by Susan Arden
“Quinn, I can’t believe all this time… it was you. Right here.”
“Neither can I. The best things in life kinda of thing.” He smirked, running his hand down her arm and making her shiver under his touch.
She wanted to kiss the smirk right off his face. His need became her own. She reached up, tugging on his neck, snuggling her body to his. He growled, his hands taking hold of her bottom and drawing her hips up to him, until she grazed her mouth across his lips.
“I want you,” she whispered, then she dragged an open mouthed kiss up his neck. His pulse raced. His breathing became shallow. Instinct took over, spurring her confidence in commanding a man who by all rights could overpower her. She nipped the expanse of his smooth skin along her journey to his mouth.
Arriving at his jaw, she held his hands down much to his growling displeasure. At his irresistible mouth, she hovered, then lightly ran her tongue over his lips, halting at the corner of his mouth.
She planted a kiss, feeling the quiver of his skin as a loud groan erupted. “Hope this isn’t a game, angel.”
“Never.” She bit the center of his bottom lip before answering. Staring into his eyes, she traced her finger up his hard-on. “Jonesing your gorgeous body is hardly tease material. Have every intention of finishing what I start.”
“Fuck. Baby, that’s all I needed to hear.” He crashed his mouth down upon her lips, wedging open her mouth, and extracting a moan from her. She sunk into the kiss, opening her mouth, and using her tongue to explore his lips, tangle with his tongue. He stopped from roughly grinding into her, but neither did he release his hold. He returned her kiss, nibbling at her mouth, taking hold of her bottom lip. He nipped with enough force to send liquid heat deep into her belly where hunger and need collided, sending sparks along her nerves.
Her breath turned shaky. “Plans?”
Quinn’s sandpaper cheek rubbed across her jaw. “Mine,” he whispered back.
She wanted to bite him, her canines having lengthened again during the onslaught of her furious hunger. “Please,” burst from her lips. The overpowering carnal craving fired fully along her senses.
“You understand that once we begin, there’s nothing that can stop our primal instincts. We’re partially mated. With the buffer up between us, I’m on edge and fully aroused. This close to bonding and this excited, I’ve got to get inside you or die trying.” He jerked his chin. “We’re in your office. You up for this?”
“Yeah. I’m down for whatever you’ve got, babe.” She felt everything he said deep inside. Lock, stock, and Lycan barrel. His words, his scent, his sentiments—all were flowing in her blood.
He was right about touching. Their physical contact overcame her ability to ward him or herself. This time it was she who pushed down her pants and exposed her flesh, daring him to take her. She’d never been this demanding and she groaned, and wondered if this was how spellcasters lost their way. At that moment she didn’t care. Couldn’t care. Her body and mind were consumed by her hunger to join with Quinn in the most carnal of ways.
He unzipped his pants, never breaking eye contact with her. He pulled her to him, and where she’d expected him to bend her over her desk, he did not. Surprising her, he began moving her backward a few feet, and then he had her back up against the wall of her office. He slowly twisted his hand in her hair.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
In response, he kissed her wildly, his tongue plunging into her mouth, forceful and exacting as though he sought to mark her again. He released his fingers from her hair, and groaned. “Baby, I want you. Difficult to maintain control.”
“Don’t hold back. Show me how much.”
Quinn’s pupils were fully dilated. Within his stormy eyes brewed a hurricane of lust. “Wrap your amazing legs around me. I’m going to fuck you Lycan style. Like we both damn well need. Yell, scratch, hit. It won’t matter. Never will there be another question. When you come screaming my name, you’ll know who owns your body.”
Sherry met his unwavering gaze. Intense. Masculine. Red flames of decadent desire licked her, unlocking a deep ache unfurling in her body. Crawling under her skin. A need only he could fill. “There never was any question. Darling, just do it.”
He gripped her, taking hold of her hips, and from where he touched, her skin flushed hot. His thick erection pushed into her, the force so erotically charged she arched backward.
“No. You. Don’t. Angel.” Quinn gripped his length, his jaw tightening.
“Give me a chance, and I’ll show how much I’m not anything angelic.” She flicked her tongue along the seam of his mouth, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and bit down on his lip. Harder this time.
“Hungry for something rough this go round.” He smiled, fully thrusting into her. One hard plunge and he slammed her back against the wall, his arms coming at the last moment to take the force, keeping her safe. His erection stretched her, but this time he didn’t wait. His hands moved her hips, angling her along his cock as he lifted her up and down.
“You’re so damn sexy,” Quinn whispered against her neck. He drove himself into her over and over, grazing spots inside her that fired electrical bursts of pleasure skittering in all directions. He groaned her name, his breath tattooing her skin, unchaining her hunger to have him bite her. Mark her in the most intimate of ways.
“I need you. Wild. Crazy. Quinn, bite me.”
“Fuck yes.” He wrapped his hand in her hair, pulling her neck to one side, and then his teeth sank into her flesh. His mark. She gave in to him, threading her fingers into his hair, tugging hard. Grinding against him, she began riding his length, moving up and down his cock in frenetic pace. “Quinn,” she panted. “Bite me again. Harder”
“That’s it. Give it to me.”
“Fuck me, Quinn. Just like that,” Sherry moaned, pouring her voice into his mouth.
“You turn me on all the way.” Quinn lifted her hips up, and started pounding into her. His fangs bit down on the perfect point in her skin. Pleasure so deep and expanding, her soul was ready to weep.
Their bodies were slick, perspiration droplets running between them, and an urgency mounted. The muscles in Quinn’s body turned to granite. He slammed into her in need. Powerful, powerful need. And then they were both there. At the edge of ecstasy and one more mind-blowing thrust from Quinn drove them into the shimmering sea of bliss. His growl of release was followed by a shudder and tremors of pleasure spread within her body.
“Love, when you squeeze me like that… drives me crazy, baby.” His lips skimmed her shoulder, her neck, and his voice hummed over her skin. Heaven.
He moved back a foot, releasing her legs, and pulling her down to the carpeted floor. Together they fell backward, their breaths more like gasps, wild as their heartbeats. “I love you.” His voice gentle yet gravely in wolf tones. “I think I’ve always loved you.”
His admission startled her. Her heart raced, nowhere near settling from their mind-altering sex and now the words he uttered touched her in places only he had access to. She pulled his words into her and let them echo joyously within her, and knew she had to say something. She froze. Longing to free dive, but unsure.
She craved sharing her feelings with him. But how could she without giving away she lacked the buffer. Steady, she told herself and drew all her feelings in the cavernous depths of her being. “How? You never once gave me a sign. For a skirt chaser, you were chill.”
“Out of not wanting to cross boundaries. You were also so professional. Ice Princess. I never thought I’d have a chance.”
“Maybe we were both too cool for our own good.”
“You’re almost mine. And then we’ll have access to each other.”
“And your family. All pure immortals. I can’t imagine them thinking this is happy news. Their son now possibly mortal.”
“Not exactly. They’d be thrilled.”
“With a human.”
&n
bsp; “With a woman I’m mad about, and yes. They are aware of my Midnight predicament. Solitary immortality is hardly a prize.”
“Are there other humans in your family?”
“Not for a while. And that reminds me. We’ve still never sat down and talked. There are so many things we need to discuss.” His phone sounded. He stared at her, his hands rubbing down the side of his face.
She stroked his arm. “You’d better get that. It might be about Sonya.”
“Right.” He sighed, lifted off the carpet, and bent his hand down to her. “Up?”
Grasping his large, warm hand, Sherry rose, feeling even smaller than before. Consumed but in the best of ways. This talk of discussion and the concern that blanketed his face, what was it he wanted to say? Queasiness took hold of her stomach. “We can talk later. Okay?”
Quinn picked up his phone. “That was Tristen. I’d better find out the news.”
He dressed while she scouted for her clothing. Unbelievable that it was her office littered from a clothing tornado. With Quinn’s attention elsewhere, she began thinking of how she could get over to the elevator shaft. From what she gathered, the building was in the vicinity of the one Quinn and Shawn owned. Figures the ley line would be smack dab in the middle of a property dispute.
Some easy outpost assignment this turned out to be, she huffed to herself, writing a list of the things she’d need. Nothing came easy this time around. She met Quinn’s gaze as he talked on the phone and he arched an eyebrow at her. The heat from his glance made her nervous. She dropped her pen like a love-struck teenager.
He lowered into a chair in front of her desk, still talking with Tristen about confirming fingerprints.
Sherry clenched her jaw, reaching down to pick up the pen that had rolled under her desk. She pushed her shoulder against the corner, moved the desk over a foot. That shouldn’t have happened. The desk had to weigh a few hundred pounds with the connected credenza and shelving. But no, it was repositioned away from the marks in the carpeting. She’d moved it all right.
Quinn hung up and she made her face impassive. She thought about menu items, clearing her mind, and began silently reciting each item and price to focus herself and appear calm in the face of a highly protective Lycan. His shifter perceptions grew stronger each time they made love just as she physically changed, developing Lycan qualities.
“How’s it going?” he asked, looking over at her, then down at the carpet.
“I guess this time it’s brute strength. How strong are you?”
“Want to arm wrestle?”
“Take a rain check. Any news?”
“Confirmed. Carrigan is part of this. Tristen is pulling together a team to begin searching Carrigan’s properties. We’ll need those articles of clothing to give the shifter volunteers. With a target, those guys will sniff Sonya out within the perimeter they’ve formed around downtown.”
“Great. How soon will they begin?”
“As soon as I take Sonya’s clothes outside.”
“I’ll walk with you to the locker.”
“No. Stay here. If you could, Shawn would like you to call her family and touch base with them. He has but it might be better from you. They’re all shifters and they don’t think this is going to turn out well.”
“Why, because I’m human?”
“Yes. And because you all are friends. It would help them to be reminded not all humans are heartless.”
“I can see why that would be a problem. We’ve not done well with our stewardship of this planet… have we?”
“Things can always change.”
“I’ll call. And what about her photograph? Getting out flyers.”
“Shawn already created an APB for the shifter wire.”
“I’ll pull up her personnel file and call her husband and mom.”
She clicked open Sonya’s personnel file and with a heavy heart dialed the number. She spoke with Sonya’s husband Eric and her brother. Her mom was out putting up flyers. Sherry assured them Sonya would be found. Hanging up, she met Quinn’s stoic face.
“Good girl. I bet they feel a whole lot better.” He kissed her cheek, running his finger along her jaw. “See? You are an angel. If you wanted to, you could make a list of the buildings around this address.” He pushed a paper he’d written the street and number not far from the abandoned building she needed to get to fast.
“I can do that.” She inhaled slowly, girding her emotions when she wanted to disagree. No time to do that!
He left, his footsteps growing fainter down the hall and she had to act. It was now or never. Quinn needed the list. She needed to leave. It was too late to save her caster reputation and she started what bordered on banishment activity. Focusing her energy, she stared at the printer and requested the names and addresses of every property Carrigan owned. Slowly, she wove her hands while the secret words spilled from her lips. She’d memorized every incantation and spell from the Book of Shadows and this one came to her as though emblazoned on the tip of her tongue. She picked up the stack from the printer, and quickly clipped them and placed the papers on her desk, right where Quinn could find them.
She scanned her to-do list and opened her desk drawer, searching for a flashlight. There she found a small, sleek black one. She grabbed it and shoved it into her bag.
Now, to leave without being seen. She stuck her head out her door, hearing voices down the hall toward the back where the staff lockers were located. She headed toward the front of the club, past the bar and restaurant, and skidded to a halt. Fin leaned against the counter, and he lifted his gaze to her.
“Going somewhere?”
“I—” she stammered unable to think of an excuse. The doorway was only feet ahead. She’d never used her magick to lay someone out before. These were shifters. They wouldn’t understand her work exactly. There was no choice and she prayed Fin would understand. The words lifted from her tongue, embodying a sleeping incantation that wouldn’t hurt Fin, but would have him out cold for a few minutes. Enough time for her to disappear.
His eyes fluttered and she stepped forward wrapping her arm around his waist, and wondering how she’d manage his weight. She got behind him, and lowered his body that amazingly was lighter than she expected for a guy. Hooking her hands under his arms, she dragged him behind the counter without much effort, and gently lowered Fin all the way to the floor.
“This Lycan shifter stuff rocks,” she said to herself.
Once outside, she skittered along the walkway in front of the building. At the corner, she peered around and no one was on the side of the club. Bolting forward, she raced over the immaculate lawn, not stopping until she came to the wrought iron fence. She heaved her bag over the top of the spindles, and scrambled upward as though she’d been scaling fences all her life. Exhilarated by her ability to run and jump, she tore across the pavement as though she were a trained marathoner. No wonder shifters had such egos. If she could routinely race the wind, she’d be a little narcissist, too.
She had no idea how long the aftereffect of possessing Lycan abilities would last, but she pressed on toward the old part of the city. The LoDo section was about two miles to the Northwest. She ran near to the river on uneven terrain, skirting away from the jogging path. There were signs of damage from the storm yesterday with several hail trashed cars and windows. Less traffic on the streets, and considering the amount of storm damage, she wasn’t surprised. Hardly any from what she’d seen thus far.
After sprinting five blocks, she crossed the street and headed deeper into the center of downtown. There were pockets of the city that had suffered worse damage. On either side of the street were boarded up windows and doors as though a severe hailstorm had blasted through the area. Debris covered the pavement farther ahead where high-rises gave way to small buildings. Finally, she reached a part of the city where fenced areas carried warnings signs against entry or loitering.
She had begun to pant, and wi
shed she’d thought to bring water for her parched mouth and throat. A car was coming down the street. She scanned the block for a place to hide. Close enough was a building with a door flapping in the wind. She sprinted toward the front steps and leapt up on to the landing. Her heart thudded. She crouched within the corner of the entryway, mingling with the shadows. Her black attire made hiding easier. The car rolled by slowly, music blaring, and the sounds of loud bass reverberated in her chest. A large spider crawled over her foot and she bit back a screech. She hated creepy crawlers. Flicking the spider off her pant leg, she peeled herself off the wall before anything else could latch onto her clothing.
The elevator shaft she sought was two blocks over and she jogged in that direction. Coming to the corner of the block, she glanced around as she casually walked toward her destination. With no more distractions, she rushed up the front steps, and into the interior of the dilapidated building. Her heart clattered, drumming loudly in her ears. Sweat dripped down her face. The cloying interior surrounded her, and her stomach churned.
Sherry straightened at the thought that Quinn might come looking for her. His Lycan sense of smell gave him an advantage. He’d track her down. But by that time, she’d have an answer. She hoped. It was a gamble. She didn’t want to take anyone away from Sonya’s search and rescue team. Only it might take them hours to locate Sonya. For a spellcaster with access to the ley lines, she’d be able to tap into Sonya’s life force and then she could point them in the right direction.
She walked over to the elevator shaft, peering inside to where dank air swirled within the dark pit. Removing the flashlight from her bag, she shone it down within the shaft, catching sight of the ladder on the wall.
Tucking the flashlight into the band of her pants, she began climbing down toward the basement area. She stepped off onto the ledge, and gasped at the feel of something flying past her.
Sherry pulled her flashlight free and waved it around the space. A shadow flew across her peripheral vision. She quickly turned. But there was nothing. Again, another dark form moved. She focused her attention on the walls dimly lit by the beam of light from her flashlight. Were these unfettered Dark Fae? They didn’t have the associated sensations she normally perceived within the ley line passages.