Closing his eyes, he had to grit his teeth to keep from coming then and there. Only Chloe could shred his control like this, and the emotional knot within him twisted at the knowledge that far too soon there would be nothing and no one that could do this to him. Just as he’d always preferred it. He blew out a harsh breath, ran his hands over every part of her he could reach, as if he could burn the feel of her into his mind, as if the memory could sustain him.
Somehow, she understood, touched him everywhere, kissed him deeper, gave him exactly what he needed. Everything. They rocked together slowly, savored each other. Sweat sealed their bodies, and their breathing grew ragged between kisses, as her breasts slid against his chest, and his pelvis rubbed over her clitoris. The fire that built within him wanted to rage out of control, but he couldn’t let this end. Not now.
Not yet.
Not yet.
Her sex began to clench around his cock every time he entered her, and he held on to his restraint by the tips of his fingers. The little cries and moans that spil ed from her lips told him just how close she was to coming for him. She writhed against him like a cat in heat. Orgasm fisted in his bel y, shudders racking his body. His groan was as helpless and hopeless as he felt. Too soon. Too soon to let go. Too soon to lose her.
“Merek,” she sobbed, ripping her mouth from his. She arched hard, the muscles in her thighs tensing as she impaled herself on his cock, took him deep, deeper than before.
The way her pussy milked him made his thoughts scatter, made orgasm inevitable. He pounded inside her, let her drag him into the abyss. Come spurted from him, fil ed her tight channel, and stil he held himself deep, unwil ing to lose this connection with her.
They shivered together, arms wrapped around each other, aftershocks quaking through both of them. She buried her face in his chest, and he could feel the wetness of her tears. His emotions gave another vicious wrench, but he ignored them, refused to accept them. Later. Later, he would deal with his own feelings.
Now was for Chloe.
He cradled her close, stroking back her damp hair. “Shh. Don’t cry, sweetheart. Shh. Don’t cry.”
She kissed him fiercely in response, demanding without words that he make her forget. Everything. Her tongue thrust into his mouth, and his cock went rock hard, thrusting into her pussy.
And he held her tight, pushed away reality, made love with her again and again and again. Just for the night. Just as she’d asked.
It was al he had to give her.
13
“Chloe!”
Windows exploded in the living room, and the choked cough of silenced gunfire reported just before the shril squeal of a woman in pain.
“Chloe!”
She bolted upright, her name coming at her from too many directions. Merek’s bel ow beside her as he flipped her off the bed and onto the floor, covering her with his heavy body. Alex’s mental shout from upstairs she didn’t have the ability to answer. The cry from the living room had been in a woman’s voice. “Tess?”
More gunfire, more shattering glass and breaking wood. “Are you here, Chloe?”
“Merek, that’s Tess.” She wheezed out a breath while he crushed her into the carpet. The glint of light off the dul black metal of his pistol made her swal ow. It was too much like the last time, when Alex was shot.
She pressed her forehead to the floor, regret lancing through her. “I’m sorry, Merek. You were right. We should never have come here.”
He grunted, stuffing the revolver into her hand. Then he jerked on his shirt, grabbed his pants, and rol ed to shove himself into them. “There was no way to have known for sure, sweetheart. Stay here, stay down. I’m going to see what kind of mess we’re in.”
“Broken glass. Put on your boots.” He did, and she clutched the revolver closer, scooting to put her back into a corner behind the bed and away from the windows. “Alex. Make sure Alex—”
“I wil .” He nodded a quick approval when he saw where she’d moved.
Resisting the urge to shove him to the floor and protect him, she returned his nod. “Be careful.”
“I wil ,” he repeated. Then he disappeared, leading with his pistol out into the hal way.
Gods, she was naked. Al she had was a revolver. She shoved down on a hysterical giggle, sucked in a breath, and dredged up the magic inside her. Too late to pretend there were no Magickals here, right? She fought down another laugh.
“Clothes,” she ordered in a low voice. She closed her eyes tight, heard a rush of air, felt a hint of heat from the spel , and when she looked down again, she was dressed. Shoes to shirt, ful y dressed. That was a first, but she didn’t have time to wonder about it.
Her heart hammered in her chest, and she tried to slow it, tried to control her breathing so she could hear anything that was going on outside the bedroom. Who was here besides Tess? How many of them were there? Where was Alex? Where was Merek? She didn’t know, could only sense people moving around her, perceive the faintest creaks of floorboards as they ghosted along. A huge thump sounded against the wal , and her night-light flickered wildly beside her, but its glow was soon dimmed by the streaks of dawn filtering through the heavy curtains.
Clamping her mouth closed to keep in a scream, she shifted her grip on the revolver, held it ready in case anything tried to get inside her room. The thumping continued, muffled shouts and grunts, the impact of flesh on flesh as two large people struck each other. But who? Merek? Other men? She didn’t know. Merek would know. Alex would be able to sense it, but this wasn’t her area of expertise. So she sat, trying not to tremble, and waited for whatever came next.
A lupine howl echoed above her. Alex!
She shot to her feet, her gaze pinned on the ceiling, and she strained with al her might to hear anything, anything that might tel her he was al right. The door to her room exploded inward, screeching on twisted hinges to embed itself in the wal .
A huge, half-shifted wolf barreled in, a gun in each hand. His feral gaze locked on her, but her revolver was already pointed at him. He wasn’t Merek or Alex or Tess. That was al she needed to know.
Her heart stopped, her hands trembled, but she pul ed the trigger again and again until the gun clicked.
Empty.
Merek watched the werewolf stumble back, a blank look of shock on his face as he dropped one gun and clutched at the bleeding holes in his chest. Not a shred of sympathy passed through Merek as he wrenched the man’s other gun from his hand and used it to put six bul ets in his skul . He fel . Dead. Even a wolf’s healing magic wouldn’t bring him back from that.
Tucking the pistol away as a spare, he grabbed the fal en weapon and tossed it to Chloe. She caught it, letting the spent revolver clatter to the floor. Her face was pale, but her step was steady as she walked to his side. She looked up at him, her eyes huge, her lips shaking, yet her voice was calm. “Is Alex okay? I heard him yel .”
“He’s fine. Caval i went to help him out.” Merek ejected the clip in his pistol and shoved in a fresh one, pul ed back the slide, and chambered the first round. He kept his senses open, ready to detect an approaching attack.
Chloe fel in behind him when he moved down the hal to the front of the house. She spoke in a soft whisper, “Luca’s here?”
The breathy tone was almost lost in a roar of gunfire overhead. A hissing shriek of an injured vampire made his ears ring. If Caveat failed and Alex got injured in any way, Merek would personal y end the bloodsucking son of a bitch.
“He fol owed Tess, who got a report of a code change from the security company as wel as the code someone tried to input before making the change. She figured it might be you, so she came to check it out instead of just cal ing the cops.” He swung her into the kitchen and down to the floor behind the island. A bruised, battered, and sopping wet Tess was already crouched there, a neat little compact pistol in her hands. He nodded to her. “By the time our vampiric friend pried that information out of her, he realized that Smith’s men were fol owing them and that he couldn’t cal to warn us because I didn’t fucking leave him my number on the message.”