by Garnet Hart
Oh God, Garr! Her mind screamed in fear.
“Emerald? You there?” Geoff asked. That was her new name here in the States, thinking that it will make it more difficult for Lior to find her. But she was wrong.
“I’ll call you back,” she said and cut the call.
Quickly, she dialed Garr’s number as she ran away from the hall. “Garr, Lior is here! He’s found me!”
“Where the hell are you?!” Garr sounded mad.
“Here at the exhibit. I’m sorry. What do I do?”
“Stay with the people! Don’t go out and don’t go near him. Is he alone?”
Stay with the people? She turned to run back to the hall but she heard footsteps rushing toward her and she knew Lior was coming to get her.
She ran to the nearest emergency exit that she saw down the hallway. It was a stupid move but she did not want to come face to face with that Lycan again.
She ran as fast as she could. Lior should still be inside the building now, but his men could be all around the premises.
She was so damn right. Two men suddenly came out of nowhere and blocked her way. She tried to run to the other side but another giant of a man appeared.
“Going somewhere, lassie?”
She quickly recognized Bran.
She wasn’t sure if she was happy to see the vampire. Bran was good to her, but she knew he was Lior’s friend first and foremost, even if they were arguing about silly things most of the time.
“Bran, I’m begging you to let me go,” she pleaded.
Bran crossed his arms. “I’ll get a cow and a horse in exchange for you.”
“I can give them to you myself.”
“You don’t find cows like those in Skye here in the US, and I want Arion for my movie, not just any other horse. Can you give me that?”
She swallowed. How could she get him a horse like Arion?
“I don’t want to go back to Lior. He’ll take me to Alfheim and they’ll execute me. I don’t want to die, Bran. Please, if you’re capable of feeling any mercy, you have to let me go.”
Bran chuckled. “Lassie, the cowfucker is not taking you to Alfheim just yet, and they won’t execute you… not yet. But it’s good you’ve figured out that they’ll have to kill you anyway.”
“That’s why I don’t want to go. I want to live.”
“You will not really die as you’ll continue living in Asgard, as a songstress, that is. Asgard is a grand place, lassie. Come on, you should be excited to go there. No mortal is ever permitted to live there. Count yourself lucky.”
“I won’t ever be happy being the cause of so many deaths, Bran. Please!” Her eyes were moist with tears. Bran noticed it and his devilish grin faded. When she saw he had lowered his guard, she dashed past him.
But a Vampire could move quicker than she had expected. In a blink of an eye, he was there, standing ahead of her, waiting for her to reach him. She collided with him. In a fluid motion, he grabbed her hips and threw her on his shoulder as though she weighed nothing.
She struggled, but her effort was futile for he managed to tie her feet and wrists together in a flash as though another pair of hands worked for him.
She should have known better than to resist a Vampire, but still, she refused to surrender.
“Let me go, Bran! Let me have my own life!”
“Sorry, lassie. I want my cow and my horse.”
“Bastard! You kidnap me over a hor—ouch!” she screamed when she felt a slap on her bottom. The pain stung her. “Damn you!”
“Silence. You don’t know what’s good for ya’.”
Bran took the emergency exit. It was blur from then on and the next thing she knew, she was inside a van. She was a captive once again. As they travelled along the road, she thought it was better for her to save her energy.
Several minutes later, the van entered a building. Bran carried her out of the vehicle in the same position, across his shoulder.
“Let me down. I’ll walk,” she demanded but the Vampire ignored her.
“My advice to you is stick with the cowfucker. You don’t want to end in the hands of the Demons, do you?”
“That cowfucker is a spawn of hell himself!”
“Nah, you don’t know hell. They’ll burn your pretty ass there forever.”
They took the elevator and she heard Bran pressing some buttons. “Where are we going?”
“Up.”
“Where?”
“You ask too many questions. You want another whack on your butt?”
She pressed her lips tight and bit her tongue.
The elevator door opened and Bran stepped out. After taking a few steps, he opened another door and dropped her on the carpet.
“Here’s the goody,” Bran said to someone who was sitting on the couch.
She turned to see the man waiting for them.
It was Lior…smoking a cigarette. She wondered how he managed to get there that fast.
“I’ll sue you!” she spat. “Both of you!”
Bran rolled his eyes, mocking her. “You’re one stubborn lass,” he said and turned to Lior. “And my horse?”
“It’s on its way.”
“Good. I’ve gotta go have a good time. I’ll see ya, lassie.”
Asra turned to Bran but only saw the door close behind him. She wondered how he managed to move that fast, considering there was quite a distance between the door and the area where he had stood.
But that was the least of her concerns.
What she needed to brace herself from was the Lycan in the room. She knew he’d been searching for her for three months, and he wouldn’t let this pass so easily.
Chapter 16
Lior blew out some smoke as he watched the woman on the carpeted floor, with her wrists and ankles tied. She was sitting there quietly, stealing glances at him. She appeared calm, but the rapid beating of her pulse told him otherwise.
He knew she was scared like hell, but was too damn proud to admit it. However, compared to the Miss MacLeod he knew before, it looked like she had learned to behave herself.
He thought it might take a few days before he’d find her whereabouts here in Las Vegas, but all he had to do was inquire at the restaurant where Bran had seen her. It turned out that the man she was dining with was a popular actor and he lived in one of the luxury condominiums at the Allure Tower.
Just a while back, he bribed the receptionist of the tower to give him the information about the woman in the photo he had shown her. He learned that Asra was using the name Emerald Greene on her records, and that she was currently not in her unit because she attended a perfume exhibit somewhere along the Las Vegas strip.
He thought he’d strangle this Elf to death once he’d find her, but seeing her again after three long months had diminished his anger. She’d looked so lovely standing there in a sleeveless pink dress that showed too much cleavage and too much legs. All the pent-up passion within him had awakened, and seeing her now made his body burn for a need more intense than ever before.
“You’ve changed a lot,” he said. “I didn’t even recognize you at first glance.”
She did not speak. She even avoided meeting his gaze, and he knew the reason why. Before she arrived, he had shed off his suit jacket and had unbuttoned his shirt. Now, she was stealing glances at his naked chest.
“I heard you bought yourself a cozy condominium unit. I’m surprised you managed to afford that in just three months.”
She remained quiet. Perhaps she already knew what he was trying to say.
“How much does your boyfriend give you?”
“I don’t care what you think of me,” she retorted, her eyes flaring in anger.
He sucked on the cigar before he spoke. “The receptionist told me you’ve been attending dancing lessons, and that you’ve won a pole dancing contest among your classmates.”
She maintained her silence.
“If I let your hands and feet free, would you dance for me?”
&nbs
p; “Never.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Alright, then you stay that way.”
She stared at him, as if weighing her options. “Fine.”
He smiled, put the cigar on the ashtray and rose from the couch. He hunkered down and cut the ropes with a single claw that stemmed out at the tip of his forefinger. When she was finally free, she sighed in relief and massaged her wrists.
Lior pushed the glass center table away to give her more space, and then he returned to the couch and reached for a glass of brandy.
“You may start.”
Slowly, she rose to her feet.
“Do you need a pole?” he asked.
“I lied. I’m not dancing.”
Strangely, he was not annoyed by her stubbornness. “It’s either you dance or I’ll tie you again so I can do anything I want with you. You choose.”
Her cheeks flared. He knew her fully well. Though she had always maintained an indomitable facade, he knew just how to scare the hell out of her.
“And if I dance?” she asked.
“Then I will not touch you as long as you don’t want me to.”
She stared at him, as if gauging if she could trust his words. “What kind of dance would you like?”
He smiled. “Your best dance.”
As though she was holding onto an imaginary pole, she raised her hand and bent her knees to a starting pose. She began swaying her hips from side to side. Very slowly. Her green eyes were fixed on him, unblinking and enticing.
Watching her gyrate gave him an excruciating hard on. And she just got started, the bitch.
Her eyes gleamed, seemingly flattered to see the effect her dancing had on him. Slowly, she reached behind her and unzipped her dress.
This time he knew that this was no longer his game but hers. When her dress fell to the floor and she was left with only two pieces of underwear, he was lost.
She ran her fingers over her breasts and then she pulled one strap down her arm.
His mouth watered, awaiting the sight of her nipple, but the damn woman stopped right when he was about to see it. He wanted to demand for her to strip now but couldn’t utter a word.
She lowered her hands and began pulling at the string of her bikini bottom. He waited for the fabric to fall, but again, she stopped.
He couldn’t take this torture anymore. “Take off your top. I want to see your nips.”
Her eyes widened a fraction, but he didn’t think she was terrified. As if he didn’t know that she had done this sort of thing to probably a hundred of men by now. The confident way she moved was indicative of her added experience in seduction.
Like him, he knew that she was also in an aroused state. He could smell her musk. She was dying for it, the little tease.
While she had been innocent when he first took her centuries ago and was fairly the same since they saw each other again months ago, he knew now, he was no longer the sole source of her carnal experience.
It really grated at him, made him want to kill all those men who’d had the pleasure of her delicious body but he must not become a slave of such human weakness. He was a Lycan. An Alpha. A god of Asgard. Petty jealousy was beneath him. He could have any mating partner he wanted, at any moment he wanted, this Elf included. He must not care about her other mating partners. He would slake his lust on her and that was it. On to the next.
“I want to see your rosy nipples, Elf,” he repeated, his voice seducing her.
Acting like she was in a trance, she pulled the string at her back. Her top loosened and fell to the floor.
Her round, ivory breasts crowned with cherry nipples had always made him crazy.
The urge to grab her and devour all of her was so strong, but he restrained himself. He wanted more from her. He wanted to know what she’d learned from her new lovers the past three months.
He lowered his gaze to her middle. He was dying to see that spot between her legs, as well. “Take everything off. I want to see all of you.”
With one hand playing with the locks of her hair while moving her hips, her other hand pulled the strings of her bikini one by one until the fabric fell to the floor, as well.
Now she was standing naked in front of him. Gods, she was most beautiful this way, lovelier than any goddess he’d ever seen.
He was hard like hell now, his cock almost bursting out of its confinement.
“Sit on that table,” he ordered. “Spread your legs for me. Show me how much you ache for me.”
She hesitated a bit but she stepped backward and settled on the glass table, lifting her long legs up and spreading them wide apart, giving him a short glimpse of her moist pussy then snapping them closed again.
Then she began massaging both her breasts, seducing him further into madness.
“I can see how hard you are now, asshole,” she said softly, her gaze fixed on his crotch.
The way she addressed him somehow surprised him, but not much. Apparently, she still hated him, but at the same time, she wanted him… badly.
This should be an exciting game.
He glanced between his legs and realized the bulge had grown too big that his trousers looked funny on him now. Smiling, he looked back at her. “Yes, darling, but it looks like you’re no’ yet ready for it.”
“I’m dying to taste it. Give it to me so I can chew it into bits.”
He smiled and unbuckled his belt. He knew he must not mess with a furious woman, but this was thrilling him.
The head of his cock popped out of his waist band. He looked at her and saw her jaw drop, and then she licked her lips, as though too hungry for a taste.
He unbuttoned his trousers and pulled down his zipper, revealing more cock to her until she was short of breath and her eyes were filled with desire.
He knew her too well. She’d forget all her anger once she’d see his throbbing hard on.
“Do you want it, Elf?” he asked while he stroked his length from the top all the way to the base. “Do you want my cock inside you?”
The son of a bitch thought he had her completely under his mercy. But he was wrong. Although she would admit that the burning lust she saw in his eyes turned her on, and the sight of his hard on almost had her mouth drooling, she was not about to run to him like a puppy who was just offered a special treat.
He had been dominating her for far too long. That was about to change now. If this bastard wanted her, then he would have play by her rules.
“You gave me your word. You should not touch me.”
“As long as you don’t want me to, that is,” he replied. “But I know how much you want me, Elf. Your cunt is now dripping wet as we speak, and your tongue is dying to have my cock inside your mouth. Am I wrong?”
She shivered. Of course this Lycan knew her body too well, but not her mind. “You have always been so full of conceit, Lycan. But this time, you’ll have to learn how to beg for something that you desperately want.”
He smiled, more amused. It looked like he took that as a challenge. He rose to his feet and stripped of his clothing, until he was as naked as she was.
It had been awhile since she last saw him like this. She swallowed at the sight of a beautiful god standing before her. From the packs of solid muscles spread perfectly all over him, she could almost feel his strength enveloping her.
Slowly, she lay back on the center table and cupped the weight of her full breasts. Having this beast as a lover, she had lost a half of her inhibitions. Lior was simply shameless in bed. It was contagious.
Their eyes locked on each other. When it did not seem like it was enough to break his resistance, she glided her hands down the juncture of her thighs. She smiled when his eyeballs almost popped out while anticipating that she’d spread her legs for him. “What do you want?”
“Spread your legs so I can see your cunt.”
“Ask me nicely.”
“Damn it, Elf. I know you want to be fucked twice as much as I do.”
She smirked. “Do I?”
“Stay right there!”
Her sharp voice halted him. “You are not to touch me unless I permit you to. That was the deal.”
The way he was trying hard to restrain himself pleased her immensely. “So what is it that you want, Elf?”
She pointed to the sofa. “Sit.”
He raised an eyebrow, but after a while, he obeyed. “Now what?”
“You want me to suck you, don’t you?”
His cock lurched in response. He spread his legs further. “It’s waiting for you.”
“Then ask me to.”
He frowned. It looked like he was about to protest, but he smiled. “Come to me, Elf. I can’t wait to feel your mouth all over me again.”
This Lycan knew exactly what she was up to, but it did not mean he could win over her in the end.
“That’s the way,” she said and knelt on the floor in between his open legs.
He moaned as she wrapped her fingers around his massive erection. She was amazed at how little her hand looked around his thick girth.
“Do you like what you see, Elf?”
She smiled up to him and returned her gaze on his member, still mesmerized at his gigantic size even after seeing him in this state so many times before. “Do you like what I do to you?” She lowered her mouth to get the wide head between her lips.
He moaned and caressed her hair as she opened her lips wider to suck him in.
“Oh Elf,” he moaned. “Do you know how good your mouth feels?”
It pleased her that he was falling right into her trap. If she wanted to, she could bite him hard until he lost this part of him. But she was dealing with a Lycan. If she tried something like that, he could break her neck in a flash.
“Ah, shit!” he groaned, lifting his hips off the couch so he could push forward.
