“Okay, Mikhail, I take it this Bael is what?”
“A vampire.”
She laughed. “You mean like Count Dracula? I’ve come to suck your blood?” she said in an accent.
“No, like a vicious, soulless seducer of the night who will rip out your throat and drink your insides, then ring for tea.”
She shuddered at the thought. But deep down she’d known he was something like that. The dark allure of him, the seduction, the fiery flare in his beautiful eyes.
“He’s not to be trifled with.”
“He offered to help me find Lilith.”
Mikhail smiled, and it was cold and calculating. “Of course he did. That is what he does. He makes offers—offers a person can’t refuse. Then he owns you for eternity.”
“I didn’t sell him my soul, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
“Not yet you haven’t.”
“Do you really believe I am that awful, that ruined?”
He moved toward her. Eden had a raging urge to retreat, but she stood her ground. She didn’t want him to know how afraid she was of him.
“Damaged would be a better word. Your soul has holes punched through it. It’s torn and ragged, in need of repair. I fear that you will trust in the wrong person to do the mending.”
The hair on her arms stood to attention as he neared. There was an electric current in the air and it sizzled over her skin. His presence was almost too intense, too powerful, as if she should drop her gaze and not look upon him.
“I didn’t realize I needed saving.” Her voice was not as steady as she’d hoped.
He took another step closer. “You are a strong woman, Eden. There is no doubt. But this is a fight you cannot win, a fight you shouldn’t even be involved in.”
“It’s too late for that now. I’m involved. The girl called me, Mikhail. Do you understand? She called me.”
He sighed, and it was the first real sign of humanity that she’d seen in him. “I understand.”
She met his gaze and kept it. “So you’ll tell me where the girl is?”
“No, I won’t.”
“But I thought...”
“You thought wrong.” He crossed the last few feet between them and took her arm. “But I will take you to a safe place for the night, and afterward you can find a portal back to your home.”
“I’m not going home. You can’t force me to.”
“We’ll see about that.”
He came toward her and instantly transformed into the wolf. With one step he was a man, and the next he was a majestic animal. Eden couldn’t wrap her head around it.
And she didn’t have time to before he grabbed her, tossed her onto his back and bounded down the alley. She had to wrap her hands in his fur to hang on or be thrown off. The thought of letting go did cross her mind but the inevitable painful tumble she’d take on the cement changed her mind.
As Mikhail ran through the streets, Eden tried to keep note of the twists and turns and landmarks along the way in case she needed to get back in a hurry and on her own. However, she wasn’t too keen on maneuvering the dangerous creature-filled streets on her own. If the little goblin hadn’t found her to begin with, she wasn’t sure she would’ve made it past the first city block unscathed.
After a fifteen-minute ride, Mikhail stopped in front of a dilapidated housing complex. The place reminded her of the stacking-box-like structures in the poor districts of Jakarta, Indonesia, when she’d visited years ago. The smells and the sounds were very similar, as well. Not that she minded. She’d felt at home in Jakarta, so this was a bit like a welcome back.
Mikhail nudged her off his back and returned to his human form. As Eden followed him, her attention was drawn to one balcony where a couple were ha**ng s*x. Loudly and in public view. But the odd thing was they were both catlike. Their skin was spotted and their faces triangular with luminous eyes and whiskers. She tried not to watch, but it was fascinating and a little bit arousing.
Once inside the building, Mikhail directed her up a flight of broken-down stairs to the second level. There he led her to a door painted blue and opened it. He gestured for her to enter. She did, although with reservations.
Once Eden was inside, he shut and locked the door, with several dead bolts and a metal slide bar. Nothing was coming through that door unless it was a giant. And she didn’t rule that out considering where she was.
Eden took in the small apartment, noticing the sparseness of it. It reminded her a little of her own place. There were three rooms: a small kitchen, a bathroom, and an area with a bed along one wall and a sofa and table along the other. There were no other comforts such as a TV or computer. Maybe such things were pointless here.
“This is where you live?”
“Sometimes. It’s not my main abode but I use it for emergencies.” He pointed to the bed. “You can sleep there. I will use the sofa.”
“Can I shower first? I feel like I’ve rolled down rabbit holes.”
“Of course.” He turned on the light in the bathroom for her. “Then I’ll tend to your ankle.”
She nodded and limped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. After all that had happened she’d almost forgotten about the pain radiating from her ankle. But now that the adrenaline had ceased racing through her bloodstream, the throb had intensified.
Eden stripped off her clothing, turned on the water in the stall and stepped into the hot spray. The relief of the scalding water pounding on her skin was almost instant. Sighing, she lifted her face to the spray and let it wash away the grime of the strange city and the anxiety she was feeling. She still wasn’t sure this man didn’t mean her harm.
When she turned from the spray and opened her eyes, he was standing in the bathroom, watching her. Her first instinct was to cover herself but she was too tired and she figured it was too late for that. He’d already seen her body, and from the size of his erection, he’d obviously liked what he’d seen.
Eden shut off the water. “Something you need?”
She was trying hard not to stare at him, at the beauty of him. He was a tempting distraction and it had been a long time since she’d had any real male contact. Just in her dreams. With him. She desired the real thing, and he was definitely the real thing. More magnificent then she’d fantasized.
He held out a towel for her. “Here.”
She took it, rubbed it over her face and hair. Then, almost as an afterthought, she wrapped it around her body, though she had the urge to wrap herself around him instead.
“Sit.” He pointed at the toilet. “I’ll look at your ankle. I have healing abilities.”
She flipped the lid closed and sat on the cool plastic. Mikhail went to a knee in front of her and took her foot in his hands. They were strong and rough on her skin as he moved her foot back and forth, trying to gauge her injury.
She winced when he flexed it to the right. “Ahh. That hurts.”
“Hold still.” He placed her foot gently on top of his bent knee, then cupped his hands around her ankle.
She wanted to ask him what he was doing, but all rational thought abandoned her as heat from his hands rushed into her flesh. It was as if a fire had been ignited inside. It wasn’t painful but a bit uncomfortable as the surge of heat swept up her calf, then to her thigh. Heat waves caressed her skin and molded her flesh until she was flushed and panting.
When next she looked down, her towel had fallen away and her legs were spread. A trickle of moisture lined the inside of her leg. In all her life, she’d never felt this heated, this wanton. The urge to trail her hand down to her sex to ease her suffering dug at her mind. She had to grit her teeth to hold it at bay.
“What did you do to me?” she asked, her voice strangled by desire.
“Healed you.”
“You did more than that.” Her muscles quivered with need. Her heart thumped hard with want. “I can’t leave this room without having you.”
“Be careful what you ask for. I will not take you kindly.”
She sat forward, placing a hand on his face. She ran a thumb over his full lips, wishing they were on her body right now.
“I don’t want kind.”
“What do you what?”
“You. Now. However.”
He stood, his hard c*ck level with her face. She reached out to touch it, dragging a fingernail over the tip. Mikhail groaned, then, grabbing her by the hair, he dragged her up to his eager mouth.
He kissed her. It wasn’t soft or gentle, but hard and rough, possessive. As if he was claiming her as a prize for a game he’d just won.
After thoroughly kissing her, he turned her and walked her backward to the wall. He pressed his body against hers, mashing her br**sts tight to his chest. His erection dug into her belly, an iron rod jabbing her softness.
Without any effort, he picked her up and pushed her legs apart to settle between them. Eden spread her thighs as far as they would go, bracing one foot against the shower door and the other on the sink counter. There was no seduction here. None needed as she was already hot and wet and ready for him.
Using only one hand to hold her captive against the wall, he used the other to guide his c*ck to her opening. With one long, smooth, yet hard, thrust he was buried inside her moist channel.
“Oh, God,” she whimpered, as he began to move between her thighs. Her dream paled in comparison to the reality of his hard c*ck inside her.
At first he just thrusted in and out, hard and forceful. Then he started to twist his pelvis until he was grinding on her. With every movement he rubbed against her mound. She was so open that the base of his c*ck knocked against her cl*t with every stroke.
As he f**ked her raw, he bent his head and feasted blissfully on her br**sts, tongue and teeth torturing each nipple. It wasn’t long before the heat building in her belly became unbearable. She writhed against the wall, moving her body to end her suffering. She wanted it to last and be over at the same time
She dug her nails into his back as he drilled her hard, holding on while he rutted like an animal between her legs. His fingers dug into her ass cheeks as he thrust himself, balls deep, into her sex.