Bethany's Rite (10 page)

It ate at him like acid that she might have to endure any of
it. He’d rather not give the antidote to her at all and let the drug work
through her system naturally. But with Predators stalking her, he refused to
leave any opportunity for Bethany to be given the second injection and be at
their nonexistent mercy.

Sitting around the kitchen table with his cousins, his mind
had flashed to the memory of Bethany’s curves pressed against him in the night.
His cock pressed into the cleft of her ass, the back of her thighs sliding
along the front of his every time she moved in her sleep. The image immediately
had his cock going from semi-aroused to painfully hard.

He had shifted in his chair and tried to adjust himself to a
less agonizing position. When he caught Rordyc looking at him with taunting
amusement, he had called an end to the meeting.

Quietly, he opened the door. If she were still sleeping, he
didn’t want to wake her. He frowned. The bed was empty. The room silent.

“Bethany?”

No answer.

A burst of panic flared through him when she didn’t respond
to a second, louder call. Taking a stranglehold on his emotions, he rushed into
the bathroom. His heart dropped to his feet when he saw Bethany almost
completely submerged in the tub, her pale face floating barely above the water.

The possibility that, fatigued from the drug, she had
slipped or fallen asleep in the bathtub had him shouting her name again and
thrusting his hands into the soapy water. He shouted a curse, grabbed her by
the arms and lifted.

Bethany’s eyes flew open and she screamed. Lashing out, she
knocked his hands from her slippery skin. Free of his grip, she immediately
fell backwards into the water and went completely under.

“Damn it,” Wyc hissed as he shoved his hands under her arms
and lifted her straight up. Bethany stood in the tub, sputtering, choking and
slapping at his arms. He released her and abruptly pushed her hair out of her
face, his scare making his movements rougher than he intended. “Are you all
right?”

She pinned him with a glare. “I was fine until you tried to
drown me.”

“Drown you? I was—”

Wyc was cut off by Bethany’s shriek as her gaze darted over
his shoulder. She wrapped her arms over her breasts and dropped back into the
water so fast, a wave of water sloshed over the side of the tub. He spun around
to find Amdyn, Kayn, Cirryc and Rordyc barreling through the bathroom door.

Rordyc took one look at the situation, cocked an eyebrow at
Wyc and left. The other three just stood there and stared. Amdyn at him, Kayn
and Cirryc at Bethany. Wyc roared and stepped toward his younger cousins,
blocking their view.

“What the hell are you looking at?” he bellowed.

Their gazes snapped to his.

“Get out!” Wyc yelled. “Now.”

Kayn and Cirryc glanced at each other and backed out of the
room.

Amdyn only widened his stance and propped his hands on his
hips, his face set into sharp lines of anger. “You’re the one shouting like the
damn house is on fire, and you’re angry because we came running to help?”

“I’m in a room with a naked woman in a bathtub. How much
help do you think I need?”

“Beats the hell out of me. I’m not the one yelling.”

“Both of you,” Bethany demanded from the pile of bubbles she
had gathered around her, “get out. Right now, get out!”

Wyc ignored her and continued to glare at Amdyn until, with
a curse, his cousin stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.
Wyc turned his attention back to Bethany and watched her eyes widen as he
stripped.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked. She lunged for
the towel she had placed close to the tub, but Wyc reached it before she did.
He tossed it across the room.

Bethany scooted to the far side of the tub as he stepped
into the swirling water. When he sat down, she smacked the water and splashed
him in the face. “I don’t want you in here. Get out. Go back to Myrra.”

He wiped bubbles from his eyes and grabbed her hand.

“Myrra? What are you talking about?”

For a moment, she froze. And then glared at him before
sending another splash of water flying toward his face with her free hand.

With a quick tug, he pulled her to his chest. Shifting her
to sit between his legs with her back to his chest, he stifled a groan as his
cock pressed up against her butt. He held her tightly until she stopped
struggling.

“Did Myrra say something to you?”

“It was more what she didn’t say.”

“Are you jealous?” His smile was stopped by a sharp elbow to
his ribs.

“Of course not. I just don’t appreciate you thinking you can
screw her and then come get naked with me. It’s not going to happen.” She wiggled
her ass deliberately. “No matter how high your…hopes are.”

She reached for the sponge. “So you might as well get out
now and stop wasting your time. And mine.”

Bethany’s voice had turned cool and detached. Since he had
made it obvious he wasn’t going to get out, she seemed determined to snub him.
He wasn’t about to let that happen.

Having been hard for her closing in on three days, he was
past the point of patience. Since the drug had kept her mostly unconscious, he
had had no way to slake his need without simply using her body while she slept.
A thing he refused to do.

But now, his need for her raged hot, and he would have her.

He took the sponge out of her hand. “First, I never waste
time,” he said, picking up the bottle of bubble bath and squeezing some onto
the sponge.

Slowly, he massaged the sponge in front of her until it was
frothy with lather. “Second, no matter what Myrra did or didn’t say, she’s my
captain, and I wouldn’t sleep with her for that reason alone.”

Wyc lifted her wet hair from her back, twisted it into a
thick rope and draped it over her right shoulder and breast, letting his
fingers graze her nipple as he released her hair. He kissed the left side of
her neck before running the soapy sponge up her arm and across her shoulders.

“And third, you scared the shit out of me. What the hell
were you doing, floating in the tub like that?” He was trying to be calm, but
the picture of her pale face floating in the water was still too raw in his
memory.

“I was trying to relax.”

“Underwater?” Despite his efforts, his voice vibrated on a
jagged growl.

She leaned forward to turn the water back on. He followed
the curve of her spine down with the sponge until it disappeared under the
bubbles. “The hum of the whirlpool made it easier to think.”

Suddenly, the same emotional coldness he had experienced
from her last night surged against him. She slid forward, breaking the contact
of their bodies. Her shoulders stiffened, and he caught her hurt as it pitched
through her mind. She was fighting her desire. Mentally and physically trying
to distance herself from him. No way in hell. Not again.

Wyc caught her around the waist and brought her back to him.
“I’m not finished.”

She shook her head. Her body tensed, but she refused to
answer him.

Wyc laid the sponge on the ledge. “Bethany, what’s wrong?”

“You want the full list?” she asked, tossing him a sardonic
look.

“I’m serious. What changed between last night and this
morning?”

Bethany turned back around and hunched forward, crossing her
arms over her chest. “Nothing.”

He curved his shoulders around hers, wrapping his arms
completely around her and snugging her into him. He rested his chin on her
shoulder. “Tell me.”

Bethany struggled to hold on to her resolve. He hadn’t
wanted her last night. Wouldn’t want her again. Better to deal with the raw
feelings of rejection now before he had a chance to insinuate himself into her
heart any deeper.

Against her will, her breath stuttered out. He tightened his
hold on her, and it felt so damn good. Too damn good. Like she was really
protected and cherished. “You didn’t want me.”

His body went rigid around her. She stopped breathing,
wishing she hadn’t said a word. He kissed the curve where her neck met her
shoulder.

“No, babydoll. I wanted you too much.” He leaned back,
taking her with him, until he was reclining against the tub with her resting on
his chest. “I still do.”

As if she couldn’t tell from the uncomfortable rod prodding
her lower back. But just having him want her body somehow wasn’t enough.

She stretched and turned off the running taps with her foot.
The movement pressed her butt into his groin, and she reveled in the low sound
of need it produced from Wyc. “What makes you think I want you?” she asked.

“Give me a chance to convince you.”

He nipped her earlobe, and that little action sent a jolt of
lust spearing straight into her cunt. Bethany licked her lips. How, in a tub
full of water, could her mouth be as dry as the Sahara?

Wyc kissed her shoulder, her neck, and then raked his teeth
gently over her earlobe again. A husky sound of desire rumbled in his chest and
vibrated through her body.

Her body began to riot under his attentions, and her
determination to ignore his carnal allure weakened. She’d have to remember not
to make any rash resolutions in the future when they were both naked. She
didn’t have the willpower to keep them in the face of such temptation.

“I’ve needed to touch you all day, Bethany.” He splayed his
hand over her ribs. The need in his voice magnified her own.

Maybe he didn’t care for her like she had foolishly thought,
but he wanted her, and she wanted him. If he could use her, then by God, she
would use him right back. She would just have to keep sex and emotion separate.
Free her body and guard her heart. She could it. She had to.

“Wrap your arms around my neck,” he whispered, his lips
brushing her ear.

Bethany did as he said, her back arching and her breasts
lifting as she reached behind her. She was immediately rewarded with another
dark growl of approval that set loose swirls of sensation low in her belly.

He slid his hands down her hips and over her thighs.
Gripping her legs, he pulled them up and over his so she was totally open for
him. He moved his legs further apart, until her calves pressed against the side
of the tub and her sex was stretched wide.

The hum of the whirlpool jets lulled her as the water softly
churned against her pussy. The humid air pressed down on her with the smells of
wild, tropical flowers and wild, virile man.

Wyc’s hands began making slow journeys up and down her body.
Over her thighs and up her hips, his fingers barely brushing the edge of her
curls as he passed her mound. Caressing her stomach, exploring her navel,
teasing her breasts. Repeating the process down, and then up again. Down again.

He nudged her head to the side to give him full access to
the side of her neck. With the tip of his tongue, he traced the edge and whorls
of her ear, flicked at her earlobe, pulled it in and sucked. His hands
continued to roam up and down.

Long minutes passed as he nuzzled and kissed her neck,
paying particular attention to the spot he found just under her ear that made
her moan when he kissed it and then laved it with his tongue. And still, his
hands never ceased moving. Never straying from the path he had set, only
varying the touches, pressure and pace.

Bethany wasn’t sure how much of this slow torture she could
stand. Every time his fingers rubbed over her inner thighs she desperately
hoped he would stop and stroke her throbbing pussy before moving on. The
eddying water against her clit was enough to heighten her arousal, but came
nowhere near satisfying it.

She furrowed her fingers in his hair and twisted her hips in
invitation. He brought his knees slightly higher, holding her still again.

He cupped her breasts and circled her erect nipples with his
thumbs. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he asked.

The sexy husk of his voice melted any hiding reserve she had
been harboring. He wanted her. Badly.

“All morning I had to sit around a table with my cousins,
talking and planning, and all I could think about was being inside you again.”

His hands skimmed down her body until they rested at the
juncture of her inner thighs. With deliberate care, he began to massage closer
and closer to her aching clit. And finally—God—
finally
, his fingers were
brushing against its sides. She whimpered in relief.

He shifted sideways and reached behind him with one hand.
She heard him turn the whirlpool dial as he positioned her in front of a jet.
Before she could say anything, the gentle pulse of water changed into a
powerful stream of force and heat. The pounding water slammed against her clit
and deep up into her cunt.

The feeling was so intense after his extended loveplay, she
cried out and curled forward. He brought her back flat against his chest with
one arm wrapped around her chest while, with his other hand, he kept her labia
pulled apart and her pussy vulnerable to the onslaught of the pounding water.

Her fingers scrabbled over the slick sides of the tub as she
vied for purchase. Her body tried to bow and arch, but Wyc refused to let her
escape. He pulled back the hood of her clit, exposing the almost painfully
sensitive nub to the unrelenting pressure of the jet. Gently, he tapped it
once, twice.

Bethany’s entire body tightened and then convulsed with a
climax so violent, it tore her heart from its moorings and she was set adrift,
helpless. She closed her eyes and dug her nails into her palms, unable to fight
the brutal pleasure conquering her.

Terrified at being so completely out of control, she reached
for Wyc with her mind. Found him. As her body continued to quake under the
power of her release, she buried herself into the feelings he surrounded her
with. Warmth, assurance. In the safety of his embrace, she rode out her
ecstasy.