Point of No Return (26 page)

He was relishing this. I didn’t want him to
be happy; I wanted him to be angry. “Are you ever going to shut
up—?”

“Ask me to fuck you,” Lash hissed
dangerously, baring his snake fangs, his tongue flickering out.
“Beg me.”

Slight fear twitched inside me, then was
consumed by need. I grabbed a hold of the whip at my waist,
struggling to undo it. Lash held it taut, then began to slowly pull
me toward him.

Anger consumed me. I leaned hard away,
pretending to strain to get free, then quickly ran towards Lash,
closing the distance between us and catching him off balance. I
took the opening, reaching quickly for his pants zipper with a
sultry smile. He fended me off, dropping his whip and his phone on
the bedroom floor as he grabbed my hands. At once, he shoved me
hard to the side. I sprawled on the floor, struggling to get the
whip off me.

I had to get it off and get us both somewhere
where no one would find us. Titus would be here with Devlin in
moments.

I finally got the whip off me. Lash was
crouching, reaching for his ringing phone, which had skittered
under the edge of Dev’s bed.

I knew someplace where there were no phones,
somewhere Titus wouldn’t be able to follow. I grabbed hold of Lash
just before he reached it and teleported us again, this time much
farther. We were suddenly in a moonlit house, the air cold around
us. I shivered, my breath a white plume. The furniture around me
was covered in sheets, dust thick on the countertop.

Lash’s head darted around wildly. “Where the
hell are we?” he hissed in shock.

I took his confusion as an opening. Running
my hands up into his wild black hair, I kissed him hard, moving my
mouth hungrily on his. I’d expected his hair to be oily, or maybe
spiky with gel, but it was soft under my hands. His lips were hot,
his long, thin fangs hard beneath them.
Was all of him like
that?
I groaned at the thought, pressing myself against him
eagerly.

He broke away from me. “Sar, where are we?”
he demanded. “Take us back to Hayden—”

“Fuck me first,” I hissed back at him, then
kissed him again. “I’m asking you. I want you, Lash—”

He pried me off him, thrusting me away. “But
I don’t want you, Sar. I don’t particularly like you, even—”

“I don’t like you either,” I said with a
snarl. “I just want to feel you come in me, feel your fangs inside
me again. Only this time, I want them all the way in, just like
you.”

He went still at my words, like I knew he
would. I knew men, knew what they wanted to hear, knew what they
wanted me to do to them. A moment’s hesitation was all I
needed.

I kissed him again, trying to convince him
with my passion to give in. This time he didn’t push me away. I
reached down and felt for him. Ah, my words had had the effect I’d
wanted: he was tight for me, the bulge in his jeans rock hard under
my hand. I stroked him through his jeans, still kissing him.

Lash wouldn’t open his mouth to me, but he
moved under my touch, flexing gently.
If I could push him over
the edge...

“Fuck me,” I whispered sexily. “Now.”

“No,” he hissed back, then pried me off him
and went looking for a phone.

Relentless, I went after him, pulling my
clothes off as fast as possible. The cold made my skin contract,
goose bumps rising almost immediately on my arms and breasts.

I was so cold. I needed his warmth, needed
him warm inside me. My lust had reached a fever pitch, my patience
gone.

Lash was just picking up the bedroom receiver
when I jerked the cord out of the wall. I lunged at him again. He
caught me this time, turning to slam me up against the wall. I
stumbled over the cord, jerking the phone off the nightstand with a
crash. I let out a gasp, and Lash covered my mouth with his, his
mouth opening as his forked tongue began licking me, reaching
deeply. His tongue twined around mine loosely, and stroked gently.
The sensation was completely new, utterly sensual, spiking my
arousal. I let out an eager moan, and clutched him tighter. He
turned then and threw me on the bed, scrambling on top of me, then
pressed down with a hard thrust of his hips.

“You want what I’ve got for you?” he hissed
suggestively. “Hold still.”

I went motionless under him, encouraging him
with eager cries. He moved my hands into one of his, still kissing
me. I went limp with momentary relief in his grip, then began
writhing as he reached down to take off his pants.

“Yes,” I moaned, my breaths coming fast.
“Please, Lash!”

Then I felt the phone cord about my wrists.
In an instant, Lash had me tied by my wrists to the bed.

He’d been reaching for the cord!
“Damn
you!” I swore loudly.

Lash gave me a grin, baring his fangs. “Stay
there,” he hissed. Then he got up and strode out of the room.

Livid with rage, and being denied, I yanked
with my arms as hard as I could. The cord tightened, his knots
holding.

Damn him! They’d never come loose now!

I was bleeding where the phone cord had
bitten into my wrist. Letting out a scream of rage, I bit into the
cord with my right incisor, grinding hard. The plastic frayed under
my teeth. I yanked as hard as I could, the cord snapped, and I fell
off the bed to land on the floor in a heap. I scrambled to my feet
with hands still bound and went after Lash.

He was talking on a cordless phone, leaning
against the kitchen counter. “I told you, she won’t tell me where
we are, Dev. I think it’s in Wyoming though, that’s where the phone
book is from, and the area code matched up. What do you want me to
do—?”

As I stalked toward him, his eyes flicked up
to watch me. He held my gaze as he continued to talk. My eyes fell
on the base of the phone on the far wall near the stove, and I
switched direction.

“Okay, I understand—”

I ripped that cord out of the wall, breaking
the connection and giving him a triumphant smile. Lash let out an
angry breath, then threw the phone down with enough force to
shatter it into plastic shards. He stalked toward me, grabbed hold
of me, and pushed me down onto the floor, laying his body on top of
mine. I tried to kiss him, but he held me down with one hand, and
took out his knife with the other.

“I told you to hold still.”

I went still under him, my wide eyes on the
blade in his hand, shining in the moonlight.

Lash took my bound hands in one of his. With
quick motion, he cut the cords, setting my hands free, then lay the
knife to the side within reach. I ran my hands back into his hair,
and kissed him again, murmuring, “Please. Take me. Please.”

Lash kissed me again, then unzipped his
jeans, shoving them down. He pressed his hips to mine, his erection
nudging me. I moaned again at his size.
God, he was not as long
as Devlin was, but he felt just as broad...Ahh...

He said nothing, just pulled back my head by
the hair, baring my throat, slowly sliding his fangs into me,
simultaneously bearing down with his hips to slide his erection in.
His long fangs felt like needles, they sank in to me so deep. Lash
slid himself in to the hilt, then began moving fast, grunting with
effort, keeping his fangs completely in me.

His mouth began moving on me, his tongue
licking as he swallowed. The bastard was drinking my blood. Anger
rose up instantly, then it was obliterated by desire. I wanted him
to take it, to take all of me, everything I was, everything I had!
I writhed under him, moaning and making soft cries of pleasure.
God damn, he felt so good...thick and hot and so slippery within
me...ahh...

Lash suddenly withdrew his fangs. He kissed
me again, his tongue again twining around mine. I tasted my blood
in his kiss, the coppery taste making me shudder. Lash broke the
kiss at once, then plunged his fangs back into my throat, biting
deep. The feeling of him biting me so deeply as he moved in me so
eagerly was enough to bring me screaming, my howl of pleasure
deafening.

Lash pushed his upper body away from me in an
instant, bracing himself on his arms, still driving himself into me
fast and deep. As my orgasm ebbed, I thrust up, holding his lower
body as tightly against me as I could, his contracting muscles
coaxing the last waves of pleasure from me. He jerked a moment
later, a hot rush of warmth filling me. He spasmed a few more
times, his body tightening against mine, then relaxing slowly.

Lash jerked a little as he withdrew. Easing
onto his back beside me, he lay breathing hard.

He’d made no sound. Even in my lust for him,
I found his silence eerie. But as I slowly came back to myself and
felt the wetness of his semen on my inner thighs, I curled up in a
ball facing away from him, praying he not say a word.

I’d just had sex with a man I loathed.
Possibly the one man in all the world I didn’t want to be with like
this. Perseus or Samuel would have been better to be with. Alphonse
would have been better to be with. Anyone but Lash, who had just
told me minutes before this how much he hated Theo and me.

The silence stretched. Lash didn’t speak.

Tears ran from my eyes. I bit my lip hard,
because I had to talk to him. I had to get us back, to face
Devlin.

“We’re in Casper, Wyoming,” I said softly.
“The house Theo was living in, where I found him.”

Lash said nothing.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

There was the sound of shifting cloth, then a
knife being sheathed as he got to his feet. A second later, my
clothes were dropped next to my back. “Get dressed. I’ll go grab
the cords.” Footsteps strode away.

I hurriedly pulled on my clothes. When I was
dressed, Lash came back, then held out my missing sock and
underwear. I took them and stuffed them in my pocket, blinking back
tears.

Lash took my hand in his gently. “Take us
back, Sar.”

I teleported us back to Devlin’s bedroom. He
was there standing near the fireplace, one hand grasping the
mantle, his expression worried. I dropped Lash’s hand and sat down
on the loveseat, my eyes averted. Devlin didn’t speak, but took my
hand in his.

Lash stood, arms folded across his chest. “I
had her as she asked me to. You were right; she went back to
normal. She said we were at the place she found Theo. No one saw
us. I covered up the evidence and wiped down everything we
touched.”

“Thank you for doing what she needed, and for
protecting her from herself.”

“You know this means she might well have your
child inside her.”

“I am hoping like hell,” Devlin said wearily.
“Because otherwise, she’s changing again, and this time, I don’t
know what is happening, or what to do.”

“You need me; I’ll be in the shower.” Lash
turned and sauntered towards the door. “I just hope that stupid cat
finds out this—”

“You might need to do this again for her, for
us,” Devlin interrupted. “Are you willing or not? I need to know
right now.”

Lash paused, his hand on the doorknob, then
looked back. “Dev, you know that I prefer weresnakes,” he said
casually. “But I enjoyed having sex with her. If she needs that
again, just one of you tell me. It’s not a problem—”

A rising scream built within me rapidly.

“If this is The Lust Danial spoke of, she
probably will,” Devlin continued. “And I need you to protect her.
That means protecting yourself.”

Lash turned completely around and faced
Devlin. He paused a second, his expression resentful, then nodded.
“I’ll get checked out,” he hissed. “I’ll go call Stephen now, and
have Titus teleport me tonight—”

“I need you to do more than that,” Devlin
said with a sigh. “I’m sorry to ask you, but I have to, Lash. For
her sake, for the baby’s, I have to ask for your word.”

“Fine; you have it. I’ll tell her I can’t be
with her anymore, not like we are at Davy’s,” Lash hissed bitterly,
turning back to the door and opening it. “And we won’t be together
in snake form at all.”

“Thank you,” Devlin said, as Lash left,
slamming the door behind him.

“Are you all right?” Devlin asked, squeezing
my hand.

“He didn’t hurt me,” I murmured, after a
moment.

“I know he didn’t,” Devlin said, annoyed. “I
asked how you were.”

“I’m fucking hysterical!” I shouted raggedly.
Then I burst out crying. Devlin hugged me, whispering soothing
words, then led me into the bathroom.

“Take a shower,” he said, turning on the
water for me. “You’ll feel better.”

He’d said those same words to me that day in
the hotel room, when I’d also had sex I hadn’t wanted. Not sure if
he’d meant me to recall that memory, I didn’t reply, just got
undressed and showered off. When I emerged, he was on the bed
reading paperwork, waiting for me.

Even though Dev hadn’t acted like what had
happened mattered, I couldn’t just launch into pleasantries
blithely. I sat down next to him. “Look, I don’t know what to
say—”

Dev held a finger to my lips. “Don’t say
anything. Danial told me what might happen. I just thought if
something did, it would be with me. But I’m not upset this
happened, not with you or him.”

That’s great
. “I’m really upset,
Dev.”

He put down his paperwork, and brought me
into his arms. “Why? You knew having this symptom was a real
possibility, as did I. We can handle this situation. Lash will
remain at your side at all times I’m not with you—”

“That’s impossible—”

“Not if you stay here with me, it’s not,”
Devlin said easily. “You don’t want to risk any more illicit sexual
encounters, so that’s the best idea—”

“No,” I replied firmly. “I don’t want this to
happen again, ever.”

“Lash is safe to be with,” Devlin said
firmly. “He won’t hurt you, despite what you may think of him.
He’ll keep his word. When he gets back from the doctor’s he’ll tell
us the truth, no matter what it is.”