Devoured Read online

  No, Pierce, please! I swear—you know I would never…

  Lying bitch!

  His thick hand on her arm, right where the waiter had been touching her all night. Then a blinding pain and a sickening crack…

  “Tess…?” Garron’s voice was worried.

  When she opened her eyes, she saw that he had a hand out to her, as though he wanted to comfort her in some way but he didn’t quite dare.

  “It’s all right,” she said in a voice that came out hoarse and shaky. She cleared her throat and tried again. “It’s all right. It’s just hard to talk about. He, uh, broke my arm that night. Here.” She pointed to her left forearm, right between the wrist and elbow. “It was just a greenstick fracture—not compound or anything. I had to lie when I went to get the X-ray. I said I fell down the steps…”

  “Here?” His fingers brushed her arm just where she had pointed. “This is where he hurt you?”

  Tess’s heart skipped a beat for some reason.

  “Uh…yes.”

  “May I?” He lifted her arm slowly.

  “Um…I…I guess.” Now her heart was pounding. What was he going to do?

  But Garron simply pressed his lips tenderly to the spot where she had been hurt all those years ago. Tess thought she could almost feel the old break throbbing under his gentle touch. He held the kiss for a long moment and looked up, meeting her eyes with his own. Tess gazed into those clear, blue-green depths, unable to look away as her heart went into overdrive. She could smell his scent again—that rich, masculine spice that seemed to surround him whenever he was having intense emotions.

  At last he pulled away and let her arm go.

  “Why…why did you do that?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know. I wanted to.” He was still looking at her intently, his eyes on fire in the dim room.

  “Thank you, I…” Tess cleared her throat, trying to get her scrambled thoughts back in order. “Anyway, that’s why when you came up and that guy was…was touching my hand, I sort of freaked out,” she went on, trying to pretend the tender kiss had never happened. “I mean, I know you’re not Pierce but my first response was—”

  “Fear,” Garron finished for her. “And I didn’t help any by going insane with rage and grabbing him by the neck.”

  Tess nodded. “Well, yeah.” She sighed. “It’s just…all these things—these fears—I thought I was starting to get over them. But then when he grabbed me again and took me back to his house and…and…” She shook her head. “Well, you know. Anyway, I guess it just brought everything back.”

  “That’s understandable.” He nodded. “Forgive me for losing control like I did. Such an emotional outburst is…unpardonable. It’s just…my other…” He shook his head. “My naming day is near and I fear…”

  “What?” Tess asked, when he stopped speaking and looked away from her. “What do you fear?”

  He shook his head. “You’re braver than me. I can’t even speak my fear aloud. I’m afraid if I do…”

  “It might come true.” Tess nodded. “I think I understand.”

  Garron closed his eyes tightly for a moment, a look of intense pain crossing his face. “It’s getting harder to control—more difficult to hold back. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I…” Tess didn’t know what to say. But suddenly a snatch of the conversation she’d overheard came back to her. “She tames it. I don’t know how she does it but every time she touches me or I touch her—every time her skin comes into contact with mine—I can feel my dr’gin quieting within me. It’s hard to explain but it’s almost as if it likes her.”

  Garron’s exact words when he spoke to his brother. And twice he had told her that she calmed the burning in his blood.

  Me, she realized. I’m the answer—I can help him.

  The question was, did she have the courage to give him what he needed?

  It’s wrong…dangerous, whispered the little voice in her head, the voice of self preservation that had come to live inside her when she married Pierce. You shouldn’t…

  But it didn’t have to be sexual, did it? Couldn’t it just be…calming? She remembered the way he had hugged her on the Mother Ship. The way he had sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her close, resting his head on her chest as though asking mutely for comfort. Why couldn’t it be like that?

  “Garron,” she said softly.

  “Yes?” He didn’t look up.

  “I think…I think I can help you. If…if you want me to.”

  “How?” He looked up at last.

  “Like this.” Tess stood and came around to face him. She stepped between his knees and, heart pounding hard, she reached for him.

  Garron seemed to hold his breath as she enfolded him, wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders and pulling him close. The couch was low so his head came to rest right against her breasts. Tess pulled him close anyway, pressing against him. The v-neck of her t-shirt pulled down a little and she felt the scratch of his cheek against the tops of her breasts as he put his arms around her hips and hugged her back.

  “Gods,” he muttered hoarsely. “Oh, Tess…”

  “It’s all right.” She ran her fingers through his thick, black hair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Everything is going to be all right, Garron. I promise.”

  “I hope you’re right. I just…don’t know how.”

  “Like this,” she whispered. “Does it…does it help?”

  “You know it does.” He looked up at her, his eyes glowing brightly. “Your touch calms the burning…tames the beast within.”

  “But not completely,” Tess said, studying his face. “You need more, don’t you?”

  “I…” He dropped his eyes. “I cannot ask for more.”

  “Yes, you can.” Taking a step back, Tess took his hand and tugged. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” he asked, getting off the couch.

  “To…” Tess took a deep breath. “To the bedroom.”

  “But what—?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Trying to keep her courage up, she lifted her chin and marched down the short hallway to the bedroom with its ridiculous antler bed and plaid bedspread. Taking the handmade quilt that was folded at the foot of the bed, she shook it out and spread it over the garish plaid. There—much better!

  Then she started to undress. Off came the baggy t-shirt and down came the loose yoga pants.

  “Tess, wait…” Garron sounded uncertain. “What are you doing?”

  “Giving you what you need.” She turned to face him in only her bra and panties. Should she take them off as well? Her fingers hovered over the front snap of her bra but in the end she lost her nerve. This would have to do.

  “And what…” Garron cleared his throat. “What exactly is it that you think I need?”

  “Skin-to-skin contact.” Tess looked him in the eyes. “I have a confession to make—I actually woke up earlier than you thought this morning. I really had to use the restroom so I was going to go but then I heard you talking to someone in there—I guess maybe your brother?”

  He groaned. “You heard all that?”

  Tess’s heart began to pound. Was he mad?

  “I did,” she said steadily. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

  “It’s all right.” He shook his head. “I just…didn’t want you to know.”

  “I would have put the pieces together anyway,” Tess assured him. “All day you’ve been so tense…so on edge. I didn’t realize it before but this was why, wasn’t it? You’ve been fighting the…the other that lives inside you. The…what did you call it?”

  “The dr’gin.” He looked grim. “It has been…especially insistent today. I don’t know how much longer I can hold it off.”

  “And what happens if it comes out? Never mind…” Tess held up a hand. “I don’t want to know. Right now what I want is for you to strip. Um, down to your shorts, I mean. If…if you wear shorts?”