Dark and Dangerous: Six-in-One Hot Paranormal Romances

by Jennifer Ashley

  “I do.” Antoine leaned in, snaked his right hand around the back of Sera’s head, tunnelling his fingers into her hair, and drew her to him. His gaze dropped to her mouth and his heart thudded, a heavy beat that rocked him and made his breath shudder. He closed his eyes, claimed her sweet lips and kissed her as softly as he could manage. When she leaned into the kiss, he pulled away and stared down at her. Her eyelids lifted, revealing deep green irises and wide aroused pupils. “I want to do this.”

  She nodded, shifted her hand to his cheek and stroked it, her touch as soft as feathers and teasing his senses. Would she be that gentle with him when she had him chained and at her mercy? Sweet Hell, he hoped that she was. He enjoyed the times when they were rough and wicked with each other, but it was the times when they were gentle and tender that reached right down to his soul and deeply affected him.

  “Lie down,” Sera husked, the vixen in her surfacing. Her smile was wicked as he obeyed and sprawled out on his back on the red covers, his head on the pillows.

  Antoine drew in a deep steadying breath and stretched his arms across the pillows. His heart continued to pound, blood rushing as his gaze followed Sera’s every move. She knelt next to his right arm, carefully lifted his wrist and placed it in the cradle of the cuff. He inhaled another deep breath as she closed the cuff around his wrist. It fit snugly, no room around his wrist for him to wriggle and get his hand through should he want to escape. His only option would be to smash the bedposts. Easy enough to do. He just hoped it didn’t come to that. He liked his bed.

  Panic closed his throat and Sera paused, as though she had sensed the spike in his emotions. She probably had. His blood still flowed in her veins, enough of it that he could feel her emotions clearly but could no longer hear her thoughts. She would be able to feel him through that connection too. She stroked his arm, soft and tender, soothing his panic until he felt he could breathe again.

  “We really don’t have—”

  “I want to,” Antoine interjected and she nodded but didn’t look sure. He sighed. “I am just concerned that I might not react well. I do not want to hurt you.”

  “I know.” She leaned over and pressed a kiss to the inside of his elbow, and then worked her way up his arm, paying close attention to any scar she came across.

  He loved when she kissed them because he felt the compassion in her with each press of her lips, the deep affection that she hid in her heart, affection that matched the feelings that lurked in his, held beyond the reach of her sight. She drew back and frowned down at him, and he had a hard time not staring at her bare breasts. The dark plum buds of her nipples called to him and he wanted to grab her and drag her down to him so he could suckle them.

  “If you panic... Snow will feel you, won’t he?” There was worry in her eyes now.

  Antoine smiled. “Most likely, although he does know we have the restraints and your intentions when asking him for them was very clear. There is a chance he would not come bursting through the door and catch us in the act.”

  A beautiful deep crimson coloured her cheeks and she cast her gaze downwards, settling it on his chest. Antoine’s smile widened.

  “I will do my best to relax. I am sure it is just fear of the unknown and once I am bound, I will be more comfortable.”

  Sera nodded again and went to crawl over the top of him. Antoine grabbed her around the back of her neck with his free hand, dragged her down to him and kissed her. She moaned into his mouth, her whole body tense, and then relaxed into him. The feel of her soft warm skin on his tore a groan from his throat and he deepened the kiss, claiming her lips and bruising them with his force. He needed to kiss her like this, to taste her and devour her, to dominate her before she dominated him. Everything male in him said to make it clear right now who was in charge and that she was his.

  Antoine growled when he tried to wrap his other arm around her and felt the tug of the restraint.

  Sera bit his lower lip and then sat back, a smile on her face. “Sucks, doesn’t it? I wanted to touch you so badly when you had me tied up. I ached to place my hands on you.”

  He growled again, low and feral, aroused by the thought of desiring something he couldn’t do. She wasn’t exactly encouraging him to go along with letting her tie his other wrist up. The thought of not being able to touch her was torture to him. He wanted to ghost his hands over every inch of her flawless pale skin and kiss her from head to toe, something he couldn’t do with his hands bound.

  He went to grab her again but she evaded his hand, caught his wrist, and had it pinned to the pillows next to the cuff before he could blink. Antoine relaxed into the bed and let her have her way. He could easily escape her grasp but part of him didn’t want to—the part that wanted to experience what Sera had said and was aroused by the thought of being bound and helpless.

  She took his hand, settled his wrist in the cuff and closed it.

  Antoine felt her tense.

  He tensed too, waiting to feel something crash over him. Panic. Fear. Rage.

  Nothing came.

  He looked at his bound left hand and then at his right. The sight of them sent a hot rush of arousal through his veins. His arms were longer than Sera’s so there was some slack in the chains but he could only raise them a few inches off the pillows. He tugged at them, curled his arms as much as he could, testing their strength.

  “None of that.” Sera mounted his chest. She knelt astride him, took hold of his forearms and pressed them down into the crimson pillows, forcing him to relax. “You’ll break them and I’m not asking Snow for another set.”

  Antoine raised an eyebrow at her. He wouldn’t break the restraints. He’d had them built to withstand Snow’s strength. It was more likely that the bed would snap rather than the chains, and restraints would be useless then.

  Unless she locked his hands together behind his back.

  Antoine shouldn’t have liked the image that popped into his mind with that thought, but the idea of lying with his hands chained behind his back and Sera on top of him had his desire soaring. His cock twitched and began to harden again. He tugged at his restraints, gentler this time so Sera didn’t reprimand him, and groaned at the feel of them.

  Sera giggled.

  “I think you’re enjoying this more than I thought you would.” She reached over behind her and ran her hand down his hard length, tearing another moan from him.

  The feel of her sitting astride his chest, her heat seeping into him, and her hand on his cock was exquisite. He rolled his eyes closed with the next stroke of her hand down his length and then opened them again, staring deep into hers. She held his gaze, hers soft and full of desire, passionate and intense.

  She ran her hands along his arms and shifted backwards. He groaned and swallowed, tried to keep his eyes locked with hers as she moved down his body, trailing her fingers over his chest and then his stomach. He pulled at the restraints, moaning as they bit into his wrists, the spark of pain intensifying his pleasure.

  “Antoine,” Sera whispered and his attention snapped back to her. She ran her fingertips in circles around his nipples and then down over the ridges of his stomach. He tensed it for her, eliciting a sweet moan. She traced each muscle, fingers following the dips between them, her tongue sweeping over her lower lip. He stared at her mouth, wanting to kiss her when she did that.

  She leaned over and replaced her fingers with her lips, kissing him instead, sweeping her mouth over his stomach. She shuffled backwards, knees astride his thighs, and licked the hollow of his navel. He laughed. Her answering giggle was light and soft, and she swirled her tongue around his navel again. Antoine bucked up, the cuffs tight against his wrists, and laughed harder. His stomach tensed and flipped, fluttering. He never should have revealed his weakness. She was merciless as she teased it, her giggling and his laughter mingling and lightening the mood for a brief few seconds.

  When she sat back, her eyes met his and the mood changed again, deepening once more. With his blood in her
body, it was impossible for her to hide her feelings from him, but the fact that she wasn’t even trying touched him and drew him into responding in kind. He stared into her eyes and let his feelings bubble to the surface so she would see them in his eyes and feel them in his blood.

  Her cheeks flushed again and he smiled at her, soft and warm, content beneath her even though he was bound and powerless.

  He had been bound and powerless from the moment he had met her.

  Sera moved up him, grasped his cock and positioned it beneath her. She held his gaze as she slowly sank down on it, drawing him into her heat and stealing his breath away. He struggled to focus, switching between wanting to close his eyes and revel in the feel of her body encasing his, and staring into her eyes and drowning in their combined feelings. Sera settled her hands against his stomach and rose off him, as slowly as she had sunk onto him. He groaned and she joined him, her moan so low that he barely heard her.

  His arms tensed, body going rigid as she began to ride him, setting a pace that threatened to overwhelm him. His emotions slipped beyond his control, rising to the surface, all of them there in his eyes and his heart for her to see. He had expected the cuffs to make him vulnerable but not like this.

  It felt as though she was drawing his feelings out of him through his eyes as she stared into them, deep and intense, her own full of emotions that echoed the ones beating in his heart. He groaned and sighed, frowned. Her slow tempo drove him crazy, deepening the connection between them until he lost awareness of their surroundings and could only focus on Sera as she pressed her hands into his stomach, tipped her head back, and rode his cock.

  Her breathy moans were music to his ears, adding to his ecstasy and pushing him towards the edge. Antoine couldn’t stop himself from groaning each time she slid down his cock and took him back into her body, tightly gloving him, heating him to his core. He kept still beneath her, letting her be the one in control, knowing that if he did she would give him the ultimate pleasure.

  Her gaze held his, warm with affection but edged with fear. He felt that same fear in his heart, a whisper at the back of his mind that warned this was dangerous. He was falling for her and no good would come of it.

  Antoine didn’t care.

  Fear meant nothing in this moment. The future meant nothing. All he could focus on was the present, the intense connection blossoming between them as their bodies joined in a mutual search for pleasure.

  Antoine had never felt anything like it.

  It was mind-blowing, incredible, and shook him to his soul. He had never experienced such a connection with anyone, not in all the years he had been alive and all the relationships he’d had.

  He needed more.

  “Sera,” he husked and she bit her lip, her pupils widening, as though the sound of him saying her name aroused her and heightened her pleasure.

  He tipped his head back, silently trying to tell her where he wanted her. He craved the feel of her mouth on his, her taste flooding him. He needed to complete the connection between them through a kiss.

  She moaned and ran her hands up his chest, her strokes faltering, quickening. Antoine pumped his hips, meeting her on each down stroke, tearing another throaty blissful moan from her. She leaned over him and he craned his neck, caught her lips and kissed her.

  Ecstasy.

  Did she feel it too?

  He tugged at his restraints, mentally cursing them. He wanted to clutch her to him and hold her, keep her moving on him while he kissed her. She took control of the kiss, using his distraction against him, and he melted into the pillow. Her tongue swept past his lips to tangle with his, her sweet taste flooding his mouth. Her slow thrusts drove him out of his mind, the pleasure too intense, and he felt as though he was going to scream or explode. He wanted release, needed to feel her quiver with her climax, desperately desired to thrust his cock hard into her and spill himself.

  “Sera,” he whispered, one half pleading her to give him release and the other half begging her to continue and draw it out for as long as possible. He didn’t want to lose this incredible connection to her, this soul-deep joining of their bodies and their emotions. Whatever they had, it was a rare thing, one he wouldn’t give up, not for anything or anyone.

  “Antoine,” she moaned into his mouth and her fingers tightened against his shoulders, nails pressing in and adding a spark of pain to the bliss burning through him. She groaned and moved faster, harder, driving down onto his cock and choking him in her depths. Still not enough.

  He dug his heels into the mattress and pumped her, rocking his cock into her hot sheath. Her moans were exquisite, so full of pleasure and need. Two feelings he awoke in her and was more than happy to fulfil.

  She tangled her hands in his hair, kissing him deeper, and it felt as though she was taking all of him into her, and giving all of herself to him.

  He pulled at his restraints again, frustrated, desperate to touch her and hold her to him, to roll her over onto her back and drive into her.

  She tightened around him, trembled and then bit down hard on his lip as her body jerked forwards. Her body clenched him and throbbed, milking his cock, and his orgasm crashed over him. He lifted his hips off the bed, pushing himself deep into her core as he climaxed, flooding her with his seed.

  Sera was still a moment, teeth clamped down on his lower lip, body shaking around his, and then relaxed. He closed his eyes and exhaled on a heavy sigh, heat running through his limbs and carrying his strength away.

  She kissed along his jaw and down his neck, and Antoine didn’t have the strength to deny her. He tipped his head to one side and groaned her name as she sank her fangs deep into his throat. Bliss. Fiery, consuming, and so intense that he trembled. He moaned with each soft pull she made, drawing his blood to her, sending his head spinning. Her hands clutched his shoulders, squeezed, held him in a way that said she wouldn’t let him go either.

  Her soft suckling filled his ears as her feelings flooded his mind. The connection that had opened between them when they had been making love was nothing compared to the one that sprang into life now, filling his mind with bright colours and endless warmth.

  “Sera,” he whispered, a plea this time. He didn’t want her to stop. He could hold the darkness at bay for her, would never let it touch her mind again. He wanted every time they made love to end like this, with sharing blood. He craved the connection to her.

  She sucked harder and he couldn’t take it. The feel of her hands on him, her lips on his throat and her fangs in his body, his blood flowing into her, and their bodies intimately entwined was so profound and erotic that it overwhelmed him.

  His cock stiffened, balls ached, and a second orgasm rocked him, far stronger than the first and so unexpected that it sent his head spinning towards fathomless darkness. Towards unconsciousness. Sera moaned as he pumped his seed into her again and her body shuddered. Her fangs left his throat and she breathed hard against his neck, her sheath milking him once more. The feel of her climaxing with him because of their connection and sharing blood had him reaching for her but the cuffs bit into his wrists, reminding him that he wasn’t able to do what he wanted.

  Sera relaxed against him, hands shaking on his shoulders, breath trembling across his chest.

  When her bite had sent him careening towards passing out, he had feared that she had awakened his bloodlust, but he felt none of the effects. He felt hazy and warm, at peace and one with her. Sera. His seducer. His vixen. His goddess.

  Her thoughts swam in his mind and he tried not to listen to them, but their subject and her emotions tugged at his heart. She feared. She was afraid that he would leave her someday, that she would lose the incredible man beneath her. He would have smiled at being called incredible had it not been for the fact that her fear was genuine, and ran deep in her heart. She feared he would be taken from her and that she wouldn’t be able to stop it from happening.

  It wasn’t the bloodlust that she feared, but him leaving her for another w
oman—the woman he had almost forgotten. Sera had chased Anya from his mind and his heart, but now she had brought her back again, a ghost that haunted him and one he had thought he had freed himself from. He wanted to tell Sera that she had no reason to fear because he would never leave her but he had promised not to use the blood connection between them to pry. She would never forgive him if he revealed that he had listened in on her private thoughts.

  Antoine needed to do something to reassure her though. The need was primal, controlling, a male desire to protect his female and ensure her happiness and comfort.

  He growled and pulled at the cuffs that bound him, muscles rippling and body going rigid. Sera lifted her head, her green eyes wide, shock echoing in them. Not fear. She didn’t think he had lost his mind to bloodlust then. He silently thanked her for her faith in him and pulled his wrists towards him. The cuffs at the other end of the ones that held him began to bend. He tugged harder, straining and growling, and they crumpled under the pressure and slipped through the cuffs of the restraints attached to the bedposts.

  The sudden release of pressure against his wrists was something he probably should have anticipated. His left fist smashed into the side of his face and the mangled cuff still attached to it flipped over his face and smacked him in the ear. His other fist cracked against it, driving the metal against his head.

  Pain buzzed across his skull.

  Antoine didn’t care.

  He grabbed a startled Sera, wrapped his arms around her and dragged her down against him. He kissed her with every ounce of feeling that beat for her in his dark heart, hoping to show her without words that she had nothing to fear.

  She melted into him, her palms against his chest, her kisses soft and light, full of need and affection.

  Antoine held her closer, drawing her deeper into his embrace.

  He would never leave her.

  No one on this Earth could take him from her.

  No one.