02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn (21 page)

‘I don’t understand?’

‘I want you back in my bed, Leila.’

Her pulse raced as she stared at him in the silence. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I’m talking about the predicament I’m in – caught between loyalty to you for saving Jake and, now knowing what I do about you, all these doubts creeping in as to why you did it.’

‘And sleeping with you again proves what exactly?’

‘Under the circumstances, any serryn would be fighting to get out of here. I want you to prove, once and for all, that you can stand by your convictions and control what you are, despite every survival instinct telling you to unearth that serryn. More to the point, I want you to lead. I want to give that serryn every temptation to surface.’

She frowned. ‘And if I succeed, I gain what?’

‘I don’t give you to Feinith.’

‘You expect me to believe that? I know where your loyalty lies, Caleb. Even if not to her then at least to your own.’

‘And you think I believe having the Higher Order in charge is best for the future of Blackthorn?’

‘If that’s true, why the games when you could just kill me?’

‘Like I said, I have a dilemma.’

She shook her head. ‘You
are
insane.’

‘I tell you what,’ he said, resting his arm on the table as he leaned forward. ‘Let’s up the stakes. The code to the penthouse door is 7541. You reverse it for the room Alisha’s in. As Jake’s in his room, she’s totally alone down there. You could walk right in and right back out – no obstacles, no confrontations. He wouldn’t even know. Though, of course, with me out of the way, you could get to him too. That’s how much temptation I’m willing to lay out for you. That’s how confident I am that I won’t bite.’

Her pulse raced to a painful rate. ‘And if I don’t want to play your game?’

‘You prove me right all along. And you
really
don’t want to do that. It’s all down to how confident you are that you know yourself. How confident you are that you can keep yourself contained. It’s still daylight out there, but the clock’s ticking.’

He pushed back his chair and stood, sauntered across to the bedroom. He left the door open behind him, candlelight pooling onto the floorboards at the threshold.

Leila gripped the edge of the table, barely able to breathe.

It wasn’t just that it was a test; it was the fact she had to lead. Last time it had been easier, caught up in the moment, not anticipating it going that far. And all it had done was reinforce the doubt – the simmering self-doubt at just how much she
could
contain it. She wasn’t herself when she was with him. Or she was too
much
herself.

Twice now she’d faltered. If she messed up, it would be over. If it went wrong, she’d have no choice
but
to become what she needed to be to get out of there.

But if she shied away, she unravelled everything she had worked towards. Because there had been something between them that convinced her just enough that he could be giving her a chance – something in his kiss, something in the way he had looked at her as he’d wiped away her tears the previous night. Something that told her if she managed to get him on side, he’d be a hell of a powerful ally.

And something in the way he’d looked at Feinith after she’d cruelly disclosed about Seth told her he wanted this to work as much to his advantage as hers.

She pushed back her chair and rose to her feet. Her heels clicked non-rhythmically on the floor as she headed across the library to push the door to the bedroom all the way open.

He was already sat on the bed, leaning back against the headboard, his relaxed arms draped over it. His casually bent legs were slightly spread, his trousers tightened enough to reveal those hard, strong thighs. Abs taut beneath his shirt, the buttons just pleaded to be unfastened.

She couldn’t walk away – not from the opportunity, not from his arrogance, not from whatever it was stirring inside her that pleaded with her to straddle the vampire that lay gazing at her with those darkly lethal eyes.

Warily holding his gaze, she closed the door behind her, adding to the claustrophobia of the room already created by the closed curtains blocking out the outside world.

He coiled his hands around the metal bar of the headboard, revealing the strength in his arms, his shirt straining further against the hard curves of his chest as if to taunt her more.

‘You stopped last night. Why?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘It does if you were you tempted to bite again.’

His eyes glinted coaxingly. ‘Worried for my welfare?’

‘I think the risk of this is greater than you’re willing to admit. For you. Not me.’

‘And why does that worry you, Leila? It’ll give you a way out of here. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted all along? A chance like this?’

‘You’re really not worried? Not at all?’

‘How many situations like this have you survived, fledgling?’

‘It only takes one, Caleb.’

‘That’s for me to worry about, not you.’

‘It is for me to worry about if I look at you the wrong way and you decide I haven’t proved myself after all.’

‘But you’re not going to, are you? That’s the whole point.’

She stepped around to the side of the bed, perched side-saddle on the edge. ‘Then tell me something – did you ever intend to stand by your word? Did you ever intend to let me go?’

‘From the first moment I saw you, I intended to kill you.’

‘So you lied to my sister. To me.’

‘No. I
intended
to kill you. But I was willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself.’

‘Which I’ve done. Which tells me this is more about proving something to
your
self.’

His eyes flared slightly, then narrowed. ‘Like what?’

‘That you can hold back. That when every temptation is in front of you, you can still contain yourself.’

He almost smiled. ‘You’re wasting time, Leila.’

‘Then give me your word, Caleb. Look me in the eye and you swear to me that if I do this, and prove myself for the last time, Feinith doesn’t get near me or my family.’

‘I swear on Jake’s life that she won’t touch you.’

She warily held his gaze for a few moments longer before coiling her legs under her as she reached to unfasten her sandals.

Once she started it would be easier. It always was.

‘Leave the heels on,’ he said.

Her gaze snapped to his, his eyes glinting darkly.

She felt herself falter, but she wouldn’t back down.

She crawled up the bed towards him, parted her thighs either side of his as Caleb slid his together so she could straddle him.

His hands didn’t move from holding the bedstead but if she could have strapped him to it, she would have. The thought of it stirred deep in her abdomen. The thought of containing him, controlling him. She glanced into his green eyes before focusing down on his chest, at the straining buttons on his shirt.

She unfastened the first, her fingers more fumbling than she would have thought. And it only got harder as she unfastened one after the other, as she revealed inch after inch of that perfect chest, the fabric falling away by itself.

All too easily, she lowered her mouth to kiss him, trailing her kisses slowly down the crevice between his pecs, his chest hard and cool beneath her warm lips. Until, sliding down over his taut, flat stomach, she reached the top button on his trousers. With hesitant fingers she unfastened it.

Caleb shifted slightly and she knew it wasn’t with discomfort.

She’d been there before, less than a few hours ago. She’d done it then and she could do it again.

She wanted to do it again.

She slid down his zipper, and gently prized down his black shorts to free him. Taking him in her mouth was instinctive. Dangerously so. Wrapping her lips around his head, running her tongue full circle on the underside of the ridge, before taking him deeper had
him
gasping for breath this time.

It was barely audible, but she felt it as much as she heard it.

She pulled his shorts down a little further to lick him slowly and lingeringly from base to tip before taking him fully in her mouth again.

She heard him curse under his breath. She felt his body tense. She released his shorts, letting them slide almost back into place.

‘Certain you’re in control, Caleb?’ she asked, glancing back up at him.

She was sure she saw a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. ‘As much as I need to be. What about you?’

She eased back up his body, parted her thighs around his again, looked back into his eyes, hoping it was answer enough. ‘Perfectly.’

‘Then what are you waiting for?’

‘Feeling impatient?’ She rested her hands either side of his as she leaned closer. ‘Or are those nerves spurning you to take control back already?’

‘Or is it your nerves making you stall?’

She shifted herself to his groin, his hardness pressing against the silk of her knickers, making her sex throb. She took a moment to steady herself, her body immediately responding to being that close to him again.

She looked back into his eyes as his fingers flexed then tightened around the bar.

He was enjoying it. He was genuinely enjoying it.

She tugged his shorts down, lowered back onto him. She reached up under her dress, her fingers anxiously meeting the ribbon ties.

Looking into his eyes, she gently tugged the binds, which unravelled with ease, leaving only a thin fragile barrier of loose silk between them. Looked into the hazy eyes she could mistake as losing themselves in the moment.

Breaking from the intimacy, she lifted herself slightly to ease the silk away.

She felt him tense again, but this time she didn’t look back at him as she guided his ready erection against her.

But she couldn’t bring herself to push.

She felt her nerve go, clutched the bar, her hand next to his, her head still lowered, her eyes tightly shut.

His hand wrapped around the one that held him, guiding himself into her just an inch, his hand then grabbing her thigh, keeping her there.

She just had to lower herself, to ease him inside her little by little.

She held her breath and gently pushed.

Renewed arousal shivered through her as she lowered herself further and further, as she felt him start to fill her again – cool, hard and toxically fulfilling. She grasped the metal bar, gripped the pillow beside him and lowered herself even further.

He tightened his grip on her thigh, freed his other hand from the bar to clutch the nape of her neck.

He was claiming back some control, she knew that much, because he was already starting to move within her, using both hands to keep her steady as he helped get the rest of the way inside her in one slow, steady thrust.

She shuddered, at first the position feeling uncomfortable, but as he started to penetrate her slowly, her body started to adjust again.

She kept her eyes closed, kept her head lowered, locked in the sensation, until he sat more upright. His grip on her neck tightened, the pace of his thrusts quickening.

She looked into his eyes and they startled her. Never had they looked darker. Never had they looked more lethal. But never had she been less fearful. Never had she wanted anything more than she wanted him then.

In an instant he was on his knees, pushing her onto her back, resuming the dominant position.

She caught her breath, slammed her hand to his chest. ‘Nerves set in?’ she asked, not liking the quiver in her voice.

‘No. But I can take it from here,’ he said, slipping his shirt from his shoulders.

‘What if I don’t want you to?’

‘Then fight me for it,’ he said, pinning her hands to the bed.

Her heart leapt. The feel of him in control again had her reeling, her body arching instinctively into his as he lowered his lips to hers, dangerously close, but not close enough to kiss.

He lowered his head, his thrusts picking up pace more quickly than they had before. There was an edge that she sensed to his penetration, something rawer.

Her heart pounded. A ripple of unease crept through her and she tried to calm her breathing.

‘What’s the matter, serryn?’ he asked, looking back at her, his eyes the most sullen and terrifyingly beautiful in their menace she had seen them. ‘Where’s that confidence gone?’

He wouldn’t bite. He’d claimed back power, but he wouldn’t bite. He was in control. He had to be in control. She needed him to be in control. Over and over she said it. But those eyes, as she stared deep into them, made her too uneasy.

‘You need to let me go,’ she said.

‘Why?’

She winced as he thrust a little harder and it almost seemed to turn him on more.

She felt something inside her sparking under the threat, something she couldn’t allow out.

Damn it, if this was part of his game, if this was part of his temptation to scare her enough to out the serryn within, it was a vicious play on their unspoken rules.

He was upping the ante, and as he lowered his head to her throat, it was starting to work.

She needed him to bite. She needed to encourage him. She could be out of there, long gone – her and Alisha. She needed to let her instincts take over, not the dread at the thought of him drinking her poison.

He gripped her wrists tighter, his penetration making her tremble with the force.

He was losing it.

Damn it, she was giving off signals. Signals she had no control over. She couldn’t let him do it.

She couldn’t.

‘Caleb, you need to slow down.’

His thrusts became harder, thrusts that were increasingly about self-satiation.

‘Caleb—’

He released a wrist to clamp his hand over her mouth, silencing her as he picked up pace again.

She struggled beneath him, pushed her hand against his hard chest, but he restrained her with ease. He lifted himself slightly to look in her eyes.

His pupils were constricted, incisors exposed, his vampiric state having never been so apparent.

As his hungry eyes locked on hers, she froze.

She shook her head, her protests muffled behind his hand.