by Dunbar, Natalie; Glass, Seressia; Jeffries, J. M. ; Banks, L. A.
“By the flames of a thousand fires, woman,” he exclaimed. “You feel incredible.”
“So do—yes.” Air left her lungs as he pulled back slowly and just as slowly reentered her, fully this time, burying himself deep.
“Kadim.” Heat pierced her body as she dug her hands into the bedcovers. It had been too long, but this was worth the wait. He was worth the wait. “Again. Just like that—God.”
She shuddered as his hands burned a path down her back to capture her waist. He rocked against her, again leaving her breathless. Sweat broke through her skin as he settled into a maddening, driving rhythm that stoked the pleasure into a roaring flame. God, it had never been like this. She’d never been filled like this, taken like this, enflamed like this.
He shifted behind her, a slightly different angle. One moment she burned with pleasure, the next she exploded, tossing her head back with a howl as ecstasy flared like a sun through her system.
Before she could catch her breath, he turned her onto her back, and then entered her again. Her eyes flew open as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her against him, mouth seeking her breast.
Her hands roamed his back before her nails scored his skin, needing some way to hold on, to anchor to reality. He hissed in pure male appreciation, his thrusts quickening. Thrilled, she ran her tongue along the side of his neck, taking his taste into her mouth, smelling the spicy scent of him, the blood pounding just beneath his skin. So delicious, so tempting.
“Yes,” he whispered, pressing her into the mattress, thrusting faster. “Mark me, sweetness. Just before you come, do it.”
“Kadim.” She stumbled over his name. “Harder.” She wrapped her legs high around his waist, driving him further inside her. Her breath caught on a sudden eruption of pleasure, her nails digging into his back as her teeth closed over the side of his neck.
Kadim’s entire body shuddered in response as he thrust into her wildly, his body burning beneath her hands. He cried out something guttural and foreign as he came. She broke her hold on his neck and fastened her mouth to his in a bruising, almost vicious kiss as he continued driving into her. His final rolling thrust sent her over the edge again, screaming this time, as wave after wave of orgasmic pleasure burned her alive.
They collapsed against the mattress, breathless. After a few heartbeats, Kadim turned so that Simone lay atop him. She could still feel him deep inside, and her muscles clenched in response. She echoed his groan as his hands clutched her buttocks in pure reflex, grinding her pelvis against his as if he had to get every last sensation he could from their pleasure.
Simone closed her eyes in languid surrender, listening to the frantic pounding of Kadim’s heart. So much had happened in the last few hours. It was almost too much to comprehend. She never would have thought when she’d left the casino that she would end up lying in Kadim’s bed, with him still inside her, thinking she was half in love with him.
She lifted her head slowly, to stare down at him. Sparks glittered in his eyes like tiny embers as he returned her gaze. “Simone?”
For a moment, words failed her. Stalling, she lightly traced his beautiful lips with her fingertips. “I’m here. I think.”
He smiled against her hand. “Yeah. Me, too.”
Lowering her lashes to hide her expression, she lowered her head, brushing his lips with hers. His hips flexed against her, letting her know that his erection hadn’t eased in the slightest.
“We should stop,” he whispered, his mouth brushing against hers as he slowly drew out of her and just as slowly pushed back in. “But I need more of you. Do you want me to stop, Simone?”
“No. Oh, yes,” she hissed, gripping his shoulders as heat curled around her. God, the man knew just what to do. “I wish you would keep doing that.”
He laughed, his voice warming every intimate place inside her. “As you wish.”
Withdrawing, he spilled her onto her side. She heard the drawer open, the sound of a new condom being unwrapped. Then, he curved in behind her. She shifted to help guide him inside, aching for that beautiful fullness again. She pressed back against him as he rocked into her with slow, sensual intent.
His left arm curved under her to cup her breast; his right hand entwined with hers to slide between her thighs. “Show me how you like it, Simone,” he whispered in her ear. “Show me what makes you feel good.”
She shuddered as their fingers worked in unison, making softly pressured circles. “You were doing a damn good job without my help,” she gasped as currents of pleasure flooded her senses again. Heat swamped her, driven by his lips moving across her shoulders, the top of her spine, her neck. She’d have a matching love bite soon, and she reveled in it.
He whispered to her in that foreign language again, sounds that were almost familiar to her pleasure-scrambled brain. Maybe he’d chanted while she slept. She found herself responding to those words, warming beneath his hands, his mouth, his fingers. “Kadim.”
“I’m here,” he answered, his words strained. “I’m right here with you.”
Desire coiled inside her, the familiar pressure spiraling tighter. How many times could he give this to her before her senses simply overloaded? “Hurry, God, you have to hurry.”
With a thrust of his hips, he pushed her flat against the mattress, their hands caught beneath her. She turned her head enough to breathe, lifted her hips enough to hold him inside her. His knees pressed into the mattress as he increased his pace until their bodies slapped together. She guided his hands, those wonderful hands, faster and faster, gasping for breath as her whole body tightened. “Now, Kadim!” she screamed as her body clamped down on him.
He slammed into her again, and then froze, his entire body stiffening above her, inside her. He cried out, and she felt him come, felt him deep inside her most secret place. She knew then that the love bite on her neck wasn’t the only mark Kadim would leave on her.
Deep inside, in that most secret place, she knew she’d never again be the woman who’d driven up the mountain to see him. Whether that would make her stronger or break her forever, she didn’t yet know.
Chapter Five
“I owe you an apology.”
Kadim looked up in surprise. Simone sat opposite him at the dining table, dressed in a pale pink tracksuit and sneakers she’d had in her car. With her face freshly scrubbed and hair slicked back from her shower, she looked all of twenty, though he knew she was at least four times that.
“What do you think you need to apologize for?” he asked, noticing that she’d eaten very little of her blood rare steak. Not that he had much of an appetite himself, despite their energetic lovemaking.
“Hudgens.” She drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. “I had a confrontation with him at the hotel, but I didn’t think he’d follow me. I didn’t think he’d try… that he would.…”
“It doesn’t matter,” he interrupted, pushing his plate away. “He’s no longer a threat to you or your clan.”
“Thanks to you.” She looked at him, her eyes shiny. “Thanks to what you did. What, what are you?”
The question, at last. Taking a deep breath, he pushed to his feet, and then held a hand out to her. “Will you come sit with me by the fire? I have a lot to tell you.”
Her expression shuttered with caution. “I suppose, considering we just lived through a life or death experience and mind-blowing sex, we should be truthful with each other.”
She slipped her hand into his, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He kept his fingers wrapped loosely about hers, grateful for the contact, the implied trust. Remembering how quickly she could shift, he knew he couldn’t relax completely just yet.
“I don’t have anything to hide from you, Simone,” he said, leading her to the leather couch in front of the fireplace. “Not anymore.”
“Obviously, given that you’ve shown me that you can change into a wolf,” she observed, picking a spot on the couch that left her plenty of maneuvering room, he noti
ced. “And let’s not forget the whole human torch thing, and how you were able to… to burn them like that.”
Kadim removed the fireplace cover and took his time selecting another log for the small fire he’d started as she’d showered. It was completely unnecessary, even with the cool night air flowing off the mountain and through the open windows, but he’d needed something to do after retrieving her bag from her car.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said, knowing she wanted him to say something. “But I won’t apologize for what I did.”
“I don’t expect you to,” she said, surprising him. “I know it was necessary. I just… I’ve never seen anything like that before. Like you.”
She took a deep breath. “What are you? I know you’re not a Were. And you don’t smell like any of the vampires I know. Besides, I don’t know any vamp who can turn into a wolf.”
Kadim replaced the grate, then stood, dusting his hands off against the legs of his jeans. The night was half over, but he didn’t feel tired. Instead, he felt on edge. Too much depended on Simone, and he didn’t like relinquishing control. Not after he’d fought so hard to get it in the first place.
“You’re right. I’m not a were or a vampire. By the way, some of the older ones can change into a wolf. As for myself, I can change into any animal I choose, but I prefer a panther or a wolf.”
“That just tells me what you’re not,” she pointed out. “You smell of exotic spices, or a good fire on a cold night. Are you going to tell me or not?”
He forced his shoulders to relax. “If you ask me a third time, I’ll tell you.” “Fine. Tell me straight up,” she said, her voice flat. “What the hell are you?”
“We come to my third confession.” He felt something inside him loosen. His ability to lie to her, he supposed. “I’m one of the Djinn.”
“Djinn.” Simone sat back against the chocolate brown leather. “Magician, I’m starting to think that you’re a card short of a full deck, but maybe I’m the one hallucinating. Maybe I’m in my car in a tangled mess at the base of the mountain. There’s no such thing as Djinn.”
He didn’t find her words or the picture they painted amusing. “You’re a werewolf,” he felt compelled to remind her. “You aren’t supposed to exist either.”
“Duly noted.” She stared at him with rounded eyes. “You’re really a genie?”
“A question thrice asked receives truth,” he said. “Djinn are as real as vamps or weres. Didn’t you wonder how I could do some of those more amazing tricks?”
“I just assumed you were a master of misdirection and sleight of hand.”
“I am,” he said. “For the most part, my show is mundane in the sense that I use all the tools that human magicians have. Occasionally, I enhance my act with Djinn magic.”
“Djinn magic,” she repeated, as if tasting the words. “Trickster spirits. Fables from a simpler time to caution simpler folk.”
“I am no fable,” Kadim told her, beginning to wonder if he’d overdone it with the wolfs bane. “My people were born of the smokeless fires of creation, after angels but before humans. We live, love, and die just as humans and meta-humans do, only not in this world. The Djinn live between.”
“Between. You mean like another existence?”
He nodded, taking a cautious step closer. “Djinn can see into this world, but this world cannot see the Djinn. Sometimes we can pass through to this world, though not always with the best of intentions. There have been a handful of humans, sorcerers, who have known of our existence and have attempted to capture us in order
to harness our magic for their own ends.” “That’s were the whole ‘genie in a bottle’ thing comes from, I take it?”
Kadim nodded again, his eyes fastened to her face, trying to gauge her reaction. “Some Djinn have been careless over the centuries, drawn to this world like moths to the flame. Still others have allowed themselves to be captured because they want diversion. Humanity provides endless entertainment, simply because they are so easily swayed by empty promises and their own greed.”
Simone tilted her head, clearly assessing him. “And your deal is?” He looked away. “I was curious, and my curiosity made me careless.” She snorted. “You don’t really expect me to believe that, do you?”
“It’s the truth.”
“It’s not all of the truth though, is it?” she asked, and he could hear the anger slicing through her words. “You’re obviously free now. Free to indulge your curiosity and experience a little diversion. So you chose me.”
Okay, she’d obviously moved from acceptance to anger. “That’s not why I chose you.”
Simone allowed her anger to push her to her feet. Anger felt good, better than the confusion, better than the scary half-formed feelings of tenderness toward this man she suddenly didn’t know. “Right. You were hoping that my greed would get the better of me, that I’d do anything you wanted to get that Mystery Channel contract signed.”
He didn’t answer, and the emotional direct hit stung. She took a faltering breath. “But what you didn’t realize is that my wanting the deal had nothing to do with greed. It never did.”
“I know.” He looked away. “You wanted it for your clan.” “I wanted it for security,” she informed him, fighting to keep her voice under control. “I wanted it to keep my place in my family.” He turned towards her. “I could give you those things, if you wish it.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want you to grant me any wishes. I don’t think I could afford them.”
She looked away, toward the hills. What would she wish for? Hadn’t she stared up at the night sky countless times, wishing that wishes could come true? Wishing that there were a way to make the pack safe that didn’t involve her brother fighting or her entering a political marriage? Wishing that she could be a full contributing member of her pack, and not just a step away from omega?
She paced a few steps away from him, struggling to wrap her mind around everything he’d told her, everything she’d learned. Everything they’d done. She could accept that he was a genie because she simply didn’t know what else he could be. But she was having a hard time with the trickster part. “Tell me honestly, what would you really have demanded, had my greed cost me the bet?”
“Your hand.”
She stopped in mid-stride, looking back over her shoulder at him. “What?”
“I would have demanded your hand. In marriage.”
Simone spun to face him, shocked. He’d said he wanted her, but she’d just assumed he’d meant sex. “You wanted to trick me into marrying you? Why?”
His expression grew uncomfortable. “I want to live here.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing for the past year?” she asked, settling her hands on her hips. “Or is this place part of the trick, too?”
“This place is just what I told you, a retreat,” he said, his words earnest. “And it hasn’t been a full year yet.”
She felt a frown wrinkling her forehead and forced herself to stop. “You have a time limit or something?”
“I’ve been in hiding from my former master. An accident freed me, and I took full advantage. However, he’s not the sort of man who likes to lose… possessions, contests, or face. My escape cost him all three, and I have no doubt that he will do everything in his power to find me and bind me again.”
Something in his words, the way he said them, made Simone shiver. “So you came to Vegas to disappear.”
“As so many have done.”
“Except you decided to hide in plain sight by being a world famous magician,” she pointed out. “A Djinn masquerading as a human magician. Doesn’t that seem the least bit suicidal to you?” “I’m Djinn,” he reminded her, a smile curving his lips. “It’s what I do.”
“It’s what you do.” She felt herself growing angry again. “You’ve made yourself a target, that’s what you’ve done. You might as well have painted a freakin’ bull’s-eye on the hotel!”
&nb
sp; “You and your people aren’t in any danger, Simone, I promise,” he said, stepping closer to her. “I’ve done everything to cover my trail. My name and my appearance are different from when I was bound.”
Another trick. “Is nothing that I know about you real?” she asked, hating the plaintive sound in her voice. Hating what he was making her feel.
“You saw my true form out in the forest,” he said gently. “And Kadim is a name that I chose for my new self, for my new life here.”
He reached out, and she was unsettled enough, undecided enough, that she let him wrap his hands about hers, pull her closer. “Being in hiding is the only reason I refused to tape the special, Simone,” he said then. “Trying to trick the cameras as well as the human audience would require too much magic. I have no doubt that my former master has been waiting for just such a magical spike. Unfortunately, fighting and disposing of Hudgens and his men did just that.”
“So you think your former master will come looking for you?” Simone’s stomach tightened with guilt. He’d revealed himself because of her.
“I know he will,” Kadim said, his voice sobering. “And when he finds me, he’ll try to bind me again.”
Her hands tightened in his. “Can you stop him?”
“I can, with your help.”
“My help? I only have Were magic. How am I supposed to keep this guy from binding you again?”
“By marrying me.”
She blinked at him. “You’re actually serious? Even now, you still want to do this?”
“Marriage bonds are strong, no matter the species.” He paused. “Well, maybe humans don’t revere it as much as they used to, but the concept is still there. Djinn fall in love and marry and reproduce as well. Because we can be bound against our will, we place a greater value on bonds made freely, bonds made for marriage.”
Simone pulled away, her mind whirling. She’d been thinking about marriage, but not to Kadim. She thought she’d have to marry for power, for the clan. For protection. Marrying a non-Were—a Djinn!—had never crossed her mind. If she married Kadim, he’d be safe, but what about her? What about her family?