Elly held his gaze a minute longer before her eyes dropped to the ground. She always did this—always divulged more than she should. He had a way of wrangling more from her than anyone in her life, and through the lonely nights she’d come to rely upon that. Nights became longer, fights became tougher, but at the same time her enemy provided a constant sorely lacking in her life.
They had become friends, which was weird for both of them. Elly didn’t have friends.
“I got a woman killed tonight,” she said.
“Women die all the time, last I checked.”
“Not pregnant ones.”
Arick frowned. “Technically…”
“Not because of me, I should say. I intervened when I shouldn’t have.” At his look, Elly frowned and continued. “Hold up at a gas station. He fired because I surprised him, and a woman…Rebecca Morgan…died as a result.”
“She wouldn’t have died anyway?”
“I went to the Oracles. They confirmed my presence sealed the deal.”
Arick tilted his head to the side. “Bummer.”
“Yeah.”
“So your wings…”
“I got tossed out for making one little joke about The One,” Elly replied dryly. “Getting a woman killed—one about to pop a kid? I think I’m pretty much done for the rest eternity.”
“It was a mistake.”
“Strangely, one of the tests into getting back on The One’s good side is making educated judgments like this on your own.”
Arick rolled his eyes. “Bunch of ninnies, if you ask me. I tell you, Elly, if you ever do manage to get back there, you’re gonna be bored stiff.”
“You have to tell me that because you’re a demon.”
“No, I have to tell you that because it happens to be true. Remember my cousin, Raphael? He was a member of The Divine. Bored fucking stiff. He ended up taking a leak behind The One’s digs to get himself booted.” He shrugged. “Figure you were only there a day or so. You’re not missing much.”
“But it’s why I was created.”
“So what? I was created to be evil.”
“You are evil.”
Arick beamed. “Thanks. Never get tired of hearing that.”
“And it’s a demon’s prerogative to keep the fallen holy ones from ascending to their rightful place. Sorry. You’re out of the argument on grounds of extreme bias.”
He shook his head. “Don’t like this.”
“Tough titties.”
“I don’t like seeing you all…sullen. You’re no fun.”
Elly waved a hand. “By all means, go annoy someone else.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Then stop complaining.”
Arick exhaled deeply and took several steps forward. “You’re so much better than this, Elly. So much better than…how long have we known each other?”
“A few centuries now.”
“Right.”
“And you don’t see it. You don’t see anything.”
“What don’t I see?”
“What you have here. What you wouldn’t have if you ever managed to get your lousy wings.”
Elly perked a brow. “What?”
“Me.”
She hadn’t expected him to say it, to admit it. To bring up whatever chemistry sparked between them—the dangerous attraction of what she wanted desperately but couldn’t have. They’d been friends, colleagues, for eons, without mentioning the way his nostrils flared and his eyes burned when they locked gazes or acknowledging the heat lacing her skin whenever he stood near. Now, however, the silent truce had shattered.
She shuddered, nipples suddenly hard and a foreign heat making her thighs clench. Elly hadn’t let anyone bone her since hearing from her few friends in The Light that sex didn’t earn a halo. At that moment she’d sworn off men, determined to wander single among the underworld. She’d stopped perceiving herself as sexual and she wasn’t about to break that vow. Sex with a demon would make her earthbound residency permanent.
Therefore, she bounded to her feet. Broken silence meant fucking herself over even more than she had already, and she didn’t want that. She also didn’t want to allow whatever she felt toward Arick to blossom into something she couldn’t afford to lose.
“And to that,” she said shortly, “goodnight.”
“Hold on, now.”
“No, don’t think I will.”
Arick growled and sprinted after her. “Did you hear me? I just told you—”
”That I have you. Got it.”
“No, you don’t fucking ‘got it’!” He jogged up ahead of her and placed himself in her path. “Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to choke that out?”
Elly blinked at him. “Wow! Way to seal the deal!”
He scowled. “That’s not fair.”
“I never asked, for the record.”
“But you do.”
“Unless there’s an epilogue, this is old news, Arick.”
“There’s more to it than that, and you know it.” He seized her by the arms, which sent a sizzling thrill down her spine. No wonder so many people sacrificed themselves for the sake of pleasure. Arick only touched her, and the heat coursing through her skin had her insides tingling. What the hell had gotten into her?
“I can’t get you outta my head!” he hissed.
“Well, let’s start with getting me out of your sight and going from there.”
Arick snarled and shook his head, closing the space between them, his hands clamping down on her shoulders. “Get it through your thick head, already,” he hissed through his teeth, jerking her against his chest. Elly swallowed hard, the rush coming back. The strange nipple-hardening, thigh-clenching rush. She felt hot, wet, and she hadn’t felt either in so long. It was as though an accumulation of every encounter had mounted into something unforeseen. Something of which she wasn’t even aware until that moment.
“It’s you, baby,” he growled, eyes roaming her face until settling on her mouth. She knew then her life was about to change, just as surely as she knew she should fight it. But God, she hadn’t felt anything in so long, and the fog separating the world she wanted and the world in which she lived began thicker and harder to navigate. Arick was all she knew; no matter how screwed up that was, it didn’t make it any less true.
A world without this rush wasn’t worth exploring. This was where she belonged.
“It’s all you,” Arick said again, then his mouth was hot against hers, and everything else melted away. Elly moaned—an honest to God moan. She didn’t think she had those in her anymore. He tasted like the world was on fire, desperate, needy nips of teeth against her lips before his tongue implored entry to her mouth. And immediately, her defenses deflated.
It had been so long since she’d been touched.
“Oh God,” Elly whimpered as her lips broke from his, his mouth tearing down her neck. “I can’t…this…”
”You taste so good,” he purred, hands wandering. “Such soft skin…” His tongue laved her skin. “So sweet…”
“I can’t believe this.”
Arick growled softly, teeth scraping the pulse point on her neck. “Neither can I,” he replied. “We’re fucked, you know that? Completely fucked. I’ve wanted to taste you since the moment I set eyes on you, Elly. Wanted this…” His hand delved between her legs, palming her pussy through her sweats, “delicious cunt wrapped around me.”
“You have?” God, she hated how small her voice sounded. This wasn’t her—it was a shadow of who she was. Sin would render her stranded forever, and she didn’t want that. She didn’t…and yet what the hell had the last few centuries given her but a sore heart and heavy resentment for The One? Arick had been with her forever, and she’d wanted this—she’d wanted connection—for longer than she remembered.
The hint of femininity she’d cast aside came crashing back, and just as quickly she was a wide-eyed school girl macking on her first crush. Only Arick wasn’t a crush, he was dangerous…
and he was hers.
“Oh yeah, baby. Wanna fill you up. Make you cream so hard you’ll forget anything but what it feels like to have me inside you.”
It took a second to realize the ground was moving beneath her feet, but by the time it occurred to her to do something about it, her butt had collided with something slanted and cold. Elly wasn’t an idiot; she should stop this. She should kick his presumptuous ass up and down Main Street, but it felt too good to stop. She’d been wandering in the wilderness without touch for so long, and with Arick, it felt right.
It felt too right to fight.
“God, you’re a picture,” Arick sighed, jerking down her jeans and panties together, but only managing to get one leg free before his patience ran out. “Skin all flushed, lips swollen…just begging to be fucked.”
No one talked to her like that.
Only, for her stunning lack of rebuttal, apparently Arick did.
“Mmm,” he drawled, running his fingers through her curls before dipping to explore her opening. “So wet. Didn’t know you were this hot for me, darling.”
“Bite me.”
Arick’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Be careful what you wish for.” Then his hands were tearing at his fly and shoving his jeans down to mid-thigh, his hard cock springing into Elly’s eager grip. “Put me where you want me,” he murmured, thrusting into her hand.
She had no idea how she’d let things get this far. How in God’s name she’d managed to let Arick splay her body on a kiddie slide as his cock pried apart her pussy lips and sank inside her, but nothing could eradicate the voices screaming it was right. Her muscles ached as she remembered, but the pain she’d experienced the first time had dwindled to nothing. This was different. This was…
“Oh, my God,” Elly moaned, linking her hands behind Arick’s neck and dragging him down to steal a kiss off his lips. He began rocking against her, cock dragging against her slick flesh. “This…”
”I know.”
Her hands drifted to her sides, finding purchase on the rims of the slide. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” she murmured, hips rolling.
“You’re living.”
“This is crazy.”
“Mhmm,” Arick mused. “My kind of crazy. Dance with me, love. Just like that.”
She had no idea if she was doing this right, but perhaps there wasn’t a way to do it wrong. The world was no longer the world—she didn’t know where she lived anymore. All she knew was the bliss of being torn in two, of feeling a part of something larger than she was.
”No idea how long I’ve wanted this, do you?” Arick demanded heatedly, dragging his lips across her throat, fingers dancing over her pussy, and the dual sensation about drove her insane. She hadn’t had this before—hadn’t experienced a man touching her intimately while driving his cock inside her. It had been a long time, but she knew it hadn’t felt like this the first time; her lover hadn’t pursued her satisfaction, hadn’t fingered her clit, as Arick did, hadn’t done anything special to drive her out of her mind.
Arick bit at her lips. “Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. You’re all I think about.”
His hands slid under her hips completely, anchoring her into his thrusts, which grew harder with every stroke. Pain sliced her insides, but she didn’t fight—pain was welcome. Pain was pleasure—pain was life. She needed this as much as she needed anything, needed to feel beyond the cold, beyond the death of strangers, she needed touch and touch he gave.
”Tell me you think of me,” he begged softly, nibbling at her throat.
“What if I don’t?”
He stiffened, then exploded in what was either desperation or rage. “Lie to me, then,” he demanded, pounding her into the next world, bruising her body with his. Her muscles ached, but she’d never been wetter than she was at that second—the steady slip and slide of his cock from her pussy, her body contracting. “Tell me you think of me.”
“I think you’re disgusting.”
He rammed harder. “Liar.”
“Absolutely…ohhh, disgusting.”
“Seems like you love disgusting.”
Elly grinned in spite herself. Hot streaks of white flashed through her veins, her eyes dipping between them, watching her swollen pussy lips contract around his slick cock every time he entered her. “And what if I do?”
He raised her hips, following her gaze. “God, can’t ever get enough of this.”
“What is this?” Elly demanded between gasps. “I need more.”
“You’ll get more.”
“No…Arick, I need…”
His lips pressed hard against hers. It wasn’t a romantic kiss, but it held a world of promise. “Not giving this up,” he promised, voice uneasy though not for lack of conviction. The hand between them remembered itself and resumed the torturous massage of her clitoris, rubbing her in tender circles and igniting a series of sparks across her body. “Wanna take you…somewhere and worship every inch…”
The thought had her insides liquefying.
“Wanna taste your honey. Wanna bury my tongue inside this sweet, hot cunt and eat you for hours.”
Elly’s skin nearly melted right off her bones.
“Want to come?”
She nodded harshly, not even sure what he’d asked. All she knew at that second, the fingers at her clit began working overtime, pressing her just hard enough to fan the sparks into an all out bonfire without pressing the burn into hurt.
Anything.
”That’s it,” Arick whispered, kissing her lips. “Feel that?”
Oh, she felt it. The flames licked higher, her pussy grew tighter and wetter with every plunge. And then something pierced her neck and the world tumbled into light, ecstasy ripping through her body. Her muscles clamped and squeezed and Arick roared and bucked, and it was wonderful. There was no pain—there was nothing but this.
Every second was wonderful. She’d never known pleasure like this.
She’d never known pleasure at all.
“Mine,” Arick snarled against her bloodied throat. “You’re blood is my blood, Elly. You belong here…with me.”
“Oh God, yes,” she answered without thought.
“Forever, you understand? We’re just beginning, you and me. Just beginning.”
Elly nodded hard, choking a sob and riding out the waves.
Forever.
The One could stuff it.
This was where she belonged.
The Hungering Wolf
by Brenda Williamson
Nothing spelled danger more than a dark night in the hills with the Dakota wolves. Blackie was one of them, a half-breed, an outcast, a man with a heart. But that would all change when he claimed his legacy. Inline to inherit leadership of the pack, he had to have a mate or fight all challengers. Rulership meant power, riches and respect. He hungered for all three, only he wasn’t sure his fighting skills could match up against full blood werewolves. By stealing an innocent woman from the deadly pack of renegades, he knew he had made his situation worse.
He looked at the beautiful, golden haired woman curled up on his bedroll. Who was she? What was she doing in those hills alone, unarmed? She shivered in her sleep, so he tossed another long on the fire. Sparks and flames burst upward as pine-scented smoke curled into the shadows of the night.
Without a leader, some of the pack had become an unruly lot of outlaws run by Carl “the merciless” Mercer. He and his offspring robbed and killed on a whim, and their intent was to rape this woman. Blackie’s stomach balled into knots with the thought of her ravaged by more than a dozen men. If she were a wolf-shifter, the first man would claim her as a mate. As a human, she was a plaything. They’d molest her with their rapacious greed and leave her to die.
He understood the instincts of his breed, but not the lack of compassion. Her beautiful facial features, her shapely body and her womanly scent made him lustful too. The energy of the full moon put pressure on him to mate. He walked to where she lay unaware of his
dangerous cravings. He stooped down and pushed her soft flaxen hair back from her face. The ache to undress her and spread her legs intensified. He ran his hand down her side, feeling the curve to her hip. Her feminine scent grew stronger, arousing all his senses. He imagined sinking his throbbing cock into her tight cunt, the wet recesses soothing the friction of his thrusts. Did she not owe him for rescuing her?
Yes, take her now.
Etta woke confused, paralyzed by fear. She kept her eyes shut. Someone stood near—a man. She stayed still as he pulled a blanket over her. He moved away. She listened for the others, but detected the sounds of only him. Men she’d never seen before had jumped her right in the middle of her setting a wolf trap. Then one struck her in the face. Had this man saved her from the unsavory bunch or was he their leader, claiming first rights to rape her.
Unable to ignore the pain of a stone under her, she pushed herself up on an elbow.
“You’re awake.” The man came over and squatted down on his heels. “How you feeling?”
She watched him closely while she lifted the edge of the bedroll. “All right, except for this.” She flicked the stone away.
“That pebble is the least of your problems. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night without a gun, a horse or a man to protect you.” Concern fringed his voice.
She sat up, annoyed he believed she needed sheltered by anyone. Her father had done that until his death. “I had a gun, a horse, and I most certainly don’t need a man.”
“You needed someone against those outlaws.” He rose from his guard-like position and went to a saddlebag on his horse.
She looked him over, gauging how much to trust him. So far, he hadn’t shown signs of being like the others. As he walked back, she was able to see his face. Nice lines to his features—handsome. She let her gaze wander down to his wide shoulders and lean hips. His struts tightened his denims against his thighs. She tried thinking of him undressed, his hard muscular body capable of pounding the ache raging through her.
“Here’s something to eat and drink.” He bent down and handed her a canteen and a burlap bundle.
“I’m Etta Barlow.” Her gaze met his and her insides clenched.
Just One Bite Volume 2 Page 12