Lifebound (6 page)

The difference between their situations held such sad irony. She could touch any inanimate object she wanted with no ill effect at all. But if she so much as stroked Josh’s forehead or pressed his hand with hers, she could kill him.

She should have known better. The connection she had with him was too deep, too strong. She’d deliberately put his life in danger, thinking that somehow she was stronger than the need within her. That somehow she was stronger than the forces that would compel her to drain her victim dry.

Now he was paying the price for her pride, for her unwillingness to admit what she was. She was a vampire, a hunter, a killer.

She was a lamia.

And she was cursed.

Chapter Six

S
age set up several candles around the room, lighting them one by one off a long slender matchstick. Then she tucked several herb posies in and around the bed where Josh lay.

Several minutes of discussion among the four siblings had resulted in the decision to leave Josh in Adriana’s room rather than take him to his own. The less disruption to the rest of the guests, the better. There would be plenty of talk downstairs at breakfast as it was.

The four took turns watching with Adriana through the night, with Sage taking the final shift nearest the dawn. A soft knock on the door signaled the arrival of a visitor.

Rekkus stuck his head into the room. “Can I come in?”

Sage motioned him into the room as she adjusted the placement of a candle.

Rekkus carried a tray of food and a paper sack. He placed the tray on the small table beside Adriana’s chair. “You need to eat.”

She shook her head.

He took the paper sack to Sage and dumped the contents on top of the dresser. Over a dozen broken candles spilled out and rolled across the dresser in a shattered heap. Sage gasped.

“I found these on the ground outside his window,” Rekkus said with a wry grin. “I don’t think Josh appreciates your work.”

“Oh no.” Sage gathered the broken pieces onto her tray. “I worked on these for days.”

“I told you that you shouldn’t keep drugging him.” Rekkus laughed.

Sage gave the unconscious Josh a very censorious look as she left the room, her tray in her hands. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Once the door closed on the angry herbalist, Rekkus turned to Adriana with a grin. “You might want to be sure he can’t get to these when he wakes up. Sage is very particular about her candles.” Rekkus gestured to the variety of burning tapers that encircled the room.

When he wakes up
. Adriana grabbed hold of the idea that it was a matter of when and not if Josh woke up. Rekkus smiled again and pulled up the wooden desk chair, turning it backwards and straddling it to talk to her.

“So how did loverboy here get into your room, Adriana?” His tone was both bantering and serious at the same time.

“Does it matter?” They’d all asked the same questions over and over. How had he gotten in? Why hadn’t she made him leave?

“I am the head of security. If a human made it past our safeguards onto the second floor, I need to know how. In case you haven’t figured out, sometimes it’s not entirely safe for a human to get too close.” Rekkus studied her, his arms folded across the back of the chair.

“He climbed into my window,” she said. “When I didn’t go down to meet him, he came to see me instead.”

Rekkus narrowed his eyes. “He scaled the building? He climbed two stories to get in here?”

“I think he actually climbed down from his room on the third floor. He said it was easy. The gargoyles make good handholds.”

“Easy?” Disbelief colored Rekkus’s voice. “Maybe for a ninja. Those gargoyles are at least ten feet apart. Damn, he’s got guts. He must have it bad for you.”

Adriana stood. “Are you done? If so, will you please leave us in peace?”

The black weretiger nodded. “He’s going to be fine, Adriana,” Rekkus said gently. “He’s tough. But you are going to have to decide how you are going to explain this to him. He doesn’t come across as the type who will just let you break it off without a good reason.”

She sat back down.

“When Dana first found out I was a weretiger, she screamed and fainted. I’m thinking you and Josh have an even bigger hurdle to cross.”

Adriana fought back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. “There is no me and Josh, Rekkus. There can’t be. It’s hopeless.”

Rekkus reached out as if to pat her on the shoulder, then pulled his hand away just short of actually making contact.

“See what I mean?” A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. “There’s no future for us. I don’t know how to make him see that.”

Rekkus sighed and rose smoothly to his feet, carefully replacing the desk chair. “I know you didn’t mean for Josh to get hurt, Adriana. But we can’t take the chance that it’ll get out of hand again. I’m not going to ask you to stay away from him. It probably wouldn’t work anyway. But I am going to ask that you do your visiting in public places or with an escort. Even the wolfcubs will do.”

Adriana nodded, but inwardly felt like a chastised schoolgirl.

“And absolutely no physical contact,” he added. He glanced down at his watch. “I’ve got to meet Dana in just a few minutes. Sage should be right back. Can I trust you not to do anything you know you shouldn’t do?”

Adriana nodded.

He walked to the door, but before he opened it, he turned back to her. “Dana said it wasn’t fair for you guys. It’s not. I’m really sorry it has to be this way.”

“Me too,” Adriana whispered as he left the room.

A few moments later, a sound from the bed drew her out of her sad contemplations. Josh groaned softly and turned over onto his side, then opened his eyes and looked at her.

“What the hell happened?” he asked sleepily.

“Sage thinks your blood sugar dropped,” Adriana lied. “Have you ever been tested for hypoglycemia?”

“Nope.” He rubbed his face as he sat up. “Am I in your room?”

“Yeah, you made it into my bed, but not exactly as planned,” she teased.

He cursed then laughed. “Just my luck. I meet the hottest girl on the planet and can’t kiss her without passing out.” He groaned as he rose from the bed and stretched, running a hand through his cropped hair. Then he flashed her those dimples in a smile that made her heart flip in her chest.

“You go get yourself a shower and meet me downstairs for breakfast in an hour,” she said. He needed to clear the room before she gave into her baser urges again. “If you feel up to it, we’ll go for a walk or learn to breathe or feed the fish or something.”

“What is with learning to breathe at this place?” he asked. “And candles? It’s a wonder the building hasn’t burned down.”

She walked with him to the stairwell and pushed open the door for him, since it was enchanted to open only for paranormals. She backed away from him as far as she could, but he reached out to rub her arm as he passed. She closed her eyes and concentrated with all her might on keeping her powers firmly in check.

It worked.

After breakfast, she and Josh did indeed take in one of Trixie’s deep breathing classes on the beach. Maybe with enough mental preparation and discipline, she would be able to withstand the occasional touch or casual caress without losing control again.

So far, Rekkus had been as good as his word that they would not have any unsupervised time. Trixie kept a sharp eye on them during their meditation session, and Rekkus’s mate Dana watched them as they strolled through the herb garden.

As they headed back through the grounds for lunch, he slipped his arm across her shoulder, but it didn’t stay there long. Cemil came wandering by and found a reason to disengage her from him to look at a book he’d discovered in the library. When he left, the wolf pack had come along demanding a game of Frisbee.

At lunch, Sage went so far as to sit at their table. She brought a cup of hot tea as well.

“Since you destroyed my candles,” she began without preamble, “I have brewed a cup of tea for you that should have much the same healing effect.”

“Sorry, Sage,” Josh said. “I just don’t like hot tea.”

Sage fixed him with an accusing stare. “You broke my candles. Drink it. Now.”

“Can I at least have some sugar in it?” He pulled the cup toward him.

Sage passed him a small glass bowl filled with light brown crystals.

“That’s sugar?”

“It’s close enough.” She tipped a spoonful into his cup and stirred.

Adriana could barely refrain from laughing as the two bantered back and forth. Then Josh caught her eye while Sage wasn’t looking and gave her a conspiratorial wink that said he was deliberately teasing his hostess.

However, when he finally took a sip, his eyes open wide. “This is great. Okay, I admit it, Sage, this is really good. If I knew hot tea could taste like this, I’d have been drinking it a long time ago.”

“Not all hot tea is that good,” Sage warned. “This contains herbs and spices along with the tea…and other things.”

“So it’s supposed to be good for my low blood sugar?” he asked innocently.

“What low blood sugar?”

Adriana winced and gave Sage a warning look. “The low blood sugar that has made him pass out lately,” she said.

“Oh, yes. It should help with that.” She looked at Adriana and added, “But you should probably stay busy and active too. Go find the boys. I think they are trying to beat that new videogame they brought.”

“I am not up for videogames. What I really want to do is take an afternoon nap. How about it, Adriana?” He flashed her a dazzling grin and somehow made those bright eyes look both playful and enticing at the same time.

“She’s busy,” Sage cut in. “She’s going to help me and Dana in the garden.”

“I am?” Adriana said, then caught herself. “Oh, yes, I am.”

“Later. Right now, I’m going to borrow her for a little while.” Josh stood and pulled Adriana up from the table.

Sage had to have noticed the shiver that ran through her as Josh took her hand, but Adriana gave her a reassuring smile that said she had herself under control.

He bustled her down the hall, smiling the whole time, and he wasn’t favoring his injured leg nearly as much. She’d worked loose of his touch by the time they reached the third elevator—the elevator that she’d been warned only went to the human third floor—and he pushed the 3 just as the door closed on Cemil’s face.

“I didn’t think he’d be fast enough to catch us,” Josh said with a conspiratorial wink.

“Why would he want to catch us?” Adriana asked with all the innocence she could muster, still pushing back the craving that his touch had ignited in her as he’d held her hand in the hallway.

“Last night the Wiccan Haus swat team busted down your door,” he said as they walked off the elevator and down the lofty hallway to his room. “Today we’ve had a surveillance troop rotating stakeout duty. I want to see just how long it takes before one of them knocks at my door.”

“You were unconscious, Josh. What makes you think they broke into my room?”

“Funny how people will talk when they think you’re asleep.” Josh locked the door behind them.

She walked into the room ahead of him, pretending to study the furniture and the high ceiling.

“So tell me, Adriana”—he moved closer—“why aren’t you allowed to be alone with me? Just what are they afraid of?”

She backed away from him, but tried to be nonchalant about it.

It didn’t work. He continued to move closer, backing her steadily into the corner. She tried to slip past him, but he framed her in against the wall with his arms. He leaned in closer to her, so close she could feel the warmth of his skin, so close she could smell the clean masculine scent of his hair.

He bent his head so his mouth was only inches away from her ear and whispered, “Why did Rekkus tell you not to touch me? Why did you keep telling them you didn’t mean to hurt me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said nervously.

He shifted even closer so his entire body hovered only inches away from hers. “Tell me, Adriana.” Ever so lightly, he brushed his cheek against hers and whispered in her ear, “Tell me why you aren’t supposed to touch me.”

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe, but every bit of her awareness was centered on the little place where his skin met hers, where his life touched hers. She steeled herself against the pull and push of energy. “I have no idea what you are talking about, Josh. But I really need to go.”

“Do you?” he murmured seriously as he raised his hand to cup the side of her face, threading his fingers lightly into her hair. “Do you really need to go?”

The energy need began to pulse in her, driving her concentration away, causing the overhead light to throb along with her heartbeat, along with his.

“I really do.” She pushed against his chest as hard as she could. But the extra contact drew her closer instead. Her fingertips and her palms tingled as they spread against the muscles of his body with only his thin T-shirt between them. “Oh, let me go, Josh,” she pleaded.

“So tell me why I need to let you go. Tell me what will happen if I don’t. I need to know what they were talking about. I need to know why I can’t be with you.”

Just then, his door flew open and Rekkus and Cyrus stood there, Cemil right behind.

“Adriana, what are you doing?” Rekkus asked, his voice full of displeasure.

“Cue the swat team,” Josh said bitterly as he turned around to face them. “This would be funny if it weren’t so damned weird.”