The Crystal Warrior

The Crystal Warrior (Chapter 5)

The Crystal Warrior

By Maree Anderson

Chapter Five

Wulf snaked out a hand and grabbed the woman's wrist. He squinted up at her.

"You're hurting me," she said through lips thinned to a tight white line.

He took her measure. She was a pretty little thing. Her hair was the color of flames—a burnished red-gold. Her baggy, short-sleeved garment and short pants displayed skin like fresh milk, and hinted at luscious feminine curves. She would have provoked a fierce bidding war on the Choosing Block.

In another place, in another time, he would have lain there and allowed her to rouse him before taking his pleasure with her. Now, in this room, lying in Chalcedony's bed, breathing in the scent of the woman who haunted his dreams and wishing it were she who had run her hand down his naked chest, her hot, wanton gaze licking his body, indulging in sexual congress merely because the opportunity presented itself seemed a travesty. Evidently his limp phallus supported that notion. Despite this young woman's obvious charms, he felt nothing. And he wondered, sourly, whether some capricious god had cursed his male parts to insure Wulf would only find release with a certain female. A certain female who, as the fates would have it, was also named for a crystal. And whose true name had had the power to smite him unconscious. Gods. He should be running for the hills. Instead, he only wanted her more.

He released the redhead's wrist. "My apologies."

She perched on the side of the bed, shoulders hunching as she rubbed her wrist and flexed her fingers. "I should be apologizing to you. I shouldn't have groped you without asking. And Chalce is my best friend. So I shouldn't be groping you at all. No matter what she said."

He yanked the sheet over his privates.

She grinned at him, shedding her sullen demeanor so abruptly that it brought to mind Kyan, his kinsman. Kyan, too, tended toward mercurial changes of temperament.

"Worried I'll be tempted to jump you, huh? Chill, sweetie. You're not that hot. I can control myself."

He schooled his features to remain neutral, to reveal nothing of his innermost thoughts.

Her grin turned into a peal of laughter. "Oooh," she said. "You're good."

"What did Chalcedony say, exactly?"

"Uh uh. That would be telling." She stuck out her hand. "Samantha Greenwood."

He clasped her hand because that was what she seemed to expect of him. And hid his surprise when she returned his firm grip, and shook his hand up and down. This must be how people of this world greeted one another, and evidently, it was nothing remarkable for a woman to instigate such a greeting. "You may call me Wulf."

"Okay, Wulf. So what are we gonna do about Chalcey?"

He hid his surprise. "Why do we need to do anything about Chalcedony?"

Samantha blinked at him. "You're kidding me, right? You beat on a guy who was trying to get into her panties. You followed her home. You're here, now, in her bed. Don't try'n tell me you don't want to get laid because I don't believe you."

"Laid?"

She puffed out a breath that smacked of disbelief. "You're really not from around here, are you? How can I say this without sounding totally crass. Look. Chalcey likes you. A lot. And I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have followed her home unless you wanted to scr— Ah, I mean, if you'd not found her attractive, right?" She glanced at him, waiting for confirmation.