Waking Eden (The Eden Series Book 3) (16 page)

So dangerous. Her mind grappled and clawed, trying to find a little reason to cling to. To keep from tipping out of balance and exposing her heart to his blistering fire. Her body sang, every inch of her skin prickling with heightened intensity, her core desperate for the connection he withheld.

Destiny is what you make it.

Her father’s last words rattled through every fiber of her being. Caution lost its grip and her spirit unfolded. Her eyes snapped open.

Silver eyes blazed wild and bright into hers, flecks of white sparking almost neon around the edges. “Say it,” he demanded, his hand moving between them to guide his cock into place.

Live.

Feel.

Love.

“I’m yours.” The words escaped, releasing with them a rush of emotion so powerful every vein pulsed as though charged with lightning.

He gripped her hip, pinning her in place, and smiled as only a triumphant predator could. “Damn right.”

He surged forward in one bold thrust.

A ragged, nearly inhuman cry shook the room. Hers. And God, didn’t that make sense. The sensation was perfect. Her sex full, stretched to the point of near-discomfort, and yet the most incomparable pleasure.

Slowly, he pulled back, then powered home. Then again. And again. Slow. Hard. Slow. Hard. A wicked, sensual rhythm that marked her very soul.

Wet, exquisite heat surrounded her nipple, followed by an erotic tug. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked, and his dark hair spilled against her skin.

She moaned and fisted the smooth strands with both hands, anchoring him in place.

He shifted to her other breast. Plumping the mound he’d left behind, he flicked his tongue across the untouched peak. His narrow, deliciously defined hips undulated between her thighs.

He lifted his head and straightened the arm beside her, raking his gaze down her torso and locking where their bodies joined. “Look at us, Sunshine.” He pistoned with long, steady strokes, his abdominals flexing and contracting in the most carnal display of physical perfection. His focus was singular, angling each stab to scrape the sweet spot inside her. “Do you have any idea how fucking tight your pussy is around my cock? How hot? Every time I hit the end of you, your walls ripple and tease me with how good it will be when you come.”

His gaze met hers. His long hair fell around either side of his face and his eyes burned with an intensity she felt all the way to her toes. An avenging God staking his claim. He circled her clit with his thumb, up one side and down the other, and his mouth tilted in a wicked grin. “I want to feel it, Trinity.” Another circle, each thrust more powerful than the last. “Call me a greedy bastard, but I want to feel it, and I want to feel it now.”

Unseen fingers cupped and kneaded her breasts, squeezing her nipples. She arched into the hedonistic touch, chasing the zing that shot between her legs.

He speared deep and pinched her clit.

Every muscle locked up tight, the walls of her pussy contracting in a rapturous pulse that matched the pounding rhythm of her heart.

His shout rang out, ragged and victorious. His hips slammed against hers, seating him flush against her sex.

She rode the sensations, flexing and fisting around him. Luxuriating in the frenetic jerks of his cock and the unsteady shake of his arms as he held himself above her.

This was life at its most primitive. Ideal and without parallel. And Ramsay had given it to her, drawing out pieces of herself she’d never known existed. Dark. Carnal. Spiritu.

The aftermath of her climax billowed up and embraced her, relaxation and sleep mixing with Ramsay’s languid kisses along her shoulder and neck.

Slow and easy, he worked his cock inside her. Lazy, intimate strokes. His chuckle rumbled in her ear. “Love the way you get sleepy after you come. Like a kitten hopped up on warm milk.”

That was nice. She did feel a bit like a kitten, only he scratched her itch in far more delicious places. All she needed now was a window ledge and she could snuggle in for a nap.

He brushed his lips against hers and answered the thought before it fully registered. “Let go, Sunshine. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

S
o warm
. Safe. Trinity nestled closer to Ramsay, reveling in her early morning haven and drifting between sleep and wakefulness. Hot skin. Cool sheets. Arms wrapped around her and a firm chest beneath her cheek. Perfect.

She inhaled deep, filling her lungs with his warm, elusive scent. He wanted her. Said he wanted to claim her. Whatever that meant. And she’d slept without her ear buds again, the same as every other time he’d held her. Strange the way he kept her Spiritu buzz at bay with nothing more than his presence.

Ramsay’s breath fluttered against her hair. A girl could easily get addicted. Heck, if she was honest, she was already halfway gone. What if she was reading everything he’d said wrong? What if it was all a ruse to get her in bed?

But that didn’t make sense. She’d asked him, more like begged him, to get between the sheets. So, maybe what he’d said was genuine.

And here you are lying to him.

The thought yanked her out of her post-sleep haze and dropkicked her heart into overdrive.

Ramsay flinched, shot upright, and tugged the sheet up to her shoulders, gaze locked on the hallway.

The front door opened.

He rolled out of bed and snatched his jeans off the floor. He was fastening the last few buttons when a huge man walked into her room. “Praise The Great One, Ludan, you ever think of knocking?”

Another man came up behind the stranger. This one she recognized from the club.

“Hi, Jagger.” Well, that sounded a bit lame. Kind of pip-squeaky and not at all befitting of what was probably a wicked case of bed head and tousled sheets.

Jagger grinned.

The stranger studied her with a curious, but still lethal gaze. “No time to knock. Need to get your woman up and gone.”

“Kinda rough to do that with you two ogling her in the doorway.” Ramsay tugged his T-shirt down, grabbed his boots, and settled at the foot of the bed. “You fuckers wanna give her a minute and wait in the living room, or would you rather I pry your eyeballs out with my pinky?”

With a smile as big as Texas, Jagger tipped his chin, and headed for the front room.

Ludan barely managed a smirk, but followed suit.

The second the men were out of the doorway, the door swung closed on its own.

“The whole moving objects thing is going to take some getting used to.” She scrambled and gathered up her clothes. “Who’s the scary guy? And what’s he talking about me leaving?”

“Ludan. Eryx’s somo. Bodyguard in the human language. Though most of the time he’s just a grumpy pain in the ass. You already know Golden Boy.”

Trinity shimmied into her favorite pair of jeans and tugged a T-shirt from her top dresser drawer. “You call Jagger Golden Boy?”

“Have you looked at him?”

Trinity paused midway into her shirt. Gold hair, gold eyes, and a tan so rich it might as well be gold. “Well, okay, I guess that makes sense, but what about the me getting gone part?”

“Think that means the press is on to what your mom shared with the cops.” Ramsay stood and pointed to her closet. “Grab some shoes. Something comfortable.”

Going by the men’s attire, she nabbed the pair of cute black ankle boots she’d bought a few weeks ago but still hadn’t had a good excuse to wear, and followed Ramsay into the living room.

“You couldn’t head home and link me?” Ramsay said to Ludan.

Ludan stood with arms crossed near the door. He jerked his head toward the street. “Need to move. Got the box, but had to stir the pot to do it. Press was there and her name’s been leaked. Pics too. Already got a good crowd outside.”

Stationed at the window, Jagger eased the blinds back into place. “Two more crews just pulled up.”

“I give it ten minutes, tops, before the cops are here,” Ludan said. “Our commotion didn’t last long. Cops had already figured out the box was missing when we left. No doubt they’re gonna check here first.”

Ramsay zigzagged a glare between Jagger and Ludan. “What the fuck did you do, Ludan?”

Ludan shrugged. “Got the box. Had to start a little fire in the stairwell to get their eyeballs off it.”

“Damn it!” Ramsay paced to the window and peeked through the blinds.

Damn it, indeed. Cops and TV crews didn’t sound positive, but they got the box. The least she could do was thank the guy and introduce herself. She stepped forward and held out her hand to Ludan. “Thanks for helping us. I’m Trinity.”

He eyed her for a minute and the smirk he’d thrown her from the hallway inched up into something both sexy and terrifying. He took her hand, the size of it encompassing hers in a way that made her feel two instead of twenty-three. “Ludan.”

She pulled her hand away and rubbed it on her hip. “So, um, where exactly am I supposed to go?”

“Could take her to Ian’s place,” Jagger said to Ramsay and Ludan. “Lay low and get a read for how far the press reaches.”

Ramsay shook his head and faced the men. “Nope. All the affiliates are here already. Tulsa’s slow to pick up on stories, but not that slow. Better to take her home where we know she can’t be tracked.”

“Home as in your home?” Trinity stomped to the window. “I can’t go there. You said humans are a no-no.”

Two vans, a mid-sized SUV, reporters, all strung out on her lawn.

Ramsay spun her around. “For all we know you’re Myren. You show all the signs.”

“I’m not Myren!”

Everything in her apartment wrenched to a standstill. She’d swear even the clock on the wall with its purely cosmetic pendulum hesitated a beat. She hurried to the kitchen. Coffee would be good. Surely they had time for coffee before they turned her whole world upside down.

Ramsay stalked in behind her. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Trinity pushed a filter into place and shoved the plastic holder back into place. She needed a minute. Okay, more like five minutes. A little time to catch her breath.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Ramsay said from behind her. “More than just funny feelings when something big’s about to happen.”

Trinity ducked her head and tried to pull a decent amount of air into her suddenly very tight lungs. “I’m afraid to tell you, all right?” She fisted her hands on the counter, the pressure behind her heart so big it was a wonder the thing didn’t quit altogether. “I want to. Believe me, after everything you’ve shared with me, I want to.”

“Why can’t you?” He steered her to face him. “I’m a pretty reasonable man. What could possibly be so bad you can’t tell me?” He moved close and lowered his voice. “I can’t help you if you don’t give me the facts.”

Voices from the crowd outside filtered through the window.

He hated the Spiritu. He’d never used those exact words but his tone pretty much screamed it. She’d been a fool to let go with him. To believe the things he’d said the night before. The minute she told him the truth, he’d hate her, like he did the rest of her race.

If it changes everything, was he worth your heart to begin with?

All the fight in her, all the tension, deflated. He’d been good with her. Honest. The least she could do was give him the same. “You told me yesterday about the Rebellion. How the Spiritu helped them. You made it pretty clear you don’t trust them at all.”

Ramsay laughed. Not a happy laugh, but a disgusted one. “No one trusts the Rebellion. They’re a bunch of damned sociopaths who think humans were born to be slaves.”

“I wasn’t talking about the Rebellion.” God this hurt. The minute she opened her mouth she’d be alone again. Even more so now with the loss of her mother. Who knew when Kazan would be back. “I was talking about the Spiritu.”

Ramsay frowned.

Ludan and Jagger crept into her periphery.

Trinity swallowed, the process turning into more of a choked cough. “I was afraid to tell you because I’m human.” She pulled in a deep breath and closed her eyes, praying for some kind of salvation. “But I’m also part Spiritu.”

* * *

H
undreds of battles
and countless sparring sessions, and never once had Ramsay taken a sucker punch like Trinity’s. And she hadn’t even lifted a finger to do it.

Behind him, Ludan and Jagger were as slack-jawed as he’d been. “You don’t think telling me a little earlier you’re Spiritu might have been a good idea?”

“I couldn’t.” Trinity took a quick step forward, registered the look on his face, and jerked back again. “I mean, I didn’t think I could at first. I didn’t know you knew about them and revealing their race would’ve made my dad’s life forfeit.”

“I thought your dad was dead.”

For a second she looked confused, then she shook her head. “Not my adopted father. He died in a car accident like I told you. I mean my real father, Kazan. The Spiritu. It took a dispensation from the Black King before he could even reveal himself to me. The only reason the king allowed that much was because of how crazy Carol became after David died.”

“And after you learned we already knew about them?”

“You made it pretty clear you don’t like them.” Trinity ducked her head. “At that point I was afraid you’d lump me in with everyone else.”

“So your dad’s a rogue?”

Her head snapped up, a defensive fire burning in her dark eyes. “I don’t know about any rogues, but my dad’s not one of them. He’s a Black. Passionate. Indulgent, maybe, but not evil. And by the way, judging a whole race based on a few bad seeds is no different than lumping all Myrens in with the Rebellion.”

The growing sound of voices and the steady purr of engines from the street rumbled through the windows.

Trinity met Ludan and Jagger’s stares one by one then finally landed on his. “I’m sorry.” She lifted her chin, but her lower lip trembled. “I was scared. I was trying to process it. To figure out what to do. Then we had our run-in with my mom and came back here…”

Oh, yeah. When they’d come back there and he’d gone hell bent for leather for someone giving him only half-truths. Even without her deceit he’d never really know how much of what he felt was genuine and how much she’d manufactured in his head. “The touching, that part of you being Spiritu?”

Trinity nodded. “When I touch someone, I get a blast of what they’re thinking. What’s immediately impacting their lives.” She crossed her arms and trembled as though the temperature in the room had dropped twenty degrees. “Nine times out of ten it’s not something anyone wants to see.”

“But not with me,” he said.

“No, not with you.” Her gaze slid to his men behind him. “Not with any of you. I’m guessing it’s because you’re Myren.”

Well, that was good at least. He felt violated enough. The last thing he needed was her knowing how far down she’d pulled him. “Can you influence people like the rest of them can?”

“You see? This is why I didn’t say anything,” she said. “You talk about us like we’re contagious. And we don’t influence. Those who’ve accepted their powers offer thought. Ideas. Inspiration. Any being’s will is completely uninhibited.”

“But they can be bent.” Ludan’s deep voice shot through the her tirade, his eyes on Ramsay. “The rogue at the deal in North Texas took Serena’s will and stabbed Maxis.”

Trinity sighed and dropped her hands. “If they can, I don’t know how. I didn’t even know rogues existed until Ramsay told me. My dad rarely talks about his world other than to try to get me to accept my gifts, which I don’t want. If I did, I’d be hooked into their hive mind, which freaks me out. Plus, I didn’t want to leave my mom alone.” She huffed out a bitter chuckle and fisted her hair at the top of her head. “Though in hindsight I’d say that wasn’t wise.”

A siren chirped outside the building.

Jagger strode to the window and checked between the blinds. “Cops are here. We gotta make a move and do it quick.”

Ramsay flexed and clenched his fists over and over. All this time he’d been so convinced she was Myren. Didn’t it figure he’d finally wrap himself around the idea he’d found someone, only to get smacked sideways in the process.

“It’s okay.” Trinity motioned to the box perched on the counter and headed to the hallway off the living room. “You guys take the box. I’ll be fine.” She all but growled the last bit. Her tone implied she referred to more than just answering questions from the cops and shoving through a bunch of frenzied reporters.

Ludan snatched up the box and paused by the front door. “We’ve got enough bad press without adding cops to the mix. Let’s move.”

Jagger watched by the window and waited.

Damn her. And damn her race with their meddlesome thoughts. Ramsay strode to the door and reached for the knob.

Kind of the pot calling the kettle black, aren’t you?

He froze, the metal against his palm as cold as the idea of leaving her alone to deal with the mess he’d created. Hadn’t he done pretty much the same thing to her? Going for information without being honest up front? Would she have come clean if the whole snafu with the cops hadn’t bubbled up?

He stomped down the hall toward her room.

Empty, but a ragged exhale sounded from her office. He followed the sound and found her braced with both arms on her desk, eyes locked on the picture of her adopted parents.