Into the Darkness (13 page)

thudded loudly, waiting for his next move, which wasn’t like

her at all. Usually the one in charge, she waited on his pleasure, which should have rankled. Instead, eagerness flooded

her.

When his fingers slid beneath the elastic band of her panties to delve between her lips, her pussy released a drenching

wash of liquid that greeted his caress.

“Lovely,
Dieu
!” His clothed cock bucked against her ass, his

fingers pinched her nipple hard, and he drove long fingers up

inside her, stroking deeply, swirling in the moisture melting

from her inner walls.

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Chessa rolled her hips back and forward, over and over, the

motion following the rhythm he set with his deftly stroking

fingers. When her arousal began the climb toward release,

she bit her lip and pressed the back of her head against his

chest.

Suddenly, his hands left her and he pushed her forward,

bending her over the console where the monitors rested.

One jerk and her panties tore away. She gripped the edge of

the table and waited while the rustling of clothing behind her

told her he stripped.

She pressed her hot breasts on the cool wood and dragged

gulps of air into her lungs, trying to regain control, trying to

break his lustful spell, but she nearly sobbed when his fingers

glided down the crease of her ass and sank inside her cunt.

“Fuck me!” she gasped.

One last rustle and Nicolas groaned behind her. His cock

fell against her cool buttocks, hot and hard.

She rose on her tiptoes, straining higher to encourage him

to come inside her.

He needed no temptation. His cock butted once against

her slick folds, backed away and re-centered, then drove deep

inside.

Chessa’s mouth opened around a silent scream. Christ,

how he filled her!

She waited for him to start the rocking thrusts she craved,

but he leaned over her back.

“Does my size please you, Princess?”

Trapped against the table with his cock crammed deep inside her, she rolled her eyes. “I hate it when you call me that,”

she said, not liking the tremor in her voice.

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“An answer, please. I won’t move until you give it to me.”

“You’ll do,” she gritted out. She should have known he’d

never give her a straight fuck.

A soft tsk lifted the hair lying across her shoulder. “I don’t

like lies—or half truths. You have much to learn about me.”

“I don’t need to know anything except whether that cock

of yours can do the job.”

“That was crude, Chessa. Would you have me believe

you’re only using my body?”

“Asshole, get on with it!”

“I will. It will be my pleasure.” He straightened, his cock

surging deeper as he moved. His hands smoothed down her

hips to her thighs. With a jerk, he lifted her off her feet and

shoved her further onto the table.

Then he pulled out of her—slowly, inch by luscious inch—

and Chessa’s bottom wriggled, sure that now he’d give her

what she wanted.

When he left her entirely, she raised up on her elbows to

cast a furious glare behind her. “Quit with the games!”

“I’m not playing.”

He cupped the cheeks of her ass and dropped to his knees.

“No!” she exclaimed, panic setting in. “I don’t need that,

Nic. Please!”

“You need to be pleasured—not just fucked.”

“Don’t tell me what I need, bastard,” she shouted. “There

are a dozen men in this compound who’d give me what I want

and do a better job. You just happened to be here when I was

horny.”

“I know I’m your last choice. But one day you will beg me

to love you, Chessa.”

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“I don’t want love.”

“You’re a woman. Maybe one of ‘The Born,’ but at your

core you’re as needy as any female. Now, shut up.”

Only being quiet was the last thing Chessa could manage.

His lips closed around her clitoris and suckled. Chessa arched

off the table, screaming for the first time in her life.

“I don’t know ’xactly how this works,” Rene said, his voice

deepening with his urgency, “but I’ve only got so much blood.

You’ll kill me if you take too much.”

The scents stirring in the air around Natalie—his musk,

her arousal—teased her appetites. Her stomach burbled. “I

wish you hadn’t reminded me I’m hungry.”

He blew out a frustrated breath. “At the rate you’re feedin’,

there won’t be much left of me.”

The pulse at his temple throbbed, and her heartbeat quickened to match the beat. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she said,

even as her nipples drew into hardened nubs. Her teeth lengthened inside her mouth. “But I don’t think I can help myself.”

“I think that’s the point of our bein’ here. Of me bein’

chained. I can’t fight you this way.”

A creak sounded behind her, and she whirled in time to see

the door opening.

A blonde woman carried a tray covered with a white linen

cloth. “I should tell you up front,” she said, her eyes and wide

lips flashing amusement, “it won’t do you any good to try to go

through the door behind me. There’s a guard in the hallway.”

Natalie didn’t return her smile. Despite the fact she

was buck naked—she was too damn turned on to care. She

straightened. “Why are we being held here?”

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The woman’s gaze swept over her, lingering for a long moment on her face. “It’s for your own safety, Natalie.”

Oddly, the woman’s perusal didn’t make her uncomfortable.

She sensed no danger, no animosity or lurid interest coming

from her. “What about his safety?” she said, lifting her chin

toward Rene.

“He isn’t nearly as important to us.” The woman shrugged.

“He’s here to keep you company.” She nodded to the tray.

“I brought you food. You’re going to need to keep up your

strength. And there’s enough on the tray for him, as well.”

“When will you let him go?”

“Not for a while yet. You’ll have to see to his comfort in

the meantime. He’s a stubborn one. They haven’t had to use

the manacles in quite a long time. Chessa suggested them last

night, and I can see why. Nice choice.” Her gaze swept him

hungrily.

Natalie felt herself bristling at the woman’s covetous stare.

Not that she had any rights to him, but she didn’t like the

way the woman stared at the part of him that had so recently

been crammed inside her own body.

“He needs a bath,” Natalie said, irritation making her

words sharp.

The woman’s eyebrows lifted. “Shall I help you?”

“Natalie . . .” Rene’s voice rose in warning.

Natalie shook her head. “I only meant bathing him without freeing him first will be awkward.”

The woman gave her an amused smile. “Nice try.”

Rene rattled his chains. “I wish the fuck you’d both stop

talkin’ like I’m not here. Where the hell is Chessa? I want to

talk to her now.”

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“She’s . . . occupied at the moment.”

Her secretive smile had Natalie wondering what she meant.

“She will see you later,” she said, giving him a last appreciative glance. “Be patient. We don’t mean you any harm,

Lieutenant Broussard. This really is for your own good.”

“Who are you?” Natalie asked.

This time, the woman’s expression looked a little brittle.

“There will be introductions, again, later. Enjoy yourselves.

If there’s anything you need . . .”

“A key?” Rene growled and rattled his chains one last

time.

A slim eyebrow rose in amusement. “Short of a key. You

have only to knock on the door and someone will come.”

Natalie tried again. “Why are we here?”

The woman glanced back over her shoulder, her mouth

pursing as though she wanted to say more. “Natalie, embrace

the changes that are occurring inside you. Don’t question too

closely . . . for now. When the time’s right—”

“But I don’t understand what’s supposed to happen here.”

With a hand on the doorknob, the woman’s features tightened, her eyes appeared to glitter. “Sure you do,” she said, her

voice even, yet oddly lilting. “Follow your instincts.”

Natalie instantly felt soothed, reassured.

“Feed your hunger. Can’t you already feel your body growing stronger?”

Natalie stood still, absorbing what the woman was saying

and trying to read what she hadn’t.

“Eat all the food on the tray and try to limit the amount

of blood you take from Rene. You don’t want to kill him . . .

yet.”

chapter

8

ou don’t want to kill him . . . yet.

Y After the woman left, the words swirled

around the room, like a noxious cloud.

Natalie felt chilled by them, but only for a moment. She found it hard to hold onto the alarm that

skittered down her spine, plucking at her, to heed

their warning. Already the warning faded, replaced

by her heightened sensitivity to the man lying behind her on the bed.

Every rustle of the sheets as he shifted to ease

an ache, the scents of sex and his sweat, even the

faint sound of his heartbeat—something she just

realized she could hear quite clearly.

How interesting . . .

Natalie was reluctant to look at Rene. Naked

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and restrained—he was a potent stimulant to her hypersensitive libido. She could feel his blistering glare. “I guess we wait

after all,” she said quietly.

The chains rattled—his way of making his frustration

known.

The sound made her smile.

“You didn’t try very hard to get me out of here,” he growled.

“What did you expect me to do? Tackle her to the ground?

Then what?”

“I’m being held against my will!” he shouted. “And what

the hell did she mean by ‘don’t kill him . . . yet’? Fuck!”

His anger reacted explosively with her desire. Already she

could feel her teeth sliding down. He’d been brought here

expressly for her. All his straining and thrashing against his

bonds only increased her arousal. Fluid, slick and hot, trickled down to wet her thighs. She would have him.

Without looking back, Natalie straightened her shoulders.

“Rene, I’m afraid we haven’t any choices here.” She shut out

any empathy she felt for his predicament. A stealthy, twisting thought rose in the back of her mind. He’d been willing

to let Chessa take care of their “problem”—her. If he’d had

the choice, he’d have washed his hands of her, walking away

without a backward glance—more than willing to abandon

her to her fate.

Although she didn’t know precisely what her fate entailed,

she felt the changes the blonde woman had mentioned happening inside her. Besides the physical ones, she knew she

wasn’t thinking the same way she had twenty-four hours before. She wasn’t afraid anymore. She wasn’t hesitant or shy

about her body, her needs, or her enthrallment over his body.

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He was here for her enjoyment, to feed her appetite, and

completely under her control. But what did she want with

him, really? The first blush of wild attraction had passed.

That hot, all-consuming need to “know” him had been sated,

but there must be so many more acts and sensual experiences

to discover.

Already her body warmed—the delicious, wet heat seeped

from inside her. She wondered if he could be seduced without

a bite . . .

She took a deep breath to fortify herself and turned.

Rene’s gaze had fixed on her like a fly on wet paint.

Faltering inside, the aroma of roasted meat gave her an excuse to look away again and think. She picked up the tray from

the table and walked toward the bed. “Are you hungry?”

His face closed up tight, his lips thinning, the muscles of

his jaws flexing. He turned his head away.

His rejection stung—every time he did it, the wound felt

fresh and raw. And it pissed her off.

Until she realized, she was just a convenient target for his

anger. He couldn’t take out his frustrations on the commandoes who had spirited them away, so he struck out at her—in

the only way he’d allow himself.

That empathetic realization faded, too. The next moment,

she wondered why she stood with a tray in her hands when

they both needed sustenance. Her glance raked him and her

breath caught, inspired anew to explore every inch of him.

How easily she was drawn back again and again to pure, animalistic responses.

Brawny, defined musculature. Tanned, olive skin except for

the pale stripe across his hips and groin. Crisp, curling dark

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hairs rose like a thin cloud across his chest, arrowing down his

abdomen. Lord, his body was beautiful.

Even his defiant profile pleased her. Rough edged with dark

stubble along his jaws and chin, wholly masculine.

“Get the fuck away from me.”

This time she took no offense. As acutely tuned to his body

as she was, she knew her own must have some appeal for him

to feel threatened by her proximity.

She pulled the cloth from the tray and smothered a laugh.

Rare steak, cut in bite-sized cubes so utensils weren’t required. Melted cheese in a pot flavored with flecks of green