Dark Desire (19 page)

He looked tired, yet proud at the same time. “Well, remind me never to get into a katana fight with you,” he said, his words gruff. Walking over to a trunk in the corner of the room, Aubrey pulled out a roll of paper towel, two small towels, and a small bottle of liquid.

Crouching on the mats, Aubrey motioned for Taer to do the same. “We have to clean the blades properly before we finish up.”

Taer squatted opposite him, watching him first wipe away the blood with the paper towels before using a clean towel to apply oil to the steel. Ensuring all the excess oil had been removed, Aubrey slid the blade back into the scabbard carefully.

Taer copied each of his methodical steps, feeling a great sense of peace as she worked. When the blade was clean and sheathed once more, she stood up to hang it back on the wall.

“What are you doing?” Aubrey asked softly from behind her. Startled, Taer gave him a questioning look.

“Putting the sword back,” she replied.

“That sword doesn’t belong to me anymore,” he said. “It’s yours now, Winter Fox.”

“I can’t,” she blurted out, going to place the katana back where it belonged.

“Don’t insult me, Taer,” he said seriously.

Taer hesitated, not knowing what to say.

“You know,
thank you
is the customary response to someone who has just given you a gift,” Aubrey prompted.

“Thank you,” she replied automatically, frowning. They stared at each other for a long moment. Then, feeling as if she’d overstayed her welcome, Taer muttered, “I should go. Thanks for today.”

“Let me walk you out.”

Taer trailed after him up the stairs and through the entrance way, where he paused. Night had already fallen. She studied him from under her dark lashes, her heart pounding out an erratic rhythm.

Curiosity made her want to stay, but she’d promised herself that Aubrey was off-limits. Her decision made, she tilted her chin up and strode towards the door.

“Good night,” she said.

Aubrey reached out, wrapping his warm fingers around her wrist. He pulled the katana from her grip, lowering it steadily to the ground. With a gentle tug, he spun her back around, throwing her off balance. Thrusting her hand out in front of her, Taer collided with Aubrey’s chest. She was six foot tall, but with him pushing nearly seven, she had to tilt her head back to look at him—exposing her throat to him.

When he did nothing more than stare down at her with half-lidded eyes, she tried to step from his grasp, but his fingers encircled both her wrists and held her against him effortlessly.

Taer’s pulse galloped, causing Aubrey’s top lip to curl into a lascivious smile as if he knew exactly what effect he was having on her.

“I quite like having you in my home, Winter Fox,” he drawled, his eyes on her mouth.

Oh, fuck
. Licking her lips, Taer tried to break free once more, but it was like trying to break through warded steel; there was no way she was getting away unless he allowed it.

“What do you want?” Taer’s voice was defiant, if also a little curious, too.

Aubrey stared at her mouth. “A taste,” he replied simply, “Just a taste.” Leaning in, he brushed his lips against hers. She tried to push away then, but he simply pulled her back into the hard line of his body, forcing his mouth to hers once more.

His erection pressed against her stomach, and she remembered seeing him naked in her dream, remembered her visceral reaction. She’d told him he was small, but there’d been nothing small about him. He was beautiful and she would have given anything to see his naked body again.

The moan that left Taer’s throat unbidden as Aubrey’s tongue brushed against her lips was met with one of his own. He let go of her wrists, his hands skimming down her body to her hips.

A wildfire of desire, of want and need, burned her blood, setting her whole world alight. She wanted more, she
needed
more of him, and every reason she’d thought up to avoid him suddenly didn’t seem to matter anymore. Taer drew her arms around his neck, tilting her head toward him. His tongue swept in, teasing her, caressing her and driving her insane with every touch.

She held on tight to his arms as his mouth and his body claimed her completely. He tasted just as he smelled, but with his drying blood a coppery aftertaste, she found she wanted more …

So much more …

She was so engrossed in the feel of his hard body against hers that for a moment she forgot to breath. His breathing was rapid and ragged too. The kiss had been electric—but her promise to him rang through her head with deafening clarity. Taer realized what she had been doing. With anger filling her veins, she brought her hand up and slapped Aubrey across the cheek. The sharp crack reverberated through the room.

“That wasn’t voluntary,” she barked, marching through the doorway. Abandoning her katana, Taer faded directly back to the club with the smell, taste and feel of Aubrey still lingering on her fingers and in her mouth and nose.

A light tapping on Taer’s bedroom door made her stir from a restless sleep. She was still plagued by the same fucking nightmare she had suffered for the past month. Adding to her misery was the kiss she’d shared with Aubrey, his scent and taste still torturing her.

“Come in,” she answered in a low voice, so she didn’t wake up Eir.

Korvain stepped through the door, his broad shoulders blocking the light coming from the hallway. “Good. You’re awake.”

Taer tried on a smile. “You know me—I’m an early riser.”

Bull-fucking-shit
was what his expression told her. He knew she’d not really slept at all. He didn’t need to ask—he could see it in the dark circles under her eyes and the fear in her gaze.

Taer slid from the bed and started scooping her dirty clothes up from the floor. “If you’re about to give me a lecture, you can keep your mouth fucking shut,” she hissed, her eyes darting to the side when she heard Eir shift in her sleep.

“You don’t need me to tell you what you already know,” he replied, just as harshly. “Get dressed and come into the living room when you’re done. I have to show you something.”

She’d planned to visit one of Darrion’s safe houses today, but before she could protest, Korvain was already out the door, shutting it carefully behind him. With a heavy sigh, she stripped off the shorts and tank she had slept in and pulled on a fresh pair of sweats and a tee from her drawer.

Five minutes later, a cup of coffee in hand, Taer dropped into the seat beside Korvain. His eyes were glued to the TV screen across the other side of the living room, watching a news story about an entire family that had been slaughtered in Boston last night; they were the second in a week. A woman wearing a heavy winter coat was standing out on the street, a row of cars parked behind her and the blue and red flashing lights of police cars and other emergency vehicles decorating an otherwise normal-looking street.

“
Police still have no leads in these disturbing murders, which took place somewhere between nine and ten pm yesterday evening, on a quiet street in an affluent part of Boston. No details have been released, other than that there are striking similarities between this seemingly unprovoked attack on a young family and the one that occurred not more than two days ago.

“Police are urging people to keep their doors and windows locked and to remain vigilant. This is Brenda Lee, WCVB News.”

“So,” Taer said. “What kind of training are we doing?”

“I’m going to teach you how to shield your mind today,” he said, taking her coffee away from her. He hauled himself up from the couch, deposited her cup on a small table and sat down on the floor opposite her, his back against the armchair.

“Asshole,” she muttered, knowing full well he would hear it.

He looked smug, but before she could ask what was so damn funny, a pressure began to build in her head. It grew and grew until she felt as if her skull was going to shatter into a million pieces. Clutching at the sides of her head, she tried to breathe through the pain. Still, a scream clawed its way from her throat. Her vision grew dark and her world tilted like it was spinning wrong on its axis. She was about to pass out, and she was terrified.

Then, just as quickly as it had started, it was over. The pain was gone. She blinked rapidly a few times, and Korvain came into focus once more. Panting, Taer demanded, “What just happened?”

“I was pressing against your mind,” he said. “It’s a hard thing to do while you’re still conscious, and it’s a skill that didn’t come naturally to me. I had to work at it—and what I did just then? That was nothing. I was only using the slightest pressure. If you’d been asleep, I would have slipped inside so easily.”

“Where was the warning, asshole?” She felt violated. “You could have at least told me you were going to do that.”

“Darrion would never tell you he was going to do it, so why should I?” He sat up and leaned closer. “And believe me when I say that you would
not
want to have Darrion inside your head.”

Taer’s anger surged. “How in the hell am I supposed to defend myself against that?”

“That’s what I’m going to teach you,” he said, leaning back against the armchair once more. “Shielding your mind is a twenty-four-seven kind of thing, Tay. It takes more concentration and strength than any physical fight … and it is your
only
defense against a mental attack.”

Grudgingly, she said, “So teach me, O wise one.”

His lip quirked up a little. “I will. But I need your full and undivided attention.”

“Don’t you always get that from me?”

His expression sobered. “I mean it, Tay. I need you to invest in this stuff. It’s important.”

Taer sank back into the cushions, digesting his words. Her suspicion that he knew more than he was letting on were only getting stronger. “Korvain,” she said, “you know something about my dreams, don’t you? What is it? Why are you keeping things from me?”

He leveled her with a cold stare. “You’re not ready yet, but everything we’ve been doing is to get you ready.” Hoisting himself off the ground, he lowered himself into the seat beside her. “And you need to be ready. Can you just trust me a little longer? I’ll tell you when the time is right.”

After a moment or two she nodded, agreeing to his request. No matter what, Korvain had her back like he’d had … Adrian’s. She trusted him implicitly. “So, are you going to teach me something, or what?” she asked.

Korvain reached out and squeezed her hand before standing up again. “Sure.”

Five hours later, Taer felt as if she had grasped what shielding her mind was and how to do it. The idea behind it was actually quite simple. Korvain said that by holding an image steady in her mind, she could block almost any kind of breach, but she needed a lot more practice before she would be able to do it successfully.

Korvain’s image was an endless ocean at night. Taer chose an icy tundra, lonely and desolate. It was how she felt deep down inside. She didn’t think the ice around her heart and in her soul would ever melt.

And honestly, she hoped it never did.

She had lost too much already.

Korvain still sat across from her, his intense black eyes boring into hers as he tried once again to breach her mental shield. His attacks had been relentless and she’d had little success in keeping him out. Fresh sweat beaded on her brow, trickling down her temples and dripping onto her bare arms.

This assault continued for three-quarters of an hour before Eir came in, distracting Korvain, and his concentration dropped.

He turned to the Valkyrie. “Where are you going?” he asked.

Eir stopped in her tracks.

“I’m … umm, I’m going on a date.”

Taer watched the muscle in Korvain’s jaw tick angrily. “Who with?”

Even though Eir was a Valkyrie and could no doubt cause some serious damage to Korvain with her sword, she seemed cowed by the Mare.

Taer couldn’t really blame her.

Korvain was as intimidating as fuck.

“With Mason,” Eir answered cautiously. “We’re going out to lunch together.”

Taer could see how much that news upset Korvain. “Mason?” he asked sharply. “Mason asked you out?”

“Yes,” Eir said meekly.

A snarl vibrated through the room and she took a step backwards. “I want him to bring you back straight after you eat,” Korvain told her.

Taer was surprised. When had he become the protective father? But Eir agreed wordlessly and rushed from the apartment, closing the door behind her.

Korvain prowled over to the kitchen bench, snatching up his phone, and violently began punching the buttons. He paced until someone picked up at the other end.

“I thought I told you to stay away from her,” he said coldly.

Those ten little words said so much more. Korvain was worried—Taer could see that, and if there was one thing she’d learned about him, it was the more calmly he spoke, the angrier he was.

Korvain was silent for a moment, listening, then said curtly, “Failure is not an option, Mason.”

His unspoken threat hung dangerously in the air for a moment before he hung up the phone.

“Are we done for the day?” Taer asked carefully. He spun around to face her, his face still clouded with rage.

“No,” he told her, cold anger burning in his words. “I want you to try and breach my shields.”

“We already know I can’t.”

“Yet,” he corrected. “All it takes is practice, Taer. I need you to start that practice now.”

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Taer twisted around until she was comfortable and then tried to do as Korvain had asked. For the rest of the afternoon, Taer worked hard. She tried everything, from trying to mentally kick the shield to concentrating on it, pushing her will onto it.

By the time Korvain had to go to work, she’d had enough of looking at that damn endless ocean at midnight. She’d had enough of him telling her she had to try harder. And she’d had enough of failure.

“How in the hell am I supposed to breach someone’s shield, Korvain? You keep telling me it’s important. Fine. I get that, but what you haven’t told me is
how
to do it. If Darrion is an expert in this, then what hope do I have going up against him if I don’t even know how to do it?”

The Mare stayed silent, staring hard at her, and Taer gave up. He was only giving her the information she needed in trickles, when she wanted the whole damn bucket poured over her. “Do you know what?” she said impatiently. “Just forget it!” Bringing the hem of her shirt up, she wiped the sweat from her face. “I’m done. I can’t do it anymore.”

She stood up before Korvain could start chewing her out and headed down the hallway to the bathroom, locking herself in. She started up the shower and stripped off her sweat-soaked clothes. Stepping under the spray, she let the hot water carry away the stickiness and frustrations of the day’s exertions.

She couldn’t see how her knowledge of breaking shields could be of any use. If she couldn’t get past the vast black oceans of Korvain’s mind, how was she supposed to break through Darrion’s—the Mare who had taught Korvain almost everything he knew?

Shutting off the water, Taer stepped from the stall and wrapped herself in a towel. Her mind was running at a mile a minute, trying to work it all out. Perhaps there was only one person who could possibly give her the answers she was seeking … the one person she really,
really
didn’t want to see again so soon.