All Hell Breaks Loose (24 page)

“Oops,” she said completely unapologetically.  “Let me fix that.”  She finished tearing the shirt apart, then sat back and drank in the sight of his sculpted body.  His breathing was becoming hard and
fast,
and his erection jerked against the constraints of his pants.  She pulled the salt shaker from her pocket and started in the hollow between his
pecs
.  Lick, shake, lick,
shot
straight from the bottle.  As the lemon slices were still back on the bar counter, she settled for a taste of him instead, with a quick, deep kiss, then she moved down to the hollow between his abs. Lick, shake, lick; her tongue couldn’t help but wander a little, tracing the furrow down towards his navel.  She took another swig from the bottle and went in for another taste of his mouth.  As she reluctantly pulled back and looked down at him, she saw his eyes begin to bleed to full gold.  She’d pushed him about as far as she was going to get away with.

She wriggled slightly lower on his body.  This time as she leant in to stroke her tongue across the skin just above his pants, her hand reached for something he hadn’t noticed in the haze of lust.  As the fingers of her one hand slipped into his pants, the other brought up the glass full of ice from under the table.  The contents of the glass slipped inside his pants an instant before he realised her intentions.  She threw herself sideways onto a sofa as he yelled in surprise and rocketed upright, shock and outrage on his face.  He danced on one leg, trying to shake the ice down his pants leg, and Gabi was hard-pressed not to laugh out loud.  When he eventually stopped jumping around and turned on her, disbelief and confusion outweighed anger.

“That, my dear Jules, “she drawled, “is what you get for setting me up with bodyguards without consulting me.”  She hopped up, grabbing the half-empty bottle of tequila off the floor, and poured another shot into her mouth.  “And now, I’m ready to do some work.”

“You vicious little she-devil,” he growled.

She simply smirked.

Julius started by securely tying strips of black satin to her wrists, leaving long strips hanging loose.  When she demanded to know what he usually used them for, he only smiled enigmatically.  He seated her on the same table she’d just used to exact her revenge.  Then he blindfolded her.  The blindfold combined with the feeling of something binding her wrists had been enough to accelerate her heartbeat and send a spike of adrenaline surging through her.  Julius calmly talked her through the fear.  Irrational irritation at his patient, even-tempered tone fired her annoyance enough to banish the initial panic.  Only when her vitals were back to normal did Julius take the therapy a step further.  Without actually touching her, he put pressure on the ties, gently pulling the loose ends down towards the table.  It took long minutes, but eventually she was calm enough to satisfy him.  She’d resorted to meditation.  One good thing had come from her stint in Danté’s dungeon; she now found it much easier to slip into a calm, meditative state.  It was something she’d almost given up trying to master.

The next step was for her to lie back on the table with her hands raised above her head.  This wasn’t as bad as she expected, and she achieved her state of calm in moments, feeling triumphant.  Then Julius gripped the strips of material again, using just enough pressure that she no longer felt free.  The surge in her heart rate and breathing was immense.  The unreasonable panic clawed at her, her subconscious screaming in illogical terror.  The need to pull and yank and fight and shriek was overpowering.  She pulled strength from Julius’s calm voice this time.  She dragged spirit from a well deep inside herself.  It took every ounce of self-control she possessed to lie unmoving, to not struggle and rip free.  Julius slackened the pressure after what felt like hours, giving her time to collect
herself
.  Then they tried it again. 
And again.
  Half an hour later, the sweat was running freely down her face, mingling with the unheeded tears.  She’d made it to four minutes; the first effort had only been twenty seconds.  Julius removed the blindfold and told her they were done for the night.  She argued with him, of course.  She ranted and resorted to childish name-calling, but he was as immovable as the Andes.

He pulled her to her feet and carefully untied the wrist bindings.  He wiped the sweat and tears from her face with the tattered remains of his shirt.  Then he kissed her into silence.

“Now,” he purred, as her tirade finally abated, “I believe we hadn’t finished exploring the game of body shots yet.  I think it may be time to see if I can regain my taste for tequila.  Though I sincerely hope it tastes better than the last time I tried it.”  The distaste in his expression told her he’d only tried bad tequila.  This new challenge piqued her interest enough to give up on more therapy tonight and allow him to lead her to his bedroom with another bottle of tequila and the salt shaker.

Turned out he still couldn’t taste the tequila, but that didn’t stop him from licking almost every square inch of her body.  When it was Gabi’s turn with the tequila again, she filled her mouth with the fiery liquor before sliding her mouth over the tip of his cock.  As she swirled the liquid around the sensitive tip, his body jerked in reaction to the intense pleasure.  A stifled groan broke deep in his throat.

“Enough torture, she-devil,” he growled, panting.  She finally swallowed the liquid and released him.  She rolled over to set the bottle on the floor next to the bed, and he pounced, holding her in place on her stomach as he nipped and licked his way down her spine.  When he lifted her hips and nudged her thighs apart, she was more than ready for him.  His cock drove into her, quick powerful thrusts, burying
himself
deep and compelling her to meet his urgent rhythm.  The tingle of his power stroked her all over, reaching sensitive places his hands and mouth couldn’t, and just as she felt the surge of climax, he leaned his head down, nuzzling into the side of her neck and sank his fangs into the tender flesh just below her right ear.  Her world exploded as the orgasm rocked her, spasms of pleasure obliterating all thought.

He didn’t allow her time to recover, pushing her harder and faster,
wringing
inarticulate cries from her.  Two orgasms later she felt him go with her, his mouth unclamped from her neck as he surged one last time, holding her still as he came inside her.  His breathing was ragged as he
leant down to lick the puncture wounds on her neck.  He left a trail of light kisses down her back as she collapsed to the bed.

He rolled onto the bed next to her and pulled her onto her side, against his chest.  Moments later, sleep claimed her.

It was still dark when consciousness returned, but something told her it was daytime.  Possibly it was the feeling that she hadn’t had nearly enough sleep combined with the knowledge that she fell asleep not long before dawn.  A soft shushing against the window indicated the arrival of the rain the weather people had been promising for weeks.  She lay and enjoyed the gentle sound and the feeling of Julius’s chest pressed close against her back.  It would be so nice to just close her eyes and drift back to sleep for another couple of hours.  But she knew better.  There were too many strange things going on.  She wanted to help Byron figure out who’d taken the
rogue
Werewolf
, and she needed to go and relieve Russell of his duty as squirrel mommy.  She blew out a resigned breath, untangled Julius’s arm from around her waist, and dragged herself out of the warm nest of sheets and blankets.  As she made her way to the bathroom, she was relieved to notice that most of her clothing had made it to the bedroom; she wouldn’t have to go out into the rest of the house in a robe and collect vital bits under the watchful gazes of the housekeepers.

After a quick shower, and leaving a kiss on Julius’s luscious but unresponsive lips, she slipped out the door and made her way, yawning, to the entertainment room. 
Nex
, her jacket, her phone and her boots were waiting for her in a neat pile on the coffee table, but what really drew her attention was the heavenly smell of fresh brewing coffee.  She frowned in consternation and followed her nose.  On the far side of the bar counter was a door she’d never seen open before.  She’d assumed it was a closet of some kind, but further inspection revealed it to be a reasonable-size kitchenette.  It wasn’t big enough to be the main kitchen for the mansion, it seemed to serve as a catering area for the entertainment room, which, considering the BBQ on the outside patio, made sense if humans were living in the mansion.  Standing on the counter in the kitchen was a brand new coffee-maker and a small assortment of mugs.  The largest mug had a picture of a cute, fluffy kitten on the outside and a single red rose standing inside it.

A reluctant smile tugged the corner of her mouth, and an unfamiliar emotion wound through her chest and squeezed her heart.  She examined the emotion as she opened a cupboard above the coffee-maker and found sugar cubes, an assortment of coffee blends, a barrel of choc-chip cookies and a note saying that milk and cream were in the bar fridge.  It was a strange kind of buzz, to realise he cared enough to worry about the small things that made her happy as much as the big things.  It had given her a glorious ache in her chest when she found out how he’d given his own blood to save Razor, as the cat lay dying in her garden.  Julius had known, even then, when her abduction must have been the prime concern in his mind, that saving Razor would mean the most to her.

Then another thought occurred to her.  Did the introduction of the coffee-maker mean he expected her to be spending the night at the mansion more often than not? The tender emotions vanished in an instant.  She still had her own house. 
Her home, the place with her pets and her own things around her.
  She poured coffee into the large mug with the kitten motif, having moved the rose to another mug which she filled with water.  She tried to tamp down the feeling of annoyance, telling herself that she was probably jumping to conclusions.  It would be nice to have the option of coffee for the nights she did spend here.  As she added sugar and went back to the bar to get the cream, she realised that she could meet his presumption with some of her own.  She sipped the fresh, hot java and made a note on her phone to call someone to have sun-blocking blinds fitted to her house.  A satisfied smile quirked her mouth as she pulled up a bar stool and dug into the barrel of cookies.

It was pushing midday as she entered HQ.  Rocky was fed and snuggled in her pouch inside Gabi’s pocket.  Russell didn’t think the baby squirrel needed round-the-clock feeding anymore.  He’d been able to introduce her to solids with ease, but Gabi hadn’t had time to make a trip to her house.  She’d settled for a call to Rose to tell her she was working and check that everything was all right.  Razor was being obnoxious about her absence, but that was nothing unexpected.  Gabi shook the rain droplets from her hair and nodded a greeting to the
Werewolf
standing watch at
the door.  A swipe card was needed to get into the building, and a camera recorded all the entranceways, so there wasn’t usually a need for a guard on the doors.  Gabi couldn’t blame Byron for the added security measures after last night’s events.

“Miss Bradford,” the guard greeted her, “I was asked to tell you that the rest of them are meeting in conference room two if you care to join them.”

“Thanks,” she replied, heading directly for the elevator.

The door to the conference room was closed, so she slipped inside quietly.  There were more people inside than she expected.  Kyle sat off to one side, watching the melee unfolding at the main table.  Byron was pacing on the far side of the table.  Hazel, Byron’s secretary, was seated in a chair, faced by Margaret, the venerable Shape-shifter elder, and Irene.  It was clear by the redness around Hazel’s eyes and nose that she’d been crying.  Alistair and Lance were also present and seated at the table.  No one looked anything but deadly serious.  Alistair, Kyle and Byron noticed her entrance, but the rest were focused on Hazel.  Byron looked weary, almost haggard.  Concern roiled in Gabi’s stomach.  She raised an eyebrow in question, not wanting to disturb proceedings.  Byron looked at Kyle and gave him a nod towards Gabi and the door.  Kyle nodded back in understanding and rose.  He ushered Gabi back out the door and into the corridor.

“Hey,” he said by way of greeting.  Kyle’s lack of usual boyish exuberance was almost more concerning than the others’ serious demeanour.

“What’s going on?” Gabi demanded without preamble.

He grabbed her elbow.  “Come on, I don’t think we should talk about this out here.”  He steered her down the hallway to another door.  It was one of the small interview rooms, which Gabi knew were soundproofed.  Kyle plonked down in one of the chairs as Gabi closed the door behind them.

“The person who helped the
rogue
escape was Hazel,” he said.

Gabi heard the words, but they made absolutely no sense.  “What?” she asked, sure she’d misheard him.

“Yep, it was Hazel,” he reiterated.  “Or someone who looked and smelled a lot like Hazel, and used Hazel’s access card.”

“Hazel?” Gabi asked, still confounded.

Kyle nodded slowly, his expression showing almost as much disbelief as she knew hers did.

“Wait, start from the beginning.  Tell me as much as you know.”

“Byron called me this morning to say that he thought he’d found out who the other Shape-shifter was that I could scent in the holding cell.  Apparently they’d been over every moment of video feed from last night, as well as checking the whereabouts of every staff member on duty.  He asked me to come and see if I agreed with their conclusion based on scent.”  He rubbed his eyes tiredly, a rare gesture for Kyle.  “The moment I walked into his office I realised who the scent belonged to.  Before I even knew who they suspected, I knew it was Hazel.  I’ve been kicking myself for not figuring it out earlier, but you
know
how it is for me, I have to tune out the constant onslaught of smells most of the time, or it becomes too distracting.”