CHAPTER 12
Kaya didn’t look to see if Mira and Kellan were watching as she and Aric stopped dancing and slipped away from the terrace together. The moment felt too personal, no room for anyone else’s eyes or judgment.
Right now, it was only Aric and her.
No room for the reality of the fact that his life waited in another city, while her future with the Order teetered precariously here in Montreal.
He picked up the blanket Siobhan had left behind on the terrace, then walked Kaya out onto the lawn. The mansion was built on a large, woodland hill. The forest of tall pines and enormous maple and oak trees provided seclusion for the command center, as well as acres of privacy for training exercises and other Order business.
Aric led her into the dense woods, walking what seemed to be a deliberate path.
“Where are we going?”
A smile curved his sensual mouth. “You’ll see.”
In a few minutes, they reached the summit and a steep ledge of granite that overlooked the city below. The tree line stopped only a couple of yards short of the edge, which provided an unparalleled view of Montreal’s lights and the wide river that cut through it in the distance.
Kaya turned a surprised look on him. “You know this place?”
“When I was a kid my family used to visit Niko and Renata and Mira here in the city. Every chance I got to explore these woods, I’d end up here. There’s no view like this anywhere else.”
She laughed softly and shook her head.
“What’s so funny?”
“This is my favorite place in all the world. Whenever I need time and space to think, I come up here.” She gave his hand a little tug. “Come on. The best spot to sit is right near the edge.”
He followed her out of the woods and into the open air on the ledge. They spread the blanket on the last few feet of smooth stone before the granite shelf ended in a sheer drop several hundred feet down.
Kaya sat down in the center of the small patch of wool, her legs stretched out in front of her. Aric joined her, leaving barely an inch between them and resting one arm over his updrawn knee. With the moon and stars above them and Montreal’s glittering lights scattered in the distance below, neither of them spoke for a while.
Maybe it should have been awkward, coming out here with the knowledge that she would soon be undressed beneath this Breed male with him inside her, but she felt only calm when she looked over and saw Aric seated next to her.
It felt safe, perched at the edge of a lethal drop next to a man she barely knew and dared not trust.
Not beyond tonight, anyway.
Nothing could touch her up here. This hill had been a beacon for so much of her life, the only steady thing she had. Tonight it didn’t only belong to her, but to Aric too.
Tonight, it belonged to both of them.
And maybe that’s why she felt comfortable giving him a small piece of her truth.
“When I was little, my mom used to tell me that terrible monsters lived on this hill. She said they had hideous, sharp teeth and liked to eat children.”
Aric glanced at her, his brows raised. “Not a fan of my people, I take it?”
“Not really,” she replied, more understatement than he could possibly know. “I was so terrified from the stories she told me, I used to look up at this hill and wonder if anyone was sitting up here, looking at me too. Monsters waiting to swoop down into the city and chew me up. She made sure I believed every awful thing she said. She thought it was funny that I was so afraid. I don’t think she was ever satisfied until I was crying or hiding in a corner somewhere begging her to leave me alone.”
“Sounds like some great parenting skills.”
“She was an awful, hateful person,” Kaya admitted, no varnish on that truth. “From all I know of her, she was making bad choices from the time she was a teen. Apparently, things didn’t get any better after she became a mother. Some of my first memories of her were watching her either passed out or sticking a needle in her arm. We were homeless more often than not. That is, when she wasn’t shacking up with some gangbanger or john she’d just met.”
Aric’s eyes were solemn, but not pitying. Thank God for that. “I’m sorry. No kid deserves that kind of childhood.”
She shrugged. “I survived. More than I can say for her. She was dead by the time I was sixteen.”
“Overdose?”
Kaya shook her head. “One of her boyfriends beat her to death over twenty dollars she stole from his wallet. Even though I hated her, she was still my mother. I tried to defend her. I’m only lucky he didn’t decide to kill me too. But he did . . . other things.”
“Ah, Kaya. Christ.” Anger blazed in Aric’s eyes. “Who is this son of a bitch? Tell me and you know I’ll deal with him.”
“There’s no need,” she admitted tonelessly.
Still, his rise to her defense melted a lot of the cold that lingered inside her whenever she reflected on her past. But she wasn’t looking for a hero. She’d learned a long time ago that she was the only person she could ever count on.
“Mom’s boyfriend had a fetish for weapons. And because I lived in fear of monsters attacking in the middle of the night, I made sure I knew where he kept the key to the gun cabinets.” She glanced at Aric. “He’ll never hurt anyone ever again.”
He stared at her, a look of grim understanding in his eyes. “Do you have any idea how much courage that took, doing what you did?”
“Courage?” She scoffed lightly. “I was scared to death.”
“Yes. And you acted anyway.” He reached out, cradling her cheek in his palm. “What about now? Are you still afraid of the monsters that live on this hill?”
“No.” She turned her face into the warmth of his hand. “After that day, I wasn’t afraid of anything. I lived on the street for a while, bounced around with people I knew . . . people I thought I knew. Eventually, I ended up on this hill. I slept up here for two nights, waiting for the monsters inside the mansion down below to come out and kill me while I slept. Maybe I was daring them to. They never did.”
Aric cocked his head, silently considering. “Nothing gets past Niko, so I’m sure he knew you were up here.”
Kaya nodded. “When I woke up that first morning, someone had covered me with a blanket and left a backpack with food in it. The second day, I found a business card for a private youth shelter in town, run by an old man named Jack.”
“Anna’s Place?”
“That’s right.” Kaya stared at him, astonished. “How did you know?”
“I’ve heard Renata mention it once or twice. She spent some time at Anna’s Place when she was a kid too. Jack means a lot to her.”
“I didn’t know that,” Kaya murmured. “And, yeah, Jack was a good man. One of the kindest I’ve ever known. I heard he passed a few years ago, but the shelter is still up and running.”
Aric grunted. “Got a feeling I know who might have a hand in that.”
Kaya looked at him in question. “You don’t think Renata and Niko--”
“Wouldn’t surprise me at all. I don’t know the details, but to hear them talk, they credit Jack for saving both their lives back when they first met.” Aric stroked her cheek as he spoke. “What about you? How long did you stay with Jack at the shelter?”
“Not long.” Kaya shrugged and drew out of his touch, uncomfortable with the return to her own past. “I had to leave after a couple of months.”
“Had to leave?”
“Decided to leave,” she amended, trying her best not to squirm beneath the careful weight of his stare. “I didn’t belong there. I didn’t want to bring any trouble to Jack’s doorstep.”
“Trouble from the people your mom had been involved with?”
“I guess so.” She’d already said too much about her past and the people who inhabited it. If she kept talking, eventually she would have to start lying to him and that was a line she refused to cross. “I’d rather not think about that time in my life. It’s behind me now. That’s where I want it to stay.”
“All right.” His deep voice was quiet, but his eyes hadn’t yet released her. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy being alone at such a young age. I’m glad you had someone like Jack to look out for you, even for a couple of months. And I’m glad you had Nikolai and Renata looking out for you here on this hill too.”
“So am I.” Kaya stared out at the endless night sky and the glowing city lights in the valley below. “That first night I sat up here by myself, terrified of what I’d done, I realized it didn’t matter whether you were born human or Breed. The only real monsters were the ones who live to hate and hurt other people. I decided then and there if I was going to die for something, it was going to be fighting against those things. I suppose it’s ironic that the best role models I ever had for that were the warriors of the Order. About a year ago, I ran into Mira and her team on patrol in the city. She and I became friends right away. I admired her so much--envied her, really. I couldn’t have been more excited when she and Nikolai finally agreed to give me a chance to join the team.”
Aric leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. It was a chaste brush of his lips, but it touched her as deeply as the hottest meeting of their mouths. “You’re an amazing woman, Kaya Laurent. You’re also going to make one hell of a warrior. No, scratch that. You already are. The Order is lucky to have you.”
She smiled. “Is this the part where you try to make me feel good?”
His low, answering chuckle stroked her senses like velvet. “Yeah. This is that part.”
When she glanced at him, she found his eyes ablaze with amber sparks. Silently, he caught her around the nape and dragged her into a slow-burning, doubt-melting kiss.
Kaya reached for him, too far gone to pretend she had even the slightest trace of fear or reservation. They had made no promises to each other. No expectations that this desire that had erupted so swiftly between them stood any chance of becoming something more than just this one night.
She couldn’t give him anything more than that.
And he hadn’t asked her to.
He hadn’t demanded anything at all. His kiss right now was a study in control, too, despite that she could feel the power in his strong hands as he held her. She felt the sharp points of his fangs graze her tongue. Getting this close to the side of him that was pure predator and otherworldly should have given her some pause, but it only inflamed her more.
His fingers drifted along the side of her neck now, trails of heat radiating from his broad palm and long fingers. Her pulse throbbed as his thumb slowly caressed the sensitive skin below her ear. The unhurried melding of his lips against hers sent pleasure spiraling through her veins. It felt so good, heat pooled in her center, blooming into a deep, fierce yearning.
A growl rumbled in his chest before he tore his mouth away from hers. “Tell me if you don’t want this, Kaya. If you’re not sure--”
“I am.” She held his gaze, reaching up to stroke her fingers over his rigid jaw. “Right now, this is the only thing I’m sure of . . . that I want to be here with you. Just tonight.”
His eyes turned molten as she spoke, his pupils narrowed to thin black slits in the center of pure fire. His strong hands drifted to her shoulders, then down onto her breasts. Through the thin fabric of her shirt, her nipples peaked, the buds hard and aching as he kneaded each small mound.
Kaya moaned, wanting to feel more of his touch. She caught his hand in hers and guided him to the hem of her top. Aric understood what she needed, even without the use of the words she couldn’t find. His touch was sure yet tender as he unfastened the clasp of her bra and caressed her bare flesh with his heated palm.
Everywhere he touched her, she was in flames. He kissed a slow path up the length of her throat, then along her jaw line, until his lips found hers once more. Kaya welcomed his passion, opening to him as his tongue swept the seam of her mouth. He groaned as she sucked him in deeper, growled with pure male approval as she wrapped her fingers around the back of his head and held him more firmly against her mouth.
He caressed her naked breasts, then his hand slid down her belly and into the loose waistband of her jeans. His thick groan when he found her wet cleft vibrated all the way into her marrow. She shuddered, lost to the wicked pleasure of his fingers.
“You’re trembling,” he murmured, drawing away just far enough to study her face. “Am I going too fast?”
“No.” She shook her head, eyes riveted to all of the changes that were playing over his handsome, unearthly face and powerful body just from giving her pleasure. “You’re doing everything just right.”
Above the collar of his dark T-shirt and beneath the short sleeves that clung to the smooth power of his muscled biceps, Aric’s dermaglyphs pulsed with color. The Breed skin markings deepened from their normal golden hue to shades of burgundy, gold, and violet. Kaya ran her fingers along the swirling curves and tapered arches of his glyphs, awed by their inhuman beauty.
“I’ve never been this close to a Breed male before,” she admitted quietly. “I mean, not like this.”
“Never?” He grunted, a smile bowing his full lips. “In that case, I guess I’d better make this memorable.”
“It already is.”
On a dark purr, he claimed her mouth in another searing kiss. He kept touching her, kept kissing her and stroking her as he slowly removed her clothing, unveiling her body to him from the waist up.
His fevered gaze rooted on the tiny scarlet birthmark that rode her belly, just above her navel. Kaya moaned as his tongue traced the teardrop-and-crescent-moon symbol that had declared her a Breedmate from the moment of her birth. That mark had earned her only scorn and abuse from the people who called themselves her family. Now, Aric lavished it with worshipful kisses, his eyes crackling with care and respect and unfathomable desire.
“You’ll be my first too,” he said, his voice rough like gravel. “I’ve never touched a woman with the Breedmate mark before.”
“Why not?” She was almost afraid to ask, dreading that she’d misread him somehow. If he uttered a cold word now, it would crush her.
“Because, beautiful Kaya . . . I’ve never met someone I wanted as much as you.”
On a dark purr, he eased her down onto her back on the blanket. His mouth tasted every inch of her exposed skin, his roving tongue and teeth making her arch and shiver with arousal. Slowly, he made his way down to the buttoned waistband of her jeans. His hands moved swiftly, deftly, removing the rest of her clothing and shoes in moments.
Then his kiss continued, starting at her ankle this time and making a maddeningly unrushed trek up the length of her bare calf and knee, to the tender flesh of her inner thigh. When his mouth found her naked sex, she arched into him, her hands fisted in the blanket. Aric’s kiss here was as reverent as the one he lavished on her Breedmate mark.
“Fuck, Kaya . . . you taste so sweet.”
She sucked in a shaky breath, tipping her head back as the spiral of pleasure coiled tighter in her core. He parted her legs wide, his golden head moving shamelessly between them. She clamped down on her bottom lip when his tongue circled the tight bundle of nerves between her slick folds. He suckled her clit ruthlessly, his mouth and fingers stroking her into a frenzy.
She couldn’t hold back her release even if her life depended on it. Pleasure crashed over her, wave after glorious, unstoppable wave. She cried out, surrendering the raw, broken sound to the woods and sky around her.
Aric was watching her when she dragged her heavy eyelids open, her breath and body heaving. His fangs flashed in the moonlight, razor-sharp points filling his mouth. The burning coals of his gaze stayed locked on her as he stripped off his clothes, then settled himself on his bent knees in the open V of her legs.
His glyphs were alive and seething with rich colors now, but she only needed to glance farther down to see the even more impressive evidence of his arousal. His cock jutted thick and proud between his muscled thighs.
She reached for him, filling her hands with the length and girth of him. He closed his eyes as she stroked him, his face going taut and intense with what seemed to be barely leashed control. Finally, he let out a rough snarl and rose over her.
Kaya moaned as he settled into the wetness of her cleft then pushed inside on a slow, unending thrust. She gasped as he filled her, stretching her nearly to the point of pain. His hips bucked and rocked against her, the steady tempo he started with soon gaining in power.
“Christ, you feel incredible,” he uttered in that deep gravel growl that made her melt. “I don’t want to stop moving inside you. Fuck, Kaya. I can’t stop.”
“So, don’t.” She smiled up at him, craving everything he gave her. “Don’t stop, Aric.”
He roared his approval, a wordless, animal sound. All she could do was hold on as he crashed against her, his big body dominating her, stirring something dark and fevered to life within her too.
As pleasurable as he felt inside her, it was Aric’s wildness that sped her orgasm this time. He held her like he couldn’t get close enough, kissing her as if he wanted to drown in her. Driving so deep she could no longer tell where his body ended and hers began. When he came, it was on a long, guttural shout, his eyes blazing, locked in an unbreakable hold with hers.
Kaya felt boneless, adrift in a sea of intense sensation and unexpected, confusing emotions. She looped her arms around his neck, as stunned and unprepared as he seemed to be for the power of what they had just shared.
He stared at her as his body slowed above her. There was tenderness in his fiery gaze . . . and torment. A low curse escaped him, muttered quietly under his breath as he reached up to sweep some of her dark hair from her face.
When he started to withdraw, Kaya held on tighter.
She gave a small shake of her head. “Don’t. Not yet. I’m not ready to end this dance and say goodnight.”
His mouth quirked. “You mean, good-bye?”
She couldn’t pretend to see the humor in that now. Even though she knew her own survival depended on keeping her distance from this male and the tumult of feelings he was awakening in her. She didn’t know what ached more, the need she felt for Aric or the futility of that desire.
He bent his head down and nipped her lower lip. “Tell me, lovely Kaya. Has anyone ever made you come while you watched the sun rise?”
She shook her head, incapable of words.
His playful grin broke her heart. “Good. That means we’ve got another first to share before real life calls us home.”
He rolled over onto his back, bringing her atop him. Their legs entangled, bodies still intimately joined, he drew her head down to his and claimed her mouth in a possessive kiss as he thrust his hips and began all over again.