“I’ll be outside,” Nicolas said between his teeth.
“Nic, she’s damn close to dropping that baby, and you haven’t spared her more than a few minutes all night. Go to her. Guntram won’t kill me.” His gaze shot to the warrior. “He tried it once. He knows it’s not that easy.”
A scowl furrowed Nicolas’s forehead. “You’ve met before? Something else you didn’t think I needed to know?”
Alex smiled at Guntram, whose mouth was firming into a straight line. “Long story. I’ll fill you in later. Go.”
Nicolas opened his mouth to say something else, and then closed it. “Later.” He aimed a warning at the were and left.
Alex strode toward Guntram, then took a seat on a folding chair beside the gun rack. “You wanted to talk.”
“I know what you are,” Guntram said. “And that you’re the same Born she tried to murder.”
Alex almost smiled at Guntram’s terse delivery. The man didn’t waste words. “It was a long time ago. In Germany. She thought I’d betrayed her.”
“You had another lover. You did betray her.”
Alex shook his head. “I seduced a demon to get something that had been stolen. It was important.”
“A wolf would have found another way.”
“Because you’re loyal to your mates?”
Guntram nodded sharply.
“Vampires don’t value fidelity,” Alex said, keeping his tone even. The more time he spent with Guntram, the more he wished they weren’t standing on opposite sides. Here was a fiercely loyal man. Gabriella was luckier than she knew.
“Why should I trust your word of honor if you don’t know what honor is?”
Alex took no offense, and relaxed, meeting the other man’s glare with his expression clear of any answering animosity. “Fidelity isn’t prized out of necessity,” Alex said quietly. “Our kind must feed—on blood, on lust. We can’t fill our appetites in a monogamous relationship.”
“So none of you remain true to their mates?”
Alex thought of his mother and father, the only blood mates he’d ever known to foreswear sex with anyone else. “It’s not unheard of,” he admitted.
“But it’s inconvenient.”
“I suppose you’d see it that way.”
“Gabriella is better off without you.”
“I’m sure right now that she would agree.”
“When I bring her back,” Guntram said, his expression turning to stone, “I won’t stand aside to let you have her again.”
“Are you going to claim her?” Alex asked, not responding to the unspoken challenge. Guntram’s fierce passion was interesting given Gabriella’s equally fierce independence. “She’s sworn since the day I met her that she’d never take a wolf mate.”
Guntram’s gaze slid away. “If I return with her, I won’t give her any choice.”
Alex smiled. Guntram would do it to ensure her safety. Or at least that’s what he’d tell himself. And having Gabriella mated would certainly remove a fly in the ointment, from his perspective.
“Guntram, if you want her, I can help.”
For Gabriella, the passage of time was measured by the pounding of her heart as blood pumped through her body in a heavy, wanton beat. Her skin, tender still from the lashing she’d received by the vines, was hot and exquisitely sensitized to every caress of the Master’s hands and lips. Her reddened nipples never receded, remaining hard and distended. Her clit stayed engorged and throbbing. She restlessly scissored her legs, craving friction to heat her core.
He’d carried her to the bed, water streaming from their bodies, and laid her in the center before coming over her. Just as she’d envisioned, she’d watched him over his shoulder in the mirror as each movement of his shoulders and back animated the dragon tattooed on his back, making the wings rise up and down and the tail undulate with every flex of his buttocks. He’d fucked her again on the bed, without preliminaries, thrusting straight, powering so hard her lungs expelled air in harsh gasps.
Feeling languid, boneless, and drifting toward sleep, she moaned when his large hands parted her again, and she gazed down between their bodies, watching as he smoothed over her skin, his burnished hand caressing pale, pink curves.
For the first time, she noted the ring he wore on one hand. A raised crest with a six-sided star, a large bloodred cabochon at the center and small multicolored jewels studding each point of the star—all sitting atop a crudely made setting that looked forged from brass and iron. Light reflected off the center of the cabochon, and the smooth stone seemed to glow for a moment until he moved his hand again and the illusion faded.
She quickly lost interest in the ring when his hand slid down her belly and cupped her pussy. Two fingers eased inside her, and she sucked in a breath that hissed through clenched teeth.
“Have I hurt you?” he asked, his raised brows showing no particular concern, only curiosity.
“No, but your fingers feel cold inside me.”
“That’s because your woman’s channel is hot.” Long, thick fingers swirled inside her. “And wet. I find I’m very, very thirsty.”
She shivered at the intimacy that had grown quickly between them, emphasized by their soft whispers and reinforced by the steady sundering of her inhibitions. Even the gauzy fabric he’d drawn down around the bed deepened the feeling that they were the only beings who existed on this plane.
Her breath caught at the dark promise in his eyes as he slid down the bed and settled his torso between her thighs. When his head dipped toward her sex, a thin, ragged moan slipped between her lips.
His gaze met hers again. Black pupils dilated until only thin streaks of gold framed them, and then his tongue flicked out, longer than she’d expected and indented at the tip. The flicker touched her clitoris, stroking it, and her back arched instantly. Another flick and he stroked between her folds, prodding her entrance to lap at the cream sliding down to greet his wicked demon’s tongue.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize the creature lying there with her thighs splayed. Her hair was matted, her eyes overlarge, her mouth red and stretching as she moaned.
His head, circling between her legs, was dark; his thick hair slicked back. Powerful shoulders, bracketed by her thighs, tensed and eased as he plied her with sinuous rasps of his long, slick tongue.
Her body followed his movements, her hips lifting and falling, letting him coax her into full arousal again. When had she surrendered everything to him? When had her plot to seduce him completely devolved until she was the one enraptured? Trapped by her own sensual nature and his natural domination, she’d folded easily. Too easily.
She dug her fingers into his scalp and pulled his hair, trying to pry him from her cunt. However, his tongue thrust more insistently inside her, reaching deeper, sliding, fluttering until it found the bundle of nerves a third of the way up, the rounded knot of her inner pleasure center.
Her body vibrated, quivering hard at his internal caresses. He touched nothing else, concentrating his efforts there until her moans grew thin and broken.
When her release spiraled out of control, her thighs clamped his shoulders hard, and she tugged at his hair, fingers clenching in time with the strongly pulsating caresses that squeezed up and down her vagina.
A low, throaty groan emanated from his mouth still locked against her sex, and she shivered at the sensual satisfaction she’d given him.
Then he withdrew his tongue and sat on his haunches between her legs, holding out his hand again, fully expecting her to acquiesce.
Again? Sweet fuck, will he ever be satisfied? Just the thought of this powerful demon’s insatiable appetite for her flattered her ego, suppressing the alarm jangling at her conscience. She forced herself to hesitate, invocating her proud core to resist, while ignoring the part of her that was dying to surrender and bask in the lush desire he’d created.
One dark brow arched; his eyes narrowed. Remembering where she was and with whom, she gulped do
wn her fear and slowly lifted her hand to place her palm against his.
His fingers clasped hers hard and dragged her upward to her knees.
They faced each other, both breathing hard, his mouth gliding into a smile that made her quiver anew, this time with dread. “What do you want from me?” she asked, her voice overly loud in the stillness surrounding them.
“Your surrender would be a nice start.”
“I’ve done everything you wanted.”
Dark eyes flashed. “You’ve been playing at obedience.”
“My actions aren’t enough?”
His fingers slipped to her wrists, encircling them like steely cuffs, and her heart pounded harder against her chest. “You think you can toy with me, that I can be fooled into complacency.”
Gabriella bit back a groan that he’d read her so well. Had her expression given her away? She wasn’t accustomed to schooling her features or her mouth. “Can you read my mind, then?”
“I can read the defiance and pride in your eyes. You betray yourself in so many different ways.” Drawing both of her wrists together, he raised them above her head and reached for some silken cords dangling inside the curtains.
Knowing what he had in mind, she began to struggle, jerking hard against his hold, but to no avail. He quickly looped the silk around her wrists, binding her. Raised onto her knees, any tugging pulled on the silk, which constricted her wrists. “It hurts. Untie me.”
“You only hurt yourself. Cease your struggles.”
Faced toward the curtain now, she glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t like this.”
“Liar. Your skin is flushing.” He inhaled deeply. “Your scent ripens. You crave to be overwhelmed and mastered by a man.”
He knew! Mortification heightened the flush creeping across her cheeks. “You’ve got me all wrong.”
“I don’t think so. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been so easy to draw your hand to that mirror. My love, it only took one look.”
Gabriella turned from his self-satisfied expression, fighting the very thing he’d discerned about her. Her entire body was flooding with anticipation, melting from the inside at his commanding tone.
She felt the mattress dip behind her. Felt the heat radiating from his skin as he came between her bent legs and his chest snuggled close to her back. “There is no shame in surrendering,” he murmured against her hair.
Which was true in a way. The shame that had painted her whole life with dark, violent colors was deeper than the sexual need he’d discovered … and details she’d never shared with anyone since the day she’d made those responsible pay for her pain.
Her submission was just part of her nature, and a facet she’d learned to control by swallowing down her pride to engage in brief liaisons and rid herself of the edgy anxiety that filled her from time to time. With human partners, she could play at submission. Fill the well of her needs, then slip back into the mantle of her rank and kind without anyone knowing—no one who mattered or could use her weakness against her, that is.
Only with Alex had she ever seriously considered surrendering all.
No human could control her or fulfill her. She’d played at it, sharing her secret liaisons with just one of her kind, but Guntram was like a loyal dog and had never used his knowledge to wrest away her power. And in his way, he had stood guard over her, protecting her from herself.
Surrendering to a demon now was unthinkable. But fighting his unnatural charisma was taking all her energy. Somehow, she had to find a way to prevent him from enslaving her to her own pleasure and need.
For just a moment, she considered transforming and biting through her ties. She’d love to see his eyes widen with fear when she turned on him. However, she still didn’t know the full extent of his power and strength. And for now, the only advantage she held was the truth about herself.
Hands glided down her back to her buttocks. His fingers curled beneath them and parted her. His cock’s blunt crown slid into her crevice, raking up and down, and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, because she knew he’d decided to inflame another part of her body.
His fingers bit into her tender flesh, his thumbs swept closer to the small entrance and pressed it open. Again, his cock nudged, centering there, and then pressed inward.
Her buttocks flexed as she tried to pull away, tried to squeeze them together to repel him. This act was the ultimate in submission—the most intimate, the most demeaning when accomplished through force.
“I don’t want this,” she hissed.
“Shall I prove that you’re lying?” he whispered next to her ear. His mouth dropped to her shoulder, teeth and lips scraping across skin, sparking nerve endings, which crackled and fired, sending darts of pleasure south. She was doomed by her own sensuality.
She shivered at his seductive promise and the underlying hint of menace, and then moaned with relief when his cock shifted, sliding forward to dip into her pussy—just the head, just to wet it, because again, he pressed against her back entrance, this time sinking the crown inside her.
Then his hands let go of her ass and came around her hips, one raking over her stomach to palm a breast and gently massage it, the other sliding between her legs. Fingers plunged into her pussy; his thumb toggled her engorged clit until her body shook, rocked by his skill and his relentless pursuit of her submission.
When his cock thrust upward, she dangled on the cords, her body going limp because she no longer controlled it. Her resistance had been all for show, a front that quickly crumpled as ripples of dark pleasure spiraled inside her.
The demon surrounding her, penetrating her, would make good on his promise to master her. Every endless caress and thrust bound her more tightly in this oppressive realm. Already, she craved his cock, his fingers, his lips …
He thrust up again, sliding deep inside her ass. Her ring eased around him, until he was slamming her body down his cock, fucking her relentlessly over and over while he fingered her, until her orgasm exploded, taking her breath, leaving her hanging on the cords and controlled by the hands holding her in a bruising grip that continued to work her up and down his cock.
As her rhythmic convulsions clasping his cock and fingers waned, his motions shortened, sharpened, jerking her body with his powerful thrusts, until his breathing rasped like sandpaper and his body stiffened. Then, giving a muffled groan, warmth filled her as he emptied his passion inside her.
Wrung out and listless, all resistance overcome at last, she wilted against him. He untied her hands and laid her on the bed, clasped close to his shuddering frame.
As she snuggled close to his chest, she silently prayed. Rescue had better come soon or her free will would be turned to mush and her mind consumed with hunger for this dark god. Alex might abandon her here, and she knew deep in her heart that the Master would never let her go.
Guntram was her only hope.
CHAPTER
5
Sleep eluded Guntram. He lay stretched on a narrow cot in a windowless, monk-like cell, waiting for the evening to arrive—waiting for his “hosts” to leave their beds and summon him.
The wait was interminable. He’d checked on his men, who slept in shifts, not trusting the promise their captors had made to do them no harm. Guntram worried about their safety should something go wrong in the dark realm. If he didn’t come back with Gabriella, Alex would have an even bigger problem on his hands. Guntram knew the smartest thing for the vampires to do would be to make the entire team “disappear” rather than release them to carry the tale back to their clan.
However, his wolves’ fate didn’t weigh heaviest on his conscience. They’d been handpicked by him, knew the risk they’d faced when they’d snuck into enemy territory. They’d face death the same way he would—fighting for every last breath but resigned to their fate. They were all warriors, and their destiny was to sacrifice for the good of the clan.
No, his heart wasn’t burdened by their fate. Instead, he worried about the woman ag
ain. Gabriella wasn’t a warrior, although she’d fought many battles. She was a woman at her core. She ought to have been covered long ago, filled with cubs, cosseted and pampered as any breedable wolf was entitled to be.
Her abduction was as much his fault as Alex’s. As a male, he had the duty to protect a female, whatever the means, including taking her and forcing her to his will. Since she’d never accepted a mate from within her own rank, she’d lost the right to refuse a lesser suit.
His protection had enabled her to continue to remain free. His backing had given her a false sense of security. She’d kept her status as alpha of her pack, kept her wealth and her autonomy. Long ago, he’d stopped wondering why she refused to follow her natural path. She’d grown into a goddess in his mind, and as long as she craved her freedom, and more, because he didn’t want to see her covered by another male, he’d silently given his support.
Even to the point of watching over her when her heat grew so intense that she had to alleviate the cramping desire by seeking trysts with lesser creatures. Hovering outside motel rooms and sex-club dungeons, knowing what she did with men she didn’t give a damn about, hadn’t lessened his desire for her.
He’d denied his own urges, shoving them deep inside. She’d damn near made a eunuch of him.
If Alex was to be believed, the last thing she wanted from him was everything he’d ever offered her. She didn’t want his protection—she wanted him to prove his physical strength was greater than hers, wanted him to prove he was even more determined to have her than she was to refuse his suit.
The formula for breaking through her icy reserve was simple. Demolish every argument, every show of resistance. Restrain her if need be, never let her get the upper hand—but do it “respectfully.”
Guntram had snorted when Alex added that caveat. How did one “respectfully” conquer a woman?
With his body tightening with arousal at the thought of Gabriella spread beneath him, her eyes glaring daggers while her body moistened and heated, Guntram sat up and swung his legs to the side of the cot. A one-fisted rub wasn’t going to cure what ailed him. He needed action, needed to break something, put a fist through something hard to dull the sharp edge of his longing.
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