She hadn’t been able to do anything for him.
Except send him to sleep.
And even then he had awoken.
How?
Einar had said that he had heard her. She hadn’t spoken his name or said a word to him the whole time that Villandry had been working on the wound. Had he heard her speaking to Villandry, or had he heard something else?
He reached out and stroked his fingers down her cheek, drawing her back to him.
“You are scared,” he whispered.
“I almost lost you.” She lifted her eyes to meet his rich brown ones, lost herself in them as the golden flecks in them barely shifted.
He smiled but she could see the strain in it. Standing was causing him pain. She wanted to make him rest again, but knew in her heart he wouldn’t listen to her now that he was back on his feet. He would probably kiss her again to silence her.
Maybe it would be worth the hassle just so she could have that kiss.
She needed one right now.
She needed answers too though.
“You said that you heard me.” Taylor stopped herself.
What she wanted to ask him sounded ridiculous even to her and she was sure he would laugh at her for thinking such nonsense.
What if it were true though? What if he had heard her and it hadn’t been her voice that had spoken to him?
She jumped when his hand came to rest heavily on her chest, fingers splaying out and the heel of his palm between her breasts. She stared down at it, wishing they were flesh to flesh, not hindered by her black camisole. She needed to feel his hands on her, warm and caressing, making her feel alive.
“You called me back,” he whispered and took her hand and placed it on his bare chest, right over his heart. He held it there, pressing against his warm flesh, and she stared at it a moment and then into his eyes. “I heard you, Taylor. Not in my ears, but here in my heart. Yours to mine.”
A shiver danced through her.
When he had been lying on the bed, bleeding, dying, she hadn’t been able to find her voice to speak to him and tell him to come back to her. She had done so in silence, with all of her heart, confessing everything to him.
She needed him.
He couldn’t die, because she couldn’t live without him.
It didn’t matter that it was forbidden.
She was in love with him.
Taylor closed her eyes when he leaned forwards and captured her lips. His kiss was soft and gentle, stirring her feelings and warming her through as it brought tears to her eyes and everything came rushing back.
She had almost lost him. She didn’t want that to happen, not for any reason. She needed him too much.
He hissed and sucked in a sharp breath.
She broke away from his lips, ignored his muttered protest as she took hold of his shoulders and moved him back.
He pressed his hand to his side and her eyes widened when the red stain there grew, seeping outwards across the bandages. She didn’t want to look at them, wanted to forget everything that had happened, but she couldn’t convince her eyes to move away.
“Maybe I should take care of these first.” Einar’s fingers flexed against his side.
Taylor stepped back when light filtered out from between his fingers. Was he healing himself?
“I didn’t know you could do that,” she said.
He smiled but it was a thin line, his lips compressed and a frown of concentration etched on his handsome face. It looked more like a grimace to Taylor.
“I cannot rid myself of toxin.” He closed his eyes and the light grew brighter as he sagged harder against the bed.
Taylor shielded her eyes as the light filled the room.
He drew a long deep breath, sounding strained as he said, “I can heal wounds… though... it takes great effort to do so on myself.”
His hand fell away from his side and he leaned back against the bed on his elbows, his stomach muscles rippling with each deep breath he took. His eyes closed and his jaw tensed.
Had he managed to heal himself?
He seemed weaker to her now.
Normally he was strong on her senses and they warned her of his power, but now he barely registered. He hadn’t felt so weak after he had healed her.
Was it the cycle of power that made it difficult to heal himself?
She couldn’t give herself pleasant dreams. Her power resisted itself. Perhaps it was the same for Einar.
She reached out and swept her fingers over the bandage. His stomach tensed, muscles flexing as she stroked around the bloodstains, her eyes on them, monitoring them so she could reassure herself that he was healed now.
His eyes slowly opened and she raised hers to meet them. His breathing steadied but grew heavier as he stared deep into her eyes, his pupils dilating to devour the earthy brown of his irises and the golden flecks that swirled in them.
Taylor arched an eyebrow.
She didn’t think he was up for the sort of activity she could feel as a need running through him and see in his eyes, but she didn’t take her hand away. She grazed her fingers over his bare stomach, following the line of the bandage, and found the point where she had pinned it in place.
His gaze held hers as she unpinned the white fabric and he sat up as she unravelled it. Each time she leaned towards him to reach around his back, he kissed her shoulder or her cheek, teased and tortured her with the soft warm feel of his lips and a silent promise she knew he could come good on. When he was at full strength anyway.
The air in the room thickened as she removed the bandages, weathering his assault, until she was breathing as hard as he was, battling her rising desire.
Now wasn’t the time for such things and it certainly wasn’t the place.
While Einar was the only patient in this room of the medical centre, Villandry was still in the other room with the day nurse.
Taylor’s eyes widened when the last length of bandage fell away, revealing Einar’s stomach. She ran her fingers over the perfect skin on his right side.
Not even a scar remained.
Her gaze snapped to his when he took hold of her hand, bringing it away from his stomach and up to his lips.
He kissed her fingers and then opened her palm and pressed a kiss there. Her lips parted when he kissed her wrist and then along her forearm, bringing her towards him at the same time.
“Einar,” she murmured and her cheeks coloured when he smiled wickedly.
“You only seem to say my name at times like this.” He pressed another kiss to the soft skin of her forearm and then the inside of her elbow.
She didn’t know what he was talking about. She was sure that she had said it at other times too. She had screamed it at the top of her lungs when he had fallen out of the sky.
Taylor closed her eyes against the memory. She didn’t want to remember it or how scared she had been.
It had felt as though her whole world had been falling apart.
“What is wrong?” Einar touched her cheek and she leaned into his hand, unable to stop herself and desperately needing the comfort of his touch to ease her pain and convince her that he was alive, fine now.
She wasn’t going to lose him.
She turned her face and kissed his palm, breathed him in and savoured the smell of him. He was here now. Alive. Unharmed. A tear slid down her cheek.
“Taylor,” Einar breathed and pulled her into his arms, gathering her close. She closed her eyes when his wings wrapped around her too, covering her completely, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I am sorry I scared you.”
She drew back, settled her palms against his bare chest, and looked up into his eyes.
There was such a beautifully honest and tender look in them. She believed everything he had told her earlier. She believed that he didn’t care that she was part-demon and that this was a sin for both of them.
She believed that beating inside him were feelings that echoed hers.
She snaked her arms
around his neck and captured his lips, fusing her mouth with his and sliding her tongue along the seam of his. He opened for her and she sighed as his tongue teased the sensitive flesh on the inside of her lips. It tickled, waves of shivers rolling through her in response, and she closed her eyes, tilted her head to one side, and kissed him harder, tangling her tongue with his and savouring the feel of him against her.
He was flesh and blood, no longer in pain or close to dying. He was back with her, where he belonged, and she could feel him growing stronger again.
He kissed along her jaw, open mouthed and rough, nipping occasionally. Each bite with his blunt teeth shot her temperature up another degree, and she was burning for him by the time he reached her throat.
He devoured it with hungry kisses and bites, bathed it with his tongue and sucked on it, sparking pain through her chased by pleasure. It built inside her, pushing her doubts and fears to the back of her mind where they belonged, filling her head with thoughts of them together, naked and writhing. She wanted to pull him off the bed and dance flesh-to-flesh with him as the people had at the club. She wanted to shed her inhibitions and embrace her desire for Einar.
He groaned against her shoulder and buried his face in her neck, sucking her skin and kissing her roughly. His fingers dug into her sides, his grip on her so strong that it thrilled her. She leaned into his hungry mouth and tilted her head to one side, shivers cascading along her arms and down her back and chest with each bite and lick. Her nipples tightened, taut against her black bra and top, aching for his attention as need bloomed in her.
A noise in the other room made her freeze. She tensed in his arms, her heart pounding.
He didn’t stop, not even when she tried to push him off her.
“Do not worry,” he whispered and kissed her throat below her ear.
One hand left her side and he waved it towards the door. Locks clicked into place. It would stop Villandry from entering easily but it wouldn’t stop him from sensing what was happening in the room.
Einar’s persuasive kisses chased her worries away until they were slipping out of her head again and she could only focus on the delicious feel of him.
“Tell me what you were thinking earlier... back at the club,” he husked in her ear and she trembled, her eyes closing as she remembered how she had felt when watching the dancers and imagining doing the same with Einar. He kissed her earlobe and then licked it. His warm breath teased her ear. “When you saw those people dancing...”
The vision of them cranked up the heat until she was burning hotter than Hell for Einar.
She grabbed him around the neck and kissed him, pouring her passion into it until she could barely breathe, until it was wild and choppy, a fierce meeting of lips that had an inferno igniting inside her. It still wasn’t enough. She wanted him so much that it blazed through her, a wildfire that threatened to consume her completely if she didn’t get it under control.
“I was thinking that I wanted to do that...” she whispered into his mouth and swept her tongue over his lower lip. He groaned and tried to kiss her but she drew back and looked deep into his beautiful golden eyes. “I wanted to do that with you.”
“Taylor,” he uttered and grabbed her.
She gasped when he twisted and slammed into the wall with her, his hands firmly gripping her thighs and his body wedged between them. He ground against her. She moaned and ran her hands over his strong arms, fingertips traversing his tensed muscles, a shiver running through her at the feel of the power he commanded. He went to work on her throat again, covering it with rough kisses that stoked the fire inside her as she leaned her head back, giving him access to her.
She skimmed her fingers over his broad shoulders, up his corded neck, and buried them in the tawny lengths of his ponytail. He groaned and kissed her ear, her jaw, the corner of her mouth. She tilted her head and captured his lips, swallowing another moan, and bucked against him.
She wanted to feel him. Skin on skin.
She pushed against his shoulders, forcing him back. His eyes darkened, nostrils flaring and eyebrows knitting hard as she fought to remove her top.
He set her down and made fast work of her clothes, tossing each item onto the bed beside them. Her fingers shook with urgent need as she tackled his armour, stripping off his vambraces and the armour around his hips, and fighting his damned loincloth.
She fell back against the wall when he bent down and tugged her jeans with him, and almost fell over when he tried to pull them off over her boots.
He said something in a language she didn’t understand.
It sounded dark and menacing, and a lot like swearing.
The ground shook.
Her eyes widened.
Angels clearly shouldn’t cuss.
He chased that thought away too when he glared at her jeans tangled in her boots and both items of clothing disappeared, leaving her bare. That was cheating. She couldn’t do that with his clothes.
She didn’t have to. His loincloth, greaves and boots disappeared in a flash. She was about to commend him on what was turning out to be a rather handy ability when he took hold of her left ankle, slung her leg over his shoulder so it rested beside his wing, and raised her.
Taylor gasped at the first stroke of his tongue against her most sensitive area.
He groaned and slipped his fingers into her warm folds, parting them and tasting her again. She shivered and leaned back into the wall for support as he licked her, teasing her pert arousal with a talented tongue. Each sweep or flick sent another bolt of desire through her, turning the temperature back up a notch. She reached one hand down and dug her fingers into his hair, and held on to the wall with her other hand. Another gasp left her when he eased a single long finger into her core and sucked her bead in time with the first thrust of his finger.
Hell.
Angels shouldn’t be so wicked.
Not that she was about to file a complaint.
Einar licked her again, circling her nub and sending her out of her mind. She breathed hard, clinging to the wall and him to anchor herself. Her hand slipped from his head and she groaned and blindly reached for him.
Her fingers hit something soft and warm.
His wing.
She gripped it and the guttural moan that left his lips sent a sharp thrill through her, together with the way he buried his face deeper into her, until she felt as though he was going to devour her.
Tightness built inside her, the warmth pooling in her abdomen and swirling there, coiling into a ball of energy that had her writhing against Einar’s tongue, seeking release.
He pulled his finger out of her, grasped her hips and stood.
In one swift, hard move, he plunged his cock into her, tearing a gasp from her throat.
Her eyes shot wide and she moaned when he withdrew and thrust back in.
She clasped his shoulder with one hand and his wing with the other. He kissed her hard, stealing her breath away, swallowing each of her moans, and moved inside her, rough and possessive, pinning her to the wall. Her eyes closed and she held on to him in every way possible, desperately trying to anchor herself as he went to war on her.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and he clutched her bottom, bringing her down onto his cock each time he pumped her, his movements fast and hungry. He groaned into her mouth and then kissed back down to her throat.
Taylor followed suit, kissing his strong jaw and neck, tasting his salty skin and warmth, taking his earthiness into her. She couldn’t stop herself from satisfying the urge to bite him, sinking her teeth into his shoulder. It tensed beneath her teeth and he grunted as he thrust harder, filling her roughly and slamming his pelvis against hers.
Ripples of pleasure echoed through her each time his body brushed her bead and she shook in his arms, clenching around him and reaching for her climax. It was swift to come, crashing over her in waves so strong that she could barely catch her breath.
Einar thrust harder, plunging deep into her
, and she moaned when he dug his fingers into her bottom, clutching her so violently that it hurt. She didn’t care. She could only focus on the feel of him inside her, moving against her, filling her with his delicious body. She could only thrill at how strong he was, holding her at his mercy, sending her soaring again.
She pulsed around him, pleasure still chasing through her, and moaned softly as she tensed her muscles until he choked out a groan against her throat and shuddered to a halt inside her, his cock throbbing with release.
He breathed hard in her ear and kissed her throat, tender and soft now as he slowly came back down to Earth. She rested her head on his shoulder and held on to him, all of her energy draining from her as she came down with him.
Deep in her heart, she believed in what he had said when they had first made love.
Nothing that felt so right could ever be wrong.
They were made for each other.
An angel and a demon.
Nothing would change that.
She wouldn’t let it.
CHAPTER 13
Light floated into Einar’s mind at the feel of Taylor’s soft lips pressing a kiss against his cheek. He reached for her as sleep drifted away but she was gone. He sighed and listened to her quietly walking across the bedroom as he stretched out in the warm double bed.
He couldn’t remember a time he had felt so content and relaxed.
Not even his nightmarish fight with the demon and consequent narrow escape from death bothered him now.
Taylor had chased away that fear and the horror of that memory, soothing it with kisses and words of affection whispered against his skin during their lovemaking.
Another sigh escaped him and he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of the pale room. Bright sunlight filtered in through the two tall sash windows to his right, filling the room with a warm glow. The sun was close to setting. This was his favourite time of day but it had never felt like this.
He had never felt so happy.
He had never realised that he had felt so alone.
Taylor’s company, her presence in his life, had given him more purpose than hunting had ever done. He lived to see her smile and hear her sweet voice.
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