He held her hips to him, one arm sliding around her waist as her body grasped and milked his greedily. Her knees would have collapsed, and she had no idea how he was still on his feet. He'd powered into her over and over, until she lost track of time, her mind moving into another place, another realm, but she knew he had spent a long time inside of her. She was deliciously sore.
He moved up onto the bed, guiding her around so that she crawled, still connected to him, around to face the headboard. With every movement she felt her body ripple around his, grip his tightly, reluctant to let him go. He was right, she craved him. She knew she always would.
Still kneeling behind her, he moved in her gently, bringing them both down from that floating space they occupied. His hands urged her to move back into him just as gently so that her body rippled and pulsed around him. He kissed the base of her spine, murmuring to her in his own language, his hands caressing her buttocks and smoothing over her thighs. Then he very gently slipped out of her. Gabrielle couldn't help the small cry of protest at the loss.
He helped her to lie down, keeping his hands on her, tucking her into his side as he turned his body into hers. He kissed her eyes. Her nose. Moved his mouth gently over hers and then kissed her chin.
"Are you all right?"
"That was perfect."
"So you enjoyed your punishment?" he asked, nuzzling her throat. She felt his smile against her pulse. "I certainly did. I liked seeing the way you look with such an intriguing color, my hand caressing all that heat."
"Uh-oh. You're in trouble, Aleksei, if that was my punishment. I'll end up being like the bad girl of the century."
His hand moved over the stretchy lace. Found her nipple and tugged. "This is a beautiful covering. I like to look at your body, but if you have to be covered, this is sexy. You are very sexy, Gabrielle."
She snuggled closer to his heat. "Thank you. I like that you know what you want, Aleksei. I don't have to worry. I'm a worrier. I never think I do anything right, and when you take charge like that, I love it."
He shifted just a little so he could nuzzle her breast. Her body pulsed. She really was hungry for him. He didn't seem to mind that she wanted his body so much.
"I like things a certain way, Gabrielle. You are my lifemate, my other half. It is natural that you would suit my needs and I would suit yours." His tongue lapped at her nipple through the lace as if the stretchy fabric intrigued him. She wished she'd thought to add taste to the texture. Maybe next time.
"I like them your way, then," she said. "If someone had ever told me I would like a spanking, I would have told them they were nuts, that I'm not a child."
He nuzzled her breast again. "O jela sielamak, an erotic spanking is far different than a man slapping the hell out of his woman. If you did not enjoy it, we would not have done it."
"Even to punish me?"
"Of course not. I can think of far more creative ways to make you beg for forgiveness."
The sensual note in his voice made her shiver. She realized the "punishment" wasn't his hand on her bare bottom, but building the need in her until she begged him for mercy. She laughed softly. "You are very creative, Aleksei, and I appreciate that as well."
His mouth moved right over the lace and pulled her breast deep inside where it was hot and moist. She was still ultrasensitive and the feel of his mouth through the lace fabric was sexy, exciting, and it sent streaks of fire straight to her feminine channel. She pulsed and throbbed. Needing. She had to get a handle on her cravings.
She liked how he fit her so close to his body. She loved his mouth suckling at her breast. She loved that she could wrap her arm around his waist and that his thigh was over hers and the other was in between hers. It felt safe. Sensual. Perfect. She suddenly wanted to know everything there was to know about him.
"When you thought about having a lifemate, what kind of world did you want for yourself? Where did you want to live?"
He moved his head slightly, unlatching from her nipple, his tongue broad and flat, stroking caresses there. "I thought only of making my lifemate happy. Of claiming her and being done with darkness. During those times, I imagined I would still hunt the undead. I did not have demons dwelling in me. Or such unrelenting darkness."
She rubbed her hand over his chest, smoothing over his bare skin right down to his flat belly. She liked all the muscle. So much of it. Better than any six-pack she'd ever seen. She liked that he seemed to enjoy snuggling with her. She liked how strong he was. How in a world that seemed to be constantly shifting out from under her, Aleksei was a rock, a steady anchor. More, she just plain loved sex with him.
"What about you, Gabrielle. What do you want?"
She opened her mouth to tell him all about her dream home. The house. The gardens. The white picket fence. The children laughing and the all-important porch swing. She closed her mouth just as fast. Did she even know what she wanted anymore? That had been her human dream. What was her Carpathian dream?
"Kislany."
His word for baby. The soft way he said it turned her heart over. Melted her insides. He was in her mind. She felt him there. Filling her emptiness, those lonely places, just as his cock filled her sheath. Already he was becoming a part of her. In her mind, he was the best part.
"I buried myself in research because it was a way to hide from the world, Aleksei." She wanted to give him truth. To give both of them truth. "I thought if I became a wife and mother I wouldn't want to do that anymore, but the research I'm doing is important and I'm good at it."
"You mean the research you are doing with Gary?"
She winced at the mention of his name and then she realized, it was the first time she'd thought about him since Aleksei had returned. She took in a deep breath and let it out. She'd let her dream go. She'd let go of Gary. She loved him. She would always love him. She would always feel as if she had a connection to him, but Trixie was right. She loved him, but she wasn't in love with him.
She was beginning to believe she had no idea what love was, but she wanted to wrap her life around Aleksei. She wanted to feel just like she did at this very moment. Part of him. Complete with him. Sated. Elated. She loved to see that look on his face. The total focus on her. The approval. The urgent need.
"He lost his emotions and his ability to see in color all at once. I saw his face. His eyes. He is lost to our research and that makes it all the more important that I carry on," she said. "I think he knew, maybe had precognition. I never knew what exactly his psychic abilities were. We never talked about them."
She realized that was true as well. They had discussed research and Carpathians and problems with babies endlessly, but they didn't share details of their personal lives with each other.
"So are you telling me you would like to make your home in the Carpathian Mountains near the prince? Is that where you have set up your laboratory?"
His voice was strictly neutral. She had no idea if he was for or against the idea. She bit her lip, torn between telling him the truth and guessing at what he wanted.
"Gabrielle." This time his voice was commanding. Authoritative.
Her heart nearly exploded out of her chest. She loved that tone. She loved how he could go from looking so gentle, almost loving, to a dark, scary predator. She knew she was safe with him, so that only enhanced the sensual, very sexy attractiveness. His voice thrilled her, sent fingers of desire down her spine, up her thighs and pulsing through her sex.
"The truth is, Aleksei, I don't know. I want to be decisive, but I don't know where I want to live. I know I need to work. I know it's important to make certain our women can conceive, carry a baby, feed the baby naturally, and that we can produce female children who live more than a year. It wasn't just one problem to be fixed. There are many reasons why this happened to the Carpathian species. Xavier attacked from many angles and he was successful. It will take a lot of work to figure out all the various things he did and find a way to reverse them."
"And you can do that?
" There was admiration in his voice. "I have myself a very smart lifemate."
She found herself glowing inside. She loved that he thought she was intelligent.
"I really believe I can help. I don't know about actually figuring out every thread and eradicating it, but I'd like to try."
"Fane told me his woman will need to return to the United States very soon, along with Andre and her granddaughter. I will be needed here until another can take over guarding the gate and the ancients within. If Teagan can actually do as she thinks she can and help those remaining be able to leave this place seeking their lifemates, we will be able to leave."
"That was why Gary was sent here. He was to find out if our healers could do the same for other hunters or if only Teagan could." She didn't realize she had used the term our until after she said the words. More and more she was beginning to accept that she was Carpathian, not human. "Josef, one of the younger Carpathians but very skilled in technology, has a database of psychic women and where they live. Carpathians are trying to get to them to protect them. The vampires as well as the human society of assassins are also hunting them. If Teagan can give them the time, it's possible I can point them in the direction of their lifemates."
"How?" He sounded neutral again.
"I have this strange gift. It's never really been good for much, but I can be with someone and look at a map and know they should go to a certain spot, that if they do, something amazing will happen to them. I don't know if it would really help, but if I had the addresses on a map and the ancient standing in front of me, it might work."
His hand smoothed over her hair. "You are a miracle, Gabrielle."
"It might not work," she pointed out. "I always kind of considered the ability a silly parlor trick. I never thought about it before--putting an ancient in the general vicinity of a potential lifemate."
"If that is the case, we will go to the Carpathian Mountains, although I must warn you, kislany, I am beyond ancient. Darkness dwells in me, and I will never be fully rid of it. I have demons that I cannot always overcome. I am from very ancient times. That means, no man touches my woman. He does not put his hands or his mouth on her. He does not hug or kiss her in greeting. Your body is for me alone. All of you. I do not know how long I will be able to tolerate others in close proximity, but for you, I will try. I have seen the long hours, days you put in and, more recently, the nights you have been putting in working. When I tell you enough, there will be no arguing. You will come with me. To me. Do you understand this?"
She was a modern woman and why that would thrill her, she didn't know, but not only did it thrill her, she was damp immediately. She nodded. "Sometimes, when I'm working, I forget the time. You'll have to . . ."
He leaned over and bit her at the junction between her neck and shoulder. Hard. Sinking his teeth in just a little bit. "No. You will comply. I will give you time for your work, but your first duty is always to me. You will come to me when I call to you." His mouth moved against her skin, his tongue lapping at her, taking the sting away. "When I want your body, wherever you are, you will give yourself to me."
She loved that, too. "If I want your body?" she challenged.
"Do I belong to you?"
She didn't hesitate. "Yes."
"My body belongs to you. That is not to say, if you need punishing, I will not prolong your wait."
He sounded far more sensual than threatening, and she shivered. "If that's the case, Aleksei, I want your body right now. I want your mouth back on my breast."
"My lifemate. She needs her man's cock often."
"She needs her man all the time. But yes. I'm very, very fond of your cock."
14
Trixie was absolutely furious. She was too old for this crap. Having men dictate what she could or couldn't do. Silencing her with a wave of their hands. A wave. What was up with that? She wasn't living with that kind of power in a man. No way. Not happening. She went with Fane because she had no choice, but the moment they were back in his ugly shell of a house and he released her, she broke away from him and stomped across the dirt floor to her backpack.
"I'm leaving. I'm going home," she announced, without looking at him. She couldn't look at him. Or be close enough to feel his body heat or inhale his scent. There was something about him that worked on her like a magnet and she wasn't taking any chances. "I will not be treated that way. That man is abusive to that girl and he was to me. You continued . . ." Her gaze fell on her pack, suddenly right there in front of her.
"Trixie."
Fane simply said her name. Gently. Softly. His voice so low she barely caught the thread of sound, yet it vibrated right through her body along with his song. She could hear that, too. She could even see the musical notes floating around the room. His. Hers. Her notes filled in the symphony and it was beautiful. Still, she wouldn't look. Wouldn't acknowledge it. She needed to go home. More, she was going home and no one was going to stop her. Not even the hottest man on earth who gave her mind-shattering orgasms for the first time in her life.
She grabbed the worthless vampire-hunting kit and started discarding the things that didn't do her a bit of good. She wasn't about to carry anything she couldn't use. She was keeping the gun and extra stakes because it was the only weapon available to her. While she stuffed the vials and stakes into her pack, she found a magazine and pulled that out. It looked harmless enough, but she'd learned one could use that innocent-looking item as a very good defense.
She knew she was panicking. She'd only panicked twice in her life. The first time had been when her parents threw her out onto the street because she was pregnant. It had taken three solid days of sobbing in the corner of an alley before she stood up, determined to make a life for herself and her child. The second time was when she stood over her daughter's body watching the life drain out of her while the doctors frantically tried to save her. Both times, she couldn't breathe.
Even as she stuffed her belongings back into her pack and tried to roll up the sleeping bag, she found she couldn't get enough air. She was a fool. Such a fool. How could she have been so stupid? She wasn't fifteen anymore. She knew one didn't risk their entire family, their life for a brief fling. And that's all this would ever be. A fling. Because for one moment, this man--a total stranger--had made her feel beautiful and sexy. He'd made her feel like a woman, not an empty shell.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She ducked her head to try to draw in deep breaths. Whatever these people were, no matter how beautiful their songs, how melancholy or sweet, they were powerful and dangerous. She wanted no part of that. She had a family. People she loved. People she protected. Whatever spell Fane had cast over her was gone. She was leaving. She'd sort out her head later. Way later, when she was on the long flight back to the United States.
Trixie felt heat at her back. Fane's masculine scent enveloped her. When she drew in air, she drew in him. His scent. His presence. His hand went to the nape of her neck, his fingers gentle but insistent, holding her head down.
"Breathe, han sivamak," he said softly.
His voice wrapped her up in a cocoon of safety. A web of instant desire. His voice was low and so tender she could almost believe he cared. But she knew better. He had forced her silence. That wasn't a caring thing to do. She refused to cry. She'd shed enough tears when she was fifteen and abandoned by her parents and her boyfriend. They'd knocked her down hard, but she'd stood back up. She didn't understand why this blow felt as deep. As hurtful.
She drew in her breath. Even that was sharp and painful. She could taste him in her mouth. Feel him deep inside of her. She was such a fool. An old fool. She pressed her fingers to her eyes, trying to blink back the burn and ignore the way his fingers massaged her neck. He was so good at what he did. So practiced. She should have known better than to get played. To be seduced. How was she ever going to live with this memory without squirming in embarrassment?
"Stop it, Trixie," he admonished. "You have no reason to be embarrassed. I am your lifemate.
Of course you responded to me."
She detested his voice. His touch. He managed to get inside her, pierce her every shield with those two things, and she wouldn't allow it to happen again. Taking a last deep breath, she forced her body to straighten. She still had the magazine in her hand and as she raised up, she dropped the sleeping bag, rolled the magazine, took a step away from him, turned and attacked.
She hit him repeatedly, hoping to drive him backward. He didn't move. Rock solid. He didn't flinch. He was tall and the magazine hit him in his belly. She went for every man's nightmare and her weapon bounced away from that area. So he was ready for her, protecting himself, trying to show his superiority by not moving. Big mistake. She jumped and went for his throat, jabbing.
He caught her wrist and twisted, drawing her close, easily removing the magazine from her hand and tossing it aside. She fought him. She was strong. He let her struggle, not doing much more than locking her to him, her back to his front. It was impossible to turn around, but she managed to strike a few blows with her heel right into his shin. The entire time she fought, she berated him, calling him the worst names she could think of, but he didn't react to that either, nor did he silence her. He didn't wince when her heels connected with his shin. He simply remained silent and stoic.
Eventually she wore herself out. Her breath came in ragged, shuddering gasps and she fought back tears, feeling helpless; she hung like a rag doll over his arm. The moment the fight went out of her, he drew her back against his body, one arm still locked around her waist. His free hand moved her hair from the back of her neck and he pressed his mouth there.
Trixie tried not to let his light touch affect her, but her body shivered. Fingers of desire crept slowly down her spine in a sneak assault.
"Han sivamak, I know you are hurt and even afraid, but I could not allow you to place yourself in danger. Aleksei is incapable of harming his lifemate. They have already completed the ritual and he is safe. Still, he is extremely dangerous. We have worked hard to strike a balance here at the monastery. We do not engage in battle. Had Aleksei said or done anything against you that could be construed as an attack, I would have defended you and one of us would be killed. Our lifemate would be lost as well. It was simply easier to remove you from the situation in order to explain it to you when all parties were safe."