by Woods, Erica
I yanked her against my chest and took her mouth in a heated, dominating kiss intending to silence her, to stop her from lying to herself and speaking the self-deluded falsehoods rapidly sending me over the edge of blasted reason.
The female needed to learn. Needed to be punished for her willful disobedience, for her habit of recklessly putting her life in danger, for being unfailingly and unconscionably selfless. She needed to be taught to obey her males and trust them above all others. And most importantly, she needed to disabuse herself of the notion that she could belittle herself in my presence.
It never failed to ignite my temper with red-hot fuel, leaving me raging like a madman.
But when her lips began moving, my intended purpose fled. Thoughts fled. Reason fled.
In their wake, only she remained. Her soft, pliant flesh under my roaming hands. The sweet sighs and fervent moans tearing from her throat. Her tiny waist. Her long, lustrous hair.
Her bright, bright eyes.
She was mine. Her light was mine. And I’d protect it to my dying breath.
60
Hope
Lucien’s kiss was made to conquer.
It was hard. Demanding. Almost punishing in its force. It sent shivers up my back, turned my body hot and quivering, and when it changed, gave way to a deeper exploration that was no less devastating, it seized my heart in a grip that made it each rushed heartbeat strangely weak.
A moan trembled on my lips, and Lucien devoured it. Devoured me.
My thighs ached, spread wide to cradle his hips, and my breasts felt heavy, tingling as they rubbed against his chest. His arms were around me, one hand in my hair, guiding my head, the other a brand between my shoulder blades, keeping me locked in place.
He tore his mouth away with a low curse, making me whimper at the loss.
“You drive me mad,” he hissed, breath coming in harsh exhalations. “Utterly, stark raving mad.”
My mind was too clouded by the impression of his lips, his tongue, his dominating presence to form a reply. I could only stare at him and watch him stare back, until his mouth lost its hardness and his eyes grew molten.
His lips curved ever so slightly—dangerous, so dangerous—and I shivered.
“Do you want this, my Hope?” he purred. “Do you want me?”
Another shiver. Deeper this time, stealing my voice and leaving only a whisper. “Y-yes.”
“There will be no going back after this.” He grabbed the back of my neck and moved until his lips hovered so close to mine I could taste him. “I need you to be certain.”
I reached up and traced the edges of those firm, unyielding lips with the tip of a finger. It tingled. “I am.”
Something inscrutable passed behind his glittering gaze before he rose and held out a hand.
I took it.
As we passed the room I’d shared with Ruarc and Jason, nerves fluttered to life and my steps lagged. I was going to . . . to have sex with Lucien. Lucien! Was I insane? What if I disappointed him? It was bound to happen. He was the most gorgeous male I’d ever seen, and I was . . .
Average?
Sensing my hesitation, Lucien halted just inside his room and looked down at our interlaced fingers. “I would never hurt you, my Hope. Not again,” he added in a rasping voice so at odds with his usual smooth tones.
“It’s not that. It’s . . .” I looked down at myself and then back to the beautiful man in front of me. “I’m not . . . not—” The words died in my throat when Lucien arched an elegant brow and his gaze roamed over me in a lazy appraisal.
“Surely you cannot be doubting your appeal, my sweet?” He cupped the back of my head and stepped closer, invading my personal space until we were pressed together and the hard length of him pushed against my stomach. “You are, without a doubt, the most enticing creature I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter.”
A lump lodged in my throat. “Misfortune?”
“Misfortune,” he purred and pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth. When he did the same on the other side, I struggled to keep my tears at bay, confused and hurt by his words. “You are too enticing, my sweet. So much so, that I have acted in a myriad of unforgivable ways since our first encounter.” Another kiss, this one behind my ear. “You made me feel things I did not wish to feel, and for that, I punished you.”
I gasped, Lucien’s mouth moving down my throat in a series of sweet, lingering kisses that ended when he reached my fluttering pulse.
“You have torn down all my defenses,” he said, putting his thumb over my pulse as if to shield it. “Broken through each and every one of my barriers. You’ve seen past my dreadful behavior, forgiven cruel insults, and proven yourself to be everything I feared you would be.” His grip on my nape tightened. “And nothing like I had hoped.”
“That . . . that sounds horrible.”
“Oh, it has been. It has been terrible. And harrowing. And disturbing. Getting to know you, learning of your remarkable, kind soul and capacity for forgiveness . . .” His lips twisted into a self-deprecating smile. “It would have been easier had you been wicked.”
Wings of hope fluttered in my chest. “Y-you think I’m remarkable?”
“Utterly so.” Lucien opened the door and pulled me inside. “You never ceased your misguided effort to befriend me, never had an unkind word for the male who had so many for you.” The intensity of his gaze made me squirm. “You, my sweet little human, have become my Hope in more ways than one.”
The tears I’d been fighting finally fell, but now they were caused by a warm, happy glow deep in my chest. “Oh, Lucien . . . It wasn’t because of any good quality of mine that I wanted to be your friend. It was you. Behind the cold mask you show the world is a truly magnificent man. One whose loyalty to his family could never be broken. A man who protected me when I was attacked even though you thought I was plotting against you. You thought I was going to hurt your family, but you never raised a hand to me.”
“No male worthy of the title would strike a female. Unless it were in protection of another.” His voice lowered, grew chilly, “I am warning you now, my Hope, I will not hesitate to destroy any who threatens you.”
“See?” I ignored that last part and wrapped both arms around his neck, having to stand on tiptoe even though he had already bent down. “You’re a good man, Lucien. A good male.”
“I’m not,” he said. “And I never will be. But this undeserving male will do his utmost to make you happy despite his rather . . . considerable flaws.”
I gasped. “Never say that! You’re not undeserving, Lucien you’re—” But my indignation was swallowed when Lucien’s lips swooped back down and devoured my mouth in another dominating kiss.
A low growl tore from his throat when I arched against him. His hand went to the back of my neck, holding me still while his mouth ravaged me.
Despite always being clean-shaven, it was late and the slight burn of his whiskers only added to the electrifying sensations. I moaned into his mouth, legs growing weak when his tongue wrapped around mine and stroked with bold, unapologetic movements.
Lucien kissed with finesse, with a cold calculation that measured my reactions and adjusted until my legs buckled. But he also kissed with the kind of passion that left my insides clenching with a deep, abiding ache.
When he pulled away, an embarrassing whimper dragged past my swollen lips, and Lucien’s eyes gleamed.
“I can taste your need,” he crooned, and his voice was that of a fallen angel set on corrupting his mortal. “I can feel you shivering beneath my touch. Wanting. Needing. Aching.” He stroked a knuckle down my arm, a lazy half-smile forming when I did just that, shivered with the heady seduction he spun with each word, each touch. “So responsive,” he murmured with a kiss to my collarbone. “So sweet.”
“Lucien—” The room spun, and then my back was pressed against his front, his mouth exploring my neck, his hands finding the strings on my sweatpants and slowly, so slowly I couldn’t breath
e, untying them.
“Shall I stop?” he breathed near my ear. “You have only to say the word, my sweet, but if you stay silent . . .” There was a faint pull on my waistband, then Lucien’s hand lay flat over my belly, the tips of his fingers slowly edging down beneath my underwear. “I fear I’ll have to touch”—he slid his hand all the way down and cupped me intimately—“and stroke”—two fingers spread me open while a third traced featherlight, heart-stopping drawings between my folds—“and taste”—he sucked on the skin behind my ear—“every inch of my delectable, little human.”
My thighs clamped together, my lungs seized. My pulse raced and I struggled to draw a single breath. Every nerve ending trembled in anticipation, every cell of my being strained toward the male at my back, his sleek, muscular body and its hard, unyielding planes.
I tried to speak, but all that came out was a long, strangled moan.
“My thoughts exactly.”
He stepped away, and I immediately mourned the loss of his nearness. “W-what . . .” I licked my lips and tried again. “W-why aren’t you . . .”
“Take off your pants for me, my sweet.”
61
Hope
I stared at Lucien, at those glittering, sensual eyes and that indulgent half-smile that promised both pain and pleasure.
My mouth went dry, but this time it was from anticipation.
Trapped in a sensual haze, I fumbled with my pants and pushed them down to my feet. Then I looked back at Lucien.
“Come here,” he said, voice low.
My feet moved before my brain had a say. I was spellbound, enchanted by the passion flaming in his eyes.
Had I ever thought them cold?
“So trusting. So innocent.” His hands closed around my wrist, pulling them behind me until they were manacled by his long, slender fingers. His free hand moved up to my neck, gripping with a restrained strength that both intimidated and built a fire deep in my belly.
“Lucien,” I gasped as he leaned forward and closed his lips around the flesh at the base of my neck.
“Mmm, my name on your lips is the sweetest music,” he murmured. Then his mouth firmed, teeth nipping at the sensitive flesh. Not too hard, just hard enough to send shivers of mixed sensations down my nerve endings.
Pleasure with a hint of pain.
His grip moved to my hair, fist wrapping up the whole length as he gave a yank that made me raise up on my toes and arch my back so my breasts were pressed up against his hard torso. “You belong to me.”
Transfixed, I stared up into his heated gaze, the throb between my legs intensifying as a dangerous glint entered the stormy depths.
“Say it,” he demanded and tightened his grip on my captured hands. “Say you are mine.”
“I’m yours!” Dizzy with want, I silently pleaded for the lips hovering inches from mine to descend. A whimper slipped from my throat, and Lucien hissed; a harsh, masculine sound that was both sinister and seductive.
The kiss that followed was fire and ice; a raging inferno of need and want. The flames of my desire climbed with each stroke of his tongue, which each ruthless growl tearing from his throat.
Then, with a vicious suddenness that left me reeling, he pulled away.
“Turn around.”
Blinking up at him, I was once again struck by his glaring beauty. Now, more than ever, with danger lurking in the sharp edges of his temper, the power radiating off him spoke to the primitive part of me. The part that ached to submit to a stronger force, to be protected and loved and cherished.
His lips compressed into a tight line, and he arched a brow in clear demand. It bothered me how contained he seemed. Although his desire was evident in the huge bulge straining against the confinement of his black pants, his face showed none of the combustible passion we’d shared a few moments ago, and when he next spoke, his voice was pure silk. “I will not ask you again, my sweet. Turn around.”
Confused, but powerless to resist the aura of power he projected, I turned.
“Hands over your head. And spread those pretty legs.”
I did as he commanded, the heat of a blush spreading across my cheeks.
The way he ordered me around should be mortifying . . . But then why was my body on fire?
“What . . . what are you going to do?”
“Everything.”
Then he was behind me, herding me away from the big bed dominating his room and up against the nearest wall. He placed my hands, still high over my head, flat against the smooth surface and slowly lifted the bottom of my shirt.
“I have wondered,” he murmured, “what you hide beneath these clothes. Will your skin be as smooth as I’ve imagined? As soft as it looks?”
The hem of my shirt was halfway up my back now, Lucien’s palm trailing the newly exposed skin, leaving behind flesh so sensitive and hungry for touch that I almost cried when he paused.
“No female should feel this good.”
“Lucien, please . . .”
“Ah . . .” He raised the shirt the rest of the way over my head and let it fall at our feet. “I do so enjoy the way you say my name.”
My breath hitched. “Like w-what?”
“All soft and breathless.”
“Lucien—”
“Yes, that’s it. Now . . . stand very, very still.”
A featherlight touch to my shoulder. My neck. I whimpered while his lips trailed down my spine, branding me with each caress. When he got to the crest of my ass, he sunk his teeth into the fleshiest part while his hand snaked around my front and pinched my nipple through my bra.
“Oh!”
My startled response seemed to please him. He spun me around—both my hands captured in one of his above my head—and looked down on me with stark hunger written across the sharp planes of his beautiful face. “No matter what,” he began and leaned closer until each breath caressed the shell of my ear, “you are not allowed to come.”
Before I could comprehend the meaning behind his words, he moved his hand between my legs and cupped my center.
Sparks of pleasure shot through my body, and I went up on my tiptoes to alleviate the sudden delicious pressure.
“You—oh!” I exclaimed as he followed my movement. I couldn’t escape the heated caress. Couldn’t move away from the delicious pressure. “You can’t do that if you want me not to c—” I sucked in a startled breath when his finger pushed the wet material of my panties aside and circled my clit.
“I can do whatever I please, my sweet. It is your job to not come.”
“That’s not fair!” I briefly considered ignoring his command, but something tugged at me. Some hidden desire that desperately wanted to please him, wanted to listen to his silky voice and reap the reward waiting for me at the end of this sensual journey.
He leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Life is seldom fair. You simply have to find a way to . . . deal.” His finger plunged inside me, curling at the tip and hitting that spot that made me see stars.
At my moan, a slow, chilling smile spread over Lucien’s face. The hint of cruelty, the intentional flash of danger . . . it only served to increase my need.
“That’s very good,” he murmured. A light nip to my shoulder followed, then the finger inside me began moving. “Make all the sounds you desire. Scream your frustration to the roof, if you must. As long as you deny your peak until I give you permission.”
Using his hard, sculpted body as a barrier, he forced me flat against the wall. Staring at me with that cruel half-smile, he hooked one of my legs over his hip and finally released my hands. But when I started pulling them down, he told me to keep them where they were.
“You will not fall. I won’t allow it.”
I kept my arms raised and tried to relax, but when Lucien—in a lightning fast move—gripped my panties and tore them off my frame, my breath caught and my whole body shook with want. Not because I was bare and he was fully clothed, but because Lucien was staring at the place he’d just re
vealed with so much heat I could feel his gaze like a physical touch.
And for once, that sensation brought nothing but want.
“Lucien, please . . .”
“Does my female want?” he asked and cupped the throbbing flesh between my legs. One finger moved and stroked over the most sensitive spot, just once, before circling around my opening and thrusting inside. “Does my female need?”
“Yes, Lucien, yes, please!”
“Not yet,” he purred and stroked over the aching spot inside me. “But soon.”
I arched against him and tried to use his body for friction on my nipples. But as soon as they touched, as soon as the whimper was out of my mouth, his body angled away and his hand disappeared from between my legs only to return in a sharp, wet smack.
“Bad girl.” Amusement lit his eyes when a shocked gasp tore from me. “Stand still and accept what I offer.”
A part of me felt I should be angry. That I should yell at him for his highhandedness. But the other part, the part that burned at his words, that clenched on nothingness when the slap hit my clit and my whole body flushed with heat . . . That part chose to do neither. It chose to remain still and feel everything.
His hand went back between my legs. “The scent of your arousal is heady. Such delicious sweetness.”
The way he handled me, the arrogant twist of his lips, the sound of his harsh breaths, and the uncompromising glint in his devastating green eyes stole my breath.
I bit my lip and resisted the urge to push against the finger teasing me. As if he could sense my restraint, Lucien rewarded me by using the pad of his thumb to push against the aching button at my center.
A high-pitched moan pushed past my suddenly tight jaw. My head thrashed as I fought against the pleasure I was not yet allowed to experience. “I . . . I c-can’t.”
The hand clasping my leg around his hip pulled, leaving me splayed open, the tips of my toes the only thing touching the floor.
“You can.” He pushed a finger back inside me, swirling it in circles that drove me crazy. “So tight. So tight and wet and mine.”
