Soul Bound (Moonstone Saga #2)(16)
Author: Courtney Cole

“Is that all?” he asked coolly.  Sweet heavens.  She would take that as a challenge.  I wanted to slap him.

“Oh, dear boy,” she cooed.  “I’m only just beginning.”

She snapped her fingers and he was instantly lying on his back, each wrist and ankle bound to a corner of the bed.  I gulped again.  This couldn’t be good.  I wriggled within the confining gauze but there was no way I was getting loose.  It was so tight that I could barely breathe.

Hovering above Brennan, her hair dangling along his body, Helen licked him. She traced little trails along his skin; up his legs, over his hips, across his chest.  She paused at the most sensitive areas, causing me to close my eyes and Brennan to shudder in pleasure even though he kept his lips pressed tightly together.

Against his wishes, he was enjoying it.  I could hear him pleading with me in his thoughts.

Empusa, I don’t know where you are, but I am not enjoying this.

Where are you?

I don’t want to like this.  I don’t.  What the hell is this woman?

I tried to answer, but found that my thoughts had been blocked, as well as my movement and my voice.  I couldn’t communicate with him at all.  I was utterly helpless. Helen turned to glance at me, her eyes knowing.  She was reading my thoughts, she could hear my frustration.  Her lips curved upward in a slight smile.  I gritted my teeth. Brennan moaned and then clamped his lips tightly together again.

He really was trying.  His knuckles were turning white as he gripped the skins covering the bed.  He was doing everything he possibly could to avoid being affected. But he was a man.  He couldn’t help having a physical reaction.

“Do you want to make love to me?” Helen purred into his ear as her hand stroked his body.  He shook his head and I knew it was because he didn’t trust his voice to speak.

She licked the skin on his neck, blew on it and then whispered again in his ear, ever-so-softly.

“Are you sure?”

Brennan gritted his teeth and once again nodded.  He was literally pale with his efforts to remain unfazed by her.  I had never been so proud of him. He was certainly tapping into his demi-god abilities.  A regular mortal would have been butter in Helen’s hands by now.

Helen sighed.  “Why must you be so difficult?” she asked softly, breathing into his ear.  Her br**sts were pushed in his face and the seductive scent of her perfume filled the small hut.  I honestly didn’t know how he was restraining himself.  It was taking a Herculean effort.

“I don’t want you,” Brennan said firmly, even as a thin bead of sweat broke out on his forehead.  “Not truly.  You are simply making me feel like I do.”

“But aren’t feelings the most important things of all?” Helen asked innocently, weaving her fingers through his.

“Lust is not a true feeling,” Brennan told her, his voice stronger now.  “It is a fleeting sensation.  It isn’t important.  The moment this challenge is over, I won’t ever think of you again.  Caving into you now would not be worth it.”

Helen laughed again.  “Oh, trust me. I’ll make it worth it.”

But Brennan shook his head, his jaw set stubbornly.

“Fine,” she sighed, rolling her beautiful green eyes.  “We’ll have to do it this way.”

I could taste the alarm in my mouth, the metallic taste lingering on my tongue. But before I could even think one more thought, Helen started singing.

In a wordless melody, she hummed and sang a song that was absolutely breathtaking.  The beautiful notes hit high and low, weaving a tapestry of music that I’d never before experienced.  Along with the music, she was somehow releasing pheromones into the air.  I could taste them as they wrapped around me and I breathed them in.  It compelled me to move toward her, so much so that if I wasn’t restrained, I would have walked straight to her and offered myself to her in whatever way she deemed fit.  Her song was that profound.

I realized in that moment that her song was her deadliest weapon. When her physical charms failed to work, she simply opened her mouth and sang her deadly song.   And it was powerful.  My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for Brennan’s reaction.

His face drained of color, his knuckles turned purple from the strength that he was clenching them with.  He even stopped breathing.  He was literally holding his breath in his effort to restrain himself.  I ached for him, because I knew the tremendous effort it must be taking.

Helen ceased her singing just long enough to stare down at him, perched as she was atop his chest.

“I know you want me,” she murmured.  And then she started singing again as she bent and draped herself on his body.  She trailed her fingers lightly along Brennan’s arms and I could see him begin to shake as he fought hard to resist her.

“Just say the words,” she suggested to him.  “Tell me you want me.  Tell me to make love to you.  And this torment will be over.”

Brennan gritted his teeth as sweat poured down his temples.

“No.” One word.  He rasped it and the effort that it took for him to speak was unmistakable.  And one word was all that he could muster.

But one word was enough.

Helen stopped moving and stared at him, shock apparent on her face.

“What?”

“I said no,” Brennan repeated, this time sounding stronger.  “I do not want you.”

“Yes, you do,” Helen said uncertainly, leaning forward and brushing her lips across his.  “I know you do.”

“My body wants you.  But I do not.  Please get off of me.  We can sit here and do this all day, but I won’t cave in to you.  I won’t. So you won’t like the outcome.”

He was abrupt because he had to be.  He needed to focus his energy on keeping his body in check and resisting her.  But his tone was firm.  He meant what he said.  And Helen knew it.

She sighed in defeat and instantly the mood in the room changed.

The smell of sex and pheromones disappeared as Helen climbed off of Brennan and stood on the floor next to the bed adjusting her clothing.  She snapped her fingers in my direction and the men holding me shoved me in front of them.  I felt to the floor and I knew my invisibility was lifted.

Brennan stared at me in shock as I writhed helplessly on the floor in the impossibly strong gauze.  Within a second, he broke the bonds that held him to the bed and leaped to my side.  He was able to untangle me from the gauze in just a few seconds and helped me to my feet.