Fire Ch. 08

Thea could feel the press of his teeth against her mouth with bruising firmness, and the faint taste of blood as his partially elongated fangs carelessly pricked her lips and tongue. His fingers were in her hair, fisted and holding her captive.

Under the heat of that kiss and all of its painful intensity, or perhaps rather through it, she felt his frustration, his anger, his need, and naked desire pouring into her. It overwhelmed her and she lost herself in the dark haze of the moment. Her fingers threaded into his hair and clenched just as tightly as his.

She couldn't say how long the kiss lasted, but when she opened her eyes she found herself pinned with her arms over her head, her body arching up towards his, and his mouth working its way down her throat. She felt something strange at her wrists and frowned in concentration, willing herself back into reality, pushing away the blanket of dark sensation which had fallen over her mind. He was leaning over her, his dark eyes flashing into hers.

She realized too late what he had done. His hands appeared at her waist and she tugged her wrists down to follow them, to touch him back.

They remained where they were.

It was like having cold water splashed in her face and she recovered instantly.

"Jairus! What do you think you're doing!" She looked up at her wrists, bound together and tied to one of the bed posts.

"Insurance."

"Untie me now!" A tiny smile tugged at his mouth as he raised a finger to his lips.

"These walls are thin." he murmured and gave the cord binding her wrists a sharp tug, making her arms jerk uncomfortably.

She glared at him, fury rising up in her throat and turning her next words into a venomous hiss.

"Untie me now Jairus, or I swear..."

His smile vanished and he leaned in until she could feel his breath against her skin, his eyes glinting ominously. She instinctively shrunk away from him, though it did her little good.

"You swear what? You'll leave? I don't think you'll be going anywhere little one." His voice dripped with dark sarcasm. He tugged the rope again making her squirm. She lifted her knee to push him off, but he caught her leg easily and moved to kneel over her, her legs caught between his.

She growled at him and writhed in a vain effort to twist out from under him.

"I'll scream." She warned, her voice still a hissed whisper. "The walls are thin...remember?" She tried to match his sarcasm with her own.

"And then what? Unless... you want them to find you. Is that really why you're here? Is my company so unbearable?"

She gaped at him a moment. "N-no, of course not." The vehemence had left her voice.

"Then why are you so insistent on putting yourself in harm's way?" His eyes had lost their dangerous gleam, but his gaze remained intense.

"I'm not."

"It certainly looks that way to me. You know as well as I do that once they know you're here they will do everything in their power to try to kill you, regardless of what you might say. So, why are you here, when you could be leagues away and safe?"

She clenched her teeth and tilted her chin. "I won't run...I won't be made to run. I will not be intimidated, and I will face them. If that ends me...then so be it." The vehemence had returned to her voice and she could only be grateful it didn't waver with the fear she actually felt. All he did was shake his head.

"What? You think I'm a fool?" She twitched angrily under him again.

"Yes. Foolish. You stubborn Huroth, you're as bad as the rest of them. Is that why you never left your village? To bloody stubborn?" Anger still flared in his eyes and he grasped her upturned chin.

She glared. "Yes. Too bloody stubborn. Now let me go."

"No."

She growled again. "What do you mean by doing this?"

"I mean to keep you alive, Huroth. I advise you to let me." There was something strange in his eyes again, but it was something she didn't recognize. What was that look he kept giving her?

"Don't call me that. You make it sound like a slur."

"Then don't act like it."

She huffed. "What if they find me....here...like this? I'll have no way to escape, or defend myself." She thought she saw his face soften slightly as he raised himself away and released her chin, but it was hard to tell in the low light.

"They will only find you if you let them know where you are. This is the point you don't seem able to grasp."

Jairus looked down at her disheveled form and smirked slightly to mitigate the harshness of his words. He couldn't actually leave her tied up like this, as much as he wanted to. It was really just a bluff. She would be too angry with him, and he was well enough acquainted with her stubborn streak to know she would simply leave as she had threatened. The fact made his chest swell and ache, and his smirk vanish. He leaned further back and watched the emotions swim across the open waters of her face, moving from anger, to confusion, to fury, to fear in rapid succession.

"Jairus?" Her voice, which had been so hard and confident in her anger, now broke softly around the word. "Let me go."

He leaned back in again, his hands on either side of her head, his face inches from hers.

"No."

He watched the passion flare back to life in her eyes, incinerating her uncertainty once more. She writhed beneath him and tugged futilely at her bindings, unwittingly making them that much tighter. Her hair was splayed out in a disordered fan and he couldn't help but notice the red swell of her lips as she thrashed alluringly in frustration. For a second time he was suddenly overcome with the need to lay claim to those flushed lips.

It took only seconds for her irate struggles to change into writhing of another kind as his tongue took possession of hers once more. His cock felt like it had turned to steel when he felt her moan erotically into his mouth and one of her legs hitched up, her foot dragging up along his thigh. He had to focus to drag himself away again.

Her expression was slightly glazed, but he could see her struggling to stay angry with him, to recover herself. Had he done that with just a kiss? His cock throbbed again, aching to be inside of her. God she was bad for him...or good, or very good. ..or incredibly bad. Gods, she was going to be the death of him.

He sighed. "I'm not going to leave you like this." She blinked up at him, her haze lifting again. He attempted to muster a serious expression. "But you must promise me two things."

She gave one short nod. He decided it was safer to assume she was telling him to proceed rather than accenting. Lord knows it wasn't going to be that easy.

"First that you will stay here tonight and wait for me to return without running off and getting yourself killed." He watched her face. She looked resigned.

"All right." She rasped out, her voice still thick with passion. She cleared her throat.

"What's the other one?"

"That you will at least consider leaving." She stared up at him a long time. He wondered what he would do if she said no. Leave her tied up?

Please let her say yes.

She huffed a sigh. "Alright." There was a clearly pained expression in her eyes. Good, he thought, she might actually mean it this time. She watched him for a moment then raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to release me?"

He could feel the smile as it spread slowly across his face. A new thought occurring to him.

"Who said anything about releasing you..."

"You said..."

"I said I wouldn't leave you like this."

"Yes and..."

"I never said I'd let you go right away."

She stopped, her mouth snapping shut and her eyes turning wary.

"W-what are you going to do?" The fearful trepidation that appears in her eyes surprised him. He tilted his head at her.

"Now, what is it you think I'm going to do to you?"

"I don't know." She said softly. He cocked a brow.

"No idea? Not even an inkling?" She shivered. He smiled. She must have some idea after all.

Thea gazed up at him apprehensively, watching what appeared to be dark thoughts drifting across his features. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be frightened or aroused. Suffice it to say she was an uncomfortable mixture of both. He leaned in closer and her breathe caught in her throat.

"Do you seriously think I'm going to hurt you?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His lips twitched.

"Do you want me to hurt you?"

That made her blink. "Want you to...n-no, I don't." She frowned in confusion. His smile softened. He closed the distance between them, brushing his lips against hers.

Lights fingers brushed over the swell of her breast, causing the nipple to jump to immediate attention and her back to arch reflexively.

"Then I won't." She released a tremulous gasp as him mouth moved lower once more, a slower, gentler repetition of his earlier kiss. His hands slid up her waist and encircled her ribs, pausing just below her breasts before sliding slowly back down to wrap tightly around her hips.

She almost laughed with relief and at her own irrational fear. What had she expected? He brushed his lips against the already hardening nipple through the fabric of her shirt turning her arch into a slow squirm.

"Why are you afraid of me?" He asked, as if reading her mind. His fingers were unbuttoning her shirt and his mouth was trailing along behind them with gut wrenching leisure.

"I'm not" she breathed out as his mouth continued to kiss a trail down between her breasts.

He reared up suddenly with a hard intake of breath, almost throwing his head back, his eyes glittering, his lips pulled back to reveal the white blades of his elongated canines. She cried out at the sudden movement and cringed again before she could stop herself, squeezing her eyes closed. When she opened them again he was kneeling over her cocking his head to the side. He raised one brow. She sighed.

"That wasn't fair. You bared your fangs at me."

He arched both brows with a faintly amused expression.

"I've done more than bare them at you before...if you'll recall." His lips twisted in a way that made her want to grab the back of his head and slide her tongue between them. Her body throbbed. She moved to reach for him and found her hands were still tied.

"Let me go, please..." She rasped, suddenly tremulous with the desire to feel her arms around him and his cool solid flesh pressed against hers. He frowned. His hand came slowly forward, his fingers cupping her chin, gently this time.

"Have I ever hurt you?"

She blinked up at him again, disoriented, pulled in and out of the fog of desire too many times. She almost answered no.

"Yes."

His fingers stilled along her jaw. She gave him a small smile before his expression could darken too much.

"But I sort so liked it." She grinned fully at the surprise that registered in his eyes. The grin didn't last long and she twisted underneath him with a groan. "Damn it, Jairus, untie me. I want to kiss you. I want to touch you."

He didn't release her, but she barely noticed. She had his mouth, his tongue mating with hers, she had his body held tight against her as he slid an arm underneath her, crushing her to him. His hands were everywhere, gripping her hard one moment, light and teasing the next. Her eyes fluttered closed and a long sigh escaped her lips as the chill of his skin slid over hers, cooling her heated flesh.

Jairus swallowed a groan as he finally fumbled open his shirt and felt the soft silk of her breasts against his chest. He couldn't stifle the low moan that ground out of his throat as her whole body arched up against him.

He pulled his mouth from her body long enough to take in the sight of her. Her eyes were shut, her head thrown back and lips parted mid gasp. Dusky, rose colored lips set against the creamy tan of her skin. Perfect. An image of sharp white teeth pressed against those lips leapt unbidden into his mind. Would she? He groaned again and tipped his forehead to her collar.

"Jairus." Her voice was a husky whisper. He shivered and looked up into those swirling amber eyes. She tugged her wrists and gave him a crooked smile. He returned it, but his hand shook slightly as he freed her, his mind buzzing with the new and disquieting thoughts. Incredibly tempting thoughts.

"Thea..." he murmured into her hair as a tumble of words, needs, and desires suffused and flooded his mind.

Before he could capture and arrange those thoughts coherently he found himself half pinned beneath a whirlwind of heat and flesh. The moment he'd released her she leapt at him, throwing her arms around his neck and thrusting her lips against his, sending them both backwards. She leaned up just long enough for him to steady himself on one arm and for her to jerk her shirt off her shoulders. Her mouth and body were back against his even as she struggled to untangle herself from her loosened pants. He wasted no more time and helped as best he could, stripping them both as quickly as he might without suffering the pain of having to tear his mouth from hers.

His other thoughts were buried once more, overwhelmed by the more immediate need to have her naked and panting in his arms.

She didn't disappoint him.

Somehow he found himself seated on the edge of the bed, gripping her thighs as she wrapped them around him, her hand anxiously pumping his already excruciatingly hard cock. He gripped her bottom, enjoying the feel of the soft flesh as it gave beneath his fingers.

He pulled her up, escaping her hungry mouth and latched instead onto the pebbled nipple that rose enticingly before him. She made a sound somewhere between the purring mewl of a kitten and a broken gasp of lust. He could feel the hot slick folds of her sex brushing against the head of his cock in a form of unintentional torture that made him throb painfully.

He was full to the brim with the feel and scent of her as they clung there together, but he wanted more. The fingers laced in his hair tightened and she let out what he could only take as a sympathetic moan.

"I want you." She whispered, her lips feathering his neck lightly, her legs tightening their death grip around his waist. "I want you so much." Her voice was practically shaking with need.

Thea somehow managed to untangle herself from him long enough to reach down and cup his face in her hands, tilting his chin up to hers, her eyes captivated by what she saw. She was unswervingly drawn in by those sharp, dangerous features and piercing black eyes, but most of all by that sensual mouth, made that much more alluring by the hint of fang which appeared as they parted.

She shivered. He had that wonderful, dark expression of desire painted across his features. As always, it took her breath away. She kissed him, though this time it was tender and lingering, her tongue sliding unhurriedly between the valley of his lips. She knew he wanted her. She could feel it in the tension of his body, the way his fingers bit into her, the way his eyes burned. But she wanted to hear it. Just once.

"Tell me you want me."

He looked up at her for what felt like an eternity before pulling her back down into another long and lingering kiss. When he finally broke the kiss he held her tightly, his mouth against the shell of her ear.

"I've wanted you since the first moment I saw you." She shivered at the silken caress of his soft whisper. "You were the most beautiful, most desirable thing I had ever seen." She held her breath, her fingers digging into his shoulders.

"I want you Thea."

His mouth dragged slowly across her throat and along the line of her jaw. Something like a moan emanated from her as she tilted her hips, letting the hot head of his sex slide over the equally heated and incredibly slick folds of her own. She repeated this lazy rocking as she basked in his caress, and the tingle of her skin as he covered every inch of her throat and collar with his teeth and lips. She could still taste her own blood still lingering on her tongue and recalled the wild ferocity of his earlier kiss. She wondered if he was going to feed. The thought sent another delighted shudder through her and her languid rhythm hitched.

She felt him suddenly at her entrance, the head already pressing in firmly, spreading her to him.

He entered her with aching slowness, and it was as if she could feel each contour of both their bodies as she spread only to mould tightly around him. When she had finally slid down his length, sheathing him almost completely inside of her, he stopped.

His mouth still moved over her body, sliding down to graze her breasts, his lips quickly finding and teasing first one than the other aching tip. She rocked against him with unconscious need, her eyes falling shut.

He groaned and he nipped lightly at the hard nub between his lips. She twisted her hips once more, grinding into him and running her nails down over his shoulders and back, marking him lightly. Her thighs tightened around his waist as he released her breast and gripped her, guiding her hips and thrusting back up into her with slow measured thrusts. She clung to his shoulders, tucking her head into his neck and matched his movements.

Despite the unhurried pace she could feel that her skin was already flushed and glistening, and her blood was pounding through her veins announcing what she knew to be an imminent climax. He never changed his slow pace, the only sign of his own excitement the gradual tightening of his grip and the low, raw growl which escaped him when her body squeezed down on his with the first throbbing spasms of her orgasm.

He continued to fuck her with unhurried and deliberate strokes. She could only cling, her limbs twining like some type of erotic ivy, and writhe more urgently as the first wave of sensation washed over her. Instead of dissipating it swelled in time with his thrusts, each one causing a new and progressively stronger wave, until her body was nothing more than a ball of pleasure and sensation contorted into the shape of a woman.

Jairus grunted with the effort of his restraint as he continued his careful movements, impaling her completely before lifting her and sliding her over his cock with painful deliberation.

Each upward thrust became that much harder to control as her now trembling body began clenching down around him with almost violent urgency, demanding his release. He closed his eyes when she began whimpering and gasping his name against his shoulder, her hips grinding mercilessly against his, and clenched his jaw firmly when her nails dug into his back so hard he wondered if they drew blood. But still he held back, doing his damnedest to torture her with pleasure and to draw out his own.

But when her mouth clamped, sudden and hot, at the joint of his shoulder, her teeth pressing hard into the skin, all efforts to resist were lost. His focus snapped like a taunt cord met with a fine blade, and he gasped sharply as the whiplash of pleasure shot swiftly through him.

He gripped her hard, his own nails digging into soft flesh as he buried himself one last time and came hard inside of her, his cock twitching violently with the force of each pulsating shot.

She cried out into his shoulder and bucked her hips in time with his pounding release.

It seemed to last forever, as if he was pouring every ounce of himself into her. When it was finally over he let his head tip forward to lean against hers, his breath still coming in soft pants. He had not moved from where he sat at the beds edge, but he felt exhausted, empty. She quivered against him, her body slick and cool with the sheen of sweat which covered her. He smoothed her hands up along her back and smiled into her hair when she purred softly.

Holding her, he was unexpectedly reminded of the Ishvaran aesthetes of the southern kingdoms. He had heard that they held a belief that a man lost a piece of himself to each woman he lay with, reducing him slowly. Unsurprisingly they were celibate. It might explain the strangely clear headed emptiness.