by K. F. Breene
She struggled to get up.
“That’s enough,” I said in a firm voice. Claudia glared up at me from the ground. “Look, Claudia, you’re good, I’ll give you that. And you’d keep going, but I’ll need you here protecting things when we’re gone. I need you healthy for that.”
“I could still take him!” she seethed, staring hard.
My hackles rose at the same time as my confidence wavered. I could feel Jonas’ stare.
Yes, yes, I know—I’m supposed to lead.
Preventing myself from taking a deep breath, I returned the stare, magic crackling in my body. I felt Stefan through the link, feeling my tumultuous emotions and sending a blast of fire, fueling my courage.
In a breezy, calm voice, I said, “You reached for magic first, needing more than just your fighting prowess. You started to fight dirty first, looking for an edge. And now you’re hurt first. What’s more, you’re worn out. Dead tired. He’s a kid—he’s got the stamina of one. You’re beat, Claudia. Yield.”
Her jaw set firmly. Fists clenched and unclenched. Her weight eased over onto her right side. She couldn’t prevent herself from wincing.
Her nod was the best feeling I’d had in a long time. Triumph!
Suppressing my glee, I nodded back like it was commonplace and turned to Adnan. “Well done. But you’re not Watch material, yet. You have the talent, but you lack the experience. Keep working and someday I’ll be proud to welcome you in.”
A boyish grin lit up his face. He gave a deep bow. “Yes, Mage.”
I fought a grin—I was having a hard time not giggling in delight. With a final nod, and a bursting heart, I turned back to the mansion, and screamed in terror.
Chapter 7
Dominicous stood off to the side like a phantom, still and quiet, eyes scouring Adnan. His gaze dropped to Adnan’s tattoos, still glowing merrily. Then to me.
I did not realize anyone was behind me.
For the first time, I saw Dominicous as everyone else did. He was Stefan’s height, cresting six-and-a-half feet, but with a sleeker build than Stefan—not as muscular and robust. He held himself with the same confidence and authority, though, in charge of all things, living or dead, within his world. The master of his universe. The alpha to this warrior species.
It was exactly the same way Stefan looked at things. The two of them were playing a dance of dominance, neither quite sure if they could take the other, and both weighing the odds of losing. And now, with me, both weighing the risks of winning.
As he stood, gazing at me, he had a certain kind of lean to him. As if he was always on the balls of his feet with a sword in his hand. As if he was ready to chop my head off at any minute. The cunning and vicious sparkle to his gaze had my warning butt-pucker urging me to either blast him with something awful, or run away really, really fast.
That gaze lasted only a moment, though, retracting so that just warmhearted intelligence assessed me. I let the air escape my body like a punctured tire.
“I second that,” Charles muttered. Then, remembering that things just got professional, he gave a slight bow. “Regional.”
“Regional.” Jonas tilted his head downward, the only other person he showed diffidence to besides Stefan. It was the only other person that could kick his ass besides Stefan, too, so that made sense.
“I’m sorry to intrude, Daughter,” Dominicous said pleasantly, “but I wondered if I might ride with you to the West Nine?”
“Oh. Ah, sure.”
He nodded good-naturedly and gestured me in front of him. “Ladies first.”
Charles barely contained the snort, the dog.
“How long were you standing there?” I asked as my breath found its way back into my lungs.
“Most of the fight. That young man is one to watch, although not altogether strong with his magic. I’m curious, however. How is it you are able to help others reach a greater potential?”
I briefly explained as we crossed the grounds and entered the mansion, the pull of Stefan guiding my feet. I wanted a glimpse of his handsome face before we left—just in case something nasty waited at whatever place Jonas was taking me. I wanted a goodbye kiss before I faced the next horror.
“Do you have a special skill?” I asked Dominicous. “Charles seems to think his libido is his, and Jonas thinks we’re daft. But Stefan has one, and I have one…”
As we walked through the busy hallway, the night just starting and everyone eager to get to their assigned duties, gazes glanced up and noticed who was coming. The crowds parted for Dominicous in a way they never had for me. Even though I was a mage, I largely had to wind my way through corridors like everyone else. I wanted some diffidence, if only to own my position, but didn’t know how to earn it.
“I could not say if I had a special skill,” Dominicous remarked thoughtfully. “I think I have talents, and while they are above and beyond many, they aren’t altogether exemplary. You are captured in Fate’s web, however. Stefan seems to be, too, whether because of your connection, or because Fate has need of him. Possibly you were given special tools to face whatever will come your way.”
We turned a corner and ascended the stairs, the tug getting stronger. My limbs started to tingle and my heart beat wildly. Dominicous said something, but I lost it. I opened the door to find Stefan staring at me from across the empty room. His black eyes, soft with feeling, glittered. The link surged. My chest got warm, love oozing back and forth between us. My lips curved into a smile before I could help myself.
“I felt you coming. I have ten minutes,” he said softly, not bothering to glance up and acknowledge Dominicous in the doorway. He’d never liked bowing to a superior, but since he told me about his parents, and shared with me in a way that he hadn’t shared with a single person since that day, the subservience of his lesser position had all dried up. The game of risk versus reward had progressed a lot farther than I realized.
Which did not matter at the moment.
“I have ten minutes, too,” I stepped into the room.
“Actually, Mage, we should probably—”
I shut the door in Jonas’ face.
“Tell me about your victory. I could feel it,” Stefan said, his single-minded focus eating me up as I crossed the room to him.
I reached him in a few steps and slid a hand up his chest. “Later. I need you right now.”
He bent in a rush and scooped me up, sitting me on a delicate tea table. His lips found mine, hot and heavy, opening my mouth with his. He slid his hands from my knees to my thighs, pushing my legs open as he did so. His fingers rubbed my apex as his other hand worked at my blouse.
“I love you,” he said, tweaking a nipple. A jolt of pleasure shot through my body. It turned to liquid fire, searing down the inside of my limbs.
Suddenly, all I needed in the world was him inside of me.
I yanked at his pants, kissing him in desperation. His hard shaft bobbed out, silky smooth, resting in my palm. I felt along the substantial length until I reached the base. Massaging, I lay back slowly, pulling his huge expanse of shoulder with me to maintain the closeness.
“I need longer than ten minutes,” I said in a purr, lifting my butt so he could slide off my black jeans.
“They can wait,” he growled, threading two fingers into my slippery sex.
I rubbed back up that smooth skin and tickled the head, eliciting a strangled moan. His thumb found my clit and rubbed in small, slick circles. My hips swung up in ecstasy as I arched back, heat raging through my body.
He slowly laid his body down on top of mine, kissing the base of my neck. Lingering on my heartbeat pounding fiercely. “I can’t take blood anymore. Not so close to the council meeting. You need your strength. And you can’t take mine—we have to prove you are black, still. If we mix blood, someone will call foul-play.”
“Then we better settle for mixing bodies.”
Stefan kissed my neck softly, his thumb working faster. His fingers slid in and out, the sensat
ions reverberating within me.
“Oh, god, Stefan,” I breathed, reaching up for his lips.
His fingers slid faster. His thumb pushed harder. Waves of heat washed over me. Coursed through me. Blasted out of me! I moaned as the orgasm ripped me apart, my insides clenching him as my body wracked with shudders.
His lips found mine again, deep and sensuous. He tasted of mint and spice, sweet wine and chocolate. His large body spread my legs wider to admit him. His hand lightly cupped the back of my neck in possession as his weight held me in place.
“You’re mine, forever,” he whispered.
The tip of his manhood pushed past my lips, and in. Deeper. Stretching me to accommodate him. Filling my body and honing my focus. All the way in he slid until his ends met mine. I moaned into his mouth, not wanting to break the connection of our lips. Not wanting even an inch of distance.
Out he pulled, so slowly. So controlled.
“Whatever happens, I will protect you,” he vowed, pushing back in. His hands shook, making a pact with himself. Forcing himself to push past his insecurities and face his fears. For me.
My legs tightened around him, drawing him in. Squeezing him with my interior muscles. Feeling the heat build again. Feeling my body start to wind tighter.
He sighed into my mouth.
The tables squeaked with Stefan’s slow, rhythmic thrusts. Controlled, but on the edge. Restrained, but starting to wobble.
My hips thrust forward, feeling his girth within my body. Feeling the friction. High off the contact.
Panting now, sweat coating our bodies, the pace increased. The pressure mounted.
“Oh god,” I breathed, squeezing my eyes shut. Tighter and tighter, my core clamped down. His manhood rubbing in just the right place. His thumb and forefinger tweaking my nipple.
“Yes, baby,” I exalted. “Yes, baby, please, yes!”
Harder he strove, crashing into me. His body working mine, so deep. Harder. Faster.
I couldn’t stop moaning. I couldn’t stop…
Electric fire soaked up my body like ink in water. My breath hitched. My world went white hot—
“Oh holy fuuu—” An explosion of pleasure tore through me. I shuddered so hard my teeth chattered.
He moaned into my neck with two last, hard thrusts.
Crack.
Without warning, the legs popped off the table and tipped us over the side. We crashed down to the ground, his big arm ripping me away from the table and rolling me on top of him. When we stopped tumbling, we lay beside pieces of what once was a very expensive tea table from some long-gone century.
“Ow,” he grunted. “Those spindly little legs hurt.”
“Well, thank ye kindly for calling me skinny.” I giggled as I traced my lips along his strong jawline.
“Uh, huh.” He winced as he fished out half a table leg and threw it to the side.
“Okay.” I kissed him, long and slow. His arms squeezed me, which became awkward when I tried to back off and I couldn’t unmash my face from his.
“Mmmkay—weat me oop.”
“Mmm?” he asked, his lips curling into a smile beneath mine.
He had my shoulders, but my lower arms were free. I used this to my advantage by punching him in the kidney. With a laugh he let go, allowing me to climb up.
“I have to go on whatever errand Jonas has for me, and you have to go back to being a badass.” I shimmied back into my undies.
Stefan turned serious in a blink. His eyes gained an edge. “The site you’re going to is old. There’s still magic there, which is why they need you, but its use is finished. It’s empty. There shouldn’t be any danger.”
“You hitched when you said ‘you.’ What don’t I know?”
Stefan rose slowly, a lethal predator in his prime.
My libido sparked. “Jeez, I’m getting just as bad as Charles.”
A grin tickled Stefan’s full lips before he went back to his professional mask. “You need to find a way to link with Toa. He is one of the most powerful whites. More, we can trust him. We know we can trust him, which is more than I can say for the other council members. With you and him together, and me to sustain you, we will be a stable powerhouse.”
“What about Dominicous? I occasionally get a soft feeling when he’s near. Like…kind of like an echo of emotion. Like what I have with you, except extremely, extremely watered down.”
“He thinks you two have a soft blood link. If you can…” Stefan’s jaw clenched.
“He’s family, baby. Or as close to a family as I have. He’s not trying to mark your territory.” I shuddered with the thought. “Gross.”
Stefan’s jaw barely relaxed. “After we get you magically linked with Toa, we can try to include Dominicous. This is an extreme amount of power we are talking about—a black, white, and two burnished golds. Not many people can control a link with so much being pumped into it.”
“But I thought you guys always had a bunch of people?”
“A group of eight was accomplished once, but it had a green, three reds, three oranges and me. We pulled it in and centralized it. You don’t pull. You struggle to keep magic out. Plus…that’s just a lot of power with all of us together.”
And a lot of power is just what we needed if a stronger demon came along. Which it would, I had no doubt. The one we encountered was just an experiment. The next might be an experiment, too, but I had a feeling it would be a more powerful experiment.
“Okay.” I went up on tippy toes to kiss him goodbye. “See you tonight. Love you.”
He slapped my butt as I turned away. “Poker tonight?”
“No! I’m sick of losing!”
I pulled open the door to an extremely hostile Jonas waiting right beside the door. Charles stood on the other side of the hallway crocheting, and Dominicous was down the hall a ways, sitting on a plush leather bench against the wall. He had his leg crossed over his knee, focused on an e-reader that he must’ve borrowed from the uncomfortable-looking guy sitting right next to him, staring at his shoes.
“Took you long enough. Do you not tell him where you need a little finesse?” Charles tucked a crochet hook and a tuft of fabric into his back pocket.
“Crochet?” I asked Charles as Dominicous stood and handed back the reading device. “What about knitting?”
“I can’t be carrying around a huge ball of yarn in a bag. People would think I had a purse!”
“Charles…you knit. Why not just take that extra step and have a purse, too? What’s the difference?”
Charles cocked his head to stare at me. “Are you being serious? A purse, Sasha? A male can’t be seen with a freaking purse, get real.” Charles shook his head as we walked down the stairs.
“Soft is as soft does,” Jonas growled with a creased brow. “Want some lotion for your hands?”
“All right Forrest Gump, real original,” Charles shot back. “And you never gave back Scarface.”
I sidestepped the fact that those were my DVDs, so I continued to try and figure out Charles. “So you gave up knitting for crotchet in order to be more masculine? Is there something wrong with your head?”
“I crotchet little pieces at a time while waiting for you since you’re always on the go lately. So I do the little squares, and then I can fit them in my pocket. I hate being bored, Sasha, you know that. I’m going to make them into a quilt. It’ll look good.”
“My grandma used to knit,” Dominicous said pleasantly. “Mean, vicious old lady. She taught me some great combat moves. She was my favorite relative. I don’t think that’s how you make a quilt, though.”
“I feel like I’ve just stumbled into the nuthouse,” I mumbled.
“Sasha, I wondered,” Dominicous continued, “Would you mind dining with me this evening? I’d love to spend some time with you.”
A burst of butterflies fluttered through my ribcage. I had so much pressing on me right now, with this counsel coming up, and these demons, and Toa trying to swap fluids, and Ste
fan’s dominance issues—but for all that, I wanted nothing more than to get to know my new adopted father. To finally, after all this time, have a real family. That wanted me. That wanted to adopt me!
“I’d love to,” I said quietly, my face getting hot.
“Lovely. What is your favorite meal? I’ll have it prepared.”
“Burger and fries. She can wolf that down faster than me.” Charles peered down the hallway, his eyes starting to lose their happy-go-lucky sparkle. He could be a complete clown in the mansion, but as soon as we stepped outside, his Watch Captain mask clicked into place.
“Anything is fine,” I answered, sparing an elbow for Charles. It bounced off his hard lateral muscle. No effect.
“So Jonas,” Dominicous said as they turned a corner, fast-tracking toward the front of the house. “What is it you hope to find—”
Dominicous cut off suddenly, his eyes snagged on someone up the hall on the right. A short someone. With a shock of blue hair. She stood in the center of the hallway, staring into a sitting room with a gaping mouth.
“Ann?” I walked up beside her and followed her gaze.
A woman sat back on the couch, completely naked, with her knees dropped to the sides. Another woman, wearing black latex, crouched between spread thighs, going to town on the other woman’s lady bits. A man, wearing a freaking catsuit, of all things, kneeled next to the woman on the couch, feeding her his large manhood.
“Ah yes, I see you’ve found the leisure room,” I said in a tour guide tone. “I have no idea why, but people seem to gravitate toward this room for weird crap.”
Ann turned to me slowly with incredulous eyes. “I knew these people were sexual, but…the door’s open. And they just go have random orgies? Just, willy nilly, let’s have a little sex with a bunch of people in the great wide open?”
“Great wide open?” Charles leaned over us and squinted into the din. “They’re in a secluded room. Obviously you’d need a nunnery, but here we don’t mind having a good time. Although, I think they’ve gone a little crazy with the costumes. Latex can chafe if you rub against it fast enough.”
