Warrior Rising. Pamela Palmer
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draggon stone, you can forgive all the death marks?”
“If you allow me to touch the stone? The stone is mine, human. As the rightful queen, they’re all mine.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Temper flared in her eyes. “Yes, I can forgive the death marks.”
“Will you?”
She looked up at him, the light of challenge quickly eclipsing the anger in her eyes. Slowly, her mouth began to curl upward in an intriguing shadow of a smile that charged the already electric air between them.
“Allies help one another,” she purred. “Perhaps you should be trying to convince me you’re my ally, and not my enemy. Free me.”
“You ask too much, Princess. I don’t trust any Esri.” Especially one powerful enough to weave a sensual spell over a Sitheen, for that was exactly what she had to be doing. There was no way he’d be attracted to an Esri otherwise. Not when he knew the evil they were capable of. Not when his own daughter suffered still. But despite everything logical and right, he was definitely, horrifyingly attracted to this woman.
Ilaria clenched her jaw tight as the human propelled her down the hotel’s hallway. She was infuriated that he insisted on keeping her tied like a common slave. Never had humans treated her so poorly. In the old days, they’d revered her. Then again, these were no ordinary humans. They were Sitheen. Humans with a trace of Esri blood who could be neither enchanted nor tricked with glamour.
Worse, these Sitheen knew the death chant…and how to use it. Two thousand years she’d lived, yet they could destroy her in seconds.
Yes, they maddened and infuriated her, but sweet Esria, that wasn’t all.
Striding beside her, tall and strong, Harrison’s nearness caressed her skin with a tingling pleasure. Even through her sleeve, she felt his fingers curled around her arm, warm and fierce, yet surprisingly gentle. In the air between them, desire thickened, awareness sizzled.
When was the last time she’d felt desire like this for a male? Not for as long as she could remember. Yet despite his sharp, distrustful eyes, there was something about this male that pulled and tugged at her in all her darkest, most vulnerable places.
He glanced at her, meeting her gaze, sending a rare force of masculine power rippling over her skin. Human males were so much more physical than Esri. So much more aggressive, more potent. The simple gaze of this one heated her, turning her to liquid deep inside. Passion burned in his eyes, passion walled behind a barricade of fierce control.
And anger.
For a moment, she thought she felt something more. A touch of energy. The shadow of a latent, untapped power she couldn’t identify, but could feel whispering through his aura.
Strange.
He pulled her forward, his grip on her arm unyielding, and she fought him no longer, knowing too well his strength far exceeded her own. If she didn’t give in, she’d find herself flung upside down over his shoulder and carried as Charlie had carried her through the gate. A princess could only take so much indignity.
Her own anger steeped and stewed even as his nearness made her blood warm and her skin dance with excitement. How was it possible he had this pull on her? If Harrison weren’t human, she might question whether he possessed a rare ability to enchant an Esri. Instead, she feared the weakness was hers alone.
No, not alone. She was quite sure he shared it. And that could, possibly, work to her advantage. She must convince him that her intent was to seal the gates as they wanted her to. Convince him to hand over the stones to her. And a smitten male was so much easier to manipulate.
Of course, this human was far from smitten. He might feel desire for her, but his hatred ran deep. A hatred, she suspected, for all her kind. She might talk of being allies but they weren’t and they both knew it. The humans had made it clear they didn’t trust her, nor were they giving her any choice in what she did with the stones. Yes, this could be fun. She needed a little excitement after three hundred years of incarceration. Her own special means of retribution for this human’s disrespectful treatment of her.
A small smile curved her mouth at the prospect of the sensual battle to come as he led her through the room and out the door into the hallway where the others waited.
A battle she didn’t intend to lose.
Chapter 4
“What are those?” Ilaria asked, nodding toward the headphones Tarrys had slipped over her ears in the private jet. “If you’d untie me and allow me to touch a human, a non-Sitheen, I would know these things.”
“Headphones. And you’re not touching anyone.” Harrison knew that a full-blooded Esri could absorb a human’s entire store of knowledge with a single touch. They might come into this world clueless, but they didn’t stay that way long. Harrison sighed. “I suppose you want to watch the movie, too?”
“Of course. What’s a movie?”
From the moment he’d steered the princess out of the hotel room, Harrison had become her keeper. And he was pretty certain she was enjoying driving him slowly insane. All he wanted to do was get as far from her as possible, to break this ungodly attraction that refused to die. Instead, he was stuck with her.
He grabbed another set of headphones and lifted them onto her delicate head, pushing aside the pale, curly hair covering her ears. The soft, springy feel caressed his hands and he was slammed with a longing to wrap one thick lock around his fingers and draw it to his nose to inhale its sweet scent. Ignoring her wasn’t even a possibility. As he adjusted the earphones over her dainty ears, she watched him, those green eyes reflecting every ounce of the heat that had been building inside him since the moment he first touched her.
He tore his gaze from hers, refusing to fall into that sensual pit again, but her mouth moved, catching his attention, and he watched her pink tongue dart out to lick ripe, gorgeous lips. Lust sent the blood pounding through his body. With a growl, he flicked on the headset.
As sound filled the headphones, Ilaria’s eyes widened, and her gaze flew to his for one startled moment before a look of pure delight crossed her face. The smile that bloomed in its wake took his breath away.
Ilaria turned away to face the small flatscreen television projecting out from the wall of the plane, breaking the spell. Harrison sat back in his seat beside her, his breathing erratic, his runaway pulse pounding in his ears. Looking up, he found his brother watching him with amusement and silent speculation.
“Go to hell,” Harrison muttered. He glanced at his watch.
“When was the last time you heard from Jack?” Charlie asked.
“Right before we picked you up. He or Kade should be calling with another report within the hour.”
The humor left Charlie’s eyes. They were dealing with a major invasion this time, and the greatest threat the world had ever known. If King Rith got those stones, it was all over.
“Anyway…” Charlie cleared his throat and resumed his story, giving Harrison the short version of his trip through Esria. “We reached the Forest of Nightmares not a moment too soon, but Jesus, Harrison. That place will steal your mind. The name couldn’t be more accurate. Whatever you’re most afraid of appears. It may not be real, but damn if you don’t think it is. I found myself surrounded by Esri who weren’t there, and nearly run down by an eighteen-wheeler. In the forest.”
Musical laughter trilled beside Harrison. Ilaria’s laughter. The sound caressed his senses, stroking him inside and out. He struggled to ignore her and failed, unable to forget what Charlie had told him earlier, that she’d been incarcerated in a village no bigger than a football field. For three hundred years. No wonder she couldn’t quite contain her smiles or laughter. She must be ecstatic to be free.
Even though they were essentially holding her captive.
His