Authors: Cassandra Gannon
The
damn bracelet
was
a Werewolf repelling talisman.
Fang
let out an agonized bellow of pain the second he touched it. The silver burned
into his flesh, filling the room with the noxious smell of smoldering fur. He
wrenched his palm back and Jane could see the engraved pictures of victorious
Vampires scorched into his skin. He stumbled back from her, his free hand
gripping his injured wrist, smoke rising from his hand.
Jane
didn’t give him a chance to recover. She swung the mace as hard as she could,
catching him in the knee. Fang fell to the ground with an enraged roar, his
clawed fingers reaching for her and dragging her down with him.
Goddamn
it!
Fight scenes in movies always looked a lot more graceful than this. Jane
kicked at his face as they toppled to the stone floor.
“The
Vampire isn’t coming to save you.” He hissed, hauling her towards him as she
fought. “You’re all mine, Jane Squire.”
Pure
luck had Jane hitting his bleeding nose, again. The heel of her shoe slammed
into the cartilage and he reared back with a vile oath. She slithered under
the bed, grabbing the
From Here to Infinia
script as she passed, and
popped out the other side. “I don’t need to be saved, dickhead. I’m not that
kind of heroine.”
Fang
was fully changing now, shifting right in front of her eyes. He couldn’t
follow her, because his bones were snapping and his body reshaping itself. For
a few precious seconds, she had a window of escape.
Except,
she couldn’t quite remember how to run.
Holy
shit.
A wolf like creature was taking the place of Fang’s human form. Jane
gaped at the transformation, trying to process it. He wasn’t becoming some
cute, fuzzy wolf cub from Yellowstone. He was morphing into a massive hairy
monster, with the same hatreds and thoughts that the human version of Fang possessed.
Lupine
gold eyes fixed on her in animalistic fury and far too much intelligence. He
was some horrible Island of Dr. Moreau experiment, with the awareness of a man
and the strength of an animal. His features were a horrific mix of both, his
body twice its normal size. Jane sure wasn’t about to wait around for the rest
of his mutating parts to snap into place.
Shaking
her head, she backed towards the door, the script hugged to her chest. “Stay
away from me.” She warned. “In fact, you should get out of Infinia, while you
still can. If I can’t kill you, Slade
will
. That’s the only way this
story ends.”
Fang
bared his jagged teeth at her and Jane bolted into the hallway.
She
only had a few moments before Fang was after her. She needed to find Slade,
but she had no idea which way to go. Jane raced down random hallways, looking
for an exit. The entire fortress was a maze. She tried to find a staircase or
even a window, but all she saw were rows of locked doors. It felt like she was
back in the Endless Wood, hopelessly lost and going in circles. Where the hell
was a cellphone when you…?
A
hand shot out as she passed, grabbing hold of her and dragging her into one of
the rooms lining the twisting corridor. Jane opened her mouth to scream, but a
massive palm covered her lips.
Within
two seconds, she was trapped in a darkened closet with a huge man. In the
tight confines, she was pressed between the wall and his aroused body. There
was no way she could miss the evidence of his desire.
Or
mistake who’d kidnapped her.
“Slade.”
Jane tugged his palm from her mouth and beamed up at him. “‘Bout time you
showed up.”
***
“I
am upset with you, Jane.” Slade growled, bracing his palms on the wall behind
her, so she was caged between his arms. The words were the most massive
understatement ever uttered. “You have ten second to improve my mood.”
She
shook her head. “Calm down. I had it all under control.”
“He
fucking could have raped you and murdered you a hundred times over!”
“He
didn’t, though. I’m fine.”
Slade
wasn’t appeased. “What the hell were you
thinking?
”
“I
was thinking about saving your life. And it
worked
.” She arched a
brow. “If anything,
I
should be the one who’s annoyed. Where have you
been? Sightseeing?”
“In
the
dungeon
. I killed thirty-three Goblins and a dragon to get to you,
so it took a while.”
“A
dragon! Wait, the movie
edited
out
a dragon? That is
so
annoying. We have twenty scenes with Roland’s terrible band, but no screen time
for a
dragon?
What the hell is wrong with this picture?”
Slade
didn’t respond to that. He was still trying to get his heartbeat back under
control. God, every moment Jane had been out of his sight, he’d been tortured
with thoughts of what might be happening to her. It had seemed like an
eternity. When he’d heard her coming down the hall, the relief he felt left
him dizzy. It was quickly followed by anger, which was why he’d used his
powers to commandeer this closet and lock them both inside. He needed to talk
to his errant Eternal-One.
He
needed more than talk.
Jane
was still fixated on Slade’s jailbreak. “I’ve been
waiting
for a dragon
to show up, too. It’s a fantasy movie, so I knew it was coming. I can’t
believe I missed it. Are they really huge, fire-breathing monsters?”
The
woman was going to be the death of him. “
Five
seconds to improve my
mood.” He reported. “And, to answer your question, dragons are
not
huge,
fire-breathing monsters. Well, they do breathe fire. But they are mostly just
green-skinned assholes with wings, who hire on to whichever cause pays the most
rubies. I am rarely happy to see them.”
“Well,
I’m happy to see
you
.” Jane assured him, grudgingly moving on. “I suck
at being a damsel in distress. I was waiting for you to rescue me, but things
went to hell, so I rescued myself.”
“I
was coming!”
“You
were taking too long. I got impatient.” She arched a brow. “Besides, I hate
movies where the girl has to be saved, all the time. It’s patriarchal crap.”
“Two
seconds to improve my mood.” He didn’t touch her, but his erection made it
pretty clear what he wanted. “You need to start calming me down. Now.”
Gray
eyes met his. The woman was a brilliant actress. He could sense her growing
desire, but her voice stayed perfectly innocent. “Oh, I don’t think it’s such a
good idea to do what you’re suggesting, sire.” Even as she said it, her hand
traveled down his body, unfastening his pants.
“Kings
don’t make ‘suggestions.’ We issue commands. Touch me, Jane.”
“Yes,
sire.” She freed his erection, her fingers wrapping around the width of him.
She gave a small hum of pleasure as she felt his size.
“Gods.”
Slade’s eyes squeezed shut, his hand coming up to tangle in her beautiful hair.
“Stroke me.” Her fingers obediently danced along the surface of his skin and
he groaned. “That’s it.” He helplessly thrust against her palm. “That’s it,
my One.”
Jane’s
grip got tighter, her breathing coming faster to match his own. “Is your mood
improving, sire?” Her lips found the column of his throat, her tongue tracing
over his flesh. “Because, it certainly
seems
to be looking up.”
Slade
almost chuckled at that dry remark. Irritated as he was, the woman never
ceased to delight him. He wasn’t done complaining at her, though. “Fang had
his hands on you, Jane. I cannot
stand
that he had his hands on you.”
“I
didn’t want him to, but I had to protect you, Slade. It didn’t go too far.”
“It
did
go too far. What if I couldn’t get to you and you couldn’t escape
on your own? Did you think of that?”
Her
eyes flicked up his, revealing the anxiety she’d been hiding. “Yes.”
Slade’s
chest tightened at the quiet admission. It was the first time Jane had ever
openly admitted any vulnerability. In a way, it was more intimate than having
her fingers on him. A deeper show of trust. “I am sorry, my One.” He
whispered. “I should have been there sooner.”
“I
told you, I like being able to save myself. That’s important to me. I can be
independent and still be in a relationship with you.” She paused. “But --honestly--
you
were
a key part of my escape. I only got away because of your bracelet
and because you told me that Fang would be weakened when he shifted. He
grabbed my wrist and the bracelet burned him. That pissed him off and I
escaped when he was trapped between bodies.”
The
tenderness Slade felt switched into incredulity. “You pushed Fang until he
transformed
into a wolf?!
” Like one of those picture box programs, his imagination
showed him graphic, full-color visuals of all the brutal things a fully
transitioned Werewolf could’ve done to her small body. “Do you
want
to
die? Is that is, Jane?”
“What
else could I do to get away? He’s bigger than I am and he wasn’t going to
stop.” She swallowed. “Slade, he wasn’t going to stop. I was
so
scared. I did the only thing I could think of.”
Fuck…
That was all it took for the tenderness to come back. Slade dropped his
forehead to hers. “I was never more terrified than I was today. Without you…”
He trailed off, because there was nothing he could say to finish that thought.
Without Jane, there
was
nothing. “My heart cannot take the strain of
your ideas.”
His
words seemed to reassure her. Jane leaned up to kiss him and he groaned at the
perfect taste of her. “But I have
soooo
many good ideas.” She teased.
“Show
me.”
“Of
course, sire.” She breathed against his lips. “Tell me what you desire and it’s
yours.”
There
was one thing he’d been imagining since they met. “Get on your knees.”
She
hesitated, her tongue touching the corner of her mouth. “There’s not much room
in here.”
“Kings
don’t listen to excuses, they just want results.” He began nudging her
downward. “Please, Jane.” Vampire males were always dominant during sex and
their silly “sire” game just made it easier to demand compliance. “We’re not
leaving here until I’ve had your mouth wrapped around me.”
Jane
liked that answer. She grinned at Slade and sank down so she was kneeling
before him. His manhood jerked at the feel of her warm breath. Her tongue
flicked out to lap a bead of moisture from the tip and the top of his head
nearly came off. Content to take her time, she licked along the shaft,
refusing to take him deeper until he begged. She was torturing him and it was
glorious.
“More,
Jane.” He ground out when he was close to his breaking point. He tugged her
head closer. “Open your mouth and take all of me. Please.”
Gray
eyes sparkled with desire. “Yes, sire.” Her lips sealed around him, sucking
him deep… and time stopped.
Slade’s
head went back, his teeth grinding together to hold back his roar. His hips
instinctively moved, his hand tangled in her hair to guide her. “Christ, I’ve
imagined this for so long. When we met, you were kneeling in the supermarket
aisle and I started picturing your lips around me. I knew it would be like
this.” His eyes closed in rapture as she suckled him harder. “Only it’s
better than I ever dreamed.”
Jane
gently nipped his straining flesh and he nearly lost control. He might have,
except he heard voices on the other side of the door.
“Find
them!” Fang’s tone was deeper than usual, the words infused with a wolf-like
snarl. “I don’t care what it takes!”
That
asshole had the worse goddamn timing in the world.
Jane
froze, her eyes flicking up to Slade’s face. The woman had outsmarted Fang at
every turn, but underneath her bravado, she was still frightened. How could
she not be? The Werewolf has terrorized her. It was a wonder she could
function, at all. Most people would be in a state of hysteria if they faced
what Jane had.
Slade
quickly dragged her to her feet. “It’s alright.” He could see her fear and he
knew he had to fix it. “You’re alright. I swear it.”
“He’s
in his wolf form. Can he smell us?”
“Not
through my magicks.” The wolf form would make killing Fang harder, though, especially
since Slade still didn’t have the Silver Sword. That idiot Roland had run off
before he told Slade where it was hidden.
Jane
nodded. She clearly expected Slade to stop their fun… Which he was absolutely
not
going to do. At the moment, Slade couldn’t go after Fang without
risking Jane, but he could wipe the Werewolf from her mind forever. She would
never think of that bastard without remembering this moment.
Her
mouth parted in surprised as Slade lifted up the hem of her skirt and craned
his neck to admire the view. “What are you doing? She hissed, trying to yank the
fabric back down.