Firewalkers: Dreamer

by Shiloh Walker

  “Not heartless. Just one who doesn’t understand what I am,” she said tiredly, her head hanging low, hair tangling around her face, hiding her from him.

  “And what is that, beloved?”

  “Weak,” she said softly. “Too weak.”

  “No.” Shaking his head, gently arching her face up, he pressed his lips to hers and said, “Not weak at all. You needed something special, that I didn’t know. Beautiful, exotic, warm, sensitive—not weak. Come back, Caris, come back to me. Forgive me for not understanding, for not listening. Though I’m tempted to turn that sweet tail of yours pink for not making me understand.”

  Caris shook her head. “I don’t want to go back, it’s so much more painful there.”

  “And loneliness isn’t painful?” he asked, forcing his fear down inside. Sage wouldn’t allow him to force her out. She had to come willingly. At the outer edges of his mind, he could feel the other man’s presence, a protective cloak that kept all interfering emotions away from Caris as she dealt with her own turmoil. Seething jealousy mingled with gratitude at their bond. Without it, perhaps Caris wouldn’t have survived in this world.

  But he had to handle her being so close to another man. Even if it was all friendship. It wasn’t even the sex that truly bothered him, it was the soul-deep understanding, one he had lacked, until now.

  “Loneliness is so very painful, Caris. Heartbreak is painful, what you suffer now must be beyond imagining, but that wouldn’t have happened if I had listened, if you had made me. But loneliness, from now until your heart beats no more, stretched out endlessly as you wander this empty plane, no true beauty, no true laughter, no true life…that is loneliness, that is true emptiness. You have truly lived now. Can you go to such a meaningless existence?”

  “Yes,” she hissed, trying to pull out of his arms. “I want meaningless, if it means safety.”

  Jax narrowed his eyes and rasped, “Then something to remember as you exist here alone and safe.” Arching her neck up, he slanted his mouth across hers, thrusting his tongue past the barrier of her teeth, sliding his free hand up to cup her breast, rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger and laughing when she pulled away, trying to bite him.

  He nipped her lower lip and ducked his head, raking his teeth along the graceful, pale line of her neck and whispering, “Will you miss this? The feel of my body pressed to yours? Me moving inside you? How it feels when I bring you to climax as the taste of your sweet blood rolls across my tongue like the finest of wines?”

  He felt her tremble in his arms as he shifted, sliding his hand down to cup her sex, pressing the heel of his hand against the soft pad of her pussy, the moisture seeping through her pants and panties to dampen his palm as he nipped her lip. “I’ll miss it and I’ll yearn for you every day, as I care for the empty shell I forced you into. And I’ll miss you, my mate, the other half of my soul. The woman I have searched for unknowingly, for years on end. I’ll hate myself, knowing I destroyed you.

  “Come back to me,” he urged, taking her mouth again, cupping her hips and pulling her against him, lifting her so that she cradled his aching cock in the soft cleft of her covered thighs.

  Come back to me, he whispered into her mind.

  Come back.

  Caris shuddered under the hot touch of his hands, the furious joy that raced through her treacherous heart as he rocked his heated length against her, and the agony inside her soul as he whispered the very things that tormented her.

  And the last of her resistance dissolved without her even knowing it, as he ate at her mouth greedily. Groaning, she turned more fully toward him, opening her mouth under his and wrapping her arms around him.

  “Caris…”

  “Thank God…”

  “Call Morgan…”

  The sound of voices around her was the only thing that let her know her dreamscape had fallen apart. Sage was still shielding her against the onslaught of emotions as she slid back inside her body, aligning her soul with her physical self, leaving behind the safe, secure place where she didn’t have to feel. Jax pulled his mouth from hers and stared down into her eyes, his fangs fully descended, his eyes glowing and half-mad with desire, relief, and need.

  And love, something so real, so pure, she could feel it inside her heart even with Sage blocking the emotions.

  Jax couldn’t carry her to bed right away.

  Well, he did. That was the first thing Kelly snapped as she strode into the room, her eyes dark with worry, her face pale and tight with strain. But he couldn’t strip Caris’ sweet body naked and love her until they both collapsed from it. Yet.

  Kelly cupped Caris’ face in her hands, shaking her head. “I could have killed Morgan. I told him what a damn idiot he was, what they did. Sage didn’t go into as much detail as he should have. Morgan didn’t truly understand, but he does now. Our fearless leader won’t ever ask this again. He finally understands, as much as his male brain will let him.”

  “The bloody fool would dare ask?” Jax growled, his eyes gleaming, slightly red with rage.

  “He will. At some point, she’ll be needed. But she has to do it on her terms, her way. Nobody else’s way,” Kelly murmured. “I think Morgan…finally understood. With a little help.”

  Caris chuckled weakly. “Kelly, what did you do?”

  “Nothing he didn’t need to have done, sweetie. In fact, Sage laid the groundwork,” she said with a conspiratorial wink. “All I did was finish the work. Now he has an inkling of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of too many unfocused, unchanneled, blind emotions.”

  Caris sighed and closed her eyes. “You two are bad.”

  Kelly grinned cheekily. “My brother taught me well.”

  But now, finally, they were alone. Turning his hungry eyes her way, Jax shed his clothes in short, quick motions as he stared at her with stark, naked desire. “I need to feel you against me, naked, as I sink my cock inside you. I need to feel you around me, tight, wet, warm, alive, as you come.”

  Caris’ breathing became ragged as she met his eyes. “I’m exhausted, Jax…”

  “You do not need to do anything but lie there, let me have you, and take me,” he purred as he stalked closer. Grasping the blankets Kelly had so lovingly tucked around her and jerking them aside, he revealed that slim golden body, clad in a pair of silky white panties and thin white top. Curling his hand into the barrier of the panties, he tore them aside. Sliding his hands under the bottom edge of the strappy shirt, he eyed the dark circles of her nipples beneath and mused, “So pretty…” He pushed it higher, revealing the toned, gleaming flesh, her heaving ribcage as she gasped for air, the bottom, full round curve of her breasts, and the tight pucker of her rosy pink nipples.

  Stripping her free of the shirt, he lowered his mouth to take one of the beguiling nipples, suckling deep and rolling his eyes upward to meet her gaze. Bringing his knee up, he pressed it against the smooth, bare lips of her sex, groaning in desperate hunger as her cream slicked against him.

  “I want to taste you,” he whispered, kissing his way down the line of her torso, pushing her thighs wide and piercing her folds, groaning as the tangy, heady taste rolled over his tongue. The scent of her need filled his head, of her life, of…life.

  She was ripe, ready for a child…could they? Would she want it? Savagely, he jerked away. “You’re fertile,” he hissed.

  “…huh…”

  She blinked, gasping for air and reaching for him, rocking her hips upward and whimpering low in her throat.

  “You are fertile. I do not even know if I could place life inside that sweet little belly of yours, but it is possible. Would you risk it?” he hissed, tossing his streaming coppery hair back and glaring at her.

  Her eyes widened. Deep longing flashed in her eyes. “Come back to me,” she whispered, reaching up to him. “Yes…I’d risk it. Haven’t I proven I’d risk everything for you?”

  With a hungry growl, he covered her, driving deep with one long, sure thrust
, covering her mouth with his as he buried himself inside her to the core. The hot, tight walls of her sheath closed around him like a greedy, silky fist. Arching his back, he pulled out and pushed back in, shuddering as the walls clenched and worked around him. Her nipples drew into tight, hard beads and Jax lowered his head, drawing one into his mouth and suckling deep, humming in appreciation as it made her sob and tighten around him.

  Caris’ eyes started to flutter closed and he whispered, “No. Keep them open. I want to see you, you to see me. Feel this…” and he surged back inside her, rolling his hips and caressing the buried bed of nerves by the mouth of her fertile womb. His balls drew tight against him and chills raced down his spine.

  Not yet…

  “Feel this,” he purred again, lowering himself so that the soft pillow of her breasts flattened under the hard wall of his chest and he could feel the smooth, curved lines of her body as she moved under him. Greedy, soft moans fell from her lips, and her heart pounded against his.

  “I love you,” she breathed against his lips.

  “Oh, beloved. I yearn for you, adore you, love you,” he rasped as she started to come in long rhythmic pulses around his driving cock, her sharp, eager cry echoing in his ears as he started to pump her full of his seed. “Adore you…love you…”

  Long moments later, he lifted his head and studied her pale face. Her eyes were still open, although she desperately needed to be resting. “Will you forgive me?” he asked softly, cupping her cheek. “I did not know.”

  Her lids lowered.

  Jax felt stark terror build within him as her eyes evaded his. “Caris, I am so sorry, beloved,” he whispered, lowering his mouth to hers. “So sorry. Don’t close me out, please. I beg you.”

  Beg…he would beg again. He would plead, anything she wanted, so long as she didn’t pull away from him.

  A quiet sigh filled the air. “You don’t need to beg, Jax. It hurt, what happened. I can’t just push that away. But I could have made you understand, if I had pushed harder.” Her eyes were distant and unseeing as he watched her.

  “Why did you not?”

  One slim shoulder lifted in a shrug and she responded, “Maybe I wanted to make you suffer. You don’t understand, even the memory of what happened in the past is almost as painful as if you had sliced me open. And you kept pushing.”

  Her voice trembled a little and her eyes finally met his. “I think I wanted you to see—actually see—so it would hurt you too much to even think of doing that to me again,” she said quietly.

  “It worked,” he growled, catching her face in his hands and kissing her roughly. “I don’t ever want to see you step foot off of this land again, never go around another person as long as you live, so long as that keeps you safe and whole.”

  “That might be a bit extreme,” she murmured, her lips curling up in a smile.

  “Are you going to forgive me?” he demanded, pressing a bruising kiss to her mouth. “I cannot live without you, and I cannot live with the cold creature you have become. It hurts me to even look at you and see those empty eyes.”

  She smiled, sadly. “I forgive you, Jax,” Caris said on a sigh. “My pride led me here as surely as anything you did.”

  “I love you,” he said urgently against her neck. Nuzzling the patch of skin where the vein throbbed beguilingly. “I adore you, and I’ll kill to keep you safe. Die to keep to you safe.”

  “Hmmm. I won’t ask either. Just love me,” she whispered, lifting up and pressing her lips to the crown of his head. “Just love me.”

  “Ah… my beautiful dreamer, I can do nothing else,” he swore as he slid his knee between hers and worked his aching sex inside the swollen tissues of her pussy.

  Time spun away as he loved her, lowering his head to feed from her, rocking his hips against her slowly, taking his time to bring her to climax, reveling in the moans and sobs that fell from her lips.

  “My beautiful dreamer,” he whispered as she started to come. “All mine. Forever.”

  “Hmmm, my vampire,” she murmured as he collapsed against her a long time later. “Ya know, I think the best thing I ever did was dream of my vampire just a little while ago.”

  About the author:

  Shiloh was born in Kentucky and has been reading avidly since she was six. At twelve, she discovered how much fun it was to write when she took a book that didn’t end the way she had wanted it to and rewrote the ending. She’s been writing ever since.

  Shiloh now lives in southern Indiana with her husband and two children. Between her job, her two adorable and demanding children, and equally adorable and demanding husband, she crams writing in between studying and reading and sleeps when time allows.

  Shiloh welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at P.O. Box 787, Hudson, Ohio 44236-0787.

  Also by Shiloh Walker:

  Coming In Last

  Her Best Friend’s Lover

  Her Wildest Dreams

  Make Me Believe

  Mythe Magick

  Once Upon A Midnight Blue

  The Dragon’s Warrior

  The Hunters: Delcan and Tori

  The Hunters: Eli and Sarel

  The Hunters: Jonathan and Lori

  Touch of Gypsy Fire

  Voyeur

  Whipped Cream and Handcuffs

  Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

  www.ellorascave.com