He will always fight off my worst enemies, my nightmares, and keep me safe. Safe. My breathing evens out to match his.
My breasts are flattened against his thick bicep, and my chest rises and falls in synchrony with his. The stress of the last few days bleeds out of me, leaving me limp. I close my eyes and let sleep engulf me.
A noise reaches the edge of my unconscious mind, and I push it away.
Something tickles me under my chin, and I grumble. Then the heat enfolding me lifts. Cool air blows over my flushed cheeks. My eyes fly open and are caught by bright-blue ones.
Glittering pupils deepen in color until they seem almost indigo. A storm rolls in them then fades away. Gorgeous blue eyes that I can drown in. They seem to mirror all of those unspoken questions in my heart. They reflect back the uncertainty that wavers in my chest. The skin around his eyes creases. I allow my gaze to roam over his features. His nostrils flare and I gulp. He cants his head, the slight movement so animalistic that it draws my attention to his ears, to where the tips elongate.
My mouth parts in surprise.
Of course, he is not human. Not even a shifter. He’s a beast. A bloodthirsty Fae. One clothed in the civilized veneer of a doctor…but he’s closer in nature to the Fae Corps he is part of. The kind who can take, ravage. Break. And I want him to do all of that. What am I thinking?
He peels back his lips, and his canines drop.
Goosebumps pepper my skin. Why do I want to feel the razor-sharp edge of those teeth on my skin? Why do I ache for the friction of that whiskered jaw over the skin of my inner thighs? I nibble on my lower lip, and his gaze darts to my mouth. His jaw tics.
Fascinating. I’ve never been this close to a Fae male. Well, other than the ones in my family, and Doc himself, and that was either when he was in the role of a health professional, or earlier when we’d been in the middle of that crazy fight with the Fae who’d been set to auction me off.
This is different.
We are in a strange house, in bed, and he’s looming over me. His big body shuts out the sight of everything else. All of my attention is focused on his face, his neck, the low rumble of sound that snarls from him. The hard planes of his chest heave as if he’s aware of exactly what I am thinking now. Something inside me shatters. I want him…need him. Hell, I was his from the moment I set eyes on him. Everything else has been foreplay leading up to this moment. Just me and him. This. I raise my palm, and he snakes out his hand and grabs it.
“The fuck you playing at, Red?”
9
Doc
Heat. Sweetness. That honeyed scent of her arousal is thick in the air. It seeps into my skin, and my groin hardens. Is she aware that I can read her, scent her, all but taste how turned on she is?
Her big green eyes dart to my ears, and she gulps. The tips of my ears tingle, they must have extended farther. I flick them back for effect, and the color washes out from her cheeks. Clearly, she is afraid of me—an alpha Fae male who’ll rip into her and divest her of her innocence. My cock lengthens. Why does the thought of messing her up, of stripping her of all those romantic dreams that she harbors, of breaking her, putting her back together, then ruining her all over again…why does that turn me on so?
She opens her mouth and a moan escapes her lips. Holy hell.
“I am not one of your puny boyfriends who’ll kiss you goodbye and leave your virtue intact."
“I'm betting on that,” she breathes.
The sound hitches from her lips, just a mumble, an almost whisper. So soft that I shouldn’t have heard it. But hell, when my ears are extended and my canines are pushing through my gums with a vengeance, not to mention that muscle between my legs throbs, aches, and threatens to tear through my pants…well, every instinct of mine is on alert. Every part of me is tuned in to her. My vision tunnels. My breathing levels out. My biceps bulge and I can’t stop it.
“Do. Not. Mess with me.” My voice comes out hushed. Yeah, another thing I forgot to mention. When I am turned on, and other than the very obvious outward signs of my arousal, like my dick extending in preparation of the upcoming penetration, the elongation of my ears amplifies every single sound made by the object of my attention.
The tips of my canines drawdown so I have no choice but to part my lips so they can jut out.
So they pick up the changes in the environment.
My senses hone in on her. I can track the change in her breathing, the drumming of her pulse at the hollow of her neck. The hammering of her heart as it flutters against her rib cage. Yeah, I can track every single change in her biochemical constitution, so I can use it, manipulate it. And not just to my own advantage. It's so I can pleasure her, ravish her, rut her. I want to bring her to climax, then take her. Mark her…knot her. I'll shatter her illusions, snuff out her innocence, take the most important part of her, her secrets. Her core. Her.
My chest burns. The tips of my ears pulse. Even my fucking balls ache. Any minute now, I am going to turn her over, and thrust into her from behind, again and again. A low growling reaches my ears. Oh! Wait, it’s me. This creature who can’t control himself, who can barely hold back from claiming this woman is me. And I can't take her for my mate.
I shove back from her so fast that she yelps.
Somehow, I am standing at the foot of the bed, my chest on fire, and fists balled in front of me.
She scrambles up to a sitting position, then scoots back until she is flattened against the wall.
Her eyes widen, the skin stretches over her cheeks. Her chest heaves.
Don’t look there.
Don’t.
My gaze drops to those creamy breasts, the curves trembling, dark rosy nipples calling to me, to suck on them and mark them. The sinews of my throat strain, my biceps bulge, and I curl my fingers into fists.
“Wha…what’s happening, Doc?” She swallows, thick waves of fear spool off of her.
Yeah, we are back to being Doc and Alice. Nolan and Red is a fantasy. A sick, twisted, warped dream conjured up by a mind that wants more. Wants a dream that doesn’t exist. A dream that cannot exist. Needs the comfort of her innocence to live, to feel. Yeah, she makes me fucking feel. That’s what’s wrong. “Everything,” I rasp. “Everything is going to hell.”
“I don’t understand.” She frowns.
“You were trying to seduce me.”
She blinks, and her gaze skitters away. “And if I was?”
“No one taught you what it means to fuck around with a Fae male?”
Her shoulders tremble, then she draws up her knees, so she covers the sight of those beautiful breasts. “No one taught me how to fuck around, period.” Her chin quivers.
And isn’t that the honest truth and what’s getting me really horny even now as we speak? A growl rips out of me, and she shudders then buries her head against her knees. Her shoulders squeeze down. She throws her arms around her folded legs and rocks herself back and forth. Ah! Hell. I didn’t mean to shock her…okay, maybe I did.
Maybe I wanted her to see exactly what kind of beast I am. Even half out of my head with pain, even wounded as I am.
My heart thuds.
Pain thrums against my rib cage.
I bring up my arm to rub the skin over my heart, and honest, that square inch of space literally vibrates with hurt. With an ache, I can only describe as craving. I need her. I want to be inside of her. I squeeze my arms at my sides, then force myself to glance away. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Alice.”
10
Alice
His voice is harsh and growly. His biceps bulge, his shoulders expand, and his very persona seems to amplify in front of my gaze. The force of his dominance weighs down on my shoulders, pressing in on my rib cage. I gasp. This...this version of the male I am seeing is different from the Doc I know.
The man who’s kept his distance from me all these months since we met. The doctor who’d taken care of my ankle and put my fears to rest. Who’d carried me home that day, so that I woul
d keep my weight off of my feet—he’d said. But he hadn’t needed to see me home. He could have sent one of his staff with me if he had been concerned. But he’d left the infirmary in the middle of a working day and made sure to escort me back.
My breath catches in my throat.
Come to think of it, since that day I had seen him around often. Everywhere I’d turned, he’d been there. He’d even agreed to let me assist him, learn from him. He had shared the codes to Tristan’s place so I could get in and help Jess—not that the two of them are fighting anymore. Last I saw, they had made up and mated up and were all loved up, with eyes only for each other. He is a considerate man, Doc…Nolan is. He’d seen right through Tristan’s bluster, had known how much he was hurting and that he needed Jess to soothe his spirit. Doc had helped the two of them find each other. Who’s going to help him?
I raise my head and meet his gaze. “You didn’t scare me.” I rub my cheek on my knee to brush away the tears.
His gaze grows hooded, and he stares.
“I wasn’t crying because I was afraid of you.”
“What then?” He drums his fingers on his chest, and it’s my turn to survey him.
He looks better than when he’d stumbled up on stage and proceeded to bash up the men who’d tried to get to me.
His color has returned, but despite the power inherent in his massive frame, Doc is vulnerable. Both physically and emotionally.
Why did it take me this long to realize that?
I sniff away the last of my tears. “Guess, the enormity of everything I’ve been through sank in.”
He rakes his fingers through his hair. His shoulders hunch forward. “Did those men hurt you, Alice?”
Alice? I miss him calling me Red. I mean, not that I can demand it, but I miss that sense of intimacy that facing a combined enemy together had brought out. I am going to find a way to get him to call me that again. I bite the inside of my cheek.
“Tell me.” He leans forward on the balls of his feet, and his big body seems to tremble. No. He’s too strong, Doc, nothing fazes him, not even when that monster had shot him with that bolt of pure energy. But then, once he’d teleported in, he’d confessed he was on the verge of a burnout. Yet, he still had not allowed me to help him. Typical alpha male behavior. I huff out a breath and his forehead furrows. "Answer the question."
“He didn’t hurt me, not that way.” The words spill out.
“You hiding something from me?”
His blue eyes bore into me, probing the depths of my spirit, my soul, and a melting sensation suffuses my chest. Something heavy inside of me loosens and a tingling grips my limbs.
“I am still a virgin if that's what you are asking.” My voice doesn’t shake, and I am proud of that.
Color sears his cheeks.
"That is what you were...asking about, right?"
He glares at me and a shiver runs down my spine. Why am I so nervous? "I am not as experienced as the other women you've been with, but I have learned about the proclivities of Fae males from—"
"From?" His voice is hushed.
My belly flip flops. I didn’t do anything wrong. So why are my palms damp? Ridiculous. I flick my tongue out to lick my lips and his gaze latches onto my mouth.
"From my friends." I gulp.
"Friends?" His left eye twitches.
He seems angry. Why is he angry? Is there some underlying meaning to this conversation that I am not aware of? I bite the inside of my cheek.
"Yeah... you know... friends..."
His gaze narrows. A vein throbs at his temple. Tension radiates off of him. Huh? He is working himself up to a fine rage. Why? What?
"What kind of friends are these, Red?" His voice lowers to that gruff pitch that hints at the edge of darkness that rolls just below the surface. His ears pull back, oh! Oh! They are definitely more pointy than they were before.
"Answer me, who exactly has been coaching you in the needs of Fae males?" The tendons of his throat stand out, a dull redness flushes his neck and that's when I realize...
"You're jealous?" I blink.
He pulls himself up to his full height. A nerve tics at his jaw.
Definitely jealous.
"Answer the fucking question."
"Girlfriends." I squeak, "Just, you know, girl talk, Doc." I drag a trembling hand through my hair, "I mean, you hang out with the other Fae Corps guys and shoot the breeze. Right?" He frowns.
No, of course not.
They just get together and fight during the weekly Dares to blow off steam, or else meet and strategize on how to protect the rest of the city, and put plans in place to grow the economy, and all that fun stuff.
He watches my face, drinking in every single expression that dares reveal itself on my features.
"Doc," I venture, and he doesn't reply.
His jaw hardens; his chest rises and falls.
"I am really fine. Honestly. Nothing permanently injured." I raise my arms at my sides and flap them around. Wow. That should look appealing, because blabbering like a nervous fool wasn't enough. Besides I am not trying to seduce him, right?
I am just trying to calm him down from wherever in his mind he's retreated.
He's still trying to get over the near death experience we've been through. That's all. I shuffle my feet.
The silence stretches a beat, then another.
My nerves strain; my hackles rise. I've never been good at these silent faceoffs; I much prefer to overshare and talk things out. A part of me warns me not to speak until spoken to, but dammit. I can't stay silent while he glares at me. Bet he's plotting how to spank my backside, where he's gonna mark me, how he's gonna fuck me, and it's so hot. My nipples pebble and I gulp. Say something, anything to break this impasse.
"You...you okay, Doc?"
Brilliant. That was such a clever remark. I hunch my shoulders and he draws in a breath, "Yeah." He cracks his neck; his joints pop. His gaze is still fixed on my face. He seems to be memorizing my features. Nah, that's my imagination, that's all. "Yeah, I'm okay."
Tension whips off of him in dense waves, saturating the space between us with so much testosterone, so much male dominance, that my thighs tremble. My toes curl.
He doesn't look okay.
He looks anything but okay.
He feels too wound up, too stressed out…too everything. He's at the edge of his control, and not just because he is still hurting from the wound inflicted on him. No, this is more, much more.
He seems to be on the verge of having a breakdown. Like someone who is holding in too much feeling, too much emotion…too much hurt. Someone who wants…no, needs me so much that it's tearing him apart.
He widens his stance, and my gaze is drawn down to his thighs. To the evidence of his arousal that strains against his pants. I gulp. Heat radiates over my skin. Curling down toward my belly to tug at the flesh between my thighs.
“You need me, Doc.”
He peels back his lips and his canines drop.
Oh...those...those sharp teeth. Feral. Wild. He's so different from me. Fear crawls over my scalp. My fingers tingle.
His nostrils flare. Damn it, he's sniffed out just how out of sorts I am. I need to distract him, say something, anything. No, not that. Anything but that.
“You want me because I am a virgin.”
Every part of him goes solid. “You don't know what you are saying, woman.”
I tilt my head. “Don’t I?”
His shoulders flex, and he winces, then rubs his chest again with his hand.
“The thought of being my first turns you on so much that you can’t stop yourself from wanting to throw me down and tear into me.”
“You’re pushing me.” His hands clench at his sides.
“You think it’s wrong to lust after me. Because I am human and you are Fae. Because I was kidnapped precisely because of this damned virginity. But guess what? I’d prefer to be rid of it. It’s this stupid idea of saving myself for the ‘one’ that
got me into this mess. I’d rather be divested of it completely.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he snarls.
The harsh sound chafes my sensitized nerve endings.
“I am not nearly done yet.” I don't stop the slow smile that curls my lips. I have never felt this strong, this powerful. I am playing with something way beyond my control. Something I don’t fully understand. Something my instincts say I should trust and see through because the alternative…is not one I can live with. I want him. Need him. Now. I don’t question it.
I drop my arms, straighten my legs, and slide them apart.
His shoulders go solid. Every muscle in his body tenses.
His gaze rakes over my breasts, my stomach, to come to rest on the flesh between my thighs.
The urge to cover myself up, to squeeze my legs back together is so damned strong, but I resist. I curl my fingers, dig my nails into my palms, and thrust my chest out instead. “I have news for you, Doc. It’s not you who scares me, but the other way around. You are afraid of what being with me will mean to me. You don’t want the responsibility of being my first, yet the thought turns you on. You don’t want to be burdened with taking my virginity. Yet you want to be inside of me. The need to rut me is written in every angle of your body. You want to fuck me, Doc, admit it.”
Silence.
He doesn’t move. Doesn’t take his gaze from the source of his focus, my pussy, which is now drenched and drooling for him. The inner walls of my channel contract. Liquid pools between my lower lips. I’ve never been this turned on, this ready. He could take me now, and I’d…welcome him.
A breath shudders out of him. He raises his gaze to meet mine, and I gasp. Gone is that burning blue gaze. His features are shuttered. He’s pulled back every last inch of emotion inside of him and built back those walls he likes to wear.
Seduced by the Fae Page 4
