Page 96 of Twilight Longings

Jake nodded. “I had to make sure my old buddy hadn’t turned himself into prey.”

“Very funny.”

“So, what happened?” Kincaid shook his head as he listened to what had transpired in the witch’s backyard. “And you destroyed Eleni. How do you feel about that?”

Saintcrow shrugged. “No regrets.” And yet, oddly enough, he felt her loss. But for her, he would never have met Kadie.

“You wouldn’t lie to an old friend, would you?”

Saintcrow huffed a sigh. “I’d do it again,” he said resolutely. “I’d dispose of anyone who tried to hurt Kadie. Even you.”

“That will never be a problem,” Jake said, giving Saintcrow a brotherly slap on the shoulder. “I can guarantee that.”

“I know.”

A silent moment passed between them, filled with a deep understanding and an acknowledgement of the bond between them and the history they shared.

“Catch ya later,” Jake said, and was gone.

Saintcrow grunted softly as he returned to his lair and his woman. Being close to death had given him a newappreciation for the love of a woman like a Kadie, the loyalty of a friend like Jake, and life itself.

Yes, indeed, life was good.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Kadie woke in Rylan’s arms. Sometime during the night he had carried her down to his lair and now he lay beside her. She had come so close to losing him. She couldn’t imagine a life without him in it. He had given her everything she had ever wanted, had saved her life on more than one occasion. He had shown her the world. But, most of all, he had shown her love.

She sighed when she felt his lips brush her cheek. “Did I wake you?” she asked.

“No. I’ve just been lying here, reading your mind.”

“Oh!” Sitting up, she grabbed her pillow and hit him over the head with it.

“Hey! I’m the man you love, remember?”

“Hah!” She would have hit him again if he hadn’t taken the pillow from her hands and tossed it across the room.

In a move too fast for her to follow, he tucked her beneath him, his hands holding hers above her head. “What are you gonna do now?”

She wriggled beneath him, a smug look on her face when she felt his immediate arousal.

“I’m going to get up and have breakfast.”

“That’s what you think,” he said.

“You wouldn’t force me, would you?”

He glowered at her, then lowered his head and kissed her until she was breathless, her body on fire for the touch of his hands.

“Are you still hungry?” he asked.

“Starving,” she said, then groaned as he moved against her.

“What are you hungry for, darlin’?”

“You.” She gasped as he bit her gently, unleashing a wave of sensual pleasure. “Just you. Always you.”

“You’re in luck,” he said, with a wicked gleam in his eye. “I have just what you want.”