Worlds of Obsession (Celtic Otherworlds) (12 page)

"Who
are
you?”  It came out as a harsh whisper, but he heard her just fine, because he dropped his head and his shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath and let it go, as if he knew she was going to ask, and he didn’t want to have to tell her.  Well, tough.  “Please”, she said a little louder, “just tell me… tell me the truth.”

             
He looked up at her then, and when she met his eyes, she saw something there that she hadn’t before.  The pain was still there, but something else shone deep within his dark eyes, something…
ancient
.  And perhaps… not quite human.  As startled as she was, she felt the truth of it to her very soul.  Too many things just weren’t adding up.  Liv gasped and began to back away from him.  “Did you do it?  Did you make that body disappear in the alley?  You did, didn’t you?  Oh my god… what
are
you?”

Chapter 10

             
Bastien saw the alarm in Liv’s eyes that hadn’t been there until now… a certain wariness… of
him
. And he found he didn’t like it one bit.  He took an impulsive step towards her, just as she took one back.  “No… don’t fear me.”  He held out a hand to her, but she only stared at it as if he might strike her, so he dropped it back to his side with a frown.  “I won’t hurt you.  I would
never
hurt you.”  Yes, that much he knew.  Liv was special somehow, and even if he was in a full-fledged rage, he wouldn’t ever hurt her.  She was beautiful and fragile, and… perfect.

              Liv found herself believing him, despite her growing uncertainty about the whole crazy scenario she found herself in.  What had started out as a wild, take-life-by-the-balls adventure was quickly entering the realm of just plain bizarre, and she wondered if she might actually be asleep and dreaming, after all.  She took a deep breath to steady herself.  “I know.  I know you won’t hurt me.”  She glanced again at the incredible luxury surrounding her.  Was that ceiling
actually
gilded
?  Like, with real gold?  “But I need to know… can’t you understand that?  Some pretty unbelievable things have just happened to me and I know you can explain them.  I know you’re… more than you seem Bastien. 
Who are you
?”

             
Bastien sighed and scrubbed a hand over his dangerously handsome face.  “It’s complicated, Liv…”

             
She shook her head.  “I don’t care.  I want to know, and I want you to tell me… right now.”  Whatever he could possibly say couldn’t be any weirder than things had already gotten, could it?  For god’s sake, then man had a motorcycle that could apparently skim over the water like a speed boat… and this house, she was pretty sure it would put even Buckingham Palace to shame.  Add to that the thug with
black fangs
melting into the pavement and a fortified but otherwise average row house with a garage full of toys for millionaires, well… it didn’t add up, no matter what math you were doing.

             
He sighed and shrugged out of his leather jacket, tossing it over the back of a chair.  Underneath he wore another plain, fitted black tee, and every contour of chiseled muscle stood out, making it impossible not to stare.  His bare arms were tanned and strong, and on the left bicep was a tattoo done in black ink.  A beautiful Celtic design.  As she watched him, her heart picked up its rhythm, and it was suddenly much harder to take in enough air.  He was so beautiful… so perfectly made… so very
male
.  Just the sight of him awoke every feminine part of her, almost making her forget the air of mystery and danger that surrounded him.  Her fingers twitched against her sides with the urge to reach out and touch him.

             
“Come and sit down then, and I’ll… try.”  He gestured to an elegant looking sofa done in a sumptuous black velvet. 
Must be a nightmare to keep the lint off
… she thought as she sank down onto one side of it.  Bastien sat down next to her, again leaving a couple of feet of space between them.  Liv turned to him, tucking one leg under.  She pressed her lips together and looked at him expectantly, certain that there would be some sort of a reasonable explanation forthcoming, and furtively hoping it would
not
have anything to do with the Mob.

              “It’s true that I’m not…human.”  Bastien decided to start at the beginning, but tell her only a little at a time.  That way she would have time to adjust to what was bound to be shocking to her, if she really was what she seemed to be.  She had apparently never known more than the human world, after all, despite her Fae heritage.  A more fragile soul than hers would have already lost its grip by now.  He’d seen it happen… too many times.  Humans were naturally fearful of all they could not change or control, and they had a nasty habit of setting out to destroy whatever they were afraid of, rather than allowing the truth of it to overwhelm them.  It was why the races of the Otherworld had long ago chosen to remain hidden, and luckily most humans were easy to fool.  They believed what they wanted to believe, despite what was right in front of them. 
But this woman is not really human
, he reminded himself.  Only raised among them.  She still has the bold heart and brave soul of a Sidhe.

              Liv could do little more than stare at him with wide eyes.  Okay… it was
one
thing to kind-of accuse someone of being something other than human, but it was
another
thing altogether when they came out and admitted it.  Maybe she had fallen down a rabbit hole recently?  She swallowed hard and licked her lips.  “What do you mean,
not human
?  You look human to me… what else could you possibly be?  Extra-terrestrial?”

             
“No.”  He chuckled a little at that.  “There are no extra-terrestrial beings on Earth.  Not yet.  And I do appear human.”  His lips curled into a devilish little smile.  “Most of the time, anyway.  But I am not human, Liv, nor do I wish to be.  Humans are weak, powerless and ephemeral.  I am none of those things.”

             
“What do you mean?” Liv said in a small voice. 
Oh my god… he’s completely serious. 
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in apprehension, and a chill ran down her spine.

             
“I am of the Fomoiri.”

             
Liv stopped breathing for a moment, looking at him while her mind struggled to make sense of what he said.  The Fomoiri… they were one of the mythical races in the book she had been given, she remembered reading about them on the plane… and now this man was claiming to
be
one?  She narrowed her eyes as the coincidence sank in.  She didn’t believe in coincidences, at least not such blatantly obvious ones.  “You’re some sort of Demon, then?  From the…
Otherworld
?  Like another dimension?”  She truly expected him to laugh at her because he was joking and she had almost fallen for it. 

Of course he was joking. 

She drew in a breath to laugh at herself first, before he could, but ended up holding it in when his answer was too serious and strange to be any kind of attempt at humor.

             
“
Demon
is a purely human term, adopted by some of the Sidhe.  We do not call ourselves such.  And I have lived in the Otherworld for much of my life, was born there.  Now I choose to live in the human realm most of the time, though I have several homes in both.”  He shrugged.  “I do as I please.”

             
Her mouth snapped shut.  “I’ll just bet you do”, she muttered.  He had to either be playing her, or he
was
just plain nuts.  Yup, the jury was still out on whether or not he was completely sane.  “I’m sorry, I don’t believe in Demons.  You’ll have to come up with a better story than that.  And why did you send me that book?  Seriously, is this a joke?  What do you want with me?”

              Her innocent question brought all kinds of darkly erotic scenes to mind.  Bastien knew what he wanted, or at least his body knew what
it
wanted.  His body had wanted Liv from the first moment he caught her delicate scent and touched her tender skin.  It had wanted her when she lay unconscious on his bed, and it wanted her now, when she was challenging him, so unafraid and refusing to believe what he had so earnestly told her.  By now the wanting had become more of a constant throbbing, aching hunger. He could still feel the soft press of her breasts against his back when she rode behind him on his motorcycle.  And her arms around him, holding tight.  His cock had been hard as rock for the whole ride.  Still was, in fact, and he had little hope of things being any different in the near future.  There was something… undeniably erotic about this woman, despite her fresh beauty and sweet nature.  Something that gave him the urge to dominate and possess, take and claim.  Everything that he could not or should not do.  Hell, she was turning him inside-out, making him crave what he could not even have.  Something had to give eventually, and that worried him, but now was not the time to think about it.  He was a warrior, trained in control, this one small female would certainly not break him. 

He let out a long breath and shoved a hand through his
long hair, absently pulling out the leather tie that had bound it, and letting it fall in dark waves around his back and shoulders.  “In time, you will believe me.  I will make you understand”, he told her. 

Perhaps he had been chosen to
bring her back into the world she had obviously been lost from, though he certainly hadn’t gotten any orders to that effect.  Still, it was something to consider.  One thing was for certain: something strange was going on here, and he needed to keep his hands…and everything else… off her. There was a good possibility shit could still hit the fan where Liv was concerned, and Erath was right; he didn’t need to be in the middle of it.

He stood, which clearly signaled that the conversation was over, and held out his hand.  “Come, I’ll show you where you’ll sleep.”

Chapter 11

Liv
took his hand, and as she did so that same electric thrill raced through her entire body at the touch of his skin on hers. By the way his hand jerked slightly, she knew he must have felt it too.  She let him lead her as far as the door, then tugged him to a stop.  “Wait, how long will I be here?  Just a few days… right?  And I can leave anytime I want?”

He
shrugged, his eyes meeting hers with an intensity that seemed to dare her to look away.  “I don’t know.  You’ll stay here until it’s safe for you to leave.” 

He
intrigued her on a level she never even knew existed until now.  Right down to the way he talked.  Most of the time he spoke just like any other guy, with all the slang and swearing one might hear in any bar or frat house.  But once in a while the way he talked… it almost sounded… old fashioned somehow.  A little bit archaic.  And sexy as hell.

“You haven’t told me what kind of danger I’m in. 
That guy in the alley is dead.  Wait… does it have something to do with whoever sent me that letter and book?”

To his credit, Bastien looked genuinely confused.  “What’s this book you keep talking about?”

“Never mind.”

As soon as they stood, Conan
had appeared in a doorway, and now he led them up the stairs and showed them to their rooms before disappearing down a staircase at the far end of the hall.  The rooms were side by side, which was good, since she didn’t want to be completely by herself in this strange place.  She had a feeling the surprises were just going to keep on coming.  “How does he do it?  How does Conan always know exactly when to show up.  I mean… he even opened the front door before you knocked.”

Bastien shrugged.  “Conan’s
got psychic abilities… he’s a… I mean, he was born with them.”

“O
h.  Cool.”

Bastien led Liv into her room to make sure she had everything she needed for the moment, because he had a few calls to make now that they were here, not to mention a few favors to call in.  As it was, he was lucky that the Isle was fairly empty this week, and they happened to be the only ones using the house.  Conan had no other call-aheads, but that didn’t mean someone else wouldn’t show up at some point.  He would just have to deal with that if and when it happened, because this was the best place to keep her until he got the all-clear from Glasgow. 

He
glanced at the bed, and his jaw clenched reflexively as he drew a sharp breath in through his nose.  Such lust-filled thoughts should not be welcome… should not even be
possible
.  He had been resigned for a very long time to his unchosen life of celibacy.  Welcomed it even, in a way, because no other woman could ever compare to the one he had lost so long ago.  When his mate had died, so had his desire.  And his passion.  His very will and reason for living.  When a Fomoiri male found his mate, it was for life… however long that may be.  In that one terrible moment, he had lost the ability to lie with any other woman, and he was glad of it… because sex with one’s mate was a thousand times more pleasurable than anything else one could imagine.  Bastien had heard it was so, though he hadn’t had the chance to find out for himself, a thing he had selfishly mourned for many wasted years.  His mate was gone, and by all rights he himself should not be alive.  Not that he had been really living, in all of those intervening years.  Existing, maybe.  Sleepwalking through the darkness that filled his heart and mind.  Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.  And now, suddenly, there was a bright ray of light in the form of one small, helpless female that threatened the comfortable, well-worn misery of his life. 

For her alone, he
felt
again. He didn’t understand
why
his libido had suddenly returned with a vengeance after so long, but it didn’t really matter.  He might not even be physically able to take a woman, even if he wanted to.  It was one of the quirks of Fomorian biology, meant to control the population of immortals, no doubt.  That chance for him was long past, and he came to terms with his fate long ago, hadn’t he?  Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure anymore.  He
wanted
… fuck, every cell in his body was primed with need, itching to touch the soft flesh of a female, aching to take complete possession of her body with his own.  And it was damned bad timing for his body to start demanding what it couldn’t have.  It was making him damned irritable. 

***

The bedroom was every bit as out-of-this-world decadent as the other parts of the house Liv had seen so far.  After Bastien left to go speak with Conan, she peeked into every corner.  There were three doors, one of which was locked.  The other two led to a huge walk in closet, and a bathroom that was larger than her entire apartment back home, complete with a huge bathtub that looked just heavenly.  She could just imagine soaking in it with a glass of wine and a good book and staying there until she turned into a prune.  After she had investigated the entire room, she sank down onto a soft chair to wait and think about everything that had just happened.

She knew the moment Bastien returned, and looked up to see him watching her
from the doorway.  “The locked door goes to my room”, he told her.  “I’ll unlock it from the other side… in case you need anything during the night, you can just knock.  I have to go out for a while, but you’ll be safe here until I get back.”  He turned to look at her from the doorway. “And Conan is going to help you get some clothes… whatever you need.”

“I don’t have any money with me, Bastien.  I’ll have to pay you back later…”

He shook his head.  “Money isn’t an issue Liv.  I have plenty of it.  You don’t need to pay me back.”

She glared at him.  Her upbringing in modern American society had made her skittish of letting a man buy her things.  Dinner was one thing, but new clothes?  Would
n’t she be indebting herself to him somehow?  “I don’t care how much money you have, Bastien, I can’t accept…”

“You can and you will”, he bit out
as he walked out of the room.  “I brought you here without your things, and I will provide for you while you’re in my care.  End of discussion.”  He shut the door firmly behind him.

Was she in his care, then?  She kind of liked the idea of that.  What would it be like to have a man like Bastien to take care of her, protect her so there was never anything she had to worry about?  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she got just a few necessities, or else she’d either be naked or washing out her underthings every day.

With a sigh, Liv opened the door to her room, but she couldn’t stop the sudden shriek from leaving her throat.  Standing right there in front of the door, at attention, with his hands behind his back, was Conan.  “Holy hell, you scared me!”  She put a hand to her chest and tried to catch her breath. 

He gave her a mischievous little smile. 
“My apologies M’am.  I’m here to assist you with obtaining some clothing and other personal necessities.”

She relaxed, letting out a long breath. 
“Okay… I don’t want to be any trouble though.  Really I can make do with what I have, especially if I’m only going to be here a day or two.  I don’t need much…”

“Nonsense.  It’s no trouble at all, just follow me, if you would.
  I have strict orders to see that you have everything you require.” 

He started down the hall, and
Liv fell in behind him.  Around a corner, down a flight of beautiful white marble stairs, and two or three turns later, he opened the door to what looked like an office or study, with a big desk and shelves full of books, only she didn’t see a computer anywhere.  Conan stood behind the desk, and motioned to the upholstered chair in front of it.  He sat down only after she did, and promptly took a pencil and pad of paper out of a drawer.  “Now, let’s start the list.  You’ll need jeans, tops, at least one sweater… I’m assuming Armani or Dolce and Gabbana will suffice?”

“What?  No… what are you talking about?” 

“Designers, Miss Liv.  Do you have a preference?”

Liv put her hand on her chest.  “No… I mean
…
no
! I don’t need designer clothing.  Do you even know how much that stuff costs?”

“I’m to spare no expense.  Besides, the larger fashion houses are the only ones that will deliver
out here.  There will be no argument, I’m afraid.   Bastien will have his way, so you might as well give up now.”

Liv swallowed hard.  “Okay, but just jeans and a shirt.  Nothing else.”

“Perhaps some lingerie, dear?  Surely you’ll need underthings.”  He looked at her earnestly and tapped the pen against the paper.  “Black lace is always nice.”

“Wha…?” 
Liv felt the blush creeping up her neck as the stoic butler casually offered to help her pick out new underwear.

“I happen to know black is his favorite color.  Well, in leather or lace, anyway.”

“Whose?  Whoa, wait a minute… um… Bastien and I aren’t together.  I mean, not that way.  Just friends.”

Conan gave her a considering look, and the corners of his mouth twitched it wry amusement. 
“Uh huh.  Can’t hurt to have a little black lace though, just in case.”

Liv bit her lip. 
“Um, yeah… I guess so.”  Humoring the man was probably the best idea.  Maybe he had some sort of secret fetish.  Whatever.  It didn’t bother her… but maybe she should make sure to lock the door when she was changing.  Wait a minute, didn’t big old houses like this usually have secret rooms with peepholes?  Maybe she should ask Bastien about that…