It called to her, inviting and wild, and she clenched her hands into fists. She wanted to join him, release that sleeping part of her and run—
Nothing.
«Damn it.» The magic that had flared up in reaction to his settled, and Carmen rubbed her hands over her face. «I don’t know, Alec. I just don’t know.»
A quiet yip answered her.
He was right behind her, and she turned to look at him. Dark fur covered his large frame, muzzle to tail, and she smiled in spite of herself. «It’s weird how it’s impossible to predict what shifters will look like, but then they always look like themselves somehow. They look…right.»
The wolf stretched slowly, then magic shimmered in the air again. It happened so fast it seemed like a blur, the wolf rising on his hind legs before the shimmer became too much. A heartbeat later Alec stood before her—
Aroused.
Her breath caught in a gasp as need washed over her. This time, she couldn’t look away. «Alec.»
«Shh.» He wrapped his hands around the bars of her cage, fingers clenching so tight his knuckles looked white against his dusky skin. «Shifting is… There’s no high like it.»
She had to get off her knees, so she climbed to her feet. «So I’ve heard.»
«I should leave.»
«I should make you.» The tables had been turned, and now he was the one crazy with magic. But she touched him anyway, sliding her hands over his. «You keep protecting my virtue. What about yours?»
«The only way I’m keeping my virtue is if you stay in that cage.» A rumbling laugh escaped him. «Even that might not save us.»
She felt no confusion, no doubt that this was what he wanted. That she was what he wanted. «You can stay or go. Either way, no regrets.»
Something feral sparked in his eyes. «Turn around.»
It was firm and forceful, and the command weakened her knees. She obeyed, standing so close to the bars that she could feel the heat of his body.
His breath skated across the back of her shoulder. «Lift your hands. Above your head.»
She raised her arms and gripped the cold metal bars, feeling curiously exposed by the position. «It’s as natural as breathing for you, isn’t it?»
«What?» His fingers brushed hers, then started a slow, wicked glide down her arms. «This?» He curled his hands to cup her breasts, palms abrading her nipples. «Or this?»
Carmen whimpered at the sudden rush of pleasure. «Dominating your lover.»
«Don’t need a cage for that,» he agreed as one hand swept lower, spreading wide over her abdomen. «The only reason you’re still in there is to keep me from dominating you. Can’t fuck you through the bars…probably.»
«I think you’re a liar.» She pressed back, reaching through the bars to tangle her hands in his hair. «You could find a way.»
«Maybe.» His fingertips brushed her thighs. «There are people upstairs. You have to keep quiet. Believe me, honey, you wouldn’t be quiet riding my cock.»
He had a dirty mouth, and she had to check a moan. «I don’t think I can be quiet with your hands on me, either.»
«What if I give you something to bite?»
The sensual possibilities left her dizzy. She could sink her teeth into him. She’d have to, because he’d touch her and he’d make her come so hard she’d forget everything, including the people roaming around his house.
Including the dead bodies they’d left outside.
She let go of his hair and pulled away with a ground out curse. «You wouldn’t be doing this if you were in your right mind.»
Alec snarled, but he didn’t disagree with her.
It strengthened her resolve. She bent to gather her clothes, still trembling from his caresses but determined. «Sometime when you’re not high, Alec, and that’s a promise.»
«A promise.» He turned and snatched up his jeans. «I need to go upstairs. I’m going to pop the lock on the cage. Come on up when you’re ready.»
The urge to call him back consumed her, but what would it accomplish? She had nothing to explain, no reason to justify being unwilling to take advantage of his magical arousal when he’d spent the last few days doing the same for her.
And she had done it for him. Because, sooner or later, he’d come back to his senses and find a way to blame himself for losing control.
Carmen dropped her clothes on the cot and pulled on her panties. «I’ll only be a minute or two.»
He didn’t answer, just stopped at a number pad mounted on the wall and typed in a code that resulted in a soft click from the cage door. A moment later he was gone, his feet barely making a sound on the wooden stairs.
She finished dressing slowly, taking the extra time to steel herself. It was insane to feel as though she’d done something wrong, but that didn’t change facts.
She felt like hell.
Shut up, Carmen. It was karmic payback for sniping at Alec every time he pulled away, unwilling to take advantage of her heightened instinctive drives. He’d only been trying to do what was right, what was best.
I need you to be all right. I need to keep you safe.
Best for her, not himself, and that was the key. She climbed the stairs, her mind racing. Alec would hurt himself before he hurt her, and it was more than a platitude or something he’d try to do, except when he fucked up.
It was who he was.
Alec wasn’t upstairs, but the pretty brunette who’d picked Kat up from the clinic sat at the kitchen table, fidgeting. Carmen smiled and hoped she’d already stopped visibly shaking. «Hi, Mackenzie.»
«Hey. Good to see you again.»
«Want some coffee? I could make some.» It probably wouldn’t help Mackenzie’s fidgeting, but it would keep them both from sitting at the table, twiddling their thumbs. «I get the feeling it might be a long night.»
«Sure, coffee’s great.» Mackenzie rocked to her feet. «I would have already made some but I don’t know where anything is in Alec’s kitchen. Or if he has coffee.»
«After the last few days, I’ve figured out the lay of the land.» She rinsed and filled the carafe. «If I hadn’t, by Alec’s own admission, I would have starved by now.»
«Yeah, I get the impression Alec eats a lot of takeout. God knows no one would deliver all the way out here. He’s pretty well in the middle of nowhere.»
Carmen paused in the act of settling a fresh filter into the pot. «I have no idea where we are. South of the city?»
«Southwest.» Mackenzie hesitated. «You were pretty out of it, I guess. But you seem to be doing a lot better.»
«I don’t think it worked,» she confessed. «Or maybe it did, it’s just not finished. The witch said she needed more time.»
Mackenzie hopped up onto the counter and crossed her legs, bouncing one foot so that her sandal dangled. «I’m not a magical expert or anything, but based on my experience, you’d know. I had some big badass spell cast on me to keep me from shifting, and when it started to fall apart… Well, there weren’t exactly lucid periods. First I tried climbing the walls, then I tried climbing Jackson.»
Suppressing the blush that rose was impossible, so Carmen kept her gaze riveted to the coffee maker. «The, uh, climbing. Yeah, I’m familiar with that part. What happened to you…afterward?»
«They had to reinforce the spell, but the second it was gone, I shifted. I couldn’t have stopped it.»
It sounded nothing like the way she’d had to strain and grasp for the slightest flicker of magic. «Definitely not, then.»
«Well, congrats.» Mackenzie hesitated, her foot frozen mid-bounce. «Right?»
«Right.» Even as she spoke, Carmen shook away the tiny, inexplicable frisson of doubt that rose. «Right. I mean, this isn’t something I would have chosen.»