Undenied (3 page)

“By the way, I’m sure you’ll hear many wild stories about my sister, but if you want to know the truth, then come by the bar later for a drink, and I’ll tell you everything.”

“Thank you, Boris.”

Lillian had seen pain flicker briefly in his features as he mentioned his sister, but he quickly squelched it. She would most definitely be taking him up on that offer. He was more intriguing by the second, and she decided that she couldn’t wait. Her eyes widened, and she ran to him excitedly, taking his large hand in hers.

“Hey, let me read your palm. No charge, of course,” she added quickly.

Boris stood stone-still and said nothing but gave a curt nod of agreement. She flipped his palm over and noticed how comfortable the warmth and weight of his hand felt against her own. She shuddered as that luscious pleasure wave washed through her, but she resisted the urge to moan like a horny harlot.

She closed her eyes, placed her index finger at the beginning of his lifeline, and waited as the images came. She saw Boris as a young boy with huge light brown eyes and shaggy hair with a little girl who looked like she could’ve been his twin. Then as he grew and became a teenager, his eyes changed. They glowed bright yellow, like the eyes of the tiger from her dreams, and seconds later, she saw Boris shift into a massive Bengal.

Her breathing quickened as she moved her finger along the deep line in his palm, and her heart thundered as she saw people around him shifting—changing into all kinds of animals. Lions. Birds of prey. Wolves.

She saw Boris’s sister with glowing amber eyes. A fire blazed in the bayou. Screams. Howls. Bone-shattering roars. Heat flashed, and Lillian’s body burned as the images changed to the not too distant future.

A tiger stalked toward her with an ear-splitting roar.

Lillian dropped his hand abruptly and struggled to catch her breath. She took a step back and flicked her gaze briefly to Boris, who stared at her through concerned eyes.

“You sure do like tigers,” she huffed as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her jacket. She forced herself to look him in the eye even though she was experiencing a heady combination of fear, confusion, and lust. “I guess that’s something we have in common.”

“I think that you and I will find we have much more in common than that.” He bowed, causing his thick dark hair to fall over his face, and peered at her again with those intense hazel eyes. “Good evening, Lillian. I’ll see you soon.”

A smile curved his lips, and he held her gaze as the door closed. As he disappeared from her sight, she stilled when he whispered along the edges of her mind
. Welcome home.

The tiger tattoo on her back tingled, and the breath rushed from her lungs as she registered what she’d heard and what she’d seen.

She was certain now that Boris was connected to the dreams she’d been having, but she wasn’t entirely sure how. Was he actually visiting in her dreams? The images she saw were always literal, but she’d never seen a person turn into an animal. She, better than anyone, knew that the world was full of strange and unusual gifts.

“No way.” Lillian put her hands on her hips as she stood at the center of the apartment for several minutes. She shook her head and rubbed her lower back with one hand as the tattoo prickled. “I’m just overtired,” she mumbled. “Everyone said that New Orleans was the place for weirdos.”

Looking at the large plush bed, she let out a giggle, ran over, and flopped herself on the mound of pillows face-first. Enveloped by the impossibly soft bed, she flipped onto her back and stared at the ceiling, convincing herself that the voice she heard was merely her subconscious.

Lillian sat up and scrambled off the bed to the front door of her new apartment. She flipped the lock, and as she stepped through the doorway, out onto the sidewalk, she took one last look at her new place before shutting the door.

“Hell,” she said. “For four hundred bucks a month… I can handle a little bit of weird.”

Standing in the shadows, he watched as Lillian stretched her arms over her head and wandered through the courtyard. She stopped at the fountain and arched her back, working out the kinks in her muscles. Her small breasts pointed up as if in invitation, and it was one he wanted to accept.

She looked at the starry sky and let out a contented sigh. “That’s got to be the most gorgeous sight that I’ve ever seen.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Boris said.

Startled, she spun around and let out a nervous laugh. “Boris, I didn’t see you there.”

“So I see.”

He tossed the dish towel onto a stack of crates outside the door and moved toward her. Her eyes widened, and her energy signature, which was surprisingly thick for a human, hummed with the unmistakable pulse of lust.

“Have you settled into your apartment? Is there anything else that I can get for you?” He took another step. “Anything that you
want
?”

As he moved toward her, he noted the way the light of the full moon picked up the pale blonde highlights in her tousled hair and gave her an angelic glow. Her large eyes held his as he closed the distance between them, and he sensed her heartbeat quickening as he invaded her space.

“No,” she whispered. Her tongue darted out nervously, moistening her lower lip. “I’ve been on the road for a while, so I’m a little horny—I mean lonely,” she blurted. Her face turned beet red, and she smacked both hands over her eyes. “Holy shit. I can’t believe I just said that.”

Boris suppressed a grin at her slip of the tongue. He took her hands in his and dragged them to his chest, pulling her small frame up against his far larger one.

“I’m a bit of both, myself,” he murmured, but she kept her eyes squeezed shut and refused to look at him.

Lillian
, he whispered her name tenderly along the edges of her mind.
Please, don’t be embarrassed.

Her body froze, and her energy signature fired in rapid pulses, reflecting her fear and confusion. His heart broke for her. He knew she probably thought that she was going crazy, but given Hayden’s visit earlier and the Purist’s aggressive behavior, he didn’t have the luxury of a lengthy courtship.

Now that she was here, the only way to keep her safe was to make her understand, and in order to do that, he’d have to show her everything.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared at him from beneath a fan of dark blonde lashes. “Am I crazy, or did you just…?” She trailed off, unable or unwilling to say it.

You
aren’t crazy.
He touched her mind with his, and to his great delight, a wide grin cracked her oval face. He brushed his thumb along her jawline, and his stomach clenched with need as she pressed her slim body against him. “You are, however, spectacularly beautiful.”

On a silent prayer, he allowed his eyes to shift into the glowing yellow eyes of his clan as he held her in his grasp.

“Far fucking out!” She made a sound of awe and disbelief. “You’re the beautiful one.” Lillian removed a hand from his and brushed his hair off his face before cupping her palm against his cheek. “Your eyes are like the tiger from my dreams.”

A low purr rumbled in his chest as she held his face. The feminine scent of roses filled his head, and in a blur of speed, he captured her lips and claimed her.

She tasted like apples and honey—fresh and sweet.

Lillian opened and moaned as she linked her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He suckled from her lips and reveled in the touch of her tongue against his. He tilted her head, angling for more, wanting to taste every inch.

She tangled her fingers in his hair and held him, deepening the kiss. One hand ran down her slim back and slipped beneath the waistband of her pajama pants. He groaned as his fingers brushed her ass, and his cock twitched as she teased his lips with her talented tongue.

“Well, well. Look at what we have here.” Hayden’s smug voice cut through the fog of lust and sent Boris’s heart into his throat.

He spun around, pushing Lillian behind him protectively as his eyes burned brightly in the darkness of the courtyard.

Hayden stood on the other side, the glowing eyes of his clan glaring at Lillian and full of hatred.

Lillian clutched Boris’s arms for dear life and peered around him.
Isn’t that the guy you threw at me today?
Her frightened voice touched his mind and loosened the knot of fear in his stomach. If they got out of this alive, he’d congratulate her later on being a quick study.
His
eyes
are
creepy
as
shit. They’re freaking black, but they glow like yours—sort of.

“I knew you were lying, and my suspicions went into high gear when I bumped into this
human
.” His eyes glowed brighter as he sneered. “Pathetic.”

Boris pushed Lillian farther behind him. “Get back, Lillian,” he growled as the instinctive urge to shift flickered along his skin.

Hayden leered. “After I kill you, I think I’ll go ahead and fuck her.”

***

Lillian backed away from the volatile situation as the cold hand of fear grabbed her by the throat. Looking into Hayden’s stony eyes, she knew he meant what he said—he’d rape her if he got the chance. She felt like she was in the middle of a bizarre nightmare.

Her gaze flicked to Boris. He stood in a wide stance, ready for battle, as his hands balled into fists at his side. His tall, muscular body hummed with power, and the ropy muscles of his arms flexed with tension.

“
Verto
,” he roared the unfamiliar word, and Lillian watched with pure awe and genuine fascination. For a split second, a wave of static electricity filled the air. Boris looked as if he was underwater, and in a blinding flash, his body erupted into the massive, striped body of a Bengal tiger.

She clapped a hand over her mouth and backed into the cool stone wall of the courtyard as the mind-blowing scene played out. Even on all fours, he had to be taller than she was—far larger than a normal tiger. His commanding orange and black-striped body rippled with strength, and his long tail swished silently.

He crouched low, muscles bunching as he let out a bone-shattering roar that shook Lillian to her core. Her frightened gaze jumped to Hayden, and in a similar flicker of static and energy, he burst into a giant grizzly bear.

Hayden stood on his hind legs and bellowed into the quiet night. In a blur of stripes, Boris snarled and pounced on him as the two beasts rolled to the ground in a tangle of fur and claws.

Hayden wrapped Boris in a crushing bear hug and rolled his long body beneath his bulky frame. Snarling his rage, Boris sank a mouthful of sharp teeth into Hayden’s shoulder and slipped from his grasp. Bleeding heavily, and with a low rumbling growl, Hayden dropped to all fours and bellowed again at Boris.

Seconds later, Boris, with glowing yellow eyes burning brightly in the night, leaped onto Hayden and pinned him beneath his massive paws. His lips curled back as he lowered his enormous head, his long, graceful whiskers inches from Hayden’s snout.

Boris roared as he raised his clawed paw to deliver a final blow, but in a rush of electricity, Hayden vanished into the night.

Lillian didn’t move. She remained glued to the wall with one hand covering her mouth, and she wasn’t sure if it was to keep from screaming or simply because she didn’t know what else to do.

Boris turned toward her, panting and clearly exhausted. He stood in his tiger form and locked his yellow eyes onto Lillian. He padded toward her slowly, still breathing heavily from the battle, but his muscular feline body radiated raw domination.

He closed the distance until he was about a foot away. Lillian had never been this close to a tiger anywhere other than in her dreams, and even though she knew this one was really Boris… it was unsettling and a tad surreal.

Standing on all fours, he lowered his head and nuzzled her belly as a low, rumbling purr built in his throat. Lillian placed one shaking hand on his head and sighed as she ran her fingers through his silky coat.

He was stunning. Silk over steel. Powerful. Protective.

She ran her palm along the back of his head and over his ears, but when she came across a sticky wet spot, her awe was swiftly replaced with concern.

She held up her hand, and even in the dim light of the moon, she could see the blood.

Before she said a word, static filled the air, and Boris shifted into the devastatingly handsome man he’d been before. Except now his clothes were torn and bloody. His hair fell over his face as his eyes flickered, shifting to the warm hazel eyes she’d first looked into this morning. He wavered, and for a second she thought he was going to pass out. She had the ridiculous urge to shout “
Timber!
”

“We have to get away from here,” he bit out. Boris scooped her up in his arms and whispered, “
Verto.”

Energy rushed around them with a warm breeze as the world spun out of focus. In a flash of light and crackle of static electricity, they were standing on a moonlit beach surrounded by palm trees.

He placed Lillian onto warm sand and wavered before grabbing her hand and pulling her toward a small house on the hill. He moved quickly and led her up a beaten path. She looked around as they raced toward the cottage, and as far as she could tell, it was the only sign of civilization.

They climbed the three steps to the bamboo door, and Boris wavered again. Lillian grabbed him around the waist and looped his arm around her neck.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” She pushed the door open with her hip and helped him inside. The lights came on the second they entered, and Lillian paused when she saw the interior. The cabin consisted of one room, and it was practically a duplicate of the apartment in New Orleans.

She kicked the door shut and got him seated on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry, but I had to get you away from there,” he whispered urgently. “I can’t let them find you.”

“First of all,” she said, looking around. “Where is
here
exactly?”

“It’s a small island in the South Pacific that my family owns.” He wiped blood away that had dripped into his eye. “We should be safe here. No one else knows about it. Not even our clan.”

“So… you just wished us here?”

“Not exactly,” he grunted as he inspected the gashes on his arm. “We imprint on a location or a person and can follow that imprinted path back.”

“Oookay.” Lillian shook her head, trying to take it all in. “Why did that guy want to kill you, and why are you still worried?” She looked in the drawers for a first aid kit and found one in the bathroom. “That bear guy is dead… isn’t he?” Her brow furrowed as she knelt in front of him and opened the kit. “He disappeared… so I thought you killed him.”

“No.” Boris shook his head and grimaced, touching the wound behind his ear. “He used our power of visualization to transport himself somewhere else, as I did for us. Believe me,” he bit out. “I would’ve killed him if he hadn’t done that.”

“Take this off.” Lillian tugged at the T-shirt and helped Boris peel it from his chest. She couldn’t help but notice that his muscles had muscles. A smile curved her lips, and she let out a short laugh. “Jesus, you look like you’ve been Photoshopped.”

Lillian opened an antiseptic wipe and turned his head to the side. “This is going to sting.”

Boris grabbed her wrists and tugged her to him, so that his mouth was just inches from hers. “You don’t understand,” he said. “Hayden will tell the others about you, and they will kill you because you are my mate… and you are human.”

Lillian sucked in a deep breath and tried not to think about the taste of him, but it was no use. It was tattooed into her memory the way the tiger was tattooed on her back. Inked. Stamped. A permanent ghost and reminder of what was and what could be.

Still on her knees with her wrists firmly in his grasp, she brushed her lips over his and whispered, “Whatever I am… I’m yours.”

That now familiar growl rumbled in his chest as his mouth crashed onto hers. His tongue demanded entrance as he devoured her greedily. It was a storm of lips, teeth, and tongues. She climbed on his lap and straddled him as she whipped her tank top off and tossed it to the floor.

He groaned and took one nipple in his mouth as she arched back, threaded her fingers through his hair, and held him, urging him on. His hands gripped her hips, and with inhuman speed, he flipped her onto her back and pinned her beneath him. The predatory look in his eye made her wet and had her panting with need.

His jet-black hair fell over their faces as he kissed her deeply. Everything about him turned her on. His touch, scent, sound, and fiercely protective nature made him the most desirable man she’d encountered.

He broke the kiss and licked a seductive trail down her throat and along her collarbone as he pinned her hands above her head. Lillian moaned and writhed beneath him as the evidence of his arousal pressed against her enticingly.

Boris brushed wet kisses along her belly as his fingers trailed down her arms and found their way to her breasts. He took the edge of her pajama pants in his teeth and dragged them over her hips. Lillian, needy and eager for his touch, helped him rid her of the annoying garment and kicked them onto the floor.

He stood at the edge of the bed, appraising her naked body with a lust-filled gaze. He shucked his jeans, and she gasped at the sight of him. His cock jutted out from a nest of dark curls as he took it in his hands and stroked.

Lillian moaned as she watched his hand run up and down the thick length. She put one hand behind her head and spread her legs as she brushed her fingers over her sex. She was wet and ready—she had been since she first laid eyes on him.

Boris groaned at the sight of her touching herself, and she thought she’d come merely from the sound of his pleasure.
Not
yet
, she thought.
I
want
you
inside
me
.