Dark Awakening (6 page)

She walked up to him and slung her arms around his neck like a courtesan. He sucked in his breath as she pressed her body against his and
her
beast purred in response. His hard muscles touched her in all the right ways. She was only missing one thing now.

Standing on her toes and she brought her mouth a breath away from his. His eyes burned like coals at her. "You may only have me during my cycle and no time after that." His eyes darkened at the threat, but he nodded and captured her lips in a brutal kiss that curled her toes.

Tongues licked and dueled and lips meshed
over and over
, their breaths mingling sweetly. His hands cupped her fleshy
bottom
and pulled her tighter against him. She went wild.
Crying out and wrapping
her legs around his waist, her hips pumping to find a release that wasn't there.

He broke their kiss with and chuckled. "
Relax,
lumara. I've
got you." He carried her
up the stairs and into a bedroom. Alison couldn't
stop herself from studying
his room as he set her on the bed. She was shocked to be sure.

Three wooden cabinets with glass windows sat in three of the room's corners. Inside
was
what looked like different kinds of keepsakes. Before Alison realized what she was doing, she was off the bed and looking at one. She noted that instead of cold, hardwood floors there was a plush rug beneath her naked feet. His cabinet reminded her of her own, holding one's most precious items. His wasn't broken by a
psychopath
though.

The cabinet wasn't wide probably only a foot and a half, but it was taller than
her
. Some shelves held pictures of Rome with his two brothers and sisters smiling or looking serious. There was no doubt that they were siblings. Each of them had the same strong nose, high cheekbones,
and thick hair.

The picture that caught her eye though was of a child held in his mother's arm and a smiling man with his arm wrapped around the woman's shoulder. His parents. Alison knew the Kategan parents died in a terrible car accident by a drunk driver. The incident had brought waves of grief across the lykaen community.

Alison could still remember her father shaking his head in disgust at the driver. Rome only looked about ten in the picture, so young. A gold necklace with a locket that looked like the sun sat next to the picture along with a thin band of gold with a red gem in it. It was all so beautiful and personal. She was looking into his past and there was something too intimate about knowing he kept his parent's things. Quickly, she turned to see him looking at
her, a soft smile on his face.

He didn't grin at her this time, but
casually
accepted—
and maybe wanted?
—
her to see his things. What surprised her more was that she did want to see things about his life.

For such a strong, virile man he had a bedroom that spoke of strong family and
remembrance
.
It wasn't the masculine love dojo she would have expected.
But then again, what did she know about him?
Not enough, and too much.
More family pictures lined the walls and some had a man she didn't recognize, he had short spiky hair and blue eyes that held just a bit of sadness at the corners. Seeing her interest in the picture, Rome came forward.

"That's Jackson Marsh, an old military friend of mine."

"You were in the military?"

"I did eight years. Jack and I met my second year in, we've been good friends ever since." His eyes warmed at the mention of his friend. Alison understood
those feelings that close
companionship brought.

"Did you meet in training or something?"

He threw his head back and laughed. "Hell no. We met with our fists first. I accidently bumped into the bastard coming around a corner. When I only nodded at him instead of apologizing, well, he didn't seem to take that too kindly. He got in my face and told me to apologize or he'd make me. I couldn't believe the bastard. I'm at least ten times stronger than
him
and that's not including my lykaen strength.

"But I was wrong. He surprised me. The man can move, fast, agile, and hard.
He has
a left hook that nearly took me off my feet.
A
fter we exchanged some blows we
shook
it off, grinned, and went and got a beer. We've been close ever since."

Men
.

Alison found herself smiling as she skimmed over the rest of the pictures on his wall. More of him and Jack, some showed them in
camouflage
and sunglasses, their teeth white against their tanned faces; the others which made her temperature rise a few notches, showed them with their shirts off abs hard and curled
as they rested on their elbows. They each had
the same
tattoo echoing each other's biceps.

There was so much more to this man than she knew. But why did it bother her that she didn't know every single detail of his life. She only wanted to have him sate her lust for the next
couple of
days, not marry him. Her heart lurched in her chest at the idea. Closing her steel walls around the treacherous
organ,
she wandered to the rest of the room where brown, knee-high statues of skinny men and curvy women lined the wall. They looked real, like something a native made in a
faraway
country.

She never heard him move, but suddenly his arms wrapped around her, hugging her to his body. He was so warm. It would be so easy to relax against his strength and let him take over.

"What's wrong?" he asked against her hair.

She swallowed the sudden lump in her
throat. "Nothing
. I was just having some stomach pain from my breeding cycle. Could you, could you help me now?" His body stilled behind hers, whether it was from her rushed
lie,
or her
words
, she didn't know. Yet she desperately wanted to know.

She told herself she wasn't disappointed that he didn't catch her lie. "Well, I can help you with that. Come here." The dark lilt of his voice produced an answering heat in her sex. Her teeth gnawed on her lip as he pushed her back on the bed. "Get up there." He didn't so much say the words as command them. She crawled backwards on his large bed until her head hit the pillows.

She became all too aware in that moment that she was wearing nothing but a red, flimsy nightgown, and he was looking at her like starving ma
n. His eyes were hard with hunger
as they took in every inch of her body from the bare, pale legs, to the dip of her waist and the high curve of her breasts. Her eyes traveled down his bare chest to the ridiculous pajama pants. She gasped at the obvious erection trying to push its way out.

She squirmed when he didn't say anything, only looked at her,
seeming
to see
more than just her body. He moved to the end of the bed. "Pull up your nightgown. I want to see your pussy."

* * *

Fingers trembling, she pulled the liquid satin
up
until it piled around her hips. His grey eyes darkened like an incoming storm. "Spread your legs, bring up your knees." His voice was like sandpaper.

She spread her legs one at a time, then bent them and bared her naked sex to his devouring gaze. Her blood raced like molten fire through her body, throbbing and pulsing in need. She didn't miss the high flush that stained his cheeks or the twitch underneath his pajama pants. He
swallowed hard and climbed up on the bed like a
sleek
predator, a dark, ravenous angel.

His mouth found her ankle and pressed feathery kisses against the skin. Her hips nearly shot off the bed.
He
caressed her calves, her knees,
and the
softness of her feet. She felt worshipped, like a precious treasure under his touch. His lips pressed tender kisses up her legs, one at a time, as if he had all the time in the world. He was a man settled in to do a job right, and it
took her breath away
. He reached her thighs, his touch growing stronger. His big body took up so much space between her legs.

He trailed hot, openmouthed kisses up her inner thighs nearing the apex of her sex
.
She was so wet he had to see it, had to feel her heat.
She
both
desperately
wanted him there and to push him away.

"I've never had that," she rushed to say, unable to stop the tumble of words. She covered her blushing face in her hands and cursed herself. Way to be smooth, Alison.

He only
laughed,
a deep rich sound that vibrated over her skin. His breath tickled her sex as his cheek nuzzled her thigh. He let out a shuddering
breath that
tickled her heated pussy. She jerked and he groaned a dark husky sound that made her think of wild, hard sex with a stranger.

Big hands squeezed her innermost thigh before pushing them. She heard him inhale and sigh a second before she felt the feathery, velvet touch of tongue on her lips.

"Oh, God!" she cried out, her hips jerking at the light touch. He threw an arm over her hips and the other found her breast and began to torment her nipple with expert fingers. She was being assaulted on all fronts. It was delicious, it was untamed,
and it
was wonderful.

His lips continued
those
light
, barely there touches, sliding along her creamy wetness, tasting her
arousal
. He traced long, stiff patterns down the outside of her lips, then up through her center and across her pearly clit.
Over and over again
. Until her thighs were trembling like a
dying leaf in the wind.

"Please," she begged, her hands digging into the
bed sheet
.

He lifted his head for a moment. "Please what?" Alison almost came from the look of pure need he sent her. Color was high in his face, his eyes smoky with arousal. Gorgeous.

"Please, help me." She didn't mean to nearly shout the words, but she did. His lips twitched at her before he hunkered back down.

The next touch of his tongue sent her into a dazzling spiral of pleasure that didn't stop until she was shouting. His tongue passed between her wet lips speared into her sex, mimicking what he could be doing with his cock. Alison shook her head back and forth like a
madwoman
.

"
Yes
,
more
," she cried. His hand
tightened
on her breast, capturing her nipple and pinching the firm tip, rubbing and circling the bud. His tongue left her aching, pulsing channel to stab her clitoris. It was like feeling real pleasure for the first time. She wanted to cry it felt so good. His tongue found her clit and worked it
over and over
with quick,
velvety
stabs.

"Oh, oh,
o
ooh
!
" Alison struggled to raise her hips to that expert tongue,
because
he pressed her down, controlled her. She was the prisoner and he the warden. He worked her flesh quicker until the molten fire inside her core erupted into a tremendous jaw-dropping orgasm. Her thighs shook, hips threatened to jerk out of his tight grasp, but
still
he held her and delivered each velvety flick until the shuddering waves
dissipated
like a dying wave.

Alison fought to catch her breath. Her limbs felt like one solid mass that she couldn't move if she want
ed
to.
Her
eyes blinked open and she had to make herself close her mouth. She swallowed hard and tried to comprehend what she just felt, what she just lived through. The man was a god. There was no other answer.

Her body floating on the aftermath of orgasm, she watched as her predator, her seducer
stood and pulled down his pants, then climbed back up over her. She licked her lips at the sight of his ribbed body and long, thick cock bouncing as he dipped on the bed. He was nothing like Conlin. Conlin was thinner, leaner like a swimmer or runner, whereas Rome as built like an ancient fighter
raised
on a diet of meat, cheese, fruit, and women.

His elbows settled next to her head, caging her in. His cock pressed against her juicy entrance like a hot silken rod. His lips found hers in a soft, learning kiss. His tongue thrust into her mouth at the same time his cock glided
inside
. Alison gasped at his thick fullness. There was no more room left inside her. He took up all of it. He retreated a few inches then pressed back in,
and
again, creating a tight rhythm that had her mouth going dry.