Playing With Fire (19 page)

Rather than practice with us, Lexis left for the city. The sooner she arrived to guard my dad, the better. Tanner, Rome and I trudged into the forest, not stopping until we reached a small clearing. We spent an hour practicing. I say “we” loosely. I practiced, Rome yelled and Tanner cracked jokes.

None of us had made any progress at that point, but at least they were the only witnesses to my…mishaps.

Sunlight glared overhead, heating the air, making it thick and sticky. The trees provided some shade, but it wasn’t enough. The heat, combined with Rome’s snarls, put me on edge. The birds had stopped chirping and flown away. The insects had stopped singing and buzzing, opting for escape. Smart bugs.

“Concentrate this time,” Rome said. “Both of you,” he added, shooting Tanner a glower.

Tanner had his arm around my waist on the excuse that personal contact would help him read me, and I felt his muscles tense. “I was concentrating before, Agent Ass. We both were.”

“If you’re concentrating,” Rome said, “why the hell have I doused three fires, been hit with a dirt ball, endured a hailstorm and nearly had my balls frozen off? You’re supposed to tell her when her emotions are becoming too wild, Tanner, so she can learn when she needs to take the goddamn edge off them.”

Scowling, Tanner dropped his arm to his side and kicked a rock with the toe of his boot. “I’ve been trying, but I’m new at this, too. I don’t know when they’re wild enough to cause damage, and I don’t know when they’re too weak to do nothing.”

“Then learn together, damn it!”

“Rome,” I said, hands on hips. No way would I allow him to talk to Tanner like that. “I’d like to speak with you privately.”

He stopped giving Tanner the evil eye long enough to stalk toward me. “What?”

We stood nose to nose. I glared up at him, strangely excited. Soot darkened his face, trailing black streaks down his cheeks. “What’s your problem? You’re making everyone miserable when you should be happy for me. For the first time, I formed a mound of dirt—the fourth element—with my mind.” Or rather, with my jealousy, the emotion that summoned the earth to me. But I didn’t mention that fact because I’d had to think of Lexis and Rome—gag—together. Eek. If I didn’t stop thinking this way, I’d form
another
dirt ball. Back to the conversation. “That should have put you in a stellar mood.”

His jaw muscles twitched, and he glanced away from me, scowling off into the distance. “I don’t like that Tanner has to put his hands on you.”

“What?” Of all the things I’d expected to hear, that wasn’t close by any means. Could shock kill a person? I think I’d just experienced a minideath. “He’s a kid. A horny kid, but a kid nonetheless.”

“So. He’s old enough to like it.”

I rolled my eyes, though I couldn’t stop the thrill that tingled along my skin. This strong, sexy man was jealous. About me. Me! “It’s not like he had his hand up my shirt. You’re being silly.”
You wonderful thing, you.
“You better treat him nicer or the moment I’m able, I’ll make sure you’re followed by a rain cloud for days.”

Quicker than the blink of an eye, his arms snaked around me, dragging me into his embrace. “I’ll feel better after I’ve made you mine.”

Despite the oppressive heat, I shivered. I licked my lips, unable to stop myself from imagining this fierce man stripping me down, laving his way over my entire body, then branding me with his scent, his taste, his touch.

“Oh, hell. Not this again.” Tanner moaned. “I thought we were on a time crunch here. Nowhere in the Kill the Bad Guys schedule did I see a make-out break. You’re soiling my innocence with all this romance crap.”

I brushed a gentle kiss against Rome’s lips—lips that instantly softened and beckoned me to linger. “Settle down and behave,” I told him, ignoring Tanner. “We’re all hot, tired and cranky. If we finish practicing early and you’re a good boy, I might let you kiss me again.” Wait. No hard-core kissing. Stop forgetting.

His mouth curled in a small but genuine smile. “You’re going to be the death of me, you know that?”

God, I hoped not. My smile dissolved, the thought sobering me. In the coming days, he could be hurt or killed. By me. By someone else. I totally understood now why he and Lexis had offered themselves as guinea pigs when the prize was potential invincibility. Anything to protect your partner. “I’ll do better, too. I promise.”

Unaware of the complete change in my mood, he slapped my butt and turned to Tanner. Rome’s eyes were lighter, his face more relaxed. “Sorry,” he said grudgingly. “Are you ready to try again?”

“Whatever, dude.” Tanner rolled his shoulders, sweat painting his shirt onto his skin. “Let’s get this over with so I can fill my undies with ice. Your balls might be freezing, but mine are melting off.”

“Places, everyone,” Rome said.

“We need to do something different,” I said. But what? Determined to succeed, I shut my eyes and forced myself to concentrate. In, out, I breathed, and I could hear Tanner doing the same. In. Out. He reached over and closed his hand around mine. His palm was smooth and possessed a quiet strength.

Because the mental thing had worked when I’d needed a Keep Out sign, I pictured our hands fused together. Connecting. Locking. Soon I felt my mind reaching out for his, probing for contact. I almost opened my eyes in surprise. I could feel myself trying to break down the mental door separating us.

“We’re melding,” Tanner said under his breath. “We’re melding. We’re actually meld—” As he spoke, I mentally pushed the rest of the way inside his mind. Suddenly he jerked, and I felt a jolt travel the length of my arm. “Shit,” he said. “Something just…broke inside me. I can really feel you. I can really feel your emotions.”

“Make it rain,” Rome commanded.

Rain. I let images of sad things float through my mind. Lost puppies. The homeless. Orphaned children. Soon I hoped to be able to do this instantly, to automatically draw on my emotions without thought or force. As for now, this was the best I could do. World hunger. The amount of fat grams in a Krispy Kreme.

“My God, Viper, your sadness level just spiked to thunderstorm proportions. I can actually feel the storm inside you.” Pride and shock laced Tanner’s voice.

Even as he spoke, thunder boomed. The clouds opened up and poured a deluge of rain over the forest, soaking the three of us. Cotton and denim became glued to my body. Wet hair streaked my temples and cheeks. Water droplets caught in my eyelashes.

“Bring it down,” Tanner said.

Bring it down, bring it down.
I couldn’t do it, though. The sadness was there. Strong and indomitable. Then I felt something—someone—reach inside me and take most of the sadness away. It wasn’t Tanner, I knew that. The…essence was different, hotter. My eyelids popped open, and I met Rome’s surprised stare.

“How did you do that?” I asked, at the same time Tanner said, “The storm is dying.”

The rain slowed to a gentle drizzle.

“Now,” Rome said with determination. “Make it stop.”

I tried to blank my mind completely, to allow myself to feel no emotion, but random thoughts stubbornly intruded. How had Rome swept through me, taking the heart of my sadness? What was my dad doing at this moment? When would I next eat one of those delicious but fattening Krispy Kremes? Did Rome think I looked like a drowned cat right now?

“Okay, why is your embarrassment level spiking?” Tanner asked me.

“No reason. Now zip it.”

Several minutes passed before I successfully emptied my head. The rain, at long last, trickled to a halt.

“Good.” Satisfaction gleaming in his eyes, Rome nodded in approval. “Now make it rain again. Faster this time.”

My teeth gnashed together. How easy it was for him to issue the order. Following it, however, proved difficult. Emotions did not like being forced. A depressed person would have trouble laughing and smiling. An excited bride-to-be would have trouble shooting her fiancé in a killing rage. Well, unless he really deserved it.

“Come on, baby. You can do it. I know you can.”

“I’m trying, damn it,” I snapped.

“Uh, I think you’re about to start a fire,” Tanner said drily.

Bubble baths and chocolate. Champagne and roses. I inhaled slowly, exhaled loudly and long. Calm, I was calm, damn it. Wait. I needed to be sad. Being without Rome—although at the moment, that thought didn’t sadden me too much. He was so freaking bossy! Be sad, be happy. Blah, blah, blah. Why didn’t he get over here and try to command himself—

“Ow!” Tanner jerked away from me, breaking our connection. “You’re burning the shit out of me. If I scar, I’m suing your ass.”

I blinked down at my hands. Sure enough, the ends of my fingers blazed. Anger—crap. It would have been nice if Rome had once again swept through me and helped rid me of
that.
Though I still wasn’t sure how he’d done so before. I shook my hands and managed to extinguish the fire. “If you scar,” I told Tanner, “the ladies will love you.”

His face brightened. “Really?”

My eyes clashed with Rome’s, hazel against blue. “This isn’t working. I’m an emotional person, but I can’t just force myself to feel a certain way. Damn it, I don’t want these powers.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, you’ve got them, so you need to learn how to use them.”

“It’s too hard.”

“The more you practice, the easier it will get.”

“That doesn’t help me now!”

“We’ve got plenty of time before we need to leave. We’ll keep at it. You’ll get it. I have confidence in you.”

His praise almost softened me. Almost. “A few more hours isn’t going to make a difference. I’ve connected with Tanner, and he’s doing wonderfully, gauging my emotions. But
I
can’t control them.”

“I am good, aren’t I?” Tanner interjected with a grin.

“Stop whining, Belle.” Rome showed me no mercy. “Just close your eyes and try again.”

Had he always been this much of a task master? This determined to get his way? “No.”

“Tanner isn’t giving up,” Rome said.

My eyes narrowed. Oh, how low. I didn’t appreciate being compared to someone else. Especially a smart-mouthed kid. I crossed my own arms over my chest. Let’s see if he liked payback. “You want me to keep at this, then you’ll damn well tell me about your own powers and how you mastered them.”

“Belle,” he said warningly.

I’d issued the ultimatum and I wasn’t backing down, wasn’t taking it back. I wanted to know. Hell, I deserved to know. And if I had to force his hand like this, I would. “Fine. Don’t tell me. We’ll see you inside the cabin.” After blowing him a saccharine-sweet kiss, I turned on my heel. I grabbed Tanner’s hand and moved toward the cabin.

Surprisingly, the kid followed me with dragging feet. “I want you to burn my hands again,” he whined. “I need a scar.”

“Keep it up and I’ll burn your entire body.”

Rome growled low in his throat. “You want to know, I’ll show you.”

I froze. Inch by inch, I turned and faced him. My heart slammed against my ribs.

“Go inside, Tanner,” he said, eyes leveled on me.

“I want to see, too.”

“Go in the house. You’ve mastered your job already. Now I’m going to master mine. I’m going to filter for her. Go in the house,” Rome repeated.

“Without me, you won’t know when or how much to filter.”

“Tanner. Go.”

“But I want to see your superpower. I’ll just look out the window, so you might as well—”

“I tried to be nice, Tanner.” Rome’s face was dark with fury. His nostrils were flared, his irises were glowing crystalline blue and his pupils were a mere slash of black. “This isn’t a joke. This isn’t a game. Go in the house, or I’ll kick you in.”

Tanner raced inside without another word.

I had to force myself not to follow the kid. A lump formed in my throat as Rome stalked toward me. True frissons of fear unfurled, chilling the air around me.

“I’m going to show you my ability,” he said through suddenly sharp teeth, his tone deceptively quiet, “and you’re going to wish to God I hadn’t.”

A
SMALL PART OF ME
(on some level) expected what Rome did next, and the rest of me, well, was an idiot. I should have figured it out. How had I not guessed? Selective common sense?

The fact that I should have known didn’t lessen the impact, though. My eyes widened in shock, and I inched cautiously away. My stomach bottomed out. “You’re—you’re—”

Changing. He was changing.

His face elongated. His bones rearranged themselves, until he was stooping over the ground. The clothes he wore ripped from his body, and shiny black fur sprouted from his skin, covering him in mere seconds. His teeth sharpened even further, and his pupils thinned, pointing at both ends.

Dear God, he was a jaguar. A jaguar! No,
the
jaguar. The one I’d seen in my apartment. The one who’d invaded Lexis’s home. The one who’d protected me against assassins.

The one I’d almost iced.

Had Rome simply told me of his ability, I might have tried to deny it. I might have called him a liar, might have told him to stop joking around. Seeing it,
watching
his transformation, offered irrefutable proof.

And it brought home the fact that there was an entire world out there I hadn’t known existed until a few days ago.

Rome growled up at me, the sound fierce and pure animal. Total danger. I backed another step away, my hand fluttering over my throat. Not once had he hurt me while in this form. But…a girl couldn’t be too cautious.

“Holy shit!” Tanner shouted from the cabin. “Rome, the badass, is a pussy. Woohoo!”

The jaguar’s fierce attention never deviated from me. Its—
his
—gaze continued to pierce me, daring me to say something. Daring me to
do
something. He expected me to run, I realized, to rebuke him. He probably expected me to faint, as well.

No wonder he had been so adamant about keeping this part of himself secret. Did he fear rejection, too? Did he think I would find him disgusting? Silly man. This was weird, yes, but hardly a relationship killer.

I’d dated worse.

Besides, I started fires—with my freaking eyes. Like I really had room to judge. I crouched, lowering myself to his eye level. “Here, kitty, kitty. Come to sweet, sweet Belle.”

His long, black lashes swept down, back up. Then, slowly, he prowled toward me, closing the distance between us inch by animal inch. I reached out and stroked the softness of his fur. He purred.

“I guess this means I get to call you Cat Man.”

He bared his teeth, his lips quivering over them as he uttered a feral snarl.

“No? What about Agent Fur Ball?”

Another snarl.

My own lips twitched. “You should have told me about this,” I admonished. “It would have saved me a near heart attack and you a near icing.”

His snarling ceased, and he blinked at me again. I scratched behind his ears. Hesitantly, he licked my arm. The warmth and smoothness of his tongue surprised me.

“Are you letting him lick you?” Tanner called. “Gross.”

“Shut up!”

“Belle and the pussycat sitting in a tree,” came the singsong reply.

With a roar, Rome prowled menacingly toward the cabin. Realizing he’d just been placed on the dessert menu, Tanner finally shut his big fat mouth.

“This actually explains some things,” I said, cupping the cat’s jaw and forcing him to stop and face me. “Your never wear jeans, probably because they won’t rip when you change. You don’t wear underwear, either. For the same reason, I’m guessing.” I recalled how easily his pants had torn that day I’d twisted them. So much for my theory that my superhuman strength had been responsible. “Sometimes you act like a total animal. You get this savage gleam in your eyes, like you could eat everyone in sight. And not in a good way. Then there’s the way you kiss—”

Another growl erupted from him, this one different from the others. Hope and desire deepened the timbre. He stretched his front legs, then his back. My hands dropped to my sides. His bones elongated instead of hunching. Fur shed, falling from him as if it had been nothing more than a temporary suit. His teeth retracted; his face reformed into hard planes and angles.

The muscles of his chest roped, corded. His penis—oh my holy Lord, his big, hard,
erect
penis…I forced myself to turn away from him. My cheeks overheated, and I had to fan myself. The sun seemed brighter somehow. I’d seen him naked before, but I’d been too weak to feel the effects. Surely I’d start a fire if I looked at him now.

“Belle…”

“You’re naked.” Ah, stating the obvious. My specialty.

“
That’s
what you have to say to me?” Shock and laughter, anger and relief dripped from his voice. “You don’t blink at my…animal form, but my nakedness intimidates you?”

“Not your nakedness, exactly,” I hedged, glancing down at my feet. I kicked a pebble with the toe of my boot.

“Then what?”

“Well, your penis.” Duh. “It’s big. And hard.”

He barked out a laugh. “You need to get used to it, baby, since you’re going to be seeing a lot of it in the future.”

My cheeks heated another degree. “Just put a leash on that thing for now, okay?”

A pause. The crackle of grass. “I just showed you I can shape-shift, and all you care about is my dick. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this much shock.”

“Well, I think I mentioned how big it is.” Thankfully, my newfound superpowers didn’t, like, cause the world to explode with the force of my awe. And lust. There was definite lust here, making me all tingly and breathless. “I don’t want to start a fire.”

I’d never seen a man so well formed. So rippled with muscles and tanned skin. Rome was the epitome of total masculinity. He reeked of power. Oozed it. “Can you put some clothes on?”

I didn’t have to see him to know he rolled his eyes. “No. I’ve finally managed to intimidate you. I’ll probably remain naked for the rest of my life.”

Lalalala. The trees were lush and green. The sky, what little I could see of it through the leaves, was a bright, vivid blue. Hardly any clouds. The scent of pine filled the air.

“We gonna stand here like this all day or are you going to turn around and talk to me?” Rome asked comfortably.

“Stand like this all day. Duh.”

“Belle.”

“Rome.” I crossed my arms over my chest. If the man hadn’t yet figured out I possessed a stubborn core, it was past time he did so.

“You’ve seen a naked man before, haven’t you?”

I liked the way he’d snarled that, as if he couldn’t stand the thought of me with another man. “Yes, I have.” I shifted from one foot to the other. “I just hadn’t seen
you
naked before—at least, not when I was strong enough to do something about it.”

Another pause. “And that’s different how?”

“Well, it’s you.”

“Me?”

A slight breeze danced past, cooling my skin somewhat. “That’s right. You. You make me feel things.”

“I’m glad,” he said. His hands settled atop my shoulders and gently squeezed. I hadn’t heard him approach, but suddenly he was there. The scent of virile man enveloped me.

“Me, too,” I said softly, “but that doesn’t mean I’m looking again. Not now, at least. I mean, if I turned around we wouldn’t be talking, now would we?”

A third pause, then, “No, I guess not.”

“Like I told you, I’m in serious danger of starting a fire. Not a good idea when we’re standing in a forest.” I needed to change the subject before I forgot exactly why not talking would be a bad idea. “How did you end up a…cat? Ohmygod, you didn’t really have that eye surgery, did you? You have night vision because cats do.”

His chest pressed against my back (earning a slight gasp from me) and he deepened his massage of my shoulders. “No, no eye surgery. Remember those experiments I told you about? My DNA was spliced. They—the scientists who work at PSI—did other stuff, as well, but I’ve never fully understood it.”

My mouth fell open, and I floundered for the right words. When they came, they choked out of me on infuriated breaths. “How could they do that? Mix human and animal, which could have kill—”

“While I like that you’re outraged on my behalf, you shouldn’t be. I volunteered, remember? I wanted the kind of skills that would make me invincible. I can do things, see things,
hear
things others can’t.”

I toyed with the ends of my hair and shifted my feet again. My heartbeat had yet to slow down, and his touch was only making it worse.

“And you’re right,” he added. “I don’t wear jeans because they don’t rip easily. The underwear, well, the first time I changed, all of my clothes stayed on my…cat body. They stifled my movements, but I was able to tear them off with my teeth—all except for the underwear. As you can imagine, I made quite a spectacle. A hard-core predator wearing nothing but Hanes.”

A laugh bubbled from me. “Why did you expect me to be disgusted by the change?”

“Other people have been.” His fingers tightened for a moment, and I knew it was because he wanted to take the conversation down a different path.

I persisted anyway. “Like who?”

“Like Lexis.” Inch by inch, his fingers descended the length of my spine. “She vomited the first time she saw it happen.”

“She probably had a virus.”

“Wrong.”

“Morning sickness, then.”

“She’d had Sunny by that point.”

Fine. Besides, did I really want him to reevaluate his ex’s reaction? “I’m not Lexis.”

“No.” His soft lips brushed my neck, eliciting all kinds of erotic sensations. “You’re not.”

Heat sizzled between us, and I became hyperaware of his every action. I heard every intake of his breath like a battle drum; I felt every naughty glide of his fingers like a live wire.

He was naked, and I wanted to touch.

No.
No, no, no.
With Tanner watching from the cabin window, me needing to practice controlling my powers, and my inability to stop the fires that lust caused, we simply could not allow ourselves to indulge in each other. Much as I might want to.

“Well. Hmm.” I coughed. What should I do now? Walk away?

“Why didn’t the change bother you?” Rome asked. The question was hesitant, as if he feared the answer.

Okay, I could handle this topic without succumbing to his sensual assault. “I don’t know. It just didn’t.”

“Why?” he insisted.

“I’ve done a little changing myself recently. I don’t want to be judged, either. Besides, I’m the amazing Wonder Girl and—”

“I’m not calling you that,” he interjected with a laugh.

“Why not? You’re the one who thought of it.”

“I’ve since decided that name is all wrong for you. You’re the Naughty Siren, and that’s that.”

I failed to suppress my grin. “Well, you’re Cat Man, no doubt about it.”

“Don’t call me that.” He gave another laugh and gently pressed me forward. “Go get me some clothes and we’ll finish your practice.”

“Without Tanner?”

“Without Tanner.”

“He’s not going to like that.”

Rome shrugged. “He deserves a break. Go on.” He swatted my butt.

Laughing, I forced myself to walk away from him, from his sweet touch and sweeter scent. I didn’t allow myself to look back as I entered the cabin. The moment the door closed behind me, cool air surrounded me. I breathed deeply.

Tanner was waiting for me, standing at the door and jumping up and down with excitement. “Did you freaking see that? He’s a cat. A cat! With fur and everything.”

“I saw.” I slipped past him.

“Did he purr? Tell me he purred.”

“No.” Where was Rome’s bag? My gaze scoped the small cabin.

“Think of the fun we can have with this.” Tanner tangled his hand through his hair. “My God, the jokes are already rolling through my mind. What’s the difference between a cat and a frog?” He didn’t wait for my reply. “A cat has nine lives but a frog croaks every day.”

“That’s not funny.” Finally I spied the edge of black vinyl peeking from the side of the bed, and strode to it.

“What do cats eat for breakfast? Mice krispies.”

My lips twitched. “Better.” Hunched over, I dug through the bag. Not a single piece of clothing offered any type of color. They were all black. “You better not crack these jokes in front of Rome. He’s kind of sensitive.”

“I felt his hesitation, remember? He needs to get over it, and joking about it is the best way to help him do that.”

“You want to be eaten?” I withdrew a T-shirt and pants. I didn’t bother with shoes. Those had fallen off during the change, but they hadn’t been damaged. “You weren’t close enough to see how sharp his teeth are.”

“Rome wouldn’t hurt me. He’s all bark and no bite. Wait. He’s all purr and no bite. Damn.” Tanner laughed. “They just keep coming. I’m unstoppable. I’m the Joker. Hey!” His eyes widened, and he clapped his hand on his thigh. “That can be my superhero name. The Sensitive Joker.”

I snorted. “Except you’re so not sensitive.”

“I am, too. I’m sensitive to other people’s feelings.”

“I think your new name needs to be the Amazing Ass.”

He grinned in agreement. “I
do
have a cute ass, don’t I?”

God, I loved this kid. I straightened and tucked Rome’s clothes under my arm. “Why don’t you fix lunch or something? It’s time, right? Breakfast was, like, hours ago. I’m starved.”

He arched a brow, the one that was pierced, and the silver rings winked in the light. “Or we could make out before you take Rome those clothes.”

I slapped his shoulder, but I was having a hard time maintaining a stern expression. “How have I not fried you up like battered shrimp?”

“You’d be lost without me, and you know it. I can feel the love. Don’t try to deny it.”

I flipped him off and strode outside. His laughter followed me. Instantly, heat wrapped me in its sticky claws. Rome was standing in the exact place I’d left him. His arms were at his sides, and he made absolutely no effort to cover himself.

He was smiling, daring me to look. Responding to the challenge, I did. I looked. Finally. I’d wanted to all along, anyway. I stopped a few feet away from him and allowed my gaze to linger. My mouth watered, and as I’d feared, my blood heated. He was, without a doubt, a prime specimen.