Dead Again

by Lisa Andel

  I felt anger radiating off of him as he neared.

  He raised a hand to me, his lips moving in an incantation without sound.

  I felt his power rising, knowing that whatever he was planning on throwing at me, was going to be bad. Really bad.

  He tipped his head back, his voice loud enough for me to hear, though the words were foreign.

  He was building towards a roar, when I was physically jerked away from him.

  I was in the cab of the truck, Trend's arms locked around me.

  "Shit.” He shoved me to the far side of the seat. “Stay over there."

  I blinked at him as I took in the scene around me. The inside of his truck was destroyed. Fabric was shredded and burned. Metal stuck out in jagged spikes. Soot and grime covered everything.

  "What happened?"

  "That thing—ate—you.” He looked me over. “I unloaded on it, until I could find you within its body, then pulled you out and I sent it packing."

  I started to move towards him, and he held up a hand.

  "Don't."

  "What do you mean, don't?"

  He put the truck in gear, and started down the road again.

  "I can't touch you.” Trend grimaced. “Whatever that thing was contaminated you."

  "With what?” I didn't feel any different.

  "The touch of the gods.” Trend turned the corner and we pulled up in front of my house. He put the truck in park, and turned to me, his expression bleak.

  "I don't know what to say, Lisa. As much as I would like to continue seeing you, touching you now literally burns me."

  "Damn it!” First Rafe, now Trend. I was seriously getting tired of this crap.

  "I'm really going to miss you.” I had to drop my eyes to my lap as they filled with tears.

  He reached across to me then, and lifted my chin. “Babe, I've never wanted a woman the way I want you.” He dropped his hand, and shook it. “You'll always own a part of me."

  He crushed me in a brutal hug, his mouth taking mine in a swift, thorough kiss, then he backed away.

  "I'm sorry, Trend.” I fumbled with the door, tears running down my cheeks.

  "I'm sorry too, love."

  Then I was out of the truck, and running for my house.

  I flung the door open, disarmed the security system, then turned and watched as Trend drove away. When his taillights disappeared around the corner, I climbed up to the second floor, and slogged my way across the workroom.

  It took forever to get through the sally port, the memories of Rafe making love to me in there assaulting me as I waited. Fueling my pain. By the time I emerged on the other side, I was ready to crawl in bed and sleep for a month.

  Ash was there. His tall body was relaxed on one end of the couch, his eyes closed.

  I crossed the room, and crawled into his lap, needing his comfort.

  He shifted, one arm wrapping around me, his other hand tipping my chin up so he could see my face.

  "What's wrong?"

  His eyes focused on me, then he nodded. Without saying another word, he picked me up and carried me to my bedroom. He laid me gently on the bed, climbing in beside me.

  Taking me in his arms, he kissed the top of my head.

  "Having a streak of bad luck are you?” He kissed my temple, my cheek, my jaw.

  "That's an understatement.” I reached up and ran my fingers through the hair at the side of his head, suddenly wanting him to kiss me.

  "Ash."

  "I don't think it's a good idea,” he said, though he lowered his face towards mine, his breath warm on my lips.

  "If you're sure.” I tangled my fingers in his hair.

  "Positive.” He closed the distance between us.

  He tasted spicy, and male, mingled with the smoky flavor of other whiskey. His lips were soft and expressive, as his tongue slowly mated with mine.

  I snaked an arm around his back, and tried to pull him closer to me. I wanted to feel the weight of him, the heat of his body. He moved his hand to my stomach instead.

  I ran my leg up the side of his thigh, hoping his hand would drop to my crotch. My mind flashed to Trend, taking me against the wall at The Dare. My heart clenched. Ash's hand worked its way between my thighs, raising the hem of my dress to my waist.

  Thoughts of Trend left my mind when he cupped me, his fingers playing around the edge of my vagina. He deepened his kiss, aggressively sweeping the inside of my cheeks, shoving my tongue around.

  Then he drove a single finger into me. I cried out, arching against his hand, pumping in counterpoint to his strokes. He teased my clit with his thumb, and I came, drenching his hand with my release.

  "Too many clothes.” I said breathlessly, desperate now to feel Ash moving inside of me.

  I was tugging at his shirt, raising it up his torso.

  He moved away from me, then studied me for a long moment.

  "I still might kill you."

  "I don't care, I just need you to be in me. Now."

  As soon as I saw him pull on his shirt, I rolled off the bed and took my own clothes off, then scrambled back on the bed.

  Ash was just kicking his pants aside, my eyes riveted to his cock, my mouth filling with saliva.

  "On your back,” Ash growled at me.

  I flopped down, smiling up at him as he covered me. He spread my legs further apart with his knees, then lowered himself down on his elbows.

  "We shouldn't do this."

  I raised my legs, and wrapped them around his back.

  "Ash.” My patience had run out. I was starting to get seriously pissed at him. I was just about to let loose with a few choice words when he plunged into me.

  I'd forgotten just how huge he was. He entered me with a series of short, fast strokes, resting when he hit my cervix.

  I grabbed his arms, anchoring myself to him.

  Then he was flexing his ass, driving his cock in longer and longer thrusts. Filling me, brushing every nerve inside my sheath. An orgasm washed over me, my channel gripping his cock. He increased his pace, slapping harder and harder into me.

  "God, you feel good,” I said, though my eyes were starting to roll back in my head.

  "You've got the sweetest pussy.” He rotated his hips as he powered into me, driving me over the edge into another orgasm. “Fuck me,” he breathed, his strokes becoming erratic as he neared his own release.

  He groaned, and my vagina convulsed with the sound of it.

  "Hang on baby, I'm going to come.” He stilled, then thrust hard, his cock pulsing as he released his seed inside of me, and continued the hard, single thrusts each time he spewed. I came again, screaming his name, my entire body caught up in the orgasm. He thrust a few final times, then buried himself deep, and stopped.

  Nothing happened.

  I felt great, and thoroughly fucked, but I didn't get that strange sensation of sinking into darkness.

  "Ash?"

  Ash lifted his head and blinked down at me. “You're not dead."

  "No, and I don't think it's going to happen either."

  I felt his cock growing hard again within me.

  He screwed me until I couldn't take any more, until my mind had gone blank and my body quit responding to my command. He came in me several more times, and not once did I come close to dying. When I was near unconsciousness, he pulled my back against his chest, and slid a leg between my thighs. With his arm around my waist, I felt totally secure.

  "That was—awesome."

  He kissed the top of my head. “And we can do it whenever we like without risking your life."

  I fell asleep with that thought in my head.

  It was strange waking up in Ash's arms. Strange, but nice.

  He was on his back, one arm thrown over his head, the other a warm weight around my waist. Even in sleep, he looked formidable. Sexy. I lifted the blanket and glanced south. Definitely formidable.

  I'd never sucked his cock. I wasn't even sure I could get it into my mouth.

  Bu
rrowing under the sheet, I reached his groin, and studied him up close. I lifted his flaccid member up, and licked the thick vein that ran from his balls to his tip. Then I swirled my tongue around the head before popping it into my mouth. It had started to harden, and was easier to work to the back of my throat. He hardened further as I drew back on it, twirling my tongue along the thick vein that ran along the underside, while I sucked. Then I worked my way back down it, speeding up. His hands caged my head, and his hips began a shallow thrusting as I worked up and down his shaft.

  I let my teeth lightly scrape along his flesh when I drew back the next time, and he groaned. Encouraged, I kept up the pattern, a smooth glide in, the teeth on the way out, making sure to tongue over the spot at the base of the head that was extra sensitive.

  His hands tightened on my head, holding me in place while he thrust his hips, fucking my mouth. My lips were stretched tight, and I concentrated on opening my throat to him as he worked himself deeper and deeper inside.

  I wrapped a hand around the base of his cock, in an attempt to keep him from trying to drive the entire thing into me.

  With his next thrust he pulled my head down while he drove his hips up, forcing his cock deep into my throat, my lips mashed against my hand. He came, straight down my throat. I kept the suction up, and idly licked him while he emptied his balls.

  When he released my head, I crawled out from under the covers, slightly dazed.

  He pulled me over his chest, and I let my legs drop on either side of his hips.

  "Now that's the way to wake a man up.” He nipped at my lips, then soothed them with his own.

  "You've got a really big dick."

  He laughed, rocked his hips up, and impaled me.

  "Are you complaining?” He stroked me slowly, a lazy grin on his lips.

  "Uhmmm.” I rotated my hips and encouraged him to pick up the pace. “Not at all."

  With a twist of his torso, he flipped me over onto my back, grabbed my ankles and placed them on his shoulders. He buried himself deep, then went into a frenzy of motion.

  My climax burst from my core and radiated outward in waves of pleasure. He added a twist to his thrusts, and kept my climax going. I felt myself building to something even more powerful when he started to tremble. He roared, then pounded furiously as hot jets of cum erupted from his cock. I exploded again, as he came, my pussy milking him, drawing out his release until we were both drenched in sweat.

  Shuddering, he collapsed on top of me.

  "Awesome,” he rasped.

  I couldn't find the breath to respond.

  We showered together, and I realized just what a big man Ash was. I felt jammed inside the shower with him, even though the shower itself was larger then normal.

  I pulled on Ash's T-shirt while he dressed in just his jeans. Then we went to the kitchen and started fixing something to eat.

  I downed my first mug of coffee, then poured myself a second and sat down at the table. It took a few minutes, but my brain finally jolted awake.

  Ash was busy cooking for us, his wet hair tumbling down his back in waves as black as Rafe's. Dry, his hair was dark brown over a softer black layer. He caught me checking him out, and grinned.

  Slapping the food down onto the table, he leaned over me, and planted a kiss on my mouth.

  "Babe, I've got to tell you that I feel better this morning than I have in a long time."

  I didn't.

  Oh, I felt wonderful for the sex I'd had with Ash, but I was also hurting and confused over the events of the previous couple of months.

  I smiled at Ash, knowing that the smile was laced with sadness.

  Ash stopped in the middle of heaping sausages on his plate to study me.

  "What's wrong? Are you not happy with me?"

  "It's not that, Ash. I've just been through the emotional wringer the past couple of months. I don't really know how to feel right now.” Maybe a better question would be "What happens after the next time I die, and I come back as something else?"

  "I'm being thoughtless. I know you had feelings for Rafe and Trend, but..."

  I waited, all the energy I'd gotten from the coffee seeping out of me.

  "I'm so happy that I don't kill you anymore, I can't think of anything else."

  "Let's just not rush things, O.K.?” The food didn't tempt me, but I helped myself to some pancakes and bacon because I needed to eat. “I'm gun shy right now. Afraid of what's going to happen in the next month, afraid of what I'll come back as the next time I die.” I stared at my plate, acid churning in my stomach. “I don't know if I could take getting used to having you around, and then losing you. Not after everything else."

  Ash moved to my side of the table, knelt beside me and gathered me to his chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

  "Honey, you're not going to lose me."

  I suddenly felt like crying.

  "I don't even know why that last thing killed me. Why'd he come after me, Ash?"

  Ash stiffened slightly, then relaxed, placing a finger under my chin and tipping my face up to his.

  "I'll look into it.” He lowered his lips towards mine but stopped a breath away from touching me. “I love you.” Then he closed the distance, working his mouth over mine, releasing a wave of emotion over me that infused me, warmed me as he worked his magic.

  I spent the day catching up in my workshop. Trying to catch up, anyway. I kept getting distracted thinking about Rafe and Trend. I missed both of them dearly.

  Rafe and I had spent more time together, out of bed anyway, and we'd been heading for a more permanent relationship. My first.

  I didn't really know if Trend and I could have made it in the long run; we'd spent very little time in each other's company when we weren't having sex. Hell, I didn't even know what he did for a living.

  Giving up on both the jewelry and my thoughts, I took a long bath.

  When I was done, Ash hadn't returned yet from wherever he'd gone off to, and I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to start dinner, so I settled in for a nap.

  I woke up later, the monitor on the wall showing me that it was full dark outside.

  I heard a murmur of masculine voices coming from the living room, so I rolled out of bed, found my robe, and headed in that direction.

  I'd just opened the door, when something that had been said in the other room, caused me to halt. With the door cracked about an inch, I leaned against the wall and strained to hear what was being said that had caught my attention.

  "Thanks again, men, for helping me out with my problem,” Ash said, then I heard the clink of glass.

  "Glad to help, but I don't ever want to do anything like that again.” Rafe's voice sent a familiar thrill through my stomach. “I fell in love with her, Ash."

  "You're not the only one.” My heart skipped a beat when Trend's voice joined the conversation.

  "Well, I can't say I fell in love with her, but I've got to tell you that I meant it when I said I wanted her for my own.” Tyr was here too. “Then again, maybe I did fall in love with her a little."

  "I didn't mean to put you guys through the wringer. I just couldn't see any other solution."

  Rafe sighed loud enough for me to hear. “You've got to tell her. It tore me up to lie to her. I won't do that for you again."

  "Shit.” I could picture Trend running his hand through his hair. “When are you going to tell her?"

  "I don't know if I can."

  "You can, and you will.” I heard Rafe move closer to Ash's location.

  "You think she'll give me the boot when she finds out what I've done?"

  "I'm hoping she will,” Rafe growled.

  "So am I,” Trend added.

  "Christ, Ash, I'm with them on this one.” This coming from Tyr.

  "I'm not so sure you should be that anxious for me to tell her. How do you think she'll take it knowing we set her up? That she didn't just happen to choose the three of you for lovers?"

  Damn. I almost left the b
edroom then, my first reaction being to get in their collective faces over that last piece of information.

  "I'd worry more about the fact that you planned her death. Several times.” Rafe's voice was tight, his words stopping me in my tracks.

  "I admit, it was only speculation when I first approached the three of you. But when she came back, after the first time I killed her, I felt the difference in her. She came back stronger. I had no doubts left that it would work."

  "That's why I didn't kill her?” Tyr asked.

  "Yeah. I'd set it up that way, you know. Each lover more powerful than the last, a bigger threat to her life. Only, I'd thought the three of you would be enough on your own to kill her.” Ash just sounded tired now.

  "That's why you asked me to incite the dragons?"

  "Don't remind me."

  "Why didn't you just keep screwing her to death?” Rafe said, angrily.

  Ash made a sound, somewhere between a grunt and a sob. “How many times could you have watched her die in your arms?"

  Rafe mumbled something I couldn't catch.

  "I know why you had me take her to my realm,” Trend continued, choosing to ignore Ash's comment. “I hadn't realized that particular demon owed you a favor.” There was a bite to his words that hadn't been there before. “I was taken by surprise when you had that—white thing attack her. Thanks for the heads up on that one,” Trend said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

  I'd heard enough.

  Tightening the belt around my waist, I eased the door open and advanced on the group.

  Trend noticed me first, the look on his face turning from shock to hunger.

  My nipples hardened under his gaze. Heat gathered between my legs. I detoured to the bar, drank of shot of whiskey, then poured myself a glass of the other liquor.

  I knew my grin had to be wicked when I turned around and confronted them.

  "Well, well.” I sauntered over and stood in front of Tyr where he sat on the couch. “What have we here?” I let my eyes drift slowly down his body, pleased to note the tightening of his trousers at his groin. When my eyes had returned to his face, I raised an eyebrow, and moved away from him.

  I approached Trend next. He'd taken the opportunity to lean against the mantel, the clean lines of his body flaming my arousal higher. I took the same amount of time to peruse him as I had the dragon. With my parting glance, I curved one side of my mouth in an effort to look sarcastic.