Phantom Warriors Volume 1 (Novel length) Read online

  "Touch me," he growled.

  It was a request and a demand. One she could not ignore.

  Were they really going to do this? Even as she asked the question, Tabby's hands had already started to move. They fluttered down the front of his shirt until they reached his pants. He was so hard, she couldn't get the clasp to open, so she ran her hand over the outline of his shaft.

  Linx hissed and his gaze locked on hers. "Do it again."

  She did and felt him grow beneath her fingertips. Tabby bit her lip. "You're going to bust a seam if I don't get these off you."

  He swallowed hard and seemed to force himself to release her so that he could help. With a quick flick of his wrist, his pants sprang open and his cock surged forth. Moisture pooled between Tabby's thighs. He was so big, so thick. She had to look again just to be sure she hadn't imagined his size. She hadn't.

  One thick finger reached between her legs and ran down the length of her moist seam. Tabby's hips jerked as Linx skimmed her clit.

  "Like that, do you?" he asked.

  All Tabby could do was nod.

  He pulled her close and kissed her deep. At the same time, Linx plunged his finger into her drenched channel. Tabby gasped against his lips as he added a second, then a third.

  "You're so tight. I don't want to hurt you," he whispered, before raining kisses over her face and sucking on her earlobe.

  Coming from any other man, she'd have laughed, but Linx had something monstrous to brag about. He sucked harder. Tabby's thighs trembled and she nearly collapsed onto his lap. She was so close. If he kept working his fingers in and out of her like that, she'd explode. "Linx, please."

  She felt more than saw his smile. "I love it when you beg me."

  "Jerk," she muttered, then yelped as he nipped her ear.

  "You love it." Linx choked as she grasped him and began working her hands up and down his length. "Don't do that," he said.

  "It's only fair." She groaned as he plunged his fingers deep and rotated his hand until his knuckle dug into her clit.

  * * * * *

  "I can't wait much longer." Linx continued to play with her flooded channel. From this position, he couldn't taste her and he desperately wanted to.

  He thumbed the hidden bundle of nerves guaranteed to send Earth women into ecstasy. Tabby's thighs gave out, trapping his hand inside of her. He took advantage of the position, feasting on her breasts while he continued to tease her clit. Her body trembled and she released a keening cry that was pure music to his sensitive ears. She shuddered in his arms and her skin flushed as her release swept through her body.

  Linx carefully pulled his fingers out, then brought them to his mouth and licked each one. Her eyes flared as she watched him and she flushed even deeper.

  He'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life. And she was all his. Tabby just didn't know it yet. Linx continued to brush her clit until her trembling eased, then he lifted her and grasped his cock.

  She opened her mouth to say something, but he covered her lips with a searing kiss and dropped her onto his shaft. Tabby was so wet that she slid down the length of him. He could feel her body stretch to accommodate his size. So hot. So perfect. Mine. Linx arched his hips, sending his cock even deeper.

  Tabby gasped.

  He rocked again.

  She moaned. "Oh god, you feel incredible. I--I..."

  Linx thrust, finally seating himself completely inside of her tight channel. If he'd had doubts before that they’d be perfect together, they were gone now.

  "Ride me." His breath rushed from his chest as she rose up and dropped down on him.

  Tabby rolled her hips.

  Linx's jaw clenched as her body clamped down around him. "I want you."

  "You have me." She ground her sex into his.

  Linx shook his head. "You don't understand."

  "Too much talk." Tabby bit his bottom lip. “More action.”

  His eyes shot open and he growled. Biting was an important part of Phantom mating, but there was no way that Tabby could know that. “Why did you bite me?”

  “I don’t know. Seemed like the right thing to do.” She shrugged. “Didn’t you like it?”

  “Oh, I liked it alright. Too much.” Linx grabbed her hips. In less than a second, he flipped her over the arm of the chair and was powering into her from behind. He draped his hard body over hers and bit down on her shoulder.

  Tabby cried out. In shock? In pain? Linx didn’t know. Didn’t care. He was too far gone. Whatever the reason, it must’ve been fleeting, because she raised her butt higher to give him better access to her entrance.

  * * * * *

  He was so big, his body practically surrounded her. Tabby had no idea how she'd ended up beneath him, bent over the arm of the chair, but somehow he'd managed it. His huge shaft continued to tunnel into her, digging deeper, driving her to new heights.

  Taylor had always said there was sex, and there was ruin. As long as you stayed on the sex side of the fence, you'd be okay. Tabby knew beyond a doubt that she'd slipped from sex to ruin five minutes ago. No way would any guy be able to match Linx. She was officially ruined for life.

  He thrust hard, rocking her forward with his powerful hips. His grunts turned animalistic as he did his best to fuck her into oblivion. Linx licked and kissed her neck where he'd bit her. It had only hurt for a minute. The burn quickly turned to pleasure and seemed to tingle under his touch.

  Tabby felt her body begin to tighten. She'd already climaxed once. She recognized the building throb between her thighs, though she couldn’t believe it was possible.

  Linx must have sensed the tension too because he increased his speed. Tabby's world narrowed in the low lighting, then exploded in a wash of white as her second orgasm struck. She bucked beneath him.

  Tabby moaned.

  Linx clamped his hands onto her hips. His nails bit into her skin as he slammed forward, taking her breath away. He did it twice more, then stilled, buried to the hilt inside of her. His bellow sounded more like a roar as his hips jerked and warmth flooded her.

  Tabby's body shuddered as a third release took her. This one smaller, but no less powerful. Not that she was complaining, but it was odd. She'd never been this responsive. Ever.

  Linx's big body melted over hers and his warm spicy scent filled her nostrils. He took a deep breath and his chest rumbled in what could only be described as a loud purr.

  "Mine." He gently kissed the side of her neck.

  Tabby's heart jumped. It was one thing for someone to cry out in the heat of passion. It was quite another for them to say endearments after the fact. What had she gotten herself into? She, Tabby Shelley, had just had unprotected sex with a stranger. She'd obviously lost her mind. Or maybe it was the stress of dealing with Sergei and Taylor? Whatever the reason, she needed some serious questions answered, but they'd have to wait until they got out of here. "We'd better hurry. We’ve already been here too long."

  * * * * *

  Linx reluctantly slipped out of her. He didn't want to. Already he could feel his body twitching as it slowly came back to life. In another few minutes, he'd be ready to take her again.

  Tabby shimmied out from beneath him. She picked up her underwear. Frowned, then dropped it back onto the ground. She climbed onto the stage to get her clothes and dressed quickly. Linx noticed she didn't look at him.

  Again, not the response he was used to getting from most women after he’d made love to them. But Tabby wasn't like most women. She was stubborn, obstinate…and adorable. The kind of woman that would make a good mate.

  The word didn't bring panic like it used to. Odd, that. He eyed Tabby closely. Was she? Could she be? There’d be plenty of time to find out the answer once they finished their mission.

  He hadn't removed his clothing, so it took but a moment for him to once again be fully dressed. Tabby still wouldn't meet his gaze as she switched on the flashlight and made her way across the club.

  "His office is back her
e somewhere." She didn’t check to see if he'd followed.

  Linx didn't care for the change in her demeanor. He could sense her pulling away. And that was something he could not allow. Linx had no intention of letting Tabby go. Not until he knew for sure. The sooner she understood that, the better.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Six

  Sergei’s office turned out to be nothing like the gaudy club. It was neat, organized, and empty of anything incriminating. Tabby had searched the place twice, even going so far as to knock on all the walls and the floor to see if there were any hidden compartments. Other than a Glock and a shotgun, which weren’t illegal, there was nothing that could be used against him.

  “We have to go,” Linx said.

  “I know. Just let me look through the filing cabinet one more time,” Tabby said.

  Linx stopped her before she could open the drawer. “You’ve already searched it twice. There is nothing here.”

  Angry tears filled her eyes. “There has to be. I know he’s dirty. I know it.”

  Linx’s expression softened and he caressed her face. “You’re right, but he is smart enough not to get caught so easily. We’ll have to think of something else.”

  “Like what?” Tabby slumped down into Sergei’s chair. “I thought for sure that he was hiding something here.”

  “We could always kidnap your sister.” He grinned at her.

  “Then what?” A lone tear slipped down her cheek before Tabby could scrub it away. “There will be nowhere on Earth that we could hide.”

  Linx gave her a strange look that Tabby couldn’t begin to decipher. “I may be able to help in that regard.”

  “Oh yeah, you have a Bond villain hideout that we can use?” she asked.

  “No, but I have something far better. I know of a place where Sergei would never look, could never find,” he said.

  Tabby wished that magical location truly existed, but she was a realist. “Sergei and his network have eyes everywhere. It’s the nature of their business.”

  Linx stared at her. “Not everywhere,” he said, but didn’t expand upon his answer.

  They put everything back in place, until it looked as if they’d never been here. “Let’s get out of here.” Tabby glared at the empty office. For the first time, she was worried that there was no way to defeat him.

  * * * * *

  "Boss, you'd better come see this," Boris said.

  Sergei Belovich rose from his booth and followed his bodyguard to the back of the club. "What is it?"

  Boris pointed at the back doorknob. "Viktor brought this to my attention after his daily walk around."

  Sergei leaned over and looked at the knob. There was no mistaking the scratches on the door or what they meant. "Has anything been taken?"

  "Doesn't look like it," Boris said. "I'm about to check the video now."

  Sergei glanced at him and back at the door. Those marks showed the signs of an amateur, but he'd been in this business too long to take anything for granted. It’s why he’d recently installed the recording system. "Let me know what you find."

  "Da, boss," Boris said.

  Sergei strolled back to his booth and ordered another drink. The music in the club changed and Taylor came strutting out on stage. He sat back and sipped his whiskey as she took to the pole like she was born for it. Her lean hips swayed as she performed a bump and grind just for him. Sergei felt his shaft begin to harden. If the club wasn't busy, he'd take her right here in the booth, when she finished her dance. Taylor would let him. It was one of the things he liked about her.

  Boris came tearing out of the back office, his eyes wide and sweat pouring off his face. He wheezed, then took a gasping breath.

  Sergei sat up straighter. "What's the matter?"

  "The tape." He heaved another breath. "You're never going to believe what's on the tape."

  Sergei surged to his feet, Taylor already forgotten. He followed Boris into the back office and sat, rolling his chair over to the video screen.

  "Watch this." Boris hit play. “You won’t believe it. I still don’t trust my eyes.”

  A man appeared on the screen, who seemed to blend with the shadows. He stood in the darkness next to someone else, then he dropped down off the stage and took a seat. A woman came forward a minute later and touched the pole. "Is that..?"

  "Just keep watching," Boris said.

  The woman started to sway seductively, doing a striptease to rival the pros. But that wasn't what surprised Sergei the most. No, it was what the woman did next that had his eyebrows disappearing beneath his hairline.

  "She's fucking him," Boris said.

  "I can see that!" Ms. Prim, neat, and proper was really a hellcat underneath. Sergei should've known. It was always the righteous ones who had something to hide. "Can you get the image cleaned up? I want a clear shot of her face."

  "Da, boss."

  "Horohsho!” Good. Sergei sat back and grinned as the woman rode the man. “I want the cleaned up copy of the video back here by three. Send the boys to pick up Tabitha Shelley. She has some explaining to do."

  Boris left.

  Sergei continued to watch the video. He was just about to turn it off, when the man looked up at the camera. His eyes glowed red like twin coals stoked in a fire. Cold washed over Sergei. It had to be a trick of the low lighting or the recording equipment. Human eyes didn't glow like that. Only predators and evil glowed like that. He thought about Boris's earlier rants about the man being inhuman. He'd dismissed it as superstition, but something had spooked his bodyguard.

  As Sergei stared at the screen, he finally understood why.

  * * * * *

  Tabby finished up her shift at the library. Fortunately, it had been a busy day thanks to a rush of students in to study for their midterms. She'd been grateful for the chaos. It kept her mind off what had occurred last night. Between breaking into the club and becoming an exhibitionist, she'd sunk to a new low.

  She still couldn't believe that she'd stripped for a total stranger and then had sex with said stranger. At the time, it had felt so natural, like Linx wasn’t a stranger at all, but in the cold light of day, the situation seemed like something else entirely.

  Tabby wasn't a reckless person. She didn't do reckless things. She knew she was damn lucky that Linx was disease free. He’d been affronted when she’d asked…until he saw how much the answer meant to her. Maybe digging Taylor out of so many binds had finally caused her to snap. That might explain some of her behavior last night, but not all.

  The sun blinded her as she walked to her car. She'd left Linx sleeping in his hotel room this morning and went to work. He’d insisted that she stay last night and she’d obliged, not wanting to go home to her broken front door.

  Tabby knew she was a coward for sneaking out, but she just couldn't bring herself to face him. She was too embarrassed. She was still trying to come to grips with how she felt about Linx and this new unexpected side of herself, when Tabby ran into Alexei Vazov and Viktor Galdin. This time there was no getting away.

  * * * * *

  Linx awoke to a cold bed. Tabby was gone. He'd known it before he opened his eyes. Her sweet scent was already fading, which meant she'd been gone for a while. He rolled over and groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes to ward off the sunlight.

  Last night had been...unexpected. He hadn't really been looking for anything other than a distraction. Tabby had certainly provided that and more. Even now he wanted her—and not just for sex. Though he wanted that, too. His little Tabby cat had somehow sunk her claws into his skin and there was no getting her out.

  His lips twitched at the irony of finding a woman who didn’t really want anything to do with him. Linx closed his eyes. If he concentrated, he could still see Tabby prancing across the stage and swinging around the pole. When she'd crawled toward him on her knees, it had been his undoing. It had taken every fiber of his being to not lunge for her.

  She'd surprised him again, when she'd straddled
his thighs and demanded his cock. When a woman does that, a sane man doesn’t say no. Linx was Phantom enough to give her what she wanted. He just hadn't expected to get caught in the process.

  Linx was honest enough with himself to know that he hadn't really tried to get away. He smiled and reached for her pillow. He pulled it to his face and inhaled. Her scent was still there, lingering like a pleasant dream.

  He wondered what she was doing. Where had she gone? Was she thinking about him, too?

  His stomach growled. Linx was hungry. Once he devoured Tabby again, they could decide where to go eat.

  * * * * *

  Alexei and Viktor drove Tabby to the club and parked around back. Alexei pulled out a cellphone and made a quick call. A minute later the back door opened. Boris gave her an odd look, then stepped aside so they could enter.

  They escorted her to the same office she and Linx had searched. Tabby's stomach dropped and it became difficult to breathe, when she saw Sergei sitting behind his desk grinning like a boa in a mouse nest.

  "Tabitha, Tabitha, Tabitha, you are a woman filled with surprises," Sergei said.

  Someone whimpered. Tabby turned to see her sister, Taylor sitting in the corner. Her makeup was running down her face and there were signs of a bruise starting to form on her cheek. She rushed forward, only to be stopped short by Viktor.

  Tabby straightened and faced Sergei. "What did you do to her?"

  He didn't answer. Instead, he kept his attention on a video screen. "You know, when I came into work today my men told me that someone had tried to break into the club. I didn't think much of it, until I saw the video."

  Tabby felt the blood drain from her face. "What video?"

  He hit play. Tabby saw herself walk out onto the stage and within minutes begin to dance. Linx sat in the front row of seats, watching.

  Sergei glanced her way, before his gaze slid back to the screen. "I had no idea that you were so talented. I suppose it runs in the family, right?"