Hunted, The Complete Edition: A Full-length Steamy Vampire Romance (New England Nightwalkers) (7 page)

I
t was going
to be okay. She knew it in her heart, but that didn’t make it beat more softly. It had taken every ounce of nerve she possessed to do it. To get on all fours like that redhead from the club. And if Gabriel’s stricken expression was any indication, she was doing an okay job at it.

“Beautiful. But no speaking unless spoken to.”

The praise and the admonition made her flush with pleasure and shame at the same time and the feelings both confused and excited her. But when he padded toward her, his thick erection clearly visible beneath his pants, the shame was forgotten.

She leaned toward him, eyes locked between his thighs. Would she finally get to taste him?

“Straighten out,” he demanded, before reaching out to press a hand to the center of her spine, directing her.

She trembled at his touch and groaned as he trailed his fingertip down, down to her bottom.

It was only then, when she dropped her head low, that she saw what was in his hand. Fear came hard and swift.

“What are you going to do with that?” she asked before she could stop herself.

He pulled away and shook his head, but didn’t respond. Instead, he circled her, walking around the perimeter of the bed, his gaze burning her alive. Her legs had started to tremble and she was on the verge of weeping, but couldn’t say why.

Then his hands were on her, stroking her hair, trailing around her waist and then up to tease her breasts. White-hot lust hit her right between the thighs and she cried out. He plucked her stiff nipples in turn until she writhed and groaned, all the while sliding the slippery silken fabric over her skin.

“Close your eyes,” he muttered.

She did as she was told, but couldn’t deny the rush of fear. When he slipped the necktie over her eyes, she flinched, panic making her heart pound against her ribs.

She was going to hate this. She hated the dark, and—

“Zara?”

Gabriel’s voice was guttural, thick with need, and for some reason, just hearing it centered her.

It would be all right. Gabriel would make it all right.

She moistened her dry lips and choked out a response.

“Yes, Sir?”

His sharp intake of breath reverberated through the room. Still, he didn’t touch her.

“Sink lower onto your thighs,” he said, his tone clipped and firm. “And arch your back.”

Her stomach did a free-fall and she resisted the very real temptation to collapse onto her belly and curl into a ball. She was strong. She could do this.

She sank lower into the position he wanted and gasped when he laid a warm hand on her lower back.

“Good. That’s beautiful.”

Her pulse went into overdrive as his words washed over her. His praise sent a gush of heat between her thighs and she desperately wished she could tear off the blindfold and look into his eyes, but the feeling was short-lived because then, his hands were on her again. Tracing the contour of her hips, sliding over her ass and squeezing, slipping between her thighs.

She moaned as his fingers dipped into her slick folds.

“Ah, love, this pleases me more than I can say.”

The huskiness of his voice was a reward of its own because she could hear the want there. The need that echoed her own.

“Yes, god, yes. Gabriel, can you—”

“No speaking, Zara.”

She tried to listen to what he was saying, but he was doing the most sublime things with his index finger.

“Okay.”

“Focus, Zara. You are to speak only when spoken to. Is that understood?”

She nodded helplessly, grinding her hips backward to urge him deeper, to get him to slide his finger all the way into her aching sex.

“I need a verbal when I ask a question. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she muttered.

“Yes?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“That’s ten, love.” His voice was almost hypnotic now, and she let it wash over her like a balm as he spoke. “Five for the interruption and five because you forgot to call me Sir.”

Ten…

It took a second for his meaning to sink in, and when it did, she froze. Instinctual terror shot through her followed by a wave of nerves so acute, her thigh muscles began quiver. But she couldn’t deny, beneath it all, there was a sense of anticipation. A thick, hot, urgency that settled low in her belly at the thought of his punishment.

“Yes, Sir,” she whispered. She nearly cried out when he took his hand away but she managed to hold it in. There was the sound of shuffling feet behind her, and then more noise she couldn’t identify—the rumple of clothes? A strange patter.

“Posture,” he reminded her softly, his voice close, as if he was right behind her.

She adjusted her body and tensed, waiting for what would happen next.

“Cry out if you need to,” he said. “But don’t jerk away from me.”

She opened her mouth to agree, but all that came out was a choked groan as his hand came crashing down on her ass, hard. She tensed, but didn’t pull away from him or break from her posture.

“Nice. That’s so nice, love,” he murmured. She’d barely caught her breath when the next slap came just as quick, twice as hard, in the same spot.

She bit her lip and swallowed a grunt as the sting intensified.

“You’re doing so well, Zara. I can’t wait to reward you.”

She didn’t know what her reward would be, but the possibilities sent a gush of hot liquid to her center and she could feel it, slick between her thighs.

The next three blows came back to back, without a second in between, and when he stopped, they were both breathing hard. Her backside was achy and hot but she’d never been so turned on.

He paused, silent for a long moment before he laid his mouth on her ass in the spot that stung the most.

She gasped and arched her back.

Only five more to go and she didn’t know if that was a relief or a disappointment.

She shivered at the thought, and then winced as his teeth nipped her ass cheek sharply.

Her heart thrummed as she waited, breath bated, for what would come next. Would he tell her when, or—

She yelped as the next blow fell. The sensation was like a web of fire ants along her bottom and she squirmed to get away from it.

“Stay still, love,” he murmured, his tone gentle now. “Almost done. It will hurt less if you relax.”

She pursed her lips and tried to let the tension flow from her body.

Four more.

The next was a doozy and she wondered if she could take any more as her throat began to ache with unshed tears. She waited, anticipating the next, when warm hands cupped her ass and massaged her. It hurt, but she stayed perfectly still, realizing that with every motion, his thumbs were moving closer and closer to that infernal ache between her thighs.

“I know it hurts, love. But I wish you could see what I’m seeing. How beautiful it is. Your pussy, soaking wet, your ass wearing my mark.” Her ground the heel of his palm to her clit and she swallowed a scream as wave after wave of ecstasy rolled over her.

“Ah, god,” she ground out, hips fluttering as the need to come came barreling down on her like tsunami. “Please, Gabriel, please don’t stop.”

With the absence of sight, everything else was so much keener. The scent of his cologne mixed with the leather of the bench. The sound of his broken breaths that let her know he was as moved as she was by what was happening between them.

Time seemed to stand still as his hand came whooshing through the air again, and right as he struck, something slid deep inside her. She let out a wail as he curled two fingers inward to ride against her g-spot in a soul-shattering caress.

“Two more,” he muttered, his voice all grit now as he fucked her with his hand. Faster. Harder. Deeper.

Crack
.

Crack.

The searing pain on her ass barely registered as he laid his mouth on her cheek again, this time, gently exploring the burning welts there with the tip of his tongue.

Any attempt to stay quiet and wait patiently until he gave her the go ahead blew away like dust in the wind as she ground backward against him, driving his fingers deeper, relishing the pleasure pain of it all.

“I’m—I’m going to come. Please—“

“Not yet, love. Listen to me,” he murmured, his lips blowing warm puffs of air on her sore bottom as she tried to focus. “Breathe deeply through your nose and out through your mouth.”

She did as he told her, but he didn’t slow his movements. Those clever hands continued their torture and she began to sob softly as she tried desperately to fight the urge to climax.

“Listen to my voice, love. You’ve been such a good girl. You want to please me, don’t you?”

She nodded as his thumb snaked forward and swirled over her swollen clit.

God, she wanted so badly to make him happy. To show him she could do this. She bit down on her lip, the maneuver buying her a few more seconds of sanity.

“Good, that’s so good, love. Do you feel it? It’s right there. So close, can almost taste it.” He tapped her g-spot again as his slick thumb rotated in a circle that made her dizzy, and she bit down harder.

“But I’m a selfish man. I want to feel that on my cock. Your tight pussy clamping down when you come, squeezing and dragging me down with you.”

She wanted that too. So badly. She opened her mouth to tell him. To beg and plead and cry if she had to, but she needn’t have bothered. She heard the tear of foil, and then he closed his damp fingers over her hips.

When the swollen, thick head of his cock probed her entrance, she let out a hiss. So good. Just a little deeper…

“You’re mine, Zara,” he growled, plunging deep, feeding her every inch of his distended member all at once.

The sensation stole her breath and scrambled her thoughts as she stretched to accommodate him. He was massive, but she was so primed, so ready, that it was only a moment before she was pulsing back against him, desperate to feel the drag of his flesh against hers.

“This? Is this what you want?” he demanded, rearing back and plunging forward, impaling her on his stiff rod, his hips grinding against her stinging bottom.

Lights exploded behind her eyelids as the climax hit her like a locomotive. Dimly, she was aware of her own screams as he thrust into her again and again, riding the wave of her as her body jerked and trembled.

It felt like it went on forever, the pleasure/pain.

She was still gasping for air and twitching when he stiffened behind her and bellowed her name. Not wanting it to end, wanting to milk it for everything it was worth, she reached behind her and yanked him as close as she could. He exploded, his cock bucking against her g-spot hard, and she went hurtling toward a second orgasm. He must’ve sensed it and palmed both of her still-aching ass cheeks in his hand as he yanked her back against him.

The pain was razor sharp as her stinging ass connected with his hips again, but to her stunned surprise, that was what sent her flying over the cliff again as she cried out his name.

She didn’t know how long they stayed there like that, locked together. It felt like a moment and forever all at the same time. But when she felt him shift behind her and pulled away, she whimpered at the loss.

“Shh, it’s all right love. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her body felt so languid, so satisfied and loose that she could only manage a nod as gentle hands tugged the blindfold off and laid her onto the bed.

“How do you feel?”

“Never better,” she answered honestly, when she could work up the energy to speak. Maybe it was too much too soon, but she couldn’t work up the energy to be embarrassed. It was the honest truth and she refused to be ashamed.

He settled heavily onto the mattress next to her. Then, he pulled back to stare down into her eyes. What she saw reflected back at her made her heart skip a beat.

“I am yours and you are mine, Zara,” he murmured, tracing the bow of her lip with his thumb.

The words should’ve terrified her. They’d met only days before, and yet, she’d never felt so cherished.

So tonight, instead of clinging to old fears, she would choose this.

She would choose Gabriel.

It was a risk. Who knew what the future held? But it was a risk worth taking.

She leaned up to kiss him and then burrowed against his shoulder. She didn’t know where he grew up, or his favorite kind of ice cream, but she knew it felt right. And that was enough for now.

She had a long way to go toward healing from her father’s tragic death and the emotional struggles he’d endured in life, but at least now, she didn’t have to face tomorrow alone.

She nestled closer to Gabriel and let her eyes drift shut, at peace for the first time in forever. And she slept.

* * *

G
abriel remained
awake late into the night, thoughts churning so violently, it was a wonder Zara couldn’t hear them.

Because he had heard hers.

Now that they were lovers, it was inevitable unless he tuned them out. And he would, from this moment on, because to do otherwise would be a violation.

But intended or not, tonight had been one of revelations. Not only had his path become clear, but so had Zara’s journey. He’d seen it all. And it had explained everything from the vial of holy water to the urn that sat on her mantle.