Dying Wish: A Novel of the Sentinel Wars (31 page)

Iain bundled up his desire and all the physical sensations and shoved them through the link, forcing her to feel what he was feeling. Her body went tense, and then
melted with womanly softness as she accepted what he forced on her.

The monster mocked his efforts, and seemed to swell in power. “I’m going to come,” the monster told Jackie, its voice inhuman. “And you’re going to swallow.”

Iain felt a shiver of excitement course through her. Her breathing sped, as did the hand between her legs.

Just the sight was enough to send him careening over the edge. His monster gripped her head tighter and held her in place while his orgasm exploded through his body. His semen pumped into her mouth and she went stiff. He was sure he’d disgusted her, but then he felt their link pulse with pleasure, and she sucked harder as she came.

The monster’s gloating satisfaction grated against Iain, and he worked to regain control now that the monster was sated.

But it wasn’t sated. It liked being free. It liked taking Jackie, and it wasn’t going to stop until it had had its fill of her.

She lay crumpled on her side on the floor, panting to catch her breath. A rosy flush covered her body, and a slick sheen glistened along the inside of her thigh.

The monster picked her up and tossed her onto the bed. She looked up in surprise, not realizing that Iain was no longer behind the wheel.

Without permission or preamble, the monster parted her thighs and drove his cock deep.

Jackie let out a whimper, which turned into a sigh as he stretched her, filled her. “You don’t need a minute?” she asked.

The monster growled in response and began to move.

Iain fought for control. She was so vulnerable like this, so trusting. She had no idea of the danger she faced if the beast decided to turn violent. Her actions had appeased it so far, but there was no way to know if she would continue to do so.

He gathered power into his body, tiny motes of it that
floated through the atmosphere. He wasn’t strong enough to wage this battle yet, and he knew he’d have only one chance. The beast was distracted by the slick heat of her body, entranced by the way her breasts moved with every powerful thrust. Lust swelled within it, driving it onward with one single purpose.

It wanted to lay claim to Jackie. It wanted her for itself.

No fucking way Iain was going to let that happen.

He prodded at the monster’s defenses, making it snarl. Jackie reached up and laid her hand on his face. “Are you okay?” she asked.

The beast shoved her legs up and quickened its pace.

She didn’t deserve this—she didn’t deserve to be fucked by a monster who cared for nothing but the pleasure it could find in her body. She deserved to be with a man who could love her.

That was beyond Iain, but at least he had enough honor left to know it. The beast didn’t.

He waited until the pleasure swelled, until the monster was pounding into her, making her gasp with every heavy thrust. Then he struck.

Iain gathered all the energy sparkling in his skin and hurled it at the monster. The beast snarled, and Iain couldn’t tell if the noise made it out of his mouth or not. The pleasure in his body raged, and as he regained a flicker of control, he nearly lost it in the wave of sensations buffeting him.

“Iain?” he heard Jackie say, both in his ears and in his thoughts.

She was reaching for him—prodding at his mind. She was going to see his internal battle and know that he’d allowed a monster to touch her. He couldn’t let that happen.

With a monumental force of will spurred on by his panic, he beat the howling monster back into its cage and slammed the door shut.

A soothing presence filled his mind. Jackie. She was with him, but he had no idea how much she’d witnessed.

His cock was still inside her sweet body. His own was raging with need, so close to release he found it hard to breathe.

“I’m okay,” he panted, hoping to reassure her.

He began to move away, sliding out of her pussy. She grabbed his hips to stop him, staring into his eyes. “It’s you again, isn’t it?”

He hated it that she knew. Shame bore down on him, and all he wanted to do was go somewhere where she couldn’t see it. He let his gaze slink away like a coward, unable to look her in the eye.

“Whatever that was, it’s gone now. I felt you fight it off. For me.”

He couldn’t stay here and talk about this. He had to get away.

One second he was shifting his weight to get off the bed, and the next, he was flat on his back on the bed with Jackie straddling him. She’d called on his power, used it to give herself a burst of strength. “I won’t let you run away from me like this. You shouldn’t be ashamed.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m not afraid of any part of you.”

“You should be.”

“Why? Because you could hurt me? Because I didn’t like it?” She moved her hips, sliding herself against his cock. So slick and hot. He was dying to be inside of her again even as he hated himself for considering it. “I liked it. And if I hadn’t, I could have shoved you into the ceiling with a mere thought.”

She had a point, but Iain was having a difficult time making sense of it right now. All he could think about was the way she undulated atop him, the way her body curved and her breasts pouted for attention.

“You don’t have to be afraid for me. I’m a big girl.”
She trailed her finger across his throat, making the sensitive skin there tingle in delight. “And thanks to you, I have the power to take care of myself.”

“It’s a monster,” said Iain, struggling to think clearly. All his blood was in his cock, starving his brain.

“It’s part of you.”

Iain wanted to deny it. He hated that she was right. This thing inside of him hadn’t been put there by a demon or some Synestryn magic. It had been born there. Grown there. He’d fed it a steady diet of rage and fear, and it had become the only thing it could become: a monster. “I don’t want it to touch you.”

“Fine. Then you do it.” She lifted his hands to her breasts.

He couldn’t resist an invitation like that. His fingers curled around her, cupping her flesh, and he felt the velvet thrust of her tight nipples against each palm.

She closed her eyes and her head fell back in enjoyment.

The monster reared its head, but he shoved it back down and told it to stay the fuck away. This was his time, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

Jackie angled her body and slid down, impaling herself on his cock. The snug grip was perfect, and he knew in that moment that he’d never get his fill of her, not if he lived forever.

She pressed her hands on his ribs and began to move, circling her hips in a way that teased his nerve endings and made his skin ignite. She stared down into his eyes, watching him carefully as if searching for signs of the monster.

“I won’t let it come back,” he told her.

She gave him a sultry smile so full of heat, he was sure his eyelashes were scorched. “Stop worrying and make me come.”

He’d never been more eager to obey an order in his life.

Iain sat up and pulled her close, kissing her mouth. She moaned against his tongue and her fingernails bit into his back. His sweet little Jackie had turned fierce and demanding, showing him what she wanted in the sinuous moves of her hips, and the soft sounds of pleasure falling from her lips.

Their link flared bright, wider than it had been before. He could feel her need sinking into him, feel his own flowing back into her. The waves melded together, amplifying one another until there was no way to tell who was feeling what.

He couldn’t get deep enough, couldn’t move fast enough like this, so he laid her back onto the bed. Now he could slide nice and deep, hitting all the spots that made her breath catch in her lungs.

He leaned down, catching the tip of her breast in his mouth, sucking hard the way he knew she liked. Her pussy fluttered around him, and her back arched as she sucked in a gasp. She was close. He could feel it thrumming through their link, driving him forward with an urgent need to make her come again.

The monster screamed for a turn, but Iain ignored it, his focus completely on Jackie and the subtle signs of her impending orgasm.

He reached between them and found her tight little clit with his finger. She was so wet, it was easy to slide across it and make her cry out, over and over. She coiled tighter with each gliding touch.

Iain opened himself up, letting her feel everything he did. He knew it was dangerous, that he risked letting her learn of his dead soul, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed this connection in a way he didn’t understand. He needed to be a part of her, to exist in the same space while he gave her the ultimate pleasure.

She let out a gasping sob and then she exploded, her body pulsing with the waves of her orgasm.

Iain held his own back, watching her, soaking in the
sight of her pleasure. Her eyes were shut tight, her mouth wide open on a silent scream. The tendons in her neck stood out and a dark flush spread down onto her chest.

He rode her through it, keeping up the pace he knew she liked best. Finally, as the last fluttering waves passed through her, she opened her eyes and looked up at him with complete trust. So beautiful.

Iain lost his control. His body spasmed as his orgasm tore through him, strangling the breath from his lungs. Wave after wave pummeled him as his cock spurted inside of her, lodged deep, near the mouth of her womb.

She watched him the whole time, a contented smile playing about one corner of her mouth. He lowered his forehead to hers as he caught his breath, unwilling to stop looking at her. She hadn’t shied away from him—not even after what she’d seen lurking inside. She was as fearless as she was beautiful.

Whoever was lucky enough to end up with Jackie at his side was someone to be envied.

He pulled back enough to stroke her cheek. His luceria glowed golden in the dim light, lovely against her throat. There was no more movement within the band, and not even the rough scars lining her neck could diminish the beauty of that sight. They were bonded. Completely.

If he’d had a soul, it would have rejoiced at the knowledge. Instead, he mourned for her and what she could have had by now if she’d been with a whole man.

“You’re closing yourself off from me again,” she said.

He had to. There was no other choice but to protect her from his secret. It wouldn’t change anything if she knew. There was nothing she could do to save him. All knowing would give her was a responsibility to report him, or the burden of keeping his secret as well. He couldn’t do that to her. She didn’t deserve to have him dump on her like that when she’d helped him feel like the man he used to be for a few short hours.

Iain was sorry that he had to pull away from her. Being with her so close, touching her mind, was a joy he’d never thought to experience. And now that he had, he had to deny himself one more thing.

“I need to call in,” he told her, rolling away to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’ll report to Joseph and the others that we found the cave.”

“We don’t know it’s the right one.”

“It was filled with demons. It has to be cleaned out, one way or another.”

“And then what?” There was anger in her voice. “You’ll ask me to go hunting again? To find the real breeding site this time? I can’t keep doing this, Iain. I’m no good at it, and it scares the hell out of me.”

He couldn’t deny her comfort, not when he could hear so plainly how upset she was. He didn’t know what he could do to fix it, but he had to try.

Iain turned toward her. She’d pulled the sheet up to cover her nudity. The flush of arousal was still clear on her face and throat, but the languid pleasure shining in her eyes was gone. “We’ll go back home. You’ll stay there while the rest of us deal with the problem. You shouldn’t have been asked to go back to where you were held. That wasn’t fair.”

Her chin angled up. “I’m not a coward.”

“I know,” he reassured her.

“But I’m not a fighter, either.”

She was. She didn’t want to admit it, but if she hadn’t been a fighter, she wouldn’t have survived captivity for so long. The fact that she wasn’t comfortable in the role yet was likely his fault. He should have eased her into combat, taking her into safer situations, gradually working their way up to the big stuff.

If he’d spent ten minutes thinking about what she needed, that’s what he would have figured out before now. Instead, he’d been too busy fighting his rage and trying to keep his fucking dead soul a secret.

He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. He wasn’t even sure he was capable of such finesse. “When we’re…separated, you need to pick a gentler man. Someone who can take the time to train you right and see to it that you’re comfortable in your power.”

“When we’re separated, I’m not picking anyone else. I’m going to live on my own. Besides, you don’t seem to be making any headway with the broken-heart thing. How are we supposed to part ways?”

He ignored her question because he couldn’t tell her the truth. At least not yet. “Cain is a good choice. He’s patient. Kind. He’ll see to it that you have a life that is as close to normal as one of our kind can get.”

Her lips flattened in anger. “Cain? You screw me and then tell me to go into the arms of another man, like it’s as simple as changing a shirt?”

The idea was appalling. Even now, he wanted to rip Cain’s head off and kick it from a cliff. Iain had to take several slow, deep breaths before he could wade through his rage enough to even speak. “It had been a long time. For both of us. We needed the release. But it doesn’t change things. Does it? Do you somehow magically want to be with me now?”

He held his breath, waiting for the answer to that question with more anticipation than he had a right to feel.

“No,” she snapped. “I don’t. I don’t want to be with any of you. I think I’ve made that abundantly clear.”

He couldn’t let her think she had a choice. Her life depended on her accepting her situation. “Cain is the man you should be with. He needs you as much as you need him. Promise me you’ll go to him when we’re separated.”