I opened the door to the apartment-loft that I shared with Rhoan-my pack-mate, my twin-,threw off my coat, chucked my keys on the phone table, and began stripping off my soaking wet clothes as I headed for the bathroom and a hot shower.
A soft chuckle ran across the silence of the apartment, my wolf hearing tracing the sound to the windows. My heart froze and, for one horrible second, I thought I d made the mistake that would end my life. Then a familiar scent tickled my nose and I smiled, breathing the scent in deeper; Quinn O Conor, ancient-nearly twelve hundred in vampire years-billionaire vampire, and one of my permanent lovers.
I blinked, switching to infrared vision to pinpoint his exact location-leaning against the largest of the bay windows-and I felt myself grin. Damn he looked good. Tonight he wore a warm, dark green cashmere shirt that emphasized his shoulders and chest and black jeans that drew the eye to his lean, athletic legs. His hair, slightly damp from the rain, was midnight dark and, though short, was thick and wavy. Unlike most of his kind his skin was golden from the time he spent outside in the sun. I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the sudden tension that was running through my body and lowered my psychic shields slightly.
I sensed his hunger flare as some of my aura hit him. I chuckled, pulling my shirt off as I turned and crossed the room towards him. I dropped the shirt at my feet and leaned close to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him gently, breaking away slightly to rest my head on his chest, my arms resting around his waist.
Well, he said, his voice filled with amusement, that was certainly a pleasant welcome he chuckled and brushed a kiss across the top of my head, the hunger he was projecting mixing with my own aura, creating quite a bit of tension between us, of course, it wasn t bad so I couldn t complain.
Um-hmm I agreed, for both of us. I closed my eyes and sighed, pushing away from him almost completely, his arms still around my waist. Why are you here Quinn?
Must I have a reason for being here, besides wanting to surprise and take care of my mate, of course? his voice was soft, velvety, a hint of his thirst present in his tone. I shook my head, barely stopping myself from laughing at him, and raised an eyebrow.
No, you don t have to have a reason but you always do. And I am not your mate I sighed again, wishing he would just cut the crap and tell me why he was really here. He never visited me unless he wanted something, usually Directorate information. I tried to move farther away, to go take a shower like I originally planned, but his arms were like bands of steel around me, holding me where I was. Let me go, Quinn I am not in the mood to deal with your shit right now Jack hasn t told me anything about the new case so you don t even need to question me. Now let me go! I half growled, my hormones crying as he let me move away. The full moon was rising and I may be a werewolf but right now a shower and coffee was more important that sex with Quinn well, it was slightly more important.
I hurried down the hall to the large bathroom, my sensitive hearing picking up the sound of faint footsteps behind me. If you don t want to have to deal with a cold, extremely frustrated wolf right now, then you had better make sure that there s a hot cup of coffee waiting for me I growled; a heart beat later I heart him sigh and start walking down the hall back towards the kitchen.
In the bathroom, I turned on the shower and finished stripping, throwing the clothes into the hamper and stepping into the hot water. I stood there for a while, letting the heat soak into my frozen body, waiting until the water began to turn cold before stepping out of the shower, using my fingers to quickly brush my short red-gold hair.
I wrapped a towel around me, not because I cared about walking around naked-that was nothing to a werewolf-but because it was slightly chilly and Rhoan would kill me if I tracked water all over the apartment, and I walked quietly to the kitchen. As I stepped onto the cold tiled floor of the kitchen, Quinn turned, holding a very large mug of my favorite hazelnut coffee.
I grabbed the mug out of his hands, taking a long drink from it. You are a god I mumbled after taking another drink.
No he smiled, I m a vampire he laughed, his dark obsidian eyes sparkling.
I swallowed another mouthful of coffee, rolling my eyes at him. Why are you here Quinn and why don t you tell me the truth this time.
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying extremely hard to resist the urge to laugh at him; his annoyance was rolling off him in waves. When he answered his mask of emotionless vampire was in place and his voice was cool. I told you I m here to take care of my mate.
And I told you that I m not your mate, not exclusively. And you know that I can t do that promise to be only yours I can t it would mean giving up my soul-mate and I can t do that no matter the connection we have, you can t be my soul-mate you aren t a wolf. I glared, pissed that on top of an already sucky day, I had to deal with Quinn and his your mine, and only mine bullshit. After four months he still didn t get it. I finished the coffee in the mug and dropped the cup into the sink. If you re just here to tell me that I m yours, and not to see Kellen, I paused, smirking as he tensed at the alpha wolf s name, or any other wolf or shifter, then go to hell.
Riley, will you please be reasonable? At least, give me the chance to prove that we could be soul-mates and if we are, I want you to perform the ritual and swear yourself to the moon and me. I growled, pissed that he would even consider suggesting something like that. If we performed the ceremony then I would be bound to him and only him until one of us died. And there was no way in hell that would happen. "Not happening. Ever." I glared, my voice icy. "I've listened to you Quinn. Now, get out "
"You're being unreasonable Riley like always. You won't even give me a chance to prove it?"
"No."
"That s too bad. Now, just sit down and watch." He brushed a quick kiss across my lips before pushing me away from him to sit at one of the chairs at our small kitchen table. I sat, my curiosity getting the better of me. I didn't say anything, but he could probably feel my annoyance and frustration; he was an empath after all. He didn't do anything for a minute, just stood there. Then the gold shimmer of shifting engulfed his body and I gasped, despite myself. He shouldn't be able to shift. Vampires couldn't shift.
"What the hell?" I gasped as the shimmer faded away from him, a large black wolf sitting where he had been. I stood quickly, dropping kneel on the ground in front of the wolf. "How...?" I muttered, touching my mind to the animal's, my breath leaving my body quickly when it confirmed that the wolf really was Quinn. A few moments later Quinn shifted back and I moved away, not trusting him. At all. "You never told me why didn't you ever tell me!" I hissed at him, venom filling my words.
He shrugged. "I wasn t sure that I trusted you completely. he smiled, taking off his shirt, which was little more than a hole filled rag.
Anger filled me, becoming a living, breathing entity. "I haven't kept anything from you! You've been secretive from the start. Even if you were a wolf, you can't be my soul-mate because you've lied to me repeatedly! You would have trusted me from the start if you were... But you didn't. You've kept secrets and lied to me, you've threatened to force my obedience, you've tricked me, you've done every underhanded, backstabbing thing you could! You re always trying to change me, make me into someone you think I should be! You still have a human mind when it comes to werewolves. You re no better than they are if you think that werewolves are little more than whores. I don't care if that's because of your oh-so tragic relationship with that she wolf. We aren't all like that. And Quinn, if you can't accept the moon dances then you just need to go I sighed, finishing my speech for the moment. I watched him, not sure what he would do. He did nothing; just stood there, and exhaled heavily.
Angry at him for making me feel this way, for not accepting who I was what I was, I dropped all of my shields suddenly, catching him off guard and lashing out at him through our deep mental connection. I jumped feet first into his mind, so to speak, going deeper than I ever had before. I gasped as white hot pain ran through my skull. Suddenly I felt a pull, like a cord being pulled from me and anchored in him. And then just as suddenly, I was back in my own mind in my own body. What the fuck was that Quinn? Why did you do that? I snarled, my eyes blazing fury. Even then I could feel the elastic connection between us.
That wasn t me, Riley He told me softly, his face once more a mask though moments before pain and joy had flashed across his face.
Then what was it? My voice was a dangerous growl as he gave me a look that said you don t know? It was infuriating.
Something just happened between us something soul deep you re the one always talking about soul-mates and that rubbish and you still haven t figured it out? Quinn smirked at me, his tone amused by my apparent stupidity.
Stop playing these games, Quinn! Shaking his head, the vampire moved towards me, pulling me into his arms and holding me against him. Let go of me, I growled out, my hands resting against his chest for a brief moment. There was a strange feeling in me though as he held me; the cord wasn t as taut as it had been before when we were farther apart.
You re being irrational, Riley. Calm down and think about what this means.
NO! NOW GET OUT! My words were a low snarl before I shoved him away with all my strength.
Surprised, the vampire let go of me as he was thrown into the wall behind him. With a sigh he straightened, tugging the remains of his clothes into place. Think about what I said His voice was a soft whisper before he was gone.
Shaking with tears leaking from my eyes, I wandered into the living room and collapsed on the couch. It was still early too. I sighed, my eyes falling on the phone resting on the table. Should I? my voice was soft as I spoke to myself, considering the options. A moment later my mind was made up as I snatched the phone off the table and dialed in a familiar number without hesitating. By then the pull I d been feeling had faded until it was nothing more than white noise in the background. I still wasn t going to think about what it could mean for us.
The phone rang once, twice and then a deep male voice answered. Hello?
Kellen, thank God you answered.
Riley, good to hear from you. How are you? I could almost imagine the smirk the alpha wolf was wearing.
Having a rough night, I answered truthfully.
I m not busy right now so come on over and we ll have dinner.
Great, I m on my way. With a genuine smile I hung the phone up and quickly dressed in dry clothes before leaving the loft and thoughts of Quinn O Conner behind.
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