That touched her more than anything. Irene leaned forward and kissed him again, still so hungry and aching for him. His erection pulsed against her, and she wiggled her hips and ground against it before whispering to him that she wanted him to do what he wanted. That had Nikolai groaning, one that grew loud when her hands wandered all over his muscles, down to his hard stomach…down to his cock.
She wrapped her fingers around it and stroked it, watching his eyes cloud over with pleasure. She used his expression to guide her, stroking in alternate fast and slow motions, touching him firmly until he only grew bigger. When she felt his pre-cum, he removed her hand and lifted her in the air with ease, rolling them until she was on her back and he was positioned at her entrance.
Again, he waited until she nodded her head. Their gazes connected as he slid in as slowly as possible, and she waited with bated breath as he stretched her out completely. It was the most intense feeling the world, her magic swirling inside her as it felt his presence and—
He thrust in to the hilt, and she gasped as a jolt of electricity entered her. Nikolai breathed against her neck, kissing it before he sought her mouth out again.
“You’re so tight,” he said through gritted teeth. “And so wet.”
She moaned. “You feel good, too.”
He chuckled, but it ended with a groan when she wriggled. He steadied her hips. “Jesus. Irene…Irene…”
They moved in unison—him thrusting in slow, firm strokes and her lifting her hips up to meet his every thrust. She’d never done this, but instinct took over, and she realized what she’d been missing out as they kept at it—the intimacy, the magic that the friction itself created. The pleasure built up for her again, and desperation took over as the room became filled with nothing but their moans and groans.
Thrusting turned to pounding, and her legs wrapped around his hips to steady herself. But she lost all control, anyway, as she became blind with the need and could only let herself experience it.
On his last thrust in, he touched her pleasure point, making her scream—and finally making her let loose as her second orgasm exploded madly. He kept pistoning inside her, and she clung on as her magic spread towards him and had him groaning. If anything, he only moved faster, that hard body surging repeatedly against hers and his cock touching her deeply.
Then his body was bucking, too, and she felt him explode inside her and follow her to the edge.
*****
It wasn’t enough. Once they got their wind back, they found themselves reaching out to each other again. Each time he was inside her, he absorbed the magic that would have electrified men, and instead of it being painful for him, the pleasure only doubled, tripled, then reverberated back to her until she felt it, too. A certain wildness took over her, and Irene found herself doing things she’d never done before—riding him, pleasing him with her mouth and taking the pleasure she wanted for once in her life.
And she felt every single time deep in her heart.
They had to rest sometime, and that happened late into dawn when they were both too exhausted to move. The next day, they did the same, spending their energy on each other and finding new ways to make the other scream.
Day turned into night. She practiced her magic on the demon again, succeeded a second time. She used up her excess energy on Nikolai, and his hard body took it with stride as he pounded into her until her mind scrambled. Then, just as she was getting ready for dinner, something happened—a certain dark feeling coating her and making her shudder, and she almost dropped the plate she was holding. He felt it, too, and his jaw clenched as they looked at each other.
“Nik?”
“Yes?”
She nodded her head, dread filling her. She couldn’t know for sure, not when she couldn’t see it…but she knew.
“Gather your men. The enemy’s here.”
Chapter 13
Nikolai and Irene weren’t the only ones who felt the darkness, as he got a call within minutes with the council instructing them to gather. Irene took a cloak with her and altered her body to look like a tall, male silhouette, and they watched the people gather in the middle of one of Orville’s biggest fields, where that darkness was centered.
It wasn’t a sight but more a feeling—a nagging throbbing in his body that made it shudder and turn cold. It only increased when they got to the field area, where half of the police force already gathered along with some witches, shifters, and vampires.
The middle of the field was charred, freshly so as smoke filled the air and almost choked them. It was so thick that it blocked out the night sky in general, and he watched as some of their witches gathered around it and tried to eliminate the smoke through magic.
“I’ll take my leave,” Irene murmured beside him. Then she was off to gather at a higher point, and Nikolai stayed where he was and watched the back of her cloak as she walked up to a hilly area. He’d be following her in a few minutes, but he needed to wait for the darkness to surface into a tangible thing first.
His second-in-command, a bear shifter named Garrett Limewell, approached him with a disturbed look on his face. His mate, a vampire named Angel, followed.
“Any reports on what happened?”
Garrett nodded. “The center of this field exploded right before it got burned. A group of vampires witnessed it happening, and it hasn’t stopped smoking since then. That was an hour ago.”
Nikolai nodded in return, then turned to glance at Irene again. She was up on the hill now, overlooking the fields, a tiny dot of shadow in existence.
“Is that Adam?” Garrett asked, narrowing his eyes to see better.
Nikolai nodded. “Yeah.” He looked around again and finally found Hazel, watching the other witches do their thing. Beside Hazel was a long-haired man with a hat and confusion on his face—
Adam’s bronze eyes gleamed before the confusion returned, and Nikolai watched in surprise as the man stood to the side and blended in with some curious humans. There was no certain feeling about him at all; whatever energy he had within him covered perfectly.
“Garrett, can you gather two of our men and get those people out of here? The humans should stay in their homes. Whatever’s coming will rip them apart.”
The bear shifter nodded and did as instructed, with Angel helping out. When they left, Nikolai was just about to head towards Adam when he heard the first scream from the field and froze.
The ground shook, and chaos followed.
A second explosion took center stage in the field, one that only brightened the smoke up. Cracks began to appear, and Nikolai watched in horror as a chasm opened in the center and swallowed the nearest people up. The earth didn’t stop moving, even while something rose out of the smoke—a billowing black entity that had no face and was filled with an energy that gave him a splitting headache.
His knees shook, and he gritted his teeth against it. The entity’s magic leaked through the air, spreading around and pushing people out of the way as it looked for something—or someone. Nikolai watched in horror as some of those it touched sparked with fire and burned, and the witches who tried to help slid to their knees and screamed.
Some of the shifters shifted to their animal form, trying to attack the entity, but it was like it had an invisible shield surrounding it. He felt a hand on his wrist and turned to watch Hazel, whose face was pale and stricken.
“It’s trying to break through our combined energies and trying to find the right one. I can taste its intent.”
“What is its intent?” Nikolai asked.
“To feed off the dragon’s blood until Adam’s dead. Then to let the demons feed on the remaining ones in town until no one’s left.”
“Damn it.”
He looked around again and couldn’t find Adam in all the chaos. Hazel watched the ongoing battle closely, her eyes frantic. “Can Irene defeat this?”
Could she?
The question hung in the air even for him, but he slammed any doubts off as he nodded his head. “You a
lready know she’s powerful.”
“I know. And we’ll help. But this might consume her, Nik. Just make sure you’re there for her—”
Another explosion came, rocking the ground once more. It threw Hazel off, and she landed on her butt on the other side of the field. Nikolai himself was down on the ground, scrambling to get up as the chasm grew and black things poured out of it.
Those black things were demons.
He thought he saw the last of them in the last fight, but apparently not. They poured out in small waves, leaping for the nearest residents until a bloodbath was right in front of him. A demon ran in his direction and prepared to jump on one of the fox shifters, claws latching on and making the fox shudder. A bear shifter yanked the demon off and wrestled with it.
To his left, a demon was already tearing a vampire limb to limb and feasting on its blood. Anger flared in Nikolai. The demon’s head snapped up as if sensing it, hollow eyes unseeing.
Then it leaped for him.
He rolled away just in time, the demon’s claws sinking on the grass beside him. He shifted his hands into claws, too, and reached for the demon’s head, pushing the sharp teeth off and grabbing the demon’s jaws.
Then he ripped it in two and watched as pieces scattered all over the ground. A few seconds later, those pieces boiled and bubbled, evaporating with a hiss and leaving nothing behind.
Before Nikolai could get his next breath in, another demon was on him. But one of his other bear shifter officers, Evan Malone, was yanking the demon off him and wrestling with him instead. Nikolai’s gaze turned to the center, where he found the entity already starting to move. At the same time, he felt it—a burst of energy so bright that it staggered him. It felt different, not at all like Irene’s, and he deduced she must have altered it to appear different. In fact, it felt so similar to Adam’s energy that it was impressive. Nikolai absorbed some of it, but the rest leaked into the air, so intense that even the demons’ heads snapped up before they resumed what they were doing—attacking the townspeople.
The message was clear: that burst of energy was only for the entity, which was slowly making its way up the hill.
It was coming for Irene, and she was alone.
When Evan was done with his fight, Nikolai grabbed his arm.
“Remind the shifters not to shift fully. Demons can’t see, but they can feel your energy when you shift, especially the large animals.”
“I thought they’re only after the dragon? Wasn’t that how it was last time?”
“Not anymore. The dragon is for their asshole boss. They get the scraps—us. They’ll have our blood now.”
“Goddamn it,” Evan grumbled with feeling.
“Use your resources. Fight their blindness any way you can. Play dirty.”
Evan nodded his head and proceeded to join the throng of screaming and hissing.
Nikolai turned and ran up the hill, using a shortcut and hoping he wasn’t too late.
Chapter 14
Altering her energy and magic brand was similar to when she altered those animals—a slow, gradual process that required focus, even with all the chaos going on around her.
And there was plenty of chaos around her.
She blocked it all out as best as she could, trying not to get sick to her stomach at the sound of horrific screams and demons trying to kill. The shadowy entity in the middle of it had so much raw power as it kept searching for the dragon, and Irene knew she was the only one who stood in its way.
So she kept focusing, weaving her magic until it felt different inside her. She already had time to study Adam’s energy, and she copied that now, pushing it out of her and into the air until it was no longer hidden.
She knew the exact moment the entity spotted it. Darkness surrounded her, one she couldn’t see but feel, slowly crawling. She watched the entity move towards her—a black form that wasn’t physical but was shaped into a man as it floated in her direction. It charred whatever path it passed by, and the smoke that rose out made her want to cough. But she held it in and waited, tense as a string as the entity finally floated in front of her.
The dark energy from it suffocated her, but her magic fought it back as they looked at each other. The wisps surrounding the entity started to disappear, and bit by bit, she finally saw it for what it was: a creature similar to the demons, but twice as large and with no tail. It transformed into a rather handsome man, one with black hair, black eyes and a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Veins protruded from its cheeks, and that sharp gaze took her in hungrily.
Because she was still disguised as a man in her cloak, she looked just about the same height as him when she stood straight. The man’s uncanny eyes stayed on her for a while, tilting its head and gauging her.
You might as well give up, dragon, because you’re going to lose in the long run. Your blood will sustain us, and we will take over this world.
The oily voice in her mind made her want to shudder—but again, she held it in and stared straight ahead, letting it see she wasn’t affected. She didn’t grace it with an answer, instead warily sensing the strands of darkness surrounding her like waiting soldiers.
Do you think you can hold out on me? I am all powerful. I am your greatest fear. I have the right to your blood. Only darkness can touch my darkness. If you give me your blood now, you will not scream in pain.
Irene cleared her throat but again did not respond. She was just about to try to test the depth of the entity’s power with her magic when it happened—a cracking sound, one she felt in her bones before whatever darkness she’d been holding off suddenly lashed out at her.
She pushed it back like an invisible hammer. A strand got in, and it flared inside her system and grabbed hold of the first thing it could reach: her heart. The strand wrapped around it and squeezed, and Irene only had enough time to scramble back before flashes came in her head of losing her magic, of Nikolai dead because of her.
The things she feared the most.
Her magic kicked in and snipped the strand. The entity flared, the man changing to smoke again and back. The fury from it hit her with shock, so intense that it had her taking a step back.
WHERE’S THE DRAGON?
She’d been found out.
Irene dropped her disguise, removing her cloak and showing the entity her real self. She lifted her chin and surrounded herself with magic, poking some at the entity and finding herself completely blocked. She was just about to use some more and take its attention when the entity suddenly roared.
Then it ran in a certain direction, and dread sank inside her when she heard another familiar roar—Adam’s. Irene squinted her eyes and saw the dragon shifter trying to protect Hazel, who was bleeding and unconscious.
Adam had shifted to protect his mate.
Irene used her magic to pull the entity, but it pulled away and ignored her completely, slinking back down to the field and burning everyone that tried to fight it. The dread doubled when she saw shadows gather around the entity before heading her way, and she realized the entity didn’t exactly ignore her.
It just ordered its minions to kill her.
The first demon leaped for her, and she lashed her magic out to cut its head off. A second leaped, and a third, and she lashed her two hands out at them to kill them off. When a third leaped at the same time, her life flashed right in front of her eyes as she realized she could no longer fend it off. But a blur appeared and wrestled it to the ground, and Irene stared as Nikolai’s bear form tried to fight as many as he could.
But more were coming. In fact, most of the demons were headed her way, taking their sweet time as they killed the townspeople they passed by.
This was the entity’s revenge for being fooled.
It couldn’t go on like this, because everyone would die if she waited. She couldn’t beat them all, because they outnumbered her and it wouldn’t solve the death of the entity. Her eyes flicked to the entity as it fought with the dragon on the field now, the scent of blood c
arrying on in the air and making her dizzy.
Only darkness can touch my darkness.
The words started making sense. Irene kept slicing demons as her mind worked overtime, as she watched the witches gather around the dragon and get thrown back every time.
In a split of a second, she made her decision. At the next demons leaping for her, she didn’t slice through. Instead, she grabbed them by their throats, then let her magic flare, transferring it inside them and waiting it out. Whether Nikolai caught on or not, he managed to get the other demons off her back until the two demons’ struggle went lax, and they backed off to one side.
She grabbed two more demons, then two more, keeping her laser focus and refusing to let anyone distract her. One of the demons got through and sank its claws on her ankle, but she gritted her teeth and didn’t let her magic waver, altering demons with her power as fast and precisely as she could. She lost control in some, destroying their bodies, but she was successful in most, and she watched as the side of the hill became filled with them.
A chill went up her spine at the sight of them, so eerily quiet. Her body shook with the effort, but she bit her lip to keep from screaming and kept at it, ignoring the huge chunk of flesh a demon took from her toe before Nikolai managed to drag it off. When no more demons were visibly headed her way, she focused her magic on the demons she managed to get to behave, watching them and realizing that she had hordes of them at her command.
And her command was about to snap.
It wasn’t visible to everyone, but it was visible to her, and she saw threads of her magic wrap around the creatures, thin and frayed. She pulled more magic out of her body and tightened the threads, creating an intricate weave that took a toll on her body. Her muscles screamed in pain, and it was all she could do to keep to her feet as her legs shook.
Arms wrapped around her, steadying her. A voice was there, deep and reassuring. Some of her tiredness got absorbed by a warm body, replaced by more energy.
His energy.
“Hold on. You’re almost there. Don’t give up, Irene.”
Bear Guards: A Paranormal Romance Page 28