Passion's Prey: The Shadow Shifters (30 page)

The whip soared through the air once more, landing on the other side of the bed. This time when it hit, Caprise didn’t want to cringe; her nipples hardened.

“Bastard!” X continued to scream, bringing the whip down time and time again until finally a small part of the edge caught Caprise’s leg.

She hissed and bucked up off the bed. Not because of the pain. No, while there was a bit of a sting to her skin, the ripples of pleasure that quickly spread like a disease throughout her body took the pain away. Her pussy vibrated with each strike of that whip. She was so wet her thighs were now damp.

He stopped instantly, as if it had just dawned him that she was lying there. He looked down at her, his eyes still that eerie darkness.

“I can’t stop it, don’t you understand. I couldn’t stop him,” he said quietly, his arms falling at his sides, the whip hitting the floor with a clank.

“Xavier,” she said, because Caprise honestly did not know what else to say.

He shook his head, fists balling at his sides. “But I could stop him. I did stop him when I killed him. I killed him!” he yelled, tilting his head back to let a vicious roar break free.

“You did what you had to do to protect yourself,” she told him finally. “You had to protect yourself because your parents wouldn’t do it for you.”

“They told me to go over there,” he said.

“They were wrong, Xavier. Not you. You did what had to be done to stop him.”

“I’m a murderer. That’s what that agent says. He told my director that I was a murderer and they suspended me.”

Caprise wanted to touch him. She wriggled her hands futilely in the cuffs. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him he wasn’t a murderer, that he was a good man, a good shifter. Instead she took a deep breath.

“Xavier,” she said, but X had looked away from her. “Look at me, Xavier.”

He ignored her.

“Goddammit, you look at me!” she yelled.

His head turned slowly until those dark eyes were once again trained on her.

“You are not a murderer. You didn’t kill any of those girls. Sabar and his Rogues did that. And we’ll prove it.”

“It’s too late,” he said solemnly. “I’m already a killer. I killed Jeremiah. Then I killed Rolando because he was a bastard, too, and he was scaring you. I’m a killer.”

“You are not! You’re a shifter, a commanding officer, and you are good.” Dammit, she wanted to get up from this bed.

X knelt on the bed, coming over her like a dark cloud. She sucked in a breath and told him again. “You are good, Xavier. You are so good. So good that … I couldn’t help but fall in love with you.”

He stopped. His hands were on the bed on either side of her breasts, his knees planted firmly between her legs. And he didn’t move another muscle.

“I love the man and the shifter that you are, Xavier,” she told him sincerely.

“You have no idea,” he started saying.

Caprise shook her head so hard she knew a headache would soon follow. “Shut up. Just shut up! I know who you are. You’re the man who went to pick Nick up in the middle of the night when he was sixteen because Lisa Drenner had slit all four of his tires. You’re the one who stood at my parents’ funeral right next to me and my brother waiting to catch either of us if we fell to the ground in grief. You went to the Gungi with Rome and his new mate to look for Ary. You helped all those kids who were brought here and sold as sex slaves. You are good, dammit!”

“You,” he said, moving up until his face was hovering directly over hers. “Have no fucking idea what you’re saying.”

“I do and I’ll say it again,” she told him. “I love you.”

X dropped his head, his shoulders slumping just enough that Caprise could lift her head to kiss him there. Then her lips went to his neck, to that damn death tattoo. She kissed his skin slowly, let her tongue move in tiny circles over the tattoo. Then she bit into his skin, let her sharp teeth prick him. He tensed and her pussy creamed. She knew right then she had him.

His lips took hers with a savage hunger, his tongue swiping along her lips, her tongue, her cheeks in a display of ownership. She wanted to laugh with the sexual excitement that bubbled inside her but he took her mouth again. When he finally pulled away from her, Caprise was breathless.

X climbed off the bed, headed back to that armoire, and grabbed something from the shelves.

“Since you refuse to listen to common sense,” he was saying as he climbed back on top of her, “I’ll just have to show you what you’re walking into.”

“Show me,” she said on a breathy sigh. “Show me everything, Xavier.”

Without another word he clamped each of her nipples. She couldn’t help the scream that ripped free, couldn’t stop the pinpricks from radiating throughout her breasts, and didn’t want to stop the pleasure spikes shooting right to her clit.

“This is who I am. More often than not, this is what I want,” he told her as he moved down her torso. His tongue found her tattoo and stayed there for more minutes than Caprise could count.

Then he tapped the other side of her midriff, directly across from the tattoo of her son’s name. “Right here,” he told her, “that’s where I want the
Topètenia
insignia. Right fucking here so you’ll know who and what you are.”

“Fine. Fine. Can you just … just,” she said, trying to squirm, to get some sort of friction going near her clit. It was unsuccessful.

“Calm down,” he told her, looking up to her with his cat eyes glowing. “I’ve got this.”

Caprise let her head fall back on the pillow. Her teeth bit into her bottom lip as she reached for patience she knew damn well she didn’t possess. She felt his palms beneath her buttocks and wondered, what now? He had to stop with all this playing and foolishness.

Instead X lifted her so that her pussy was in his face, being served like a platter. He licked her hungrily, the sound of his tongue moving through her slippery center echoing throughout the room. She jerked at the cuffs holding her arms, wiggled her legs, and stifled a moan. He held her still, using his fingers to spread her open wider, his tongue to lick her deeper. The first ripples of release hit her like a boulder and Caprise fell back, her entire body convulsing.

X laughed, a deep guttural sound that was masculine and proprietary. “After the
Topètenia
insignia, X gets inked right here.” He tapped the line of skin just above her juncture, where her hairline would be if she hadn’t shaved completely.

She could barely speak when she said, “Whatever.”

He chuckled again before his fingers slid back, back, his thumb touching the tight bud of her anus. She sucked in a breath.

“No. Breathe. I just need you to keep breathing,” he told her.

She nodded, tried to do what he told her.

“Breathe, babygirl,” he whispered as one finger slipped deeper inside her. “You can do it. You can take whatever I give you. Your strength is the sexiest part about you. I love how you can take whatever, deal with it, and throw it right back. I love it,” he said, sighing over her.

“Xavier,” she whispered.

Then there was a different feeling, a fullness she hadn’t expected. Opening her eyes she could see him staring down at her, his hands still working between her cheeks. “A little pressure, then pleasure,” he said licking his lips. “So much pleasure, babygirl.”

Caprise sighed with him, felt him snap the plug deep inside her anus, and licked her lips.

The second X saw that she’d taken it and the clamps without qualm, he was over her, guiding his thick erection into her center. He watched with pleasure unbound as his dick separated the saturated folds, sinking into her with tender ease. The connection itself was arousing; the sight of her lighter skin wrapped securely around his darker complexion had him gasping. The tightness with which she sucked at him caused his cat to growl. When he began to move they both moaned, and sighed, and hissed with pleasure.

He closed his eyes, let the feel of her and the scent of their mating engulf him. In that moment he had accepted, had known exactly what the scent was and precisely who this woman was to him. As he pumped deeper and deeper still he called her name, then waited.

“Yes! Xavier. Yes!” was her loud reply.

He loved the sound of his name on her lips, loved the tendrils of pleasure that floated down his spine when he heard it.

“Come for me, baby,” was her next instruction.

X almost smiled. They were two of kind—both of them scarred, both of them guilty of running from a past they couldn’t change, both of them struggling to find their place in this world that was their own. And finally, both of them falling through the hazy fog of mating as shifters and loving as humans.

*   *   *

Sabar awoke to sweat pouring down his face, his chest heaving, legs aching as if he’d been running for miles and miles. His mouth was dry and his vision was blurry. He tried to speak but words wouldn’t come. Then, just when he thought he was losing his mind and was about to shift just to feel a semblance of normalcy, the lights switched on.

“You okay, baby?” Bianca asked.

She was across the room, had turned on the main light using the switch by the door. There were two lamps on either side of the bed; he wondered momentarily why she hadn’t turned on one of those, why she wasn’t in the bed next to him.

“Get me something to drink,” he told her using the back of his hands to rub against his eyes.

It took effort to steady his breathing, but he was determined to get it right. Beneath the blankets he moved his legs just to make sure the damn things still took his command.

In a few minutes she was beside him, extending her arm with a glass. Sabar grabbed her arm because his vision was still a little off and the glass wobbled in front of him. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again, looking up at Bianca to see if they’d work right on her.

She was beyond beautiful, even in the middle of the night. That much could be seen, he figured, even if he were blindfolded with a bag over his head. Her hair was pulled to hang over one shoulder, eyes glittering when she stared down at him, full lips puckered as they spread into a smile.

“Serve me,” he said to her because he didn’t fully trust his own hands to grab that glass and put it to his lips without making an embarrassing mistake.

Besides, he had a feeling she needed a reminder. She was looking at him as if she wanted to laugh. There was the air of knowing something he didn’t know as well that hovered over her like a drape. Even the way she smiled down at him was different than it had been before.

“Of course, Sabar. Did you have a bad dream?” she asked as she leaned forward slightly, putting the glass to his lips.

“I’m fine,” he told her before taking a long, greedy swallow.

His mouth felt like cotton. It even hurt to swallow. But there was no mistaking the distinct taste as he finally managed to do so. “This isn’t water,” he said looking up at Bianca once more.

She shook her head. “No. You didn’t ask for water.”

“What did you give me?” he asked licking his lips and blinking uncontrollably fast.

“We thought you needed to get more rest so we fixed you some tea,” she told him.

The glass was gone and Sabar’s hand had dropped from her arm. He’d tasted this tea before, at dinner he thought. Or maybe it was lunch yesterday, he couldn’t remember, but knew it was familiar. He fell back on the pillows as if someone had pushed him. Attempting to turn to look at Bianca again wasn’t easy. His head felt like lead.

“What did you put in the tea, bitch? Are you trying to kill me?”

She leaned in closer. He couldn’t really see her clearly, but he smelled her, the rich intoxicating scent of her pussy filling his nostrils as he inhaled slowly.

“We would never hurt you, Sabar, baby. We’re only trying to take care of you so you can continue to lead us.”

“We?” he said his voice becoming slurred. “Who the hell is we?”

He heard her laughing then, a deep-throated chuckle that echoed throughout the room. Then her lips were at his ear, her tongue lapping along his lobe.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispered in his ear. “Sweet fucking dreams.”

Chapter 26

Friday, 10:38
PM

Rome and Kalina had just finished a hot shower. Their just-dried bodies lay entwined on the cool silk sheets of their king-size bed.

He wrapped his arms around his wife, loved the feel of her backside pressed firmly into his front. As his palms cupped her breasts—their favorite resting spot each night—he’d kissed her neck and muttered a sleepy, “Good night, my
gato inferno
.”

She’d sighed into his embrace. She loved his nickname for her, loved to hear him whisper it while they made love and afterward. He never let her down. Kalina was the other half of him he’d yearned for but hadn’t the good sense to search for, wasting far too much time without her. But now that he had her, Rome was determined to keep her safe. He was determined to keep them all safe.

And as he slowly drifted into the place just before sleep where he thought about his duties and responsibilities and the conflicts that waited in the distance, his cell phone rang.

Not letting Kalina go, Rome reached one arm behind him to fumble on the nightstand until the sleek device was in his hand. Sliding his hand across the screen in the security pattern he’d memorized, he accepted the call.

“Reynolds,” he answered.

“Sabar’s making a buy tonight. You want to stop this war you need to stop him now! RSE Warehouse in Woodland. Midnight.”

The call was disconnected before Rome could say another word. At the mention of Sabar’s name he’d shot straight up in the bed. Kalina, light sleeper that she was, sat up beside him. The moment he pulled the phone from his ear she was talking.

“Who was that? What’s wrong?”

Rome was already dialing another number. “Got a lead on Sabar, meet me at the door in ten. Get three teams to go with us, and find X.”

Kalina was throwing back the sheets, climbing out of the bed. She’d already reached for her robe when Rome grabbed her arm.

“You’re not going,” he told her firmly.