Seduced and Ensnared (8 page)

Her eyes burned but she had no tears. She swore she could feel her blood running through her veins, furious and hot with each pump of her heart.

“Stella, sweetheart. Breathe. Come on, babe, you’re scaring me.”

She heard Cam but he sounded muffled, as if she was encased in ice. His lips brushed her ear but she felt nothing, only an all-consuming rage. Rage was good. It cleared her mind of everything else.

But Cam wasn’t letting her enjoy it.

“Stella.” This time he shook her, just once, and it rattled something loose inside her, something she quickly tucked away. “Look at me.”

She felt his hand on her chin and turned her head to meet his gaze. His expression was carefully blank, his eyes slightly narrowed as he stared at her.

In a flash, she realized that this was his fault. He’d brought all this on her. If she hadn’t met him, none of this would have happened. All her rage turned off as if she’d flipped a switch.

“It’s going to be okay, babe. I swear.”

He was right. It would be fine—as soon as she got rid of him. “I want you to leave now.” Her voice dripped ice.

Cam continued staring into her eyes as he shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re in shock.”

If shock meant she was numb, she could deal with that. In fact, it was preferable to the rage. She tried to stand but Cam’s arms tightened around her. She wanted to disappear but couldn’t, because Cam was holding on to her too tightly. She couldn’t concentrate enough to send herself away. There was all this white noise in her head and it was deafening.

“I want you to leave, Cam. I don’t want you here. I don’t want you at all.”

She saw him visibly flinch at that last comment and something like grief moved through her body. But it couldn’t be grief, she told herself. Why would she be upset at getting rid of the source of all her problems?

“Stella, I understand you’re—”

“What is it exactly that you think you understand?” She barely recognized her own voice, it was so…dead. “I don’t think you understand at all. I want you to leave. I want you gone and I never want to see you again.”

His arms tightened again then relaxed but not enough for her to break free. “That doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t be alone.”

“I don’t want you here.” She spoke each word clearly so he wouldn’t mistake her. “You need to leave. I will be fine.”

He blinked, the only outward sign that he’d been affected by her words.

Bastard.
He was a complete bastard.

Stella began to shake, a full-body rattle that started in her toes and extended to her hair. She tried to control it, tried to rip herself out of his arms, but the more she fought against him, the tighter he held on to her.

The rage roared back with a viciousness that felt like a knife in the gut. She screamed as she struggled, a primal sound that terrified her. But it released whatever internal cap had been restraining her emotions. A flood of feeling hit her with the force of a tsunami wave, taking her under.

She screamed again and cried—and Cam held her tight. She turned into him and beat at his chest with her hands, kicked at his legs with her feet—and Cam held her tight.

Tears fell, drenching her, drenching Cam. She cried and screamed until she couldn’t breathe anymore and her arms were too tired to lift. Then she drew in a deep shuddering breath and let Cam take her entire weight.

God, she felt like shit. Like someone had pulled the plug and left all the life out of her. She probably looked as bad as she felt. And she felt fucking awful.

Cam still held her, one arm around her shoulders, the other around her waist. His fingers stroked her through the cotton, helping her breathe more easily.

She didn’t know how long they sat there but eventually he stood, still holding her, and walked to the shower stall in the corner.

He set her feet on the floor and she grabbed for his shoulders.

“Don’t—”

“Shh.” He caught her head in one hand and pressed it into his shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere.” Then he turned the taps on in the shower and stripped them both. By the time their clothes hit the floor, the water was steaming and Cam pushed her under the flow before stepping in behind her.

She would have turned into his body but Cam put his arms around her to hold her in place.

The hot water flowed over her, easing the remaining stress from her body. It left her completely drained of every emotion but one. And she wasn’t sure she was ready to acknowledge that one yet.

After a few minutes, Cam’s hands, which had been lying on her shoulders, began to massage the stiff muscles of her neck. Tilting her head back, she let it rest on his chest, the steady rise and fall of his breathing as soothing as the motion of his hands.

He worked her neck for a while then moved to her shoulders.
The man has magic fingers
, she thought then laughed silently. Of course he did. He
was
magical. Gorgeous, strong, inscrutable and magical.

He’d let her take out her frustration, horror and anger on him and he hadn’t flinched or stepped aside. Instead, he was bringing her back to life.

Moving from her shoulders, he smoothed his hands down her arms to her wrists and back up again, his wet skin slick against hers. His fingers brushed against her nipples, teasing them into hard points beneath the hot water. Then he cupped the small mounds and kneaded them, adding kindling to the heat building low in her body.

A small sound escaped her parted lips. A whimper or a moan, she wasn’t sure. But it made Cam’s hands tighten on her breasts for a few seconds before sweeping down the sides of her body to her hips.

The shower stall didn’t allow much room between them and he pulled her fully against his body, his erection, throbbing and hot, nestling into the crease of her rear. She rubbed against that hard shaft, arching her back and reaching behind to run her hands over his hair-roughened thighs.

The numb sensation in her gut was starting to thaw when Cam slid his hands around her hips to flatten on her stomach. For several seconds he let them rest there before dipping down to brush against the curls on her mound.

Her breath stuttered and held as he stroked through the curls to find her clit with one finger. He rubbed the little nub with soft touches that created a tantalizing sizzle from her clit to her womb. Her fingers flexed into his strong thighs, wanting to touch more of him.

She tried to turn but he wouldn’t let her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and held her in place while he fondled her clit with the other.

“Cam—”

His finger slipped into her sex, thrusting into her body and making her cry out as she clenched around him. But it wasn’t enough and he seemed to know it. A second finger joined the first while his palm covered her clit and pressed down.

The orgasm hit her hard and fast. Her whole body tensed, her mouth opening on a moan as her blood fizzed in her veins. She’d never felt anything like it before. It felt like…magic.

Stella turned her head, seeking his mouth. Instead, his mouth opened on her nape, sucking on the skin before biting down. With his fingers inside her and his teeth in her neck, she felt dominated and out of control.

Her body convulsed again, short and sharp, and still he didn’t stop. He forced her to feel only pleasure, to lose herself in it. Nothing else mattered except his fingers inside her pussy, his tongue licking her nape, the hair on his thighs tickling her skin. His chest rose and fell against her back in time with her own ragged breathing and his cock rubbed between her ass cheeks.

Stella wanted to turn and kiss him, but he wouldn’t let her move so she hung on that edge of pleasure until another wave of ecstasy hit her and she came again.

When her knees buckled, he slowly pulled his fingers out of her and turned her around so she could lean against him. She wound her arms around his waist and held on, his cock firm against her lower belly.

The water started to cool and Cam twisted the taps, shutting off the shower. He grabbed one of the clean towels from the rack on the wall next to the stall and dried her hair and skin before rubbing it over his head and body.

Then he picked her up again and walked to the bed. Pulling the quilt back, he laid her on the sheets. The steam from the shower and the warm air temperature outside made it comfortable for her to lie there without a cover—but she didn’t lie there alone for long.

Cam lay down next to her and pushed her onto her back. Gazing into her eyes, he covered her with his body, spread her legs wide with his knees and then, in one powerful thrust, slid inside her. The exquisite friction made her cry out his name and a sensation of incandescent heat spread through her body.

He took her slowly because her pussy was still tight from climaxing but he didn’t relent, wouldn’t let her keep him out.

Not that she wanted to. No, she wanted him right here, over her, inside her. Her legs rose to grip his waist as her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

His mouth dropped over hers, sealing it shut. Then he parted her lips with his tongue. His cock was a burning shaft that pulled at delicate tissues, scraped along sensitive nerves and sent waves of lust through her wom
b, up her spine and into her chest. The feeling was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. She felt as if she was burning from the inside out with a white-hot flame. The whole room seemed to glow with its intensity.

Stella moaned low in her throat and Cam thrust faster, his balls slapping against her ass. Each time he moved, he seemed to push deeper inside her until she was sure he’d fused to her body.

Time ceased to exist. She didn’t know how long he stroked the inside of her like this, making that flame burn until she was sure she couldn’t take it any longer. And when he came, he took her with him.

The pleasure of that last climax was so great that stars burst behind her eyelids for several seconds before she let the darkness take her under.

Chapter Eight

Cam collapsed over Stella’s limp body, letting the last traces of magic course through him. It danced like fire across his nerves endings, making his muscles jump and quiver as if he’d just run a marathon. He was pretty sure Stella had passed out. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t followed her.

He’d never experienced that type of release before or the force of the magic responsible for it. Hell, they could have died from the sheer pleasure. And the only thing he’d have regretted would be that he wouldn’t get to make love to her again. But that would have been the way to go.

They were meant to be blood-bound, he had no doubt about that.

Lifting his head from her shoulder, he rolled to one side, pulling her with him. Even asleep, she curled into his body and threw an arm over his chest—as if she didn’t want him to get away.

He sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what she had said or might say. Cam understood her earlier breakdown. Hell, he’d expected it, had pushed her toward it. He’d wanted to tear the bandage off the wound, so to speak, as fast as possible.

When he’d done his research on Stella’s past, he’d suspected Bonnini had killed her parents. For the pain her uncle had caused her, Cam would take great pleasure in ridding the world of the bastard.

But for that he had to come up with another plan, since the original plan to use Stella as bait was no longer an option.

As soon as she woke, he was taking her back to his home, where she’d stay until he resolved this situation with Bonnini. If he was lucky, she wouldn’t leave. Ever.

Stella shifted against him, her damp hair cool against his arm. He ran his fingers through it, gently working out the knots, knowing she wouldn’t want to wake with it a tangled mess. He wouldn’t care but women were funny like that.

“Mm, that feels good,” Stella murmured.

She obviously wasn’t as out of it as he’d thought. “Take a nap, babe. You don’t have anything to worry about. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She rolled to her side slightly so she could look at him, her eyes still drowsy, her smile sexy. “Maybe I wouldn’t mind if anything happened to me.”

The lust he’d thought banked for a while blazed at her innuendo but he knew she needed some sleep. Hell, he needed some sleep but he wasn’t going to get it. Not until he had her at his place. He could translocate them both back there in a blink but he didn’t think they needed to worry about moving just yet. Bonnini was unlikely to worry about Stella being MIA for at least a few hours yet. And he didn’t want to move her without her permission.

“Why don’t you close your eyes and try to get some sleep?” he asked.

Stella pouted and his gaze dropped to her lips. Surely one kiss couldn’t hurt. He dropped his mouth on hers and she immediately opened for him, curling her tongue around his. Though he hadn’t thought it possible after that last orgasm, his cock began to fill again. Okay, so maybe he wouldn’t be able to stop at one kiss.

But since she was awake, they should probably get the preliminaries out of the way. He kissed her one more time then pulled back. “Stella?”

She shimmied closer to him, rubbing her chest and lower body against him in a motion he couldn’t mistake. “Hmm?”

“We need to talk.”

She froze then sighed, the sound a husky rasp against his nerves. “I know. We need to talk about my uncle.” She paused and he swore he heard her thinking. “What if… What if I asked you to take me away? Somewhere he would never find me. Where we could live together and never have to worry about anyone else.” The last sentence came out in a rush.

His heart stuttered and he let himself imagine for a few seconds that she truly wanted that. But he knew better. She was still half in shock. Not a surprise considering the day she’d had. But once she was herself again, she wouldn’t want to run away and hide. That was not like the Stella he was coming to understand. He shook his head. “If I thought you’d be happy, I’d have you out of here so fast your head wouldn’t have time to spin.”

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her he loved her—not yet. The truth of the words would be lost in the danger and chaos of the situation. When he said the words, he wanted it to be special, to be the right time. In her state, she probably wouldn’t believe him anyway, not even if he explained about the magic they’d created that last time. He was afraid she’d run away screaming. Hell, they’d known each other less than a day.

Which didn’t mean he was unsure—not at all. Just cautious.

“You’re kind of a bully, aren’t you?” She smiled, taking the bite out of her words, and rested her head on his chest. “That’s okay. I can live with that.”

Live with that?
His heart kicked into a fast gallop. As in live with him permanently? Gods be damned, did that mean what he hoped it did? Or was he reading too much into a few simple words?

He’d never had a relationship with a woman that had lasted longer than one or two years. Considering he was one hundred and twenty-seven years old, that was, well, it was pretty damn pitiful. Now that he’d met Stella, he knew why he’d waited.

“Stella.”

She wriggled against him, nearly derailing his train of thought. “Hmm?”

“I need to take out your uncle. I need to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone again the way he’s hurt you and my people.”

She yawned, her hand coming to rest on his chest next to her head. “What is it you do exactly?”

“Exactly what I told you. I’m a security specialist. I work for the occasional
etera
,” actually he made a decent amount of money from that, “but I work mainly for the
Fata
, neutralizing threats to our community.”

“What’s an
etera
again?”

Hell, he’d forgotten she didn’t have a clue about his world. “The
eteri
are regular humans. Those who have no
arus
in their blood.”

“And
arus
means magic, right?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“What do you plan to do to my uncle?” Her tone hardened.

Kill him.
He wanted to kill Bonnini for the pain he’d caused Stella and Antonin’s mate Ellie and the
Fata
he’d terrorized. Cam would have no regrets at all about getting rid of Daniel Bonnini. But would Stella be able to live with him when he did?

Still, they should take him alive. He had valuable information, information the
Fata
could use to protect themselves against the
Mal
.

“We need to know what he knows about the
Fata
,” Cam said. “And why he’s tried to kidnap some of us.”

She paused. “Do
you
have to do this?”

He could lie and tell her there was no one else. The
Benandante
, the good counterpart to the
Mal
’s evil, would love to get their hands on Bonnini, even though they had bigger fish to fry.

A secret society, the
Benandante
had a sacred mission to extinguish the
Mal
. But their numbers had been depleted in the late 1800s when the
Mal
had made a concerted effort to massacre them. Hundreds of
Benandante
had died. Some
Fata
, like Cam and his brothers, had stepped in to fill the gaps.

So no, he didn’t have to take down Bonnini personally. But that was the way he usually worked. He didn’t even like to have his brothers in the mix when he was working. It could be distracting.

“Yeah, I do.” If he decided the man had to die, he had to be sure the bastard died by his hand so he could see it with his own eyes.

“Because of me?”

Absolutely.
“Because I need to know it’ll be done right.”

Stella shifted until she got an elbow under her and could look down at him. “I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to you.”

She shook her head to move her bangs off her face and he saw that her hair, baby fine and stick straight, wasn’t any worse for wear. Stupid thing to notice, really, but there wasn’t a single aspect of this woman he didn’t want to discover.

Cam sank his hands into the layered lengths, let them slip through his fingers like silk ribbons. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” he said. “I think you may have more trouble getting rid of me than you expect.”

Her head tilted as if she was thinking about that. Then she smiled, a half-grin that made his cock leap and his stomach curl in on itself.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked.

Goddess, her eyes were gorgeous, such a pure shade of green they mesmerized. “Stash you somewhere safe then figure out—”

She laid a finger over his lips. “You know the easiest way to get him to come to you is to use me, right? I mean, that was your plan when we met, wasn’t it?”

Gods be damned, she was going to be the death of him. But he refused to lie to her anymore. “Yeah, I was going to use you as bait.”

“Then why does that have to change?”

Because everything had changed. “I won’t put you in that kind of danger.”

Her smile would have made a dead man hard. “That’s so sweet but completely unrealistic. All I have to do is make one phone call and he’ll come to me. Then you can,” she stopped to take a breath, “do whatever you need to do.”

Cam shook his head. “No way. I don’t want you anywhere near him. You’re going back to my place—”

Her eyebrows rose. “Did you just give me an order?”

He sighed. This must have been why his relationships had never lasted long. He
was
a controlling son of a bitch and he liked it when people followed his orders. Made life a hell of a lot easier.

He tried again. “Would you
please
stay at my place until this is over?”

She stared at him for a second before her lips turned up slightly. “I’ll consider it. I’m not used to taking orders, Cam. Not from anyone. My uncle may be a…dangerous man but he taught me to stand on my own and not to depend on anyone else. I’ve never dated a man for more than a few months because most of them look at me and only see a thin body and blonde hair. They think I need a keeper. Or an owner. I don’t need to be kept and I sure as hell don’t want to be owned. I’m willing to put up with a fair amount of macho bullshit because, frankly, I think it’s cute. But don’t mistake that for weakness.”

She thought he was
cute
? Damn, how did he get so lucky that the one woman in the world for him was such a hard-ass?

She was tough—and right. Even though he hated it, he needed her to get to Bonnini.

“Honey, I don’t think you have a weak bone in your body… And you’re right. I need you to get to your uncle.” There was that smile again, the one that tied him in knots. He wished he could act on the heat building between them but he needed to focus so that he could spend the rest of his life with her. “Not that I want to share you but I need to call two of my brothers in so we can get a plan in place.”

Her hand traced lazy circles on his stomach. “Do you have to do that right now?”

The lust in her gaze made his entire body throb. Without warning, he grabbed her, making her scream then laugh as he dragged her under him, tangling her legs with his.

“For you, I can spare a few minutes.”

* * * * *

Another bout of high-intensity sex later, Stella rifled through the dresser drawers for something to wear that wasn’t ten-year-old shorts or a threadbare t-shirt.

Of course Cam didn’t seem to mind, if the way his eyes followed her as he called in his brothers was any indication. It made her feel like the sexiest woman in the world, something with which she had no experience.

“Yeah, I’m gonna bring you here now, Rio,” he said into his cell phone. “Don’t give me any shit. I told you not to make plans,
ceffo
.”

He listened for a few seconds then his lips turned up in a grin. “Yeah, well,
baciami il culo
. Hang up.”

Cam clicked the phone off and motioned her to his side, putting his arm around her shoulders and drawing her close to him, as if he’d been doing that for years. “Stay here a sec, babe. Rio’s been known to take a dive after he’s transported.” Then he closed his eyes.

The hair on her arms rose as she felt him do whatever it was he did to transport people from one place to another. It felt like standing next to a huge electrical current.

The man fascinated her on so many levels, held her attention so completely she almost missed the second his brother appeared in front of them.

One moment, no one was there. The next, a dark-haired man in a tight black t-shirt, faded ripped jeans and worn black Chucks stood in front of her.

If Cam was all dark brooding intensity, Rio was baby-faced innocence. The guy couldn’t be more than twenty years old, with sleepy, sexy dark eyes, high cheekbones and a mouth too pretty to be a guy’s. He was shorter than Cam and slighter, more wiry. They shared the same dark hair though Rio’s was stick straight and hung in his eyes—and of course covered his ears. If she had to pick someone out of the crowd and call him an elf, this would be the guy.

Then he yawned, shook his head and took an unsteady step forward. Cam reached for him, grabbing him by the arms and steadying him. “Hey, kid. You’re such a wuss. Get a grip.”

Cam’s soft tone belied his words and Rio’s mouth kicked up in a smile that surely sent teenage girls into fits of ecstasy.

“And you’re a controlling SOB but I don’t hold that against you.” Rio put one hand on Cam’s shoulder and took a deep breath before looking over at Stella. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t think any less of me but I think I’m going to pass out now.”

When his eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp, Cam muttered something under his breath and caught his brother in his arms before he fell.

“Here, Cam. Lay him on the bed.” Stella rushed over to pull the quilt up over the sheets before Cam got there with his brother.

Cam shook his head as he set Rio down as gently as he would a sleeping baby.

“Is he okay?” she asked.

Cam sighed. “Yeah, he’s fine. He’s just young and he gets disoriented because he doesn’t listen. Thinks he knows everything.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and felt his forehead to make sure he wasn’t overheated or clammy then felt the pulse in his neck. “He works with you?”