by Steph2
The hand he wasn’t holding away reached for his head, brushing against the short strands, trying to get a grip. She needed to hold onto something or she was afraid she’d fly apart.
Lacing his fingers with hers, he anchored her as his tongue licked through her lips, flicked her clit then plunged into her, fucking her, making her cry out his name.
She was panting by the time she finally splintered. Her body snapped against him as she came, her release flowing into John’s mouth as he continued to tongue her.
She hadn’t stopped shuddering when he lifted his head and started kissing his way up her body. His tongue flicked into her bellybutton before making a path to her breasts. Small and extremely sensitive, her nipples peaked and hardened when he sucked one and then the other between his lips. Her back arched off the bed when he bit her.
“John.”
He strung a line of kisses between her nipples then sank his teeth into the underside of her breast, almost but not quite hard enough to leave a mark.
“Shh, sweetheart. I know.”
His hand released hers as she felt him reach across the bed as his mouth settled over hers.
He kissed her with enough heat to fry all her circuits and she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders to hold on.
“No, reach up, Kaine. Hold onto the headboard.”
She obeyed immediately, so completely unlike her but then she’d never felt like this about anyone, had never wanted to give up that much control to anyone. Only to him.
Wrapping her fingers around the curved spindles, she watched as he sat back on his heels and tore open the condom with his teeth.
She almost told him not to bother. She knew he didn’t have any diseases and neither did she. And if she got pregnant—which was highly unlikely given that he was eteri and she wasn’t—it wouldn’t matter one rat’s ass to her. If she couldn’t have him, at least she’d have his child.
But she knew he’d have questions if she told him to forget it.
So she watched as he rolled it in place, shaking with desire, nearly crying with it.
Finally, he kneed her legs apart even farther, spreading her open as he lowered himself over her.
He put his elbows on either side of her head, his body covering hers completely as the head of his shaft nudged at her entrance. His eyes locked with hers, he began to push into her, so slowly she thought she’d have to scream at him to go faster. His glacial pace made her feel stretched to the point of pain, invaded.
Completely conquered.
She couldn’t get enough. She wanted to melt into his skin, fuse together with him so they were one.
And then they were. He was buried deep and didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to move again.
“Damn, you’re tight.” He’d lowered his head so he could whisper in her ear, the stubble on his cheek rasping against hers. “I can feel your muscles still pulsing around me.”
“I want you to move, John.”
“Say my name again.”
“John. Please.”
He groaned, his heated breath bathing the side of her neck as he slowly flexed his hips and retreated until his cock nearly slipped free.
“John.”
He plunged forward, hard this time. “Keep saying my name and I’ll give you anything you want.”
“John.”
She chanted his name as he filled her over and over, his hips snapping forward as her ankles locked at the small of his back. The bed rocked with his thrusts, but she barely moved because he had her trapped beneath him.
Time became inconsequential.
His mouth dipped to cover hers and his kiss was long and languid, firing the heat in her blood. When he finally broke away to suck in a deep breath, his pace picked up.
His hips churned faster, and she felt another orgasm cresting, burning her.
When she came, her hips lifted into his, trying to get him as deep as she could until she felt him groan, his cock pulsing inside her, his mouth sealing hers again.
How the hell was she ever going to leave him?
Chapter Four
Kaine murmured the spell that would keep John asleep while she slipped out of his bed and out the door.
The clock on the bedside table said 3:08 a.m. and she had to leave. Right now. If she stayed another minute, watching him sleep, she was afraid she’d never have the strength to go.
Her stomach clenched into a tight ball and her heart beat like a trapped bird. Her tongue tripped over the simple spell and she forced herself to take a deep breath and begin again.
If he woke while she was sneaking out…he’d have questions. Maybe he’d ask to see her again and she’d have to lie and say okay and give him a false number.
And if he didn’t… If he patted her on the ass, said “Hey, it was great, see ya around” and sent her on her way…
That might just kill her.
No, this was for the best.
When she felt the spell take hold, felt the slight disturbance in the energy around him, she slid out of bed and forced herself to get the hell out of his bedroom. Her clothing lay scattered across the living area, a visual reminder of the intensity with which he’d wanted her. Hell, he’d practically devoured her.
John had made her feel desired. As if he couldn’t breathe without touching her just one more time.
She’d felt loved.
Shaking her head at the complete and utter bullshit running through it, she dressed as quickly as she could. She was pulling on her boots when she realized someone had just opened the front door.
With a gasp, she stood to see a woman standing in doorway, staring at her with wide eyes as her mouth hung open.
Kaine registered the other woman’s fear first and foremost before she realized this was John’s sister, Evie. She’d changed her hair color and had it cut since the last time Kaine had seen her. The changes made her look… Well, normal was the only thing Kaine could come up with.
Before, John’s younger sister had looked a little wild. A little out of control, on the edge.
Now, she just looked normal.
And scared.
Kaine forced a sheepish smile and raised her hand in greeting. “Hi.”
Evie didn’t move. She stayed in the doorway as if ready to run at any second.
So Kaine kept moving, slowly so as not to scare her any more than she already was. She picked up her hoodie and pulled it over her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I was just on my way out. You’re Evie, right? John told me you lived together.”
“And you are?”
Kaine didn’t blame Evie for the suspicion in her tone. The woman had been kidnapped and subjected to testing for something she would never understand. While the streghe had taken all of John’s and Evie’s memories of the Etruscans, they had left the siblings with everything else that had happened to them.
Of course the woman would be frightened to find someone she didn’t know in their apartment.
“I’m Kaine. Your brother and I, ah, met at the bar down the street tonight. We came back here for, ah, drinks.”
Yeah, right. Why the hell didn’t you just say you came back here to bang his brains out?
Evie’s eyebrows lifted as the realization of what Kaine wasn’t saying filled her expression. “And where’s John?”
Kaine felt an actual blush paint her cheeks, though not from embarrassment. Images from their time together ran through her head. “He’s in bed. Asleep. I need to get up for…work tomorrow so I need to go. Now. Yeah, I can’t stay.”
Blessed Uni, could this get any worse? She needed to leave. Right now, before she said something incredibly stupid.
“Uh huh.” Evie moved into the room, though she stayed near the door she hadn’t closed. “So you’re leaving?”
“Yes.” Kaine nodded, trying to contain the gamut of emotions threatening to swamp her as she pulled her hoodie over her head. “I’m going right now. Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Do I know you?�
�� Evie asked. “Have we met?”
Kaine tried not to let the shock of Evie’s questions show on her face even as adrenaline raced through her system at the scent of magic coming from the other woman.
What the hell was going on?
The streghe had supposedly erased all traces of magic from Evie after she’d been infected by the woman who’d kidnapped her. Using a mishmash of spells from all sorts of origins including Etruscan, Egyptian, Celtic and Norse, the woman had given Evie the ability to call power, much like the Etruscans did. But whatever had been done to her, it’d nearly destroyed her.
Evie had had no control over the power. She’d been dangerous, to herself and others. If the streghe hadn’t been able to scrub it from her system, they never would have released her. She would’ve been unstable and dangerous. A time bomb waiting for a trigger to set it off.
So why the hell did she still smell like magic?
With as much calm as she could pull together, Kaine slowly approached Evie. She kept her expression friendly and a little abashed. As if she were embarrassed at being caught sneaking out of John’s bed.
Evie watched her as warily as a cat being stalked by a larger predator, her hands curling into fists at her sides, ready to defend herself if necessary.
When she was only a few feet from the door and Evie, Kaine smiled. “Sorry, I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
Nodding slowly, her gaze still locked on Kaine’s, Evie took a deep breath. Then another. And another.
Kaine’s gaze narrowed. “Hey, are you okay?”
She automatically reached out to touch Evie, to offer her some comfort but Evie pulled away as if Kaine had drawn a knife.
“I’m fine. Just a long night at work. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m really tired, so if you could just…”
Leave.
But Kaine couldn’t.
The scent of magic continued to intensify around Evie. Kaine felt Evie drawing it to her, felt the other woman pull on the power from the ley line in the earth below the city.
And from the look on her face, Evie didn’t have a clue what she was doing. Only that she felt something happening and it scared the hell out of her.
“Evie, you look really tired. Why don’t you go sit down? Can I get you a glass of water?”
“No, please, I just need you to leave. I need…”
The look of fear on Evie’s face made Kaine’s stomach clench. Evie began to back away, her eyes widening as she stared at Kaine.
“What are you doing to me?”
Evie’s breathless question made Kaine draw in a sharp breath.
Oh, shit. Was this her fault? Was she somehow triggering Evie’s magic?
“Okay.” Kaine took a step back toward the door. “No problem. I’ll just—”
The door swung shut, knocking Kaine to the ground with the force of its motion.
As she stared up at Evie from the floor, Kaine had only a few seconds to think, Shit, this is bad, before Evie lost control.
As if she were watching a scene from one of the horror films Nic loved, the taps in the sink in the kitchen turned until water spewed from the faucet and the few candles in the room burst into flame.
But when the floor began to shake beneath her, Kaine stood and headed straight for Evie.
The woman stared at her with fear and confusion in her eyes.
Kane shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”
Then she cold-cocked Evie with a roundhouse to the jaw and watched the woman crumble to the floor unconscious.
And the power in the room dissipated like smoke on a breeze.
For five seconds, Kaine let tears well. Then she blinked them away, took a deep breath and lifted Evie into her arms to place her on the couch.
Pulling her cell phone out of her jeans pocket, she hit speed dial.
“Sal. I need you.”
*
It took only minutes for Sal to get there, but in those few minutes Kaine worked herself into a pretty decent panic attack.
So when he finally appeared in the living room, having magically transported himself from his home to here, she could barely breathe as she paced from the living room to the dining area to the kitchen and back again.
Sal took one look at her before grabbing her hand, leading her to the chair by the couch and forcing her into it. Then he grabbed her head and pushed it down between her knees.
“Breathe, Kaine. Slow, deep breaths.”
“Evie… John…”
“No talking. Everything else will wait, baby girl. Just breathe.”
The steady, familiar tone of his voice helped calm her more than anything. She let her body relax as Sal rubbed her back like she was a baby being lulled to sleep.
Keeping her eyes open so she didn’t get nauseated, she focused on Sal’s sneakers. Gone were his goat legs and hooves. At least to the naked eye. He’d pulled on the glamour he wore when he went out among the eteri. Instead of a forty-ish looking man with the lower body of a goat, he looked like an eteri boy around ten or twelve wearing a knit ball cap. For some reason, Sal would never magically erase his horns. Maybe he couldn’t.
When she finally felt she had her body under control, she sat back and took a deep breath.
Sal met her gaze head on, no accusation or anger evident in his eyes or his stance. He simply waited for her to speak.
“I met John at the bar. I didn’t even go looking for him, if you can believe that. He was in Lacey’s. I came home with him. We had sex and as I was leaving, Evie walked through the door. I think whatever’s going on with me triggered whatever had been done to her. She started to pull power. She had no idea what she was doing. She could have brought the building down around us.”
She stopped to take a breath, closing her eyes as the realization of what could have happened hit her again.
Her fault. This was her fault.
“I had to knock her out before she…before she lost control.”
Sal sent Evie a thoughtful look before turning back to Kaine. “I thought the streghe took care of this?”
“I thought so too. I think they did. I think it’s me. I think I did something to her. What if it’s me, Sal?”
Sal reached for her hand and gave her a squeeze. “Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, we’ve got to figure out what’s going on.”
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” John said. “Why don’t we start with who the fuck you are?”
John’s head ached like a sonuvabitch and he felt so damn tired, he wondered if Kaine had drugged him.
He had no idea what’d woken him but when he’d reached for Kaine and found her gone, he’d wanted her back in his bed so badly, he’d forced himself to go in search of her, despite the headache and the dragging need to sleep.
He’d heard voices out here, thought maybe Kaine and Evie were having a conversation. About what, he didn’t have a clue. His brain wasn’t exactly functioning at top speed.
Which was probably why he didn’t go for a gun when he realized there was someone else in his house.
A kid, wearing jeans and a black knit cap, stood next to Kaine, holding her hand as if comforting her.
Was he dreaming?
He looked back at Kaine. She looked…stricken. Guilty.
Why the hell—
Shit. Evie lay on the couch, unmoving. He ran for her, nearly stumbling in his haste. Or from the dizziness in his head.
“Evie! Evie, wake up.”
“John, stop it. She’s fine.”
The boy’s tone barely filtered through his brain as John lifted Evie into his arms. He had to hold her, had to make sure she was okay.
Her cheeks were pale and there seemed to be a bruise on her chin. Had someone hit her?
Rage began to build in his gut and he tried to stand, tried to get him and Evie away from the boy. It had to be the boy.
“What the hell do you want?”
“I’m not here to hurt you, John.” The kid’s face twisted in a grima
ce and John was caught by his eyes. The kid had old eyes. Ancient eyes. “Kaine called me for help.”
“What? Why? I didn’t hurt you. I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Tears welled in her eyes but she blinked them back. “I know that. I didn’t call for help for me. Evie needs help, John. I think she’s in trouble.”
“I know that. I just don’t know what’s wrong.”
Shit, what the hell had loosened his tongue?
Kaine and the boy exchanged a glance as John held Evie closer. Should he run? He had to protect Evie but even though the situation was surreal, he didn’t sense danger. Which could just mean he was more fucked up than he thought and not thinking straight.
“Maybe you want to tell me what’s been going on.” The boy who’d been holding Kaine’s hand released her and took a few steps closer to him.
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Because maybe I can help.”
Help? Yeah, help would be nice. Help would be really nice right about now. But why would he accept help from a kid who didn’t look older than twelve, a kid he’d never met before and who shouldn’t be in his house?
John shook his head, trying to clear his brain. “I don’t know you.”
The kid nodded. “No, you don’t. But you can trust me. Kaine trusts me and you can too.”
Kaine. His gaze shifted back to the beautiful woman he’d brought home from the bar. She stared at him with huge, dark eyes.
He trusted Kaine. Why the hell did he trust Kaine?
“Christ, none of this makes any sense.” He lifted one hand to rub at his temples. “And my head fucking hurts. Who the fuck are you?”
The kid looked at him with old, old eyes and a well of patience. “My name’s Sal. I’m Kaine’s friend and I can help Evie. You just need to tell me what’s going on with her.”
What was going on with Evie?
Hell, weird, freaky shit was going on with her. Light bulbs burst when she got angry or scared. Tables and chairs moved across the floor on their own. Doors slammed, windows cracked.
“You’re right,” the kid said. “That’s freaky. Hell, Kaine. This is bad.”
Whoa, he must be really far gone. He couldn’t remember saying that out loud.
In his arms, Evie started to wake. Her eyes fluttered until finally she opened her eyes just enough to see him.