Rune (8 page)

This mysterious woman he realized was a wild spirit, and one that had channelled her thoughts and blanked him. Where she’d learned that technique from he didn’t know but would discover it. Because he’d read her mind with ease, some had amused him, others pissed him off. Yet the more he learned about her, the more she fascinated him, his little virgin that could take his cock.

He trod up the steps leading out of the pool. “Come along, Jessalyn, your education continues.”

§§§

She followed; again, her attention dropped onto his ass. Her fanny felt as if it had been rammed by a cannon. And she’d loved every moment of it, not a tiny bit of space spare. When she’d leaned back, he’d hit home, deep inside, his girth rubbed along every part and never had she felt so complete. So utterly fucked.

Hell, what was she talking about, apart from her plastic army, this was the first time she’d experienced a jaw dropping orgasm.

He didn’t take her hand she noticed but walked ahead. Okay, he wasn’t the type of guy that made a girl feel good after sex. No hugs and sweet words. But hell, what did she expect, she’d paid for this, for him, his service. No emotion would come into it, no care, nothing. Simply fucking, that’s all it was about.

And she didn’t want anything else. Did she?

Again, her gaze dropped to his sexy tattoo. It pulled her attention to his ass and his more interesting equipment. Jess guessed he’d had it for just that reason because no one could miss a Celtic band of that dimension, and then not look above it. To discover what other anatomy he had the fortune to be blessed with.

She sighed, one part of her wanted so much more.

What would it be like to fall in love? To have a man adore you? It was a nice dream, but one she was fearful of. The thought of loving someone, sharing herself, scared her senseless. No way could she have a relationship. The words of her mother and father slammed into her. The absolute hatred between them branded deep.

How the hell she’d been conceived shocked her, and she wondered if her mother had been artificially inseminated. Like the way they did it with dogs and cattle. It was a possibility, she mused.

With another suck of air, she put it behind her and followed.

This was the life she’d chosen, no love, no boyfriend, and no getting hurt. Simple, easy, and clinical.

Yet now she’d discovered true sex, Jess debated joining a dating agency. That, she decided, she could do, one night stands, purely for sex. She wondered if there were sites out there for just that and knew there had to be. After her weekend with Rune, she’d check them out. Because now she’d learned how much she liked real sex, she wasn’t about to give up on it.

Not that she’d abandon her vibrators, but every so often, a good wholesome fuck wouldn’t go amiss. Why she hadn’t thought of a dating agency before she didn’t know, and then frowned. Yes she did, it was her abnormal fear of getting close, to anyone.

But tonight had proved she could detach her mind and leave her body free to enjoy itself. To make wild love, and then switch off. And Jess kept those thoughts, imprinted them on her mind, because deep down well…she refused to assimilate her reasoning.

The door to their room closed, and she tracked him in silence as he prowled around the large area. She sat on the bed and wondered what was wrong, why he appeared a bunched up roll of testosterone. And wished he’d cover himself up, she followed the sway of his lazy lob.
Frigging hell, it looked like a pendulum.
Jess was mesmerized by it.

He spun on her. “I need you to give me a safe word, one that you’ll use if you no longer want me to continue, it’s the ultimate in stopping me.”

She shrugged her shoulders; hell, she couldn’t remember her password on her computer, instead had it written down. Then, she’d forget where she’d put that, keeping it safe, it was usually lost forever. Jess noticed that he appeared unconcerned with his nudity, whilst she snagged a sheet across hers. Her focus ripped into him, she could look at him all day and still never get fed up.

He crossed the room to stand before her and tilted her chin up. “Answer me, Jessalyn.”

Yeah, whatever
, how the hell could she when that awesome weapon of mass destruction primed her? She tried to concentrate, to drag her gaze from his lazy lob. Heck, even lazy, it was one hell of a specimen.

She noticed the tiniest hint of a smile crease his lips. “I need a safe word.” His hand flashed out and snatched at the sheet, drawing it off her. “I didn’t give you permission to cover your body.”

Bossy bastard.
And her mind went blank.

“It can be a colour, green, amber, or red is the usual, but boring. I like a bit of diversity.”

“Er, how about stop?”

“Nope, too banal, too blasé.”

She gave a loud huff. “Help?”

“Jessalyn,” his voice growled on a low rumble.

“Caprice.”

He cricked his head, paused, and then nodded. “Caprice it is; if at any time you want me to stop, use it.”

Fine, if I can bloody remember it.

“And now, I’ll introduce you to our toy room.” Taking her hand, he hauled her up. She slammed into his body, and her clit sneaked a peek at his lazy lob, calling to him. Christ, what was wrong with her? She’d already had two glorious orgasms since waking up, and she was sniffing around for another?

“Don’t fret, little one, I’ll see to it you receive your next climax, and trust me, you’ll be screaming to come.”

She shot him a shocked glare. “How did you know —” Then backtracked, “I mean, er, oh never mind.” Before mumbling, “Sir.”

Chapter Seven

Rune covered her lips with a lazy kiss. His arm snatched around her hips, and he pulled her close. She reached up, curling her hand into his hair that brushed across the nape of his neck. Again, she had that need, to lay him down and ride him. His eyes burned a molten gold over her, and releasing her, he stepped back to open a nearby door, one that she hadn’t spotted.

He indicated with a call of his fingers. She trod forward, her own eyes widened in shock, she hesitated at the entrance, and her hand gripped her throat.

“This is a play room?” She glanced around with worried eyes. “It looks like a place of torture.”

“It is,” he confirmed, his attention didn’t move from her face. “But the torture is or will be exquisite.”

A tune tinkled through the air, Rune crossed to the large oak cabinet, he picked his mobile up. “Yes?” The single word rapped out. His gaze darkened, and his eyes flickered with a sharp intensity. “I’ll be there in five.” He dropped the phone and, reaching for his jeans, struck his legs into them. “I need to leave for a while.”

Disappointment filtered over her features once his body was clothed and covered up.

She peered into the play room, then back at him. At least she would get to explore it at leisure.

“Familiarize yourself with the equipment, I’ll see you later.” He loped to the door and closed it, the key turned as it locked.

Jess wasn’t sure if he were keeping her in or something out. But hell, talk about an abrupt departure.

§§§

Rune roared down the deserted road towards the police headquarters.

The Lamborghini screamed to a halt in a squeal of brakes and, slamming the door shut, he loped into the building. Rune gave a brief nod to the clerk and strode past the mahogany desk towards his destination. He entered the small office that stank of body odour, stale tobacco, and fries. The heavy stench only relieved by the strong rich aroma of coffee.

“It’s happened again. This time the bastards took out the staff of the drive through.” The potbellied police inspector polished a hand over his bald head. His stomach strained against his shirt, whilst the buttons shifted and threatened to pop. “The mother fuckers, I eat there every day. Why that place?”

“Jim, I think the people that were slaughtered might have a word to say about that.” Sarcasm dripped from him. Apart from LeBron, he was the only outsider to know his involvement with the Bureau, along with Phillips, an obnoxious twat that he couldn’t stand. The dislike was reciprocated, yet Rune knew he wouldn’t say a word about who he worked for, even the dumbass had some sense.

Rune had discovered the jerk was the jealous type that didn’t like his involvement with the more serious matters. To say they had a personality clash was the understatement of the year. Rune longed to tear his throat out every time he opened his mouth. It was only the fact that he represented the Bureau and his knuckles would get rapped good and hard that stopped him. But his time would come, and that appeased him.

Rune took delight in the fact the last time they’d met he’d hammered the shit out of him. The idiot had taunted and urged him on, not that he needed much pushing, his short temper was legendary. Phillips had remained off work on sick leave for three weeks. Rune knew the fool was stupid enough to come back for more. Just one word, that’s all it would take to send Rune’s irritability into overdrive; he’d rarely experienced such a riot of violent emotions. The man hit every angry, mind-numbing button of destruction, and all aimed at him.

§§§

Suddenly, the door slammed open, it reverberated on its hinges, and a large, uniformed officer barged in. His glare burned over Rune. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Three other men hovered behind.

Rune’s lips curled; shit, but he craved to kill the bastard. Instead, he would have to be satisfied with grinding his fist into his smarmy face. “Doing your job more than likely, you fucking retard.”

Jim shook his head and picked up his mug of coffee in a rescue mission. “Look you pair, no trouble, I remember the last time—”

“Yeah, well, try this.” Phillips pulled his arm back to release a bunched fist. And found it held, crated in a hard palm.

“I’ll break you,” warned Rune.

“Fuck you, Masters,” and indicated to the men behind. “I’ve got assistance now, and no way will you get the better of me, not with my friends helping me.”

“Didn’t know you had any,” said Rune and gave a not so nice smile. At a signal from Phillips, they surged forward, and Rune unleashed a savage power of destruction, his fists and legs kicked out with a vicious intensity. The crunch of bone cracked in the air, mingled with screams and shouts. Within seconds, all four men lay in a heap on the blood stained floor.

Jim shook his head. “Fuck, Rune, what is it with you? Couldn’t you have talked to them? To Phillips?”

“Nope, didn’t want to. I’m a man of few words. He was looking for a fight, and well, I…” He raised his hands, a wicked grin sneaked over his face. “Let’s just say I enjoyed the workout.”

The inspector blew out a low swear. “We’ll discuss this again, just leave will you, you crazy bastard.”

“I’ll need to pay a call to the diner and check the area out, see what I can pick up.”

Jim took a sip from his coffee. “It’s too late for that; you won’t find anything now.”

Rune didn’t like the implication. Casually, he kicked at one body that groaned on the floor. “When did the killing take place?”

“Yesterday, early evening.” He picked up his phone. “Marnie, get in here and clean up this place, oh, and call old Dr Matthews.”

“So, why is it only now you’ve contacted me?” Rune ripped out a long release of curses; he would have missed vital evidence. “Almost twenty-four fucking hours later! You know damn well I’ve been assigned to this case.”

Jim pointed to the prone body on the floor. “Because that asshole you’ve just hammered was on duty. Don’t need to be a genius to work out he didn’t want you there. He knows who you work for.” He swallowed another gulp of his coffee, now tepid, no curl of heat rose from it. “Only now he informed me, selective memory, I’d call it. But whatever, I’m bringing him up on a charge of misconduct.”

“About fucking time.” Rune scrubbed a hand through his overly long hair. “Doesn’t he realize what this could cost us? That dick head deliberately held back information that I could have acted on. He knows what I’m working on. Is he for fucking real?”

Jim scratched his head. “He knows all right, yet Phillips is pretending he doesn’t, that he followed procedure. Yeah, like hell he did.”

“How many victims?” asked Rune.

“Four, and as usual, it’s been kept away from reporters and covered up,” said Jim.

“What about relatives?” Rune knew it was getting harder and harder to keep the lid on the rogue vampires, and that unless they sorted it, and soon, the shit would hit the fan. They kept it quiet because of the widespread panic it would cause.

“Two were drifters; the others too fucking young to die. We informed the parents, told them it was a hit-and-run car accident.”

He gave a nod; it was plausible, yet again somehow they’d managed to keep the murders under wraps.

§§§

Rune settled into the driver’s seat, his mind on the killing that had taken place. It was around the same time he’d come across Jessalyn. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced she’d been there, had witnessed the massacre. Now, all he needed to do was get her to open up and tell him the truth. Along with who was chasing after her.

His lips curled into a sudden grin, his thoughts centred on his delightful sub, and what he intended doing to her.

§§§

Jess lay relaxed in bed, finished with her examination of the room. No way could she work out what half the things were. She’d opened the drawers to the large, bow-fronted unit and rummaged through the various objects. Her expression changed to shock at the blindfolds, cuffs, and whips along with an assortment of clamps and various objects that she didn’t have a clue about.

She’d taken a strange looking object, it resembled a whip, but was a mass of long suede fronds. Flicking it through the air, she slapped it against her palm, it didn’t hurt, then glanced up as the lock clicked and turned, the door pushed open.

Jess swallowed, Rune was a whole lot of man, pure male, and hers until Monday. A shiver slipped over her, as he neared. She couldn’t describe it as a walk, his golden eyes glittered, and his hips twitched in a jiving roll. God, but he was a sexy bastard.