Vision Revealed (10 page)

curtain.

It wasn’t a vision. Jin growled at herself over her failure to keep him out of her thoughts.

Immediately the steam around her filled with the aroma of her returning lust. If that

wasn’t enough to call him to join her, nothing would.

Jin hated the wave of disappointment washing over her when the water started to turn

cold and she turned it off. After drying herself, she stared at the backpack that held damn

near everything she owned. Her life had come to this, her measly life possessions filling

the space of one bag. Granted, there were a few things back at the cabin she could call her

own. But they were nothing to howl over.

Her thoughts stumbled to her sire. Very uncomfortable territory. The world believed him

dead. And for all practical matters, he was no longer living. Jin had destroyed him and

endured witnessing the smell of her destruction daily for the past year. Images flashed

through her mind of the night she arrived at his mansion. That was enough to kill the

appealing aroma of lovemaking and sated happiness. In spite of the sickening sensation

threatening to rip her gut in two, she allowed the images to continue surfacing. Her sire

had been a monster, a terrible leopard who many ached to kill. Yet she’d done worse.

She’d robbed him of his pride, of his dream, although it had been a nightmare to

everyone else. Jin killed the soul that once roared inside Leo Pard. What remained was

barely a shell, the male who once thrived inside him now delusional and decrepit.

Jin replayed that despicable night in her head, feeling the pain once again that racked her

insides when she’d put an end to it all. There had been four leopards there that evening,

all of whom she’d killed with her own paws. It wasn’t the only blood that stained her

coat. She would hold her head high, growling to anyone who demanded it. Murdering

those leopards in cold blood was justified. If she hadn’t done it, Tore and his mate would

have done the same when they arrived two days after she did.

Knowing her sire’s lair like the back of her paw came to her advantage that bloody

evening. After taking out his loyal, brainwashed supporters, Jin had stalked her own sire.

She shook, the thin towel wrapped around her body as she stared at her backpack but no

longer saw it.

Would my own flesh and blood destroy me?her sire had sneered at her, sitting

comfortably in his den, his pale green eyes, lighter in color than her own, burning into her

soul.

You know you’re already dead.She’d been running on auto drive, hell bent and

determined to see her actions through.

Odd, I feel incredibly alive. I think it’s you, cub, who are already dead. Dead to me that

is. How does it feel to be disowned by the only leopard who ever cared about you, and

the same leopard our species despises? That makes you lower than even me.

He’d laughed at her, his insane howling still ripping her apart just as it had done the

night when she’d leapt through the air and attacked her only flesh and blood. If she’d

allowed Leo Pard, her sire, to remain conscious, he would have berated her for not having

what it took to see the job through. As he’d done her entire life, he would have insulted

and humiliated her for once again not living up to his expectations of her. Jin had never

been good enough for her sire.

The thorn in his side, a half-breed, the bitch who’d whelped her not being a white

leopard as her sire was. During her rebellious years as a cub, she’d thrown back at him he

couldn’t be any better than her since he’d been the one to fuck a female who wasn’t the

same breed as himself and then stupid enough not to know she was in heat and

impregnate her. Jin couldn’t even count how many times her mother had screamed at her

sire, reminding him how he’d made a mistake and created the kind of life he howled daily

was imperfect and draining the purity from their line.

“You’d probably be proud of the white leopard whose scent now mingles with my own,”

she murmured, focusing once again on her bag and then lifting her attention to the steamy

mirror in front of her.

What the hell was she thinking?

Irritated and sick to her stomach over her thoughts, Jin left the bathroom. The motel

room was dark, but she found the red shirt she’d worn earlier and scooped it off the floor.

Dropping her towel, she pulled it over her head and tugged on it until it covered her to

her thighs. Then, staring at the length of Kane’s body, stretched out under blankets on the

large, king-sized bed, she sniffed the air, wondering if he was really asleep.

She’d be smart to try for a few hours of sleep before the owl showed up later the next

day. There were two choices. Bagging her things up quietly and running into the cold

night, changing into her fur and finding a secluded spot outside town to sleep, or crawling

into that large bed, next to that virile male body, and enjoying the warmth of his body

heat while sleeping here. The latter sounded a hell of a lot more appealing.

Jin didn’t make a sound when she moved to the other side of the bed, her unpleasant

thoughts no longer stinking up the air around her. Once again she smelled only the

mixture of her and Kane’s scents, rolling over each other to make a rather appealing,

tantalizing aroma. She hated admitting how well the smell of the two of them appealed to

her. Never would she have believed mixing her scent with a male’s would have brought

her any pleasure.

But it did. Not only that, it was a comfortable sensation washing over her now when she

knelt on her side and stared at Kane’s bare back. He didn’t move when she eased under

the covers and took her time stretching out until she sank comfortably into the large bed

and relaxed her head on the one pillow he probably left for her. Kane’s slow, steady

breathing almost made her believe he might be asleep.

The sheets were cool against her warm flesh. As she worked her muscles to relax,

pulling the blankets to her chin and staring at the white, speckled ceiling, she smelled

herself on the feral body lying next to her. His scent now carried hers, just as hers did his.

They didn’t smell exactly the same, but definite similarities would make it easy for any

leopard to guess they were together.

There wouldn’t be any way she would be able to sleep as every breath she took reminded

her of how well he fucked her. Not that she needed that reminder. Her body tingled and

the swelling between her legs already began throbbing as she imagined fucking him

again. Just knowing relief to the new craving building inside her existed within hand’s

reach was enough torture to keep her tossing and turning all night.

Which was why she was surprised when she blinked against sunlight streaming between

the heavy curtains the next morning. Jin stretched but then grew very still. Kane’s

muscular arm was draped over her waist. He had her tucked up against him, his coarse

chest hair tickling her back. That didn’t snap her out of her sleep state as much as his

rock-hard cock nestled against her ass.

Jin didn’t move, except for her heart, which kick-started into high gear and started

pumping loudly in her chest. Immediately the soothing smells of sleep faded and a more

pungent, aggressive aroma filled her lungs. She couldn’t tell if Kane was still asleep or

not. Part of him was most definitely awake.

She didn’t wait long to find out. The moment she shifted, attempting to ease her way

from under his arm and slide out of the bed, his grip tightened around her waist.

“Where are you going?” His growl sounded sleepy and other than his arm muscles

hardening, making it impossible for her to move unless she fought him, he didn’t move.

“Bathroom.”

“Hurry.” He released her, giving her freedom.

Jin slid out from under the covers and away from that irresistible body. The chill in the

room immediately made her regret moving and she hurried to the bathroom, wrapping her

arms around her waist. She didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know Kane moved

and watched her.

After doing her business in the bathroom, she stared at her tousled hair, combing it with

her fingers. She was going to fuck him again. His scent was wrapped around her thick

enough to make it impossible to distinguish it from her own. Having sex with him a

second time would make it even harder to rid her body of his aroma. Even if she did

make him use a condom this time.

This wasn’t a predicament she’d anticipated when coming here. As many times as she’d

speculated what coming back to Kenora would be like, not once did she guess she would

run into a problem like this.

And Kane was definitely a problem.

Leaning against the counter, she lowered her head and blew out a frustrated breath. The

truth tasted as bitter as it smelled. He wasn’t any more the problem than she was. Kane

appealed to her, and more than just sexually. She squeezed her eyes closed, seeing him in

her mind when he leapt to her defense against Tore and Race. When was the last time a

male fought for her?

“Shit,” she hissed, feeling her heart swell and stomach twist in anticipation the more she

thought about him.

Jin jumped when the door opened and moved out of the way, a growl rising to her lips

when Kane made the bathroom suddenly seem a lot smaller when he entered.

“Is something wrong?” he demanded, looking sexy as hell standing before her naked

with his skin still flushed from sleep.

“No.” She knew she sounded curt and realized a moment too late that wasn’t the best

way to handle his question.

Kane raised one eyebrow, studying her face for a moment while his nostrils flared. No

doubt he picked up the change in her scent. It made her even grouchier knowing he

already guessed something was wrong but asked her if there was anyway.

“Right.” He moved behind her and she tried heading out the door, ready to give him his

privacy.

Kane gripped her waist, pressing himself against her backside, and reminded her what

she left behind in the bed. Her pussy grew soaked the moment he pressed his cock against

her tailbone. Jin stared at him in the mirror, her mouth going dry as she watched his gaze

smolder.

“What’s wrong?” he asked again. His breath tortured her nape when he lowered his

mouth, continuing to watch her over her shoulder, and nipped her flesh.

Her body heat hit dangerous levels when his teeth scraped over her skin. And the way he

watched her, as if he knew how she would react to his manipulation and wanted to see,

got her so hot she couldn’t think of a damn thing that was wrong at the moment.

“Tell me.” He ran his tongue over the spot where his teeth had just been.

Jin swallowed, lowering her gaze to the spot where her neck met her shoulder and his

mouth grazed. He moved her hair, holding it against the back of her head, and continued

staring at her. She sucked in a quick breath when he opened his mouth, showing off shiny

white teeth right before he bit her.

“Crap!” She dug her nails into the bathroom counter, the room tilting to the side as she

desperately scratched the smooth surface, trying to find something to hold on to.

“I love how you smell when you’re ready for me to fuck you,” he growled, moving his

lips over the sensitive spot he’d just bitten.

“Who says I want to fuck you?” She held on to the counter for dear life, anything not to

sag back against him.

His hands came around her, his fingertips warm as he dragged them up her front. He

cupped her breasts, squeezing and tugging at the same time. The swelling between her

legs throbbed until the quickening in her stomach made her itch to move her hands and

touch him.

“Are you going to stand here and tell me you don’t want me?”

One look at his face told her she’d be smart not to do that. But telling him the truth

didn’t set right with her either. She’d never opened up to a male in her life, let alone

trusted one enough to even consider thinking about telling him her actual thoughts. But

scrambling for a semblance of the truth, something to ease herself out of this situation

seemed almost as hard to do.

“I’m not going to stand here,” she growled, spitting out the first thing that came to mind.

She put some muscle into getting out of his arms. Kane let go of her but then flipped her

around before she could get out of the bathroom. Then lifting her onto the bathroom

counter, the sound of her bare ass slapping against the cool, smooth counter top was

almost as hot as him getting rough with her. There had to be something about this male to

despise so she could walk away without regrets.

“Why is it so hard to admit what you feel?” he demanded, pushing his body between her

legs so his cock throbbed against her soaked entrance.

He could slide inside her right now and she’d be a lost cause. Already Jin teetered on the

edge of rationale, knowing if he pushed her any harder she’d give in and demand he fuck

her until the pressure growing out of control inside her subsided.

“What I’m thinking is none of your damn business.”

“You’ve been in my head for this past year,” he began.

“That isn’t my fault.” She wasn’t sure when she put her hands on his shoulders but

corded muscle twitched against her palms, distracting her when she tried holding on to