Horse (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club Book 6) (12 page)

Gabby

Why was I nervous? I’ve had sex with royalty before, but something about Nathan had set every nerve in my body on fire the other day, and now I could barely walk beside him as he helped me down from the shiny black Renault Sherpa and walked me to the remote mountain cabin he’d rented.

Apparently, he doesn’t take many people to his house, and since mine still had capsaicin all over the bedroom, he said this would be perfect.

He lifted me as we neared the front steps and carried me up them. He keyed in a combination with one hand and opened the door, and held me like a baby as he walked in. I expected him to take me straight to the bed and toss me onto it but I was surprised to see two glasses and a bottle of wine on a sofa table in the living room.

He’d apparently opened the wine earlier, and now he only had to take the glass stopper out of the top to poor the rich, red wine into the glasses, and he continued to hold me as he did so.

When he finally sat, he arranged me on his lap and then offered me a glass of wine. I accepted it, but waited for him to take a drink before I did. In formal situations, one doesn’t drink until royalty does. His energy had changed so much I wanted to call him Your Majesty, and I hadn’t felt the need until now.

“During sex, the energy of the Amakhosi is stronger,” he told me, his gaze locked on mine. “I think you’re feeling it now, and it’ll only get more intense as we go. You can call me Sir, Your Highness, or Your Majesty. I’d rather you not call me My Lord, or Master.”

I nodded because I didn’t trust my voice, and he kissed my forehead. “Don’t be afraid of me, little bunny. It’ll be good, but I can’t just take off the mantle of King.”

I took a breath and forced myself to speak. “I know, Your Majesty. I’ve been with other Kings. I’m okay — it’s just sometimes my nervous system shuts down.”

His smile was gentle. “I know your original name, and I know where you fall in the royal line. I also know the royal family is a little afraid of you because you’re the first of them in millennia to have been born in human form.”

“Afraid of me, Your Highness?”

“There are all kinds of legends about royal Rabbits who are born as humans, and it’s been so long since it’s been allowed to happen.” He shook his head. “I’ll admit I’m looking forward to the energy exchange, to see what I feel when your shields go down.”

“Is that why the Rabbit King took such an interest in me, Sir?”

“I wouldn’t want to speak for him, Gabriella. Drink your wine.”

“You know I’m a sure thing, right? You don’t need the wine, Your Majesty.”

“And yet, I wanted to talk first, as civilized humans before we get all animal with each other.”

I took another sip of wine and turned on his lap so I straddled his legs and faced him. “I want to kiss you, Your Majesty.”

He’d been somber before, but I saw joy in his eyes as he smiled now. “You have permission to show affection in any way you want, little bunny.”

My gaze stayed locked onto his as I took another drink of wine and set my glass on the sofa table behind his head. I went up on my knees and touched his cheek before bringing my lips to his. His skin was hot, his scent was primal. An unapologetic alpha male. A King. And yet he let me kiss him, let me brush his lips with mine, and opened for me when I pressed my tongue in — and I wondered how long he’d let me play.

My answer? Not long, and I melted inside when his hand came to the back of my head and he took control. This cat knew exactly what he wanted, and while he overwhelmed my senses, I could tell he was still being careful with me.

But I didn’t want careful, I wanted
all
of His Majesty, and I nipped at his lip so my teeth gently grazed it without hurting. A deep, low growl poured out of him and sent heat straight to my clit. I lifted my hands and ran them through his thick, yellow-blond hair as his mouth crashed back into mine and he stopped being gentle.

I don’t remember the sequence of events that led to us in the bedroom, naked, his cock inside me as he slid in and out. So graceful, as if he didn’t have the same kind of joints as the rest of us. He moved like a ballet dancer. Or, more appropriately, like a cat slinking through the grass.

He rode me so close to orgasm, so many times, and then slowed and changed tactics until I lost the edge.

And then he brought me back again.
And again.

He was gentle at times, wild at times, but always,
always
, controlled. I wanted to make him lose his iron control, and yet I knew doing so would be courting danger.

And I needed to come
so
badly. Taken to the edge over and over with no relief had me so frustrated, if he’d been anyone else I’d have been cussing them by now. However, he’d been right about the energy of the Amakhosi, so no matter how frustrated he made me, all I could do was beg and plead. Showing annoyance wasn’t an option, much less anger.

He was occasionally playful when I needed him to be, but always so fucking
intense
. And yet, he never scared me.

Perhaps Horse has spoiled me by giving me countless orgasms before we come together, or perhaps His Majesty is just a sadist who is very good at taking people to their mental limits, because he kept me on edge until I careened with sensations and I thought I’d lose my mind.

And when I was finally in danger of losing it, inches from the insanity of demanding The Lion King do my bidding, he said, “I want your ass, little bunny.”

And because he wanted it, I wanted it.

I smelled the olive oil when he opened the container, and breathed a sigh of relief he wasn’t using chemical-laden store-bought lube. Seconds later, though, I stopped breathing as he pressed his slick cock against my entrance. “I know you can take me, Gabriella. Breathe through it.”

His Majesty is large everywhere, and taking me without stretching me with his fingers first would make this hurt all the more… and yet, because he wanted it, I craved it.

I wanted to hurt for him, to squeeze him as he forced me open in my most intimate of places.

I nodded and tried to relax for him, and then squealed when his head breached the outer ring of muscles and his hard length began a steady push into me.

“That’s it. Your body’s made for fucking, and you were blessed with a wonderful mind as well. Tell me how bad you want to come, little bunny.”

“So bad, Your Majesty. God, if I don’t come soon my mind is going to splinter.
Please
, Your Highness!”

He’d positioned me as a lion would be taken from behind — with my knees bent under my torso instead of my being on all fours — but the rabbit in me stretched my arms over my head and lengthened my spine. Apparently, he liked that, and I loved the long, low groan he gave. More growl than groan, with a hint of a roar in it.

He was taking his time, but I really preferred to just get this part over with, so I said, “
Fuck
, Your Majesty. We both know you won’t injure me, because Rabbits don’t tear. Just get this part over with? Please?”

With one savage thrust he was suddenly buried balls deep in me, and I gave a blood curdling scream of pain as he pulled out and shoved himself back in. It burned and stretched and hurt, and the friction on top of it was too much… and yet I didn’t want it to stop. I wanted him to take his pleasure, wanted him to pound me until I couldn’t think straight. I needed to be fucked and used, and I needed this man — the Amakhosi — to orgasm with me in ways I hadn’t understood when he’d carried me into the cabin.

Desire crawled over every inch of my skin. I needed this like I needed oxygen, and I arched my spine to give him easier access, to incite him to shove harder. Deeper wasn’t possible, he was already entering me fully with every thrust.

When I tried to reach down to play with my clit, he grabbed my wrists and told me to keep them over my head. When I begged for release, he told me I’d come when he was ready for me to.

He fucked me until the sun went down, and then kept fucking me into the night, but I wanted it to go on forever and ever because with each thrust he pushed me closer and closer to orgasm, higher and higher, showering me with more and more bliss as he pumped and pumped and pumped.

When he finally reached around to my clit and told me to come, my release ripped through me like the claws of his beast. His Majesty kept me at the apex of my release forever, until I thought I’d pass out from lack of oxygen because I couldn’t catch my breath.

Only then did he finally come, deep in my ass. He roared so loudly I understood why he’d made a point of telling me no one was around for miles.

And my mind imploded as his shields came down. He never lost total control, but he let it slip for a few seconds and words can’t touch what I saw and felt during the energy exchange. Centuries of experience from a man who is both monster and saint, which means he’s neither while being both. Cynical and loving, harsh and kind, and so much heartache in his soul I wasn’t sure how he’d ever found it in him to care for the people in his life now. The mantle of his office weighed heavy on him, and yet he’d found a life outside of being the Amakhosi, too.

I slept in his arms for hours, and when I awakened we relaxed in the hot tub together. “You know things about me that few people do,” he commented.

Now that we were no longer having sex, I could see him as Nathan once more, instead of the powerful King, and I told him, “I’m so sorry anyone has had to live through the heartache you have, and I’m glad you’ve found a way to rise above it. I can’t imagine how you managed.”

“You have no idea how strong you are, Gabriella. Life handed you a crappy childhood but you’ve risen above it. You have your shit together, so just keep your eye on the plan you’ve set for yourself. Stay in school, and don’t neglect your sexual needs. You
can
go a few weeks without, but you shouldn’t, and you need to be with someone besides Horse at least once a week — preferably twice a week. I’ll be more than happy to work out a time to be with you once or twice a month, but you need a variety of shifters and we can’t all be predators.” He kissed my nose. “I’ve enjoyed our time together, and in the future I’ll let you come to my house. It may be that you’ll have to meet me late at night, and then we’ll have work and school the next day so it’ll just be a fuck and sleep evening, but I trust you enough to sleep with you beside me, Gabriella, and there are only a handful allowed to do so.”

He curled a strand of my hair around his finger, careful not to pull it. “There’s something else, little bunny, and perhaps it isn’t my place to say anything, but I would advise you to stay in this realm and not go to Faerie for a while. You run the risk of taking the Crown from your Rabbit King — perhaps not this year or next, but whenever you find your true power you’ll have to decide whether to stay here and be happy with the life you’ve created, or return to Faerie and rule your people as Queen. I saw you from a distance when you first returned to this realm, and your energy signature is different enough now, I believe the Rabbit King will see you as a threat. He didn’t before because you weren’t.”

“What’s changed?”

“You’ve fought for your life, you’ve mated with a Bear, you’ve made friends on your own without a trusted loved one overseeing your actions.” He sighed. “And being forced to face the FBI team who traumatized you allowed you to move past the emotions holding you back. You’re growing up, Gabriella.”

Four months later

Horse

Gabby was late, and I was worried. She had two night classes this semester, and I hated knowing she was walking around downtown alone after dark, but she insisted she could do it without a bodyguard. She had a different apartment near campus, and we spent most every night together, we just went back and forth from my house to her apartment, depending on our schedules. I had to admit the apartment close to her school and my work was more convenient, but I’d never give up my underground den. I
needed
the space and the security, the feeling of mother earth all around me.

Gabby has several regular sexual partners, and another three or four occasional ones, now. Her regular partners include a Stallion who works for Aaron Drake, a Swan she met while visiting Sophia, a Leopard she has an English lit class with, the Amakhosi, a Deer who lives in an enclave not too far away, and a Crow. Deer can’t really deal with human society, their nervous systems just can’t handle it, so they live in little communities all to themselves. Aaron Drake set her up with one of them, though, and I was thankful he had because the Deer seemed to smooth her energy out better than anyone else.

She tells me when she has plans with one of them, though, and she’d intended to come to me after class.

I called her cellphone and it went to voicemail.
Again
.

I couldn’t sit still any longer, so I walked towards her class, hoping to run into her.

* * * *

Gabby

My mind was too busy going over tonight’s lecture on mission-oriented serial killers, and I wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings. Supremely stupid, in retrospect — considering what I was mulling over I should’ve been jumping at shadows. However, when I smelled the humans and their guns, I didn’t expect them to threaten me. I smell guns on humans all the time and it never means anything.

However, this time, one of them put the cold steel to my head as another grabbed my wrists and pulled them behind my back. My heart beat wildly in my chest as I decided on the best course of action. I have strong legs and can run fast, but my arms were pulled up so high on my back it hurt too bad to consider jerking free — plus, I wasn’t sure I’d survive a headshot. In fact, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t.

Horse has told me not to come home the same way every night, but I hadn’t been thinking tonight and I’d come the shortest way — through a tight alley. The boys pushed me into a doorway and my heart skipped several beats when the door slammed shut behind us. One of them stuffed cloth into my mouth as the other shoved me to my knees and pulled my skirt up. I’d started wearing them for Horse, and discovered I liked the freedom. This one came to the top of my boots, and the thug pushed it over my head before he tried to rip my panties off. The fabric wouldn’t tear as he wanted and it pissed him off, and fear spiked through my veins as I heard him open a knife.

I’m stronger than humans, but since I’m no longer full of only Horse’s energy, I’m back to freeze or flee, and since I couldn’t easily flee, I froze.

My body was ready for sex even though my mind rebelled, and he commented on how wet I was as his cock jammed into me. Thankfully, I must have done it for him and within a dozen thrusts he pushed in and came.

The energy transfer happened even though I didn’t orgasm, and I did what I said I’d never do.

I drained a human.

His power surged through my veins. Dirty, ugly, jealous, hateful energy from a person with absolutely no self-confidence. And yet, even with his distasteful power fueling my own life force, it felt good. It had been his, now it was
mine
, and I could do with it as I pleased. I stopped pulling it from him just before he was dead, and as the room came back into focus I realized the other human was screaming at me and his gun was once again pressed against my temple. I knocked it away and put my hands on his chest, and drained him, also. I took both of their life forces, and felt my own growing, and growing.

Somehow, I stopped myself just before the second human was dead, too, but in the moments while I took their life force into my body — no exchange here, I fucking
drained
them — I knew what my father had felt. It could easily be addicting, and part of me wanted to take in the rest of their energy so I’d feel even better, but I turned away from them and straightened my skirt.

I saw my thong on the floor, where it’d been thrown after it was finally cut, and I grabbed it and found my purse before running out the door and down the alley at speeds no human could’ve managed. I ducked into a dark doorway just before I got to the street, and looked around to see if anyone had seen. I didn’t see or smell anyone, so I adjusted my clothes, put the thong inside my purse, and stepped into the street. I pulled my phone from my bag and saw a couple of missed calls from Horse — I hadn’t turned the ringer back on after class. I called him back and told him where I was, and kept walking until he got to me.

He knew something was wrong and picked me up. I rested my head on his shoulder and told him, “He raped me. A human raped me, and I drained him.”

He kept walking but I felt his energy change to worry instead of the repulsion and disgust I’d expected. “You killed him?”

“I stopped just before they were dead.”

“They?”

“We can’t go back. I need to know how they are, but we can’t go back.”

“We’ll go to the RTMC compound so I can call Drake on an encrypted connection.”

“I’d rather call Nathan, and we talk on the phone enough — a call to him won’t look out of place.”

He nodded and kept walking with me. “I smell them on you. I smell your fear, but you’re stronger. I sense their essence in you.”

“I know why my dad did this now,” I whispered.

He was silent, and I added, “I don’t want to do it to others. Not to innocents, but if I knew someone was bad? It would be tempting.”

Neither of us said anything else until we got to my apartment, and I sat on the sofa and called Nathan.

“I need you. I mean, not the you I usually need, but...
crap
. Something happened and I need to talk to you in person. Can Horse and I come to you, somewhere? Or would you rather come to me? We’re at my apartment.”

“Are you okay?”

“Physically? Yes. Not sure about the rest.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

I hung up and went to my bedroom, stripped, and stepped into the shower as scalding as I could stand it. I washed myself several times, and got out shortly before I figured Nathan should arrive.

He and Horse were in the living room when I turned the water off, and I quickly dried and put jeans and a sweatshirt on before going out to them. Someone had taken my clothes from the bathroom floor, and I figured Horse had so Nathan could get their scent.

“Sorry, I thought I’d time it better.”

“No need to apologize, I made good time — and I think a shower was a smart move.” Nathan stepped to me and touched my face. “I can feel their energy in you, and they deserved to die for what they did.”

“Can you find out how they are?”

“I can, but I need to hear the story from you.”

I sat in Horse’s lap and told Nathan about being raped. When I finished, he leaned towards us and held my bare feet in his hands.

“You shouldn’t have been able to drain the other human, Gabriella. You didn’t have sex with him, and neither of you orgasmed. You did something only a Rabbit Monarch can do.”

As soon as he said it, I knew he was right. The Rabbit King can pull energy from any Rabbit, whether he’s having sex or not. No other Rabbit can do so.

“I don’t want to be Queen.”

“Then stay out of Faerie.”