Burns Like Fire (Dangerous Creatures #1) (14 page)

Cindy moaned and tried to push back against him, but this was more of a claiming than actual lovemaking, and without intending for it to happen she came before she was even fully aware that her orgasm was upon her.

Jack kissed her, swallowing up her moan, and as she rode out her climax, her inner walls pulsing around Jack's cock, he followed her.

Warmth spilled inside of her, and then Cindy was riding on the buzz that followed on the heels of her pleasure. Jack released her arms, and she wound them back around his neck, holding him close.

He was panting heavily when they finished, and so was she. Cindy ran her fingers through Jack's hair as he pressed his forehead against her collarbone. Neither of them moved, though both knew that they should.

"I love you," Jack said, his voice quiet.

Somehow, Cindy got the feeling that he was speaking so low because he feared she would reject him. As if she could ever do that to him, or to herself.

"I love you, too," she said.

Jack squeezed her tightly, and with a groan, he put her back down on her feet. Cindy could feel some of his come on her thigh, but she didn't want to clean herself up. Not yet.

Jack righted his clothes, tucking his spent penis back into his pants. "Sorry, I don't have anything for you to clean up with. It's gonna have to wait until we get a motel or something."

"I don't mind," Cindy said, and she really didn't.

Jack smiled at her, and he moved over to the bike. "You will if we're on this bike for more than a couple of hours. We're going to have to keep moving. I don't think we can leave the city just yet, there'll likely be road blocks, considering the men that we left unconscious back at my place. Going into the heart of the city will be out of the question for the time being as well."

"I can handle it, I trust you," Cindy said, and she reached for his hand and laced their fingers together.

Jack looked down between them, and his grip on her tightened. "Okay then, let’s get going. Our first order of business is to get our new IDs, maybe change your hair a little, and then wait this out until it's safer to go looking for your friend."

"How long will that take?" Cindy asked, following him to the bike. When he handed her the helmet, she put it on. She tried to stuff her hair in it as best she could so that no one would be able to see it, but she was pretty sure she wasn't doing a good job.

"I'm not going to lie to you. It could be a couple of days, it could be longer. We might even hear on the radio that Jamie was captured by Ethan before we even get the chance to really look for them."

Cindy shivered at that, but then Jack's hands were on her shoulders. "I promise I'll try," he said. "To make up for what I did,
I'll try
, but it might not be enough."

"You don't have to make up for anything, but I still appreciate it," Cindy said, reaching up to touch his hands, which were still on her shoulders. "We always knew how this might turn out. We always knew one of us might vanish."

Jack winced, and then they got on the bike. "Either way, I guess I owe it to him to try then, if not to you. You said he saved you, right?"

Cindy nodded, putting one leg on either side of the bike's seat behind Jack. "Right."

Jack had been right about it being uncomfortable, especially because she wasn't wearing any underwear, and her sex was cold now, thanks to how wet it still felt, and the fact that she couldn't close her legs.

Jack handed her the bag they were taking with them, and she put it over her shoulder for the ride.

"Something I have to ask," he said, before starting the engine. "It doesn't even really matter, it's stupid, but I was just wondering, you said you were going to meet him when I picked you up?"

Cindy knew where this was going even before he finished speaking. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back. "We were never a thing, only friends. He took care of me and I trusted him."

"Oh, okay good," Jack said, and Cindy could feel his relieved sigh go all the way through his body.

"Also, Jamie's gay."

Chapter Eighteen

Jamie pumped his arms and legs. They’d been hurting for a while now, but he kept right on running. He hadn't managed to keep away from hunters and collectors for so long because he'd been neglecting his cardio, but the man behind him was hot on his trail and he wasn't stopping.

Jamie had tossed several electric shocks behind him, hoping to hit the guy, but his aim wasn't exactly on the mark while he was running for his life, trying to look ahead of him to stay a careful course.

He'd made it just outside of the city limits when his stupid car broke down. It wasn't uncommon for anything electric to short out when he was stressed, but the car was the worst thing to go, and right when he really needed it, too.

And of course, because he had the worst luck in the history of the universe, a white van with the logo of the hawk in flight had been right behind him, and it had stopped when Jamie had prayed for the driver to keep on going.

When Ethan got out of the driver's side door, Jamie didn't even wait. He'd bolted and ran right into the trees, and now Ethan was on his trail.

Fuck, if only it would rain, or if he could just find a stream and lure Ethan into it. He could shock the man into unconsciousness and then get away. The problem with using too much juice was that it made him tired, and each bolt he sent after the man was draining. It made the muscles in his legs burn that much more and made it harder for his lungs to take in a gulp of air.

He cursed the night he ever met Ethan Frost in that dance club, though there had been some pretty good nights since then.

Something bashed into him from behind, and Jamie screamed as he went down, something hard and scratchy tangled around his body, and he was almost stunned into silence when he realized that it was a heavy net, made out of thick brown rope.

"
Are you kidding me?
" he yelled.

Ethan came into view, and the stupid bastard was barely panting. He had a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, though his dark brown hair was still completely dry. The little bit of gel that spiked the short strands even held. Ethan didn't look like he'd been taken for much of a run at all.

"How did you even manage to throw this at me? I didn't even see you carrying it!" Jamie snapped, and he immediately started to struggle, searching for a way out of the damned net. He thought it would be easy, but with the weights on it, it was hard. He was stuck.

Ethan didn't answer him, instead he walked right up to where Jamie was lying.

Ethan was six feet and two inches of solid muscle. He had wide shoulders and a lean waist, with the kind abs that Jamie envied and loved touching, but could never get for himself. The man was gorgeous, and though he wasn't bulky, he was definitely strong, and he could really hurt Jamie if he wanted to.

The gun in Ethan's hand, which was pointed right at Jamie, was enough to make him want to be compliant. "Okay, whoa, you don't need to do that. I'm not going to try anything."

Ethan reached behind him, grabbed onto something metal that had been clipped to his belt, and then tossed them at Jamie.

They landed on the net, and Jamie was able to grab onto them and see what they were. His stomach dropped out of him. He wanted to be sick.

Shackles with spells engraved on them that would suppress Jamie's powers. He looked up at Ethan, searching for any shred of empathy, any small amount of something that meant the man cared enough about him not to destroy his life like this.

"Come on, please, don't do this, I never hurt anyone."

"Several city blocks lost power because of you," Ethan said, still pointing his weapon. "That's not the behavior of someone who's innocent. You also attacked me when I chased you."

Jamie couldn't tell if it was a real gun, or something that would just shoot a dart with a drug in it. Didn't matter, he was scared shitless.

"So I have to be picked up for that?" Jamie asked.

"Yes...I'm sorry."

"
Sorry
? Ethan, come on, please, you know me. That thing with the power back in the city...I was just stressed out because one of my friends is missing. I'm not dangerous. I don't hurt people. I don't do that. You
know
me," he said again, hoping it would resonate.

"I
don't
know you," Ethan said, but the man closed his eyes briefly, as if he didn't want to be reminded of what they'd done.

"You know me well enough to know I'm not a killer! Christ, we slept in the same bed! Twice!"

"Put the shackles on, right now," Ethan said, and his tone brooked no argument. His face softened just a little, but his eyes remained cold and heartless. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

The problem was that Jamie knew if he put the shackles on he would totally helpless. There would he no chance to escape. He would be done. Game over. No more continues. That was it.

And Ethan was the one who was doing this to him.
Ethan
.

Clearly, he and Ethan didn't know each other, because this cold man who stared down at him with unfeeling eyes was not the same man Jamie had laughed with over drinks or danced with back at the club.

He had to get out of here. If Ethan had his way, then Jamie was going to go into a box before he was shipped off to a lab.

Jamie had almost no energy left inside of him, but he wasn't going to just play dead either. He was not about to put these goddamned shackles on his wrists. He was going to do something, and it was worth the risk of whatever was inside of that gun.

He powered up and fired off a shot, so fast that he was positive he caught Ethan before he could fire.

Ethan's entire body went tight, as if he was in the throes of a bad cramp. His eyes widened with pain, and then he fell over, right beside Jamie.

At first Jamie could hardly believe it, and then he laughed as he stared down into Ethan's unconscious face. "That's what you get," he said, but then realized how thick and heavy his tongue felt inside of his mouth.

Jamie tried to move, tried to get the damned net off of him, but even his fingers fumbled and felt numb. He could hardly move an inch of his body, and all he wanted to do was sleep.

Jamie looked down at the tiny dart that was sticking out of his chest, right above his heart, and he wanted to laugh again, but he was already going under.

For some stupid reason, the first thing Jamie started to dream about, in the hazy way that people dreamed when they were still half awake, was the early morning after his and Ethan's second night together. It was before everything went to shit, when Jamie still got butterflies in his stomach when Ethan had kissed him. That’s what he was softly doing in dawn's light, right before Ethan escorted him to his car, and then gave him his phone number with the request that he call as often as he liked.

Jamie's eyes slid completely shut, despite his best efforts to stay awake, and all he could think about was what would happen to him if Ethan woke up first.

The End

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Excerpt from...

A SHOCK TO YOUR SYSTEM

Chapter One

  Jamie Holland opened his eyes, but a fiery light bulb in front of his retinas that stabbed him through the skull made him shut his lids again instantly. He groaned as he came awake, and he tried the eye opening thing again. Slower this time. The trees were upside down and spinning around him, and he had no memory of how he'd come to be where he was. Why was he cold all over his body? Damp in some places, too. Not to mention stiff and sore as hell, like he'd been in a physical fight and totally got his ass handed to him on a plate. Every limb felt like wood.

He shifted his body, mindful of aching joints that flared with pain that made him hiss. Jamie moved, barely. The pain sharpened in his back especially, and like that was the jolt he needed to remember, everything came back to him in one sharp, sudden rush of information to his brain, like it was being downloaded in high speed. He remembered exactly where he was and why, and it was so damned painful and scary that he was able to ignore the pain completely after that.

He sat up with a jerk, the heavy net that was around his body made it impossible for him to get to a comfortable sitting angle, but he was up and aware at least. The dart that he'd been shot with was still sticking out of his skin. It was red right where the needle pierced him, and a small bruise was starting to discolor his skin to a dark purple color just where he'd been hit with it.

Anger filled him up like liquid being poured into a cup, and Jamie yanked the thing out of his skin and tossed it away. It didn't go very far thanks to the stupid net.

That fucking bastard had actually shot him. Ethan had netted him like he was some kind of fish, and then
shot
him.

That was about when the anger melted away. Panic buzzed inside of Jamie like a swarm of insects were droning and pulsating within him. That was the noise he usually heard whenever his abilities were getting out of control, and he searched around for—

There
he was. Ethan Frost was lying right where Jamie had left him. Still unconscious after Jamie threw a bolt of electricity at his chest.

He'd been lucky. His aim had been spot on, and Ethan had gone down, but not before he'd fired his gun with the tranquilizer inside of it. Jamie had wondered which of them would wake up first before the drug in the dart pulled him under. Now he had his answer.

Jamie never thought he'd be on the run from
him
of all people. Jamie was usually running toward him.

Ethan didn't give off the
evil hunter who got his rocks off by chasing paranormals
vibe. That was what Jamie got for getting taken in by such a pretty face.

Of course
a guy who was that well in shape, that good in bed, that attractive, and supposedly that into Jamie, was a hunter.

Ethan's chest rose and fell as he lay on the cold, damp leaves in the woods. The man had caught up to Jamie when his car had broken down, and then chased him into the trees when Jamie had run for it. He would've put Jamie in shackles, boxed him inside one of those coffin-like contraptions, and then brought him to a lab.

Now, Ethan almost looked innocent, with the way his long lashes rested against his cheeks as he slept, pink lips slightly parted as he breathed. He was so close that Jamie could still make out these features, could see the burn mark that had been left behind on the man's jacket from the electrical charge Jamie had thrown at him.

Ethan looked as relaxed and casually handsome as he always did. It was beyond not fair that he could be so good looking, even while being sweaty and dirty from the chase.

Jamie's body heated up just looking at him. He could almost trick himself into thinking they'd come out here on purpose for a quickie or something.

He panicked when his cock twitched and his testicles tightened.

No! Cut that out! Bad! Don't even think about it because it was clearly never going to happen again.

Then Jamie thought of something else that took his breath away for an entirely different reason. Wait a minute.
Was
he unconscious? Or was he actually sleeping? If he was just sleeping now, then that meant he could wake up at any minute. The slightest noise could get him up and reaching for his tranq guns and other weapons, and Jamie was still beneath this stupid net.

He had to be as quiet as he possibly could. But the net was heavy, and it was weighed down with metal balls that each weighed a ton. Considering how quickly Ethan had been chasing him, Jamie had no idea how the man had managed to throw this over his head to begin with. Jamie had known the man was strong and had muscle, that was part of what had attracted him to Ethan to begin with, but
Jesus
.

Maybe it wasn't so much a strength thing. Maybe Ethan was a robot in disguise.

Jamie's body was still sluggish, his fingers especially. Probably an after effect from the drug inside of the stupid dart he'd pulled out of himself, but the more he moved, the better he could control himself.

Every twig that was beneath him made tiny noises as Jamie shifted and squirmed. Even the cold mud and leaves beneath his body seemed to squish loudly as he worked his way out from under the net. Every breath he took even seemed like the volume was cranked up on high, and he was kind of stunned that no one heard him all the way back in the city.

All the while, he watched as Ethan slept. Jamie didn't dare look away from him. The man didn't move, he didn't open his eyes, and he didn't do something that normal sleeping people did, like scratch his nose or twitch or something.

Jamie had watched Ethan do that once or twice in the times they'd shared a bed. Now that Jamie thought about it, he was the one who always woke up first after they'd been together. Jamie had always taken a minute to admire how unfairly handsome Ethan was, even in the early morning when anyone else would have bags under their eyes and tired skin. Not Ethan. The man was a regular sleeping handsome, whereas Jamie always looked like shit after waking up. Puffy eyes and saggy face and everything.

Ethan had never seemed to mind, though. The man had always smiled as he stretched himself awake, putting a hand into Jamie's hair and brining him down for a leisurely morning kiss that always seemed to lead onto something deeper.

Christ, now look at them.

Jamie held his breath at times as he slowly got to his feet. It was almost like he was fighting to not wake a sleeping dragon, or a flesh eating zombie, instead of a man or something, but right now Ethan was having that effect on him. The guy was taller than Jamie, and wider in the shoulders. Basically, he could snap Jamie in half if he really wanted to, and Jamie was so drained in more than one sense of the word. He was tired, his muscles felt useless, and he was pretty sure his powers over electricity wouldn't help him now.

Being unconscious for...however long they'd been there, had rejuvenated him somewhat, but he doubted if he could even summon the energy to defend himself if Ethan did jump up and attack him. He probably couldn't even charge a watch battery.

Instead of turning around and running for the hills, like what would have been the smart thing to do, Jamie started moving his feet over to where Ethan was lying on the ground, and he was dragging the heavy ass net with him.

It wouldn't stop the man, but hopefully waking up beneath it would confuse him enough that it would buy Jamie a little more time to get to the highway, get back to his car so he could pick up his stuff, and then hitch a ride with someone and get far away from here.

Jamie stopped, holding the net as he stood over Ethan. He stared down at the man, at the dirt smudged on his forehead from when he fell, and the way his chest rose up and down as he breathed. A lurch in his chest made itself known to him, as though someone had sucker punched him, and it fucking hurt so damned much that Jamie couldn't bring himself to move for a few seconds. His hands gripped the net so hard and powerfully he might've been shocking his fingers in place without even realizing it.

Ethan was so attractive without even trying. Why did Jamie have to be the kind of guy who only fell in love with a man's face? Ethan had been the perfect one, exactly Jamie's type, Dark hair, excellent muscle definition, good sense of humor and a smile to die for.

He'd also been a damned tiger in bed.

But it wasn't even just that Ethan was charming and good looking. Jamie had liked him. He really had. Then it turned out that he was a fricken' hunter.

He should've known. He really should have.

Okay, whatever. He needed to suck it up and take a deep breath. He had no time for this. Jamie was basically risking his life just by standing there and doing nothing, so he needed to do what he was going to do and make like the Flash already.

He draped the net over Ethan's still body, careful to keep the ropes from touching his face, or the metal weights from coming into contact with his hands or legs.

Jamie almost wanted to lean down and give him a quick kiss goodbye before he turned and walked away. As scary as it had been running away from the man, he could still remember how it had felt to lie in bed next to him, both of them naked, sweaty and smiling, while chatting to each other and learning all they could about one another.

Except for what Ethan did for a living, or the fact that Jamie was a paranormal with sometimes hard to control electricity powers.

How could he have been so damned wrong? It was like every romance movie he'd ever watched had lied to him.

Jamie shook his head at himself. He wasn't going to give the man on the ground a kiss. Aside from being
way
too melodramatic, that would be just pushing his luck even more, and he had to get out of Dodge already.

Jamie sighed, keeping his words soft. "I'll see you around," he said, and then turned and walked briskly away.

With Ethan, the bastard, was a Hunter, and chasing after Jamie, the odds were pretty good that he would see the other man again. And how fucked up was he that he clung to that fact just to keep his stupid chest from imploding on him?

Jamie waited until he was several feet away before his resolve to walk with his back straight and his head held high crumbled. Every step away from the man hurt like hell, and he wanted to go back. He was actually considering going back! His reasoning was sound, sort of. What if Ethan really was hurt somewhere and Jamie didn't see it? He could have a small cut somewhere and an animal could come along. Ethan would be helpless under that net against a bear or a wolf.

"Keep going. Don't turn back. Don't even think about it."

Jamie could see through his own stupidity, and even then it was hard to put one foot in front of the other, like he was chained to a giant anchor and had to drag it behind him.

The idea, the very thought, that he was even considering going back scared him as much as the mental image of being stuffed into a metal box, because he knew that was basically what he'd be setting himself up for if he went. Jamie started running for it.

He ran for maybe ten seconds before a noise that made his guts quiver and his skin crawl made him skid to a halt, kicking up mud and twigs and leaves. The sound stopped him because it was a scream.

Not just any scream, either. It was almost a shriek. The sound he heard was the kind that erupted from a man's throat when he was in so much pain that his body didn't know what else to do except for scream. Jamie knew the difference. Normally a sound like that wouldn't be cause for him to stop and listen. It would be a reason for him to send mental pity to whomever was being tortured and run the fuck away, but that was Ethan's voice, and Jamie's limbs, skin, blood and bones, went so cold that he started to shiver.

Holy fuck. What was happening to him?

Didn't matter. Did. Not. Matter. Jamie turned and ran back for him.