Zurlo, Michele - Torment [Daughters of Circe 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (19 page)

Head thrown back, she came, and her cries rent the silent night. Before she could recover her breath, Shade’s mouth was on hers, demanding and taking. One kiss only, and he was naked. Torrey marveled at the speed of his movements.

Taking her in his arms, he pressed his length against her. Heat flowed between them, igniting more sparks. “Hold your breath, Torrey.”

She barely had time to comply when their bodies hit the water. Cold, murky water closed over her head, but Torrey wasn’t afraid. Water had always been her friend, and Shade was with her. Energy flowed into her. She felt as if she could fly. Just when she thought her lungs might burst, their heads broke the surface.

Beneath the water, his body still pressed against hers. Torrey shivered with excitement. “I think they were jealous,” she murmured.

Shade paused with his lips against hers. “Who?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, glad the buoyancy of the water kept them at roughly the same level. “Whoever said witches and wolves shouldn’t be together.”

Shade’s tongue slipped along the edge of her lower lip. She felt the grin he couldn’t stop, even as his thoughts turned away from the momentary distraction of her words. The kiss was slow and deep. The languor of her last orgasm receded as a fresh wave of desire fanned to a blaze.

While Shade worked her mouth, Torrey shimmied up his body. Slipping a hand between them, she positioned him at her entrance and released her grip on him. The water slowed her descent, letting her glide down his length unhurriedly.

“Torrey, oh, Torrey.” He murmured her name over and over. Grasping her hips in his hands, he held her in place as he thrust in and out, his powerful legs giving him leverage. “My little witch.”

Torrey held onto Shade and let his wild side take over. Her head fell back, trailing strands of hair through the water. Heat burned her from the inside out, an inferno of pleasure she wasn’t sure she could survive.

In the midst of her heightening euphoria, Torrey imagined the tree she yanked from the ground replanted. All damaged roots were repaired, and the earth around it was firmly packed. Any evidence of her tampering was gone. Even the leaves she displaced were returned to their original positions.

Ragged moans, belonging to both of them, brought her back to the present. Opening her eyes, she intended to peer through the darkness to feast her eyes on the handsome man between her legs. But she didn’t have to squint. Soft light reflected from the surface of the pond, bathing them in its glow.

Instinctively, Torrey knew this was something they were doing together. Fire and water combined. It shouldn’t have been possible. The two elements canceled out one another. Yet the warmth of the water and the way it illuminated the night could not be denied.

Shade’s gaze hadn’t wandered from her face. Silver eyes with elongated slits for pupils were fixed on her. His jaw was set with determination, and his hips moved faster and faster. Torrey surrendered completely. Her body stiffened with orgasm, and she cried out, censoring her volume not at all.

Her vaginal walls clenched around his cock, and he came, pulsing inside her powerfully and setting off a new wave of convulsions inside her pussy.

He held her until her legs were steady. Playing one hand up and down her spine, he seemed reluctant to let her go. “Want to swim?”

The heat they generated was fading. Torrey shivered. “Maybe another time?”

He dropped a light kiss on her lips. “How about I build a fire and make love to you on my bearskin rug before I head back out?”

Torrey waded to the edge of the pond. She wanted to consent, but guilt intruded. What right did she have to spend the evening with an incredible man when her sister was probably quaking in terror at the blond giant who kidnapped her? “Do you have time?”

As if he sensed her hesitation, Shade followed her out of the water and pulled her into his arms. “Soren won’t be home until later tonight. I searched his place, and I found nothing, Torrey. No sign or clue as to where he might be holding Riley. I have a few hours.”

She struggled into her clothes. Forcing jeans over wet flesh wasn’t the easiest thing to do. Her panties took forever to untwist, and her bra was so uncooperative, she shoved it into her pocket.

Shade grinned at her dilemma. “I’m just going to take it off again anyway.”

Yeah, but he didn’t have to worry about cold, shriveled, pointy nipples. Torrey bit back a retort when Shade moved suddenly, thrusting her behind him and assuming a defensive stance. In the distance, the distinct sound of a growl echoed through the trees.

“What is it?” she whispered.

Shade didn’t answer, but his head turned from side to side as he honed in on the source of the scent and sounds he heard.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?”

The tall, sultry woman sauntering through the break in the tree line made straight for them. Her hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, but it flowed over her shoulder, reaching nearly to her waist. The glow Torrey had created with Shade earlier in the pond had faded too much for her to make out the color. However, there was no mistaking the woman’s beauty, or the fact she was a werewolf.

“Tiffany.” The word was both a greeting and a warning.

She came closer, and that’s when Torrey saw she wasn’t alone. Three male wolves trailed behind her. Each was tall, not quite as tall as Shade in wolf form, but still much larger than the average wolf. The tension in Shade’s body kept Torrey from doing anything. She barely breathed.

“What is this affinity you seem to have for witches?” Tiffany said. “It isn’t natural.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Tiff.” Shade’s warning seemed nonchalant.

“Stupid like you?” Her tone could have scratched glass. “So much power is coming from this area that I came myself to make sure you were alright.” She gestured to Torrey. “I see you’re up to your old tricks. If Soren gets wind of this, Shaden, even you won’t be able to stop him. You couldn’t last time. What makes you think this’ll be any different?”

Shade relaxed a nearly imperceptible amount. He was still on guard. “Where is Soren hanging out these days?”

Tiffany shrugged. “I haven’t seen him since you two assholes pissed me off. He can go fuck a human for all I care.”

Gathering her courage, Torrey stepped around Shade to address Tiffany. “Soren has my sister. I need to know where he’s keeping her.”

One brow arched on Tiffany’s classically beautiful face. “Just because I’m not happy with Soren right now doesn’t mean I’ll betray my people.” She threw a disgusted sneer at Shade. “Not all of us find treason acceptable.”

Tiffany went to turn away, but Torrey ran, closing the distance between them. It was a stupid move, considering the woman was a werewolf and she came with three wolves to back her up. The look of disgust morphed to shock as the woman stared at the hand on her arm.

Strong hands ripped her away. Shade threw her over his shoulder and backed away from the mini wolf pack.

“Please,” Torrey begged as Shade turned, his long strides taking them back toward his house. “I just want to get my sister and take her home. I don’t want to cause trouble.”

Tiffany’s growling laugh rumbled through the increasing distance between them. “You’ve already caused trouble.”

Torrey kicked at Shade, squirming in his arms, but the action was pointless. He was far stronger than she. “Shade, damn it!” She beat on his back, breaking off her protests suddenly when she caught sight of the tree she uprooted.

It stood tall and proud, larger than life. Ethereal. It glowed with strength and purpose. Somewhere deep inside, Torrey knew she had done that. She had done more than replant the tree. Somehow, she had imbued it with something extra. She had no idea what she had done, and she had every intention of returning to find out.

Wisely, she kept quiet. If Shade failed to notice the tree, then he must not have been able to see it. Just in case it was a vision or a sign, she watched it until the denseness of the surrounding trees blocked the sight.

She felt the moment they entered the charmed area around his house. The change in her perceptions would have given her a moment of pride if she wasn’t so angry with Shade for tossing her over his shoulder like a forty-pound bag of softener salt and carrying her off like some kind of primitive mountain man.

Wiggling anew achieved her goal. Shade set her on the ground and faced her glare with one of his own.

“Do you know nothing about wolves, Torrey? You could have been killed!” In the soft glow of his porch light, Shade’s eyes were the deep color of storm clouds at midnight.

Torrey straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. This was the first time in their short acquaintance his anger was directed toward her. It was daunting, but she wasn’t going to let that dampen her fury. “She knows where Soren is, Shade. She was lying.”

“I’m aware,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “She wasn’t going to say anything, not with an audience.”

That gave Torrey pause. That sounded more like a human reaction to humiliation than a wolf reaction to pack mentality. She peered at Shade with a wary expression. “What did you do to her?”

He shook his head, a gesture of disbelief. “You assume it was me?”

“She came to check on you, so she must care for you.” The hurt in Tiffany’s expression that she tried so valiantly to hide said everything else. “Did you dump her for Hope?”

He blinked at her in surprise for a full five seconds. “My relationship with Tiffany ended years before I met Hope, not that either topic is any of your business. The important lesson tonight is never piss off a werewolf who also happens to be in charge of the village militia, especially when she has three of her best lieutenants at her side.”

Torrey shrugged. “You could have taken them.”

He grabbed her roughly and shook her hard. “Those are my people, my pack, my friends. I don’t want to fight them, Torrey.”

Tears wet her cheeks, and she used magic to break his grip. Gathering the force of a deep hurt that had nothing to do with the bruises she was going to have on her upper arms where his fingers bit into her flesh, she pushed him away. He flew through the air to land on his ass ten feet away. The charm dampened the force of her blow.

He might have closed the distance with one leap, but he didn’t move. He stayed where he landed, looking up at Torrey with a mixture of amazement and regret written over his handsome, harsh features.

“Riley is the only family I have left, Shade. If you can’t, or won’t, get her back, then I’ll do it myself. You’ve awakened my powers. Maybe I haven’t mastered them fully, but I feel it flowing through my body. They call to some instinct inside me that knows exactly how to use them.”

Turning on her heel, she headed into the house. There had to be something in there that would give her a clue as to where she might find Soren. She would offer herself to Soren in exchange for Riley. When Riley was safely away, she would kill Soren. She might die, too, but Soren would no longer be a threat to the Daughters of Circe.

Caiden. She needed to see Caiden. She headed to her room to change into dry clothes. Rifling through drawers she now knew had belonged to Hope, Torrey searched for her sweatshirt. It wasn’t a type of clothing she wore often, and she only had one, but that was all she needed. Where the hell was the damn thing?

The door opened behind her. Shade’s energies filled the room. Had it always been like this? Was she only able to see it because she was so in touch with a witch’s elements? Except to slam drawers a bit more forcefully, she ignored him.

“Torrey…” He exhaled, gathering his courage or expressing frustration. Maybe both. His boots moved closer, thumping on the hardwood floor with the same force her heart thumped against her chest. “Don’t leave, Torrey. I said I would free Riley, and I will.”