Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (23 page)

He
nodded and rose, half-dazed and seething in a welter of emotion.

Too
many emotions. More than he was used to, after this.

Everything
in Brand hungered for Eva. He needed to know that she was okay. To see her
silver eyes, to hear that smooth voice. To wrap her to his chest and inhale
that beautiful clean scent. But if Brand went to Eva like this, he’d kiss her,
he’d take her and he would do his damnedest to loose himself inside of her.

That
wasn’t a good idea. No. Because when he kissed Eva next, he was going to take
his time on her sweet pink lips. He would taste her throat. And once he got his
teeth on those full ripe breasts…Brand snarled, pure carnal lust raking through
him.

Lust
and the
need
to Marque. To bond.

Nikandria’s
gaze flashed up; she treated him to a furious look. “
Brand
. If she had
any idea she was your amati, I’d say go for it. But since she doesn’t, I
suggest you find Seth and Khael before you do something
really
idiotic.”
Then, the hot flush rising in her cheeks, she muttered, “If nothing else, take
your stupid lust away from me. It’s annoying and gross.”

Brand
nodded, barely holding himself steady – barely keeping himself from
Changing into tiger form and ripping down the stairs, as memories of fire tore
at him – and went to find his brothers. He needed to fight. He needed to
take the edge off. To ground himself in his own action, his own body, his own
life.

Brand
could always count on his brothers to help him beat himself half to death.

Sometimes
he just needed that.

Corin
King stood in the dark of the night and waited, studying the street, the snow,
and the lights dancing off the cold wet pavement.

A Sakai
approached cautiously from behind, keeping a careful distance between them.
“Sir. I have the station footage, sir.”

“You
should have had the footage seven hours ago.”

“Apologies.
There was an issue with the system. Someone corrupted the files. Intentionally,
sir. They were very good. But we found the vehicle.”

“You
ran the license?”

“Yes
sir. We traced it to a checkpoint. They crossed into Canada earlier this
evening.”

Corin
King nodded and turned away from his contemplation of the icy sidewalks of
Whitefish, Montana. “Canada. Very well. Then Canada is where we follow.”

Brand
paced the confines of his rooms and ignored the late-night talk show blaring on
the TV. His hair was wet, the sweatpants clinging to his body from the cold
shower.

After
working the pain and frustration from his system with Seth and Khael, it had
been all he could do to stagger back upstairs to the Infirmary; Samuel had
frowned at the cuts on Brand’s face, given a quick healing, then pointed to a
spare bed.

It was
their usual routine after Brand took someone’s memories. But despite Brand’s
exhaustion, he hadn’t been able to sleep. Eva haunted him.

Lovely
face, silver eyes, sweet rain scent.

Brand
dragged himself back to the Kade wing and stood before Eva’s door for a good
five minutes before it occurred to him she was sleeping. He’d cursed, turned to
his rooms, and taken a long cold shower.

It
hadn’t helped.

He
still wanted her.
Needed
her.

 “You
can taste her,” Brand snarled to the empty room, “You can have her. Just don’t
Marque her. Not until you tell her the truth.” It was both a vow and an order
to himself.

Sooner
or later she would have to know. Just…not yet.

Not
until he had won her. Not until she
cared
.

Brand
raked a hand through his damp hair, scooped up the remote and muted the TV.
Then he tossed the control aside and padded toward the kitchen. There was
leftover pasta in the fridge. Nikandria’s cooking. The most he could hope for
was that it wouldn’t kill him, but…

Footsteps
shifted outside the door. It was a bare cautious move as if someone stood,
debating.

Brand
stilled. His immediate family would just walk in, to hell with privacy. There
was only one person at Stronghold he could think of who would stand outside
Brand’s door and hesitate.

Brand
crossed the floor and ripped the panel back.
Eva
.

Her
face was pale, startled. Brand’s instincts rippled as she sucked in a deep
breath. Her breasts rose and fell, and he traced the movement with his gaze;
her eyes widened, rose to his, and Brand realized that he had already wrapped
his palm around the warm delicate skin at the nape of her neck.

The
sensual scent of his amati filled his rooms, his territory.
As it should
.

“Brand.
I tried to sleep, but… I kept thinking about today. I wanted to check on you.
To see if…” Eva’s voice dwindled, her gaze fell to his chest, lower. His cock
strained. Eva licked her lips; beneath his palm her throat worked. “You know
what? I just…never mind.” The last emerged as a breathy whisper.

The
clean scent of her arousal hit him like a fist to the gut.

Brand
didn’t think, he growled.

And
claimed Eva’s lips for his own.

Eva
gasped the scent of Brand into her body and instantly forgot her concern. What
was going on here, now, was too raw, too immediate to be ignored, and –
ever since the train – her body had been burning. To be near Brand, to be
with
Brand. To take Brand inside her and finally work out this strange
need and tension that had built inside her since that first kiss in the car, on
a side street in Bockoven.

No
, Eva
thought, splaying her hands against him as he pushed her back against the door
and pinned her there; his mouth moved from her lips to the sensitive place
below her ear, his strong thigh sliding between hers,
It was since I first
saw him
. It had begun the night she first opened her eyes in that hotel
room, expecting to find an enemy, and found Brand instead.

He
moved down her throat, to her chest, and Eva arched against him, gasping. She
gripped his broad shoulders and rose to the heat of that deadly mouth, moving
against the tuck of that thigh, her own impossible need welling deep inside.
“Brand…”

“Still,
Evita.”

He was
licking her now.

Then
came the gentle pressure of claws against her flesh – Brand slid his
hands up beneath her shirt, gripping her ribcage – there was the satisfying
shred of cloth as her shirt ripped away. Eva moaned. Brand growled in
satisfaction at the sight of her bra, leaned closer, and gave a slow,
deliberate bite over Eva’s left breast through the material. Eva was already
swollen and sensitive, and she shuddered at the sensation of his teeth sinking
into her soft flesh, gripping her, and yet so careful not to break skin, so
careful not to hurt.

She had
never been with a man before who could hurt her. Not really.
I’m usually the
stronger one
. Uneasy entered Eva’s mind, but then Brand kneaded her
buttocks and gently sucked her nipple through the flimsy bra. The heat in Eva’s
belly coursed down her legs. She held onto Brand, trying to stay upright as she
felt her own body melt, until his strong hands slipped down her thighs. Eva
felt the now-familiar pinprick of his claws, the cool onrush of air as her
pants shredded away.

“Not
fair,” she whispered, pushing against his warmth, slipping her hands under the
damp t-shirt he wore to run her palms over taut muscle. “Not fair.” The hard
pulse of his erection was heavy against her thigh, and Eva breathed Brand deep
into her lungs and gripped his shoulders, trying to maintain
some
balance against what he was doing to her breasts, “I want to see you. Too.”

“In
Chicago,” he growled, catching her nipple with his teeth, “when I Changed back.
I wanted to fuck you so badly. Could barely fucking walk.” Arousal thudded
through Eva’s veins.

The
memory of him, the memory of his body, the size of his cock…Eva licked her
lips. “You told me…not to look. In Chicago. So you should let me look…now.”

Brand
growled and pulled back. He raised up to look into her eyes; his dark blue gaze
sparkled with gold, flickers of ruby, and a deeply male amusement. “You know
what? I just might oblige you, Evita.”

Eva
laughed and slapped his chest, squirming against him until she could step back.
Brand let her go but kept her bracketed in his arms as she ran her fingernails
lightly up and down his sides. “Maybe I just changed my mind. Maybe I’ll leave
right now, and we’ll both never know. We’ll just sit around like a bunch of old
humans in a retirement home – and wonder.
Forever
,” she laughed,
widening her eyes to tease, because there was no way she was going to pass this
up.

That
blue gaze flickered again, turning serious.

That
quickly, everything about what they were doing shifted. There was that secret
in Brand’s eyes again…but also a need so raw it should have frightened her.

Eva
stilled.
It’s more than sex
, she realized, the heat of his body warm
against hers.

She
knew Brand kept secrets from her. He kept secrets from
everybody
. But
somehow, Eva was afraid of what he was keeping from
her
.

Because
whatever it was – if it made him that serious – it couldn’t be
good. And if Brand told that secret to her, what they had now – what they
were about to do, would end.

He
started to speak.

“Brand…”
She shook her head sharply.
Not yet
, she thought with a desperation not
even she understood. She needed this too.
Not yet.
“Brand – don’t
– forget what I said. I’m not good at teasing anybody. Just…just forget
it.
Kiss
me. Please. Right now.”

Brand
closed his mouth and gave her a penetrating look.

He
slowly shook his head. For a moment, his expression was so solemn…then he
smiled and grazed his hand up her spine to wrap the back of her neck, holding
her tight against him. He lowered his forehead to hers, locked gazes, and
whispered, “Never tease me, Evita. Not with forever.”

His
kiss was brutal, almost violent, pushing her back against the door so that she
was left gasping. Brand picked her up, and the next thing Eva knew he was
carrying her up the steps to the upper story of his rooms. She glanced out at
the loft, caught a glimpse of a large cushioned chair beneath an old sword,
walls lined with books and files and a huge pile of paperwork strewn across a
massive carved desk. Then Brand cut down a hall, pushed open the door to a dim
room and threw Eva into the air.

Eva
snarled, clawing out with her fingers in shock as she tried to find her
balance, then landed on her back in the middle of a wide, cushioned surface
– she bounced, and the scent of Brand filled the air around her like a
gift.
A bed
.
Brand’s
bed.

The
thought electrified Eva. Goosebumps prickled Eva’s flesh as she gripped at the
soft gray material and looked at Brand.

He was
pulling the t-shirt over his head, bronzed muscles rippling in a beautiful,
masculine way. His gaze came up and latched on hers…his eyes were pure Kaspian
gold, flickering with sapphire and ruby. Brand slowly perused Eva’s body, devouring
her, and her flesh heated. She tensed her fingers, wanting to reach forward to
rip those pants off, to pull him down to the bed. He was all heat, all
strength.

Brand’s
gaze arrested on her feet, and his low rough laugh set her on fire. “Seems I
forgot something.”

Eva
glanced down; she tapped her running shoes together and rose to her elbows to
grin. “Sexy, aren’t they?”

“Yes.”
But there was something so serious in Brand’s voice that it was almost
unsettling. He sat on the edge of the bed and began unlacing her right foot.

Eva
watched, then sucked in a breath, trying to quell her sudden nervousness.
“About condoms…”

“No
need,” Brand said, turning her foot to the left. “And I doubt I could find a
condom at Stronghold if I tried, Eva. Though if you want,” he grimaced
slightly, “I’ll certainly try.”

He
didn’t have children unless he wanted to have children. He could
control
those things. Still…

Eva
frowned. “You’re absolutely
sure?
”

“I
think I would know by now,” Brand responded, very dryly, and met her eyes. The
intensity of his look tore through Eva, and her breathing was faint again, as
if she couldn’t pull enough air into her lungs. As if she couldn’t pull enough
of Brand’s
scent
into her lungs. And Eva struggled with herself:
trust
him
. Trust that someone,
anyone
could control such a thing about
their body. Trust
Brand
. With
that
.

With
her.

No,
this wasn’t a trust issue. She was just…just being
nervous
. Like it was
her first time or something.