Powerful Moves [L.U.S.T.] (Siren Publishing Classic) (19 page)

“Let it out, muirnin,” he cooed, resting his cheek on the back of her shoulder. “You’ll feel better for it when you do.”

She did exactly that. He closed his eyes and held her for what seemed like hours as she cried. Great big tears shook her body and made him grateful, no matter the guilt he felt along with it, that she kept her back to him. It made it easier, if only a little, to keep himself from falling apart right along with her. When a woman cried, especially this ferociously, and with such abandon, it ripped him to shreds. More, when Elena cried, he realized he actually felt her pain. The almost all-consuming relief coupled with the intense fear and debilitating grief felt as if it were his own, though he knew it to be hers.

Elena reached up, covering his cheek with her hand, and he barely restrained a sigh at the touch. Damn it, what this woman did to him shouldn’t be possible. Not a woman from another realm, a woman he couldn’t keep.

And he couldn’t keep her. Forget the power that generated between them, the magic he felt even now in the tiny confines of the bathroom. Forget the tug he felt at far more than his cock whenever he simply looked at her. Forget that he didn’t even know how she felt about him. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered because he couldn’t keep her.

“Thank you.” Her hand didn’t move from his cheek as she turned in his arms to face him. Her breasts glided over his chest, leaving a trail of fire that blazed through the thin cotton material when the beaded points pressed into the hard plane of his abs. Her free hand lay lightly on his shoulder. He wanted to feel that hand on other places. He wanted it to close around his cock, to stroke his shaft until his eyes rolled back in his head.

“I needed that.” She gave him a watery smile that morphed into a hint of confusion. “Why didn’t Nurse Yuck order us to get out? Is your power still working?”

Tavius lifted a brow. “Nurse Yuck?”

Elena shrugged. “I didn’t catch the name on her badge.”

“Neither did I. But I did catch the doctor’s powers. I couldn’t quite pin down each one individually, but it’s my guess he used one on your Nurse Yuck to shut her up.”

“You’re probably right. I guess we won’t have to worry about your evocative play being on-line for awhile then.” She peered at him thoughtfully for so long he started to ask her what was on her mind. Then the power in the room intensified to a level that gave an audible sizzle and he got his answer without asking. “Make love to me, Tavius.”

Tavius felt her words like a physical caress to his balls and his heart. The softly spoken, sultry flow stroked his sac and brought his cock to an instant state of rock-hard arousal. Not that it ever managed to grow very soft in this woman’s presence.

“You just said we won’t need to worry about bringing the power on-line for awhile.” Even as he delivered the subtle reminder, his hands were roaming her back, her buttocks, dipping beneath the material of her shirt to get skin-to-skin as quickly as possible.

Elena shook her head. Her gaze on him felt as potent as her touch, as simply being near her. “Not for the power, Tavius. For me.” She swallowed and said the words that ignited a fiery chill in his soul. “For us.”

“Geezus, Elena,” he breathed, but he didn’t give her a chance to utter another word. He slammed his mouth to hers in a kiss that claimed, possessed, and damned well better make her his for all time.

In all his sexual escapades, he’d never wished to be rid of his clothes faster than he did right now. He knew of a few with the ability to blink clothes away. What he wouldn’t give for that power now. Instead, he was left to his own devices, hampered by the fact that he couldn’t rip her clothes from her tantalizing body because she didn’t have anything else to wear. How he managed the sanity to think of that he didn’t know. He only knew he cursed the day clothing was invented, the day it became against the law to walk around freely naked.

He ravaged her mouth, licking, biting, and feasting until he felt drunk off her taste. Then he moved to her jaw, her neck, her shoulder even as he struggled to free her of her clothes. Her hands moved as frantically as his, yanking at his pants, pulling at his boxers, tugging at his shirt until finally, blessed Gods, they were skin-to-skin.

Elena caught his head when he started to bend down, to feed his hunger for her wicked body by drawing a breast into his mouth. “Now. I can’t wait. I want you inside me now.”

“Something else to add to that horizontal thing,” he told her, his voice raspy against her neck. “When I get you on your back I’m going to take you so slowly, so easily you’re going to beg me to stop.”

“Bet I won’t,” she argued, reaching between their naked bodies to curl her fingers around his throbbing shaft.

Tavius let his head fall back as he drew in a steadying breath. “Sure about that?”

“Positive. I would never beg you to stop. To speed up, maybe, but never to stop.”

Tavius lifted his head to meet her gaze. In that instant three words leapt to his tongue that he never thought he’d say. He swallowed them as she drew her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced around the tiny space of the bathroom.

“Over here.” She used her hold on his cock as a leash, guiding him to the toilet and encouraging him to sit on the closed lid.

“This is new.” And perfect, he added silently as she moved into position to straddle his legs. Her hands gripped his shoulders. His hands found her waist. Her gaze locked with his and held steady as she lowered herself until the head of his cock brushed the slick outer folds of her pussy.

“There’s always room to improvise.” A hint of a smile toyed with the edges of her tempting mouth as she lowered herself that final bit and took his cock inside her.

Yes, that animalistic grunt of pure erotic pleasure came from his throat. Tavius saw sparks in every color imaginable as Elena seated herself securely on his cock. The inner walls of her channel closed around his shaft like a wet fist, and he had to tighten his grip on her sides, hold her still before he came right then and there.

“Hold on, muirnin. Give me a second here. The feel of you, Gods, being inside you...” His head fell forward, his forehead resting on her chest, and when he opened his eyes he found the treat of her breast right there. He dipped his head further, taking one taut nipple between his lips and rolling it until Elena squirmed on his cock. She spread her legs wider, grinding her clit against his pelvis, gyrating until his cock felt fit to burst and he had to thrust. He simply had to.

He lifted her. He didn’t have to do it twice. With her feet planted firmly on the floor, she rode his dick until he panted and bucked beneath her. She controlled everything, the movements, the speed,
him
. He felt mad with lust, ruled by the pleasure, consumed by this woman.

Air proved a fleeting thing as what little remained in the room turned to a pulsating wash of magic. Everything inside him felt energized, all his powers striking a precipice he only knew with her.

“I can’t…Gods, Elena.” He ground the words through gritted teeth, trying to hold back, attempting to warn her. He didn’t need to.

“Yes, Tavius. Please. Now.” Her hands dug into his shoulders, nails biting into flesh, marking him yet again with evidence of her orgasm as she exploded.

He let himself go with her. He threw his head back, eyes rolling until his lids closed and a primal growl roared from his gut. He came so hard he feared he might blow her clean off his lap. Only when the spasms started to ease did he manage to pull her to him, to hug her close and wait for his breathing and hers to return to normal.

His heart, beating frantically in his chest, would never be normal again.

* * * *

Elena’s cheeks heated when she met Dr. John Jessup’s gaze as she exited the bathroom. Tavius stayed behind to finish cleaning up. Not that he’d be able to come out without giving solid evidence to the fact that he’d been in there with her. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce what they had been doing during their short vacation to bathroom land. They might as well have walked out naked together.

Dr. Jessup maintained a straight face, though the sparkle of amusement in his eyes couldn’t be missed. “Miss Cabot, I believe,” he said by way of greeting. “I couldn’t speak freely during my first visit. I’m sure you figured out why.”

Elena nodded. “I did. Thanks for returning so soon.”

Cedric was awake and partially sitting up in the bed, the television remote in his hand.

“Are you feeling up to that?” Alarm warred with surprise and a healthy dollop of relief to see him doing so much better so soon.

“To watching television?” He glanced at her and then shot a meaningful look at the bathroom door when it opened and Tavius walked out. “I found the distraction rather helpful when I woke.”

If her cheeks burned before, they scorched now. Before she could apologize, the doctor reclaimed the conversational ball.

“As I told you when I left the first time, I expect Mr. Steele to make a full recovery.” His attention shifted to Cedric, who punched the off button on the television remote. “I can’t fully determine the damage to your abilities or what new ones you might have gained as a result of the attack.” He puffed out a breath. “But one ability I can clearly sense has been altered is that of prophesying. You could predict future occurrences before, am I right?”

Cedric answered with a nod. Though Elena’s attention was focused on him, she felt Tavius where he’d stopped behind her and knew he’d grown still with surprise. Hers weren’t the only powers he’d yet to be fully informed about.

“You knew the attack would happen?” Tavius’s question landed in the silent room like a ten-ton weight.

Cedric’s gaze moved from Elena to Tavius and back to Elena. More conversation passed between them in that single look than any words or mind-speak imaginable. She knew then his reasons for throwing up the shield during the attack, why he’d gone there alone to start. Was it possible that he’d harmed his own talent in an effort to protect her by slapping up the shield?

“You were protecting Tavius.” She narrowed her eyes, warning him to argue or deny it. He didn’t.

“I told you it is Tavius that Le Mort wants.” Cedric’s gaze flicked to Tavius. “What he and his wolf did to me, they planned for you, still intend to do to you and far worse.”

“Why protect me? Why not let Le Mort have me, feed me to the wolf?”

Cedric actually winced at that one. “Been there, going to have the scars to prove it. Being wolf treat isn’t something I’d wish even on you. As for the why...” His gaze landed on Elena again. “I believe our girl can answer that for you when she is ready.”

Elena stared at him, seeing in his gaze more of that mental knowledge that spoke wonders. He’d known all along she and Tavius would meet. He’d known she would fall in love with this man. Had he known about Le Mort? She couldn’t be certain. She had learned enough about his talents of prophecy over their years of friendship to know not everything was shown to him no matter the importance or danger.

One thing was for certain, she decided as she continued to hold his gaze for another revelation-giving moment, the something she’d sensed him hiding so many weeks ago had definitely been far more than nothing. It had been the prophecy. The only question left to answer now was how much that prophecy revealed to him and how much of it was still to come true.

“You didn’t tell Elena how Gilbert and Mica died, what Le Mort and his wolf did to them.” Gideon’s tone rang of disapproval as he poured himself three fingers of brandy at the wet bar in the parlor.

“That is knowledge she did not need at this time.” Michael settled in the corner of the buttery-soft leather sofa and crossed his ankle on the opposite knee.

“You didn’t tell her you hold the fourth piece of the necklace either.” Gideon poured a second glass and brought it to Michael before settling on the edge of the coffee table.

Michael scowled at his brother, knowing it useless to chastise him for sitting on the table rather than in one of the chairs or on the sofa. “That is more information than she needs at this moment as well. It would only worry her.”

“There you go being all fatherly again.” Gideon shook his head, but a smile tugged at his lips.

“I suppose one of us has to be.”

Gideon tipped his glass at Michael before taking a sip. “You protect her too much.”

“I grow weary of this, brother. Did we not already have this conversation?”

“Many times.” A smile split Gideon’s lips and reached all the way to his eyes. “And we likely will again many more times.”

“I have been unable to fully connect with Cedric, but I have come to understand he does not believe Le Mort is headed for Atlanta.” Michael took the conversation on a full one-eighty turn. “Where is he going if not here to us?”

Gideon shrugged. “To The Whisperer would be my guess.”

“Yes, and it would be mine as well.” Michael stared into his glass for a long moment. When he spoke again, his head remained bowed, but it wasn’t the brandy he saw. “Wherever the hell he is.”

* * * *

How could he not have known?

Regulus held the strands of nugget gems linked by three silver toggles between his hands and studied each one in turn. The tiger’s eye hugged by gemstones of jet meant to protect, the sodalite accented with like beads to offer wisdom, the moss agate dropped between aventurine stones to garner health, each intricately woven over a silver wire of delicate design and complemented by lava stones of added protection. Three pieces, three properties, three powers that, when joined with the fourth, would provide a true immortality fitting only to be worn around the neck of the truest beauty.