For Whom the Spell Tolls (7 page)

Knight’s eyes fastened on my panties. I continued to graze my fingers across the lace, gasping whenever I strayed too close to the sensitive nub cresting my thighs. Suddenly anxious for more than playful wandering, I pulled my panties to the side, baring myself to Knight. I watched him inhale deeply as the pulse quickened in his neck.

I slid my finger down my vagina, feeling how wet I was. As soon as I skimmed my nub, I moaned out in response, while my knees threatened to collapse. I snatched my finger away as if I’d just been scalded and inwardly chastised myself. I was getting too caught up too fast, too turned on.

“I want to taste you,” Knight ground out.

“Hmm, that sounds like a personal problem,” I said with a haughty laugh, never having imagined I would so enjoy playing the role of the dominator but the truth of it was that I did.

Knight’s eyes narrowed. “You’re deliberately trying to torture me.”

I didn’t say anything right away as I backed up until the leather couch touched my calves. With my eyes still locked on his, I hooked my finger through one side of my panties and drew them down my naked thighs, letting them fall on the floor. Stepping out of them, I sat down on the warm leather.

“You’re getting me back for the car ride, aren’t you?” he inquired with a powerful stride forward as he stepped off the hearth.

I cocked my head to the side. “Maybe, and maybe not.”

Then, prepared for the grande finale, I took a deep breath, and seeing that his eyes were still locked on mine, I opened my legs. Even though it was a simple act—a mere parting of the thighs, I sensed my own power emanating through me. It was as if the single motion of spreading my legs wide open and allowing Knight to behold my naked flesh channeled the enticement of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, herself. I felt like I alone possessed the key to Knight’s libido. His eyes traveled the length of me before resting on the space between my legs, and I could see them change. They seemed to go from being sexually charged to ravenously hungry.

At that moment, I had complete mastery over Knight.

“Whatever game you’re playing,” he panted, “I give up. You win.”

Closing my thighs, I laughed, savoring the command I had over him. “That was easier than I imagined.”

I started to sit up from the couch, but he was instantly in front of me, his eyes glowing in that weird and wonderful way. Putting his hand against my shoulder, he pushed me back down onto the couch.

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easily,” he grumbled. Removing his shirt, he let each side slowly slide down his muscular forearms. Dropping to his knees, he faced me again, and the irises of his eyes were completely eclipsed by the white glow.

“Feeling slightly threatened by Bram?” I asked, even while wondering if I was taking this game too far.

Knight narrowed his eyes at the mention of Bram and I wasn’t sure but it looked like they burned a little more brightly. “Not threatened,” he answered. “But let me remind you that I have something Bram doesn’t …”

“And what is that?”

“The beast,” he answered with a low, animal growl. It was as if the beast were speaking through him. I felt myself throbbing, my sensitive parts swelling at the thought of the beast within Knight and what it was capable of. I didn’t say anything, but noticed the rise and fall of my chest increasing as my heartbeat began to race.

“And it might be more fitting to say you’re the jealous one,” Knight continued.

“What?” I replied, pretending offense.

“So what’s MJ to you,” he mimicked, even going so far as to use a girl voice. I threw a sofa pillow at him. He caught it and threw it on the floor, the smile dropping from his face. “Spread your legs,” he commanded in a voice that told me not to argue.

With my former power diminishing, I simply obeyed his demand and opened my legs to him. I watched his eyes shift from my own as they settled on my swollen female flesh. The pulse in his neck sped up to match his shallow panting.

He didn’t say anything as he studied me, but simply allowed his eyes to devour me. Despite the sensation of being vulnerable, almost like I was being displayed to him in the most exposed fashion, the sexual goddess within me allowed me to vanquish the feeling immediately. Once again, I savored the intensity of the power I still held over him.

With another growl, he buried his face between my legs and the feel of his tongue sucking and pulling at me was almost too much for me to endure. Just when I thought I was about to orgasm, he pulled his tongue away before plunging it deep inside me, causing me to moan out.

“I can never get enough of this,” he groaned. His tongue again found my nub and he thrust two fingers inside me as I arched up against him, screaming out my surprise. He pulled his mouth away, but continued plunging his fingers inside me, burying them as high as he could.

“Open your eyes and watch me feel you,” he commanded.

Even though it was difficult, I opened my eyes to find him staring at me. Then he averted his gaze to his busy fingers and together we watched as he pushed them in and out of me. I felt him curving his fingers to follow my inner channel as he drove his hand deeper inside me, deeper and faster. That was when he found my G spot. I grew wetter as the smoldering ember deep in my gut turned into an incendiary. My legs were trembling and I clamped my eyes shut tightly, knowing an orgasm was imminent.

“Look at me or I’ll stop,” he barked.

I opened my eyes just as blissfulness exploded within me and I ground my pelvis against his hand. I cried out, as he impaled me even harder. Without another word, he pulled his fingers out and ripped off his pants, his erect penis bouncing behind them. Grabbing both of my legs, he positioned them above his shoulders as he coaxed himself to me. I felt the head of him at my opening and wrenched myself away in an effort to retain some sense of control. Glancing up at me, he growled again before gripping my thighs and pressing my hamstrings against him. He leaned forward until I could feel him at my opening as he smiled down at me. Ultimately, he knew we’d both won. With that recognition, he thrust inside me as deeply as he could. I screamed out as I buried my nails into his back, feeling him pull out of me again. Gripping his taut rear cheeks between both of my hands, I sunk my nails into his soft skin at the same instant that he penetrated me again. This time he seemed to delve in even deeper than before. He wrapped his hands around my ankles and widened my legs further above his shoulders, pulling slightly away from me so he could watch himself entering me. He put his fingers on the nub between my folds of feminine flesh and started rubbing it back and forth, and then in circles.

“You’re going to come for me again, do you understand?” he asked, but it was more like an order.

I simply nodded, at a loss for words. While his fingers continued dancing against me, he put his other hand on my right nipple and pinched it. There was only a slight pain before something began blossoming in my stomach, and I cried out in the throes of another orgasm.

Knight chuckled and pulled out of me. “Get on your knees.”

I dutifully turned over and felt him gripping me by my upper thighs as he yanked me backwards. Seconds later, he slammed himself into me as I screamed out.

“I could stare at you like this forever,” he said in a tight-lipped voice.

His thrusts suddenly gained momentum as he pushed himself into me as deeply as he could. I bucked beneath him so he wrapped his arm around me to anchor me in place, while reaching around to touch my sensitive spot again.

“Third time’s a charm,” he whispered into my ear.

His wish became my command and I bucked as another orgasm seized me. As soon as I came down from the high, he thrust into me with renewed vigor. He clutched a handful of my hair and wrapped his hand around the back of my neck as his breathing came in short gasps. A few moments later, he arched against me stiffly.

Now relaxed, he pulled out of me as he collapsed on the couch with a wide grin.

“You are temptation’s finest,” he said, panting softly.

FOUR

One night gone, one night to go. Then we would invade the Netherworld.

For the first time since deciding on a plan, I could feel my stomach tightening with anxiety and I felt sick. I had no idea why these feelings of apprehension and uneasiness hadn’t hit me earlier, but now it seemed like they were trying to make up for lost opportunity.

“Great, good job,” Knight said out loud, speaking to Erica through the Bluetooth in the Suburban. We’d already left the lodge in Garmisch and traveled through two portals, so I had no idea where we were now. I glanced outside my window to view miles of rolling hills, complete with white picket fences and nondescript houses. Since we were still driving on the right side of the road (well, according to American custom, anyway) we could still have been in Germany or maybe we were now back in the States.

“Everyone is motivated and ready,” Erica continued. Her tone was so chipper, she might as well have announced that her kindergarten class was ready to put on the school play. “I’ve moved all the soldiers to Compound One, and all the civilians are currently staged at Compound Two. Fagan is also orchestrating the draft so all eligible recruits will be relocated to Compound Four.”

“What are we doing in terms of weapons for those creatures who are less than magically inclined?” Knight asked, concentrating on the road ahead of him. I studied him, trying to get any sort of indication as to whether this whole thing was making him nervous or not. But there was nothing in the inflection of his voice nor his posture that even hinted to fretfulness. Instead, he appeared as always—calm, cool and collected, like the serene Loki I knew so well.

“Well, we’re supplying all the weres, elves and goblins with Op 6s and 7s,” Erica’s sing-song voice rang out. “We debated doing the same for the vampires, but concluded it would ultimately be a waste of time since they can retain their speed as well as their strength in the Netherworld.”

“Yep,” Knight said as he nodded. “All creatures will become stronger in the Netherworld, but don’t forget the Netherworld Guard is about as strong as they get.”

“I know,” Erica answered, with an inflection that said she didn’t appreciate lectures.

“What’s the count so far?” Knight asked. He depressed the accelerator and took a right on a street whose sign was obscured by a nearby tree, maybe a poplar or something of that sort.

I heard the sound of shuffling paper coming through the Bluetooth and guessed Erica was searching through her notes for an answer to Knight’s question. “Um, let’s see … our top Resistance soldiers number roughly about three hundred. Last I heard from Fagan, he managed to draft another two hundred able-bodied civilians. So that puts us at around five hundred in total.” She took a breath. “Not too bad considering you only gave us the go-ahead yesterday.”

“Not too bad,” Knight agreed, but I couldn’t read his expression to detect whether he was pleased with the information or not. “At last tally, the Netherworld Guard numbered well into the upper four hundreds, which tells me this will be a difficult battle for us to win.”

“But we
can
win it,” Erica interjected quickly. “We outnumber the Guard when you look at the totals. Besides, the Netherworld civilians won’t fight so that’s another plus on our side.”

Knight cocked his head and I could see the disappointment in his eyes. “I guess it remains to be seen.”

“So what does that mean?” Erica asked, sounding somewhat crestfallen. “If you don’t think our odds are good, we shouldn’t even try to invade the Netherworld.”

Knight sighed. “I didn’t say the odds are against us. I just meant it’s not going to be any picnic.” She didn’t say anything more so Knight continued. “Good job with everything, Erica. Check in with me when you have more information.”

“Will do, hot stuff.”

He chuckled as he pressed a button on the steering wheel, thereby disconnecting the call. The resulting quiet became pervasive, but since Knight seemed absorbed in his own thoughts, I didn’t think I should interrupt him with mine. Once he started to shake his head though, my curiosity to know what he was thinking grew impossible to subdue.

“What are your thoughts?” I asked, almost afraid for his answer. I didn’t want to hear him say we should abandon our plan, or abort our mission to dethrone my father.

He tilted his head as if he were pondering my question and took a few seconds to respond. “Our soldiers are just as capable as the Netherworld Guard, but we have much smaller numbers.”

“But what about the soldiers Fagan drafted?”

He nodded halfheartedly. “Depending on what types of creatures they are, that could be meaningless. If they possess their own magic, that’s great; but if we’re talking about a bunch of inexperienced, eighteen-year-old wolves, that’s something entirely different.” As he glanced over at me, he reached for his cell phone, which lay in the cubby hole beneath the CD player. “Do me a favor? Text Fagan and ask him what the breakdown of all the creatures that he drafted is, will you?”