by Kimber Lee
Andrei let out a low, husky laugh that went straight to my nether regions. I clenched my thighs together and, as perceptive as he was, he noticed my discomfort and smirked. Thankfully, a waitress appeared with a pen and pad in hand, and Andrei ordered for us in fluent French. Since my command of the language was more than passable, I shot him a dirty look.
“I could’ve ordered for myself. What if I’m not in the mood for a chocolate muffin?”
Andrei’s leg brushed against mine and I jumped, annoyed with myself for reacting so obviously. “I think you are.”
This is just breakfast, Rae. Don’t act like a hormonal teenager. Be sane.
“Are you okay?” Andrei’s perfect features were a picture of mock concern as his leg touched mine again.
“I’m fine,” I said through clenched teeth. It had only been two days since I had him inside me. Two! Surely my need for his body wasn’t that strong? “So,” I said in forced aloofness. “How long is this shopping thing going to take? I’m a busy girl, after all.”
“Busy chasing after possessed virgins?” His voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear him. But when I did, all the hairs on my body stood at attention.
“How did you…” My voice trailed off as I mentally answered my unfinished question—Temp.
“Your brother did right to come to me,” Andrei said, reading my mind, “and I will take care of it. Not you. Me.”
I sighed, accepting my fate. “You’re not mad?”
His eyes gleamed wickedly, burning into mine. “Oh, rest assured, I will punish you for disobeying me.”
I couldn’t remember if this was the part where I told him that I didn’t take orders from him. I couldn’t remember because my vagina throbbed in anticipation of punishment and all witty retorts died on my lips. Blood rushed to my clit and I squirmed in my chair, wanting to relieve the ache.
There was something seriously wrong with me!
The sweet scent of coffee crept into my nostrils. And I realized that, while I drowned in Andrei’s bottomless eyes, the waitress had come and gone, setting our respective plates on the table. Right on cue, my stomach rumbled.
Without preamble, I bit into my muffin and closed my eyes, savoring the moist chocolate setting off fireworks on my taste buds. I haven’t had anything this good in a long time and when I opened my eyes, I found Andrei staring at me.
“Can you hang around me for five seconds without thinking of having me naked?” I asked, my voice heavy with sarcasm. Inside, I was panting because I knew that look. It was a classic I-want-to-fuck-you-hard-and-make-you-speak-in-tongues look.
“That’s not what I was thinking,” said Andrei, chugging down his coffee as if it were a bottle of beer.
“Really?” I arched a brow, taking another bite of chocolate-y goodness.
He nodded, leering at me. “I was thinking that is one lucky cupcake, cupcake.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed—laughed until tears were streaming down my cheeks and I thought I’d choke to death. Passersby curiously glanced my way. I just couldn’t help it.
“Who are you and what have you done with the real Lord Andrei Anghelescu?” I gasped when I was done.
Andrei had patiently waited out my bout of laughter before saying, “I don’t know what you mean.”
It was then that I noticed that he’d ordered a full English breakfast for himself, and my mouth watered.
“You’re in a pretty good mood,” I elaborated, although he knew exactly what I meant. Then I picked up my fork and stabbed a piece of bacon, before bringing it to my lips. “What?” I asked when I caught Andrei looking at me.
“What are you doing to me, Rae?” he ground out, shifting in his seat. “We should go. Shopping,” he added.
Curious, I asked, “Which store are we hitting first?” Hey, I wouldn’t be a female if I said no to a shopping spree, regardless of the weird occasion. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to check out Lafayette sometime. It’s what? Ten floors?”
Andrei shook his head ruefully. “We’re not going upmarket, Rae. Not for this.” He rose and slapped a couple of Euros on the table.
There was no way I was letting perfectly cooked bacon go to waste. So I shot Andrei a pointed look and picked up his plate. A girl just had to eat.
The alleyway was far too narrow for a car to pass through, so we went on foot, much to my relief. Being trapped in such a confined space with such a big, sexual man would have been torture… again. Still, I told myself that this detour wasn’t as dodgy as it looked… or felt. For all I knew, Andrei was leading me into an ambush. As quickly as the thought came, I pushed it away. He had plenty of opportunities to kill me, most of them when I was totally shell-shocked after multiple orgasms. But then again, he had no real reason to kill me. He basically told me that I was his sustenance. I was more valuable to him alive.
God, this is so stupid. I’m following a guy I’m sleeping with and wondering if he wants to kill me.
Letting out a frustrated growl, Andrei snapped me from my mental scolding. Without warning, he pushed me up against a wall, his entire body covering mine.
“For the last time, Rae, I don’t want to fucking kill you!” he snarled, pinning my arms at my sides. “Why would I want to do that? Why?”
“Are you a mind reader?” I muttered, trying in vain to get out of his grasp. The cold brick wall bit into my back and I was acutely aware of the pain that came with Andrei’s viselike grip on me.
“I don’t read minds. I read you.”
“Well, that answers my question!” I snapped, glaring up at him.
“I’ll explain later. Not now.” Andrei seemed to realize that his body was pressed against mine… and that we were both breathing heavily. Slowly, his fingers rubbed circles in my wrists and the tiny hairs on my arms stood up. “You’re so soft.”
A different kind of awareness overwhelmed me. I wanted him. Here. Right now. In this freaking alleyway. If he could “read me”, he would know that.
Slowly sweeping over me, Andrei’s eyes glinted and I knew he knew.
His fingers danced along the hem of my dress before tracing a path up my thigh. My legs spread of their own volition, allowing the man before me to make his way to my wet center unhindered. Then his eyes widened.
“No underwear, Rae?” he questioned, his voice hoarse.
“Forgot.” I let out a gasp of raw need when his thumb found my engorged clit. Squeezing my eyes shut, I hissed, “Oh, God. Please!” I wanted more, needed more, and I wouldn’t be able to live if he didn’t give me more. The sense of danger that anyone strolling down the alley would catch us only heightened my need for gratification, only made my vagina weep for him.
Pushing myself up onto my toes, I brushed my lips against Andrei’s jaw, kissing my way to his mouth. Before he could draw away, I captured his lower lip with my teeth, shaking when he released a low, guttural groan.
“Want to fuck you,” he rasped, already sinking two fingers into my vulva. He pushed in to the knuckles, practically turning me inside out when he began to finger-fuck me so sweetly. “Always wet,” he murmured into my mouth, and I blindly fumbled with the fly of his pants, sighing when I could finally feel his throbbing erection against the clammy skin of my palm.
“Always hard,” I retorted, squeezing him in appreciation.
“Fuck!” he cursed, bending slightly to lift me up effortlessly with one arm beneath my ass.
Looping my arms around his neck and twining my legs around his waist, I moaned when I felt the swollen head of his shaft at the weeping entrance of my vagina. “Please,” I whispered, tilting my hips into him, wanting him in all the way—not caring if I sounded way too needy, too desperate.
With one perfect upward thrust, Andrei drove into me to the hilt, holding me steady above him as I began to buck wildly against his body, whimpering loudly because he was so beautifully…
“Say it,” Andrei said harshly, stroking into me again, his pelvis hitting my clit.
“Big,�
� I panted, throwing my head back against the wall. “You’re so big!”
He groaned, sounding like a wounded grizzly. At the back of my mind, I worried that someone would stumble into the alleyway and catch us going at it like a pair of rabbits. I bit my lip in a bid to stifle my cries but quickly gave up on that when Andrei increased the pace, punctuating each deep thrust with a grunt of pleasure.
“Harder,” I begged, digging my nails into his shoulders. “Fuck… me… harder!”
Everything else that came out my mouth after that was unintelligible, especially when I felt him hit that spot… that sweet, sweet spot that made me scream from pleasure and pain as sweat trickled down my back, sticking my cotton dress to my skin.
“Come for me, little one,” Andrei growled, his voice tinged with an accent. Reaching between us, he began to work the tight bundle of nerves he teased earlier. “Let me feel… your cunt… strangle me.”
It might have been the way he rubbed my clit with such precise vigor, or the way he commanded me to climax for him, but when my orgasm hit and I clenched myself around him, nothing else existed but his cock swelling up inside me and bringing me such intense joy. Blinded and bathed in the white-hot ecstasy, I wailed his name, tears prickling my eyes when it felt like my climax would never end. Seconds later, Andrei exploded inside me, cursing at the skies. He held me during the aftershocks before pulling out and gently setting me on the ground.
Slightly disoriented, I clutched a handful of his T-shirt for balance, trying to catch my breath.
“We should go,” drawled Andrei, looking none the worse for wear. I, on the other hand, was a sweaty, rumpled mess.
Quickly rearranging myself in a bid to look like I hadn’t just been thoroughly taken in an alley, I allowed Andrei’s hand to swallow mine as he led me down the street once more. His hand was warm around mine and, for some reason, it made me feel… cherished.
As we were walking down the alley, I was frowning at my blood-red toenails peeking out my gladiator sandals when I suddenly found myself walking smack-dab into the brick wall that was Andrei's back. He stopped in front of a door, which didn’t really look like one because it was made of brick and was practically camouflaged with the rest of the wall.
Without warning, it was pushed open and a wild-haired, bespectacled redhead stood at the entrance, hands on her hips. She was so small though that her stance looked comical.
“I expected you an hour ago, Lord Andrei,” she lectured, stepping aside to let us in. “I have far more important things to do than wait around for you to grace me with your presence.”
To my surprise, Andrei let out a bark of laughter. “It’s been a while, old friend.”
“Has it?” she asked, closing the door behind us. “Was it during the Abraham Lincoln administration or the Woodrow Wilson one?”
“Different centuries, Myrna,” said Andrei.
“My point exactly,” she sniffed, pushing past us.
Okay, what is going on here? I thought, taking a deep breath and shutting my eyes, trying to get a feel for the redhead’s aura.
She wasn’t a succubus. But then again, Andrei was and I couldn’t sense him—never had, come to think of it.
“Rae.” Myrna‘s cheerful voice made my eyes fly open. I detected a hint of a Southern accent. “Come. Sit with me.” She’d extended bony arms covered in jangling bangles, all ten of her fingers bearing gaudy rings.
Only then did I notice the room we were in. Small and intricately decorated, it had a high ceiling with one tiered chandelier hanging in the center. A myriad of Persian rugs carpeted the floor from wall to wall, even right up to the front of the fireplace. Rows and rows of shelves that held various books and weird artifacts took up most of the space on one wall and a red beaded curtain hung across a doorway on the opposite side of the room, which looked odd yet beautiful. There were no couches, only throw pillows placed in front of a rectangular coffee table.
I reluctantly took Myrna’s hands and allowed her to lead me there.
“You a gypsy or something?” I asked, wincing at how condescending I sounded.
Myrna threw her head back and laughed, gesturing for me to sit as she did the same. “A gypsy. Seriously?”
I felt Andrei looming behind me and I glanced over my shoulder. Hovering, he had his arms crossed across his chest.
“I’m a witch, dear,” Myrna divulged, capturing my attention.
I looked at her, really looked at her. She couldn’t have been a day over forty. And although her moss green eyes told of youthful mirth, it also showed years and years of experience. Also, if she’d been around in Abraham Lincoln’s time…
“Don’t look so shocked, sweetheart,” she chided, patting my arm. “After all, you are sleeping with him.” She inclined her head in Andrei’s direction and I instantly flushed.
“Why am I here?” I said with more bite than I’d intended.
“To prepare you for some things you’re going to see.”
I turned to look at Andrei but his attention was steadfastly elsewhere.
“What things?” I asked, my voice suspicious.
Myrna gave me a smile and surprised me by taking out a battered Lenovo laptop and placing it on the table. Since it was on standby, I was able to see that her username was her full name: Myrna Lake.
Myrna Lake… Myrna Lake…
I knew that name. It wasn’t one you forgot so easily.
“Demonic Encounters,” I mumbled to myself, remembering the stupid forum I’d been haunting out of fear. I stared at Myrna, amazed that the world was incredibly small. “You’re myrna_lake69?”
“Sixty-seven,” she corrected. Her smile widened as she turned to me. “Welcome to House of Mystique, Miss Erickson.”
Chapter 12
“You’re a traitor,” I hissed at Myrna when Andrei was out of earshot—in other words, he was taking a phone call outside.
Myrna arched a quizzical brow. “I don’t know what you mean, darling.”
“No?” I wrinkled my nose at her, racking my brain to remember what advice she’d dispensed online. “You told that girl that she was being abused by demons. Yet here you are, practically BFFs with their king! You made it seem like you were helping!”
“Calm down, Rainelle,” she said softly, as if I were a crazy person she had to pacify. “I think you’re letting your jealousy override your common sense.”
“Jealousy?” I spluttered, my head reeling.
Myrna returned her attention to the laptop screen, opening a House of Mystique bookmark. “I know you’re wondering about the strong feelings you have for him. You’re alarmed… concerned. Every fiber of your being cries out for his body, his touch, and you don’t understand why.”
I sucked in a breath and sputtered, “Don’t you dare tell me what I’m feeling.”
Myrna stayed silent, tapping away at the keyboard.
“You don’t know me. We’ve just met. So don’t analyze me,” I went on, balling my hands into fists.
At this, she turned to look at me, her green eyes narrowed. “Have you ever wondered what people who’ve been visited by incubi feel?” She tucked a tuft of wiry brilliant copper hair behind a jewelry studded ear. “There’s not much difference between stolen moments in dreamland and real life-sucking sex. But you, Miss Erickson? You don’t really have to worry about that sort of blissful death. You don’t have to worry about your life slipping away as you reach orgasm after mind-blowing orgasm, do you?”
I shivered, and it wasn’t even cold. “Tell me why.”
“Tell you what, Rainelle Erickson?”
“You know what,” I said through clenched teeth, feeling like I’m five seconds away from smacking the copper out of her hair.
It was more than the hunter’s blood flowing in my veins, I was sure of it.
“You felt it the instant you saw him, didn’t you?” Myrna drawled, her eyes fixed on the laptop once again. “That pull, that attraction, those had nothing to do with what he is and everythi
ng to do with who.” She pointed at the screen. “There. This screams you.”
I peered at what she was pointing at, a House of Mystique catalogue of some sort. “The ring?” Made up of three thin strips of silver and a glittering ruby in the center, the ring was cheap-looking and did not scream “me”. I was a Tiffany’s and Cartier girl through and through.
“Yes, this is the one,” Myrna proclaimed as she clapped her hands. And like an agile cat, she gracefully rose to her feet and stalked away.
I stared at the ring in confusion. This whole day was confusing me but I suddenly wanted to know the answers to questions I had been too scared to ask before, let alone think. Myrna Lake might be as crazy as a bat but she was the one person who seemed to know what was what.
“Here.”
It took me a few seconds to realize that she’d returned to her seat beside me, her hand was outstretched and in her palm was a ring.
“Why?” I asked.
“You’ll need it. Go on, take it,” she urged, and I eventually did, albeit warily.
The minute I did, a searing heat tore through my skin and I dropped the stupid thing. I sent a furious glare Myrna’s way as I exclaimed, “What the hell? That damn thing just burned me!”
“Yes,” she murmured nonchalantly, picking it up and holding it out to me again. “Definitely yours.”
“You okay, Rae?” Andrei’s voice came from the doorway.
I didn’t dare look at him.
“You felt that, Anghelescu?” asked Myrna. “Of course, he did,” she added, addressing me this time. “Put it on now, darling. It’s for your protection, a link to Andrei that…”
“I don’t want to be linked to him. I don’t want any of this.”
“He is the only one who can protect you from people, and creatures, who would want to hurt you. The ring is your bond. Not a true bond,” she clarified when she caught my anxious expression. “Simply one that heightens his senses where you’re concerned.”
“But he can read my mind now. It was so weird, how he was able to know.” Glancing over my shoulder, I confirmed what I somehow already knew: Andrei was gone.