“It’s mine, by the way.” She gestured behind him. Still not sure what the hell was going on, he turned to look at the two-story beach house with wide decks, nestled into a private bay. No other houses could be seen. No other people, either. Just trees and cliffs and the one little house. “I bought it over a hundred years ago. It’s been remodeled once. Probably about due for another update, but I don’t get up here very often.”
He looked back at her. She was talking about a stupid house, when inside he wanted to die over what he’d done.
The wind blew a lock of hair across her face, the contrast between the dark of her hair and the light of her skin reminding him of her lineage. Of who she was and how long she’d lived. She tugged the lock away from her eyes, shook out her hair. He remembered her doing that in the caves, when her hair had been wet and plastered to her face. Remembered sliding his fingers in those thick locks as he’d kissed her again and again on that boat.
He swallowed hard, forced himself to find his voice. “Maelea—”
“No one will find us here, in case that’s what you’re worried about,” she said. “I paid cash for it. Didn’t put my real name on the deed. And it was so long ago, it’d be hard to track this place to me. Plus, I used the ore.”
“The what?”
“The mineral? The one you picked up in the caves? I found it in your backpack when we got here. I did some research on therillium while you were asleep, and you were right. When heated, it makes the area around it invisible from the outside. The invisibility factor seems to spread out at least a quarter mile from the source. Or at least that’s what I found from my unscientific tests. I have it under a heat lamp inside. From the road up on the hill, you can’t even see the house anymore.”
He wasn’t sure whether he should be impressed or way the fuck confused.
Confusion won out. “Maelea—”
“Let’s go inside,” she said, moving out of the waves and up on the beach. The bottom of her skirt was wet when she stepped onto the sand and moved by him. She didn’t touch him, but her heat warmed the air nearby. Stirred a memory of their bodies locked tight together on that boat. “It may be July up here on Vancouver Island, but that doesn’t mean its beach-weather warm. You look cold.”
For the first time, he noticed the temperature. Brisk. The slight wind puckering his nipples. Likely only in the upper sixties, even with the sun.
“Vancouver Island?” he asked as she headed for the house. Why the hell wasn’t she screaming at him? Why didn’t she look…hurt and upset? What the fuck was going on? “How did you get us all the way from that motel in Montana to here?”
“I drove.”
“Drove? The whole way?” No, that wasn’t right. He remembered water, a boat. He remembered bending her over a table, closing his mouth over hers, pushing—
She stopped at the base of the steps and looked back as she gripped the banister. “Okay, I didn’t drive the whole way. When we got to Coeur d’Alene, I had to stop. We needed a place to get cleaned up, and you were injured, so…”
Coeur d’Alene. There was a lake there. A big one. That’s where he remembered the boat. Guilt seeped back in to tighten his stomach to painful levels as he crossed the sand. “Maelea, about the boat—”
Her eyes snapped to his, but he didn’t see anger there. Or fear. He saw…heat.
His feet faltered. No, that wasn’t right either. She couldn’t possibly have enjoyed what he’d done to her.
A rose tinge spread up her cheeks. “Yeah, about that. I’m…I’m sorry.”
She was sorry? His head spun. What could she possibly be sorry for?
She looked at a spot on the banister. Wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I…I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you when you were…injured…like that. I should have stopped it. I think it was the adrenaline rush from killing those daemons and being on the run. And then when you kissed me on that boat, I…” Those cheeks turned even pinker. “Yeah, I…that was a stupid idea. But you don’t have to worry. I won’t get pregnant or anything. I mean, I can’t. Hades’s curse and all that.”
She blew out a breath, and her cheeks turned a full-blown red. “Oh boy, that was more than I needed to share, huh? How about food? Are you hungry? Because I’m starving all of a sudden.”
She jogged up the steps in her bare feet before he could stop her. Before he could figure out what the hell was going on.
She’d taken advantage of him? Images ran back through his mind. Maelea unbuttoning his pants. Her small hand stroking his cock. Her fingernails digging into his shoulders and holding on tight.
His blood ran hot, and that sickness that had been churning in his stomach since he awoke slowly morphed to arousal.
Oh, Gryphon. Yes, there. Right there. Don’t stop.
He grew rock hard when her words drifted back into his mind. And even in the cool breeze, sweat broke out all over his body.
He hadn’t forced her. He hadn’t hurt her. He looked up at the house as his pulse roared in his ears. She’d wanted him.
Him. The guy who’d kidnapped her. Said cruel things to her. Used her so he could think straight. Not to mention handcuffed her to a bed, nearly gotten her killed multiple times, and made her decapitate those daemons back at that motel.