Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,16
but you’re giving me a headache.
I’m sorry, but I’ve been worried sick. Are you all right? What happened?
I was hoping you could tell me. What did you notice?
You disappeared from my thoughts. I can feel when you block me, and it reassures me of your presence. I could not feel you at all. Do you have any idea what . . . ?
Not really. I’d just arrived at the reception, felt a sharp pain in my head, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor.
Are you okay?
I’m fine. A very kind man helped me to a quiet office. I’m ready to go back to the reception.
Do you have any idea what caused it?
She did, but Lily wasn’t ready to discuss her suspicions. And she definitely didn’t want to talk about Sebastian Xenakis. Not until she’d spent more time with him, had a better chance to see what he was really like.
There was something about him. Something not entirely human, but she needed to know more. Wanted to know more.
Not yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I have some ideas. Now let me do the job you sent me to do, all right?
She heard his soft chuckle. Then there was only silence.
Miraculously, her headache was gone.
Though she’d lived with the amazing link to her father since before her birth, Lily had never questioned it. She’d learned to block him at an early age, but she really didn’t mind the link. He’d never obsessively interfered with her life, and he’d been a powerful source of strength as she’d grown and matured.
When they were physically closer, his contact never made her head hurt. Something about throwing his thoughts all the way from Montana to San Francisco and having them bounce off her natural shields appeared to cause the pain.
It was better than being totally open with him, and he really did respect her privacy. She only shared what she wanted, and she’d learned to hide things from him. There were some things no daughter wanted to share with her father.
The surging arousal she felt for Sebastian Xenakis most definitely made him one of those things.
Smoothing her dress over her thighs, Lily went back to the ballroom.
Every eye in the room seemed to focus on her. Conversations halted. Smiling, she simply held her hands out in a helpless gesture. “I’m fine,” she said, speaking to the room at large. “I’ve had a busy day and must have skipped one too many meals. Please, enjoy yourselves. I’m going to attack the hors d’oeuvres.”
She walked toward the long buffet table, but Sebastian was there ahead of her, filling a plate with a selection of meats and chilled sushi rolls. He held it out to her.
Lily took it from him. “Thank you. How did you know?”
He glanced at the items he’d chosen. “I figured any wolf worth her salt would prefer rare beef and raw fish over broccoli and tomatoes.”
Lily had no control over her laughter. “You figured right,” she said. She took a small slice of crisp sourdough topped with rare tenderloin and nipped the meat neatly off the piece of bread. “Delicious.”
Sebastian’s eyes practically glowed. Such an unusual shade of blue—deep teal like the purest tropical lagoon. He focused them on her until she thought she might drown in those blue-green depths.
“Open.”
Lily blinked and opened her mouth, like a baby bird waiting to be fed. He slipped a bite of raw salmon between her lips. She bit down on the clean, fresh taste of the fish, barely aware that she actually chewed.
Her entire focus was on Sebastian. Never had a man filled her senses the way he filled them now. His hair was crisp and dark, almost black, with a noticeable widow’s peak. He wore a neatly trimmed beard that perfectly framed a mouth she wanted to savor. His skin was tan—not as dark as hers, but definitely not the pale shade of a man who spent his days indoors.
No, Sebastian Xenakis was a creature of nature. She sensed that in him. Sensed his wildness, his love of freedom, his strength.
And something more. Something she’d not expected.
She sensed his magic. It was as much a part of him as Lily’s was of her. He was magic. He wore it like a second skin, the inborn magic of a true wizard.
Unlike her father’s magic, or her own, though, Sebastian’s carried a darker edge. A sense of night, of starlit skies, and deep, dark, caverns. It wasn’t unpleasant, just different.