Releasing it, she took each step with deliberate caution, forcing herself to move to the cycle.
“Are you sure?” Dark, dangerous, his expression appeared more savage than ever before, the planes and angles tightened into sharp relief.
“Bad memories.” Yet she still couldn’t seem to drag in enough oxygen. “Sorry.”
“What was she talking about?” The growl in his voice should have been more frightening than sensual.
Yet, sensual was exactly the reaction it caused.
“She meant I died for a few minutes,” she admitted. “Claire and I were in a wreck when we were fifteen. The EMTs lost me several times before we reached the hospital.”
“Chelsea was in the wreck with you, too?” he asked as he led her to the Harley.
“No, she wasn’t with us,” she said, swallowing tightly. “She was with her father when he received word that we were in the bottom of the canyon. She arrived with him, from what I understand.”
Chelsea never seemed to remember much of it except the three times she swore she had felt a part of Liza fighting to die.
She allowed Stygian to hold on to her as he swung a powerful leg over the cycle’s seat before bracing herself on the foot rest and swinging on behind him.
She had never been on a motorcycle—had she?
“Helmet.” Lifting one of the two helmets from the handlebars, he handed it to her.
Fitting it over her head, she then sat silently as he secured the strap before strapping his own in place.
“We’re linked through com sets in the helmets.” His voice came through the padded helmet, roughened, a male rasp of concern and dangerous interest.
“Just ignore the screams of terror.” She tried to laugh off her racing heart as she placed her hands tentatively at his hard waist.
“Here.” Gripping her wrists, he pulled her forward.
Her breasts pressed against his back in less than a second, the heat of his body sinking through her clothes straight to her nipples and sensitizing them instantly.
“Hold on tight, sweetheart,” he growled through the link. “Losing you off the back of this bike wouldn’t be the highlight of my day.”
“It’s not exactly penciled into my bucket list either,” she assured him ruefully as the terror from minutes before began to ease away.
“We’re in agreement then.”
As his words trailed off, the beast of a machine turned over and began throbbing with leashed power between her thighs.
The heavy vibration was shockingly sensual.
With her arms wrapped tight around Stygian’s waist, her knees pressing against his thighs, Liza found herself growing more aroused by the second.
God, what he did to her.
Mating heat.
The gossip rags had listed the signs of it over and over again, and the overwhelming need, almost impossible to control, headed the list.
But number one was the kiss.
They all agreed, the kiss came first—somewhere.
To the lips, the neck—her heart beat heavier at the thought—the nipples or the clitoris.
The thought of his lips touching her in any of those areas was enough to cause her thighs to clench in an involuntary reaction.
A reaction she couldn’t control, and one she was beginning to fear was more her hunger, and even less some animalistic phenomenon impossible to control.
But she didn’t have to admit that to Stygian.
CHAPTER 6
Window Lake shimmered iridescent blue and green beneath the cloudless sky, its calming waters lapping gently at the bank beneath the pristine cottonwood and pinon trees that shaded the picnic shelter Stygian had pulled the Harley up to.
He quickly dismounted before placing his hand at the small of her back and urging her up the slight incline. The six-table shelter had been built to catch the soft breeze that rippled out over the lake.
The water was fed by a vast, previously unknown lake far beneath the ground. It had been tapped into when the oil company had received permission to drill in the area.
The oil had camouflaged the lake below, but once the drill had burrowed past the oil it was seeking and broke through the thin layer of bedrock separating them, all hell had broken loose and Window Lake had been born.
Stepping up to the tabletop, Liza sat down slowly, elbows braced on her knees, facing the water. Stygian sat likewise on the table in front of her, facing her, watching her intently.
“Now, why was it so imperative that I take this ride with you?” Tilting her head, she watched him curiously. “You’ve been determined to get me alone since the meeting with Jonas.”
“I can’t simply want to spend time with a beautiful woman?” he asked, his expression thoughtful now. “You’re intelligent, beautiful, interesting. What other reason could I have?”
“Information?” She was certain it was far more than simple male interest. Breeds never did anything for such a paltry reason.
“According to you, you have no information.”
No man should be able to pull off such mockery and confidence with such a simple statement.
Pursing her lips and staring back at him ruefully, she admitted she was biting off far more than she could chew with this man.
“So we’re just here to get to know each other better?” Crossing one leg over the other, she propped her elbow on her knee and rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she contemplated him.
“Is that so wrong?” Amusement filled the black and navy gaze.
“It depends on why you’re so interested.” And why she was so interested, when the thought of a lover had never been high on her list of priorities?
Men tended to believe their women had to be protected, controlled.
Liza had no intention of being controlled.
“You sound as though you’ve come to your own conclusions as to my interest.” Bracing his palms on the table behind him, he leaned back and watched her with wicked male amusement.
Shrugging, Liza arched her brows at his comment. “There are a lot of rumors where a Breed’s interest in a woman is concerned. Rumors of addictive kisses, a Breed’s ability to control their lovers through some hormonal reaction to those kisses. All those stories could make a girl nervous.”
She was nervous.
She’d watched Isabelle in the weeks since she’d become Malachi’s lover, and the signs that the rumors could be true were all there.
“You’re listening to rumors?” The chuckle that left his lips matched the laughter in his gaze. “I would have thought you’d know better, considering your friend is a Breed’s lover. They’re considering marriage, you know.”
Liza couldn’t control her own mockery at that point. “They’ve been together less than two months and they’re already discussing marriage. Isabelle is so wrapped up in that Breed, nothing else matters any longer.”
Even the position Isabelle had attained on the team she’d trained with since she was a teenager was no longer important.
For some reason, Isabelle now considered herself a danger to the team, and none of them could figure out why.
Unless the rumor that lovers who were “mated” to a Breed carried a scent other Breeds could detect. Especially Coyote Breeds who worked for the Genetics Council. Add that to the fact that the reported attacks against Breeds and their lovers in the past few years by suspected Genetics Council Breeds were all against Breeds in committed relationships with their lovers. So committed there was no time, no room and no interest in anything else.
“What are you getting at, Liza?” Leaning forward, his booted feet planted squarely on the bench as he planted his broad forearms on his knees, he watched her thoughtfully. “I swear, I can feel that suspicious little mind of yours beating around something here.”