arms winding tight around my waist. Pressing his cheek against my stomach, he breathed in deeply and held his breath. “I couldn’t feel you. It nearly drove me mad. I’ve never been so empty, so scared. How can I protect you if I can’t even find you?”
Those words were enough to send me to my knees. I knew exactly how he felt. We held each other for a long moment, the silence wrapping around us like a thick length of rope. I’d almost lost him, not once, but twice. And the emptiness I’d felt was like a razor slicing my heart to shreds. Mere words would not suffice to convey my feelings. He’d be so much better off without me. His life wouldn’t be in danger; he wouldn’t have to constantly assert himself to Xander. He wouldn’t suffer the anguish of wondering if I was dead or alive. And even though I knew all of this, given the opportunity, I doubted if I’d ever be strong enough to let him go. I needed him like I needed air. And the only thing I could offer him in return was an existence steeped in danger and the constant threat of death.
That reminded me. “You’re healed from the attack?” The last time I’d seen him, someone had tried to use him as a pincushion.
“Completely.”
“And in the past two days,” I said, almost unable to bring myself to ask, “have
He took my face in his hands, his mouth covering mine. His tongue traced my lip before delving into my mouth with such care, I thought I’d cry. I draped my arms around his shoulders and kissed him deeper, allowing him to coax me into forgetting-just for a while-about the dangers that stalked us both.
Chapter 12
I arrived at Xander’s the next day, nearly dragging my ass up the front steps. I knew I was in for it today. First I’d have to tolerate Xander’s reprimand-and hope it didn’t involve our spending any quality time together. Then I’d have to deal with Raif. And frankly, at this point, I’d have almost chosen to spend the day with his brother over enduring Raif’s displeasure.
No one greeted me at the door when I rang the bell. I waited for forty-seven seconds before I let myself in. I didn’t usually need an invite to cross the threshold. But since I was in deep shit with Raif as well as Xander, I thought I’d better mind my p’s and q’s. I paused for a moment in the foyer as I decided on a course of action and opted for the lesser of two evils by seeking out the King of Shaedes. After a fruitless scan of the first floor, I found Xander in the training room in the basement of the house.
He hadn’t heard me approach as he delivered a roundhouse kick to the large sandbag suspended from the ceiling. Bare-chested, he was clothed in just a pair of athletic pants. But for our first meeting, I’d only ever seen Xander perfectly coiffed and sitting on his proverbial throne. I couldn’t help but admire his form-both his technique and his body-as he followed through with a solid punch, block, kick combination. He moved with the graceful precision of a leopard on the prowl as he twirled and swept his foot at an invisible opponent’s leg, came up with a solid elbow to the bag, and spun again, delivering a kick that sent the bag spinning and rocking in a figure-eight pattern.
Disciplined. Skilled. A true warrior. I could respect-or rather, admire-Xander this way, muscles glistening with sweat, stray strands of blond hair falling from the band that secured the hair at the nape of his neck. I leaned against the doorjamb, enjoying the show as well as the stay of execution. I wasn’t exactly eager to hear how Xander and his brother had decided to reprimand me.
“Like what you see?” His voice echoed in the gym.
I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Xander’s mouth to tarnish his perfectly beautiful body. “I’m here to discuss my formal reprimand.” I’d rather eat glass than admit I enjoyed the view.
Xander crossed to a bench and retrieved a towel. Wiping his face and chest, he crossed the gym to the door where I remained leaning in the doorway while trying, at least, to look casual. “Well, since I
“I’m sorry, Xander. I didn’t realize I’d come here today to give your ego a good, long stroking. If this is my punishment for using your authority without permission, then consider me properly lashed.”
Xander’s molten caramel eyes sparkled with a mischievous light. A silent groan stretched long through my mind. Showcasing his preternatural speed, he moved across the gym in almost a blur, reached to the wall of weapons, and grabbed a wicked-looking cat-o’-nine-tails whip with many dangling cords capped with barbed metal tips. “If you’re looking for a good lashing”-he swung the whip with menace as he made his way back to me-“I could give you one that would leave you begging for me to stop.”
His voice carried a hard edge, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell if the threat was violent or sexual in nature. Maybe I shouldn’t have been such a chickenshit and avoided Raif. Anything would have been better than this.
“My workout isn’t quite over.” The whip hummed as Xander twirled it in a circular pattern. “You beat me, we’ll consider you properly reprimanded. I beat you”-his eyes caressed me from head to toe-“and as punishment for your actions, you return my money and continue working for free.”
Sounded more than fair to me. I couldn’t think of anything I’d like better than wiping the floor with Xander’s pretty face. He was going down! There was no way in hell I was parting with that money. “You’re on.”
I didn’t give him time to react before I launched myself from my perch in the doorway. Shedding my corporeal form-I wasn’t about to play fair-I appeared behind him, using his own technique against him, my elbow striking between his shoulder blades before I swept his legs out from underneath him. He hit the mat with a
Before I’d finished my premature celebration, something snapped at my ankle, and I looked down just in time to see the barbed ends of the whip biting through my pant leg into my flesh. Xander jerked, and I went down-hard, I might add-before I had the presence of mind to try to escape. The tails of the whip held my corporeal form-the sonofabitch must have been anticipating an unfair fight-and I assumed the whip had been made with Lyhtan hair, soul shadows, or both. I’d seen only one Shaede extract the magic shadows from his soul in Xander’s warehouse months ago. I’d watched as Raif exhaled gently over the wide mouth of a bottle, and with his breath, inky black tendrils had pooled in the container. Soul shadows were the one thing that could kill a Lyhtan, no matter what the time of day. That essence of darkness could break bones as if they were nothing but twigs, and I didn’t doubt that Raif had enhanced most of the weapons in this arsenal with his magic.
Before I could bring myself upright, Xander straddled me, securing my wrists with one hand above my head. He smiled and bent low over my ear, his breath warm against my skin. “Give up yet?”
“Not a chance,” I said from between clenched teeth. I brought my knee up to his groin, but before I could make purchase on his royal jewels, he rolled away and jumped to his feet, putting a good two or three yards between us.
I’d come to the house unarmed, but I had plenty of weapons at my fingertips. Xander charged at a full run, swinging the whip wildly above his head. I spun away and dissolved, becoming solid at the opposite wall adorned with weapons. I could have grabbed the spiked ball and chain. Or even a dagger. But the point of this fight was not collateral damage, so I took the bokken and gave it a few practice swings before returning to the center of the mat to face the king.
Xander smiled and stretched his neck from side to side. “You’re not going to win,” he said. “And I’ll get you for free.”
“Xander,” I scoffed, “you’ll never get me-period.” Without thinking, I charged, letting my warrior’s instinct and months of Raif’s training guide me. I stabbed forward, but the bokken was deflected with a swipe of the whip. I turned so as not to leave my back undefended, and Xander attacked, swinging his arm toward the wooden sword. The silver barbs of the cat-o’-nine-tails dug into the hard wood and he jerked, the bokken flying through the air along with the discarded whip. Okay, so it was going to be a knock-down, drag-out, hand-to-hand match. Perfect.
Xander had a good seventy pounds and a foot or so of height on me. But I was quicker on my feet and had the advantage of not being confined to corporeality. Our fight came down to a strange mishmash of judo, tae kwon do,
