Riley had fantasized about loving Dax with her mouth. Tasting him this way. Her skin felt hot and sensitized. Her breasts ached and swelled, nipples twin taut peaks—for him. Every breath she took, every swipe of her tongue, made her crazier for him. The flower ceremony had shown her how addicting he could be and tasting him only made her crave him more.
She could taste his hunger, barely held at bay—for her. His shaft pulsed and throbbed, filling her mouth, stretching it in the same way he stretched her feminine sheath. He was hotter than a volcano. Her tongue curled around him again and again, lashed and danced and then her mouth sucked wildly, drawing the spicy nectar out of him.
The sounds he made, low and feral, only added to the wild need rising in her like a dark storm. She was desperate for him, desperate to feel him inside her mouth, her mind, her body. She wanted his mouth on her, feeding from her veins, taking the very essence of her life. She wanted to be his substance, his air, his everything.
His hips jerked. His hands did the same, tugging at her scalp. A low, dark moan escaped his throat. A growl rumbled deep in his chest. His breath sounded ragged and harsh. Riley lifted her lashes again, to watch his face as she pulled slowly off of him, licked around the flared head and then gradually, tightly swallowed him again. The flames in his eyes had gone red-hot, nearly consuming his entire eye surface in a haze of lust.
“O köd bels,” he uttered between clenched teeth. His voice was harsh. Demanding. Darkness take it.
She laughed softly around the mouthful of a very hot spike. More like humming than a laugh, the vibration moving through him as she slid her mouth tightly up and down, his hands rough in her hair. Is that a Carpathian curse? Are you cursing at me?
There was such power in bringing him to the edge of control. Joy burst through her. She loved having him at her mercy. He was driving her just as crazy, her body so aroused she could feel the wet evidence of her desire on her thighs. Fill me. She whispered the urgent need into his mind. I need you inside of me. Hard. Fast. Rough. I want to be yours.
You are mine. He made it a declaration as he thrust deep one last time, feeling the heat of her silken mouth wrap him in glory. Using the fist bunched in her hair, he jerked her head back, forcing her to break the exquisite, tight suction.
He didn’t wait. Couldn’t wait, as desperate for her as she was for him. He pushed her back on the platform, so that she sprawled out, panting, her breasts rising and falling with her agitated breathing. She brought up her knees, planting her feet a good distance apart, lifting her hips in invitation.
“Hurry, Dax. Hurry.”
He dropped over top of her, slamming his cock deep so that she screamed, arching her back and pressing harder into him. He thrust hard and fast, burying himself deep while her hot sheath suckled and gripped, the friction building their release fast. Too fast. He wanted this to last forever, but already he could feel her tightening, clamping down on him, the hot wash of her body, and the strong waves rippling through her, taking him with her. He surged forward again and again, slamming deep as her body locked down on his, squeezing and milking, demanding his hot release. His hoarse shout joined hers, and he collapsed over her, fighting for breath.
He wrapped his arms around her and rolled, taking her weight, loving how she sprawled over him like melted lava. “I think I left a little gold dust in your hair.”
Her laughter was muffled. She didn’t lift her head. “Everyone will think I have body glitter on. Those scales of yours are beautiful, but they do leave evidence behind.” She yawned lazily. “It might come in handy if you ever decide to stray.”
“Carpathians don’t stray,” he said, and bit her earlobe. He rubbed her enticing butt. “Sit up, we need to talk. We’re racing the sun.”
She yawned again. “I see how you are. Get what you can from a woman and then insist on talking.” She rolled off of him reluctantly and watched him rise in his fluid, easy way.
“I want to talk to you about what will happen when I convert you,” he said. “It’s important for you to know. I looked into Gary’s mind to find answers to why you, a human, would be my lifemate. In my time, there was no such thing. No one ever conceived of such a thing. The few times anyone tried to save the life of a human by converting them, it was disastrous.”
Riley sat up slowly, pushing her hands through her cascading hair. The action lifted her breasts and made him hungry for her all over again. “That might be pertinent. What kind of disaster happened?”
He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over the sweet slope of her creamy breast. “I think you’re going to have to put clothes on if we’re going to discuss this. I have to go to ground and that means I have to put you safely in Gary and Jubal’s care, so we don’t have much time left.” Before she could protest, and he was a weak man when it came to her desires, he covered up temptation with a wave of his hand.
“If you converted me, we would have plenty of time.” She moved like a siren, in spite of her clothing, her hot gaze drifting over him.
“You are a very wicked woman,” he decreed, catching her wandering hand. He needed clothes as well, a good distance from her if he was going to have a chance to resist her. “You need this information.”
She made a little moue with her lips, those lips he always found irresistible. She definitely had an unfair advantage over him. If she pouted, or cried, he’d be lost.
“All right. I’ll behave,” she conceded with the smallest of teasing smiles. “Bring on your worst. But I won’t change my mind.”
He hoped not. He’d told her once started, there was no going back, and she was well on her way to being in his world. He couldn’t reverse the process.
The smile faded from her face. “I’m listening Dax. I can see this is upsetting to you.” She sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap. “Get on with it. I’m listening. What kind of disaster?”
Dax felt tension gathering in the pit of his stomach. “The men and women they tried to save over the last few centuries apparently became deranged and had to be terminated. It wasn’t until the prince discovered his woman could be turned because she had psychic gifts that our species became aware a few human women might save us.”
There. He’d said it. He’d told her the horrible truth he’d found in Gary’s memories. There was more, but he needed to see her face. Feel her reaction. Check that he wasn’t showing how, for the first time he could remember, fear held him in its deadly grip.
She nodded her head. “I see. As in deranged, you mean like those people in the village? Mindless? Intent on murder?”
He nodded. “Drinking blood much like a vampire. Sometimes turning cannibal.”
She reached for her hair, bringing it over her shoulder, beginning to weave it into a long, thick braid. It was something to do with her hands, he knew. She hadn’t blinked, but her hands were trembling.
“Okay then. Is that it? Because you haven’t settled down.”
“It’s painful.” He nearly blurted out the information when he didn’t blurt. Ever. She was turning him inside out with the stoic look on her face. “Very painful.” Just to clarify. And adhere strictly to the truth. “It’s like dying, convulsions, I can show you the memories if you wish.” He made the offer reluctantly.
She studied his face in silence. He worked at being completely expressionless, not wanting to persuade her one way or the other with his aversion to revealing the actual images.
Riley threw her braid back over her shoulder and stood up. “I don’t want to see. I’m not stupid. I knew in order to cross into your world, I’d have to leave mine. Your body is very different from mine. I knew from the beginning that a change wouldn’t be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is.” Her eyes met his. “Believe me, Dax, you’re worthwhile.”
She stood up and crossed to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Women have babies knowing it could hurt, but that a small few moments are nothing compared to the joy they’ll receive when they have their child in their arms. Whatever
I have to do, I’ll do.” There was absolute resolve in her voice and in her eyes.
Her face blurred for a moment, forcing him to blink rapidly.
“When you deem it safe, I’m ready. I want you to just finish, and while you’re doing it, remember the kind of woman you tied yourself to. I take responsibility for my own choices. I don’t do what other people tell me to. I like information shared with me, and I want respect and a partnership.” She lifted her chin. “I would never be silly enough to argue with you over safety, or even health, which I’ve observed are your two big issues, but I like to make my own decisions.”
He gripped her upper arms. “Is that a warning?” His heart felt as if it had swelled so large it was too big for his chest.
“Take it any way you like. I know you’re afraid I haven’t really looked at the real you. I have. You tend to be a very dominant man, and that’s okay with me, it really is. But I’m just as afraid that you haven’t taken a good look at who I really am. I make my own decisions and I’ve never done well with someone telling me what to do.”
He read the small hint of fear quite easily and it turned his heart over. Heat skittered through his belly and settled low. He pulled her tight against him. “I’ll cherish you forever, Riley.”
She had made up her mind, but she still feared her decision. It was a huge one, and her life would be changed forever. If he abandoned her …
“It is impossible for me to abandon you,” he assured softly. “I’m taking you back to Jubal and Gary, but I’ll be sleeping just beneath you. Reach for me if you have need and I’ll wake.” He kissed her thoroughly, wanting to remove every doubt from her mind. He knew it was impossible, but he would keep trying until she was just as certain of him as a Carpathian lifemate would be.
She wrapped her arms around his neck when he lifted her into his arms. “I hate to leave this place. You made our time together beautiful for me. Thank you.”
“I want you to remember that I love you, Riley. You. The person you are. This is going to get uglier, and you’ll need to hold on to any good moments we can find,” he warned.
He took her through the hallway back out into the early morning light. The sun, obscured by the haze overhead created by the ash, still hurt his eyes. The light on his skin burned, but the scales moving beneath the surface protected his body, allowing him the freedom to take to the sky. He took in the early morning, breathing in the rain and scent of the forest.
Movement was constant in the canopy below. The sounds were far different as the birds called to one another. Monkeys scolded and added to the chaotic movement. The forest was waking up just as he was going to sleep. He could see it would be difficult for Jubal and Gary to sleep during the day and his respect for them grew. They were going out of their way to protect what was his.
The two men had already set up a net and tent with a sleeping hammock for Riley. They had chosen an area easily defensible and one where he could find a resting spot without the water table being too high. He found both of them extremely efficient. They were definitely well versed in the ways of the Carpathian people.
He greeted them formally, giving them the respect they deserved, clasping their forearms as one warrior to another, before relinquishing Riley into their care. He found it much more difficult than he’d anticipated to leave her, even for a few hours. She looked alone, although she stood straight, her chin up and even managed a small smile he kept with him as he opened the ground and allowed the cool soil to greet him.
They cautiously approached the clearing Lea Eldridge had told them about. Long before they were close, the stench of death filled their nostrils.
Riley glanced uneasily at the three men. “Not again. I could feel Mitro as we’ve gotten closer to the river. He came this way for certain. I hate that my ties to him seem to be getting stronger.”
“That’s the Carpathian blood,” Dax explained. “Not any tie to him. Your abilities are growing, and that has nothing at all to do with Mitro. He’s a killing machine. There is no goodness in him, no mercy, not for anyone. There’s no redemption for him. If his lifemate couldn’t save him, no one could. Arabejila is long gone, and evil has completely taken him over, although, in all honesty, I think he was already completely evil.”
“Some people are born with something not right,” Riley said. “We want to say it’s always the environment they’re raised in, but sometimes, it just happens. Maybe it happens in every species.”
Gary nodded his head. “Even animals are born with problems, both physical and mental.” He shrugged. “It happens.”
Mitro had been twisted from the first time, as a boy, Dax had met him. There had always been a cunning savagery about him. His need to hurt animals and the other boys drove others away from him.
Dax shoved the memories away. In the clearing ahead, the smoldering remains of a home came into view. He halted abruptly and caught Riley’s forearms, effectively stopping her. “You’ll need to stay here, sivamet. The stench of evil is strong here.”
Her body rocked against his. She frowned up at him. “He’s gone. You know he’s gone.”
“He leaves both carnage and traps behind. Neither is for you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re mistaken about that. I think he left both behind for me to find. He knows I’m following him.”
“That he does, sivamet. And we’ll get him.”
“He should never have gotten out.” Riley glanced over his shoulder toward the smoldering ruins of the little house there on the side of the river. “I should have been able to stop him.”
“Riley.” Dax said her name softly, shaking his head. He stroked a caress down her long sweep of hair. “You have to know you aren’t responsible for any of this.”
“Of course I am. He got out. He’s killing people, destroying lives. How many more will he kill before we catch him?” She blinked back tears and gestured toward the cabin. “Whoever lived there had a life and it’s gone because I wasn’t powerful enough, or fast enough to keep him a prisoner in that volcano.”
“If you believe that, you have to believe that ultimately, the failure is mine. I have had centuries and yet, I failed.” Dax kept his voice very low, very matter-of-fact. His guilt was not in his inability to defeat the vampire, that was part of the job. Sometimes the hunter won and sometimes the undead prevailed. All hunters knew and accepted that premise.
At once Riley’s expression changed and she shook her head. “No, no, Dax, please don’t think I ever thought that. Of course it isn’t your fault …”
“It isn’t yours, either. Mitro is evil. I have no idea if he was born that way, or what shaped him, but he wanted to be evil. He embraced that darkness in himself. He had every chance to move to the light, but he clearly made the choice to be what he is.”
He dropped his arm around her shoulders and began walking away from the scent of smoke and death. “He seems to need carnage and suffering. It feeds some deep need he has. He’s been around centuries, and maybe it is not our destiny to stop him. But we will continue to try, Riley. There is nothing to gain by blame or guilt. Neither serves any purpose, not in a life-and-death hunt. I need you to be at your strongest and most determined. He can’t ever see weakness in you. The moment he does, he’ll use it to attack. Remember, vampires can get into your head.”
Riley nodded. “I hate that you, Gary and Jubal have to see what he’s done and I’m protected from the worst of it.”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her mouth. “I never want you to have to see any more of his work than necessary. I can help to distance the horror from Gary and Jubal should they ask, and they know enough of our abilities to ask if they have need. I have dealt with this most of my life and can look upon death and torture without repercussions. I have the ability to push all emotion aside.”
Riley turned, stepping in front of him, halting his forward progress. She linked her fingers behind his neck as her eyes searched his carefully. “I don’t know how you’ve
done this so long, Dax, but I admire you for it. I wish I had the courage to tell you I’m going with you no matter what, but I already feel sick just with the thought of it.”
She pressed her face against his chest, right over the steady beat of his heart. He was such a rock. So calm. So completely confident. There was no doubt in her mind what he would find when he approached that little cabin. Lives were lost, others changed forever. She sighed, wishing she could somehow prevent him from having to witness the depravity and cruelty of Mitro.
Dax caught her chin, tipping her head up, his strange, beautiful eyes staring down into hers, captivating her with those spinning colors and the bright flame that shone with such intensity every time he looked at her. “I appreciate that you would spare me this, Riley. It is enough that I know you don’t have to see.”
“I wish neither of us had to do this. And poor Gary and Jubal. Traveling with me, they had no idea what was in store for them.”
He bent his head and brushed a gentle kiss across each eyelid and then blazed a trail of fire to the corner of her mouth. “Don’t worry about them, my gentle heart. I watch over them. They’re good men and good friends to our people. I won’t let them see more than they can handle. They’re tough, both of them, and they’ve done this many, many times already.”
“You’re a good man, too, Dax. You’re so worried about everyone else that you don’t take yourself into consideration,” she protested. “I love that you want to shield all of us, but I’m just saying, I wish I could do the same for you.”
“But you do,” he assured, bending his head down to brush his lips back and forth across hers like a soft whisper. “That’s what you don’t understand. You wipe out every bad place I’ve ever been. I see only you when you’re with me. Loving you is the easy part, Riley, and when I’m with you, everything else disappears. Just wait for me here. Don’t put your hands in the ground; you know he’s gone. Just sit quietly and wait for me.”
Dark Storm ('Dark' Carpathian Series) Page 32
