Her breasts touch his chest and he forgets everything else. Everything except the smell of her arousal. Everything except the feel of her hand as it kneads him, as he feels her grip him. He hardens even more, thrusts against her palm.
She presses her lips to his throat and he groans aloud.
He squeezes the palm that still cups him and she winces again. He knows he’s hurting her. Just like she’s hurting him, yet he can’t stop.
But he must.
"Not now, not like this," he says. His voice hoarse, the words torn out of him.
Her eyes dilate further and silver flashes among the indigo. She massages him in earnest, sending another rush of desire sparking along his nerve endings. This time he closes the gap between them so her hand is trapped, stilling her movement.
Raising his head, he captures her lips with his again.
Chapter Forty
I am drowning in him. Sweat breaks out on my forehead, and when his tongue thrusts between my lips a sharp coil of heat tugs at the base of my belly. My breath quickens and I feel my pulse beat fast against the base of my throat. Against my hand I feel his arousal thicken and I want to crawl into him. And wear his skin. Till I don’t know where I stop and where he begins.
He makes a sound deep in his throat, a very male sound of want, of possession, which rumbles over my skin. It goes straight to my core. A sharp tug inside and then I’m pressing myself to him, thrusting against him.
He goes still at that and I know he’s still making up his mind; he may still pull back.
But I want him now.
Now.
Now when we’re both alive, when the past has been left behind, when I can’t think of what the future holds, all I want is to feel his skin on mine, his breath on my cheek, the scrape of his beard against the skin of my wrist.
Feel the length of his longing inside me. The ache in my belly sparks, grows. It’s eating me up. Eating me up with my desire for him. The moisture pools between my legs, and with a sharp tug I pull out my hands from between us. Throwing them around his neck I squeeze his muscles.
He shudders.
A gasp of pain from him, swallowed quickly, blooming inside me and I pull away.
"I hurt you." My voice comes out all hoarse.
I try to move, manage to untangle myself from him, and almost fall, except his hand snakes out around my waist.
He pulls me to him.
"You’ll never hurt me," he says. "Just, not like this," he says again.
And yet below my cheek his heart thunders, galloping, rushing towards a goal only he can see. One which I want too. And his arousal still strains against my waist.
"Why?" I ask. "Why stop now?" My voice comes out soft, breathy, pleading.
He shudders, presses a kiss to my forehead. Placing a finger under my chin, he raises my face to his, "I want you, Aria. I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you, when you killed that shifter. You turned me on so bad right then. You had me wanting to take you and walk away with you, take you away from everything and hold on to you."
"Why didn’t you?" This just bursts out. The question that’s been bothering me since the day he asked me to return to the Jungle.
He meets my eyes squarely this time, "A promise to a dying woman."
"Your mother," I say and he nods. "And now? What’s changed now?" I ask.
"I have," he says simply. "You changed me."
Leaning his forehead against mine, he says, "I want to make love to you, in my bed, in my home."
Home. So important to him. A place I don’t know anymore. Because…home is where I am now, with him. Now is all I have.
And yet his voice carries a ring of conviction which tells me he’s made up his mind. I know I can’t sway him.
Doesn’t mean I can’t tease him.
I nod. I take a step back, then another. I move away till I’m sure he can see all of me. Toeing off my soggy sneakers and my socks, I reach for my sea salt-crusted shirt and take it off in one go.
"What are you doing?" he growls, inhaling a sharp breath, and those amber eyes spark and glow.
He’s breathing fast, his chest rising and falling. But the rest of him is still. Predator still. He’s waiting, waiting for me to take the next step. And take the next step I do.
"So you were saying you wanted to wait…Jaidon." I deliberately make my voice light, drawing his name out over my tongue.
His eyes narrow, sparking flickers of gold at my teasing tone. His jaw hardens and then as if he can’t stop himself, he looks down to where I’m unzipping my jeans. Bending my knees I slide them off, throw them aside. His eyes catch fire and he curls his hands into fists.
"You’re pushing me, Ariana, I’m warning you." His voice is rough, gravelly, it flickers over my skin, darting off little sparks of tension in their wake. Hearing my full name stretched out over his tongue, feeling the violence below that word, sends a shiver down my spine.
I want it. Want to feel that savagery that lurks underneath his skin. That part of him that he’s always kept tightly under control, leashed to himself. I want to feel it, feel it pounce on me, feel it in me.
I want.
I want him to take me in the most basic way possible. I flush at the boldness of my own thoughts. My belly tightens, coils, and I’m wet again.
Reaching behind me with trembling hands, I unhook my bra, letting it slide off my hands. That drops too.
A plume of desire rises from him, slamming into me, and I can smell him. That cinnamon and pine smell of his, mixed with the scent of sea water. I smell his arousal. I reach for my panties and then he’s there.
In one swoop, he lifts me up. My legs lock around his waist and he winces.
Too late, I realize he’s wounded and that I’ve hurt him. Then he pushes into me and all thought of apologizing promptly goes out of my head. That part of me which is melting inside latches onto him. On to his hardness. I wind my arms around his neck, run my fingers through his hair and bend my chest, bend back. Opening up, opening to him.
He swears against my cheek.
Turning around, he drops me into the tub with enough force for the water to splash out over the sides.
"Hey!" I gasp, taking in a mouthful of the steaming water and going under. By the time I resurface he’s gone.
It’s my turn to swear aloud.
Reaching around I shut off the tap and in the silence that follows, hear him swear in the next room.
I smile a little at that, a smile without humor. He deserves that too and I hope it hurts him as much as I’m hurting now.
Chapter Forty-One
Jai comes awake with a start, his heart thundering in his chest. Every part of him aches. The adrenaline which had carried him this far had crashed right after the shower and by the time he’d crawled into bed, Aria had already been asleep, slumped in one corner of the large bed.
He’s not sure what has woken him.
Maybe it’s the memories which seem to filter through this ancient building. Memories that are not his own, the air so thick with them that it weighs down on him. The steel band around his chest tightens. He takes in a deep breath, and another. But it doesn’t help.
The sense of something not being right grows. He lifts his head, listens. It’s quiet outside. Even the waves seem to have stilled. The hair on his nape prickles and he looks around for the sword but of course it’s not there. That disturbs him further. Best to get out of here at dawn and set off for Bombay. Sweat trickles down his forehead.
The fresh shirt he had worn is drenched with sweat.
Sometime during the night, Aria has shifted. She now lies diagonally across the bed, her head on his shoulder. One hand flung around his chest, one leg entwined with his. Her chest barely moves as she breathes. He reaches out to brush aside a strand of hair from where it’s fallen over her cheek.
In sleep she looks innocent, young. That crackle of energy that she carries when awake is silent. The effects of yesterday’s ordeal are still visible i
n the dark circle under her eyes. A wave of tenderness sweeps over him and he laces his fingers through hers. He’s gripped by a fierce need to protect, the kind he’s experienced only once before.
With his kidnapped sister.
After Ruby’s death, his father had searched for Maya for many years. Perhaps a part of him still hopes she will come home.
Jai, on the other hand, doesn’t think about his sister as much. She had been five when she’d been kidnapped, an event so linked with his mother’s death as to be overshadowed by it. Or perhaps it’s because he feels he should have done more to protect her, to find her.
His fingers tighten on Aria’s, and she comes awake, her eyes suddenly open.
"Jaidon?" Her voice is husky, overshadowed with sleep. Her cheek rubs against his chest as she moves, her hair shivers down his muscles, sending pin-pricks of awareness straight to his groin. He’s already erect and throbbing.
Her eyes latch on to his, unmoving.
He loosens his grip but doesn’t let go. Then bending down, he bites her on the shoulder. She winces again, a shudder running through her body.
"What are you doing?" she asks, her voice alert, a thread of awareness running through it.
He doesn’t reply.
Despite the danger he can sense in the air, he can’t stop looking at her. The taste of her skin fills his mouth. And she’s soft, so soft, his tongue flicks out and licks the skin he’s bitten. He blows on it and she shivers and goes still. Her eyes widen, the blue in them deepening, swirling, till it feels like the stormy seas they’ve left behind.
Her tongue flicks out and touches her dry lips. An answering tug of desire has him bending down to capture her mouth when a yell from below cuts through them. And just like that, he’s fully alert.
His body stiffens, his ears straining to follow what’s happening outside. Another yell, cut off abruptly, as if whoever it came from has been silenced.
A trickle of sweat runs down his back and when Aria stirs, he puts a finger to her lips, shushing her. Her eyes widen and he jerks his head towards the door.
At her nod, he pushes himself up on his forearms, his biceps bulging on either side of her head. He’s about to go when he changes his mind and moves in for a hard kiss. Her lips cling to his for just another second.
Then, tearing himself away, he dives towards the table and has his sword in his hand before the door is flung open. In strides a familiar face.
"Get out of here, Jai, they are right behind me. The newcomer’s eyes flit from Jai to Aria then back to Jai.
"Gilbert?" Jai and Aria burst out as one.
"Let’s go!" Gilbert runs into the room past Aria.
Even before Gilbert’s completed his sentence, Jai’s shrugged on the scabbard with the sword, and run towards the door leading onto the decking.
Wrenching it open, Jai steps out and without a second thought vaults down from the first floor.
Looking up, he sees Aria hesitate for just a second. Then swinging her bare legs over, and clad in just a thin T-shirt and borrowed shorts too big for her, she drops down. Down, down into his open arms. The force of her landing barely winds him as Jai absorbs her full weight in his arms.
She’s off even before he puts her down. Even before Gilbert has hit the ground.
And then Jai’s following her, running through the trees, pulling ahead of her. The stony ground digs into his feet but he keeps going, absorbing the pain in his legs.
Behind him, he hears Aria wince, swear with each step. She’s fast, but her shorter legs mean she’s still not able to keep up. And she’s not used to running barefoot.
Realizing it the same time as him, Aria swears aloud again.
Gilbert draws up next to him, panting, and says, "Keep going… Boat waiting at the beach… I’ll delay them as much as I can."
Not waiting for Jai’s response, he turns and runs back.
Adrenaline pumping through him, Jai speeds up even more, gripping Aria’s hand, only to let go when she gasps in pain. Instead he focuses on running ahead, trying to even out the path a little more for her feet.
Her breath comes out in ragged puffs and she winces, her body shuddering with each step, but she doesn’t slow down.
"Not far to the beach," he says, sensing her nod as she follows him through the trees.
Then they turn a corner, and abruptly the rocky path gives way to sand and she heaves a sigh of relief.
Leg muscles pumping, sweat streaming down his forehead, Jai doesn’t slow down even then. His gut is still twisted, and something tells him they aren’t safe yet. Eyes searching through the night he heaves a sigh of relief when they burst through the trees and on to the beach.
Allowing his muscles to relax slightly, despite the fact that his stomach muscles are still stretched tight, he turns to tell her they’re safe now. The only indication he has of something being terribly wrong is when her eyes widen. Aria opens her mouth, a look of alarm on her face, and that’s the last thing he remembers before something rams into the side of his head with such force that he doesn’t even feel any pain before he goes down.
Chapter Forty-Two
Jai crashes to the floor and I stumble over him. But even before I can hit the ground, I’m grabbed mid-air. And swung over a shoulder so massive, it’s as if I’ve been flung over a wide shelf. A hard shelf with rock-like bones that cut into my waist, sending white bursts of pain up my side.
It’s a shifter, no doubt about it, the characteristic smell of mud and vegetation confirms that. And yet while a part of me registers that, all I can see is that Jai’s body is still on the ground.
Then I can’t think any more, for the almost handsome shifter, the one I had seen on the ship and who had knocked Jai down, jogs past us and keeps going. A part of me registers that he has Jai’s sword. Jai’s mother’s sword.
And that’s when my mind screeches an alarm. Finally acknowledges what I already know.
That the shifter carrying me is him.
Gabriel. The one who’d tried to take me off the ship. And now he’s back here. And that instinct deep inside of me which can sense danger, which helped me survive the Jungle erupts to life.
I grip my fists together raising them above my head to bring them down on his back. I slam my fists against his back, forgetting the one that’s already injured. And this time when the pain flashes up my nerve endings and erupts in my head, I black out.
When I come to he’s crossing the beach, heading into the waves. I know there must be a boat waiting for us. And I know I cannot allow myself to be taken like this.
If he gets me on to that boat and takes me away from here then it’s all over.
A wave of sickness washes over me. The noise fades, goes silent in my head. I draw on everything I have and begin to struggle in earnest.
Is that me screaming?
Am I the one kicking out, digging my knees in; scratching at his back with my nails? Trying to get my teeth into whatever piece of flesh is closest to me?
Desperation is a twisting, churning thing in my gut and bile rushes up to my throat.
There’s an animal in all of us. It just takes the wrong circumstances to bring it out.
Even as a part of me is thinking that, something hits me on the side of my head. I’m almost grateful for the darkness that draws me in.
I’m being carried, bouncing against a hard surface. With each impact, pain flickers through me, bursting red and yellow sparks against my closed eyelids.
Then I’m being lowered.
Silence. Before the unmistakable throb of a motor which shudders through me. I’m swaying. Dipping. Moving again. I try to open my eyes but the surface under me rolls. The vibrations jerk through me, blasting against the pain radiating from my head. Sickness rushes up and I bite my lips trying to keep it down. Even half-conscious, I know I’m being taken away. In a boat. Boat.
They’re taking me away from the ship. Away from Jai. That thought blasts me straight out of the depth of unconsciousne
ss. I struggle in earnest, only to fall off from where I am, hitting the ground with a thud. Shockwaves go through me.
Then, hearing voices, I freeze. I’m not sure why but I keep my eyes closed tight. I go still and stay that way as if I’m still unconscious.
A heavy tread and another. The vibrations from their footsteps travel to me. The hair on my nape rises and I know they are close. Very close.
"I told you not to hurt her." An angry voice with a lilt. An accent I cannot place but which sounds distinctly European. I find myself veering towards the owner of the voice too. It must be the almost-handsome shifter, the one who had hit Jai…but not killed him.
"Humans are such weaklings. All I did was tap her on the head, and she was out cold," says another voice.
The guttural edge to this and the sheer menace of the words send shivers of terror sparking down my skin.
"You should have killed the male. Why leave him behind?"
"We have no fight with him." The first voice says simply. "We have the sword and—’
‘The girl," the brute shifter interrupts him. "She belongs to me."
Sheer terror explodes inside me and I almost spring to my feet. The nails of my hand sink into my palm as I stamp down on the panic and try to stay still.
"Maya decides what to do with her. Or have your forgotten that you are simply a foot soldier? If you go against our Alpha, you are dead." His voice is steely, calm but with an edge of hardness.
"Just because you’re fucking our self-proclaimed Alpha doesn’t mean you can give me orders too." The words are hardly out when there’s the sound of a fist meeting bone.
A yell of pain, another growl.
Then, "Fuck!" the guttural voice exclaims. "Hey. Just joking, Luke. Don’t get all shitty about it, boy. Was just yanking your chain. The girl’s too weak for me, anyway. I prefer bigger ones where I have more to hold on to. Know what I mean?" He tries to joke about it, fails.
Another punch and the sounds of grappling. The thud of a body hitting the floor. Then the brute pleads again, his voice growing thinner with each word, until he half-howls, "Sorry, boss. I said I was sorry, didn’t I?"
Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 141