by Bonnie Vanak
“Easy sugar,” he crooned.
Placing his hands on her back, he forced her to bend over slightly.
Limp with shock, she leaned forward, supported by the bad Grayson’s firm hold on her hips.
Deeply impaled, she felt the Grayson behind her go still, letting her adjust to the awkward position. He was thick and hard and deep inside her. Breath fled her in a shuddering gasp. The hot, teasing strokes at her center continued. Samantha had never envisioned such erotic delight, cradled by the sleek muscles of two men intent on arousing every part of her body.
Two men who are the same man, she thought in a daze.
Then Grayson’s shaft, hard as stone, began to withdraw and push into her again. Flesh caressed and gripped the thick intruder, coating his maleness with her increasingly copious juices. Samantha began to pant as the strokes between her legs matched the rhythm of the tongue pleasuring her.
I can’t bear it. It’s too much.
“Stay with us,” the bad Grayson told her. He grunted as he deepened his thrusts, each rocking motion an exact match for the flicking tongue at her clit.
Squirming she pressed against Grayson’s mouth, her hips lifting upward to each drag of his tongue. He took the swollen bud between his teeth and gently clamped down, and then began to suck. One Grayson fiercely driving into her from behind, the other licking her from the front. A hoarse moan tore from her throat as molten heat intensified between her legs, growing sharper, and deeper.
It shimmered like a point of light, and then as he penetrated even deeper from behind, she exploded. Samantha screamed, squeezing his cock and milking it, as the suckling at her center gentled into slow, tender licks. He kept tasting her until the rapturous spasms quieted.
With a slow sucking sound, Grayson pulled out of her tight core. Kneeling at her feet, the good Grayson rested his head against her thigh.
He gazed up at her with worshipful devotion like a loyal supplicant. “So beautiful,” he said thickly. “You are so beautiful to me, Samantha. If a thousand angels fell from heaven, their light would dim beside you.”
Standing, he pulled her to him, kissing her deeply. He was fully erect, his penis pressed against her belly. Desire hummed inside her like a live wire as their tongues danced and mated. As they kissed, Grayson backed up until he fell on the bed, pulling her atop him.
He lifted her up so Samantha could sit back. She straddled him, sliding her soaked cleft over his straining penis. She rose up and impaled herself on his hard length. It felt so good, so thick and full. The gentleness in his hands as he grasped her waist sharply contrasted to the eager throbbing deep inside her.
She glanced over one shoulder at the bad Grayson, saw his full mouth flatten with hard lust. He was still magnificently erect.
A shiver coursed through her as he stepped behind her and burrowed his shaft along the crevice of her buttocks.
An incredible excitement surged in her veins. These two virile men, the same men, wanted her with a primitive lust that bordered on feral hunger. The wolf shone in their eyes as each gave a low possessive growl. Their urgency scented the air, tangling with the musk of her arousal.
Fearful of what they intended, she whimpered. Then Grayson’s fingers teased and swirled, creating a delicious friction at the swollen bud between her legs. Samantha arched, her buttocks rising in the air as she pressed against his hand.
The bad Grayson leaned over her, pressing against her back, his heat and hard muscles caging her. The tip of his erection was slick with her juices as he nudged her, pressing against her back passage. Samantha arched and whimpered.
“Just relax,” Grayson murmured from beneath her. “Don’t resist. Let it happen.”
Behind her, the bad Grayson pushed against her. With gentle, yet relentless force, he pushed slowly inside, forcing her to open and admit him. Blood pounded in her ears and her breathing came in ragged pants.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Grayson soothed from beneath her. “Let him in.”
He prodded again, in deeper and stronger strokes. Samantha’s breath came in a choking sob of pleasure as she relaxed to the impact of full penetration.
Two cocks pierced her, one from below and one from above. She felt invaded and full, stretched to the limit. Yet pleasure hummed inside her. Grayson, the good Ancient, and the bad Ancient, commanding her body.
In unison, both men began to move inside her. Grayson grasped her hips, sliding her slowly up and down as the bad Grayson withdrew and pushed into her back channel once more.
It was erotic, wicked and exciting. As the fever began building inside her again, Samantha placed her hands on his muscled torso.
She leaned close to claim a kiss, the sensitive tips of her breasts rubbing over his furred chest and whispered into his mouth.
“When he comes, come with him and blast him with everything you’ve got to reunite the whole.”
The friction of her sweet, tight core squeezed him hard as he slowly lowered and raised her. Grayson tenderly stroked his fingers over her round hips. Samantha, his Samantha.
Behind her, guttural groans of pleasure sounded as the Other pushed into her. Grayson stared into her eyes, letting her see all the emotions he held there for her.
All the love he’d denied.
Panting, she stared down at him, her own eyes filled with softness.
Please, let this work. He couldn’t bear to leave her alone, unprotected, when those bastards returned. He’d need all his badness, the bastard he was, to fight them.
She was hot, tight silk clenching his cock. He groaned, giving way to pure sensation.
The Other groaned deeply as well. He tensed.
Grayson recognized the signs, and opened his mind and all his senses so nothing was held back and everything flowed into him like water.
With a loud shout, the Other bucked wildly, pumping heavily into Samantha as she bore down tight and screamed. Her core milked him tightly, squeezing on his sheath as Grayson cried out her name, shooting his seed deep inside her. He opened all his senses, summoned all the healing magick shimmering in his soul and let it out in a blast of pure energy.
The Other lifted his hands from Samantha’s hair and his groan of pleasure turned into a shocked gasp. He pulled out of Samantha, staggering backwards. His wet penis bobbed like a divining rod. Solid flesh paled, became insubstantial as mist. He was no longer corporeal.
“What the hell did you do to me?” the Other screamed.
Samantha untangled herself and rolled away. As his powers surged, he opened his arms as if about to embrace a lover.
“Come back to me,” he commanded, chanting the ancient healing words. “Two halves shall be made whole.”
Pitiful screams of the fading Other echoed in Grayson’s sensitive eardrums. Fresh agony speared him. Grimly he concentrated and opened up all his healing empath powers as the Other embraced him as if he were a life raft.
Darkness shrouded him. The sins of his past, the people he’d hurt. The darkness was a sharp stabbing knife, sinking into his heart over and over, but he did not turn away. The darkness was him and he was it, needing it, needing his badness, his strength. Grayson let the darkness sink into him like a black puddle, the acid burn bubbling his soul. He arched off the bed in hot agony.
A low, anguished howl escaped him. When he fell back, the Other was gone.
He was fully Grayson once more.
Sitting up, he pressed his fingers to his sweating temples, and gave Samantha a sharp look. “You okay?”
Nodding, she sat on the bed, a dazed look in her lovely blue eyes. “I need to get dressed.”
A little wobbly, she left the room.
Emotions flooded his heart and he welcomed them. It had taken a separation of his self to acknowledge his feelings for Samantha.
When she returned, Grayson turned to embrace his mate.
A grayish figure with crimson eyes and a red mouth snarled at him. Her powers were back. Samantha was fully demon once more.
Her features faded to normal. A small smile played on her mouth. “When your dark half came inside me, I took back my demon powers. Two can play this game, Grayson.”
A rich curse filled the air. Grayson raked a shaky hand through his damp hair. “You can’t do this, sweetheart. We’re back to square one.”
Suspicion filled him. “You took back your demon powers from him when he came inside you. But I did as well when all three of us were physically connected and the energy I blasted him with…”
He gave a shaky laugh. “I’ll be damned. What comes around, goes around.”
She squinted at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Me. You and what you have inside you now, sweetheart. You’ll soon find out.”
And then his senses pricked in horror as he picked up a familiar stench wafting through the house. Grayson stood, tugging at her hand.
“We need to get the hell out of here. They’ve come back.”
The front door banged open and a thick, oily gas gushed inside. Coughing, Grayson motioned to Samantha to cover her mouth.
No use. Tears gushed from her eyes. The mixture made him dizzy, disabled his powers. Magick sparked the air, not his, but a familiar magick in the air.
Wearing gas masks, the six from his pack who’d tormented him entered the bedroom.
But this time they were no longer alone.
A corpulent man in an expensive suit and an oil gas mask pushed past. He regarded the disoriented Samantha and the naked Grayson with a nasty look.
“Grayson. About time.”
Words forced past his cracked, dry lips. “Hello Jerome.”
Samantha’s features slowly resumed their normal appearance. She stared in stunned shock. “Jerome?”
“Jerome Cabot.” Grayson fisted his hands. “My pack leader. The one you’ve been searching for all this time.”
Chapter Nine
The windows were opened. Magick sizzled in the air, forcing the gas outside. As Cabot and his men removed their gas masks, she desperately struggled for her powers.
Samantha gulped down fresh air. No use. The gas had tamped both dark and white light.
Her mind swirled with disbelief. The enemy she’d sought stood before her. Yet she couldn’t summon the vibrant strength to react.
She’d absorbed back her demon strength with every last drop of the bad Grayson’s come. The spell she’d silently chanted had worked. Yet neither darkness nor light aided her now as Cabot approached. The shifter lifted a strand of her hair, wound it around a blunt finger.
Breath escaped her. Gasping, she struggled for composure.
For the cold anger and hatred that stayed her course all this time.
Nothing happened but the same cloying dizziness. It was as if she were an invalid. Neither angel nor demon powers emerged.
Her astonished gaze whipped to Grayson. His muscled body glistened with sweat. Taut with strain, he fisted his hands as he glared at his leader.
Former leader.
“The tear gas is a special, illegal mixture one of my loyal men obtained for me. It scrambles your natural powers. Just long enough to disable you,” Cabot said, yanking her hair back so hard she winced.
“You bastard, stop touching her.” Grayson leapt forward, only to be restrained by two shifters. They snapped silver handcuffs on him, winding a length of rope about the cuffs and tying him to the bed. His head fell back and he looked weak and drained.
Fighting back tears, she reached for her strength. Cabot took her hands, turned over the palms.
“Grayson, you have a deep affection for this one,” the shifter murmured. “She is quite comely. I did not realize she would grow to become such a lovely Darklighter.”
“You killed my parents,” Samantha croaked, repulsed at his touch, yet too weak to draw away.
“Not I.” Cabot dropped her hands, his smile gone. “Oh, I wished it. I ordered it. But a certain disloyal member of my pack betrayed me. And for that, I expelled him. Some of my men wanted to kill him for his betrayal. I forbade it, until he took an assignment to make you his mate.”
The cool, green gaze fouled with ugly anger. “I could not have Grayson absorbing the powers I coveted. The minute he agreed to make you his, he signed his own death warrant.”
A strangled grunt escaped Grayson as he struggled to free himself. “It’s me you want, Jerome. Leave her be. Take me instead.”
“You’ll both suffice.” Cabot glanced at her, laced his hands around her neck. Pressure ensued and she struggled to breathe. “But first, we must clear the air. Samantha should die knowing the real identity of her parents’ killer. Not me.”
“It was you.” She gasped, her vision growing blurry. “I, I heard my mother scream your name.”
Cabot laughed. “I was not there, dear Samantha. My representative was. He was under my express orders to kill them.”
“Then…” She struggled to pry his fingers from her throat. “Tell me who it is. I’ll destroy him myself.”
The pressure eased and she choked down a lungful of blessed air. Her vision blurred with tears as Grayson’s tormented gaze met hers.
“He killed your parents, Samantha. Grayson is the one you want.”
Sorrow lacerated his guts as those wide blue eyes stared at him in dawning shock. Now the truth came out, with all its ugliness.
Cabot looked amused. “We’ll leave you two alone for a moment. I wish to take a short walk to see what new territory I’ll acquire with Grayson’s death.”
When the door slammed behind them, he turned to his mate.
“Samantha…” he began.
“You murdered my parents,” she said dully. “You took away the people I loved. It was your knife held to their throats. The blood…”
He wanted to slit his own throat at her anguish. Immobilized, his fingers stretched out for hers. Samantha yanked away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Misery and self-loathing congealed inside him. Since the day he’d watched her parents breathe their last, he’d dreaded confronting the truth.
Dreading hurting her again, Samantha with her stunning courage and mixture of goodness and bad. The sweet angel and the strong demon. He had known every minutia of her demon strength.
Knew exactly what power it gave her.
“Why? They never did anything to you.”
Somehow, he must get through to her, to make her see. Maybe she could save herself. She must. Cabot would not lay a hand on her, he vowed grimly. If I have to gnaw off my own damn hands to get free, I will.
“I was under orders from the Society to execute your father. Your mother was to be spared, as were all of you. But your father had killed a human and taken justice into his own hands. He had to be destroyed to preserve our world.”
Samantha’s fists tightened.
“Jerome found out my assignment. He ordered me to capture your father, bring him back to the pack with your mother, and kill them both slowly. Very slowly. When a demon or a half-demon is destroyed, unless it’s done very quickly, the dark powers are unleashed like a mist. Anyone can absorb them.” His even gaze met hers. “Do you understand?”
Please. You must.
“Killing them slowly would enable you to gain my father’s power.”
“Not me. Jerome. He craved the darkness, and knew your mother would not remain silent. She had to die as well. When I told her what my leader wanted, she screamed his name. She was terrified, knew what it meant for her daughters. Jerome would have the ability to capture all three of you, and destroy you.”
“But you killed her…”
“Samantha, she asked me to. She could not bear to live without your father.” He gentled his tone, knowing the agony this caused. “I had no choice with your father. It was quick and painless for them both. I made certain of it.”
Grayson bowed his head, relief filling the empty space inside him. For so long, he’d kept silent. “I was the one yo
u sought all this time. I’m the one you wanted revenge against.”
Emotion shadowed her face. She bit her lip. “It, it was painless.”
“Yes. I made certain through my powers. Your mother screamed for me to do it, Samantha. I’m sorry. I know…for a mother to wish to leave her children behind.”
Urgency loaned him strength. “Listen to me now, sweetheart. These handcuffs, the merging of my two halves sapped me. I can’t fight this. But you can free yourself. Get out of here before they return. Cabot wants you now, to take your father’s place. Free yourself.”
Closing his eyes, he struggled against his bonds. No use. Exhausted, his muscles quivered. Grayson opened his eyes to regard the woman he loved.
The demon, the angel.
“I can’t ask your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. All I ask is for your life. If you live, I can die in peace,” he said hoarsely.
Misery filled her luminous eyes. A single tear leaked out, splashed on his hand as she leaned over him.
“Maybe I can forgive you for what you did. You were under orders and you were merciful. But why did you keep the truth from me?”
“I couldn’t bear to see you hurt again, like that night.” His voice broke. “It killed me that you had to witness that. It killed me, Samantha. And when you gave me this scar. I nearly welcomed it.”
Her mouth opened and closed and a distant look entered her gaze.
Samantha traced the cruel mark with a finger. “I remember now. A shadowy, tall stranger, his face hidden by a cowboy hat. I picked up the knife, and when he bent over, I ran out of the closet, lashed out…and then I fainted.”
“It was me. I called the Society and they kept you safe until you could be reunited with your sisters. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’d have done anything to take away your pain. I’m an empath healer and I couldn’t even heal your anguish. I can remove evil, but couldn’t with Jerome. He was my alpha, and every time I tried, my sense of loyalty balked. Loyalty. Duty. I lived for it.”
Grayson’s voice shattered. “Can you ever forgive me?”
Forgive him, the man she’d wanted dead all these years?