Bound by Light (26 page)

"Jake," Creed called as they reached the first stair. "Merilee. Hold up. We need to talk."

Merilee braked so suddenly she blocked Jake, or he wouldn’t have stopped.

"What?" Jake snarled, wheeling around to face Creed and Nick, too.

"The Mothers are here," Nick said, sounding more grim than apologetic. "One from each Motherhouse—the really old ones—"

Jake interrupted Nick by turning back to Merilee.

He didn’t care if every Mother on the planet had showed up in Manhattan. They could wait. Everything could wait.

Merilee turned her face upward to gaze at him, and the exhaustion he had seen earlier fell away. Her eyes, so deep and bright, moved over his face, then the rest of him.

"If the Mothers needed us, they’d be out here," she whispered. "Do you want to talk to your brothers, or do you want to go upstairs?"

"Go on," he said, hardly able to get the words out through his teeth. "I’ll meet you. A minute. Maybe two."

Merilee leaned a fraction closer, electrifying every inch of Jake and tripling his physical misery. "Don’t disappoint me."

Jake couldn’t speak, or he knew he’d make improper use of the first-floor landing. It was nice and flat. If he threw Merilee down on the polished wood, his brothers would get the point soon enough—if they hadn’t already.

After flashing him a devastating smile, Merilee bade Creed and Nick good night and headed up the stairs. Slowly. Letting her leather-clad hips sway until Jake almost groaned aloud from his need to touch her. At the first-floor landing, she paused and gave him a look that nearly made him come unglued.

With every bit of iron resolve he possessed, he nodded to her and tried to let his expression communicate his meaning.

Paybacks are a bitch, Merilee—and I
will
get my due.

She winked and wiggled up more steps.

Only Creed’s firm grip on Jake’s arm made him turn around.

"The Mothers are here," Creed repeated, his eyes flicking from Merilee to Jake and back again. "And they’re threatening to stay to work with Andy."

"We need a plan to survive this," Nick said, coming to a stop on Jake’s other side. "Freeman wants—"

"Cowards." Jake pulled away from Creed, toward that first step. "Quit spooking every time the Mothers come around. If they want to train Andy, then we’ll have to deal with it.
I’ll
deal with it tomorrow."

Nick started to say something, but Jake stopped him with a look. He felt like a pent-up storm ready to thunder all over Manhattan. Muscles beyond tight, he left his brothers and took the stairs two at a time, up toward the sky, toward Merilee, toward a measure of relief for his body’s torment.

She’s mine now
.

His thoughts wouldn’t focus past that point, and what he was going to do to her when he got to that library.

Only, he never got that far.

As he reached the fourth floor, Merilee stepped out of the hall bathroom she claimed as her own.

Naked.

Wet.

So beautiful Jake didn’t think he’d ever breathe properly again.

Steam billowed through the open door behind her, caught in her wind energy, caressing her, blowing in wild, streaming puffs toward Jake. He blinked as the warm, moist air struck the cool dampness of his face and skin.

Droplets of water traveled slowly down Merilee’s cheeks, following the path Jake intended to kiss, reaching toward the hollows of her neck, her shoulders, all the places he planned to explore with his tongue. Her breasts made his hands and mouth ache to squeeze, to taste, and the velvety skin of her damp belly looked so damned soft he knew he’d never get enough of her. The blond hair between her legs glistened along with her athletic thighs, and Jake wanted to move now, needed to move, but couldn’t. All he could do was stare and wonder if his cock really could rip through his water-soaked jeans.

Merilee crooked her finger, telling him to follow, ordering him to hurry with her eyes, then turned and vanished into the foggy recess of the bathroom.

Damn.

Oh, yeah. Damn!

Jake finally moved.

Fast.

Into the bathroom, into the steam.

He barely sensed the door slamming behind him, driven into place by the force of her directed wind as Merilee wrapped her arms around his neck. Her body pressed the length of his own, warm everywhere he was chilled, and she shivered, and gooseflesh broke out across her chest, her neck, and her arms as she rubbed against him.

"Condom," Jake managed to say before he totally lost himself.

Merilee shook her head. "Sibyls don’t need birth control or disease shields. We can do that for ourselves."

Then she rubbed against him again, robbing him of the ability to speak.

Jake ran his hands up and down her unbearably soft sides, drunk on her boldness and fragility. He gazed into her blue eyes, even more crystalline and endless in the smoky, hazy light of the bathroom. Her blond curls lay against her face, begging to be kissed aside. The shower was running, a soft whisper against the flow of elemental air through steam and the ragged pull of Jake’s breathing as he bent down and pressed his lips to the scar on her cheek, running his tongue along the thin, short line of it.

Merilee sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing herself harder against him as he let the water from her face trickle across his chin. He ran his mouth over her forehead, her hair, her cheeks, both of her eyelids, her nose, and she held him, arms firm around his neck, leaning back as he nipped her ears, her neck, every dent and cleft, then moved to her lips.

Gods, but she tasted perfect, fresh and female and so, so sweet as he kissed her, wishing he could bind her to him forever with that simple, hungry act. As his tongue found hers, Jake felt the pounding of Merilee’s heart, and new, hotter desire pummeled through his every muscle. His essence shifted even though that was the last thing he wanted, but Merilee didn’t seem to notice or care that the tone and color of his skin kept swapping erratically between demon and human.

His flesh and scars sizzled everywhere her skin touched him, and the air currents in the bathroom doubled. The steam became a swirling wash of heat and droplets, wrapping them both like a damp, teasing blanket. Jake refused to release Merilee’s mouth even as her embrace grew tighter, more desperate. His cock throbbed as she rocked against him, slow and sensual and demanding.

He gripped her ass, kneading the tight muscle, pulling her closer, closer. His body screamed for him to act, now, instantly, to throw her down on the tile floor and take her hard, hard, hard, with no pause, no reprieve, no mercy.

She wouldn’t stop him. She’d take everything he had and then some, and that thought almost finished the process of converting Jake’s mind to complete bubbling soup. His emotions stormed inside him, crashing and roaring louder than thunder. He was past drunk with desire now.

Her palms slid down from his neck, across his chest, lingering first on his talisman, then on the rough flesh of his scars before dropping lower.

Jake brought his hands up to press the sides of her head, allowing her a second’s breath, then kissing her again, keeping her, putting his mark on her as much as any man could dare with a woman like this.

With sure, agile fingers, Merilee found the snap of his jeans and pulled it loose. He felt the zipper moving down, tugging, then sweet release as his cock found freedom. Merilee moaned into his mouth as she gripped him, palm firm against his erection, and stroked him once from base to tip.

He damn near came from the electric shock of her touch, the exquisite pressure of her fingers on the sensitive, pulsing head.

She pulled back from his kiss to murmur, "Demon or not, I knew you were all man."

And then she was moving, sliding down his body even as she held his cock with one hand and pushed his jeans down over his hips with the other. Jake stepped out of them without moving away from her, unable to even think of her letting go of him. Too good. Too right. He ground his teeth to hold himself back, to have a single prayer of lasting more than two minutes with this kind of attention.

Merilee knelt on the tile floor at his feet, keeping a firm grip on him, holding him right where she wanted him. Mist swirled around her, the moisture highlighting her body as she leaned forward and flicked her tongue over the head of his cock.

Jake’s hips bucked.

He forced himself to be gentle as he slid his fingers into her hair and groaned as her mouth moved down his aching shaft, taking him deep, deeper, so hot and wet, and dear sweet gods, she was looking at him still, those sea-blue eyes fixed on his.

Up and down.

Again.

Any second, and he would die where he stood. Or combust. Or melt.

Merilee kept her gaze on his as she slid her mouth along his cock, holding the base tight in one hand, using the other to cup his balls and softly, softly tease the skin, touching, squeezing gently.

"I can’t last much longer," he growled.

His fingers tightened reflexively, pulling her hair, making her moan against his cock. Tremors of pleasure rolled through his entire being.

"Not much longer," he repeated.

She seemed to take his words as a challenge, gazing at him, moaning again against his shaft even as she stroked him with her lips and tongue and fingers.

Jake’s groin tightened so fast he couldn’t have warned her if he tried. He went straight from misery to volatile orgasm, shouting with the strength of it, exploding more than coming.

Merilee didn’t stop. She didn’t even slow down, stroking and swallowing until Jake had to grab her by both shoulders and force his still-pulsing cock from between her lips.

She kept right on looking at him, claiming him, melting him inside and out.

Jake knew he was still shifting, man to demon, demon to man, and he didn’t care. He pulled Merilee to her feet, picked her up, and carried her straight into the square tiled shower. She felt like silk and wet heat as he pushed her against the wall, stretched her arms above her head with one hand, gripped her waist with the other, and watched the water spill down her tight, naked body.

He knew his expression had to be feral. Frightening.

That’s how he felt as he moved toward her, intending to please her like she had never been pleased before.

(20)

Merilee gasped as Jake pressed her back against the shower wall.

The salt of his seed still teased her mouth as water tumbled down her face, her nipples, coursing between her legs as her heart pounded so hard she felt dizzy.

He’s shifting.

Demon. Now man. Sweet Aphrodite, what will it feel like when he’s inside me?

Keeping her wrists firmly above her head, Jake kissed her like she had never even imagined being kissed. His strength tipped her face into the water, then scrubbed her shoulders along the firm, steamy tiles as he fit himself to her, lips to lips, chest to chest, already-swelling cock rubbing her aching sex.

His grip. His lips. Yes.
Yes.
Soft and hard at the same time, so hot, so strong, insisting, commanding, showing her exactly what he wanted, exactly what he planned to do. Merilee trusted him completely, let him support her as his tongue thrust into her mouth, as he used his entire body to deliver wave after wave of sensation and pleasure. She could barely stand how good he felt. How good this felt. Being close to him, being naked under his touch, vulnerable, ready.

No way she had ever felt like this.

She had never even come close to allowing a man to be this much in control of her body, her sensations.

His tongue filled her mouth even as he seemed to touch her everywhere at the same time, all the while keeping her captive against the tiles. He held her helpless, molded to the steel of his muscles, as he rubbed her nipples with his chest, his cock doubling the hot, hot misery between her legs.

She flooded even more, water and juices coating her thighs until she was sure she could smell her own desire blending with Jake’s unusual, stimulating musk, and still he kissed her, still he held her, swallowing each moan, answering with low, untamed growls.

He freed her wrists and Merilee instantly slid her fingers into his hair, tangling the short strands in her fists. Seconds later, she was pretty sure she was close to ripping it out of his head, but he didn’t let her go, didn’t stop kissing her or running his hands from her breasts to her hips, his palms sliding across her water-splashed skin like so much heated, hard silk.

Jake demanded trust and surrender with each thrust of his tongue, his hips, and Merilee knew she would never be able to resist him. She wanted him so badly, and she didn’t think the desire screaming and bellowing inside her would ever be satisfied.

When he moved his hands to her heavy breasts, Merilee shuddered at the contact and almost came from just his touch. His lips moved from her lips to her chin to her neck, then quickly to her ear, where he nipped the lobe gently.