The Hunted (55 page)

I brushed my tongue gently across the surface of his closed lips and waited for them to part for me. They would. They did. He met my enthusiasm head on, his lust matching mine and drowning me in the need I felt for him. A small gasp of pleasure escaped my parted lips, the intensity between us building.

His hands stilled in my hair and he wretched himself free of my hold over him. ‘No!’ he panted, forcefully pushing me off of his lap and leaping quickly into the air. He clambered up the side of the central ducting system and climbed quickly to the top, leaving a good few metres between us. He was breathing in and out very heavily, his chest expanding and contracting at a rapid rate. His canines were fully extended, his eyes were blacker than obsidian stone.

I stayed where I was, watching him, my lips still buzzing and slightly swollen from the last few minutes of bliss.

‘Just give me a minute,’ he choked out, breathing ragged as he stood up from his crouched position and inhaled. His breathing slowed slightly, as his chest began to expand and contract in a more relaxed manner.

After a few minutes of silence and deep breaths, he jumped down. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked tentatively as I took a step towards him.

‘I will be,’ he said, looking up me again. ‘I underestimated you.’

‘How?’

The sides of his lips lifted into a smile, his canines retracting. ‘I thought it would have taken much longer for you to kiss me. I helped it along by enticing you. I just never expected that you would enjoy it so much.’

I sniffed. I hated it when men just assumed that they’d get their own way. ‘You kissed me, remember? And who said I enjoyed it?’

He looked at me slowly from head to toe and smiled. ‘If you could see what I see right now under your skin, you wouldn’t be in denial.’

I smiled in spite of myself. ‘I’m not blushing.’

‘Oh, I’m aware of that. This is a
different
heat that marks your skin. I suggest we practice constraint in the future.’

I grinned. ‘In the future? Aren’t we being presumptuous?’

He smiled like a kid in a candy store and then stepped forward to wrap both arms around my waist and pull me in close again. He brushed his fingers across my cheek, lowering his lips down to mine again. ‘It’s inevitable.’

I scoffed and slid a hand in between our lips to stop any more presumptuous behaviour. ‘The only things that are inevitable are death and taxes.’

He gave me a funny look.

‘Okay, so maybe not death in our cases,’ I said, tugging at his hand behind my back, ‘but definitely taxes. Now, how about you get me off this building and take me home before you decide to assault me again?’

He finally found his voice. ‘Assault you? Wasn’t I the one with a broken nose this evening?’

‘Would you like another one?’

William tilted his head to the side, his lips twitching in amusement. He touched a finger to my nose, winked at me, and then promptly tossed me over the side of the building, which he no doubt found highly amusing.

I wish I could say the same.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

ALONE

A
s William shrugged the leather coat he had stolen from the wardrobe upstairs from his shoulders and dropped it onto the bureau by the front door, he knew that Thomas would be waiting. Without even further entering the house they were currently ‘borrowing’ he knew that his long-time friend was standing in the adjoining room.

Thomas would have his arms crossed, and brows furrowed heavily—the same expression Thomas had given him earlier when he’d mentioned the intended rendezvous with Elena. Thomas had already voiced his thoughts about the two of them pursuing a relationship. So what would he think now that Elena’s scent was all over him?

William could already feel the mounting tension in the air. He considered heading straight upstairs to the bedroom—avoidance better than confrontation. He knew exactly what Thomas was going to say to him and he didn’t want to hear it all again.

‘William,’ Thomas said evenly from the next room. ‘Could you come in here, please?’

As sure as William knew that Thomas was there, Thomas knew that William had returned. The front door was the final signal of his arrival, but if he had been listening for him, Thomas could have heard William running further away, along the coast road and through the mountains.

He fingered the coat for a second longer, glanced longingly up the stairs. ‘I’m coming.’

William rounded the corner and stepped into the white living room, decorated with sumptuous sofas and strewn with colourful cushions. He flopped down onto the one opposite Thomas, shaking his head at the predictable nature of his friend. Sure enough, he stood with his arms crossed over his chest and frowning heavily.

‘William, what are you doing?’ Thomas said quietly.

‘I’m sitting.’

Thomas frowned deeper. ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about.’

‘Thomas, this doesn’t concern you.’

‘William, you and I have been friends for almost three hundred years now. I have always watched your back and you mine. I’m doing that for you now when I tell you that getting romantically involved with that human girl is a mistake.’

‘Elena.’

‘What?’

‘Her name is Elena, Thomas, and it’s too late. I think I’m falling for her.’

Thomas groaned and dropped onto the couch opposite him. ‘What have you done? You told me yourself that Araqiel did not ask this of you.’

‘Araqiel told me to protect her, and that is what I will do.’

‘Yes, protect her,’ Thomas said tersely, ‘not fall in love with her. She’s not for you. You know that.’

William could feel his temper rising. ‘What I know is that Araqiel said to protect her and keep her safe from harm and—’

‘He also said that you needed to deliver her to her family—to her true partner. Who is
not
you. You’re not supposed to love her, and she is not supposed to love you. She belongs to someone else and you damn well know that, William.’

‘I make my own destiny, Thomas. I will not let my future be dictated to me by you or anyone else.’

‘I did not come to you with this request!’ Thomas shouted. ‘Araqiel did! Are you going to deny an
angel
, one that could eventually give you a free pass into heaven? An angel that made it very clear that Elena is very important to coming events and must be returned to Sebas—’

William thumped his hands against the arm of the sofa, lips pulling back into a feral snarl. ‘Don’t say his name to me.’

Thomas recoiled, sliding further back into the chair.

‘Araqiel may be an angel and may hold dominion over Earth,’ William continued with a growl, ‘but he cannot tell me who to love.’ He moved his hands around dismissively. ‘Where I go when I finally leave this place is of no consequence to me. Hell, heaven—it’s all the same. I just want her.’

Thomas shook his head. ‘You’re treading on very dangerous ground, William. By keeping her from her real family you may be endangering her life. She’s already been targeted by an alpha. That might not have happened if you had followed orders and taken her away when you first received the message.’

William rose to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. ‘We’re just dealing with the vânâtors, Thomas, just like we always do. Elena is different. Araqiel said to keep her safe, and by keeping her away from
them
I believe that I am upholding his word.’

‘No, Will, what you’re doing is twisting his words to suit yourself.’

William’s hands balled into tight fists at his side. He couldn’t believe this—after almost three hundred years of friendship, his best friend would choose the opinion of an angel over him. They weren’t even supposed to be interfering. Just like Lucifer himself, they were supposed to mind their own business and stay in hell or heaven, respectively. Something major was happening if angels were breaking the rules to protect enemies.

‘I want Elena. I need Elena in my life. I’ve waited far too long for someone like her. I will do as the angel says, I will protect her, but I’m going to do it
my
way.’ He paused and looked at his friend. ‘Are you going to stand by me on this, Thomas?’

Thomas looked worried, defeated. He knew arguing with William was pointless. William had always been stubborn, and had always been too narrow-minded for his own good. It was just like him to not open his eyes to the bigger picture, and the same reason he was no longer with the Roman Guard or associating with his own family. He couldn’t see past his own foolish pride.

What Thomas should do was take her, now, take her back to her family as Araqiel had requested. But the last thing that he wanted to do was push his friend away. What choice did he have?

Thomas slowly rose to his feet and walked over to his friend, resting a hand on his shoulder. ‘I will support you my, friend, but please do not pursue this thing with the girl. It will only see you get hurt.’

William shook his hand away. ‘I won’t get hurt.’

Thomas shrugged. ‘I’m just saying—fate has a funny way of eventually bringing people together who were supposed to meet. Don’t stand in the way of what should unfold.’

*          *          *

I awoke the next morning to warm sunshine streaming through my bedroom window, caressing the bare skin of my arms with early spring warmth. I had an unexpected smile plastered across my face, seemingly permanently entrenched on my features. I was smiling so wide my cheeks hurt from the effort.

I touched a finger to my lips and giggled at the memory of the night before like a naughty school girl. Then I buried my face into the pillow to shut myself up.

When had I turned into one of those people?

I buried my face deeper into the polyester filling and screamed loudly, before bursting into a fit of giggles once again. I must be high. It was the only rational explanation for my ridiculous behaviour. Maybe Susan had unknowingly slipped some magic mushrooms onto the pizza I ate last night.

I shook my head.

Too convenient.

The pizza last night had tasted too good to have come from Susan. This crazy, completely uncharacteristic behaviour looked like it belonged solely to me.

I laughed again and then rolled onto my back. Maybe I needed to think something horrible to be able to wipe the ridiculous smile off my face? If Susan and George saw me like this they’d know something was definitely different.

God, what had William done to me?

I clamped a hand down over my upturned mouth and set to work on conjuring up the most repellent thing I could think of. It didn’t take me long to gather the ammunition. The absolutely most disgusting and truly undesirable vision I could conjure up was Peter and Sarah bumping uglies. Unfortunately, the main image was of giant bouncing boobs and piles of sagging old flesh slapping and grinding against one another in a big, sweaty heap.