by Jourdan Lane
But instead of sinking, he moved us through the water and we ended up on the wide ledge that separated the hot tub from the rest of the pool. I lay back, arching up as his lips found one nipple ring, then the other. He kissed his way to my navel, dipped his tongue in to tease, then pulled back, sighing.
"You were right; the pool is good for relaxing."
I turned my head and winked at him. "With the right people."
Arms crossed, he propped himself up on the ledge with his elbows. "I wanted to fuck you, but the water isn't very conducive to slick and easy."
I laughed. "You didn't know that?"
He shrugged. "The bath always seems to work fine."
I rolled to my side and ran my fingers through his hair. "That's because we use oils in the bath and it gets soapy. Still not great, but I'm normally so far gone with wanting you inside me that I don't care how slick it is or isn't."
He caught my hand and turned it over, licking and sucking at the inside of my wrist. "Right now I want slick. I want to be able to shove right into that tight hole, over and over again. Pull all the way out, push back in; hard and fast; slow and easy; fuck you all night long…"
I caught his face between my hands and kissed him, trembling at his words. "And just fill me with you?"
"Fill you so full of me that the word human will be nothing but an afterthought," he whispered.
I stared at him for a long moment, heart pounding. "Don't tease me, Lucien. Not about this."
"I've been selfish, Peter." He pushed up out of the water and hovered above me on his hands and knees. "For so long, I've told myself—and you—that I wanted to protect you from this world. I think what you needed protection from the most… was me."
I frowned up at him, shaking my head. "Why would you say that?"
"I fear what the incubus will do when I finally give it the freedom it's wanted for so long."
"We've never had any problems before." I smiled, trying to keep this from going downhill. "I'm rather fond of the incubus part of you."
"With all honesty, I would not have said if there were problems."
"Have there been?"
Lucien nodded slightly.
"We're supposed to be in this together, Lucien."
"I know. I just…"
"What?"
"It wants you so desperately. Wants you in ways that have nothing to do with love or respect. It wants to ravish you. To bask in the glory of your blood, your pleasure… your pain…"
"I'm okay with that. And you know what?" I drew him close, kissing across his jaw and down his throat, before nuzzling a spot on his neck and biting down. "My blood, my pleasure, my pain… I would give it all to you."
Lucien growled and moved off me, though I didn't know quite how. One moment he was above me and the next he was out of the pool, pacing back and forth along the concrete.
"Run, Peter."
Confused, I awkwardly made my way to the ledge and got out of the pool. I started for Lucien, but he turned, snarling, voice deep and full of… Oh…
"Run."
Every part of me responded to him, and the last thing I wanted to do was run. I wanted to stay and play, to see where it would lead if I teased the part of him he feared the most. I knew in my gut there was nothing to fear.
He advanced and I bowed up, grinning. "Then come and get me, lover."
Lucien turned away from me and roared, every muscle in his body tense and shaking. My courage faltered then. I'd never seen him so uncontrolled and on edge. I turned on my heel and almost slipped on the wet concrete as I started for the house. If I could just make it inside, there'd be places to hide.
To tease.
I quickly figured out that it was hard running while laughing. And that running with a half-hard dick was a pain in more ways than one. I ended up cupping my dick and balls as I ran and I had a feeling that anyone watching would have thought I'd lost my mind. They might've been right, too.
The guards, who'd been leaned against the door and talking, separated and drew their guns. I tried to wave them off. "Just open the door!"
"Is everything—?"
"Open the goddamned door!"
Apparently, Lucien was close enough behind me that they realized no one was out to get us. One of the doors opened and as I passed one of the guards, I heard him laugh. Bastard.
I ran up the private corridor toward the main part of the house, my mind going ninety to nothing trying to figure out where to go. To my left was a corridor that I'd only been down a few times. The rooms down in this area were mainly used for storage. I veered off down the corridor and about halfway down, ducked into a recess and plastered myself against the wall.
Panting, I tried not to laugh. How could I have known that the walls I made fun of for being so damned decorative would give me a place to catch my breath? But the break was short-lived. Lucien was close, the air suddenly becoming thick with need.
My belly tightened at the thought of Lucien finding me, cock filling in anticipation. I bit at my lip, head falling back against the wall. Suddenly, the wall disappeared behind me and I fell backward. I gasped when my bare ass hit the cold floor. I tried to get to my feet, but before I managed it the part of the wall I'd fallen through slammed shut.
Chapter Six
The room was so dark I couldn't see my hand only inches from my face. I got to my feet and found the wall again, running my hand all along the surface in search of a door knob or a light switch. When I found neither, I put my back to the wall and tried to figure out what to do next.
The floor at my feet was cold, but smooth. Almost like the marble floor in our bathroom. Intrigued, I stepped away from the wall, hands searching the darkness before me. After a few steps, the floor gave way. I fell on my ass, feet going out in front of me. I realized that the floor hadn't gone after all.
I was at the top of a set of stairs.
My eyes began to adjust—hearing, too. Lucien was close. I went back to the wall, grinning like hell as I heard Lucien pass by, growl, stop… then come close to the wall.
Okay. So maybe I really wanted him to catch me. But this whole run-hide-tease thing was fun. Now, if only there'd be some serious seeking.
I felt Lucien touch at my mind, no doubt trying to see through my eyes to get a clue on where I was. I didn't have time to shield, but realized that all Lucien would see anyway would be darkness. Quietly and carefully, I turned back and started making my way down the stairs.
After about the tenth one, I started wondering just what the fuck this place was. I was going down the stairs, which meant wherever I was at was huge. Maybe it was an old part of the dungeon…
A soft growl sounded from somewhere close, though I couldn't place the direction it came from. Goose bumps rose over my body and I shuddered, knowing that Lucien had made his way inside without me realizing it. The air became heavy, Lucien's scent invading my senses. My body reacted—heated, hard, wanting, heart racing in my chest.
I felt Lucien coming toward me and for a moment, I couldn't move. I was frozen in that one spot, fear washing through me. I managed to shake it off a few seconds later, still trying to move forward, cursing him inwardly for not playing fair.
The stairs gave way to a flat surface and I was relieved to be able to move faster again. I ran ahead, hands still in front of me so I didn't crash head first into a fucking wall. He hit me hard in the back, pushing me forward.
We landed on a raised, carpeted area and I struggled, trying to throw him off. Hands pinned my wrists, Lucien's weight on the back of my thighs keeping me immobile. The more I struggled, the more he growled.
Without warning, he sank his fangs into my shoulder. I cried out in pain and he pulled off, licking at the wound. Breathless, I tried to get him off me again. He shifted and trailed his tongue a little further down.
"Lucien… Fuck!"
He bit into me again and again, working his way down my back, each time sipping only a little before licking at the wound and moving on. When I
tried to move my hands and arms, he'd growl and pin them back above my head. After a while, he let me go, but I didn't dare move.
His tongue teased the crack of my ass and I tensed, eyes going wide. But he didn't bite; didn't do anything but pause just above me, letting his breath tickle and caress my skin.
I bit at my lip, swallowing hard as I arched back toward him. He buried his face in my ass, inhaling deeply. His tongue found my hole a few seconds later, licking and teasing before pushing deep. I groaned, head dropping to the floor.
He pushed me forward and spread my ass cheeks, licking the skin between my hole and my balls. I clenched my jaw tight, knowing what was coming. When the pain of his bite flooded through me, I let out a growl. My hands shifted, claws biting through the carpet into the wood. But I stayed where I was, waiting.
"I want you to get off, but not because it feels good for you. I only care that it adds to the feed—that it adds to my pleasure." He flipped me onto my back and spread my legs. "Whatever you refuse to give me, I have no problems taking."
Lucien waved a hand and light filled the room. I couldn't see the source, but it was unnaturally bright. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open after being in darkness for so long. His black gaze held mine before traveling down my body, but I had a hard time tearing my gaze from his face. It was rare that I got to see so much of this part of him.
"You can't take what's freely given."
A sharp claw moved down my throat. "There are so many things I want to do to you."
"You want my blood?"
"Yes…"
"My pain?"
"I love the sounds that escape your lips."
"You want to kill me?"
"I want to drink you dry."
"Then do it. Right now." I bared my neck and spread my legs further, like some filthy whore just begging for it. "Fuck me, fill me, take me. Take all of me."
He growled and thrust into me, sinking his fangs deep. He fed like a starved thing, shoving into me hard and fast as if he hadn't come in years. It was nothing but pain, but I refused to scream. I'd offered, he'd taken. I wouldn't take the satisfaction from him.
It was the first time Lucien had ever laid himself so open, giving the incubus almost complete control. And he was so controlled—cold, calculating, violent, and oh-so-dangerous.
After a few seconds, he froze, as if something inside of him had snapped. He licked at my neck to heal the wound, then rose up, pulling out of me, off me.
"No." He sat a couple feet away, turned away from me, panting, shaking his head. "Can't. Not yet. It's not time."
Even though Lucien had said the incubus wanted nothing to do with love or respect, it was clear to me that he might have been just a little bit wrong about that. If that were true, I'd either be dead, or on my way to being undead instead of lying here, watching him fight for control again. Maybe, just maybe, despite all the time Lucien had spent fighting and pushing back this part of himself, he didn't really know it.
"Lucien?"
He refused to look at me.
"Lucien, look at me." He scrubbed a hand over his face then looked back at me. I smiled and reached out my hand for him. "Come here."
He warred with the decision for a moment, then moved to lie beside me. He kissed my chest and lay his head down, sighing. "I'm sorry."
"What the hell for?"
"This went too far."
"Baby? When are you going to get it through your head that I love you? That I love the incubus part of you just as much?"
"I know you do," he whispered. "That's what scares me. Instead of running and getting away, you just gave yourself right up."
"Not going to run. I'm as safe with the incubus as I am with you."
"You can't truly believe that."
I did. And there was no way that we were going to come to any sort of agreement tonight. I changed the subject. "Where are we?"
"This is the old—"
"Lucien?" Simon's voice echoed in the large, empty space. He walked up a few seconds later, but I didn't see where he'd come from. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a phone call for you."
Lucien sat up, still a little unsteady, taking the phone from Simon's hand. "This is Lucien."
There was nothing unsteady about that low, deep voice. I trailed my fingers along Lucien's spine, probably teasing myself more than teasing him. He stood and turned to face me and Simon, a huge grin on his face.
"I'll be right back."
I lost sight of him as he walked away, then looked at Simon. "How long have you been waiting?"
"Not long." He smiled shyly when I looked at him a little harder. "The sounds you make… In all my years, I've never heard anything so beautiful."
"I find that very hard to believe, Simon." I patted the floor in front of me. "Let's talk while Lucien's busy."
Simon frowned and looked back at the door before moving to half-sit, half-kneel before me. "As you wish."
"Who in this coven knows what you are?"
He picked at the carpet, not looking up. "Nikolas."
"Just Nikolas?"
He nodded. "Unless someone else has figured it out and just hasn't said."
"I see. What about Xander? You two seemed pretty close—like there'd been something between you before. Was I reading into things?"
"I—" Simon swallowed hard. "I'm really not comfortable talking about this."
"Surely you have nothing to hide from me," I said, leaning forward just a little. "Or do you?"
"It was never my intention to hide anything."
"Yet you did. All I want to know—is why. And how."
"Well, the how is easy enough to explain." He stood and began to unbutton his shirt. "But the why," he shook his head, "I'm not sure I'll ever be able to say. I can try, but…"
He dropped his shirt to the floor and sighed. I looked up at him, at that beautiful, lean body, and shook my head. "I don't understand, Simon."
"You will." He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and turned away from me.
My gut twisted as his back came into view. A long line of deep, nasty scars marred his otherwise perfect skin from just between his shoulder blades to the curve of his lower back. They were an angry red, almost as if they were fresh wounds instead of scars. I got to my feet, wanting to get a closer look.
The closer I looked, the more they seemed like wounds. I reached up and touched his back with the tips of my fingers. Simon sucked in a quick breath, flinching, and I pulled my hand back.
"What is this, Simon? What happened?"
"I was…stripped of my wings."
"But these are fresh wounds, Simon."
"No, they're not," he whispered softly.
"I don't understand." I tried to turn him to face me, but he shrugged away and bent for his shirt. "How long ago did this happen?"
He made an awkward sound, somewhere between a laugh and a cry. "A very long time ago."
"Oh, Simon…"
"No!" He turned to face me, shaking his head adamantly. "Do not pity me, Peter."
I sat down again, shaking my head. "But I've seen you cut yourself in the kitchen. You heal just as quickly as any vampire or werewolf. Why doesn't your back heal?"
"Because that was part of my sentence." Simon sat beside me. "'To forever bear the weight of what I used to be.'" He looked over at me. "Sounds a bit melodramatic to me, even now."
"And when your sentence is over, what happens? You get your wings back?"
"My sentence will never end and I will never get my wings back."
"I don't understand."
"There's nothing to understand. I committed a crime and this is my punishment." Simon reached over and took my hand, squeezing it tightly. "When Lucien found me, he assumed I was immortal. I saw no point in correcting him. After all, what is an angel without wings?"
"I would say…" Lucien walked into view. "That he's still an angel in my book."
Simon shifted off the raised area to his knees before Lucien, face buried in hi
s hands. "I'm so sorry, Lucien."
Lucien started to touch Simon's shoulders, but seemed to think better of it, moving his hands to the top of Simon's head instead. He tilted Simon's head back, forcing him to look up.
"Do not apologize to me for this."
"But I—"
