Moonlight Kin 4: Tristan (13 page)

Izzy’s heart stuttered, but this time it
wasn’t from fear. This time it came from desire. She pressed her
hands to his chest then slid them up around his neck.

Tristan groaned and his fingers bit into her
waist.

She couldn’t seem to get close enough to him.
Izzy stripped his clothes off. Her hands trembled as she made
contact with his bare skin.

“Do you want me?” he asked against her
lips.

“Yes,” Izzy hissed.

Tristan nipped her bottom lip, then grabbed
her T-shirt with both hands and tore it off her body. Izzy gasped
as the rest of her clothes followed.

Within seconds she was naked and standing
before him. Her body quivered as he cupped her sex to test her
readiness.

“I will be here soon,” he rasped. “It’s only
a matter of time before you welcome me inside.”

What was he waiting for? She was naked and
ready now. Izzy couldn’t be more welcoming if she tried.

“Take off the rest of your clothes,” she
said.

Tristan smiled and shook his head. “Not yet,”
he murmured, nuzzling her neck. “You’re not ready.”

The moisture pooling between her thighs said
otherwise. Izzy felt the brush of his lips, then sharp teeth scored
her skin. Her nipples hardened, and she grew restless in his
arms.

“I want you,” she said, all but begging him
to take her.

Tristan licked the spot at the base of her
neck where it met her shoulder. “You only want this part of me.” He
guided her hand to the front of his jeans and left it resting on
his erection.

Izzy shook her head. “No, you’re wrong,” she
said. “I want all of you.”

He pulled back just enough to look her in the
eyes. “All of me?” he asked. “Are you sure?”

Izzy would swear to it, if it meant he’d get
undressed. “Yes.”

Tristan smiled at her, revealing his extended
canines.

It took a second for Izzy’s desire-fogged
brain to register what she’d glimpsed. The moment she did, she
jerked away.

Tristan’s hard laugh filled the silence.
“Told you,” he said softly. “I won’t touch you until you want all
of me,” he said, then turned to go.

“Wait!” Izzy shouted as the vision faded.

She blinked into the darkness, wondering if
she’d spoken aloud. Her body was so aroused it ached.
Please be
asleep.
She sent the silent prayer up into the ether.

Izzy turned her head toward the couch and
found Tristan staring directly at her. His silvery eyes glowed in
the dark. She inhaled sharply and caught a hint of her desire
wafting on the air. If she smelled it, then it was a good bet that
Tristan could, too.

The question was would he act upon it?

And if he did, would she stop him? The answer
she received left Izzy blindsided.

Tristan continued to stare at her.

I want you
, a little voice inside of
her whispered.

He stiffened as if he’d heard her thought
then slowly turned over, leaving her to stare at his pale back.

Izzy punched her pillow while cursing her
visions. Normally they came true, but in this case, the chance of
that happening was slim to none.

* * * * *

“Today we’ll try again,” Tristan said, taking
a bite of bacon. “But this time I’m going to stick by your side,
since you’ve made it clear that I can’t trust you.”

“I thought you said your presence would keep
the Darkling away,” she said.

He glanced at her, but his expression
remained hard, unyielding. “There are other ways to draw it out.
Ways I’ve avoided until now because of the discomfort they’d
cause.”

Discomfort? Izzy didn’t like the sound of
that. She stared at him across the kitchen table. “What exactly do
you have in mind?”

“If it’s worried that it’s going to lose you
to another wolf, it’ll become desperate to grab you,” he said.

“I don’t understand.” There was no warmth in
Tristan’s slate eyes.

He pushed his breakfast aside and walked
around the kitchen table. He stopped in front of her.

“What are you doing?” Izzy craned her neck
and scooted back, but there was nowhere for her to go.

He grabbed a fistful of her shirt and yanked
her off her feet. Tristan’s lips came down upon hers in a searing
kiss. The kiss left Izzy breathless and shaken.

It took her a moment to recover and pull
herself together. “What was that for?”

“To give you a taste of what’s to come,” he
said, his voice hard and raspy. “Try to play along. It’ll be more
convincing that way.” Tristan returned to his seat and finished
eating his breakfast like nothing had happened.

Pain sliced Izzy. How could a kiss heat her
to her toes and leave her so cold? Whatever softness she had
witnessed from him the other night was now long gone. Tristan was
back to being all business, and she was to blame.

She thought about Stone’s warning again...
It’s either them or us
.

Would this hunt come down to life or death?
Izzy sure hoped not. What would happen if it did? The question left
her nauseated.

Izzy shoved her breakfast aside. No longer
hungry.

* * * * *

Tristan still felt her lips pressed against
his. His anger had subsided, but not the hurt. He wanted to hurt
Isabel back. Show her what it felt like. Glimpsing her pained
expression, Tristan was confident he’d succeeded.

You did what you had to do
, a little
voice said.

So why did his actions feel so wrong? And why
in hades did she always feel so right in his arms? If that kiss got
any more convincing, they’d end up on the bed.

Tristan shoved his food away as Isabel
stomped off to the bathroom. The second the door closed behind her,
he ran a trembling hand through his hair. This whole situation was
getting out of hand. Maybe he needed to call in another Enforcer to
take over. There weren’t many, but there were a few.

Even as the thought flitted through his mind,
Tristan wouldn’t do it. Just the idea of another wolf staying in
the cabin with Isabel had his hackles rising.

“Get your head in the hunt,” he muttered.

Thirty minutes later, the bathroom door
opened and Isabel stepped out. “Ready,” she said.

One look at her in that strappy purple
sundress and the air rushed out of Tristan’s lungs. She couldn’t go
out like that. Isabel couldn’t go anywhere dressed that way.

The sundress plunged just low enough to give
him and every other man a tantalizing view of the soft mounds
filling the front of it. The dress nipped in at her waist,
emphasizing how small it was, before flaring out at the hips.

Tristan’s gaze traveled down before reversing
direction.

The material ended just above her knee,
showing off her shapely legs. Isabel was quite literally
stunning.

It took Tristan a moment to recover. “What
are you wearing?”

Isabel glanced down at her dress. “I would
think that would be obvious,” she said.

He clenched his jaw and tried again. “Why are
you wearing that dress?” he asked.

Her blond brow arched. “You said we were
going in town to draw the Darkling out. You said we were going to
pretend to be a couple, or at least you implied as much,” she said.
“We can’t really make someone jealous if we’re dressed as
slobs.”

“I never dress like a slob,” he said,
insulted by the insinuation.

“Okay.” Isabel rolled her eyes. “Maybe not
sloppy, but definitely casual.” She walked deeper into the room.
“We won’t attract attention if we’re dressed like all the other
tourists. We need to stand out.”

She had a point, but Tristan didn’t have to
like it. He stared at her, trying to ignore the curves that were no
longer hidden beneath baggy clothes. It was impossible. Without
effort, Isabel had just turned a hard day into sheer torment.

“Give me a minute to change, and then we’ll
get out of here,” he said.

* * * * *

The tension continued to build on the drive
into town. Izzy caught Tristan admiring her legs a couple times and
wondered if he even knew he was doing it.

The look on his face when she’d stepped out
of the bathroom was one she wouldn’t soon forget. Izzy had heard of
people being stunned speechless, but she’d never witnessed it
firsthand. And she’d certainly never expected to cause such an
event.

Part of her felt unduly pleased that she’d
been able to surprise him. That hadn’t been Izzy’s intent when
she’d put the sundress on, but it was a nice byproduct.

They parked just off the French Quarter near
Louis Armstrong Park then strolled toward Jackson Square. When they
reached the square, Izzy spotted Everly’s dark head near the west
end.

Tristan scanned the people with quiet
intensity.

“Mind if we stop at Everly’s table?” she
asked.

“I’m surprised she’s up so early,” he
said.

“She probably hasn’t been to bed yet,” she
said.

Tristan slipped his hand in hers. It
should’ve been awkward, but for some reason the fit seemed
natural.

“Lead the way,” he said.

They walked hand and hand over to Everly. Her
dark eyes widened when she caught sight of them and widened some
more when she saw their joined hands. Her pierced brow arched.

“It’s not what you think,” Izzy said.

“Yes, it is.” Tristan raised her hand up to
his mouth and kissed the back of her knuckles.

She felt his tongue snake out to taste her.
Heat spread from Izzy’s hand down her arm before rocketing through
her body. If it got any hotter, she’d have a heat stroke.

“What are you two up to?” A smile played
across Everly’s face as she indicated for them to sit down.

They took the seats in front of her table. To
an outside observer they’d look like a couple of tourists getting
their cards read. Only she and Tristan knew the truth.

Everly shuffled the tarot cards on her table
then turned them over slowly. Her gaze focused intently on what
they revealed.

“What are you doing?” Izzy asked, growing
alarmed as the cards fell. She didn’t want a reading, especially in
front of Tristan. Goodness knows what the cards would say.

Everly grinned. “Thought it would be fun to
see what’s really happening here.”

Izzy’s jaw set. “I already told you,” she
said.

“You and I both know just how deceptive
appearances can be.” Everly stared at Tristan.

Izzy couldn’t see his eyes narrow, but she
felt his body tense and the grip on her hand tighten.

“You say one thing. He says another,” Everly
said. “I don’t think either of you know the truth.”

“What do you see?” Tristan asked, showing
more teeth than necessary.

Everly flipped another card. The Lovers
appeared. She tapped the card with her index finger. “That’s the
same thing I got in my vision,” she said.

“But you
can
be wrong.” Izzy heard
panic and desperation in her voice. Seeing the card reminded her of
the vision she’d had last night.

Everly glanced at her. “Sure, I can be.” She
paused. “But not twice.”

“We are not sleeping together,” Izzy
blurted.

Tristan released her hand and placed his palm
on the small of her back. His thumb made small circles at the base
of her spine. If he was trying to relax her, it wasn’t working.

“Now honey,” he said, nuzzling her, “what
starts in the bedroom, stays in the bedroom.”

Two women passing by snickered and gave
Tristan a once- over that made Izzy want to poke their eyes out.
Couldn’t they see his hand on her? Was she invisible? Didn’t they
notice her sitting next to him?

Before the next thought struck, Izzy stilled.
Was it possible that she was
jealous
? How could that be? She
didn’t even
like
Tristan.

Everly kept turning the cards over, ignoring
them both. The Devil card appeared. She frowned and flipped a few
more over for clarification, but it only frustrated her more.

The Devil didn’t necessarily mean something
bad. It also indicated drastic change depending on the other cards
around it.

Everly flipped the last card. Death.

Izzy gasped. Like the Devil card, the Death
card didn’t mean that someone was going to die. It could be the
death of an old way of thinking or the death of an old way of life.
It wasn’t always literal...except it was next to the Devil
card.

Everly’s gaze met hers. “You have to be
careful. Evil is nearby.”

Nearby or sitting next to her
, Izzy
thought.

She glanced at Tristan. Frosty may be a pain
in the rear with a questionable job, but as far as she could tell,
he wasn’t evil. This whole situation would be easier if he was bad,
but Tristan wasn’t. She’d been around him long enough to ascertain
that much. Evil didn’t fix omelets. Evil didn’t hold someone in the
middle of the night after they’d had a bad dream.

No, Snowflake wasn’t evil, but his behavior
left much to be desired. Perhaps that was what Everly picked up
on.

“Thanks for the reading.” Izzy pushed her
chair back. She’d seen enough.

“I didn’t do it just for you,” Everly said.
“What are you guys
really
doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay and to
let you know that I was all right,” Izzy said. “I also wanted to
ask you again to get out of town.”

Everly shook her dark head. She’d dyed the
strands so black they appeared blue in the sunlight. “I told you
before, I’m not going anywhere.” Her gaze darted to the cards in
front of her.

“Frosty says there’s something worse than the
monsters running around town.” Izzy touched her hand. “Be careful,
okay?”

Everly laughed. “Frosty?”

“Don’t call me that,” Tristan said.

“But it’s okay if Izzy calls you that?”
Everly asked.