Mystical Seduction: full-length sensual paranormal romance (The Protectors) (17 page)

Her act of rebellion only seemed to feed his lust. His eyes
glittered. He grabbed her wrists and pressed her to the bed.

“You are my queen,” he forced the words on her. She had no
choice but to believe him. His arousal felt hot against her slick opening. “You
are mine.”

He entered her fast and hard, pinning her to the bed. The
magical glow that had encased her body sparked and flared each time he pressed
into her. She was just getting used to his fast rhythm when he pulled out.

“I will give you the third mark, unless you want me to stop.
Do you want me to stop?”

Although she might be a slave to his desires, she felt the
power he held over her pull away. He was giving her the choice. She could tell
him to stop.

Tears filled her eyes. Did she want to be with him? Did she
want her life to be forever linked with his?

Did she want him?

Unable to trust her voice, she nodded. Her heart ached for
him. They needed each other. Even before he’d started playing those mind games
on her, she knew they were meant to be together.

The palm of his hand glowed red. “This will sting. I’m not
sure why I know that, I just do. It’ll sting,”Horace warned. But before touching
her with his hand, he entered her again and started moving in and out of her
body. Her muscles ached and strained from the building orgasm.

She cried out her pleasure. She belonged with him…
to him
.

In that golden moment, they truly were one.

His midnight blue eyes trapped her gaze. “You will come for
me.” His voice vibrated with power.

“Yesss…” she moaned as her entire body pulsed. Her nerves
danced and sang. Even the tips of her fingers felt tingly and happy as she
throbbed at his command.

He grabbed hold of her upper arms. His glowing hand seared
her skin. Pain tangled with pleasure, getting Faith all mixed up. She couldn’t
tell where one sensation started and the other one stopped.

“Come for me again,” he whispered.

She hadn’t finished riding the first wave when the second
orgasm hit her with the force of a speeding train. Her hips rose off the bed to
let him drive deep, deeper than she’d ever taken a man. The room spun end over
end. Overwhelmed, she cried out again.

And still, the orgasm rocked her.

Sparks lit the room and bounced against her skin with
stinging electric barbs. Until this moment, she’d never felt so alive. So full.
Or so loved.

Horace’s eyes grew dark, nearly pitch black as he continued
to make love to her. Faster and faster. On shuddering breath, he shouted her
name and spilled his hot seed into her womb.

* * * *

She couldn’t move. Horace had collapsed on top of her. His
weight should have felt crushing. Oddly, the warm pressure of him lying on top
of her was comforting, like being tucked under a favorite blanket.

“My God,” she managed to whisper once she caught her breath.

“No kidding.” His hoarse voice tickled her ear. She would
spend her life with this man. Perhaps, in time, he would even learn to love
her.

As the pleasure humming through her body calmed and her
heart rate slowed, the throbbing pain where he’d marked her became more
prominent. She rolled Horace aside and sat up, hugging her arm to her chest.

“Did you burn my arm off?” she asked.

He peeled her fingers from where she held the stinging
flesh. His lips parted slightly when he saw what he’d done.

“What?” she asked and peered at the mark.

A lioness, very similar to the primitive lion tattoo on
Horace’s arm had been blazed into her upper arm. The skin around the blackened
outline of a lioness appeared red and puckered.

“We’re joined,” he said. A sense of awe softened his voice.
“Are you sorry?”

She didn’t know how to answer him. He’d left the ceremonial
knife on the bed, and the power he’d unleashed—
his power
—still beat
wildly inside her.

“It hurts,” she said, rubbing her arm.

He feathered his lips across the burn and it cooled almost
instantly.

She let out the breath she was holding. “I’m marked with the
lioness and you’re marked with the lion. You’re the one always running from me.
Do
you
regret it?”

The dark look he gave her shivered through her body. “I’ve
never owned anything so precious in my life, my love.”

“If I’m your queen, that would make you my—”

“
No!
” he said before she could finish that thought.
“No, that doesn’t make me anything.”

She ran her finger along the razor-sharp edge of the knife
lying in the bed with them. She couldn’t seem to take her mind off it or why
he’d brought it into the bedroom with him in the first place. She recognized it
as a knife used in sacrifices. The carvings on the handle suggested that it had
been crafted for human sacrifices.

A lingering spark shimmered in the air like a dying star and
reminded her of the danger she posed. To him. To herself. And to the rest of
the world.

“How do you plan to stop this power that’s boiling inside of
me? How will you stop me from accidentally hurting someone? I blew up that
monster who was trying to hurt us. I don’t know how or why. What if I get upset
and blow up someone I love? Someone innocent?”

Instead of answering, he twined his fingers with hers and
told her to close her eyes.

She wouldn’t.

She couldn’t.

Why should she close her eyes?

This was it. Even after what they’d shared together, he
still planned to kill her. She had seen it coming, but still, realizing that
this was how things would end between them burned a deep hole in her heart.

“There are less final ways to sever our relationship, you
know,” she said, with a nervous laugh.

“Shhh…” He pressed a kiss against her mouth. The rough pads
of his fingers gently drew her eyelids closed. “Listen.”

The sound of blood roared through her ears. She held her
breath, waiting…expecting to feel the sting of his blade at any moment.

Would it be a quick death? Would he know how to do that? Or
would she linger for an hour or more, suffering?

“Your pulse is jumping faster than a nervous rabbit’s.” He
caressed the length of her neck. “Relax.”

“Why?” She opened her eyes. “Will it make it easier for you
to kill me?”

“
Kill you
?”

Her gaze fell to the knife inches from her head and even
closer to his hand.

“I needed something to cut the ropes,” he explained.

“Don’t lie to me. You came in here prepared to kill me with
that knife. I’ve seen others like it. It’s a death knife.”

“Not today it isn’t,” he said.

“But what about this out of control power inside me?”

“That’s why I want you to listen.”

Faith huffed, a frustrated breath. But she did as he’d
asked. She drew several deep breaths and closed her eyes, listening.

The power. It still spiraled restlessly within her body, but
it no longer clawed at her insides desperate to rip its way out. Something had
soothed it.

“I’m acting as your anchor,” Horace explained. “At least,
that’s what I think is happening.”

“Wow,” Faith mouthed. She sat up and looked into his dresser
mirror. Her skin no longer glowed. “Talk about an ego boost. You’re that good.
Not only did you…did you…rock my world, you also managed to silence the storm
that threatened to tear apart the threads of the universe.”

A quick smile jerked up the corners of his mouth. He leaned
over and tasted her lips, sending her mind spinning again.

“Contact,” he said. “Intimate contact seems to be
important.”

She eased back on her elbows. “I have this feverish power
living inside me and you’re my bottle of aspirin, huh?”

“Something like that.”

“And how many times a day do we…?” A blush crept up her
neck.

“I don’t know. But until we figure out the details about
keeping your power…um…
my
power in check, you’ll need to stick close to
me.” He trailed his finger down her chest and over a nipple. A tingly golden
glow just under her skin followed. He eased himself over her, planting himself
between her slightly sore legs. “We’ll be doing a lot of this,” he warned
between kisses.

“Hmm…” She couldn’t seem to think straight when he was
touching her. But she needed to tell him something. If only—

“I still don’t like you,” she said just as he slipped his
hand between her legs.

“Uh…huh…” He sounded as foggy as she felt. “You don’t need
to like
me
. But I promise, you’re going to love
this
.”

The next few days flew by. Horace appeared determined to
keep Faith tied to the bed, not with chaffing ropes, but by tempting her
growing sexual hungers.

The bedroom above the café, where she had later discovered
she’d been taken, had all the comforts she could ever ask for—a luxurious
bathroom with a shower large enough for two, a comfortable
bed with lavish red silk sheets, and enough pillows to make
a sultan envious.

Yet even ultimate bliss could be
exhausting
after a time, especially considering how fully she’d put her
heart and soul into her frequent and often creative encounters with Horace. And
when he wasn’t making love to her, he spent his energies kissing her, spooning
with her, caressing her, or slipping delicacies from Jake’s kitchen into her
mouth. It was wonderful.

It was heavenly.

Still, she wanted more.

Besides talking briefly with Horace about what the marks on
her body might mean—a discussion that had led nowhere—they had not discussed
anything. For all she knew, Horace still was planning to try and wiggle out of
their relationship. What that would do to her physically and emotionally, she
didn’t dare speculate. While she was with him, she hadn’t sparked, or glowed or
threatened the stability of the universe. Not even once.

But while she was physically safe, her mental state felt as
if it was teetering on a very high edge. She’d fallen completely under Horace’s
spell. All he had to do was crook his finger, and she was ready for him. One
heated glance and her body became his for the taking.

What would he do if she tried to thwart the power he held
over her? The thought terrified her.

Even more frightening than that was the realization that not
once during their past few days together had she considered disagreeing with
him.
Not even once
. How very unlike her to be so easy-going.

It had to be because he could control her thoughts. And if
they had any hope of making this relationship work, they needed to proceed on
an equal footing.

She would not be his mindless, naked sex slave salivating
for his touch with every throbbing beat of her overheated heart.

At least, not forever.

Even if the hard planes of his chest were so well-formed and
delectable.

She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips and nibbled
on his neck, teasing him with the metal stud piercing her tongue. He moaned
lightly.

“You can’t be ready again,” he murmured.

But she was. And soon, he was too.

This was how it went for a few more days, until the
important thought she’d been trying to catch onto finally worked its way up
through the sex-induced haze.

They needed to have a serious discussion.

She slid her hand to her belly. “We’ve not been using
protection,” she said, wondering if his child was growing inside her already.
Wondering how it could not be. “If we’re going to continue like this, we
probably should start thinking about the future.”

She swallowed deeply. She expected him to push her away or
reject what she was about to say. All the same, she had to speak her mind. She
wasn’t one to let life come at her as it may.

She swallowed again, building her courage. It was time she
took back control. “We really should talk about marriage.”

“Hmmm…” He nuzzled her neck.

“What? You’re not going to try and weasel your way out of
it? You’re not going to give me a hundred or so reasons why we shouldn’t be
together?” She propped herself up on her elbow so she could try and decipher
what he was thinking.

He didn’t look as if he wanted to run away from her or from
their relationship.

“Who are you and what have you done with Horace?” she asked.

He smiled and, with feather-light kisses, he worked his way
down her neck to her left breast. He licked the mark he’d made there. Her skin
tingled and sent a ripple of desire through her body.

Hmmm
…

The way he touched her made her wonder why she didn’t light
up in a burst of flames. She felt close to panting by the time he swirled his
tongue over her pebbled nipple. Maybe she could put off this discussion for a
little while longer.

“Ah…um…” She pushed his head away. “Stop that, I need to
think.”

“Hmmm…” He’d started kissing her thigh now.

She tried to roll away, but he grabbed her hip. “Thinking is
overrated,” he grumbled.

“Speak for yourself.” He pushed her legs apart and buried
his head between her thighs. “You’re…you’re…you’re…
hmmm
…”

No, no, no
. She would not give into him. This was
important. Now, what was she going to talk to him about?

“M-m-marriage,” she said on a shuddering breath.

He muttered a reply. The sound of his voice vibrated against
her tender opening. She gripped the sheets and arched her back. A few minutes
later, and at his insistence, a vibrant orgasm shuddered through her body. Her
head fell back on the silk pillow as her limp body sank heavily into the thick
feather mattress.

He lifted his head and smiled wickedly at her. As lithe as a
serpent, he eased his body up along her side until he stretched out against her
length. Still grinning, he brushed aside a strand of her hair that had curled
across her nose.