HeroRevealed (8 page)

“I’ll explain later, I promise. But Lucian could be in
trouble if he’s near the earth.”

They neared the edge of the crumbling ravine with caution.
Kristos set her on her feet and motioned her to step out first. Lucian had
created several small furrows that allowed the river to run through like a
colander. Despite his efforts, the water continued to rise, covering the bridge
until only the railings stuck above the surface.

She scanned the hillside for any spectators then turned back
to wave the all clear at Kristos. “Get him out of there.”

“Lucianllanos,” he called and began to speak that melodic
language she guessed was Skandavian. He flashed signals with his hands that
made Lucian shake his head with each gesture.

A flash of yellow and a blaring horn brought her attention
to the bridge up stream. A school bus sputtered mid-span, fishtailing in the
deep water. The wood rail snapped like matchsticks as the bus crashed through
the barrier. The rear tire snagged a piling, barely keeping the vehicle in
place. The front bobbed like a fishing lure in time with the current.

“Goddammit,” she shouted into the radio at her shoulder.
“Why is that bus on the bridge?”

“Sorry, Sheriff. It was halfway across before we got here.”

“Not good enough. Call in the paramedics and get out there
now.”

She felt the sizzle of electricity as the brothers shared a
glance. Before she could blink, Lucian was off, skimming the rim of the ravine
like a marble on a roulette wheel. Water sprayed behind him as he raced across
the bridge and hauled the bus off the edge. Wrapping one arm around the
remnants of the guardrail to use as an anchor, he began the slow crawl back to
firm ground.

Little hands and faces stuck out from the bus’s windows as
the children clamored to see the hooded man in action. Imminent peril didn’t
appear to faze them as they jumped up and down and pumped their fists in cheer,
while every adult in the vicinity watched with hands clenched together or
covering their mouths, failing to see the thrill.

The moment Lucian set the bus on the bank the door slid
open, spilling two dozen elementary students and one trembling bus driver onto
the mud.

Kristos ran down to take Lucian’s place at the blockade,
which left Brett wearing a track in the grass as she paced back and forth with
an eye on both brothers. This was wrong, all wrong. She was not supposed to
play night watchman as two civilians risked it all. It was a bitter pill to swallow
but if the brothers had not been there, lives would have been lost.

Brett reached for her radio. “That bridge stays closed until
we get an engineer to look at it.”

“Right, Sheriff,” Collins answered.

“What’s the ETA on that front loader?”

“It’s approaching now. Maybe five minutes out.”

“10-4.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Kristos. The
tractor is here.”

He peered up at her through his drenched bangs and nodded,
then kicked one last boulder out of the way. Water poured out like a cork
popped from a keg. He traced to her side and grabbed her hand.

“No.” She shoved him toward the trees. “I need to be here.
Go, before you’re seen and someone recognizes you.”

“I’m not leaving you behind. I’ll be close.”

She cracked a grin. “I know. Just go.”

Kristos might have physically left but his heat lingered
like another layer of down in her coat. The weight of his gaze followed her
every step as she waved at the driver of the front loader when he came into
view.

Once she was convinced he knew how to safely drain the
river’s excess, she radioed dispatch. “Unit one to dispatch.”

“Go ahead, unit one.”

“My cruiser blew two tires and I’m in need of assistance.
Please send a wrecker to the east side of Harper’s Ravine. I’m about a half
mile north of the Old Saw Bridge.”

“Do you need medical assistance?”

“No, just the wrecker will do. And please notify the shop to
have tires on standby for me.” She grimaced. “And a new door.”

“10-oh, uh, 10-4.”

Brett cringed and rubbed at her temples. In five seconds
half the force was going to know she wrecked her cruiser, and thirty seconds
after that the rest would find out as well. Thankfully no one was witness to
the particulars so she could make up a whopper of a tail to explain the damage.

Perhaps a bear that came out of nowhere, she mused, or she
ran over a secret stash of meth supplies that was unfortunately lost over the
cliff and into the raging river. Right, that…might work.

“Brett.”

She turned to see Kristos standing tall and imposing at the
edge of the woods. The fierce expression that tightened his mouth and clenched
his jaw made her take a step back in surprise. “Kristos. What is it?”

“Come here.”

The menacing rumble in the deep command straightened her
spine as a dark streak of lust shot straight to her clit and made her pussy
clench. Dammit, she hated how her body jumped to do his bidding.

She ignored the pull and rested her hand on her belt. “What
is it?”

“Come here.” He held out a firm hand. “Come to me.”

“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever little
chauvinistic game you’re playing at, Kristos, I don’t have time. I have a job
to do.”

“Not now.”

Before she could blink, his image blurred as he raced toward
her and scooped her up his arms then headed deeper into the forest. She held
back a shout and clenched fistfuls of his hair as the world streaked by in
browns and greens. Where he was taking them, she hadn’t a clue, but one thing
was certain, he ran with purpose. Once they reached their destination, the
tempest brewing in his jade eyes was going to unleash. The only question
remaining was how she was going to weather the storm.

Chapter Nine

Crisis had been averted, yet the adrenaline bolting through
his veins would not abate. His entire focus was on the woman in his arms and
the bond that had not been completed. A fact that made his cock hard and balls
ache in demand to take what was his and not waste another second.

She made not a sound as he hurtled over fallen trees and
prickly shrubs. Her nails cut sharply into his neck where she held on tight but
otherwise she gave no indication of her distress. Her courage and strength were
tempered in the finest steel and that pissed him off to no end.

Brett was his, dammit. His to love. His to protect. And he
nearly failed her. She was supposed to turn to him, rely on him for guidance
and support. If he couldn’t give her that, why would she want him?

His powers did not lend themselves to mind reading, an
ability he would give his left arm for at the moment, but his empathic
abilities picked up the intricate web of Brett’s emotions. Relief at skirting
death and the town being saved wove together with her worry for the safety of
her men and areas of the river that had been affected. Combined with that was
the subtle sweetness of her curiosity at his actions. At this moment in time he
needed her to be thinking only of him and her lack of full attention was
interfering with his ability to reason. Was it selfish? He didn’t give a fuck.
Brett was his world and his world had been threatened.

The fear he carried that she would be taken from him would
not ease until he felt her life force surrounding him. He needed to feel the
heat of her body, feel her heart beat strong against his hand while the
rippling muscles of her cunt sucked at his cock. He needed to feel her alive in
his arms and thinking of nothing but the pleasure he gave her.

“Kristos. Put me down, please,” Brett requested in a soft
voice.

“Soon,” he promised and kept running until he reached a
crowded cluster of hemlock trees.

A millions times he had dreamed of bringing Brett to this
hidden place near the falls. The view of the river and the valley below was
spectacular. The branches way up high provided protection from the rain and sun
while the trunks offered privacy. As if privacy was a matter of importance.
Soon he’d have Brett screaming so loud her cries would carry over the rushing
water and echo across the hillside.

“Kristos, enough.” Brett smacked his chest as he slowed his
pace and set her on her feet. “You have to take—”

He cut her off with a hard kiss. He knew his little hellcat
well. She couldn’t deny him if her mouth was full of his tongue. He pressed her
back against a tree and leaned forward in an attempt to imprint his body along
hers. His lips and teeth ate at hers, desperate to assuage the ache in his
chest. Brett pushed at his shoulders as her lips opened and her tongue tangled
with his, giving him leave to take his fill of her. This conflict of her
desires gave him the tether he needed to pull her to his thinking.

She wrenched her mouth away with a cry and pulled his hair
when he dove in for another taste. With each deep lungful of air her breasts
pressed into his chest, enticing him with the hard points of her nipples. “No.
Stop. I can’t breathe.”

“No stopping.”

She pulled his hair again and gasped, “Stop, Kristos. This
is crazy. Take me back.”

“No way in hell.”

“My men need me.”

“No,” he roared. “
I
need you. You don’t know. You
don’t know, Brett.” His hands shook as he grasped her face between his palms.
“You didn’t see your car go over that cliff. You didn’t see the look, the fear
on your face as you thought you were about to die. I almost lost you. I can’t
lose you. Do you understand? You are my everything.”

“Kristos,” she whispered and stroked her fingers over the
backs of his hands.

A sliver of her warmth snuck through the bars of icy fear
that held him in its prison. It calmed him for all of a second until he looked
down into her white eyes. Her lips were swollen and a pink flush graced her
cheeks. Her eyes sparkled and were half-lidded with desire, but the iris was
white. She had given a part of herself to him, but not all. Even after the
events of the afternoon, she still kept her heart away from him. How could she
not give in to the fire between them? How could she even think about walking
away? She belonged to
him
.

Anger at her denial to accept all of him curled his lip and
added fuel to the desire to replace her every thought with ones of him. His
next kiss stole what little breath she had regained and offered no chance for
refusal. He pushed the bulky sheriff’s coat that kept him from her curves off
her shoulders then reached for the belt at her waist. He needed inside her.
Now.

Their heavy breathing formed clouds around their heads as
the temperature dropped. Under his palms the skin of her hips was warm to the
touch. He craved more of that heat and cursed the cloth that kept him from it.

He spun Brett around, pitching her forward. Her hands
reached out for the scratchy tree trunk and kept them from tumbling over.

“Kristos. Please.”

“I am going to please you.” He nuzzled the tender crook of
her neck and nipped sharply at her lobe. Her back arched, pressing her breast
into his waiting hand. “That’s all I want to give you,
alskata
.
Pleasure.”

He found her nipple beneath the fabric of her shirt and
twisted, reveling in the spear of lust that lanced through her. His other hand
unzipped her pants and slid along her belly to delve between her thighs. His
cold fingers parted her folds and were immediately engulfed in the slick heat
of her desire. Not even during the harshest of Skandavian winters did he
remember being so cold, but then never had he feared for anyone like he did
Brett. The hot evidence of her arousal brought to his awareness just how bleak
and barren life would be without her.

“By the Gods, Brett.” He bit at her neck. “Do you have any
idea how good you feel?” He pressed two fingers deep into her sheath, searching
for more of that wonderful heat. She hissed and bucked at the icy invasion. Her
low moan and the rush of juice that wept from her pussy soothed any
apprehension he might have had about pushing her where she didn’t want to go.
“You’re like molten satin in my hand. I could bathe in your cream. Immerse
myself in you until I drown.”

He continued to fuck his fingers into her, twisting his
wrist and grinding his hand against her plump clit. The scrape of her nails in
the rough bark of the tree sent streaks of electricity down his back. He let go
of her breast just long enough to free his cock from the stranglehold of his
jeans. The shiny head throbbed a deep purple and pre-cum dribbled from the
slit. Never before had he been so hard, so swollen that he could come from the
mere brush of the cool breeze against his heated flesh. Where his fingers had
been like ice, his dick was a flaming torch that could only be doused in the
wet clench of Brett’s body.

Pulling his fingers from her cunt, he hitched a breath as
his cock notched at her opening. His thighs tensed to thrust.

“Wait,” she shouted and flinched away. “Condom.”

“No.” The thought made his vision go red. He pressed his
lips to her ear and growled. “Nothing will come between us. Nothing.”

He drove his hips forward, withdrew and lunged again,
pushing deeper and deeper until the mist-cooled curve of her ass pressed into
his pelvis. With a roar he set a pace that made his teeth rattle and Brett’s
knees go weak. He caught her as she collapsed, taking them to the pine
needle-strewn ground.

“So fucking good,” he groaned, ramming harder. His fingers
returned to her clit while his other arm wrapped across her chest, anchoring
Brett, until he surrounded her as much as her pussy did him.

This was why he chose banishment, why he chose to live. For
this moment in time when he lost himself in his lover’s body, mindless to all
but the fist-tight grip around his cock and her sweet cries dancing with the
wind. How dare she deny him this moment with her independence and insecurity?
He curled around her, determined to imprint himself upon her soul. Before the
sun set there would be no doubt where his heart lay.

“You belong to me,
alskata
. In all ways. You know
this.” His eyes crossed as her inner muscles clenched tighter. “I’m going to
come inside you. Fill you with my cum because you’re mine. Every day, Brett.
I’m going to come inside you every day so you’ll always feel me in you.”

Brett turned her head, using his biceps to muffle the
screams that tore from her throat as her body shook and turned liquid beneath
him. The sharp edge of her teeth in his flesh cut the thin thread leashing his
control. Lightning streaked down his spine to detonate the dam that had built
in his balls. Spots sparked before his eyes and it felt as if he were entering
Earth’s atmosphere again, the way he was torn asunder to be reformed into
something new. He sensed the same connection and wonder in Brett as her pussy
greedily soaked up the torrents of cum that spilled from his cock.

This is what he gave her that no one else could. Passion.
Lust. Intense pleasure. And if she let him, his love. He was not going to lose
her. Not to death and not to her own stubbornness.

They collapsed as one, chest’s heaving and limbs twitching
with the last of their release. His fingers curled, cupping her curves to
gather her closer. “Mine. Always.”