Against her, Levi’s body eased infinitesimally. She wouldn’t have known if she wasn’t plastered against him. Stiffening, she went to sit away from him, but he tightened his grip. “Hold still.”
He was right. Until Drake gave the okay, she should hold exactly as she was.
“You’re trembling,” he whispered, lips still at her ear, breath tickling. His fingers, which she was horribly aware of, brushed against her lightly. She might as well have been naked the effect that small touch had, sending electric sparks of need hissing through her blood.
“Don’t,” she warned, voice low.
The fingers stopped and he stiffened against her, muscles going rigid.
Guilt, an emotion that had only grown over the years of keeping this man at a distance, overrode common sense. “I’m ticklish,” she lied.
“Since when?”
“You’ve never touched me there, so you wouldn’t have known.” She winced. Wrong choice of words. Way too much innuendo for comfort. Change of subject time. “You know, if you hadn’t been distracting me, that dragon wouldn’t have got so close without me sensing him.”
“I wasn’t distracting you. I was just flying next to you.”
“Go fly next to someone else.”
“Back to the babysitting thing, are we?”
She still didn’t want to talk about that. Lyndi snapped her teeth together, catching her lip, and the metallic taste of blood hit her tongue.
“You know, I try to protect everyone on this team,” he pointed out, with a lingering hint of a chuckle. “It’s my job as beta.”
She should gratefully accept the reprieve and keep her mouth shut. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Not at you.”
“At what, then?”
Levi’s arm tightened around her. “I’m laughing at my own stupidity.”
“Which means what exactly?”
“Apparently no good deed goes unpunished when it comes to you,” he accused. “I’m trying to remind myself of that.”
“I don’t need your good deeds, either.”
A hiss escaped him. A sound of such frustration, so unlike Levi, that she tried to scoot forward slightly only to come up against the iron band of his arm.
“What do you need then?” he asked. “Because I can smell it all over you. Your need…it’s torture.”
Lyndi blinked as his words sank in, blindingly grateful the intimidating, gorgeous, massive dragon surrounding her couldn’t see her face. Did he really not know? After all these years trying to keep it in check, he’d never once sensed it before now?
More importantly, was it good torture or bad torture? Because for her, he was both.
He pulled her even closer and everything inside Lyndi froze at the evidence of her effect on him.
No.
Because if he wanted her, then… Fuck. Panic swam through her blood, bitter and sharp. Him not wanting her was what she’d clung to so that she wouldn’t act on the overwhelming need to claim him as her own.
She steeled herself to do the right thing, to shut this down. So much harder to do—fighting him as well as herself. If she was only denying herself, that was one thing. She opened her mouth but the wrong words popped out anyway. “You’re not the only one who—”
“Quiet.” Drake’s command was loud enough in her mind to make her wince.
Lyndi mashed her lips together. Oh gods. What did I just say?
Think, Lyndi. Because no doubt he’d ask. It could be anything, though. He wasn’t the only one who needed to protect her. Or who had responsibilities.
Except the door was open now. The one she tried to pretend wasn’t there even as she fought to keep it locked. A glimpse of what she’d been blind to, and it hurt even worse to keep it closed.
Every breath, hers and his, turned into a silent, incremental torture, the heat sparking in her making each tiny sensation sink into her then spread out, building into a delicious ache, upping her tension, and damn if she didn’t want to creep her hand into her panties and relieve…something. Or better yet, guide Levi’s there. And then turn around and return the favor.
Behind her, around her, his body stiffened.
“All clear.” Drake finally put an end to the forced proximity.
Lyndi was out from under the bush and away from Levi like cannon shot.
“The fire is out,” Drake continued. “A lure to bring us here is my guess. Back to headquarters.”
The words had a staccato cadence, like a snake striking a boot over and over. Drake was pissed. And no wonder. This wasn’t the first trap set for them lately, and they weren’t entirely sure if these rebellions in their territory were caused by the upheaval with the kings or by a more sinister hand orchestrating in the dark.
“You got it,” Rivin’s and Keighan’s voices chimed together. A flash of white to her right told her they were already in the midst of their shifts.
Lyndi barely absorbed the order, too focused on facing Levi whose gaze turned from frustrated to searching as she stood, staring and saying nothing.
Waiting.
It seemed as though she was always waiting. Waiting for him to get out of her way. Waiting for him to support her without qualification or objection. Waiting for him to feel the same tension between the two of them that she did and make a damn move. And dreading that day even more.
Which was why she pushed him away so hard.
Levi said nothing. Just watched her waiting for him, a wary sort of tenderness in his eyes that sent her frayed nerves into overdrive.
With a small shake of her head, she turned away and started her shift, not even bothering to give him space. He could damn well hop out of the way.
“I’m not the only one who…what?” he demanded, apparently having shifted at the same time.
Her dragon pushed and the tether keeping all her good intentions where this man was concerned stretched to near breaking. “Nothing,” she threw at him. “What I need from you is to stay away from me.”
Even in dragon form, shocked hurt darkened his eyes, and her own heart squeezed so tight it hurt to breathe. Keeping him at a distance all this time had always been a fine line to walk. Because she’d never wanted to hurt him, not more than she had to.
“Then we’re clearly not feeling the same thing,” he said, the words defeated.
The words too closely aligned to what she’d secretly never let herself want. Fight or flight kicked in so hard, she had only one choice. Lyndi shot her body straight up into the air. She couldn’t get away fast enough.