A Demon in Dallas (14 page)

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“What the hell?”

“How many?” We all shouted in unison.

“They’re not easy to locate,” Malaki defended.

“Why did they angels want to kill me?” I regretted my question when Connor’s face turned an interesting shade of purple.

“They
what
?” he bellowed.

“Ah, well, yes.” Malaki averted his gaze. “They’re taking this war seriously and as in all wars, there will be casualties. The angels can’t afford for anyone to know about the grimoires because the demons cannot know that we’re rounding them up. They’ll try to get their hands on them first.”

“You talk about the angels as though you aren’t one of them,” Connor observed. “
They’re
taking this war seriously. What about you?”

“It’s important to me too, naturally. Let’s just say, I don’t always agree with the methods of my colleagues.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the padded back of the booth seat. “I feel like I could sleep for a month,” I said wearily.

“You have twenty-four hours,” Malaki announced brightly.

Opening my eyes, I tilted my head to the side and frowned. “Twenty-four hours until what?”

Malaki shook his head, looking at me as though I’d gone insane. “Until you start looking for the next book, of course.”

I glared back at him, convinced that he was the one that had lost his mind. “Are you on drugs?”

Sighing dramatically, Malaki said, “Fine, forty-eight hours and not a minute more.”

“I seriously don’t like you very much,” I said, getting up from the booth seat and pulling Connor towards the door. Matt followed in our wake.

Malaki placed a hand over his heart. His lips twitched. “I’m crushed. Truly.”

“Dick.”

“Forty-eight hours!” he shouted after us.

I flipped him the bird before leaving the room.

* * * *

“Was that the door?”

Connor threw me a mock glare. “Don’t even think about stopping what you’re doing.”

“Or what?” I threatened, pulling away as if to leave.

He growled and the sound sent shivers of anticipation down my spine. “Suck me, Raven.”

His voice had dropped an octave and his eyes had shifted to their wolf form. Sharp incisors were visible between his lips.

I chuckled and shook my head. “Impatient much?”

“Stop what you’re doing and you’ll see just how impatient I really am.”

Hiding my grin, I kissed my way up Connor’s inner thigh, flicking my tongue over his ball sac and over the tip of his erect cock. Pre-cum was beading at the slit so I captured it with my tongue, delighting in the salty-sweet taste. Connor groaned loudly and grabbed a handful of the bed sheets when I slipped the hard shaft into my mouth and sucked it all the way down to the base. It had been over a week since we’d got back from Dallas, but I couldn’t get enough of the taste of him or the feel of his cock in my mouth.

“Suck me, please,” he asked huskily, the fingers of his right hand sliding through my hair to hold my head in place. “Jesus, suck me hard.”

I wasted no time giving him what he wanted and felt him tug hard on my hair, almost to the point of pain.

“Oh God, yes, like that.” He began moaning and babbling senselessly as I moved up and down on him, getting him nice and wet. I pulled off with a pop.

“Christ, don’t stop!”

I sat up and chuckled at the horrified expression on his face. “I really need to see who’s at the door,” I teased, making to move off the bed.

Grabbing hold of my arm, Connor growled and pulled me back. In a move that was so fast I would have missed it if I had blinked, he rolled us so that he was lying on top of me. He only needed to use one hand to pin both of mine above my head. With the other he grabbed my hip to hold me still and thrust his cock into me, sinking deep. I was still wet from our previous bout of lovemaking not fifteen minutes before. I gasped at the sweet invasion, my back arching off the bed, putting my right nipple in the perfect position for him to tease. It hardened into a firm peak as he trailed his tongue around it before taking it into his mouth.

“Yes!” I hissed, lifting my hips to meet his, to get him to go deeper.

“Fuck me, Connor,” I begged.

Releasing my nipple, he kissed me hard, sliding his tongue into my mouth to caress mine as his hard cock pushed into me again and again, sending me to dizzying heights. Each thrust seemed to go deeper than before and, as he fucked me harder, I could feel my orgasm building. Connor let go of my hands and braced his arms on either side of my head. With the newfound freedom, I reached down and grabbed his ass, my fingers digging into the flesh of his cheeks and pulling him deeper into me.

Pressing my head back into the pillow, I squeezed my eyes shut, moaning as Connor shoved into me again and again. I felt the scrape of his sharp teeth against my neck and I shivered.

“Open your eyes, Raven,” Connor instructed. “I want you to watch me fucking you. Watch how I take you.”

I did as he asked and looked down to where we were joined. His large cock glistened with my juices each time it appeared, the sight incredibly erotic. When Connor changed the angle of his hips, each time he thrust into me, his cock rubbed against my clit and a loud gasp escaped me lips.

“You like that?”

I nodded, bucking wildly, grinding into him. “Yes. Harder!”

Connor growled and gave me what I asked for, driving into me with purpose. I wrapped my legs tightly around his hips and held on for the ride, my feet pressing into his buttocks. Three more thrusts were all it took. I screamed out Connor’s name as my orgasm crashed over me, the sweet tingles in my groin spreading and hitting me in a tidal wave of euphoria. Connor went wild above me—he roared, snapping his hips erratically, his hard cock drawing out my release with each glorious plunge into my wet depths. When I stopped juddering, I watched in awe as Connor’s teeth elongated even further and he lowered them to my neck.

“Mate,” he whispered reverently before the sharp points pierced my skin and he drew out my blood.

The pleasure-pain of the bite intensified my orgasm, lengthening it, and through the fog of ecstasy I was dimly aware of Connor pulling his teeth free from my neck and shouting out his release, his seed filling me. When we’d both stopped coming, Connor collapsed on top of me and rolled to the side, panting heavily. A fine layer of sweat covered my body, which felt cool now without Connor’s heat to keep me warm.

I looked across at the love of my life. Connor had his arm slung over his eyes, but there was a smile playing on his full lips that mirrored my own. I knew we had a long way to go. The council still didn’t know about our relationship, but we didn’t plan on telling them any time soon. The risk that they’d do everything in their power to separate us was too great. We’d just have to deal with the fallout from that when the time came.

All that mattered was that Connor had forgiven me and we were back together again. This time it was for keeps. I knew I still needed to earn Connor’s trust back, but I would. I intended to make it up to him every damn day that we were together.

A loud knock on the front door tore me out of my reflections. Connor lowered his arm and stared at me open-mouthed.

“Did you really hear the door just now?”

I chuckled and jumped off the bed. Grabbing my dressing gown, I threw it over my shoulders. “No. I really was just teasing you.”

He checked his watch. “You think Ashley is early?”

I shrugged and headed for the door. “Only one way to find out,” I tossed over my shoulder.

Jogging down the stairs, I hurried through the hallway to answer the door. Cautiously, I peered through the peephole before pulling it open. Ashley.

“Raven!” she greeted brightly, pulling me in for a hug, which I returned warmly.

Ashley looked like a cheerleader. She had blonde, bouncy curls that fell way past her shoulders, a slim, curvaceous figure and an all-American tan. She dressed in feminine skirts and sweaters and wouldn’t have been out of place at a PTA meeting or bake sale. Despite all that, she was one of the most lethal women I knew. Ashley and I had been in the same training class back when we were teenagers and she’d kicked my ass on many an occasion.

“Come in.” I opened the door wide and stepped aside for her to enter. The second I had closed the door behind her, Ashley’s expression became serious.

“Did you find it?” I asked.

She nodded, her face grave. “I’m afraid your vacation time is over. You’re not going to believe where we have to go to get the next book.”

Also available from Total-E-Bound Publishing:

Clandestine Classics: Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen and Amy Armstrong

Excerpt

Chapter One

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

“My dear Mr Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”

As Mrs Bennet’s shrill voice carried through to the sitting room, Elizabeth Bennet’s hand hovered over the handkerchief she had been embroidering, the delicate stitching long forgotten. Unlike her sisters, Elizabeth did not like to eavesdrop, but the volume of her mother’s voice was so high, it could hardly be avoided.

Mr Bennet replied that he had not, in fact, heard the news.

“But it is,” returned she, “for Mrs Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”

Mr Bennet made no answer.

“Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently.

“
You
want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”

This was invitation enough.

“Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England, that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr Morris immediately, that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

Elizabeth was intrigued by news of Netherfield’s new owner and hoped to discover more about him. Country life offered few distractions and so newcomers were unquestionably opportune. Her sisters would be beside themselves.

“What is his name?” enquired Mr Bennet.

“Bingley.”

“Is he married or single?”

Leaning forward in her chair, Elizabeth eagerly awaited her mother’s response.

“Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune, four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!”

Elizabeth smiled to herself. It was a fine thing indeed. She was well acquainted with the single men who lived in their small but pretty part of the countryside in Hertfordshire and most of them were insufferable bores. Elizabeth had hopes that Mr Bingley would be different.

“How so? How can it affect them?” enquired Elizabeth’s father.

“My dear Mr Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”

If Mr Bingley did choose to marry, it would not be to Elizabeth Bennet, for she had no desire to take a husband—even though she had often wondered what it would feel like to have a man’s hands caressing her body, his breath hot on her neck. Her heart began to beat thunderously as she imagined her skirts lifted, and firm, confident fingers gliding over her heated flesh, moving higher until they found her most private of places. She thought of them stroking gently, then with more fervour, until she cried out from a release she could only begin to imagine. Elizabeth was quite sure her illicit thoughts had no place in the mind of a lady, but though she tried often to control them, she was never very successful.

“Is that his design in settling here?” asked Mr Bennet, drawing Elizabeth’s attention back to the conversation in the other room.

“Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so!” exclaimed Mrs Bennet. “But it is very likely that he
may
fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”

Upon entering the room, Elizabeth’s sister Jane asked, “Lizzie, what ails you? You look flushed. Are you unwell?”

“I am quite well, sister,” said Elizabeth. “It is…
hot
in here. Is it not?”

Jane Bennet regarded Elizabeth curiously. “I had not noticed.” Elizabeth and Jane quieted when their father next spoke.

“I see no occasion for that,” said Mr Bennet to his lady. “You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr Bingley may like you the best of the party.”

“My dear, you flatter me. I certainly
have
had my share of beauty, but I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown-up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her own beauty.”

“In such cases, a woman has not often much beauty to think of.”

“But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr Bingley when he comes into the neighbourhood.”

“What are they talking about?” Jane Bennet whispered to her sister. “Who is Mr Bingley?”

“The new tenant of Netherfield Hall,” said Elizabeth.

Curiosity piqued, Jane took the seat next to her sister, and joined her in listening to their parents’ exchange.

“It is more than I engage for, I assure you,” said Mr Bennet.

“But consider your daughters,” implored Mrs Bennet, her volume increasing with each word she spoke. “Only think what an establishment it would be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to go, merely on that account, for in general, you know, they visit no newcomers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for
us
to visit him if you do not.”