Dark Desire (15 page)

Somehow she made
it across the distance between them, so near his heat caressed her bare skin
with a thousand little strokes, heightening her awareness of him. Her hands
reached out, fingertips tracing over where her gaze just traveled. His heart
beat hard under her palm, and a small shudder rippled under her questing hands.
Her gaze flicked up to his face, so tense, hunger darkening the bright emerald
of his eyes to a deep jade.

Feminine power
streamed through her veins, and she relished it, wrapping it close to her.
Emboldened she pushed at his shoulders, telling him without words she wanted
him to sit on the bed. His crooked smile brought more heat between her thighs.

She straddled
his thighs, letting his cock rest against her weeping center. The scent of her
arousal filled the air, his eyes darkening further with pure lust. His breath
hissed in as she let her hand wander down to stroke the hard length of him, her
thumb swiping the bead of moisture from his tip. Never breaking contact she
lifted her thumb, slick with his juices and slowly sucked it into her mouth.
His taste burst on her taste buds.
So addictive … so male.
His eyes darkened, need
for her
stark
and so damn sexy her sex clenched against the ache building in her.

Lori barely
removed her thumb before his lips came crashing down on hers, demanding and
dominant, telling her without words he would never take anything less than everything
she could give. And he wanted it now. She sank into the heady sense of
possession, and the sensation of his fingers on her body brought a firestorm of
pleasure sluicing through her body. Jagged shards of passion jabbed at her,
coiling tight in her belly. His hands on her breasts, thumbs flicking and
pinching the hard peaks until they ached, sent a trail of white hot fire
lashing at her.

Her body
shuddered as his hand seared a path down her ribcage, down, down further to her
belly until finally, his palm covered her mound, a finger stroking her wet slit
all the while never breaking his savage kiss, and their tongues tangled
together in a bid for supremacy.

His finger
plunged deep into her sending a spark of electricity through her limbs and up
to her breasts. She whimpered against his mouth, hips grinding against his hand
as pressure built to a boiling point. A second finger followed, spreading her
further, and she bit down hard on his full bottom lip, almost drawing blood
before she released it and threw her head back, arching into him as she wiggled
furiously against his hand.

“What do you
want,
Lari
?”Desire dripped from every word.

“You,
deep inside.”
Her voice shook with the force of her spiraling need.

“I want you to
tell me,” he demanded.

What the hell
was it with him? He expected her to talk, now? Damn, she could barely string
two words together. She gritted out the only words she was capable of.

“I want you to
fuck me.”

Chapter Sixteen

She lowered her
chin until her gaze snagged on his. Holy hell, she couldn’t look sexier in that
moment. He bit back a curse as she grasped the girth of his cock in her hand
and gave him a long stroke from base to tip. Pleasure shot though his system
tightening his balls and making him throb. He clamped his jaw tight against his
rising climax as she eased down on him, taking him deep within her sex.

Shit, she felt
good, tight, wet, and so hot he could barely keep his control under a tight
leash. He refused to have it over so quickly. Not without her finding pleasure
first. He could feel her muscles massage his shaft, the pure, erotic picture of
her riding him, something he would take with him from this life into the next.
She was wild, an untamed Amazon who matched his burning desire.

He watched as
her eyes closed on a slow moan, and his breath caught in his throat. Gods, she
was beautiful, a dark enchantress with her mass of ebony curls falling over her
shoulders and back. Her smooth, silky skin a rich dark brown flushed with
desire, stood out in stark contrast to the paleness of his hands. Holding her
hips firmly he guided her as she balanced on her toes. Her nails dug into his
shoulders as she rose and dropped down. A growl of approval rumbled in his
chest as he guided her onto him at just the right angle to drag over that one
spot guaranteed to bring her close to orgasm.

Her body
trembled in response, her walls clenching tightly, surrounding his cock in a
velvet vise. His balls drew up tighter, his cock pulsing as his semen rose up
its turgid length. He was close, but refused to tip over without her. Releasing
one hip he sought her clit, strumming it in a circular pattern. Her body
shuddered, breath coming in gasps. Small mewling noises escaped her as she rode
him harder.

He tapped the
sensitive nub once, then again harder, and she came on a choked scream, her
inner muscles clamping around him so good, so tight.
Milking
him until he came in an intense rush causing his body to shudder and lights to
flash before his eyes.
He rode the continuing waves of pleasure as he
spent deep inside her. Finally, the aftershocks eased leaving him panting and
slick with sweat. He drew her tight into his arms and just held her, feeling
her heart racing against his, waiting for their bodies to cool, comfortable
with just holding her close to his body, still buried deep inside her heat.

He didn’t know
how long he stayed holding her tight to him.
Hours, minutes?
Didn’t matter.
A peace he never experienced before
filled him, lifting the heavy weight of responsibility and vengeance from his
heart leaving him sated and … happy. He should have known it wouldn’t last as
his phone rang within the pile of clothes at his feet.
Laris
stirred with a deep sigh of contentment.

“Do you have to
answer that?”

“Nope.”
He hugged her
tighter to him making her laugh. The sound went straight to his groin. Even her
laugh was sexy as hell.

The ringing
stopped only to start up again. The call went to voicemail with a happy chirp
only to start ringing again.
Laris
groaned,
reluctantly moving off his semi-hard cock.

“You better
answer it. It sounds important,”
Laris
advised him
with a small smile.

Cursing under
his breath, he snatched up his jeans, reaching into the pocket for his phone.
“What?” he
snapped,
not pleased to have reality
intruding on their time together.

“Marcus needs
you at HQ. There’s been some … interesting developments.” Adrian’s unruffled
calm only irritated him further.

“I’m kind of
busy here. Can’t this wait?”

“I know you
found
Laris
. Tegan showed up with her friend
Cici
, and we have her comfortably resting in one of the
guest quarters.”

“I’m sure
Lari
will be happy to hear it. Have they found Cody? Is
there a problem with the conference?” Zeke knew HQ was up to their eyeballs
preparing for the world summit only days away. They were stretched thin with
the threat of attacks from both
ferals
and the
Preservation Society taking their toll on all of them.

Marcus in
particular held the additional stresses of dealing with the leaders of every
country in the world. And then there was
Tambra
,
whose due date was just weeks away. The kind of pressure his leader was under
must be tremendous. Zeke couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his
eyes, a stark reminder of far too many sleepless days.

“We still have
nothing on Cody’s whereabouts, but we should soon.” Adrian paused so long Zeke
wondered if he lost the connection.

His next words
brought a shot of adrenaline zapping his nerve endings like a
taser
shot to his chest. “Temple is here. It seems he was
attacked by the Preservation Society.
Laris’s
aunt is
the one behind the dark breeds’ rather violent introduction into the human
world.”

“Fuck.”

“My
thoughts precisely.
Temple claims Amari
Lantel
revealed him because he refused to give her Oman’s Seal. States she had
something to do with
Laris’s
assassination attempt
against you. So, you can see why it is imperative you get back here.”

An unusual
glimmer of emotion struggled to rise within him, and it took a moment to
realize the alien feeling was … hope. He shoved it down, not ready to
acknowledge the possibility
Laris
may be innocent.
Better to think the worst and not have his heart torn apart again. He didn’t
know if he could survive another betrayal. He focused his attention back on
Adrian.

“Did Temple give
Marcus Oman’s Seal?” Zeke bit the words out, gazing at
Laris
,
who frowned, questions formulating in her soft grey eyes.

“No,
not yet.
As you know, Temple has very little trust in us. If not for the need to keep
his lady protected I doubt he would have ventured here at all, let alone share
what he knew.”

Leave it to
Adrian to state the obvious. Since
Tambra
—a Pure
Blood
Lycan
—had chosen Marcus over Temple, relations
between the Enforcers and the Pure Bloods had been tense at best. The fact
Tambra
had mixed her blood with Marcus’s making her a
hybrid between
Lycan
and vampire only put more strain
on the fracture. Temple made no bones about hating both Marcus and
Tambra
. In his mind,
Tambra
was
his to mate and save his dying race. It must have been galling for the arrogant
Pure Blood to seek the aid of the two people he detested the most.

And if Temple
was at HQ, Lucien had to be right by his side. Zeke would give anything to see
Tegan’s and Kyra’s reaction to the scarred
Lycan’s
presence. Payback could be a bitch. Lucien deserved what came to him for
handing over Kyra to the
Atlantean
tracker.

Yeah, things
would be very interesting at HQ.

“We are on our
way.” Zeke disconnected the call and turned his attention fully to
Lari
. Unasked questions ran in a continuous loop in his
mind, while his emotions battered at him.
Godsdamn
,
he wanted to believe her, yet he remembered vividly how close
Laris
and Amari were the night of their wedding. Pain
gnawed at his heart, tearing at the barely healed organ as realization dawned
stark and ugly. The truth rose from the depths of his soul like a leviathan,
destroying the last remnants of hope he held.
Laris
may not remember, but he knew she was an accomplice to his attempted murder.
How could he be so stupid not to connect the two? Was
Laris
also behind the uprising as well?

So
much loss, death, and grief, but why?
And what was Amari’s endgame?

****

The curiosity
damn near drove her nuts.

She knew they
were talking about her and a life she couldn’t remember. And what the heck was
Oman’s Seal? Questions kept building up in her head so fast her head spun. The
tight set of his jaw told her some of her answers would not be good.

“Time to get
dressed,” he stated simply, picking up her clothes off the floor and placing
them on her lap as he grabbed the t-shirt off the floor and pulled it on. Then
he pulled his jeans up his muscular legs. She almost made a small noise of
disappointment, missing the sight of his naked body. With a sigh of
resignation, she quickly donned her own clothes.

“You want to
tell me what’s up?” she finally asked, unable to wait a moment longer for Zeke
to broach the subject.

“Does the name
Amari
Lantel
sound at all familiar to you?”

At the sound of
the name white hot agony cut through her brain. She screamed, unable to prevent
to sudden attack she found herself under. Protectively, she clutched her head
with desperate fingers. Her legs gave out, knees slamming hard to the floor,
yet she felt nothing but the fiery pain threatening to rip her apart. She heard
Zeke shout, sounding so far away. Strong arms held her as it suddenly subsided
to a dull throbbing ache. Moisture leaked from her nose, and she brushed at it
surprised to find her hand stained with blood.

“What’s wrong
with me?”

“You just broke
through my shield, little bitch.”

A woman’s voice
cold and mocking came from the doorway. Zeke cursed, pushing her behind him as
he turned to the uninvited guest. “How the hell did you find us?”

Amari shrugged
her shoulders as she leaned back against the doorframe. Dressed to perfection
in designer jeans and peach silk blouse, her hair tumbled down her back in
artful waves. Her eyes narrowed with speculation as she studied Zeke. “Marked
by the great dragon, he shall live amongst the many races.” She spoke low,
almost to herself, but her words made little sense to
Laris
.