Page 24 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
Chapter 29
Luc
I could scent Caly’s sudden anger through the change in her scent. Was she angry because we’d been interrupted? Or was she angry at me? Had I fucked up somehow? She wriggled in my arms. I tightened my grip on her even as I thought about putting her on her feet. If I put her down, she might run. Beast purred. I knew, without a doubt, that if she ran, I would chase her. And I wouldn’t have the excuse that the Beast was in control. He wanted it. But so did I. Just as much. Lust surged in my blood. Dark and hungry. My chest tightened with anticipation. I could see it as if it were a movie playing out in my head. It wouldn’t matter that Billy was waiting in the hall. It wouldn’t matter that Caly was angry. I’d chase her. Herd her into the bedroom. Catch her. Rip off the shorts that kept her cunt from me and I’d fuck her till she came so hard she’d forget to be angry. She’d forget everything except that she belonged to me.
An elbow poked me in the chest.Cute,said Beast.She thinks she can hurt us. “Put me down,” Caly said. She couldn’t hurt me, but her little love tap was enough to bring me back to my senses. Fuck. I’d almost done it again. Caly wasn’t a Shifter. A Shifter would understand my need to chase. To dominate. Would feel the same urge as part of the mating frenzy. But mylittle mate had no idea. Until yesterday, her life had been safe and predictable. Human. And I was pretty sure that she had no idea of how it was going to change. Or, to be precise, had changed already. Until yesterday she hadn’t had me in her life. And now she did. It was as simple as that.
But I had to proceed carefully. Very carefully. I wouldn’t frighten her. Not ever. I couldn’t pursue her the way I would pursue a Shifter female. She was going to need time and space. Not too much space. There was no chance I would let her go and I didn’t want her to think that. Just enough space that she didn’t panic. She needed to be intrigued. Unbalanced. Seduced.
Be patient, I told Beast.Our little human mate is skittish. He didn’t reply immediately but I could feel his curiosity. He wasn’t going to fight me.
I reached the bedroom on autopilot. I nuzzled her hair, unable to stop myself. And then I did the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. “I’m putting you down now,” I told my mate and carefully helped her to stand. My jaw was clenched so tightly that I almost couldn’t get the words out. I kept my face blank as I eased her to the floor, looking over her shoulder, toward the wall. Not at her eyes. If I let her see my eyes she might be afraid of what she saw.
“I’ll get your clothes and leave them outside the door. I’m sorry, but I have to go.” Stepping back. Dropping my hands from her shoulders. It fucking hurt. My chest ached. It had only been a day. The pull was going to drive me insane until I’d claimed and bitten her. But for her, I’d rein in my own personal crazy. Only for her.
She’d turned her back. Her body was stiff and tight. I wanted to wrap her back in my arms. I forced myself to take another step back. I had to leave. “Wait here until your security detail arrives. I'll see you tonight.”
Chapter 30
Calypso
“Don’t bother,” I muttered. “I’ll take a cab.” I heard him open the front door and say something to Billy before his footsteps returned. He paused outside the room. Would he say something? What did I want him to say? I gripped the collar of the robe as I stood like an idiot in the middle of his room. I didn’t understand what had happened. Last night and this morning Luc had been caring and gentle. He’d shown me a side of him I hadn’t known existed. Then gentle Luc had morphed into scorching hot Luc. I had begged him to fuck me on his couch. It had been the most sexually intense experience of my life.
And then he’d locked that intensity and passion away as if it had never existed. After I’d asked him to put me down, he shut down completely. But he had apologised for leaving and said he would see me tonight. I wanted to believe that meant something, but I couldn’t forget that I was only in his apartment because I was a job for him. He had clearly remembered it.
The footsteps retreated. I slumped down to the bed. The front door shut behind him. I dropped my head to my hands blowing out a shaky breath. Fuck me.
Or, as it turned out, don’t fuck me. I let out a short, unhappy laugh as I dressed quickly in the clothes he’d left forme. They weren’t mine. The store tags were still attached. I was sure that Luc had told Billy what to buy. They were my size and just the sort of clothes I liked to wear. Pretty underwear. Jeans. A soft cotton shirt and a cable knit sweater. Socks and ankle-high boots. He’d thought of everything. If I’d had any other option, I’d have left them right there in the apartment. Who was he to buy me new clothes? And how had he got my size so right? Did he fuck that many women that he could tell her clothing size from looking at her? The thought hurt. I was so stupid. But unless I wanted to take a cab in my fluffy pjs and bare feet, I needed these clothes. That was fine. I could pay him back.
As soon as I was dressed, I got the hell out of his apartment. It was best if we both forgot that this had ever happened. We had both crossed a line we shouldn’t have. Ten minutes later I was out on the street, hailing a passing cab, directing the middle-aged driver to take me to my apartment. I spent the trip staring straight ahead, seeing nothing, drumming my fingers on my leg. I was restless and twitchy, unsettled inside my skin. Luckily for me the driver wasn’t chatty, although his eyes kept sliding to me through his rearview mirror.Eyes on the road buddy. When we stopped at a red light it seemed that he wanted to say something, opening and closing his mouth several times, but he just shifted in his seat. That got through to me. I looked myself over. Had I put my sweater on inside-out? Were my nipples showing? I gave myself a once-over. Nothing seemed out of place. Had Luc given me a hickey? I didn’t remember him biting me, but then I’d been drifting in such a haze of hormones that I’m not sure I’d have noticed.
We pulled up at the front of the building. “What’s wrong?” I held my credit card out to the driver. “You’re looking at me like I’ve got two heads.”
The cabbie waved my card away. He had tipped his body towards his side of the cab, putting as much distance between himself and me as he could. “No charge lady, just don’t hurt me.”
“What?” My eyebrows winged up in surprise. What was he talking about?
“You, you…” the cabbie stuttered. He had started to sweat.
Was he high? “Why would you think I’m going to hurt you?” The cabbie just waved his arms in the air in front of him. No. At me. I took another look at myself. Shirt buttoned. Sweater on. Bra properly underneath layers. Fly up. Seatbelt on. Wait. The seatbelt was on but it pressed tight against my body, under tension. The vehicle had come to a stop and there’d been no hard braking.
“You… you… you’re floating,” the cabbie finally managed. “And your hair, it’s um… you know.”
Gods above. I was floating! The moment I realised, I fell back into my seat with a firm thump and the seatbelt returned to normal tension around my midriff. Okay, I had been floating. That was weird. As weird as the incident in Luc’s kitchen. I looked at the cabbie. “Sorry,” I muttered, neck heating in embarrassment.
“Just go,” he said. “Please.”
Static electricity zapped me as I grabbed the cab door. Crap that hurt. Stepping out, I was careful to touch both feet to the ground. My heart was galloping in my chest as I freaked out. This shouldn’t be happening. I was too old. I’d been tested. I had no magic.
I exited the cab in front of the café that occupied the building adjacent to my apartment block. The reflection from the plate glass window showed a woman with a halo of wild hair, swaying in a non-existent breeze. And her eyes. Gods. Her eyesglowed silver. Her mouth dropped open in surprise and she put a shaking hand to her mouth.
Nothermouth.Mymouth. The woman in the reflection was me. Fuck. What was going on? I needed to talk to my sister. Keeping my head down, I hurried to the front entrance of my building. I slowed my steps. The lobby door was open, a workman in the doorway. On the back of his overalls the words “Phoenix Security” were stitched. He looked up as I approached. His eyebrows lifting was his only reaction to my appearance. He looked about fifty. Mismatched eyes. Broad shoulders. Tall. Another Shifter.
“Ma’am,” he said. “I have to check that you are on the approved list before I can let you in.”
“Show me your ID first.” My voice was hard. The nervous flutter in my stomach relaxed a little after I saw that he was a Shifter, but after the shock of last night, I wasn’t giving my details to anyone without knowing who they were. And given that this building wasn’t owned by any of the city’s Shifter packs, it was weird to see one here.
He held out one hand, palm up, showing no threat, then reached the other one slowly towards the lanyard at his neck. Pulling it over his head, he held it out to me. The photo on his ID matched the man in front of me. I took good note of his name. Tom Hutchins.
