Burning Dawn

by Gena Showalter

  "I did not accept," she protested.

  He kissed her, soft and sweet. "Then I beg you, accept. I won't survive otherwise."

  Her lips tingled from the contact, and her insides tingled from the words. "Fine," she said on a sigh. "I accept. I forgive you for how you acted after I rode you all the way to Stupid Town. But you've got another crime to answer for."

  "Tell me, and I'll fix it."

  "Okay. You essentiaed all over me without a word of warning."

  "Not by choice," he said.

  Wait. Hold everything. He hadn't wanted to brand her? Well, well. What do you know. There was a new sheriff in town, and his name was Disappointment.

  She'd never really been upset about the essentia, she realized. She'd been hurt by Thane's possible regret and looking for an outlet.

  Trying not to sound whiny, she said, "So you didn't want everyone to know I'm currently your favorite flavor of girl-cream?"

  He cupped her cheeks and dusted his thumbs over her lips. "Kulta, I want to shout it to the world."

  The doors opened before she could stutter out a response--Mr. Romantic strikes again! Thane guided her out, the guards nodding at him as he passed. The guards also avoided glancing in her direction. Was that a big no-no now? Inside the suite, she expected to find Xerxes and Bjorn, but the males were absent.

  "This is why I will never succumb to a female's wiles for more than a single night," Bjorn had said after she'd explained she wouldn't be switching rooms.

  "She's part Phoenix," Xerxes had replied. "She obviously likes to play with fire."

  Har-har.

  "Sit," Thane said now. "And we will discuss the room situation."

  Ugh. She didn't want to discuss the room situation. Because, even though she'd forgiven him, no good could come from semi-moving in with him. The more she allowed him into her life, the harder it would be to leave him. "I'm only going to be here for a few weeks, right?"

  His eyes narrowed.

  "Right," she continued. She eased onto the couch. "There's no reason to go to so much trouble for me."

  He sat beside her, lifted her, and placed her on his lap, forcing her to straddle him. "I'll decide the amount of trouble you're worth."

  Okay, that was kind of (seriously) sweet. And her new position was kind of (out of this world) hot. "Yes, well, we're supposed to be booty-calling each other," she said, lazily grinding on him, making him gasp, "and, yes, I turned a noun into a verb. We aren't supposed to be living with each other."

  He sifted his fingers through her hair, stopped at her nape and fisted. "Living together makes it easier to booty-call."

  A laugh bubbled up, but it emerged as a moan of pleasure. "You lived with Kendra, and look what happened to her."

  "You aren't trying to enslave me."

  "That wasn't what you said last week."

  He stiffened. "I knew I wasn't forgiven for that, either."

  She nipped his bottom lip between her teeth. "You, the king of grudges, are one to talk. But, yes, you are forgiven. I mean that with every fiber of my being." Lowering her voice to a seductive whisper, she added, "I already had my revenge, remember?"

  The pulse in his neck thumped harder, faster.

  "But, Thane...I still think it'll be better if, from now on, we are friends rather than lovers." Better, but probably impossible.

  His eyes narrowed. "Better for whom?"

  "Me. You. I'll be leaving soon, and--"

  He cut her off, saying, "We will be friends and lovers, and that's final."

  "Deal."

  His eyes narrowed. "You just talked me around to exactly what you wanted all along, didn't you?" Before she could reply, he added, "So you will let me inside your body, but you will not live with me?"

  "That about sums it up, yes."

  He stood, and her legs glided to the floor. The look he gave her...lightning unleashed, fully charged, making her tingle and ache and heat another ten degrees.

  "You want sex, nothing more?"

  No. "Yes." Oh, she didn't know.

  "Very well," he said tightly. "Ask, and you shall receive." He picked her up and carried her to his room--where he promptly dumped her on the bed. She would have bounced upon impact, but he was on her before she could, his lips claiming hers in a savage kiss. Tongue thrusting. Mouth demanding. Stealing her breath and filling her lungs with his own. Sweeping her up into a haze of need, hunger...obsession.

  Giving her a taste of what she could have--and then taking it away.

  She moaned in disappointment as he tempered the kiss, exchanging raw passion for cold calculation. His tongue began to move with slow deliberation, as if he was no longer fueled by emotion. As if he cared nothing for her response, only for his own satisfaction.

  "Do you like this?" He reached between their bodies and gave her breasts a perfunctory squeeze, then slid his hand lower and cupped her between her legs--without stroking the center of her need. Just held her, as if she were property. "Is it everything you hoped?"

  The actions left her strangely hollow.

  "Th-Thane?" she asked, unsure.

  He lifted his head and stared down at her. His eyes were emptied of emotion, as well. "Quiet. My women aren't allowed to speak."

  Hurt pierced her. "Then why did you ask me those questions?"

  "Does it matter? And why are you complaining, anyway? This is what you wanted."

  She knew he was manipulating her, and wanted to be angry. But anger proved impossible. She'd clearly hurt him with her insistence, treated him as little more than a few-weeks-stand. "Yes, but I just thought--"

  "I know what you thought." He shut her up with another kiss. A slow, cold kiss.

  She beat at his shoulders...his gorgeous shoulders, hard and strong and hot...then thought screw it, and yanked his robe--no, his shirt--over his head. Bare skin. Yes. Her nails scraped over his pecs, his nipples, and he hissed his approval.

  "Give me what you gave me before," she demanded.

  "All?" he snarled. "Everything?"

  "Yes. Okay. Yes." She yanked him down for another kiss, and this time, she took control. She thrust her tongue deep and hard, and it wasn't long before he responded, taking over. Giving her deeper. Harder. Her shirt received the same treatment as his, leaving her in her bra, but he made quick work of that, too, freeing her breasts from confinement.

  As he kissed and licked his way to her ear, his big hands kneaded her and his thumbs brushed over her nipples. There was nothing perfunctory about it.

  "Like this," she said, and cried his name when he moved to the hammering pulse in her neck and sucked.

  He wrenched from her and sat up, panting as he stared down at her. At her eyes, heavy and hooded. At her lips, parted and moist. Wanting. Maybe swollen. At her chest, heaving with the force of her breathing. At her belly, quivering.

  "Are you sure this is what you want?" he demanded.

  "Yes!" She scraped her nails over the glorious cords of strength lining his stomach--and the goody trail of golden hair that led to the glistening tip of his shaft now peeking so proudly from the waist of his pants.

  He pried her legs apart, creating the perfect cradle.

  He eased on top of her, rubbing against her, sparking a dizzying kind of friction. Fire streamed through her, scorching everything in its path.

  "It's good," she moaned.

  "It can be better." As he divided his attention between her nipples, kissing, flicking his tongue back and forth, she thrashed her head, getting lost in the rapturous sensations.

  She was pulled as tight as a bow, her back arching involuntarily. She slid her hands under his wings. The muscles in his back were flexed, hard. Hers for the taking.

  He glided his knuckles down her stomach, under her shorts. His hand was so big the tie at the waist ripped. Just before his fingers slid underneath her panties, he stopped.

  "Hands burning," he rasped.

  Oh, yes. They were. The heat absorbed into her skin, infused her cells, and lit her up. "I k
now."

  "It's the essentia."

  His strained tone... What was he trying to tell her? She couldn't--

  Duh. Lightbulb. Essentia. The way he marked her.

  She had complained about it. Now he didn't think he should touch her and definitely wouldn't mark her without permission.

  Foolish girl! "I was wrong. I want it. I need it. Please, Thane." She moaned in desperation. "Put it on every inch of me."

  He shook his head. "I don't claim casual conquests, Elin."

  She froze, her chest rising and falling in quick succession. Dang it. He had a point. She could have hot, with emotional ties, or she could have cold, with emotional safety. "I...I don't want to be casual."

  "You'll move into the suite?"

  "Yes."

  Just like that, his control snapped. He was on her a second later, marking her face, her neck, her breasts and stomach. When he reached the open waist of her shorts, he tunneled his fingers beneath her panties. She tensed, waiting for the blissful moment when-- Ah! That! He massaged the center of her need. The heat of him, the knowledge that she now had his essentia there... I might finally go up in flames. Her hips writhed, following his motions to prolong the contact.

  He wedged a finger in deep, and she cried out, bucking into the slide, sending him even deeper.

  "You were made just for me, kulta."

  Like you were made just for me.

  A thought to be dissected later.

  So close to climax. "Please," she said, still chasing the sensation with her hips.

  Another finger joined the play as the heel of his hand pressed where she needed him most. He stretched her, delighted her. And yet, she still didn't fall over the edge.

  "Not enough, is it, kulta?"

  Can't quite catch my breath. Little noises were breaking from her throat. Whimpers, maybe. The pleasure was so strong it bordered on pain. She clutched at his shoulders, trying to force him to put more of his weight on her.

  "So hot. So tight and wet," he said. His eyes were utterly ravaged with a desperation she'd only ever seen on wounded animals. It was empowering to know his feelings matched hers. "Can't wait. Have to have all of you."

  "Yes."

  He jolted upright, tore at the fly of his pants. He didn't bother pulling them down. With one hand, he gripped his shaft at the base. With the other he tugged off her shorts. Her panties were still in place. He shoved them out of the way, then positioned himself and slammed home.

  There was no inching his way in this time. He took. He took everything. She climaxed with his third mighty thrust, shouting his name, her inner walls locking down on his length. Guttural sounds left him as he pulled back...back...then slammed back in. After that, there was no such thing as control, even shredded control. He thrust fast and hard, again and again, creating a punishing rhythm that swept her up in another sea of pleasure, nearly drowning her.

  "Again, kulta," he commanded.

  Yes. Yes. Already another orgasm was building, her blood heating. She scraped her nails through his hair and tugged his head down for another scorching kiss, devouring him, feeding him every bit of her passion.

  There was an unquenchable need inside her. A need to consume, as well as provide.

  "Getting close," he rasped. "Take more?"

  "Give it to me."

  He stretched his arms over her, grabbing the headboard. Holding on to it, he was able to pull himself deeper into her, with more force. She wound her legs around him, lifting her waist to take the brunt of his hammering aggression. The bed moved with his next thrust...and his next, until it was hitting the wall with a bang. Bang. Bang.

  With his next inward glide, her body surrendered to the pleasure. She shot into another climax, clenching tighter on him, shouting his name. And just when she thought she was about to come down from the high, he lowered his head and bit into the cord between neck and shoulder, just the way she liked, and she soared all over again.

  This time, he followed her. Roaring, he plunged with all of his might, and buried deep, shuddered against her, over and over, until he collapsed on top of her.

  His weight held her in place, but she didn't mind.

  "Not getting away this time," he rasped.

  Trembling, she wrapped her arms around him. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be." And it scared her, how true that was.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THANE HAD NEVER experienced such contentment.

  He was loath to let Elin out of his sight or the tight clench of his embrace, but he couldn't risk having her near while he slept. The nightmares... He had to take her to the other--

  No. He didn't. Her room was currently without a bed. Without any furniture. He'd emptied it out, creating a fresh canvas for Elin to paint however she wished.

  But she hadn't. She'd denied him in every way...until he'd pleasured her into accepting.

  They would decorate the other room tomorrow. Tonight, he would hold her, as he wanted. He wouldn't allow himself to sleep.

  "Am I glowing?" she asked, rubbing her leg against his.

  "Yes." He didn't mention just how bright...or just how satisfied he felt about it.

  "Good," she said, surprising him.

  Delighting him.

  "Thane," she began softly. "Are we seeing other people while we're messing around?"

  "Did I not make that clear? No. I'm not, and you most definitely are not." He would kill anyone foolish enough to touch what so obviously belonged to him.

  "I hope you hear yourself," she admonished. "The words most definitely extend to you, too, you know."

  He curled his arm around her head, asserting the barest pressure on her jaw to hold her in place, to force her to look at him. "I hear myself, but do you hear me?" he said, and when she tried to speak again, he added, "You had your turn. Now it's mine." She had let him inside her body. Now she would let him inside her mind.

  Her heart rate increased, and he wasn't sure if that boded well or ill.

  He continued anyway, saying, "The pleasure I experience with you is worth dying for. Nothing and no one compares. I've never had it before, and won't give it up. Not for any reason. Do you understand?" I'll keep you all the days of your life. Nothing and no one will separate us. Not even you.

  Her little nails curled into his chest. "I understand you sound totally gaga for me." She rolled to her stomach, half draping him, and rested her cheek on her upraised palm, giving him a wicked grin full of promise.

  His body responded. His body always responded to her. But the conversation was too important to pause. "I am more than gaga."

  "That's nice."

  He pursed his lips. "I'd like to hear you say I'm more than a booty call to you."

  She opened her mouth to do just that--he was sure of it--only to frown. "We've got a major problem. We have differing life spans. In a few years, I could have gray hair!"

  "And you will look lovely. But you aren't fully human, and we aren't sure how you'll age. Or even if you will. You've begun to exhibit a few Phoenix traits."

  "Yes, but--"

  "But nothing. You burn when you are aroused, and you healed unnaturally fast from the boulder game. I suspect both abilities activated with the death of your family. Sometimes a traumatic event will do that for a halfling."

  "I didn't burn in the Phoenix camp."

  "You weren't aroused while you were there. And I suspect you would have died in that camp if you hadn't healed supernaturally fast from the punishments."

  "Good point."

  "Perhaps, over the years, other latent traits will emerge."

  She thought for a moment, nodded. "You're right."

  "I usually am."

  "Ha-ha," she said drily. "We'll see if you're such a funny man the day I have to start wearing diapers."

  He barked out a laugh, surprising them both.

  She kicked off the covers and sat up, then crossed her legs. "We have to get you to do that more often."

  Laugh? "I agree. I hereby task you
with the job. Every day from now on."

  She quirked a brow. "Does the job pay well?"

  "Very." He traced a fingertip between her breasts. This was his first taste of domestic life, and he loved it. A male...a woman...united. A family. "An orgasm for every laugh."

  Another smile made an appearance--only to fall. "What if you meet someone else and fall in love? What if you want to get married Sent-One-style, to someone of your own race, and start a family?" She gasped. "Thane, we've never used protection."

  Needing to feel her against him, he forced her to stretch out alongside him. "First, when I said no woman could compare to you, I meant it. That goes for every woman I will meet in the future. Only a foolish male would wed someone else when he already has the best. Second, Phoenix are only fertile two times a year, and," he added before she could remind him of her humanity, "I can sense when that occurs." He paused. "Do you want children?" Had she planned to make one with her husband?

  "One day. Not for several years, though. What about you?"

  "To be honest, I've never thought about it." Until now. He flattened his hand on her belly, imagined her growing big with his child. His shaft stirred. "Yes," he rasped. "One day." With her. Only with her.

  They lapsed into silence. He toyed with the ends of her hair, and though she seemed to grow tenser by the second, she yawned.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I should really go back to my room," she said.

  "You don't have a bed."

  "I know, smarty. I meant, go back to the girls."

  He stiffened. "You said you'd move in with me."

  "But I didn't say when." Her entire body began to tremble. "I really should go. Like, now. Please."

  She tried to tug from him, but he held firm. Something warm and wet splashed on his chest. He patted the area and brought his fingers into the light streaming in from the bathroom. Tears?

  "What is this?" he asked gently.

  A floodgate opened, and she sobbed against him, her entire body heaving. "I'm looking forward to a future without Bay."

  He held her for what seemed an eternity, smoothing his hands through her hair, along her spine. When finally she calmed, he pinched her chin, forcing her to face him. Tears had caught in her lashes. Her eyes were swollen, her skin splotched with red. Fragile right now. Proceed with care.

  An inexplicable need to make it better flooded him. "How are you planning a future without him? He has never left your heart. He goes on the journey with you." And Thane was still a bit jealous, he realized, but with Elin safe in his arms, the emotion was muted. He could share her, for the male had helped make her what she was.