The urge to go upstairs and clean all the blood tugged at her, but right now, she was exhausted. Just a little sleep and she could take care of the problem.
She curled up, her head on the sofa back, her gaze on the flickering flames. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she breathed deeply.
A noise had her sitting straight up perhaps an hour or so later. Maybe more.
Seth stood tall and broad in the doorway, soaking wet, steam coming off his T-shirt. His eyes had morphed to the dark blue of a winter night sky, mysterious and lethal. His black hair curled over his collar, and his jaw looked like it was made from chiseled stone.
His chin slowly lifted, and his eyelids dropped to half-mast.
She stopped breathing, her heart breaking for him, and her instincts warning her not to move. To still in place, just like prey caught in a predator’s hunting grounds. Her skin electrified, and her body softened, while her heart rammed against her rib cage in a futile effort to be set free.
He slowly, deliberately, shut the door and silenced the storm.
She finally broke free of his spell, turning and setting her feet on the wooden floor. “Did you find them?” It was useless to pretend she didn’t know exactly where he’d gone.
“No.”
She clasped her hands in her lap. “Seth, I’m so sorry—”
“No,” he said, holding up his hand. “No. Just…no.” He kicked off his boots, his voice rough and hoarse. “The mourning comes later. After.”
She sucked in air. “After? After what?”
“Vengeance,” he said, ripping his shirt over his head and dropping the wet mess next to his boots on the slate floor.
Her mouth opened and then closed. It was useless to remind him that she was an officer of the law. The dwindling fire caressed the brutal planes of his chest and ripped abs, and her breath caught in her lungs for a different reason. “Where’s Erik?”
“Still looking.” Seth scrubbed a rough hand through his hair, scattering droplets to the slate. “We lost the scent near Portland, and I think they got on a boat. We’ll find them, but it’ll take more than our noses.”
Using a boat was a decent idea. The brothers probably headed up to Alaska. If they were smart, they’d keep going and never stop.
Although from the look on Seth’s face, they were as good as dead right now.
She couldn’t handle this. This new world, these new rules that violated the oaths she’d taken to protect, this male she couldn’t stop wanting. It was all too much. She stood and inched toward him and the doorway where she’d left her boots. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” When she reached him, she awkwardly patted his bare arm, feeling heat and muscle. “I know you don’t want to mourn, but I’m so very sorry.”
Only one sharp jerk of his chin showed that he’d even heard her.
She released him and moved for her boots, her abdomen alight, and her heart hurting like she’d been stabbed with an ice pick. Gathering her strength, she shut her eyes and breathed in. Then she let instinct rule, turned, and plastered herself against his back, hugging him around the waist and fastening her hands to his abs.
His entire body stiffened. “What are you doing?”
Tears gathered in her eyes and slid down his skin. She kissed his spine. “Grieving with you.” Whether or not he wanted her to do so.
His chest hitched.
Then he turned, breaking her hold. “Go home, Mia. I can’t be soft right now.”
She wasn’t a woman who took risks with her heart. With her soul. Oh, she’d hunt a bad guy and dive into a deadly forest with a gun to find a sociopath, but giving herself? With no guarantee that she wouldn’t end up in tatters of pain? No. Not her.
So when she stepped into him and slid her hands up his bare chest to his neck, she knewexactlythe amount of agonizing pain she was inviting. Even so, the possibility of easing his pain, just thepossibility,was enough for her. For once. If he couldn’t cry, she would. “It’s okay, Seth,” she whispered, tears tipping over her bottom lids to her cheeks. “You don’t have to feel anything right now.” She was hurting enough for them both.
“You need to go,” he ground out, his hands wrapping around her biceps and holding her in place. “I’m off. Not in control.”
“I’ve never wanted you in control,” she said, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss right above his heart. “Not with me. Not when we’re us.” The words came from somewhere deeper than the moment and she let them out, not holding back. Not now. Not when the very air around him swelled with pain. And anger. So muchfury.If there was a way to ease him, she’d do it.
The bite mark on her neck pulsed and ached, burning with need.
“You should go.” His eyes glittered, and he looked down at her mouth, his tension sharpening the world around them. “You’re still human—mostly. Don’t let me hurt you.”
