Shadow of Temptation (Asylums for Magical Threats #2.5) (8 page)

He still surrounded Sabrina in shadow form and he carefully covered her entire body with his shadowy mist. He started to caress her skin and she went limp. Any time he tried to transport someone, they always went unconscious; he didn’t worry. Instead, he concentrated on engulfing her body. Once she was completely covered, he imagined her cells breaking down until she became part of his shadow cloud.

He could feel her warmth mixing with his own. In the past, he’d always had to transport strangers, and usually against their will. But this time was different. Sabrina was familiar, and her scent surrounded him and oddly calmed him. He was starting to realize how intimate this act was—two beings breaking down to become one.

Shit, that sounded way too romantic for his life, and he quickly pushed the thought aside.

Now that they were both shadows, he started to move along the darkest parts of the alley. He had done something similar a few days before, when he’d transported a man named Marco Alvarez from a different market.

Once they hit the streets, he easily avoided anyone stepping on or in him. The feeling of someone encroaching on his shadow form was never pleasant—like someone kicking him in the stomach or the side of the head.

Since he wasn’t going to risk going back to the safe house in case their previous location had been compromised, Jorge headed to another place, one that would hopefully allow Sabrina enough time to wake up and recover. Now that the Collector’s people had found them, the clock was ticking. They needed to move up their takedown of Watkins and flee the Yucatan peninsula as soon as possible if they wanted to live out the week.

Sabrina opened her eyes to find Jorge seated next to her on an unfamiliar bed and staring down at her. She tried to sit up, but he forced her to stay still with a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at his hand and back at his face before she asked, “Are you going to tell me what happened? One minute you disappear in front of my eyes, and the next I wake up here.” She frowned. “Just what all can you do with those strange powers of yours?”

At first, she thought he was going to argue with her again, but instead, he studied her face. When he brushed a lock of hair off her forehead, she resisted a shiver at his touch—so tender and warm, a big contrast to his usual behavior.

That raised her guard. Why was he being so nice to her? The old Jorge might’ve been this tender, but not the newer, harder version. Something had to be wrong.

She glanced down, but she didn’t see any life-threatening injuries. She looked back into his warm, brown gaze and said, “Do we really need to get into an arguing and threatening match again? Or will you just tell me what’s going on?”

He stopped playing with her hair and said, “I didn’t disappear back near the market. I used my shadow-shifting abilities to become a shadowy mist. That’s what you saw all those months ago, when my arm seemingly ‘disappeared’ during our run. That had been the first time I’d ever had that happen to me.”

She remembered that day. They’d been doing one of the trail runs on their day off. Jorge had suddenly buckled over and cried out in pain. She’d gone to him, convinced him to stand up, and then they’d both noticed the lack of his hand and forearm. Sabrina didn’t remember screaming, but just staring with her mouth open. She’d heard a few tales of strange
Feiru
abilities during her early training with the
Feiru
Liaison office, but the disappearance of Jorge’s arm had been the first time she’d seen any type of
Feiru
magic up close.

Once the shock had worn off, Jorge had pushed her aside and ran away. Sabrina had been too freaked out to follow him.

In hindsight, she realized how frightening the situation must have been for him. As his friend, she should’ve gone after him to make sure he was okay.

Instead, she’d betrayed him.

No.
She wasn’t going to walk down that memory lane again. Getting too close to him while undercover had been a huge mistake, and she couldn’t let it happen again. Right now, she needed to focus on getting more information out of the man sitting beside her. Specifically, she needed to understand how his powers worked. Maybe then they could use them to help push up the date of their take down of Watkins.

She needed to see Jorge Salazar as a tool and nothing more.

He was still staring at her with concern. She was pretty sure her face was neutral, but since her undercover agent training seemed to fade the longer she was around him, who the hell knew what the man saw.

Jorge raised his eyebrow in question, and she nodded for him to continue.

He rubbed the comforter on the bed between his fingers as he said, “What I did today was another aspect of my powers that I discovered during my time with the Collector. It’s probably one of the few things I actually was happy to pick up.”

“Is that how we got here?”

He nodded. “I can surround someone in my shadowy form and then break down their cells until they become a part of my shadow mist. As long as I don’t shift back, I can move through the shadows and be nearly invisible. I call it my ‘shadow-transport’ ability, although I have no idea if that’s what it’s officially called or not.”

She studied the young man in front of her. There was more that he wasn’t telling her. “Not that I don’t appreciate the explanations, but why are you suddenly telling me all of this without a fight? I could barely get two words out of you on the way to the market. What changed?”

His face turned grim. “Some of the Collector’s army were back at the market. That’s why you had trouble walking, because someone with the ability to weave strong, invisible strands and direct them to move as they wished had control over your legs. The female Night-Weaver—that’s the name of that latent ability—was there because of me. If you’d been taken, they would’ve done the same to you as my sister, maybe even worse. And no one, not even you, deserves that.”

She softened a little at his words. Maybe he didn’t hate her as much as she’d thought. “Why would they go after me? It’s not like I mean anything to you.”

His jaw clenched. “They probably saw me carrying you from your apartment to that other safe house. They had no way of knowing that you were merely drugged and not curled up against my chest.”

All of the tender thoughts she had about him vanished. “Next time, you should just put up a huge sign. That way they won’t make the same mistake twice.” She tried to sit up, but he kept her in place with his hand on her shoulder. “Let me up, Jorge. The sooner we figure out our next steps, the sooner you can leave and never see me again.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “Two things. One, you need to rest a little longer to recuperate from becoming part of my shadow mist or you’ll end up fainting.” He lowered his head until he was a few inches from her face. “And two, it matters to me if you live or die, so stop dismissing yourself as expendable, because you’re not.”

His breath was hot against her cheek, and she couldn’t look away from his gaze. “What?”

“Knowing the Collector’s people like I do, it won’t be long before they find me. If I’m going to die soon, then I’m going to stop pretending around you.” He moved so that he caged her body with his arms. “For whatever fucked up reason, I still want you, maybe even more than I did as the nice guy from all those months ago. But what I need to know, Sabrina, is if your indifference is the same or if you’ve changed your mind?” He lifted a hand to run a finger down her cheek and her breath hitched. His eyes turned heated. “Just say the word, Sabrina, and I’ll kiss you.” He leaned close until he was a hairbreadth away from her lips. “Maybe even more. So tell me, what should I do?”

Her heart was pounding so loud that she wondered if Jorge could hear it. He continued to stroke her cheek, and each pass of his finger was like a little shock that went straight to her core. In that second, she wanted him naked and inside her.

The realization should startle her, but Sabrina was tired of lying to herself. She wanted him to kiss her more than anything she’d wanted in a long time. But she hadn’t survived this long by simply seizing what she wanted. She needed to make sure that indulging in a kiss wouldn’t screw up their plans or endanger their safety.

If she could secure that, then maybe—just maybe—she could finally do something because she wanted to do it instead of doing it for the sake of the mission. “Won’t the Collector’s people be looking for us? We should probably think of where to hide and see if it’s still possible to stop Watkins’s plan.”

He moved his finger from her cheek to her lower lip, his finger warm and rough against her sensitive skin. It took everything she had not to moan.

Jorge stilled his finger and said, “There is no way they could’ve followed my shadow escape. We need to lay low for at least a few hours before we do anything.” He moved his finger from her lip to under her chin and lifted. “Stop thinking of excuses. We’re safe for now, so if you want me, then say it. Life’s too short to keep denying what you truly want.”

His proximity, his touch, his heat, and his masculine scent filling her nose were all too much. She couldn’t—and didn’t want to—resist him any longer.

Sabrina ran a hand up to his neck, pulled down until he rested his body against hers, and whispered, “Kiss me.”

Chapter Eight

Jorge could barely believe his ears. He hadn’t expected Sabrina to say yes, let alone pull him down against her body and look at him as if she was ready to devour him. Before she could change her mind, he cupped the side of her face and lowered his lips to hers.

He kissed her gently at first, but the first taste of her lips sent blood straight to his cock, and he desperately wanted to see if the combination of her taste in his mouth and her scent in his nose would be as addictive as he imagined.

He may have tried to deny it, but he’d wanted this woman for nearly two years. He pushed aside any hesitation and brushed the seam of her lips for permission. She opened and he plunged into her sweet, warm mouth. The heady combination of her heat and taste made him moan. He wanted more, much more.

But was he the only one? He decided to find out.

He moved his hand to the hem of Sabrina’s t-shirt and ran his finger under the material to brush the soft, smooth skin of her waist with his fingers. The more he stroked, the more Sabrina moaned into his mouth, and he knew she wanted more, too.

He eased off her chest and slowly ran his hand under her shirt until he could cup her breast over her bra. He could feel her tight, beaded nipple through the material and he took a chance and pinched the tight bud. Sabrina threaded her fingers through his hair and stroked her tongue more fervently against his own. Wanting to see if he could make her even crazier with desire, he pinched and rolled her nipple again as he fought for control of her mouth, reveling in their teeth clashing more than once as they each fought for control. Sabrina met him stroke for stroke and upped her game by wrapping one of her legs around his and raising her hips against his cock. Despite the clothes separating their skin, he thrust against her and Sabrina broke the kiss with a hiss.

He stilled his lower body and whispered, “Look at me.”

Her heated brown gaze met his, and his cock throbbed, demanding much more than the friction of clothing against clothing. He wanted her skin.

He pulled down one of the cups of Sabrina’s bra under her shirt and rubbed his palm against her hard, beaded nipple. “Will you let me taste you, Sabrina?”

He pinched her nipple and she moved her hips against him as she whispered, “Yes.”

After giving her breast one last squeeze, he moved his hand to the bottom of her shirt and tugged up. She raised her arms; he lifted the shirt off, and tossed it aside. He looked down and the image of one smooth, tan breast exposed while the other was still covered with her blue bra made him even harder.

Sabrina lifted her hand to his hair again and pulled down. “Are you going to keep staring or are you going to taste me, like you promised?”

Fuck, he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this sexy, straightforward woman, but he was going to relish every minute of it while it lasted.

He growled, bent down, and sucked her nipple. Hard. He felt her other leg wrap around his waist, but he focused on teasing her tight bud with his tongue. A swirl, a flick, and then he finally bit her gently. She tightened her grip in his hair and he released her. He blew on her wet flesh and she shivered. He smiled. “Maybe I should stop there.”

“The hell you will.” Sabrina grabbed his head and brought it down to her face.

Sabrina didn’t know what had come over her, but all she knew was that from the instant Jorge had kissed her, all of her years of pent-up lust had come rushing forth.

At least that was what her mind wanted to rationalize, but Sabrina had never wanted a man to fuck her as much as she wanted the man currently between her legs. His warmth, his strength, and even his taste made every inch of skin sensitive and aware that she was a woman and he was a man.

The way he tortured her nipple had nearly made her come. When he blew on her wet skin and suggested he should stop, she was beyond the point of rational thought. So, she took what she wanted, grabbed his head, and kissed him.

She pushed her tongue inside his mouth and arched her back up to rub her sensitive nipples against his chest. The friction of one bared breast and one bra-covered against the fabric of his shirt was a different kind of sensation than what she’d had before, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to feel the heat of his skin around, over, and inside her.