Not only did we have one of the best security systems installed in our converted warehouse home, but Ilianna had finally figured out the magic used in the wards—which were basically stones that could repel magic, spirits, or evil, depending on the spell infused within them—that my father had left behind the last time he’d talked to me, and she’d used that magic to install wards of her own around our home. Which meant no Aedh—or even reaper—could get in. And I knew for sure Azriel couldn’t, because he’d apparently tried more than once—and it was something of a blessing given this morning’s session. The thought of his witnessing such a wanton display had embarrassment stirring in me, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. I was wolf—or part wolf—and lovemaking in full view of others wasn’t exactly a new experience to me.

Lucian nuzzled the side of my neck. “Ilianna let me in as she went out, and I thought it was pretty obvious what I’m doing here.”

“And I thought you said you had several important meetings to attend today and that I wouldn’t see you until later tonight.”

“Something came up.”

“Yeah.” My tone was sarcastic. “And I’m still feeling that something.”

He chuckled softly. “What can I say? Your body drives me insane.”

And his avoidance of questions was driving me insane. “Seriously, I saw your schedule. You had meetings starting at eight thirty, then rolling right through until almost seven tonight. They can’t all have canceled.”

“You snooped through my appointments calendar?” He nipped my earlobe just a little harder than necessary and I flinched. But even so, my treacherous hormones began to stir and hum. “That’s not polite.”

“Neither is reading my mind during sex,” I replied testily, as his teeth caught my lobe again and gently gnawed it. A shiver that was half expectation, half apprehension rolled through me. “But that doesn’t seem to stop you from doing it.”

“Speaking of which, who the hell is Jak?”

I growled low in my throat and thrust him off me. “No one.”

I swung my legs off the bed and stalked across to my rather opulent bathroom. Every bedroom had its own and, like all the other rooms in this place, the bathrooms were huge, each one containing a massive spa bath, a double walk-in shower, a toilet, and a big hand basin. In mine, the oversized white wall tiles contrasted sharply against the heated black slate under my feet, and the lighting was warm and muted. Thankfully, Lucian didn’t immediately follow me in. There were some things a girl liked privacy for, and peeing was definitely one of them.

He said, “And yet your actions just now would suggest otherwise.”

The toilet flushed as I padded over to the shower. When I stepped in, the water automatically came on at just the right temperature. I might not flaunt the fact that I was insanely rich, but there were definite benefits to being so, and one of those was being able to afford a system designed to ensure that you never had to battle with water temperature again.

“My actions,” I snapped back, “are related to annoyance at you rather than any need not to talk about Jak.”

“Then tell me who he is.”

I swung around and watched him enter the bathroom. He walked like a cat. A big, golden, beautiful cat.

“I’ll start answering questions when you do.”

He walked into the shower cubicle and the second showerhead came on, covering him in water. The beads glistened in the warm light as they rolled almost reverently down his muscular body.

I held my ground and he stopped in front of me, his arms coming to either side of mine, effectively penning me. “I told you, I had several cancellations.”

I pushed my hands between us and tried to shove him away. I might as well have tried to knock down a skyscraper. I might be part wolf, and might therefore be a whole lot stronger than an average female, but he wasn’t human, either. And he was bigger and stronger in almost every way imaginable.

“Damn it, you’re lying. I know it; you know it.”

His gaze swept mine, though what he was searching for I couldn’t say. After a moment he grunted, and if I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn it was an almost frustrated sound.

“My eight thirty meeting finished earlier than expected, and my ten o’clock had to cancel because his wife went into labor. Satisfied?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I tasted no lie in his words and yet I had an odd feeling it wasn’t exactly the truth. And while I did trust Lucian, there was that growing niggle in the back of my mind that kept suggesting he wasn’t being honest with me, that he’d never been entirely honest with me. Oh, his much-stated desire to seek revenge on those who’d ripped his wings from his flesh was real enough—and understandable, given that the process also robbed him of his ability to take Aedh form—but I wasn’t so sure that anything else was.

Of course, that niggle might also be nothing more than Azriel’s distrust worming its way into my thoughts.

“Your turn,” he added, a touch of impatience coloring his voice.

I snorted softly. “Why should I have to tell you? Why don’t you just pluck the answer from my thoughts like you usually do?”

He growled low in his throat and pressed against me, pinning me hard against the cool white tiles. The water that streamed down on us did little to ease the heat and awareness that surged between us.

“Once I might have. Now, that is not so much an option.”

I frowned, my gaze searching his, seeing frustration mingling with growing arousal. He wasn’t lying—not about this. Curiosity mingled with relief. “Why not? You’ve had no trouble before now.”

“I know.” He pressed one knee between my legs. I tried to shove him back again, but with as little success as before.

“Then what’s changed?”

“I suspected the reaper might have had something to do with it, but this has not got his imprint.”

Alarm stirred. Reading my mind was one thing, but if Azriel was also altering the direction of my thoughts… “Meaning you’ve felt him before?”

“I’ve sometimes felt his echo. He reads your mind far more than you think, Risa.”

The alarm abated. I was well aware of just how often he was reading me. It was the thought of him actually doing more that had me worried. But even as that thought crossed my mind, I swiped it away. Azriel wouldn’t do that. He was a man—a being—of more integrity than that. Lucian, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter.

He nudged my knees farther apart, obviously preparing to claim me more intimately. I ducked under his arms and retreated, but I was nowhere near fast enough. He grabbed my hands, pinning them behind my back as he pressed me belly first against the wall.

“Damn it, Lucian, this has gone far enough.”

“Then tell me who Jak is,” he murmured, his words little more than a heated breeze near my left ear.

I shivered, torn between desire and growing anger. “Why do you need to know? It’s not as if you’re jealous or anything.”

“At first, it was nothing more than curiosity.” He shifted his grip so that both of my hands were held in one of his, then he pulled me back just enough to slip his free hand between the wall and me. He cupped my breasts, pinching and rolling my nipples, playing me like a master played his favorite instrument—with ease and assurance. He added, “Now, however, it is something of a challenge.”

“And yet another one you won’t win.”

“Oh, have no doubt that I’ll win this one,” he said softly. He continued to knead and press and tease my flesh, until I was trembling to the tune of his fingers and beginning to hunger for a whole lot more. It was frustrating—truly frustrating—that I just couldn’t seem to say no to this man and actually mean it. It was almost as if he’d become an addiction. “When I mentioned a moment ago that I wasn’t able to read your thoughts as much as I used to, I did leave a little information out of the equation.”

“There’s a surprise,” I muttered, my body still quivering under the delicious assault.

He chuckled softly and once again gently prized my legs apart with his knee. Then he claimed me from behind, his cock thick and hard and oh-so-heated as it thrust up into me. I made a sound that was a confused mix of annoyed growl and moan of pleasure. He chuckled again, his lips brushing my ear before he whispered, “I can read you when I fuck you. And right now, I intend to fuck you so completely that protecting the elusive Jak’s identity will be the very last thing on your mind.”

And that’s exactly what he did. Until the water went cold and the shower automatically shut down, until my body was trembling with exhaustion and the repeated waves of orgasm. Until, I guess, he’d finally mined the information from my mind. Only then did he allow himself to come, and finally end the ordeal.

For several minutes neither of us moved. His hands were still wrapped around mine, and my legs were so wobbly that his grip was the only thing keeping me upright.

He released me, then blew out a breath, the breeze of it whispering past my cheek. “So,” he said, and for the first time there was weariness in his voice. The legendary Aedh stamina had finally hit a wall. “Jak is an ex-lover you met up with yesterday morning.”

If I’d had the energy I would have pushed him away from me. As it was, it was all I could do to turn around and glare at him.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“He’s in town and wanted to catch up. Nothing more, nothing less.”

His gaze swept mine, as if he was trying to work out whether I was telling the truth or not. And that surely meant he hadn’t dragged all the information about Jak out of my mind during the marathon session. Though whether the relief that followed this realization stemmed from Azriel’s distrust or my own lingering sense that something wasn’t quite right, I couldn’t honestly say.

“So you won’t be meeting him again?”