CHAPTER SIX
The scream erupted sometime in the middle of the night and jerked Nik from his sleep, forcing him to sit upright and reach for the gun he usually kept next to him. It took a full three seconds for him to remember he wasn’t in his bed and that the scream was coming from the next room and was definitely a female in distress.
He made it to the door in record time only to find the woman in the next room, sitting on the sofa amongst a tangle of sheets, her body illuminated by the moonlight streaming in. Her dark hair had escaped from its long braid and her body visibly shook. When he pulled her into his arms, murmuring words of comfort, she pushed away from him at first, then settled against him.
“Tell me what happened.” He stroked her hair, cradling her against him as if she were a child, but she was definitely not a child. The way his body instantly reacted to hers would have told him that even if he’d been blind. Every curve melted against him, molding to his hands as if she were made for him. He swallowed a groan, knowing now was neither the time nor place, but his body had other ideas.
She sobbed against him, her body shaking, her T-shirt a flimsy barrier against his bare chest. He could feel her breasts pressing against him, her nipples teasing against the cotton fabric and making his head swirl with possibilities. She hadn’t spoken yet, her voice lingering somewhere between her sobs and the words she was trying to force out.
“Shhh,” he muttered against her, his lips much closer to her ear than he wanted. Her scent invaded his brain and all he could think about was lowering his lips to hers and erasing whatever was causing her distress.
“Sorry. Sometimes I forget…” She stopped, her breath lodging in her throat, her words still strained. Pulling away from him, she wiped her eyes, then looked up at him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. You need your rest.”
“Whatever caused the dream was not intentional. There’s no need for an apology.” He wanted to pull her to him again, but she was settling across the sofa from him, closing in on herself, wrapping her arms around her body.
“How are you feeling? How’s your head?”
“I don’t want to talk about my head. I want to talk about what caused you to cry out. That wasn’t a nightmare you fabricated from nothing. Something has happened to you.”
When she tucked her feet up under her and leaned back against the sofa, he knew he was right. Someone had hurt her, and the thought caused a blind rage to bubble up inside him. His fingers closed over fists and the desire to punch the living hell out of whoever had hurt her boiled over.
“Tell me.” The words were almost a growl, but the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. Swallowing his rage, he reached out to her, touching her arm, turning her wrist over in his hand. Something about the way the moonlight struck her wrist made the deep red marks practically jump off her skin. Those marks were not self-inflicted. Someone had done that to her. The rage was back and even stronger than before.
“Tell me who did this to you.” It wasn’t a request, but the demand was tempered with patience. When she tried to pull away from him, he held her forearm, refusing to let her go.
“It’s nothing.” She pulled again, but he held firm.
“It’s something. It caused you to wake up screaming. Someone did this to you. I want to know the name of the bastard I’m going to kill.”
“You’ll have to make a list.” This time when she pulled away, he let her go.
“Then you can start with the first name you can think of and fill in the blanks later. I swear to you I will kill whoever did this to you.” The boiling rage was replaced with ice and the need to calmly, coolly destroy.
“There are things about me you don’t know, things that no one knows.”
“You know my deepest, darkest secret. You know what I am, about the beast I keep inside me. And you didn’t bat an eye discussing it. Let me do the same thing for you.”
She leaned into his hand when he reached out and touched it to her cheek. In that moment, he realized he would die for this woman even though he didn’t even know her name. She spoke to something in him that was so primal, so much a part of him that he couldn’t explain or deny it. When she turned those soft eyes at him and he saw the sadness in there, the pain she held, he knew he had to protect her. Whoever had hurt her would pay, and he would make sure it was a painful ordeal.
“Let me inside,” he whispered, leaning forward, cornering her on the sofa so she couldn’t move. Putting one hand on each side of her body, he trapped her there and didn’t stop leaning into her until their breathing aligned and her breath was washing over his face. “Tell me,” he coaxed, the words floating out to caress her cheek.
“If I tell you, you have to promise me you won’t go after them. I’m safe now. Bringing back the past will only stir up trouble.”
He couldn’t make that promise. There was no way he could make that promise when the only thing he wanted to do was kill whoever had hurt her. “I can’t promise you that if you don’t tell me what’s going on. Tell me, and then I may give you my word.”
“You may, but you can’t promise for sure.”
“You saved my life. When you pulled me out of the swamps the other day, you saved my life. And I owe you for that. I owe you for bringing me back to life.”
Her tongue darted out over her bottom lip and it took every ounce of strength he had not to lean in and run his tongue along the same trail. When she raised her eyes back to his, they seemed to look straight into his soul. The shiver running through him went straight to his cock. He wanted to sink it into her body and bring them both to the edges of pleasure, to replace all the pain in both their lives.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. But you have to give me some space.”
He didn’t want to give her space. The last thing he wanted was to move away from her, but he found himself pulling away, giving her what she wanted. Dragging a hand through his hair, he settled against the back of the sofa, his leg touching hers. “This is all the space I can give you. Now, please, tell me.”
She swallowed hard and let out a long, low sigh. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Start wherever you feel comfortable.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
She stared straight ahead, giving as few details as possible while still telling him the heart of the story. There was no way she would share the hours of misery, the days of being locked away in the dark, not knowing when she would ever be able to feel the grass beneath her feet. She needed the earth, needed nature, and had been shut off from it for so long. Her spirit had broken, and she’d known she had to get away.
He also didn’t need to know about the deaths, the murder charges, the legal battle. None of that would make any difference anyway. All he needed to know was that someone out there was after her. She also wasn’t ready to share her electric fingers with him or what would happen to him if she touched him and focused her energy on pulling his soul from his body. Bare minimum. That’s all he needed.
As she told him the story, he turned toward her, his eyes focused intently on her, but she didn’t turn to look at him. The last thing she wanted was to see a look of pity there. She didn’t need his pity or his help. All she needed was to remain safe here in the swamps where no one could find her.
When she told him what happened to her wrists, the reasons why she had deep red scars there and on her ankles, she looked down at his hands and saw how they had balled into tight fists. His entire body stiffened and she knew the rage he had expressed earlier was pulsing through him. A low growl began reverberating from his chest and soon filled the room. His nails began growing, his fingers elongating.
“Fuck!” he cried out the word, but it didn’t sound human. When his feet hit the floor, he turned his back on her. “I will murder every one of them.” The words were punctuated, and she knew he meant them, could feel his rage as if it were palpable.
“I didn’t tell you this so you would become a vigilante. I don’t need a knight in shining armor.”
When he turned to face her, his eyes were glowing blue and were focused on her, the predatory look sending a shiver through her. “I will protect you with my life.” Fangs made the words come out garbled. “I will hunt down everyone who has harmed you.”
“I don’t want you to. I just want you to heal and then I want you to—”
“I am not leaving until I know you will be safe.”
Being this close to him was too much, was playing games with all her sensibilities. The only thing she wanted to do was reach out and touch him, see how soft his lips would be if he pressed them to hers.
“Juliette,” she managed, her tongue darting out across her bottom lip, giving him the name she had adopted five years ago, after all this was over and she had to create a new life. “My name is Juliette. Now that you know my darkest secret, I guess my name isn’t such a big deal.”
He grinned, his eyes lighting up with the motion. Those soft, sensual lips turned up in an invitation. “I’m Nik. And it seems we both know each other’s darkest secrets.”
He didn’t know all of it. How could she tell him what she’d been forced to do? The things she had done to innocent people in order to save her life? If he knew those things, he wouldn’t be looking at her right now as if he wanted to sink himself into her. Just the thought of having his hands on her, of having his body above her, inside her, was enough to make her wet with longing. It had been so long since she’d had sex, and she was pretty sure sex with Nik would be otherworldly. It would be unlike anything she’d ever experienced before and would likely ever experience again.
Need coursed through her in a way she couldn’t deny any longer. If he would be gone soon, she at least wanted a moment with him, to be able to wrap her arms around him and feel something for a change. It would be wonderful to feel anything aside from the fear and sense of paranoia which seemed to take up every waking moment. She knew he wanted her, she could tell that much from the way he looked at her, from the way he was so protective of her, from the way his cock hardened any time she was near him.
She cleared her throat. “I know you’ll be leaving soon. Going back to whatever it was that brought you here. I’m sure you have reason for revenge, too. Before you go…” Her words trailed off as she reached out to him, placing her hand against his chest, then shifting her body so she was practically sitting in his lap. “I want to be with you. I want to have something to remember after you’re gone. I want to be able to close my eyes and feel you here with me.”
The rumble he emitted from his throat was filled with lust and primal desire and sent a shiver all the way through her body. When he turned and captured her wrists, looking straight into her eyes, she saw those feelings emanating from him.
“You have no idea how much I want you. All the things I want to do with you. But I don’t want to do them in order to become a memory.”
He covered one wrist with his mouth, his teeth grazing against the scars there. She closed her eyes and let the feeling sink in, let the pleasure of his touch replace all the pain her wrists had felt for so long. He could take away every ounce of pain she’d ever felt, replacing it with need, with desire, with a kind of fulfillment she never thought she’d experience. She had been running for too long, and now it was time to feel.
When he shifted, his body covered hers, pinning her against the sofa. The shorts and T-shirt she wore were so flimsy beneath him they did little to cover her body. His hard chest pressed into hers, causing her nipples to harden, and she could feel the wiry hair on his thighs rub against hers. Closing her eyes, she gave in to the sensations surrounding her, gave in to him. A moan escaped her throat before she could stop it, and she was rewarded with one of his crooked grins, his blue eyes blazing in the darkness. Heat surged through her when his hands moved from her wrists and made their way down to her waist, moving her so her core was pressed against his cock.
Being with Nik was definitely going to replace any fear, any panic she’d ever felt. Sliding her hands along his chest, she allowed herself to feel, to take in all his masculine strength, the protective urges he had toward her.
“I’m going to take away all your pain,” he murmured against her ear, his lips and teeth teasing her skin.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Juliette melted against him. There was no point in trying to deny what she felt deep inside her every time he was near. She wanted him with a need stronger than anything she’d ever felt. She couldn’t think about tomorrow and what would happen when he had to leave. All she could think about was now and how it would feel to have his hands on her, to have him moving inside her body.
His hand slid beneath her T-shirt and cupped her breast before giving the nipple a light squeeze. It was enough to send fire through her veins, the molten heat working its way to her core. Her breath hung in her throat, and she couldn’t have moaned if she’d wanted to. The sensation was so intense it cut off all sounds from her body. When he tugged her T-shirt up and replaced his hand with his mouth, covering her nipple with his tongue, sending wicked tremors through her body, she was finally able to gasp, finally able to push out a sound.
Settling beneath him, she spread her legs, making room for him to climb on top of her, to cover her with his body. Her back arched, giving him more access to her breasts as his mouth covered one and his hand covered the other. She could feel his cock press against her through his pajama pants. His hard length ground into her, pressing her clit flat, sending another thread of need through her body.
Her nails sought out his back, digging into his skin, dragging along those black lines, unintentionally drawing blood with the movement. She felt the warm liquid against her fingertips and knew she had gone too far. At the same time, he let out a low growl, his eyes flashing that bright, crystal blue before he covered her mouth with his again, letting the rumbling in his throat make its way into her body.
She quaked from head to toe with anticipation when his hands dipped lower, trailing across her belly, sliding beneath the waistband of her pants, seeking her out. Long calloused fingers pressed against her soft folds, the sensation pushing her to the edge, daring her to fall right off, to come from the slightest touch of his hand.
“Not yet,” he warned, his voice tinged with a slight purring resonance, making him sound more animal than human. “I want to see you. All of you.”
What ordinarily would have shot a shiver of fear through her, the thought of being naked and exposed to a stranger—and he was certainly still a stranger no matter what her body was telling her—made her only want to please him more. She wanted him to uncover all of her secrets, to delve into her body and pull out her soul, lay her raw and open until he could see every part of what she was.
He slid off her, those expert hands pulling her pants and panties down with the movement. Positioning her on the edge of the sofa, he crawled to the floor and placed her legs on his shoulders. Without a warning, he leaned forward, his tongue brushing against her, flicking her clit, causing her hands to fist in the blanket she’d abandoned earlier. Raw need swept over her body. All she wanted was to feel him inside her, to feel him on top of her, all around her. Teeth grazed against her sensitive nub, and she couldn’t stop the eruption inside her that poured out at her opening.
His fingers teased against her pussy, dipping inside just enough to make her want more. She arched against him and a low vibration shot from his throat to cover her, sending her over the edge again.
“That’s it. Come for me. Let me heal you the way you healed me.”
Sliding his finger all the way inside her, he continued to tease against her clit with his tongue and teeth, each movement sending another wave of pleasure sweeping from head to toe. She had never come so many times before, and he hadn’t even given her what she wanted most. She could only imagine what would happen when he finally slid his cock into her.
“I can’t wait any longer,” he murmured against her before raising himself up.
Her ass hung off the edge of the sofa, and he kneeled in front of her, putting his cock right against her pussy. When he slid into her, it was heaven and hell at the same time, a delicious ache stretching her and causing her head to spin. If he moved again, she would die, she was pretty sure of it. He must have felt it, too, because he didn’t move. He remained perfectly still, his cock embedded in her, his body flush against hers.
“God, you feel so good.”
She couldn’t speak to answer him, to tell him that ‘good’ was a poor excuse of a word for what she was feeling.
Complete.
The word was there on the edge of her mind, teasing and tormenting her, making her think that a stranger could do this to her, could make her feel all the things she’d never felt before.
He slid out of her, keeping just the head of his cock inside her, then he pushed back inside in one swift motion. She opened for him, her pussy relaxing, then grabbing onto him, squeezing as if her life depended on keeping him inside her. He looked down at her, his fingers teasing her clit as he moved in and out. Her head spun from the dizzying sensation of him fucking her, pushing her beyond the edge, taking her places she had never been, her eyes filling with colors she had never seen.
Somewhere in the mix, he pulled her off the sofa and into his lap. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she rocked back and forth, up and down, keeping their bodies connected. He captured her mouth with his and purred into her throat as his cock twitched within her. She could feel the exact moment when his orgasm built, knew when he was going to spill himself inside her. And she wanted it, wanted all of it, wanted everything he had to give.
His hands wrapped in her hair, holding her head still, not allowing her to move as his tongue flicked inside her mouth, his teeth teasing against her bottom lip. When he came, it was with an explosion and a growl that shook the walls of the cabin, sending a wave of pleasure through her. Her orgasm quaked around him and she milked him, the pulsing of her pussy grabbing and releasing his cock, taking everything.
The world finally stopped spinning amidst a shower of slow kisses trailing down her neck, her cheeks, across her forehead. The words he spoke to her were of some other language, but they had the same impact as if they had been English. This was something special, something beyond anything she’d ever known. And she knew he felt it too.