Deadly Sins Ch. 04: Lust

Capturing both of her hands in one of his and using the leverage to yank her close, Thane put his lips right next to her ear, growling, "I don't need your help. I do this alone."

And he was going to take his time. Fuck the winter morning. Fuck possible witnesses. Fuck duty.

Fuck the consequences.

Thane released his hold, reaching around her back to grab handfuls of ass in each palm, deeply massaging the sweet globes. With his hands, he drew a picture of how the small of her back flared out into the perfectly sized, opulent buttocks.

He wanted to kiss her there, to run his tongue along the crack, savoring her essence. His cock jerked as he thought of how the brown gift wrapped package would quiver under his attention.

Rayn's build was different than the females of his pack and the contrasts intrigued him. Where female werewolves were lithe and slender, Rayn was all lushly toned curves he wanted to explore with his oral cavity in intricate detail. Each and every nook and cranny, down to her last.

"Ow!" she yelped when he landed a well aimed smack to her left cheek.

"That was for trying to rearrange my face," he mumbled into her neck, her tousled hair covering his nose, filling him with her flowery aroma. She squirmed as he graced her right with a match. "And that's for thinking I could let you go. Never, princess, never in a million years."

Damn she smelled good. Thane wanted a taste; wanted to verify her flavor was as he remembered...sweet, intoxicating. Drugging.

"Please," she begged breathlessly.

"Please what?" he baited.

"I...I need...

"This?" Thane thrust his hips upward while holding hers securely in place. "Huh? Is this what you need, Rayn?"

"I...I...oh-"

"Thane," he supplied seamlessly, grinding up against her, setting a slow, maddeningly steady pace. "That's the only name you will ever call from now on, understand?"

Her head bobbed against his neck in agreement. But it wasn't enough, he needed verbal confirmation. Sliding her jean clad pussy up and down his straining cock, Thane demanded, "I want to hear my name leave your lips. Say it."

But before she could comply, her breasts thrust into his chest as her back arched. Her entire body stiffened, frozen for several long moments in the exquisitely erotic pose of completion, shudders running the course of her frame before she finally collapsed on top of him in a boneless heap.

Thane held her close, running his fingers down the graceful curve of her spine as her body twitched with the occasional residual contraction. He pressed his lips to her temple, her neck, her lips.

God, she was so fucking hot. He couldn't wait to get her back to the estate and in his king size bed. The way she responded to these moments of pleasure in the most inopportune of locations was just a precursor to what was to come.

Eventually he was going to make her scream...his fucking name.

But, goddamn it, there he was again prematurely claiming a utopia that had a high ass probability of never becoming fulfilled.

Rolling to his knees, Thane stood, pulling Rayn with him. Wishing things were different, he cradled her to his chest for one sweet instant longer.

In that instant he saw her longing face turned up to him as he claimed her in the mating ceremony. Saw her weary face relax as he pressed his to a belly swollen by his seed, murmuring words of comfort and love to their unborn young. Saw her by his side when they were older, matured with time, and smilingly watching the babes of their babes playfully wrestle as little pups were wont to do.

He saw his life with her as it would've been in another time, another place.

But he had to live in the here and now. Where, for all intents and purposes, she was his enemy.

Thane set her away from him and echoed his words and deathly calm tone from earlier, saying, "Get in the truck. I'm not going to ask twice."

Hazy passion faded into perturbation and a bitter sneer masked her lovely features. "So...we've come full circle, have we?"

"I'm not going to ask again." Thane bent down to pick up his Glock.

"You have yet to ask once." She regarded the weapon warily. "Earlier or now."

"Since you're still standing here," he stated, checking the safety before sliding the gun into his waistband, "I assume you require my assistance."

But before he had a chance to reach out a hand towards her, she jerked out of his range. "Don't you fucking touch me. Ever again."

Yeah. Right. As she pivoted away, he called, "Rayn."

"What now?" she snapped, back to him, shoulders slightly slumped.

"No matter where you run, no matter how far you go, I will always find you."

Slowly she drew up into her full five foot seven inch height as her back tautened. "Spoken like a true nut case." She marched in the direction of the Navigator.

Stepping from the building's overhang, Thane watched her go, but didn't follow. When she was halfway to the truck, he warned, "Don't try to run from me again."

If she did, she would quickly learn he spoke the truth. No matter where she went, he would follow. And bring her back.

Thane pulled a hand rolled and a lighter from his pocket as the thud of a shutting door signaled Rayn's immediate acquiescence. A tiny fire flared orange as he lit the cigarette sorely crumpled from his recent activities. Taking a deep pull on the wrinkled stick, he blew out a white cloud more icy cold air than smoke.

He laughed as he realized the conversation he'd heard earlier was done, replaced now by loud male grunts of pleasure and feminine wails.

Rayn was fucking amazing. Any person was who could take down the world in such a pleasurable way, making them all fuck themselves to death or lose themselves in her abandon not giving a damn about the fallout. Hell, she'd even managed to make him forget about the stomach churning stench emanating from the dumpster.

As he got ready to rejoin her, a chill ran down Thane's spine. Turning in a slow circle, he scrutinized his surroundings. He didn't see anything out of place and as quick the sensation had come, it was gone.

But he couldn't shake his feeling of apprehension, his faculties on full alert. There was something lurking, watching, biding its time. Just out of his sight.

Something evil. Which could only mean one thing. It wanted Rayn. It wanted his mate.

Thane exhaled another stream of smoke, the white cloud rising in a swirling, dancing mist.

"Battle's on, asshole." He strode to the Navigator.

*****

She was right back at square one.

Staring out the rear passenger window at the passing scenery, Rayn was bogged down by an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Here she was again, caught in a predicament out of her control. The same predicament she had foolishly thought to escape. With disastrous results.

The tension between her and Thane was solid and real as ever, but somehow the dynamics were different. Rayn was clueless as to the cause of the change but intuitively knew while it had all to do with her, it had nothing to do with her attempt to knock him senseless behind the hardware store. Or the resulting episode of salaciousness.

Regardless of the origin, the shift in the atmosphere was noticeable. Where before she had felt comfortable enough to speak her mind, now she absolutely did not. And the silence was fast becoming unbearable.

Thane must've felt similarly because the sounds of an acoustic guitar accompanied by gritty, soulful wails filled the Navigator. The song was Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin, a song before Rayn's time but nevertheless one she recognized from her adolescence. It brought to mind warm memories of her father with his vinyl record collection stacked in numerous neat piles in one corner of their tiny basement.

As a child, the albums had captivated Rayn. She'd sorted through them for hours, trailing her fingers over the artistic covers, pulling the black vinyl free of the squares so she could get a closer look at the large circular discs.

When her father returned home from work in the evenings, he would let her pick one of the records to play. In their nightly ritual, she would joyously sit in his lap as he stroked her hair and the music transported them both to a time of real music, before the Ice Ice Babys, Baby Got Backs and Humpty Dances of the world.

After they'd listened to her choice, it was his pick. He'd introduced her to Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Santana. But his all-time favorite, the one he returned to most often, was Led Zeppelin.

"Now, baby girl, this here is some real music," he would say to her. Rayn would fall into fits of giggles, listening to him sing along off key in his powerful baritone.

Settling into her seat, Rayn closed her eyes and brooded on what was undeniably the happiest time in her life. A simpler, innocent time before a drunk driver took her father from her and her sister and heartbreak stole their mother away. And a time before Nicki accidentally moved the precious records too close to the radiator.

The albums used to be a tangible for Rayn to remember her father by. Now all she had were photos and the memories conjured by her mind which both became a little more faded and yellowed with each passing year.

And the photos were in the apartment she didn't know if she would step foot inside of ever again.

"What's wrong, Rayn?" Thane asked, adjusting the volume until the song became a dull roar in the background.

Rayn shook her head in answer, keeping her eyes tightly sealed.

"Ah, so we're back to lying, are we? In case you hadn't noticed, you're crying."

Raising a hand to her lashes, sure enough her fingertips encountered telltale wetness. It was no great surprise; she always shed tears whenever she thought about her parents, her father in particular. "I didn't lie."

"But you didn't answer the question either."

"Why do you think you're entitled to one?"

"Because I care. No matter what you think, I never want to see any woman in pain. I don't want to see you in pain."

Rayn sighed heavily. Would that she could tell him, share that small piece of herself with him. But theirs was not a friendship. "You don't get to act like you care. Let's not pretend this isn't what it is, Thane. You're my captor."

"Is that all you think I am?"

"You got a better description?" He was silent for so long, Rayn finally opened her eyes, seeking out his reflection.

Staring straight ahead, an unreadable emotion flickered across his handsome face. "I'm only doing what is necessary and best for us both."

"Call it what you will, but the truth remains unchanged. I didn't ask to be here with you, yet I am. And you won't let me go, will you?"

"No." Green orbs flicked to hers in the rearview for a moment before focusing again on the street. "And I call it no more and no less than what it is."

Rayn opted not to reply, instead letting quietness take over. On second thought, she'd decided she wasn't in the mood for conversation. She was too scared by what was happening, confused that in spite of it all she felt a connection to Thane that inexplicably required further exploration.

She needed room to think, room to regroup and plan her next move. She still planned to escape, but escaping on foot was out of the question. Thane was fast as evidenced by the speed in which he'd chased her; Rayn had just gotten around the corner of the store before he'd been upon her. Evading him without the aid of a car would be impossible.

And his reflexes...uncanny, un-freaking-believably so. He had dodged the attack from her makeshift weapon one second before she'd truly made up her mind she was going to attack him with it.

"Tell me what's on your mind, princess."

Sex and escape, in that order. "No."

A long silence stretched, then finally, "Please."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know."

Fine. He wanted to know so she would tell him...partially. And when she got done he couldn't say he hadn't asked for it.

"I was thinking of...of all that is lost to me. I was thinking of my car sitting on a side street just begging for a thief to come take her away. I was thinking of all my personal belongings that I suspect I'll never see again. I was thinking of my sister and my best friend and how worried they'll be when they can't reach me after calling my phone over and over and over again today. I was thinking that I owe my sister an apology that she'll probably never get." Rayn's voice cracked on a sob. "And I was thinking of the catalyst behind all the bullshit." Breathing fast, she paused for a moment to compose herself. "You."

Holding his tongue, Thane nodded his head to acknowledge her concerns. He turned up the volume on Led Zeppelin while maneuvering the Navigator onto an entrance ramp to the freeway. Rayn made note of the direction.

Ten astoundingly long minutes elapsed before he broke his silence. And when he did, his words caused Rayn's heart to stop beating for a fraction of a second before starting again double time.

"None of what I feel for you is an act."

*****

A persistent shrill sounded from far off. Adriana tried to focus on the noise; she knew if she could just get to it, she could get to where she needed.

Adriana also knew she was asleep although she wasn't supposed to be. There was something important she needed to take care of, but for the life of her she couldn't pull herself completely free of the blackness so she could take care of it.

So close to the surface, even from behind closed lids she could feel the room going Tilt-a-Whirl on her. And if it didn't stop, she was going to soon be horribly ill.

Adriana fought against her mind, which was insistently trying to shut down in reaction to the queasiness. No! She had to fight. She had to wake up because...someone's life depended on it? Who's?

Her's!

Lids flipping open, she sat straight up in the bed, the dizziness threatening to send her right back horizontal. She pushed through her nausea, trying to remember why she was in danger. Or if she was even truly in danger.

And where the hell was she? Even through the absolute darkness, she could tell she wasn't in her room. The bed was too large, the bedding, though fine as her satin sheets, unfamiliar. Marcus must've transported her to one of his other holdings after unconsciousness had overtaken her.

Smarmy bastard. Another form of control. Exerting his power while she was helpless by his hand by taking her out of her comfort zone.

The shrill ringing sounded again, commanding attention. Her cell phone.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, Adriana found her feet, taking small, painful steps. Relying on the sound of the ringing and the touch of the wall as guides, she eventually made her way to a chair situated not too far from the bed.

Groping on the cushion of the seat, she discovered her purse lay upon it. She reached a hand into the depths of the bag, grabbing the object responsible for the god awful racket.

The id on the phone flashed Marcus and Adriana debated not answering. Why the hell was he calling? Why not just do as normal and send one of his minions to demand the pleasure of her presence immediately?

The fact that he hadn't is what finally compelled her to answer. "What?"

His loud voice boomed an instant response, "Goddamn it, I've been calling you nonstop for the past hour! I thought you dead but here you are daring to answer the phone with a nonchalant, not to mention insolent, what? What mean you by that?"

Wincing at the shards of pain lancing her brain, Adriana adjusted the volume of the phone down. "Just how it sounded. What do you want? And where in the hell did you bring me?"

"Not hell, my sweet." His voice lowered, "I brought you to Rayn."

Adriana felt light headed as the events of the morning returned to her full force. Rayn Holland. The Alpha of Kensington. And the werewolf she had first mistakenly thought was Alpha.

The one with the blue eyes and brown hair.

"You fucking bastard! You beat me to within an inch of my life then left me to die. Literally."

"Have you forgotten who you're speaking to, Adriana?"

"How can I? I've got bruises and years worth of nightmares to remember you by."

"And the bruises so become you." He chuckled cruelly. "Listen, girl, I don't have time to fuck around with you. I called to let you know I followed you. You're on Kensington property. And the Alpha just drove in with Rayn. Find her and meet me at the main gate in one hour."

But there was one fatal flaw with his plan...how the hell was she supposed to find Rayn, much less help her elude werewolf captors-Kensington captors-when she was barely mobile? "How exactly do you expect me to do that, Marcus? You seem to have forgotten the brutality of your actions."

"You're a big girl, figure it out. One way or another, if you know like I know, you'd better have your sweet little ass at that gate in one hour." He terminated the connection.

Adrianna returned the phone to its original location, only then becoming aware of the heavy ominous presence in the room with her.

Right on cue, a deadly soft voice questioned, "Is Marcus the one who did this to you, little one? Is this Marcus's handiwork I've had the pleasure of viewing?"

A light turned on and Adriana collapsed on top of her purse in a mixture of fright and awe on seeing the man standing across the room from her, right between a heavily draperied window and the door.

His eyes were the color of the Caribbean. His close cropped head of hair russet colored. And his heart duty bound to kill her if he found out her true identity. If he didn't already know.

And he'd apparently been in the room with her the entire time. How much had he heard?

Licking her chapped lips, Adriana asked, "Can I have a drink of water, please?"

He cracked the door open a sliver to speak quickly with an unseen person waiting just beyond. So...she was being held prisoner. They already know then? And was Rayn on her way to her death at this very moment?

When he was done issuing his orders, several long strides brought him to right in front of her. He stared down at her, silent. Hard. Cold.

Not sure why, not sure what she could possibly say to save her life, Adriana blurted, "I can-"

"You have a mild concussion, several broken ribs, two black eyes, countless bruises and contusions covering damn near your entire body and you've passed out on me not once but twice. So, please forgive me for not being my most charming at the moment, little one, but I would really like for you to confirm for me that Marcus is the person responsible."

A knock at the door prevented Adriana from having to give an immediate answer. Eyes still glued to her, the man barked permission to enter.

A second huge male strode in, this one possessed of hair an amazing multiple shade of warm browns and reds, friendly amethyst eyes and a quick smile he readily flashed at her. "Shit, Cael, lay off already. Poor thing looks like she's 'bout ready to succumb to a coma."

Cael. That's right, his name was Cael. What a common name for a man who was downright...menacing. He looked like he should be named Mass Murderer, Serial Killer or Sadistic Bastard. Or, at the very least, Snake.

"Thank you for the water, Cullen." An obvious dismissal.

With a demeanor like that, since he wasn't Alpha he had to be Beta.

"Heed my advice, my man. Or you're just as bad as the maggot what did this to her," Cullen offered in parting, handing Cael the glass of water. The door closed securely behind him as he departed.

"Your water." Cael handed the glass to her.

Adriana took a long gulp, gagging as the refreshing liquid hit her parched throat. As she sputtered, he was instantly upon her, pounding on her back.