On the Edge of Love (Mama's Brood Book 1) (7 page)

Zeus moved Sabrina’s leg from over his shoulder and crawled backward onto the love seat. He shifted her body onto his lap. The press of her ass against his groin… He grunted as his dick hardened from the soft cradling press ready to do its part on both their behalves. He tucked her head into the crook of his neck, aware of the nuances of her scent. On the surface, the floral of Almaya’s lavender-rose bath gel and the citrus-bergamot lotion, but underneath, the spicy earth scent, uniquely hers, made him want to bury his face in her deepest recesses.

“What the hell,” Price said, returning. Zeus sighed and pulled his hand from beneath Sabrina’s top, where he’d begun to stoke his thumb over her abdomen.

“She was cold.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Yeah,” he said, tugging on, then releasing, a twisted loc to watch it spring back into place.

“Zeus, please carry Sabrina to the blue room,” Almaya requested as she returned to the front room. He stood with Sabrina in his arms, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction he usually only experienced when using his blades. Almaya was seeing the value of letting him have the woman. Between Kragen on her tail and the cops, maybe Almaya believed this would be Sabrina’s only opportunity for pleasure before she was free of them. He frowned. Something was off about that, her being free of him, leaving him.

“Zeus,
why
are you growling? I thought you’d rather take her to the room than allow one of the others to do it.”

“I’ll take her,” he said, ignoring the others as he walked toward the decompression area, where a door, indistinguishable from the wall, led to the second sublevel of Mama’s house. The blue room was a good place for Sabrina to sleep because it shared an adjoining door with the brown room, the room he was using. Both of the connecting doors had to be unlocked to pass through, but he doubted Almaya would lock Sabrina’s door now that she wanted them to have sex. He smiled inside. Despite having to deal with the Brood, taking this assignment was turning out to be one of the best decisions he’d made in a while.

Almaya followed him out of the room and down the stairwell that led to the sleeping quarters. He glanced over his shoulder and frowned, wondering why she was trailing behind them.

“You know, despite the fact that Cizan recommended you, I offered you a place in the Brood because you belong here. I know it might not seem as if you do, but I have a sixth sense about these things.”

“You couldn’t have kids? That’s why you created this facade of a family, isn’t it?”

She laughed. Most people didn’t usually respond that way to his questions.

“No, nothing stopped me from having kids. I learned early the ugly side of youthful vulnerability, and I choose to fight for the ones who haven’t yet learned to fight for themselves. The Brood helps me do this. There are a lot of children, of people who need to be fought for. As I moved about the world doing my work, I found that once you take someone into your heart, claim them as an essential part of you, it doesn’t matter if you’re connected by blood or not; you’re connected, and you do all you can to see to their safety and happiness.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She laughed again. “You will.”

He guessed this was her attempt at playing the mama the rest of the Brood identified with.

Almaya stepped around him and opened the door to the blue room. Like the other rooms designated by color, the blue room was decorated in various shades of blue. He walked to the queen-size bed and placed Sabrina on it, shifting her so he could pull the covers around her. He sat on the bed and unbuttoned his jeans before Almaya stopped him.

“Thank you for your help. I’ll make sure she’s all tucked in before I lock the doors.”

He frowned over at the connecting door. “She’s not going to like waking up alone.”

“I’m sure she’ll cope.”

Zeus walked back out into the hallway. He stood in front of the door long after Almaya had closed it in his face. He turned and walked the few steps to his door. It was chilly inside the room. He walked directly to the California-king-size bed without turning on the lights. Stripping, he lay on top of the covers, hand reaching down to fist his hardening erection. He imagined Sabrina naked in his bed, her legs straddling him as she sank down, sheathing him over and over again as she fucked him without mercy. His hips surged up to meet each downward stroke. They fucked, hard and primal, his grunts, her pleading. He came hard as she screamed out. His body relaxing as he imagined her falling forward, a nipple prodding his lips until they opened and he sucked it in, flipping her onto her back and hammering into her until he came a second time.

As he closed his eyes, feeling only partially satisfied after coming, Zeus resolved that he was going to have to get her away from the others if he was going to make the fantasy real. He needed that hard fuck with her in real life. He slipped into the shadow realm between sleep and wakefulness, the closest thing he ever got to true sleep. He had so many things to teach her about satisfying him. So many places in her body he could stick the one blade he was born with.

* * * *

Less than two hours before dawn, Almaya settled in the bed beside Terry, relaxing as he pulled her into his arms.

“You know, this whole situation has the makings of some very messy business.”

“I know,” she said.

“You know she’s hiding something.”

“I do know.”

“Yet you’re allowing her to remain with us.”

“I know it goes against good sense to keep her, Terry, but something tells me she’s supposed to be here.”

“And him? What happens when he’s no longer able to keep his urges in check? You know it’s inevitable, Almaya.”

“I know.”

He turned out the light and settled her beneath him, lightly kissing her neck, her cheeks, her mouth. “Almaya, Almaya, Almaya, the all-knowing one. Let me share some things I know.”

Chapter Three

Maxim William Kragen III left his suite at the St. Regis in San Francisco’s SoMA district determined that the day would be better than the one before it. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. He’d left New York with the sweetest anticipation and arrived at SFO only to be enshrouded by dense fog and the more demoralizing knowledge that the one he had come thousands of miles to retrieve had escaped his men—his dead men, per reports about the bodies found in the burned-down warehouse—and was missing. A police investigation was underway, and news reports about the bloody abduction of Sabrina Samora were being broadcast over every local news station at what seemed like two-minute intervals.

Slipping into the backseat of the charcoal-gray town car, he sat in silence, looking out on a city that, though not frozen over as New York was in April, looked more dismal due to the obscuring fog that had yet to burn off.

As the car slid down the streets of a city filling with eager tourists willing to face the wet chill and the homeless nestled in tarp cocoons on entryways of still-closed businesses, Maxim undid the only fastened button on his suit jacket and relaxed against the heated leather seat. His personal assistant, Reed Miller, sat next to him. After years of employment, his assistant was well trained in the needs of his employer, one of them being to remain quiet until Maxim had addressed him first.

Despite all the chaos surrounding this situation, it would be a good day. Before it was done, he would be in possession of an elusive and long-sought-after prize. Sabrina. A woman he had not stood face-to-face with in over seven years. He hadn’t known her last name when they’d been together in New York; she was simply Sabrina. He’d come to know many things about her: her bravery, her spirit, her tolerance for pain, and the generosity of her flesh. He had lacked the maturity and sophistication he presently demonstrated when dealing with his most intimate liaisons. He’d unwisely overlooked things in the past, believed her when she told him her name, been so certain of her loyalty when she’d promised so many times that she wanted only him, that she would never leave him, that she would love him to her last breath.

But she’d lied.

“Where is the truck, Reed?”

His assistant flipped open his tablet cover and tapped the surface several times before passing the device over to him.

“It hasn’t moved for several hours. It’s located in a remote area that has no immediate access to public transportation. If she’s not there, it’s unlikely she hitched a ride and was picked up. With all the news broadcasts and missing person reports, some authority, be it the hospital or the police, would have been informed. She may be sleeping or unconscious in the truck, Mr. Kragen. Either way, we will have more information soon.”

If this hadn’t been a private matter, an easily resolvable matter since he knew who she was, where she lived, where she worked, he would have used some of the Consortium’s ample resources to manage the situation. But between him, Reed, and his bodyguard-driver Eddie, they would have the matter of Sabrina Samora resolved.

“Has the cliff house been prepared?”

“Yes, sir. Everything will be ready for your use as soon as you arrive.”

“And it’s fully equipped?”

“Yes, sir.”

Maxim focused on the red flashing dot on the screen. The truck was approximately twenty-five minutes away, and given the early Saturday-morning hour, he didn’t expect to be slowed by traffic.

“You know, I had thought by not going to London, I’d be able to avoid all this fog.”

“It’ll be behind us the moment we’re out of the city, sir.”

“That’s as it should be. One needs clarity of vision when embarking upon a destined path.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sabrina was harmed. Why?”

“I’m…uncertain, sir. Except for the security guard, Basir provided the manpower. Had he known of our connection to Sabrina’s retrieval, maybe he would have ensured her safety. My contact warned the men to handle her with extreme care.”

“Yet they did not,” he said, recalling the reports of blood and destruction inside her apartment. Because he was highly intelligent, there would be no way the authorities could link the inept men with Maxim, as none except Reed knew of Maxim’s involvement. Not even Basir.

“No, sir. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem they did, and that means the police are searching for your lady as diligently as we are.”

“Surely not quite as diligently or as efficiently as we,” he said, humored by the absurdity of any police force succeeding where he had not. The town car slipped free of the clutching mist, and into sunshine and blue skies as they made their way across the Bay Bridge. If one were to guess, solely based on the current weather in San Francisco, one could believe the world was perpetually cloaked in chilling fog. It was a blessing to discover a warm, welcoming world awaited in the distance.

Despite all he had achieved over the years, his life had seemed gray and cold since Sabrina’s departure, leaving him with the weight of his weaknesses. But he had gotten stronger, become the man she could once again respect, no longer one to be controlled but one who controlled much. Since her departure he had stepped into his power and, in doing so, gave himself the means for bringing her light back into his life.

“Do you suppose she beat the odds and killed all four men? There were four bodies found in the warehouse,” Reed said.

“The Sabrina I remember was kind, soft, easily led.”

“Even the most timid can fight if they’re afraid for their life.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“If you’re certain, sir.”

“I am, Reed.”

And it was the truth. Sabrina had never struggled against him. She’d easily accepted his will, then his love. Yes, she’d run eventually, but she’d endured, she’d acquiesced, she’d even reveled in the attentions he’d given her, but Reed wouldn’t know that. It had been before his time.

“If those men were not already dead, I would kill them
very
painfully,” he calmly promised.

“They would deserve it, sir. It was a simple retrieval, and they turned the matter into a complicated mess.”

Maxim nodded, sensing rather than seeing his assistant’s anger. He’d always liked Reed’s ability to candidly evaluate a situation. The younger man was lean, with compact musculature. He’d always had a hungry wolf look about him despite the expensive, sharp cut of every outfit he owned. Reed had the pale winter skin of his Black Irish heritage. Black, short-clipped hair, near-black eyes.

It had been years since Maxim had watched Reed, then a seventeen-year-old boy, kill Matt Orley, Maxim’s then bodyguard, for attempting to retrieve the cell phone and wallet the young Reed had stolen from Maxim’s pocket only moments before. Instead of having the semi-indigent boy killed, Maxim had educated and employed Reed. Rather than living in a dump of a house with his mother and three younger brothers, Reed currently lived in a penthouse in Manhattan and had bought a three-level home in Brooklyn for his family, whom he continued to support, just no longer by street thievery.

They rapidly made their way toward the blinking red dot. Unexpressed anticipation coursed through Maxim the closer they came. He returned the tablet to Reed. The thing was making him more on edge, and he needed to be relaxed when Sabrina was reunited with him. She was injured. Probably afraid. Again. Because of him.

He was not a man conditioned or willing to express love or caring emotions easily, but he never lied to himself, and he knew Sabrina would always own a piece of his soul. She had been the first and only woman he had lain himself bare for. She’d accepted him, cherished him. Then one day she was simply gone. No one before or since had come close to satisfying the need she’d inspired. Maxim had found her again, and soon she would return to his side. He would never let her go. He knew his mind, his heart more clearly. He wouldn’t bend to the prejudice, fear, and shame of his parents. He knew their interference had something to do with her decision to abandon him, but they would never admit it.

“Your father don’t like me, Max. I can tell by the way he looks at me like I’m not worth seeing.”

“My father looks down on everyone, even me, even my mother. Ignore him, Sabrina. That’s how he and I have managed most of my life. Ignoring each other.”