City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood (43 page)

Yet no matter how hard it twisted his inside, how difficult it was to draw a breath, he didn’t want it to stop. And like so many other things, Orin didn’t have an explanation or a reason for it either.

If only it were possible. If only he wasn’t just a beast.

Orin stared at Haley, wanting her more than anything. The he dipped his head down and caught her mouth. Her taste, her flavor. He tried to convince himself this would be like taking a drop of her blood. He’d stop. One small sample and he’d let her go. Only now that Orin tasted Haley, he felt absolutely starved.

A deep growl lit up in Orin’s chest and his hands slipped around her back, pulling her flush against him. God of Man, he needed to stop. He really did. But Orin’s body was on autopilot and not listening to common sense. He grabbed Haley’s hips and yanked her up, shoving his face into her neck, breathing her, tasting her.

Orin’s lips caressed her pulse and Haley made the most wonderful deep throated purr. His body responded by throwing off heat, and he got hard. Waves of metaphysical energy rolled through Orin’s body. Mary’s glow had been subtle, whereas Haley was the goddamned sun.

Being near the bed was dangerous, because Orin knew if he got Haley under him there was no going back. With no other option, Orin went forward until Haley’s back hit the wall. The terrible thing in his chest surged. The pain it caused was extinguished by the heated trail Haley’s tongue left as she traced the line from his jaw to his ear. Orin felt her tug on his shirt. Her hand slipped under, stroking his Nevus. But that was just one hand. The other? A burst of pleasure erupted from between his shoulder blades as Haley’s fingers dug into his upper Ulysiss.

“Ahh--fuck…” Orin’s hips rolled forward and Haley pulled her legs up and wrapped them around his waist. He could feel the heat between her legs pressing against him. Orin’s teeth came down. The taste of blood lit him up.

Hands shaking, mind shorting out, Orin dropped a hand between them, meaning to go for the button on his pants. Haley was in the way and the bypass to the dampness between her legs was only natural.

At least that’s what he told himself.

God of Man, she was on fire.

Orin stepped back and pulled Haley’s hips forward, making just enough room so he could slide his hand between them. Somehow he managed to get under the lace and to her skin. Orin slipped his fingers between her folds and found her slick, boiling. And the scent…God of Man…her wonderful sweet scent. He pushed in one finger, then two, as deep as he could reach. Haley bucked. Her hands dug into his back, flexing, following the rhythm he set.

He worked her, captivated by her expression and the sounds she made. Then with one last roll of hips she came for him.

And there was absolutely no way he was stopping now.

Orin’s growl rattled the windows as he swung Haley around. To keep himself from slamming her into the floor he shoved his fingers in his mouth and sucked until he could get her to the bed. He dropped her on the mattress and she tried to pull him down.

“No…” Orin stopped her. “I need more…” ‘Cause his throat felt like a desert and she was the rain. Orin hooked a thumb in her panties and yanked them down. Haley still wore the damn boots Deshi had given her. Orin wanted to take them off. Fucking burn the things. But he couldn’t wait. He’d waited too long—years—another second wasn’t happening.

Orin slid down, pushed Haley’s skirt up and pressed her legs wide. His mouth hit her cleft, and her heat set his lips on fire. Desperate sounds filled the room and Orin realized they were coming from him. With every stroke of his tongue, every draw of her flesh, he cried out.

In a combination of his own arousal and his fight to keep down the RHage, every muscle in his body shook, twitching and seizing like he was chilled. But Orin was far from cold. Instead he felt like a forest fire was burning under his skin.

I’ll just bring her once. Then I’ll stop.
Because surely to God his thirst would be sated.

Haley’s body arched and he popped up, her hips kissing those lower parts deep. Release washed over her body and he drew the wetness into his mouth, stroking and sucking, not letting her stop. He couldn’t let her stop.

How many times had he made her shatter? Orin couldn’t remember, but his own body made threats of retaliation, which was the only reason he backed off.

“Orin, please…” Haley hit him with a look, one that said she wanted him no matter what. His instincts surged forward powered by sex, riding on the
need
. With every scrap of will he had, he clamped down on the RHage. One way or another Orin was going to finish this.

He thought about pulling off the rest of Haley’s clothes…but hell, he could barely hold his hands steady to get rid of his own. No, he needed this, now, right now. He’d worry about everything else later.

Orin yanked at his belt and fumbled with the button and zipper. His arousal strained against the front of his slacks, which felt like the goddamned Wall of China standing in his way.

With one hand planted beside Haley’s head, he arched up over her while shoving the front of his boxers down. The tip of his length stroked against her core and he barked a cry into her mouth.

“Roll me,” Orin said against her throat. “And take the RHage.”

“Then I need the rest of you. I can’t, without it, I can’t…”

Yeah…and Orin was completely on board with that.

Orin pulled Haley’s hips up, went forward, felt her warmth, her wetness…

Then some motherfucker beat on the door.

He growled. “Go away.”

From the other side of the door Deshi said, “I can’t.”

“Christ on a cross, I’m going to fucking kill him…GO AWAY!” Orin kissed Haley again, pushed himself against her, so close, his body screaming.

Deshi brought the whole thing to a grinding halt with four little words. “The cops are here.”

“Son of a bitch…” Orin dropped his face into Haley’s neck gasping. “I’m sorry.” He was more than sorry, he was pathetic.

“Hang on a minute, Deshi.” Her hands touched Orin’s chin and tipped his face up. “Are you all right?”

Except for the very unhappy piece of his anatomy, he was, actually. “Yeah.”

“Then we can do this again, later.”

Again, with her again. Yeah, Orin had a feeling this was just the prelude to a very bad habit.

Or maybe even a dangerous addiction.

With her clothes back in place, Haley opened the door.

Deshi dropped his eyes and his expression was as unhappy as Orin’s. “I made them wait downstairs but they’ve called twice.”

“Did they say what the hell they wanted?” Orin moved past Deshi with his shoes in his hand.

“No, but Maze is with them. That’s why I didn’t come and get you sooner. I told the police I wasn’t going to let them up until Maze was here. And Mr. Maze arrived and said we need to talk to them.” Deshi went to the phone and picked it up.

Orin dropped his shoes and slipped them on; he tugged at his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. Behind him Deshi told the front desk to send everyone up.

The Jersey City Prince stepped up beside Haley. “I’m sorry.”

She touched his hand and his fingers curled around hers. “It’s okay.” The look in Deshi’s baby blue eyes said it was anything but.

A moment later the elevator made a soft whirring noise. The lift door came open and Maze stepped out, making a bee line for Orin. Three cops, two men, a woman, and someone who obviously wasn’t a part of the local PD, came through the lift door right after the lawyer. The not-a-cop had some sort of device in his hand, and the uniforms looked ready to kick ass and take names.

Maze all but shoved Orin back out of ear shot and spoke to him in a whisper. Orin’s eyebrows came down, and his gaze flicked up in the direction of the cops. He nodded, then shook his head like he was answering questions.

“Mr. Maze, you need to get out of the way so we can do this,” said the officer with salt and pepper hair.

Maze stepped back and turned to face them.

It was the younger version of salt and pepper who waved a document in the air. “We have an ADF’s order for your client’s detainment.”

As if at all possible, Maze’s shrewd gaze became even harder. “Contingent on the test. If the scanner shows he hasn’t tampered with the bracelet then you three are just out of luck.”

The cops exchanged glances. Salt and Pepper nodded to not-a-cop, who took a tentative step forward.

When he froze about halfway, Orin moved to the side and put his food up on the end table next to the wall. “Here, I won’t hurt you. Do what you need to do.”

Not-a-cop tossed a weary look back at the officers, then went forward. Orin pulled up his pants leg and not-a-cop got to work doing something with the strange little box in his hand.

While everyone was quiet Haley asked, “What’s all this about?”

The younger version of Salt and Pepper shot her a glare. “Mary Gilsp’s body went missing.”

“And Orin has been here since the interview with the DA,” Maze said.

Salt and Pepper said, “We’ll see about that.”

Orin shook his head. “Look, I haven’t gone anywhere, and why would I take her body?”

Maze said, “The DA didn’t get a chance to run a genotype on the remains.”

And that wasn’t the kind of news they needed to hear. Haley watched helplessly as all the color drained out of Orin’s face.

“Which means we have no way to prove you’re a liar.” That from the female cop. She came forward a little. “Pretty convenient, don’t you think?”

“Officer, Mary Gilsp’s body disappearing doesn’t do anything productive for our case,” Maze said.

“It does if your DNA is bullshit.”

“Which it isn’t.”

The lady cop made a face that said, “We’ll see.”

Not-a-cop made a noise under his breath and looked back at the officers. “It hasn’t been tampered with and the sensors haven’t been separated, so that mean’s it hasn’t been taken off.”

Salt and Pepper did not look happy. “Check it again.”

“I did.”

“Again, Jimmy, check it again.”

Jimmy shot a quick look around the room then went back to doing whatever it was he was in charge of.

Salt and Pepper looked at Orin and said, “You won’t get away with this.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Right.” That from the other male cop. The woman standing beside him agreed.

Jimmy stood up and pulled out a PDA. “He hasn’t taken the bracelet off. There’s absolutely no signs it’s been tampered with and the contact chip has not been disrupted in any way, shape, or form.” He flipped the screen around on the PDA for show and tell. “According to the GPS he’s been right here the whole time.” Jimmy looked back at Orin, and Haley didn’t miss the apologetic expression crossing his face before he gave his attention back to the cops. “Sorry, Dan. But he’s telling you the truth.” Jimmy walked back to where they were standing.

“But we have a warrant…” That from Junior. Senior Salt and Pepper glared and shook his head. Looking like a kid who just found out he wasn’t going to get his cake and eat it too, Junior put the form away.

“Well, gentleman, madam?” Maze smiled. “You can see yourselves out while I talk with my client.”

“I don’t know how you did it, but we’ll figure it out,” the lady cop said as she turned and headed back to the lift. The two men followed. Maze kept his expression in place until the doors closed and the elevator made a sound as it went down.

“So what does this mean?” Deshi asked.

Maze looked at him. “It means we’re going to have a harder time proving we’re telling the truth.” His eyes went to Orin. “Would Rehbek’ah do something petty like this?”

“Yeah.” Orin ran a hand through his mousey brown hair and headed into the kitchen. “Anybody else want something to drink. Coffee?” He looked at Maze. The lawyer shook his head.

“What now?” Haley asked.

Maze gave one of those professional smiles but his eyes looked a little worried. “The DA will want another interview. A judge may entertain the idea of putting Orin in a holding cell if she gets the charges upheld. The Queen of Athens is making this as difficult as possible.”

Orin nodded. “Yeah, that’s her goal.” The microwave beeped and he pulled out the cups and put them on the table. Deshi pulled out a chair and sat down while Orin carried one of the cups to Haley.

Maze said, “I’m going to file for a Writ.”

“What’s that?” Orin asked.

“It’s a formal decree.”

Haley took a sip from her cup then said, “We use them at the CFKR when the city makes a claim on a Male for damage.”

Maze nodded. “That’s one use. There are several actually. In this case I’m going to request the Queen of Athens make herself available for court to answer the DA’s questions.”

Orin’s eyes went wide. “Are you nuts? You’re going to get someone killed.”

Maze shook his head. “I don’t expect her to answer it. I’ve yet to see a Queen show up in any Human court even with a subpoena. And it’s not like the cops can go in there and arrest her.” Not unless they wanted to wind up in little bits and pieces.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Orin said. “Rehbek’ah is insane enough to show up.”

“They still have that Alchemist team here and she’s not going to go in front of them if she can be caught in a lie,” Maze said.

“And if she doesn’t show?” Haley asked. “Then what?”

Maze shrugged. “It makes our argument that Orin is a victim more believable. The general public is easily influenced by Queens who disrespect Human laws. And anything we can do to sway opinion is a plus.”

“More technicalities, huh?” It was clear by the tone of Orin’s voice this wasn’t what he wanted. No, what he wanted was justice and truth. More than anything, Haley wanted him to have it. But it wasn’t going to happen. Even if Maze hadn’t pointed it out, she knew from experience justice for Kin didn’t happen the same way it did with Humans. And besides, things could be worse.

As if reading her mind, Maze said, “The problem is, we’re using a court system and a set of laws designed by Humans for Humans. Consider yourself lucky this happened in Georgia, Orin. The Man Kind for Kin organization has a very strong foot hold here and they’ve helped fund a ton of legislation and set a myriad of case law. All of which has cleared a path, however tricky it may be, to giving you some sort of defense. Almost anywhere else in this country and you’d already be dead.”