by Lara Adrian
between his teeth? Or would he
spring on her like the predator he
was, dominating her with speed and
force and white-hot power?
Some troubling part of her she
didn’t recognize stirred with the
need to know.
Sera groaned. She squirmed in
her seat as her pulse thudded faster
and
erotic
warmth
bloomed
between her thighs.
She wanted to cross her legs to
relieve the unwelcome ache, but the
skirts of her ceremonial dress were
too restricting. Elsewhere in the
banquet room, her father was
reciting the traditional terms of the handfast. She only half-listened, too
distracted by Jehan’s presence
beside her and the heat of his gaze
on her as she fidgeted and shifted in
her chair.
It suddenly occurred to her that
the room had gone strangely quiet.
Expectantly quiet.
All eyes in the room were
fixed on her, and her father was no
longer speaking.
Jehan stood up and pointedly
cleared his throat. “It’s time for us
to go, Seraphina.”
“Oh.” She rose to her feet,
eager to escape the weight of
everyone’s gazes. Plus, she couldn’t
wait to put some much-needed
distance between herself and Jehan.
But he wasn’t moving. Why
wasn’t he moving?
“Don’t
forget
the
kiss!”
someone shouted cheerfully from
among the gathering. “It’s tradition
to seal the pact with a kiss!”
Leila. Damn that girl.
Sera shot a narrowed glare at
her exuberant sibling but her grin
showed no remorse.
“Kiss her!” she shouted again.
And then across the room,
Marcel called for the kiss too.
Someone else picked up the chant,
then another. Before long, the entire
place
was
applauding
and
thundering with the command. “Kiss
her! Kiss her! Kiss her!”
Sera turned a miserable look
on Jehan. “We don’t really have t
—”
Before she could finish, he
moved closer and his mouth slanted
over hers in a blast of heat. His lips
caressed hers, impossibly soft,
achingly sensual. His hands held
her face, and yes, they were gentle.
His kiss was too, but beneath its
tenderness was a possessiveness—
a raw power—that rocked her.
He mastered her mouth in an
instant, and every brush of his lips had her aching to be claimed by
him.
Her thoughts scattered. Her
knees went a little boneless.
Even worse, the coil of
warmth that had gathered between
her thighs a few moments ago
blazed molten and wild now.
Sera raised her hands to grip
his shoulders, if only to keep from
sagging against him in front of a
hundred
onlookers.
All
the
reassurances
of
their
private
agreement to spend the next week in
separate corners flew away like
leaves on the wind as Jehan kissed
her. She couldn’t help it. She
moaned against his mouth, her pulse
quickening, hammering even louder
than the cheers of the gathering
around them.
Jehan released her abruptly.
His blue eyes glittered with sparks
of amber heat, their transformation
making his desire all too clear. He
ran his tongue over his wet lips and
she saw the points of his fangs, now
gleaming in his mouth like razor-
sharp diamonds. His breath rasped
out of him, rough and raw.
“Let’s go,” he growled for her
ears only. “The sooner we get this
damned farce over with, the better.”
Then he took her by the hand
and stalked away from the table
with her in tow.
CHAPTER 6
Jehan’s body was still rock
hard and vibrating with lust more
than an hour after he and Seraphina
were delivered to the oasis retreat.
Holy hell. That kiss...
As short-lived and chaste as it
had been, it had gripped him in a
way that staggered him.
He hadn’t been able to deny
how attracted he was to Seraphina
from the instant he laid eyes on her.
Now he knew she wanted him too.
Her response to their kiss had left
no question about that. The color
that had rushed up her throat and
into her cheeks couldn’t be blamed
on anything else, nor could her soft
little moans. He’d felt her desire for
him. He’d breathed in the sweet
scent of her arousal, felt it
drumming in her blood.
His own blood had answered,
and now that his mouth had sampled
a
taste
of
Seraphina’s
kiss,
everything primal and male in him
—everything Breed—pounded with
a dark, dangerous need for more.
Somehow, he’d managed to
rein it in back at the Darkhaven
celebration.
Now, he just had to make sure
to keep his desire in check for the
duration of their confinement at the
private villa.
Eight nights, that’s all, he
reassured himself.
One hundred and ninety-two
hours, give or take the few that had
already passed tonight.
Which
meant
somewhere
around eleven thousand minutes.
All of them to be spent in too-close
quarters with a woman who lit up
every nerve ending in his body like
a flame set to dry tinder.
Yeah, the math wasn’t helping.
Everything they might need had
been provided for by their families.
Clothing, toiletries, a fully stocked
kitchen for Seraphina. They would
want for nothing from the outside
world, and no one would interrupt
their
time
together
until
the
handfasting had ended.
They’d divvied up the place as
soon as they’d been dropped off,
negotiating
territory
and
establishing
boundaries
where
neither of them would cross. It only
seemed right to give her the privacy
of the massive bedroom. As for
Jehan, he would inhabit the general
living quarters, and use the big nest
of cushions in the main room as his
&nb
sp; bed for the next week.
With Seraphina settling into
the sole bedroom suite on her own,
Jehan prowled the open space of
the villa like a caged cat, taking
stock
of
the
unfamiliar
surroundings. He strode across
richly dyed rugs spread over terra
cotta tiled floors. Above his head,
the high, domed ceiling glowed
with soft golden lights that glinted
off a mosaic of gem-colored glass
embedded into the white stucco
plaster.
Down the wing of the hallway
opposite
the
bedroom
where
Seraphina had sequestered herself
was a traditional bathing room with
a
steaming,
spring-fed
pool
surrounded by silk-draped columns
and fat pillar candles.
In the adjacent, open-concept
chamber, more beds of cushions and
pillows were arranged around the
room, some steeped in shadows,
others strategically placed in front
of tall, ornately framed mirrors.
Erotic statuary and tables holding
bottles of perfumed oils and incense
jars completed the pleasure den.
Jehan frowned, shaking his
head. The handfast agreement may
forbid a male from forcing himself
on the Breedmate sent with him to
this place, but every room in the
villa was obviously designed with
sex and seduction in mind.
And try as he might to resist
imagining Seraphina reclined on
those cushions or stepping naked
out of the steam-clouded baths, his
mind refused to obey.
Eight nights.
He would be lucky to make it
through this first one without losing
his mind or tearing down the
bedroom door she was currently
hiding behind on the other side of
the villa.
He needed fresh air. What he
really needed was a hundred-foot
wall between him and his unwanted
roommate. A length of sturdy chain
wouldn’t hurt either.
Jehan walked back out to the
main living area and headed for the
French doors leading out to an oasis
patio in back. As he crossed the
room, he heard Seraphina hiss a
curse from inside the bedroom.
He paused, listened. Told
himself to keep walking in the
opposite direction.
She swore again and he
detoured for the passage leading to
the bedroom.
“Are you all right in there?”
“Yes. Everything’s fine.” Her
reply was quick, dismissively so.
He stood outside the closed
door and heard her grumble in
frustration. “I’m coming in.”
“No. Wait—”
She stood in the center of the
big
room,
tangled
in
the
complicated yards of red silk that
comprised her dress from the
celebration. When he chuckled, she
glowered. “It’s not funny, you
arrogant ass.”
“Really?” He didn’t even try
to curb his grin. “Looks pretty funny
from where I’m standing.”
She huffed, narrowing a glare
on him. “If you’re going to stand
there laughing at me, you might as
well help.”
He held up his hands. “No
touching, remember? How can I
help without breaking that part of
our deal?” Of course, they’d also
said no kissing, but that rule was
already shot all to hell, even before
they’d arrived tonight. “Ask me
nicely and maybe I’ll consider
bending the rules.”
Her
shoulders
sagged
in
defeat, but the baring of her straight,
white
teeth
hardly
looked
submissive. “Jehan, will you please
help me?”
He didn’t want to admit how
enticing his name sounded on her
pretty lips. Especially when it
involved asking him to assist in
undressing her. His blood agreed,
licking through his veins in eager
anticipation as he stalked across the
bedroom to where she stood.
She raised her right hand and
gathered her long cascade of bead-
strewn, soft brown curls off her
neck as she presented her back to
him. “There must be a dozen tiny
knots holding this dress together.
And I can’t figure out where the
ends of the long wrappings begin
either.”
Jehan stood behind her for a
long moment, just looking. Just
drinking in the sight of her graceful
nape and elegant spine. She was
blessed with hourglass curves and
long, lean legs. The ceremonial
dress hugged every inch of her in
all the right places. Including the
rounded swells of her beautiful ass.
How was it that his mouth
could water, yet feel desert dry at
the same time?
His gums prickled as his fangs
swelled against his tongue. Another
part of him was swelling too,
pressing in carnal demand against
the loose white linen of his pants.
Heat rose in his blood and in his
vision, swamping his irises with
amber fire.
He reached out and began to
loosen the first of the intricate
knots.
There were eight of them, not a
dozen. Each one was a test of his
dexterity as well as his self-control.
One by one, the fastenings fell
away, baring Seraphina’s naked
back to his fevered gaze, inch by
torturous inch.
Somewhere along the way, his
lungs had stopped working. Desire
raked him, sharp talons stealing his
breath as he freed the last of the tiny
knots and the scarlet silk slackened
in his fingers.
Seraphina didn’t seem to be
breathing
either.
She
stood
unmoving, her mane of long hair
still held aloft in her hand. Warmth
poured off her skin, and he knew
she had to feel his heat reaching out
to her too.
Her
heartbeat
ticked
frantically in the side of her neck,
drawing his blazing eyes. The urge
to stroke that tender pulse point—to
touch and taste every enticing inch
of her—nearly overwhelmed him.
Clamping his molars together,
he fought to keep a grip on those
urges. When he finally found his
voice, it came out in a gravelly
rasp. “The
re you go. All finished.”
Seraphina paused, letting her
hair fall. She turned a glance over
her
shoulder
at
him.
“The
wrappings too?”
Shit. He scowled and began a
quick search for one of the ends of
the lengths of silk. He tugged it
loose and began to unwind it from
around her bodice and waist. The
damn thing was too long to pull
free.
He swore and shook his head.
“You’ll have to turn with it.”
“Like this?” She obeyed,
pivoting in front of him. He nodded,
then pulled the silk taut, letting the tail of it collect on the floor as she
slowly spun before him. Around
and around and around, her springy
brown curls dancing as she turned,
the beads threaded through the
strands twinkling under the soft
lights of the bedroom.
He couldn’t take his eyes off
her.
In some primitive part of his
brain, he was the conquering desert
warlord
and
she
was
his
mesmerizing
captive.
His
irresistible,
stolen
prize.
He
watched her spin, watched the
ribbon of scarlet silk unwind,
revealing more and more of the
beautiful woman wrapped inside.
He wanted to keep undressing
her.
When he looked at Seraphina,
when he breathed in her cinnamon-
sweet scent and felt the warmth of
her skin with each dizzying turn she
took in front of him... Damn him, but
being near her like this, there was
so much he wanted.
The drumming beat of her
pulse vibrated in the small space
between their bodies, and it made
his own blood throb in answer. It
made him hunger in a way he’d
never fully known.
It made him want to burn the
pact between their families and take
her right here and now, willing or
not.
Claim her.
Possess her in every way.
Make her his.
Dangerous thinking.
And a temptation he wasn’t at
all certain he would be able to
resist.
Not for this one night, let alone
seven more.
CHAPTER 7
She didn’t know the exact
moment when the air between them
changed from simply hot and
playful
to
something
darker.
Something so fierce and powerful,
it made all of her nerve endings
stand at full attention.
Jehan wanted her.
She’d have to be an idiot not
to realize that.
She wanted him too.
And she was too smart to think
for one second that he hadn’t picked
