Seduced by Chaos (6 page)

But what she was probably explained the shadows in her eyes.

And the weird-ass reaction he’d had to her. The one that had siphoned off the energy from the
amentia
and allowed him to lose himself in her body without losing control.

He hadn’t enjoyed sex that much in decades. Maybe ever. She was everything he’d always wanted in a lover and had never found, before or after the
amentia
. Giving, caring, uninhibited.

His.

Definitely his.

She sighed and her hand clenched into the sheets where his chest should be. As he watched, her eyes flew open and she drew in a sharp gasp as she realized he wasn’t there. Scrambling into a sitting position, she clawed at the sheets to pull them up around her as her wide, wild eyes met his.

His jaw tightened at the out-of-control fear in her eyes but he forced himself to keep his expression blank as he eased onto the other side of the bed. He didn’t reach for her.

He didn’t want her to pull away. But he didn’t get up either.

“Lacey. It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re okay. I won’t hurt you. No one will hurt you.”

Her mouth opened, but only a whimper emerged. The sound made his teeth clench in pure fury at whoever had done this to her. When he found them—

No. No, he couldn’t think about revenge now. With an effort, he throttled back his anger and focused on her.

“Shh, sweetheart. It’s just me. Teo. No one’s gonna hurt you, baby, not ever again.

You’re safe with me.”

43

Stephanie Julian

For at least a full minute, he sat there, completely still as she stared at him. Watched him with that terrified look in her eyes. But after a while, her fear began to ease. And embarrassment took its place. And shame.

She dropped her head, her hair falling around to conceal her face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Teo. You startled me.”

“Sweetheart, you weren’t startled. You were terrified.” He placed his hand in the middle of the bed between them, palm up. “You don’t need to fear me. I won’t ever hurt you.”

She shook her head, hair swaying back and forth. “I know that. I just—I didn’t—I’m sorry—”

Whoever had put that look on her face had a death sentence hanging over him, Teo swore. “Lacey, you don’t have to be sorry. Just tell me what’s going on. That’s all I want to know.”

Again, she shook her head, not looking up. “You need to leave, Teo. Please just go.”

He thought about it for a few seconds. She sounded so devastated, he wondered if he’d do more harm by staying. But there was no way he could leave her like this.

“I’m not going anywhere, babe.”

Her back straightened but she still didn’t look at him.

“This is
my
home, Teo. I want you to go.”

“No, you don’t.”

There. Her head popped up and a hint of challenge in her eyes forced back some of that terrified wildness.

“You don’t own me!”

The force behind her outburst had his eyes narrowing and told him more than she probably wanted him to know. It made his gut churn. “I don’t want to own you. Now tell me who put that fear in your eyes and I’ll make them burn for it.”

44

Seduced by Chaos

Her mouth opened to say something. But nothing came out. When she realized her mouth hung open, she snapped it shut. He caught the hint of tears in her eyes before she scrambled off the bed, dragging the sheets with her, hiding her body. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She took a deep breath, and he swore he saw her dig down and pull her courage up around her like she’d wrapped herself in the sheets. Her spine straightened and she stared down at him with what she probably hoped was disdain.

Her shaking hands negated the effect.

“I want—”

“I’ve seen the mark, Lacey. I’ve seen your ears. I know what they mean.”

She froze. Her entire body just seized up and he thought she might actually pass out from lack of oxygen. He rose from the bed slowly, so he didn’t spook her. He was a foot taller than she was and had at least a hundred pounds on her. But she wasn’t looking at him like she was afraid of
him
.

No, she was afraid of what he knew.

Her head started to shake back and forth, her hair falling over her shoulders.

“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

You don’t know anything.”

“Sweetheart, I—”

“Don’t call me that!” Her hands tightened on the sheet, the knuckles going white.

He let a few seconds tick by as she stared at him. “Lacey. How old are you?”

She frowned. “What does that matter? I want you to—”

“I’m one-hundred and twenty-three. You’re…what? Twenty-two? Twenty-five?”

Her frown hardened but her eyes lost just a little bit of that terror. “I’ll be twenty-six next month. A little late to be worried about robbing the cradle, isn’t it?”

He shook his head, letting a smile curve his lips. “Yeah, it probably is. And I’m not worried about that at all. I’m not worried about anything but you, sweetheart.”

45

Stephanie Julian

“I told you—”

“I know you’re
querciola
. I know what that means. I also know that there’s something between you and me that works differently. Doesn’t it?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her, trying to hold his impassive expression, but it was so hard in the face of her utter terror. “But do you know
why
?”

46

Seduced by Chaos

Lacey’s heart raced in her chest, so fast she worried she was having a heart attack.

He knew. He knew what she was.

Fear should be making her shake like a leaf. She should be running for the door, running from this town, from this state.

If he knew what she was, it wouldn’t be long before he told someone, who told someone else. And
they
would hear about the
querciola
who’d shown up out of nowhere in Reading.

But even though he knew what she was, Teo wasn’t looking at her like she was a circus freak. Or a possession to control.

Those hazel eyes were steady. Calm. Concerned for her.

As her heart rate calmed, she thought back to what he’d said.

There’s something between you and me that works differently…

She took a breath. And then another.

“What… What do you mean there’s something between us?”

Though he barely moved, Teo relaxed. She felt it as a slight lessening of tension in the air between them.

“I mean, there’s something different about how
we
interact. Isn’t there?”

She paused, thinking carefully about how much she wanted to reveal. In her gut, she knew Teo wouldn’t hurt her. But her brain realized he wasn’t being completely honest. He was holding something back. Just as she had.

Her hands flexed around the sheets clutched at her chest, reminding her that she was naked. She wanted to take a shower. She needed a few minutes alone. She needed to get the hell out of there.

47

Stephanie Julian

But that would mean leaving Teo. And she
so
didn’t want to do that.

That left her only one choice. Tell him everything and hope he was half the man she thought he was.

But she’d do it on her own terms.

“I’ll tell you what you want to know, Teo. But I’m going to take a shower first. I just need a few minutes to clear my head and get my thoughts in order.”

She saw him mull that over for a few second before nodding. “Okay if I make us some breakfast?”

Her relief showed in the small smile she gave him. “Sure. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Still holding onto the sheet, she skirted the bed, heading for the attached bath. But before she could make a clean getaway, Teo stepped in front of her.

The man just towered over her. And again, she was struck by the fact that he didn’t terrify her. He should. Other men—men not as big as Teo—had frightened her.

With one finger under her chin, he tilted her head back, far enough to lay a soft kiss on her lips. No tongue, no heat.

For such a big guy, he was amazingly gentle.

And it melted any lingering edges of tension from her body. She longed for his arms to enfold her, for him to draw her into the warmth and security of his body. She actually started to lean into him just before he pulled back.

The smile tugging at the corners of his lips drew an answering one from her.

“You better get in the shower,” he said, “or I’ll be tempted to join you.”

She wanted to say, “Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.” But she knew what would happen if he did.

And she really did need a few minutes to get her brain back in working order.

She made it to the bathroom without looking back.

48

Seduced by Chaos

* * * * *

Teo watched her go, rooting his feet to the floor so he wouldn’t follow her.

Damn, but he wanted to.

Still, they could both do with some down time and he was starving. Another byproduct of the
amentia
—he needed to eat on a regular basis or his body would eat away at itself. The amount of food he consumed in a week would terrify his mother and should have made him obese twelve times over. Instead, he fought to maintain his weight.

He didn’t want Lacey to think he was snooping but he did look into the rooms he passed on his way down the hall. He thought he’d passed the kitchen right as he’d come up the steps last night but he wanted to know more about the woman he’d fallen so hard for.

Too bad there wasn’t one damn personal object in the entire place.

The second floor held only one bedroom and he’d already seen how spare that was.

The bathroom across the hall was pristine. And stark white.

The large room in the front of the building had a TV, a couch and a traditional Etruscan dining table, dark walnut and low to the ground that any
etera
would think was a coffee table. A galley kitchen sat along the far wall.

No pictures on the walls. No magazines lay on the table. The only light fixtures were the ones on the ceiling.

If he didn’t know better, he’d think no one lived here.

His jaw started to tense again and he made a conscious effort to loosen it.

In the kitchen, he opened the fridge and freezer, almost surprised to find both fully stocked. Pulling out what he needed, he pushed everything out of his mind and let himself get lost in the familiar comfort of cooking.

49

Stephanie Julian

He’d become a damn decent cook in the last fifty years and by the time Lacey padded into the kitchen, he had juice, omelets, bacon, and strawberries and yogurt spread out on the table.

Her hair lay in a thick, wet braid over the shoulder of the oversized, white button-down oxford she wore, and her eyes refused to meet his.

“This looks great, thanks.” She motioned toward the table. “A man of many talents.”

He sat at one end of the couch, determined not to push her. “You live alone, you learn to cook or you starve. Or you go broke. I found I liked it and I had some aptitude for it.”

She sat on the other end and picked up the plate closest to her. After a few bites of the omelet, she finally looked at him, her eyes wide.

“Tinia’s teat, this is amazing. Do you really only cook for yourself? Are you sure you’re not a four-star chef for some fancy restaurant somewhere?”

He gave her a haughty stare, eyebrows raised. “What? Are you trying to tell me guys can’t cook just for the hell of it? I’m offended by your narrow-mindedness.”

Her sidelong glance assessed him for few seconds before her mouth twisted into a lopsided smile.

“You’re a tease, Teodoro de Feo.”

He let his own smile break. “Yeah, but you like that about me, don’t you?”

Her smile tilted up just a little more. Good, they were making progress.

They ate in silence after that, cleaning the table of every bit of food. She wasn’t shy about eating and he liked that about her.

Hell, he liked everything about her. And nothing would change that.

But would she still want him after she learned his story?

50

Seduced by Chaos

With a sigh, he set his plate on the table and settled into the couch, turning so he could see her. Lacey followed his lead, scrunching herself back into her corner of the couch and wrapping her arms around her bent legs.

After resting her chin on her knee, she stared at him for several seconds.

“My twin sister and I were raised by our parents in Maine,” she started. “The nearest town was twenty miles away. My parents thought we would be safe there, I guess. When we were seventeen, our mom explained what we were, how we were different. What it would mean to our lives.” She stopped, took a deep breath and let her eyelids drift shut for several seconds.

“A year later, two men came to the door, shot our father in the head then shot our mother in the back as she tried to protect us.”

Lacey watched Teo so closely, she swore she could see a physical manifestation of his rage like a haze around him.

He was furious on her behalf.

And she felt nothing. She couldn’t. Or she’d never get through this.

Now that she’d started, she didn’t want to stop.

“They took us to a building in New York City. We could see Central Park from the windows, when we were allowed to be in a room with windows. We were a month away from our eighteenth birthday when we entered that building. We came into our powers three months later.”

She swallowed down the bile that wanted to rise, forcing herself to retain eye contact. Teo’s gaze was steady on hers and he’d submerged that rush of fierce anger.

“We were sold to the
Mal
. They used me and my sister to blackmail politicians and other businessmen or as rewards for a job well done. In some ways, we were lucky.

They didn’t start to…use us until our powers kicked in. And by that time, we couldn’t have stopped ourselves.”

51

Stephanie Julian

Images she thought she’d tried hard to forget crowded to the forefront of her brain, trying to break free of her tight control. She fought them back with a mental bitch slap.