Taboo (A Tale of the Talhari Book 1) (9 page)

“The place you took me today, was that a Talhari motherhouse?”

“You can’t tell anyone about it.”

She whistled. “How does the Talhari make money? That’s one fancy setup.”

“That,” he said, putting his empty dish on the carpet, “is a story for another day.”

She rose, gathered the dishes, took them to the kitchen and put them in the sink. She jumped when he came up behind her, then shivered at the press of his body against hers.

“Can I help you with anything?”

“No, I have everything under control.”

His hands on her shoulders were warm. He turned her to face him, bent low and kissed her again. When he pulled away she was pleasantly light headed.

“I’m going to stay. After what happened at the office, I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“You think they’d come here?”

“I’m not willing to risk it. I don’t like the fact that they attacked you on the street one night and inside your office the next. It’s like they’ve singled you out for some reason.”

She had a hold of his shirt and didn’t seem able to let it go. “So I don’t have anything to worry about? You’ll be here to protect me.”

He studied her face, tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes. “I’ll be here to protect you. For as long as you need me.”

She came out of her bathroom, intending to put blankets and a pillow on the pull-out in her office, but was surprised to find that Alaric had already made himself at home in her bed.

He lay on his back, sans shirt, hands folded behind his head.

His chest was bare.

She blinked.

His chest was bare.

She’d thought bodies like his only existed in Hollywood, but she’d been wrong. She could see every muscle, every curve of his biceps. He was like something out of a movie, or a magazine.

His hair fanned out beneath him on the pillow. His grin was nothing short of sinful.

“I didn’t think you’d mind,” he said. “I don’t have a toothbrush or anything with me, so all that was left for me to do was get into bed.”

She stared at him for a few beats, wondering how she’d survive the night with a man like Alaric in her bed. No matter what, though, she refused to continue to behave like the self-conscious, shy, adolescent she’d seemed like all night.

Stiffening her spine, she stepped into the bedroom.

She always wore yoga pants and a tank top to bed, and tonight was no different. She had toyed with the idea of putting on something cute, then realized that she didn’t own any cute nightwear. That might be one of the major reasons why she was still single.

“I called the team and let the team know not to expect me,” he said, still looking as though he’d slept in her bed a million times before. “Tomorrow, I want to move you to the motherhouse. I’d feel better with you there.”

“Okay.” She walked to the far side of the bed.

“Turn off the light and get into bed.”

She turned and shut off the lamp, then eased under the covers. She nearly melted when his arms went around her, then gradually she relaxed into him. She’d never felt so cared for. His chest was warm against her back, his arms wrapped so securely around her that she realized having him there did make her feel safe. Who could possibly hurt her when she had her own super warrior in residence?

“What other technology does the Talhari have?”

“Embeds.”

She thanked God that he seemed to understand talking calmed her. He wouldn’t pressure her to do anything she wasn’t ready for.

“What are those?”

“They don’t exist yet, they’re in the planning stages.”

“Tell me about them anyway.”

“Embeds are in development for Talhari warriors. They’re a sort of implant that would go into our brains and allow us to communicate telepathically whenever we’re on patrol or on the trail of an undesirable. That’s what we call supernatural creatures.”

“You can’t just talk to each other?”

“Sometimes extreme stealth is required. We can’t talk to each other, sometimes we can’t even move or our quarry will know we’re there. Embeds will allow us to communicate silently to each other. When we’re not working, we turn them off.”

“Embeds.” She snorted a laugh. “It’s incredible. How soon before they’re rolled out?”

“Months at least. I’d go so far as to say years. It’s advanced technology that requires insertion into our brains, so great care is being taken. They have to test and retest the safety, do trials before they can even consider inserting them into a warrior.” He was quiet for a moment. “You know I don’t usually do this; behave like this.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t stay overnight with women. I don’t get overprotective of women. Keeping people safe is part of my job, but with you it’s different. I’m different and I’m not so sure I like it.” He waited about a minute, then spoke again. “Aren’t you gonna say something?”

“I don’t trust myself to speak.”

“Tell me you feel it too.”

“I feel it.” She rolled over to face him. Although the night was dark, bits of light came to them from the lamps outside. And the moon was full and shinning into the bedroom.

His lips were close. The brush of his chest against hers made something inside her want to give way.

“I don’t believe in love,” she said at last. “I don’t think it’s real. People say they’re in love all the time when all they really feel is lust.”

“Pretty cynical for someone your age. You must have an ex.”

“I have the ex to end all exes. Self-absorbed, superficial, arrogant. He always said he loved me…it took me five years to figure out I should be listening more to how he treated me instead of what he said to me. He liked the way I looked and he liked the thought of being with me, but he never really saw me. Sometimes I doubt he even liked me. Five years I wasted.”

“But that doesn’t mean love isn’t real. It just means you loved the wrong person.”

He ran a finger down her spine as he spoke, making her shiver with pleasure.

“You like that?” he asked.

“Yeah. He never did stuff like that. He never touched me.”

“How is that even possible? You’re beautiful.”

“He liked being touched and massaged and stroked, but he wasn’t interested in giving intimacy.”

His fingers fluttered up her spine, over a shoulder, then down her back. “Doesn’t sound like a very smart man to me.”

She smiled. “I wouldn’t have thought you the type to be a flatterer.”

His teeth flashed and he laughed. “I’m not. I’m being genuine.” He ran his fingers up and down her back, making her shiver all over. “What happened?” he asked at last.

“I got smart. Realized I was wasting my time with a man who could never love me and could never give me the things I needed in a relationship.”

“Like what?”

“Companionship. An honest to goodness interest in me as a person, not a superficial interest in how I look. I want true love. I’ll die for you, love. Ride or die, love.” She laughed again. “My life is so boring compared to yours. Here, you’re telling me about killing vampires and learning how to use a sword. All I have to talk about is my ex-boyfriend.”

“I have hundreds of years of living on you.”

His hands moved up into her scalp, rubbing and stroking until she groaned.

“For that sound alone I’d touch you,” he said, laughing. “You’re ex is a twit.”

“I think I was the twit for staying with him for five years.”

Subtly, he moved closer. She could smell the minty scent of his shampoo, feel the brush of the hair on his legs when he tangled them with hers. His touch was an aphrodisiac. Everything about him was an aphrodisiac.

“What about you?” she asked. “Have you ever been in love?”

“Once.”

“In all these years, only once?”

“I don’t love easy. Like you said, people proclaim love at the drop of the hat, but I don’t think they have an inkling of what love is.”

“Was it before you became Talhari?”

He shook his head. “After. She died…at the hands of a monster.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’ve hunted him. I’ve hunted him for seventy-three years. When I find him, I will kill him. Slowly.”

She swallowed. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how that must feel for you.”

“She was like you, constantly running toward danger. She could never have been made Talhari because she didn’t have any usable gifts, so eventually it would have ended for me in heartbreak, but we could have had more time if she hadn’t been so impulsive.”

“Is that why you get so angry with me, my impulsiveness reminds you of her?”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.” He pulled her toward him, no longer going for stealth. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

His lips were on hers. The movement so sudden she hadn’t had time to prepare herself. But she didn’t mind being unprepared. Not for this.

She pulled him closer, gliding her hand down his spine then squeezing his ass cheeks.

Groaning himself, he deepened the kiss, then rolled on top of her.

His weight should have felt like too much, but it wasn’t too much. It was perfect.

She allowed one hand to stay entwined in his hair, but with the other she roamed his body. She loved the feel of his back; the taut muscles. His skin was scarred, doubtless from all the fighting he did, but she couldn’t stop running her fingers up and down his back.

Then something unexpected happened. His phone began to buzz.

“Do what?” she said. “Is that your phone?”

He stared at it. It was on her dresser, vibrating. She was pleased to see he looked as annoyed as she felt.

“I have to get it, it’s Paul.”

Frustrated, she nodded.

“It could be important.”

“I understand.”

He grabbed the phone and answered.

Almost instantly he tensed.

“I have to go,” he said when he hung up. “They’ve spotted three of the beasts at Riverfront Park again.”

She sat up. “Can I go?”

“You know I can’t let you go with me. You could get hurt.”

She sat back, knowing any attempt at arguing would be futile. “Are you coming back here?”

“Of course.”

He came to the bed and bent low. He kissed her slowly, but the kiss wasn’t nearly long enough.

“I’ll be back soon.” He grabbed his shirt from the dresser where he’d folded and set it while she’d been in the bathroom, then left the room.

At the sound of the front door closing downstairs she sighed.

She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, knowing she’d never be able to get back to sleep. She was too keyed up.

She knew more about what was going on now than she had before, so maybe she could do a little research until she got tired.

She shoved the covers aside, pausing long enough to change out of her lust dampened pants and put new ones on.

She froze.

She’d heard something. Movement? But it hadn’t sounded like the front door.

Instantly an image of the pig man flashed in her mind. Had another of them gotten into her home? Or more than one?

But that couldn’t be. Alaric had just been there. That would mean they’d been waiting for him to go. Had set her up.

She left the lights out and started toward the door. She hadn’t gone two steps when a large form appeared in her doorway.

“Alaric?” she asked, despite the fact that whatever was standing there didn’t have blonde hair.

“No.”

The voice was quiet, low, and it filled her with dread.

Chapter Eight

“Do I look like Alaric?” the figure asked as he stepped into the room.

He was about the size of Alaric, which wasn’t common, but that was where the similarities ended. The aura of this man was dark. The closer he came, the darker the room felt. It was like being in the presence of pure evil.

Sydney rushed to her nightstand and flicked on her lamp.

Bright light filled the room, illuminating the man who had come.

Except for dressing entirely in black, he couldn’t have been more unlike Alaric if he’d tried. His hair was jet black and so long it nearly fell to his waist. It shun unnaturally under the light, looking like thin strands of polished glass instead of hair. It was beautiful.

His eyes were ice blue. They were such a pale shade of blue that at certain angles they seemed translucent, at other angles it was like staring into an endless sea. His skin was pale, the complexion stark against the black clothes. And the black clothes seemed to have been made of some kind of animal skin. Maybe leather, but she couldn’t say for sure. And he was huge. He towered over her, making her feel small and helpless.

“Don’t you know who I am?” he asked, staring not at her, but into her, with those startlingly blue eyes.

“How could I know you when I’ve never met you before?”