They paused inside the cavernous entry room as the guards locked the door behind them.
“What is this place?” Pixie asked, glancing around.
Ion shrugged. “One of my backups. I’ve survived as long as I have because I always have a backup plan. Remember that.” There was a hard edge to his voice as he spoke.
“So why are we here? What is it that you need me to do?” Pixie asked.
“You’ll find out at the appropriate time.”
He gestured at one of his guards.
“Put a collar on him. No point in taking chances.”
Dominick glowered as one of the guards knelt down and snapped a thick copper ring on his ankle. Now he wouldn’t be able to shift.
Ion reached out and grabbed Pixie’s wig, pulling it off her head. “Well, well, a set of lock picking tools,” he said, smiling at the set of picks she’d taped to the scalp of the wig. “How resourceful of you. Sorry, I’ll have to keep those.”
He nodded to his guards. “Lock them in.”
The guards hustled them down a hallway, and into a room without windows. There was a bed with a wooden frame, and no other furniture. The door was thick, solid wood.
As soon as the door slammed shut, Pixie reached up and fished around in her hair.
She pulled out a hairpin, twisted it, and a sharp end was exposed. “Ha,” she said. “People always underestimate me.”
Then she set to work on the copper ring. “Okay, I’ve got the lock open, but leave it on for now. If you get the opportunity to shift, you’ll be able to rip it off instantly.”
Then she stood up and punched him in the arm.
“Nice going back there in the hotel, by the way,” she snapped. “What the hell was that?”
Dominick groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I know. Believe me, I know. I completely blew it for us. I may have killed all of our friends with my foolishness.”
“Would you care to share your thoughts? Why the hell did you do that?”
Dominick grimaced. Telling her was going to be humiliating. He’d rather just let her keep hitting him. “If I tell you, you’ll laugh.”
“Why would I laugh?” Pixie was baffled.
“The necklace. The one that got torn off when I was wrestling with Ion. There was a talisman on it that…suppressed my sex drive. And now that it’s been torn off, I can’t concentrate. I’m acting like a crazy man, I know.”
Pixie started at Dominick in astonishment. “Why would you have that kind of talisman?”
“Because my fated mate cheated on me.”
“I’m sorry, she did what?” Pixie’s eyes went wide with shock.
Dominick wasn’t surprised at her reaction. It was just about unprecedented. He’d never heard of a shifter cheating on their fated mate before.
His family had been shocked. Everyone in their home town of Big Timber had been shocked. Dominick had been so furious, and so humiliated, that he’d stayed only long enough to break off his engagement with his fated mate, get the shaman to make that talisman which would ensure he’d never be with a woman again, and leave town.
“I can’t believe she did that to you. What a bitch.” Well, at least Pixie looked indignant, not amused.
He sat down on the bed, staring at the floor.
“I guess I wasn’t enough for her.” Even thinking about it made him queasy. Was it something he’d done? Their sex had been passionate, he’d tried very, very hard to be the perfect mate despite the strange doubts that had plagued him from the beginning…was it his fault for having doubted her?
“Are you crazy?” Pixie demanded. “You’re incredibly hot. You’re a catch. She was lucky to have you.”
Oh, God. Pixie telling him he was hot…that was just what he didn’t need. He was struggling with every last bit of his self control, and all he wanted to do was jump on her and rip her clothes off with his teeth.
“Anyway,” Pixie continued. “Your fated mate – uh – isn’t it possible that there was some mistake? She wasn’t really your fated mate?”
“I wish that were the case, but from the minute I first met her, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I couldn’t stand her personality, I used to wish every day that she wasn’t my fated mate, but the way I couldn’t stop thinking about her – I’d never felt that way about anyone before. It was an obsession. I could hardly concentrate at work, when she wasn’t near me it was physically painful. It was pretty damned obvious that she was my fated mate.”
“Huh. I don’t know, somehow that doesn’t sound right,” Pixie said. “I mean, I’ve talked to people who are shifters, and that doesn’t sound like what they experienced at all.”
“Maybe fate just doesn’t want me to have a mate. I don’t know, Pixie, I wish I knew.”
“So…are you thinking about her again, now that the bracelet is off?”
Dominick looked up and met Pixie’s eyes. “No,” he said in a choked voice. “All that I can think about is you.”
Chapter Eight
What astonished Pixie, even more than hearing those words, was realizing how much she’d longed to hear him say them.
Where had that come from? Had she always wanted Dominick and just never let herself acknowledge it?
“You’re not just saying that?” she asked suspiciously. Dominick wanted her? Dominick, the handsome lion from a family of millionaires, wanted Pixie, the street rat?
“Of course I’m not just saying that. I want you so much I can’t see straight. When that guy asked if you were on the menu, I came close to killing him. I wish that I hadn’t already met my fated mate, because if I hadn’t, I’d swear that it was you.”
Pixie was speechless. Of all the words that she’d ever expected to hear out of Dominick’s mouth…those definitely weren’t on the list. “Pixie, I swear to God I’ll kill you if you don’t give my wallet back right now” – now THAT was what she expected to hear out of Dominick’s mouth.
However, this presented her with an interesting possibility. Especially given the fact that this could, literally, be their last night on Earth. She had no idea what Ion would ask of her tomorrow, or whether she’d survive it.
“So,” she said. “You’ve got all this pent up sexual energy and it’s making it impossible for you to concentrate, or even function.”
“Yeah, that’s about the size of it.”
At that, Pixie couldn’t help but glance at his crotch, and the erection tenting the sheet still wrapped around his waist. The size of it was pretty impressive, actually.
“Well,” she said, “I can’t risk having you screw things up for us again, so we’re going to have to figure out a way to relieve all that sexual tension.”
“But how?” he groaned dolefully. “There’s no way for me to get another talisman without going back to the shaman who- Pixie, what are you doing?” he asked, as she straddled his lap.
“Are you really that stupid?” she demanded.
“I can’t do this to you,” he said in a strangled voice. “I can’t use you like that.”
“Who says you’re using me?” She looped her arms around his neck, pressing against him. “Maybe I’m using you.”
She felt his rock hard erection jerk, and she pushed herself up against it.
“Pixie,” he groaned, his voice agonized. “I won’t be able to stop myself.” His words came out in between harsh rasps of breath.
“I don’t want you to stop yourself.” She brushed her lips against his. “And by the way, I like it rough,” she said, murmuring into his neck.
With a growl, he half stood up and moved his body, and she slid onto the bed. He straddled her, the sheet falling away.
He reached down, grabbed her bellhop uniform shirt with both hands, and ripped it open in the front. Buttons flew everywhere. Then he did the same to her bra, tearing it open as if it were tissue paper.
“Like this?”
He grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head, and pressed his body against hers. His hard,
muscular body pressed into hers, trapping her on the mattress.
She felt a wave of heat rush through her, soaking her panties and turning her bones to liquid. She yanked her hands against his, but he kept them pinned, and she stifled a whimper. She wanted to touch him, to run her hands over his smooth, hard flesh, but she also loved how he was dominating her.
He nipped at her neck, scraping it with his teeth, and she squirmed and moaned beneath him. “Oh, God,” she whimpered. “I want you.”
Instead of answering, he ran his tongue over the spot he’d just bitten, and then moved on to claim her mouth in a passionate, hungry kiss. His tongue swept through her mouth, slowly, swirling around her tongue and leading it in an intimate dance. She kissed back, wrapping one leg around him and pressing him into her.
He moved his hands so only one hand was pinning both her wrists. With his other hand he reached down and unsnapped the button of her pants, then unzipped it.
She lifted her hips so he could push her pants down, and his fingers slipped between her legs, stroking the slippery petals of her pussy.
“Yes,” she moaned. “Touch me. More.”
“Like that, baby?”
A finger slipped inside her, curving inward, moving and stroking until it found the spot that made her arch her back beneath him and cry out.
“Yes!” she cried out. “Right there. Yes.”
As he stroked her, he moved back to kiss her again, as if he couldn’t bear to stop. His kiss was demanding, all-consuming. The heat built inside her, and she moaned into his mouth.
While his index finger stroked her inner wall, he moved his thumb to her clit, massaging the swollen pink button with his thumb pad. The warmth inside her grew, and she felt an urgency that was almost painful. She writhed under his hand, and small whimpers were wrenched from her mouth. That cock – she wanted it inside her, filling her, thrusting into her.
But her hands were pinned, and her mouth was filled with his kiss, and she could do nothing but writhe helplessly underneath him, as the pleasure and heat swelled in her lower abdomen. She felt herself growing more and more sensitive, until pain and pleasure mingled, and she whimpered with desperate need.
Finally the dam broke, and she felt the massive explosion of pleasure that started in her pelvis and spread through her body in waves.
Dominick released her mouth as she cried out her pleasure, and he thrust two more fingers inside her as she convulsed in orgasm.
“Oh, yeah, baby,” he groaned. “I love to feel you come.”
Then the thick head of his cock was nudging the entrance to her tunnel, which was already slick with the juices of her arousal. He pushed hard, once, twice, and he was a couple inches inside her.
“You’re so tight. I love it,” Dominick gasped.
“No, you’re so huge,” Pixie sighed with pleasure, as he worked his way in deeper with several thrusts of his hips.
“We fit together perfectly.” He was all the way inside, and then he began pumping into her.
She felt stretched, filled to the very limit, but it was deliciously pleasurable at the same time. He pumped inside her, and she felt the heat building again.
Dominick tangled his fingers in her hair, tipping her head back as he plunged into her, and he nuzzled her neck.
He felt so good inside her, so right. She circled her arms around him, grabbing his perfect butt with her hands, pulling him into her. He was so big that it hurt, but in an exquisitely pleasurable way.
A small part of her, from a million miles away, nagged at her. The voice of reason.
This is crazy, the voice said. This can’t last. Will you fall for him? Will it break your heart when he walks away?
But it felt too good to stop. Dominick’s huge cock filled her perfectly, and every jerk of his hips brought her closer to a second climax.
“Harder,” she begged. “I’m going to…ohhh….”
He responded by pumping even harder, and every slam of his hips thudded her in to the mattress, and she exploded again. She could feel her inner muscles convulsively clamping on his cock.
His breathing grew harsh and fast, and then suddenly he pulled out and exploded, his hot come lashing her stomach.
“Oh, my God,” he groaned. Shudders racked his whole body, and he collapsed on the bed next to her, breathing hard. He reached over and took her small hand in his huge hand and squeezed it, as they lay their side by side. There was something so intimate about that gesture, so tender, that Pixie felt hot tears sting her eyes. She blinked them away quickly.
She couldn’t fall for him. This was Dominick. He couldn’t stand her. If they survived the mission, he’d go get another talisman, and he’d be back to his old grouchy self, and he’d hate her again.
Dominick rolled on his side and pulled her up against him, wrapping his arms around her. She pressed into his warmth, and strength, for a brief moment, wanting to stay there forever, and then started to pull away.
He pulled her back, his arms tightening. “Don’t leave me,” he growled into her ear.
“I should…I should go take a shower and clean off,” she said.
“I’ll come with you. I’ll sponge you off,” he murmured, and kissed her neck.
She sighed and sank back into him. She’d never been known for her willpower.
Chapter Nine
Pixie checked her reflection in the full length mirror. She wore a body hugging blue silk gown with a plunging neckline, with a skirt that flared out like the bell of a flower. She had a matching silk purse, and a blue shawl completed the outfit. Dominick was straightening the red bowtie on his tux. He looked shockingly handsome; he was made to wear a tux.
They’d spent the day locked in their room, with the guards bringing them breakfast and then lunch.
Then that afternoon, they’d been led into a bigger bedroom, with apricot glazed walls, a hand painted wooden chest of drawers, and an iron four poster bed with a gown and a tux laid out on it. They were told to get dressed, and the guards had left them alone.
Ion had even provided shoes, in the right size, and makeup and jewelry for Pixie. He’d given Pixie her blonde wig back, without the lock picks in it, unfortunately. Dominick still wore the copper ring on his ankle; he was just waiting for the right moment to tear it off.
Once they’d finished dressing, the door swung open, and Ion strolled in, with a sheaf of papers in his hand. Today his suit was tweed herringbone, again perfectly tailored, with his pocket square coordinated to the color of his tie. He still wore the glasses.
He looked them up and down with a cool, appraising glance.
“Very nice,” he said. He handed Dominick a paper envelope, and slapped a copy of a blueprint down on the chest of drawers in front of them.
“The envelope contains your invitation,” he told them. “You will be attending a party thrown by a man named Craig Biltmore, at the Freemore House.” Pixie recognized the name. It was a 19th century mansion that was frequently rented out for posh parties. She’d been there before, back in her full time thieving days. She’d gone on a dare, and come back with a designer purse full of stolen swag. She’d even stolen the purse.
She knew the name of Craig Biltmore, too; she’d seen it in the local papers. He was very mysterious. She didn’t recall ever seeing a picture of him. He’d come into town a year ago, nobody knew anything about his past, and he donated massive amounts of money to charity, in the name of something called the Rose Foundation. Battered women’s shelters, a new wing for a children’s hospital, renovations for the city’s museum, massive grants to the local university, a string of no kill animal shelters, afterschool programs for underprivileged kids…he’d donated hundreds of millions of dollars.
And yet nobody could find out anything about his past, or where his money came from.
“The party is a fundraiser for a local museum,” Ion continued. “Craig doesn’t usually attend his own parties, but he is making a rare public appearance, which is why I must make my move now.
There will be hundreds of wealthy art patrons there, and plenty of distractions. An orchestra, jugglers, fire eaters, and the like. Craig always did love a spectacle. The reason you are going there is that Craig has stolen something of mine, and I need it back. It’s a jewel, and he always wears it somewhere on his body.”
He held up a picture of the jewel, a ruby the size of a fist. It was so huge that it didn’t even look real, but Pixie was sure it was, with all of the trouble that Ion was going through to get it. “It could be anywhere on him, and he may have it in a necklace, on a belt buckle, anywhere.”
“You will arrive at 7 p.m. At precisely 8:00 p.m., my men will see to it that the power is cut and all of the lights in the house will go off. You need to be right next to him at that point. Because of your unique talents, I know that you will be able to get ahold of the jewel without him noticing, although he will very guess likely what’s happening once the lights go out. As soon as you have the jewel, you will immediately head out through the ballroom, down that hallway, through the kitchen…” he traced his finger along the path.
“You will exit out the kitchen’s back door,” he concluded. “There will be several catering vans parked there. One of them will say Van Smythe Brothers Catering. Climb in, they will take you to meet me, and we will make a trade. You will give me the ruby, I will give you the antidote.”
“How do we know that you will?” Pixie asked suspiciously.
He smiled coldly. “You have no choice but to trust me. I know that if I don’t give you the antidote, you and your friends, and the authorities, will not rest until you find me. I don’t have any particular wish to see your friends dead; I just needed to assure your assistance.”
Pixie didn’t bother to tell him that either way, she and her surviving friends would hunt him down and kill him. The other employees of Shifters, Inc. would come back from their assignments, and they would join up and make finding him their life’s mission, whether Bobbi and the rest survived or not.
It was killing her not knowing how her friends were doing. Were they still alive, even now?
Pixie the Lion Tamer Page 5