Lian Roch (Bayou Heat)(6)

Stanton felt a chill inch down his spine. He’d only seen his master in the flesh on one memorable occasion. He still had nightmares.

But the man had turned Stanton’s life from one of grim survival to endless possibility.

For that he was willing to give him unwavering, unconditional loyalty.

“We are still searching,” he was forced to admit.

The man made a sound of annoyance. “My patience grows thin.”

“I understand,” Stanton soothed. “I have several warriors poised to infiltrate the Wildlands, but the Pantera remain on heightened alert.” He resisted the urge to clench his hands in frustration. Emotions were the enemy. Success came from a clear head and a precisely formulated plan. And if events outside his control interfered in his scheme, then it was his duty to find a way to use that interference to his advantage. That was how he’d earned his current position on top of the Organization. And how he intended to stay there. “It is impossible to enter their territory unnoticed.”

There was a husky rattle as the Master struggled to breathe. “What we need is a distraction.”

“My thoughts precisely,” Stanton promptly agreed. “I hope I might have one.”

“The sooner the better, Stanton.” The warning was unmistakable. “For all our sakes.”





Chapter 4





Sage felt hope spike at Lian’s soft promise to reveal the truth of her strange powers, only to be swiftly replaced by a wary disbelief.

“How could you know what’s wrong with me?” she demanded, pulling her fingers out of his hands.

He scowled, but he allowed her to step away. “To start with, there’s nothing wrong with you,” he growled.

“I’m not normal.”

“Thank god,” he assured her. “Normal is boring. You’re blessed.”

Blessed? She shuddered when she remembered the neighborhood children who ran away when she started to talk to the misty figures that no one else could see. Or worse, when she had a vision of a disaster before it happened.

Ah yes, and then there was the time she’d accidentally set the classroom on fire.

After that little incident her mother had decided it was safer for her to be homeschooled and she’d retreated into her father’s library.

Even then she’d been harassed by her mother, who’d been convinced her ‘gifts’ could somehow be used to increase the family income.

“That’s easy to say when you’re not…”

“Different?” he helpfully offered when she hesitated. “Trust me, sweetheart, I know all about being different.”

Okay. That was true enough. Still, it wasn’t the same.

“But at least you know what you are, and you were raised with people who are just like you.”

A wicked smile touched his lips. “Oh, sweetheart, no one is like me.”

She rolled her eyes, even as her heart gave a leap of excitement.

He was just so…gorgeous. And charming. And sexy.

Sexy enough to melt a reclusive spinster into a warm puddle of aching need.

“You know what I mean,” she forced herself to accuse. “You didn’t have to worry that someone was going to think you were weird or—”

Her words were cut off as Lian unexpectedly pressed a finger to her lips.

“Shh.”

She watched in confusion as he moved with a blurring speed to press himself against the far wall, tilting his head to peer out the French doors.

Sage froze, speaking in a whisper. “Did you hear something?”

“An intruder outside the house.” He gestured toward Sage, waiting until she hesitantly moved to join him. “Do you recognize him?”

She glanced out the glass door, a sharp fear clenching her stomach at the sight of the large man with a shaved head and multiple piercings. Wearing a black motorcycle jacket and heavy leather boots, he looked so much like the typical ‘bad guy’ she couldn’t believe he was real.

“No.” She gave a shake of her head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

They watched as the stranger pulled a gun from beneath his coat, unaware he’d been spotted as he began to wrestle his way through the tangled overgrowth of her yard.

For once Sage was happy she didn’t have interest in keeping a neatly tended lawn. It would take him at least a few minutes to reach the house.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but time just ran out,” Lian said on a low growl.

Her brows lifted as he turned back to reveal his obstinate expression.

“What do you mean?”

“We have to go.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Go where?”

She knew the answer before he ever said the words.

“The Wildlands.”

“No.” She gave a violent shake of her head. “No way.”

He reached to grab her shoulders, his grip firm enough to warn he was barely resisting the urge to toss her over his shoulder and force her to leave with him.

“Do you want to stay and see if he’s in the mood to shoot you?”

Panic skittered down her spine at the mere thought.

“You could get rid of him.”

He held her gaze, allowing her to glimpse the predatory cat that lurked just below the surface.

“Yes, but I don’t think you’d like my methods.”

She glanced back toward the man creeping ever closer.

Shit. He was right. She didn’t want to force Lian to kill the intruder.

But the mere thought of leaving the security of her home and traveling across the state with a man who stirred her most primitive needs sent a flutter of nerves through the pit of her stomach.

“I can’t,” she breathed.

His hands lifted to cup her face, thumbs brushing her cheeks with a tender caress.

“I promise I’ll take care of you, sweetheart.” The heat of his hands scalded her skin, his musk wrapping around her to offer a drugging sense of comfort. “Nothing’s going to hurt you.”

Did she really have a choice?

There was no way in hell she was going to stand around and wait for the scary man dressed in leather to break into her home.

But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“You’ve already put me in danger,” she accused, assuming the man had to have followed Lian to her house.

She hadn’t had a problem with gun-toting strangers before.

“Trust me.” He reached to grab her hand, tugging her until she was pressed against the solid strength of his chest. “Can you do that?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted with a stark honesty.

Without warning he swooped down to capture her lips in a kiss that jolted through her with blistering pleasure. Sage gasped, her mouth instinctively parting beneath the enticing demand of his tongue.

Good lord.

Who knew a mere kiss could feel like she was being struck by lightning?

She shivered, her fingers clutching his T-shirt as he spoke against her tingling lips.

“Come with me, sweetheart,” he urged.

“Fine,” she grudgingly agreed, allowing him to tug her out of the room and toward the side door in the kitchen. “But I don’t like this.”

Keeping her hand tightly clenched in his, Lian steered her toward a small opening he’d obviously cut into the hedge surrounding her house. Then, keeping in the shadows, he moved along the dirt path at a swift pace.

Sage remained silent, periodically glancing over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.

There was something distinctly unnerving in the thought that there was a very real possibility of being shot in the back.

But after running for over a mile, her thoughts altered their focus from flying bullets to the growing ache in her side.

She was a researcher, not a marathon runner.

About to inform her companion she couldn’t jog all the way to the Wildlands, Sage was caught off guard when Lian tugged her around a thicket of trees where a car had been parked.

No. Not just a car.

This was a sleek work of art.

“What is it?” she breathed in awe.

Lian ran a hand over the streamlined roof, a strange smile curving his lips.

“A Lamborghini Gallardo.”

Sage didn’t know much about cars, but she sensed the white automobile with black accents was worth a rather large fortune.

“It’s yours?”

The sinful smile widened as Lian opened the passenger door so she could slide onto the butter-soft leather seat.

“Actually it belongs to Jean-Baptiste,” he explained as he took his place behind the steering wheel, revving the powerful motor to life. “He’s going to shit when he finds out that I borrowed it.”

Despite the fear that continued to pound through her, she couldn’t help but laugh.

The man was impossible, but he was so boyishly charismatic that she couldn’t be mad.

“Borrowing implies that there was mutual consent,” she informed him.

He stomped on the gas. “It was an emergency,” he countered, taking obvious pleasure in flying down the road at a speed that made her hair stand on end. “And it was just sitting in the garage, begging to be taken. How could I resist?”

She shook her head. She’d bet her rare Kish tablet that this man had never heard the word ‘no’ before.

“Are you an only child?” she abruptly demanded.

“Nope. I have three older sisters.”

“That explains it.”

He sent her a quick glance. “Explains what?”

“Your assumption you should always get your own way.”