"Were they already exhibiting signs of superior intelligence?" Trap asked eagerly.
Pepper nodded slowly. "I think that's one of the reasons they brought me in to help. They were already communicating with each other. That was very clear."
"But not verbally. They wouldn't have been developed enough to create actual words," Trap continued.
Draden sighed. "At least put food on your plate, Trap," he encouraged. "You need to keep the fuel up, remember? We had a long talk about why a person needs to eat nutritiously. You took my bag of chips away and gave me a twenty-minute lecture."
"I can assure you, Trap," Nonny said. "That fish stew is very nutritious."
Trap ladled a large helping into his bowl, frowning a little. "That would entirely depend on the fish and whether or not it was exposed to any kind of pollution. Since the hurricane..."
"Trap." Draden shoved a piece of fresh warm bread into the man's mouth. "Don't talk anymore. Just eat."
Trap chewed thoughtfully for a few minutes and then looked up at Nonny. "Ma'am. Apparently I'm not good at conversation, so I apologize ahead of time for any mistakes I make."
Wyatt was proud of his sincerity. As a rule, Trap could care less if he hurt someone's feelings. He didn't notice.
Trap started to pick up his coffee mug. Pepper made a single sound, a low, long hiss escaping between her small white teeth. Her dark eyes radiated a diamond-colored starburst as she looked at the man. Trap cautiously removed his hand from the mug, and looked across the table at Pepper.
Malichai grinned at Ezekiel. "Better think twice, Trap. She might of really done it." He winked at Pepper.
Instead of laughing with the others, Trap leaned toward Pepper, his face carved so only his eyes were alive with curiosity. "Do you really have the ability to spit venom? Can the babies? I can't wait to get them in the lab and examine their teeth and mouths. I'll have to look at you too. Do you know if you're their biological mother?"
There was a silence. Pepper continued to stare at Trap. Wyatt felt her instant fury, although she looked sweet and innocent, her smile alluring. He felt the sudden electrical charge building between the two. He stood up so fast his chair fell over, breaking that swelling charge.
Judging by the shocked faces and stares, he knew no one else had seen or felt anything out of the ordinary. Only him. He knew Trap was in trouble immediately. He barely registered anything but the current tying a thread between Pepper and Trap. He reached out and shackled Pepper's wrist, uncaring of the consequences. He yanked her out of her chair and dragged her out of the room, away from the others.
"What the hell do you think you're doin'?" he demanded, his voice low and more than a little threatening as he took her down the hall and into his bedroom. He retained possession of her wrist as he kicked the door closed and shoved her hard against it. Stepping close, he trapped her body between the hard wood and his body.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don' play innocent with me, Pepper. Do you think I'm not aware of every single thin' you're doin'? Where you are in this house? Who you're talkin' to? Every single thin' you do? Every breath you take in and exhale. Don' lie and tell me you aren' aware of the same thin' with me."
He pinned both her arms above her head. "Admit it, Pepper. Admit to me you know where I am at all times."
"Maybe I do, but that doesn't have anything to do with your behavior."
He heard the desperation in her voice. The ache. He knew the exact feeling. It was always there for both of them when they got together, especially if emotions were running high. "What the hell are you doin' throwin' out a lure to Trap? Do you want to get one of us killed? He came here to help me and he's my friend. Are you angry with him because he threatened you?"
"I don't care that he threatened me. Of course I want him to be loyal to you and to make certain you come back alive, but he doesn't care anything at all about the children. He's like the men in that laboratory and the ones in France."
"It shouldn't matter a damn what he's like. You don' use that lure on any other man, do you understand me? You belong to me, not someone else. We'll sort it out between us. You're not goin' to bring anyone else into the mix. It's too dangerous."
"What other weapon do I have to protect myself or the children? Unless you want me to kill him, because that's always a possibility."
"You trust me. Me, Pepper. To look after you and the children. I wouldn't have brought Trap here if I thought he'd be a danger to the kids. He's my friend. He's different, yes, and he's analytical and a little obsessive, but he's loyal to me and my team, which means..." He put his hand over her mouth when she would have protested. "Which means he's loyal to my family."
"You're not being fair, Wyatt. I might know you, but I don't know him. I trust you with me and the girls - but not him. He wants to put them right back into another lab and dissect them. I don't know who you'll choose, us or your friends if it comes down to that."
Anger ripped through him like a tidal wave. "You know me." He bit the words out between his teeth. "You're bein' a coward and you know it."
Before she could protest, he took her mouth. He wasn't the least bit gentle. He didn't feel gentle, not with adrenaline pouring through his body like a fiery, hot stream. He leaned into her, deliberately imprinting her body on his, all her soft skin and lush curves. In that moment he could care less whether or not her kiss was lethal. His hunger for her was brutal. Coupled with his volcanic anger, there was no way to stop the rising passion, the terrible need that was so primal he almost couldn't control it.
He poured himself into her, his mouth hot and demanding, forcing her response. The taste of her burst through him like an addicting drug he would never be able to find anywhere else. Never be able to get enough of. Her arms slid around his neck and she melted into him with a small gasping sob.
Her mouth moved under his and he was lost in her sexual web. Drowning. Going under for the last time. The thing was, he didn't want to come up for air. Not ever. He could kiss her forever and it would never be enough. The ground shifted, and he didn't know if it was his reaction or hers. Only that the world dropped away until there was only the woman in his arms and her incredible mouth breathing for him.
He dragged her closer, desperate to be skin to skin. She was made for him. She fit. Perfectly. The chemistry just got hotter the more they kissed, inflaming his every sense until he couldn't think straight. Until there was no way to do without her. She was inside of him, living and breathing, and without her body to sustain his, there was no Wyatt. He knew part of that was the biochemical spilling from her mouth to his, but more, he already knew the taste of her, what it felt like to be inside of her. Once he started kissing her, it was difficult to pull back without having her.
This isn't going to work, Wyatt. It's not.
She didn't take her mouth from his, but she protested, and that made him all the more crazy. Thunder roared in his ears. He slammed his palm against the wall beside her head. He had never wanted a woman so much in his life. Not just wanted her - needed her. No one else was ever going to satisfy the craving inside of him, a terrible empty hole that only she could fill.
You damn well aren't goin' to change your fuckin' mind because I'm angry with you. You had no business throwin' out a lure to him and you know it.
She startled when he hit the wall, trying to draw back, but there was nowhere for her to go. Wyatt had her there, captured between the wall and his body. His prisoner. He held her there, his brooding gaze drifting over her face.
"You belong to me and no one else."
"You don't own me," she denied.
He could see the panic in her eyes, feeling it rising like the tidal wave of sheer lust had risen in him. "I do," he said softly. "You're mine and I'll be damned if I'm ever goin' to give you up, so just know that, Pepper. Know as much as you belong to me, I belong to you. We're in this together. We had this
conversation. We talked it all out. I've been inside you dozens of times. You knew when we first started this that there was no goin' back."
"What is this?" She sounded as scared as she looked. "Doesn't this scare you, even a little bit?"
Her body trembled, shivering against his. He leaned down and brushed a much gentler kiss over her mouth. Her eyes were huge, her breath coming too fast. She was very close to panic and seemed more vulnerable than ever. Wyatt realized her fear was very genuine. Pepper hadn't been made to feel passion and attraction - only to make men feel it. She had no idea what to do with the intense chemistry sizzling between them. She had no idea what to do with him, especially when he was angry.
"You're safe with me. You are. I'm a loyal man, a family man. You don' have to be afraid of what you're feelin'. I'll take care of us."
She shook her head. "How do you know what you're feeling is genuine, that I didn't cast a lure for you too?" She touched her mouth with shaking fingers. "Because a week from now, I don't want to hear you say that."
He captured her hand and brought it to his mouth, his teeth scraping gently at the pads of her nervous fingers. "I can not only feel the lure when you test the waters, but I can see it as well, a thin line of energy going from you to your victim. No one else in that room spotted it and they're all GhostWalkers. What does that tell you?"
She winced visibly and lowered her lashes. They were wet. Spiky. His heart contracted hard in his chest. He pushed back the stray tendrils of cloudy waves that just refused to stay tamed in her braid.
"Don't say 'victim,' Wyatt. Don't use that word."
"I know you didn't deliberately seduce me, Pepper, because you're scared to death of me - of what you feel when you're with me. I connected us when I attempted to heal you, but you connected us long before that, when you jumped between Ginger and me and took that bite. I knew in that moment that you were the one for me. There was no sex involved right then. None. Just a woman showin' tremendous courage, the kind of courage a man livin' in the bayou needs when he wants to raise his family here."