Wild Instinct (25 page)

The growl rumbled past his control. “Seelie?”

“What?”

“I’ve told you you are more important to me than my life. I’ve told you you are the one who holds my heart.”

“I know, but—”

He pushed her hair out of her face with his fingers. Her bones were so fragile. Her spirit so strong. Her pulse throbbed in her temple. “If you know, then you will trust me to show you what you mean to me.”

“Would you be offended if I told you I’d settle for a handshake?”

“Yes.”

“Rats.”

“We do not have to do this. I can wait.”

“That’s not what Heather said.”

“Heather is not an authority on me.”

“She’s as close as I have to an authority on wolves.”

Daire hooked his hand under Teri’s thigh and pulled her up so she was curled in his lap. “You have a higher source.”

Her hand came up and curled around his shoulder. “You?”

“Yes.”

“But you wouldn’t tell me the truth.”

Interesting. “How do you think I could lie to you?”

“If you thought it would make me unhappy, you’d lie.” She cocked her head to the side. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

He brought her hand to his lips. “
If
I could lie to you and
if
the lie would not put you in danger, yes.”

“Those are big ifs.”

“Starting with the first.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. His woman, his seelie. And she thought he could lie to her. “You have only to touch my mind to know all answers.”

Her eyes were very big and very hungry as they studied his face, revealing many things she probably didn’t want him to know. There was desire, yes, but there was emotion. Not immediately identifiable. And he discovered what fear felt like. What if her human heart couldn’t love the way he needed?

She chose that moment to touch his mind. It was awkward, unskilled, but she made the effort. He braced himself for her revulsion but he didn’t shield. He was Protector, not human. There was a difference. She needed to understand that.

Her gaze softened as her fingertips touched his jaw. “You were scared.”

He clenched his teeth.

She blinked and then smiled. “I wasn’t talking about just now.”

Did she have any idea what that touch did to him? What it made him want to do to her? It was the first time she’d touched him with the tenderness of a mate. He wanted to turn his head, catch her fingers between his teeth. He wanted to nip, kiss and love on her until she didn’t see them as anything but one. Wanted to bind her to him in every way. “Then what were you referring to?”

“When you bonded to me, you really were afraid I’d die before you could get to know me.”

“That makes you smile?”

“That makes me smile, because it tells me”—she kissed his chin—“ I really wasn’t second best.”

Nine

DAIRE shook his head and tilted his mouth so her lips brushed over his. “I already told you this.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers going to the leather strip holding his hair back. “Sometimes a woman needs to be convinced.”

He frowned at her, putting more depth into the scowl than he felt. “My word should be enough to convince you, woman.”

“Sorry.”

She didn’t look at all repentant. As a matter of fact, the way her eyes crinkled in the corner on a repressed smile made her look completely sexy, sassy and intriguingly human. “You’re not sorry.”

“No. I’m not.” One tug, two, and his hair fell free. She was always doing that. “You don’t like my hair?”

“I love your hair. I don’t like the way you wear it all scary like that.”

“Scary? The tie keeps it out of my eyes.”

“It makes you look mean.”

He couldn’t help a chuckle. “I am mean.”

She drew his hair around his face, letting it trail through her fingers as it draped over her shoulder. “Not to me.”

“No.” Never to her. “To you I’m going to be very sweet.”

Her smile slipped. “Daire, about that thought I had.”

“Yes.”

“If I ever decide to love you.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Decide?”

“I’m human. It will be my choice.”

And, apparently, choice was important to her. He lifted her up, turning her so she could straddle his lap. “And if you decide to love me?”

Her arms draped across his shoulders. “You’ll have to love me back.”

“You’re my mate.”

“No.” She shook her head, letting him tug up the hem of her T-shirt. “Not like that.”

He tugged the shirt up. She caught it when it got face high, staring at him over the red material. He sighed. Clearly, the brief glimpse he was getting now of her torso was all he was going to get until this got settled.

“How, then?”

“You need to love me because you want to.”

“Agreed.” He tugged again, but she didn’t let go of the shirt.

“I mean it, Daire. I don’t want you saying you love me because of some hormonal clicking. You have a choice.”

He had no idea what she was talking about. “I’m wolf, Teri. The choice was made before I was born.”

She pushed out of his arms, tugging her shirt down. “No, it wasn’t.” She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room. He watched her go, desire, anger and frustration churning his gut. The door slammed shut behind her.
Shit.

The door opened. He knew from the scent it wasn’t Teri, but his pulse still leapt. “You’re not going to win her that way.”

Robin stood in the door. It was easy to see what attracted Kelon to her. She had a very sweet touch to her energy. If he wasn’t so damned pissed, he’d probably appreciate it. A growl rumbled in his chest.

“Do you always eavesdrop?”

As if his warning growl had no effect, she strolled into the room. “Oh, please, if I was eavesdropping, you’d never know I was here.” She walked over to the end table and picked up her book and held it up. “Unfortunately, I abandoned Lady Mary and the Earl in the middle of a steamy love scene. They have a marriage of convenience that could fail or succeed based on how well he interprets Lady Mary’s needs in this crucial moment.”

Daire looked at the brightly rendered cover of a male and female embracing. With a wave of his hand he dismissed her excuse. “Let me save you the trouble. She comes. He comes. They live happily ever after.”

Robin gave him a pitying smile. “Ah, but it’s not that easy. Lady Mary is an intelligent, discerning woman. It’s going to take more than the Earl’s conviction that she belongs with him to get her to see him as husband material. And until that happens, the happily ever after is in question.”

He had a feeling they weren’t talking about the book anymore. “Their marriage means they don’t have a choice.”

Robin tucked the book under her arm. “Yes, the Earl does seem to be relying on that belief.”

“It’s a safe bet.”

To his surprise, Robin patted his shoulder. He didn’t like the smile she gave him. He’d never been pitied before.

“It’s only safe as long as Lady Mary feels the same. Being an intelligent woman, however, she knows she has options.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Robin laughed and walked out the door. “That, I think, you’d better figure out for yourself.”

They definitely weren’t talking about the book. What the hell did she mean ‘options’? Teri was mated to him. There were no options, no other man, no believing, no nothing. There was just him and her.

Ten

DAIRE took the stairs two at a time. He felt Teri’s mental start as he hit the landing. By the time he opened the door to her room, she had her response under control. She was standing by the vanity. In the mirror behind her, he could see the lace edge of her low-cut nightgown as it framed the delicate line up her spine, the curve of her ribs and the tempting curl of her hair at the nape of her neck. He remembered her fear when he’d curled his fingers in her hair.

No, she didn’t. But that didn’t mean being human Teri didn’t feel she had a few. And it didn’t mean that she might need a few. A lot had happened to her in a very short time. Then Daire remembered the feel of her hands against his chest. Mind to mind. Skin to skin. Heartbeat. Her first initiative. If he wanted more of that, he was going to have to make it happen.

“What is it?”

Teri couldn’t wrestle his pinky into submission, but she stood there, arms folded across her chest, chin lifted, daring an angry wolf. Damn, he loved her. “You’re challenging me?”

“I’m asking you what you stormed up here for.”

He took two steps into the room. “I came to tell you you don’t have options.”

“Yes, I do, and where did that come from anyway?”

He pushed the door with his foot. “No, you don’t. And it was Robin.”

The door clicked shut. She frowned, eyeing it nervously. “Robin was here?”

“She forgot her book.”

“Oh.” She licked her lips. “And that made you mad?”

“Yes.”

Rolling her eyes, she mourned, “Just when I was beginning to like you, you have to go insane.”

He took another step forward. In the mirror, he could see the muscles of her back tense. His seelie. Hurt so much, but still swinging. He ran his fingertips down her cheek. She watched him, blinking slowly.

“We have unfinished business between us.”

“What kind of business?”

“The kind that answers your questions.”

“Which questions?”

He pulled her in. She took the step, reluctantly, but she took it. “The ones which ask, can he really want to be with me? Can I please him? Can he please me?” The next step brought her body flush against his. He lowered his cheek to hers, pressing with his thumb against her temple, holding her there as he kissed her cheek. “Will he hurt me?”

“Will you?”

He caught her earlobe between his teeth and nipped lightly. “Never, my seelie.” The scent of her desire teased his senses. So did the scent of her fear.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because your heart says to.”

“My heart has never had any sense.”

She sounded so grumpy, he couldn’t help a chuckle. His tension melted away. “Because you were telling it what to do rather than letting it lead you.”

“And you think my heart was trying to lead me to you.”

He curved his hand over her shoulder, holding her to him. “Didn’t you?”

Silence.

“I asked a question.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to answer.”

A “yes” sat on the tip of his tongue. He squashed it. If Teri needed to think she had options, then he wanted to be a viable one. It was inconceivable to him that anyone could resist a bond, but humans didn’t think like wolves, and in his lifetime, he’d seen how perception was everything. Hell, there’d been battles he should have lost when he’d just started out in his role that he’d won on the other side’s belief that as a Protector he couldn’t be defeated. He looked into Teri’s green eyes. They didn’t flinch from his. Humans had an endless capacity to believe.

“Fair enough. So what did you believe?”

Her throat muscles worked as she swallowed. Her energy flicked away from his. A shadow chased across the surface of her gaze. “That I was doing everything right.”

And not getting rewarded. She didn’t need to tell him that. A woman didn’t long as hard for a place as Teri did if she was content.

“And what did you want?”

She blinked. “I wanted to belong somewhere, to someone.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “And I wanted . . .” She shook her head. The tears hovered. “It doesn’t matter.”

It did. Daire pressed his thumb to the outer corner of her right eye. The tear spread over the surface. Her mind spread across his with the same even glide, filling the empty places with her touch. He wanted to close his eyes and absorb the bliss of having her there, but he couldn’t. She needed him to hold her together in this moment when she was so vulnerable. “You wanted someone to belong to you,” he finished for her.

Another swallow. Another tear. “I thought it was going to be my baby.”

“I want it to be me.”

Her hand came up and encircled his wrist. Her other covered the scars on her chest. “Want?”

How could she not know? “Want. Need. Desire. Hunger. Crave.”

Her lower lip quivered.

The question she wouldn’t speak snuck past her guard. He considered what he felt. Was it love? He’d always considered love a paltry human word for the power of what a werewolf could feel. But the emotions that always came at him from Teri were as strong as any wolf’s.

“I don’t know what that is.”

She blinked the next tear away. “If you felt it, you’d know.”

“But I may not define it the way you do.”

“Are you always so logical?”

“Yes. Except . . .”

As much as he wanted her to, she didn’t look away.

“Except what?”

He slid his fingers down to the nape of her neck and drew her up onto her tiptoes. “Apparently, I’m not at all logical when it comes to you.”

She went willingly, her gaze searching his, her body tense. She needed answers. He wasn’t sure he had the ones she needed. “How do you feel when you’re with me?”

“Like I’m supposed to.”

The hope in her eyes faded on her exhale.

“Damn it, seelie,” he growled against her lips. “Tell me what you need to hear.”

“Nothing,” she whispered back. “I don’t have to hear anything.”

He wanted to shake her for the lie. He could feel her need, the desperate want. “If I knew what it was, I would tell you I love you.”

“Thank you.”

He could feel her pulling back. He wouldn’t allow it. Not when for a moment, they’d been so close. Tugging her closer, he slanted his mouth over hers, knowing the hormones in his saliva would bring the passion back, and through that desire he could bring her back.