Page 44 of Dark Shaman: Love Found
"We need to stop," he murmured against her lips. "The scent you are emitting will make it obvious what we've been up to."
She pulled back to look at him. "You can smell me?"
"Of course."
"You shouldn't be able to. Only immortals and dogs have such a sharpened sense of smell."
He chuckled, but it sounded forced. "Aren't all men dogs? I've heard that somewhere."
"Seriously, Elias. How can you smell me?"
"How can I not? I'm hyper aware of everything about you."
He didn't have fangs, she reminded herself. He wasn't an immortal. Just a human with extraordinary senses, speed, and strength.
The man she had fallen in love with had all the characteristics of an immortal except for the most obvious ones.
"What do you think they're building over there?" he asked.
It was a misdirection, but Tamira took it since she knew Elias wouldn't tell her anything more about himself and what made him different than any human she'd ever been with.
"Judging by the butler's reaction, nothing good," Tamira said. "But what could be so terrible that even the inner circle fears it? A nuclear bomb?"
Elias chuckled. "He wouldn't be storing it under his own house. It's probably a fancy safe for the treasures he had removed from the harem."
"Right. It's obviously super important to him, and what better place to hide it than here?"
"Perhaps those things need special storage, and that's whathe's building over there. We can investigate when we come down here for more archeological finds."
She smiled. "This could be the perfect excuse to steal a few private moments, and I won't waste them on investigating a mystery building project. Whatever he's doing over there is none of our business because there is nothing we can do about whatever it is."
"The butler won't leave us alone again," Elias said.
"He will." She pressed closer, unwilling to waste these precious moments on logistics. "He has his chores to attend to. He can't babysit us."
The sound of footsteps echoing through the basement made them spring apart. By the time the butler appeared, they were both examining the bronze bookends, discussing their potential placement in the seating area of her suite.
"Lunch is about to be served," the butler announced.
"We are taking these." Tamira lifted one of the bookends. "I hope that's okay."
"If Lord Navuh said it is, then who am I to say no?"
14
AREANA
Areana forced herself to breathe normally as she walked toward Navuh's office in her usual unhurried way.
On some twisted level, she loved playing these games with her mate, and the fact that the stakes were so high made them even more exciting. Still, it didn't make walking into the lion's den any easier, not even knowing that he would never really harm her.
Areana paused outside Navuh's door to compose herself, smoothing her hands over her dress and forcing her breathing back to normal. Even after five thousand years of practice, the game had not lost its edge.
Perhaps that was what kept their relationship alive and thriving after millennia—the constant dance between truth and deception, love and power, trust and survival.
The disturbing truth was that these moments excited her.The danger of it, the risk of discovery, sent a thrill through her that she knew she shouldn't enjoy.
What was wrong with her that she was aroused by the prospect of discovery? By danger? By deceiving the man she loved? But then that was part of their dynamic. The push and pull, the testing of boundaries.
