The Covert Wolf. Bonnie Vanak
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shower began. Matt was so quiet, she hadn’t heard him wake up. An image, unbidden and erotic, filled her mind. He was soaping himself, running the bar along those smooth, taut muscles, water beading off his sun-darkened skin. His head flung back, eyes closed, growling with pleasure as she fell to her knees, removed the soap from his hands and began lathering him much lower …
No longer cold, Sienna gulped down a breath.
As a distraction, she paced the kitchen. It was pretty, homey and welcoming. Layered through the air was a scent of love and deep affection that pulled at her in deep yearning. It was the type of cozy house she’d always envisioned for herself.
“Hey.”
Dressed in jeans and barefoot, he stood in the doorway, hair slicked back, droplets beading the thick waves. The bandages were gone from his now-healed wounds. A long-sleeved flannel shirt hung open, showing a muscled abdomen strong enough to break bricks. Dark hair feathered his chest, arrowing down his stomach and vanishing into the waistband of the jeans.
Arousal filled her as she thought about following that line much lower. Her body loosened with want and yearning. Sienna felt warm and open.
His pupils darkened as he swept his gaze over her. Matt’s nostrils flared. He’d scented her desire.
She licked her lips. “There’s no meat here. Um, I mean, nothing here to eat … and I’m hungry.”
“Me, too,” he said, his voice hoarse as he stared at her wet mouth.
He pushed back at his damp hair. “Let me get dressed, and we’ll go out for a quick bite. I saw a sandwich shop around the corner.”
When they reached the restaurant, she ordered a hamburger with cheese and an order of fries. Matt paid for their purchases and brought them over to a quiet table by the window, facing the door.
He always had his back to the wall, facing whoever walked inside. Tension tightened his body, but not from the hot encounter with the pyro demon.
Nope, this tension was purely sexual from something equally smoking hot. He watched with avid hunger as Sienna poured ketchup over a fry and delicately licked it off with her small, pink tongue. Thinking about what delights that tongue could deliver.
Desire heated his blood until all he could think about was how much he wanted this woman in his bed. How much he wanted to bury himself deep inside her, driving into her until she clung to him and screamed, and all the animosity between them became animal passion.
Big mistake. He lowered his gaze and dove into his hamburger.
They had the dining area to themselves. Still, he kept a guarded eye on the street. Small houses dotted the lane, some with bicycles scattered over the driveways. It was a solid family area, known among his kind as a safe zone. Draicon lived here among humans.
His gaze shot back to Sienna, who was devouring her burger with zest.
“I thought Fae were vegans.”
She stifled a burp with her hand and gave an apologetic look. Damn, she was so cute, so charming.
So Fae.
Matt took another bite, grimly concentrating on his other, more appeasable hunger.
“I’m starved. I guess everything caught up to me.”
“I didn’t know Fae ate meat. I thought all they liked were sprouts. Except the ones who have an appetite for killing.”
Guilt shadowed her expression. She bent her head, studying the red basket containing her fries. “I doubt it.” Sienna glanced around. “We can talk openly here, right?”
Matt nodded.
“I want to know something.” Her fingers curled around the basket’s edge. “Tell me, how did Adam die?”
His stomach tightened. Out of all the questions he’d anticipated, it wasn’t this. As appealing as the hamburger had been, it turned to cardboard in his stomach.
“Please. I need to know.”
“Why?”
Direct, commanding, curt. She raised her chin. “Maybe that will help me understand why you hate my people.”
Fair enough. Though he doubted it would change anything. They were too opposite. Too different in their worlds.
Matt closed his eyes, seeing the sand swirl around him, feeling it sting his face. Smelling the heat and the arid air, the sharp tang of metal. He told the story, each word slicing open wounds that were still fresh. When he got to the part where Adam died, he struggled to speak.
“The pyrokinetic demons caught up with Adam outside. I heard him …”
Scream.
Moisture filled Sienna’s eyes. She slid a hand over the table, but Matt pulled back. He couldn’t let her touch him. Couldn’t break apart.
“You tried to help. You were amazingly brave in facing the demons. You did the best you could,” she said gently.
“It wasn’t enough.”
The image came back to him, searing pain from the burns, shoving down the oily panic clogging his throat as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
“When I regained consciousness, I didn’t dare radio back for help. The Darksider Fae could be imitating any one of the troops. Shay was on standby. Called him and made him give me the code of our squad. He came and fetched me, did a glamour so it looked like I was fine. Our C.O.—you met him, Lieutenant Commander Curtis—made sure I had private quarters to recover. Then he did a cleanse of everyone who’d come into contact with Adam. No one remembered him, or that he’d ever come to Afghanistan.”
“Oh, Matt,” she said softly. “That must have been horrible.”
Here was the one person he could talk to about Adam. Sienna, a stranger, who silently forged the connection he’d needed back on the subway. The safety clicked off his hard-won control. Words burst out of him like machine-gun fire.
“It was as if he’d never existed. He was my swim buddy. We went through BUD/S together—we were teammates, best friends. I was closer to him than my own family. I was there at his mating ceremony. And I couldn’t even be there at his damn funeral because I had to pretend I never knew him. Because no one is supposed to know about the Phoenix Force. So when we die, all memories die with us.”
A stray tear escaped, sliding down Sienna’s perfect cheek. Seeing her cry for Adam made him no longer feel alone in his grief, but also made him protective. Made him want to cup her face in his hands and kiss away her tears. He hated seeing her cry. Matt lifted a hand, then dropped it. Gods, he felt so damned confused lately.
“What about his body?”
“We made a promise in the team. No man gets left behind. Shay returned for Adam, but couldn’t find anything. The pyro demons had reduced him to ash, and his ashes had been taken by the wind. There was nothing left of him to return to Tatiana, his widow. Nothing.”
After wiping her eyes with a napkin, Sienna covered his hand with her own. “I’m sorry, Matt, for what the Darksider Fae did to you. To Adam.”
First-name basis. No more Lieutenant Parker. And she’d said Adam’s name again. He struggled against the urge to kiss her senseless in thanks and took a long pull of his water.
Backhanding his mouth, he shook his head. “I should have saved my buddy. We were tight. Always watched each other’s backs.”
She stroked his wrist, her thumb making little circles. Always calm and cool, his rare outburst was alarming. It was Sienna, her soft, sweet smile and genuine air of concern. She dug beneath his defenses, past the emotional berm he’d erected since Adam’s death.
“Too crowded in here,” he muttered, glancing around. “Let’s get back. I’ll arrange for transport, airline tickets.”
“To