With great effort, she finally pulled away, though Lyra let her hands stay on him for a precious few more minutes. Part of her knew this was a slippery slope she was starting on. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong species—wrong everything. Maybe Jaden was right. Maybe they should just enjoy the now.

But she’d never been very good at living in the moment. She was always rushing headlong into a future that refused to let her shape it. Not that she would ever stop trying.

“You’re sad,” Jaden said, still only a breath away from her. It was so tempting to just give in, to let go with him. “I wish you wouldn’t be.”

Lyra managed a smile. “You’re not the only one allowed to be moody. Don’t worry. It’s not you. You’ve got an incredible mouth.”

She saw the heat flare in his eyes, felt it spark between them.

“I’d be happy to let you use it a little longer.”

She had to muster everything she had to pull away, but that’s what Lyra did, stepping back out of the protective circle of Jaden’s arms.

“Maybe another night,” she said. Not tonight. Tonight was for considering whether to further complicate her life.

He startled her when he gave her a quick, hard kiss that held more than a hint of possessiveness, then stepped back before she had a chance to react.

“I said I would leave it to you, Lyra,” he said. “But you should remember that I’m not made of stone. Touch me like that again, and I won’t let you walk away so easily.”

She blew out a breath, then nodded. “Fair enough,” she said. And she was suddenly glad he couldn’t get into her head, couldn’t know how hard it was for her to walk away this time. Testing herself, testing him, was at an end. She was going to have Jaden, because at some point, she wasn’t going to be able to help herself.

“Come on, hot stuff,” Lyra said, hoping to lighten the cloud of seriousness that had settled over them, as though whatever next move they made was going to be important no matter how she fought it. “You got your good-night kiss. Walk me home, and I might let you hold my hand.”

“How could I resist?” he asked in a tone so full of dark promise it made her shiver. But he fell silent again as they moved off the bridge, walking back toward the house where a spontaneous tryst was, thankfully, impossible. But Lyra drew in a sharp breath, then turned her head with an amused smile when Jaden caught her hand in his.

“No welching,” he said.

So Lyra left her fingers threaded through his, wishing it didn’t feel quite so right, and headed for home.

Chapter FOURTEEN

AGAIN.”

Jaden tried to keep his amusement from showing as he watched Lyra hunch over panting, glaring at him from a few feet away. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and a few curls had escaped from her ponytail to form a wild halo around her head.

Unlike her, he wasn’t winded at all. But then, evading her attacks was an easier job than she had trying to launch them. Not that telling her that would do much to assuage her seething temper. She wanted to take him down. He planned to make her earn that right.

Channeling his sexual frustration into training Lyra had proven incredibly useful when it came to his focus, even if she didn’t seem to appreciate it.

“What the hell do you mean, again?” she snapped, straightening and wiping her forehead with the back of her arm. “I’ve tried to do that move like ten times now, and all you do is step away! I don’t think you showed me right. That, or you’re just making crap up to watch me fall on my ass over and over.”

That was an entertaining bonus, but he didn’t plan on telling her that. He shouldn’t enjoy watching her get mad, but Lyra’s reactions to things were unfailingly honest. And when peppered with one of her profanity-laced tirades, they were irresistible.

“I’m not making anything up. And you’re getting it. You just need to keep working at it,” he said, keeping his voice cool. She was coming along nicely. But if she didn’t learn to control that temper of hers, none of this would be worth anything. He had a sneaking suspicion she was grappling with just as much physical frustration as he was, which likely wasn’t helping matters.

Something had changed between them that night on the bridge. The way she’d kissed him had been… unexpected, and as honest a thing as he’d experienced in a very long time. Their interactions had become warmer since then, more open, even as her training had become a lot more fraught. He thought that probably the reason was because the wolf in her was so close to the surface during these sessions. The animal in her was all instinct and feeling—and it wanted him. He knew the feeling, Jaden thought darkly.

But he wasn’t going to beg, damn it. That kiss had been three nights ago, and he’d behaved. Though knowing the itch was getting to her was kind of satisfying, in a nasty sort of way.

He saw Lyra’s eyes flash hot gold, and his body began to respond accordingly. Jaden thought frantically of images to halt his body’s reaction.

Ice cubes… Antarctica… Dorien in a dress…

The last one worked—sort of.

“Keep working at it, keep working at it,” Lyra mimicked in a sing-song voice. “Is that all you can say? I could have gotten a parrot and gotten as much help!”

“I resent that,” Jaden said smoothly. “I have a much nicer voice than a parrot.”

Lyra bared her teeth at him instead of laughing. “Oh, you think this is funny, huh? Watching me flail around while you just stand there directing. I’m not going to beat Eric like this, unless I can make him die laughing.”

“You have to adjust your way of thinking about the movement,” Jaden said, trying to stay patient while she railed at him. The woman herself had no patience, not that he was surprised. “Less wolf, more cat. Concentrate!”

Lyra threw back her head and let out something that sounded like a roar.

“How many times do we have to go over this? I am not a cat! I’m a wolf! I can’t change that, so make adjustments!”

“You’re going to have to make the adjustments, if you really want to learn,” Jaden replied, hearing the heat enter his own voice. “Not everything revolves around you. Not everything can be tailored to you. I wasn’t under the impression you were the sort of woman who needed coddling. You learn the right way, or you don’t learn at all. It’s as simple as that.”

He could handle Lyra’s anger for quite a while, since he realized a lot of it was self-directed despite what came out of her mouth. But when it started to really spill over onto him, he quit being so tolerant.

True to form, she put a hand on one hip and glared at him. He knew the look—insult time.

“You’re a jackass.”

“And you’re acting like a spoiled child. If this were easy, you wouldn’t need me at all,” he snapped.

“Then maybe you should do more than just stand there if you want me to learn the right way, O Exalted Master of Kitty Fu,” Lyra growled, beginning to circle him slowly. There was no light but the stars and the moon, still bright though past its fullness, but with his hunter’s eyes Jaden could see Lyra as clear as day. She stood out to him against the dark backdrop of towering pines and maples, looking like some ancient goddess of bounty with the tall grass and wildflowers brushing against her legs. Her eyes glowed like embers.

All around was silence, broken only by chirping crickets and the occasional call of an owl. It was a perfect night, a perfect spot here in a hidden field long left for the woods to reclaim.

It was also an excellent place to fight, if one was so inclined. And Lyra certainly seemed to be. Jaden decided battle was as good an outlet as any.

“I might move more,” he said in a voice both soft and deadly, “if I was in any danger of actually being taken down by you. As it is, this is almost…” he trailed off, watching her eyes narrow, enjoying her anticipation of his insult.

“Relaxing,” he finally finished, and all the raw nerves Lyra seemed to be in possession of seemed to burst into flame at once.

“That’s it.” She gave a feral snarl and lunged for him. And because he was a masochistic bastard, he didn’t even try to get out of her way. If this was what she needed, for tonight, they’d do it her way. Jaden caught her against him, grunting at the force with which she’d launched herself. He stumbled backward, and they fell to the ground together. They rolled as soon as they hit, a frenzy of claws and snapping teeth, each trying to gain the upper hand. Lyra made it a lot harder than he’d anticipated. But then, he might have expected it if he hadn’t been so busy trying to keep his hands off of her up until now.

Her strength was incredible. Heat pumped off her in waves, heating his cool skin. They grappled together, hands hooked into claws, teeth bared. Jaden wanted to go easy on her. He was no sexist, but a certain sense of chivalry had never left him and he disliked having to hurt a woman. However, Lyra wouldn’t let him give an inch. Her snapping teeth, snarling, and attempts at kneeing him in some very delicate places made it impossible to let down his guard.

“Damn it Lyra,” he panted, rolling her beneath him only to have her flip him once again and snap her teeth together inches from his nose. “I’m not the enemy!”

“Close enough,” she growled, then gave an outraged shriek as Jaden finally pinned her beneath him, her arms over her head. Lyra thrashed from side to side, and Jaden could only stare at the display of raw, powerful fury. She was less woman than animal in this moment, and he knew that he hadn’t truly appreciated what Lyra was, what her powers meant, until right now.

He had her—but only barely.

“Calm down! You’ve got to get it under control,” he ordered her, but all Lyra did was writhe and buck beneath him. He knew it wasn’t her goal, but despite his own anger, and despite the blood pumping hot and fast in his veins—or the combination—Lyra’s display had quite the opposite effect of her intention. And having her captive beneath him only compounded the problem. All he could think of was the dreams he’d had of her, bare skin like silk beneath his hands.