Bad Cop (Entangled Covet) (16 page)

Ian scored his wrist with a fang and dotted his blood on the subjugate’s skin, but she followed his open cut like a wolf on a blood trail.

“No, Alice. It won’t do you any good. It has to be his.” He pressed her closer to the subjugate, but she resisted. He’d never seen anything like this. No newly turned would spurn human blood for a vampire’s worthless blood. Had she begun to bond with him? He couldn’t let himself hope. Not now. He had to get her fed and well before he could even consider it.

The subjugate made a noise that could only be described as bellyaching and then he pierced his own wrist with a pin. Well that did it. The lunge happened so quickly, Ian almost didn’t catch her before she could pin the man and devour him. Her fangs had popped all the way, which was a good sign.

He tried to ignore the sound of the subjugate getting off and block out the sight of him rubbing the front of his jeans like he had an itch the size of Texas. Ian had never thought anything of that reaction until a man had it with Alice. Dammit, she was his. No one should have this pleasure from her but him.

When she’d fed long enough and nearly to the point of excess, he pulled her away, struggling against her resistance. A wave of his bloody wrist near her was all it took to divert her attention. His wound had healed already, but even the dry blood on him hooked her more than a human’s open vein. She latched on to his flesh, and he couldn’t deny her long enough to direct her in healing the subjugate’s wounds. The man stood wobbly, as if drunk, and Ian tended the wounds himself. He had no compunction over licking a man’s wrist if it kept him from bleeding to death or scarring. As if on cue, another subjugate slipped through the door to collect the donor.

Ian relaxed back onto the bed, pulling Alice along with him until they lay side by side. She cradled his wrist, and it took him a few moments to realize she wasn’t feeding from him. She was licking him and kissing his skin. His eyes popped wide open.

Her irises were a deep gorgeous red. “Ian.”

She was back, fully aware. Now that her fear had ebbed, would she have regrets? She could hate him forever for what he’d done. If what he suspected were true, that they were bonding, that could mean a long, painful life if she rejected him now.

Chapter Twenty-one

Alice didn’t feel too different. Once her mind cleared enough to process what had happened, she thought she’d feel like something else, not human. She didn’t. Everything was a little sharper, clearer, louder. She was stronger and more aware of her body and surroundings, but other than that, she felt the same. Except the hunger. Oh, that awful hunger. It had hijacked her body entirely and made her glad Ian had been there to pull her back. She might have gone as far as blooding the guy if he hadn’t.

And he was here beside her on a bed in a room where they were alone, and a different sort of hunger crept in. One that had begun with the irresistible taste of his skin. Just the thought of him, his scent and his taste, brought her nerve endings roaring to life.

He regarded her with a cautious, wary expression.

“How do you feel, Alice?”

She slid her hands up his arms, over the curves of his biceps to his mountainous shoulders, all hard muscle. His jaw flexed with tension.

“I feel like I could taste you for hours. I feel like doing this.”

She pressed her mouth to his chin and trailed up to his lips. She had a moment of worry he wouldn’t respond, but it was unfounded. The second her lips arrived to meet his, he devoured her mouth. His tongue slipped along hers in a highly suggestive rhythm. Her body temperature shot up like a filled lava tube, and her head went straight to the clouds.

Every inch of her against him ignited with all-consuming need. This was far beyond the stages of want and desire. She had to have him. Like her soul depended on it. His hands drove through her hair and gripped tight enough to pull lightly on her scalp.

“Yes.” She moaned against his lips. “Touch me, Ian. Touch me everywhere.”

He didn’t hold back. While his mouth reclaimed hers, he trailed a hand down her throat, along her collarbone and then lower to cup her breast. She arched into his palm, her nipples beading into hard little points. His fingers explored the peaks through her sweater, first soothing and then lightly pinching, raining jolt after jolt down her body. She needed
—holy mother of breast orgasms—
his mouth
.
Right. There. Breaking away with a gasp, she tugged his head down to quench the flames, but he caught her wrists.

“No.” He rolled over her, trapping her beneath him and pinning her hands beside her head. His eyes blazing rubies, Ian’s words came out in ragged pants. “No shortcuts. I’m going to fuck you all day long, Alice. All day long.”

She moaned at the thrust of his hips against hers, his erection an impressive outline she felt plainly through his jeans. When she rubbed like a lusty feline along his length, he pressed her into the bed until she couldn’t move and kissed the frustrated sound from her mouth.

“I’m going to take you every way known to man and then some ways man has never known.”

A laugh bubbled up. “Bold threats, hick.”

“Promises, wench.” He grinned. “Promises.”

He began a lazy, sensuous journey down her throat, suckling in just the right spots until the blood rushed to her skin. She squirmed to free her hands, but he held fast.

“I want to touch you.”

“Mmmm, later.” Releasing her wrists, he sat back between her thighs and lifted the hem of her bloodstained sweater. “After you’re naked.”

Sitting up, she helped him strip away the vile thing, unable to stand the sight of it. The last thing she wanted in this moment was to recall the terror of what had nearly happened, what Ian had saved her from.
Her
Ian
. The thought drove fierce need through her, and she ended up ripping his shirt.

He tackled her to the bed, his hearty laughter filling the empty pockets of space inside her. “Savage,” he said.

“Yes, now stop playing. I want you in me. You’re wasting time.”

He framed her face, his penetrating gaze holding hers. “I will never, ever waste another moment with you.”

She sucked in a breath. He’d never know the power his words held over her. It wasn’t only the words, but the way he said them. He meant every one. From the first day they’d met, he’d looked at her like this, as if she were the only one walking the earth with him. How could she have ever implied he was nothing more than a friend? How could she have ever turned him away? She was in love with this sexy, funny, adorable, loving,
honorable
man. She loved him.

His beaming smile lit her insides. “Are we gonna cry? ‘Cause it looks like you’re gonna cry.”

She laughed a somewhat watery laugh. “No. I don’t cry.”

“Oh, never. I know that. Don’t be thinking your tears will save you, turtle.”

“Save me?” She frowned. “From what?”

“From me fucking you raw.” Just like that he took their moment from sweet and tender to fiery bliss. Her muscles tightened
everywhere
. When he leaned back and yanked the slacks down her legs, she lost her breath. Sharp fangs tore the side seams of her black silk panties.

“Oh God.”

“Been called that at times,” he said as he shed his jeans. Oh, gorgeous man. She hadn’t seen him fully naked before, and it was a sight that would never leave the back of her mind. His wide, strong shoulders led into muscled arms with biceps that flexed deliciously as he moved. She greedily eyed his powerful chest lightly sprinkled with hair leading a line past the ridges of his abdomen. And lower still to his thick erection nested in a trim patch of dark red curls. She couldn’t make it past his arousal. Such a beautiful cock needed a mouth around it. When she leaned down toward him, he roughly shoved her onto her back.

“Would you look at this body?” His gaze ate her up, traveling up and down the length of her like he wanted to tongue her everywhere at once, and it made her pulse hit the roof. Broad hands swept down from her shoulders, over her breasts where he squeezed nearly to the point of pain, across her belly, to finally land on the curve of her hips. He skimmed down her legs to her ankles and back up to the inside of her thighs.

A little course from battle and hard work, his hands sparked bursts of sensation everywhere they landed, making her writhe under the torturous pleasure. And frustrating as hell when he avoided her payoff points.
Evil
.

“You’re so close, Ian. Just a little higher.” Lifting her hips, she tried to maneuver his fingers. A wicked grin was her answer as he played where her thighs met her hips, teasing with ever-widening circles. Her clit throbbed so hard, it would explode if he didn’t do something soon.

Finally, his fingers delved through her folds. The slick sound of them sliding against her flesh was nearly as arousing as his touch. When he swirled around her swollen bud of nerves, she cried out.

“Fuck, Alice.” All play drained from his expression, and his jaw clenched tight. He drove a finger inside her, and she tightened around him, her body squeezing as he withdrew. He groaned, his eyes heavy-lidded when he plunged again. She reached for him, needing to touch, needing to drive him as wild with desire as she felt. Hard-muscled legs bunched under her fingertips as she raked her nails over his skin and through his course hair. She traveled over his forearms and grazed over his pebbled little nipples.

“Goddamn. You’re gonna finish me,” he said with a groan.

“Yes. Yes!”

He shook his head. “You first.” Yanking her hips until her butt rested on his chest, he draped her legs over his shoulders and moved his thighs to brace her back until she was nearly upside down. His arms banding tightly around her hips, he
feasted
between her legs. She could do nothing but fist the blankets while he rocked her world. His face in her folds, he licked and sucked and nipped and then thrust his tongue into her again and again only to withdraw and start all over again. She barely had breath to pant, but then he had her crying out. Her body wound taut, and she dug her heels into the center of his back.

One final hard suction on her clit with his tongue flicking her sent her over the edge. Drawing blood with her nails in his forearms, she arched back, pushing against his mouth. Her throaty scream rent the air with his name and a few expletives.

Ian lowered her to the bed, and she sagged trembling and boneless where he placed her, her breath seesawing and their mingled sweat cooling on her skin.

When he pressed his forehead to hers, she cracked one eyelid open. A pained expression was what she saw.

“Alice, I want you so much, my balls hurt.”

She couldn’t speak past the lump of love in her throat but tugged him on top of her, between her spread thighs. Clinging to his shoulders, she toyed with his tousled hair. His lips brushed back and forth over hers, teasing each cell in her skin, and then he sucked her bottom lip between his, giving her a soft rake of teeth.
Gold-medal kisser
. No one could kiss like this man. He licked between her lips until she opened to him. When he sucked lightly on her tongue, the lightning struck inside her again.

Lifting one of her thighs up and out, he exposed her. A flush of blood heated her cheeks, somewhat soothed by the reverence on his face, worshipful, and she followed his down-turned gaze. He was watching himself enter her.

“So pink and wet. Hot,” he murmured roughly. He slicked the head of him over her most intimate flesh, driving an unexpected moan from her, and then sank deep with one long, slow glide, pushing in until they were skin to skin.
Heaven
. She hadn’t survived after all, and that’s where she’d gone. Nothing on Earth could feel this good. She wrapped her legs around his hips, loving the feel of him against the inside of her thighs and the flex of his muscles. His shaft taking up all of her, stretching her limits, he filled her completely. Filled more than just her body.

Her eyes met his. “Ian.”

“You’re perfect, turtle,” he whispered. He lifted her arms over her head and then slid his underneath them to cup the backs of her hands in his palms. It brought their bodies together with no space between. She twined her fingers with his and set her heart free. This is what it felt like to live.

Ecstasy spiked the moment he moved inside her. His shaft found her hot spot inside, and every grinding swivel of his hips rubbed her clit, sending her up a climbing ladder of delight. His grip tightened on hers as she rocked against him. Breath rasped in heavy gusts near her ear, sending pleasure shooting down her spine with each gritty moan from his lips. His chest heaved faster, jaw tightened, his movements growing rough and jerky. Her body was near bursting with rapture, driven ever higher by his passionately vocal arousal.

His eyes opened to gaze into hers, and they were on fire, glowing like hot coals. “Kiss me, Alice. Make me come.”

“Oh God, yes.” She took his mouth hard, their teeth clicking together a time or two. She met him thrust for thrust until she shattered into a million shiny bits. Ian shouted a curse and his muscles went hard as stone as he pulsed inside of her. He went slack only a moment with his full weight on her before he rolled them in one swift move, tucking her body into his side and holding her head against his chest. Once her breath returned, she scraped her nails through his chest hair, making him shiver under her cheek.

“Ian, is it a bad sign that I sense something enticing under your skin, and all I want to do is bite down into it. Like right here on your chest.” She fake bit him. “Or anywhere really.”

Her head jerked up when he didn’t answer. Something resembling wonder reflected in his eyes.

“No,” he rasped.

“Is there something wrong with me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, turtle. You’re perfect.”

She grinned. “You say that now, but wait until the first time you leave the toilet seat up.”

“Now, see, that’s a new advantage in the war of the sexes,” he said. She raised an eyebrow and he returned her grin. “You won’t need a toilet ever again. Unless you need to heave for some reason, that is. That does happen sometimes.”

A sudden shock eclipsed her thoughts. She knew next to nothing about being
Immortalis
. She’d never been a subjugate. The fine points of caste life were a mystery to her. Holy crap, she had no paperwork submitted! How would it look to the antsy public if the acting Vice Director transformed without an approved application?

Her breath caught. “I’m scared, Ian.”

He tightened his hold on her. “I know it’s frightening. You weren’t prepared, but we’ll get things straightened out. There was no choice.”

As the memory of a blade across her throat rose in her, her panic leaped to the ceiling. She couldn’t bear that again. “I can’t be executed, Ian. I’ll go out in the daylight before—”

“No.” He tipped her face toward him and gripped her shoulder painfully. “I swear to all that’s holy, turtle, I’d follow you into the sun. But there’s nothing to worry about because it won’t happen to you. Understand? You were acted upon, and you’ve done nothing illegal.”

She searched his face. He was holding something back again. “What about you?” she whispered. His expression tightened, and her mouth went dry. He was in some trouble.

“I’ll deal with things as they come,” he said.

“What will they do to you?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“Will they kill you?” The question squeezed through her taut throat.

He regarded her long and hard. The answer was in his hesitation. “They might.”

No, they couldn’t. They wouldn’t dare
. Ian was a good man. Her instincts told her to urge him away, to run. He’d have a better chance as a rogue than throwing himself on the goodwill of the
Immortalis
. They all seemed so fixed on their rules, the unbending pillars of ennui that governed them all. The protocols never considered circumstances of the individual, only preserved what has always been.

It didn’t escape her notice how her thoughts had wandered into the realm of hypocrisy. So instead of giving in to her urge to abscond with him, she held her tongue and tried to still her runaway fears. It wasn’t a sure thing that harm would come to him. A proper defense had to clear him. He had to at least try if only to save his position with the Trackers.