I toweled her as best I could. She mumbled and reached for me—I spent as much time removing groping hands as drying her, and I finally gave up. Wrapped my warm robe around her, and lifted her against my naked torso.
Her small hands slid over my skin as I carried her down the hall, and she mumbled things under her breath that I couldn’t decipher. Placing her on the bed was an exercise in extraction—she grabbed onto my shoulders, my face, my arms, and even something that had once more become distressingly prominent. That took careful peeling back of fingers to remove myself from her.
Finally she muttered and rolled away, and I pulled the covers up around her before laying my palm against her shoulder, and reaching deep inside to find the last stray bits of my healing ability. I pushed what I had left into her, and it eased her into sleep.
Then I stood by the window and stared out at the garden. She was getting worse at a scary rate. If I couldn’t heal her—it wasn’t just about getting us out of here. Rileymattered.
Something tickled at my senses—not something. Someone. Not Lucas. And whoever they were, they were right at the door to the house.
Not they. She.
And then, she was inside.
I gave Riley one last glance, and then eased out the door. Closed it behind me and headed for the living room, and whoever awaited there.
* * *
When I emerged from the hall, Laresse was sitting on the couch.
She’d changed into an even more skimpy, glittering gown that was slit high up the seams and cut low to show off skin to maximum effect. When she crossed her legs, slowly and deliberately, it revealed the full length of her smooth thigh and hip. She’d pulled her tail up between her legs, and it beckoned my gaze—
I ripped it away, but not before she noticed. Her full lips curved into a come-hither smile. There was no denying her effect on me—after being with Riley, my inner Satyr was both frustrated and desperate. And she’d obviously decided to seduce me. If only she knew how she danced with death, she’d be screaming.
Her gaze drank me in, scanning my head near my ears, and her lower lip jutted in a pout. “I was sure you were a Satyr. Your scent is—intoxicating.”
I crossed my arms over my bare chest, regretting that I hadn’t diverted to the bathroom to collect my cloak or another robe. “I am only part Satyr.”
“Ah.” Her gaze dropped to my crotch, and widened. “Looks like you got the best parts.”
I heartedly wished Lucas was here. This kind of verbal dance was not my forte—she’d already got a look at me and knew one of my secrets. I needed to be smarter if she wasn’t going to decipher them all.
Laresse patted the couch beside her. “Come. Sit with me.”
“That is not a good idea.”
“I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
She squirmed on the couch, grinding her pelvis into the cushions as though she were already astride me. My inner Satyr responded to the arousal in the air, and with a sense of desperation, I searched for something that might derail it.
“I belong to another.”
Surprisingly, that gave her pause. It did me, too, but even as I said the words, the truth of them soothed something inside me.
Laresse sat up a little straighter and glanced down the hall. Then her gaze returned to me, and I could swear that sadness radiated through her energy.
“If you value her,” she said, “be gone by the time my mates arrive home.” All trace of desire had vanished from her voice.
She rubbed at her arms. It drew my attention to them. Each forearm had a strange fold, about two inches long, which was a brighter color than the rest of her skin. My eyes rose from them to her face.
“They know about you three being here,” she said.
A chill passed down my spine. “You told them?”
She shrugged. “They can look through my eyes whenever they want.”
“Do Hitzu mates speak telepathically?”
She snorted a laugh. “Telepathy is a common power among my people. When we mate, both males inject these glands with the venom in their claws.” She rolled her arms out toward me and rubbed at the skin folds. “It means my mates can enter my mind anytime, use my senses, and even, in extreme cases, force me to do things.”
