The Hot Zone (A Rainshadow Novel Book 3) (16 page)

There were other qualities, as well. It was courage and a sense of responsibility that had been on display today when she had stood her ground, holding the gate open, as he got his men to safety. She must have known in that moment that she would not make it through, herself.

He eased her down into a more comfortable position with her head pillowed on his thigh. She was too deep into the crash now to be awakened by such a small shift in position. It was possible to drag someone out of a deep post-burn sleep, but you never knew for sure how the individual would respond. The person was likely to awaken dazed and disoriented—trapped in the no-man’s-land between the dreamstate and the waking state.

He assessed his own status and concluded that he had told Sedona the truth when he said he wasn’t going to crash.

Like most hunters he carried some “hot shots,” an artificial stimulant in pill form. The meds were for use only in cases of emergencies in which conditions were too dangerous to allow for the luxury of sleep.

The effects of the hot shots were short-lived and, as with all things related to the paranormal, there was a price to be paid for using the crap. The crash that followed was inevitably even deeper and more profound than the original version. He rarely used the shots.

Cyrus reached down and touched Sedona’s hair.

“You’re wrong,” he said very softly. “I didn’t come back for you just because it was my job to protect you. I came back for you because I need you.”

A soft little chortle woke her sometime later. Her first thought was that she was home in her cozy little cottage near the graveyard. But for some reason her pillow was much too solid. And too warm. She opened her eyes and marveled at the blue glow that enveloped her.

Memories slammed back. With a start she realized she was no longer propped against Cyrus’s shoulder. Her head was in his lap. Embarrassed, she sat up so quickly that she very nearly clipped him under his chin.

“Sorry,” she said. She fumbled with her clothing and raked her fingers through her hair. When she realized she had lost the clip she glanced around the stone floor, looking for it. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep on top of you like that.”

Cyrus smiled a slow smile of pure masculine invitation. “You’re welcome to fall asleep on any part of me you choose.”

She flushed. She saw the clip, seized it, and yanked her hair back into a knot. When she looked up she realized Cyrus was still watching her. There was a little heat in his eyes.

She decided the best course of action was to ignore him. “Where is Lyle?”

“He just took off.”

“Hunting, no doubt.” She frowned. “But there’s nothing to hunt in this place.”

“That we know of,” Cyrus said. “There are predators out there somewhere, remember? Predators can’t survive without prey.”

“Good grief, do you think he went outside? Lyle is so little. He won’t stand a chance.”

“He’s got good instincts. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. How are you feeling?”

She thought about that while she cautiously opened her senses a couple of notches. Relief flooded through her when she realized the paranormal side of her nature felt normal again.

“Good,” she said. “I’m okay.”

Cyrus looked amused. “You sound surprised.”

“I am surprised.”

“Told you that you’d be fine.”

She smiled. “Yes, you did.” She glanced out the front of the cavern. The view was still blocked by the blizzard of psi. “Looks like it’s still snowing out there. What are we going to do if it doesn’t let up?”

“We’ll think of something.”

“Guess we’ll have to.” She leaned back against the wall and looked around. “You know, in its own spooky way, it’s really quite beautiful in here.”

“Yes,” he said. “Very beautiful. Unique. Unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced.”

She realized that he was not looking at the glacial-blue chiaroscuro that surrounded them. He was watching her as if she were the truly rare, exotic element in the cavern. Energy shifted in the atmosphere and she knew that Cyrus’s talent was stirring, but not in the fast, sweeping way it had when he had carried her safely through the storm. This time his talent was a seductive whisper of heat that lightly stroked all of her senses. Everything inside her was riveted by the subtle masculine lure.

“Stop that,” she said. But it took a lot of willpower to say it.

“Stop what?”

“You know what you’re doing.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he leaned his head against the wall.

“I want you,” he said. “I have from the first time I saw you. It’s not something I can turn on and off at will. It runs too deep. But if it helps, I can promise you that I can control myself. You’re in no danger from me.”

She felt parts of her clench in ways that only heightened her awareness of the heat they were both generating.

“I know,” she said. “I’ve never met a man who is as much in control of himself as you are. I suppose that you had to develop that kind of self-mastery to handle your talent.”

He looked out toward the storm. “Are you afraid that if we had sex I might accidentally lose control of my psychic side and destroy your own senses?”

“No.”
Shocked, she leaned forward, seized his chin in her left hand and turned his head so that he had to meet her eyes. “I’m not afraid of you, Cyrus Jones. I’m just not sure that it would be a good idea for us to get involved, that’s all.”

“Involved.” He moved one hand to indicate the glowing blue walls of quartz and the psi-hot storm at the entrance of the cave. “I’d say it’s a bit late to avoid getting involved. We’re in this mess together, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I’m aware of that,” she said stiffly. “I am referring to our personal relationship.”

“Let’s see, a few hours ago you saved the lives of several of my men and a dumbass kid who got into more trouble than he could handle. Now we’re sitting out an Underworld psi-storm and wondering how the hell we’re going to get back to the surface without becoming a snack for some monsters we haven’t even seen yet. I’d say that our personal relationship is pretty damn well cemented in stone. Whatever happens after we get out of here, one thing’s for sure, I’m never going to forget you, Sedona Snow. What about you? Think you’ll forget me?”

The heat in his eyes was so scorching hot it stole her breath. She had to focus to think clearly.

“No, of course I’m not going to forget you,” she said. “Everyone knows that sharing danger and . . . and hardship together can produce a bond of sorts between two people.”

“Got news for you. I wanted to take you to bed before we came down here and got this shared danger-bond thing going.”

Breathe, she told herself. Just breathe. But it was definitely getting harder to stay on track.

“Did you?” she said.

His mouth quirked faintly. “Oh, yeah.”

“I see.” She swallowed hard. “I’m not saying that, perhaps, in time, we might not find that there’s something between us.”

“But for now we should be cautious, sensible, and restrained.”

She glowered. “Well, yes. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing.” He smiled a slow, wicked smile. This time the glint in his eyes was laced with pure male amusement, as well as sexual heat. “It’s just that, given our current situation, it seems a little ridiculous to be overly concerned about our future relationship.”

“Why?”

“Let’s face it, we’re stuck in a psi-hot cave with limited supplies in the Underworld version of a desert island with singing predators hanging around the front door. Our only backup is a dust bunny that just left to find a hot date or grab takeout or maybe go back to the surface without us.”

Anger flashed through her. “Lyle would never abandon me.” She paused. “Us.”

“That’s a relief. For a while, there, I was a little worried. But now that I know that we can count on Lyle, I’m going to scratch that concern off my agenda.”

He was teasing her. She couldn’t believe it. For some reason that was all it took to push her over the edge. Now she was mad. And hot. She rose to her knees and clamped her hands on either side of his face.

“You bet,” she said. “What else could possibly go wrong? Has it occurred to you that we might end up spending the rest of our lives in this damn cave?”

“I don’t think it will come to that.” But his voice was suddenly a whole lot rougher than it had been a moment ago.

“Even if we do get out of here we might be so psi-fried that we’ll both wind up in a para-psych ward.”

“I’m okay with that so long as they let us share the same room,” Cyrus said.

“You’re not going to take this situation seriously, are you?”

“The situation, yes.” He watched her very steadily. “You, yes. But your fears about us getting too deeply involved in a relationship? Nope. I’m blowing those off.”

“Are you?”

“I’ve got bigger problems to worry about. Judging by that kiss last night, I’d say that at least some of the attraction between us is mutual. As far as I can tell, the only thing standing in the way of us having a relationship is the possibility that you might be afraid of me and what I can do with my talent. If that’s true, I’d rather we didn’t go down that road. I already tried that route with a couple of agency dates—nice women, strong talents—who thought they could overlook that aspect of my nature. Things did not go well.”

Inexplicable emotions raced through her in a rush of heat.

“This has nothing to do with your talent,” she said. “I’m trying to explain something here.”

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “Are you afraid of my . . . other talent?”

“Honey, you are welcome to set fire to my sheets anytime.”

She gripped the collar of his khaki shirt and kissed him—hard. At the same time she rezzed her senses.

. . . And discovered that in the psi-hot environment, she did not need a spark from the flicker to start a fire. Paranormal flames flashed and danced in the blue shadows, winking out as quickly as they appeared. At once everything around her became more intense.

“Oh, damn,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Don’t worry.” Cyrus caught her shoulders with both hands and pulled her down on top of him. “I’ve always wanted to play with fire.”

His eyes burned and she felt the fierce shadows leap in his own aura. The currents of ice that he generated clashed with the fires of her own psi-field. Sapphire lightning danced in the charged atmosphere.

He kissed her again and the lightning became a sizzling storm around them. But they were safe inside the sphere of dampening energy that Cyrus created.

She started to protest. She had trust issues, after all. She specifically did not trust Guild bosses. But Cyrus had come back for her when the gate slammed closed today.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

It was the second time he had said that to her, she realized. She had trusted him the first time. She could trust him now.

He used his grip to bring her mouth back down to his. More energy exploded in the atmosphere, blazing up and down the spectrum.

“Good grief,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry about it.”

She let herself sink back into the blazing kiss. He folded her close and tight, his legs tangling with hers. His breath roughened. When she moved one hand lower, she felt the rigid length of his erection thrusting relentlessly against his khaki trousers.

The charged atmosphere was intoxicating.

“Like having sex in the middle of a lightning storm,” she whispered.

“Oh, yeah,” Cyrus said. “Can’t wait to try this at home.”

She drew her fingertips along the side of his jaw. “Probably indicates that there’s something a little abnormal about both of us.”

“We already knew that.”

She felt his hands slide up under her pullover. His palms were warm and exciting on her bare skin. He tugged the garment off over her head and freed her arms. For the first time she wished she was not wearing a sports bra. It was about as sexy as an elastic support bandage.

“Wow.” Cyrus ran a finger under the snug lower hem of the bra. “So this is what women wear into the field. Is it a corset?”

“It’s a sports bra,” she said, on the defensive now. “It’s practical. Get over it.”

“It’s cute in a way.”

“Yeah, right.”

He laughed, shoved both hands under the lower edge of the bra, and hauled it up and off in one long sweeping motion. The garment landed somewhere on the far side of the cave.

“Comes off okay,” he observed. “That’s all that matters.”

He cupped one of her small breasts in his palm.

“Nice,” he breathed. “Perfect.”

He bent his head and kissed a tight little nipple.

She shivered and started to unbutton the front of his shirt. But her fingers were shaking. Frustrated, she yanked on the front of the garment. Buttons flew every which way.

“Oh, geez,” she said, genuinely shocked by her own passion.

“They don’t make field gear like they used to, do they?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She forced herself to take her time getting the rest of the buttons undone.

“Could you hurry things up a bit?” he pleaded. “I’m going crazy here.”

“You and me, both.” An alarming thought struck her. She stopped work on the buttons and took another look around. “This doesn’t actually feel normal. Not for me. Maybe it’s something about the energy in this place.”

“It’s not the damn cave energy.” He kissed her throat. “It’s us. You and me. To quote you, get over it.”

She was beyond arguing now. His mouth was hot and seductive on her skin. The touch of his hands on her sensitive breasts was almost too much.

With a fierce effort of will she got the last of the shirt buttons undone. He was wearing a khaki green T-shirt underneath. She pushed up the hem and spread her palms across his skin. He was warm to the touch and his skin was damp with perspiration.

“You feel like you’re running a fever,” she marveled.

“I am. You’re the cause.” He ran one hand down to the waistband of her jeans. “And the cure.”

He got her pants undone and then his fingers were inside her panties and she was suddenly very wet.

“Cyrus,” she got out in a soft gasp.

He shoved the denim down over her rear and then past her thighs. The panties went with the denim. The garments got tangled up around her knees, trapping her. She was so frustrated, she wanted to scream.

“Damn,” she whispered.

“I’ve got this,” Cyrus said.

He levered himself up to a sitting position and rolled her onto her back. With swift, efficient movements of his hands he worked the jeans and panties down her thighs and off her ankles. He flipped the garments aside. Clearly he had only one thing in mind at the moment. But she could hardly complain because she was consumed by the same objective.

Cyrus paused just long enough to strip off his own khakis and briefs, revealing the fierce erection she had detected earlier. She noticed that he was careful to set his gear-studded belt and the flamer within easy reach. Sex might be his immediate goal but he was still a Guild boss, after all.

He stretched out beside her and gathered her close. She inhaled the heady, sexy scent of him and made a small, choked sound that she feared sounded a bit like a growl.

If Cyrus noticed, he didn’t seem to find it alarming. He slipped one hand between her legs and groaned when he found the wet heat there. He stroked her until she was certain she would go mad, until everything deep inside her was clenched tight.

“Yes.” She caught his hand in a desperate attempt to force the rhythm. “Now.”