Chapter Eight
Caine
“Are you sure they’re okay with this?”
“Positive. Nobody really lives here anymore. Both Violet and Andria have moved in to the tower. And especially on a night like tonight, Violet will have no need of it.” He chuckled to himself.
“Behave.”
He grinned to himself, flipping the lock and pushing open the door. “Here we are. Your residence for the evening. Please, after you.” He waved a hand through the doorway, encouraging her forward.
Annalise looked at him through he corner of her eyes, but she didn’t protest. That too was an improvement, he decided. Her protests at the way he wanted to treat her were slowly weakening. That was a good thing, because the sooner she realized he was genuinely into her, and wanted to get to know everything about her, the sooner their relationship could progress.
“This is so nice!” she exclaimed, flicking on the light and looking around the little house.
Caine peered in after her, frowning at the dilapidated furnishings and décor. Everything was well-worn. It was clean, free of dirt and dust of course, but it wasn’t what he would call nice. Not even close. Just what sort of conditions was she used to living in that this would qualify for that sort of statement?
Then he recalled her saying the outfit she’d worn to sneak around the church was most of what she owned. Annalise must have been living a rough life if those garments had been the majority of her wardrobe. Well, no more. Not now that he was in the picture. She wouldn’t want for a single thing once she accepted him as her mate.
If. If she accepts you.
He had to keep reminding himself of that. Annalise was no dragon; she didn’t feel the bond, at least not the way he did. Her human self was fickle. It could just as easily decide to reject him as it might welcome him with open arms. He would have to tread carefully if he wished to get her to open up. Her skittishness was easy to identify, though he sensed that she was opening up to him. Even if it was perhaps somewhat involuntary, it was a subconscious response to the bond he knew they shared.
“Thank you for this,” she said suddenly, breaking the silence. “Neither you nor Violet had to be as kind to me as you’ve been.”
Caine shrugged. “It really was nothing.”
“Perhaps to you. To me though it was something.”
“You aren’t used to people treating you with kindness, are you?”
Annalise snorted. “Kindness is just a fake construct people use to get what they want from someone else.”
He shook his head, not agreeing with her worldview. “It pains me to know that someone has treated you so poorly that you’ve become so jaded about the world around you. Kindness does exist, Annalise. It’s a real thing. You’ve just been unlucky enough not to experience it before now.”
“Maybe, Caine. Or maybe not. Even you, as kind as you’ve been, will want something from me. You’ve said so yourself.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He took a step toward her. “I don’t want something from you. I want you. That’s different. What I want isn’t a single-sided thing, where I take and you’re forced to give.”
“What do you want from me, then?”
He sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I want you to want me,” he said plainly. “The same way I desire you.”
“So you want sex.”
“It is so much more than that,” he whispered, unsure of how they had even gotten to this point, and knowing that it wasn’t going anywhere good. “I desire you physically, yes, I won’t lie to you. Your curves and your soft, tender skin call to me. But I want you, all of you, Annalise. Every single part of you is something I desire, something I crave. A hunger that cannot be sated until my mouth can taste your entire being. Until my mind can know yours. Until our souls are melded together to form one.”
He’d continued to approach as he spoke, until a mere handful of feet separated them. Annalise was breathing deeper, his words affecting her powerfully, making her aware of the depths of his desire.
“I don’t think I can be that person for you, Caine,” she said as he stopped just outside of her personal space, reluctant to force his way through it, though he suspected he could. That wasn’t how he wanted it to go, however.
“Why not?” he asked plaintively. There didn’t seem to be a reason that he knew of.
“Because I can’t stay. I need to keep moving.”
“What’s wrong with here?”
“At the moment? Nothing. But I’ve already stayed too long.
“You’re running from something.”
Annalise’s expression hardened, the magic of the earlier moment fading as reality set in once more. When she spoke, he could barely hear the word even with his supernatural hearing. “Someone,” she corrected.
“Is it the police? Are you a criminal?” he asked.
“For the second time, no, I’m not a criminal!” She crossed her arms, though it only served to enhance how beautiful she looked in the black dress, ample amounts of skin displayed.
Caine had had trouble not staring all evening long, and he knew he’d been caught on multiple occasions, though part of him didn’t care. This was his mate, and he had every right to want to stare at her stunning body in the moments where he couldn’t lose himself in the depths of her gaze.
“I wouldn’t care,” he stated for the record. “I just needed to know if I should be ready.”
Annalise tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowed in analysis. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“I would never lie to you.”
“Just like that? I tell you I’m not a criminal, you believe me, and you’d prepare yourself to help me?”
“Yes.”
“You’re an odd sort, Caine. You trust too easily. Many people would take advantage of that.”
“Perhaps,” he agreed. “But I know you aren’t one of them. You wouldn’t hurt me.”
“How can you be so sure?” Annalise challenged, amber eyes glinting in the dim light with a cat-like stare.
“I just am.”
“Is that so?” She stepped forward.
He stepped back, respecting her boundaries. “Yes.”
Annalise took several more steps forward. He matched each one backward, keeping the distance between them the exact same. Eventually his shoulder blades pressed up against the front door.
“You’re a strange man,” she said softly. “I should be wary of you, and yet for some reason, I’m not. I feel comfortable around you.”
Caine nodded, knowing what was about to happen next. “That’s good. I want you to feel comfortable around me.”
His mate shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s not good. When I get comfortable, that’s when bad things start to happen. I can’t get comfortable with you.” She came closer, though he was unable to move backward.
“I won’t apologize for that. You can trust me. I won’t do anything to hurt you.”
“Maybe,” she whispered, leaning in closer. “Part of me wants to believe you. Desperately. To believe that everything you’ve said about politeness is real and truthful. That real kindness exists.”
“It does.” He bent down toward her, ready to take advantage of the moment, to kiss her the second she came close enough.
“Maybe,” she agreed, a hand’s width away from his face.
This was it. The first kiss he would share with his mate. Caine closed his eyes halfway and lowered his face some more, ready to feel her soft, thin mouth press into his, to finally share his hunger with her. He wanted it badly; his body was burning with need.
“But I can’t take that chance.” Annalise reached past him and unlocked the door. “So you need to go.”
Caine groaned as the magic passed. Her inner willpower was incredible. He could smell it in the air that she hadn’t been faking it. Her desire for him was real. She wanted to let herself go, to see where kissing him would lead, but an iron will born from some unspeakable situation wasn’t yielding.
Her instincts were powerful, and he knew she would continue to trust them for a long time to come. They had gotten her this far through something obviously traumatic and trust-breaking, and he would respect that, even if it left him with a sharp, tight pain between his legs and a yearning loneliness in his chest.
“Very well,” he said, but before she could withdraw her hand he snatched it from midair. “I will go,” he murmured into the back of her palm. “But know that you have nothing to fear from me, Annalise Walker. I will protect you from whatever comes, and anyone who tries to take you away from me will regret it for the rest of their days, however few those may be.”
He kissed her hand once, then twice, brushing the soft skin against his lips as he stared directly into her face. Then he winked, and slipped out the door before she could react, pulling it closed behind him.
The morning could not come soon enough. He decided to leave the SUV in the driveway and jog home. Unburned energy flowed through his system, and he covered the intervening blocks in a time no human could match. Despite his bulk, he could move very fast when he needed to.
By the time he arrived back at the appropriately renamed Dragon Tower Apartments that served as home to all of the awakened dragons, Caine had worked up a solid sweat. Violet and Ivore were already asleep. Cowl and Andria had rented out a penthouse hotel room downtown, and Caine was thankful for that. He didn’t want to deal with the newlyweds while also trying to figure out his own personal situation. Things were confusing enough as it was.
What he really wanted to know was what, or who, Annalise was running from. The curiosity was burning, an unscratchable itch in his brain. Although he desperately needed a shower, Caine sat down at his work desk and powered on the laptop. He wasn’t a computer genius, but he knew enough to work an internet search. He typed in her name, wondering if he would get any hits.
To his surprise, there were plenty. Newspaper articles and even a web page with her name on it.
Caine’s mouth dropped open in surprise as he read the headlines.
Wife of Local Man Goes Missing.
Massive Search for Missing Woman.
Hunt for Missing Woman Enters Third Week.
Then below that, there was the website. Help Find Annalise Walker. Curious, he clicked on the link and started to read.
Just what the hell had he gotten himself into?