Tamar couldn’t hold back her soft gasp. How had he known about that? Nicolai hadn’t been at the hospital…had he?
“Shit.” He stalked away from her, disappeared out of the room. The front door banged open and she knew he’d left the house. Several minutes passed. Tamar uncurled her body, lowering her arms and leg, although she didn’t move from the couch.
Bit by bit, the fear and terror edged away and reason moved in.
As huge and intimidating—and supernatural—as Nicolai was, he hadn’t hurt her. If that had been his intention, tonight had presented him several opportunities. Yet he’d taken advantage of none of them. The cool logic helped beat back the fight-or-flight adrenaline that slowly ebbed from her blood stream.
A voice from deep within murmured she could trust him. But experience and memories warned her that when it came to people—men especially—in the past her radar had been terribly off. She couldn’t afford to blindly place her belief in someone just because he had gifted her with multiple orgasms in her dreams.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the hall seconds before Nicolai reentered the living room. He halted several feet from the couch as if granting her breathing room. Somewhere between her heart and stomach, a tiny flicker of warmth flared to life at his consideration. Even the fierce scowl darkening his face didn’t detract from the butterfly wings tickling her stomach.
“I’m sorry for taking my anger out on you. I shouldn’t have. When you left, it scared the shit out of me. I followed Evander here,” he said from between gritted teeth. “Remember I told you that earlier? What if he had been waiting to take you as soon as you stepped out of your house? I wouldn’t have arrived in time to save you. You would be dead by now, Tamar,” he said. “Dead.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. The full weight of her rash decision crashed into her. Panic had propelled her down the stairs and out of the house. She’d been so worried about becoming the prisoner of another man, she hadn’t considered the consequences of her actions. Potentially deadly consequences. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
Nicolai stared down at her, but she squared her shoulders and met his censure without flinching. After a tense high-noon showdown, he shoved his fingers through his hair, tugging on the thick waves.
Ouch. Tamar did wince now. It was a wonder he didn’t come away with a fistful of the golden strands.
“Listen,” he said. Then paused. He lifted his hands, palms up, and glanced down at them as if they contained the rest of his sentence. His frustration was palpable and Tamar got the impression he didn’t explain himself often. “I understand this is a shock to you.” Understatement. “And I know what I’m asking of you.”
Did he?
Someone as strong and powerful as he couldn’t possibly comprehend the powerlessness of being totally dependent on another person…at their mercy. He could transform into a gigantic half-eagle, half-horse mythical beast capable of ripping a man from nape to nuts with one swipe of his talons.
Yeah, she doubted he fully grasped what he was asking of her.
“If there was another way to keep you out of harm’s way, I would try it.” He lowered to the chair adjacent the couch. “Evander isn’t going to stop. He loves the hunt and won’t quit until he runs his prey to ground. And I don’t have to tell you he’s a sadistic bastard.”
“No,” Tamar rasped. “You don’t.”
“Tamar.” He reached a hand toward her but drew back at the last second. The grave expression had returned and his sensual features could have been hewn from stone. “This is my fault. You’re in his sights because of me.”
Slowly, she straightened. His fault? She tilted her head to the side and considered him from under her lowered lashes. “I don’t get it. Your fault, how?”
Nicolai sighed, glanced away before his lavender eyes settled on her once more. “He blames me for his brother’s death and is taking out those I care about to punish me.”
Confusion swirled in her chest along with a surge of pleasure. Those I care about… She shoved both away and concentrated on the implication behind his words. “That doesn’t make sense.” She frowned. “I barely know you. And he couldn’t have found out about the—” She cleared her throat. “About the…uh…dreams.”
Nicolai stared at her, his intense scrutiny unsettling.
“You are the image of my wife.”
Wife.
Oh God.
The word reverberated in her head, growing louder with each bounce against the walls of her mind. Her stomach plummeted toward her feet while bile soared for her throat. A wife… She hadn’t once considered the possibility he was a husband. God, for some inexplicable reason the idea broke her heart. Thinking of him touching this faceless, nameless woman, making her explode with pleasure as he’d done with Tamar in their dreams, grieved her.