Undying Hope (15 page)

“Quinn,” she whispered his name. Her body rippled along the length of him. “I want you.”

He groaned. He shifted his hold and trapped the back of her head with one of his hands to hold her exactly where he wanted her. “Need you.” He jerked back and growled at her.
Oberon!
He wanted to bury himself inside of her and stay for as long as she’d let him, but something wasn’t adding up about Mason. Until he figured it out, her life was in danger. No matter what his needs were, they could wait until she was safe. “Haven.” He dropped his head onto her shoulder. “I—I’m sorry. Memphis isn’t the only one who can open portals. I need to be on guard.”

She let out a soft little sigh. “No, my Quinn. For once, being on guard is the last thing you need to be.”

Quinn’s eyes flared in a blood red glow.

“You moron!”
Haven heard a distinctly separate voice roar. “
Our lifebond wanted to mate with us and you denied her? What in the name of Avalon is wrong with you?”

Quinn’s grip on her went painfully tight before he let her go, and she slipped down the wall.

“If Mason is working with a Storm, you’d let lust make her vulnerable to attack?”
Quinn’s voice snarled back.

Pain ripped through his head, making it feel like his skull was going to split in two. She felt his pain as if it were her own. He wrapped both hands around his head as he sank onto the floor. Every time Bastian had gotten into an altercation with the power growing inside of him, he’d reacted in just this way—only his eyes had glowed silver.

Ha!

She knew what to do. Quinn’s power might not listen to her, but at least she might be able to help ease the headache so Quinn wouldn’t suffer.

She darted forward and got down close to the floor where Quinn was half curled and now lying on the floor. She shifted around him and gently lifted his head into her lap. His blood red, glowing gaze met hers. She was now dealing with his power. As much as it should make her afraid, it didn’t. The
treòir
just needed to back off. “You need to calm down,” she said in a stern tone. “I know Quinn was a very bad boy for not having sex with me right this second, but I think it’s very sweet he’d deny himself so that I am safe.”

The floor under them rumbled. Quinn’s eyes flashed between red and gold before they flared gold and then faded back to his usual ice blue. He blinked a few times and then slowly sat up. He rubbed at his temple as he moved around in the hall to prop himself up against the wall. His head cocked, and then a slow smile curved his mouth. “Imagine that,” he said in that voice that always made her knees quiver. “You just defeated one of the stronger powers in this world. My head thanks you.”

“Defeated?” No. She hadn’t meant to do that. “It’s all right? I didn’t hurt it, did I?”

“He’s all right.” His usual smooth tones gritty. “He’s off sulking.”

“Sulking? Your
treòir
is sulking?” Oh, man. The man oozed sex at that moment. She couldn’t get over how focused and intense his gaze was on her. She had the distinct urge—no, need—to ask him to take his shirt off. If he kept staring at her like she was the only salvation for his soul, she was going to climb into his lap and demand he sedate the fire burning in her blood.

“Haven,” he murmured. “What changed?”

She winced and settled on the opposite wall. “You noticed that, huh?”

“Uh, yeah.” He stretched his legs out at an angle across the hall. “I was pretty sure it was going to take a century to get you to trust me.”

“My father once told me the Black Rose was started by a man named Cadeyrn.” She felt heat infuse her cheeks. “I connected the dots. I’m the heiress to the Black Rose, and it’s
your
organization. It only makes sense the universe would throw us together.” She looked at him again from under her lashes. “And Nikon said I’m your type.”

His laugh was deep and vibrated through her. “I see. So then—”

“Yes,” she said quickly and stood up. “I just tried to jump your bones, Mr. Donovan. You are one hot man and you’re all mine.”

* * * *

Donovan drew in a shuttering breath. He’d never been more terrified in his life. For the first time he could do exactly what Haven wanted him to do and forget the world and its needs. It was something he had never risked before—but he wanted to now. He wanted more than anything to lose himself in her sweet feminine scent and soft curves. He couldn’t let himself go that far—not yet. Not when a mistake on his part would cause Haven her life.

Haven turned to face the living room. “Um, well, that is, our food should be here soon. I’ll take Nikon and go down to the lobby.”

“You want her,”
the
treòir
said. “
I will guard.”

Donovan shoved up to his feet and gently wrapped his hand around her wrist. “Haven. It’s not that I…”

She turned, but her expression was unreadable. “I can… I hear it—him and you—talking. Look, I know what big boys and girls do together, and your desire is obvious.” She coughed and covered a smile with her hand. “I just don’t know how to react to you denying yourself for my…benefit.”

Mason was going to die a slow and painful death. He reached in the door of his office to snag his wallet off the walnut file cabinet. “I’ll go down with you. Seven-eighths of what we ordered is mine anyway.” He put his hand out for her.

She stared at his hand for so long goose flesh bumped on his skin before she slid her hand into his. “I don’t understand. Why? When you don’t have to?”

He let go of her hand and hooked his arm around her neck, wishing he could have protected her. “He hurt you.” He didn’t want details—knew it was better if he never got the details, but he would acknowledge he knew and understood that she’d been mistreated by Mason. “He will never touch you again.”

She curled one of her arms around him. “What am I to you?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

She pulled away from him. Her hand slid down his arm; her fingers entwined with his. “To my grandfather, I am the broodmare who will produce the next Killian heir. To Mason, I am his connection to power. What am I to you?”

“Haven,” he murmured her name. “You are my haven.” His eyes burned with the double meaning of her name. “My sanctuary… The person I hope I can turn too when I…need.”

“Wow. We need to get that food because I swear I’m going to demand you hurt someone if we have to deal with anymore interruptions.” Her laugh held a sweet giddy kind of nervous. “How can you say something like that when we barely know each other?”

“You are correct. We need no more interruptions.” He tugged her gently toward the door. “I want what my brother has with Nadia.” His voice went low and gruff. “I want what my—my parents had. I won’t get it if I mistreat you or put a value on you for being anyone other than who you are.”

“Careful,” she said as she padded behind him on her sock-covered feet toward the elevator. “Keep talking like that and I’ll have no choice but to fall in love with you.”

He hit the button to call the elevator. He studied her in profile. “Well, then, what am I to you?”

Her face scrunched up in an adorable way as she twisted away from him but didn’t let go of his hand. “I don’t know. I don’t have the same eloquent words you have for me.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

Her body stilled. Her eyes closed. The silvery cadence of her voice went dreamy. “I want a man who loves me.” Her eyes opened, and she tilted her head to look at him. “That’s it. Someone who looks at me and sees Haven, not the Black Rose.” The doors slid open. “Quinn, can you love me?”

He nudged her into the space and hit the button for the ground floor. His hand trembled as he reached out and tenderly turned her head so she had to look at him. “Aye. I will love you.”

* * * *

Her heart hammered in her chest. No wonder Riordan told Bastian bonding only took a week. When they got down to business, these Undying men really knew how to break down any defense a woman might want to throw at them. “So, teach me how to talk the way the wolves do with each other.”

His body tensed. Fear hit his eyes before he physically shook it off. His voice came out in an unsteady rhythm. “No, not here, not right now, Haven, please. I really just don’t think I can handle that when we have only a minute or so before we’ll be interrupted again.”

She bit the corner of her lip in a coy smile. “Oh, right, it would feel the same as when we read each other.”

He moved to the other side of the elevator. “I want to be inside of you.”

He was too cute. The poor man was in sore need. Boy, was she going to have fun with him. “I think I’d like to try that.”

“Haven,” he grumbled and then shot out of the elevator when the door opened.

She couldn’t hold back the laugh as she followed him into the lobby. “You’re making this too easy.”

His eyes went hot as they moved over her. “I assure you, just as soon as I get our dinner, things will get much harder.”

She canted her head and lowered her voice so the doorman wouldn’t hear her. “I don’t know. Things look pretty hard from where I’m standing.”

“Haven!”

“Mr. Donovan,” the man at the front desk said in a respectful tone. “I was just about to call you.” He leaned to the side and blinked a few times. “Is that a woman with you?”

“No, Alfred,” Donovan said with a straight face.

The older man’s expression went annoyed before a smile bloomed over his craggy and wrinkled appearance. “Who is the lucky lady? And I presume she is your lady, since I’ve never seen you bring a woman in or out before who isn’t related to you.” Alfred produced a bag with red Chinese symbols from behind the desk and handed it to Donovan.

He took the bag and handed Alfred payment for the meal. “This is my Haven. Haven, this is Alfred.”

“It’s nice meeting you,” Haven said.

“The pleasure is all mine, I’m sure.” He winked at her. “Take good care of Mr. Donovan for us. He is a generous man.”

“Thank you,” Donovan said.

“I will,” Haven promised as Donovan herded her back to the elevator. “He seems nice.”

“He is,” Donovan said and hit the button to call back the elevator. “I wouldn’t let any other type of man work here.”

“Oh?” Haven stepped into the elevator when the doors opened.

“I have two hundred and fifteen units in this building. Half of them house single women.” A hard edge entered his tone as he moved in next to her. “I need to be able to trust the security I have in this building.” He stood there looking at the key pad for a moment after the door closed, and then one of his brows winged up. “You know, it just occurred to me. You need the combination and a key.” He instructed her on how to unlock access to the top floor and what the combination of buttons were to push. “We’ll stop by the hardware store tomorrow to get you your own key.”

Haven snorted. “Am I ever going to need one?”

“It’s the gesture that counts. You live with me, and you are technically free to come and go as you please.”

“Technically? But not really.” She had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to like what came out of his mouth next.

“As of the moment? You’re on what we call lockdown. You’re not permitted to go anywhere without me or one of the other ancient males I’ve cleared until the threats with Mason and Kyros are eliminated.”

That didn’t seem quite as horrible as being locked away in Quinn’s tower apartment. “And after?”

He shrugged. “Nikon or Medea will accompany you whenever you go out.”

“Not even a dog can go with me everywhere.” Quinn thought she’d need a bodyguard when not with him. That was probably true, since he was a king of an entire race of people.

His tone was all business. “We already have the kinks worked out. You need to understand that you cannot leave without Nikon or a warrior guarding you, even when the lockdown has been lifted. Your safety depends on it.”

“Does this mean I am allowed to open another belly dance studio once Mason is under control?”

He dropped the bag of food. “If that’s what you want to do.”

“Really? I can have my own studio to teach other people belly dance again?” Excitement bubbled up. She’d give just about anything to have her own studio again. “You’d really let me do that?”

He swallowed hard before he stooped down and picked up the bag of food. “We’ll figure out the best way to make it happen after we’ve bonded.”

She crooked a finger at him and motioned for him to come closer. “Come down here where I can kiss you.” Quinn dutifully bent down. She kissed his cheek. Then she giggled and turned around in a small victory dance.

Maybe she was silly, but she’d mostly been testing what Quinn would and wouldn’t allow her to do. She loved being a girl, and there was nothing more feminine in her mind than her ability to dance. Middle Eastern dance was a celebration of all things female, and Mason had taken it away the second her grandfather wanted her to marry him because he believed Western culture had turned it, like everything else, into a sex act. She was going to get her dancing back without having to fight. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Quinn cleared his throat and his mouth went crooked. “I think I can guess.”

The elevator door opened.

Haven was bouncing on the balls of her feet as she exited. “I promise I’ll let you help me find the right building, and I’ll listen to whatever security measures you think are needed. You won’t regret it.”

“Haven.” His tone took on a growl.

Her excitement ebbed as she stilled. His eyes were dark, and she got tinges of the anger building inside of him. “Yes?”

He lowered his head so his cheek rested against hers. “I appreciate you taking into account my needs with your chosen profession.”

She involuntarily leaned into the heat his body produced. “I love dancing,” she whispered. “Mason never allowed me to.”

The growl went deeper as he righted himself. “You don’t need my permission to live your life. Mates have the responsibility to allow what the other needs to thrive. There is much Mason will pay for. He had no right to take anything away from you.”