Stroke of Midnight: A Midnight Breed Novella (The Midnight Breed Series) Read online

  moved over her, parting her thighs

  until she was opened to him like an

  exotic flower.

  One he couldn’t wait to taste.

  He lowered his head between

  her legs, groaning in a mix of agony

  and ecstasy as his tongue met her

  nectar-sweet, hot, wet flesh. His

  fangs were already fully extended,

  but at the first swallow of

  Seraphina’s juices, the sharp points

  grew even larger.

  The urge to bite—to draw

  blood and make her his in the most

  powerful way he knew how—rose

  up on him without warning.

  No.

  He tamped the impulse down

  hard, blindsided by the force of it.

  Losing

  himself

  to

  carnal

  pleasure was one thing. Binding

  Seraphina to him for eternity was

  another. And it was a line he

  wouldn’t cross.

  He had no room in his life for

  a mate, and if she woke up in the

  morning with regrets, he sure as

  hell didn’t want one of them to be

  irrevocable.

  Tonight, he wanted to give her

  pleasure.

  Selfishly, he wanted to give

  her the kind of pleasure that would

  ensure that every other male who’d

  ever touched her was obliterated

  from her memory.

  Tonight, Seraphina was his—

  not

  because

  some

  ridiculous

  agreement said she should be, but

  because she wanted to be.

  Because she felt the same

  undeniable desire that he did.

  “Come for me,” he rasped

  against her tender flesh. “I want to

  hear you, Seraphina.”

  “Oh God,” she gasped in

  reply, arching up to meet his mouth

  as he kissed and sucked and teased

  with his lips and tongue. When she

  writhed and mewled in rising

  pleasure, he gave her more, sliding

  a finger through her juices and into

  the tight entrance of her body. She

  cried out as he added another,

  thrusting in tempo with his tongue’s

  deep strokes.

  He glanced up the length of her

  twisting body. “Open your eyes,

  beauty. I want to see you come for

  me.”

  She obeyed, lifting heavy lids,

  her gaze drunk with pleasure.

  “Jehan, please...”

  Her hands tangled and fisted in

  his hair as he coaxed her higher,

  desperate for her pleasure—for her

  release—before he would let

  himself inside.

  Ah, fuck. He’d never seen

  anything as erotic as Seraphina

  caught at the crest of orgasm. The

  sexy

  sounds

  she

  made.

  The

  unbridled response of her body. The

  tight, hot vise of her sheath,

  clamping down around his fingers

  as he flicked his tongue over her

  clit and drove her relentlessly

  toward a shattering release.

  She held his gaze in the dark,

  and when she crashed apart a

  moment later, it was with his name

  on her lips.

  Jehan

  couldn’t

  curb

  his

  satisfied grin.

  He rose over her, pressing her

  knees to her chest as he guided his

  cock between the slick folds of her

  sex. Her eyes were locked on his,

  her

  body

  still

  flushed

  and

  shuddering with the aftershocks of

  her release. He tested her tight

  entrance with a small thrust of his

  hips, groaning as her little muscular

  walls enveloped the head of his

  shaft.

  He grasped for control and

  found he had none.

  Not where this woman was

  concerned.

  And why that didn’t scare the

  hell out of him, he didn’t know.

  Right now, with Seraphina wet

  and ready for him, the question

  damn well didn’t matter.

  With a harsh curse, he flexed

  his pelvis and seated himself to the

  root.

  CHAPTER 11

  She gasped Jehan’s name as he

  took her in one deep, breath-

  stealing thrust.

  His wicked mouth and fingers

  had left her nerve endings vibrating

  and numb with sensation, her body

  slick and hot from release. But each

  rolling push of Jehan’s hips stoked

  her arousal to life once more. His

  cock stretched her, filled her so

  completely

  she

  could

  barely

  accommodate all of his length and

  girth. She closed her eyes against

  the staggering ecstasy that built as

  he moved inside her, his powerful

  strokes and relentless tempo driving

  her to the edge of her sanity.

  She’d never felt anything as

  intoxicating as the naked strength of

  Jehan’s magnificent body. That all

  of his passion—all of his immense

  control—was concentrated on her

  pleasure was a drug she could

  easily become addicted to. Maybe

  she already was because her hunger

  for him was only growing more

  consuming with every hard crash of

  his body against hers.

  Reaching up between them, he

  drew one of her legs down from

  where it lay bent against her chest

  and wrapped it around his waist as

  he shifted into an even more intense

  angle. The new position gave her

  access to his glyph-covered pecs

  and muscled abdomen, which she

  explored with questing fingers and

  scoring nails. She lifted her head

  and watched him pound into her,

  mesmerized by the violent, erotic

  beauty of their need.

  Jehan made an approving

  noise in the back of his throat. “Do

  you like the way we look, Sera?

  Your legs spread open so wide for

  me, my cock buried in your heat?”

  “Yes.” Oh, God. Had she

  thought she was already at the brink

  of combusting? His dark voice

  inflamed her even more. She tore

  her gaze away from their joining

  only to meet the crackling fire that

  blazed down at her from his

  transformed eyes. “Jehan...I didn’t

  know it could be like this. Watching

  you push inside me like you can’t

  get deep enough. I love seeing us

  together like this. I love the way we

  feel.”

  “Mm,” he responded, more

  growl than reply. “Then let me give

  you even more.”

  He set a new pace that

  destroyed her already slipping

  control. Another orgasm mounted

  and twisted inside her, sweeping

  her into a dizzying sp
iral of

  pleasure. She caught her lip

  between her teeth on a strangled

  moan as the climax swelled,

  nearing its breaking point.

  Jehan’s rhythm showed no

  mercy. He rode her harder, deeper,

  his hips pistoning furiously.

  She arched beneath him,

  unable to hold on any longer.

  Turning her head into her pillow,

  she let go of a scream as her release

  broke over her in wave after wave

  of bliss.

  Jehan pumped furiously as she

  came, then a rough curse ripped out

  of him. He tensed, his muscles

  hardening like granite beneath her

  fingertips as she clung to him. His

  amber-lit eyes blazed hot, locked

  on her.

  He hissed her name, torment

  and

  pleasure

  etched

  in

  his

  handsome, savage face. Then a roar

  boiled past his teeth and fangs. His

  hips thrust viciously, then he

  plunged deep on a curse as the

  sudden, scorching flow of his seed

  erupted inside her.

  She’d never felt so sated. So

  deliciously fucked.

  She caressed Jehan as his

  body relaxed and his orgasm ebbed.

  But his cock had lost little of its

  stiffness inside her. And as he

  murmured rumbling praises for the

  way she felt, his strong fingers

  petting her hair and cheeks and

  breasts, that lingering stiffness had

  returned to steel again.

  She

  couldn’t

  control

  her

  body’s response to him, nor could

  she curb her shaky sigh of pleasure

  as his shaft swelled to capacity and

  the walls of her sex clenched to

  hold him. She moved beneath him,

  creating a slick friction.

  “Holy fuck, Sera.” He closed

  his eyes for a moment, head tipped

  back on his shoulders as she invited

  him to take her again. When his

  gaze came back to hers, the fire that

  had been there before flared even

  hotter. “I should’ve walked away.

  Now, it’s too late. It’s too fucking

  late for both of us.”

  She nodded, knowing he was

  right. They should have resisted this

  heat that lived between them.

  They should have refused the

  handfast and all that came with it.

  They

  both

  should

  have

  realized that giving in to this desire

  would only spark a greater need.

  For Sera, what she felt for

  Jehan went beyond physical need or

  even a passing affection. Tonight,

  she’d seen a new side of him. Not

  the arrogant Breed male who strode

  through life as if he owned the

  world. Not the Order warrior who

  dealt in ruthless justice and death.

  Tonight, at the camp, she’d

  witnessed a different side of him.

  Jehan

  was

  a

  kind

  man,

  a

  compassionate

  man.

  She’d

  glimpsed the honor inside him, and

  now that she had seen those things,

  she would never be able to regard

  him in any lesser light.

  So, yes. It was much too late

  for her to walk away from anything

  that happened between them tonight.

  And if she should regret that

  fact, she never would.

  Not when Jehan was looking at

  her the way he was now, with fever

  in his eyes and desire riding the

  furious arcs and swirls of his

  multicolored dermaglyphs. And not

  when his amazing cock was making

  her yearn to be taken all over again.

  “On your knees this time,” he

  commanded her, his deep voice

  husky and raw.

  Her eyes widened in surprise,

  but she eagerly scrambled out from

  under him to obey. He loomed

  behind her, the heat of his presence

  scalding her backside. His fingers

  waded through their combined

  juices, wringing a desperate mewl

  from her throat as the wet sounds of

  his caresses joined the dry howl of

  the sandstorm still raging outside

  the tent.

  She felt the thick length of his

  cock between her swollen folds.

  Then he grasped her hips in his

  hands and slowly impaled her on

  him, inch by glorious inch.

  They set a less frantic pace

  now, somehow finding the will to

  savor the pleasure, making it last as

  long as they could hold out. After

  they had both climaxed again, they

  dropped into a lazy sprawl on her

  blanket-strewn pallet.

  For a long while, there were

  no words between them. They lay

  together in the dark, listening to the

  hiss of swirling sand as the storm

  continued to sweep through the

  camp.

  Sera was stretched alongside

  him, one arm resting on his chest.

  She traced the pattern of glyphs that

  spread over his smooth skin,

  memorizing

  the

  Breed

  skin

  markings that were unique to him

  alone. They were beautiful. And so

  was he.

  “I need to thank you for

  tonight, Jehan.”

  He grunted. “No need, trust

  me.” His strong arm tightened

  around her, bringing her closer

  against him. “I should be the one

  thanking you.”

  She rose up to look at his face.

  “No, I mean for what you did

  tonight. For helping me bring the

  supplies here. For going out into the

  storm to find Yasmin and make sure

  she got the care she needed for her

  injured leg.”

  He shrugged mildly. “Again,

  there’s no need for thanks. I did

  what anyone would do.”

  “Not anyone,” she said. “And I

  never would’ve expected it from

  you. I misjudged you when we met,

  and for that, I also owe you an

  apology.”

  He cupped her nape and

  brought her down to him for a

  tender kiss. “Maybe we both were

  too quick to judge. When you told

  me you only agreed to the handfast

  to collect the trust from your father,

  I assumed you were willing to take

  his bribe because you wanted the

  money for yourself. And not that it

  should matter why you wanted it,

  but it did. Tonight at the checkpoint,

  I know what you did. I realized

  what you’ve been doing all along—

  using your personal funds to buy

  clearance for camp supplies.”

  She frowned. “It’s only money.

  How can I keep it when those

  supplies mean life or death to the
/>   people who depend on me?”

  “Your work obviously means a

  lot to you.” There was a soberness

  in his eyes as he studied her in the

  darkened tent. “You told me that

  night we walked in the garden that

  your work is a calling.”

  “I did say that, yes.” It

  surprised her that he remembered

  the offhand remark.

  “What

  did

  you

  mean,

  Seraphina?”

  She glanced down at her hand

  where it rested on his chest. “When

  I was eighteen, I volunteered one

  winter at an orphanage about an

  hour away from our Darkhaven. My

  parents encouraged it, since I was

  orphaned as an infant too.”

  Jehan made an acknowledging

  sound. “A lot of Breedmates find

  their way into Breed households as

  abandoned and orphaned babies or

  young girls.”

  She nodded. She and her sister

  were both adopted by the Sanhajas

  in such a way. “I was lucky.

  Someone saw my birthmark and

  recognized that I was different.

  There was a place for me because

  of that. But there were no

  Breedmates in the orphanage I went

  to that year. Only human children.

  Many of them were refugees whose

  parents had been killed in wars or

  died of famine and disease.” She

  curled her fingers into a tight ball.

  “There was so much pain in that

  place. I felt it every time I held a

  crying baby or embraced one of

  those sweet, terrified kids.”

  “You felt it,” Jehan murmured,

  understanding

  fully

  now.

  He

  reached up to take her hand,

  bringing her knuckles to his lips.

  “You felt their emotional pain,

  because, like me, you’re an

  empath.”

  Every Breedmate, like every

  Breed male, was born with a unique

  extrasensory ability. Some were

  blessings, others were less of a gift.

  Where

  Jehan

  could

  register

  physical injuries, hers was the

  ability to feel emotional pain with a

  touch.

  “I thought I could handle it,”

  she said. “But everything I felt

  stayed with me. Until my time

  working at the orphanage that

  winter, I didn’t know how to help.

  Now I do what I can.”

  He’d gone quiet as she spoke,

  and Sera knew he understood.

  Given his own ability, Jehan

  probably understood her better than

  anyone else could.

  “You’re an incredible woman,

  Seraphina.” He shook his head, his

  thumb stroking idly over her

  jawline. “I think I recognized that

  the minute we met, but I was too

  busy looking for reasons to dislike

  you. I wanted to find hidden flaws,