Sin of Fury (25 page)

But, after meeting Auro and Lyne, she
couldn’t help thinking that way.

Lyne’s name brought her up short. Pain
tore through her as she watched the two men, hands going numb. The
puking job she had given the plants outside their house hadn’t
soothed her soul in the least -- wait.

“
Am I going to get
arrested?” she asked, eyeing them. Lucian was tall, taller than
Talon. He had dark hair, dark skin, and mesmerizing eyes that, even
from her short distance away, she could tell swirled like water and
smoke. A cold shudder ran down her back when he actually turned to
stare at her.

“
Why would you ask that?”
Talon asked, even as Lucian opened his mouth to speak.

“
He looks like a cop...and
that...what happened...” Her voice trailed off as she stared into
Lucian’s eyes. In them, she could see the secrets of the
world.

His voice snapped her back to reality.
“I’m no more of a cop than you are innocent,” he said drolly,
looking at her hands as if the iron poker were still there. She put
them behind her back quickly, feeling lightheaded.

“
Knock it off,” Talon said,
glaring. “No, Jamie, you aren’t going to get arrested. You didn’t
kill anything, so don’t worry about it.” The look he gave Lucian
said more than she wanted to see.

Her stomach turned again.

“
But I did...” More
confused than anything, she looked between them again and swore she
was going to pass out.

“
Jamie,” he said, like he
was talking to a child. “To kill something, it has to be alive.
Lyne wasn’t alive. Neither is Auro.”

“
Let’s just explain all of
this later when we aren’t so open. Go lock up the door again, and
come back to our conference room. We open up in about two hours, so
we have that much time for peace.” Lucian strode to the back of the
room, not giving them a second look. He disappeared into a
door.

“
Just follow him,” he said,
none of the earlier teasing in his voice. It was as if they were
strangers, or at the least distant relatives who didn’t care for
each other. Feeling torn, she followed Lucian slowly. Things were
so much more different than they had been only a day or so before.
The events blurred in her mind so much that she couldn’t even tell
what was happening anymore.

Not in a million years
would she have been inside of a bar. Not in a million years would
she have ridden a motorcycle again.
Not in
a million years
would she have had sex with
a random man who she had seen be tortured. Her stomach revolted,
but not at the fact that they had made love. What would happen now
that it was over?

Talon acted as if the torturing hadn’t
even happened, like it had been a bad dream that he had no plan on
having again. He carried himself with a stronger gait, there was a
different sort of anger within him, and he wasn’t staring at her
with haunted eyes that begged for freedom and revenge. Her stomach
clenched.

“
Just sit down. I’m sure
he’s going to put his bike out back,” the deep, resonating voice
said. His eyes were shrewd, taking in her appearance and judging
her for all her worth. Jamie sat in the chair slowly, looking
around the room.

It was spacious, but not enough that
you could throw a party or hold a meeting. Soft lights accented the
dark theme of the room. A chair was placed behind a steel desk, the
legs as thin as her wrist. She looked at the closed Mac Book Pro
before looking away, eyeing the large one-sided window.

In some ways, it felt more like an
investigation room than a back-room for a club. Jamie leaned back
into the black leather seat, straightening her shoulders. If she
was going to stay by Talon, she had to let his peers know that she
wasn’t afraid of them. Her small lessons in martial arts smaller in
comparison to what he looked like he was capable, and didn’t that
set her in her place.

He raised a brow.

“
Tell me about
yourself...”

“
Jamie,” she filled in
curtly, folding her hands in her lap. The image she meant to
represent was not given because of the fact that she was still
stuck in her sweatpants and Columbia.

“
Jamie,” he said with a
nod, sounding as if he were relishing the sound of her voice coming
from his lips. Her jaw ticked. “Well,
Jamie
, tell me about yourself. How
you came to meet Talon...how you brought his memories back... Tell
Dr. Lucian.”

A mocking light entered his eyes; she
almost bitch slapped him. Instead, she folded her hands even more
tightly in her lap and forced her stiff lips to move, a cold
trickle sliding down her back.

“
Stop.”

Jamie whipped around at the dark voice
coming from the corner. Talon was leaning against the door, feet
crossed at the ankles. He had a different shirt on, the jacket was
off, and his shoulders were tense. Her heart stopped in her chest
at the site of him, relieved yet slightly nervous as his eyes,
through the dark, penetrated her.

Lucian gave him an arch look. “The
girls will be in here soon. Opening and booking,” he said to Jamie
knowingly, as if they were best buds. She brought her arms up and
crossed them over her chest, staring at him with a straight face.
Talon was still against the wall, and in the dim, leather covered
room, it felt like a prison.

Their presence was dominating. Lucian
was large and powerful, standing to his full height with his arms
crossed against his chest. Talon was just as imposing. With his new
anger, his new coldness, Jamie could feel the blast of his frigid
emotions across the room. It was a drastic change to what had
happened between them last night.

Not to mention the fact that he had
been possessed.

But how many times had that happened
by now? Two?

Jamie wasn’t counting -- she coughed
to hide her mental lie. Hell, she registered every single movement
he made, every breath he took. It wasn’t like she could help
herself by now -- he was just so...dominating. Just like Lucian.
Just like a caged animal waiting to attack. The look in his eyes as
he stared at her from the shadows wasn’t one of desire -- hell no,
it was one of utter contempt, almost as if he hated her.

Forcing herself to ignore him, she
gave Lucian a chilling look and then directed her eyes to the
one-sided window. The lights from the club were tinted, giving the
room an even darker appearance.

The leather under her ass felt like it
was sticking to her thighs. The testosterone in the room was
climbing, as was her facial heat. It wasn’t like she was used to
being stared at -- actually, she was. But with Talon in the
equation?

Fuck.

“
Before we get to proper
introductions, I would like to say one little,
tiny
thing,” Lucian said through the
tension. Even though his voice had been mildly carefree, Jamie’s
stomach started turning again. She was so screwed. She really was
going to get arrested. She was going to go into jail and she would
drop the soap and...

She was dimly aware of Talon moving
close to her, hand on her shoulder. His soft, dark voice resonated
into her ears. “Hey. Calm down. You aren’t in trouble, and Lucian
is only going to feed on your fear.”

While he had been talking softly
enough that Lucian shouldn’t have heard him, the smirk on his face
led Jamie to believe otherwise. Despite that, hearing Talon’s voice
in her ear, soft and completely different from before, her
shoulders started to relax and the anxiety in her was replaced by a
gentle heat.

Of course, it fled shortly after
Talon’s hand left her shoulder.

“
My man here is smart.
Watching you squirm could get a man off any day --” Talon’s growl
stopped Lucian. He laughed and leaned his ass against the desk. “As
I was saying...”

Jamie held her breath as his hand
extended to her, his face turning deadly calm.

“
Welcome to our
world.”

The way he said it, made it sound as
if she had just entered a sick, depraved fun house, and it didn’t
sound like she was going to get out any time soon.

Chapter 12

“
World?” Jamie asked
numbly.

The way Lucian’s eyes were looking at
her, the tension in Talon’s shoulders, and the silence in the room
almost got to her. One little word floated around the room, in her
head, and all it did was confuse her.

Don’t confirm my
fears
, she prayed mentally, looking up at
Talon, pleading with her eyes. Don’t tell her what she had
suspected, what she had been warned of but had refused to let
herself believe. Her mind was racing, heart pounding.

She tried telling herself that Lucian
was crazy – hell, a man that crack-happy about ruining her appetite
should be in a mental ward. Was that what they were in right now?
She thought, panicking. Talon looked away from her, across the room
to Lucian.

“
It would be so much easier
if we had a handbook,” he sighed. A large hand tunneled through his
dark hair. Thick patches stood up in places, at odds with his
demeanor. He didn’t seem at all crazy or even disorderly. In fact,
he seemed like he could be the most controlled and capable man – so
why did she feel like he
really
should be locked up?

“
Well, we don’t,” Talon
said, blasé.

Jamie shook her head, hating that her
balance was so unsteady as she stood. The room didn’t seem all that
inviting – well, it hadn’t from the beginning, but now it was just
downright repugnant, almost worse than the cage thing that Talon
had been kept in.

“
You should work on getting
one put together,” he said, adding a laugh. It only had her
shoulders tensing even more. The guy was a complete dick, she
decided. Right then, Jamie knew she would never be able to stop
strangling – when she got the chance.

Talon raised his brow at her darkly,
as if he understood what she was thinking yet he didn’t
care.

“
Where do you think you’re
going, darling girl?” Lucian said deeply from behind her. Jamie had
slowly moved to the door and now had her hand on the knob. She
swore she wasn’t pretending his neck was the cold metal.

“
I have to pee.”

The statement was met with
silence, then a sigh. She heard Talon’s annoyed grunt and then
Lucian said with a murmur, “Take her to the restroom, then. When
you get back, I would like you to meet me at Sinclair’s. Since your
female is too
weak
,” he said with emphasis, grating on her nerves, “I will have
Manny give her a ‘crash course’.” It will take you no more than
twenty minutes to get there. And Jamie?” he inquired
sweetly.

She turned slowly, hating him more
with each second. “Yes?” she replied demurely, trying to hide how
much she wanted to rip his throat out.

“
Have fun on the
bike.”

And then he was gone.

Before she had time to gawk at his
disappearance, Talon was opening the door over her shoulder and
pushing her out of the room. The smell of stale cigarette smoke
wafted up her nose.

“
Talon – he… What?” she
asked dumbly. Her feet didn’t move. Lucian had been there just a
second before!

“
You’ll learn about it
later,” he said indifferently. Talon sounded too arrogant for her
liking, she thought dimly, grabbing onto his arms.

“
Tell me I’m not going
insane, please? He was just there! You saw him – and then he was
just –
poof
.” Her
wide eyes connected with his. She didn’t notice the annoyance, nor
did she notice the fire that kindled in his eyes as he dropped them
to look at her hands on his arms.

“
Jamie, calm down –” he
growled, trying to push himself away from her. She held on tighter,
shaking her head. Never had she seen anything like it – was he
trying to mark her as insane? She would learn what? Nothing was
making sense!

Her stomach started to
turn.

“
That man –“

Her words were cut off when his lips
crushed hers, replacing the panicked rant with a lustful sigh.
Instantly, her mind cleared of anything except Talon. His arms came
around her shoulders, holding her body against his while his tongue
traced her lower lip before his teeth bit down, catching her off
guard.

Jamie pressed her hands against his
chest and leaned up, trying to kiss him harder. He was so hot, so
totally consuming. Her body melted against his as large hands slid
down her back to cup her ass. The fire from last night returned,
and she wanted nothing more than to take him to bed, naked and
ready for her.

She rubbed her hips against his,
relishing the low heat that settled in her stomach and the soft
hiss of his breath against his lips. Jamie wrapped her arms around
his neck, forgetting the world around them.

There was no fear. No demand for
safety. No crazy, disappearing men.

Nothing but the fire that was between
them and the heat in her thighs.