Unleashed (4 page)

She finally raised her head and glared at him. “You dare strike me? Pele, goddess of . . .”

Addie got in her face and shouted at her. “Goddess of nothing, damn it. Where’s Locan? What’s happened?”

Pele frowned and tried to sit. She tugged at the smelly seaweed binding her to the bed and cursed. “That bitch. I’d recognize her beast’s stench anywhere.” Then she stared at the thick stems with glowing eyes and the burnt weeds fell away from her wrists. Turning her body on the bed, she took care of the ones holding her feet just as easily.

“What beast? What bitch?” Jett towered over her, practically quivering with rage. “Who has Locan?”

Pele growled low in her throat. “The stink is from the sea monster that carries Namaka across the waves. Namaka is my older sister, goddess of the sea. She hates me. She wants whatever I have.”

Addie shot a heated glance at Jett. “Where would she take Locan?”

Pele waved her hand in a direction that covered about half the planet. “It’s a fucking big ocean. I have no idea.”

Furious, Addie got right in the goddess’s face. “Why didn’t he call for help? We can’t telepath to one another. Have you been blocking us?”

Pele’s eyes went wide and she snarled. “Of course I have. You are not allowed to speak words I cannot hear. Be gone with you. Take that disgusting beast. Where is Poki?” She glanced about the large room, growing more agitated by the moment. “Poki? Where are you?”

The little dog stuck his head out from between two large ferns. Pele slid off the bed, raced across the room and grabbed him. Holding him close, she sent a disinterested glance at Addie and Jett. “Ask the hellhound. Poki says Namaka sent the beast. I was blaming Poki unfairly. Poor baby.” She nuzzled his fluffy coat. “I blamed you, but it was that nasty sister of mine.”

She hugged the dog against her chest and held one hand high. Addie was still trying to get past the fact this bitch of a goddess had blocked her from hearing Locan. What if he’d been begging for help? What if hadn’t wanted to go with her at all?

There was no point in asking. Pele was shrieking something. Addie didn’t understand a word she said, and while the Hawaiian language usually sounded lyrical to the ear, the words Pele shouted couldn’t be anything but a curse. The ground rocked and the stench of sulfur was almost suffocating. It appeared the volcano had just blown its top.

Pele turned and glared at Addie. “That’ll show her.”

Right.
Addie wasn’t sure which of the sisters was the bigger bitch. From what she could tell, both of them were certifiable. She grabbed Locan’s weapons and his clothing from beside the big bed, tucked all of it into a neat pouch and sent it home in a matter of seconds. Then she shot a quick glance at Jett. “I’ll call it up when he needs it. I really don’t want to come back here.” She glared at Pele, looking for a fight, but the goddess had set Poki down and was waving both arms, screaming more curses. The only word Addie recognized was “Namaka.”

“C’mon.” Jett grabbed Addie’s arm. “We’re wasting time with her. Besides, if she’s powerful enough to block our thoughts, we need to get out of here before she thinks of something else. Az? Any idea where we can find Locan?”

The hellhound growled, yipped once and headed down the lava tube, racing like the wind for the sound of waves breaking on the surf.

Chapter 4

His mouth tasted like cotton that had been dipped in something disgusting. At first he thought the loud pounding he heard was the surf battering the shore, but then he realized the pounding was inside his head. Probably a reaction to whatever had been used to render him unconscious. Locan hesitated to open his eyes. If anyone was watching, he didn’t want them to know he was awake.

He should be able to transport home, even if he was being held in another realm, but when he thought of their comfortable cave in the world
between
, nothing happened. He tried it again, and again, nothing.
Crap.

There must be something in the bindings that held him in place, or maybe it was a drug, or was it this place? Something that kept him from using his power to move between realms. He was tightly bound, hanging upright but supported well enough that he wasn’t in pain. His arms were stretched out to his sides, his legs spread, though not uncomfortably wide. The air was clear and smelled of the sea. Whatever he’d smelled before he passed out was no longer evident. Now that had been foul. Almost as foul as the taste in his mouth.

He listened carefully. He heard no one else breathing. No other heart beating. There wasn’t a demon close. He would have recognized the stink. He knew he was no longer in Pele’s realm because he couldn’t smell sulfur at all. No matter how sweet the air in her home, the stench of the volcanoes had never been far away.

Here the scent of the sea was strong. The sense of being alone and bound even stronger. He opened his eyes.

“Hello, Locan.”

He blinked. Her rough voice crawled down his spine, over his buttocks, and settled in his balls. She was Pele but not. Harder edged, dangerous. Lean and muscular where Pele was soft, exuding carnality the way Pele’s form was all about sensuality. This one looked depraved, but in a way that said she liked the look. That it fit her. There was a sense of cruelty about her and he could easily picture her wearing leather and spiked heels with a flogger in one hand, maybe a candle dripping hot wax in the other.

His cock filled at the visual. His balls ached and he tried to stop the almost visceral need this woman somehow inspired with nothing more than her appearance. An appearance he’d conjured in his own mind, since she was wearing nothing at all of the domme. No, merely a skirt of some kind of seaweed, the broad leaves so light they clung to her thighs and framed her slim hips.

Her breasts were bare, much larger than Pele’s, the nipples a deep chocolate brown against her caramel skin. He stared at her for but a moment. Then he blinked, since he was bound so tightly he couldn’t even nod his head. “Hello. You have the advantage.” He glanced as best he could at the way his arms were bound, at the fibrous straps around his chest and waist, the ones holding his thighs and ankles. “Most obviously.”

She smiled. Her teeth were white and very sharp. They reminded him of a shark’s, but he thought she was beautiful in spite of that deadly grin.

“I am Nā-maka-o-Kaha’i, otherwise known as Namaka.” She stepped closer to him. “Pele is my little sister, one who has a habit of taking things I want.” She shrugged and ran her fingers along the length of his cock. “The bitch once took my mate and made him her own. I have decided to return the favor.”

“I see.” Unfortunately, he saw all too well. He sent out another call to Jett and Addie, but there was no response. He didn’t really expect one. He couldn’t believe they were still blocking him. At least he hoped they weren’t. There was no knowing how far away they were. What realm she’d brought him to. How in the hell his partners would ever be able to find him. He tried again to transport. Nothing.

“I knew you would understand.” She leaned against him, rubbing her hard nipples over his chest. The fronds that made up her skirt brushed his erection, teasing him. She licked the side of his neck and her tongue was rough, like damp sandpaper. Working her way down his chest, she licked him. Then she raked his flesh with her sharp teeth.

Razor-sharp teeth.
She drew blood with very little pain, the edges so fine that at first the slices were barely felt. He glanced down and shuddered. Blood ran in bright crimson trails over his pale skin, welling up from dozens of nicks and slices. She swept her tongue across his chest, and he felt the cuts then. Her saliva was salty, the wounds deep enough to sting.

Blood pooled in the indentation of his navel and she licked that away with the tip of her tongue. In spite of himself, Locan felt his erection stretching even more. Why was this turning him on? He’d never been into pain or blood, at least not since he’d been a demon hunter, but the sweep of her dark hair over his thigh, the sting of her teeth, the salty burn from her tongue—all of it was building a firestorm of need.

She walked around behind him and that’s when he realized his buttocks were bare to her, that whatever he was tied against ended at his waist. His legs were tightly bound but the board divided high enough to leave him uncovered. A coil of fear wound through him, a sense of his vulnerability as she ran one finger from the base of his spine to his balls.

Addie! Jett! Where the hell are you?
A sharp slap stung his left buttock. Then his right. The palm of her hand? Okay. He could handle that.

She laughed and hit him again. “I love that ivory skin of yours. It shows such a marvelous handprint. Pele really did find a treasure in you.” She slapped him harder. “I hope she misses you terribly.”

The next slap forced a curse out of him. She ran her fingers down his back. “Not another sound, or I will double the blows.” He sucked in a breath and nodded. She switched to something hard and flat, and now the blows rained down on his butt so hard and fast he couldn’t tell when one ended and the next began. He was so tightly bound, he couldn’t move even a fraction of an inch to avoid the stinging pain, but he sucked back his curses. Then, just as quickly as it’d begun, the spanking ended.

His buttocks throbbed. He struggled to keep his breathing smooth, to let her think he was totally unaffected, but damn, it hurt. Unfortunately, his cock didn’t seem to recognize pain as a bad thing. He felt the blood flowing into his dick, knew the moment it bumped against his belly, throbbing in time with his butt and standing so hard and proud he was totally disgusted.

Namaka walked around to the front of him, took one look at his raging hard-on and laughed. “I thought so. You do enjoy pain.” She smiled broadly, showing all those shark’s teeth. “I think you might even enjoy it if I put you in my mouth, maybe nibbled a bit?”

He shuddered as she ran her fingernails along his shaft, then flicked the end with her fingernail. She reached for something on a low table, held it up. A dildo carved of ivory, exactly the color of his skin. It was huge, yet so lifelike that thick veins ran along the length and the knob was a perfectly shaped glans, the entire thing a lifelike copy of a human penis.

An unnaturally large human penis.

He refused to react. She walked around behind him and pressed it against his anus. Pressed harder, but he kept his ass clenched tight and she couldn’t force it in. Laughing, he heard the swish of her steps as she walked away, but a moment later she was back, slapping some kind of ointment all along the crease of his ass. At first it felt cool, but then it began to burn, especially where she’d swatted him and must have broken the skin. The heat continued to grow, and this time when she shoved the thing against his ass there was no holding it out. Once it slipped past that tight muscle, he gave up fighting and the thing filled him, more than he’d ever taken before.

His butt burned from the ointment and his asshole burned where she’d forced the dildo through an orifice not designed for an object that large, but the ivory managed to touch every nerve ending he’d ever known back there, along with a few he’d not discovered before. Laughing, Namaka shoved it deep, then pulled it out. Shoved it in again, then back, and it slipped in and out, riding smoothly on the sleek, fiery ointment, setting up a rhythm that almost took him over the edge.

He maintained control by logically dissecting what she was doing, why it affected him the way it did. There was something about the unknown that appealed, the level of fear balanced by the amazing skill of the goddess that twisted him up inside. That made him want what he should find demeaning and horribly offensive. It was wrong. So why did it feel so damned good?

This was rape. It was against his will. She’d drawn blood and he was bound, unable to fight back or flee, and yet he’d never been so turned on in his long, long life. She shoved the dildo deep and then wrapped a strap around his waist and tightened it. The ointment burned. The thick object inside him burned, and somehow he wanted more.

“This will hold it inside,” she said, almost as if she were talking to herself. “It also stretches you. You’ll thank me later when my . . .” She paused before laughing softly. “My assistant arrives.” She slapped Locan’s butt hard. Then she used the paddle on him again, striking the base of the dildo and both butt cheeks with each solid swat. Over and over again, swatting already bruised flesh covered in whatever she’d spread over his skin. The ointment burned, his skin burned and the sound was unnaturally loud. He shivered and she hit him harder.

At some point, his mind took him entirely beyond the pain. His body tingled all over and he ached for release, but it was all about sensation now. Sensation and pleasure beyond anything he could remember. He floated, wondering vaguely what she had planned for him next, but there was no sense of fear. Only need. Need for more.

He blinked when her fingers brushed over the side of his face and along his throat. He hadn’t even realized she’d stopped hitting him. “You are much too special,” she whispered. “Perfect. I will have to thank Pele, though she didn’t give you up willingly. Of course, that wuss of a sister of mine would not know to search for this darker side of you.” She laughed softly. “Skin as fair as ivory, and a body made to bleed. A body that welcomes pain. I may have to keep you.”

She licked his chest, moaning with pleasure. He hadn’t realized the sharp slices covering his torso still bled. Then she went to her knees in front of him and cupped his sac in her hand, fondling his testicles. They drew up tight between his legs, and he wanted to laugh. At least his balls had enough sense to be terrified. The rest of him watched her with a detached fascination as she licked the strong column of his erect shaft, running her tongue over the big vein on the underside, dipping into the tiny slit at the tip. Then she wrapped her fingers around the base and pulled him forward, circling the taut crown with her full red lips.

But all he saw were those sharp, sharp teeth as her lips peeled back and she slid the full length of his cock into her mouth and down her throat.

* * *

Addie was not going to cry. Crying would solve nothing, but they didn’t have a clue where Namaka might have taken Locan. Pele was no help—the bitch—but at least Az had led them to the beach and now gazed intently toward the east. East, where the closest land she knew of was the North American continent. She clutched Jett’s hand. “What do we do now?”

He shook his head. “We know he’s not here. Pele would certainly sense if her sister were still on the island. We have to assume that wherever Namaka is, we’ll find Locan close by.”

“She wouldn’t kill him, would she?”

Jett shook his head. “I doubt it. Killing him would be too easy. She wants Pele to suffer, and holding something that Namaka thinks her sister wants will give her too much satisfaction. I know a little of her, though, and she can be very cruel.” He let out a huge breath. “She’s going to hurt him. I don’t doubt that in the least, but he is immortal, and he’s a demon hunter.”

He leaned over and kissed the crown of Addie’s head. “He’s also a tough son of a bitch and I know he can handle pain.” He chuckled. “Maybe a little too well. For some reason, he must not be able to transport, or he’d be back here, looking for us. She’s got to be holding him somewhere that blocks that ability.” He glanced about them, then shouted, “Hey, Az. Here, boy.”

The hellhound trotted over, and even though Jett had been the one to call him, he nuzzled Addie’s shoulder. She stumbled and grabbed his neck to steady herself. “Behave, beast. You don’t know how strong you are.”

The hound whined and then focused on Jett. He was obviously a lot smarter than they’d first thought. She’d had no trouble communicating with him on a basic level but had no idea how much he actually understood.

“Az? Do you have any idea how to find Locan? He’s with Namaka. Do you know where she lives?”

Az growled and trotted into the water. He turned his big head, looked over his shoulder at them, and then back at the churning surf.

Addie followed him until she stood ankle deep in the waves. “How do we get there? Can you show us how to find her?”

Climb on my back. Hold on tight. I will take you.

She spun around and stared at Jett on the shore. He looked as shocked as she felt. “Yeah,” he said. “I heard him. What are we waiting for?”

He strode across the sand and into the waves, lifted Addie by the waist and settled her on the beast’s broad back. She clung tightly to the thick ruff of fur around his neck. Then Jett vaulted up to land behind her as if a five-foot leap was nothing at all. Az shook himself, and just like that, he blinked out.

And immediately blinked them back, into a dark and damp cavern with the sound of the sea pounding overhead. Jett slid off the hound’s back and grabbed Addie by the waist to help her down. Azrael shook himself and then sat his big butt down and his tongue lolled out of his mouth, almost as if he were laughing at them.

Addie threw her arms around his neck and hugged. “You are absolutely wonderful,” she said. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Jett. “No doubt about it. I’m keeping him.”

Jett chuckled. “I already figured as much, and if we find Locan here, he won’t have much of an argument, either. Okay, Az. Do you know where he is?”