What a Goddess Wants (16 page)

The dancers all faltered for a few brief seconds, as if stunned. Then they seemed to inhale as one body. Cal swore he actually heard them do it, even over the din of the music.

His gaze shot to the stage where Gemma had opened her eyes and was staring into the crowd, her expression stunned, her body frozen. The eerie sight made his skin crawl as the band continued to play, oblivious to their
strega’s
distress.

Oblivious to the surging power Cal felt all around him.

Fuck
.

Tessa. He had to get Tessa out of here now.

The strobes continued to fuck with his eyes. He needed help.

“X!”

His brother didn’t respond; he just stared at the stage as if hypnotized.

This time Cal punctuated his brother’s name with a punch to the shoulder. “X! Snap out of it. I need you.”

His brother stumbled next to him, blinking. “What the fuck?”

“Something’s wrong.” Cal waved his hand out over the crowd. “I need your help to get Tessa out of here.”

He could barely see X’s expression, but he clearly heard the bemusement in his brother’s voice, even over the music. “What the hell are you talking about? It’s all good, man.”

X acted like he was drugged. And maybe he was.

Cal had the bad feeling this ecstasy was going to come with a very big headache.

Possibly worse, if he didn’t get Tessa out of here.

He was positive that whatever freaky thing was going down, it was tied to her.

“Gods damn it, X. I need to get Tessa out of here and I can’t fucking see. You have to help me.” He punctuated his words with another shot to X’s shoulder, one that had his brother shaking his head as if coming out of a dream.

“Shit, man, that hurts… Why’d you… Whoa. Okay, you’re right. Something’s not right here.”

“No shit.” Cal felt frustration start to give way to fear. “I need you. The strobes are fucking with my eyes. I need to get Tessa out of here. Do you see her?”

They both turned to look out over the dance floor, where the audience had gotten even more frantic. The music continued to throb, but the powerful undercurrent of magic had become a constant stream. And not a pleasant one. It had taken on a life of its own.

Now. He had to get her out of here now.

“There!” X pointed, and for a brief second, Cal saw the flash of Tessa’s blonde hair at the far end of the arena. Grabbing X by the arm to pull him with him, Cal plunged into the writhing crowd.

Women immediately began to slide their bodies against his, rubbing their breasts against his back and chest. A few got close enough to slide their groins against his, but he felt no desire.

He only felt the pressure against his skin. No heat. Small favor. Also helpful because when he finally felt warm skin, he’d know he’d found Tessa.

He didn’t stop though hands pulled at him from all sides, trying to get him to dance with them, to create more friction and more power.

He couldn’t let them get in his way. With a tight grip on X, Cal barreled through the mass of bodies. But he was practically blind and he felt panic begin to tighten his chest.

He couldn’t fail her in this, in something so absolutely mundane as a rave at a dance club. But this was no ordinary club. And the power level continued to increase.

Just when he thought the fear of failing her would make him crazy, X pulled his arm out of Cal’s grip, then circled Cal’s forearm with his own hand, and started to drag Cal in a new direction.

Placing his trust in someone else felt weird. For so long, he’d only had himself to rely on. Cal had to force himself not to tear his arm out of X’s hand, to let his brother lead him.

X pushed through the crowd, but clearing a path became more and more difficult the farther they went. Bodies mashed together so tightly that Cal and X literally couldn’t get by. They had to circle. But each time, X pulled Cal along in a specific path.

The drums pounded louder; the bass throbbed harder; and Cal figured the song was coming to the end. He knew the band wouldn’t stop the momentum now. They’d continue on in the throes of the power.

He hoped like hell Gemma, the
strega
channeling all that power, would be okay. His first priority, though, was Tessa.

X’s pace picked up until they were practically running. Bodies bounced off them and around them, creating chaos in the midst of more chaos. The sense that time was running out forced Cal onward, even though he was practically blind.

Heart pounding, lungs burning, he drew in breath after breath of heavy air until finally he caught her scent. Just a hint of it, but he knew he was close.

Someone grabbed him, a woman by the size of her hand. She pulled him against her, making him stumble. His momentum faltered, and X lost his grip on Cal’s arm.

Cal and the woman fell in a mess of arms and legs on the floor, and before he could extricate himself, the woman had her mouth on his and her tongue in his mouth. Ripping himself out of her arms, he scrambled to his feet and battled with his brain to make his eyes focus despite the strobes.

Vaguely, he heard X call his name, but Cal had seen the bright flash of Tessa’s hair for a brief second. Only a few feet away.

Another strobe blinded him but he
felt
her. He put his hands out in front of him and began grabbing body parts. If he didn’t feel the warmth of skin, he moved on.

He roared in triumph when his hand felt the sweet heat of her. But this heat wasn’t natural. She was burning up.

“Tessa!”

In the dark between strobes, he saw her expression. Dazed, confused. Completely out of it.

He also saw the man pressed against her back. The soon-to-be-dead man had his arms wrapped around Tessa’s waist and appeared to be grinding his groin against her ass as he sucked on her neck.

Fury made Cal pull back his fist. He would kill the guy for touching her.

“No! Cal, don’t!” X grabbed Cal’s fist and held on. “You might hit Tessa.”

Cal needed a second to process X’s words and a few more to get his anger under control. He shook his head to clear it then looked at X and nodded. Then he took careful aim and smashed his fist in the guy’s face. The man never even knew what hit him. He dropped like a stone.

And Tessa blinked those blue, blue eyes at Cal. They shone as brightly as a lighthouse but her expression was dreamy, her mouth tilted in a soft smile. As if in slow motion, she closed the space between them, circled her arms around his neck, and pressed her body full length to his.

Lust flashed like a lightning strike as her lips closed over his. The hair on his body stood up and his cock answered her siren’s call, stiffening beyond hard to painful. His arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off her feet so his cock could nestle into the notch of her thighs.

Her taste flooded his senses, and the heat of her hands on his neck as she held on to him burned into his skin like a brand. She moaned when his lips parted hers and his tongue slid into her mouth to duel with erotic ferocity with her tongue.

She let him overcome her, let him completely consume her as she sank into him. He ate at her mouth like a starving man, kissing her until he couldn’t breathe and then kissing her some more.

When he had to pull away or risk passing out from oxygen deprivation, he clamped one hand on her neck so she couldn’t get away. He barely registered her legs locking around his waist or the hands she ran through the short strands of his hair. All that mattered was staking his claim.

He had to get inside her. Had to get her naked and under him. And she seemed to be in line with the program.

Her hips arched into his, rubbing the tip of his cock against her lace-covered clit. The tiny skirt she wore rode up so far that he would only need to flick the edge to expose her ass.

“Cal!”

The male voice calling to him annoyed the hell out of him. He didn’t want to know anything but Tessa, feel anything but her warmth and the silkiness of her skin.

Sucking on the tongue she slid into his mouth, he tasted her desire for him.

“Cal, you ass. We gotta get her out of here.”

He didn’t want to go anywhere. Here was as good a place as any to fuck. And he wanted to fuck her so badly—

A punch to the kidney made him gasp in pain and release Tessa’s mouth. He turned to kill whoever had dared to interrupt him and saw a face he recognized, a face he trusted.

Cal shook his head as Tessa, deprived of his mouth, began to lay openmouthed kisses from his ear down his neck, occasionally stopping to bite and make him shudder with sensation.

As Cal blinked harder, sanity began to return.

X grabbed Cal’s arm and started to pull him toward the closest exit, which was still a decent fifty yards away.

“Let’s go,” X yelled. And still Cal barely heard him. The band seemed to have gotten louder and pressure built in his ears, closing them.

They needed to get the hell out of here. Right now. Sex could wait. But not that long. He swore Tessa vibrated in his arms, as if she held an energy inside that needed to be released. And who knew what would happen when it did.

He only knew instinctually that it wouldn’t be good for anyone in here.

Tessa’s hands clawed at the material of his shirt, ripping it from his back as her teeth sank into his earlobe.

Letting X lead the way, Cal held onto Tessa as he ran for the door. Every step bumped his cock against her mound, sending him that much closer to coming.

He didn’t know how long they took to reach the exit, but the frenzy behind him had reached fever pitch. He didn’t bother to look back as X ripped open the door and shoved Cal and Tess through before following them and slamming the door shut.

The absolute silence of the hallway was broken only by the rough sound of their breathing and Tessa’s soft moans. She almost sounded in pain. As if she had to come or die.

“Cal, please. I need you.”

Without a second thought, Cal walked straight to the nearest wall, set her back against it to brace her, and ripped away her panties with one hand. As he fumbled for the zipper on his pants, she panted against his chest, her fingernails scoring his back hard enough to draw blood.

Vaguely he heard X say, “Oh shit,” but he couldn’t stop.

She needed this. She needed the release. How he knew that, he had no clue. He only knew he had to make her come before the power that had been building inside her did serious harm.

The zipper released and he shoved down his pants far enough to free his cock. With one hand on her hips, he bent his knees and shoved inside her in one smooth motion.

Buried to the hilt in seconds, he felt her shudder around him. Her sheath enclosed him like a fist, almost too tight for Cal to move. But he did. He thrust hard and fast. Bending his head, he caught her mouth as she turned her face up to his. His kiss was almost brutal, his lips demanding and voracious.

Her head hit the wall behind her, but she only sealed their mouths together more tightly and arched her hips to take him deeper.

His body tightened, blood boiling as he fucked her. No finesse, no rhythm. Just demand. Christ, he couldn’t get enough of her. Had to have more. All.

His.
Her body attuned to his every move, she answered his passion with her own. She licked and nipped, attacking him with the same frenzy he felt. Her nails scraped down his back, almost painfully, until she filled her hands with his ass and squeezed. Hard.

His cock throbbed inside her.

He tore his mouth away from hers to rasp in her ear, “Fuck, Tessa. Harder, baby.”

She did what he asked. She sank her nails into his ass at the same time she sank her teeth into his shoulder, hard enough to break the skin.

He felt the power coiled inside her release in a nuclear-range blast, searing every nerve ending and making him come with the ferocity of a beast. His cock throbbed and spilled inside her. Liquid heat poured from him for what seemed like hours as her pussy milked him with rhythmic contractions.

Heart pounding against his ribs like a caged bird, he forced himself to lock his knees and tighten his arms so he didn’t drop her. After that totally amazing release of energy, Tessa had gone boneless against him. As if she’d passed out.

Shit
. “Tessa, you okay?”

When she didn’t answer, his lungs began to constrict. Fucking hell, was she hurt?

It took a tremendous amount of will to lift his head away from the wall, where he had rested his forehead against the cool concrete. The air around them still vibrated with energy, so much that he swore he should be able to see it.

Tessa’s head lay on his shoulder, her face turned away so he couldn’t see her.

“Tessa!”

His tone was sharper than he intended, but fear bit into his gut with sharp teeth. And when she didn’t respond at all, he fought off panic. Pulling out of her still-tight sheath, he groaned at the shivers of lust that sparked through his system. He still wanted her, wanted to be back inside her, thrusting—