[Atlantean's Quest 02] Exodus (15 page)

He continued to stroke his thick length.

“You,” she uttered, barely above a whisper.

Ares took a ragged breath. “’Tis all you needed to say.”

He moved to the end of the bed and slipped to his knees. He quickly unlaced Jac’s boots and slipped them from her feet, taking her socks with them. Once her feet were bare, Ares stretched forward and ran his fingers down her long legs, settling his hands upon her heels. He lifted one leg as far as the bonds would allow, and slipped her big toe inside his mouth. His tongue swirled, then he slowly pulled it from his mouth.

Jac’s eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice breathless.

“Savoring every inch of what is mine,” he rasped and then slipped her toe back into his mouth. He sucked on it in the same motion as when he drove inside her. In and out. In and out.

She gasped, shocked by the erotic tension strumming through her. She’d never considered toes particularly sexy until now. Jac couldn’t seem to catch her breath as Ares increased his speed. An answering pull started at the juncture of her thighs and drove right to the center of her being. If he kept this up she would come. Reading her thoughts, he added pressure, dipping his tongue between her toes at the same time as he sucked. Jac felt the familiar tension build. Heat spread throughout her body. In one swift move Ares slipped her toe from his mouth and licked the underside of her foot from her heel over her arch, to the fleshy part beneath her toes.

Jac screamed, shattering the silence of the hut as the orgasm broke over her, sending her body spasming in sheer delight. Her pussy contracted. It felt as if her nerve endings had all been set on fire at the same time. Never in all her years, had she ever experienced anything like what he’d just done. The blood pounded so loud in her ears, she almost missed Ares’s grumble of satisfaction.

“That was incredible.” Jac panted, her head thrashing from side to side. “How did you do that?”

“It was so in my time, as ‘tis today. The way to a woman’s heart is through her feet.” He smiled and wiped the side of his mouth, but he didn’t stand, instead he began to massage the bottom of Jac’s left foot.

She closed her eyes for a moment and groaned. She felt like a satisfied cat, right after a big meal. If she didn’t watch it, she’d actually fall asleep and it wasn’t even dark out yet. At least she thought it wasn’t. Jac had lost all track of time, since Ares had brought her here. When he finished with one foot, he moved to the other and began again. His hands were gentle but firm as he worked all the kinks out of her worn out muscles. Jac relaxed under his soothing touch, giving into the sensation, enjoying the pampering.

Ares was a strange man, one second acting like a wild animal, ready to capture and seize, the next caring, almost loving in the way he tended to her needs. Seeing to her comfort and soothing her. Jac didn’t want to think about how easy it would be to get used to this kind of treatment. His palm slid up to encircle her calf, kneading and calming her frayed nerves. She hadn’t forgotten the fact that he’d kissed her and then left to join Ariel. Jac didn’t even want to think about what they’d been doing in her hut.

“Shhh-quiet your mind and enjoy my touch.”

It came out as a command, but Jac sensed an unspoken plea behind his words. She wanted to ask what Ariel meant to him, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. The implication would be obvious, even to Ares, and Jac wasn’t ready to make that kind of statement. His hand slipped further up her leg encompassing her thigh. All thoughts of the seer left her mind as his fingers teased, reaching out, yet not touching the place she longed for him to massage. Jac groaned in frustration. She glanced down, her eyes locking on his handsome face.

“I want only you,” he groaned.

Ares pretended not to notice as her hips bucked, urging him to go higher. A smile played at the corners of his mouth. He teased her, drawing out the sensations until all sanity slipped from her mind. Well two could play this game. Jac began to sway her hips, rocking them seductively from side to side. Ares eyes left her face, locking onto her waxed pussy. She could feel her body’s juices begin to flow and knew that by now she’d be glistening. Jac tilted her hips up slightly and opened her legs a little more, exposing her entrance.

The air left Ares lungs as he labored to breathe. The hut smelled musky and thick, as if they’d been fucking for hours. He couldn’t seem to wrench his gaze away from the tiny opening swaying before his eyes. Ares licked his lips. She was sheer torture in human form. And Jac knew exactly what she was doing to him.

He had to taste her, touch her, slide his cock inside of her. The temptation grew too great. Ares leaned forward and inhaled, her woman’s scent surrounded him, shattering the last remnants of his hard won control. He rose up and knelt between her spread thighs, stroking his staff one time, and then positioned it at her moist entrance.

“I can’t wait, sorceress. You have tantalized me for too long.” With that he slid inside, her velvet walls gripping him, urging him forward until he nudged her womb, buried to the hilt. He swallowed, trying to maintain a modicum of control, but it was too late.

Ares closed his eyes against the sensation, satin and heat, fire and ice, she burned him from the inside out. He thrust forward and her breath caught. When he did it again, she met him halfway. Rocking her slender hips, Jac slid him impossibly deeper, her channel swallowing him. His eyes flew open, his system in overload. In that moment the beast broke free, released. Shedding his humanity like a second skin, he existed on the primal.

“This time will be raw, forgive me,” he rasped.

Her eyes sparked, urging him on. “I like it rough.”

Ares surged forward, diving again into her molten core, as if she’d given him permission to unleash a demon. He couldn’t control his hunger, his need. Ares thrust, giving free rein to his desires, his hips pistoning into her, driving her to the edge of release, but refusing to let her slide over. His grunts were animalistic. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. She was his. Only his. And if joining with her again and again was what it took to convince her, then that is what he would do.

“Your channel was made for my cock alone.”

He gripped the furs at the side of Jac’s head and dug in. Ares ground into Jac’s clit with each upward thrust, taking them higher and higher toward that elusive zenith. She burned like fire beneath him. Her nipples stroked his chest with every movement, searing, branding him. Their bodies drenched in sweat.

By the time Ares reached his point of release, Jac screamed out another orgasm. Her body bucked beneath his, taking him into the abyss with her. His seed shot out, spilling into her womb. Ares kept moving until he collapsed, managing to keep the bulk of his weight off of Jac. Their ragged breathing filled the silent room. The air suffocated, stifling from their lovemaking, but Ares refused to move. He longed to stay this way forever. He closed his eyes and inhaled, hoping to store this memory inside for all time.

Ares wanted nothing more than to plant his seed deep within her. Bring forth offspring. Spend the rest of his days
battling
with Jac for dominance in their relationship. But without the energy from the mating ceremony and Jac’s acceptance of him as her true mate, there would be no children for him…ever. She held his future, his very life in the palm of her hands, and she didn’t even know it—nor would she if he had any control over the fates.

Chapter Ten

It had been three days since Jac had been brought to Ares’s hut. After day two she’d promised him she wouldn’t try to escape without clothes and convinced him to untie her. He’d loved her so thoroughly that Jac didn’t think she had a solid bone left in her body. She’d grown accustomed to Ares’s touch over the past few days and didn’t think she’d be able to ever sleep with another man, which created a problem for when she returned to New York.

Jac lay face down naked on the bed of furs, waiting for Ares to return and report his progress in the challenge. He’d informed her there would be nothing to see, since each warrior had to go off into the jungle on their own. Today could make or break Ares’s chances. Part of her hoped he got his ass kicked, while the other half worried about his safety. Her nerves had been so on edge that she’d tidied the hut earlier, not that it had been dirty, and rearranged the sparse furniture to a more workable layout.

So far, Ares seemed to be doing okay in the competition, but Coridan still led by the amount of gold he’d managed to find. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if Coridan actually
won
the silly contest. Jac turned over, placing her hands behind her head. She’d been unclothed for three days now, and although she’d never had a problem with nudity, she found the whole experience rather liberating. She didn’t have to worry about laundry, detergent, things wearing out, or dry cleaning bills.

Who was she trying to kid?

Jac glanced around the hut, its walls pressed in around her. She was going stir crazy in here. Jac needed to pound the pavement, look at some skyscrapers. She was not cut out to be Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. How long did he plan on keeping her isolated? Jac kicked her foot down onto the furs. This was bullshit. She hadn’t been allowed to see any of the tribal members, including Rachel for days. Jac hadn’t come all this way to find her friend and then not be allowed to talk to her. Who did Ares think he was bossing her around? When Ares returned she would demand he take her to Rachel.

Jac stretched, letting out a loud yawn, her fingers scrunched the furs beneath her. Her muscles felt well exercised, Ares saw to that. She couldn’t help but smile at the lengths he’d gone to, to keep her in shape. It still didn’t excuse the fact that he’d basically been keeping her prisoner here in his hut. She felt like Sybil, happy one minute, pissed the next. Jac’s jaw set. Ares wouldn’t know what hit him when he got home. She glanced down at the furs and calculated whether she could fashion clothes from one of them. After struggling with the hides for about an hour she gave up and lay back down.

Her mind wandered. Jac thought about the Professor and wondered what had become of him. She prayed the caimans had gotten him, but it was probably too much to hope for. The poor beasts would take one bite and spit him back out. Jac giggled as she pictured a caiman wearing Rumsinger’s glasses. Her laugh turned to a frown. Since when did Jaclyn Ward giggle? Like
never
.

The flap covering the door of the hut was pushed aside. Jac bolted up, her hands automatically crossing over her breasts. Ares stood in the frame, staring at her, his eyes unreadable.

“How’d it go?” she asked, not sure why she asked or if she wanted to know the answer.

He stepped inside and dropped the flap. His gaze wandered around the room, observing the changes she’d made. “I like what you’ve done.”

Jac bit her lip. “Are you going to tell me or not?”

Ares opened the pouch at his side and pulled out a snake skin over twenty feet long, still damp with blood. Then a spark of amusement lit his jade orbs. “’Tis a fine day indeed for a competition.” He smiled.

“You won.” Jac jumped off the bed, then realized that she was about to run into his arms and congratulate him. She stopped mid-stride and added with less enthusiasm. “How nice.”

Ares frowned for a moment, then let it pass. “The challenge is not over, yet.” He glanced down at the snakeskin. “Tomorrow we duel with energy bursts.”

Jac’s chest tightened, her heart thudding madly against her ribcage. She’d been dreading that day all week. The seer’s warning of possible death occurring rang in her ears. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Jac didn’t think she’d be able to handle it if she lost Ares, but she wasn’t about to let him know that, best to keep those disturbing thoughts to herself.

“Can’t we call this nonsense off?”

His eyes locked to hers and his jaw hardened. “Nay, not without admitting defeat.”

She glanced at his chest, taking in his broad shoulders. She reached out, her fingers trailed lightly over his bronzed skin. “Would that be so bad?”

Ares grabbed her by the forearms, pulling her forward, forcing her gaze up to his face. “It would mean giving you up.” He paused. “Is that what you wish?”

Jac tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t release her.

“Answer me,” his voice was cold, demanding—
fearful
.

She took a deep breath and released it. “No,” she whispered.

He gave her a curt nod, the tension easing from his ruggedly handsome face. Ares released her and stepped back. “Good, because I will not give you up.”

Jac hated to admit it, but something inside her swelled at his words. He wasn’t going to give her up without a fight. Hell, according to Ares, he wouldn’t give her up period. She didn’t know how she felt about
that
. Jac decided to examine it later. For now he needed to get some food inside of him. He must have worked up an appetite if he’d been off battling Anacondas.

What am I thinking? I’m not fucking June Cleaver. He can get his own damn food.

They sat at the table eating pieces of camu camu and mango fruit, along with nut filled bread. For a few moments Jac said nothing, simply enjoyed the silence of his company. She’d never been around a man who didn’t require conversation. Most of the men Jac had dated had been so intimidated by her strength, they felt the need to fill every gap of silence with words. They hadn’t lasted long. No man ever lasted long in Jac’s life. In fact if she’d calculated right, in a few days Ares would break her personal long-term record for being with one man. Jac shook her head. This jungle affected her mind in funny ways, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Tell me about the snake.” She prompted, wanting to listen to anything but her own thoughts.

Ares’s eyes flared and for a moment he said nothing. Then a smile started at the corners of his firm lips. He put down the mango he’d been eating and swiped a hand across his mouth, dispersing the juice.

“I was making my way along the river bank, when I spotted him.” He used his hands to show how he wound his way through the brush. “He perched on a thick branch above the water, waiting for prey to come and drink.”