Blood Bought: Cruentus Dragons Book Two (7 page)

“And they want him to cripple your clan?” she asked.

“And the Dragons,” Riven added. “The Cruentus clan is one of the most powerful.”

Jonah couldn’t let the enemy get its hands on Janos, and he wouldn’t let them touch Athena, even if it came at his own expense. “How much time do we have?” he asked.

“Three hours. They’ll converge from all directions. It will be difficult to get past them. They’re blocking my wards. I’m searching for an opening—”

“I need a half hour.”

Riven nodded. “I’ll survey the area.”

Athena turned to Jonah as Riven left. “We’re not leaving right away?” she asked.

Jonah yanked her into his arms and covered her lips in an urgent kiss that cut clear through her. His touch seemed desperate, as if they stood on the brink of being parted for years. Helplessly, she fell into his embrace. The sheet fell away, leaving her naked in his arms.

He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her fingers threaded into his hair. The silky strands tickled her palms as she slid them upward to catch in the longer strands and hold him to her. She opened her mouth to his tongue. As his desire reignited the embers of her own, she needed him in her and filling her in every way possible. And she wanted his cock…

Suddenly, she pulled back and let her legs drop. Before he could stop her, she slithered to her knees. Her hands pressed to his thighs. His muscles tensed as he guessed her intention. Languidly, she licked the underside of the long shaft then swirled her tongue along the glans. The slit wept pearly droplets of pre-cum. She caught it into her mouth, humming her pleasure at the salty flavor of him. Intent on giving him a measure of the pleasure he’d given her earlier, she sucked the wide head of his length into her mouth, sliding forward and back while her groaned. Her knees parted as she took him between her lips and savored his taste.

She moaned. As she moved, her position sent odd tendrils of arousal into her slick pussy. The air played at her overheated folds like invisible fingers. Frantically, she sucked him deeper, flittering her tongue over the vein that ran his length.

“Athena… Sweetheart…” he moaned.

Yes, that was the tortured sound she wanted from him. He didn’t give her time to enjoy her triumph. Strong hands grasped her arms and hauled her up, forcing her to release his cock. She pouted, but he was having none of it. He bent her over the back of the heavily padded couch. Anticipation thrilled to her nerve endings. Would he? Biting her lip in happy eagerness, she awaited the feel of his hand. He knew she wouldn’t object.

He knocked her feet apart, opening her to his pleasure and leaving her off-balance. She pressed her hands into the cushions in front of her as her toes reached for the carpet.

“Such a pretty ass on such a naughty girl,” he murmured. His hand rubbed, lightly over her rounded bottom. Slowly, he arrowed toward her drenched sex. “Mmm…you
do
like this,” he murmured as two fingers penetrated her channel. “Do you want me to spank you, my precious shrew?”

She nodded then pressed her burning face into the couch. “Yes,” she answered, her voice muffled. “Please, yes.”

Jonah dragged his fingers from her. Her cream smeared along her skin, a trail attesting to her need.

“Hmm…I don’t know,” he teased. “You seem to want it too much.”

“No,” she answered. “I don’t want it at all.”

He chuckled, obviously not believing her. His palm made small circles on one buttock. Then suddenly, it was gone. Athena hardly had time to gather a breath to protest when his hand returned with a resounding clap.

She whimpered, barely daring to make a sound for fear that he’d stop, that he’d torment her with waiting or, worse, with ceasing.

Another spank then another rained down, and each time, she stifled her cries. There was no stifling the juice that flooded from her cunt to trickle onto her thighs. God, how she loved this. She groaned as Jonah paused and bent along her back.

“I want to hear you,” he growled, his lips brushing her ear. “Do you like it?”

Another slap landed on her bottom and she nodded. “Yes…more…please…”

Did she like it? Divine heat seeped down from her ass into her pussy, intensifying her arousal. There was absolutely nothing like it, and Jonah was so good at aiming each blow. If only, he’d move just a little closer to her needy flesh.

“So polite,” he laughed. As if he read her mind, his hand clapped onto her ass much closer to her sex. “Your lovely rear is turning a pretty shade of pink. More?”

“Yes,” she cried.
Yes, yes, don’t stop. Please don’t ever stop.

Several more spanks shoved her to the brink of orgasm, then he paused again. His hand tapped against her sopping cunt. Her fists clenched into the cushions as a streamer of tension shot through her. Mindless, she angled her pussy toward him. Taking the hint, he continued his light strikes. They grew steadily more intense, winding the pressure in her middle tighter and tighter until she thought surely she would scream if it tightened a bit more.

She writhed, straining to him, begging, crying.

She did scream a moment later when his cock surged into her fiery passage, stretching her over-aroused tissues to their brink. His hand settled on her back, holding her captive as he pummeled into her passage, relentlessly fucking her while she shrieked her pleasure.

“Harder,” she urged.

He slammed forward, his balls swinging upward and smacking her clit. Colors flew before her eyes, lightning flowing through her veins. Her toes curled. “Jonah,” she screamed.

Pulling from her, he twisted her to face him. His cock immediately shoved back into her. Her legs wrapped his carved ass, the muscles in it undulating as he fucked her.

“Bite me,” she whispered.

Her back hit the mattress, and she realized he’d been carrying her to the bed. As one of her legs hung off the side, he bent up the other, opening her wide. His shaft pushed deeper than she’d thought possible. She gasped, straining her hips into him and wanting even more.

“Yes,” she cried as his teeth pierced the juncture of her throat and shoulder. Ecstasy tore through her, black dots filling her sight. “Jonah,” she moaned.

Above her, his guttural bellow heralded the flood of hot cum into her womb. Another violent set of tremors rocked through her, and Athena sagged into the bed in a faint.

* * * *

Jonah was murmuring in a tongue she couldn’t identify when she woke. The words flowed like poetry, skimming over her senses and raising eerie goose bumps over the entire surface of her body. Strange panic filled her and she knew whatever he was doing, she had to make him stop.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He shook his head and kept reading from the thick paper in his hand. His hand made a circular motion, then fisted and jerked to the left.

Athena screamed as a rending sensation ripped across her. “No!”

His eyes closed and he climbed from the bed, turning his back on her.

“What did you do?” she sobbed, instinctively know it was bad. “What did you do?”

“I ended our mating,” he replied in a dead voice. “You’re free. You can…you can…” He took a deep breath. “You can be with any man you choose now. The call won’t prevent you.”

“No!” she screeched. “No! How could you do this? You bastard,” she finished on a whisper. “How could you?”

Empty, absolutely desolate, she collapsed on the bed, curled into fetal position and sobbed.

After all this time, she’d found the perfect man, a man she…loved, and he didn’t want her. He might as well have killed her. But she couldn’t even muster the voice to tell him so when he told her she was safe now then left the room.

He’d betrayed her. He’d made her need him and want to be with him, then he’d betrayed her.

She was still laying on the bed when she heard Riven pounding on the door.

Desolate, Jonah opened the door for the Djinni. Riven dashed past him. “They’re coming,” he exclaimed.

“Already? You said three hours.”

“I was wrong. But I found an opening. I can use
transporation
and get us out of here. Where’s Athena?”

“Bedroom.”

Riven was already dashing down the hallway. Jonah pounded after him. He entered just in time to see the Djinni lift Athena into his arms.

Mine! My mate! Mine!
Jonah’s soul screamed. No, not his. He swallowed back rage as Riven headed toward him. Jonah wanted to rip him apart for touching her. His hands fisted and his nails, transformed to Dragon claws, ripped into his palms.

Riven paused and sniffed. “Something’s…off. Oh fuck!”

“Yeah, we had sex,” Athena sniffled. “So what? Are you going to hate me, too?”

“Hate you?” Riven repeated.

“I don’t…hate you,” Jonah managed.

Athena wrapped her trembling arms around Riven’s neck. “He doesn’t want me. He did a spell to unjoin us. To get rid of me.”

“Athena, no…” Jonah protested.

“No,” Riven groaned. He glared at Jonah. “Damn it, no.”

“I did it to protect her.”

“She’s in more danger than ever! And I can’t take her through the portal. It’s not safe for her.”

“What?”

Riven rearranged Athena and freed an arm then slugged Jonah. “Take a deep breath, asshole. I bet you figure it out real quick then start groveling. And while you’re at it, you better get ready to fight. They’re here.”

Athena’s scent and the change in her suddenly slammed into him like a lightning bolt from an angry Djinni. “Put her down now while I’m still in control,” he grated through his teeth. His skin itched as he fought to keep from shifting into a Dragon and burning Riven into a bubbling puddle of goo.

There were some things the spell couldn’t do. Jonah’s mate was pregnant. With his spawn. And…he and Athena needed to unite as quickly as possible.

Riven set her on her feet and she sent Jonah a watery scowl. Keeping away from him, she slid into her discarded jeans and went rifling through the closet for a shirt. Angrily she pulled on the first suitable piece she found.

She rounded on him, her anger apparently overriding her sorrow. Rage filled her face. This was a woman ready to beat him to a pulp and he felt stupid enough to let her.

“You promised me—”

The window shattered behind her and Jonah dove for her, his body transforming as he moved.

Athena struggled beneath Jonah as she heard timber cracking and glass shattering around them. Knives seemed to slice through her belly. She must have been hit by something. It was in her. She had to get it out.

Jonah leapt to his feet, standing over her like a junkyard dog. In a daze, she wondered why she was seeing two Dragons.

“Riven,” Jonah growled, his words slightly slurred by his form.

“Surprise,” the Dragon identical to Jonah replied.

It took her a moment to realize Riven was the other beast, and she wasn’t seeing double because of her pain. The two sent blasts of fire through the gash in the wall. Screams beyond told her there’d been a direct hit.

She couldn’t lie here, no matter how much agony twisted her middle. She struggled to her knees, despite the crippling paroxysms.

Riven lifted his hands and sent an energy wave at a dark-suited man with glowing blue eyes who was climbing through the jagged window. The man flew backward, his body twisting in an odd position. Jonah blasted another man with fire. He reached down and touched her head. An odd peace flowed through her, relieving her discomfort.

“Stay near me,” he warned.

“You need to fly her out of here,” Riven advised. “We’ve already delayed too long.”

They continued to fight as the enemy ripped apart the walls, piece by piece. A narrow spike of wood spiraled toward Jonah, barely missing his eye. Another rocket, this one of metal pierced the armor of his upper arm. Jonah howled, his fire cutting the assailant in half.

Suddenly, an icy hand covered her mouth and an arm wrapped her waist from behind, yanking her away from the battling Dragons. Impotently, she clawed at her attacker, groaning when a weak blast of blue energy circled before her eyes and drilled into her temples. Ignoring the pain, she slammed her elbow into the man’s solar plexus then reached down and grab for his balls. She squeezed as hard as possible and gave a good twist. She might die, but she wouldn’t go easily.

The man gave a strangled scream, and both Jonah and Riven turned to face him. Jonah roared his rage, but it was too late, her world went dark as the Djinni holding her opened a portal and sucked her inside.

“No!” Jonah screamed. No, the Djinn couldn’t have Athena or his children. He’d kill all of them. He wouldn’t stop until he’d obliterated them all and avenged his mate. She was his. No stupid spell could change that. He loved her.

Riven grabbed him. “Don’t let go of me if you want to live.”

Disregarding the off feeling, he wrapped his arms around Riven and held on for dear life. He couldn’t help wondering if he’d been duped as Riven opened a ward and pulled them inside. The Djinni was taking Jonah exactly where his kinsmen wanted. Right into the Djinn lair.