House of Shadows

by Morgan Hawke

  “I merely thought you young.” Klaus tilted his head slightly to the side while staring at Rick. “You still live.”

  Rick frowned. “Yeah? So?”

  Klaus pursed his lips. “Your sire must have been very old and very strong to have passed enough vitality that I did not realize this. You are close, but not truly vampire.”

  Rowan looked at Rick then Klaus. “Is this bad?”

  Klaus sighed. “He is not strong enough to sustain me.”

  Rowan bit her lip. “Then you’ll leave?”

  Klaus’s eyes moved from one to the other. “No.”

  “No?” Rick and Rowan said together.

  “If he’s not what you need, then why do you want to stay?” Rowan stomped her foot on the soft carpet.

  Klaus shook his head slowly. “It is now too late for that.”

  In exasperation, she focused on the ancient vampire, trying to guess what he was up to. Abruptly, the hair on her neck started to rise and her balance started to slide a little to the right. Oh, shit... It was a sensation she recognized from being a fortune-teller for so many years. She was experiencing the weight of an irrevocable decision shifting possibilities from ‘might be’ into ‘will be’. Klaus was planning to do something that was going to change the road to the future, irrevocably; she was literally, feeling it coming.

  Abruptly, Klaus shattered into shredded darkness. The glass fell to the floor.

  “I hate it when he does that.” Rick knelt to collect the glass.

  Rowan looked up at the ceiling. “Rick, he’s up to something.”

  “Yeah, I know.” He jerked his head toward the bed. “Come on, we both need a shower.”

  Rowan followed Rick toward the bathroom. “Rick, I have a really bad feeling about this.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  - Eleven -

  Satiation

  With his back to her, Rick dragged his shirt over his head then tossed it into the bathroom sink. “Throw all your stuff in the sink. I’ll toss the lot in the wash after we get out.”

  “Sure.” Rowan found her eyes traveling the play of muscle across his back. She blinked. On the back of his shoulder, near the collarbone, was a round white scar the size of a silver dollar. It was directly opposite the twin gouge scars on his breast.

  There was a jingle of a belt buckle and Rowan’s eyes dipped lower. Rick’s hands gripped his waistband and he pulled the wet and clinging jeans down his flanks. His firm ass appeared and Rowan had to remember to breathe. Her body gave an interested lurch and she felt her temperature rise. Her body’s hunger was awakening.

  Rick jerked his jeans down. Long, dark red smears painted his muscular thighs. He stopped and turned to look at her.

  “What are you waiting for? Get undressed, you’re dripping on my floor.”

  Rowan swallowed and wrenched her eyes away from the view. “I can wait.”

  “It’ll be faster if we shower together.” Rick pulled off his pants and tossed them in the sink. “Come on, get that shit off.”

  Rowan sighed and turned her back. She yanked off her T-shirt, tossed it in the sink, then fought with her wet jeans. She found her eyes sneaking glances at Rick in the mirror. Completely and deliciously nude, he put one foot in the shower, bent over and turned on the water. She swallowed. Watching him is not doing me any good, she told herself softly, then finally succeeded in yanking off her jeans and panties.

  His head came out and turned to look at her with a raised brow. “You ready?”

  Rowan gathered the shreds of her dignity. “We don’t have to shower together.”

  “Yes, we do.” He smiled and held out his hand. “Scared?”

  “Of you?” Rowan swallowed. Reactionary moisture was sliding down her thighs. Yes…

  “Just get in. I’ll be quick.” He smiled. “I promise.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled.

  Rowan was jerked under the hot water. “Hey!” Rowan stepped back against the wall, blinking the water from her eyes.

  “Come here.” He turned with a sponge in his hands and reached for her.

  She flinched back.

  “Take it easy, it’s just a sponge with soap.” The water glistened on Rick’s skin and his wet hair lay like ink across his shoulders. His hand closed on her shoulder. “Hasn’t anyone ever bathed you before?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “Good.” With strong, downward strokes, he covered her shoulders and breasts in masses of foam.

  Rowan’s nipples tingled with the attention. She bit her lip. “I can wash myself…”

  “This shit is hard to get off, so it’ll probably take both of us to get it all and I like touching you.” He swirled the sponge across her belly. The foam gathered and dripped down her legs. He knelt and shoved the sponge between her thighs to wash her intimately.

  Rowan bit back a gasp.

  “Admit it, you’re enjoying it.” His smile was all male and his mouth was only inches from her belly.

  She shuddered and leaned back against the wall while her knees shook. Don’t remind me…

  “You used magic,” he said softly. “Didn’t you? Every time that barrier flared from Klaus, that was you, wasn’t it?”

  Rowan bit her lip and nodded.

  “Turn around and spread your legs.”

  “What?”

  Rick stood up and took her shoulders, turning her gently but firmly. “Just do it, so I can wash your backside. You sat in it, remember?”

  “Oh…” Rowan turned around and placed her palms on the cool tile.

  “Much better,” he said softly.

  The sponge swirled down her back, then concentrated on her buttocks and thighs. Abruptly one of his hands covered hers, trapping it against the wall and she felt his chest pressing against her back. His breath was warm in her ear.

  “Have I told you what a sweet ass you have?”

  “What?” Rowan jerked. She felt his soap-slippery fingers slide down the seam of her backside to brush her intimately. “Hey!” She moved away and his arm slid around her waist to hold her in position.

  “Why is it that whenever things get interesting, you always run away?” His hand imprisoned her palm against the wall and the fingers of his other hand slid down and parted the outer lips of her intimate flesh. He pressed firmly against her back, holding her buttocks tight against his heavy arousal. His teeth nipped at her ear.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” A finger stroked her and a bolt of pleasure stabbed, inducing carnal heat that roared through her. She bit back a hungry moan.

  “What does it feel like?” His fingers moved, lightly, quickly, touching, rubbing and encouraging.

  Pleasure built with swift and crushing force. She gasped and bucked under his dancing fingers.

  “That’s my hot little girl.” He chuckled in her ear. “You used quite a bit of power last night and then today, too. I know that you need sex to recharge your magic...”

  Rowan froze. Mother of us all, when did he figure that out?

  “First thing this morning.” His fingers slowed. “As soon as you climaxed, I felt you drawing from me and recharging.”

  Son of a bitch, she thought softly.

  “No big deal.” His voice rasped against the tender skin behind her ear. “I suspected that using your magic made you hot, I smelled it on you last night right after you set the barrier, but you seemed to shut that right down.” His lips and teeth nibbled lightly on her throat. “Then I smelled the lust rolling off you when the barrier flared last night, then again when Klaus charged it this morning.” His fingers slowed even more. “It made me really fucking hard,” he said very softly. “I wanted to bury myself in you right there on the floor.”

  His potent words and resonating voice simmered like warm syrup, pooling low and deep. She could feel her body’s excitement wetting his hand and her thighs. “I can’t...” She took a panting breath. “I can’t help it.” The razor edge of climax threatened and Rowan came up on her toes in anxious anticipation.


  He stopped, pulling his hand away. “Going somewhere without me?”

  She moaned in frustration and dropped to her heels. Her knees trembled and his hands steadied her against the shower wall. She bit her lip and burned with hollow and grasping hunger. “I can put off sex for a while, but sooner or later...” Restlessly, she shifted her backside against his delicious heat.

  “Oh, I know. Sooner or later, it catches up to you and you have to fuck.” He took a deep shuddering breath. “And I have just what you need, what we both need, right here.” The heated brand of his shaft pressed down until it slid between her thighs and rubbed against her tender flesh.

  Her feet jerked further apart all by themselves and she arched, rubbing wantonly against him until he was pressing hard against her body’s entrance.

  He stopped, poised on her threshold. His arm released her then his palms covered both of her hands, pressing them against the cool tile. “It’s your turn.” His voice deepened and grew husky. “It’s your turn to fuck me.”

  Rowan took a harsh breath and writhed with an appetite that pulsed in time with her heart. “That’s not fair…”

  “I think it’s perfectly fair.” He shifted, rubbing invitingly against her warm, slippery and engorged sex. He stopped with the blunt tip of his shaft nosing at her body’s moist entrance. “If you want it, you’re going to have to take it,” he said hoarsely.

  She froze in trembling indecision while ravenous need clenched within her. Hot water pounded his back and slithered down hers. She felt moisture spreading and her body opening to receive. A soft tremulous sound escaped her lips.

  “You need this as much as I want to give it,” he whispered. “Take me, sweetheart, take what you need…What we both need.”

  With a small shudder of submission to her desire, she pressed back against him.

  He grunted and slid into her body. “Oh, God, yes,” he hissed and held perfectly still.

  She lifted a foot and writhed to take him deeper until her buttocks pressed back against his hips. She stopped and took a breath.

  He let out a harsh breath. “Now, do me, Kitten.”

  She arched her back, easing his rigid length out, then flexed to slide him back in. He leaned in and his lips touched the corner of her mouth. She turned and opened her mouth to kiss him. He groaned and his arm encircled her waist. She shoved back against him and he thrust slowly; too slowly.

  Rowan mewled in impatience, broke the kiss and shoved hard against the wall, pushing in earnest. “More,” she gasped out. Her hips twisted as she sought to get him deeper, but his height and the angle was not allowing for enough speed or a deep enough stroke to satisfy, only to torment. Frustrated and impatient in her hunger, she slid out from under him.

  “Hey,” he said, catching her around the waist.

  She turned in his arms, grabbed his hair and pulled him down to press her open mouth to his in a kiss. “Get down on the floor,” she husked into his mouth.

  He pulled away. “What?”

  “The floor,” she pushed at his shoulder. “Get on the floor.”

  His arms wrapped around her and he took her down with him. They hit the floor and she gasped. The shower poured over her shoulders. He crawled back, with her straddling him until his face was out of the spray and he sat back propped up against the wall. He shook the water from his face and grinned. “You want floor? We got floor.”

  Without ceremony, she grasped his shaft in one hand and dropped down onto him hard, taking him whole. He gasped and his back arched under her. He slid in her slick channel, impossibly deep, brutally rigid and utterly satisfying. “Yes,” she sighed. “Better.”

  “Fuck, Rowan...” He lifted his head and stared at her with his eyes ignited to flame-lit copper. “Give a guy some warning.”

  Her eyes narrowed in the spray, she came up on her knees, splaying her hands on his shoulders. “You want me to fuck you? Then I’ll fuck you.” Her voice came out low and harsh.

  His lips curled in a feral grin. “I think I like this aggressive side of you.” His hands came up to cup her breasts, then pulled at her swollen nipples.

  She stayed poised on her knees with his fingers deliciously tormenting her excited flesh, and then she dropped, impaling herself on his length.

  His head fell back, baring his long teeth in a throaty moan. “God, yes...” His hand cupped the back of her neck and pulled, angling her breast into his mouth sucking hard.

  She felt a delicious pulse of intense pleasure race from her breast to her core and moaned. She rose, leaning forward and squeezing his length with her inner muscles, then twisted her hips, tilted her pelvis back and slammed back down.

  He gasped and shoved upward, hard. “That’s it, that’s perfect and God help me, Kitten, don’t stop.”

  She lunged, back and forth, with unrelenting force, riding him harder than she would normally dare, gathering speed and momentum. His hand found her ass and pulled her in time with his upward thrusts, helping to speed her to satisfaction.

  “Yes,” she gasped out. This was what she needed. This was what she had always needed and never knew she was missing, a lover that could satisfy her rapacious demands without holding back. A deep rolling wave of brutal urgency built with vicious speed.

  His arms lock around her. “Rowan,” he panted, “I’m going to cum.” He moaned. “Any second.”

  “Good,” she said harshly and felt the muscles of her body tighten, clenching. Climax crested with ruthless tension. Straining against her rigid body, she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his mouth up onto hers. Her breath stopped for a long moment, then frenzied rapture took her and she bucked, moaning her impassioned ecstasy into his mouth. An electric frisson of power shivered at the base of her spine.

  His moan joined hers and mouths locked together, he rolled her under him, pulling her leg up over him, thrusting violently once, twice and then he came. She felt the vibration of him within her and the wash of hot liquid coursing from his body, filling hers.

  Power flared hot and electric, scenting the air with lust and ozone. A second rapture of pure arcane power crashed, washing through them and they howled.

  * * *

  Rowan blinked the water from her eyes. Rick was a heavy weight on top of her. “I am so gonna hurt after that one.”

  His chuckle vibrated through her. “You’re not the only one,” he said into her neck. He lifted up onto his hands, still locked within her body. “Think we’ll live?” His grin was broad and his eyes were a brilliant violet. He raised a brow. “Your eyes are purple again.”

  She smiled. “So are yours.” She sighed, feeling warm, light-headed and wholly satiated.

  “I guess that answers that question.” He shook the water from his hair.

  She flinched against the droplets from his flying hair. “What question?”

  He grinned down at her. “Whether or not the two of us will always generate a purple glow when we have sex.” He rose up off of her. “That is going to complicate things if we do this anywhere out doors.”

  “You are not planning to do this outside?” Rowan rolled up on her knees and groaned. Her body felt like it had been beaten.

  “Sure, why not?” Rick leaned his palms against the wall under the showerhead then stuck his head under the water. He shook his head, spraying water from his long dark hair then turned to stare at her. His eyes gleamed with violet flame. “Kitten, I will do you any time and any place you’ll let me into that tight body of yours—purple glow or no purple glow.”

  Rowan leaned a palm against the wall to climb to her feet. Her knees were shaking. “Do me? I am not a sex toy!”

  Rick barked out a laugh. “Maybe you’re not, but I sure felt like one less than a minute ago.” He turned and grinned at her through the falling water.

  Rowan grabbed the sponge and raised a brow at him. “Is that a complaint?”

  He shook his head. “Hell no, I love the idea of being your sex toy.” He grinned then suddenly dove for her.r />
  She yelped and dropped the sponge.

  He caught her in a bear hug then lifted her from the floor, holding her tight against his chest. “Kitten, any time you want to use me for sex, I am your willing toy.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

  “Terrific, I’m happy for you.” She shook the water from her eyes.

  “Speaking of sex toys...” His eyes narrowed and his arms tightened around her. “I expect to be your only toy.”

  Rowan bit her lip. “I’m not exactly dating anyone...”

  “Not exactly?” His lips curved in a predatory smile.

  She shook her head and sighed. “I broke up with my last boyfriend the night I met you.”

  “Good.” He nodded sharply then arched a brow. “Let me guess, he couldn’t handle it.”

  She gave him a sour smile. “He said that I was using him...” She bit her lip. Do I really want to mention the rest?

  Rick tilted his head to the side. “You get aroused every time you do magic, so it wouldn’t take long for somebody to figure out that you use sex to recharge.”

  Rowan nodded. “That’s about it.”

  “Okay, now what’s the rest?”

  Rowan swallowed. “The rest?” Her voice ended in a squeak.

  “Yeah, cough it up. Most guys would love to be used for sex, I know I do.” He waggled his brows. “So what’s the problem?”

  Rowan felt her cheeks getting warm. “Well, I sort of, feed off of them when they cum.”

  “Yeah, I figured that one out,” Rick said dryly. “So what’s the problem?”

  “So they, uh...” She swallowed hard. “So they uh, can’t um, do it without me.”

  Rick frowned. “You’re saying that they can’t get it up with anyone but you?”

  Rowan nodded and looked away. “After about a week of not sleeping with me, their sex-drive comes back, but uh...”

  “Sounds to me like they’d only find out if they tried it with somebody else.” His voice was soft. “So they try to sleep with somebody else, can’t get it up then come running back to you pissed, is that it?”

  Rowan turned and looked into his eyes. She nodded.