by D. N. Hoxa
His eyes widened in surprise. “And?”
I shrugged. “He was fine. They didn’t hurt him, but they won’t let him come back.” I looked at the empty glasses by his hand. Why wasn’t he pouring the wine already? “I met with a man named Boyle. Sonny thinks he a Possessor. He’s one of the people in charge of Tachtoh but not the entire Uprising.”
“The same man who possessed the maneaters that attacked us?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of him, and he stepped closer to me.
“Probably,” I said with a nod. I tried to look away from him, but his eyes were like a magnet, drawing me in.
“Did you get Sonny back?”
I shook my head. I’d thought about all of this. I knew he’d ask. I knew exactly what to say. I just didn’t count on it being so difficult to lie to his face.
“They want me to give them back the magic of the amulet. To find a way to return it, a spell or a ritual or something. And until I do that, they’re going to keep Sonny there.”
He wasn’t going to believe me. It was a stupid, stupid lie. He was going to know that something was wrong.
Then… “It’s fine, then,” he said, lowering his head for a second, blowing out air as if he’d been breathing. When he met my eyes again, he smiled. “I’m already looking for such a spell, and I’ll find it soon. You don’t have to worry about it, little thief. We’re going to get your brother back in no time. I give you my word.”
Goddamn it. “But you need the amulet, right? For the Guild?” And he’d do anything to get it. Even kill me for it. Because if he told me that, maybe it would be easier to get through this.
“The amulet doesn’t matter,” Damian said. “If we can find it, we will. If we can’t, it’s fine. But we’ll get Sonny out first.”
I pulled my lips inside my mouth to keep from cursing out loud. Suddenly, he was right next to me, pulling a string of hair from my face. “Hey, it’s okay,” he whispered, and his smell filled my nostrils, knocking down another round of the pathetic defenses I thought I’d set up against him. “We’re going to get him out.” I wanted nothing more than to lean into his arms and forget about the world.
Sonny, I reminded myself. This was for Sonny. I was going to go through with it because Sonny wasn’t going to die. As simple as that.
“I know,” I said, with a bit more resolve.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered, knocking me down again. He sure knew how to win a fight without actually fighting.
“Thanks for the flower,” I said, trying to change the subject.
He smiled again and my fucking toes curled. “I’m sorry if I overstepped the line. I needed to see that you were okay.”
“It’s okay. No harm done.” Except for the freak-out episode Malin had gone through.
He nodded. “We found one of the masked man—a Prime sorcerer.” His eyes darkened again.
“You did?”
“He was hiding in Brooklyn. We found him as he was about to make a run for it.”
“And? What did he tell you?” I asked, curious despite the situation.
“Nothing. He wouldn’t speak, so I bit him, but I got nothing. He was powerful, he knew how to block me, but I did get a look at a written order he received, signed with a B. I’m guessing it was the man you’re telling me about—Boyle. The order was to track down the amulet and kill everyone who tries to stop them,” Damian said. “Then Moira told me that you were gone and that they couldn’t find you anywhere. I tried to get him to tell me where you were. He didn’t. I killed him.”
He said it without emotion, just like that. Like it was something he needed to do, and he’d done it.
I swallowed hard. “Let’s have some wine,” I said in a whisper.
He smiled. Not a trace of suspicion anywhere in his eyes. He walked back and took the bottle in his hand. He never looked away from me while he opened it. I watched him smell it, and my heart almost stopped altogether. I was being very obvious, but if he could hear it, he didn’t say anything. He proceeded to pour the wine in the glasses. A lump the size of a tennis ball formed in my throat.
What are you doing, Sin?
He offered me a glass. I took it. My hands shook.
“Emanuel and Zane are looking for the spell that will relieve you of the magic of the amulet. We should have something by tomorrow. Then, it will all be over.”
“What if they can’t find anything?” I found myself saying.
“They will. And if they don’t, we’ll find the place where Sonny is. Whatever it takes.”
Goddamn it. What the hell was I doing?
He was trying to help me. He trusted me so much that he never doubted a word I said. He spoke to me as if I were his friend, and I was about to drug him. I was about to kill him.
“Sinea,” he whispered, and my eyes popped open to find him right next to me, the glass of wine in his hand. All it would take was one sip. Just one and it would all be over. “I got you into this mess. I’m going to get you out. All you have to do is trust me.”
Sonny’s face materialized itself in front of my eyes. What would he say if he knew what I was doing? Was I so weak as to accept whatever demand was thrown at me by those monsters? Couldn’t I find any other way?
I was powerful enough. Damian was powerful. Together, we could find Sonny and we could get him back. All I needed to do was what he asked: trust him the way he was trusting me.
His eyes were on mine as he brought the glass of wine to his lips. In them, I couldn’t find the monster vampire everybody talked about. I already knew him too well, even though I’d met him only a few days ago.
I couldn’t kill him. I wouldn’t kill him. I wouldn’t wash my brother’s freedom with his blood.
The rim of the glass touched his lips. “Damian, stop,” I said, breathless from the race of thoughts in my head.
I’d been a fool to think I could pull something like this off. I was not a fucking murderer.
Jumping off the counter, I grabbed the glass of wine and took it from his hands. I was not going to kill Damian.
“What are you doing, little thief?” His brows rose, his eyes darkened with suspicion.
“Kiss me.”
The words left my mouth before I realized their meaning. It was the only way I knew to distract him. And myself.
He moved incredibly fast. His lips slammed onto mine, and he took my face in his hands the next heartbeat.
His warm lips caressed mine, slow at first. The kitchen, the penthouse, the entire world fell out of existence for a long second. My arms wrapped around him without my needing to even think about it. He kissed me like I was the last drop of blood in the world, and a groan came from his throat, awakening something wild inside me. Before I knew, he pulled me up and sat me on the island again. I opened my legs and he slipped between them, pulling me to him, out chests melted together. He coaxed my lips to open and slid his tongue inside my mouth, filling me with pure ecstasy from head to toe. I bit his bottom lip the way I’d wanted to do since the day I met him, and he moaned, his eyes closed. He slid his fingers under my hair, cupping the back of my head and brought his forehead to mine.
“I thought I lost you,” he whispered. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”
His voice was full of the same desperation I felt.
I put my fingers on his lips. “I’m right here.”
His lips slammed onto mine again and he owned me, every inch of me. I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him closer, and his hands slid under my shirt, touching my bare skin. A cry escaped me, and he caught it with his mouth, his tongue rendering me thoughtless. It was everything I never knew I needed, all wrapped into that kiss. An invisible fire he seemed to control burned me. His hands roamed on my back, touching me gently, making me wish clothes didn’t exist so I could feel him every inch of him against me. His erection against my center made me let out sounds that had never come out of my mouth before.
Then, he stopped.
He froze. He pulled
away from me and looked at the elevator.
Somebody was coming.
Like a teenager getting caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to do, I pushed him away and jumped from the island. I grabbed the glasses of wine and went to the sink, emptying them. I turned the faucet on, but it didn’t drown the loud beating of my heart.
The elevator doors slid open. I kept on filling the wine glasses with water and emptying them again. I turned to look as casually as I could, but I wasn’t going to fool anyone, least of all a vampire like John.
He stood in the car, brows raised as he looked at us.
I cleared my throat. “Hi, John.”
“Hey, Sin,” he said with a nod. I turned to the sink again. What the fuck was I doing?
“Did you need something, John?” Damian asked. Just the sound of his voice made me tremble as if he were right behind me.
“Nope. Just checking in on ya,” John said.
I turned the faucet off and squeezed my eyes shut. I was being stupid. I was a grown woman, for God’s sake. I could do whatever the fuck I wanted. If I wanted to kiss Damian, I was going to. No need to be embarrassed about it.
“Okay, then,” John said, never coming out of the car.
This was wrong. I’d just tried to feed Damian a sleeping potion to slow him down so I could kill him. What the hell was that? Did I really think that I could go through with that?
I needed to tell him. I needed to come clean. Now.
The doors of the elevator slid closed, painfully slowly. I didn’t want to turn and see John again until I made sure that he was gone.
I never even heard the doors closing properly, before strong arms wrapped around me from behind, and Damian pulled me to him.
Goddamn it. What was I thinking about again?
He pushed my hair to the side and kissed my cheek, then made his way down to my jaw, my neck. I was completely powerless in his arms, especially when he growled like that, like a starved animal.
“Damian,” I whispered because there was something I’d needed to tell him.
Something…
“Damian, wait,” I said, but my body betrayed me. It pressed against him as his hands roamed over my stomach and up to my breasts, making me cry out.
“I don’t want to wait,” Damian said against my ear and bit my earlobe. All the hairs on my body stood at attention. “I want to taste every inch of your body.” He trailed kisses down my neck. “I want to know exactly what makes you scream in pleasure.” This. This made me want to scream in pleasure. He pulled up my shirt and his hand slipped under it, his fingers spreading fire on my skin, up to my chest, over my bra. The stupid, stupid bra I could have gone without.
His hand came up and turned my head toward him, and he devoured my lips as his other hand slid down south, grazing the waistband of my jeans, making me cry out again. God, I felt like I was melting. I wanted him to touch me everywhere. I grabbed his hand and held it over my stomach.
“Touch me,” I whispered, completely intoxicated by the taste of him, the smell of him. He was everything, the whole world inside a body, and I wanted to experience it all. He groaned into my mouth as his hand moved over my jeans, touching me. My knees grew weak. If he wasn’t holding me up, I’d have fallen by now. Then, he slipped a finger under my jeans, under my soaking panties, and I held my breath. My whole being hung on the movement of his fingers, as they slid lower and lower, until he reached my center.
“Tell me, Sinea,” he whispered against my lips, his hands moving forward and back, rendering my mind blank. “Tell me what you want. Anything you want, and I’ll give it to you. Tell me,” he urged me, his own voice as desperate as I felt.
It was an easy question. I only wanted one thing. “I want you inside me right now.”
The words hadn’t left my mouth yet when he spun me around and pulled me up, his hands under my ass, my legs locked tightly around his hips. I kissed his lips, his cheeks, his eyes, as he moved, but I didn’t care where he took us as long as he was next to me. As long as I got to touch him. Then, he slowly put me down on a soft bed and climbed on top of me, the look in his eyes more animal than man. He was hungry for me, and I wanted to feed him. Pleasure, blood—it made no difference. He could take anything he wanted.
First, he took the red shirt I had on, and pulled it over my head. I sat up, desperate for his touch, and he unclasped my bra, finally freeing me from it. My nipples were hard, waiting, and he pushed me on the bed again before he explored one with his tongue, the other with his hand. My back arched as he bit me, sending ripples of pleasure up and down my body. My eyes closed as I ran my hands over his head, his neck, under his shirt. And as he licked me, bit me, kissed me, he unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down my legs without ever breaking contact.
Letting go of my breasts, he trailed kisses down my stomach, over my panties, and down to my thighs. I called his name, but I don’t know why. I didn’t need to tell him what to do. He knew it perfectly, knew me like he could see right under my skin. He sat up for a second to pull my jeans off all the way, then spread my legs on either side. I couldn’t get enough of looking at him, at the need I could see in his face, in his vibrant eyes, but when he lowered his head again, I had no complaints. He trailed kisses on the fabric of my panties, then down on my thighs. My hips pushed up, begging him, but he held me down and continued to torture me with his lips, until he slipped his finger under the fabric. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as he touched me, caressed my wet folds, and then pulled my panties to the side, and replaced his finger with his tongue.
I came embarrassingly fast. His tongue slid up and down my center, his lips sucking me, and all I could do was call his name as the orgasm ripped through me, cutting me wide open. My magic responded, setting the world ablaze before my eyes. Shudders washed over me as Damian sat up, looking down at me, his fingers tracing the shape of my body. He grabbed my hand and pulled it up, and I saw my fingers were glowing bright purple. He kissed every one of them softly, making my eyes close again.
“Don’t sleep, my little thief. I’m not done with you yet.”
Oh, no. It sounded like a warning, and my body responded as if he’d touched me again. I opened my eyes to see him pull at his shirt, as if he didn’t know he had buttons holding it together. They popped, and suddenly, the sound of them falling and rolling on the floor made me realize that this wasn’t a dream or some imaginary world—it was all real. Damian stood up at the edge of the bed and took his pants off, then his black underwear. I looked at him in all his naked glory, and everything in me twisted in the most magical way. I sat up, the need to touch him overwhelming me. I’d wanted to know what he felt like since the day I met him, and now my glowing fingers traced the ripped muscles on his chest, his arms, his abs. His skin was soft, like a piece of silk hiding muscles of steel. Just the sight of his thick, long erection made me moan, but when I reached out for him, he grabbed my hand. He pushed me down on the bed again and climbed over me, his eyes full of raw desire. He kissed me while I lay there, completely at his mercy, willing to take whatever he wanted to give me.
And he gave me everything.
I wrapped my legs around him, needing to feel him inside me, the ache that had developed in my center again desperate to be soothed by him. He growled against my neck, tracing kisses on my skin, until he finally fell on me. I cried out, holding onto him with all my strength, and then he thrust inside me, filling me completely. I never knew I’d been half until now, until I wasn’t anymore.
His moans were the sexiest sounds I’d ever heard, and I wanted to keep hearing them, to know that I had this effect on him, to know that I drove him crazy with desire the same way he drove me. I held onto his neck as he pulled out and pushed himself back inside me, hard. I couldn’t tell which one of was moaning louder anymore. He pulled himself up just a little so he could look into my eyes and continued to move inside me. I touched his beautiful face to make sure that he was really there. The orgasm built in me faster this ti
me, but I didn’t want this to end. I never wanted this to end.
He whispered my name as his lids fought to close, but he didn’t let them. He wanted to see exactly what he was doing to me.
I pushed him to the side, my legs still locked tightly around his hips, just the thought of letting him go a torture. I was on top of him because I needed to see what I did to him, too. And I rode him, slowly at first, guiding his hands where I needed them, up my stomach to my breasts, as we picked up the rhythm. I didn’t think, didn’t believe, didn’t know anything that wasn’t him. I’d never felt a pleasure so intense in my life as we moved against each other. He grabbed me, pulled me, sometimes gentle, sometime hard—every damn time exactly the right pressure. The sounds that came out of us turned into music that set the rhythm for our every movement.
Pleasure built in me. Damian sat up, wrapping his arms around my waist pulling me close. We continued to move like that was the only way we knew how to exist. I looked down at him and saw his eyes no longer held color. They’d turned black, like the midnight sky, and his fangs had extended a little past his lower lip but not all the way. My breath caught in my throat as I imagined him biting me, tasting my blood on his tongue, my blood filling him with life as my body filled him with pleasure.
He suddenly stopped moving. “Do I scare you, Sinea?” he whispered, and his midnight eyes suddenly looked sad. “This is who I am.”
Scare me? I touched his face, traced his nose with my fingers, his lips, his fangs. “You’re beautiful.”
He might have been a monster, but he was my monster for now.
He thrust inside me again, harder, faster, louder. I held onto him as my skin caught fire, and my insides melted from his heat. My back arched and I fell back, but he held me, his fingers digging into my skin as he moved faster and faster and faster…The cry that ripped from my throat did nothing to show what I felt inside. My fingers glowed again, this time all the way to my knuckles as my magic drew from the pleasure, from the complete state of bliss Damian put me in. He came together with me, holding onto my body like I was his lifeline, pressing his cheek against my chest, listening to my heart beating like a drum, shaking the both of us.