Wicked Release (3 page)

Green eyes darkened as they studied her expression. He knew. “
Nothing
more? Are you sure, Miss Blackwood? Because I’m not.”

He turned toward the closed bedroom door, not to open it but to press her body against it. The arm beneath her legs lowered until she was dangling in the air, feet off the ground. Her wet, naked body trapped between his and the cool grain of the wood. She tightened her grip on his shoulders and wrapped her legs instinctively around his waist, seeking purchase.

He growled. “I was warned it would feel like this. That when we found you I wouldn’t be able to resist the pull. I’d have to touch you. Taste you.” He leaned in to place an open-mouthed kiss on her neck and she shivered. “I didn’t believe them. Not entirely. Not until now.”

She didn’t want this. Shouldn’t want this. Especially not if he was implying what he seemed to be. “I don’t belong to you, sir. Or your friend. I am free.” She rocked her hips against him until he groaned. “Though I am not unwilling. And being free, I can choose to feel this. I can choose to let you touch me, if you’d like.”

She could choose, for however long she had, to follow her desires instead of her fears. After so long, it was liberating.

He kissed her like a man starved, and Sarah responded in kind. So long. Lifetimes of waiting. Of wanting. No one to touch her. No one to need her. And now he was kissing her, this stranger that she would have sworn she’d known forever.

She wondered how it would feel to kiss her angel like this. How it would feel to kiss them both, one after the other.

Con’s hand slid from her waist over her stomach, caressing every inch of skin in his path. He took his time to learn her, studying her reactions. His mouth distracted her too much for her to lift her head and demand he move faster.

“Shouldn’t be doing this,” he mumbled roughly against her lips. “Not yet. Not until you’re ready. Until Lorie’s ready.”

Sarah wasn’t sure what imp came to life inside her, but she dropped one hand between them to cover his, forcing it down between her thighs until she could feel his thick fingers pressed against her sex. “I am ready now. Can you not tell?”

She was. His fingers slipped through her arousal and he hissed through his teeth, still so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “Fuck. I’ll just give you this. I’ll stop. I swear I’ll stop before I go too far.”

The broad-shouldered Con was tense. His muscles were trembling with restrained need, rippling with magic as he thrust one finger inside her heat. A lightning storm. A hurricane. Never had a single touch sent Sarah this close to the edge.

She couldn’t stop. She could not let him stop. In this moment, only this mattered. Only this feeling. Only him. “Please. I need more.”

Sarah gripped his wrist as tightly as he could, using the pressure to show him she could take more. That he could increase his rhythm. His body jerked against hers, and then he gave in to her desires, adding another finger to the one inside her. Deliciously stretching her until she cried out against his neck.

She saw his light, the silvery white shimmer of his essence, even when her eyes were closed. He was inside her. Already inside her. But she was greedy. Her hand lowered to unbuckle his belt, her hips rocking against him so powerfully she was jarring the door behind her.

Con resisted, pulling away enough to study her face. “You can’t—we can’t. I was supposed to let you rest. Jesus, what are you doing to me? This is insane.”

She licked her lips when the thick weight of his shaft filled her hand. “You can. I promise you. I need this more than I need to rest.”

Her fingers curled around him and he snarled, giving in again. “Damn me for being a weak bastard. Are you another Siren, like Jacob? Why can’t I resist you?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, pulling her hand away and bending his knees until the head of his cock was poised at her entrance. Her legs tightened, ensuring his capture.

Con’s expression was one of pure seduction. “I’m not going anywhere now, Sarah. Who am I to deny my match? My mate?”

Before she could say a word he was inside her. Deep. Full. Nothing slow or easy, no fumbling or hesitation. This was what she craved. She wanted to feel. She bit her lip until she tasted blood, breathing through the pressure as her body stretched to accommodate him.

He braced himself and began to sling his hips firmly against her body, slipping one hand under her thigh to lift it higher. To give her more.

“
Oh
.” Deeper. So deep. So fully she couldn’t tell where his thrusts stopped and her cries began. She tore at his hair, struggling for breath as the speed of his thrusts increased, then changed tempo, torturing her by keeping her completion just out of reach.

“You like that, don’t you?” He leaned his forehead against hers while they both watched his long cock, shimmering with her arousal as it disappeared inside her. “No holding back. Hard and raw and real. Is that what you want, baby?”

“
Yes
. Hard and raw.
Real
.”

“Hell, yeah,” he muttered, his pace and the power of his thrusts increasing. “I’m not sure Lorie’s going to know what to do with you. You’re a wild thing in my arms. I can’t wait to turn you over and take your ass.” He pumped harder against her, his neck and cheeks flushing at the thought. “Can you picture it, Sarah? Watching us with those pretty brown eyes of yours? Feeling both of us inside you? Taking you like this? Claiming every inch of your luscious body and soul.
Hell
.”

She could. It was easy to envision Lorie, his angelic curls damp with sweat as she rode him. His blue eyes filled with passion for her. Con would be behind her, saying things she never imagined a man would say out loud, his hands guiding her back against him. Tempting her to sin.

She was on fire, her arms and legs shaking so much it was hard to hang as she found her release.  He pumped inside her, faster and harder until he was shouting her name, joining her in an ecstasy she never thought she’d live to experience. Life. She was alive. Her soul was free and soaring to the heavens.

And when it returned she feared she would never be the same.

Con kissed her cheeks, her damp eyelashes. Her lips. Gently, as if she were fragile and precious. As if they hadn’t just devoured each other like animals in the wild.

His hold relaxed, allowing her space to slide down his body. To move away from temptation as her equilibrium, and her senses, returned. She rushed into the bathroom, determined to ignore the energy still swirling around her quivering limbs. She reached for the towel left hanging for her and wiped herself off briskly before heading to the clothes draped out across the bed.

“What are you doing?” His voice was laced with lethargic satisfaction. His sensuous tone distracted her, made her long to crawl onto the bed and entice him to join her for another round of lovemaking. Slower this time, but no less exciting.

“Your Jenner was kind enough to bring me clothing. I wouldn’t want to travel in my old clothing—I would be too conspicuous in your world.”

She watched him frown from the corner of her eye. “Planning on going somewhere?”

Sarah studied the shirt before shrugging and pulling it over her head, thankful that her breasts were covered and that the shirt was loose enough that she didn’t need to restrain them. “I am. I’ve no idea how I got out, or what the consequences of breaking the spell will be. You understand, I’m certain, why there is no time to waste.”

He watched her for long silent moments while she struggled with the “jeans” they’d gotten for her. Her cheeks flushed. “A gentleman would turn around,” she huffed.

Con caught her just before she tipped over on the bed. His touch was tender, belying the dark clouds apparent in his expression. “A gentleman wouldn’t leave a lady when she so obviously needs his help.”

He playfully slapped her hands away, grabbing the waistband of the pants on either side of her curved hips. He tugged hard, pulling her up onto her toes. But the jeans were on. She sucked in her bottom lip and sought out the buttons. “Thank you.”

“Are we really doing this, Miss Sarah Fell-Out-Of-A-Book Blackwood? Are you really getting dressed and pretending we didn’t both just have the best sex of our lives? If you actually think we’ll allow you to leave the safety of this house alone, you’re fooling yourself. Do you have any idea what its like out there after more than three centuries? Different. Very fucking different. And dangerous.”

She brushed back her long, waving hair with hands that still held a slight tremor. “I can handle the danger. And yes, we are doing this. Do not mistake me, I’m grateful. You
know
I am. That was—”

He threw his hands in the air in disbelief. “You’re
grateful
? Bullshit. Don’t you dare tell me they didn’t have Triunes in your day. Things haven’t changed that much. You know what that meant. What you felt when you touched Lorie. We are your triad, Sarah. Despite the odds, Lorie found you. Why would you walk away from that? How could you even consider it?”

Her chin wobbled and she turned her back on him, staring at the bed without seeing it. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. What I’ve lived with for more years than you’ve been alive. You have no concept of what it means for me to be free. If you did, then as the match you claim to be, you would respect that and let me do what I must.”

The door they’d just been pressed against flew open, and she spun around, her instincts on high alert. A grim-faced Lorie leaned heavily against the wooden frame, his blue eyes turbulent. “What must you do, Sarah? Because I have a feeling we’re not going to like it.”

Why did she feel guilty? Because one man looked betrayed and the other used? Because they’d saved her and she was repaying them by leaving without a moment’s thought? There was no other path for her but the one she’d chosen so long ago. No way she could face her grandmother and the rest of the people she loved in the world beyond if she did nothing.

“I have to see the ancestor of Thalia Fairbanks about an heirloom. And if the families of the ones that did this to me are still alive…they will be made to acknowledge their crimes. To pay for them.”

She shouldn’t have told them. Why had she? Of course they would question her motives. They didn’t know her. They had no idea what happened nor had they any reason to trust her. For all they knew she was guilty of something so unthinkable that she’d received an equally unthinkable sentence. Her words would only confirm their suspicions…but they didn’t understand.

The evil bastard who’d caused this had killed a hundred birds with one stone, save one—and he’d made sure she would live forever.

She didn’t know which was the crueler punishment.

A handsome man with hair the hue of rich mahogany was leaning over her chair, studying her with a narrowed gaze. “
Why
have I whammied her again? Isn’t she the woman of your dreams? Hell, she even came out of a book. You can’t get more Lorie-wet-dream than that. I’m not sure this is the right way to woo her, little brother.”

A short blonde slipped her arm around him and forced him to take a few steps back. “Tyghe, don’t tease. This is serious.” She looked over at Lorie, unable to hide the censure in her eyes. “She’s been held against her will long enough, hasn’t she? You said yourself how much she’s suffered. What’s going on?”

The man named Tyghe apparently had the ability to immobilize her. This was a powerful group of Magians. Sirens and compellers, and now this. She was to be interrogated, and not allowed to escape until she complied. Still, it was better than the alternative. She was, after all, still alive.

Where was her rage? The anger that fueled her survival was nowhere to be found. Instead, she still felt guilty. It wasn’t a good sign.

Con had his arms crossed defensively as he answered before Lorie could. “We have a situation, Callie, and we aren’t going to get any answers doing things in a touchy feely way.”

Lorie’s full lips curled and he glared at Con. “I agree, cousin. I saw how effective
your
touchy feely way was. Looks like it didn’t quite have the result you were aiming for.”

“You told me to stay close, buddy.” Con’s voice rose in agitation, his cheeks flushing when he realized everyone was listening. “I couldn’t resist, okay? I wasn’t planning for it to go so far so fast. I don’t think any man in here would have behaved differently. How was I to know that our destined mate just wanted to let off some steam with a warm body before going on a killing spree? Who saw
that
coming?”

“Killing spree?” Tucker, she recognized from his earlier introduction. Dark hair and dimples. Incredibly attractive. Why didn’t
he
affect her? The only men who existed in this room for her were Lorie and Con. And right now, they couldn’t feel further away.

Lorie moved until he was standing in front of Sarah. He knelt down and placed his hands on her jean-clad knees. If she could have moved she would have shivered at the sensation. Sparks. Again.

“Sarah, I haven’t really had a chance to introduce you to my family or tell you anything about how I found you. I’m taking that time now. Tucker and Tyghe are my older brothers. Callie—Callie Fairbanks—is their triad match. My sister, Harrison, is here as well with Jacob and Ric. My name, in case you haven’t guessed by now, is Lorie. Lawrence. And my cousin needs no introduction. At this point you might know him better than I do.”

He was hurt. She could feel it. The healer in her, the part that had connected with him and mended his body, felt the wound in his heart. Because she’d been with—

Sarah’s eyes, the one part of her that
could
move, widened. Did he say Callie was a Fairbanks? She wished his brother would at least allow her to speak, but she could see Lorie wasn’t done.

He caressed her calves absently as he spoke. “I’ve been dreaming about you most of my life. About a cursed book and the princess trapped inside. And I’ve spent a lifetime searching for clues.”