Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,46

should’ve turned away from him. But his hand was warm and rough on my side, and for whatever reason – whether it was the pledge or not – Aries wanted to touch me. And I needed to feel something other than fear.

I liked the feel of his hand on my hip as it slid down and pulled me closer. Closer. Closer.

Until my chest bumped against his and he inhaled loudly. A strangled sound escaped his parted lips.

I reached up and brushed my fingertips over his horn and watched him shudder. His eyes, when they weren’t focused on my lips, tracked my every movement.

He closed them as I let my fingertips graze his horn again, drifting over every obsidian bump and ridge. His hand tightened against my side, the tips of his claws digging in ever so slightly. His free hand cupped my jaw as a rumble tore from his chest.

“You tempt me,” he said. There was tension, accusation, and something more profound in his voice.

The dark slashes that were his eyebrows furrowed as I lowered my hand, taking it away from his horn and brushing it down his chest, over his black tunic. His breath hitched as I slid it back up to toy with the hair at the nape of his neck. I didn’t know what came over me.

Maybe it was the fact that he was so close, or the gravity of the situation in which we’d found ourselves. Or the brazen but reverent way he held his hand against my skin, against the mark. Maybe it was the look in his eyes that told me he wanted me to touch him back.

Whatever it was, something had shifted between me and Aries… something dangerous. Because if I was going to survive him, I couldn’t allow myself to fall for him.

I forced myself to step away and his hand fell to his side. “Kes has filled the tub. I’ll leave you to bathe,” he rasped.

“Thank you.”

He nodded once and stepped outside.

PART

TWO

Things That Threaten

12

Aries’s blood is in my skin, I thought as I floated in the tub, staring up at the dark ceiling and tracing the silvery patterns that swirled through the tiles on the wall. Maybe that was why I touched him. I wanted it to be something other than hormones, but was afraid it wasn’t. Aries was ridiculously hot.

He touched me first, in my defense, but I let him. I didn’t tell him not to. He would’ve stopped if I had. He’d never done anything to make me uncomfortable, and whatever the pledge did to him to make him want to protect me wouldn’t have allowed him to lay the tip of his claw on me if I told him no.

“I need to fetch something from my rooms,” he said through the door.

I sat up. “Fetch away. I’m fine.”

Nothing was going to happen while I bathed. I hoped… Then I remembered that every horror movie worth its salt always had a quintessential bathroom scene.

I closed my eyes, sank back into the water, and reveled in the warmth. Bubbles formed over the skin cloaked beneath the surface and sometimes slid to the top, popping around me. My ears were underwater. All sound was muffled. It was peaceful.

Until something slippery slid against my calf. I put my feet down and looked around. The water was clear. Nothing was in it but me and my soap bar.

I was being ridiculous. The soap bar brushed my skin. That was all.

I relaxed back into the water again, but didn’t close my eyes.

The brush with Gemini this morning, even from afar, left me shaken.

Shook.

I was shook.

That was all.

I took a deep breath to calm my shaky nerves, just before I was jerked under the surface. A vice-like arm clamped around my stomach and dragged me to the bottom of the pool and held me there. I thrashed but wasn’t making enough of a splash to alert my protector. The water above looked too still. It wasn’t sloshing at all.

Is he still in his rooms? I panicked, thrashing to get free.

My lungs burned. I needed air.

I pushed against the arm, clawed at it, but couldn’t see it or to whom it was attached. I felt it, though. I jerked and kicked and tried to break free, but the arm held me tightly, pinning my spine and shoulder blades to the bottom.

A small stream of water trickled down my throat from my nose. I couldn’t hold my breath anymore. My lungs were on fire. I