Stygian's Honor (22 page)

Vulgar, meant to be insulting. It might have been just that if it weren’t for the husky, phone-sex tone of her voice. And she might have felt just a smidgen of shame if his eyes hadn’t suddenly dilated in pure, undiluted lust as a primitive, animalistic growl rumbled in his chest.

If they had been close before, a second later it wouldn’t be possible for a breath of air to slide between their hips as his hands clamped on her rear, lifted her, and in one smooth move had her thighs spread, her knees clamping on his hips as he ground his erection, hard, into the vee of her thighs.

Suddenly, there wasn’t enough air in the room again.

Breathing had never been so difficult. Her nipples pressed hard into his chest with each breath she took, and her clit was so swollen, so sensitive that the feel of her silk panties grinding into it was torturous.

“When I bury my dick up that tight pussy, Liza, you’re going to wish you’d given more heed to whatever it is you think you know,” he warned her, his voice harsh. “Mate.” He nipped her lips, then licked the little wound.

Liza gasped, her lips parting, and as they opened, Stygian was there.

His kiss was incredibly hot. So hungry she could only give in to it as pleasure tore through her in a wave of sensation so intense she swore she nearly orgasmed from it. She could feel it building, pulsing, riding the edge of release with such sharp intensity that she shuddered with its need.

Just as quickly, he released her.

Liza swayed as she found herself alone, the wall the only thing between her and losing her balance completely.

Staring back at Stygian as he paced away from her, his hands tunneling through his hair in frustration, she wondered exactly how he managed it.

She couldn’t have walked away from him if her life had
depended on it. Evidently the hunger was affecting her far more deeply than it was him.

Turning back to her, the blue glints in his eyes seemed to glow while his expression tightened with such savagery it sent an involuntary shudder up her spine.

“Mate.” His lips pulled back from his teeth in a grimace of pure lust. “My mate.”

Confidence and power filled him. Where was the fairness in that when she suddenly felt so…female. So much weaker than he, and for some unfathomable reason, ready to beg to submit to him.

Instead, she forced herself to lift her chin willfully.

“Yours?” Pushing herself away from the wall, she breathed in roughly. “Not hardly, Stygian. Some damned chemical reaction does not make me yours. Nor does it make me even want to be yours. So maybe you should consider revising your bedside manner, stud, because this one is only pissing me off.”

With that, she stalked to the bathroom, slammed the door closed and locked it.

She sure as hell didn’t want him smelling that particular lie.

CHAPTER 11

Liza had learned over the years the fine art of the delicate lie as she worked, first with her father in the security division of the headquarters of the Navajo Nation, then as she began training to work with the Breed Underground Network.

Breeds could smell a lie or even the intent to deceive. Learning how to lie just in case it was a Breed one was conversing with had become second nature. But she had never had to learn how to lie about her attraction to a Breed, or her need. And lying about it was suddenly imperative. Otherwise, Stygian would end up with enough power over her to ensure that she was willing to do whatever he asked her to do. Just as she suspected Isabelle was willing to do whatever Malachi asked of her. Now, she understood, sort of, why her friend would stand so solidly with the man that called her “mate.” Especially if he gave her the illusion of respect and a choice.

Not that she discussed her suspicions with Stygian. He would of course deny all of it. After all, what man, or Breed for that matter, would want to admit that his woman didn’t have a choice.

Or did she?

As she showered, dressed and applied her makeup for work the next morning, she had to admit that she didn’t feel
inclined to give Stygian anything other than sex. And honestly, the need for his touch was becoming so strong, so desperate she really wasn’t certain how long she would last before begging for it.

Crying for it.

Screaming for it.

It was really rather amusing if one looked at it from the right perspective. That was, if the person wasn’t the one suffering, then it would have been amusing, she told herself as they rode to the Nation’s headquarters that morning.

Yes, she would have been very amused, if it wasn’t her burning alive from the inside with the need to feel his touch. His possession.

She was certain she should be traumatized from it, after all, as a virgin, she should have been terrified of so much hunger for something she’d never experienced before.

“I think you should put in a request for a leave of absence as long as this situation in progress,” Stygian finally spoke as the black, unmarked Bureau of Breed Affairs SUV pulled up to the front entrance of the Navajo Nation Headquarters.

“I think you should do your job and let me do mine.” She clenched her teeth and cursed herself for the quick, uncensored response.

Damn, she hadn’t wanted to be quite so confrontational.

She hadn’t wanted to be, but her body felt miserable. She was too sensitive, her flesh too warm, her breasts too swollen and her clit far too tender.

She was too aroused and too upset and too many other things to even consider dealing with him on a less hostile basis.

Because, of course, it was all his damned fault.

“What did you want me to do, Liza?” He caught her arm before she could open the door. “Take advantage of the situation without giving you a chance to consider where it’s going?”

And, of course, he just had to step forward and throw himself full force into that confrontation didn’t he?

“Because I’m so damned stupid I couldn’t possibly have known it was headed straight to one of those nice big beds,”
she agreed mockingly. “Why, you did the right thing, of course, Stygian. Far be it for you to allow yourself to just be male for a change. To let the situation go and have a little fun. I agree, that would be so very uncalled for.”

Damn it.

Pressing her lips together tightly, she promised herself she was going to keep the smart remarks to thought only.

What the hell was wrong with her? She couldn’t hold back her need for him, her anger with him, or her verbal responses that she’d never had a problem keeping to herself before. For the first time in her life, she really wanted a man. Wanted him so badly that even before he shared that tasty hormone and this burning lust with her, she’d ached for him. She had wanted him like nothing she had wanted in her life before him.

The knowledge of that was simply terrifying, because the reaction to him was so strong, so overwhelming that it felt as though it were coming from someone entirely different than the person she knew herself to be.

More than once she had felt the power of it, a surge of possessiveness and lust that she could barely contain, mixing with a response so primal as to be more animal than human. As though the need for him, the “mating” as they called it, made her more Breed than human.

“You’re pushing your limit.”

“Oh, I have a limit?” Eyes wide in false innocence, she stared back at him as though she had never imagined such a thing. “Why, Stygian, you should have let me know before now.”

“What I should have done was bend you over that fucking bed and paddled your ass before fucking you into a better frame of mind,” he growled as he released her.

Before she could let loose with a scathing comeback, he was out of the vehicle and striding around the vehicle to her door.

She would have unleashed the heated comments that flashed across her mind if they weren’t wiped completely away by the sight of him stalking, in a purely predatory way, his head high, shoulders back, chest as wide as hell, as he
came along the passenger side of the vehicle. The sight of his erection bulging in his jeans as the wind whipped the loose cotton shirt close to his body threatened to take her breath.

Her mouth went dry, then began to moisten just as quickly as her pussy began creaming in need of him.

Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell.

Her door was jerked open.

Stygian’s lips parted as though to say something more before his nostrils flared and his eyes seemed to glaze in lust for the barest moment.

A muttered curse left his lips as Liza stepped from the vehicle and tossed him a tight, satisfied smile. At least she wasn’t the only one left aching with such misery.

She hoped it hurt him.

She hoped his balls actually ached with the need to come.

“We’re definitely going to discuss this later,” he warned her as he took her arm and led her through the wide glass doors of Council headquarters.

“Sure we will,” she muttered. “I’m going home tonight. I refuse to be locked in a tiny hotel room with you ever again.”

“We’ll have a suite tonight,” he assured her. “That room was only temporary.”

“Not happening.” Jerking her arm from his grip, she turned and flashed her badge at the security guard on duty before Stygian did the same.

“The hell it isn’t. Haven’t you seen yet that your home isn’t secure, Liza?”

“I’ve seen that unless I lock myself in a box I’ll never be safe again.” She didn’t like the surge of fear that raced through her at the knowledge.

“That’s not necessarily true,” he assured her as he led her to the bank of elevators.

“Isn’t it?” Suddenly, a sense of weariness overshadowed the anger. “Come on, Stygian, you know it’s true. Once the Genetics Council targets a victim, they disappear, one way or the other. That, or they’ve ended up married to a Breed and placed behind the walls of Sanctuary or Haven. They don’t have little brick houses with white picket fences—”

“Not true.” The elevator opened, empty for a change, and
they stepped inside. “There are several couples living in residential America. Adapting isn’t always necessary, but possible.”

She shot him a knowing look.

“Tarek and Lyra Jordan don’t count.” She sighed. “That residential street has become yet another Breed-designated area with more than three-quarters of the homes taken by Breed couples where one partner or the other is Breed.”

His lips tightened.

“Tell me I can go home when all this is over and just adapt a little bit and be safe.”

His jaw flexed as his expression darkened.

Liza didn’t say more. There was nothing more to say, she had made her point. Her life would never be the same and they both knew it.

They arrived on the third and last floor of the Nation’s headquarters with a soft
ping
of the elevator.

A second later, the doors slid open silently.

And Liza nearly punched the button to return to the lobby.

“Liza.” Her mother jumped from the settee in the receiving lounge, her expressive blue eyes filled with fear and concern as Stygian led Liza from the elevator.

Almost as though he were aware of her inclination to run.

Jane Johnson rushed to her, her arms wrapping around her as Liza returned the embrace, her eyes closing for one thankful moment as her mother’s warmth and love surrounded her.

“We came home as soon as possible.” Her mother held her shoulders as she leaned back, her blue eyes filled with tears as she cupped Liza’s cheek, her soft hand trembling as she tucked the side of Liza’s hair back over her shoulder.

It was a habit her mother had. She would tuck Liza’s hair back as though to be certain she could see her entire face. “Are you okay, baby? Daddy and I were terrified when Jonas Wyatt called last night.”

“Mom, I’m fine.” She hadn’t realized how hurt she had been when Jonas Wyatt had told her that her parents had agreed to stay in New York if the Breeds provided her protection. A part
of her had known her parents would come running no matter their trust in her, simply because they loved her. The idea that they weren’t coming home had caused a hidden ache to begin building inside her, one she had refused to acknowledge until now.

She hadn’t known until this moment how much she had needed her parents.