Touch her. Taste her. Everywhere….
A thick animal-like sound rumbled at the back of his throat as he fought the release of his claws and fangs, and he knew he’d scared her when she trembled in his arms. Though the wolf urged him to keep going, enjoying that provocative quiver of fear, Kellan somehow found the strength to break the drugging kiss, and pressed his forehead to hers. “It’s okay,” he gasped, his chest heaving as he smoothed her hair away from her face with a shaky hand, hoping like hell that what he was saying was true. “I won’t hurt you, Chloe.”
“I know,” she whispered, touching the hot skin of his face with inquisitive fingertips, as if she was learning him by touch, the warmth of her breath pelting against his fevered cheek, layering heat on heat, making him burn. “I trust you, Kell.”
“You shouldn’t,” he muttered, reaching between them and ripping at the buttons on her shirt, unable to stop himself. “You shouldn’t trust me at all. Christ, you have no idea how close I am to losing it.”
“Then lose it,” she urged him, her breath catching as he shoved the lacy cups of her bra down and lifted her higher, hungrily scraping the rough pad of his tongue across a deliciously sweet, tight nipple. Crying out, she braced her arms against his shoulders…and he gave her what she wanted, sucking the tender bud between his lips, trapping it in the wet, scalding heat of his mouth.
As her need grew more intense, her scent became richer, sweeter…the feverish warmth of her skin burning hotter, enthralling him, calling to his wolf, his cock throbbing with each hammering beat of his heart. His breath roughened as he moved to her other breast, his mouth dragging across her chest until another dainty, candy-pink nipple touched his lips. The realities of their surroundings faded away, his entire being focused on his sense of touch…of taste. He needed to touch all of her. Needed to taste her pleasure cries in his mouth as he made her come, deeper and longer than she ever had before.
Wrapping his arms around her body, Kellan crushed her against him as he brought her mouth back to his. She nipped his bottom lip, then slid her tongue against his, her rising aggression fueling his own. His gums burned from the pressure of his fangs, his chest vibrating with another primal growl as she reached between their bodies, pressing her hand against the rigid length of his cock. She squeezed him through his jeans, testing his length…his broad width, her breaths coming hard and rushed. Then her hand turned, reaching between her own legs, her hips riding forward in an earthy, sensual need for completion, and he snagged her wrist, jerking her hand over her head as he tore his mouth from hers. “That’s mine,” he warned in a dark, gritty rumble, locking his hand over her entire forearm, trapping it against the rough surface of the wall. “Next time I’ll lay you on a bed and put your hands between your legs, Chloe.” She writhed in his hold, her beautiful eyes hazy with lust. “I’ll jerk off while I watch you finger yourself, and I’ll love every second of it. But right now, it’s my turn,” he growled, pushing his hand inside the front of her panties, his fingers seeking that exquisitely soft, sensitive part of her. And what he found was even better than he’d imagined. She was scalding hot to the touch, the folds of her sex drenched with moisture, the tender flesh already slippery and swollen with need.
“I’m so close,” she cried, grinding herself against his palm, her wild, uninhibited pursuit of pleasure nearly sending him over the edge, the building pressure in his shaft bordering on pain.
Have to get in her, he thought, jerking his hand from between her legs. Want to be all over her. Want every part of her….
“Put your feet back on the floor,” he commanded. The second she’d unhooked her legs from around his waist, Kellan took hold of her shoulders and quickly spun her around, facing her toward the wall. “Now brace your hands against the stone,” he grated, his own hands urgently roaming her body, touching every feminine curve and hollow that he could reach.
She followed the husky command, her back arching as she leaned forward, her soft hands flattened against the craggy surface.
Leaning over her, Kellan touched his mouth to the side of her throat, where her pulse thrummed with excitement. With a little catch in her breath, she tilted her head farther to give him better access, her shirt slipping off one smooth, pale shoulder, and Kellan dragged his mouth lower, her skin like silk beneath his lips and tongue and teeth. His hands skimmed over the narrow curve of her waist, gripping her hips rougher than he meant to, and he gritted his teeth, furious at himself for his loss of control.
Calm down, you son of a bitch, he silently snarled, but the wolf was quick to respond.
You want calm? it sneered. Then get the fuck on with it!
Kellan wanted to argue with the bastard, but he was too far gone, his ears roaring as he ran a hand over the feminine curve of her ass, his cock so hard it pulsed within the strangling confines of his jeans. With a dark sound on his lips, he ripped the crotch of her panties to the side, and found the slick, swollen entrance to her body. His breath hissed through his teeth as he pushed one long finger inside her…nearly dying from the feel of her muscles closing in on him. So tight…and greedy, they surrounded him with liquid heat and the heavy rhythm of her pulse; the soft, throaty cries spilling from her lips telling him how much she enjoyed his touch.
“God, you feel good,” he breathed into her ear.
“Not as good as you,” she moaned, riding his finger, her lithe body burning with heat.
As a red, hazy cloud began to fill his vision, Kellan struggled to remind himself of the danger. He knew he shouldn’t fuck her. That he should just make her come. Give her the blood that she needed. Damn it, he knew that. But it was impossible at that moment to recall the reasons why.
“Can you take two?” he rasped, thrusting deeper, needing to make her ready.
“Oh yeah,” she breathed, pressing her firm little ass into his groin.
Twisting his fingers in the damp cotton of her panties, Kellan had just enough sanity left to know that he couldn’t rip them off, like he wanted, since she didn’t have any others. And no way in hell was he going to have her walking around bare-assed in front of the guards that brought them their food and water. Instead, he pulled the skimpy underwear down her thighs, letting them fall to the floor, then reached back between her legs from the front and thrust two thick fingers into her, jerking a husky cry from her lips. Sliding his other hand inside her gaping shirt, he ran the callused tip of his thumb over a beautifully plump, hardened nipple at the same time he rubbed the base of his palm against the swollen knot of her clit, and she ground her forehead against one of her raised arms, gasping for breath, on the verge of coming for him.
So beautiful. So sweet…
As if he could shelter her against the nightmares that existed around them, Kellan curved his body around hers, surrounding her with his strength, desperate to make her feel safe. To give her pleasure. Give her something those bastards couldn’t take away from her, when they’d already stripped her of everything else in her life that mattered.
He was a shitty substitute for her family and friends and home, but goddamn it, he was going to make her come so hard that for those few blistering moments, she didn’t care. While that raw, screaming pleasure was pumping through her, breaking her open, she wouldn’t care about anything but how bloody good it felt. Wouldn’t care about anything but him and what he could give her.
“You want my cock, Chloe?” He whispered the ragged words into the tender shell of her ear, his nostrils flaring as he pulled in deeper breaths of her heady scent. He wanted it covering his skin. Wanted to be drenched in it.
“Yes,” she hissed. “I’ll take everything you have, Kell. All of it.”
“I’m so going to burn in hell for this,” he muttered, but he couldn’t stop himself from reaching between and ripping open his jeans, a thick sound rumbling deep in his throat as the heavy length of his cock sprang against the satiny curve of her ass. Gripping the broad shaft in his fist, Kellan’s eyes nearly rolled back in his head as
he bent his knees a little, rubbing the taut crown through her drenched folds.
So hot. So wet.
God, he wanted his mouth on her. Wanted to take her to the floor, spread her open with his thumbs, and memorize every tender, juicy detail. He’d lick her, lapping at her…pushing his tongue inside her until she was screaming and crying and ready to give him everything that he wanted. That he needed.
Next time, he promised himself. When I get her out of here, I’ll spend hours with my face shoved against her, making her come for me again…and again…and again.
Drunk on lust and seething with his own primitive hungers, Kellan braced his left hand against the wall, just above Chloe’s, his right hand running down the center of her back, pushing her forward, then curling possessively around her hip. He was just starting to think that maybe he could master the beast after all…when the deadly claws on his left hand shot free, digging deep into the ancient stone. Flakes of gray floated down to the floor, like puffs of smoke, and he shook his head, stunned that he hadn’t been able to control the change in his body. Terrified that he might accidentally hurt her, just like he’d feared he would do, Kellan started to pull away, but she reached down and covered the clawless hand at her hip, holding him against her.
“What are you doing?” he snarled, his entire body shaking with violent, visceral emotion. “My wolf wants at you, Chloe. Goddamn it, this isn’t safe!”
“If it wanted to hurt me, your claws would be ripping into my flesh right now, but they aren’t. It just needed to let off a little steam,” she whispered. And then she shocked the hell out of him by moving up onto her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to the back of his monstrous, claw-tipped fingers, then lower, against the battle-scarred back of his hand.
God, she’s too good to be real.
Something suddenly caught at the edge of Kellan’s consciousness, like a hand clasping onto him in the dark and trying to pull him back into the light. Noises? Voices? His brows drew together as he forced the irritating intrusion away, focusing instead on the breathtaking sensation of her lips against his skin. On the perfect, bone-melting feel of her tender sex sliding against his heavy shaft as he pushed between her legs. Sweat dotted his forehead, a salty drop trailing into one eye as he locked his jaw and fought the urge to reach down, position himself, and ram up into her with everything he had.
No! Can’t hurt her. Never hurt her….
Struggling to concentrate, Kellan fought to remember his purpose, but it wasn’t easy. Chloe kept kissing her way down his arm, over his thick wrist, the ropy muscles in his forearm, until she was nuzzling the hard, round bulge of bicep. “Bite it,” he growled, nudging the muscle harder against her lips, wanting the sting of those sharp little fangs in his flesh. He was more than happy to give up his blood for her, while making her come, no longer able to recall why that was so wrong.
Not wrong, the wolf rasped. Finally getting what I want. What we need….
Her small fangs scraped his flesh, just as he bent his knees a little more, the heavy head of his cock nudging inside that small, slick opening nestled within her folds, his breath hissing through his teeth at the blistering contact.
So soft. So tight.
Flexing his hips, he pushed the head of his cock a little deeper into her, working against her natural resistance, the snug, slick kiss of her sex the sweetest, most mind-blowing thing Kellan had ever experienced.
She’d just scraped her fangs across his skin a little harder, getting ready to sink them deep, a low hum of anticipation purring in the back of her throat, her body shivering, on the brink of release…when that invisible hand nudged at him again, warning him there was a problem. He shook his head, hard, trying to focus, and then he caught it. A rumble of voices coming from the upper level. Although they were growing louder, his wolf snarled that it was nothing…to just ignore it. But the voices grew closer, until they were coming from just outside the locked door at the top of the staircase, and Kellan was instantly ripped back to his senses, the reality of the situation crashing over him like an icy bucket of water.
“Son of a bitch!” He took a stumbling step back, his chest heaving while he fought for a deeper breath, his arms trembling at his sides as his claws retracted.
“Kell?”
“Damn it, we can’t do this! Not here,” he growled, scraping both hands through his hair so hard that his scalp stung. “Not like this. If they find us together, we’ll get separated. I can’t let that happen.”
With a keening sound of frustration, Chloe crumpled against the wall. “You’re stopping?” she whispered, her voice cracking as she turned toward him, her expression shadowed with pain and confusion.
“We don’t have any choice but to stop.” He pushed the words through his gritted teeth, quickly refastening his jeans over the raw, angry ache in his cock. Grabbing her panties off the floor, he tossed them to her, saying, “Get these back on.”
She started to argue as she caught them, but he reached out, grabbing her behind the neck and pulling her against him, so that he could take her mouth with another deep, marauding kiss that left her dazed and breathless. Then he lifted her into his arms, kicked the cot back against the wall, and laid her down. Pinning her forearms on either side of her head, Kellan leaned his face close to hers, the panties still grasped in her hand. “I’m not backing out,” he grunted, the rough words thick with frustration. “But we have to be smart.”
“I don’t believe this,” she choked out, her eyes suddenly flashing silver as the furious Merrick inside her strained against his hold. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me! I was so close!”
“Chloe—” he gave her arms a careful shake “—listen to me, damn it.”
“I don’t want to listen,” she moaned, her neck arching as she fought him, her small fangs glistening in the golden glow of firelight.
He shook her a little harder. “They’re coming down here again, and God only knows what they want. Think about it, Chloe. I know you’re hurting, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
Her body slowly stilled, fear gradually replacing the hunger in her gaze as she blinked up at him. “Oh God,” she finally whispered, wetting her lips. “Raine! Do you think they’re coming to hurt her again? Westmore’s been waiting for her to give him the location for the next Dark Marker, but he’s getting impatient.”
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” he promised, tucking a dark strand of hair behind her ear. “Just stay in this bed and pretend to be asleep. No matter what you hear, do not draw attention to yourself. I’ll keep whoever’s coming away from Raine, but I want you to keep quiet.”
Knowing he needed to get the hell out of there, before he was caught in her cell, Kellan quickly grabbed up the keys and locked her cell door behind him. Moving with rapid strides, he placed the keys back on their rusty hook and flipped the switch open for the counterweight on her door, then made his way back into his own cell, adrenaline fueling his strength as he wrestled with the heavy door. After making sure the lock didn’t show any signs that it’d been tampered with, he headed toward the front right corner of the grim enclosure, his heart still pounding with a deep, resonating beat.
Jesus, the woman had nearly burned him alive, and he hadn’t even brought her off. The enormity of what they’d almost done finally started to crash down on him, and he groaned, scrubbing his hands down his face.
A day. He hadn’t even lasted one goddamn day before pawing her.
I want you….
Freaking pathetic, the way he’d been drawn in by those three simple words. Kellan could only thank God that he’d been wrenched back to his senses in time. He knew what could have happened. Even though he understood damn well that he should keep his hands off her, he’d been more than capable of taking it all the way. Hell, ten more seconds and he’d have been buried a mile inside her, soaked in that slippery heat, nailing her sweet ass against every surface he could find—and the fact they didn’t have anything for birth control wouldn’t
have stopped him.
A tremor ran through his long frame, and Kellan ran another shaky hand down his face, a muscle pulsing in the hard set of his jaw.
I don’t believe this. You’re scared shitless.
He wanted to tell the bastard to shut up, but his wolf had it right. He was scared. Of failing her. Of becoming more obsessed with her than he already was. Because the stronger his desire to hold on to her grew, the more this was going to suck when it came to an end. And it would come to an end.
Unless he managed to pull a fucking miracle out of his ass, there was no getting around the fact that he was a walking dead man.
The voices grew louder at the top of the stairs, and Kellan pressed his face close to the bars, knowing they had little time. “Raine, you awake?”
She replied immediately, saying, “I’m here,” no doubt sensing whoever was getting ready to pay them a visit.
“Be ready.”
“I am,” she murmured, and then, in a lower voice, she added, “You lied to her, Lycan.”
Kellan stiffened with shock, his tone guttural as he said, “I have never laid a hand on that redhead in my life. Spark is just trying to cause trouble.”
Raine’s voice was soft. “I’m not talking about the assassin. I’m talking about the poison.”
Shit, he thought, running his tongue over his teeth. He’d asked Raine to try and get a “read” on Asa Reyker for him, to find out if the bastard’s claim of an antidote was true, but when she’d tried, she’d said the vampire’s mind was too ravaged by the poison for her to see anything clearly. Still, she was as doubtful as Kellan was, both of them aware that antidotes were practically nonexistent when it came to the strains of poison that existed in the Wasteland. The psychic knew Kellan was dying…and she obviously thought Chloe should know, as well.
“Look,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I don’t wanna sound rude, Raine. But this doesn’t concern you.”
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