Wicked Burn (Realm Enforcers #3)(117)

Cara watched him with fire in her eyes.

He crossed his arms. “So, mate. Ready to chat?”





Cara eyed her mate. For months they’d danced around this, trying to settle into a routine after the war. But that was the rub, wasn’t it? Talen Kayrs wasn’t a male to settle into anything. Even though he’d raised two kids and now adored little Hope, he was not a retired immortal but a fully trained vampire warrior in his prime.

In his f*cking prime.

His golden eyes flared and darkened, sizzling to a vampire secondary green color. The hue of a fire too hot to touch. A vein pulsed in his corded neck, and primal dominance suddenly hardened his entire face.

Oh, it had been too long since she’d seen that look, but it was way too late to turn back now. “What did you wish to discuss?” She kept her voice level to hide the fact that her heart was absolutely pounding against her rib cage.

“What part of ‘stay in the secured area’ did you not understand?” he asked mildly, the muscles flexing in his arms.

He dwarfed her and always had. While some women might’ve been intimidated by his size, weakened by it . . . she enjoyed every inch made just for her. He’d put that big body between danger and her more than once, and his sheer deadliness gave her a sense of security not many people in life enjoyed. Plus, he more than knew how to use that body to pleasure her.

Even so. Sometimes he made her feel too feminine . . . too protected. “I understood every word,” she admitted, meeting his gaze evenly, while a shiver of nervousness caught her unaware. It had been too long since she’d poked the beast.

“Then why did you leave safety?” His voice lowered at the last. If a tone could be a warning, he’d found it.

“I heard gunfire.” She winced as she hurried to add, “My son and his friend were in danger.” Sometimes it was that simple.

His jaw tightened. Displeasure mingled with an unreal heat in those eyes that had turned green with temper—and passion. Even so, a golden rim encircled his green iris, making him look like something . . . other. A vampire showing his true colors.

She shivered. The storm gathered strength outside, pelting rain against the wide wall of windows across the living room.

His lids half-lowered. “Did you really think I wouldn’t protect Garrett and Logan?”

She inched a step back from the barely vibrating anger in his voice. “I knew you’d protect them, but you’d moved on to challenge a helicopter.” For goodness’ sake. If anybody was justified being angry about their spouse doing stupid, dangerous things, it should be her. The man had challenged a f*cking weaponized helicopter.

His nostrils flared.

Damn vampires. They could smell everything.

“You’re both angry and aroused,” he murmured, making her point for her.

She slammed her hand on her hips. “Angry, for sure. How dare you take such a risk?”

He cocked his head to the side, tension swelling from him and filling the room. “My job was to take out that helicopter.”

Her eyebrows raised so quickly her skin hurt. “Your job? Seriously. Your job as the strategic leader of the Realm is to climb cranes and shoot at helicopters.” The derision in her voice had an obvious effect on him . . . and it wasn’t pretty.

“No,” he rumbled, pushing off from the door. “My job, the one I take to my heart, is to secure your safety at all costs.”

She swallowed and took a full step back. “Not at the expense of our children.”

He shook his head, his gaze not moving from her face. “Garrett and Logan weren’t in danger, not really, until you left the safety of that stairwell. At that point, their concentration could’ve become fractured as they worried more about you than protecting their own hides.”

Well, she hadn’t exactly thought of that. “I took out one guy and then I also took out the demon.”

“Yes, yes, you did.” He stalked her, patiently, taking two steps for every one of hers. “But I didn’t want them taken out. I wanted them in custody so we could figure out what is going on here.”

“So, why didn’t you just capture the last guy?” She eyed the layout of the living room and then fought a yelp when her back touched the wall.

“He had a gun to your throat, Cara,” Talen snapped, the band around his control obviously stretching dangerously. “That meant he had to die, and rather painfully. Or perhaps the bastard lived, but recuperating from multiple holes in his head and body from the rebar will take time.”

“You wouldn’t want a weak little mate who cowered while others fought, would you?” she asked, trying to sidle down the wall and away from him.

He stopped moving. “There’s nothing weak about using strategy, which we needed to do at the moment.” His growl filtered through the room and rolled through her body as if it licked every part of her with just a little too much heat. “The demons wanted you, so you needed to stay hidden until I captured them.”

She frowned.

He took another step toward her, bringing warmth and tension. “When Dage was targeted by that feline group out of Australia, we locked him down until we took care of the problem. That’s what happens.”

That was what had happened, and the king had been pissed but overruled by his brothers. She cleared a potted plant and calculated the distance between her position and the other side of the sofa. Her lungs trapped her breath, and anticipation flittered through her abdomen. Her panties dampened. “So I didn’t understand the plan. It happens.”