Bonds of Fire: The Bellum Sisters 2 (paranormal erotic romance)
Page 2
A pebble rustled behind her. Willow spun around in a heartbeat. He was there. Every tall, muscled inch of him. His hand grabbed her throat, not in a threat but in a dominating gesture that probably made lesser women swoon. Good thing she wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t some submissive bitch from his pack. His hand was warm and gentle, stroking the skin beneath his fingertips.
“Let go of me, asshole.” His hair was just thick enough for her to grip in her hands, not that she ever would do that. It was a sandy blond color, somewhere between a light brown and dark blond.
“How did you catch me so soon?”
His silence gave her a moment to really notice him. He looked angry and disheveled as if he’d been in a rush. His clothes were the same ones he’d worn when she last saw him. His shirt was wrinkled, and several buttons were missing. He looked like a hot mess.
She couldn’t help it; she threw back her head and laughed at him. Before she could blink, his mouth came down on hers. She struggled, turned her face away, breathing hard, but not before the lingering heat of his lips seared into her mind. Her body responded, remembering his touch from before.
He pulled her in close and she shivered at the hot press of his lips against her throat. His fingers caressed her skin, then wrapped around to curl around the nape of her neck. She was overwhelmed with his scent, couldn’t help but inhale the rich, animal scent of him.
His tongue licked a rough path from her shoulder to the back of her neck as if he was tasting her. Yet she wasn’t revolted in the least. Quite the opposite. The fire that had been raging inside her since she met him, since she left him, now had gasoline thrown on top of it—by the gallon.
“I see your nose has healed,” she said, her voice thick with arousal. She’d kneed him in the face the last time she saw him. After he’d taken her with startling passion behind a store. She was sad to acknowledge that a part of her was relieved that his face had healed.
His free hand wrapped band around her back, pulling her against him. She was plastered against him like a second skin. He reached down and cupped her bottom in a tight squeeze. She clamped her mouth shut to keep from moaning. He released his grip then did it again, massaging her possessively.
Did he know that when he did that liquid fire spread through her sex, readied her for penetration? Bastard probably did. The thought was slow to come though, languid as her mind so easily became swept up in him—in Alpha Lyonis Keelan.
“I heal quickly. Do you remember what I told you I’d do when I caught you?” he said, making her breath catch as she remembered. “Well I’ve caught you, Willow. Run now. Run fast. Because when I catch you, I’m going to take you hard, deep, and fast. Nowhere you go can stop me. And I know you’re going to love it. I know you want it.”
Suddenly Willow was standing free, on shaking knees that threatened to topple her to the ground. She stared stunned at Lyonis as he watched her with a heated glare. He moved and she jumped like a skittish mouse. A slow, sexy grin curled over his lickable mouth and then he started unbuttoning his shirt.
Heart racing, Willow turned and ran. It was too dark. They were alone. She needed to find people, a public place, anything. She wouldn’t let him touch her again, dammit. She raced into town, her heart deflating as she realized all the shops and stores were closed. She tried to remember where the hotel was but couldn’t. Besides that was the last thing she need. Him and her near a bed together.
Weren’t there anything 24-hour gas stations or something? She fled down one street after the next, blindly searching for a café or crowd of people. Nothing. No one. But then she heard something. The faint throbbing pulse of music. Willow sprinted towards the sound, tearing through the streets at a dangerous speed.
There was no time to look behind and search for him. She couldn’t let him find her, couldn’t let him win. She came up on the next street and smiled at the sight of a disco—a German dance club. The pulsing red sign in a cursive font read: CLUB EURO.
A heavy techno beat came from inside the club. Teenagers to college-aged clubbers hung in line flashing IDs to get in. Willow raced for it. If she got in there, he’d have no chance.
Willow stayed within the well-lit street and reached the back of the line with almost disappointing relief. Her heart raced with the delicious lick of excitement.
She was breathing hard but otherwise, she’d done it. The line moved quickly, and she took a moment to search the street up and down, high and low for any sign of animal or man.
He knew her scent and on top of that, his scent was embedded deep in her body. He could have pulled out, could have done things so differently, but what did she expect really. He was an Alpha. He had no qualms about taking her body, using her.
More people were let into the club, leaving Willow only two people back. She caught a flash of movement out the corner of her eye and whirled around. Nothing. She glared into the night and stuck out her middle finger just in case he was there.
Maybe he really hadn’t caught up to her yet. The bastard. She flashed her ID and paid a five-dollar fee to get into the club. It wasn’t exactly the bed and breakfast she wanted to be relaxing at but it would do for now.
The club smelled of alcohol and was dark except for the flashing bright strobe lights swirling and blinking from the ceiling. Bodies jumped and danced on the crowded dance floor, and Willow squeezed through them with the one purpose in mind: getting away from the front door.
She saw a white light on the other side of the room and made her way towards it. As she got closer, she saw it was the women’s restroom. Perfect. She’d hide in there. Her hope soon deflated as she saw the line for it. She went to the end of it, ready to wait.
It was probably one of those small restrooms, and she doubted these women would let her camp out in there until the club closed. At least it would buy her some time until she figured out what she was going to do.
The thought had no sooner left her mind, when she was grabbed from behind and dragged along the wall into a darkened alcove. She knew his scent; the feel of his hard body against her back.
His voice came at her ear. “Got you. I’m ready to take my prize now, Willow.” Willow scrambled to get away from him, but his arms were strong around her. He couldn’t take her here! There were at least a hundred people in this club. The line for the ladies’ room was a mere ten feet away.
She opened her mouth to scream but his rough voice came back at her ear, “I don’t want to hear anything from your pretty lips except moans, sighs, and the sound of my name. Or I’ll make you regret it.”
Something hot and not unpleasant warmed her blood, tightened her skin. He cupped her breasts over her t-shirt, rolling her nipples between his fingers. When that wasn’t enough his hands impatiently moved over her stomach, hips, thighs, and between her legs. He was rough this time, excited by the chase. A part of her badly wanted to let him win and claim her, but she couldn’t do it.
Instead she threw back an elbow. It landed in his side with a satisfying thump. He snatched her hands up, pressing her wrists together, and then a white cord was wrapped around them.
“What the—”
She tried to comprehend where he’d gotten it from and how easily he tied her up, but he was moving fast. Just like he said he would. He lifted her hands to the wall and wrapped the cord over a hook on the wall. She realized that this wasn’t an alcove but an old coatroom because there were hooks all around the wall.
He pulled her arms up just enough so that she teetered back and forth on her toes. With a grunt, she tried to get the cord to loosen, break, or come off the hook, but it was too high and she was too short.
“Son of bitch!”
Suddenly his hands reached under her shirt, quickly lifting her athletic bra so her breasts spilled free. Willow gasped, her eyes going wide and wild as the crowd danced by. Her core clenched with need, throbbing in time to his possessive touch.
“Remember what I told you. What I want to hear from your lips, my Willow.”
“You don’t need to wear panties around me, Willow. Ever again.”
“Fuck you,” she growled. She was nearly naked now. If any of those dancers turned around and leaned a bit to the side, then they’d seen her tied up, breasts, sex, and ass bare. At least the club was dark.
She didn’t hear anything else as the bum bum bum of the techno beat drilled into her skull like a jackhammer, but then his hot hands were at her ass, tilting her hips forward with unrelenting pressure. She had to give in. It was her starving body talking that made her do it. Yet she was wet already. Open and ready for him.
He kicked her legs wide, and she felt warm air blow across her wet lips. Not here! Oh my God. This can’t be happening. But she knew this was real, that this wasn’t some bad, delicious dream, because his cock slid deep and inside of her in a single push. She had no time to adjust this time, to take in the feel of him.
He started working himself in and out, in and out, his hips slapping against her ass cheeks with an erotic sound.
Her eyes closed, and her head fell back as one of his hands reached up to hold a bouncing breast. She felt herself trying to open her legs further to feeling him pounding against her everywhere, tingling her core. It felt...amazing. So lusciously good, she never wanted it to stop.
Lyonis pinched and tugged on her hard nipple while his other hand kept her arched back to him. It was demeaning. With her hands tied above her head, she was completely submissive to him.
And it was going to make her come.
As if he knew what she wanted, he widened her stance another couple inches. Then he hit the perfect spot inside her. Ragged breaths sawed out of her throat as she struggled to breathe through the impending explosion about to detonate in her body. He reached forward, his fingers pressing over her soaking wet folds, picking up her wet cream, then he thrummed her clit as his cock slid in and out of her.
Willow moaned as hot liquid exploded inside her, blinding her. Her body seized up then trembled violently. She heard him grunting, breathing as choppy as she was, and then she felt him coming, shooting hot torrents inside her as his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her to him. He thrust into her after he spent, letting her body draw every drop from him.
“You’re mine, Willow,” he breathed heavily.
Willow’s eyes shot open at the ominous warning in his words.
Chapter 4
Willow sighed as the flight attendant’s voice came over the mic to announce the descent into Domodedevo International Airport in Moscow. The Captain came over the line afterwards and announced the temperature and time in Moscow. Five o’clock in the evening, a freezing negative one degree Fahrenheit.
The airplane’s wheels skidded against the runway as they landed. Willow’s stomach tensed at what was to come. She’d gotten away from him for the second time. He’d been angry before, how would he feel now that she’d done it a second time? She grinned, her heart already racing. She’d give the shapeshifter some credit; he knew how to make things interesting. Though if he ever thought to tie her up again, or even mention what he did, she’d gut him.
Her plan wasn’t working. At first, she’d figured if she ran enough, then eventually he’d give up and go home. After all, she meant nothing to him. Yet he claimed that he somehow, magically knew she was his mate. Fucking shapeshifters.
As the passengers started grabbing their carry-ons, Willow grabbed her backpack and headed off the plane. She still couldn’t believe how she’d lost him. Really, Lyonis, you continue to underestimate me. The one thing she could credit the Alpha for was being able to make her smile. The fact that it was at his expense only made it that much better.
After their little thing at the club in Germany, he’d hauled her out of there by hand like she was some petulant child. Bastard. She’d lost him though. Outside of the club was a group of drunken, red-eyed girls. They looked to be about twenty-five and having a great time.
Willow had spun around on Lyonis and pulled him down for a kiss. He’d stiffened in surprise, but before he could prolong it, she broke away and tore the buttons of his shirt. He had a beautiful, sculpted chest, tanned from sunlight, strong from athleticism. She’d spun around and shoved him into the now lick-lapping girls.
She hadn’t known if her plan would work, the quickly thought-up plan was crap, but surprisingly, it did. The girls had flocked over him, touching and kissing his skin. Maybe it helped that he had that animal magnetism about him. It also helped that the boyfriends came out of the club a second later. Curses were shouted as the men surrounded the Alpha, shoving him around as they circled him.
He’d looked at her like he was going to kill her, so she gave him a cocky salute and took off on a sprint.
She’d made it all the way to the nearest airport without seeing him. She wasn’t disappointed. Okay, she wasn’t very disappointed that she’d bested him again. She’d never admit it aloud, but a part of her was thrilled at the challenge he presented, and loved the way he pursued her. It made her feel special. Not every woman had the Alpha of shapeshifters after her.
She laughed as she remembered the note she’d left him after escaping him the first time. She’d written, “You can’t best the champ, pup,” in capital letters then tucked it into his shirt pocket. Two points for Willow. Her latest escape wasn’t as great but still scored her a point in cleverness.
Stopping at a shop in the airport, she purchased a heavy winter coat, a pair of thick snow boots, and gloves. She changed in the bathroom, shoving the rest of her unused items into her backpack. She’ll need the thicker clothes for the frigid Russian weather.
She left the airport and honestly had no idea where she was going. Maybe it was time to head back to the states. She needed a new plan because she couldn’t keep running for the rest of her life, no matter how fun this was.
And though she hadn’t seen the demon since Germany, she had a feeling it was coming after her.
Her new “need” also caused problems. Even though she’d always hated the stories of succubus women and how they needed a Protector. Hearing about it and judging it, she realized, was different than actually being in the situation.
As a young teenager, she’d lifted her chin and said she’d never need a man like that, but now she realized her mistake. She could easily see how a succubus could become nothing but a desperate raging slut. The thought had her shivering with disgust. She wanted one man, just one. Who that was or where she’d ever find him, she had no clue.
She had to admit, she liked the way the Alpha tested her, challenged her. She enjoyed beating him at his own game.
A taxi pulled up, and she told the driver to take her to a hotel. Any hotel. She didn’t speak Russian, but the driver understood what she said well enough. The horizon grew dark as night dropped in like a dark velvet blanket over the sky. The beginning sliver of the moon was already growing.
When Papa had sat her and her sisters down for “the sex talk” all those years ago, he’d told her that a succubus didn’t need to have intercourse to survive. Sometimes a “make-out session” as Papa put it, would hold a succubus over for a day. But only a day. Being given an orgasm worked also and could feed the succubus for longer, maybe even close to two days. He said it worked for both giving an orgasm and receiving, though not by your own hand. How she could jerk some guy off and have that feed her; she had no idea.
Even sitting in a taxi in Moscow, with Papa dead, and that conversation over twelve years old, her face flamed bright red.
Willow cracked the window to let in some cool air. They pulled onto a small bridge that reminded her of something she’d see in an old painting. It was made of stones with thick stone pillars shaped like a vase. Snow dre
nched the bridge and roads making even the taxi, with chains on the tires, drive slowly.
Halfway up the bridge the taxi started breaking. Squinting, Willow stared through the flurry of snowflakes and saw two black SUVs blocking the road. The taxi driver rolled down his window and started yelling while several big men started towards the taxi. She recognized one of them in an instant. Shit.
Willow grabbed her backpack, sent an apology to the taxi driver, and bolted out the door. The snow slowed her down, but she trudged through it. The boots she’d bought didn’t help her as she hit a patch of ice beneath the snow.
Yelping, she skidded on the ground. Her momentum was too fast, and she slammed into the railing of the bridge.
She didn’t stop moving.
The railing was covered with ice, and the downward angle of the bridge combined with her slipping speed sent her tumbling over the edge.
Her piercing scream tore through the night. The blackest water she’d ever seen was headed straight for her, ready to engulf her. She had only a moment to squeeze her eyes shut as freezing cold water swallowed her.
Instantly her heavy clothes and boots weighed her down, sinking her deep into the water like some monster eating her. Her skin froze like ice but adrenaline pumped hard inside her veins. She kicked her arms and legs, but the water was so dark she didn’t know which way was up anymore. Heart pounding loudly in her ears, eyes, wide and frantic, she took her best guess and made for the black surface. She didn’t make it far before her struggles grew heavy and slow.
Her lungs squeezed tight, burning with the need for oxygen. She gasped and water spilled into her lungs, burning with its icy temperature. The heavy coat stifled her movements, and she hadn’t even made it a foot before she could no longer keep her eyes open.
Her eyes drifted shut, blocking out the freezing water from burning her eyes. She was going to die. Her heart thundered and roared in her ears. Her legs twitched with electrical impulses, fingers convulsing. Then all she heard was the deafening silence of her heart slowing...and slowing.