Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (24 page)

Screw that.

I cleared the side of the tub with one step and crossed to where he stood. Lightning bolts of energy arced off his aura as I approached, snapping and crackling in the air. A tendril flared and whipped into me, filled my nose with the smell of ozone and saltwater. My toes were six inches from his heels when I stopped; my nipples almost brushed his back.

“Turn around.”

He muttered under his breath, harsh guttural words in a foreign tongue. Swearing again in a language I didn’t know. A thread of amusement bubbled up, despite the situation. I was starting to enjoy aggravating him and listening to him use curse words I’d never heard before.

I gripped his left forearm. “Turn around. If you’re going to reject me, do it to my face.”

He spun in a sudden burst that forced me to take a step back, grabbed my biceps, and yanked me off the floor until my wet body plastered against his from chest to shins. “I am not rejecting you. I want you. I need you. You make me dangerous. Out of control.”

The blue of his eyes flared until they were almost white, the color of flame so hot it melts steel. I hitched in a breath, terrified and aroused. The rigid length of his cock pressed against the juncture of my thighs, and I fought to hold still and not wrap my legs around him and beg him to fuck me to death.

A frown line marred his brow. “Every second I spend in your company is a sweet slice of hell. Your sense of humor, the way you’ve survived and built a life for yourself, even your stubborn attitude. The generous curves of your ass and thighs, your tight nipples, the scent of your wet pussy…it drives me to forget my mission and purpose.”

I swallowed hard. The warmth of his lips ghosted over my neck down to the newly healed wounds on my collarbone, gentle laps of his magic spreading over the healing scars. He growled so low I almost didn’t hear it. My head fell to the side boneless. I offered my throat to the beast.

Hot air blew over my clavicle, and the heat of his tongue licked up to my earlobe. Shivers ran from the crown of my head to my toes. He slid his arms around my back, pinning me to his torso. Both palms rubbed down until he cupped my ass, the tips of his fingers spreading my cheeks.

He squeezed until I squeaked at the flash of pain. He moved and cradled the undersides of my thighs, spreading them until my legs circled his waist. It put my clit tight to his erection, and I groaned.

Strong fingers delved into my folds and teased. I grasped his shoulders and moved, pushing back against the probing. The crackle of his magic buzzed over my skin.

“Oh fuck…” I closed my eyes, the sensation too much. Sparks of his aura tweaked my breasts, my pussy, and the rosebud of my ass. I squiggled and smashed my torso against him, seeking relief from the craving riding me.

He covered the distance to the tub in five steps. “Put your feet down and stand.”

I thought he’d gone cold and in control from his tone, but his aura whipped around him in a frenzy, lashing out and colliding with my own. The cool marble of the ledge shocked my feet when I took my weight back.

Standing on the side of the tub put his mouth level with my breasts. He devoured first one, then the other nipple. He plunged his fingers inside my body and teased my hood with his thumb.

“Daniel.” I watched in the mirror as he released my breast and flicked my nipple with his tongue. The muscles in his forearm and bicep bulged beneath his golden tan skin each time he thrust between my thighs.

He dropped to his knees and spread my legs further. Our gazes locked in the mirror, my eyes emitting a soft glow far outclassed by the searchlight quality of his. He took his time leaning in until his mouth touched the front of my pussy, watching my reaction in the reflection the whole time.

Then his tongue spread my lips to caress my clit. I locked both hands in his hair as he tasted me. I watched each movement in the mirror as he continued to finger-fuck me, his free hand grasping my ass, burrowing his fingers into my cheek. The low light in the room highlighted the tight masculine jawline flexing up and down with each torturous swipe.

When I came, I almost fell backward into the tub. He caught me and laid me down in the water. He shucked his jeans, revealing a body carved and hollowed with the long lean muscles of a dancer or long-distance runner. The thin line of a happy trail ended at the base of an impressive cock that sprang from a nest of blond curls.

Saliva pooled in my mouth when I imagined tasting all the muscles hidden by his all-over tan skin.

I licked my lower lip. I wanted to run my tongue over the thick head bobbing inches from my mouth. The taste I’d had earlier in the day wasn’t enough.

“We flirt with disaster. This cannot end well.”

I looked up at his face, and the emotions he warred with played over his features.

“All we have is right now. Stephan will come for me. Adrian too. It doesn’t matter what we do here and now.” Reaching out, I grasped him at the base and stroked my palm over his shaft, dipping my thumb into the slit. He moved forward until his legs knocked into the side of the surround.

I levered myself up on my elbow and licked the tip. I rolled my eyes up to see his face as I lowered my mouth over him, taking every inch I could inside. His expression was rapt, fixated on my lips wrapped around his flesh.

I changed position so I could fondle his balls as I sucked my way back up, following my mouth with my free hand. The mirror to my right reflected the beauty of the act in profile, and I watched how he came to the balls of his feet when I moved up, the muscles in his taut ass flexing.

Daniel tilted his head back, his hips forward, moving the tiniest bit as I pumped him with my hand and mouth. He buried one fist in my hair and twined the wet strands around his fingers.

“Stop.”

I ignored the command and sucked him harder, my cheeks hollowing out.

“Cease.” He tugged on my hair until I nipped the head of his cock and let it slide out of my mouth. “I wish to come inside you. Feel you around me, on me. Stand.”

He supported my elbow and helped me to my feet, then turned me until I faced the rear wall. The water sloshed up around my legs when he entered the tub.

“Place your foot here.” He guided my calf over until my sole rested on the far ledge. The silken steel of his body molded to my back, and he bent his knees until his cock brushed my damp lips. I put my hands on the mirror’s cold surface and studied his reflection as he leaned forward and bit my uninjured shoulder. He rubbed both palms over my abdomen to my breasts and pinched my nipples, then circled the areolas with his thumbs.

He guided the head of his cock to my entrance and poised there outside my channel. “Miranda.”

I tore my stare from the reflection of his shaft and my pussy in the mirror and met his gaze. The power of his magic had dulled from white-hot to cerulean blue. When he knew he had my attention he thrust forward, fingers burrowed into my hips to hold me steady.

“Oh, yes…more…again…”

“Oh yes…more Daniel…” I ignored the mirroring voice in my head, concentrating only on the length of hot, stretching cock being buried deep inside my pussy. He crept forward, controlling the movement with a slow crawling stroke.

“Oh,
cara
…so right…so hot and wet…”

When he stopped we both looked down the mirror to where our bodies joined. I shuddered at the rightness of it, the sense of absolute completion it gave me. He dragged his shaft back, a towering presence of muscle and strength and heat behind me. The bulges of his shoulders and upper arms showed above my own, the long strips of his thighs flexed and stood out next to mine.

He was beautiful.

When he didn’t move to bury himself inside me once more, I wiggled and used my arms to try and shove into him.

“Hold still.”

I groaned. I needed more. He slid forward until the base of his cock touched me from behind.

“Patience.” He reached around my belly and played with my clit until I whimpered and a mini orgasm clenched my walls around him. His lips touched my ear when he whispered, “I love the way it feels when you come.”

I trapped his hand when he tried to move it back to my hip, and he chuckled. “Move damn it.”

The force of his thrust nearly banged my head into the mirror. “Like that?”

“Yes. Like that.” I braced my forearms on the glass surface. Water droplets spattered my legs. I alternated watching the reflection of his cock pounding into me and staring down my torso at the back of his hand as he worked my swollen nub.

My breasts bounced forward and back as he took me from behind. A new orgasm coiled in my belly and when it ripped through me, a scream tore from my throat. He withdrew, spun me around, and picked me up. My back rested on the wall, and my legs latched onto his waist.

He plunged into me, kissing me with an intensity that made it hard to breathe. The sound of flesh colliding filled the room. The tight sack of his testicles slapped into my ass.

“Yes…hard and fast…take me…your cock feels incredible.”

Biting arcs of his magic crackled over my body, encased me, stroking and fondling the stiff peaks of my breasts, nape of my neck, backs of my thighs, my clit.

I was going to die or explode—or both.

“Mmm…our mate…so good…so virile…so strong…”

One last time he threw me over the edge of orgasm, the muscles of my channel rippling so hard it hurt. He finally came, holding still while his cum jetted into me with hard jerks of his cock. The Hunger ghosted forth and fed on him for a moment only before retreating once more. The sensation this time was more like a lick or tasting than a true feeding.

He rested his forehead on my shoulder, and I pressed a kiss to the side of his head just above his ear. “Hold on.”

I tightened my arms around his neck, and he peeled me from the mirror. He stepped out of the tub and headed for the door, still buried inside me. Only when we got to the bed did he withdraw to lay me under the comforter and clamber up behind me.

He’d admitted he had feelings for me. But he would hold me at arm’s length because of some sanction he let himself be slave to. Wouldn’t it blow his doors off when he realized I wasn’t going to anyone else, anywhere else, not without him? I hadn’t been raised to believe I had to be with someone chosen for me. I’d take what I wanted and damned be the consequences.

The pillow and bed covers smelled like him. Crisp and clean, cold seawater and the open sky. I inhaled and held my breath as long as I could. The heavy weight of his arm anchored me to the bed, and I fell asleep, a sense of belonging and protection enveloping me.

* * *

This time when I realized I was in that strange altered version of reality with its cold cobbled streets and dark windowed houses, I took off at a quick clip down the middle of the road or sidewalk, depending on where the light penetrated the gloom.

My breath puffed out in icy gasps, and I arrived at the street corner where I’d last seen my father. It was empty, everything was empty. No scrabble of claws on the road, no voice called my name. I stood in the cone of light cast by the street lamp and spun in a slow circle. Standing around like the perfect target wasn’t a good idea. I appeared to be alone for the time being, so I headed down the road in the direction I’d seen my father go when he’d walked away.

Small hunched houses and overgrown trees crowded the sides of the street. No lights on, no smoke coming from chimneys, no signs of life at all. Ink black shadows moved as I passed by, and a constant mumbling whisper filtered through the trees. The urge to run twitched my leg muscles, but I ignored it and kept a steady walking pace from one island of light to the next.

I passed several blocks that intersected before I saw it. I swallowed a gasp. The slug-like creature, waiting for me at a corner, hunched in the pool of light. The big white eyes found me unerringly. It stood up on its legs like a hominid instead of scrabbling around like some kind of grotesque crab creature.

One white, long-fingered hand gestured to me in what could only be a “come here,” and I continued forward as though I was the most confident, unconcerned person on the planet. Running in the other direction like a sissy girl held more appeal than confronting the thing, but it would only follow. I had to face it.

As the distance between us closed, the more notable the changes became. Defined curves at the waist and hips shaped its body now, and small breasts budded on the chest. A shadow of fuzzy growth colored the scalp. My toes reached the edge of the light and I stopped, staring. The face had changed too, become more formed, more sculpted. Eyebrows and lashes sprouted, and full, light pink lips parted the sea of white.

It extended one hand to me and waited, the appendage hovering in the air between us. I swallowed disgust and put my hands behind my back. I should never have gotten within touching distance. I should have turned tail and run. But the terrible starvation I’d felt rolling off the creature before was no longer there. Something had changed the scales, and I didn’t know how to react.

I looked around, fighting panic, hoping my father would somehow come walking down the street. But the creature and I were alone. I knew it in my bones, in that place in the gut that serves as the center for fight or flight. The survival instinct told me there was no one here but me and it. And that was all it told me. No overwhelming urge to run, no adrenaline response. My own disgust and revulsion made me want to flee, but that was all. There was no aggression offered here.

We stared at each other for several seconds, me with my hands hidden, it still with one extended. Neither of us moved. I thought back to the first night, the first time I’d run through the streets here in a blind panic. It occurred to me that perhaps this creature would have been able to catch me then if it had been so inclined. It had simply followed me, maintaining distance, but never attempting to actually touch me, to harm me.

What had my father said to me when I finally reached him?

“Still running from yourself?”