In the Company of Witches (36 page)

Which made her eventual exhaustion all the more remarkable. She’d never given out before a lover. When she was limp and sated, Mikhael carried her out of the room and to the second level, to his bed. They’d given him the royal master suite and it suited him, looking like a king’s chambers. Putting her on her back, himself between her legs, he took her one last time. She made a feminine note of distress as he parted abraded tissues, adding just enough force to remind her she was his, but not enough to be unbearable, holding her on that knife-edge of pleasure, pain and service.

Before he released inside of her, he made her come one more time with his skill and her overwhelming desire to please him.

She might have called him
Master
a couple times. It was a hazy, disturbing memory, mainly because she’d meant it with every ounce of passion she gave him.

At last, she lay in the curve of his body, limp and unresisting as he stroked her breast. His other hand traced small circles over her clit, because he’d told her to keep her legs parted for him. Occasionally he leaned over her, suckled her nipple gently, his toy to play with as he wished. It caused a slow, liquid river of arousal through her body.

When the night deepened, he folded his arms around her, holding her close to his chest, and they fell into a postcoital coma together.

I
T WAS PAST THREE A.M
. N
O DISTURBANCES IN THE
house, some sessions still happening, but it was winding down. Her brain cells were still sluggish, but with her cheek pressed to his chest, listening to his breathing, she knew he was awake. He probably knew she was awake, but he said nothing, so she started thinking.

When he made love, had sex or fucked her, it was always in line with her feelings of the moment. An exceptional sexual Dominant figured that out. He anticipated the need of whomever he was with. Some small part of her was bothered by that, because maybe he exercised that trait on anyone. He’d done it to Ruby, after all.

She thought back to their trip into town, the way he’d protected her there, even when she didn’t need it. Dark Guardian. Light Guardian. It didn’t matter. Maybe because she was a creature of darkness herself, she was beginning to believe Mikhael, that the cause they served might just be the same.

He arrives in the nick of time…He gets strength from the happiness of others…Love versus duty…

He acted as though he were uniquely charged with her protection. Unless Lucifer had mandated that, it was something Mikhael had mandated himself, for his own reasons and desires. She didn’t question the sanity of the thought the way she might have a few days before. Instead, she moved closer to him. His arm tightened, all that hard muscle against her back.

She’d spent six years of her life in hell. She’d learned her Craft, continued to learn, such that no one was taking her down without a fight. But being able to take care of herself didn’t mean she felt safe. Once being that kind of victim, a person never felt safe, no matter how they tried.

With him, she did. Life was a funny thing.

Succubus or incubus, there was a killer instinct to her kind, in the blood she carried. It made the sadistic side of Mikhael’s personality a soothing balm, a tonic on that homicidal urge. It was something she likely couldn’t explain to Ruby or Ramona, but he got it. He couldn’t be harmed by it, either. He could take it, and that meant something.

Running a hand over her buttock, he pinched her gently, but enough that she felt the soreness from his spankings. It gave her a shiver. “What?” he asked.

“With Ruby, you were brutal, merciless, unkind even.”

“She told you that?”

“I could tell. But that was what she needed, wasn’t it?”

“With what she was playing with at that time, yes.”

“So you did it to help her.”

“Don’t set me up for sainthood on that one.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t enjoy it.” Raina scraped his chest with her fangs, pricked him. “But it was tempered by your heart, by what she needed from you. Which makes me wonder what you need.”

“I don’t think about that.”

“Everyone thinks about what they need and want.”

“I’m bound in service to the Underworld for all eternity. That’s what I do.”

“You’re here with me, in this bed. Lucifer didn’t dictate that. So I’m something you want, at least at the moment.”

“You are definitely that. In fact, I want you right now.”

“You couldn’t possibly.”

In answer, he pressed her to her back. She couldn’t help a sliver of trepidation, because she really was sore, a unique experience for her, but he held her gaze and her legs parted for him. When he slid into the slickness left from their climaxes, he went slow, easy. He would never ask, never allow her to refuse, and that just made her more willing. She lifted a hand, stroked his cheek.

“You’re not a kind man, but I do think you’re a good man. A man with integrity.”

“I can accept that. If it gets me laid.”

Seeing the gleam in his eye, she punched him in the side, none too gently. “You ass.”

He thrust deeper, and she let out a gasp at the sensation. When he gripped her wrists, she tensed, but he nuzzled her throat until her hands opened up in his grip, and she gave herself to the way he felt pressed up between her legs, her heels resting high on his thighs.

“I can feel your magic like the blood coursing through your veins,” he murmured against her throat. “I can feel you wrapped around me. I like it. I like being here with you.”

Gentle intimacy. Unexpected from him. She’d always been guarded about her feelings, not in a bad way, but because she weighed everything for the proper response for clients, for her incubi and succubi. Sometimes she shared her thoughts with Cathair, sometimes Ruby and Ramona, but with them it was mostly maudlin moments that didn’t really mean much.

“Just say what you feel, Raina. It’s all right.”

“You’re heavy.”

He chuckled, nipping her throat. “I won’t move until you tell me what you feel.”

“I like having you here, too. For now. Until you irritate me.”

He continued that nibbling on her neck, easing his way down to the rise of her breast, making her heart squeeze in on itself as he stayed so tender, treating her with reverence. But not an arm’s-length Goddess reverence. The type of reverence that came with the seeds of love.

Okay, that thought stiffened her like a board. “I need to get some sleep. I need to go to my own bed.”

“When I’m here, this is your bed, Raina. It’s a much better fit for my size.” He caught her chin. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Old demons,” she said. “Leave it, please?”

Mikhael studied her a long moment. “Can you sleep in my arms, Raina? Just sleep and not worry about anything for a little while?”

She wanted to sleep in his arms more than anything she’d ever wanted. That was what was worrying her the most.

“It’ll be all right,” he said. He slid out of her, apparently content with simple penetration. Settling her on her hip, he guided her legs so her knee was nestled between his thighs, up against cock and testicles, their warmth and reminder of male presence. “Sleep. There’s nothing to fear.”

Except him, and the way he made her feel. Curling her fingers into his chest hair, feeling his arms around her, Raina closed her eyes and willed herself to the escape of dreams, even knowing dreams might very well be the problem—old dreams, wishes that she’d lost long ago.

17

W
HEN THEY WOKE JUST PAST LUNCHTIME
, A
NA AND
Min brought them a light repast, a kind surprise. The girls, getting an eyeful of Mikhael’s body, the sheet low on his hips, wanted to pile in and share the croissants and strawberries with them. Raina sent them scampering with threats of hair-loss spells and rashes. Mikhael had looked amused at her desire to keep him to herself. She’d been a little unsettled by it, as well as the fact that, though the girls wore lingerie that hid very little, his total attention was on her.

Even as they set the tray on the side table, he’d started placing hot kisses on her throat, tugging at the sheet to get access to her body, barely waiting until they were gone to take her again, all before eating. Then he fed her from his hand, refusing to allow her to feed herself, underscoring his claim of the previous evening. She didn’t tell him the fantasy was over, that her submission had been for that one night, because quite frankly, she wasn’t sure if she ever wanted it to end.

But the world eventually intruded. Li came in with a scheduling issue and a reminder that tonight’s bachelor party, a group of thirty, had several issues that would need her attention. She told him she’d be there shortly. As she got out of the bed, she noticed Mikhael had gotten still, his focus internal. An arc of power flickered off him, an arc not his own, which made her go on alert.

“Mikhael?”

He held up a finger, keeping that internal focus, and she realized then he was listening to someone. Someone speaking in his head, and the message wasn’t entirely welcome.

When his expression cleared, he looked up at her. “Lucifer wants me back in the Underworld for a short meet.”

“Of course. I have a conference call with God later today.” She plucked his custom-tailored dress shirt out of the closet, considering it her due since he’d carried her down here naked last night, uncaring of whom they met in the halls. Now she put it on, ran her fingers through her hair. Time for a reality check, and what better sign than a hail from the Lord of the Underworld himself?

“I shouldn’t be gone long.”

“You don’t report to me, Mikhael. We had sex, not a marriage ceremony.”

She knew if she stood in front of a mirror, she’d have bruises, marks from his mouth, his hand. And she’d be glowing from all of it. But this was a fantasy and, like all fantasies played out in this house, it had a beginning and an end.

“While I’m there,” he said, his eyes on her, “I’ll follow up on some leads about who might be chasing Isaac. I should be back late tonight, but with that tracer on him, and the protections I’ve put with yours to reinforce your perimeter, I’ll be aware if anything happens. You won’t have to be concerned about you or your staff.”

“I can take care of myself.” She tossed her head, gave him her sexy smile. “I’m not worried about that. Go do your thing. I have a life, you know. Can’t be lazing around bed all day.”

He rose, unconcerned about his nakedness. Goddess, the man was beautiful. When he came to her, she saw he had some bite marks and scratches as well, which absurdly pleased her, though it didn’t dispel the apprehension in her stomach. Like some melodramatic teenager, she felt like he was never coming back.

“Raina.” He lifted her up to sit on the dresser, putting himself between her knees. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

Her temper sparked, more with herself than him, but she preferred to lash at him. “I
know
that,” she said impatiently. “I have a busy schedule today.”

“This is different for me, too.”

That stilled her, her attention snapping to his face. “I’m coming back,” he continued, “not just because Isaac is here, but because I want to figure out what this is. I look at you, and I want to keep you. Protect you. Never let you go.”

There was another word hovering there, for both of them. Mikhael knew she was no more prepared to hear it than he was to say it. It had been three fucking days and, while he knew what he knew about his own kind, she was another species. Succubi rarely mated, and the ones that did were practically an urban legend, probably because of their insatiable and deadly sexual appetites. She wasn’t full succubus, but she surely had an insatiable appetite. So did he.

In fact, his appetites, even for one of his kind, were considered somewhat excessive. He wondered if there’d been a reason for that, and that reason was in front of him. He kept that to himself, though. Even with a succubus’s sensibilities, Raina wouldn’t appreciate the theory that his need to fuck hundreds of women had been preparation for her. She could put a spell on his dick that tied it into a half hitch. He might be able to counter it, but he’d rather not take the risk.