His cock jerked and throbbed in the embrace of her mouth as he drove fast and rough into her, until his sac tightened and he exploded into the back of her throat.
He sagged and let himself go to his knees in front of her, laughing weakly. “You know, that’s one of the few times I’ve been able to finish an orgasm without you drawing it out forever. Every time I come inside you—” he cupped his hand over her wet cleft and ground his heel against her, “you milk me dry and keep on going with those infinite, forever climaxes of yours.”
He jerked her loose cotton pants down and turned her onto her knees, forcing her to bend forward. It opened her wet, glistening folds, exposed the pucker of her ass. Seth groaned hungrily, pressed his thumb to the rosette and swore. He would have to wait for that—they had never done anything to prepare Erin for that, and they had none of what they needed.
“I need you,” he rasped in apology, driving deep inside, gripping her hips and pushing forward. He reached out, hesitantly, wanting the touch he had felt when she had sifted through his mind and he found her, almost like she waited. The blood in his body seemed to boil as they sank into each other, their skin dissolving. He rode her body to the floor, rough and hard, hungry, as their minds and souls merged.
“Sorry? For needing me like I need you?” she whispered, twining her very soul with his as he pounded his cock deep inside, the head butting against her womb until she was shrieking with the painful pleasure of it.
“I love you,” he growled against her neck, arching his head around until their mouths met and he could drive his tongue deep inside her sweet mouth, down her throat. His long, powerful body bucked and surged inside hers helplessly as she responded in kind, directly into his mind, “I love you, Seth.”
* * * * *
Erin shook her head as Seth tried to tell her he would come over that night. She absently stroked the earring in her left ear. They had checked it earlier that day, coming into work separately, she in her own car, Seth returning to his house alone, creeping out at dawn, through the back way, and catching a ride with Eddie. He had watched through the tracking device, checking and double checking.
Now they just had to wait.
“What’s the point if you are with me every second? Do you think he doesn’t know? We’ve checked for listening devices, but somehow, he knows,” she murmured directly into Seth’s ear as he tried to find an argument. Of course, there wasn’t one.
So he retreated to his house alone. Slept fitfully. And when Erin didn’t come in to work the next morning he wanted to howl.
Chapter Six
She was gone. Seth walked into the condo mid-morning the next day and felt the emptiness. The rookie assigned to watch her was in the hospital. One of the tenants in another condo had found him while out running in the woods, the rookie unconscious and bloodied at the back of his head. Blunt force trauma. Like the butt of a gun.
But it had been more than the rookie not checking in that had bothered Seth. Something was off. Erin was in trouble. Somehow, since they had gotten back together over the weekend, some sort of bond had been forged between them. He had never thought he would believe in psychic skill, or in magic. And maybe it was just the love, but there was some sort of bond, and he knew in his heart, that the killer had her.
His hands were shaking as he got the transmitter out of the briefcase he had started to carry. And a sick feeling settled in the pit of his belly. The transmitter wasn’t working. He shook it. Checked it. “Son of a fucking bitch!” he snarled, as he forced himself to carefully lay it down.
Even though he wanted to hurl it. If he did that, and smashed it, then he was fucked. If he had to, then he’d get Eddie. Eddie could fix anything. But first—
“Seth.”
He felt her touch his mind and thought he’d sob with relief. But right after he felt her touch, he felt her pain. He stumbled and went down onto the ivory carpet in her living room, and saw the room through her eyes, where she was. “Sorry. I can’t focus well,” she said as he seemed to flood her mind.
Red rage blossomed in his mind as he took inventory. The injuries were minor, for now. “He’s gone. He doesn’t think I’ll wake up for a little while,” she told him silently as he counted each bruise. So far, all of them had been acquired during her abduction. Bruises from the long ride there in the trunk, abrasions on her wrists from the rope, a slap across her face when she had turned to face him in the kitchen of her apartment that morning. She had glimpsed his face, had felt his mind.
“Who in the fuck is it?” he demanded as he continued to work his way over her body. He jerked when his lips actually moved and was startled to realize he was actually alone in the room. The link was so complete he had forgotten, for a brief moment, she wasn’t there with him.
“Colton. It’s Colton. And it’s not me he’s focused on. It’s my mother…he’s been kidnapping my mother. He was obsessed with her.”
“Be quiet,” he said gruffly. “Where are you?”
“I don’t know. But I think I can bring you to me. Just follow me.” He felt the shadow of a smile on her face, the pain it caused to arc through her head, and he cursed furiously. “I’ll be your compass. We’re bound together. That’s why I felt so safe when you came back and I just now figured it out. You’ll find me. We don’t need the transmitter or anything else. Just each other. Find me, Seth.”
His car was still in the shop. So he did the practical thing. He stole the first car he came upon. It was a knack all cops had, but he had learned it even earlier. His mama had an iron fist, but he had slipped out of it from time to time, and had run wild in the streets. Hotwiring a car was child’s play. Following that odd lingering feel in the air that was Erin was even easier. He hit the highway and headed east to the lake.
* * * * *
She was strapped to the floor, each wrist to a ring chained to the floor. A drain was positioned right by her side and she shuddered as she eyed it. Each ankle was strapped down as well by leather cuffs strapped to heavy metal links and locked to more rings. Such a familiar picture.
The drain was to wash her blood away.
He’d pour bleach down it. And sulphuric acid. Nothing ever truly dissolved human blood but it was enough to wash away her DNA and keep them from linking her disappearance to him. Assuming anybody linked him to the crimes.
He wasn’t bargaining on Seth.
Of course, he wasn’t going to leave here alive.
But he was finished, either way.
“You’re awake.”
The voice wasn’t the low menacing one it had been for the others. She rolled her head to the side and said, “Decide to stop playacting, Chief?” Her arms were stretched so tightly overhead it hurt, but she refused to show she was even uncomfortable. She had managed to lose the earring in the trunk, as Seth had told her, just by rubbing her head on her shoulder. Both of them were in there now. She hadn’t been able to locate either one by feel, so had been relieved when she had been able to reach out and touch Seth’s mind so completely.
“You’re so like your mother, Erin. Ever the lady,” Colton said, moving out of the shadows. “It was playacting. All to pique your curiosity, this time around, at least. I had intended to take her, but your dumbfuck father killed her.”
“And for that I will thank him every day for the rest of my life,” Erin said with heartfelt sincerity. That heartbreaking accident that had taken her mama and daddy had been a gift, and she had just now realized it. “And if I die today, or tomorrow, or the next day, my first stop is going to be to thank God for the car crash, for keeping her from you. I’ve always known things happen for a reason, and this is the reason she died when she did, to be kept away from something as awful as you.”
“She should have been mine,” Colton hissed, moving closer, his small eyes ugly, angry and enraged. “Your slobbering, blue-collar father didn’t deserve her. She was a Vincent, one of the blue bloods. Her family is as old as mine and—”
“And her first dog
was better looking than you?” Erin supplied helpfully.
She saw the confusion in his eyes, then the rage. She watched as he raised his hand and then she closed her eyes and willed herself not to feel it. She wasn’t going to fight him yet. He had loved it when they fought back, and she wasn’t going to give that to him yet. She blanked her mind and then she felt Seth reaching for her.
And she had to block him as well when the first blow fell open-handed across her face.
Seth felt her cut him off and he wanted to howl.
He sped down the gravel road, following her. It felt as though there was a thread drawing him closer and closer, and the closer he got, the tighter the thread became.
“Erin,” he growled, reaching for her. “Erin, damn it, let me in.”
“No. Not now. You’re close, I can feel it. I’ll be okay until then.”
And then she was gone again.
She opened her eyes, licked the blood away from her mouth and glared up at Colton. Then she narrowed her eyes as he started to jerk his clothes open and away. “Big mistake, Chief. As long I didn’t figure you were ready to start with the rape, I could handle the beating,” she drawled, focusing her mind.
He had just turned his small pig-like eyes back to her, opening his mouth to hiss at her again when she struck. His scream bounced off the walls, echoing as she struck again.
He drew his knife, one hand held to his head, hardly able to see beyond the pain. The knife was flashing down, just like she had seen. She felt it slash her thigh and she lashed out again with her mind, harder and stronger. In his rage, he was able to strike back, even though she ripped something open inside his brain, causing him to bleed.
This time he moved higher and had better aim, striking her belly, cutting her shallowly, but enough to make her bleed. If Seth didn’t get here soon—she pushed the thought aside, shoved the pain aside, and struck out. The knife was descending and she didn’t even realize how different this was from her visions. The rape hadn’t happened, she knew help was coming.
The door banged open, a howl filled the air, and Erin felt the terror leave her and she sagged back against the floor. She decided then it was fairly safe to pass out, and she conceded to the beckoning black waves with gratitude. She’d be sorry later—she hadn’t lost that much blood. But enough that the fear made oblivion seem fairly sweet.
Seth took Colton to the ground, snapping his arm. Blood was pouring from his eyes, ears, nose and even his mouth. Massive brain hemorrhage, Seth was figuring, but the fury and insanity there were masking the pain. Seth’s own insanity more than made them an even pair though, as Seth held him down and Colton fought to get back to killing Erin.
“That’s my woman you marked,” he breathed into Colton’s ear, drawing his gun, pressing the cold metal to Colton’s neck. One arm broken, the other shoved high and twisted behind his back, he could only fight so hard, and the injury inside his head was slowly killing him. “My woman you tried to kill. I’d see you dead for it, but she’s already started the job. It’d be my pleasure to stay and watch it finished, but I’ve a need to see her to the hospital now.”
“Mine…” Colton hissed.
“Mine,” Seth said. “Know why she was just now available for you to grab? Were you able to hear inside her apartment? No? I’ve been with her, every night, loving that long sweet, body.”
“Mine…” the voice was weaker. But he glared at Seth with furious, hate-filled eyes as Seth got up and stood over him, his lip curled in disgust as Colton tried to climb to his feet. But he was already too weak. Too unfocused.
Slowly, he backed away and went to Erin. The heavily padlocked leather cuffs held her chained like something less than an animal. The bleeding mess of a man lying on the floor, breathing in shallow pants, hadn’t paid enough. But Erin bled as well, from numerous thin slices that marred her pale, lovely body.
Her eyes remained closed as he checked frantically for a pulse. It pounded steadily, and her skin was warm and smooth, her chest moving steadily up and down.
A harsh gurgling noise came from Colton’s mouth as Seth pulled his lock picks from his pocket. Sliding him a glance, Seth started working the locks. “She’ll die with…me. I made…sure of…it,” Colton hissed.
“No, you didn’t,” Seth said flatly. “She was smarter than you. Instead of getting pissed and losing her cool like you did, she fought. You fucking coward. Tied down and helpless and she could still fight braver than you could. They are waiting for you in hell.”
Colton started to laugh as Seth freed the second wrist. “I’m taking her with me,” he insisted, rolling onto his side and lifting his gun.
A shot filled the room before Seth could even drop the lock pick. Flinging his body across Erin’s, he waited for the pain that would fill him, but it never came.
“Sorry bastard. They’ll lock the gate behind that one in hell, that’s for sure,” a wry, tired voice muttered.
Slowly, Seth lifted his eyes and met Eddie’s across the room.
“You know, it’s a funny thing being a partner. You’re actually expected to notify your partner when you are in need of backup. But you young punks probably have a hard time remembering that,” Eddie said, smirking a bit as he pulled his jacket off and offered it to Seth.
“I’ll…ah…I’ll remember that.”
“Good luck, Eddie. His head is harder than a rock,” a soft, muffled voice murmured.
Slowly, he rose and stared down into dazed, glassy eyes. “Erin,” he rasped, tossing the jacket over her before he caught her under the arms and lifted her up, gently cradling her against him.
“Careful there, bud. She’s still pinned at the legs,” Eddie murmured. “But you just hold tight. I think she needs that right now.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Hold tight—I do need it.”
“I need it, too.” Seth pressed his cheek against her hair and rocked her gently as the sound of sirens in the distance grew louder.
Epilogue
CHIEF OF POLICE GUILTY OF MURDER?
DEAD BY MYSTERIOUS MASSIVE BRAIN HEMORRHAGE
Erin glanced up from her hospital bed where she was reading the newspaper headlines to look at Seth. “Do I really have to read this?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to or not,” he said. “Did you notice the date?” he asked.
She lifted a blonde brow. “I do know my own birthday,” she said with a smile.
“Good.” The door opened and a nurse wheeled in a cake, balloons and flowers. After she had left, Seth lowered himself to the chair and stared at her over the back. “We’re having a party, a big one, after you come home and are feeling up to it. But I wanted this quiet. Because I wanted to give you this.”
She stared at the dark blue jeweler’s box with misty eyes, hardly able to breathe as he opened it. When he slid the ring on her hand, he said, “You told me you’d say yes, so do I have to ask, or can we just set a date?”
She laughed through the tears and said, “How does now sound?”
THE EMPATH’S LOVER
Chapter One
Jordan slammed the phone down. Her back hurt, her arches ached, her head was pounding, and her suitcases were on their way to Toledo.
This was not the way she had intended to start her vacation. She had actually wrapped up her trip to Williamsburg a week early, and had returned to Indianapolis on an evening flight without calling Lee, but if she had known the fucking problems she would have…
She sighed and shoved her hair out of her eyes. The choppy black bangs fell right back into her eyes again and she suppressed the urge to scream with rage. It was a bad hair day, on top of everything else.
She punched another number into the phone. She could probably get hold of Kaitlyn, her assistant manager. But nooo…
Kaitlyn wasn’t answering her home phone or the pager after thirty minutes. Jordan was about to call for a cab, reaching into her purse to find a credit card. She had no ready cash on hand, but plastic worked.
A card fell out of her wallet and fluttered to the nubby teal carpet and she knelt, picking it up, rubbing her thumb over the print.
Angelo Investigations, Inc.
She knew the number by heart.
Angelo was Lee’s twin brother. He was going to be Lee’s best man at their wedding in eight weeks. They talked on occasion, ran into each other rarely. No reason to know the number by heart.
But she did.
Jordan didn’t really like Angelo. It was short for Michelangelo, of all things. And Lee was short, yep, for Leonardo. Neither of the men would acknowledge what their mom was thinking when she named them.
Angelo was too…there. Everything about him was too alive—his eyes, his voice, his hands, the way he talked and moved.
The way he made her feel. He looked at her and she felt like she had touched a live wire.
It was odd—he and Lee were identical twins. But only Angelo made her feel like that. He was just too much.
Yeah, too much.
She scraped her blood-red thumbnail over the embossed number and whispered, “The hell with it. I’m tired.”
She dialed the number and insisted it was not sexual heat she felt when he answered the phone moments later with a gruff, “Angelo.”
* * * * *
Angelo rolled onto his back and laid the phone in the cradle, lying there briefly and pondering the phone call before jackknifing out of bed.
Hot damn.
Jordan Sears. His brother’s pretty little faerie, with her big green eyes and spiky black hair…he should feel guilty over how excited just hearing her voice made him. And a few weeks ago he would have—hell, he had. He had avoided his favorite bookstore, which she owned, so he wouldn’t run into her. He avoided his brother outside of work so he wouldn’t see her.
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