He needed more, wanted more. He thrust harder, faster, his hips a powerful piston slapping against her sleek buttocks, hands grasping her waist, holding her in place. Desire blossomed as her images melded with his until Sebastian and Lily were one entity, one thrusting, twisting, sweating, gasping entity of lust, their bodies no longer under conscious control, directed by passion, ruled by need and a deep, overwhelming hunger.
He’d never felt so powerful before, had never wanted so much, never given as much or taken so completely, and yet Lily was taking as well, finding her pleasure, giving back and sharing the amazing sense of completion, the knowledge that she’d been missing this for far too long.
He had given her that gift, just as she’d shared that same gift with him. It had been too long.
Forever,
he thought, as her body arched, her inner muscles clamped down hard and held him close. Lily’s cry echoed with Sebastian’s harsh curse, as he gave up what little control he’d tried to hang on to since she’d invited him to her home. He surged into her, blood pulsing in his veins, his ejaculate filling her clenching sheath. His hips moved with their own rhythm, his thighs flexing as he thrust once, twice, and then he buried his cock deep inside while his rigid muscles spasmed.
His climax lasted forever; it was over much too soon, and when his legs gave out, he slumped over her back, arms quivering and lungs heaving with each deep breath.
They lay there for a moment, both of them locked away in their own thoughts. He missed the sharing, the mental joining that had felt as important as the physical link they’d achieved.
Lily was the first to move, the one to raise her head and turn enough to look him in the eye. “Well, it’s good, I think, that at least we’re still in the shower. I need to hose off again.” She winked.
His emotions were in turmoil, and Lily wanted a shower? His head was still spinning, but uppermost was the thought that this amazing joining on so many levels hadn’t had the same emotional impact for Lily that it had for him.
Feeling curiously flat, Sebastian grunted and lifted away from her, took her hand, and tugged her upright, easily lifting her away from the smooth stone. He steadied her, taking notice of the way her legs trembled and the red marks across her torso where she’d lain across the wall. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
She didn’t answer. Instead, Lily wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his chest. “No,” she said. “Far from it. That was . . .” She looked up at him. “Pretty spectacular. I’m glad you let me talk you into it.”
Unexpected anger surged when she pushed gently away from him and stepped beneath the shower. The water flowed immediately, falling as a warm and gentle rain. Obviously unaware of his roiling emotions, she shrugged and glanced away. “I don’t usually have to work so hard to get laid.”
His body went rigid as he stared at her, forcing Lily to meet his gaze. “Is that all that was, Lily? Getting laid?”
She blinked. “Of course,” she said. “What else can it be?”
“I don’t know.” He grabbed the soap and a washcloth, leaned over, and planted a short, hard kiss on her mouth. “But at least I’m man enough to want to find out.”
He was right, and she was wrong, damn it! Lily turned away and reached for her own cloth. Her inner muscles continued their rhythmic clench and release, and her body still thrummed with the power of her orgasm, but that was normal after sex, wasn’t it? At least with good sex. Hell, exquisite sex—sex unlike anything she’d ever experienced in her life.
He claimed he wasn’t Chanku, but they’d linked so easily, as if they’d already mated. She knew her parents experienced this kind of connection during sex, but Lily hadn’t. Never. Not even with Alex, a man she knew as well as she knew herself.
Now, having experienced it, she didn’t know if she was terrified or thrilled. She had to give Sebastian the capsules, see if he changed. He had to, or there could be no future for them. Not if he wasn’t Chanku.
She’d heard too many horror stories of Chanku living with humans, none of them good. After a while, the frustration and emotional isolation eventually destroyed whatever love had brought them together. Chanku were pack animals. Lily had always been part of the pack. Not even love could make her give it up.
And then there was the aging thing. Humans got old. Chanku didn’t. End of story. Good way to kill a relationship.
She ran the cloth over her arms, preternaturally aware of Sebastian bathing behind her, but she kept her back to him. The intimacy in and of itself wasn’t a bad thing. She had no shame being naked with either man or woman, but the intimacy she’d experienced with Sebastian had left her shaken and vulnerable.
She had so many questions about him—hell, he had questions. He’d lost almost half an hour tonight. Half an hour when he’d pursued her as if she’d been prey. He’d tried to mount her—the wolven version of rape—but she didn’t blame him entirely.
Something had happened. Just as something had happened at the reception, when he’d turned and looked at her. The pain that knocked her flat had come from him. No doubt there, but she didn’t think he’d been the instigator. No, he’d been a conduit.
But for whom? And why?
She turned to find him watching her, and she reached up to smooth away the frown between his amazing teal blue eyes. “What’s the matter? You look worried.”
“I am worried. I’m not a man who likes mysteries, and yet I have more questions than answers. Why did you collapse tonight ? I felt pain at the moment you went down, but it came from somewhere else. And later, when we were running. I remember shifting, and I remember chasing after a rabbit, then nothing. I don’t recall anything else until those two wolves attacked us.”
She glanced away, remembering the look in his wolf’s eyes. There’d been no sense of the man behind those eyes. He’d been nothing but a feral beast, pursuing a female. “We need to talk.” She leaned close and kissed his chest. Ran her finger down his breastbone and felt his skin shiver beneath her touch. “But I can’t do it when we’re standing here naked.”
He laughed while she rinsed off. When she stepped out of the shower, she handed him a soft robe that was hanging beside another identical robe.
He dried off and slipped the robe over his shoulders. She noticed the frown was back.
“What?”
He shrugged. “You live here alone, but you have two robes by the shower. Is there someone in your life?”
She smiled and thought of all the snarky things she could say to tweak his male possessiveness, but finally decided honesty was best. “I’m Chanku. We’re pack animals. I often have packmates here overnight, especially when they’re in town on business. CGI, Chanku Global Industries, is huge. I run Cheval International, which is merely a small part of the entire conglomerate. Though most of us live in Montana, all the main offices of the company are headquartered in the Bay Area.”
He glanced away and then focused on her. “Thank you. I really have no business asking you something like that, do I?”
She smiled to take away the sting. “Not really, but I don’t mind. Better to get that sort of thing out of the way. There is a lot about the way we live that’s different from humans, and most of the differences are tied to our sexuality. You should know what you’re getting into with me.” She laughed and tugged his hand. “C’mon. It’s late, and I actually do need to go to the office in the morning.”
“I should go home.”
But he didn’t look as if that’s what he wanted. “No, you should stay. We need to talk.” She ran her finger over the small scratch on his nose. “You’re healing quickly. That’s good.” Then she yawned, stretched her arms up over her head, and smiled at him. “We need to talk, but we need sleep, too. I’m exhausted and I know you have to be as well. Stay with me tonight, Sebastian. We can talk over breakfast. I make a mouth-watering omelet.”
She wasn’t sure where the invitation came from, but it felt right. And no matter what was going on in Sebastian Xenakis’s life, it felt right.
And he was definitely smiling back at her.
Lily dropped the terrycloth robe on the chair by her dresser and crawled into the big bed, between crisp, clean sheets. A pale swath of moonlight illuminated the dark coverlet. Sebastian got in beside her, as naked as she was, but his long, lean body was hard where hers was soft.
Masculine to her feminine. He scooted close and wrapped his arms around her, tucked her head beneath his chin, and enveloped her in heat and warmth.
She felt his soft sigh of contentment as much as she heard it. It was an echo of her own feelings—feelings she couldn’t put a name to. Not yet.
They made love again. Soft, sweet love that brought tears to Lily’s eyes and made her heart ache in her chest. He was so perfect. So damnably perfect.
So why did that make her heart hurt so much? Maybe they’d find the answers in the morning. For now, she merely wanted to enjoy the unique thrill of falling asleep in the arms of a man who might just have what she’d always looked for.
He filled an emptiness she’d known for far too long. One she’d suspected might forever stay the same. Snuggling close to him, she fell quickly into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Except, when she awoke in the morning, the bed beside her was cold, and Sebastian was gone. She stared at the place where he’d slept and blinked back tears. Men never left her without a good-bye kiss at the very least.
This was a first. She hadn’t even heard him go. No, she’d fallen asleep with the secure knowledge he’d be here this morning.
The phone rang. Numb, wondering if he might be calling to explain, she fumbled for the phone.
“Thank the goddess you’re okay. There’s been another one.”
“Alex? What?” She shook her foggy head and tried to focus on his image on the small screen. “What are you talking about?”
“Another murder. A young woman getting off the late shift at one of those all-night delis near Market Street. Raped by a man and mauled by wolves. Happened around five this morning.”
Lily shoved herself upright against the headboard. “Where?”
“Not far from your house. Her body was found on the green at Fort Mason.”
“Oh, shit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sebastian Xenakis spent the night. He was gone when I woke up.”
“ ‘Oh, shit,’ is right, Lil. Damn it. You need to contact your dad. Let him know what’s going on. According to my records, Xenakis has been in the general vicinity of every single death. He flies commercial, first class, so he’s easy to track. Be careful, sweetheart. This guy’s dangerous.”
“We don’t know for sure, Alex.”
There was a long silence. She was sure Alex was trying to control his temper. “You like him, don’t you?”
His gentle question almost undid her, but damn it, she did like Sebastian. A lot. But she could never lie to Alex. “Yeah,” she said. “I do. He was so open with me, Alex. I can’t imagine him hiding something as huge as murder. Multiple murders. And his isn’t the same scent I picked up at the scene.”
“Which scene? When?”
She probably should have told him. “I went to the site of the last killing, the one near Mom’s garden in Golden Gate Park. I picked up the scent of strange wolves but no human scent beyond the ones that belonged there. I think the victim was raped somewhere else, but mauled to death by wolves at the park. Last night, when Sebastian and I ran . . .”
“He shifted? He’s Chanku?”
She let out a huge sigh. “I don’t know. He used magic to shift. A lot of magic. Drew it from the mountain and the trees around us, enough that he glowed with magefire before he turned into a wolf, but he’s definitely a wolf. Stuff happened last night, Alex. I need to wake up better, think about it, before I lay it all out. Later, okay?”
“Lily. Be careful. Please. I can’t get down there right away. Too much going on, but I hate to think of you dealing with this guy on your own.”
“Thanks, Alex. And don’t worry. I’ll talk to Dad. He’s good at helping me get my thoughts organized. I need to take a shower, wake myself up a little more.” She glanced at the clock. It was already after seven. She had a meeting at nine. “I do miss you.”
“I miss you, too, sweetheart. Just be careful, okay? Whoever this guy is, whether it’s Sebastian or someone else, he’s dangerous, and his kills are coming more often.”
She stared at the bed, at the indentation of Sebastian’s head in the pillow beside hers, and sighed. He couldn’t be the killer. She had to believe that. He’d been too open, too concerned. Too perfect.
“I know. I’ll be careful.”
“You’d better be. You know how much I love you, Lily. If anything ever happens to you, I swear I’ll haunt you forever. And I’m not kidding, because Eve’ll be right there beside me.”
She laughed as the image of Alex and their goddess hovering overhead popped into her mind. “Just try it. Eve always liked me better.”
They ended the call on uneasy laughter, but Lily sat there a moment, staring at the phone. Why hadn’t she thought of Eve? Goddess she might be, but she was also Lily’s closest friend and confident. It had been much too long since she’d walked the astral and visited Eve in her own perfect world.
A bit of astral perfection sounded really good, because her own world was obviously way too fucked up.
She inhaled and caught Sebastian’s scent, and her body reacted immediately. Her nipples ached. Her breasts felt heavy, and she was suddenly wet and aching between her legs. Damn. Her wolf should have better sense than this—how could it let her be turned on by a guy who might be a rapist and a murderer?
She took another deep breath, remembering. His scent was not what she’d picked up at the last murder scene, but damn it all, she figured she really needed to check out this newest one.
After she took a shower. And after she talked to her father. Lily felt the dull ache in her head and recognized it for what it was. Well, dear old Dad was just going to have to wait until she washed away Sebastian Xenakis’s seductive scent.