Dark Desire (26 page)

I killed my brother.

Mason let the words settle between them, giving Eir the opportunity to run if she wanted to. He cast a sideways glance in her direction. She was still there, and showing no signs of wanting to bolt. He willed the words he had buried so deeply to come up, to finally be heard.

“You already know this part, but I need to tell you again so I don’t miss anything out.” Mason inhaled deeply, letting the breath out. “My unit was sweeping a building in An Nasiriyah. I was in a squad with three others, and we were making our way up to the top floor of a small apartment building. I was third in line and I think that may have saved my life. There was a bomb on the roof, and it was detonated. The first two guys were killed …

“I was thrown back by the blast. I hit my head pretty hard, and the same with one of the other guys.” Mason was simply regurgitating the words, unable to deviate from the version of the story he had played and replayed in his head countless times. “I was knocked out cold, and the other guy—Shane North—had a broken arm, a bad cut above his eye, a concussion and a sprained ankle. I managed to get to my feet and went to check on the others. Some moaning led me to Derek, but I’d been mistaken. He was already dead—a hole the size of a watermelon in the center of his chest.

“That was when I realized the sound was coming from the fourth marine in our squad—” Mason swallowed thickly. “From my brother, Hunter.”

Eir gasped quietly at that admission, but Mason pressed on—unwilling to dwell on it any longer than he had a million times before.

“When the bomb had gone off, it had partially caved in the roof. There were smaller pieces of reinforced steel and bricks from the blast everywhere, but there were a few larger chunks that had fallen too.” Mason looked at Eir, reaffirming what he already knew—that telling her was the right decision, no matter how painful it was.

“I found Hunter buried beneath one of the walls. It had been knocked down in a complete slab and crushed him. All I could see of him was his head and shoulders. He was still lucid, coherent even. He told me that it wasn’t my fault he was dying, but I just couldn’t believe him.”

“Why not?” Eir asked gently.

He swallowed again. “Because I had let him go up the front. If it had been any other time, I would have pushed Hunter behind me, to protect him like a big brother should, but I’d let him take the lead.”

“Oh, Mason, you couldn’t have known,” Eir whispered.

Mason’s chest expanded and contracted with a deep lungful of air. Then another. And another. But no matter how many deep breaths he took, he still couldn’t fight the tears that were building. He swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, looking away, not wanting Eir to see them.

“It doesn’t change anything. I let him take the lead. I let him die. If I’d been up front like I should have been, Hunter would still be here.”

Eir wrapped her warm palm around his wrist. “But
you
wouldn’t be here,” she pleaded. “Mason, look at me …”

He lifted his gaze to hers.

Her fingertips grazed his cheek. “If you’d died, I wouldn’t have met you, and I just know my life would have been empty without you in it.”

He gave a harsh laugh. Even though her words warmed him, he still couldn’t see past his mistake of letting his brother get killed. “You’re a goddess, Eir. And I’m just a human. You would have been just fine.” His words were more severe than he’d intended them to be, and he stood up, his back to her, trying to break the spell he always seemed to be under when Eir was near him.

He felt the heat of her body before the words were spoken. “I may be a goddess, but I’m still a woman, Mason. And for the first time in thousands of years, I suddenly feel like I’m living … and it’s thanks to you.”

Her hand rested on his shoulder. When he turned to face her again, he saw compassion in her eyes, and sadness, but also something else—something he had wanted to spark within her. Lust.

“I lost my sister,” she whispered. “I thought I’d never recover from the loss, but you’ve helped me do that, Mason.”

He felt as if his blood was on fire. Eir’s hand moved from his shoulder up his neck, her touch awakening his body. Her pink tongue darted out of her mouth, swiping along her bottom lip.

Eir’s breath was steady, but he could see how her pulse pounded against her skin. She raked her fingers through his hair, scraping against his scalp. Mason’s eyes fluttered shut, his breath shuddering.

He felt her mouth move against his, her lips warm and supple. Mason let out a groan, his hands finding their way to her slender waist.

Eir’s body melted into his, molding into him like they had been made for each other. Her fingers tightened in his hair, the sensation nudging the line between pleasure and pain. He pulled her in tighter, relishing the feeling of her close to him … finally.

Mason broke away from the ecstasy that was Eir’s mouth, and she arched her head back as he made a trail down her throat, sucking, licking and kissing his way to the dip between her collarbones.

“Mason,” she panted, her fingers running through his hair, her nails scraping the back of his neck. “Make love to me.” Her pleading words were the sweetest song to Mason’s ears. “Let me heal you.”

Bending his knees, Mason scooped Eir up and into his arms, a small, greedy growl escaping his throat. Her slight weight felt amazing cradled against his chest. That was where she belonged, where she would always belong.

Moving swiftly, Mason carried her toward his bedroom, nudging the door closed behind them.

Gently placing Eir down on the bed, he just took a moment to look at her—at the angel sprawled out on his mattress.

Eir propped herself up on her elbows. “What’s wrong, Mason?” she asked, worry creeping into her voice.

Mason tried to reassure her with a gentle smile. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just looking at you … you’re too beautiful to be real.” His voice was rough, but he meant every damn word.

Eir’s cheeks flushed at his compliment, her eyes dropping for a moment before they flashed to his face. “You are too,” she whispered sweetly. Biting her lip, she looked away, but this time only for a moment. “Make love to me?” she asked again.

Mason dropped to his knees at the edge of the mattress, his hands wrapping around her thighs, dragging her body back down and to the edge—closer to him. Eir’s breath hitched in her throat as she looked down the length of her body at him.

He grinned wickedly, trailing his fingers down over her knees and across her slender calves until they reached her delicate ankles. Mason gently massaged the arches of her feet, placing kisses along her instep.

“You are so beautiful,” he said again, unable to stop the feelings from pouring out of his mouth.

She smiled shyly in response, but her eyes told him all he needed to know. Reaching over, he opened the bottom button of her blouse. He watched her face for any signs that she didn’t want this, but he saw no hesitation. All he saw was … heat. Mason’s fingers stretched out for the next button along and opened it.

She shivered when the pads of his fingers grazed the sensitive skin around her flat belly. Once he’d undone all her buttons, her blouse fell open, revealing the perfection of her skin.

Her chest rose and fell quickly as his eyes ran over her body, his brain taking in every detail. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, moistening it, and Mason nearly lost his mind with need. Lowering his head, he placed a kiss above her navel, his tongue darting out to taste her skin. He groaned low in his throat at the flavor of her. Her fragrance was a heady mix of vanilla and roses, the scent going straight to Mason’s head.

Eir buried her fingers in his hair, urging him on. His lips moved higher and he kissed her stomach, the muscles in her torso contracting as his mouth moved over her warm flesh.

He kissed a path up between her breasts, tilting his head to the left and right to kiss the soft mounds, then on to her neck. Mason’s tongue darted out to run along the length of the violet sword tattooed there, hesitating when the warm, supple skin he was expecting was in fact hard and cold.

“Please don’t stop,” Eir begged.

“I wasn’t going to,” he replied, kissing the tattoo once more before moving further up her throat. When he reached her earlobe, he playfully bit the flesh, and Eir moaned. Christ, he was so fucking hard already, but that little sound had somehow made him harder—pushing him to the edge of his already frayed self-control.

Struggling to control himself, he slowed it right down, placing a small kiss on the corner of her mouth, on each eyelid and on the tip of her nose before pulling back slightly.

Her eyes fluttered open, her pale lashes framing those gorgeous dual-ringed irises that all of the Valkyries had. He crushed his mouth against hers again, and her gentle moan allowed his tongue entry. He explored the inside of her mouth, possessing her with his lips while his fingers caressed her face, committing every curve and plane to memory.

Eir’s hands slid from Mason’s head, traveling down his shoulders, along his back and slipping into the waistband of his jeans. Her fingernails dug into the meat of his ass, and he groaned in response. He kept right on kissing her, but when her hands traveled from the back of his jeans to his front, her fingers toying with the button of his pants, he pulled back, panting.

“Stand up,” Eir said, her voice silky and her eyes dark with lust. Mason moved without thinking, crawling backwards off the bed and finding his feet. Eir scooted to the edge, placing her feet on the carpet. She stood up and moved towards him, her eyes dropping from his face down along his body.

Mason’s cock twitched in response to her heated look, and her eyes shot back to his face. She looked surprised for a moment before a sexy, knowing grin spread across her lips. Her fingers trailed the outline of his straining erection through his jeans, Mason’s breath leaving his lungs with a
whoosh
.

“You’re killing me here,” he said gruffly, licking his lips. Eir peeked up at him from under her lashes, her lips quirking up slyly.

“I wouldn’t want that, Mason,” she replied, her fingers moving to the button of his jeans. He held his breath, but released it when her hands kept moving north, to the bottom of his shirt. She tugged up the fabric, exposing his stomach and chest. “Raise your arms,” she said. Mason did as he was told and felt the cool air hit his skin as she pulled his shirt all the way up.

She dropped the shirt on the floor at his bare feet and stood back and stared at him. Her warm palms touched his skin, roving all over his body, giving him goosebumps. His heart pounded furiously against his ribs and the fine hairs on his body stood on end.

His eyes fell to her long neck, her slender shoulders. She was standing before him in only a bra and her jeans, and he knew he needed to see more of her. He ran his fingertips lightly down her shoulders and her arms, then cinched his hands around her waist, running his thumbs in lazy circles along her hipbones, wanting desperately to be touching even more of her.

As if reading his mind, Eir dropped her hands to the fastening of her jeans, slipping the button free and sliding the zipper down. Hooking her thumbs into the waistband, she shimmied out of them, leaving her in her underwear.

Eir kicked off her jeans, dropping her gaze to the floor. If she was embarrassed about her body, he wouldn’t let her be. He curved his index finger and brought it under her chin, tilting her head up. She raised her eyes to his face.

“We’re uneven,” he told her, gesturing down to his jeans. Mason freed the button on his pants and slid the zipper down carefully. He looked up to find Eir watching him hungrily, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip.

Mason dropped his pants, his boxer briefs making the journey too. Eir’s eyes widened as she saw how aroused he was, and she ran her tongue along her lip.

Mason reached out to cup her chin and leaned in, kissing her gently on the mouth.

Standing beside the bed, Eir could feel Mason’s erection pressing against her stomach as he kissed her, her whole body coming alive with his touch. She had dreamed about doing this with Mason a hundred times, but now it was really happening.

She had never had the same hang-ups as Bryn did about losing her virginity. Odin couldn’t threaten to take her immortality away from her like he did with Bryn and the other Valkyries. All Eir really wanted was to find a man she could love, and who would love her, and she thought she had found that with Mason. He was so broken, but then again, so was she. They had both lost a sibling, and they both thought it was their fault. Eir could see that Mason wasn’t to blame for his brother’s death—of course he wasn’t—whereas she
knew
it was her that fault Kristy had been killed. Still, the fact that he felt responsible meant that he understood what she felt, what she was going through.

“Hey, where were you just then?” Mason asked, peppering her face with half-a-dozen tiny kisses. Eir hadn’t even realized she had gone still in his arms. Forcing a smile, she shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about how much I’ve wanted this.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “I’ve wanted this too,” he said, and kissed her again, deeper this time. Eir gave in to him, letting herself fall completely into his body and his touch. He moaned into her mouth, pressing his hips more tightly against hers.

She loved the feel of him against her. She loved that she was responsible for making him feel that way, for making his body respond to hers. The knowledge made her feel strangely powerful. Emboldened by that power, she reached down between them, wrapping her fingers around Mason’s length and applying the slightest pressure.

When he moaned—as if he was in pain—Eir paused a moment, worried, and pulled her hand away.

“Please don’t stop,” he panted against her neck. “That felt so good.”

She reached down once more. This time when Mason groaned, a thrill went through her.

His hands moved down her body, skimming over her torso. “I don’t want there to be any barriers between us,” he said before unclasping her bra. He broke off their burning kiss and tugged at the lacy fabric to pull it free.