The Devil You Need (11 page)

Back to the Dance

It’s true young miss had faded ‘way, death’s door had
opened wide,

But if her life would on him weigh, her death he
cannot abide.

Heat. Tingling against my skin like electricity. Healing
heat that pulsed in my breast, drawing me slowly back to consciousness. With
the heat came awareness, and the ability to feel my slowly warming limbs again.

Hard hands skimmed my body, sending strobes of magic deep
beneath my skin.

I twitched under the uncomfortable tingling, my fingers
clenching as the feeling of being stuck repeatedly with pins spread through my
hands and lower legs.

I tried to force my eyelids open. They refused to cooperate,
but the hands lifted away, along with the healing energy.

I pushed myself upright, groaning with pain and an
overwhelming weakness. Dizziness swamped me and nausea bloomed in my gut. I
swallowed hard, jamming a hand in the mattress to hold myself upright.

I took a deep breath, willing my stomach to settle and the
dizziness to retreat. A moment later I risked opening my eyes. It took a moment
for me to remember where I was and how I had gotten there.

The room was stark, cold, and appeared as if a tornado had
gone through it. The stone walls wept with moisture, their surface scarred with
claw marks. The floor around the mattress was covered in stuffing and debris. I
looked down and saw there wasn’t much left of the thin pallet I was lying on.
Someone had ripped it to shreds around me.

The room’s single door was battered, deeply scored, and
stained with blood. The blood made my heart twist and my gaze flew toward the
shadowed corners.

He was standing in the farthest corner from me, his dark
head bowed and his hands clenched at his sides.

“Dialle?”

“Leave me, Astra. It’s not safe for you here.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

His head lifted slowly. Two glistening trails silvered his
golden cheeks. Tears. “I don’t think you understand. The Dialle you knew and
loved is gone. What’s left is dangerous to you and everybody else, Astra. Just
leave me here and let me die. It would be best for everyone.”

I pushed myself off the mattress and stood, brutally shoving
the dizziness back as I took a step toward him. “That’s just so frunkin’
stupid, Dialle. Obviously you’re not gone. If your dark side had completely
taken over you wouldn’t be wanting to die.” I stopped a foot away from him and
watched as he seemed to suck in on himself, his muscles tightening under a
desperate bid for control. He shook his head.

“I almost killed you.” His voice broke and it took my heart
with it.

I closed the last few inches between us. “But you didn’t.
You stopped. And you healed me. You’re still in there, Dialle. Let me pull you
back. Let me offer you my light.”

He sniffed, shaking his head again. His hand came out to
clasp my shoulder as I moved closer, holding me back. “Please, Astra. I’m
begging you. Leave now, before it comes back.”

I shrugged off his hand, stepping into him and wrapping my
arms around his waist. I lay my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes,
feeling him vibrate against me. “I’m not leaving. You need to let the dark go,
Dialle. Embrace your light side. If you don’t, I’m going to die and you’ll have
to live with having killed us both.”

I rubbed soothing circles over his skin, skimming my fingers
up the satin width of his back.

Still he held himself rigid, his fists clenched, but his
heart beat strongly against my chest, his breathing had quickened.

I held on tightly, willing him to succumb to my love, until
his muscles lost some of their rigidity and his head dropped to rest against
mine. He expelled a shaky breath and his hands finally lifted, wrapping around
my arms. “Astra…” He held me with a desperate kind of strength. I bit my lip
and tried to ignore the pain.

“Shhh. Just hold me. We’ll take this a step at a time.”

His arms slipped around me and his knees seemed to give out.
We sagged slowly toward the ground. I held onto him as we dropped, keeping him
from landing too hard.

We sat on the filthy floor, leaning against the wall.
Dialle’s arms were still around my waist and his head drooped. He panted
softly, obviously beyond exhaustion. “I’m so tired.”

I kissed his forehead. “Sleep. I won’t let go.”

Another shuddering breath had him closing his eyes, leaning
his head against the wall. “I’ll just rest for a few minutes. Don’t let me
sleep, Astra. I dream horrible things when I sleep.”

“Okay. I’ll smack you awake after five minutes.”

He laughed and my stomach twisted at the rustiness of the
sound. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen his slow, sexy smile.

His breathing deepened and he fell sideways, leaning heavily
against my shoulder. His head dropped to rest on mine and his soft breath
feathered over me. I rubbed my hand over his knee, determined to keep him calm
while he slept. After only moments, my eyes drooped closed too. I thought I’d
just rest them a few minutes. But Dialle’s healing had really taken it out of
me and I soon drifted off too.

* * * * *

My sleep was filled with violent images, interspersed with
sensual episodes that stood out like a fire demon on a snow-covered landscape.
Pain and blood gave way to heated lips trailing down my throat, or the feel of
a hard cock pressing against my skin.

I tossed and turned, my mind twisting under the burden of
what Dialle and I had done…what we had left to do.

Fractured light flashed across my inner vision, heating me
and then spearing me with knifelike agony. My body alternately heated and cooled,
blossomed and cringed, and, when sleep was no longer tenable, I clawed my way
out of it.

I awoke more tired than when I’d fallen asleep. The cold,
moist air caressed my heated skin and something firm framed my back. I
struggled to remember where I was…how I’d gotten there.

Slowly the episode with Dialle returned to me and my heart
twisted with pain. How were we going to recover from the horror of what we’d
both done?

Soft breath bathed my cheek, sweet with the scent of the man
I craved. I opened my eyes, blinking hard in the bright light coming from the
single, small window high above our heads.

I realized we were lying on the torn mattress. When had we
moved? I didn’t remember. I shifted on the mattress and Dialle’s arm tightened
around me like a vise. He pulled me closer, his cock pressing urgently against
my naked flesh.

We were both naked. I didn’t remember how that had happened
either.

But I wasn’t all that upset about it. My sexual core
tightened with need. My skin came alive under his touch, every nerve ending
expanding to enjoy the friction of his skin against mine. His arm shifted
slightly and a large, hot hand encompassed one breast.

My pussy throbbed in response.

I swallowed hard, wondering how one went from nearly killing
each other to making love in the space of a few hours.

As Dialle rolled his hips and pressed himself into me, I
realized I was about to find out. “Dialle—”

“Shhh.” His hand caressed my breast, the lightly calloused
fingers tweaking my nipple. “I need you, Astra. Let me make love to you.”

I gasped as his other hand skimmed blazing heat over my hip,
slipping between my thighs. Whatever my mind decided about his request, my body
had already succumbed. Eagerly.

I opened my thighs to give him room to play and pressed back
against his delicious hardness. I reached back, clasping a warm buttock and
pulling him close in silent acquiescence.

He pressed his cock against my entrance, finding me wet and
ready, and slipped inside on a sigh.

My world blossomed, embracing the beauty of his flesh
claiming mine. He began to move and sensation flashed outward from the places
he touched me, spreading in a bright wave through my body.

He took me gently, carefully, as if trying to make up for
what had happened the night before. I knew his mind wasn’t healed. I could feel
every fracture in the depths of my soul, but I could let him give me this
tender coupling and, with it, we could begin the process of healing each other.

Pleasure pulsed in a delicious glow in my limbs, squeezing a
fist of need in my gut. His hands skimmed gently over my skin, setting the
nerve endings on fire wherever he touched. His lips branded my back and nape
with fire, making me shiver with delight.

Inside me, his rigid shaft created delicious friction with
every slow, tender stroke. My pleasure climbed higher with every thrust,
stoking the fire of my need. Release found me in a quick, surprising wash.

I cried out as the coil of need loosened in a flash fire of
bliss, softening my limbs and making my sensual core tighten under a toe-curling
wave of delight. My body milked Dialle’s shaft, urging him to follow me over
into release, and he succumbed with a husky cry, plunging deep. His arms
tightened almost painfully around me as he came, his muscles turned to stone
against my pleasantly limp body.

Heat pulsed deep within me, accompanied by the violent
jerking of his flesh. The joy of having him inside my body again was almost
frightening in its intensity. I knew we had rocky times ahead of us. But at
least we’d taken the first step toward healing.

Dialle kissed my nape and shoulders and I shivered under the
gentle touch.

I lifted his hand to kiss the strong fingers. “Well that
sucked, but I took one for the team.”

Dialle stilled and I worried that I’d overstepped. Was it
too early to try to reclaim our easy, mutual sniping? Was his mind too tender
to understand that I’d been joking? But then he started to move inside me again
and I gasped at the exquisite joy.

“Let’s see if I can make this time less painful for you.”
The laughter in his voice allowed me to breathe again.

“Yeah. I’m thinking practice might make perfect.”

Dialle dropped a leg over my thighs and wrapped an arm
around my waist, twisting quickly so that I was on my stomach beneath him and
he was straddling me. He lifted my hips and thrust, going deep enough to make
me gasp. “We’ll find out, pretty Tweener.”

Something in his voice alerted me. He’d changed. Gone
darker, more intense. Panic sent a thrill of fear through me. I tried to push
upward but he placed a hand on my shoulder and pressed me down. “Be still,
Astra. Let me do this.” There was almost a pleading quality in his voice and
the thrill of fear became slicing dread.

He reached beneath me and pinched my nipple between two
fingers as he thrust hard into my body. I held my breath as the pinch tightened
to the point of pain. I gritted my teeth, plotting my escape.

His other hand tightened on my hip as he thrust faster and
harder, slamming deep and sending a concussive kick through my body with every
thrust. Despite my fear and the pain of his restraining hands and near violent
thrusts, my body reacted to the new, aggressive style of coupling. A different
kind of pleasure throbbed in my sexual core. A new tightness grew in my lower
belly. I gasped as his fingers tugged on my nipple and felt a jolt of fresh
excitement as a slender ribbon of pain speared through me. My pussy clenched in
reaction to the excitement. I tweaked my other nipple and my excitement
doubled.

Dialle’s hips pistoned behind me, his thrusts creating a
near painful friction in my clutching channel. But I welcomed the pain,
relished the violent nature of his thrusts. I embraced my dark side, realizing
for the first time that I’d never allowed that side free during sex. At that
moment I felt the loss of all the wasted time.

All that pleasure.

Dialle’s hand left my breast and tangled in my hair. He
pulled my head back as he slammed into me, every breath a harsh expulsion in
the otherwise silent room.

He twisted my hair around his hand, sending tiny fingers of
pain through my scalp and new pleasure spiraling through my body. My nipples
peaked painfully. My pussy throbbed, and heat burst in a violent surge from the
tight coil of pleasure deep within.

I screamed and came violently as he slammed into me a final
time, his hand leaving my hair to frame my hips, holding me tight as he spent
himself impossibly deep inside my body.

Wave after wave of delight curled through me until I shook
under its incredible power. My arms gave out and I slammed down onto the
musty-smelling mattress, my face buried in its dusty depths and my breath
heaving through my lips.

Dialle collapsed over me and rolled to the side, pulling me
over and capturing my lips in a desperate, hungry kiss. His hands shook as they
pushed my tangled hair from my face and his sexy, black eyes no longer roiled
with the colors of rage. “Thank you, Astra.”

I reached up and placed my palm over his face, my thumb
caressing the soft fullness of his bottom lip. “For what?”

He dropped his head, resting it against mine. “For embracing
my dark side. For accepting it, even when I couldn’t.”

I shook my head. “My dark side seems to like your dark
side.” I grinned.

He smiled too and my stomach jumped at the sweet sight. I
hadn’t seen Dialle smile like that in months.

He settled down next to me and pulled me close, touching my
temple in a soft kiss. “I think I could sleep for a week.”

Nestling into his warm arms, with his scent enveloping me
and my body pleasantly tired and sore, I closed my eyes too. I thought I’d just
hold him while he slept. But sleep soon pulled at me and, after a few moments,
I joined him in oblivion.

* * * * *

Astra? What the hell are you doing?

I thought I was just having a nightmare. There was nothing
more terrifying than my sister’s dulcet tones banging around in my head. I
grimaced in my sleep and snuggled closer to Dialle, hoping his firm embrace
would chase away the evil nasties in my dreams.