She let out a sigh as she shook her head. “My assignment comes directly from the king. Mathias is busy with Mina, helping her adapt to her new life. His priority is with her now, as it should be, and it’s obvious from Mina’s reaction to my role in protecting her over the years that my continued presence here would only be a hindrance toward her acclimation. So actually, this new assignment comes at the perfect time.” Chloe tried to keep her voice light and put some distance between them, but Talon refused to release his hold. “And regardless of your obvious feelings in relation to my capabilities, I am more than able to handle myself in the field.”
He pulled her closer. “I told you this wasn’t over. I want to talk to you about a few things, Chloe. You’re not leaving until I do.” Again Talon’s gaze slowly traveled over her body and a small grin pulled at one side of his luscious mouth. He set her away but still kept his hold on her arms, almost absently kneading her overworked muscles.
“I take it you continued your training all those years you lived in the States with Mina? It shows.” His eyes dropped to her chest but then he shook his head as if to clear it. When he met her gaze again, his eyes were cold, angry. “Guess you wanted to make an impression over there, and from what Mina told me, it worked. Apparently you were quite the busy bee, little girl, and from what I was told, you liked your humans big.”
His eyes were hard now and his fingers stopped their caresses. He was definitely angry. It took Chloe a second to register what he’d said, distracted as she was by his hungry looks. Once realization dawned, though, she lost it. She knew her friend, knew Mina would never imply what Talon was saying. No, this was all him. He was calling her a whore again and using that condescending little girl label she hated. Her hard-won control snapped.
“You son of a bitch!” Chloe grabbed and squeezed the pressure points on both of his hands, which immediately released his hold. She stepped back and threw a hard right hook across his jaw. He barely flinched, and damn it, her hand was throbbing.
“You don’t know anything about me, Talon. I’m not a complete idiot. I know what those looks of yours mean. By your own statements, you believe I’m a whore and a traitor to our laws by sleeping with humans. You never gave me a second glance before I left to watch over Mina, but at the very least I thought we were friends. Yet now, because of what you think you know about my time in the States, you think you can treat me like one of your long list of fuck toys? You think I’m too much of a stupid little girl to be worthy of any better treatment? Go to hell, Talon!” She was screaming now. All composure gone. So much for her good intentions of keeping it together.
Talon rubbed his hand across his jaw where she had hit him. She watched, eyes wide, as he stalked toward her. Chloe retreated but she was still vibrating with fury. He reached for her again but she countered and slapped his hand away. She made the mistake of turning to walk away, trying to get out of the room and as far away from him as possible. This man made her crazy.
She realized her error immediately when Talon took the advantage and enfolded her from behind. One arm wrapped around her upper chest as he slid the other around her waist. He pulled her back flush to his body as he leaned in close to her ear, surrounding her with his heat.
Chloe heard him inhale deeply before he spoke. “So what are you trying to tell me, little girl? I’m not good enough for you to play with but your humans are? Let me guess, you like to be the one in control, right?” His lower arm shifted and Chloe felt the seductive slide of his calloused hand across the bare skin of her midsection. Her traitorous body trembled at the contact.
“Wouldn’t be quite so easy for you with one of your own kind, would it?” His firm hips pressed into her lower back, his breath hot on her ear as he continued. “Before she knew the truth, Mina told me all about you, little girl. Yeah, you like your humans big—much more sport for you to play with the bigger, albeit weaker, humans isn’t it?” He inhaled deeply and nuzzled her neck. “I’ll bet you like it better on top.” He gave her earlobe a quick nip and pressed himself harder into the small of her back, the thick bulge of his erection impossible to miss.
She shivered again at his closeness but his coarse words hit the mark as Chloe’s rage burned through her. A low growl rumbled through her chest and she felt her canines lengthen. She shook with fury and didn’t even think about her next actions before they happened.
She deftly spun in his hold to face him, ready to attack, but he was too quick. Before she could strike out, he moved her backward, her feet barely touching the ground. His strong arms enfolded her as he continued his path until she felt her back come against the soft leather padding of the incline bench at the far end of the room. She remained standing, her legs on either side of the small half seat of the bench. Before she could catch her breath, he raised her arms high over her head to the connected weight bar. Folding her fingers around the cold steel, he held her wrists in one large hand, securing her position.
The surprise of the movement had allowed her to ward off the shift. And now as Talon placed his right knee on the small seat and leaned in close, eyes blazing with intensity, she felt an entirely different sensation surging through her system. His heavily muscled thigh was pressed precisely where she needed it as he slowly brought his head down to the side of her neck. He inhaled deeply. She felt his heated breath on her skin, then tensed as his lips and tongue began to devour the area just behind her right ear. She couldn’t control her body’s reaction and at this point she didn’t want to. Her hips, of their own volition, began to move over his muscled thigh while his mouth continued to taste and kiss and lick down her throat. Unable to stop her response, she moaned at the sensation of his large body leaning into hers, of his lips on her skin, of what that hard thigh was doing to her already swollen clit. Is this one of my dreams? How long had she waited, fantasized about his touch?
His response was a low, throaty growl as she felt him reach behind to the bench’s lever and drop it down one notch, his lips never leaving her skin. With their combined weight, the top of the bench snapped down to a forty-five degree angle and locked in place. Talon’s free hand moved to the small of her back, grinding her already overheated center even harder on his thigh. His fingers kneaded her flesh as his large, calloused hand slid from her back to rest just below her breast. She gasped and arched into his touch as his hand slowly moved under her sports bra.
Chloe tried to jerk her restrained hands from his grasp, her body reacting of its own accord now. She needed to touch him. “Please, Talon,” she said, not capable of more than a strained whisper. She wiggled in an effort to free her hands but he simply strengthened his hold.
Talon lifted his head from her neck. When she met his gaze, she was startled by the scorching intensity she found there. He slowly lifted the material over her breasts and lowered his gaze to the now swollen mounds. She watched as his thumb rubbed back and forth over one sensitive peak and then as he lowered his head to replace his fingers with his mouth. The sensation went straight to her clit and she felt her panties dampen even more. Talon’s hand moved down to rest on her lower abdomen as he used his lips, teeth and talented tongue to draw her aching nipple into the warm depths of his mouth. Her head dropped back onto the bench and she felt fire shoot from her nipple to her womb. It felt too good. Yet it wasn’t enough.
He released her breast with a final lick across her over-sensitized nipple. “How many, damn you?” His voice was low and steely.
Chloe turned her head to meet his gaze and immediately wished she hadn’t. The fire swirling in the depths of those deep-blue eyes held an intensity that was more than the heat of passion, yet his touch remained gentle. She sucked in a startled breath as his hand moved inside the waistband of her shorts, continuing down until his fingers found the evidence of her arousal. She’d have been embarrassed by how wet she was if she’d been able to form an intelligent thought.
Once again she couldn’t stop her body’s reaction as his talented fingers slid between her s
ensitive folds, then traveled up to circle her engorged clit. She dropped her head back with a moan as he continued his slow exploration. I’m going to spontaneously combust if he doesn’t finish this. She needed more. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Did he ask a question?
She moaned as his thumb pressed on just the right spot. Then without hesitation, he drove a finger inside and her moan turned into a scream. She couldn’t decide if it was pleasure or pain but she arched her body into his hand, needing to drive him deeper. She felt her inner walls clench around his finger, her body now in desperation mode.
Talon leaned in close, taking a nip at her earlobe then suckling the sting. “I asked you a question, Chloe. How damn many?” His deep voice was tight and clipped as he pressed two fingers into her core. In, out, in, out. She couldn’t focus. There was too much sensation yet somehow not enough. She could feel his heavy shaft on her hip as he pressed himself more firmly against her. His scent surrounded her, driving her almost as insane as what he was currently doing to her body. Her thoughts were scattered. She was on fire. What the hell is he asking me?
In, out, in, out, her inner walls flaming with sensations. He lowered his mouth once again to the sensitive area on her neck, sucking greedily with his lips, teeth and tongue. She was close, so close, as she arched further into his touch.
In, out, in— Suddenly, Talon’s hand froze and Chloe felt his entire body go taut. When she opened her eyes to look at him, she swore his face had lost all color. They were both still breathing hard as he released her wrists from the weight bar and slowly removed his fingers from her aching center. Instantly, realization dawned, and with it what felt like ice-cold water washed through her veins. Talon took a step back, allowing her to lift herself off the bench and adjust her top.
They stared at each other in silence. Talon lowered his chin and shook his head. When he met her gaze again, his mouth opened then closed, as though he was trying to find the words, yet he said nothing. He knew. She could see it in his expression and yet somehow that knowledge didn’t change anything in her mind. Yes, now he knew the truth, but why had he believed before? Believed it so easily?
Closing her eyes, Chloe lowered herself to the half seat on the incline bench and rested her elbows on her knees. She shook her head and chuckled to herself. Her clarity had finally come and it had only taken two hours of training and ten minutes of fighting, and some heavy petting with a six-foot-five-inch, two-hundred-and-fifty-pound Coteri warrior. A warrior who had just taken her body to heights of sensation she had never felt before and in the next instant broken her heart.
She knew this was all wrong. She didn’t belong here anymore. Her brother had mated and her best friend despised her. Talon believed the worst of her, held no respect for her, and wasn’t interested in her, at least with regards to anything more than sex. She would never capture his heart. She was an outsider now. She was utterly alone. She had nothing here anymore. It was time to leave and start over, away from this place and all those she loved. Her decision to go back to Washington with General Killian was the right one and now she realized it would be a permanent one.
At that realization, she felt the loss down to her soul and it must have reflected on her face as Talon reached out to gently lift her chin with two fingers until their gazes met. Finally, there was the Talon she’d known her entire life. He still hadn’t said a word but those beautiful blue eyes were somehow softer now. He traced her bottom lip with his thumb, then lifted his other hand to cup her face. His brow furrowed in confusion as he stared into her eyes, which she knew were shining brightly with tears she wouldn’t allow to fall.
Chloe placed her hands over Talon’s where he still cupped her face, and took a slow, deep, calming breath. “Please watch over my brother and Mina, Talon. I know she doesn’t understand or forgive what I did but I love her with all my heart and only want her happy and safe. And as for what you believe I did or didn’t do while living in the States, or about what my abilities are in the field…” She rose from the bench and closed the distance between them. “I know no matter what I say you will believe only what you want to believe, so I won’t waste time trying to defend, explain or prove myself. But know this, Talon, I’m not a little girl anymore and my heart has always known what it wanted.” She heaved a heavy sigh and shook her head. “And right now, to be honest, I’m just too damn tired to fight for it anymore. You win, Talon.”
With their gazes still locked, her hands still covering his, Chloe slowly stepped back and away from his touch, instantly missing the contact. Without another word, or even a look back, she walked out of the training room.
Chapter Two
Talon watched in stunned silence as Chloe walked out of the room. She didn’t even give a parting glance back. What the fuck just happened? The sadness in Chloe’s voice at the end tore at his gut. At that moment she hadn’t sounded young. She’d sounded centuries old, with the weight of the world’s sorrows on her shoulders and in her heart. He‘d seen the pain in her eyes, knew he was the cause of most of that pain, and it had been all he could do not to gather her into his arms and hold her in comfort.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Why did Mina lead me to believe those things about Chloe? He wanted to confront Mina and get some answers but what would be the point? He knew the truth firsthand, literally, so what did it matter? Because if I’m honest with myself, I have to admit Mina didn’t say anything remotely close to what I allowed my own imagination to interpret where Chloe is concerned. He let out an exasperated sigh and lowered himself to the mat. He lay on his back, tossing one arm over his eyes as he bent his legs at the knees. “You’re a fucking idiot,” he scolded himself.
When he first saw her training his heart had almost stopped. Her beauty literally knocked the breath out of him. Dressed in her workout clothes, her thick auburn hair was held high in a ponytail, showing the seductive curve of her neck slicked with moisture. He’d had to force himself to not to go to her and put his mouth on all that beautiful skin. As focused as she’d been on her workout, she hadn’t realized for several minutes he was even there. He’d taken the opportunity to just lean against the door jamb and drink her in.
Her strikes were good, hard, and solid. She was strong, yet moved with a grace that kept him mesmerized. Then when she’d laid on the mat with her long, sculpted legs stretched wide apart and her stomach flat on the mat, he’d thought he would come in his jeans right there. He couldn’t help but envision those long legs wrapped around his hips as he drove into her, balls deep. He had to get a grip on himself. This was the little sister of his best friend, his general. He’d known her since they were all young. He’d fought his attraction to her for years. He knew it could never be, but seeing her back here after all this time, it was like she’d never been gone, her impact on him even more intense than before. No, she was definitely not a little girl anymore.
The thought of her with another man, especially a human man, enraged him. It was that rage that had made him hurt her with his foul words. He’d known he was hurting her but hadn’t been able to stop. He’d never felt possessive or jealous over another woman and, from his actions where Chloe was concerned, he obviously hadn’t handled these unfamiliar emotions very well. He hadn’t been able to see past his blinding rage at the thought of another man touching her, running fingers through her thick auburn curls, gliding hands over her luscious skin, sinking deep into her as she moaned her pleasure and cried out in release. His rage had nothing to do with Coteri law forbidding mating with humans, yet he’d let her believe he thought her a traitor to her people rather than admit the truth to her. “She was right. I am a son of a bitch,” Talon muttered to himself.
And then another realization hit him. She was leaving and she’d never told him where she was going. The only thing she’d asked of him was to watch after her brother and Mina, those she loved. But then her next words flooded into his mind, “Know this, Talon, I’m not a little girl anymore and my heart has always known wha
t it wanted. And right now I’m just too damn tired to fight for it anymore. You win.”
Shit! The fact that she’d said those words after what they’d just experienced on the incline bench made him groan with self-disgust. What the hell had come over him? He had turned primal, as if he had no control where she was concerned. He’d been driven by the need to find the answer to the question that had been burning in his gut since the moment Mina had unwittingly shared the information about Chloe. How many? He had to know. But at the first taste of Chloe’s sweet, honeyed skin, he’d lost all reasoning. Her scent and taste were addictive. Her responsiveness to his touch had stoked the fire flooding through his veins to the point that he’d gone further than he’d ever intended. Kissing and tasting the silken flesh at her neck, caressing her generous breast then rolling and pinching her perfectly sized nipple between his fingers hadn’t been enough. He’d known he had to taste and touch more. When he’d finally bared her chest to his gaze, a possessiveness he’d never known had blasted into his mind. Mine. The shock of that wayward thought had been enough to remind him of his initial goal, which was to get an answer to his question. But as he lowered his head to feast on the most tantalizing nipple he had ever tasted, letting his own arousal climb as Chloe arched into his touch, he’d known he had to go a little further or he was going to burn to ash with the heat of it all.
Lowering his hand down the soft skin of her tight belly and into the front of her shorts, he’d gloried as his fingers pressed into the hottest, wettest and tightest pussy he had ever known. He’d known he should stop. He’d known he needed to stop. But even as his mind had processed that knowledge, his body had other plans. As he continued to stroke in and out, he’d felt the hard clench of her inner walls around his finger. He had to have more, he needed more. He wanted to take her to the highest peaks of pleasure so she would forget about any and all who’d come before him. Mine! The thought had slammed into his brain again as he pressed his fingers deeper still until he felt the telltale barrier that made him stop all movement.
Infinite Surrender: 2 (Blood Feud) Page 2
