* * * *
Daxis paced his room, waiting for the right time, working to keep himself calm and not jump into what he was about to do.
He hadn’t really done it before. Mind seduction wasn’t something a male just goes out and does, and for the most part he’d heard it worked better on full humans than on shifter females. Yeah, he did it once on a human and boy was that night fun. He was just screwing around to see if he could do it or not and ended up giving the girl one hell of a dream as well as an orgasm. The next day she found him and had her way with him. It was also his first time. And as much as he loved it, Daxis hadn’t seduced anyone else as they slept. Tonight he was going to do it again. Tonight he was going to sneak into Lyssa’s dreams and do almost everything he wanted to do to her. All the things he lay in bed at night dreaming of doing.
At midnight, he finally turned the lights off, undressed completely and crawled into bed. Only a sheet covered him and it was all he was going to need.
In the middle of the bed, he took several deep breaths, working to relax his body and mind. Something that wasn’t that easy to do. His whole body seemed to hum and this overwhelming urge to just go into her room and taste her again was rising up fast. Closing his eyes, unfisting his hands, Daxis let his mind drift.
Finding her wasn’t hard. Once Daxis entered her mind, he saw Lyssa walking around a house he didn’t recognize. She was dressed in the nightie he had left on the bed when she took her bath. Coming up behind her he changed the setting, had them standing in a room with a large bed. She saw the bed and gasped and he quickly wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her back into his body.
“Shhhh,” he soothed in her ear in a low voice. “Nothing here will hurt you. I won’t let it.” With his free hand, he touched her leg, slowly moving it upwards. “You’re so soft. Like silk.”
“Don’t,” she breathed out, but didn’t move. “This isn’t real.”
“Are you sure?” He turned her fast so they were face to face. Her eyes widened, and he walked her backward, towards the bed he had placed in the dream. He gave her a gentle push and she went flying down onto it. “If this isn’t real, then I can do what I want. You can do what you want.”
He crawled up on it slowly, hovering over her, a purpose in mind. Looking his fill of her, he didn’t even try to suppress the low growl from slipping free.
Lowering down slowly, but not all the way, Daxis used his teeth and nipped at one nipple. Lyssa gasped and jumped under him, but didn’t move away. He glanced up at her, then he moved a bit and nipped the other one.
“Not real,” she breathed out again.
Using his teeth only, he moved up and pulled at one of the straps, pulling it off. Still using only his mouth, he pulled some of the silk down and exposed one breast. She gasped and quickly covered herself with both arms.
“I’m going to eat you up,” he told her. He reached down, up under the nightie and cupped her sex. Rubbing with the pad of his hand, Daxis slipped one finger into her, moved it in and out a few times, then brought it out and up to his mouth. He licked it then sucked all of her sweet nectar with a moan. “So sweet. I must have more.”
“No,” she shook her head. “No!” Lyssa screamed from down the hall.
Daxis sat up, the link broken. He growled out his frustrations and then groaned when pain hit him between his legs. He was brutally hard.
Taking a few deep breaths, he dropped back down on the bed, hands over his face, struggling to gain back control over his body. Then Lyssa burst into his room.
“You dirty rotten son of a bitch!” she yelled. He managed to get a look at her before she lunged at him, jumping on the bed, on top of him, hitting and slapping at him. “That was the lowest thing anyone has ever done to me!”
Daxis fought with her, fought only to block the hits. She managed to get a few good ones in before he was able to grab hold of her wrists and sit up, pinning both arms behind her back. “Finished yet?”
“Not even close,” she huffed, trying to twist out of his hold. “You said you weren’t going to fuck with me until tomorrow.”
“And I did wait. I waited until after midnight.” He grunted back, struggling to hold her. With a low growl he shook her and then pushed her down on his lap so she could get a good feel of the hard on he was sporting. It did the trick. She stilled eyes wide open. “I’m done playing this game with you, Lyssa.”
“Let go.”
“No.” Daxis moved fast. He flipped her over, pinning her on the bed, under him with both of her arms up over her head. He held them like that with only one hand. He looked down at her body then moved the back of his free hand down the middle of her chest. “Do you know how easy I could take you right now?”
Lyssa started breathing faster and Daxis imagined how wide her eyes would be right now.
“Pl—please let me go, Daxis.”
“Not just yet.” His hand touched a bare leg then slid up under the nightie. Talking hold of her leg, he pulled it up to his waist, and settled his body down between her legs. “Yeah, that is much better.” The only thing separating them was a thin sheet and her panties. “Yet, something is off.” Reaching back under the nightie he felt her panties and, yanking hard, he ripped them away from her body. “Now it’s perfect.”
“God, you are such a bastard,” she snarled at him. “What are you going to do now? Force yourself on me?”
“Nope. I’ve decided I’m going to hold back. You want to prove you are tough, okay. We’ll see how tough you are when your cycle comes. I promise you that night, when it’s in full bloom, you’ll come to me for relief.”
“I’d rather die first.”
He cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow at her. “Well, from what I’ve heard, you might just get that wish when your night comes.” He pushed away from her, coming to his feet. Naked, Daxis just looked at her. “Get back to your room, before I change my mind and just fuck you right now, like I want to.”
That had Lyssa moving quickly off the bed. She ran to the door, yanked it open and fled. He stayed still for a few minutes longer, then walked to the door and closed it slowly. Daxis felt like he’d made a mistake by allowing her to leave, but then he slowly broke out in a grin as he headed for the bathroom. Half the fun was in the chase, and even though they were at each other’s throats right now, it was still a chase—one he was starting to enjoy.
Chapter Four
He didn’t get any more sleep after Lyssa left his room. Daxis took a long shower, dressed and went down to get some work done before he could fix his full attention on her.
“Another sleepless night?” Lorenzo walked into the office, closed the door behind him, then took one of the chairs across from Daxis.
Daxis glanced up from the papers he was reading. “Some, yes. Have you seen the reports?”
“I have,” Lorenzo nodded.
“Something’s off.”
“They are. Good eye.”
Daxis closed the file he had opened and gave his full attention to his father. “So, why are they?”
“Because my brother is skimming from the books.”
“And you were going to tell me this when?”
“When the time was right. You’ve been a bit distracted with the claim and all.”
“I haven’t been that distracted.”
Lorenzo raised one of his eyebrows.
Daxis rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe a little.”
“May I give you some advice?” Daxis only stared at him. “It’s nothing you can’t handle.”
“If it’s advice to wait another month, please don’t.”
“No, I wasn’t going to suggest that. I know what kind of hell it has been for you as it is. My advice is to go about all of this in a slightly different way.”
“I’m listening.”
“Today is her birthday, and in less than twenty-four hours I suspect her cycle will start. Make her feel special today. It’s her day and her family isn’t here with her.”
>
“And what would you suggest?”
“We have beautiful horses and you bought her a few things. Give her the riding outfit, have the cook pack you a nice picnic and take her riding. Let her see the grounds, and you...just talk. Don’t bring up the moon or the other crap. Just get to know each other.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“What’s so hard about it?” Lorenzo stood up and grinned. “Sometimes, son, to catch that queen bee, you must have the right kind of honey.”
Daxis watched his father leave. He frowned at the closed door, letting what Lorenzo said sink it. His father was right. The kind of person Lyssa was, meant he couldn’t force her to bend to his will. He was going to need to do this another way, one where he couldn’t strong-arm her. Yeah, he wanted her badly and was willing to play dirty to get what he wanted. But he also needed to play nice at the same time, throw her off balance.
He found her in the kitchen, alone, eating some cereal. She didn’t even look up when he came in, or act like he was even there when he went up and sat down next to her at the small table. She just kept right on eating as if he was invisible.
“Got something for you,” he said.
“I don’t want anything from you,” she responded before putting the spoon in her mouth.
Daxis took in a deep breath, reminding himself to stay calm. “You’ll like this.” He reached over and took the spoon from her hand. “Go up to my room. It’s on the bed and meet me in the barn in twenty minutes. Barn is located at the south side of the house.” Putting the spoon down, he got up and walked out towards the barn himself.
Twenty-five minutes later, Lyssa came walking into the barn in the new riding outfit he bought for her months ago. He wanted to smile at her, but didn’t, deciding to hold back his enjoyment.
“Ever ride before?” he asked once she was close enough.
Lyssa shook her head. “No. I do boats.”
“Well, this one here is named Ginger and she’s very gentle. Perfect for your first time riding experience.” He extended his hand to her. “I’ll help you mount her and then we can go for a ride.”
She surprised him by taking his hand and letting him pull her closer to the horse. Bending over, Daxis grabbed her foot and helped her up on the horse’s back. He even put her feet in the stirrups.
“Okay, you hold on with your knees,” he told her. “Straps here will turn left and right. Nudge with your legs to get her to walk. Understand?”
She nodded,
He went to his own horse, swung into the saddle and looked over his shoulder at her. “Let’s go.”
They rode out of the barn, turned to the right and headed away from the house. In a pack on the back of the horse, Daxis had a large lunch packed up. He thought it might be nice to go riding to the edge of the grounds, to the river and have the picnic there.
“Where are we going?” she asked after some time had passed, in silence.
“There is this river that I used to go to when I was little. Dad had a lunch made for us, so I thought we’d go there.”
“Is this a new strategy then?” He looked over his shoulder at her. “You know, you trying to seduce me?”
“Nope. I’m calling it a truce.” Now he grinned at her. “For today at least.”
Once more, they went silent and then out of nowhere she spoke again. “This place is beautiful.”
Another glance over his shoulder and he smiled. Lyssa was looking up at the trees. The way the sun hit her face did something to him, something he couldn’t explain. It was almost as if the sun was making her appear angelic.
They reached the clearing and instantly Daxis was hit with memories of his mother. It had been years since he had been back to this spot. Years in fact since he was even able to just sit back and relax. Only his mother seemed to be able to do that for him. She would bring him here, have a lunch, let him vent and then they would just sit back and do nothing but listen to the sound of the water.
Turning the horses to the left, he swung his leg over and got off, tying his to a tree. Taking her reins from her, Daxis did the same with hers, before helping Lyssa down off the horse.
“Wow,” she breathed out, looking around, moving toward the water. “I don’t think I would have ever thought something like this was on your grounds.”
“I know.” He took the pack with the food off the back of the horse, grabbed the blanket and started walking to the very spot he used to sit with his mother. “This was sort of my mother’s place.”
“I’ve never heard you talk about her.” She followed to the side of the river and helped him spread out the blanket.
“Maybe because you’ve never asked.”
“True.” She sat down across from him. “So tell me now.”
“Are you really interested?”
“What else have we got to do?”
Daxis thought about really giving her a good answer to that question, but thought better of it. “What would you like to know?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Anything.”
“Well, I guess one could say she wasn’t what you’d expect. She was very soft spoken and gentle. Loved to help everyone around here.”
“What happened to her?”
“Pneumonia. She went in to the doctor for a cough and chest pain, and they admitted her to the hospital. Within twenty-four hours, things got worse, not better. By end of that week, she was dead.”
Lyssa gasped and said, “I’m so sorry. I can’t even think to imagine what losing a mother would be like.”
“My father was crushed,” Daxis went on. “And for a long time I blamed myself.”
“Why?”
“She had a cold and I wanted to come here.” He nodded toward the river. “She would bring me here all the time when I was upset. We would talk and I always felt better afterwards.”
“How old were you?”
“Ten. I ended up spending, I think, a week here after she died. I came out here, still a boy. When my father found me and brought me home, I was no longer a boy. He said I’d changed then. Guess I did.”
“I saw my family change when my grandmother died,” she said. “She was sort of the rock of the family.”
It felt good and strange at the same time having her talk to him. Since they met, all he’d ever gotten from her was anger and hostility. It was nice being a bit normal for a moment.
“Hungry?” he asked, reaching for the basket. “I have no idea what was packed.” He found thick, large, sub sandwiches for each of them. Homemade chips, salads, and a tub full of cookies. “Not too bad.”
They ate in silence, just staring at the water. The soothing sound of it had Daxis laying down on the blanket and closing his eyes once he finished eating. He must’ve fallen asleep, but thankfully not for long. Sitting up, looking around, he spotted Lyssa sitting by the river, her feet in the water.
“How long was I asleep?” he asked as he drew closer. She looked up and he sat down next to her, keeping his feet away from the water.
“Not too long. When you started snoring I took a walk.” She looked back out towards the woods. “This spot is so quiet. One can do a lot of thinking out here.”
“And what have you been thinking about?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Stuff.”
He decided not to push it further. “Come on. We better head back. Got another surprise for you.”
“What now?” She got up with him and walked back to the blanket. Together they packed up.
“You’ll see.”
They were back at the barn as the sun was starting to set. Still not saying much, they walked towards the house, and into the kitchen where Daxis dropped off the basket. They parted to take showers and he told her to be back down stairs in one hour. Again, he left her something on the bed. A long, black, strapless velvet dress with matching heels.
“Wow,” Daxis said. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her. The wait was so worth it. “You are so gor
geous.”
She blushed. “So what is this next surprise of yours?”
He extended his hand to her and again she surprised him by taking it. “Well, since it’s your birthday, I’m going to take you out for a dinner and dancing.”
“Dancing?” He nodded. “You don’t look like a dancing kind of guy.”
“One of my mother’s things. I had to learn how to dance.” He led her out the front door, where a sleek, black limousine was waiting for them. Opening the back, he let her in first, then settled in after her.
The limo driver drove them to a private club in town. Upon arriving, Daxis got out and quickly went around to open Lyssa’s door. Then he gave her his hand, and she took it. Together they went inside and the host, dressed in a black tux, escorted them to a private room Daxis had booked.
At their table, Daxis paused and pulled her chair out. She sat down and he took the seat across from her.
“Okay,” Lyssa said with a smile as she looked around, “This is impressive.”
“My father’s idea. He doesn’t use the club much anymore, at least not the private dining room.”
“Something he did with your mother?”
Daxis nodded. “At least twice a month. They called it their date night.” Two waiters came in with trays in their hands. “Hope you don’t mind. I sort of called your mom to get an idea of what you might like. She said you like lobster.”
“I do.”
Daxis saw the brightness in her eyes dim.
“Sorry,” he quickly said. “I didn’t mean to do that. I wanted tonight to be as special for you as I can make it. I sort of forgot how pissed you are with me still.”
“So what else did she say?” Lyssa asked quickly, changing the subject.
“She said you called her again this morning real early.” He placed a napkin on his lap, as the food was set before them. “Is that why you’re being so civil with me?”
“Am I?”
He nodded, and reached for his glass of wine. “You haven’t taken my head off all day.”
Conquering Lyssa Page 5
