Slayer's Kiss: Shadow Slayer, Book 1 (28 page)

“She can ward her home. That should help if anything’s taken an interest in her. My priority is to protect you, but I wouldn’t allow her to suffer for it.” He dropped his forehead to Kara’s and closed his eyes. She knew it was a platonic gesture, but he smelled damn good. Her warrior liked to comfort with physical touch, and she couldn’t say she minded under the circumstances. “All will be well, mistress.”

“Don’t go all soft on me,” she teased. She could sense the fierce loyalty in him, and it unwound the tension in her gut. She cupped his face and closed her eyes to mirror his reassuring gesture. “Lace is an idiot. You’re the catch of the century, Jaxy, and your friendship means the world to me.” She squeezed his cheeks one last time and sat back.

“Your hour is up,” said a deep voice from the other side of the table.

Chapter Nineteen

Kara’s gaze flashed to Julian. He was so handsome, he took her breath away. Instantly, her nipples hardened and her skin broke out in goose bumps. She glanced at her watch and bit her lip. “So it is.”

“Ah, Jaxon, I see you gave your mistress a trinket.” Julian’s eyes were glued to the pendant on Kara’s neck, and he looked pissed.

“I did,” Jaxon agreed.

“And she accepted it?”

“Yes.”

When Kara stood, Jaxon grabbed her hand and shot her a questioning look. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, “What we talked about…I promise. See you at midnight.”

“Come.” Julian didn’t waste time saying goodbye to Jaxon. He turned and pulled Kara down the hall and through the door to the women’s restroom. Even Kara’s hormone-steeped brain twinged in warning when they walked in on two women applying lipstick in the mirror and another washing her hands in the sink.

“Julian?” Kara didn’t need to say anything else—the
what the hell?
was in her voice.

Julian looked to the three surprised women and Kara felt a soft power waft from him, like a flower-scented spring breeze. “Ladies, you need to leave now and you’ll not remember you saw us here.” The one washing her hands left the water running and her palms soapy as she slowly walked toward the exit. The others closed their purses and followed her out.

Kara’s face scrunched in indignation as she walked over and turned off the faucet. “Is that how easy it is to mind-fuck us women?” She’d never seen it before, but it reminded her of what she did when she and Abbey went hunting. Maybe the herbs had nothing to do with her powers of persuasion after all.

Julian followed her, his black eyes burning with lust, and pressed her lower back to the marble countertop. “Human women. Not the same with Demiáre. But that’s not really the type of fucking we’re here to talk about, is it?”

Her chin tilted up at his challenge, then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to hers. He came willingly, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She sucked his tongue, imagining it was his cock instead. He moaned and ground himself into her.

Finally, when her pussy was throbbing and her breath was coming in short pants, she pulled back. “I have to be at Abbey’s later tonight.
No coupling.
And if you try to use your sleepy-time mind games on me, I’ll gut you.” She meant it, but she wasn’t sure her swollen lips and moist skin gave the impression she cared about anything more at the moment than taking off his pants and getting him inside her.

“Understood.” He nipped her neck and grazed his teeth over her collarbone. “I’m not sure I have the will to deny myself a coupling, but I’ve taken care of it. I give you my word.”

Kara must have been crazy, but her body was on fire. She nodded her assent, and Julian smiled triumphantly as he crushed her into his embrace.

She felt the floor drop out from under her and had the feeling of being sucked through thick black sludge for a moment outside time, then her feet touched down on thick white shag carpet an instant later.

She gasped. “Uh…your wings?”

“We don’t need to extend our wings to flash—just to fly. It’s safer to be prepared, but I knew exactly where we were going tonight.”

“And where’s that?” She looked around to see a perfectly decorated room done in modern furnishings, mostly black and white, with hints of red. A high-rise hotel suite or penthouse apartment from the look of it. One entire wall was glass and overlooked the ocean from countless stories above.

“Downtown. I didn’t want to distract you with unnecessary travel.” Even as he said it, he was pulling at her clothes, seeming unsure if he should squeeze her breasts through the fabric of her shirt or take the time to remove it.

He stripped off her purple shirt as the clock on the mantel struck eleven. Her head lolled back when he gave up with his hands and chose to capture her nipple in his mouth through the lacy fabric of her bra instead. She moaned, her pulse frantic. “Hurry.”

He slowed as she licked his chest, his body going rigid. She reached down to fumble with his jeans, unbuttoning the clasp then sliding his zipper down in a rush. He grasped her wrists, halting her progress on his pants before she could push them down his hips.

“No.” His jaw tightened, the dimples on his cheeks morphing into muscle. “I thought this would be enough. But it isn’t.”

“Okay.” She swallowed, desperate to taste him. “Can we talk about this later?”

His nostrils flared. “Let me in, Kara.”

“I plan to. Just as soon as we get these damned pants off.” When she reached for his jeans again, he grabbed her hand and flipped her onto the black sofa. She stared up at him with narrowed eyes, trying to catch her breath. Liquid heat surged through her veins as he straddled her.

“Is that how you want it, love? Rough? Fast? Anything goes so long as your heart stays out of it?”

“That’s all I can give you, Julian. Don’t ask me to risk my heart again.” Knowing she would have to leave him when it was over, she wondered if she would survive even another superficial pairing. “Take it or leave it.”

Hurt flashed in his eyes. “Well, then…I suppose I’ll take it.”

He slid down her body and began unfastening her boots, moving the zipper so slowly down the knee-high leather she thought she’d scream. He placed the first boot on the carpet, then started in on the second.

“Need help?” she offered.

“I’m fine.” He took forever on the second boot before placing it precisely near the first. He began working the hem of Kara’s jeans around her ankle as if it were delicate surgery.

Saliva pooled in her mouth and her fingertips itched.
“Julian,”
she warned. “What happened to the man who liked to rip my clothes off?”

He looked affronted. “And ruin a perfectly good pair of skinny jeans?”

By the time he’d removed the last stitch of her clothing, Kara’s lips were quivering and a slow, steady growl was peeling from her chest.

“Control yourself, love. I can’t help you this time.” He leaned over her and kissed her eyebrows, then worked his way down to the delicate hollow of her throat.

She’d had enough. She surged up and tackled him to the other side of the sofa. “No more.”

She reached for his jeans and the waist of his boxers and pulled them down his strong thighs. She discarded his socks, figuring she must have it bad when even his toes looked sexy. Next, she took the collar of his black T-shirt in her hands and yanked it apart, rending the material down the front to expose his hard-muscles abs. “Ring a bell?”

“Ah. So that’s how it’s done.” His gaze scorched her. “Let me see if I have this right…” He rose with Kara straddling him and sank to his knees on the carpet. “Like this?”

Without even readying her for his girth, he found her opening with his crown and plunged inside.

She cried out and clutched his back as he loomed above her. “Something like that.”

It felt so good to have him inside her, she had to fight to stay alert and not simply give in to the energy coursing from his body into hers. She closed her eyes, savoring the way he filled her.

When she rocked her hips toward his, he snarled and pinned her to the floor.

“Look at me.” Bringing his face to hers, he slowly pulled out, then fed his rigid length to her body, inch by painstaking inch. “Watch me make love to you.”

She couldn’t. But he didn’t understand. Did he really think he meant so little to her? Memories of her time with him and Gavin were what she would take with her when she was gone.

She tilted her hips as far as she could. “More.”

“Kara. Please.” He kissed her lips then started to move inside her. She felt every inch of friction as he took her slowly, his gaze never leaving her face.

She turned her cheek into the plush carpet as he rode her. Soon, even he couldn’t deny the frenzied need of their bodies.

“Don’t stop,” she pleaded, whimpering against his chest as the universe merged into a single, blinding light within her.

“You’re my heart,” he panted, grasping her hard by the hair as he spoke the words to her lips. “I’m never letting you go.” And with that, he came, flooding her with his essence, branding her with a piece of his soul.

She cried out against his cheek and felt the first stirrings of her pussy clamping harder around his bulb, the first stirrings of what could only be the coupling. It was exquisite possession on the deepest level.

“
Gavin
,” he growled. “Where are you?”

The question expanded past her, as though Julian had the ability to cast out his thoughts. She wrapped her legs tighter around him, pressing into his delicious warmth. “What does Gavin have to do with this?” she murmured, wondering if this was what it felt like to be high.

Suddenly, her golden-haired angel appeared near the sprawling window, his chest bare from travel and his wings folding in. His hands were clenched in fists, and he didn’t look happy.

Julian clutched her to him like a lifeline. “I gave you my word. Gavin’s here to help me keep it.”

She settled into Julian’s embrace and closed her eyes, trying to block out everything but how it felt to have him inside her. “Tell him to leave.”

“Gavin,” Julian said, his voice desperate and his body trembling.

“Pull away from him now, princess,” Gavin commanded from across the room.

“No.” Her voice was low and scratchy as she sank her swollen mound farther onto Julian’s hard shaft. “Go away, you stuffy killjoy.”

Gavin strode across the room and tugged Julian by the hips. Julian tensed and growled at the intrusion, but when Gavin growled back, the fierceness of it shook Kara from her stupor.

“
Your word
,” Gavin warned.

Finally, Julian slid free and lay down on the white carpet, his engorged shaft leaking a small, steady stream of milky fluid. He laced his hands behind his head and let out a long breath. “I’ve never hated you more than I do in this moment, brother. Thank you.”

Kara swallowed down her own growl. Her pussy still throbbed from her powerful orgasm, and her blood was pumping fast from the sight of Julian’s seed on his skin. She wanted to make Gavin pay for pulling them apart. “I don’t accept help from someone I can’t trust.”

Gavin’s chest heaved and his stoic façade crumbled in one breath. “You can’t trust me, princess?” He looked as if she’d thrust a knife into his gut. “Do you really believe that?”

“Julian wasn’t the only one playing the mind games, Gavin. You already admitted it. The difference is that Julian just proved he can change.”

Gavin’s lips turned down at the corners. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for your own good.”

“You can’t even see it, can you?”

“See what?”

“How you hurt me.” The truth was there in her voice.

“I only wanted to keep you safe,” he whispered.

“By keeping things from me?”

“Yes, by keeping
myself
from you, because it was the right thing to do.”

A low vibration emanated from Julian’s throat. “Are you finished, Gavin? This wasn’t why I brought you here.”

“It needs to be said,” Gavin replied.

Kara’s pressed her lips together, unsure how to respond. Could what Gavin said be true? Could he have been trying to do what he thought was right, what he thought would protect Kara, even if he was an idiot in how he went about it?

When she saw the pain etched into his brow, when she felt his misery and longing seeping into her skin, she melted. “I don’t want to be angry anymore.”

She sighed in resignation and went to stretch out beside Julian. He wrapped an arm around her and spooned close, nestling into the apex of her thighs.

“I don’t think so.” Gavin sprawled down beside Kara and sandwiched her between them, rolling her to face Julian and pressing her ass firmly to his own lap.

“Don’t worry, Gavin. He has more control than you think,” Kara said dryly.

“Better safe than sorry.” He pressed his nose against her hair and drew a long breath, then rested his chin on the top of her head. “You
can
trust me, princess. I’ve denied myself the one thing I want most. What more do I have to prove?”

She couldn’t walk away on these terms. If she saw herself as the victim before, now she wasn’t so sure. Who else would she hurt before this was over? “You don’t have to prove anything. It’s enough.”

She felt his body mold to hers, felt the sweet relief emanating from him. “Thank you,” he said, raining kisses down on her hair, her cheek, the rim of her ear.

She closed her eyes, reveling in Gavin’s gentle touch at her back and Julian’s comforting presence before her. She wanted to remember exactly what it felt like to be surrounded by the two men she adored. With a soft sigh, she tilted her ear to Gavin’s mouth and felt the graze of his teeth there as he pulled her tighter against him. His breath tickled, causing her to smile and turn her lips toward his.

Julian stood, looming over Gavin with a scowl. “You’ve done what you came to do—now beat wings and get the fuck out.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and rose to his feet, leaving Kara sprawled on the floor alone. “Here comes the mating rage.” He stood chest to chest with Julian. “Honestly, Jules, it’s getting old.”

Julian stalked to the window, breathing deeply as though he was trying to rein himself in.

Gavin glared at Julian. “You don’t own her.” The thick muscles of his shoulders tensed. “She could have been mine. Once we determine that there’s nothing to this claim of yours—she still can be.”