by Alicia Banks
“I am Josselin's employer. I have a reason to believe that she has been taken here, or rather, she will be here in a minute, and I am just here to give her a ride back. I don't really know what has happened, but she is living with me. Josselin wants to come back, so she is coming back with me.”
“You seem rather sure of yourself. Do you not see the truth of the situation? You have to look at who has the gun.”
Antonio started to move toward the older man and the gun started to shake in his hand. It was obvious that the old man knew how to use it. He held it like he was familiar and had pulled it on him rather quickly. That was lucky for him.
“I don’t want to hurt you, old man. I am here for Josselin, so put it down because you won’t get a shot off.”
He chuckled and Antonio focused on the car pulling up. He knew that Josselin was in it and as soon as he tried to go to the car, he heard the gun cock. Josselin was not okay and no matter what was said, Antonio knew the truth. He’d overheard a truth that they likely didn’t want him to hear. She had been taken and now he was going to get her back.
When he moved to the car, the man in the front seat had a mean look on his face. He grimaced at Antonio and he knew then that he was the one that had taken her. The one that had said all those horrible things about her and what would be done to her for leaving.
He yanked the door open and ignored the gun shot in his shoulder. He looked over at the old man on the porch and told him to put it down or he was going to take care of him first.
The old man freaked out from how blasé he was about being shot. The gun in his hand was now shaking and when Antonio moved to walk toward him, he hurriedly threw it down like it was going to hurt him. Holding it was going to do that very thing, if he didn’t get it out of his hands.
About the time he got to the gun that was on the ground of the porch, he got tackled by Josselin’s brother from the car. Josselin was screaming, trying to warn him, before she was grabbed by another man that had materialized from the house. Antonio threw the brother off him, and then went after the other one touching Josselin. He wanted so badly to transform and burn them all alive. It would have been easier than what he was doing at the moment.
Josselin was now knocked out by the third guy, and even though Antonio was livid about it and wanted to make sure that she was okay, things had changed. There would be no rules in place about what he could and couldn’t do. He had every intention of taking them all out now. Her family was cruel, and she didn’t deserve it. Humans were sometimes worse than the shifters, but not usually.
“I will spare you all, something that none of you deserve, if you go in your house now. No more attacks. Go in and I’ll take her. She is never coming back to you.”
The brother scoffed. “You are outnumbered, friend. My sister isn’t going anywhere with you. She belongs with her family.”
“You don’t deserve her. Go in and get out of my face, or I will end you all.”
The old man smiled, and he cocked another gun. Antonio didn’t know where it came from, but it didn’t matter. A bullet would have to be pretty precise to take him down and they would have to act fast. The bullet in his shoulder was slowly working itself out and would soon close and heal in record time.
“Put it down, old man.”
“You’re going to die, boy.”
Antonio turned and looked at the old man. He was pissed at them anyway, so the anger welled, and his body swelled as he shifted into his true form, a dark metallic red dragon. The man’s eyes on the porch got wide, and he got off two shots before Antonio bit his head off in one clean go. The screaming was not from the dead man with no head but came from the two behind Antonio that were now trying to run.
Antonio had tried to warn them. They had seen him, though, and now Antonio had to finish them off. He didn’t have any other choice. He didn’t mind. They were an evil sort and they had hurt Josselin, someone that he was falling for. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, even though at the moment she was passed out on the ground. He burned the other two alive and then the house in the background, then he went to her. Antonio didn’t want a shred of evidence about what had happened. It would be considered arson with an accelerant used. Tommy’s words echoed in his ears.
He picked Josselin up and he didn’t even bother with the helicopter. He just held Josselin in his talons gently and started to fly toward the castle. It was still light out. He had to go high and fast, whispering a spell to give him cloaking abilities. He was breaking many rules at the moment, but none of them was worse than what was going on in his heart. His treasonous heart loved her, desperately.
Antonio wasn’t falling for Josselin. He realized that as he held her tiny, limp form. He wasn’t falling, he’d fallen.
Chapter 15
Josselin came to and she jerked up quickly. She groaned at the pain in her head from the action and she cursed it all. Her mind took a minute to remember what had happened, but it was still blurry. Her eyes were closed because of the bright light and how it affected her pounding head. She didn’t want to open them, afraid that she was back in the room that she’d spent more than half of her life in. Josselin didn’t want to be back home, but that was what she remembered.
Finally, she cracked an eye open and relief started to flood through her when she noticed the ceiling fan. It was different. It was the same one she’d been looking up at for the last couple of weeks. That meant she was back with Antonio, but how did she get there? She was supposed to be somewhere else. How did she get back?
Both eyes opened and she tried to sit up again, slower this time. No one was around, so Josselin was able to take stock of her body. She was sore from something, not sure what. Her head was hurting, and Josselin tried to remember what happened. Embarrassment flowed over her when she put it together. Antonio had to have saved her, but it meant that he knew more than she wanted him to know. Josselin didn’t want to be treated weird or different. She didn’t want the awkwardness that would come from it.
Then, she remembered the rest of it, the part that she had never considered, and her eyes closed again. A tear fell down her cheek, disappearing into her hair. Her best friend had betrayed her. Melanie loved her brother. Josselin wondered what happened to her brother or uncle. Maybe she didn’t have to worry about any of them. They wouldn’t have cared about her. Josselin wished she could be as cold, but decided that wouldn’t be one of the first questions that she wanted answered. Not even the second.
She pulled herself out of her misery spiral when she heard someone coming. Josselin’s breath hitched in her throat, not knowing what she was going to say to him. She had no idea what to do or how to make it work.
“Josselin, it’s good to see you up.”
Her eyes drank him in and then she looked away. How embarrassing it all was. Josselin wanted to put that part of her in her past and never look back. It was really hard to do that, when the past just kept coming back, never truly leaving her alone.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that I’m up. My head is killing me. I don’t even want to ask what happened, but I guess I have to.”
He sighed. “You don’t remember?”
“Not really. I remember going to lunch with my best friend and then my brother walked in, threatening me as he always does. He made me leave with him and we were on our way back to my old house. I was terrified. But then things start getting blurry.”
He seemed relieved and Josselin found that a bit off. She wanted to tell him that it wasn’t a good thing to forget. It was pretty major, obviously. Josselin didn’t like the idea that she had to ask someone else what happened in her own life. It unnerved her.
“So, fill it in for me?”
“Short version or long one?”
“Start with the short version and we will go from there. I have a feeling that I may not want all of the details.”
“That is an odd thing to say.”
“I know my family, I heard gunshots I could have sworn. Yeah, I might not want to know
all of it. Are they still alive?”
Antonio looked surprised that she went to that first. Josselin, of course, knew a bit more about him, or at least the sort of world he lived in. Death of humans didn’t seem to be that big of a deal. She knew that if she was standing there, something happened to them. They would be dead or in jail. Josselin didn’t see Antonio as someone that would call the police to handle his issues.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Just answer.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
Josselin was relieved and then filled with guilt for feeling that way. She was trying hard not to feel that way, but it was really impossible. They had caused her so much trouble and after the day before, being dragged back with no choice, she had to feel better. It wasn’t an option, anymore. If they were dead, she was free. It was the first time she wouldn’t have to look behind her, waiting for them to pounce. That was a good feeling. Whether it was the right feeling to have, she couldn’t be sure.
She had to admit that there was another side to that coin, though. It meant that they had been killed by Antonio. Josselin didn’t even know what Antonio was, but he had kept her safe. What he had done to keep her safe, she didn’t want to know. What he was, though, was something that she needed to know, but to know, as she had read, could spell her own fate. How long could she really live there, falling for him, and never be able to find out the whole truth? It would kill her inside and what if when she did find it, she wouldn’t be able to deal with it? If she found out, what if her fate would be death as well?
Josselin shivered and he moved to the bed, pulling the blanket up and telling her that maybe she needed another day of convalescence. “Ophelia isn’t even here and won’t be for another couple of days. I thought you would be off at home or something…”
He stopped talking when he realized that it just brought up all the bad things that she was fighting against. Her home was a war zone.
“Well, take some time to get better. If you want to talk about more of it later, just tell me, and we will have that conversation. I will answer anything you want to know, but I won’t volunteer it, okay?”
Antonio started to leave the room and Josselin stopped him. She didn’t want him to go, no matter what was or wasn’t going on. She wanted him close because she felt safe with him.
“You’re not working, are you?”
“I’m not.”
“Well, can I ask something that is completely unprofessional and shouldn’t be asked of my boss?”
He agreed, eyes darkening. “Whatever you need.”
She sighed and moved the sheet over and invited him in. “I need you to come lay down with me and hold me for a while. I just really want to feel safe and I know that I would feel safer in your arms.”
Antonio paused and she almost took it back, but then he agreed, taking off his boots and then his shirt, before he got into bed with her. Josselin still had on her clothes from lunch the day before, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t brave enough to pull them off, even though she would have loved the skin-on-skin contact.
When she was laying on his chest, her arm around him and his arm on her hip, she was finally able to relax. Ignoring the hard body that called to her, she tried to focus on the more innocent feelings of safety that arose in her. It wasn’t perfect, but Josselin definitely started to relax.
Chapter 16
“Antonio?”
“Yeah?” He wasn’t asleep, but she’d been so still for so long, that his eyes were closed and he was relaxed. He was going to wait her out, knowing that he was in for a long night, but already mentally prepared to stay the duration.
“Are you asleep?”
He chuckled and said that he wasn’t. “I thought you were, though.”
“I can’t sleep like this.”
“Like what, with me next to you?”
Antonio was prepared to get up, but she held onto him. “No, I mean with all these clothes on. I don’t sleep with anything on if I can get away with it.”
“Oh.”
He was quiet for a time, letting the words run through his head and not wanting to let himself get pulled into it. It was bad enough that he’d killed several humans. He wasn’t going to bed one, too. That would just lead to disaster.
“I know this is going to sound bad, but do you mind?”
“Mind?”
She sat up and snickered. “I mean, do you mind if I get more comfortable so that I can sleep?”
Antonio hissed through his teeth. He was about to tell her that it wasn’t a good idea, but she was already pulling her shirt off and he was choking on his words.
“I will leave the important stuff on, so that you don’t think something.”
Antonio wanted to tell her that she was already too late, he was definitely thinking something.
“Maybe you should…”
She was shimmying out of her bottoms and he didn’t see what was left. That was probably for the best. When she moved back into his arms, she had her back to him just a little bit. He could feel all of the warm skin that he’d been trying to avoid and before he could really think it through, he was pressing up against her.
Antonio heard her gasp, but then she did something even more unexpected. She rubbed herself backwards on him and his need had a mind of its own, trying to get exactly where he wanted to be. He heard her suck in more breath quickly, showing him that she was feeling the difference quite quickly.
He waited for her to move away. Antonio should have been the one that did it, but he didn’t have it in him. Instead, he held her hips and pressed harder. He still had pants on, but it wouldn’t have taken much for him to have slid inside of her and taken what he needed. That’s what it was, too. Antonio needed it.
Once her hips started to move back in a slow rhythm, he started to believe that maybe it wasn’t that far out of the realm of possibility. His hand moved from her hip to her stomach, side, and then cupped one of her breasts through the bra.
Her back arched so that his touch was just as prominent. She made a mewling sound and told him that she wanted him. It was just a simple statement, but it wasn’t one that he should have been thinking about. She was human. A soft, supple human that came alive underneath his fingertips, but she was a human, nonetheless.
The whole time he was telling himself that he was wrong for doing it, wanting it even, his free hand was loosening the restraints of his desires, pressing against her harder, until she was moaning with every thrust forward of his hips. He was sliding in between her legs and rubbing all parts of her, rubbing all parts of him.
Her body moved at its own pace, one that was faster than his. He couldn’t keep up, not like that. He needed to be inside of her. It was all Antonio could think about and once she was free of her bottoms, and he was released from his confines fully, only then did Antonio start to calm down. Something about the bare skin contact told him everything that he wanted to know. Antonio was going to get what he was there for.
He was hard, she was wet, and asking for it. What more needed to be considered? Antonio had all the answers he needed and the call to her was too deafening. He couldn’t hear anything else over the roaring in his head for her.
Antonio wasn’t the sort of man that usually lost his cool so easily. Antonio had always had a wealth of control, but not then. Right then, he pressed between her legs, moving her hips to just the right angle, so that his manhood would go upwards and not through her legs again. He didn’t go slow, but rather swiftly, just because she’d asked for it and he didn’t have the ability to tell her no. He didn’t have the ability to tell himself no, either. The temptation was too much to ignore.
The cry of pain that was muffled by the pillow made him stop, long before the rest of him realized he’d taken down a wall to get where he was. He was all the way inside of her, quietly begging for more, before he realized the truth of it all. Her innocence had been real, deep-seated, and shocking. Josselin was gorgeous and to think
that no one had ever really touched her, made him a little tingly inside. Antonio wanted to wreck her for anyone else, claiming her as his own in the most basic of ways.
First, though, he had to assure her and make it good for her. She was panting beside him and Josselin wasn’t moving a muscle. He slid her thigh up and started to let her feel the fullness that he had to offer, because there was still more of him to take.
Josselin pressed back against his chest, as he pushed harder against the end of the line. She whimpered before he stopped, unhappy with the depth that was left behind. He had wanted something a little different. The way they were, felt too disconnected, and it was impossible to get in deep enough. There was too much space in between them.
Antonio pulled out of her and didn’t delight in the sound of relief that he heard. She wasn’t going to be relieved very long. He was merely pushing her to her back, so that he could climb on top of her and watch every tick of her expression as he fucked her hard and slow.
When he could tell she was about to come, he moved a little quicker, and delighted in the change. It made her feel ten times as good and he had to pull back a few times to center himself. The woman was too good to be true.
Josselin thrashed underneath him, stealing away all of his sanity with every moan and whimper. She quickly got used to his method, but wanted him to go faster. She demanded it, yet seconds later would beg for a moment to breathe. Josselin got him so wired, that he couldn’t stop himself. He ignored the pleas for a break, making her come until she couldn’t talk anymore.
Then, and only then, was he able to fill her full of his seed, while she drifted into some pleasure-induced coma. She had a smile on her face that had to reflect the one on his own. Josselin had felt absolutely amazing and Antonio already wanted her again.
He moved his hand to her core and rubbed softly, but she pushed his hand away. She’d had enough and he’d have to wait. Even after all of that, he still wasn’t going to get much sleep. Antonio knew that he’d be waiting for the sign that she was ready for more. He’d wait all night if he had to, but then, he was going to claim her again, until he had gotten her completely out of his system, no matter how long it took.
