Predatory (Immortal Guardians #3.5)(22)

Oh . . . yeah.

He was definitely locking her in his rooms. Their rooms. At least for the next month or so.

“What happened?”

“Wolfe, a boy a few years older than me, walked up and punched me so hard he broke my jaw.”

“That’s terrible,” she growled in outrage. “What did you do?”

His lips parted into a wide smile. “Exactly what you’d expect me to do. I picked myself off the floor and did my best to kill the son of a bitch.”

Her frown deepened. “Why are you smiling?”

“Because I discovered that I’d finally encountered someone who could not only match me in strength, but could kick my ass.”

“I don’t understand.”

Of course she didn’t.

Only two males could appreciate the nuanced diplomacy of a knock-down-drag-out fight.

“For the first time ever I didn’t have to hold back. I didn’t have to pretend I was ‘less’ than what I was.” He deliberately caught and held her gaze. “I found the place where I belonged.”

“And Wolfe?”

“He’s the current leader of the Sentinels and my closest friend.”

She lightly ran her fingers up and down the line of his jaw, seemingly fascinated by the feel of his five o’clock shadow.

“You never mentioned your father.”

He lifted his hand to press her palm against his cheek. “He died when I was just a baby.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“What about your parents?”

Her lashes instantly lowered to hide her eyes.

“I was the product of a one-night stand,” she said, her voice stripped of emotion. “I never knew my father, not even his name. I doubt he ever knew I existed.”

He swallowed a sigh as he felt the barriers rising between them.

One bout of sex, no matter how life-altering, wasn’t going to be enough to convince her to lower the barriers surrounding her heart.

“And your mother?” he asked.

“She died a year ago.”

He pulled her hand to his lips, planting a kiss in the middle of her palm.

“That must have been tough.”

She trembled in response to his caress, but her eyes remained stubbornly hidden behind her lashes. She’d share her body, but not her wounds.

“Yes, but we weren’t close.” She struggled to swallow, as if she had a lump in her throat. “She never understood my lack of social skills and she was disappointed that I spent more time in the library than with the other kids.”

“Disappointed in you?” He didn’t have to pretend his angry astonishment. “Impossible.”

“She didn’t want a valedictorian, she wanted a prom queen.” A humorless smile curved her lips. “Or at the very least a cheerleader.”

He swore beneath his breath, wishing her mother was still alive so he could teach her just how special her daughter truly was.

And more importantly, what he did to people who would dare to hurt this female.

“Her loss,” he rasped.

“I suppose.”

He hesitated, wondering if there’d been more to her mother’s disapproval than a shallow desire for glitz rather than gold.

“Did she ever sense you were special?”

She tugged her hand from his grasp, pressing it against his chest in instant denial.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Angel—”

“No,” she muttered. “I won’t discuss it.”

“Denying your powers won’t make them go away.”

She gave another shove against his chest. “I’m hungry.”

He swallowed a sigh. At some point he was going to have to make her accept the truth of who and what she was.

But not now.

Now he had her naked in his bed, and there were far more pleasurable ways to spend the next few hours.

“Me too,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead, his hand trailing up the curve of her waist to halt just below her breast.

Her breath caught and she instinctively arched toward his hardening cock.

“Niko?”

“I swear I’ll feed you,” he promised, nipping the lobe of her ear as he rolled her flat on her back and covered her with the hard weight of his body. “Anything you want.” His hand closed over her breast, his heart coming to a complete halt as he gazed down at her wide, velvet eyes. His. His woman. “Later.”

Her hands lifted to wrap around his neck, her eyes smoldering with a matching desire.

“Much later.”

It was, in fact, much, much later when Niko at last headed for the shower and Angela made her way down to the kitchen wearing nothing more than an oversized T-shirt.

She’d discovered once she opened her bag that it was never wise to try and pack when in a blind panic. Her hasty lack of attention had made certain she had a plethora of things she didn’t need—like mismatched socks and dirty towels—and very little that she did need.

Typical.

Her luck had never been good. And lately it’d been downright crappy.

Well, except for Niko, she admitted, a precious warmth settled in the center of her heart. He was, hands down, the finest thing that had ever happened to her.