licking his lips. “Calling the devil would be more apt, my sweet, but that was only the beginning of what I’ve planned for you.”
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Chapter 7
Clarissa lay panting on the bed. Her arm lay limply across her forehead, her fingers
curled. She couldn’t look at him; shame at her reaction battled the sated fulfillment she was enjoying.
“Never feel shame for what you feel in this bed. Remember, the more you give me the
more you give he who owns your heart.”
“No one owns me,” she whispered.
“Before this night is out, you will question the validity of that statement, sweet Clarissa.”
She forced herself to look at him. He crawled between her legs, reminding her of some
primeval predator, holding himself on his strong arms, hovering above her like a vengeful spirit.
The red glow of his eyes put butterflies fluttering about in her womb, her body still contracting with the pleasure he’d given.
She bit her lip. “It’s so much, too much.” Weakly she tried to explain her overwhelmed
senses to him.
“I know.” There was sympathy in his voice. His eyes gleamed, dark and unyielding.
She’d get no reprieve from this until he’d had all she could give. Braden’s look made the
truth abundantly clear. He would accept nothing but her complete submission to the lust she felt for him.
Moving upward with serpentine grace, his face came just inches from her and slowly he
lowered his lips. When his lips skimmed hers gently, she felt something deep inside, maybe it was her morality, disintegrating. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him closer, crushing her lips to his in demanding, angry need. Clarissa could taste herself on his lips, but it didn’t cause her to pull away. She willed him to feel what she felt, the hated want consuming her as surely as Hades’s fire would. The repulsive ecstasy only made her crave him further.
Pulling back, Clarissa searched his face for some sign of remembered humanity. She
wanted him to feel remorse, yet she saw only raw hunger on his face. She wanted this, wanted to give this ancient being every miniscule moment of human connection she could offer. The
candlelight flickered on his beautiful, marble-like skin. She’d never seen a more dangerous, yet sorrowful, gaze before. He broke her heart with his haunting, terrible beauty.
“You are amazing.” He breathed softly against her cheek as he moved his lips to her
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39
neck.
She stiffened with uncertainty. The added danger of his kiss only intensified the
moment’s eroticism for her. She clutched his back, trying not to gouge him.
“Do your worst, beauty. I’m indestructible,” he teased as he pulled his lips from her
body. Then he ran his tongue over her skin until he reached her breasts. He kissed the rise of each mound with almost religious reverence before he swirled her left nipple in a slow circular motion.
Moaning, she pulled his face closer to the source of pleasure. He drew the nipple into his
mouth and she realized his mouth felt chilly, not hot as she’d expected. The unique sensation only added to her pleasure. He sucked hard, and she arched her back. He turned his attention to the other breast and repeated his actions with perfect duplication. Clarissa’s eyes closed and she let her arms fall back above her head. Writhing under his mouth, she gasped as he nicked her
nipple with his sharp fang.
Her eyes flew open and she looked at him. When he smiled up at her, she realized the
action was intentional. He lapped at the blood from the small wound and the pleasurable pain
brought her almost to the edge of another orgasm. When he turned his attention back to her other breast she stiffened, waiting for the pain, but it never came. This time he only licked and teased her sensitive nipple. Her uncertainty actually magnified her lust. Her body felt like it was made of pure sensation, and the freedom felt amazing. Her existence was nothing more than this
moment and the delicious tingles of want. She dug her nails into his back, wanting him to bite her again.
He growled low in his throat. He nicked her again.
“Yes. Braden, suck it hard,” she cried.
He did.
Clarissa felt something wild released from deep in her psyche. She ground her breast
against his mouth, her pussy dripping wet. She relished the scent of sex in the air. Clarissa became lust. Instead of giving him her humanity, she became a feral animal.
“I want more!” she screamed, not sure of what she demanded, but she knew it was
beyond her past sexual experiences.
handle. Suck my cock with all that untamed fury. I want to sink into your sweet pussy, but first I A Gift of the Darkest Magic
40
want to feel your lips on me.”
He allowed her to push him onto his back. She cradled his hip with her arm and found his
amazing erection magnificently waiting. Taking the large head of his penis in her mouth, she
licked him slowly. Braden moaned and his body jerked as she took more of him into her mouth.
Blessed with almost no gag reflex, Clarissa took in almost all of him.
“Iesu Melys ydych yn lladd fi, ” he cried.
She paused and the smallest glimpse of a thought touched her mind. Sweet Jesus, you’re
killing me. Clarissa wondered if she’d just imagined it, or if she’d actually understood him wordlessly.
She put her lips between her teeth and his skin and began to work his shaft with quick,
firm pressure as she sucked in hard.
“Annwyl. Ydy. O Dduw ie. ” He moaned.
Beloved. Yes. Oh God, yes. She didn’t imagine it this time. She wanted to know what
language he called out to her with.
“Welsh, her language,” he answered her thought quietly.
The words have a beautiful lyrical quality, she decided.
“Yes,” he agreed. She was getting more comfortable with the unusual silent
communication. “Lick my sack, sweet,” he requested.
She obeyed immediately. Her tongue lapped at the large orb, matting the downy hairs as
she rolled her tongue over him. She sucked him into her mouth gently, taking as much of him in as she could.
“You must stop before I cannot stop my release.”
She lapped at him a few more times before he sat up, hooking her under the arms and
pulling her to him. He kissed her with a tenderness she hadn’t expected. He cradled her head in his large palm as his lips skimmed hers softly.
He rolled with her and she found her body pinned underneath his. The hard planes of his
face and golden glint of his hair in the candlelight were an amazing contrast. Her fallen angel breathed heavily and she opened her legs for him, ready and wanting his hardness. She felt him brush against her and she pushed toward him.
“You are the most beautiful thing that has happened to me in a very long time, Clarissa,”
he said fervently.
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41
“I want you inside me!” she demanded.
“Tell me to fuck you, sweet.”
“Fuck me hard. Fuck me hard, Braden.”
He roared his triumph as he slowly slid his erection inside of her wet pussy. For so long
she’d been celibate, her body tight, and the earlier orgasm had only made her tighter. She felt every delicious millimeter of him sliding against her pussy and it was almost painful, but she stretched and he filled her completely. For a moment, he hovered over her, all the way inside of her. His cock was balls deep in her. He stopped and gazed at h
er with such a concentrated
intensity, it stirred her emotionally. She sat up just a bit, with him still deep inside, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hold him compassionately for a moment.
“Fuck me,” she whispered against his neck, placing a small kiss on the hollow of his
throat before laying back and smiling up at him; a single tear rolled off her cheek.
He moved inside of her, slowly at first and then faster, until he was pumping much more
rapidly than a mortal man possibly could. She felt her desire building toward release. He leaned down and bit her on the rise of her breast. His fang penetrated her skin painfully, but then a wave of sensation became a crescendo inside of her womb so incredible that she came instantly.
Shaking from the force of her orgasm, she arched her back and screamed, low and primal.
“Fuck, yes. Fuck, yes yes…so fucking good. Yes. Braden. Don’t stop!” She swore
uncontrollably and uncharacteristically as her body shuddered against him, contracting against his cock.
He drank from her, licking at the wound with slow, sensual swirls of his tongue. The mix
of pain and pleasure made the unique experience perfect. She wanted the pain. She needed this to be different from sex with Matt. The beautiful violence turned the feral side of her on.
He threw back his head, closing his eyes. “Clarissa!” he shouted as his face relaxed and
his mouth fell open slightly. She felt him spill his release inside of her and she clung to him, still rocked by the aftershocks of her own pleasure.
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Chapter 8
When he’d finished, his face tilted down and he gazed at her with adoration. Her languid
body followed his as he pulled her on top of him and collapsed on the bed. She lay on the cold firmness of his body and he cuddled her to him intimately. For a long time, she just lay listening to the quietness; the only sound was her own heartbeat and their ragged breathing. Neither of them moved, as if they were both afraid to break the subtle connection growing unhindered in
the aftermath of their blazing desire. Clarissa stroked his shoulder softly, and he caressed her hair away from her face.
Braden turned and rolled her to the bed. He slipped his arm behind her head and she lay
pillowed on the limb, looking up into the face of her dark angel. His fingers went to her breasts and he pinched her nipples very hard. She allowed it, relishing the unpredictability of his actions.
Deep inside she longed for more painful pleasure to atone for enjoying him fucking her.
“Do you truly want punishment, my sweet?” The light in his eyes made it clear he wanted
to give her what her body craved.
“Yes.” The word slipped from her lips with anticipation. “Please.”
He smiled as he watched her expression. “Have you ever been spanked, sweet?”
“No.”
A positively evil look filled his face. She caught her breath. The moment of fear renewed
her desire.
“Stand at the foot of my bed and put your hands on the posts,” he ordered.
She gently ran her hand over his chest, unable to look at him. She knew he could see into
her mind; see her twisted need for punishment.
“Your request is a gift. There is nothing wrong about needing atonement, after all that I
have done, I understand this much more than you can imagine. You will hurt and you will
come.”
She slipped from the bed with his sinister promise echoing in her head. He lay
comfortably as she stood in the position he’d requested, looking down at him. He sat up and
reached for one of her breasts. His thumb slid over the nipple. “You’re so lovely,” he told her.
She stood quietly, willing him to reawaken the wildness in her again.
He gave her a grim half smile. “Will you be able to cage the beast once it lives? I will
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43
awaken you, but I cannot undo it once you’ve discovered this side of yourself. Do you truly want sexual punishment, Clarissa?”
“Please punish me.”
“You are the perfect gift, sweet.” He stood and walked to a cabinet against the wall.
She heard him moving around, but didn’t move from her position. He was beside her
with unnatural speed and she felt him binding her hand and wrist to the post. When he moved to the other side, she tested the bond; there was no way she could escape. He repeated his actions so that both her hands stayed tied tightly to the posts. She stood looking at the rumpled bed and her pussy began to ache.
She’d heard about people getting off on whips and chains, but she’d never considered it
sexy. An epiphany filled her brain. It wasn’t the implements of punishment that were sexy, it was the punisher. She could think of no one more suited for savage sweetness than Braden. As she
stood in anticipation, Clarissa realized everything about being in the same room with the vampire screamed danger.
He chuckled against her ear, his lips hovering close to her neck. “I am danger.”
There was a stinging slap on her buttocks. The pain caused her to jump. Another blow
fell where the first landed and then another. She gasped. He stopped and she had a moment of
disappointment.
“Fear not, sweet, I am not finished with you yet.”
She received another stinging blow. The vampire adjusted her so that she leaned forward
as far as her bonds would allow. He looped her hair around his hand and tugged her head back
against him as he slid his cock inside her wetness. Growling like a feral animal, Braden pumped into her. His height made taking her from behind a perfect fit. He roared his pleasure as he thrust.
Startled, she realized he’d been holding back his inner animal, but now allowed himself to
express the untamed need. Braden sank his fangs into her arched, exposed neck, drinking deeply from her.
The sharp, intense pain quickly became a mind-blowing, throbbing pleasure. She came
with an agonized scream, bearing down on her powerful orgasm. She grunted her enjoyment as
she came against the hard cock thrusting rapidly into her from behind. He yanked her hair, filling her with his release. His teeth let go and then his tongue was licking at the wound he’d caused.
When they’d finished, he untied her, catching her limp body and pulling her gently with him
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onto the bed.
She closed her eyes, exhausted and sated. Braden caressed her hair and face. He
whispered softly in the lyrical language, but she was too tired to care what any of it meant. The animal he’d awakened slept again and she lay limply in his arms. Clarissa fell asleep, forgetting the danger of letting down her guard in the lair of a predator. The last thing her mind registered was his cool kiss upon her brow.
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Chapter 9
Clarissa’s eyes opened. She gasped loudly. The room was dark, and she struggled to
remember where she was. She fought with an abundance of blankets, sitting up with alarm.
“You’ve been asleep for ten hours, sweet Clarissa. I’m afraid you slept most of our time
away, but fear not, your gift was more than satisfactory. You’re safe and free to go, unless you’d accept one more gift from me.” He was suddenly kneeling beside the bed. “Stay.” The pleading
agony in his voice barely registered as her mind seized from the horror of his request.
Looking around, desperately trying to focus, she battled the claustrophobia of the dark
underground room. Her mind wasn’t fully awake. “No, please don’t kill me,” she murmured with
terror.
His eyes flared red in the darkness, and she scooted away from him.
“Disappointing.” The pleading desperation left his voice and he was once more the suave,
timeless creature she’d first met. His eyes returned to their surreal normal. “You may go, but if you ever need me, all you have to do is call to me and I’ll find you.” He whispered the words into the darkness. She could tell he wasn’t looking at her.
“Thanks.” She didn’t know what to say to his claim. “You don’t mean call you on the
phone, do you?”
He gave a dry laugh. “I’ve tasted you, we are linked. If you need me, you just need to
think it and I will find you.”
“Okay,” she said lamely, feeling awkward. He’d forced her into adultery, but she’d come
willingly in his arms. Knowing that she’d never felt like he’d made her feel before, not even with Matt, was a strange, bittersweet realization. Her husband was good in bed, but Braden was
supernatural. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, the room
appeared dimly illuminated again.
“I took the liberty of seeing you had fresh new clothing. It is folded and ready in the
washroom. There is a shower and clean towels if you’d like to cleanse yourself.”
She nodded, sliding out of the enormous bed across from where he stood. She followed
the direction he indicated and walked into a large bathroom. Washroom. She smiled at his antiquated term, and as she was already naked, she quickly stood under a steamy hot spray from the large silver showerhead. It felt wonderful, but when she reached for the soap, his scent filled A Gift of the Darkest Magic
46
her nose and she shivered, realizing she’d leave smelling like him. She used the products
anyway, washing her hair twice and rinsing the scent of sex from her body. She noticed the bite on her breast had left a crescent moon shaped scar. It looked old and long healed, not as fresh as she knew the injury should be. Clarissa laid her head against the tile shower wall and cried