by E. M. Moore
His hands stilled. He dropped them to his sides.
I stepped back immediately, almost tripping over the fabric before running back into the dressing room. Once again, I heaved in a few breaths to slow everything down. I loved what his touch did to my body. The area between my thighs ached for him, but we were in a posh store in a very public mall. I didn’t care if he sent the saleslady away or not; this wasn’t happening. Was it?
Instead of looking at another one of my choices, I looked at one of his. The one I pulled out first was black with diamond sparkles all over. Strapless with a plunging neckline, I wasn’t sure I had enough chest to fill it out. I tried it on and backed out of the room with my backside first, asking Nic over my shoulder if he would zip me up again.
His hands were there instantly, pulling the dress together until I heard the zipper teeth zipping together with his slow tug. I looked down, noticing the ample swell that pushed out of the top. Well, that was a surprise. Realizing this was why he chose this one, I looked him straight in the eye when I turned. His eyes, of course, landed on me briefly until they lowered. Really, I couldn’t blame him. It was hard not to notice.
His throat worked. He came forward, his hand pressing against my lower stomach until I backed all the way into the dressing room. He shut and locked the door behind us with one hand, still taking all of me in. He smiled, and his sharp vampire teeth slid out. The very sight of them made me gasp. Then lava poured through my veins, only centering between my legs in a sultry heat. He tilted my head and kissed down my neck as I grabbed hold of him. His fangs teased my skin before he licked and sucked, easing the tiny little pinpricks they made. He worked his way down my shoulder to the swell of my breasts that flowed out of the dress. Goosebumps spread all over my body in anticipation. When his heated mouth touched me, I almost fell back into the wall, but Nic was there to catch me. He walked me back until we hit the wall, his fingers working on taking my zipper down. He paused once his fingers grasped the metal. “Can I?”
I nodded, and he pulled it down slowly. His chest against mine kept the dress in place, but it was just hanging now. If he even just moved slightly away, the dress would fall to the floor. That thought terrified and excited me all at the same time. Nic brought his hand around to the front. His thumb dipped below the dress line and fondled my nipple. I clenched my teeth and pulled his hips toward me.
“You’re so beautiful.”
His hand around my front prevented the dress from falling down, but all I wanted to do was share myself with Nic. I wanted him to see me. Nothing else mattered. I tugged down on the skirts and the dress fell a little. My nipples peeked over the edge. His head darted forward, taking one expertly in his mouth and rolling it around with his tongue. A cry caught in my throat. “Yes,” I said. “God, yes.”
I tugged a little further until the fullness of my breasts were exposed. His hands came up to grab and play with the other while his lips and tongue still tortured my nipple. His hips angled into mine with sweet, slow circles. I opened my legs for him, but there was too much fabric. I pulled again and the dress fell to the floor, exposing all of me. A rush of heat spread over my skin as he stepped back and took me in. I was in nothing but my underwear and for the first time, I watched as Nicolai Ravana appreciated every inch of me. He moved forward, taking my leg again and maneuvering it around his hip. I pushed off the floor with my free leg, and he easily caught it and wrapped that around his torso.
I gasped as my center opened up for him. His movements into my core were now fraught with grazes directly against me. The kind that sent maddening shivers up my spine and the need for more contact. His hand flirted with my panties. “I’ve dreamed about seeing you like this,” he said, his voice husker than I’d ever heard it.
I moaned into his touch, his words sending another spike of heat through me. When his fingers bypassed my silky fabric, I lost all control. I pitched my hips forward, and his fingers grazed my center. “Oh,” I sighed. “Please, Nic.” I practically begged him to touch me, but he took his time. His fingers stayed there as his mouth explored my breasts. His hip movements only teased his touch, but I wanted more. “I want to be enough,” I said, the thought slipping out before I could take it back.
His movements stilled. “Enough? For me?” His face turned hard and his dark eyes sealed onto mine. “You want to be enough?” he asked, the warning already clear in his voice. “Don’t hold back.”
He pushed a finger inside me, and my walls clenched around him. I let out a strangled cry, and my fingers dug into his shoulders. He began rocking again, his hips spurring his finger’s movements. My head fell back against the wall, and my mouth opened at the sensations. He increased his rocking and small moans and breathy sighs escaped past my lips.
“Don’t hold back, Ri. It’s just you and me.”
I moaned, the sound filling the dressing room and overflowing. “Nic, we shouldn’t…”
His fingers worked harder, faster. “Tell me.”
“I think…I think… More,” I said, and if no one had heard anything else, they definitely heard that. I winced, but Nicolai’s mouth clamped down on my nipple and now two spots of pleasure bent me to their will. “Please, Nic,” I said.
“Please what?”
I moaned and met his stroke with one of my own.
He pulled back. “Please what, Ri?”
“Make me,” I said, my tone implying everything.
“With pleasure.”
His mouth moved to my other breast as his fingers continued their delicious exploring and playing. My fingers curled into the wall at my back, my nails scraping off the hard surface. I put everything out of my head except for Nicolai’s hands and mouth and lips on me. I focused on the strokes of his fingers and the heat of his tongue. I matched his movements with my own until my breath sawed out of me. If this was Nicolai’s idea of dress shopping, I was down for it. Whenever, wherever. For fun, for real. It really didn’t matter. His thumb massaged the sensitive spot between my thighs, and I gasped. He sent me on a spiral, reaching for the top with abandon. “Yes!” I cried out. I was so close. Just a little more.
He knew it too. He kept on giving it to me. Heated kisses, finger swirls, until my body started to lock up. He sensed it, his movements quickening until I cried out and clutched at him. My hips worked into his, prolonging the feeling of wave after wave of pleasure as it coursed through my veins and culminated in the ecstasy between my thighs.
Afterward, Nic pressed his heaving chest against mine. His hand retreated, and he placed both against the wall of the dressing room behind me as he fought for breath. “That was perfect.”
“Not yet,” I said, trying to push him away.
He held steadfast though. “What are you doing?”
I rolled my hips into his and was met with his hardness. Though I’d just reached my peak, his arousal was enough to start me again. “Your turn.”
He shook his head and pulled away. His hand came to rest on my cheek. “Ri, nothing will do for me now unless I slide inside you. I’m definitely not doing that here, and I don’t think you’re ready for that anyway. Mine will have to wait.”
“But—”
“Trust me,” he said, his eyes earnest. “I took an enormous amount of pleasure in that too. Now if I can just go find a cold shower somewhere, I’ll be fine.”
“I can—” I started to protest, but he cut me off again.
“I’m telling you, all I want is to be buried so deep inside you I can’t even remember my own name. That’s all I want. So, unless you want me to take your virginity right here, we need to stop.” I clamped my mouth shut. He smiled. “I thought so.”
He let go of me, and I slid down his front. “I think I’m more ready than I was,” I told him honestly. It was something I’d been thinking more about. I loved these princes more than anything, and that’s what people did when they loved one another. The only thing was, with there being four of them and one of me, the logistics were kind of screwed up
. As far as I knew, there could only be one person, one moment that actually counted for the actual virginity taking. I couldn’t have four.
He pulled my hair around my ear and kissed my forehead. “We should talk to everyone about it then,” he said as if his own thoughts echoed mine. “It’ll be a sensitive topic, I think.”
I nodded, agreeing with him. “I want to share it with all of you.”
“I can’t speak for the rest of my brothers, but I’d like to be there in any way you want me to be.”
I accepted my clothes when Nic handed them to me and then covered up when he walked out with the black and tan lacy dress fit for royalty. Apparently, the decision had been made, but another one lingered, too. How could I choose just one to share the moment with? And if I couldn’t, would they all want to be there? Or would that just be crossing a line for some?
3
I’d just slipped my second black shoe on when a knock sounded on the door. I bent at the waist to pull the strap over my heel and called out, “Come in!” expecting it to be one of the princes. The door swung open, and T.J. filled up the space from door jamb to door jamb. He was dressed in a black suit, the sleeves tight around his arms, and one thin tie disappearing into the recesses of his coat. My stomach immediately plummeted. Not because I didn’t like T.J. I did. It was just that the guys didn’t like him, and if he was picking me up at my door to take me to the party, this was going to set one or all of them over the edge.
“Hey,” I said, my voice trailing off in surprise. I stood to my full height, now only a couple inches shy of T.J.’s forehead instead of more than a few. He kept his eyes on mine, never wavering to peer down or act anything other than proper and respectful. Not for the first time, I wondered what he had said that made Nicolai punch him in the face. He had never brought it up with me, and I wasn’t about to broach the subject either. As far as I was concerned, the less said, the better.
“Hey, you. Miss guard of honor for tonight.”
I smirked at him. “We both know I’m not a full-fledged guard yet, and there’s no way I’m taking that honorary spot without you there with me.”
He waved his hand in dismissal. “No one will care about me tonight. I was expected to do those things. You’re the one who is surprising everyone.”
I shook my head. “I’d rather not be the focus of attention so play along with me, okay?” His smile widened, and I checked the clock on my dresser. It was too early to head to the party right now. They wouldn’t be ready for us for another forty-five minutes or so. “So, what’s up?”
“Well, hate to do this to you—us, I mean. Lex hates to do this to us on our big night, but she needs you down at the cells. Apparently Soren is finally talking, but he won’t talk to her or anyone else.”
“Yeah?” I asked, wondering where this was going. “Didn’t they use a little bit of coercion?”
He chuckled. “I believe there was a fair bit of that, too, yeah. He’s actually asking for you.”
My head careened back. “Me?” My hand instinctively went to my shoulder. Since Stephan had put the salve on it again and had been texting me every few hours to remind me to put it on again, it hadn’t been bothering me, but I would always think of that vamp when that shoulder hurt now and vice versa.
T.J. shrugged, his gaze dropping to the floor. “We don’t understand it, but she thought maybe if you were actually there, they could try and get something out of him. They’re trying to find out where Dumont might be hiding and if Soren will actually tell you, they can move on him.”
I was already pulling the small black purse I’d prepared for tonight off my bed as T.J. told me the plan. Of course I’d do anything to try and find Dumont. He needed to be stopped before any of the Ravanas got hurt.
T.J. hid a smile. “I actually didn’t expect you to be dressed yet. Aren’t girls supposed to spend hours doing that stuff?”
I gave him a look. “What about me makes you think I’d spend hours in front of the mirror?”
“None, I guess. I just still expected it.”
I shook my head and pulled my cell from my purse and sent a group message to the princes: Heading to the cells with T.J. Soren’s asking to talk to me.
There were a few things about that text that would piss them off so I put it on vibrate and placed it back in the purse as fast as I could. They knew where I was and could come join if they wanted, but both T.J. and I didn’t need my phone going off every five seconds.
The journey to the main building was slow. I wished I’d chosen a more comfortable pair of shoes, but then again, who knew I’d be interrogating a prisoner tonight instead of heading over to the Rajyvik house for a party?
We started down the empty halls, and then T.J. showed me to a door at the very end of one hallway that led to a staircase. They looked the same as the steps that led to the stake-throwing area, but that door was on the other side of the stone building. I reached up to rub my neck, my stomach bottoming out as soon as we hit the bottom of the stairs and heard voices.
“Don’t be nervous,” T.J. said. He pulled me to a stop and faced me. “Just try and get him talking. Lex and I will be there the entire time. We’re not really sure what this angle is by bringing you into it, but if we can use it to find out where Dumont is hiding, it could change everything.”
“I’m happy to help,” I assured him. That didn’t mean I couldn’t be nervous about it though. I hadn’t seen him since he tried to take out the Rajyvik’s.
“I knew you would be. You look…very pretty, by the way.”
“Thanks, T.J. A suit suits you too.”
T.J. was a good guy, but there was nothing but brotherly affection for him on my side. Hopefully he could work his way into feeling the same because there was absolutely no chance of anything else happening.
He motioned for me to head toward the voices so I did, taking the lead down the hall. The wide rock-laden hallway was lit with single lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling every few feet or so. Up ahead, more light shimmered and when we got there, it opened up into a cavernous room surrounded by cells. A lone wooden table sat in the middle with two folding chairs, which sat empty. To the right, I saw Lex standing in front of one of the cells. I walked straight for her. The click, click of my heels alerted her to our arrival, and she turned at the same time a very pale, almost sickeningly white hand gripped one of the solid metal bars from the inside of the cell. I looked past her to the vamp almost hidden away by the thick black bars of his small room. Greasy black hair fell to the vamp’s chin. He smiled and it brought out a shiver in me. He looked fiercer now than he ever had. Vampires were known to look cunning, but this one was trodden down, even beaten down—literally—with the black and blue marks on his face. This less exquisite vampire looked ruthless.
He motioned toward the metal folding chair in front of him, completely ignoring Lex. “Have a seat. Ariana, isn’t it?”
I nodded and looked to Lex for confirmation. She gave me a slight nod, and I headed for the chair and sat in it. “Soren.”
His lips peeled apart, showing off his needle-like fangs. He was so different than the other vampires I’d met around here. Their fangs never came out unless warranted or provoked. That was one thing with these rogue vamps, going off the reservation and sucking humans dry had done something to the way they reacted. He sniffed the air, his eyes closing. I looked up at T.J. questioningly. His face was hard, and I quickly looked back toward Soren. “You smell as good as I remember. All dressed up I see. I heard it through the grapevine that you’re being honored tonight. Something about how brave you were in killing all my friends.”
I smiled and sat up straighter. “Considering your friends wanted to kill my friends, I had to do something about it. You can’t really blame us for stopping a bunch of rogue vamps. You were bound to be shut down sooner or later.”
Soren gripped the bars in front of him, then threw his head back and laughed. The sound of it curled my toes in hesitation. He rested his face against
the bars. “That’s where you’re wrong. You’re all wrong,” he said. “We’re not rogue vampires that just decided one day we didn’t like the way things were going down. We’re much more than that.”
“To Dumont?”
Soren nodded.
“Where is he?”
“You don’t do foreplay, do you?”
“Alright,” T.J. said. “You wanted to talk to her, so talk. Where’s Dumont hiding? We know you know. Remember that he left you with us. You could be all safe and sound with your master right now except he chose to leave you there and save himself. You have no allegiance to him.”
Soren barely spared T.J. a glance before locking eyes with me again. “I hope all of this is worth it to you.”
“Worth it?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“I almost feel bad. For you. Not for any of these other guards, but you, Ariana. You were out in the real world just as happy as could be, and now you’re here and you have no idea what they’ve all brought you into, have you?”
“Happy, huh? You couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m much happier here.”
“Don’t kid yourself,” Soren said, sneering the words at me. “Anything would be better than what’s about to happen here. Especially where you’re concerned. If I were you, I’d ask for a different station than the one with the Ravanas. Not that you don’t deserve it because even I can tell you do, but you should pick a safer clan. Somewhere remote. A family no one cares about. The Ravanas are going down and I’m afraid if you choose them, you’re going down too.”
“So, what?” I asked, anger surging inside me. “Let me understand what’s going on here. You wanted to talk to me to warn me? That doesn’t seem like something you’d do.”
“Sometimes things aren’t as black and white, or as cut and dry as they seem.”
Soren reminded me of one of those know-it-alls who just loved to lord their knowledge over you. Like I gave a crap. “If you’re worried about me, where’s Dumont hiding out then? Give me a leg-up.”
“Ha. It’s not that easy, young one. I sympathize with your plight, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give Dumont to you.”
