Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(33)

Fate was such a tricky bitch.





CHAPTER SEVEN

I CAME AWAKE WITH A SOFT KISS BRUSHING MY LIPS. I THREW MY ARMS

around the culprit—a large, muscled hunk—and smiled good morning…or evening, rather. He wore the same clothes as when he’d barged in, but seemed more relaxed. The stress lines on his face had softened, making him almost hard to look at he was so danged handsome. I said so.

He smiled his flawless smile, making me blink in wonder at the rest of the transformation into super-hot.

“To think, I’ve hated having women in my bed. Turns out, I just hated having the wrong ones,” he said quietly with soft eyes.

Warmth filled my midsection. I smiled like a fool.

“I have to go to work,” he said tenderly. “I’ll see you close to dawn.”

“You’re going to spend the night with me again? How’d I get so lucky?

Or are you attempting to take a pet…which you very well know that—”

He claimed her lips, his kiss deep and passionate. “We still need to talk about what I did. You might not think you’re lucky by the end of the night.”

I tilted my head, surveying his suddenly serious face, and then falling into those dark eyes. “Cryptic.”

He straightened up, tall and broad, a man of strength and power. Who would’ve thought he could be so gentle. “I’ll talk to you later, love. Leave that link open, I want you present always.”

“Bossy.” I turned and glanced at the clock. Time to get up. Damn.

“Sasha.”

I waved him away and climbed out of bed. “I’m going to give you a firm maybe on that one.”

He growled and slapped my butt. “Talk to you later.” Before he walked out the ruined door, he paused. “Oh, and…I’ll fix this.” His head nodded to the broken hinges.

“By the morning.”

“Morning-ish. Also, be easy on Charles. I think I scared him.”

“When you were freaking out for no discernible reason, you mean?”

“There was a discernible reason—“

“Which you will explain.”

“—that I don’t intend to apologize for—“

“But you will, anyway.”

“—but, yes, when my…dander was up last night. He got the brunt of it.”

“Well, I got the good part. Although, maybe taking it easy for the next couple days might be in order.”

His eyes took on a liquid heat, arousal flooding through the link. He almost started back to me, every muscle on his sizable frame taut, but he held firm. Shaking his head that little bit, he grinned. “Note taken. I bet I can make it even better with a longer build-up.”

“Hmm, yes please.”

Committing his smiling face to memory for my spank bank, I headed for the shower.

After I had finished getting ready, I glanced around for Charles. Usually, he was in annoying me by now, unable to keep from talking for longer than a few hours at a time. On the way out the door, I finally found him, huddled naked behind a plant in the corner by the door, the thin green leaves shaking, doing a poor job of hiding his whole body.

I stopped, staring down at him. “Hey. What-ah…whatchya doin’?”

“Oh nothing much. Just crouching here behind this plant in a puddle of urine. I’m naked though, so I dried quick. Spot of luck on that score.”

I struggled to keep a smile from my face. “How long have you been there?”

“Oh, just since the Boss came barreling through in a battle rage. Thought he’d kill me. Then thought he’d kill whoever was with you. Then thought he might kill you accidentally because you tried to save someone, all while I hid in the bush like a bitch. Not my finest moment, Sasha, but it’s been a while since I saw that crazy male in a rage. Took me by surprise.”

I stepped behind the plant and hauled him up. “You didn’t really piss yourself, did you?”

“Yeah. Please don’t tell anyone. There’s a reason that man has been the leader so long. He’s got great logic, sure, great leadership, great loyalty to his people—but if all that fails, he freaks the fuck out. He scares the shit outta me. Yuck, and you still smell like him.”

“I do?” I smelled myself. I’d taken a shower, so I had no idea how that was possible, but these guys had subatomic noses, so who knew. “Anyway, we’re gonna be late. Hurry up.”

“How are you so chipper this morning? I expected screams of terror when he beat your door down, not a blast of magic and a loud orgasm.”

My body zinged with remembrance. My knees went wobbly and I stumbled into Charles’ door. I hadn’t been scared for one minute. I felt him coming, his rage as a means to hide a deep fear. I didn’t know what he had been afraid of, but when he stood, silhouetted in my door, my heart stopped.

In his battle rage, as Charles called it, he’d been magnificent. Like a raging Viking of old, his powerful body flexed from head to toe, his thick slabs of muscle on display in the best of ways. His eyes had been on fire, hair wild, his purpose honed and sharpened.

Seeing him like that triggered the thrill I’d always had; the side of me that needed fast cars and rose to meet danger with a knife and a snarl. I couldn’t help but hold my arms wide, waiting for him to rush in and take me, dragging me in and under, losing the world as we raged toward each other until climax.