Thought. Dreamed. Craved. How she’d managed to last this long without touching him was a mystery greater than the origins of the Lady of the Lake.
“Foolish thoughts,” he whispered, his voice almost pained.
“According to who?” She rolled her hips, shamelessly rubbing against him.
“The goddess who holds my life in her hands.”
“She’s not here now, is she?” Her breath came faster as he slid a hand between her thighs, and then the buttons on her pants were open.
He bypassed her panties altogether, finding her damp for him. Satisfaction curved his lips in an arrogant smile. She gripped his shoulders, keeping him close. His thumb slid across her clit, rubbing in tantalizing circles that soon had her clawing at him for more.
Pleasure licked along her nerve endings and she moaned low and soft. Every fantasy she had dared to indulge was nothing more than a shadow compared to the taste of rain on his mouth, the teasing drag of his fingers up the inside of her thigh. And the way he watched her slide deeper into the delicious pleasure.
“If you stop…” The threat was left unfinished as Lucan stole her words, her next breath from her lungs.
Stole another piece of her she’d never get back, and all she could do was moan against the mouth that closed over hers hard and fast. The mindless swirl of his fingers between her legs drove every thought from her head. Every thought except for how incredible he would feel deep inside her.
Slower, then faster, he circled and stroked, spreading her wetness back and forth across her clit. Long glides of his fingers parted her folds before and after each slick swirl, slowing each moment she felt release within her grasp.
She moaned against his lips. “You’re driving me crazy.”
“Then we’re nearly even.”
Feather-light now, his touch drove her mad. The more she hungered for it, the more he teased, like water continuing to dance away from a live wire at the last second.
Deliciously frustrated, she cupped his face, bringing him closer. “Please…”
Hunger and heat tangled inside her, tightening like the softest silk across her skin.
“Lucan…” Sweet tension clamped down on her muscles, holding her body prisoner as an explosive release rocked her.
“Easy.” Lucan’s arms kept her trapped against the wall when her legs would have given way.
Heart racing, she spared only a moment to catch her breath and then moved to help the rough hands that tugged at her pants, pushing them farther down her legs.
“I need to be inside you.”
Gods, she needed that too, needed him so much—
Something banged into the wall behind them.
“There you are.” Cian’s voice exploded into the night, and Lucan froze. “I hope you know where Briana disappeared to or Tristan will have your balls for brunch…”
“Oh good. You found them.” Still half drunk, Emma stumbled outside after him. Unlike Cian, the sorceress wasn’t surprised to see them together, but when she glanced at Cian, realizing what they’d interrupted, she sobered. “The enchantress responsible for tonight’s orgy has decided to be a good girl.”
Cian’s jaw made a popping sound. “The spell was broken a few minutes ago.” Briana could almost hear the buzzer going off in Cian’s head like one of the game shows he loved as he realized who her mate was. “Well, fuck.”
Chapter Four
“Emma!” Briana prompted, tugging her pants up. If anyone could shut her brother up before he made everything worse, it was his mate.
And judging by the distant look on Lucan’s face and the way he held his body away from her,
“Cian.” Emma tugged on his arm.
“Tristan… Oh, shit, Tristan.” Cian whistled. “Now I know why you didn’t say a damn thing.”
Of course her brother would choose this moment to verbalize his little epiphany.
“Go!” Briana snapped.
Moments ago she would have wished for someone to tell Lucan what she hadn’t had the courage to do for months now. One look at the granite hold he had on his expression, and she knew hearing it wouldn’t make a difference.
He’d already made up his mind to pull away.
The door clicked shut behind Emma and Cian, and somehow it sounded so much louder than being slammed open.
Without a word Lucan fixed her pants, then turned to grab his shirt. “We should go inside.”
Somehow she knew the fact that he wasn’t bolting immediately wasn’t a good sign.
“Your brothers will be worried about you,” he added.
After what just happened, he was thinking about her brothers? Second by second the euphoria that had left her breathless moments ago drifted away, and the harder she tried to hold on to it, the faster it slipped through her fingers.
She finally found her voice in the midst of the choking disappointment rising inside her. “And you wouldn’t want them to think you bailed on me.” No, he’d wait until he turned her over and then he’d retreat into the shadows.
“I promised—”
“So that’s it? You want to just go back inside and act like none of this happened?”
He took a moment to meet her gaze. “The less your brothers know the better.”
“And then what? You disappear like you did in Vegas?” She couldn’t do that again, couldn’t watch him vanish knowing it could be weeks or months before she saw him again.
But there was really no stopping it, was there? The wraith’s black eyes were more welcoming than the hard expression Lucan wore now.
No. She wouldn’t watch him abandon her again, leaving her to face the dozens of questions her brothers would fire at her.
She strode past him, bypassing the door altogether.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
Lucan caught up with her, his shirt back in place but ripped at the shoulder. Probably from her claws. “We need to go inside.”
“Maybe you do, but I don’t.” The one thing she needed wanted to pass her off like he’d fulfilled his obligation and be on his way. She couldn’t face her brothers right now, couldn’t stand the thought of them feeling sorry for her because she’d chosen the one man she couldn’t have.
She couldn’t pin down the moment both woman and cat recognized Lucan as her mate. For some gargoyles it was an instant awareness while it took others time to realize how deep the connection ran, not unlike the way humans fell in love. And some denied the truth, refusing to see the bond that attraction, biology or fate—maybe all three—conspired to set in place.
But once a gargoyle chose their mate—intentionally or instinctually—the bond was unbreakable.
“Briana—”
“Don’t.” She had known where this was headed the second Cian had burst into the alley.
“Don’t what?”
She pivoted coming within an inch of colliding with him. Her throat ached from holding onto the emotions tearing her up. “Don’t act like it was all because of a spell.”
