Soul Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1) (30 page)

“Oh, my!”
Annabelle exclaimed, a frisky smile on her face.

The door to
the bathroom opened, and Ayden stepped out, wearing a robe and
drying her hair with a towel. Her gaze shifted left to right—to
Annabelle’s face, Kane hiding his briefs. She glanced down at her
robe, and Kane caught the flush of her cheeks.

“Annabelle,”
he said, “this … isn’t …”

“No, I’m very
sorry to
interrupt
.” A hiccup of laughter escaped Anna as
she set the tray down on the bedside table.

“Anna,
seriously, we didn’t do anything.” Ayden tugged the ties of her
robe a little tighter.

“No need to
explain, miss.” Her coy smile suggested otherwise as she hobbled
toward the door in one of the fastest exits Kane had seen from her
yet.

“Oh, that’s
just great.” Ayden threw the brush onto the chair. “We’ll be on the
National Enquirer
by the time this friggin’ day is over. Do
you know how much shit those guys are going to give me? And it’s
all your fault.”

“My fault?
You’re the one who decided to shower here. Doesn’t this
palace
have another bathroom somewhere in its fifty
rooms?”

Her eye
twitched. “What are you suggesting? That I showered here to give
you some kind of peep show?”

“I wouldn’t
suggest anything of the sort.” Kane threw his palms up as he spoke.
“I just think it’s a little odd that you chose to shower in my
bathroom, is all.”

“
Your
bathroom? Are you feeling all warm and cozy here?”

“Absolutely
not. I wouldn’t dream of getting comfortable. That might upset the
ice princess. And we wouldn’t want her to get upset.”

Her eyes
narrowed on him. “Piss off.”

“Go to
hell.”

Her hands shot
to her hips. “I’ve been in hell ever since you showed up.”

“Oh …” Kane’s
expression softened with amusement. “… I think hell welcomed you a
long time ago, baby.”

“How dare you
call me baby, you filthy wolf.”

“Lycan.”

She leaned
forward. “Same damn thing, moron.”

Kane leaned in
as well. “Actually, it isn’t. According to Annabelle, lycans can
transform into
any
animal.”

“So, you’ve
been getting chatty with Annabelle, have you?” She drew away from
him. “Save your breath, she isn’t going to cry for you when I rip
out your throat.”

“Oh, now
you’re
ripping
my throat out? The other day you were
severing my head from my spine.” He faked a grin. “Which is it, so
I know what to wear that day?”

Ayden groaned.
“God, you make me want to … to kill something.”

“Yeah, funny,
I was never a violent person, myself, until I met you. I suddenly
know how you feel.”

Her tone
turned challenging. “Then do it.”

“Do what?”

“
Try
to
kill me, wolf,” she said, nodding. “See what happens.”

“I wouldn’t
think
of hitting a woman.”

Irritation
flickered in Ayden’s eyes. Her fingers flexed at her sides. “Too
bad because this woman constantly thinks of hitting you!” She
swiped the brush from the chair and chucked it across the short
distance.

Toward Kane’s
head.

Giving less
than a soft grunt at the impact, Kane raised his hand to his
temple, where blood trickled out of a small cut from the metal
prongs. “You’ve got the maturity of a toddler, you know that?”

Out of
nowhere, her fist connected with his jaw. His face jerked with that
one, and a growl ripped from his throat, the shift in his
perception warning his eyes had turned.

She grinned,
beckoning him with a flick of her wrist. “That’s it. Come on. Come
get me, lycan.”

Something
inside of Kane flowed like a current; it exploded, releasing a rush
of pure adrenaline.

Hungry.

He lurched
forward.

Her leg swung
so quick he hardly had time to comprehend the blow to his
stomach.

She followed
it up with another thrust to the chest that sent him flying across
the bed.

Pouncing on
top of him, she straddled his body. Nails dug into his arms held at
either side of his head.

Fuck yes.

Her strength
was incredible. The animal inside of him yearned to rip her to
pieces because of it, to revel in the victory of conquering
it—conquering
her
.

The man inside
calmed his beast, though.

The haze of
red that clouded his eyes slowly dissipated.

Her face, so
beautiful.

She stared
down at him, her eyes lost to a daze.

Another
memory?

Gold faded to
gray.

Kane shifted,
suddenly aware of his erection, pressed into her naked core
hovering over his body.
No
. He despised himself, knowing he
shouldn’t want her right then.

Her lips
parted and she backed into him, rubbing her ass against the peak in
his boxers. She bit her lower lip. Eyelids heavy, she moved in a
circular motion, arching herself like a cat.

Teasing
him.

God, yes,
get on and ride it.
Kane writhed beneath her, her nails deep in
his flesh.

Ayden stopped
and tipped her head forward. A promise of the wildest fucking sex
he’d ever experience radiated from her eyes, penetrating every
nerve in his body.

Paralyzing.

She lowered
herself so close to his lips, the light brush of her skin tickled
his.

He closed his
eyes and raised his hips off the bed to feel her again.

“Lycan,”—her
lust-laced whisper traveled to his brain like an aphrodisiac—“you
ever try to attack me again, know that it will be the last breath
you take.”

She released
his arms, pushing off of his body. Her leg knocked his stiff sex as
she dismounted him.

As pain
erupted through his groin, Kane grabbed himself with both hands,
his face twisted into a grimace.
Son of a …
He watched her
disappear into the bathroom, her hips sashaying beneath the white
robe.

What the
fuck?
He rubbed his fingers through his hair and down his
face.

Never had he
looked at a woman so salaciously before. Even those he’d desired
enough to bring to his bed for the night, he treated with kindness
and respect. Suddenly, he wanted to grab hold of that hair and make
her beg him for mercy.
Goddamn.
Everything about Ayden went
against him.

Aside from the
glimmer of compassion she’d shown to him the previous night, she
was cold and cruel, distant and fearless. On top of that, in less
than three days she’d be taking his life. Yet, every time she’d
come near him, something inside of him snapped. A primal urge to
dominate her and sink his teeth into her perfect skin. It wasn’t
right the way he wanted her. Not the way a man should desire a
woman and make love to her, but the way a beast would take her and
own her.

Nausea twisted
in his gut.
This isn’t who I am.
He had no intentions of
carrying forth the acts that plagued his dreams the last two
nights—the thrill of taking life.

And what
better person to deliver his final breath than the woman who seemed
to bring the beast right out of him?

***

Ayden slid her
hands away from her face and stared into the mirror.

What are you
doing? Using sex as a weapon against them now?

Surely, she
didn’t want Kane? He was one of them. A lycan. The beast that had
held her to the floor, had sank its teeth into her neck as it
violated her body.

Pangs in her
stomach forced her to double over.
No
. She’d never be taken
like that again. By no man or beast.

And Kane would
become both.

All the more
reason for her to destroy him. She could never bring herself to
sleep with a man who taunted the killer inside of her the way he
did.

Still, she
couldn’t deny the vivid reality of the dream she’d seen only
moments before, during their quarrel as she touched him, straddling
her
lover
. Not Kane but someone else—someone familiar, who
loved her in return, who looked up at her with gentle eyes and
passion. Memories.

Whose?

At a distance,
she saw Kane as a man. Possibly even a good man. It didn’t matter,
though. Deep inside of him grew a wolf that fed her to instincts to
kill him. The more that wolf clawed its way to the surface, the
greater her compulsion to destroy him.

She couldn’t
do that, though. Not yet.

He’d given her
a clue the night before, one that she intended to follow up on it.
Evan Roth.
Kane had said the employee’d acted strange,
changed his behavior and threatened to attack him. Everything about
it smelled like a dirty lycan.

Ayden dressed
quickly and burst through the door.

Kane sat on
the edge of the bed, dressed in his slacks, bent over, resting his
elbows on his knees. He kept his head bowed. “I’m sorry for the way
I acted toward you.”

I’m so not
in the mood for this shit.
“Hey, no problem. I’m out of
here.”

He looked up.
“Where are you going?”

Ayden smiled.
“Your place.”

“My house?”
Kane puzzled her words.

“Yep.” She
strode toward the door.

“What
for?”

“Clues,” she
said over her shoulder.

“I was
attacked in a hospital parking lot. Shouldn’t you start there?”

Ayden twisted
on her heel, gripped the footboard of the bed and leaned forward.
“That’s the difference between a real hunter and
you
. You go
for the obvious.”

“Well, good
luck finding anything at my place. Unless you’re dying to see what
a bachelor pad looks like.”

Ayden splayed
her arms out. “I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

“Ayden, I’m
serious,” he said, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean to attack you
earlier. I’ll keep in it check as best I can. I don’t know what’s
going to happen to me in the next few days. But I can assure you, I
will try to be a gentleman if I have any power over it.”

“That’d be
great. Thanks.” She stalked back in the direction of the bedroom
door and froze, thoughtful for a moment. “You said you wanted some
exercise, right?”

“Yeah, I’d
love to walk around outsi—”

“I’ll get you
a shirt. We’re going for a ride.”

We?
“We?”

“You’re coming
with me. I doubt the neighbors will appreciate some leather-clad
female nosing around your house.”

“So, why not
wait until later tonight?” His expression held regret as soon as
he’d spoken the question.

“Because I
intend to kill Evan Roth
by
tonight, if he’s the wolf who
attacked you.”

Kane raised an
eyebrow. “How romantic of you.”

“This has
nothing to do with you, halfling. I have my own score to settle.”
Ayden tightened her lips. “I’ll see about that shirt. And a coat.
You’ll need it.”

***

Kane dressed
quickly in a shirt Ayden had brought for him. Over that, he piled
on what she’d said was one of Gavin’s coats and followed her down
the stairs, through the house, along a dark and wicked-looking
hallway until they finally reached an opened door.

Lights
flickered on in the room beyond, and he couldn’t help but gasp.
Spread out before him lay a colorful feast for the eyes—an
unimaginable collection of sports cars, motorcycles and some rare
models he’d thought to be nothing but a myth. “Holy shit. I think I
just came.”

Ayden
snickered. “Come on.” She led him to the black bike toward the
front.

“‘Slayer’? How
unassuming of you.”

“Shut up.” She
shoved a helmet against his stomach then slipped hers over top of
her head.

Damn.
Her slick, leather body glistened, forming perfect curves that he
hadn’t fully appreciated before. The helmet gave her a look of
danger and mystery. Not that she needed any more of that.

He damn near
shot a load watching her mount the bike and invite him on back,
where her ass would conveniently meet his growing erection.

Baseball.
Taxes. Little old ladies in nursing homes. Please, God.

Ayden twisted
on the bike. “Are you coming, or what?”

The question
almost made him laugh.
Move dipshit. Don’t just stand there and
ass gaze.

He hiked his
leg over and did his best to seat himself away from her. His hand
fell to the side in an effort to keep from touching the roundness
that beckoned him to grab hold and bite.

She revved the
bike and hit the gas.

Kane jerked
backward before quickly leaning forward, awkwardly setting his
hands against her tight little waist.

Adrenaline
coursed through his veins as they drove up the ramp and out into
the daylight.

One thing he
hadn’t done in his life: ride a motorcycle.
That’s one for the
bucket list.

***

Ayden angled
the bike onto the skinny driveway of Kane’s cozy bungalow. “You’re
serious?” she asked over her shoulder. “This is where you
live?”

“Home sweet
home,” he said, through his helmet.

The engine
silenced and Kane drew back.

Ayden hopped
off first, quickly removing her helmet, and pointed at him. “Let me
tell you something, halfling, you so much as
try
to escape,
and I will hunt you down and kill you on contact. No tricky shit,
you hear me?”

He slid off
his own helmet, tucked it beneath his arm. “Why do you do
that?”

“Do what?”

“Call me lycan
some times and halfling others? Like, when you’re pissed, I’m a
full-blown lycan. But when you’re asking me something or passing on
direction, I’m a halfling.”

“Don’t ask me
stupid questions.” Her eyes remained fixed on his. “I have no
conscious thought over one or the other. You’re all the same to
me.”