She pressed her lips together. “I also felt exhausted, like I’d just fought a war. Because the whole time it was crawling on the stone floor of my cell, beyond the reach of my chains, I had to fight the need to kill it before it figured out where that window was. But then it trusted me to get it there.”
“Therein lies the balance,” he said. “This is Purgatory. A testing ground, as I said. The choice is always ours, no matter the circumstances.”
She lowered her gaze to find him looking at her as if she were one of those things that brought warmth to him. “Those who can make the right choice under duress,” he said, “they’re truly the extraordinary ones, Raina. You’re extraordinary.”
She had no desire to answer that, to do anything but look at him and give him what he wanted. He knew it as well, for now he slid his hands under her arms, straightening to lift and turn her with that casual strength so she was straddling him still, but facing away from him. He pushed her shirt up, took it over her head. As he set it aside, he kissed her shoulder, cupped her breast, tightening his grip so the curve swelled above the strapless bra. Sliding his fingers over the nipple, he made it respond through the thin lace. “Put your arms back against me, Raina.”
She threaded her arms under his, her palms finding a home on the curve of hip and muscular buttocks, thumbs sliding along the crease of thigh. When he put his mouth to her rain-kissed throat, she sighed, thighs quivering in reaction.
“You can trust me, Raina.”
“What…” Then she felt the conjuring, her wrists bound by his magical steel chain, connected across his lower back so she was chained to him in truth. Or chained around him. Panic leaped in her throat as the same kind of binding wound around her thighs, holding them immobile and bound to his, spread over the oak branch, feet dangling together on either side, her toes curled into his shins.
“Take it off.”
“No. I’m right here, Raina. I’m only going to give you pleasure.” From the tilt of his head, she could tell he was studying the pleasing visual effect of her breasts cradled in his grip.
“You have breasts a man would die for. Just the right weight. I want to tie you down and suckle you all night long.”
She squirmed, which rubbed her against him. He was getting hard against her ass and lower back, and his thighs flexed against hers as she moved, an enticing coital hint.
“You’re imagining me sinking my cock into you right here, making you mine.”
She was afraid she was already his, for she’d allowed him to possess her in ways she’d never permitted another to do. So she didn’t answer, just turned her head, seeking his mouth. He evaded her, teasing her, and she bit his neck hard, earning a growl, a pinch of her nipples that had her squirming further. His growl became a muttered oath.
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.