Touch of Temptation by Rhyannon Byrd Page A

her.
    “Complicated?” she repeated, her expression a mixture of hurt and genuine bewilderment. “How freaking complicated can it be? It’s not like I’m asking you to explain quantum mechanics. If the idea is so repulsive to you, then stop torturing me and just go away!”
    By the time the last word had left her lips, she was shaking again, even harder than before, her eyes flashing from gray to silver like sparks of light.
    Feeling like a useless jackass, he said, “Just take a deep breath, honey, and try to calm down.”
    Her eyes narrowed with blazing astonishment. “You don’t think I’ve tried that? God, I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius with a raging IQ! I thought—” She gasped, leaning forward, her slender arms clutched around her body as she rocked. “Oh, hell,” she groaned, gritting her teeth. “This sucks so bad.”
    Unable to stay away from her, Kellan knelt down in front of the bars that were closest to her cot and reached in with one hand, clutching a handful of the blanket, his hard fist only inches away from her slim little body. “Chloe,” he rasped, torn between what he wanted to do…and what he knew was right. “Chloe, honey, look at me.”
    She didn’t say anything at first. Just kept rocking, forward and then back again, and from this close, Kellan could actually feel the potent forces working within her. Feel that mesmerizing rise of power inside her pulsing against him. When she turned her head and pierced him with those glowing silver eyes, Kellan felt her power slam all the way down to his bones. The air felt electric, sizzling against his skin, and he realized that being part Mallory might be having a serious effect on her awakening—one they foolishly hadn’t anticipated.
    “It’s getting worse,” she whispered, the sharp points of the Merrick’s fangs just visible beneath the sensual curve of her upper lip, “and it’s scaring the hell out of me. I don’t…I don’t think I can control it anymore.”
    “ Just stop. Please. ” A hoarse, graveled demand.
    “If you…if you knew how hard this was for me, Kellan, you wouldn’t make me beg.” She licked her lips again, her silver eyes glistening with tears. “I can’t keep—”
    “Just a little bit longer and I’ll get you out of here, Chloe. Then we can get you somewhere…” The words stuck in his throat, but he forced them out. “When we’re free, you’ll be able to find someone to feed from. Someone of your choosing.”
    “You fed Raine.”
    He opened his mouth, but before he could explain, she went on. “I’m not complaining. I mean, after everything that she’s been through, she needs a champion.” Her head tilted a little to the side, her eyes liquid and bright. “I just don’t understand why you can’t do the same for me.”
    Westmore had used physical abuse, as well as Raine’s family, to force her cooperation, brutally murdering the psychic’s younger sister. Her baby brother would have suffered the same fate, if Raine hadn’t taken the upper hand, using her “sight” on Gregory DeKreznick to blackmail Westmore into leaving her loved ones alone. But in order to keep her weak, Westmore had continued to starve her, never allowing her to have any blood, only feeding her bits of food. Knowing she needed sustenance or she was going to die, Kellan had pushed his arm through the bars of his cell and given Raine his wrist. And while she’d been careful not to take too much, since it would have been obvious to Westmore and the others, Kellan had made sure she’d taken enough blood to dull the pain gnawing at her insides, and to help with the internal injuries she’d suffered.
    But that didn’t mean he could do the same with Chloe,because her needs were far more complicated…and it was Chloe his inner beast wanted to get its hands on.
    “What happened with Raine was different, and you know it,” he told her, his deep voice actually shaking with emotion. “All I did was