Angel/Hiss (Bayou Heat Box Set Book 7) (7 page)

“Welcome to the club, honey.” He glared down at her, his sculpted features tight as he battled back an intense emotion.

Anger? Frustration? Hunger?

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I was only trying to help Willa.”

“I know.” His brooding gaze lowered to her lips as he lifted his hand to brush the back of his fingers over her cheek and down the curve of her throat. Almost as if he was fascinated by the feel of her skin. “It’s the only reason I didn’t take off the second the malachite was burned from my system.”

She shivered, his light touch making her stomach clench with excitement.

“The gloves…”

Her words trailed away as his fingers brushed over the sensitive skin at her nape before plunging into her hair. Giving a light tug, he angled her head back, forcing her to meet the smoldering heat in his dark eyes.

“Yeah, you really should pay more attention to your prisoner,” he murmured, his tone distracted.

“Fine. I’m an idiot.” She tried to hold on to her anger. It was that or melt into a puddle of aching need at his feet. “Why don’t you leave?”

“Because you and your people have information we need.”

Her treacherous desire was momentarily forgotten as she realized what her impetuous decision to kidnap a Pantera had truly accomplished.

“Dammit,” she breathed. “Karen was right.”

His fingers stroked through her hair, his gaze still locked on her lips.

“Right about what?”

She tried to think, but suddenly the room felt way too small. Or maybe it was just Angel who was way too close. Either way, the force of his presence was making it impossible to clear her mind.

“I put everyone in danger,” she at last managed to mutter.

His brows snapped together, as if he was annoyed by her stumbled words.

“Stop that,” he growled. “No one’s in danger,” he denied. “And you saved Willa.”

Had she? She desperately wanted to cling to his words. It was unbearable to think that the little girl couldn’t be cured.

“What are you going to do?”

“Take her to the Wildlands,” he answered without hesitation. “The magic there is the only thing that will heal her.”

“You swear?”

“I swear.”

She studied the male face, struggling to resist the temptation to trace each perfect feature. Sometimes she wasn’t sure he could be real.

Her hand was actually lifting when she abruptly came to her senses. With a small shake of her head, she met his gaze that glowed with the power of his cat in the morning light.

She needed to get away from this male. He made her feel weak and vulnerable and dangerously needy.

Emotions she couldn’t afford if she was to continue her crusade.

“I want to say goodbye to her,” she muttered.

“There’s no need.”

She stiffed. “But—”

“You’re going with her.”

She stared at him in disbelief. Go to the Wildlands? Become a captive of the mysterious shifters?

Be with this male every day and night…

Oh no. Hell, no.

“Thanks, but I’ll take a hard pass on that,” she said in dry tones.

His fingers slid through her hair and down her nape, at last circling her throat.

“I’m not asking you, honey,” he murmured softly. “I’m telling you.”

She should have been terrified. This large male could break her neck and hide her body in the rubble in the blink of an eye. But it wasn’t fear that was making her heart pound and her breath rasp past her parted lips. Instead, it was the heated musk that was stroking over her skin like a caress.

“It’s not your call,” she tried to bluff.

He studied her pale features. “I think you’ll find that it is.”

“Angel.”

A low rumble vibrated in his chest. “I like my name on your lips.” His gaze lowered to her mouth, his eyes smoldering with a golden hunger. “Of course, I think there’re a lot of things I’m going to like on your lips.”

Stark, ruthless need blazed through her at the mere suggestion of kissing a path over his bare chest and down to the thick cock that was pressed against her lower stomach.

She’d needed to taste him. To feel his heat searing away the chill that’d haunted her since her mother had sold her like a piece of unwanted property.

She’d never ached for anyone or anything so badly in her entire life.

Which only reinforced her need to get as far away from this male as possible.

“Have you lost your mind?” she forced herself to mutter.

“Yes.”

***

Indy blinked at his blunt honesty. “Well…I…” She licked her lips. “That would explain several things.”

Angel grinned at her unexpected hint of bewilderment. He was a Pantera alpha. Her reckless courage was like an aphrodisiac. What other woman would have battled their enemy so boldly?

But there was something very sexy in that brief glimpse of vulnerability.

Rubbing his thumb up and down the side of her throat, he surveyed her pale, perfect features. Even wearing the oversized leather jacket and her face smudged with dust, she was still the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

“Do you ever give an inch, Indy?” he said softly.

She held his searching gaze. “Do you?”

“Never.” He smiled with slow anticipation. “It should make our relationship interesting.”

“Relationship?” Her eyes widened, but before she could speak, he had his arms wrapped around her waist and was jerking her against his chest.

With the patience of a Hunter, Angel waited until her lips parted in protest before he lowered his head to claim them in a rough kiss.

She made a strangled sound of shock. He didn’t blame her. He was a shitload of dazed and confused himself. How many females had been eager to crawl into his bed over the past century? Dozens. Hundreds. But no matter how flagrantly they’d tried to attract his attention, he’d never made a habit of grabbing and kissing them like he truly was an animal.

So why did Indy provoke him to a near violent urge to possess her?

A part of him feared the answer.

Okay, he desired her. He craved her with a force that was rapidly becoming an obsession, despite the fact they’d known each other only a few hours. But it was more than that. He was fascinated by her.

She was a unique challenge his cat couldn’t resist.

Tracing her full mouth with the tip of his tongue he slipped between her lips and tasted her decadent sweetness. The breath was ripped from his body. She tasted of summer lilacs with the tart edge of lemon.

A tantalizing combination that was as enticing as the female who trembled in his arms.

His kiss deepened and Indy lifted her hands to press them against his chest. Shit. Was she about to pull away? A growl rumbled in Angel’s chest.

She was as aroused as he was. He could smell her desire. She might want to kick him in the nuts, but she still wanted him.

Then, without warning, she was melting into his arms.

Holy. Crap.

Pleasure blistered through him. It was a kiss. Just a kiss. He’d enjoyed thousands of them. But never had his entire body clenched with a hunger that nearly sent him to his knees. And certainly, his cat had never responded with such a fierce desire to claim a female.

“You’re not the only one who’s lost their mind,” she muttered.

“Good.” He caught her lower lip between his teeth. “Sanity is highly overrated.”

Her fingers grasped the soft folds of his sweater as Angel slid his hands beneath her jacket and up the curve of her spine. She was so delicate. So astonishingly tiny in his hands. It was easy to forget her fragility when she was in full battle-mode.

Now he reminded himself to use gentle care as he smoothed his hands down to her hips. With a muttered curse he skimmed light kisses over her cheek before he stroked the shell of her ear with his tongue.

She shivered beneath his touch and he felt that strange searing heat blast through him. A heat that was echoed in the beast prowling just below his skin.

He wanted to press her against the wall and wrap her legs around his waist. Or toss her on the floor and spread her beneath him. To part her thighs and lick the cream that was already gathering. To thrust himself into her until they were both exhausted and sated.

Instead he stiffened as he caught an unmistakable scent of Pantera swiftly approaching.

No, not now
, he silently pleaded, well aware that he’d blown his opportunity to warn Indy that his brothers were on their way.

And now it was too late.

There was the sound of pounding footsteps before the door was smashed open and Bayon stepped into the room, one golden brow flicking upward as a devilish smile curved his lips.

At the same time Indy yanked out of his arms, her face flushed with fury. And worse, her eyes dark with a sense of utter betrayal.

“You bastard,” she husked.

CHAPTER 5

Indy was livid.

Not mad. Not angry. Not furious.

Livid.

She’d made mistakes in her past. She was impetuous, passionate, and too eager to listen to her heart, not her head. Which meant she often found herself in situations she later regretted.

But never, ever had she allowed a man to screw with her head to the point that a dozen Pantera Hunters had been able to sneak up on her.

Dammit. She was supposed to be protecting her people. They depended on her.

Instead she’d been melting in Angel’s arms, completely seduced by his kisses.

Snarling out every curse word she’d learned over the past thirty years, Indy yanked at the handcuffs that were attached to the wooden headboard.

She didn’t know how she ended up in the wide bed. Only seconds after the door had crashed in she’d felt a pinprick of pain as a dart had penetrated the skin of her neck. She’d had time to accept the irony of the fact she’d been tranqed before she was tumbling into Angel’s arms, the blackness sucking her under.

She’d awoken nearly an hour ago to find herself cuffed to the bed. In bewilderment she’d studied the wooden furniture that looked handcrafted, and a patchwork quilt that covered her body that’d been stripped down to her muscle shirt and jeans.

There was an air of homey warmth that was only emphasized as she glanced out the window to glimpse the thick foliage and clumps of cypress trees that provided a dense shade the late afternoon sunlight was unable to penetrate.

She was in the bayou.

Or more specifically…she was in the Wildlands.

There was the sound of approaching footsteps before the door was pushed open. Indy tensed. Even from a distance she could recognize the familiar scent.

Angel.

The sight of him only made her more livid. Livider?

Not just because he’d tricked her and used her vulnerable desires against her. She was willing to fight dirty when necessary. But because the mere sight of him moving toward the bed was making her heart pound and her blood heat with arousal.

Helplessly her gaze clung to his impossibly handsome features and the white-gold hair that was spiked as if he’d been running his fingers through it. He’d showered and changed into a pair of charcoal gray slacks and a crisp white shirt that should have lessened the impact of his raw, fiercely disturbing presence.

But it didn’t.

Instead, she’d never been more aware of the cat that lurked just below the surface.

Her stomach quivered as he settled on the edge of the bed, his gaze studying her with dark intensity.

“Bastard,” she ground out, hoping like hell he assumed her flushed cheeks were due to fury, not seething lust.

He grimaced. “This isn’t how I wanted it to be,” he murmured in soft tones.

“Ha.” She narrowed her eyes, her expression accusing. “Don’t tell me you’re not enjoying your revenge?”

A hint of gold flared through his eyes. “I’ll admit I have a few fantasies that include you in handcuffs,” he admitted, his gaze sweeping down her body. “But you were naked and moaning my name in pleasure.”

Oh…hell. Now the image was blasted in her brain.

“Where am I?”

“The Wildlands.” He confirmed her suspicion. “This cabin belonged to my parents.”

He had her locked in his family home? That seemed…odd.

“What are you going to do to me?”

He frowned, as if disturbed by her question. “No one here means you harm, Indy.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a key and swiftly unlocked the cuffs. “See?”

She barely waited for her the cuffs to fall away before she was surging onto her knees and slamming her fist into his shoulder.

“Take that, you bastard,” she snapped.

His brows snapped together, his hand reaching to grasp her wrist. Not to halt her from hitting him again—even with her super-strength it’d felt like she’d hit a cement wall—but to study her fingers as if concerned she’d injured herself.

“What was that for?” he growled.

“Kissing me.”

He arched a brow. Was that amusement glinting in his eyes?

Arrgh.

“Do you slug every male who kisses you?” he asked.

“Only ones who use sex to keep me distracted so his friends can sneak up on me.”

He held her furious glare, lifting her fingers to press them against his lips.