Hell On Wheels

by Rhyll Biest

  She rested her hand on his rigid thigh. ‘Turn around.’

  As he obeyed she allowed her own tunic to fall. She granted him a good long look, mostly because she liked the way his gaze rested as heavy as lead armour on her and made her feel exposed in the most sensual way. ‘See anything you like, soldier?’

  ‘What does your study tell you?’ His voice, rough as gravel, scraped her nerves, making her shiver.

  ‘I think the Captain of Bloodshed and Slaughter looks hungry for something not served on a plate.’ She caught his hand and dragged him onto her blanket-strewn pallet, taking a moment to savour how very small her body was beneath his bulk, though he was careful not to rest his weight directly on her. Instead he supported himself on an arm braced by her head, the fiercly carved muscle and tendon drawing her gaze.

  He could snap her in half had he wished, but instead he worshipped her, his hand slowly tracing her curves. His face was a thing to behold, downcast lashes sinfully thick beneath the bold sweep of his brows, his parted lips softening the hard lines of his face. She could study him forever.

  He rested a bronzed hand on her belly, and her gaze followed the smooth river of veins branching over his forearm. The veins merged into one major tributary that flowed up his rounded bicep, into his shoulder and to the heart that rested in his chest.

  He carried his heart right there inside him, as if it didn’t hurt. Fearless, fearless soldier.

  He didn’t avoid emotion; he wasn’t even afraid to talk about feelings. Maybe she’d got it wrong all this time. Perhaps rather than being something to be brushed aside like dirt, emotions were like hellhounds—you had to spend time with them and understand them, and train them and nurture them, otherwise they ran amok and pissed on your carpet.

  Perhaps it was time to stare her inner hellhounds in the face and house-train those little fuckers.

  She traced the sweeping arc where his neck flowed into his shoulders, allowing her fingers to dance across his skin.

  His nostrils flared. ‘Finished studying me yet?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Okay, then take some notes on this.’ Silver eyes gleaming above his sharp cheekbones, he lowered his head to take her left nipple in his mouth.

  She gasped and had only just caught her breath before he took her lips in a scorching, open-mouthed kiss, his tongue teasing her and sweeping her restraint aside.

  Lilith, she wanted to see him unravel, become the same sort of mess he was making out of her.

  She placed a hand over his and squeezed it, and his kiss grew deeper, almost devouring. But she wanted to be devoured. Her hands roamed his back restlessly as his dark aura of elemental power played over her, its bold, earthy undertones intoxicating. His thumbs circled her nipples, gently exploring and coaxing, and she arched into his hands, her breath quickening.

  Deeper, she needed him deeper, beneath her skin, inside her. She angled her head and planted both hands on the side of his hips to tug him closer, sighing happily when he hitched his hands under her butt to lift her. He dragged her up the length of his hard body so she could wrap her legs around his waist and they had better access to one another.

  Her hand slid between their bodies and roamed lower, finding the thick, hard length of his shaft and encircled him.

  Her boldness was rewarded with a harsh, flaring breath and a stiffening of his spine as his eyes met hers.

  Molten silver, his gaze seared her with its intensity as his hand found the warm, slick place between her legs. ‘Oh, fuck, you’re all …’

  Wet? Hot? Wanting?

  Instead of finishing the sentence he painted her with a rapid fire of kisses on her breasts, neck, jaw and mouth, at the same time spearing his fingers through her folds, toying with her clitoris until it grew stiff and aching. Want forced shiver after shiver down her spine. As he slid his fingers inside her, her breath quickened, almost drowning out the sound of his fingers slipping and sliding through her wet folds.

  Even as he ramped up her anticipation to an unbearable level, she took her revenge on him by stroking his stiff cock with a firm grip, and using the buck and thrust of his hips and the low noises that escaped him to gauge the right speed and pressure.

  She might not have a heart to give but she could give him this.

  Fuck. The sweet ache between her legs became an urgent thing, an unbearable tension demanding release. ‘Now,’ she urged him, ‘now.’

  What a fool sex made of one, the urgent need to be filled with this in that place. It was difficult to allow another to see her that way and yet it was the only way she got to see Adriel’s face this way—his silver eyes unfocused with lust, his big body rocking as he thrust his fingers inside her. It was a sight that made her wish she had a hundred more eyes to watch him.

  She fucked his rigid cock faster with her hand, burning to see his come spill over her knuckles.

  ‘Not yet.’ He slowed her hand with his own before taking it away.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Not yet.’ Soft, warm lips found her nipple and sucked hard as his thumb gave her clit another series of firm strokes, his fingers plunging deep inside her on the downstroke. They thrusted in and out and across her clit until she came, the hard cock in her hand throbbing in time with the hammering pulse in her head and cunt. She gasped, pleasure stealing her breath and her whole body seizing as the world temporarily faded, warmth draping her in a dark, velvety blanket.

  Adriel’s breath stirred the light sweat on her breasts, and when she reopened her eyes she found him studying her, silver eyes ablaze.

  ***

  Adriel swallowed hard. The tight squeeze of her hand as she came, the look on her face—both almost undid him but he held on. It was worth it when her eyes opened and met his, sleepy and satisfied.

  ‘Did you get all the notes you needed on that, princess? Or do you need me to do it again?’

  She sighed. ‘Captain Braggart.’

  Pulse slamming against his throat, Adriel tried to slow time by absorbing every detail of their coupling—the fresh, clean smell of her skin and sweat, the sharp, dry scent of sex spicing the tent. The heat and pressure of her fingers around his cock, slick with his pre-come, the light in her unfocused eyes.

  The series of gasps she’d given, the way her body had arched.

  He replayed it in his mind, knowing he needed to see the real thing again and soon. ‘Ready to take more notes?’

  She nodded, eyes sleepy, a smile curving her kiss-swollen lips.

  He wrapped his hand over the small one on his cock, showing her how hard he wanted his dick worked before leaving it up to her in favour of moulding her small but perfect breasts, licking the fine sheen of sweat from their roundness.

  He took a playful swipe at one pert nipple with his lips, then he replaced it with a firmer rub of his fingers and nuzzled her neck as she gasped. She was so small and lithe all over that he wished he had a thousand hands so he could put them everywhere at once—on her breasts, her rosy nipples, her clit, her arse. He had to take a long, deep breath to slow his thoughts, slow his body, or he’d come before he was ready. Plus, a part of him wanted to drag out his first time with her, that magical moment of new-found exploration, so that it lasted hours, or better, never ended.

  Her grip, lazy but firm, slid up and down his length, filling him with a hot need. ‘I thought you said you were slow to thaw.’

  She shrugged. ‘I used to be.’

  But not now. ‘Hmmm.’

  Her expression turned speculative as she stroked him harder, lust sharpening her gaze. The way she looked at him, as if picturing the many ways she might use him, lit a fire in his blood. He wanted her every way, too. On top, underneath, side by side. Hands and mouth, tongue and teeth, whatever.

  An urge seized him and he freed himself from her hand before flipping her over. She gasped at the sudden movement but laughed as his hands fumbled at her hips.

  ‘Sorry, too rough?’ he asked.

  She twisted to look over her
shoulder at him, her gaze downright sultry. ‘Not at all.’

  He kissed one round buttock, savouring the sight of his fingers splayed over her arse, before he shifted his hold to her hips. He straightened and leaned back, all his focus on her perfect, round little arse and her waiting sex.

  Fuck, he could smell her, all of her. He stole an unsteady hand between her legs and nearly lost control at the soft, slick heat there. He had to draw a deep breath to calm himself. Steady, steady. He pressed the head of his cock to her slippery core and slid in deep.

  She groaned, his princess groaned. And she gasped as he buried himself deeper. He relished the drag of his skin across hers, the sweaty slap of his thighs against her arse with each thrust. The sound of her getting down and dirty with him. He bit his lip, straining to hammer his hips faster, each stroke exquisite torture and pleasure.

  Her cries almost drowned out his harsh pants, almost. Lilith’s tits, she held him so snug and deep that his balls drew up tight and hard with the pressure of keeping from coming. He wanted to, his whole body reached for completion, but he also wanted to keep fucking her forever.

  He pinned her between the blanket and his straining body, his arms braced by her sides as they rocked together, her body swaying beneath his thrusts. Could she even love him without a heart? He would make her. Hooking an arm under her belly he pulled her harder against him so he could reach her clit.

  She squirmed under his fingers. ‘Don’t, I’ll come.’

  ‘That’s the idea,’ he hissed against her back as she came all over his cock, muscles tightening around him and extra slickness bathing him. She cried out and her hips gave a violent jerk before her whole body softened beneath his.

  Was it wrong that he liked seeing her so limp and spent, knowing that he’d fucked all the snark and fight out of her? All he knew was that his dick liked the sight, the pressure at the base of his spine coiling tighter while all his muscles contracted his body into rigid need, his body stiff against her pliancy.

  All tension lifted as he came, his mind taking flight as his body jerked with release. The hoarse cry torn from his throat barely seemed his. He blinked the sweat from his eyes and eased their bodies to the blankets so that they lay side by side, still wedged together. As the weight returned to his body, he pressed his lips between Valeda’s shoulderblades in a kiss designed to smother any unwary words of tenderness. She would not welcome those.

  Chapter 12

  Sitting by Bad Karma and Fira at the practice track, Valeda fell into a pleasant reverie. I think I’ve fallen for my husband.

  Was that good or bad? The way they’d mauled one another like bears during mating season for several hours had certainly been good. More than good. It was quite possible they’d done a thing or two that even Semya was unfamiliar with. The thought summoned a smile to her still-tender lips.

  Her cheeks heated as highlights of one particular thing they’d done flashed before her eyes, along with the memory of her gasps and cries, the heady funk of sex in the tent, and the brutally filthy things Adriel had promised to do to her once he returned from the battlefield.

  Fira, lacing up her skates, narrowed her eyes at her. ‘Lilith’s tits, did you finally get some? About time. Want to share the details?’

  Valeda smiled sweetly. ‘Only if you admit your mother sucks scurtbeasts in the forest.’

  For a full second Fira gaped before lunging for her. ‘You heifer!’

  Laughing, Valeda dodged Bad Karma and her bandaged knee to dance out of reach of Fira.

  Bad Karma threw her head back to laugh and slapped her thighs. ‘Oh, she totally burned you, Fira.’

  Fira sat back down, her face set in truculent lines. ‘You better not tell anyone or I’ll break your other knee cap.’

  Valeda smirked but had already turned her thoughts to how to lure her brother into meeting her alone.

  She caught her breath as pain stroked her nerves. Pushing past the neural punishment, she laid out the necessary steps. A note in a blood portal would get his attention. If she played the damsel in distress and begged him to rescue her he would lap it up. That was his downfall: his utter lack of insight when it came to her, his inability to see their relationship as it truly was rather than how he wanted it to be.

  She was his blind spot.

  Fitting, really.

  But disloyal. A trickle of blood leaked from one nostril and she wiped it away angrily. He had reduced her to this; it was his own fault. She refused to let him destroy Adriel with something so cowardly as a transformation curse.

  Focus.

  She needed to make sure their meeting place was heavily guarded. Having studied Adriel’s maps often enough, she already knew which fortresses were most heavily defended.

  Bad Karma nudged her shoulder. ‘You’re not skating today? You rocked the track last scrimmage.’

  She shook her head. ‘I have something I need to take care of.’ And she wasn’t certain how much time she had left to save Adriel.

  ‘Do you need any help?’

  She smiled. ‘Thanks for the offer but I think I’ve worked everything out.’

  ***

  Adriel rested against a tree. He’d had a bad moment when rage had bled over his vision and he’d felt sharp things in his hands and mouth, claws and fangs that wanted to lengthen.

  And then dizziness.

  What did he do? Admit to himself and his brother that he was no longer fit to lead? Who would take his place? Neither Ipos nor Spark were ready for that kind of role yet, nor Justice. And Valeda, what did he tell her? To keep away?

  What did he do?

  He stiffened and raised his head as a familiar smell and voice wafted to his ears. ‘Captain.’

  Justice approached, her aura aflame, a cloud of charcoal perfume wrapped around her.

  ‘Sit,’ he told Tane. The other hellhounds were resting. Rango and Moloss were with his brother.

  ‘We’ve cornered one of Paimon’s generals. Mnemnos.’

  Anticipation gripped him. ‘Where?’

  ‘By the north border tower.’

  ‘Who has her cornered?’ He straightened.

  ‘General Hakan and Ipos.’

  ‘Take me there.’

  She nodded then cut a shallow line on her arm with a dagger, drew a circle with the blood and stepped inside. ‘Be careful not to brush against me, sir; I’m fully juiced.’

  Sweat broke out on his brow as he stepped inside the portal to stand beside her. Was it his imagination or were there tiny motes of lava-like droplets crawling across the skin of her cheek? The kiss of heat vanished as three long seconds of freezing nothingness stung his face before he found himself standing on a rocky, black isthmus spiky with pillars of stone.

  Hundreds of metres below the cliff edge, a sea of lava swelled and shifted, dark scabs forming here and there on the brooding surface. A savage hot wind rushed up from it and as he turned his face away from the blast, he was confronted by the sight of Rango lying dead on the rock, tongue hanging like an obscene tie from his mouth, his brown pelt scorched black in places.

  Rango. Mnemnos would pay dearly for that, wherever she was. He scanned the terrain for signs of her.

  An arc of deadly white lightning flashed by, then another, before she stepped out from behind the cluster of pillars she’d taken cover behind.

  A desperate move. She had to know she was outnumbered, though Hakan and Ipos remained out of sight. Electricity danced over her skin and wind whipped her white hair as she ionised the air, charging it with negative particles, her blue aura ablaze. Lush of figure and physically alluring, she failed to rouse him simply because she was not Valeda.

  She hurled more deadly ropes of lightning, forcing him and Justice to take cover. Wherever she focused, her plasma lightning discharged—bursts of red, purple, blue and white light followed by blasts of thunder that shook the ground.

  He eyed the forks of electrified plasma dancing over her skin as she laughed. She was a walking pyrotechnics disp
lay. The problem with having to lay hands on another demon to drain them of their juice was that getting that close could be difficult to survive. Thankfully Justice didn’t have that problem. ‘I’m going to draw her attention. While I do that, run to the next pillar and hit her while she’s unloading in my direction.’

  Justice looked between him and Mnemnos. ‘Be careful, you won’t survive a direct hit.’

  ‘We’ll see.’ He stepped out from behind the stone pillar.

  Mnemnos, her eyes vivid blue sparks in her face, fixed her gaze on him and raised hands encased in plasma.

  Justice hesitated and he frowned at her. ‘Go!’

  As a looping arc of deadly electricity wormed its way towards him, Adriel lunged in the opposite direction from Justice, taking cover behind another pillar of stone. He crouched low but the invisible copper cauldron of the pulsing electromagnetic field created by Mnemnos reached his hiding place, and a stinging current burned his nerves at the same time the rock around him exploded. The explosion deafened him, filling his ears with a hot, sharp ringing that isolated him from the rest of the world and buried him deep in sensory deprivation.

  Twisting in pain, he gritted his teeth and self-repaired as he crawled towards the next pillar, smelling rather than seeing the ball of fire Justice prepared to lob back at Mnemnos.

  Where were his brother and Ipos? He needed them to divert the she-demon as he circled behind her.

  His teeth smashed together as electricity blasted the pillar he crouched behind. It hurled him back several metres before his back hit rock and he thudded to the ground in a ball of pain, the three moons looking down at him, deeply unimpressed with his performance.

  He frowned as he glimpsed a white aura darting across the black landscape, ducking and weaving between the pillars, followed by the smell of freshly fallen snow carrying on the wind.

  Valeda?

  Why was she here? Had she followed him using the portal Justice had drawn in the tent?