Arryn: Mystic Protectors Series (7 page)

Her buttons were tight coming through the small holes, but he enjoyed watching her face as he touched her. Each brush of his hand near her breast, the way his fingers grazed her flesh as he opened her shirt, had her breath catching in a way that did the same to his. As soon as they were undone, all of the tiny buttons no longer mated to their hole, he pulled it down over her arms then off her body.

“I love the way your breasts feel in my hands. The way they fill them, overflowing just enough to make me greedy to take the rest into my mouth.” He pinched her nipples with his thumbs and fingers. Her moan had him rocking into her bottom. “These hard peaks are nothing like I had imagined feeling in my mouth. To suckle them, feel then harden more when I do, makes me want more. The way you moan…have you any idea what it does to me? How my blood seems to boil, my heart pounds out of time to the way yours does?”

He undid the front snap on her bra and let it fall to the floor as well. Arryn had never seen something to tiny and lacy before. The stark whiteness of it, the purity of it made him think of clouds in the sky and soft blankets on a cold night. Arryn marveled at how something to tiny and so light could hold such a bounty. As he stood behind her, her breasts bare to only him, he kissed her shoulder then moved to her neck as he slid his hands down to the top of her pants.

These were more difficult for him to manage. First of all, there was a tie and not a zipper or snaps. And she’d tied it in the way that had him frustrated at first, until her hands moved over his. He thought he would need to tear them off her, but she had them undone in seconds.

Taking a step back, he filled his hands with her warm bottom. The muscles quivered in his hands and he wanted to watch them as they tightened and flexed. Pulling the pants down over her hips, he was careful not to take her panties with them. Arryn had plans in removing them in a moment, and that would not be rushed.

Licking a path down her spine, he could taste her need. Her fists were tight at her sides as he nipped at the curve of her spine to her bottom. Arryn kissed the tiny dimples on each side. When the pants were at her ankles, he whimpered a little when she bent to help him; her bottom was right in his face and he wanted to take a large bite of her. When she stood before the mirror with him in only the panties, all he could think about was that she was his. Every part of her, every inch was his to take and to love. When he walked in front of her, he took his time studying each part of her, never touching just yet, but memorizing. Then he leaned in and kissed her again, feeling her own hunger was as great as his. Taking another step back, Arryn had to adjust his cock before he hurt more.

“I wish to feast on you. Taste your cream as it flows from your body.” She begged him so prettily that he dropped to his knees in front of her, burying his face into her heat and biting her through the silky material to feel her swollen womanhood between his lips. Before ripping them from her body, Arryn slid his hand under her panties, moved his fingers into her heat, and brought her to the first of what he hoped would be many more releases.

Arryn ate at her voraciously. His hunger for her knew no limits as he pulled her closer, using her bottom to keep her where he wanted her. She tasted of hot sweetness, honey, and her own kind of flavor. Cream ran down his chin, onto his chest as he tried to drink all of her. The more that he drank from her, it seemed there was that much more that he missed.

Renie rocked into his mouth, her fingers in his hair pulling him closer still, guiding him to where she wanted him most. Arryn was glad to help her, for he too wanted her to have the greatest pleasure he could give her. And only then would he take his own.

Flooding his mouth and body with her juices, her screams of release made him want more for her. His own body ached, but it was secondary to her enjoyment. When she jerked him from her, staggering back enough that he held her before she fell, Renie begged him to take her.

Kissing her again, he knew that she could taste herself on his mouth. The thought of them sharing something so intimate made his cock jerk in his pants. Laying her on the big bed, he stood over her as he hurried through his own disrobing, and then cried out when she wrapped her mouth over his shaft. It nearly had him coming down her throat much faster than he thought at all possible.

Making love to her mouth, he closed his eyes. He could easily release this way, fill her with his own juices now if she continued to take him this way. Pulling back, he asked her to lay down and he moved up her body slowly again, this time knowing that when he released, when they released, it would be better than ever before. And it would bond them in a way that would make them one forever.

His body hurt to fill her. His cock was leaking profusely now, his own need so close that he was fearful of not giving her pleasure before he took his own. But as soon as he entered her, filled her to the root with his cock, she wrapped her legs around him and he stilled. It was perfect.

“I love you.” She told him that she loved him as well. “I wish that I could stay here forever. Holding you like this.”

“Fill me, Arryn.” He nodded, moving in and out of her body as slowly as he could. But soon it wasn’t enough. He had to come; her own body, her sheath was milking him tightly, and he slammed forward once, then again before she screamed his name, her voice hoarse when she cried out again. Arryn not only followed her over the edge of paradise, but he took her twice more before everything in him shut down and he felt darkness take him even as his body emptied into hers.

When he opened his eyes the room was bathed in darkness. He wasn’t sure what had woke him, but when Renie started talking he knew it was her dream again. Touching his finger lightly to her arm, he saw what she was seeing. This time there was no mistaking the creature in front of them as anything but a demon, and a young one at that. And that he was angry at Renie for some reason.

“You hurt me.” Renie looked at Arryn then, and he wondered if she was seeing him or simply looking around when the demon spoke again. “What right do you have to harm one that owns you? You will stop this immediately. I will not—”

“Fuck yourself.” The demon staggered back when Renie spoke. “Yeah, you heard me, go fuck yourself. I’ll do what I want, when I fucking want to, before you think to claim me. I’m here now, not in that place you call home. And I will be for the rest of my free days, and you can just go fuck yourself until your cock falls off.”

“I
think
to claim you? I will claim not just you but that lovely body of yours as well. And when I am finished with you, if indeed I ever am, I am going to sell you to the highest bidder and watch as he fucks every part of you until you are no longer fit to be in our sight.” Renie laughed and Arryn wanted to tell her that was a bad idea. “You think to mock me, female? I will show you what happens when you treat me like I am a lesser being.”

As soon as he started toward her, Renie raised her hands. The demon paused, just for a moment, but it was enough for Arryn to realize he might be slightly afraid of this new Renie, one that fought back. For her to back away from him now would be wrong and he was pretty sure that Renie knew it. She had power over the demon and he didn’t care for it.

“Come closer.” He shook his head, then lifted his chin at her as if…Arryn thought it was to show her that he was braver than her. “You’re afraid of me. And you fucking well better be, too, if you know what’s good for you. And if you think once I’m here, in this place, that I’m going to be easy for you to subdue, then you had better be prepared. I’m going to knock you on your fucking ass every chance I get.”

“You cannot. I own you.” The blast hit the demon in the chest, but all it did, as far as Arryn could see, was push him backward a few feet. “What have you done? Where did you get that? You cannot be a part of…I did not want you to come to this until you were older. You are not older yet.”

Renie laughed and looked at Arryn. This time when she winked, he knew that she was seeing him. But when she turned back to the demon, she was all business, a term that had never meant as much to him as it did right at that moment. Renie seemed to know just what she was doing.

“I’m not going to come here without a fight. I just realized how much…well, I realized a great many things this week. And going there to be with you is not going to be as easy nor as fun as you might think it will be. I’m going to fight you with everything I have. And it’s looking like I’m going to have a little more than you thought I would too.” The demon started to sputter and Arryn wanted to laugh. He was afraid, all right, and a little more than confused at Renie. Then it was as if he knew something that no one else did.

“You’ve gotten them for me, haven’t you?” Renie took a step back…he could almost taste her own fear now. “Yes. Yes. Yes. You did it. You got them for me. How did you manage it? Did you happen to fuck one of them? Did you…oh, I cannot wait. Give them to me now.”

“I don’t have anything for you.” Renie took another step back when it became apparent that the demon didn’t believe her. “I’m not going to either. Never.”

“Yes, yes, I can see that you’ve done it. It will not take all your punishment away, no, but it will be easier on you. Maybe it will. I know that the contract says that it buys your freedom, but we both knew all along that it wasn’t going to happen. It wouldn’t matter if you got me a hundred feathers from the protectors. I still want you here.”

Arryn looked at Renie, then at the demon. Letting go of her arm, he sat up on the bed and watched as she struggled in her sleep. As soon as she woke, Arryn stood up and moved away from her.

“Did you do it? Did you collect the parts of us that would make us not whole should you take them? How many have you collected? You’ve been around at least that many since you’ve been here. Is mine in that lot too?” Renie just stared at him, then she stood up. “I asked you a question, please? Did you get what he wanted? I’m assuming that he didn’t want as many as one hundred. How many did you get for him?”

She was dressing and he wanted to go to her and demand an answer. But she was speaking low, just under her breath, and it wasn’t until she turned to him, her face flooded with tears, that he thought perhaps he might have spoken out of turn.

“Am I far from the apartment over the deli?” He shook his head and she moved to the door. When he reached for her, she hit him in the face with her fist. Arryn fell back, his body not used to having so much pain felt, as if she’d hit him with a tree and not her hand. When he started to rise, she stood over him as if she might hit him again. “Don’t you dare come near me again. Do you understand me? Not ever again. To think that…that I…how could you do this to me? How could you believe I’d do such a…? Don’t come near me again. Ever.”

When he heard the door to the front of the house slam, Arryn got up. He followed her, but he was careful of how close he got to her. She was angry and once she calmed down, he’d tell her what a terrible idea it would be for her to do such a thing if it was in her mind to take them to the demon. It would be better when she was calm, he thought. Then he wondered if she’d ever be that calm again.

Chapter 7

The paperwork was spread out all over the table and the floor. She was nearly to the point where she was going to trash it all and begin again when someone knocked on her door. It was the fourth time in the last hour that it had happened. And like before, Renie ignored it.

Judith yelled at her through the door. “I will break this down if you don’t let me in. I’m sick to death of worrying about you. Open the fucking door right now, Renie, or so help me, I will come in one way or another.”

Renie started to stand and tell her, again, to go away, but her foot had fallen asleep and she couldn’t make it work. So instead of yelling back, which she was sick of doing too, she let Judith steam on the other side. But instead of breaking down the door as she had threatened, Judith used her magic, something that the woman just oozed with, and came in.

“I should be out of here in a few days. I think I have it all figured out about your accounts. Thanks for giving me the information on the other—”

“What the hell is going on?” Renie asked her what she meant. “You know what I mean. Every day Arryn comes by to talk to you, and comes down those stairs again like he’s had his heart ripped out. What happened? What did he do?”

“Him? Why do you assume he did anything? Maybe, more than likely, it was all me.” Judith sat down at the table and Renie stayed where she was. There were used bowls lying next to her where she’d gotten a bowl of cereal to eat rather than take the time to fix something. And there were several cores of apples, something she rarely ate, but they were there. “I’m kinda on a time constraint here, so why don’t you just go back downstairs and leave me to it? Whatever you think or know that happened between Arryn and I is none of your business. I know that might be a hard concept for you to understand, other people not including you in their woes, but it’s fine.”

“Kala wants you to come and see her. She wants you to see the boys.” Renie didn’t even bother answering her, but turned back to what she was doing. “They’re getting really big. They have doubled their birth weight now.”

“I can’t do that. And I think you know why.” Renie picked up a printout of something she’d been working on and handed it to Judith. “They take the money every two then three days. One the second day they take one percent. Then three days later they take three percent. Not a great deal when you think of it in small terms, but when it’s in an account as large as yours and Strategize’s, it can add up quickly. Also, there are the other accounts you told me about. All of them are being ripped off. Some less than others, but it’s amounting to a great deal of money on the other end.”

Judith looked at them but said nothing. When she laid the printout on the table, Renie started to explain the rest to her, but Judith put up her hand. Renie sat there waiting for her to scream at her.

“I’ve not known you for long. Very little when you think about how long I’m going to live, but you don’t strike me as the type of person that would give up easily. What did—and I know it was him—what did Arryn do to hurt you this badly? And before you tell me to fuck off again, I want you to know how impressed I am that you’ve succeeded in blocking me from looking.” Renie looked at the papers in her hand without seeing them. Every time she thought of what he’d said to her, it was like an open wound that someone was pouring salt water in. “Renie, please tell me. I want to help you, and I can’t if you don’t tell me.”

“What the hell?” She got up and found the contract. Handing it to her, Renie stood near the couch while she continued. “It states that if I should get ten pieces of ten different protectors and take them to him, he will void my contract with him and I’ll be set free. He’s already told me that should I take him a hundred I’ll still be his fuck bitch. I didn’t even know what the fuck the pieces were until I talked to Boss. He told me that should someone give a feather from them to a demon that they’d not be whole. He also told me about how they would die should the demon destroy the feathers, which I also didn’t know, and that you all had swords.”

“Boss knows about this then?” Renie nodded at her question. “Do you have any idea what…of course you do…Boss would have told you. What did you tell Arryn when you told him that Boss knew?”

Renie got herself a glass of water. She had no idea how long she’d been out of juice and other things, but she really didn’t care at that point. Judith was watching her and Renie just let the tears fall now. It was going to be all over in a few days anyway, what did she care anymore? But the problem was, she did care. A great deal. And she still loved the asshole even though he didn’t deserve it.

“He didn’t wait for you to tell him, did he?” Renie nodded. “I see. So he just…I’m not sure how this went down, but I can almost see it. He found out that this was in the contract, and he accused you of taking them from us, right?”

“Not really, but close. I…I have these encounters with this demon. He comes when I’m asleep. And he…I guess you could say that he tells me what a fun time I’m going to have once I’m in his clutches. In great detail.” Renie sat down, pulled a napkin from the holder to her nose, and blew hard before continuing. “Arryn can…when he’s with me, he can enter the dream too. Sort of as a shadow. The demon apparently can’t see him, but Arryn is privy to what is said.”

“And that’s how he found out about the feathers.” Renie nodded. “And this demon? He mentioned them, or something about you collecting them for your freedom, I’m assuming, and Arryn thought the worst of you.”

“Yes. Only I never even considered it, before or after I found out what it was he was talking about. He thinks that I’m lying to him.” Judith asked her if she meant Arryn or the demon. “Both. They both think that I’m collecting them. And then the demon told me that it mattered little if I had a hundred of them, he was going to keep me anyway. Which I guess I figured all along. Boss knows too.”

“What did you…? Never mind. I don’t think I’d explain it to him either.” Judith laid the contract on the table, then picked it back up. “It says here that your birthday is in less than two weeks. I thought you had more time.”

“I lied.” Renie stood up. “I have to finish this. It’s…I just have to finish this. I don’t have a lot of time, as you can see. The money is coming out at the bank, but the addresses don’t line up. I think…Kip is helping me narrow it down. Did you know that they’re taking money from not just yours and Strategize’s, but your personal accounts as well? We’re talking several million dollars.”

Judith didn’t look like she was going to pay attention. Renie knew that she was upset about her leaving them. It was the way she thought of it now; not dying, but she was leaving them. When she finally picked up the printout, Renie let go of the breath she’d been holding.

“Did you tell Dusty and the others yet?” She said that she hadn’t. “We need to get together and see what we can figure out. How long will it take you to get the right address? And by that, I guess you mean the computer that is doing this.”

“Yes. It’s not the bank at the local level. I’ve been using Dan, who has also been a great help; he’s gone in and helped me get the IP of all of the ones there. So it has to be either at the main office or another one of the smaller banks. And when I look to see a physical address, it bounces.” Judith asked her what that meant. “They have a program on their computer that makes it so the address where the information is being taken from is bounced all over the world. It makes it nearly impossible to find where it originated from. One second it could be here, the next in China, then around the world again in seconds. It’s hard to trace, but I’m working on that too.”

She took her into the bedroom and showed her what she’d been doing. It wasn’t like she’d been using the bed anyway for the last week, so she’d set up computers all over the room. There were nine on the bed and three more on the dresser. And four on the floor.

“I had no idea that…this is costing you a fortune.” Renie shrugged and let it go. She was glad that Judith did as well. “What are you doing? I’m assuming that you’re chasing the bounce.”

“Sort of. What I’m doing is cutting out the bounce. Every time it hits a place, one of these will tell me if it’s a real place or just a spot that the computer picked. I’ve been able to cut out about four million jumps since I started.” Judith whistled. “Don’t be too impressed. A bouncer can have as many addresses as there are number combinations. I’m just working it to see what I can hit.”

As they moved out of the bedroom, Renie looked around. She’d been a slob the last few days, not even picking up her wads of trash that didn’t even come close to the trashcan. Judith smiled at her when she said how sorry she was.

“I don’t care what kind of mess you have so long as you find who is robbing me. And I expect a bill for those computers too. There is no reason you should be out all that money.” Renie looked away and Judith brought her face back around. “I’m assuming since you didn’t ask for any money that you can afford this and more. How much…can I ask you how much money you have?”

“More than you.” Judith nodded. “I’m not stupid. And I’m good at what I do. It’s why I get hired by people like you, and I don’t work for a firm. I did once for about a week. But they had little for me to do after I cleared up their mess. I was paid well for the rest of my contract, and I invested even better. I’m good to have around, but too expensive to have on your payroll.”

“And you don’t want your mom…Penny to have it.” Renie shook her head. “Smart girl. But I’m still paying you for this. And your time. I don’t know what the going rate is for a computer genius like you, but I’ll get it figured out.”

“Give it to your foundation. The computers too when I’m…when I have this figured out.” Judith said that she’d work something out. As she started to close the door, Judith came back in. After a quick hug, Renie was alone again.

“This was much easier when I was alone. I didn’t have any attachments to hurt me when…when I left.” She went back to the piles of papers and stared at them. It was harder now; after knowing all these people, it was harder than it had been before. Being alone had been a comfort, a way for her to bury herself into her work, but now it was nothing more than being lonely. And Renie hated it.

~~~

Arryn stretched his neck twice before he heard the pop that he’d been seeking. His neck, along with the rest of his body, hurt. But it was a small price to pay for what might happen today. Riss had offered to let him work in the ring with a couple of the younger protectors. It had been…enlightening, as well as slightly painful. In a good way though.

The meeting that they’d been working on was finally going to happen. Today, he might be able to go to Renie and beg her to forgive him and to marry him. He’d been not just wrong about what she’d been about to do, but a great many things as well. And he had it in his head that she might not ever forgive him, but he would still work to have her free to live her life.

“You have to hold onto your temper, Arryn. If you let it go now, there will be hades to pay.” Michael had told him this now four different times. And each time he never got it quite right. “I’m aware that this is hades and we are talking about it, but I’m nervous as well. You would do well to remember that I have said this is a terrible idea.”

“I know. And I thank you for coming along anyway.” Arryn got up to pace and sat when Boss cleared his throat. “What if we meet him here and then he tells us that’s he’s too busy to see us? He could, you know; he’s done it before.”

Five times, as a matter of fact. And today, today he had to have something to go to Renie with. Her time was running out. And thanks to him being stupid he’d lost all this time with her. He glanced at Boss when He laughed.

“She looks no better than you do. Maybe just a little worse. Did you know that she could ill afford to lose any more weight, and yet she has? Poor thing. I do hope that we can help her out with this. But you are on your own with your troubles with her.” Arryn knew that as well. Boss had been extremely…well, the man had been pissed off, as Dusty was fond of saying. And none of the others would speak to him since he’d told them what he’d done. Except for Riss, and it had only been to scream at him for being a fool.

“I have tried to see her. Every day she turns me away. Not that I don’t deserve what she is doing, but I hurt from it.” Boss nodded and leaned back in the seat He was in. “I cannot believe that I said those things to her. I don’t even know why I said them. As the words spewed from my mouth, I knew them to be untrue. She would never betray us in such…in any way.”

“I think you were scared too.” Michael looked at Boss before he continued. “Or you might have been cursed. There is a lot of that going around, I’m told.”

“I told you that it was a joke, Michael. Kip was joking with you. If you do not learn to take them, I’m going to forbid you hanging around with that young man. He only does it to make you insane with odd thoughts.” Boss looked at him. “Last week they were watching a program on television. Michael asked Kipling how they had made the actor in one movie appear in the next one alive again. They were watching a marathon of something. I don’t remember. But Kipling told him that they cursed every actor in movies so that they would be able to come back and make reunions; or in this case, a second movie.”

“And you believed him.” Michael nodded, saying that it was true. “No, I’m sorry, but it’s not true. You know as well as I do that people age and die. And actors aren’t any different. I’m sorry.”

“Young Kipling said as much to me this morning. I do enjoy the young man, but there are times when I’m sure that he’s pulling my wanker.” Arryn looked at Boss and then back at Michael. “I know that it’s leg. But Kipling assured me that I would get a better reaction with people if I used that term. I have no idea what part of my body is a wanker, and he was laughing too hard to tell me, but I do believe it had the desired effect.”