Chapter Twelve
Thank the Gods for Gerald’s impeccable timing.
“Sir, the warding at the back of the property has been completed as per your request,” the brownie said as he stood in the entry to the library with a curious gaze towards them. “Miss Halle is safe now to shift and run in the woods.”
Halle’s eyes immediately left the small man who’d interrupted them and zeroed in back on Viktor.
“You did that for me?” she asked as a huge smile lit up her face, and suddenly Viktor would have paid any price those criminal witches had asked. He’d give his entire fortune up to make this woman smile like that at him.
All he could do was nod at her like a complete and utter moron.
“Can I go now?”
When he nodded once again, she jumped up in a squeal and ran for the veranda doors as she began to undress.
Viktor just stood and stared off after Halle as her bare golden skin bounced along in the sun. Finally, Gerald’s throat clearing got his attention and he looked towards the brownie, who was now motioning him out the door.
“Perhaps you should follow and make sure she’s safe?” His bushy eyebrows moved up and down to exaggerate his point.
“Oh yes,” Viktor agreed as he quickly strode out onto the patio just in time to see her shift seamlessly into a beautiful, graceful leopard … and then roll in the grass like she was a golden retriever.
He almost laughed at the ridiculously content expression that was on her kitty face by the time he’d walked over to her. She was purring loudly and walked over to butt her head up against his leg.
“You can run in the woods, Halle. Just don’t roam too far,” he said as he stroked her silky fur and scratched behind her ears before she bolted away from him into the tree line.
He gathered her discarded clothing and folded it, then sat in a chair on the patio, using his vampire hearing to keep track of her as she played in the trees and the brush. Viktor was still amazed at how easy it was to open up to her. He’d talked more about his life to Halle in the last four days than he’d shared with anyone in over a thousand years. The woman certainly did like to talk. But the most difficult thing had been the constant arousal that he had to deal with every time he looked at her, or smelled her, or heard her voice. Each night he had lain in bed imagining her in the next room while he stroked himself to ease the pressure. But as soon as he’d come, all it would take was a sniff of her scent or the sound of her voice and his cock was ready for her again. It was madness, and her teasing and flirting were wearing him down.
When she finally lollygagged out of the forest an hour later, he could tell she had enjoyed herself. She stopped right in front of him and shifted back into her skin, complete with a sexy, bold smile that she hadn’t given him before. Viktor just stood there, taking the beauty of her in. He wanted her to see the appreciation in his gaze before he handed her clothes back to her.
“That was wonderful, thank you, Viktor,” she said as she dressed. Her voice was huskier than normal, and he wondered if the rumors about shifters being aroused after they changed forms were true. She smelled beyond amazing with the wild scent of the wind and the earth clinging to her skin, and it was all he could do to take a step back and escort her back through the library doors without touching her.
Viktor had a lot of thinking to do.
He decided to do it alone in his office while Halle was upstairs cleaning up, but hard as he tried, he couldn’t get the radiant sight of all that bare golden skin out of his head.
This is ridiculous! I am acting like a hormonal teenager.
The bottom line was that Halle would be a weakness his enemies could exploit. She could get hurt. He’d be a fool to get involved with her—no matter how good she smelled.
It’s settled then. I’ll simply keep my distance until I find her somewhere to go.
Viktor had heard Halle’s little feet come back down the stairs a few minutes ago, so he went back to the library as that’s where she spent almost all of her time. He looked up as he walked through the entryway to the large room and had to do a double-take when he saw Halle halfway up the ladder at the bookshelves, her bare thighs peeking out from beneath his shirt once more. He shifted his stance as his cock filled and his imagination began to run wild with all the things he wanted to do to her. When Halle looked back over her shoulder and a small seductive smile crept over her lips when she saw where his gaze was riveted to, his control finally snapped.
“What are you playing at here, Halle?” he said, as he watched her climb back down the ladder and he went to the bar to fix a drink. “Are you looking for someone to scratch an itch? I’m not exactly the kind of man your type usually looks for.”
He regretted his words instantly as the look of desire on her face quickly turned into hurt, and then anger.
“You asshole!” she spat back at him. “You want me just as much as I want you. Do you think I go around throwing myself at just any man? Dori said you’d be stubborn, but this is ridiculous.”
“Dori? That crazy fairy from the bar?” he asked suspiciously, “What does she have to do with you trying to seduce me? Is this some kind of spell?”
That at least would explain the odd protective feelings and his overwhelming need to touch Halle, but what would a random fairy have against him?
“No, this isn’t a spell, you idiot!” Halle seemed furious now that he would accuse her of doing something so vile and needy. “You’re lucky I’m even considering having sex with someone like you!”
That statement flared up his temper and along with it, the last shreds of his self-control disappeared. Before she could blink he had her pinned against the wall, his left hand wrapped around her wrists, holding them above her head. There was a second of panic in her eyes before he felt her muscles relax beneath him.
“Considering it, kitten?” he whispered low in her ear as he leaned in close. “I could’ve had you bent over every piece of furniture in my house a dozen times over in the last five days if I’d wanted and you would’ve loved every second of it.”