Night Whispers: ShadowLands, Book 1

by Alisha Rai

  “Hang on.” He used two fingers and pushed her open. Then he leaned forward and inhaled.

  “You haven’t made much up to me yet, Bennett.”

  “I’m savoring, woman. Let me.”

  She felt the touch of his hot breath first. And then finally, finally, the tip of his tongue flicked out. He followed that brief foray with another and another, until his mouth was buried in her center, his lips and tongue working together to create a kind of nirvana.

  “It may have been a while for you as far as sex goes, but your technique is excellent,” she gasped. His nose rubbed against her clit as his stiff tongue penetrated her.

  His laugh vibrated against the lips of her sex. “I suppose it’s like riding a bicycle. Plus, I read a lot—”

  With a strong push of her hand, she had his mouth back where she needed it. She rode out the waves of sexual satisfaction with his lips fused to her most intimate part.

  When it was over, he tenderly readjusted her clothes and kissed her neck and mouth. As his tongue rubbed against hers, she realized she could taste herself. She pulled away, happy to return the favor. “Do you want me to…?”

  “No. I’ll be okay.” He winced as he readjusted his pants. “I think. That is…I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

  “Like you felt like you had to go down on me?”

  “I enjoyed— Oh.” The light dawned. “Um, do you want to…?”

  “Give you a blowjob? Yes, please.”

  “In that case…” He attacked the buttons on his jeans.

  She was still chuckling when she grasped his hard dick, but her amusement changed to lust the instant his breathing hitched and his body undulated. As if he’d never felt anything more wonderful than her hand. How you touch me.

  She stroked his cock, loving the contrast of the smooth skin covering steel flesh. Droplets of his precome were seeping from the slit at the top. His hand clenched in the sheets when she rubbed her palm over it, wetting the skin. “That’s— I like that.”

  She stroked down to the base of his erection and back up, squeezing hard at the very tip. “This?”

  Sweat had popped out on his upper lip. “Yeah.”

  “You’ll like this more. Try not to make too much noise.” She lowered her head and engulfed the head of his cock in her mouth. His body bowed up, and a long, low groan left his lips.

  She took him in as deep as she could, and then eased off, using her hand to work the rest of him. She felt his hand rest for a second in her hair, but he immediately removed it.

  She raised her head. “You can grab my hair. I don’t mind.”

  His eyes were unfocused, body taut. His cock, wet from her saliva and his own fluids, lay against his flat belly. “I didn’t think girls liked that sort of caveman move.”

  “It can be kind of sexy. With a guy you trust. Plus, it tells me what you want.” She lowered her head and swiped the flat of her tongue against the head of his erection. “For instance, I’d like to know how you feel about this.” She scooted back so she could access his balls. She licked them. “Or this.” Traced the tender line between them, drew them into her mouth to suckle them. “Or this.” James emitted something which sounded very much like a whimper.

  His fingers gripped her hair, powerful, but not painful. “All of that. I love all of that, but right now, I really need you to finish this.” He guided her back to his cock, and she obeyed, more than happy to turn him inside out however she could.

  He set the pace. A little selfish, just the way she wanted him. His breathing came faster, until he was panting, his hips arching up to meet her mouth, forcing a deeper connection.

  His hand tightened in her hair, and he attempted to pull her away. “Going to come.”

  The warning was appreciated but unnecessary. She kept her mouth suctioned on his cock and took him deep enough for him to feel her throat muscles contract around him. With a strangled moan, he came for her. She swallowed the spurts of his semen, happy to take all of him.

  She continued licking until his cock lay semi-erect. Only then did she raise her head to look down at him.

  “That was…wow. Jules. Wow. When you…that thing you did with your…wow.” James’s eyes were glazed, his chest still rising and falling rapidly.

  “Good?” Jules stroked his belly. The muscles there contracted at her touch.

  “The best. The best thing ever. Can we do it again?” He rose up on his elbows, regarding her with anticipation and a healthy dose of lust. “Not just the blowjob. All of it. I can do you, you can do me. Like a never-ending loop of awesomeness.”

  She patted his hip and gave him a saucy wink. “Or next time, we can do each other. At the same time.”

  His throat worked. He fell back on the bed, covering his eyes with his arm.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Sure. Don’t mind me. I just need to have a small heart attack right now.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Need a hand?”

  James finished shoving the couch in front of the door and tried to control his breathing. Jules might have said he didn’t need to impress her, but that was no reason to huff and puff in front of her. “Nope. It’s all good.”

  She quadruple-checked the lock on the front windows. “I wish we had had time and lumber to board these up.”

  “It’s for one night, Jules.”

  “Lots can happen in one night.”

  “No doubt.” He left the couch and came over to slide his arm around her waist. She looked delightfully rumpled from their earlier encounter. “Are you still hungry? I have some fruit in my bags, or I could get you another energy bar.”

  “No thanks. It’s almost dark. Let’s go upstairs.” She tugged at his hand.

  They met Erik at the top of the stairs. He held an oil lamp. It filled the landing with a warm glow. “We should take shifts with Carrie.”

  “I agree,” Jules said. “I’ll take the first shift.”

  “I’ll help you.” James didn’t think he’d completely won Erik over yet, but the hybrid either trusted Jules enough to allow his presence near Carrie, or he was tired. Either way, without a word of protest, he disappeared into another bedroom. They entered Carrie’s room, and Jules crossed over to put her hand on the girl’s forehead. “I think her fever’s lower.”

  “Great.” James pushed the large armchair closer to the window and pulled the curtain open enough for them to see out over the driveway and the main road in the distance. Once they turned the flashlight off, it would be dark within the house, which would lower their chances of being detected.

  He sat in the chair and patted his lap when he could see that Jules had finished tending the girl. “Come sit.”

  There was no hesitation in her step when she came to him, a fact which delighted him. After removing her knife and gun and placing it on the nightstand in easy reach, she sank down on his lap and curled her legs up so she was cradled in his arms. She flipped the flashlight off and placed it next to her weapons, leaving them in darkness.

  She yawned and snuggled closer. “You smell good.”

  “Thanks.”

  They were silent for a long while. James tracked the progress of the moonlight across the wood floor. Jules’s breathing was deep, so deep he was startled when she spoke. “It’s kinda pretty here.”

  He looked out at the moon-drenched prairie. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Are there places in Pennsylvania like this?”

  “It’s more hilly there. But there are scenic areas.” He paused, realizing that for the first time he actually felt a vague desire to be outdoors, if only to share the beauty of something new with Jules. She would like to see it now, when the leaves changed color.

  “Does the air smell good?”

  “I guess it does.” He thought back to the last time he’d smelled the air near his home. “I don’t think it smells bad. No one’s complained about that.”

  “The air in Cali stinks. I hadn’t realized how bad it was until I
left.”

  “Makes sense. It got hit hard in the attacks.”

  “Yeah.” She hesitated. “I’ve been thinking…maybe we should go to Raven when we leave here.”

  That was a quick decision. James proceeded cautiously. “Really?”

  “Yes. I know you said you’d go wherever I wanted…but there’s nothing left for me in California.”

  He hugged her closer, knowing that part of the reason she felt that way now stemmed from finding Erik. Finding him, but not finding the man she’d lost long ago.

  “I’d like to maybe take a bit of a break, if that’s okay, though.” The tiredness in her voice pained him. “From all of this chasing after people. Hunkering down for a while sounds nice.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  “Don’t like asking for a break.”

  “Everyone needs one sometimes.”

  “I’m kind of scared taking one will make it harder to get back to the front lines,” she whispered. “Like, what good am I if I’m not out there?”

  Her bewilderment broke his heart. “There’s so much other stuff you can do. Do you think I’m useless because—”

  “No!”

  “Let me finish.”

  “You could never be useless. I’m sick of you talking about yourself like that.”

  He brushed his lips over her hair. “Now you know how I feel. I’m sick of you putting yourself on the line in some misguided attempt to right the wrongs of your youth.”

  That quieted her down. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

  “Isn’t it? Look, relax. If you take a break and hate it, we can utilize your talents on the East Coast just as well as we do the west.” If she did want to go out and still be an agent, James thought, there was nothing, not even his own neurosis, that would keep him from accompanying her. “If you hate it at Raven, we’ll leave and find some other place to live.”

  Her fingers burrowed under his shirt. “Together.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “If Carrie is stable, maybe we should leave tomorrow.” Her words were slow and measured, as if she were thinking them through as she spoke.

  “And Erik?”

  She laid her head against his shoulder. “I’ll talk to him. I guess we have to accept whatever decision he makes.”

  This time when her breathing deepened, James knew she had fallen asleep. He watched her as she slept, her lashes fanning against her cheekbones. The shadows under those eyes were worrisome. He was so tired, he’d have to wake her at some point during the night so he could sleep, but he hated to do so. They needed to both have energy if they were heading back to Raven tomorrow.

  He leaned against the headrest. It gave him satisfaction to watch over his woman while she slept the night away. A soft sound from Carrie drew his gaze to the bed. They hadn’t spoken of what would happen to Carrie when they returned to Raven, but he figured Jules had become attached in the short time she’d known the girl—she’d saved her life, after all, and even if Jules never admitted such a thing, he had a feeling the teen had tugged at the void that had been lingering in her life. Carrie would be welcome at Raven, like all new residents were.

  Premature much?

  He shut out that voice that reminded him the girl could still die. The plans he was making could be snuffed out as fast as a single spark could ignite a whole state-of-the-art underground structure.

  He leaned down and brushed his lips against Jules’s forehead simply so he could keep her taste on his lips. They were tired and scared, but he couldn’t fight that guilty flare of happiness. He stared out the huge picture window.

  He wondered if the world had been different, would this have been his life? A sexy wife and a few kids, a home in the country, a garden and some recreational hunting?

  Or would he have been cynical and jaded, a playboy who went through women like tissues?

  He almost snorted at that image. Drama was so not his thing.

  An hour passed, or maybe two, he didn’t know. He dozed, despite his best efforts. The choked, retching sound coming from the bed jerked him back to wakefulness.

  “Shit.”

  He may as well have sounded a gunshot. Jules startled awake, her hand reaching for her knife on the table. “Wha—?”

  “The girl.” Unceremoniously, he pushed her aside and dashed to Carrie’s side. The teen was twisted in her sheets, sweat beaded across her brow. Her eyes were half open and staring sightlessly across the room. As James watched helplessly, she sat upright and vomited what little was in her stomach.

  He supported her shoulders and rubbed her back, trying to recall every last thing he’d ever read about medical care for those stricken with the Illness. Carrie’s skin was burning so hot it singed his skin.

  God forbid the fever reach her brain. She’d be dead before she could turn. He injected calm he didn’t quite feel into his voice. “Jules, why don’t you grab us some more sheets and towels.” When he received no response, he glanced up, wondering if Jules was in shock.

  No. The room was empty. James smiled grimly and returned his attention to Carrie. If he had to be in a life-or-death situation, he would only want to be in it with Jules.

  Jules had already cleared the room by the time James had started speaking, her mind sorting through their meager supplies. She shoved her switchblade in her pocket and ran to the hall closet, where she found a pile of folded sheets and towels.

  Peripherally, she was aware of Erik coming into the hall. He was shirtless but appeared alert. “What happened?”

  “Carrie’s fever is spiking,” she snapped, and darted back to the room.

  Over the next several hours, Jules began to pray the teen would revert back to the sleep she’d been in since their escape. That had been healing. This was most definitely not.

  Jules hadn’t seen a lot of compromised victims, but surely their Illness couldn’t be any worse than this. The girl’s fever continued to spike while periodic seizures racked her body. Awful retching sounds came from her throat as she vomited.

  “Is this what it was like for you?” James asked Erik tiredly as he returned from the bathroom, where he’d rinsed out the sick bucket.

  Erik looked up from where he was sitting behind Carrie, supporting her back against his broad chest. For the first time since she had been reunited with him, Jules saw something other than rage, panic or stubbornness in those changed silver eyes.

  Fear. She saw fear.

  “No. I wasn’t as sick as this, not ever.”

  There wasn’t much to say in response to that.

  Pray no one attacks us. The three of them were so distracted, they wouldn’t even notice if someone took a battering ram to the door and its meager fortifications.

  “We might as well make her comfortable,” James said reasonably, when he asked for Erik’s help in changing the sheets for the fourth time.

  Because she’s going to die. Tears burned Jules’s eyes. She couldn’t hide from the truth any longer, and she knew it was pointless to try. How could they save this fragile, too-thin girl?

  Erik placed the girl back on the freshly changed sheets, where the poor thing whimpered and then lay still. Large circles ringed her eyes. She had lost so much weight over the past couple of days—weight she couldn’t begin to spare—her skin looked like it had been stretched over her skull.

  “I promised her I wouldn’t let her die.” Erik’s words were so low, Jules could barely hear them. He was studying Carrie, his face carved in stoic suffering.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong.” James’s words were firm. “It sounds like you guys did everything right.”

  Erik didn’t appear to hear his words. He sank down by the side of the bed and grasped Carrie’s hand. He bowed his head and raised her wrist to his lips. “After I changed, they were always trying to figure out if they could isolate whatever was in me to change others. Trying to force me to bite others.”

  James stiffened. “The reasoning makes some sense.”

 
Jules frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  James didn’t take his gaze from where the hybrid sat on the bed, his fingers feathering over the girl’s pronounced veins. “He wants to bite her. Purposefully infect her with his saliva.”

  “Ay cabrón. You aren’t serious. We aren’t running clinical trials right now.”

  Face grim, Erik glared at both of them. “This may be her only chance.”

  Jules didn’t hesitate. She picked up her gun from the table and pointed it. Friend or no friend, she wasn’t about to allow this. “The hell you are. Drop her wrist. Now.”

  In the next heartbeat, he had opened his mouth and sank his incisors into her wrist.

  Fucker called her bluff. Jules ran to him then and tried to dislodge the girl’s arm. But she was no match for the man, strength-wise, and she was terrified of hurting Carrie should his fangs tear her open.

  “You can’t do this! You’re putting too many variables into play. You could kill her faster.” She tugged harder and managed to dislodge his mouth. “She could turn into you—us—if you do this.”

  “I’d rather she be like us than dead,” Erik said. Blood stained his teeth. Carrie’s blood.

  Jules saw the truth in that, an echo of James’s own words to her. “She hasn’t given her consent,” she said weakly. “This is no different from what the doctors did to you, Erik.”

  Those silver eyes pinned her. “Did I ask your consent when I rescued you off the streets?”

  She shook her head, mute.

  “I didn’t let you die then. I won’t let her die now.” His big hand smoothed over Carrie’s sweaty hair, and he bent his head. “Her family is all dead. I was the one who kept her alive for the past year. I was the one who promised I would get her out, that I would save her.” Tears escaped from his eyes, stunning Jules. “I give consent for her. If she wants to hate me later, she can. I’d be thrilled if she was alive to hate me.”

  “Jules.”

  She stopped and looked up at James. Fatigue and resignation shadowed his eyes. “Let him.”

  “What?”