Touch of the Fire God [Scions of the Ankh 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (15 page)

“How are you feeling, zenj’a?” he asked gently.

“More informed, not necessarily happy about the information, mind you.” She produced a kind of grimace and began looking at her toes. “I’m sorry for the way—” she began.

“You have no need for apology; your fear was well deserved, as was your anger,” he interrupted smoothly.

“Still, I know that—I mean, I felt ...” She stopped, took a deep breath, and started over. “I know you would never hurt me,” she said at last, not comfortable even admitting that small bit of information.

Ralabos gave a slow nod, acknowledging the fact that she at least trusted him a little.

“What do we do now?” She raised her dark eyes and met his stormy gray ones.

“We do not have to decide anything right now, zenj’a. Thoth and I will discuss the matter at hand. Perhaps you’d like to rest a while?”

“Don’t do that.” Rene squinted her eyes up at him. “I’m not a child. This is my life at stake here, if I understand matters correctly.” Rene refused to give up control of her life to these people. Whatever was going to happen to her would only be with her cooperation.

“We do not wish to control you.”

“And that!” She snapped, pointing a finger at him accusingly. “That has to stop. Stay out of mind unless I invite you! Seriously, for one as old as yourself, your poor manners are inexcusable.” Rene stepped forward, jabbing him in his hard chest.

“Are you nominating yourself to teach me, beau deesse?” He stepped forward, making the contact even closer.

She found that, in response to his closeness, her hand laid flat against his chest. She could feel the heat of him emanating through the thin top he wore.

“At a loss for words, zenj’a?” he further chided her, snaking his arms around her until she was flush against him.

He held her so tightly that she could barely breathe. Though to be honest, she suspected it was her libido that blocked her breathing ability.

Rene found her other hand caressing his back, loving the ridges of muscle she felt along the way. He sighed with pleasure, and this pleased her. Rene tilted her face up to his and accepted a tender kiss.

At least when it began it was tender. Very soon, however, she made it more demanding, insistent. He obliged her, tasting her greedily. His hand held her head in place as he explored her with his tongue.

Rene felt his heat seep into her very pores, enflaming her desire for him to a level she had never experienced. She felt hot, feverish, and sorely overdressed.

So did he.

For that moment, his kiss, his touch, comprised her entire existence, so that she had no hint that her world was slightly off-balance. Ralabos broke the kiss and took a step back so that she could take in her surroundings. She didn’t know how he continued to shock her, but he did. With an attack of vertigo, she surmised that they were in the garden, in a well-secluded spot.

Ralabos smiled at her. “I have never made it a secret how much I desire you. But you must want me too, zenj’a. If you don’t want to be here, I will take you back. But if you stay, I will make love to you.”

He was giving her a choice, and it was killing him. His cock was hard and pulsing for her. Only for her and no other. It took everything in his enormous power to not simply give in to the blinding heat and take her over and over again.

But time was his teacher, and in his wisdom he knew there was the possibility she would regret it later. Yes, she could very well give in to him without thinking and hate him for it later.

Even in the pre-dawn light, her dark eyes seduced him. They were full of desire. He wanted her desire for him. He wanted her to want him because he was Ralabos, her Ralabos, not simply because her body responded to his touch.

It seemed an eternity before she stepped forward and ran her fingers lightly across his jaw. With both hands she reached for him, drawing his lips down to hers and plunging her tongue inside his mouth.

Relief coursed through his body. She pulled away for a second and looked into his eyes. “I want to stay, Ralabos. I want you to make love to me again. Something about you draws me.”

Even as she said the words she knew them to be true. She wanted him, had wanted him since she first dreamed of him, since she first saw him in the flesh. Even having him did not lessen her desire for him. It merely increased it.

At times, he frightened her because she didn’t always know what exactly she was dealing with, but one thing was for certain—he had no intentions of hurting her, and he cared for her deeply.

He picked her up then and laid her gently in a bed of flowers and knelt beside her. Rene was sure the gardener would be mad as hell, but she didn’t care. The heady perfume of the flowers entranced her further.

He slowly undressed her, taking the time to run his fingers across her body in wonderment. Rene felt shy, but she would not let her shyness ruin the wonderful thing that was about to happen to her. She sighed, her resolve set as she watched him with a look of heavy arousal.

When she was completely naked and her clothes were cast God knew where, Ralabos simply made his vanish. He stared down at her, smiling the biggest smile she had ever seen.

“You are beautiful, Rene,” he seemed to murmur to himself as if experiencing her for the first time. Rene blushed, knowing his keen eyes could see every inch of her as night began to give way to the morning.

Ralabos changed his position until he was nestled between her thighs, displaying all her folds for his viewing pleasure, and then his tasting pleasure. Rene’s back arched right off the ground at the first stroke of his tongue.

His strong hand stroked her outer thigh as he tasted her. Then his other hand began to manipulate the small, sensitive nub Rene had at one time thought was all but dead.

He knew her body well and intended to give as much pleasure as he took. He licked her slowly, swirling his tongue around her clit and occasionally delving inside, loving the feel of her against his tongue. She moaned and squirmed, Ralabos didn’t know how long he could last with the sounds she was making.

Ralabos, knowing he was too close to orgasm, pulled away and bade her to sit up. Curiously, she watched as he lay down, his cock hard as a rock, and pointed at her.

“Ride me, zenj’a,” he said seductively. “The control is all yours.” Then he laid back, his hands behind his head, his long braid resting across his chest as he waited for her next move.

Rene licked her lips a little nervously. Then slowly she straddled him, her inexperience momentarily embarrassing her.

“Do not hesitate. You can do no wrong here. For your comfort, take the head of my cock and make it wet with you. It will make the penetration easier.”

Rene felt herself get even more turned on from his direction, but she did as he told her. The mushroom head of his cock teased her opening, but she merely stroked it against her, giggling softly at the way he gasped as she worked him between her legs without actually letting him enter.

His cool, laid-back pose was over as both hands came from behind his head and grasped either thigh firmly. His breathing was ragged, and the hard muscles in his stomach flexed as a result. He was damned beautiful!

Rene felt the torture was enough when she could no longer stand him not being in her. Her body remembered him and wanted him badly.

Ralabos slid into her gently as she sat slowly upon him. He bit his lip, straining from the effort of not ramming inside of her. At last, every inch of him was inside her gloriously tight, wet chasm.

“Ride me,” he urged her hoarsely. She began to undulate her hips, slowly at first, her pleasure apparent as she threw her head back and purred low in her throat. Her rhythm increased, and she dug her nails unmercifully into his chest and began to ride him with abandon.

Ralabos felt ready to explode. Ralabos' hand grabbed her breast and roughly squeezed it. She gasped at the pleasure and pain, then vocally urged him on, and he complied.

He could not control himself any longer. He rammed his hips up as she rode him, embedding himself in her further and increasing the sensations for them both.

“Yes,” she moaned loudly. “Oh yes, do that!” She opened her thighs and tightened them around his hips as her ride continued at a mad pace.

Ralabos sent bursts of heat through his cock into Rene’s very walls. She became so slick for him that he could thrust as deep and hard as he liked without hurting her.

It seemed like the world phased out as the orgasm hit him. The release teemed on the edges of madness, and his seed seem to explode from his cock. Ralabos reached out to her, trying to steady her when he himself had no bearings in the world. He held her to his chest while they both shuddered from the aftershocks of their peak.

Rene pumped herself on him three more times before her body shook violently. She felt her heart beating insanely against his, then, curiously, it began to mimic the pattern of his heartbeat. Seconds later, their heartbeats were synchronized.

Rene felt the early morning sun warming her back, and she smiled lazily. She was tired and sated and happy. Right now she chose to block out the whole death thing and just enjoy this time with Ralabos. At least that was her intention as she drifted off, when something exploded near the house.

Thoth scrambled frantically as he tried to weave another protective ward around the property. But he was too late. Seth had somehow tracked them and found them; it was only a matter of time.

He sent out a call to Ralabos.
“Where are you?”

“We are in the gardens.”

“It is Seth.”

“Is Hathor secure?”

“She is by my side.”

“We are coming to you.”

“Love, Seth has found us. The time is upon us. You must make your decision.”

“Now?”

“I am most aggrieved that you do not have more time. Seth, however, is relentless in his pursuit.”

“What if I decide I don’t want to do this? You ask a lot of me, Ralabos.” Another loud explosion rang in her ears. This time it sounded closer.

“I would do what needs to be done,” he replied, encircling her as they lay. A second later, Rene found she was in the bedroom Anaise, Hathor, had assigned to her. She stood there in her naked glory; Ralabos had managed to clothe himself with but a thought.

“What would that be? What about what I want, Ralabos?”

“Please dress,” he replied. “You are distracting me.” However, even with explosions sounding outside, he made no move to avert his eyes from her naked body. Quite the contrary, his eyes tracked her like a hawk as she began to fumble through the bureau drawers.

“Everything has been about you,” she huffed while sliding a T-shirt over her head. “You would put me under some sort of spell, wouldn’t you?”

“There are ways around everything. I would much prefer that you did this of your own free will, but I will do what needs to be done to save your life. I love you, zenj’a,” Ralabos stated matter-of-factly.

He did love her, and he needed her to know this.

Her heart did a dangerous flutter at his declaration of love. “How do you know it’s me you love and not this Selkis person?” she asked as she wiggled into a pair of jeans. “I can see it in your eyes—you plan on doing this at all costs, even if that means killing me. You do realize the irony is not lost upon me.”

She stood with her hands on her hips, her head cocked to the side in confusion. “Ralabos, I don’t even know how I feel about you. How can you be so sure?”

Ralabos stiffened visibly at her declaration. He had hoped for something more. She did not love him, did not want to be with him.

But this did not change his stance on things, so Ralabos chose to ignore her last statement. “The death is only temporary and in the long run would give you a much longer life. Come, we must meet with the others.”

Before she could get another word in edgewise, he took her hand, and the world blurred for a moment until she found herself in a strange room with familiar occupants.

She immediately recognized Jonathan, Anaise, and Torian, or rather Thoth, Hathor, and Anubis. They all graciously bowed. An eerie feeling of deja' vu engulfed her.

“Do you not recognize this place, my queen?” Anubis asked, watching her face closely.

“It feels as if I know this room.”

“It is the place you died, my sweet.” Ralabos came behind her, setting his hands upon her shoulders. “I have to go, my love. Seth must meet his death at my hands for once and for all.

“Once you are your true form, you are no longer bound to me. You will be safe. I will not try to force you to love me, though I will love you to the end of my days.” Then he was gone before she could respond.

“Please put this on,” Hathor said, quietly trying to break the uncomfortable silence. She held up a beautiful old cloth that Rene instantly recognized as the tunic dress she had worn long ago.

“Why did you keep this?” she asked, awed by its beauty, yet alarmed by its history.

“You died in this, so shall you be reborn.” Hathor gently put the dress in her hands. “I can help you put this on if you like.

The whole process seemed so macabre. It was like putting on the clothes she had been buried in. Reluctantly, she took the soft material. Her heart thumped wildly. Could she do this? Could she casually just accept her death?