Blood Shadows (16 page)

‘And what makes you so special?’

He smiled, reached for his bottle again and leaned his hip against the bench as he took a mouthful. ‘Asks my stalker.’

‘I think you have a serious case of delusions of grandeur, Kane.’

‘How many other master vampires have you come across, Caitlin? Or even heard of in the past fifty years? I strolled into Carter’s space and he saw opportunity. Just like he would have seen opportunity in me coming after you. The very reason you’re here now.’

Her pulse raced. ‘This has nothing to do with Xavier.’

‘What? You bring me in and Carter doesn’t climb down from his ivory tower to get involved?’ The knowing glint in his eyes escalated her unease. ‘Why no safe house, Caitlin? Why was I able to just walk into your bedroom and take you?’

‘You know I needed to see you again.’

‘But from what you tell me, they didn’t. Surely it would have been insisted upon that you were taken to safety after our intimate little encounter. So what’s your instruction from him? What have you been told to do?’

She felt herself falter, but didn’t break away. ‘I don’t have any instructions. I’ve been suspended.’

He frowned slightly, his eyes still rife with suspicion. ‘Is that right?’

‘Pending a full investigation for conduct unbecoming. Over how I captured you.’

His lips curled into a hint of a smile. ‘The untarnished Caitlin Parish. That’s got to hurt.’ He raked her swiftly with his gaze. ‘So this just between you and me now, is it?’

‘Seems that way.’ She knew she had to divert him and quickly. ‘So why don’t you be upfront with me as well, Kane. And tell me what you want with me.’

He pulled away, strode across to his car and slammed down the bonnet. ‘Are you getting bored already, Caitlin?’

‘Sitting and staring at the TV for nearly three hours? Watching you tend your machines? I’m having a ball.’

‘So you’d prefer a little more one-to-one time?’

‘I’d prefer you just to get to the point and tell me what you want with my soul.’

He strolled back over to the door, his confident smile unnerving her, frustrating her.

She quickly reached into the toolbox and grabbed one of the smaller screwdrivers. She pulled away from the bench just as he looked across his shoulder at her.

She kept her gaze lowered as she followed behind him. She kept the screwdriver handle hidden in her palm, the body flat against her wrist as she subtly tucked her hand amidst the folds of her dress. She’d slip over to the sofa and hide it under one of the seat cushions. She’d have to be quick and she’d have to be discreet.

He waited at the threshold, his back against the open door, his arms folded.

Her heart pounded, her pulse racing as she stepped forward to slip past him. But as soon as she crossed the threshold, Kane held out his hand.

He clicked his fingers, his palm upturned.

Her stomach leapt. Caitlin swallowed harder than she would have liked. She gripped the screwdriver tighter. But as she looked back up at him, those remorseless eyes told her she either gave it to him willingly or he was taking it. And it was more than obvious who was going to get hurt in the process.

Reluctantly, grudgingly, she dropped the screwdriver into his waiting palm.

He was going to be angry. He was probably going to strap her back down to the bed.

With baited breath, desperate to break from his gaze, she took another step to pass him, but Kane immediately pressed his palm against the wall in front of her, blocking her way.

He threw the screwdriver back into the outer room, closed and locked the door.

She backed flat against the wall as he placed his hand the other side of her head, barricading her in, the air crackling between them, the claustrophobia of the recess uncomfortably intimate.

She looked back into his navy eyes, a sudden flush of arousal heating between her legs. She desperately wanted to feel repulsed, but it just wasn’t happening. Again she tried to fill her head with all the terrible things his profile said he’d done, anything to curb the shallowness of her breaths that, at that moment, had nothing to do with fear. She wondered how much of it he was picking up on, and if he’d use it to his advantage right there and then.

She wondered if she’d try to stop him.

‘You need to accept that only one of us is going to be in control of this, Caitlin,’ he said, that steady gaze unrelenting. ‘And you trying to grab the reins like you did last night, like you tried to do just now, only makes me want to control things more. You try anything stupid like this again and I will strap you back down on my bed. Only this time, it’ll be wrists and ankles. Do I make myself clear?’

Resentfully, she nodded, the calmness in his tone only adding to the sincerity of the threat. Her throat constricted as she used all her willpower not to break from his gaze.

‘Good,’ he said. He lowered his arm that was blocking her way. But instead of letting her pass, he took hold of wrist, easing her away from the wall.

He tucked his keys in his coat on the hook as he led her out of the recess.

‘I don’t need an escort,’ she said as he continued past the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the counter along the way. She wanted to tug her wrist away but the strength of his grip already told her it would be futile. ‘You’ve made your point.’

‘Yeah, well I need a bath. And as I clearly can’t turn my back on you for a second, you’re coming with me.’ He looked across at her. ‘Unless, of course, you’d rather take the bed option now?’

CHAPTER TEN

C
aitlin clutched the sink behind her as Kane turned his back on her to kneel on the steps of the sunken bath.

He leaned forward to turn on the taps, his taut behind and lean thighs outlined against his jeans, the muscles in his forearm and biceps tensing as he braced himself.

She tried to look anywhere but at him. ‘You can’t blame me for planning my escape.’

‘No,’ he said, turning to face her again as he sat down on the steps. His strong, nimble fingers worked deftly to unlace his boots. He kicked them off, removed his socks. ‘And you can’t blame me for not letting you out of my sight.’

He stood and took the last couple of steps down. ‘You’re too tenacious for your own good.’ He pulled off his oil-stained vest, fully exposing his sculpted lithe perfection, every taut and defined muscle in his back, shoulders and arms flexing with the motion. He unfastened his jeans, dropping them and his black shorts to the floor.

Caitlin snatched her gaze to the windows, but took a sneaky peek back at him as she heard him lower himself into the bathwater.

‘But continue to prove yourself to be a pain in the arse and I’m going to start to lose my patience,’ he added.

He washed the motorbike oil and grease off his arms before reaching for his beer. He sank a little further into the water so she could only see his upper chest, one wet arm resting on the steps, his other hand holding his bottle against the wall. It was as if she wasn’t even there. He even had the audacity to close his eyes.

‘What – like you did on the bed? When you forced yourself on me?’

‘If you call that someone forcing themselves on you, you’ve led a very sheltered life.’ He lifted the bottle to his lips and took a slow, steady mouthful.

‘What would you call it?’

‘You were the one who goaded me. You shouldn’t say what you don’t mean.’

‘So it’s my fault you can’t control yourself?’

‘I think I controlled myself very well.’

‘You bit me.’

‘I tasted you.’ He looked across at her. ‘Despite what your reports say, I’ve never forced myself on a female in my life.’

‘I suppose that’s along with all the other crimes you’ve never actually committed.’

‘Like I keep saying – I haven’t done a third of what Carter claims I have.’

‘So he’s set you up? He’s lied because he wants you so badly?’

He closed his eyes again. ‘Believe what you want, Caitlin. It doesn’t make any difference to me.’

She watched him in the silence, his indifference fuelling more than just her irritation. She lingered over his hand coiled loosely around the bottle, before her gaze wandered to the arm nearest her. She took in every curve before dragging her gaze up to his glistening shoulder. She focused on his sculpted chest, the heart within just waiting to be read. She lingered on his eyes, the dark thick lashes that lay lowered, concealing the beauty beyond. She tongued her teeth as she examined those sexy bow lips she could so easily lean over and kiss.

Hell, she needed to focus on the job she was there to do. And quick. ‘If you’d let me read you, I’d know the truth for myself.’

His glimmer of a smile warmed him to her far more than she needed right then. ‘Nice try, but reading me would kill you.’

She frowned. ‘Since when?’

‘Since always. Trust me, you don’t want to go there.’

‘I’ve probably seen darker than what’s inside you, Kane.’

He opened his eyes, looked across into hers and then closed them again. ‘I doubt it,’ he said, the ease in his low, guttural tone sexy, enticing.

‘You have no idea what I’ve seen over the years.’

‘I know you’ve never seen inside a master vampire. You try and delve into the depths of my shadow and you’re never coming out again. The energy drain alone would kill you in minutes. My secrets, let alone the ones of my race, are on total lockdown. Call it a self-defence mechanism.’

‘Or call it a convenient warning to prevent anyone trying.’

He smirked, lifting his bottle back to his lips.

‘So you’re saying I could never read you?’ she added.

‘Even if you got through the block – and that’s one big if – I can guarantee you wouldn’t survive.’

‘Isla survived.’

‘Because it really would have helped me get out of that place if she hadn’t. She was too weak to fight beyond first base anyway.’

‘I’m not. And I’m willing to take the risk.’

He looked across at her, his eyes narrowed slightly. ‘Did you not understand what I said? You put those sensitive fingertips on any of my pulse points, and I will bind you and gag you before you sense even a single beat – do you understand me?’

She stared into the intensity in his navy eyes and knew he meant every word. Reluctantly she conceded rather than sustain the challenge. ‘Perfectly.’

But this time he didn’t look away, his gaze lingering on hers for an uncomfortable couple of seconds. To her annoyance, she broke first and lowered her gaze again.

‘Come and take a seat.’

Her stomach flipped, her grip on the sink tightened. She glanced back at him. ‘I’m fine here.’

‘That wasn’t a request, Caitlin.’

She looked back to meet his unrelenting gaze. The fact it was a directive was enough to urge her to defy him, despite her resolution to be acquiescent. But, begrudgingly, she opted for the sensible option and crossed the bathroom towards him. Her defiant streak tempted her to go and sit in the far corner of the steps, as far away from him as possible, but she knew he’d only summon her closer. Instead she sat halfway up and in the middle, facing the sink, avoiding the intimacy of anything more than sitting side-on to him. Resting her feet on the next step down, she wrapped her arms around her knees. She could feel the heat of the steam on her back, the early morning breeze wafting through the windows. The patter of the emerging rain resounded against the glass and paving outside, echoing around the bathroom.

‘Have you always been this shy?’

She frowned, irritated by the flutter in her chest. She glanced across her shoulder at him. ‘I’m not shy.’

‘Your gaze hit the floor quicker than my towel earlier.’

‘Maybe images of you naked aren’t ones I want engrained on my mind.’ She looked back towards the windows, giving him the back of her head. Even in the dim light she worried he’d see her blush.

‘So you want to know everything about me – as long as I stay fully clothed.’

She focused on the patter of the rain. This was not the time to recoil in on herself. She had to turn this into an opportunity. She had to think of all the things she had been longing to learn about him. She needed to try and tease into the conversation why he’d been communicating with Jask Tao, let alone what he knew about her parents’ killer.

She looked across her shoulder at him. ‘How old are you?’

‘A little over 400.’

Her estimations had only been off by a few decades – the approximate timing of the notorious death of his parents the only indicator they’d ever had. ‘So you remember what it was like before. Before your species came out in the open, I mean.’

‘Life before the Global Council? Before segregation?’ He knocked back another mouthful. ‘Sure. It’s these eighty years since they took over I’d like to forget.’

‘Did you not agree with the regulations?’

‘What do you think?’

‘The Higher Order thought it was for the best – to work openly towards common goals.’

‘You’re not one of those who believes we’ll ever find common ground, are you?’