Shadow of the Sheikh (16 page)

The force of Shahin's kiss conveyed the elation he felt at her surrender. When he lifted his lips, she was breathless, boneless in his arms. A palpable wave of intense desire spilled from his body into hers. She shivered, softly moaning his name. “Are you bespelling me?” she asked.

“No. It's the magic you're feeling.”

With a smile, he lifted her fingers to his mouth
and slowly kissed the tips of them one by one by one. Then he drew her hand over her shoulder and pressed it into Seth's waiting grasp.

She inhaled sharply. “Shahin, what—”

“Shh,
kalila
. Just enjoy what you're feeling.”

The vampire brushed his lips over her knuckles as Shahin leaned down to kiss her again. They both took their time, Shahin kissing her mouth deeply, exploring it with wet, languid strokes that she could feel intensely between her legs. Seth gathered her fingers in his and flicked his tongue over the soft pad of the first one, then enveloped it with his mouth and gently sucked, tonguing the tip. At the same time, both men stroked her body with their magical power until she was again breathless and boneless, trembling with a need for something she didn't quite understand.

That was when she felt the subtle scrape of fangs against her finger.

She gasped as an involuntary convulsion of pleasure seized her body. The hard points of her nipples dragged against Shahin's chest as she squirmed.

Unable to stop herself, she half turned in his arms and watched with terrified fascination as Seth's fangs descended, long and lethally sharp. She felt the liquid pull of the vampire's sexual power sweep through her, making her blood slow and grow, oh, so
heavy in her veins. She was drowning in pleasure. Her body was shaking so badly she could barely stand.

Because it was obvious what would come next.

God help her.
She should stop him! But she couldn't make herself do it.

She wanted to know what it was like.

Shahin wound his fist in her hair and forced her around to face him, commanding her attention back to him. He angled his tall frame over her and covered her mouth with his.

Suddenly a sharp prick pierced her finger. She jumped and shivered deeply as a hot, sexual pull shot through her whole body.

Shahin groaned into her mouth, his fingers digging into her flesh as he must have felt it, too.

A low rumble came from Seth's throat. “Gemma, look at me.”

She glanced back. He was holding her finger up. A tiny, perfect bead of blood was forming on the very tip. The vampire watched hungrily as it bloomed and swelled, then tore his eyes back to her, pinioning her with his obsidian gaze.

“Do I have your permission?” he asked, his voice like the rough tear of velvet in the stillness of the room. “May I take your sacrifice?”

S
hahin's insides were on fire with a ravening hunger.
The vampire's thirst for blood.
Shahin needed Gemma to say yes.

Even more, Seth needed her to say yes.

As Shahin held her tight, her body undulated in his arms, as if seeking relief from her own deep, deep need. He could sense the battle between her intense physical craving and the emotional reluctance that still lingered within her.

“One drop,” Shahin coaxed. He had to have this; to experience the explosive sex he could feel prowling in the magic that roiled around the three
of them. “Let him have his taste,
kalila
. What could it hurt?”

She still hesitated, but her breath shuddered. She wanted to say yes, but was afraid.

Shahin ran his hand up her body to her breast and rubbed his thumb over the stiff nipple, at the same time sending a magical pulse of desire hurtling through her. She gasped and bowed in his arms, feeling the impact of his spell. He turned her head to kiss her hard.

He had never felt anything as intensely as he was now feeling everything around him. Every sensual movement of Gemma's lush body against him, every agonizing pang of this new, voracious hunger. Every rapacious carnal need of his own flesh; every wrenching pain of Seth's violent need for blood.

Seth pressed in close to her and asked again, his voice a tightly controlled whisper, “May I, Gemma?”

His fangs flashed white against his dusky lips, eerily reflecting the flickering light of the torch sconces on the walls.

Shahin could feel the out-of-control pounding of her heart, her quickened breath, the quiver of unfulfilled need between her legs. Last night, he had learned the responses of her body to his lovemaking. She was close to coming now, her flesh finally
succumbing to the erotic powers of the vampire and the spell of desire he himself had cast upon her.

She tore her mouth from his and looked back at Seth in desperation. Shahin could feel her trepidation over what was about to happen, but even more, he could feel her body's aching desire for it.

“Yes,” she relented on a soft moan. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes! Take the drop.”

Seth's power swelled like a storm cloud, filling the room. But it did not let loose in a torrent, as Shahin expected. Slowly, with tightly leashed control, Seth extended his tongue and barely touched the pad of her finger, rolling the bead of blood expertly onto the tip. As he brought the scarlet drop into his mouth, he smiled in blissful relief.

Instantly, Gemma's body convulsed. She cried out, gasping hard as she shattered in Shahin's arms. He held her as her knees gave out and she dissolved in a deluge of pleasure, her head thrown back against his shoulder.

His own desire flared to a desperate crescendo, egged on by the vampire's enjoyment of his coppery morsel, but he did not let himself release. Nor did Seth. This wasn't about them seeking satisfaction.

Not yet.

Shahin turned Gemma and held her until she came back from that place of unconscious ecstasy.

“My God,” she whispered hoarsely when she finally opened her eyes. “My
God
.”

“Good?” he asked with a smile.

Seth moved away from them, going to the bar to pour himself a drink. Shahin didn't know if the distance was to remove the temptation of taking more blood, or if he really did have such command over his darker instincts that he could be unaffected by taking just one drop. His need for more had certainly felt immense to Shahin.

Gemma glanced over at Seth, looking, if possible, even more frightened than she had before. “That was…truly amazing,” she said, her eyes troubled with a muddle of disbelief and…was it
craving
Shahin saw?

“That was just a tiny taste,” Shahin said. More and better lay ahead for all of them.
He hoped.
He dropped his hold on her and started backing slowly toward the bedroom. He held out his hand to her, beckoning. “Just the beginning,
kalila
. Come. I want your body under mine.”

She didn't move but stole a glance at Seth, who was now propped against the bar, drink in hand.

“Forget Seth,” Shahin ordered her. “
I'm
the one who'll be inside you, not him.”

She gave a little shiver. “Other than his fangs,” she reminded him.

Seth smiled behind his glass. “Was it so bad?” he asked her.

She closed her eyes and again that warring mixture of need and caution cut across her face. “I've heard…the bite can be addictive.”

“Not to every woman,” Seth returned. “And in this case, because of the shared magic, if you do become addicted, it will be to the touch of your lover, not me.”

Shahin thought he detected a slight quail in her stance at that. He himself was shocked by the revelation. “Is that true?”

Seth nodded. “But Gemma strikes me as a strong woman with no propensity for total dependence on a man. I would be very surprised if she falls victim to such a weakness.”

She opened her eyes. “This is not a good idea,” she said hoarsely, and glanced at Shahin uncomfortably.

Under his feet an earth tremor began to rumble. The thought of her needing him like that filled him with an overwhelming and primitive need for her unconditional surrender.

Now.

“On the contrary,” he refuted, “it's a very good idea.”

It wasn't fair to bespell her, but fuck fair. He wanted her. He wanted her addicted to his presence,
to his touch, helpless against the longing to be with him. So he could trust she would never betray him.

He drilled his gaze into hers, whispered a spell and compelled her to come to him. The shaking of the room increased.

Her body obeyed but she knew exactly what he was doing. “You're a bastard,” she whispered as he pulled her into his grasp.

“But not a vampire,” he returned. “Addiction can work both ways,
kalila
. Perhaps it is
I
who shall fall prey.”

He had no idea if that was true or not, but it suddenly struck him as a real possibility. He glanced over her head at Seth, but
that
bastard just smiled and poured himself another drink.

So it was a risk.

Shahin didn't care.

He swept Gemma up into his arms and stalked into the bedroom, each footstep causing the floor to jolt. He deposited her in the middle of the bed and with a
crack
snapped his fingers over her. Her gown dissolved in a shimmering flash and disappeared.

She was indeed naked under it.

She sucked in a breath and jerked her gaze up to watch him walk to the foot of the bed. Her eyes were turbulent with emotion. Anger?

It didn't matter. She was
his
.

He'd compelled her into the bedroom, but he would not make her stay. He released his spell. Would she run?

A steady rumble churned through the air, giving voice to the tension between them.

She didn't flee. Instead, she leaned back on his pillows and regarded him with lashes lowered to a slant. His answering smile felt as edgy as the blade of his scimitar. He stripped off the rest of his clothes and stood for a brief, pregnant moment, letting her take in the fury of his arousal. He was thick and long as a granite column.

She had climaxed.
He had not.

Nor had Seth. The door opened, then clicked closed. The power of Seth's presence rolled over them, restrained, simmering, infinitely patient in its voracious hunger.

Her breasts rose and fell, her chest flushed with vivid color. She licked her lips, hesitated, then with a slow, deliberate movement, she parted her thighs for Shahin.

His cock was so ready.

In a single fluid motion he was on the bed and on top of her. He gripped her under her knees and spread her wide for his entry. He captured her eyes.

“Do it,” she answered his unspoken question. Her pulse was pounding so fast and hard he could see it
beating in her throat like the wings of a bird. “Do all of it,” she cried.

And he plunged into her.

 

Shahin filled Gemma and kept filling her. She was sure she would come apart from the sheer pleasure of feeling him swell inside her. She forgot all about Seth.

Shahin hilted, withdrew and scythed into her again. Hard. She cried out again and again as he thrust into her over and over. Last night, he'd been a thoughtful and inventive lover, but this time there was no finesse, no pretense, no holding back…and no chance for regrets over what she was doing. Just good, hard, bone-melting, forgetfulness-inducing sex. The bed slammed against the wall until it shook so hard she thought it would surely come crashing down on them. Her body had never felt this ravenous, so on fire.

She flew into an orgasm, but he showed no signs of slowing. Nor did her explosive need lessen any when she hurtled over the peak and tumbled down the other side. The bite's influence? They both gasped for breath, their tongues and lips engaged in a duel of intense, thirsty, angry kisses. It didn't matter the cause. She wanted more.

“Again,” he growled, echoing her own need.

He held her down and took her deeper. His otherworldly power spilled over her and bound her
to him like the ties of invisible restraints. As he thrust, he spoke to her in short, staccato bursts, in a strange language. It might have been curses. Or maybe words of love? There was no way to know because when, between pants, she asked him what he'd said, he just kissed her even harder and touched her in a place that drove the question totally from her mind.

She couldn't think. She could only feel.

So she let go and surrendered to him—to his will to have her and to her own need to belong to this incredible man, heart, soul and body. She let go of her past and gave herself over to an unknown and unfathomable future. And silently prayed that she might spend it with him.

She was getting close again. “Shahin,” she pleaded, and his name turned to a breathy moan on her lips. “Come…with me…this time.”

“Not yet,” he said, and shifted the angle of his entry so the tip of him rubbed against the spot that always sent her into a mindless agony of pleasure.

Again she shattered in his arms, shuddering and quaking as though
she
were his element to call.

Maybe she was.

She gasped out his name and squeezed her eyes shut as her body showed him in vivid detail how much she loved being with him.
How much she loved him…

Suddenly he slowed his rhythm, and she felt herself being lifted into a sitting position, straddling his lap, his cock still deep inside her. She opened her eyes to see him looking down at her with an expression that sent a stab of raw fear razoring through her. His eyes were shards of ebony, black and hard and glowing with dark intent, his jaw tight and his beautiful mouth curved with secret knowledge.

But of what?

The aftershocks of her orgasm continued to pulse through her, so she wasn't thinking straight. Or she would have remembered immediately what was happening. And understood.

Suddenly, the bed dipped, and a savagely intense male presence slid in behind her. Powerful hands skimmed down her bare arms, leaving a cascade of gooseflesh.

“Seth!” She stiffened instantly recognizing his authoritative touch. How could she have forgotten he'd been there the whole time, watching? “It's okay,
kalila
. Relax. I'm right here with you,” Shahin reassured her, gathering her close.

She knew she'd consented to this, asked for it even, but…oh, God, what was she
doing?

“Please, I've changed—” she began.

“Shh,” Shahin urged brushing a finger across her lips. “Just enjoy the pleasure.”

The demigod's energy grew and twined and blended with Shahin's until their erotic magic filled the bed completely, rising like a tide around her, and she was drowning in a sea of irresistible masculine power. It was an overwhelming sensation. Her doubts slipped away under the onslaught of blinding sensual pleasure.

Shahin's arms wrapped around her waist and he easily lifted her, sliding the slick union of their bodies nearly apart, then brought her down again on him, impaling her anew. She moaned and quvered, loving the feel of him inside her.

Then a hot flush of embarrassment flashed through her body, suddenly remembering the other man was right behind her. His excitement and hunger pulsed through her flesh in a formless shock of energy. Not just watching, but touching her.

His hands stroked over her skin and her discomfiture quickly turned to a sizzling heat. Exquisite pleasure spilled down the path where his hands had been. She gave a sharp, breathless moan, and another as Shahin's palms found her breasts and cupped them. He squeezed her nipples and she cried out.

Behind her, she felt Seth's body shift up against her, skin to bare skin.
He'd taken off his clothes.
She sucked in a breath as the hard length of him nestled
against her bottom, the ripped muscles of his chest pressed into her back. She felt his warm exhale stir in her hair, mingling with Shahin's, and smelled the sagey scent of his body.

She started to tremble, but was too freaked out to know whether it was from fear or arousal. It felt good.
So
incredibly good. Her body thrilled to be where it was, sandwiched between the two most powerful men she'd ever met.

Then Shahin touched her face and his sex moved inside her, and she again forgot all about the man behind her. Shahin was the man she loved, the only one she wanted. He lifted her and drilled into her, and her flesh responded with a surge of pleasure that left her gasping.
This was nothing like before.
This was—

He did it again. She cried his name. And joined into his movements, together increasing the rhythm to a hard, fast, groaning fever pitch. She felt their mutual climax building, a dull roar rushing toward a full-on gale-force hurricane.