Taboo Kisses (7 page)

“What does it say?”

“
It’s a mistake to think I’m
trivial.”

Sameya glanced at the dead mortal. He could say that again.
Following the long line of his legs, she noticed the bulge in his leathers. How could
she not notice with
the
size
wedged within those restrictive pants
? Ripped abs weren’t hidden all that much beneath the fitted cotton
either
. Broad shoulders
made her feel
more petite than she was
.
They didn’t grow men like him and Gabriel in Atlantis.

If I allowed it, he could overpower me easily.
Feeling as if d
ragons swirled in her belly
, she wondered w
hy that thought
tingled
her skin
with anticipation
rather than unease
.

The way he watched her
with his gunmetal eyes…
with
such heat it
unnerved her.

“What’s with your
Goth
look?”

Huh? She didn’t understand the term. “I don’t comprehend.”

“Don’t do the internet much?”

“No.” What a colossal waste of time.

“The red streaks in your hair.” He indicated by capturing a lock and holding it out.
“The black eyeliner, long lashes, and the very red, kissable lips.” The pad of his
thumb dragged across her bottom lip.

Her skin tingled, felt too tight to contain her soul. Around him she couldn’t think
straight. She shook herself out of the weird haze he induced. She thought she understood
his meaning. “I require no adornment.”

“Hmm…
.
” He
rubbed his chin with his fingers.

“What’s your name?”

He ignored her. “I would’ve thought this look lured the wrong crowd.”

“My appearance is not my choice.” What was his problem with her
looks
anyway? No one else had ever expressed a problem.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re hot as sin.”

“I
eat
syn.”

“Pardon?” He adjusted his top hat to a more secure angle.

“Syn. Mortals like your rapist.” Sameya indicated his human victim.

“Ah….” Why did that breath of understanding electrify her skin? And what about her
statement pleased him so much? “An honest reaper.”

“I’ve never met a dishonest one.”

“How many do you know?”

“I’d wager more than you.”

He chuckled
,
and her body reacted with a quiver down her spine to center between her thighs.
Again!

Empress’ delights, she disliked the jumbled way he made her feel. Confused one moment
and aroused the next. “What is your name?”

“Call me mate.”

Her breathing died, then escalated. She forced a lame-ass sounding laugh past her
lips. “Don’t get cocky. I’m not into leeches.”

“Don’t disqualify me from the running.” He sidled closer, aligning his body against
hers once more, but maintaining space with his palms on the mausoleum on either side
of her head. “Not when Gabriel and I haven’t had the
gratification
of making you come…yet.”

She gasped, her eyes rounding at his foregone conclusion. “Better men than you have
tried.”

“None of them were your mates.”

“
Wait!
Mates?
As in plural?
” She
flattened
her hands against his chest to push him away, but forgot to add pressure. The hard
contours of his body fascinated her
more than was practical
.
“That’s…
insane.
” But
g
od
s
the idea fascinated her. “
Sirens don’t partner outside our race
and we certainly don’t have more than one partner
.”

Sameya didn’t realize she spoke the thought aloud until the vampyr thrust both his
hands into her hair. A
fter he had her a
nchored in
to
position
, he shifted closer, widening his stride to fit her pelvis between his legs. His hard-on
nestled against her abdomen as he tilted her head back by her hair.

“No more insane than a vampyr mating a
shifter
.” His mouth landed on hers. He nibbled on her bottom lip, licked the corners and
crease. Distracted
by the exhilarating sensations
, she was unprepared to counteract his move when he placed the pad
of his thumb
against her chin and tugged, parting her lips for his tongue to thrust inside.

Sameya squealed her surprise at the wet contact
of his abrasive tongue
.
His fangs grazed her bottom flesh
,
and h
er eyelids snapped upward
. He watched
her
, eyes glowing green
. He pulled her tighter against
his hard frame
as his hand moved down her neck, over a breast, and across her belly to land on the
front of her thigh. The
fingers
in her hair shifted, twisting her head to an angle that deepened the kiss.

I should stop him now before it g
et out of
—

The forays into her mouth, thrust inside, withdraw, and repeating the movement, were
subtle hints of sex.
H
e fucked
her mouth with a skill she’d never
known possible
.
She grew so hot e
very pore in her body should’ve melted
, or at the very least ignited
.

Sameya squirmed against him. Need
ing
more of something she couldn’t name.
With his tongue in her mouth, thinking
straight
became impossible
.

His hand shifted from her thigh to dive between her legs. She jerked when he rubbed
his thumb against her clit. Hard enough she could feel it through her
Basilisk
skin pants.

Empress save
me
that fe
els
good. He broke the kiss and lifted his head; his gaze intense as he rubbed her where
few had ever touched her.
Desire
burst in her belly and raced along her
flesh
.

The vampyr released her suddenly,
taking
several steps away
, his fists o
pening and closing
as he began to pace a small path in front of her
.

Sameya slid down the tombstone, panting like she’d raced someone, but that made no
sense because running didn’t tire her.
But…what had his hand between her legs been creating? The elusive orgasm?
S
he hoped not because that meant this intimidating vampyr would be her mate.

A hand to her throat
wrenched her out of her thoughts. T
he vampyr slid his palm upward to tilt her head back to meet his glowing green eyes.
“You were this close to coming, Sameya.” He indicated how close with the fingers of
his other hand. The pads were almost touching. She tried to shake her head in denial,
but his grip tightened, threatened without words
for her
to remain silent. “You’re not the only one reluctant about this
relationship.” His hold on her
loosened
slightly
. “Regardless that you’re a reaper, Gabriel and I want you.
Come to us, my little voyeur, and we’ll show you what you’ve been missing.
Not just the orgasm, but family and people who will die for you.
”

He kissed her hard
before standing
.
Damn him for not being as affected as she was.
Her submissive pose
chafed her pride
, but she made no move to rise
.

He jammed
his hand in his back pocket, fetched a card
,
and held it toward her. She didn’t move to take it, so he tossed it at her feet with
a smile. “That’s where you’ll find us. Don’t make us wait long.”

“I don’t want what you’re offering.”

“Liar.” The vampyr canted his head to the side. “You’re braver than that, Sameya.”

She stiffened. “You know nothing about me.”

“
You’ll come.”
His eyes said she’d come in more ways than one
.

Sameya shook her head. Why in all the earths would she join them? She held no control
over the vampyr
,
and she’d bet her palatial room in Atlantis he wasn’t the submissive type. As for
Gabriel…she hadn’t known many shifters, but none of them were docile. Sounded like
a nightmare situation.

“Join us soon, Sameya.”

She struggled to her feet. “I vow to you, vampyr, that not even on the soul of my
Empress will I
join
you or Gabriel.”

“
Don’t make me force you.”

Threats
we
re a bad
move.
“
You may be immune to my serenade, vampyr, but you cannot force a siren to do anything.”
Sameya
bolted
, using her magic to speed up her departure.

He
surprised her by catching
her in a dark side-alley, one block over from the Cathedral. Sameya saw only a glimpse
of his face before
he slammed her against a wall and sank his fang
s
into her throat.

Chapter
Six

“Goddamn it,
Maximus
, what were you thinking?” Gabriel paced a small path in front of the
ir bed
room door.

“I was thinking she’d runaway and we’d never see her again.
” He’d found her defiance entertaining
until she vowed on her Empress’ soul not to join them
.
If she went back to wherever she’d been hiding before, they’d never find her. Of that
he’d been certain.

The predator inside him
rebelled against
that outcome.
Neither would t
he man allow her to walk out of their lives without a fucking brawl.
Both halves of him would fight for her. Gabriel was the
same;
he needed more time to acclimate to Sameya’s
captivity
.
It was
for all their best interest
.

When he caught her,
he’d been mindless with the need to show her to whom she belonged, so he’d
reacted on instinct and
sank
his teeth into her neck
.
And sucked unadulterated a
mbrosia
into his body.
He
r blood
was
nirvana.

Sameya had moaned, sealing her fate with the sound. No more proof necessary to confirm
her identity. Only a mate enjoyed a vampyr’s bite. Letting h
er
walk away after he’d found her, was
more than he could tolerate
, so he’d flooded
her system with
venome
and promised the next time
he’d forgo the
toxin
so she could appreciate the experience.

“
It’s not like you argued
against
bringing her to our home and trapping her here
with magic
.”
Right after entering the hotel room in New Orleans,
Maximus
had placed her on the bed and called for a helicopter to take them home immediately.
Less than two hours later, they’d landed on the helipad twenty minutes outside their
secluded estate
on the outskirts of
Chimera
, Alabama
.
A limousine at the ready to see they arrived home safely with no questions
about
the comatose woman with them.

Their mind manipulation abilities were a spectacular talent to
possess
, n
ot to mention the obscene amount of cold-hard cash they paid their servants for loyalty.

On
the
drive to their house, Gabriel had contacted their local gal-pal, Kat
, a
wi
tch
who
could fuck you up before she broke a smile.
A
sking
few
questions, s
he’d
met them at their home and
hexed the
ir
abode
, locking Sameya within the private boundary
.
The magic had a one-week time limit. Not
very long
to convince her to remain with them.

“Congratulations. She’s beautiful.”
Kat
ran a fingertip along Sameya’s
cheek
, her
gaze
locked on his siren
.
Kat’s
leather one-shoulder top flattened her ample breasts. That thing couldn’t be comfortable.
Her
long brown
hair of
fset her teal eyes. As far as w
i
tches went, Kat was the best of her ilk. Highly sought after
,
she
garnered a huge asking price for her spells. They’d been close friends for over
three
hundred years. She’d even been his and Gabriel’s lover for a short period of time
, so he knew how ample her breasts were
,
and that top did nothing to showcase them
.

She
spoke a series of words that stung
Maximus
’
s
skin and a
diamond-
encrusted
collar
appeared in her palm
.
She pressed it into
his
hand
.
The magic coming off the piece
t
ickled his flesh.

“
She’s old
,
and I’m not strong enough to trap her in the house for long. That
snapped
around her neck”—she indicated the
jewelry in his hand
—“will keep her bound to you
,
Maximus
,
until you’re ready to release her
.” Kat tossed Gabriel a woeful expression. “The cat in him won’t allow him to
enslave her
.
”
Maximus
noticed the muscles tensing in Gabriel’s shoulders.
The tiger
would enjoy dominating her in the bedroom
and chasing her
, but his
feline
’s
sense of
fair play
wouldn’t allow him to take the choice away from her. “
Your vampyr, however, will love
lording over her
.”
Just the idea made
his
cock
thicken in his leather pants.

Gabriel scowled
.
“You’ve done all we asked
,
and we’re thankful
.
But we don’t need further complications.
Take your necklace and
get the fuck out
, Kat.”

A slim grin
tweaked the corners of
her
lips
. S
he ignored Gabriel.
“
The magic activates when you snap
the gemstones around
her neck
. Since Gabriel’s too big a pussy
—all puns intended of course—
you
have the honors,
Maximus
.”

A displeased grumble rolled from Gabriel as
Maximus
flipped the necklace over in his palm
. T
here weren’t any discernable clasps.

She
must have sensed his confusion
, because she said,
“Magic holds it together.
P
lace the two ends together
,
and it’ll lock tight. Only you will be able to remove it,
Maximus
.”

He should refuse
to enslave her
. But
when
Sameya
woke,
she’d run first chance she
received
.
He couldn’t take the risk of losing her. Not until they had a
n opportunity
to convince her to remain.

“
You’re not seriously considering this
,
are you,
Maximus
?
” Gabriel
gaped at the sparkling collar. He
spoke funny
thanks to his
tiger
being
half out
. White striped fur mixed with flesh along his arms and his canines were elongated.

He shouldn’t be, but…
.
“
She
’ll reject us outright. This will give her time
to get to know us.”
Maximus
held no hope she wouldn’t wake enraged and ready to bolt. And he wouldn’t blame her.
Anyone to
ok him down the way he had her
he’d want blood
,
also
.
The collar would keep her with them.

Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. “You know this is wrong.”

“I’ll release her in a month.”

“
Maximus
—”

Maximus
bent over Same
y
a
and
hooked the
necklace
on
her
before Gabriel could talk him out of binding her to him. “I won’t lose her without
a fight.”
As the words departed his lips, the
jewelry
adjusted and tightened about Sam
ey
a’s throat, turning into a choker. It looked damn good on her.
Went a long way in marking her as his property.

“Smart decision,
Maximus
.”

“
Fucking leave
, Kat.” Gabriel pointed at the door, but glared at
Maximus
.
“You’ve done enough damage.”

Maximus
wasn’t sure to whom the last comment was intended.

“You
’ll thank me later
, pussy cat
.
” She blew
Gabriel
a kiss
and
twirled a dark brown lock of hair around a finger
.

“
Give us some time alone
, Kat.
”
No point in taunting the tiger beneath the surface.
While
the witch
was a long-time friend, she
pushed
his mate’s
buttons
often
.

“Nah…I think I’ll hang around.” Gabriel snarled and
their
unflustered
gal-pal
went on. “You might need me, so I’ll be in the game room playing X-box.” She trounced
out of the room in her black four-inch, calf-high boots
and skinny jeans
.

***

“You disrespect our mate,
Maximus
.” Gabriel fought against the tiger going after Kat.
There was no debating with his inner beast.
The witch
had wronged their
woman
,
and the animal instinct was to make her
suffer
.
In the end
, she’d kick his ass with her wi
tchery shit. Clawing her a little would go a long way in taming his cat’s fury
, though
. Ultimately, this was
Maximus
’
s
fuck up. He’d practically roofied her with his venome. Instead of seeing to her welfare,
he’d kidnapped her
and now enslaved her with the wi
tch’s help.

Son-of-a-fucking-bitch! Nothing good could come of this. To
bind
Sameya to their will was as good as caging a wild animal. His cat would enjoy chasing
her and taming her, but
confinement
would never be an option
.

“My actions are justified.”
The blaze of
green eyes testified to the vampyr’s broodiness.

“Bullshit.” His
canines
drew blood as he attempted to speak
around them
. “I thought you capable of many things, but never this.”

“She gave me no other choice.”

What a cop out!
A
lternative
s
were always available
. “
How would you feel if you
r freedom was taken from you, the way
you’ve done to her?”
Maximus
paled and ran his hand down his face. Gabriel refused to soften his words. “I’m disappointed
in you,
Maximus
.”

The vampyr’s shoulders squared and he notched
h
is
chin higher
. “When she woke and busted through Kat’s spell, how disappointed would you be when
s
he
departed our life…forever
?” He got in Gabriel’s face. “I would be devastated to lose her. I know you would
be,
as well
. This way, I give us a slim chance
of wooing her into staying
.”

“It’s wrong.”
It was m
ulish
of Gabriel
to continue to reiterate the wrongness of what
Maximus
had done
. His focus would be better served
on damage control when Sameya woke.
The
tiger
’s sense of honor was irritated. They should be protecting her, not causing her harm.