by Various
Alek dragged his gaze away—she fascinated him more than anybody he’d ever met—and made his way down the aisle he felt sure would lead him to what he was looking for. He grabbed a small box of three condoms—a French brand he wasn’t familiar with, but it was latex and that was what he wanted—then decided to add two more boxes. Just in case.
He didn’t pay much attention to the bell ringing over the door as it opened to admit another person into the small shop. Didn’t notice the nervous, agitated young man until it was too late.
“Get over here, put your hands up,” the man commanded in French, pulling a handgun from the pocket of his jack and pointing it first at the shopkeeper, then at Agate, and finally leveling it upon Alek. “Get over here,” he barked again.
Alek raised the hand that wasn’t holding his portfolio case and slowly moved to the front of the aisle where the man stood with his weapon. He wasn’t afraid, merely pissed off at the inconvenience, as he patiently waited for the opportunity to diffuse the situation.
The man turned to the cashier and demanded that she hand over the money in the till. Quickly, as if he knew Alek was the more dangerous of the store’s inhabitants, the thief brought his attention back around. His eyes, darting around in such a way that Alek suspected he was pepped up on more than just adrenaline, settled on the portfolio and lingered.
“Hand it over, mister.”
Alek shook his head, smiling a little. “No.” He really didn’t want to hurt this petty criminal if he didn’t have to. He didn’t want to scare Agate with any show of violence.
But he wasn’t going to give up his portfolio bag—it held several rolls of film he’d yet to develop, not to mention the negatives that seemed so important to his soon-to-be lover.
Besides, it was his. He held on to what belonged to him.
The man, growing ever more agitated and impatient, waved the gun threateningly.
“I’ll shoot you dead. Hand it over, your wallet and your watch too.”
His watch wasn’t worth more than a few bucks, and the crystal face was cracked from a brush with a car bomb explosion he’d gotten to close too only a few days ago.
Placing his portfolio at his feet, he removed his watch and held it aloft for the thief to take.
After he’d snatched it away, the man growled over at Agate—who strangely enough looked calm and unconcerned. “Come on over here, pretty girl, and give me your purse.” He turned back to Alek. “And I’ll have that bag,” he insisted.
“No you won’t,” Alek said dispassionately, watching Agate come forward out of the corner of his eye. She seemed so unconcerned, so calm and casual…it didn’t agree 158
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with the excitable, overly animated persona she’d shown until this point. He would wonder at that later, after he’d found a way to keep possession of his portfolio without resorting to killing the damned punk in front of him.
The man was angry now and swung back his arm to hit Alek across the face.
Three things happened all at once.
The cashier ducked behind the counter with a groan. Alek gathered himself, ready to make his move. And Agate seemed to disappear into thin air.
The thief’s arm swung down and Alek easily dogged the blow. Grabbing his assailant’s arm he wrenched it brutally, threw his fist into the man’s throat, and swept his foot against the man’s ankles, tripping him to the ground. Agate instantly appeared at his side and removed the gun from the thief’s hand, easily, even as he struggled to bring it around to fire it at one of them.
“You shouldn’t do things like this,” she murmured, as if she were admonishing a recalcitrant child instead of a violent criminal. “Someone could get hurt.”
It was so fast, taking no more than a couple of seconds, and then it was over. Alek was just grateful that no one had been hurt.
The man was on the ground now, clutching at his throat and choking, and Alek put a foot on his chest to keep him there—just in case he recovered and tried something else.
He frowned at Agate. She had put the gun on the counter, where the cashier was only just rising again, and gone straight back to studying the magazine rack. As if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
Who the hell was this woman? And, if his eyes hadn’t deceived him in what he’d just witnessed, how the hell had she managed the disappearing trick?
Suspicions gathered in his mind and he determined to get her back to his hotel room as soon as possible for more reasons than the obvious one of making love to her until she screamed her head off. Something was going on with her, something big, and he did not like being kept in the dark about it.
As the cashier made to call the authorities, Alek grabbed his portfolio case again and paid for his condoms, as well as Agate’s mountain of sweets and reading material.
He threw everything into the case, grabbed her hand in his once more and marched with her out into the street. And he didn’t slow their pace until they’d safely reached his hotel.
* * * * *
Elevators were every bit as exciting as she’d dreamed they might be.
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Agate was having a hell of a time resisting the urge to press every single button on the control console of the elevator. She knew Alek already had his suspicions about her—he’d seen her Travel, even if he didn’t understand what it meant.
There’d been no help for it. She’d had to use her Traveling ability to reach the would-be thief’s side quickly enough to disarm him. Or so she’d thought at the time.
How could she have foreseen that Alek was a Warrior and that he would defuse the situation before she could get close enough to even try?
Agate found herself even more attracted to him after such a heroic display of strength and courage. She wanted him. Perhaps more than was wise, given their circumstances, but she couldn’t have fought the attraction even if she’d a mind to.
Which she didn’t.
He hadn’t spoken to her for the past few blocks, nor when they’d entered the hotel.
It was a little disconcerting, his somber silence, but she persevered. How could she not, while in the wondrous glass elevator as it rose through the floors of the towering building?
Her fingers fairly itched with the need to press the sleek, shiny buttons.
The doors opened to their floor. Alek ushered her forth ahead of him, but she managed to reach out at the last second and press one of the buttons. She almost giggled; it glowed in response to her touch. The doors closed behind them and she let Alek take her elbow and guide her to the door of his room.
It was dim in the room when she entered. When Alek closed the door, sealing them off alone from any intruders, she couldn’t resist looking at him in the shadows. All Shikars were sensitive to sunlight; evolution had forced them to live in darkness but in losing the light the Shikars had gained much to make up for it. They possessed exceptional night vision, for one thing. It was because of this gift that she could see him so well in the dark, as clearly as she could when they were outside under the warm glow of the street lamps.
But now the teasing hollows of his face were traced by the darkness, giving him an even more dangerous appearance. His hair looked darker and softer, his face looked rugged and strong.
Agate shuddered delicately.
Alek’s strong, square jaw clenched. His gaze swept over her hungrily. And then he reached for her.
“Who are you?” he rasped before slamming his lips onto hers.
The kiss was wet and hot and hard. Agate clutched at him, swept up in the vortex of passion. She wanted to crawl up his body, wanted to wrap herself around him and swallow him inside.
His teeth scraped against her lower lip and she moaned. The wide breadth of his hands held the sides of her head, directing the angle and depth of their kiss. His tongue filled her mouth, thrusting deep inside. Agate opened her eyes and was stunned to see his gaze staring deeply into hers, as if he’d wai
ted for her to look at him.
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With a rough curse he broke the kiss. Her mouth felt swollen and bruised and she licked her lips to gather his taste that lingered there.
The pale blue fire of his eyes flared hot, watching her mouth intently.
“Who are you?” he asked again.
“I do not know what you mean…”
She already knew it was useless to lie to him. He could see so much, was remarkably astute. “You know what I mean. You’re strange, too strange for words.
Elevators, chocolate bars, magazines, and coffee—they’re so commonplace but you act as if you’ve never seen any of them before.”
Her spine stiffened, affronted. “But of course I have seen these things—”
“You speak English without using contractions, yet you command the language as if born to it. You speak French like a native, but use it with textbook accuracy and precision. I can’t place your accent—and I’ve studied accent and speech patterns for years in my work—and your gestures give nothing away. Except that you are uncomfortable with everyday conveniences, such as the elevator. So what the hell is going on with you, Agate—if that is your real name?”
“It is my real name.” She scowled, at a loss for any explanation she could give him besides the truthful one—and that she could not do without permission from the Council or The Elder himself. Her mouth tingled, her breasts ached…she could hardly think beyond her simmering passion for this man.
Therein lay an answer, or at least a temporary one.
“Do you really want to talk,” she looked at him from beneath her lashes, almost daring him to make a move, “or do you want to make love?”
Alek’s eyes burned hotter than ever.
He pushed her back against the wall, lifting her up with easy strength to rest against the hard rise of his cock. Agate sighed into his mouth, parting her lips for the invasion of his tongue.
The kiss shook both their worlds.
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Chapter Four
Those images again, bombarding her, filling her up with every secret he possessed so that she knew him. Knew him like she knew herself. His life, his memories, fed straight to her mind and heart through their kiss.
And she was lost in the wonder of…of love. Pure and uncompromising, it was there in her heart. She wanted him, with her body and with her mind. But she also wanted him with her heart. It was foolish madness. It would eventually tear her apart. He was a human; she knew she could not have him because of that.
But she could have this.
Wrapping her legs around his waist, locking her ankles at his back, she held on to him for dear life.
His mouth was so hot. It scalded a path from her mouth to her chin to her neck and she leaned her head back to allow him his sinful exploration. His hands came up to cup and mold her breasts, pressing and squeezing them until they ached and the nipples swelling to tight points.
“I wanted to fuck you raw the first second I saw you,” he growled into her ear, biting her earlobe delicately.
Agate moaned. He rocked his hips in erotic circles between her legs, bouncing her back softly against the wall with his efforts.
“I’m going to tear this shirt of yours off and suck your nipples until you scream,” he promised.
Her jacket disappeared. He removed it with efficient, practiced skill. The buttons of her shirt were no impediment to his desire. The strength of his hands tore at the fragile material, sending buttons and threads flying. She wore no bra, a fact that—from his lusty growl—pleased him greatly.
The tips of his fingers plucked at her stabbing nipples and she gasped. His head dipped, his hair tickled over her face, and he slurped one nipple greedily into his lips.
His tongue stabbed at her, licked over her, while his lips and teeth drew at the delicate flesh. Such a sweet and gentle torture was beyond anything Agate had ever experienced—she of the hundreds of sex toys, which she both designed and tested out regularly.
No mere sex toy could have prepared her for the reality of this man.
His mouth savored first one nipple, then the other, feeding on her with moist, audible sucking noises that enflamed her senses and made her rock against him with need. One of his hands came around her, plumping and squeezing her ass, moving her 162
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on him so that her cunt ground against his erection deliciously. The other held her breast captive for his hungry kisses.
Agate held him tight, her hands moving to rake through the cool silk of his bright hair. “Please,” she moaned.
“Please what?” he asked darkly, knowing full well what she wanted. What she needed. “Please suck you harder?” He did, teeth scraping against her until she shuddered and cried out. “Please get you naked?”
He lowered her to the floor, unzipped the side of her skirt and jerked it down to her ankles. The wall was the only thing keeping her standing, her knees had gone weak and her head was spinning with desire. His gaze burned into hers as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her pantyhose and jerked them down to her ankles as well.
Kneeling at her feet now, his hands swept up to feel her naked legs, leaving goose pimples in their wake.
Then his gaze lingered, caught and held captive, on the bright white gauze of her panties. A lacy confection of her own design, it was sheer and completely scandalous, revealing the tightly trimmed fur of her cunt.
As if entranced, he stared at her, at the stain of her gathering dampness and the shadow of her red hair. With a small, lusty sigh of male appreciation he lowered to her.
His mouth pressed into her through the veil of her panties, teeth and tongue stabbing her through the fabric, wetting her with his moist breath.
Agate cried out, shaking, her hands moving to his head to help steady herself.
His fingers sought her, slipping underneath the fragile material to tease and tickle her. The tips of those fingers fondled her slit, delving into her wet need, spreading the lips wide. Her clit was swollen and throbbing, and when he unerringly found it, pressed it like a secret button, she keened wildly and pulled at his hair as stars exploded behind her eyes.
Alek jerked back from her grasp, tearing her panties with his teeth. His hands made quick work of removing that last barrier and then he rose before her again. His hands roughly opened the fastening of his jeans and his erection sprang free. Heavy and thick, it bobbed and stabbed towards her, a work of such beauty she could have wept. And then he was taking her up in his arm.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, spreading herself eagerly for him.
“Hold on, baby,” he warned, licking and nibbling at her gasping mouth.
One long, deep shove and he slid home. Stretching her so tight and so full that she shrieked with the surprise and pleasure. He only had to rock against her once, sending himself deeper, and she was undone. Her climax rocked her, so swift and so hard that it shook her entire being.
Alek’s fingers sought her out, moving between their bodies to stroke and tease her clit, making her come even harder around him.
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“Let it go, yes. God, you’re so fucking ripe.” He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth and made short, gentle thrusts with his hips. “Milk me, just like that, come on.
So tight. So wet. Shit,” he gritted his teeth and abruptly stilled against her.
Agate’s body pulsed and shook with the wet eruption of pleasure that spilled from deep within her. The climax eased, but her desire and need did not. If anything, the force her release had rejuvenated her passion. She wanted more.
Using the strength of her legs she bounced herself upon him, impaling herself on his thick cock over and over again. The width and breadth of his penetration stretched her, burned her, and the friction of skin against skin was so exquisite. She was gasping and keening her ecstasy in his mouth, kissing him feverishly, de
eply, offering herself completely.
Alek’s hands moved to her hips to steady her, and he slammed deeper, harder in her. Filling her over and over again. Reaching nearly to her womb.
“Shit,” he said again and stopped, holding still.
“Please,” she tried to move on him, but his hands held her firmly, preventing it.
“I forgot to protect you,” he kissed the corner of her mouth.
She frowned and tried move against him again.
“I didn’t use a condom,” he laughed darkly, pressing his forehead against hers. His gaze met hers directly, searing her with the passion that simmered in their depths.
“Don’t move or I’ll spill.”
Agate smiled and bit at his bottom lip playfully. Her arms looped around his neck, holding him close. “Spill all you want, I want to be messy with your seed.”
He shuddered violently against her. “No. I’ve never…” he gasped harshly and moved in her once, hard.
“Please,” she begged, arching up against him so that her breasts brushed his chest through the shirt he still wore.
“Oh shit,” he gritted out and seemed to let go of his rigid self-control, slamming his hips fast and deep into her. “I can’t help it.” He seemed to be saying his thoughts aloud, unable to hold back. “You make me want to come all over you, inside your pussy, inside your mouth,” he groaned.
“I want to taste your come,” she goaded, knowing he danced along the razor edge of an explosive release.
His mouth slanted across hers in a bruising kiss.
Her back bumped over and over against the wall, her breasts bobbed heavily. Every gasp he wrung from her, every moan, he captured with his lips, drinking the sounds into his mouth like a man dying of thirst.
Her body tightened, bowing against him like a reed. Pleasure burst forth over her, like liquid starlight. It seemed her very fingertips sang with ecstasy. Agate screamed into his mouth and held on tight, her cunt squeezing him mercilessly like a swallowing mouth.