Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15

B althazar insisted on Gryph and Selene taking tea and wouldn't let them talk until they'd settled in chairs with their teacups in hand. "Now, tell me what happened with D'na Ileana."

The images Selene had seen when she'd touched Ileana's arm shot through her mind like balls in a pinball machine, each bouncing off other ones in a disjointed pattern.

Gryph filled in Balthazar about what he knew, Kobaloi, the troll and even D'na Ileana's reluctance to reveal their future. His gaze stayed her, warming Selene with his concern at the same time it chilled her with the possible outcome of what she'd seen in Ileana's prediction.

"We haven't had time to discuss anything. Apparently Ileana predicted the SWAT team raid."

"Apparently?" Balthazar's brows rose.

Gryph turned to Selene. "What did you see?"

"It wasn't so much what I saw as the overwhelming feeling that troops were on their way to raid the Lair."

Balthazar's brows descended. "All who are aware of our little community are sworn to secrecy. The only way the police could know about us is if they followed someone here."

Selene shook her head. She didn't want to contradict the older man. In her heart, she knew there was a traitor among the people of the Lair, she just wasn't sure who it was. Whoever it might be wasn't there. She hadn't sensed sinister thoughts from any of the evacuees. Only surprise and concern. "The thoughts and images I gathered from the SWAT team leader were that they'd received a tip to check out the tunnels beneath the city. Not just a tip, but also an entry location and direction once down under."

Balthazar's face darkened. "Who would have told?"

Selene shook her head. "I don't know, and I didn't get a name out of my eavesdropping on the SWAT leader's mind."

"Did you get anything else out of your connection with Ileana?" Gryph asked. "What happened when you touched her? Whatever it was knocked both of you out of your seats. It must have been something big."

Her chest tightened and the air left her lungs, the fog of a faint threatened to steal the light from her vision. It took several moments of concentration to sort through the overwhelming flood of images that moment had brought with it. "All I know is that what Ileana sees is what could happen. Today I sensed the SWAT team raiding the Lair and all the people being herded to the surface. Because we were here before the police, we altered that possible outcome."

"That's an interesting hypothesis and a good one to know. However, you avoided my question." Gryph pinned her with his stare. "What else did you see?"

Selene paced faster, refusing to meet Gryph's gaze. "Vague images, situations, scenarios."

Suddenly Gryph was standing in front of her. "What images, situations, scenarios? Whatever they are, we can handle them together."

"That's just it. We are together in the images I got from Ileana. You, me, my sisters. And we're all killed." Selene threw her hands in the air. "We were surrounded by wolves. And they were led by a big black wolf with bright green eyes."

Gryph gripped her arms. "Did you recognize any of the wolves as those from the pool hall?"

Selene shook her head. "No. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be one of them."

"What about the surroundings?" His fingers tightened. "Do you have an image of where we were?"

She shook her head, straining her memory to clarify the image. "All I got was the glare of bright lighting and...diamonds. A lot of diamonds, maybe crystals, sparkling everywhere I turned. Other than that, it's all pretty much a blur."

"Indoors or outdoors?" Balthazar asked.

Selene frowned. "Inside."

"That narrows it down." Gryph's lips twisted. "Not really, but it's a start."

"I'm sorry. I wasn't prepared to see you or me die. The whole scene was bad. Bloody. Horrible." Selene pinched the bridge of her nose. "I wasn't prepared."

Gryph's hands smoothed down her arms. "You did good."

"I wish I'd done better. I wish I'd seen the scenario where we won the fight."

"We asked for what our killer would do next. At least he won't be targeting another woman."

"No." Her heart rose to clog her throat and her eyes burned. "He'll be targeting you, me and my sisters."

Gryph's lips curled. "Now we know what to expect and we have a fighting chance."

"I hope so." Selene had the uncontrollable urge to get out of the tunnels and up into the open air of the city. "If it's all right with you, I'd like to get some sleep. I'm sure I'll be better able to handle a full-scale attack when I've had a few hours of sleep."

Balthazar rested a hand on Gryph's shoulder. "Take her home. We could all do with some sleep."

Selene's heart hurt with Balthazar's words. She couldn't go home. Her apartment had been breached. Gryph's plan was to take her to his home. The thought of being alone with him had her torn. On the one hand, she didn't want to be alone. Not after all that had happened. On the other hand, she didn't want to be alone with Gryph and the inevitable outcome of falling into bed with the handsome shifter. At the moment, their destinies were entwined and pretty shaky.

Her blood pounded through her veins—fear of SWAT team raids or trolls having nothing to do with it. Images of their naked bodies lying against the sheets pushed to the forefront of her mind.

Tension built inside her as Gryph led her back the way they'd originally entered the Lair, in what felt like a lifetime ago.

Once they emerged into his basement apartment, Selene was wound up tighter than a drawn bowstring.

"I should go stay the night with my sister Brigid." She headed straight for the door, without waiting for his response.

Before she reached for the knob, a hand on her shoulder stopped her, sealing her fate.

"You're not going to your sister's." Gryph growled low in his throat.

The sound sent fingers of lightning shooting across her nerves, angling toward her core. "You can't keep me here like a prisoner." The image of being bound was positively titillating and she almost groaned.

"You know you want to stay," he said, his golden gaze mesmerizing in its intensity.

"So now you're the mind reader?"

"I study body language. And yours is telling me you want this." Gryph leaned close, captured the back of her neck in his big hand and bent to claim her lips.

"I don't want—" she began.

Gryph swallowed her words, slipping his tongue inside her mouth, sliding it against hers in a warm, wet assault she couldn't resist.

Her arms circled his neck and her calf curled around the back of his. Whatever words she might have said flew from her mind as his kiss stole her thoughts and her will to resist.

Without breaking their kiss, Gryph scooped her into his arms and carried her through the apartment to the bedroom, where he set her on her feet and slowly peeled the layers of clothing off her. First her jacket. He unzipped it and pushed it over her shoulders, letting it slide down her back to drop to the floor.

He tugged the shirt from the waistband of her jeans and lifted it up over her torso.

Selene raised her arms and the shirt came off and was tossed to the side. In her bra and jeans, she could feel the stress of the encounter with Ileana leaving her to be replaced by a different kind of tension. One that began at her center and radiated outward.

She reached for the button on her jeans, only to have her hand brushed aside.

Gryph flicked the button loose and dragged the zipper down, parting the edges. He slipped his hand inside the jeans and her panties to cup her sex, a finger sliding between her folds.

Selene sucked in an unsteady breath, aching to be naked and lying in the sheets with this man. "Too slow," she said and grabbed his T-shirt, ripped it up over his head and tossed it aside. While he pushed her jeans over her hips, she yanked the button loose on his and pushed them down over his bulging thighs.

In a few frenzied movements, they were rid of their jeans and shoes.

Gryph scooped her up again and laid her across the shiny gold-and-black satin duvet.

The fabric felt cool against Selene's feverish skin, but did nothing to temper the torrid heat burgeoning inside as Gryph stood beside the bed, gorgeous, naked and dangerous, his golden eyes sultry and dark. "You're beautiful."

"You're not so bad yourself," she said, her voice low and gravelly. She leaned up, grabbed his hand and drew him onto the bed beside her, amazed at her own hunger and eagerness to consummate their shared desire in what promised to be a fiery conclusion to a very long night. With no windows to let the sunlight in, Selene couldn't tell if it was night or day and really didn't care. All her focus centered on this man-beast and what he was about to do to her and with her.

Her channel slicked in anticipation, her heartbeat racing, blood pounding through her veins as she trailed a hand across his broad chest and down his ribs to the hot, stiff member jutting upward, thick and proud. She wrapped her fingers around him, sliding them slowly up and down the velvety smoothness.

He captured the back of her neck and leaned over her, his lips descending on hers, the force of his assault pressing her into the mattress. Then his hand skimmed down her throat, over one shoulder and across a breast to tweak the distended nipple.

Selene arched her back, pressing into his hand.

With his large capable hand, he cupped the breast, rolling the peaked tip between his thumb and forefinger. He broke the seal of their lips and feathered kisses down the column of her throat to the swell of her breast, replacing his fingers with his tongue. At first stroking across the bud with a strangely rough tongue, he made the tip even tighter, then he sucked it into his mouth, pulling hard on it, unleashing a lust so powerful Selene squirmed.

Her legs fell open, her hand guiding his cock to her opening. "Please."

"Patience," Gryph whispered, blowing a warm stream of air across her damp breast. Then he blazed a trail of kisses and nips down her torso to the apex of her thighs, parting her legs to settle between them.

Selene lay back against the comforter, her breath caught in her lungs, waiting for the moment.

With care and calculation, he parted her folds and touched the tip of his coarse tongue to the bundle of electric nerves, setting off an explosion of sensations that had Selene rocking her hips high above the mattress.

He chuckled. "Like that?"

"By the goddess, yes!" she screamed, her fingers threading into his tawny hair, pulling him back to the goal for more of the same.

Flicking her again, he treated her to long, sexy strokes that left her gasping, her knees tightening around his ears and her world coming apart with an explosion of brightly colored fireworks.

Spasms of electrical shocks racked her body until she was begging him, "Please, come inside me. Now!" Selene tugged on his hair, urging him to climb up her body.

Gryph lapped once more then rolled off her and reached into his nightstand for a condom.

"Let me," Selene said, her voice strained, her body poised for what came next, her anticipation even more pronounced after he'd brought her to an earth-shattering orgasm. It wasn't enough. She wanted more.

With shaking hands, she tore open the packet, slipped the rubber over his member and rolled it down the sides, loving how thick and hard he was, imagining what he'd feel like buried inside her.

Then he was between her legs, where he pushed her knees up, pressed his cock against her opening and paused.

Selene almost came unglued. She wrapped her legs around his waist and dug her heels into his buttocks, urging him into her.

He held back. "There is no way we're going to die anytime soon."

"You bring that up now?" she wailed.

"Damn right. I won't let it happen." He stared down into her eyes, his cock nudging against her wetness. "We have far too much to live for." With those words, he drove into her, stretching her inside, filling her with a fullness she'd never experienced before him. It went beyond lust to a sense of coming home.

Then Gryph moved in a steady, pounding rhythm, driving into her, again and again.

She dropped her heels to the mattress and met him thrust for thrust, loving how deep and fierce his movements were, craving more with each stroke.

Once again, she rocketed to the crest and soared into the atmosphere.

At that moment, Gryph sank deep and held it there, his member twitching, throbbing, hot and thick inside her.

When Selene finally returned to earth, she lay spent, satiated and complete.

Gryph rolled over, taking her with him, without breaking their intimate connection, his shaft still hard inside her.

Her eyelids drifted closed, her body relaxing in the safety of Gryph's arms.

"Sleep," he said, his breath warm on her cheek as he brushed strands of hair from her face.

Exhausted from all the events of the past few days, Selene let the worry of what might happen soon fade from her mind. She basked in the afterglow of the best sex she'd ever had and she slipped into warm, blessed oblivion.

* * *

Gryph lay on his side with Selene nestled in the crook of his arm and marveled at the strength and resilience of this witch who'd stormed into his world, saved his life and refused to sit on the sidelines when the odds were stacked against them. What troubled Gryph was the anguish he'd seen in her face after she'd experienced Ileana's view of what the future had in store for him, herself and her sisters. He didn't want this woman to die. She had so much to offer, so much to give, and a life worth living. And he wanted to be a part of it.

Thinking back to her description of the place the attack would take place, he tried to picture it himself—lots of light, stars, diamonds. Was she referring to a sunrise on Lake Michigan when the angle of the sun makes the water look like it's coated in diamonds? No. She'd mentioned that it was inside. Was there a place bright with lights that sparkled like diamonds? In a city the size of Chicago, that could be just about anywhere. The hotels had rooms with high ceilings and great lighting. Maybe.

Dread threatened to take the joy out of what he'd just shared with Selene. Somehow he had to figure it out and come up with a plan to stack the odds in their favor. If they were to be attacked by wolves, they had to have their plan in place to defend themselves. Surely even witches with the incredible talents of the Chattox sisters couldn't keep up with an overwhelming numbers of wolves. Ileana's vision proved that. One potential outcome was for the six of them to die.

Gryph's arm tightened around Selene's shoulders and he stared down at her face, her creamy cheek pale against his golden tanned arm. Her dark brown hair splayed out across the sheets in rich, luxurious waves. He had such a feeling of belonging, he couldn't imagine her with anyone else.

When had she come to mean so much to him? And how could he ask her to be a part of his life when he wasn't free to be who he was in public? She deserved to find love with someone who wasn't a monster like him. If he wasn't so caught up in his own desires, he'd let her go. Let her live her life without the challenge he faced on a daily basis—namely, hiding his true identity. If the public learned what he was, the empire he'd built would crumble. And he refused to take Selene down with him.

In that moment, he chose to let time stand still. He didn't want to let her go—he wanted to hold her and protect her from whatever horrible event Ileana had predicted. Until they lived through that—overcoming their enemies—he was going to stick to her like a fly on flypaper.

He drifted into a restless sleep, plagued with horrific dreams of rabid wolves surrounding Selene, cutting her off from him and her sisters. As they edged nearer, Gryph tapped into his inner beast, his muscles expanding, changing, morphing into his alter ego, the massive lion that could rip off a man's head in a single swipe of his paw. As he landed on all fours, he let out a roar and stalked toward the wolf pack, squaring off with the leader, a jet-black wolf with bright green eyes.

With a sparkling gleam in its eyes, it lunged. Not at Gryph, but at Selene, knocking her onto her back, pinning her against the floor.

Gryph leaped at the wolf, too late to stop its wicked canines from slashing into Selene's throat, ripping away flesh.

With the force of a Mack truck, Gryph hit the black wolf. The two of them rolled across the ground, teeth flashing, claws tearing into fur.

Gryph suffered a vicious bite to his shoulder, his muscles seizing. With renewed anger, he bit into the wolf's neck, severing the carotid artery. The wolf staggered, blood pouring from the open wound. He stumbled and crashed to the ground, facedown, blood forming a thick copper-scented pool beneath him.

Gryph turned to Selene and gathered her in his arms. She lay as still as death, her skin cool, her eyes open and vacant.

"No!" he cried in his dream. "No!"

A hand shook his shoulder. "Gryph. Wake up." Again someone shook him. "Gryph! Wake up."

He blinked his eyes open and stared into the dark chocolate of Selene's bright irises. He sat up and gripped her arms, the soft skin reassuring him that she was not a figment of his imagination. Then he noticed the deep cuts on her arms and neck. "Good Lord, Selene, what happened?"

She smiled softly at him. "You were having a bad dream."

Gryph recoiled, horrified. "I did that, didn't I?"