by Loni Lynne
Only a few inches separated them. Heat and the familiar musk radiated from his body. A sheen of sweat covered him, and she craved the thought of washing his body as they both stood naked beneath a shower spray.
"What are you doing up?" He growled low in his throat as he moved even closer. His thigh brushed hers along with his erect cock.
Marilyn's gaze traveled quickly to take a peek at his rock hard length. She licked her lips nervously. "I could ask you the same thing."
Her brain couldn't think in terms other than sexual. The tension building in her set about a chain reaction of sensations throughout her body. Baser needs and animalistic mating rituals played out, some her own thoughts, some she swore were implanted images, along with the one of them on his desk. Her hands came up to flatten on his chest. Whether it was defensive or just her desire to touch him, she couldn't fathom.
"Did we actually do…that? Is that a true memory or something I dreamed?"
The heated look in his eyes, the way his manhood stood rigid and ready, bobbing against the thin material of her shirt, had her heart in a panic flight within her chest.
"I can neither confirm nor deny," he whispered against her ear, the sensitive skin of her throat.
"Would…would…it kill me, if I knew?" she stammered, hoping she could remain standing before oozing into a puddle of sexually frustrated goo on the floor.
"There is a good chance it could." His lips nipped her earlobe with such delicate force she nearly swooned. She'd never fainted from desperation before. The tip of Draylon's tongue ran a light trail along the corded tendon of her neck from the base of her ear to her collar bone. She mewed like a kitten.
His hands roamed up her hips clad in satin boxers and beneath the hem of the shirt, bunching the material as it rose, exposing her heated flesh to the coolness of the room. She shivered but definitely not from the cold.
Wide, strong hands encircled her torso, traveling from hip to rib, using his thumbs to skim over her abdomen and the skin just beneath the band of the boxers as his lips explored the curves and plains of her throat, collar bone, the racing throb of her pulse which matched the ache in her sex.
I can smell your heat…your want. It's driving me mad.
Her mind, fully opened, allowed his thoughts in. You're driving me mad.
There was something to be said for being able to communicate like this. He didn't have to stop the ecstasy of his mouth on her skin. She gasped. His thumbs brushed over her erect nipples just light enough to possibly be accidental until she felt them again.
Oh, it's no accident, Marilyn. Trust me, I know exactly what I'm doing.
Tender pain shot straight to her pussy as Draylon pinched her nipples. Covering her mouth with his own, he swallowed her cries of pleasure. Shivers trailed along her nerves as masculine hands worked down her body to the band of the boxer shorts. Within seconds they were around her ankles.
Lost. She was lost in his heat, his scent, the overwhelming urge to take him and be taken by him, anywhere, anyway…anytime. Right now would be fantastic. Kicking off the satin boxers, she wrapped her leg up around his hips, pushing her mons directly against his rigid length. He lifted her up onto his hips, and she wrapped her other leg around him as she melted into his kiss.
Solid wall pressed against her back as the kiss deepened, became hotter. Marilyn thought she heard a low, menacing growl from deep in his throat and it only heightened her sexual tension. Her fingers dug into his scalp, clutching at him to be closer. She wanted him inside of her. She wanted him to fuck her into a mind-blowing orgasm until she felt his hot seed…
The growl deepened, and he held her in place with his hips alone as he rendered the shirt from her body. Buttons skittered like marbles hitting the floor. Chest to breast they meshed. Searing heat spread over her torso as Draylon's mouth captured a breast, suckling like a greedy babe. The muscles in her cunt spasmed at the intensity of the pleasure his mouth released on her.
Images of creatures fighting within her for dominance had her struggling against the wonderful torment of Draylon and her self-imposed demons. She opened her eyes to keep the images at bay, giving herself directly to the pleasure of his touch. Tossing her head to the side, she noticed she was up against the large panel of windows looking out over Frederick. A thrill of voyeurism scuttled along sensual nerves, thinking how erotic it would be if the world could see what she was experiencing. How exciting it would be for others to see how hot Draylon was making her. He bit her nipple. She cried out, nearly coming.
Damn you. She heard him growl in her head.
Fuck me.
Had she just begged? He stopped, letting her breast pop out of his mouth. The cool air touched on the wet areola, and she shivered from the sensation. Gasping, she looked into his eyes and swore flames licked deep in the dark irises. His breath came out ragged and deep. His chest heaving, covered in sweat. A tic in his tightened jaw had her eyes widening. But he wasn't angry. She could sense his tightly bound restraint as he rode the edge of a very sharp sword. Still holding her, his nostrils flared and he reared back.
Marilyn cried out as he lifted her higher from his waist. His hands came up under her thighs and placed them around his neck, leaving her weight on his broad shoulders and up against the glass, even higher. He spread her thighs and dove into her heat, his mouth plundering, laving, tasting every inch of skin and fold. His tongue flicked across her clitoris before drawing it between his lips, and she nearly came right then.
Hanging onto his head for dear life, she fought a lethal change within her. She writhed and bucked against his torturous onslaught, fighting whatever was dominating her inner soul. He spread her vaginal walls with his fingers, making way for his tongue to plunder as deep as he could.
Come for me, Marilyn. I want to see you lose control. I want to taste your sweetness coating my tongue.
Draylon's voice growled deeply within her mind as he continued to drive her into madness. He plunged two fingers inside of her, finding her g-spot within moments. Her body couldn't take anymore. Screaming silently along with the fighting creatures within her, all of their animalistic sounds merged into one inside of her head.
Muscles throbbed and released, sending shock wave after shock wave of pleasure flowing through her, drenching her thighs, Draylon's chin and mouth with her juices. But he wasn't finished. He continued the sweet torture, feasting on her like a ravenous bear seeking out all the honey from a hive.
Echoes of spasms continued until she was sobbing from the intensity.
Please, make love to me, Draylon.
He stopped, lowering her gently to the floor. Marilyn had to lean on him for support. Exhausted, her body drained of energy, she looked up into dark eyes filled with a deep sadness and regret. He shook his head.
Was he going to bolt? He looked like he might at any moment. Was she pushing him? Her body wanted them to join intimately…but something even more primitive ached with the need. She wanted to crumple into a heap on the floor and throw a temper-tantrum at his denial.
Instead of walking away, Draylon picked her up, her tattered shirt hanging off of her shoulders and carried her back down the hall where her bedroom awaited. Excited, she bit her lip. Maybe he'd changed his mind. Kicking open the door to her room, he crossed to her bed and gently laid her among the tangled covers.
Marilyn waited breathlessly for him to join her. She could see his beautifully erect penis still as hard, if not harder, than it had been. She reached out to touch it, brushing her fingers against its heat as he bent over her. He closed his eyes, the tic in his jaw activated as his lips firmed into a thin line of concentration.
Pulling the tangled sheet up, he covered her semi-nakedness and placed a gentle kiss to her lips before turning away and leaving her empty and aching. Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes down to pool in her hair as the door closed heavily behind him. Why wouldn't he make love to her? What had she done?
Draylon didn't know wha
t was killing him more, the need to find sexual release or feeling the gut wrenching madness of her frustration. How could he tell her she hadn't done anything wrong without her asking too many questions he didn't want to answer?
The trek to his room hurt like hell. All he'd wanted was to spread his wings a bit tonight to release the stress of meeting up with the unforgettable Marilyn Reddlin. He wasn't ready to have to deal with her again. She did things to him that were better left undone. But seeing her in the oversized shirt, her hair down around her like a nymph…those lips, the surprise in her eyes at seeing him naked…he couldn't resist.
It had been almost a decade since he'd dealt with the sexual tension a woman put him through. But he didn't remember it being so intense. It had taken all of his will power not to bury himself within Marilyn's warmth and let nature take over. But he didn't want to see her fear and horror when he went too far…and he would, there was no mistaking the fact he would go too far with her. The pain of having to wipe her memory again and forget about her would be too great.
Lying on his bed, willing his erection to go away didn't help matters. The image of Marilyn against the window, her pale breasts glowing in the shadows of night, the gleam of fire flaring in her eyes, the sheen of moisture covering her skin…fuck.
Placing his arm over his eyes, he took pleasure in his own hands, imagining it as her stroking him like she had that day in his office. He tightened his grip, pretending it was her sweet, hot mouth. He could see her clear as day in his mind's eye. Her hair loose over her face, the movement of her hand, her head as it dipped and sucked had him hotter than the fires of Hell.
Growling, he could sense the other creatures within him emerge, their randy mating rituals ready for the real thing as much as his human side. But then he witnessed other creatures in the picture—mates. Each of his shifting characters had an equal just beyond his vision, waiting in the shadows…and then he saw Marilyn lying on her bed where he'd left her. Her tears had dried and the torn shirt lay open to his gaze. She smiled up at him as her hands roamed her naked flesh.
Sweet gods! She touched her nipples, pinching them until they were perky points of pink perfection. Her body writhed among the satin sheets tangled about her. Her hand trailed further along her svelte form, stopping at her mons, trailing through her trimmed nest of hair to part her nether lips. The healthy pink petals opened to his view, the shimmer of her dew sparkled in the night like fresh clear water to a thirsty man.
He'd drank from her fountain earlier, the heady perfume of her essence still intoxicatingly familiar in his memory. Draylon arched into his hand, feeling the energy crescendo within him. He pumped faster as he viewed the image in his head.
With her knees bent, Marilyn lifted her hips, opening herself up to his view. Her fingers trailed over her open lips, her middle finger tapping at the swollen pink bud of her clit. She continued to rub and tap, driving him past the brink of madness. Draylon's breath came out in hot spurts of flame as he continued to stroke his turgid flesh.
When she penetrated her vagina with her finger, rising up to meet her personal thrust, Draylon knew he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Fire seared through his groin to his testicles, watching her pleasure herself. She added a finger and found her own point of no return.
Throwing her head back, she cried out his name as she continued to stroke and drive herself beyond the limits to her own sexual endurance. Hearing his name torn from the ravaged depths of her pleasure points, he lost his control and groaned out his own release, thrashing about in his sweat slicked linens and pumping his seed over his fist in tortured agony of release.
When he finally opened his eyes, the exhausted efforts made it difficult to breathe much less move. He lay there spent, gazing into the darkness surrounding him only to see blazing red eyes staring back. Those eyes calmed the man in him but aroused the Zmeu…but he was too weak, too tired to comprehend what it could possibly mean.
Chapter Fourteen
"What do you mean you still haven't heard from Mom?" Marilyn held up a finger as Tina asked what was going on. She was talking to Maggie, her mother's personal assistant on the phone. "She never went on the business trip? Where did she go then?"
"I'm sorry Marilyn," Maggie said. "Your mother left me strict instructions to tell everyone it was a business trip."
"So where is she, really?"
It took a moment but Maggie sighed. "She went to look for you."
Marilyn couldn't believe what bullshit Maggie had fed her. The people she trusted most had lied to her.
"Did she leave any messages? When was the last time she called?" Listening patiently but dying inside with the revealing of her mother's disappearance on her account, fear threatened to choke her to death. "Cluj-Napoca…yeah, I know…okay."
"Should I contact Mr. Delvante?"
Pacing, Marilyn noticed Tina biting her lip, waiting to hear the latest news. "No. I don't want Rick Delvante to know unless it's the last resort. I'm not sure I trust him right now. I'm not sure I trust anyone." She sighed. "Just keep things under wraps until I can locate her. I'll stay in touch," she promised Maggie.
"What's going on?" Tina asked when Marilyn clicked off her cell phone.
"My mother's missing. She went to search for me in Romania when we lost contact. She hasn't returned."
Tina covered her mouth and shook her head in denial. Her big blue eyes welled up with tears. "Your father and now your mother…"
"She's not dead. She's missing," Marilyn announced heatedly.
Already a wreck, Marilyn hadn't slept much last night. Thoughts of Draylon, what he'd done to her in the living room, the dream she'd had about him after…watching him, feeling his pleasure as if he were right there inside of her…gave a whole new meaning to waking up in a sweat.
Tina had come in and woken her up, hoping they might be able to sneak away, but they had no clue how to get their car out of the hidden garage. In their morning exploration they did find the secret passage leading up to the main house, a simple model home façade to cover up the actual sanctuary beneath. Quite an ingenious idea for a man.
"What are you going to do?"
The only thing she knew…she needed to find her mother. She logged into her bank account and knew she would need to get into her trust fund in order to make another trip. The only problem was she couldn't get into it without her mother's co-signature.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No. I don't want to put you in jeopardy too. I have an idea of where she might be, and if what Draylon told me is the truth, I'll be heading into the lion's den without any protection."
"You're going back to see Aiden Vamier." Tina assumed. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I don't have a choice. He has my mother…"
"You don't know if he has her or not. It could be a trap."
"It's a risk I'll have to take."
"How are you going to get there?"
Tina knew her financial status as well as anyone. There was only one way she knew to get where she needed to go. She'd turn herself in to Gerlich to take her to Vamier.
"When did she leave?"
Tina curled up in a ball on the couch as Draylon interrogated her with the vengeance of a mad man.
"A…about two hours ago," she replied.
"She's had a good head start, Draylon. They probably have her in custody already." Mike sighed.
Draylon was a bundle of nerves and frustration. Marilyn Reddlin would be the death of him. He'd either go out by combusting in a sexually frustrated ball of flames or die by killing her himself and having Rick take him out in retaliation.
"You going to call the old man and put him on the alert?"
"Fuck no. Are you nuts?" Draylon had back up plans on various levels. Nonni and the cubs were always a good plan when he didn't want to directly involve Rick. Nonni didn't like Rick all that much and the feeling was mutual. "I'm calling on Nonni,
Ren and Ron to see if they can give me a hand."
"What do you need me to do in the meantime?" Mike asked his friend.
Draylon looked to Tina, still cowering on the sofa. "Take her back to their apartment. If Marilyn is there, tie her up, sit on her, drug her…I don't care, anything to keep her from heading into trouble."
"If she's not there?"
"Have Tina pack a suitcase and get back here. I don't trust Gerlich and his men. Tina's already in trouble with them, I don't want her involved any more than she already is. Hopefully you can keep her safe here long enough until things boil over and Gerlich moves on his way."
"You can't keep me here like some prisoner." Tina jumped from her seat and tried to stand up to Draylon, but he stalked her and backed her into the broad form of his friend Mike.
Mike gentled her with a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. You won't be a prisoner but Draylon's right, you won't be safe with Gerlich around. Something tells me you're involved with the Vamiers too, and it isn't necessarily connected with Marilyn."
"So what's your next move, Dray?" Mike asked.
"Not quite sure. My instincts tell me she's being set up, that this is all a trap."
"And?"
"I'm praying to the gods that for once, my instincts are wrong."
Upon leaving the façade house, Marilyn started to run, and as she ran, the animal instincts in her took over and she became the wild wolf once again. Keeping to the outskirts of Frederick as long as possible before heading in, she stopped at a friend's house where everyone came and went of their own accord. The house was empty and she was able to slip in and find a change of clothes, leaving a note to let Heather know she'd borrowed a dress before heading to her and Tina's apartment in town.
Still, she kept out of site. She had things to do before turning herself in to Gerlich. Marilyn just hoped he would be at the blood bank. She didn't want to run the risk of having Draylon try to rescue her or talk her out of finding her mother. She was no longer afraid to take a chance. Her mother's life depended on her being strong. She needed to do this.
