Blind Destiny: Grimm's Circle, Book 7 [retail mobi] (6 page)

Snarling, I climbed off the bed and stormed over to the window, glaring outside.

Of course he didn’t hear her.

He hadn’t even realized anything was off earlier until I’d pulled him into my mind.

I was apparently rather keyed into her. Perhaps it was because I’d added to the weight of her insanity. Krell didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, either, and that was rather strange.

Most animals were rather in tune with that sort of thing.

Maybe I’m going mad
.

Standing there, I thought maybe I could even hear
their
screams. And that just wasn’t possible. But it had been close to two millennia. Even the most determined ghost couldn’t cling for that long.

Oh, Despoina wasn’t that old.

But whether she’d come into this mess or not, I knew if I’d come here at any given time, I’d still hear those screams. I’d cursed this place. Cursed it well and truly.

Then I’d driven a wretched, evil, old woman mad.

Now I got to lie there and watch the house endlessly, thanks to the lovely window in our room. I’d checked it out once Will had booked it and sent me the information. Preparing myself, I supposed.

It faces out over the street and you can see the mountains!
See the mountains. See the birth of my nightmares. I could lie there, hear the screams again, see the blood as it spread across the building under the rise of the moon.

Others didn’t always see it.

But some did…there were whispers of it. The house that bled. Rooms that screamed.

Children were terrified of the place.

But that could be because of the legends. Because of Despoina’s tales, the stories of her descent into madness. There was a pall here, one even I could feel. It made little sense. She’d been dead for a long time. Well, not by my standards, but almost two centuries had passed.

Why did the taint of madness still linger?

Suppressing a shiver, I crossed my arms over my chest and closed my eyes. Behind me, I heard a sound but I ignored it. It would be best if I tried to get through this job without paying any more attention to Luc than I absolutely had to.

Why in the hell had Will paired me with him, anyway?

It wasn’t like I
needed
a partner.

And—

The floorboards, old and worn, creaked.

Shooting a glance over my shoulder, I saw Luc coming my way.

He moved slowly, with an easy, casual grace. When we’d first settled into the room, Krell had trotted all over it, time and time again, and I suspected Luc had been committing the room’s layout to memory. He’d moved around it several times over himself and now he came toward me unerringly. I was tempted to dodge around him and go hide on my bed.

Only one thing stopped me—pride.

Damn it, I was Myrsina. Others of our ilk trembled when they heard my name.

I’d be damned if I’d dodge away and hide because this one man made me nervous.

Even if I was standing there in just a T-shirt that skimmed a little high on my thighs.

I was nervous, damn it. Nervous and it made me even more nervous, and that pissed me off.

Defensively, I crossed my arms over my chest and decided I’d make a point of studying the black and white framed photograph hanging over his bed. It was of a ruin—probably local. The landscape was oddly familiar. Yes, yes, focus on the mundane—

“Why do you think you hear it when I don’t?”

Baring my teeth in a mockery of a smile, I said, “Because I’m the lucky sort, I guess.”

“Hmm. Nice try. But I’m not buying it. Try again.”

“Maybe
you
are the lucky sort,” I offered, shooting him a narrow look.

He cocked his head, a frown on that incredibly perfect face. I wanted to push my hand through his hair. Pull him to me, and for once…even if it
was
just once…I wanted to kiss him. Taste those lips, and feel his mouth on mine.

“Why are you angry with me?”

“I’m not,” I bit off. Was I?

“You’re angry with something and it has to do with me,” he said, his voice mild enough. “I feel it—your anger is like a red wave in my head.”

“I’m not…”

He lifted a hand.

Unerringly, he touched my face and I felt my breath squeeze down in nothing in my chest.

No, don’t touch me
—

But I couldn’t move away.

Not for anything. “You are angry,” he murmured. “And…”

Move, Sina
! The voice of self-preservation was a trumpeting roar in my head and I knew I needed to move, needed to break contact. Even with my shields up, there were some things that were simply impossible to hide if the person had a gift like my own.

And Luc’s gift…was…just…like…mine.

Helpless, frozen in place, I stared at him and watched his eyes narrow. As something passed through his gaze, an awareness, I finally managed to find the strength to pull away and nudge him aside. “I’m not angry with you,” I said, my voice so raw I barely recognized it. “I—”

He caught my arm.

I jerked away but he didn’t let go.

“If you don’t let me go,” I warned him. “I’ll…”

So many years.

Did he have any idea what it was like to want something, to need it, for so long? And now, here he was…right there. In front of me. And not only was he
right there
…in front of me…it was happening at a time when I was so fucking vulnerable, when I felt so raw and exposed already.

“Let me go, Luc.”

The wave of red he felt in his mind stunned him for a second.

It was anger.

Luc knew anger.

Had lived with it with Perci for years, although it hadn’t ever been directed at him.

But he was no stranger to it.

Feeling it come from Sina was something of a shock, because to his knowledge, he hadn’t ever done anything that might anger her
that
much—had he?

The wave shuddered…and like one crashing against the sand, it broke. Over in the distance, he could feel another wave gathering, rising, rushing to the shore, but under it, he felt something else.

Under his hand, her skin felt smooth. It was odd that he noticed it then. As his mind was trying to understand that puzzle of her, he couldn’t help but notice how insanely soft, how impossibly smooth her skin was. And she smelled incredible.

“Let me go, Luc.” Her voice was husky, rough. She jerked against his hold and reflexively, he jerked back.

She tumbled against his chest and he lifted a hand, rested it on her hip.

He’d lost his mind.

It was the only thing that made sense.

Nobody in his
right
mind would touch Sina if she didn’t want to be touched—

There—

The puzzle pieces clicked into place and all of a sudden, he saw it.

Saw what he hadn’t seen and understood what it was under the wave of anger. Anger…yes. Mostly at herself. Frustration…

Hunger—

His brain clicked off.

“Damn it, are you not hearing me?” Sina demanded, her voice rising. “Let me go.”

He opened his mouth. The words came out of their volition, he’d swear it. Because he wasn’t so crazy he’d challenge her like that…was he? “And if I don’t?”

He felt her tense against him.

It had been centuries since he’d lost his sight.

He couldn’t remember missing it more than he did at that moment.

“Luc…”

He fisted his hand in the material of the shirt she wore—it was cotton, he thought, soft and warm from being against her skin. Maybe he’d like to peel it away from her. And—

Her mouth covered his.

Her hands pushed into his hair and she jerked him close.

That raw, blind hunger he’d sensed inside her exploded…and he thought it just might consume them both.

In that moment…he didn’t fucking care.

Banding his arm around upper back, he tangled the other in her hair—it was cool, slick and silky under his fingers as he twined it around his fingers. He yanked her head back, slanted his mouth over hers and could have sworn the earth moved as she opened for him.

Her tongue drove into his mouth, demanding. He met those demands, had more than a few of his own.

Starting with getting rid of the shirt she wore.

Spinning around, he tried to remember the layout of the room. Sweeping out with one hand, he found edge of the wall where it met the window. There. That would work. He nudged her back against the wall, grabbing the hem of her shirt and fighting to get it up without letting go of her.

He was rather stunned, rather dazed, completely delighted to discover she was naked under the shirt and if he could just get it off—

She leaned back, gasping for breath and he used that moment to jerk it off, hearing the fragile sound of cloth ripping. “
Merde…
sorry.”

“Fuck the shirt,” she muttered, her voice just a whisper away from a groan. “Come back here, Luc.”

He’d taken his off after he’d showered, hadn’t bothered to put another back on—the feel of her bare chest against his own—bliss.

Sheer bliss.

The fullness of her breasts went flat against his chest and under his hands, she felt soft, supple…but so damned strong. Silk and steel. That was what she felt like. Skimming a hand down her back, he cupped the roundness of her ass and shuddered.

Lust, need, desire turned into a dragon in his mind.

It had been too long…

Control had gotten through him all the long, empty years with no woman at his side, but that control shattered and the woman before him had him ready to savage, ready to take, claim…

Tearing his mouth from hers, he raked his teeth down her neck, along the elegant line of her shoulders. Silk and steel, he reminded himself. Soft and strong. He caught the tip of one breast in his mouth, bit her nipple gently and listened as she gasped and arched against him. Perfect. So damned perfect…

“Luc.” She tightened her hands in his hair, pressed him closer. “Please.”

“Shhh…” He tugged again, again, swirling his tongue across her flesh, while in his mind’s eye, images of her danced. No, he couldn’t see, but he’d seen her often. Through the eyes of his companion animals over the years, through Perci’s eyes the few times they’d met up…although he’d always been careful, for some reason, to keep that contact brief.

That dark hair, her gypsy’s smile, the lush, exotic beauty of her.

Mine
…he thought, going to his knees and pressing a kiss to her belly, lower…lower.
Mine
. For now, at least.

He caught her behind the knee of her right leg, lifted her. His cock ached, pounded behind the confines of his jeans, but he ignored it. It had been far too long for him and he knew what was going to happen the second he was inside her. He’d come in a heartbeat, like a boy with his first woman, and that just wasn’t acceptable.

Her hands tangled in his hair, painfully tight now, but he didn’t care as he nuzzled the curls between her thighs, then flicked his tongue against her.

Warm. Female. The taste of her exploded on his tongue and he growled, cupped her ass and tugged her closer as he took a deeper, longer taste.

More…that was all he could think.

He wanted more of her. All of her.

Pleasure lashed me, excruciating, breath-stealing. And finally, above the roaring of my ears, the screaming faded away into nothingness. His tongue stroked me, over and over, stabbing into me in just the right rhythm, but it wasn’t—

And then he shifted, bringing a hand up and strumming his thumb against my clitoris.

Pained, torturous pleasure exploded and I lost myself, screaming out his name as I climaxed. It hit again, and again, as he continued to work me, using his tongue, using his hands…

And then I felt the brush of his mind on my own—

He wouldn’t.

No man would dare breach my shields without my permission.

Come again, Sina
, he all but purred inside my head.
Come again
—

And then I had the image of how it was for him, all of the images centered around the feel of me, the taste of me, the sound of my cries and the intensity of my hunger.

I should have been embarrassed, I supposed.

Instead…I broke again, shattering. I would have gone to the floor, it drained me so very much.

But his hands caught me.

Steadied me.

I swayed as he rose, staring at his face, a face that had haunted me for so long.
What now—

Silly question, I decided. This was the perfect fairy tale prince. No doubt he’d have lovely, lyrical words to offer me before he carried me to the bed and seduced me. I would allow it, of course, because I’d never wanted anybody so much as him and—