Sin of Fury

Chapter 13





Everything that happened after the meeting was pretty much a blur to Jamie. The second they left the room, Talon was bombarded with people and she was pushed to the back.

That was how it was for the next week.

Talon got so caught up with calls and papers and meetings, that it seemed like there was no time for her. She was left in her room, bored off her ass and so brain dead she almost forgot about asking about Amena. When he came back to their room, he was so tired that the second he sat down in the chair to take off his shoes, he passed straight out.

Resolute, she would get up and drag him to the bed, all the while thinking that this was so much more different than it had been with Chris. When she had had to drag his drunk body to the couch, her skin hadn’t gotten hotter with just the touch. But while she took Talon? She swore the room was a sauna and she wanted nothing but to strip him naked and wake him up with her hands...or her mouth...or her body.

For the most part, she felt like a pervert. But she shrugged it off and took her time caring for him. It was normally midnight by the time he got to their room, and she was so bored that she couldn’t sleep. So she would put him in the bed after maybe ten minutes of trying to get him to cooperate, and then get a damp cloth and clean his face.

Jamie was slowly realizing that she could spend her life taking care of him. Sitting and watching him, trailing her fingers over his jaw and temples. Sometimes he would grunt -- it was the cutest thing she had ever heard in her life. She was no longer scared that he would wake up and try to kill her -- they had gotten past that part.

Instead, it got to the point where she would suddenly be jerked to his body and cuddled to death. Vladimir had been considerate enough to send her more sweatpants and comfortable clothing, but the whole time he tsked at her, saying she needed to dress like a woman.

She could only imagine what his vision of a “woman” was.

None the less, Jamie would get dragged down to his body and soon after she would fall asleep against his shirtless chest. No matter how frustrated she would get with him as she waited, Jamie couldn’t deny him when he would wrap his arms around her waist and act like he had to protect her, even in her sleep.

Jamie hadn’t seen him at all after talking with Vladimir.

Lucian had given her an apologetic look before following after him, leaving her to herself. She wouldn’t have found their room if it hadn’t been for the funny woman at the front desk. At first, Jamie hadn’t known what to think about her. The woman had told Jamie that her name was Jessica, and that she was the receptionist for Lucian. And then she had told her more.

And more.

And more.

And more.

Her head had hurt within the first five minutes of talking, and she felt bad about it, but it had been a relief when Jamie had finally found her room and the woman had gone off on her own, leaving her to blissful silence.

The room Talon and her shared was...quiet. It wasn’t like the rest of the building, either. While the back of the gas station was full of metal, the room they were staying in was elegant and spacious. Almost like Auro’s room for them had been. Old fashioned but with no windows and billowing curtains and eerie screams from outside.

Right now, she was leaning against the headboard that connected to the bed. The walls were creamy, the light reflecting from the hanging light covered with shadows from the fan. It got hot really easily in the room, so the soft whir of the fan was a comfort she used to lull her.

Food was brought to her when she found herself hungry. Clothes were brought to her in the mornings, left by the door. Shampoos were already available in the shower when she needed them.

Talon was out with Lucian, or at least she assumed. There was nothing to do but watch TV and eat, and she felt like she was getting fatter and fatter. It hurt, to not see Talon until late in the night when he was too tired to even look at her. She was so used to him being around her, him listening to her, being there.

Her throat closed. She would have to go to that house again. To get more clothes. She couldn’t live off of these people for very long -- she felt like a moocher. Covering her face with her hand, depression washed over her. She didn’t want to take a chance at seeing Chris.

She could always go to the store... No, all of her money was on credit, and she was sure that by now he was tracking everything she did through the banks. Her stomach turned.

Talon was busy and her house wasn’t so far away from here that she couldn’t get a bus or walk.

She made up her mind.

Jamie got to her feet and slipped on her shoes, grabbing her ever-faithful Columbia off of the chair that was set by the door. No one had ever said she couldn’t walk around the building before -- hell, that was what she had been doing for half the week.

She pushed open the door and began walking, shoving her hands in her pockets. It felt like she was breaking invisible rules or something. By the time she got to the receptionist, her hands were clammy and there was a small shake in her legs.

Jessica looked at her with wide eyes as she walked by, waving as casually as she could. There was a small shake in her hand that she prayed Jessica didn’t notice.

“Where are you going? I don’t think Talon would like you leaving...he does know, right? If he didn’t, he would get really angry...”

“It’s fine, he knows. Just going to my house to pick up some things,” she replied as she put her hand on the glass windows of the door. Even she could hear the quiver in her voice. Jessica, thankfully, had no clue what Jamie was about to do.

“Well,” she started, her high-pitched voice uncertain, “give me your address in case they ask. Please,” she added brightly, already forgetting about how Talon would be angry.

Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and rattled it off, thinking that it could have been a lot worse. Jessica wrote it down and before Jamie chickened out, she was walking through the door.





“So you won’t believe who called me this morning,” Lucian snarled, slamming the door closed behind them.

Talon met his eyes and raised a dark brow. “Who?”

They were sitting in their conference room, going over some portfolios and taxes. Now that Talon was back, everything was going into overdrive and they were opening new accounts. They were also going over bills and rights, and trying to get everything into place for when the king finally came back.

Before, Talon hadn’t known how much of a relief it was to not remember anything. Now that he did, though, he was stressed and had had no time to talk to Jamie. Now he knew why he didn’t take vacations.

God forbid he get a little break. Lucian must have been busy, too, though, he thought, leaning his elbows on the table.

Right now, his partner looked pissed as hell.

“I really don’t want to answer this question,” he growled, shoving a hand in his hair.

“Just tell me.”

“Zyn.”

Talon felt his ass drop from underneath him. All of the breath rushed from his lungs and he became lightheaded. “No... He’s...”

The door to the conference room popped open with a click. “Talon, I have received word that your beautiful woman has left the building.”

Vladimir’s too-happy voice floated into the room, completely at odds with the f*cked up news that Lucian had just given him. But at the words, Talon’s body went into overdrive.

“What do you mean, ‘left the building’?” he growled, surging to his feet. Where the hell else would she go?

“Our Jessica told us that she went to her house.” He gave them a wave before flaunting out of his room, his newly-purple hair shimmering in the light. Talon stared at where Vladimir had been, then at Lucian.

“God damnit,” he shouted, shoving his chair back, barely noticing it slam against the wall. “We will finish this when I get back.”

He strode from the room and found Jessica, typing away at her keyboard. When she saw his face, though, she paled.

“What is her address?” he demanded, fisting his hands on the counter. It took everything in him not to just break her damn computer, but he managed.

With wide eyes, she reached for a small piece of white paper and handed it to him. “And you let her go?” he snarled, yanking it from her grip.

“She... I told her that you would get angry, but then she said that you said she could go and I said she had to give me her address and she gave it...”

“Shut up. Just...the next time this happens, you have to hear it from me verbally.” He slammed a hand on the counter before stalking from the reception area and putting his long legs to use. His bike was in the back, and it only took a bit to get it out and started. He didn’t bother with a helmet; f*ck, he was too angry.

He looked down at the paper and tried placing the side of town that the street was on. There was a whole bunch of rich people on that side of town; he frowned. Jamie hadn’t been dressed like she was.

But, then, neither had he when they had first met. Shit, he hadn’t had any clothing on.

His bike roared to life.





Jamie crept into the house slowly. The spare key under the mat had been where they had always left it, and his truck wasn’t outside of the house. But did that really mean anything? She had taken the damn thing and it had probably gotten towed from outside of the hotel.

The first step inside of the house was like walking into a hospice. It reminded of her of pain and tears, of everything that she had hated. Her foot brushed the ground slowly, the door knob cold and hot at the same time in her hand. When it landed, it creaked. Groaned. Made it seem as if the whole house were coming alive, ready to torment her.

Her stomach turned and she let go of the door knob. In her whole life, nothing had ever been so terrifying as this was now. It was cold. Like an icebox.

Empty.

When she stayed at the entrance for several minutes, ears ringing because of the silence, she convinced herself that Chris was gone and he wasn’t going to pop out like some sort of horror movie character. Feeling a numbness settle in her chest as her surroundings slapped her in the face with their familiarity, Jamie debated on whether leaving the door closed, or opened.

Leaving it open would mean a quicker escape, although she would have to run to get away from him anyways. She bit her lip, staring at the freedom that was so close to her. She wasn’t the track star she used to be, and what if she closed the door and he thought the house was empty, and she had time to escape?

Then again, what if she didn’t notice he even came home?

Was he even gone, in the first place?

Her head hurt enough that she had to force herself to stop thinking and start moving. The lights were off -- but they normally were. No use to waste energy during the day when they had natural light streaming in from outside. All of the doors were closed, and as she moved farther into the house and closer to their bedroom, Jamie started to believe that he wasn’t there at all.

Nothing was hanging off of the walls. No pictures, no designs or mirrors. It was so bare, like a white prison.

Her stomach turned, ready to vomit.

All she wanted to do was go back to the gas station, find Talon, and crawl into his arms. Of course, though, he would be too busy and not even talk to her. She would wake up the next morning with him already out of the bed, and she would realize that they hadn’t even said anything to each other.

When was the last time they had talked? A week ago?

The thoughts about Talon served as a good distraction till she got to the bedroom. Inside, she would either find Chris on the bed, or the room empty and waiting for her to raid. Technically, she wasn’t stealing or even breaking and entering. Her bank account, her own money, had paid for everything in the house. The only problem she had with taking her clothing was that it would be a constant reminder of her life in this house until she got new ones.

Just like it had been when she had been opening the door to the house, the knob was like burning ice under her palm. With an image of Talon imprinted in her mind, she pushed open the door. At least if she was forced to stay, if he hurt her, she would be able to think of Talon and remember him --

No one was on the bed.

No one was standing in front of the closet.

No one was in the pool that sat on the other side of large glass windows.

It was so quiet that her ears rang even more than before. Long white sheets brushed against the ground, the air current lifting them slowly and gracefully. She stared at them, believing that Chris would jump out and attack her. Was that hysteria she felt creeping down her back? Or just the trickle of sweat produced by the fear that was tunneling through her body?

Probably both.

She pictured Talon’s hands on her shoulders, around her waist, threading into her hair. God, she wished he were here right now. Then she wouldn’t be so f*cking scared, like she was about to pee her pants. If Chris came up to her with his fist raised, Talon would snap it in half. And she wouldn’t even care.

A bitter laugh rose. Yeah, right. If anything, she would be the one trying to break his arm. Jamie knew that with Talon near her, nothing would ever harm her.

It was midday. The snow was all but off of the ground. That scene from the Human Centipede popped into her brain, the one at the very end when the evil scientist and the cops are in the pool room. Pool lights had reflected off of the walls, just as they were in her room.

Putting her hands by her sides, straightening her shoulders, she walked to her closet and flung open the door. A large Giovanni purse was leaning against the wall, on the floor, surrounded by shoes. A little laugh burst from her, edging near hysteria, as she pulled reached for the handles and put it on the bed.

So much déjà vu. It was just like it had been a week or so ago. God, had it really been that short of time since she had been…what, kidnapped? It seemed like a millennia, except this time, she had a man to go to. One that wouldn’t hurt her.

Nervous, anxious tears burned her eyes. She couldn’t be here any longer; it was too much like it had been before. Every piece of clothing that she grabbed onto felt like it weighed a ton, and it was so hard to put it inside the large purse. By the time she had her second outfit in there, Jamie thought her arms were going to fall off.

And then the sound of a door opening shot through the room and right to her head.

Jamie froze like a deer caught in headlights. For a brief instant, she tried telling herself that it was Talon, and that Jessica had told him where she had went. But Talon moved with a silent grace. Chris liked to slam things around.

Just as he was now.

“Oh god,” she whispered, grabbing onto the purse and closing it shut as quietly as she could. The metallic clasp was like a bomb in her eardrum.

Large, thundering footsteps came closer to the door, and then — they stopped.

Taking a shuddering breath, and praying that her heart wouldn’t explode out of her chest, Jamie pushed the shoes back into the closet and did the smartest thing she could think of — she climbed into the closet and pulled the door shut.

Hopefully he would make a beeline for the bathroom and she would be able to sneak out while he was in there. When his footsteps sounded close to her ear, she almost died of a heart attack. There was no way she was going to get out of it. Chris would find her and she would die and Talon would…most likely go insane.

It took all of her willpower to not slam the door into his face before she could open it. After meeting Talon, so much had changed about her. Just thinking about him had her blood boiling, strength from memories of him making her courageous, and a new resolution to face her fears.

It figures that her thoughts would vanish the second the door was open.

Now she was close to whimpering and crying and shaking from head to foot. Great.

Jamie raised her hands to her face, preparing to be hit. She flinched against the wall, tears already welling in her eyes. She had been so stupid to come here, to think that by getting clothes she wouldn’t be a burden. What if this were Talon, and she lost him somehow?

At the thought, her heart broke and the first tear fell. Even though Talon would never let himself die, it still tore her at the soul to even think about it and knowing that he would be hurt by her death…

“Jamie, what are you doing.”

The bored, almost condescending tone had her head snapping up. It wasn’t Chris, coming to beat the ever-living crap out of her. No, it was the man that hadn’t had the time of day to talk to her for a whole week, who had ignored her and left her in the mornings, and now had the look of a completely irritated man.

The tears dried, replaced by shock.

“Talon?”

“Obviously. Now, what are you doing? Were you breaking into this house?” He looked around them slowly, taking in their surroundings with a sheen of disdain covering his eyes.

Her face turned a flaming red and she brought her hands to her cheeks, not knowing what else to do. He wasn’t moving from the doorway, nor was he making any move to.

“Actually, no…” she stuttered, wiping her cheeks. Talon stared down at her with mute concentration. She tried again. “I used to…well I do…live here…”

His eyes zeroed in on the pair of male loafers that were set next to her heels. An unreadable look clouded his eyes, and he looked at her with an even stonier silence. “Who lived here with you?” The abruptness of the question had her flinching.

“My boy…ex-boyfriend.” His eyes narrowed at the falter, and the emotion she saw flash through them had her knees buckling. She backed farther into the closet at the blatant fury within him.

“You had a boyfriend, and you let me —“

A door in the front slammed shut, signaling that another person had entered the house. Just as she thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. Talon’s body went rock solid as tension flared between them, not just because of the fact that Chris was home but because of what he had been about say.

Her face had already been pale, but at the sound of him getting closer to their room, it became almost impossible to breath. As weakness overcame her, she stared at Talon and thought that, for a moment, he really wouldn’t do anything to protect her — but why should she rely on him? That was all she had been doing, even from the first moment at the mansion.

“What the f*ck….who the hell are you?” Chris’s familiar voice shot through her. Killed her. Made her remember. Made her frightened.

Jamie pushed her hands through her hair and then looked around Talon, who had moved to the side. She stepped into Chris’s view and watched him as his eyes changed from shocked, to suspicious, then downright furious.

Talon stayed where he was, watching her with cold eyes.

“F*cking bitch,” he snarled, storming forward and grabbing onto her arm. The second his hand touched her arm, all of the faint gusto she had been building up crumbled and shudders wracked her body. Chris was going to hit her — she could feel it — and Talon wasn’t going to do a thing.

He simply stared at her. Quiet. Waiting. Like he was watching a boring game of golf and he wanted nothing more than to leave. Humiliation stung her while Chris jerked her to his side.

“You leave me for a motherf*cking week! I come home and another man is in my room? In our room?” His malicious voice flowed into her ears like poison. Jamie tried to pull out of his hold, forgetting for a moment that Talon was there and watching this all happen.

It was just as it had been before. Except now? Chris didn’t care if they had an audience. No, it seemed to empower him because Talon sure as hell wasn’t doing anything to stop it.

And then she felt his hand in her hair, wrenching her back at a horizontal angle. The fear drained out of her in a slow trickle, replaced by anger. Fury. Humiliation. Shame. Jamie acted on instinct, bringing her foot down on his with enough force to make it crack. When he doubled over, hand falling from her hair, she took the opportunity to drive her elbow into his back.

His infuriated roar bounded off of the walls. Jamie flinched, but moved back from him quickly, despite all of her shaking. It didn’t occur to her that she could be hyperventilating till Talon’s hand fell on her shoulder. How did she know this? Because the sudden half of her panting left her light headed.

Jamie jerked, curling her hands into fists.

Chris had all but forgotten about Talon, focused on her instead. He braced his hands on his knees, catching his breath and still managing to scare the hell out of her. The hot, comforting feel of Talon’s hand dropped from her shoulder and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at his chest.

“Little whore. Where did you think you would go?” he sneered, taking a rough breath then standing up. “Think that bitch mother of yours would take you back?” He laughed, the sound sadistic and daunting. Jamie pressed her lips to keep from saying anything that would get her slapped. She was amazed that he hadn’t yet.

Was it because of Talon? No, Chris didn’t even seem to notice he was there anymore. He was so silent, almost blending into the background. How could he not have noticed? Was he that obsessed over Jamie? Her skin crawled.

And then, so fast, a dark blur shot past her head. Suddenly Chris was flying into the metal base of their bed. Jamie whipped around and met Talon’s eyes. They were still emotionless, still detached and almost bored, yet his body was rigid and ready to attack.

Everything after that happened so fast, it was more than a blur. It was as if Talon hadn’t moved, but when she looked back he was on top of Chris, driving his fists into the other man as if he were nothing but a punching bag. They were dealt so mercilessly that it looked like he was going to kill him.

Jamie cried out, Chris’s screams of pain mixing with her own.

She grabbed onto Talon’s swinging arm, but he just pushed her back with a soft shove before going back to beating the shit out of Chris. While she hated him with everything inside of her, Jamie had had enough violence to last her a life time and watching Talon work himself into jail wasn’t an option.

As the punching got worse, so did Chris’s high pitched cries. Ears grating, stomach roiling, eyes stinging, Jamie took a breath and then slammed into Talon, pushing him off of Chris with her body. At first, she felt a moment of triumph, thinking she had knocked him off with just her strength. But when his arms came around her, she realized that it had been because he had let her.

Even though, her eyes closed with relief as his comforting warmth surrounded her. She almost forgot that he had been about to murder Chris.

Behind her, Talon stood up to his feet slowly, all the while helping her to her feet. She could feel Chris staring at them, hating her even more than he had before. Fear shot to her stomach, at least before Talon’s hand came around her shoulder and soothed her nerves.

She turned her eyes away from Chris, listening to his intake of breath. “The next time I see you...”

Talon snarled and bent down, hand shooting out to wrap around his throat. The veins in his neck and face were bulging within seconds. Talon snarled, “If you want to continue this, I’d be more then glad to. But I don’t think my fiance would handle seeing you scream like the f*cker you are. Come after me, you’ll lose something...” His eyes, as dark and deadly as evil itself, flickered over Chris’s body. “Important. But if you even touch her, you will die so slowly, so painfully, that you’ll feel it in the afterlife.”

He shoved Chris away from him and he slammed against the wall, the sound crashing around the room like an explosion.

Talon bent down, seeming to forget about Chris, and grabbed her purse. He set it on the counter and looked straight at her. “You won’t wear anything from this place ever again.” His command broke no argument, so she nodded and tried to keep her lip from trembling.

He took her from the house by her arm -- not by her hand, but her arm. Not personal. Not caring. Nothing but business.

When they got to the bike, she didn’t have enough pride to argue with him about riding on it. Quiet, shaking, and in turmoil, she held on for dear life as he started the bike.

The whole time, tears streamed down her cheeks.





~*~





“You f*cked me while you were with another man?”

Jamie’s face drained of color at the anger, betrayal, and disgust in Talon’s voice. She hadn’t been with Chris, hadn’t since he had started the abuse. Was it right to consider a man who took pleasure in harming her, her lover? She hadn’t thought so. The only salvage she had found during hours of pain was that she hadn’t considered them an item, had detached herself as much as she could from him.

“I wasn’t with him... I was leaving him, before I met you.” Even to her own ears, her voice was soft and watery. She prayed he couldn’t tell that she was about to cry.

Going by the look in his eyes, it was a lost hope.

He sneered at her, shedding his jacket and throwing it at the chair. “Should I really believe that?”

Jamie stared at him, broken and at a loss for words. What could she say to him? Everything that Chris had done to her, and then have him call her a liar? It seemed to be the direction that things were heading in. Her heart was torn in two as he turned away from her.

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t,” she whispered, falling against the bed.

He had taken them to their rooms after picking her up off the bike. Her heart had fluttered dangerously in her chest before he had set her down and walked away from her without so much as a second look. Lucian had laughed when he’d seen her, Vladimir had grimaced, and Jessica had looked so pitiful that it had hurt Jamie to look at her.

She had made her way to their room slowly, not expecting him to give her the time of day.

At first, she had wished he would come to her. Now, though? She wanted to shove him out of the room, lock the door, and cry herself to sleep. Talon didn’t look like he planned on giving her a shed of mercy, and she didn’t expect any. After everything that she had done to them, why should he?

It was just as Chris had told her, over and over again. It wasn’t the people around her that were the problem -- it was her.

You’re nothing but a stupid idiot, his voice whispered in her head. Look what you’ve done? Pissed off the only thing good to you, the only thing that wants to support you. She flinched when the mental punch collided with her face.

Talon was tense. Silent. She waited for him to yell at her, to come after her like he had to Chris. What had happened to her belief that he wouldn’t hurt her? Jamie choked on her tears and moved farther onto the bed, grabbing the pillow and wrapping herself around it.

The brief thought that if she pretended he wasn’t there, he would leave, crossed through her mind. It wasn’t until a second later that she felt the bed dip and his hand settled on her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me,” she begged, turning her head to look at him. “You almost killed him, Talon. And then you yell at me. What do you think I am? A whore? Trust me, I got called that enough by Chris. I know you might think that’s what I am, but even if I was, it hurts too much hearing it from you.”

Her broken plea was met with silence.

Jamie took a shuddering breath, raising shaking hands to her face. Her cheeks were wet. “If you’re going to accuse me about things you don’t know, I would like you to leave. If you don't, then I will.”

“No you won’t,” he snarled, tightening his hand on her shoulder. She started to move away, hating herself for crying in front of him, for letting him touch her, for letting him near her after what she had seen him do. “If you leave me, there won’t be anyone that will help keep you from me.”

His voice had her shivering, and not with fear. She stared at him with wide, watery eyes. “Don’t say stuff like that.”

“Why not? It’s true, Jamie. If you ever leave like that again... God. Just don’t. I’ll kill anyone, I’ll do anything, to get you by my side again.”

The utter possession in his voice made her gasp. When she looked into his eyes, everything stopped. Her tears. Her breath. Her heart. The fear and pain.

His hand cupped her cheek gently, his other coming around her waist to pull her up and into his arms. “I can’t risk losing you,” he whispered, his silvery eyes tracing over her face like ghostly fingers. She felt as if he were trying to memorize her, trying to learn everything he could about her just through staring at her.

Her hands fisted in his shirt. “You hurt me,” she sobbed, pushing him away yet pulling him closer at the same time.

Talon stared down at her, his emotions warring openly in his eyes. For the longest second, she thought he wouldn’t reply to her. When he did, though, his voice was void of emotion. “Those things he said -- what was he talking about? What did he do to you?”

Jamie stared up at him, heart pounding not only at how close they were, but because of what he was asking of her. Was she meant to reveal everything to him? To tell him how weak she had been?

She realized, right then, that if it meant keeping him then she would tell him everything, do anything, to keep him. They had been through so much together, it seemed impossible to be anything without him. To live a day where he wasn’t watching over her. To go to bed at night without his arms around her.

“He... You know how you’ll read about abuse cases in the papers?” she asked thinly, realizing it was a lot harder than she had thought it would be.

Talon nodded mutely, tightening his arms around her until it felt like she couldn’t breathe. The only good thing about it was the fury that was settling in his eyes.

“You had bruises. All over.”

Her face drained of color. She couldn’t remember what she had looked like that long ago, but it still made her feel naked. Like she had been stripped bare and laid before him, baring all of her secrets and pain and hopes that had died miserably.

Her voice was only a whisper when she said, “I know.” What else could she say? Honestly, there wasn’t much she could defend herself against anymore. Would Talon turn out to be like Chris after all? Not physically, but mentally?

Tears blurred her vision.

Jamie covered her face with her hands, trying to stop the shaking and the crying and the weakness. It didn’t seem like he noticed.

“Were they from him?” he demanded. She looked up at him.

Her throat closed up, too tight for her to speak. It took several seconds for her to nod, and when she did, he let out a curse so foul and explicit that she flinched, standing from the bed and moving to the bathroom door.

“Where are you going?” Talon asked, fire in his voice. His hand caught on her shoulder, stopping her movements. She looked over her shoulder, or tried to. It wasn’t like she could see anything in the dim light.

Hues of browns and blacks reflected off of his hair. His hair was dark and wavy, catching the lights from the room. His jaw was dark with a day’s amount of five o’clock shadow. His shoulders were tensed and his lips, so kissable and firm, were pressed together.

And his eyes…

In all her life, that look had never hurt her so much. She had gotten it from her father. From Chris. From her family when they realized that she had lowered herself and whored herself out. In their eyes, and almost everyone else’s, she wasn’t needed or wanted.

Right now, Talon was staring at her with a look that she had seen numerous times. So much hate and anger in just two eyes, so familiar it was painful, but so much more potent that it was soul wrecking.

Jamie shivered, dropping her gaze. She couldn’t look into them and not cry.

His hand on her shoulder burned her, affected her in ways she never thought possible. It hurt, to think because of Chris he would never look at her the same way. Right now, it seemed as if her word were crumbling down around her and there was no way to stop the loss that she felt was inevitable.

“I think it would be better if I just…left,” she said quietly, praying that he didn’t hear the quiver in her voice.

“I can’t let that happen-- no I won’t that happen,” Talon said, moving in even closer than before, pushing her back against the wall. Jamie felt the feathery tendrils of fear mixed with desire waft over her as she stared up at him, their bodies pressed together.

“When I heard that you left… Jamie, I died inside. I thought Auro would get you, or you would get hurt. Losing you isn’t an option I’m willing to accept.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks with complete abandonment. “You don’t….mean that,” she whispered, wiping her cheeks with a trembling hand.

“I don’t say stuff that I don’t mean,” Talon said darkly, eyes flashing down at her. She couldn’t stop the tears, and she really had no idea why she was crying in the first place. He had just said words that no one had ever spoken to her. Never in her life had she been so…relieved. Happy. Grateful.

The hand that had been wiping at her cheeks was engulfed by his larger one. He brought it between them and kissed her knuckles, staring into her eyes the whole entire time.

Man, he was acting so different. So much more caring. So much more...romantic. Her face flushed at the thought, but she couldn’t look away from him, even if she tried. Was it wrong of her to care so much about him after such a short time of being with him? It felt like they had known each other for their whole lives, but maybe that was because of the danger that had bound them together.

Whatever the reason was, she didn’t want to dwell on it. Right now, there was finally someone who cared for her and wasn’t afraid to show her -- at least for right now.

His lips left a fiery kiss on her skin, and it spread through her arms. She grasped onto his shoulders and, deciding to throw her feelings and body into the fire, dragged his lips to hers for a scorching kiss.

The only outward reaction he gave for several seconds was a grunt, and then his arms came around her waist and she was being pushed into the wall. Her foot left the ground to hook around his waist, pushing his lower body into hers.

Fire spread along her kiss. Pleasure and bliss surrounded her. His groan of arousal was enough to have her moaning in reaction and it only got more intense as their kiss turned deeper, hotter, more dangerous.

Jamie whimpered against his lips, tasting her own tears. His fingers dug into the small of her back and drew her closer, his hard-on pressing against her stomach and making her moan with desire. He pulled back, sucking on her lip for a brief second and then moving lower, pressing his mouth to the hollow of her neck. “Did he kiss you like this?”

Jamie’s head fell back against the wall, shuddering and threading her hands into his hair. “No,” she whimpered, not realizing in her desire-ridden state that she had wrapped both of her legs around his waist and now touched the floor in no way.

A large, hot hand slid under her shirt, pushing the material up enough that his fingers were just feathering over the underside of her breast. “Did he make you this hot?”

“God... No, Talon...”

A pleased smile came from him then, but not the good kind. His eyes were dark, no longer silver but black and hot and completely hers. Her stomach jumped at the carnal look in them, mixed with longing and need. He gave her another kiss before stepping moving away the wall and bringing them to the bed. She fell into the downy bed and he hovered above her, a complete change overcoming him.

His hands played with the hem of her shirt, and the small brush of his fingers against her skin had her shiver, aching.

And then he stopped, bringing his hands up to cup her face. “Jamie, I need to ask you something.”

She nodded mutely, staring up at him with glazed eyes, wishing he would just make love to her.

“Did he make you feel...good?” he asked, obviously struggling for the right word. The question drew her up short, made her stare at him with now-solemn eyes. “Well?” His thumbs brushed over her cheekbones lightly, waiting for her answer.

When she shook her head, his face drew into a frown so fierce, it made her toes curl. Seeing the look in her eyes, he leaned down and nipped her neck, then her jaw. His hands slid down her body slowly, cupping one breast while the other moved farther down.

“Good. Because I plan on making you feel as beautiful as you truly are.”