Page 5 of He is… Creed: Part Three

His jaw clenches, his eyes brimming with anger—looking as if he’s about to explode—like he might actually, for once, break his calm composure and yell back at me. And I want him to. I want him to say what is on his mind and to let me inside that hard shell of his. But it doesn’t happen. He rolls off me and leans against the headboard.

“You’re not getting on that plane,” he repeats.

For a moment, I lay there, the dampness between my legs stealing all my thoughts. We didn’t use a condom. I’m not on the pill. I’m not even sure it would work with this lifebond between us, either. A breath quakes from my chest, and I force that worry away for the time-sensitive problem. “I am getting on that plane, Creed, and you can’t stop me.”

Ignoring my nudity, I scramble off of the bed and rush toward the closet, but I don’t make it even a step. In a flash, he’s sitting on the edge of the mattress and pulling me between his thighs. And damn my body for its insistence that fucking this man is all that matters. Awareness rushes over me, heat spearing my body even before he turns me to face him, my nipples inches from his face. His hands brand my hips. His cheek rasps against my breasts, his lips against my nipple.

I shiver, and damn him, I’m struggling to think, let alone argue my point and remember why I need to get dressed. His tongue laves my nipple, and it’s all I can do not to dive my fingers into his dark hair. I crave this man, his strength, even his arrogance, even knowing he’s going to hurt me again. I think he does, too.

Clinging to what resolve I have left, angry at my weakness, I shove on his shoulders. “Damn it, Creed. Stop trying to manipulate me. I’m not having sex with you again.” As if I’ve said absolutely nothing, he suckles my nipple, his silky dark hair erotically tickling my skin. Desperate to stop him before I no longer possess the will, my hands go to his head. “Stop, Creed!”

He tilts his chin up, a challenge in his eyes. “Is that what you really want?”

“What I want and what needs to happen are two different things. I’m getting dressed, and I’m leaving.”

“No, you are not.”

Chapter Seven

Creed

I’m preparing for the battle of Addie’s stubborn insistence she get on that flight when her eyes flicker and turn black. It’s a part of the transition, the bonding, that shouldn’t happen unless we exchange blood, but everything GTECH evolves. Our bodies want that connection to be complete.

Mine sure as fuck does, as my reaction is physically intense. I’m instantly battling a wild, uncontrollable need to fuck her again, as if my body recognizes the need to finish what I started and make her mine. “Your eyes just turned black, Addie.” My voice vibrates with the rage of my need.

She says something to me that I don’t hear, blood rushing in my ears, my body filled with potent, white-hot need—my cock thick, pulsing. Once she’s mine, she’ll never want another. She’ll be the mother of my children. She will die if I die. That one piece of the lifebonding reality is what jolts me to my senses. I set her away from me, nerve endings raw.

She stumbles with the unexpected action, and my instinct is to reach for her, but I force myself to pull back. “Holy hell,” I murmur, running my hand over the back of my neck. She’s naked and so damn hot. My woman. Mine. Fuck. Not mine. She can’t be mine. I’m X2 positive. I am not what she needs. “I can’t touch you.” I snap up my jeans from the floor and shove my legs inside. “Get dressed before I don’t let you.”

“I—”

“Get dressed, Addie,” I order, balling my fists by my sides, doing all I can to protect her from me.

As if she realizes what I battle, she pales and then darts toward the closet and begins to dress.

I try not to watch. I fail. My gaze follows every inch of the pink silk of her panties as they slide up her long legs and over that little triangle of dark hair. I rotate, offering her my back and inhaling a breath, trying to calm the sudden raging lust ravishing my body.

“They turned black in the hotel restroom after we…saw each other,” she announces from behind me. “I told you that. This isn’t new. They changed back to normal in a few minutes. I’m sure they will this time, too.”

Before I can stop myself, I turn to face her. Mistake. Big mistake. She’s presently putting on her bra. Pink like the panties. Sheer. I want to rip it off. My gaze jerks to her face. “I’m back to why didn’t you contact me and tell me right away?”

“At first, I really did think you knew, and then…” She slips on a pair of slacks and reaches for a crème silk blouse. “And then you know what happened. You left. And it’s not like you can control it any more than me.”

“I shouldn’t have touched you again. We’re clearly bonding without the blood exchange.”

She makes a sound of disbelief and slips on her shoes. “Right.” Her arms cross in front of her, but not before I see her hands shake. “Of course. Well, now you know. It happens when you touch me. So don’t touch me.”

She doesn’t yell the words. She doesn’t say them with acid. But there is ice—so cold, it’s an arctic chill. She doesn’t understand I’m protecting her.

“I didn’t mean that how you took it. This isn’t how lifebonding, as we know it, works. We have no idea what is happening to you or how dangerous it might be.”

“I think we’re fine,” she says, her tone more scientific than emotional. She’s shutting down and shutting me out to protect herself. “I freaked out the first time I saw it, too, but I’ve read the research about lifebonding at least a hundred times over,” she adds. “I believe we’re reacting to the mark. We’re not actually bonding.”

I know her. I know her so well. The quiet of her reaction represents far more hurt than a raised voice or outward signs of anger. I’ve hurt her. I keep hurting her. It’s then that I know I can’t leave this like this. I can’t keep doing this to her.

“I want you, Addie,” I confess. “I want you so badly that I can barely breathe sometimes. But I’m X2 positive. I don’t know what that means for me. I don’t know what it does to you. And I’ve seen what Ava is. I will not let you become that.”

“We both know Ava was an evil bitch before she ever completed the bonding. If lifebonding is some joining of kindred spirits, then Ava and Julian were tainted before they ever met.”

---