Temptation Rising (22 page)

X did as he was told.

Usually.

Tonight was one of those off times that he listened to one of the Elders and kept his mouth shut about the arrival of Alamar. He did this for two reasons. First, he’d been instructed to take Alamar to Rome’s house. This meant he wasn’t keeping anything from his friend and Faction Leader. And two, it was either leave his apartment to pick up the Elder or sit there and let the walls close in around him, choking the last remnants of life out of him.

Normally X liked his solitude, enjoyed the quiet that calmed the darkness raging in his soul. Tonight he’d needed something else.

Driving the almost hundred miles to Rome’s house from the airport gave him time to think, or more like not think, about the needs building inside. He was not a simple man, nor a simple beast, for that matter. No, it was not only X’s genetic makeup that was different, out of the ordinary. It was so much more. Since first realizing that deep dark desires ran thickly through his blood, he’d been careful to keep it a secret. Only one kind of shifter craved the things X did, only one branch of their species took pleasure in the darker side of sexual exploitations.

The Rogues.

But he was not one of them. Every day he arose and with every breath he took, X convinced himself he was not like those betrayers, those killers. He was different. He always had been.

Pulling up in front of Rome’s house, X got out of the truck, walked to the back, and opened the door.

“Where is Roman?” Elder Alamar asked pointedly.

“If he is not at home, I will find him, sir,” he said.

Once they approached the front door, Baxter was there holding it open.

“Welcome, Elder Alamar. Come right in, sir.”

Elder Alamar nodded and proceeded into the house. When X would have walked in behind him, Baxter put up a thin hand to stop him.

“You must go. Mr. Roman received a call and rushed out. I believe it is the woman.”

The woman whom both X and Nick were very suspicious of and whose file had been blocked when X attempted to check on her. The woman who was beginning to play an integral part in whatever was going on. “Where and how long ago?”

“West Forty-first Street. About five minutes before you pulled up.”

“Call Nick and make sure he knows.”

Baxter nodded. “Yes, Mr. Xavier.”

X headed back to the truck without any more questions. There was no need; all he needed to know was that Rome was out, possibly fighting in the night by himself for a woman they still knew nothing about.

*   *   *

She screamed, his name bouncing off the walls like high-pitched wails. Nick thrust his hips, pumped frantically until thick spurts of semen filled the condom he wore over his dick, which was buried deep inside her heated pussy.

His fingers were twisted in her long hair, pulling her head back as he fucked her from behind. The muscles in his arms and back bunched as he stroked, his body seeking release, his mind holding on to memories.

This was how he took his women, with fierce quick strokes, their backs turned and his eyes closed.

That way he couldn’t see her.

Not the woman he was with.

But the one he couldn’t have.

Even after all these years she still haunted him, filled his mind and his soul as if they’d never parted. As if they’d never been forced to separate.

An angry growl vibrated in his chest, pulling his lips over his teeth as he forced his body away from hers. She’d facilitated his release; that’s all he’d wanted from this other woman. From the moment she’d rubbed her voluptuous body against his while he’d been sitting in the bar, he’d known they would end up like this. She wanted to have sex with him, he needed a diversion—it was a perfect match.

He hadn’t kissed her, had applied no pretty words. This hadn’t been a seduction, more like a production of sorts. Get in and get out, that was his motto. It had to be or he’d lose more of himself than he had before.

And that was not an option.

But this woman whom he’d just met tonight hadn’t brought his release. It was the other. The dream of the other female that aroused him continuously, pushed him toward that pleasurable precipice even though she was millions of miles away.

“Wow,” the female voice said. “Let’s get a shower, baby.” She’d followed him, her hands roaming over his bare back.

His dick was still hard, his teeth clenching painfully, his mind at war with his soul. “No,” Nick replied tightly. “You can leave.”

The silence that followed said she was hurt. Nick couldn’t care. His feelings had been held tightly in check for far too long to even venture down that route.

Instead he began walking into his bathroom, alone.

When he’d finished, the hot water from the shower all but scorching every dirty molecule of the sex he’d just had away, Nick came out to an empty apartment.

She was gone. The woman whose name he could barely remember and would no doubt never see again. And he was relieved.

His cell phone rang and he cursed.

“Delgado,” he answered roughly.

A few seconds later he followed with, “I’ll be there in ten.”

Chapter 15

Rome drove like a madman, or his variation on the same, with his foot firmly planted on the gas, his nocturnal vision focused straight ahead.

Ezra’s call had him acting without thinking for a change. The words “They tried to take her” still echoed in his head. He was talking about Kalina and no doubt the same Rogues that had been gunning for her at the party. At this moment the whys didn’t matter, all that mattered was that Ezra had her and she was safe. For now.

He never should have left her, Rome berated himself as he turned down the secluded road where Ezra was to meet him. The guard wanted Rome to take Kalina while he went back to track the Rogues before the trail disappeared. It was a lot easier to track here in the city, where Rogues did not belong, than in the forest where all manner of species lived and breathed. So Rome drove and his heart pounded.

Why it was so important that she remain safe he didn’t know. It was just a fact, one that was steadily becoming embedded in his mind. She was now his responsibility. Truth be told, she had been since that night in the alley, a night she didn’t seem to remember, which was probably for the best. He hadn’t realized then that their paths would cross again. Now he couldn’t think of their lives not remaining intertwined.

Slamming on the brakes so he wouldn’t pass the truck that was just slightly off the dirt road, lights turned off, Rome jumped out of his car almost before he’d shut the damn thing off.

The driver’s-side door opened and Ezra jumped out.

“Where is she?”

“In back. Sleeping. I had to give her something, she was hysterical.”

“What?” Rome shouted. “What did you give her?”

“She’s just asleep. She should be up by the time you get her home. But when she saw me she freaked the hell out. It was like trying to tame a wildcat for a while there.”

Rome had wrenched open the back passenger-side door while Ezra talked. There she was, lying on the seat, her head tilted, fists still clenched at her side. He was lifting her out when he spoke again. “What the hell happened?”

“We were tailing her,” Ezra said, skirting around Rome to open the back door of his Mercedes. “She went to this house and it looked like they were having some kind of party. I don’t know, but as soon as we pulled into the back alley we picked up the Rogue scent. Peabo went around front to check the front of the house, and he reported Rogue scent as well. We decided to just watch and wait. The next thing I know she’s off the deck coming out of another door in the house. She’s looking for something in the yard so I get out of the truck.

“A while goes by, nothing big happening, then she moves off the deck. The Rogue scent’s getting thicker and I know it’s a shifter. I’m trying to get a lock on him and watch her at the same time. I found them both simultaneously.”

Rome pulled out of the car, slammed the door. “You what? Found who simultaneously?”

Ezra stood tall, his voice clear. “She was there. And the other shifter was, too. I think she might have seen him. It would explain why she was so crazy with fear when I got hold of her.”

“She was probably crazy with fear because you abducted her.”

Ezra was shaking his head. “No. She was looking at me weird, Rome. Like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. We may have to do some damage control here.”

Damage control meant killing the witness. Shifters did not have some sort of memory-erasing power. In the end, to protect the secret they would have to erase the threat.

Rome saw red and once again reacted first.

His fingers twisted in Ezra’s shirt as he pushed the guard back against the car and yelled in his face. “She does not die! Do you hear me?”

Ezra nodded, his hands remaining at his sides. He was a trained guard, he respected Rome and his position. And they were also friends.

Those facts had Rome backing off, his cat growling and scratching just beneath the surface. But the man pulled away. “She didn’t see anything,” he said tightly. “There’s no need for damage control. I’ll handle her.”

Ezra nodded again. “I’m going back to look for the shifter.”

“I want him alive,” Rome said, moving to the driver’s-side door. “Do you hear me, Ezra? Bring me that sonofabitch alive!”

*   *   *

“He’s on his way back to the mansion. He’s got the girl with him,” Ezra told Nick and X when they both caught up with him. He’d already repeated the story he’d given Rome and watched as the two senior officers shared the same grim thoughts as he did.

“What if she knows?” Ezra asked.

“Rome said he’d handle it,” X answered.

Nick looked skeptical. “Maybe we should head over there, make sure things are cool anyway.”

“Yeah,” X agreed.

“I know she saw that shifter. And she saw me,” Ezra continued.

“You weren’t shifted,” Nick interjected.

“But I was close.”

X was grim. The guard was probably right. Kalina had seen a shifter tonight.

What that meant for tomorrow, none of them was quite sure.

*   *   *

He watched her sleep. She lay on her back, her feet bare, her shirt lifted so that inches of her creamy skin were revealed.

For endless moments Rome just stared at her, wondering who she was, inside. He knew her name, her address; her personality said she was a fighter. She was beautiful and sexy and alluring.

And she was in his bed.

Because a shifter was hunting her.

At this moment none of that seemed to matter. All he could focus on was the sight of her. She was in his space, a place no woman had ever been before. Everything in his mind rebelled against that thought, but his body, inch by inch, had warmed. From the moment he lifted her off the backseat of his car and carried her into the house, up the stairs to his room, his need for her had grown. Until now, standing here, it was all he could do to keep from stripping her, stripping himself, and taking what he so desperately desired.

She moaned, her brow furrowing as her head turned from side to side. He wondered what she dreamed, what thoughts went through her mind. Could she feel him? Did she want him?

He’d been wanted by a woman before, desired, lusted after. Somehow those feelings didn’t amount to what he craved from this woman.

An arm lifted as she inhaled deeply. Rome watched as her chest rose with the effort, full breasts rising then falling gently as she exhaled. His mouth watered. Long fingers with neutral-colored nails went to the part of her stomach that was revealed to him and moved in slow circles near her navel.

His body tightened. The cat inside paced, hunger thumping wildly through them.

Her hand moved upward, pushing the T-shirt as it traveled. More of her lovely skin was revealed, a light moving in his line of vision. Up and up until a silky black bra came into view. She cupped her breast with one hand; the other arm had lifted and fallen so that it arched over her head. Through the slits of butter-toned fingers the black material of her bra showed in great contrast as she molded, squeezed, released her covered breast.

Rome’s gut clenched, his dick harder than he’d ever felt it before, straining against the confines of his slacks.

Reluctantly he tore his gaze from her breasts to see if she was awake, if she was aware of how she was enticing him. But her eyes were still closed, her pert lips just barely parted to accommodate the quickening of her breath.

The arm that was above her head came down, that hand moving between legs that spread slowly. She cupped her juncture, fingers moving raptly over the material that covered her. With efficiency she undid the button and zipper, pushing her hand quickly inside. Her head thrashed from side to side as her breathing grew more labored.

Watching her aroused Rome, pushing his cat into a feral heat that scraped along his skin. They both wanted her, needed her on a level that was foreign, but still relevant. He undid the buckle of his belt, slipped the clasp of his slacks free, and pushed the zipper down. His dick throbbed, his own breathing increasing.