Read Online Possessed by Desire by Elisabeth Naughton - Free Book Online

happening.
    Confused, she blinked several times against the flickering light. Looked up and around. But it was Ashur’s face hovering above her that brought everything into focus.
    “What the hell was that?”
    She was having trouble processing. She just wanted him to go on touching her. Why was he stopping when she was so close? “My…my answering machine.”
    “Not the stupid box,” he snapped. He leaned close until his face was centimeters from hers. His enraged face. “What is my brother doing calling you by name?”
     
    * * *
     
    Her eyes grew wary. “Your…your brother?”
    Grinding his teeth, Ashur pushed from the bed and moved away from her. The desire he’d been fighting back while he’d teased her was gone, replaced with a fury that filled the empty place beneath his breastbone and made his blood boil. He didn’t trust himself to touch her at the moment. His brother, who’d abandoned him to torture and death and betrayed their race for a human fucking woman, had just left a message on Claire’s answering machine.
    “How do you know Tariq?” he growled. “What in all of Jahannam is going on?”
    Her face paled. “I…I…oh, shit. He’s your brother? I…” Her eyes slid closed. “I didn’t know.”
    Yeah, right . “Where is he?”
    Her eyes popped open. He couldn’t read her expression, but he saw the worry lurking deep inside.
    For herself? Or for Tariq? His fury rose higher. He moved back to the bed, leaned over her, willed himself not to snap like a Ghul. “Tell me!”
    Her breasts rose and fell with her shallow breaths, but her eyes were wide and—this time—determined. “Release me first.”
    He stared at her while his blood ran like a river of lava through his veins. She didn’t have any powers left—he’d figured that out in the last few minutes—so, bound or not, he was still in control. But at the moment, he didn’t give a flying rat’s ass about Zoraida’s punishment should he fail her so-called test. The revenge he’d been plotting for the last six months was at his fingertips.
    He reached for the ropes at her ankles, untied the knots, then moved to her right arm. As soon as her wrist was free, she jerked it toward her body, rubbing the tender flesh against her stomach. He moved around the bed and freed the other side. Ropes dropped to the floor. She sat up and massaged the red marks at both ankles and wrists, then grasped a pillow and tossed it over her body to hide her naked breasts.
    He wouldn’t feel guilty. She was noor . The wariness he’d felt before about her came steamrolling back. Whatever she was truly after—and he had no doubt now that she was plotting something other than simple pleasure—had to do with his brother. And that meant she was not his ally, not his friend, and definitely not someone he should feel anything for, especially desire or compassion.
    He perched his hands on his hips and stared down at her. Her hair was a wild mess around her head from thrashing, her skin luminescent in the candlelight. And the soft, sweet scent of gardenias he’d noticed earlier only pissed him off more because it still smelled exotically enticing. “Where is he?”
    “He’s…” She hesitated, but before he could bark at her again, added, “in the Pacific Northwest. With my friend Mira.”
    “The human woman,” he snarled.
    Her head snapped his way. “She saved him. She—”
    “I don’t care what she did.” He tugged open the closet door and grabbed a T-shirt from a hanger. “You’re taking me to him.”
    “What?” Her brow dropped low. “I can’t do that. We’re on an island. In the middle of the Pacific. It’ll take days to get there. Flights only leave these islands once per day, and we need to take a boat to the airport first. It—”
    “Put that on.”
    She grasped the shirt he threw at her. “Ashur, be reasonable. Tariq—”
    He moved so fast, her head snapped back, and her words cut off mid-sentence. Leaning on the bed, inches