“It’s not a matter of what I want. What matters is you, keeping you safe.”
Her breath snagged on the ferocity of his tone. She had never been the kind of woman who swooned and sighed over flattering words or unexpected kindnesses. But this was different. This was life-and-death, and until a dozen hours or so ago, Knox had been a stranger, someone who hadn’t even known she existed.
Now, he was pledging his protection to not only her, but Riley too.
“Why?” she murmured. “Why are you doing this, Knox? Last night, you said it was a mistake stopping in Parrish Falls. You said it was a mistake helping me out of the ravine. So, why do you want to help me now? What changed?”
“You,” he growled. “You changed the second I saw that mark on your skin.”
Leni’s racing heartbeat stumbled into a crawl. The blood rushing in her veins slowed, cooled. “The mark on my stomach changed what you think of me?”
“It changes everything, Lenora.” He practically bit the words off, his deep voice low and controlled. “You’re a Breedmate. That’s as sacred as blood to my kind. Women with that mark, your mark, are the most precious thing we have in this world. You’re to be protected at all costs.”
“Not me,” Leni said, needing to be clear. “Any woman like me. Any woman born a Breedmate.”
“That’s right.”
She drew back from him, averting her gaze, looking anywhere but into his intense eyes. She glanced down at her fluffy pink robe and her well-worn slippers edged in faux fur, and could hardly hold back her scoff.
The most precious thing in the world to his kind. Sacred. Ridiculous.
That’s how she must look to him right now, not only because of the way she was dressed but because of the embarrassment staining her cheeks. It wasn’t her he was concerned about. It was any woman like her. Any woman born with the same mark.
She wanted to refuse his help.
More than anything, she wanted to relieve him of his obligation and demand he leave her to handle her own problems and damn him along with his misguided sense of honor.
If she were living alone, she would have said all of that and more.
But what about Riley?
He was the one who needed Knox’s protection the most. She could take care of herself, but how would she k
eep Shannon’s son safe until she finally came home to be with him again?
She couldn’t. Not by herself.
And no matter how much she wanted to refuse Knox’s offer, she had to accept.
What she didn’t have to do was play along with his reasons, or think of him as anything more than a boarder for however long she had to endure his presence.
“All right,” she murmured, forcing herself to look up at him again. “There’s a studio apartment with its own bathroom in the attic.” She gestured to the back stairwell, accessible through the kitchen. “My mom used to rent the room out from time to time. You can stay up there.”
He gave her a slight nod. “That will suffice. Thank you.”
She took another step away from him, pulling the edges of her robe a little tighter around her. “And Knox, while you’re here . . . stay away from Riley. He’s a sweet little boy who thinks everyone is a friend. I don’t want you making him promises you have no intention of keeping.”
CHAPTER 10
Knox tightened the final screw on the window in the living room and tested the new lock’s hold. Rock solid, as secure as it could be. Just like the near dozen others he’d installed and the pair of deadbolts now gleaming on the front and back doors of Leni’s old house.
He had spent the better part of the day securing the place. All morning, heavy, low-lying gray clouds had hung in the winter sky, blotting out the worst of the sun’s rays as he worked inside on the locks. The tall pine forest hemming in the old house on all sides provided ample shade for the few minutes in the afternoon when he’d been forced to step out into the daylight to complete his tasks.
As a Gen One, his Breed skin could only endure about ten minutes of ultraviolet exposure before it started to singe and burn away. He would have preferred to work at night, but even the risk of UV burns was preferable to hours of idle time.
And he’d damn well needed to keep himself busy after his conversation with Leni that morning.
