Lights, Camera…Monsters Page 16

“Yesss,” with his eyes on her tits, Luke hissed out the word. “Since you licked my palm.”

  “Really? It can’t have been comfortable to sit here this whole time with your cock ready to rip your pants.”

  “It wasn’t.”

  “Take it out,” her words floated on the night air, as rich and soft as the jeweled light the candles cast. Luke lowered his hands to his fly and Lena lifted her peasant skirt, bunching it high on her thighs so she could watch him struggle to free his cock. With careful precision he lowered the zipper, his eyes darting between the movement of his hands and her own pale fingers spread across her naked thighs, holding her skirt up.

  When his cock was free, Lena took it in hand and played with the foreskin, coaxing him to that final peak of arousal. Luke’s hands went white around the arms of the chair and Lena wished she had some rope on hand to bind him with. That fantasy would have to wait.

  Not so lost in arousal that she didn’t realize their friends were only a glass door away, Lena scooted forward and dropped her skirts over him. She slid one hand into the dark cave she’d created and grasped his cock, sliding it through the naked folds of her sex, wetting the tip before positioning him at the entrance to her body.

  Luke moaned as she sank onto him, thighs straining to keep the movement torturously slow. Lena pressed one finger over his lips and nodded toward the house. Luke jerked his head in acknowledgement and then sucked her finger into his mouth.

  Her finger penetrated the warm, wet cavern of his mouth as his cock penetrated her in the hidden space between her legs. Once she was fully seated on him, Luke scooted his hips forward a bit, giving her more room to brace her legs.

  With her finger still in his mouth, Lena tipped her head back and rode him. As he’d claimed her with a kiss, she claimed him with sex. He was hers, and she was showing the world, letting the stars and moon bear witness to this carnal act.

  She let the rhythm grow naturally. This was basic, almost simple, sex, but between two people who’d reveled in pushing sexual boundaries, this touch carried a weight far different than anything that had come before it.

  His hands cupped her hips to help her as the rhythm increased, her finger sliding from his mouth so she could brace her hands on his shoulders.

  “Lena, Lena,” he whispered, “I love you.”

  On that she came, body tight around his, hips grinding down onto him as she threw her head back and bit her lip to stifle her cry of pleasure.

  Luke pressed his face to her chest, panting and shuddering as he too found release.

  She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him to her chest, resting her cheek atop his head.

  They stayed that way for long moments. Wrapped in one another, the heat generated by the sex steamed away into the cool night air.

  “You don’t have to love me back.”

  Lena released Luke and moved away a little, blinking in astonishment at his words.

  “I don’t want you to think I don’t know what it means. I do. I understand. Just because I’ve never loved someone before doesn’t mean this isn’t love.”

  His cheeks were flushed, but with passionate emotion, not embarrassment. His voice rumbled with the conviction of each word. This honorable, kind, gorgeous and brilliant man…monster, was offering her everything.

  “I understand, and I know this is love. I love you. But you don’t have to love me back. I want you to. I want it so bad I feel sick when I think about it, but I understand if you can’t.”

  His words poured out, expressing the painful vulnerability that Lena had always considered a deeply human experience. He’d just proved that the desire to love a beloved transcended humanity. Perhaps each being with a beating heart knew this pain.

  Cupping his face, Lena forced him to look at her. His jaw was clenched, shoulders tight as if expecting a blow. She smiled, loving him all the more for the courage of this moment. His expression faltered at her smile, the vulnerability seeping through the walls he’d tried to construct.

  “I love you,” she told him, grinning in joy as a smile broke across his face. “I love you. Being with you has erased years of self-doubt and worry. For the first time I feel like I can be myself, be Lena. I don’t have to always be sweet, or always be a hard-ass. You want only the truth from me, and that is terrifying and liberating in a way I can’t even explain. And you, my gorgeous lover, are kind, patient and gentle one moment, hard, dominant and dangerous the next, and that is…is…”

  Lena ran out of words, ran out of breath as he grinned at her, the expression making him a hundred times more handsome. Luke’s arms came around her, crushing her to his chest. Lena laughed and kissed him, pecking kisses over his face as Luke slid one arm under her hips and stood.

  She wrapped arms and legs around him, gasping and moaning as his now-soft cock slipped from her. Luke took a few steps into an open area, and spun around. Lena shrieked and giggled as her hair and skirt flew out behind her. Darkness and light whirled around them, immaterial when compared to the reality they found in one another’s arms. In that swirling vortex of black and cobalt the only thing she had, the only thing she needed, was the man who held her close.

  “I love you,” he told her.

  Lena trusted her weight to his arms and let go of his shoulders. “I love you, don’t let me fall,” and with that she flung her arms back and up, whirling and whirling under the night sky.

  Chapter Twenty

  “You want to go in?”

  “Not yet.”

  Luke lay on a deflated air mat beside the pool. Lena sat on the side, feet dangling in the water as she reclined against Luke’s belly. Her left hand was clasped with his, as his right hand toyed with her hair.

  They’d been out here for almost an hour, occasionally talking, but mostly just being. A gust of wind rippled the surface of the pool and Lena shivered. It was late, and her bare arms were cold. The water of the pool was actually warmer than the air.

  “You’re cold, are you sure you don’t want to go in?”

  “Yes, but my sweater and some wine would be nice.”

  Luke kissed the back of her hand and then helped her to sit up before rising and heading into the house. She watched him walk away, lust, an emotion that never seemed too far away with him, toyed with tender love, creating a thick ball of feeling in her chest.

  When he disappeared into the house Lena tipped her head back to look at the stars, her legs swirling through the warm water of the pool.

  She was in love. Finally she had the kind of love she’d dreamed about but never admitted to wanting. As scary as it was to imagine, Lena did not doubt that Luke would die for her, and she knew she would do the same for him.

  Lost in her pleasant musings, it took Lena a moment to register the oddity in the night sky. A shape, too distant to be defined, seemed to float between the stars. Here in the hills there was not as much light pollution, and the sky was true black in its upper reaches.

  For a moment she lost sight of it. Then a star winked out only to reappear.

  A trickle of unease skittered through Lena and she stilled, legs falling motionless in the water. Though she waited and watched, nothing happened. Chastising herself for being ridiculous, as surely whatever had attacked her before would not attempt anything with Luke, Henry and Michael in the living room, no more than ten yards away, Lena forced herself to relax.

  Just as she was about to lower her gaze from heaven to earth a massive shape blocked out the moon. Wings of cobalt blue, stretching at least twenty feet from tip to tip, blotted out the moon’s light. It was barely ten feet above her, having dropped from the highest reaches of the sky in a matter of moments.

  Lena went cold inside. Adrenaline flooded her, every inch of skin tingling with the need to run, run, run. She opened her mouth, the scream of terror escaping her only a moment before talon tipped fingers wrapped around her neck, dragging her into the water.

  “So, what happened?”

  “I told her I love her
.”

  “And?”

  “She loves me too.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah,” Luke looked up from the bottle of white wine he was trying to uncork and grinned at Henry. “She said she loved me too.”

  “That’s awesome.”

  Luke let go of the wine to accept a one-armed hug and back thumping from his friend.

  “So what happens now?”

  “I don’t really know. I’m already living with her, I guess we just…enjoy.”

  A faint noise caught Luke’s attention and his head snapped up. From Akta’s kitchen he could see the back wall of the living room. Everyone else seemed relaxed. There was a loud crash as Indiana Jones destroyed something, and Luke decided the noise must have been the movie. The crashing sounds faded into a splash.

  Luke’s hands stilled on the corkscrew.

  “Henry, did you just hear a splash?”

  He popped a cracker into his mouth and munched it down before answering. “Yeah.”

  “There isn’t a splash in this part of Indiana Jones, is there?”

  Henry, who’d watched the movie so many times he’d lost count, straightened away from the counter. “No, there isn’t.”

  “Something’s wrong,” Luke said with a sudden soul deep conviction. In human form he sacrificed some of his instinct, but not all. Dread slithered in his stomach like a ball of snakes. “Lena.”

  As the last syllable of her name faded Luke raced from the room, leaping over the legs of the movie viewers.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “Luke?”

  “Watch it! Where are you going?”

  Luke threw the door open and exploded onto the patio. Like metal shavings to a magnet his gaze was forced to the pool, where a blue-winged monster held something under the water.

  Luke let out a roar of rage, his sudden panic and bloodlust spurring his change in forms. His clothes ripped from his body as wings sprouted from his back, his legs reversed their bend and his muscles quadrupled in size. He leapt from the ground, two heavy beats of his wings propelling him to the pool.

  Grabbing his enemy by the neck and one wing he threw him out of the water, raking his talons through the thin membrane of the wing to disable his opponent.

  Lena floated face down in the water, her jewel-toned skirt floating around her legs like wings of a creature far more delicate than he would ever be. He scooped her out of the water. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to fix this.

  “Luke, Luke! Bring her here.”

  It was Jane who cried out, her words broken by tears. Michael stood at her back, gaze focused on where their enemy worked to recover from Luke’s toss.

  He lowered his lover onto the cement. Jane flipped her over onto her back and pressed her mouth to Lena’s. She sat up, braced the heels of her hands one atop the other and pressed them to Lena’s chest, pumping her heart.

  “Luke, behind you,” Michael shouted.

  Luke spun to see his enemy rising to his feet. Long strings of membrane hung in tattered strips from his wing. Luke launched himself from the pool. He would rend the creature limb from limb for killing his beloved.

  They met ten feet from the ground, the other monster’s broken wing struggling to lift him into the sky. Talons flashed in the moonlight as they battled, opening flesh to let black blood drip to the earth.

  His enemy reached gold talons towards Luke’s wing, but he spun away in time, using the motion to grab the other monster by the leg and fling him against a tree. His enemy rose, climbing onto a branch, which groaned with his weight, and used the height to launch himself at Luke. They fell twenty feet into the pool, sending up geysers of water.

  Luke went in first, his back striking the concrete floor. Using it to his advantage as pain zinged through his shoulders and wings, Luke pushed up, grabbing his enemy by the neck. Their heads broke the surface, each snarling, the golden talons opening long furrows in his arms and chest as Luke marched them to the edge of the pool.

  There, with ruthless precision, Luke started to slam the other monster’s head against the concrete rim. Cobalt wings fluttered and flashed, throwing water as his enemy struggled to free himself from the skull crushing blows.

  Luke would offer no mercy, for he was dead inside. He knew Lena was dead. When he’d lifted her there had been no movement in her—

  “Luke, Luke!”

  —neither breath nor heartbeat—

  “Luke, stop, you’re going to kill him.”

  —Lena?

  Releasing the other monster, who slipped, unconscious, into the depths of the pool, Luke turned. There, supported by her friend and protected by his, was his beloved. Her hair hung in wet ropes around her face, and she was shivering, but alive.

  “Lena?”

  She nodded, smiling even as she wept.

  Luke trudged through the water, trailing blood as he went. He stopped when he reached her, feasting on her with his eyes.

  “I want to touch you,” he growled, deep voice laced with the danger of battle.

  “Then touch me.”

  “I don’t want to scare you.”

  “I am not afraid.”

  Luke cupped her face with talon tipped fingers, broad palms dwarfing her skull. Jane drew away as Luke touched her, allowing them a moment of privacy.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered, the growl so pronounced the words were barely discernable, but she understood. Had there been no words, she would have understood.

  “It’s okay, I’m okay. I love you.”

  Luke closed his eyes and lowered his hands. Standing in the water he changed forms again, changing to human, the tattoo that held him in form blossoming across his shoulder. Though he’d been waist deep as a monster, he was now up to his shoulders.

  Planting his hands on the edge he propelled himself out. Jane was there, holding a stack of towels. Luke carefully wrapped three of them around Lena before taking one for himself.

  He lifted her and moved to a lounge chair, the closest thing. He sat, settling her in his lap. He needed to hold her, just…hold her, for a few moments.

  Lena used a corner of her towel to blot at the lacerations that covered his chest and arms. A few were deep, most would heal with a good night of sleep in his monster form, but Luke let her fuss, the pain of terrycloth over exposed skin minor when compared to the relief and pleasure of holding her.

  Henry and Michael, both still in human form, fished the other monster from the bottom of the pool. They strained to pull the massive body out of the water. As Luke examined the creature, rage surged once more. Lena was as slight and fragile as a bird when compared to that, it was unconscionable that the creature had attacked her.

  From now on, she wasn’t leaving his side.

  Henry, panting, looked up. “It’s Runako.”

  Luke cursed under his breath.

  “Who’s Runako?” Lena asked.

  “He’s one of our people who most strongly opposed our plan.”

  “Oh, I guess that explains why he tried to kill me.”

  Luke growled at the reminder, and Lena stroked his arm. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”

  “He’s waking up!” Henry and Michael both jumped back.

  Lena went rigid in Luke’s arms. “What do they mean, ‘waking up’? I thought he was dead.”

  “No, you stopped me from killing him.”

  “Killing is bad, so I’m glad you didn’t, but shouldn’t we, um, restrain him or something?” Lena’s voice rose, ending on a squeak as Runako flapped tattered wings, and pushed to his feet.

  Luke slid out from under Lena, settling her back on the chair.

  “Luke…”

  “Yes, my love?”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will be.”

  Wrapping the towel more securely around his waist, Luke moved towards Runako. Though he could have killed each of them with a single blow as they were in their weaker human forms, Runako did not attack Luke, Henr
y or Michael.

  “Runako, I claim dominance in a fair fight.” Luke let his words ring out, a hint of anger giving them a threatening edge. He used English, rather then the old language. They’d once been friends, and he knew Runako could speak English.

  There was a moment of silence before he said, “I admit defeat.” Runako’s voice was melodious and smooth, meant to lure rather than warn.

  “You’ve attempted to kill my woman, my mate. That is a death offense. Your position regarding humans is well known, but it is still against our laws to kill them.”

  “Kill? I did not try to kill the human.”

  Runako’s voice rang with shock and outrage. Luke paused, forcing his rage down in order to listen for the truth or lie in the other monster’s words.

  “You shot her with your darts.”

  “The smallest ones, meant only to scare her.”

  “And here you tried to drown her.”

  “What is drown? I wanted only to scare her.”

  Luke looked at Henry and Michael, and saw dawning comprehension on each of their faces. While they had studied and loved humanity, many, like Runako, had not.

  “Runako, I would have you know why I level the accusation of mate-murder on you. The poison of your darts is enough to kill a human.”

  Runako jerked, wings flashing in the moonlight. “Those darts are nuisances only, nothing more.”

  “And you held her under the water. Humans cannot survive more than sixty seconds under the water.”

  “Sixty seconds?” Runako’s eyes darted to Lena then back to Luke. “You lie, were they so easy to kill they would not be such a plague upon this earth.”

  “I speak the truth.”

  Runako looked from Luke to Henry and then Michael, each of whom confirmed with a nod. Runako’s head dropped between his shoulders.

  “You know my story, you know why I hate what you do. But know this, I did not wish death for that human, and would not have touched her had I known she was your mate.”

  Luke’s rage drained away. He believed Runako.

  “I acknowledge your words as true, but in partial payment for what you have done, you will change into your human form and join us.”