Into the Darkness (12 page)

rode, jouncing hard against his hips.

She opened her eyes, and her breath caught in her throat.

He watched her.

She couldn’t read his expression, but his jaw tightened,

and his thighs trembled beneath hers. His hips lifted and he

attempted to buck her body off. His teeth gritted as he tried

to withhold his orgasm.

Stubborn man.
The newly discovered part of her that relished

her role as aggressor tightened her thighs around his hips and

held him still. She wouldn’t let him deny her release.

When he continued to resist, she did the one thing she

knew he wouldn’t be able to fight. She leaned over, capturing

his wild gaze for a moment, and bit the top of his shoulder.

“Noooo!” he groaned, and his hips lifted again, this time

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jerking up and into her, pounding in counterpoint to her

downward thrusts.

The battle between them only fueled her excitement. She

thrust hard against him, taking him, demanding his orgasm

as her inner muscles clamped tight around his cock and her

jaws gripped him tight.

Then the rapture swept over, filling her womb like his blood

flooded the inside of her mouth. She drank and fucked, more

slowly now, more deeply, murmuring her delight against his

flesh.

After the last tremors faded, she lay over him, her legs

spread wide around his hips, his cock still embedded deep inside her. As she fought to catch her breath, she didn’t want to

free him. Not yet. Instead, she lapped lazily to close the twin

punctures on his shoulder.

When the deep shuddering tremors subsided in his body,

she lay still, almost afraid to see his expression. Too late, she

acknowledged remorse for her actions. While she’d been in

the grip of the hunger, the only thing that had mattered was

filling the overwhelming need. She recognized this might be

a pattern. Emotionally, she prepared herself for many such

battles and losses.

She leaned back and warily looked into his face.

Anger burned in his eyes, and he rattled the chains attached

to his wrists. “Now that you’re finished,” he bit out, “do you

think you can find a way to get these off me?”

“Good morning to you, too,” she said, not able to hold

back the bitchy edge that crept into her voice. Her body

still trembled with delicious little aftershocks she’d have

liked to savor.

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Reluctance slowing her response, Natalie lifted up, letting

his sex slip from her body.

The flaring of his nostrils was the only hint of emotion he

let her see.

She clambered off the bed and dutifully followed the manacles on his wrists to the chains that draped over the end of

the bed to the floor. The mattress was pulled away from the

wall, and there was no headboard. The chains were soldered

to metal plates bolted in the floor.

She tugged hard at the chain, but made no progress. “We’ll

need the key,” she said.

“Well, find it, dammit,” he said, his voice rising.

Natalie pushed a tendril of hair behind her ear. She still

felt slightly dull, her body replete and sluggish as her mind.

She looked at her hand and arm and noted her skin had lost

its blue tinge.

“Sometime this year,” he said, his irritation stretching out

the last word.

She ignored his testiness. He had every right to be rude—

he was the one chained to a bed. “Where should I look?”

“How the hell should I know?” he snarled. “Just start going

through things. Begin with the dresser.”

She went to the dark oak dresser, opening a little rosewood

casket on top, but found it empty. All the drawers of the

dresser were also empty. Nothing in the bedside table or in

the bathroom cabinet other than toiletries.

When she came out of the bathroom, she shrugged. “I

didn’t find anything. Do you really think they’d put it somewhere we could get to it?”

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97

His lips twisted and one dark brow lifted. “ ’Course not,

but looking kept you busy doing something else.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what he meant

by “something else”. Every time her gaze fell on him, she

couldn’t resist checking out his body.

“Well, we’re going to have to wait to ask about a key.”

Rene pounded his head once on the mattress, frustration

evident in the tightening of his chest and shoulders.

Again, Natalie swept her glance over his body, feeling guilty

about the secret pleasure of having him at her mercy. “Why

would they put chains on you?”

Rene turned his head and glared. “It’s kinda obvious they

want to keep me here for you.”

Only a little surprised, she replied, “You think they

brought you here—for me? But why?”

His lips twisted in a mocking smile. “To screw, eat, drink—

I’m your meal.”

“Who brought us here, Rene? Was this Chessa’s plan?”

His upper lip lifted in a snarl. “Yeah, her and her people.”

Chessa and “her people” meant for her to use Rene? He was

all hers? For the moment, she didn’t care about the “why.”

Her breasts tightened.

Lord, how many times could she take him before her hunger was assuaged? She hid her excitement, pasting a concerned

look on her face. “Are you uncomfortable?”

He rolled his shoulders. “A little stiff.” His eyes narrowed

as she pursed her lips to prevent a smile. “
My shoulders
are a

little stiff. It’ll get worse the longer I’m layin’ here.”

The smile she’d fought quirked up one side of her mouth.

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“A warm bath might ease your muscles. Would you like me to

bathe you?”

His glower grew impossibly darker. “Fuck no. Stay the hell

away from me.”

Disappointed, but beginning to enjoy the fact he was helpless, she walked around the room, aware his stare followed

her. And if the sway of her hips was a little exaggerated . . .

he deserved a little teasing. His surly rejection stung. “Why

do you think they didn’t chain me, too?” She wrapped her

arms around her middle, pretending a chill while plumping

her breasts above her arms.

Rene snorted, but his glance strayed downward. “Did they

need to? You’re stalkin’ me, now!”

She realized with a start she’d walked around the room

in ever-tightening circles, drawing closer to the bed. “I’m

sorry,” she said automatically, but not really meaning it. She

was becoming such a liar.

The muscles in his neck and jaw tensed as he lifted his

head. “You keep sayin’ that.”

She didn’t blame him for not believing her. The excitement

humming through her body, lifting goose bumps on her skin,

found its center in her woman’s core. “I really can’t seem to

help myself.” The truth, this time.

Anger drained from his face. His expression grew bleak. “I

know.” He took a deep breath and relaxed against the mattress, his gaze lifting to the ceiling. “Natalie, I need you to

think. You seem driven to fuck and feed. I get caught up in

it, too.”

She heard what he said, but had difficulty focusing to really absorb why he protested his fate so much. Her body’s

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needs ruled her. Didn’t he feel the same way? Didn’t he share

the elation—the passion that even now unfurled inside her?

That thought brought her up short.
It can’t be happening this

quickly again!
The acknowledgement had a sobering affect. When

he looked at her again, his steady gaze only underlined the fact

she was reacting to something she had no control over.

She had no real power here. She was ruled by her body and

the moon—and
submitting
to her hungers.

“You can’t have me,” Rene said, his face hardening. “I’m not

here of my own free will . . . and I would never choose you.”

Natalie swallowed the bile rising in the back of her throat.

The hope she hadn’t even realized she harbored splintered

like brittle glass.

“He’s lying, you know,” Nicolas said, wicked delight in his

tone.

Chessa lifted her shoulder to shrug off Nicolas’s hand as

he played with a strand of her hair. She stood in front of the

table with the row of monitors—all trained on various views

into the chamber Natalie would share with Rene over the

coming days.

The monitor she stared at gave a view of Rene chained to

the bed that had ignited a slow burning fire deep inside her.

His body, gloriously naked, was stretched, his sex the only

part of him not horizontal.

“His cock says he’s lying,” Nicolas said, his words gusting

softly into her ear.

She suppressed a frisson of awareness that raised the fine

hairs on her neck. Rene was the man exciting her—never

Nicolas! “Think I don’t know it?” Chessa couldn’t stop star-100

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ing at Rene’s gorgeous cock. Still glistening from his cum and

Natalie’s juices, his erection jutted above his belly.

She’d always known Rene would be a well-hung stud, but

her gut clenched at the thought she’d never feel its bite. Her

stomach had churned while Natalie had lovingly licked him

like a lollipop—her own mouth had watered at the sight.

As though he read her mind, Nicolas pressed the long ridge

of his cock against her hip. “I was going to tell you to wipe the

drool from your lips—but I’d rather put it to better use.”

“Cut it out,” she said grumpily and turned down the volume on the speakers. She’d heard enough. Seen enough.

Her mission was fulfilled. She’d delivered the new vampire

and her life mate to the coven. They could monitor Natalie’s

progress—and make sure she didn’t kill Rene.

“I was surprised to find you here,” Nicolas said, his silky

tone her first warning he wasn’t giving up.

“Erika needed a break,” she said, not giving him so much

as a glance.

“So it had to be you?”

No, it didn’t—they both knew that. “He’s my partner. I

wanted to make sure he was safe.” What really irked was she’d

been so intent on watching the couple make love, she hadn’t even

heard Nicolas’s approach. Damn him for being there to read the

desire on her face. She wondered how long he’d watched.

“She’s got great instincts, our little Lolita. Did you see

how she teased him? It won’t be long before he’s begging her

to take him.”

Chessa stiffened, fighting not to react to Nicolas’s digs.

“And that mouth!” He groaned. “Rene’s very lucky she already has a taste for his cum.”

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His low masculine moan drew her nipples instantly erect.

“Shut up, Nic!” Anger burning away her caution. “He doesn’t

have much of a choice, does he?”

He nestled closer, his warmth burning her from her shoulders to her toes. “Do you think he would fight his attraction if he were free?” he whispered. “That he might actually

win—and choose you?”

How did he do it? How did he cut her right to the core?

Chessa trembled with rage.

He tsked softly. “Bloodlust, especially the first taste, is a

potent force. You should know.”

Chessa’s hands fisted. She didn’t need the reminder. Watching the two inside the chamber had brought back her own bitter memories.

Watching had also stirred her lust. Rene’s powerful upward, bed-shaking thrusts had soaked her panties. She had to

get out of here. Had to find a meal and a fuck.

Nicolas’s inhalation was soft, subtle, but she knew he caught

a whiff of her arousal. “Let me feed you,” Nicolas said, his hand

smoothing around her waist and rising to cup her breast.

The flick of his thumb against her nipple, even through

her cotton shirt, sparked a surge of lust that nearly buckled

her knees.

Not Nicolas!

His other hand reached between her legs and cupped her

through her jeans, massaging, grinding the ball of his palm

into her pussy. “Just a quick fuck—and I’ll let you drain me

afterward. Let me feed you.”

Not a slick line, but then, she didn’t need much of an enticement to push her over the edge. Chessa sucked in air be-102

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tween clenched teeth, her body rigid with denial—but she

widened her stance, giving him permission to continue. “You

have such a way with words,” she said, trying to keep her

voice light, not let him see how much she needed this. “No

wonder the women fall all over you.”

“I don’t need to charm—when I have this,” he said, grinding his cock against her.

Shivering inside the circle of his arms, she closed her eyes

and concentrated on the building sensations—not who was

delivering them.

His teeth closed around the lobe of her ear and he bit.

She cried out, but burrowed closer to his body, her ass centering on his cock.

His hands got busy with buttons and her zipper. Soon, he

was sliding her jeans past her hips, down to her ankles, only

pausing to tug off her boots before drawing off the pants entirely and tossing them away.

Naked from the waist down, save for her panties and her

gaping shirt, she felt at a distinct disadvantage. Her heart