He wrapped me up like a package. I couldn't move an inch.
«I thought you were some sort of maniac!» I growled.
«I am.»
«What are you doing here?»
«Looking for Jim in your bed.»
«He isn't here.»
«I see that.»
Little golden sparks danced in his dark gray eyes. He looked terribly pleased with himself and
slightly hungry.
I squirmed away from him, but he just clamped me tighter. It felt like fighting in a straitjacket
made of heated steel. There was absolutely no give in him. Pinned by his Beastly Majesty. I'd never
live that down.
«You can let me go now,» I told him.
«Do I have your permission?»
«Yes, you do. I promise not to hurt you.»
A hint of a grin curved his mouth. He had no plans to let me go. And I couldn't outmuscle him.
Crap.
«You're enjoying this, aren't you?»
He bobbed his head up and down, the smile like a smudge of white paint across his face.
«How did you get in?»
«I have my ways.»
The light dawned on me. He was the one who had replaced my door two months ago, because I
was rather busy trying not to die. «You kept a key to my apartment. You bastard. How often do you
come here?»
«Once in a while.»
«Why?»
«To check on you. Saves me the trouble of sitting by the phone waiting for your 'come and
rescue me' calls.»
«You don't have to be troubled: there won't be any more calls. I'd rather die than call you.»
«That's what worries me,» he said.
His legs pinned mine, his thighs hard like they were carved of wood. His chest pressed against
my breasts. If I could turn a little to the right, my butt would slide against his groin. A little to the
left and my face would end up in his neck.
«I'm not one of your subjects,» I told him. He was entirely too close, too warm, and too real. «I
don't follow your orders and I sure as hell don't need your protection.»
«Mmhm,» he said. He apparently found my face incredibly fascinating, because he kept looking
at me, at my eyes, at my mouth . . .
«Do you ever come here when I'm here?»
«Occasionally.»
«I would've heard you.»
«You put in twelve hours and get wiped out, and I'm very quiet.» His hold eased a little. I lay
limp. That was it-lure him into a false sense of security. We weren't that far from the night table,
and under the table on the bottom shelf was a dagger.
«The Beast Lord-my own personal stalker. Gee, every girl's dream.»
«I don't engage in stalking.»
I stared at him in disbelief. «And what do you call this?» «This I call controlling my opponent so
she doesn't injure me.»
«What else do you do while you're here? Read my mail? Look through my underwear?»
«No. I don't go through your things. I just come once in a while to make sure you're in one
piece. I like knowing you're safe, asleep in your bed. I haven't stolen anything . . .»
I ripped my left arm out of his hand and slammed my elbow into his solar plexus. He exhaled in
a gasp. I lunged for the dagger and sat on top of him, my knees pinning his arms, my dagger on his
throat.
He lay still. «I give up,» he said and smiled. «Your move.»
Er. I was sitting atop the Beast Lord in my underwear, holding a knife to his throat. What the hell
was my next move?
Curran's gaze fixed on a point on my shoulder. «That's a claw mark,» he said, his voice gaining
a hard edge. «Wolf. Who?»
«Nobody!» Oh, now there was a brilliant answer. He would believe that.
«One of mine?» Gold flashed in his eyes like lightning.
Well, since every shapeshifter in Atlanta was one of his, that kind of answered itself, didn't it?
«Since when do you give a crap about my welfare anyway? I think you're confused as to the nature
of our relationship. You and I, we don't get along. You're a psychopathic control freak. You order
me around and I want to kill you. I'm a pigheaded insubordinate ass. I drive you mad and you want
to strangle me.»
«Once! I did it once!»
«Once was plenty. The point is, we don't play nice. We-«
He jerked his arms out from under my knees, pulled me to him, oblivious to the dagger, and
kissed me.
His tongue brushed my lips. Heat rolled through me. His hand caught in my hair. Suddenly I
wanted to know how he tasted. He'd kissed me before, just before we'd fought the Red Stalker. I'd
been remembering that kiss for four months now. It couldn't have been as good as my memory
made it out to be. I should kiss him and exorcise that phantom kiss so I would never think of it