Entranced

Chapter Five

Resting on her side, propped up on her elbow, Heather continued to siphon the demons plaguing Jack. Such deep wounds, a bevy of negative energy holding the big man down. He growled, and he snapped, but he’d been aware of her and careful to keep a pace she could handle. Even their sex, explosive as it was, had been for her pleasure before he took his own.

She sensed tenderness and love buried deep inside him, and though it wasn’t her place to explore areas in a person uninvited, she’d been itching to help him since they’d first met. It didn’t help that the Source stirred her to use her abilities. She’d felt almost on overload during their trek through the forest. But after dropping her pack, she felt a bit better, as if she could rest and not worry so much about everything.

With the townspeople far behind, she and Jack had some time to just be for a while.

He hadn’t been kidding about being hot. The moment she’d taken off her jacket and sweater, she’d started shivering. Even the cover over her hadn’t helped much. But a few seconds next to Jack, and she felt almost overheated.

Touching him was more than an idea, but a necessity. She had to connect again, even though she’d been telling herself throughout their journey to let him go. The sex had been phenomenal, but Jack was a bit of an arrogant jerk. Yet everything inside her called to him.

Now she took as much pleasure in sharing her energy with him as he no doubt felt from receiving it. He moaned under her touch and shifted on the ground. She wondered if he felt a tenth of the desire raging through her blood.

The craving to know more about Jack begged, and she asked him to share, knowing he’d probably regret it later. But by then it would be too late, and she’d have already siphoned off the bad energy making him such a bear to deal with.

“What do you want to know?” he asked in a gravelly voice.

“Why don’t you like me?” She noted he kept his hands locked behind his head, which gave her that much more room to work. What an incredible chest. The man had muscles on top of muscles, and she wanted to do a lot more than touch.

“I like you well enough,” he muttered. “Fuck. I like you a lot right now.” He shifted under her again, and she knew he battled the same desire she did. The knowledge relieved her worry that her extreme attraction might be one-sided.

“Then why are you so mean to me?” Heather wasn’t used to men acting so brusque around her. Most of them wanted to please her, to do anything to get her attention. She had the famous Stallbridge looks—blonde hair, green eyes, and good bone structure. But Jack didn’t seem to like wanting her. “Are you mad you’re here?”

“Yes and no.”

He moaned when her hand lowered to his amazing stomach. Such tightly packed muscle. She wanted to bite his belly, to see if she could.

“I don’t understand.” She drew away the anger festering inside him, the same energy that swelled whenever his thought patterns seemed to shift in a certain direction. Not for the first time did she wish she’d inherited her grandmother’s ability to read minds.

“I didn’t want to look for you. Owen’s a pain in the ass, but he needed the help.” He sighed with pleasure when she slid her hand under his shirt and stroked his bare flesh. His belly, his pecs, his shoulders. The man was like a heater, and he felt so wonderful under her hand.

“But when I saw you, I couldn’t say no,” he continued. “He gave me a picture, and something clicked.” He sounded baffled.

Since she felt the same upon first seeing him, she understood his confusion.

“I looked at the thing, like, twenty times a day. You’re hot, but damn, woman, it’s like I can’t stop myself from staring at you. I don’t know more than what Owen and you have told me about yourself. Except seeing you, kissing you… I feel like we’ve met before, like I’ve always known you. You know?”

She nodded and realized he couldn’t see her. “I do. You feel familiar too.” And you make me so wet. The notion a stranger could get to her like that worried her. “Tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?” He arched into her touch and growled when her palm ran over his chest, grazing his tight nipples. “Fuck. Do that again.”

She turned the featherlight caress into a deeper massage, stealing his pain as she eased his tired muscles.

“Tell me anything. How did you get into the PWP? Were you always psychic? Have you ever been married? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you like your job?” Do you want me, or would any woman do? Is the Source making you attracted to me, or is it something else?

“Honey, you keep touching me like that, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

He sounded loopy, the way her most wounded patients often responded. The energy holding Jack down was powerful. Psychic wounds that ran deep.

“Fine. PWP… I was sixteen when I realized I could do things others couldn’t. I was stronger, faster, had better reflexes and senses. I would have joined the Marine Corps except the government came to me first. I was in college at the time. I don’t know how they knew, but they sensed I was different. Some of the men in my family tend to be like me.”

“Mmm-hmm.” She traced the muscles in his shoulders and biceps, getting a thrill at holding all that power under her hand.

“I served in the CIA, did some badass ops, to be honest. But I needed more. I became a black-ops wunderkind. Then Admiral London found me. He’s a great guy.” Jack sighed and lifted a hand from behind his head. He reached under the top cover and fiddled with his jeans. “Keep touching me. Here.” He dragged her hand lower, to the gap at his pants.

She knew what he wanted, and she had every intention of giving it to him. The Source, the danger, Chronicles, none of it mattered right now but getting closer to Jack.

“I will. Put your hand behind your neck again. Let me ease you.” Healing often put her patients in a suggestible state. The deeper the wounds, the easier they were to control when she worked on them. Jack did as she asked without protest, his low moan arousing in the extreme.

She ran her hand down the front of his groin, scratching lightly at the curls surrounding his shaft.

He hissed and bucked up, and she pushed his pelvis down again.

“Oh yeah. More.” He tilted his hips up. “Take me out. I’m aching, baby.”

“Tell me, Jack. Share yourself with me. Why do I bother you? Why are you so hurt all the time?”

“I can do things. Things other people can’t.”

His breathing became labored as she grazed his cock and continued to tease, massaging the base of his shaft and the taut muscle of his groin still trapped by his jeans.

“They changed me, gave me drugs to enhance my abilities. I became stronger and better, but the side effects were hard. And then I left the PWP. Without the drugs to maintain my changes, I get overly aggressive. I have to work out to keep myself in control. That or fuck,” he growled. “I want to fuck you, so bad. You don’t know. And it’s worse, because…”

She stopped touching him, needing to know more.

“No, don’t stop,” he gasped.

“Because why?” she urged and unbuttoned his jeans fully. He tilted his hips up without her having to ask, and she pushed his jeans down, freeing his heavy erection. She continued to push his pants down to his knees, enthralled that he’d gone commando. “Spread your legs as much as you can.”

He groaned but pushed his knees apart, and she sat up so she could use both hands to cup him. His balls were hard yet soft, and so hot. Like his cock, thick and plump and full.

“Yes. Oh fuck. Yeah. Kiss me there. Put your lips around me. You don’t know how many times I’ve dreamed this.” He moaned her name and pushed up into her hands.

She nudged the shifting sleeping bag off them and slowly stroked him, learning his feel as she slid her hands up and down his long, fat shaft. Rubbing his balls and grazing his thighs, she continued to fondle him, loving how he followed her lead. His submission was so unlike the Jack she knew, the man who took charge of everything.

“You want my mouth on you?” she whispered.

“Yes,” he hissed.

“Tell me what hurts. Why are you so angry, Jack?” she asked again, soothing his frayed anger with a psychic blanket of comfort, of safety.

“Melissa,” he said on a curse and pumped in time with her hands. “Bitch was my partner. A person I trusted. And she set me up. Her lover invaded my mind, made me think things that weren’t true. She nearly killed me.” He groaned. “Damn it. Jump on. Suck me. Make me come. I’m hurting, and I’m so close…”

She felt moisture over her palm, where his tip leaked. So aroused and thick. And she wanted to know more. “How long ago did this happen?”

He tensed when she leaned closer and blew over his cockhead. She heard rustling and felt his hands in her hair. He didn’t push her, though. He waited.

“Three and a half years ago,” he whispered.

She licked his slit, and he shuddered and gripped her hair harder. Not enough to hurt but to show her he neared the edge of his control.

“And?” she prodded, needing to know why he held himself back from her. Why he felt so empty and angry all the time.

“And I found her too late. She was dead, killed by her lover, probably.” He rubbed her scalp. “Fuck. I don’t want to think about her. I hate her.”

But you didn’t want her dead, did you? She felt his remaining pain, the real source of his hurt. It was more than rage, but a feeling of betrayal, and more, a sense of sadness. Jack seemed so tough and brutish. On the outside, he looked like a killer, a bear of a man who could crush his enemies with ease. Inside, he hungered for acceptance, even love. But he’d buried the need so far down, where it couldn’t hurt him anymore. Or so he thought. By shoving the pain so deep, he’d actually hurt himself more. He’d never be able to trust or love with that unease at his core.

Heather refused to let it fester. Even knowing he might hate her later for taking advantage, she freed him from his pain. Psychically ripping away the ache of betrayal, she put her lips over his cockhead and took him as deep into her mouth as she could before she gagged.

“Yes. Oh fuck. Please.” Jack surged up before bowing back down, his fingers tight on her head. He didn’t let go.

Power hummed through them both, her energy entwined with his, and as she sucked and accepted the feel and taste of him, he started pumping into her mouth, small bits of his seed coating her tongue.

“I’m gonna shoot hard inside you.” He sounded drunk. “Heather. Damn, girl. I knew you’d be like this. So beautiful. So fucking tempting. God, I want to eat you, then shove my cock deep and fill you all up.”

He continued to tell her the many ways he intended to pleasure her as she gave him what he needed. Heather took as much joy from the giving as he did from the blowjob. And then he shouted and came down her throat, his hands hard on her head.

“Coming. Coming so hard,” he groaned and emptied into her mouth.

She swallowed him all, in lust and scarily in love with the large man finally starting to heal. Oh my God. In love. Wasn’t it too early to fall this hard this fast? This close to him, her energy felt the many places where he’d given of himself, only to be hurt in return. She couldn’t heal all of him, and she knew she shouldn’t. Much of what Jack had sacrificed over his lifetime made him the man he was today. But that psychic wound Melissa had left scarred unnaturally.

Heather gave him back the heart that had been ripped apart, what should never have been taken to begin with.

He shuddered as she sucked the last bit of cum from him, then pulled away. Heather stroked him with her hand, amazed to find him still half-hard and hotter than fire.

The chill of night bit through her clothes, and she shivered, caught in the spicy taste of Jack Keiser and the mountain air.

“That was so fucking good.” Jack sighed.

She couldn’t see him with the flashlight off, could only hear his heavy breathing as he recovered from his orgasm. He didn’t bother pulling up his jeans, but he had to be cold.

“Do you want me to zip you up?” she asked softly, knowing he had to be near sleep.

“Not yet.”

He shocked her with his fast movements. In the course of a few moves, she somehow found herself under him, her shirt and bra off and her jeans parting under his clever hands.

“Jack. It’s cold.” But not the reason for her hard nipples.

“You’re wet, aren’t you?” he asked, a slight slur in his words belying his fast movements.

She felt bad for taking advantage of him, but he’d needed her help. Before she could answer, he shoved her jeans and underwear down to her thighs and put a finger inside her. She gasped at the intrusion, instinctively squeezing him inside her to keep him close.

“Oh yeah. Wet and hot. You little tease. You know how much I want to eat this fine pussy.”

He should have been worn-out from what she’d done. Instead he seemed more than ready to continue their loving.

“Jack,” she protested. “You should rest…”

“Not until I’m done. I need you.” He kissed her into silence, his finger moving in and out of her in slow thrusts. She squirmed, unable to help herself as he grazed her clit time and time again.

Jack left her mouth and fastened his mouth to her breast.

She would have shot off the ground if she’d had the strength. As it was, she managed to push more of her nipple into his mouth.

“You like that. Good, me too,” he murmured, and she swore she felt him smile against her as he spoke.

He continued to suck before turning to her other breast. His finger withdrew from inside her, but before she could mourn the loss, he found her clit and started rubbing.

She moaned and pleaded, begging him to end it. God, she needed to come.

“Not until I taste you,” he promised. “Then you can come around me.”

Hardly able to understand past the swirling energy raging inside her, she was dimly aware of him kissing his way down her belly. And then his lips were there, and he sucked her clit deep.

“Jack,” she sobbed, overwhelmed. The man vibrated with psychic need. No longer in pain, but in desperation to connect. Except he’d already bonded to her on a level she couldn’t explain. As he’d said, it was as if they knew each other, had known each other, for years. He found her sweet spots, and she knew how much he liked to be teased, excited, even challenged.

“Come over my mouth. Let me eat your pretty cunt,” he rasped, and his dirty talk enflamed her arousal.

Before she could obey him, because God knew her body wanted nothing more than to explode, he licked her once more, then left her.

“Jack, no…”

“Shh. It’s okay. That’s it.” He covered her and plunged deep in the span of a heartbeat. Then nothing about him gentled. Jack fucked her hard, kissing her while his tongue invaded her mouth and he owned her body. “Let me fill you up, baby. All mine. Damn.”

He rammed deep, and she couldn’t stop herself from coming hard, gripping him tight.

The pleasure so intense she saw stars, and she continued to come until he ground against her and cried out, spilling inside her. He gripped her hips to hold her tight, and she swore she felt him touch her womb. Impossible, yet he stretched her, leaving her completely full of nothing but Jack.

He pumped a few more times before stilling, and then he rained kisses over her cheeks, her chin, her lips. He kissed her shoulders and the top of her breasts, and then he leaned up, levering his weight off her.

“I wish I could see you right now,” he said, his voice thick. He kissed her again. “You taste so fucking sweet. Heather, God, you’re amazing.”

She gave a weak laugh. “No, that’s you. I can’t believe you came twice like that. Are you always so…raring to go?”

“Ha. I like that.” He chuckled and then moaned as he withdrew. “I left a big mess. I wish I had the strength to go again.”

She heard him yawn. Finally. He was human after all. So much energy passed between them, yet the man had been capable of two massive orgasms.

“Need to…clean you up.” He rolled to his side but didn’t move again.

She heard heavy breathing and smiled. Then she felt moisture between her legs and swore. She hurried to find something to clean up with, determined not to sleep in the inevitable wet spot left by Mr. Studly.

Except she stumbled in the dark, suddenly fatigued between one breath and the next. Even the ground under her, still throbbing with power, couldn’t overcome her weakness. She managed to find her shirt and cleaned herself before returning to the sleeping bag and the human heater breathing deeply beside her. She had a hard time keeping her eyes open and decided to use him as her personal mattress.

Naked from the waist up, her jeans now around her waist but still unfastened, she pulled the sleeping bag over them and closed her eyes, hoping this newfound peace would last.

Ernst Baer glared at his brother. The ass was fucking Nera in the town jail with the main door to the place wide open. Though most of the town had already gathered at Edda’s, their father might still come by and see. For all that Ernst believed in taking his pleasure wherever and whenever he felt like, he respected his father’s authority enough to know that the old man wouldn’t be pleased to see his son fucking the town whore in the same office where they conducted business.

Ernst crossed to the front door to shut and lock it, but he didn’t stop watching as his brother pounded Nera against the wall until he came. As usual, thoughts of sex brought Heather Wurtz to mind. Fuck if he’d been able to screw anyone without seeing her in his mind’s eye. Nera, Holly, even Bettina paled next to Ida’s beautiful niece. Great-niece, he amended.

How an old biddy like Ida could be related to someone as gorgeous as Heather still baffled him, but Heather’s connection to the old woman only emphasized how right she would look next to him. Sexy, smart, sweet, and a relation to one of the most powerful women in the village. Heather had finally returned to the place of her mother’s birth, and if Ernst had any say in it, she wouldn’t be leaving.

As usual, thoughts of Heather had him hard. His brother wanted her too, but Klaus always played second fiddle to Ernst. They both had power, but nothing like what their father could command. Ralf Baer could move things—and people—with his mind. A scary man to have on one’s bad side, but the old bastard loved his family. He wanted the best for his sons, and Ernst was his father’s favorite.

He stared at Nera, noting how she didn’t bother dressing when Klaus left to clean up. Instead she stood there, half naked with cum dripping down her leg, and watched him with knowing eyes. She wanted him, even though he’d told her they could never be. Her power was weak, her bloodline way below the first families who’d discovered the Source eight hundred years past.

“Funny how Heather never mentioned she had a boyfriend, isn’t it, Klaus?” she asked when Klaus returned fully dressed. She asked his brother, yet her bright eyes remained on him.

Ernst knew she wanted a reaction from him. He didn’t want to give her one, but he couldn’t help himself. He snarled, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Klaus answered, “She’s talking about that big bastard who arrived today. How did you miss that? According to Hans, you could feel the power seething through the guy. He’s not only fucking huge and muscled to the teeth, he’s also full of energy.”

“A good match for Heather, in more ways than one,” Nera added softly.

Ernst crossed to her and put his hand around her neck. In his rage, his erection grew larger. The lust and anger mixed, thoughts of Heather at some other man’s mercy stealing his control.

“Brother, hold on…”

Ernst ignored him. “You bitch. You’re lying. You’re jealous, because Heather is what you can never be.”

“Oh?” Her clever hands reached for his belt.

He felt her, knew what she did, but he didn’t care. She wanted him? She could have what he chose to give. He’d been with her enough to know what she liked, and what she didn’t. He pulled her from the wall and dragged her to his father’s desk. “Guard the door, Klaus.”

“But…” Klaus must have seen the look in his eye. His little brother knew better than to argue when Ernst was in a mood.

“Now, bitch, tell me what you think you know.” He prodded Nera for information. The woman knew everything, especially because she had a way with others, an ability to dig for answers. She would have known about Heather’s new friend the moment he entered the town. That he’d found them at all spoke much for his power.

“What will you give me if I tell you?” Nera had the temerity to ask.

He glared down at her, pleased when she swallowed hard and shut up. “I was working for Father today, cleaning up some nonsense near the gate. A few tourists wandered too close, and we had to bury them.” He smiled through his teeth at her. “Would you like me to show you where I buried them?”

The townspeople lived in ignorant bliss, so sheltered from the real world that they didn’t know what actually went on around them. Power corrupted, and the Source had been a virtual mother’s milk for centuries. Of course that kind of energy would leak beyond the psychic boundaries Jan and his family had made. So who did everyone look to in order to keep the peace?

The Baers. Death was a sacrifice necessary to maintaining the peace, and if a few tourists or Grainau locals disappeared every few months, so be it. Ernst’s father remained a hero by protecting their town, though his methods on how he did so were known by only a few, the town council included.

And now Nera knew.

The horror on her face pleased him, and he gripped her hand over his crotch and squeezed. “Don’t stop now,” he taunted. “We’re just getting to the good part. You’re going to tell me everything you know about this man.”

“Jack Harmon,” she said.

“Yes, this Jack Harmon.” He flipped her onto her belly and shoved her feet farther apart. His brother, the pervert, watched them without blinking. Little Klaus liked it when they played together. The more blood, the better, a notion Ernst seconded. They’d only ever played with tourists before, but Nera knew too much now. He’d have to make an example of her. But how far to take it would depend on her.

His cock demanded satisfaction, however. Thoughts of Heather plagued him still.

Nera remained silent as he stood behind her, unmoving.

“I thought I told you to talk.” He took himself out, letting his brother get a good look at what he intended. He pulled Nera’s ass cheeks wider, demanding entry into the place she’d begged him never to go again. “I can’t hear you, dearest.” He moved closer, loving this power, the rush of satisfaction growing stronger.

She sobbed and talked while he rutted without mercy, telling him everything and anything while Klaus watched with wide eyes. When Ernst finished, he cleaned himself up and left her sobbing in a huge, bloody mess. In a much better mood now that he had information, he nodded to his brother.

“Meet me at Edda’s. I’m going to take a good look at Heather’s new friend, up close. Besides, we’re celebrating tonight. And I’ll try to talk to Jan, if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow. I think it’s time we found out what the guardian of the gate has to say about our newest guests to town.”

“And her?” Klaus stared down at Nera with a strange fascination that both repelled and saddened Ernst to see. His little brother had always had a thing for the color red.

“Nera won’t say a thing, will you, dearest?”

She shook her head as she continued to cry silent tears.

“Fuck her, cut her, I don’t care.” Ernst shook his head. “Just don’t let the scars be seen. You know what to do.”

Klaus grinned. “Excellent, brother. Can I kill her too?”

Nera shook, and Ernst thought she might have pissed herself, but he couldn’t tell with her sprawled in such a mess.

“Not yet. She can be of use to us, I think.”

She nodded frantically, and he turned to leave. He heard her say, “Please don’t hurt me, Klaus. I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”

Ernst whistled as he left his brother to clean up their mess. He’d join his father and his beloved neighbors at the tea shop. Time to meet this powerful giant who thought he had claim to Ernst’s woman. Time to make the bastard pay.