The Raven Series 2 (18 page)

His eyes were pinned to mine. “Let’s get out of here.” He more or less growled and grabbed my hand, tugging me to my feet.

Aspyn laughed. I glared over my shoulder at her. She winked, and the other girls’ mouths were gaping. I whipped my head back to Zane, his hands still twined tightly with mine. “Where are we going?”

We’d reached the top of the stairs. “Out. I can’t work with you trapped inside that room.”

“Oookay. What did I miss?” I struggled to keep up with his long strides.

“It’s hot as Hades in here,” Zane rumbled. “And I need air before I do something reckless.”

“Reckless?” I squawked. “Like singlehandedly slay a dragon or merge our souls in front of a room full of reapers?”

He frowned, in a sexy, brooding way. “Does it matter?”

I jerked my hand out of his as soon as we were outside. The sharp July sunlight was warm. “Will you stop pulling me around?” I crossed my arms, feet planted. “You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”

“Somewhere with lots of space. The beach. We need the privacy.”

“I’m not going to lie. You’re sort of making me nervous. Did Craig beat the big bad Death Scythe?”

“Piper,” he said in low, chilling voice. “We need to
talk
. I figured you’d prefer privacy, unless of course you want to freely talk about what happened last night with a room full of reapers.”

I didn’t know what happened or what was unfolding between us, but things were mounting. And knowing us, this conversation was going to get loud. Although I didn’t want a crowd, being alone with him at this point made me nervous…and a bit excited. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Get on the bike, Piper.” He handed me a helmet.

I had no sooner stuck out my chin when his hands snaked around my waist. The moment my back hit his chest, I went still in his arms. Oh-so-familiar tingles radiated on the base of my neck, but times a hundred. I wasn’t prepared for the intensity.

As soon as the helmet hit my head, I started breathing again. His arms released me, and he threw a leg over the motorcycle, tilting his head to the side. “Don’t make me chase you.”

I wouldn’t give him the pleasure. Annoyed, I yanked myself onto the bike behind him. I barely had time to secure my arms around his waist when the bike took off like a bullet.

I buried my face in his shirt as we went flying down the road. The trailing wind hinted of the sea, growing stronger as we approached a secluded section of the island. My legs vibrated under the roar of the engine, and I tried not to think about how good it was to be holding onto him.

The beach was remote and I could see nothing but surf and sand, annoying seagulls, and the occasional sailboat. It was beautiful, but not even the beauty of Mother Nature changed my sour mood.

Swinging my leg off the bike, I strutted onto the beach and planted my butt into the toasty sand. “Well, you got me here. Talk,” I said as his shadow fell over me.

Easing his weight down beside me, he squinted against the sun’s beams. “What did you tell him?”

He meant Parker. No clarification was needed. I bit my lip, hesitating. “I told Parker everything.”

“Dammit, Piper!” he cursed, his ragged voice sending the seagulls flying away.

I wasn’t going to let him make me regret my choice. “There’s no need to yell. Let’s tone it down a notch—or ten.”

He tensed. “That’s not how this works. You’re making it nearly impossible for me to keep you alive.”

I had a feeling this was only going to escalate, but it didn’t stop me from speaking my mind. “I never asked you to be my bodyguard.”

“Trust me, if I could undo the vow, I would.” The words exploded from him.

And for a second, I was afraid he’d broken the vow by just wishing for it. A pang hit me in the chest, but I kept my face blank. “What crawled up your ass?”

His gaze turned to the endless ocean, projecting guilt and pain. “Forget it. Let’s just get this out of the way.”

“Screw that.” I pushed his chest, craning my neck to look up at him. “You’re not going to shut down on me. If you have something on your mind, say it. I am not going to train with you while you have a chip the size of Pluto on your shoulder.”

“Have it your way.”

Finally, we were going to get somewhere.

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “My
problem
is your irresponsibility with your boy toy.”

Boy toy?

“Zander was right,” he continued. “You endanger us by flapping your yap.”

Here comes crazytown Piper
. “Whoa. First, I don’t flap my yap. Second, what was I supposed to do? Make him think he’s losing his mind?” I was two seconds from throwing sand in his face.

“Why not?” he barked. “It’s not the worst thing.”

I began to lose my grip on reality, anger ruling my tongue. “Do you have any regard for anyone other than yourself, you tenacious prick?”

“Just you.”

I was pissed. Annoyed. And insulted, yet he managed to make me feel honored to be part of the very select people Zane cared about. He didn’t give out his affections liberally. “You have a funny way of showing it.”

His expression was full of agony. “I’ve never been denied something I wanted.”

Holy. Smokes. Batman. My mind was reeling, but I was pretty sure Zane admitted he wanted me. It was one thing to know it and another to hear it from the reaper’s mouth. “Then why are you shouting at me?”

A heavy sigh left his lips. “Because Parker gives your soul a sense of harmony. I felt it last night.”

Uh? Do I detect bits of jealousy?
“We’ve been friends a long time. He’s the one person who’s always been there for me. And I confide in him. I’m tired of the secrets and the lies, Zane. I’m tired of everyone around me ending up dead.”

Unruly dark hair fell over his forehead as he leaned forward. “I know. And I’m sorry. This isn’t an easy life, especially since you haven’t lived it long. It threw me for a loop, seeing you with him. I wasn’t prepared for how it made me feel. I don’t like it.”

“Are you jealous?” My heart skipped a beat.

“Jealous doesn’t even begin to cover it.” His gaze dropped to my lips.

I wanted to put my arms around his neck and lay my head on his shoulder, but I just stood there, staring into his cool blue eyes. “You have no reason to be jealous. Parker knows how I feel about you.”

His hand reached out, tugging the ends of my hair. “A part of me, a huge part of me wants to hear you say it, but I know once you do, there’s no going back. I won’t be able to let you go. Do you understand?”

“I do. More than I can say.”

A slow grin materialized. “You ready to make your muscles burn?”

I curled my finger in the air. “Bring it.”

Chapter 19

“This isn’t working.” The frustration I was feeling leaked into my tone. I was utterly off my game. Not that I actually ever had game, but for me, my whole equilibrium was off.

And I had sand in places sand shouldn’t be.

“Since when did you become a whiner?” He had taken off his shirt ten minutes into our sparring.

I started to get all kinds of crazy ideas as his grin turned wicked. Not a single one had anything to do with my fighting or reaper skills. “When did you become a drill sergeant hardass?”

His brows shot up. “So, you’re giving up?”

“Did I say that? I can’t concentrate when all I’m thinking about is jumping your bones.”

“Oh really,” he replied.

Exactly. How was I to think about anything with Zane shirtless, sweaty, and giving me come-get-me glances every other minute. My hormones were out of control. “Look. I’m tired. I’m spewing shit I don’t mean.”

His body brushed up against mine and smugness crept over his expression. “Nice try, princess. You can’t take that back. Not letting you,” he murmured. “How about we try something different that I think will do us both a world of good?”

“You want to have sex? On the beach?”

His laugh was loud and throaty. “Oh God, Piper. What am I going to do with you? As tempting as the offer is, I was thinking of something less physical.”

My cheeks stained pink.
Someone hit me with a facepalm.
“What did you have in mind?”

His lips quirked at the corners. “We’re going to merge our souls.”

The anticipation made my blood sing. I wanted to rub up against him like a kitty cat with a new scratch post. “I thought that was forbidden.” My hands lifted in the air, doing scary spirit fingers.

“I said we shouldn’t sync our souls, not that we couldn’t. The thing with synchronized souls is it’s natural to align our souls. And we’re denying ourselves all the benefits. We have all this energy inside us, but no outlet, and it’s starting to take its toll. I’m short-tempered and moody.”

“Wait. You’re not usually short-tempered and moody?”

He ignored me. “And you’re sarcastic and hormonal.”

“So you’re saying if we do a quick wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, we’ll be less edgy?”

“Uh…yeah that about sums it up.”

My hand wrestled with my windblown hair. It was going to take me a month to get out the knots. “Honestly, this whole soul symmetry confuses the hell out of me.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Yeah, if you wanted a bloody lip.”

“Cocky. About time. I only know what I’ve been told about this connection between us. It would be easier to show you than tell you.” He held out a hand.

I put mine in his. “Enlighten me.” Energy surged. My veins began to glow in a lightning race down my arm. Zane had a similar effect.

Dark shadows came out of nowhere, blanketing us from the sun. “Our power springs from within, and for us, from our hearts. The power we have together isn’t a crutch to be used when convenient. It’s dynamic and irrevocable.” His palm was cool against mine, the veins under our skin illuminating. Such a contrast, Zane was the yin to my yang. And I knew what he meant. As soon as we touched, I instantly felt his power stream into me, cool, fluid, and strong. With it came the rush of joy.

I glanced down at my own hand, fascinated by the silver-edged spurts of light that spun down my arm. Zane’s shadows lined my light. “It’s so beautiful,” I said quietly.

“So are you.”

I was fighting a lovestruck grin. Oh God. I was so close, right there, teetering on the edge of falling hopelessly, crazily in love with Zane Hunter.

His mouth descended upon mine.

And that was it. I was sunk.

Neither one of us intended for this to happen, but in the back of our minds it had always been there. We’d been suppressing more than our abilities, and now our emotions were through with being silenced.

My fingers dug into his forearm as his arm snaked around my waist, tugging me closer. I had a flash of the reaper he was, sinewy strength and rich blue eyes. Then the ocean disappeared around us as darkness descended. I blinked and we were in my room, Zane, holding my hand as my body shuddered.

“What was that?” I asked, clinging to him while I waited for my body to catch up with my mind.

“Don’t you ever wonder how I can get to you in a snap?”

I tapped my hands on his chest. “I guess I assumed it was a reaper thing.”

His eyes were centered on my lips. “It is. I use the shadows to move from place to place.”

Could he possibly get any freaking cooler? And hot? Couldn’t forget hot. “Can I do that?”

He dipped his head, teeth grazing my jawline. “You could when our souls are resonating.”

“So, it’s a Zane thing,” I said, stretching up and kissing him.

“Definitely,” he murmured, gripping my hips and…

A movement out the window caught my eye. Parker was in the courtyard, staring up at us. My gaze was ensnared by the affliction in his tawny eyes. He disapproved.

Disentangling my arms from Zane’s, I pushed feebly at his chest. “I can’t. Parker’s watching.” I’d been dreaming about being in Zane’s arms for weeks, and here I was, right where I wanted to be. He was willing to kiss my brains to mush, and I couldn’t believe I was complaining.
What is wrong with me?
But I couldn’t disregard Parker’s feelings because I wanted to bask in the glory of Zane’s lips.

Zane sighed. Then he wrapped me into the darkness, into his arms, and away from the window. “Fine. Is this better?” Neither of us was ready to let the other go. The glowing aftereffects of merging our souls were still humming through my blood.

I wound my arms around his neck, unable to deny myself the simple pleasure of being in his embrace. “Much.” There was a comfort he offered I could find nowhere else.

And when his lips brushed against mine, I thought of nothing and no one else. Zander. Parker. They didn’t exist when Zane’s lips branded mine in a scorching kiss that left me aching for more.

I hated him. I wanted him. How was I supposed to turn off my emotions and go on living, knowing I was expected to marry his brother? Screw that. In this moment, I knew I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t do it. Even with a reaper war looming over my head, I would find another way.

“You don’t play fair,” I whispered, framing the sharp angles of his face with my hands.

A typhoon loomed in his eyes. “I’m not playing.”

I lost a few brain cells when he talked to me in that crooning voice. As his lips brushed mine, a throat cleared near the doorway, and my heart dropped.
Please, don’t let it be.

Parker.

He stood with his arms crossed, scowling and glaring murderously at Zane. The sudden realization we were no longer covered under Zane’s veil of shadows doused those tingling feelings. I jumped out of Zane’s arms, guilt weaseling its way into my gut.

“I was wondering where you’ve been all day. I should have known.” The disgust was written all over his face. I’d disappointed him.

Story of my life.

“Parker. Wait.” But he wasn’t listening. He was gone, storming off down the hall. And that was all it took for my love to turn to anger.

I snapped my hostile gaze at Zane. “You did that on purpose,” I accused. “What a dick move. You know I don’t want to hurt him. Find a way to pocket your jealousy, because Parker’s important to me. That’s never going to change.”

The eyes that had been silver like the moon turned ice cold enough to freeze the blood. “What about me? I’m tired of pretending I don’t have feelings for you. That I don’t want you from the time I wake until my body shuts down. Even then, in sleep I dream of you, being with you. I thought I could stay away from you. I thought I could handle being near you. I can’t, Piper.”

Holy. Toledo.

Why couldn’t he have admitted how he truly felt all along? It would have saved us both from all those restless nights. I’d given myself ulcers thinking about what I was going to do, but hearing him say all of that, I knew without a doubt what I wanted. Torn between throwing my arms around Zane and going after Parker, I stood in the middle of my room. “I know how hard this is, but you didn’t have to hurt Parker in the process,” I berated.

“Did you ever think I didn’t do it on purpose?” he challenged.

Oh man. Here we go
. If Zane and I weren’t tearing each other’s clothes off, we were arguing. “Are you telling me you weren’t pulling some caveman move, claiming me as yours and making sure Parker got the message loud and clear?”

“You think you’ve got me all figured out. Maybe I lose a bit of control when I’m with you,” he said, voice strained.

Dead air. I was rendered speechless. Zane was the epitome of control.

He gave me a cool, measured look. “Don’t expect me to be here when you get back.”

Fine by me. Hair spinning in the air, I turned around and gave him the finger. I stepped into the hall, needing to find Parker. I caught him trotting down the winding stairs. “Parker!” I yelled. It was obvious he heard me. The whole house heard me, but he didn’t flinch. “I know what you’re thinking, but I can explain if you just give me a minute.”

“Maybe I don’t want to listen to another one of your excuses,” he shouted over his shoulder.

I wasn’t deterred. “We both know you can’t stay mad at me for more than five minutes.”

He spun around when he reached the bottom landing. “I don’t even know who you are anymore. The Piper I know wouldn’t have her tongue shoved down another guy’s throat while engaged.”

I was teetering on the last step, standing toe to toe. “I told you it was more complicated than that.”

“Still doesn’t change the facts. I saw you. Kissing
him
.”

“What are you doing out of bed?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

Jealousy seemed to be the theme for today, but I couldn’t blame either of them. This was entirely my fault. I’d only wanted to keep from hurting him, but that was exactly what I ended up doing. “Parker, that’s—”

He interrupted me by holding up his hand. “What makes this worse, is knowing I never stood a chance.”

“That’s not true.” I didn’t know how to explain my relationship with Zane. There wasn’t supposed to be anything between us, considering, but the heart wants what the heart wants. And mine wanted my best friend and Zane to get along. Something told me that wasn’t going to happen.

“What is it like then, Pipes?”

“I didn’t plan for this. I didn’t know you were coming. And I didn’t plan to fall in love.”

Crestfallen, Parker said, “You love him?”

I wanted to find the nearest wall and bang my head against it until I knocked some sense into myself. I opened my mouth and then shut it. Holy crap. Did I love Zane?

Oh. My. God. I loved him. I was in love with him.

It was one thing to know our souls connected on an unearthly level, but somewhere along the way, my feelings got tangled up. “I guess I do love him.”

“Why do you sound so surprised? Don’t tell me you hadn’t figured it out yet.”

And that was when the tingles started.
Zane
was listening, concealed in the shadows.
Ugh.
Can’t a girl get any privacy?
I guessed when you had multiple relationships going, there was no such thing as privacy.

I’d deal with the eavesdropper later. “Despite how it seems, I haven’t been ready to admit it, not even to myself.”

His face soured. “Sorry if I’m not jumping up and down to congratulate you. I can’t believe you can’t see how wrong he is for you. He’s turning you into someone you’re not.”

“A reaper? Newsflash. I
am
a reaper.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

Neither of us were going to get anywhere at this rate. “I think we need a moment to cool off before we
both
say something we’ll regret. I’m going to grab a drink.”

“Whatever,” Parker huffed.

Just fabulous.

I rounded the corner of the staircase, heading to the back of the house. As I passed the second turn, Zane appeared in front of me, an icy glint in his eyes. I gasped, and as I opened my mouth to give him a verbal lashing, his lips found mine, stealing my breath away. And before I could tell myself to not sink, I was melting into him.

“Tell me,” he whispered against my mouth. “I want to hear the words from your lips.”

Captured in his deep gaze, I was filled with so much emotion. It diffused my anger and left my body purring. I knew what he was asking from me, but my throat had closed off.

His hand caressed my lower lip. “I need to hear you say it, Piper.”

Ten minutes ago he’d been berating me for wanting to be with him, and now he wanted me to confess a feeling I barely had time to process.

I swallowed, knowing I would never deny him. He had me hypnotized. Tipping back my head, I stared into his eyes. “I love you.” There. I said it. Exhaling in relief, I felt vulnerable.