Finally, his fingers delved through her folds. The slick sound of them sliding against her flesh was nearly as arousing as his touch. When he swirled around her swollen bud of nerves, she cried out.
“Fuck, Alice.” All play drained from his expression, and his jaw clenched tight. He drove a finger inside her, and she tightened around him, her body squeezing as he withdrew. He groaned, his eyes heavy-lidded when he plunged again. She reached for him, needing to touch, needing to drive him as wild with desire as she felt. Hard-muscled legs bunched under her fingertips as she raked her nails over his skin and through his course hair. She traveled over his forearms and grazed over his pebbled little nipples.
“Goddamn. You’re gonna finish me,” he said with a groan.
“Yes. Yes!”
He shook his head. “You first.” Yanking her hips until her butt rested on his chest, he draped her legs over his shoulders and moved his thighs to brace her back until she was nearly upside down. His arms banding tightly around her hips, he feasted between her legs. She could do nothing but fist the blankets while he rocked her world. His face in her folds, he licked and sucked and nipped and then thrust his tongue into her again and again only to withdraw and start all over again. She barely had breath to pant, but then he had her crying out. Her body wound taut, and she dug her heels into the center of his back.
One final hard suction on her clit with his tongue flicking her sent her over the edge. Drawing blood with her nails in his forearms, she arched back, pushing against his mouth. Her throaty scream rent the air with his name and a few expletives.
Ian lowered her to the bed, and she sagged trembling and boneless where he placed her, her breath seesawing and their mingled sweat cooling on her skin.
When he pressed his forehead to hers, she cracked one eyelid open. A pained expression was what she saw.
“Alice, I want you so much, my balls hurt.”
She couldn’t speak past the lump of love in her throat but tugged him on top of her, between her spread thighs. Clinging to his shoulders, she toyed with his tousled hair. His lips brushed back and forth over hers, teasing each cell in her skin, and then he sucked her bottom lip between his, giving her a soft rake of teeth. Gold-medal kisser. No one could kiss like this man. He licked between her lips until she opened to him. When he sucked lightly on her tongue, the lightning struck inside her again.
Lifting one of her thighs up and out, he exposed her. A flush of blood heated her cheeks, somewhat soothed by the reverence on his face, worshipful, and she followed his down-turned gaze. He was watching himself enter her.
“So pink and wet. Hot,” he murmured roughly. He slicked the head of him over her most intimate flesh, driving an unexpected moan from her, and then sank deep with one long, slow glide, pushing in until they were skin to skin. Heaven. She hadn’t survived after all, and that’s where she’d gone. Nothing on Earth could feel this good. She wrapped her legs around his hips, loving the feel of him against the inside of her thighs and the flex of his muscles. His shaft taking up all of her, stretching her limits, he filled her completely. Filled more than just her body.
Her eyes met his. “Ian.”
“You’re perfect, turtle,” he whispered. He lifted her arms over her head and then slid his underneath them to cup the backs of her hands in his palms. It brought their bodies together with no space between. She twined her fingers with his and set her heart free. This is what it felt like to live.
Ecstasy spiked the moment he moved inside her. His shaft found her hot spot inside, and every grinding swivel of his hips rubbed her clit, sending her up a climbing ladder of delight. His grip tightened on hers as she rocked against him. Breath rasped in heavy gusts near her ear, sending pleasure shooting down her spine with each gritty moan from his lips. His chest heaved faster, jaw tightened, his movements growing rough and jerky. Her body was near bursting with rapture, driven ever higher by his passionately vocal arousal.
His eyes opened to gaze into hers, and they were on fire, glowing like hot coals. “Kiss me, Alice. Make me come.”
“Oh God, yes.” She took his mouth hard, their teeth clicking together a time or two. She met him thrust for thrust until she shattered into a million shiny bits. Ian shouted a curse and his muscles went hard as stone as he pulsed inside of her. He went slack only a moment with his full weight on her before he rolled them in one swift move, tucking her body into his side and holding her head against his chest. Once her breath returned, she scraped her nails through his chest hair, making him shiver under her cheek.
“Ian, is it a bad sign that I sense something enticing under your skin, and all I want to do is bite down into it. Like right here on your chest.” She fake bit him. “Or anywhere really.”
Her head jerked up when he didn’t answer. Something resembling wonder reflected in his eyes.
“No,” he rasped.
“Is there something wrong with me?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, turtle. You’re perfect.”
She grinned. “You say that now, but wait until the first time you leave the toilet seat up.”
“Now, see, that’s a new advantage in the war of the sexes,” he said. She raised an eyebrow and he returned her grin. “You won’t need a toilet ever again. Unless you need to heave for some reason, that is. That does happen sometimes.”
A sudden shock eclipsed her thoughts. She knew next to nothing about being Immortalis. She’d never been a subjugate. The fine points of caste life were a mystery to her. Holy crap, she had no paperwork submitted! How would it look to the antsy public if the acting Vice Director transformed without an approved application?
Her breath caught. “I’m scared, Ian.”
He tightened his hold on her. “I know it’s frightening. You weren’t prepared, but we’ll get things straightened out. There was no choice.”
As the memory of a blade across her throat rose in her, her panic leaped to the ceiling. She couldn’t bear that again. “I can’t be executed, Ian. I’ll go out in the daylight before—”
“No.” He tipped her face toward him and gripped her shoulder painfully. “I swear to all that’s holy, turtle, I’d follow you into the sun. But there’s nothing to worry about because it won’t happen to you. Understand? You were acted upon, and you’ve done nothing illegal.”
She searched his face. He was holding something back again. “What about you?” she whispered. His expression tightened, and her mouth went dry. He was in some trouble.
“I’ll deal with things as they come,” he said.
“What will they do to you?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“Will they kill you?” The question squeezed through her taut throat.
He regarded her long and hard. The answer was in his hesitation. “They might.”
No, they couldn’t. They wouldn’t dare. Ian was a good man. Her instincts told her to urge him away, to run. He’d have a better chance as a rogue than throwing himself on the goodwill of the Immortalis. They all seemed so fixed on their rules, the unbending pillars of ennui that governed them all. The protocols never considered circumstances of the individual, only preserved what has always been.
It didn’t escape her notice how her thoughts had wandered into the realm of hypocrisy. So instead of giving in to her urge to abscond with him, she held her tongue and tried to still her runaway fears. It wasn’t a sure thing that harm would come to him. A proper defense had to clear him. He had to at least try if only to save his position with the Trackers.
Sharp pain suddenly struck the center of her stomach, and she pulled into a ball.
Ian made a quick call from the phone on the nightstand. Then he cradled her in his lap. “Time to feed again.”
“Already?” she cried. “Oh, oh, oh. Is this what labor pains feel like?”
He chuckled. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in labor, turtle.”
She was curling up in pain, and all he could do was make jokes? She glowered at
him and pushed at his chest. “Don’t touch me.”
“Yep. Pretty much like labor.” He pulled her back into his lap. “Stop fighting me. Here, you’ll feel better if I’m touching you.” She let him snuggle her against him, and as he rubbed her back, it really did make her feel better. The problem was every time his skin came near her face, she wanted to bite into it. It wasn’t exactly a scent, but something she sensed inside him by some other method. A part of her clamored to get to whatever it was.
After ages-worth of torment, a subjugate arrived and she fed. This time, the wakefulness didn’t overcome her after the man had gone, but a deep lethargy struck instead.
“Tired.”
Ian tucked her into bed and slid in next to her. “A good thing. It means you’re getting there, progressing. It’s the pull of the sun, and get used to it because it’ll be worse for you next sunrise.”
She couldn’t respond. Her tongue had become a useless appendage in her mouth, her limbs too heavy to move, and then her thoughts grew sluggish until finally darkness sucked her under.
Chapter Twenty-two
Ian caught the door before the knocking on it woke Alice from her rest. It was well into evening, but she needed the sleep after such a traumatic and eventful night. Once she’d fallen asleep, she hadn’t awoken. Too bad. He’d meant what he said about taking her all day long, but he’d never compromise her well-being by waking her to slake his desire. He turned to Dec who waited impatiently on the other side of the doorway.
“So you want to know who’s dead?” Dec asked.
Ian glanced back at Alice to make sure she was still sleeping. He’d risen, showered, and dressed without her moving an inch. Sweet thing would sleep through an apocalypse. Even so, he crept out the door and eased it shut behind him.
“Dead? Who?”
“Revenant.” Yet Dec didn’t seem thrilled about it.
“Who killed him? He wouldn’t have offed himself.”
Dec glanced down the hall. “You’d better come with me. Kade and Ezra are downstairs.”
“Why are they here?”
“Why do you think?” His friend shot him a look of warning. “Better have a good argument when you see them. They’re pissed at you.”
“Well they can fuck themselves.” Ian would be damned if he’d lie down for their reprimands. He’d done the only thing he could do in the situation. Kade had ordered such an action for Val not long ago when she’d been wounded. Of course, her wound hadn’t been fatal, and she’d refused the transformation.
“Better not put it in quite those terms.”
Ian stopped Dec at the top of the stairway and studied his friend a moment. “I’m so sick of this shit, Dec. When you split, I’m going with you.”
“What makes you so sure I’ll split?”
“Come on, now.” He shook his head. How foolish did Dec think he was? “I know where you’ve been going before the team meets in the evenings.”
Dec blew out a breath. “Fuck.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s our job to keep our ears to the ground.” He shrugged. “If anyone asks, that is.”
They headed down the steps to meet the Dominorum awaiting them. “Would you consider marrying me?” Dec asked.
“Make a great couple, wouldn’t we? But ask my left one.” He laughed. “In other words, no. I’m taken.”
Dec grunted. “Thought so. I’m not cut out for marriage anyway. I’m too cranky when I get up in the evenings.”
“Well, duh. The only time you’re not a pain in the hole is when you’re sleeping.”
When they arrived in the foyer, Ian was taken aback by his reception. Kade grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a one-armed man hug, and Ezra clapped him hard on the back.
“Good to see you moving around in one piece,” Kade said.
Ian shook his head. “I thought you’d be fuming.”
“I am, but not for the reasons you’re thinking.” Kade braced his hands on his hips. “The question is how to get you out of this mess.”
“Could always off Ander and Kenji,” Ezra said with an impish grin.
“Sure. I’ll get right on it.” Ian would be doing him a favor, more than likely. The pale Dominus shunned most of the older Immortalis. “What’s this crap about Revenant?”
Kade frowned. “Kenji claims to have caught and killed him before Revenant left the grounds last night.”
“Wait. What? Before he left?” Ian shook his head. “No way.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for one, he was acting strange all nigh—”
“What do you mean strange?” Ezra asked with suddenly hawkish attention.
Ian’s eyebrows rose. “Like the wheel was turning but the hamster was dead. That kind of strange.”
After a brief pause while he communed telepathically with Ezra, Kade turned to Ian. “All right, what else?”
“He didn’t go after Revenant. He stayed here and turned Alice, and then he went upstairs. Not long after, he returned and made some remarks about Alice’s adjuvant ability.”
“She’s an adjuvant?” Kade asked.
Dec answered this time. “A spectral, if you can believe it.”
“Fuck me.” Kade whistled, long and loud. “I’m jealous.”
Ian laughed. “Apparently, so was Kenji. Little bastard practically turned green.”
“The point is,” Dec said, “there’s no way Rev wasn’t already off the property by then. He had to have returned later. The question is why would he do that when he knew we would be here?”
“Ander had to have been sheltering him as the informant stated,” Ian said.
“He swears he had no knowledge of Revenant’s activities or location. Also claims no knowledge of the Slavers.” Dec’s bullshit meter was going off. Ian always recognized that face. “It’s impossible to get a read off that guy, but I believe him when he says he wasn’t harboring Rev. It’s Kenji I’m suspicious about after his absurd claim about Rev. I need to get a look at the rest of the surveillance video.” Without awaiting direction, Dec headed to the side door that would lead him to the security room.
“At least one problem’s solved. Graham’s home free on that opening with the Trackers.” Ian glanced between the two markedly unhappy Dominorum.
Kade wasn’t impressed with the notion. “Not only do I not give a shit about the douchebag, but I now have a bigger problem to worry over.”
“Izel won’t let me die.”
“You think so? I wouldn’t bet my life on that, friend. She’s got plenty of Immortalis breathing down her neck, too.” Kade paced, his head bent while lost in thought. He stopped abruptly. “I can’t step in for you, Ian.”
“I know. I’d never ask you to.”
The Immortalis prince sent him a rare, pained look. “I want to. I have the authority, but not the freedom. This is killing me.”
“I love her, Kade. I might not have done it otherwise.”
“What you love is getting into hot water over people you care about.” Kade nodded. “But I get it. These days, I sure as hell get it.”
Ian’s mind slammed the brakes and hit rewind a time or two. He knew. Kade knew what had happened all those years ago with Hes. Yet he’d done nothing. How many others had known or at least suspected what Ian had done? There had never been an investigation into the fire taking Hes’s life. If they hadn’t taken any action, they had to believe Hes had been guilty, despite the man’s ability to weasel out of the murder charges.
“Ptolomy will have to approve her transformation,” Ezra said. “That won’t be a problem. After you’re executed, I’ll take very good personal care of the little sprite for you.”
Ian growled. “You put one flirty finger on her, and I’ll—”
“Easy now, tiger.” Ezra laughed. “Now you’re almost as easy to rile as Dec.”
“Arsewise, you are. Complete arsewise.”
“And what fun would I be if I weren’t?”
Dec entered in a replay of his j
og and slide from the day before. “It was Kenji working with Revenant. Caught him on video.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Ezra said. “Good work. Now let’s find the dead-hamster-for-brains.”
Kade and Ezra took the mansion while Ian and Dec searched the grounds and outbuildings, but when they met again an hour later in the foyer, no one had caught any sign of Kenji. None of the subjugates had noticed the Dominus leave the grounds.
“Now what? Time to hunt?” Dec wore an unusually eager expression. He knew his friend liked to indulge in a bit of justified violence, but Ian had the impression something bad was building up to epic proportions in Dec.
“I need to have a conversation with Ander, one he’s had coming for a long while.” Kade rubbed his hands on his jeans as if he’d touched something dirty. He likely felt dirty after speaking those words. No one in their right gourd enjoyed any sort of talk with Ander. “Ian, you wait for Kenji to come back since you have Alice here. He might have left to find a different sort of donor.”
Not one of them questioned what he meant by that. There were the subjugate donors and there were the respectable services and then there were the groupie donors, and that was putting it nicely.
“The rest of you can check his usual haunts while I catch Ander out in public where he can’t weasel out of this conversation we’re going to have.”
Ian would almost pay his left kidney to witness that event. Ander had been a pain in the Legion’s backside for at least two centuries, and he’d love to see someone like Kade take him down a few notches. It wasn’t worth leaving Alice, however. She should be about ready to feed.
Once he’d parted with his team, he took the stairs three at a time and then swung the door open wide.
“Time to rise and shine, turtle.”
His gaze hit the empty bed. Well, crap. He’d had a plan in mind to wake her, but catching her nekkid in the shower would do just as well. With a grin, he nudged the bathroom door open, but the room was empty.
Bad Cop (Entangled Covet) Page 17
