Deadly Desire

"Okay, okay." There really was no point in putting it off any longer, and sitting here stewing over it certainly hadn't gotten me any closer to a solution. He was right. It was better to know than to worry over what might or might not be. I turned around and held out my hand. "I need your keys."

He reached into his pocket, then tossed the keys to me. "You don't want company?"

I smiled, though it was a pale shadow of its usual self. "I think this is something I'd better do alone."

"Be careful then, won't you?"

"Qui

"I meant, be careful driving. I don't think you're in the best frame of mind for concentrating on the roads."

This time, my smile was warmer. "I won't dent your car, bro. I promise."

He snorted. "I'm more worried about you denting yourself."

"I won't do that, either."

"Good. Then get."

I got, but with a whole lot of reluctance.

I went home to shower and change first. Luckily for me, Liander wasn't there, because the last thing I needed was to go through the whole explaining thing again. I just wanted to get over to Qui

It was still very early in the morning, so the traffic hadn't yet reached its peak. I parked in the Langham hotel's underground lot, then made my way up to Qui

One there, I dug the key card out of my wallet and swiped it through the slot. The lock clicked and I pushed the door open. The suite was dark, but I could hear the soft timbre of breathing coming from the bedroom. I doubted he'd be asleep. Not now that I was in the room. The beat of my heart was a cadence that would have woken him immediately.

I took a deep breath, trying to ease the tension that was rolling though my body. It didn't help-nothing would. Not until I had my answers. I forced my feet forward, stripping down as I went, scattering shoes and clothes haphazardly across the lush carpet.

He reached for me the minute I slipped in beside him. Every muscle was so tightly wound that his caress felt like a blow. I shuddered a little and tried to relax. But how could I do that when what happened in the next few minutes might be the end of a relationship that had barely begun to blossom?

"You're later than I thought you might be," he said, kissing my cheek, my neck, my shoulder. "Were there problems with the job?"

"Let's just say there were some discoveries made that have caused monumental problems."

I ran my fingers down his cheek and lightly across his lips. He kissed each fingertip gently. And again, it felt like a blow.

"You're very tense," he commented, his dark eyes on mine. "Would you like me to draw you a scented bath?"

"No." Because how on earth could I relax until I knew? "I'd much rather be kissed senseless until everything else just slips away."

Please let it all slip away.

Please let it be like its always been.

"That I can also do." A smile curved his lips as he gathered me in his arms.

For the briefest of moments, something within me fought his touch. Fought him. And the fear surged.

No, I thought. No.

Then his lips were on mine, and I forced myself to relax. Thrust away the fear, and concentrated instead on the kiss, on his scent, on the heat of his body pressing so close to mine.

The tension within seemed to ease a little, and while the ice didn't melt, I didn't have any immediate urge to reject him, either.

But was I supposed to have such an urge?

Ben had never really explained the finer points of sex once he'd met his soul mate. All he'd said was that he simply didn't want another partner when she was alive.

Concentrate, I thought. Don't think. Don't worry. Just do.

But it was easier thought than done.

The tension continued to roll through me in waves, but as his kisses and caresses moved down my body, a dreamy sense of enjoyment soon joined it. It wasn't the heat and the fire that marked many of our encounters, but then, it didn't need to be.

Slow was good, too.

He continued to tease me, touch me, tasting and exploring every part of my body with his hands and his tongue, making every inch of me tingle. Every inch of me ache with wanting him.

Wanting not just him, but the truth.

I needed the answer, more than I'd needed anything in my entire life.

"Please," I whispered, with an urgency he couldn't yet understand.

He chuckled softly, then wrapped his free hand around my neck and kissed me hard. As his mouth claimed mine, he slid into me. It felt good, and it felt right, as if in that one moment of unity, our souls had merged and danced as one-and all I wanted to do was cry in relief.

It might not be as strong as what I'd felt with Kye, but it was there, and it was real, and it meant that I had the choice. That I didn't have to destroy what had only just begun.

Then Qui

When I finally caught my breath again, I took his face between my palms and kissed him long and slow. "You have no idea just how much of a relief that was."

He rolled to one side and gathered me close. It felt so right in his arms that I just wanted to cry. At least I was still free to enjoy all this. Fate had left me that, if nothing else.

"There's nothing like a good dose of lovemaking to ease a body's tension," he said, a smile in his voice.

"Yes." I hesitated. The cowardly part of me just didn't want to fess up about what had happened and why I'd been so tense, but that wouldn't fair. Besides, he had to know, because we'd no doubt be dealing with the consequences soon enough. "You know those discoveries I mentioned earlier?"

"Yes."

"Well, they weren't exactly work related."

He frowned lightly-something I felt rather than saw. "Then what were they?"

"Personal." I hesitated again. "And huge in so many different ways."

Tension rolled through his limbs, there one moment and gone the next. Qui

But I couldn't. I just couldn't force the damn words past my tongue. Not when I knew they were going to hurt him so much. So instead I said, "You remember how Dia once asked me if a person with two souls can have just one soul mate?"

"Yes." His voice was cool, as controlled as the rest of him. But I still felt his trepidation. It felt like a storm cloud gathering power in the distance.

"Well, it appears she was right."

The air suddenly seemed alive with energy and emotion. For one sharp moment, it rolled over me, grabbing at my breath, my body, pummeling it, making it ache as fiercely as if he were hitting me.

Then it was gone, snapped behind his icy control again.

"So you've found your wolf soul mate."

A statement, not a question.

"Yes."

He pulled his arm out from underneath me and rolled off the bed, stalking naked to the window. For several moments he did nothing more than breathe deeply. There was no anger, no emotion, nothing that even hinted at turmoil. Nothing more than that controlled breathing.

Eventually, he asked, voice still as even as his breathing, "Where does that leave us?"

"You haven't even asked who it is, Qui

"I don't want to know," he snapped, and just for a moment, the calm broke and his voice became fury. Became death itself. "I told you long ago my being had claimed you, Riley. That being is willing to kill to keep you."