Tempting the Enemy (11 page)

He shook her slightly. “Don’t toy with me. Your Order. Do. They. Know?” His voice had descended into little more than a snarl and his fangs descended in pure fury.

She lost her color, finally starting to realize her precarious position. “No.” Her whisper had no defiance.

Only hurt.

He lightened his hold, but he couldn’t pull his hand free. Instead, he rubbed his thumb over the curve of her jaw, rustling the silky strands that swirled in front of her ear. To soothe. If he could have, he’d have lowered his brow to hers and promised her anything if she never looked at him that way again. Not the cards he’d been dealt, though.

“Why didn’t you tell them?”

“I don’t know. I should have.” She lifted her gloved hand to his wrist. Gently, she pushed his hand away. “The Voice said it was wrong,” she added, reaching for the blindfold.

Dee Tenorio

91

The Voice. And she’d listened, even after she stopped hearing. She’d defended a secret when it might have given her power. He had no doubt that she recognized how much the Sibile would have valued that knowledge, but she’d protected a people she had never known anyway. He stared at her, wondering if she had any idea of her own strength. Strength enough to sleep with vipers, even as a child, and defy them. It was no wonder she had no compunction about challenging him.

Something in him shifted, like a stone falling into place. Acceptance. No,
decision
. He tried to quell it. Her actions convinced him at last that she was a Wolf, but trusting a Sibile with his life and the lives of those he protected? Could he do that? He didn’t know. For a final instant, he fought the Instinct’s demand that he bend to its will. But the rightness of it wouldn’t be resisted.

Somehow, someway, Jade-Scarlet—Wolf, Sibile,
woman
—would belong to him.

Chapter Eight

Cabin
must be euphemism for
shelter
, Jade decided as they pulled up to what could only be a one-room log structure. Snow piled on the roof, which leaned near to the ground on one side, its ledge poking into a pile of the white stuff. A window glowed with faint orange light and the stone chimney gave off a steady wisp of smoke. Apart from the clearing in the trees and the dirt road leading to it through the forest, nothing else marked its existence.

Rysen hadn’t said anything since his interrogation in the car, but his color hadn’t been so reticent. She sat in the seat, spine stiff, trying to ignore the soft waves of his signature, no longer wrapping around her like a fist but draping itself around her like a sleepy cat’s tail.

Yes, definitely fickle.

Which was the only reason she hadn’t relaxed into its hold. God help her if she let herself be seduced by his kindness. His defensiveness she could understand. Could even be attracted to, even apart from the disturbing responses he evoked with his touch…or worse, his thoughts. But she’d rather he killed her as an enemy than as her betrayer.

“They won’t hurt you,” he said into the silence.

“They’re good men. But you should expect…”

“To respond to them like I do to you?”

“No.” His clear eyes took on a molten glow. “No, the mating Heat might tempt a male to forget himself, but the Dee Tenorio

93

females never lose their autonomy. It’s supposed to be up to them to choose the acceptable male.”

“
Supposed
to be.” She turned her gaze to the door of the sad little building where she’d find not one, but three other men who most likely wouldn’t appreciate a Sibile in their midst any more than Rysen did. What was
supposed
to be
didn’t apply to this day and age. It hadn’t for a long time. Wolves had descended into rape and animalistic detachment and she’d be stupid to expect anything else.

“It still is for me.”

Jade looked down at the warm hand that had reached onto her lap to grasp her fingers. When she looked up again, his eyes met hers levelly. Still molten, still hungry, igniting the same hunger in her blood. That quickly, the fullness in her breasts and lower body returned twofold, nearly making her gasp. Just a touch, a look, and her body almost wasn’t her own. It was his, there for the asking.

She wished the overwhelming sensations would go away, wished she weren’t so vulnerable to him. And what if he was wrong, what if she was this vulnerable to every male she met? What if her body was taking her ability to reason away from her without her even realizing it? Who would save her then?

“On my life, Jade, they won’t touch you.” Finally, his stare flickered away. He pulled his hand off and opened the door. “Not unless you want them to.”

The door slammed hard enough to rock the car. Jade took advantage of the few seconds he needed to circle around, drawing a breath to steady herself. It didn’t help.

Too soon, he was at her door, pulling it open and reaching his hand in to help her out.

She looked at that hand. It wasn’t a gentle hand. It had scars, the calluses visible and rough. The strength 94

Tempting the Enemy

there, in the dexterous fingers, was unquestionable. He could hurt her in so many ways, the deadly claws he could wield being only the least of his strengths. But there was more to this man than brutality. Maybe her instincts lied, maybe they wanted him and would say anything to get their way, but she knew to her soul he wouldn’t hurt her without cause. No, this was a man whose dying breath was already promised to protect, not destroy. She could trust in that.

She gave him her hand.

At the contact, pleasure—rich and masculine—

draped itself around her, stroking her skin like a pleased caress. An invitation. Self-preservation kept her from moaning when he pulled her to her feet in the snow, only an inch at best from his chest, but she couldn’t make herself move away. She couldn’t even dredge up the desire to. She was almost exactly where she wanted to be.

The only thing better would be right against him.

She just kept her fingers from reaching through the gap in his coat to feel his heartbeat. His warmth tempted her, making the snow inconsequential. She wanted it all over her. His heat, his scent, his touch… Need that could blind swamped her from head to toe. She had to touch him. Like a thirst of the worst kind. Her skin craved, her muscles clenched, her entire body swayed toward him.

Eyes closing, lips raised—

She gasped when his hand steadied her at the shoulder. Against the car, setting her firmly out of any possible embrace even as he blocked the icy wind with his back. The touch could have been a stroke, despite the layers of his heavy coat around her, but it was clearly Dee Tenorio

95

rejection. He wasn’t even looking at her, instead he glared over her head to the cabin on the other side of the car.

She stared at him, disbelieving, as pain rippled through her, seeping into her like water over a stone, inexplicably weakening, only to replace itself with anger.

Humiliation. The sensations surged like an undertow, pulling her one way before dragging her under with the other, making her want to shriek with fury. She batted her clawed fingers at him, wanting to push him as far away from her as he could get, but the blasted man remained firmly in place.

Rysen defended himself simply by leaning his full length against her, cuffing her wrists on either side of her head with a gentle but unbreakable hold. She could feel her cheeks stinging red at the realization that he felt perfect there. That she was pressing back against him, instinctively reaching for more. Rage spiked, her hands taking on a glow that threatened to become a flame.

Rysen lowered his head to her, his lips grazing her cheek in an oddly soothing motion. “I’m not rejecting you. Believe me, if we were alone—”

“We
are
alone.”

“No, we’re not.”

She froze, breath heaving in and out, cold and sobering. Someone was there? Watching her throw herself at him? Watching him control her with no more than a handhold and a whisper?

The light in her hands turned a dangerous shade of orange.

“Tone it down, Jade.” The command in his tone rubbed her wrong.

“Let me go.”

96

Tempting the Enemy

“And watch you blow up the cabin?” He shook his head, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes. “I don’t think so. Pull it back.”

With possible enemies to her back? Enemies she hadn’t sensed or heard or felt in any way. Vulnerability surrounded her, but he expected her to trust him anyway?

His eyes narrowed, his mouth firming into what she guessed had to be a hard line, Rysen accepted the silent reasoning. But he didn’t like it, something she didn’t have to be an empath to understand.

“We’ll talk about this later.” He let go of her hands, keeping her body in place against the car with his weight.

She wouldn’t get out from under him without a winch if he didn’t want her to. “Do me a favor, highness. Don’t burn the place down, all right?”

His movement was deliberate, she decided, fighting to keep from closing her eyes at the pressure of his hips dipping against hers as he pulled away from her. Unfair Wolf.

“Having trouble with your stray, Pale?” a deep voice called pleasantly from somewhere nearer the cabin. She picked up the thread of tension there, though, as if the speaker were braced to spring. “I can take her off your hands. You know the pretty ones always like me best.”

Pale? She glanced at the detective. He kept both eyes on the person—people?—crunching their way closer through the snow. His growl this time was nothing but pure threat. And not at her. In fact, the absolute menace of it made her wonder if the snarls he’d sent her way before were anything but his version of a love note.

The crunching sounds stopped.

Dee Tenorio

97

Turning carefully, Jade peered over the hood of the car to see two men in heavy sheepskin coats, nearly as tall as Rysen, half their faces shadowed. The halves exposed by moonlight weren’t much more than deep scowls. Her hands still sphered by light, hopefully blocked from their view by the car, Jade backed into Rysen’s rigid form.

Strangely, she felt comforted. Secure.

Stupid Heat. These hormones of hers were going to drive her crazy. Or, she added, when Rysen’s hand circled her waist possessively, fingers spread low over her belly, they could well get someone killed.

“Who are they?” she whispered.

“My brothers.” Rysen’s voice sounded more Wolf than man.

“They won’t attack me?” They might want to, she finally understood. The two men weren’t casually waiting for an introduction. Both of them were tense, breathing heavily. Much the way Rysen had the first moment they met. They were fighting the Heat.

“Not if they want to keep their entrails.”

Well, that was…graphic. “What do I do?”

“She could say hello,” the leaner shadow replied.

Showing he could hear their whispered discussion?

Jade narrowed her eyes at him, irritated. Why was he being so purposefully aggressive? She knew nothing about Wolf interactions, but even she could tell he took his life in his own hands, talking to Rysen so blithely.

“This one is more interesting than the others, I think.

More…delectable.”

Which one of them was he trying to aggravate?

Rysen’s palm burned her already-sensitized abdomen as he pulled her tighter to his side. Almost as if he were trying to pull her behind him. Did he think she needed 98

Tempting the Enemy

protection? She had no doubt he could provide it, but it wouldn’t do to let any of them get it into their heads that she required it.

“How many others have there been?” she asked across the expanse that felt smaller with each passing second.

The leaner one grinned, exposing too many teeth on what seemed to be a handsome face. “We had one just a few days ago, didn’t we, Pale? A pretty little thing too.”

His smile faded as Jade’s grew, accompanied by a hissing sound. The lean man shifted, swearing as he hopped out of what was quickly becoming a deep pool of boiling water. “What the
hell?
”

“Jade.” Rysen’s voice lacked any reproof. She didn’t sense a flash of humor either, but her own enjoyment made up for it. “The loud one is Jensen Tate. The quiet one over there is Tyler Herrick.”

The quiet man nodded, his hat maintaining his shadows. Jensen, though, had jumped into clear moonlight, still throwing an out-of-kilter glance at the melted snow. One look and Jade had to gasp, though she tried to tamp it down when Rysen stiffened behind her.

Smooth skin, tilted eyes—sharp, like a hunter’s—a bone structure that was both masculine and fine. He’d be delicate if he weren’t so weathered. In a word, beautiful.

“You could almost pass for a Sibile.” A lot more than she ever had, anyway.

Jensen scowled, burying his boots in a drift of snow.

“I’m no one’s pet, lady.”

She opened her mind’s eye, unsurprised that Jensen’s color was blue. Like her father, like Rysen. As deep blue as the darkest color of the ocean. Except for the streak of Dee Tenorio

99

moonlight blue across his chest. She glanced at the other man, Tyler. Broader than Jensen, more heavily muscled.

Surprisingly, his blue was the color of a summer sky, bright, inviting and content. He was about as dangerous to her as a teddy bear on a shelf. Especially when across his chest, from right shoulder to hip, swam a swath of pale blue.

“They’re yours.” She turned her head to look up at Rysen, relaxing in his hold. She released the light in her hands at the same time, trusting in that electric streak.

Trusting in Rysen, she realized, unable to be concerned about that strange turn.

“My brothers.” He eyed them over the car still, hostility evident.

Jade shook her head, turning to face him, indulging in the urge to press her hand to his hard stomach. He felt like steel, but she knew he was warm flesh and blood.

Man, elemental. She roved her gloved hand in a circular motion, wanting to soothe. They weren’t in any danger.

The men might recognize the scent of Heat, but neither seemed truly interested in pursuing it. More likely, they weren’t interested in challenging Rysen.