Under His Claw Read online

  Naked and staring up at an insistent male, she held her hand up and said, “No.”

  “No, what? You said you were a sure thing. Obviously, you only want me to fuck you and leave.”

  Tears began to flow. “No. It wasn’t what I meant. I don’t want this, but I don’t want pain or a joining without attachment. I am scared.”

  He sighed and pulled her upright, sitting on her bed and pulling her across his lap. “Why are you scared?”

  “I don’t do this a lot.”

  He chuckled. “A woman’s body is a remarkable design, you were meant to take a lover.”

  She wiped her tears and controlled her breathing. “Everything about this place scares me.”

  It seemed that having a man in her room had been enough to break her hard won calm. She swallowed hard.

  “Good, it is a frightening place. It shows you are sane.”

  “But for how long? I have tonight with someone I can touch, who will touch me back with hands which are warm and skin that doesn’t feel like cold porcelain.”

  She looked up at him and was sure she looked horrible. She knew her eyes were red and her skin was blotchy, but he stroked her cheek and tugged at the tendrils of hair on her neck. Zora felt the caress of claws on her neck and she swallowed nervously.

  “Do you trust me?” He stroked his hand down her skin, the delicate scrape of his claws giving her flickers of pleasure through the threat of pain.

  “I don’t know you.”

  He smiled, and she could see deadly fangs growing in his jaws. He carefully enunciated, “Do you trust me?”

  She looked into his amber eyes and nodded. “I think I…yes. As much as I trust anyone.”

  “Then, allow me to show you what those cuffs are designed for.”

  He rose to his feet with her in his arms and centered her on her bed. He used his clawed hands to grasp her wrists, and he pressed them up to the headboard.

  Zora heard small clicks and she tugged at her wrists. The bands were locked inches above her head, holding her arms up and out of the way. “What?”

  Regick looked down at her with a sharp smile. “Sex with a shifter is a dance of dominance and submission. You are not trained to hold me down, so I will ease my instincts by making you helpless.”

  She twisted her wrists and the metal snapped tight, holding her fast.

  He chuckled. “And now there will be no struggles.”

  She sighed and swallowed. “I still want you.”

  She saw his eyes flare from human to slit-pupil and back again. His teeth made the kiss awkward but no less arousing as her body was covered completely by his and he rubbed his skin across her in a full-body caress.

  There was no going back.

  Chapter Four

  Regick was careful with his claws, but they were a deadly reminder he wasn’t a normal human male. They folded back when he wasn’t using them and extended when he flexed his hand.

  Zora was grateful that he didn’t tell her to relax. Either it would happen or it wouldn’t.

  Locked in place, she was able to appreciate the width of his shoulders and the deliberate care he was taking with her. The light scratching was waking the surface of her skin, and she could feel herself getting wet as he stroked over spots on her skin that were exceptionally sensitive.

  When he drew his fingers under her navel, she gasped and her muscles tightened. He continued his stroking and made it down to her thighs. Her inner thighs slid together, but he inserted a leg between them. She was open to him. He stared into her eyes while he drew his deadly fingers up. She shivered as his light stroke slowed as it closed in on her sex.

  He stroked two fingers through the slick heat she was giving him, and she closed her eyes as he lifted his hand to his mouth, licking delicately.

  The sound he made was a deep growl, and she felt him widening the splay of her thighs before his rough tongue was parting the lips of her sex and he was drinking directly from her.

  Zora mewled as he lapped at her with his fangs pressing into her sensitive flesh. She opened her thighs as wide as she could, tilting her hips in invitation.

  As he licked, she rocked her hips against his mouth, and she moaned as he moved faster, voraciously drinking her honey as her body surrendered to his mouth. He gripped her hips and held her as he worked at her with short snarls.

  She sobbed and cried out as her channel tried to grip his invading tongue. Her body bucked in his hands as he continued to drink her in.

  When she was slumped in his grasp, he moved up her body and settled the engorged head of his cock against her swollen opening. Zora felt a gush of moisture from her body to his, and he slid a few inches into her before pausing again.

  Zora opened her eyes and stared up at Regick. Sweat gleamed on his face, shoulders and down his chest. She wanted to run her tongue along his neck, but she couldn’t move.

  “What do you want, Zora?”

  She was flustered. Sex usually didn’t involve a lot of requests and answers on her part.

  “Um…”

  “Just say it.”

  She mumbled. “I want you close enough to taste you.”

  He leaned toward her and gave her what she wanted, easing farther inside her as he moved.

  She licked at the drops of sweat coating his neck; the taste of him sent her senses reeling. Her hips bucked, taking the column of his cock deep, and she licked him again, shivering as her nipples pebbled and her body shimmied again.

  He shuddered as he slid into her, moving as far as he could.

  Zora arched her breasts against him, rubbing across the hair on his chest. Everywhere she touched him, she tingled, until the riot in her senses drove her into a sensual whiteout where all she could do was feel.

  His sweat coated her and he started to move. Regick surrounded her, lowering his body to stroke completely across hers as he thrust into her and withdrew with a deliberately slow motion.

  Zora rocked with him, lifting her hips and pulling at the restraints on her wrists. He moved faster, harder and deeper. Zora heard the small cries coming from her throat, but he murmured wordless sounds as he continued to move inside her.

  Her senses overloaded and she bucked as an orgasm ripped through her. Her channel clenched around his but he kept moving.

  Her body kept her at her peak as he stroked in and out. She thrashed against her bonds, but he kept moving at the same insane pace.

  She heard herself begging for something, anything, but nothing moved him, he continued to rock inside her, keeping her falling through her climax.

  She had to do something, so she lunged up and fastened her teeth to his neck. He shouted and his hips snapped forward, his cock flexed inside her.

  The cessation of pleasure was exhausting. Zora let go of Regick’s neck and fell back against the pillow. She checked the spot where she had bitten him and didn’t see a thing.

  Regick leaned forward and pressed his head in the pillow, next to hers. One of his hands reached up and he released the bands which held her.

  She flopped her arms to the sides of her head and she fought to breathe with the weight of him on her.

  Regick shifted, pressing soft kisses against her neck and trailing his tongue between her breasts. She muttered and turned her head to one side, her whole body was hypersensitive.

  He gripped her jaw and turned her head back to him, kissing her softly.

  The extreme gentleness was back, and Zora responded to it. She sighed against his lips and answered his mouth with hers.

  Her body had the sexy ache that she had only heard about. Zora could smell blood but it wasn’t a lot. It was, however, definitely hers.

  Embarrassed, she turned her head away as he withdrew and rolled free of the bed. She had to use her aching arms to push her thighs together, and when Regick returned, he had a washcloth in his hand which he pressed to her swollen flesh. The heat made her gasp, but he held it to her as she squirmed.

  “Easy, Zora. I got a little enthusi
astic. Normally I would lick you clean, but I don’t think you are up for it.”

  She covered her face with her hands while she ignored him, cleaning her of his come and her own.

  When he was done, he disappeared to the bathroom again. He lifted her easily in his arms and peeled back the bedding, tucking her in between the sheets.

  “Dawn is not too far away, you need your rest. Olvadi will be satisfied.”

  She felt empty, hollow. He was going to leave her. She was only an opportunity for him. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  He sighed and crawled into bed next to her. He wrapped her in his arms and held her against the furnace-like heat of his body. “Anytime, Zora. If he demands you do it again, call for me. I will leave my number with your bodyguard.”

  He pressed a kiss to her temple, and she smiled slightly, giving in to the exhaustion she had so clearly earned.

  ****

  Regick waited until Zora was in deep sleep and the sun was peeking through the tinted glass.

  He eased out of bed and got dressed, looking back at her wistfully. He had some research to do, but she might be the one. They had coupled for two hours and then she had bitten him. It had been an act of instinct on her part, but it had called an end to their evening. The memory of the feel of her little teeth clamping down on his neck still made him hard.

  He tucked his shirt back into his trousers and stroked her dark hair away from her face. Such a tiny body to hold so much power. Olvadi didn’t know the half of it.

  Regick left Zora’s rooms and nodded to the tired vampires on duty. “I am out and she is asleep.”

  The woman brushed past him and went to check on Zora. When she came back, she pulled him away from the closed door. “You made her bleed.”

  “I needed to check something and friction is a brutal force. She has also been without a man for some time. It wasn’t much blood and I am sure she will be fine by morning.”

  The vampire with the long blonde hair whispered, “I don’t want her hurt.”

  “Neither do I. Take care of her.”

  The woman nodded and Regick went off with the sample of Zora’s blood in his pocket. If his suspicions were right, Olvadi was about to have a fight on his hands.

  ****

  Zora’s legs ached when Olvadi demanded her presence.

  She stood in front of him with her hands folded and her thighs quivering.

  “I was going to ask you about your evening, but it seems the night of contact has made its impression on you. Good. You certainly look more relaxed.” Olvadi sat with a tiny glass of blood from one of his favorite humans.

  She nodded. It was exhaustion and muscle fatigue, but if he wanted to interpret it as satisfaction, he was welcome to.

  “Can you do some more work on me today?”

  She nodded. “Of course, your majesty.”

  It was true. Despite her fatigue, she felt energized. She could probably heal more than one ancient wound.

  He sipped from his glass and his ruby red gaze raked over her. “Are you able to do it now?”

  She shrugged. “Of course, your majesty.”

  They went to the private room, and Octavia stood by while the tray with the blade, the towels and the med kit was brought in.

  Zora sat in her chair, and she stared in shock as Olvadi opened his trousers and pushed them down. Where his cock should have been was a bundle of scarred tissue.

  Olvadi looked down at her. “I became a giant because I was a eunuch, I guarded a seraglio until the day a woman as pale and cool as alabaster was brought to us. I was in love and became her devoted servant, and when she turned me, I swore fealty to her, but it was a love of the mind only. She had cravings and I could not satisfy them. Eventually she was destroyed, but I have been content with my position as leader since there was nothing else for me. Now, you have offered me hope and I pray you do not disappoint me.”

  She blinked and turned her head. “I need you to lie down for this. I will need to access everything I can, so please completely remove all clothing and lay back on the couch with one leg on the floor and one over the arm.”

  He arched his dark brow. “You are giving me orders?”

  “As your healer. Yes. I can’t help you regrow it if I can’t get my hands into the proper space.”

  “Hands, as in both?”

  She nodded. “This is not flattery, but this is a two-hand job, much like re-growing a limb.”

  She turned to Octavia. “It will take over an hour and he will be sensitive. You will need to bring one of those long silken skirts for him. His body will recover after his next rest cycle.”

  “Do not speak of me as if I wasn’t here.”

  Zora looked at him in all his scarred and ivory glory. “I know you are here, but you will need to be king the moment I finish this. I will also not be conscious when this is done so I needed to tell Octavia what you will need. You will be aroused and fascinated by your new equipment. She will need to help you remember who you are and what you are.”

  He arranged himself as she requested. She brought the tray of items over and took up the disturbing position of kneeling astride Olvadi with her back facing him.

  With a grimace, she quickly sliced both her palms and pressed them to the scarred stump. She focused her power on turning her blood into his tissue. His body knew what it should look like. She worked as quickly as she could to make him whole, but it still took her the full hour and she was exhausted when she wiped her blood away from the hard bar of flesh and the sac which hung low and full beneath it.

  Her vision blurred and she swayed, falling to the floor, dimly watching Octavia bind her wounds. When Octavia was done, Wilhelm lifted her in his arms and carried her to her rooms.

  His cool arms tucked her into her bedding, and he left her alone in the dark.

  Zora would have been completely content to fall asleep and stay that way until the following afternoon, but a familiar presence entered her room and placed a hand over her mouth.

  She recognized the grip, her scent. She tapped the hand twice. It pulled away from her mouth, and she looked into the glowing golden eyes. She mouthed, “Hi, Grandma.”

  Zora was amazed it had taken her grandmother this long to find her. She had expected her on day two.

  Her grandmother pulled her out of bed and urged her into the hallway. The human corridor was away from all public areas so that is where Grandma Charani took her.

  Grandma was invisible to electronics and since she had a grip on Zora, so was she.

  They ran down the three flights of stairs with all the humans attending to the vampires in the common areas.

  It was nerve wracking, but Zora and her grandmother made it out of the vampire building and onto her motorcycle. They roared off into the night with no alarms being raised and no one on their tails.

  Zora hung on to her grandmother and hoped no one was punished for her disappearance.

  Chapter Five

  Charani stopped at a diner and looked at Zora from head to toe. “Why were you dressed?”

  Zora sighed, “A vampire tucked me in. They tend to think I get cold easily, so they don’t remove my clothing and leave my shoes on.”

  “It was a man.”

  “Yup.”

  Charani sighed. “It figures.”

  Zora sat with her hands around a cup of coffee; both bandages were now exposed to her grandmother’s gaze.

  “You have been healing them.” Her grandmother’s face was disapproving.

  “I had to. Alfonso found me and traded my blood for his.”

  Charani ran her hands through her platinum hair. “How did he know about you?”

  “Apparently, there are websites that will lead you to your relatives if you know how to work a search engine. So, he needed me and he found me.”

  “Are you all right, child?”

  “I am. I really am.”

  “Did they force you?”

  She blinked. “The vampires? No.”

>   Her grandmother cracked her spoon in half. “Who did?”

  Honesty was always best with her grandmother. She could smell a lie with those senses of hers.

  She sat back and smiled at the server who brought her the order of burgers and fries. “It wasn’t force, but I was coerced into choosing a lover. He was nice and he didn’t hurt me. He was very careful.”

  “Who was he?”

  Zora cocked her head. “You know, I don’t really know. He is a shifter. He told me that much, but aside from his name, I don’t know anything about him.”

  “What was his name?”

  Zora ate her fries. “Regick. He had golden hair and golden eyes.”

  “Any identifying marks?”

  “No. Not that I saw.”

  Charani leaned forward and gripped her hand. “This is important, Zora. Did he draw blood?”

  “No. Wait. Yes. Sort of.” She blushed.

  Her grandmother leaned back. “Damn. Let’s hope he isn’t looking for you.”

  “What? Why would he?”

  “I need to tell you about your great-great-grandmother and the steps she took to protect her children. Your mother should have told you, but she is…well you know.”

  “Gone.”

  “Precisely.”

  Zora sat and listened to the tale of a gypsy princess who fell in love with a nobleman’s son and married him. She then listened to the exploit of the gypsy who defended herself and the child she just conceived.

  When the daughter was born, Lela took her child to an area known for dragon activity, and she raised her as a lady and introduced her to the local men. Lady Alamina was a hit with the locals, but she fell in love with the seaside. Wandering the ocean daily, she met a water dragon who seduced her and left her with child.

  Charani was the next daughter, and she chose a volcanic dragon as a father for her child. Lolli chose a dragon deep in a mine and Zora was the result.

  “Right. I know all that.” Zora sipped at her coffee and continued in on her burger.