Caught in the Devils' Hand Page 8

  “Yes,” she said, her voice the barest of whispers. She felt the air shudder, as if a wave of power had passed them by overhead. Her lips barely touched the surface of the water and she watched him like prey watches a predator. Now that he had his deal, she hoped that he would leave, but something told her that he wasn’t done with her yet.

  “Then let us fulfill our bargain, woman,” he said, adjusting his position so that he sat upon his ankles in the riverbed. She looked at him as if he had broken her favorite possession.

  “But you had me last night…you can’t have me again until six days from now,” she said, shaking her head at him.

  “The bargain was ‘from now on’. Today begins our bargain, and today I will have you,” he explained. Her mouth fell open in surprise, and she wanted to scream with frustration. Her hands became fists and tears pricked at the back of her eyelids.

  “I meant from last night…that’s what I meant!” she attempted, already knowing that she would lose this argument.

  “It’s too late to change your wording, woman. I will have you now,” he demanded, his smugness replaced by displeasure. She ducked her head again, her chin submerged in the water.

  She sat there, defeated, and waited for him to ravish her once again. He didn’t move toward her, however. He simply sat there, still and silent, making her edgy as the seconds ticked by.

  She wondered if he was going to suddenly jump at her, but that didn’t make sense. She had already agreed to give him her favors. There was no need to catch her.

  She kept expecting him to lunge at her though, which quickly began to fray her nerves. Her now puckered fingers began to fidget beneath the water’s surface.

  “What is your name, demon?” she suddenly asked, needing to fill the suddenly tense silence. Besides, if she was to be so intimate with him, she wanted to know his name.

  He seemed mildly taken aback. “Vallen,” was his simple response. She nodded, trying out the name in her head. It was a strong name. She wondered who gave him that name—his father or the Damned One…perhaps both were the same person?

  The seconds began to tick by, and she wondered again why he didn’t move toward her. Why he didn’t take her in his arms and overwhelm her like he had last night? She looked at him patiently at first but his face was blank and he was as still as the dead. After a full minute passed, she finally realized that he was waiting for her to do something.

  “Well, what do you want me to do?” she asked, enormously frustrated.

  “I thought you would never ask,” he teased, earning an angry glare. “Come straddle my lap, Shumei.”

  The anger on her face fled as a wash of anxiety tightened her features. The position was immediately clear in her mind’s eye, and she knew how vulnerable she would be with her legs spread around him, her knees open to him.

  “Shumei…now,” he ordered. Though her normal reaction would be anger at his gall, the thought of what she was about to do, in broad daylight, made her heart rise in her throat to choke her. He watched her nervous reaction, the rise of color to her smooth cheeks, and smiled inwardly.

  She moved forward hesitantly, finding one of his thighs with her right hand and then reaching forward to grasp his hips. If he felt any reaction to her hands on his body, he didn’t show it and she wouldn’t notice anyway, so shy was she that she couldn’t look at his face. She pulled herself forward and ever so gingerly settled low on his thighs, as if afraid that any sudden movement would incite violence from him. His hands didn’t touch her, though and beneath the water she curled her fingers into the wet cloth of his dark blue shirt, absently noticing that the fabric of his clothing was more finely made than anything she had ever touched.

  She stayed low in the water, still trying to hide her nudity, but she knew very well that there was no way she’d be able to hide for long. Shoulders hunched down but held tight to her body, she hid her face from him, ducking it low enough to touch her chin to her chest like a penitent child.

  She couldn’t look into his eyes. All she would find there would be his arrogance, his cruelty and, perhaps worst of all, his lust.

  He lifted his arms toward her, and she tensed as if awaiting the blow of a fist. He paused, deeply inhaling through his nose as if gathering his patience.

  “Why do you cower from me?”

  “Are you jesting?” she asked, incredulous. “After the intimidation you just displayed to me? After forcing me into an intimate relationship with you? It’s obvious that I would be afraid of you.”

  Another long pause, and it was nearly a full minute before she felt his lips touch her forehead. “I will make you another promise,” he announced, his voice strangely gentle. She pressed her lips together, waiting for this new promise. “I promise to never hurt you without your permission. If I break this promise, all contracts between us shall be void, and I will never come near you again.”

  She gasped in astonishment, greatly surprised that he would make such a promise…and greatly comforted. She did wonder, though, why he had included “without your permission”. When would she ever want him to hurt her?

  “Now…I will touch you, Shumei, and only pleasure shall follow,” he whispered, pressing another kiss to her forehead. Her mind cast aside all thoughts of his promise and focused on the present. The cool river water swirled behind her as his hands came up to rest on her lower back, though only his fingertips actually touched her skin. They moved slowly, exploring the texture of the skin on her back, the ridges of her shoulders and the line of her spine.

  “Relax your shoulders and look at me.” Her shoulders slowly fell, followed by a sigh from her lips. Her eyes rose to look into his deep blue gaze. It held lust, to be sure, a drugged look that hinted of dark knowledge and deep longing, but there was no arrogance, no cruelty. His palms met her skin, rubbing along her hips and thighs. She swallowed, her fingers curling a little tighter.

  “Such smooth skin. I knew it would be soft here,” he whispered, glancing down at her lips. Taking in a deep breath, she sat up straighter and edged closer to him, her feet pushing against the sand of the riverbed.

  “Kiss me. Let your eyelids close when our lips meet,” he quietly instructed. She leaned forward, her eyes on his lips, and her head automatically tilted to the left. When she felt the soft flesh of his lips upon her own, her eyes closed as he asked, and she rubbed her lips against his, gently moving over them even as they did the same to hers. Though she had very little experience with kisses, she knew that his lips were softer than even a baby’s lips. The kiss had barely begun when he lifted his mouth from hers.

  “Shumei,” he sighed, wrapping his fingers around her wrists and lifting her arms out of the water. He draped her arms around his neck, leaning forward to take her mouth in another kiss. This one was more intimate, closer to the wanton kiss they had shared last night. His tongue slipped between her lips, tasting the mint she had consumed. His lips pressed fully against hers, sealing their mouths together.

  She moaned lightly, almost afraid to enjoy sexual pleasure with a member of the Damned Ones. She couldn’t leave this village yet, not when her family was sick and her brother too young to leave alone, not that she wanted to leave him at all. Since she couldn’t leave, though, the demon would be able to find her again and carry out the threat he had made. She would rather have the choice of when and where, rather than none at all.

  She knew to expect it, but when his hands smoothly cupped and held her breasts, she gasped into his mouth. She wasn’t sure what surprised her more—the incredible warmth of his hands despite the penetrating temperature of the water, or the way his hands made her feel. He was gentle, arousing her with care, but it was still strange. Last night, his hands had been rougher, more desperate perhaps. Now he seemed to be taking his time.

  He rolled her breasts slowly, reminding her of the incident with Majo yesterday. Whereas then she had been unaware of her blushing reaction, she now knew that her breasts and nipples were sensitive to another person’s tou
ch. That caressing them would make her hot and heavy for more vigorous activity.

  Both of his hands left her breasts, sliding down her body and reaching below the water to lift her. Their lips fell away from each other, and her body was raised up against him until her chest became level with his mouth. One of his arms held her up, close to him, his hand gripping the back of her thigh. Moaning more heavily, she gripped his shoulders for support as he greedily mouthed the peak of her right breast while his free hand massaged the other. She let her head fall back, arching her back and pushing her breast more firmly into his mouth. His cheeks hollowed out as his lips sucked the tip, and she cried out, feeling a warm pulsation deep in her belly. The hand upon her left breast fell away, and his arm adjusted her against him so that he could pay equal attention to her other breast.

  She could feel his other arm around her thigh, adjusting something beneath the surface of the water, but his fingers never touched her where they had ventured last night. When her tightly swollen nipple fell away from his warm lips, she moaned with both satisfaction and anticipation. To so audibly enjoy his skills as a lover embarrassed her, but only a little bit. After all, she had to enjoy it if she was to fulfill her end of the bargain and he was probably the most practiced lover she would ever meet.

  Cold water droplets slid down her back from the tips of her wet hair, making her very aware of the warm body beneath her and of the heat radiating from her own skin. A pleasurable throbbing had returned to make her thighs clench against his torso and her fingers clamp onto his shoulders.

  “I believe we’re ready, Shumei. I will say some words to muffle the pain of entry. I fear you are still too tight for your own comfort and I wouldn’t wish to break my end of the bargain so soon,” he explained, his breathing only slightly erratic. She, however, was panting for air, looking at him with slightly blurry vision and a swimming sensation in her head. She didn’t like that he had so much more control over himself than she did, but she wasn’t surprised. She nodded to him, bracing her hands on his shoulders.

  His eyes closed, his head lowering in concentration, and as the strange words flowed from his lips, they sounded hollow, like they had an echo. A bubbly tingle burst inside the center of her body, spreading to all four limbs and filtering up to her head like the effects of a heavy drug. His words had left her feeling even more lightheaded than she had been already. She felt her body sink and was sweetly pierced by the hot stab of his sex thrusting into hers.

  “Yes, take me inside you,” he brokenly sighed, pulling her down until it seemed that his shaft had slid in to the hilt. She clamped her thighs around his hips, her knuckles white against his shoulders and her teeth biting hard into her lower lip. She could once again feel the effects of the Binding, as he called it. In a strange and unsettling way, she felt as if she were penetrating and being penetrated at the same time.

  The sweet joining of their bodies was doubly good, doubly wicked. His hands tightly gripped her hips and he bucked his pelvis to find the deepest point in her body. When he slid in another inch, reaching the deepest point of her body, she moaned with a husky voice that echoed his own deep groan.

  Her eyelids fluttered open to find his face very close to her own. His eyebrows were slightly upturned, his mouth ajar, and she could barely make out a flush in his cheeks. Their eyes met, held…and what she had hoped would be merely a distasteful chore suddenly became more intimate. His gaze made her more aware, more open.

  He wanted her to know who had compromised her, had penetrated her, and had seduced her.

  She watched him lean forward, seeking a kiss without breaking their eye contact. Not thinking, she leaned forward as well to meet him halfway. His mouth was as soft and succulent as the peaches from the valley to the south and it tasted faintly of rice wine, though a different flavor from the wine she had tried yesterday. Their lids slowly fell shut and she leaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. He ground his hips against her, eliciting a small noise of surprise, but the kiss didn’t end, didn’t break for even a second.

  Her whole world shrank, becoming as small as that little space between the bushes and compressing to a few shared breaths. His strong arms came around her torso, holding her tightly against him as he rocked her over his smoothly gyrating pelvis. His lips sucked at her mouth as if he were drinking from a wine jug. It was his arms around her and his lips against her that kept her anchored. Her head felt so light that she wasn’t sure if she would be able to sit up straight if he let her go.

  She knew he wouldn’t though. He would never let her go, not until he got what he wanted.

  “Mmm, yes,” she groaned into his mouth. She felt overwhelmed by the power between her thighs, thrusting repeatedly into her. It was the way his body sought hers, the way it moved against her, that she found the most erotic in their strange and intimate relationship. He didn’t just need her.

  He wanted her.

  “Call my name,” he ordered, increasing the force of his thrusts with his hands on her hips. Her head jerked back upon her neck with every push, air rushing in and out of her lungs. It felt so good and it was not difficult at all to “participate fully” as he had asked. She moaned wantonly, her face tight with pleasure. When his demand finally penetrated her brain, his name did come to her lips, but she held it back, not wanting to give him that. To use his name out loud, she was sure, would give him the last bit of her soul that she still retained.

  “My name, Shumei,” he said again, his voice sounding more desperate, more angry. His breathing had sped up considerably, though he still took as many kisses from her as was possible. She felt a new pressure between her thighs and groaned loudly as his hot, hard member thickened inside of her.

  “It—it’s getting bigger,” she said in surprise. The last was wrenched from her throat as if it had taken great effort and indeed it had. To even form words was becoming difficult.

  “I want to fill you, to roll and knead your womb until you scream with pleasure,” he groaned, his hips bucking hard into her. He kissed her once more, his lips massaging her own with expert skill. She returned his kiss with fervor, now putting her own effort into joining with him over and over again. She rolled her hips downward, following the pull and push of his hands on her hips.

  “Yes! Yes!” she moaned, her lips dragging across his smooth cheek as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

  “Shumei…call my name,” he hoarsely begged, and she was certain now that he was begging. It was there in his voice.

  “I-I cannot! I cannot call it!” she cried out, doubling her efforts to reach that wonderful, dizzying climax from last night. He made a pained noise, his fingers tightening upon her.

  “You’re welcome to…break your end of the bargain, Shumei. Don’t forget that…you must participate fully!” he gasped, his body desperate to ram its way inside of her. She felt tears sting the backs of her eyelids, realizing that by denying him what he wanted in sex, she would break the deal she had made. She took a deep breath, and as the tingle of orgasm filtered up her thighs, she cried out, “Vallen!!!”

  His name actually fell easily from her lips, as if she had used it countless times before. An agonized groan hissed between his lips, and his hands tightened around her hips almost to the point of pain. Her face was tight, her mouth open in a silent scream as small noises escaped in unison with the twitching in her fingers and the convulsions between her thighs.

  To feel the pleasure coursing through her body reflected within his own, but to be unable to allow himself a release, was the greatest pleasure and worst pain he had yet experienced. To add kindling to the flame, the sound of his name being spoken by her sweet voice in the midst of climax only fueled his incredible desire to flood the gates of her body with everything he had within him to give.

  He had made a deal though…

  So in the two or three seconds it took to pull out of her clenching warmth and find his release in the colder river water, he nearly lost his control. Shumei cert
ainly noticed the absence of her lover’s hot length and almost forgot why he would do such a thing. She couldn’t lie to herself and say that she wasn’t just a little disappointed. After all, if he had forgotten, she would have won and he would never have hold of her again, but in a dark, secret place in her heart, she was also disappointed because she had liked the feel of that scorching liquid splashing inside of her.

  She managed to open her eyes and watched as the white mist, now gray in the daylight, flowed from her to him. She couldn’t help another moan as the full effect of his reflected orgasm hit her, resulting in a riot of renewed pulsations in the deepest muscles of her womanhood. The grayish mist spilled out of her in waves to match the lilt of her moaning voice, a sight that fascinated her.

  It was then that she noticed how tightly he held her against him. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, her torso and pelvis snug against his body. The side of his face rested against her neck, and she could feel puffs of warm air hitting her shoulder as he panted.

  “And so it is fulfilled,” he grumbled, his voice a bit rough. She swallowed, taking a deeper breath and letting it out. She let her arms slip off his shoulders and sat nearly limp in his arms, waiting for him to let her go. When he raised his head to look at her, she schooled her face to look as blank as possible. She knew that she may not have pulled it off with flushed cheeks and wet hair, but he seemed to understand her silent hint.

  He wasn’t rough, but neither was he gentle as he pushed her away from him. He seemed to be angry, but she didn’t care. He had the energy he supposedly needed, so he had no reason to come near her again for seven days. She almost felt exultant now that he was virtually cut off for a week. She could have even rubbed it in, if she had wanted. He couldn’t hit her for any insults she threw at him. He almost deserved a few snide comments, such as a cut against his skills as a lover, though she knew it would be a lie coming from her.

  It was very tempting…