Dark Flame Read online

  What’s so funny?

  She shrugged. I know we’re alter species and all that, but every man I’ve ever known seems to chow down in the same way, like his life depends on it.

  Brannick shrugged, but smiled. It’s a primal need.

  Like other things he could think of.

  Of course the real question was whether he should engage with her at all. His instincts told him she would be a willing partner, even in real-time and despite his professed reservations about what they’d been doing in the dream-world.

  As he finished his meal, four security guards flew in, two warlocks from Elegance and two shifters from Savage. Vaughn explained that he and Fergus had decided to split the team with warriors from each territory.

  Brannick greeted each one and thanked them for being willing to help out. He didn’t take their involvement lightly. Roche was a demon with a small army he could put to use at any time.

  Vaughn took off shortly afterward, needing to be back at the safe house, but Fergus remained. He spoke in his rough voice. “Vaughn asked me to stay for the duration, so I will.”

  Simple as that.

  Brannick told the remaining men in detail about the dreamglide attack, then added that Roche was after Juliet to join his stable.

  Even Fergus let loose with a sound somewhere between a growl and a disgusted grunt. Brannick couldn’t have agreed more.

  When Juliet moved closer to the group, Brannick watched as Fergus changed places with the warlock next to him, making sure Fergus was positioned farther away from Juliet.

  Brannick approved. Fergus had a wildness about him, more than usual. He thought the shifter might be entering the mating phase of his annual cycle. For an alpha wolf that was a tough time, requiring tremendous self-control, especially around women who met his mating criteria. Clearly, Juliet was one of those.

  Brannick glanced at Juliet and watched as she twisted a long curl around her finger. He became aware suddenly that he’d seen her do this dozens of times. Without warning, another dreamglide memory surfaced from their five months together, arriving in brilliant hues and sounds like the other two before this one.

  Jesus H. Christ.

  In this dreamglide episode, he’d taken her into the air and she was completely naked. He’d made love to her high in the night sky. She’d been uninhibited and had cried out the most erotic things, about his size and how his cock felt buried inside her.

  The images, as before, rolled through his head like a movie he couldn’t shut off.

  Juliet turned toward him, blinking slowly. A crease appeared between her brows. She moved toward him and caught his arm. What is it?

  He was acutely aware of the men standing close by, but he couldn’t tear himself away from Juliet. They really had been lovers. I’m remembering the time we had sex in the air. You were so … willing. He thought that was a polite way of saying, game for anything, and she had been. Holy fuck, Juliet.

  A blush crept up both her cheeks.

  Fergus intruded. “What’s going on? Is it Roche?”

  Brannick turned back to the shifter and shook his head. “No, we’re okay.” But they weren’t. Not by a long shot. Not if the memories kept surfacing like this. The images had worked him up, and he wanted to get her alone.

  Juliet’s blush deepened. She excused herself and left the room.

  Brannick turned to Fergus. “Things are complicated right now between me and Juliet. We’re sharing powers, the way Vaughn and Emma do and I’m on constant alert in case Roche should try to attack her again in the dreamglide. But I need to go talk to her right now. Will you take charge of the detail?”

  Fergus sniffed the air and appeared as though he was examining carefully what he smelled. “I’ll see to the men. You go to Juliet. Call me if you need anything.”

  Still, Brannick hesitated. He didn’t feel good about abandoning the men right now.

  Fergus turned to the two warlocks. “I want you both on the front door.” Pivoting to the shifters, he issued a second set of orders. “One of you stay in the back patio, the other in the alley behind the garage. I’ll be here, on the canal entrance side.” He then turned to Brannick. “Go. She needs you.” He lowered his chin, his eyes darkening. “And take your time. Whatever this is between you and Juliet, she needs you right now as much as you need her.”

  A silent understanding passed between the men.

  He found Juliet in a study opposite the second bedroom. The small space held a large desk and barely enough square footage for the two of them to inhabit at the same time.

  He’d meant to reassure her that he had no expectations and to apologize if he’d made her uncomfortable with his abrupt recounting of the in-the-sky sex.

  But the moment he moved into the room, she swept a hand in the direction of the hallway. “Shut the door and lock it.”

  Aw, hell. So much for keeping his distance.

  His whole body lit on fire. He whipped around, closed the door with a not-too-polite ‘bang’, and locked it.

  By the time he turned back to Juliet, she’d stripped off her dress so that she stood in her navy lacy thong and a bra that pushed her breasts up into an inviting line of cleavage. Both sights made it difficult for him to unzip his pants.

  She drew close and planted a hand on his chest. “Get your boots off, too. I’ll need you to maneuver. I’m thinking from behind with my body splayed out on the desk.”

  For a quiet, artistic fae woman, she could be commanding during sex, and the vampire in him loved it.

  As he worked to get his boots off, Juliet moved stuff off the desk, then turned to face him.

  With his boots gone, she slowly slid her thong down her thighs and over her feet. When she rose, his gaze went straight to her light brown landing strip. His mouth actually watered as he removed his tank top.

  He started toward her, but she held up a hand. “Wait.”

  He froze. She slid her hands behind her back and undid her bra. He watched the cups fall away from her full breasts.

  He dropped to his knees and in the same motion cupped a breast and drew the already beaded nipple into his mouth. Fergus had understood what needed to happen here.

  Looking up at her while suckling, he slid into telepathy. Thank you for this.

  Her eyes flared. Same here. The minute you walked into the kitchen, I started aching between my legs. She had both hands on his head, caressing him.

  He rose up and took her in his arms, letting her feel his cock against her abdomen. He plundered her mouth as he had while making love to her in the night sky. He hadn’t been gentle with her, and from the moans she was making, it sounded like she wanted some of the same right now.

  He drew back, arching his hips into her. She held onto him, digging her nails into his back.

  He was rock hard. “So you want to be face down on the desk?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  He flipped her around, and she fell forward, arms outstretched, as she gripped both sides of the wood surface for leverage.

  His cock was already twitching. When she spread her legs wide for him, he had to look away, because damn if he didn’t almost come. “I need to feed as well. You good with that?”

  “Yes. God, yes. I need the real thing. I’ve needed it for such a long time.” Her hips shifted from side-to-side.

  He put his hand on her sex. The woman was streaming and ready. He used her juices to lube his cock, then bent down to ease himself inside.

  She moaned heavily as he pushed his way in. She was tight, almost too tight. “Am I hurting you?”

  “No.” She sounded breathless. “You can’t imagine how good this feels to me. Dreamgliding was awesome and as close to the real thing as anything can get. But this is so raw. Fuck me, Brann. Do it now and do it hard.”

  He took her at her word and began to thrust, slowly at first. He was a tall man, so he had to bend his knees given the low height of the desk. But it all worked.

  His balls were damn tight. It would take so
little to come.

  He pushed the long curly tendrils of hair away from her neck. “Arch a little for me so I can get the right angle.”

  She tilted her head forward.

  “That’s it. You ever been bitten before?”

  “Only in the dreamglide. I’ve longed for this. Longed to feed you, Brann. Can’t explain it.”

  “I need your blood.” His fangs thrummed in his mouth, then descended. He licked her neck until he could feel the erotic pulse of her vein, then slowed the movement of his hips to focus.

  His jaw trembled as he drew back, angled, then struck. His fangs hit the right depth and blood flowed onto his tongue. He surrounded the wound with his mouth and began to suck, heavy pulls on her neck.

  The moment he began to drink, his vampire thrall became a seductive flow of energy that eased over Juliet. She groaned heavily in response. I can’t believe how all of this feels. Your thrall is like nothing I could have anticipated. I mean, I felt it in the dreamglide, but not like this. Oh, my God. She shoved her hips back against his.

  He sped up the thrusts of his hips, which brought a series of sharp cries from her mouth. She’d never be able to escape his hold on her because of the thrall, but her body was free to respond to his.

  As he drank, he slowed down his thrusts so that he could move the full length of his cock deep inside her body.

  He drew back, lost in the combination of sensations, the lushness of her hips, the tightness of her well, the way her sex gripped and released as he pushed in, then pulled out.

  Between moans, she uttered small cries of pleasure. Each sound she made had his balls tightening a little more, getting ready to explode with pleasure.

  He slid a hand beneath her breasts and squeezed. His palm covered both and he could feel her erect nipples. I’m not going to last long, Juliet. You feel too good.

  Go faster then, because I’m about to come apart.

  He increased his speed and felt her accompanying tension as he continued to suck at her throat.

  “Oh, God. I’m coming, Brann.” A long, lusty cry left her throat.

  He went even faster, which sent another cry out of her mouth.

  He was ready. He released her neck and swept his tongue over the wounds to seal them, then leaned back. He grabbed her hips with both hands and plunged into her.

  “Brann, you’ll make me come again.”

  “Then do it for me, baby. Let me feel your tight sex grabbing onto my cock.”

  When she cried out a second time, his release arrived, a hot stream through his cock, coming in pulses that felt like he was at the center of the universe giving rise to the fucking world.

  He shouted as the fiery pleasure kept exploding through him.

  The woman beneath him rolled, arched and writhed.

  “Again, Brann.” She panted.

  He kept up the pace, something he could easily do as an alter vampire, even though he’d already come.

  But what surprised him was that his balls filled up once more. “Holy fuck, Juliet, I’m going to give it to you again.”

  “Yes. Brann, I’m hot with need. Go vampire fast, the way you could in the dreamglide.”

  He was right back there, high in the night sky, holding her tight in his arms and fucking her brains out. “I’m seeing you as you were, shouting at the stars.”

  “I love that you’re remembering more.”

  He sped up, the way no normal human male could and in this moment he loved his alter body and what he could do with it.

  “I’m coming again.” Her melodious voice sounded even better caught up in ecstasy.

  His balls fired up once more, and because he’d already come, the sensitive passageway lit up like he’d never had an orgasm before. He roared his pleasure, the sound of his voice like a freight train inside the small study.

  And it kept coming, a stream of pure pleasure, taking his mind on a trip around the entire planet. What sex he could recall from dreamgliding with Juliet had been extraordinary, but this was even better.

  When at last he was satisfied, he began to slow.

  Once more he slid his hand beneath her chest, fondling her peaked nipples, each of them tight from the orgasm. He kissed her neck where he’d suckled down her blood.

  Gratitude was what he felt, a profound sense that the woman had given him everything right now. God, she’d fed him breakfast, offered up her vein, and let him fill her with his come.

  “If I died in the next half minute, I’d die a happy man.”

  She chuckled. “Well, don’t, please, because I need more of that. I thought I was satisfied in the dreamglide because you always made sure I finished. But this was something else.” She sighed heavily.

  He kept kissing her throat, her cheek, the back of her neck.

  She giggled. “Do you think there’s a possibility all these men didn’t hear us?”

  “Sorry, not a chance in hell. A few of those cries of yours pierced my eardrums and I think my roars were probably heard in hell.”

  “No, not in hell. Heaven, Brann. All pure heaven and then some.” She sighed again, which helped him know he was probably leaning on her too heavily. He was a big man with thick, powerful muscles. He weighed a lot.

  He drew back. “This might get messy.”

  He watched her slap her hand on the desk, then reach for the right-hand drawer. She pulled it open, then plucked a hand towel from its depths. “Thought we might need this. Actually, I was desperately hoping we would, and I was right.” She chuckled again.

  He laughed with her. He drew himself out then caught their combined fluids with the towel. He loved the sight and smell of this visceral result of their lovemaking.

  He pressed the towel up against her body.

  “If you want a shower, use the pocket door. I had it put in the same year I bought this place. I like more than once entrance to a bathroom.”

  He picked up his clothes and boots. “Join me?”

  She parted her lips, maybe to decline, then her shoulders relaxed and she smiled. “I’d love to.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Juliet grabbed her clothes and followed Brannick into the master bath. She hadn’t had this kind of adventure in mind when she’d had the pocket door put in, but she was grateful for thinking ahead. She knew one of the guards was posted on the patio outside the master bedroom and really didn’t want to see him right now.

  Brannick got the water running right away. She wrapped her hair up in a towel and joined him. Of course, sharing the small space with such a big man led to another round that just couldn’t be helped. He was one solid mass of muscle as she slung her arms around his neck. He kissed her fiercely as though it might be the last time. It wasn’t long before he lifted her leg high on his hip and entered her.

  She still couldn’t believe this was happening, that she was finally having real-time sex with Brannick. She came while kissing him, his hips pistoning so fast it was like a vibration inside her body. She held Brannick’s hand over her mouth as ecstasy arrived in a hot wave, her cries muffled against his palm.

  He held his own roars down to a soft series of shouts. He clung to her afterward, holding her tight against his body.

  Heaven.

  When his breathing had finally settled down, he drew back and kissed her, thanking her profusely. She returned with her own repeated expressions of gratitude and wondered if two people had ever said ‘thank you’ so much after sex.

  He washed her afterward, a gentle act that reminded her again of all that he was as a man and a lover. Brannick had an amazingly tender side. For such a big man, his touch could feel like a soft sweep of feathers.

  Once she finally left the shower, she dried off then wrapped herself up in a towel. She brushed out her hair, restyling all her long curls in the messy configuration that worked best for her. Most of it was pinned to the top of her head and left to cascade with a few loose strands dangling down her back and a couple over her shoulders. With her curly hair, she’d given up ha
ving a more controlled look a long time ago.

  While she finished up, Brannick put his clothes on. Afterward, he settled a hip on the marble sink and watched her. His dark hair, wet from the shower and combed straight back, accented the clean, handsome planes of his face. She put on a little mascara, made use of an eyebrow pencil, because her brows were just a little too thin, then touched some pink gloss to her lips.

  “You’re beautiful.” His rich voice rolled through her, sending a shiver all the way to her toes. He reached over and touched her throat. “Are you feeling okay? Your skin is still red, though the puncture wounds have sealed.”

  She caught his hand and met his gaze. “I feel wonderful.”

  Still, he frowned. “Not dizzy? I took quite a bit.”

  She stood up a little straighter and weaved around on her feet, testing herself, then looked up at the ceiling.

  She was smiling as she glanced back at him. “Not even a little. But you know the worst part of what we just did?”

  She didn’t miss the dart of concern that shot through his eyes. “What?”

  She felt guilty about teasing him. “That I want to do it again so bad I can hardly stand it. How is that possible? You just took me to the heavens and back, and I want more. Guess I’m greedy.”

  He smiled, and his shoulders lost some of their tension.

  With his hip still on the sink and one boot planted on the floor, he grabbed her around the waist and drew her close, settling her between his legs. “I know what you mean. I’d love to take you to bed and keep you there for a long time.”

  He kissed her, and she forgot all about her make-up and hair. She relaxed against him, sliding her arms around his neck and holding him tight.

  Things heated up again so that when a loud rap sounded on the door, it took a moment to remember where she was.

  She drew back, but didn’t take her arms from around his neck. “What is it?”

  Fergus’s rough voice returned. “Sorry to bother you, Juliet, but your phone was ringing and Roche’s name came up on the screen. Wanted you to know.”