by J. S. Scott
He turned and ripped back the top sheet and the quilt, leaving only the bottom silk sheet. It was a soft, creamy white that contrasted with his dark body as he lay down in the center of the bed, waiting for her.
Her hands were trembling as she crawled onto the bed, humbled beyond words that he trusted her enough to be completely vulnerable to her. “Won’t this be difficult for you? You don’t like being confined,” she murmured softly as she knelt beside his body.
Mates had to come to a Sentinel of their own free will, the demon willingly and magically bound to ensure that the union was the radiant’s choice.
She would have total control of this fierce, spectacular man/demon. The thought was heady and so erotic that she could barely contain her longing to touch him.
“No. If every moment of it brings me closer to having you as my mate, I won’t even notice,” he answered her question hoarsely. He uttered a few lyrical words, a harsh demand in the ancient Sentinel language that would start binding them together for eternity.
When he finished, Kat looked at her demon, helpless and at her mercy, his arms at his side, unable to do much more than strain against invisible bindings. Tears rolled from her eyes, knowing how difficult this was for him, even though he denied it.
“Take me, Kat. Dear God, please touch me.” His plea came out as a strangled groan that set her into motion. If he was willing to do this for her, she was determined to make it extremely pleasurable for him.
Kat straddled him, her hands running over his rippling muscles on his chest. He was hers. This incredible, infuriating, hot, sexy male was all hers.
“Mine,” she whispered, fierce possessiveness overwhelming her senses as she joined their lips together in a kiss that made her toes curl. She might be in control, but his tongue mastered hers, entwining them with a passion that stole her breath. He devoured her mouth as she threaded her fingers in his hair and rocked her quivering wet mound into his belly in a slow, sliding motion.
Zach panted as his mouth broke away from hers, his expression wild and untamed. It unleashed an answering feral desire in her that was so intense she nearly climaxed as her clit slid against the firm muscles of his abdomen.
“Ride me, Kat.” She smiled at his demanding tone as he tugged against his bonds.
“Who’s in charge right now, demon?” She knew she’d never have this chance again. Zach was definitely, unashamedly, an alpha male and it thrilled her sexually. But this was a novelty that was so erotic and hot that she couldn’t resist playing with him, trying to pleasure him.
He growled as she slid down his body, gently biting at his nipples, flicking them with her tongue as her hands caressed every inch of his burning skin.
“You’re playing with fire, Kitten.” He snarled the warning, making her shiver, but not with fear. Adrenaline coursed through her body, his out of control wildness sweeping over her, making her desperate to satisfy him.
Kat kissed and licked her way down until she could grasp his rock hard member in her hand. She gripped him firmly, dying to taste him, hungry for his essence. She moaned as she licked the slippery drop at the head. He tasted like Zach…and his flavor was addictive. She could feel him jerking against the binding as she slid her lips over the engorged shaft, grinding her mound against his leg.
His hips rose off the bed with a power that lifted her body as he fought to thrust into her mouth. “Fuck. Ride me, Kat. Now.”
Her body was burning for him as she moved her lips slowly and sensually along his cock, loving the feel of the huge shaft between her lips. Her cheeks bulged and hollowed as she sucked him slowly, lost in erotic lust and the unique taste of her mate.
“Kat!” His command was desperate and demanding all at once.
Reluctantly, she removed her lips, wanting to suck him until he released so that she could drown in his ecstasy, but she had to have him inside her. Moving sensually up his body, she shimmied until her pussy was directly above his twitching cock. Her hands braced on his chest, she rolled her hips. Already saturated and aroused nearly beyond endurance, she drenched his cock as it glided along her clit. “Oh, God, you feel so good, Zach.”
“Take me inside you. I need to be joined to you. Now.” He was demanding, cajoling, his body writhing as though he needed to fuck her or die.
It was one of the hottest things Kat had ever seen.
No longer able to go another moment without him filling her, Kat reached for him, placing the head against her begging entrance. She sank down onto him, her channel opening, stretching as he slid inside her.
His hips strained as he pumped his groin upward, impatient and wanting.
They groaned together as he buried himself to his balls inside her with a hard thrust.
Kat rocked, loving the feel of him filling every inch of her. He consumed her, pouring into every lonely place inside her.
“Fuck me, Kat,” Zach demanded, as his hips thrust up again and again, the motion urgent.
Her hips crashed down as his rose, desperate to ride him hard as her need grew so intense that her clit throbbed and her whole body ached for release.
She was lost in the frenzied mating, their bodies coming together forcefully as her hips pumped furiously, taking his cock again and again. Harder and harder.
“Mark me, Kat,” Zach growled as he pistoned in and out of her wet heat, thrusting his hips up to meet hers, impaling her with a strength that left her breathless with every thrust.
Seized by an erotic heat that racked her body with tremors, she stretched over him, her breasts sliding along his chest that was slick with sweat. Electric sensation slid down her spine as her hard, hypersensitive nipples brushed against him. Her urge to mark him as her own was so out of control that Kat bit his shoulder with so much animalistic desire that her teeth sunk into his skin deep enough to draw a few drops of blood.
“Oh, Christ. Yes,” Zach cried out as he threw his head back and his body tensed.
Mine.
Kat pulled her teeth from his skin, watching as the ancient mating mark formed where she had bitten him, her heart pounding with a possessive instinct that slammed through her body.
The second after the mating mark formed, Kat found herself slammed flat on her back, her wild-eyed demon on top of her. His binding had ended as soon as she had marked him.
Zach had flipped them, taking control as he grasped her ass with one hand and cradled her head with the other as he rolled. “Did you enjoy teasing your demon?” His voice was low and dangerous, the question rhetorical.
She spread her legs wide, welcoming his pummeling thrusts as he drove into her with a power he had never used before. She needed it…this total, all-consuming possession. “Yes, Zach. Please.” Kat wanted his powerful strokes as he buried himself inside her again and again. “Make me yours.”
“You were always mine,” he told her tightly, his lips poised against her skin.
She welcomed his ferocious bite when his mouth clamped onto her shoulder, shuddering with the relief of being marked as his mate. Erotic heat infused her, making her burn with a white-hot intensity. “Oh, God, Zach,” Kat screamed as she felt the heat of the mark forming.
His mouth left her shoulder and covered hers, owning it with his tongue.
Kat felt invisible hands everywhere. Her nipples were being nipped and stroked, her clit laved by an unseen tongue while she was being furiously taken by her untamed, uncontrollable demon.
He was tormenting her now, using his demon magic to make her come apart.
Kat ripped her mouth from his. “It’s too much, Zach. Too much.” She whimpered as her head rolled from side to side, the intensity of her impending climax more than she could bear.
Her orgasm ripped through her body while Zach continued to show her no mercy.
“Never torment your demon, Kitten. Now all I want is to make you come until you’re screaming my name in ecstasy,” he whispered roughly in her ear, pinning her hands over her head as she squirmed against him. Their sweat-soa
ked bodies slid together as Kat panted between orgasms.
Kat wasn’t sure where one orgasm stopped and the next began. She climaxed helplessly, writhing and screaming underneath Zach’s powerful body as he made her come undone, mindless of anything but her pounding release.
She curled her fingers, digging her nails into his wrists as he held her helpless. She felt him trembling as her pussy gripped and released on his thrusting cock.
“Mine,” he groaned as he buried himself inside her while his scorching hot release flooded her clenching channel.
He released her wrists and his demon magic subsided as Kat continued to quiver from her last climax. He gathered her into his arms and rolled to her side. “You’re mine, Kat. Forever.”
Gasping for air, she couldn’t answer. She wrapped herself around him as she sucked oxygen back into her lungs.
She jerked as his thoughts started flowing through her mind.
I’ve always missed you, Kat. Always needed you. I just didn’t know it until I saw you.
Zach’s voice. Zach’s thoughts.
I need you, too, Zach.
She answered him without speaking. Amazing. They had mental communication, and it was so much more intimate than she had imagined. He had been able to read her thoughts and she had been able to force her words into his mind when she needed to, but now she heard every one of his thoughts, felt his every emotion, and they flowed into her mind and body as effortlessly as breathing.
“Incredible,” she whispered, her body infused with warmth as their thoughts flowed back and forth through an intimate channel.
“I thought this would be the difficult part. My thoughts are dark and yours are light. I didn’t want to submerge you in darkness,” Zach mumbled aloud, spearing his hand into her hair and kissing her gently on the forehead.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she snuggled into his warm body, feeling as if everything was exactly as it should be. “It doesn’t. It feels perfect.”
Exhausted, she closed her eyes, absorbing Zach’s essence, an exquisite wholeness she had never experienced before. Relaxed, she started to drift, her body sinking into a contented slumber.
Needing to tell him how she felt before she succumbed, she murmured softly, “I love you, Zach.”
Before he could reply, Kat quaked violently, her thoughts suddenly chaotic, as she sunk into a profound and frightening darkness, her body disappearing in front of Zach’s anguished eyes.
Chapter Twelve
“Where in the hell is she?” The shouted question came out as a howl as Zach, his expression tormented, struggled for control.
Zach had appeared in Kristoff’s palatial home just moments earlier, desperate and furious, his boots stomping across the marble floor as he went through door after door, seeking his king. Finally, after slamming through the third set of enormous double doors, he found Kristoff seated casually in a huge leather chair, his two brothers occupying the others on each side of his leader.
Zach had to control the urge to throttle Kristoff, his anxiety so high over Kat’s disappearance that he was having a very hard time not going completely demon on all of their asses. His mind was clouded over with a rage so black that his control was on a very thin thread that was ready to snap, and his discipline was shot. He was a Sentinel demon worried about his mate, and everything else was thrust into the back of his mind as those ancient instincts consumed him.
Kristoff frowned, his expression troubled as he stared at Zach’s face. “What happened?”
“She’s gone. Fucking disappeared when she fell asleep. What the hell is happening?” He sounded rash and desperate, but he didn’t give a damn. Hell, he was desperate. His mate had vanished without a trace, gone in the blink of an eye. One moment he had been holding her warm cuddly body against him, and the next he was in bed alone, his arms empty. “I know you know more than you’re telling me, and it’s bullshit. She’s my radiant. My whole damn life now.” Zach knew he had never spoken truer words in his entire existence. Kat was his life, and he didn’t want to even contemplate being without her. And it wasn’t just because she was his radiant. Yeah, maybe he had tried to bullshit himself about letting her go so she could live a better life, but it wasn’t happening. No one cared about her more than he did, and no one ever would. He’d fucking make her happy if it killed him.
Kristoff stood, releasing a heavy sigh. “She’s realm-walking. I told you she had that power, Zach.”
“Radiant power. It should have released to the Sentinels,” Hunter said tightly, bringing his muscular body out of the chair to stand beside Kristoff. “But I didn’t feel anything.”
“I didn’t either.” Drew stood, his brows drawn together in a contemplative expression.
“The power was released, but not to us,” Kristoff stated gruffly. “I never said it would be. The power is hers, an ancient power from a deity. I honestly didn’t know exactly what would happen. Now I know. She’s the key to other realms, a gatekeeper with a key to enter. Obviously she isn’t used to the power. She’s wandering.”
“She’s lost?” Zach whispered huskily, the thought nearly bringing him to his knees. Kat was alone, unprotected, floating from realm to realm. She had to be scared…and he wasn’t there with her. “I have to get to her.”
Kristoff laid a hand on Zach’s shoulder as he said in an eerily sedate voice, “Connect to her. You need to calm yourself and make contact. She’s your radiant and your mate. You have the connection. You need to focus.”
Zach drew in a sharp breath, trying to gain control of the protective, frantic emotions coursing through his body. He would get control. Kat’s safety depended on it. He’d been so damn out of control when she had disappeared that he hadn’t remembered that they had mind contact as mates, an unbreakable connection.
“It won’t be easy to link with her in different realms, especially since the connection is new, but you can do it,” Kristoff warned, but his voice held encouragement as well. “Concentrate.”
Drew moved closer, letting his hand drop to Zach’s other shoulder. Hunter moved in and slapped his hand over Drew’s. It was a gesture of support, but they were all lending him their magic as well, helping him to calm and focus.
Zach shuddered as their demon magic combined and swirled throughout his body. Closing his eyes, he focused only on Kat-her warmth, her strength-trying to follow her trail. The path was subtle, so weak that he almost missed it. But her essence was as familiar to him as his own now, and he latched onto it, following her course through the dream realm. Her presence got stronger as her path grew darker, carrying him through another vortex, dumping him into a domain so vile that even he recoiled as the stench of evil reached out to him.
Zach?
Her voice was weak, frightened, but it was his Kat.
Don’t come here, Zach. Don’t. Please.
“Fuck,” he whispered fiercely, finally sealing his connection with his mate.
“Did you find her?” Drew questioned quietly.
“She’s in the demon realm. She has no idea what’s happening and she can’t control her power,” Zach answered, pissed off and frustrated as he narrowed in on her exact location.
The moment he pinpointed her position, he could feel her power vibrating throughout her body. He dived into it, using it to bring him to her. For a moment, he wasn’t sure it would work, even though she was his mate. Then, his body began to fade, and he fell into a vacuum that sucked him straight to Kat…and directly into demon hell.
*****
Kat shivered even though she was surrounded by flames. She was still naked, and stranded in what she already knew was the demon realm. She’d already seen Evils of all shape and sizes wandering through the spurts of fire she was trying to avoid. Her stomach lurched as she accidentally took a breath through her nose. Big mistake. The stench and squalor all around her stunk, an odor so noxious that it nearly made her heave. Breathing through her mouth was the only way to bear it, and she tried not to think about what w
as entering her lungs as she gasped for air. She didn’t look down as she moved slowly, ducking behind mounds of bones and other refuse that were taller than she was.
Don’t think about what you’re walking through or what else is in those piles. Just move.
Still confused and disoriented, Kat tried to focus on moving forward, getting out of what felt like a nightmare.
I can’t be dreaming. I’m feeling physical pain every time I step on a hot spot.
Somehow, Kat knew she wasn’t dreaming. Zach’s connection to her had felt all too real, and she had already floated through the dream realm on the way to this hellhole. And she had recognized it as the dream realm, just as she recognized this as the demon realm.
What the hell is happening to me?
Her whole body was vibrating with power, an unsettling feeling as she had no idea what to do with it. If anything, it made her feel all the more helpless.
Focus. Get out of here.
She had come through a vortex of some sort. There had to be a way out before she was discovered, and it was only a matter of time. She had avoided detection by ducking behind a mound of rubbish every time an Evil passed by, but eventually, she would be found.
She tried not to think about Zach as she made her way to the next pile of trash. He couldn’t come here. Then they would both be trapped.
“I’d rather be trapped with you than live free without you,” Zach’s low, deep voice whispered into her ear as he slipped his arm around her waist.
Kat nearly squeaked with surprise, but Zach had covered her mouth with his other hand.
Crap. You nearly gave me heart failure. Kat spoke to Zach silently, their mental connection solid.
She turned and put her arms around his neck, letting herself be sheltered by his strong body. Tears poured down her face as he tightened his arms around her protectively. She was torn between her relief at seeing him and anger that he had come to her.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t?” he rasped into her ear. “Shit. This place is even worse than I imagined. And I don’t have any of my powers here.”