The Circle (5 page)

My eyes, half shut from the sudden peace and languid state of my body, refocused on the scene below. Caroline’s wrists were stretched above her head by leather straps hanging from chains that went all the way up to the ceiling. The blond stood behind her. Most of the others in the circle on the floor had disrobed into various states of undress and had broken off into groups of two, three or four. Although their hands explored one another, all eyes remained on Caroline.

The raven-haired one sliced away her clothes with a long, curved blade. He reached up to cut the short sleeves, brushing her exposed nipple with his forearm on the way. A gasp rushed up her throat and drowned out the hushed murmur of the audience. When the last thread gave way, leaving her nude, the Adonis pulled the fabric away and kicked her legs apart until her restraints tightened.

The blond tied a shiny red scarf around the woman’s eyes. Shuddered breaths passed her lips as she quivered in the shadows of the two men. Black Beauty knelt before her, his face close enough I imagined she’d be able to feel his exhale on her skin—confirmed by the tightening of her stomach muscles. His fingers trailed up her thighs, his hair reaching farther along his back as he stared up at her.

My moan mingled with Caroline’s as the man’s mouth met with her mound. Devin’s hands found my thighs again. I jumped, but allowed him to manipulate them. He pulled one leg up and over his. Kisses touched my cheek, along my throat, over my bare shoulder, all while his fingertips caressed my knees and everywhere but the one place I wanted him.

Caroline went slack with need, panting, rocking her hips against the man’s mouth. Her cry and the echoing slap hit my ears before I registered where it came from. The blond had hit her across the ass with what appeared to be a horse crop, only studded with silver. A red blush washed up her stomach and over her breasts as she arched away from her Dom.

Before she’d calmed, Black Beauty latched onto her clit again. Whimpers tumbled from my lips under the overwhelming stimulation of the growing ecstasy on Caroline’s face and Devin’s exploration of my body. Hot jolts of pleasure started in my fingertips and toes, the explosion imminent.

A low hum rose up from the others below. My attention shifted to them. Some were on their knees, sucking cocks. Some had their partners bent over in front of them, pounding them from behind. Others had spread out to the sofas, or the floor, in various stages of fucking. The humming grew louder and vibrated up my bones and into more sensitive tissues. I writhed in Devin’s arms, met by his snickers and relentless groping.

The men took turns smacking and licking Caroline. When I thought she’d beg for them to stop, she asked for more. Upon the next strike that came, her body went rigid and her face slack. Black Beauty wrapped arms around her thighs and held her firm as his oral assault continued. Caroline’s head fell back, and a scream erupted in the room.

Desperate to join her release, my fingers dove for my pussy, but Devin snatched me by the wrist, stopping the action. “Please!”

In a dizzying blur, Devin flipped me onto the chaise on my back, him on top of me. One hand gripped my throat, and the other pressed my mouth closed. Face hovering above mine, his lip rippled in a snarl, and before my widening eyes, his fangs extended into view.

Struggling in his grasp, I choked and pried my fingers against his, but they didn’t budge. He leaned away and peered over the railing.

Whatever he saw caused him to shiver. “Fuck.”

The door clicked open behind him. The same silky voice I’d heard from Black Beauty down below drifted into our small space. “Did you really think you could sneak such a succulent morsel into my realm without my notice, Devin?”

Chapter Five

Devin leaned down to my ear, and his chest pressed against my breasts. “Keep your eyes on the floor, and by the gods and for all that is good and pure, obey me.”

The red walls blurred as I somehow landed on my feet. My arms shot out to steady my stance, and little white butterflies danced behind my eyes.

Devin stood in front of me, arms straight down at his sides, head bowed forward. “Good evening, Sovereign.”

I couldn’t help the urge to glance over Devin’s shoulder. When my gaze met with the black pits of the beautiful man who sauntered, naked, into the room, I sucked in a breath and dropped my focus to the floor. He had a tiny triangle of beard beneath his full lower lip, and a face chiseled by the gods. If I hadn’t met Devin, I would have said he was the most striking man I’d ever seen, only far more frightening. There was something malignant about him.

“No need for formalities, Lieutenant.” A cool breeze licked up my legs as the man shifted into view out of the corner of my eye. “For centuries you’ve remained outside the Circle without a human companion. For you to break your own rules, this one must be…extraordinary.”

Devin’s shoulder twitched. “Yes, Malachi. She is…well suited to me.”

“And a stunning beauty.”

Malachi’s voice tickled up my slick thighs. I shivered despite the rush of hot blood to my face.

Devin shifted to stand between us again. What was he afraid his sovereign would do to me?

I thought to myself, I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. No amount of mental mantras stopped my chest from heaving under my sudden frantic intake of breath.

“Why have you not yet introduced us?” Malachi blinked out and appeared beside me.

A tiny scream escaped my lips as I leapt away and gripped Devin’s arm.

He angled himself toward Malachi, his jaw flexing. “Offer the sovereign your wrist, Katharine.”

I raised my face to Devin’s and pleaded with my eyes for him to do something. My heart pounded against his bicep. “Please take me home.” I didn’t want to play anymore. I’d rather have been a nobody hack writer than dead.

Laughter rose behind me, a bright, infectious sound. “The strong, defiant ones are always the most fun to break. Don’t you agree, Devin?”

A disturbance pushed the air past me. Devin gripped my wrist and glared at me. “I don’t want to hurt you. Please. Offer the sovereign your wrist.” His intoxicating energy encompassed my body, and his voice had somehow invaded my flesh, tickling, teasing, and terrifying at the same time. His wobbly tone relayed his desperation that I obey.

I stumbled as Devin thrust me forward and turned my wrist up to Malachi before stepping away.

My stare sought out the wall.

Malachi’s fingers slid along my forearm, and cool lips pressed on my upturned wrist. His hair tumbled along my arm like a satin caress. Thoughts I shouldn’t have been having about a strange immortal—his face buried in my crotch as he’d done to Carolina—invaded my head.

“The pleasure is all mine…Katharine.” The way my name rolled off his tongue shot liquid heat along my spine, not all of it from pleasure.

Devin yanked me back, whirled me, and clamped arms around my back. Taken in by his scent, I buried my face against his throat, thankful to be removed from Malachi before I did something embarrassing. Each inhale reduced my shaking. As I regained my senses, my cheeks warmed. How could I have thought that?

“Tell me, Lieutenant.” Malachi’s voice grew nearer as he spoke. “Why are your fangs extended? You know the rules.”

Devin’s muscles stiffened against me. “I wasn’t going to— She angered me.”

Even as he said it, I knew it was a lie. When he flipped me onto the chaise earlier, it wasn’t anger I found in his stare, but fear of the darkest kind.

“Initiate her,” Malachi said.

A gasp caught in my throat. What does that mean?

“I wish to give her a choice, Sovereign. That’s why I kept her from you.”

“No mortal witnesses a gathering of the Circle without being initiated. You know our ways.”

Devin held me tighter. “At the next gathering, I—”

“Initiate her now, or I will.” Unmistakable authority lowered Malachi’s tone.

A shuddered breath escaped Devin and ruffled my hair. His nod rubbed against my head. “We’ll present to the Circle in five minutes.”

Malachi moaned then uttered a lazy chuckle. “Wonderful. I shall announce you.”

The door clicked shut.

I launched away from Devin. “What the hell is going on? What does he mean?”

Devin blinked out. He reappeared in front of me, pushed me against the wall, and held my face in his hands. I steeled myself against his fury, but it never came. He huffed out a breath. “I’m so sorry. I should never have brought you here. Please believe me. I wanted to offer you a choice.”

My voice squeaked out. “Why are you staring at me like that? You’re scaring the hell out of me. Please! Just take me home.”

He shook his head. “It’s too late. If I don’t bond you to me tonight, Malachi will take you for himself.”

I blinked at him. “I don’t understand what that means. You were supposed to teach me about passion. What’s going to happen to me?”

“It’s best if I don’t explain. I don’t want to frighten you any more than you are.”

A tear slipped past my lashes and descended my cheek. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He averted his gaze. “I’ll give you the only choice left for me to offer. I know the effect he had on you. If you want to be with him, I’ll walk away. Is that what you want, Katharine?” His deep brown eyes made a slow, almost reluctant journey back to me.

My stomach lurched. A cold shiver passed through my center. Even though he scared me, the thought of going back to the way I felt before Devin frightened me more than anything he could do to me. “How can you ask that? I-I feel connected to you somehow, like I’ve always known you. Please don’t leave me.” My fingers slid along his bulging biceps. “He scares me, Devin, like standing before Lucifer himself.”

Devin’s lips quirked into a smile that heated my blood. “We are connected in only a fraction of how we can be. How we will be.” He swallowed and rested his forehead against mine. “And he should scare you. I’ve known him for many decades, and he only gets worse.”

I gripped Devin’s collar and held tight. “What’s going to happen now?”

The backs of his fingers brushed along my cheek. “We will share blood.”

I nodded, forgetting how to breathe for a moment. “Will it hurt?”

“Pleasure will counteract any discomfort.” His lips pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “I can relax you, Katharine. If you want me to.”

I considered that for a moment. If we were going to be bonded, I wanted to enjoy it, not spoil it with nerves and fear. “Yes. Please.”

Devin angled my face in line with his. His lips sought mine with urgency. His power jolted through me like a lightning bolt and tore open my soul, allowing his spirit to fill me. Basking in his warm essence, I slipped down past the fear, past the doubt, and gave myself over to him. Memories of the years he’d been watching me from afar scrolled across my mind’s eye like a movie. I saw myself across the street through the window of the coffee shop. Waiting for a cab in front of Mother’s publishing company. Brushing snow out of my hair. Each memory held Devin’s deep-rooted affection for me. Joyful tears wet my lashes, a mirth that filled me until I thought I’d combust.

His will became mine.

His thoughts invaded me. “
Find joy in this, my love. Give me your fears, rise above all that you know of passion. Relish in this journey with me.”

A smile curled my lips. I floated in a golden mist, in his grace and strength without a care. Why had I been so afraid? Why had he waited so long to tell me what we could be together?

His answer came like sugar for the mind. “
You weren’t ready until now. Tell me you want this, too.”

“Oh, yes.” A sigh tangled with the words. My arms encircled his shoulders. “Make me yours.”

I no longer cared if I died. As long as he surrounded me with his strength, his promise of eternal love, I would have no regrets.

* * * * *

“Katharine.”

Devin’s voice reached down through my euphoria and brought my sight back to the outer realm. I blinked the dryness from my eyes. Our naked bodies pressed together, faces only inches apart. His mammoth cock lay pinned between us, standing at half-mast. How had we gotten undressed?

As my awareness filtered my new surroundings to my brain—the platform in the middle of the ballroom with a spotlight shining down from above—my body jerked. All of the immortals and others had stopped fucking and grinned up at me. “Where are my clothes?”

“I’m sorry I startled you. I took you too deep before and you slept.” Devin’s soft mouth played along my jaw, along my throat, across my bare shoulder. His words stroked me from the inside. “I won’t let any harm come to you. Forget they’re here. It’s just you and me.”

Heat spiraled down my chest and ignited the need between my legs. My hands explored the firm topography of his back, everything else forgotten.

“Are you ready to be mine, Katharine?” Devin lifted my wrist to his mouth, my desire reflected in his flickering eyes. His fangs extended farther as his tongue darted out between them, licking a wet line from my inner elbow to my palm.

Words didn’t come to me. I’d never wanted anything so much in my life as I wanted him inside me.

His barbs pierced my left wrist with a sting and hot burn. A scream born of pain and ecstasy rushed up my throat. Tingles raced along my arm and swirled in my abdomen before spreading to the rest of me. My every cell answered his call, sparked to life, and opened to him. He did the same on my right wrist, opening a metaphysical door in my mind that waited for him to enter, one for which he alone held the key.

Malachi appeared beside us wielding a narrow, curved knife. It glinted gold in the brightness. His eyes held a shadow of deep longing. The musky scent of his desire met my nostrils.

Devin, pinning me under his heated stare, extended his arm toward his sovereign. Somehow I knew what would happen, as if our minds had become entangled. Devin winced as Malachi passed the blade across his wrist, then came around and cut the other one. Ruby ribbons streamed from the wounds. Instead of it disgusting me as it should have, my excitement grew.

Someone behind me grabbed my forearms and extended them up over my head. My life flowed in a warm, sticky path down my skin. Weakness overtook me. My eyelids drooped. Devin, his chest heaving under his deep breathing, raised his arms and intertwined his fingers with mine. The one behind me wrapped leather bands, binding our wrists together. A glance up revealed the ropes we’d been hung from, attached to metal loops on our bindings.

The humming from the crowd rose up again, mixed with chanted words I didn’t understand. The sound danced through my mind, valium for the soul.

Our hearts beat in unison. His tongue swept my lips before plunging inside. Years’ worth of his loneliness filled me. His longing and his desire to pleasure and protect me tore down every wall I hid behind and allowed him to rush in. Our drunken laughter swirled together into a perfect harmony inside my head.

Tingles began in my toes and fingers, rushing toward my center like the warning trembles of an earthquake. Compressed between my legs, pleasure exploded outward along with my cries.

Devin bucked against me, grunts and moans rising and falling from his throat. “Katharine! My Katharine!” His hot seed spilled onto my stomach.

Flashes of light lit up my eyes. The chanting rose in volume and beat against my chest as if I stood inside a base drum while someone pounded against it in a steady rhythm. My soul became weightless, detached from the dark cellar it had always dwelled in.

I lifted into nothingness. A white void empty of sound. A shadow passed over my vision, stealing my breath away. Devin’s spirit enveloped me in a dark blink, and I disappeared into his unyielding embrace.