Cursed: Brides of the Kindred 13 (50 page)

“Charlotte,” he murmured and her name was like a prayer on his lips. Like a litany of regret and ruined hope. “Oh, Charlotte…”

He lay on the mattress and pulled her down beside him. Before she knew it, Charlie was cuddled against him with his broad chest pressed to her back.

“Stavros?” she whispered uncertainly as he wound long, muscular arms around her and held her close. They were facing the golden surface of the Pillar and she could see sadness moving in his eyes as he tucked the top of her head under his chin.

“I cannot use you that way,” he said and gave a deep sigh. “I cannot bring myself to hurt or rape you.”

“It wouldn’t be rape,” Charlie protested weakly. “I
told
you to do it.”

“But not because you want to—because we
have
to. That is not how I hoped our first time together would be.”

“We would’ve had to anyway,” she pointed out. “I’m pretty sure this is the final exam for everybody who comes here. I think that’s what
Ssstha
and
Hsssthnk
were talking about when they said they were going to have their ‘oneness’ or whatever.”

“So you think the last test is—”

“Making love here, in front of the Pillar of the Heart. Seeing if you can get it to open. To split,” she finished for him. “Yes.”

“Splitting the Pillar,” he said meditatively.

Charlie surprised herself by giggling.

“Sorry. That just sounds like a really dirty euphemism for something else.”

“It does.” The ghost of a smile traced his sensuous mouth and then vanished. “No matter what it sounds like, if we do not accomplish it within the hour, we will be handed over to the enemy.”

Charlie shivered. “I don’t want that, Stavros. I don’t want that weird guy with the metal teeth and the split personality to get us! We
have
to do this if only so we can get out of here in one piece.”

“Agreed,” he said heavily. “Although we do not really have to make love to ‘split the Pillar.’”

“We don’t? What do you mean?”

“According to the Joined One, the main requirement is for me to leave my seed in your pussy,” Stavros murmured. “If you prefer to keep things on a less intimate basis, I can simply wait to penetrate you until I am ready to…”

“To come?” Charlie whispered breathlessly. “Um, yes, I guess that would be a good way to do it.”

“It would,” he agreed. “Since we are not doing it for love or bonding, we
should
try to keep it professional.”

“I suppose,” Charlie said softly. There was a lump in her throat and her eyes stung for a moment but she didn’t know why. “And…” she hesitated but it had to be said. “And that means no biting, right?”

“No biting,” he agreed. “I don’t think I could stop myself from bonding you to me if I bit you first. And it would be dangerous to have both my essence in your bloodstream and my seed in your pussy at the same time. We might form a permanent bond by accident.”

“But when you bit me the other night and injected your essence…do you think I still have some in my bloodstream?”

He shook his head. “Trace amounts only. I don’t think it will be enough to form a bond.”

“Well…all right.” Charlie shivered. She had been telling herself for so long that she didn’t want anything to do the Kindred, that the idea of bonding with one—even Stav—turned her off. But did it? Did it really? For the first time she allowed herself to wonder what it might be like…to open herself to him completely…to have both his fangs and his cock in her at the same time…

Stop it,
she scolded herself.
You shouldn’t think like that—remember Missy!
But somehow the thought didn’t hold the same guilt it had. It was almost as though re-living the awful event had given her a new perspective on it. Not that she—

“Very well,” Stavros murmured, pulling her out of her guilty thoughts. “Will you allow me to prepare you first? You are very tight and I am…not small. I would not wish to take you unless you are ready to receive me.”

“Oh…right. Of course. I, um, guess so.” Charlie found herself unaccountably shy and she couldn’t meet his eyes in the shiny golden surface beside them. “How, um…how did you want to prepare?”

“I want to taste you again,” he growled softly. “I want to be between your thighs, lapping up your juices and tasting your honey right from the source, just once more.”

“Oh, well…” Charlie felt like half the blood in her body was rushing to her face and the other half was rushing to the sensitive spot between her legs. “I guess that’s okay. If you…really want to.”

“More than anything,” he assured her.

“But what about preparing
you?”
she asked. “I mean, if you’re not going to put it in until you’re, uh, ready to go? Or come…or whatever?” She could feel her cheeks getting hotter and hotter.

“Trust me, Charlotte,” he growled. “Tasting you will
more
than get me ready to come. I love the taste and scent of your soft, sweet little pussy. Licking you there makes me hotter than anything besides biting you.”

At the thought of him biting her, a shiver of pure desire ran down her spine. God, if only he could…but no. That was out of the question. She had to get back on track.

“Okay…how do you, uh, want me?” Charlie dared to raise her gaze to his and saw that his indigo eyes were half-lidded with lust.

“Get back on your hands and knees,” he rumbled. “I like the way you look like that. I want to taste you from behind.”

“You…you do?” Charlie wished she didn’t sound so breathless but she couldn’t help it. Though this act had once been one to fear and avoid, it now made her heart beat faster and her breath come short.

“You know I do. Come…” He was already helping her up.

Charlie let the big Kindred take off her long white robe. Once she was completely naked, she got up on her hands and knees. Though she tried not to look at her reflection in the golden pillar, she couldn’t help seeing how her breasts hung down like ripe fruit, her tight nipples jutting from their tips like berries.

“Gods, you’ve lovely.” Stavros’s deep voice was hoarse with desire and longing. Already Charlie could see the outline of his erection beneath the thin white sleep trousers he wore.

She gave a nervous little laugh.

“You’re not half bad yourself.”

His long hair was loose around his broad, bare shoulders and the black, iridescent lines of his mark seemed to shimmer in the reflection on the golden pillar.

“I am glad you find me pleasing,” he rumbled. He was getting her positioned, right on the edge of the mattress and now he sank to his knees behind her so that his mouth was level with her spread thighs. “Because the Goddess knows I find you so,” he finished, gazing between her legs in open admiration.

Knowing that he was looking at her pussy made Charlie feel nervous and hot. Out of instinct, she started to close her thighs but Stav held them gently open.

“No, Charlotte—let me look at you. Let me remember you since I am never destined to do this again.”

“I…” She didn’t know what to say to that. The idea that they would go their separate ways after this had occurred to her—of course it had. But it had never made her feel so sad before. “Stav…” she murmured.

But just then he leaned forward and pressed a soft, gentle kiss between her thighs.

Charlie jumped and shivered when she felt his mouth connect with her outer pussy lips. God, that felt
amazing
and he had just given her one kiss. Already she was getting wet and hot between her legs and she wondered if he could tell it.

Her question was answered by a low, approving rumble from deep in his chest.

“Look at that—your sweet little pussy is already getting wet, my
numala
,” he murmured, spreading her outer lips with his thumbs. “Gods, I love how it easy it is to make your honey flow.”

Charlie bit her lip as she felt fresh wetness come from her spread pussy. Stavros leaned forward and lapped it up eagerly, bathing her slick inner folds with his hot tongue.

“Oh,
God,”
she moaned and couldn’t help pressing back against him, trying to get more of the incredible sensation of his mouth on her open cunt.

“That’s right,
falinda,”
he growled softly. “Come to me, press your pussy to my mouth. Open yourself for me and let me taste your juices flowing.”

Charlie did as he ordered, spreading her thighs wider and tilting her pelvis, trying to give him easier access to her slippery inner folds. Stavros wrapped his arms around her thighs and split her wide, pressing forward to lap and suck her spread pussy and sending sparks of bright-hot pleasure through every nerve in her body.

Charlie couldn’t help turning her head to watch in the mirrored surface of the pillar as the big Kindred Tasted her. He had a hungry look on his face as he thrust forward, first circling her throbbing clit with his tongue and then plunging it deep in her pussy to fill her as much as he could while he tasted her juices right from the source.

Oh God, soon that’s going to be his cock,
Charlie couldn’t help thinking.
He’s actually going to put it inside me…going to fill me up and come in me!

The forbidden thought seemed to act like a catalyst to her ever growing pleasure. With a little gasp, she felt the orgasm which had been building from the moment Stavros first dropped to his knees behind her suddenly pounce like a waiting tiger.

“Ahh!” she wailed, her back arching and her toes curling while her hands fisted in the mattress. “Oh, God, Stavros…
Please!”

He kept licking her, lapping away her juices until her throbbing pussy was completely cleaned. Then he was beside her on the mattress again, holding her in his arms.

“Gods, I love to hear you call my name like that,” he growled, pulling her close for a kiss.

His fangs were long and sharp and she could feel them pressing dangerously close as his mouth descended on hers. Charlie didn’t give a damn. She welcomed him recklessly, opening her mouth for his seeking tongue, reveling in the delicious taste of her own secret flavor on his lips.

Their mouths clashed for a moment, pressing hot and hard, and then they drew apart, both panting for breath.

“Charlotte…” He cupped her cheek and looked at her, his eyes blazing with hunger. “I need to be in you now, need to fill you with my seed. Do you feel ready to receive me?”

“I…yes.” She nodded, feeling flushed and hot all over her body. “God, yes, Stav. Please…do it.”

“I want to but…” he frowned and drew back a little. “I think we should be careful.”

“Careful how?” Charlie wanted to know. “I mean, you already got me, uh, ready.” More than ready, to tell the truth. She was throbbing and empty between her legs. She had never been more ready to be filled in her life.

But Stavros was still frowning.

“I just don’t want to go too far. We are, after all, only doing this in order to make the pillar split. And if the only requirement is that my seed should be inside you, perhaps I should only put myself a little way in.”

Charlie felt her heart sink. “You mean like…just the tip?”

He nodded. “I think it would be best. As we are trying, once more, to be professional.”

Charlie bit her lip.
Screw professional, I just want you inside me!
she wanted to shout. But she knew he was right. They weren’t doing this for love or any kind of emotional attachment. They were still just co-workers and partners, not lovers. And she ought to be grateful to Stavros for trying to keep it that way.

“All right,” she said at last. “We can do that. We can be careful.”

“This way, then.” Stavros turned them on their sides again so that he was right behind her.

Charlie nearly moaned when she saw the two of them mirrored in the golden pillar once more. She was lying on her side and Stavros was right behind her, seeming to loom over her because he was so much bigger.

“Um…why like this?” she asked a bit breathlessly. “You, uh, want to watch?”

“I want
you
to watch,” he said seriously. “Watch and tell me if I’m going in too far. I don’t…can’t trust myself to stop without your help. And I fear if I watch the visual stimulation will be too much. I need you to guide me.”

“Oh…” Charlie felt like her heart was beating so hard it was shaking her entire body. So
she
was going to be in control here? The thought was both frightening and intriguing.

“Is that all right with you?” he murmured. “I’m sorry to put the burden on you, Charlotte, but I want you so
much
. I don’t trust myself not to thrust in too deep or even take you completely if you don’t tell me when to stop.”