Running Hot (The Arcane Society #5)(60)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“Sorry.” She sat a little straighter in the chair. “But this is important.”

“Uh-huh.” He picked up a slice of toast. “Okay, let’s have it.”

“Fallon Jones keeps saying that this situation, at least as far as you and I are concerned, is under control. But last night you were almost killed. Because of me.”

He put the uneaten portion of toast on his plate. His eyes narrowed slightly. “Last night is over. If the situation wasn’t under control before, it is now.”

“I don’t think so. Last night was a wake-up call for me. I don’t care what Mr. Jones says, I saw the Siren’s aura. My intuition tells me that she is obsessing over what happened on Maui. She’s powerful and she’s lethal and I don’t want you or Petra and Wayne to get killed trying to protect me.”

“Protecting people is what I do, remember? I’m a bodyguard.”

“You proved that last night. I don’t want you to take any more chances on my behalf.”

“Let me worry about the chances I take.”

“What about Petra and Wayne? They have nothing to do with this but she might target them to get to me. I don’t want to be responsible for putting any of you in more danger.”

“Planning to disappear again?”

She stiffened. “It worked well the last time.”

“You’ve built a new life for yourself. You can’t be serious about leaving it behind to fire up another one.”

“I’ve always been able to handle my own problems. I’ll deal with this.”

“Not alone. Not this time. J&J got you into this mess. J&J has a responsibility to protect you. And since I’m the nearest J&J bodyguard on the scene, you’ve got me, whether you like it or not.”

“Petra and Wayne don’t work for J&J,” she said, desperate now.

“Remember what you said about the Society being the closest thing you’ve got to a family?”

“What about it?”

“Petra and Wayne are my family. As long as you and I are together, they see you as family, too. You couldn’t make them walk away from this if you tried.” He grinned. “Besides, they’d be crushed if you refused their help.”

“I’d rather have them crushed than dead because of me.”

“Trust me, Petra and Wayne don’t see it that way. They may be getting on in years, but they’re warriors, Grace—warriors to the bone.”

She tried and failed to blink back the tears. “I was afraid of this.”

“What, exactly, were you afraid of?”

She wiped one cheek with the back of her hand. “I was afraid that I wouldn’t have the courage to turn down your offer.”

“It’s not an offer,” he said softly. “It’s just the way things are. I couldn’t let you walk away now, even if you tried.”

“Luther—”

“Hush.”

She felt herself grow unnaturally calm and serene.

“Stop that.” She glowered. “I’ll let you know if I want my aura manipulated.”

The artificial serenity vanished.

He grinned. “I love it when you do that. Gets me hot.”

She glowered harder. “How can you talk about sex at a time like this?”

“You’re right. When it comes to sex, talking isn’t nearly as much fun as doing.”

He got to his feet, made his way around the table and hauled her up out of the chair. His mouth closed over hers before she could think of a good reason to stop him.

She tried to resist for all of two seconds. Then, with a sigh, she put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him back.

She sensed the passion unfurling between them. He kissed her until she shimmered with need, until she trembled with it; until she could no longer even think about getting on a plane, let alone starting a new life.

He captured her face between his hands.

“I won’t let you disappear on me,” he said. “If you try to leave, I will come after you. Never forget that. And I will find you.”

She went very still, her fingers clenched around his shoulders. She could not identify the tangle of emotions cascading through her. Fear? Hope? Love?

“What makes you so certain that you could find me?” she asked.

It wasn’t a challenge. It was a question, an urgent one. She needed an answer badly.

“Because you and I are linked,” he said. “Don’t try to tell me that you don’t sense the bond between us.”

He covered her mouth with his own again, not waiting for an answer. Her hands tightened on him. With a small, urgent little cry, she kissed him back, holding him captive, just as he held her.

Somehow they ended up on the ancient sofa. He eased her onto her back. In the short time they had been together, he had learned a lot about what made her hot in bed and he applied the knowledge ruthlessly. The energy of passion—light and dark—flared high.

But the bond worked both ways. She knew him now as well as he knew her and she was just as ruthless.

He drove himself deep inside her. Her senses flared, fusing with his in the moment of release. And then they both fell off the edge of the world.

THIRTY-SIX

The monster did not come from under the bed, he came down the unlit hall. She heard him unlock the door that she had locked so carefully. Frozen with panic, she watched his terrifying aura as he moved stealthily into her room.

She had just turned fourteen. She had been in the foster care system for only a few months but her survival instincts were already razor sharp. She had gone to bed fully clothed every night because she sensed that sooner or later the husband would come to her room.

In the dense shadows she could not see him but his energy field blazed with the darkness of perverted lust. He came to stand beside the bed.

“Are you awake, sweetie?” he crooned. “I came to kiss you good night.”

She did not answer. She did not move. She did not think she could move. Perhaps if she pretended to be asleep, the monster would go away.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and put one hand on her leg. She trembled, instinctively shrinking from him.

“So you are awake,” he whispered. “I thought so. You’re a sexy young lady. All grown up. I’ll bet you’ve had a couple of boyfriends already, haven’t you?” He drew his hand up her thigh. “But you probably haven’t had a real man yet.”

“Please, don’t.” Her throat was so tight she could hardly get the words out.