Torn From the Shadows (10 page)

He leaned forward, near my ear. “You’re the reason I became this. For that, I need to thank you.” He dropped his hand and kissed my cheek. When he moved back, I stared into his eerie eyes. “But it doesn’t change the fact you’ll soon be mine.”

“Get away from me,” I said through clenched teeth. Even after not seeing him for so long and desperately hoping he’d died that night inside the Tower, he was still pulling the strings and staying one step ahead of me. It was enough to infuriate me, so I yanked the boline from my thigh holster and stabbed it into his gut.

The familiar cocky smile froze on his lips when droplets of black blood hit the concrete.

I pulled the blade out but kept it between us while his gaze was lowered, focused on the glowing handle.
What the hell?
The moonstone was warm and shiny in my hand.

Mace took a step back, then looked over my shoulder.

“Sierra!” Lavie called my name, but was breathless and right behind me.

“Lavie, go back to the car.” I was afraid Mace might strike her, but he looked at me one more time before flashing out of sight and reappearing on top of the warehouse.

“We’ll be together soon.” He whispered, but it still reached my ears.

I watched in horror as he morphed into the electric gorilla, before vanishing altogether. All I could do was observe as bolts of lightning crossed over to the train lines and took off in the opposite direction.

The boline wasn’t glowing like moonlight anymore but still felt warm against my palm.

“Sierra, what just happened?” Lavie asked, stepping up beside me.

I shook my head, just as the sound of sirens cut through the night.

Somehow, Mace was not only a phantom…but claimed I was responsible.

Chapter Four

I woke with a jolt and sat up.

Sunlight streamed into my bedroom and I wasn’t alone. I vaguely remembered finding Papan already peacefully asleep in my bed, deciding not to wake him and crashing beside him. I ended up spending a fitful night of tossing and turning while what happened at the warehouse haunted me.

Mace’s reappearance and Juliet’s death were all I could think about.

What started out as a routine spook catching exercise, turned into a nightmare of death, shocks and reliving the incident by giving several statements to the police. Having Gareth at the scene helped calm my nerves, but did nothing to ease the fear of seeing what Mace had become.

My fingertips still felt a little tingly.

“Sierra, are you awake?” Willow called from downstairs. “I’m going to school.”

I groaned and slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Papan. His left arm was curved above his head, making the muscles of his upper body bulge. I wanted to etch his gorgeous vision into my brain so I could recall it every time something awful happened…which for me meant just about every other minute.

“Sierra!”

If I didn’t get down there pronto she’d wake Papan, so I ducked out of my bedroom and tiptoed down the stairs in my loose tee and pajama bottoms. The temperature might still be cool during morning and night, but this house was well heated.

“Shh. Keep it down,” I said.

“Oh, you’ve got company, huh?” Willow winked at me. She was dressed in her uniform and already had her bag slung over one shoulder. “Don’t forget, Ebony’s picking me up from school this afternoon so I can bring Freddy home.”

“It’s not going to be cheap.”

“I don’t care how much it costs, as long as Freddy’s okay.” She perked up. “Besides, Gareth’s friend is going to cut us a deal. So, how old is he anyway?”

I scratched my head. “I’ve no idea how old the dog is, doesn’t look like a pup—”

“No, I mean Gareth.”

“Oh.” I shook my head slowly because I knew what she was getting at. “Don’t even think about it. He’s too old for you.”

“I’m almost eighteen.”

“I know how old you are and I know how old he is, but don’t go there. Gareth’s a friend of the family, don’t complicate things. Besides, you might almost be eighteen, but right now you’re still a minor.” The awkward encounter Gareth and I had in this very hallway yesterday filled my mind, but I pushed it away. There hadn’t been any strangeness last night while I told him what I saw, minus the phantom’s appearance. Lavie was the only one I’d told. The other girls had been too weighed with grief—or too far away—and hadn’t noticed anything from across the street.

Willow stuck her tongue out at me. “Spoilsport.”

“Aren’t you and Jamie still together?” Jamie was my sister’s boyfriend before he died in a car accident. He’d become a poltergeist she’d carried around for a while, but after I helped release him into a poltergeist school, she visited as often as she could. Though lately, she hardly talked about him—or her friend Ronnie.

“I better get going. Don’t want to miss the bus.” Willow adjusted the strap of her backpack, waved goodbye and raced out the front door.

That’s strange.
She was deliberately avoiding my question.

I locked the door behind her and noticed the envelope with
Jason
written across the front in a messy, rushed scrawl. He was here, so why not give it to him? While I was at it, I went into the kitchen and grabbed the horrid gift Oren dropped off before Willow really did stumble upon it. She helped with the cooking and cleaning, so there was a high possibility she’d find the creepy Hand under the sink.

With envelope and box in my grasp, I headed back up the stairs. I could definitely use a few more hours of sleep.

I opened the bedroom door quietly, snuck back inside and shoved the box into my wardrobe. I glanced at the envelope one last time before placing it on the dresser. As I turned back to head for bed, I squealed like a little girl when strong arms wrapped around my waist and hauled me off my feet. I landed flat on the mattress with Papan leaning over me.

He liked to push his height around and I didn’t mind. His height and weight advantage meant we could try some very interesting positions.

“Good morning, Foxy Lady,” Papan whispered in my ear before he nuzzled it.

“It is a good morning when I wake up beside you.” I giggled when he kissed the side of my neck. Everything slid from my mind, and I was glad to let it go.

“Then why didn’t you stay?” His hand was slowly making its way under my tee.

“Willow was going to school…” I forgot what I was going to say as soon as his mouth covered mine and we were lost in a passionate kiss that was all lips, tongues, and the need to fuel the never-ending fire between us. “I miss you being here,” I said, breathless.

“I miss being here too, but it worked out, didn’t it?”

My sister and I had gotten into a comfortable routine while living alone, but having him shirtless in my bed and with his raging erection pressing against my belly, all I could think about was how much he meant to me. How much I wanted him to know that this thing between us had gone way past dangerous territory. I used to be so afraid to commit and let anyone into my heart, but Papan was deeply embedded inside.

I was madly and passionately in love with him, yet hadn’t told him.

The words were always at the tip of my tongue, but only slipped out after we’d already hung up, or he’d fallen asleep. I couldn’t wait another minute, I had to tell him. I’d let it hang between us for too long. He hadn’t said the words to me either, but I suspected it had more to do with me than him. He knew how the past had affected me and didn’t push.

“Hey, Papan, I’ve got something to tell you.”

“What is it?” His lips were tracing a warm line down my jaw while his hand squeezed my right breast, catching my nipple between his fingers.

I sucked in a shaky breath. If he kept touching me like this I wasn’t going to be able to tell him anything at all. “Ah…I…”

Papan ran the tip of his tongue down the side of my neck while he rolled my tee over my breasts. He lowered his face to the one he was already toying with, and paused long enough to say, “You what?”

“Papan, I… Oh…”

He alternated between licking my very erect nipple and then blowing on it softly, while his hand ventured south. He ran his fingers down my abdomen and kept going, sneaking under the elastic of my pajama bottoms. After a shower before bed to wash away all the bad stuff, I hadn’t bothered with panties so his fingers were lost between my legs before I could utter another word.

“Foxy,” he whispered, shifting his attention to my other breast. “What are you trying to say?”

I couldn’t utter a single word, not when his fingers were busy moving inside me.

So I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment. Before I knew what was happening, he’d yanked my pants off and was licking his way between my thighs. I raised my hips to meet his mouth as his fingers continued to work fast and well.

“Papan,” I whispered, licking my lips and holding onto the sheets for support. Heat rushed over my body and I felt so light I was afraid I’d astral project at any moment. Just as my spirit felt like it was floating away, the orgasm slammed into me. Everything tingled with pleasure and my legs twitched. As the exquisite sensation took over, I yelled, “
Jason
, I love you!”

He stopped his movements, pulled his fingers from me and slowly made his way up the length of my body, never breaking eye contact. “I know.”

“You do?” I was breathless.

He nodded. “I love you too,
Sierra
.”

My heartbeat picked up and warmed at the same time, spilling over with so much happiness it filled my chest with heat—adding to the pleasure still racing across my limbs.

I watched Papan strip off his pajama bottoms, admiring every contour of his impressive, long frame. His hard chest and tight abdomen made me crave his touch even more. The way his muscled arms rippled as he crawled up along my body filled me with anticipation.

A cheeky grin curved his lips as he pushed my legs apart and settled between them. As I watched him roll protection over his erection, I couldn’t help but wish he would forego the condom. I was already on the pill and wanted to feel him inside without any barriers between us, but he insisted we use it to be on the safe side. He didn’t want to risk his lycanthropy affecting me, even if I was sure it wouldn’t. There was nothing better in this world than making love to Jason Papan and I wanted to do it as often as I could.
 

One of these days I’d brew a tonic able to provide even better defense than a condom
and
the pill combined.

He pressed his hands against my thighs, kneeling closer until he finally entered me.

I moaned, wrapped my legs around his waist and forced him to lean into me until our chests were touching and his lips were back on mine. He tasted like sinful pleasure and I couldn’t get enough of him. As he thrust in and out of me, his arms holding him up and my hips meeting his, I tilted my head back to enjoy every sensation.

Papan’s mouth was on my shoulder, nibbling on my skin in a way that sent tiny electric shocks of pleasure through my body. I cried out his name as I came and ran my fingers down his broad back. But he wasn’t done. He leaned back enough for me to see the amber slowly leaking into his green eyes. He growled and kissed me roughly. We’d been here before, I knew what it meant. Full-moon week had come and gone at the beginning of September, but the blue moon was mere days away and the wolf lay just below the surface.

“He wants you as much as I do,” Papan said through gritted teeth.

“So let him have me.”

That was all the encouragement he needed. He pulled back and out, flipped me over until I was on my front and sat back waiting for me to get into position. So I raised myself onto hands and knees, prodding him so he’d know I was ready. This was the position his wolf liked, and I was more than willing to give it to him.

I looked across the room at the antique mirror, where I could watch his every move.

Papan crawled up behind me and in one quick thrust entered me. With both of his hands holding onto my hips, he pushed inside me, rocking my body forward and sending my breasts flying.

“Look at me,” I whispered.

As he continued to move behind me, Papan raised his amber gaze to the mirror. We stared into each other’s eyes as he pumped me a little harder with each thrust. It felt so good I thought I might come again if he kept going.

The crescendo was just around the corner, I could feel it.

A growl escaped him and he shifted his hands from my hips to my waist, encouraging me to rise until we were both kneeling and the front of his body was plastered against my spine. With one arm now draped over my breasts, he slid his other hand down my abdomen until his long fingers were rubbing between my thighs while he continued his deep thrusts.

I kept my eyes on him, watching as he touched and fucked me. I gasped when I felt the rumble of another growl against my back.

“You and I are meant to be, Sierra Fox. You’re my mate and nothing will ever change that,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded, mouth open as the last breathy pant tore from my throat and an orgasm swamped me with its persistent pleasure. Papan’s eyes were practically glowing yellow when he growled like the wolf he was and trembled against me.