Arik
Two nights later, the water I was swallowing threatened to catch halfway down my throat when Kat wandered into the kitchen. Her sleep-flushed skin made her look like a child, but the rounded breasts so evident in her cotton tank made her look anything but. I forced the water down with another quick gulp and reminded myself that ogling didn’t create the atmosphere I needed in order to foster Kat’s trust.
Or maybe it did. When Kat noticed the direction of my gaze, her cheeks darkened with a sexy blush. I flashed a little grin Kat’s way. The pink flush grew, and pleasure sparked in her hastily lowered eyes before she turned toward the fridge.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Too deep and too much,” she mumbled, all pleasure gone as she ducked her head behind the open refrigerator door. “Is there any coffee?”
“There’s juice.”
I hid my smile at her growl. Over the past few risings one thing had become abundantly clear: Kat was not a morning person, even when she slept all day. She was stubborn, however. Each evening she asked the same question, and my answer never varied. No coffee. That didn’t stop her from asking, or me from enjoying telling her no. I might not relish having someone in my space, but I’d always gotten a high from being in charge.
She slid onto a stool at the island, set a cold bottle of water in front of her, and dropped her head into her hands, elbows propped on the counter. The position offered a perfect view of her low cleavage, the tight nipples poking through the material in obvious reaction to the chill that never quite left the air in the underground bunker we now occupied. The sight drew my own near-silent growl as a punch of lust hit my cock. You’d think I’d be used to it after two nights, but no. In fact, the only thing rivaling my hunger for Kat was my frustration. The plan was to seduce her, use her. Except my libido seemed to have been hijacked by a runaway train that had me feeling less fuck ’em and leave ’em and more fall to my knees and beg. And that was far too much leverage not in my hands.
Using Kat’s attraction to get her on my side afforded me not a single ounce of guilt. A little mutual satisfaction was fine. Anything beyond that, at least on my side? Unacceptable.
I crossed to the fridge to retrieve eggs and bread. “Hungry?”
Kat cleared her throat with a swallow of water before answering. “You eat real food.”
Her tone was a little puzzled despite the fact that she’d eaten with me every night. “Of course.” I grabbed a bowl and began breaking eggs into it.
From the corner of my eye I watched Kat’s hand trail along the still-bandaged wound on her neck. Ah. After several nights together, I knew Kat had plenty of curiosity and asked a lot of questions, but she hadn’t addressed the issue of her attack since Grim’s absence. Maybe she was finally ready to do so.
I whisked the eggs, letting the silence that came naturally to me after so many years alone ease her nerves. Funny how it did that when you didn’t add the fuck-you attitude.
“But I thought…” Kat’s hand trembled slightly against the white patch of gauze. “Don’t you drink blood?”
I poured the eggs into a hot skillet sizzling with butter. “Archai males have enormous strength, in both human and shifted forms. That strength is directly connected to feeding, yes, but we also eat regular food.”
“Do the women…feed too?”
“Rarely.” Her attack had been one of those rare instances; females under extreme physical duress or who had been forced to use their psych gifts to the extreme did need to feed. “A female’s psych gifts take great energy, but nothing compared with the needs of a male. Regular food will suffice for you most of the time, although your metabolism is faster and you’ll have to eat more.”
A grimace crossed her mouth at the words most of the time. “But”—she pointed toward her mouth—“no fangs?”
Extending my canines slightly so I knew she could see them, I flashed her a smile. “No fangs for you yet. They usually extend when need is high”—or during sex—“but even then, female fangs are much smaller, and you have to learn how to use them.” Not that she would need to, not while we were together. I’d be happy to share mine.
I forced myself to focus somewhere besides the imagined feel of my fangs sliding through her skin. “Would you pop some toast in?”
“Sure.”
When breakfast was ready, we settled on stools on either side of the island, facing each other. The sweet scent of sunshine and vitamin C tantalized my nose as I glanced at my plate. Picking up a juicy section of orange, I eyed Kat’s selections. “You need some fruit.” I caught the juice running down my fingers with a noisy slurp, then popped the orange into my mouth.
“I don’t like fruit.”
I hid a smile. She’d told me the same thing every evening, and I’d let her get away with it. Tonight I intended to prove which of us was most stubborn—and it wasn’t her.
Sighing just loud enough for her to feel my impatience, I adopted my best “teacher” voice. “Think of an athlete, Kat. They need healthy, nutrient-heavy diets. So do you. So do I.” I picked up another piece of the fruit. “Archai require natural, organic vitamins and minerals. Daily. Popping pills won’t do it. You need fruits and vegetables and eggs and fresh meat, all the things that keep you healthy.”
“And broke,” she grumbled, gaze on her plate, then winced.
“Cost doesn’t matter now.” I didn’t care that she’d been poor. All that mattered was getting her strong. “Your body doesn’t change shape, but you have to support the increased neural activity and growth, and the requirements it places on you to physically accomplish what your gift demands.” I ate another orange slice, the sweet-tart juice exploding on my tongue. “You need fruit.”
Kat shrugged. “Well, unless triggering changed my taste buds, we’re gonna have problems.” She raised defiant eyes to meet mine, and I could see her mentally digging in her heels. “I. Don’t. Like. Fruit.”
I put as much wicked into my grin as I could muster. “Maybe I can help with that.”
I snagged another section and brought it to her pouting mouth across the narrow island. Kat’s lips tightened. Rather than forcing her, I gently rubbed the fruit against her lips until juice coated the plump surface.
“Arik—”
Before her mouth could close, I slipped the fruit onto her tongue. Kat choked, but my finger on her lips meant she couldn’t spit out the bite. After a couple of reluctant chews, she swallowed, probably just to get it out of her mouth if her grimace was any indication.
I licked my lips. Kat unconsciously copied me, capturing the sweet juice, barely missing my finger.
My gut clenched. I picked up more orange.
“I don’t—”
The fruit was popped in before she could avoid it.
I laughed as Kat sputtered. When she would have let fly with her anger, I tapped my juice-wet finger against her lips. “Uh-uh-uh.”
Kat’s breath stilled at my touch, taking my laughter with it.
Once again her tongue came out to chase the juice—and caught my finger in the process. I watched in a kind of detached amazement as her pupils blew wide, dilating with pleasure. A groan rose in my throat. I held it back by sheer will, but Kat wasn’t as successful. The tiniest moan escaped her.
I felt the sound all the way down to my groin.
Control wavered, threatening to break. I wrestled it back together—barely. I selected a plump grape this time, brought it carefully to her lips, where it disappeared after a moment of hesitation but without protest. Kat chewed and swallowed. Her breath halted when I once again touched her mouth. A moment. Two. The tip of her tongue traced my skin.
There was no holding back my groan this time. The sound shattered the spell we’d surrendered to.
“Great,” Kat said roughly before clearing her throat. She glared down at her plate. “I’m going to live for centuries with the curse of having to eat my fruits and veggies.”
“And cheeseburgers, don’t forget cheeseburgers.”
“Still…” She frowned, and damn if even that didn’t look good on those full lips.
Silence stretched between us as we finished our food and cleared our plates away. Searching for a way to get back on solid ground—and away from thoughts of Kat’s damn lips—I finally asked, “Did you play at Lenny’s often?”
Kat’s hazel eyes darkened. “Every night.” Then, under her breath, “Not that anyone noticed.”
I had. But her words sparked the memory of Grim’s words about the isolation of untriggered females. “You didn’t fit in because you were one of us. Caught between two worlds, not fully in one or the other.”
Kat breathed in deep, let the air release slowly. Her pain lay thick in the air, and the strange need to erase it filled me. I was quiet for a moment, my brain working the pieces of the puzzle. Music had been what gave her satisfaction in the human world. Music was full of emotion, and Grim had said emotion played into her gift. And her voice…
“Did you sing at Lenny’s?” She hadn’t the night I was there, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t ever.
“Sometimes. Most of the time I didn’t want to strain to be heard over the noise, so I just played.”
“Hmm.” I turned from the sink to face her. “Your voice may be what led the Anigma to you.”
“My voice? Why?”
“Because it’s tied to your gift.”
“How?”
I wasn’t a hundred percent certain, but I thought I was on the right track. “Will you sing for me?”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Kat shrugged and ducked her head for a long moment, long enough that I began to mentally list ways to make her comply. I stared at the gold highlights in her hair until she raised her head, revealing closed eyes and an expression of intense calm. Then she began to sing.
I knew, in that first instant, that I was right. Her voice was quiet, the kind that made you want to lean in to catch every nuance, every hitch and change of tone. It wrapped around me like a warm blanket, a soft summer breeze, like the feeling of peace I got when I was riding the air currents on a dark spring night. My animal stirred, shocking me with the purr that rumbled up into my chest before I could catch it.
This woman affected me far too much for comfort.
Safety and security and rest were all wrapped up in words that didn’t even register in my mind, the emotion was so intense. And then it wasn’t just emotion. Phantom arms wrapped around my torso, a mother’s embrace, a lover’s comfort, enveloping me with actual physical warmth. Heated breath caressed my throat. A gentle hand trailed along the back of my neck. When phantom lips slid softly across mine, I jerked away from the sensation. “Stop!”
Kat startled, breaking off midword. Her dazed eyes opened; she blinked carefully. “What’s wrong?”
Struggling to control my breathing, I stared at her. “What were you thinking about while you were singing?”
She took a sip of her water. I resisted the urge to push my juice toward her. “I don’t know. Why?”
But she did know; I could read that much in her expression. “Tell me, Kat. It’s important.”
She stared at me for a minute, gaze shuttered, intense. “I was thinking about having a mother, what that would feel like, how she would hold me. I never knew…” She shifted her gaze to the far side of the room, as if not looking at me would hide her raw emotions. “And then I imagined a…a lover, someone who would hold me now, someone I could share all this with.”
The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up as she spoke. She’d described exactly what I’d felt. Her emotions had been transmitted to me as physical sensations through her voice, her words.
And then the full impact hit me: Kat could cause a physical sensation with nothing more than her intent and a few words. I thought back to the strike I’d received while cleaning her that first time, the cut along Grim’s cheek. The attacks in the alley. All accompanied by a word or sound from Kat.
A touch without touching.
A weapon without weapons.
All she needed was the desire to inflict damage and the word to activate it. Just how big of an impact could she make: knife cuts, punches…what about a bomb? How much power could this one female wield? Enough to take out a single shifter, certainly; enough for a whole group of them? A whole town? An entire region?
I’d planned to use her for bait; I might have even considered using her in a one-on-one fight. But I hadn’t considered what other options might be available. Beneath the weakness of her body, Kat held that stubborn streak that just might give her what she needed to be a truly formidable weapon. Would she use her talent against the enemy?
Maybe not, unless…she was using it for her lover.
I shoved my empty plate aside and leaned across the island. “Do it again. Think of something else, then sing.”
Kat’s eyes widened. “Why, Arik? Tell me what’s going on.”
“Just do it, Kat!” Catching myself, I forced a calm I didn’t feel. “I think I’m on to something. Please.”
The last word cost me. I didn’t want to ask; I wanted her to obey. Immediately.
Kat closed her eyes, obviously struggling to focus, but after several long minutes she began to sing once more. When her eyes opened, they were unseeing, distant, riveted on something out of my reach. I listened to the lyrics describing someone alone, in despair, isolated from the world around them, and felt a heavy block of ice settle in the middle of my chest. The weight and cold grew, becoming more and more crushing, until breathing was impossible and I thought my chest might cave in at the pressure, my blood turning to ice in my veins.
I held up a hand. “Stop!”
Kat broke off, blinked her dazed eyes. The pressure eased immediately.
I did a little blinking of my own, rubbed my chest. “Damn, Kitty Kat, that’s some talent.”
Her eyes flashed fire. “Don’t call me that.”
“Whoa, no throwing daggers,” I joked. Then wondered just how wary I should be.
Kat closed her eyes, shaking her head as if trying to shake off the same effects I was struggling with. When she opened them again, the haze and the anger had dissipated. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms over her stomach, plumping her round breasts up in mouthwatering display. “What is going on, Arik? Tell me.”
I thought for a moment, trying to figure out how—and what—to explain. “You know that old saying, ‘Words have power’? Well, it seems yours actually do.”
Confusion dominated her face, but threads of fear were there too. I couldn’t blame her.
“You seem to be able to attach intentions to words. The words become physical ‘tools,’ so to speak, delivering whatever ‘package’ you send.”
“So when I sang…”
“I felt, physically, what you were feeling. That’s how you were able to sever that shifter’s head: you wanted to cut him like he was cutting you, and that intent manifested when you screamed at him.”
Kat put a hand over her mouth, her skin taking on a distinct green tinge. “You mean, in the alley…I…I cut off his head?”
Too late I saw my mistake. “You were hurt, Kat. It was instinctive.” I decided not to mention Maddox’s near evisceration.
“But… No, I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t. Words can’t cut people’s heads off. It’s not possible.”
“We’re not people, remember? And yes, in our world, psychic energy can manifest as physical power, even the power to cut off heads.”
Kat choked.
I wanted to tell her she’d been lucky, that severing a neck was about the only way to kill a shifter. I wanted to tell her to man up, get used to it, that violence was our way of life. From the way she turned her back and convulsed as if struggling not to throw up, I figured none of those things would work. Neither explanations nor admonishment would reach her.
Instead I circled the island, eased up to Kat, and slipped my arms around her. Kat straightened into my embrace and gripped my shoulders with trembling hands, pressing herself into me as if my body could take her away from this knowledge about herself that she didn’t want to have.
That, at least, I could give her.
Shifting my hands to her lower back, I dragged her forward until her body met mine, every inch of our torsos melded together.
Desire sparked. Heat flushed beneath my skin. She wanted comfort; I wanted her. My body didn’t care about her needs. I hardened in a rush, the pain pulling a grunt from deep in my chest. I couldn’t stop my hips from rolling forward, pushing my aching erection into the soft cradle of her lower belly.
Kat gasped.
Revenge, my plan, gaining Kat’s allegiance—it all fell away. Blind to everything but the hunger to taste her, I ducked my head, the scruff on my cheek making a soft sound as it rubbed against her skin, and brought my lips just to the edge of hers. They parted, and a quick flick of my tongue pulled Kat’s flavor into my mouth. I teased closer, trying to gain access to the heated cave of her mouth, but Kat tilted her head away.
“No, Arik. I… No.” She shook her head, red curls sliding across the hand I hadn’t even realized was gripping the back of her neck. “Wait.”
Hungry to connect, to push my advantage further, hungry just to breathe the same air, I kissed the pulse point fluttering at the base of her throat. “It’s okay, Kat.” A gentle slide of my mouth along her collarbone, another, a tentative lick—
A delicate hand landed on my chest, trying to force me back. “No, Arik. I’m just…” Kat’s voice shook, but she firmed her shoulders and raised her face to stare into my eyes. “Look, a lot has changed for me. A lot.” A strangled laugh interrupted her words. “I just need to…take this a little slower.”
A little slower. I closed my eyes as my blood-filled shaft pounded out its disappointment. God save me from virgin females.
But there was too damn much at risk to push it.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t make her think about it, imagine it. Hunger would eventually overcome fear.
I dipped my head one more time. “You know it’s going to happen, don’t you?” I whispered roughly in her ear.
Kat remained silent, but she leaned into my touch ever so slightly.
I sighed against the tender skin of her throat. “All right, Kat. Whatever you need.”