ClosertoFire Page 3

  To his surprise, the beast was unconcerned. He’d expected a jealous rage. Hell, he was a little jealous—less so than he would have imagined, but he felt possessive all the same.

  Instead, it purred a single word to him in its deep, rumbling tone, pronouncing the word slowly, as if explaining a new idea to a child.

  Share.

  Bane leaned his head against his forearm and watched droplets of water run down the white-tiled wall. You’re fucking kidding me, he thought. A creature of few words with no reason—ever—to argue a point, the dragon did not respond. Typical.

  A mated warrior rarely survived the death of his mate. The enemy knew this, which was why there were very few dracambri females left. Bane and Darek had talked about it before—the “What would you do if you found your wyrmate?” question—and they’d both agreed that mates would be a ruinous liability. They’d be bound to their mates—biologically, spiritually, from crown to toe, from horns to tail and everywhere in between. It had never occurred to either of them that they would share a wyrmate. Possible? Yes. Likely? No. Fate had one hell of a sense of irony.

  So what now? He turned off the water, grabbed a towel and dried off. As he walked out of the bathroom, Bane saw Darek on the balcony, leaning against the railing and gazing into the starry sky, gleaning what solace he could from its glittering expanse. Even from this distance, he could sense the restlessness of his friend’s soul. He felt for Darek. Before the war, his friend had been popular among the idani. Although Darek had acted the part of the ladies’ man, he’d considered many of his regular partners friends. When the truth had come out, he’d felt massively betrayed.

  Bane sat down on the edge of his bed. The shower hadn’t taken her scent from him—a mixture of lemon and lavender that a man could drown in. He’d never smelled it before but he’d know it anywhere. It was her scent.

  Our wyrmate’s.

  Steeling himself against temptation, he got up and closed her door silently. Not yet. He tossed the towel in the bathroom and lay down on the double bed on his side of the room, pulling the sheet over his bare skin. He had to get some sleep.

  Chapter Two

  “You’re going where?” Darek’s tone was incredulous as he looked up from his coffee. It was still dark, about an hour before sunrise, and they had yet to hear stirrings from the adjoining room where Lily slept.

  Bane drew out the chair across from Darek and sat down, joining him at the small table. He set down the cups of coffee he’d brought up from downstairs and sat back, steepling his fingers under his chin. “I’m going to talk to Savara. It’s not far by wing, and if I leave now, it’s unlikely I’ll be seen,” Bane said. Disbelief warred with concern in his friend’s eyes. “Darek,” he said gently, “she might know something about Lily that we don’t, and I sure as hell can’t talk to Anthony about this. He’d put a hit out on both of us.”

  “You think?” Darek exploded. “Dammit, I just might beat him to it. Are you out of your fucking mind?” His expression pleaded with Bane. “You can’t be serious. We’re talking about the same Savara, right? The idana who killed Kai? One of the very best breeders in la vedova’s program? And you’re going to just walk in and have a powwow with her?”

  Bane held up a hand. “I know what you’ve heard, but listen to me. She didn’t kill Kai. She’d never hurt him. She defected. They ran away together.”

  Darek’s jaw dropped. “Come again?”

  “She’s his wyrmate. They’re bonded.”

  Darek’s jaw worked, an inarticulate sound emerging from his mouth.

  Bane continued, “They knew they’d be hunted down, so they faked Kai’s death and went into hiding.” His voice dropped a notch. “I only know about it because Savara needed my help with contraception. They swore me to secrecy.”

  “Did you do it?” Darek asked incredulously.

  “Well, I told you, didn’t I?” Bane said, annoyed.

  “No, dipshit. Did you reverse the shots?”

  Bane shook his head, looking frustrated. “I tried. The treatment she was given is a multistage process. I’m still working on a way to reverse it. The best I could do for Savara was surgical sterilization.”

  Darek barked a laugh. “You tied her tubes? Dude, she’s an idana, not a soccer mom!”

  “The idani reproductive anatomy is quite similar to ours,” Bane said defensively. “Anyway, that’s not my point. Savara is older than either of us. She was one of la vedova’s most prized recruits, and she’s on our side now, whether Anthony knows it or not. She has a lot of history with her kind. She might know something about Lily.”

  Darek snorted derisively, stabbing his finger in the direction of Lily’s room. “Lily? Look, I’ll tell you what’s asleep in that room. It’s an idana. A náladon breeding machine,” he said. His eyes flared scarlet. “And what’s more, it’s our target. The sovrán doesn’t choose those lightly. He needs her for something. We need to take her to him. As. Ordered.”

  Bane shook his head slowly, holding his friend’s gaze. “She’s an idana, I’ll give you that. But she’s not just anything to either of us—and you know it,” he said.

  “Oh yeah, right. I forgot. She’s special,” Darek said, his voice dripping sarcasm. He swept his palm down his face. “Look, we have been through more shit than I care to think about together. But you’re scaring me. Yeah, she turns me on. They all do. It’s how they’re made. It doesn’t make her any different from the others. She’ll seduce you with those pretty, sad eyes and she’ll turn on us the second she gets the chance.”

  Bane rubbed the bridge of his nose, suppressing a yawn. He hadn’t slept well. “Darek, shut up and listen. Can you hear your own dragon? Because I can hear it from here. It knows what she is, and if you’d pull your head out of your ass, you’d know too.”

  Bane tossed back half of his coffee, set it down and leaned forward. “Tell me something. Last night, when I came in with her scent all over me, what was your first thought?”

  Darek snorted. “That you’d lost your ever-loving mind.” Bane waited, poker-faced. After a moment, Darek shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Why the fuck do you want to know?”

  Bane suppressed a smile. “Just humor me.”

  Darek took a swallow of his coffee and set the cup down with a thunk. The scalding liquid sloshed over his hand but he paid it no attention. He took a deep breath and met Bane’s steady gaze.

  “I thought her scent on you wasn’t right.”

  “Why not?”

  “It just wasn’t, okay?” Darek hedged.

  Bane sat back, waiting. “You’re telling me her scent didn’t do things to you—things you didn’t know were possible?” he asked after a moment. “How’d you sleep last night?”

  The remaining coffee in Darek’s cup bubbled and steamed. “Not well.”

  “Then if she’s just an idana, why didn’t you just grab a condom, go next door and ask her if she’d help you get it out of your system?” Bane asked.

  “You know that would have been a dumbass idea,” Darek replied. He tapped his fingers on the table.

  “Why? It’s not like you’ve never done it before,” Bane pushed.

  Darek’s lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl. “That was before the war, and those were my friends,” he hissed. “Emphasis on were. And they were…” He stopped and closed his eyes. “They were safe. They didn’t do this to me. I feel crazy, hungry, needy… Fuck.” He rubbed the stubble on his jaw and raised his hand, as though asking Bane for patience. “This is insane. You know that, right? It’s. Fucking. Nuts.”

  Bane held his silence, waiting.

  “I wouldn’t have gone to her without you anyway,” Darek ventured. “It wouldn’t have been right. Not without you there.”

  Bane sat back in his chair. At last, they were getting somewhere. “Why not?”

  Darek furrowed his brow. “I wanted to share her with you,” he murmured. He raked a hand through his sleep-tossed hair. “Damn. Happy now? Can we pick out
curtains and a china pattern after lunch?” He lifted his cup and downed the rest of his coffee.

  Bane steepled his fingers under his chin “Do you want to know what I think?”

  Darek shrugged and tossed his cup in the trash. “Why the hell not?”

  “Evidence suggests that we may have found our wyrmate.”

  Darek dropped his head back, hitting the wall behind him with a bang. “Our. Wyrmate. Oh that’s perfect. Just fucking perfect,” he said to the ceiling.

  Bane said nothing. A moment passed before Darek lifted his head, a resigned expression on his features.

  “Just let me go to Savara,” Bane said, “see if I can find out more about her. All right?”

  Darek let his head fall into his hands. “By all means. We’re already screwed nine ways from Sunday.”

  Bane pointed toward the door to the adjoining room. “You’ll need to untie Lily when she wakes, but watch she doesn’t make another run for it.”

  Darek groaned. “No problem.”

  “If I’m right,” Bane said gently, “if she is our wyrmate, the bonding process will begin. She will hunger. Soon and intensely.”

  Darek nodded, not taking his hands from his face.

  Bane sat forward, placing his hands flat on the table. “And so will you.”

  Darek’s shoulders slumped. “I’ll order room service.”

  Bane sighed. “Yeah. Let me know how that goes.” He stood and walked toward the small balcony. “I’ll return as soon as I can.”

  * * * * *

  Lily woke with a groan. Her head was pounding and her mouth felt like she’d been chewing cotton. She opened her eyes cautiously. The light pouring in through the window seared her eyes. When she tried to cover them with her hands, she met with resistance. Dammit. It hadn’t all been a dream.

  She was still bound securely. She wiggled her fingers experimentally. There was no tingling, so Bane hadn’t cut off her circulation. He was pretty good at binding.

  Lily tugged harder against the silver rope. No give. She craned her neck to see where her hands were bound to the headboard. The IV in her hand did run by her head. For a second she thought about pulling it out with her teeth. Remembering Bane’s fury the previous night, she decided against it.

  So what now? Frustrated, she arched her back and pulled against the rope with everything she had, twisting her body this way and that. The bed creaked but the rope held fast. Her IV tube caught under her hair, twisting the catheter in her hand. Ouch.

  “Don’t hurt yourself, babe.”

  Lily gasped, snapping her head up. The dark-haired man stood in the doorway. Darek, she remembered vaguely. She hadn’t heard him come in. She stared, wondering how he could look so infuriatingly casual and perfectly delicious at the same time.

  “Babe?” She was going for righteous indignation but the best she could muster was a croak. At least the blistering pain she’d felt the night before was gone.

  “I’ll call you whatever I damn well please, little demoness.” He grinned and closed the distance between them with a few smooth strides, dropping to his haunches beside her.

  Bastard. She glared at him, struggling to sit up. “Where’s Bane?”

  “He’s on an errand.” Darek sat on the edge of the bed next to her.

  “You’re both a few crayons shy of sixty-four. You know that, don’t you?” she asked.

  He stretched his arm over to touch her face, tucking her hair behind her ear. The pads of his fingers felt electric on her skin. Lily shivered and rubbed her cheek against his palm. His scent—oh yes, right there in the center of his hand—was divinely smoky. Different from Bane’s, but just as euphoric. Touch me more, she wanted to say. But that would be nuts, wouldn’t it?

  “You know,” he said, stroking her cheek, “you’re kind of cute all tied up and fussy.” Lily prepared to deliver a searing retort. But she saw those dark, hypnotic eyes of his and the words vanished from her mind.

  She stared, fascinated, the silence stretching thin and taut. Bane, she thought, played his cards close to the vest. By comparison, Darek was an open book. She saw longing and disquiet in his penetrating gaze.

  He laid his hand on her arm. It was a simple gesture, gentle even, but her body grew still, her breath shallow with anticipation. “I’m going to untie you,” he said. “I’ll let you take a shower and give you something to eat. But if you raise hell or try to run away, I will catch you, and you will be sorry.”

  Lily nodded, not sure whether the clenching in her gut was fear or excitement. Even when he was angry, Bane seemed in control, civilized. But there was something savage in the way Darek was looking at her, as if he might swallow her whole, given the chance.

  “Now,” he said, “do you want me to start with your feet or your arms?”

  The words were out of Lily’s mouth before she could think. “That depends—do you want me to start with your eyes or your balls?”

  He burst out laughing—a rich, resonant, contagious sound. Her lips curved in spite of the absurdity of it.

  Still chuckling, he reached down and lifted a black bag onto the bed. He searched through it for a moment, then drew out a roll of medical tape. Lily’s stomach clenched. He tore off a short strip and reached for her. She struggled against the ropes. He looked taken aback.

  “I’m taking out your IV, not taping that cute little mouth shut.” Lily breathed a sigh of relief. With practiced ease, he removed her IV, pressed gauze over the puncture site and taped it down. Then he went to work on the rope around her waist. With the needle out and her release imminent, Lily realized just how badly she needed to use the bathroom.

  “I… Um…” she began, then finished in a rush, “could you hurry?”

  He looked up from his task. “Got somewhere to be?”

  “Yeah, kind of,” she said, nodding toward the bathroom.

  “Oh.” He reached in his back pocket, drew out a pocketknife and cut the thin, shiny bonds. Lily thought she’d never seen a more satisfying sight than that whisper-light stuff floating away from her skin in pieces. She sat up on the bed and pushed herself up, trying to stand, but her stiff muscles wouldn’t obey. Cursing under her breath, she tried again.

  “Let me,” Darek murmured, lifting her easily into his arms. He carried her to the bathroom and set her on her feet, steadying her. “You can manage from here, I hope?”

  “Yeah,” Lily whispered. She didn’t want to think about how good his body felt against hers. She hobbled into the bathroom.

  He put his hand on the door as she was closing it. “You hungry?”

  She paused. Wow. She was starving. “Yes.”

  “What do you like?”

  “Steak. Rare.”

  He chuckled. “A woman after my own heart.” Darek stepped back from the door, shaking his head and grinning from ear to ear. He’d been prepared—hoped, even—to despise her. He’d steeled himself against an onslaught of seductive charms that had never come.

  Instead, she was cute. Resilient. Funny. She had a sharp tongue on her. And fuck, she’d felt so perfect in his arms.

  He found the room service menu and sat down on the bed. Burgers, fries, pizza… No steak. Not that it mattered—the kitchen was closed. She was going to be disappointed. The dragon perked up and toyed briefly with the idea of going hunting for her. He wondered whether she would understand the visceral thrill of catching live prey on the wing or if it would horrify her.

  Suddenly aware of the direction of his thoughts, he snapped the menu shut. Damn, Bane’s crazy was catching. He snatched up the remote and turned on the TV.

  And then he heard water running in the bathroom. Oh man. Of course she was in the damn shower. Like an idiot, he’d suggested it. He put down the remote and stared at the dark television set. She hadn’t tried to seduce him—hadn’t so much as batted her eyelashes—but he wanted her all the same. Craved every inch of her, from her dear little nose to her pink toenails.

  The dragon that shared his body and soul rumb
led its agreement.

  There were things he had to know—little questions that bounced around in his head. Were her nipples pale pink, like roses, or satiny beige? Did they tighten into buds as soon as she was aroused, or would he get to feel them grow hard under the ministrations of his tongue? What secret marks, freckles and lovely idiosyncrasies would he find on her body and where would they be? Did she whimper or scream or both? What did she taste like?

  Darek was considering leaving for the adjacent room to stroke his cock when he heard the shower turn off. A few seconds later, a sputtering scream from the bathroom had him scrambling to his feet.

  He ran to the bathroom door. “You okay?”

  Wet, smashing sounds came from inside. Alarmed, he burst through the door. She was dripping wet, naked and wielding a washcloth against a very large and now very dead cockroach. He had a second to think that her nipples were a gorgeous, deep, rosy pink before she ripped a towel down from the rack and covered herself.

  She blushed crimson and gasped, “I hate roaches.”

  He smirked. “That I can see.”

  “It just dropped on me. I think it was in the shower curtain,” she added, clutching the towel.

  “Uh-huh.” He took a step toward her.

  She fidgeted but did not back away. “Um…I’m fine now. Sorry if I scared you. You can go. If you like.” She glanced in the mirror, realized the towel wasn’t covering her stunning derrière and blushed even more deeply.

  He took another step toward her. “And leave you here to fend off poor Oscar’s friends and family when they hear of his untimely death?” He gestured toward the ex-roach.

  She followed his gaze, made a face and looked away. “He looked more like a Dewayne to me. Or a Ralph. Or maybe a—”

  He put a finger over her lips. “Lily.” It was the first time he’d said her name aloud. It felt tangible, sensuous on his tongue. Just like she will.

  Her gaze locked with his. Uncertainty and need warred in her exotic amber eyes. “Yes?” she whispered.

  She toyed with the top of the thin hotel towel. He caught the scent of her arousal, an intoxicating, honeyed temptation. More than anything, he wanted to find its source, thrust his fingers into her until his hands were slick, coated with her want and she was begging for him.