“You sound sort of resentful about it. Something you want to discuss?” He shook his head. “No. Not ever.”
Elizabeth never needed to hear the tale of the time his brothers had taken him down and accused him of treason. Well, the second time they had. Who could keep track of how many times it had happened?
Not that he could blame them. They could probably smell the evil seeping out of his pores.
Chapter Six
Elizabeth stared out at the dark night from the relative safety of Rex’s stolen car. She was sure he’d done one of his “borrowing” tricks in order to get it, but seeing as she’d probably be dead if he hadn’t saved her, she didn’t feel like giving him a hard time about it. At least not for the moment.
In fact, she felt perfectly content to lie against him and not move at all. The slow and steady beat of his heart sounded in her ear from where her head pressed up against his chest. His arm brushed slightly over her hair. Every once in a while, when he would adjust the wheel, she would get to smell the masculine scent of his skin against hers.
In another life—if they were both just regular humans—she could really relax and just enjoy a drive through the country with her boyfriend. Instead, they were racing for their lives to get to Florida to avoid getting caught by the twins from hell.
“Your thoughts just became unpleasant.”
She looked up at his hard face. There was nothing soft about Rex. Even his jaw muscles looked tight. She wondered if he ever relaxed, even in sleep. Looking at him, she had to begrudgingly realize he would forever make all other men look weak and uninteresting. “My thoughts are my own.”
“I can smell your distress.”
She nodded. His nose again. “I was contemplating things, which of course made me think of the twins.”
“Tell me about them.”
“The twins? What’s to tell? They are spoiled and bratty. It’s weird to talk about them that way since they are grown women, but dealing with them is like dealing with children. They want what they want. Their mother makes sure they get it.” He nodded. “And when things go askew they punish you by using their magic since your own was suppressed thanks to the curse.”
“You’ve nailed it.”
She didn’t tell him about the beatings and the emotional abuse. Those were her secrets. The shame she hadn’t been able to protect herself from anything ever would stay with her for the rest of her life. For some reason, it felt pivotal to her Rex never knew that side of her.
Luck was never on her side but maybe, just maybe, this time she’d get to keep her secret shame her own and not have to share it with the world for their ridicule. Of course, given he was Rex, he could probably smell she wasn’t telling him something.
“We’ll stop them, witch. I promise.”
She rolled her eyes. “I hate that you call me witch. Change one letter and it’s a completely hurtful word.”
He laughed, which made her want to deck him. “Maybe in the first few minutes of knowing you, I meant it like that.”
“And now?” Her heart beat hard against her ribs.
“Now you’re my witch.”
She grinned, joy filling her soul at his simple words. The whole situation was nuts.
They both knew it couldn’t work between them, but it felt good to belong to someone again. Even if he was a half-crazed wolf who thought he ruled the world.
She wanted to kiss him. Horrified at the thought, she almost pulled away from him before she thought about the twins and their spells. Goddess, she might as well tell him.
He could probably smell it anyway.
But would he want to kiss her? She pushed the thought from her mind. Kissing Rex would cause trouble she didn’t need. She had enough weighing down on her without adding passion for a wolf to the mix.
“Elizabeth.” His voice sounded like a sigh when he said her name. “You smell so fantastic right now. What are you thinking about?”
Keep it light. She had to remember not to get sucked into the sultry way his voice called to her soul. In no scenario could she afford to lose herself in Rex Kane. She’d never reemerge from the experience emotionally intact. Too much was going on for her to lose her head.
“I don’t know, but if it smells good, then I’m glad.” Liar. Before she’d been turned into what essentially amounted to a hideous beast, she’d never lied. When would she have been required to? Life had been simple, easy. She hadn’t needed to make moral judgments and weigh shades of gray.
Rex sniffed the air, his eyes getting wide.
“What?” He couldn’t have just realized she’d been contemplating kissing him. The thought had dissipated seconds earlier. How long did these things last?