Lifemate Connections: Eryn

swirled between them—a kaleidoscope of color that was passion and warmth, even caring, though she couldn't say how that was possible when they didn't even know each other.

Yet she knew she only had to open up and that kaleidoscope would completely fill her, mind, body and soul, making them one in a way mere sex never could.

She didn't reach out. Didn't dare.

Thought slithered away as the pressure began to build. It spiraled upwards, rapidly gaining momentum, until she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only wait for the inevitable peak. A peak she leapt over with abandon, twisting and shaking and moaning. He came with her, his roar echoing in her ears as his body slammed into hers and his release flooded so very deep.

When the tremors finally eased, he laughed softly and rested his forehead against hers. 'Well, I'm damn glad you finally gave in.'

She grinned. 'Yeah, so am I.'

He dropped a kiss on her forehead and drew back a little.

'No yodeling though, which is somewhat disappointing.'

She frowned. She'd said that to Grey, not Harrison, so why would he make a comment like that? Or was it simply a matter of him somehow realizing she was a beagle shifter?

'I'm not the type of girl who yodels for just anyone, you know.'

'I'm not just anyone,' he said, a touch of male arrogance in his tone. 'Perhaps we need a replay.'

She shifted her hips, moving against him. Despite the fact that they'd only just finished making love, he was still quite firm inside her. It wouldn't take much to get him going—just as it wouldn't take much to get her going.

'If the replay is slower, I'm all for it.'

He gave her a wicked grin. 'If slow is what the lady wants, slow is what the lady gets.' He reared back, undid the ties around her legs, then reached forward, undoing the knots around her hands. Then he drew her up onto her knees, and wrapped his arms around her waist. His eyes were more gray than blue, and held an intentness that made her soul shiver.

'This time I intend to make you yodel so loud the whole bar will know your pleasure.'

Her pulse zoomed at the thought, and she grinned as she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. 'You can try.'

He certainly did try.

And he damn well succeeded.

* * *

Movement woke Eryn many hours later. She cracked open an eye, watching him pad across the room and gather his clothes.

'Where are you going?' she asked softly, a little surprised he'd leave before their time in the room was up.

He barely even glanced at her as he pulled on his jeans.

'Work.'

She looked at the clock on the bedside table, and frowned.

'It's three in the morning and still dark outside.'

He hesitated. 'Yeah, but there's stuff I have to do before I actually go to work.'

He was lying. And the mere fact that she sensed this made her frown. Damn it, Harrison was human, not shifter, and they shouldn't have that sort of connection. If he was a shifter, then okay, maybe, as it was a well known fact that shifter pairings often connected on many different levels. But she'd never heard of a human-shifter pairing sharing anything more than great sex.

And while humans were more than capable of psychic abilities, it wasn't telepathy or empathy happening between them. It was something stranger—something deeper.

She sat up, drawing her knees to her chest and hugging them. 'What are you working on at the moment?'

He hesitated, and once again that odd, distant look crept into his eyes. 'Reinstalling pipes in Tennamar.'

Tennamar was one of the old estates built on the fringes of the city, and a good hour's drive away. So, it was logical he'd leave early, considering he had to go home and get all his gear—so why didn't she believe that was the reason he was leaving? Why did she believe his reasons for going were a whole lot darker—and more deadly?

'Will you be here tomorrow night?'

Something flashed in his eyes. Regret. Exasperation.

Neither of which made any sense. 'Yes.'

Yet he'd said earlier tonight he wouldn't be back until Monday. That had been the truth. This wasn't. 'Then maybe I'll see you here.'

 'Yes.' He strode across the room and leaned down to kiss her. It wasn't the good-bye kiss she'd been expecting, but rather a promise of things to come. He raised a hand, his fingers lightly brushing her cheek, his gaze intent, as if memorizing every curve, every flaw, in her face. 'Till next we meet.'

He spun before she could speak and walked to the door, his movements grace itself.

She blinked, for the first time realizing what she was seeing.

It wasn't the walk of a plumber with a hankering to be a cowboy.

It was the walk of a man who moved with the grace of a vampire and the power of a shifter.

Grey, not Harrison.

Chapter Four

Eryn blinked again, wondering if her imagination was playing tricks.

It wasn't.

That was definitely Grey's walk. And, suddenly, all the other little niggles came flooding back. The ever-changing color of his eyes. The way her hormones had latched onto him after meeting him at the bar the second time. The sudden lack of any scent besides masculinity. The deep connection between them.

She wasn't crazy.

It was Grey.

He was shifter all right—just not the type she'd presumed.

He was a far rarer kind—a face shifter. A man who could assume the identity of any man he touched.

That's why he'd brushed past Harrison. He'd wanted to assume his identity. Which meant Harrison was probably still in the men's room.

She waited until Grey had left the room, then scrambled out of bed to grab her clothes. The footsteps leading away from the room told her Grey was out of earshot.

'Jack, you awake?'

'Like I have any other choice with all the noise you've been making.'

'Get security into the men's right now. Before Harrison gets there.'

 She heard the snap of fingers, then the scramble of movement in the background as Jack said, 'Why?'

She grabbed her dress and pulled it on, then hunted around for her shoes. 'Because the man I've been with the last few hours wasn't Harrison, but Grey. I'm betting the real Harrison is still in the restroom.'

'I think all that sex has blown your circuits.'

She grabbed her shoes, dangling them from her fingers as she made her way towards the door. 'You ever heard of face shifters?'

'No.'

'They're an extremely rare form of shifter who can assume the shape of anyone they touch.'

'So why call them face shifters?'