Mercury Striking (The Scorpius Syndrome #1)(46)

She narrowed her gaze and tightened her lips.

He chuckled against her clit, sending vibrations he could see through her abdomen.

She held still, stubborn woman, but couldn’t help a low gasp. “Please, Jax.”

Such a pretty please. He dropped his head and gave them what they both needed, going at her with focus and no mercy. She tried to hold still, she truly did, and he could feel the cost to her. But after merely a minute, she gyrated against him, moving with the fast rhythm he’d set. She broke with a low moan, her abdomen undulating, the waves riding her hard.

He prolonged her orgasm until her body stiffened against him, and then he rose lazily up her body. She blinked, eyes wide and slightly confused, satiated for the moment.

Grabbing a condom, he sheathed himself, grabbed her hip, and stroked deep inside her.

Her hips rose from the bed to meet him, and her mouth opened on a gasp. She struggled against the leather belt, her thighs slamming against his.

He paused, balls deep, and kept her attention. Waiting. She blinked, tugged hard on the secured restraints, and then stopped. Her hands wrapped around the leather. Keeping his gaze, she slowly released each muscle, her body soft and pliant beneath him.

Hunger roared through him, sparking his nerves, clawing deep. So many words rushed to his mouth, he bit his tongue. Not one could he say. Feelings, the real kind, would get them both killed. So he started to move.

Hard and fast, giving no quarter, he pounded into her. She took what he gave, wrapping her legs around him, trust and a light he didn’t want to identify in her wary eyes. The harder he thrust, the higher her hips met his. So he pushed down, keeping control, pinning her where he wanted her. Red flushed across her face, and her nipples sharpened even more against his chest.

He took her mouth, overcoming her, stealing even her breath. He took everything she had, knowing full well what he was doing, forcing her higher and higher. Her nails bit into the leather belt, and internal quakes grabbed his cock in an unreal heat. He released her sweet lips, levered himself up, and battered her clit relentlessly with each thrust.

Her body stiffened, and she opened her mouth in a high scream as he hurtled her into oblivion. It crossed his mind to cover her mouth, to kiss her deep, but he let her cry echo against the apartment walls and beyond—in a primitive display of possession. Let them all hear. Too far gone to care, he dropped his head to the crook of her neck and shoved deep, his entire body shaking as he came.

They panted against each other in the aftermath. He reached up and released her wrists. She lowered her arms with a pained hiss, rolling her shoulders into the bed. He pulled out of her and removed the condom. Without a word, he levered himself up and pushed her onto her stomach.

“What?” she murmured.

He planted both hands on her shoulders and started to knead. She moaned, the sound full of pleasure, and buried her face in the pillow.

He could admit, just to himself, that he didn’t want her to see his face until he got himself under control. While he’d easily released the restraint around her, the ones trying to capture him, to bind him to her, were growing stronger.

He’d let down too many people in his life, and the Vanguard group deserved his full allegiance—no matter how sweet Lynne Harmony turned out to be.

Lynne sat at the wooden table in a sprawling middle room on the first floor, trying not to fidget in the afternoon light. After the wild bout of sex, she and Jax had slept for several hours. “What was this room before?” she asked Sami.

Sami glanced around. “A soup kitchen.”

A counter ran alongside one wall holding food, and tables had been scattered throughout like a mess hall. The tables consisted of everything from lawn furniture to wooden planks set over concrete blocks. A doorway led out front to the deserted parking lot, and a sliding glass door opened out back to an empty street. The showers were over to the left, she thought. She leaned forward and blew on some soup heated over a makeshift fireplace outside. “I need to get to work.”

Sami drank soup from a plastic Dora the Explorer cup. “Jax said to make sure you ate something and then take you to Tace’s infirmary.”

“How are Tace and Haylee doing?” Lynne asked.

Sami winced. “I heard both have slipped into comas, so we’ll see if either one of them wakes up.”

God, Lynne hated the Scorpius bacteria. She kept drinking her soup, trying to regain some strength. Jax had been gone when she’d awoken, leaving her oddly bereft. So they’d had sex. Wild, crazy, kind of intriguing sex. She could handle that. Yep. No emotions for her. That would be crazy. Plus, once she’d taken care of her agenda, she’d be free. Enough of this place, which was just another prison.

Two women, dressed in faded jeans and dark shirts, skirted their table and scurried across the room.

Lynne lifted her chin.

Sami rolled her eyes. “Ignore them. The blue heart is scary, and that’s life.”

“What. Are we becoming friends here?” Lynne downed her soup.

Sami shrugged. “Why not?”

Why not, indeed? “You didn’t like me on sight.”

“Geez, I apologized already.” Sami sat back in a torn wicker chair.

Heat climbed into Lynne’s face. “You’re right, and I’m sorry.”

Sami’s brown eyes sparkled. “But you don’t want a friend.”

Lynne swallowed. “I don’t, ah, want complications.”