Ice_Reaux - Laura Wright Page 0,32
I have inside me will turn any blood to fire.” My curse. Or as the female who gave me life used to call it, my wickedness.
But Karen wasn’t moved. “Not me. I feel zero urge to kiss you or rip your clothes off or beg you to…” She stopped, shook her head. “Look, my need for you has nothing to do with a sexual one.”
Reaux stared hard into her eyes. Those pale brown pools of passion and sincerity. Impossible. He moved closer until he was only an inch or two away. He looked her over. Sniffed the air. Waited. Watched. But she didn’t move. Just looked up at him with those eyes…
Impossible.
His brows drew together as he calculated what he was witnessing. The only thing he scented was sweet mint. There was not even the faintest whiff of female lust. How was such a thing… He stared hard at her. “No.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You still refuse me?”
He didn’t tell her that his ‘no’ had meant only a disbelief in her impassivity, not a refusal. “I wouldn’t be the best choice for you, Karen. My training has been limited—”
“I don’t care.”
“You should. It’s your health.”
“I’m not just fighting for myself here. My son needs me to be whole or—” Her voice broke and she cursed. “Listen, I’m just asking you to try.”
She had a child. And she was most definitely human. No doubt she’d had him in captivity. His gaze moved over her face.
“I need you, Reaux,” she whispered. “You have no idea how much.”
The deep ache that moved through him at her words was impossible to turn from. He wanted to help her. He wanted to protect her. But he also wanted to hold her again. Feel her weight against his chest, her hands through the fabric of his shirt. What was that? Not something a Healer should be feeling for his patient. How could he know? His need for a female had never been allowed to start, much less grow. It had always just been…taken.
“So,” she asked softly. “What do you think?”
What did he think? This was going to be a mistake? But that he was also incredibly curious? That he needed to help her? That perhaps he was standing in front of the one female in the world he desired, but who didn’t desire him?
With a growl, he turned around and climbed back up the tree. Only when he was lying down again did he utter the words, “Come by my office tomorrow at ten.”
CHAPTER 3
Karen watched him sleep in the light of the moon. The beautiful boy who was growing far too quickly, despite the deceleration of being in the Wildlands. Caleb looked so much like his older brother, Ward. Did Tate also look like them? Like her?
“Kar?”
She heard the call from the living room and eased the covers up to Caleb’s chin before leaving him to dream. Out in her small living room, her friend Adrian was sitting on the couch, furiously tapping away on the keyboard of his laptop. The male was a full Pantera, but had been in the labs with her and the rats. He’d already been there a year before she’d arrived. They’d been neighbors. Cell next door. On more than one occasion, the guards had put them together to see if they would mate naturally. While the bastards watched, of course. But Adrian never touched her. And he’d been beaten for it. Over the years, they’d become friends, understood each other, protected each other. Incredibly gifted with computers, he now worked with the Geeks.
“I’ve checked birth records in New York for that day and time,” he said. “Nothing. I’m sure whoever took him didn’t use that exact date anyway.”
Karen knew it was unlikely the information would be there. Babies like Tate were being bred for experimentation. They weren’t going to have birth certificates, or be adopted through state agencies. But she had to try.
“I’m going to research adoptions around then,” he added. “I’ll follow up with doctors. Schools.”
She came over to the couch and sat down beside him. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
“It helps me too, if that makes sense.”
“It does.”
“Sometimes I wish…” He trailed off.
“What?”
“I don’t know. That I’d…you and me had…instead of what they did to you.” He heaved a sigh, gave her a half smile. “If they’d have been mine, maybe something would’ve been different for you. At least I could’ve helped with the cubs.”
His words seared into her. They were lovely and generous. But they