Shouts rumbled at the doors.
He turned.
Voices raised in complaint as someone pushed into the room, impeding the flow of those leaving the room. In a heartbeat, his top guard appeared, towing Zhan behind him by the arm.
“Guess who thought she could sneak into the den,” Kirk said as he approached. “An Offerling.”
Zhan said to Persephone, “You didn’t text.”
“There’s no reception in here. I tried. Johnny was in the middle of the ceremony, and I couldn’t ask for access to a landline to call. Sorry. But I
The distinct scent of ginger lingered around Zhan, with a hint of death sealed into the marks given her by Menessos. They all knew the Asian woman was Seph’s bodyguard—and that his own Asian guard had ulterior motives. “Let her go,” Johnny said.
Kirk gazed deeply into Zhan’s eyes. “What if I’d rather hold on?” His question was seductive and inviting.
“I don’t respect any man who won’t follow orders.” Zhan jerked free.
“I’m not after your respect, China Doll.”
Johnny smelled the desire radiating from both of them—even Zhan, though she would have denied it. He didn’t care if the Offerling seduced his guard or vice versa; he trusted Kirk not to reveal secrets that would get back to the vampire. What he did mind, however, was how their attraction fed his own urgency for sex.
“Red, this way.” Without delay, he led her from the room. Those still shuffling out paused to allow them through the doorway. The pack members were all heading down the stairwell to their cars, but he led Seph up the stairwell.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll see.” He was uncomfortably hard in his jeans. In an effort to counter this intense response, he asked, “How’s your mom?”
Seph groaned.
It wasn’t so different from the sounds she made when he was bedding her. “That good?” he asked. His voice sounded strangled even to him.
Seph didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah. Ask me again later. What’s this?” She patted the steel square to the left side of the stairwell.
“Gates. They run along the tracks,” he replied as he pointed at the metal track across the entry top. Then he pointed at the floor, where a similar track was embedded in the floor. “It’s like the barriers they use in shopping malls. The Omori just had it installed. We can seal off the floors individually if we need to.”
“Why would you need to?”
“The half-formed wæres, mostly. Just an extra security measure.”
He was climbing fast. She was keeping up, but she was panting with the effort. It resonated erotically in his ears.
“That was an impressive transformation,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah? That’s it?”
He didn’t want to tell her how he was struggling with all that was new—
She didn’t answer him. He released her, hoping it wasn’t too abrupt. He was aware that he had to give her some kind of answer, but like a bad joke, her mom had actually given up her right arm in the process of unlocking his tattoos; he wouldn’t dare complain, but neither would he say anything that might make him sound ungrateful or imply that Eris’s sacrifice hadn’t garnered all they’d hoped for. “It felt easier. Much more fluid.”
Emerging onto the ninth floor, he guided her toward the small guest chamber at the rear of the hallway.
“It was your first change since breaking the binding,” Persephone added. “Did it feel more powerful to you?”
“Yeah.” He opened the door of the small studio apartment and hit the switch for the lights, twisting the knob to dim them. “I guess.” He opened the door wider so she could enter.
“You guess? I was out in the hallway and I felt it.”
“Really?” Instead of letting her acquaint herself with the space, as soon as he shut the door, he seized her and held her against him. “I’ve got something else I want you to feel.” He pressed his lips to hers roughly. “God, I missed you.”
Seph kissed him back and buried her fingers in his hair.
It felt like he hadn’t seen her in months, not mere days. His body thrummed with energy and ached for a release.
His tongue pressed between her lips, and he wished it was another part of his body. Her lip gloss tasted like sweet berries. He reached under the sweatshirt, pushing up tank tops to touch her skin.
That enticing resonance played across his fingers again, dripping into his palm and rippling through his body.
“Mmmm. I missed you too,” she said, arms winding around his neck. Effortlessly, she hoisted herself up and wrapped her legs around him.
He carried her toward the bed in the corner and she wriggled just before he heard the thud of her shoes dropping to the floor. He laid her on the mattress and, beyond the want or need of foreplay, unfastened her jeans. She made no protest as he tore her panties and jeans away in one motion. Seph tugged her shirts over her head exposing braless breasts.
A growl rumbled up from his chest as he pushed off the pants he’d put on only minutes before, and his erection was no longer confined.
Unable to resist, he bent to kiss her breasts, to fondle and taste her—because he could. Everywhere their flesh touched, he burned, burned as if his skin had been rubbed raw and was extraordinarily sensitive—yet without any pain.
He had to be inside of her, right now. He groaned in desire as her wet warmth embraced him. It was almost too much. He reined his urgency back, using shallow, controlled strokes.
Seph gyrated under him and laced her fingers in his hair. “No,” she said, her smooth thighs squeezing around him. “All of it.”
He thrust deep. She moaned in approval, and part of him wished she would struggle a little, just enough to make dominating her a sweeter victory. He arched his back, gave her an extra-hard thrust. Then again. And again. The breathy uh-uh-uh sounds could have been the whimpering struggles of a subdued quarry. . . .
“Don’t stop.”
She ground her hips against him. “Johnny.”
“What?” He pulled out of her. His tongue flicked up her neck. He nibbled on her ear.
“Johnny. More. Please.”
He was in control. Not her.
“Please . . . please . . .”
The soft pleading hit him like a hard-core turn-on. He pounded into her, fucking her until he felt a fluttering energy sweep over his naked backside like an ethereal wind. She clawed him, crying out.
As she quieted, he felt her body relax into blissful serenity, and she lay, panting, but he wasn’t done. It felt so good.
His pace slowed. His fingers skimmed along her arm, lifted it slowly, gently, until her elbow bent as if she were touching her shoulder. Gently, he repeated this gesture with her other arm. Holding her wrists there, he pushed up. His weight kept her pinned to the bed.
He watched her, concentrating on what she was feeling. Her breasts rocked with his thrusts. Hot. Beautiful. Sexy.
Lowering himself to his elbows, he nibbled at her neck in small, teasing bites. The altered position changed
