My stomach dropped down to my feet as the butterflies that were already causing a quiet flurry inside me suddenly intensified, feeling like a flock of angry crows. The yearning I mentioned earlier became an all-out conflagration of need, so intense my heartbeat raced and my breath started coming in short gasps. Yep, this was exactly what Knightley Vander did to me. At the mere mention of sex, I became a slobbering dog.
“Oh … okay,” I said dumbly. But it wasn’t my fault—words had completely escaped me.
“I need to taste you, Dulcie,” Knight whispered, and his eyes began to glow like they did whenever he was turned on or … jealous. He shook his head and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Meanwhile, I felt like my insides were succumbing to an avalanche of craving. “I keep replaying a memory of you in my mind and I think it’s slowly driving me crazy.”
“A memory?” I repeated in a mousey voice as I felt my own hands gripping the leather seat more tightly.
I could see his eyes flaming white, their glow his way of telling me that his body had selected me as his mate, and I was his for the taking. It was something innate to Lokis—in order for a Loki to procreate, the woman with whom he mated had to be strong enough to bear his seed. And Knight’s body had illustrated the fact that I was strong enough by glowing whenever Knight and I were being intimate or if another man ventured anywhere near me.
“I’m on top of you,” Knight started in a deep, but breathy voice. Thank Hades he wasn’t looking at me, and instead watched the road, because I feared I’d melt into a sticky mess if he so much as even glanced my way.
“You’re naked and your hair is spread all over my pillow and all over your breasts,” he continued, still staring straight ahead. “I wrap my hands around your tiny waist, trying to force myself to go slowly with you, to savor every inch of you. But there’s something primitive in me that keeps yelling at me to … to plunge myself into you as hard and deep as I can, to make you realize you’re mine.”
Without any warning, he suddenly slammed his hand against the steering wheel. I instantly realized that whatever this primitive thing inside of him was, he didn’t like it. He finally pulled his attention away from the road and looked at me with what appeared to be anger in his eyes. “There’s something in me, Dulcie, something I’m always at odds with. I think of it as a sort of instinctual beast and the beast tells me to take what I want. Most of the time, I can keep it in check, but with you, I’m always teetering on the edge.”
He paused and I could see his jaw visibly tightening. “Um, go on,” I whispered, thinking to myself that I wanted nothing more than the beast to make its appearance. At this point, Knight was teasing me as much as himself, and even though it was torture, there was no way in hell I would let him stop.
“I remember pushing my finger into you and you arching up against me and moaning.” He stopped talking and faced forward, the glow of his eyes obvious, even in his profile. “The beast nearly took complete control of me then, Dulcie. I wanted nothing more than to spread your legs wide and thrust myself into you. I had to close my eyes and force it back.” He took a breath and chuckled. “And then you told me you needed me inside you.”
I remembered this particular incident—it was probably one of the most intense sexual episodes Knight and I had ever experienced together. It was relatively early on in our relationship and I was over at Knight’s house. We’d just taken a shower after an especially long motorcycle ride. As soon as we were out of the shower, Knight had carried me to his bed and the rest was history, as they say.
“I couldn’t control myself once you said those words,” he continued, the chuckle dying on his lips. “The beast took over and I had to be inside you.” He was quiet for a second or two and when he started talking again, his voice was suddenly raw. “I remember looking down at your beautiful body while I spread your legs and wondered how a woman could turn me on so much.” He shook his head as if he still didn’t have an answer to his question. “And the feel of your tight slickness when I pushed into you ...” His voice trailed into soft quiet again as I silently begged him to continue. I’d never been so turned on by words before. But it wasn’t that surprising because this was how sex with Knight was—completely mind-blowing.
“What’s funny is that the memory is so clear, it’s like it happened yesterday.” He chuckled again. “Maybe it’s because I’ve replayed it so many times in my head, it keeps its novelty.” He paused as he appeared to contemplate it, finally shaking his head. “I don’t really know why.”
“Tangent,” I snapped, surprised by the irritation in my voice. “Back to the point.”
Knight gave me a raised brow and a smirk that was, even now, broadening. “Excuse me, Ms. Demanding.”
“Ahem, back to the story, please,” I corrected myself, adding a pleasant smile.
He suddenly pulled the Suburban to the side of the road, and the uneven terrain caused my teeth to chatter in my head. A few rocks pelted my door as a dust storm circled the car, manifesting the fact that Knight was driving too fast. He turned to face me, making no motion to do anything other than stare at me, but it felt more like he was staring right through me.
“The part I can’t erase from my mind and the part that I keep replaying over and over again is the feel of you. How wet and tight you were when I pushed myself into you. I remember a voice inside my head telling me to take you even faster, to push into you harder and deeper. I couldn’t fight the beast, Dulcie. As soon as I watched your beautiful breasts bouncing up and down, the beast won. Even though I wanted to close my eyes and fight my urges, I couldn’t stop staring at your stunning body. I couldn’t stop staring at myself going in and out of you.” He sighed long and hard. “The only other time I lost myself to the power of the beast was that time in the Denali on the side of the road.”
That was another incident when our sex got rough. At the time, Knight and I weren’t getting along. Even though I told him things were too ugly between us for us to have sex, he could read my body language, which shouted that I wanted him … badly.
“I think the beast needs to be released every now and then,” I whispered, following his gaze to my breasts. I noticed the line of my nipples standing out against my shirt in an obvious broadcast of my own arousal.
Knight reached over and took my right nipple between his thumb and middle finger, pinching it slightly. There were a good few seconds where I completely forgot to breathe. I couldn’t help it as my gaze drifted south to his lap. And, just as I imagined, he was already straining against his jeans, the outline of his penis more than obvious. I felt a stinging between my thighs and knew my body was preparing itself to receive him.
He didn’t say anything more, so I brought my eyes from his erection back to his face, only to find him staring at me.
“I’m about a second away from tearing off your pants and burying my face between your legs,” he said with calm resolve.
“Um,” I responded, but again lost the ability to form words.
“But I’m not going to,” he finished, dropping his hand. He glanced in the rearview mirror, then his side mirror, and finding the coast clear, pulled back onto the road, leaving another cloud of dust in his wake.
There was a definite sense of disappointment welling up within me. “Why?” I asked the obvious.
“Because I’ve got a team meeting to orchestrate,” he said with a lofty smile. Then without waiting for my response, he pressed a button on the steering wheel and said: “Dial Dia.” The sound of dialing filled the car as I tried to put a lid on the intense desire to jump him.
“You are such a tease,” I muttered to which he smiled a broader grin. The bastard was proud of himself!
“Unless you’re callin’ to tell me you’ve decided to take a ride on the goblin train, I’m not interested,” Dia’s voice rang out.
Dia, a
somnogobelinus
, was a specialized type of goblin who could influence people’s dreams. If that doesn’t sound especially impressive, Dia’s abilities allowed her to insert herself into people’s dreams and if she harmed or killed them during sleep, they would also die in real life. But, luckily for us, Dia was more interested in rescuing people. She headed the Association for Netherworld Creatures in a neighboring city of Moon and was also one of the board members (for lack of a better word) of our Resistance team.
The Resistance team comprised five Netherworld creatures who were specially chosen to help our former head, Christina, plan an attack against my father. But now Christina was no longer a viable leader because my father had subjected her to an illegal potion which forced her to divulge any and all information regarding The Resistance. As such, Knight was now in charge, and I was his second in command.
Knight chuckled. “I need everyone at the cabin, pronto.”
“Roger that,” Dia said with a hearty laugh. It was one of those contagious giggles where you can’t help but smile or laugh yourself.
“Everyone needs to arrive in less than twenty minutes,” Knight added with authority.
“I want Sam and Trey there as well,” I interrupted.
“Hi, girl,” Dia piped up. “Phew, I’m glad to know you’re with the Loki ’cause I was gettin’ worried.”
After my father tried to assassinate Knight and me, I had to go underground with a “friend” of mine named Bram. At the time, I didn’t know Bram was in cahoots with my father for the past couple of centuries. But, as with most Netherworld creatures living on Earth, Bram also wanted to renounce his ties to Melchior. According to Bram, he was now firmly entrenched in The Resistance camp.
“Hi, D,” I answered. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Amen ta that, sistah!” Dia said with a laugh. “Okay, Sam and Trey, I’m on it.”
Samantha White was my best friend and an incredibly gifted witch. She worked alongside me at the ANC and I considered her a devoted ally both to the ANC and to The Resistance. Trey also worked with me at the ANC as a fellow Regulator. He was a hobgoblin, who had the ability to see the past, present and the future in dream-like vignettes that had helped us crack many cases. Just as he was a boon to the ANC, I knew The Resistance could also benefit from his talents.
“And Quillan needs to be involved too,” I added, even as I realized my comment wouldn’t go over well with Knight.
Knight immediately shook his head, but I was steadfast in my belief that Quill should be part of our preparations to invade the Netherworld. “He was my father’s right-hand man, Knight,” I argued. “Quill knows the way my father thinks and without him, we’d be doing ourselves a huge disservice.”
“I don’t trust him,” Knight answered, his jaw tightly clenched. I noticed he refused to even glance my way and, instead, kept his eyes trained on the road ahead of us.
“Your fairy’s got a point,” Dia said. “Quill could help us, Knight.”
“And what if he still maintains ties to Melchior?” Knight demanded. “What then?”
“He has nothing to do with my father anymore,” I said in a soft voice, knowing Quillan was a sore subject where Knight was concerned. It wasn’t just because Quill once worked for my father, either. Quill had been my boss at the ANC before we discovered he was working for my father. And once upon a time, I’d even had a big crush on him, a crush which he’d returned and now made no attempts to hide. If the truth be told, I believed Knight was a little jealous over my friendship with Quill. “He took the tests of his loyalty to The Resistance just like everyone else did,” I argued. “And what’s more, he passed every single one of them.”
Knight swallowed hard, sighing deeply as his left eyebrow arched in what could only be described as a lack of enthusiasm. “Quillan too,” he said simply.
###
The “cabin” was a fitting name. Ensconced in myriad enormous, snow-decked Linden trees (which sort of look like poplars), the lodge was completely constructed from hewn logs. It took Knight and me about ten minutes to get here, during which time we traveled through three portals. Not surprisingly, we were the first to arrive.
I opened my door and shivered in the cold wintry air. “Where are we?” I asked, glancing around to find we were in the middle of basically nowhere. There wasn’t another cabin, house or lodge within view, just the refreshing smell of ice and earth permeating the otherwise still air. A few lone birds sang out dolefully, and the snow flurries dropped from the boughs overhead to find a final resting place on the ground.
Knight reached behind his seat and produced a black, down coat, which he handed to me. “Here, this will keep you warm.”
I accepted it eagerly and threw it on, zipping it up as I realized it was a woman’s coat and also my size. “Do you always carry around random women’s clothing?”
Knight chuckled. “I know your size, silly.” Then he looked me up and down appraisingly. “And, no, I don’t just carry random clothing around. I knew we’d be coming here.” He smiled from ear to ear. “I planned.”
“And where is here again?” I reminded him of my first question as I tried not to notice how his grin lit up his entire face.
“Southern Germany, in Bavaria,” Knight announced, almost proudly. “The town is Garmisch.”
I shook my head in wonder as I took in my surroundings again. It looked like we were at the base of the Alps, the mountains beyond the trees incredibly steep by anyone’s account. “Ten minutes to Germany. Portal travel is the way to go,” I said.
Knight laughed and started for the door to the lodge, unlocking it and opening it wide. From my viewpoint, I could make out dark wood floors and a fireplace that occupied one entire wall. Knight stepped over the threshold and faced the fireplace, as flames began to erupt in the firebox. Then he eyed me as if seeking praise for a job well done.
“Another of your Loki abilities?” I grumbled, sounding less than thrilled. It was an ongoing joke between the two of us—as a Loki, Knight had myriad abilities, abilities which he kept under lock and key. The only reason I knew he was capable of anything at all was because I simply stumbled upon them the more time we spent together. What number this latest ability was, I had no clue—I’d lost track a long time ago.