Free Darkest Caress by Cross Kaylea

suffering.
    Without warning the heat in him roared to life, igniting him from the inside. It exploded through his bloodstream, making him tremble and pant.
    Liv gasped and shrank away from him, her face a mask of alarm. “Your eyes…”
    Shit. “I know. It’s all right.” Already the blue was bright enough to illuminate the space between them. Soon they’d be as bright as spotlights. The fear coming off her cut him like a steel blade. “You don’t need to be afraid, Liv. I won’t touch you.” Not until you’re ready , he vowed silently. The need he felt was almost uncontrollable, but he wouldn’t let himself act on it.
    “I should go,” Cade said behind him, reminding him he was still in the room. Daegan had almost forgotten he was there.
    “You both should,” Liv said sharply, her voice vibrating with tension.
    “We’ll leave,” Daegan assured her, feeling torn in two. She was frightened and in shock, but if he left she’d hurt later on. Almost as much as him. He went to the phone, wrote his number down on a piece of paper. “That’s my cell number. Call me if you—” He almost said ‘need me’ but caught himself in time. “If you want to talk about anything.”
    She didn’t respond, merely stared at him. It was obvious she couldn’t wait for him to leave.
    But Daegan couldn’t go without trying to reassure her one last time. “Whatever happens, just know it’s going to be okay. I promise you that.”
    With her face drawn into lines of misery, Liv turned away.
    Walking out the front door, he felt like he’d just peeled his skin away with a razor. His lungs tightened, every muscle in his body screaming in denial.
    “You okay to drive?” Cade asked him once they were outside on the driveway.
    “Yeah.” Christ, it felt like his lungs were being crushed. With each step farther away from her the pressure increased until he thought he’d suffocate. “I gotta go.” It hurt to leave, but he couldn’t stay and not touch her. It would kill him. She wasn’t ready to face this yet.
    Besides, he had things to do. Namely, making sure that bastard who’d attacked her never came near her again. The perfect outlet for the anger and sexual frustration pounding at him.
    Daegan climbed into his car and hissed in pain as he shut the door. His cock was swollen, painfully hard. When he fired up the engine his hands shook so badly he almost pulled the key out of the ignition, but he managed to put it into reverse. He had to get the hell away from here before the shakes got too bad for him to drive.
    * * *
     
    They were insane, Liv told herself. Both Daegan and his cousin. And she was insane for getting sucked this far into their delusions.
    Magic? Right. Not in this lifetime. What the hell had possessed them to say such crazy things to her? Although she couldn’t explain the way his eyes had gone all weird, or why he’d made the headache go away with a touch. And damned if the explanation of the colored halos she’d seen didn’t resonate with part of her. She shivered.
    But even as she thought it she rubbed a hand over her breastbone and frowned. Her heart was beating way too fast. She felt almost frantic. And she was panting like she’d just done a hundred-meter sprint, when all she’d done was pace from one side of the family room to the other.
    The house was too quiet. It made the static in her head much too loud. She paced the hardwood floor while the agitation built. Being alone right now should have been comforting, but now she had no choice except to confront everything. By herself.
    Was she going crazy? Much as she’d like to deny it, every single thing Daegan had said to her was true. Her upper incisors did hurt. Well, not so much the teeth, but her gums over her incisors. She tested them with her finger, trying to think of a cause. They felt inflamed and tender, like she’d jammed dental floss up too hard and cut her gums.
    A knock startled her out of her reverie, making her tense. “Who