Charisma

by Wendy Stone

  Sam felt his wrist and the warmth of his blood. Her mouth opened to protest and he pushed his skin inside.

  “Bite me, Sam,” he groaned. “Bite me and complete our mating.”

  Her mouth filled with a salty metallic taste and she automatically swallowed, pulling away from his arm and seeing the blood. “What is this?” she asked, trying to get away from his hands.

  But he held her, thrusting with convulsive intent, his hand turning her face up to his. She screamed when she saw the fangs in his mouth, the slightly odd shape to his face. “What the fuck are you?”

  Instead of trying to answer, Dimitri grabbed her chin, holding her still so that he could kiss her. His blood was on her mouth and on her tongue, hers on his. With that kiss, he mixed the two, hearing her swallow hard.

  The hand that held her, slid to her breast, teasing her nipple, though he was gentle with her flesh, knowing that her pregnancy made her breasts sore to the touch.

  Sam fought the kiss and him, feeling his fangs against her teeth. His tongue dipped between her lips and she bit down upon it, more of his blood filling her mouth. Instead of hurting him, he groaned in pleasure, ramming into her and then holding still.

  Sam didn’t feel the heat of his spendings but she knew he came. His cock throbbed inside of her, leaving no doubt that he’d found his pleasure. She’d let go of his tongue and turned her head away. He calmed, falling to his side on the bed and dragging her with him.

  His panting breath stirred her dark hair, tickling her. His hands seemed to know how she liked to be touched afterwards. He stroked her skin, using just the tips of his fingers. For an instant, she let him hold her, relishing not only the touch of Dimitri’s hands but also the heat of his body and the way it felt to feel cared for.

  Then she pulled away. Slapping at his hands, she pulled her robe closed once more, stumbling a bit as she rushed away from the bed. She could feel his fluids leaking from her and shuddered. “Why did you have to end up being some kind of freak?” she cried, turning around to look at him.

  “Samantha?” he sighed, his eyes shutting and the hand he’d held out to her falling to the bed. “Let me guess, you don’t know of us? You don’t know what Nashe is or Terry, or what’s she carrying, do you?”

  “What do you mean, what Nashe is? He’s my boss. Terry is his wife, if that’s what that strange ceremony I went to yesterday was, a wedding,” she took a deep breath. “I want you out of here, now. Or I’m calling the cops.”

  “Shit, Samantha. I thought you knew.” Dimitri glanced down his body. “I guess there’s only one way to do this. One way that you’ll believe. Just remember, love. I would never hurt you.”

  Samantha’s eyes grew huge and she backed up slowly as she watched what happened next. When she was greeted by a huge black panther, all sleek fur and muscle with Dimitri’s kind eyes, she felt the world tip.

  Dimitri changed back in time to catch her and cradle her unconscious body to the floor.

  * * * *

  Nashe grinned at his mate, loving the way Terry looked as she rode upon his cock. Her eyes were half-closed, the gorgeous blue of them barely seen. Her blonde curls stuck to the sweat on her body, mussed by his hands. She rose and fell to her own rhythm, one that suited him as well.

  “God, baby,” he groaned as he felt her muscles begin to caress his cock, her orgasm sending her head back, a scream of pleasure torn from her lips. She fell forward and he could feel the babies as they moved against his stomach. His hand went to her nape, his fingers stroking down her spine, feeling every ridge and bump. Her breath blew against his chest, sending tickling fingers of heat to his groin.

  They’d been at this since she’d woke him hours ago, nibbling on his body like he was some kind of cookie she couldn’t get enough of. He’d come twice inside of her and would once more. It was close. He could feel it.

  With a grin, he pushed her off him, watching as she lay on her side. Pulling her to him, he lifted her leg, letting it rest against his thigh as he pushed inside again.

  “Oh bloody hell,” she groaned as he stirred up her passions, his cock pressing against all the right places.

  Her head turned and she found his mouth, stilling the laughter that had come when he’d heard her cry.

  Her tongue dueled with his and he began to move faster inside of her. Groans came from his throat, matched by her moans. His fingers toyed with her nipple, pinching and twisting the tender flesh until she smacked at his hand.

  “Nashe,” she growled, her beast badly wanting to break loose of her control.

  “Come for me again, baby,” he growled, holding her still when she wanted to move. His hand slid over her belly and down between her thighs. Finding her clit, he pinched it lightly, hearing her growl and strain against him. The telltale catch to her breathing and the little mewling sound coming from her mouth followed as he fucked her deeper. She was close.

  Then again, so was he. His momentum moved the bed, slamming the headboard against the wall. He pushed at her harder, breathlessly moaning his passion against her ear, telling her how much he needed and loved her.

  He could feel it building, sweat pouring off his body. He clamped down upon the desire to come, wanting to feel her bliss first. He felt it coming, her hand clawing at the hand he had torturing her clit.

  The phone rang.

  Nashe ignored it. Sam was taking care of the restaurant. Marissa and Lukah were on their own well-deserved honeymoon. He wasn’t worried about anything else. He had everything he needed in his arms right now. Two more jarring thrusts and Terry cried out, her sweet core clamping around him just as he began to come himself, filling her with his spunk.

  The phone quit ringing on the fourth ring, the caller being sent to the limbo that is voice mail. Nashe rolled to his back, fighting to fill his lungs with much-needed oxygen.

  Then the phone rang again.

  “Dammit,” he growled, reaching around his mate to lift up the phone from the bedside table. He clicked it on. “This had damn well better be important,” he snarled into the phone.

  Terry laughed at his bad temper, knowing it was just for show. Turning on her other side, she trailed her fingers down his chest, laughing again when he smacked her hand away from his groin.

  “What did you do now, Dimitri?” he said into the phone, his eyes going wide as he listened to the man on the other end. Then he sat straight up in bed, the disbelief in his voice sending a shiver of fear through Terry. “You did what?”

  “I thought she knew,” Dimitri said on his end. “How was I to know that the humans you have working for you know nothing about your true nature?” He pulled the phone away from his ear, grimacing at the words his cousin used.

  “I do too have a brain, Nashe. Perhaps if you’d used yours a bit better, you’d have let your servants know what kind of master they serve.”

  Sam’s eyes fluttered open, falling upon the naked man that was stalking the room, a phone to his ear. “You’re her friend, that’s why I called you.” He paced across the floor, the firm globes of his ass creating a fascinating sight for her to watch. “Thanks,” he said, pausing at the window before turning. When he did, he saw her eyes open and he hurried to the bed where he’d carried her the minute she passed out.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, his hands coming out to touch her face. He even laid one over her forehead as if to check for a temperature.

  “Fine,” she grinned. Then the grin slipped from her lips as she remembered what he’d done. “Y-you turned into a b-b-black…”

  “Panther, yes, I did,” he said softly. “You can too, now,” he said suddenly. “We’re mated, though we will have to go through the ritual to make it permanent.”

  “I-I don’t even know you,” she cried, backing up on the bed and cringing.

  “Samantha,” he said, his voice laced with sadness. “You know what is important. Love can follow a mating, but it doesn’t need to be present to make it work. Still, if we weren’t meant to be togeth
er…it wouldn’t have worked at all.”

  “So you’re telling me that maybe I’m not some kind of f-freak?” she asked.

  “We are not freaks,” he said, getting just a bit upset. “Our blood is old, Samantha. Weres predate humans in some cultures. There’s even evidence that Weres existed in the time of the dinosaur. Humans cannot make that claim.”

  “I don’t care if a Were was around at the time of creation,” she said, her finger going to his bare chest and poking him. “I don’t know you, I don’t love you and I don’t want to be with you. Now, please leave.” Samantha slid off the other side of the bed. “I’m going to go take a shower. I want you and your idiocy out of my apartment by the time I’m done.”

  She hurried into her bathroom, locking the door firmly behind her. Turning on the water in the shower, she waited for it to turn warm before she even considered doffing her robe. She examined herself in the mirror, glad that she still looked the same as she did yesterday when she’d gotten ready for Nashe’s mating.

  Her hands suddenly grabbed the edge of the counter. Could it be true? Were Nashe and Terry some kind of…mutating beasts? Had she been working for something out of a bad horror flick?

  She turned from the mirror and went to the edge of the shower, her mind negating the possibility of such a thing being even remotely true. She felt the brush of the counter against her tail and flicked it the other way. “Tail?” she gasped, rushing back to the mirror and seeing the long black tail coming out from under her bathrobe, lifting the silk in the back so she could see it sprouting from the base of her spine.

  “I have a tail,” she gasped, staring into the shocked blue eyes in the mirror. “I can’t have a tail. Humans don’t have tails. I’m going to look again and it’s going to be gone.” She closed her eyes as tight as she could. “Please let it be gone, please,” she begged before turning around and opening her eyes.

  She sighed in relief when the back of her robe fell to her thighs and there was no tail in sight. “It’s Dimitri,” she said. “He’s just got me so rattled that I’m seeing things. I’m feeding into his insanity, that’s all it is.”

  She pulled off her robe, hanging it on the hook behind the door. For just a moment, she pressed her ear to the door, wondering if he’d left yet. She didn’t hear anything. Maybe he was gone and she could just forget about all of this. Her mind went to the work she had ahead of her today. When something brushed against her shoulder, she rubbed the feeling away. When it did it again, she stopped dead, turning her head and seeing the long length of her tail as it curled close to her skin.

  A shriek came from her mouth and she rushed to the mirror again. She couldn’t deny it or try to explain it away. She had a tail. She had a freaking hairy tail.

  Dimitri pounded on the bathroom door. “Samantha! Samantha, answer me or I’m going to break down this door!” He pulled back and was about to kick it down when Samantha opened the door, her robe around her again. She saw him and went wild, jumping at him and punching. Screaming names and using her small fists, Samantha really lost it.

  “What the fuck did you do to me? I have a tail, a fucking tail! You son of a bitch!”

  Hands pulled her off of him and she turned to see Nashe staring down at her. “Calm down, Sam,” he said softly.

  “Calm down? You want me to calm down? How would you feel if some Lothario climbed in your bed without your consent and the next thing you know, you’re sporting a fucking tail? Don’t tell me to calm down!” She punched her finger into his chest, even though he towered over her. “How the fuck? Don’t you tell me that you’re some kind of freak out of a bad B movie too. I’ve known you for years, Nashe. Years!”

  “I wanted to tell you, Sam, but it just isn’t something that you can spring on someone. Oh hey, Sam, great sauce and by the way, I’m some kind of cross-breed Were. You don’t mind, do you?”

  Samantha still glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest. A sudden thought hit her and her mouth dropped open, her hand falling to her stomach. “My baby,” she gasped, turning to look at Dimitri. “What about my baby?”

  “Baby?” Nashe asked, shaking his head confused. “You’re pregnant?”

  “Yeah, about six weeks,” she said, though her eyes didn’t leave Dimitri. “What is all this going to do to my baby?”

  “That would make it around the time you were dating that Tax Accountant you wanted me to hire. Um…Trevor something or other. He knocked you up?” Nashe asked.

  “Ah no,” she said. “According to him, whatever is growing in my belly isn’t his and he doesn’t want anything to do with the thing. It’s not a direct quote. I cleaned it up a bit.” She glared at Dimitri and then her eyes went to Nashe. “What’s going to happen to my baby?”

  “He’s getting your blood, which is now mixed with Were blood. Dimitri’s blood. That means, as he grows he has a large chance of losing his human blood.”

  “Which means…? What?” she snapped.

  “Your baby will be Were and Dimitri will be the father,” Nashe said softly. Then he reached out and grabbed her once more as she turned with a screech to attack Dimitri again.

  * * * *

  “I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about. I don’t think Mr. James will ever be found.”

  Shadow heard Daniels voice as he blended into the rock surrounding the tunnel. Daniels stood over Kadian James’s body, wrapped securely in a net. He couldn’t see who Daniels was talking to because the man was almost out of sight. Grabbing the communicator at his waist, he hit the button to connect to Marcus, knowing he was going to need more help than Callie for this one.

  “Marcus, I need you to get Kit, Gunner and Diana, as well as their teams, and get them all here, now,” he whispered into the small communicator. “Hurry,” he added before turning off the thing. A loud answer from it could give him away. He stepped into the sand and disappeared. Callie stood in the shadow of the doorway, watching as Daniels bent over Kadian. When she saw the gun, her first thought was to pull her taser and rush out there. Instead, she lost her suit and changed.

  Daniels was demon. He might enjoy the taser stun, but he wouldn’t like having a chunk taken out of his hide. She slunk low, to the floor of the tunnel, her eyes going to Daniels backside sticking up in the air as he bent over his prey. Callie had never witnessed any of Daniels’ supposed powers, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have any. With a loud growl, she rushed him, her teeth biting through his uniform and deep into his flesh.

  He gasped at the pain and stood, eyeing the small black wolf that had hold of his leg. “You bitch! You’ve been nothing but trouble since I allowed you into ASP,” he snarled, raising the fist that held the gun and bringing it down hard against her head. It took two blows before she let go. She dropped to her haunches, her tongue lolling out as she listed drunkenly.

  Something behind her snarled and he tried desperately to locate it. Backing away slowly, he limped on the leg Callie had torn up, his dark blue blood dripping onto the ground. The gun was in front of him as he slowly pivoted, searching for what had made the noise.

  Shadow nudged his mate with his nose, whining softly. Are you okay?

  Yeah, she replied. Just stunned. Don’t worry about me, save Kadian.

  Shaking his body, he shrugged off the disguise he’d used, blending into the sand and scrub that were so prevalent in this area. He was a huge Wolf, his blue eyes shining with anger.

  “Shadow?” Daniels took a wary step back, keeping the gun up and pointed at Shadow. He hadn’t known that Shadow and Callie had mated. This made Shadow much more dangerous than he’d been before. “What are you doing, Shadow? I caught the individual who ran off with the girl. We can take him in, find out where he’s hidden the girl before anyone else gets hurt.” He held his other hand out, trying to calm the ruffled beast growling at him, pushing him even further away from Kadian James and Callie.

  “Callie went nuts,” he said calmly. “She bit me, Shadow. We’re going to have to get he
r some help.”

  Marcus whirled out of the open doorway of the tunnel. “Whoa,” he said, putting his hand behind him as he saw Shadow hunting Daniels. “Uh, what’s going on?” He turned, seeing Callie sitting on the ground. She was naked, her head cradled in her hands, blood pouring down the side of her face from a wound. “Callie?” He saw her uniform and grabbed it, handing it to her, protecting her from the eyes of the others.

  “Daniels is in league with whoever took Charisma, the girl,” she explained when Marcus looked down at her blankly. She stood, zipping up her suit and grabbing Marcus’s arm when the world spun.

  “You need to be looked at, Callie, you’ve got some kind of concussion.”

  “Later,” she said. “Help me get the net off him.”

  “Whoa, don’t touch that,” he grabbed her hand just before she reached the netting. “You let me and the non weres take care of that. It’s poisonous to Weres.”

  “Poisonous netting? I’ve never heard of it,” Callie said, staring at Kadian and the almost too wan color of his skin. “He’s a Were,” she said quickly. “Get it off of him.”

  Marcus unwrapped the unconscious man, quickly taking the net and throwing it over Daniels, who was still held at bay by Shadow. It knocked the gun out of his hand and into the sand. “You son of a bitch,” he growled, knowing the poison wouldn’t hurt the demon. “I need the antidote, now!”

  “Or what, you’re going to spank me?” Daniels said, laughing at the Atlantean Warrior. “Oh, I’m so scared. Oh, save me from the bad man,” he exclaimed sarcastically.

  “Spank you? You fucking wish,” Marcus said. His wings unfurled behind him, making him look like a golden angel instead of the warrior he was. “But I bet you won’t be so happy when I’ve got you about two miles up and decide to see how big a stain you’ll make on the cement.”

  “You’ll never find the girl then. Or the antidote. So fly away, little boy.”