“Also,” Arianna went on, “Patridge has become somewhat of an expert on Westin and his technique. She’s given lectures at the academy breaking down the methods he used to capture Barnes and Powell, so the information I gathered was mostly authored by her.”
Which meant Jezebel might actually be useful to Max on a hunt for those same rogues, not that Victoria was soothed by the thought. She’d researched Max when they first met, but only superficially. She realized that she had subconsciously—but likely deliberately—avoided digging into his personal life. Even then she couldn’t bear the thought of him with someone else.
“Have they hunted together in the past?” Victoria asked, pausing at the window to stare out at the urban jungle spread before her. Fog hung over the city, obscuring the upper halves of the skyscrapers that dotted the landscape for miles. Below, traffic slid along the streets in endless ribbons, the cacophony of the city lapping at her heightened feline senses.
“Not that I could find. Listen, don’t get twisted out of shape over this. No guy is worth it. Besides, the binding works both ways. You hardly ever hear about mated pairs fucking around on each other.”
“You hardly ever hear about mated pairs composed of a Hunter and Familiar either,” Victoria said drily, turning to face the redhead again.
“True.” Arianna stood and withdrew a flash drive from her pocket. She tossed it to Victoria. “But he’s not worth shit if he can’t keep it in his pants for you.”
Victoria caught the drive and her hand closed like a fist around it. The level of Max’s experience had been evident from the moment she laid eyes on him. Every inch of him exuded sin and sex. From the sensual way he moved to the confidence in his eyes. And when he touched her, his skill blew her mind.
Max Westin fucked like a god.
Still, men who played sometimes strayed, and clearly Jezebel had something Max hadn’t minded tapping over and over again. For decades.
“I’ll bill you,” Arianna said, heading out.
Gathering her resolve, Victoria sat at her desk and plugged in the flash drive. She was sliding the arrow over to click the drive open when she felt the first tingles of Max’s magic tapping into hers. Without further warning, the force of the draw exploded. It sucked at her strength like a raging vortex, dragging her down until she tumbled from the chair to the floor.
“Damn it.” Jezebel stared into the steaming mug of tea she held with both hands. “That attack shouldn’t have scared me as much as it did.”
Max stood over her, his thoughts grim.
She tilted her head back to look up at him. She wore one of his robes, her clothes discarded because of the taint that clung to them. She’d showered, but her hair and makeup were flawless as usual, reapplied with a simple spell.
He glanced at the clock, knowing Victoria would be leaving the hotel within the hour. He couldn’t risk her coming home alone and unprotected, no matter how much power she carried on her own. “I have to go.”
“Don’t go after them without me!” Jezebel protested, pushing to her feet, a move that caused the robe she was wearing to part and reveal the length of her bare leg.
Once, the sight would’ve stirred his lust and hardened his cock, but it had little effect on him now. His thoughts were with Victoria.
They weren’t all focused on keeping her safe.
Spurred by the rush of wielding the full force of his magic, his desire was white-hot, his mind racing through one erotic scenario after another. He wanted his woman stripped and bound, her lithe body spread and open to his lust. Only then would she be open to the rush of magic that would replenish what he’d taken from her earlier. Replenish him as well, building the reserves he’d need to vanquish his prey once and for all.
“I’m going to get Victoria,” he said, his voice hoarse from the depth of his need.
Jezebel’s mouth tightened at the mention of his Familiar. “I’ll go with you.”
“Not a good idea.” His kitten already had her fur ruffled over Jezebel. But more relevant was the fact that when he got his hands on Victoria, he wasn’t letting go until he’d come his last drop in her. It was certain Jezebel wouldn’t appreciate cooling her heels while he did so.
“Doesn’t she know what you’re like, Max?” she asked, her eyes diamond bright . . . and equally hard. “Jealousy is pointless when it comes to you.”
“I’m not the man who used to fuck you, Jezebel.”
“Has she tamed you, then?” she goaded softly. “What a shame.”
His mouth quirked and he stepped away, deciding not to bother with his vest and jacket. His blood was hot with the hunt, making him want bare skin over clothing. “You and I can be friends, Jezebel, or not. That’s up to you.”
She materialized naked and on her knees in front of him, her head bowed in a pose of submission she knew would goad his dominant nature. Her hands rested on her knees, her body waiting for his command. “As long as I get your cock inside me, you can call me whatever you want. I need it, Max. I feel empty without it.”
Max took a deep breath. His body was hard and aching, and black magic still clung faintly to Jezebel, calling to the darkness inside him. His mind retained heated memories of his past with Jezebel, a true submissive, which prompted a reluctant response to the sight of her capitulation. While Victoria eventually surrendered, it wasn’t without some resistance. She gave him control because she chose to please him, not because she had a true compulsion to do so.
But she was the only woman he wanted. The only one who could soothe the beast inside him.
He flashed to Victoria’s office, incited by the thought of subduing her naturally defiant nature. In that respect Jezebel was right—he loved the challenge.
His kitten sat behind her desk, a frown of concentration on her beautiful face as she read from her monitor. Her long slender legs were crossed at the ankles beneath her desk, while diamond studs sparkled with multihued fire at her ears. He flashed behind her, reading over her shoulder, intrigued by the realization that she was studying up on him.
Gods, he loved her. Loved that she was as consumed by him as he was by her.
“I want your cunt,” he said gruffly, driven hard by his need. “And your ass.”
Her head swiveled toward him and she pushed to her feet. “Max. What the fuck happened today?”
He snapped his fingers and removed her clothes, leaving her as naked as Jezebel had been. The two women could not have been more different, not just in their appearance but also in their effect on him. While his lust had been stirred instinctually by Jezebel, what Victoria incited in him was a different sort of hunger altogether. Ravenous. Insatiable. Soul-deep. One goaded as much by his love for her as it was by his desire for her body.
“On your knees,” he ordered.
“Max—”
“Now.”
Her jaw tightened before she shoved her chair aside and obeyed. That hint of rebellion pushed him further. He touched her shoulder and took her across town to his loft, a space he no longer resided in but kept as a playroom.
“That’s right, kitten. It’s time to play.”
Six
Victoria stiffened when she realized where Max had taken her. Unlike the apartment he shared with her now, with its warm palette of honey-hued hardwood floors and cream-colored walls, Max’s former bachelor pad was industrial in style. An acid-washed cement floor chilled her bare knees, while exposed ductwork hovered above her head and pale gray walls surrounded them along with an impressive collection of sexual paraphernalia.
Her pussy clenched with longing, her body trained to anticipate the pleasures to be found in the familiar space. But anger and jealousy simmered inside her. She didn’t want to play. She wanted to fight.
“Where’s Jezebel?” she asked, keeping her head defiantly back to stare up at him.
His mouth curved in a slow, sexy smile. “Your possessiveness makes my dick so hard it hurts.”
“Are you sure your hard-on isn’t due to seei
ng the woman you’ve been banging for twenty years!”
Max began to undress, freeing the buttons of his shirt one by one, exposing the hard expanse of his chest one inch at a time. “I could be in her now,” he drawled, his gaze heavy-lidded with the arousal that strained against the zipper of his slacks. “She’s naked in our apartment. On her knees and desperate for my cock.”
She gasped, then moved to rise. “What the fuck?”
With a careless wave of his hand, he undressed her and sent her across the room to the bed. A bondage bar appeared on the red satin beside her and a tremor ran through her at the sight of it. Soon she’d be helpless and exposed, her body restrained and arranged to service him. Before Max, she had never imagined that she would crave that level of vulnerability and loss of control. Now she couldn’t imagine doing without it. He told her what to do, what to feel. And in return she’d orgasm until she was insensate with pleasure.
“You can’t hold my past against me,” he said, his voice tight and low. “I like to fuck. So do you. For the rest of our lives, we’ll be fucking only each other. Nothing else matters.”
He approached her with that wickedly sexy stride, one that promised as much as she could take, his body rippling with muscle. His erection was thick and long, the wide head glistening with his excitement. It curved up to his navel, the size of him enough to make her thighs squeeze together against the ache he created. She pushed up and curled her legs beneath her, wanting him but wanting answers, too.
It was harder to stay focused on talking than she cared to admit. She knew exactly how that big dick felt inside her, how it stretched her and rubbed all the most sensitive spots, how she writhed beneath his hard body and begged for him to give it all to her.
“Max . . . ”
“I should be hunting.”
He reached the end of the bed and she saw the sweat glistening on the steely ridges of his abdomen. A creamy, glistening drop of pre-cum slid lovingly down the thickly veined length of his cock.
He was so hot for it.
“Instead,” he went on, “I can’t breathe for wanting you. Can’t think. Can’t wait to sink my dick inside you and come until my balls stop aching.”
“Did she make you this hot?” Victoria asked softly.
“Never.” He grabbed the bar in his fist, the bright chrome suddenly looking dangerous when held by that beautifully defined arm. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone. You know that. Stop doubting me, Victoria. It’s starting to piss me off.”
She took a quick breath, her nipples hard and aching. He stood there waiting, a formidable male in full rut, his face harsh in its unyielding masculine beauty. His virile body strained with the need to mount her.
“You know what to do,” he said huskily. “Don’t make me wait.”
Victoria turned and stretched out facedown, spreading her legs to accommodate the bar. Her pulse quickened, spurring her breathing and her desire. Still, she couldn’t hold back from saying, “She wants you back.”
His former lover had been in their home, naked and willing. What excuse could there be for that?
“I don’t care what she wants. I only care about you.” Butter-soft leather wrapped around her ankle and tightened. “Your magic is in me. I feel you. Smell you.” His hand slid adoringly up the back of her leg. “Taste you.”
She moaned. “Why is she in our home?”
“Why are you obsessed with her?” His hand came down hard on her buttock, the sound of flesh hitting flesh cracking like thunder. She cried out and squirmed, her skin on fire from the spanking. “You know I love you too much. There’s no room for anyone else.”
His voice throbbed with emotion and Victoria’s eyes closed tightly. His hand smacked hard against her other cheek and the heat swept through her legs, swelling the lips of her sex.
“You don’t know how you look together,” she moaned. “How obvious it is that you enjoy fucking each other. You wouldn’t understand unless you saw me with one of the Hunters that came before you. See how they look at me in a way that says they know what it feels like to have me suck them off . . . how it feels inside me . . . ”
“Victoria,” he growled, just before he bent and sank his teeth into her hip. Punishing her. Marking her.
She sobbed, so aroused her body hurt. “I hate that she knows how good you feel. The sounds you make. I hate that you wanted her so much.”
“Not as much as I want you,” he breathed, nuzzling his cheek against hers. “Not even close.”
The other leather cuff magically secured itself on her ankle.
“She was targeted today,” he told her roughly. “Struck right on the street in broad daylight with me beside her.”
Victoria’s breath caught.
“I told you how dangerous this hunt is. Told you they’d come after those around me. It could’ve been you—”
His voice broke. Sliding his hands gently beneath her torso, he cupped her breasts and pulled her up onto her knees. He moved onto the bed, tugging and milking her nipples. His chest was hot and hard at her shoulder, his hair a soft caress against her neck. Her back arched, pressing her aching breasts into his hands, her balance fully dependent upon his strength.
“It could have been you,” he said again, his lips at her throat. “And I couldn’t have borne it, Victoria.”
“Let me help you. Please.”
“You’ll help me now.” He gripped her nape firmly in his hand and urged her forward, anchoring her by the waist as she folded to press her cheek against the bed.
Her arms pushed through her splayed legs and were instantly bound to the bar by leather cuffs. She was helpless and unable to move, her hips arched high and held wide, her sex open and positioned for his pleasure. The deepest penetration.
Victoria creamed with excitement and anticipation. The more restrained she was, the hotter Max got. The hotter he got, the more she wanted him.
He straightened and snapped his fingers. It was the only warning she got before the lash of a flogger stung the back of her thighs. She moaned into the comforter, absorbing the sting of pain into her clenching core. Inside her, something rebelled. But it wasn’t stronger than her desire. Max took her places she didn’t want to go and yet couldn’t wait to get to.
His hand stroked over the heated, smarting skin. “Stop fighting me.”
“Fuck me.”
The flogger came down again. She gritted her teeth against the pleasure/pain. Max used the perfect amount of force, his actions skilled and methodical. She couldn’t help but wonder at the practice he’d had, the darkness in him that made him need unequivocal subjugation.
“Stop analyzing me.” His voice was low and controlled, quietly authoritative. He whipped her again, striking new flesh with unerring precision. When he was done, the temporary marks he left would form a clear artistic pattern. “Stop doubting me.”
“Max . . . ” The plea in her voice came from a wellspring inside her that only he’d ever tapped.
“Stop second-guessing me. I spent only two days away, Victoria, and you seem to have forgotten what you promised me.” The suede straps whacked against her buttocks. “To serve, obey, and please me. To never question an order or deny me anything. To never tell me no.”
“I give you more than I’ve ever given anyone.”
The flogger came down harder. Not enough to bruise her, but enough to tighten her attention on him. On the sound of his steady, unaffected breathing. On her pounding heartbeat.
To make her wetter. Needier.
“You’re too focused on your vulnerability,” he crooned, massaging her burning flesh with gentle fingertips. “It was a gift you promised me when I claimed you, but you’ve never really given it, have you? But I’ve kept my promise to you. To cherish you . . . treasure you . . . to keep you safe.”
“Your life is dangerous, Max. You’re dangerous. That’s part of the package.”
“Are you still arguing with me, kitten?”
She tensed, but he switch
ed his game on her. From pain to pleasure. His clever fingers gliding over her exposed pussy. She shivered as sensation darted through her, tightening her skin. A gasp escaped her as he rubbed her clit, circling over it with featherlight pressure.
“Such a pretty cunt,” he murmured, his breath hot against her glistening folds. His tongue teased her, rimming the opening to her sex. “Soft and tight and creamy. I’m going to fuck it hard and have the most delicious orgasm inside it. I’m going to pump you full of thick, slick cum.”
“Yes. Max . . . please.”
He straightened and caught her hips, rolling her carefully to her back. She lay splayed before him, her ankles and wrists by her ears. “You won’t come.”
She whimpered and swallowed hard. “I’ve obeyed you.”
His silvery eyes stared down at her from within a face sharpened by lust. There was a wildness in his gaze she hadn’t caught before. “In practice, if not in spirit?”
Alarm tingled through her. “What happened today, Max?”
Gripping the back of her thigh, he took his cock in hand and stroked it between the lips of her sex, coating her with the pre-cum that leaked copiously from the tip. He was so big and hard, thicker than she’d seen before. Veins coursed down the length of the shaft as well as up his straining forearms, his body poised to mate as hard as he’d promised.
“I vanquished one of them,” he bit out between clenched teeth.
Then he rammed his cock into her, his magic slamming into her with equal force.
Victoria’s mouth opened on a silent scream. Possessed by him. Ravaged.
Seven
She came. She couldn’t stop it. Primed and too ready as she was, it took only the brutal thrust of that big cock into her tender sex to set her off. Dark magic pounded at her as hard as Max did, every plunge into her pussy accompanied by a surge of power. She quaked beneath him, her sex milking his shuttling cock, her vision blackening for a moment as her blood coursed hot and fast.
Gripping the backs of her thighs, he kept her pinned and spread for his maddened fucking, a captured vessel for his raging lust. His hips powered between hers, his sac smacking rhythmically against the curves of her ass. His cock pumped her slick pussy, plunging in and out, his body working like a well-oiled and high-performance machine.