A Dangerous Fury (The Sentinel Demons Book 3) Page 4

  “I couldn’t help myself. It was a subject I feel pretty passionate about at the moment.” Hunter rose, and Athena cleared their breakfast in a heartbeat. She’d discovered a long time ago that manifesting physical items and disposing of them didn’t tax her goddess powers. It seemed to be a magical skill inherent to her.

  She stood leaning against the counter, her hands on the tile beside her as she watched him. Hunter had the grace of a lethal predator, and the look of a big cat that was stalking his prey. Her breath caught as she blatantly stared at him, dressed in a pair of jeans and a navy t-shirt that she’d created for him.

  He came to a stop in front of her, close enough that she could feel his hot breath wafting across her face as he stared down at her. “What in the hell am I going to do with a virgin, Princess? I’ve only been with whores and not a single one of those since I became a Sentinel.” His voice was part irritation and part awe.

  Athena already knew that Hunter didn’t indulge in chasing women anymore; hadn’t since his human existence. “Teach me?” she suggested tremulously, her entire body tremoring with the need to take Hunter into her body, to merge with him. It was the Sentinel mating instinct, yet it was not. It was something…more. But the primitive mating need was at the forefront and growing stronger every moment.

  He leaned his large, muscular body against hers and trapped her against the counter by putting his hands on both sides of her body. “Do you think I don’t feel the need just as damn badly as you do? Burying my cock inside you is about the only thing I can think about. My mating instinct is powerful, so strong that I can barely stop myself from touching you,” he growled. “I have a feeling that with you, I’ll want to take you so hard you’ll never be able to forget the feel of me inside you. But I want you screaming my name in pleasure, not in pain.”

  Athena breathed in the scent of him, his essence seeping into every pore of her body.

  This is what it’s like to feel desire, to feel need.

  Her hardened nipples brushed against his muscular chest and she nearly moaned. “Then show me what it’s like to scream with pleasure,” she whispered softly, wrapping her arms around his neck, shivering with the sensation of his coarse hair between her fingers as she played with the tendrils at his nape. “Teach me, Hunter.”

  He lifted a hand and buried it in her hair, tilting her head until their eyes met and held. “You don’t know what you’re asking for, Princess.”

  Athena had gotten used to Hunter using the nickname. There was no rancor behind it. She almost took it as a compliment.

  “It is a compliment,” Hunter replied in a low, hoarse voice seething with unspent passion. “Because you’re so damn perfect.”

  Athena opened her mouth to deny that she was anything near flawless and that he was reading her personal thoughts again, but Hunter swooped down before she could get the words out, covering her mouth with his.

  Any logic she’d had flew out of her brain as Hunter took control. She savored the feel of his fiery mouth on hers. He was demanding and greedy, wrapping his other arm around her waist in an iron grip of possession. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth like a ravenous man, and she opened to him hungrily, their tongues entwining in a feral dance of passion.

  Yes.

  She reveled in the powerful thrust of his tongue, knowing he was desperate to go deeper and deeper into the moist cavity to brand her as his. When he finally released her mouth, he nipped at her lips with his teeth, a growl coming from low in his throat.

  Hunter tugged harder on her hair, pulling her head back so he could devour the sensitive skin of her throat. His mouth left trails of flame on her skin, igniting every nerve in her body to fire. “Yes. Hunter…please.”

  “Christ! I can feel how bad you want me, and it’s making me insane. Nobody has ever really wanted me, Princess. I don’t give a damn if it’s just the mating instinct. It feels so damn good to know that you need me,” Hunter rumbled against her neck, biting lightly at her skin and then soothing it with his tongue. His hand snaked down her back and gripped her ass tightly, pulling her core tightly against his hard erection.

  Desire spiraled deep in her belly, as painful as it was pleasurable. “Hunter, it hurts,” she whimpered, wishing he’d just get them naked and make the feeling go away.

  “I’ll fix it, Princess. I promise.” His hands moved to grasp the hem of her t-shirt and jerked it over her head. He didn’t notice or care where it landed.

  “I trust you,” she moaned, giving her body over to Hunter. She didn’t know what to do to make the painful longing stop, but she knew he did. Having been inside his mind, she knew that her need was far more than the mating instinct. Hunter was it for her, the only man to make her feel this way in her very long existence, and it wasn’t all about being his radiant.

  Cool air brushed across her pebbled nipples as Hunter stood back and cupped her breasts gently. “I knew they’d be a beautiful handful,” Hunter grunted, finally flicking his thumbs across the sensitive tips.

  Athena gasped as he pinched and soothed with his fingers, a stimulating combination of pain and pleasure. “Hunter,” she panted. “I can’t take it anymore.”

  “You can,” he replied gruffly. “It’s going to make my fucking day to watch you come.”

  He swallowed her moan with his mouth, demanding her surrender as he pinched and soothed her breast in the same rhythm that he was claiming her mouth with his tongue. The sensation was intoxicating, and in that moment, she lost herself to Hunter. Gripping his hair tightly, she kissed him back, finally biting gently on his lips as he’d done to her. The truth was…she wanted to claim him, too. She needed to feel like he wanted her, and she knew he did. Maybe it was only because she was his radiant. But even though she knew that, it didn’t lessen the intensity of her emotions right at the moment. She understood his earlier confession. Having someone want her like this was dangerously heady after spending an eternity alone. “You’re the first man who has ever wanted me, too,” she admitted breathlessly when he released her mouth.

  He reached down to flip the button on her jeans as his chest heaved against her breasts. He lowered the zipper and delved immediately into the denim, determined to find what he was seeking. He did, and he groaned as his fingers slid against her slick core. “Fuck! Don’t you ever wear underwear?”

  Athena’s head fell back against the cupboard, her entire body weeping for relief. She’d left her gowns behind, traded them for the traditional casual clothing of humans, knowing if she was able to get free she’d have to blend in. She didn’t bother with underwear, but was starting to reconsider that decision. The denim between her thighs was drenched. “Do I need them?” she asked huskily, her entire focus on Hunter’s touch right at the moment.

  “Right now? Fuck, no,” Hunter rumbled.

  Her body responded immediately as Hunter ran his fingers along her slick folds. She wanted…she needed…something. Her entire body started to pulsate as Hunter circled his finger around her clit.

  “More,” she demanded, holding his hair in a death grip. “More, please.”

  “Like this?” he asked huskily, running a rough finger over the tiny bundle of nerves.

  “Oh, God, yes. Hunter,” she cried, needing him to keep touching her just like that.

  “Not like this. You deserve better than this,” Hunter grunted, starting to pull away from her.

  “No! Don’t you dare leave me right now.” Athena gasped, thrusting her pelvis against his fingers and jerking hard on his hair. “I swear I’ll kill you.”

  “You’re already very close to your goal, Princess,” Hunter replied with a trace of amusement in his gruff tone, but sounding resigned.

  She sighed in relief as Hunter started moving his fingers faster and faster over her clit, the welcome friction making Athena quiver. “Yes. Please, Hunter. Please.”

  Athena had no clue exactly
what she needed, but the tight coil in her stomach started to unfurl, sending waves of pleasure through her entire body.

  “Come for me, Athena. I need to see you come apart,” Hunter demanded, his fingers rolling harder and harder over the sensitive nub. “Don’t fight it. Just let go.”

  She trembled and her knees almost gave way as her spiraling body finally came unfurled and waves of pleasure began to grip her core. The ecstasy consumed her, and she held onto Hunter to keep herself on her feet. Instantly, he wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her steady even as her eyes closed, and a strangled scream left her lips.

  “Oh, God. Hunter!”

  “I’m here, Princess. I’m here,” he crooned quietly, removing his hand from her clothing and wrapping her tightly in his arms just as the last ripples of pleasure washed over her body.

  Athena came back to earth slowly, clinging to Hunter like he was her lifeline. Her racing heart slowed as he simply rocked her, keeping her cocooned in his arms. She loosened her grip on him slowly, but still kept her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his shoulder. Honestly, she didn’t want to let go. His masculine scent was intoxicating and his muscular body felt so incredibly good. For a short time, Athena had felt desired, wanted. After thousands of years of isolation, Hunter’s touch, feeling his racing heart against her chest, his soothing mammoth body rocking her lightly back and forth made her feel like she wasn’t so alone. It made her feel…alive.

  “Okay, Princess?” Hunter asked in a graveled voice against her ear.

  Okay? Hell, she felt like she could fly. “I have to admit that there might be some merit to getting sweaty and messy,” she informed him casually, even as her heart had yet to return to a normal cadence.

  To her amazement, Hunter Winston actually laughed. Athena’s heart swelled with happiness as she smiled against his shoulder, knowing it was the most magnificent sound she’d ever heard.

  Athena’s eyes popped open suddenly from a deep sleep and she shot into a sitting position. Her heart was racing and her breathing was ragged as she put a hand to her chest, analyzing the information she’d gotten from the Fates in the most vivid dream she’d had in a very long time.

  “We don’t have to have sex,” she murmured aloud in her dark bedroom, feeling every nerve in her body tingle with energy. “We don’t have to have sex. It’s temporary,” she repeated louder, astonished.

  Her power hadn’t returned to her quickly. Since her sensual encounter in the kitchen with Hunter earlier in the day, Athena had gotten steadily stronger. She’d assumed it was the gradual buildup of her ability from not doing anything to drain her magic. But now, she could feel the energy zinging through her system, every cell starting to fill and swell.

  She flipped back the covers and slid her feet to the floor, able to see her purple bedroom perfectly even though there was no illumination in the room.

  I just had to trust him with my body, share an intimacy with Hunter.

  She slipped down the shoulder of the green silk nightgown she was wearing and breathed a sigh of relief as she noted the mating mark that had appeared on her skin as she slept, knowing what the Fates had told her in her dream had been true.

  I’m temporarily mated to Hunter!

  A rush of adrenaline pumped through her system as she stood, her body radiating with a goddess energy she hadn’t experienced for thousands of years. The oracles had told her it was time for them to leave this place, and her mating only required her trust in him. Being his radiant was temporary, the key to retaining her lost powers. Her submission to him physically had been a test—a sign that Hunter was worthy of guiding her in a world she knew nothing about anymore. He’d be her adviser in the twenty-first century, and very shortly he’d regain his power again. She was hoping, like her, he already had regained his magic.

  Athena used her own powers to teleport to Hunter’s bedroom, eager to see if he had a matching shoulder tattoo. Her breath left her body in a rush, and her thoughts were jumbled as she stared down at him, sleeping restlessly. He’d kicked the covers off the bed and he was as naked as the day he’d been born as a human.

  God, he’s beautiful.

  Hunter wore the blemishes of his human battles with the Evils. He had faded scars on his chest and abdomen, but rather than detract from his allure, it made him that much more irresistible. His strength and endurance were incredible, the flaws a testament to his courage.

  Her eyes traveled lovingly down his body, her hand itching to touch his hard, muscular abs and rock-hard chest. He was huge, but perfectly made. Finally, she did reach out her hand carefully, and lightly caressed the faded mating symbol on his shoulder. It was an exact duplicate of hers…tiny twin flames. The mark was light like hers, dim because it was only temporary.

  “Athena,” Hunter groaned aloud, his eyes still closed.

  Her heart clenched, his voice sounding so tortured that it actually left her chest aching. Melding her mind with his, she flinched as she saw what he was dreaming about…bonding with her as a mate. In his nightmare, she was screaming with pain as she initiated the mating, blood flowing down her thighs as she straddled a helpless Hunter. In his head, he imagined she was sacrificing herself for the Sentinels, hurting herself to be joined with him.

  “Hunter,” she said huskily, shaking his shoulder lightly. She couldn’t let him continue to torture himself like this. She was confident that his dream was nothing like it would be in reality. Now, she’d never know, and neither would he. “Wake up.”

  Her wrist was caught and held at lightning speed as Hunter pulled her on top of him, still not fully awake enough to know what he was doing. “I’m sorry, Princess. So damn sorry,” he rasped as he shuddered and pulled her unresisting body into his.

  She sprawled on top of him while he wrapped one muscular arm around her waist and let his other hand run soothingly up and down her silk-clad back. She relaxed and melted into his gorgeous, nude body, savoring the moment as she gently straddled him for balance. “It was only a dream, Hunter,” she crooned softly against his ear. “It wasn’t real.”

  “You’re here. I was hurting you,” he rumbled beneath her, his voice still raw from sleep.

  Athena sighed. “You were having a nightmare. I just happened to be here. I had to tell you something.”

  For such a big, irascible male, Hunter was remarkably concerned about the pain she might have losing her virginity. He had lived his entire existence experiencing pain and slaughtering Evils. How could he ever think that he had never developed any humanity? Maybe he never showed it on the surface, but Hunter had tender emotions. He’d just buried them incredibly deep, so far down that he didn’t even know he had them anymore.

  She wanted to tell him that if they coupled, it would be nothing like he dreamed.

  She wanted to tell him that she wanted their real mating so much that her body was nothing but a mass of molten heat and longing.

  She wanted to tell him that she wanted him to teach her more about pleasure because she was sure he was the only man who could.

  But she didn’t.

  Fairly certain he’d be relieved that there would be no mating ceremony, she pushed herself up on her hands, mourning the feel of his bare chest beneath her scantily clad breasts. “You should have your powers back. Do you?”

  The moment his hungry gaze devoured her, Athena knew he could see her perfectly in the dark. He did have his powers back, and they could leave this place.

  “What happened?” He sat up, bringing her upper body against his again.

  Athena scrambled off his lap to sit beside him on the guest bed, quickly explaining what had happened and what the Fates had revealed.

  “So you don’t have a latent power?” Hunter asked as he ran a hand down his whiskered jaw.

  “The Fates didn’t mention it. All I needed was to regain my full powers again. I have the ability to fo
rce the Evils back to their original state. They’ve spent centuries gaining power from unclaimed radiants, something that shouldn’t have happened. I can’t destroy them, but I can make it easier for my Sentinels to crush them.” She’d always been incapable of killing off the Evils because they were a creation of the gods. It’s the reason why she had fought back by establishing a force of Sentinels.

  “We can leave?” Hunter asked gruffly.

  “Yes. I’ll need your guidance because I’m not familiar with the planet anymore. But we can join the fight, and we can rescue Kristoff.” Athena was terrified by what her Sentinel king might be suffering at the moment.

  “So our bond is only temporary?” Hunter questioned gruffly. “You weren’t really ever meant to be mine?”

  Athena took a deep breath, wondering how to explain. “We are meant to be mates, but only if both of us really want to be joined forever. I’ve been allowed to continue alone to the Elysian Fields when my work is done if I wish it.” She already knew she’d be going to the gods’ paradise after the battle between Sentinels and Evils was over. Hunter had never wanted a mate. He’d been feeling the mating instinct, but it should be gone now that they were temporarily joined. Funny, but hers hadn’t disappeared or lessened one tiny little bit. In fact, she was pretty sure she could still feel Hunter’s, too, although she was trying hard to keep her promise not to delve into his emotions or thoughts.

  “I’ll protect you,” Hunter swore solemnly.

  Athena smiled, wondering how Hunter would feel when he realized that she could probably kick his ass. She might be limited when it came to killing Evils, but her power as a goddess was indisputable. There were several ways her earthly existence could be ended, but she was almost impossible to kill. Still grinning, she simply replied, “Thank you.” After all, he was going to be her guide in a strange new world.