Desire Untamed (Feral Warriors #1)(56)

He tucked his hand behind his head as he looked up at her. "Yesterday, I'd have said yes. Absolutely. I believed everything you told me. Tonight, I'm not so sure." But searching her eyes he saw no cunning lurking in those blue depths. No slyness. In the emotion that rolled out of her he felt an anguish of the spirit that had his beast whimpering in pain. With his free hand he reached for her, needing to touch her, to comfort them both.

He stroked her cheek. "Goddess help me, but I want to believe you."

She turned her face and kissed his palm. "If I've done anything to hurt you or yours, it was an accident, Lyon. I would never hurt you on purpose." The truth of her words swam in her eyes and sank into his heart, making him ache.

With his thumb, he traced her cheekbone. "Even after I cut you?" The thought of what he'd done to her made him ill. He reached for her and pulled her on top of him, cradling her head beneath his chin.

He shouldn't care. She's Mage, his mind railed.

She's Kara, his heart replied.

All he knew was she was hurting, and it was his fault.

"I'm sorry, little one. What I did was inexcusable." Barbaric. He'd felt that cantric and all he could think was that she'd betrayed him. That she'd opened him up, made him feel, and it was all a lie. She was a lie. He'd attacked her. Turned on her without asking a single question. Judge, jury, and executioner in one brutal act.

His hands slid over her back, comforting. Begging forgiveness. "You had to have felt that cantric before."

"I didn't. As deep as it was buried, how would I have felt it? I'm not in the habit of exploring the bones in my rear. You only found it because you were pressing so hard."

What she said might be true, he supposed. "When I felt it, I went a little berserk."

Her cheek brushed his collarbone, her soft hair sliding against his chin. "I noticed. Is there anything left of my room?"

"Not much. I don't think I hurt the bed, but I can't entirely remember." His hand slid carefully over the place where he'd cut her. "Are you okay?"

"It's healed."

Physically. The emotional pain he'd caused her would take far longer. He marveled that she trusted him to hold her after that. He felt no hate coming from her, though he thought he just might hate himself.

He stroked her hip and bu**ocks where he'd hurt her, his fingers exploring the sweetness of her curves. His body responded and rose to the feel of. her along his length, her naked br**sts soft against his chest, the sweet scent of her hair. His senses swam and goddess, but he wanted her. He had to have her again.

His fingers dug into her bu**ocks, kneading, pressing her against the arousal growing thick and heavy between their bodies. He reached lower, sliding to the crevice of her rear, and down, past the tight pucker of her anus, to the soft, wet folds he sought.

As he stroked her, dipping his finger into her heat, Kara moaned, rocking against his hand.

His mouth brushed her hair. "Do you want me again?"

"Yes. Always." She lifted her face for his kiss, and he didn't disappoint her. He pulled her head down, cradling it as his tongue drove into her mouth. A groan broke free of his throat while between their bodies his erection surged and bucked, demanding attention.

He kissed her hard and long, then released her head to reach for her hips. She propped herself up on his chest, and he lifted her and drove himself deep inside, her hot, slick walls expanding to fit him. He lifted her hips, pulling nearly out of her, then pushed home again, his hips rushing up to meet hers. Over and over again, he took her, watching the passion drench her radiant face. But it wasn't enough.

He rolled her beneath him and covered her mouth with his kiss, needing to erase the distance between them. His body craved the feel of her, everywhere. Inside, outside. No space. In that moment, if he could have crawled inside her, he'd have done so. Or better, yet, tucked her inside him. Where he could keep her safe. His.

As he captured her mouth and stroked her tongue, he sent her crying out with a release that clutched him hard enough to send him spinning after her.

His body warm and sated, he dropped his head to her shoulder even as his mind railed at his body's betrayal. She's Mage. The enemy.

Unable to stop himself, he opened fully to her, feeling her emotions, knowing her heart.

And his mind was finally forced to accept what his heart had known all along. No matter what Kara was., she was innocent of malice and subterfuge.

She might be Mage, but she wasn't his enemy.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure it mattered.

As Chief of the Ferals, his first duty was to his men and his race.

No matter what his heart wanted, or what his beast demanded, he would do what he must.

Even if it meant destroying the only light that had ever warmed the dark caverns of his soul.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Kara felt them before she saw them. That odd energy like ants crawling over her skin. Her eyes flew open at the exact moment Lyon tensed and rolled off her.

"Draden," they said together. The little demons were back, hovering barely ten feet above their heads.

Lyon lunged for his pants and his knives. "The circle's weakening."

"Can you call it again?" Kara scrambled up and grabbed her nightgown. Safety was a fleeting thing around here.

"Not until it dissolves, but by then, it may be too late." He pulled two switchblades and a cell phone from his pockets and snapped open the phone.