Transcending Darkness

by Airicka Phoenix

  Until now. Until Juliette. Damn if he knew what it was about her, but every fiber, nerve, muscle, bone, and monster in him wanted her. Wanted to claim and own her. It was a dangerous path, one he knew he would never recover from if he let himself stray. But it was more than that. It was the fear of hurting her that had him tightening the chains.

  “Killian?” Juliette lifted her head, her face shadowed by tendrils of tangled hair. “What’s wrong?”

  Rather than tell her the truth or tell her to run fast and run far, he grabbed the silver foil from his wallet and slammed the drawer shut. She didn’t ask again as he made his way back around behind her. He tore the packet open with his teeth while yanking his trousers down the rest of the way with his free hand.

  He plunged inside her with a single, powerful thrust. The momentum drove her up onto her toes. It rattled the monitor on his desk dangerously. There was no warning, no restraint but the bruising clamps of his fingers on her hips, holding her prisoner to his needs. Her sharp sob destroyed him. It rang through the room in a sweet symphony that sang to his very core. The tangle of pain and pleasure clawed down his spine, propelling him deeper. His heart screamed between his ears, a deafening sound of triumph. His cock throbbed as it settled in the velvet case of her body.

  Panting, he held himself a moment, giving her time to adjust, needing her to brace before he lost himself again.

  “Don’t stop!”

  The plea was followed by the frantic wiggle of her ass, by the push back of her hips, and the greedy ripple of her muscles around his cock. Any restraint he could have possibly hoped for snapped. Every ounce of his control vanished as he pumped inside her, thrusting deeper and harder each time until she was screaming and coming in a wild flail.

  He fisted her hair. The damp tendrils formed a beautiful knot around his hand as he jerked her head back. His free hand snaked around her middle and found the pulsing bundle between slick lips.

  “Again!” he hissed.

  She did with a guttural sound that tore from her chest. Killian released her hair and her head fell forward as though her neck could no longer support its weight. A fine sheen of sweat had formed along the jagged line of her spine. It seemed to shimmer with every ragged heave of her back. Killian smirked to himself as bucked his hips three more times and came.

  Thick, white cream gleamed along his cock when he withdrew from her. He was tempted to make her clean it off him and even started to reach for her when his phone buzzed across the smooth surface of his desk with a noisy clatter. Juliette stirred and forced herself up onto her feet. She glanced at the phone before turning to him, still braced against the desk as though her legs hadn’t returned to their full function. Her lips parted in a smile, a smug, satisfied sort of smile that tightened a knot in the pit of his stomach.

  The sight of her pinkened cheeks, her swollen mouth and her lack of clothes did odd things to his insides. It filled him with an arrogance he hadn’t bothered with in the past. His lovers always left gratified, but it was different with Juliette. With her, there was a sort of pride swelling up in his chest at the knowledge that he had pleased her.

  “I guess that’s our cue that our time is up,” she said. “You should probably get back to work, huh?”

  He wanted to tell her he worked when he wanted to and whoever was calling could wait, but he knew that if he touched her again, he’d drag her into the bedroom and neither of them would leave for a very long time. The need for her hadn’t been quenched. If anything, nearly destroying his desk had been more of a snack than an actual meal. Already he could feel himself hardening for another round.

  “Marco will take you home,” he said instead. “He’ll stay with you for the day and bring you back here tonight.”

  She blinked. “Tonight?”

  Common sense abandoning him, he closed the space separating him from her and trapped her between him and the desk. The heels of his hands dug into the edges of the table on either side of her hips as he leaned in close enough to skim her lips with his.

  “I want to see your new clothes,” he whispered against her mouth. “And we’re not done.”

  To prove it, he ground his rock hard shaft into the soft flesh of her belly, smearing her juices across the skin of both their stomachs. Her weak gasp burned against his chin. Her pupils diluted. She lifted her hands and anchored her fingers into his shoulders.

  “Can we—?”

  “Tonight,” he cut in before she could steal anymore of his control.

  Her bottom lip puckered, but she grudgingly obeyed. “Can I borrow some clothes then? You ripped all of mine.”

  A grin worked up around his mouth no matter how hard he fought to hold it at bay. He drew back. His fingers drifted to the buttons on his dress shirt. The material came undone easily and he shrugged out of it.

  “I don’t think you’d fit in my trousers,” he told her. “But this should be long enough to cover most of you.”

  Fighting back her own grin, Juliette accepted the top and eased into it, her eyes never leaving his. She did up the buttons and held out her arms.

  “How do I look?”

  Illegal.

  It covered all the things that needed covering. The sleeves fell well over her hands and the hem stopped just at her knees, but nothing about it deterred the imagination. Maybe it was because he knew she wore nothing but a bra underneath, but he could picture every curve as though the material was transparent. Also, there was something mystifyingly enticing about her in his clothes that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. All he knew was that she looked sexy as all fuck and the penis he had yet to tuck away took great pleasure in noticing.

  “I take it that you like it,” she teased, eyeing his shiny, new erection.

  He glowered at her and stuffed himself back inside his pants. “Go.”

  Catching her bottom lip between her teeth to contain the laughter he could see shining in her eyes, Juliette skirted around him and quickly gathered her clothes. She pressed them to her chest as she turned back to him.

  “I’ll see you tonight.”

  “I’ll be here,” he promised.

  With a wave, she hurried to the doors. They had been shut at some point. She might not have noticed as she yanked them open, but he did.

  Frank, he thought.

  True enough, the other man stepped into the room only moments after Juliette had left. If he had any thoughts on what he may have witnessed, it never showed on his face.

  “Ryan Keating phoned,” he declared evenly. “He apparently tried you first, but you were preoccupied.”

  Killian dragged his phone over and checked the missed call. Sure enough, there was one voicemail from his lawyer.

  “He has the rest of those papers you asked for,” Frank finished.

  “Tell him to fax them over,” Killian said, already moving towards the doors. “I’ll look at them in a moment. Also, tell Marco to take Juliette and her sister wherever they need to go for the rest of the evening and bring her back here. Have John and Tyson go with them.”

  “John and Tyson, sir?”

  Killian paused on the threshold and glanced back. “I don’t want her left alone.”

  Frank inclined his head. “Yes sir.”

  He took a quick shower before dressing in fresh clothes and returning to the office. Frank was exactly where Killian had left him. But he must have left at some point, because there was a stack of papers on Killian’s desk when he took his seat. He hoisted them up and flipped through them quickly. He would do a more thorough reading later, but at first glance, everything seemed in order.

  “This is everything?”

  Frank nodded. “The Twin Peaks Hotel is officially yours, sir.”

  Chapter 12

  Remembering how to shop was like remembering how to ride a bike, Juliette realized as she hefted her bags more securely along her forearms. Their weight was beginning to cut strips into her skin, but she refused to let the two men tailing her take them for her.


  They were nice enough, she supposed. Neither said very much, but it was their silence and watchful eyes that was most disturbing. They followed her from store to store without complaint and occasionally would deter other customers from the changing area when she wanted to try something on. Juliette was almost positive the entire mall thought she was some kind of celebrity. One boy even grabbed his cellphone to snap a photo before the one named John intervened and took the phone away. Juliette had tried to apologize and get the shadow to give the boy his phone back, but Tyson had gently taken her arm and maneuvered her from the store while John stayed to talk things over with the boy.

  As embarrassing moments went, it was probably the worst.

  Ultimately, she opted to ignore the pair and finish her shopping. Had she not been starting her new position the next morning, she would have just gone home. No. She would have gone to Killian and yelled at him for sending the two in the first place. She wasn’t sure what their purpose was. Had he sent them to spy on her? To see where she was going and who she was seeing? The very idea was insulting and filled her with an anger that made her want to kick someone. But she saved it. Saved every ounce of her rage for the person responsible.

  “I’ve got it!” she snapped when Tyson reached for her bags as they approached the gleaming SUV. “I’m perfectly capable of handling my own luggage.”

  If her manner or tone in any way affected the pair, neither showed it. They remained perfectly mute and impassive. Part of her couldn’t help wondering if there was a robot hidden beneath their human skin.

  Both were well over six feet tall with narrow, swimmer bodies and dark suits. Tyson had skin the warm color of chocolate and John looked like he’d never even heard of sunlight. Neither wore sunglasses, which made her eternally grateful. But they did have those plastic earbud things and every so often, she’d catch one muttering into the second half tucked inside the sleeve of their blazers. There were bulges under their jackets that she suspected were weapons, guns, no doubt and it only amplified her anger.

  At the house, both men jumped out of the SUV before she could. Tyson held the door open for her while John grabbed her things. It was a well-oiled system that she would have found quite impressive any other time. But instead, she let John hang on to her bags. What was he going to do? Try on her bras? Besides, she had bigger fish to fry, namely Killian McClary.

  The pair followed her up the stairs, keeping perfect time with her furious strides. Neither of them stopped her, which she found refreshing from the last time they’d chased her down with their guns drawn.

  “You had me followed?”

  She stomped into his office and found him, as she’s suspected, seated behind his enormous desk, the same desk he’d had her bent over just that morning. The memory sent a tingle through her she had to shove aside.

  “Hello darling,” Killian said without glancing up from the papers in his hands. “How was your afternoon?”

  Juliette glowered at him, not that it mattered; he still hadn’t glanced up.

  “It was fine until your … goons, started shadowing me everywhere. What were you hoping they’d report back to you? That I bought underwear?”

  That caught his attention and his head came up. Those magnetic eyes roamed over her in slow interest.

  “Are you wearing them now?”

  “Killian!”

  With a sigh, he set the papers down and got to his feet.

  “They weren’t there to report anything back to me,” he said evenly. “John and Tyson were there to protect you and I’m not sure they appreciate being called my goons.”

  Juliette opted to ignore the latter. “Protect me? From what? A boy and his phone?”

  Killian’s gaze shot past her to the two men as though silently asking what boy? What phone?

  “There was a harmless incident,” the one named Tyson reported in a very official tone. “The situation was handled.”

  “Handled!” Juliette barked. “They stole his phone and threatened him with bodily harm. He was barely fifteen! I’m surprised they didn’t pummel him into the ground and pull him into a choke hold.”

  Killian looked on the verge of laughing, but he must have noticed the warning flashing in her eyes, because he wisely smothered it behind the hand he rubbed over his mouth. He fixed his attention on the two men over Juliette’s shoulder.

  “Thank you,” he said. “Just put those in my room.”

  Inclining their heads, the two turned on their heels and stalked from the room. Tyson paused just long enough to shut the door behind them, locking her in with the man watching her.

  “Why did you send them?” she demanded. “I don’t appreciate being spied on, Killian, especially when I have never warranted your distrust.”

  There was no amusement on his face now, just a weary sort of contemplation bordering on a touch of defeat she really didn’t like seeing.

  “I meant it,” he said. “I wasn’t spying on you. I was trying to keep you safe.”

  “From what?” she stressed, feeling her anger draining away to confusion.

  Killian turned away and started back to his desk. For a moment, she thought he’d return to his papers. Instead, he turned and propped his ass against the edge and stared across the room at her.

  “Who do you think you’re involved with, Juliette? Do you think I’m a banker or a teacher? Someone safe and harmless?”

  A frown wrinkled the place between her brows. “Of course not.”

  He looked tired, she realized. Like he hadn’t slept in days. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and fine lines bracketing the corners of his mouth. Part of her wondered why she hadn’t noticed them that morning. Maybe because he always held himself with such confidence. It was odd to see him show this sort of weakness. Or maybe she was just a bad person who never paid attention. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it.

  “I’m not a good person,” he told her with a tension that insisted she understand what he was trying to tell her. “I have enemies. Lots and lots of enemies. Some who would not hesitate to destroy me and everyone I have ever met. Had you been any other woman, that first night would have been the beginning and end of us. I would have sent you home and never thought of you again, because that is how I like my relationships. Because that is how I keep them safe.”

  “Because you’re cursed,” she whispered, remembering his words over lunch the other day.

  His chin lowered so he was peering down at his feet. “People I get close to die horribly and you…” He raised his head to fix her with an intensity that dried the spit in her mouth. “You are the only woman I can’t seem to let go and that makes me the most selfish son of a bitch in the world, but it also means that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if it means having you angry with me.”

  But she wasn’t angry, not anymore. She was sad, frustrated, and a whole lot tired.

  “They’re not very friendly,” she mumbled. “And they scare people.”

  The left corner of his mouth quirked. “That’s their job.”

  She sighed. “What about Vi and Mrs. Tompkins? If I’m not safe then they’re not safe.”

  He pushed to his feet. “I have men stationed by the house and another watching over your sister.”

  Men stationed by the house. Men following her, following Vi. Men with guns and watchful eyes. It was all too much. Her own life had never meant overly much to her, but she had sacrificed everything to keep her sister safe. Instead, she had put them both in a position that required those men and those guns.

  “Juliette?”

  One hand pressed flat to her pounding chest, she put the other up to ward him off when he took a step towards her.

  “I … I need a minute.”

  She turned away, but there was nowhere to go except to walk into the doors. So she stood there and stared at the slabs of wood, at the three squares carved down each one and the gold handles. Her chest ached where her heart kept repeatedly slamming into muscle and bone. But
no matter how hard she tried, her brain had become a wasteland of nothing. Its blankness fueled the impatience and fear she was fighting so hard to keep at bay and she hated herself. Hated the weakness. The inability to think of a way out of what was possibly eminent death.

  “Make them disappear.” She spun on her heels and peered at the man across the room. “Can you do that?”

  Confusion tugged his brows together. “You want me to kill them?”

  Juliette blinked. “What? No! I meant put them somewhere safe. Give them new identities or something. Hide them somewhere far away. I’ll stay with you. I’ll put up with your men following me, but Vi and Mrs. Tompkins … I can’t put their lives at risk because I can’t let you go either.”

  A muscle tightened in the set slash of his jaw. “You won’t ever see her again if I do. She can’t ever come back.”

  The knot in her stomach tightened until she nearly blacked out from the pain. But she breathed through it slowly.

  “You said you’d do anything for me if I let you.” She started towards him. “This is what I want, Killian. If the time ever comes and something happens to me, promise me you’ll keep my sister safe.”

  Anger flickered across opaque eyes, hot and formidable. It flared in his nostrils and turned his beautiful mouth into a thin, white line.

  “I promise to keep her safe, but if the day comes when I have to pick between saving you or saving her—”

  “You will pick her!”

  “No, Juliette. I won’t.”

  Dread settled on her heart, causing it to crash down to her ankles in a messy splatter.

  “Killian, please. She’s sixteen.” Juliette crossed to stand before him. “She didn’t ask for this. I’m the one who put her in danger.”

  He turned away. His shoes clipped softly as he made his way around the desk and lowered himself down into his chair. Springs creaked with his weight. He settled back and steepled his fingers. He watched her over the tips for several agonizingly long minutes.

  “I’ll handle it.”