To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (54 page)

Caylie suddenly slipped under his arm, making Luka grunt in surprise. Emerging in the cage of his arms, she leaned against the door and pouted up at him. “You’re supposed to get mad and tell me you’re going to kill him.”

“I am mad and I will kill him.” He said it easily, knowing she wouldn’t be inclined to believe him even when she was clearly half drunk.

Caylie’s fingers landed on his heart before starting walking down his chest. “Why are you mad and why will you kill him?”

Luka’s body hardened at where her fingers were going, catching them in time just before she could slip her fingers into the waistband of his pants. “Because you’re mine.”

She beamed. “Right answer.”

His eyes darkened.

No, actually, it wasn’t. It was the wrong answer because it wasn’t true. But Luka also knew that it was the only kind of answer Caylie could accept.

When Caylie opened her mouth, likely to torment him further, Luka chose that same moment to twist the giant wheel, laughing when she let out a little shriek as the door behind her swung open. He caught her before she could fall, and he was still smiling as he quietly closed the large door shut, Caylie holding on to his arm as she attempted to regain her balance.

“You did that on purpose.”

He gave her a wide-eyed look.

Caylie rolled her eyes. “I’m not like all the other Caros, thinking you are such an angel, Luka. I
know
you.”

No, she did not. If she did then she should have known he had fallen in love with her, and it was getting harder and harder to keep his feelings to himself.

Caylie pulled away, dancing her way further into the vast underground lobby of her home and leaving behind her a trail of high heels, beaded bag, and furry stole. Those would stay there until a maid would return everything to her room in the morning. She was, without a doubt, utterly spoiled. They both knew it, and they both didn’t care. If it were up to him, Luka would spoil his bauble forever.

Caylie turned to him, every exposed inch of her beckoning him to touch. She smiled at him coyly. “Admit it—all those Brethren bores envied you because you had me as a date, right?”

He rolled his eyes. Caylie was also utterly vain—in a fucking cute way, but he did his very best to curb it from time to time, knowing if he didn’t no one else would.

She pouted. “You don’t agree?”

He said levelly instead, “It’s getting late. I better get home. Remember to wake up for school early tomorrow. You promised you won’t miss your class if I let you come with me tonight.”

Caylie was the one rolling her eyes this time. “Oh, no, serious Luka is back!” Still pouting, she walked slowly towards him, and Luka knew the seductive sway of her hips was deliberate. For a moment, he savored the thought of what Caylie would be once she turned eighteen and reached the flush of womanhood for Caro females. Even at almost-sixteen, with her birthday just weeks away, Caylie was already exquisitely alluring, with her sultry curls, sparkling blue eyes, and then there was her model’s body—all silken limbs and slim curves.

Two years from now, she would be magnificently irresistible.

Before Luka knew it, Caylie stood just a kiss away from him, and the mischief in her eyes made his narrow.

“
No
, Caylie, don’t—”

But it was too late for Caylie was again tiptoeing, her lips touching his, her tongue playfully nipping in, waiting for him to take possession.

For all the incredible strength, stamina, and mental acuity that Caros had, theirs was still a flawed race. They were slaves to pleasure, and every Caro had one great weakness to hide.

Caylie’s weakness was beauty, and she constantly cooed to him that he was the most beautiful thing she ever wanted to possess, and she’d never let Luka go because of it.

Although being called ‘pretty’ to his face made Luka grimace, he knew he would take whatever he could get if it meant Caylie would be with him forever.

The one chink in his armor was simple, a flaw that no one would guess from someone like him, renowned more for his intellect than anything else. Luka had a weakness for the flesh, and Caylie was the only one who knew it, indulged it, and toyed with it.

“Caylie…” Luka tried to keep all his senses intact even though the sinuous movements of Caylie’s body was already tempting him to forget everything and just give in to the demands of his own body.

“Come on,” Caylie whispered, biting his lip as her hands pressed hard against his chest. “I know you want—” She gasped as Luka’s arms went around her, followed by her triumphant laugh, yet its sound only served to tempt him more.

“Keep quiet,” Luka hissed even as his lips moved down her throat. “I don’t want to wake your parents up.” He managed to keep himself from groaning when Caylie just arched her neck, stretching in his arms like a sensual kitten begging to be played with.

“I love your kisses,” she said huskily, and Luka knew she was deliberately disobeying him because she knew she could get away with it.

Warning bells rang in his mind.

Caylie liked to play, especially when it meant teasing him, but only up to a limit, never failing to pull away just when Luka’s obsession with her was making him forget that there were lines he could never cross.

Luka pulled away, looking down at Caylie more closely. And after a while, it hit him.

She was not just tipsy. She was completely, irretrievably, fucking
drunk.

Since normal liquor could never intoxicate a Caro, her blood cocktail had probably been laced with something else, maybe an outlawed ingredient like poisoned steel?

“
Luka.
” She said it in such a throaty voice his body couldn’t help reacting, his brain in danger of shutting down at the sensual promise hidden in that voice.

Shit. This was bad. Caylie drunk was something Luka didn’t ever want to encounter. It would likely make her wilder than ever. “Caylie—”

A naughty smile on her lips, Caylie suddenly wriggled out of her dress until she was standing only in her black racy—wait, he meant
lacy
—underwear and heels. Her eyes narrowed like a school mistress and she crooked her finger at him, furious and flirtatious at the same time. “
Come!”

Luka was on her in a second.

When she laughed out loud again, this time he didn’t mind, didn’t care—all he wanted was to take her, his beautiful, wild, sweet bauble. His lips took hers roughly, forgetting completely about being methodical and polite, the way everyone knew him to be.

“Yes,” she breathed, and Luka’s blood burned as her lips parted under his.

His tongue went in, seeking to plunder her mouth, and his body heated up as she moaned against his lips, the sweet sound making him harden even more.

Something was not right…but right now, he didn’t care.

Luka’s hands curved around her waist, but this time it was not enough. Slowly, he let his hands glide up until he could cup her completely. The weight of her made his fingers tighten around her flesh, and Luka was rewarded with another moan.

God, he had dreamt of this for so long—to have Caylie willing in his arms, to be in love with him as he was with her—

The thought arrested Luka.

Who the fuck was he kidding?

Caylie was not in love with him, never was, and maybe never would be.

With a snarl, Luka sprang away from Caylie, turning his back on her as his fangs extended at the force of his hunger.

Caylie only looked at him in blank confusion. “What’s wrong?”

His blood reached boiling point, drugging his mind, and urging his body to forget about everything that was right.
Take her. Own her. Bite her.

When Luka faced her, his eyes had darkened past crimson, the uncontrollable desire raging inside his body taking him to the brink of forgetting all rational thought.

Kill her so she won’t ever be anyone else’s.

Luka took a step towards Caylie, the roaring of his blood impossible to ignore.

She smiled at him, utterly unaware of what he was planning to do, of what he couldn’t help but do.

And then…

She burped.

Her eyes widened. “Oh my—” She let out another giant-sized burp, the sound loud enough to reverberate around the foyer. It was so unlike Caylie, who was the epitome of elegance—and how could she not be when Luka himself had practically shaped her to be his ideal woman?

When her third burp came out, Luka could no longer keep his lips from slightly twitching even though he still sported a raging hard on that only a knife to his cock could relieve and his mind was still a confusing mess of murderously violent urges.

The continuous burping from an increasingly embarrassed Caylie slowly cleared the red haze in his mind. Just as slowly, Luka became aghast as he realized what his dangerously possessive instincts had been urging him to do.

He stumbled back, his face expressionless even as shock coursed through him.

Even drunk and plagued with burps, Caylie sensed his inner turmoil, her eyes seeking his. “Luka, what’s wrong?”

He couldn’t speak.
It was true.
The words were all he could think about. The legends were real. Like most young Caros, Luka had thought the stories of the twins were made up, concocted by the elders to keep them from doing something as shamefully gauche as falling in love.

But now he knew.

It was true.

He had almost killed Caylie.

Caylie was blinking furiously at him, and Luka knew she was doing her best to stay awake even though the toxic substance in her system was already lulling her to sleep. “Luka, tell me—”
Burp
. Frustration made her blue eyes brighten. “I don’t know why I’m—”
Burp
. Caylie let out a wail. “I can smell my breath and it’s awful!”

Even though he felt like there was a noose suddenly tightening around his neck, Luka couldn’t help but smile. Even this far, his heightened senses allowed the scent of Caylie’s breath to waft through the air and reach him. And it did smell awful.

She covered her mouth. “You can smell it, don’t you?” She mumbled the words against her palm.

A painful twinge pinched his heart even as his smile widened. Only Caylie could make him feel like this. “
It doesn’t
—
”

Caylie groaned. “That’s your polite tone. You can smell it and you’re even trying
not
to wrinkle your nose!”
Burp
. Groan.
Burp
. Groan. “What’s happening to me?” Caylie wailed.