Binding Ties (20 page)

L
yka wasn't sure if she wanted to suck Joseph's cock or ride him first. Both were such tantalizing options.

She'd felt sexual need before, but never the way she did now. It was a living, breathing thing that crawled through her body and demanded action. She was just glad that he was already hard and ready for her, because if he hadn't been, she wasn't sure she would have survived making him that way without combusting.

She could still taste his kiss on her lips, all hot and sweet. The man knew what he was doing with his tongue, and as soon as she could stand being in her own skin again, she was going to convince him to use that tongue between her thighs.

Just the thought had the slick heat of arousal spilling from her core.

She was so empty there, so hot. She needed him to put out the fire and give her relief.

Pulling his power inside her had been far more erotic than she could have imagined. One moment she'd been hovering on the verge of death. The next, she was consumed with a potent rush of possessive need. She knew
it wasn't hers, but it hardly mattered. The fire his power had lit in her was blazing out of control and had to be extinguished.

Only he could give her relief.

Lyka had no idea how she'd gotten naked, but she was glad for the convenience now. With one graceful shift of her body, she lowered herself onto the tip his erection.

Wetness bathed him as she moved her hips, working to adjust to the thickness of his cock. His big hands grabbed her hips and held on tight. With slow, steady pressure, he forced her down until she was full.

Wicked, delightful sensations winged through her limbs, stealing her breath. The sweet stretch and pressure inside her was almost enough to set her off. All she needed was a few strokes, and she knew she'd come screaming his name.

“I need you to take all of me, kitten.”

She didn't understand what he meant until she reached between their bodies and felt just how much more he had to give her.

The idea made her whimper, but even she couldn't tell if the sound was due more to apprehension or excitement.

“I'm full,” she told him.

“Not yet, you're not. But you will be.”

His powerful body moved, taking her with him. She found herself flat on her back, her body pinned by his hips and arms.

There was nowhere for her to go to escape his massive presence, nowhere for her to hide from his hot hazel gaze.

He eased forward, stretching her until stars danced in her vision and her whole world shrank down to the flesh connecting them.

It was too much and yet still not enough. She grabbed
his shoulders, unsure if she wanted to pull him closer or push him away. In the end, it didn't matter what she wanted, because he gathered her hands and pinned them over her head.

Her first instinct was to fight the restraint, but after a second, she realized that it arched her back in such a way that his cock stroked a whole new and delightful set of nerve endings inside her.

Hot, strong fingers cupped her breast, catching the sensitive peak between them. He pinched and rolled her nipple with the skill of a master safecracker, unlocking every bit of resistance left in her.

Her body went limp beneath his, accepting his weight, his heat, his hold on her wrists, the intrusion of his erection pressed deep inside her core.

“That's right,” he crooned. “Just let go. I have you.”

She believed that. As stupid as it might make her, in this moment, she trusted Joseph completely.

He let out a low, rough groan of approval. “Sweet kitten. I'm going to make you purr.”

He covered her mouth with his and began moving his hips in earnest. Each steady thrust filled her, stretching her more than she thought possible. All conscious thought of what he was doing seemed to vanish, leaving behind only the fog of acute pleasure he'd laid over her body.

Her deep want, combined with his relentless skill and gentle force, sent her over the edge. Her world shattered in golden shards of heat and light as her orgasm took her. Her body clenched around Joseph's cock, flooding him with slick wetness. She tried to hold on to him, but he was too strong to be trapped by her grasp.

He kept moving, riding her hard to prolong her orgasm. After it passed and she was lying there, quivering
and boneless, she opened her eyes to find him watching her.

“How many more times can I make you do that before you're spent?” he asked.

“None,” she said on a weak breath of air. “You nearly killed me.”

A dark smile curved his lips. “That sounds like a challenge to me, love. By the time I'm done with you, you're going to forget what it's like to not be writhing in the throes of orgasm.”

There was no way she could take more. He hadn't come yet, but there wasn't much she could do about that until she caught her breath. As it was, she was already shaking from the force of being loved by a man as potent as Joseph.

No, not love. Sex. That was all this was. She couldn't let any girlish fantasies cloud her judgment. A few short months ago, they'd been enemies. To think that he'd come to love a woman like her was foolish. Wanting him to do so would only weaken her.

And she was already too weak to see straight. The man had blasted her world away, leaving behind a filmy haze of sexual satisfaction. She could have basked in it for hours if not for more pressing matters.

Lyka shifted in silent request that he move off her. Instead he hooked her ankles over his shoulders and drove deep.

Sparks lit high in her abdomen, where the tip of his cock had settled against some exquisite spot. She could feel a trickle of energy pouring from him into her. Every tingling strand of it seemed to coalesce at her core, relighting the fire he'd just put out.

“I'm not done with you yet,” he said with a hint of a growl in his voice. “And I won't be until I flood that
sweet pussy of yours with my seed. But first, I'm going to make you scream again.”

She shivered at his statement, given with such confidence that she could only accept it as fact. It didn't matter that she'd just gotten off or that her body had started to cool down. He was going to take what he wanted from her and make sure she enjoyed the ride.

One of those erotic images from his mind flashed behind her eyes. She saw it in full, living color— his powerful body bent over her, his cheeks hollowed out as he suckled her nipples. His hand was between her thighs, stroking her clit until she was whimpering with need.

Her skin heated as he played the scene out for her. Just like that, she was right back on the edge, fighting the keen bite of arousal as if she'd never come.

He found her mouth with his and kissed her like the world was coming to an end, like he'd die if he didn't breathe the air from her lungs. Possessive aggression was coming off him in waves now. The rough edges of it grated against her, making her wonder how he could even imagine her with another man after the way he made her feel.

Another of his fantasies played out between them. This time his dark head was between her thighs. His thick fingers were clenched around her hips, holding her tight as he licked and sucked her. She could feel his deep satisfaction, his need to pin her in place and feed from her, pleasure her, like this.

Beyond their minds, her body was straining to take everything Joseph wanted to give her. Every heavy surge of his hips sent him gliding against parts of her that had never before been touched. Her womb clenched and pulsed as she veered toward release.

She arched her back, causing Joseph to dive down to
nibble and suckle her hard nipples. He reached behind her, grabbing a handful of her hair, forcing her to arch her back more. She couldn't move her head, couldn't move her hips. All she could do was lie there and let him take control.

The instant she yielded, her mind melted and her body went off, bursting into the kind of pleasure so acute, it was nearly pain. She heard herself cry out, felt Joseph tighten around her, swell inside her.

“So fucking sexy,” he growled. “Can't wait any longer, kitten.”

She didn't understand what he meant until she felt his semen erupt deep inside, so hot and powerful that she knew she'd never again be the same. Even in the depths of her climax, she knew her world had just changed. As the last waves of intense pleasure settled into quiet ripples, as the last pulses of his semen filled her, she knew what it was to belong to someone.

Too bad it was the wrong someone. None of her people would ever understand her binding herself to a Theronai like this. She was his in every way that mattered. She even smelled like him now.

She hadn't realized it before, but up until this very moment, she'd been holding out a little sliver of hope that one day her life would return to normal. She'd go home, be with her family and friends. This whole brief interlude where she played Theronai would be over.

That dream was dead now. She'd given herself to the enemy, body and soul. There was no undoing that.

J
ustice stepped off the plane on shaky legs. She'd thought she could outsmart the fates or God or whoever it was that compelled her by flying halfway across the country.

She'd been very, very wrong.

She'd felt Ronan growing closer to her. She knew he was hot on her heels, searching for her with endless determination. It didn't matter how far she went or how fast she went there; he was always only a step or two behind her, giving her no time to rest.

As soon as the fates demanded that she move toward him, she was out. Done. Finished being their bitch. Let them do their own damn dirty work. She quit.

Only that's not the way it worked. Much like the Mafia, there was no getting out unless it was feetfirst. She was trapped in her job, chained to it for life.

Assuming she lived.

“Are you okay?” asked one of the attendants at the end of the jetway.

Justice eyed the perky blonde and nodded. “Airsick.”

She needed to turn around, get back on the flight and
go back to the fucking Midwest.
That
was what the fates wanted of her, and those bitches always got their way.

Justice stepped out of the path of unloading passengers and planted her feet. She breathed through her nose, hoping the urge to go east would fizzle out and leave her alone. That was where Ronan was. And if he found her, she was sure the bloodsucker would be the death of her.

She wasn't ready to die. She hated her life and the way she was tossed about like a corked bottle on the ocean. Still, she was too scared to face what might lie on the other side of this place to do anything about it.

She'd already woken up once naked, alone and with no memories of a former life. She really didn't think she could take doing so again.

The urge to obey bore down on her, making her head throb and her gut churn. Her skin had constricted to the point that she wasn't sure how she was going to find the space to pull in her next breath. As it was, she was panting and sweating, taking a lot of stink eye from the people passing her.

She couldn't stay here, whatever she did. She had to move. Do something. The itch inside her was too extreme to just stand around and be tortured. At least if she were moving, she'd be distracted from the way she was slowly dying inside.

Justice found herself in baggage claim, retrieving her hard-sided, cherry red suitcase. Her next stop was a rental-car agency, where she got the fastest set of wheels they had to offer.

Ten minutes later, she was behind the wheel, flying down the highway.

An interstate junction loomed up ahead. She could go left and head for California, or right, back to Ronan
Land. Left was freedom and excruciating pain. Right was elation, followed by a bloodsucking vampire.

In the end, there really was no choice. There never had been—at least not for her. Justice had no free will. She was a tool. A pawn. She went where she was told and did what was expected of her, no matter how cruel or disgusting it might be.

Her only hope was that wherever the fates sent her this time, Ronan would be far, far away.

J
oseph realized the instant he could breathe again that he'd made a fatal mistake.

Lyka hadn't been ready for sex. It was too soon, and now she was shutting down, closing up shop and boarding all the doors on her thoughts so he couldn't see a single one.

He should have waited. Given her time. Let her accept the fact that she was irrevocably bound to him—that she wasn't going back to her old life once Eric and the kids were found.

But, no, his dick had to get some, and now he'd potentially ruined his relationship with his mate for the rest of their long, long lives.

How the hell could he have been so stupid?

She slipped from the bed and wobbled to the bathroom. The door shut behind her, blocking off the sight of her lovely ass, as well as any chance he had of reading her thoughts.

He poked at the connection between them, hoping for even a slight glimpse of her feelings, but all he got was a cold, blank wall.

He fell back against the pillows and covered his eyes with his forearm. The longer he waited to bridge the gap that was forming between them, the wider it would become.

The only thing he could think to do to draw her back to him was to help her find her brother, but they'd been working on that with little success so far. So had a lot of other people. Whoever, whatever, had the Slayers, they were covering their tracks well. Not even the best Slayer noses had been able to follow the trail.

Then again, not one of those Slayers had the power of a Theronai at their disposal, either.

Joseph thought about waiting for her to come out of the bathroom, but every second that passed was another chunk of ice clogging their connection. It was time to melt that all off.

His legs were a bit unsteady as he slid on his jeans, but he forced his shaky limbs to carry him to the bathroom door. “Lyka, are you okay?”

“Fine. Just cleaning up.” Her tone was sharp with irritation.

He'd left a hell of a mess inside that sweet body of hers when he'd come, but she'd seemed to like it at the time. Maybe she was one of those OCD chicks who just couldn't stand a man's semen touching her.

If that was the case, then she was just going to have to get over it, because he planned on messing her up again. Frequently.

Whoa. Down, boy.
Getting pissed over something he didn't even know was true was not the way to get Lyka to open up to him.

He put a muzzle on his irrational burst of anger and forced his voice to come out nice and calm. “Can I come in?”

“Isn't there another bathroom?”

“Not one with you in it.”

She let out a long, agitated sigh. The door opened to her gloriously naked body posed with one hand on her curvy hip. He was sure her expression would have shown him just how pissed she was if he could have found the strength to lift his eyes past her flushed breasts.

He loved the way her nipples felt against his tongue, the way she squirmed and panted when he applied just the right amount of suction.

How in the world was he going to concentrate on work now that he knew just how she tasted, how she sounded when she came?

“You wanted something?” she asked.

He had wanted something—something that had nothing to do with spinning her around and fucking her against the bathroom sink.

Joseph closed his eyes so his brain would start to work again. This was important. Whatever it was.

As the sight of her beauty moved from reality to memory, he remembered why he'd knocked on the door in the first place. “I thought of something we could try.”

“I'm not having sex with you again, Theronai.”

“Not that.” Though heaven knew he had about a million fantasies stored up—things he would so love to try with her. “I mean that there's something we can try that none of the others searching for Eric and the kids can.”

“What?” Her tone was skeptical, but laced with enough curiosity that he knew he'd at least piqued her interest.

“How good is your sense of smell?”

“Very.”

“Compared to other Slayers?”

“I was one of the best trackers in the settlement. The
fact that I couldn't find a trail leading away from the attack meant there wasn't one.”

“What if there was?”

“Are you saying I missed something?” She pushed past him.

He opened his eyes just in time to see her wrapping the top sheet around herself. He knew it wouldn't take much to have her naked again, but he was going to find a way to resist the urge. Somehow.

Joseph cleared his throat and stared at the wall behind her head. Nothing sexy there. “I'm saying that you have access to a whole shit ton of power now—power you could use to amplify your natural tracking abilities.”

“You think that if I tap into your power, I might be able to find the trail leading to Eric and the young?”

“It's possible. Andra has an uncanny ability to find lost children, and she follows a path of fear they leave behind.”

“Why the hell isn't she out here helping us?”

“Because she's pregnant. It's too great a risk to her unborn child for her to put herself in danger.”

“We could have at least asked her to help.”

“I wouldn't do that to her. It would tear her up inside to know that some kids were missing and she couldn't help.”

“You didn't even ask her?”

“No, I didn't. Be as pissed at me as you like, but all it's going to do is make it harder for you to get what you want. Anger doesn't help our connection grow, and if you want to use my power to find that trail, you're going to need all the help you can get.”

Lyka poked him hard in the chest—hard enough to leave a bruise. Even so, the branches of his lifemark
swayed and whipped around in an effort to get closer to her touch. “Don't think I'll forget this.”

“Neither will Andra, once she finds out that I was hiding this from her. You'll have to get in line behind all of the other people who are pissed at me on any given day. Comes with the territory of being a leader.”

“Yeah? Well, as your
wife,
I get first dibs on thrashing your ass.”

He grinned and covered her hand, pressing it flat against his chest. “So, now you claim the position as my wife?”

“If that's what it takes to get to beat the shit out of you first, absolutely.”

Venting her anger was one thing. Letting it fester and grow was another.

He grabbed her wrists and pinned them at the small of her back. She struggled against his hold, but only for a second.

Joseph leaned down, putting his lips close to hers. “Feel free to try your hand at that whenever you like, kitten. You may be a Slayer, but I'm still more than strong enough to restrain you until you calm down.”

“What if I never calm down? What if I'm pissed at you for the rest of our lives?”

“Then I guess you're going to spend a lot of time like this.” He tightened his grip and pulled her hard against his frame.

Her pupils lengthened, making her eyes dim to dark gold. Her lips parted, and her nipples beaded up beneath the sheet. The flush of her skin beneath the luceria had started to fade, but it was back now, proving just how much her body responded to his.

“You think you can control me?” she asked.

“Why would I do that when I like you out of control so very much?”

She closed her eyes. “I'm not going to let you do this again.”

“Do what?”

“Turn me on. Fuck me when there are lives at stake. We don't have time for this.”

“Maybe not, but what we shared wasn't a total waste of time. If you would let go of your anger for a minute, you'd feel what I did right before you shut me out.”

“What's that?”

“You trusted me. It might only have been for a second, but you let go of your animosity long enough to let me in. That's the kind of thing that strengthens the bond between us.”

She opened one eye to peer at him in skepticism. “So?”

“So the stronger our bond is, the wider the conduit connecting us becomes, the more power you can channel out of me, the more magic you can wield.”

She frowned. “I don't trust you any more now than I did before.”

“You're lying. I know what I felt.”

Her gaze went distant. He could feel the ice between them melting by slow degrees as she studied their link. Her body began relaxing in his arms, but he couldn't bring himself to let her go. He loved having her against him, close and safe.

After a moment, her presence was hovering between them, right on the threshold of his mind. She hesitated there, but even so, he could tell how much easier it was for her to reach him now than it had been before.

“You're always welcome, Lyka.”

“It's too weird.”

“It won't always be.”

“I lack your confidence.”

“I have enough for both of us,” he told her. “Come. See how I think we'll find your brother.”

The lure of that knowledge must have been too much for her to resist, because he felt her the instant she entered his mind. So fierce, so bright. Her energy was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. He doubted she had any idea of just how precious she was.

“I'm just a mutant.”

He didn't dare argue with her now—not when she was exactly where he wanted her to be. Instead, he opened himself wide and let her feel the way he did about her. He let her see how strong and fearless she was in his eyes, how beautiful.

Her body shivered in his arms, and a small sigh escaped her lips. “Show me.”

Joseph did. He guided her to the part of his mind that had been working on the problem since it had come up. The mechanics of it were a little fuzzy, but the theory was strong.

“You clearly have never followed a scent trail before, have you?” she asked.

“Not one that was any longer than it took me to reach a Dumpster.”

“It's like another kind of sight—like a strand weaving through the air or along the ground. In order to be able to follow it, you have to understand the way the wind blows, how breezes flow past objects and swirl in corners and crevices. You have to understand how scents combine and alter one another, and how to separate them out again, the way a cook does when trying to re-create a recipe.”

She shared with him her experience with tracking by
scent. It was unlike anything he could have imagined. There was so much more complexity to it than he'd ever thought. It was more an art than a science, and, from what he could tell, Lyka was one heck of an artist.

“Do you think it will work?” he asked.

“It's worth a shot. How far are we from where Eric and the others were abducted?”

He didn't want to go back there. It was too dangerous.

“You can't lock me in a box,” she told him. “We're out here to do a job. I can't do it without taking some risks.”

His first thought was that he'd find a way. His second was that she'd read his mind without him forcing her to do so.

“It's not like you're all that complicated,” she said. “And if digging around in your skull is what it's going to take to find my kin, then that's what I'll do. Now take me back to the settlement, or I'm going without you.”

“You won't be able to channel my power if I'm not there by your side.”

She lifted a golden brow. “And you won't be able to stay away, knowing that place is rife with demons and I'm there, in danger.”

Touché.
The woman definitely knew his weakness.