“I’m not going to last much longer, honey. And I’m taking you with me.” Caleb’s mouth found that spot on her neck that drove her wild and swirled his tongue over her hot skin. His hips sped, and he changed his angle so that he was hitting that magic spot with every powerful motion.
Lana felt her orgasm coming and reached for it, wanting to feel that perfect pleasure one more time. Caleb moaned as if trying to hold back, and his teeth tightened over that place where her neck and shoulder met. Wild sparks spread out from that bite, cascading down through Lana’s body until they lit a fire inside her womb. She crashed headlong into pleasure, giving out a ragged cry of completion just as she felt Caleb’s erection thrust deep and pulsed hot and hard inside her.
His jagged shout vibrated her spine, lengthening her release until her whole body was trembling with effort of sustaining it. Slowly, the intensity faded, and she stroked her hands over Caleb’s back.
He relaxed al those hard muscles and his weight pressed limply onto her, but she reveled in the feeling rather than fearing it.
He said something that was muffled by the pilows.
“What?”
He lifted his head and looked down at her. Into her. He was stil lodged inside her, jerking every time one of the after-spasms of her orgasm made her quiver around him.
He hadn’t worn a condom, and she could feel the slick heat of his semen inside her. The intimacy of eye contact combined with the presence of his body so deep inside hers made Lana tremble. She’d never been this close to anyone before, and it was almost too much to take.
His eyes slid over her features, studying them. “It was nothing,” he told her.
But it was something. He’d said he loved her again. She could see it glowing in his eyes. He loved her but wouldn’t say it, because she had told him not to.
Lana couldn’t do this any longer. She couldn’t keep him at arm’s length. Couldn’t keep lying to him. Not after everything he’d done for her. He deserved better.
And Lana was tired of feeling alone, tired of carrying her burdens by herself.
She puled in a deep breath, praying she was doing the right thing. Like his confession of love, once she said the words, they could never be taken back. She lowered her voice, stil uncertain whether the words she’d kept so tightly caged inside her would even come out.
“Kara was there,” she whispered. “In Armenia. She was the one who had my friends tortured. The one who had them kiled. She was the one who ordered my death.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Caleb was stunned silent, but his arms tightened around Lana as she spoke in a voice so low it was hard to hear.
Kara? That elegantly dressed, seemingly normal woman had ordered Lana’s death? He knew something about her was off, but he’d never expected this. It didn’t seem possible, but it explained everything. It explained why Lana was so jumpy every time she went to the youth center. It also explained why Kara’s perfume had tugged at his memory when they first met.
Caleb had been in that cave not long after she’d been there. He’d smeled her perfume lingering in the air, along with the stench of blood and death. He’d never seen her
—she’d been one of the terrorists who had carefuly concealed their identities and never let a peon like him meet them face to face—but he’d smeled her.
Lana shuddered in his arms. “I couldn’t tel you because I thought if I pretended not to know her long enough, she would just go away. I thought if she had no reason to suspect I could identify her, she’d leave me in peace. It was the only thing I could think of to protect my family.”
Caleb wasn’t sure if her plan was more brave or ignorant. “You didn’t tel anyone? Not even your mom?”
“No one. When you found al those bugs, I thought she’d go away—that she’d know I hadn’t told you or anyone else.”
“I’m surprised she hasn’t already kiled you.”
“Why would she want to kil me if I couldn’t identify her? It would just draw more attention, which I doubt she wants. Besides, she liked the torture best. She made them film it so she could watch over and over.” Her voice trembled over the words.
Caleb wanted to be gentle, but there was no easy way to tel her. “Your death was part of Kara’s initiation into the Swarm. She can’t let you live, even if you hadn’t seen her.”
He felt her stiffen in his arms. “Monroe said the Swarm was gone. Wiped out.”
Caleb pressed a kiss against her slippery hair. “It doesn’t matter. Even if she’s not working for them, she’l have a reputation to uphold.”
“I know she wants to hurt me, but if she kils me, her fun wil be over.”
When he thought of al the times that woman had the chance to hurt Lana . . . it made his blood run cold.
“Maybe that’s why you’re stil alive,” he said. “She’s enjoying watching you suffer. But eventualy, she’l get bored. In fact, she probably already is, which is why there was a sniper on the roof yesterday, waiting for a shot at you.”
She sat up, gripping the sheet over her breasts. Panic had drained the color from her cheeks. “I’l never be safe, wil I?”
“Like hel you won’t. I’m going to have Kara taken into custody, for starters. Then, if al goes wel, she’l die in prison. Soon.”
“And if it doesn’t go wel? If Kara has some way of puling in help from outside prison? Then what? You can’t do that. You can’t let her know I told you who she is—that I’m a witness to what she did. She’l hire someone to go after my family.”
“She won’t have the chance, Lana. I’l make sure she has no outside contact.”