Read Malice in Wonderland Online

Authors: H. P. Mallory

Malice in Wonderland (7 page)

Once I felt Knight's palms moving below my collarbone and resting against my breasts, I had a feeling that the time for stopping was dripping through my fingers. He rested the flat of his hands above each of my breasts and stared down at me, his eyes glowing with a whiteness that told me just how excited he was. The glow in Knight's eyes was primitive—an instinctual, animal-like reflex responsive only to me, and to my body. It was his way of broadcasting to the world that I belonged to him—a warning to other men to stay away from me or suffer the
Loki
consequences.

He pushed against my breasts, cupping his palms around them. I opened my mouth, trying to regain my wits enough to tell him to beat it; but that's not exactly what I said. Well, in all honesty, I didn't say anything at all. Nope, instead I ... moaned.

Even though it was only the very beginning of a moan, and more like a split second of a whimper, or a tiny mouse's squeak, that was all it took. Instantly, Knight thrust me toward him and kissed me. The touch of his lips on mine was like kerosene to fire. Whatever was building inside me broke through the weak dam that was restraining it and now took full dominion over my entire body. Without any hesitation whatsoever, I opened my mouth, allowing his tongue full access. But he didn't need any invitation. His tongue met mine violently and we lapped at each other with an incendiary urgency. He looped his hands around my shoulders and pulled me into him, into his hardened shaft. He was most definitely stirring beneath his pants, pressing against my navel. I met the thrusting of his tongue and we kissed one another with so much fervor, I wasn't sure where my mouth began and his ended.

He lifted me and carried me the few feet that separated us from the Denali and I was suddenly aware of the cold steel of the door against my back. The feel of the Denali beneath me was all it took for me to come to my senses, to come back to reality. It was as if the sharp coldness of the steel completely obviated the sexual waves of bliss that were previously consuming me. Instead, a montage of memories from the last time I got up close and personal with the Denali overtook me. However, those weren't memories that I cherished, by any stretch of the imagination. No, they left me feeling angry and depressed. Although the sex that night was one of the most passionate we'd ever had, it went well beyond angry and turned out to be one of the chief reasons I didn't know how to feel towards Knight.

I brought my hands up to his chest and pushed him away, breaking the seal of our lips as he stared down at me in surprise. "Stop," I said weakly. "We can't do this."

"
Dulcie
, if it feels right," he started.

I shook my head. "It doesn't feel right." As I met his eyes, I could see the hurt in their depths as he seemed to realize things hadn't changed between
us, that
our kiss didn't mean I forgave him for everything that happened before. "There's too much baggage between us."

I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a repeat of the last time we found ourselves alone on an empty stretch of road with only the Denali for company. Would Knight be able to restrain himself? What was more, would I be able to restrain myself? As it was, my self-control was hanging by a thin thread. But one thing I knew for sure was that I would never allow myself to have angry sex with Knight again. The pain and guilt afterwards were just too much.

"I don't want what happened last time," I started but he interrupted me.

"That will never happen again," he said sharply and I could see the self-loathing in his eyes at the mere memory of it. It was clearly evident that Knight hated himself for what happened. I could see as much in his eyes; he couldn't accept knowing that he lost control of himself and took advantage not only of the situation, but also of me.

Without another word, he pulled
a
way from me, even taking two steps back, as if to assure me that nothing more would happen. His eyes were still glowing, and clouded over with naked desire. It was taking all of my self-control not to surrender to him, and allow him to claim me. Even now my body was begging for it. The yearning deep within me had grown into an endless stinging—something that was becoming painful. Basically, my brain was in an all-out war with my body.

Knight shut his eyes tightly and took another few steps from me.

"Get in the car," he said gruffly, sparing me the need to question him as he quickly continued. "I can sense you,
Dulcie
, everything you're ... you're feeling and ... you're not making things easy on me."

No more explanation was necessary. I completely got his gist. Apparently, this was yet another of his Loki abilities: sensing my desire for him. Maybe he could somehow smell my pheromones or something similar. I could see that whatever it was that he
was
picking up on, was taking every ounce of his fortitude to resist. As much as I'd been wrestling with my own needs, Knight was doing the same.
Judging by
his pinched lip expression, his battle was much more difficult than mine was.

He glanced up at me and as his eyes met mine, they glowed fiercely white. He immediately dropped his head and rubbed his eyes. It was as if he was trying to rub the glow right out of them. When he looked over at me again, his eyes were back to their brilliant blue, with only a few specks of white. He took a few deep breaths, his already broad chest inflating until he looked unbelievably large. After exhaling, and apparently regaining control of himself, he faced me again.

"I'm sorry," he started. Then he seemed to be at a loss, making no motion to do anything.

I nodded my acceptance to his apology, and suddenly felt the urge to sit down. I hurried to the passenger side of the Denali, throwing myself into my seat as I wrapped my arms around my chest and berated myself for losing control. I couldn't look at Knight. Instead, I focused on my knees as they nervously bounced. From the periphery of my vision, I watched Knight settling himself into his seat. He closed his door and turned the heat up as high as it would go. My guilt, confusion, and anger with myself all made me forget that I was freezing cold until the heat enveloped me.

"
Dulce
," he started.

"No," I interrupted. "Let's just pretend that never happened."

He cleared his throat and sighed, putting the SUV in drive and starting forward. Evidently, the scanner had opened some sort of portal or passageway because as soon as we drove past the pine tree, which housed the scanner, there was a popping sound and the terrain completely changed. Instead of miles and miles of flat, open land, we were suddenly in the center of a city.

"We're going to have to talk about things,
Dulcie
," Knight said. "If we're going to continue working together ..."

"As far as I'm concerned, nothing
happened," I answered with steel resolve. "There are way bigger things on the horizon for us to worry about. Whatever is going on between you and me isn't important right now, Knight," I finish
ed, suddenly realizing how icy
my words sounded.

His lips were tight, but his eyes burned.
"Understood."

Although I wanted to tell him that I didn't really mean that our situation was unimportant, I couldn't bring myself to utter the words. I just didn't possess the wherewithal, or the energy, or whatever the hell it was to allow me to open up. Instead I gazed outside my window, losing myself in the cityscape, the blaring of loud horns, and the flickering of skyscraper lights. The gentle hum in my ears told me there was
a freeway somewhere close
by.

 

SIX

 

“Shit, we’re late,” Knight said as he led me down a long hallway
with
white linoleum floors
that
terminated in two steel doors. The building was in the center of the city, but just what city I didn't have a clue.
And, apparently,
Knight wasn't about to tell me anytime soon since keeping it secret was "protocol." Judging by the intense traffic and the number of people scurrying to and fro in the city streets, I had to imagine we weren't anywhere near Splendor or the vicinity.

But back to this building, there were twenty-two floors and we took the elevator to floor fourteen. What I found interesting was that although there were twenty-two floors, it didn't seem as if the building was occupied. There were no lights on in any of the windows and the whole thing had an unkempt feeling of neglect to it, with cobwebs in the windows, peeling paint and dust covering everything. Once we reached the fourteenth floor, the elevator spat us out into the dank hallway, which smelled like mildew. I immediately noticed two guards, standing in front of each door. They were tall, almost as tall as Knight and nearly as broad. Both were armed with
Zoobs
, something akin to a machine gun, only these were packed full of dragon blood bullets: instant death to any
Netherworlders
.

At our approach, each of the guards saluted Knight and started to step aside, ostensibly to grant him entrance through the double steel doors. Once their eyes landed on me, however, they hesitated.

“She’s with me,” Knight grumbled as he reached behind, grabbing my upper arm, and yanking me forward as if to prove it. "She's already passed security."

The guards just nodded as one of them reached over and opened the door nearest him. The other did the same, but added a licentious smile right after he checked me out from bust to butt and back up again.

"Thanks," I said acidly as I walked through the doors, now faced with an incredibly large and mostly vacant room. The ceilings had to be twenty feet high; and the stained glass windows emitted fragments of light from the skyscrapers across the way, giving it a churchy sort of feel. Knight started forward, his heavy footsteps sounding like thunder against the ancient, dusty hardwood floors. I brought my gaze down from the ceiling and focused on the conference table in the center of the room. Six people sat around the table, and at our entrance, all of them glanced over at us. I immediately recognized Christina at the head of the table and …
Dia
sitting just beside her?


Dia
?”
I asked out loud as I approached the table, my surprise obvious by my tone.

“Hi, girl,” she responded with a little laugh, pulling out the chair next to her, and patting it encouragingly.
“Funny meeting you here.”

I immediately took the proffered seat, not waiting for Knight to offer me one. “What are you doing here?” I whispered. "Did you just get recruited or something?"

Dia
laughed as she shook her head. “No, no. I've been a council member of The Resistance for a few months. I just couldn't tell you, especially in front of everyone else. We’re top secret, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," I muttered, frowning as I attempted to piece together the latest revelation that
Dia
was part of this team. "I thought you lived on Compound One? Your room is right down the hall from mine?"

She nodded. "Yep, I live on base. I stay in the mix for
intel
and security reasons."

I took a deep breath as the surprise inside of me started to fade away and curiosity over what was soon to unfold took over. I glanced around the table, wondering if there might be any other surprises awaiting me. But I didn't recognize anyone else. Sitting at the opposite head of the table, and beside me, was a man. He was older, maybe in his early fifties, and based on my itchy palms, I could detect that he was a
Drow
.

Drows
were in the same family as elves, but where most elves were known for doing good,
Drows
were known for just the opposite. They were generally regarded to be nefarious in all their dealings so I was pretty surprised to see one sitting here. Similar to their elf cousins,
Drows
were generally tall and slender and dignified looking with pale skin. This one was dressed in black slacks and a deep purple sweater, which complemented the lavender hue of the dark circles beneath his navy blue eyes.

Knight took the seat on the
Drow's
other side as he offered Christina an apologetic smile. "Sorry we're late," he said.

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