Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (5 page)

“I’m going to deposit him in his car. Do
you think that when I get back we can sit down and talk? All of us?” Seconds later
he was being turned around and pressed against the wall again. He got a good
look at the man who would dare attack him.

“You’ll pay for this.” He nodded. “Do
you have any idea who I am? What I am to these women and you? Alpha, you dumb
motherfucker and—”

His head hit the wall three times as
stars danced around his vision. Before he could say another word he was picked
up and thrown off the porch and near the limo he’d come in. The driver didn’t move
when the man from the porch barked at him to stand down, and Jeffery found himself
being lifted again and thrown in the back seat. The man loomed in the open door
as Jeffery curled into a fetal position, the pain was so great.

“I’m Blair Henson, and this is
my
territory, you fucking prick. You come near what is mine again and I’ll do more
to you than Sapphire ever did. And this time you won’t live through it. I’ll make
sure of it.” He stood up, and Jeffery finally got his tongue back.

“She’s supposed to come back with me to
stand trial. She injured her alpha, and that’s against all pack laws.” The door
slammed shut, and before he could get to the door and open it again, the car
was moving. And from the way he was being thrown around he would say they were
going pretty fast.

He was bleeding again by the time he was
back to his hotel. He wasn’t sure what the staff thought about him coming in
all bent over and bleeding, but at this point he not only didn’t care but
almost wanted someone to put him out of his misery. Christ, he was sick of this
shit.

Lying down on the bed, he tried to work
through the pain his body seemed riddled with. His head was pounding so badly
that he had to get up and close the curtains against the waning light. He
wanted to take something for it, anything, but knew that it wouldn’t work. His
kind and drugs didn’t work all that well. He reached for the pillow and pulled
it over his eyes just as the phone rang.

“You should know that I’ve had enough of
your bullshit and am taking steps to have you removed as alpha.” His skin
seemed to tighten around his body and his wolf curled away from him as Henson
spoke. “If you come to my territory again, I will take measures to not only
have you removed but end your very existence as well. Do I make myself
perfectly clear?”

“Yes. But she’s mine to do with as I
please. Even you have to see that.” The man laughed, a cold laugh that made Jeffery
think of nails going down chalkboards and cats calling out in the dark, full of
terror of unknown forces.

“She’s mine.”

The line went dead, and he lay there. Jeffery
hated this feeling that ran through his body and the woman who had caused it. He
had no doubt that this was all Sapphire’s fault. And he knew that she was
sleeping with the big wolf, too. Why else would he go to such unnecessary
extremes if that wasn’t the case?

Jeffery had wanted to kill Sapphire the
moment he’d seen her. Her grace had been evident even when she was a young cub,
and when she grew into her long coltish legs, and muscles began to take the
place of baby fat, he’d nearly taken her when she’d came to the first pack
meeting just after her change. Christ, he doubted there was ever a more
beautiful woman. Then he’d figured out what she was and how fucking strong she
was. He doubted that she ever knew what she was.

But she’d hated him from the start. Not
only that, but had gone out of her way to piss him off every chance she got, starting
with her refusal to have anything to do with him sexually, and that just wasn’t
right in his books. He’d had women wanting him since he was ten, and she had no
right to refuse him anything. He was alpha.

His wolf seemed to agree with him and
snarled at him. He didn’t even bother trying to calm him because he loved his
other self. Being a wolf was the greatest thing that could happen to a man, and
if it wasn’t for the fact that he needed females to breed, he’d get rid of all
of them and simply fuck humans.

But Sapphire was going to be his or
else. And she was going to pay for what she’d done to him. Not only for the
wounds she’d given him, but for the embarrassment and humiliation he’d had to
endure. Sapphire Erickson was going to pay dearly.

Chapter 5

Blair wasn’t sure what he was supposed
to do now. He’d never spent a great deal of time with the fairer sex, especially
in a houseful of them. But he needed to get this thing worked out with Sapphire,
and he had to figure out what the fuck was the other alpha’s obsession with her…other
than her obvious beauty.

Blair stood up when three of the women
entered the living room and continued standing until they sat. When the elder
woman came in, he stood as well and heard one of the women laugh.

“You’re going to be exhausted by the
time you leave if you continue to act like a jack in the box.” Blair wasn’t
sure what to say to her, unused to people making fun of him. “I’m Opal, by the
way. And these are my sisters Ruby and Emerald. And this lovely lady is our
grandmother, Annabelle.”

He nodded to each of them and looked at
the door when two more sisters entered. There wasn’t any doubt they were
sisters, either. Each of them looked like the other. Dark hair, the same dark
eyes, and a loveliness about them that made him think of queens. He was
introduced to Jade and Diamond, and then they sat down. There was no sign of
Sapphire.

“She’s…not coming.” Blair looked at
Diamond, who made it sound as if she knew why her sister wasn’t coming down and
blamed him.

“Why not?” Her shrug was no help at all.
“I would like to speak to all of you, but mainly her. She’s…you may as well
know that she’s my mate. I can’t have her running around like she’s—”

Diamond cleared her throat, and he had
to think what he’d said. He was being arrogant again, he thought she was
telling him, but he didn’t know how to be anything else. He tried to think what
to do when he thought of his dad. He would know just how to charm them. He
reached for him now.

I’m lost.
His dad
laughed.
I mean I have six women here, and the one that I really want to
talk to is not coming down to speak to me. What do I do?

Why not go up and get her? Or better
yet…this is Sapphire, right? Your mate?
He told his dad it was
. Then get up
to where she is and either charm her…no wait, you have no idea how to charm a
woman. Just go up and take her to bed.

Thoughts of her in his bed entered his
mind and he had to close his eyes. Christ, she was driving him crazy. He’d had
an idea last night that if he fucked her once and used protection he’d be over
her. He had convinced himself that she was simply someone that didn’t want him,
so he’d manifested this idea that she was his mate. Then he woke up with a
raging hard-on, and no amount of masturbating was helping. He was so fucked.

“Where is her room?” Annabelle drew in a
sharp breath when he asked. “I’m not going to hurt her, but I do need to talk
to her. This thing with the other alpha isn’t going away, and I’d like to talk
to her.” He was babbling. He tried to look innocent, but he was pretty sure he
was failing at that miserably. They were looking at him like he had three
heads. Maybe he did. He certainly felt like it.

“Fourth floor to your right at the top
of the stairs.” He looked at Emerald. “You tell her I told you and I’ll hunt
you down and tear what I’m sure is an impressive dick off of you and serve it
to the cats.”

He was moving up the second flight when
he thought about how violent these women were. All of them, and he was willing
to bet that Annabelle would hold her own as well. When he rounded the stairs to
go to the fourth floor, he looked down the spiral staircase. It was beautiful
and well maintained, as was the rest of the house. He went to his right at the
top of the stairs and knocked once. The faint “come in” had him taking a deep
breath and opening the door.

Blair had no idea what he was going to
say or if he had anything to say. She stood there in front of him in nothing
more than towel wrapped around her like a toga and her hair gloriously hanging
down around her shoulders.

“I didn’t know it was you.” He nodded at
her as he took a step toward her. When she didn’t move, he took a few more. The
closer he got to her the more of her he wanted to see.

Brushing his hand over her shoulder, he
pushed her damp hair out of his way. She moaned when he pressed his mouth
against her warm skin. He wanted to bite her, mark her, and his wolf was snarling
at him to do so, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t want her as his mate.

“You wanted to see me?” He moaned at her
question and lifted his head to look down at her. He put his finger into the
top of her towel where her breasts were spilling out of the top. Watching her
eyes, he pulled it free from her.

“All of you.” His breath whooshed out of
him when she was bared to him. There were cuts and tears in her skin, some of
them deep, others just scrapes. He saw claw marks that hadn’t healed and
bruises that were dark and ugly. But what he saw was perfection; it was what
she was, simply perfection.

Cupping her breast, he ran his thumb
over her hardened nipple and leaned down to take her mouth. She tasted of
warmth and sex, and when her tongue brushed along his, he pulled her closer
with his free hand.

“I want you.” She nodded, and he picked
her up in his hands, filling them with toned muscles and heat. As her legs
wrapped around his waist, he moved to the big bed, happy that she didn’t have
one of those tiny little twins. As soon as her back touched the bed, he took
her nipple in his mouth and suckled hard at it. Her scent hit him, and his cock
hurt from the sudden tightness in his pants.

But he knew that taking her like this
would mark her. And as much as he wanted to bury himself to the hilt in her, he
couldn’t…wouldn’t do it. Moving down her body, nipping and licking a path to
her navel, he swirled his tongue in the deep indentation and then moved down
her body more. He was going to taste her and drink from her if it was the last
thing he ever did.

Sitting up on his knees, he spread her
legs open and laid them on either side of him. She sat up on her elbows, and he
cupped his cock. This was only going to work if he didn’t free himself like he
so desperately wanted to do. Touching the wet curls at her apex, he slid into
her and felt her tightness grip him, and he watched her body ride him.

“I’m going to taste you.” She moaned and
shook her head. He moved in and out of her quicker, wanting to watch her when
she reached her release. “Come for me, Sapphire. I want to see you in the
throes of passion. Then I want to drink from you as you fill me.”

Blair pressed his thumb over her clit. She
cried out but didn’t come, surprise evident on her face. He had a thought that
she was still a virgin, but found that idea rather silly. No woman as beautiful
and as responsive as her would have made it much past high school intact. Using
his thumb hard against her nubbin, he waited for her to come, and when she did,
he nearly did take her then. Nothing could have prepared him for the way her
climax affected him.

Moving back to bury his mouth over her,
he nearly leapt onto her when she lifted her knees up and touched her clit with
her own hand. She spread her lips open for him, and he dove in like a man
starved. And when he got his first taste of her, he realized that he was indeed
hungry for her.

He wasn’t able to drink from her fast
enough. Her juices poured from her body and into his mouth and onto the spread
beneath them. Sucking at her, lapping at her, he swallowed her into him and
knew that he’d never get enough. That if he took her now it would only be the
beginning and he’d never get enough of her or her body. When she came again,
screaming out his name, he pressed his finger into her, curling it until he
found the spot that made her moan for him, made her dance over his mouth. Stretching
her, filling her, he realized this wasn’t enough, but he knew that taking more
was out of the question.

Christ, Blair had never in his life wanted
to fuck a woman like he did her. Lifting his head, he looked at her heaving
breasts, hips moving up and down like a dance he wanted to enjoy with her. Reaching
to his cock, he stroked it hard and knew that much more and he’d be coming in
his pants. Taking her clit into his mouth again, he nipped hard and had her
screaming again, begging him over and over to stop and to give her more. When
he slid his fingers along her gate to her tiny puckered rosette, he felt her
need, and he didn’t try to be gentle, but pressed his thumb deep and felt her
come apart again.

When she went limp on the bed, he sat
up. She was beautifully sated and sleeping. He stood up, went to her bathroom,
opened his pants, and freed his cock. He ran his hand down the length of
himself and felt his balls tighten even more against his body. Fisting his cock
hard, he thought of the taste of her juices, and he came with a shout, spilling
his seed in his hand and watching as it shot out and over the counter. He was
leaning against it when he heard her and turned to look at her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to….” She
looked back at the bed, then at him. “You could have had me. I would have…we
could have…you could have done that inside of me.”

He wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t
come out all wrong, so he said what first popped into his head. “You should get
some clothes on. Being naked around you is hard on me.”

He hurt her. He knew it the moment the
words spilled from his mouth. But she was gone before he could say he was
sorry. Putting himself back together, he cleaned up the mess he’d made and went
into the bedroom to talk to her. The room was empty. And when he looked, he
noticed that her bed had been stripped clean of all evidence of what they’d
just done. And for some reason that pissed him off. He went to find her.

~~~

Sapphire was stuffing all her linens in
the washer when her grandmother walked in. She didn’t say anything, but pulled
the sheets out and put them on the floor and then put the comforter in. She was
turning on the washer when Sapphire decided she would never sleep on them again
and went to find a trash bag.
He
walked in when she was tying off the
bag.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She
didn’t answer him but dumped the bag on the floor next to the trash can. He
picked it up, tore it open, and spilled the contents onto the floor. “You think
this will somehow erase what we did up there?”

“You mean what
you
did. I did
nothing but lay there.” She knew she was lying but right now didn’t care. “You hated
what you did so much that you went to the bathroom and jerked off instead of
taking what I was offering freely. Well, you missed your chance, big boy. I’ll
never spread my legs for you again.”

He was furious, and she was pretty sure
she’d pushed him just a little too far. But he snarled at her and she lost her
temper. Reaching out, she slammed her fist into his face, and when he started
to fall backwards, she put out her foot and hit him in the chest to finish the
job. He hit the table so hard that it shattered under his weight. Blood pooled
under his head as she stepped over him and out of the house. Shifting quickly,
tearing her clothes in the process, she headed for the woods and didn’t look
back when her grandmother yelled at her.

Running as hard as she could, she let
her wolf take her wherever she wanted. She didn’t see anything as it blurred by
her, only the occasional rock or a fallen log. She was near the large waterfall
when she saw the deer. Not wanting to scare it, she moved to the water and dove
in as she shifted to herself. Climbing the large stone wall behind the water,
she sat on the very edge and looked out at the crystal clear water.

“What have I done?” Her voice echoed around
her and came back. Letting the tears fall, she sat there and tried her best to
think of nothing but the water in front of her and the stone at her back. But
it did little good to try and forget what had happened.

They’d had sex. Well, she supposed that
they really hadn’t, but she’d enjoyed it. Very much so. He’d made her feel…something
she’d not done in a very long time. Then when she’d heard him in the bathroom,
she’d walked in to see him coming.

It had been beautiful and had left her
speechless. When he’d turned to look at her, she wasn’t sure what to say. Her
first thought had been to ask him if she could taste him as he had her, but
she’d seen the anger in his face, seen that he’d been caught at something that
he’d probably prefer she didn’t see. And she was hurt when he told her that her
body was sickening to him. She looked down at the wounds and realized they
probably were. She brought her knees up to her chin and let the water wash away
the tears.

Sapphire knew that she was pretty. Not
beautiful like her sister Diamond, and she wasn’t cute like Emerald was. Men
loved them for what they were. She had been nothing men had wanted. Except for Jeffery.

He’d never made her feel the things that
Blair did. From the first moment she’d seen him, she had wanted to touch him. But
Jeffery had made her feel dirty, like she needed a hot shower afterwards and
enough detergent to get her body raw with it. She supposed that was how she
felt now.

She had no idea how long she sat there.
She heard her name a couple of times. Once had been Blair, and she heard him
cursing at her. Then her sister. She wasn’t sure which one, but she’d bet it
was Ruby. Diamond would just leave her alone, so she knew it wasn’t her. When
she stood up to dive into the water to leave, she noticed that it had gotten
dark, and as she swam to the shoreline, she could see that the nocturnal animals
had come out and were feeding. Shifting to wolf, she quietly made her way back
to the house, but reached for Diamond before coming into view of the house.