Flames of Desire

1.  Flames of Desire

BELLE

Grayson leaned down, pressing his weight into me. 

I felt helpless underneath him, trapped…but in a good way. A part of me wanted to submit, to surrender myself to this god of a man. 

His finger trailed up my inner thigh, his lips dragging down my collarbone. 

“Grayson…” I whispered, breath ragged with desire. 

The shrill ring of a cell phone interrupted us and a deep growl emanated from him, his eyes never leaving mine. 

“Give me a moment, love,” Grayson said, clearly annoyed. He stood up and walked toward the dresser, giving me a moment to breathe. 

My heart was trying to pound itself out of my chest. 

Was I seriously about to sleep with a man that just kidnapped me? 

I had to get out of here. Heck, I had to call the police! 

Grayson had his back turned to me, staring down at his phone. 

Now or never. 

I stood up and dashed for the door, running as fast as I could. 

I heard a loud, annoyed groan behind me as I ran down the hallway. I assumed the sound came from him. At the end of the hall, I came to a staircase and rushed down it, bracing myself against the wall to keep from falling because of my shaky legs. 

When I reached the bottom, I expected to find another floor of hotel rooms, but was surprised to find myself in the middle of a luxurious open living room, with a huge kitchen just off to the side. This hotel room has two floors? What kind of hotel is this?   

I frantically looked around for anything that could help me. 

“Luna? What are you doing? Where’s the alpha?” someone called from another room.  There was a man standing at the kitchen counter. He was holding a cup of coffee and looking at me as if I were insane. 

I recognized him! He had been on the plane! He was the one who had told me to kiss Grayson!  

“Oh, thank God!” I yelled, rushing over to the kitchen. 

“You—” The room suddenly began to spin, and the bite on my neck throbbed and burned painfully. I shook my head to clear my muggy thoughts.  “Help me! That man kidnapped me! I need to call 911!” 

He stood and approached me slowly, like I was a wild animal that would bolt if he made any sudden movements. “Hey, hey. You’re okay. He didn’t kidnap—” 

His words stopped and his eyes suddenly turned a gray color. He stared off into space, almost as if he were in a trance. I backed away from him, startled. 

“Yes. Yes, she is,” he said. 

“What?” I asked. Is he talking to me?

He didn’t pay any attention to me. He just kept staring at nothing. 

“Of course, Alpha,” he said. His eyes went back to normal, and he looked at me. “I’m sorry, but you can’t leave.” 

Okay, so he’s crazy too. Noted. 

I turned around and scanned the room for a way out. There was a door on the other side of the kitchen. The front door, from the look of it. Yes!   

I rushed past Grayson’s crazy friend and tried to make my way to it, but stumbled over my feet. I braced myself against the wall next to me. 

The burning sensation from the bite on my neck was traveling down my body in slow, torturous waves. My stomach churned. 

It felt like I was going to vomit. 

What the hell is happening?  Was this what Grayson had been talking about when he said I would start feeling sick?  

I tried to push through the pain as I continued to struggle toward the door. But the world was spinning too fast and my knees were feeling too weak, and I fell to the ground. 

“Luna!” the man shouted behind me. 

Tears were running down my face; the fire inside me was too much to handle. I screamed. 

“Make it stop!” I shouted. “Make it stop!” 

“I’m sorry, Luna! The alpha will be here soon!” The man next to me said. He touched my shoulder, but it only seemed to stoke the flames moving through my body. 

I shoved his hand away from me. “Don’t touch me!” I sobbed, folding in on myself. 

“Alpha, please hurry!” the man shouted. 

Through my sobs I could hear quick footsteps entering the room. 

“Belle!” Grayson shouted. 

Just his voice made the fire die down a bit, and I reached for him, desperate for the pain to go away. He sprinted across the kitchen and shoved the other man away from me.  I felt a twinge of disappointment when I noticed that Grayson was wearing sweatpants now instead of boxers. I wanted as much soothing skin-to-skin contact as I could get. 

At least he’s still shirtless. 

Once he reached me, he immediately scooped me up in his arms. 

I wrapped myself around him like a sloth to a tree, making it so as much of me was touching him as possible. 

I had my legs on either side of him, my arms tightly around his neck. Thankfully, the fire died down as I sobbed into his chest, but the pain was still almost unbearable.  “Shh,” Grayson said, sitting down in a nearby chair with me still wrapped around him. “I know, baby, I know.” 

“Please make it stop,” I begged. 

Grayson suddenly latched on to my bite mark and sucked on it, running his tongue over it. 

I moaned loudly. Not only did it feel amazing, but it also made all of my pain go away.  Still shaking from the trauma, I clung onto Grayson for dear life as his skillful mouth kept working at my neck. 

I was so enraptured in the incredible sensation that I barely even registered when his friend eventually muttered something and left the room. I thought that once the pain went away, he would stop kissing me, but he didn’t. He just kept going, moving up my neck to my jaw, until he finally reached my mouth. 

His lips felt like silk against mine. 

The kiss was sweet and slow, but I could feel hunger brimming inside of it. 

It was passionate. I had kissed no one like this. I had never felt like this before.  Grayson pulled away briefly, then placed his forehead against mine. Both of us were breathing deeply. He pecked my lips one more time. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. He rubbed his nose against mine. 

I looked deep into his eyes. 

“I didn’t realize that our bond was so strong. I thought I would just let you walk around for a bit, get more comfortable, and then come find you. I didn’t know your pain would be that bad. I’m so sorry.” He kissed me again. “I never want you to be in pain.”  “It happened because I was away from you?” I asked. 

He nodded and buried his face in my hair, breathing in deeply. We stayed like that for a while, just holding each other, my body still calming down. 

I had given up trying to understand anything that was going on. 

I was mentally exhausted, unable to process any of the information being thrown my way.  The most confusing part of all of this was how attracted I was to Grayson. I had seen him strangle that creep on the plane; I was aware of the fact that he had kidnapped me; I knew how touchy he was. 

But for some reason, when he was nearby, I wanted to be closer to him, to keep touching him and talking to him. 

I actually wanted to get to know my kidnapper. 

There had to be something wrong with me. Why am I so obsessed with him?   

Grayson’s hands gripped my waist and ran up and down my sides. He leaned back to look at me. “Will you come back to the damn bed now?” 

I knew I should say no. But I just didn’t want to. It was as simple as that. I didn’t want to say no. So I said yes. 

Grayson smiled and kissed my lips once more. He moved his hands under my butt and stood up, still holding me in his arms. 

God he’s strong. 

“You can put me down,” I said as he walked us toward the room we’d originally woken up in. “I can walk.” 

He leaned down so his mouth was touching my ear. “I don’t care.”  Well then. 

He entered the room and gently set me down in the middle of the bed. I frowned when he stopped touching me. He stood back and took off his sweatpants. 

I watched his muscles ripple with his movement. 

I swallowed. “What are you doing?” 

He smirked. “I don’t want to get hot while we’re sleeping.” 

He slowly made his way toward me while maintaining intense eye contact. He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me onto my back. Then he crawled on top of me. 

“You smell far too good,” he said, running his nose up and down my neck. 

I couldn’t respond. I was too overwhelmed. 

He left a quick kiss on my lips and then looked at me. “Let’s go to sleep, hmm?”  I nodded. 

He lay down next to me so he was facing me and put his hand on my waist. His eyes searched my face. “You’re so beautiful.” 

I looked away from him, not knowing how to respond. I felt his hand move under my shirt and up my back, where he started messing with the clasp of my bra. 

I immediately grabbed his arm and looked at him. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Shh,” he said and unclasped my bra. “It can’t be comfortable.” 

Never taking his eyes from mine, he guided my arms out of my sleeves, inside my shirt, encouraging me to slip out of my bra. 

I slid my arms through the straps, and Grayson slowly reached under my shirt and grabbed the offending article of clothing, pulling it out and tossing it onto the floor. 

He watched me slip my arms back through my sleeves and pull my shirt down. 

“See? That’s better,” he said. And then he turned my body so I was facing away from him. 

He tugged me back to his chest and spooned me, wrapping an arm around my waist and rubbing my stomach. 

“Slow your heart rate, Belle. It’s going a mile a minute. Take some deep breaths.”  He was right. My anxiety was through the roof. I tried breathing in deeply. 

“There we go.” Grayson kissed the back of my neck. “That’s my girl.” 

I couldn’t believe how exhausted I was. I felt like all I had done for the past day was sleep, and yet I still felt myself slowly drifting away. I had no idea how long I’d been asleep for the next time I woke up. All I knew was that I was burning up. I was unbelievably hot. 

Still half asleep, I threw the blanket off of me and squirmed. It did nothing. 

Grayson’s body wrapped around me wasn’t helping either. I readjusted my legs, trying to get more comfortable. 

My leggings felt like fire against my skin. 

Grayson stirred behind me, then I felt his hand reach into my leggings and tug them down.  My eyes still half hooded, I put my hand over his and mumbled something incoherent, trying to ask what he was doing. 

“Just take them off, baby. I promise I won’t look. You’re burning up.” 

I was really hot and still exhausted. All I wanted to do was nuzzle into Grayson’s chest again and go back to sleep. I nodded. 

I felt Grayson sit up and perch above me so that his knees were on either side of me.  He hooked his thumbs into the sides of my leggings and tugged them down. I wiggled around so he could move them over my butt. 

When they were finally off, Grayson threw them onto the floor. 

I was hugely relieved when the cool air hit my legs. He lay back down next to me and brought me to his chest. I hooked a leg around him and buried my face into his neck.  Grayson let out an appreciative rumble. His hand moved under my shirt and onto the small of my back. 

The last thing I thought before I fell asleep was, I think he lied when he said he wouldn’t look.