Wicked After Dark: 20 Steamy Paranormal Tales of Dragons, Vampires, Werewolves, Shifters, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Mina Carter

  Without warning, he suddenly broke the kiss and spun me around so I faced the wall. The movement was so fast and unexpected that I tottered on my heels. I braced my hands on the damp tiles to keep from falling. As I steadied myself, he released the back clasp of my dress and lowered the zipper. The fabric parted and cool air rushed against the heated skin along my back.

  I could feel his hands trembling as he peeled the thin straps of my gown off my shoulders. I moaned as the bodice slid over my heavy breasts, my nipples tightening to points that ached for his touch. He skimmed the silk down my arms leaving my top half completely exposed, the skirt temporarily held in place by the curve of my hips alone.

  “So gorgeous, baby, ” he praised in a velvety rasp, gathering my hair in his hand and brushing it over my shoulder before dipping his head and running a shimmery trail of appreciative kisses down my spine. His lips were hot, his stubble rough. Every nerve ending I possessed flaring to life in response. He the struck match. I the eager kindling.

  Everywhere he wasn’t touching me felt too cold. Everywhere he did felt right. I wanted to crawl inside of his body. Burrow under his skin, to knit our two souls together into one so they could never be separated.

  I had never felt anything like this. Not even with Shane. Not even close.

  “Keep your hands on the wall,” he commanded low, his hot breath scalding the skin below my ear. “I’m going to get this the rest of the way off.” I peered at him over my shoulder as he purposefully slid the silk over my hips and down my legs. From his coiled position crouched at my feet, he looked up at me, his hunger evident and his voice gruff as he ordered me to step out. He nipped at my ankle sending a bolt of desire straight to my center when I didn’t comply quickly enough for him.

  He tossed the dress over his shoulder where it landed on top of the messy pile of clothes he’d worn on stage. He didn’t give me even a moment to think about teasing him. He stood, moved closer and covered me with his warm body. I forgot to breathe as I felt him. Everything I wanted plastered against me. His lips fastened possessively on my mouth, his solid chest pressed into my back, his firm thighs, and the long hard length of him prodding my ass.

  So close. Prelude to the better. Almost but not enough.

  His arms skimmed the sides of my breasts. A shiver rolled through me before his questing hands closed around what they sought. “Phenomenal,” he breathed against my parted lips, his wet tongue plunging in between them, his warm hands weighing and caressing my swollen breasts at the same time.

  I arched into him, my breasts filling his fingers, our lips melding together. It was so good. His mouth. Southern charm. His taste like sweet tea on a hot summer day. But I wanted more. So much more. All that time watching and now finally to be here. Experiencing. Participating. Sharing with him. All those pent up feelings released.

  He plucked and rolled my nipples strumming them like the strings on his guitar. My body hummed. My need spiked higher. Taut muscles strained tighter and desire misted my skin.

  Fingers flexing, nails trying to dig into the wall, I kept my hands where he wanted them. I needed something to hold onto to remain upright but there was something else I needed even more. I pushed my ass backward rocking over him.

  He groaned into my mouth and heat uncoiled low in my belly.

  I was a flickering flame, so ready for him.

  He broke the kiss, breathing heavily, his face taut with desire and his eyes glowing. “Ty baby,” he breathed dragging wide blazing open mouthed kiss along the arc of my neck and shoulder. “I need you now.” He wedged a knee between my legs to part them.

  I liked being pinned into place with him having complete control over me, the proof the eruption of heat within my core that dampened my inner thighs. One hand possessively low on my hip he positioned and guided his hard length into me.

  We both sighed when he was all the way in. Keeping the one hand on my hip, he slid the other hand along the subtle swell of my abdomen until he reached my center. He covered me as he began to move in and out slowly at first, then faster. My breath hitched with every thrust. Perfectly filled. Perfect friction where I needed it most.

  So right. So hot. So good.

  “Ditch the mask, baby. I want to look at your beautiful face while I make you mine and I want you to look at me and know what you do to me.”

  “Yes, Billy. I want that also.” I panted. “But the mask must stay. I’ll explain later.” Afraid how he might respond, I braced my hands on the wall and rolled my hips bringing him deeper. “Please don’t stop,” I begged rocking again to distract him.

  It worked. He groaned, his fingers gripping my hip tighter.

  Avoiding questions that had surely surfaced in his gaze, I turned my neck, but kept my lids lowered as I captured his mouth and kissed him hard. Putting everything I felt for him into that kiss. He started to move again inside of me and I moaned my approval. “That feels so good,” I told him breaking the kiss I’d initiated.

  “You’re so warm, Ty. So perfect.” His heavy lidded gaze locked with mine over my shoulder, his lower lip swollen wearing the evidence of my hunger. “Get ready,” he warned his voice dangerously low. “I’ve got to take you hard.”

  Before I could tell him that was exactly what I wanted, he thrust inside me the entire steely length going so deep that I gasped. Then he did it again. And again. Hard and deep. The world fading away, nothing existing but us, this heat between us, the relentless rhythm.

  “Faster, Billy,” I urged arching backward to meet each purposeful glide. “Please. Oh, just like that. Oh my…” Heat spiraled inside of me, heat that took my breath away.

  Billy stiffened and groaned. I saw the flare in his eyes as it hit him at the same time that it hit me. In perfect unison, the ultimate pleasure, the beautiful unraveling of our bodies, hearts and souls together.

  Superlative

  Sublime.

  Sonnet worthy.

  As we floated back down from the high, catching our breaths, heart rates slowing, he moved in and out of me languidly a couple of more times before pulling out.

  “I love you,” he said fiercely turning me around and yanking me into his strong embrace. “Mine,” he added unnecessarily, kissing the top of my head. My arms went around his waist. I might have hugged him back tighter. He tilted my chin up with a finger. “What did you mean…” An insistent banging on the outside door prevented him from completing his sentence.

  Chapter 46

  Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.

  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Billy

  “I’ll take care of it.” Framing her face, sweeping my thumbs across the smooth rounds of her cheeks, I leaned back savoring the view of her. So vibrant. So beautiful. So full of life. “We’re not finished. Don’t go anywhere.” I kissed her soft luscious lemon drop flavored lips. “I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll be here,” she whispered peering up at me, so sexy with her violet eyes on an afterglow setting.

  Reluctantly, I released her nabbing the towel I’d discarded before we’d made love earlier, wrapping it around my waist without taking my eyes off of her. Even though she wasn’t a ghost anymore, I still feared she’d fade away somehow.

  I was wearing a ferocious scowl when I popped open the door, ready to chew out whatever event bodyguard Lorraine had stationed outside my door for allowing someone to get past.

  “Whoa podna.” Arla raised a brow. “You look like you’re goan put the major hurt on someone.” He pointed his head at the man beside him and caution made me bite back the slew of questions I wanted to ask him. “We could hear you out in the hall. Sorry to interrupt. But Lorraine said you were looking for me, and I needed to introduce you to someone. A possible ally in our cause. Ares, meet Billy Blade.”

  Ares. The god of war? I swung my gaze quickly back to the guy on Arla’s right. He was a big dude, built like an NFL offensive lineman, his white blond hair shorn close to his head. He loo
ked even younger than Arla. Did Favored Progeny age backwards? Holding my towel with my left hand, I shook his with my right. “Nice to meet you.” Ares had a firm grip and an assessing manner that reminded me of Morpheus.

  “I’m sure it is.” His nose twitched. “Got a literary muse in there, huh?” He tried to peek over my shoulder.

  Thyme, a muse? That made a lot of sense, actually. But I didn’t want Ares getting an eyeful, and it seemed like maybe Arla didn’t trust him completely. I pulled the door nearly closed behind me just as Bananarama’s Venus started blaring out of the cell Ares held.

  “Excuse me, Billy” Ares lifted up a finger looking less confident all of a sudden and a lot nervous. “I need to take this.” He took a step backward. “Baby, don’t be mad…”

  “What’s going on, Billy?” Arla hissed low moving closer. “Doan be coo-yon. A muse is not a groupie. They are highly intelligent and emotional creatures. They…”

  “I’m not being crazy. And she’s not a groupie.” I glanced over at Ares before looking back at Arla. “She’s my world.”

  “When the hell did this happen?” Our raised voices and the fact that I was only in a towel had a woman in an elegant gown arching a brow at us as she clattered past in her stilettos.

  “While you were gone. You’ve been disappearing a lot Arla. Where have you been?”

  “Trying to fix something real important.” A deep crease formed between his brows. Just like Thyme’s, I suddenly realized. Arla glanced at Ares who was gesticulating and dodging people in the hall as he paced back and forth continuing his animated phone conversation. When Arla looked back at me, there was sadness in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before. “What we talked about the other day.” His voice was thick. “It got me thinking about priorities. I felt like I needed to try again to mend a relationship with a muse that meant the world to me.

  I froze solid. He couldn’t possibly be talking about Thyme’s mother, could he? “How’d that go?” I asked carefully.

  “Not so well in the end. I did something she resented in the past, and now she’s done something she never should have that could have repercussions I’m not sure she’s even considered. I stayed longer than I intended trying to get her to listen to reason. But when that woman makes up her mind to do something there’s no changing it. Tete dure. She’s more stubborn than she was thirty years ago.” He ran a hand through hair that was disheveled, and that’s when I noticed the rest. His wrinkled shirt. The mud stains on his jeans. On the surface and underneath it was obvious my carefree boss from the bayou was anything but at the moment. “I waited too long. My regret and apologies were too late. Maybe if I had gone to her sooner.” His eyes glassed up. He tilted his head back and blinked the moisture away before hitting me with a serious look. “There are just some things that can’t be mended, Billy. No matter how much we wish they could. You’re lucky enough to have a muse. Treat her right. Be careful with her. Don’t mess things up like I did. Ain’t nothing like a muse’s love. I’ve lived long enough to know dat truth.”

  Shit. I’d never seen him that wounded. I shifted awkwardly on my bare feet. “Arla,” I began, but Ares interrupted.

  “Sorry Aphrodite can be a real wench,” Ares apologized with a wry grin. “With her reputation you’d think she’d be more open about sharing.” He gestured over my shoulder. “What about you? I’ve got a suite at the Omni. Would you and your girlfriend care to join me?”

  “No way,” I growled through gritted teeth, knowing my eyes were flashing with a proprietary gleam.

  “Relax, Blade. I can see the rumors about you are true.” He glanced over at Arla then back at me. “I really wanted to meet the one who spit in old Polly’s eye. You won’t back down from anyone, will you?” He smoothed a hand over his crew. “I like that, and I like Bacchus’ scheme.” He lowered his voice to a confidential tone. “It’s a cause I believe in. Truth is I’d rather make love than war. We play things right, we’ll get the Code amended without anyone getting hurt. If not…” He trailed off and shrugged, his meaning clear. “The time for sitting back and keeping things the way they’ve been for centuries has passed. It’s time to do something different. We should be celebrating our differences. If the Creator wanted us to be all the same he would’ve made us that way.” He grinned and slapped Arla on the back. “When you meet the conditions that we agreed upon, I’ll stand with you for sure. It’ll be exciting. At the very least I’ll get a more interesting assortment of bed partners to choose from.” He turned back to me. “Good luck with your muse, and good luck with your meeting.”

  “What meeting?” I asked.

  “With Zeus and Hades,” Arla clarified. “The French Market. At five a.m. The big guys like their raw oysters to recharge their libido after their Mardi Gras indulgences. If you can arrive a little earlier, there’s stuff I’d like to go over with you and Morpheus. Protocol. Strategy.”

  “Fine.” I had Thyme. Her world was my world. Staying on the sidelines wasn’t an option. I would bring Thyme so she could talk privately with her father. Hopefully, we’d get the answers we sought.

  “Good.” He took a step back. “Well, Ares and I are goan take off now. We have others to talk to, and Lorraine seems like she’s got everything under control here. Glad I can count on you to stand with us, Billy. I have a feeling we’re goan to need your help before it’s all said and done.”

  Chapter 47

  Virtue runs before the muse. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Thyme

  “Your Arla is Bacchus?” I asked as soon as Billy slipped back in the room. And he was Cajun. Interesting that no one had ever mentioned that to me.

  “Yeah, I just found out the other night.” He gave me a careful look. “How much of that did you hear?”

  “The part where you said I’m you’re world. I loved that part best.” I gave him a soft smile and he pulled me into him. “The muse stuff about me. I never guessed, but it fits. Since they are obsessed with the arts and sciences and inspire those things. It makes sense for my mother too since she loved singing and was the one who got me interested in poetry in the first place.”

  “You inspire me, Ty Boo. But you’d inspire me better without your clothes on. Why’d you get dressed?”

  “Because I was a little cold.” My lip twitched. “I had to use your dirty shirt to dry off after I got cleaned up.” I made a mock mad face. “You took the only towel.”

  “Well, ok. That’s a good excuse. But go ahead and take the dress the hell back off now.”

  “Why? Does my champion need a token of his lady’s favor?”

  “Yes in fact I do.” He rubbed his chin eyeing me as he was deciding which part of me would go best on his lance. “I’ll take the entire outfit since it goes together as one piece.”

  “Can’t I just give you a pair of your dirty boxers since I pick them up all the time?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It has to be something of yours. I’d take a pair of panties, but since you don’t have any…” I made a face, and he wiggled his brows drawing me close. “If you’re so partial to the dress, then keep it. I’ve decided I want you as my favor instead. Just you.”

  Our teasing banter was interrupted by Billy’s cell. On the locker room bench, where he’d apparently left it on vibrate mode, it walked across the wooden surface.

  “Shit!” Billy let go of me and made a grab for it just before it tipped toward the floor. He swiped the screen and put it to his ear. “Lorraine? What’s going on?...But, dammit…Alright. I’m on my way.” His eyes met mine as he closed the space he’d just allowed between us. “One of the biggest sponsors for my tour is at the meet and greet,” he explained. “I’ve got to make an appearance.”

  “Oh.” I couldn’t hide the disappointment in my tone or on my face. I only had so much time to spend with him with the magic of the mask, and now that we were together, I didn’t want to waste even one more single moment.

  “I know.” His arms tightened around me squeezing an oomp
h out of me. “Don’t want to leave you either.” He tipped my chin up and kissed me briefly, but thoroughly. I was dazed and breathless my fingers digging in and kneading his hard ass through the towel when he ended it. “Stay,” he commanded lifting an admonishing brow, backing away, grabbing a pile of folded clothes from the bench. I complied, watching him pull on underwear, smirking when he had a little trouble fitting his impressive erection into the boxer briefs. Dark jeans, a grey and black plaid button down and the black blazer he’d worn on the float followed. He raked a hand through his hair before taking my hand and pulling me with him toward the door. “Got shit I’ve gotta do, but then we’re going back to the apartment where we can be alone.”

  As we strode down the concrete hallway together side by side, a security guard fell silently into place behind us. “I approve of your plan.” I smiled over at him, his happy grin was contagious, his joy in that moment inseparable from my own. “But then I’d like to go along with you to that meeting with Zeus and Hades if that’s ok? I’d like to talk to my father and ask him about my mother. See if she’s the woman he was talking about.” See if there was any hope for Billy and me beyond this.

  “I was thinking along those same lines, but I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”

  “There’s probably not going to be a lot of time. I have a lot of questions, but it’s sooner than I had hoped for.” And the glamour of the mask would yet remain though it’d be precariously close to morning. My brows pulled together. “What did Bacchus mean he had others he needed to talk to? And that he was glad that he could count on you to stand with him?”