“Mm,” she croaked, her voice rusty from sleep. Lifting her head off the pillow and squinting, she looked around to get her bearings.
They were in bed together, in her suite at Tatiana’s residence. The room lay in deep shadows, so it was some time in the middle of the night. Somehow she had lost her clothing, and Dragos had too. She knew who the culprit was for that. He spooned her from behind, under the bedcovers, his larger, harder body providing a protective shell around her.
Their position was so familiar, so necessary, that even though they were still in southern California, a sense of well-being flowed through her, along with a feeling of being home.
Stretching, she yawned and twisted around to cuddle closer against him. As she rested her cheek against his warm, bare skin, she let her fingers follow the pattern of dark, silky hair that fanned across his wide, bare chest.
He cupped the side of her face, cradling her, and she felt warm, relaxed, completely protected and surrounded.
“Does Tatiana know you’re here?” she mumbled.
“Yes.” His deep voice was a quiet rumble in his chest. “We both agreed the circumstances of the day had been unusual enough that nobody would have a problem if I stayed for tonight. Are you still up for visiting the rest of the week with her? We can call this whole thing quits and go home in the morning, if you’d rather.”
“And have to possibly come back again? Not on your life.” Yawning again, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “There’s only six more days to go, and then the whole damn thing is over. Although I shudder to think what tomorrow will hold. What do you think—flood, fire or act of the gods?”
He snorted and pressed his mouth to her forehead. “What were you dreaming about?”
Remembering, she smiled with a small wordless croon. “It wasn’t a nightmare. I was dreaming about Stinkpot.”
“Really?” A smile entered his voice. “I’m sorry I woke you, then. Your heart was racing so hard, it woke me up.”
“S’okay.” Rubbing her face against his skin, she murmured in his head, Do you want to know what I dreamed, or do you want to be surprised?
You can surprise me right now. Easing her gently back on the bed, he kissed her lightly.
Telepathizing in bed was one of her very favorite things to do. They could have entire conversations while kissing like horny teenagers. The only problem with it was she lost control of her train of thought. That, and often her verbal skills degenerated to things like: Holy shit, do that again. My God! Ah, so good … please—please—
Smiling at the thought, she inserted the palm of one hand between their lips so that he couldn’t distract her into incoherency. She told him, Stinkpot is a gorgeous, wary, sneaky little boy. He’s got your coloring and my Wyr form. And from what Liam was picking up, possibly your Power and temper.
Dragos froze. She could just about feel the wheels turning in his head. After a moment, he said, Good gods.
Terrified glee suffused her. Sticking her tongue between her teeth, she fizzed like uncorked champagne. Raising that kid is going to kill us both dead.
Goddamn, Dragos muttered. Just thinking about it might kill me dead. I can’t wait to meet the little booger. He sounds amazing.
He is, and I can’t wait for you to meet him too. Sobering, she threw her arms around his neck. I’m so happy you didn’t turn. I think I might have gone a little crazy today. I had all these manic ideas about converting our basement into a big jail cell and keeping you chained up down there until I gave birth to Stinkpot, so that I could try to heal you then.
It’s okay. Everything is okay now. His arms closed around her tightly. What do you remember of what I was telling Tatiana?
Not much. Burying her face against him, she inhaled his healthy, clean scent. I fell asleep a few minutes after we sat on the couch.
With a few quick, concise sentences, he filled her in on the conversation. The lab has the contagion isolated, and Grym let me know about forty-five minutes ago that he personally destroyed all the blood samples. Quentin and Aryal are still out with Shane. They’re combing through neighborhoods street by street, but they haven’t found any more infected for a few hours now. Right now, they just want to err on the side of caution before calling an end to the search.
She lay still, absorbing the news. And you’re sure Morgan has gone?
I’m certain he has, after giving me the amulet. He said he had done what he was commanded to do. Dragos paused. His voice turned darker and edged. I should have known who he was. I should have remembered him. He’s very dangerous, Pia. He walked through my dragonfire unscathed, and he blocked every attempt I made to get at him.
If he’s not Light Fae, then what is he? Could you tell?
He shook his head. There was too much fire burning all around us, so I couldn’t get his scent. Just from looking at him, I think he has some human blood. But he’s clearly not fully human. He was faster and could jump much farther than a human could.
She shivered. Now I understand why you’ve been so obsessive about trying to recover those lost memories.
You never know. Something may still come back to me.
He didn’t sound convinced of that, and neither was she. The longer he went without recovering those memories, the less likely it was that he would ever recall them. Dr. Shaw had made it very clear. They would have to live with the consequences of that fact and be grateful that he had recovered as many memories as he had.
Shrugging it off, Dragos leaned over her again. Enough about him. We have the rest of tonight before your week resumes, and I intend on taking full advantage of it.
Gladly, she surrendered to the change in focus. Ooh, she crooned, running her fingers lightly along the powerful bulk of his shoulders. The silhouette of his body was darker than the rest of the room, as he eclipsed the night. From the darkest part of the shadow, she caught a glint of his intent gold eyes. What do you have in mind?
It was too dark for her to see his smile, but she could hear it in his voice. Probably too many things for the amount of time that we’ve got, but you never know. I’m an ambitious man.
Settling back against her pillow, she whispered, “Let’s take everything on your list one at a time and see where we get.”
“Item one,” he growled quietly. The intense shadow moved, and suddenly his mouth was on hers, hard, hot and demanding.
Desire surged through her veins, burning away logic and common sense. In that moment, he could have asked her for anything, and she would have agreed gladly.
Thrusting his tongue into her mouth, he ran a greedy hand down the curves of her body, pinching and flicking at her nipple with a thumbnail and kneading the soft, full flesh of her breast, while the hard length of his erection pressed against her hip.
It could never be boring between them. All their lovemaking over the last eighteen months had conditioned her to associate his touch with such extreme pleasures that all he had to do was touch her hand and give her that keen, hard smile of his, and she melted into liquid heat. Her body was greedy for it, for him, and the thought of what they would do—what he would do to her—made the muscles in her thighs start to shake.
I can smell it on you, he muttered in her head. Your arousal. It makes me so damn hungry. You’re already wet, aren’t you?
Uh huh, she whimpered.
Wiggling under the heavy weight of his large body, she ran her own hand along the long length of his torso. His hot skin felt like silk wrapped over iron muscles. When her questing fingers found the tip of his cock, they both groaned. His own mounting arousal had caused moisture to bead at the slit. Using the ball of her thumb, she took the moisture and rubbed it along the broad, mushroom head, until he hissed and grabbed at her wrist.
Sometimes he could let her tease him, and then other times, like now, his dominant side took over. She was more than happy to go with either scenario. Pinning her wrists on either side of her head, he growled telepathically, Open your legs.
Hunger pulsed. Go
d, she loved it when he got growly and autocratic. Arching in a stretch that rubbed her torso against his, she put her mouth lightly against his and whispered, “Make me.”
He stilled. Then it was as if she had thrown a lit match on a lake of gasoline. Everything went up in flames.
Yanking her legs apart, he settled into place at the intimate bowl of her pelvis. When she would have reached to help guide his erection into place, he snatched at her wrists again. This time he pinned them over her head with one massive hand.
Testing the strength of his hold, she struggled to get free, although not that seriously. He liked it when she struggled. It struck at some deep predatory part of him that they both recognized and embraced as part of their extensive repertoire of love play.
As she twisted underneath his weight, the growl that came out of his throat was so low and aggressive, the tiny hairs at the back of her neck raised. God, that sound made her wetter than ever. She wanted to take his cock into her mouth and pump him dry. She wanted him to thrust inside her, and thrust, and thrust….
Restlessly she tried to wrap her legs around his hips, but with his free hand, he thrust her back down on the bed. Then, keeping her pinned, he bent to suckle at her breasts, first one then the other, flicking and teasing the stiff peaks of her nipples with his tongue in between drawing hard so that sensations sizzled down the length of her body.
The hunger for his touch grew harder to control, throbbing in time with the pull of his mouth. Physically aching for his touch, she whimpered and started to struggle in earnest, but he wouldn’t release her.
“Dragos,” she hissed urgently.
In response, he lifted his hand from her pelvis.
Only to lay the broad, hard palm over her mouth.
Of course he wasn’t gagging her, not really, since they could telepathize, but the move was so dark and primitive, she almost came right then and there, without him ever touching her clitoris.
Shaken at her own response to the maneuver, she groaned. The sound was small and muffled against the palm of his hand. Her breathing came hard and fast, the expelled air from her nostrils hitting his skin in short, hard puffs.
He paused. He was breathing hard too. She could hear the rasp of it, a tiny, raw sound that told her how close he was to losing control. He asked her telepathically, Okay?
I almost came just now without you touching me! she exclaimed. How okay do you think I am?
The grip he had on her mouth softened. Does it ache?
Yes! She struggled against the hold he kept on her wrists.
Bending down, he whispered in her ear, “How badly do you want me?”
She sobbed, So much! Dragos—please …
And there it happened again. The heat between them became so intense, her verbal skills flew out the window.
The hard hand at her mouth moved away, and he released her wrists. Sliding down the bed, he murmured, I’ll make it better.
She knew what he intended to do, and if she let him put his mouth on her, he would work at her until she screamed and flailed endlessly before he finally took his pleasure. While she loved those moments, this time she felt too impatient, too needy.
Before he could settle between her legs, she scrambled onto her hands and knees and told him, I want you inside me—now.
He could see better in the dark than she could. As she said the words, she arched in invitation. For a moment, the cool air-conditioning licked along her overheated bare skin. She could feel his gaze like a touch as he watched her. Then the darkest shadow in the room moved behind her to cover her with heat and hardness.
He positioned his cock at her entrance, rubbing himself on the passion soaked petals of her private flesh. As he did so, she hugged a pillow to herself and, bracing her weight on one elbow, reached between her legs to stroke his stiff length. As she touched him, his penis jerked.
Muttering a soft swear under his breath, he found her entrance and pushed in. No matter how many times they made love or just coupled together in wild, no-holds-barred monkey sex, she never grew tired of the sensation of his hard, thick cock entering her.
He gripped her by the hips and didn’t stop pushing until he had seated himself to the root. Their ragged breathing played in counterpart as he gave her a moment to adjust. When he began to move, she buried her face in the pillow to muffle the needy sounds she made.
As he fucked her, he reached around to rub her aching clitoris, and her climax came with such abrupt savagery it tore her breath away. Sometimes the pleasure he gave her was almost too great, too sharp. It wrung her body out and destroyed her thinking.
As she shook from the force of the pleasure that rocked through her, he bit the back of her neck. Still pistoning inside her, still massaging the center of her pleasure. She didn’t even have a chance to come down from the first peak before the second one slammed into her. Gripping his wrist as he worked her, she bucked and squealed.
Her thinking was destroyed. All she could do was hang on to him, while erotic images and impressions ran through her mind.
All the times they’d had sex. Rutted like the animals they were. Made love with gentleness and emotion. She knew the look in his eyes when she came, the combination of tenderness and intense male satisfaction. She knew how he looked when he came, feral and often inhuman, transported out of his own self-containment. There in the darkness, she saw all of his faces in her mind’s eye, and they were all the face of the man she loved.
He bit her harder, fucked her harder. She could feel his teeth pressing on her skin and knew he would leave marks. The small pain combined with the pleasure, and drove her forward into yet another climax. This time she had no breath. All she could do was whine softly, a shaky, raw sound.
Then he paused, buried to the root inside her. She felt him begin to pulse and knew her own moment of intense female satisfaction. Whomever he had taken as lovers before in his very long life, now he was hers, entirely.
She had to say it to him. Licking swollen lips, she whispered, “You’re mine. Mine.”
He wrapped one arm around her, gently encircling her throat with his hand, taking total ownership of her with the gesture. Rocking against her pelvis, he murmured into the nape of her neck, “Until I take my last breath, and beyond.”
Usually he was the one who descended into declarations of possessiveness, and she relished it every time. But whenever she felt the need to claim him as she had just now, he always gave himself to her, unreservedly.
Full of emotion, she reached up and behind her to cup the back of his head. He turned and pressed a kiss to her fingers.
“I don’t want you to go in the morning,” she complained softly.
Pulling away, he stretched out on the bed and pulled her into his arms. Her muscles felt like jelly, and she went down to him gladly.
As she settled against him, he wrapped his arms around her. “It’s only six more days now, and I’ll be nearby. And our night’s not over yet. We’re just going to take a little breather for a few moments.”
“Sounds good,” she said, face planted into his shoulder so that her words came out muffled. She didn’t think she could sit up straight, let alone do something as sophisticated as walk to the bathroom. Light flooded the room, and she flinched with a gasp. He had turned on the bedside lamp. “Why did you do that? The dark was cozy.”
“I have a present for you,” he said.
She lifted her head to squint at him. “When on earth did you find time to get me a present?”
One corner of his hard mouth lifted. “I have my ways.” He reached one long, bare arm to a pile of red and white that lay in a jumble by his cell phone. As he shook out the first piece, she realized it was a necklace. And oh lord, what a necklace! Fiery ruby red and sparks of light flowed over his long fingers.
Turned out, she did have the strength to sit up after all. “Oh my God,” she breathed. As she held out her hands, he let the necklace settle into her grip. She examined the firebird. “This is breathtakin
g. Where did you get it?”
“A shop on Rodeo Drive,” he said, his gaze resting on the brilliance lying in her cupped hands. “There are earrings too, and a bracelet.”
“It’s stunning.” At first, when he gave her such extravagant gifts, she had felt uncomfortable, but he got such transparent pleasure out of it, she had set her own discomfort aside a long time ago. Now she simply reveled in the beauty of the necklace. Leaning forward, she kissed him. “I love it so much. Thank you!”
“My pleasure. Here, put it on.” Sitting up, he helped her fasten the necklace. The firebird rested at the base of her throat. When she turned to face him, a smile creased his face. “You’re as beautiful as I knew you would be, wearing it.”
She knew his penchant for making love to her when she wore jewels and she gave him a grin. “Is this on your list of things you wanted to get to, before morning?”
His smile widened. “You know me so well. I’ve been looking forward to it this whole hellish day.”
At the mention of what had happened earlier, her expression darkened, but only for a moment. Reaching for his hand, she twined her fingers through his. “We dealt with it.”
He squeezed her fingers. “And we’ll continue to do so. The universe can bring it. We’ll deal with whatever may happen together.”
Something deeper than happiness took her over. Fulfillment, perhaps, along with a rush of love so deep for him, it made her eyes shimmer. “We always do.”
With a tug, he pulled her down to him and kissed her. In the middle of the kiss, he rolled so that she lay on her back, and he sprawled across her. Lifting his head, he looked down at the firebird sparking against her skin, and his expression turned purposeful.
He said, “And now to get to the next item on my list.”
“Ooh, goody.” Eagerly, she surrendered to his kiss, and then she surrendered to a great many other things as well. Pleasure was foremost among them, along with laughter, and more love.
Among his many other qualities, her mate was a very thorough man.