Dark Wrath Read online

  But living with the expectation of death was only a part of what he’d had to endure and she was going to get a good taste of it before he let her go.

  Let her think he meant to kill her. Let her get a good taste of what it was like to be tied up and treated like an animal. Before he was done, she would hate him as much as he hated her.

  And that was what he wanted.

  He felt so nauseated at the idea that he thought for several moments that he would be sick. It pissed him off even more. He had a weakness for the woman. He could deny it all he liked. That wasn’t going to change the situation.

  One way or another, he was going to get the information he wanted out of her, though, he decided grimly. If she decided to make it easy on herself … he would just wash his hands of her and call it a day. The harsh truth was that getting what he needed out of her was probably going to be more hellish for him, or as much anyway, as it was for her.

  Chapter Five

  Jesse thought he’d braced himself for what came next. The moment he stepped into the room with her, though, her delicate scent hit him like a ton of bricks. It made no difference that fear laced it, that he could see the uneasiness in her eyes. There was just a trace of desire in it, as well, and that was all it took to send his own libido into overdrive.

  Gathering his wits with an effort, he moved to the drawer where he’d placed the device and removed it. Her eyes widened when he held it up and flipped it on.

  “What are you going to do with that?”

  He frowned, studying the device. “It took me a little while to come around to this. Thing is, chère, part of what made it so hellish in there for me was that I was determined not to give them a part of me and they was determined to get it.

  “Now wid you, it’s different. There’s only one thing you can give up that I want.”

  “I don’t know where he is! I told you I didn’t!” Erin exclaimed, staring at the tubular shaped object with a mixture of dread, embarrassment, and revulsion as he settled on the bed beside her.

  “I’m thinkin’ if you’re still singin’ the same tune come mornin’--well maybe you don’.”

  She jumped as he stroked the thing along her neck and down to one breast. The vibrations from the device sent a surge of sensation through her. Her nipples puckered as blood surged into them. She held her breath, trying to focus on anything other than what he was doing, fearful that her body was going to give her away at any moment.

  Relief flooded her when he moved lower, but it was short lived. She felt his fingers stroking the hair on her mound, parting her nether lips. The hard, vibrating plastic skated over her clit, sending a sizzling jolt through her. She caught her breath, held it, squeezed her eyes shut.

  None of it made any difference, not the low pitched whine the thing made, not the foreign feel of it against her. Her belly began to tighten with the stimulation. A knot of need rose in her throat. Moisture gathered in her channel, dampened her cleft.

  He stroked a finger along her cleft, gathering moisture on the tip.

  She refused to look at him when she sensed he’d lifted his head to study her.

  She let out a short gasp as he finally moved the vibrator from her clit. He traced it along her cleft and began to slowly push it up inside of her. She clenched her muscles instinctively, trying to resist, but the moisture and his insistent pressure triumphed. Heat and tension grew steadily as he thrust it in and out of her, stroking her g-spot until she found she could no longer be still, until her hips began to move with him of their own accord and she was dizzy with trying to hold her reaction inside.

  He removed it slowly, slipping it back along her cleft and moving it in a teasing circle around her clit until she could no longer control the little pants of breath from the accelerated beating of her heart and her laboring lungs.

  She wasn’t even aware of the point when she passed beyond resistance to the point where she began to struggle to reach release.

  When he stopped, removing the vibrator and laying it on the bed beside her, she was too surprised to realize what his intent was at first.

  She was still trying to figure it out when he got up abruptly and left the room.

  She stared at the door without comprehension, her body still sizzling with unfulfilled desire.

  Slowly, it dawned on her that he’d achieved his goal. He’d taken her right up to the point where she was so close to release she thought she’d die if she didn’t get it, and then he’d left her.

  Just as they had done to him over and over until he was practically a raving maniac.

  “Oh god!” she murmured.

  She had over an hour to contemplate her situation before he returned. An hour for her body to finally cool and stop throbbing with need. She’d had just enough time to think he was wrong in believing he could torment her like this. It wasn’t something she couldn’t handle.

  Not that she could tell him what he wanted to know even if she could, but she knew of no way to convince him of it.

  His face was grim when he came back, determination in every line of his body.

  Anxiety immediately assailed her.

  He sprawled out on his side on the bed beside her, studying her body as if it was a problem he had to figure out. It didn’t take him long to figure it out though. He began to stroke his fingers lightly over her from her neck to her groin, never touching a single erogenous zone, but passing teasingly close. By the time he’d stroked his fingers along her body once, her nerves were already taut. Heat had blossomed inside her belly. Every nerve ending on her body seemed to open to him, waiting for the slightest touch to send a shock wave of pleasure through her.

  She held her breath, tried to hold perfectly still, but the insistent stroking along her skin made her belly quiver. When at last he traced a circle around her nipples, goose bumps erupted from her neck down. A shiver went through her as he raked his fingers down along her belly again.

  She sucked in a sharp breath as his fingers parted her flesh and he stroked her clit. The sound drew his attention and he transferred his gaze from what he was doing to her face, studying her as he teased her clit with one finger tip.

  She turned her face away, biting her lip, struggling to control her breathing. For a moment, she managed to focus her mind away from his touch, staring at the glow of the lamp and the wall beyond it. Insidiously, her body received the pleasure of his touch, funneling it through her body and along her nerve endings into her mind until her gaze and her mind became unfocused and her mind turned to mush. Her eyes slid half closed as her attention shifted to accepting and capturing the sensations.

  She was only dimly aware that he’d leaned closer until she felt the heated, faintly rough, moisture of his tongue lap against her clit. A mind numbing shock wave of ecstasy flooded her blood stream like 180 proof liquor. She sucked in a sharp gasp, felt her skin grow taut with sensation. Her hips rose of their own accord when he lifted his head.

  Swallowing with an effort, she turned her head and met his gaze for a pregnant moment. With great deliberation, he dipped toward her again. She tensed, dreading his touch and at the same moment wanting it. An involuntary moan scraped along her throat and escaped as he closed his lips over her clit and she felt the mind blowing heat and suction of his mouth. The muscles in her belly went taut, relaxed fractionally and tightened again, growing steadily more tensed as he continued to tease her. She rapidly lost all awareness of anything but the pleasurable jolts moving through her, winding tighter and tighter until, of its own volition, her body began to writhe with feverish need to find release.

  Disappointment flooded her when he stopped. Lifting his head, he studied her a moment and got off the bed abruptly, striding from the room.

  Her throat closed on the painful need that was still pounding through her. She dragged in several ragged breaths, willing her body to cool, to dismiss the urgency to find release. Sluggishly, her body responded and the need gentled, but she felt like groaning with despair when he came
again.

  She lost count of the number of times he returned to torment her with pleasure. After a few times, her body simply refused to cool. It remained on edge. As if a fever had descended upon her, she lost all touch with reality, dreading the caresses he lavished her with almost as much as she craved them. Each time she felt his mouth and hands move over her, the tension rose faster and higher, coiling inside of her until she thought she would die with the need to find release. He seemed to know to a nicety just how far he could push her without allowing her to find it.

  By the time the darkness outside the window began to lift, she’d begun to wonder if she would lose her mind. Her body was on fire. She’d stopped even attempting to struggle against enjoying his touch. As tortuous as it was, she wanted it, needed more.

  “Jesse, please,” she murmured when he settled on the bed and began to caress her again.

  “Please what, chère?” he growled. “Don’ touch me, you nasty beast?”

  She licked her lips, struggling to make sense of what he’d said. “They showed me the video … when they captured you,” she managed to gasp as she felt his lips moving along her inner thighs, the scraping bristle of whiskers against too tender flesh. “To make sure I knew how dangerous you were.”

  He paused, lifted his head to study her.

  She licked her lips. “Knowing what you were capable of, I was too afraid to see beyond that … to look at you any other way … until….”

  He shifted upwards on the bed. Bending one arm and propping his head in one hand, he stroked his free hand over her breasts, plucking almost absently at her nipples with his fingers until she had to struggle to catch her breath for the heated sensations flooding her. “Until?” he prompted.

  “We became lovers.”

  He issued a derisive laugh. “No self-respecting Lycan would take a weak minded mortal as a lover. I fucked you, chère … ‘cause I’m an animal and pussy is just pussy to me.”

  Erin swallowed with an effort. “It wasn’t just fucking. You wanted me--none of the others. You wanted to kiss me.”

  His gaze zeroed in on her lips. Her lips tingled at the touch of his gaze. Her throat closed with the thirst to taste him.

  “To assert dominance, chère, ‘cause I could see you hated the idea of kissing a beast.”

  “I didn’t hate it. I wanted it. I still want you. Don’t … torture me anymore. Make love to me. I need to feel you inside of me. It’s been so long, Jesse. Please.”

  His eyes narrowed. She saw both desire and anger glittering in his eyes. Lifting his head from his hand, he leaned toward her. She stiffened as his dark head descended toward her breasts, holding her breath. Desire and need rushed through her as he nipped at the inner side of first one breast and then the other. She let out a ragged gasp as he moved lower, feeling frustration surface--and boiling need that was as corrosive as acid as it flowed through her blood.

  She jerked all over when his mouth settled over her clit, the heat and nudge of his tongue instantly driving her to mindlessness. She knew, though, that he hadn’t listened, or believed, anything she’d said. He wouldn’t give her what she needed. Her throat closed, this time with frustration. Without even realizing it, she began to weep. “Please, Jesse,” she gasped softly.

  “Tell me what I want to know,” he murmured after a moment, ceasing to tease her clit and nipping at the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh.

  “I don’t know!” she almost wailed. “I came to find him!”

  He shifted upward until his face hovered just above hers. His ragged breaths fanned against her lips, making her mouth go dry. She met his gaze. “I need you,” she whispered hopelessly.

  His expression went taut. He seemed to struggle with his own desire for several heartbeats and then he trapped her lips beneath his in a kiss that was almost as punishing as it was devastating to her senses. Her mind reeled. So much passion curled around and through her as she felt the raw hunger in him that darkness skated the fringes of her mind.

  She kissed him back with fevered need, struggling against her bonds to hold him closer.

  She felt a painful tug on her wrists and then her arms, numb and useless, dropped to the bed. Grasping her around the waist, he dragged her down the bed until her knees bent and his hips were cradled between her thighs. She gasped when she felt his erection pressing against her cleft almost bruising.

  “You lose, chère,” he growled against her throat as he broke the kiss and fumbled with the fastening of his jeans, wreaking havoc with her senses as he gnawed love bites along her throat and shoulder.

  Mindless with need, she arched against him, thwarting his efforts to free his distended flesh for many moments, frustrating both of them. At last, she felt his silken skin plow along her cleft, gathering the moisture of her need. She tilted her hips eagerly, trying to align her body with his. A groan that was part frustration, part relief escaped her as she felt his cock head penetrate her, begin to spread her flesh.

  She’d forgotten how tightly he filled her, how glorious it was to feel his hard flesh fisted within her channel. Impatient to feel him fully, she lifted up to meet his probing thrusts. She heard him grinding his teeth as he fought for control, felt moisture pop from his pores.

  He hesitated for a long moment when he had finally worked his hard flesh deeply inside of her. Uttering a groan, he lifted slightly away from her, nuzzling his face along her neck and then winding his way downward with love bites that made goose bumps of keen sensation chase along her flesh.

  The love bite he placed on the inner slope of her breast sent a wild combination of pain and fiery need through her. She cried out, feeling her body thundering toward completion as he began to move in slow cadence, thrusting deeply and then retreating with exquisite deliberation that had her panting for breath, struggling against him to urge him to move faster.

  She was so caught up in achieving the bliss her body was striving toward, she scarcely noticed the path of his lips until they fastened over one nipple. Alarm rushed through her instantly. “No!” she gasped.

  Even as she cried out in panic, she felt the rush, though, as her milk glands expanded and filled.

  He released her nipple abruptly. Jerking away from her, he stared down at her nipple for a long moment, too stunned for the implications to sink into his mind for many moments.

  As the realization sank into him, he lifted his head and caught her gaze.

  Erin stared back at him with a mixture of guilt and trepidation.

  What he might have said or done she was never to know. At that moment, he lifted his head, gazing up at the ceiling. Startled, she looked up, too. Moments ticked past and then she, too, heard the sound that had drawn his attention.

  The thrum of helicopter blades bouncing off of the trees.

  Rage filled his eyes as he looked down at her again. “You bitch! You brought them with you!” he ground out through gritted teeth.

  Erin felt her jaw go slack with stunned surprise. “I didn’t! You have to believe me, Jesse! I didn’t know!”

  He leapt off her, sprang from the bed even as he adjusted his jeans. Before her horrified gaze, he shifted. She screamed in terror at the look he bent upon her, but after hesitating only a moment, he leapt through the window with a crash of shattering glass and vanished from her sight.

  Briefly, relief flooded through her, but it was very brief. If he was right and it was them, she had to flee. Her arms landed on her body so hard the club they made knocked the breath out of her. It had taken every ounce of will power she could muster even to move them that much. Gritting her teeth, she struggled to work feeling into her arms and finally managed to sit up. Her fingers were stiff and uncooperative.

  Doing her best to ignore the approach of the helicopter as it drew steadily closer, she wiggled her fingers and finally sat up, leaning to reach for the binding around first one ankle and then the other. She was weeping with fear and frustration by the time she managed to free her ankles.

  They were
close. The sound had become near deafening.

  She was stark naked, but she didn’t have time to grab anything even if she could’ve pulled it on with her wrists still bound.

  If she could elude them, she could come back for something to wear.

  She saw the chopper hovering just above the trees as she reached the edge of the porch. Even as she stared up at it, lines dropped and men began repelling down them like spiders dropping from spun web. Leaping off the porch, she glanced around a little frantically. It was full daylight, and too late to hope they hadn’t spotted her.

  She suspected it was Jesse they wanted most, though, and he’d had plenty of time to disappear into the swamp.

  There was no boat at the dock and she certainly couldn’t swim with her hands still ties and her arms still woefully uncooperative. Finally, she dashed around the side of the cabin, searching the tree line for a path. Seeing nothing, she ran toward the woods anyway, leaping over the tall fronds of wild ferns, praying she wouldn’t land on a cotton mouth or a rattle snake--or a gator.

  She hadn’t made it far into the brush when she was body slammed. The breath left her lungs in a painful rush as she landed on the ground with the man on top of her.