Out of Shadows Read online

  “I know,” he muttered as he nuzzled her breast. His fingers found the back clasp and unhooked her bra. He lowered the straps slowly down her arms, revealing her naked flesh. “Absolutely perfect.”

  Her breasts swelled under his regard. She clenched her thighs together to ease the growing ache in her sex. Her panties were damp. The folds of her pussy slick and plump.

  Hadeon went down on one knee and pressed his face against her stomach. She could feel the roughness of his cheek as he rubbed it over her skin. Reaching down, he lifted one of her feet and slipped off her sneaker. Then the other. He didn’t stand, but 67

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  went to work on her jeans and panties. She helped him, shoving the material over her thighs and finally off.

  The air was warm as it drifted over her naked body, heightening her already aroused senses. Hadeon stood and never took his eyes off her as he divested himself of his clothing. Then they were both naked.

  His cock was at full attention, the head flushed red and slick with evidence of his growing need. She reached out and ran a single finger over his erection. The skin was so soft, but he was incredibly hard.

  Both of them were breathing heavily. The horse tattoo on Hadeon’s chest rippled and shifted with each breath he drew. His light hair fell over his shoulders and his jaw was clenched. He looked rough and fierce and very aroused. The heater in the room cut in with a whoosh, sending a blast of warm air over them. Dovina shivered and licked her lips as she stroked up and down his shaft. Hadeon caught her hand in his and raised it to his mouth. She gasped when he sucked her index finger between his lips, laving at it with his tongue and nipping at it with his teeth. Shivers raced down her spine and goose bumps broke out all over. She whispered his name, wanting more.

  He slowly pulled her finger from her mouth and led her into the bathroom. His shoulder muscles bunched and flowed as he turned on the water and adjusted the temperature before flipping the switch to turn on the shower. Her chest was heaving with each breath she took, her breasts swaying as he clasped her hips in his hands and lifted her into the tub. He didn’t bother to pull the curtain as he set her down in front of him. The spray hit his back and cascaded down around them.

  The intensity in his eyes was almost too much. She started to glance away, but he caught her chin in his hand and turned it toward him. “You are mine.”

  Such a proclamation from a man would normally have ignited her temper. She belonged to no one but herself. Yet, when Hadeon said it, something deep within her rejoiced. Not waiting for a reply from her, he slid his hands down her neck and over her shoulders.

  “Your skin is so soft.” He leaned down and kissed her slick shoulder. She gripped his forearms for support. Laughing, he continued his downward journey. He cupped both breasts in his hands and thumbed her nipples. Her pussy spasmed in delight and she moaned softly.

  “Like that, do you?”

  “Very much.” Her voice was low and sultry. Two could play this game. Reaching down, she wrapped her fingers around his cock and pumped from base to tip. Hadeon sucked in a breath and tipped back his head, his damp hair flowing down his back. “Like that, do you?” she taunted.

  “Too much,” he gritted out, but he didn’t stop her. “Harder,” he demanded. 68

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  She tightened her grip around the sensitive cock head and dragged her thumb over the slit. His hips jerked toward her.

  Dovina leaned inward, brushing her lips over his pectoral muscles, then lower. She kissed and nipped at his tattoo. When she touched the animal’s neck, Hadeon jerked his head to one side, exposing his neck. When she lapped at the horse’s back, his spine arched. Man and beast were tied to each other. What one felt, so did the other. She worked her way downward as she went to her knees in front of him. His body blocked the bulk of the spray from the water. Steam billowed from the shower, but the door was open, keeping the room from filling up.

  Slowly, she circled the crown of his cock with her tongue. Hadeon tangled his fingers in her hair, pulling her closer. “Look at us.” He turned her head so she could see the mirror. It extended beyond the vanity, going floor to ceiling. It was lightly fogged, but she could still see the outline of their bodies.

  She was very glad she was wearing her contacts. Wet and naked, Hadeon was a sight to behold. Like something out of an erotic fantasy. His skin was slick and his muscles rippling whenever he moved.

  He looked huge as he towered above her. She knelt at his feet, yet she was the one with the power. She kept one eye on the image in the mirror as she parted her lips and sucked the head of his shaft into her mouth. As she watched, the dark tip disappeared past her lips. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen and it turned her on. Her nipples ached for his touch and her body swayed toward him, needing to be closer. Hadeon shoved his hips forward, sliding more of his shaft inward. She circled the ridge of his cock head with her tongue, teasing the sensitive area. His groan of pleasure turned to a growl when she pulled back. His cock came out of her mouth with a wet pop. His fingers tightened in her scalp. She sensed his growing need for her. She loved watching herself pleasure him and seeing him respond to her every touch, every stroke.

  With her free hand, she cupped his balls. She nuzzled them, gently pulling one of them into her mouth and sucking. Hadeon’s hand slapped against the wall for support as the water continued to rain down around them.

  Dovina released his balls and kissed her way from the base of his cock to the tip before taking him in again. This time, she gripped his shaft with her hand and pumped as she worked him with her mouth and tongue. He tasty earthy and spicy. All man. Hadeon.

  Hollowing her cheeks, she sucked hard as she raised and lowered her mouth over his thick erection. His hips were rocking now, forward and back, keeping time with her strokes.

  She felt the swelling in the base of his shaft. His legs stiffened and he bit back a curse, jerking his cock from her mouth.

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  “What…” She didn’t get time to finish her question. He yanked her into his arms and turned her until she was facing the far wall. She slapped her hands against the tile for balance.

  Hadeon shoved her legs apart. She felt the broad head of his cock against her slit. Then he was pushing inward. Her core was swollen and he stretched the sensitive muscles as he forged a path into her.

  Dovina was panting hard. He seemed to swell, growing larger with each passing second. The muscles of her sex tightened around him, squeezing. His arms encircled her, his hands cupping her breasts. “I love the way your cunt holds my cock. So hard. So tight. So fucking perfect.” He began to move. Short, hard thrusts that made her gasp with pleasure.

  “Watch us,” he commanded. He must have adjusted the water at some point because it was cooler now and most of the steam had abated. She could clearly see their reflection in the mirror. Her hair had long ago escaped the braid she’d put it in this morning and was in tangles around her head. Her eyes were wide, her lips swollen and parted. His hands were large and dark on her much paler skin as they held her breasts. His spine undulated, his buttocks flexing and clenching as he pumped into her. He surrounded her completely.

  As he slid his cock almost all the way out, she saw it. Slick and shiny with her essence coating it. He drove back in, hard and fast. Filling her to overflowing. It verged on painful, but stopped just shy of actually hurting. Her body accepted him, stretched to accommodate his width and length. After a few strokes, she began to move with him, urging him deeper, needing even more.

  The wet slap of their skin was an erotic sound that combined with the sight of them in the mirror to push her arousal almost to the breaking point. Her body ached for release. So many pent-up emotions—fear, lust, caring—

  threatened to explode. Her inner muscles clenched hard and she cried out. Hadeon slid one of his hands from her breasts to between her legs. He parted her slick folds and found her clit, rubbing his thumb over it.
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br />   Lights exploded in her head. She cried his name as her orgasm washed over her. He slammed into her several more times, lifting her feet from the tub. His arms supported her, held her in a bruising grip as he yelled. She felt the hot jets of his cum inside her and cried out again.

  Her arms crumpled and she leaned against the wall. The tiles were cool against her cheek. Her heart was racing and she took several deep breaths. She wanted to touch Hadeon. See him. Not just a reflection of him in the mirror. He pulled out slowly and she whimpered at the loss of his warmth at her back. He turned her and cradled her against his chest, letting the warm water coast over their bodies. She shivered and he swore. “You are getting chilled.”

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  He lifted her from the tub and turned off the taps. The quiet after the rush of the water seemed unnatural. Hadeon grabbed a wet facecloth from the shower and began to clean between her legs, washing away the evidence of their sexual encounter. It was stupid to feel awkward and shy after what they’d just done, but she could feel her cheeks heating.

  “I can do it.” She tried to pull the cloth away, but he resisted.

  “Let me.”

  She sighed and stopped fighting. In a battle of strength, there was no way she could win. When he was done, he cleaned himself and tossed the cloth aside. He grabbed one of the bath towels and gently dried her. It was torture as he rubbed her arms, torso and legs, leaving her breasts and between her legs damp.

  He dragged the towel over himself. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. The muscles in his arms flexed and rippled as he dried himself. His legs were thick with muscle and incredibly long. The hair around his groin was slightly darker than the hair on his head. He oozed power and confidence.

  As though he felt her eyes on him, he glanced at her and smiled. His cock, which had gone slightly flaccid, stirred to life again. As she watched, it thickened and elongated. Her breathing grew rapid and she was surprised steam didn’t radiate from her skin she was so hot.

  He dumped the towel on the floor, scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

  Still holding her, he managed to turn back the covers before setting her down on the mattress. He followed her, stretching out beside her.

  His gaze was deadly serious. “Now, we talk.”

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  Chapter Eight

  Hadeon was finding it difficult to gather his thoughts after the mind-blowing sex he’d just had in the shower with Dovina. Even though he just had her, he wanted her again. Just the memory of her slick skin, her small hands rubbing his body and her lush mouth sucking his cock was making his entire body throb.

  She was feeling shy again, tugging the covers tight to her chin. Intelligent, erotic, confident, shy—all these things described Dovina. She fascinated him with her many moods.

  He propped himself up on one arm and stared down at her. Her hair was damp as it spread out in curly locks over the white pillowcase. He fingered one red strand. It looked like pure molten fire. Her gray eyes were wary as she stared up at him.

  “What are you thinking?”

  She shrugged.

  He sighed, knowing he was going to have to take the lead. “I visited the Shadow Realm.”

  She nodded. “You told me earlier.”

  Unable to resist touching her, he caressed one satiny cheek and her stubborn chin with his finger. “The Shadow Lord is still trying to discover who or what the entity really is.”

  She shivered. He tucked the cover tighter around her, not liking the flash of fear in her eyes. “He didn’t know how the horseman got into my dreams?”

  “No.”

  Dovina started to slide out of bed. He banded his arm around her, stopping her from leaving. “Where are you going?”

  She rested her hand on his. “I need to check my email. I sent out some queries this morning.”

  Hadeon’s shoulders tensed. He didn’t like the idea of Dovina telling others about him, about what was happening to her.

  “I had to,” she continued. “This isn’t the first time one of you have visited earth. Maybe it’s the same with the horseman. I asked several experts in the field of occult studies and mythology about the evil shadowy figure and if there was an entity that could take any form it wanted.”

  He frowned when she lumped him in with the rest of the Shadow Ryders. He didn’t want to be “one of you”. He wanted to be special to her. 72

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  She chewed on her bottom lip. “Did I do something wrong? I phrased it as a general request for information for something I’m working on. None of them will think anything of it. I’ve used them as sources before in my research.”

  He leaned down and dropped a quick kiss on her abused bottom lip. “No. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Let me check my email.” When she pulled away this time, he let her go. It almost made him chuckle aloud when she reached the edge of the bed and froze. She wasn’t dressed and it seemed that Dovina was self-conscious about being naked around him. He didn’t mind at all. He loved her curvy figure. His dick jerked in agreement. She glanced over her shoulder at him. He stacked his hands behind his head and stared back, trying to look totally unconcerned. Still, a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

  Dovina grabbed the top blanket and dragged it around her body. Hadeon sighed in disappointment as she covered herself and padded to the table and opened her computer. Rolling out of bed, he walked over to join her.

  Her gaze went straight to his groin, which predictably caused his cock to thicken and grow. She shot a glance at his face. He shrugged, totally unconcerned by either his nudity or his erection.

  She cleared her throat as she turned back to her computer and began tapping keys.

  “I’ve had several replies. Let me see.” She scrolled down through the messages in her inbox and clicked on one. “Professor DeAngelo is an expert in the occult.” She read silently for a moment. “He knows of the shadow warriors from myth and legend, who appear and rescue some person or kill a bad guy before they disappear as quickly as they appeared.”

  Hadeon nodded. “That would be us.” It was almost impossible to keep every hint of the Shadow Ryders out of history. It would be worse now in the computer age. They would have to be much more cautious.

  “He says that he’s never heard of an evil entity that was both a shadow man and able to enter dreams. There are the shadow warriors and dream demons, but I seem to be searching for an entity that can move freely in both realms. He hypothesizes that it may be a hybrid of two creatures. Or perhaps a new one entirely.”

  “Hmmm,” Hadeon hummed under his breath as he digested that. He didn’t believe the horseman was a new entity, but a very old one. He had too much power, too much control to be anything but ancient.

  Dovina opened the rest of her emails, scanning them. They were all much the same. Speculation without any fact. She shut down her computer and sighed. “I’m sorry. I’d hoped to be able to get more information.”

  He cupped her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “You’re trying. That’s all any of us can do.” Hadeon cocked his head to one side as he sensed the calling from the shadows.

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  “I have to go to the Shadow Realm. There has been some word.”

  “Oh.” There was so much emotion in that small word. A combination of fear, longing and sadness.

  “Come with me.” It was against all the rules. Might not even be possible. But Hadeon didn’t care. He didn’t want to leave Dovina alone and unprotected, even if the horseman was injured and probably out of commission for the rest of the night. Logically, he could send her to an all-night diner. She’d be perfectly safe surrounded by light and people, but he didn’t want to trust her safety to anyone but himself.

  “Really?” He felt her shock and her pleasure.

  He
felt the pull of the shadows again. “Yes. But hurry and get dressed.”

  She dropped the blanket and lunged for her suitcase, her nudity forgotten in the face of this new adventure. Hadeon groaned as she bent over, giving him a perfect view of her rounded ass, and sorted through her clothing, grabbing several pieces before scurrying to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

  Swearing, he raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. His chest expanded and then contracted as he released it. He didn’t feel any calmer. He was still horny, his cock still throbbing.

  He stomped over to the other side of the room and grabbed his pants off the floor. It wasn’t easy to get them zipped up, but he managed. The fit was incredibly tight. Ignoring the discomfort, he yanked on his boots before strapping on his sword. He covered all of it with his leather coat and waited.

  Before he could call out a reminder to hurry, the bathroom door opened and Dovina stepped out, fully clothed in jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt. She’d pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail. Already tendrils were escaping. Hadeon reached into his jacket pocket and fingered the hairclip he’d taken from her the first night. It was a simple thing. Just a faux tortoiseshell buckle. But he couldn’t give it up. It was something of hers. Most likely all he’d have to remember her by when this was over. That, and his memories of their time together. She yanked on her sneakers and grabbed a fleece hoodie, shoving her arms into it.

  “I’m ready.”

  He held out his hand and she took it. “Whatever happens, don’t let go. It will be something like what happened in the dream, only more so. The darkness will be thick and unending, but I have you. I won’t let anything happen to you.” It was a vow, a promise, and one he planned on keeping.

  “I know.” She went up on her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek, just below his scar.

  He turned to the corner of the room, calling the shadows to him. He heard her indrawn breath as the room disappeared from view and the shadows thickened. “Don’t let go,” he cautioned. Not that it was really an option. Not with his hand manacled 74