Eternal Craving (21 page)

Within the dark cave of his hood, Seir’s icy eyes gleamed. “Are you sure? Some things are best kept caged.”

Jenna didn’t have time for this crap. “Free him.”

Seir glanced in Kione’s direction, and suddenly the Fae prince moved. Before Jenna could even breathe, “What the hell,” the dark fairy had stripped her of his sword.

“I will remember, woman.” Kione’s voice was dark melted chocolate with a cyanide center.

And she knew that every woman on Earth would happily gobble down that center as long as he gazed at her the way Kione was looking at Jenna now. She fell into that stare, wrapped herself in it, and knew she’d do anything he wanted her to do.
Anything.

Next to her, Seir made a sound deep in his throat, and the Fae prince shifted his gaze.

Kione smiled, and Jenna almost fell to her knees. My God, what kind of power did he have? Something about her reaction to him was more terrifying than slathering werewolves, bloodsucking vampires, and butt-ugly demons combined. Because Kione, dark prince of the Unseelie Court, had the power to control her will.

Seir didn’t react to the smile. Instead, he glanced beyond their happy little group. “Looks like Jenna’s man is joining us. He doesn’t look happy. He doesn’t even look sane.”

Jenna, along with everyone else, turned to stare.

Al had finally found her. Covered in blood, and with his beast’s gaze fixed firmly on her, he stomped across the body-strewn hall. Each footfall made the floor vibrate.

She had no idea what would have happened because without warning a thunderclap shook the whole building. At the top of the staircase, Diana rocked on her base. Brilliant flashes of light lit the darkness outside. Finally, what sounded like a series of sonic booms circled the building.

The noise was too much. She clapped her hands over her ears and shouted, “What happened?”

Seir glanced at the charging Allosaurus, and an unspoken message seemed to pass between them. “Zero’s arrived. He just took down Fin’s ward. They’ll be going at it outside. If Zero wins, he’ll destroy all of Fin’s people. He can’t kill you directly, but he has plenty of helpers who can. I have to get you out of here.”

“But what about Al?” Desperately, she looked at him, holding his gaze. There was no message in his animal’s eyes, so she let her gaze slide down to where she could now clearly see his human form within the beast.

“He wants you safe. Trust me.” Seir grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the staircase. “He and the rest of the Eleven here are Fin’s last stand. You don’t want him distracted because he’s worried about you, do you?”

“No, I—”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence because he simply picked her up and flew up the staircase. He had to be flying, because no one could run that fast. They’d barely reached the top when another sonic boom shook the building. It was all too much for Diana. The huge statue teetered and fell.

Seir leaped out of the way, and then they both watched the statue crash down the stairs. He shook his head. “First the Astrodome and now Diana. Fin is death on famous landmarks.”

Jenna finally found her voice. “Won’t all the noise bring the police? Oh, and put me down. I feel silly.” She wasn’t surprised when he ignored her order.

Did she want the police? She didn’t know. Zero might just decide that a bloodbath was fine by him and allow his army to kill all the humans they could. On the other hand, if humans showed up and Zero drew back his forces, then Al would be safe. The selfish part of her desperately wanted the latter, but she wasn’t sure she was willing to risk the human population to find out which way Zero would go.

“Won’t be any cops.”

As he raced through exhibits, she wrapped her arms around his neck. With his heavy hood, the act didn’t feel personal in any way.

“Zero took down Fin’s ward, but you can bet he’s put his own up. No one wants the attention of humans right now. Not during the battle.” He stopped and set her on her feet.

She gawked. “This is a Japanese tea house.”

“One of the museum’s period rooms. Stay here. Don’t make any noise. If Al is standing when this is all over, he’ll come for you. If not…” He shrugged. “Then I’ll come for you.”

For the first time in what seemed like centuries, Jenna had a moment to think. “Wait. You never told me whose side you’re on.”

His eyes gleamed from the depths of his hood. “I didn’t, did I?” And then he was gone.

Al was drowning in human emotions, and someone needed to throw him a freaking lifejacket. Once he’d spotted Jenna, he’d shed his attackers and headed toward her. His beast’s instinct didn’t go beyond telling him that he needed to take her away from all those males. He opened his jaws and roared his intention.

He might be running on his soul’s instincts, but that was as far as it went right now. His emotions churned out a million different messages.
Human
messages.

Seir had made things pretty simple when he’d jumped into Al’s head. Allow him to take Jenna to a safer spot or let her remain here where some blood-crazed idiot could kill her.

Al wanted Jenna safe, but not with someone he didn’t trust. Seir was a danger on a lot of different levels. Okay, okay, so the jerk was the kind of man women liked. Al didn’t want Jenna liking Seir or anyone…except for him.
Mine.
The one word said it all.

By the time Seir had started up the stairs with Jenna, Al had decided to try to follow them. That was when the statue fell. He stared at the spot where it lay. No way would his Allosaurus get up those stairs.

What the hell should he do? He glanced behind him where a few of Eight’s remaining werewolves were stalking him. He knew he was supposed to stay here until the battle was over. His beast thought it was just great that there were still living things left to kill.

But his humanity was too close to the surface right now. What he was feeling had nothing to do with his beast—fear for Jenna, fury at the man who’d taken her, and an emotion that felt an awful lot like…He had no name for the emotion. It wasn’t a part of his soul’s life. And it was demanding that he do something.

Al made his decision. He’d follow Seir in human form. He forced the emotions to the forefront, calling on his humanity to push his soul back into its cave.

“
No.”

Fin had picked a lousy time to play big boss man. But no matter how angry Fin made him, Al had formed the habit of obedience to his leader over several lifetimes.

“Remain as you are, and finish the fight. You have to win this one on your own. I’m…busy.”

Al climbed out of his own confused thoughts long enough to listen to what was happening outside. Above the noise of the battle in the hall, which was slowly winding down, he could hear bursts of sound like exploding transformers accompanied by a strange humming and buzzing outside. What the hell were Fin and Zero trying to do to each other?

Al glanced around. Most of those still standing were on his side. They didn’t need him. Jenna did.

“We can’t take a chance. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to hold Zero off. If he gets past me, he’ll wipe out every one of you. He’s that powerful. Jenna will be unprotected, and he’ll just get one of his people to kill her. You have to make sure every supporter of Eight is dead or disabled.”

In his heart, Al believed Fin. But he didn’t
want
to stay here, he didn’t want to leave Jenna to Seir’s questionable mercy, he didn’t want to
obey
. And so he did what he’d always done. He raged against his leader even as he made a tough choice. He’d keep Jenna safe by helping get rid of every last bastard that Eight had recruited. But heaven help Seir if anything happened to her.

Al let that fury-inducing thought launch him back into battle. The hapless werewolves never knew what hit them. With the sounds of terrified howls echoing in his ears, Al almost didn’t hear Fin’s last words.

“Thank you.”

And Al allowed himself a moment to ponder that. Something in his leader’s voice made him uneasy. Then he forgot about Fin in his rush to finish off the fight so he could find Jenna.

If she lived through this, Jenna would have the mother of all tabloid titles—How I Survived by Hiding in a Japanese Teahouse While Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, and My Dinosaur Lover Battled to the Death.

Too bad she couldn’t concentrate on the article to go with it. She could blame her lack of focus on one major worry. If Zero won, would either Al or she survive? The fact that she put Al before herself on her worry list said a lot about her feelings.

Maybe if she’d had this kind of crisis when she was twelve, she wouldn’t have wasted her life worrying about things that didn’t matter. Nothing like a life-or-death situation to straighten out your priorities. This put everything in perspective. It was all about keeping yourself and the person you cared about alive. Period. And it didn’t matter how you managed it. She’d do whatever it took to make sure Al came back to her. Jenna wasn’t fussy when it came to the man she loved.

Whoa! She backed up to examine the last word in that sentence. Was it true? Did she love Al? Jenna pulled out her mental checklist for love. Shared interests? Uh, did wanting to save humanity count? She’d give that a yes.

Deep emotional commitment? She hadn’t thought that one out, but she couldn’t imagine a world without him, a world where she didn’t want to be with him. And God knew, if she wasn’t running for her life after the last few days, then the whole commitment thing must be serious.

Sexual compatibility? Even in the midst of the present danger, the question almost made her smile. That was a big fat yes.

Willing to die for him? Until now, that question would never have popped onto her radar. In her pre-Eleven world, she’d never have imagined being asked to die for someone. But now, listening to the battle rage below, it seemed perfectly reasonable.

And she realized she’d already answered it. When she’d used Kione’s sword on the werewolf attacking Al, she’d known her chances of being ripped to pieces were pretty good. It hadn’t stopped her.

Suddenly, she froze. She didn’t even breathe as she listened. While she’d been exploring the love question, everything had grown quiet. No sounds of battle, no light and sound show from outside the museum.

Who had won?
Was Al okay? She wanted to race through the museum’s exhibits screaming his name. She didn’t. That could get her killed, and she wouldn’t be any help to anyone if she was dead.

Seir had said he’d send Al to her. She didn’t have a clue where Seir’s real loyalties lay, or even if he had any, but she’d give him a reasonable amount of time to come through on his promise before she ventured from her hiding place.

It seemed like hours as the silence dragged on and on and on. A quick glance at her watch showed that ten minutes had passed. The watch lied.

Just when she’d decided that even the threat of death was better than this feeling of her nerves stretching until they were ready to snap like a rubber band, she heard something. A quiet footfall.

She stilled, not even breathing as she tried to reach beyond the teahouse with her senses. Al, Seir, or someone else?

“Jenna.”

Her name was only a soft ripple of sound, but she knew the voice. She exhaled in relief so powerful she shook with it. “Here. I’m in here.” She managed to make it to the teahouse’s entrance, but her hand trembled as she gripped the doorframe.

Al stood in the shadows amidst the incongruous garden that made up this small piece of Japan. He wore his black duster. His hair was a wild tumble over his shoulders and around his face. He was danger, darkness, and all things delicious.

It was too dark to see if he had any injuries, but he was alive.
Alive.
The miracle of that made her want to cry. She didn’t. There were other things, better things she could do with her time than crying.

“Wait for me inside.” The shadows hid his expression.

At another time she would’ve gotten in his face about giving her orders, but she was still floating in a state of euphoria, so she let it pass. She retreated into the unlit room.

Unexpectedly, lights came on outside the tea house. Then Jenna saw Al’s silhouette step in front of the shoji screen that made up half of the front wall. With mouth suddenly dry, she watched him yank off his duster and drop it onto the ground. She could guess where this was going.

He ripped off his T-shirt with controlled violence before reaching for his pants. There was something darkly voyeuristic in watching an anonymous shadow getting naked. But that didn’t keep her gaze from staying glued to the screen.

He rid himself of his jeans in one fluid motion. No underwear followed. She slid the tip of her tongue across her lower lip. Then he simply stood facing the screen. His form was all flowing lines delineating a strong muscular body. The translucent screen erased all the hard edges.

When he finally stepped from behind the screen and into clear view, it was like a pure adrenaline shot to every sexual cell in her body. And right now it felt like those were the only kinds of cells she had.

His skin gleamed golden in the soft light. When he shifted his weight, hard muscle moved beneath all that smooth skin. Jenna swallowed hard as she glided her gaze over the length of him, from powerful pecs, to ridged stomach, to muscled thighs and strong legs. That was the appetizer.

She moved on to the main course. His sacs hung heavy between his thighs. His cock was long, thick, and showing signs of intense interest.

Jenna watched him approach, a slow deliberate stalking. Raising her eyes to his, she gasped. His soul looked out of those eyes. The Allosaurus wasn’t back in its cave. It might have allowed him to regain human form, but it was still in the driver’s seat.

Something moved in her—hot, primitive, and oh, so savage. The terrible fear for his life she’d known a few moments ago rolled over to expose a surprising underbelly.

Jenna wanted what his soul was promising. His beast didn’t have anything remotely civilized in mind. Well, good. Because she needed to unsheathe her claws and unleash all the violent emotion stored up inside.

He stepped into the tea house, so close she could feel his excitement, the emotional high still thrumming through him. His scent was heat, hunger, and a primal craving.

Jenna got it. She might not have an ancient predator’s soul, but she’d bet the hot need driving her was just as powerful as his. They’d faced death. Now they’d celebrate life.

And even though she realized she’d eventually have to ask for details about what had happened in the Great Stair Hall, she’d live in the moment for however long they had together.

He took the time to inspect the dim interior of the teahouse, a predator’s instinct when confronted with the unknown. His sheer size made the room seem tiny. He was a barbarian invading a place meant for serenity. She smiled. Serenity wasn’t at the top of her wish list right now. What she needed only this sexy predator could give her.

And would you look at that gorgeous ass—compact, muscular, but nicely rounded. Supremely touchable.

“I like this. Everything here is of the earth. It’s right.”

She frowned. “I guess so.” What did that have to do with anything? Yes, she knew the tea house was made of natural materials. So? A green environment was not a top priority when it came to sensual settings. She’d make love with him in a plastic cube, and recycling be damned.

Suddenly he was in front of her, invading her space, backing her against the wall.

“My beast tasted blood to night and liked it. I’ve experienced a lot of new emotions since I rose in this time, but my basic urges are still those of my soul—to kill and to mate.”

His heavy-lidded gaze touched her with erotic intent. And if there were tendrils of dark challenge interwoven with that intent, all the better.

Al reached out and wrapped his fingers in her hair. He tugged, pulling her closer. “My soul doesn’t want to go back into its cave. It wants to mate with you deep within the shadows cast by trees from
my
time, on the hard ground from
my
time, with the storm winds of
my
time cooling the fever after the coupling.”

She ran her fingers over the side of his face, feeling beard stubble along with the clenching of his jaw. This small sign of tension upped her anticipation. This wouldn’t be like the last time. She sensed it. “And what does the human part of you want?”

His smile was a flash of white in the darkness. “I want to make love with you in this room surrounded by the reminders of living things. The scent of cedar, pine, and bamboo connect me to my other life. It’s enough.” This time his smile was all hungry male. “You’re
more
than enough.”

Tightening his grip on her hair, he tipped her face up to meet his gaze. “Touch me.” Then he covered her mouth with his.

She opened to him, and the heat of his lips, his tongue, ignited a fire that blazed across the millions of years separating her from his soul. His beast lived in his eyes, and she almost imagined it turning its massive head to stare at her. Recognition flared in its alien gaze.
Mate.

Jenna would meet his soul on its own ground. She tangled her tongue with his, explored the heated wonder of his mouth, and knew she’d remember that taste of dominant male until she died, and beyond.

As he deepened the kiss, she pressed her body against his. She’d taken off her coat a while ago, but there were still too many layers of cloth between them. She wanted bare flesh against bare flesh.

Great minds thought alike, because when he finally broke the kiss he immediately slipped her sweater over her head. Her bra followed quickly. She helped him strip away her jeans and pan ties. This wouldn’t be a slow, sensual mating. Their need was too great.

“Touch me.” There was an urgency to his repeated words.

While he nibbled a path along her jaw, down her neck, and across the swell of her breast, she reached between them and clasped his cock.

His low guttural moan sounded appreciative.

Jenna clenched her thighs around the image of him driving deep into her body, filling her,
completing
her. These thoughts from someone who’d always claimed she didn’t need
any
man to complete her. She’d been wrong.

“
Touch
me.” He didn’t sound too coherent.

What did he mean? She
was
touching him. But then she lost her train of thought as he touched
her
, and released something that had slumbered for a very long time. It uncurled and indulged in a long sensual stretch, and then it turned its gleaming gaze on all that hard, sexy, male flesh. It unsheathed long, sharp claws and opened jaws filled with pointy white teeth.

It approved. And in Al’s soul it found a kindred spirit.

She flung back her head as he traced the curve of her breast with the tip of his tongue. Around and around, closer and closer to her nipple.

Jenna couldn’t wait. With a sound that came scarily close to a growl, she grabbed his hair and yanked him closer. “You’ve been circling to land for too long. Put us down.”

He did. Closing his lips over her nipple, he flicked it with his tongue and then nipped.

“Yes.” She demonstrated her satisfaction by reaching behind him to rake her nails down his back and across his ass.

He grunted his surprise before laughing softly. “You challenge my beast.”

“You betcha.”

Something in the air changed, grew thicker, hotter, and she was almost panting to suck in enough air.

He clasped her butt cheeks in his big hands, digging his fingers into her flesh, kneading, massaging, as he scraped his teeth across her stomach. Only his tight grip kept her upright as he pressed her back against the wall.

“Spread your legs.”

His hoarse command didn’t meet with any resistance on her part. He kissed his way up to her other breast, closing his lips firmly around the nipple and sucking so hard that every nerve ending in her body screamed with the pleasure-pain of it.

Then he slipped his knee between her spread legs and pressed it tightly
there
. She widened her stance so his knee could press harder and harder and harder. And when he began to slide his knee back and forth over her flesh, she cried out with the intense sensation.

Closing her legs around his thigh, she rode him. He moved harder and faster, lifting her off her feet with the fury of his need. Her back bounced off the tea house wall, and the wall shook.

“This. Building. Is. Too. Delicate.” He forced out each word in time to the hard thrusts of his knee.

“But
I’m
not.” She couldn’t take any more. She was so wet, and the heaviness low in her belly shrieked for the only thing that could bring relief. Jenna climbed him, clawing at his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his hips.

He wasn’t a slow learner. Once again clasping her behind in his hands, he lifted her above his shaft and then paused.

Glancing between her legs, she could see his cock, so hard and ready that a bead of moisture glistened on its head. Still he didn’t lower her onto him.

Okay, if he wanted to play hardball—she paused to admire her own phrasing—two could play that game. Taking one hand from his shoulder, she reached between them and scooped his balls into her palm. She rubbed the pad of her thumb over them—so hard, so tight—before dragging the tips of her nails across them again and again until they tightened even more, if that was possible. He gave up with a groan.

He lowered her until she could feel the tip of his head nudging her open. Nudging wasn’t needed, because the door was wide open and the welcome mat already spread out.

Jenna slipped lower and lower, feeling that incredible stretching sensation as he filled more and more of her. She clenched around every inch, focused only on the friction of flesh against flesh, and knew neither of their patience could last much longer.

“My beast thinks this is crap.” He tugged at her earlobe with his teeth.

“I agree.” Her personal beast thought it was double crap.

Without warning, he forced her down on him at the same time he drove into her. The meeting was cataclysmic.