“Fuck me, Bane!” She pushed down into his finger and cried out as pleasure began to build. Her channel closed over his finger, grasping it tightly. Her succubus side flared to life, thrusting power out at him. She had half a second to worry she’d harm him before it hit him full on.
He tipped his head back, the muscles in his thick neck straining and popping before he looked down at her with eyes that were nearly fully black. She remembered he was a shifter and she didn’t panic. She knew he was on the verge of a shift. And while she understood that could often be deadly, she didn’t fear him. Deep down, she knew he wouldn’t harm her.
He gasped and attempted to back away from her. Her power wasn’t having that. It wrapped around him, holding him close, sending lust through him. She already knew what it was doing to his body. It was making his cock as hard as a rock. It was also increasing his stamina, not that she thought he had any issues in that area. He locked gazes with her and she reached between them, going for the top of his jeans.
“No,” he said, catching her wrist. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“If you don’t shut up and fuck me soon, I swear that I’m going to hurt you,” she said, just this side of shouting.
His lips quirked as he slipped his deft fingers back into her sex. He shoved them in and out of her, his thumb rubbing her clit, eliciting tiny waves of pleasure from her. Her darkness fed on the energy between them like it was a depraved lunatic. In many ways, it was.
It felt so good.
Galiena rode his fingers, her lips going for his. He kissed her and continued to give her what she needed with nothing more than his hand. If the man was this talented with just his fingers, what could he do with his cock?
She squirmed, nearing culmination. As she sat on the brink of her zenith, she locked gazes with him, realizing then that he was the type of man she wanted to have with her every time she needed to feed, not just now.
Something else struck her then—she was developing feelings for this man.
A man she barely knew.
It made no sense to her, but not much did anymore. All she knew was she not only wanted Bane fully, she needed him. All of him.
“Please. More,” she begged against his lips.
His kisses came harder and faster, as did the insertion of his fingers. She shattered into what felt like a million pieces as her orgasm crashed over her, filling her darkness to the brim. Galiena shook, crying out, her pussy convulsing around his fingers, their lips still locked.
He strained against her and broke their kiss, his forehead going to hers. He closed his eyes. “There, baby. Did that take the edge off the hunger for you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He withdrew his fingers from her, and she instantly mourned the loss. He eased her down to her feet, his movements stiff. “Let’s get you somewhere safe and some more food in your stomach. You barely ate.”
That was it? He wasn’t going to have actual sex with her?
“Bane?”
He looked pained as he glanced down at her. “I won’t take you like this—in a public bathroom, like an animal. Not when your hunger for sex is driving your decision to ask me to fuck you.”
“It’s not driving me now,” she said with all honesty. “I want you. I want this.”
He brought the fingers he’d had in her to his face and inhaled deeply. A growl broke free and he locked gazes with her, his expression feral. He licked his fingers, cleaning her cream from them, his gaze wicked and promising more pleasure very soon. “You taste like vanilla.”
She blushed, and that surprised her. She wasn’t bashful when it came to sex.
He raked his gaze down her. “I want to lick every fucking inch of you, baby.”
Excited, and knowing he wanted more from her but was being a gentleman, Galiena took matters into her own hands. She grabbed him and spun him around, pushing him against the door.
Shocked by her strength, she paused a second before she slinked down the front of him, undoing the top of his jeans as she did. She unzipped them to find he wasn’t wearing underwear.
His long, thick, hard cock popped out of his jeans and she ignored his protests as she slipped her mouth over the head, taking it deep. He slapped the palms of his hands to the door and it shook with such a force, she was surprised it didn’t give way. Staring up through her lashes at him, Galiena watched as he looked down at her with nothing short of rapture on his face.
The sight spurred her succubus side on more.
She liked knowing she was pleasing him. Knowing that he was hers to do with as she wished, and right now she wished for nothing more than to suck him until he exploded in her mouth. She craved the energy she knew it would create. And she wanted to see his come face and commit it to memory. After all, he’d seen hers. Seemed only fair she get a glimpse of his.
Galiena used her hands to add more stimulation to his shaft. She wrapped her fingers around his girth as best she could and continued to work her mouth over him, bobbing her head as she caressed him. Bane trembled slightly with each suck, each lick she offered. He was so responsive to her that she couldn’t help but smile. It felt right. As if she were made to do this—made to complement him, and he to do the same for her.
Locking gazes with him, she used her teeth to lightly rake over his sensitive skin. His jaw dropped and he reached out, hitting the wall of the restroom, causing the spot to buckle under the pressure of his hand. His hips twitched and she nodded, wanting to encourage him to fuck her mouth.
He did.
She relaxed, letting him control the pace. Soon he was hitting the back of her throat and she loved every second of it. Every moment of giving the man before her pleasure. Nothing had ever felt more right to her in all her life. Her darkness devoured his passion, feeding from it, and actually filling up when she’d felt so empty for weeks.
He made her feel whole. Made her feel like a person again.
“Galiena,” he said, her name coming out in a harsh whisper. “I can’t hold it any longer, baby.”
He pushed her head onto him as far as he could, making her take him deep and holding her there. His cock jerked in her mouth as hot seed erupted from him, coating the back of her throat. Swallowing, she met his gaze once more. His jaw was slack and sweat coated his brow. His legs began to shake and his eyes widened.
Bill’s warning yell of timber sounded in her head and she pulled off Bane’s cock just in time for him to crash to the floor.
Galiena gasped as Bane went down hard. She stared at him, noting her power riding the air between them. She knew then that she’d done this to him. She’d drained him to a degree. While he wasn’t ash, or a husk, her power had drawn on his energy.
And the price was this.
Bane blinked up at her and touched his head lightly. “Ouch.”
She moved over him fast, concern for him driving her actions. “I hurt you!”
A silly, lopsided grin came over his face. “Baby, you are welcome to hurt me as much as you want. That was…whoa.”
“How hurt are you?” asked Galiena, cradling his head as she remained on her knees.
He smiled wider, and if she didn’t know better, she’d have said he was drunk. “Hurt? Everything on me feels like I’ve been drenched in bliss. Pure bliss. Made my legs vibrate to the point they gave out on me. Not very manly, I know, but worth it. Totally worth it. We should move to a bed, and soon, mostly so I can pretend you don’t unman me and I didn’t just beta out.”
Seeing he was indeed all right, she exhaled, and then grinned as tears broke free.
Bane touched her cheek. “Baby, don’t cry. I’m fine.”
“I’m crying because you’re fine,” she said, wiping her cheeks.
He tucked his dick back into his jeans and zipped up, still lying flat on his back on the not-so-clean restroom floor. “Shit. I was worried you’d regret this. That’s why I tried to stop it before it got fully started.”
Galiena shook her head. “No. I don’t
regret it. I’m so happy I didn’t turn you into a pile of ashes that I’m crying tears of joy. I really like you, Bane. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you. I’ve only felt this comfortable around one other person this fast in my life. It’s different with Paisley and me though. We don’t finger each other or have oral sex. I’m guessing dudes would dig that, but it’s not for us. We’re best friends, not lovers.”
He stiffened, his dark eyes widening. Reaching up, he pushed her long hair back from her face and held it there. Then, he managed to look even more shocked. “Your need for sex…is it because you’re a succubus?”
“Yes.”
He inhaled deeply. “Galiena shortened is Gale, right?”
She nodded. “My best friend since childhood calls me Gale. She says my adoptive parents were cruel to give me the name Galiena. I don’t think her parents were winning any awards with the name they picked for her either. I mean, Paisley? Not exactly common.”
“Everything makes sense now,” he said, releasing her hair.
“Huh?”
His lips lifted into a small smile that tugged at her heartstrings. “Nothing, baby. Just know things are lining up like I think they were meant to. And please know, you’re safe with me.”
“I know that I’m safe with you,” she said fast.
He tried to sit up but didn’t get far. His head thumped on the floor. “Dear gods, woman, you made my body feel so good it’s not working at the moment. You are amazing.”
She touched his head lightly. “Sorry.”
He grabbed her hand. “Do not apologize for that. Ever.”
She glanced around. “Should I get Bill to help lift you? For a monkey-shifter, you’re really big.”
He grunted, his nose curling. “Bill couldn’t lift jack shit, and I’m not a monkey-shifter. I’m a weregorilla.”
She glanced him over. That made much more sense, considering his size. Something else hit her then. “Why did you ask if Gale was the shortened version of my name?”
He closed his eyes a second. “I’m sorry, Galiena. I stopped looking for you. I thought I was inventing things, that I was feeding off Paisley’s desire for you to still be alive. I should have looked harder for you. I should have turned over every rock to find you.”
Baffled, she simply sat there. “You know Paisley?”
He pushed her sweater up slightly, exposing her bruises. “Helmuth. He did this to you, didn’t he? Where have you been for the past two months? Jinx couldn’t even get a lead on your location. How long were you with Helmuth, and why haven’t you reached out to Paisley yet to let her know you’re alive?”
She gasped at the mention of Helmuth and stood fast, wanting to run.
Bane caught her ankle and tried but failed again to sit up. “Galiena, baby, no. Stop! I promise I’m not one of the bad guys. Yes. I know Paisley. She’s mated to one of my best friends now. And she’s never given up hope that you’re alive.”
Paisley was alive, safe, and mated? Helmuth’s men hadn’t abducted her too?
The tears returned tenfold. She bent fast and touched Bane’s cheeks, unable to form words. She did the only thing she could think of—she kissed him.
He chuckled into her mouth and touched her cheek, wiping away some of her tears. “No more crying. Bill is gonna tell everyone I broke you. And my friends are already going to be pissed with me enough as it is for letting two dumbasses get the jump on me. If they find out I keep making you cry, they’ll really try to hand me my ass.”
She smiled.
“I should have recognized you. I have a photo of you that Paisley gave me. It’s of the two of you in a photo booth.”
Galiena snorted, knowing the picture he was talking about. It was really the only one she and Paisley had. “That’s from when we were eighteen and had gone through a stage of wanting pixie-styled haircuts. And if I’m right, we’re horribly out of focus in the picture.”
“Shit. Eighteen? Really? Fuck. Now I feel like a total pervert.”
“Why would you feel like a pervert?”
He blushed. “Um, no reason. There was just something about the picture, well, it called to me. You call to me.”
She lowered her gaze, understanding what he was trying to tell her. She felt it too. “You do the same to me.”
He huffed. “Dammit, that little shit and his non-speaking bestie said I had to come here to meet my mate. Said they needed to get me sexed up. They knew all along about this.”
“Mate? You’re meeting your mate here?” she asked, hurt to hear he had someone else, and confused, as she’d never met a supernatural male who was mated and could still perform sexually with another woman. “I’m not a home-wrecker.”
Bane touched her lips. “Shh, no, baby. Think harder about all this. It’ll hit you. Just dawned on me while I was flat on my back in a club bathroom.”
She thought more on it all. On how he seemed immune to her darkness’s ability to turn a person into dust, about how she’d been unable to look away from him when she’d first spotted him, about how he’d been the only man able to fulfill her burning hunger. He was someone important to her. And she wasn’t naïve to mates in the supernatural world. She understood what they were and what it meant to have one. “You think we’re mates?”
“Yeah, baby. I do.” He sat up partially, propping himself on one elbow as he looked at her. “What does your gut tell you? Because I have to say, I don’t normally cling to photos of women I’ve never met, jack off to them, and then fight the urge to sink into them when I meet them in person. You’re a first for me.”
She soaked in everything he’d said and then tipped her head. “You used my picture to jerk off?”
His face flushed. “Uh, no?”
“Now I get why you felt like a perv.”
He groaned.
She couldn’t stop the laugh that erupted from her. “If you really know Paisley and Jinx, then you know what I do for a living. I’m not shy when it comes to sex. I’ve serviced a large number of clients so it’s not something I’d be appalled with.”
His face hardened with anger. “Never again, Galiena.”
She stilled. “What?”
“You will never service another again, am I clear? You. Are. Mine.”
Her natural stubborn streak nearly had her disputing that, but something deep down stopped her. She wanted this man to lay claim to her, to mark her as his own, and brand her in a way that meant no other would ever touch her.
Only him.
Forever.
As the reality of it all came over her, she scrambled back from him, fearful he had something catchy. “Holy crap, I think you’re right.”
“Oh, I know I’m right. You aren’t to ever set foot in a sex club again. You’re my woman. No one else touches you that way ever again.”
She waved a hand at him. “Not about that. About the mate thing.”
He stilled. “Did you just dismiss me after I laid down the law with you?”
“Yes.”
“Most people fear me.”
She shrugged. “Sure. Okay. Whatever.”
“Woman.”
She eyed him. “You’d come off as scarier if you weren’t laying on the floor after having your dick sucked. You totally did beta out. Not very scary at all. If I want to render you useless, all I have to do is suck you off. No threat there.”
His face flushed again as he grumbled partially under his breath, something about her being a total pain in the ass, but worth it.
“Hey, why are you here? I mean, if you’re all against me working in a club, knowing that I require sex to live, why are you here in a club that clearly caters to supernaturals and sex? Do weregorillas need sex for survival too? Is that why you never bothered to count all the other women?”
He glanced away. “Hey, I’m only at this club because Bill and Gus stole my wallet and my SUV. They brought my vehicle here. I followed them in to get my wallet and keys. Well, and them.”
She laughed. “Ohmygod
s, those two managed to steal your car and your wallet? Wait. They’re the ones who got the jump on you? Ha!”
He groaned. “Don’t rub it in.”
“So, this is your only time in a sex club ever?”
He looked away and whistled. If that was his attempt to appear innocent, he failed horribly.
Chapter Eleven
Galiena snorted. “Hypocrite.”
Bane opened his mouth to say something when the restroom door pushed in and hit him in the side, causing Galiena to jerk. She feared Helmuth had found them.
Bill poked his head in and she exhaled in relief. “Uh, guys. Gus says we need to think about trying to go now. He says he can’t see for sure what happens next because something changed, and that Galiena is really hard for him to get a read on. Whatever it is, it ain’t good. The nymphs are acting odd too, and they’re already weird to start with. They keep going on and on about the rules being broken soon. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds bad. We need to haul ass.”
Galiena stared at the man.
He looked down at Bane. “Why are you on the floor?”
“My blow job had that effect on him,” Galiena said, no shame to her. She was quite proud of making him lose his footing in such a way. “I finished him off and bam, down he went. I’m now questioning his alpha-ness.”
Bill beamed widely. “I really like your mate, monkey-boy. Did you claim her yet?”
Bane pushed off the floor gingerly. “You knew all along who she was to me?”
“Sure. Gus told me about her. Said she’s best friends with the girl who’s named after fabric designs. The one mated to Yogi.”
It took Galiena a moment to follow. When she did, she laughed. “Paisley?”
“Sure, that one,” said Bill, clicking his fingers before pointing at her. “She should really have a twin sister name Plaid. That would be awesome. Can’t believe she mated Yogi, a werebear. Weston is all right. A grump, but all right. Gus and me like their place in Tennessee. It’s nice. Quiet.”
Bane stood tall and reached out, using one hand to steady himself on the edge of a sink. One second the sink was where it should be, and the next it was ripped partially from the wall, hanging at an odd angle as water began to spit forth from a broken pipe.
Isolated Maneuver Page 10