Blood and Loss (Cassandra Myles Witch Series) (11 page)

 
“The corset is cinched tight to accentuate the narrow waist, to keep your posture straight, to push out your breasts, and most important, to make taking a deep breath impossible. You should always feel a little short of breath, like you are on the verge of excitement all the time.” No problem there, except I wasn’t on the verge of excitement; I was way past it and I saw no signs of stopping.

When his hands ran up my sides and came to rest just under my breasts
, I let out a small gasp. He pulled me roughly into his chest. “The breasts are confined, but they pillow nicely at the top.” I looked into his eyes; under the dim light, they gave off a slight glow and his fangs were down. His mouth dipped to my neck. “It leaves the shoulders perfectly bare. It is truly a thing of beauty.”

What was I supposed to say to that
? Thanks? His hands were still under my breasts and I wantonly arched my back to encourage him to go further. What was wrong with me? This was Lucius, and he was the big bad. We were in a store, my boss was here, but I didn’t care. I wanted him and if he suggested going into the dressing room and ripping our clothes off, he would have had to race me there.

Lucius’ tongue darted out to lap at the side of my neck. A small moan escaped my lips. I arched my neck to encourage him to go further. His lips brushed my ear. “I want you.” Heaven help me, I started to reach back to show how much I wanted him too.

“What are you doing?” Quintus’ voice was pure steel. The effect was immediate
, like a bucket of cold water poured over the two of us. Lucius leaned his forehead on my shoulder and when he looked back up, his fangs were gone and his eyes no longer glowed.

Kenneth
was knocked into the wall as Lucius bowled past him to leave. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Cassandra. He had no right to put his hands on you in that way.” He said he was sorry, but he sounded angry.

I was trying to push back tears of embarrassment. “I’m so ashamed. I should never have tried this on. I…”

He spun me around and I would have fallen if it weren’t for his arms around my waist. “He should be able to control himself. It is not your fault. Has he done this before? Has he been inappropriate?”

Quintus was tall, but with the heels on
, we were looking eye to eye. “No, he has been very respectful. I swear. He saw me naked and he never tried anything. Please don’t be mad.” The thought of disappointing him made me feel panicked.

His nostrils flared and it was the only outward sign he was angry. “Why did he see you naked?”
His voice was biting and I flinched.

“It was when he
saved my life. I was so cold after almost drowning. He tried to warm me in the shower. He didn’t even look at me. He was just trying to save my life.” I had to fix this.

He gave a slight nod
, then his expression softened. “I am not mad at you. Please don’t be upset.” He kissed my forehead. “I am sorry our night has been ruined. I only wanted to give you a night to take your mind off of everything. Poor Kenneth probably thinks you are having an affair behind my back. He kept trying to get me back into the store. The man saw his commission going up in smoke along with my marriage.”

He was trying to make me feel better. Oddly enough
, it was working. “Can you help me out of this? I can’t face Kenneth coming back in here.”

“Of course. I am sorry too. Can you forgive an old man who just got carried away tonight? I was having too much fun and I went too far.
” He helped me out of the boots first and it was a relief to have my feet on the ground again. His nimble fingers made quick work of the strapping. I held the dress in place until he finished. He rested his hands on my shoulders. They were cool, but they burned. He stared into the mirror. Then he left.

When I came back out of the dressing room
, I had my own clothes on. I was done shopping. Quintus and Lucius looked relieved to see me. The tension was stifling. “Shall we go?”

“Lucius will get your bags and food and meet us in the car. I need to talk with you alone.”

We walked arm in arm up the street. It was very late and only a few people were still around. “I could have carried my own bags. Are you punishing him by making him my bag boy?”

He laughed.
“I like that. Bag boy.” He said it in a falsetto voice. “No. I really wanted to tell you that I have finally heard from the British Columbia pack. They believe there is a strange wolf in our area. If that is true, I want you to be extra careful. I will extend my invitation once again; please come and stay in my home. I would rest a lot easier.”

“No one would dare touch me
with Lucius around.”

“Someone already has harmed you.”

“I will make sure no harm comes to her, Quintus.” Lucius’ voice was firm, but deferent.

I was going to
have to put a bell around his neck so he couldn’t sneak up on me anymore. “See, he has my back.”

The drive home was quiet and tense. Both men looked out their windows for most of the drive. I was hoping
it would last forever. When we got home, Lucius and I would be alone and that was not something I was ready for. He had gone from someone who barely acknowledged my existence to some who wanted me in his bed. I wanted him too. I just didn’t know if I was ready.

Chapter 11

I pulled things from my bags to examine them while I tried to ignore Lucius’ glare. He was alternating between cleaning his gun and giving me the stink eye. His total change in mood was confusing. I really didn’t want to get into it with him, but they say never go to bed mad.

“
Any reasons for the death stare or are you just practicing?”

“I am tired of you being less than you could be.”

“Could you be a little more cryptic? I almost understood you.” Arrogant prick, he barely knew me.

He growled. Who growls? “I mean that you take scraps of affection from Declan and scraps from Quintus and you feel that is all you deserve. It is ridiculous.”

“Do not tell me how I feel. I love Declan. Am I just supposed to cut him out of my life because he doesn’t want a relationship? As for Quintus, I don’t even know what you mean. Quintus and I are friends and he is my boss. What is wrong with that?”

“A boss who buys you thousands of dollars in clothes, who acts
more like a jealous husband than a friendly boss. That boss.”

“You are mad because I let Quintus buy me clothes?” I was stunned. What did he care if Quintus bought me anything?

“No, I don’t care about that at all. You are frustrating me. Just forget it. I am tired.”

He wasn’t getting away that easy. “So I should
accept your scraps of affection?”

“What do you mean?”
He put his gun down and sat forward in his chair.

“What was the deal in the dressing room? The fangs, glowing eyes
, and the touchy- feely.”

It was
a blink, no more, and he had me pulled from the couch and in his arms. His iron grip on my arms was painful, but I barely noticed it. He looked down at me like I was his lunch. “When I walked into that dressing room and you were wearing that outfit, I wanted to tear it off you and fuck your brains out and I didn’t care who saw us.”

“Then why didn’t you? Why does everyone in my life think I am some fragile bird that needs to be protected and coddled?”

He leaned down and his lips brushed against mine as he spoke. “I didn’t because Quintus came in.” He let me go. “Your roommate is home. I am going into our room to cool off.”

I had to sit back down before I fell. The scary big bad wanted in my pants and I think I wanted him in there to
o. I was so tired of getting none. My hormone-induced daze was still in full swing when Declan came through the door.

“You
’re home early.”

“Yeah, Qui
ntus took me shopping instead.” I grabbed one of my bags. “Hey, want to see my new stuff?”

He looked tired
. “I’d rather snuggle with you. Let me lay my head in your lap.”

This was one of Declan’s favorite things to do when he had a hard night at work.
I put my fingers in his golden brown curls. “I had the worst night. Everyone was cheap. Someone, and I am not joking, left me a nickel for a whole tray of drinks.”

“Assholes. Did you at least spit in the next round?”

“No, I wanted to, but it was too busy. I may have stuck my finger in a few, though.”

“Well
, that is better than nothing. A nickel is worse than nothing.”

“Quintus was in one of his moods? You couldn’t tell him you needed a man’s large leather coat?”

“I think he might have been suspicious. There is free sushi in the fridge. I didn’t get to eat it.”

“Oh
, speaking of sushi, I had a girl give me her number. She wrote it on her dirty underwear.”

 
“I don’t know what is more disgusting, you saying ‘speaking of sushi’ or the fact she wrote her number on her underwear. Are you going to call her.?”

“Not after I saw her underwear.”

We both laughed until we couldn’t breathe. “Oh my God, I haven’t laughed like that in too long.” Declan’s face beamed. He was a ruggedly handsome guy, but when he smiled, he could charm the panties off a nun. I knew better than to fall for it, but it was still hard.

“My
graduation is Thursday. You won’t be allowed to come, but I hope you can be here when I get home.”                                                                              

He took my hand and kissed it.
“I have to work that night, but I will get someone to take my shift. I want to be there to help you celebrate.”

“Good. It wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there.”

“Is Quintus going to be there?”

“Yes, he is going to be my mentor. Please don’t make a big deal about it.”

“I’m just glad you’ll have someone there who cares about you.”

I closed my eyes and smiled. “Okay, what did you do with the real Declan?”

“I know I can be a jerk sometimes, but this means too much to you. I would never ruin that for you.”

“Good. You better not. I want a night out on the town. Dancing, drinking, and just having fun.”

“You, me
, and Lurch in the other room?”

“Oh! I never thought of that. Maybe going dancing isn’t such a good idea.”

“You go out and celebrate with Quintus and when you get home, we will have our own celebration.”

“What about Lucius
?”

“We’ll send the corpse to bed.”

“Declan, that isn’t nice.”

He sat up and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m going to bed before we fight.”

“So soon?” I was stalling. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into my bedroom just yet.

“I am beat and it is almost four
in the morning. You should head to bed too.”

“Night.” I got another kiss on the cheek. It felt good to get along with
my best friend. It felt normal tonight and it hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

When I contemplated cleaning my oven as a way of avoiding going to bed, I knew it was time to get
over myself and stop avoiding the inevitable. Lucius was lying there in his boxers, reading a book. He wasn’t playing fair. His bare chest was broad and chiseled. I wanted to jump on top of him and find out what over a thousand years of experience could get a girl. A flashback of his hands on my thigh and waist made me blush. He didn’t even acknowledge me enter the room. I took my PJs and went into the bathroom. I wanted to change right there in front of him, but I chickened out.

He was still ignoring me when I came back. I bounced around in the bed trying to get comfortable. My movements w
ere as exaggerated as I could make them and he still gave me nothing. He didn’t even tell me to calm down. Asshole! There was nothing worse than ignoring someone and having them not know it because they were ignoring you. “Are you going to read much longer? I’d like to go to sleep.”

“Do you have some other activity in mind?”

“Arse.”

“Roll over and go to sleep
, Goldilocks. I am not in the mood for this talk you seem to want to have.”

I grumbled something I couldn’t even make out. He was being a tease. Men say
women like to tease. “You know, Quintus asked if you were being appropriate with me.”

He snickered and laid his book aside. “That is pretty funny
, considering he gets his kicks out of dressing you up like a doll.”

“Why do you have to make everything sound ugly?”

“Why do you have to be so naïve?”

“I’d rather be naïve than a bitter old man.”

He laughed, a genuine, good hearty laugh that broke the tension and made everything feel better. “
Touché
, Goldilocks.”

“I told him you were a pain in the butt, but
a perfect gentleman.”

“Sounds like a fair assessment. Now go to sleep.”
This time he did turn off the light, rolled over, and did whatever he did while I slept. He hummed quietly to himself, the same song I heard him sing the other day. I slowly relaxed and drifted off.