Raza's expression went wicked. He smiled and slid his hands up the sides of my waist, resting his thumbs just beneath my breasts. The barest movement from either of us sent twinges of pleasure through me. I tried to pull back but he held me firm, the tips of two talons pressing delicately into my chest. Then he lowered his head till his lips lay against my ear.
“When you're lying in bed later tonight,” he whispered to me in that sexy purr of his, “wondering why you can't sleep, know that I'll be just as restless, waiting for you to realize that we belong together. But until you come to your senses, I'll languish in this craving and use the memory of this moment to whet my appetite.”
Then he folded his wings back and stepped away from me, revealing an anxious Torquil who stared at me like I'd just sprouted a tail... from my forehead. I cleared my throat and stomped back to the SUV, where I climbed into the driver's seat without another word to either of them. Torquil said something to Raza but it was too low for me to hear and all Raza did was laugh as he walked around to the passenger side of the SUV. He got in the front passenger seat, making Torquil take the one in back, and I drove us all to the Council House in tense, awkward silence.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The twins met us at the bottom of the front porch steps; standing there calmly, hand in hand. They nodded when they saw the witch, then simply turned and led us through the Council House, down a set of stairs in the kitchen, and into the basement where a line of empty cells took up most of the room. In front of the cells was a small table and two chairs. That was it.
We had just laid our prisoner down on the cement floor of one of the cells, when Tiernan came storming down the stairs. I couldn't even look at him at first, I felt so horribly guilty for what had happened between Raza and I. Raza standing beside me smirking didn't help either.
“What were you thinking?” Tiernan growled at me as Alex closed the cell door with a loud clang.
I sent a glare in Alex's direction but he only shrugged and smiled.
“I was thinking that we needed to get a witch in our custody,” I lifted my face to his, anger winning out over guilt. “Just as we talked about.”
“Yeah, we talked about it and I assumed you'd stay close to me until we could implement ittogether,” Tiernan lowered his face into mine. “I had no idea that you'd run off with only Torquil,” Tiernan glanced at Raza, “and him.”
“I didn't leave with Raza, he followed us,” I tried to defend myself.
“I followed you too,” Tiernan snapped. “But I was rather far behind Raza. Would you like to hazard a guess as to why?”
“Raye,” I whispered and shot Raza an angry look.
“Rayetayah,” Tiernan nodded. “Why would you entrust Raza's son to tell me you were leaving the battlefield? He waited until I was frantically searching for you before he came up and casually told me where you were.”
“I'm sorry, T, I-”
“Don't call me T!” He shouted in my face.
“Oh, excuse me, Lord of the Wild Hunt!” I shouted back. “You know what,CountTiernan? You can go fuck yourself because I ain't gonna do it tonight.”
I turned and left the room but Tiernan's angry footsteps followed me all the way to our bedroom in the guest house. I could practically feel his angry breath on my neck the entire way but I refused to look back at him. In fact, I tried to slam the bedroom door in his face but he simply smacked it open with his palm and followed me inside. Then he slammed it shut and locked it.
I was about to start yelling at him again when he said, “Damn it, Seren, you scared me.”
I crumpled onto the bed, losing all of my bluster.
“Do you have any idea how it felt for me to look across that battlefield and not see you there?” He sat down beside me. “I thought you were dead or taken. And that bastard Rayetayah just let me think that until I started shouting for the Guard to spread out and look for you. Then he finally sauntered up and mentioned that you went off with Torquil and Raza.”
“He said I left with Raza?” I huffed. “That little son of a prick.”
“Exactly,” Tiernan sighed and his whole body slumped. “He made it seem like you had run away with his father. I was furious. I left everyone there, to clean up blood and corpses, while I rode the air back to you.”
“You flew here?” I blinked at him. “That's over seventy miles.”
“I said I was scared,” he huffed. “I wasn't sure what I'd find when I arrived.”
“Tiernan, I told you to trust me,” even as I spoke the words, I felt the wrongness in them. How could I say that to him after what I'd done? He was right to not trust me.
“I do,” he said and made it all worse. “I just don't trust Raza.”
“I know,” I sighed. “You've said that before.”
“Seren,” Tiernan turned my face to his. “I don't want to share you. A lot of fey men would be okay with an open relationship but I'm not. Not with you.”
“I know, and I don't want to share you either,” I felt my jaw clench as I remembered kissing Raza.
