Betrayal's Shadow (32 page)

Her pants, loosely gripped in his hands, slid from her legs in a whisper. He discarded them on top of his clothes.

The pale ivory of one instep beckoned for a taste there and a sample farther up her arch. He lingered from her ankle to the gentle curve of her knee, needing firm flesh to convince himself she was real. Only at the delicate pocket between her thigh and the lace of her panties did he stop.

Blowing gently across the lace covering, he glanced up at her. She stared back with her elbows braced on the bed, lips parted, and a subtle inhalation audible to his ears. He licked her through the thin fabric. Quick gasps followed, sharp and shallow as her thigh quivered against his cheek.

Lovely.

“Don’t tease.” Her order trailed out in a low, harsh whisper. The fists at her side and the blush on her cheeks were hardly threatening. Gaze still on her, he suckled her through the lace, a slow constant motion until her neck arched back, long and sleek in conjunction with her soft moan.

Lifting both of her calves over his shoulder, he snapped the side of the lace bit of fluff and freed her, leaving her pink and moist to his view. His finger came away shiny and slick from a glide through her folds. “Are you ready to scream for me, love?”

She tried to pull off a laugh. Her effort turned to a gasp and then a whimper as his lips closed over the delicate flesh. He suckled with care, visiting every detail as he had her nipples.

“We’ll have to do much better than a whimper.” Holding her open with his thumbs, he delved straight into her core with his tongue. The pitch of her cry, the shake of her legs and the quiver of her internal muscles all roared through his nerves in an erotic heat wave. Determined to draw out her pleasure, he kept his sensuous assault a fraction from where she needed. “Better, love, you can do more.”

His fingers delved in lieu of his tongue, his thumb massaging just shy of the sensitive pearl as she tried to shift his attention, yet he held off. He stroked deeper with his fingers and twisted, reaching a spot that elicited tremors. Her moans were now louder, interspersed with soft pants, her responsiveness hardening him to the point of wonderful pain. He could lie here between her thighs and pleasure her forever.

He licked again at her flesh, reveling in the taste of her. The memory had been enough to give him an erection at the worst of times. Only Mia, only her body, her soul, could ease this craving and nothing would ever diminish it.

The rise in her voice finally reached a mewl. He curled his lips around her clit and suckled her hard, whipping his tongue across the hard nub of flesh until her muscles clasped in rhythm around his fingers. Her hands fisted in his hair, and she screamed his name as he soothed her flesh, gentling her until sated lethargy took hold of her muscles.

Unable to hold back a satisfied smile, he moved above her, lifting his wet fingers to paint her lips in a juicy feast for his tongue to follow.

At the murmur of rising passion in her throat, he shifted to nuzzle at her temple. Pulling her into his arms, he stroked his fingers across her skin until little shivers followed his teases.

“Did you hear what you wanted?” She gasped as his fingers drifted to her nipple and squeezed.

“It was a wonderful start. I want this to be what we remember most, the joy, the desire, no holding back. You’re beautiful when you let loose.”

“Such wants and needs.” She laughed, but some truth must have struck her, because she blinked back tears.

“Give me another two hundred years. We won’t scratch the surface of my needs for you.” He kissed her as his hand eased her thigh over his hip. “Look at me, Mia.”

She slid her hands along his arms and looped them around his neck with a look that tore the breath from his lungs. His mate. A vibrant being of passion and love destined for him.

“No doubts. I’m yours forever. I was from the moment I picked up your scent from the earring in Xavier’s tunnel.” He stroked the side of her face as he leaned his forehead against hers.

With slow deliberation, he sank his cock into her hot, silky folds and watched her face. Inch by delicate inch, he worked into her heat until he thought he might burn alive from the bliss of it. Watching carefully for any sign he might cause her discomfort, he continued until his balls encountered the warmth of her body as her muscles clenched in a glove around his erection.

As sensational as this physical connection was, the link to her soul he felt beyond measure held fast and secure by the bond between them.

He moved and stroked inside her, the essence of her caressing him. Emotions flickered across her face; pleasure and excitement flowed in a blush whispering across the top of her cheeks. Love glowed from her eyes. Her every expression was worth all the long aching years he’d waited for her.

The tip of her tongue traced her upper lip, and her white teeth pulled at her lower lip.

“My destiny.” He captured her lip between his own as he moved back into her, his strokes firmer, moving faster as her hips urged him on.

“Are you going to tease me all night, Turen?” She whispered the fractured words.

“What do you need, love?” He bent his head to bite tiny nips along her neck and shoulder.

“Faster.” She closed her teeth over his jaw in provocation. “Not a piece of china.”

He grunted as her muscles squeezed around him and he gave her what she asked for. His hand tightened at the top of her thigh. He gave fast and hard until the sizzling heat streamed from his cock up his spine. It took all the restraint he had to hold back for her, sweat glistening over their bodies, his balls drawn up tight like walnuts. Yet more than his own release, he wanted hers.

So close. Her nails bit into his biceps. He groaned at the sensation as the pink blush deepened across her chest and neck. Her cries shattered his little remaining control and he gripped her to him. His name poured from her lips, and he roared hers, releasing into her body until he could no longer feel her tremors clasping him.

The soft murmurs she muttered against his chest burrowed into his heart as he withdrew from her body. He tucked her close, cradled her in his arms, and tried to mesh her and their baby to him in a human cocoon. She fit. A perfect mold to him, a perfect fit to his heart, an unbreakable tie to his soul. With a sigh, he nuzzled in the soft sheen of her hair and grabbed the blanket from the bed to cover them.

“To finally have you beside me when I sleep and next to me as I wake—” He couldn’t force the words past the swell in his throat.

They stayed fused together, lights on, desire not sated but humming quietly at bay on the perimeter of their consciousness. Peace wrapped around him; their bodies blended.

To sleep with her in his arms was almost too good. The reality would be too painful if he woke to find this was a dream. Turen shifted, wedging his hand beneath her, just enough so he could feel her there as he drifted into sleep. Her hand stayed gripped on his forearm as if her determination could keep him from being ripped from her side.

Perhaps it could.

If anyone could hold him by sheer force of will, it was Mia.

He’d told her the truth. She owned him, heart and soul. For her he would crawl to hell and back. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but he kissed her shoulder and murmured a silent prayer.

Tomorrow was soon enough to deal with reality and the threat to their lives.

CHAPTER 17

Turen roped his arm around Mia’s hips and snagged her back to the bed before she could slide into her bathrobe. Sunbeams angled across the delicate curve of her back and illuminated the twin dimples punctuating either side of her tailbone. He buried his face against one, rubbed his cheek against the soft skin, and kissed the sweet spot.

“If it hadn’t been for the baby, would you have let me find you?” he asked.

Her body shifted with her hesitation, but he held her firm.

“You were very determined in detailing the consequences of being caught by your people. I tried to respect your wishes.” Her voice had dropped an octave to a quiet, sad register. “The baby gave me the courage I needed to fight for you.”

An honest answer. Mia had evidently learned hard lessons from her marriage. Painful, unnecessary lessons offering her no understanding of the mating bond his people experienced.

No. That wasn’t true. She understood commitment better than most of his kind. Her trust of him flourished from instinct. Her acceptance of him, especially given their difficulties, made her extraordinary. She’d returned to him repeatedly, had delved into areas foreign to the nature of humans and battled his past and prejudices. Her courage and strength had forced him beyond his people’s dictates. His throat tightened as he pressed another kiss to her skin.

She was the one clear decision in his life. Yet she had been steps ahead of him at every turn, giving him back hopes he’d long ago discarded.

“You shouldn’t have had to fight for me.” He kept his head close to her body. “I came for you. I’m yours. Always remember that. Salvatore’s edict only made it imperative I eliminate the threats to you first.”

She started to turn in his arms. He held her instead and licked the side of the dimple, close to her spine, until she shivered.

“What did you do?”

He kissed his way to the slope of her neck. “What did you feel?”

“Do it again.”

With a chuckle, he stroked the small mark on her body with his thumb, rubbing circles, alternating pressure.

“Oh.” She gasped and wiggled in his grasp. “That feels so—”

“Come, I’ll show you.” With a quick move, he sprang from the bed and tugged her to the bathroom. A frown marred her brows as he pulled her to his chest and nodded over her shoulder to the bathroom mirror. “Look.”

Under her scrutiny, his hand stroked over the mark. Her fingers dug into his shoulder as a shiver convulsed along her body.

Mia took a deep breath and pushed him away, needing confirmation with her own eyes. The turn was awkward, the spot almost out of her vision, and she had to hitch her hip on the counter to get a closer look. The tiny faint blue swirl of lines and curves were no larger than a quarter. A mushroom of heat spiraled through every nerve at his touch. The tiny sparks cascaded in climaxes beneath her muscle and skin. Now she understood his reluctance to let her touch his mark last night. “Do you feel the same—”

The curve of his lips claimed arrogance, and the rise of an eyebrow signaled promise. She moved a bit farther back, not wanting the promise to take hold quite yet.

“I didn’t have much control last night.” The warmth of his breath feathered across her ear. “My plans for you weren’t intended to be quick. You fracture my control.”

“Just me?”

The eyebrow dropped, and his hands slid around her hips, bringing her in full contact with his body. “Only you, ever.”

She sucked in a deep breath and leaned closer, allowing his fingers to play across the lines of the mark, holding back her response against the whirl of sensations the touch flamed.

He planted a kiss on her forehead. “Let me guess, you’ve read about these, too.”

“Sort of.” She ducked her head and turned for another check. “I can’t see it very well, though. Could you take a picture?”

His mouth dropped open and the brow went up again, but he gave her a nod. Hurrying before he had time to change his mind, she slipped from his arms and back to the bedroom to dig through the drawers in her bureau.

With minimal instruction, she indicated how to take the shot and waited patiently while he adjusted and knelt to get a good angle. It wasn’t until his kisses started along the cheeks of her derrière and his fingers teased the mark that she caught his intent. One halfhearted laugh and she spun out of his grasp. “I guess I’m lucky it’s not imprinted on my forehead.”

“Marks are usually in discreet places,” he said with a grin. “At least on women.”

“This stays on me forever?”

“Consider yourself branded for life, my gift to you.” He swiped at her again, and she danced out of his reach. Grabbing her robe, she slid one arm in and raised a finger of warning to the wicked expression on his face. She turned the camera in her other hand. It took a little enhancement to view the lines, a graceful blend of flames and letters, matched in perfect miniature to those on him.

He held the other side of her robe for her and kissed her bare shoulder before the material covered it. She tossed the camera onto the bed and deliberately brushed her fingers across his mark. The quick shiver of her own body’s response took her by surprise. She halted her question at the expression on his face. His half-lidded gaze and the deep, quick inhale acknowledged the sensations went both ways for both marks.

With a chuckle, she brushed over him again. “Hmm, so many possibilities.”

He grasped her fingers, brought them to his teeth, exacting a slow, hard nip. “Don’t start what you’re not going to finish.”

She withdrew her fingers and roped the sash of her robe. “Oh, I’ll finish this later. It’ll be fun making you beg for a change.”

“This evil side to your personality disturbs me, Mia.”

He turned and slid into his jeans, giving her a prolonged view at his well-muscled backside, proving he could dish out the punishment as well as she could. Caught off guard, she found herself back in his arms with his lips nuzzling at her neck.