I jut out my chin. “I am going to kill you.” My voice cuts through the space. “You think because I am human, because I am a woman, I am weak?” I walk forward, my hands tied behind me until I reach Boris. I raise my head and meet his gaze. “Prepare to be surprised.”
The noise from the crowd swells. Anger radiates from Boris, and mixed with it is a seething rage. My stomach churns; my head spins. I am not going to be sick. I am not going to lose my nerve.
“You’re right.” He bares his teeth. “I was saving the surprise for later, but you leave me no choice.”
The bindings that restrain me dissolve. I bring my arms to my sides. Blood rushes through my unused limbs, setting my fingers tingling. The sensation of pins and needles intensifies and I groan.
He whips out a knife and slashes it down, once, twice. My breath catches in my throat.
A breeze dances over my naked skin. I look down to see my clothes fall away to the floor.
A man springs up to his feet in the audience.
“I get first dibs on the virgin human. Name your price.”
Sound swells from the audience.
A second man clambers onto the platform and lurches toward me. Lust rolls off of him, and his gaze bristles at my chest, over my breasts and exposed waist to the triangle between my legs.
My skin crawls, and a cold sensation fills the pit of my stomach.
The new arrival leaps at me, only to be tossed aside. A figure looms in front of me. Tall enough to fill my vision, broad enough to block out the sight of the audience. The scent of mint and cinnamon fills my nostrils.
“Doc?” I whisper, so low I am sure I didn’t speak it, but he senses my intention.
He half turns and throws me a look over his shoulder. “You okay, Red?”
“You’re alive...I thought you were...” I bite my lips, I can't bring myself to say that word.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” He peels back his lips, and his canines drop.
His gaze shoots over to Boris standing next to me. His gaze widens, and I sidle away, but I am too late. Boris’ arm snakes forward.
He grabs me by my shoulders and rotates me, so my back is flattened to his chest.
That dead-flesh scent of him crawls over me, and I gag.
“You didn’t learn your lesson, did you, Fae? This time I am going to make sure I burn you completely.” Boris raises his hand, the fingertips burning blue, the rays of energy sizzling toward Nolan, toward the man I cannot allow to be hurt again, not because of me.
I snap my head back and connect with Boris’ chin.
He stumbles.
The beam of energy goes wide and misses Nolan. And that’s all the opening he needs. Nolan leaps across the distance between us and jabs his fist forward. I duck to the side, still restrained by Boris, but giving Nolan enough of an opening to get in a direct hit.
Boris howls, and his arms drop away, releasing me.
Nolan grabs me and yanks me to him. I fall against his chest, and he winces. The side of my face comes away sticky. Blood. His blood.
“You’re hurt.” I gasp.
He bares his teeth. “Later.” He moves around me as Boris raises his hand again, then grabs Boris’ neck with both his massive hands and squeezes. “I am going to kill you.”
Another man jumps up on stage and swaggers toward me, the third close on his heels. I turn around, my back to Nolan, and hold my fists up.
“Back off,” I snarl.
The stranger laughs. “Come, little virgin.” He pauses, his lips together. “Let me show you how it is to be tamed by a man.”
I narrow my gaze. “Stay where you are, asshole,” I snarl.
He tilts his head, and his gaze rakes over my bare breasts, down my waist, to that inevitable conclusion where it comes to rest on the flesh between my legs. His pupils dilate, and his breathing roughens. “Or what? Will you let me finger-fuck you before I rip into you, human?”
Anger fills my veins; red clouds my vision, “You wish.”
The man darts forward, and I swing, catching him in the side of his face. Maybe it’s the surprise that someone who looks as weak as I do can fight, or that I actually threw the first punch, but either way, the man reels back and crashes into the new arrival. Together, they topple over the edge. Huh. Did I do that? Pain shudders up my forearm, I shake out my aching fist only to find the man springing back on stage.
Uh-oh!
His eyes blaze with anger. “I am going to tear you apart, and your friend, too.” He charges at me.
I shrink back and hit a solid object. “Doc… Nolan…. Ah, were you planning on getting us out of here anytime soon?”
“Yeah.” He growls.
“I suggest you do it sooner rather than later.” My voice trembles and I firm my lips to stop myself from squeaking in fear.
His muscles tense, then something crashes into the back wall, and the entire ceiling shakes. Light fixtures crash down on the stage.
A fissure tears through the platform and continues down to the floor, then the entire stage seems to tilt. The man coming at me loses his balance, and the stranger behind him stumbles over his body.
It shouldn't be funny, honestly, but there's a comedic touch to the entire proceedings. I chuckle. It comes out on a strangled sob. Perhaps it’s that which gets Nolan’s attention, for the heat of his chest envelops me from behind. His arms engulf me and he tucks me into his side. “Hold on, Red.”
The air around me thins. The hair on the back of my neck stands up, and all the oxygen in the space seems to be sucked out. I try to breathe and my lungs burn. Then the world seems to explode.
Geometric designs flash over me, speeding up, and I am drawn into a vortex.
7
Doc
I stagger out of the vortex, and my legs seem to give way from under me. I stumble and almost fall, but soft arms grip my waist.
"We'll be safe here." I draw in a breath and my lungs burn.
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere in Belgrade." My ribcage hurts, my shoulder screams, and sparks of red bang through my head every time I move. "The fuckers took you half-way around the world to Russia." I grit my teeth. "This is the closest Fae Corps safehouse I could get us to."
"So he can't find us here?" Her voice trembles.
"There's a security net over the property that blocks its presence from the psychic plane. Even if he does track us here...which he won't—he won't be able to get past the security barrier without setting off the alarm." My vision wavers and I shake my head to clear it.
“You okay, Doc?” Her voice breathes over my skin, leaving little flickers of fire in its wake.
I am hurt…and I’m sure I am going to lose consciousness any moment, but tell that to my cock.
That sweet jasmine-and-pepper scent of hers swirls around me. It sinks into my blood, and my groin hardens. I am sure she can sense my arousal, and trust me, that is not what I want. Not right now, when I’ve managed to rescue her from that fucker Boris. I try to push her away, but she tightens her grasp.
“You’re bleeding out.”
Yes, I am. I am hurting inside—my chest burns, my muscles cramp and a twisting sensation tightens my ribcage. “Leave me alone, woman.” I hear the harshness in my voice. I sound angry and I am not sure why.
The skin around her eyes creases. “You are wounded.”
No shit. But not as much as what the sight of her does to me. Don’t look down at her breasts, don’t look down, asshole. My gaze flows over her trembling lips, to where her chin wobbles, to the flushed curves of her breasts, and holy hell, her nipples are pebbled, calling to me, and damn if I don’t want to touch them, suck on them, tease them to points of hardness that can graze my skin and dig into my flesh, and that wound in my chest has obviously messed with me more than I thought.
Yup. Surely, that must be the only reason why my mouth is dry, why the pulse beats at my throat, at my temples, even in my balls, which grow heavier by the second. The fuck is Red doing t
o me?
Her breathing quickens, “You are more hurt than you are letting on.”
I drag my gaze to her lips. Curvy lips, sweet as sugar, rounded and glistening, succulent flesh that will be so damn juicy to taste.
“Doc, look at me.”
I shake my head to clear it.
I am trying to save her from me. I don’t want to meet her eyes. If I do, she’ll see how much she affects me.
My heart throbs. Another flash of pain coils in my chest and that telekinetic energy inside me stutters. Bursts of energy stab at my nerve endings. “Fuck,” I grit my teeth. “I am going to flame out at any moment, Red.”
“What do you mean?”
“Boris has access to concentrated telekinetic energy. It’s throwing my insides into turmoil; my energy is short-circuiting, and I am going to burn out.”
“Has that happened before?” She slips her arm around my waist.
The softness of her skin, the curve of her hips, the way she molds into my side, all of it calls to something primitive inside of me.
“It’s not supposed to hurt so much.” Only when she snorts do I realize I have said it aloud. “What?” I glower.
“You're allowed to lean on someone else.”
Yeah. That’s what she thinks.
She doesn’t understand how it is to have the one person you trust turn out to be your nightmare.
Besides, Red is too small, too tiny, too fragile.
“I won’t collapse if I carry some of your weight, you know.”
“The fuck?” I grumble. “You trying to second-guess me?”
I take another step forward. Sweat pops out on my forehead. My legs tremble. I am not allowed to be this vulnerable. Ever.
“I can hear you think, Doc, and I promise you, I am not as breakable as I look. I may only be human—”
“A beautiful human.” I rasp, then cough. There's a roaring sound in my ears and I shake my head to clear it.
“You think I am beautiful?”
“Seen yourself in the mirror, Red?”
“You must be out of it if you are showering me with praise.”
“Stay close, Red, and that’s not the only thing I’m gonna be showerin’ you with.” The fuck? Did I just say that?
“You coming on to me now, Doc? Now?” She huffs out a breath.
“Wassamatta wit’ dat?” My tongue is thick in my mouth. The world tilts around me.
“I’ve been hinting at you all this time that I am interested, and you’ve pushed me away, but you decide to be open with your feelings now? When you’re all but keeling over?”
“I am...not.” I try to straighten my spine, but gravity, the fucker, is against me. The floor threatens to rush up to meet me and I widen my stance to steady myself.
“Don’t collapse here. If you fall, I won't be able to get you to the bed. You're too heavy—”
“’s okay, you can leave me here,” I grouse.
“Nope.” She grabs my arm—when had I placed that over her shoulder?—and stumbles forward.
I am leaning my more-than-twice-her-body-size weight on her slender shoulders. I am marking her further, and hey, not that I am complaining about that, my fingerprints would only enhance the beauty of her pale skin. My groin hardens. I strain to enunciate my words, “I need to touch you, Red.”
“Yeah, once we get you on the goddamned bed.”
“Your curses turn me on."
The breath wheezes out of her. “If you don’t keep walking, I am going to slap your ass, Doc.”
I can’t walk and talk at the same time. “Nope, only I get to do that…slap your ass, I mean. Whatcha think about that?”
There’s no answer from her.
I turn my head and almost fall over, and it’s not because my body is on the verge of blacking out, but because her gaze locks with mine. Her green eyes dilate until they resemble dark pools of water. Hmm.
“You'd like that, huh?”
“You’ll have to recover first.” Her cheeks redden.
She's so fucking beautiful when she is flushed. I lower my head to hers until my breath raises the hair on her forehead.
She tosses her head, then urges me forward.
I follow like a fucking lamb.
I even allow myself to lean some of my weight on her, only because I am bemused. Yep, that's all it is. I’d never thought Red would…ah…welcome the kind of edgy build up that fuels my need. I’d take her any which way, except...she’s human…and a virgin. A virgin. My breath catches.
I’d be her first…her only, and no way can she take the barbaric mating practices of the Fae. Mating? Whoa, hold on there, back up, motherfucker. What are you thinking about? My knees hit the edge of the bed, and I topple, facedown.
8
Alice
I rake my gaze over his broad back. The tattered remains of his shirt cling to his shoulders. I should strip it off of him so he's more comfortable but no way am I going to be able to move his weight. The hard planes flex, and my gaze darts back to his face. His eyelids have fluttered shut, the eyelashes a dark fan against his cheekbones. His shoulders rise and fall. His breathing deepens.
Even asleep, he's a vital presence that sucks up all of the oxygen in the room. His massive body takes up too much space. All unforgiving angles, and ruthless planes. The air around him is saturated with testosterone that seduces me to creep closer...closer.
Restless energy drags at the edge of my nerves. Heat tugs at my belly, the need for him a heavy ache between my legs. I squeeze my thighs together. What’s wrong with me? The man is out of it, exhausted. He’s injured.
He took a shot in his back for me. The Fae heal fast, so I haven’t seen any evidence of open wounds. He’s still wearing the same shirt, bloodied and dirty, but it covers his torso, clings lovingly to those powerful shoulders, the arch of his back that stretches the remnants of the fabric, before narrowing down to his lean waist.
It’s only when my fingertips rub over the cloth that I realize I have leaned in close and am trailing my fingers over his back, down to where the shirt is tucked into his fatigues.
I want to dip my fingers into his waistband and trace the curve of his butt. That very tight, delicious male butt that makes my breath catch. My sex clenches, and small pinpricks of heat tug at my fingertips.
I am not averse to worshiping the male figure.
So what if I have never seen a man naked before? Yeah, there you have it. The bulk of my experience. I am a fucking virgin… Uh, okay, an oxymoron to use those two words together in one sentence. They do not go together. And I don’t belong with him.
He is strong, experienced, and has been with many women, no doubt.
Anger burns a trail down my spine, and why does that make me jealous?
I already hate every one of those females he’s fucked.
He’s a strong, virile man. A soldier of the Fae Corps, no less. And a doctor to boot. Accomplished. Gorgeous. So fucking sexy that it makes my heart ache. And I am using those four-letter swear words again. Me, who has never sworn aloud in my life. That sheltered human that I was. Protected by my Fae family, who’d made sure to keep bullies away from me.
My childhood was as idyllic as it could be, given my adoptive Fae mother had found me crying near the body of my dead human mama on a trip to Bombay. My birth mother had died in an attack when the berserkers had raided our city.
The Fae had been called in as a last resort and had joined forces with the mayor of Bombay to help beat them off.
My adoptive mother had been sent in by the Fae Council to help.
She’d always told me that she’d seen my little two-year-old body, grimy with soot, crying my eyes out next to the burnt-out corpse of my dead mother, and her heart had broken. She said that she had fallen in love with me right then and had decided to take me back with her.
Her mate and son had welcomed me into their home and their hearts. They told me that I completed their family. I had lucked out enough to never miss my original b
irth parents. Perhaps had even enjoyed the fact I was different from the Fae. More fragile, one who could be easily broken…so human.
And still a virgin.
It’s what started this entire misguided adventure, why I had been kidnapped, and almost sold.
I lean over and place my palm flat against Nolan’s back. Through the remaining shreds of his shirt, the heat of his body reaches out to me. His breathing deepens. His body twitches then settles into that unmistakable stillness which indicates that he is deep in slumber.
He senses I am close to him, that it is me touching him, who drags my palm up over his shoulder and rests it over the nape of his broad neck.
I play with the strands of hair that brush the collar of his shirt. Baby-soft hair, the texture so unlike the rest of him, which is hard. Heavy… throbbing. I gulp. The need to see him strip off his clothes, to run my fingers over the warmth of his back, over the ridges of his body, around to the front and under the jut of his pelvic bones to grasp that hardened shaft of his.
A moan whines out of me.
He’s not even awake, and I am turning myself on simply thinking of the sight of his body. His beautiful, luscious, body that I want to see naked. Speaking of which, I look down at myself. Yep, naked. The dress I had been wearing had been ripped off of me by Boris. I should look around for something to wear. I glance around the room, and spot the closet in the far corner of the room. I might find something there... On the other hand, what if I stay this way, and see what happens when Doc wakes up? Hmm. Live dangerously and all that. I am with the only man I ever want to be with, and when I leave this room I am making damn sure I am no longer a virgin. No more leaving things up to chance. Time to take things into my own hands.
I snuggle down next to him.
He is so broad that I can just about throw my arm over him. My other arm is tucked between us. I bring up my leg and loop it about his waist. The heat from his body cocoons me. My muscles unwind; my shoulders relax. He is fast asleep and still hurt, but l am confident that nothing can touch me when I am with Doc.
Seduced by the Fae Page 3
