Guardian of Werewolf Keep (Werewolf Keep Trilogy) by Nhys Glover Read Free Book Online Page B

Byron seemed safe.
    He reached out to take her hand, and she drew back in fear.
    ‘ I will explain it all upstairs. Come away from this place. You should never have come down here.’
    ‘Why not? What don’t you want me to know? Why did that man have claw marks across his belly? Why did the consta ble bring him here at all? What was that howling last night?’
    He stepped down t he last stair suddenly, and pulled her into his arms, pressing her against his warm, solid body, as he took the lamp from her shaking hand. For all her fear, the press of his body against hers instantly calmed her. It was as if her body knew better than her mind did, where safety lay.
    She breathed him in, the familiar scent of man and spice , overlayed now with horse and leather from his journey. Despite herself, she moaned. It was enough. Before she knew what was happening, his mouth had found hers, and he was kissing her with the same fevered intensity as before. And she was responding, opening herself to him, hungrily demanding more. In the dark, womblike cellar, it was as if they were the only people alive. And the dark passion, which they had ignited earlier in the day, now flared to life again, sending them spiralling off into a world that was pure sensation.
    The lamp light wavered , as Byron tried to hold it steady while he ran his other hand up and down her back. But it began to flicker wildly against the cellar walls, threatening to overturn, the more intense the embrace became. With a disgusted oath, he pulled away from her, and gasped in air.
    ‘Not here. This is no place for you.’
    She didn’t have the breath to deny him, as he dragged her up the stairs toward daylight and sanity. When they both stood at the top of the stairs, Phil found their gazes immediately meshed once more. The intimacy of the dark was still with them in the light. Their breathing was harsh.
    ‘You found her. Damn! She was down there?’ Will’s melodic Scottish burr came from behind them. They both jumped , but said nothing.
    ‘Right then, I’ll leave you to it. I seem to have interrupted you…’ The big man looked from one to the other, as if sizing up the situation and the pulsing tension between them. Phil and Byron made no comment. It was as if he had never been there. All that existed was their awareness of each other.
    ‘Wh ere?’ she managed to whisper. ‘If not there, where?’
    Byron shook his head, like a dog shaking water from its coat. It seemed to bring him to his senses.
    ‘Not now. Too much is happening. You need answers , and they will change everything.’
    ‘Later, give me answers later. Just hold me. I need you to hold me…’
    The groan that was ripped from him then was worse than that of the injured man. He shook his head, and stepped back away from her.
    ‘Not now. And probably not ever, after you know the truth. Go to the morning room , and have some lunch. Jasper said you missed the meal. When I have finished with my duties, I will find you there. I will try not to be too long.’
    And before either of them could change his mind, B yron turned and stalked away.
    Phil tried to put order into her crazed senses. In those moments of heightened awareness, something had shifted between them. This morning he had been the needy one. She had felt her power over him then. But , this time, it was he who held the upper hand. In those moments, he could have asked anything of her, and she would have done it. Totally adrift in a world gone mad, her only stability was this tall, enigmatic man. And to keep him in her life, to keep those incredible feelings surging between them, she would do anything.
    What did that make her? A brazen hus sy or a woman without moral fibre? Or worse, a clinging vine – one of those abhorrent women who gave up their identity to be what their man required. She had seen so many of them over the years – anonymous decorative additions, brood mares, with no personality or desires of their own.
    Did this