Redemption (4 page)

And she had that look on her face again—pure, delighted wonder. He was lost.

She pressed up to meet him, one hand tangling in the hair at the base of his skull to pull his mouth down. Soft. She was so soft. Her hair, her skin, her lips. She wasn’t big but the contours of her body were different from most Yaguara women who tended to be lean and hard, warriors all of them. Sophie didn’t battle him for control. She
melted
, her body pliant at just the touch of his hands.

Her free hand came around to the base of his spine, fingertips slipping just inside his shirt, splayed against his sweat-damp skin. He pressed forward into her heat. All he had to do was touch her knee and she spread her legs so that he could step between them.

“Sophie,” he murmured against her lips. “God, you’re sweet.”

She smoothed her hands over his shoulders and down his arms, fingers flexing into the muscles there. He smiled and waited for her to make her decision though it cost him. She was testing him as a mate even if she would deny it. Humans rejected their instincts. They liked to pretend they were too civilized for that kind of thing, that they chose their partners by logic and reason. It was clear to him that they were suited to each other. Sophie would recognize it on some level too.

He felt the subtle shift in her body when she made up her mind and he wanted to yell in triumph.
Consent.
She didn’t say anything, only turned her head to kiss his jaw and her hair fell to one side, baring her neck. She wouldn’t know what that meant, he told himself, even as the sight of her creamy skin and fluttering pulse bolted through him like electricity.

He shuddered and bent his head to touch his tongue to her pulse. He licked her, tasting salt and need, and he couldn’t stop himself from bracketing the spot with his teeth. She startled at the contact but steadied when he set his teeth deeper into her flesh. A sound came from him, a low growl of intent, and when it tore from his throat, he released her.
Damn.
His control was slipping. He braced a hand on either side of her on the rock, bowed his head and waited for her to push him away.

She didn’t. Instead, murmuring a small sound of protest, she stretched up to slide her smooth cheek against his neck. Asking, begging him for more. And so he gave it to her, dropping his hands to her waist and hooking his fingers into her waistband. He jerked the baggy pants down over her hips while she tried to kick off her boots. Her panties came down with her shorts and as she lifted her hips, his face was right there. How could he resist that soft mound lifted up like an offering? Forgetting about the shorts, he hooked his hands behind her knees, spread her wide and buried his open mouth between her thighs, slipping his tongue through her wet folds, digging until he found her entrance and then parting a trail up to her clit.

She cried out as he latched on to the swollen bud and suckled her. When she bucked against him, he shifted lower and plunged his tongue into liquid heat, licking and sucking until her desire was slick on his face and his senses filled with the taste, scent and feel of her. He wasn’t aware of anything else until she jerked and her hips collapsed back to the rock. He followed her down, forcing her back with his weight and driving his erection between her legs.

She wore a tank top beneath her T-shirt and when he reached for it, she laid her hand flat on her stomach to hold it down. “Leave it.”

He pulled away to look at her and there was something wary in her eyes so he let it go. This would be enough, for now. He reached back to pull his own T-shirt over his head, tossed it aside and unzipped the fly of his shorts, shoving them out of the way before stepping forward to meet her.

“Condom,” she said.

“Got it.” He tore the wrapper open with his teeth. She wouldn’t catch anything from him. Genetically they were too different for many diseases to cross and he was clean. As for a child, well, that was rare between their people, and she wasn’t fertile right now anyway. He’d smell it if she was. But he couldn’t tell her that.

She propped herself onto an elbow and reached out. He didn’t want her help. He was barely hanging on to his control as it was. If she touched him now…God, if she touched him it would shred through every good intention he had to treat her gently. He slid an arm under her ass and lifted, pressing his cock to her entrance and sliding neatly inside. Trim, small and tight. Perfect, just like the rest of her. So wet for him. He growled low in his throat and again, he swallowed the sound.

Too close to the edge. He should have waited for this. Never should have brought her here still hot from the hunt and aching with need, not with the jaguar inside him still snarling to be fed. This would feed the beast but he wasn’t sure he had the control to be as careful as he needed to be. And God, he didn’t want to scare her. Sweet, gentle Sophie. So very delicate and
human
. She wouldn’t understand if he allowed himself to take her the way his instincts demanded.

“Lay back,” he whispered, and she did so without a murmur of protest, placing herself completely in his hands.

And it was almost too much, that unquestioning submission, the smell rising off her skin, the rich scent coming from between her legs, the soft give of flesh and muscle as he pushed her down and spread her flat on the hard stone, the eager sounds that she made.
Mark her.
He wanted to claim her now. So fucking badly.

Instead, he pressed a kiss to the drumming beat at the base of her neck, then skimmed his teeth along her collarbone. One arm cushioned her head, the other hand he planted beside her hip. He set his mouth between her breasts, hating the fabric that separated him from her skin. Her nipples were hard and tight, poking against her shirt, and he captured one to tease through the thin cotton. Arching, slowly arching back with a breathy moan, she reached for him demanding he come closer. He moved over her, lifting his head to witness her reaction as he flexed his hips to press deeper inside.

She tipped her head, spilling silken hair over his wrist. She was lovely under starlight, all shades of silver save for those dark, dark lips that parted on a soft exhalation. Breasts rising in time with his surging body, she closed her eyes and lifted her hands to his hips. At first he thought she meant to push him away, but her fingers clenched onto his ass, nails biting into his skin to hold him tight against her. His balls compacted against her as he drove in deep.

“You’re beautiful.”

She smiled but didn’t even open her eyes. “You can’t see me.”

He kissed those black lips. “I can. You can’t see me at all?”

She blinked her eyes open but they were unfocused, blind. “You’re just a dark shape blotting out the sky. Come here so I can touch you at least.”

He set his hands above her shoulders, gripping the edge of the stone and using it to pull himself up and into her. Easy. His attention was divided between the slick heat that wrapped his cock so tightly and the raging beast inside of him.

He needed to keep that part of him caged no matter how hard it rattled the bars. He didn’t want to scare Sophie. He wanted to take her again and again until he was gone. He wanted to sate himself on her tender body until he understood this attraction, until he owned it. And if earning that privilege meant that he had to exercise a little control now, so be it.

It was hard. When she wrapped her thighs around his hips and locked her feet behind his back. When she used that leverage to slide her wet slit against his thrusting body so he’d hit her just right when he pushed into her. It was hard. She was so close to coming and he wanted to capture her with his teeth, pin her hips to the stone and ram into her until he sent her screaming over the edge. But he didn’t.

Instead, he grit his teeth and wrapped her gently in his arms, cushioning her back from the stone and rocking gently into her body until she tightened around his cock. He swallowed her cries and rode her through that long shuddering climax before letting himself follow her down.

A droplet of sweat fell from his hairline. His sides were still heaving when after a few moments, Sophie stirred beneath him. The rock. His weight was nearly full on her. He eased back but didn’t let her up. He wasn’t done with her. For one thing, he’d yet to taste her and he might not have the opportunity again. He pulled back, dropping to his knees and pressing her thighs wide when she tried to pull them together.

“What—?”

She broke off at the first touch of his tongue.

“Adriano?” Her voice was shaky, uncertain. “You don’t have to do that. I—”

“Shh,” he murmured against her wet flesh. “I know. Let me, sweet Sophie. I want to please you.”

He did. He wanted her so pleased that she would allow him to have her again, so pleased that she spent all of her nights in his bed instead of wandering around the site. And this was no hardship. Her pussy was so swollen, the blood still pulsing hot there. He licked over her in soothing strokes, tasting her and himself, liking the way their flavors mixed on his tongue. When she moaned, he latched on to her throbbing clit with his lips. He gave it a little tug and her body went rigid, hands clamping on to the rock, hips lifting, a startled cry escaping those soft lips. He splayed a hand over her stomach and curled his other hand under one thigh. Nudging her leg up over his shoulder, he slid his hand lower, letting his thumb come to rest at her entrance and circling slowly before pressing inside.

She whimpered and he smiled. Sweet Sophie, always locked down so tightly, focused only on her rocks and her books. She hid such a sensual nature. He was glad the rest didn’t see it in her. He flicked the tight nub and her body shook.

He suckled and soothed with his lips, his tongue, his teeth until she bucked against him. He didn’t relent, not when her hands fisted in his hair, not when she panted and cursed at him to stop and then,
not
to stop. He circled his thumb inside of her slowly as he worked her clit hard. This time, he would hear her scream. There was no danger now that this would make him lose control. This was safe for them both.

She didn’t disappoint, wailing his name as her body jerked on the rock like he’d just torn the heart from her. Her body shuddered beneath his mouth and he growled low in his throat, letting her feel his approval before easing her down gently, murmuring words of praise as he stroked and licked her through the aftershocks.

He stood, gathered up her discarded clothing and pressed a kiss to her temple before turning to find his own.

Sophie sighed as she hopped down from the rock. Well, that was great. Really, really good. She should be happy. She’d just been seduced by a gorgeous man. She shouldn’t feel cheated or, worse, manipulated.

But she did.

He’d held back, especially at the end when she could feel his body shaking with the need to shove hard inside her. He hadn’t. He’d held back and she didn’t understand why. And when he’d gone down on her, it had seemed so…deliberate. As if he were engaged in some plan that she couldn’t possibly fathom. Of course it hadn’t stopped her from enjoying herself. The first time she came had been pleasant but the second time rocked her world. That second time, he hadn’t held back at all. With his tongue he’d given her as much as she could take and then pushed her further.

It should have been the other way around. He should have been more interested in his own orgasm. Especially because, clearly, this was not love. This was sex. An impulsive, opportunistic fuck between two lonely people on a dark and quiet night. She wouldn’t waste any guilt on it. And it hadn’t seemed strange at the time, other than that he’d picked her. But now, she was left uneasy. And she couldn’t ask him about it. Though they’d known each other over two months, he was still little more than a stranger.

She felt a brief stab of pain too. She wanted to call Delia, ask her opinion and for some advice on how to handle this. Her sister had always been much better at relationships. Whoa, relationships—now she was really getting ahead of herself.

She pulled on her pants and Adriano drew her into his arms for a brief embrace. He nuzzled her hair and smoothed his cheek across her temple. “Thank you, Sophie.”

She laughed. “I think I should be the one to thank you. That was…great.”

He must have heard the strange tone in her voice because he pulled slightly away and she could feel his eyes on her face. He must have amazing vision. She couldn’t see a thing, only the outline of his body against that gorgeous night sky.

He ran a fingertip over her cheekbone. “Poor Sophie. Gave more away than you bargained for, did you?”

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t answer, just caught her hand and tugged her toward that narrow trail she’d thought she was going to die on earlier. She let him guide her up, all her attention focused on not sliding and breaking an ankle or her neck in the dark. Her palm grew sweaty in his big hand but she stifled her embarrassment. They’d already exchanged more than a little sweat tonight.

Then they were on the real trail again, and she wondered what the hell he’d meant by that comment. “I’m not having second thoughts, if that’s what you mean.”

“Really?”

She frowned. “Nope.”

“You worry too much.” In the darkness, his voice sounded warm with a gravelly edge that shivered down her spine. She wondered if she would always have that response to him now. She didn’t want that kind of connection to anyone. It only led to hurt. He threw an arm around her shoulder and adjusted his stride to match hers. “I enjoyed myself tonight and you did too. Let it be enough for now.”

Adriano waited perched in the vent just beyond the Lanzón for the tour group to pass. Most of the vents were just as they seemed—they’d been used for fresh air or drainage—but some connected to secret passageways that ran beneath the temple and plaza and, if one knew the correct sequence of turns, led into the true temple far below these ruins.

“Notice that there are no sconces to place a torch, no smoke staining the rock. They didn’t allow fire here. The priests passed through these tunnels in complete darkness, blind and vulnerable. Turn off your flashlights for a moment, everyone, and you’ll see how disorienting that would have been for the frightened initiates to the cult.”

Adriano’s lips curved as he listened to them breathe. Hardly blind. The only ones allowed in these tunnels would have been Yaguara, and there was enough ambient light from the vents that he could see quite well.

The tour guide continued to speak as one by one the lights clicked back on and the humans’ heart rates slowed. It had always amused him, the human superstition that light would protect them. But then again, maybe they had good reason to fear the things hiding in the dark.

“They would be made to drink a potion—a mix of San Pedro cactus, Yopa seeds and other hallucinogenic plants—and led through this maze of tunnels over two miles long. Then they participated in ritual ceremonies where, drugged and disorientated, even the priests themselves believed that they could transform into jaguars.”

“I’d like to get my hands on some of that shit,” one young man whispered to his girlfriend.

Adriano smiled. He could make the man see visions without the drugs. But he wouldn’t. That was the entire point of his being here. The Yaguara wished to remain hidden a while longer and they’d do nearly anything to keep their secrets. Even take him back.

He waited for the group to pass then dropped down from the vent, landing so lightly on his feet that not even the dust stirred. He’d been crossing the plaza when he caught the faint scent signature of the shifter and followed it here. He couldn’t be certain—the trail was hours degraded—but this one was different from the first. His nose told him wolf even while his brain told him that was impossible. It didn’t make any sense. A wolf shifter would only team with a jaguar if out of other options and being incredibly well compensated. He’d run into other mercenary groups before—all outcasts, mutants and loners—but always the teams kept to their own kind. He could be mistaken, the trail was faint and might have been be corrupted. He might be scenting someone’s dog. One thing was certain—this was more than a single stray shifter encroaching on his find.

The man had probably come in with a tour group but where he’d gone from that point, Adriano couldn’t tell. He wasn’t equipped to confront an organized team. He’d need to move up his schedule, salvage what he could and get out.

He’d pushed hard last night, working past dawn to clear the last of the rubble, but he still had to find a way to leverage the hole wide enough to get inside. Depending on the state of the underground system, he was down to days now, not weeks. And then, as soon as he had the stone, he’d be gone.

The image of Sophie came to him accompanied by a flush of warmth. Over too soon but it couldn’t be helped. He’d known from the beginning that it was only temporary. She knew it just as well as he did. There was no place for either of them in the other’s world. And that was even before she knew he wasn’t entirely human.