by Carter, Mina
Gasping, she broke away but it didn’t deter him. Instead, he trailed a line of kisses down her throat, murmuring endearments between each caress. She frowned as the sense of wrongness grew. One part of her wanted to relax, really get into it with Rat but there was the niggling sense she’d forgotten something. When she prodded the thought though, it slipped through her fingers, only to reform again at the edge of her mind, tantalizingly out of reach.
She closed her eyes again, turning towards Rat’s embrace but still the niggle remained. It was like this was just sex, the act not quite connecting with her soul. The feeling was blocked before it could quite reach even though she could feel the tug on her soul as something, the magic of their bond, tried to bind them together. Each time it tried though, something slid between it and its goal.
She frowned again, breaking away to push at Rat’s arms. “No, stop. Something’s wrong.”
“Shh, baby.” His lips were warm on her neck, nuzzling under her ear. “I’ve got you. No one can see us back here. Just relax, we’ve got plenty of time before he gets back.”
The doubt hit again, this time in a crippling wave. The magic was trying to cloud her memories. Trying to creep into her mind and blur everything she knew to be true. It was wrong. A sticky, awful feeling that hit her right in the pit of her stomach. Bile rose. A hot tide trying to bubble over as, within, her dragon pitched a fit. Trying to claw its way out and rip the demon to pieces.
Demon. Her brain latched onto that one piece of information in the myriad others flowing through her brain. The dragon knew. The dragon had known all along what Rat was. Demon.
Fuck.
She pulled back, tension running through her body but before she could do or say anything, all hell broke loose.
The ceiling exploded, showering the screaming guests with shards of glass and bits of masonry. Doors burst inward, wood splintering under heavy boots as armed men swarmed through them. The lights cut out and plunged them into darkness punctuated only by the flashlights held by the intruders. Shots rang out, echoed by screams and the roar of whatever creatures were in the pit.
“Get off me,” she bellowed over the noise, and pushed Rat hard. He fell backward, dropping into the space between the seating and the table. She left him there, wrenching the stupid heels off her feet to clamber over the table.
She stood barefoot in the middle of the melee, all her senses extended to try to spot Sellers. With all this, he would be distracted. Perhaps long enough for her to dispatch the asshole into the next life.
A table a few feet away overturned, toppling the men trying to get around it into the pit below. Twin snarls cut through the other noises, quickly followed by screams as the pit claimed two unexpected victims. She tilted her head to the side. Sounded like Manticores down there. Rough way to go.
A suited guest ran into her, grabbing her upper arms in a hard grip. “We’ve got to get out of here,” he shouted, face bare inches from hers, a wild and panicked look in his eyes.
“Which way?” He shook her so hard that her teeth practically rattled in her head. Her temper snapped and she moved, slamming her forehead against his hard. He went down like a stone to lie whimpering on the floor.
“That way, asshole,” she muttered, leaving him there to stalk off into the darkness looking for her prey.
The club was in total uproar, but the intruders, all dressed in black with ‘PPA’ or ‘Police’ emblazoned across their chests, had quickly started to round up the panicked guests. She helped a couple of times by tripping one that had fled or shoving another in the direction of the waiting authorities before sliding back into the darkness. Sellers might have managed to lock her into her human form again, but that didn’t mean she was defenseless. She could move in the darkness easily, force the shadows to wrap around her still, even if she couldn’t become part of it at the moment.
“Where is he?”
“Get this lot out of here!”
Spotting Sellers over the other side of the pit, she tried to work her away around before he could slip away through one of the side entrances concealed over there. She knew him, he’d have at least three escape strategies, although she didn’t know if any of them included taking on the police and this PPA group the rest seemed to be from.
“Fuck’s sake, what the hell is that down there?”
A roar from the Manticores in the pit forced several back and she had to change direction suddenly to skirt around them. Sellers reached a door and with a quick backward glance to see if he’d been spotted, disappeared through it.
“Hegra’s tits,” she hissed, drawing out the sound in her frustration. Another group of police hemmed her in on the left so she turned right, looking for a way around the pit to follow Sellers. Alone and on the run, she still had a chance of killing the bastard. It wasn’t just sex with her mate that could break the curse. So could death, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be hers.
Ducking around a pillar, she had barely taken a step when a figure materialized out of the darkness and shadow. Familiar green eyes looked down at her, anger boiling in their depths.
“Going somewhere, sweetness?”
Chapter Nine
In all her years, Chase had never seen anyone as mad as her mate. She hadn’t managed to get a word in edgeways at the club. He’d shifted and yanked her out of there so fast that her ears had rung. Unable to change, all she’d been able to do was curl up in the cage of his claws and watch as the city fell away behind them.
The moon high in the sky lit their way, the rhythmic beat of his wings and the roar of the wind in her ears her only company. Long minutes passed before she spoke.
Duke?
Her tentative mental query was met with stony silence. Not the static-silence that would have indicated the link was broken, or not there at all. Instead it was a wall, one that had been deliberately erected against her. To keep her out.
She shivered, huddling closer to his scales. The wind whistled through his claws and her outfit wasn’t exactly suitable for a high altitude night flight. Using the little gap she had in the wall between her and her dragon, she pulled energy to heat herself. A pitiful amount but anything was better than shivering so hard her teeth nearly broke from the chattering.
Duke?
More silence, but his massive paws tightened. She yelped a little as the cage she sat in suddenly became tighter but then the scales over his palms started to heat up. A sigh of relief escaped her as the sudden heat beat against her chilled body. A small act but one of caring even though he was obviously furious.
Please. Talk to me.
He still didn’t respond and misery wound around her heart. Leaning her head against the inside of one of his talons, she watched the landscape below idly. They’d left the city behind long ago, and where now into countryside. Lots and lots of countryside. Where, she had no clue.
Since Sellers had pulled her from the cave she and Baby had slept in for centuries, they’d been firmly based in the city. She hadn’t had time to look over a map of the surrounding countryside to even hazard a guess as to where Duke was taking her. And since he wouldn’t talk to her, she had little chance of gleaning anything from him.
Besides, right now, she didn’t care. Fate had given her a mate though all her life she never thought she’d be lucky enough to be granted such a boon. But now he was mad with her, really mad. So mad he wouldn’t even let their minds touch, even though holding himself away from her had to be hurting him just as much as it hurt her. Tears pricked the back of her eyes.
Perhaps she deserved his anger, perhaps she was the cast-iron bitch her fellow warriors had always called her; incapable of being loved. Hells, perhaps she took after her mother in that as well as everything else. Nevaris had been a legend at court, a warrior-mage of such renown they’d told tales of her abilities for centuries after her death. But they’d also told stories of her cold heart, of the husband who’d taken a suicide mission rather than return to his wife.
Maybe s
he deserved a mate who hated her.
Slumped in his paw and lost in her own thoughts, she barely noticed the change in altitude until there were treetops just under her feet. Duke wheeled around, one wing dipping until the tip made the leaves beneath rustle.
They left the trees behind, a lake opening out beneath them. She caught sight of her own reflection but then they were landing in front of a small cabin set back from the shore. She lifted her head, and breathed in to taste the air. They were the only people —human or para—around for miles.
Duke dropped off the wing and managed as neat a shift from dragon to human as she’d ever see—barely a pop or crack of bone as he folded his dragon form back into the human. He came out the other side fully clothed and carrying her in his arms instead of the massive paws. She bit back her gasp of surprise in favor of wrapping her arms around his neck.
A quick glance up confirmed he was still mad. His jaw was tight, controlled. The moonlight overhead cast his features in hard lines. Pebbles crunched under his feet as he headed toward the cabin.
“Where are we?” Her voice sounded odd. Too loud in the silence of this sanctuary.
“Safe house.” To her surprise, Duke answered her, then kicked the door open. It opened easily, as though unlatched. He stepped through, hooking a foot around it to close it. The lock clicked without him turning and candles flared to life around them, lighting the room.
Magic. She’d felt the brief flare press against her, but it had been gone so quickly admiration rolled through her. Neat, efficient. No sloppy overspill. How had she ever thought him to be magically immature and ill-disciplined? She hadn’t even seen him at the club, but he had to have been there. She’d felt the deft touch as someone had reached out to snuff out Sellers’ detection spells, and hadn’t been fooled by the flutter of wings that had fooled everyone else. He didn’t have formal training, but he had raw ability and somehow he’d learnt to focus it all on his own.
She looked around. The room was small. Homely. A couch sat in front of an open fireplace, a table and chairs to the side. Beyond that lay an open-plan kitchen, with a closed door she could only assume led to a bathroom and maybe a bedroom.
He turned his head to look at her and for a second the mask slipped. She caught her breath at the anger and pain reflected in the depths of his eyes. But he recovered quickly, the pain blanked out to leave only fury.
“Who was he?” He demanded, sliding her down the front of his body. She felt every hard plain of muscle, every corded ridge of his abs, and the bulge between his thighs. He was aroused despite his anger, but that didn’t surprise her. Dragons were a passionate race, and shadows were among the more volatile either on the battlefield or in the bedroom.
She opened her mouth to explain. She needed to explain. Needed him not to look at her with anger in his eyes, or hate in his heart. But he didn’t give her the chance, dropping his head so that his lips whispered over hers. His nearness, and the awareness that punched a hole in her gut, held her spell-bound.
“I don’t want to know.” His voice was low and dangerous, a silky thread in it that made everything feminine in her sit up and take notice. “Instead I’m going to fuck you until the only name you remember to scream is mine.”
His lips crashed down over hers, the kiss hard and bruising but she didn’t care. A whimper escaped her throat as she cleaved herself to him. Trying to get closer. His rage fed her arousal, fed the tension between them.
His tongue swept along the seam of her lips, branding her and demanding access at the same time. She couldn’t resist him, not even furious like this. She should. She knew that. She should push him away, not let him do this while he was so angry with her. But she couldn’t.
With a small moan, she parted her lips and gave him her surrender. With a growl of triumph he surged in. His tongue tangled with hers, his hand driving into the curls at the nape of her neck to hold her still while he took what he wanted.
His kiss blew her away, anger feeding passion and turning back on itself. Never-ending. All-consuming. She whimpered, digging her fingers into his strong upper arms to anchor herself to something. He walked her backward to the couch, his lips were almost bruising on hers. Perhaps that was what she deserved though….
They fell together to the soft surface of the couch, his arm under her head. Protecting her despite his mood. Instantly, he pulled her under him, his manner dominant and possessive, but he wasn’t hurting her. He pinned her with ease, hands firm and determined, but not cruel.
Breaking away from the kiss, he trailed his lips down her throat. She cleared hers, needing to say something, anything.
“Shut up.” He pulled back, cutting her off with a finger over her lips. “I’m still mad.”
She didn’t talk, kissing his finger instead. He closed his eyes, and swore, dropping his head until the ends of his hair touched the skin of her shoulder. Silky-soft, they held traces of citrus shampoo and cologne. Her lips curved into a soft smile. He had a habit of running his hands through his hair.
She carried on kissing, urging him to open his hand so that she could kiss along his palm. Without a word she moved his hand, placing it over her heart. He lifted his head, his direct look spearing her to the soul. Heat and weakness flooded her body when he bent his head to claim her lips again, this time in a softer kiss.
At least, it started off soft. A slow slide of lips over lips, then the added brush of a tongue…more. Deeper. Urgent. Until his hands were in her hair again and his body pressed her hard into the couch. She whimpered, shifting to cradle him in her parted thighs. The thick length of his cock pressed against her belly, burning through the thin layers of clothing that separated them.
Rocking her hips, she tried to get more sensation. More everything. She needed this male. Needed to feel him moving over her, within her. Another whimper escaped and she pulled at his shirt, manifesting claws in her passion that tore the fabric loudly.
He sucked in a hard breath at the sound, kissing her with abandon. Lifting one hand to between his shoulder-blades, he tore the ruined garment off and threw it aside. Then it was her turn to suck in a breath as her gaze roved over him. Clothed, some would mistake him for a little on the lean side, but with nothing to conceal the perfection of his body, she could admire the definition of his hard physique.
Wide shoulders fed into well-muscled arms and a broad chest, then down into washboard abs hard enough to bounce pennies off. Murmuring softly in the back of her throat, she reached out to stroke a finger down the center of all that definition. He rumbled in the back of his throat, watching her. The bright ring at the center of his eyes betrayed the presence of his dragon, the predator watching her as surely as the man did.
She dragged her finger lower, until she reached his waistband. She hooked a finger underneath and popped the first button. He let her. Emboldened, she moved down and popped a second, then a third. On the fourth, the fly gave and his cock sprang free into her hand. Automatically she wrapped her hand around him, and her eyes widened when her fingers barely met around the thick shaft.
She moved her hand, sliding up and down his cock in long, sure strokes. He moaned, lips parted and his eyes fluttering closed. Hegra’s tits, he was freaking huge. Her pussy clenched, her clit aching at the thought of that hard length sliding within her. She needed to make that a reality as soon as possible.
“Like this.” The sound of his deep voice startled her as his hand covered her, adjusting the length and speed of her strokes. She looked up, locking gazes with him as she stroked. Seeing everything that went through his eyes while she pleasured him. The swirling darkness and the desire. Liquid heat slipped from her to dampen the scrap of satin that functioned for underwear in this time.
“I can smell your heat,” he whispered, voice so soft she barely heard it. “Smell your desire and lust.”
He moved, his hand trailing up the inside of her thigh until it reached her panties. She shifted her leg higher to allow him access, sighing as his questi
ng fingertips slid under the edge. Her strokes stuttered as he found her pussy lips, dragging a broad-tipped finger through her slick folds. He reached her clit, smoothing her cream around it in small circles, then long strokes.
She bit her lip, holding his gaze. She tried to maintain the speed and rhythm of her strokes but his touch was distracting. He circled again, rubbing her clit, then sliding down to tease the entrance to her pussy. She whimpered, her strokes on his cock pausing only to speed up again. He did it again, the circle, then slide down, but this time he didn’t just tease. Instead, he thrust a finger deep into her cunt.
She cried out, losing her grip on him, the pleasure winding the tension in her body almost to breaking point. But he was there, gathering her up in his arms. His finger pumped within her, sliding deep only to pull almost all the way out. In and out, then he curled it back to press against her inner wall. More whimpers broke from her, the hard sensation almost uncomfortable, but when he added a thumb to rub against her clit she almost came.
“Give it up to me, sweetness,” he urged, his lips by her ear as he worked her body. “I want to feel you come all over my hand, then I’m going to fuck you.”
Hegra, yes! She was so on board with that plan but before she could say anything, he claimed her mouth again. Parting her lips with a hard tongue, he surged within, taking what he wanted as he continued to stroke her toward her release. She moaned, the sound lost under the dominance of his kiss, tension in her body spiraling out of control. He added a second finger, and she broke away, panting.
“Duke, please…I’m going to co—”
He smiled, and reached up to use his free hand to tweak her nipple through the thin fabric of her dress. The pleasure-pain shot straight from her nipple to her pussy, tipping her over the edge with a sharp cry of pleasure.
“Feel that, sweetness. You’re so hot and wet. All for me.” He growled, working her body even as she came, spreading the slick juice of her arousal over her clit.
