Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) (4 page)

No.She’d seen his expression, sensed the connection
that still sizzled between them. Nothing had changed.

She turned the shower on, waiting for it to warm before she stepped
beneath the spray. God, that was good. The hard water pounded against her back
and shoulders…her breasts. Her skin tingled as the cold melted away, leaving
only heat and need behind.

She needed release.

Her eyes closed, her mind instantly inundated with images of
the fantasy she’d created after one of Val’s more graphic stories. It was a
private party full of women and men ready and willing to do whatever Finn
wanted. But he was used to that, the bastard, and more amused than
interested…until one particularly aggressive woman caught his attention. She’d
dragged his head down for a kiss and he’d come away with a bloody lip.

Finn’s people had something in common with the Viking berserkers.
They both liked to play rough. But the Vikings apparently had nothing on the Fae
when it came to exhibitionism.

In her mind, Sheridan was the one who’d pushed Finn over the
edge. It was so clear she could almost hear the loud crowd around them as his
eyes lit with the violet fire of challenge. Recognizing an equal, someone who
could take whatever he wanted give.

She didn’t care who was watching. Didn’t care when he used
his abilities to press her against the wall without laying a hand on her. She
wanted this. To be out of control. To have him strip away all her pretenses the
way he was stripping away her clothes as the crowd looked on.

He touched her, and their audience gasped. His hands slid up
her thighs, fingers curling around them and sinking into her skin. He spread
them wide and forced her to wrap her legs around his waist, pressing her sex
against his erection. But he wanted her, and through the confining fit of his
tailored pants, she could feel how much.

The crowd sighed in jealousy when those pants disappeared
and there was nothing between them.
Yes.
She loved it. Loved that she
was the one on the receiving end of his attention. No one else could have this
kind of pleasure. He was hers. All they could do was watch.

He moved close enough for her to bite his chin, demanding
more, and his eyes darkened. His jaw was clenched and she could tell she was
getting to him. Chipping away at his control. Good. She didn’t want him to take
his time. Didn’t want him to tease her.

She wanted to be fucked. Taken. Right here. Right now.

Sheridan leaned against the tiled wall of the shower,
slipping her soapy fingers between her legs and pressing them against her
swollen clit. She was lost in her fantasy. Imagining it was his body. His hard
cock demanding entrance. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.

“What Finn did to her over those few, memorable hours…”
Val
had shaken his head.
“Let’s just say I consider myself gifted in that
particular arena, but even I was impressed. I imagine she’s never been the
same.”

Fantasy Finn wasn’t thinking about that woman now. He wasn’t
thinking about anyone but Sheridan. She wouldn’t have to imagine what the
Viking had left out. Finn would show her. She moaned softly as she thrust two
fingers deep inside her sex. It was a tight fit, what she wanted, but it wasn’t
enough this time. She needed more. She reached behind the shampoo bottle for
her waterproof personal massager. It was the only thing that had kept her sane
all these months alone. The only time the voice in her head went quiet and she
could just feel.

Lowering herself to her knees, she rested her head against
the porcelain of the tub, her body shaking. Water pounded against her back and
her heartbeat drummed in her ears as she positioned the thick wand exactly
where she needed it and thrust deep. There was no need for foreplay. Not after
seeing him in all his hard, irresistible glory. She couldn’t wait.

Her hips rocked back against him, letting him know she could
take whatever he had to give. Harder. Deeper.
Yes.
Like that. No holding
back. She wanted it to sting. Needed it to be real. She could take his rough
brand of fucking. She could take everything.

She flicked a small switch at the base of the wand and
whimpered as it started to vibrate inside her. Her thighs trembled and she
increased the speed of her thrusts, losing herself completely to desire.
Finn
.
She could almost hear his moans behind her. She knew how difficult it was for
him to restrain himself, but she craved his wildness, the moment when all that
perfection would fall away and reveal the violent passion that lay beneath.

He
would be the one who was never the same.

Her open-mouthed sobs were silent as she allowed her own
need to take her over the edge and into sweet oblivion. Her limbs quaked with
her climax, but even as she caught her breath, she realized it wasn’t enough.
Her body was already demanding more, her mind conjuring her most lurid
daydreams, all of them starring her own personal Fae tormentor. She longed for
him. The real him. Now that he was here, nothing less would do.

But that was all she had. She couldn’t give in to her
desire, had to resist it the way she always had. It seemed impossible now.

“Hell.” It was time to stop this and face the music
downstairs. She could control herself, she’d been doing it for months. She
could pretend her body wasn’t behaving as if she were a teenager—all hormones and
no sense. She could because she had to.

Her limbs were still heavy and shaking with the power of her
climax as she rinsed herself off in the cooling water. Her mind couldn’t find
the same satisfaction. Not when she was basking in the afterglow by herself.

She made sure her special friend was back in its secret spot
and stepped out of the tub to dry off. She glanced for a moment at the
steam-filled mirror, seeing only a vague outline of her reflection—all the
vanity she allowed herself lately—before hurriedly turning away in search of
her clothes.

Dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans and an oversized
sweater, she pushed her wet hair thoughtlessly behind her ears and walked
through the bedroom toward the door, stopping just before she opened it.
Something had changed. She glanced over her shoulder toward the bed and
shivered. The figures in the tapestry…were they staring at her?

She was losing her mind, she thought as she forced herself
to open the door. She had to put her game face on and pray that her cousin’s
new husband was too distracted to use his super sniffer. To realize what she’d
been up to. That was the last thing she wanted to face right now.

Lost in thought, she hovered at the top of the stairs. The new
rush of sensual need and impatience may have been about Finn’s arrival, but
once again, as it always had, her passion had swept the voice away. If she
could stop it whenever she lost herself in a fantasy, whenever she climaxed, did
that mean it wasn’t real?

If she had any sense she would have told Raj what was going
on weeks ago. The dreams. The voice. She should have told someone. Maybe there
was some sort of spell or exorcism or Other trick they had to fix her. There
had to be some way to tell them without everyone thinking she was insane.

By all means, tell them. It should be fun. For me.

A bedroom door creaked down the hall and she looked up, her
throat tightening as Meru walked toward her.

“Kyle is sleeping,” she said softly. “I think the elevation
really got to him. We should just let him rest and bring him up to speed in the
morning.”

Sheridan nodded, but she couldn’t take her eyes from her
cousin’s physical transformation. This was the first time she’d gotten a look
at Meru in three months. The first time she’d seen how far her pregnancy had advanced.

Meru came to stand beside her, blue eyes wide and quickly
filling with tears as she cupped her belly almost defensively. “I know,
Sheridan, I know. I’m shocked every time I look in the mirror. I’m big as a
house now.”

Sheridan shook her head. As usual, Kyle was right. She’d
believed she shut out her family to protect them, and maybe she had. But in the
process, she’d missed so much. “You’re beautiful. Oh Curly Locks, you’re having
a
baby
.”

She pushed aside the instinctual anxiety when Meru’s arms wrapped
around her, embracing her in return. Her nerves stemmed from Meru’s gift. True
sight, they’d called it. Once she’d received it, she could see energy around
ordinary people, as well as seeing beyond the illusions the Others wore to walk
around unnoticed. She was also the only one able to interact with Áine’s spelled
book, which made her a target. Could Meru see anything different about
her
?
The darkness around her?

Sheridan gasped as Meru held her more tightly and she felt
something new. Was that the baby’s heartbeat? How could she sense it through
their clothes? As though it were inside her. A part of her.

A baby.

A new member of her family. An innocent. Vulnerable. She
sighed in defeat. Kyle had known exactly what to say to drag her kicking and
screaming back into the fold and Meru’s unborn child did the rest. Family. It
wasn’t just Meru and her mother she had to protect. This baby needed her. She
couldn’t allow her own doubts and fears to push that out of her mind.

There was no way she could completely trust the otherworldly
beings impatiently pacing downstairs to do what needed to be done to protect
the people under her care. That had always been her job and it always would be,
whether she had powers or not.

Was that why she’d become so withdrawn? Not just because of
what had happened, but because it had clarified her new role in the family
dynamic as an afterthought? As someone who was no longer necessary?

You might believe you’re important, but I don’t think
they agree. They’ve gotten along just fine without you, and once they realize
you’re of no use to them at all, you’ll be alone.

Fuck that. She tightened her arms around her cousin. She’d show
them all just how necessary she was. Show that arrogant Nyctimus that she was
still a fighter. Show Finn that she wasn’t afraid to fulfill the prophecy. No
matter how impossible it seemed to be or how uncomfortable it was to be around
him.

Meru’s sigh was watery and filled with emotion as she
whispered against Sheridan’s neck, “I’ve missed you, Harridan. You have no
idea.”

Sheridan leaned her cheek on the top of her cousin’s silken
curls. “I’m here, Meru. Ready or not. Is Mom downstairs?”

“We decided that the two of us at once might be too much for
you. She’s with Myrddin.”

“Of course she is,” Sheridan chuckled. “Still stuck to his
side with supernatural glue then? Good. I’d love to see her, but I’m not sure I’m
ready to face him yet. So…just you, Damon, Kyle and that other guy, huh?”

Meru pulled back and grinned hesitantly. “Just us and the
other guy. Is that okay?”

Now it was Sheridan’s turn to sigh. “You don’t have to walk
on eggshells around me, hon. I’m sorry for being out of pocket. But I’m ready,
and I won’t let you down again.”

Meru pinched her arm like she used to when they were kids. “Are
you kidding me? You may be my favorite cousin, but sometimes I think you’re a
few cards short of a deck. You’ve never let us down, Sher. Never.”

She knew this bit. “I’m your only cousin. And yes, I have.
But I promise I won’t make a habit of it. Now, when are you going to tell me
about your genius plan to fulfill my portion of Áine’s prophecy and save the
world from the vile and creepy yet again?”

Meru glanced down and bit her lip. “I have a lot to tell
you…but I was hoping we could discuss this in Raj’s den.” She caressed her
stomach unconsciously. “That couch looks really comfortable.”

Sheridan cursed herself and slid her arm around Meru’s
waist, starting carefully down the stairs. “I’m sorry, doll. Let’s get you off
your feet.”

Her cousin snorted. “I’m not made of glass, you know. I’m
just pregnant.”

Damon’s voice greeted them at the foot of the stairs. “And
the difference is?”

“Damon, baby? Get the others to join you in the kitchen to
get Sheridan and me something to eat.” Sheridan watched Meru’s soft smile melt
the large, dark-haired Lycan with its power. She was good. “If they argue, tell
them the pregnant lady and the woman who I hear was dodging fireballs all day
need a few minutes to talk. And food.”

“
Fireballs
?” Finn’s snarl from the other room sent an
unexpected ripple of pleasure through Sheridan.

“Don’t start,” she heard Raj grumble back. “I mean it, Finn.
Don’t even start.”

Luckily, Meru was just as stubborn as she remembered. “Please,
baby?”

Damon smiled at her cousin intimately, then he nodded and
gestured toward the men just out of her line of sight. “Between the three of
us, we should be able to make something edible.”

They reached the last step and she set her chin. Damn it. Finn
wasn’t moving. His violet eyes narrowed, studying her from her woolen socks to
her still-damp hair. Her heart thundered in her ears and she shifted
self-consciously, but she kept her face as expressionless as possible. She
couldn’t let him know how his presence was affecting her. She wouldn’t blush.
There was no way he could know what she’d been up to.

He may not be able to smell your sins or read your
thoughts but he can see how you’ve changed. He can see the darkness in you. He
is a tracker. He’ll know I’m here.

“Finn.” Damon’s voice held a note of command.

Sheridan noticed a slight tick at Finn’s temple, his only
outward sign of resistance, before he turned and left the room. She released a
shaky breath. Another small reprieve. She would take it.

“Sher?”

Meru took her hand and tugged her down onto the wide
cushions of the comfortable couch. How many times had she lounged here, staring
into the oversized fireplace and watching the flames dance? How many times had
she wished she could stay here long enough to become as strong as the
Fianna
?
Until she was magically strong enough to slay the Horde or—at least—long enough
to avoid her part of the prophecy?