Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (49 page)

Elissa flicked her tongue over the crown of his cock. His groan was so low and guttural that she throbbed, moisture flowing from her as thoughts of him sinking his hard shaft into her core flooded her mind. He groaned again and she took him into her mouth, easing down him until the soft head of his erection touched the back of her throat. She propped herself up on one hand, kneeling before him, and rolled his balls with her other one. His grip on her hair tightened and he groaned as he controlled her movements, making her suck his cock. She tugged on his balls and his groan came out as a short bark of pleasure. She glanced up the length of his body at his face and he looked down at her, his eyes drenched in desire as he watched her sucking him. The blue and gold in his irises swirled, brightening by degrees until his eyes glowed again. The markings that curved over the front of his shoulders turned shades of cobalt and yellow, shimmering like his eyes.

He swallowed and moaned, kept moving her mouth on him, thrusting gently now, easing himself into her. She sucked hard on each withdraw, squeezing his balls at the same time, giving him that hint of pain that seemed to enhance his pleasure. His eyes brightened again and his markings glowed in the same fierce colours.

He moved his hand to the top of her head and stopped her, holding her away from him. She got the message. Either she gave him a moment to calm down or she was going to push him over the edge. Elissa wriggled and stared at his cock, gaze following the thick ridge that ran down the underside, from his balls to the crown. Sense told her not to play with fire. Desire said to throw the rules out of the window and lick him.

She ran her tongue over the head of his cock.

Payne growled, the sound feral and pained, and suddenly she was on her back, her hands locked together by one of his, pinned to the pillows above her head. He knocked her knees apart and she gasped as he entered her, swift and brutal, burying himself as deeply as he could go. He groaned and his grip on her wrists tightened, verging on painful.

“Payne?” She tried to get him to look at her but he had his eyes closed, his face contorted in pleasure. He eased out slowly and then thrust inside again, and a spark of pleasure shot along her thighs and through her belly, erasing her trepidation. He clutched her wrists in one hand, holding her at his mercy, and held his weight off her with his other.

She moaned with each deep plunge of his cock into her body, each delicious invasion that sent shivers tripping over her skin. She tried to buck against him, wanting more. He snarled at her, vicious and dark, and grabbed her hip with his free hand, settling all of his weight on her wrists. Elissa flinched.

“It hurts.” She wriggled beneath him, trying to get her hands free. “Payne?”

He pulled her hips off the bed and thrust into her, harder now, sending fire rushing through her blood each time his pelvis hit her clitoris. She moaned and lost herself again, drowning in the mind-blowing feel of him moving inside her, his long strokes hitting her in just the right place to have her squirming beneath him, clenching and reaching for more.

He grunted and quickened his thrusts and she closed her eyes and arched up to meet him, unable to stop herself. He moaned, the sound wanton and erotic, and she groaned with him, her breathing accelerating in time with his pace. He pumped her hard and she could feel his desperation flowing through her, echoing within her. She pressed her heels into the mattress and worked her body against his, frantic and needy, lost in her passion and arousal.

“More,” she breathed and Payne lengthened his strokes, driving her insane with each long plunge of his cock into her core. Gods, she needed more. It wasn’t enough.

She flicked her eyes open and stared up at his face, using the sight of his pleasure to heighten her own and push her onwards towards climax. Her belly tightened, heat coiling there, ready to explode at any moment. She needed it. She reached for it. He groaned with each tightening of her body around his, pumping harder, taking her higher. Her thighs quivered, release almost within her reach. Close. Closer. She panted, rocking against him, riding his cock as he thrust into her, his pelvis striking her clitoris.

Elissa cried out as pleasure exploded through her, sending her legs trembling and heart racing. Her limbs slackened and she could no longer support her weight. Payne’s grip on her hip tightened, holding her in place as he thrust into her, not slowing his pace.

He pressed her hands harder against the mattress, the pain of his grip overshadowing her pleasure. He groaned and increased his pace.

“You’re hurting again.”

His eyes finally opened and a flicker of fear shot through her, cold realisation dawning at the back of her mind.

They weren’t only gold and blue now. Red shone like a corona around his elliptical pupils, his vampire side emerged to join in. He bore his fangs at her and a stab of panic joined the fear. He purred.

Now she knew why he avoided sexual encounters and why he had warned her not to push him.

His incubus side drove him to create pleasure that he could feed on but his vampire nature drew the most pleasure from fear. Each time she felt a touch of fear, he reacted as though she had given him a hit a pure bliss. She tried to calm herself, telling herself that he would never harm her so her fear lessened, knowing he would be fighting to regain control over his hungers and needed her help, but it was impossible. Fear flooded her and he grunted and moaned, his face twisting in pleasure and his grip on her increasing in strength. She had to calm down for his sake as well as her own. The more she feared, the darker his urges would become, his need to feed driving him to terrify her.

“Payne, listen to me,” she whispered, focusing on him. She trusted this man. He had warned her not to push him and that he might kill her if she did, and she had still recklessly shoved him over the edge.

Red blazed in the centre of his eyes, surrounded by shimmering gold and blue. He dropped her hip and slid his arm beneath her. She bit her lip to stifle her need to cry out when he grabbed her hair and tugged her head back. He stared down at her through those mesmerising eyes, his body moving against hers, giving her pleasure laced with pain and fear. She tried to stifle her desire, tried not to feel aroused as he thrust into her, deep and fast, bringing her towards another climax.

His lips parted.

No fangs. Did that mean he was more in control than she thought? Could she bring him back before things went too far?

She opened her mouth and he claimed her lips, kissing her so fiercely that she couldn’t breathe and couldn’t think. She could only feel and submit to him. As she relaxed, his grip on her wrists loosened but not enough for her to get free. She forgot her need to struggle and lost herself again, swamped by the delicious sensations racing through her, evoked by the feel of him moving inside her and kissing the breath from her lungs.

He reared back, slamming deep into her, and she cried out as she came again, her body throbbing around his. His lips curved into a dark smile, revealing fangs this time, and he stared down at her, possessing her with his hungry heavy-lidded eyes that spoke of intense pleasure and satisfaction.

His grip on her wrists tightened again.

Elissa panicked.

She hadn’t cast her spell.

She focused on the words, getting the first few out, but then he shattered her chances by striking hard and sinking his fangs into her throat. His body shuddered against hers and a third climax came upon her so swiftly that it rocked her to her core, causing her to tremble along with him. She breathed hard, struggling to catch her breath, hazy from head to toe as he drank from her throat, his body buried deep within hers.

No.

Panic welled up again and she bucked against him, feeling him throbbing within her.

“No!” she shrieked and he stilled, frozen against her, inside her.

He was still for long minutes. She could feel her blood leaking from her, spilling from between his lips.

He disappeared and she shook as she pushed herself up onto her elbow to see where he had gone, her right hand covering the ragged marks on her throat.

Payne stalked around the room, grabbing his clothes and dressing. He was shaking too, trembling so badly that it took him several attempts to get his underwear on. He growled, a noise born of frustration and pain, turned and slammed his fist into the wall above the fireplace. The green plaster cracked and fell away, revealing stone beneath. Blood trickled down from his knuckles and she swore she could feel his pain and his panic, his fear as he stood there with his fist against the wall, his back heaving with his breaths.

“Payne?” she whispered, unsure what she was going to say. He didn’t look at her. “Payne? I should have stopped... I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

He shoved away from the wall and pulled his shirt on, not bothering to heal his hand or lick the blood away. It soaked through the sleeve of his grey shirt and dripped to the floor as he tugged his jeans on and buttoned them. He wiped the back of his clean hand across his bloodied mouth, the action rough and vicious.

She cast a small spell, one to help her feel him more clearly.

He stopped and stared at her, his eyes brimming with hurt and remorse, and self-loathing. “It wasn’t your fault... I... I... can’t do this. I can’t look at you... I never meant for this... I never wanted to hurt you... I only wanted... I just... I’m sorry.”

“Don’t,” she said and moved to kneel on the bed, reaching for him. She didn’t want him to teleport out of her life because she had failed to keep her end of the bargain. She had said she would use a spell to stop him and she knew it was the only reason he had agreed to make love with her, and then she had pushed him over the edge. She hated what had happened to her, knew that he was partly to blame too, but she didn’t want him blaming himself and only himself. They had entered into this together and she could have stopped him. She should have stopped herself. “Talk to me... please, Payne?”

He looked lost again, as uncertain as she felt. His eyebrows furrowed and he swallowed hard, his eyes holding hers and overflowing with pain and fear. His hands shook at his sides, visibly trembling, and she knew that he could see her shaking too, that she looked as confused, afraid and broken as he did.

“Elissa...”

Someone knocked at the door. He stared at her for a few seconds and then shoved his fingers through his hair, went to the door and opened it.

“Arnaud wishes to see you now.” A male voice drifted into the room and Elissa gathered the green covers around herself, feeling cold to the bone. She wanted Payne to look at her and tell her that everything was going to be all right and they could work through this, they could deal with it together. She had the terrible feeling that he would leave her without a word or a look instead.

Payne glanced at her, sorrow in his beautiful grey eyes, all trace of gold, blue and red gone from them now.

She held her hand out to him, afraid to hope that he would take it.

Her heart lifted when he turned away from the open door and crossed the room to her. He pressed one knee into the mattress, took her hand and leaned over her. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and lingered there, his lips pressing against her skin and his hand shaking in hers.

“Don’t go anywhere... please? Give me a second chance... please, Elissa?” he whispered hoarsely against her skin and she nodded, raised her hand and managed to stroke his cheek before he pulled away.

He smiled tightly, turned around and walked out of the door, closing it behind him.

Elissa sat in the middle of the bed, cold and afraid, feeling her connection to the earth slowly severing. What had she done? She swallowed and tears filled her eyes. She closed them, causing the hot drops to spill down her cheeks, and drew her knees to her chest, her ears ringing and head spinning as she thought about what had happened and felt herself weakening.

Her coven would know what she had done. They would feel themselves weakening too. It wouldn’t be long before they hunted her down. Would Payne protect her when they came? Would he still see her as his mate now? She prayed to the earth and the sky that he would, because she had just turned her back on her world and she wouldn’t survive what was to come without him at her side, protecting her as fiercely as he had that day they had met.

The air shifted.

Someone had teleported into the room.

“Payne?” she said, sure that he had returned to her, unable to remain away when he could probably feel her jumbled emotions through the connection between their blood, and that he would reassure her now that everything was going to be fine. She opened her eyes and lifted her head, and stared at the male before her. Dark blond hair, stony grey eyes, but this wasn’t the man her heart was pining for. Her voice turned cold and anger curled through her, causing her magic to stir and awaken. “Arnaud.”

If he was here, did that mean he had lured Payne away, ensuring she would be alone?

“When my aide told me of my grandson suddenly showing up with a woman he claimed was his mate, and he described you both to me, I had thought perhaps it would be you,” he said in a glacial tone and neatened the cuffs of his dark red shirt, his eyes on them, as though he couldn’t bring himself to look at her.

Elissa tucked the covers around her, shielding her nudity from his eyes, and glared at him. Magic rose to her fingertips, darker than any spell she had ever dared to call before. She had thrown her life away. She might as well use the black arts now that her coven was already coming to kill her. Any punishment they chose to inflict upon her for using forbidden magic couldn’t be worse than death.

“What do you want?” she said, trying her hardest to sound unafraid when she was shaking right down to her bones.

Arnaud straightened, his broad frame and height imposing when she was sitting. His grey gaze raked over her and the gold and cobalt in it brightened, swirling iridescently like Payne’s eyes had so many times when he had been looking at her. Unlike Payne, this man didn’t fill her with a desire to blush when he gazed upon her. He filled her with fear and disgust.