Phantom Warriors Volume 1 (Novel length) Page 6

  “Ready?” she asked, a cheerful smile planted on her lips as she stepped outside onto the porch. She swept her purse up onto her shoulder and walked toward the garage door.

  “More than you know,” he muttered to himself.

  They drove in silence north on the 405 freeway to the 101, then made a left at the Topanga Canyon exit, heading into the hills. Bacchus watched as the houses thinned, leaving woods and hillsides behind. Several minutes later, they reached the kennel. Carrie pulled into the gravel lot and parked.

  Dust swirled around them before clearing. Dogs barked in the background. Several other vehicles dotted the area. Part of Bacchus had hoped they’d be alone, but he knew that was a bad idea, since his control hung by a single strand of Zaronian yarn.

  He followed her along a dirt path leading to rows of buildings, which housed the kennels. The sound grew as they approached the pens. He saw people in a nearby field handling different breeds of dogs. The animals obeyed their hand-signaled orders…most of the time.

  Bacchus smiled, enjoying the change of scenery and watching the light-hearted play between the animals. Leaves rustled in the trees surrounding the compound. Sun dappled the ground. The earth smelled richer, more pungent, fertile even. Or maybe it was his newly attuned mating senses kicking in. He turned to Carrie.

  “Where are the dogs you handle?”

  “The bitch is in the breeding pen.”

  “Which building is that?”

  She nodded in the direction of a red building located toward the back of the property. It had a sloped roof and massive sliding doors, which flanked its sturdy sides. A smaller door stood at the far end for easy access. “We keep the bitches that are in heat back there. It doesn’t stop the males from smelling them, but it does prevent any unwanted pregnancies. Can’t have Fido knocking up a twenty thousand dollar dog.”

  “I suppose not,” he said, slightly confused by her statement. “After you.” Bacchus flipped his wrist, rotating his hand in a common Earth gesture.

  Carrie started down the path in front of him. Bacchus’ gaze strayed repeatedly to her perfect ass cupped beautifully by a pair of denim jeans. His hunger began to rise. This wasn’t good.

  Bacchus didn’t know how long he’d be able to hold off touching her. He wanted Carrie to come to him or at least welcome him into her bed, into her body. How did one get a human to do that? So used to seizing what he wanted or paying for it, Bacchus didn’t know.

  They reached the shed that housed a smaller chain-link kennel. The scent of feminine heat struck the second she threw open the door, overwhelming his senses. Several dogs paced within their individual pens, each releasing powerful pheromones. They may be a different species, but their need permeated the air, tickling his nostrils, stroking his inner beast.

  His gaze darted from dog to dog, their whimpering sounds tearing at his control. His skin began to burn as the urge to fuck Carrie stretched his muscles taut.

  Carrie walked over to one of the pens and hooked a leash on a large tan female. She led the dog to a nearby pen located away from the prying eyes of the other animals in the room. She allowed the dog to slip into the small twelve by twelve wooden-fenced area, and then turned to Bacchus.

  “I’ll be right back. I have to go get the stud.” She turned before he could answer and left the building.

  Bacchus stared at the bitch, her need rolling off her in waves. “I feel your pain,” he whispered low and soothing to the dog. “At least your discomfort is about to ease, while mine continues to grow.”

  A deep bark sounded behind him, Bacchus turned as Carrie walked back into the building leading the largest dog he’d ever seen. He searched Ryan’s memories for dog breeds, but found no point of reference. The male struggled as he passed each pen, trying to get at the females.

  "Heal," Carrie said firmly and pulled him to her.

  “Don’t you think he’s a little large for her?” Bacchus asked pointing to the much smaller female, who now whimpered at the change in the air. The other females followed suit. The male on the leash pulled harder, determined to reach the whimpering bitches. If he had his way, he'd mount them all.

  “They’ll fit together just fine,” Carrie said, focusing on her job.

  “He’s enormous. What kind of dog is that?” Bacchus asked, watching the play of small muscles beneath her shirt as she tried to hold the animal steady.

  “It’s an Anatolian Shepherd.”

  “‘Tis more like a horse.” He blinked. “The beast is mammoth.”

  Carrie laughed. “Yes, he is, and quite determined at the moment.” She jerked him away from the other females, pointing him toward the pen where the bitch now danced anxiously.

  The male finally caught the right female’s scent and strained to break free, nearly dragging Carrie to the gated pen. He’d already started to drool by the time she’d slipped the leash from his collar. Freed, the male bolted toward the female. Carrie barely had time too step out of the pen.

  “He’s anxious,” she tittered, nervously running her hands along her pants.

  Bacchus kept his gaze locked on the pen. “Can you blame him, when her heat calls to him?”

  Carrie blushed. “I suppose not, when you put it that way.”

  “Do we leave them now?” Bacchus asked his voice growing husky. He prayed she said yes, since his control hung by a Zaronian spider’s web.

  “We can’t.” She shook her head. “I have to make sure they breed. And help them if they have trouble.”

  "Why on earth would they need your help? Creatures have been mating for centuries," he said, trying to ignore his suddenly hard cock.

  * * * * *

  "Sometimes the females don't want to mate. When that happens, I have to step in and help hold her, so the male can do his business." Carrie stepped to the chest-high wall and peered over the top. She watched the drooling male stick his nose in the female’s sex and begin to lick. Maybe it was her long dry spell or the present company, but she seemed to feel every strong lap of the dog’s long tongue as he moved, trying to position himself behind the female.

  The bitch growled and whipped around to snap at him, but he remained undeterred. The male continued to pursue her dripping entrance. His tongue’s strokes took on new urgency. The female snapped again, but turned her tail to the side to clear his way. He danced around to get into place, but she moved when he tried to mount her. Like any female worth her salt, she didn’t want to make it too easy on the male.

  Carrie didn’t hear or see Bacchus move, but she knew the second he stood behind her. Heat rolled off his body, along with that enticing scent. Her eyes remained locked on the stud as he became more and more aggressive, cornering the female, so he could continue to consume her, testing her moisture again and again. Drool and her essence covered his muzzle, nearly causing him to foam at the mouth.

  She blushed, when she realized that watching the animals do their mating dance with Bacchus here turned her on. There was something about an aggressive male dominating a female that made Carrie's insides melt. He didn’t ask permission once the offer was made, he simply took what was in front of him. She knew that kind of thinking belonged in the Dark Ages, but she couldn’t help how she felt.

  Carrie’s womb contracted as Bacchus slid a hand along her arm, leaving goose-flesh in his wake. The stud took that moment to clamp down on the bitch’s neck to hold her in place, while he mounted her. His enormous blood-red cock, the size of which rivaled that of some men Carrie knew, unsheathed and began to stab at the female’s sopping entrance, while he grasped her sides firmly with his front paws. The stud growled when the bitch tried to pull away. Carrie’s breathing deepened and her panties drenched as she watched him thrust his six-inch shaft forward. He missed the first couple of times, then slide home. The bitch whimpered as his cock stretched and filled her.

  Carrie barely noticed Bacchus’ lips graze her throat as the stud’s hips began to piston in and out of the bitch. He fucked her hard, his breath coming i
n heavy pants. The female yelped, scrambling to escape. The stud held her firmly in place, refusing to release her until his cock began to swell and knot, ensuring she couldn’t move until he’d pumped her full of his seed.

  Bacchus’ free hand stroked down Carrie’s side until it reached the front of her jeans. His finger pressed in, unerringly, finding her clit. She gasped as fire shot through her body.

  “You like watching them, don’t you?” he nibbled on her ear, his forked tongue teasing her lobe.

  “I-I…it’s my job,” she practically moaned the words. Carrie didn’t see Bacchus smile, but she felt it as he licked along the column of her throat to her nape. When he reached the sensitive spot at the base of her neck, he nipped her. It wasn’t a gentle rasp. The bite was meant to remind her that this particular male was just as dominating as the one in the pen who'd only moments ago been fucking the bitch.

  "I see the attraction," he purred.

  Carrie’s knees nearly buckled as Bacchus opened his mouth and locked onto her neck, holding her in place with his unusually sharp teeth just like the male had done. He breathed onto her skin and the lips of her sex seemed to swell in response. He swiped her with his tongue and the ache between her thighs became relentless.

  For a second, she thought she’d come on the spot.

  Bacchus suddenly released her nape, but continued stroking her with his hand. “I think it’s more than a job to you,” he murmured, increasing the pressure against her clit. Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head. “I think watching the dogs fuck turns you on, makes you burn for the forbidden.” He kissed her throat, his lips lingering over her pounding pulse. “I know it’s making me hot,” Bacchus added, shifting his hips until she felt his hard shaft nudge her ass.

  “This is crazy," she murmured. "We don’t even know each other.”

  “Don’t we?” he asked, pure seduction in his voice. “I feel as if I’ve known you for a lifetime.”

  Carrie swallowed the pleas that hovered on her lips. She wasn’t about to beg this man to take her. He was a stranger. The reasons to reject his advances floated through her lust-filled mind, yet none stayed long enough to break the spell. Her body wanted Bacchus, even though logic told her it was wrong. She burned and ached for the pulsing shaft, cradling her bottom. She was a grown woman, responsible for her own happiness, so why not have casual sex? That’s what this was, wasn’t it?

  Even as she considered the thought, Carrie realized nothing about this encounter felt casual. In fact, she got the impression it was anything but casual to Bacchus. She brushed the thought aside as her eyes locked onto the animals.

  Growling and whimpering in even measures, the dogs continued to pant, their long pink tongues lolling out of their mouths. The stud’s cock remained firmly knotted inside the female, locking them together. The bitch strained forward, trying to break their connection, but he moved with.

  It wasn’t hard for Carrie to imagine Bacchus kneeling behind her in a similar position, spearing his cock deep inside her. Sweat trickled between her breasts and she bit back a groan.

  * * * * *

  Bacchus’ tongue soothed the area he’d bitten, his saliva coating the tiny marks, numbing them. Carrie leaned back into his chest, her breathing coming in short gasps. He could see the outline of her hard nipples as they strained against the thin fabric of her T-shirt. Her perfect ass nuzzled his rock hard cock, while he continued to finger her clit.

  Color rose in her cheeks as she neared orgasm. He refused to relent, his finger circling her denim-covered flesh. Bacchus wished like hell their clothing would disappear. He knew she’d allow him to take her right here if he asked.

  And he was tempted.

  The dogs’ relentless panting would drown out their own mating cries. He glanced around the area. Concrete covered the ground. Bacchus could take her standing, bent slightly at the waist for extra deep penetration.

  His gaze fastened on the frenzied animals, who remained locked together, facing opposite directions as the male’s seed pumped endlessly into the female. Bacchus closed his eyes, trying to control his hunger. This was not the time or the place to do what needed to be done.

  He heard a slight pop and glanced at the pen. The stud slipped free, his blood-strewn cock still exposed and throbbing. “’Tis done,” he whispered in Carrie’s ear. “Now it’s our turn.”

  Carrie turned, her face holding a multitude of questions.

  “If you don’t want this, now is the time to say so.” Somehow, if she wished it, he would find the strength to walk away. That realization stunned him. No longer was this solely a mission for the Phantom people. Sometime over the last few hours it had become personal.

  She didn’t reply.

  “Good!” He flicked his finger against her clit and felt the tremors rush through her body as her orgasm slammed into her. She whimpered much like the bitch in the pen. Soon he’d have her crying out in earnest.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Five

  Bacchus didn’t want to drive all the way back to Carrie's home. He was worried that she’d change her mind before they got there. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He recalled the white-shuttered hotel near the beach not far from Santa Monica Pier where Brady had taken Cassandra. It wasn’t far from here.

  Carrie quickly kenneled the dogs and phoned the owners to let them know they could pick up their prized pets. Her face remained flushed and her fingers trembled as she locked the gates and made notes on nearby paperwork. Bacchus waited for her to finish. She dropped the pen into the holder and turned to him. He said nothing as he reached for her, tugging her hand and leading her toward the car.

  “Where are we going?”

  “A white-shuttered hotel on the beach,” he said, slipping behind the wheel after settling her in the car. With a few quick directions from Carrie, he pulled out of the lot.

  Her expression was dreamy, due in part to the orgasm, but also because of the intoxicating properties in his saliva and his pheromones. The biological properties couldn’t force a woman to join. They only enhanced her pleasure, made her more pliant. In the end, the choice was hers whether to act upon the sensations.

  “Are you happy here in the this place?” Bacchus asked.

  “You mean Los Angeles?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “It holds a lot of memories for me—not all good.”

  Bacchus tilted his head. “If you had a chance to leave, would you?”

  "It's funny, I've been giving that a lot of thought lately." Her face scrunched. “I suppose it would depend on where I was going and who I was going with,” she said, adding a small smile.

  They drove through the canyon then headed south on Pacific Coast Highway. It wasn’t long before Bacchus pulled under the familiar awning that held the entrance to the hotel.

  A valet jumped out from behind a stand and rushed toward their vehicle. He opened the door for Carrie first, then strolled around in front of the car to take the key. Bacchus handed it to him, not caring if he ever got it back, since he had every intention of staying here until he could convince Carrie that they belonged together. Brady would return in time to find his vehicle more or less in the condition that he’d left it. The car was safe enough at Carrie's home.

  Bacchus caught up with her in a couple of strides and clasped her elbow. A minute later, they’d rented a room using Carrie's ID and the cash he’d borrowed from the Atlanteans.

  He led her down the hall past Brady’s old space. Bacchus scanned the area, but was unable to sense him or Cassandra. He hesitated for a moment to make sure he was correct, then continued on. He walked to the door numbered seventeen, opened it and stepped aside. Carrie stopped in front of him, her hand resting upon his chest, her fingers rubbing carelessly over the loose button on his green shirt.

  “I’m not sure we should be here.” Her blue eyes widened and her gaze darted in and out of the room.

  Bacchus lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles one by one.
“We will not do anything you do not wish.” He lied, knowing he could make her want until her only option would be surrender.

  Her mouth parted as he kissed her fingertip. “It’s been a long time,” she said, her voice breathless.

  “We can take things as slow as you like,” he said, praying to the Goddess for strength to follow through with his promised words.

  Afternoon sunlight spilled through the window, bathing the carpet in a buttery glow. The clean room housed fresh linens and crisp white towels. Even with the balcony doors closed, he could still smell the ocean air.

  Carrie glanced into the room once more, before meeting his sunglass-covered gaze. She reached up a second later and removed the shades from his face. Bacchus stiffened, not sure how she’d react. She blinked as her eyes locked onto his face.

  “Your irises are red. Really red. They’re almost glowing. Are you having an allergic reaction of some kind? Was it the dogs?”

  “No,” he said, afraid to move. It wasn’t the dogs causing the sudden change. The mating frenzy was upon him. Bacchus’ jaw clenched as he battled for control over his thirst for blood. “I wear contact lenses,” he groaned.

  “Red’s an unusual choice.” She stared in wonder, not fear. “Not a look I’d have gone for, but you can pull it off.”

  Bacchus released the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. “Like I said earlier, I’m an unusual man.”

  She smiled, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “So you keep telling me.” A maid passed by them in the hallway. Carrie's gaze followed the woman until she was out of sight, then she turned back to Bacchus. “I guess it’s now or never.”

  “That is more correct than you know.” He could sense a ship nearing the planet. It was one of the many genetic defense systems built into his people. At first, he’d thought it was the Atlanteans, but now Bacchus knew that wasn’t the case. The signature was different in Atlantean transports. His people had lost patience, like he’d feared, and sent a crew to check on him. They must have left a day after his ship had departed in order to reach earth so soon.