Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (44 page)

A dark-haired male approached from a corridor on Payne’s left, this one actually dressed, wearing a smart dark grey suit. “Can I help you?”

The male’s swirling eyes dropped to Payne’s arm around Elissa and he raised his eyebrows at Payne’s markings visible beyond the rolled up sleeves of his shirt.

“I want to see him.” Payne knew without a doubt that the man would know exactly who he was talking about.

The man nodded and waved his arm towards the corridor he had come from, a smile plastered on his face. Payne kept Elissa close to him and followed the male, his senses on high alert, tracking every other male in the room. If they looked at her, he would kill them all.

They walked down a long red and gold corridor. There were no paintings on the wall on his right but dark stains marked where some had hung in the past. The windows on Payne’s left revealed the lamp-lit gardens. Elissa trembled against him. Payne squeezed her shoulders and she lifted her eyes to his. He smiled, wanting to comfort her and reassure her that she was safe even when he wasn’t sure whether that word was applicable to either of them. What the hell had possessed him to agree to come to this place? The distance between him and the orgy was growing, but his dark sexual hungers weren’t lessening. They roared within him, fiercer than ever, driving him to take Elissa and teleport them somewhere private.

Or forget the private and the teleporting part, and just take her right here and right now, regardless of their company.

The male opened a door on his right and disappeared into a room. Payne struggled with his incubus hungers, trying to get a lid on them, and peered into the pale blue room. It looked much like a library or a study, with bookcases lining the walls. Some of them even had books, although they looked as though someone had tossed them onto the shelves, uncaring of how they landed. A large oil painting hung above the fireplace directly in front of Payne. The smoke from the fire must have damaged it over the ages, clouding the image depicted on the canvas. He couldn’t make out the landscape.

Payne entered with Elissa tucked close to his side. The man swept his hand towards the deep blue couches encircling the fireplace.

“Do sit. I will be but a minute.” The man disappeared.

“What the freaking heck are you doing?” Elissa hissed.

“I need his scent and since you said that my grandfather had never met you, I figured it would be safe to meet him. Believe me, Sweetheart, I want nothing to do with the son of a bitch. As soon as I have his scent, we can find his room in the mansion, get what we came here for and get the fuck out.”

“I lied.”

Payne groaned. Why did his instincts have to have been right about that? He looked around the lushly furnished room, searching for a place where she could hide while he got a whiff of his grandfather. He needed somewhere safe, away from other incubi. They were near the end of the mansion, far from all the fucking, but it still set him on edge and made it hard to concentrate. There was a closed door off to his right. He focused there, panic setting in, trying to determine whether incubi were getting their ends away in that room too. No sign of life.

Payne grabbed Elissa’s hand and pulled her towards the door.

Someone appeared in the room behind him.

He whirled to face them, his heart lodged in his throat. Elissa kept her back to them. Relief blasted through him.

The man again.

“I am afraid the master is out and will not return until tomorrow.” He preened his dark unruly hair back and smiled. “I have arranged for a room for you. Will you stay the night?”

Payne noticed the way he didn’t look at Elissa. His blue and gold eyes remained rooted on him. Payne was still wrestling with the fact that his grandfather didn’t just live in this den, he ran it.

Everything in him screamed to refuse and get Elissa the hell away from the constant threat of danger. While he couldn’t control her, every incubus here could. He was damned if he was going to let them use their charms on her to get her into bed. She belonged to him.

He couldn’t leave though. It would look suspicious.

He forced himself to nod.

The man’s smile broadened. “Would you care to join us? There are many willing females here who would feed your every desire. You may enjoy them.”

Elissa’s nails dug into his hand and rage poured off her. Double interesting. His little witch was jealous.

“No, thank you. I would like to take my mate to our room.” Payne made himself smile when all he wanted to do was grimace. Elissa was going to leave marks.

The male eyed her and his lip curled. Payne had the feeling that a mate was not a valued thing in this den of iniquity. Everyone here seemed to be in a race to score the most number of conquests.

The man turned away and Payne pulled on Elissa’s hand, making her come with him. They followed the man back through the house, past the orgy that had Payne’s blood thundering and his eyes fixing on Elissa to kill the disturbing desire to join in, and up to the first floor. The man led them to the other end of the house, in a very quiet corridor.

Payne couldn’t sense anyone in the rooms around them. Relief surged through him, sharp and sweet. Maybe he would retain his sanity and be able to keep a lid on his dark urges to feed after all. He thanked the male with another tight smile and pushed Elissa into the room. She seemed pleased by the green theme that ran through it, from the walls to the covers on the four-poster bed, to the two armchairs in front of the cream marble fireplace. It was definitely a witch thing this time. He had heard they liked nature and nature was green.

He shut the door in the male’s face and leaned back against it, tracking her as she moved around the room, snooping at things on the mantelpiece and the wooden table near the armchairs. She disappeared into an adjoining room on his right. The bathroom. Pale green tiles and white porcelain.

Had the incubi bought this place or had they borrowed it from someone? Payne had never thought of that species as a particularly honest one. They had probably taken over the house by force.

He moved to his left and sat on the bed there, waiting for Elissa to emerge. When she did, she looked far happier than she had been in the reception room downstairs. She idly ran her fingers over everything she passed as she crossed the room to him.

He opened his knees and she settled between them, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders. His claimed her waist and he tilted his head back, silently telling her what he wanted from her. She smiled shyly and lowered her mouth towards his, angling her head at the same time. He groaned when she swept her lips across his, soft brushes that ignited his blood and had him hard in his jeans. He needed to feed again. Being around so much sexual energy had him hungry for another taste of his witch.

Elissa pulled away and stroked his cheek. “I think we should rest a while and then we can head out when the house is quiet. Incubi have to sleep at some point and now that I’m near what I’m looking for, I can track it. I’d rather not have to be around them.”

Payne could read between the lines. Her fear sang to him through the blood he had taken from her, a connection that wouldn’t fade for hours yet. She hadn’t liked it when that incubus had tried to control her. He hated it too.

He tipped his head back, enjoying her soft caress and drinking in her beauty, wanting to lure her mouth back to his. “So, we’re going to stay here... in this room... with this big bed... just you and me?”

She nodded and ran her index finger along his lower lip, making it tingle. His eyes dropped to his marks on her throat and then met hers again. Her pupils dilated and her lips parted.

“And what if I’m hungry?”

She frowned. “I’m not letting you out of this room so you can fornicate with those bitches.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Who said I wanted them?”

Payne pulled her closer and kissed her left breast through her black top. Her nipple beaded beneath the material and he rolled it between his teeth, hungry for his taste of her. She gasped and he drew back.

“You don’t want them?” she said, breathless and eyes dark with desire, but touched by a hint of vulnerability.

He shook his head. “I just want you.”

“Right answer.” She leaned into him and he fell back onto the bed with her on top of him. She rewarded him as she always did, with a soft kiss that made him ache for more and gave him bliss.

Fool around now. Track their items later.

Sounded like a good plan to him. Better than his one, anyway.

He didn’t want to meet his grandfather.

He would kill him if he did.

Payne woke to a riot inside of him, a war between two hungers that demanded to be fed. He hadn’t caught much sleep. The mansion had him permanently on edge and he couldn’t contain his needs. The energy here was intense and overwhelming, far worse than he had ever experienced it at Vampirerotique. It had his incubus side on constant high alert.

He groaned and rolled onto his side under the dark green covers, coming to face Elissa. She stretched beside him, the action causing the sheets to ride down her body, revealing her bare breasts. Tempting. He focused on his body, trying to discern which of his hungers was the most pressing. The incubus in him was restless, roused by the sexual energy flowing through the mansion and hungry for more of his witch.

Elissa settled again, a sigh escaping her soft pink lips. They had fooled around last night but hadn’t taken things all the way. It had been enough for him at the time, but now he had one thing on his mind and it drove him to obey. He wanted to be back inside her.

His incubus side purred and prowled around inside him, held at bay by his more dominant vampire nature but not for long. He would indulge it for a change and hopefully he would gain enough satisfaction from what he was going to do with Elissa to last him through the coming hours. The house was still now, the energy in the air less than before. He couldn’t hear anyone moving around and most of the heartbeats in the rooms surrounding them were slow and steady, signalling sleep.

It was time they set out in search of his grandfather’s room and got what they came here for.

Payne rolled onto his front and eased the covers lower, revealing more of Elissa’s beautiful bare curves. He growled low in his throat, his cock hard again and wedged between his body and the firm mattress. She wrinkled her nose in her sleep. He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to her stomach. She sighed.

He smiled.

Payne kissed his way upwards, his eyes on his target. Her breasts. Their dusky pink buds were already pert, calling out for his attention. He swept his lips over her ribs and then along the curve of her right breast. She moaned and the sound cut off.

He flicked a glance at her face.

Elissa stared down her body at him, a sleepy but curious look in her grey eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Waking you up,” he whispered against her skin and wrapped his lips around her nipple, eliciting a groan from her.

“Why?” She sounded breathless already and he could smell her desire.

“Because I want you.” Payne traced his hand over her stomach and slid it under the green bedclothes, settling it over her curls.

She blushed and bit her lower lip, her eyes hooded and dark with hunger. “Go back to sleep.”

She didn’t mean that. He slipped his finger into her folds and she moaned, tilting her head back into the rich green pillows. Her chestnut hair spilled around her shoulders in loose waves, dark against her pale creamy skin. She looked like a goddess as she bared herself to him, spreading her thighs so he could delve lower. He eased his hand down and teased her opening, drawing hot moisture from her core and bringing it up to her aroused clitoris. She moaned again, beautifully wanton, the sound stirring fire in his blood and causing his cock to pulse.

Payne pushed the covers down to reveal her long slender legs and moved between them. She gasped as he slid two fingers into her core and lowered his mouth to kiss her. He swirled his tongue around her clitoris, listening to her breathy moans of pleasure and feeding on the energy that flowed from her, basking in how much she enjoyed being with him. She writhed, rocking her hips in time with each thrust of his fingers.

“Payne,” she whispered, breathless and low, a plea and a praise at the same time. He groaned into her and licked her from core to aroused nub, savouring the taste of her and wanting more. She lowered her hand to his hair and guided him, silently commanding him even though he was in control now.

The incubus in him purred at the interaction though, especially when she tangled her fingers in his hair and tightly clutched it, forcing him to remain at her clitoris. He lavished it with attention, alternating between flicking it with the tip of his tongue, sensually swirling his tongue around it and laving it.

She moaned and her body tightened around his fingers, drawing him in deeper. He stopped and pulled them out of her, and she groaned and shook her head.

“Why?” she said, hips still rocking, seeking his fingers.

“I want to be inside you when you come.”

Her cheeks flushed deep pink and an alluringly innocent expression crossed her beautiful face.

His inner incubus pushed for control over her even though he knew that he couldn’t affect her with his charm. The colour on her cheeks darkened and he wondered if she was seeing what he was thinking about, taking her deep and hard, bringing them both to a shattering climax.

“Do you want me inside you?” he whispered and kissed her inner thigh. His incubus charm might not affect her but she wasn’t immune to his natural male talents of persuasion.

Elissa nibbled her lower lip and nodded. Payne purred and rose up onto his hands and knees. He moved over her and covered her crotch with his hand. She was so wet beneath his palm, ready for him.

He grasped his cock and dipped his hips.

Elissa shoved against his chest and he stopped to frown down at her.

“Put a condom on.” She looked afraid again. He could taste the fear in her blood.

“I only had the one, and it was a miracle I had that... are you not taking anything?” He hovered above her, aching to be inside her again, feeling her body without the barrier this time. She nodded. Problem solved. He lowered himself and she pushed harder against his chest.