Angels' Flight(119)

Riaz’s snarl was low, rolling over her skin with the power of his dominance. Wrenching the wheel, he brought the SUV to a stop on the side of the road. “I’ve had it.” Turning off the engine, he turned to her. “What the hell is your problem with me?”

“Drive,” she said, almost ready to crawl out of her skin with the need to rip off his T-shirt and use her teeth on all that hot, firm muscle. “Mack is waiting for us.”

“He can wait a few more minutes.” Golden eyes that were no longer in any way human slammed into hers. “You’ve had a hard-on for me since you transferred to the den. I want to know why.”

Gut twisting, she snapped off her safety belt and pushed open her door to step out into the cold mountain air. The chill did nothing to cool the fever in her blood, the need ravaging her body, threatening to make her a slave when she’d finally found freedom. Desperate, she concentrated on the majesty of her surroundings in an effort to fight the tumult inside her. In front of her lay tumbled glacial rocks, huge and imposing, beyond them the dark green of the firs that dominated this area. Above it all was a sky so blue it hurt.

The slam of a door, followed by the thud of boots on the earth, shattered her fragile attempt at control, and then Riaz was standing in front of her, blocking the view. “We are not leaving,” he said, his skin caressed by the sunlight that gilded his hair a gleaming blue-black, “until we work this out.”

Feeling trapped, suffocated, she shoved at his chest and slipped out to stand beside the car rather than with her back to it. “I’m not the only one who has a problem. You’ve been picking at me since the day I was pulled into the den.”

He growled and the rough sound rasped over her nipples, wrapped around her throat. “Self-f*cking-defense. You took one look at me and decided you hated my guts. I want to know why.”

Jesus, Adria thought, how had she gotten herself into this? “Look,” she said, deciding to back down before her wolf took control and she found herself feasting on male lips currently thin with anger, “it’s nothing personal. I’m generally a bitch.” According to Martin, she was one with a stone heart.

“Nice try”—a harsh laugh that held nothing of humor—“but I’ve seen you with others in the pack.” He took another step toward her, invading her space and her senses.

Hell if she was going to allow him to walk all over her. “Get out of my face.”

“You sure you want me to?” he asked, a dangerous look to him. “Maybe the reason you react like a hissing cat around me is because you want me even closer.”

She sucked in a breath.

Riaz’s eyes widened.