Bitten by Cupid (19 page)

Zeeland met her gaze, his eyes narrowing with concern. “Are you okay?”

He always read her moods too well. “I’m fine.” Now wasn’t the time. She wasn’t sure she’d ever find the right time to tell him, and maybe that was for the best. She’d slip away and leave him behind, too. Safe from what she was and the danger she brought to them all.

She pulled her hand from his arm. “I’ll be right back. The girls want the gossip.”

Humor lit his dark eyes, then fled, replaced by a warrior’s caution he didn’t express out loud.
Don’t leave my sight,
his eyes said.

As if she had any desire to face Melisande before she had to.

Julianne patted his arm, letting him know she understood. “Cambria and Daniella are going to burst with questions if I don’t give them a moment. I’ll be right back.”

But as she crossed to where the women waited, the Feral Warrior, Kougar, stepped directly into her path, forcing her to stop abruptly to keep from running into him.

“Kougar,” she said, looking up into his hard face. Even if the Feral didn’t wear a perpetually glacial look, the combination of mustache, goatee, and pale, pale eyes would have done nothing to dispel his hard, almost sinister air.

His gaze fell to the moonstone resting in the hollow of her throat. “Where did you get that?” Every word was glazed with frost.

Her pulse accelerated, tripping erratically, and she took a step back, unable to stop herself. “I-I found it.” Her fingers fluttered to the stone. “Do you know what it is?”

Kougar’s gaze snapped to hers. Without a word, he turned and walked away a second before Zeeland reached her side.

Zee’s arm slipped around her shoulders as he steered her toward the wall and a measure of privacy. “What was that all about?”

“I’m not sure. He asked me where I got the moonstone. I told him I found it, and he walked away. But his eyes…” She looked to make sure no one was close enough to overhear easily. Unfortunately, Ferals, with the strengths and abilities they gained from their animals, tended to have excellent hearing.

She reached up, gripping Zee’s face in both hands and pulled him down to her. But instead of kissing him, she pressed her cheek to his and whispered in his ear.

“I think he recognized it, Zee.”

Zeeland’s lips grazed her temple, then her cheek. “I’ll talk to him. Wait here.”

She grabbed his hand as he released her. “I’ll be with Daniella and Cam.”

He nodded, squeezed her hand, then turned to make his way to the bar, and Kougar, while she went to join her friends.

“Spill,” Cambria said the moment she walked up.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Julianne replied truthfully. Her gaze turned back to Zeeland, watching as he spoke to Kougar, as Kougar said something and walked away.

Zeeland turned back, his gaze finding her unerringly.

“He can’t take his eyes off you,” Daniella said approvingly. “Methinks our errant Zeeland may decide to come back home.”

Cambria squeezed Julianne’s hand excitedly. “I’d figured he’d be back the moment you turned twenty-five, Jules. Took him long enough.”

Julianne barely heard them, her gaze locked on Zeeland’s as he crossed the large club to join them. Without acknowledging anyone but her, he took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor and into his arms.

She could find neither the voice, nor the will, to object.

Zeeland ran his hand over the cool flesh of her bare back, sending heat rippling across her skin as he pressed her closer. The thick ridge of his arousal brushed against her abdomen.

Julianne’s breath turned shallow. “What did he say?”

His lips grazed her temple. “He didn’t know what I was talking about. Kougar’s…different. From what Hawke says, not even the other Ferals really know what to make of him. I have a feeling you intercepted what was meant to be a Kougar flirtation. If he does know anything, he wasn’t sharing. And I don’t dare push.”

Zeeland pulled her even closer as the song turned slow and sultry. His body was warm and strong—anything but relaxed. She could feel the vibrations coming off him, almost a fine shaking in his limbs, telling her how much he desired her. His hands were at once gentle, yet firm and insistent, as if they couldn’t get enough of her. As if he held on to control by a thread.

His warm, male scent drew her, heating her blood and turning her limbs to soft putty. They danced every dance for an hour, letting the music wrap around them and pound with their racing hearts.

As the music turned to yet another slow song, Zeeland pulled her tight against him and dipped his head, his mouth once more pressed to her temple. “
Goddess
, I want you, Sunshine. I don’t know how much more of this I can stand. Holding you in my arms, not being able to touch you where I want.
How
I want.”

His husky words made her shiver with a mix of anticipation and trepidation at the thought of doing what he wanted…what they both wanted.

But what if they tried and she started to fizz again? What if his touch turned her to mist?

Julianne pulled back far enough to meet his gaze, his eyes hot enough to set her aflame where she stood.

He was so much taller than she was, another factor of her being Ilina, she realized. She lifted her face and pressed her cheek against his jaw, where she could speak without being overheard.

“Zee, I tried to get you to bed me ten years ago, and I haven’t stopped wanting you since. But I’m afraid of what will happen if I lose control.”

He stroked her hair and dipped his mouth close to her ear, where not even a Feral would be able to hear over the music. “You don’t have to be afraid of that.”

“How do you know?”

“Remember the book you caught me reading in the library?”

“Was it about…?”
The Ilinas?
Her heritage.

“Yes.”

“But what if I…?” What if she lost her form and turned into a wraith when he was trying to make love to her?

He cupped her cheek in his warm hand. “We’ll handle it. One way or another.”

“If Melisande returns?”

He pulled back, a battle gleam in his eyes. “We’ll handle her, too.”

Looking up into those dark, intense eyes so filled with promise, she believed him.

“I’m kind of tired of this party, Zee.”

A devil’s smile lifted his lips. “Me, too.” He took her hand and pulled her through the crowd and toward the stairs.

Twice she heard someone call his name in greeting, but Zeeland ignored them as they made their escape. His need, and his excitement, telegraphed themselves to her through the almost too-tight grip of his hand.

“Do you have a room?” she asked him as they started up the first flight of stairs.

“No. I’m bunking with Grayson. We’ll use your room.”

Julianne looked up at him. “That’s where
she
comes.”

Zeeland slowed and met her gaze. “Do you think she’ll come tonight? With me there?”

Slowly, Julianne shook her head. “She’s never come when there’s been anyone else around.”

He winked at her. “I think we’ll risk it. And if she comes…we’ll deal with it.”

“Okay.”

She was out of breath by the time they’d climbed two flights of stairs and made the trek down the long hall to her bedroom, but her breathlessness had little to do with the physical exertion.

Zeeland pushed open the door to her bedroom and led her inside, then kicked the door closed again and pulled her into his arms. His mouth covered hers in a kiss at once tender yet blindingly intense. His need melded with her own, driving her desire until she was trembling from the force of the passion.

His lips caressed and stroked hers, his tongue sliding into the waiting warmth of her mouth, filling her. His hands slid into her hair, freeing the mass to tumble around her shoulders. One hand dug into her hair, his fingers softly caressing her scalp, while his other hand dove down her back, cupping her rear and pulling her against him until she could once more feel the hard evidence of his desire.

Her breath caught in her lungs at the feel of him, then resumed on small, thready gasps.

He smelled like forests and wild winds, and her head spun from the heady assault on her senses, and from the knowledge that Zeeland, her beloved Zeeland, was in her arms at last.

He pulled away from her mouth and kissed her cheek, then dipped to taste her shoulder, sending shivers rippling over her skin.

“I’ve been wanting to do more of this all night.” His lips caressed her as his mouth moved into the curve of her neck, then slowly upward.

She tilted her head, giving him full access, reveling in the tingling sensations running over every inch of her body. Deep inside her, heat bloomed, warming and liquefying, making her legs weak. Making her quake with pleasure.

One of his warm hands moved, sliding over her shoulder, then down to cover her breast. Pleasure arced through her as his hand worked the soft flesh, plucking at her nipple. Every touch sent desire tightening inside her, his fingers playing her like a master musician. With those same deft fingers, he slipped the strap from her shoulder and brushed away the scrap of gown, uncovering her breast.

She watched his eyes darken as his thumb brushed the dusty rose flesh of her nipple, making her gasp for another trembling breath.

The low sound of pleasure deep in Zeeland’s throat sang through her veins. His head moved, dropping as if by gravity, diving for her flesh. His mouth closed around her breast, his tongue stroking, his lips suckling.

Julianne dropped her head back at the exquisite pull, cradling his head against her, loving him as he loved her body, bringing her incredible pleasure.

Finally, he pulled away, trailing kisses up her neck until his mouth once more covered hers. He kissed her thoroughly, one hand in her hair, the other covering her damp, tingling breast. Slowly, he pulled back, breathing like he’d run up and down the stairs two dozen times. But as he looked down into her face, a decidedly male smile lifted the corners of his gorgeous mouth.

“You look thoroughly ravished.”

She smiled, unable to do otherwise when he made her so happy just by being here, by wanting her the way he did. “
Ravished?
”

He brushed her cheek with his knuckles, a faint tremor in his hand. “An old word, from another time, young’un. But appropriate.”

“I’m not too young for you, Zee.”

“No, sweetheart. You’re not. Not anymore, thank the goddess. But you’re new to this, and I’m going to take it slow if it kills me.” He took a shaky breath and grunted. “Which it damn well might.”

Julianne pressed her hands to his chest, then slid them down and under his turtleneck, sliding her palms over the bare flesh of his torso.

He sucked in a breath. “
Juli.
”

“Don’t go slow, Zee. I’m melting inside. On fire for you.”

“I won’t hurt you again.”

“Last time hardly signified. I barely felt it. I was afraid of what was happening to me, of the Ilina power. Not of you. Never of you.”

He turned her around and pulled her against him, her back to his chest. “Then we’re going to slow down for me. I won’t lose control with you this time.” He held her to him, his arm around her waist while his other hand covered and kneaded her bare breast.

She dropped her head back and drank in the sweet touch of his hands, and the feel of his hard body at her back.

“While you got ready for the party, I did some more reading, Sunshine.”

She stilled. “About the Ilinas?”

“Uh-hmm. An Ilina’s natural state is spirit, but she can turn corporeal at will and stay that way for as long as she wants with little effort. Millennia ago, half-breeds and mixed breeds weren’t quite so rare. According to the account, few of them could enter the spirit state, but those who could, were almost never able to maintain it for more than short bursts of time.”

The arm around her waist loosened, his hand sliding down to her thigh. His fingers tugged and pulled, and she realized he was lifting the hem of her dress.

Her breath caught, her mind trying to remember the question his words had triggered. “So I can’t get stuck like that? In the spirit state?”

“No.” He kissed her hair. “Even if you turn to mist, you won’t stay like that.”

“Zee?”

His hand found the edge of her dress and slid beneath it, his palm splaying erotically against the warm flesh of her leg.

She nearly forgot her question. “If all Ilinas are female, how do they reproduce without creating half-breeds?”

His palm rose, his fingers stroking the inside of her thigh, making her pulse race and her body overheat.

“They reproduce as needed through magic. And ritual.”

A single finger stroked the damp silk of her panties and the ultrasensitive flesh beneath.

Her legs buckled at the intense shot of pure pleasure.

Zeeland caught her tight against him. “You’re soaked.”

Her face flamed. “I can’t help it. Don’t make fun of me, Zee. Not now. Not over this.”

He growled low, an intensely satisfied sound. “I wouldn’t dream of making fun of you, sweetheart. Ever. Your wetness is what tells me you’re ready for me. Or getting there. It’s exactly what I’d hoped to find.”

“Oh.”

He laughed and nipped her ear as he slid his finger back to her thigh, then slid it under the edge of her panties. The touch of his bare finger against her heated flesh made her cry out.

“You’re so wet. So perfect.” He stroked her flesh, sliding along the inner edge of the folds until she thought she would go insane with wanting…
more.

“Zeeland, please. You’re just tormenting me now.”

He chuckled low. “Believe me when I say I share your pain, angel. I think we’ve both waited long enough.”

He turned her around to face him, then grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it up and over her head, dropping it on the floor and leaving her standing in nothing but her panties and heels.

His gaze moved over her slowly, his dark eyes gleaming with appreciation. With a quick move, he swung her into his arms and deposited her in the middle of the four-poster bed. She wasted no time. While he stripped off his sweater, she sat up and removed her strappy red sandals, one after the other. Her gaze drank in the play of muscles across Zee’s chest as he unfastened his belt and shucked off his pants.