The Three Fates of Ryan Love (11 page)

“Wouldn't be the first time something from the Beyond thought it had the right.”

It was true, but that didn't make it hurt less.

“I don't know if this is how I look in the Beyond. I've never seen myself there. Mirrors are forbidden in the palace.”

“The palace?” he deadpanned.

“The Three control fate. Did you expect them to live in a hovel?”

He shook his head. “You have royalty in the Beyond.”

It wasn't a question and his tone made it clear there was no reverence in it either. “As you do in the human world,” she answered. “We are of the same maker. Why are you surprised we have common ground?”

“Because what came out of the Beyond before had nothing in common with me.”

“Tell me there aren't those in your world bent on hate and violence. Monsters who hurt children and defenseless people.”

“They don't take over people's bodies. They don't
possess
people.”

“They would if they could. Inability doesn't negate desire.”

They glared at one another for a moment. Finally, Ryan shook his head. “Do I want to know why mirrors are forbidden?”

“I couldn't begin to guess what you want, Ryan,” she said coolly. “But I'll tell you, anyway. The reason is fear. Mirrors can do more than reflect.”

He laughed beneath his breath. Sabelle didn't know what he found funny in that, but she was too proud to ask. His scorn made her feel raw and vulnerable.

“Do any of those sisters have a thing for poisoned apples?” he asked, smiling that cold, unfeeling smile. She was learning to hate that, too.

“Only venomous creatures,” she answered.

At the same time, they both turned their heads and looked at the window. Sabelle felt the blood draining from her face as she pictured the black scorpion and what it signified.

“That means it was Aisa,” she murmured. “She's cruel and clever. Pretending to be your father was a stroke of genius. That kind of thing is her specialty.”

“That kind of thing?”

“Dipping into someone's psyche. Using it to drive him mad with her illusions.”

“Nice.”

“Were there ravens?” she asked and Ryan's head jerked up, answering. Definitely Aisa. “The ravens used to belong to the demons. Now they're free game. Aisa uses them to see.”

Ryan drained his drink, dumped the ice in the sink, and put the glass in the dishwasher. He didn't face her again. That was fine. What she had to say would be easier if she didn't have to watch his reactions.

She looked down, fingers numb against the wineglass. “You want to know what I am, Ryan?” she said, her words coming from a well of fury, pain, and humiliation. “I'm Aisa's slave. Her runaway slave.”

He didn't speak for a long time but she knew that he'd turned. She wanted to look up, see what moved through his eyes, even though she knew it would disappoint her. Sympathy would feel like acid. Dispassion, salt in an open wound. Anger could be directed at anything. None would make it less real.

“If you're a slave,” he said at last, “why hasn't she come to drag you back? She knows you're here.”

“The Sisters cannot travel between worlds.”

“But their slaves can?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Evidently. I didn't know it until it actually worked, though. I made the decision half expecting it to be my last.” Still, she refused to look at him. “The Sisters don't have to be here to exert their power. They use illusion and manipulation to make others do their bidding. If you turned me over to her, I'm sure there'd be a generous reward.”

“What kind of reward?”

Finally, she raised her chin and stared him down, needing to show him he hadn't hurt her. Her defiance backfired when he caught her eyes and held her gaze prisoner.

“Aisa is the most powerful of the Sisters and I am the most gifted of the seers. I'm sure the reward would be substantial.”

“I think you've got a bit of a God complex, snowflake.”

“Call it what you will.”

“How would I turn you over to her if she can't come collect you?”

“Do you really expect me to tell you?”

“Do you really think I'd do it?” Ryan asked.

“I don't know what you'll do, Ryan. I'm entirely at your mercy.”

His laugh sounded bitter. “If you say so.”

“What else did Aisa tell you?” Sabelle asked. “No, let me guess. She said I'd seduced the sense out of you. That I'd stolen your will to resist with my overwhelming sexual prowess. Is that about right?”

Ryan moved suddenly, pushing away from the counter, graceful and predatory at the same time. He prowled to where she stood and backed her into the corner of the counter's L. One hand went on either side of her hips, boxing her in, bringing his eyes level with hers.

“
Beguiled
was the word used.”

It was Sabelle's turn to laugh, but her eyes burned and a fist tightened around her heart.

“Beguiled,” she mocked. “No female has ever beguiled you.”

He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, letting the backs of his fingers skim her jaw. The gesture was so tender that Sabelle searched for the hidden threat.

“I didn't wear a condom,” he said softly. “Downstairs.”

It took her a moment to make sense of those words before the vivid memory played in her mind. She could feel him, even now, hot and thick inside her, hear her name on his lips, the tension in his body, the hot thrust of his release. She lowered her lashes.

“You know how many times that's happened, Sabelle?”

She shook her head, but she could guess. He was a careful man and his partners were always temporary.

“Never,” he confirmed. “Not even once.” His fingers curled gently around the column of her throat. He was so close that she could smell the soap on his skin, the faint scent of aftershave on his face. Beneath it was the delicious smell that was all his own, more intoxicating than the wine.

He went on, his voice making her shiver, making her yearn. “I went downstairs so pissed off I could hardly see. I swore I'd never touch you again.”

He waited. She said nothing.

“It took you a minute to change my mind. One touch and I quit thinking. I was so into you, the condom never even occurred to me until the damage was done.”

Damage
.

She forced herself not to flinch.

“Which is the one you're mad about?” she asked. “Is it that you forgot? Or that you forgot with
me
? Maybe you're worried that you'll catch something from my inhuman being.”

She could feel his stare burning into the top of her head, but she didn't look up. She couldn't. He'd see how hurt she was and that would be a mistake.

Ryan made a frustrated sound, his warm breath fanning her temple. “Why'd you make me back you into a corner to get the truth, Sabelle? You should have told me yourself.”

There was no sarcasm, no emotion whatsoever in his words, but Sabelle felt it all the same. The burn of accusation, the sting of disappointment.

“You wouldn't have helped someone from the Beyond. Not after all it's taken from you. And like you said, I'm the definition of ‘needs help.' ”

She chanced a glance up. His jaw hardened.

“I don't help women I can't trust.”

She couldn't stop the flinch this time and that made her angry. It gave her false courage.

“You don't trust at all, Ryan. Not ever.”

He raised his brows in a speaking look.
Because people lied to him
.

“So what did you think, snowflake? You were just going to bat those baby blues at me and I'd never figure things out?” he asked. “You had it right—I've given all I plan to give to the Beyond. My brother is dead because of it. Nothing that comes out of there can be trusted. My father told me that, too. If it was your sister—”

“Not
my
sister. Don't make that mistake again. It was Aisa. Just a tactic in her manipulation playbook to win you over. It worked like a charm, apparently. It was probably exactly what you wanted to hear. I know you bolted out of bed this morning. You couldn't get away fast enough. Your
dead father
told you I'm some kind of sorceress who's turned you into my love slave, and you probably hit your knees in gratitude for the explanation. You can't keep your hands off me and you want it to be my fault. A trick. A
spell.
You can't walk away if you can't stop touching me, can you? And that chafes. That goes against the grain, having to deal with a woman
after.
”

“You don't know shit about me, Sabelle.”

“I know enough. I've seen enough.”

She snapped her mouth shut. She shouldn't have said that.

Ryan's eyes turned glacial. “Just how long were you up there watching me?”

“The Beyond is not
up there
,” she shot back angrily. “It's not up or down. It's everywhere and everything.”

“Yeah, well, my tiny human brain can't really grasp how someone who looks like you can come from everywhere.”

“You don't like the way I look?” she taunted.

He answered with a wolf's smile. “Oh, I like. That was the plan, right? Dope me up with that killer body. Make me your boy toy. Someone you can control.”

“I didn't realize that was an option.”

“How long, Sabelle?”

“For as long as I needed to. No more, no less.”

“Days? Months? Years? Throw me a bone.”

“You ask me questions and mock my answers.”

“Tell me the truth and we can skip that part. How long were you watching me?”

“You have an astounding ego. Have you ever heard that before?”

“Only from women who stalk me.”

“It wasn't like that, but bravo on the deflection.”

Disbelief glinted in his eyes. “Watching me doesn't make you an authority on who I am.”

“No, but it's not rocket science, is it?”

Her face felt cold and numb, but she raised her gaze and gave him a derisive smile. “What part do I have wrong? You didn't bolt as soon as you could this morning?”

“Survival instinct.”

“Women expect things, don't they, Ryan? They want intimacy. They want a piece of you to hold on to. But you don't like to share. As soon as you let someone get close, you become defensive and hurt them until they leave you.”

He made a disdainful sound. His jaw was tight, his eyes hard. “Unlike you, I don't live in a fairy tale. I'm not looking for happily ever after.”

“Who was Ruby talking about last night?”

Ryan frowned. “No one.”

“Someone I reminded her of. Someone you were with long enough to introduce to your sister.”

“No one important. She came into Love's. Ruby was there. No big deal. I hardly knew the girl.”

“I wonder if she'd describe it the same way.”

“I'm not having this conversation.”

“Is that what it is? A conversation?”

Bristling silence filled in all the spaces around them, thick with challenge. She could almost feel that pacing fury inside him pause, eyeing her with distrust, with emotion so explosive it finally silenced her.

He caught her wrist when she tried to walk away from him and she looked up, into eyes that churned with turmoil. No doubt he saw the same in her eyes. Sabelle shook with the power of her own conflicted feelings, but she pushed through them. It was her turn to rule the corner of the ring.

He was too big to move, so she leaned into him, her fingers slipping beneath his undershirt, up to his chest.

“Say no to me, Ryan. Say you don't want me to touch you.”

She trailed her fingers over his rigid abdomen and up to his muscled chest. Soft hair brushed her palms as she pushed his shirt higher. Without speaking, he watched her press her open mouth over his nipple, but he couldn't hide the beat of his heart as it raced beneath her hands. His breath came in a harsh burst as his hands slid over her hips to her buttocks. He gripped her tight and pulled her against him.

“Tell me you don't think of me on my knees, like I was downstairs.” She went on tiptoe, arms winding around his neck, fingers in his hair. She tugged his head down so she could whisper in his ear. “Sucking you.”

Reaction went through his body, his arms flexed, bringing her closer to his hardness, molding her soft curves to granite muscle. It gratified her. If she was going to be accused of seduction, she damned well wanted to know what it felt like. But before she could gloat, he caught her mouth in a kiss so slow, so deep, that she forgot what she'd hoped to accomplish when she began touching him.

Slowly, he teased her lips until they parted and her tongue found his. He stroked and teased until she sank into the kiss, into him. She was lost in the taste and feel of Ryan. Her body bent back, bowed to the curve of his as he leaned down, trying to bring all of her against all of him.

She moaned softly and he lifted her off her feet, still kissing her like he would never tire of it. Somehow the refrigerator was behind her, the cool surface the opposite of Ryan's heat. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he leaned them both into it.

She'd started something she didn't know how to stop. Didn't want to stop. The stakes were too high, though. She might be a passing distraction for him, but for Sabelle this was
real.
As real as anything she'd ever hoped to experience. She'd spent her whole life looking in from the outside. To be here, now, with Ryan Love drugging her with his kisses . . . If she wasn't careful she'd lose sight of any goal but making him do it again.

They'd begun in anger. Vengeance, even, on both of their parts. Now this thing between them became something on its own. A flash fire out of control.

With one hand, Ryan caught both of hers and pinned them over her head. His other hand slipped under her shirt to her breast. He rubbed, fingers strumming the puckered nipple, sending zings of sensation through her body.