Flame's Embrace

by Pillar, Amanda

  This day just kept getting better and better.

  By the time I’d unloaded the car and located the room, Tamsin was staring out a window with her arms crossed. She didn’t so much as look over her shoulder as I walked in.

  “No, that’s alright. You just stand there and look pretty. I’ll do all the heavy lifting.”

  “Glad we agree on one thing,” she said, voice amused.

  I shook my head, dropping the bags I was schlepping onto the lone bed. A quick glance around determined that the room was spacious enough . . . if we were a couple. Which meant that I’d just set foot inside my own personal version of hell, because so long as we were both in here, we’d be all up in each other’s space.

  This wasn’t going to end well.

  “You know, bellboys at least get tipped for their manual labor,” I said, knowing some of my temper leaked into the words.

  “Too bad you aren’t a bellboy.”

  Annoyed that she still hadn’t spared me a glance, I couldn’t resist goading her. “You’re telling me a succubus can’t get creative when it comes to finding a way to give a man a tip?”

  Tamsin turned around, her eyes narrowed and her hands falling to her hips. “Is that a ‘just the tip joke’ or are you actually looking for advice, Dom?”

  “Advice is the last thing I’m looking for,” I said, the words coming out before I could stop them.

  Tamsin froze. Her delicate eyebrows rose, and I wasn’t sure if it was condescension or something else. Something more.

  “Oh?” she asked, her voice turning husky. “And do you have any thoughts on how I should ‘tip you,’ as you put it?”

  Her lips. Her goddamned lips. They were too lush. Too full. Her eyes glowed a little too much for my liking, and that fucking voice was driving me crazy.

  “Just forget I said anything—” My half-hearted escape died on my lips when a sharp knock at our door made us both pause.

  “Er. Um. Nocturna told me to tell you it’s game night. We’ll be in the living room,” the dwarf representative, Helena, said through the crack in the door.

  “We’ll be right out,” I said, just loud enough she’d hear and go the fuck away. Part of me wanted to retreat after her down the hall. The rest of me was itching to stand here and continue whatever this was that Tamsin and I had started.

  I looked between her and the door.

  A slight grin curled her lips. I recognized the look and common sense hit me.

  Tamsin was the succubus leader and best friend to the craziest fucking person in Farrow’s Square. She’d chew me up and spit me out. That’s what they did. Succubi.

  They got in your head and fucked you over until you’d do anything and everything for them. Until you existed for them.

  I narrowed my eyes, and she did the same, as if to challenge me.

  But then, she did the weirdest thing of all.

  She walked out, leaving the door wide open.

  The sway of her hips as she walked away taunted me.

  Maybe we were playing some kind of game. I just didn’t understand the rules.

  If I did, I would have been smart enough not to follow her.

  Tamsin

  I nibbled on a piece of watermelon, glaring into the tiny flickering candle lights. We sat in a circle on the living room floor like high schoolers playing spin the bottle—you know, if you could ignore the creepy ass candles everywhere per Nocturna’s request for ‘natural light’ and the glaringly obvious lack of alcohol. I really could have used a drink right about now, but apparently vampires were sensitive to the smell of alcohol and it gave Rembrandt a headache.

  Ugh. We weren’t even through the first night and I was so over this trip.

  “Truth or dare, Tamsin?” Serena asked me. A wolfish smile curled around her lips.

  I rolled my eyes. “Why are we even playing this stupid game?”

  “Because we’re supposed to be ‘bonding’,” Rembrandt said. He clearly shared my sentiments that this was stupid, even if he was eyeing Nocturna’s legs through her sheer skirt.

  “And we are,” Nocturna said, her voice hard.

  “No, we’re playing kids games while sitting on the floor like this is a seance. Bonding implies doing things people actually want to do. Getting to know each other. Like me, for instance, I want sex on the beach.”

  “The drink or . . .” Davin, the warlock head, asked devilishly.

  I smirked back. “Why not both?”

  “Both is good.” He grinned.

  “We’re not even near a beach,” Dom interrupted, his tone brittle like chips of ice.

  My eyes drifted to where he was sitting. He was leaning back on the not-couch, legs sprawled out in front of him, arms crossed. It could not have been a more typical alpha asshole pose, but somehow, he still made it look damn good.

  “Oh look. The fun police arrived. One sign of someone starting to have a good time and you show up to ruin the day.”

  Dom’s jaw clenched. “I was pointing out a fact.”

  “Fine, there’s no beach. What about a lake? Skinny-dipping anyone?” I asked, looking around like it was a genuine suggestion. It wasn’t. At least, it hadn’t started off as one. But then my eyes fell back to Dom, and I realized the potential opportunity to see him naked. Could be worth it.

  “No lake,” Nocturna said, spoiling my fantasy of a wet and naked Dom before it could really get underway.

  I bit back a groan. “Of course, there isn’t. No booze. No beach. No fun at all.”

  “You could at least try to participate, instead of pointing out how miserable you are every ten minutes,” Dom said.

  “Oh, like you? You want me to participate, Dominick? Fine. Truth or fucking dare?”

  “It’s not your turn,” Rembrandt said.

  “Can it, fang boy.”

  The vampire wisely pressed his lips together. The others watched on with various expressions of amusement.

  “Well, what it’ll be?” I asked Dom, lifting my chin in challenge.

  I could see the muscles in his neck working as he debated his answer. The man had far too many secrets to risk picking truth, but dare was just as risky—especially one given by me. He was screwed either way.

  “Dare.”

  I sat back, mouth stretching in a wide grin as I contemplated my options. Did I want to embarrass him? Prove a point? See how far I could push him? Ideas flashed through my mind, one after the other, but I swiftly dismissed them all.

  This might be my only shot. I wasn’t about to blow it.

  “Kiss me.”

  Snickers and catcalls filled the room as the other council members waited for his reaction.

  Dom’s eyebrows flew up. “Excuse me.”

  “You heard me.”

  His eyes narrowed on my face, and I dropped my gaze, staring at my nails as if I was bored out of my mind. Feigning disinterest, I lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

  “A girl’s gotta get her buzz somehow. If you don’t want to volunteer, I’m sure—”

  Dom was up and across the small room in three strides. “Stand up.”

  I could feel my heart kick into overdrive as I tipped my head up to him. “My, aren’t we bossy.”

  He rolled his eyes. “We doing this or not, Tamsin? You’re the one that gave me the stupid dare and I don’t back down from a challenge. So, unless you’re having second thoughts, get your ass up.” He held a hand out to help me stand.

  “Me? Second thoughts?” I chuckled darkly as I accepted his offered assistance. “That’s funny.”

  Before I could wonder if he was going to draw this out, or what the other council members were thinking, Dom placed one hand on either side of my face and slammed his lips down on mine.

  I gasped and his tongue slipped past the seam of my lips. He ravaged my mouth like a man going to war. I’d wondered what it was like if he ever let loose and lost control. This wasn’t that, though. I was a succubu
s that had been with many partners, and he was manipulating and guiding this thing like it was my first time.

  Dom groaned and lust coated my lips.

  I pressed into him, reaching up and winding my arms over his broad shoulders, my hands resting at the back of his neck. I let my hot pink fingernails graze a trail from the base of his skull down and an answering shiver ran through us both.

  One of his hands knotted in my hair, his fingers snagging on the thick black strands as he pulled just a little. The other came to rest at my neck where it met my shoulder, his thumb stroking the hollow point of my throat possessively.

  I’d dared him on a whim. A mere passing fancy.

  But this passion, this unbridled fire, was more than I’d imagined.

  Someone coughed to our left and his body tensed. Dom pulled away, letting his hands drop to his side, fingers curling into fists. I lowered my arms as well, but where he seemed to feel some shame or at least discomfort at their attention, I didn’t particularly care.

  For my kind, orgies were a dime a dozen.

  I’d been in more threesomes and foursomes than I could count.

  I didn’t care if they watched, but Dom clearly did.

  His dark eyes were heated, but troubled. He scanned my face, pausing on my swollen lips. I wondered if he noticed that his tongue darted out, but whatever reverie the taste of my skin trapped Dom in broke when Davin groaned, “Now I’m all hot and bothered.”

  I didn’t look away from Dom and the dying heat in his eyes, but I sensed the mounting lust from the others. Another succubus trait. We could draw it out of anyone over anything, but when we got physical ourselves, any bystander lost control over their bodies’ reaction.

  “Say, warlock,” Serena mused, her voice husky. “Truth or dare?”

  “Dare,” he said coyly.

  “I dare you to scratch my itch, and I might be inclined to scratch yours.”

  “Hey, that’s not how this works,” Nocturna complained. “You can’t just change the rules when you want—”

  “You let her do it and that’s why we’re like this to begin with, so stuff it, Tinkerbell, unless you want to join in?”

  “That’s indecent,” Nocturna replied stiffly.

  “Suit yourself,” Serena said. She and Davin got to their feet and made their way down the hall.

  “I’m going for a hunt,” Rembrandt declared suddenly, also getting to his feet.

  “But—”

  “All this lust is making me hungry,” he said in a deep voice, seeming to imply that unless she was willing to do something about that, he was out of here.

  Nocturna sighed. “Just go.”

  He was out of the cabin in a blink, the front door shutting softly behind him.

  “I’m going to bed,” Dom said promptly.

  I frowned as he retreated down the hall.

  “Me too,” I muttered, going after him before Nocturna or Helena could comment.

  The door was swinging shut in my face when I put my foot between it and the doorframe. The wood hit my boot and bounced off.

  Dom turned to face me as I stepped inside.

  “I’m taking a shower, then going to sleep,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince here.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I said, “You never finished your turn.”

  “What?”

  “You took my dare, but never finished your turn.”

  Silence settled between us, tension steeping in the air like tea. I lifted a delicate eyebrow.

  “Truth or dare, Tamsin?” he asked softly.

  I bit my lip, gnawing on it for a minute. He focused on that slight movement. His pupils dilated.

  “Truth,” I said.

  He didn’t hesitate.

  “Why did you save me this afternoon?”

  Dominick

  Tamsin’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what you want to know?” She blew out a breath and made a soft tsking sound under her breath. “Waste of a question, if you ask me.”

  I crossed my arms, trying hard to ignore the buzz of desire still roaring through my veins. It was harder than I cared to admit. Kissing her had been a stupid mistake. Instead of calming the pull I felt to her, it only intensified.

  “Doesn’t really matter what you think about the question, Tam. Just that you answer it.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what kind of answer you’re expecting. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? He was sporting major wood at the thought of carting you off to his Podunk jail. Dealing with the situation before it required a jailbreak and tons of paperwork was the best for everyone involved. Besides,” she lifted one shoulder in a shrug, “you would have done the same for me.”

  “Break the law?”

  “Keep my ass safe. It’s what we do. It’s the whole point of the damn council in the first place, isn’t it? Humans don’t know that we exist, and the world keeps turning. That’s the natural order. I may have broken a law by using my power on the guy, but it kept the more important law from being broken. It was an ‘ends justify the means’ kinda thing.”

  She was speaking casually, eyeing her nails, and trying to shrug the whole thing off. I wasn’t buying it. Not even if it sounded completely plausible.

  “Bullshit.”

  Her eyes flew up to mine. “Excuse me?”

  I started to slowly shake my head. “That might be part of it, but it’s not the main reason. That’s not what had you stepping out of the car in the first place.”

  She put her hands on her hips and took a couple steps toward me. “You calling me a liar?”

  “I’m saying you’re not telling the full truth. There’s more to the story.”

  Tamsin was maybe a foot in front of me. She was close enough that the scent of her perfume hit my nose and I could make out the flutter of her pulse in her neck. I was also entirely too aware of the bed just beside us.

  “What do you want me to say, Dom? That I was pissed off some asshole put his hands on you? Fine, I was pissed. Do you want to hear me admit that it did something to me watching the way he mistreated you and knowing that your stupid fucking honor would keep you from defending yourself? Because it did. Was I secretly hoping that you’d turn around and clock the sonofabitch? Yeah, I was. Is that what you want to hear, Dom? That it bothered me watching someone hurt you?”

  She sounded almost angry. As if having to face the truth of her admission upset her.

  My heart had picked up speed as her words poured out. This is what I had been waiting for. A sign that whatever was going on between us was more than just a game to her. That there was something deeper happening here.

  That it wasn’t just her succubus pull.

  Thankfully, my voice was even when I replied, “If it’s the truth.”

  She stared at me, her nostrils flaring as if she picked up something underlying my words. Knowing her, she probably did.

  “The game is Truth or Dare, isn’t it?”

  “Are we playing a game?” I asked. “Is that what this is?”

  Tamsin tilted her head. “Is that what you want it to be?”

  “No.”

  I took a step toward her and she lifted her chin. “Then what is it?” she asked, a husky tenor to her tone—but no compulsion or pull was present. Her golden eyes seemed curious and wary, hopeful yet hesitant. There was something there. Something real.

  “I don’t know,” I said in all honesty. I lifted a hand to her cheek and brushed a stray strand of black hair back. A shock went through me, a jolt of lust and longing at the way our skin connected. She leaned into me and I was powerless to pull away. “But I don’t want it to stop.”

  “Then don’t,” she whispered.

  A dare.

  A challenge.

  An invitation to finally find out whatever this was.

  I teetered on the edge of uncertainty. To pursue this pounding want for her or let it go once and
for all.

  My lips came down on hers. She moaned into my mouth, her tongue stroking mine. I grasped her by the hips and pulled her flush against me. Tamsin reached for my shoulders, pushing them softly. I took a step back, and she followed.

  The back of my knees hit the bed.

  We pulled apart.

  “Are you scared?” she asked, panting softly.

  There was no judgement in her voice. Nothing mocking. Part of me didn’t want to tell her the truth and admit weakness. But to lie in a game of truths would put whatever this was to an end.

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes widened, turning vulnerable. She was surprised. “Me too.”

  We kissed again, and this time when she shoved me, it was hard. I fell back onto the comforter and then braced myself with my forearms.

  Tamsin flashed a cocky smile.

  She reached for her preppy button-down shirt and slowly started undoing it. I groaned and pulled myself into a sitting position.

  “No games,” I said, stopping her halfway with a touch of my hand.

  Her plum-colored lips parted.

  “Okay,” she said softly.

  Her hands fisted her own shirt and then she pulled. The sound of fabric ripping and buttons popping reverberated through the room. She let the material fall from her slim shoulders, revealing a lacy red bra.

  I groaned, the hard bulge of my cock in my jeans becoming uncomfortable.

  “Shhhh,” she murmured, climbing onto my lap. She straddled me easily and pressed her wet heat into me, rocking gently, our faces only an inch apart.

  I growled under my breath and fisted a hand in her hair, pulling it taut. Tamsin gasped, arching her back. Her chest pushed up, and I used the opportunity to pull the cup of her bra down under her breast, exposing it to me. I brushed my thumb over the nipple, and it hardened instantly. Tamsin hissed, her hips rocking into me more.

  I leaned down and licked it once, then blew. My cool breath on her flushed skin made her moan. I loved that sound. It was so wild. Unrestrained. I wanted to hear it again.

  I brought my lips to her puckered nipple and sucked it between my teeth, nibbling softly.

  “Ah,” Tamsin gasped, writhing against me.

  Fuck.