Ravens (32 page)

“I’ll try not to. Although, I have to
admit that I liked the idea of you rescuing me for a change.” His voice
dropped.

She trembled. “Lunch is ready,” Julie
called, hoping to break them apart so she didn’t lose her own lunch later down
the line.

Liam reluctantly tore himself away,
flashing that smoldering grin.

After lunch, Liam and Kendra remained
quiet as Julie provided background noise by talking. She prepared to head out
on a raid Liam planned on attending. However, after the recent fiasco,
everyone, especially Kendra, thought it best to leave him out of it this time.
He usually spearheaded and coordinated the more elaborate raids, but the guys
could manage without him this once, couldn’t they?

Julie babbled on about this and that,
mainly about the raid, but her two companions only heard a buzz. They smiled at
one another, having their own private and silent conversation through facial
expressions. It wasn’t until Julie yanked away their plates that the two lovers
broke their gaze.

“I’m going to clean up and get ready.”
Julie started to walk away, but turned with brows raised at Liam. “Don’t forget
the dishes, and keep it PG.” She pointed an accusing finger at the two.

Liam shrugged innocently.

“Mm, hmm.” Julie disappeared around the
corridor and into the bathroom.

“So.” Liam sighed, taking Kendra’s left
hand with his as she twisted on the barstool to face him.

“So.” She smiled.

Liam lifted her hand so that their palms
pressed together, then he slipped his fingers between hers and wrapped them
over her knuckles. It sent a warm tingle through her hand, down her wrist, and
up her arm.

“This is much better than an illusion,”
she admitted.

Liam grinned devilishly. “It’s about to
get even better.”

“Keep it PG, remember?”

“Right.”

Liam jumped off of his seat and pulled
Kendra up with him. He tilted his head to the right and pursed his lips. He
never seemed so playful.

Their fused hands dropped to their
sides, and Liam released Kendra’s fingers, placing both of his hands on her
hips, just above the low waist of her skirt. She tilted into him, anticipating
those lips but he did not meet her halfway. He stood still with the exception
of his hands. Liam took his right hand and clasped the side of her face, cheek,
and jaw. The moderate pressure of his palm against her skin was mesmerizing.

“I sure missed you, darling.”

“I missed you too,” she said softly.

“Do you regret me bringing you here?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I do
worry about my parents.”

He kissed her lips softly. “We all worry
about families, but we didn’t really choose to come here. It’s not like the
movies, you know?” He laughed a most angelic laugh. “You can’t take a blue pill
and forget it all and go back to whatever you did before in a normal, mundane
life. Then again, there aren’t robots hunting us down, at least not yet, but
the way this government is going, it may not be too far off.”

“Speaking of hunters.” She moved away
and went to the couch.

Liam followed, taking a seat next to
her.

She went on, “We don’t have to get into
it with them at every raid. There has to be a more honest way to make a
living.”

“Not for us, we’re just doing what we
have to do out of necessity. We didn’t choose this life, at least not most of
us, but what we lack in civil rights, we make up for in our powers.”

“I just don’t want you getting hurt
again, or caught, or worse.”

“Then what do you suppose I do?”

“I dunno. Employ others to do it?”

Liam froze. He arched his right brow as
the thought brightened. “That’s not a half bad idea. Organized Ravens? No glass
ceiling?”

“You’re a man. You don’t have a glass
ceiling.”

“Right, well, it’s a good thought.
Entrepreneurship works for any discriminated race over time, but who would fall
for it? I’d have to bring something to the table.”

“Are you kidding me? You can create
illusions. Can’t you just make them?”

“Darling, that’s about the most
diabolical plan I’ve heard come out of you. Using my powers for my own gain
against others’ will? You make me sound like a villain,” he joked.

“You’re not that bad. And, you’re not
that easy to save, which is why I have to go back to the subject at hand. No
more raids, please?”

“You know, we all do what we have to in
order to survive.”

“I don’t want you getting hurt. You
could’ve died!”

“Would that have bothered you, darling?”

Kendra smacked his chest. “Don’t even
doubt that.”

“Why? Do you like me?” He wagged his
brows.

“You know that I love you,” she spat out
the words without thinking and then froze.

Liam leaned against the couch and
grinned. “Is that so? I knew you had a thing for me. You can’t stay away.”

“You’re the one who can’t stay away.”

“Mm, I think you’re right.”

He moved toward her on the couch.

Chapter Thirty

The very sound of the dry rumbles that
came forth from Liam’s throat was enough to send Kendra into a spiral. It
seized her, and she didn’t fight back.

Liam nuzzled her neck, his breath felt
warm and his facial stubble tickled her. She giggled. He smiled. She felt his
lips stretch across her skin. His lips sent mind numbing tingles. Kendra
sighed. The illusions felt good, but this felt
really
good.

Liam ran his fingers through her messy
hair, pulling her closer. His right hand moved between her waist and the couch
and to her back, pressing her into him. He scraped his lips at her cheeks and
the corner of her lips as they parted. Then he kissed her.

“I missed you so much, sweetheart,” he
muttered in her ear, nibbling on her earlobe.

“Me too,” she moaned, her breath
crashing against his skin.

“Please tell me that you’re staying?”

“Where else would I go?”

Liam pulled away and asked calmly, “Are
you staying with me because you think that you have no other place to go?”

“Of course not.” She lifted her hand to
his cheek. “I want to be here with you, I want
you
. I love you.”

“Say it again.” He said in a low voice,
watching her mouth.

Kendra licked her lips and faced Liam,
tilting into him. Kendra hugged him. Her wrists rested over his shoulder, and
his hands remained loose on her hips.

She kissed his forehead and then his
temple.

“I...” She kissed the tip of his nose.
“…love...” She pressed her lips to his. “…you.”

He growled and snapped his head down to
her ribs beneath her right arm, tossed her over his right shoulder, and jumped
to his feet.

“Liam!” She giggled, her feet flaying.

He smacked her bottom. “Not now,
darling.”

Liam headed straight for his room,
slamming his bedroom door closed behind him, and placed her on his bed. Kendra
raised herself onto her elbows. The adrenaline kicked in and her eyes sparked.
The entity hissed and crawled to her skin in desperate need of Liam’s energy.

He stood over her as she watched him.
Kendra tugged on her lower lip with her teeth.

Liam stood upright over her engaging
frame. “You’re much too tempting. Didn’t I warn you about these short skirts?”

“Something about not being raid
appropriate, I dunno, I didn’t pay much attention. Maybe I need to be taught a
lesson.”

He chuckled. “You shouldn’t tease me,
darling,” he growled.

And there was that spicy grin that could
seduce a cow. Yes, a cow that had no sexual desire for a human male could fall
prey to Liam’s smile.

“Don’t you like it?” She smirked.

“It’s not that I don’t like it,
sweetheart, it’s that I’m not a very patient man.”

“Patience is overrated.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

He lowered himself over her, compressing
her down against the mattress. He kissed her, muttering sweet nothings in her
ear.

Kendra hissed. He pressed down on her
bruises.

“I think you have bruises that I need to
heal,” he said.

“I think so, too.”

“Should I start on the one from the tazer?”

“Please do.”

He raised her shirt to expose the purple
and hot-to-the-touch bruise. She didn’t jump when his fingers glided across it,
sending his energy and healing abilities into her. Liam leaned in and kissed it
with warm lips. He slid the tip of his tongue over the dragon’s tail. In an
instant, the pain vanished.

Despite being enthralled in their own
world at the moment, they couldn’t ignore the sounds from the living room.
There was a knock on the front door and Julie opened and closed her bedroom
door. She invited the guests in as the males muttered.

Neither cared enough to stop what they
were doing to peek out and take a gander at the newcomers. They didn’t halt.

Kendra’s heart raced, this felt so
naughty. Thinking of Liam was one thing, but being in the same room with him
was another. With the excitement, her powers interchanged with her adrenaline
rush and mistook it for a calling. At first, she didn’t notice it because of
the mind numbing effect of Liam’s touch.

Kendra sighed as the white in her pupils
flickered, slightly altering her vision, and then she did something unexpected
and unintentional for both of them.

Liam jerked up at the sudden sting where
Kendra’s fingernails raked into his back beneath his shirt. Her energy
accidently released itself, colliding into his skin as if she warded off an
attacker.

Her heart thudded as if to apologize for
misreading the rush.

Although Liam wasn’t a masochist, the
sudden surprise of pain increased his drive. In a swift move, he pinned her
wrists above her head. He tilted into her when he caught sight of her white
eyes, sparked with energy.

“So you want to play rough?” he growled.

His husky voice sent Kendra’s heart
pounding and her stomach twisting. He was one blinding second from plunging
back into her with kisses when Julie tapped on the door.

“What?” he grumbled.

“The guys need to talk to you.”

“Ugh.”

He dropped his head, almost smacking
Kendra in the nose.

Liam grazed Kendra’s jaw and muttered,
“Don’t move a muscle, or else.”

He jerked his head down, his movements
like a striking snake, as he bit her neck.

Kendra sucked in a breath as her belly
rolled.

When Liam left the room, closing the
door’s gap but not shutting it, Kendra stared up at the ceiling and sighed. She
regained her composure and waited for the butterflies to subside. It would take
a while before she came back to her senses.

Kendra pulled up her skirt and dug into
an inside pocket. She pushed her skirt back down, sat up, and examined the
picture. With a sigh she traced her fingers over it. It wasn’t meant for her
anymore, but a gift for Julie. Whether she believed Kendra was her sister and
they had loving parents because of Liam or not, she had evidence.

Though her parents handed her over, she
couldn’t blame them. She probably would have done the same thing had she been
in their shoes. After all, hunters manipulated them. Julie would never know
what her parents had done to Kendra. Kendra would give the picture to Julie,
and never think about the painful past again.

Kendra appeared from Liam’s bedroom and
went to the counter where Julie waited. The crew, consisting of Nathan, Lou,
and Mark, conversed amongst themselves as they huddled around a laptop. They
brought a large, black knapsack that sat empty on the floor, its high tech
contents spilled across the coffee table around the computer.

“Hey.” Liam spotted Kendra.

She caught Liam’s attention. Kendra
froze, the guys stared at her.

“I thought I told you not to move,” he
said in a playful tone.

Kendra ducked her face away as the heat
rose to her cheeks. She tucked strands of hair behind her ear. The guys kept
their smirks to themselves as Liam went back to work.

“What are they doing? What’s up with all
the cool stuff?” she asked Julie at the counter.

“Working out the mechanics of a raid.
They can be pretty high tech guys.”

“Oh.” Kendra feared they came back for
Liam. He was a genius when it came to thievery. “I brought this back from the
other world. This is for you.” Kendra slid the photograph across the counter.

“What is this?” Julie answered her own
question with one glance at the photograph. Her eyes widened and her lips
parted as she touched the material.