Into the Light (17 page)

He knew she didn’t, not really, but he appreciated the fact that she did not hold him back. He did not want to have to choose between his desire for Olivia and his responsibilities to his pack. It was bad enough that he’d already come to think of the small diverse group as
his pack
.

* * * *

“How did you sleep last night?”

Tanner asked the question when he walked into the kitchen and discovered Olivia standing near the window, nursing a cup of tea and staring moodily out at an overcast sky. He glanced over his shoulder before stepping up behind her and trying to nuzzle her neck.

She stiffened and stepped away from him. “I slept in a bed with your mother,” she said coldly. “There were precious few other options.”

Cecilia had reluctantly gone home the night before, but Olivia had chosen to spend the night at Dane’s cottage. While Tanner hadn’t been able to share a bed with her last night, he liked that he was able to see her first thing in the morning, at least.

“I’m sorry,” he said, guessing that she was annoyed that they’d yet again been interrupted yesterday, just when they were about to finally shift their relationship to the next level. The fates knew he was eager to couple with her.

Somewhere along the line, she’d become his obsession as much as capturing and killing a lightbearer had been his father’s. Some small part of him worried at that fact, and wondered if it meant he was, just as he always feared, turning into his father.

But one look at Olivia, with her flaxen-blonde hair and big, bright blue eyes, her regal, lithe body, that heart-shaped mouth, and those pert little breasts, and he knew his obsession was nothing like Quentin’s. Tanner wanted her the way a man wanted a woman. Tanner wanted her in the way that all men wanted all women, when they were ready to take a mate.

He froze, as that thought filtered through his head. Ready to take a mate? Him? He focused on the currently frigid woman standing before him.

Was he ready to take a mate?

It was curious that the thought did not send him running for the hills, as it always had previously. It was curious that now that he’d found a lightbearer, an entirely different magical species, he would actually lend credence to the idea.

Taking a mate. It didn’t sound like such a bad prospect after all. He’d obviously proven that he was not his father, when he’d risked everything to save a lightbearer. Maybe taking a lightbearer to mate was the answer. Siring pups that were half lightbearer would obviously negate any destructive urges they might feel toward lightbearers, right?

Maybe taking
this particular
lightbearer to mate was the answer.

“You have no reason to be sorry,” Olivia was saying, and Tanner forced himself to focus on her words, instead of the thoughts tumbling through his head. “It makes perfectly logical sense, actually.”

Tanner frowned. “What are you talking about?” he asked. Clearly, he’d missed some part of the conversation along the way.

“You,” Olivia said, and then she waved her arm at some point behind him. “And Lisa. You’re both shifters, you’ve obviously known one another for a very long time. You told me yourself that you, Lisa, and Freddy were actually quite close when you were younger.” She looked as if saying the words caused her great pain.

Tanner gave her a speculative look. “Olivia, you’re talking in riddles.”

“No, I am not,” she insisted. “I realize you and I have some sort of—of sexual attraction. It’s strange, I’ll warrant, but it happens, I suppose. But you and Lisa, what you have goes much deeper than…than…”

“Than?” he prompted, and then he stopped and gave her an incredulous look. “Are you implying you think Lisa and I should mate?”

“I don’t think I was really implying, so much as stating,” Olivia said as she frowned.

Tanner barked out a laugh. “Olivia, Lisa and I would fight like cats and dogs. Literally. We were friends because of Freddy. He was one of my best friends, and he was in love with Lisa. It’s as simple as that.”

“You slept with her last night,” Olivia protested.

He lifted his hand, cupped the back of his neck, and grimaced as he tried to work out a kink with his hand. “I fell asleep in a hell of an uncomfortable position while she rambled on and on about all the good times with Freddy,” he amended. “She was actually pretty pissed off at me this morning because I was in her bed. And if you saw me sleeping like that, why didn’t you wake me?” he accused.

“You looked…looked…”

“What? Uncomfortable? Because that’s what it was like, sleeping with her. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of this damn kink,” he complained.

“Oh for the love of the lights,” Olivia grumbled, and she reached up and pushed his hand away. A moment later, Tanner sighed in bliss as she pumped her healing magic into his system.

“Thank you,” he said solemnly, and then he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against him. “Can I make it up to you?”

She was not quite ready to forgive him, he could tell. She squirmed out of his grip. He let her go.

“She wants you,” she accused. “She’s suffering and she’s alone and she’s probably frightened. She’s looking for someone to replace Freddy.”

Tanner shook his head and tamped down on the anger that bubbled at the idea of Olivia believing he would mate with Lisa just because she wanted a replacement for Freddy.

“First of all, Lisa has never been frightened in her life. She’s the toughest female I’ve ever met. And yes, I’m sure she’s suffering, but I highly doubt she wants me to replace Freddy in her life.” Olivia started to protest and he lifted his hand to stop her.

“Even if she was considering that, come on, Olivia. He just died a few days ago, for the love of fate. Plus, she just gave birth to a pup. I imagine the very last thing on her mind is hooking up with me, or any man for that matter.”

Olivia still did not look entirely convinced. Tanner decided he needed to do something about that. The problem was, they were stuck inside this tiny cottage with far too many people. There wasn’t enough privacy for what he had in mind. Then he thought about the beach and the cliff and all the trees everywhere. There was a dense forest at the top of the cliff. Dane said there was a set of slate steps leading up to the top, steps that had been built at the command of the original king. Surely they could find some privacy somewhere out there.

“Come on,” he said abruptly, and he grabbed her hand and dragged her from the kitchen. As he pulled her through the door, Olivia tried to convince him to turn around and head back inside house.

“We can’t go out here,” she protested. “You might be seen. No one knows you’re here, Tanner. You’ll send the coterie into shock and they’ll send guards after you and—” He whirled around and kissed her, right there on the beach, just to get her to stop complaining.

“There,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “That’s better. Now, where’s the closest place we can have some privacy? Real privacy, where we won’t be interrupted for a nice, long time.”

She clearly understood the intent in his words, because her cheeks flushed. She snagged a lock of hair and twisted it round her finger as she considered his words.

“I have it,” she said triumphantly, and then she took off at a jog, along the edge of the cliff, and Tanner eagerly chased after her, feeling the familiar shifter urge to lay chase to his prey. A nice game of chase always made a shifter randy, no matter the circumstances.

By the time they found a niche in the rock that was well hidden but only just large enough for them to fit, his shorts were so tight he could barely walk. He dropped to the sand and pulled her into his lap. Her eyes widened as she settled herself onto his erection. He lifted his hips and deliberately rolled them.

“See what you do to me?” he said in a husky voice. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Olivia. I want to see you. All of you.”

He pulled her dress over her head and tossed it to the side. Her small, pert breasts were tipped with pink nipples that hardened the moment the cool lake breeze hit them. Her waist was tiny, and her hips just barely flared. His mother would cluck her tongue and comment that she didn’t have good pup-bearing hips. Tanner didn’t care. She was as perfect as perfect could be. And she was about to be his. All his. He was half tempted to flip her over onto her hands and knees right there, and just take her to mate and be done with it.

No, not yet, he decided. First, he wanted her just like this, sitting astride him, looking at him with a combination of lust and anticipation in her big blue eyes. He wanted to watch her when he brought her to her first climax. He wanted to touch her breasts, her belly, her waist, her face. The apex of her thighs. When she moaned, he realized he’d already done just that. His fingers were slick with wetness. Her wetness. Her need—for him.

“Tanner.” She breathed his name like a mantra, as she lowered her face to kiss him. He held the back of her head with one hand and pumped his fingers into her with the other, making love to her mouth, making love to her sex, reveling in the feel of her as her climax began to build.

She squirmed and panted and ground into his hand. He kept up the ministrations as he shifted the focus of his mouth to her breasts. As the almost harsh hairs of his stubble brushed over her sensitive skin, she twisted her hands into his hair and squeezed to the point of pain, until she finally came apart around him, crying out as she flung her head back and let the orgasm swamp her.

“Oh yeah,” he growled as he shimmied out of his shorts and then grabbed her and pulled her back onto his lap. He barely had to guide himself. It was as if his body was meant to couple with hers. He thrust once and impaled her, filling her completely, her inner muscles squeezing him tightly. He groaned as he lifted her up, needing a brief breather, so that he would not go off after only two thrusts.

She whispered his name and he lost control anyway. He grabbed her hips and pulled her down on top of him, again and again, until he was thrusting so fast that her breasts jiggled and the back of her thighs slapped the top of his. She clutched at his shoulders and kept pace with him, murmuring words of encouragement, telling him not to stop, not to ever stop, but he couldn’t hold out any longer and he came, so hard he saw lights explode before his eyes.

Tanner kept his eyes closed and wrapped his arms around Olivia’s back, pulling her with him as he leaned against the rocky wall. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable position, but so long as Olivia remained in his lap, he could make due.

“Damn,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

He felt her smile against his chest. “I can’t believe we just did that—here—on the beach,” she said with laughter in her voice.

Tanner snorted. “You can’t tell me you live here and you’ve never had sex on the beach,” he said, sounding incredulous.

Olivia laughed. He liked the sound of her laughter. “Okay, yes, I have. But never the first time.”

This time, he laughed. “Honey, yesterday we were about to do it in a bathroom.”

“Good point,” she said, and then she sighed and melted against his chest. He liked this, just lying here like this, comfortably, Olivia wrapped securely in his arms. It occurred to him he’d never actually had sex with a woman and then laid there, relaxing with her afterward. Usually, the woman immediately climbed out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom and within minutes, out the door. Until now, he’d always wanted it that way.

“You’re glowing.” Olivia made the comment, as she pushed away from his chest and sat there, staring at him.

He lifted his hand and stared at it. She wasn’t kidding. He was glowing. Well, it wasn’t exactly glowing. It was more like…
shimmering
. The way Olivia looked, all the time, unless she’d depleted her magic. He flipped his hand this way and that, fascinated by what he saw there.

“Never had that happen before,” he commented.

“You’ve never had sex with a lightbearer before, apparently.”

He shifted his gaze from his hand to her face. “Are you saying this happens anytime you have sex with a lightbearer?”

She shrugged. “It’s possible. I mean, we always sort of sparkle like that, so it’s hard to say if sex enhances it or not. But it makes sense, don’t you think? Enhanced emotions, enhanced feelings, enhanced magic.” She shrugged again, seemingly indifferent.

But Tanner was anything but indifferent. This was not a normal occurrence for him. He thought about his father’s obsession, and his belief that to kill a lightbearer was to inherit their magic. He couldn’t help but wonder if his father had been on to something after all, except instead of killing a lightbearer…one simply had to have sex with one.

* * * *

When they reluctantly returned to the cottage, it was to find Dane waiting for them, grim-faced.

“Your father knows you are home, Olivia,” he said when they stepped into the kitchen.

Olivia glanced at Tanner and then turned back to Dane. “How?”

She would have been quite happy to remain tucked away at his cottage for infinity, in truth. She knew that was a hopeless dream, but she’d hoped for at least another day or two. A little more time with Tanner. A lot more sex with Tanner.

“I told him,” Dane said guiltily. “It was an accident,” he hastily added. “You know how he is. It is hard to lie to him.”

“You didn’t need to lie, Dane,” Olivia said with exasperation. “You only needed to not bring up the subject at all.”

“He brought it up,” Dane protested. “He gathered the guards because he wanted to send out a search party for you. What was I supposed to do?”

Olivia sighed. He was right, of course. The very last thing she wanted was for her father to put other lightbearers in danger unnecessarily. Still…She glanced at Tanner again. He lifted a hand and cupped the back of her neck.

“It’s okay,” he said gently. “Go. Your family has been worried.”

Just before she left, she distinctly heard Dane say, “Hey, how come you’re glowing? I didn’t know shifters could do that.”

The king of the lightbearers lived in an oversized beach house perched on a cliff overlooking the entirety of his kingdom, which was comprised of several large clusters of homes, a village square, and acres of pastures where various animals were raised. All but the pastures were located at the bottom of the cliff, on the shore of the lake. When the lightbearers first settled in this remote area, some five hundred years ago, that first king determined his home would be at the top, and everyone else would be below.