Spellbound (10 page)

Her hand dropped to her lap and curled into a fist. “Of course. Were they separate then? Or together?”

“Separate. But my orders are different this time. Now I just need to put them down.”

“You said ‘I' instead of ‘we.' ” Her gaze hardened. “We're a team, Max. You don't work alone anymore.”

He cupped her face in his hands. As a Hunter of rogues, he shouldn't have a Familiar. While Familiars augmented a warlock or witch's power tremendously, they were also a terrible point of weakness in battle. He understood firsthand how true that was, because he'd very nearly lost Victoria in their fight against the Triumvirate. The sight of her bleeding and broken in the snow that night, her life slipping away even as he gripped her body close, had taken him to the brink of insanity. But he would never give her up; he couldn't. He had forsaken everything he'd ever worked for, forfeiting a prized seat on the High Council and thereby inciting its members' wrath, because his life wasn't worth living without her in it.

“There's a reason Hunters don't have Familiars,” he reminded gently. “Besides, this is unfinished business from before I met you.”

“So was my fight against the Triumvirate,” she shot back, “but I let you fight it with me. Don't you dare act like I'm a liability.”

His fingertips followed the curve of her eyebrows. “You're my heart.”

“Max.” Her voice softened. But as she searched his face, her gaze narrowed and took on the calculating look of a clever feline.

To distract her and remind her of the command she had yet to obey, he waved a hand and stood before her naked, his clothes folded neatly on the sofa behind her. Sitting at eye level with his groin, Victoria licked her lips. She fought her need to obey for a moment, then conceded and reached for him, her slender hands circling his aching length.

Max's hands slid to her throat, tilting her chin up so that their gazes met. “You'll suck my cock because it pleases me, not because you see it as a way to manage me.”

“Why can't it be for both reasons?” she challenged.

“Ah, Victoria,” he crooned, his blood heating at a dangerous pace. With a focused thought, silken rope appeared and coiled sinuously around her wrists, binding them behind her back. “Let's occupy that pretty mouth of yours with something else before you get spanked.”

“Max . . . ” She trembled with excitement, her nipples hard beneath her blouse. As much as she liked control, she liked relinquishing it as well—to him. Him alone.

“On your knees,” he murmured, stroking himself from root to tip.

She slid from the chair and lowered gracefully to the floor, her balance honed by her feline side.

He fisted his cock, stroking a stream of pre-cum to the tip. “Lick it off, kitten. With that hot, rough little tongue of yours.”

Tilting her head back, she opened her mouth, moaning when he cupped the back of her head in one hand and slid his cock into her with the other.

“Deep and slow,” he instructed.

Max watched her submit, a groan tearing from him at the feel of her. Her mouth flowed over him, surrounding the sensitive crown in a wash of wet heat. His head bowed forward, his gaze slitting as his eyelids became weighted with drugging desire. He touched her hair, running his fingers through the short cap of silky strands, trying to convey without words how much he treasured her.

Then she sucked, pulling him deeper, and his body stiffened as the pleasure threatened to destroy the reins of his control.

He groaned, his dick so hard it ached. “You suck me so good. There's nothing in the world like fucking your greedy little mouth.”

Her wicked tongue fluttered across the underside of his cock head and sweat broke out on his chest. She watched him with those tip-tilted green eyes, her love burning hotly, her awareness of her feminine power shining in the emerald depths. The tip of her tongue probed the hole at the head of his cock, lapping up the pre-cum that flowed in a steady stream.

“Gods, you're beautiful . . . ” He shuddered as she nuzzled his balls with her cheek. They were already high and tight, heavy with semen desperate to spurt down her working throat. She took a deep, drawing pull on the tender crest, milking him. She swallowed greedily, purring, eliciting another wash of creamy cum.

She hummed her delight at the taste of him, sucking faster, tonguing the thick crest.

His hands fisted; one at his side, the other in her hair. His abdomen laced tight, his body fighting the need to come too quickly. Her mouth was so plush and hot, her desire so ravenous. The erotic sounds filling the room spurred his lust, pushed him closer to the edge of reason.

“You're killing me,” he said gruffly, his chest tight with love for her. “Not too fast. Make it last.”

She moaned around his cock as if she worshipped it, releasing him to kiss the tip before tracing the thick veins along the length with her tongue. The brutal pleasure battered at what little control he had after going days without her. Dark magic writhed inside him, struggling against the emotions Victoria inspired. There was no room for love in black magic. And no room for black magic in Max's bond with his beloved.

“Max,” she breathed. “Don't hold back.”

Angling his cock, he traced her lips with the tip. “I'll come for you,” he promised roughly. “When it's time.”

She pouted and he smiled grimly, knowing she thought he was teasing her. The truth wasn't as pretty, but similarly motivated by his concern for her. When he came, his magic would flow into her, become magnified by her Familiar gifts, and returned to him. She'd feel his turmoil then and understand where it came from.

She took him deep, her cheeks hollowing.

“Victoria.”

Her tongue fluttered against the sensitive underside, teasing him, tempting him with the promise of an explosive climax.

Cupping her cheeks to hold her still, Max rocked his hips, fucking her eager little mouth at
his
pace. Sliding in and out, he allowed the pleasure to build until he felt the first tingles of orgasm. Then he slowed, savoring the rush.

“Gods,” he growled, his legs weakened by the ferocious need to let go after days without her.

Victoria whimpered and sucked franticly, her tongue swirling. Her need to please him moved him, urged him to give her what she wanted. He released her and grasped for the desk, his hands curling around the edge.

She bobbed her head and took him to the back of her throat, again and again, her eyelids fluttering as she focused on finishing him. Her plush lips slid up and down his length, stroking him, coaxing cum into her working mouth. Sleepy-eyed, she stared up at him, her nipples straining, begging for his touch.

He cupped her tits in his hands, squeezing them, his thumbs circling over the tight points. She shivered and moaned, the vibration reverberating through his tightly strung frame. Her pheromones permeated the air, the scent so carnal and tantalizing he couldn't resist it.

With a gasp, he let go, coming. The first wrenching pulse jolted through him, molten heat racing down his spine before bursting from the tip of his cock. He growled as he spurted hotly, pumping semen across her flickering tongue. Her throat hugged him, closing on a deep swallow as she drank him down. Spots swam before his eyes, his lungs seizing as the orgasm shattered him. His power exploded from his taut frame in a surge of heat.

The lights flickered wildly. With a pained cry, Victoria absorbed the magic into her, then released it in a power surge that snapped the rope at her wrists and exploded the lightbulb in her desk lamp. Darkness hissed through the room, coiling and slithering, then slamming into Max and rocking him back into the desk.

Victoria stumbled up and into him, catching him and holding on. Max buried his damp face in the crook of her neck and crushed her to him, shuddering as the power pulsed through him like a viciously pounding headache.

Her fingers dug into his back. “Max . . . What have you done?”

Two

X
ander Barnes lifted his wineglass to his lips and looked through the restaurant's windows to the bistro patio across the street. There, Max Westin was hand-feeding tempting morsels to his beautiful Familiar. “We'll have to vanquish her,” he thought aloud. “She's making him too strong. We'll never take him out while he has her.”

“Hmm.” Sirius Powell cut into his steak. “Before I saw them together, I would've agreed. But I've changed my mind. See the way he looks at her? He loves her. It would be a waste to excise such a weakness with a single strike.”

Xander crossed his arms. A soft afternoon breeze rifled through his copper hair like a lover's fingers. “We'll have to use her against him, then. ”

“Yes. I think so.”

“She has Darius Whitacre's power.”

Sirius smiled and set down his utensils. The Familiar was unique, thanks to her previous warlock who'd bequeathed her his power. That magic made her strong, which made Max Westin stronger, but it also created a novel vulnerability. “Whitacre's power makes her susceptible to black magic. We just need to give her the incentive to use it.”

“Westin is already dabbling in it to lure us out. If she hasn't had a taste of it yet, she will soon enough.”

“Which will give her a taste for more,” Sirius finished. “Darius's magic isn't her only weakness. Westin is, too. Considering how territorial Familiars are, she won't want to be reminded about how many witches Westin has enjoyed.”

Xander laughed softly. “You want to make a Familiar jealous? You are evil.”

Sirius toyed with the long blond braid hanging over his shoulder. “And we'll get a great show. Who should we tap to get things rolling?”

“Jezebel Patridge,” Xander said without hesitation. “She and Westin were hot and heavy for a while. When he was hunting me, I considered using her as leverage, but it didn't pan out.”

“How do you propose getting her involved?”

Grinning, Xander leaned back in his chair and sipped his wine. “With a note from Westin himself. Easy enough to counterfeit.”

Sirius lifted his own glass in toast. “This should be fun.”

Something was wrong.

Victoria leaned into the threshold of the kitchen and watched as Max prepared dinner. From the first night he'd walked into her life with the High Council's order to either tame her or kill her, he'd been taking care of her. She'd never been so pampered and spoiled in her long life. In return Max expected nothing but her love, trust, and submission, all of which she gave him, despite her alpha female disposition.

Her adoring gaze took in every mouthwatering inch of him, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. His inky-black hair hung to his shoulders in a thick luxurious mane, framing a face so savagely masculine it made her shiver just to look at him. His eyes were the gray of a summer storm and his lips were simply divine, so firm and beautifully sculpted.

His powerful arms and back flexed as he worked at the stove, his body unadorned except for a loose pair of silk pajama pants. His bare feet were a wicked enticement for her feline sensibilities, luring her to shift forms and twine around his ankles. His skin was the color of the richest caramel, the texture firm and satin soft. His taut ass made her mouth water, and when he turned toward the sink, she eyed the unmistakable sway of his heavy cock, her pussy clenching hungrily for the feel of him thrusting inside her.

The two days she'd spent without him had been torture enough, but the hours since lunch had been worse. A wall had gone up between them since they'd left her office. Knowing he was home but still distant was both physically and emotionally painful. He'd shut her out in a way he never had before. Although he was still affectionate and attentive, there was no doubt that he was shielding her from the truth of where he'd been the last two days and what he'd done. During lunch he'd talked about everything except what he had decided to do about the Council's summons.

Max had always been one to use gray magic. But what she'd felt today was much more dangerous. And far more seductive.

Even now she could feel the darkness shrouding his soul and the iron control he was exerting to contain it. The hunt for sorcerers of Sirius Powell and Xander Barnes's power would push him to the very edge. The assignment would tax his strength in myriad ways and it was up to her to support him through it. But she couldn't do that if he wouldn't let her in.

Untying her black silk robe, Victoria went to him and pressed her bared torso to his back, her arms wrapping around his chest. Her palms slid over his washboard abs and firm pectorals, squeezing the hot, hard flesh with greedy hands.

“I love you, Max,” she murmured with her lips to his shoulder blade.

“I know, kitten.”

She reached lower, cupping him through the silk of his pants, then loosening the drawstring to fist his thickening cock skin to skin. “I need you.”

He swelled in her grasp, eliciting a purr of delight from her. Her nipples stiffened, her pussy softening in readiness. She stroked him from root to tip, making him longer and harder, priming him to pleasure her.

Abruptly, he turned off the burner and spun fluidly. He took control with breathtaking ease, catching her hands behind her with one of his own. Excitement flushed her skin.

Max loomed over her, his eyes stormy and hot. His free hand ran down the center of her body from throat to sex, possessively cupping the pulsing flesh between her legs. “What do you want, Victoria?”

“You.” She spread her legs, inviting his touch. “I've always wanted you, from the moment you walked into my life.”

Parting her, he gently rubbed her clit. “You've had me from the beginning.”

Her entire body softened, her heart pounding at being restrained and pleasured. “I don't feel like I have you now.”

He circled the clenching entrance to her body with skillful fingertips. “You own me.”