Eyes Like a Wolf Read online

  He looked at me again, and I got the feeling he wanted me to say something. “That's…I've never heard that,” I said at last. “It's…interesting.” Privately, I thought it sounded like something made up to explain our family's differences from the outside world. But just because we all had green eyes and really good night vision didn't make us descendants of an ancient Egyptian god and goddess. Still, I motioned for Richard to go on.

  “It gets more interesting,” he said darkly. “You see, to balance their increased abilities, the sons of Anubis were given a curse: that they should bear the true form of their father every full moon and bathe in blood before they regained their own faces again.”

  For the first time I drew back from him, really scared. “Uh…bathe in blood?” I tried to laugh. “That sounds pretty grim, Richard, for a fairy tale.”

  “This is no fairy tale.” His gaze was intense, willing me to understand—to believe. “It's folklore passed down for generations—the story of our origins, Rachel. The origins of the Amon-kai. And the only way the sons of Anubis, the Lanor-zur, can control the curse is with the help of a Lana-zeel—a mate, a true daughter of Bast.”

  I shook my head. “I don't understand. What are you trying to tell me, Richard?”

  He closed his eyes briefly, and I saw the muscles in his jaw clench. “This is hard to say, but I can't wait any longer,” he said at last. “We have barely two weeks before the next full moon. I'm saying I need you, Rachel. Need you in my life, now and forever.”

  I felt a surge of relief, although I wondered what in the world the moon had to do with anything. “Well, of course I'll stay in your life, silly. Now that we've found each other, we're never going to lose touch again. I thought we already agreed on that.”

  “No, Rachel.” He reached over to take one of my hands in both of his. “I mean I need you.” He lifted my hand and kissed the palm gently, a hot, slow kiss that sent a shower of sparks throughout my body, before raising his eyes to mine. “You know what I mean,” he said softly.

  “No, I don't.” I tried to pull my hand away, but he wouldn't let me. “What are you saying?” I demanded, giving up my futile efforts to be free. “Are you trying to say that you need me…?”

  “As a mate,” he said simply.

  “Richard, this is bizarre! Are you asking me to marry you or something? Do I need to point out why that's impossible?”

  “We don't have to get married, just live with me.” He said it as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “Well…but we are living together—at least for now,” I clarified, gesturing with my free hand to indicate our semi-domestic situation. “I mean, what more do you want from me, Richard?”

  “It's what I need from you, Rachel,” he repeated earnestly. “Not just what I want.”

  “Okay, so what do you need?” I demanded. I had an idea of what he was going to say, but I just couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe that he would actually ask for what I was afraid he was going to ask for until I heard it from his own lips. I kept hoping I was wrong, that he would say something completely different and surprise me.

  “Do I really have to spell it out?” His face was anguished.

  “Yes, Richard,” I said quietly, through lips that felt numb. “Yes, if you're going to ask for what I think you're going to ask for, you have to say it out loud.”

  He heaved a sigh and reached out to caress my face, but I flinched away. He looked sad, but determined. “I need you sexually, Rachel,” he said at last, meeting my eyes fully. “I need to make love to you. Need to breed you.”

  His words unloosed a torrent of emotions within me. Disbelief that he had actually said what I was most afraid of. Horror that he would ask such a thing of me. Shame that his request didn't disgust me as I knew it should. And under it all was the bright spark of heat that his touch always ignited in me, glowing like a hot coal in the center of my chest, making my breath hitch in my throat and my eyes grow wide.

  “Richard…” I shook my head, at a loss for words.

  “I know what you're thinking—that it's wrong,” he rushed on. “But it's not for us, Rachel. It's the way of the Amon-kai. We mate our own, and you and I were bonded as children. It doesn't matter that we were raised as siblings—we're really not, and besides, only a Lana-zeel can help a Lanor-zur control his blood lust.”

  I shook my head again. If he hadn't had me so firmly by the hand, I would have been backing away from him. “Richard, no. I can't hear this right now. I don't…we can't—”

  “Our parents did,” he said quietly, cutting my denial short. “They were raised together and bonded as children, just as we were—two halves of the same whole.”

  “You're lying,” I said in a voice that shook.

  “No.” He sighed. “Look, why do you think Mom wanted to take you away from me? Why do you think she warned you never to see me again, never to think of me, look for me? She was looking for a way out, and she didn't want you raised in the ways of the Amon-kai. Why else would she take you away?”

  “I don't know why,” I nearly shouted. “But not this—never this. Richard, please…” I was begging him now, all my outrage suddenly evaporated. “Can't we just forget you ever said these things and go on having a nice visit together? These last two weeks have been so perfect—almost magical.”

  “Because we belong together, Rachel. Can't you see that?” He leaned forward, searching my eyes earnestly. “Even if you don't believe the legend, you have to feel how right we are together. Every time I hold you, every time I touch you, I feel it.” He raised a hand and brushed his fingertips lightly across my cheek, making me gasp with the sudden heat his touch raised under my skin. “You can't tell me you don't feel it, too,” he almost whispered.

  I shook my head, determined to deny what he was saying at all costs. To agree was to set my feet on the road to ruin and certain damnation. I would be lost forever if I gave even an inch.

  He frowned. “If you don't feel it, if what there is between us is so wrong, why do you let me touch you at night? Why do you let me cup your breasts and stroke your nipples?”

  “I…I…” I shook my head again, feeling betrayed. What had been happening between us at night was something we didn't discuss, something I didn't want to discuss. Because as long as we didn't talk about it, it was almost like a dream. And you can't help what you do in dreams, can you? And now Richard wanted to bring it out into the open and make me admit that I let him touch me, fondle me. It was too much.

  Richard saw the denial in my eyes. “Let me prove it to you,” he said softly. “Let me prove that there's something between us. Give me one chance, Rachel, that's all I ask.”

  “Prove it?” I drew back from him mistrustfully. “How?”

  “With a kiss, just one real kiss.” He drew me back into the circle of his arms. “How many boyfriends have you had in your life before Charles, Rachel? How many men in your life before I found you?”

  I looked at him uncertainly, surprised by the change of topic. “Um, a few,” I hedged. “Not many, actually. I was always busy with school or my career, I guess.”

  “And did you give yourself to any of them? Have you given yourself to Charles?”

  I thought of my fiancé's endless groping and his clumsy, too-wet kisses. “No,” I said at last. “No I…I never.”

  “Because you couldn't,” Richard said. “You've been saving yourself; you just didn't know why.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that I was saving myself for my wedding night?” I demanded. But the words sounded weak, even to me.

  “When Charles touches you, kisses you, does it arouse you?” Richard looked at me intently, as though everything depended on my answer. With him staring at me that way, I somehow couldn't bring myself to lie.

  “No,” I said, looking away. “No, but that's just because we're not married yet.”

  “Do you really think so?” he demanded. “He's human, Rachel, and you're Amon-kai—the two species are not sexua