That his life and all of the goals he had for his future as a warrior with no chains to hold him down were still the things he wanted most.
That his duty to the Order came before the woman he couldn’t resist.
That he couldn’t possibly be in love with her after only a handful of days.
He stared into her sincere gaze, wishing he had her power to read a mind with his touch. “You’re right about what happened tonight. Opus had to be tipped-off by someone. After what happened with Angus Mackie the other night as well, the Order is all but certain we have a mole somewhere.”
She blanched a bit, then glanced down into her glass. “I hope that’s not true.”
“So do I, Kaya.”
He could smell her anxiety as he took the wine from her hand and set it on the mantel. She was afraid now. He saw it in the heavy drum of her pulse, which ticked in a faster tempo at the base of her throat. Instead of feeling suspicion, even anger, at the sight of that frantic, throbbing vein, what he felt the most was hunger.
A need so primal and sexual it rocked him to his core.
She looked up again, into his eyes. He didn’t have to wonder if they were glowing with the ferocity of his desire; Kaya’s face said it all. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t want her, or that the truth of his feelings toward her didn’t go far deeper than that.
He caressed her cheek, a low curse hissing out of him. “When I realized you were in that house with me tonight, I was so fucking furious at you. I knew the instant you’d been shot by that bastard on the stairs. I heard your scream, Kaya. Then I smelled your blood.” He shook his head, his flawless memory providing a replay that tore at him all over again. “I wanted to kill every last one of those fucks who tried to hurt you. But that’s not all I wanted.”
He let his hand drift along the side of her neck, smoothing his thumb over the artery that beat so strongly below her ear. Kaya sucked in her breath, her gaze widening. When her lips parted on that shocked gasp, Aric took her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a fierce claiming, his tongue invading without permission or mercy. Possessive and heated, he ravished her mouth with all the passion and raw hunger that had been riding him ever since he first set eyes on her.
She kissed him back with equal intensity, until a small moan bubbled up from her throat. She broke away from him, panting. “Aric.”
She took a step back, his brave Kaya who had charged headlong into a building filled with enemy gunmen only hours ago, now trembled after his kiss.
“Are you afraid of me?” He waited in dread for her answer.
“No.” She shook her head as if to reaffirm it. “I’m afraid of myself . . . of what I might agree to if I let you stay in this room with me any longer.”
Her confession shouldn’t have given him as much pleasure as it did. Bolstered by it, he moved closer, denying her retreat. He touched her face again, running the backs of his knuckles along her cheek then down the velvety column of her neck.
“Are you afraid you’ll let me do this?” he asked, continuing his slow caress down the length of her toned arm before moving onto her breasts.
She gave him a weak nod, a sigh shuddering out of her as he kneaded the perfect mounds until her nipples rose as tight as pebbles beneath the thin fabric of her shirt.
He lifted the hem and brought both hands under, freeing the clasp of her bra. When her breasts were uncovered and filling his palms, he bent and suckled each of them, the points of his fangs lightly grazing her tender skin.
“What about this, Kaya?” he murmured, tugging one nipple between his teeth and flicking the tip of it with his tongue. She dropped her head back and moaned in pleasure, going a little boneless in his embrace.
“Or this?” he asked, reaching into her panties to stroke her sex as he brought his mouth back up to hers. “Ah, Christ.”
She was drenched and soft, so fucking hot. He groaned, his blood already on fire and racing through his veins. She moved against his palm, encouraging him to delve deeper into the wet cleft that felt like liquid silk on his fingertips. He penetrated her with one finger, then two, swallowing her jagged cry with his kiss. His heart hammered in his chest and every pulse point, his cock surging with the need to be inside her.
Releasing her on an impatient snarl, he peeled away her clothing so he could feast his gaze and mouth and hands on every strong, beautiful inch of her body.
“I need to touch you too,” she murmured tugging his shirt up and raking her short nails over his bared skin.
They undressed him together. Kaya’s hands traced his glyphs while her mouth dropped tender kisses on the raised, reddened skin of the many healed gunshot wounds that covered him. He wasn’t prepared for the moment she sank down in front of him and took his engorged erection into her hands. Her touch drew a choked moan from him as she worked his length with her fingers and palms, before lowering her mouth over the broad tip of his cock.
“Fuck.” He couldn’t keep his hips from moving in time with the wet strokes of her tongue. Fisting his hands in her dark hair, he pumped and grinded, uttering her name through clenched teeth and fangs.
Too soon, he felt his control unraveling. His need for release was too savage for her mouth. He needed to be inside her. Needed to see if the raw yearning he felt for her now could be slaked with a
