Spirit Bound

by Christine Feehan

  The heavy erection was a constant, painful demand impossible to disregard. His mouth turned from commanding to demanding. He kissed his way down her throat to the edge of her scooped tank. "I don't want you wearing anything but that gold chain," he whispered, kissing his way back up to her ear. His teeth nipped her earlobe. "Get rid of your clothes."

  He wasn't the kind of man to ask. He couldn't change himself. This was Stefan Prakenskii with his woman, his other half, not a mark of Thomas Vincent's. Thomas would be polite, Stefan didn't know how to be, not when lust mixed so harshly with an unfamiliar welling emotion that was all-encompassing.

  He stroked his palm up her silken skin, tracing her narrow rib cage, enticing her even as he made his demand. Once more he took possession of her mouth, sinking into the velvet depths, tasting wild honey and survival, kissing her again and again, feeding on her magic.

  Stefan had learned at an early age to survive by controlling every aspect of his life, from his thoughts, especially his emotions and by handling any kind of pain. Kissing Judith was another form of survival. He had all but lost every vestige of humanity and here, in this room of absolute joy, he was surrounded by it. Her spirit merged with his until he couldn't tell where she began and he ended. Here, more than anywhere else in the house, her spirit was alive and strong, surrounding his, merging, and amplifying every one of his own emotions.

  The walls of her kaleidoscope studio, the room itself, the very air, held the essence of Judith and there was no way to resist, not even with his gifts. Judith was a naturally sensual woman, her passion for life, for joy, for color was everywhere around him. She was wholly feminine and here, more than anywhere else, her sexual nature was just as easy to see as her compassionate side. She made him burn with need.

  "Your clothes," he reiterated between his teeth, shaking with a desire that was more real than anything he'd ever known. "Take them off."

  No amount of beating, no amount of caressing or stroking or any other form of inducement had caused him to lose control and yet now, with the one woman who counted, he could barely breathe with wanting her.

  Judith tilted her head back so that her dark eyes could meet his. He could see the matching heat there, the need every bit as strong as his. Maybe she was a little less sure of what she was getting herself into than he was, but he read the hunger every bit as deep as his own. Very slowly she let her arms fall, hands catching the hem of her tee. His heart rose to his throat, threatening to choke him. She pulled the offending material over her head and tossed it onto the nearby table, shaking her hair out so that it fell around her like a living cape of black, shiny silk.

  His breath refused to leave his lungs. The lacy cups of her bra slid from her body, leaving her full, high breasts as an offering. Her nipples were already hard, a dark entreaty, her breasts already flushed in anticipation, rising and falling with her labored breathing. God, she was beautiful, more beautiful than he'd imagined her to be.

  He dragged her to him simply by curling his hand around the nape of her neck, his mouth once more descending on hers. There was no way to resist her. Judith, surrounded by the evidence of her brightness, was pure seduction to a man as lost as Stefan. He kissed her over and over, long drugging kisses, while his hands moved over her skin, cupped her breasts, thumbs teasing her nipples, feeling each stroke ricochet through both of them like a whip of a lightning.

  Stefan kissed his way to her breast, drawing the soft flesh into the heat of his mouth while his hands dropped to the button of her jeans. His knuckles brushed her firm body as he tugged the front open. Hooking his fingers on the band riding low on her hips, as well as the silky thong, he pulled the material down, his mouth following the path to her belly button while she stepped out of them.

  His hands gripped her hips while his body throbbed and demanded. "How experienced are you, Judith?" His voice had gone hoarse.

  "What difference does that make?" Her voice was edgy, ready to retreat.

  His eyes met hers steadily. "I don't want to hurt you and I don't think I'm going to be gentle, not the first time."

  Heat blazed into her eyes. She moistened her lips. "I haven't been with anyone in over five years, and then only twice."

  He groaned. It wasn't what he wanted to hear and yet he couldn't help but be pleased. Judith was his alone. Twice didn't count. She may as well have been a virgin. He rested his forehead against her soft belly and took a deep breath to regain a semblance of control. He'd never been without control--not until Judith. He'd never allowed his body a will and mind of its own--until Judith.

  "I want you with every breath in my body, moi padshii angel, but this might not be a good idea right now." He knelt, arms around her waist looking up at her. "I don't know how much control I actually have and that's another damn first for me."

  Stefan Prakenskii was baring his soul to his woman and Thomas Vincent could stay damned. If this was going to happen then it was going to be all Stefan and all truth here in this room of joy and beauty, here with this woman who he knew with certainty belonged to him.

  "If we do this, you have to promise me you won't end it there. I want to know that you'll look me in the eye and know you wanted this as much as I do and we won't end our chances. Say it, Judith, while I still have the strength to stop." He had to know that she wouldn't try to walk away.

  Her hand dropped into his hair, fingers curling through the thick strands. Her dark eyes met his, so mysterious, filled with desire for him--for Stefan. He'd given himself to her, that small piece of him that was left, that his instructors hadn't beat out of him. It seemed a little thing, but he'd never allowed another human being to even know Stefan Prakenskii existed. Prakenskii lived in the shadows, no more than a phantom some whispered about, but never really knew for certain of his existence. Even the dead could not positively identify him.

  He held that small piece of humanity as close as possible, deep and hidden where no enemy could ever strip it from him. It was the one thing that made him vulnerable, the only thing he had left of his mother's love. His loyalty to his brothers was part of that, and it was very, very fragile.

  Judith saw him. She might not know his name, but she saw him. They stared at each other, Judith stripped naked, bare and open to him, Stefan fully clothed but more naked and vulnerable than she could possibly imagine.

  Judith moistened her lips. "I want you, Thomas, any way I can have you."

  His body reacted almost before his mind comprehended that soft, whispered acceptance. His heavy erection grew thicker and much harder than it had ever been, a painful need mixing with the dark lust building so fast he could barely hang on to his control. He couldn't save her, not now, it was too damned late, not when she was looking at him with those eyes. Not with her body flushed and her breasts rising and falling with her ragged breathing. Not when she was every bit as needy as he was.

  Her feminine scent enticed and tempted beyond his ability to resist. His hands, of their own accord, dropped to her thighs, jerking them apart to give him what he so desperately needed. He didn't--couldn't--wait. Without preamble, his mouth devoured her. He was brilliant at two things, killing and giving pleasure. With this woman his lovemaking was all real. His tongue made a single swipe through velvet folds and when he felt her answering shudder, he tasted the wild honey he'd been craving from her.

  He knew it was far too late to turn back. She'd changed his life for all time. The way her hands fisted in his hair. The trembling of her body, her soft musical moans fed his addiction, and the exotic taste of her would forever set up a craving. Nothing mattered but having her. He had waited his entire life for a reason--something, just one thing to make sense of it all. She turned out to be a woman named Judith.

  She cried out as he licked, a cat lapping at sweet, hot cream, her breathless cries only adding to the urgent need building like a tsunami inside of him. He couldn't stop the growling sounds of pleasure coming from his throat, the desperate hunger forever building into an insatiable lust. Her hot
channel spasmed, providing more honey and he attacked like the starving man he was.

  More angel, give me everything. I need you to give yourself to me.

  He was asking for complete trust in him. The more she relaxed, the more she put herself into his hands, the better he could make it for her. His hand tightened on her hip, holding her still when her knees threatened to buckle, while he slid his finger deep into that hot, velvet tunnel. He groaned at how small and tight she was. He was a big man and she needed to be ready to take his size. Her inner muscles gripped his finger tightly and he lapped and sucked at the welcoming liquid spilling over. Nectar from the gods, sweet and flowing into his hungry mouth. He was the devil tempting the angel and nothing else mattered but that she succumbed to his deliberate seduction.

  Judith cried out again, the sound strangled as she placed both hands on Stefan's shoulders to steady herself when her legs turned to gel and her body trembled violently with the gathering tension. She spread her legs wider, threw her head back, gasping, putting herself into his care, giving him the trust he'd demanded from her. Pleasure grew past anything she'd known and still he didn't stop, his wicked, sinful mouth driving her up until she thought she might come apart, just fragment into a million pieces, or lose herself in the sheer rapture of his mouth.

  And then he used his fingers again while his mouth remained on her most sensitive button, suckling and flicking so that her breath came in gasping sobs. His exploring fingers stretched her, teased and stretched a little more. There was a tiny bite of pain, a burning that just floated into the exquisite pleasure and then dissipated as rapture built, coiling tighter and tighter inside of her.

  "I can't take any more." Even to herself her voice was a husky, pleading moan.

  Let go, angel, and just fly for me.

  She had no choice, she really didn't. Not with flames building into a giant firestorm and her body bucking helplessly against his mouth and fingers. She felt every muscle in her body tighten, the coil so tight now it was frightening, and then she was flying apart, her soft cries filling the room.

  Stefan held her hips to steady her, even as he stood, stripping away his jeans with one hand, turning her away from him, pressing her down with one hand on her back, forcing her over one of the tables. He left his shirt on. His body was covered in scars. Knife fights, bullet wounds, whip marks, years of enduring torture, it was all on the road map of his body. She might buy he'd gotten a few wounds in the service, but it would be impossible to explain them all and he didn't want to lie to her.

  She was nearly sobbing, her body rocking back into his. "Easy, angel, we're going to go slow." He hoped he could.

  His hand circled his cock, finding her slick entrance with the large, very sensitive head. Her channel was burning hot, surrounding that first inch, gripping tightly so that he had to still, throwing his head back, his body shuddering with pleasure. "Hold still, Judith," he entreated. "I don't want to hurt you."

  Judith tried to stop writhing, stop the terrible restless need gripping her as she felt the hot head of his thick shaft lodge inside of her. Her breath caught in her lungs. Between her legs, she felt chiseled steel, hot as a brand, invading, stretching, burning. But more, it was the essence of the man lodged so deep inside of her she knew she would never get him out. The sensations poured over her so fast she couldn't catch her breath, couldn't possibly control the screams of her body, the demands. She had no experience with this kind of sex, yet everything in her responded. Even the small wisps of fear curling treacherously in her mind heightened her pleasure.

  She felt a sob welling up and tears burned behind her eyes. She hadn't thought herself capable of this type of strong passion, the need so great, so incredible nothing else mattered but having him buried deep inside of her. She didn't care if it stretched and burned. She wanted him to take her so high that she lost herself in him. She was willing to give him everything she was as long as he gave her the same.

  "Stay still, damn it," Stefan pleaded. He needed her to keep from moving so sensuously, her body sliding enticingly toward him as she tried to draw him deeper into her scalding feminine sheath.

  She hissed something between her teeth that sounded as if she was trying, but the feeling of her soft, rounded buttocks and the long line of her spine with her hair spilling around her were every bit as sensual as her hips bucking.

  He rocked forward, driving an inch deeper, pushing through those tight, strangling folds of silken fire, gasping with the flames racing over him. It was difficult not to slam himself deep into that inferno of paradise. He halted the moment he felt her tense, just staying where he was, surrounded by living velvet as tight as any fist.

  "I'm all right," she panted. "Keep going."

  "What's wrong?" He couldn't stop, not now. He closed his eyes and prayed to a God he wasn't certain existed.

  "I want this," Judith insisted, her tone pleading, breathless, needy. "It burns a little when you're stretching me, but you feel amazing. Please don't stop."

  He let his breath out and invaded deeper into that tight feminine channel. "You're so damn tight, angel." She was scorching him all the way down to his toes. He took a breath and eased in more.

  "You're so damn big," Judith gasped and pushed back with a small cry, sheathing him another couple of inches.

  He flexed his fingers. Blood thundered in his head, and a jackhammer pulsed between his legs, hard and demanding. With her squirming he could barely maintain sanity let alone control. He gripped her hips and as her body thrust toward him, he rammed home, burying himself deep, driving through those snug, nearly unyielding muscles. He bumped her cervix and she cried out again, taking several deep breaths.

  "Please, Thomas, please . . ." She broke off pleading with a gasp as he began to move.

  Stefan built the rhythm slowly, watching her reaction as closely as possible. She was burning him alive, feeding the flames with her passion, with her own need, a black magic woman, wrapping him up in sex and sin. His cock felt like steel, slamming into her over and over, disappearing into dark, hot depths. Deliberately he adjusted position, dragging over her most sensitive part so that she gave another cry.

  Her long hair was everywhere, her breasts rocking with each hard stroke. The sight of her broke his last thread of control and he gave in to the wild need that had been building his entire life for this one woman. He drew in his breath sharply, his hold on her hips tight as he drove forward and yanked her back into him again and again.

  He stretched them both out on a rack of torturous, pure carnal pleasure he hadn't known could exist, the tension building until her cries were music to him and his hard breathing matched the deep, pistoning thrusts of his hips. He couldn't stop, didn't want this to end, felt complete with her, with flames licking over his skin and his cock forging such heat they were welded together.

  Lust rose into frenzied hunger and mingled with a far gentler emotion that took his heart and placed it solely in her hands. He slammed into her again and again, her pleas and the sound of their bodies coming together weaving the sensations into a deeper, darker coil. Judith gasped, a sobbing plea escaped, as wave after wave of shocking orgasms tore through her. Her muscles clamped down like a vise, dragging over him, a fierce, almost brutal assault that took him by surprise, ripping his own vicious release from him.

  Stefan collapsed over the top of Judith, careful not to put too much of his weight on her while he fought for breath. He pressed his face against her back, inhaling her fragrance, feeling the silk of her hair against his face. Are you all right?

  She reached one hand behind her and stroked his thigh. He could feel the pulse of her heart in the muscles surrounding him. Absolutely. You?

  Never better.

  She hesitated and he felt it like an arrow through her heart. I'm a little frightened by how intense this is between us. I didn't expect sex to be so explosive. I can't control it.

  He waited a heartbeat. Don't regret this, Judith. It's too good between us; don't pull a
way from me because it's scary. We can figure it out together.

  She was silent another moment. I should have told you, I'm not on birth control. I haven't been with anyone and didn't expect to be.

  I should have protected you. I'm sorry, Judith. I wasn't thinking. He couldn't say it aloud, could barely manage to utter the lie telepathically. He would welcome his child growing inside of her. The damn truth was, he wanted his child in her. And that was another shocking first for him.

  Judith went still. She turned her head to one side and looked back at him, her long, feathery lashes lowering over her dazed expression. I'm a grown woman, Thomas. I can protect myself. I should have been the one thinking about it. And truthfully, there's a part of me that would welcome a baby.

  My baby, he corrected. My baby.

  The intimacy of speaking to one another in mind only while their bodies were locked together heightened his pleasure. He wrapped both arms around her slender waist and pressed kisses down her spine. I love this room.

  Me too. There was soft laughter in her mind.

  Judith didn't try to move and he could feel every aftershock rocking her body.

  This room will always be my favorite, although I'm quite willing to check out every single room in the house to see if any others are quite as exciting as this one. Slowly, reluctantly, Stefan allowed his body to leave hers. He kept one hand on the small of her back to keep her in place, not taking chances that she might see the scars on him as he dragged up his jeans. "How many tables are there in this room?" He wanted to ease back to give her time to come to terms with how quickly their relationship was moving forward.