Powerful Moves [L.U.S.T.] (Siren Publishing Classic) (16 page)

“Perhaps it is merely something in the atmosphere of our realm,” Michael said dismissively. “Keep me informed of your progress.” He cut the connection.

Elena shoved her phone in her pocket as she and Tavius started walking again. “He could be right, you know.” She glanced at Tavius, who walked beside her, gaze straight ahead. “Maybe it is something in the atmosphere hampering your ability to teleport.”

“It could be.” Tavius didn’t look at her as they continued to walk. “If that’s the case, I can’t help but wonder if it will prevent me from teleporting back to Terra when it’s time.”

Back to Terra
. The words settled in Elena’s system like a poison. Atnalta was his home, Terra his realm. How could she have forgotten that so quickly? He would go back there, of course. As soon as they took care of Le Mort, neutralized the threat, Tavius would leave Earth. And where would that leave her?

She ignored the tight squeeze around her heart. “You didn’t tell me how you got us inside the museum so easily. I’m guessing it’s another of your powers. I’m also guessing you conveniently failed to mention it in the car on the drive here.”

“Mind suggestion. What we call ‘evocative mind play’ on Terra.”

Elena already guessed it to be something like that. “Ever used it on me?”

He shot her a look, the corner of his lips twitching. “I tried. Once or twice.”

Or more
. “But?” She prodded.

“It didn’t work.”

“Really?” That surprised her. She didn’t have any true shielding abilities to speak of. Her mind tended to be frustratingly like an open book to most with the powers to poke at it.

“Really. Although, my power does have its limitation.”

“Oh? Such as?”

He heaved a sigh. “It generally only works when I’m horny and only in dim threads then.”

Elena cocked a brow, thoroughly amused. “Are you saying you found Officer Clemmons attractive?” She threw her head back and laughed at the look he gave her for that one.

“The full extent of the power comes on-line during sex and stays that way for awhile after.”

“So when we had sex...” She stopped, her mind reeling. “That wasn’t the power I felt.”

He chuckled. “Not even close. Though it did amp the mind play to a level I’ve never felt before. I only used it once at the museum, Elena, on the officer outside. But the suggestion I gave him, the story, it worked on everyone in the building.”

“It saved a lot of time and hassle.”

“It did that. It’s never been strong enough to do that before.”

“How long does it last before it wears off?”

“After sex? It’s always been about an hour in the past. If this strength is a constant it might last a bit longer now.”

“You realize we’re likely to run into the same combative situation in Rio. It’s a long flight across several bodies of water.”

“You just want to have sex with me in the airplane bathroom.”

Elena laughed. “There is that.”

“You know I can’t wait to get my hands on you again, right?”

“I hoped you would feel that way.”

“We still have to talk, too. It’s still there. I can feel the power between us every time I touch you. Hell, when I’m within a hundred feet of you.”

She felt it, too. Just now it was more a glimmer than the potent, purely intoxicating sensations that overwhelmed her before and during sex with him.

“I thought at first that it was easier to think, to concentrate, like I told you it would be that night in the hallway.”

“It is and it isn’t.” Because, while she didn’t feel as if she were suffocating in desire the way she had before they had sex, she couldn’t think beyond having him again. Her womb spasmed at the idea of clamping around his thick, meaty shaft as he drove inside her sodden channel over and over in furious thrusts of pure pleasure. Her nipples ached to be fondled and sucked. Even her hair tingled to be pulled.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel, too.”

But did he feel the squeeze around his heart? Did he feel the tightening in his soul at the idea of his leaving? Did he feel the, damn it, the love slamming into him from all directions the way it did to her?

She had fallen in love with him. She wasn’t sure exactly when she realized it, but she couldn’t deny it. Falling in love with this man happened as wondrously hard and deliciously fast as having sex with him.

And I am so freaking screwed
.

* * * *

Regulus fisted his fingers around the jewel in his overcoat pocket. He’d thought the necklace to be destroyed long ago the night it had been ripped from her lovely throat. Instead, she’d been destroyed and her immortality, the immortality he’d given her, had been scattered across the Earth.

“Master, daylight is near.” Armand stood at his side, acting every bit the faithful servant despite his own self-serving reasons for shadowing Regulus. “We should get you underground.”

“Not before I have what I came for.” Regulus studied the H. Stern Museum. He didn’t see the exquisite Brazilian architecture, cared not for the centuries of antiques and priceless arts the structure contained. He wanted only the piece he came to find.

“What do you want with this necklace, Master? You are a vampire, an immortal. Why would you need a gaudy jewel to offer you something you already possess?”

Regulus whirled on the wolf, anger turning his vision red around the edges. “What I want with the necklace is none of your concern.”

“The Whisperer is growing angry by your delayed arrival.” Armand’s voice shook, but he didn’t back down. “I am to take you to him. These detours are not making him happy.”

“Do you think I care if this Whisperer is happy?” Regulus seethed. “As you just reminded me, I am immortal. I can wait forever to sell the plans I hold to the Whisperer, or I can find another greedy, cowardly soul to take them. It matters not to me because in the end I shall have what I want.”

He turned back to the building. “Two guards walk the halls inside. They are yours, my pet.” Despite Armand’s dislike for the nickname Regulus gave him, Regulus heard the wolf snicker with excitement. He felt the shifter’s hunger rise in the air between them. “There is another inside. He’s made it here before us. Do with the others as you please, but leave the third to me.”

* * * *

By the time the plane landed in Rio, Elena felt antsy, horny, and worried out of her mind. She had tried, unsuccessfully, to reach Cedric via phone and even the detested mind connection several times since leaving New Orleans. He would’ve made it to Brazil likely by the time she and Tavius boarded the plane at New Orleans International. Yet, she’d heard nothing from him. She pulled her cell from her pocket, checking the screen to see if she somehow missed his call as she walked alongside Tavius through the nearly deserted airport.

“Anything?” Tavius sounded half concerned and half annoyed.

Elena hated that Cedric and Tavius got off to such an unfriendly start. Men. They always insisted on being so competitive and bull-headed. She wanted to believe the concern she heard in Tavius’s tone came from true worry about Cedric’s well-being. She pretty much knew that’s where the annoyance came from. His apprehension was likely more for Le Mort, if Cedric caught up with vampire before the sun came up, and if he’d neutralized the threat before any more lives were lost.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“He’ll call.” Tavius took her hand, a gesture that should’ve been comforting but amped the sexual tension already settling around them to an all-new high.

She felt the now-familiar zing, the tightness of breath as the oxygen seemed to be sucked from the air. The power started strengthening almost the moment they boarded the plane and only intensified more as the flight continued, not that it had dimmed much since the first explosion in the hallway.

They walked past a window, and she noted the position of the sun. “It’s not quite dark yet.”

“I figure we have about an hour before true nightfall.” Tavius snaked an arm around her waist, drawing her against him. The heat radiating off him stroked her like a poker to a flame.

“I can’t stand this.” She wanted to jerk away from him, to move out of his embrace, to put as much distance between them as possible. How much would be enough, she wondered, a mile, a continent, a realm or two?

She would soon find out, wouldn’t she? Just as soon as they captured and killed Le Mort, Tavius would be gone. The knowledge made her snuggle into him despite her words.

“Le Mort got a good jump on us from New Orleans.” Tavius steered them down an empty passage toward an exit. Several closed doors lined one wall, and he caught the knob of one in his free hand, gave it a little twist. He released it when it didn’t open. “Still, it had to be almost daylight by the time he reached Rio.”

“Which would mean he went underground again.” There were advantages to a vampire’s aversion to the sunlight. It gave them time to play freaking guessing games, time to strategize, and since Tavius still couldn’t teleport, time to travel.

They walked a few more steps, and Tavius tried another door. It didn’t open either.

“That’s what I’m hoping.” The next door was halfway down the passageway, but Tavius led them straight to it. “It would mean we might stand a chance of heading him off at the museum. First we have other matters to tend to.” He tried the door then cursed a blue streak when it didn’t open.

“What are you doing?” She didn’t have a clue what other matters took priority over finding Le Mort before he slaughtered more innocent people. She thought nothing meant more to Tavius than that. She shot a pointed look at the exit, now looming less than a few feet down the hall. Maybe he couldn’t read Portuguese. “That door down there is the way out. The sign above it says exit.”

“I’m not looking for a way out.” He peered down at her, and the electric bolts were back in the depths of his eyes.

Elena sucked in a thick breath.

“I’m looking for a place to take you so I don’t rip off your clothes and fuck you in the middle of this hall.”

“Well, for God’s sake, why didn’t you say so?” A simple glance at the pesky locked door made it pop open.

“We’re eventually going to talk about those talents of yours,” Tavius told her as he pulled her inside.

The room was barely larger than her utility closet in her apartment but thankfully appeared to be forgotten about long ago. Four walls close enough to touch, should she spread her arms wide, enclosed a gloriously empty space.

“It’s not the Ritz,” Elena said, her hands going straight for his nape. “But it’ll do for now. I want your hands on me. I want your mouth on me. I want you inside me. Now!”

She yanked his head down and kissed him.

* * * *

Sex. Power. Evocative mind play.

Tavius told himself the need squeezing at him from all angles centered around those three things. It had nothing to do with Elena and her intoxicating taste, her sweetly tantalizing scent, the soft little sounds she made as he drew her bottom lip between his teeth and nibbled.

Any woman would’ve served his purpose right now. He only needed sex to bring his powers on-line. He only needed...

“Elena.” He whispered her name against her strong jaw as he nipped it with his teeth before licking his way down the smooth flesh of her throat. He felt her answering moan vibrate under his tongue.

“Eventually, we’re going to have to try this horizontal.” Her hands dropped to his waist, making quick work of the button and zipper of his jeans.

His hands found their way to her pants, too, unfastening them and pushing them down even as he wriggled free of his. “So I can take my time with you, make you come again and again.” He held her as she kicked off her shoes and one pant leg, then skimmed his hand over her bare bottom and down the back of her thigh. “Then, when you’re spent and breathless, I can hold you until you fall asleep on my chest.”

It terrified him how badly he wanted that right now. He wanted to be able to stretch out on a bed with her sated and sleepy beside him. He wanted to wake with her next to him in the morning, to start kissing her and fondling her until he slowly roused her from sleep. He wanted to sink his cock inside her over and over so deeply they both forgot where he ended and she began.

“Wow.” The breathy word brought his attention to her face. She stared at him wide-eyed, a world of emotions dancing in her expression. She licked her lips and his cock spasmed even as his heart did a flip in his chest. “I was thinking I wanted to do to you what you did to me the other night in my hall, but I’ll go for what you said, too.”

Tavius lifted her thigh and backed her against the wall. He had to bend his knees to put their bodies at the right height, but he felt the tip of his cock pushing at the heated folds of her pussy and knew he found his mark. Still, he didn’t push inside her, though the need to do so nearly made his knees buckle. He waited, wanting to hear more, wanting to prolong the moment even for a few heartbeats. They couldn’t spare much more time than that.

“Tell me what you had in mind.” He managed to keep his eyes open, barely, as one of her hands returned to his nape, her fingers twisting in his hair. It felt so freaking good he leaned into the touch and let a low moan escape.