by Riley Storm
That knowledge seemed to recharge her body, which took on new, frenzied need for the touch of his tongue. Claire wasn’t shying away, she was actively bucking her hips up toward him, practically begging for more.
“Don’t stop,” she managed to get out as everything tightened down abruptly. “Oh god don’t stop. I can’t—”
She could, and she did. Claire threw her head back, the room filling with sounds of her orgasm for the second time in five minutes as her body was viciously assaulted with pleasure that left her limp and breathless from the intensity.
“Much better,” Pietro rumbled as he pulled away, finally giving her time to recover, to process what he had just done to her and—
Claire stiffened as he rubbed the tip of his shaft against her opening. Maybe he wasn’t going to give her time after all.
As he pushed inside her, she decided that perhaps it wasn’t that bad of a thing. She could handle it. Could handle him.
Pietro slid about halfway inside her.
Claire’s eyes went wide and she gasped.
Maybe she couldn’t handle him.
“Slow,” she gasped. “Slow. Don’t stop though. Holy fuck, that’s big.”
Pietro blushed a little, much to her surprise.
Suddenly he looked human, and the moment became slightly less intense and a little more intimate between them.
“Come here,” she hissed, forcing him to bend down and press his entire body down onto her.
Wrapping her legs up around his back, she took him in deep, pain and pleasure mixing into a delicious blend as she was forced to adapt to his size, much larger than anything she’d ever had before.
“All of it. All the way,” she ordered, whispering into his ear, letting him know she was ready for it all.
Her body screamed as he pushed down until their hips crashed together. There had been more of his thick, long, length left than she’d thought, and her body wasn’t ready.
So it protested by flooding her body with pleasure, and Claire climaxed around him with hard shudders, nails digging into his back as she came for the third time.
Pietro’s growl rumbled out through her body as he thrust into her again and again, not giving her pause. She cried out, but her body had a mind of its own, and her words were nothing but begging him for more, even as she wondered how much more she could take.
She was determined to find out, however, because it felt so damn good. Not just the physical presence of Pietro within her, but the moment itself, the twining of their two bodies together, it screamed right to her, and she didn’t want it to end.
Taking his head, which he’d buried into her neck, Claire pulled it up, wanting to look in his eyes once more. She looked for that same presence she’d seen earlier, but it was gone.
No, not gone. Just merged. I’m seeing the whole Pietro now, the true man.
She liked what she saw.
Evidently Pietro did as well, because she felt him swell inside her, pushing Claire to her limits. She cried out, maintaining eye contact as he thrust hard. Again.
And again.
A low rumble slowly grew in volume to overwhelm her cries as Pietro could hold back no longer. He trembled and shook, her name ripping from his throat as he climaxed.
Claire wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tight as he jerked and warmth rushed deep inside her with every further thrust. She whimpered in pleasure, enjoying the sensation, but also the face of pleasure on Pietro as he came. It was important to her that he enjoyed himself as well, not just her.
And as he shivered one last time and slumped down on top of her, Claire felt confident that he had.
There was no denying the pleased battering sensations of her own body either. This had been fun.
So what happens now?
Chapter Twenty
Claire
As it turned out, Claire never did find out where things stood between them.
Pietro kept her rather distracted for the rest of the night, turning her mind away from more than just her questions on what was going on between the two of them. He also ensured that her brain did not have time, or energy, to stress over everything else going on in her life.
That’s not to say he didn’t keep her focused on anything, but it certainly wasn’t stressful. Draining, perhaps, though likely more so for him than her.
Once they awoke late the next morning—nearly noon—she’d expected things to calm down. A long soaking bath, mutual shower time, and an afternoon nap later, and she was quickly learning that Pietro wasn’t going to slow down any time soon.
I’m the one reaping the rewards of that, though, she thought to herself, finishing off the last of her early supper with a sigh.
“Thank you again,” she said as Pietro collected her plate and put the dishes in the dishwasher.
“You are most welcome,” he said with a smile.
She thought about bringing up her questions now. Of telling him that he shouldn’t get any long-term ideas about whatever might or might not be going on between them now that they had slept together.
After all, she was still going to go to jail. That was a simple inevitability. They were just waiting on her sentencing really, nothing more. The last thing that she needed to do was carry emotional baggage inside with her.
Yet I can’t control emotions, now can I?
Claire pushed that thought aside. This wasn’t about her. This was about Pietro and what she wanted to ensure he did not do. Which was develop feelings for her.
“By the way,” Pietro said, looking up and over the counter at her, resting both his hands upon it. “I hope you won’t hate me.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Hate you? Why would I do that? Did you do something?”
Pietro grimaced, but he was interrupted by a gentle knock on the front door. It was soft. Feminine, no doubt about it. Not the solid thumping of a male, but more the polite yet non-hesitant knock of a woman.
Whoever it was expected there to be someone else on the other side. Thus they had no need to hammer away at it.
Claire looked over her shoulder suspiciously.
“Who’s at the door?” she asked, strangely confident that Pietro knew exactly who it might be.
“Lilly,” he said, moving out from around the counter to answer it.
“What?” Claire yelped. “Why?”
“Because I invited her,” Pietro told her as he walked past.
“What on earth for? I don’t want to see her!”
Claire didn’t want to face her friend’s wrath. Nor did she want to deal with the embarrassment of being judged poorly in the eyes of someone whose opinion she valued so highly.
“Tell her to go away,” Claire said as Pietro reached the door. “That I’m not here.”
Pietro gave her a level glance and then pulled the door open wide enough that the two women could see one another and make eye contact. Lilly stood framed by the light streaming out from the house, beating back the descending darkness outdoors.
“You two need to talk,” he said bluntly. “You’re best friends.”
Claire opened her mouth, ready to rail against him, to tell him that she was pissed at him. That he’d overstepped his boundaries.
Before she could however, Lilly swept into the house, concern etched onto her face.
“Claire!” she gasped with relief. “You’re okay!”
There wasn’t time for Claire to fully process the reaction before Lilly swept her up in a hug, squeezing tight.
“Why aren’t you yelling at me?” she asked, awkwardly returning a hug she didn’t feel she deserved. “Aren’t you supposed to be pissed at me?”
“For what?” Lilly asked, stepping back so the two could look one another in the eye.
“Umm, not telling you about Pete and the stupid shit we did together? For not telling you that he was in town, threatening me with that video so that I’d get back together with him? That I knew I wasn’t going to give in, which meant I was going to go to jail?�
�
Lilly shrugged. “I think you’re stupid for not confiding in me, but Claire, I can see your regret. Besides, Pietro here told me everything. About how you were willing to serve time. Willing to make it right. That’s the Claire I know and love, and you being willing to do that tells me that there’s hope for you yet.”
“Oh,” Claire said.
“You’re my best friend,” Lilly said with a shrug. “You’re also a colossal idiot, but I’m not going to be mad at you. It’s not like I never did anything crazy, like run my life into the ground trying to save a business, losing my house and husband in the process, right? Who would do something so stupid?”
Claire winced at the recollection of the last few years of Lilly’s life, up until she’d met Trent.
“You seem to be doing okay now,” she pointed out to Lilly. “Things are looking way up for you. You’ve got a business and a new man.”
Lilly glanced pointedly at Pietro.
“Ahhh,” the dragon shifter said, clearly understanding the look. “I’m going to go to another room. Right now.”
And he did just that, departing into the bedroom, the giggles of the two women propelling him along even faster than he’d likely intended.
Once he was gone, Lilly turned a look on her. “I would have helped.”
Claire slumped. She knew that. She knew Lilly would have done just about anything for her. “Which is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” she said. “This is my problem, Lil. My responsibility.”
“So you didn’t take vacation to come back here, I take it?”
“No,” Claire admitted. “I came back for good. I was just…embarrassed, among other things. I didn’t want you to think less of me. I…I like being your friend.”
“You’re an idiot. If you think one felony grand theft auto is gonna make you stop being my friend,” Lilly said with a sigh. “Two? Okay, maybe we’ll have an issue. But everyone gets one.”
Claire knew that Lilly was joking and was thankful for it. For her friend.
“You’re a badass bitch, is what you are,” Lilly said with uncharacteristic language for her. “Telling Pete to shove it and that you’d go to prison instead of going back to him? Nice.”
“Thanks,” Claire said, putting on a brave face. “I’ll be okay.”
“I just wish you’d told me,” Lilly said.
“I didn’t want you to judge me,” Claire said quietly. “Like others have.”
Lilly frowned. Her eyes at first went to the room within which Pietro had disappeared, but she quickly spotted the pile of Claire’s belongings. The pile that had come with her from her parents’ place. Understanding bloomed.
“Your parents kicked you out?” Lilly asked quietly.
“I volunteered to go before they could say as much,” Claire replied, subdued. “But it was clear they wanted me gone. That they’re ashamed of the real me.”
Pietro emerged at that moment, anger burning in his eyes.
“I’ve seen the real you,” he growled in her defense. “The real you is strong, confident, smart, and beautiful. The real you is an amazing woman that anyone should be proud to call their daughter. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has things they regret. Things they wish they hadn’t done. That they wish—”
He broke off, shaking his head, stopping himself from saying more.
Once more, Lilly saw the hurt that lay deep within him, but she didn’t pursue it. Now wasn’t the right time. Her mind wasn’t up to helping him right now.
A heavy knock at the door grabbed their attention.
“That must be Trent,” Lilly said. “I told him to come by.”
“Why?” Claire asked.
“So the four of us could hang out,” Lilly said. “You need some time to just relax and unwind with your friends. That’s us.”
Pietro went to get the door while Claire wrapped Lilly up in a hug. “Thank you,” she said quietly, knowing she didn’t need to specify why. Lilly would know.
“You’re welc—”
Lilly was cut off as the front door blew inward, the corner of it striking Pietro in the head and spinning him to the ground in a spray of blood.
Chapter Twenty-One
Claire
Both women screamed in unison as Pietro hit the ground with a sickening thud at the same instant two creatures appeared in the doorway to his house.
“What the fuck?” Lilly shrieked as the two women got to their feet, facing the door in shivering terror.
“Pietro?” Claire called nervously. “Pietro, get up. Please get up. There’s things at the door. They’re trying to get in.”
There was no response.
“Pietro?” This time her voice was a nervous whimper.
“What are they waiting for?” Lilly asked, clutching at Claire’s hand for safety and reassurance. “Why aren’t they coming in?”
The two gray-skinned creatures were viciously struggling to push themselves through the doorway, but they appeared to be caught up in something almost weblike. Claire couldn’t see anything, but words that Pietro had spoken echoed in her head.
“The threshold,” she said, pumping her fist victoriously. “They can’t get through the threshold!”
“Threshold?” Lilly stared at Claire for a moment, then her head whipped back around to the doorway. “Those are the vampires?”
“Yes. But they can’t get in. The threshold will—”
Whatever was holding the vampires back seemed to give somewhat under their onslaught, and suddenly the creatures were partway in the house.
“It’s not strong enough,” Claire whispered, dread filling her. “He was right. It’s not strong enough here.”
“What do we do?” Lilly asked nervously. “I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t know. Do you have any crosses?”
The vampires started laughing.
“I don’t think that’s going to do anything,” Claire said. “Not unless they laugh when terrified. Dammit Pietro, get your ass up and burn these things to a crisp!”
She wanted to rush to his side, but that would take her far too close to the vampires. If the threshold parted even further, then she would never be able to pull back in time.
As if reading her mind, the invisible webbing across the doorway stretched as one of the vampires started to bull his way through, sensing victory.
Both women started backing away, breathing hard, fear filling their veins. There was no hope, no escape. If they tried to leave, the vampires would catch them outside. Claire had seen and heard some of the brief fight they’d had with Pietro the night before. They were fast. The two women would never escape them.
“What do we do now?” Lilly asked, backing up faster than Claire as she bumped into the island in the kitchen.
“I think we die,” Claire said heavily. “Those things will catch us easily if we try to leave. They’re stronger than we are, and Pietro is either dead or unconscious.”
She tried to keep her composure as she stated that last fact. In a few moments, it wouldn’t matter either way. She would be dead as well. In fact, they might see each other again very shortly, in an entirely different place.
“At least I’m not going to go to jail,” she said, a hiccup of hysterical laughter escaping her mouth. “Gotta see some silver lining at least.”
Lilly didn’t respond. Claire turned to see if her friend was okay, but at that moment the barrier parted for the first vampire. It was inside and moving like a blur, snatching up Claire’s wrist in a grip like an iron vise.
Claire gasped, staring up at the nightmare face of her enemy, frozen with fear.
“Let go of my friend!” Lilly shrieked as she came rushing out of the kitchen, a long chef’s knife in hand.
The vampire turned just in time for Lilly to stab him deep in the upper chest.
Everyone stared as the knife plunged three inches down into the cloud gray skin, drawing a trickle of blood, the crimson liquid a sharp contrast to the ashy skin tone. Even the vampire appeared shocke
d that the knife had penetrated.
Reacting on instinct and anger, Claire reached out with her free hand, yanked the knife free and shoved it at the vamp’s eye. It sank in deep, a spray of liquid splashing over Claire.
She shrieked.
The vampire shrieked, an inhuman sound that threatened to burst her eardrums with its intensity. It was in pain. A lot of pain.
Claire kicked it.
The creature angrily tossed her into the exterior wall between two windows across from the front door. Claire hit hard, drywall cracking under the impact. She fell to the ground amidst a shower of dust and bits and pieces of paint-covered drywall.
She groaned and lay still.
Everything hurt. The room was spinning. There was no way the two of them could defeat the vampire. No way the pair of humans could hope to stop a being from another dimension. The knife had delayed the inevitable, but now Claire could only watch as it all came crashing down.
This is how it ends. My life. At the hands of a vampire. Who would have seen that coming?
The knife clattered to the ground nearby as the vampire pulled it free and then advanced on Lilly, who was trapped against the stove. There was a frying pan on it that she brandished as a weapon, but the vampire caught it and hurled it across the room with casual violence, the handle embedding itself in the wall.
“Claire, I’m scared,” Lilly moaned as the creature loomed up in front of her.
There was nothing Claire could do. Everything hurt. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep. They could get back to this again after she’d had a nap and was refreshed.
Light glinted off the knife.
No. There is something I can do. Something I can help with. Give Lilly a chance.
Pulling herself together as best she could, Claire grabbed the knife and crawled silently toward the first vampire, trying not to make any sound. Once she got close, she rose up on one arm and stabbed the vampire in the calf, shoving the knife as deep as she could.
The creature turned with inhuman swiftness and delivered a kick right to her stomach. Air exploded from her lungs. Claire curled up around herself, desperately trying to breathe.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lilly crouch, reaching for the protruding knife and pulling it free. Maniacal grin plastered on her face, Claire’s best friend turned the knife and lifted it. She was gunning for the vampire’s dick.
