Being around Ben made me dizzy and lightheaded. I didn’t enjoy that feeling at all, so why, then, did I suddenly want more?
TWENTY MINUTES
after leaving Ben, I finally made it back to my dorm room. I tossed my keys into the bowl by the front door before adding my wallet and cell phone. I went to take off my scarf and realized it was no longer draped around my neck.
I searched the floor and opened the door again to check the hall. It wasn’t there. I’d most likely dropped it at Starbucks when Hannah hugged me or when Ben practically ravaged me in the middle of the coffeehouse.
I’d been so flustered after that spectacle, I walked briskly home with my head down the entire way.
I blew out a lungful of air to center myself. I couldn’t dwell on that now. It was over, and it was time for me to pack.
I took off my coat, grabbed my suitcase, and placed it on the small table to the right of my desk. As I carefully placed folded clothes into my luggage, I eyed my immaculately made bed. Images of Ben lying on top of it, naked, filled my mind, and I entertained what it would have been like to bring him back here.
We’d likely already be undressed and rolling around on my bed, him clutching my flesh and kissing my lips, which were still raw from his stubble.
My cock responded to the image. It lengthened and grew fat as it struggled for release from the constricting briefs and denim.
I managed to catch my reflection in the closet mirror. My chest heaved, and a noticeable flush reddened my usually creamy cheeks. I resembled Pierce right before he went out for a night on the prowl.
One moment I was me, but after meeting Ben, I’d become someone I didn’t even recognize. It made me far too uncomfortable.
I shook my head and slapped my face hard, trying to get under control.
Managing my warlock instincts was a constant exercise for me—unlike the rest of my family, who gave in to the warlock tendencies that raged inside us. Just like the anger I constantly kept at bay, desire was another emotion that needed to remain in check.
Our history was littered with the corpses of dead warlocks who’d succumbed to their baser instincts and paid the ultimate price for their follies. I had no intention of being another statistic.
How else was I supposed to become more powerful than I already was? Where my father, Pierce, and now Mason had found their strength in their hammer strikes, mine would come from a source previously untapped by any warlock.
I’d grow from restraint and knowledge, not brutish power plays. That would ultimately make me the most powerful Blackmoor of them all.
Reminding myself of that helped return my previous calm. I completed my packing in just under an hour.
Someone knocked on the door. I didn’t have time to listen to the lamentations of Stan, my neighbor down the hall. He’d been struggling with his dissertation and would most likely not be getting his doctorate. The first time he complained, I’d listened. I’d even offered advice.
After the fourth time of being trapped in the hall with him, I realized Stan was one of those people who preferred to whine about his problems rather than fix them.
I had no time for such nonsense.
“Little pig, little pig. Let me come in,” the voice said from the other side. “I’ve got something for you.”
I held my breath. Ben was here.
When he knocked again, my pulse quickened and my breathing turned ragged. Why the hell was I panting? I should be pissed off, not excited. I’d explicitly told him I didn’t have time for company, and he’d shown up anyway?
“I know you’re there, little pig.”
Who was he calling a pig? I threw open the door to find Ben leaning against the doorframe. He arched his bushy eyebrows and grinned. “There’s my little pig.”
I crossed my arms. “Just so you know, I keep an extremely tidy room.”
A grin hitched up the corners of his mouth. “Wrong type of pig.”
“What do—” I asked before I realized he was referring to rutting around. “Oh.” He chuckled at my obvious embarrassment.
“You’re cute when you blush.” He licked his pale lips as he once again looked me up and down. The foundation of my refortified self-control shuddered.
I gulped. “What are you doing here?”
He pulled his left hand from behind his back and held up my scarf. “You left this behind. I figured you might need it.”
“Did I leave it or did you take it?”
He grinned. “I would never do such a thing.”
And a vampyre never drinks blood. “How did you find me?”
He eyed me as if that was a ridiculous question. “Do you really need to ask?”
I shook my head. He’d obviously scried for my location. It was a basic spell most of our species mastered at quite a young age. In order to cast it, you needed a possession that belonged to the one you sought.
My scarf had led him right to me. I snatched it out of his hand. “I’m not a fan of being stalked.”
His lips parted in a big grin. “Not stalking. I promise. Just trying to do a good deed.” He glanced over my shoulder. “I see you’re all packed, though.”
I couldn’t lie. I’d left the evidence in clear view of my open door.
“So, since I’m here….” He paused, letting his words and his waggling eyebrows deliver the final part of his message.
An immediate no sprang to my lips. He had to go. I had a long drive ahead of me, and I had to find the answers to the mysteries no one back home had taken the time to solve.
The logical part of my brain screamed at me to say the words and shut the door.
The problem was the blood to that part of my body had been diverted farther south.
I stepped back and motioned him inside.
Ben smiled and tilted his head to the side like an eagle who’d spotted his prey. “Really?” he asked. “Are you inviting me inside?”
“Would you prefer an engraved invitation?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Just the words would suffice. I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding.”
I sighed, but mostly at myself. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. “Please, Ben. Won’t you come in?”
He strolled across the threshold with a huge grin stretched across his lips.
“What’s with the Cheshire cat impersonation?” I asked as I closed the door.
He pushed me against the wall, sniffing my throat and groaning in pleasure. “Because that means I get to hold you in my arms again,” he said. He licked and then nibbled at my neck. His swirling tongue caused me to moan. I’d never done that before. I clutched at his shoulders and ground my crotch against his. My hard-on slid against his erection, which throbbed in response to the contact.
“Ben, please.” Why did I just say that? Ben didn’t give me time to think. His hands found my ass and squeezed. The harness I’d managed to slide over my lustful yearnings unfastened and slipped.
“That’s right. Beg. I like that,” he said. His lips engulfed mine as he unfastened the buttons of my jeans and slowly led me over to my bed.
“Please,” I repeated, clearly unable to stop saying that word. He shoved my pants and briefs down my hips, and my hard cock sprouted from its reddish nest. The big, angry head leaked a string of precum. Ben caught the silky thread and rubbed over the tip, coating the red crown and his finger before reaching around and using my own seminal fluid to lube my hole. I shuddered as he wormed his way inside.
“There you go,” he said as he jammed the digit past the second knuckle. “I’m going to open you up good.”
My head swam, and my knees threatened to buckle. I’d never relinquished this much control to another person before. Just as with everything else in my life, I sat in the driver’s seat when it came to sex. Whoever I was with danced to the rhythm my fingers tapped out across their sweaty flesh. I didn’t move to someone else’s beat.
But here I was, pushing my ass back against Ben’s hand and opening my mouth wider for his probing tongue.
“That feels so good,” I muttered.
Ben broke the kiss and grinned before he once again nibbled a path to my neck. He bit and chewed until my flesh became so sensitive, it practically crawled beneath his urgings. “I could just eat you alive,” he said before a sting of pain filled my world.
“What the fuck?” I pushed him away, and the lustful haze lifted.
“Holy shit, man,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
I put my hand to my neck and found a small spot of blood. The bastard had bitten me. What was he, a vampyre?
I tensed as I carefully studied Ben. He pulled a white handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“I’m really sorry.” Lust no longer blazed in his eyes. Some other emotion crouched in the shadows. “You just really got me going. I can’t apologize enough.”
As I wiped my neck, I shut down my human senses and opened up my magic. If Ben was a vampyre, I’d ferret it out, and if he was, I’d find a stake and rip his dead heart to shreds.
I poked and prodded around his aura. The black and silver bands that made up the magical energy of all warlocks swirled about him, but there was something else. I couldn’t see it, but it reached out to me in invisible threads.
“Should I just go?” he asked. His words severed the invisible line that wrapped around me, and it retreated as if it had never existed.
And maybe it never had. But Ben did exist. He was here, his erection still straining against the fabric of his pants.
I tossed the handkerchief to the floor and kicked free of my clothes. Whatever control I’d relinquished earlier had reverted back to me. This I could handle.
“Take off your shirt,” I commanded as I closed the gap between us.
“Really?”
I grabbed the back of his head and gripped his hair tight. “Do as I say. Now.”
The confident take-charge stud morphed into a horse with a bit behind his teeth. He nodded eagerly and pulled his shirt off. Half-naked, he paused, his fingers at his zipper, awaiting the command that would set his boner free.
Before I could give the order, the golden chain that hung about his neck caught my attention. From it dangled an exquisite jade pendant. A lily with open petals had been carved across the face. It was beautiful, and for some reason, I didn’t want any harm to come to it.
“I’d take that off if I were you,” I said, nodding at the chain. “I’m going to get pretty rough, and it’s liable to get broken.”
Ben’s eyes darted to the gem, which he lovingly caressed. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s tougher than it looks.”
“Suit yourself.” I shoved him back onto my bed, stripped the jeans from his body, and fucked him good.
Chapter 2
THE SHRILL
alarm of an impending nuclear meltdown yanked me out of my slumber. I tried to open my eyes, but they refused to obey. I couldn’t even make my arms move. They were as stone-heavy as the rest of me. Had I been asleep or in a coma?
I finally managed to peel one eye open only to discover the world had suddenly turned fuzzy. Blurry objects populated my room, and no matter how hard I tried to focus, I couldn’t clear my vision. I could finally move my arms, though. I rubbed my eyes vigorously as my cell phone continued to ring. It was Pierce’s ringtone, the one he had chosen for himself. He claimed it was so I wouldn’t miss any of his texts, but my brother chose it so I wouldn’t ignore him when he did try to contact me.
Despite the infuriating racket of the phone, my one open eyelid drooped. I tried to block out the incessant wail by pulling the pillow over my head and burrowing deeper into the exhaustion that waited to claim me once again.
The phone switched over to voice mail, and I let out a relieved sigh when silence returned to my world. It was shattered two seconds later, when he called right back. The deafening buzz made my teeth ache.
I tossed the pillow across the room and sat up with my eyes still closed.
Pierce was evidently not going to be avoided. If I didn’t answer, he was going to keep calling back until I did.
I felt around on the nightstand to my right and palmed my phone. “What do you want?” I asked curtly.
“Is that any way to greet your loving older brother?” he asked.
“When he calls, I’ll be sure to be nicer to him,” I teased. With everyone else, I remained steadfastly distant. My brothers were a different story. Playful hostility had been the hallmark of our relationship since we were kids.
Pierce snorted. “Fucker. So when are you getting your lazy ass home? Dad’s been asking about you.”
Did anyone listen to me? “I’m not supposed to be there until tomorrow, remember?”
“What?” he asked. “Since when?”
“Since always,” I said as I attempted to shake the haze of sleep from my eyes. I’d never humped myself into complete unconsciousness before.
“What the fuck, Thad? Why in hell are you planning on missing Samhain?”
What was he talking about? “Excuse me?”
“No. Excuse you,” he said. “You’ve got a duty to this coven to be here for our Sabbat. You know that.”
Like I needed him to remind me. “I
do
,” I replied. “In fact, I’ve forgotten more about Samhain than you’ve ever known.”
“Then what’s the deal?” he asked. “Why are you going to miss it?”
I was irritated. On the plus side, my aggravation slowly lifted the foggy veil from my vision. “How could I miss it when I’m getting there a whole day early?”
“Are you high or something?”
“I’m not going to even pretend to know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“Samhain is today.”
I sighed. My brother’s knowledge of our ways wasn’t exactly perfect, but even he should have known the date of one of our highest holidays. “It’s on the thirty-first, Pierce. Not the thirtieth.”
“And just what do you think today is?” he asked.
I was beyond exasperated and had arrived at ticked off. My brothers typically affected me that way. “Buy a calendar and figure it out for yourself.”
“I think you’re the one who needs a calendar,” he replied. “Go ahead. Look at your phone, and see for yourself.”
I growled in frustration before I held the phone away from my ear. I pressed the home button, and all my icons appeared on the screen. When I clicked on the calendar, I gasped. It was the thirty-first. How the hell had that happened?