frozen like a river mid-winter. “But I won’t let them hurt you…”
She was momentarily alarmed by the devotion in his voice, the firm commitment that seemed unwavering, almost as if she were staring at another person, someone she had never met. Maybe, she thought reluctantly, I haven’t.
“You, or Chris,” he added, and looked at her.
She set her tea on the table as well and watched the steam rise into the air. The ghost sensation of Dylan’s hand on her thighs returned, like a phantom limb; something that wanted to exist, even out of its non-existence. Or its death, but that thought made her immediately sad again and she scooted closer to him. She was intently aware of the fact he was watching her – staring, in fact – as if he couldn’t keep his eyes from her. Or if he did look away, that something tragic would happen.
It was like a kind of heat, like the bright penny of the sun was staring down at her, and she couldn’t bear to meet it lest she go blind. But she didn’t have to. She felt something else, his hand reaching toward her and she let the tips of his fingers guide her face toward him. His face was static, neutral but there was a power behind it that leeched out through those eyes. The gash on his head flickered like a white moth in the lamplight.
Her throat moved again as she tried to say something, but her eyes were already blurring with tears – it was so unlike her. She had always prided herself in being strong, all through her training, even when she’d been thrust from the comfort of her clan to this secluded island, even when she’d seen the hunters departing and one of them raising a rifle.
“You saved him,” she heard Dylan say, and was momentarily taken aback again. “I heard you… I think I was still groggy from the bullet. Chris must’ve changed forms and attacked them… but it was your voice that pulled him back.”
“I… I didn’t know what else to do.”
Dylan smirked and his fingers left her face and fell back in his lap. “Chris has always been the voice of reason. I was the troublemaker when we were younger. Always was. It wasn’t that I tried to look for troubles or make messes… they just always seemed to follow me. But Chris, he was always there to save me. Fix things. I guess I needed that,” his voice drifted, “but that’s my problem. Fact is, the only time Chris becomes as reckless as me… is when someone he cares about is in danger. If you hadn’t called his name… called him back…”
She lowered her eyes. She hadn’t thought about that. It had simply been an impulse to tell him to run. It was pointless to worry about what might have happened – she couldn’t bear that, and more tears began to stream down her face.
“Why are you crying?” Dylan asked, leaning in.
How could she tell him what she felt? She wasn’t certain she even had the words herself, and even if she did, her throat felt constricted, too tight, as if fear had swollen her voice and strangled it out. She merely lifted her chin again and leaned her head toward his. It was like kissing a statue, he was so surprised; her lips met his, warm and smooth, and one of her hands unconsciously went to his face.
“Wait,” he said, softly, and touched her hand. She pulled back, an inch from his face, her eyes fastened to his, irretrievably. “You’re scared…”
“Scared, yes,” she agreed. “I don’t want to be…”
CHAPTER FOUR
Her eyes were pleading, wide and suddenly vulnerable in a way Dylan had never seen before. It gripped at his heart that there should be anything in the world that might make her vulnerable. She was the decisive one, the honest one, the strong one, like Chris. He cursed the poachers in his mind, not just for shooting at him or for injuring Chris, but for wounding Sarah’s bravery such that she looked at him now with a child-like apprehension.
“Never,” he managed to choke, and this time, it was Dylan who leaned in.
Sarah’s head tipped back gratefully as he plunged his mouth against hers, rough and textured, and his eyes shut. She let out a long ponderous moan, mingling pleasure and surprise, and tilted her head back further, as if offering herself to him.
His hand touched her cheek again as his mouth worked against