Hypnotic - 6. Chapter 6

"Nothing," I gasped in a faint voice, barely able to breathe.

"Liar," the Carthera snarled, as he tightened his hand. "I can smell his blood on you. Davis hasn't answered his phone and he wasn't at your apartment where he said you would be. I don't know what you were thinking coming back here but you'll live to regret it."

The claws dug in deeper. Tears leaked down my face and I whimpered. It felt like he was scraping the bone in my arms.

"Please stop." I didn't try to struggle, afraid that those punctures would tear and be even worse. Where was Dav? Why wasn't he stopping this? Why wasn't anyone else stopping the attack?

"I'll stop when you tell me what I want to know, traitorous human!"

He pulled me toward him and then slammed my head against the wall. I saw starbursts as a vicious pounding began in my skull. Oh damn, not again.

I groaned.

"Talk or I'll start stripping the skin from your flesh before I start on the muscle."

My mouth opened and shut. My vision started to fade as the pounding took over and the pains began to run together, consuming me.

An enraged hiss reached through the pain and I felt the Carthera's body ripped away from mine. Blood began to run down my arms as I slid down the wall to the floor. I sat there gasping and watched as Dav flat out mauled my attacker.

My ears were ringing and I was lightheaded but I could hear him hissing as he took down the other man. His face was turned sideways, facing me as he rode the muscular body to the floor. I could see his mouth wide open, his fangs extended and dripping. He lifted the other man’s face and neck closer to him, prepared to strike. That was when I saw my attacker’s face for the first time.

Holy fuck, it was Benny!

That final shock was more than I could handle. I groaned as I lost the battle to stay sitting up and slumped to the floor. I gave up and let go, ignoring the sounds of yelling as I slipped into the blackness.

***

When I first started to realize I could hear things around me, I tried sinking back into sleep. Sleep would help the headache. I groaned in protest when a hand smacked my face.

"Ellis?"

I didn’t answer. My head was pounding; why wouldn't they leave me alone?

The hand smacked at my cheeks again. I groaned again and batted at the person weakly before my arms fell limp to my sides.

"Thank god, Ellis. Now open your eyes babe, come on now," the voice coaxed me.

"No..." I said weakly, "need pills."

"Your pills aren't going to help you right now, Ellis. You don’t have a headache, you hit your head; I need you to open up your eyes now."

I scrunched my eyes up when a hand touched my face but I wasn't slapped again. I felt my hair being brushed from my face and someone dropped a kiss on my forehead. Hot lips seared the skin and I recognized the smell of the man leaning over me.

That smell made me open my eyes.

"Dav?"

I could see him leaning over me and I realized that my head was resting on a pillow in his lap.

"Hey babe."

I tried to turn my head and winced.

"Where am I?”

"On the couch in my apartment. Hold still babe, you knocked your head pretty bad."

I gasped as I remembered the impact and pain. "Someone attacked me!"

Dav hissed, "Benny."

The bouncer? I struggled to remember but it was mostly a blur as my head throbbed. It was like trying to think while my mind was wrapped in a scratchy ball of wool.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Benny is," Dav hesitated before he finished the sentence, "loyal. We've been tracking a group of Carthera that are working with humans to create problems for the clans. The problem is they have someone local hiding their activities from us. I was investigating some smugglers that were bringing in Jaguar artifacts that carried a plague that nearly wiped out the local clan. Some escaped and ever since then he's been a little... paranoid."

"Paranoid?" I lifted my arm to see white bandages around my biceps. "Holy fuck Dav!" I winced at the way my voice seemed to echo in my head. Yeah, less volume.

"He is sorry, very sorry," Dav said darkly.

That nasty hiss in Dav’s voice made its way through the throbbing in my head and the sleep that was trying to drag me back down.

My eyes shot to Dav's face. "What did you do to him?"

"He hurt you!"

"I know that!" I was the one slammed into the wall and told that I was going to be flayed alive, after all. I was pretty sure I remembered that part even considering how bad my head was throbbing. Everything after my head was bounced off the wall was a bit fuzzy though. "But he was trying to protect you. Even if he was totally wrong, he had your back." I reached Dav’s hand resting on my chest, lacing our fingers together. I pulled our hands up and kissed the back of his hand.

"You said you're a mercenary for Velaku. You do dangerous things all the time. Can you tell me honestly that Benny isn't a big part of that? Someone who has watched your back and gained your trust?"

Dav sighed. "He is."

"I'm pissed he attacked me too. But I think I can maybe understand it. This has happened so fast and we really don’t know much about each other, much less the other people in our lives. What if I was a spy or double agent or something? If you agree that, in his mind, he was protecting you by trying to kill me, then what the hell did you do?"

I had been sensing Dav's anger through the bond we shared but it suddenly flooded with fear over top the still pulsing rage. I shuddered at the feeling. "Okay, sharing the bad emotions isn't as much fun as sharing orgasms."

“If he had killed you he wouldn’t have lived a minute after your death!” Dav said fiercely.

I winced at the mix of emotions coming from him. It felt like small bites all along my skin, making me shudder.

Suddenly the emotions shut down hard. Dav looked away from me. "Sorry, I should have better control. I was wide open trying to sense you while you were unconscious. You really scared me, you know. Dr. Pannar should be here soon, I called him when I couldn't wake you."

"I don’t need a doctor. Now stop trying to change the subject Dav! What the hell did you do to Benny?"

It was my turn to sigh when he avoided my eyes. "You won't like it," he muttered.

"I'm sure Benny really didn't like it. Tell me already."

"I b..." Dav mumbled the rest of the sentence.

My hand clenched into a fist in Dav's shirt and I jerked on it, wincing when my arm muscles moved. I could feel the punctures deep in my muscles, not serious injuries but the wounds still hurt.

"Oh ughs. You're not kidding at how anger feels. That's... that's not nice." He tried stroking my hair to distract me and for a minute I let him. I could feel the soft touch lulling me into a calm state when I realized he was sending those emotions through the bond, flooding me in them.

I sat up suddenly, gripping my head at the lance of pain from the movement. I shrugged off Dav's hand on my shoulder, panting through the dizziness with my eyes shut. When I could open my eyes without the room spinning like a top, I shot a glare in his direction, meeting his slightly blurry eyes. Damn concussion, it was making everything slightly doubled.

"I didn’t know mates try to manipulate each other.” I glanced away, hurt that Dav was trying to avoid my questions. My voice was quiet when I looked back up at him and spoke again. “Tell me right now what you did…”

Silence.

Unbelievable.

“Now Dav!”

Dav's face paled and I watched his adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard.

"I bit him," he said abruptly.

My hands fell into my lap. Bit him. He bit him. My mind flashed back to the marks still purple and red on my shoulder and the incredible sensations the bite had brought me.

"Why?" I asked carefully. There could be no room for misunderstandings. I might be slightly loopy and not remember the conversation later but right then I wanted to know, needed to know exactly what that meant.

"He was threatening my mate. I could taste your blood in the air. It brought out... something in me." Dav was still avoiding my eyes.

"I tackled him, ripping him off you. When I had him locked down, I bit him. I couldn't think of anything else and I was so angry my fangs were dripping venom. I couldn't have stopped it if I wanted to and I didn't. I wanted him to suffer as you had. His pain for your pain. I injected him with almost a full dose of my lethal venom."

"Did you kill him?" I asked quietly. The death of a Carthera usually meant a very pissed off clan coming after you.

Dav shook his head rapidly. "Of course not! I was able to control the poison." He looked away. My doubt must have been plain on my face. Part of last night were fuzzy but that moment when I saw his face, fangs bared as he took Benny down wasn’t something I would ever forget.

"Barely,” he admitted, his eyes closed. He shuddered.

"I also broke his arm," Dav's voice dropped to just a whisper, "the one he touched you with."

I eyed my mate carefully. He had some blood on this clothes and his hair was standing up in places. His muscles kept spasming and his tongue flicked out several times as I watched him.

"Why do you keep doing that?" I asked him. Benny would be okay. I would be okay, in time. Now I needed to take care of Dav. I saw this in family members of patients all the time, the shock. I had to get him out of it before he shut down or went postal.

"Huh?" He looked at me in confusion, his forehead wrinkled.

"Flick your tongue. Why do you do that?"

"Oh," Dav shrugged. "I'm tasting the air. Things have tastes that I cannot ignore. The air carries scents of food, chemicals, people, you."

"You can taste me in the air?"

Dav nodded. "Your scent. You smell like warm male and the breeze through the fall trees when the rain has just finished falling. Right now there is a bitter tang to it, from your pain."

"Wow, you can smell all that? Emotions and things like pain?"

Dav nodded and his tongue flicked out again. "Right now I can smell Benny on you." His eyes zeroed in on my neck where Benny had sniffed me. "It's on top of your scent."

I eyed him nervously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I don't like his scent covering yours. You're mine. You washed my marking scent off in the shower earlier and I can smell more of him on you than me." Dav tore his eyes away from my neck and up to meet my eyes. "It makes me want to bite you," he said honestly.

My eyes widened and darted down to his mouth. Sure enough, I could see the tips of his fangs peeking down in the gap between his lips. The throbbing in my head was still bothering me but...

I licked my lips and now Dav was watching my mouth.

"I don't know if I'm up for anything like that." It would distract him though.

Dav reached over and put his arms around me. "I would never hurt you babe." His touch was gentle as he stroked my back. I nestled into him, gingerly putting my arms around his waist. His muscles were taut against me, held rigid as he took a few shallow breaths.

He nuzzled my neck, his tongue flicking out to taste my skin and he groaned.

"Please babe. I won't hurt you. I'll be very gentle." A shiver wracked his body. "I can't take much more of him on you. I need to mark you, take you and make you mine again so that everyone can smell it."

"Um… Can’t I just take a shower? Then when I’m stronger we could--"

"It won’t help. I still want to mark you, the urge is almost overwhelming. Besides, the venom will help you with the pain. I'll make you feel so good babe," Dav said as he touched my face with one hand. He guided me to him, our lips coming together in a slow, sensual kiss. Heat flared in me despite my pain. I stroked his fangs with my tongue then scraped my tongue along the tips. I could taste the venom, the small bursts of slightly bitter liquid on my tongue made it tingle.

"Oh god Ellis," he said, panting, "I need you." He pressed our foreheads together.

Those words broke the last of my reluctance and I pulled back from him to meet his eyes, to show him my trust.

"Okay."

I felt Dav's spike of pleasure through our bond. He pressed closer, lowering me down to lay on the couch with my pillow behind my head. His hands caressed me even as he licked and sucked at my mouth with his amazing bifurcated tongue. He knelt between my legs, leaning over me as he kissed along my jaw. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the pleasure that slid over the pain.

He got to my neck and I craned my head back, wincing a little as I pressed against the sore spot on the back of my skull. The feeling of the dual points of his tongue sliding down my neck to where it joined my shoulder distracted me from the throbbing in my head and making me moan as blood rushed southward.

He paused and hissed.

"Dav?" I whispered, my hands clutching at his shoulders. "Why did you stop?"

"I can taste him on your skin," he hissed again. "I hate that, Ellis. It makes me want to lose control." I could feel his struggle to keep a hold of his very real emotional need for me to carry his scent and be marked as his mate.

“Then mark me, make me yours again.”

I didn't say anything else, just tilted my neck to the left and waited, knowing he would never hurt me.

"Oh. my god!" The loud rip as he tore my shirt down the front startled me. Dav's hot, moist tongue bathed the thin skin of my collarbone as his hands traced over my stomach and up my chest to tweak my nipples.

"Please..." I whimpered. The pain was still there but I was soon lost in the pleasure of his touch.

"Gonna make you feel so good Ellis," Dav murmured. "Gonna make you mine again."

I was amazed he could talk. Hell, I was amazed I could think.

I ignored my sore arms to stroke my hands up his back and bury them in his silky hair.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked breathlessly.

Dav hissed and then struck. I gasped as I felt the twin needle sharp teeth enter me with a brief sting. Then the heat began to spread from the bite. I struggled briefly to pull Dav closer before a warm lassitude stole over me.

"God, Dav..." I groaned. My heart raced, sending the venom surging through my veins. I struggled to resist the way my muscles began to relax and I felt the air hiss out of Dav between where his fangs were buried in my shoulder. He leaned closer, our chests barely brushing together and I felt a fresh burst of warmth spread from the bite as he injected me again before he pulled his fangs out and licked at the small punctures. The sensation was exquisite.

My body was suddenly on fire and I arched up against him for one long moment of almost painful agony before the pleasure shot straight to my core. My balls drew up and an orgasm shot through me, taking me by surprise.

Dav's pupils dilated as his tongue flicked out. Trails of fire flew from his fingers as he slid them down my bare stomach. He opened my pants and pushed his hand inside my underwear to stroke at my still rigid erection, the sticky fluid easing the glide of his hand up and down.

"That was so hot Ellis," Dav whispered in my ear, "you coming from my bite alone.”

I groaned.

“Don’t worry, I'm going to make you do it again and again tonight,” Dav said wickedly.

He pulled his hand out and sat back, slipping my pants and underwear down and off. He stood up beside the couch and stared down at me as he stripped off his clothes. I couldn't move so I watched him intently, my eyes stroking his lean body in place of my hands.

I made a sound in the back of my throat when Dav leaned down and picked me up.

"Shhh, babe, I'm just taking you to bed. I want to kiss every inch of your body before I take you. I’m going to love you so many times you will carry my scent on your skin and in your body. Every male who comes near you will know who you belong to.”

He laid me gently on the bed and stretched out beside me.

I whimpered as I fought the paralysis from the venom.

"Hurts."

"What hurts baby? Your head?"

I managed to shake my head a tiny bit side to side. My head and arms didn't hurt at all. I felt like my skin was paper thin, my nerves exposed and aching for his touch.

"Need you."

Dav's eyes slid half-shut as his hand slid back down my body to caress the source of my pain and pleasure. I needed him so much but the words were locked inside. I begged him with my eyes.

"You have me."

***

Dav kept his promise to me. I had never gone three times in one night before and by the time the venom finally faded from my body I was exhausted. He curled around me and stroked my hair until I drifted off secure in his arms.

The next morning started with more banging on the front door of Dav's apartment. I groaned and buried my head under a pillow when Dav got up.

I heard a drawer open and shut. I lifted the pillow a few inches.

"Does this happen every day?"

Dav chuckled. "No, not usually."

He came over and sat on the bed to pull on his pants. "It's Benny's little brother Jerret. I'm guessing that Benny is awake."

“How do you know that?”

Dav’s tongue flicked out. “I can taste him.”

“Oh.” That was a little weird. Then again, most Carthera had heightened senses of one type or another.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked, rolling onto my side. I really didn't want to get up. Mornings weren't my favorite time of the day.

Dav leaned over and kissed me.

"No, stay here, sleep some more. I'll bring you some breakfast when I come back. This is going to be hard enough for Benny to face me. I know him, he is an honorable man and while I don't know the exact reason why he attacked you, I am sure he will tell me." Dav sat back up with a sigh.

"I need to arrange for some of my staff to make up a few shifts until his arm heals after I get done talking with him. I'll send him home with Jerret. Do you have to go to work soon?"

"No. I'm actually on vacation for this week. I can stay as long as you want me to."

"Good. You can stay forever."

I laughed, shaking my head. "We'll see after a week."

"I could always just bite you every day until you’re lost in the venom. You'd never be able to leave." Dav smirked at me.

I shuddered at the thought of being kept needy for his touch, feeling every caress like a fire against my senses as he consumed me and took me over and over again until I was limp from the torturous pleasure. Every day. Over and over. Gods!

Dav smirked at the wave of lust and a little fear that surged through me and coursed down our bond. I could feel his answering passion but another knock at the door broke the moment. I rolled onto my stomach and covered my head again, a little embarrassed at my reaction.

"Go away you evil snake man. I can't take any more of your pleasure right now."

Dav laughed and left the room.

I heard him open the front door and I listened in on his conversation shamelessly. After all, it was about the man who attacked and hurt me just for walking in the door of Dav's club without him.

"How is he, Jerret?"

"Awake and asking for you."

"Did Dr. Pannar see to him?"

I had totally forgotten that Dav said Dr. Pannar was supposed to come check me out last night. The thought of someone walking in on us last night, especially my boss, made me groan. I could feel the wave of a fiery blush rise from my chest and over my face.

"Yes. He came to check your mate as well but from the... sounds of things, he said he must have been fine."

Oh god. My boss heard me having sex last night. Not as bad as seeing it but… ughs! Carthera or not, that was just too damn embarrassing. Thank god I didn't have to face him for a few more days.

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