Shadowed: Brides of the Kindred book 8 (43 page)

“That’s because you need a male to help you—only a male’s essence can ease the pain.” Reddix made a sudden decision. Nina might hate him for it later, but he had to do it—had to help her. He could stand here and watch her have some kind of attack when he could keep her from it. “Lay down,” he commanded, pushing her closer to the couch.

“What?” Nina protested, resisting him. “Why?”

“Because if you don’t take the edge off soon you’re going to have serious problems. So I’m going to help you. Now lay back on the couch and spread your legs for me.”

“I…no.” She frowned at him fiercely. “You’re an ass and a jerk. You used me and dumped me. I do
not
need your help.”

“I may be all those things,” Reddix growled. “But right now you
do
need me. Now lie on the couch and spread your legs, Nina. Or do I have to make you?”

She put a hand to her neck. “You wouldn’t.”

“To keep you from danger? I sure as hell would.” Seeing the fear in her eyes, he tried his best to make his voice softer, more gentle. “It’s all right, Nina,” he murmured. “I’m not going to fuck you. Just going to help you take the edge off by tasting you some. Just need to lick your little pussy until you come—that should help.”

Her breath hitched in her throat, her pupils dilated with lust and need, but still, she lifted her chin defiantly. “What if…what if I don’t want you to?”

Reddix was out of patience.

“Too fucking bad.” He pushed her gently but firmly back until she was sitting on the couch. Then he put his hands on her shoulders and pressed her down. “Open your robe. Let me see how bad it is,” he demanded.

At first she clutched the robe even tighter around her. Then, biting her lip, she finally complied. Spreading the thin black robe, she bared her body for him.

Reddix drew in a deep breath as he took her in—her full thrusting breast with their tight dark pink nipples, her curving waist and full hips. And there, between her legs…

“Spread them,” he demanded hoarsely. “Spread your legs for me, Nina.” He had his hands on her knees, but he didn’t want to force her. He wanted her to show herself because he asked, not because he made her. “Come on,” he said again, softly. “Open yourself to me.”

“Fine,” she whispered at last. Her thighs parted, and Reddix had to bite back a groan. Her little pussy was freshly shaved, the plump, naked lips swollen with obvious need. The outer lips had parted showing a glimpse of her slippery folds and the pink pearl of her clit. And her entire pussy was slick and wet with honey. Her thighs were shiny with it too. Her scent was so strong and sweet he thought he might come just from smelling her.

“Gods, sweetheart,” he groaned, sinking to his knees before her. “Just look at you—you need it fucking
bad.”

“I…I do,” Nina admitted in a strained whisper. “It hurts, Reddix. Hurts so
much
. But I’m sensitive too—even my own fingers seem too rough.”

“Then I won’t use my fingers,” he growled softly. He looked up at her briefly. “Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll get you through this. We can talk afterward.”

Then he lowered his head and pressed a hot, gentle kiss right between her thighs.

Chapter Thirty-five

Nina moaned and arched her back the minute his lips came in contact with her pussy. She couldn’t help it—though her mind wanted to hold out and have nothing to do with Reddix after the way he had hurt her, her body had overruled it. She was in pain—in
need—
in a way she’d never felt before. She had been horny on occasion—who hadn’t? But she’d never been in actual
pain
from an excess of desire. It felt like her skin was too tight, like she was going to die or explode if something didn’t happen soon. And something was happening—
Reddix
was happening to her.

He kissed her softly at first, as though gauging how much she could take, how sensitive she was. Though her own fingers had seemed too much to bear just minutes before he knocked on her door, his mouth on her felt just right. She moaned breathlessly and tried to hold still as he pressed deeper, nuzzling between her outer pussy lips to get to her slick inner folds, swollen with desire.

The sweet, deep kiss seemed to go on forever, his hot mouth moving gently over her open pussy until Nina thought she might go crazy. At last Reddix looked up.

“All right, sweetheart?” His silver eyes were half-lidded with lust, and his lips were already shiny with her juices. “Not hurting you, am I?”

“N-no,” Nina stuttered breathlessly. “Feels…good. Right.” She didn’t want to admit it, but she couldn’t help it—it was the truth. He’d barely started, and already her body was calming down and opening up. She no longer felt quite so panicked—it was as though part of her knew on a very visceral level that she would be all right, now that he was here.

“Good.” He held her eyes with his for a minute. “Because I’m about to lick you now. Gonna spread your sweet pussy wide open and lick you long and hard until you come. Because that’s what you need, Nina—you need to come with my tongue in you. Come all over my face while I eat your hot little cunt. You understand?”

“I…yes,” she nearly moaned as her body jumped into overdrive again. God, she was going
crazy.
Just because she no longer felt like she was going into cardiac arrest didn’t mean the desire was any less—if anything it was more. But it was focused now—focused on the man between her thighs. “Please,” she begged brokenly. “Please, I need…need…”

“It’s all right, sweetheart,” he growled softly. “Just relax and don’t worry. I’m going to give it to you. As much as you need and more.”

Then he spread her outer pussy lips wide with his thumbs and bent down to give her a long, hot lick, dragging the flat of his tongue from the bottom of her entrance all the way up to the top of her slit.

Nina cried out and clenched her hands into fists at her sides. But it wasn’t enough—she needed something to hold onto. Reaching down blindly, she found his head and curled her fingers into his long, blue-black hair. Reddix growled deep in his throat and licked her again, clearly enjoying the feel of her hands on him. Encouraged, Nina tugged harder, pressing her pelvis up to meet him, spreading her thighs even wider to give him better access.

He responded by sucking her clit into his mouth and lashing it with his tongue. Suddenly, it was too much. Nina gasped and stiffened—the orgasm hitting her like an oncoming train. Her whole body trembled, and she actually saw stars exploding before her eyes for a moment.

“Oh!”
she cried as sparks of pleasure danced along her nerves. Her nipples tightened into painful little peaks at the tips of her breasts, and her whole body went rigid for a moment. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, Reddix lifted his head.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” he growled hoarsely. “Come for me. Come all over my face.” Then he bent his head and began licking her again, licking and sucking and lashing the engorged button of her clit until Nina felt like her entire body was being electrocuted with pleasure.

“Reddix,” she gasped, tugging at his hair and pressing her pussy up shamelessly to grind against his face. “Oh God please…please don’t stop!
Don’t stop.”

He growled in approval and licked even harder. Reaching under her ass, he scooped her up, tilting her pelvis as though it was a bowl of water, and he was dying for a drink. His tongue seemed to be everywhere, lapping, caressing, flickering over her most tender parts until Nina felt like she was going to go crazy.

She kept her sanity, but she came again. And again and again. So many times she lost count. Finally, she had to push him away.

“I can’t,” she gasped, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. “No more.”

“All right, sweetheart. You feel better now?” He sat back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Yes…and no.” Nina sat up shakily and somehow managed to draw the black robe around her. “I can’t…I’m not…” She shook her head. “Not over it yet, but I need a break. I can’t keep going like this forever.”

“I can.” His eyes flashed silver with lust. “I can eat your pussy all night if that’s what you need, sweetheart.”

It wasn’t what Nina needed—not exactly—but she couldn’t admit that. Couldn’t admit or explain the deep emptiness inside her, the growing ache and need to be filled.
I’ll be fine,
she told herself sternly.
I’ve already let him in enough. Not going to go any further.

“Let’s talk,” she said, crossing her legs and wincing at how sensitive she was—he had nearly licked her raw. Not that she hadn’t begged for it. Nina pushed the embarrassing thought away. “You said you had something to tell me,” she said. “The reason why you acted like such a jerk.”

He sighed and sat on the couch beside her. “Yeah, I do. I’ll tell you, but I want you in my lap while we talk.” He patted his legs. “Come here.”

“What? No!” Nina exclaimed. “We’ve gone far enough. I don’t think…”

“Fuck thinking,” he growled. “I want you in my lap so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you’re over the worst of it. You scared the hell out of me just now. If I hadn’t gone down on you when I did we might be in the med center instead of sitting on the couch talking. Now
come here,
Nina.”

Reluctantly, she scooted over to sit beside him. Reddix promptly scooped her up and situated her so that she was sitting sideways on his lap with her legs on the couch.

“That’s better,” he said, frowning. “Now I can see your face while we talk and touch you if you start having problems again.”

“I’ll be fine,” she protested, shifting uncomfortably. She could feel the hard ridge of his cock under her ass, rubbing against her through his black flight trousers. She tried to cross her legs, but that only made it worse as the hard, hot shaft pressed against her sensitive pussy.

“Yeah, you seem fine,” he said dryly. “Stop shifting around so much—this is hard enough as it is.”

No pun intended,
she thought, feeling a hysterical giggle rise in her throat. She swallowed it back down and forced herself to relax.

“Okay, fine—so talk. What reason can you possibly give me for being such an ass back on Tarsia?”

He sighed deeply. “First of all you need to know I’m not here to get back with you or try to start a life together.”

“What? Then why even bother coming, you jerk!” She tried to get off his lap, but he held her down, his hands firmly around her waist until she stopped struggling.

“Sit
still,
damn it! I’m here because I owe you an explanation.”

“Fine.” Nina was fuming now, her arms crossed over her chest. “Explain.”

“I’ll try…” He shook his head and ran a hand over his face. “Okay—to start with, I need you to know I wasn’t just using you to get my RTS fixed. I had the original agreement with the witch—the one I made with her before I came to kidnap you in the first place—but I had no other contact with her after that. I didn’t know she was going to lure you into the swamp. I wouldn’t have had any idea where you went at all if the
lthss
she put on my wrist hadn’t started shrinking.” He shook his head. “When I saw that, and I knew she had you…I can’t even describe how I felt. I was fucking crazy, Nina. So worried she would hurt you…kill you…” His deep voice grew hoarse, and he cleared his throat. “I didn’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. Especially when it was all my fault.”

Nina nodded thoughtfully. Against her will, his words were making an impact on her. He didn’t seem to be trying to shift the blame for anything—he was taking it all on himself, admitting he was the cause of what had happened.

“All right,” she said at last. “But that still doesn’t tell me why you let me leave thinking you just used me and threw me away like a broken toy you didn’t want anymore.”

“Did I break you?” he murmured roughly, cupping her cheek. “Did I, sweetheart? Because it damn near broke me to watch you fly away. To see that ship disappear into the sky and know you were in it and you weren’t coming back…”

“I wasn’t coming back because you sent me away,” she reminded him tartly.

He sighed deeply. “Yeah, I sent you away—but for your own good.”

“What?” Nina frowned at him. “How could breaking my heart be for my own good? How can you possibly justify—”

“I sent you away because I can’t give you what you need, okay?” A look of pure frustration crossed his face. “Because I don’t have a Touch Sense—or not one that works properly, anyway.”

“What even
is
that?” Nina demanded. “The witch talked about it some, but I never really understood…”

“It’s an extra sense all Touch Kindred have—or most of them, anyway.” He grimaced. “It gives a male of my kind the ability to touch his female with his mind. He can send whisper-fingers to stroke her, to pleasure her…to penetrate her, without ever physically touching her at all.”

Nina frowned. “And…you can’t do that?”

Reddix sighed. “No. I can’t.”

She looked at him impatiently. “And
that’s
why you broke up with me? Because you can’t send creepy mind fingers through the air and touch me when you’re across the room or something? That’s
it?”

“You don’t understand.” His deep voice was thick with frustration. “A male has to have a working Touch Sense in order to give his female the Deep Touch—that is, penetrating her body and her mind at the same time. And without the Deep Touch bonding cannot occur.”

Nina shook her head. “I still think it’s a crappy excuse.”

“That’s because you still don’t understand. Look…you’ve been around the other Kindred wives for a while now. Have you seen how they can communicate with their males mentally? How in sync the bonded couples are?”

“Well…” Nina thought of all the times when Liv or Sophie or Kat or Lauren or Lissa had gotten a faraway look on their faces that meant they were talking mentally to their men. “I guess so,” she said at last.

“That wouldn’t be possible for the two of us,” Reddix explained patiently. “Without a working Touch Sense, I can’t give you the Deep Touch or bond you to me. And without a bond, our relationship would be doomed to failure.”