Feral Craving (26 page)

Bari slid his hand down her
arm to hold her wrist immobile. She glanced up, meeting his gaze with a
question in hers.

“No, Angel. No.”

Before she could ask, he
dipped and captured her lips again. This kiss wasn’t tentative, wasn’t soft or
touching at all, but a blaze of pure need. She gasped, causing her mouth to
part and that small action had Bari taking advantage and plunging his tongue
inside. He didn’t just kiss her. He conquered her fully with his tongue. His
body was at an angle above her, and as he shifted his hips toward her, he tried
to remember to keep it gentle. She maneuvered her free arm from under his body,
her other still captured by his hand, and grabbed the back of his head, meeting
and matching his kiss. It grew frantic as she began to wither beneath him and
as he shifted, his hips moving between her opening thighs, she grabbed both of
her hands and lifted them above her head, held her there. Lifting his head, he
looked down upon her and saw lust-filled, gorgeous green eyes.

Heat pounded through his veins at the
sight of Mackenzie so exposed beneath him, and the fact she trusted him to hold
her arms above her head, especially given her recent trauma, was astounding.
She was a miracle to him, all of her own, his personal one. His head lowered to
suck in sharply on one rosy tip, drawing it into his mouth with a deep pull,
her exhaled breath and moan guiding him. As he left off the luscious tip, he
worked his lips over every bruise, each mar to her normally perfect skin as he
trailed lower and paid each injury gentle attention. Her hand tightened in his
hair as he rimmed her navel and still continued south along her body. He pulled
his body back, his vision trained on the sweet mound centered between her legs
as he drug a single finger through her folds, exulting in the power that one
touch seemed to hold as Mackenzie bucked and thrashed beneath him. His mouth
followed the same path as his finger, his tongue sweeping between her moist
folds to probe at the entrance of her sex. He steadied himself, heady at just
the thought of the sample. His tongue swept out to circle the entrance, tasting
the musky but sweet honey that wept from the opening. He groaned deep in his
throat as his mouth set on her savagely, sucking and lapping at her as if she
were his last meal.

Her first orgasm ripped through her, and
his hands fell to her hips to hold her in place. Mackenzie’s moans and pleas
didn’t stop until he coaxed another from her. Her body fell limp and supreme
satisfaction about what he provided surged as he inched back up her body. He
gave her a few moments, allowed her to find herself once more as the edge of
her climax receded before he crushed his mouth to hers, the kiss igniting her
arousal once more. His thrust was not easy as he slammed into her small body.
He stilled, shocked at the way he invaded her, his body tensing. Her arms came
around his waist, and nails bit into the flesh of his ass, urging him forward
again. A low animalistic growl escaped him as he thrust into her again, his
head buried at her neck. He could hear the pulse of her blood surging and
flowing with in her veins, the scent of it calling out to him as it never had
before. His body pumped into her, the slick sound of flesh smacking against
each other the only noise in the room besides their rough breaths. A low burn
began in his groin, and the tightening of his sac grew with each move into her
warm, wet heat. He was on the verge of tumbling off a cliff of pure pleasure
when a sharp bite to his throat startled him. His hips pumped harder, each
thrust pounding into her petite body as skin broke under her blunt teeth, his
blood pulled from by the suckling she did at his neck. He plummeted off the
cliff, soared into a free fall of pure ecstasy as his climax crashed into him,
her name roaring from his mouth.

****

She had no idea what came over her, only
knew she was enthralled and captivated, possessed and taken over by this male
taking his claim of her body in all the ways it craved. With him pumping in
long, deep strokes, filling her in ways she never knew existed, her body
responded in such a primitive way that she was taken over with the need to
follow through. His pulse shouted to her, drew her gaze and the craving built
until she couldn’t deny it anymore. In a split moment decision, she turned her
head and bit down, her teeth somehow breaking the skin, and it somehow felt
right. Urges screamed for his blood, and at the first taste of Bari’s crimson
fluid, her body let out a shout of triumph, his power and essence singing
through her veins, going to each injury and wrapping it with a comfort she long
ago recognized.

She heard his orgasm echo throughout the
room, and as a splash of heat coated her inside, her own body responded with
such a powerful orgasm that she tensed, freezing her entire being up before the
wave of ecstasy began to flow through her. The orgasm was so intense that she
tasted it on her tongue, felt it from the tip of her toes spreading up the
length of her body to her head, her core fluttering with each pulse. A growl
sounded in her throat as it took her over, and with her mouth latched firmly on
his neck, she closed her eyes as the pleasure brought tears to her eyes. It
wasn’t pain or sadness but pure unadulterated joy at this male and the
connection that seemed to run so deep through them.

As her body came back to settled ground,
she pulled her mouth from his neck and licked her lips, tasting both herself
and the musky, deep scent of Bari. She should have been horrified, but instead
the droplets trailing his neck only urged her forward, and she gave in to the
craving. He rumbled his approving growl at the touch of her tongue, and leaning
back, she met his eyes briefly before taking the hand on the back of his neck and
pressing it down to hers. “Take me, Bari. Please, take me into you. I need you
to. Please…” She didn’t know why she felt the intense need for him nor did
she understand why her body hummed with such power.

Her legs still cradling his hips, wrapped
firmly around him as he visibly hesitated, his eyes glancing from hers and back
to the pulse beating on her neck. She pushed his shoulder, knowing she had only
been able to because he allowed it and as she rose up on top of him, his body
laid beneath hers, she set her palm behind his neck and pulled him, lifting him
to her before she took him deep inside of her again. Her head tossed back with
a moan, before she set his mouth above her breast and began to ride him in
slow, sure strokes. She felt every delicious inch of him filling her, her walls
clenched around him as she rose and he withdrew before her body shouted in
triumph as he filled her fully once more. She’d never be able to get enough of
him and wasn’t quite sure she ever wanted to. “Bari … take me.”

His mouth hovered over the swell of her
breast, and his hot breath caused her nipple to scream for his touch. His nose
brushed the creamy skin above her breast, and her toes curled. His cheek rubbed
against her nipple, and a swirling vortex of pleasure spread inside her body.
He groaned, and she took his choice away and pressed him harder to her, arching
her body toward him, and buried his mouth against her body.

A sharp pierce shocked her, and she
jerked her body before pure pleasure ran undiluted through her veins. The soft
flesh of her breast gave way like butter as he sliced through her skin. Her
steady sure strokes over his hardened length, combined with power and sensation
ripping through her, fueled another release as she thrust herself down upon him
almost violently, both of them shouting out.

Slowing his pulls, he slipped his fangs
free from her flesh and ran his tongues over the small wounds left behind,
lapping in a gentle fashion. He dropped back to the bed, pulling Mackenzie upon
him, and heaved several deep breaths. His head turned and lips grazed the skin
between her shoulder and neck as he pressed his lips to her.

“Are you okay?” He pulled back to gaze
into her eyes. Her entire body hummed with a power she had never sensed before.
She figured if she tried, she would be able to jump over entire buildings, run
the length of the island without losing her breath, or take down even the most
viscous warrior she could find. She felt great, if not the best she ever had,
and as her body started to shake under the intensity of power, she also
recognized a deeper connection that ran through every fiber of her being. It
was almost like invisible threads had wound themselves around her body and
connected them, wrapped all up in the invisible fibers that were Bari. She knew
without even having to ask that if he were to go anywhere she’d be able to find
him by the connection alone. The feeling gave her a moment’s pause as she
realized it. Again, the situation should freak her out, but it didn’t. She
didn’t understand why.

As the thoughts bounced around in her
head, she shifted her body above his and lay so their skin touched completely,
her face turning to press into the smooth expanse of his neck. Her hand
absently played with his hair on the opposite side, the strands running through
her fingers like smooth silk.

“I feel different. Yet fine. Better than
fine actually.” She bit her lip and wondered if he felt the same as she, if he
sensed the connection that seemed to be growing deeper by the second, the one
now wrapping itself around her heart. “I feel like you are a piece of me now,
Bari … like you’re inside of me constantly.” His hands roamed up and down her
back, soothing the skin and tracing each curve of her body, and as she spoke
those words, they stilled briefly before moving again. If she were honest with
herself, she liked the connection, yet an impression in the back of her mind
screamed there was no reversing what they had done. It was scary to venture off
into an uncharted territory and almost overwhelming to even begin to wonder
what it was. She didn’t regret it, wouldn’t never do so, but she didn’t want to
force this kind of connection on Bari, if he wasn’t receptive.

Mackenzie lifted her head and propped it
on a hand, gazing into the ice blue eyes of her lover, her best friend, and saw
the flicker of thoughts running across his face. She knew he was a quiet male,
had always been that way, and while he spoke to her more than others, those
thoughts running in his head gave her pause to wonder if he would open up to
her.

“What are you thinking about? Are you
okay?”

“Thinking? It’s more of a feeling than a
thought, Mac.” His hand lifted to cup her face, his thumb brushing over her
cheek soothingly. “It’s not a bad one, Angel, just stronger than I have ever
felt. I agree with you. I can sense you deep within me, a part of me as you
have never been, though I have always carried you with me. And even if you did
not realize it, I have always felt strongly for you.”

Her soul had been bare without Bari. She had
known since the day he left, but now, with this deeper connection between them,
if she were to be pulled from him again, there would be utter devastation left
in her wake for all, until he found her. She felt that as surely as she knew
her own heartbeat.

“Bari, what do you mean by that?” She
needed a firm understanding of what was going on around her, with her, much the
way he had.

“I meant simply I have loved you for a
long time, Mac. You became more to me than just a friend. You needed to feel
safe, and I endeavored to provide that as best I could, though it wasn’t
enough.” His thumb stilled, and he tugged her toward him gently, pressing his
lips to hers.

Shock hit her system, followed quickly by
elation. She wanted to jump up and dance around, shout to the heavens that he
loved her. Or had said he did. She didn’t know how much of that love came from
a simple comfort, the two of them having been in each other’s lives for so
long, or if he actually experienced the true and genuine love deep down, for her.
She returned his kiss, losing herself in the feel of this male beneath her,
touching his lips to hers so soft and sensual that it tingled all the way to
her toes. She didn’t rush the touch, didn’t pull away or push him for more but
simply delighted in the passion passing back and forth between them. She
intended to let the moment draw out, to savor his taste, his touch, and the
feelings he produced. Her hand cupped his face as the kiss expanded, the
soothing, slow rasps of tongues stroking and caressing each other. She felt the
connection between them, the love growing, and knew without a doubt she
wouldn’t have changed a single thing. There were no more times for regrets. Their
lives had been built and a path forged for each of them together.

The kisses soon turned passionate, and as
he rolled their bodies and took hers in one smooth stroke, she held in rapt
attention of the silent communication passing between them. Their love making
was slow and full of so much passion that when she flew over the edge, she
heard herself groaning out her love for him, causing him to tremble and follow
right after her. It was the soft kiss to each of her eyes and his arms winding
around her that allowed her body finally to fall into an exhausted and
comforting sleep.

She woke several hours later and reached
out, only to touch the bed’s empty, yet warm sheets next to her. She sat up,
drawing the sheet up to her naked breasts, and worried her lip, wondering where
Bari had disappeared to. It was almost immediate, the pull, the connection to
him that told her he was close. Her mind eased, and she rose, tossed back the
covers and headed for the shower. She couldn’t explain the feeling, but the
link she sensed to him seemed very real.