Eliana's Warlord

by Jory Strong

  "Can we put the foreplay on hold?" Rand asked, setting supplies on the table.

  Jax laughed. "Yeah, the quicker you get me patched up the quicker Eliana and I can get on with it."

  He released her.

  She stepped back and he lay on the table.

  "Do you want my help?" she asked Rand.

  Rand looked at her. The coldness was gone, though she didn't pretend it wouldn't reappear along with utter ruthlessness.

  A hint of a smile lifted the corners of Rand's mouth. "You can hold his hand, that'd help. Or keep him distracted by holding his di—"

  "Shut up, Rand," Jax said.

  Rand laughed.

  Eliana set her clothing on the floor and took Jax's hand between hers, admitting it was more for her comfort than his.

  His fingers curled around hers.

  Warmth curled around her heart.

  "Assume you don't want to pop a pill," Rand said.

  "Just hit it with the caine so it doesn't slow me down."

  Eliana glanced at the supplies and saw a small brown bottle of numbing agent.

  Rand slowly peeled the folded shirt away from Jax's chest. The bleeding had stopped.

  Her hand tightened on Jax's. He'd nearly died because of her.

  Rand numbed the wound.

  He took his time irrigating it and cleaning the area around it, then sutured it closed.

  He numbed it again, medicated it before covering it with a bandage.

  His movements were sure and efficient, as if he'd had a lot of practice.

  "Okay, you're good to go," he said.

  "Waterproof it. I'm going to take a shower."

  The heat in Jax's voice said he wouldn't be doing it alone.

  Eliana's body tightened with the need to touch and be touched.

  Rand moved to the counter and made a patch out of what was left of a tarp.

  He returned and covered the bandage.

  Jax sat. His hand whipped out, collaring her neck and pulling her forward again to stand between his open thighs. "Stefan's last name, Eliana."

  Would he recognize it immediately? She caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

  He captured her hand and pressed it to the patch-covered bandage so very close to his heart.

  Her own heart contracted. He'd nearly been killed because of her.

  She watched his face carefully. "Thorpe. Stefan's last name is Thorpe."

  Jax's expression didn't change. Without glancing at Rand, he said, "Round up a few of the city spies, including the one who was in the bar last night."

  Eliana could do nothing about the sudden mad race of her pulse against Jax's thumb.

  "Squeeze them for information?" Rand asked.

  "Just hold them in the bar. Let them sweat until I get there."

  Rand's gaze flicked to her then back to Jax. "You want me to send word when I've got them?"

  Jax shrugged. "Suit yourself."

  He used the hand collaring her neck to bring her mouth to his. "Just don't be in a hurry to interrupt."

  Rand laughed.

  Jax's mouth settled on hers and her lips parted without resistance. The hand not pinned against the bandage went automatically to his bare chest, her fingertips stroking the nipple bar, her palm rubbing over the small tight nipple.

  Touching Jax, being touched by him, already felt so natural, as if they'd always been together, as if they always would be.

  Foolish, foolish heart. But there was no denying its desires.

  As soon as he questioned the spies, he'd learn how important Stefan was. Would he then send one of those spies back to the city to begin negotiations?

  He was the warlord. He could trade her for resources that would make him more powerful. But she wanted to believe that he'd choose to keep her, and keep her safe instead.

  Give me a sign that I'm not just a passing interest, she silently pleaded.

  His barely audible moan had heat rushing to plump and moisten her sex. It had need rippling through her stomach and a fist of desperation clamping around her heart.

  Give me a sign that I'm not just the latest in a long line of women.

  His tongue rubbed and twined against hers, building the familiar need to have his cock slide into her channel.

  She shivered, crowded closer and the hand on her neck moved to cup the back of her head. His fingers speared through her hair, closed on it.

  His mouth left hers. "Time to take this upstairs."

  "Past time," Rand said, startling her with the reminder that he was still in the room, cleaning up and putting away supplies.

  She stepped backward, allowing Jax to drop onto his feet.

  His hand stroked from the back of her head to the base of her spine, settling there to guide her to the open doorway into the hallway.

  Too late she remembered the clothing she'd set on the floor next to the table.

  She spun.

  "You won't need the clothes," he said, preventing her from retrieving them.

  The woman Jax had been with in the bar the night before was on her knees in the hallway, her lips stretched around a blond man's cock.

  His eyes were closed, his head thrown back.

  Eliana's face flamed, but she couldn't look away.

  The woman's gaze met hers, the jealousy in her eyes stark and raw before she turned her attention to Jax and her eyes widened at seeing the bandage.

  She started to pull away, but the man she was servicing hissed and grabbed her hair, locking her to his groin without opening his eyes.

  A shiver went through Eliana, accompanied by the image of herself on her knees, doing what this woman was doing. Her gaze went to Jax's face to gauge his reaction to the sight in front of them.

  Chapter 11

  Jax's already hardened cock throbbed with need, though it wasn't Shell's mouth he wanted on it. The way Eliana blushed so prettily at seeing Asher getting head was like everything else about her—it did some crazy shit to his insides.

  He hurried them up the stairs and into his room, dropped the gun onto the dresser then hustled her into the bathroom.

  Standing behind her, his hands moved to the line of buttons at the back of her dress.

  He started at the top, undoing them, revealing inch after inch of smooth, caramel skin.

  He pressed his lips to her shoulder and the taste of Josiah's soap reminded him that she'd been in another man's possession. The scent of it invaded his nostrils, stirring a primal fury.

  His hands stilled mid-back, close to where his blood stained the fabric. Fisting the material above the button he'd just released, he ripped open the dress.

  Buttons pinged to the floor. Her gasp of protest only fed the heat already engulfing him. Fuck if he'd allow the scent of any other man on her.

  He jerked the dress downward, letting it fall to the floor, fighting the urge to ravage her with his hands and mouth, to turn her toward the mirror and fuck her senseless.

  "Get in the shower, Eliana."

  She took off her socks and shoes and entered the glass-fronted shower stall. Added further torment with the sight of water striking and caressing her skin.

  He undressed, fisted his cock to regain control of it because it'd use any excuse to get inside her.

  Punishment first, then pleasure. He couldn't allow her to get away with lying to him.

  He joined her in the shower, his back interrupting the stream of water. Behave yourself, he told his dick, freeing it from the iron grip he had on it.

  It pulsed, amplifying his heartbeat and pulling forward, straining to lick the satiny skin above Eliana's navel.

  Fuck, she was beautiful. It wasn't one feature, but the way they were all put together. And even that wasn't the sole cause of his obsession.

  He was attracted to her subtle courage and the strong will that hadn't hardened her, that didn't make her any less submissive when it came to this—no, when it came to him.

  No other man would experience that submission. She was his.

/>   For now. For as long as this obsession lasted.

  He took the soap bar from her hand, a charge going straight to his dick with the brush of his fingers against her palm.

  He lathered his hands, the quick parting of her lips and budding of her nipples heating him up another hundred degrees.

  She craved him as much as he did her.

  "Tell me you want me."

  Her smile, the longing in her eyes were an invasion of his soul.

  "You know I do, Jax."

  "Not good enough. Say the words, Eliana."

  Her pupils dilated. The faintest tremor went through her, sending a hungry rush of lust through him.

  "I want you."

  "Only me."

  "Only you, Jax. I only want you."

  Her admission fisted his heart and dick, making one race and the other leak.

  Her hands settled on his chest, fingertips playing with the nipple bars and sending fire to his cock.

  Jax placed his lathered hands on her shoulders where they met her neck. Her tiny whimper of need was like a drug injected straight into his bloodstream.

  If she'd taken a bath with Josiah watching, their warrens would be at war.

  It was a good thing for everyone that she hadn't.

  He glided his hands down to her breasts. He thumbed her nipples, loving the way she responded beneath his hands, how softly submissive she was.

  Her lashes dipped. Her chin lifted to bare her neck. Her tongue darted out to wet her upper lip, inviting his kiss.

  He'd answer that invitation. Soon.

  His hands left her breasts, swept over her skin, obliterating the scent of Josiah's soap.

  He touched every inch of her. Claimed every inch so she smelled only of his soap, only of him.

  Satisfied that no trace of her having been with Josiah remained, he cupped her breast, his other hand gliding over her mound and slipping between her legs.

  She moaned, pressed and rubbed against his palm, her fingers grasping the nipple bars, squeezing and tugging.

  White heat exploded in his head. He beat it back—somehow.

  Punishment first. Then pleasure.

  But fuck, for him, this was punishment and he wasn't the one who deserved punishing.

  "Please, Jax," she whispered.

  His cock pulled away from his abs and strained to make contact.

  It jerked, and as if she'd heard his dick screaming for her, Eliana's hand wrapped around it.

  A full body shudder went through Jax. He covered her mouth with his to keep from saying her name because he didn't want her to hear just how much she affected him. But fuck…

  Another full body shudder went through him. His ass clenched and his hips bucked.

  Having her hand on his dick was better than having another woman's mouth sucking him off.

  Eliana.

  Her soap-slick hand moved up and down on his shaft.

  Up and down.

  Up and down.

  And it felt too good to stop her. It felt too good to let her keep doing it.

  He wouldn't last.

  She stroked.

  He couldn't care.

  He thrust his fingers into her pussy, rubbed and pressed them against her clit. He matched each of her tugs and twists to his nipple with the same to one of hers.

  He swallowed the soft sounds she made, each one of them driving him a little closer to losing control.

  Fantasy played across the back of his eyelids, of letting go and having his come strike her flat stomach and wet her pussy.

  The tightening of his balls and tingled warning at the base of his spine forced the decision.

  He grabbed the hand on his cock and held it still.

  Another stroke and his dick would make a different decision. But the water would wash all evidence of it away too quickly. Far too quickly to satisfy the primitive part of him that kept urging him to do something he'd never done to a woman.

  A lot of his men liked jacking off on the women who came around the bar or were allowed into the house. But for him…

  Coming on a woman was too much like marking his territory with graffiti. It was a permanent claim.

  He opened his eyes, his attention dipping to the bruising he'd left on Eliana's neck then lifting to her face.

  She blushed, sinking her hooks into him a little deeper.

  "I want…"

  Her voice trailed off but the blush deepened.

  "I've never…"

  She gave up, but he understood when she slid downward onto her knees.

  The proximity of her mouth to his cock nearly had him going off.

  The admission that she'd never put her mouth on another man's dick sunk the hooks so deep that he knew he'd risk slipping into the city to kill the man who wanted her back if that's what it took to eliminate the threat that she'd be taken from him.

  His hand was still locked on hers, preventing it from sliding up and down on his shaft, but he didn't resist when she guided his cock head to her mouth.

  Anticipation trapped his breath in his throat. He tangled his other hand in her hair and the silky feel of it had him fighting against dragging her face forward.

  Her tongue darted out. It swirled and licked and probed, sending a spasm of white-hot ecstasy straight into his balls and up his spine.

  His hand tightened in her hair. Demanded she do more than taste and tease.

  "Do it," he said, his voice harsh.

  She pressed the seam of her mouth to his cock head. Leaned in, letting his width slowly force her lips apart, burning the pleasure into his memory along with the sight of her on her knees creating that pleasure.

  The hand fisting her hair unclenched to cup the back of her head. The hand covering hers on his dick tightened.

  Make it last.

  Make it last.

  She sucked.

  And remaining motionless became impossible.

  Holding back become impossible.

  He was already way too close to the edge, and her inexperience only intensified the pleasure.

  He took her mouth, only barely maintaining enough control not to hurt or scare her as he fucked his cock between her lips.

  Ecstasy. It was mind-blowing ecstasy driving his head backward.

  White-hot need built in his balls with each stroke, with each of Eliana's sucks.

  His breath heaved in and out, quickened with the pistoned movement of his hips.

  A spasmed flash of warning and he jerked from her mouth, forced their hands downward, giving in to primal desire.

  Semen pulsed through his cock like liquid fire. It splashed onto her breasts, her stomach, her pussy. And satisfaction shuddered through him along with the aftershocks of pleasure.

  Her eyes were wide, her lips swollen and reddened. Her gaze met his and she looked shaky and uncertain, as if she didn't know what it meant that he'd marked her skin with his semen instead of allowing her to swallow his come.

  He'd show her what it meant.

  Using the hand at the back of her head, he guided her upward, claimed her mouth, claimed her pussy by cupping it, by rubbing his fingers through his come and fucking them into her.

  She went up for him.

  She went over for him.

  And he swallowed down her cry of release, remembering too late, punishment first, then pleasure.

  His lips left hers. "Get the soap."

  She crouched to retrieve it and once again her mouth was in proximity to his cock.

  His dick twitched, not even close to waiving a white flag and saying it'd had enough.

  She stood and lathered her hands before passing the soap.

  It took everything he had not to order her hands to his body. But he discovered he liked watching her hands glide over her breasts and stomach and pussy, down one shapely leg and up the other.

  He liked watching the sway and bounce of her breasts as she washed and rinsed her hair, and he liked having her eyes follow his hands as he got clean.

  His cock h
ardened. It'd become insatiable.

  Didn't need to pop a party pill, didn't need a fluffer sucking his dick to get it up again fast.

  His heart sped at remembering Luke saying that's how he knew he'd found the one, because he was always ready for her.

  Icy sensation swept across Jax's skin despite the hot water striking him.

  A day after telling him that, Luke was being razzed because he'd gotten his woman's name tattooed above the waistband of his jeans, with a tribal pattern that trailed down and wrapped around his foreskin like she'd leashed his dick.

  Not happening to me, he told himself. He wasn't Luke. He'd never allow a woman that much power over him.

  He turned toward the showerhead to rinse. Eliana's arms went around him.

  She feathered kisses along one of the scars slashing across his back and pleasure rocked through him, different than anything he'd ever experienced. Women had touched the scars before, admired them, but none of those caresses communicated an acknowledgement of the pain he'd experienced, a wish he'd been spared from enduring it that Eliana's soft lips did.

  "It happened a couple of months before the slaver took possession of my brother and sister," he told her, part of him wanting to feel the continued press of her mouth to his skin as if she could kiss away the guilt.

  "Who?"

  "An overseer. I was part of a crew salvaging a twenty or thirty floor apartment building. We dug and hit an opening. He sent the scrawniest kid in to explore but kept everybody else working. Rule was you didn't come out of a hole until you got to the end or you found something valuable, something the crew boss needed to know about so he could figure out how to allocate manpower and how carefully to salvage. Thirty minutes later, maybe forty, the hole collapsed."

  Her arms tightened on him. "With your friend inside."

  "Yeah. We could all hear Luke down there, just barely. Too far for the overseer to care about saving without anything having been brought to the surface. Kids were throwaway labor."

  "But you didn't abandon him." She pressed a harder kiss to his scarred back. "You were punished for it."

  "Yeah." Only he wasn't the one who'd ultimately paid for it. Every whip strike had only made him more determined to reach Luke. But the defiance cost him a place on the crews and the chance to risk death for just enough copper to make it worth his mother's while to keep Alex and Abbie around.