Wild and Free by Kristen Ashley
“You need me to fuck you, baby?” he asked.
“Yes, Abel,” she whispered, then finished on a husk, “Need.”
He slid his fingers out, muttering, “Guide my dick home.”
She didn’t hesitate. She pulled him fully free of his jeans and straight to her cunt.
The instant his cockhead felt her wet, he plunged, her hand flying free, both going to his shoulders to hold on.
He tipped her ass on the basin so he had more of her, dipped his knees, and took her hard, back bowed, forehead to hers, their eyes locked, breaths cutting fast.
She slid her hands urgently up to the sides of his neck, slightly back, fingertips in his hair, and held tight.
“God, you fill me.”
He knew she meant in more ways than one.
“Hold on, pussycat,” he warned, and she held even tighter, jerking up her knees, taking more, loving it, showing him that by clutching hard with everything she had. Her thighs to his sides. Her hands to his neck. Her fingertips against his scalp. And her pussy around his cock, milking him deep.
“Fuck,” he groaned, hammering hard.
“Faster,” she begged on a breath.
He gave her faster.
“More,” she gasped.
He wrapped his arms around her so he was supporting her weight—she was only balancing on the edge of the sink—and drove deeper.
Her head dropped back, her hair falling down, whispering against his arms.
“Drink,” she breathed.
“Pussycat, no. Had you yesterday. Too soon,” he forced out, wanting her blood, wanting it surging into his mouth every time he drove his cock home, but knowing he couldn’t have it.
She lifted her head again, her eyes attempting focus but failing.
She was gone.
It was magnificent.
“Draw from me,” she ordered, but her voice was vague.
“Can’t, baby.”
Her pussy gripped his dick so tight it was a miracle he didn’t come instantly.
“Draw,” she begged on a whimper.
Fuck.
He was powerless not to. She wanted it. He wanted it. And her cunt was demanding it.
He slid a hand up her back, tangled it in her hair, tugged, getting her throat, and he went in. Licking her, preparing her, her pussy rippled against his cock. Then he bared his fangs and tore through.
She cried out, her fingers driving up and fisting in his hair, her wet drenching both of them as she came hard.
He drove harder, her blood flooding his mouth with each thrust into her slick tightness, fucking, fucking ecstasy.
Abel felt it moving over him. He swept her wounds with his tongue, buried his face in her neck, his cock in her cunt, and groaned rough against her skin when he shot deep inside her.
When he came down, she was stroking his hair with one hand, had the other one stroking his lower spine, and had wrapped her calves around his ass.
“Don’t do that again.”
Her hands stopped moving and her body stiffened.
He lifted his head and looked in her eyes. “Love your blood, Lilah. But don’t do that again.”
“Abel—”
“You got me wrapped around your finger and it goes without saying, my dick is buried inside you, your cunt takes control. Give you anything to take you there. But it’s not safe for me to draw from you too often.”
She gripped his neck again and assured, “I’m not woozy from yesterday or anything.”
He shook his head and pulled her closer in hopes of driving his point home. “Askin’ you this ’cause it’s important to me. I get you like it; you come the instant I tear through. You can want it. I’m fuckin’ beside myself that you do. You can have it. But you gotta help me take care of you.”
She held his gaze before she nodded.
He relaxed.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“Heat of the moment, bao bei,” he replied gently. “Just need to be aware in future moments.”
She grinned at him.
He grinned back, his eyes dropped to her mouth, then he put his lips there. He kissed her deep and wet and she kissed him back the same way.
In order of preference: cunt, blood, mouth—that’s the way he liked the taste of Delilah.
When he lifted his head, he said, “Now, we’re takin’ a shower.”
That didn’t get him a grin.
That got him a smile.
Fuck, his Delilah.
Better than a dream.
* * * * *
At two to nine, Abel prowled the dining room of Jian-Li’s restaurant.
Hooker and his boys were in the alley, prepared for the meeting (that being heavily armed with knives and guns) and chain-smoking.
Xun and Wei were in the kitchen, also heavily armed, with swords crossed on their backs.
Chen, also ready, was at the front door, keeping watch.
Delilah and Jian-Li were sitting at a round table in the middle of the room. Carafes of coffee, cups, jugs of cream, bowls of sugar, pastries Jian-Li had demanded Xun go out to get on platters, all of this was on the table, the women sipping coffee and gabbing like everything was A-OK.
He fought back the urge to snarl.
“Abel, eat a pastry,” Delilah called.
“Not hungry,” he replied, and he wasn’t. He’d had her blood, which meant he’d had a gourmet breakfast. He didn’t need a fucking pastry.
“Honey—” she started, but he turned his eyes to her and she snapped her mouth shut.
She then gave big eyes to Jian-Li, who replied by shaking her head and taking a sip of her tea.
Abel tensed.
Then he called to the back, “They’re here.”
“This is kinda exciting,” Delilah whispered.
“I agree,” Jian-Li replied.
Fuck.
“SUV’s pullin’ up,” Chen confirmed from the front.
Fuck.
He heard and smelled the men coming in from the back.
Abel moved to position himself between the door and the table where his women were sitting.
He saw Chen standing at the front door, eyes to him.
Abel nodded.
Chen nodded back and turned to the door. He saw his brother take in a deep breath, then he opened it.
The scent of vampire and wolf drifted through.
Abel successfully fought his fangs extending and stood braced.
They came in: Vampire one, his human bride, male wolf, his she-wolf queen, and last, vampires two and three.
All the males’ eyes were on him.
The females moved directly to the round table, Sonia greeting, “Hey! Good morning,” with Leah’s greeting being, “Oh thank God! Coffee and pastries.”
Even as this happened and he heard chairs scraping, dishes clinking, his mate and Jian-Li returning greetings, Abel didn’t take his eyes off the males.
They lined up in a semicircle ten feet from Abel.
He divided his attention between the first vampire and the wolf, not only because their threat was strongest, but because they were tense in a way that didn’t sit well with Abel for this supposed we’re-all-friendly meeting.
They didn’t move when, as planned, Chen entered the room at their backs and Hook and his men entered from the kitchen, surrounding the women and the vampires and wolf in a circle around the room. Then again, they saw Chen and he knew they smelled the others.
“Precautions,” one of the other vampires said, the one he knew to be Gregor. “I understand, Abel, but I do hope we can establish trust quickly as much needed to get done this morning prior to our meeting and I haven’t had my morning coffee.”
As if Gregor didn’t speak, the vampire he knew to be Lucien stated, “You feel it.”
Abel looked to the tall, bulky, black-haired vampire and saw Lucien’s black eyes sharp on him.
He didn’t know how, but he got what the guy was saying.
They weren’t edgy because of
They were edgy because they knew.
It was a dark day.
“I feel it,” he confirmed.
“Fuck,” the wolf called Callum growled.
Abel looked to him and saw the large, dark-haired man’s light blue eyes were turning tawny.
And there it was. Another part to his wolf. But where Abel had two-colored eyes, one going brown when he felt extreme depth of emotion, this wolf had the same colored eyes and they both went tawny.
“We’re fine,” Gregor put in, his gaze to Lucien and Callum. Then he turned to Abel. “As much as I wish to discuss other things, as a priority, you need to be aware that it’s come to our attention that our enemy has returned. They’re outside the city limits, likely in an effort at keeping you, as well as ourselves, unaware they’ve returned.”
This was not good.
“We have human scouts all over, however, so this intelligence has been reported to us. And I can assure you we have one who is currently watching them for signs of approach,” Gregor went on.
“They’re approaching,” Abel told him.
Gregor shook his head. “Our scout is checking in every ten minutes. They’re miles out.” He drew in breath and finished cautiously, “You should also know we have a legion of wolves fifty miles to the north and a regiment of vampires fifty miles to the south. They’re also aware that the enemy has returned, but their presence is still secret. They’re set to advance at our call, which we will give them at any sign the enemy is on the move.”
Abel was not a big fan of knowing Serpentine Bay was surrounded by supernaturals, but in that moment, he chose not to dwell.
He looked to Lucien and Callum. “You know this?”
“Yes,” Lucien answered.
Callum only nodded.
“That make you feel any better?’ Abel asked.
“No,” Lucien answered.
Callum again growled.
“It’s fine,” Gregor stated impatiently. “And we have much to discuss. We should—”
Abel cut him off by looking to Xun and saying, “Be alert.”
“Already am,” Xun replied.
“More alert, brother,” Abel said low.
Xun held his gaze steady and nodded.
Abel glanced around to all the men. “Threat not from within,” he told them.
He got more nods and there was shifting of feet as they moved from facing the inner circle to facing out.
“Really, this is not—” Gregor began again but then stopped, tensed, bent slightly, and whipped his head around, baring his teeth, his fangs extending.
But Abel already sensed it, as did Lucien, Callum, and the other vampire, Yuri, all of them having the same reaction except Callum, who didn’t have fangs to bare. Instead, he crouched in preparation to transform.
“Jesus, shit.” Abel heard Jabber mutter.
“Sonia, get the women under the table,” Callum growled. “Now!” he roared, crouched deeper and jumped, coming to wolf, snarling.
Abel heard chairs scraping, sensed Delilah and Jian-Li moving, smelled their fear, but he had to focus on fighting the transformation.
They were near and getting closer.
They had no time to run.
“Yuri, call Stephanie and Ryon,” Gregor ordered.
Yuri pulled out his phone.
“Perimeter around the women,” Lucien ordered. “No one breaches it.”
“Got it,” Hooker muttered, his back now to the center of the room, a gun in one hand, his knife in the other.
Xun, Chen, and Wei unsheathed their swords.
Jabber went to the table where the other weapons were hidden. He ducked beside it, Abel heard the steel scrape against the floor, then he emerged with Abel’s sword and tossed it to him, point up.
“Got another one of those?” Lucien asked.
“Or three?” Yuri added, phone to his ear.
“Jabber, outfit them,” Abel ordered.
Quickly, Jabber, going from table to table where the weapons were hidden, did as told.
Abel smelled it, felt it in his throat, and knew what was coming.
“We’re outnumbered,” he informed the room.
“Fuckin’ great,” Moose muttered.
“By a lot,” Lucien shared. “Close ranks. They’re almost here.”
The men moved in to close ranks.
Lucien’s tone had deteriorated a fuckload when he kept his eyes to a window but said to Gregor, “You’ll explain how this happened when my bride and the rest of The Three are safe.”
Callum was circling the outside of the group, growling low and snarling with his wolf lips curled high over his teeth, and Abel wondered briefly if he should turn wolf.
He had no time to wonder more.
They were there.
He lifted his sword as the doors flew off its hinges, front and back, and armed vampires and wolves burst through the windows, glass flying everywhere.
Abel knew in an instant, that instant being the next second when he was battling four-on-one, that he’d dreamed this. The location a blur because the action was too intense, but he’d dreamed it. And in the dream, he knew they were outnumbered and he knew they were all going to die.
He’d just never dreamed the end.
Now he knew how that dream would end.
But Delilah was there.
And she was breathing.
So he fought.
Viciously.
The room was a cyclone of activity. Grunts. Growls. Snarls. Gunshots. Steel clashing against steel. Wind wafting as bodies shot around the room. Flesh thumping against walls and floors. Blood spraying.
Within moments of the fight starting, he heard, sensed, and smelled Snake go down and knew the man was dead before he hit the floor.
The only other thing that could enter his mind was to fight until he died so they wouldn’t get Delilah.
So he did that. Even when his flesh was torn away by wolves’ teeth. Even when a blade sliced into his thigh, then his forearm and through his side, he didn’t falter. He didn’t tire. He took head after head because his mate’s life depended on it.
“No!” He heard Leah shriek, sensed Lucien dart toward the table, and Abel knew all was lost.
But Delilah was still safe.
So he kept fighting.
“Chen!” Delilah shouted. Abel tensed to pounce, knowing he was going to her instead of his brother, his heart squeezing so tight he thought it’d explode.
And then the vampire and wolf he was fending off dropped, both headless at the hands of two women he’d never seen in his fucking life who’d materialized out of goddamned nothing and were floating in the air.
They didn’t float long.
They, and dozens of others beside them, were darting around the room, unarmed but seriously fucking power-packed and in a motherfucking fury.
And they were on the good side.
What the fuck?
Abel didn’t give it more time to process. He kept fighting with the others, pushing the enemy back. With their reinforcements joining the battle, they reestablished the perimeter around the center table and forced them back.
“Withdraw!” a vampire shouted, and as one, the enemy turned and shot through the windows and doors, the floating women charging after them.
Abel stood, breathing heavily, bleeding heavily, staring out the windows and listening to Delilah’s rapid, but healthy, heartbeat.
Lucien didn’t stand. He moved in a blur and ended another blur, slamming Gregor’s body into the floor in front of Abel with his hand at the vampire’s throat, Lucien kneeling over him, face an inch from Gregor’s.
“Fucking explain how that fucking happened right…fucking…now,” he snarled.
“Lucien—” Gregor choked.
“They touched my bride,” Lucien bit out.
As Abel watched this, something cut through him, nearly bringing him to a knee. He twisted and saw Delilah on her knees on the floor bending over Snake, Hooker on Sn
“He’s not dead. He’s not dead. Tell me he’s not dead,” Delilah chanted, her hands moving over Snake’s prone body frantically, her words and the rasping emotion behind them cutting Abel to the quick.
Abel bolted to her side.
“Fuck me, fuck, fuck me,” Hook whispered, his fingers pressed tight around Snake’s neck like he could stop the flow. But the blood rush was done. Abel knew it at a glance, seeing as Snake had no throat left, the entirety of it torn out by wolf teeth.
“We need a doctor, Abel,” Jian-Li said softly beside him. “There are many injuries.”
He crouched beside Delilah but tipped his head back as he did, his eyes to Xun.
His brother had cuts and bites, but he was relieved to see they were only flesh wounds.
“Call our guy,” Abel ordered.
Xun nodded and moved quickly away.
Abel’s eyes shot swiftly through the group.
Jabber was in trouble. He was down on a knee, his arm angled over his chest, his fingers curled into his shoulder, blood dribbling from his mouth, his wound hidden by his arm but bleeding profusely. His eyes were to Snake. Poncho was squatting close, hands on his friend to keep him steady, but Jabber was wheezing.
Wound to the lung. Or worse.
Abel kept looking and saw with a slice through his gut that Chen was also bleeding. An injury to his middle side. His brother was standing only because Moose was holding him up.
“Talk to me,” he demanded to Chen.
“It doesn’t feel great, but it won’t kill me,” Chen replied.
That was all Abel needed. He looked to Moose, who was bleeding profusely from a cut on his upper arm and had teeth marks on his neck, but they weren’t deep.
“Put him down. Pressure to the wound,” Abel ordered. Moose moved instantly and Abel looked to Jian-Li. “First aid.”
She nodded and rushed away.
He looked to Wei. “Doc gets here, Jabber first, then Chen.”
Wei jerked up his chin, then rushed after his mother.
Finally, he did what he needed to do most.
He put his hands to his mate, who was now quietly sobbing.
“Come here, pussycat,” he murmured, trying to pull her away from Snake.
She tensed against his hands, then suddenly fought him, viciously, striking out at his arm, her other fist connecting with his jaw. Just as suddenly, before he could even move to contain her struggles, she collapsed into him, curling her hands in his tee and pushing in hard with all her strength.