ThirteenNights (2 page)

“Change is needed.”

She nodded as if in agreement. “Show me.”

Unsure if she used her power of voice to command him or he
wanted her to see the truth, he leaned forward and offered his head to her
touch.

She placed her hands to his temples and closed her eyes. Her
white lashes disappeared into her ghost-pale skin. When she opened them, she
raised an eyebrow, then lightly slapped him across the cheek. “Naughty, but
arguably necessary. Know this, game-changer, you are one of the reasons this
establishment exists. Pantheon justice usually forgets that. You should not.”
The last words were tattooed onto his psyche by Sylla’s power. “You may leave.
Be good to her, she’s my friend,” she whispered and was gone before his body returned
to his control.

Her drink poured, Annie took a large swig before she jumped
into the shower and scrubbed herself pink with a loofah in preparation for the
evening’s activities. Anticipation thundered a storm in her bloodstream as she
slicked her body with jasmine oil and slipped into a sheer, black-lace baby
doll that split open right below the breasts to reveal her well-toned abs,
pierced bellybutton and crotchless black panties tied on one side for easy
removal. Black satin mules completed the outfit and displayed long, leanly
muscled legs to their best advantage. Her sister Marta had talked her into
buying this getup, arguing that since she was sworn to the Amazon way of life,
she might as well enjoy it.

According to the ritual, the male was required to
demonstrate his power and aggressiveness during the first coupling. Stimulation
and easy access would make it good for them both. Losing herself in sexual
pleasure until she was well-sated might drown out the doubts about this whole
process that nagged at a part of her brain. At least she got Tai, her preferred
lover. An odd choice, she knew, but she had always followed her instincts, no
matter how much it baffled her sisterhood.

A glance at the clock indicated he’d arrive momentarily. To
prepare, she stroked herself until her juices flowed down her thighs and the
scent of her lust perfumed the room. When the doorbell rang, she ached to be
taken. She opened the door to a single rose and eyes that flamed with raw
hunger the instant he took in her attire.

“I’m glad my appearance pleases you,” she said as she took
the rose and caressed the petals down her neck to her breasts. She liked the
way he looked as well. Black hair curled seductively on the shoulders of a
leather jacket, a body carved from steel and a focus so intense his gaze burned
through her skin. It had been a long time and he was someone she’d choose to
scratch an itch any day.

“Let me show you just how much.” Faster than she thought
possible, he had the door closed and her facing the wall, ready for his entry.
His size hid his true prowess and those skills sent heat coursing through her.
No one had ever taken her that quickly and she was ranked the most decorated
Amazon under thirty. With one hand, he liberated the rose, the other had her
wrists against the wall in an unbreakable vise. He used his knee to thrust her
legs wider. “Your pleasure belongs to me, Antiope.”

Satisfied he’d proven his worth, she bent forward, inviting
him in. “May your seed conceive a new warrior.” She said the required words to
begin the first taking. Instead of a powerful entry, a whisper of silk glided
up one thigh, floated across her mons and slid down the other. The rose. An
offer of a different kind—a test of who they’d be.

“Call me Annie.” The name she used in the human world, an
alternate identity—one that reflected her whole self, not just the warrior.

“Annie,” he repeated, acknowledging and accepting her offer.
And then he oh so carefully spread her gently with his fingers and rolled the
petals against her clit, a touch so soft and unexpected, she came instantly. Keeping
the rose in place, he knelt and used his shoulders to widen her legs farther,
the leather rough against her skin. Tai slid the rose down one thigh, then
replaced its caress with his lips. Gentle, persistent licks turned to hard,
driving suckles, his tongue a wet and wild pulse determined to draw out every
ounce of her passion.

While that mouth of his deserved no end of awards, it was
not enough. She was Amazon, her body a finely tuned weapon at the height of its
power and feral in its need to be taken to the edge, to be physically
challenged even in the act of love. “Take me, Tai.”

“It shall be.” He kissed his way across the exposed
tattooing on her back. One hand tightened its grip on her hip. The small pain,
a promise of the ferocity to come, had her body shuddering in anticipation. The
whoosh of a zipper opening had her panting with need. Two fingers thrust up her
channel, pumped her hard and fast until they dragged a moan out of her.

“Do you always have to be different?” she managed to gasp.

“When my actions no longer give you pleasure, just tell me
to stop.” His fingers accelerated their aggressive rhythm. The other hand
traced the rose along her stomach, under the lingerie, until he buried her
nipple in the petals. The silken cloud caressed and teased the delicate skin of
her breast. Her eyes closed to savor every touch, she gave in to the blaze of
desire scorching through her.

Leaning her head against the wall to keep from collapsing,
she wiggled her bottom against Tai’s cock. A desperate groan filled the room
and he lunged into her, hard, hungry, and so thick, he stretched her to the
limits. “Damn, Tai, you fill me up.”

“Good.” And the dance began. Tai, who seemed determined to test
the boundaries of first night tradition, pushed slowly in and easy out. Again
and again. The rose, still molded around her breast, massaged her nipple and
skin with every thrust. His control was beyond any Gargarean she’d ever known
while hers was almost nil.

“You’re a sadist.”

“You aren’t enjoying this?”

“I’m an Amazon,” she growled, her yearning a wildfire
rampaging through every cell in her body. “Take me like one.”

That seemed to register with him. He jackhammered into her
at a tempo that scrambled every synapse in her brain and detonated every nerve
ending. The softness of the rose petals balanced the aggressive pounding of a
warrior. Her nails dug tracks into the wall. “Yes, that’s it. More,” she
rasped.

“Greedy.” His voice was pure male satisfaction. He gave her
more—fast, powerful thrusts tore through her body at a strength and speed that
took her to oblivion.

Next thing her consciousness registered was Tai’s arm around
her and the stroke of a rose petal down her cheek. When her vision returned,
she noticed the rose had no thorns.

Tai left her the night before with his home address and
without a kiss goodbye. She shouldn’t have wanted it. The Elders opposed
kissing, dating, spending a full night together and other activities they
feared formed emotional bonds between breed partners. Even so, disappointment
was a knife twisting in her gut. The second night of coupling, ritual dictated
that the female took the lead at the male’s home. She donned fighting leathers
over a pink silk bra and panties. Lacy, silky lingerie was a secret passion she
rarely revealed and she kept her things hidden in several shoeboxes in the back
of her closet. Tapping his residence address into her phone, she wasn’t
surprised to discover he lived within walking distance. When employed in
cities, the warrior races gravitated toward any green space they could find. In
DC, Rock Creek Park cut through the Northwestern sphere of the city and most of
her kind settled around it.

She arrived at the address to discover a late-night barber
shop nestled in between a crowded liquor store and a boarded-up former diner. Not
sure what to make of it, but convinced that Tai was not shunning her or the
ritual, she walked in and asked for him. One of the barbers, a small, wiry
African-American with graying hair handed her a newspaper photo of Tai with his
arm around a lanky, coffee-colored teenage girl. An address was scribbled on
the back of the page. “He told us to expect you.”

Odd including humans in the Rite of Thirteen Nights. From
Tai, maybe not. Surprises seemed to be his forte. “Who is she? Why are you
helping him?”

“She’s my daughter,” he answered. “I would do anything he
asked me to do, no questions asked.”

“Explain.”

“About a year ago, she didn’t show up at choir practice
after school. Tai was here. Eddie,” he pointed to a heavyset man sitting in the
corner, “was cutting his hair. Tai overheard me on the phone begging the police
to help. They didn’t, he did. Thank the lord for it. He found my baby, before
they could hurt her. Six boys…” A tear flowed down his cheek, his voice too
choked up to continue. Pain dusted the air and filled Annie’s lungs.

“He seems to be special,” she whispered.

The address on the back of the photo led her to a Chinese
takeout restaurant three blocks away. Again, she asked for Tai and was handed
another newspaper photo with his arms around an Asian family in front of the
marbled counter that traversed the width of the store.

“He came in to pick up dinner,” a petite, dark-haired woman
explained, “in the middle of an armed robbery.” A man entered from the back and
put his arms around the woman Annie guessed to be his wife. “In a flash, he
disarmed the man and held him on the floor for half an hour until the police
arrived.”

Her next stop, a flooded bookstore he helped to rebuild
after the insurance company refused to cover the costs. He had sent her on a
scavenger hunt of his past. On the first night, he should have regaled her with
boasts of his feats of glory, something she now realized he had not done.
Instead, he sent her on a tour of the good he’d left behind, not the bad he’d
taken down. A subtle difference. A brilliant strategy that impressed her mind,
tugged at her heart, and turned her body into one big flame.

Six helped families later, she arrived at a tree-covered,
red-brick house that backed up against the park, heart overflowing and libido
in overdrive. Tai opened the door seconds after the bell chimed, naked,
delectable and ready. So damn ready. His cock jutted up hard against his belly
in bold invitation. Her lower body clenched in anticipation, liquid heat pooled
in her panties.

Ritual dictated it was her turn to be the aggressor. She
shoved him inside, kicked the door closed behind her and pushed him onto the
first chair she could find. His throat trapped in her right hand to hold him in
place, she unzipped her leather catsuit with the left and watched his eyes
darken as she revealed each inch of skin.

“Pink lingerie. Unexpected but most welcome.” His smirk sang
of victory, as if he’d won a secret war.

She’d explore that later, after she satisfied them both. “Unhook
my bra.” He flicked the front clasp as ordered.

“Now undress me.” She squeezed his throat a fraction to
remind him who was in charge.

“It’s my pleasure,” he said, undeterred by her grip. He
peeled the leather from one shoulder, trailing his fingers along her arm in a
heated caress. She released his neck to open up her other side to him. He
liberated her second arm, then freed her breasts from their satin prison. The
cool air tightened her nipples into diamond-hard points.

“Beautiful.” Tai licked his lips. “Mine.” His hand covered
one mound and squeezed gently, sending shudders through her body.

“I’m not fully naked.” She tapped her nails against the
tender skin of his cheek. He just smiled, tugged at her nipple, and pulled the
suit and her panties to her ankles. Annie kicked off her boots, let the clothes
fall and mounted him, groaning in sheer delight. He cupped her breasts, brought
one toward his mouth and she arched to give him better access. His tongue
flicked across one swollen nub then the other, whispers of sensation that sent
flames licking up her spinal cord. That mouth taunted her to madness—lips
sliding slow and wet on her flesh, gentle suckles that tormented her senses.

“Suck it harder,” she demanded and pulled his head toward
her with both hands. But he was having none of it. Instead, her hips tight
against him, he thrust up while he swept soft kisses along the flesh of her
breasts. His tongue circled the areola with damp, teasing touches. Sheer
aggression married to an innate gentleness, what she’d come to think of as Tai’s
brand.

Tightening her inner muscles, she gloved his cock and pushed
her breasts against his lips until he opened. And then he gorged on her with
teeth, lips and tongue. His upward thrusts alternated with rough nips of nipple
and breasts until she was comatose with pleasure. She was Amazon, supposed to
be in control but he’d taken over. By Athena, she couldn’t believe how much it
got her off. For the second night, she found herself coming back from
la
petit mort
wrapped in Tai’s arms with gentle, almost loving strokes along
her skin.

“Okay?” He cupped her breast in a possessive hold and she
allowed it.

“How do you do this to me?” She didn’t ever want to this to
end but buried away that thought almost as quickly as she had it. The Elders
forbade warriors to enter committed relationships.

“I satisfy the warrior and seduce the woman.”

To Tai’s surprise and satisfaction it didn’t take a lot of
work to convince Annie to go out on a human date. He was strategic enough to
ask her after a few mind-blowing orgasms, before she had completely returned to
herself. Although the Elders discouraged dating during the ritual, Tai wanted
to experience all of Annie. Not just how to fuck her, but what made her smile,
what secret fears she kept hidden, everything about her. If asked why, he
couldn’t articulate the answer, but he trusted his gut. Living in a world of
archaic rules designed for centuries long past, he found that his heart and his
instincts more readily led him on the right path. The laws always took him
backward to a place where he didn’t belong. He suspected that some part of Annie,
with her silken brown hair and eyes that had seen too much, would agree.

With seduction in mind, he hopped on his Ducati 1198R and
headed to his Amazon’s house, making sure to pack an extra helmet. Starting the
evening with her arms wrapped around his waist, and those long, gorgeous legs
pressed against his while the engine vibrated beneath them had him battling a
hard-on before he even left home. The ride was short, only a few minutes, but
anticipation made it feel longer. It was worth every imagined extra second when
she opened the door.

Stunning. The pencil-thin skirt that curved around her
waist, a tailored blouse that molded around perfect cream puff breasts and
displayed cleavage would have him fighting off challenges for her all evening.
A raindrop necklace lay flat on her chest, pointed downward to the treasures
below. He’d figure out a way to remove it later. She was off the market, for
his pleasure only.

Fortunately—or not—the slit on her skirt allowed her easy
access on the Ducati. He jacked into high gear, hoping that if he went fast
enough no one would have the chance to drool over her extraordinary legs.
Speeding down Sixteenth Street, with those lush breasts pushed tight against
his back, he barely noticed the grandeur of the White House, which marked the
end of the road. At Lafayette Park, he took a left and parked in the motorcycle
spaces across from the Veterans Administration, one block from their
destination—a drink at the hotel rooftop bar with the best view of the city
usually worked to set a mood. Would it succeed with an Amazon?

He reserved a table right next to the railed edge that
offered a bird’s-eye view of the White House, having had to call in every FBI
contact he had to get the booking on such short notice. The hostess led them to
a corner table. He let Annie slide toward the rail across the black-cushioned
couch and shimmied in behind her, pulling her against his chest as they drank
in the one-of-a-kind panorama.

A waitress came for the order.

“Champagne, your best,” he ordered then planted kisses on
Annie’s neck to head off her annoyance. Warriors didn’t like other warriors to
act on their behalf.

“Damn it, Tai. I don’t know what kind of women you’re used
to but don’t do that again. Ask me before you order for us.”

The distraction hadn’t worked. His kisses morphed into bites
to remind her of his warrior status. “You don’t like champagne?”

“I didn’t say that. I said, consult me.”

“I promise to do so next time if you promise to enjoy the
champagne.”

“Okay,” she agreed, leaning back against him and making sure
her ass rubbed enticingly against his dick, now hard, erect and throbbing.

“Not nice,” he growled at her.

“But totally deserved.” She turned to confront him, a big
grin on her face, mischief in her eyes.

He wondered if she would be into public sex, but quickly
squelched the idea. He wanted her heart, even if he had to fight his body to
get it. After the ritual ended, he intended to keep her in his bed and his
life. Lots of time to explore the full range of their sexuality.

The waitress arrived, uncorked the bubbly and filled their
flutes. Tai clinked her glass in a toast. “To a unique adventure.”

“To a child,” she countered.

“To
our
child.” When she didn’t shy away, he wrapped
his arm around hers and drank in that corny, silly way that lovers do. It was
perfection.

“Why do you let me break the rules?”

“I seem unable to resist.”

“For someone who’s like no other Amazon I’ve ever met, your
battle record is one of the most impressive I’ve seen.”

“Amazons will forgive their best fighters a lot.” She
stroked his cheekbone, a sad smile hung on her face.

“You’ve spent your life in hiding, haven’t you?” As soon as
he said it, he knew this to be true.

Her body shifted, turning away so that her back faced him. After
placing his drink on the table, he slid his arms around her, pulled her stiff
body between his legs, his hold firm, possessive but tender. He alternated
butterfly kisses, aggressive bites and healing licks down her neck to respect
the strength of the warrior and romance the gentle woman she suppressed.

“Tell me what you hide so deeply, Annie. Don’t you feel that
I’m your ally?”

Her sigh floated along the breeze on the open terrace and
her body shifted positions. If she hadn’t been Amazon, he would have said she
was fidgeting. Warriors were trained to an economy of motion. He remained
quiet, using the silence to allow her to open up but continued tender caresses
along her arms, soft kisses on her throat. Only stillness had the power to draw
out secrets held for a lifetime.

“Yes, I truly feel you are my ally. I’m a low-level empath.”

It was Tai’s turn to sigh. For as different as he was he
knew that to feel the feelings of others could cripple a warrior. He made a
mental note to delve more deeply into her virtual trail. “Ah baby, how do you
survive?”

“I earn income as a highly specialized bounty hunter
tracking sociopaths, the criminally insane—the Hannibal Lecters of the world. They
are either so cold that they don’t trigger empathy or so angry that it feeds
the warrior. For the Amazons, in addition to any fighting duties, I serve as
their chief negotiator. My abilities to differentiate words and actions from
underlying emotion make me hard to beat.”

“How do you endure the city?” He stroked her arms, back,
trying to soothe, to signal his support for her, whatever she did, whoever she
was, whatever she needed.

“I like cities. So many feelings bombard my senses that I
can package them together as white noise and ignore them. It’s one-on-one with
humans or small groups of them that strain my ability to control it.”

Tai strengthened his embrace, bracketing her in the steel of
his arms and legs, letting her know at every level that he would care for the
vulnerability she just shared with him. No warrior ever handed another a
weakness—it was a gift he would protect. “You’re dealing with humans now,
aren’t you?”

Her nod, quirky and out of rhythm, spoke volumes. “My house
is between two families, their love a chronic low-level buzz, always in my
system.” Her voice lowered to a whisper so low, only his enhanced hearing
allowed him to pick it up. “It makes me want it, but why do you?”

His body stilled, her declaration a surprise, although not
an unwanted one. “You can read me.”

She nodded.

“This appears in your medical records as a genetic anomaly but
the precise talent is not identified. How have you kept it under the radar?”

Her shoulders stiffened. “You’ve seen my records?”

Time for quid pro quo—vulnerability for vulnerability. “I
hacked into the database. I wanted to ensure that you were matched with me. You
weren’t. Because of that anomaly, human genes were forbidden, so I switched the
pairings. I would only accept you.”

“If you’re ever discovered, that carries a death sentence
under Amazon law.”

“Not under Gargarean law. Don’t worry, they’ll just make me
do extra guard duty.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder and turned to look
him in the eye. “If you partnered with another Amazon, maybe, but I’m from
Hippolyta’s line. Amazons put a high price on protecting their royal genetic
heritage. For me and my sister, they will take this directly to your Elders and
demand justice. Your life is not guaranteed.” Worry lines rippled across her
forehead.

“So, my Amazon princess, you are concerned for me.” He liked
that. A lot. “My coding talent has no equal so the only way they’ll catch me is
if you get pregnant. And that isn’t likely to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Hidden in the warriors’ database, which I regularly hack,
is a study by an Amazon researcher on the fertility rates of the warrior races.
The Elders banned it but the research findings were irrefutable. We’re dying
out. Only a few children are born every year. Sterility is rampant among many
of our kind.”

Annie’s mouth fell open. “The deities are losing their power
but the pantheon mortals are losing their existence?”

“It seems so.” He paused. “Love me tonight, Annie. Maybe we
can’t save the pantheons, but we can save each other.”

Turning around in his arms, she captured his face between
her hands. Soft lips pressed against his. Teeth nipped gently along his bottom
lip, coaxed him to open to her. Her tongue swept in his mouth with sexy flicks
and lingering swirls. Her kiss captured him with the demand of a warrior and
the need of a woman.

Inflamed by her fervor, he let her lead. He’d been aching to
kiss her since she first smiled at him. That she took the initiative to break
the rules had him hot, heaving and ready to just take her on this couch.

“I booked a room here,” he said against her mouth. “I’m not
sure putting on a show is in our best interests, no matter how tempting the
idea might be.”

Scrambled as his brains and body were from her nearness, he
didn’t know how they got to the room. When he woke up in the morning alone, he
knew the night would be forever stamped in his memory. The wickedness in her
eyes, gentle caresses interspersed with the hard bite of nails against his
skin, and oh the pounding—that hot, damp velvet glove that grabbed, held him,
pulsed against him as she came.

Thirteen Nights would never be enough. He wanted a lifetime.

But she had left sometime after midnight, unwilling to sleep
next to him though he’d asked, coaxed, even demanded. How much could he really
push her? Were stolen kisses and whispered secrets as far as his Amazon would go?