Page 22 of Immortal Pirates

The softness in his tones was nearly her undoing. She’d staved off the pain, hidden it away and ignored it, for hours. And if he’d remained furious and on the attack, she could easily have kept her shield up until she threw him from the chamber.

But the way he took her arm again—this time by the wrist—and gently brought it closer as he lightly stroked the feathers covering half of her hand made her insides tremble and heat.

“It was Lorimar, wasn’t it? I thought I saw—but I was fighting him, and I wasn’t certain. What…what can I do, Arial?”

She couldn’t control the shiver—the delicate warmth that swept over her as his fingertips brushed over her feathers. She’d never been touched while in her wild state, and the sensation was…lovely. Despite the pain of a partially-transformed body, the tenderness in his human fingers brushing over her sleek feathers made Arial want to weep.

It was mainly self-preservation that caused her to pull away; for fear she’d sag into his arms and collapse. The pirates Bonny—neither she nor her mother Ann—nevershowed a weakness. Especially to men.

“I just—I believe I just need to…settle quietly and try again,” she told him, putting more space between them.I hope.

“This has never happened before?” To her relief, he stepped away as if to give her the space for which she’d silently asked. Yet his eyes—dim now—watched her closely.

“No.” She drew in a deep breath, then said quickly, “If you could turn around. I…I’ve never done this in front of anyone before. It’s rather like…getting undressed.”

Arial saw the quirk of a smile over his sensual lips before he made a neat, almost flamboyant pivot on his toes so he faced the other wall.

She was just about to close her eyes and be when she saw what he’d done. “Away from the mirror, St. Albans!” she snapped, unable to completely subdue a grin. Damn, but the man was incorrigible!

“I wasn’t going to look,” he replied, laughter in his voice. Then it drained away. “I’m sorry, Arial. I promise—I won’t look. Do what you need to do.”

She glared at his back and he flinched as if he felt it, causing her to grin briefly. But it was past time to try and fix herself.

Confident that he would, indeed, keep his word, she closed her eyes and willed herself to transform.

6

Raine heard the sound. It was like a breath; hardly a stir of the air…but he recognized it as a quiet flutter of wings.

Sensation prickled over the back of his neck and shoulders, warring with the agonizing throb of Lucifer’s Mark searing his skin like an angry, evil root system. Luce wasn’t pleased with him at the moment, for Raine had ignored his personal desires and the need to touch and taste and take Arial Bonny, and had, instead, done what she asked.

He was mildly surprised over her confession that she’d never transformed in front of anyone before. That information suggested what he’d expected—that her crew wasn’t aware of her other form.

“May I turn around?” he asked the wall in front of him. “I’d…I really want to see you.” He heard how husky and low his voice was and realized she was right: it was rather like getting undressed in front of someone—and from his perspective, it was the intense desire toseeher undressed. Or, as the case might be, otherwise exposed.

Raine was shocked at how aroused he’d become, just thinking about seeing her like that. Even being in the room withher, feeling the stir of the air over his skin and knowing it was from this wild, powerful, magnificent woman-hawk, made him weak with desire.

He thought he felt another shift in the air, a quiet churning, and then he knew he had, for he smelled her again. Arial. Ambrosia: woman, spice, musk, wild.

His belly dipped with disappointment—she hadn’t allowed him to look. She didn’t yet trust him.

Not that he blamed her, he supposed, ruefully acknowledging that his behavior had been slightly overbearing.

“May I turn around now?” he asked. He’d have to prove to her that he was trustworthy—even though hethoughthe’d already done so previously, by not driving his fangs into her sweet skin when he could have done. When he’d wanted to. When she was soft and lush and malleable in his arms, her mouth greedy and hot against his, her curves plastered?—

“Yes. Thank you.”

Raine jolted back to the moment, and it took him an instant to register what she’d said. “Are you all…is everything rather—well, put aright?” he asked as he turned.

Then he had his answer. Yes, indeed: everything was put aright.Veryaright.

He was staggered by the sight of her—the sight, the scent, the pureawarenessof who she was. Her long, wildly curling hair that, with its multiple shades had the look of dark, white-flecked feathers. The sharp, bright eyes that even now held the fierce expression of a raptor. The delicate features of her face that were nevertheless strong and confident.

And two hands, fully formed with five fingers each and not a feather in sight.

By the Fates, Raine had never seen a woman he’d wanted so badly.

“St. Albans,” she said, her eyes fixed on his. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll?—”