She knew things about sex that would make Dr. Ruth blush, could do things that would send a man straight into a hellish, fiery paradise. But all that expertise deserted her when she was with Mikhael. Her emotions rose to the surface, and raw need drove her every action. Gripping his buttocks and upper thighs, she worked herself against him in provocative strokes, licked away the blood she’d drawn from his neck.

Catching her throat in his large hand, he pulled her head up to suck that taste from her lips, then plunged his tongue deep, sealing their mouths together by cupping his fingers around her skull, holding her to him. He bit her back, a nip at her tongue, her lips, and when her head fell back, he sank his teeth into her throat as well. He didn’t have fangs, so he didn’t break the skin, but he held her tight, the way male animals did, asserting dominance in a manner that had attracted females since the beginning of time.

She moaned as his fingers flicked her hardened nipples, as he kneaded the curves, pushed them together and ran his touch in that sensitive valley between them.

“Beg, Raina. Beg for what you want.”

Beg, my slave. Beg for what you want.

She went cold so abruptly it was painful. She wasn’t that person, the kind that let herself get mired in her past so that it could drain the current moment. But Mikhael had stripped her down these past couple days. There were consequences to giving up those shields. The words jerked her from this reality to the one she never wanted summoned.

She struggled hard, found herself fighting him. “Let me go. Take them off now. Please.”

She wondered if it was the please that did it, though she despised herself for the weakness. The bonds disappeared and she hunched forward, trying to get her breath, trying to protect herself, her body flushed hot and cold both. The succubus blood was close to the surface, greedy for the sexual energy swirling around them, resentful of the interruption. It made her feel primitive, out of control, no better than Isaac.

“Raina.” She flinched when his palm settled on her bare back. “My energy’s here. You need to feed on it.”

“You just want to get laid.” Though she’d tried to sound amused, flippant, it came out bitter, almost afraid. She despised the fact he could tell her hungers had risen. She’d used extra energy to make sure the house stayed safe in her absence, but vulnerability was a fuel drain. She hated that. “I need to get down.”

“Turn toward me, then. I’ve got you.”

Drawing up her legs, she turned on the point of her bottom, and he held her in his lap. Instead of lifting her to take her down, though, he slipped the button of her jeans, began to open them, his intent clear.

“No.” She fought him, but he was too strong and the hunger was too powerful. He got her jeans all the way off by turning her over his lap and pulling them off her legs even as she tried her best to bite him, claw, use her magic. He took a few of the blows, absorbed the energy discharge, gave her a couple healthy, stinging smacks on the ass that shocked and aroused her enough to throw her further off balance. Then he brought her up to a straddle facing him, gripping her hair in a scalp-pulling hold. He’d opened his own jeans, so now, angling himself, he shoved her down on him, filling her to the womb, gripping her buttock with one hand to hold her snug on him.

The sensation was overwhelming. She cried out, tried to fight him some more, but he just put the other arm around her shoulders, brought her against his chest, her head against his shoulder.

“Ssshh,” he murmured. “It’s okay. Take the energy, Raina. It’s yours. You don’t have to beg for it, or even ask. It’s just there, and I give it to you freely. Now and whenever you want it.”

She was too much of a mess, didn’t know where to begin, but he’d figured that out. He tipped her face up again, and she shut her eyes, not wanting to see. Brushing her mouth with his own, easy touches, he swept his hand down her spine and back up again, awaking all those pleasurable nerve centers. Then he began to move, using the hand he had on her ass to help him, gripping her smarting cheek to lift and lower her, a slow thrust and retreat that immediately centered her succubus blood on the focal point of that energy, the dense buildup. Saliva gathered in her mouth.

You don’t have to beg, or even ask. I give it to you freely. Now and…for all eternity. Did she just imagine those last three words had hung unspoken in the air? She stared into his opaque eyes, the taut mouth. He’d just proven he wasn’t a kind or merciful lover, but she didn’t respond to those qualities when immersed in these dark shadows. In fact, his determined, ruthless nature pulled her out of them. He understood her nature.

Whatever shields she thought she had against him just disappeared. She began to move with him in that rise and fall, his knowledge of her body’s response irresistible.

“He has no hold on you anymore.”

“I know. I made sure of it.”

He gave a fierce, satisfied nod. “If he was still alive, I would make him suffer three times over for everything he made you suffer.”

She trembled harder. “Mikhael, don’t.”

He thrust deeper, earning a cry. “When I demand you beg, Raina, I demand it for your pleasure and my own. Not to harm you. Never to harm you.”

“I know. I know.” God, her throat was aching, a place so raw and jagged inside.

“Let the tears go. Let it all go.”

Something like a sob tore from her throat. “I can’t cry. Tearless…witch.”

When she’d been with Elceus, that had been a mercy. She’d never shown him a single tear, never begged, no matter how much he tried to make her beg for nourishment, for release from pain, from darkness, from punishment. She’d always been smarter than him, knew he needed her more than she needed her own life. Her sanity.

“It hurts too much, Mikhael. I can’t climax. Please…you release. Let me feed on you.”

The muscle in his jaw flexed, his eyes sparking, but he gave her a short nod, understanding. Curving her arms around his shoulders, she pressed her face into his throat as he increased the speed and power of his strokes. Her emotions might be too raw to allow a climax, but it was a pleasure to feel his cock inside of her, to feel all that male strength. She held on to that, savored it as his muscles became tensile steel beneath her greedy hands, stroking, touching, enjoying his body, the appetizer to the main course.

When he released, the heat of his seed sent sensation spiraling up through her belly and rushing through all her nerves. She caught the energy, drew it in like sunlight. She could draw all the life out of the sun, but Mikhael could handle it. He was hotter than the sun, would be burning long after it winked out and left the galaxy in darkness.

Clenching her muscles around him, she milked him, earning a guttural, animal noise from deep in his chest, a harder clutch of his fingers on her ass, another spurt of seed. God, he felt so good. Her sex spasmed around him, wanting the orgasm despite the emotional train wreck that had delayed its release. Bless his black heart, he picked up on it. Pushing her back so he could reach her breast, he closed his mouth over her nipple and began that deep suckling that she felt all the way to her womb. He kept thrusting, even as he completed.

It was like the decadence of dessert after a perfect meal. She screamed when the hard-won climax hit her, and he bit down, adding pain to the pleasure of it. The energy swirled over her skin, penetrating every pore. She inhaled him, drank him, soaked in his energy and found strength again, found balance.

Because, as she’d said, balance was what a Dark Guardian did.

14

IT WAS IN THE AFTERMATH THAT SHE FELT IT. CATHAIR passed over them a moment later, his screech ensuring she received his message, loud and clear. Gooseflesh rose along her arms. Shit. “Trouble. We need to get back to the house, now.”

She was already trying to move back, though Mikhael caught her. “Hold on a second. You don’t want to break a leg. Or snap something off you may need later.”

She made a face at him and lifted straight up, standing on the branch with easy balance. The energy had restored her, such that the woman Mikhael saw now was his usual self-possessed, half-breed witch. Before he could react, she’d taken a step out into space, using the air currents to carry her down with a sparking of the elemental energy.

“If you’d told me you could do that, I wouldn’t have carried you up here.” He dropped her jeans down to her, sending her shirt fluttering behind, though he held on to the panties and bra. No sense slowing her down.

“Exactly. Don’t whine. You got the chance to impress me with your manly strength. Meet me there.” She’d yanked on the jeans and shirt and was gone, moving fast, reminding him of how Isaac had moved. There was a fluid grace to her movements the incubus lacked, though, probably because she wasn’t frothing at the mouth in terror.

He tucked everything back in, grabbed his shirt, stood up and took flight. It wasn’t anything related to Isaac. He would have felt that, so it must be something involving her sex demons and their clients, something she would feel. He got there when she did, except she was already heading through the front door. He sensed it clearer then, confirming it was local trouble.

Regardless, when she reached the second floor, he was a step ahead, insisting on it, despite the fact she nearly elbowed him aside. He gave her props for determination, since he was twice her weight. She came to a stop.

“You need to let me handle this. It needs my touch, not yours. Trust me.”

He assessed the array of dangerous vibes coming out of the second-floor parlor. “I stay at your side.”

“How about at my back? That’s where I need you.” When she held his gaze, Mikhael weighed options, nodded.

“You’ve got it.”

“Okay.” Taking a deep breath, she moved forward in her usual sauntering glide, into direct view of the parlor occupants. The room was much like the one below, but up here, group play was permitted. A couple staff were in role-playing costumes, some of the bondage devices looked to have been in recent use, and there was a lot of naked flesh. At the moment, all that flesh was crowded to one side, and the agitation coming from them bent the dense space of the room outward.