Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(51)

I offered it a wicked grin. “Because I’ve got information that will change everything.”





Chapter Twenty-Two


Sam


She’d been sitting across from me, just staring, for almost twenty minutes now. Normally I could pull a stare down with the best of them, but something about the angel’s eyes creeped me the hell out. “Are we going to do this all day?” I asked. “Gaze into each other’s eyes? Because I’ll be honest with you…you’re not my type.”

“Ahh, yes,” she responded with a grimace. “Your type is a bit darker, isn’t it?”

I shrugged. “All girls love the bad boys.”

“And I wasn’t gazing into your eyes. I was gazing into your head.”

“My head?” Not exactly something I wanted to hear.

She stood and came closer, head cocked to the side. “Trying to see your fears. The things you hold dear. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve been rude and I apologize. I never introduced myself. My name is Anella.”

“Well, Anella, I’m Sam, and I’d like to go home.”

“You are brave for a human.” She laughed, and I tried not to take it personally. “Or foolish. It’s so hard to tell with your kind.”

I shrugged, doing my best not to cringe when the bindings on my hands pulled tighter. “What can I say? Probably a little bit of both.”

“Agree to be claimed,” she said, bending down so that we were eye to eye.

“Let me go and I’ll think about it?” It was worth a shot, at least.

Anella sighed. I had a feeling I was grating on her patience. She placed a hand on either side of my neck. I could feel her touch through my clothing. In fact, it was really warm. Hot.

Scorching.

“What—? Oh my God.” I gasped. The pain increased until I was nearly blinded by it. There was a smell in the air. Singed hair and what I guessed was my burning flesh. I tried to hold back, but it was impossible. A deafening scream spilled from my lips.



The music was loud. I felt it thumping in my bones. A steady, hypnotic rhythm that made me want to move my body. Or, maybe it was Jax, pressed close behind me and swaying his hips in a way that made my mind wander to dark, forbidden things.

We were in the middle of the dance floor at the Viking. Alone. A nagging voice whispered in my ear that this wasn’t right. We shouldn’t be here. Not like this. But as the beat intensified and the lights dimmed, I let it go. All that mattered was now. This electric, alive feeling.

“I love the way you move,” Jax whispered in my ear. The sound of his voice, oddly clear over the rumbling beat, was like a flamethrower to my skin. His tongue flicked out, skimming the edge of my earlobe just a second before he nipped it.

He draped his arms around my shoulders from behind, hands pressing flat against my chest. Slowly, still moving his hips to the music, he slid his hands downward, between my breasts. I gasped as he paused just beneath them, then jerked his hands up to cup each one. His warmth bled through the thin material of my shirt. I covered his hands with mine and pushed back, grinding myself into him.

He chuckled. Leaning forward, he said at my ear, “I know what you want.” With his thumb and pointer, he squeezed the right nipple and twisted—just a little—and I inhaled sharply. He laughed again and continued to slide his hands down until he came to the waist of my jeans. Playing with the button, he said, “Is this it?”

I bit my lip.

He slipped the button through the hole and slid the zipper down an inch, letting his thumb slip behind the fabric. Sliding it back and forth, frustratingly slow, he added, “Or, is this it?”

Every inch of me was ready to combust. My pulse was off the charts and my heart was about to break free of my chest.

He laughed again, a dark chime that made the hairs on the back of my neck and arms jump to attention. Pushing his finger a little further, he pressed it into me, stopping just shy of slipping inside. “I’ll do it,” Jax said. “I’ll make you scream. Right here. Right now. You just have to do one thing for me.”

God. Anything. I would do anything. It was taking all my self-control not to push his hand where I desperately wanted it to be.

He laughed. He had me wrapped around his little finger and he knew it. Then again, Jax had control over me. My body, my heart and soul. Everything that was me belonged to him. “Let me claim you.”

I froze. The music stopped, and my heart, so close to imploding, seemed to stutter and come to a frightening standstill.

“Come on, Sammy. All I’m asking is that you be mine. Let me claim you.” He pulled my hair back with his free hand and nibbled on the tip of my ear. “Agree and I’ll show you things you never dreamed of.”

I shook my head and closed my eyes tight. It’s what I wanted. A few hours ago, I’d practically begged him to do it to save my life. For some reason, though, now it seemed like a bad idea. Something had changed, and even though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, I knew deep in my gut that it was a bad idea. “No. I can’t—”

“Fine,” he snapped. I opened my eyes to find him across the room, on a couch that hadn’t been there before. He wasn’t alone.

The girl beneath him sighed loudly, turning her head. Our eyes met, and Sadie grinned at me from behind long, thick lashes. “Baby,” she cooed, keeping her eyes on mine. “I’ll let you claim me anytime.”