Manaconda

by Sherri L. King

  Cady felt giddy with excitement. Hooking her fingers into the waistband of her trousers, she quickly peeled them down to her ankles. But before she could turn away and do as he had commanded, Sid swooped down for a long, deep, soul-searching kiss.

  His lips were like fire. His tongue like wet, molten lava in her mouth. She was seared from head to toe with a violent eruption of need and desire.

  Long moments later, when they were both completely out of breath, Sid tore himself away and turned her around forcibly, almost too roughly, and pressed her forward over the white porcelain of the bathroom’s sink. Luckily, the room was well tended and far cleaner than the seedy hotel room they’d used during their last visit to the surface world.

  “I can smell your heat,” Sid growled in her ear before biting at it playfully.

  “Shhh! That guy’s probably listening at the keyhole right now.” But despite her warning, she moaned softly with her own considerable need.

  “Let him listen.” Sid’s fingers probed her slick folds, so exposed to him in this position that it was easy for him to feel her syrupy arousal, proof of her desperate need of him. “It will only heighten our experience.”

  And it would. They both had a seriously voyeuristic streak, loving the threat of exposure, and the risk of having eyes watching their every move as they mated. It was a spicy stimulant, one they frequently indulged in, given the right circumstances.

  “I have to lick this sweet pussy of yours,” Sid breathed heavily, squatting down behind her, spreading her wide for his pleasure. “It’s so damn tasty. I could eat you out for hours.”

  “You have several times before,” she panted.

  “Not this time. Only a little taste of your honey for now. This time is for hard, wet fucking.”

  “Quit using that tongue of yours for talking, you tease, and go down on me. Lick and suck my pussy until I come all over your mouth.”

  Sid physically lifted her higher, positioning her soaking cunt over his mouth. His breath nearly burned her alive. “You tease me too much sometimes, my love,” he murmured. “This time, you’ll get exactly what you deserve.”

  Any retort she might have made was lost when his tongue darted out to lap at her hot juices. His face was buried completely between her legs. And it wasn’t only his tongue that devilishly tormented her, but his lips and his teeth too. Her pussy throbbed and burned with desire. Her bottom tingled where his hands held her so tightly, lifting her as he rooted and sucked and licked and bit her.

  She nearly screamed when his face burrowed deeper, her pussy and her anus completely open and loved by his hungry mouth. “Stop, Sid. Stop,” she panted.

  Her pleas went unheeded. His fingers dug harder into her, his lips and teeth latching onto her clit until she moaned.

  “Sid, please. I need your cock. Please, your cock, now,” she rambled, intoxicated and nearly mindless with her intense need to be joined with him.

  His tongue flickered over her clit one last time before releasing her. “I’m going to fill you so deep and so hard that you’ll be feeling me inside of you for days.”

  “I can already feel you,” she cried.

  “You’re so wet. My face is drenched with your sweetness and your body’s exquisite perfume. I love how responsive you are, how ripe and ready you are for me.”

  “Take me, Sid. Quit teasing! I need your dick inside me.”

  His fingers came around her face to probe at her trembling lips. “Suck on them. Taste yourself as I taste you.”

  Cady eagerly took two of his fingers deep into her mouth. Licking and laving them, sucking and biting them, in a way she knew would make him crazy.

  His wide, mushroom-headed shaft slid into the wetness of her folds. Sid unerringly guided himself into her, stretching her without entering her, driving her wild with anticipation. “Hang on tight.” His free arm came around her, his hand covering one of hers as it gripped desperately onto the rim of the sink.

  His cock slammed home, lifting Cady up off her feet with the sheer power of his thrust.

  Tears burned her eyes with the delicious pain of his deep, hard penetration. She moaned, pressing back even tighter into the cradle of his hips, biting onto his fingers.

  “Are your nipples hard, my love?” His magical voice rumbled in her ear. He was using all of his Shikar tricks against her. The power in his voice made her already hard nipples swell and elongate even further beneath her clothing. Her breasts felt heavy and full, more now than before. Her entire body flushed and tingled. She trembled from head to toe…and all the while, his cock rested deep inside of her, stretching her to the breaking point.

  Obsidian’s breath thundered at her ear.

  Cady twisted her head, releasing his fingers. “Stop tormenting me.” Her words shook with the force of her need.

  “We torment each other,” he rasped. He pulled almost all the way out of her, waited just long enough for her to keen at the loss, and then slammed back into her. His fingers, wet from her mouth, moved now to cup her mound and rhythmically massage her clit.

  “Sometimes I want to take you so hard that we become one being.” He pressed a hot kiss against the sweat-moistened tendrils of hair at her temple.

  His words never ceased to inflame her pleasure.

  “And sometimes…” He slid his long, thick cock out slowly and then gently back in to her heated core. “Sometimes, I want to make it soft and sweet and last for so long that we both dissolve into pools of warm, liquid light.”

  “Oh god…”

  “Our thirty minutes are almost up,” he panted. “Time is growing short…”

  “Then hurry. Slam me. Fuck me. Slam me hard, Sid, please,” she cried.

  “Anything my lady wishes,” he growled fiercely. Both their bodies shook with the force of his thrusts as he moved, pistoning in and out of her welcoming heat, catching her up in a whirlwind of excitement that made her head swim and her breasts bounce.

  “I love you, I love you, IloveyouIloveyou,” she chanted like a mantra.

  “And I love you more,” he said softly at her ear, pressing kisses all over her neck and the side of her face. His fingers expertly plucked at her clit. He rotated his hips against her in a way that she loved, making her see stars behind her tightly shut eyelids.

  “I’m coming,” she panted on a shallow breath. “Oh god, oh fuck, I’m coming.”

  “I’ll be there with you,” he vowed, tightening his arms around her and nuzzling her neck.

  In fact, he was there a scant second before she, the hot wash of his release flooding her to her core. Her scream would have echoed audibly out into the store, but Sid had enough presence of mind to bring his hand down over her mouth to stifle the desperate cry. Her body clamped down like a vise, trapping them both together in a deep, hard embrace of stunning release.

  It was actually thirty-seven minutes before they emerged from the bathroom, but the overly flushed store clerk and two wide-eyed customers didn’t seem to mind that at all.

  * * * * *

  “I told you it would be a pain in the ass to drag these bags all the way out here.”

  “No one likes a braggart, baby.” Sid’s armload of boxes and bags teetered precariously with each step they took.

  It didn’t help matters that the both of them still suffered from weak knees and giddy heads after their steamy visit into the sex-toy shop’s bathroom.

  “We really need to buy a van or something for these excursions.”

  “There is no way in the Christians’ hell that I am going to let you drive me anywhere.” Sid’s panicked shudder nearly toppled his mountain of packages.

  Cady halted, incredulous. “What! Well fuck you, buddy! You’ve never even been in a car while I’m driving, how would you know anything about the way I drive?”

  “I do not have to experience such a thing, to know exactly how it will be. You are a wild woman in everything you do, from fighting to fucking and everything in between. I have a hard enough time getting in a ca
r with Cinder, who is a very careful driver now that Steffy has taught him all she knows. You, I know, would have us slinging all over the place at a velocity to rival even a Horde Canker-Worm—I know it. You simply cannot do things in half measures. It is against your very nature.”

  “You are so full of shit, Sid,” Cady huffed, growing more and more irritated with his assessment of her character. “I thought you liked the way that I do things. Especially love-making—I’ve certainly never heard you complain about it—”

  “Now, baby, I am not saying your wild ways are a bad thing. That is not what I meant.” He immediately backtracked.

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” she barked. “I’ll have you know that I’m a very good driver. I’ve never had an accident or even come close. So I’ve had a few speeding tickets, that’s not a big deal—”

  “Ah ha!” Sid immediately latched on to her last statement, as she should have known he would. “So you do drive fast. See? I do know you, and therefore I know exactly what to expect if I ever allow you to drive.”

  “Arrgh! As if you could ever allow, or disallow, me to do anything. I make my own decisions!”

  Sid winced. “I know that, of course I do. But please, baby, I am asking you for the sake of my sanity, do not ask Tryton for your own vehicle. I just don’t have the courage or the stomach to handle being in a small, steel machine, hurtling through the lands with breakneck speed.”

  “I don’t need to ask Tryton for a car. I can buy my own,” she persisted stubbornly.

  “Please, baby. I’m begging you. Please.”

  “Oh, all right,” she conceded grumpily. Her arms were too tired from carrying all her packages to continue the argument just now anyway. “I’ll think about it,” she added, just to ensure that she had the last word.

  Sid only exhaled a long, relieved breath and trudged along beside her.

  A silent truce lasted for several minutes as they made their way through the sparsely populated residential area, which lay just outside the secluded park to which they were headed. Not so much a park, as a small clearing amidst a thick copse of maple, oak and pine trees, the area was shadowy and secluded enough for them to Travel without any risk of being seen.

  At one time the small park might have been used as a family burial plot. But that had been so long ago, that the half dozen or so grave markers of stone and wood were smooth and covered with lichen. The ravages of time had also piled soil on top of the graves, so that most of the markers were also crooked or half covered with earth.

  Cady had always liked the quiet, secluded spot. As a teenager, with the long-anticipated privilege and freedom of a vehicle to drive, she’d lingered here for hours—on those few days when she didn’t have to leave school and head straight for a martial arts class or the shooting range. Sitting amidst the tall weeds and grasses, she’d spent rare lazy afternoons wondering about the great mysteries of the world and her place within it. The eerie ambiance of the place had appealed to her on many levels, and the silence and the stillness were so very different from the constant ravaging pace she’d set for herself in life.

  She wondered now how her life would have been if it hadn’t been for the death of her family at the hands of the Daemons. On one hand, if her family had lived, she would have had a much more normal life, filled with all the love and laughter and safety of her younger years. On the other, she would never have known of the existence of the Daemons, would never have had the opportunity to hone her mind and body into a weapon to fight against their evil threat. And she certainly wouldn’t have met her husband or any of the other Shikars whom she now regarded as friends and family. And, perhaps the most important thing—aside from meeting Sid—was that her son, Armand, would have never been born.

  It served her no purpose to think on such things. Only aggravation and upset. But this was not the first time she’d dwelled on what might have been—on what could have been—and it would probably not be the last time she did so. Cady was so grateful for the happiness she’d gained in life. Happy beyond measure with her place as a warrior and a mate and a mother. But she was saddened still for all the losses, too.

  A part of her would always feel such sadness. She knew this. It was her fate and it could not be undone. But still…she could wonder. And she could wish. For such was the part of her that was still human and would never change, no matter how strong the practical, fatalistic Shikar blood that flowed in her veins.

  She was still as much a human as she’d ever been—in her heart and in her soul. Thankfully, her beloved Obsidian knew and understood this. It was only one of the million or so reasons why she loved him as deeply and passionately as she did.

  No matter what might have been…she knew for a certainty that she belonged with Obsidian. He was the perfect mate for her soul and heart in every way. Even when they argued. Hell, sometimes, it was especially true when they argued.

  Cady chuckled out loud to herself with the thought.

  “What’s so funny?” Sid frowned suspiciously, as if he already suspected that her thoughts had somehow concerned him.

  “Nothing,” she denied, still grinning.

  “Come on,” he prodded with an impatient, almost incredulous tone. “That smile of yours plainly shows me that you are full of falsehood. Tell me what is so funny before I beat it out of you.” He grumbled the idle threat, knowing full well she wouldn’t believe it.

  Cady stuck her tongue out at him.

  Sid pursed his lips, but the twinkle in his eyes gave him away a second before he erupted into his own deep laughter. “You are a minx.”

  “You know you love it.”

  “I love you,” he said, his laughter gentling, his proud eyes softening into limpid pools of yellow-orange light.

  They never suspected the attack. Not until it was far too late. It took them both completely by surprise, in a rare moment of unguarded weakness. The woods around them were dark and still. Unnaturally still, for no birds sang, no crickets chirped, and no breeze rustled the leaves and branches of the forest growth. They should have suspected something. Anything. But for the first time in both their lives, they were caught completely unprepared.

  Chapter Three

  Steffy sat bolt upright in her chair. The loud cacophonous sounds of hardcore German techno filled her ears and for a moment she was disoriented enough to think she’d dozed off during a break from spinning records at the club.

  And then she remembered. She didn’t have to be at work again for at least another forty-eight hours. Right now she was at home, miles or more below ground, in the world of the Shikar. Her mate, Cinder, was off training a group of young Incinerators—those Shikars lucky enough to have the ability to create and manipulate fire. Alone and able to relax for the first time in a good while, she’d napped lightly while listening to music through a pair of headphones.

  She had just had the most bizarre dream of her life. Who was she kidding? It had been more than a dream. So much more. It had been a vision, clear and true, and she’d be a fool not to admit it. Panic rose in her heart as she recounted the details in her mind.

  In it, she had floated invisible above a grisly battlefield. As an incorporeal entity, she had been afforded a clear, unimpeded view of the violence and mayhem occurring beneath her. What she’d seen had shocked and terrified her.

  Cady and Obsidian fought giant, hulking Daemons that dwarfed any Steffy had ever seen before, even in the wastelands beyond the Gates. They had been caught off guard by the brutes, taken completely by surprise, allowing the Daemons to gain the upper hand from the very start of the fight. The earth shook with every step the Daemons took, and the trees had trembled in the path of the monsters’ boundless rage and wickedness.

  It had been slaughter. Like none that Steffy had ever bore witness to.

  Obsidian had been killed first—after amazing feats of courage and skill—slashed open across his middle, and impaled by a Daemon’s talon that had been longer than one of Steffy’s arms. Cady had foug
ht valiantly, screaming her mate’s name as she threw fire out of her fingertips, into the eyes of an attacking giant. But in the end, though she managed to kill her adversary, she too had died, buried and crushed under the very weight of her fallen foe.

  Steffy could still hear Cady’s screams echoing in her ears, mixing ominously with the passionate music that streamed forth from her headphones.

  Jerking herself back to the present, she ripped the headphones from her ears. Almost tripping in her haste, she raced to the door, calling for the one person she knew might perhaps be able to interpret or understand her dream, which she felt sure was far more than a simple nightmare.

  “Grimm!”

  * * * * *

  His eyes were black and filled with bright pinpoints of white light, like tiny stars. He had seen much with those eyes. Steffy felt sure he would have some insight to give her now, as she was still shaking with her fear of the dream. He knew so much, saw so very far…

  “You must believe me when I say that this is more than just any ordinary dream. I’ve had premonitions like this before. If it hasn’t happened yet, then it will happen very soon.” She felt the hot burn of tears on her face.

  Grimm’s hair was so dark a red that it looked black in the shadows of his room. Steffy was sure she’d never seen him without his deeply hooded cowl covering most of his head, and the dark, dangerous beauty of him nearly stole her breath away, despite her undying love for Cinder.

  He hadn’t said one word to her since she’d entered his private sanctuary without any warning or knock upon the door. She’d known he’d be here, known too—somehow—that he’d expected her mere seconds before she’d thrown the door open and barged into the room. He was The Traveler, after all, Tryton’s right-hand man, and keeper of many Shikar secrets. A warrior of several thousand years experience, he wasn’t taken by surprise easily, no matter what the circumstances.

  This man was dangerous. In so many ways. But he was also her friend, and Steffy prayed that he believed in the power of her dreams, which had so many times foretold things to come. No one, before the Shikars, had believed in her precognition. Not even she, herself. But now…now she knew for certain that Cady and Obsidian were in danger. Maybe even already dead. And she had to do something—anything—to help them.