Chapter 13 #2
The perspective helped, and by the time the little dot of land in the distance grew to an island, I had found a measure of peace with my situation.
“Holy shit, that is—” Fiona gazed up at the sky above us, wonder in her eyes.
“What?” I asked, seeing nothing but a beautiful Mediterranean afternoon.
“That is quite a magical barrier.” I squinted in the direction she was pointed, but saw nothing. But the second I stepped foot onto the soil, an uncomfortable ear-popping sensation hit me.
Barrier.
And then I saw them for the first time, and my jaw dropped.
Centaurs. Half man, half horse, galloping openly down the beach with polo mallets?
Cheerful jeers were exchanged as they galloped and spun, swinging the mallets with sheer strength a human polo player couldn’t hope to match.
The ball they were chasing flew almost too fast for my eyes to track, and suddenly, I understood why theirs were painted neon orange, instead of the normal white ones I’d seen in polo matches on TV.
“That is so frickin’ cool.” Fiona squeezed my arm as she tracked the game with avid interest. “Have you ever seen a centaur before?”
“Uhm, technically yes? But he was wearing a suit in a council meeting, and I couldn’t see his horse half because it was behind the table.”
“Definitely not as cool as this.”
“No, this is incredible.” Two of the centaurs clashed into each other, fighting over the ball and bellowing angrily as one of them went down hard into the sand.
Before I could get truly worried, though—horse limbs were fragile, and a break was disastrous—he had popped back up and was already chasing his opponent down the sandy beach with renewed fury.
“Welcome to Nisí Mythou. Our leader is expecting you.”
A female centaur had appeared so quietly—compared to the raucous polo-playing males, at least—that I jumped when she spoke.
She wore a friendly smile on her tawny golden features, but it did nothing to diminish her imposing stature.
I was smaller than most female wolves, primarily due to my naturally lower ranking, but even as tall as Leigh was as an alpha female, this centaur towered head and shoulders over her.
Her clothing was fascinating as well. The males were all completely bare, sweat glistening on human chests, horse flanks heaving and dotted with patches of foam from their exertions.
But this regal female wore Grecian-inspired draped clothing, but modern.
One shoulder was bare save leather cuffs at her biceps and a leather bracer on her forearm and wrist. A looped blue-green piece of fabric covered the other shoulder, stopping just under her breasts.
Below that, she wore a leather weapons belt, studded with wicked-looking knives but with matching blue-green fabric carefully draped over her chestnut horse’s chest. The leather quiver full of hand-fletched arrows over her shoulder completed the look.
Very stylish, while also obviously dangerous.
“I am Laurana, daughter of Herd Leader Asithius. I have been assigned to escort you to him.” She gestured with one long, slim hand in the direction of a cluster of large, open buildings a short distance away.
“Thank you, Laurana,” Brielle said with a warm smile.
“Of course, it is my duty.” She ducked her head briefly in acknowledgment, but was that a flash of anger I saw?
It was hard to tell, she schooled her expression so quickly. But it made me uneasy, and I found myself drifting toward Lucien without realizing it.
His musky leather-and-almond scent was warm and soothing, and walking a pace or two behind him, I could easily catch it on the Mediterranean breeze. There was a bitter tinge to it that my wolf didn’t like, but I put that down to him staying alert while surrounded by unknown supernaturals.
The buildings looked like they’d been pulled from the pages of a book on ancient Rome, only well maintained and clean.
Giant columns supported arched stone roofs above, each one uniquely carved.
I paused for a moment, staring at a particularly gorgeous carving of two centaurs at play, a smaller, young centaur trailing behind them with a ball.
The ground below us was grassy, even “indoors,” presumably for the comfort of horse hooves.
I was so caught up admiring the interesting architecture, I didn’t feel the ground shaking under my feet until a weight like a freight train slammed into me, knocking me to the ground and my breath out of my lungs all at once as the herd of centaur males from the beach flew past so close by, my hair whipped in the wind they caused.
I stared in shock at Lucien above me, pressing me into the ground with an expression furious enough to melt paint. “You nearly got yourself trampled.” He was furious, I could see it in his eyes. Felt it in the tension of his body caged over mine.
But my wolf? She practically purred under the attention, the close physical contact, all of it.
My breath hitched in my chest as I tried to form words, tried to tell him to get off me—the rowdy ball-chasing centaurs he’d protected me from had already galloped nearly out of sight, weaving through the columns and back out onto the beach. But damn it, he felt incredible.
The weight of him was warm, solid—making me want to rub up against him, not push him away.
I stared into his piercing amber eyes, unable to articulate exactly how I felt.
His expression darkened, and he leaned in closer, erasing the distance between us in a way that was at once thrilling and terrifying.
He buried his nose against my neck, just below my ear, and inhaled slowly, as if he never wanted to forget the scent.
“You keep looking at me like that, hellcat, and we’re going to end up in bed together.
And that’s a very bad idea.” He whispered the words against my throat, pressing a hot, firm kiss there before pushing himself up off the ground.
I was frozen, the electricity in my veins after the erotic threat and the warm press of his lips…
Goddess. I wanted to scissor my thighs together, chase the unfamiliar heat he’d stirred inside me again.
If he could drive me crazy with just a kiss, what would it be like, falling into bed with a man as experienced as he was?
Would he mind that I was still a virgin? I bit my lip, the thought making me anxious. When was the right time to tell a man that? It just felt awkward no matter when it came up.
Lucien waited patiently, offering me a hand up from the ground, but I hesitated, staring at it like a snake about to strike.
We were dancing around the connection between us, and taking that hand… It felt like saying yes to something I didn’t fully understand.
But I wanted to. So badly.
I placed my hand in his, the simple touch electric as he hauled me to my feet like I weighed nothing.
He didn’t let me go right away, inspecting me with those unreadable eyes, that signature mysterious expression which was so uniquely Lucien.
“Come on, hellcat. Let’s catch up to the group before we cause an interspecies incident.” He tucked my hand around his biceps, keeping me close as we crossed the shady pavilion.
I knew it was for safety. He didn’t want his mate to die stupidly under a thunder of hooves.
Reasonable. Kind. Understandable.
But my heart had taken the leap, and I was much more concerned about the thundering in my chest from such a small touch. Because my hand on his arm might have been innocent, but I wanted a hell of a lot more.
None of it innocent.