“Well.” Ethan stood. “We could sit here all day or—”
All eyes fell to me. “Yeah, yeah.” I stood and grimaced. “I’ll get to work. Does anyone know what the female eats?”
“Try food.” Ethan winked. “Same as Genesis.”
Genesis walked over to me and patted my hand. “I’ll go shopping with you.”
“The hell you will.” Ethan growled his eyes flashing green, fangs lowering.
With a sigh, I tilted my head in his direction. “Do you truly think me incapable of taking care of your mate?” My question hung awkwardly in the air because Ethan knew my shame: when it mattered most, my own had died in my very arms.
My stomach churned.
Nausea threatened.
“I’ll be fine, Ethan.” Genesis rolled her eyes and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, “Take me to the mall and I’ll find you the biggest pinecone you’ve ever seen, after that you can check on Alex.”
She made me smile.
Because she reminded me of what I had lost.
“You have yourself a deal.” I winked.
Hope
SMALL WAVES OF heat pulsated through my body in perfect cadence with the movement of his tongue, like he was creating the force itself with his mouth.
I wanted him.
But I didn’t want to want him.
He was kissing me because that’s what he was — a siren.
And I was kissing him back because I was weak.
And the heat had finally lifted — he tasted like fresh rain, like water — life. I couldn’t kiss him hard enough, or get close enough. My body trembled with the need to somehow crawl into him.
The world around me faded away — and all I knew was his mouth, his fingers as they dug into my skin, and the taste of rain on his tongue as I drank my fill.
A sudden image of us kissing flashed in my mind and disappeared.
My brain told me to pull away.
My body convinced me that if I did — I’d die.
Give yourself to me.
A voice whispered.
It was faint, but strong, the words caressed my body, swirled around inside my head, I could taste them on my tongue just like I tasted Alex.
Give yourself to me.
Alex’s hands increased their pressure as they lifted me against his strong body. His tongue retreated just as molten heat exploded through my body.
YES! I screamed without moving my mouth. Yes.
An explosion jolted my thoughts as part of the cement wall near us moved and then jerked open with the force of an earthquake. Alex didn’t stop kissing me, though.
When the dust settled on my skin mixing with the sweat, I opened my eyes.
Alex’s blue eyes were hardly noticeable against the yellow that flashed within them, circling his purple iris in a wavelike manner.
His eyelashes collected pieces of dust as they blinked in rapid succession, as if he was confused.
I licked my lips, still able to taste him. “What was that?”
He swallowed and then slowly set me down, our bodies slid roughly against one another. “That,” he answered, voice hoarse as he jerked away, hands shaking. “Was a kiss.”
“Did you call?” A voice interrupted.
I turned on my heel and hid behind Alex, no idea why I was hiding behind the crazy immortal that could strip a woman without even touching her, or bring her to an orgasm with a mere thought, but the thing that yelled at us had a really rough voice.
It almost sounded like he was trying not to bark out the question.
I peered around Alex and saw the werewolf, in full wolf form. Something my human eyes couldn’t process, because it wasn’t normal. It looked… wrong.
He stood on his hind haunches at least twelve feet tall, brown fur lined his body with stripes of white across his chest in the shape of a cross. And his eyes, they weren’t the eyes of an animal.
They were silver.
And they were focused in on me.
He sniffed the air and then let out a howl before falling prostrate to the ground.
“Wh-what’s he doing?” I asked Alex once I could find my voice.
Alex let out a gruff curse and marched over to the wolf, kicking him in the ribs. “Get up.”
The wolf growled and kept his face against the marble floor.
Alex ran a hand through his hair, and it was then I noticed that he looked more normal, human, approachable, but still too beautiful for words. His blond and silver hair wasn’t as shiny, his eyes not as flashy, his smile not as deadly. But it would be impossible to look at him and not shake a bit with the intense need to touch him.
“Mason.” Alex tried again through clenched teeth. “This isn’t the time or the place—”
Mason snapped his teeth at Alex’s feet.
Alex stumbled backward and wiped his face with his hand, staring down at the wolf then back up at me. “He’s….”
“He’s what?” I whispered, slowly taking a step toward the massive animal.
“I hate my life.” Alex whispered.
“What?”
“He’s—” Alex glared at the wolf, his yellow eyes flashing. “Bowing.”
Alex
MASON EYED ME through creepy silver orbs of excitement. She is an elf. Royalty! She is the one, she is the one!
“Stop!” I pressed a hand to my forehead. “Yelling.”
“Um…” Hope nudged me with her elbow. “He didn’t even speak.”
“Oh, he spoke all right.” I growled, and then because I was dehydrated, without sex, and possibly losing my mind, I took the protective stance in front of her and leaned down in challenge. “Look at her that way again, and I’ll rip your haunches from your body and feed them to the demons.”