by Evi Asher
Colt reacted, reaching Angelica and pulling her into his arms. He lifted her out the tub and crushed her to his chest.
“Careful, Gelibean, you might fall and hurt yourself.”
His voice sounded hoarse even in his own ears.
“Let go of me, you oaf, and why are you spying on me?” She tried to push away from him, but he held her tighter and rolled his hips, knowing that she’d feel his erection pressing against her belly.
Her eyes shot wide. “Let me go.”
Had her voice just dropped an octave or two? Were her eyes going half-mast with desire?
Colt drew in a deep breath through his nose. Yes, there was the feint scent of her desire. Something to use against her.
He could make her want him so much that she’d beg, then leave her unsatisfied, and that would be part of his revenge. He’d use her attraction to him against her.
“What?” He rolled his hips again and pulled her tight, crushing her breasts against his bare chest. “Does my hard-on offend you?”
“I…” She didn’t answer him. She had this look of lost hunger on her face that made him want to drop his head and kiss her.
Oh, yes, part of my vengeance. In all the time she rode me like a stallion, she never kissed me. Maybe she has a problem with kissing men.
He felt the evil smile curl his lips and saw the fear in her eyes.
“Colt, please…”
“Please what?” he sneered. “Please don’t fuck you?”
She blushed and tried to push away from him again.
Colt tightened his grip and let his hand slide down her side. He hooked a thumb under her breast and curved his hand around the outside edge of it, never quite giving her the contact she must be aching to get.
“Colt…”
His name sounded like a plea on her lips and he felt a surge of desire so strong it almost staggered him.
He moved his hand away from her breast and lowered it over the curve of her hip.
Colt heard Angelica’s breath hitch.
He let his hand slide down her thigh and hooked the back of her knee. With one fast movement, he pulled her knee up so she could feel his denim-covered erection close to her sex.
Her head fell back and she gasped, and the sound all but drove him to his knees.
Kiss her now if you are going to, because your plan is backfiring on you.
Colt let go of Geli’s leg and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Forcing her face up, he lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss was savage, the way he intended it to be. He forced her mouth open and attacked her tongue with his. She gasped into his mouth, going motionless. He could almost taste her shock, but then she started kissing him back.
Her kiss was tentative at first, soft as if she was trying to figure out how to do it. If she was trying to work it out, she was a fast learner.
He felt her fingernails bite into his bare shoulders, then push up into his hair. He shuddered with unexpected pleasure, and Geli took full advantage, kissing him back as fiercely as he had been kissing her, both of them panting for oxygen as the feelings of need and want intensified.
He gave up. His plan to seduce Geli and leave her wanting was going to kill him. He’d have to go through with what he’d started here, or suffer more than she would.
Colt reached for her knee again, pulling her leg up without breaking the kiss. He ground his cock against her sex and he moaned from the pleasure. He freed his other hand and slid it between them. His fingers were seeking her wetness, and when he found it, a fresh wave of her scent hit him, making him shudder.
Gods, she smells so hot and wet, so good, so ready.
He dipped his finger just inside her, and Geli tensed.
Colt deepened the kiss. He didn’t understand why she was tensing like a virgin with her first lover. Right then, he didn’t care. He wanted inside this woman, and he wanted to be there now.
He dipped his finger into her sex again, this time pushing a little deeper, and Geli moaned. The sound came from deep inside her, one of pure enjoyment.
The sound was a reminder, and it hit him like a two-ton truck going eighty miles an hour.
Colt shoved her away from him so fast, she stumbled and landed on her ass on the bedding.
He sneered at her in disgust. “Thanks for reminding me who you are and what you did. I should never have touched you.”
She gaped at him, shock clear in her expression.
“I don’t understand.”
“Fuck that! You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“If you shouldn’t have touched me, why the hell did you?”
He could see the anger spark to life in her eyes as she pushed herself up, getting to her feet and standing straight and proud, either unaware or not caring that she was naked. In his mind, though, he could hear the bitch moaning as she raped him in that tiny cell. He could hear her moans intensify as she got close to climax.
Colt felt the bile rise in his throat. He had to get out of there. “Get dressed. You have a wedding to go to.”
He turned and left the room, slamming the door on his way out.
“What wedding?”
He had heard her yell after him through the closed door. A slow smile of satisfaction curled his lips. She’d just have to wait and see, now wouldn’t she?
* * * *
Angelica didn’t know if she should laugh, cry, or kill someone. She was leaning towards the last one on the list, and Colt would make a great subject for eternacide.
He'd walked into her room, and when she'd seen him, she'd nearly lost it. If he was rugged before, he was downright divine with his beard shaved and the lines of his features fully visible.
Gah, don't get sidetracked by how hot he is.
She snatched the first piece of clothing she could find. It was a long white dress. She held it up and peered at it. It was simple in cut, with long sleeves that belled out at the wrist.
Are these people serious? They live in one of the coldest parts of the world and they give me a frigging dress to wear? I’m going to die of exposure.
She pulled the dress on over her head and shivered, then grabbed the rest of the clothes that she'd been given.
The distraction lasted only as long as it took her to put her clothes on. Then she was back to fuming about Colt and what he’d done.
He gave you pleasure.
“He pushed me flat on my ass,” Angelica told her inner voice.
Her inner voice had a point. Gods, when he’d pulled her against him and she’d felt that hardness, she’d all but melted for him.
When he’d kissed her, she’d been shocked at first, then…wow! She never thought a simple kiss could be so good, making her blood so hot, never wanting Colt to stop.
She felt a blush heated her cheeks as she remembered the rest of it. His finger sliding down her wet warmth, and by then, she’d been so wet and ready, she would have let him take her right there, right on the floor, and she would have been a willing participant in all that pleasure.
She’d just worked up the courage to reach out for all that steel hardness he was grinding into her when he’d shoved her, pushing her away as a toy he could throw away at will.
“He doesn’t want you, Angelica. He wants to play with you, torture you.” Michael’s voice appeared by the fireplace.
Angelica gasped. “How long have you been here?”
“You take my honor into question, ma’am.” He sounded affronted.
She wasn’t going to take that at face value. “How long have you been here, Michael?”
“I didn’t see anything…untoward,” he hedged.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Why would you doubt me? Have I done anything unkind to you, ma’am?”
His form flickered, vanishing, then reappearing as if there were a glitch in her eyes, as if she’d blinked him gone, blinked, and he was back again. He moved close to her.
“Have I shoved you, or treated you with dishonor?”
&nbs
p; “Well…” Angelica thought about it, and he was right. He’d never been nasty or cruel to her. Something that Colt did every time they had an encounter.
“No.”
“Very well,” he said in his smooth accent. “Trust me, then, Angelica, when I tell you that man means to make you suffer. It would be best if you left this place.”
“Where do I go?”
“Come back to Radcliff with me.” He was close enough that she could see parts of his form become more opaque than others.
“What am I going to do in that ghost town? I can’t look after myself here. I don’t know how.” Angelica heard her voice climb an octave and vibrate with her frustration.
“I will care for you, ma’am,” he said, reaching out a translucent hand towards her. “I will make sure that no one will harm you.”
Angelica heard the cabin’s outside door bang and snapped her head in that direction.
When she looked back to where Michael had been standing, he was gone.
It was pointless. Why had she even thought the ghost could help her? He was…well, he was a ghost. It wasn’t as if he had the ability to help her care for herself.
Or did he?
Could he tell her how to hunt, where to go, perhaps lead her back to civilization, so she could get…where would she go? She needed to get to Ath and the others. That was her only hope.
Problem was, she didn’t know where they were, so it was back to plan A. Try and reach Ath thorough the flames.
She walked toward her door. Someone had come in or gone out, and she wanted to know if it was Colt.
That man…what he’d done to her. Every time the memory hit, her body responded, and with it so fresh in her mind, her body was responding in spades.
She was ashamed to admit it, but part of the reason she was stalling on her decision to escape was because she wanted more of what Colt had done.
She wanted to feel his harsh kisses and his hot skin against her breasts. It burned in the most divine way. She wanted his hands on her body, she wanted them roaming her and discovering all her warm places. She wanted to learn more from him.
Colt had given Angelica her first taste of passion. Now she knew what it could do to you and make you feel, and she wanted more. She wanted to learn it all.
Learn your passion lessons from someone else.
Nope, she didn’t want to be with anyone else. She had a strong suspicion that only Colt could make her feel what she had felt.
Her mind busy with its internal struggle, Angelica reached the door, pushed her ear against it, and listened.
There were sounds of someone moving around in the cabin. She sensed the extra warmth and heard the crackle of flames as more wood fed the fire.
She touched the latch on the door. Colt hadn’t locked it when he’d stormed out earlier.
Angelica pulled it open quietly and peered into the main room of the cabin. Colt was dressed, a fresh pair of jeans and a button down shirt with a sleeveless vest over it. The blue of the shirt worked on him. His hair was damp, and it looked like he’d pulled his fingers through it to brush it.
He looked…edible, hot, yummy, and she could think of a million more earth colloquialisms to say he was attractive to the point of pain.
“Colt.” She pulled the door open wider and stepped in the room.
He stopped what he was doing and turned his head to her.
He was silent for a long moment, his eyes traveling from her head to her feet and back up again, as if he was judging to see that she was worthy of something.
“We need to talk about—”
“No, we don’t.” he shot back and turned his head back to look down at what he was doing.
“You can’t keep me here forever. It’s obvious you don’t want me. So why hold me prisoner?”
He made a sound deep in his throat.
Angelica ignored it and continued speaking, “Please, let me contact someone who can take me away from here.”
His reaction was violent and instantaneous. He spun and with two big paces, stepped right up to her. “You aren’t going anywhere, and who is it you want to contact?”
“Um…No one, I thought…”
“You thought wrong, and you will tell me who it is you want to contact.”
Angelica craned her neck back to glare up at him, sudden anger making her bold. She took her hands and shoved at his chest.
It must have surprised him, because he shifted his balance. He didn’t move other than that.
Like moving a damn mountain.
“To quote a friend, I don’t have to tell you jack-shit,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Stop trying to bully me, Colt. It’s not working.”
She turned and stomped her way back into her prison. It was her turn to slam the door.
Chapter Three
Her high drama was wasted on the big brute when he pushed the door open, stalked up to her, grabbed her hand, and turned to walk out the room, all but dragging her behind him.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Angelica dug in her heels, moved her center of gravity back, and refused to budge—well, she tried. Colt was stronger, so it was inevitable that he managed to drag her along anyway. She nearly landed on her backside again when he jerked.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you, Gelibean, but this time I will tell you. We have to go to the council hall.” He didn’t even turn his head to talk to her. He kept dragging her towards the front door.
The wind howled around the cabin again with such force that Angelica winced.
“Colt, if you take me out in that, only wearing this dress, I will freeze before you’ve dragged me three steps.”
He stopped and turned his head to look at her. Her feet were bare, and all she was wearing was the white flowing dress they had given her.
“Stay here.” The order was implicit, and Angelica knew better than to disobey.
He marched back into her prison and returned with her well-worn shoes and the bearskin blanket. He tossed the shoes at her feet. “Put them on.”
Angelica bent and slipped the shoes on her feet, though they weren’t meant for this type of climate, and she could thank her phoenix blood for not having lost her toes to frostbite already.
When she straightened, Colt stepped behind her and put the bearskin blanket around her shoulders.
“Wow,” she exclaimed, sarcasm dripping from her tone. “Look at me, I’m a barbarian princess.”
Colt snorted. “You aren’t a good enough breed to be a princess or a barbarian.”
Angelica gasped. “And you don’t know anything about me. So you can’t say that.”
He ignored her and grabbed her hand again. Angelica considered forcing him to drag her. The thought was so tempting, but she liked her arm in its socket, so she kept up with him as he opened the door and went down the steps.
The cold knocked her breath away, and with a gasp, she tried to fill her lungs again. Snow spun around her in dervishes of white and the wind bit through her as if she was frail
“Oh, my gods, it’s…” Her teeth were already chattering.
“Wrap the bearskin tighter, and move faster.” Colt was leaning into the wind, his whole body tense.
He feels the cold, too. Good!
Some spiteful part of her rejoiced. Why should she suffer alone?
Every step was torture, and if Colt hadn’t been holding on to her hand in a death grip, Angelica was sure she the wind would have dragged her off her feet more than once.
“Why are we even leaving the cabin in this weather?” she called out over the screaming wind.
He didn’t answer.
“Colt.”
He turned his head enough to say, “Shut up and move, Geli. We can chat later.”
“I am moving,” she muttered, but she knew he wouldn’t have heard her.
“Then move faster.”
How did he hear me?
Then, she remembered his sense of hearing was far more acute than any
normal person. He was a Therin shifter. Her hearing wasn’t as good, because her genetics made her less of a shifter and more of a phoenix.
If felt like an eternity, but soon they reached a large building and Colt led her upstairs. Fighting the door in the wind, he pushed her inside. She stumbled, but caught her balance and stopped, closing her eyes in the bliss that the warmth of the building made her feel.
Colt slammed into her back as he wrestled the door closed and took a step backwards. She lost her balance and fell. Using her hands to stop her fall, she scraped them on the wood of the floor.
She was about to let out a string of curses when she felt Colt hook a hand around her upper arm and yank her to her feet.
“In the future, watch where you are standing.”
“Go tie yourself in knots, and I can think of a good appendage to start with,” she spat out.
Someone laughed at her comment, which made Angelica look up and scan the room. There were five people present. From what she sensed, three of them were Eternals, and two were human. An old man, and Sarah--who she had met outside the village—were the humans. She didn't know the other three. They hadn’t been with the Eternals that had brought her food and bath.
Angelica straightened to her full height and pulled her shoulder back. “Why am I here?” she asked, and was glad when she sounded calm.
“For your wedding, child.” Sarah smiled, and it was like a beam across the room.
It took Angelica a moment to register what Sarah had said.
“Wedding? What do you mean?”
“Come, child.” Sarah waved Angelica closer.
She looked around the rest of the room and noticed a central fire pit—of sorts—surrounded by a donut-shaped table with chairs spaced at equal intervals. At the back of the room was another fireplace, where Sarah, the old man, and the three Eternals stood in a horseshoe shape.
Angelica took a hesitant step forward, but Colt still had his hand latched around her upper arm, and he took the lead, dragging her behind him of sorts.
