Caress of Flame (17 page)

When she collapsed bonelessly into his embrace, he pulled himself free of her. With gentle care he turned her, urging her to brace her hands on the end of the tub. She was bent over before him, showing him all of her secrets. The vision of her pink, wet flesh made him weak with desire. He couldn’t control himself. He bent down and kissed her, pressing his lips firmly to her anus.

Isis cried out and surged up, but Flare pushed her back down with his hand, holding her captive there as he loved her. His tongue darted out to taste her and the flavor was of the fragrant bathwater. With his right index finger he penetrated her there, wringing a choked gasp from Isis’ lips.

Thrusting his finger in and out of her, he felt her body relax around him. He put another finger into her, stretching her, and her whole being shivered and quaked beneath his ministrations. She was moaning repeatedly now, climbing high toward 9another release. Flare pulled his fingers free of her body and positioned himself behind her.

The feel of his cock stretching the tender flesh of her anus was mind-boggling. It felt as if she were being penetrated by a baseball bat. He was so big. So thick and long. Isis had no idea how he was going to fit there.

But fit he did. Slowly but surely, he sank deeper into her. The mushroom head of his sex popped past her sphincter and he was in. Isis’ breath sobbed out of her. He filled her deeper and deeper until he was seated almost to the hilt. Flare placed his hands on her hips, pulling her back against him. He reached with one hand and thrust his fingers deep inside of her soaking wet pussy. He stroked her there and began to ride her ass gently.

Increasing the pace and force of his thrusts gradually kept Isis from feeling any pain at all with this wicked possession. Her body felt stretched tight, he filled her so fully, but it was a delicious, welcome feeling. The feel of his fingers playing with her pussy only added to her pleasure. She felt her body reflexively tighten on his as he brushed the sensitive nub of her clit and they both moaned. Flare waited for her body to relax again then began his thrusts once more.

Flare was dizzy with pleasure. She was so tight it stole his breath away. Her body was silken, slippery wet and cool against his rising body heat. He knew if he wasn’t careful that he’d have the water boiling with the heat of his uncontrollable passion.

Flare already knew his cock was hot enough to singe, buried deep inside of her, but Isis seemed to like that sensation so he let himself stay warm inside of her.

When Isis came, it was with a broken scream. Her body, racked with shudders, opened fully to him. He seated himself to the hilt and let go of his iron control. He cried out, unable to keep the sound muffled, and thrust hard. Her body milked his and he was lost. He shouted his triumph as he shot his scalding hot cum deep within her.

Spurting over and over, he filled her until his juices leaked out between them. Isis gave one last cry and went limp beneath him.

They slid back into the water, breathless, mindless. Flare left her body and they both groaned as he popped free of her. They fell away and stroked each other’s bodies freely, more to soothe now than to titillate, hands gentle and undemanding.

“Oh my God, I never thought I’d do anything like that,” she said breathlessly.

“Did you like it?” he asked gently.

“Holy shit, I
loved
it!” she said at once. “That was the most incredible sensation I’ve ever felt.”

“Good,” he grunted and lifted her against him. He rose with her in his arms and set her down on the tile outside the tub. Stepping out of the bath, Flare grabbed a super-soft towel and rubbed her dry. When he was done, she took the towel from him and made to dry him off but he shook his head at her with a cocksure smile.

Fire consumed his form. Isis gasped and stepped back reflexively. A short second passed, heat baking off him, then the flame died down, disappearing as quickly as it 9had appeared. When she could see past the spots blurring her vision she saw that Flare was completely dried from head to toe.

“That’s not fair,” she said, hair still wet and dripping down her back.

Flare laughed and reached for her once again. He swung her up into his arms and carried her like a baby into his bedroom. He placed her gently back among the plush pillows and lay down beside her, his hands immediately gathering her close, spooning with her.

“We’ll have to move,” he told her idly. “I have claimed you. I am no longer a bachelor.”

“That’s cool,” she said, resting her hands on her naked tummy.

He was silent for long moments and she wondered what he was thinking. She didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“I am going to the Territories tomorrow to kill your stepfather,” he admitted softly at the nape of her neck.

Isis stiffened and pulled away from him. “No.
Fuck
no. He’s not worth it. He’s just a big fat loser. A nobody. Killing him won’t solve anything.”

“It would make us both feel better,” he pointed out stubbornly.

“I can’t let you do that,” she told him.

The temperature in the room soared as heat wafted off him. “He dared to touch you. To hurt you. To break you. I cannot and will not let him go unpunished for that.”

“Just leave it alone,” she said.

“I cannot believe that you are defending him,” he remarked angrily.

Isis sighed heavily and met his hot gaze with hers. “I’m not defending him. And if you’d offered to kill him two weeks ago I would have said yes right away. But I know you. You protect humans all the time. You could never willingly kill one.”

“I could very easily kill him,” Flare gritted the words out. “He deserves to die for what he did to you.”

“Don’t,” she said. “Let’s just forget about him forever. We don’t ever have to think about my past again. You’ve seen to that. You’ve given me a wonderful future to look forward to. You fixed me, made me whole. Killing my stepdad would only open the old wounds for me.” She grinned at him impishly. “Besides, you don’t know how to find him.”

Flare grunted but said nothing. He reached for her again and captured her in his embrace. He spooned with her, stroking his hands all over the front of her body.

Despite how tired she was, Isis still responded to his caresses. His cock was hard at her back and she was growing wet again. But nature took over and her exhaustion caught up to her with a bang. She went to sleep with the feel of him fondling her breasts.

Her dreams were the sweetest she’d ever had.

9
* * * * *

When she awoke several hours later, Flare had left her once again. She leaned back against the pillows and savored the tug and pull of her sore muscles. She could almost feel Flare, still filling her with his cock.

Lounging lazily for a while, she had to force herself to get out of bed. She delved into the clothing she had brought and found a soft pair of jeans and a well-worn T-shirt, as well as some skimpy underthings that she knew Flare would approve of.

She couldn’t wait for him to take them off her. Isis shivered with the delicious thought.

Seeking something useful to do while she waited for Flare to return, she tidied up the bedclothes and went to pick up all their discarded clothing from the past few days.

Most of the clothing she had to throw away, putting it in a stone trashcan. As she gathered the last of the clothes, she couldn’t help but notice the bits of paper that littered the floor. The last remnants of her past.

She gathered them up and threw them away—then alarm rushed through her.

“Motherfucker,” she said, searching through the bits of paper for her sister’s envelope, which bore her return address. The address was missing. Isis looked under the bed and all around the room but she couldn’t find it.

Holy shit,” she cried out and ran for the door.

9
Chapter Fourteen

Isis stepped into the hall and tried her best to ignore her ostentatious surroundings.

She didn’t want to be deterred from her important quest.

She’d never been outside Flare’s apartment and she had a hopeless moment when she wondered just how she could find someone to help among all the doors lining the great stone hallway.

The hallway was wide enough to fit five school buses side by side. She looked down the hall and saw hundreds of doors, leading on as far as the eye could see. The stone around her was gray and dark, illuminated only by strange lights that haphazardly littered the passage. There were tapestries on the walls here and there, elaborate pieces of art full of color and life. There was statuary everywhere—carved into the rock of the walls. Everything looked inordinately expensive.

Barefoot and uncaring, she noticed the stone felt warm beneath her naked toes. Not at all cold. In fact, the air around her was a very pleasant, mild temperature. There was no noise in the hallway, just a pressing silence that unnerved her. There wasn’t a Shikar to be seen anywhere. Realizing that if she was going to do anything she had to do it quick, she simply started knocking on doors.

After a dozen tries, someone answered her knock. It was a woman with long, curly red hair. “I need to find a Traveler. Now,” Isis said urgently.

The woman eyed her curiously. “You’re the new human among us,” she said by way of greeting. “You are shorter than I expected.” The woman said the words kindly so as not to offend.

“Look, I’m sorry I can’t be more polite, but I
need
a Traveler.”

“Why?” came a deep voice from behind her. Isis whirled and found herself face to chest with Pulse. He’d been standing so close behind her she wondered how she hadn’t noticed his approach.

“Oh thank God,” she said with a whoosh of breath. “I have to stop Flare from doing something really stupid,” she told him quickly.

“Where is he?” Pulse asked, eyes puzzled.

“He’s gone to my family’s house. He intends to kill my stepfather.”

Pulse’s face showed that he had expected as much. “Perhaps the man deserves to die.” He eyed her knowingly.

Isis ignored the look on his face—it would only have made her angry—and clutched the cloth of his shirt, ignoring the gasp from the woman behind her. “I have to stop him. Now,” she gritted out, jerking the material hard.

“How do you intend to do that?” Pulse asked with infuriating indifference.

9“Quit trying to stall me and find me a fucking Traveler,” she growled. “If you don’t, I’m going to tear this place apart looking for one.”

The woman touched her shoulder. “This is The Generator. You shouldn’t speak to him like that.”

Pulse turned to the woman. “You may go now, Kittren,” he said. The woman didn’t say a word, simply turned and closed the door behind her firmly, shutting them outside in the great hallway, alone. Pulse turned back to her and Isis could have punched him for the look of male arrogance he gave her. “You shouldn’t excite yourself so.” He looked her over from head to toe. “You’re a Shikar. So the transformation worked.”

“Yes,” she gritted out. “And you’re going to know just how much a Shikar I can be if you don’t tell me where to find a Traveler.”

Pulse smiled slowly. “I can Travel,” he told her. “And my spies have told me where your near-father can be found.”

Isis felt her eyes go wide with surprise.

He chuckled. “I keep close tabs on all my warriors,” he said patiently. “But I do not think you should interfere with Flare. Your near-father is an abomination. I say he deserves to die.”

Panic made her shake and her eyes filled with tears. “Please. I have to stop him.”

She choked on the words. “I can’t let him do this.”

“I fear that Flare cannot be deterred. He went through a lot of trouble to find your family’s home. Our spies had to locate the physical address he gave them before he could even Travel his way there. He is very determined.”

“I know,” she wailed. “But I have to try. Before it’s too late.”

Pulse eyed her silently for a long moment and she wondered what he was thinking.

Seeming to come to a decision, he took her hand gently in his. “We’ll go now,” he assured her. “If you’re certain you are ready.”

“Yes. Take me there now,” she told him in a rush.

The world disappeared in a way that she was growing quite familiar with now. The wild, flying feeling still made the bottom of her stomach drop out, and she still grew dizzy from the speed. But all the while she held tight to Pulse’s hand and he seemed to impart some of his strength to her, keeping her alert.

They arrived in the big front yard of her parents’ house. Isis felt the rough crabgrass beneath her naked feet. The place had gone to hell since her mother had died. Even though it was dark, she could easily see with her Shikar eyes the devastation that surrounded her.

The large flowerbeds her mother had been so proud of were gone. The grass was weedy and bare in many spots—something her mother would never have allowed.

Junk cars lay dead along the sides of the long, gravel driveway. Trash and debris littered the ground everywhere.

9The house was in no better condition. It looked like it might sink in on itself. The tin roof was rusted and ugly. The paint was peeling, revealing naked wood in many places.

The porch sagged, the wood rotted through, and the smell of too many animals threatened to choke her. Isis had to make herself move, but she finally mustered the strength to approach the home she hadn’t seen for almost ten years.

Pulse stayed close at her back. Isis was grateful for that, she realized. It gave her far more courage than she might have had under different circumstances.

On the porch, the screen door was hanging crookedly on its hinges, the old screen torn and ragged in many places. She opened it with trembling hands that betrayed her mounting trepidation. Dread weighted her heart as she realized she was about to see her hated family at long last.

The door was locked, but Isis didn’t let that stop her. She slammed her palm against it and the door flew inward, its hinges creaking, broken with the force of her blow.

“Flare,” she called out. There was no one in the sitting room—it had seemed such a big room when she was a child but now it looked pitifully small. She ignored the memories that assailed her. “Flare,” she yelled more loudly.