ClosertoFire (4 page)

The dragon that shared his body and soul rumbled its
agreement.

There were things he had to know—little questions that
bounced around in his head. Were her nipples pale pink, like roses, or satiny
beige? Did they tighten into buds as soon as she was aroused, or would he get
to feel them grow hard under the ministrations of his tongue? What secret
marks, freckles and lovely idiosyncrasies would he find on her body and where
would they be? Did she whimper or scream or both? What did she taste like?

Darek was considering leaving for the adjacent room to
stroke his cock when he heard the shower turn off. A few seconds later, a
sputtering scream from the bathroom had him scrambling to his feet.

He ran to the bathroom door. “You okay?”

Wet, smashing sounds came from inside. Alarmed, he burst
through the door. She was dripping wet, naked and wielding a washcloth against
a very large and now very dead cockroach. He had a second to think that her
nipples were a gorgeous, deep, rosy pink before she ripped a towel down from
the rack and covered herself.

She blushed crimson and gasped, “I hate roaches.”

He smirked. “That I can see.”

“It just dropped on me. I think it was in the shower
curtain,” she added, clutching the towel.

“Uh-huh.” He took a step toward her.

She fidgeted but did not back away. “Um…I’m fine now. Sorry
if I scared you. You can go. If you like.” She glanced in the mirror, realized
the towel wasn’t covering her stunning derrière and blushed even more deeply.

He took another step toward her. “And leave you here to fend
off poor Oscar’s friends and family when they hear of his untimely death?” He
gestured toward the ex-roach.

She followed his gaze, made a face and looked away. “He
looked more like a Dewayne to me. Or a Ralph. Or maybe a—”

He put a finger over her lips. “Lily.” It was the first time
he’d said her name aloud. It felt tangible, sensuous on his tongue.
Just
like she will.

Her gaze locked with his. Uncertainty and need warred in her
exotic amber eyes. “Yes?” she whispered.

She toyed with the top of the thin hotel towel. He caught
the scent of her arousal, an intoxicating, honeyed temptation. More than
anything, he wanted to find its source, thrust his fingers into her until his
hands were slick, coated with her want and she was begging for him.

It’s beginning
, he thought.
She needs.
He
didn’t have to read her thoughts. The lust-glazed confusion and fear in her
eyes made his heart ache. She craved with an intensity that scared her. It was
all he could do to be still—and wait.

“It’s all right, Lily. But you have to decide. Either send
me out of here—right now—or give yourself to me,” he rasped.

Her eyes widened. For a second, he thought she might run. He
held on to the shreds of his control, awaiting her decision. He watched,
aching, as a drop of water traced a path down her chest and disappeared between
her breasts. She opened her mouth as if to speak and closed it again. Just as
he thought she was going to send him away, she reached for him with trembling
hands.

Give yourself to me.
The words themselves weren’t
what made her breathless. It was the look in his eyes, that of a man holding on
to the last threads of his restraint. It touched an untamed, unfamiliar, hungry
place inside her—the same part that had awakened in the alley the first time she’d
seen Darek and Bane. It knew no logic, no reason, no clarity—just a vast,
aching emptiness that only they could fill.

Darek clasped her tightly, his ravenous gaze as magnetic as
it was unnerving. His lips curved in a slow smile full of promise.

She’d been so careful, ever since she’d realized how
dangerous she was to the men in her life. She really, really should not take
what he was offering. She bit her lower lip hard, hoping the pain would clear
her head. It didn’t.

“It’s all right,” he repeated.

“I wish it were,” she murmured.

He tipped up her chin with one knuckle. His expression was
one of sympathy. “Trust me, Lily.”

Something moved in the backs of his eyes—a flash of red, a
hint of texture—something unearthly and ancient. Intrigued, she stood on tiptoe,
trying to catch another glimpse.

“You hunger, Lily. Let me help.” Before she could protest,
he claimed her mouth with his own. His scent, like pine and campfires, brought
her a pleasure all its own and she breathed deeply, wanting to drink it in until
she was drunk with him. He pressed his hand against her lower back, drawing her
belly tight against the thick ridge of his erection. Blindly, she worked at the
buttons on his shirt, desperate to feel his bare skin.

He cupped her face in his hands, warming her lips with his
breath. “Lily.”

She whimpered as he traced the line of her jaw with his
mouth, tasting, kissing, grazing her skin with his teeth. She wrapped her arms
around his neck, letting the towel drop to the floor between them. Her nipples
rubbed against the fabric of his shirt, sending lightning bolts of pleasure
straight to her core, where she ached and wept for him.

She should know better—but she couldn’t stop herself.

“Need you,” she managed, eliciting a deep chuckle from him.

“Then you shall have me,” he purred in her ear. Lily
realized she was shaking from head to toe. She’d been this close to a man
before, but only once.
And that went so well, didn’t it?
Her stomach
tightened with sick dread.

He gathered her into his arms, carried her into the bedroom
and set her on the bed. Stepping back, he finished the work she’d begun on his
white Oxford shirt and tossed it on the chair.

Lily inhaled sharply. His muscular torso was marked with
multiple scars, many in groups of three, like talon marks. One, a red scar
slightly wider than the others on his right forearm, looked recent. Lily
scooted forward on the bed and reached for his arm, touching the scar. He
watched her warily, motionless.

“You broke your arm—when we fell, back at the library,” she said,
remembering. He nodded slowly. “Is that when you got this one?”

“Yes.”

“Does it hurt?”

He shook his head. “We heal when we shift,” he said,
shrugging. “It hurt then. It doesn’t now.”

“Shift?” It was clear to Lily that he was different—so was
she, for that matter—but what did that mean? She was trying to formulate a
question when he spoke again.

“Can you conceive, Lily? I have to know.”

“Uh…” Lily stammered, her mouth falling open. She hadn’t
expected that one.
Conceive? As in, a child?
Her chest tightened.

“I… No, I can’t.”

He frowned. “You sound pretty certain,” he said, probing. He
was watching her closely and she had the feeling he was reading every movement
she made. She took a deep breath.
I can’t believe I’m going to tell him this
,
she thought.

“I sound certain because I am. It’s complicated…” Lily
paused and took a deep breath. She’d never talked about this—to anyone. “When I
was seventeen, I went to see the doctor because I hadn’t yet started my period.
They did a lot of tests.” She leaned back, feeling vulnerable.

“What did they find?”

“I have fifty chromosomes. Normal people have forty-six. The
doctor said she’d heard of this kind of condition in animals produced by
interspecies breeding…like mules.” Lily winced. “She said it would probably be impossible
for me to carry a child, and even if I did, there could be serious problems
with the baby because of my genetic disorder. She strongly recommended an IUD.
I’ve had one ever since.”

Darek looked pained. “That must have been hard to hear.”

Lily shook her head. “It was a long time ago. I’ve kind of
accepted that if I ever want kids, I’ll be adopting.”

He sat down beside her on the bed. “It may not be a
disorder, Lily. Nonhumans have different numbers of chromosomes.”

Nonhumans?
Lily didn’t know what to say so she kept
quiet. She didn’t know which was more unnerving—having this conversation with a
near-total stranger or how comfortable, how right it felt to talk to him. This
close to him, she could see the detailed ridges of his scarred, muscular chest.
It was distracting. Very distracting. Curious, she traced the lines of three
parallel white marks along his pectoral muscle.

“You seem like you’re no stranger to sharp things,” she
murmured. On an impulse, she kissed the highest of the scars.

He moaned, a soft, low sound in the quiet room. She felt his
fingers slip under her hair, touching her nape and urging her head up. Her
heart pounding with fear, Lily reached for him. Last night, she’d been too
drugged to think clearly. Now though, she was wide awake. Maybe Bane had been
lucky. If she hurt another man, she’d never forgive herself.

Darek’s mouth covered hers gently, his other hand moving up
her belly to cup her breast. Instinctively she arched into the slow, intimate
exploration.

“You’ve been careful all the same though, yes, Lily?” he
asked.

She frowned, not sure what he meant.

“You’ve practiced safe sex,” he added.

Lily gawked at him, feeling a blush spread clear to her
toes.
Oh God.
He had to ask that too? “I… Um… Don’t,” she answered,
wishing Bane were there so he could just read her mind and she wouldn’t have to
say it.

He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t?”

She waved a hand in a gesture of negation. “No, no…that’s
not what I meant. I mean I don’t have sex.”

Darek sat back, folding his arms over his chest. All of the
warmth drained from his expression. Lily’s chest tightened.

“Right,” he said, turning away. “You had me going there for
a while.” He sounded sad. “I don’t like being lied to, Lily.”

“I’m not lying,” she protested. He took a step back but she
grasped his arm, following. “Listen to me. It’s not like this is easy for me to
talk about,” she said, hurt.

He shook his head. “You can drop the act, demoness. I wasn’t
born yesterday.”

Before she could stop herself, Lily slapped him—hard. “Stop
calling
me that, you asshole!” Tears came to her eyes and she reached for the
bedspread, pulling it up over her bare body. When she met his gaze again he
looked stunned, rubbing his reddened cheek with his fingertips.

“Look, you asked. Now do you want me to answer you or are
you going to insult me again?” she asked, her lips curling back from her teeth.

He studied her face, seeming to weigh her words. “All right.
I’ll listen,” he said. “Tell me how it is that I’ve found my first idana virgin.”

“My mother always said I was different,” Lily said in a
rush, trying to keep her lower lip from trembling. “It was a nice way of saying
I was a freak. Her little freak. She home-schooled me, kept me away from
everybody my own age. I hated her then. I thought she was an overbearing,
overprotective bitch. She told me once that bad things would happen if I had
sex. I thought yeah, right. What girl’s mother doesn’t tell her that?”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. She had his attention, at
least.

“So when I was fifteen, I snuck out of the house. This girl
down the street was having a party. She had a lot of them. I could hear the
music all the way up in my bedroom, three houses away. I didn’t even want to be
there—I just wanted to act like everybody else for a change.”

She paused, studying his face for signs of disbelief. He
inclined his head—
Okay, go on
—so she did.

“This boy came up to me and started talking to me. I
remember he was wearing a jacket with the high school letters on it. It had a
football patch on the arm. He asked me to go upstairs with him. I said I
couldn’t and he got angry. Then he laughed and said he recognized me. I was
that ‘frigid little freak from down the street whose mommy kept her hidden
away’.” Lily put her hands over her face to hide the tears that spilled over.

“What happened?” Darek asked.

“I’m not saying any more until I know you believe me,” she
said. Her hands balled into fists. He pried them gently away from her face.

“I’m sorry, Lily,” he said simply. “Please, go on.”

Lily pressed her lips together between her teeth, sniffing,
swiping at her damp cheeks with the bedspread. “I was so mad and hurt,” she
confessed. “Something in me just snapped, and I knew right then what I could do
to hurt him back. Do you hear me?
Hurt.
That’s not supposed to be what
desire is about—I knew that even then—but I still did it.” She leaned over,
hugging herself tightly.

“What did you do, Lily?” Darek’s tone was nonjudgmental but
the underlying dread in his voice was clear enough.

“I went up to him. I started unbuttoning my blouse,” she
began, her face burning. “I still remember the look on his face—he wanted what
he saw but he was scared too. Really, really scared. I didn’t care. I kissed
him.” The tremors in her body reached her voice and she put her hand on her
throat to steady herself. Darek laid his hand on her back, stroking gently. The
touch soothed her and she pushed on through the wretched memory.

“I kissed him until he was whimpering. Then I reached down
the front of his jeans and wrapped my hand around his penis. I’d never touched
a guy there before, but I knew exactly what to do. He was so hard. He came the
second I touched him.”

Lily took a deep breath, gathering her courage. “At first I
was proud of myself. I showed him, right?”

Darek said nothing, just watched her.

She sighed. “I thought it was over, so I went to make my
big, dramatic exit.” She turned her head away from Darek, too ashamed to tell
the rest to those dark eyes that missed nothing. “But when I turned to go, he
just went crazy,” she said, studying the wallpaper.

“He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me back. He said
I had to stay with him, that he loved me, that he would die without me. His
eyes were bloodshot—they kept rolling back in his head. He pulled down his
jeans, grabbed a handful of my hair and pushed me to my knees. Nobody stopped
him—everybody was too stunned, I think.” Lily stopped, a shudder running down
her spine. “He put his crotch in my face and begged me to suck him. When I
wouldn’t, he hit me. He tried to shove himself in my mouth.”

Darek swore.

Lily faced him again, seeking understanding in his face. “I
panicked,” she continued, her voice cracking. “I just…grabbed his balls and
twisted. He screamed, let go of my hair and I ran. I just got the hell out of
there. I didn’t even look back.”

“Good. I’m glad you did,” Darek said firmly.

Lily frowned. It wasn’t the reaction she’d anticipated. “But
don’t you get it? I
did
something to him. Don’t try to tell me I
didn’t,” she argued. He said nothing but there was no condemnation in his gaze.
She went on, “When I got home, I locked myself in my room and showered for like
an hour and a half.”

“What did your mom say?” he asked gently.

Lily shook her head. “I never told her. I couldn’t. But I
figured it out that night—she was right. She wasn’t keeping me away from the
evils of the world. She was keeping the world safe from me.”

After a brief silence, Darek asked, “The letter-jacket dork.
Did he survive?”

Surprised, Lily glanced up at him. “Survive? Yeah… Of course
he survived. He did have to change schools,” Lily said. Remembering a little
detail, she tried hard to suppress a smile. “It didn’t help his reputation that
his name was Peter Cockburn.”

He roared with laughter. Lily giggled guiltily. It was a
long moment before he regained his composure.

“You’re kidding, right?” He swiped moisture from his eyes.

“I’ll swear it on a stack of bibles,” she replied, the
corners of her mouth twitching.

“Alas, poor Peter,” he joked, coughing.

“Anyway, I learned my lesson. Stay the hell away from men.
It wasn’t all that difficult, actually. I mean, I was curious sometimes, but I
never met anybody I really
wanted
to… What?”

Darek was staring at her, open-mouthed.

“What is it?”

“So you’re serious?” he managed. “You never again… And
you’re honestly…?”

“A virgin. Yes. Like I told you.” She punctuated each word
with her hands. She dropped her head back and looked up at the ceiling. How
stupid was she, anyway? She’d met the first guy—okay,
guys
—she’d ever
wanted to sleep with, and she’d started her Great Seduction by telling one of
them first that she was barren and then that she was a virgin.
Brilliant.

When she looked back at Darek, he was gazing at her with
something like reverence. Wary, she crossed her arms over her breasts, holding
the bedspread tightly.

“Oh man,” he said, running a hand through her hair
possessively. “Bane was right. You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

He leaned forward until his gaze was level with hers. “I
want to be first then.” His low, velvet voice gave her goose bumps. With one
finger, he tugged at the top of the bedspread.

“Uh-huh,” she said, pushing his hand away. “How do I know
you won’t—”

“End up like Peter Cockhead?” he finished, grinning.
“Because I’m not like him and neither is Bane.”

“That’s another thing,” Lily said, waving her hand toward
the door to the adjoining room. “I don’t understand it. I want you. I want him
too. What the hell…?”

He laid his hand on her thigh. “Maybe you’re meant to be
with both of us.”

Lily gaped at him. “Say again?”

His dark eyes were sympathetic. “What does your heart say?”
He slid his hand up her thigh, eliciting a moan from her. “What does your body
say?”

“I want you,” Lily whispered, clutching the covers. “I want
you so badly I can barely breathe. But this is
insane
. You grabbed me
off the street yesterday and today I need you like I need air. I want you on
me, in me,
now
. I want—”

“Stop, Lily. Please.”

Lily stopped, agape. His irises were crimson, lit from
within. She should be frightened, she supposed, but she wasn’t. If anything, he
was sexier like this, something savage, full of longing.

“I know you’re afraid. What you’re feeling—it’s not human.
Neither am I and neither is Bane,” he said.

Lily coughed. “What are you?”

“I think the latest name for Bane and me is ‘shape-shifter’.”

“Okay,” she said, struggling to take all of this in. “Is
that what I am?”

He shook his head, grasping her arm and urging her to lie
down next to him. She did, turning on her side to face him, and he propped
himself up on one elbow, looking down at her. With one finger, he pulled the
covers down to her navel. Shivering with excitement, Lily watched his finger
trace the edge of her nipple. Her breasts felt heavy, her skin hot and tight.
The questions began to fade in her mind and her eyes drifted closed.

“I don’t think so,” Darek answered, nuzzling her neck. “But
perhaps Bane can tell us?”

A sound at the doorway startled Lily. Her eyes flew open.
“B—”

“Am I interrupting?” Bane was leaning against the doorway,
dressed in jeans and a plain black T-shirt. Lily made a grab for the bedspread
but Darek put his hand down before she could pull it over herself. Shooting him
a nasty look, she hastily crossed her arms over her breasts, managing to trap
his other hand, which continued to torment her nipple. She trembled. God, his
hands felt so good. Having both of them in the room was overwhelming. She could
barely think straight.

“Not at all,” Darek replied casually. “In fact, I was just
thinking that deflowering an idana is really a two-man job.”

Lily’s jaw dropped and she began to tremble in earnest. Her
thighs were drenched with wet need.

“I heard,” Bane said, pushing away from the doorframe. “Your
mother should have told you what you are, Lily. She could have saved you a lot
of grief.”

“My mother did the best she could,” she said defensively,
trying unsuccessfully to ignore Darek’s teasing fingers.

“Lily,” Bane said, strolling over and sitting beside her on
the bed, “you’re truly a little puzzle. One we’d like very much to solve.” He
stroked her cheek with his thumb, then allowed his fingers to trail along her
jawline, down to her collarbone. He grasped her arm and drew it gently away,
revealing her breasts. His eyes were a brilliant, shimmering blue.

“God, you are beautiful,” he whispered. “Please, lie down
for us.”

Lily reeled, stunned by the impact the request had on her.
His voice seemed to resonate through her body and soul, quickening the fire
Darek had been stirring in her. She scooted up on the bed and lay back against
the pillows. Her core clenched so tightly it hurt.

“You need, Lily,” Bane said softly. “Let us help.”

He was right. Darek followed her, pausing to lay his hands
on her knees. She parted them, burning with want.

He inhaled deeply and groaned. “She smells so good.”

Bane stood and removed his shirt, revealing a chest as
scarred as Darek’s—maybe more so. Her gaze rested on the scars for a moment,
then she met his eyes, not knowing whether to be awed or to hurt for him. He
crawled onto the bed. She held out her arms, reaching for him as he stretched out
beside her, the denim of his jeans rasping gently against her hip.

Bane rested his palm on her belly, holding her against the
bed. “Be still for him, Lily.”

“Okay,” she whispered.
But God, if he would just move his
hand lower…
Bane grinned.
Damn.
She’d forgotten he could read her
mind.

“I learned something this morning.” Bane’s voice was a
distant echo.

“Yes?” she heard Darek ask.

“I think I understand you now,” Bane told her. He traced
circles on her stomach with his fingertips. Her pussy clenched painfully and
her skin felt hot, his hands a cool balm. She wanted more but he stopped,
drawing her attention with his eyes.

Breathing hard, Lily clung to his calming gaze. “You do?”

“Lily, you’re a half-blood idana.”

The information was meaningless to her. “I’m a what?”

“A succubus,” Bane said in a low voice. Surprise mingled
with explosive need as he took her nipple into his mouth, suckling gently. She
cried out, her back arching, pressing her breast into the wet heat of his
teasing tongue. At the same moment, Darek slid his fingers into her weeping
pussy. She shouted, an inarticulate cry of relief as the promise of fulfillment
reached her core. But it still wasn’t enough.

“It’s why men fight over you,” Darek said, sliding his
fingers in and out of her. Her hips bucked, her body craving more. Bane moved
his hand up to cover her other breast, pinching and flicking her nipple,
stopping just below her threshold of pain. “It’s why they can’t control
themselves around you.” She could hear the smile in his voice. The words
whirled around in her semi-present mind, explanation and consolation for years
of self-condemnation.
Idana
…succubus. Bane had said the words without
judgment, casually, like someone might reveal her nationality.

Bane released her nipple and trailed a line of kisses up to
her ear, catching her earlobe gently between his teeth. “And I’m not sure—not
yet—but you may be something else too,” he whispered. Between her knees, Darek
leaned down to taste her. Her vision clouded as his tongue slid between the aching
folds of her pussy. Her hands fisted in his hair. Bane’s voice echoed in her
mind from somewhere far away. “You may be
ours
.”

Ours.
Lily only dimly registered the word. Her body
was on fire, a need like she’d never imagined pulsing through her veins.
Darek’s mouth and fingers vanished. She cried out in protest and Bane’s hand
replaced Darek’s, stroking, his fingers scissoring and fluttering inside her.
She turned her head, seeking Bane’s mouth. He was there, the heat of his tongue
meeting her own. She had never known hunger like this and they were offering
her a feast. Gratitude welled up in her, bringing tears to her eyes. She heard
the hiss of a zipper, realized that Darek was taking off his jeans. Bane broke
the kiss and she lifted her head to look at Darek, who now stood naked at the
foot of the bed. Lily took in the length and size of his erection, gaped and
met his gaze. It wasn’t as though she had a lot to compare him with, but he
seemed very big to her.