He knew she needed time and space, so he backed away, moving to the closed bedroom door. “I’ll leave the book for you to read. I think tomorrow we can go up to the Praetorian Compound and see if there is anything we can do to help the injured. Rafe should have had enough time to arrange an escort by now.”
Reasa stared dumbly at him as he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. The instant he did, she moved back to the bed, hugging her knees as her heart beat a wild tattoo in her chest. Dear God, the heat in his kiss had been electric. He had sucked her down and turned her inside out with that one meeting of lips. There was an ache in her stomach so intense it was almost physical. What the hell had he done to her? He had to have projected his emotions onto her for her to respond the way she had. He had to!
Reasa stared at the door, her thoughts in chaos as she tried to convince herself of that and reluctantly had to be truthful with herself. Liam had maintained his shields during the kiss. Her reaction had purely been her own, she couldn’t deny that. She had wanted him, had needed him with a passion so intense she’d been disappointed when he’d stopped kissing her. She was attracted to Liam Eriksson despite of what he was. She had come here to kill him and his kind and now she wanted to lay with him, to feel his hands stroking her body, to feel his lips…
Burying her head against her knees, she fought not to think any further down those lines as the ache in the pit of her stomach grew worse. She had to stop thinking like that. She had to put Liam back in the box she’d constructed for him. He was an abomination. He shouldn’t have been born.
But she found the strength of her convictions was weaker than it had ever been before. The box wouldn’t close within her mind, instead it remained cracked open and twinkling brown eyes peeked out at her. Reasa swallowed back a strangled sob as wicked lips grinned at her… playful, teasing and so full of heat they were ready to burn her up. She was in trouble and she didn’t know how to get herself out of this one.
*****
“Cassia, I need to head into the city to pick up some supplies for the lab that Mallen’s ordered in. I’m supposed to have an escort.”
The Varcolac halted in her tracks on her way over to see Pietro, mild annoyance overcoming her at the interruption. She turned around to look at Trish and the annoyance melted away in an instant. At seventeen, the youngster already looked older than she was, but lacked the usual confidence of most of her peers. It was why the tall dark-haired girl had been scheduled to help at the lab, to boost that confidence among some of the more empathic pack members.
Despite her desire to see her mate, Cassia wasn’t able to ignore the needs of one of her more vulnerable pack mates. “You and me both,” she commented, giving her a reassuring smile.
“Really?” Trish’s eyes were huge, her surprise evident.
“Yes… unless Rafe has rescinded the order.” Cassia spotted Aaron leaving the Alpha’s house and waved to the pack’s second-in-command. “Aaron, we need to go into town to pick up some supplies. I was thinking about asking Pietro to accompany us. Will that be sufficient?”
Her uncle wandered over, a thoughtful expression on his face as he regarded them. “I don’t think that will be a problem, honey,” he said, giving his niece a hug before ruffling Trish’s hair. “It will do you all some good to get away from the pack for a bit. I’m sure you’ll be able to keep everyone in one piece, Cass.”
For a moment she blinked at him in surprise and then a wide smile crossed her face. Aaron was putting her in charge of the outing, not coddling her, as was the norm. Her expression must have been something to see because her uncle laughed loudly and shook his head.
“We learn from our mistakes,” he winked, his sunny smile automatically making them both smile back at him. Aaron’s easy-going personality hid a core of steel but it made him the first person most of the pack went to when they had a problem. “You will see more of our pack and the Hanlon pack in the city than normal but that’s only because we’re stepping up a presence there to see if we can locate any strangers to the area. If you see anything out of the ordinary let me know. Jared’s informed us he’s detected some unknown wolves in his neck of the woods recently. They’ve come close but so far haven’t trespassed on pack lands. It’s unusual behaviour though and with the current threat level from the European vampires we’d be foolish not to pay close attention to these random wolves.”
Cassia’s surprise instantly turned to wariness and she couldn’t help the feeling of pleasure that also washed over her. Her uncle was treating her like one of the pack soldiers, and that pleased her wolf no end. This was the first she’d heard of these unknown wolves and she knew it was probably on a need to know basis. The fact she was entrusted with the knowledge was a huge source of pride for her but she tried not to show it too openly.
“If we see anything we’ll let you know,” she answered.
As Aaron nodded and walked away, she became aware of the scent of fear from Trish and turned her gaze back to the girl. “It will be okay. I’m sure we won’t see anything untoward while we’re picking up the supplies.”
Wary blue eyes met hers as Trish shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “It’s not that, Cassia,” she murmured, her gaze flitting towards Andrei’s home. “Do we really need to take the vampire along with us?”
It took a few seconds to realise that the younger woman truly was terrified of Pietro, not that he had done anything outwardly aggressive towards the girl. It would appear this trip to the city was going to be educational for all involved. Trish had to overcome her lack of confidence, and overcoming her fear of Pietro would be a good start in that direction. Pietro needed to interact with others more, and she hoped Trish’s vulnerability would spark his protective instincts.
“Come on,” she smiled, linking her arm with Trish and marching her over to Andrei’s house. “Pietro isn’t half as scary as he looks and he’s really a very nice vampire. We’re also doing some healing here too, Trish. We’re helping him to become accustomed to being in the presence of others.” Her final words appeared to encourage the healer inside Trish as the girl straightened a bit and her steps held a little more confidence. Smiling, Cassia knocked on the door.
“What?!” Pietro barked swinging open the door, his mood still black from Demetri’s visit. He hadn’t even paid any attention to who was calling, his mood was that bad. The young girl from the lab earlier uttered a frightened cry and stumbled backwards while Cassia’s expression turned from cheerful to scowling in less than a second.
“Who pissed on your parade?” Her tone was icy as it washed over him but that didn’t stop his hungry gaze roaming over her exquisite face as if he hadn’t seen her for days.
The blackness lifted in an instant and he felt his lips tugging up in a half smile. “Demetri.”
Cassia nodded, her own expression clearing a bit. “Ah yes… he can do that to most people.” She turned to her companion and held out a hand for the girl to come closer. “Trish, this is Pietro. You’ll have to excuse his lack of manners just now. He’s male,” she said the last in a stage whisper and winked at her.