She took the bowl off the table and placed it on her lap, then reached out, halting when her fingertips were inches away from the marks on Sajia’s arm. “May I? It might help me find Corinne.”
Sajia nodded and Saril quickly traced the scars. When she was done, she placed both hands on the bowl and stared into the water.
One moment dragged into a second, and then a third. Sajia caught herself holding her breath and exhaled, the sound of it loud in the hushed quiet of the room. She wanted to stand, to look into the bowl, aware with the light coming in through the window of how late in the day it was.
Her palms grew damp waiting. Her heart beat erratically.
Finally Saril blinked and looked up, her expression deeply troubled. “She’s being held prisoner on a fishing boat. The boat is moving. It doesn’t seem too far away, but I can’t tell if it’s still in the bay or if it’s reached open waters. There’s no name on its side and nothing distinctive about it except that there’s an old red lantern hanging on the right side of the cabin doorway and a blue on the left.”
Fear settled around Sajia, squeezing like a merciless fist. The Tucci didn’t own fishing fleets or container ships. If the bay and open ocean were to be searched for Corinne, The Master would have to negotiate with other families, and that would mean a delay and a loss of face.
Given how little he valued female scions, there was every possibility he’d decide to leave Corinne to whatever fate befell her, while placing the public blame for the failed betrothal on Sajia, claiming she’d betrayed her oath and ordering her killed to satisfy honor and the Gairden family.
Addai would never allow it. At the first hint of threat he’d take her away or he’d wage war on the Tucci, either of which would lead to the very thing that terrified her, the death of her family because of her. She glanced at him in panic, but some of it eased when he told Rimmon, “Sajia and I will take Araña’s boat in order to look for the scion.”
“As you wish. But the moment the Constellation leaves the outer harbor, the agreement I made with Tir for its protection ends. Bring it back into the waters I control and it’ll find a resting place among the other sunken ships.”
SIX
Though Sajia’s trips to Oakland had been limited, like anyone serving a scion she’d been given lessons in geography and human politics. She knew the general direction of the outer harbor controlled by Rimmon, though not how long it would take to reach it.
“We’ll have to hurry if we hope to get the boat into the bay by nightfall,” she said as they left Temptation, matching actions to words—only to be halted within steps by a manacle of fingers.
“We’ll continue our search for the scion tomorrow,” Addai said, swinging her around to face him. “Tonight we return home.”
The familiar arrogance was back. Deadly purpose returned to eyes as black as any abyss.
“No and no again,” she said, her hand going to the knife at her waist, thoughts flashing first to their battle at the chalet and the blood she’d drawn there, then to his back coated with it as she’d wielded the cat-o’-nines.
The fight left her, though her determination didn’t. She abandoned the blade in favor of stepping into him, close enough to share breath and heat.
She touched her hand to his chest and felt his heart beat against her palm. Steady strokes that made her think of home and safety, of a love so deep it defied even death. Of passion found in firm touches and feathery caresses, of desire all-consuming and eternal. Addai.
“Please,” she said, knowing she couldn’t allow herself to waver in her resolve. “This is important to me. Surely the boat has a cabin. We can take shelter there. It should be safe enough in open water, and if danger comes, I’ll go willingly. A blink and we can be in your home, your bed.”
“Our home. Our bed,” Addai said, resolve melting with her entreaty and the soft pleading in her eyes as she looked up at him.
He was glad none of the brothers allied with the Djinn were here to witness his defeat. He conceded it only because he could tell himself that traveling to and from the chalet with Sajia posed a greater danger than taking possession of the Constellation for the night. With the sigils on her skin weakening, her Djinn nature might reveal itself as they traveled. His own passing through the metaphysical plane created little more than a ripple, but a Djinn breaching it left a trail of sound that would summon angelic enemies if they were near.
They would arrive with the intention of killing her. They would die in the attempt. But there was risk even in that, and victory over them wouldn’t come without a cost.
He couldn’t capitulate without giving her fair warning. He leaned in, lips touching hers, the image of her bound to the bed arriving in his thoughts as he issued his threat. Don’t think to control me with your body, Sajia. Soon enough you’ll discover that I am the master of it.
She shivered. Not fear, her scent and the hardening of her nipples spoke only of arousal. He smiled as he contemplated turning defeat into a chance to give her the first of her lessons in submission. No boat left the dock without a multitude of ropes onboard it.
“Let’s go,” he said, denying them both the kiss they craved, the exploration of wet heat and the thrust of tongue against tongue, the sharing of breath that bound their spirits together more tightly each time it happened. Her whimper at the loss of his lips against hers was a soothing balm laid over the turbulent, intense emotions her presence created in him.
The farther they got from the Victorian-lined street with its clubs serving human vice, the more deserted the red zone became. Shops gave way to clusters of homes where the poor lived, and then, as the air took on the smell of the ocean, to twisted steel and rusted ruin, what remained of cranes and shipping containers from the days of the humans’ Last War.
Beyond the jungle of ruin, the exposed hulls and sunken debris of ships turned the harbor into a treacherous, watery graveyard. As they boarded the Constellation, Addai said, “Throw off the ropes. I’ll start the engines.”
He was unconcerned about navigating the dangerous outer harbor. Tir’s memories were his. His brother had been the one to recover the Constellation for Araña and guide it through the minefield of wrecked ships.
To ease Sajia’s mind, they searched for the fishing boat Saril had described until darkness crowded into dusk. Then Addai insisted they stop, and, as the anchor dropped, a hot swirl of desert-scented wind blew across the deck, announcing the arrival of a Djinn.
Irial’s eyes lingered appreciatively over Sajia’s form, settling briefly on the scorpion pendant at her throat before meeting Addai’s. “So this is the reward my father spoke of. Now I understand why I was sent with food … and bedding. Perhaps I’ll remain and aid you in the latter.”
Addai took a threatening step forward before he could stop himself. With a laugh, Irial set down the basket he carried, then disappeared as suddenly as he’d arrived, choosing to take no form rather than become the raven of his House.
“Your brother?”
“ No.”
“He called me your reward.” There was no anger in her voice, just the hesitant question, Your reward for doing what?
For traveling down the path your death set me on, Addai said, choosing to answer intimately, in a reminder of what they were to each other. There is nothing I’ve done that I wouldn’t do a thousand times again if that’s what it took to get you back, or if doing it would rewrite the past so you were never lost to me in the first place.
Sajia’s heart turned over in her chest at his pronouncement. “I’m not the same person,” she forced herself to say, silently confronting the fear she harbored, that one day he’d realize he loved the memory of who she had been in the past more than who she was in this life.
He crossed the distance, arms enclosing her. His expression harsh as his lips descended, claiming hers in a taking that left no room for resistance.
In all the ways that matter, you are the same, he said, his hardened cock an exclamation mark aga
inst her mound and belly. Never doubt it, Sajia.
As the last of the light faded, she pulled from his arms and picked up the basket left by their visitor. “I’ll set out the food and make the bed.”
She couldn’t bring herself to ask him to keep searching for Corinne during the night, not when the risk existed that he could be pulled from the sky by a bioengineered sea creature or a supernatural one, hindered and drowned because of his wings. It didn’t stop worry from gnawing at her, but deep down she accepted they’d done what they could for Corinne today, and she had to believe tomorrow they’d find and free her.
They ate at the small table in the cabin. Had Addai not been driven by thoughts of binding Sajia to the bed, he would have fed her by hand on the mattress. He would have dribbled honey over her naked breasts and watched as it slid over her curves, then along her flat stomach, filling the well of her navel before coating her sweet mound in an irresistible invitation for his tongue to follow.
His cock was hard again, a near-constant state since he’d first learned Sajia would soon be returned to him. Her flushed cheeks and heated glances told him she was equally aroused, their time together at Temptation wetting a carnal appetite for pleasure rather than appeasing the hunger of it.
He finished eating before she did and leaned back, drinking in the sight of her, his heart aching as he visually caressed the face that had haunted him for thousands of years. With a thought, he rid himself of clothing, then curled his fingers around his hardened length, making no attempt to hide his actions as he moved his fisted hand up and down on his organ.
Her heightened flush and the small catch of her breath served as reward. The dart of her tongue as she licked honey from her fingers a sensual punishment.
When she didn’t reach for more of the bread or the cheese and fruit that had accompanied it, he pitched his voice in a demand no mortal would have been able to deny. “Remove your clothing, Sajia.”
A small smile played over her lips in answer. Her eyelashes lowered as she contemplated defying him, letting him know by her response that if she agreed to his demands, it would be because she chose to. “Is this how it was before between us?”
“You’ve seen my memories of it.”
“And if I don’t want to play the slave to your master?”
“Disrobe, Sajia,” he said in answer, pressing more of his will on her, taking pleasure in the fact that he couldn’t truly bend her to it. Desire intensifying at the erotic fear he caught glimpses of when her gaze strayed to the soft lengths of rope he’d casually thrown onto the bed upon entering the cabin.
Long moments passed, the sexual tension building as she made him wait, drawing out the game until he tightened his grip on his cock rather than stroke it. She knew what would come if she accepted the first of his commands.
His heart thundered in his chest. Anticipation built along with a craving that surpassed even the desires of his flesh, for her to trust him, to demonstrate it by allowing herself to be bound as he’d allowed himself to be manacled.
He only barely suppressed a moan when she rose gracefully from her seat and stepped away from the table, providing him an unhindered view. The shirt was the first garment to hit the floor, her breasts drawing his attention and holding it.
Dark, dark nipples pouted in sultry beckoning, urging him to kneel before her and take them into his mouth. To bite and suck and lick until the evidence of her arousal flowed freely down her inner thighs, until the scent of it forced him to place his lips on her smooth, heated mound, to lap and thrust with his tongue before taking her with his cock.
Seeing the hunger in him, she cupped her breasts, rubbed the hardened peaks with her thumbs until only the pain of his hand around his cock kept him from taking her to the floor like a ravenous beast and fucking her.
He forced his gaze away from her beautiful breasts. “No transgression ever goes unpunished,” he said, a warning he suspected would become a refrain in their lives together. “Take the rest of it off.”
Her hands swept downward in a sensuous glide he was only too eager to follow with his lips. She paused, once again lingering, taking her time in obeying, fingers slowly loosening the pants, then pushing them off her hips, down sleekly muscled legs.
She bent with their descent, affording him the view of a delicate length of spine, the dusky curve of her buttocks as she removed her short boots before stepping out of the pants.
He could no more stop himself from closing the distance between them than he could force himself to leave her.
The feel of her skin against his was very nearly his undoing. It’d be so easy to lift her in his arms, to join his body to hers where they stood. One thrust. Two. And he could savor a quick release before carrying her to bed for a lengthier one.
He resisted, tormented them both by wrapping his arms around her, holding her heated mound against his hot, rigid length. His wings manifested, further enfolding her as he lowered his lips to hers, plunging his tongue into the hot depths of her mouth and shuddering when she welcomed it, rubbed her own against it before sucking him deeper, reminding him of the ecstasy he’d experienced when it was his cock thrusting between her lips.
My spirit to yours. The same formal words had a variety of uses among the Djinn, and though he longed to hear her speak them, between lovers they were unnecessary. To place her soul fully into his keeping, she had only to will it so and accompany it with the sharing of breath. He had only to speak the forbidden incantation to tie himself to this world and to her.
He craved the binding of their lives and spirits with the same desperate need he felt to join their bodies together. But where the latter required only that he push his cock into her slick, heated channel, the former required him to free her of the angelic script confining her to human form. And the moment he did so the knowledge of her Djinn nature separated and held in the scorpion pendant would flow into her.
He couldn’t risk it. Not yet. Not until he was sure of her.
He shuddered, fighting the urge to place his cock head at her wet opening and enter her. It was all he could do to release Sajia rather than carry her to the mattress and immediately come down on top of her.
As if sensing his weakness, she said, Make love to me, projecting it into his mind and reinforcing it with the grinding of her mound and belly against his erection.
The deep craving for her willing submission gave him the strength to take a step backward and say, “You know what I want. Lie down and position yourself so I can tether your wrists and ankles to the bed.”
A shiver went through Sajia. Her channel clenched violently.
She was so wet, so needy that tears nearly leaked from the corners of her eyes. He overpowered her with his beauty, with the depth of his desire for her.
Never would she have imagined complying so readily, so easily. She felt his eyes on her back, on her buttocks, on the glimpses of her swollen folds as she walked away from him.
Sajia got on the bed as he’d ordered, lifting her arms above her head and spreading her legs, loving what it did to him, hardening his face as he fought to master his lust, hardening his cock in defiance of the stranglehold he had on it.
He stood over her. Breathing barely controlled. The arrogant mask smoothing into place, bringing with it a visceral fear, a forbidden thrill that had her canting her hips.
His lips curved in a dangerous smile. His eyes were molten onyx as he freed his cock in favor of picking up the short lengths of rope and using them to hold her open, helpless.
He knelt between her thighs, wings visible but no longer a physical reality. His cock leaving a wet trail across his belly, his testicles on proud display as his eyes roamed possessively, hungrily, scorching her with his visual caress.
She didn’t know what to expect, only that she craved his attention. Needed his touch as desperately as she needed air to live.
“Please,” she said, bound, willing to beg for mercy where he hadn’t been when he chose pain over pleasure rather
than allow the vice lord to see her naked.
“No transgression ever goes unpunished,” Addai reminded her, delivering a sharp slap to her bare mound.
The shock of it made her gasp even as the spike of heated lust that flashed through her clit and cunt had her lifting her hips off the mattress in a silent plea for another.
A flush spread across his cheeks as he delivered a second spank, and a third, heating skin that already felt as though it were on fire, making her cry out. Then cry out again when he braced his hands on the mattress, following the lash of masculine fingers and palm with carnal strokes of his tongue.
She fought the bindings then. Writhed against them, not to escape and flee, but to find release of a different kind.
As she’d enjoyed her power over him when she knelt, tormenting him with her mouth, he returned the favor, his wicked lips latching onto her clit, sucking mercilessly.
He took her to the edge of orgasm repeatedly, denying her each time it was only a rough stroke of his tongue away, when a hard pull of sensuous lips would have sent her spiraling into ecstasy.
Tears streamed from her eyes. Her nipples ached, and her breasts felt tight and full, her nether lips unbearably swollen.
She was breathless from pleading. From fighting against the ropes holding her open and helpless.
Shiver after shiver raced through her. Need as she’d never known before.
A swirling of his tongue over her clit had her sobbing, the thrust of it into her slit had her arching upward, driving it deeper into her channel. “Please,” she begged again. “Please, Addai.”
He rose above her, phantom wings spread, a dark angel embodying the purely carnal. The tip of his penis lodging against her opening.
True damnation was being denied this, Addai thought as he pushed his thick length through swollen folds. Buried his cock in her snug sheath only to retreat then force his way in again in the sheer bliss of being joined with her.
He made love to her until she screamed in release. Paused only long enough to untie her wrists and ankles so she could wrap arms and legs around him as he took her again, this time allowing himself the ecstasy that came with the heated rush of semen and the touching of his mind to hers, pleasure doubled then doubled again as she orgasmed when he did and slipped into satiated sleep.
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