Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (17 page)

She shivered in response, arching against him, her
nipples deliciously thick and tight against his chest. Her hips moved the
barest fraction, rubbing those velvety folds against his hand. His body reacted
with a thick surge of lust, and he locked his jaw, wondering if he could
actually get so hard that he caused himself bodily harm.

Just go easy, he cautioned himself, since he didn’t
know how small she was built—but it seemed he was too jacked up for tenderness
or finesse. With a low growl tearing up from the deepest reaches of his chest,
Aiden plunged two long fingers inside her, thrusting them deep. Hard.

And damn near died from the feel of her closing in on
him.

Burying his damp forehead against hers, he made a
feral sound that should have scared the hell out of her, but only had her
clenching around him, the soft, tender tissues burning hotter…slicker,
drenching his hand. She had the tightest little piece he’d ever known, those
lush, cushiony muscles clasping him in a greedy hold as he began to move his
fingers in and out, working her with his hand the way he wanted to take her
with his cock. Or his…tongue. An odd thought for him, and yet Aiden couldn’t
deny that he wanted to drop to his knees, rip her jeans away and bury his face
in those melting folds. He’d lick her with long, ravenous strokes, starved for
the taste of her. Thrust his tongue inside and eat her from the inside out,
taking all of that hot melting sugar into his mouth and swallowing it down.

Touching her like this was heaven, as well as hell.
And if he wasn’t careful, Aiden knew he was going to lose a lot more than his
sanity to this woman.

“So beautiful,” he grunted, sounding like a friggin’
caveman as he watched the way her eyes grew heavy with pleasure, unfocused and
dazed, her fair skin burning with bright splotches of color. He liked the way
her breath caught as he pushed the aching, rigid length of his cock against her
hip, grinding against her while he withdrew his fingers. He teased them around
the small, slick opening, his mind seared by thoughts of how good it was going
to feel when he was kneeling between her splayed thighs. She writhed, watching
him through the thick fringe of her lashes as she pushed against his hand,
silently begging him to fill her up again.

And then not so silently as she groaned,
“Aiden…please. More.”

With a low, wicked rumble of laughter, he plunged his
fingers back inside, forcing her to take them deeper just as he caught her clit
with his thumb. Torturing the swollen, tiny knot with wet, circular strokes, he
moved his fingers faster…harder, positive that her shyness would get the better
of her and she’d close her eyes when she came. But she didn’t. No, she stared
right back at him, every naked emotion and dazzling shock of pleasure burning
right there in her wide gaze as it crashed through her, the most breathtaking
thing he’d ever seen. Her head tilted back into his hand, her pink face covered
with a fine sheen of sweat as she sank her teeth into her lower lip to keep
from crying out, and he realized in that moment that making Olivia Harcourt
come apart in his arms was something he could easily get addicted to.

Something he could come to need again. And again.

“I mean it, Liv. You’re so damn beautiful.” He fisted
his hand in her hair as he covered her mouth with his. He nipped at her bottom
lip, unable to resist that plump, succulent flesh. Then he went deep, ravaging
the sweet, moist well that lay within, all the while fighting for control. But
it wasn’t easy. Explicit images were firing through his brain, pushing
him…daring him to take what he wanted. What the savage predator prowling within
his body demanded.

Want it, the animal snarled. Need it. Now.

Shoving himself against her hip, hard, Aiden struggled
to stay in control…while doing his best to calculate how quickly he could get
them back to the room, where they could finish what they’d started. As the last
tremors of her orgasm slowly fluttered around his fingers, he pulled his other
hand from her hair, ready to sweep her up into his arms and run for the room,
when an eerie chill swept over his back. Reacting instantly to the possible
threat of danger, Aiden quickly pulled his hand from her jeans, a deep,
guttural snarl on his lips as he spun around, both the animal and man ready to
launch an attack and protect her with his body. With his life.

But there was nothing there.

“What is it?” she whispered from behind him, the
rustling sounds telling him that she was buttoning her jeans. “The C-Casus?”

“I don’t think so.” Soft. Savage. The huskily spoken
words were almost silent as he took a step toward the woods, his eyes narrowed
on the thick line of trees. He couldn’t see what was there, but he could smell
the rank stench of its rotting flesh. Knowing something bad was about to
happen, Aiden started to order Olivia to run—but he was already too late.
Before the first word had even left his mouth, a powerful blow to his chest
threw him backward, the heavy weight of his body slamming her against the side
of the truck. His assailant was nothing more than a pale blur as it flew
through the air, moving with lightning speed, impossible to follow. Within
seconds he was hit with a rapid sequence of strikes, the blows slamming into
his stomach and chest, and he spun around, leaving his back exposed to the
attack so that he could shove Olivia away from him. She stumbled, but quickly
righted herself, turning to stare with wide, terrified eyes.

“Run!” he roared, growling as claws scraped along his
right side.

She shook her head, fiery strands of hair flying
around her pale face. “No way. I’m not leaving you!”

“Get the hell out of here!” He shouted the warning as
he whipped around, determined to take out whatever was after them before the
fool woman got herself killed. The air ahead of him blurred, as if something
moving at high speed was coming at him again, and then a lethal set of claws
slashed across the top of his right thigh, ripping through the denim and flesh,
cutting all the way down to the bone. He snarled, lashing out with a hard side
kick that should have knocked whatever was attacking him on its ass, but his
foot went right through it. Wondering what the hell he was up against, Aiden
tried to punch the thing as it sped past, but it was like shoving his fist
through a thick, sticky mist.

The air filled with a high, demonic sound of laughter,
and then something began to take shape about five feet in front of him,
hovering just above the ground, the figure hazy…but visible, as if the creature
were pulling itself into a tangible form. It stood as tall as Aiden, with pale
white skin like a cadaver, every inch of its skeletal form covered with what
appeared to be vicious bite marks, chunks of skin actually missing in some
places, though the wounds no longer bled. Its head was smooth, hairless, with
only two small horns protruding from its temples, its eyes burning within its
white face like two gleaming yellow orbs, its mouth filled with sharp, jagged
fangs.

Leaning its head back, it sniffed at the morning air.
“You don’t smell as good as a Kenly, but you’ll do, Watchman. You’ll do.”

A Kenly? They were one of the ancient clans that had
been hunted nearly to extinction by a rival clan known as the Regan. Aiden had
come into contact with a few Regan over the years, but he knew they didn’t look
like this son of a bitch. And yet he could see traces of the Regan’s
characteristics in the creature’s grisly face. Pointed ears. Long nose. Deeply
dimpled chin.

His fingers itched with the impulse to release his
lethal claws, but he held back, unsure how Olivia would react.

Stupid to worry about it. She’s going to see you go
“animal” sooner or later. Might as well be now.

Popping his jaw, he flexed his fingers at his sides,
his eyes narrowed as he searched for its weakness…a way he could take it apart.
Just off to its right he spotted Olivia creeping up behind it, a fallen tree
limb that the wind had blown into the parking lot clutched tight in her grasp.
Fury welled within him like a volcanic blast, mixing dangerously with his fear
for her safety, the thunderous roar of his heart banging inside his head. She
thought she was sneaking up on the creature, but Aiden could tell from the look
in its yellow eyes that it knew she was there.

“Goddamn it, I said to get your ass out of here!” he
snarled, but the bastard was already whipping toward her, cracking her against
the side of her head with the flat of its palm. She hit the ground hard, going
down on her side, and Aiden exploded with rage, his claws instantly spearing
through the tips of his fingers as he charged. But it was on the move again,
rushing through the air like a bullet, nearly impossible to track.

Groaning, Olivia managed to get herself up on her
hands and knees. Aiden made a move toward her, but the thing cut him off,
hovering in front of him like a specter. It hit him with a backhanded smack
that snapped his head to the side, busting his lip, then kicked him dead center
in his chest again, knocking him back on his ass. “I shouldn’t be here,” it
hissed in a soft, lisping voice as it floated close to his face, its rank
breath making him gag. “Not strong enough yet to do what needs to be done. But
I just wanted to get close. See for myself what the Watchmen are like now.”

“Why me?” he snarled, hoping that if he could keep its
attention focused on him, then Olivia would wise up and finally get herself out
of there.

“I’ve been looking for you. Looking and looking and
looking,” it sang in that eerie voice that made chills break out over his skin.
“See, I’ve been assigned to your breed. Which means that you and I are going to
have a little fun together.”

“I doubt that.” Aiden gave it a mocking smile. “I make
it a point not to screw around with things that smell like you.”

Hatred hardened its expression, its yellow eyes
slitting like a serpent’s. “You think you know so much, but you know nothing.
Nothing at all about what’s going to happen to you.”

“Yeah?” He slowly moved to his feet. “Then explain it
to me. I’m dying of curiosity over here.”

It licked its lips, snickering softly under its
breath. “Be careful, Watchman. You know what they say about how curiosity
killed the cat.”

“I’m willing to take my chances,” he muttered, waiting
for the moment to strike, the creature growing more solid with each second that
passed. Aware of Olivia now standing a few feet behind him, Aiden accepted the
fact that she obviously wasn’t going to run so long as she thought he was in
danger. His only hope was to attack while the thing was in this semisolid form,
and hope that he was able to hurt it.

Just a little more, he thought, flexing his long,
razor-sharp claws at his sides, his muscles coiling for action. A little more…

Launching his assault, Aiden burst forward, his right
arm swinging in a wide arc that tore his claws across the creature’s white
stomach, drawing a spray of slick black ooze that seemed too thick to be blood,
the noxious odor burning his nose. Its clawed hands pressed against the wound
as it stumbled back, and Aiden was able to get in another strike across its
pale chest before it levitated, settling onto one of the high branches of an
ancient oak tree. Craning his neck, he watched with a raw, deadly rage as it
curled its long body in on itself, a low, mewling sound scraping from its
throat. Then, without warning, it shot from the branch, heading straight toward
him.

Aiden braced his feet for the blow. He didn’t dare move,
unwilling to take the risk that he might draw its attention back to Olivia. He
flexed his claws again, planning to go for its throat the moment it struck,
when Noah suddenly came out of nowhere and slammed into its side, taking it to
the ground. It screeched like a wet cat as they tumbled across the gritty
asphalt. Noah came out on top, pinning it beneath his body as the twin knives
he always carried slashed toward its abdomen and chest. The human held the
blades in his clenched fists, with his thumbs at the end of the hilts, slicing
from one side to the other—though he had no better luck than Aiden in killing
the thing. It snarled, then smashed its fist upward, punching Noah’s head back
with a sharp crack to the jaw, stunning him. The next hit caught Noah in the
chest, the blow so powerful it sent him flying through the air, until he
crashed against the side of a nearby minivan, one of his knives skidding across
the pavement.

From the corner of his eye Aiden could see Kellan
cautiously approaching between two parked cars. The Lycan took hold of Olivia’s
arm, jerking her behind the shelter of his body, while he clutched a pale-faced
Jamie in his arms, the Marker still hanging around her neck, glinting in the
morning sunlight.

As if sensing the focus of Aiden’s attention, the
creature turned its pale head toward the group. At first it curled its lip,
snarling at Kellan as he slowly backed away, but then it went silent, its eyes
widening as it caught sight of the ornate cross. But it didn’t make a move to
go toward it…or them. Instead, it cocked its head a little to the side, a
sickening smile curling across the thin line of its mouth as it stared with a
dazzled absorption. With its attention distracted by the Marker, Aiden
retracted his claws, pulled his gun from behind his back and fired off a head
shot just as a semi out on the highway conveniently blared its horn, covering
the blast.