Free Talon/Xavier (Bayou Heat) by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright Page A

the mattress, crawling to lie beside her. Gently he pulled her into his arms, her weary head snuggled on his shoulder.
    It felt…right.
    Not only having Isi in his arms, but being in this cottage that had been empty for so many years.
    It was almost as if he could sense his parents’ approval.
    Heaving a soft sigh, Isi tilted back her head, her exotic beauty shrouded in shadows.
    “That shouldn’t have happened,” she muttered.
    He smiled wryly. Those were the words he’d been waiting to hear since she’d collapsed in utter completion.
    “Why?”
    She struggled to reconstruct the brittle barriers that she kept between herself and the world.
    “Obviously because I don’t have sex with people who think I’m evil.”
    He slid a finger beneath her chin, easily becoming lost in the dark beauty of her eyes. “I don’t think you’re evil.”
    A hint of vulnerability touched her pale face. “Then what do you think?”
    His thumb brushed her lower lip, his gaze lightly moving over the fragile features to the diamond piercings that shimmered on her nose. They only added to her unique beauty. As did her tattoos and even her birthmark.
    They were the proof that this woman was as much a warrior as he was.
    “I think that you were given a shitty start to life, but you’ve not only managed to survive, but to become an intelligent, competent woman able to create her own business,” he murmured in soft tones. “And one who is courageous and loyal enough to be willing to suffer just to help a sister who was a complete stranger to you.”
    Her expression remained stubbornly defiant. “Nice, but we both know I’m staying because the elders want me dead.”
    He leaned down to snatch a brief, utterly carnal kiss. “Lie to yourself if you want, but you can’t lie to me,” he murmured. Over the past hours he’d started to understand the gentle female beneath the hard façade. “If it weren’t for Ashe you would have disappeared the night you were brought to the Wildlands.”
    She sucked in a sharp breath. “Don’t say that.”
    He frowned, easily sensing her distress. “Why are you so scared to admit your feelings?”
    “Because feelings are for suckers.”
    He arched a brow. “Suckers?”
    “They’re anchors that weigh you down,” she said, a sudden tension humming through her slender body. “To survive you have to keep moving.”
    Talon’s heart squeezed, easily able to picture Isi as a little girl, lost and terrified in an institutional setting that taught her emotions were a weakness.
    “Or you can depend on those who love you to keep you safe,” he assured her, his hand running down her bare back to linger on the healing scratches that were proof of their mating.
    She shivered, reacting to the tenderness of the mark. “I don’t depend on anyone but myself.”
    “You can depend on me.”
    She pressed her hands to his chest. “No.”
    “Yes.” He held her gaze, his expression fierce. “You feel it, Isi. Don’t deny it.”
    The truth flared through her eyes…the knowledge that they were fated to be together.
    Not that she was going to accept her destiny.
    Not without a fight.
    “And what about the elders?” she demanded, doing her best to throw fences up between them. “They believe I’m destined to destroy you.”
    He clenched his jaw. He didn’t have an answer.
    Not yet.
    But he was damned certain that she wasn’t any harbinger of doom.
    The problem was how to prove it.
    “How did you learn about the Pantera?” he abruptly demanded.
    She shrugged. “Everyone’s heard the rumors of the savage half-men half-beasts that live in the swamps.”
    “Most assume we’re a myth,” he pointed out. “But you specifically cater to my people.”
    The rigid tension began to ease from her muscles, her fingers drawing absent patterns on his chest. Talon trembled beneath her soft caress, his cat purring in contentment.
    Christ, he would walk through fire just for her touch.
    “I was always fascinated