Why did she feel like a teenager caught necking? Oh right, maybe because that was darn close to the truth. “Michael, that is none of your business.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face, reeling away from them. “Oh gods, I did.”
Well, this was awkward.
Terak stiffened behind her. When she turned his eyes were closed and his brow furrowed. “Terak?”
His eyes opened then, his eyes at first unfocused before returning to awareness. After he came back to himself he gave Michael a hard stare – which her brother handily returned – before he pulled her into the doorway of her bedroom, still in Michael’s sight but outside of his hearing range. He put his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Malek has called me. There is need for me.”
Terak looked none-to-happy. “Is anything wrong?”
His mouth thinned. “While I was not given details, there must be. Malek would not call otherwise.”
Michael had the good manners not to try to listen in to their conversation, but he didn’t leave their line of sight and his glare was focused exclusively on Terak.
She didn’t want him to leave. Selfish, yes, but after the night she had she didn’t want him anywhere out of her sight.
And after what had been going on not ten minutes ago, she wanted to finish what they had started. She was wet and achy, and thoughts of his mouth on hers and his cock pounding inside her took most of the available space inside her brain.
But his people needed him, and as much as the upcoming conversation would suck, she really needed to speak with Michael. “I promise I won’t leave. You need to go and learn what’s happening with your people.”
He shook his head. “You are not safe here alone and I will not risk you again.”
“Terak, your people need you.”
“I need you to be safe.”
The war was clear on his face. That he placed her welfare on the same level as his Clan humbled her, enveloped her in a warmth much gentler than the inferno he had ignited in her minutes ago. “It would hurt me to know your people did not have you near when they needed you because of me. Go”
His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. His hands reached down and enveloped her face and he brought his forehead down so it touched hers.
She brought her hands up to cover his. “Come back to me when you can. I’ll be waiting.”
His head lifted a little, his eyes opening and looking into hers. His eyes were so clear and he allowed her to look at everything in him, past all the barriers that were usually erected. It hurt, this gift of himself, but it was a welcome pain. “I will always come for you, little human. Never doubt that.”
She nodded. “I know. Go.”
In a shaky, stilted movement so unlike him, he turned from her and went out the front door, never stopping and never looking back, not even that last moment as the door closed behind him.
Even though he would be back, having him out of her sight had her heart crumpling in her chest. They were on the verge of something, and this interruption couldn’t have been timed worse.
Michael cleared his throat. His patience was admirable and unexpected, but it was time to deal with him. “Michael, I was wrong to not call you as soon as I was safe, and I’m sorry. But you have no business talking to him like that. He saved me.”
Michael looked at her, question in his eyes. “I’m confused, Ris. Who is this guy to you? First I thought he was a boyfriend, then an acquaintance who for some reason was guarding you, and now I have no clue.”
She sat down on her couch, looking around her room as different ways to tell Michael formed and then were discarded. Her coat was lying by the balcony door. Funny how she didn’t remember taking it off, but every second of Terak tearing off her shirt was seared into her brain. When she was ninety and rocking away in a nursing home, she’d still remember that moment in time.
“I told you once, he is special and I’d never regret that he had been in my life. That’s still the truth. As for anything further, I’m not going to talk to you about it when we haven’t even discussed it.”
Michael sat down next to her on the couch. “I don’t like it, but that’s fair.”
“How did you know I was back in the apartment?”
“When you were kidnapped I brought my unit in to help get you back. I had people everywhere, including watching here. My CO called me and said you had come back. It might have been nice if he warned me about the guy with you, though.”
Wait, if they were watching, wouldn’t they have seen Terak with her? Why wouldn’t they have been more worried about the appearance of a gargoyle and given Michael all the details?