Laura Wright: Talon/Xavier

Talon swallowed the words of warning that trembled on his lips.

They were a waste of breath as long as Raphael truly believed Isi was able to help his family.

“As we all will,” he instead muttered, his tone grudging.

The golden gaze narrowed, the air prickling with the heat of Raphael’s cat. “I hope you mean that.”

“Why?”

“I have placed Isi under my protection, but I don’t trust the elders,” the older man bluntly confessed. “They’re convinced she’s the doom of the Pantera. They’ll kill her if they get the opportunity.”

That didn’t seem like a bad plan to Talon. With Isi dead, then they could return to finding a less risky way to protect Ashe and the babe.

But his loyalty belonged to Raphael.

There was nothing he wouldn’t do for the leader of the Suits.

“What do you want from me?” he asked.

“We haven’t been able to do more than moderate Isi’s illness.”

Talon grimaced. “The Wildlands are probably trying to drive her out.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Raphael waved a dismissive hand. “We had to move her to your parents’ home.”

Talon flinched, his eyes widening.

The pretty cottage that was hidden on the edge of the deepest marshes had been shut up the day that they received the news that Talon’s parents had been killed in an airplane crash. Talon had moved to the Hunter house, and while he visited the cottage to perform the necessary upkeep, no one had actually stayed there for years.

He didn’t keep it as some tragic temple to his dead parents. Or at least, not intentionally.

But he sure the hell didn’t use it as a B&B for the potential doom of his people.

“You put her where?” he rasped, unable to believe that Raphael could be so insensitive.

Raphael met his accusing glare with a stubborn expression. He wasn’t backing down.

“It’s the most easily defended location,” he pointed out, referring to the marshland that was deep and thick enough to keep out all but the most determined predators. “Besides, there’s something in the house that eases her sickness.”

Talon didn’t care if it made her sprout wings and a halo.

“You’re asking a lot, mon ami .”

Raphael shoved his phone into his pocket and folded his arms over his chest. He’d lost weight in the past month, but he was still big, tough and capable of twisting Talon into a painful knot.

“I’m not done,” he warned.

Talon counted to ten.

“What?”

“I expect you to become her guardian.”

Talon made a sound of shock. “Say that again.”

The golden eyes narrowed. “You heard me.”

He had. Unfortunately.

“Why me?”

“I trust you.”

The words struck straight at his heart, and Talon threw his hands up in defeat.

“Fuck.”

For the first time in weeks, Isi felt warm. Not just ‘wrapped in heavy blankets until she was nearly smothered’ warm. But warm from the inside out.

And even better, the constant sense of nausea was gone.

Completely, utterly gone.

With a sigh she snuggled closer to the source of the warmth, breathing deeply of the intoxicating musk that was driving away the hideous illness that plagued her at varying levels of hell since she arrived in the Wildlands.

She didn’t know what was creating the delicious scent, and she didn’t really care.

She just wanted to wrap herself in the soothing sensations.

As if answering her prayer, a warm hand slid down her back, cupping her ass.

“Oh, thank god,” she groaned as the touch sent heat rushing through her veins. “Don’t stop. That feels so good.”

“I haven’t even started, darling,” a rough male voice whispered in her ear.

Isi was jerked out of her lovely dream, belatedly realizing she was no longer alone. What the hell? She forced open her heavy lids, her breath squeezed from her lungs as she encountered a pair of glowing golden eyes rimmed in jade.

They were spectacular eyes.

Clear, cunning and lethally male.

And they were set in a face that was drop-dead, do-me-now gorgeous.

Wide brow, a narrow blade of a nose, high cheekbones and sensually carved lips.

A true masterpiece of DNA.

Still foggy from sleep, Isi felt a surge of female appreciation tingle down her spine.

That was the kind of face that made smart women do stupid things.

And enjoy every second of it.

A dark, enticing arousal stirred deep inside her, shocking Isi with the intensity of her response.

She might enjoy the sight of a handsome man in a purely artistic way, but she didn’t immediately consider how quickly she could rip off his clothes and wrap herself around him.

It was at last the inhuman glow in his eyes that snapped her out of her growing obsession.

Oh, shit.

This wasn’t a man.

He was Pantera.

And he was currently rolling until he was perched on top of her.

“Hello, darling,” he drawled, his lips curling as he watched her expression tighten with a surge of angry suspicion. “If I’d known you were waiting in my bed I would have returned sooner.”

She shoved her hands against his chest, not surprised when he refused to budge. Even through the thin blanket she could feel his lean body honed to sleek, chiseled muscles. The shove was just a distraction so she could knee him in the nuts.

It didn’t matter how tough a man was, he had one glaring vulnerability.

With a well-practiced jerk of her leg, she aimed directly between his legs. “Get off me, you pervert.”

There was a low snarl as the cat managed to block her debilitating strike, using his longer legs to pin her to the mattress.

“No need to play rough, darling.” His tongue traced the shell of her ear, sending unwelcome jolts of bliss straight to her pussy. “Unless that’s the way you like it.”

She hissed in frustration, trying to deny the fact that her entire body was humming with a treacherous awareness.

God dammit. When a man held her against her will it was a reason for homicide.

Not melting into a shivering mess of aching hunger.

“If I was playing rough I’d already have kicked the hair off your balls,” she muttered.

“My balls aren’t hairy.” He nipped the lobe of her ear, grabbing her hand to lower it toward the hardening length of his cock. “Do you need proof?”

“Hell no.” She wrenched her hand free, punching him in the chest with a force that would have broken the rib of a human. “Who are you?”

“Your reluctant host.”

“Host?” Isi scowled. Raphael had told her that the pretty cottage hadn’t been used for years. Of course, he’d also told her she wasn’t a prisoner, but every time she tried to leave he warned her that the mysterious elders were just waiting for an opportunity to kill her. After a month of being stuck in the bayou with a bunch of angry cats who considered her the enemy, she was reaching her limit. In fact, tonight might very well have tipped her over the edge. “This is your house?”

“It’s my parents’ home, but this is my bed,” the male Pantera said. “Why did you choose it?”

“What?”

“There are four bedrooms.” He studied her with an unnerving intensity. Even in the darkness she knew what he was seeing. Short, jet black hair with blue streaks, mussed from sleep. A pale face with delicate features that were dominated by a pair of eyes so dark they looked black. His gaze lowered to the tattoo of a rose wrapped around a candle that ran from below her right ear down to her shoulder, before lingering on the diamond piercing in each nostril. His expression remained unreadable, but there was no missing the thickening of the intoxicating musk that filled the air. “Why did you choose mine?”