Preview: Seduction
(from Storm & Seduction)
He was naked and chained to a wall.
Antonio Favonius Venti shook off the fog clouding his head and yanked on his arms. Cazzo. Where the hell was he? The silver chains wrapped around his wrists rattled, but held him firm.
Dio. The restraints had been designed for a supernatural being with superior strength. And that included him.
He shook his aching head, trying to remember what had happened. He’d left a party at the museum, and then headed out to hunt his enemy. He lifted his head and eyed his prison. It was a damn elegant one. The bedroom was decorated in an ornate style—silver and black wallpaper and an elaborate four-poster bed with red covers.
Memories poured in. Chasing Corus through the twisting streets of Florence. The Northwest wind was a cunning bastardo. For the last few weeks, he’d eluded Antonio while infecting the people of Florence with the vice of lust.
Antonio sagged in the chains, his chin touching his chest. The rise in sexual assaults alone… His throat tightened. He had to stop Corus. It was his duty as a Warrior of the Wind.
He’d cornered Corus in the Piazza della Signoria. The Tempest Wind had been raping a woman. Oh, she’d appeared to be enjoying it, but Corus had the power to make people want things they didn’t truly desire. Antonio’s fingers curled into fists. He knew that all too well.
He’d ripped Corus off the woman, but high on lust, Corus had caught Antonio with a huge gust of wind and knocked him out.
Now Antonio was trapped.
But not for much longer, dammit. He summoned his wind.
Air swirled around him, the West Wind filling the room. It was familiar, carrying the brisk scent of ocean from the Atlantic, and the warmth and promise of the spring.
Like his brothers, like their father and grandfather before them, he was a Warrior of the Wind and he existed to hunt the evil Tempest Winds.
The chains rattled and Antonio pushed with all his strength. His power swelled inside him and he felt the metal give. An inch. Two. He thrust with everything he had.
Nothing. They wouldn’t budge any farther. Cursing, he cut his power and the wind died away.
Before he could regroup, the door opened.
The man who stepped inside gave Antonio the eerie feeling of staring in the mirror. Strong jaw, straight nose, and a muscled frame. But his dark, curly hair was longer than Antonio’s, and instead of green eyes, this man’s were black, soulless pits.
As the man stepped forward, the atmosphere in the room grew warmer. A lazy push of air curled around Antonio, carrying the scent of sex. Two women stepped in behind the man. They wore very little—only wispy scraps of black lace. The blonde had a long winsome body with slim legs and small, high breasts. The redhead had the lush curves of an artist’s muse. Antonio smelled warm female flesh and arousal.
He swallowed hard and spat out the man’s name. “Corus.”
Corus smiled, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt. “Such venom, Antonio. You should think of me as a friend. We’re the same, you and I.”
“We’re nothing alike.” Antonio jerked against his bindings. It was the truth. He had to believe it.
Corus stalked closer. “Our winds both carry lust. I embrace it.” He reached for the blonde and cupped one of her breasts. She arched into him with a purr. “And you want to embrace it.”
Antonio’s chest heaved. Since the Tempest Winds had escaped from his brother, Lorenzo, the Keeper of the Winds, they’d started spreading their vices. Antonio had been inundated with the heat of lust. His wind carried the promise of new life, and that made him more susceptible to Corus.
For almost three weeks, his skin had been tight and hot, his gut churning with the need for release, his cock semi hard all day long. He was balanced on the edge of giving into the seductive vice. “I fight it. I’ll always fight it.”
“Why not give in?” Corus ran a finger over Antonio’s shoulder. “It’ll make you stronger. You won’t have the agony of battling your desires. Slake the lust, Antonio. It feels so good.”
Antonio tore his gaze away from the Tempest Wind. He stared at the silver swirls on the wallpaper, but Corus’ words dug under his skin. Antonio wanted, he craved. He yearned for sweet, feminine skin. To press his lips between a woman’s fragrant thighs and feast. To bury his cock in tight, wet warmth.
Dammit, control yourself. Air sawed in and out of his lungs. He heard the taunting whispers in his ear, carried by Corus’ wind. Every hour of every day since the Tempest Winds had escaped, those whispers had been tormenting him.
And if he gave in…then Corus won. Antonio would turn as rotten as Corus and lust would infect Florence, then Italy, then Europe. The tourists would carry it around the world like a virus and the entire planet would descend into lust-fueled chaos.
The redhead slinked closer, like a hungry lioness, her green gaze locked on him. He tensed.
She ran a long red nail down the center of his bare chest.
“Why not let them take care of you?” Corus’ tone lowered. “Katya has a mouth from heaven and Nadine loves to fuck. Any hole, any position, any time.”
Antonio gritted his teeth. The woman fingered the hard ridges of his stomach and dammit, her touch felt good.
He couldn’t succumb. Not for an all-too-brief moment of pleasure. “Africus has already been defeated in Rome.” Antonio pulled strength from the fact his brother, Dante, had already defeated his Tempest Wind. “I will banish you. I swear.”
As the woman grasped Antonio’s hardening cock, he closed his eyes and swallowed a groan. His thoughts went to the one person he wished was touching him like this.
Luscious curves, a foxy face with a stubborn chin, large blue eyes and a full mouth a little too wide for true beauty. His forbidden temptation.
A woman with a passionate love for art that rivaled his own and a brilliant skill at restoring damaged paintings. A woman who’d made it very clear when she’d arrived from the US three months ago to work at his museum that she had no interest in men—especially wealthy, privileged men. A woman who wanted to uncover secrets Antonio didn’t want revealed.
Still, the thought of her and her fresh, floral scent was enough for him to regain a tiny scrap of control. He kicked out and caught Corus. The man stumbled sideways, knocking the redhead away from Antonio.
Corus righted himself and sighed. He grabbed a handful of Antonio’s hair and yanked his head up. “I will break you, Warrior.” The friendly tone was gone, replaced with a cold, dark voice. “And I think I know just the thing to do it.”
He spun and barked at the women. Abruptly, the trio left, the door slamming shut behind them.
Antonio sagged, letting the chains take his weight. He welcomed the sharp pain as they dug into his wrists. His skin felt sensitized, the blood in his veins hot and pounding. The air was saturated with lust, and filled with whispers. Touch yourself, work your cock, find sweet release.
He was at the very edge of his control.
The door opened again and he tensed.
A large man backed in carrying something in his arms. He didn’t look at Antonio, just dumped his cargo on the blood-red covers and left.
Antonio stared. Every muscle in his body tightened, so hard it was painful. His gaze traced the naked curves of the unconscious woman’s body. Slim limbs, curvy hips, beautiful full breasts topped with cherry-pink nipples. Her dark hair fell over her face, hiding her features.
Oh, no. He didn’t need to see her face. Her scent teased him. Like a spring meadow in full bloom.
The newest employee at Museo Venti—Dr. Sophia Crane.
Corus had just locked Antonio naked in a room with his greatest temptation.
Warriors of the Wind