Seduced and Ensnared

by Stephanie Julian

  Stella nipped at his lip, hard, and felt him wince. But it didn’t encourage him to move along. His hands stayed at her waist, though instead of kissing her again, he pressed his lips against her neck.

  Sliding her hands along his shoulders, she moved them to his neck and into his hair, lacing her fingers through the strands and tugging hard. He froze for a split second before opening his mouth over the sensitive skin beneath her ear and licking. Shivers racked her body at the delicate sensation, more powerful than if he’d bitten her there.

  Still, it was unfulfilling. She needed his cock inside her while he squeezed her breast with one hand and her ass with the other. She needed him so out of his mind with desire for her he couldn’t think.

  Unwrapping her legs, she let them dangle then kicked him in the shins. Again. Hard.

  His hands tightened and she thought maybe he’d gotten the message. Then he set her on her feet.

  Stupid man.

  It was time for drastic measures.

  Dropping her hands to the button-fly of his jeans, she ripped it open then shoved them to his knees. He wasn’t wearing underwear. Maybe he wasn’t so stupid after all.

  His groan echoed in the room but his hands curled into fists at his sides. Even when she dropped to her knees, he kept them clenched.

  “Stell—” His voice cut off when she held up the forefinger of her right hand. Using that same finger, she ran it down the length of his cock. It bobbed with every desperate breath he took.

  Wrapping one hand around the base, she used the other to pull him down so she could take him inside her mouth.

  Velvet-soft skin shifted over the hard hot core. She took him in deep right away, heard him mutter something in another language then finally, finally, he took her head in his hands and held her tight as if he wouldn’t let her go, even if she tried to get away.

  Not that she was going anywhere. This was exactly what she wanted—a slip in his composure.

  Stella pulled back, letting her teeth graze his cock in the process. His entire body shook. Her hands now free, she reached around to grab his ass and knead the strong muscles. Her tongue swirled around the fat tip of his shaft, dipping into the slit at the end then pulling away so she could take him back in. The contrast of hard and soft delighted her and made her want more of him.

  She slid back to the tip and sucked hard as his hands caught her rhythm and moved her head back and forth.

  Soon he was the one setting the tempo and she was just following his lead. She could barely catch her breath and every one she drew was laced with his scent, raw and male. His skin grew slick and the ache in her sex was almost too much to bear. Her pussy begged to be filled but she would not ask for it. He had to want it so badly he’d break his own damn restraint to get it.

  She worked on him with her teeth, tongue and lips, giving herself over to the motion until she felt his cock jerk in her mouth.

  “No.” Cam pulled away before he could come, pushing her back with so much force she landed on her ass. She expected to see him spurt in the air but he ringed the base of his cock with his thumb and forefinger and squeezed hard.

  Screw that, she thought as she scrambled to her feet. She wasn’t going to let him—

  Stella didn’t get to finish that thought, because she finally got what she wanted.

  Eyes heavy-lidded and mouth pressed into a thin straight line, Cam grabbed the boxer shorts she wore and ripped them in two. Then he grabbed her around the waist again but this time his fingers bit into her skin. Her feet left the ground and he turned so he could hold her against the rough wooden door. He pinned her there and shoved his cock inside her to the hilt in one fluid motion.

  She was so wet her juice ran down her thighs. Before he could thrust into her again, she came, her sheath contracting around him so strongly he groaned. Then all motion stopped.

  “Stella…”

  “Fuck me, Cam.” She turned and bit his neck then licked a path up to his earlobe and bit that too. “Come on, just do it. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.”

  With an incoherent growl, he drew back and pinned her to the wall. He thrust. Again and again and again. Her nails scored his back, her fingers tugged at his hair and her hips flowed with his rhythm.

  It was heaven and exactly what she’d wanted. Stella let her head fall back against the door, spread her legs even wider and lost herself in the best damn orgasm she’d ever had.

  It was so good she almost missed Cam’s shout as he spurted into her.

  Chapter Six

  “We need to talk,” Cam said. Damn, he sounded like a girl. He held Stella between his chest and the door, feeling every ragged breath she took.

  They still wore shirts but the boxer shorts she’d been wearing were in two pieces on the floor and his pants had slid down around his ankles. If he tried to move, he’d fall. He wouldn’t drop Stella though. He’d break every bone in his body before he let her get hurt. But as tightly as she was holding him, he wasn’t going down without her.

  What the hell had just happened?

  Before he’d arrived, he told himself they’d talk first. He’d explain everything. Tell her who and what he was and everything he knew about Daniel Bonnini being Mal. He’d lay all his cards on the table and let her come to her own conclusions. If she told him to take a flying leap, he’d do it and watch over her from the shadows.

  Then he’d seen her and all he wanted was one kiss. Damn, he really was a sap.

  He’d tried to take it slow, unthreatening. Just a simple kiss. But she’d devoured him as if he was a fillet and she was a starving cat. Okay, stupid analogy, but blessed Goddess, when she’d dropped to her knees, he’d thought he might have a heart attack.

  She still hadn’t said anything and he hoped that was because she was recovering rather than because she regretted what had happened.

  As if she’d read his mind, Stella sighed, the motion flattening her breasts even more against his chest. Was that contentment he heard? Or regret?

  Her hands started tracing lazy patterns on his shoulders, moving upward until her fingers wove into the longer hair at his nape.

  “You know this hair should make you look feminine,” she said. “It’s almost too pretty.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that or if he was supposed to say anything. He really didn’t want to say anything that might piss her off. With his cock still lodged inside her, he could feel every move she made and when she spoke, her sex clenched around him. He really loved that.

  Her nails scratched his scalp, sending a shiver of pleasure through him. But her hands were getting dangerously close to his ears. He forced himself not to move away, to let her make this discovery on her own.

  “It’s so soft,” she continued, her hands reaching his earlobes. “And too long—”

  Her entire body froze, except for her hands. With her index fingers, she traced the outline of his ears, his very pointed, very nonhuman ears.

  She traced them from tip to lobe several times before he felt her move her head. Stella shifted away just far enough to be able to see the side of his head. Sliding her fingers into his hair again, she pulled the strands back, leaving his ears exposed.

  He heard her swallow, felt the motion ripple along her whole body.

  “I think…you should put me down now.”

  Heart pounding, he pulled out of her as her legs unlaced from around his waist.

  The nervous fear in the pit of his stomach was a new embarrassing experience. Normally he didn’t do nervous—or fear or embarrassment. Nerves were for the unworthy. Fear was for the weak and embarrassment was for those poor deluded wannabes on the first few weeks of American Idol.

  He was none of those things—not normally. But now with the woman he’d been waiting more than a hundred years to find, well…

  Her feet now on the ground, Stella moved as far from him as she could get. Since she was already up against the door, it wasn’t far.

  Cam stood his ground, kept his arms loose a
nd his hands unclenched at his side. He wasn’t some freak to be gawked at. His ears were part of his heritage, an integral part of who he was.

  Her eyes narrowed as she stared at first one ear then the other, moving his head side to side to get a better look. He’d never had anyone look at them so intently, had never let anyone stare at them like Stella was now.

  Nothing showed in her expression, no hint of what she was thinking. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she met his gaze. “I’m guessing those aren’t your way of lightening the mood?”

  “No.”

  “They’re real?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’re probably not just a huge Lord of the Rings fan, huh?”

  That tight vise in his chest was starting to loosen. At least she wasn’t running in the opposite direction. “I’ve seen the first movie. Couldn’t get past the fact they got the ears wrong.”

  “Okay, sooo…you’re an elf?”

  “I’m linchetto.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Which means… Wait, you know what?” She held up one hand and shook her head. “Hold that thought. I think I need clothes for this conversation.”

  Now that she said it, he felt kind of foolish standing there with his pants around his ankles. Stepping back, he pulled them up as she slipped by him. He couldn’t help but watch. She was still wearing his t-shirt, which covered most but not all of her ass, and if he had his way, he’d be seeing a lot more of it.

  He watched her walk to the small chest by the double bed then grab a pair of denim shorts from the drawer. They covered much less than his boxer shorts and she didn’t bother with underwear, just wriggled into them. His blood pressure skyrocketed, desire making his balls ache. He figured that was his punishment for lying to her.

  When she turned to him again, she pointed to the table near the kitchen and they sat down.

  Stella stared at him for at least a minute, as if gathering her thoughts, getting all her questions in line. Everything he’d learned about her pointed to a meticulous, detail-oriented woman.

  “So it’s been awhile since I studied Roman mythology—”

  “Not Roman. I’m Fata, one of the Etruscan magical races.”

  Her eyelids shot skyward. “One of?”

  “There are Fata and there are Enu. I believe you are Enu.”

  Her eyes went wide as half-dollars. “So I’m magical too. I’ve never heard these terms before, so forgive me if I ask too many questions. Explain the difference between the two.”

  Sarcasm laced her tone. She was having trouble with all of this. He could understand her unwillingness to believe. But there were things she needed to know. “The Fata are the spirits of the air, forest and water. Linchetti, folletti, salbinelli and so on. The Enu are humans who still have arus, magic, in their blood. People like you.”

  Stella considered her next question carefully, because she was either dealing with a highly delusional lunatic…or a man who could answer questions she’d had her entire life. Questions like how she could will herself from one place to another. Why she could become invisible. Why her mother had been able to do the same. And more.

  “Are you human?”

  When Cam’s chin shot up as if she’d hit him, she figured that maybe she should have thought that question through a little more. But his expression didn’t change.

  “We’re not animals, if that’s what you’re asking—”

  She held up a hand in front of her chest. “No, wait. That didn’t come out right. And I didn’t mean to imply that you were… But you said those words, Fata and Enu, as if they mean something different than human.”

  “We believe the eteri, the regular humans, are simply a more recent evolutionary branch on the same tree.”

  That made sense…somehow. She got the distinct feeling that Cam thought humans were a little lower on the food chain than the Enu and Fata.

  After seeing what he could do, she couldn’t disagree. “Why do you think I’m…Enu?” Her tongue tripped on the unfamiliar word. “Because of what I can do?”

  “Yes, and because your mother’s family came from Italy, which is where the Enu originated, long before the Romans wrestled control of the country from the Etruscans and assimilated them into their culture.”

  She blinked, her brain trying to take it all in. “Sounds like I should have paid a little more attention in history.”

  “You wouldn’t have learned this in any college course.” Was that a smile she saw trying to lift the corners of his mouth? “We’ve hidden ourselves from humans for centuries. What do you think humans would do if they knew there were people like us in the world? You think they’d welcome us with open arms? Humans are never not at war over something somewhere. Can you imagine what would happen if they discovered magic truly exists? And that they can’t control it?”

  Okay, he definitely had a point there. God knew what would happen if the rest of the world discovered some people could control magic and others couldn’t. It would be complete chaos. “But why would my parents keep something like this from me? It doesn’t make any sense. Were they ashamed? Afraid? Did my mom not know about this?” Or did they choose not to tell her? Maybe they’d planned to tell her when she was older. But what else hadn’t they disclosed? And what about the rest of her family? She voiced that question. “What about Uncle Daniel?”

  Cam stiffened a little, as if he was worried about how to tell her something she didn’t want to hear. And maybe she didn’t.

  “Your uncle is Malandante. The Mal are born evil, it’s in their blood. They want to control the world, bend it to their will and they don’t care who or how many they hurt to achieve their goals.” Cam took a deep breath then continued, “Our plan was to kidnap you and hold you as collateral until Bonnini traded himself for you.” His mouth tightened but he didn’t look away. “I never would have hurt you, Stella. We don’t operate that way. But your uncle has already tried twice to capture a Fata. He’s probably tried many times before that we don’t know about. We’re not sure what he’s planning but a few months ago, he kidnapped my brother’s mate and held her until Antonin rescued her.”

  Stella’s mouth dropped open. “Whoa, wait. I know my uncle’s no saint but I can’t believe he’d resort to kidnapping…unlike you.” At the last two words, her tone turned haughty.

  Cam flinched. She was right on that account. He had planned to kidnap her. Then the plan had turned into…something entirely different. But she had to see the truth about Bonnini. “Last year, he set fire to a large part of the forest not far from here and tried to take a group of children from their mothers.”

  “Oh now hold on.” She flew out of her chair and started to pace. “There’s no way Uncle Daniel would do that.”

  “You don’t know what your uncle’s capable of.”

  “I know he wouldn’t deliberately hurt anyone.”

  Cam’s expression never changed. He was deadly serious and it rocked her confidence. Uncle Daniel would never do that, would he?

  She shook her head. “No, Cam, you’re wrong.” He had to be. But…

  Her heart pounded and her stomach rolled. She remembered a conversation she’d overheard last year. Her uncle had been on the phone in his home office, talking to someone about the subjects they’d lost. Something about a fire.

  Then four months ago, he’d had to take an unexpected business trip in the middle of the week. It was unusual because he hadn’t told her where he was going and for how long.

  Stella grabbed the chair as her head began to spin.

  Cam had her in his arms before her bottom hit the seat. “Stella.” He sat back on his chair, holding her on his lap. “Are you okay? Are you going to faint? Do you have any alcohol in this place?”

  With her in his arms, he stood and headed toward the three cabinets hanging on the wall over the old stainless steel sink and ancient white enamel stove.

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she clung to him, completely unembarrassed. Hell, she de
served a medal for not passing out.

  She stuck her nose in the soft cotton of his t-shirt and breathed deeply. His scent helped to steady her. Everything he’d told her was the truth as he knew it. That much was clear. Given the danger he believed his people to be in, he was right in trying to protect them. She couldn’t but forgive him for his deception.

  “Cabinet on the left. Bottle of Jack Daniel’s,” she mumbled.

  Her dad had always kept a bottle of whiskey there. She’d actually developed a taste for it and made sure to keep a fresh bottle here all the time. She reached for it because he had his hands full of her.

  “Glasses?” he asked.

  “Why bother?”

  “My kind of girl.”

  Her gaze shot to his face at the tone of his voice. “And what kind would that be?”

  He didn’t answer her as he went back to the table and sat with her on his lap.

  “Cam?”

  His expression didn’t reveal anything. But his eyes blazed. “Yeah?”

  Hell, did she really want an answer to her question? She’d had a lot thrown at her today. A lot of information, a lot of surprises, a lot of turmoil. And mind-blowing sex.

  Maybe she should just stick to finding out more about this secret magical world he lived in before she mucked it up with all sorts of emotions she hadn’t gotten her head around herself. She took a deep breath. “I think I need that drink now.” She unscrewed the cap, lifted the bottle to her mouth and took a swallow. It burned all the way down and, oh God, did it feel good.

  Offering the bottle to Cam, she watched him tilt it back, his throat working as he swallowed. Damn, he was so beautiful in all the ways men could be. And those ears… She turned her head and raised her hand to push his hair out of the way.

  He stiffened and she realized how worried he was about what she thought of them. They were so unusual, in the angle and the shape, but they were just as gorgeous as the rest of him. They made him look…young. And she wanted to lick them.

  She felt a smile lift the corners of her mouth. “They’re beautiful. You know that, right?”

  Cam took another pull from the bottle then shrugged. “Those Fata who choose to blend, to live among the eteri, get good at hiding in plain sight. It’s easier for us linchetti since we only have to worry about the ears. The folletti can camouflage their wings but the salbin—”