Page 62 of Attraction

She frowns, wondering if that might be a smile—of sorts. “Oh,no shit Sherlock!But you’re still not going to talk me around.” She picks up her clothes.

“So, I’m right, you can’t trust me?” He stares long and hard, curious about her.

His purple eyes flicker like flames and she looks at him. In the dark, with the black backdrop of desert behind him and only the glow of the firelight making him visible, she can’t help but admit that he looksamazing,dark, and somewhat dangerous, but she’s not afraid and she steps forward, closer, staring him in the face. “You can really do this without hurting me?”

“I didn’t say it won’t hurt. What I said is it won’t mess up your hand.Thatyou have my word on.”

Now he makes her curious—the intense look he gives. “Really?” she asks.

“Really.”

She frowns, his voice has a tone to it. Before it always just sounded moody and pissed off, but right now, it has a calming lullaby tone that carries in the air. She wonders if it’s just the exhaustion from the day, the tiredness clouding her head. But rather than annoy her like he normally does, now, his presence makes her tingle, his glare relaxes her—he’s almost hypnotic.

Then he does something that takes her by surprise. He places his fingers against the mark on her neck, Digby’s bite-mark, and she flinches, taking a step back. His fingers feel ice cold against her warm skin as he slides them upwards, finding the pressure point in her neck, gently holding his middle fingers against her pulse. “So calm and yet so feisty—how do you manage that?”

She pulls away sharply as her eyes gravitate to her palm then back to him. He makes her nervous, but now she wants to trust him, wants to give him what he asks. “You promise, my hand will be okay? That I’ll still be able to use it?”

“No one else ever had a problem.”

“You did this to all of them?” She frowns. “I mean, no one has any marks… they must heal well?”

He steps in closer to her, and her skin bristles with the closeness as he grunts under his breath. “They heal well but that doesn’t make them invincible. Let me do this. I… I want to do this, to you. What I mean is: I want you fully committed to this team.”

She contemplates for a moment, then takes a breath, looking behind her at Digby and Zak, they have their backs to her. Now, thinking carefully, she looks upward at him towering over her and stares him in the eyes, then nods. “Okay. But remember I’m staking my whole career on you. If that’s not trusting you, then I don’t know what is.”

“Well for what it’s worth, I’m risking my whole team with you. Kind of makes us even, don’t you think?”

She smiles and then slowly and nervously she holds her hand out towards him and he tightens his grip around it. Then he puts his mouth against her ear and whispers, “Close your eyes and no matter what I do—keep them closed.”

Chapter 18

Wrapping his larger and more powerful hand around hers, Darius keeps a tight grip and Kat takes a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she can hear the heavy pounding thud of her heart in her chest and her stomach flips with nauseous nerves as she braces herself for pain.

Luna roars loudly, unhappy at his restraint of Kat, and, like a caged wolf, she tries desperately to escape the confines of the body she’s trapped in. Clawing frantically at Kat’s mind, she snarls at her for allowing him to hold them captive and do this. And, struggling with the inner turmoil, Kat has to concentrate hard to keep the wolf contained. Apprehension, about the knife and losing control, causes a surge of glutamate and adrenaline through her veins, heightening every emotion and making her hands shake uncontrollably.

Then, just like the cool of the desert night breeze, she can feel his breath against the side of her face, whispering, “relax.”

Relaxing might be easier if she could see what was going on, but each time he flattens her hand, straightening her fingers, she has to wrestle her inner animal and struggle to keep control. Luna furiously resists every touch from him forcing Kat to pull against his grasp.

“Be still!”

“I’m trying…” she mouths silently. Concentrating her mind, she whispers to Luna, calling for her to calm down. Deliberately slowing her breathing, she gulps, and then, listening to the rhythm of her heart, she uses the thud of her pulse to focus her mind. Her thoughts return to the earlier elation at making the team, and she tries to think of anything except what’s happening here—while Luna keeps forcing a reminder of what she’s allowinghimto do.

How the hell can you let him do this?Luna’s savage growl sticks in her throat, her howl building as she bucks again in response to thispunishmentthat Kat’s allowing him to inflict on them. From the very first time she met Darius, it’s been obvious to Kat how Luna feels about him. And, in much the same way ‘Boots’ the cat reacted to her, her wolf now reacts to him with angry snarls and loud growls. Kat submitting to him is driving the animal insane, but there’s also something about the powerful chemical reactions going on that empowers her human body, flooding it with pheromones and oddly making her feel good.

Something about what he wanted to do made her curious enough to see what would happen. That, and her determination to make the team. She would not, could not, let him win by denying her the place she earned, even if that now meant she must surrender all control to him.

Maybe that’s it?

Maybe this isn’t about trust, but about giving him power over her? Maybe for him to control the team they had to surrender? But did they all submit easily, or were they resistant? She could never imagine Digby—or Zak—doing this willingly.

Then suddenly, returning her to the moment, his calm voice whispers again telling her to relax. Now she stops fighting as she yields and a feeling of calm washes over her. She stops resisting and relaxes her hand in his. He can feel the sudden shift in her body language, and then, without a word, he draws the tip of the sharp heavy knife in a perfectly straight line across her palm.

“Ugh! Fuck!” She gasps in horror as the hot pain sears her flesh. Cutting her takes seconds, but there’s a delay between the cold touch of the blade and the burning hot throb of the wound it makes. At first, it’s just a tingling sensation, but then, exposed to the cool evening air, a sore numbness works its way up her arm. It hurts so much that she wants to cry out, but biting her lip hard, she remains silent. She knows—as a Doctor—there is no way a cut like this willnotaffect her hand and she’s concerned just how bad it will be.

Though she’s desperate to curl her fingers and clench them tight against the pain, she can’t because he won’t let go. He’s still gripping her hand tightly in his, holding her fingers outstretched. Feeling even more apprehensive, she’s tempted to open her eyes—she doesn’t. And now feeling the warm stickiness of blood seeping through her fingers, she wants to scream at the burning agony, but biting harder against her bottom lip, almost making it bleed, she keeps quiet.

“Keep your fucking eyes closed!” he demands. Smiling as he watches her eyes flicker.

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