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Selene drew in a long breath, empathy for the girl weighing deeply in her mind. What if she was wrong? What if the man in her bed was the beast who’d attacked the woman?
She focused on the man lying against her sheets for a long moment. She could sense no latent savagery in him. No hunger to kill. Even when he’d half shifted in pain, she hadn’t sensed that he was capable of killing without cause. He wasn’t the one.
“Selene, are you there?”
Selene shook her head and returned her attention to her sister. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Brigid is with me. I can send her over to assess the guy in your apartment, if you’d like me to.”
“No, Deme.” She gripped the phone. “You didn’t tell her about him, did you?”
“No. I respected your wishes. Although if you’re comfortable with him in your home, why be secretive? We’re sisters. Since when do you keep secrets from any of us?”
Since the man in her bed had a beast inside him. “Please, just let me get him well. I’ll tell the others once he’s able to get around on his own.”
“By that time, he might be well enough to attack you. I tell you, Selene, I’m not happy with the situation. It’s bad enough watching over a stranger who’s been attacked. I don’t want to know what it feels like to stand over one of my sister’s hospital bed.”
“I’ll be okay. I promise.”
“Well, I’m coming by later today. Whether you like it or not.”
“He’s unconscious now. Let him wake before you do.”
She snorted. “I’m not liking this.”
“Duly noted.” Selene sighed. “Don’t worry, Deme. I’ll be careful.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure that’s what this woman said as she stepped into that parking garage.” Deme hung up.
Selene sagged against the counter.
She could hear the man in her bed moan, the moan changing to a low rumbling growl as he thrashed, the sheets slipping low over his waist.
Tired, but determined, Selene prepared another of her mother’s poultices, wet a clean washcloth and filled a basin with fresh water. She laid them on a tray and carried them into the room.
With great care, she removed the bandages and plucked away the old poultice a little at a time. The wound was an angry red around the edges. When she applied the damp washcloth, the man jerked to a sitting position, his gaze wild as he slapped her wrist away as if slapping a paw at her. His eyes were glazed, his cheeks flushed with fever.
“It’s okay.” She pressed a hand to the uninjured shoulder. Speaking softly, she urged him to lie down.
As if he understood, he eased to his back, grimacing, his lips drawing back over long catlike fangs.
As she removed the poultice from the wound, she talked softly. “I’ve never met a man quite like you.”
He winced and growled, small hairs rising on his neck and arms. Fascinated, she stopped cleaning and reached out to touch the hairs. “What are you? Half man, half beast? I have a million questions for you when you are up to answering.” She sang her words, soothing him as she applied the new remedy and bandages.
By the time she finished, his face had paled alarmingly and his body shook so hard his teeth rattled.
She pulled the sheet up over his chest.
“Shh, you’ll be okay,” she said, worried when he shivered so hard he shook the bed. Even after she’d covered him with a blanket, he trembled and his jaw clenched.
Afraid he would go into shock, Selene did the only thing she knew to do. She stripped down to her panties and slipped beneath the blanket and sheet, pressing her warm body against his cold skin. Careful, so as not to touch his wound, she draped an arm over his belly and a leg over his thigh. Curling her body around his, she held on, praying to the goddess the fever and shock wouldn’t be the end of him.
Slowly, the tremors lessened, dropping from constant to intermittent and finally, they stopped altogether.
Warm alongside him, and tired beyond exhaustion, Selene lay her face against his chest and closed her eyes. His deep, even breathing reassured her that he would be okay while she took a short nap. Sleep claimed her instantly and with it began the dreams...
Wandering through the dark, she recognized the tunnels. They were just like the ones she and her sisters had traversed beneath Chicago to save the youngest of her sisters from an evil Chimera a couple of years ago.
So dark...
Selene carried a flashlight, the beam barely lighting the way, pushing against the inky blackness like a hand shoving back heavy drapery.
The longer she walked, the longer the tunnel seemed. She stepped over old railroad tracks, discarded pallets, pipes and debris, searching for...whatever, she wasn’t quite certain.
Something clattered behind her. Selene stopped to listen. Nothing but the eerie silence. When she started walking again, she sensed something moving with her, getting closer.
At a T-junction, she ducked to the left, clicked off her flashlight and waited, barely breathing so that she could hear the sound of footsteps treading softly in the passage.
There it was.
The soft steps, moving slowly toward her. Not those of a human but the close succession of patters on the ground like those of a four-legged creature.
The closer it moved the faster her heart beat and the more shallow her breathing. She was afraid if she made even the slightest sound, she’d give away her position.
Just as the creature eased to the junction, Selene flicked her thumb over the on switch, shining her light into the eyes of the predator, hoping to blind it while she made her escape.
The red eyes of a wolf shone back at her like twin blood orbs in a face so dark it blended into the black of the tunnel.
Selene screamed and backed away, the hand holding the flashlight shaking so badly she almost dropped it.
It was huge, as big as any man, only twice as menacing. Its lips curled back, exposing long, sharp teeth, and it emitted a growl so frightening, Selene spun and ran through the tunnel.
“Help me!” she cried, her voice echoing off the empty walls. No one was there—most sane people didn’t venture into the subterranean underworld beneath the city. She was alone, being chased by a wolf. She ran, knowing she couldn’t outrun the creature.
Her foot caught on a broken rail and she crashed to her knees.
The wolf caught up, braced its paws on either side of her and breathed its hot breath onto the back of her neck, as if waiting for her to turn over. To face her death.
Selene rolled to her back, clutching her pentagram between her fingers, unable to close her eyes to the wicked gleam in her attacker’s face, knowing she would witness her own death.
The wolf’s body tensed, his mouth opened and he bunched his muscles.
Then a tawny golden flash of sinew and fur hit him head-on, knocking the wolf onto his back.
Selene scrambled backward, grabbing for her flashlight as a mighty battle for supremacy raged in the beam of her light between the wolf and a glorious male lion.
The wolf lunged at the lion, his teeth sinking into the lion’s shoulder.
Selene gasped. “No!” She pushed to her feet and would have thrown herself at the wolf, but hands held her back.
“Let me go. I have to help,” she whimpered.
“Shh,” a low male voice crooned. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” She wept, struggling to free herself. “He’ll die.”
“It’s only a dream,” the voice said. A hand smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “It’s only a dream. Come little angel, wake up.”
“A dream?” Selene whispered. Rising from the darkness, she blinked her eyes open...
Selene stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars she’d tacked to the ceiling shortly after she’d moved into her small apartment. The stars reminded her of the night sky filled with twinkling stars that dispelled the darkness and gave promise of the vastness of the universe.
A solid warmth pressed against her side. She turned her face, her cheek resting against skin—a lot of skin. Selene tipped up her chin and stared into golden eyes and lips quirked at the corners.
“The angel awakens.” His words rumbled in his chest, echoing into her ear. His arm shifted beneath her head, his hand cupping her shoulder.
“I must have fallen asleep,” she said.
“I think you and I must have been having the same dream. I woke only moments before you.”
“I was being attacked by a—”
“Wolf?” His brows descended. “I saw you.”
“But then a lion saved me.” Selene’s eyes widened. “Was that you?”
His gaze grew guarded. “I should be going.” He tried to sit up, growled in pain and fell back against the pillow, wincing at the effort.
“You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”
“I can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Selene leaned up on her elbow before she realized she was only wearing her bra and panties. She lay back down, her face burning.
His eyes flared, the pupils dilating. He opened his mouth to say something.
Selene placed a finger over his lips. “Don’t get any ideas. I only lay here to warm you when you were going into shock.” She cupped his cheek. “It seems the fever is gone.” Sitting up, she pressed a pillow to her breasts. “You won’t need me to keep you warm.”
His good hand closed gently around her wrist. “Stay.”
“But I’m not dressed.”
“I know. And neither am I.” His voice had lowered to a warm rumbling purr. “I feel a chill coming on.”
Selene frowned. “Yeah, right.”
His body shook and his face tightened in pain. “Please. It’s your bed, and you need sleep as much as I do.”
“I don’t know you.”
“I’ll keep the monsters away from your dreams.”
“What if you’re the monster?”
“You’ve already proven you can tame my beast.”
She wavered, the warmth of his skin tempting her. “I’ll need to change your bandages soon.”
“They can wait.” He tugged on her hand, drawing her back to the bed.
“I am tired.” She settled against him, trying to read into his mind. She couldn’t hear his thoughts, could only feel his emotions or see flashes of images. They weren’t malevolent so much as hot and lusty, sparking an answering heat deep in her core. “I shouldn’t.” Her hand rested on his chest.
His muscles hardened, his skin stretching tight. “You should sleep,” he whispered.
Ha! Sleep was the furthest from her mind as she lay almost naked against this ruggedly powerful and mysterious man. The longer she lay there, the more she wondered what it would feel like to press her lips to his skin.
An image of lips brushing the top of her head was followed by a featherlight stirring at her temple. Selene’s breath caught in her chest.
Her heart tripped over itself then thundered against her ribs. She shifted until she faced him, staring up into his eyes. “Did you kiss me?” she asked, her voice little more than air.
His mouth quirked upward. “Had I really kissed you, you would know.”
Every logical thought in her head screamed for her to get up, get dressed and throw this man out of her apartment. But logic didn’t rule when it came to Gryph. Her heart had firm control and was moving forward, the momentum sweeping her with it.
Bolder than she’d ever been in her life, she leaned up until her mouth hovered over his. “Then kiss me so that I’ll know.”
He chuckled, the mirth dying as his gaze claimed hers and his head rose to close the distance between them. His hand wrapped around her hair and pressed her into him and he claimed her lips, his mouth slanting against hers, his tongue snaking out to dart between her teeth, sliding the length of hers, the surface coarse, sensual, enticing.
Selene slipped her hand behind his head, her fingers threading through the longish, thick, golden mane, tangling and tugging, to get closer still. Half lying on his good side, she inhaled the musky scent of male and something more primal. Her body ignited, her skin on fire from breast to thigh where it met his. Her center tightened, her channel growing slick.
A low purr rumbled in his chest and his hand flexed and skimmed across the small of her back to cup the curve of her buttocks. His fingers massaged the flesh, sliding into her panties and between the seam of her thighs, finding her entrance.
Her insides clenched, a wash of liquid dampening the path as he pressed his finger inside her.
Her mouth consumed his, she sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and moaned as he swirled the digit inside her.
Selene let go of his lip and arched her back, her head tipping back as she basked in the rush of sensations shooting fire through her veins.
Gryph raised his injured shoulder and cried out. “Damn!”
Yanked back to reality, Selene slid off him and stood in her bra, then adjusted her panties, her eyes wide. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
The man in her bed nodded, his hand pressing gently against the bandage over his shoulder. “You’re right. I’d be taking advantage of the situation.”
“You? You’re the injured party.” Selene grabbed a short champagne-colored silk robe and jammed her arms into the sleeves, pulling the edges closed around her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” She grabbed the washbasin and rag and rushed from the bedroom into her little kitchen, where she stood with her back to the open door, her body trembling. Not from fear, but from coming so close to making love with a stranger, and then pulling back. She still wanted him and—damn it—he was injured, practically a prisoner in her bed until he could get around on his own.
Selene sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had to get a grip, go back in there and dress his wound. The sooner he was well, the sooner he’d be out of her bed, her apartment and her life.
