by Nya Rayne
Chapter Seven
BLAINE STOPPED JUST INSIDE the line of trees and watched as Hayze sat on the bank of the very same lake she’d fallen in days earlier. His back was iron-straight, his eyes trained on the first stars of the night. The man was beautiful. Even through her anger she could see he was meant to be on the arm of a goddess, not a common woman.
She clenched the folded pair of jeans she carried and refused to retreat like the innocent shy girl hiding inside of her wanted to do out of sheer embarrassment. However, the woman in her was insulted by his actions. Instead of making love to her as she had wanted him to, he had chosen to walk away. Hours had passed, three to be precise, since he’d locked her in his bathroom. Did he find her that revolting?
Hell, if it wasn’t for the maid coming to turn his bed down and drop off new towels, she would’ve still been up there feeling like a complete jack-ass.
Blaine continued on until she was a few feet behind Hayze. He didn’t seem to notice she was there. “Myron told me that I would find you down here.” She dropped the jeans beside him. “She said to give you those.”
Hayze looked up at her, his eyes filled with regret. “Thanks, I, um…” He grabbed the jeans and stood up.
“Save it, Hayze.” She turned, refusing to let him see the pain his rejection caused her.
He grabbed her wrist. “Don’t leave, Blaine. Not like this, anyway.”
She spun around and slapped his hand way. “Why? Isn’t that exactly what you did? And don’t you ever touch me again. When I wanted you to, you chose to leave me locked in your bathroom for three damn hours.” She backed away from him. “I’m done with whatever this is. To hell with your compromise.”
“Blaine? Please—it’s not what you think.”
The cadence of his voice had the power to lull her into a false sense of security while the raw pain in his eyes had her ready to weep. She pushed forward, stilling her resolve. If she could help it, she wasn’t going to let her guard down again. Blaine turned without a word and stomped away.
“Damn it,” Hayze growled from behind her. Then he was on her, grabbing her and spinning her around to face him.
Before Blaine could protest, his lips descended on hers. The kiss was possessive, blistering, and mind-blowing. She wanted to push him away, to prove to him that he had no power over her, but instead she laced her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. She opened her mouth to his, sucked on his tongue, drank him in and shared her taste with him.
Hayze buried his fingers in her hair at the nape of her head and tilted her head back. He trailed wet kisses down the length of her throat, while he pulled her closer with his other hand.
Blaine’s cane hit the ground as she gripped his shoulders, allowing him to carry most of her weight.
“Hayze,” she whimpered. “Don’t tease me. Don’t make me beg you.” She hadn’t realized exactly how much she needed this from him until she’d touched him earlier. One simple touch, the brush of his lips against hers and her body was a blaze.
“Blaine, I have never needed anything like I need you,” he said, looking directly into her eyes.
“Then take me.” Her thong was soaked, her clit throbbing for him. “For heaven’s sake, what’s stopping you?”
“I want to, don’t you see that? The hardest thing I’ve ever done was walk away from you.” He released her and took a step back, holding her at arm’s length. “On Anubis’s head, I’ve never wanted anyone the way that I want you.” He turned his back to her, his fist clenched at his sides as if what he was going to say next could kill one or both of them.
“What is it? Are you married? Do you have someone waiting for you back home?” The thought was enough to crush her, but that was usually how her luck worked.
“No,” he answered quickly, turning back to her, “Hell, no. There’s only you. There will only be you.”
Hope soared. How had she allowed him to steal her heart? “Then why are you rejecting me at every turn? This isn’t making any sense. You saved my life. You’ve paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to see to my health. I know you care for me, Hayze. I see it in the way you look at me and talk to me. I see it in the way you hang on my every word when I’m speaking. But you won’t make love to me. What am I missing?”
“Are you touched in the head, woman? Making love to you is all I want.”
“What’s the problem, then?”
“I can’t promise you forever, Blaine.” He searched her face. “I don’t even know if I can promise you tomorrow. And you deserve so much more than a fling.”
Staring back at Hayze, she realized from the moment she first laid eyes on him, the deepest part of her soul knew him and had loved him instantly. “Then let’s make this count for something.” If all he could give her was now, then she would gladly take it.
Blaine stepped back and made quick work of stripping out of her sweatshirt, so that she stood before Hayze in nothing but her black lace bra and a pair of hip-hugging jeans.
“Are you sure about this?” Hayze caressed her hips. “I don’t want you doing anything you might regret later.”
“I don’t know why, but I’ve never been surer about anything in my life. I feel like I’m supposed to be here with you. It’s as if I’ve always belonged with you, Hayze.”
He dipped his head, his mouth descending once more on hers. Hayze picked her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist. Blaine stripped off his towel and tossed it aside as he ripped through her bra to get to her breasts. Sucking her right nipple into his mouth, he carried her to the soft grass bordering the lake’s bank. His tongue laved her sensitive nerves, and then he moved to the left one. His hands roamed her body, caressing and touching her in delicate places. They brought to life a fire, the likes of which she’d never known. He kissed his way down to her abdomen, made quick work of removing her jeans, and danced his nimble fingers through her wetness.
“Hayze,” she whispered as he slipped lower, one finger sliding into her.
He pushed her knees up and apart as he parted her sex with his tongue and lapped at her juices. Hayze licked her from clit to slit and back. He sucked her swollen nub into his mouth, igniting sensations throughout her body that rivaled the tremors of a large earthquake. His thirst for her, unquenchable.
“God, please! It feels so good. More. Give me more, Hayze.” The sensation swelled as he added a finger and flicked the tip of tongue against her clit, building her arousal until her body was wracked with uncontrollable shivers. Blaine gyrated against his mouth, whispering incomprehensible things while her walls convulsed uncontrollably.
Hayze crawled back up her body as her orgasm diminished to mere tremors. “Your taste is sweeter than the sweetest ambrosia.” His lips covered hers again in a kiss that she felt down to her soul while his cock pushed against her entrance.
Blaine tensed.
“Don’t fight it, baby. Let it happen.” His voice was soft, coaxing, a lover’s caress. “Relax. Trust me not to hurt you.”
The feel of Hayze filling her, stretching her to fit him gave Blaine a whole new image of the width of his cock. It wasn’t made to fit inside her or any woman; it couldn’t have been. “Hay…ze.”
“Do you want me to stop?” He slowed and looked down at her. “If you want me to, I will.”
“No, don’t.”
“Are you sure? I’ve tasted you. If it has to be, that can be enough for me.” He pulled out of her, then pushed forward again. If he went any farther, Blaine was sure he would tickle her lungs. “Damn, baby, you’re so tight.”
The sweetest sensation clawed its way to the forefront with a burning fury. “If you stop, I’ll kill you.”
Hayze chuckled as he pulled out of her again. “So violent, my sweet.” He took her hands in one of his larger ones and pinned them over her head.
The tenor of his voice rolled through Blaine, fueling the already burning flame blazing within her. Her hips rose and her pussy dripped in anticipati
on. Blaine gulped past the dryness threatening to seal her throat. “Please stop teasing me, Hayze.”
He teased her opening with the head of his penis. “Are you ready for this?”
“Yes,” she breathed. “God, yes!”
“There’s no going back, baby.”
“Please. I need this.”
Hayze rubbed his nose against hers before he dipped his head and brushed feather-soft kisses along her brow and jaw. “In all my long life I hoped for you, but never once did I expect to find you.” Letting go of her hands, he held her legs higher and pushed into her, driving his cock deeper. “Sweet—” He paused, his brows drawn together as he stared down at her. “Blaine?”
“Not now. Please just finish this.” She was burning from the inside out with need. Damn it, they could talk later. “Finish this.”
Hayze thrust forward, burying himself within her in one fluid movement as a biting pain tore through her, forcing her to cry out. He slowed, allowing her a chance to adjust to him before he began to ride her again. The pain was instantly replaced by pleasure the likes of which Blaine had never known existed. She scratched at his back as she rolled her hips up, allowing him better access to her sex. He would own her after this; she knew it without a shadow of a doubt or regret. He would own her.
He pushed up, bringing her with him so that she was straddling his hips. He made her turn her head to face him and the second she did, he closed in on her lips, devouring her as he controlled her hips, pulling her down to meet him repeatedly.
Hayze forced her to ride him, to take what she wanted and to give him what he so desperately needed. Her insides quivered, and then exploded around his shaft, sending her spiraling into a sea of exquisite pleasure. Hayze rolled her back on to the ground and pistoned into her until he cried out in pleasure as well, his juices spilling into her, coating her heart and soul in a way she had only dreamed. Her legs shook, her arms trembled, and she knew she would love this man until the end of time.
Hayze’s cock throbbed inside of her as his orgasm waned. Blaine couldn’t be sure, but she felt as if the head of his penis had doubled in size. A pregnant moment later, he rolled off of her and pulled her to the side with him, cradling her head in the crook of his arm.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Blaine nuzzled the side of his chest, and inhaled his scent. “You didn’t ask.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You shouldn’t have kept that a secret, Blaine. At least, not from me.”
“What do you want me to say? I’m sorry?”
“You don’t have to be so blasé about it. If I had known you were a virgin I would’ve made sure your first time wasn’t next to a lake, on the ground without so much as a blanket. I would’ve made it special for you. I would’ve at least tried,” he said, his tone clipped.
She pushed up, her weight balanced on her elbow. “Don’t tell me you’re seriously upset about something so juvenile.”
“Of course not.” He was quiet for moment. “I’m disappointed in myself maybe, because I didn’t think. I should’ve expected this. I should’ve known. You wouldn’t have been able to bind me to you if you weren’t a virg—”
“What are you talking about?”
Hayze gazed at Blaine as if seeing her for the first time. “Nothing, just rambling. Anyway, I’m not upset at you. I could never be upset at you, ma cherié.”
Blaine snuggled down into his embrace. “Hayze?”
“Hmmm?” He pulled her close, his large hand running the length of her right arm.
“Why didn’t you make love to me before? Why did it take me chasing you way out here and then threatening you to make you do something you should’ve wanted to do earlier?”
He glanced down at her over his aquiline nose. “What do you remember about before? Back in the room?”
“Everything. Why? Did I do something wrong?”
A blush rose over his cheeks. “Let’s say that stuff Sarka poured on me had an adverse effect on you.”
“Did it? I don’t remember feeling any different. Not really, anyway.” Blaine pushed her hair over her shoulder and settled a little deeper in the side of his chest. She didn’t remember feeling anything too untoward. She felt a little hornier, a little hotter, and a lot braver, but that was it.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Sarka and Sage said it was only herbs to heighten your desire for me, but—”
“Wait, so is that why you wouldn’t make love to me? Because I was under the influence?”
Hayze smiled to himself. “Yeah, let’s go with that,” he told her, pulling her down and kissing the crown of her head. “Knowing they tried to drug you doesn’t bother you?”
“A little, but I didn’t really feel any different. So, it’s kind of hard to be mad about something that I wouldn’t have known about had you not told me.”
“Don’t worry about it. I was pissed off enough at them for the both of us.”
“Were you?”
“Sure was. I had words with the lot of them so I don’t expect them to be interfering with us anymore.” He laughed. “At least, for the rest of the day anyway.”
They lay in silence for a long moment, enjoying each other’s company before Blaine spoke. “That stuff that you told me about being an Anubi, it’s all true, isn’t it?”
“Every sordid detail. Why do you ask?”
“Is Rekkus an Anubi too?”
“No, he’s a were-tiger, which means that, unlike me, he can shift into a big scary pussy cat.” He chuckled. “Gods, if he heard me say that, he’d try to use me as a scratching post.”
“You two are really good friends, huh?”
“I guess. When I left my pack and branched out on my own, I met Rekkus. We joined the Syndicate right around the same time. Ever since then, we’ve been like brothers.”
“And you said the Syndicate governs the Paras, right? And the Paras are vampires, fairies, and those other things that go bump in the night?”
“So, you do listen.” He laughed and rolled her unto her back. “What’s with all these questions about Rekkus and Paras?”
Blaine palmed his cheeks and ran a hand down his chin to his chest, once more tracing his tattoo. The ink from one corner rose up and wrapped itself around her hand, heating her skin. A pulse, almost like a heartbeat, reverberated through her hand.
“Hayze?”
“Yeah?”
She blinked and the ink was once again lying against his skin, harmless and nothing more than a tattoo. She had to be losing her mind, because tattoos didn’t move. Not wanting to sound like a total whacko, she went back to their previous conversation. “Well, Dana is Rekkus’s mate, right? So I was wondering if Anubi were allowed to have mates too?”
Hayze stared at her for a long moment before speaking. “Why would you ask me something like that?”
She shrugged. “I was only wondering if the rules were similar for all Paras.”
“I don’t know about all Paras, but if Rekkus were to lose Dana, the Fates would eventually give him a new mate. Anubi aren’t so lucky. We get one chance to get it right.”
Blaine gnawed on her lower lip and looked away as she spoke. “H-Have you been given your mate?”
Hayze released her so abruptly; it was as if a heavy door had just been slammed in her face.
Chapter Eight
BLAINE’S QUESTION WAS LIKE being hit in the side of the head by the stony fist of a yazaron. How was he supposed to answer her?
Hayze couldn’t tell her the truth, but he couldn’t lie to her either. Not even if he wanted to because Anubi couldn’t lie. It was a little spell Anubis had cursed all Anubi with at creation to make sure they would never be able to deceive him. However, when one couldn’t lie, he tended to master the art of evasion.
So, Hayze said nothing.
“Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s really none of my business.” Blaine gathered her sweatshirt and pulled it on, then searched out her jeans and panties. �
��I really didn’t mean anything by it. I was…” Her pain was in her voice, her mannerisms, and battering viciously at his heart.
Grasping her slender shoulder, Hayze stilled her movements. Blaine tried to shake him off, but he held onto her. “Come with me to the Eve’s Slumber tonight.”
Her eyes searched his face for the truth he refused to tell her, Hayze was sure. Hope. It was there in her beautiful sad hazel eyes. Hope that he’d tell her that her feelings weren’t unrequited, that he’d tell her when their time on this island was done, they’d continue whatever this was.
I love him. The thought was there and gone so fast Hayze wasn’t certain if he’d heard it at all.
Blaine looked away, spotted her torn bra, and reached for it and her cane at the same time. She was the flame and he was the moth, there was no denying that. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She settled back on her knees and shot him a smile that didn’t totally reach her eyes. With her thumb and forefinger, she caressed the side of his face, trailed his jawline, and lingered at the corner of his mouth. “Sure, I’ll go with you, but under one condition.”
“And what would that be?”
“You never look at me like this again.”
Hayze pulled her closer, and brushed his lips against hers. “Like what?” he asked softly.
She returned his kiss, and then rested her forehead against his. “Like the world is ending in forty-eight hours and like…” Blaine trailed off but he caught what could have been the remainder of her thought in his mind, Like you’re going to break my heart and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
Had he just heard her thoughts? Or were the Fates playing another sick joke on him? He and Blaine had made love. Could it be that simple? Could Rekkus and the others be right in that it wasn’t too late to find acceptance in his mate’s arms and heart? Could they be right that it wasn’t too late to save himself?
Hayze closed his eyes and focused his attention on tearing through the invisible barriers all humans had surrounding their private thoughts. Nothing happened. Not a solitary thought, a verb, adjective, or adverb could be heard. There was only silence and more silence. He pushed harder, focusing his attention only on Blaine and her private thoughts. Still, nothing.
