A Hunger Like No Other

He made her face him. 'I know who you are. I saw everything that occurred, and we have no secrets between us now. And I want you so badly my mind canna comprehend it.'

'But I can't understand this. I was his daughter.'

'Seeing him with you eased some of my rage. I'd thought he gloated every day about what he'd done to me and for taking my father's life and his ring. He scarcely remembered these things, he was so twisted. And the kindness he showed you at the end…it meant much to me.'

'But he took so much from you.'

'Lass, he's given to me as well.'

She gave him that shy look. 'M-me?'

He nodded. 'I dinna go mad after those years of hell, but I was just shy of it when I thought of losing you.'

She whispered, 'I saw it, Lachlain. That hell. I know what happened to you.'

He dropped his forehead to hers. 'I wish to God…I wish you had no'. That kills me inside, knowing I cursed you with that memory.'

'No, I'm glad now that I have it.'

'How can you say that?'

Her bottom lip trembled. 'I would never want you to go through that alone.'

He gripped her shoulders. Brows drawn, he rasped, 'My God, I love you.'

She gasped. 'I love you, too. I wanted to tell you—'

'If you felt the same, then why did you no' come back to Kinevane? To me?'

'Because it was day in Russia.'

Welcome realization hit him. 'So it would be day in Scotland.'

'Exactly. It was only my second time ever to trace—the first was just before I went with the vampire—and I didn't trust myself to land perfectly in the sunproofed rooms. I knew it was just after midnight here.'

'I wondered when you'd learned to trace.' His tone low, he admitted, 'I thought you'd chosen your aunts over me.'

'No, I was trying to be smart, cold, logical. And besides, I've decided no one's going to force me to choose anyone over anyone.' She wagged her finger at him. 'Including you, Lachlain. Not again.'

His lips curled. 'You're going to keep me on a short chain, are you no'? Especially now that I know what happens when you get displeased with someone.'

She play-punched his arm, but when her hand met the wet fabric of his coat, her eyes went wide. 'You're hurt. Worse than I thought.' She shot to her feet, but he eased her back down.

'Give it time. I'll heal, just as you're doing. Your leg's already better.'

'But let me get a bandage for you.' She looked him over. 'Your hands? Your chest? Oh, Lachlain.'

He wasn't ready for her to leave this room, especially not without him. 'Doona worry.' He kept her hand in his. 'Now that I ken that you love me, I'll hold this over you and make you take care of me.'

She fought a grin and lost.

'So what else do you see?' He coughed into his fist. 'In my memories.' This could get tricky.

'They're mostly connected to me,' she said, clearly hedging.

Still tricky. Could she see him when he handled himself while imagining his mouth between her legs? 'And…?'

'I see things from the past. And I see you admiring my underwear.' She blushed.

'Can you ken why this would make me uneasy?'

'It makes me so as well! I think I would die if I saw you with another woman.'

'Are you jealous, lass?'

'Yes!' she cried, as if she couldn't believe the question. 'While you've been running around growling 'mine,' I've been silently saying it right back at you.'

This got better and better. 'I think I like you jealous and possessive. But I doona like what's available to you in my mind. What more have you seen?'

So she detailed memories of him on a campaign, of him with her in the hotel room, of him admiring her arse, the necklace. Nothing to embarrass him so far. 'Have you seen me kill?'

'No.'

'Have you seen me release into my own hand?'

Her eyes went wide. 'No, but…'

'But what?' When she wouldn't tell him, he nipped her ear. 'Tell me.'

With her face buried in his chest, he barely heard her whisper, 'I want to.' Her admission sent a spike of heat through him.

'Do you, then?' His voice had gone husky. As she nodded against him, he realized that though he was injured—had been feeling damn near dead—she could stir him to life. 'You've only to tell me what you want.'

'But I don't want to see certain things. Like you…with another woman.'

'Now, this I am no' concerned with. You take my memories, and none before you were memorable in the least.'

'I don't know…'

'I do. Every event you described was pivotal to my thinking of you. I remember all of them clearly, even over so much time.' When she frowned, he explained, 'I think you wake up too soon. That day by the stream, I grieved for no' having you, but afterward I swore to myself that nothing would stop me from finding you. I vowed that I would no' wait for you—I would seek you to the ends of the earth. And in the hotel when we were together, I promised myself I would do whatever it took to claim you, go to any lengths, even if they were no' honorable. I realized that night that you can make me craven for you.'

'A-and the others?'

'The necklace? That entire journey home I slept with it in my hand, renewed in my belief that I'd see you wear it one day. And the night I stared at your arse—and you do have an arse I will be thinking of often—I joined you in the shower. When I took you under the water, you whispered in my ear that you dinna think you could live without me.'

'I did?' she breathed.

'Oh, aye, and I thought that I'd give anything to hear it again. So rest easy on that score, love. I think this is like mind reading, and a lot of couples I know do that.' He frowned. 'Though those are usually reciprocal. Will you share things with me as though I had this talent? To keep no more secrets between us.'

'No more secrets, Lachlain.'

'And we set about getting past my…our memories?'

She nodded eagerly. 'We will—'

'Emmaline!' Annika shrieked. Regin, behind her, rolled her eyes at the sight of them together. 'Get away from him!'

Emma gasped, seeming embarrassed to be caught in bed with Lachlain. Then her expression turned defiant. 'No.'

'You can't mean this. We will discuss this when you're better.' To Regin, she said, 'Take him from here.' Her voice was laced with disgust.

Emma tensed. 'Don't touch him, Regin.'

'Sorry, Em.' She drew her sword and swept to the bed in a blur, her sword point under his chin before they could blink. He tensed, but with his injuries and Emma thrown over him, he couldn't react quickly enough.

'Put—the sword—down,' Emma said.

'You're out of your head, kid. Why do you want to be with him when you have nightmares about him?'

Annika added, 'You need to move away from this…this Lykae.'

'I'm keeping'—her eyes flickered—'this Lykae.'

'But the nightmares—'

'Are our business.' When Regin pressed forward, Emma bit out, 'I said no.' She backhanded her with phenomenal speed.

Regin flew across the room. Lachlain shot up, head light, and threw Emma behind him. But instead of attacking as Lachlain expected, Regin wiggled her jaw and smiled brightly. 'Sixty-five years I've been trying to teach