Chapter 35
Tori’s head spun so much she couldn’t catch one single thought as she rode on the back of Adam’s bike through the rainy streets. Was it even Adam’s bike? He carried her out of the Coven Nine headquarters and plunked her on the back of a Harley before starting it with fire from his hand.
Had he stolen the bike?
What the hell was going on? He’d said he loved her. After getting in a weird fire-throwing fight where he’d cut off Peter Gallagher’s head.
Whatever had been in the king’s blood had seemed to fully heal Adam from the Apollo darts. Or had he been healed after the fight? He’d seemed different—even stronger than before, if that were possible. His tenor, the vibrations, felt deadly. In a good way, if that made any sense at all.
Her arms were wrapped around his waist, and his heated body warmed her. The hard angles beneath her palms shortened her breath and softened her thighs. When they got to wherever he was driving, they needed to have a talk. A long talk to figure things out. The man had to stop tossing her over his shoulder every damn time he wanted to leave a room.
He drove up into the hills, and green surrounded them on both sides. Finally, he took a turn around a long bend, and an imposing rock house appeared on the top of a rolling green cliff. A river rushed below.
He jumped off the bike and took her with him.
“Where are we?” she asked, the wind chilling her.
“Wicklow Mountains, south of Dublin.” He swept her up against his hard chest, striding around rocks to the door. There he rearranged stones, per usual, and the heavy door swung open. “It’s my getaway.”
“Oh.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, looking at the stone fireplace in the corner fronted by living room furniture in a deep gray. Then the floor-to-ceiling windows caught her eye. Outside were rolling hills and water and rocks. Beautiful and barren. Lonely and stunning. “Put me down.” They needed to talk.
“Gladly.” He set her on her feet gently and ripped her shirt over her head—not so gently.
Her mouth went slack. “What are you doing?”
He kissed her then, going deep, driving her head back. She had no choice but to grab onto his nearly shredded T-shirt to keep from falling on her butt. His tongue swept inside, heated and insistent. Her head spun, and every nerve in her body flared wide awake and ready to play.
She jerked free. “Adam. Wait.” She took a step back. Caution scored through her.
“Wait?” His hungry gaze nearly devoured her as he tracked her. “I’ve waited.”
She held out a hand, as if that one simple act could ward him off. “I know, but—”
Her legs started backing her toward the windows on their own. Her nostrils flared like prey being stalked by a predator.
“I waited until we weren’t under Council orders.” Adam took a step toward her, muscles rippling beneath his jeans. “I waited until the threat was no longer over our heads.” Two more steps. “I waited until I finally gained your trust.” One long step, and her butt pressed against the chilled glass. “Finally, I waited until you accepted me. All of me.” He reached her, his heat washing over her. His eyes glowed a violent hue. “Victoria?”
She swallowed. Barely. “What?” she whispered.
“I’m done waiting.”
She blinked. There was nowhere to go. But she knew, she knew deep down, she couldn’t make this easy on him. “Too bad,” she whispered.
He smiled.
Then he flipped her around, lifting her arms and pressing her hands against the glass, high above her head. “Don’t move,” he whispered, his breath a burn against her ear.
She shivered. The glass cooled her front, while heat poured off the male behind her. He reached around and unzipped her pants, slipping his fingers inside to brush against her panties.
Her gasp left a round ring of condensation on the window. Her hands started to lower.
“No. Keep them there,” he ordered. His fingers tapped along the top of her mound, sparking an electric bolt of pleasure to her clit.
She drew in a sharp breath, pushing her cheek against the glass. He moved her panties to one side, and then heat flared. Fire licked her thighs. Her jeans disintegrated as if they’d never even existed. Two seconds later, and her panties did the same.
“You can keep the boots on,” he said, scraping his fangs over her bare shoulder.
She bit back a strangled moan. He slid his fingers, hotter than possible, over her already wet folds. Her knees trembled, and her hands started to lower.
“No.” He plunged one finger inside her and pushed his groin against her bare butt. “You will obey me. Period.” Another finger joined the first, and he stretched her, forcing pain into her pleasure. “Tell me you understand.”
She gulped in air and kept her hands up where he’d put them, but she didn’t reply.
“Not ready yet?” His chuckle made something clench inside her. He stroked her, his fingers playing her, his thumb rubbing against her clit. “All of this wet heat. The energy, the need. It’s for me, isn’t it?” He opened his mouth over the sensitive flesh where her shoulder met her neck and sucked, taking in the bite marks from last time.
Lightning bolted through her, and she moaned, pushing against his hand.
“You need to give up control, Victoria.” He pressed hard on her clit, and her knees buckled. One arm bound her waist and held her upright. “And you will.”
She blinked but couldn’t focus on the amazing view. Only his fingers, his rough, velvety voice, his hard body existed.
“You wanted all of me. Here I am.” Fire arced from the fingers inside her to her nipples.
She cried out, the heat of a thousand orgasms building. “That’s not fair,” she moaned.
He chuckled, scraping his teeth against her jugular. “I never play fair. Learn that now.”
She opened her legs wider, giving him more access, needing more. The ease with which he played her body was matched by the ease with which he controlled her. His strength was so much more than hers. He could do anything he wanted, and something about that, the truth of her absolute trust in him, freed her in a way she’d never imagined. “I love you, Adam,” she said.
“There it is.” He bit her neck with regular teeth. Without warning, he grasped her hips and pivoted, shoving her over a long hand-carved dining room table. It was rough wood, ancient-looking, and he kicked the head chair across the room.
Her cheek rested against the wood, wood that slightly scratched her belly.
He leaned over her. “It feels rough, but I promise, no splinters.”
Even now, caught up in the moment, he made sure to keep her safe. She closed her eyes.
“Hands,” he ordered.
It took her a second, but she remembered, sliding her arms up and flattening her hands as she had on the glass. The position elongated her body and took away her ability to move quickly. When he grabbed her hips, she couldn’t move at all.
“Good.” His voice thickened with desire. Then he lifted her just enough that her feet no longer touched the rug on the stone floor.
Helplessness poured through her, right before a desperate need that made her groan out loud.
“You’re being so good.” He reached between her legs and petted her.
She arched and tried to give him better access. Her legs shook, but she couldn’t reach the floor. He had her right where he wanted her. When he removed his fingers, her body shook in a violent refusal. She couldn’t wait any longer.
Clothes rustled, and he returned to her, heating the back of her thighs with his skin. Slowly, he pushed inside her, this time going steady and not giving her time to accommodate him. The raw pleasure was edged with pain, and she struggled, but he planted a hand on her waist and held her easily in place.
He overcame her. In every real sense, he overwhelmed her. She was at his mercy, and in this moment, he didn’t have any. At the thought, a mini-explosion rocked through her. Not enough. Not even close to enough. She trembled, needing more but not sure how to get it. She couldn’t move.
“All you can do is take what I give you,” he whispered at her ear, unerringly reading her mind. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she all but sobbed.
“Good. I love you, Victoria.” Then he lifted her hips even more, this time off the table, and pulled out to push back inside so hard she saw stars.
With her hands flat, her face turned, and her hips in the air, he truly did control every aspect of her. So she did as he’d ordered and took everything he had to give.
Adam Dunne was hers.
He moved hard and deep inside her, hammering with a fierce cadence. An orgasm rolled over her, and she barely had time to gasp before another one started to build, heating her, sparking out, stopping her breath. Air no longer mattered, only the feeling of him inside her, going so deep, hinting at all the pleasure he could create.
She jerked, her body poised on the cliff. Then she broke, crying out his name. A second later, as she was still riding the waves, a piercing pain ripped through her good shoulder.
His fangs.
Her mouth opened wide, but no sound came out. He bit her to the bone and then some, leaving his mark so she’d never be able to remove it. Tears gathered in her eyes, even as her orgasm increased in force, stealing even her will.
A scalding burn flared between her shoulder blades, and she stiffened. The marking. He’d marked her.
She came again, harder than before, her entire body shuddering with the unbelievable release. Finally, she came down and went limp, mumbling something that even sounded like Klingon to her.
He thrust once more inside her and released her shoulders, licking the wound closed.
She mumbled, her body done. Just done. Her mind done, too.
He licked her neck. “I love you.”
She tried a grin. “I love you, too.”
“Good. Let’s spend the rest of the night in bed. Or maybe forever.” He still rested against her. “How does forever sound?”
Her heart pretty much burst wide open. “Perfect.”