Destructive Embrace (7 page)

Elyssa removed one of her
hands from my hair and trailed it down my torso, over my
blood-stained shirt. She pulled away from me momentarily to shoot a
disparaging look at me before firmly ripping my shirt all the way
down the front. "You ruined this with my blood; you don't deserve
to keep it anymore," she muttered, a smirk tugging at the corners
of her mouth as she removed the shirt from my body and threw it
aside carelessly. I growled and captured her mouth once
more.

Her small hands caressed my
chest, alternately massaging it with her fingertips and raking her
fingernails across my skin. She teased her hands along the trail of
fine blond hair that disappeared beneath the band of my
jeans.

"Zeke," Elyssa said. I'd
lost track of how many times she'd murmured my name, breathed it
out as we performed this act meant for lovers, but it still made it
hard to breathe. Gently she pushed against my torso, making me rise
so that I knelt before her once more. She brought herself up as
well, kneeling in front of me. Her face and chest were still
colored by her delicious blush, and she wouldn't meet my eyes.
Instead, her gaze fell on my body, and she ran her hands along the
bare skin of my chest slowly, seeming to savor each
movement.

Her touch was like magic;
my eyes rolled back in my head and I sighed, bringing my hands up
to grab her wrists carefully. "Stop," she said suddenly. My eyes
snapped open and I looked down at her, surprised. She smiled
tentatively and raised just enough to press a soft kiss to my
mouth. I was frozen, unable to even return the token of affection,
I was that surprised. "Let me explore you," she whispered in
explanation, wrapping her arms around my torso. Her chest pressed
against mine, and I automatically brought my hands to her back,
crushing her against me; she felt too good.

A chuckle met my ears, and
she began to run her hands along my back. She tried to move away
from me, but my hold wouldn't let her move more than an inch or
two, and she sighed. "Zeke!" she complained, giggling huskily. I
sighed and loosened my hold on her just enough to where she could
lean back. Elyssa met my gaze and smiled at me. I wasn't strong
enough to resist that smile; I bowed my head to crush my mouth
against hers.

I snaked one hand up her
spine, fisting her hair as we kissed; a deep growl released itself
from my chest. Elyssa whined into the kiss and I fought a chuckle.
Instead, I grabbed one of her thighs with my free hand and pulled
her into my lap so she straddled me. She got the hint and hooked
her other leg around my hip, pressing herself against me as close
as possible. Her center ground against my breaking point and I had
to pull away from the kiss as a moan tore from my
throat.

I buried my face in the
crook of Elyssa's neck as a shudder ran up my spine.

Her throaty chuckle in my ear made me
bite her. I didn’t break the skin; this bite was far different than
one where I sought blood. My teeth grazed over her flesh and her
laughter turned into her gasping for breath. It was my turn to
laugh.

Her hands began to roam
across my back once more, and my heart skipped a beat.
God, I hate what this woman does to me,
I thought, lifting my head to stare into Elyssa’s
eyes again. I brought my hand up to push her hair out of her face
tenderly. She met my gaze shyly; the blush on her face brought a
smile to my lips.

Elyssa gently grabbed my face, cradling
it in both her tiny hands as she tilted her head upward. I followed
her silent request instantly, touching my mouth to hers.

While I poured myself into the kiss, I
gently set her back down on the floor, carefully lying on top of
her. She reached down in between us to slowly work on removing my
belt. There was no rush for either of us. We enjoyed the time it
took for her to undo the belt before unfastening my jeans and
pushing them down over my hips.

Before I knew what she was doing, she
palmed my erection, and I hissed in surprise, breaking our kiss. I
pressed my forehead to hers. Opening my eyes, I saw the amused look
in Elyssa’s eyes and grinned back at her.

“
If you think this is
anything compared to how you’ll be feeling in a few moments, my
darling,” I whispered, my lips brushing against hers as I spoke,
“you’re kidding yourself.” Her eyes widened, and I smiled, kissing
her again. She removed her hand from my member and resumed tugging
my jeans off.

I moved off her just long
enough to get my jeans off over my bare feet. Then, I pushed aside
the opening of my boxers and pressed inside her. A shudder tore
through me and I buried my face in the crook of her neck.
“
God
,” I rasped
out.

Nothing was perfect, but I’ll be damned
if being inside Elyssa didn’t come close. She wouldn’t meet my
eyes, so I dipped my head down to bite into her neck again, this
time drawing blood. Her moan made me even more aroused, and I
thrust into her, encasing my entire member in her moist warm
sheath.

In the next hours, we moved from the
floor to the table, to the spare bed I kept in my dungeons, our
sounds of pleasure bouncing back to us off the stone walls. Finally
we were worn out, lying beside each other underneath the covers on
the bed. I could feel the grin on my face as I looked over at
Elyssa.

Her face was flushed; sweat and blood
mingled together on her skin. As I rolled toward her, she turned
onto her side, facing away from me; I wound one arm around her
waist from behind, pressing up against her completely.

Elyssa stiffened and I frowned; did she
not enjoy our time together? Her moans and whimpers had told me
another story…

Pressing a kiss to her neck, I
whispered, “What’s the matter, sweet Elyssa?” Her pulse sped up and
I grinned again, until she shoved out of my arms, dodging out of
the bed like it was on fire. I admired the view until she darted
over to my office; sounds of her rummaging through cabinets and
drawers met my ears. Curious, I got out of bed and followed her,
laughing at her expression when her eyes landed on me in all of my
naked glory. She quickly turned her gaze away and resumed her
search, face flaming.

A squeal of triumph came
from her mouth as she opened the bottom drawer of my desk and
brought out a spare button-down shirt that I’d left there.
Oh
. She was
leaving.

I crossed my arms over my chest,
planting myself firmly in front of the exit as she put the large
shirt on. She refused to look at me, so when she moved to leave,
her surprise was evident: she hadn’t expected me to be in her
way.

“
Please move,” she
whispered, eyes trained elsewhere. I clenched my jaw and grabbed
her face with both hands to force her to look at me. She struggled,
but gave in after a moment; she knew she wasn’t strong enough to
fight me. “What?” she asked, her voice desperate.

My eyes wandered down to the multiple
bite marks on her neck, and I sighed. Apparently I’d done something
wrong again. “Why won’t you stay?”

Elyssa’s response was muttered, so I
couldn’t understand her. I tightened my grip and she winced. “I’m a
whore,” she breathed, eyes glazed over with tears. Instantly, I
felt. Not for what we did – Lord knew I could never regret that –
but that she regretted it.

“
You’re not,” I said
simply, releasing her. I left the office, following the trail of
clothing numbly until I came across my jeans; I put them on. I was
a monster. Who else would take advantage of their dead brother’s
Mate while she was emotionally defenseless? “Only me,” I
whispered.

I barely heard Elyssa’s soft request
that I repeat myself before I slipped into the cell to clean up the
dead human’s body. Elyssa left soon after, leaving nothing behind
but a pair of panties that she clearly couldn’t find.

“What is your problem?!”
Ollie yelled at me. I held my face in my hands, sighing deeply. She
was shouting at me again, something that had become very common
since Reid’s death. She wanted sex. I wasn’t in the mood for it. It
was like
she
was
the man of the relationship, bitching to his wife about not getting
enough nookie.

“Olivia,” I said. The tone I used told
her I wasn’t playing games. “You can’t force me to have sex when I
don’t want to. Don’t you know that’s called rape?” My tone morphed
into one which I would use with a child, and when I looked up to
meet Ollie’s gaze, anger flashed through her electric-green
eyes.

"You shouldn't speak to
your Mate that way, Dmitri," she told me with a huff. She didn't
pout, which surprised me, but she looked moments away from breaking
into tears. Over me not wanting sex. That was absurd. "Olivia, grow
up a little," I told her. My tone showed that I wasn't playing
around, but she still thought it wise to bare her fangs at me and
hiss. I mimicked the action back to her and she
flinched.

"I will not be bullied into
doing something I don't feel like doing right now," I said. My
voice was thick because of the fangs, but the message came across
clear to her.

"Dmitri," Ollie began,
whining. "I just want to spend time with my beloved Mate." She
moved forward, hands outstretched toward me. I stepped out of her
reach, glaring down at her.

"Having sex isn't the only
way for couples to spend time together, Olivia," I told her coolly,
rendering myself invisible and leaving the room.

It was less of a shouting
match then it had been as of late, and I was thankful for that; I
wasn't entirely sure I could handle too many more of those without
either killing her or making her decide that she didn't want to be
my Mate anymore.

Neither of those options
seemed too bad at that moment in time.

Wandering the castle. It
seemed that was all anyone ever did nowadays. Even Zeke had been
wandering, the day that Elyssa had come to me with her fists. That
attack had wound up with me training her on how to defend herself,
as well as to inflict a little damage on her opponent.

Still, roaming the castle
became less and less appealing as time passed, and I sighed. Here I
was once more, though, wandering aimlessly, hiding from my
Mate.

A curious aroma met my nose
as I hit the main hall. The smell was coming from the hallway
leading to Zeke’s dungeons. Following my nose, I entered the hall.
A few turns later and I was at Elyssa’s door.

I knocked once before
entering, the scent burning my nose was alarming now: blood. The
room was empty, but noises came from the bathroom, so I knocked a
few times on the door. A startled gasp sounded from the other side,
and then the door opened to reveal Elyssa in nothing but a towel,
her hair smoothed down over her shoulders.

Thankfully, my mind
couldn’t focus on the almost-naked woman before me. Instead, my
eyes picked up on the many bruises and cuts that weren’t healing
properly. “That bastard,” I growled, reaching out to slam my fist
into the wall; Elyssa jumped.

“Dmitri?” she stammered. I
lifted my eyes to her face, clenching my jaw. “I’m fine,” she
whispered. “He just used some potion of his to make my healing slow
down a lot.” I reached out to trace a particularly nasty-looking
bruise on her collarbone and she flinched; I watched color rise to
her face.

I glanced back down to her
bruise and noticed blood on my knuckles.
I
should stop punching walls
, I thought
grimly, swiping the blood off my hand onto my dark
jeans.

“Get dressed,” I told
Elyssa softly, dropping onto the chair of her desk. Bringing my
hands up to my face with a sigh, I kept my eyes off Elyssa’s form
as she crept around the room, gathering clean clothes. “I’m going
to take you somewhere private; someplace only we brothers know
about,” I muttered from behind my hands. She murmured her consent
before vanishing into the bathroom. The shower turned on and
fifteen minutes later Elyssa emerged, steam billowing out around
her clothed form.

“Ready,” she breathed,
twisting the end of the towel she had draped around her neck. She
seemed nervous, I noticed, which was unusual for her; like she was
hiding something.

She motioned for me to
lead the way, so I shrugged and stood, leaving her room; her quiet
footfalls told me she was following me. I glanced over my shoulder
to see Elyssa rubbing at her neck beneath her hair.
Odd…
I
thought.

“So,” I began awkwardly,
“how have you been lately? I haven’t seen too much of you since our
sparring match.” It wasn’t as though I expected a sunny answer,
with all that happened with Reid, but I didn’t have much else to
talk to her about. We used to discuss our Mates, but that wasn’t an
option today. Mine was pissing me off, and hers was… Well,
dead.

Elyssa sighed, heaving one shoulder
upward in a half-shrug. “I got a lot of my anger out that first day
or so, thanks to the sparring. Thank you for that, by the way,” she
said, meeting my eyes tentatively. I nodded. “Aside from that,” she
continued slowly, “things could be better. You know the
circumstances, what do you think?”

Any other time, and her voice would
have been hostile or sarcastic, but she seemed distracted and
drained, devoid of emotion altogether at the moment. I
sighed.