Malakai Read online

  Kai's breathing grew deeper as he leaned over her, bending her backward and supporting her shoulders with one arm behind them. Lashing his tongue to each of her nipples blazed furious fire across her skin. Rissa wrapped her legs about his hips. Suspended above the bed, she swung in his arms, a willing passenger destined for his dangerous ride.

  "Just you and me, Rissa. Skin on skin. Mouth to mouth. Mmm…sword to sheath. But only for tonight. Then, never again."

  She didn't like that condition, even though, rationally, she agreed completely. A one night stand? Yes, if she was doing this to get off. But, no, if she meant to serve the forces that commanded her very life. She needed sexual connection with this man—frequently—or she would die.

  A reply may invite discussion, so Rissa remained silent.

  Kai dropped her to the bed and pinned her hands up by her head. His gray eyes fell softly upon her quivering soul. She looked away from the delving gaze because it felt deep and needy. Intrusive.

  Reaching down, she tugged at the kilt, unsure how to unwrap it from his hips. His sword awaited her touch.

  "I've never seen you in town before," he said, working the buckle on the leather belt about his hips.

  "You've been too busy going through all the other women. That much I learned from walking around the festival and listening to the gossip about the sexy Irishman."

  He buried his face against her stomach and stroked her with his tongue hard and hungrily. "I'm not Irish, I'm French. Just a role I play."

  "Mmm…even better."

  Rissa lifted her hips, coaxing his demanding touch lower. He did not break contact, and his hot, wet tongue dizzied her senses. Her core shimmered and clenched, pleading for everything.

  "You looked desperate for someone tonight," she gasped.

  "Never desperate. Just…" He nipped at her hip, his nose sliding lower, down her thigh. His shoulder-length hair tickled the junction between hip and thigh. "I need this tonight."

  "I understand." But she wouldn't reveal she knew he was wolf because then he'd have questions about how she could know such a thing.

  Rissa spread her legs wide and glided her fingers down to tease at her folds. With a come-on crook of her index finger, she hoped to lure him in. "You take, you gotta give."

  "Don't worry about that. I never take until I give. That's just manners."

  He nuzzled against her mons, the tip of his tongue dancing across her clit in a surprising burst of heat that swelled her sensitive skin to a humming, wanting bud.

  "Mmm, you're sweet, sugar. I'm going to find your core and make you sing."

  Inside, she already sang with a giddy abandon at having found such a willing male. And so eager to please! His tongue entered her, then slicked about her sensitive folds, teasing, marking, daring her to cry out.

  Gripping her fingers in his thick hair, Rissa tugged hard, and crushed her hips upward. He answered by feasting upon her. It was too good, and too much and never too much, and so, so right. Shoulders diving into the bed, and her breasts lifting high, she felt his arm wrap across her back. Suddenly she was lifted and he spun them off the bed and against the wall where her spine and hips hit none too gently.

  "Wrap those legs all around me," the wolf growled as his biting kisses dove for the soft mounds of her breasts. Alternating with suckling lashes, he honed her nipples to adamant buds. Hips grinding against her body, he seared her with the erection that felt like a fiery column of steel against her sensitive skin.

  Rissa wanted to grasp that wicked sword of his, to squeeze it tightly and direct him inside her. Despite her frenzied heartbeats and gasping breaths, she squealed with delight as he lifted her higher against the wall to again press his face against the apex of her thighs and devour her humming core with greedy kisses and punishing licks.

  Hunks of his hair squeezed in her fingers, she moaned long and loud as the first waves of imminent orgasm shook her body and her muscles tensed then released, and then tensed again.

  "Come for me," he commanded. "Show me how much you like what I'm doing."

  Easy enough to comply when her mind had tripped over the edge and her entire body hummed with ecstatic pleasure. Rissa cried out as she gripped Kai's hair and rode him through the long and explosive climax.

  And when he lowered her by sliding her down against his body into a big, sweaty hug, she tilted her head against his broad shoulder and pressed a palm to his thundering chest.

  "My turn," she said, huffing and exhaling heavy sighs of pleasure. Dropping her feet to the floor, she shoved his chest and he landed on the bed, the kilt flying high over his stomach. His erection sprang up straight and proud, thick and red, fiercely begging her attention.

  Rissa climbed over his legs and kissed the swollen head of his gorgeous manhood before lunging up to kiss each of his tiny pebbled nipples. "Time to make the wo—er, big boy howl."

  Working her way down his chest, brushed with dark hairs, she licked and twisted her tongue across his skin, tasting, tempting, and teasing him with all she had. Wiggling her hips dusted her mons across his hard cock and he growled, teeth gritted, and gripped her arms.

  "On top of me," he commanded. "Now."

  Rising onto her knees, she moved over the siege perilous. Holy Grail, indeed.

  With his hands, he coaxed her hips down, and said tightly, "Need to be…inside you."

  She had him positioned where she preferred to have her men: Beneath her, out of control, and barely holding on. Lowering over him gently, she teased at allowing him entrance, but when the thick, swollen head of him nudged into her moistness, she pulled up, and eyed his reaction. His fingers at her arms were none-to-gentle and his jaw pulsed with each raspy growl of hunger.

  Of a sudden, her body flipped in the air, and she landed on the pillows with an exhilarated giggle. Kai drew up her leg and hooked it over his shoulder, and then her other, making it difficult for her to squiggle away. He lifted her hips high and as he knelt, slowly drew her onto his weapon.

  Controlled by the powerful wolf, he could toss her about like a doll, yet he was focused on what he wanted, gliding in and out of her, tugging, pulling and pushing. Filling her with immense heat. He moved slowly, pacing himself, and then would pull completely out to rub the head of his cock against her clit. Felt like molten lava purling over her skin.

  "Like that." Rissa twisted and cooed, reaching and only managing to touch his forearms, so tight and hard with muscle. "Burn me, wolf."

  "You're so tight I can't stand it any longer." Ramming deep within her, he slammed his hips against her thighs, using her as he needed, and giving her the sweetest taste of angryneedsex she'd ever wanted to know.

  When Kai cried out in climax, his voice was strafed with a wolfish tone, a near howl that called down the moonlight through the windows and glittered like Faery finery across their dewy flesh. The gasping wolf collapsed heavily on Rissa, his hard chest crushing her soft bosom.

  "Fuck yeah," he muttered aside her ear. "This night is just getting started, sugar cube."

  Chapter Two

  Kai rolled over in bed and spread his hand over the warmth of—no body beside him! He sat up on his elbows, scanning the room. Sun beamed across his back through the all-glass wall. He'd slept later than usual. Sunrise usually found him in the creek. About a quarter mile south the waters deepened enough for him to swim.

  All about him, he could smell Rissa. That sweet, sex/sugar scent of her had embedded in his pores.

  Twisting, he scanned below to see if she'd gone down to make them breakfast. The kitchen was empty. Listening intently with eyes closed, he determined he was the only one in the house.

  Why would she leave after the incredible night they'd shared? he wondered with uncharacteristic disappointment. Despite his teasing warning, he'd not broken her. And she hadn't once begged him to stop. Every move he made, she'd matched him, and then challenged him to try something else. He'd never gone all night with a mortal woman like he had with Rissa.

  And
he wanted more.

  Yeah, but you know it was a one time thing. Always was, because they never came back. Let it go.

  "Rissa?" he called out, but knew he wouldn't get an answer.

  Sitting up, he eased his arms forward, stretching his lats and back muscles. Talk about satisfying his wolf, and then some. He'd never met a woman who could give it as good as he did.

  Yet the fact she'd slipped out without so much as a goodbye pissed him off. What was that about? Maybe she had a job to get to.

  A twist of his waist spied something shiny on the pillow. Kai flinched when he saw what it was. He touched the sparkly substance with a fingertip.

  "Just glitter," he decided, "from her costume."

  And yet…

  He sniffed the glitter on his fingertip. It smelled sweet and sugary—like her—as opposed to chemical or manufactured, like garishly colored plastic crushed finely and sold in fancy pots for women to decorate their faces.

  Unsure why he did it, Kai dashed out his tongue and tasted the glitter. Suddenly a wicked hot sense of euphoria melted over him. His shoulders shuddered and he clutched the pillow and pulled it to his nose, seeking more of the intoxicating dust. It occurred to him that if he were a vampire, he'd surely be tempted to lick the pillow clean—if it was real faery dust, that is.

  Real faery dust was like a drug. Pureblood vamps could become addicted to the stuff like that. As for werewolves, it might give them a sensory tingle, as he had just experienced— "No!"

  With a disgusted roar of awareness, Kai tore the pillow apart, spilling white feathers over the bed. Stomping out of the room, he tore down the stairs and into the kitchen. He'd slept with a real faery?

  But her wings had been fake, made of fabric complete with a tear.

  He rubbed his eye with the heel of a palm. Some of the glittery dust had embedded in the whorls on his skin. It had to be real.

  Why didn't she tell me?"

  Same reason he never revealed he was a werewolf to the women he took home. It wasn't necessary, and the shock factor wasn't worth the risk for a one-night stand.

  Rissa had kept her truth a secret. And now he could suffer gravely for it.

  Slamming his elbows onto the kitchen counter, Kai shoved his hands back through his hair and searched his brain for that stupid curse his parents had repeated in warning to him over the years. The curse spoken by Malrick, the Unseelie king, to he and his twin sister hours after their births.

  …should you ever win the heart of any of my kind, you, the both of you, will suffer and Faery shall have its recompense as you must then ransom your very heart…

  Kai clutched his chest over his beating heart, wincing. He liked his heart exactly where it was. It hadn't been his fault the original boon to Faery had not been paid upon his birth.

  His mother had often whispered while tucking them in as children, "Faery blessed, Faery cursed." Kai had only grown to understand the true meaning of that phrase when he was a teenager.

  His parents had, each of them separately, promised a faery a boon should they be allowed to conceive. Werewolves could not conceive a vampire's child. Yet Kai's parents had wanted children so desperately they had been willing to make a horrible promise in return for such a boon. Blu, his werewolf mother, had promised her firstborn, thinking she could have another—perhaps many more in the future. A grave sacrifice, but at the time, she had deemed it worthy. Yet Creed, Kai's vampire father, had—unknowing of his wife's promise—offered his second born child, thinking they would have the first, and never any after.

  When they had learned Blu carried twins, and both had been promised to Faery, the Saint-Pierres had been devastated. Yet upon Kai and Kambriel's birth, something miraculous had occurred. Their umbilical cords had been wrapped about each other's necks, literally strangling one another. During an emergency C-section, the doctor had lifted them both from Blu's womb at the same time. Neither had been born first or second. The boon did not have to be paid.

  Thus, the curse, struck in retaliation for the lost boon.

  Now Kai swore at his foolish behavior. He'd been horny, focused only on getting another pretty woman into his bed to appease his werewolf's insatiable need for sex. If he'd been sharper, paid more attention, would he have figured out she was a real faery?

  Faeries had violet eyes. Why hadn't he noticed that? At the festival, as the sun had been setting, her eyes had been shadowed, and the fire had given them an amber cast. Then here at home, the lights had been out. Sure, the moonlight had played across her skin and hair and—hell. He'd been more focused on pleasure than gazing into her eyes.

  "Damn it!"

  He kicked the base of the dishwasher with his bare foot, denting the stainless steel front.

  But wait. The curse implied he must fall in love with a faery. He wasn't about to do that. Hell, sex did not equal love.

  It was one night. No man could fall in love that fast.

  Blowing out a breath, Kai decided he was getting worked up over nothing.

  "I'll never fall in love," he muttered. "Especially not with a sparkly faery who knows how to make this wolf howl."

  But damn, if he hadn't howled last night. As had she.

  Pride straightening his spine, he wandered into the bathroom and took a long, invigorating shower, but couldn't block thoughts of Rissa's expert hands gliding down his slick skin. It was enough to render him hard, and he jacked off thinking about the pretty blonde doing the same to him with her hands and mouth.

  Switching off the water, he pressed the towel to his face and growled. Even now, as he dropped the towel, a few bits of glitter sparkled in the lines of his palms.

  "I'll run it off tonight."

  Tonight he didn't need a woman to satisfy his sexual desires. On the night of the full moon, he let his werewolf out for the freedom it deserved.

  But what of the night following the full moon? Well, it was back to being horny again.

  ***

  The oranges were yellow. Didn't seem right. They were called oranges for a reason. Rissa set the pale, dimpled fruit on the produce stand and sighed. She should move back to California where fresh greenery and produce were offered in abundance. Handsome men, as well. Why she'd thought Minnesota would offer an interesting change of scenery was beyond her.

  Now she was here, she'd decided to stick it out a few months. Things could look up. People went missing in small towns and were never seen again.

  Yet if Malakai went missing people would certainly notice.

  It had been two days since she'd seen him. The wolf had been an amazing lover. He had not taken until he'd given. And oh, how he had given. Achy, fulfilled, and lusciously used following their escapades, Rissa could entirely see returning to his bed again and again.

  A dark whisper from within reminded that, more than wanting the man, she needed him.

  And for that reason, she mustn't see him again. She wouldn't give him that misery. The man was too good. Unaware. Not deserving of the horrors she could visit on him.

  She liked Malakai Saint-Pierre, and admired his strength. That made everything right so terribly wrong.

  He'd asked for one night. She would honor that request and find someone else. A nameless someone else. It was easier when she didn't learn their names.

  Rissa turned and her face landed right before the wide chest of a man who smelled like coal smoke, coupled with the barest hints of earthy green forest. Before she could shuffle away, Kai gripped her upper arms with his powerful hands, there, where he'd held her previously and her skin was slightly bruised. A sinister brow arched above his gray eye. And he didn't smile.

  "Why didn't you tell me?" he insisted.

  "Tell you what?"

  "That you're a freaking faery."

  "Wh-what's wrong with faeries?"

  "Everything. Nothing. I just…" He adjusted his tone to a quieter level so shoppers poking about the apples and lemons wouldn't hear. "Don't. Do. Faeries."

  "And yet, you did me up, down, and si
deways. Interesting."

  "You're telling me."

  Pushing out of his grasp, Rissa made show at brushing at her arms where he'd touched her. "What is so wrong with my kind?"

  "Nothing." He straightened and hooked his hands at his hips, looking down on her with fierce intention. His shirt looked a size too small, hugging his pecs and teasing her to stare a bit too long. "You were gone the other morning. No one walks out on me."

  "I see. You're offended then. Forget the fact I rocked your world, you can't get past waking up alone."

  "I rocked your world too, sugar cube."

  Rissa grimaced at the ridiculous pet name. "Was it something I did? Didn't do? Because I think we covered all the positions, so if you were missing out on something—"

  "Rissa, you were amazing. Best night of sex I've had. Seriously. But it's not going to happen again, right?"

  The heat of him permeated her thin tee shirt, and her nipples hardened. Kai sucked in a breath.

  Rissa breathed out a forced, "Hell no. Not when you feel the need to stalk me and curse me for what I am."

  She turned and made show of looking over the wilting strawberries. What was he doing here? He didn't do faeries? Fine. Then move on, big bad wolf. She didn't need his kind of crazy.

  A stroke of his thumb moved over the bruise on her arm, and she heard his pleased growl. That deep baritone curled into her being and tickled her suggestively in all the right places as if it were his fingers and not his voice.

  "So how did you guess at what I am? The wings were fake."

  "There was faery dust left behind on the pillow, and…"

  "I see." She hadn't unfurled her real wings that night, which would have left behind plenty evidence on the sheets, because she hadn't wanted him to know her truth. Hadn't needed him to know.

  The man was imposing, and oh, did he smell good, like wild forest and musk. The way he stroked her arm swept her right back into his bed, lying beneath him, breathing heavily, gasping for more, more, and more.

  "I should go," she said, but it came out as a reluctant murmur.

  "Me too. I hadn't planned to run into you here." Yet he stood there, looking at her, burning his want into her gaze with those stern gray eyes.