Darkness Devours (12 page)

Of course, Lucian was no ordinary Aedh. Not only had his wings been ripped off as punishment for murder—he’d taken revenge against the man who’d killed his half sister—but he’d been confined to human form for many, many centuries. In that time, he’d come to appreciate some of the finer aspects of holding human form, and making love was definitely one of them. To say he had an insatiable need to indulge in the pastime
without
impregnating his partner was something of an understatement.

Just as saying he was kissing me senseless was something of an understatement. He kissed me until my head spun and desire became a burn that would surely consume me if it wasn’t quenched. Then he released me and moved down my neck, the butterfly kisses he trailed along my skin making me tremble and groan. He kissed both breasts, then closed his mouth over one, alternating between sucking and swirling his tongue around the edge of the areola as he pinched and squeezed the other. My fingers clenched the bedsheets, and it was all I could do not to scream against the force of the sensations crashing through me.

As the shudders of pleasure assaulting my body
threatened to become a quake, he continued his journey downward, kissing my stomach and belly button.

Then he reached my lower lips and began to slowly trace the edges, tantalizing me with possibilities. My breath hitched as his tongue passed briefly over my clit, but he moved on quickly.
Too
quickly. I moaned, and he laughed softly, his breath a teasing coolness that felt almost as good as his tongue’s caress.

He explored further, each thrust of his tongue delving deeper. It was an intimate yet gentle assault that left me delirious with pleasure, and I was torn between wanting it to go on and on yet not sure I could actually stand such torture for too much longer.

Then his tongue swirled around my clit again. I screamed as my body bucked and my orgasm crashed through me with a suddenness and intensity that left me trembling but still wanting more. Of him.
All
of him.

I grabbed his arms and swiftly switched our positions, straddling him quickly and thrusting him deep inside.

His hands moved to either side of my hips, holding me steady and still. “Wolves,” he said, the disappointment in his expression somewhat destroyed by the mirth so evident in his powerful, jade green eyes. “No stamina whatsoever.”

“Oh, really?” I said, more than a little amused. “I somehow doubt you’d last long under a similar assault of pleasure.”

“I disagree. You forget I’ve had centuries to practice restraint and delay pleasure.”

I raised a somewhat mocking eyebrow. “Shall we test that theory out?”

“I’m sure I’ll thoroughly enjoy such an
experiment, but do be prepared to fail, my dear.”

I grinned. “I’m going to enjoy watching you beg.”

“Hell will freeze over before that happens.”

I snorted softly and began to rock back and forth, riding him gently, enjoying the feel of his flesh so deep inside and the sensations that flowed from such an intimate and basic connection. Slowly but surely our movements became stronger and his thrusts more urgent, but as the point of no return approached, I withdrew, coming down on all fours, straddling him as I claimed his lips and kissed him long and hard. A dangerous play, given just what his kiss could do to me, but right then, the need to prove he could be made as delirious and needy by our lovemaking as I was just that little bit stronger.

When that sense of urgency finally eased, I repeated the process, riding him until desire and the need for release began throbbing through his flesh and mine. Once more I retreated, and this time he groaned, just as I’d groaned. But that was still a long,
long
way from begging.

So I began an exploration of his body, kissing and tasting his chest, his abs, his stomach, taking my time but moving ever so slowly downward. When I took him in my mouth, he shuddered and tangled his hand in my hair, gently encouraging me to continue. I swirled my tongue around the tip of his cock, then down the length of his shaft, tasting myself on him as I licked and teased, never lingering in one place for very long. It wasn’t long before his breathing became harsh again and that gentle pressure on my head became
more and more insistent, encouraging me without words to take him fully.

I did, and he moaned again, his body thrusting instinctively upward, his cock filling my mouth completely. I sucked him, teased him, played with him, until his shaft was throbbing with the need for release and the salty taste of come was thick and strong and threatening to explode.

Once again, I retreated. He shuddered, then laughed, his voice hoarse as he said, “No retreat, no surrender, and certainly no begging. That’s the motto I’ve lived by and I see no reason to change that now.”

“We’ll see,” I murmured, as I moved back up his body to repeat the whole process again.

By the third time around I think we were both close to breaking point. I was drenched in sweat and aching so fiercely I was half convinced Tao wasn’t the only one who had a fire elemental burning inside of him. God, if one of us didn’t give in soon, we’d both expire.

As the taste of him grew ever saltier, I once again withdrew, but this time he growled “enough”—the sound almost animal in its intensity—and flipped our positions, kneeling between my legs as he dragged me forward and up. Holding me steady, he drove into me, and it was no gentle mating. It was all animal, all desperate need. He pumped furiously, his cock driving so deep it felt as if he was trying to spear himself right through every inch of me. And I was right there with him in that desperation, meeting him thrust for thrust, needing, aching, for release.

It came in an explosion that was unlike anything else we’d shared so far, so deep and intense I actually
blacked out for several seconds. When I regained my senses, he was lying along my length, taking most of his weight on his arms and his body still in mine. The Aedh, despite the intensity that had just consumed us, was not finished yet.

But I think I was.

I raised my head a little and kissed his lips. “You begged.”

He smiled and wiped the sweaty strands of hair out of my eyes. “I growled ‘enough.’ That’s different.”

“Only by a matter of degree. I win. You lose.”

He grinned. “Actually, I rather think I won even if I did technically lose.”

I chuckled softly, and let my gaze run over the planes of his face, half wondering how nature could be so cruel as to give such perfection so little real emotions. I could have happily settled down with Lucian if he’d been anything other than an Aedh, with no want or need for anything beyond fulfilling the desires of his body. “So what are you doing here at this hour of the morning? And how did you even get in?”

Not only did we have one of the best security systems installed in our converted warehouse home, but Ilianna had finally figured out the magic used in the wards—which were basically stones that could repel magic, spirits, or evil, depending on the spell infused within them—that my father had left behind the last time he’d talked to me, and she’d used that magic to install wards of her own around our home. Which meant no Aedh—or even reaper—could get in. And I knew for sure Azriel couldn’t, because he’d apparently
tried more than once—and it was something of a blessing given this morning’s session. The thought of his witnessing such a wanton display had embarrassment stirring in me, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. I was wolf—or part wolf—and lovemaking in full view of others wasn’t exactly a new experience to me.

Lucian nuzzled the side of my neck. “Ilianna let me in as she went out, and I thought it was pretty obvious what I’m doing here.”

“And I thought you said you had several important meetings to attend today and that I wouldn’t see you until later tonight.”

“Something came up.”

“Yeah.” My tone was sarcastic. “And I’m still feeling that something.”

He chuckled softly. “What can I say? Your body drives me insane.”

And his avoidance of questions was driving
me
insane. “Seriously, I saw your schedule. You had meetings starting at eight thirty, then rolling right through until almost seven tonight. They can’t all have canceled.”

“You snooped through my appointments calendar?” He nipped my earlobe just a little harder than necessary and I flinched. But even so, my treacherous hormones began to stir and hum. “That’s not polite.”

“Neither is reading my mind during sex,” I replied testily, as his teeth caught my lobe again and gently gnawed it. A shiver that was half expectation, half apprehension rolled through me. “But that doesn’t seem to stop you from doing it.”

“Speaking of which, who the hell is Jak?”

I growled low in my throat and thrust him off me. “No one.”

I swung my legs off the bed and stalked across to my rather opulent bathroom. Every bedroom had its own and, like all the other rooms in this place, the bathrooms were huge, each one containing a massive spa bath, a double walk-in shower, a toilet, and a big hand basin. In mine, the oversized white wall tiles contrasted sharply against the heated black slate under my feet, and the lighting was warm and muted. Thankfully, Lucian didn’t immediately follow me in. There were some things a girl liked privacy for, and peeing was definitely one of them.

He said, “And yet your actions just now would suggest otherwise.”

The toilet flushed as I padded over to the shower. When I stepped in, the water automatically came on at just the right temperature. I might not flaunt the fact that I was insanely rich, but there were definite benefits to being so, and one of those was being able to afford a system designed to ensure that you never had to battle with water temperature again.

“My actions,” I snapped back, “are related to annoyance at you rather than any need not to talk about Jak.”

“Then tell me who he is.”

I swung around and watched him enter the bathroom. He walked like a cat. A big, golden, beautiful cat.

“I’ll start answering questions when you do.”

He walked into the shower cubicle and the second showerhead came on, covering him in water. The beads glistened in the warm light as they rolled almost reverently down his muscular body.

I held my ground and he stopped in front of me, his arms coming to either side of mine, effectively penning me. “I told you, I had several cancellations.”

I pushed my hands between us and tried to shove him away. I might as well have tried to knock down a skyscraper. I might be part wolf, and might therefore be a whole lot stronger than an average female, but he wasn’t human, either. And he was bigger and stronger in almost every way imaginable.

“Damn it, you’re lying. I know it; you know it.”

His gaze swept mine, though what he was searching for I couldn’t say. After a moment he grunted, and if I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn it was an almost frustrated sound.

“My eight thirty meeting finished earlier than expected, and my ten o’clock had to cancel because his wife went into labor. Satisfied?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I tasted no lie in his words and yet I had an odd feeling it wasn’t exactly the truth. And while I did trust Lucian, there was that growing niggle in the back of my mind that kept suggesting he wasn’t being honest with me, that he’d
never
been entirely honest with me. Oh, his much-stated desire to seek revenge on those who’d ripped his wings from his flesh was real enough—and understandable, given that the process also robbed him of his ability to take Aedh form—but I wasn’t so sure that anything else was.

Of course, that niggle might also be nothing more than Azriel’s distrust worming its way into my thoughts.

“Your turn,” he added, a touch of impatience coloring his voice.

I snorted softly. “Why should I have to tell you? Why don’t you just pluck the answer from my thoughts like you usually do?”

He growled low in his throat and pressed against me, pinning me hard against the cool white tiles. The water that streamed down on us did little to ease the heat and awareness that surged between us.

“Once I might have. Now, that is not so much an option.”

I frowned, my gaze searching his, seeing frustration mingling with growing arousal. He wasn’t lying—not about this. Curiosity mingled with relief. “Why not? You’ve had no trouble before now.”

“I know.” He pressed one knee between my legs. I tried to shove him back again, but with as little success as before.

“Then what’s changed?”

“I suspected the reaper might have had something to do with it, but this has not got his imprint.”

Alarm stirred. Reading my mind was one thing, but if Azriel was also altering the direction of my thoughts… “Meaning you’ve felt him before?”

“I’ve sometimes felt his echo. He reads your mind far more than you think, Risa.”

The alarm abated. I was well aware of just how often he was reading me. It was the thought of him actually doing more that had me worried. But even as that thought crossed my mind, I swiped it away. Azriel wouldn’t do that. He was a man—a being—of more integrity than that. Lucian, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter.

He nudged my knees farther apart, obviously preparing
to claim me more intimately. I ducked under his arms and retreated, but I was nowhere near fast enough. He grabbed my hands, pinning them behind my back as he pressed me belly first against the wall.

“Damn it, Lucian, this has gone far enough.”

“Then tell me who Jak is,” he murmured, his words little more than a heated breeze near my left ear.

I shivered, torn between desire and growing anger. “Why do you need to know? It’s not as if you’re jealous or anything.”

“At first, it was nothing more than curiosity.” He shifted his grip so that both of my hands were held in one of his, then he pulled me back just enough to slip his free hand between the wall and me. He cupped my breasts, pinching and rolling my nipples, playing me like a master played his favorite instrument—with ease and assurance. He added, “Now, however, it is something of a challenge.”

“And yet another one you won’t win.”