Jonas (Darkness #7) (5 page)

“She’s a bitch.”

That hand lightly rubbed across his shoulder and up his neck. Her thumb lightly traced the stubble on his jaw. Delicious shivers racked his body. “She said you were selective.”

“I don’t have time for idiots.”

“You’re hard right now.”

Jonas gulped. “Yes. Very. You’re driving me crazy. Which I get. Don’t get me wrong, but—“

Emmy bent toward him. Her face came down slowly. He stayed perfectly still as she let her lips trail across his. His eyes drifted closed, savoring that sweet touch. Feeling the blissful current that vibrated through his lips and down through his body.

“Do you always need to be hit?” she murmured against his mouth.

“Apparently not.”

He could feel her lips curl up into a smile before she bent forward and deepened the kiss. He opened his mouth to her, allowing her to slip her tongue inside and playfully explore. Letting her take the lead. She tasted like apples and sage. Her hands slipped down his shoulders and across his chest. Warmth radiated on his skin. Tingles spread across his flesh.

“I will get you out of here, somehow,” she whispered as she backed up. “Tomorrow. I’ll get you out.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll… figure it out.”

“No.” His harsh voice filled the room. “We’ll get out together. Call the Boss. No, call Sasha. She’s damn pushy when she’s riled up. Call her, tell her where we are, and give her the situation. When they show up, we can make our way out.”

“I don’t have a phone. I don’t have any connection with the outside world.”

Jonas stared up at those sorrowful blue eyes. “How have you not gone crazy and killed everyone in your sight?”

A melancholy smile graced her lips. “How? What’s a whip against magic? Like I said, they track me down and find me. Nathanial doesn’t like his property going missing.”

“Nathanial is going to die before this is through. That I will guarantee you,” Jonas growled. “Not one of these buggers is escaping without answering for this.”

“You’re sweet.”

“Not really. Actually… not at all. I’m an asshole. But a determined asshole.”

She laughed and slowly, hesitantly, lowered onto his lap. “I shouldn’t do this.”

“Please do that,” Jonas begged.

Her warm body covered him. Her arms snaked around his neck. “The first time I leaned close to you, I expected you to spit on me. Or bite me or something. Usually that’s the first line of defense when a man’s hands are tied.”

“Hmm.” Jonas leaned forward and captured her lips. He groaned when she moved further up his lap. The warmth between her legs rested on his erection. Only a mostly sheer piece of fabric separated them.

“You haven’t been like anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Usually that’s a good thing.” He deepened the kiss. Needing more of her. Taking whatever she would give him. Knowing she had to do this at her own pace, and really liking that that pace was a fast one. She was part his race, after all.

She half-stood above him while staying bent over so their lips continued to touch. She hiked her dress to her waist. “Here goes nothin’,” she murmured.

She sat down slowly. Her hands on his shoulders were shaking. Her breath hitched and caught in her throat. Her eyebrows dipped. Fear crept into her eyes as she backed up to connect with his gaze.

“Don’t do this if you don’t want to. Males will always beg and plead—it doesn’t mean you have to give in.”

He’d coaxed that small smile again. Her body sat down ever so slowly. Her wetness touched his hot tip. Fire erupted through his body. “Oh fuck.”

She kept going down. His manhood slipped past her folds and slowly, painfully slowly, entered her tight, hot sheath.

“Oh—“ His eyes rolled back in his head. His heart hammered, pounding on his ribs. He couldn’t seem to get enough breath. His whole body was tight, desperate for more. For all of her.

“Are you okay?” he asked through a tight throat. His whole body was flexed. All he wanted to do was thrust upward and then explode. He didn’t have long. The first time with this female and he’d turn out to be a one-pump chump.

He hoped she didn’t tell anyone. Charles would never let him live that down.

“Yes. Surprisingly… very okay,” she said softly as she started to move. Her hips rocked forward and back. Forward and back. The friction was pounding pleasure into his body. Nothing but pleasure. No residual pain. No stingy cuts or throbbing, aching areas. Just pure, sweet pleasure.

I don’t remember feeling this good. Why does she feel this
good?

“I can’t—“ He braced himself with everything he had. Tried to hold back. Tried to hold on.

“I can’t—“ He gritted his teeth. He clenched his butt.

She rose up a little, and then sat back down. That one, hard pump was all it took.

He exploded. An orgasm rocked his whole body. He shuddered under her, emptying himself. Small explosions of fire burst across his skin right before he turned to jelly. Every muscle in his body relaxed.

“Okay, I can get ready again. This isn’t a problem. Give me a moment,” Jonas panted.

He opened his eyes to the largest smile he’d yet seen. Her eyes glittered.

“Don’t make fun of me—that’s not fair.” He sounded like a chick. Oh yeah—if Charles ever got wind of this, Jonas would be a laughing-stock. “You’ve been building me up. I’m better than this. Just give me a second.”

“It’s flattering,” she laughed. She started moving again, slowly. Her hips went around in a circle one way, and then back the next. She leaned forward and captured his lips as she rocked forward.

“That’s a nice way of saying it’s embarrassing for me,” Jonas grumbled. He could already feel his body responding, though. Her unsure movements, her experimental rising and falling, and her teasing kissing were enough to be hot and endearing at the same time. She was completely naïve when it came to sex. Completely raw and eager to experiment with this new control.

He wouldn’t allow himself to dwell on why that was. Not until he was standing over this Nathanial male with a glowing orange sword in hand. Instead, he put his head back and fell into the sensations of her movements. Her gorgeous body rocking over him. Her bouncing, rising up until she was at his tip, and then slamming back down. Not only was he rock hard again, he was ready to release round two.

“You’re making a mockery of me,” he panted, eyes squeezed shut again. “Let me touch you. Let me help you get there.”

“No need,” she panted. She rose up and sat down again. And again. She struck up a rhythm. Each sit-down was harder and harder. The friction built as he plunged in and out of her. He couldn’t help lifting off the chair now, rising to meet her fall. Pushing into her with all the strength he could muster in his position.

“Yes, Jonas,” she exalted. She tilted her head back with a smile. “
Yes!
More!”

Their bodies slapped together. She bent back to him with a deep kiss as he moved inside of her. The pressure increased.

“Oh Jonas,” she sighed. Her insides gripped him. So tight. So hot.

He—had—to—

He blasted into her for the second time. Thankfully, she shook over him a moment later. Her insides milked him, contracting even tighter around his shaft.

“YES!” she yelled.

Her body collapsed over him. Her arms draped across his shoulders and her face was nestled up against his neck.

“You can take my blood, if you want,” he said softly. “I’ve never let a female do it before, but you can. If you want.”

He felt her smile against his skin. “I’ve never taken blood before. Maybe next time. Baby steps.”

“There has to be a next time, Emmy. We shouldn’t wait. We need to get out, now.”

Her body straightened up. Seriousness took over her gaze. “If I let you free—even if I showed you the way out—I can’t do the invisible charm. And even if I could, they know how to undo it. You’d be dead before you took two steps toward freedom.”

“We need the Boss and Sasha. You know this place, Emmy.
Think.”

He saw her vision cloud over. A worry-knot formed between her eyebrows. “I have one trick—
one
trick—I can do. My mom showed me before they moved her to another compound. My magic is weird—it’s not like hers—so when I tried the thing she showed me, it turned into something else. I only have one time, though. Nathanial will learn it and disable it after just using it once near him. I can get a phone that way, but… how fast can your friends get here?”

“How close are we to the Mansion? To Pine Hills?”

Tears swam in Emmy’s eyes as she slowly shook her head. “Probably fifty miles.”

Relief washed through Jonas. “That’s fine. It’s been a few days. They’ll probably have some vague idea where this place is, by now. We just have to hope they’re close. And don’t worry about your human magic—they’ll be able to teach you. There are already a bunch of batty humans learning in the Mansion.”

A tear overflowed. “It sounds like a dream.”

“Well, we have to get out of here, first. And that won’t be too fun.” Which was an understatement. It sounded impossible.

E
mmy’s body
was luxuriously relaxed as she wound her way to her room. She’d expected to have a panic attack or something. Or maybe just go numb with memories. But it hadn’t been anything like that. What started as kind of an impulse became the best experience of her life.

But now came the hard part. Jonas was her salvation—she knew that as well as she knew her own name—but they were trapped in this festering pool of disease. Security was much more relaxed at home than in his compound. On enemy soil—as Nathanial thought of it—he wasn’t taking any chances. She knew this, because to make that map of hers, she had to test all the entrance and exit points. Even the “secret” entrance to this place had guards. She could slip out, but getting the prisoner out? It didn’t look good.

She pushed open the door to her room with her map in mind as she caught the familiar presence. Nathanial sat at her desk as he had the other night. One ankle was crossed over a knee and his fingers were intertwined. Shivers wracked her body. This was his “faux patience” stance. It meant she was in trouble and would be punished.

“Hi Nathanial.” She walked right up to him. She’d hoped to think about a plan, maybe wait that day after all. Not with that edge to his eye, though. She didn’t have a day.

She didn’t have an hour.

“Emmy. I am absolutely heartbroken. Darla tells me you interrupted her interrogation. Being the dear-heart she is, she tried not to fault you, but I couldn’t help but see the whip mark. You scored one of your betters while defying one of my direct orders. This grieves me.”

“She wasn’t interrogating him. She was trying to screw and bite him.” Emmy felt the magic run through her body.

“Now, now. You know I dislike when you are vulgar. Well. You will be glad to hear that your prickly charge is no longer needed. Darla has produced someone who used to work right beside Cato. He is quite well connected. Pity I didn’t hear of him before now. But you know how it is—so many want to join our cause, I don’t have time to speak to them all. Luckily, however, Darla had. She was quite the find.”

“Great.”

“You will not be pleased to hear, however, that you must be punished. And Darla is right—having a human pet for so long does look bad. We’d hate to have others think I favor your kind. So you will go into the higher level of humans distributed for good deeds. I will choose who gets you intimately, of course—while I applaud her foresight, I still do not like sharing. Your blood, however—that can be distributed more openly. Others will need the boost to their magic level. We will take the Council premises soon.”

“Why do you keep me, Nathanial? If you hate me so much, and hate my kind, why do I need to be under your thumb? No one else forces humans—or anyone else. Why me?”

His head tilted at her words. “You are a remarkably pretty girl. And there is a certain allure in lying with one such as yourself. I often wondered if you would get with child. Humans seem to find that easier. Three-fourths of my race means the offspring is likely to have my type of magic. This would ensure I could raise my child as my own. There was always the chance it would have human magic, and that I would have to abandon it, but it was worth the risk. Unfortunately, you are barren. And since you lack sexual finesse, I found that there was no use to you.”

“Then why keep me? Why not let me go?” she pleaded.

“Because what if
I
was the barren one? I couldn’t allow you to bear someone else’s spawn. Then I would be ridiculed. And yes, now we have that problem, which is why I will be sure to choose those who are infertile. If I choose wrongly, and you do get with child—well, there are ways to rectify that.”

White-hot rage burned through Emmy. Red hazed her vision. Anger clouded her judgment. Without a second thought, she reached forward and placed her hand on Nathanial’s neck. A perplexed expression crossed his face, but he did not flinch. That would be a sign of weakness for an advance from a human. She’d counted on that.

Before he could shock her with magic, she dumped her special spell into his skin. Fire and ice rolled, heating and then freezing his skin. His throat swelled. Red bled into his face. His eyes bulged as his hands flew up to his throat.

“Fuck you, Nathanial.” She dumped him out of the chair as he worked at the spell. She snatched his phone out of his pocket and ran. Sprinted through the halls. She’d hide with Jonas for as long as possible and hope someone showed up to storm the place. If not… well, Nathanial would find her eventually, and she’d deal with it then.

As she ran, she typed in the number Jonas made her remember.

“
C
ato
, we’re en route. I can’t move any faster than I am.” I looked at Stefan with a suffering look as we sat in the backseat of Jameson’s car. I thought driving the extremely fast and gloriously scary Ferrari was the better way to travel, but not one person sided with me. I suspected Charles had mentioned that I’d gotten air when I took it out the other day to relieve some stress. He was such a scaredy-cat with speed.

“I know, Sasha. And I truly am sorry for calling every five minutes, but you know how it is when you are waiting—each minute stretches. I will say, however—do I have time for a quick chat?”

“Cato…” I ground my teeth. The man acted like a child sometimes. He was losing his marbles, that was clear. “Yes. You have time. We are still in the car headed to you.”

“Oh yes—how silly of me. I get thinking about the battle to come and forget the details. Where was I—oh yes, I am really pleased that your network of humans has proved so useful. I did know that Rudy disappeared into this area of the world, but I couldn’t pinpoint where. Then your spies and your witches—you have really come through.”

“But you said you can’t see the building.”

“Yes, that is true. But once you get here we will try some spells and see what lands. I have every reason to suspect the London faction sent Nathanial. He is an old… acquaintance of mine, and exemplary with magic. He can do things even I have not seen.”

“Not encouraging, Cato,” I said in dry tones. I rubbed my palm across my forehead to try and dislodge the worry. Cato had mentioned more than once that we were going up against an old, excellent, experienced army of fighters and magic-workers both. They were the best, and had been waging war with those close to them for hundreds of years. I’d been in my profession less than two years. So the experience levels were a bit skewed on my side of things.

“Not to worry, Sasha. Toa tells me you have handled the basic link with him very well. You keep up excellently, and when put under pressure, come up with exciting and terrifying spells. I can’t wait to wage war at your side.”

Goodie.

“How long do you think it’ll take to break the concealment spell, Cato?” I asked.

“Oh, probably a day or two. That little Delilah-human is coming, correct? I hear she is just great at picking apart very intricate spells. Quite the marvel for one unused to magic and with such a low power level.”

“Yes, she is, but she’s heavily pregnant.” She’d nearly caused a riot at the Farm when she said she was coming to help. Putting pregnant women in harm’s way wasn’t something Stefan’s people did. Well, it wasn’t something most people did, but Stefan’s people got really violent about it. Her mate tried to challenge Stefan. Charles and Paulie had to subdue him.

“Yes, we will guard her, assuredly. Now, Sasha, how are your two little ones? I would so love to meet them. You must—“

My phone beeped with call waiting. Glancing at the number wasn’t helpful since I didn’t know it. And while usually I wouldn’t answer, to get Cato off the phone, I’d make exceptions. “Cato, I have an important call coming through. Can I talk to you later?”

“Yes, of course. Of course. Are you any closer?”

“Bye, Cato.” I clicked the button to end the call and answer the other with an extravagant eye-roll. “Hello?”

“You’re supposed to say who you are,” Charles “helped” from the front seat. He was trying to take over for Jonas in the business etiquette department and succeeded in making me want to beat him senseless.

“Sasha?” a harried female voice panted into the phone.

“Yes, this is
Sasha—
see Charles, I didn’t need to say my name.”

“If you did, you would’ve saved that person asking,” Charles retorted.

“Sasha, this is Emmy. You don’t know me. But I am the person who has Jonas. Kind of.”

I bolted forward in my seat and waved at Jameson to quit talking to Stefan. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“He’s—yes. He’s okay. For now. I’m—it’s a long story. I’m trying to get him out. I just took down my… jailor, basically. The guy that keeps me here. He’ll be looking for me. And they will kill Jonas when they find him. But I can’t get out of here with him. Or, at all, now. They’ll see me. I’m not allowed outside. Um. This is jumbled. Sorry. Just—I can tell you how to find this place. But you have to come quick. We don’t have much time. And even still, we’ll have to sneak out when you bombard this place. There’s no other way to get out alive.”

“Will you keep this phone on you? I can trace this phone.”

“Ask if it’s a trap!” Charles hollered. Stefan was staring at me, wondering if he should take the phone and handle this. I wasn’t great at organization.

“Can you put Jonas on?” I asked in a choking voice.

“Yes. Later. But now, please write this down. I’ll tell you how to break the spell—I’ll try, anyway. How close are you?”

“Half hour. We’ll be there in a half hour. We already have people waiting to get started.”

I heard a relieved sigh and a “thank God.” After that I scribbled frantically on an ad in a magazine Charles was able to scrounge up in Jameson’s car. It was clear Emmy didn’t know much about magic. She spit out words and sentences that sounded like a second-hand rant from a mad scientist. I wrote it all down, though, hoping Cato would be able to make sense of it. After that I heard a heavy door open and a low hum that sounded vaguely like Jonas.

My breath caught. My knuckles turned white where they clutched the phone. And then I heard, “Sasha?”

“Oh my God, Jonas!” I couldn’t help a racking sob. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“Yeah. I liked it. Where are you?”

“You would—“

“What’s his status? He take down half the guards yet, or what?” Charles interrupted in a rush.

“Can he get out?” Stefan asked.

“We’re on the way,” I said. “Twenty minutes, now. Cato is already there. Sounds like Rudy is somewhere in there. Cato’s worried they are going after the Council.”

“Yeah. They are. This crew is up to no good. They’re trying to take over.”

I heard what sounded like heavy metal clinking. Hinges creaked.

“Ah. That feels good,” Jonas sighed.

“What? What happened?”

“Emmy released my hands.”

“How were you holding the phone?”

“Shoulder. Sasha, listen, do you know how to take off a bit of magic for tracking somebody?”

My mind raced. I’d never even heard about the ability to do that. “I’m sure Toa would. Or—wait—Cato totally does! He was talking about how he was keeping tabs on Rudy. That was probably how. I could ask and call you back.”

“Is it something I’d be able to do, though?”

My heart sank. Jonas wasn’t great with spells that didn’t involve violence. Take down an army with his hands? Yes he could. Do a simple tripwire spell that a red could do? Nope. That wasn’t his specialty. “Probably not.”

“Thought not. That’s fine. I’ll figure it out. Just do me a favor.”

“Anything.”

“Make a huge bang when you get here. Make some sort of huge distraction. By the look on Emmy’s face, we’re going to need it.”

“Just one more thing, Jonas,” I said softly. “Are you sure we can trust this girl? I mean… she switched sides pretty quick.”

“She’s half human. They treat her worse than a farm animal. She has a shit life, and she’s coming back with me to start over. We can trust her.”

She’s coming back with you? A human?
“Okay.”

“And one more thing,” Jonas said in a deep growl.

“Uh huh. Wait—are you into this girl? A human?” I couldn’t help but ask. Who was this guy all of a sudden?

“She’s hot. Listen, that bitch Darla is here. She’s working the top tier of people and they are buying whatever she is selling. Just thought you’d want to know.”

“That bitch!” I yelled. “I am going to punch her in the mouth. Seriously. Will she never fuck off?”

“Who?” Charles leaned toward me.

“Your lady-love, Darla,” I snarled. “All right, Jonas, go hide. Stay safe. You’ll hear me when I show up.”

“Sounds good. And Sasha…”

“Yeah?” I didn’t want to hang up. I didn’t want to disconnect with his voice. I was terrified this was the last time I’d talk to him.

“Thanks for coming. Knew I could count on you.”

“Of course. Of course I would,” I said with a shaking voice.

“Now. Chin up. Get tough. Show ‘em how big your balls are. Emmy and I’ll be waitin’.”

The line went dead. I stared at the phone for a moment in sorrow and bewilderment, both. “What is his fascination with my lady balls?”

“What’s his status?” Stefan asked in a low tone. His dark eyes bored into mine. “What are we going into?”

“We’re up against some old Europeans with some excellent magic skills and who don’t treat humans very well. I think it’s safe to say they won’t be using any humans. Cato’s smart. He had me build up the human magic so as to entwine it with his. Two sides of magic going against one. That has to count for something.”

“We have the home turf, too, Sasha. Don’t forget that. Playing-field advantage.” Charles stared out the windshield. “I wonder if they’ll use shifters, though.”

“Probably. They used those shifters to scout us out.” I chewed on my lip in thought. “But they weren’t as organized as Tim. I think we definitely have an advantage. The question is, can we combat against their superior magic-working. We might have more strength, but they might have better spells.”

“Cato knows what he’s about.” Stefan shifted in his seat. His demeanor was calm even though his eyes were on fire. He was mentally preparing for a battle he had no doubt he would win. “He’s been at this a long time. Plus, Dominicous has organized a front line from all over the country. They’ve been preparing for this ever since the Council fiasco. We’re ready.”