His laughter vibrated through her like a hot mineral spring. The bubbles found their way inside her bloodstream, bursting and sizzling as she complied with his order.
Now you’re just being silly. There was tender amusement in his voice.
His mouth was on hers again, demanding now, the kisses growing wild and possessive, sending flames rolling through her. He kissed her as if he was a starving man, as if she ensured his survival—and maybe she did. His tongue stroked along her lips, pushed into her mouth to tangle with hers. Electricity sizzled through her veins, little shocking waves that left her breathless and needy.
Deliberately he allowed her to feel the edge of his strength, as he held her easily against his chest. Wrap your legs around me. Hook your ankles. His fingers found her entrance slick with moist heat. You’re so ready for me.
How could she not be ready for him? I’ll always be ready for you, she whispered into his mind, allowing him to see him as she did, so perfect, so sexy she could never resist him.
I love how wet you get for me, but then I want to taste you. Devour you. Lick every inch of you until you’re giving everything up to me.
His voice was low and dark, a blend of rough and dangerous that sent another wave of heat curling through her. She laced her fingers together at the nape of his neck and leaned into him, biting at his shoulder because everything he said just made her more impatient for his possession. When he groaned, she turned her face into his neck and bit at him gently. His body shuddered.
Hold on.
Now his voice was hoarse with need. She held on tightly as he lowered her body oh, so slowly. She felt the velvet head, hot and thick pressing tight against her entrance. She tried to press down hard, but his hands refused to allow it. He entered her slowly, inch by deliberate slow inch, holding her absolutely still, while he pushed deeper through her resistant muscles.
Dax groaned as pleasure burst through him. He’d known heat and fire for centuries, but the scorching burn of her fiery, tight sheath was nearly his undoing. He lowered her slowly, savoring the resistance, the way her body gave way to his invasion. Her soft little broken, gasping cries nearly drove him insane. I want a long slow ride, sivamet.
He could feel every tight muscle gripping, as he stretched her. The head of his cock was so sensitive, the feeling as close to ecstasy as he figured he was ever going to get. He pushed deeper, giving himself up to the building explosion.
Her eyes stared into his. Glittering. Wild. So much intensity. So much emotion—all for him. He was in awe of her. There was no way to conceal who he was from her, his mistakes. His guilt. His failure. He was a hunter of one of the most lethal monsters on earth and yet she had such faith in him she had bound herself to him. It was humbling and at the same time exhilarating.
She could make him lose control with just those small movements of her body. Those little panting cries. Her mouth curved, a sensual siren, tossing her head, lifting her hips at the guidance of his hands, her sheath suckling at him, wrapping his shaft in white-hot flames.
Riley rose slowly, her hands on his shoulders for leverage, the friction causing him to shudder, fight for his own control. She threw her head back and lowered her body with equal slowness, impaling herself on him, gripping and teasing as if her muscles were fingers fisting his shaft tightly. She threw her head back as she rose again, dragging over him, deliberately making small circles as she lifted herself, driving him wild.
“Is this what you wanted?” she asked, teasing innocence in her voice. She found the rhythm, that perfect, excruciatingly slow rhythm that made her body tighten in anticipation.
His growl sounded more animal than human.
She took her time, finding that if she squeezed her muscles and did slow circles as she rose and fell, his pleasure, along with hers heightened more. Electric sensations sizzled up her belly to her breasts and down to her thighs. Tension vibrated through her body, coiling tighter and tighter, her womb shuddering with her imminent orgasm. Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, that the friction was going to drive her insane, Dax made a rough sound in the back of his throat and flexed his fingers on her hips before gripping her hard.
Dax took control, slamming her body down on him hard and fast, lifting her and dropping her again and again, his velvet spike a piston, tearing through her with a fiery, driven purpose. Her body trembled, and she thrust back, impaling herself as the mind-numbing sensations ripped through her. Her body grasped his, gripped tightly, dragging over him, sending the fiery fingers squeezing in a brutal, erotic grip.
His entire body shuddered, his shaft erupting in a fiery release flooding her sheath so that a series of intense explosions rocked her. Riley held Dax tight for an anchor as her body continued to pulse and throb while she tried desperately to calm her heart and still her gasping breath. She had no idea sex could be so all encompassing.
I’m crazy about you. She made the admission in her mind, feeling shy and exposed.
I’m so in love with you there isn’t any way to express it adequately, he returned with his absolute confidence.
Personally, I think you did quite well.
Riley buried her face in Dax’s neck, her hands stroking his back possessively. Her body was damp with sweat and she knew she smelled like sin and sex, but it didn’t matter. She clung to him, reluctant to let him go, her heart beating with the same rhythm as his. She knew she should put her legs down, but she wanted to hold him as long as she could, be connected physically as long as possible.
“I can’t believe you were able to do that and have the strength to hold me up,” she whispered. She didn’t have the strength to speak in a normal tone.
“There are advantages to being Carpathian,” he said smugly. Dax turned his head to brush kisses in her hair. “Your friend is coming this way.”
“Can you keep us from his view forever? Maybe we should just stay this way, locked together for eternity,” she murmured.
Dax laughed softly, the sound in her mind rather than heard. “Insatiable woman.”
“I am.” She pressed kisses over his pounding pulse, unrepentant, playfully nipping with her teeth. “I’m trying to distract you.”
“You don’t find hunting vampires exhilarating?”
She lifted her head to stare into his laughing eyes. He looked so much younger and carefree when he laughed, yet it was so rare for him to do so. Very slowly she dropped her legs until she was standing. The movement shifted him inside of her, sending another ripple of pleasure through both of them.
“Fine, we’ll go hunting. But this was much more fun. I don’t think the two things are comparable.” She gave him a little pout as he slipped out of her.
His mind stroked hers with caresses as with a wave of his hand she was fully clothed, clean and fresh. He was reaching for her pack as if they’d just finished gathering her things when Gary walked up. Dax shifted slightly, positioning his body just a little in front of her to give her time to recover.
“Good evening,” Dax greeted. “I trust there were no incidents while I slept.”
Gary shook his head. “Everything was quiet. Were you able to find the flowers? To bring enough back so that we can plant them in the Carpathian Mountains?”
Riley laughed at the eagerness in his voice. “We brought you back an entire sack of seeds and roots as well as the flowers intact. I packed them in the soil so they should make the trip, although how you’ll get them through customs I don’t know.”
“I have friends that will do that,” Gary said. “I just need to get the flowers to them. They know how important it is. They never have trouble getting anything they want.”
Dax looked up, his gaze pinning Gary’s. “Carpathians? Your friends are Carpathians?”
Gary nodded. “Yes, they provided us with weapons and gear for this trek. They’re o
ur emergency contact. They were waiting to hear from us,” Gary said. “We need to make it to a clearing . . .”
“You called them already? When did you do this?” Dax asked. His voice was very low. Smoldering. The last word ended in a long, slow hiss.
Riley stiffened, her heart skipping a beat. He sounded . . . scary. Gary seemed to be used to the sudden change in Carpathian males. He didn’t blink.
“We knew they would already be looking for us. As soon as we could get a call out to let them know we were alive, we did. We called at sunset.” Gary shrugged casually. “They’ll be sending a helicopter to pick us up. They’re aware of the injury to the professor, and they’ll deal with the others as well.”
“What did you tell them about me? About Mitro?” If anything, that low voice, warm as molasses, dropped another octave lower.
“That you were with us, of course, and that a dangerous vampire was on the loose.” Gary removed his glasses and looked Dax straight in the eye. “I exchanged blood with you voluntarily. Would you be more comfortable reading my mind? You can get the information a lot more efficiently.”
Dax shook his head. “I appreciate that you would allow me to invade your privacy, but until I need to ‘see’ who we’re talking about it isn’t necessary. This is more than one Carpathian hunter?”
“The De La Cruz brothers,” Gary explained. “They were sent to South America centuries ago. Did you know them?”
“We had lineages, not surnames. I do not recognize such a name. Show them to me.”
Gary pictured the images of the De La Cruz brothers in his head in the best detail he could muster. It had been centuries since Dax had been in the Carpathian Mountains, so it was reasonable that he might have missed the hunters sent out by Vlad.
Dax slipped past the barrier in Gary’s head to study the images. A black scowl added to the uneasy feeling in the pit of Riley’s stomach. She didn’t understand how Gary wasn’t affected by the tension in the Carpathian hunter.
Unexpectedly, Dax’s multifaceted eyes flicked to her face. She felt the impact instantly. At once warmth poured into her mind. She had the sensation of arms surrounding her.
You’re connected to me, Riley. He is not. He reads what I want him to read.
She studied Dax’s face. There was no black scowl, no expression whatsoever. Gary had no cause to be concerned that anything was wrong because Dax appeared to be matter-of-fact.
What’s wrong?
I am a hunter. I have to hunt my own people. I see shadows of darkness where others do not. Mitro had a lifemate and that did not stop him from choosing evil. I do not want to take you into an even more potentially dangerous situation.
Dax directed his attention to Gary, but shifted his body subtly, so that Riley felt his warmth enveloping her. The energy that had felt so intense, much like the volcano’s pressure building in the ground, was gone.
“I recognize only one of them. The one you think of as Zacarias.”
Gary frowned. Dax’s tone was still low, and as mild as ever. The darker energy was gone, yet Gary caught something of Dax’s misgivings. Riley found it strange, but Dax had been in his mind and maybe left an echo behind of his earlier irritation.
“I know he’s considered very dangerous, but if you’re worried he may turn,” Gary said, astute enough to know Dax’s main worry, “Zacarias has a lifemate. He is safe as long as she lives.”
Riley glanced up at Dax. He didn’t change expressions, but she knew Gary’s assurance hadn’t swayed him in the least.
Jubal came up to them, Gary’s pack in hand. “We’d better get moving,” he said with a nod of greeting to Riley and Dax.
“We’d better leave then,” Dax said, effectively terminating the conversation about the other hunters, “if we’re going to make the clearing in time to start transporting people to safety. How big is the helicopter they’re sending?”
“I don’t know, but I doubt it will take all of us on the first trip,” Gary said.
Riley crouched low and sank both hands into the soil, feeling for the vampire. He had been making his way steadily toward the river and leaving, in his wake, death and destruction. Nature shrank from the abomination that was the undead. Around her, the world faded, leaving her in another environment where she could hear the whispers of the rain forest. The trees spoke, grateful for her presence, willing to share information.
The uneasiness that had plagued her earlier was gone—a dark dread that seemed to be a part of her ever since her mother had died. Now, with her hands buried in the comfort of the soil where she was once again close to Annabel’s spirit, she realized that terrible dread was the vampire’s blood calling to hers.
Horrified at that sudden revelation, she jerked her hands from the soil and sank back onto her heels, shuddering with distaste. An ice-cold frisson of revulsion slid down her spine. She had known she was connected in some way to Mitro, but she thought the connection was in the earth, the soil, not in her own body.
What is it, sivamet?
The warmth in Dax’s voice, as it poured into her mind, helped to steady her.
I need a minute. She couldn’t look at Jubal and Gary. They’d helped her so much, stood by her, and all the time, her blood called to the vampire.
“You two take the others and start out,” Dax ordered. “We’ll catch up.”
Jubal glanced down at her, but Dax shifted, gliding in front of her without seeming to have moved. Jubal looked up at the Carpathian, and something flickered in the depths of his eyes that instantly had Dax coiled like a snake ready to strike.
“You okay with that, Riley? Catching up with us?” Jubal asked, in spite of the gathering tension.
“Yes, thank you Jubal for asking,” she answered. Gary and Jubal have looked after me all this time, Dax. There’s no need to get upset because he shows concern for me.
I have never been questioned before, Dax said. I find it difficult to be in the company of anyone other than my lifemate for prolonged lengths of time. I have never spent this much time with others, and it is wearing.
Riley hadn’t considered that. Of course it was difficult for him, he’d spent centuries alone. Even before the volcano, he’d been a hunter of vampires, spending months, even years on his own with no one around. The world was a changed place for him. He had fought for hundreds of years for the protection of his people and then, while he was locked in a volcano, his species had nearly gone extinct.
Jubal lifted his hand and walked away in the direction of the river, shepherding the others to follow Miguel. The professor was carried out, the remaining porters taking turns with the others as they made their way steadily into the rain forest. Within moments, the trees and foliage had swallowed them.
Dax waited until they were gone before crouching down beside her. “Arabejila’s blood runs strong in you. Mitro believes she lives, which is to our advantage.”
She nodded her head. “I understand that, but I didn’t realize it wasn’t only the earth telling me where Mitro has been. I can feel my blood reaching for him.” She took a deep breath, forcing herself to look him in the eye. “It’s disturbing. I want my blood to call to you, not him. It makes me feel dirty.”
Dax gathered her into his arms. “Hän sívamak,” he whispered tenderly. “My beloved. My blood and your blood are forever connected. Our hearts, our minds and our souls are inseparable. As for Arabejila’s blood, as we traveled together, we often were forced to exchange blood. Her blood is why Mother Earth accepted me and granted favors to me. My connection to Mitro is not as strong, but it is there.”
Riley slipped her arms around his neck. “You always know the right thing to say to me to make me feel better. Let’s go find him, Dax. The sooner we find him, the faster we can get on with our life together.”
15
The wind picked up, swirling through the canopy, blowing storm clouds into a churning, riotous mass of spinning dark threads. Lightning forked across the sky, a wicked fork of electricity, lighting the canopy for a brief moment. Thunder rolled, a great boom, shaking the ground. On the heels of the thunder the low moan of the wind rose to wail and then once again died down.
Riley wiped sweat from her face. It was hard to breathe with the ash still clinging to the leaves and flowers. Her boots felt horribly heavy and she made a note to herself to purchase lighter ones next time. Her mind was a little hazy, the hike almost surreal.
Fate had made a terrible mistake. For Riley, tramping through the rain forest at night was an exercise in courage. She tried not to connect with Dax, afraid he’d see how afraid she was of every shadow. Her heart beat so loud she feared Jubal and Gary would both hear it. She wasn’t certain how she got to be the lifemate of a Carpathian warrior, who seemed to have all the courage in the world, when she was afraid of the shadows.
Riley cast a quick look around her at the others as they tramped through the dense vegetation. No one else seemed to be feeling as if at any moment they were going to be devoured by a pack of crazed jaguars leaping out of the shadows. It wasn’t as if she was completely crazy—the coughs and grunts coming from a short distance away told her at least one, mostly two jaguars paced along beside them.
She tried to control her breathing as best she could, but with every step she took, apprehension grew stronger and her chest grew tighter. The jungle seemed much denser, Miguel and Alejandro struggling to hack a path and keep them all on the much-faded trail. The more miles they covered, the more the dread inside her grew and the harder it was to keep the pace the guide had set.
Her night vision was amazing, her restless gaze following the thousands of insects forming a moving carpet under their feet. Everything seemed overly loud to her, especially the persistent drone of insects, and even the bugs took on a sinister quality to her overactive imagination.
Birds screeched in warning to one another, a constant, alarmed communication, unusual for nighttime. Above their heads was continual motion, the flutter of wings, the swish of branches as monkeys leapt from branch to branch as if they, like the jaguars, were following the travelers.
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