Stone Solitude (4 page)

“I’m Daisy,” she said, holding out her hand as if she truly expected him to take it. When it became obvious he had no intention of doing so, she slowly lowered her arm and frowned. Shit, he should have taken her damn hand, exposed his stone skin to her gaze. But he couldn’t risk frightening her off before he had a chance to seduce her.

“Sorry,” he offered by way of apology. “I have a… skin condition that most people find unsettling.”

Tilting her head to the side, she studied him and he had the upsetting sensation that she could see more than he wanted her to see. With only the slightest hesitation, she raised her arm back up and offered her hand once again, “I’m not one of those people.”

Swallowing thickly at the unexpected kindness, he slowly reached towards her, extending his hand until it was no longer hidden in the sleeve. He watched her eyes as she saw his stone hand for the first time, the gnarled fingers and deadly nails. Her pulse throbbed rapidly in her throat but she slid her hand into his without a second’s hesitation and his cock twitched between his rock thighs. His craggy paw swallowed her much more delicate hand and he felt the touch in the depths of his soul. He had to fight the urge to pull her across the table and ravish her on the spot and he realized he was in danger of losing sight of his goals by a pair of silver eyes and a warm smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Roman,” she whispered, refusing to release his hand.

“The pleasure is mine,” he graveled, reluctant to let go as well. Holding her hand, he smoothed his thumb over the pulse in her wrist and smiled as color climbed into her cheeks. For the briefest moment, he regretted the course of action he had to take but then he hardened his resolve. It was the only way.

His brothers were unaware of his existence, thanks to the fucking curse, so he couldn’t go to them for assistance, not until he was free and by then their help would no longer be needed. It was damn unfortunate that she lived in a city that was guarded by gargoyles because it made his pursuit of her that much more tricky. Gargoyles took their roles as guardians very seriously and they wouldn’t take too kindly to what he had planned for the innocent virgin. Worse, there were two pods – six gargoyles – guarding this particular city.

Add to the fact that he was a hideous beast, he was stuck lurking in shadows and tomb-like rooms.

With a start, he realized he was still holding her hand. Clearing his throat, he forced his fingers to release her and then he hid his stone claw away, “Forgive me but it has been an eternity since anyone has touched me.”

Tears filled her eyes in sympathy and anger swelled in his chest at her soft heart. Pushing the irrational fury down, he murmured, “Don’t cry, my little flower.”

At the words, she froze, staring at him with wide, bewildered eyes. Standing abruptly, she grabbed her backpack off the floor and muttered a quick, “Excuse me,” before fleeing the room.

Sitting back in the chair, he fought the urge to run after her and pull her into his arms. He wasn’t sure if he would rage at her for being too tender or ravage her with a stone kiss. As he calmed his inner fury, he replayed the entire encounter, focusing too much on her sparkling eyes and the feel of her hand in his.

She hadn’t flinched when she held his paw.

Shaking his head to clear the perilous thoughts, he smiled to himself. On the whole, he was satisfied with their initial meeting even if she had left so brusquely. Having finally met her, he was far more confident in his ability to seduce her. Not that failure had ever been an option; he was just grateful she wasn’t afraid of him. Of course, that may change when she finally saw the monster beneath the cloak. He’d just have to take measures to make sure she never saw him before she gave him her virginity.

His biggest hurdle had been luring her away from her pack but she neatly took care of that by deciding to live in the dorms for the summer term. She still spent nearly all of her free time with her fellow wolves, but now there were far more opportunities to steal her away than there had been even a few months before. If only her touch hadn’t been so electrifying.

He had known that it wouldn’t be a hardship to fuck her, after all she was a beautiful woman. But now he relished the idea of peeling her clothes from her body, slowly exposing her glories to his gaze, savoring every inch of her. Since her touch on his hand elicited such a powerful response, he’d make her run her fingers all over his body. It had been eons since his stone body had felt anything, let alone the exquisite touch of a woman’s hand, and her hand had been more wondrous than anything he had ever felt before, including the bitch who cursed him, the bitch he had given up everything for.

Flexing his hand, he put it back on the table and glared down at the offending limb. He couldn’t afford to lose his focus now, not after so long. Freedom was finally within his grasp and he wasn’t going to give it up for a pair of pretty silver eyes, an amazing set of breasts, and a tender heart.

Daisy’s blood continued racing through her veins long after she had fled the library. In truth, she wasn’t certain why his words had freaked her out, simply that they had.

My little flower.

She hadn’t heard that endearment for ten years. Having him say it in that rough stone voice of his had done something strange to her, something inexplicable, and she had bolted. In a haze, she had jumped into her car and driven to
Skin
, her uncle’s bar in the cities. Well, he wasn’t really her uncle but that was neither here nor there. She had fled to
Skin
because she hadn’t wanted to be alone and her dorm room was too quiet and home was too far away.

The bar was constantly evolving as humans and paranormals continued blending together. It was the hottest place to be for humans who liked to taste the dark side without worrying about being destroyed by it. In truth, she preferred the bar her father owned,
The
Black
Wolf
, but it was another forty-five minutes away and the Friday night crowd was a great deal rougher, which was to be expected when several packs of wolves got together.

With a sigh, she stirred her drink and wondered if coming to
Skin
had been that good of an idea after all. None of her friends were there and she didn’t recognize the man tending bar. He had to be new because she knew all of the bartenders. He was gorgeous, of course, with russet brown hair and laughing charcoal eyes, but she hardly noticed. Her thoughts were on the stranger in the library and the way she had responded to him.

“You look like you could use something a little stronger,” the unfamiliar bartender said, sliding a shot of tequila in front of her.

“Thank you,” she murmured, eying the alcohol, wondering if a shot of hard liquor was enough to collect her scattered thoughts. With a shrug of her shoulders, she figured it couldn’t hurt and so she picked it up.

Just as she was about to slam it down, a hand covered the glass and her efforts were thwarted. A warm pair of lips pressed a familial kiss to her cheek as the glass disappeared from her grip. “Hello, princess. I hope you weren’t really planning on drinking that.”

Turning her head, she found Dima laughing down at her, his brown eyes sparkling with laughter, his sandy blond hair in its perpetual state of disarray. Even though he had to be close to fifty, he looked no older than twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Granted, wolves aged at a slower rate once they reached the age of twenty or so but ever since the veil was lifted…. Well, all of the supernatural creatures of the world seemed to stop aging altogether. So, yeah, that meant her parents looked like her older siblings but that didn’t stop their worrying.

“Uncle Dima,” she grinned, wrapping her arms around him in a welcoming hug. Pulling back, she waited until he sat down on the stool next to her before she asked, “Where’s Aunt Ashley?”

“She’s in the back checking inventory,” he said. His grin widened when he leaned in with a wink, “She wants to make sure there is plenty of alcohol on hand for the festivities in a few weeks. With all of the booze that she’s ordered, I’m sure we could host a dozen celebrations and not run out.”

Daisy’s smile faltered for a moment because she didn’t like thinking about the ten year anniversary of the Rapture, of the celebrations that were planned throughout the country, the world, to memorialize those who had vanished and to celebrate those who had been left behind. “Humans are very strange, aren’t they?”

He laughed at that, considering he used to be human until his mate bit him and he survived the transition with a massive dose of antibiotics. “Yes they are, sweetheart. Do you have any plans?”

She shook her head slightly as she looked away, “I’ll light a candle for Mandy and the Rothmans but I don’t plan on celebrating, if that’s what you’re asking.”

His hand covered hers in a gesture of sympathy but, thankfully, he didn’t say anything. After a moment of awkward silence, he cleared his throat and asked, “Where are your parents?”

A slight smile tipped her lips as she said, “They’re at home with the puppies tonight.”

“How many pups are there? Twenty? Thirty?”

“You know there aren’t that many, Dima,” Daisy chided with a smile at her uncle’s teasing, especially since he and Aunt Ashley had three pups of their own. “There are only nine of us.”

“I know, princess,” he grinned. Shaking his head, Dima snickered, “But you have to admit that those two really need to stop running as wolves when your mom goes into heat.”

Daisy’s smile grew a little wider as she said, “They try, but you know my mom and dad. They’re very….”

“Primal,” Dima offered before she could finish.

“In love,” she corrected with a teasing scowl.

“That, too.” He continued to laugh as he picked up her tequila and drank it down, squeezing his eyes shut as he swallowed. “God, that’s good.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Daisy murmured primly, glancing at the bartender who had wisely chosen to occupy himself with another customer.

Dima’s genial expression turned into a fierce scowl as he turned on the new guy and growled, “Kevin, what the fuck were you thinking? Giving my
underage
niece tequila?”

The poor man paled under the force of Dima’s glare and stammered, “I d…didn’t know! She’s in the bar and I assumed….”

Daisy put a hand on her uncle’s shoulder to calm him, not wanting him to wolf out over something so inconsequential. With one final growl, Dima said, “Well, don’t do it again or I’ll have your balls for breakfast.”

Daisy covered her mouth to try to stop the chuckle but it couldn’t be helped. Laughing out loud, she planted a loud, smacking kiss on Dima’s cheek as she slid off the stool, “It was only a shot of tequila, Dima, and I’m almost legal.”

“Almost is not legal,” he growled. “Your dad would have
my
nuts in a vice if I let you drink in my bar.”

“Which is ridiculous because Dominic drinks all of the time,” she complained.

“If he does, he doesn’t do it here.” Dima arched an eyebrow as if daring her to contradict him. When she remained silent, he smiled in triumph, adding, “If your brother pulled that shit here, he’d be denied just the same as you, sweetheart.”

Heaving a sigh, unable to prevent her lips from smiling, she conceded the point. Giving him another kiss on the cheek, she said, “I’m going to find Ashley and see if she needs any help.”

Before she got too far, Dima’s hand shot out and caught her around the wrist. When she looked at him, concern burnished his eyes, “You sure you’re okay?”

She studied the sincerity in his eyes for a long moment before she slowly nodded her head, “I am.”

“I love you, you know,” he said gruffly.

“I love you, too,” she returned, giving him another hug, grateful for all of the members of her pack but most especially her family. “I’ll see you later, Uncle Dima.”

With that, she made her way through the crowded bar and slipped through the door to the storage room. Ashley was standing in the middle of the floor with a clipboard in her hands and a pen tucked behind one of her ears, her red hair pulled back into a sloppy pony tail. She spun around when she heard the door open, a smile lighting her face, “Daisy! What brings you here?”

Finding a stool to sit on, Daisy explained nonchalantly, “I had a free night.”

Ashley’s brows drew together as she murmured, “I thought you had a research paper to write. Isn’t that what your mom told me?”