How to Worship a Goddess

by Stephanie Julian

  Instinct demanded he push her against the door and flatten his body against hers. He didn’t want her to be able to get away.

  Leaning down, he shoved his face in her neck, drawing in her scent. He smelled no fear, though how he knew that, he didn’t have a clue. But, holy God, he knew he smelled her arousal. Spicy hot and so fucking—

  He grabbed her shoulders and held her immobile. She didn’t try to move, as if she knew he wouldn’t let her. She merely stared up at him with those beautiful pale gray eyes and breathed.

  He felt her breath brush against his skin, making every hair on his body stand on end, and his cock pulsed and thickened as blood pumped it into an erection.

  “Lucy.”

  He shook as he tried not to do what his body was urging him to do. Which was shred her jeans with his claws, lift her against the wall, and fuck her brains out. Just thinking about it made him burn.

  “Brandon. Go ahead. Just do it.”

  He shook his head. She didn’t mean it. She couldn’t mean it. Struggling against the need to bite her, he settled for a lick instead. His tongue slicked its way up her neck to her chin.

  As her taste exploded on his tongue, he knew it wouldn’t be enough. And when she drew in a deep breath that sounded more like a gasp, he knew he’d just lost the fight.

  His hands shot to her hips as his mouth opened over the soft skin on her neck. He tried to remember not to hurt her with his claws… Jesus, he had freakin’ claws.

  But he got lost in her taste and her smell. His entire body had focused on her, and he couldn’t stop.

  He sucked on the skin of her neck as she tilted her head to the side to give him more access.

  With his heart racing and his blood pounding in his veins, he bit her, hard. Not enough to break the skin. Just enough to leave a mark. To make sure everyone knew she was his.

  She cried out but he heard desire in her voice, not alarm or pain. As her arms circled his shoulders, she pressed closer, her hips angling forward, seeking out his erection.

  Naked. He wanted her naked. He reached for the button on her jeans, barely noticing that his claws were gone. Maybe they’d never been there. Maybe he’d only imagined them. At the moment, he couldn’t have cared less. He wanted her. Needed her.

  He shoved her jeans down to her knees as she kicked off her shoes. She’d been wearing red sneakers and they hit the ground with a soft thud, allowing her jeans to slide to the floor. The tiny pair of black bikini underwear gave way with barely a breath of sound, leaving her naked. Christ, he could smell how much she wanted him, see the evidence on her pussy lips, wet and slick.

  He dropped to his knees, lifted her left leg over his shoulder, and covered her clit with his mouth. No build up, no foreplay. Just full-out attack.

  Her head made an audible thud against the wall as it fell back, her hands reaching for his head. Her fingers grabbed at the short strands of his hair, tried to find purchase but couldn’t.

  So she cupped the back of his head and tried to force him even closer.

  Wet and hot, she tasted so damn good he would’ve been content to eat her out all night. He sucked on her clit ruthlessly, never stopping for breath until he felt her body shudder on the edge of orgasm. Then he shifted his focus to lick at the seam of her sex, lapping at her flowing juices before working his tongue into the tight confines of her sheath.

  Her short cry of frustration made him growl in satisfaction. She’d come on his command. He fucked her with his tongue until he’d worked her up again then drew back to bathe her stomach with his kisses. Her moisture covered his face and he felt like a glutton, but he couldn’t stop.

  His cock fucking throbbed, aching and hard. Each of her ragged breaths drew him closer to that edge where he came completely undone and rutted on her like an animal.

  No, he needed to hold onto some semblance of control. But her smooth skin and her breathless cries made it impossible.

  Letting her leg slide off his shoulder, he stood. Grabbing her hips, he lifted, her back sliding up the wall until he had her exactly where he wanted her.

  The perfect height to—

  She leaned her hips forward, the wet lips of her sex brushing against the sensitive head of his cock. Electric sensation shivered and danced along the shaft, making him grit his teeth against the need to shove into her until she begged him for mercy.

  He wanted her to scream his name, needed to hear her voice as he took her. But first…

  The head of his cock breached her, just enough to lodge in place as her pussy clenched. Tight. So fucking tight.

  Yes, she was wet, but she was just as aroused as he was and her pussy would be tight as a fist.

  Goddamn, that’s what he wanted. Wanted to feel her squeezing him, caressing him. Now. He thrust hard, sank deep even as her body practically fought against the invasion. But when he breached her, she sucked him in as if she wouldn’t let go.

  That animal he sensed inside himself reared up and took over then. His hips began to pump, working his cock in and out in a piston-fast motion that cranked his blood pressure and sent his libido into overdrive.

  His mouth latched onto hers, stealing her breath and sucking it into his lungs. When he began to see stars in front of his eyes, he broke apart to suck in air, his hips continuing to pound against hers. He stared into her face, watching her expression slacken even further into ecstasy.

  He stroked harder, faster, felt his body tense as she tried to move with him. The bare skin of her neck called to him and he put his mouth over the tight tendon and bit. Hard. He couldn’t help himself.

  Christ, he wanted to taste blood and that was just fucked up. Still, he couldn’t stop. He barely managed to stop his teeth from breaking the skin.

  Tearing his mouth away, he let his head fall back even as he pushed his body harder against hers.

  His cock felt swollen and ten times more sensitive than it’d ever felt before. Each time he retreated, he growled and shoved back in that much faster.

  Her hands, which had been clenching tight to his shoulders, began to flex, as if she were fighting him. It made his beast rear back on its hind legs and roar.

  And made him go at her that much harder.

  Total domination. She had to give in. He had to have her complete submission or he’d fuck her until she gave it to him.

  But he felt her pressing back against him. She wouldn’t give him what he wanted. She twisted, as if trying to get away. Her head shook back and forth. She wanted to deny him his prize. Her orgasm.

  He pulled out, fighting her hands as she tried to keep him against her. But she couldn’t match his strength.

  Setting her on her feet, he turned her to face the wall, lifting her arms and pinning her wrists above her head with one hand. She moaned, and wriggled her ass against his groin, drawing a harsh growl from him.

  “Fuck me, damn you.” Her voice sounded hoarse and rough with need. “You know you want to. Just do it.”

  It was exactly what he wanted but he refused to let her control any of this. So instead, he fit his cock into the seam of her ass and pressed hard, making sure she understood exactly what he was promising. She shuddered and moaned then went pliant beneath him, one cheek pressed to the wall.

  “I’ll do it when I’m Goddamn good and ready. I’m going to fuck you until you can’t stand.”

  Leaning in, he pressed his nose behind her ear to breathe her in, then licked a path from just below her ear to the tip of her jaw. Then he nipped her jaw and strung a series of kisses down her throat as he ground against her.

  Her eyes fluttered shut as she drew in a huge breath, her lips parting to release it.

  “Then do it already.”

  Goddamn her, she was taunting him, pushing him. She pushed back against him, her hips rotating, rubbing his cock with those smooth ass cheeks.

  One hand on her wrists, his other reached around the front of her to slip between her legs.

  Her sweet, slick essence coated his fingers and h
e speared them into her pussy without warning, just to feel her writhe. She clamped down on him with a moan, making her sheath that much tighter. He had to use more force to penetrate her now.

  His cock throbbed and he realized he’d been rubbing himself against her, almost to the point of getting off.

  Pre-cum seeped from the tip, just as her essence flowed down her legs. Pulling his hand away required concentration but he did it, grabbing his cock and angling it down.

  He had to bend his knees to get at the right angle but he got distracted by the feel of her wet lips sliding against his heated cock. Christ, he could get off just like this.

  His hips naturally took over the rhythm, rubbing against her heated skin, feeling her body quake with each pass.

  “Brandon. Blessed Goddess, fuck me.”

  “When I’m damn good and ready.”

  “I know you’re ready now. I can feel it—”

  With just a flex of his knees, he pierced her and sank as deep as he could go in this position.

  Lucy released her breath in a harsh exhalation that sounded almost pained to him. Still, he couldn’t stop.

  He moved closer, knocked her feet with his own so her legs spread even more. It gave him a few more inches of depth. And made her moan out his name.

  With one arm around her waist and the other still holding her wrists pinned above her head, he let his hips pound against her ass.

  The position made her so fucking tight, he could barely stand it.

  Somehow he managed to hold off his orgasm, to push into her and push into her until she hung limp in his hand. Her body merely a receptacle for his, she finally gave him what he needed and let him have her.

  When she came, she didn’t tense at all. Instead her body went liquid around him, fiery hot and clenching. Grasping his cock and squeezing until he couldn’t hold back.

  With a low growl, he pushed as deep as he could go and held tight. He exploded, his seed pumping deep.

  The orgasm went on for minutes until he honestly thought something was wrong. But Christ, he didn’t want to pull out. And he swore he was still hard.

  The hand at her waist slid across her stomach and arrowed straight down to her clit. He flicked the little nub and felt her twitch around him.

  He’d just come but he was still hard and getting harder. He could go again. Right now. So he did.

  Chapter 9

  When he woke, it had gone dark again.

  So dark, he couldn’t at first tell whether he was blindfolded or it was just that pitch black.

  He reached for his eyes… No blindfold.

  “Shh, Brandon, just lie still a while longer.”

  Ah, he knew that voice. He loved that voice. That voice made him hard and ready. Even now, when his blood felt like frozen slush in his veins, he felt his cock begin to fill.

  “Lucy.”

  “Yes. Everything’s fine, sweetheart. Just lie still.”

  Sure, he could do that. Frankly, he didn’t know if he could do much of anything else.

  Jesus, everything fucking hurt. What the hell had happened? The last thing he remembered was falling asleep after nailing Lucy up against the wall like a madman. And that sure as hell hadn’t hurt.

  “Are you okay?” Damn, his voice sounded scratchy, raw. Deeper somehow.

  “I’m fine, Brandon. You need to lie still.”

  “Why? Did something happen?”

  Finally, his eyes were starting to adjust to the dark, enough for him to see shapes.

  “Nothing happened. You… just need to rest some more.”

  He turned his head toward her voice and saw her sitting next to him on the bed. He couldn’t see her expression but he knew by the tone of her voice that something was up.

  Her hand settled on his chest, a comforting weight that sank heat into him. He felt that warmth trying to seep through his body, trying to dispel the cold.

  Her head lowered and she began to chant. Though he couldn’t understand a word she said, he knew it was the same language she’d been singing in the other night.

  He wanted to reach for her, tried to lift his arms but they were too damn heavy. He opened his mouth to speak but he couldn’t get his vocal cords to work.

  Now what the hell was wrong with his voice? Panic wanted to eat away at him but Lucy’s voice soothed him. He wanted to close his eyes again.

  But he had questions about… Hell, what questions did he have?

  Something to do with what had happened earlier today. Something about a knife.

  The little goat man, Sal, had stuck a knife through his chest. He glanced down at his chest.

  Huh. No knife hilt sticking out. And since his heart was beating, he figured the fact that the knife was gone was a good thing. He glanced around. No Sal. No Cat either. The teen girl with the beautiful hair had helped Sal stick a knife in his chest.

  Okay, maybe his brain needed a few more hours of sleep to be able to function properly because right now, he definitely felt fucked in the head.

  He closed his eyes, concentrating on calming that strange, almost detached panic. And banishing the cold. Why had Sal stuck a knife in his chest?

  Berserkir.

  Okay, that he remembered. They’d been trying to find out if he had berserkir blood.

  “Lucy.” He swallowed a few times, trying to moisten his mouth. “Did it work?”

  Lucy lifted the hand she’d been resting on his shoulder to his mouth and continued to chant.

  Okay, he could take a hint. Besides, he didn’t really feeling up to moving.

  And he loved listening to her voice. She sang like an angel… Wait, was that mixing metaphors, considering she was an Etruscan goddess?

  Okay, that sounded a little more like him, even if it was only in his head.

  After a few minutes, he actually started to feel more like himself.

  His blood unfroze, his brain began to put things back into the right order. His memories of earlier today lined up and he knew it was only a matter of time before he had the answer to his last question.

  He relaxed, letting her voice wash over him until finally she went silent and drew her hands away.

  “Brandon, open your eyes now. How do you feel?”

  She sounded tentative, worried. He opened his eyes to see her expression reflect the same feeling. Shit, maybe he didn’t want to know what’d happened.

  So instead of thinking about that, he concentrated on her question. He hauled his upper body off the bed then swung his legs off the side of the bed and planted his feet on the floor. He sat there, waiting to feel light-headed or nauseous.

  Nothing. He felt fine.

  Well, actually… He felt better than fine. He felt energized.

  And strong as hell.

  Like he’d pumped a few hundred pounds and popped some steroids to go with it.

  “I feel okay. Actually, I feel pretty strong. It worked, didn’t it? Whatever you and Sal did, it worked.”

  He couldn’t hide his grin but she bit at her bottom lip, worrying the soft flesh as she nodded. “Yes, but there were… complications.”

  Okay, that didn’t sound good. He looked down at himself, trying to figure out if he was missing any body parts or—claws. He remembered claws.

  Holy shit.

  “Can you turn on a light?”

  He needed to be able to see more clearly. He had to—

  A lamp on the bedside table clicked, and light flooded the room. Blinking a few times to get his eyes used to the light, he lifted his hands to check out his fingers. Then breathed a sigh of relief.

  No sharp white claws where his nails should be.

  “No, you didn’t imagine them,” Lucy said. “You’ll get accustomed to how they work in a few days.”

  His gaze flashed back to hers. “So I really am a… berserkir.”

  “Yes. I’m sorry, Brandon.”

  “Sorry? Shit, why are you sorry?”

  He was a frickin’ bear without the heavy fur coat. He was strong
enough to protect her now—

  “Because we broke the spell. If I’d known… If we’d realized sooner what was going on, maybe we could have prevented the spell from breaking, maybe—”

  “Wait. What spell?”

  Lucy grimaced, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. “Well, we’re not one hundred percent sure but we believe your parents had a spell cast that bound your berserkir powers. They probably had it done when you were a child. I assume they wanted you to lead a human life and never know you were different.”

  Shit, that meant his parents… “So my parents are berserkir.”

  She nodded. “At least one, but I’m guessing both because the binding spell was so strong.”

  His parents were berserkir. Memories from his childhood started to play through his mind. The scratches on his parents’ headboard shot to the forefront. What kid wanted to think about his parents having sex, much less rough sex? Yeah, he’d seen the scratches but he’d pretty much forced them out of his mind.

  What the hell else had he overlooked as a kid?

  “Holy shit,” he breathed, “the entire town I grew up in. They’re all in on it.”

  His town wasn’t big but it was isolated as all hell. No hotels, no bed and breakfasts. If you had family coming to visit, they stayed with you in your home or they didn’t stay overnight. But that happened rarely.

  No one ever sold their house if they moved away. They either kept it or sold it to one of the other families.

  Hell, the town was so isolated, he and all the other kids had been bussed almost forty minutes both ways to attend the district’s high school. The younger kids were taught in a four-room building until they hit seventh grade.

  Almost every single child who’d grown up there had left for bigger cities and never looked back. It was practically ingrained into them from birth that they would leave, get jobs “away.” Meaning anywhere except where they’d grown up.

  “Probably.” Lucy’s voice drew him back to the present. “I’ve seen it happen before. Your parents wanted a different life for you than they had. Don’t all parents want better for their children?”