King of Darkness (8 page)

“You’re not so bad yourself, you know.” She moved closer, rubbing her nose against his like an Eskimo kiss. And boy, would you look at that! Turned out he definitely had no trouble getting hard. “Are you going to kiss me now, Thad?”

He snarled quietly, an oddly playful sound that he couldn’t recall making before. He tilted his head ever so slightly and leaned his mouth into hers. He’d intended to go the slow and gentle route, but his tongue decided to barge right in to that lush mouth of hers, stroking… probing. He groaned and pulled her body against his, taking the kiss harder and deeper.

Her mouth was so sweet that it was like kissing a piece of candy. More of those exquisite tingles popped up all over his skin, concentrating where their bodies met. Every frenzied breath seemed to bring more of the same delicious feeling, intensifying exponentially with each gasp until Thad was enveloped in a mind-blowing full-body vibration.

Something in the back of his head warned him to pull back, maybe slow this down a little so they could actually talk, but before he had a chance to think about it any further, he felt Isabel’s teeth and—oh God, her fangs—scrape over his tongue, drawing just the tiniest bit of blood.

Her loud moan of satisfaction reverberated inside his mouth, and she pushed against him as she crawled forward to straddle his lap.
Oh, man
. Her tongue danced and stroked against his, as if trying to taste the blood she’d drawn.

Thad tightened his grip on her hair, and the pull only spurred her to press harder, grinding against the erection that was screaming to be freed from his pants. She sucked his tongue and nibbled his lower lip, making his breath and her heart speed up in unison. He could feel her heartbeat tap-dancing against his own.

“See?” Her voice was low and sensual. “No trouble at all getting hard.” And wasn’t it good to know that they were on the same page? Her hand traced a path down the front of his shirt, reached his pants, and started searching for a way to undo them.

“Isabel—”

“Shh.” She continued to kiss him but backed the lower half of her body away. Then the kissing stopped, too.

Why was she stopping? And why did he suddenly feel like he was standing in the noonday sun?

“Isabel, I’m burning up.” And thirsty. His tongue had stopped bleeding, but now it was very, very dry.

“Probably just the red. It can jack up your body temperature. Here, let me help.” After passing a glass of water, Isabel reached forward and began to undo his shirt. Lithe fingers caressed his skin where she pushed the fabric apart. Firmly, but sensually, she ran her hand along his stomach, his pecs… he shivered as her fingers brushed once, then twice over his nipples. Pinched at them gently, and then not so gently.
Oh, God.
Her touch then drifted to the medallion that was fused into his sternum and she hesitated, uncertain.

“It’s okay. You can touch it.” Yeah, she definitely could. He moaned and dropped his head back, wanting those fingers to continue to stroke him any way they could. Most of his skin was completely numb around that disk, but somehow he felt every brush of Isabel’s fingertips. He nearly dropped the water glass as he passed it back. “Please… take it.”

She placed it on the floor gently and then circled a finger around the flesh that surrounded his medallion. More delightful shivers pricked Thad’s skin in the wake of her hand. “Did it hurt?”

He breathed out a low chuckle. No one had asked him that. “I think so. I passed out.”

Isabel seemed to consider this for a second and then swept her hand lower, spanning her fingers over his abs again. They seemed to bunch and flex all by themselves, as if each fiber was trying to clamor for the attention of her fingers.
Finally
she arrived back at the fly of his jeans. The buzzing all over his body grew, impossibly, more intense.

His whole body thrummed in time with the quiet techno music that whispered in his ear. Shit, he was going to embarrass himself at this rate. A few firm tugs and Thad was free of his jeans. He gasped as the cool air of the room blew seductively over the tip of his erection. Following close behind was the sensation of those lovely, lovely fingers again. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought she had, like, twenty of them. First circling the tip, then brushing downward in long, too-gentle strokes.

“Isabel… fuck…”

Her free hand came up to his shoulder, gently pushing him back onto the bed. “Relax, Thad. Let me drive.”

Unable to put words together in his head, he lay back as she commanded. For a moment—or maybe many moments—his eyes drifted shut. He usually took control in bed, but now he was inundated by sensation. Her fingers continued their gentle up and down, sending glorious shivers through him. The heat inside him that had begun to feel all-consuming faded only slightly, but God, it was good. So good.

The dark wrapped around Thad, and for the first time in a long time, he allowed himself to just… be. Funny how even with his eyelids closed, the stars in Isabel’s sky shimmered and danced in his field of vision. Every touch of Isabel’s hands, every breath of air heightened his euphoria until he was almost ready to swear that he truly was hurtling through space, completely out of control.

Or rather, under Isabel’s control.

But suddenly, he was hit by an almost painful chill. His eyes opened. “Isabel what—” Oh.
Oh.
Not a sound was made when her clothing hit the floor. His pulse pounded double-time when those green eyes met his, moving closer and closer.

“Oh, yes.” Creamy flesh slid over his own. Soft, voluptuous breasts and peaked nipples pressed against his chest, sensuously abrading his skin. Their gazes held and locked. Her eyes were captivating, one dark and glittery like the stars on the ceiling, one intensely stormy and sultry. He was feeling like he could be lost forever in those eyes, when… “Oh,
hell
yes.”

Moist heat gripped his shaft. Isabel flowed around him like water. Each of her legs entwined with each of his, and her arms slid between his back and the mattress while her hips undulated and sweat slicked their bodies.

As if it had been written to score their lovemaking, the music in the room began to build and intensify. Drums thumped harder, and some sort of ethereal chanting mixed in just as his hands gripped two fistfuls of Isabel’s
perfect
ass. On her exhaled “Thad!” he growled and thrust hard, meeting every slide of her sex with the pump of his own. No longer content to leave the driving up to her, he grasped around her waist and lifted, shifting until she sat straight up astride his cock.

“Holy hell.” A feminine stomach led up to that lush chest he was already so fond of, a chest that heaved in and out with every ragged breath. A strand or two of Isabel’s hair clung to her cheek possessively. The rest cascaded down her back in dark waves. Her eyes were sensuous and wild. Hands down, she was the most amazing female he had ever seen.

Intense tribal beats sucked Thad back in time about a thousand years to the most feral part of his inner nature, spurring him to fuck her harder. Isabel’s head dropped onto her shoulders, hands planted on his upper thighs. Nails dug into his skin, and he hissed at the pain and the pleasure of it. Hopefully they would leave a mark, at least for a little while.

She rode him faster, rising and falling in time with a primitive rhythm that seemed to take them on a journey, to lift them higher and higher, both panting and gasping as the sounds of skin against skin joined the claps and thumps and crashes that filled the air around them.

A bead of sweat made its way down her face from her temple… racing in fits and starts over her neck and chest. Thad’s hands skimmed her stomach and rib cage, and he caught the errant drop with his thumb just as it entered the valley between her two luscious breasts. It eased the way for his thumb to sweep across the tight bud of one nipple, eliciting a heavenly gasp and shiver.

Isabel moaned and her core squeezed, milking him. A playful hand crept along his leg to gently massage his balls. Suddenly, Thad’s orgasm bore down like a runaway tractor trailer with no brakes. “Isabel… I can’t hold back.” The music crescendoed, and thank the moon and stars above, throaty cries and spasms of muscle announced her release.

Knotting his hands in the sheets, he grabbed with all his strength to keep from launching off the mattress as he exploded into her. A white-hot wave of pleasure and pain swept through him, concentrating at the scar on his forearm. There was no controlling his body as it trembled and jerked with each climactic aftershock.

Fate help him, it had never been like
that
with anyone before.

When at last Thad floated down from Isabel’s ceiling-sky, she had crawled up to meet him. Her hair was damp on his shoulder as she laid her head on it. So was his skin. Their sweat practically hung in the air, there was so much of it.

Isabel traced her finger along the side of Thad’s jaw. “So, let’s get to know each other, shall we?” Her green eyes twinkled at the joke. “Tell me about your family or something.”

Thad was still working to catch his breath. Turning onto his side so he faced her, he finally found his voice. “I know… this is gonna sound nuts… but—”

Her lips found his, and they were sweet and soft, but why the hell had she stopped him from talking? “Hon, I feel really good right now, too,” she said. “But trust me, I do this all the time. It’s the wine that’s making you feel all warm and fuzzy, and it’s going to wear off.”

She eased onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, entwining her fingers with his. “Now,” she said, giving him a nudge with her shoulder. “Seriously. Let’s do some more of that getting to know each other.”

Thad stared at the ceiling. The glow of the stars seemed to have disappeared with his good mood. Sleepy and sated segued rather quickly into hot, angry embarrassment. His unfettered hand balled up in frustration.

Just the fucking wine. Seriously?

Just after noon, Lee found himself staring down Alexia from across the room.

“Well, good morning, sunshine,” she drawled as Lee removed a hand from his MK23. “That’s an impressive piece of equipment you’ve got there.”

“You’re up early.” He studied her from behind while she walked into the small kitchen area and stretched to retrieve a water bottle from a rickety cabinet with obnoxiously squeaky hinges. She was wearing running shorts and a tank top, and he couldn’t help but note the muscle definition in her legs and arms that hadn’t been apparent with the baggy pants she’d been wearing on the walk home from the club.

A tribal tattoo of some sort covered her left bicep and extended up over her shoulder, disappearing underneath the back of her shirt. Her hair had been washed with something that smelled of green tea, and the remains of her makeup had been scrubbed off, revealing soft, olive skin. He had to admit that she was rather attractive for a human.

She glanced at a clock above the stove. “Actually, I’m up late. Most of the human world has been out and about for hours. I’m off to the gym, and after that, I’ll stop and pick up something to eat. You want anything in particular?”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “You provide delivery service?”

She hiked one lean shoulder up to her ear. “You guys can’t go out and we’re low on food. So yeah, I’m delivering.”

“Thanks, but no need to worry about anything special for us.” He wouldn’t be beholden to a human for special favors.

“Suit yourself.” She busied herself gathering her gym bag, filling her water bottle, tying her sneakers. She seemed to check and recheck her bag for something—a lot of bending over was involved. Eventually, the satisfaction in her face and the jingle of keys announced that she had found what she was looking for.

Lee cleared his throat. “So how is it you’re so tight with Isabel?”

She leaned forward on the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. “You mean how am I close friends with Isabel, or how am I close friends with a vampire?”

“It’s a valid question. In our world, contact with humans is usually on a very limited basis. Long-term relationships, romantic or otherwise, aren’t done all that often.”

“Why not?”

“Just doesn’t work out well, generally speaking. It risks exposure, and it’s not really safe for either side. We have enemies who would delight in hearing you scream while they cut your heart out, if you were known to associate with us.”

Actually, he didn’t think wizards would bother to cut out a human heart, but he could see them engaging in a little recreational torture for the sake of information gathering. And sick bastard that he was, he derived a certain sense of satisfaction from Alexia’s subtle gag. He leaned back against the dilapidated, puke-green couch and looked at her thoughtfully. “Besides, human blood doesn’t have the same properties, so feeding can be a problem.”

“How so?” Her face held a frown of confusion. “Isabel drinks from humans all the time.”

“It’s just not the same. Not as good. For someone like me who needs strength for battle, it would never work. Vampire blood is richer. Stronger. It’s best that we stick with our own species.”

“Hmm.” She bit her lip as she seemed to consider his words. “Not as good… gotcha.” She sighed, flipped the top on her water bottle, and grabbed her keys. “Well, I guess I’m off.”