The Morrigan: Damaged Deities (32 page)

But as Kade’s arm held her in a way that whispered
Mine
, something deep inside her answered him—
Yours
.

She shuddered those thoughts away and instead recalled the display she’d just witnessed.

There had been something so self-flagellating about his encounter with MacBride.  He had allowed himself to be held back, something akin to penance-seeking from the struggle.

“Why does he punish himself?” she asked Kamden, her voice quiet. 

She knew that had been his intention; his words had been taunting. 

He’d wanted the man to hit him and he’d made no move to hit back until Morrie had been threatened. 

And that was something else, seeing him enraged by what looked like a carnal need to protect her, to snuff out any peril that looked her way. 

She’d seen that before…back when men claimed their women.

“Kade’s always been a troublemaker,” Kamden grumbled, his frown permanently creasing his brow.

“This was different,” Morrie looked back down at Kade. “He wasn’t fighting back.  And I’ve not seen him be spiteful or cruel.  But he seemed to goad that guy to hit him.” 

Morrie blinked, surprised at how familiar she spoke of a man she barely knew, had only met a few of weeks ago.  And yet she already felt close to him, like she had known him for years.  He’d already become part of her life.  She felt complete now that he’d returned.

Kamden sighed audibly, but said nothing.  Morrie decided it best to let the subject drop.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-
E
IGHT

“I didn’t come here for a woman’s backside.”

Cú Chulainn, Táin Bó Cúailnge

Kade was awake by the time they pulled into the garage.  His head still resting in Morrie’s lap he looked up at her with dark eyes, watching her while his brother got out and opened his door. 

Quiet and somber, he slipped out of the Denali. 

Without a word to either of them, Kamden marched inside the house, leaving the door open. 

Morrie followed Kade inside, stopping to close the door.  She watched him trudge upstairs. 

Removing her coat and boots, she leaned her back against the wall and inhaled a deep breath. 

Left alone with her thoughts, Morrie wondered if something more than just a killer horse haunted the MacLeods.  And how deep into that haunt she was now.

With everyone shut up in their own rooms and the many halls heavy with a feeling of…something—guilt?…Morrie returned to hers. 

The night had gone from painfully dull to dramatically busy with the simple addition of Kade’s presence.  Somehow he seemed to light up her dark world, for better or worse. 

Morrie wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

Stripping off her clothes, she pulled on a nightgown.  The excitement of the night had left her warm and she needed to cool down. 

But even with the windows open and the lights out, the cold autumn breeze tickling down her legs, Morrie lay on her bed and couldn’t sleep. 

She stared off into the dark.

Her thoughts continued to drift back to Kade.  The man had looked broken and probably needed a friend. 

Should she go to him? 

Christ
!

What had become of her?  First her powers and now this?  If she were to encounter any other gods, she would be ridiculed for this pathetic humanity she seemed to have some how picked up…like a virus or an STD. 

Thank the gods her sisters weren’t there to witness her this way.

Damn it. 

Morrie sighed. 

She knew she would get no sleep knowing Kade suffered through some unknown sorrow in the next room. 

With a growl of frustration, she threw her legs over the side and slipped out of bed. 

Outside her door, the hall lay dark and quiet.  She padded in bare feet across the small space separating their rooms that somehow felt like the longest walk of her very long life.  It was dangerous ground on which she treaded and yet she was certain if anyone were to try to stop her from going to him, she would kill them.

Pausing outside Kade’s bedroom, Morrie raised her hands, hesitated and then lightly knocked on the door.  A defeated “Come in” answered. 

She opened the door and stepped inside.

N
o matter how many drinks Kade had thrown back, he couldn’t get drunk enough to make the guilt go away. 

It had been a dull and uncomfortable ache, like a stone had been lodged between his ribs and the only way to deal with it was to mask it with more pain.  But even that had been unsuccessful, no matter how hard Kade had tried. 

A hot shower cleaned off the mud and blood, but did little good else in erasing the memory of the evening. 

Everything up until the moment Morrie had shown up had been a blur, but the reminder of the lives that had been lost in his absence still remained. 

It had never been his intention to start a fight, or maybe it had and he had lied when he told himself he just needed a drink before returning home. 

Big mistake there, running into Cathy’s brother at the pub.  Something had possessed Kade to goad the poor sod. 

After that, things had become fuzzy. 

But when that arsehole laid his bloody hands on Morrie, Kade had instant clarity.  He had seen red.  He would have killed the bloke had his brother not intervened.

Now Kade sat reclined in the leather loveseat in his bedroom, his legs stretched out before him and the night’s events replayed in his mind.  He pressed a glass of scotch and ice against his forehead. 

He had expected his brother to come lecture him so when Morrie poked her head around his door instead, her wee body following, his surprise was only replaced by his happiness at seeing her, even if he was too hurt to let it show.

Her presence was like a dream, conjured to him by his weary and aching heart. 

Too much noise or movement and he feared he would scare her away.  So instead he just enjoyed looking at her.

“May I come in?” she asked.

He nodded.

Tired eyelids shaded his view as Kade watched her shut the door behind her and look around the room before she turned and walked over to the hearth. 

She tossed a few logs inside then struck a match from the box sitting on the mantel and soon had a fire licking its way up the grate.  As she stared at the blaze, Kade stared at her.

 He liked watching her.  The little thing was all graceful purpose and acute focus.  She moved like a well-trained soldier, but with the elegance of a ballerina.

The fire light glowed from behind the thin material of her white nightgown, revealing the curves of her body, her small waist and the flare of her generous hips, her little thighs, everything he had missed dearly since last seeing her.  The gown rested low on her shoulders, thin lace straps keeping it on and her dark hair tumbled across her collarbone. 

She caught Kade watching her, but didn’t seem to mind.  He certainly wasn’t going to stop, anyway.

Finally she approached him, slipping her small body to stand between his knees that he widened to allow her closer.

 She was quite tiny.  He feared what he would do to her once she finally let him take her.  By the way her eyes had widened when she had first handled his cock, he imagined she might have feared the same thing. 

And of course, picturing Morrie picturing them together had his shaft lengthening, jerking with need.

Morrie took the glass of scotch from him and placed it on the desk.  He never took his eyes off her as she stood there, thoughts playing like fairies across her serious face. 

Her navy eyes were like the night sky in the flickering firelight.  Her lashes long and dark, he had never seen anything lovelier.  He wanted to watch them gaze up at him while he covered her body with his own, her hair splayed across his pillow. 

At that moment, he didn’t even think of just sex with her.  He thought of making love to her and seeing the look of love on her.  And the thought was like a bolt of lightning to his heart.

Shoving her fingers into his hair, she barely brought him out of his shock when she asked, “What are you repenting for?”

Those midnight eyes were shaded by a furrowed brow. 

He dropped his gaze from hers, stalling from answering her question and noticed that where she stood offered him an up-close view of her perfect breasts. 

Their small, rosy peaks pressed against the thin material and through the opening of her nightgown held together by a small strip of laced ribbon, he could see the swells. 

Breasts a man could get lost in. 

Like all of her. 

She was a destination unknown, through choppy and unchartered waters, the way a dangerous one.  And yet he threw himself headlong towards her, never looking back.

Morrie’s fists still in his hair, she tugged his head back, silently demanding his attention with her eyebrows raised and her plump lips pursed.

“I’ve done a lot o’ bad things,” he answered, though it took him a moment to tear himself away from the view. 

Every second he stayed this close to her, his resolve crumbled. 

He had meant it when he said he wouldn’t make the first move.  But now he could have punched himself for the vow.

“I find that hard to believe.”  Her hair had fallen forward, enclosing her face in shadows like curtains.  He brushed it back, gathering it in his hand before gripping the back of her neck.

Sighing softly she ran her hands across his shoulders, bringing them around into his hair at the base of his skull and pulled him to her, embracing his head in her arms.  He rested his forehead against her sternum, buried his face in her breasts and inhaled her wonderful scent of lavender and cotton. 

He dropped his hands to wrap his arms around her waist. 

For a long moment it was just an embrace, both warm and full of assurances, promises of support and understanding.  And it was something he needed. 

A part of him felt that maybe she needed it, too.

But the longer he held her, his desire for more from her grew. 

She ran her hands in comforting circles along his neck, her fingernails grazed softly through his hair.  In response, he rubbed lazy paths across her lower back, the edges of his fingers and palm brushing the curve of her perfect backside. 

The more he touched her, the more they moved against each other, the more that thrumming stirred, like a plucked cord or humming wire.  And just like the last time he had her so close, he needed more, needed to touch all of her and feel all of her. 

Needed to be inside her.  

He grew so hard he thought it would kill him. 

By the way her breathing had picked up, the increasing beat of her heart, he knew she felt it too.

“Kade…,” she murmured.

“I know that sound,” he rasped and couldn’t help his grin. 

He looked up, locking eyes with her.  He knew his were clear now, no evidence of the intoxication from before and the longer he looked at her, the stronger his desire became, growing his erection with an impossibly hard and painful want. 

God, he had missed her. 

How had this woman affected him so quickly, so completely?  He hadn’t been this besotted since…

But he had made her a promise.  And he wasn’t going to make a move until she did first.

Something dark stirred from within her warring gaze when he lifted his face to her.