Loki's Game by Siobhan Kinkade Page A

back to reality. She still carried herself as if poised to run at any moment. Even as she perched on one of the bar stools at the island, she sat lightly with every muscle in her arms and legs singing with tension. He didn’t blame her. He had a lot to tell her, and he was certain that telling her he’d upended her plans with the tow truck would make her angry.
    “I need to apologize to you again,” Rowan said as he flipped eggs into a hot pan. They sizzled and popped, and from across the room he heard her stomach rumble. “I never intended for things to happen like this. I never meant to frighten or harm you.” Lily remained silent. As he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, he realized she was again curling in on herself. She feared him. “I had hoped to have more time to explain my…situation,” he continued. “You should not have seen what you did this morning.” He turned around with a plate of food and crossed the room. She leaned away from him as he placed it in front of her. “There is no excuse for my behavior.”
    She looked at the plate then glanced up at him. Her stomach argued against her resolve, and ultimately won as she picked up a strip of bacon and bit the end off of it. He moved around the island to sit in front of her. She nibbled the bacon, looking everywhere but at him. Her mind was racing, he knew. She’d done the same thing while making up her mind the previous night.
    “Lily?” he asked. “Look at me.” She blinked, froze, and raised her eyes to meet his. “I am sorry.”
    “I know,” she whispered, and looked away again. She eyed the plate, but did not move to pick anything else up from it. Everything about her screamed that she had something to say, but he had no idea how to make her say it. Finally, after six agonizing minutes, she cleared her throat and whispered, “What are you?”
    Rowan cringed. Part of him knew it was coming, but he still wasn’t prepared for the reality.
    “A shape-shifter,” he said, his voice cracking. “My parents were both bred from wolves.”
    A disbelieving bark of laughter erupted from her throat. “You’re joking, right?”
    “I wish I was. What you saw this morning was the most surprising change I have ever experienced.”
    She dared a look up at him, and as their eyes met, something in her face softened. He was willing to give anything to know what thoughts danced around in her head. She stared at him for a long, silent moment. Her blue eyes twinkled in the bright kitchen lights, and she reached for another strip of bacon.
    “What exactly do you mean ‘surprising’?” she asked.
    “Being with you as we were last night forced a change in me.” He swallowed and kept his gaze level with hers. “In all my years in this life, I have never experienced a shift in quite that way.”
    She blinked at him, her mouth falling open slightly. “What does that mean?”
    “I wish I knew,” he replied. “I would give anything to know.” Rising from his seat, Rowan stalked around the island to stand beside her. Lily stared up at him, her eyes wide and a little terrified. He took her hand and placed it, fingers splayed, in the center of his chest. “I just know what you do to me.”
    Lily cleared her throat. “What…what is that?” she asked timidly. Rowan smiled.
    “You make me want to protect and possess you all at once. To dominate and be dominated. You,” he placed his fingers under her chin and lifted it as he stepped between her outstretched legs, “make me want you.” He bent and brushed his mouth across hers, just the lightest of fluttering kisses. Finding no opposition, he cradled her head with one hand, slanting his mouth over hers to claim her again. Despite the flavor of cooked meat on her tongue, she still tasted as sweet and wild as she had the night before, and every bit as delectable.
    She shoved him away and stumbled back from the island. “I can’t do this,” she cried, skittering toward the door. “It’s all