Exclusive (20 page)

And before her stood a man.
Drago.

FIVE

Jolene stared at Drago. She'd been willing to do

what was necessary to save Carrie, but she 'd hoped it wouldn't have to come to what it had. “The chains aren't necessary,” she whispered, jerking against the restraints because she couldn't help herself. His brow lifted, arms crossing in front of his broad chest and she could feel him pressing into her mind, trying to enter. She rejected his attempt, blocking him with all her energy. Only one other had ever entered her mind, and that had been her father. He'd spoken to her in her mind, and taught her how to shield herself from intruders. She used those skills now. Somehow, giving that part of herself away felt like the ultimate invasion, and chained to a wall, she simply couldn't bear it. Drago's teeth ground together.
“Trust me,
little one. You must submit. Give yourself to it. Don't fight what you can't change.”
He didn't give her time to answer. With a wave of his hand, he
motioned the men in loincloths forward. Suddenly, her clothes were
being cut from her body, knives ripping away the silk and cloth with
perfect precision. She could feel the hot breath of one of the men on her neck and shoulder. Feel their lusty stares as they pulled her shirt away and left her bare breasted. Jolene squeezed her eyes shut, mortified. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a bad dream. A nightmare. She braced herself for their hands only a moment before she felt their exploration. Rough hands kneaded her breasts and pinched her nipples. Fingers slid between her thighs and across her clit.
Worse, she felt arousal take hold. It made her ashamed. Embarrassed. Part of her wished for the drugs they'd mentioned. Anything to allow her an escape from—not just these men—but herself. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't find her voice. It was frozen somewhere inside the trauma of what was happening.
In the midst of the rage in her mind, Jolene heard Drago's voice. Abruptly, the men moved away, but she didn't dare open her eyes. Not immediately. She didn't want to see these strangers looking at her. So she waited . . . expecting their return. After several seconds, when they didn't come, she forced her lashes upward and found the hot stare of Drago. She swallowed against the heat in his gaze, her eyes darting from one side of the room to the other, looking for the men. They stood at the door, their loincloths gone, their bodies naked. Only remotely did she take in their shaved heads and broad shoulders. What she did notice were their cocks. Exposed and hard. And their eyes filled with lust. Telling her what they wanted. Her. They wanted her. She shivered beneath their scrutiny.
“You said you would do whatever it took to find Carrie,” Drago said, drawing her attention, his voice low.
She studied his face, looking for his intentions beneath an indecipherable mask. He still wore his clothes. Black slacks and a black,
well-tailored button-up shirt, yet still he oozed pure sensuality. But it
was more than that. He had an air of darkness. Jolene wasn't sure what to expect from him. Nor could she figure out why, chained to a wall, stripped of her blouse and skirt, she wanted to trust him. Her throat felt so dry, she barely managed to speak. “ I . . . I know what I said.”
“You must pay for entry into the club. To give satisfaction and pleasure.” He paused, his eyelids lowering as he started at her feet and moved upward, giving her a thorough perusal. When his eyes once again met hers, he said, “If I send them away, you must agree to do anything and everything I say. When and
if you
leave this club, it will be because I allow it.”
As his words lingered in the air, he walked toward her and there was more than fear inside her as he approached. More than apprehension. She felt... hot. Aroused. Like she had back in his apartment. It was as if her body responded without her consent. In fact, the fear of injury slipped away, replaced by the frightening feeling of losing herself to this man. To the here and now. She tracked his progress, feeling the warmth of anticipation in her body despite the fear that laced her mind. She swallowed. His state of dress made her feel, in her own undressed state, all the more . . . exposed. Only a few steps separated them when he stopped. “Do they stay or go, Jolene?” he asked. She swallowed against the nerves that made her heart leap to her throat. It felt as if Drago stalked her, though he now stood in one place. Like she was the prey and he the beast. Yes. That was it. There was an animal-like quality to Drago. Dangerous. And male. God, he was so masculine. So . . . sexual. A man like this would take a woman and leave her with nothing but desire. He'd take all she was and all she might ever be. And in that moment, she knew once Drago claimed her body, she would never, ever, be the same. Just as Carrie hadn't been the same after that first date with Alex. “I grow impatient. Make your choice. Me,” he paused. “Or them?” He raised his hands, indicating the men behind and at either side of him.
Her stomach did a somersault. “Y-you,” she managed hoarsely.
“Louder,” he demanded. “I can't hear you.”
She jumped at the sharpness of his tone and responded instinctively, this time louder. “You.”
Drago seemed to consider her a moment, as if he questioned her commitment to her choice. Then he snapped his fingers. “Leave us,” he demanded.
Jolene stared at him, unable to take her eyes from his. Mesmerized. Terrified. Excited. The doors opened and shut. A shifting of metal told, once again, of locks being bolted into place. Complete, utter silence followed.
Then, and only then, did Drago move. A step. Another. He stopped in front of her. So close he could reach out and touch her. So close she could smell the spicy maleness of him. The same scent that had scorched her with arousal during their first meeting. “It's just you and me now,” he said, in a low, sensual voice that promised intimacy beyond the simple words he spoke. He leaned forward, pressing his fists against the wall, a mere whisper between their bodies, his mouth lowering near her ear. The warmth of his breath caressed her skin, and goosebumps spread across her body, her nipples tightening. With every ounce of her being, she wanted to arch her back and press them against his chest. He whispered in her ear, so low she barely heard what he said. “We're alone. Just us and a room of cameras.”
The implications of what he'd shared darted through her mind. People were watching them.
Alex
was watching. That Drago shared this information in a secretive way confused her. Was he trying to warn her or simply playing with her mind? She didn't know. Nor did she have time to give it much thought.
He leaned back enough to fix her with a hot stare. Then, slowly, his gaze dropped to her breasts. For long moments he stared at her, making her skin tingle with the need for his touch. Finally, his eyes lifted. “You know what I'm going to do to you, don't you?” She swallowed. “Force me to have sex with you.” “Force?” His sensual mouth hinted at a smile. “Am I forcing you, Jolene? Did you not agree to do what was necessary to find Carrie?” “Yes,” she admitted. “I agreed.” His eyes narrowed and she corrected herself. “Agree.”
Apparently satisfied, he said, “You want me.” He dipped his head and inhaled. “I can smell your arousal, Jolene.” His cheek pressed against hers. “You've wanted me since the moment you laid eyes on me.” Which was true, but she wasn't about to admit it. She didn't want to feel this . . . need. The yearning. This heat he evoked. Not here. Not under these circumstances. Giving up her body and admitting her personal desires were different things.
“Believe what you want,” she managed in a shaky voice, challenging him on purpose and praying her strategy worked. He was pressing at her mind again, trying to reach inside. She shoved him out of her head and reached for more control, needing to be free of the chains. “Why tie me up? Because Alex willed it? Or because you don't really believe I want you?”
“It is true this amuses Alex, but I didn't argue his choice, for reasons of my own.” He leaned back and fixed her in another sizzling stare. “You do want me. You simply think it's wrong, and unless I take away your excuses, you will never submit. And submission, Jolene, is the only way I can help you get what you want.” The words danced in the air with the distinction of truth, with underlying meaning. One of his index fingers just barely brushed her nipple. Jolene sucked in a breath, as pleasure rocketed through her body and exploded between her thighs. She could feel the moisture there. The heat. The burning need.
“By the time I take off those cuffs,” Drago promised. “I'll have slain your conscience for you. All that will be left is pure lust.” His voice was deep. Resonant. Compelling. It made her want to forget this place. The watchers. The world. To be lost in him. The thoughts scared her and she mentally shook herself. Had she been drugged? Or perhaps he really slipped past her mental barriers and she didn't know it. What else explained how easily she turned from ice to fire with this man? But then, she'd felt the same back at his apartment, and she most certainly hadn't been drugged there.
“Never,” she proclaimed, fighting with her mind if not her body.
Giving in completely meant forgetting her reason for being here. What she did now with Drago wasn't about her own lust and desire. It was about Carrie. She couldn't forget Carrie. As if proving his ability to devour her with lust, he tweaked her nipple. Jolene bit back a moan as he repeated the act. “Does it turn you on to know we have an audience? That Alex watches with lust in his eyes. And there are others. Men. Women.” He continued to tease her nipple. “They're watching. Perhaps fucking as they watch. Some of them are thinking about what they will do to you if I let them have you.” “No,” she whispered, but already his other hand went into play, delivering more erotic sensations. He tugged on both hardened peaks at once, and then rolled them between his fingertips. Despite her best efforts to bite it back, she moaned again. “Please.” The hoarse word was a plea.
“Please don't stop?” He rolled her nipples and palmed her breasts.
“Or please don't let them have you?”
Her eyes went to his. “Just let me leave.”
“I can't do that.” He leaned close, his mouth brushing hers. Against her lips, he murmured. He still held her breasts in his hands, possessiveness in the touch. “You know I can't. Besides, you said you wanted to find Carrie.”
Accusation laced her voice. “You know where she is.” It wasn't a question.
“Carrie, as you knew her, is no more. Now she is a part of this world. Now she helps others join this world.”
“I don't believe you,” Jolene rasped through clenched teeth. “It's true.” His hand slid down her to her hip, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. A satisfied smile played on his lips. “She enjoys the pleasure we bring her.” He paused. “Just as you do.” “No. I . . . I don't believe that.” “Yes, you do,” he said, slipping his fingers into the dark triangle between her legs. “You aren't ready to admit it, but you like it here, too.” Drago flicked her clit and she gasped. “You like it a lot.” “I want to see Carrie.” The words came out with effort, as Drago teased her body, assaulting her senses.
“The path to seeing Carrie is an erotic one, Jolene. One you must travel freely.” His voice dropped low. A whisper. “Forget everything but you and me. Just get lost in the desire we share.” She squeezed her eyes shut. Carrie. She wanted to find Carrie. But what Drago asked was too much. Jolene had thought she could do this but she couldn't. Coming here was one thing. Getting lost in it was another, much more frightening thing. Because if she did, she had the most horrible feeling she might never come back.
“I can't,” she said. “I can't.”
Cupping her face with his hands, Drago forced her to look at him, gentleness in the action. “You can, and you will.”
She swallowed and closed her eyes. “No.” Jolene shook her head, ever aware of her arms at her side, her nipples jutting forward, begging for more of his touch.
A slow smile turned up the corners of Drago's mouth. “I'll make you forget.”
Her lashes lifted abruptly. “By drugging me?”
For several seconds he held her stare. “I don't want you drugged. I want your surrender.” He paused. Then his hands slid down her sides, over her hips. When his fingers found her thighs, her breath caught in her throat. Suddenly, he was on his knees and her legs were being pressed apart. He looked up at her as his finger slid along the silky wet proof of her arousal. “And I don't like to be kept waiting.”

SIX

Drago slid to the floor, between Jolene 's legs. He desired
her as he had never before desired a woman. Arousal pulsed
through his limbs, heat flooded his cock, which pressed uncomfortably against his zipper. He didn't dare undress. Not yet. He felt as though he might snap at any moment. Though there was no logic to his need, he ached for Jolene to offer herself to him freely. To know he hadn't forced her submission. Yet saving her life could well mean demanding submission from her. With the intensity of the attraction they shared, he knew it was possible to entice her physical response. But he would have to have more. He'd have to have her complete, utter submission . . . her trust.
Again and again, he had tried to enter her mind, tried to tell her
he had to behave in certain ways, had to say and do things Alex
would expect of him. But each time, she shoved him away. Each time,
he resisted forcing his presence in her mind. He had to take so much
from her tonight. He would offer her the free will he could, for as long as he could safely allow.
His fingers slid into the tangle of dark curls between her legs, touching the silky wet folds of her core. The desire to take her called to him with a deep hunger, demanding to be fed, threatening to fog all thinking. She was beautiful. A carnal roar screamed in his body, in his cock; his urgency to claim her was overshadowed by only one feeling . . .
possessiveness.
A thought formed in his mind.
Mate.
It rang in his head over and over, screaming to be noticed. The implications of such a thing were many. He shoved aside the complicated thought, focusing on the here and now, on Jolene's pleasure, on her submission. Drago drew a line up and down her core, and a soft, sexy whimper escaped her lips. He smiled at the sound, loving how responsive she was to him. He could only imagine what she would be like in a different setting. Alone with him. Feeling safe and secure, free to explore her wants and needs.
The word
mate
screamed in his head again, refusing to be dismissed.
Holy hell.
Who was he kidding? He knew it was true, knew she belonged to him. The idea of Alex touching Jolene brought near fury. Watching the other males fondle her had damn near burned a hole in his gut. A necessary evil to ensure he didn't arouse suspicions, but damn near poison to his nerves.
There was no room for anything like duty in his life but still Jolene had taken him by storm.
Duty,
he reminded himself. And right now, fucking Jolene was part of that duty and possibly a life or death equation. He slid a finger inside her and felt her tense. But he didn't try to calm her or ease her, didn't try to offer comfort as he had before. Instead, he demanded her submission, slipping another finger inside her and starting a pumping action. To get her out of this place, he had to have her complete trust. Had to. Understanding this, he pressed her forward, mimicking sex with his movements, demanding she give him all she had, all she could be.
When she began rocking against him, he blew on her clit, his cock thickening with the anticipation of her sweetness on his tongue. With the anticipation of spreading her wide and burying himself deeply. With a lap of his tongue he teased her nub and felt her shiver in response. Oh yeah, she wanted him all right. She was practically dripping, she was so wet. And this pleased him. No matter how he tried to make this about work. To justify taking her, he could not shake the desire to please her. It remained important she not look back on this and feel he'd done anything but offer her satisfaction. It really shouldn't matter. He was saving her from Alex, from the rest of this place. Saving her from a life as a slave. He reached for the anger of only seconds ago, but already that emotion had faded, lost in other unfamiliar feelings only Jolene evoked.
He suckled her nub, his tongue working with delicate strokes that slowly built into a frenzy of faster licks. When he felt her knees begin to buckle, Drago slid his hand around her perfect, round ass and offered support.
He lapped at her, drinking in the essence of her arousal and lifting her leg over his shoulder to allow himself better access. Pleased she wasn't fighting him, he drove onward, his tongue sliding inside her, imitating what he soon would do with his cock. She moaned and panted more loudly now. Sounds that drove him wild with their soft, sensual play along his nerve endings. With a low growl he lost himself in her, licking her up and down, side to side. Faster. Harder. His tongue thrusting deeper. His fingers playing along with the motion. In. Out. All around.
She cried out and then stiffened, signaling the moment before release. With one last roll of her clit, he drew her orgasm from her. Her body tightened around his fingers, and he sunk them deeper inside her, massaging and pleasuring. Fast at first, giving her as much intensity as possible, and then slowly easing . . . easing . . . bringing her down. With a deep breath, he eased her leg to the ground and willed his raging body to calm. He wanted to take her now, wanted to take her in a way he'd never wanted another female. Screw Alex. He'd give him a show, but he was going to enjoy this his way. Drago's mouth pressed against Jolene's flat stomach and she shivered in response, his nostrils flaring with her sweet feminine scent. He kissed the spot again, silently vowing that before this night was over, he'd kiss every inch of her lush body. And she'd be begging for more. He'd make sure of it. He wanted all of her. What that meant exactly, he didn't know right now. He'd figure it out later. Right now, he simply wanted every last moan of pleasure she had in her.
Jolene couldn't believe she had just come with such
intensity. For God's sake, people were watching. And she was chained to a wall. Part of her had begun to actually feel relief over the shackles. Those pieces of metal wrapping her wrists were all that had kept her from completely losing herself in Drago. It was hard enough to know this man took her places within herself she didn't even know existed, but to go there with an audience unnerved her. The craziness of her desire for this man had her aching to touch him. No doubt, if she were free of restraints, she'd forget Alex and his people and be doing that and more.
Even now, as Drago's lips brushed her stomach, the unmistakable rise of desire roared to life again. Desire that made no sense. She'd just had the most intense orgasm of her life. How could she want more? How could she even have allowed herself to be turned on under such circumstances?
Was this part of being a vampire? Had her mother sheltered her from this, raising her as a human for that reason? The flicker of Drago's tongue in her navel, gentle, enticing, sent a rush of molten heat through her limbs. Drago drove her wild.
Drago did. No one else. This couldn't be about this place or about her vampire side. This was about him. About her. About something unique they shared, and it confused her. Her gaze dropped to his dark head, wishing she could slide her fingers through his hair, watching as he trailed kisses along her skin. Gentle kisses. Tender kisses. Kisses that held the promise of more than sex. When she'd expected Drago to take from her, he seemed determined to give. Ah, but he
had
taken. He'd taken her orgasm, her pleasure, and damn near brought her to submission, despite her best efforts to avoid giving it. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for cameras. She couldn't stop thinking about the people watching. Lord help her, it didn't change how aroused she felt. How hot. Sizzling hot. So on fire, she could do nothing but moan at the rough caress of Drago's tongue, biting back the plea that almost escaped her lips, feeling as if it would be the final demise of her will.
But in her mind, she begged for her freedom. “Drago,” she murmured, his lips trailing her hip now.
Drago.
In her mind, she pleaded to have him inside her.
As if he heard her thoughts, he stepped away, leaving her cold without his touch, without his mouth. His eyes met hers; the look in his, the fire and desire, could have scorched her skin. Slowly, he reached upward and began unbuttoning his shirt. With a flutter of her stomach, heat darted up her thighs. She wanted to do it for him, she realized. To undress him. To explore his body. Her thoughts were free of guilt, free of reprimand. Full of anticipation. Her eyes followed his fingers, savoring every inch of skin as it appeared. Dark hair covered his tawny skin. He was the rich color of warm brown. European maybe. The color of milk chocolate, creamy and rich. Addictive even. She gobbled up the sight of him. She'd never been this attracted to a man. Never. It frightened her to desire a man who was holding her prisoner, but at the same time it thrilled and enticed. He toed off his shoes and kicked them away. Then he reached for his belt. Only moments later, he stood before her naked. Perfect. Erect. Big. She swallowed then, as the ache between her legs intensified to near unbearable intensity. She was beyond want. She needed him inside her, on top of her. She just needed . . . him. Her captor. She should be thinking of ways to fight. Instead, all she could think about was giving herself to him.
With a hungry stare, she traveled his body; biting her lip, she took in his long, powerful legs. Thighs like steel. Abs rippling with deliciously defined muscle. And as her gaze slid back to his cock, she felt the fire of urgency. She was locked in this room with Drago, a man she had wanted before this night.
She wanted him. He wanted her. The sex already in play and inevitable. Alex expected nothing less. She
wanted
nothing less. He was her only hope of getting out of this place. To trust Drago might be dangerous, but she had to. Not trusting him left her alone, and without hope. Something she desperately needed. Reaching deep, she studied her instincts and the connection she felt to this man—to this vampire.
And she found her answer. She had to gamble on Drago. She fixed him in a stare, searching his eyes for the truth. For a reason to believe that her next words, her next actions were the right ones. “Take off the chains,” she said, her voice strong as she gave what he'd demanded, what Alex would expect before Drago freed her. “I surrender.”
Then, she dared to let down her mental barrier, reaching for Drago's mind, not completely sure she even remembered how to do such a thing. It had been years since her father had spoken to her in such a way or her to him.
She repeated her words in her mind, relaying them for Drago alone to hear.
I surrender.