Make Me Burn: Fireborne, Book 2

by R. G. Alexander

  Tired.

  Greg came and sat down beside her. “Have you let Chiye apologize yet?”

  “Four times now.” Aziza nodded, not looking at him. “I told her she didn’t need to. God knows, I’ve made worse mistakes in the last few weeks. Penn said she gave you something to give to me?”

  “Pennies,” Greg murmured. “Penn’s pennies. Chiye figured out Adam’s pictures. One of those non verbis, sed rebus things.”

  Not by words, but by things. It meant the pictures spelled something out. Pennies. She closed her eyes and saw the images in her mind again. The letter C on a billboard for Colorado. A mining pick. A picture of an animated DVD. And a penny. Why hadn’t she seen it before? It was right in front of her.

  “See a penny, pick it up.”

  “Exactly. I seem to recall you, Joseph and Adam telling a funny story about pennies. Penn gave me—”

  “Aziza.” Ram’s voice brought her back to the present, pulling her gaze away from the fire. He stopped when he saw Greg. “I apologize. Am I interrupting?”

  Greg sighed and got to his feet again, studying the two of them. “No, Ram. I think right now you’re the one she wants. The one she’ll listen to.” He put his hand on her head, tousling her hair. “We’ll talk about it later. We’re safe here. West said the tunnel is hidden and they won’t find it. No more sneak attacks, so you can stop standing guard, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Love you, babe.”

  “Love you back.”

  Greg left them alone and Ram hesitated at the edge of the living room. She frowned, examining him for signs of injury. “Are you still okay?”

  “Better than okay.” He looked into her eyes and his gaze narrowed. “Are you?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think I overloaded a circuit or something. I feel strange. Nothing is resolved. If anything, it’s more of a mess than ever. And I don’t think I’ll ever be invited to a fancy werewolf party again.”

  He strode over to her and reached for her hands, pulling her to her feet and up over his shoulder in one smooth swoop.

  She gasped. “Ram, what are you doing?”

  Ram didn’t answer, taking her down the hall toward the bedrooms. He kicked open one of the doors and stepped inside, closing it behind them before setting her on the bed.

  She reached behind herself to get her balance. “What‘s going on?”

  Kneeling at her feet, he placed his hands on her thighs, his emerald gaze sincere and open, one light, fading bruise the only evidence he was ever harmed. His lips lifted in a half smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not proposing. You warned me about that the first time I met you, remember?”

  She did. “Good. Because a proposal is the last thing I need.”

  He nodded in understanding, but he looked determined. “I need to do this now. Say this. You saved my life, Aziza Jane Stewart. In more ways than you know. But after tonight it became official. You warned Shev and saved me from an Enforcer cell. You healed me. We are even. You don’t owe me any more for rescuing your aunt. The debt has been paid.”

  She reached out and ran her hands over his short hair. “I will always owe you for that, Ram. But I appreciate the sentiment.”

  The Mayet had healed him. And now she knew it was in her. Knew she could call to it when someone was hurt unjustly. She wouldn’t have to hold another dying innocent in her arms. Not if she had anything to say about it. And she knew what the key to calling it was now.

  Love.

  He dragged her off the bed until she was kneeling between his thighs. “We are even, Aziza.” His tone was adamant. “Equal. And both of us are free, yes? From our bonds? From our debts?”

  “Ram?” She wasn’t sure what he wanted from her, but being this close to him when she felt so lost and alone was dangerous. “You don’t owe me anything.” She thought about Brandon and pushed his image away as much as she could. “What are you—”

  He covered her mouth with his own, his lips ravenous. Reckless. Aziza hesitated for a breathless moment before the fire inside her rose up to meet him. It had been so long since Ram had kissed her. But back then she’d thought it was a dream. He was a dream.

  Now she knew he was real.

  He wrapped one hand around her neck and placed the other low on her stomach, sliding beneath the fabric of her stretchy yoga pants, no hesitation, no waiting. One touch and she was wild in his embrace, spreading her legs to ease his way, caressing his short hair with her hands and hating that she could no longer grip the dark silken waves she remembered.

  Stop thinking, she told herself, running her hands over his snug white T-shirt and dragging it up so she could touch his bare flesh. His lean muscles.

  Stop thinking, she moaned when he traced her hip with his thumb, making her shiver. Moaned again when she reached for his jeans and slid the buttons from their holes.

  Stop thinking and fuck this man you’ve been fantasizing about. The man who knows you, good and bad. Who wants all that you are.

  She wrapped her fingers around his darkly flushed erection and he arched his hips back with a hiss, lifting his lips from hers. “Aziza, wait.”

  “Why?” she groaned with her eyes still closed. “This is what you want. What I want. You were right, what you said at The Hangar. I wished for you. When I touched myself. When he… I think about you, Ram. About the three of us. And since you played me, since that night in your bed, I can’t stop wanting more.”

  You and Brandon. Together. West… God, what was wrong with her?

  “You can have more.” His smile was sensual, but his emerald eyes were dark. “You owe me nothing and I ask for nothing more than this. I know what you are. Who you are. I know how you feel about him. More than you do, tonight. I know and I don’t care, because I also know how you feel about me. You proved it with one touch. When you healed me I knew—I could sense it.”

  She whimpered in frustration. “Why are you talking?”

  Why are you reminding me of all the reasons we should stop?

  “Before I get inside you again, you need to know that with me you don’t have to hide your desires. With me you are free to let go. Whatever I can’t give you I will get for you. Whatever makes you burn.”

  Oh God.

  He licked his lower lip. “No guilt between us for this. No regrets.”

  “No regrets,” she repeated. “Unless you stop touching me.”

  “You know I love it when you get bossy.” He gripped her waist and lifted her higher onto the bed, tugging off her pants and underwear with one swift, practiced move. Yes.

  “I won’t stop, sweet Aziza,” he promised, his voice rasping with need. “I’m not a gentleman, remember? I’m Jinn. And there is something I’ve been dying to do to you since you let me have a taste the other night.”

  He lowered his head between her thighs and lifted her legs over his shoulders. “Ram,” she cried his name when he used his fingers to spread the wet lips of her sex and thrust his tongue deep inside her. “Yes. God yes.”

  He pushed closer, his eyes closing as his tongue filled her. Curled inside her. Made her squirm against him and grip his head with her fingers. “So good, Ram,” she muttered, using the heels of her feet on his back for balance as she lifted her hips off the bed, desperate for more. “Make me come. Make me come like this.”

  Make me burn.

  His groan was hoarse as his tongue thrust deeper, slipping out to flick against her clit before delving back in for more of the arousal she knew was filling his mouth. Glistening on her thighs. She’d wanted it since she’d put her fingers in his mouth and watched him revel in the smallest taste. She wanted to see him like this. Feel his desperation. His passion.

  Every part of her wanted this. Wanted what only Ram could give her. Give them.

  He gripped her hips and rolled over onto his back on the bed, taking her with him. Her hands gripped the headboard as she looked down at him. Fire licked up her spine at the sight.

  Ride him.

&nb
sp; Aziza pulled off her shirt and dropped it behind her, tilting her head and letting her hair fall over one shoulder so she could see him clearly. He’d opened his eyes, the emerald gems nearly glowing with lust as he watched her, his tongue slowing, waiting.

  “You’re teasing me,” she murmured, adjusting her grip on the wooden headboard. “But we’ve teased each other enough.” She rolled her hips against him and his grip on her skin tightened. “Aren’t you dying for it, Ram? Haven’t you had dreams about my taste? Don’t you want to hear me scream?”

  He closed his eyes and in answer bit at the sensitive lips of her sex before thrusting his tongue inside her again.

  “Yes. Ram… Fuck.” His tongue felt deeper now, his whole face pressed against her as he took everything she offered. No more teasing or hesitation. She rode him, grinding against him and moaning with each lash of his tongue.

  Lash.

  Oh God, the way he’d cuffed and whipped her on that cross, the way he’d used that evil stick… The whole scene was playing in her mind again as she lowered one hand to the top of his head to hold him still while she undulated against him. He gave her everything. Submission. Domination. He would follow her lead. No limits, just pleasure.

  She needed to give it back.

  Aziza was gasping, her body glistening with heat when she released the headboard and tugged his hands off her hips so she could turn until her back was to the wall. Still straddling his face, she lowered herself onto his body, studying the long, thick cock straining from between the opening of his jeans.

  “Aziza,” he whispered, anticipation deepening his voice.

  “We’ve teased each other enough,” she repeated, taking the base of him in her hand and tightening her grip. “The last time I did this I blamed the wine. This time I just want to enjoy it.”

  Ram gasped and buried his face in her sex again, shouting against her flesh when she lowered her mouth until his shaft hit the back of her throat. She felt wild. Powerful. He tasted like salt and sex and alive…he tasted so alive.

  She’d thought he was going to die. That she would lose him the way she’d lost everyone else.

  His hips were lifting against her mouth and hers were rocking against his when he rolled them onto their sides and they curved around each other. Aziza felt his fingers join his tongue inside her and she cried out against the hot flesh stretching her mouth wide.

  Hot. Need more. Make me burn.

  No, she couldn’t burn.

  Ram can take it.

  The first orgasm surprised her, shooting up her spine and making her body buck against his. She lifted her mouth. “Ram!”

  His hold on her was so tight it was almost bruising. He pumped his tongue inside as if he was trying to taste every drop of her climax. As if he was starving for her. She shuddered against him again, gasping for breath while she licked his shaft. “Ram, yes. More.” She needed more, wanted everything. “Ram, fuck me. I need you to.”

  He lifted his head, his lips and chin shimmering with her arousal. “You taste too good, Aziza. I don’t want to stop.”

  “Please.”

  His eyes narrowed and he licked his lips, moaning. “You’ll have to do better than that to pull me away from this feast. You know I don’t shock easily.”

  “I thought I said no teasing.”

  His expression was carnal. “Teasing can be fun.”

  “Please, Ram, I can’t take any more. You’ve whipped me, made me come in front of you, held me against the wall and made me think things I shouldn’t. I’ve been fantasizing about you being inside me for days.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Which one? The one where you bend me over a desk and spank me and then there are two of you teaching me a lesson, and then four because you have West and Brandon join us and all of you are— Ram.”

  He dragged her around until she was sideways on the bed, her legs still over his shoulders. She laughed breathlessly. “That’s all it took? I’ve hardly gotten started.”

  Ram let her legs slide down his shoulders so he could grip her wrists and hold them over her head. “At Underbridge?” His question was low and intense. “With you on fire and riding me while you took West into your mouth?” Her lips parted in surprise and he studied her face as if spellbound. “Are you stealing my dreams now too, Fireborne? The way you’ve taken everything else?”

  He kissed her before she could answer, before she could question how and why they’d shared the same erotic fantasy, and she tasted herself on his tongue as he guided his erection into her waiting sex.

  Yes. Ram. Not a dream or a fantasy. Not a trick. Just Ram and his hard length stretching her. Long strokes that made her whimper against his lips. “Even better,” he muttered, panting as he circled his hips and slung them deep in a move that made her arch off the bed. “How can you feel even better than I remembered?”

  She struggled against the grip on her wrists, wanting to touch him, to pull him closer, but he resisted, laughing. “Don’t be a bad girl, Ms. Stewart, or I’ll have to keep you after class and teach you a lesson.”

  Fuck. “Please, Ram. You know I can be bad. I can set things on fire. Teach me.”

  His grip on her wrists shifted and then he was pulling one of her hands down to his chest and slipping his own between their bodies. “I’ll teach you, Aziza. Teach you how much you can take of pain and pleasure. I’ll teach you how far you can go before you beg for mercy.”

  His hips were pumping against her harder now, faster, as he slipped his finger in and out of her sex and lifted it to her mouth. “Taste,” he whispered.

  She sucked on his finger, tasting them together, and he groaned. “I’ll teach you all I know,” he vowed darkly, his flushed cheeks and labored breathing signaling that he was as close as she to coming. “But it will take practice. Deep, thorough, constant fucking practice. Can you do that, sweet Aziza? Can you take all of it in—ah yes that’s so tight. So good. I can feel you tightening around me. And you’re so wet and hot. If I had my abilities back, you would be screaming by now, feeling me inside you everywhere. Touching you everywhere.” He moaned. “You have an ability we’ve both dreamed about. One I know you can control. Make me hot, Aziza. So hot I nearly burn while I’m fucking you.”

  She saw him glance down at her hand and felt a flash of fear. She couldn’t.

  You controlled the flames around the Alpha. We can give him what he wants.

  “Burn,” she whispered, watching his jaw clench as she felt the hand on his chest heat.

  “Sweet Fireborne,” Ram hissed, his hips still pounding furiously against hers. “That’s right. I thought about this when you were cuffed to the cross, that I wanted all of you. Both of you. Aziza and the Fireborne. Fuck, yes, hotter. I’m not human, but even if I were, I’m also the King of Kink. Fire is edgeplay too.”

  Why was that turning her on? Because he was impaling her as he was saying it, taking the heat she was giving him and pushing her boundaries. Demanding more. “Next time, I promise,” she gasped, close to climax. “Give me another order King Kinky.”

  He understood. “Come for me.”

  Aziza lifted her hand off his chest and over her head, releasing the heat and straining against him as he took her over the edge. “Yes, Sir!”

  “Fuck. Again,” he shouted, his thrusts making the bed rock. “Say it again.”

  She was coming. “Yes, Sir,” she cried. “All of it. Ram…Ram!”

  Her body quaked with the explosive force of her orgasm. She was coming so hard, flying so high she might never come down.

  Flying.

  She was only partially aware as he pulled out of her and gripped his cock, coming on her thighs as he shouted her name and made her realize he hadn’t worn a condom. She’d forgotten. Forgotten everything but what they were doing to each other. She shivered and wrapped her arms and legs around him when he lowered himself onto her body again.

  He was kissing her everywhere. Her shoulder, neck, chin…everything he could reach. Whisper
ing her name with every breath. “Sweet Aziza.”

  Ram. How could she ever regret this? Why would she deny herself this pleasure?

  You can’t. You won’t.

  She never would. He was alive and safe and in her arms. The feeling was too heady, too satisfying, for regret.

  It was hours later, close to dawn, when she walked down the hall toward the kitchen in nothing but Ram’s T-shirt and her underwear, unable to sleep. She’d collected the books Dern had given her from Penn’s when she’d seen her aunt off. Maybe she would get a glass of water and read until her mind stopped buzzing. Stopped thinking about Shev searching out the Jiniyr, the blood rituals and Chiye’s safety. Stopped thinking about the pained resignation on Brandon’s face when he’d stepped aside, and how his people had reacted to her eruption.

  “I’ve been wondering if my vision was off.” West’s voice from the living room had her turning around.

  She tugged on the hem of her shirt for a minute, but she was too deliciously achy, too relaxed to care. West had seen her in less. “What vision?”

  The fire was lit and his incense was out again, and he was holding something in his lap. Something that caught the firelight and glittered like copper. “What is that?”

  West smiled as he watched her. “This is something Greg told me to give you, before he disappeared with Chiye into the tunnels so they wouldn’t be competing with the noises coming out of your room.”

  Aziza’s cheeks heated. “That bad?”

  “Safe houses aren’t necessarily soundproof,” he teased. “Come and see, Aziza Jane.”

  When she sat down next to him, he held it out to her and she set it on her lap. A glass jar of pennies. The label on it read Penn’s Pennies in her aunt’s swirling hand.

  See a penny, pick it up.

  “When we were young,” she said softly, her gaze fixed on the small coins, “Adam caught Joseph and me in the backyard, planning to run away to India. We had a world atlas and three pennies between us.” She smiled fondly. “Adam wisely suggested we would need more pennies A lot more.”

  For a year he’d come home every day from the grocery store, his pockets full of pennies for the two of them. Even when they were walking home from school, Adam would have the young Joseph scouring the ground in search of the coppery treasure.