Forbidden Call (New Breed Novels, Book 1) (12 page)

But the answer came from behind him.

“Yeah, I saw a couple.” Troy was leaning against the opposite wall, his hands in his pockets.

“Which ones?” Panting from the adrenaline that was hijacking his system, SE let go of Diesel and turned to face Troy.

“A male,” Troy answered in an even voice. “One I’ve never seen before. And that female. The one with the black hair.”

SE’s heart made like it was trying to escape through his mouth. “Are you sure?”

Troy gave a nod.

He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He was frozen with fear.
No. Not this. Not again.
This couldn’t be happening. He needed to find her.

Anah.

Just as Diesel started coming at him to finish the argument, SE gleamed out and materialized on the balcony of Dimitri’s penthouse. He walked into the condo and cast his senses out.
Thank Christ.
She was there and she was alive. Shadows played across the walls in the twilight, tricking his eyes as he started to look for her.

And then he heard it. A groan from the dining area.

“Ana?”

She was on the floor in the corner of the room, her head rolling against the wall, her body in constant motion as she moaned softly.

SE tore across the room, but what he saw when he got there filled him with dread. Ana was covered in grime and soot from head to toe. Her hair was burned on one side up to her ear. There were holes in her leathers and boots.

He knelt down next to her, closed his eyes and sent her his
nagual
. He heard a quick intake of breath and then a sigh as her body relaxed. Quickly walking over to the dining room table, he swept everything off, and then turned on the light. Ever so gently, he picked her up and laid her out on the table. He slid her boots off, and then, unsheathing one of his knives, started the work of cutting her out of her clothes.

Little by little, SE worked down her body, thoroughly checking for burns and broken bones. She had to be in pain, but she never cried. He was relieved to see that where the leather had yielded to the heat, she had mostly first degree burns. Where her hair was singed, her ear was closer to second. Once he had checked her skin from her scalp to the bottom of her feet, he went into Dimitri’s bathroom and started the shower. He waited until the water was at the perfect lukewarm temperature and ran the pressure so the water poured rather than sprayed from the showerhead. Only allowing the water to hit below her knees, he carefully eased her in behind him, ignoring the fact that he was still dressed.

Looking for a bar of soap, SE discovered there wasn’t any. Just some kind of fancy European body wash.
Christ.
Why couldn’t the guy just have Dial like everyone else? There was a bar of something by the sink. He reached over and picked it up, then, very carefully, started to wash her. Over and over the suds washed away in a swirl of gray-black. It amazed him that her burns were already starting to heal. When he thought she was clean enough, he took the ridiculously expensive shampoo and washed her hair three times. He pulled a large, soft towel off the rack and very gingerly dried her off.

Carrying her into Dimitri’s bedroom, he laid her down and covered her with just the sheet. He peeled off his soaking wet clothes and crawled in beside her. He closed his eyes for a moment to recall his
nagual
.

When he opened them again, they suddenly welled up as he lightly touched the side of her face. “
Yoohi netai,
” he whispered softly in his tribe’s language, “
I’m here.
”

As the sun shone in through the French doors, SE opened his eyes. Instantly aware of where he was, he sat up and slowly pulled the sheet down to take a look at Ana’s burns. They were miraculously less red and angry than the night before.
So goddamn lucky.
How he deserved it, he had no idea. Leaning over her, he took one of her crescent knives off the bedside table and lay back down next to her. He stayed that way for a long time, lightly running his fingers along the edge of the blade and thinking. Then it hit him. Ana had made the anonymous call about the warehouse. That’s why she’d been there. His eyes filled with tears as the realization sank in.

SE lightly brushed his lips along Ana’s cheek. “
Ketapaanene, ihkweea,
” he whispered. The words flowed from inside him like it was the most natural thing in the world. And it was.

As Ana’s brain slowly started to click on, her body started to throw an all-out assault of pain signals at it. Oh, God, she ached. It was like everything, her muscles, her skin, everything was too tight. Slowly, she tried to open her eyes. They stung to high heaven. After a couple of tries, she finally got them to stay open, only to be hit by the sunlight coming in the French doors. A moment later, she heard the blinds being drawn and the cool shadow touched her face.

Startled to see SE sitting on the bed next to her, she tried to sit up. Worst. Idea. Ever.

“Easy,” he said as he guided her back down. “Your eyes are a little red from the smoke and heat. They’ll heal.”

Suddenly she remembered. “I was in a fire,” she said, her voice raspy.

He nodded. “At the warehouse.” He turned away for a moment and then he was holding a glass of water. He tilted her head up and held the glass for her. “Here. Try to drink some.”

She let the liquid coolness trickle down her throat. Her skin was so hot that the water gave her goose bumps. “How did you find me?” she asked as a wave of coughing overtook her, rocking her body like a 9.5 on the asskicking scale.

“When I was waiting at the compound for the brothers to take it down, I just felt…wrong. I went to search for you and found you here. Ana, it was you, wasn’t it? You made that call.”

She looked into his face, uncertain at first if she should answer. But then she saw the tenderness in his eyes. He was back. The SE she knew was somehow back. She nodded her head slowly. The movement made her aware of her ear. It itched like a bastard. She reached up to scratch it, but her mate caught her wrist.

“You have a burn on your ear. It’s gonna itch like hell, but don’t scratch if you want any earlobe left.”

He let go of her wrist and she gently checked out the sitch. Well, the damn thing was all there at least. Then she noticed it. Her hair wasn’t where it should be on that side. She must have looked hella shocked because SE took her hand again.

“It’s okay. It’s there. It’s just short.”

Ana nodded her head and tried to slide out of bed. Not even the pain was keeping her away from a bathroom mirror. Nothing like the threat of baldness as a motivator.

“Hang on,” SE said as he grabbed his black t-shirt and gently slid it over her head. “Okay. Arms. Easy. Hold on a sec.”

He walked around to her side of the bed and gently lifted her into his arms, then carried her into the bathroom, and put her down in front of the mirror. “It’s going to look worse than it is,” he said before flicking on the lights.

Ana looked at her reflection and her hand flew up to her mouth before she could stop it. He came to stand behind her and let her lean back against his tremendous body, his arms gently wrapping around her waist.

“Hey, it’ll grow.” He touched the damaged hair. “Do you want me to fix it?”

Her face must have gone all
what the fuck
because he said, “I’m serious. Who do you think cut mine?”

When she gave a tentative nod, he sat her up on the counter and pulled open a couple of drawers. When she saw him pull out the trimmers, she tried to inch off the edge of the sink. “Oh, no. No way.”

She would not be rocking a Sinead O'Connor. Not now. Not ever, thank you very much.

“Whoa.” He caught her halfway off and set her back down. “These are just for the back.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Ana sat still again and waited. SE draped a towel over her shoulders and went to work, pausing for her frequent hacking sessions. She tried to give him as much warning as possible. Coughing and scissors did not mix. With the way those coughs were hitting her, it wouldn’t be impossible for her to, say, lose an eye. Or what was left of her ear. It seemed like he was cutting away with those motherfucking scissors forever. As more and more of her hair fell to the floor, she had to quash the impulse to run. Finally, he used the trimmers to neaten up the back, and then, to top it off, he took a bottle of what must have been Dimitri’s styling crap and put some in the top.

“Done.”

Swallowing what little saliva she had down her sore throat, she turned to the mirror and flinched a little. He’d cut all of her dark hair above her ears. It was shorter on the sides and back, but longer on top and in front. SE used the goo to funk up the top, giving the cut an edgy feel, but he’d also left longer, feminine side burns. It was hardcore, she thought, but soft all at the same time. The more she looked at it, the more she realized it was her. Totally and completely her. Tears welled up in her eyes.

One got loose and SE caught with his finger. “You hate it. No problem. I can change it.”

“No! It’s perfect,” she said looking up at him in the mirror.

“You sure?”

Ana turned around to face him. “I’m positive.” She put her hands on the sides of his face, wrapped her legs around his thighs, and kissed him. Hard.

“You sure you’re up to this?” Soaring Eagle asked.

She smiled. “Oh, yeah.”

He leaned in and returned her kiss, not wanting to hurt her tender skin. God, he loved her wearing his shirt. As his scent mixed with hers and combined with the smell of her arousal, his blood may as well have been rocket fuel. The air became electrically charged, as it was when they’d first been together.

He kissed her neck, sucking at her skin gently. He breathed in deeply. “
La
dama
de noche
jasmine. I get hard the second I smell you.”

A strangled sigh came from her throat.

Moving back to her mouth, SE deepened the kiss little by little. This time, he was going to take his mate the way she deserved to be taken, worship her for the female she was. He lifted Ana off the counter and walked back to the bed. Unsure about putting his weight on such tender skin, he braced himself with his arms and captured her mouth. He took his time as he moved down, his tongue lingering everywhere just a little too long. A nuzzle, a caress, and then a quick visit back to her lips. He lifted his t-shirt up over her head and exposed the pink buds of her breasts. He took first one then the other into his mouth, tracing the tender nipples with his tongue until they were at full attention. Ana moaned, her long legs opening just in time for him to slide one hand to her core. She was so hot and slick. His erection throbbed, and he paused to pull himself back together.

Ilah.

Mine.

His second soul demanded that he claim her right then.

But he just had to taste her first.

He inched her panties down her legs and giving in to raw desire, put his mouth to her sex. He savored her, sucking, lapping, flicking, penetrating her with his tongue. Ana cried out, arching wildly in response.

“
Ihkweea,
” SE moaned against her core.

Ana’s head snapped backward as she groaned.

SE felt their second souls connect and, as she came, his driving need to be inside her suddenly eclipsed everything else. He positioned himself above her, taking her arms over her head, his fingers entwined with hers, his arousal poised between her thighs.

Her mate pulled back and filled her in one mind-numbing stroke. As she took all of him in, Ana was hit by a sudden burst of emotion.

Something like a sob worked its way out of her throat. “You feel so good.”

SE began to pump in a slow rhythm, as Ana’s hips rose to meet each thrust. She looked up at her male. Jesus, he was magnificent. His sun-kissed skin glistened with sweat, his abs rippled with every thrust; his brows were drawn together in concentration. The sight of him pulling out almost to the point of leaving her body and then entering her again had her on the edge.

She reached down and dug her nails into his ass to show her appreciation. He bit out a curse and responded with a sudden surge. He jammed his fists into the mattress and slammed into her. Ana tried to push him deeper and deeper inside of her, until nothing mattered but the madness of the rhythm. She came savagely, crying out as she felt the pulsating spasms of her own body stroke his length, taking him right along with her. Over and over he filled her, his powerful body shuddering.

“Fuck,” SE moaned, his great shoulders collapsing.

Suddenly her mate pushed himself back up, worry crossing his features.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

He drew ragged breaths as he trembled. “Your…burns.”

Ana wrapped her legs around his ass and pulled downward in response. Her mate collapsed on top of her.

SE looked down into her eyes. His pupils were framed in their familiar golden glow.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I will be. It’s just never happened like that before.”

As their breathing settled, he rolled over, tucking her into his warm body.

“
Ketapaanene.
”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“I remember you said that to me when I was waking up. It’s beautiful. What does it mean?” Ana asked.

“In my tribe’s language, it means ‘I love you.’”

“What?”

She sat up, her heart pounding, her chest constricting. She must have sounded like an idiot, but no one had ever said that to her before.

Ever.

She shook her head. “But I thought…I saw the look in your eyes after we were together here that night. I thought you were ashamed to be with me.”

“No, Ana. I was ashamed that I took you that way. I could barely look at you afterward. It was wrong and I’m sorry. If I’d been half the male I should’ve been, it never would’ve happened. After what happened with Gabriela, I was afraid to get close to you. Afraid I’d lose you. So I let all that other shit keep us apart.”

“But I don’t deserve…”

SE took her face in his hands and ran his thumb gently along her cheek. “What—love?”