by Cynthia Eden
Why did everyone get to lie but her?
Tanner shook his head and glared at the vamp. “You think you’re the first suicide junkie I’ve gotten? Death by cop isn’t in the cards for you. Why don’t you just try fighting for life instead of clawing your way to hell so fast?”
The knife that Riley had dropped lay just steps away from Marna’s feet. She bent and picked it up.
“I can’t fight!” Riley’s teeth flashed. “I’m not strong enough! The Born is in my head every single—” He stopped and his head snapped to the right.
His eyes locked on Marna.
And on the blood that dripped down her arm. She’d sliced into the flesh just below her elbow, and she lifted her arm, offering it to the vampire. “Maybe my blood will be strong enough to help you.”
Didn’t she owe him that much?
He’d been a good man, once. He would have been a good father. Had he even known that his Victoria was pregnant?
Everything had been ripped away from him.
While I watched.
He surged to his feet.
Tanner blocked him. “Hell, no, you aren’t—”
“Tanner, make sure he doesn’t take too much.” She didn’t even know if this would work. Angel blood was supposed to contain power, she knew that. But would it be enough power to help him break free of his Born? As far as she knew, no one had ever used angel’s blood to sever a link like that.
I have to try.
Tanner’s hands had locked around the vamp’s shoulders as he held Riley back. “Are you sure about this?” he asked Marna.
Atonement. She had to do her part. “Yes.” But she needed the shifter to help her because she didn’t trust the vamp to stop once he started drinking. She only trusted—
Tanner.
When had that happened? Maybe the “when” didn’t matter. Marna pulled in a deep breath. “Just stop him when I say so.”
Jaw clenching, Tanner nodded. “But let me just say,” he muttered as he jerked the vamp closer, “I really don’t like this shit.”
Riley stared at her blood with wide eyes. “Wh-why?”
“Because you are more than a killer.” And I’m more than just a lost angel.
Time to start showing it. She lifted her arm to his mouth.
Tanner shoved the vamp to his knees and kept the guy’s hands locked behind his back. “Don’t even think of hurting her,” her shifter ordered.
Riley nodded. His head lowered to her arm, and Marna closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see this. She could feel his mouth on her skin, tasting her blood, and goose bumps rose on her flesh.
The other angels she knew would never have allowed themselves to be used this way. They would have found it degrading. Shameful.
She’d never been like the others. She found this to be . . .
Atonement. The word slipped through her mind again.
The edge of his teeth pressed into her skin, and her eyelids flew open as she gasped at the sting.
“Easy,” Tanner shouted.
Her gaze flew to Tanner. His own fangs were out. His eyes glowing. There was a fury on his face, a dark and savage rage. One that she’d never seen there before.
He stared down at Riley like he’d take joy in killing the vamp. But, before, he’d wanted to spare him.
Tanner’s gaze met hers. “Enough. ”
But Riley was still drinking. Marna tried to slide her arm back.
Riley followed.
He didn’t get very far. Tanner ripped him away from her and sent the vampire hurtling into the wall. “I said enough.”
Her breath heaved out. Tanner caught her arm. Stared down at the wound. A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Never again.” A lethal promise from him. But for all of his rage, his touch on her flesh was incredibly gentle. His body surrounded hers. “Whatever the hell this was about, whatever debt you think you owed him, consider it paid in full.”
She managed a slow nod. Her arm throbbed where she had cut herself, but the wound was already starting to close.
Angel healing. She loved that perk.
“And you . . .” Tanner glanced back over his shoulder. “Stay away from her. ’Cause if you don’t, I’ll decide to give you that death you seemed to want so freaking badly.”
Marna turned away from Riley. Tanner’s body moved with her, in perfect time, shadowing her, as she headed for the door.
“The call . . .” Riley’s voice stopped her. She didn’t look back. “I-I . . . the Born’s voice is already getting dimmer. Can barely hear him.”
Something hit the floor with a thud. Helpless, Marna turned back. Riley had shoved the nightstand to the ground. He was on his feet, staring at her with wide eyes.
“He’s gone. He’s gone from my mind.”
Then maybe Riley could be the man he used to be.
The man he should have been?
“Come on.” Tanner pushed open the door. Led her out. His hand was wrapped around her arm. Did he even realize that he kept caressing the now-healed wound with his fingers?
And why did his touch push away the cold she’d felt? How could he do that to her, so easily?
They didn’t speak again. Just marched out of that dark house. The sunlight seemed far too bright when they hurried back toward the street and the SUV that waited.
So bright.
Marna reached for the passenger door. Before she could grab the handle, Tanner spun her around. “What—”
His mouth took hers. Not easy. Not gentle. Hard. Deep. Burning with lust and need, and she opened her mouth wider. Kissed him back just as hard.
“Never again,” he growled against her lips. “I never want him touching you again.”
Her fingers sank into his hair, and she pressed her body closer to his. Marna rose onto her tiptoes so that she could reach his mouth better. The hunger inside her, the hard lust, was driving her, and she wanted.
Tanner caught her hips. Lifted her higher. Her legs wrapped around him, and the erect length of his cock pushed against her sensitive sex.
A gasp slipped from her.
Tanner’s head rose. “Not . . . here.”
He managed to get her into the SUV; then he rushed around to the driver’s side. Tanner gunned the engine and spared her one more glance.
The heat from his stare singed her skin. “I tried to do what was right,” he said.
Her body ached for him. How did humans stand it? How did they live with the lust?
And now that she knew what pleasure waited . . .
She wanted to feel that rush of release again.
“Remember that, would you?” His voice roughened as the SUV leapt away from the curb. “I tried, but I was too weak.”
Weak? Not Tanner. He was the strongest man she’d ever met.
And it looked like the shifter would also soon be her first lover.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Paul tried to open his eyes. Couldn’t. He heard sirens and voices, and he wanted to talk, but it was just too hard.
Someone lifted him up. Put him on something soft. The world started to move. Or maybe that was just him. A sharp pain jabbed in his arm. Needle?
“Just hold on. We’ll be at the hospital in five minutes.” Another jab. Somewhere, machines started beeping.
An ambulance. Understanding sank in slowly.
Help had finally come. He tried to open his eyes once more, but he still just couldn’t do it.
“Someone did a real number on him. Poor SOB.”
Paul fought to swallow. He had to tell them what had happened.
“He’s a fighter. I can’t believe he’s still holding on. Jesus, look at his legs!”
Paul coughed, choked, but managed to say, “T-Tan . . . ner . . .”
A hand grabbed his arm. The fingers curled tight around him. “What is it? What are you saying?”
“Ch-Chance . . .” A whisper was all he could manage. “T-Tanner . . . Ch-Ch—”
“You want us to call someone
for you? That a friend?”
No. Not a friend.
The machines began to beep louder. Wilder.
“He’s seizing!”
The sirens were screaming.
Something pounded against his chest.
And Paul managed to whisper, “He . . . k-killed . . . me.”
Then he couldn’t talk at all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
He couldn’t make it back to his house. Too far. Tanner needed her, naked and beneath him, needed to be in her, so badly that his whole body shook.
But her first time wouldn’t be in a vehicle. Or up against some dirty alley wall. She deserved better.
He’d give her everything that he could.
He parked the SUV near the river. She followed him out of the vehicle, asking no questions. Just staring at him with eyes that reflected his own hunger. Tanner caught her hand and led her inside the old building and up the winding stairs. Up higher, higher, to the small apartment that he kept as an escape in the city.
He’d never taken anyone else here. Before, he’d wanted to be alone. To be able to stand above the city. To look out at the river.
Freedom.
“Tanner?”
He led her into the bedroom. Threw open the balcony doors and let the sunlight pour in.
She was beautiful with the sunlight on her. As beautiful as she was in the moonlight.
Always so perfect to him.
Don’t fuck this up.
The panther was snarling inside of him. As desperate for his mate as any predator could be.
He took a breath. Tasted her. “Get on the bed.” He had to give her pleasure first. Had to make sure that she enjoyed what was to come.
But his angel wasn’t looking shy and innocent. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes bright. As she headed for the bed, her perfect ass doing a little roll that he hadn’t even realized she could do, Marna stripped.
She kicked her shoes away. Tossed her T-shirt to the floor. Slid out of her jeans in a move that had his cock twitching.
Clad in her underwear and bra, she slid onto the bed. Big, king-sized, the bed was positioned to face the river.
The view of the river was amazing. It was nothing compared to the view he had of her right then. Damn, she looked good enough to eat.
And he did like to bite.
Tanner yanked off his own T-shirt and began to stalk toward her.
“Do I get to . . . taste this time?” she asked him, her voice a mix of sin and innocence.
The beast inside snarled.
If she put her mouth on him—fuck, yes—he was done. “Me first.” Then he caught her ankle. Pulled her legs apart. His nostrils flared as he inhaled her scent.
Nothing had ever smelled as good. Sex and flowers. Sin and temptation.
Paradise.
He climbed onto the bed. Settled between those long, silken legs, and put his mouth right between her thighs.
She whispered his name, and he kissed her through the thin silk of her underwear.
The panties were getting wet. Good. He wanted her wetter. He needed her wetter.
Marna had to be ready for him. She had to want this as much as he did.
Want me more than your next breath.
The way he wanted her.
His fingers slid under the panties. Found the tight entrance to her body. Thrust inside. She squirmed beneath him. Not trying to get away.
Closer.
He tore away her panties. Put his mouth against the flesh he wanted to taste. And he tasted. His tongue slid over her. Into her. Her hips arched and her breath panted out.
He licked. Learned every curve of her body.
She whispered his name.
He kept tasting. More. More.
She came against his tongue.
The first time.
The second time, he’d make sure she came when he was buried deep in her.
The climax had her stiffening beneath him. Arching her body. Closing her eyes.
He loved the taste of her pleasure. Rich, but sweet.
He jerked open his jeans. Pulled out his cock. Her body waited, open, perfect.
With one hand, Tanner guided his cock to the entrance of her body. Her eyes were on him. Wide. Eager. No hesitation. No fear.
Jaw clenched, he began to thrust inside her. So hot. Hot and tight. He pushed slowly, yanking back on the beast and fighting for control as hard as he could.
“It’s okay.” Marna’s whisper. “I want you.”
But for her first time, he had to use care. Later, he’d let the beast break free. This time . . .
Has to be for her.
His mouth took hers as he pushed deeper into her. His tongue slid over hers. Her legs wrapped around his hips.
Nothing had ever felt so good. So damn perfect. Her sex wrapped around him, the best dream he’d ever had. Wet. Warm. Tight.
His muscles clenched as he fought the urge to plunge balls-deep into her. He wouldn’t hurt her.
Her nails dug into his shoulders. Her mouth broke from his. Her hips lifted up against his, demanding, even as she said, “More!”
Tanner gave her more. He pushed into her, one long, deep glide, and they both gasped.
So good. But . . . “Am I hurting you?”
Her nails dug deeper into him. “Give me the pleasure . . . again. ”
What his angel wanted, he’d make sure she got.
He withdrew, thrust, again and again. Sweat slickened his back, and he kept the beast inside chained up tight. Not too hard. Not too wild.
Not this time.
He caressed her breast. Sucked her nipple. Enjoyed the way her moans filled the air, and the lush scent of sex deepened in the air around them.
He took her hips and positioned her so that he could thrust deeper—and slide right over her clit with each move of his body.
She gasped his name again. Her sex tightened more around him. Her climax was close. He could see it in the blindness of her eyes, hear it in her gasps.
Close.
The panther snarled inside.
Tanner put his mouth on the curve of her shoulder. Licked her flesh. Scored her with his teeth.
Bite.
Beasts liked to mark what was theirs. After this, there’d be no denying what she was anymore.
Angel.
Fallen.
Mine.
He thrust. Withdrew. Thrust—
Marna came. Her sex clenched around him as pleasure flashed across her face.
That was what he’d wanted. Her climax milked his cock, silken strokes that shredded his control.
Mine.
Deeper. Harder. He drove into her. Again and again. He pushed her legs over his shoulders. Opened her to him completely.
Fast. Frantic. He plunged. The base of his spine tightened. He took her mouth. Tasted her—
And came harder than he ever had in his life. Tanner held tight to her, shuddering, as the pleasure pounded through him in a powerful wave that left him hollowed out.
But wanting more.
Of her, always, more.
His head lowered. He licked the small wound he’d made on her shoulder. She wouldn’t know the mark for what it was.
Claiming.
But he did.
“I understand.” Her voice was soft and satisfied.
Tanner forced his head to lift. His cock was already getting hard inside of her again.
Her gaze found his and a smile lifted her face.
Fucking trouble. His chest began to ache.
“Now I know why.” She licked her lips, a fast swipe of her pink tongue. She’d offered to use that tongue on him before.
He thrust into her again.
Her eyes widened.
But he asked, “Why . . . ?” Not sure what she’d meant.
Marna’s smile widened. The sight took his breath away even as she said, “I know why humans are so interested in sex.”
Ah, getting that part, was she?
He pushed up onto his
elbows and stared down at her.
“They fight, lie, even kill . . .” Her breath whispered out as he pushed into her. “For the pleasure.”
A pleasure that could make a strong man break.
Or drive him to destroy anyone or anything that came between him and the woman he wanted.
“I-I didn’t know . . .” Marna’s voice stuttered a bit as her hands curled around him.
He almost slid out of her, then pushed back.
“I didn’t know how good it would be,” she told him in a rush.
Tanner stilled and stared down at her. “Baby, it’s only gonna get better.” Time to show her that he was a man who could keep his promises.
Always.
Her sex was still slick from their releases. Pushing deep, he had her arching toward him. He rolled them, sliding so that she was on top, giving him one phenomenal view.
Her hands flattened on his chest. “Tanner, I—”
He locked his hands around her hips. Lifted her. He saw the flare of her pupils. She liked that.
Her knees pushed into the mattress as she pressed back down. Up. Down.
The second time should have been easier. Softer.
It wasn’t.
It was rougher. Harder.
She moved quickly on him, rising and falling, and he thrust into her wet heat. His hips pushed off the bed, and she gasped when he went deep inside of her.
Then Marna tried to take him even deeper.
Did she know her nails drew blood on his chest?
The panther growled.
His own claws wanted to break free—were breaking free. He yanked his hands up and away from her. The claws would be too sharp.
Not. Her.
He lifted his arms over his head and drove his claws into the wooden headboard. She stilled for an instant, and her gaze tracked up to his hands.
“Won’t . . . hurt you,” he grated. It was pretty phenomenal that he’d managed speech right then. All he could think was fuck her.
Her gaze came back to his. Held. “I know.”
Then she started moving again. Faster. Stronger. This time, she didn’t come with a whisper.
Marna shouted his name.
Only fair, since he roared hers when he exploded. His orgasm barreled through him. White-hot. The pleasure was so intense that he shuddered.
Fucking an angel had given him a taste of heaven. No, it had been better than paradise. Much better.
Her gasps filled his ears as she fell forward. Her blond hair covered them. He yanked his claws from the wood. Carefully, he put his arms around her.