Keri Arthur - Tempting Evil

Kade's big hands pressed warmth on either side of my hips. Before I realized what he was doing, he'd claimed me in the most basic way possible, slipping so very deep inside.

"Playing by the rules has its benefits," he said, his deep voice somehow managing to be both mocking and amused. "You should try it sometime. It feels extraordinarily good."

Annoyance ran through me at Kade's actions, yet part of me also wanted to stick it to Quinn, to play along with Kade and make Quinn even angrier.

But then, common sense isn't exactly my strong point when I'm pissed off at someone.

So instead of stepping away from Kade, as sanity suggested, I pressed back against him, thrusting him deeper still. Quinn's eyes narrowed dangerously. Though he wasn't close enough to the stable door to actually see what we were doing, he was a vampire and an empath. He not only would have heard the sudden leap of my pulse, but would have felt the heated rush of pleasure and annoyance.

I met his gaze, held it. Awareness burned deep in those obsidian depths, an awareness that bounced right back to me, making my heart stutter and causing goose bumps to tremble warmly across my skin. Kade might be the one who'd claimed me sexually, but truth be told, it was Quinn I wanted inside—attitude, anger, and all.

Not that wanting him would make me go any easier on him. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"What are you intending to do next?" I asked, as Kade began to move ever so slightly, sending little quivers of pleasure shooting across my skin.

"I came here to inform you of my presence, and to get an update." His gaze was still on mine, and the awareness deep in his eyes had morphed into fierce desire.

The ever-pragmatic vampire might not approve of who was doing me, but he sure as hell was turned on by watching it. And who'd have guessed Quinn had leanings toward voyeurism?

"So you're not going to charge right in and kill Starr?"

"To do so might risk your safety, and Rhoan's. I have no wish to do that."

Meaning he had every wish to harm Kade. "In other words, you've realized it's not going to be as easy to get to Starr as it was to get onto his estate, and you'll bide your time until the chance appears."

"A very cynical statement."

"But a truthful one."

He paused for a second, his gaze filling me, consuming me, in a way that went way beyond anything physical. As if we were on the verge of sharing the best erotic dream ever, even though neither of us were asleep.

"Yes," he agreed softly, leaving me uncertain as to whether he was agreeing to the statement or the thought.

"If you didn't come here as a guard, you won't be able to move around freely." The words came out breathy, and it wasn't because of what Kade was doing. It was Quinn—the way our eyes connected, the way his thoughts seemed to be merging into mine, the sensation that we were becoming one in a way that went far beyond any sort of physical connection.

"The night is my servant." His soft words echoed around me, through me, full of power, full of passion. Somehow, he used the night and connection he'd formed between us to enhance the growing sense of intimacy and arousal, and it was a connection I couldn't fight. Not that I really wanted to. I wanted to see where he would take this. How far he was willing to go.

"But the day isn't."

"Not yet, it's not."

The heat in his eyes would have melted steel, and I have never claimed to be that strong. My body was trembling under the force of it, and though I was vaguely aware of Kade's body moving in mine, all my senses were attuned to Quinn. To what was happening between us. To what was building between us.

"The day will never be yours, Quinn. You are a vampire, and that is a fact you can never escape."

We both knew I wasn't only referring to the day, and his smile was almost arrogant. But oh so sexy.

"Do not bet on that. I have been around a very long time, and I intend to be around for many more centuries yet. All things come to those who are willing to wait."

"Not all things can be claimed with time."

"But many things can be claimed with patience."

Sweat trickled down my forehead, tickling my cheeks. I wanted to swipe at it, but I couldn't seem to move, held in thrall by the furnace burning between us, by the sensations and desire tingling across my skin, across my senses. I licked my lips, and somehow said, "Really? I haven't seen much evidence of patience lately."

"Perhaps not." He raised an eyebrow, his expression knowing, mocking. "But the real question is, would you like to see it now?"

"No." God, no.

His smile grew, and suddenly he was simply there , all around me, all through me, filling me with heat, filling me with passion. While it was Kade's cock that thrust deep inside, it wasn't Kade I could feel. Wasn't Kade I could smell. It was Quinn. All Quinn. He touched me, caressed me, claimed me. Perhaps not physically, but in a way that was total, absolute, and unlike anything I'd ever felt before. In reality our flesh might not be joined, but it didn't matter, because our spirits had combined and this dance went beyond intimacy, beyond mere pleasure.

It was all passion, heat, and intensity and I was drowning in it. Willingly. Wantonly. My heart pounded furiously, my body screamed for release, and every muscle, every fiber, felt so tightly strung that everything would surely break.

Then everything did break and it was such a sweet, glorious relief that I wept. His fingers touched my wrist, holding lightly, then his teeth grazed my skin. I jerked reflexively when they pierced my flesh, but the brief flare of pain quickly became something undeniably exquisite, and I came a second time.

As I remembered how to breathe again, I became aware of Kade, of his sated body still inside me. His sudden stillness, which was too unmoving to be natural. I glanced at Quinn, at his mocking, knowing expression, which was so at odds with the deeper depths of barely quenched desire in his dark eyes, then looked down at my wrists. At the two fast healing holes. Some of it, at least, had been real. I very much suspected that all of it had been, that he'd somehow crossed the boundaries of reality and imagination and merged the two.

I looked up at him again. Saw on the tip of one finger a droplet of water. A tear. My tear. He raised it to his mouth and slowly sipped it, and it was as if he were savoring the sweetest wine. Somehow, that one action seemed more intimate than anything he'd done in the last few minutes, as if he were drinking in my essence, my soul, making me his in ways I couldn't even begin to understand just yet. I crossed my arms to ward off the sudden chill.

"One day, you will be mine."

His rich voice was so soft, so sure. I licked my lips and tried to ignore the sensation that there was more going on here than I either realized or wanted. "You are not a wolf. We can never be what you wish us to be." Could never be what part of me wished we could be.

"Time will tell."

Yes, it would. And I had a feeling that only my death would dissuade him from his beliefs. But I didn't intend to die anytime soon, so my next bet was simply to ignore his statement, ignore my deep sense of uneasiness, and move on to other subjects.

"Horse-shifters can't be mind-read or mind-controlled. How are you holding Kade so still? How did you take control of him?"

"As I have repeatedly said, I am a very old vampire. And for a vampire, the older you are, the more power you have. Horse-shifters are difficult to read or control, but they are not impossible. No race or person is." He paused, his gaze sweeping the top half of me. "Except, perhaps, one."

I raised my eyebrows. "So are you telling me you can read Rhoan as well?"

"Two, then."

I let my gaze drift downward, and noted that he didn't have an erection. Either he wasn't turned on by what had happened between us, or Kade's release had somehow been his.