Feral Craving (36 page)

“You’re right, Mac. I can’t tell you how
to feel, just as you shouldn’t with me. But…” He blew out a hard breath and
shoved his hands in his pockets. He couldn’t promise himself that he wouldn’t
touch her, so he needed to make sure they stayed put.

“It was more of plea for me, than you,
Angel.” He paced across the width of the room, staying far from her or the
temptation she drew from him. “You can’t teach a guy to love you the way you
want to be loved, Angel. You have to let him do it his way, in his own time.”
She still didn’t get who he was, did she? Had he not explained it enough? Where
he came from and his fears? It might be selfish for him to go this path, but it
was him, and part of understanding who she was forging her life to should she
stay. He lifted his head, scanned over the boxes, before raising his eyes to
hers.

“Yeah, you’ve taught me you don’t need
anybody or even care about anyone but yourself, haven’t you? I’m good enough
to...” She glanced over at Byron and broke off from finishing her sentence,
shaking her head. “Than to love, huh? Well I’m sorry, Bari, but I can’t be with
someone who thinks so poorly of us. Perhaps you will be better off finding some
little bunny to play with.”

“Goddamnit.” The word came out as a harsh
whisper, and he rocked back on his heels, pushing his hands farther into his
pockets as his temper surged. The need to reach out to her intensified, and his
mind spun. When he spoke, his words were low, the inner demon rising as a result
of the emotions, the threat of leaving she delivered.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Angel.
Sorry you think that’s what my intentions with you are. Sorry you think this is
how it needs to be without asking me.”

His big shoulders shrugged flamboyantly.
He learned long ago that apologizing didn’t mean much when the other person
didn’t want to hear it. It also didn’t mean you were wrong or the other person
was right. What it meant to him though, was that he valued his relationship
with Mackenzie more than his damn own ego. It wasn’t about that. He was a
confident bastard, one who recognized what he wanted about ninety percent of
the time. And right now he wanted Mackenzie one hundred percent. He was
difficult to deal with, a dick a majority of the time, with a hateful past he
wanted to shield from her.

Mackenzie took a step forward. “Did I ask
for any of this? Did I ask to have my…” She choked as the word spilled out, “my
heart broken? Did I ask to fall in love, deeply and whole-heartedly in love
with my best friend, my partner, my life? Did I ask for it to be with a man who
wants nothing to do with me? How dare you stand there and say I mean nothing,
that we mean absolutely nothing to you but someone to warm your bed and not
your heart? How can you turn your back on me after so many years we’ve shared?
How have I let you do this to me again?”

Bari retreated at her moving forward. He
didn’t trust himself not to grab her if she got too close. It was all he
fucking wanted right now. He wanted to draw her into his arms, encounter her
bare flesh against his own skin and relish in her touch, in the desire they had
no problem showing. What he had with Mackenzie went further than the physical
act of sex. His eyes flared at the challenge in her eyes, one showing she
realized which of his buttons to push.

Bari pulled his hands out of his pockets
and before he realized it, his hand wrapped around the front of her throat
gently and he advanced on her. The move wasn’t hostile, but instead one of
possession, and he intended to possess Mackenzie one hundred percent. She was
his, forever. Pressing her backwards, he stopped inches from her body as she
hit the wall. His thumb rolled over her rapid pulse. His eyes studied the
precious beat as he spoke.

“I’ve always made it clear I want you,
Mackenzie Walters. That’s not a question. I never asked you to walk away from
me. I’ve only wanted to protect you from falling for one such as I am. I’m not
good enough for you, Angel. I’m not good enough for the pureness that you and
Byron can offer. But…” He lifted his eyes to hers and stared, urged her to
understand what he said. “I’d give my sight, my heart, and my life to prove to
you every day that you’re the only one for me. And then I’d give my limbs in
promise that I’d be willing to try to make myself good enough for you. There’s
no other out there that could,” Bari forced himself to swallow through his
suddenly dry throat and leaned forward, “love you the way I do.”

Mackenzie’s eyes widened after a passing
beat of their hearts. The room held its breath. He recognized the link drawing
them together. The bond blared bright, its sparks shooting within his mind. He
studied it as she studied him. He saw the braid in her green eyes, the small
thread he recognized as Byron shooting and weaving its sparks deep in between
their strands. It was amazing, beautiful, and breathtaking all at once. It was
his family, his heart, his soul, and his life all wrapped down to three
distinct strands.

Bari moved forward, his intentions clear,
and gave her time to react. One arm wrapped around her waist, holding her to
him while the other lifted to tangle in her hair. Mackenzie didn’t resist, but
instead gave a soft sigh and molded her body into the hard planes of his. He
kissed her deep and pulled her closer, her body, sweet and irresistible,
pressing against his own. He wanted to crawl inside of Mackenzie and set up
shop, possess her in ways she never knew and would always remember. The kiss
spoke what words he couldn’t say, showed in the unhurried, sensual act just
what she meant to him. He wanted her to understand he was jumping in with both
feet, already waist high involved and entangled with her.

Bari drew back and trailed his lips
across her cheekbones, over her eyes, down the side of her jaw before pulling
back.

“I can’t promise you things you may want,
Angel, or even a happily ever after. But I can promise you myself. And what I
can promise is that I am going to try to give you all that I got. I’ve never
done relationships, and I’ve relied on myself to get me what I need. You
understand? Outside of my team, I’ve
always
been on my own.”

“You waited long enough, Bari. But I
think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit with all the cheese.” She
smirked.

Bari laughed and lifted her in his arms,
spinning her around before dipping his head again to take her lips. She
shuddered beneath his touch, and Bari hid his smile, taking advantage as her
lips parted on a sigh.

“Oh gross!” Byron’s gag held a wealth of
affection, and Bari winked at him, lifting his head. With Mackenzie in his
arms, her body so soft and perfect against his, the words unneeded, simple
actions speaking louder than anything else. There would be no hearts and
flowers in their lives, no sweet words one would expect. None of that would
ever fit into their relationship. What they would have with one another was
loyalty, understanding, and honesty. All of it would make this last.

With Mackenzie in his arms, he felt the
deep sigh of contentment, the animalistic growl of his demon, and the man’s primitive
urge to mark her as his, the only one who had ever pierced his dark, stained
soul. He’d get to that soon enough and when he was finished, she’d know his
stamp of possession, just as well as she knew herself.

It wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of
when. But how much time it would take until they got there. And right now, he
had all the time in the world.

Epilogue

Bari woke engulfed in warmth. Long, dark
tendrils wrapped across his chest, the silk of Mackenzie’s hair brushing
against his chest like velvety rose petals, each movement of his chest giving
him a teasing taste.
 
He looked down and
found her draped very possessively across his body, her head resting on his
heart, her legs intertwined with his in a tangling mass of limbs, like vines growing
up the side of a house.

Before, the sight of this, of home and
commitment would have sent him running for the hills. It wasn’t as though the
act of a relationship scared him. No, it was more than that. His fear centered
and orbited around what his father had become. His father had chosen his
mother, a woman who by all accounts was one of the most wonderful and precious
beings in Bari’s life—but not his father’s true mate. The evil that the Justice
Demons were forced to take in built to a point where his father had been unable
to resist the malevolent whisper. With an immoral decision, his father finally
gave in to the iniquity and lost the fight, lost his will in the fight between
good and evil. It was the man his father became—not the one he’d been—that
killed his mother.
 
Bari understood that
now, comprehended just how important this female in his arms was.
 
He’d resisted her on his fear alone for so
long, but as his father had given in to temptation, now Bari embraced the link
between him and Mackenzie.

Shifting, he let Mackenzie slide off of
his body, bereft for a moment at the loss of her heat against him. While his
link, the solid and robust braid holding him to Mackenzie, was strong and
pulsing with what could never be denied as anything other than love, Bari was
unable to ignore the quaking link to one of his brothers.

Mike.

Bari snapped a pair of nylon pants low on
his hips and tossed a long sleeve white shirt over his head, then headed
downstairs to meet with the others.
 
He
could feel their anxiety and worry over the very same thing that had awoken him
this morning, too. They all recognized the struggles Mike fought with, and the
long ago fear he had for his father now invaded the relationship Bari held with
his friend.
 
Mike battled for control
now, one tilting precariously close to the side they always fought
against—evil.
 
The bond, a faint one,
kept Mike linked to this side—the good side—of responsibility, but with each
passing moment, each painful second, that bond weakened.
 

Bari stepped into the kitchen and greeted
two pairs of grave eyes with his own. Tyler’s green gaze held worried lines
around his eyes. Being the most serious of the group, that the man was worried
sent Bari’s own heartbeat pounding against his chest.

“The bond is only holding through our
links.
 
She’s cut him off from her, and I
think she’s done it without realizing it, or at least I hope so.” This came
from Tony. Bari pulled out a chair, turned it backwards and straddled it as he
sat facing the two of them. His arms rested along the back of the chair as he
thought over Tony’s words.

“Why or how would she do something like
that?
 
She understands Mike needs her,
right?” Bari could scarcely believe Samantha would do such a thing to Mike.
When the two of them were together, the love and affection the pair held for
each other practically lit the air.
 
It
was so thick, so undoubtedly true.
 
Tony
shrugged and sat back, crossing heavy arms across his black t-shirt covered
chest.
 
“I wish I knew, brother.
 
The grief pulsing through Mike’s bond is so
strong, so thick…”

“You can basically taste it,” Tyler
finished.

The bond, the links were a beautiful
thing to a Eurydice. Bari now understood and embraced it just as much as he
welcomed the woman lying in a warm bed upstairs into his life. Each of
them—Tyler, Tony, Mike, and Bari—could see the bonds, the impression of when
one was in trouble, and could communicate through such ties.
 
That was just one part of how a Justice Demon
stayed on this side of good.
 
The link,
the bond held them, especially when so much evil subsisted to take in.
   

There was another way to keep a Eurydice
grounded—through the mated bond of their perfect half.
 
Very few rare females existed on the planet,
came along only at moments in time, the flawless match to a Justice Demon.
 
These females had enhanced abilities to push
peace into Eurydices and soothe the tortured soul.
 
The mated bond, once made, kept the female in
the same state as the Justice Demon, longevity reaching her in order to keep
the Demon grounded.
 
Rumor had it Themis
set these tests in place with the mating in order to make sure the demons had
something to look forward to rather than dealing with death and hatred day in
and day out.
 

And now, since she had been taken,
Samantha closed off from Mike, had shut him off. Their precious six-year-old
daughter was ripped from their lives by an enemy Bari knew only too well … his
father.

“Any news on Rosalie?” Bari directed the
question to Tyler, who shook his head and frowned before his gaze snapped outside.

Bari sensed it, too, the sudden rise of
fear tearing down the link holding them to Mike.
 
His pulse thundered up his throat,
threatening to choke him, and Bari recognized it all coming from Mike—the
emotion so strong he was unable to shield them from his agony.
 
The call for help, a silent and unknowing one
coming from Mike, pulled at Bari, and he fought with answering for only a blink
in time before he flashed out of his kitchen and traveled over two hundred and
fifty miles with a simple thought.