By the Horns

by Rachael Slate

  “My turn,” he growled in her ear, nudging her forward.

  Nat’s legs buckled beneath the heat of Kassian’s kisses as though he melted her from the inside. It seemed she didn’t require legs, because he pressed her shoulders down to make her kneel. He snatched her hands and planted them on the top of the crates, raised above her shoulders.

  The anticipation of waiting for him to enter her speared through her core and the dampness between her thighs grew slick. The wooden pallet below them creaked as Kassian kneeled behind her. Her hands trembled, shivers traveling down her arms and shooting through the rest of her body.

  She was ready to splinter from the anticipation. As he stroked one fingertip down her spine, she bucked and moaned. Her sheath clamped and relaxed in demand of the blissful fullness it had enjoyed moments ago. He’d let her come close to the peak of an orgasm as she’d ridden him, and then he’d pulled it out from under her, making her helpless, at his mercy for fulfillment. Her breaths came in uneven pants while she awaited his next move. Who’d have guessed Kassian had this dominant side?

  Even more, who’d have concluded she craved it from him. Losing herself in him, to his control. A fact he seemed intent on drilling into her. She wished he’d hurry up and get on with the drilling.

  “Kassian,” she moaned, hoping he’d cede and give her some form of release.

  The wait alone wasn’t the torture. It was his nearness. How he stood so close to her yet so far from her reach.

  “Is this what you want?” He nudged her thighs open and brushed the head of his cock against her entrance. She moaned and tilted her hips, trying to take him inside.

  The bastard sank back. She lifted her hand off the crate and reached behind her.

  “Uh-uhn,” he tsked, his large hand wrapping around hers and guiding it to the top of the crate. “I said this is my turn. I’ll fuck you how I damn well please.” His hot breath caressed her neck while he purred those naughty words into her ear, making her whimper. His Aussie accent, usually mild, grew thick, his tongue augmenting the sound of the vowels, rolling over them and cutting the ends of the words off short.

  Hell. How could any woman withstand that? A gorgeous hunk of a man with a deep, sexy accent to boot?

  Kassian was made for seduction. That he’d denied the female sex his services for years was a travesty, yet—Nat smiled—he’d changed his mind.

  For me.

  “What are you waiting for, big guy? I’m so wet for you.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and sent him her best smoldering look. If he played the dirty talk game, she’d give his cock equal payback.

  She parted her thighs and shimmied her ass, rolling her spine. He might have made up the rules, but she was an expert at circumventing them. Finding loopholes. Sliding in under the radar.

  Catching others unaware.

  His husky groan was proof. If he’d hoped for a demure woman in his bed, he’d chosen the wrong person to be stranded on a deserted island with.

  Oh, yes. She’d break his rules and make him pay. She lifted her hand off the crate again, and palmed her body, cupping her breast and lifting the weight for his approval, before tweaking the tip and moaning.

  “Dammit, Nat. What are you doing?”

  “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? If you won’t give me what I want, I’ll take it for myself.” To prove her point, she glided her hand between her thighs and stroked her clit.

  Kassian spewed a steady stream of under-his-breath curses. She rolled her hips and glanced over her shoulder.

  His intense gaze seared into her while his hand wrapped around his thick cock, pumping his rigid length.

  “Are you going to help me out or just enjoy the show?”

  “The view is pretty great from here.”

  She smiled at him. If they shut out the world and their responsibilities, being with Kassian was easy. Natural. She hadn’t been this comfortable making love to anyone…ever.

  Her climax grew, but she craved being with him so she removed her hand and placed it back on the crate. “I need you, Kassian.” The words might be tied to her level of lust, but more than desire existed in them.

  He seemed to sense this, because he came behind her, covering her back with his strong body. “Do you promise?”

  His voice broke on the words. She guessed what he really asked, but she couldn’t give him an answer.

  He didn’t wait for one as he pressed a trail of kisses from the top of her head down her shoulders, and he tilted her head to kiss her mouth. His hands dropped to nudge her thighs wider and he guided his cock to her sex, driving inside her in one swift thrust.

  They moaned together. He waited a second before rolling his hips and rocking back into her, building a rhythm. His fingers slid to the front of her waist and spanned her stomach as he leveraged his body to pound into her. His other hand curled around her right one on top of the crate.

  She contracted her inner muscles, squeezing him.

  “What…are you doing?” The husk of Kassian’s voice was a sweet reward.

  “You’re not the only one with tricks. This one’s called ‘constricting the serpent.’ “

  “Fuck.”

  She smiled and lost herself in the rhythm of his thrusts. For endless moments, only he existed, enveloping her in his strength, pouring himself into her body. His deep groans in her ear and the male scent of him in her nostrils. She closed her eyes. Her body climbed toward ecstasy. Kassian’s thick cock stroked the intimate part of her, deeper and deeper as the crescendo built.

  The wave crashed over her and she cried out, clawing her nails into the wooden crate. Kassian slammed his hips against hers in rapid fire before his cock pulsed inside her with the strength of his release. His low grunting sang in her ears. A melody of pure lust sated and utter satisfaction.

  Sparks like this didn’t fly every day or between any two people.

  He shuddered and laid his cheek against the top of her head. His hand squeezed her right one. He rested, still rock hard inside her. After a moment, his hand spanning her stomach dipped toward the apex of her thighs.

  “Oh, don’t you dare.” She snared his hand with her left.

  His chuckle puffed above her ear. “Don’t tell me you’re sated yet, vixen. Because I’m certainly not done with you.” He tugged his hand free and glided his fingertips over her clit. The gentle yet firm pressure proved enough to re-ignite her body.

  Damn, but the man was right. Where he was concerned, she’d never be done.

  That was just the problem.

  ***

  Kassian brought Nat to orgasm a few more times before they both collapsed onto the mattress. He sprawled on his back and hauled her slender body against his. She tossed a leg over his waist and curled into his side, one hand splayed across his chest.

  She fit him like a damn glove.

  He curled one arm around her shoulders, coaxing her head to rest on his bicep, and twined the hand on his chest with his. The silk of her hair tickled his skin, but he didn’t dare move and ruin this moment. It wouldn’t last forever. He kept telling himself that, kept trying to make the fact sink in.

  Hell, he was fairly certain Nat had only agreed to sleep with him because he’d added in the not-forever clause.

  His traitorous brain refused acceptance. He spun everything around in his mind, searching for a way to keep her.

  Like she was a bloody possession he could purchase. Fuck. He snorted. Nat would make up her mind and nothing he did or said would change it. Even though Snake had joined with Tiger, she might not choose to live at Kek Lok Si. Would Nat grow bored there? Tire of him? She was an adventure seeker. A Lotus.

  Would she give up that lifestyle for him? How could he ask her to?

  Damn, he couldn’t.

  He understood, but his heart refused to accept the facts. Once they departed this island, he might never get to hold Nat like this again.

  He let his head slam onto the wooden pallet. The mattress wasn’t long enough f
or him and, in the position they’d collapsed, his head rested off the bedding.

  Who the hell was complaining? Not him.

  Nat fit perfectly, snuggled in his arms, and that made up for the rest.

  “Are you okay?” Her sleepy inquiry was followed by her fingertips tracing zigzagging lines along the ridges of his abdomen.

  “You keep that up and we won’t get any sleep.” To strengthen his warning, his cock twitched and swelled.

  Nat emitted a crystal laugh of feminine victory. “Is that a promise?”

  Her hand slid down his body toward his cock, but he snatched it and brought her fingertips to his mouth, kissing each one. “Yep. It will have to wait because we should talk. Where are you headed? It’s time to let me in.”

  She drew back her hand. The air between them grew stifled, thick with tension and unspoken thoughts until her whisper cut through the silence.

  “My father.” The words hung in the air.

  “Yeah, what about him?” Nat’s dad was a right bastard, but what did the sonofabitch have to do with anything?

  “I have to kill him.”

  “Shit.” He shot up and stared at her, bewilderment funneling through his brain.

  She scrambled up too, her crossed legs covering her nudity. “It’s not what it sounds like. He’s not my dad. Not anymore.”

  “That needs an explanation.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “That last summer… What I came home to…” She exhaled and her voice grew monotone, like she was reciting the events. Probably easier than to relive them. “I always believed there was something evil about him but, that summer, he changed. When I came home, he was holding a knife to my mother’s neck. He stared right at me as he slashed it across her throat.”

  “Holy shit.” Kassian threw his arms around her.

  A sob shook her shoulders. “He killed my m-mother.” Tears slipped from her eyes, wetting his chest. “I watched him leave and I didn’t do anything to stop him. Why didn’t I stop him?” She shook her head and swiped her fingers across her eyes.

  “I never knew. I’m so sorry.” He clutched her tighter. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “The Matchmaker came. Appeared out of nowhere. She took care of everything. Swept away the evidence, buried my mother, and offered me a place in the League. I had to accept.” She twisted to gaze at him. “My father took everything from me, but I couldn’t tell anyone…because of what I saw.”

  “What was that?”

  “He’s the same.” She swallowed hard. “The same as Zhao.” She spoke with precision. “I joined the Lotus League to hunt my father. I’ve tracked him for years, but I’ve never been strong enough to confront him. One time, I tried. Three years ago, in Thailand.” Her lip whitened where she bit it. “I foolishly believed I could stop him by myself, but I had no idea what he’d become. How powerful he was. Or what he’d been up to.” She lifted her gaze to stare into his eyes. “My father helped unleash the Plague God.”

  His breath iced in his lungs. The puzzle pieces clicked together. “Your dad is one of them?”

  She nodded. “He’s part of it all. His first victims…” She squeezed her eyes shut, but a tear leaked through her lashes.

  He leaned forward to wipe it away.

  “They didn’t just unleash the Plague God. They…experimented.” She drew a shaky hand over her mouth. “They manipulated the Plague God, somehow, until they got the Red Death. One of the victims, her name was Mali. I didn’t know her well, but she was the daughter of a maid in our house. He used her to perfect the virus.” She sniffed. “She was only seven.”

  “Oh, Nat.” He crushed his arms around her. This. He clenched his jaw. This was the burden she’d been carrying? He pressed his lips to her hair.

  Her cries quieted, and she pushed back from his chest. “My father’s a monster. I can’t rest until I’ve stopped him. Until I’ve avenged Mali and my mother. And the whole world.”

  The last piece snapped into place. “You accepted the Snake because… Well, fuck.”

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Snake gives me what I didn’t have—the power to kill my father. Please, you have to understand.”

  His mind spun with Nat’s revelations. Her father was the man she would kill in his vision… Nope. Not going to happen. He would do what he must to ensure the vision didn’t come to pass. Starting with wedging himself into her plans. He’d be there, to make damn sure she didn’t succumb to evil.

  He smoothed a hand down her back and coaxed her closer. “Wait a minute. Back up.” All this time, she’d been after her father, Xing, who was somehow involved in Zhao and the Empress’s schemes? “Does the Matchmaker know you’re going after your father?”

  She slumped. “I haven’t mentioned him to her in a long time. I don’t think she suspects what I plan to do. I doubt she would have given me the Snake if she did.”

  “She might agree if you fill her in. This is some serious shit you’ve stepped into. You shouldn’t tackle this alone.” His throat tightened as he pictured Nat battling Xing by herself, that malevolent glint in her eyes. Images of Zhao’s deformed body flashed through his mind. He couldn’t fathom what the hell Zhao had done to himself but, apparently, he wasn’t the only freak. If there were more of them, more half-demons roaming the streets, gathering, building…what? Shit, an army?

  “I can’t drag anyone else into this.” She rose and hovered above him, her hair cascading around her face like a dark veil of silk.

  “The fuck you can’t.” He surged upward, wrapped his hand around her neck, and smothered her with a kiss until they were both breathless. “I’ve been waiting to get my shot at your father ever since…” She twisted aside and his gaze dropped down her back, to the scar on the side of her spine. Nat had told him what happened only because he’d promised not to pummel her dad.

  Yeah, he had a grudge the size of Ox’s ballocks.

  “If I had realized what he would become, I would have let you.” Regret seeped into her voice.

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t call for backup on this one? We don’t even know what we’re dealing with.”

  She chewed her bottom lip. “Yes, I do. I’ve been tracking him for years. I’ve seen the destruction he leaves in his wake.” Her expression grew dark, like the shadows of haunted memories clouded over her.

  “Okay.” He tilted her face and she lifted her lashes. “How do we find him?”

  The corner of her mouth curved. “We don’t.” She padded to her duffle bag. “We set a trap and he’ll find us.”

  Nat shuffled through her duffle bag for her clothes.

  “Hey. I didn’t say you could leave yet.” To add emphasis, Kassian reclined as lazy as a panther bathing in sunlight. “Helicopter’s not ready and I’m pretty worn out from that…exertion.” He winked, melting her heart and warming every part of her body below it.

  Oh, but if she climbed back into his outstretched arms, she feared she’d never relinquish them. This whole time, she’d been worried he’d deem her a monster for planning to murder her father.

  He understood and, even more, he wouldn’t hesitate to help her.

  Kassian was on her side. He had her back in ways no one ever had. In the one way he always had.

  She swallowed the lump of lamentation for a past she’d sacrificed and a future that would never be actualized. Her path had been her choice and nothing would knock her off it. Not even the evidence of his heightening arousal. She tore her gaze from his decadent body, bottom lip drawn into her mouth. This island fling had to be just that.

  Dipping her toes into the water once had been wonderful. If she stayed any longer, she’d be dragged under and might never resurface.

  Her final mission was still her endgame. Confronting her father was a suicide mission. She’d always known that because, even if she didn’t die, the Matchmaker would never tolerate Nat’s disobedience.

  She was breaking every rule. Using her Lotus status to pursue
her own agenda. Worse, she would employ her Chosen spirit in the act.

  It would be unforgiveable.

  Which was precisely why Kassian could not be there for the final act.

  This was one assignment she had to complete alone.

  Even if Nat didn’t have this task hanging over her head, she could never leave the League to be with Kassian. Hell, she could beg and plead with the Matchmaker all day long, until Nat had no more breaths in her body, but the woman would never change the rules. Precedent and all that bullshit. If she let one quit the Lotus League, she’d have to permit others the same.

  “Chop chop, big boy. Time’s a-ticking. Demons don’t wait for anyone.” Gah. She spewed a bunch of nonsense because her brain had checked out. Though she’d turned her back to him to dress, her mind was fixated on his gorgeous body, on the care with which he’d pleasured her, and hell…

  Enough.

  “Okay, then.” He cleared his throat and stomping thudded as he probably searched for his clothes. “Guess I’ll get back to work. How about you run through this plan of yours while I fix our ride?”

  “Mmm hmm.” She hummed an affirmation, keeping her gaze off him until he was clothed. Not that a clothed Kassian was any less sexy or tempting than a naked one.

  She twisted her hair into a long braid and tied it with an elastic band from her duffle before facing Kassian. He’d tossed on a T-shirt and shorts. His slick hair had dried, the ends curling around his collar while the tips on the top of his head he spiked with his fingers.

  He didn’t glance in her direction as he strode toward the helicopter.

  She followed him and assumed a seat a safe distance away, one where she could carry on a conversation with him while staring out toward the ocean instead of at his flexing muscles.

  While she ran through her plan, he added his suggestions. It wasn’t as simple as she’d first conceived but, after a couple of hours, they’d hashed out a thorough strategy.

  Kassian dug around in the shed and reappeared bearing several cans with non-descript labels. She raised a questioning brow to which he smirked. “Dinner.”