“I understand,” she said softly.
He reached to brush a stray curl from her cheek. “Do you?”
Cassie nodded. She’d never been beaten or starved or raped. But she’d been held against her will by one of the most evil creatures to ever touch the world. She knew the toxic combination of anger and frustration and fear at being at the mercy of others. And the strange sense of guilt at not being strong enough to take control of her own destiny.
“How long were you in New Orleans?”
“For five years.” He smoothed the curl behind her ear as she kept her gaze on the path, which was becoming increasingly more difficult to see beneath the weeds. “I might have stayed there until I died, but one day I was caught in bed with the wife of the mayor. The bastard put a bounty out on my head, so I thought it might be a good idea to leave Louisiana for a few years.”
She chuckled. It didn’t surprise her at all that he’d been run out of town by a cuckolded husband. What female wouldn’t try to lure him into her bed?
“Where did you go?”
“St. Louis.”
“And?”
His fingers outlined the shell of her ear before trailing along the line of her jaw. Cassie shivered in anticipation. She hoped his lair was near. Once Caine was fully rested, she intended to have her wicked way with him.
“And I had barely stepped foot in the city when I was attacked by a strange animal. I thought it was going to be the end of my sorry life.” He paused, his hand cupping her nape in a gesture of pure male possession. “Instead it was just the beginning.”
Caine stroked his fingers down the elegant curve of Cassie’s neck, his thumb lingering on the steady beat of her pulse. A part of him felt . . . raw at having exposed a past that he’d devoted over two hundred years trying to erase from his mind.
Not that it had ever truly been forgotten, he wryly conceded.
He didn’t have to be a shrink to know that his obsessive search for a way to become a pureblooded Were came from an overwhelming need to climb the evolutionary ladder. He’d spent his entire life at the mercy of others. He’d been determined to become the master, not the slave.
But a larger part of him was relieved to have unburdened his darkest secrets. It was like lancing a wound that had been festering for far too long.
A faint smile touched his lips as he studied Cassie’s profile, which was tense with concentration. She’d accepted his confession without judgment or disgust. And for once, he hadn’t been insulted by the knowledge he was being pitied. Her sympathy was as pure and untainted as her heart.
At last it was the call of a robin that jerked him out of his dangerous preoccupation with his beautiful companion. He swallowed a curse as he glanced toward the overgrown hedge, realizing his distraction had nearly allowed him to drive right past his lair.
“Stop.”
Caught off guard, Cassie stomped on the brake, nearly sending him through the windshield. Wisely, he reached over to shove the gearshift into park and switch off the key.
“Why are we stopping here?” she asked in confusion.
“My lair is just beyond the hedge.”
She grimaced. “It’s not a cave, is it?”
He gave a soft chuckle. “The house is hidden behind an illusion.”
“Oh.”
Crawling out of the vehicle, Caine was relieved to discover he was nearly healed. A shower, some food, and a few hours of sleep and he would be as good as new. He stretched, getting the kinks out of his muscles before moving around the hood of the Jeep and pulling open the driver’s door. Then, with one smooth motion, he was scooping Cassie out of the seat and cradling her against his na**d chest.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“The hexes that guard the house are specifically cast to recognize me,” he warned, halting to place his hand flat against the hedge.
There was a silvery shimmer in the air that revealed a narrow opening that would be invisible to all but the most powerful demons.
He stepped past the magical barrier, halting to run a searching gaze over the large, wooden cabin set among the thick trees. It wasn’t nearly as large as many of his lairs, but the simple structure with the A-frame roof and large windows offered a panoramic view of the small pond in back and was fully equipped with every modern convenience as well as Internet service. There were also sturdy cells beneath the house to hold his prisoners and a dozen escape tunnels.
He continued up the stone pathway, pausing at the foot of the railed porch, placing his hand against the invisible barrier until it briefly parted to allow him to step through.