She turned in a circle. “But, I mean, um, did you move in recently?”
Oh, she was commenting on the décor or lack of it. “Warm minimalism,” he said. He finished pouring and handed her the glass of red wine.
“Huh?”
“The design. Clean lines. Simple décor. It’s supposed to make you feel like you are the most important and interesting thing in the room.” He sipped his own wine. “I think it’s working. You’re clearly the most beautiful thing within these walls.”
Her lips twitched, a blush creeping from beneath her collar. “Thank you.”
“Come, darling, sit. You’ve been on your feet all night.” He lowered himself onto the sofa and held out his hand. She glanced from her glass to the furniture, seemingly uncomfortable with drinking red wine on white upholstery. She abandoned the drink on the mantle and joined him, perching on the edge of the middle cushion.
“I never do this. I’m probably breaking some kind of rule coming up here,” she said.
“No one in this building will say a word to you. I’ll see to that.” With nothing but empathy in his eyes, he rested an ankle on one knee, calculating how long he’d have to play with the mouse before the wolf could have his meal. “Now, tell me about yourself. What’s an exquisite creature such as you doing working in the gatehouse? It doesn’t take a genius to see you’re overqualified for the position.”
She paused for a moment, lips parted, eyes staring as if she’d been frozen in place.
“Teresa? Are you all right?” He rested a hand on her shoulder.
She buried her face in her hands.
“Teresa?”
The girl raised her head and all kinds of freaky hit the walls. Her eyes were white. Solid white and glowing like 60-watt incandescents.
“What the fuck?”
“Don’t concern yourself, Jay, or should I call you Jason? It’s so hard to know what’s appropriate. You’ve had so many identities.”
He’d know that voice anywhere. Lowering his chin, he narrowed his eyes at Teresa’s possessed body. “Nickelova?”
“Call me Nickie.” Teresa’s head rotated on her neck, listing back and around while the redhead’s features changed, morphing into those of a svelte woman with a sleek platinum bob. A wicked smile broke out across full red lips. “Miss me?”
“What are you doing here?” The words came out in an anxious slur.
She leaned toward him, catching the glass of wine as it fell from his shaking hand and placing it on the coffee table. Her face came close enough to his that he could feel her breath on his lips.
Although he pressed into the back of the couch in an effort to put distance between them, his body reacted to her nearness. He remembered how she looked, spread out before him on the bed or riding his cock like a jockey. He’d had her so many ways before discovering who or what she was and he’d loved every single second of it. Sex with Nickie was like shooting heroin; it went straight to your pleasure center. Magically delicious.
“Is this for me?” she asked, palming him through his jeans.
“Don’t touch me.” He swallowed, hard. “I should kill you after what you did to us.”
“But you won’t.” She shrugged. “And just so you know, even if you did you’d be murdering the redhead whose body I’m possessing, not me.” She snorted. “Besides,Ididn’t do anything to your family. That was Alex.” She massaged him through his pants, cupping and sliding her hand in a way that sent electric pulses of pleasure through his body.
He wanted to stop her. Sherepulsedhim. But his vice needed to be fed, and Nickie understood just how to administer the dose of medicine he needed. It was all he could do not to touch her, not to invite more of what she was handing out. There was no way he could force himself to push her away.
“Why are you here?” Jason murmured.
“We had something, Jason. Don’t deny it. You felt our connection. You feel it now.” She unzipped his pants and palmed his cock.
“Stop,” he murmured.
“I need your help. Alex can no longer follow through on his end of the bargain. But you and I together? We’d be unstoppable. You could do what Alex couldn’t. I need you to join me.”
“No.”
She stroked him harder. “The supernatural community has spent far too long denying who they are. With common leadership, a wolf and a dragon as king and queen, we could change everything. We wouldn’t have to tiptoe around humans anymore. We’d be free.”
