Veris fitted his hands around her waist, as if he was measuring her. His fingers shifted over her flesh. Stroking. Then he lifted her as if she weighed nothing and moved to where the big doors revealed a large bed with a royal blue satin cover.
Taylor wrapped her legs around him, her heart leaping from her chest. Now she was human again, she realized how often a human heart leapt and squeezed and beat harder than it should. Just feeling it beat all the time was a reminder of how little it moved when she was vampire. She had believed she was working her heart too hard these last few weeks of stress and strain, when she had barely taxed it compared to how hard it had worked since they arrived here.
Now the strength of the beating was driven by anticipation, not anguish.
Veris laid her upon the bed and settled beside her, still clothed. He kissed her again, then trailed his lips over her chin and down her throat. His hands moved ahead of his lips.
The first touch of his hand upon her breast made Taylor gasp. She clutched at him and measured once more the size of his shoulders…oh how she had missed him leaning over her this way!
His lips closed over her nipple, drawing it in, so he could scrape and tease the nipple with his teeth. His hand stroked and teased the other breast.
Taylor arched, her clit throbbing. She already could not wait for him to take her. Veris would draw this out until she was a panting mess, begging him to fuck her with a voice she didn’t recognize. He loved to tease, to watch her squirm.
Once she was panting, her legs shifting restlessly, Veris moved on. His mouth moved over her belly, to linger and tease her navel, while his hands separated her thighs.
Her heart leapt, as he settled between her thighs and kissed her mound. He smiled as he bent and slid his tongue through her folds, to nudge up against her clit in a soft teasing stroke.
Taylor shuddered and gasped, her hips lifting.
Veris held her thigh out of the way with a firm hand, as he stroked and teased with his tongue. He knew exactly where to touch her, to make her moan and writhe. Her pleasure soared and fell with his orchestration. He kept her quivering on the very brink of coming, before pausing to let the climax diminish. Then he would start in again.
Taylor lost track of thought, of time passing. She floated in the shiver-stirring sea of pleasure, wracked by the closeness of her climax.
Then Veris slid his fingers inside her and Taylor cried out. It was so deliciously good, to feel him stroke the inside of her pussy, making the channel ripple. Her breath caught in her chest, as her nerves sizzled.
His hand and mouth together was too much. Taylor tipped into orgasm. Her body was consumed by the bright flare of nerves singing in pleasure. She arched, her throat straining as she came. Her body shuddered as the climax came in throbbing waves.
For moments she floated in the intense pleasure, her breath slowing.
Veris shifted on the bed, then his weight lifted off. Taylor opened her eyes. He was stripping the uniform. The boots were already removed. So was the tunic, which hung over the end of the bed. The braces hung about his hips, already drawn over his shoulders. He took off the shirt and undershirt next.
Taylor sighed at the sight of his gleaming flesh. Every mound and dip was familiar to her. Every scar was dear. She was familiar with the story behind most of them, now. Veris had told her the tales as she stroked the scar in question, in the quiet times between lovemaking.
Her mind sheered away from the image of Brody laying with them, listening to Veris talk. Instead, Taylor focused on the rest of Veris’ body as it emerged from the uniform.
The taut hips. The powerful thighs. His cock, jutting from the junction of his thighs, red and pulsing with more blood than a vampire could spare. He was aroused beyond normal.
Veris did not let her study him for long. He moved back onto the bed, his muscles flexing and rippling. His eyes were heated as he moved over her. He lifted her knee and her pussy squeezed as the head of his cock pressed against the slick opening.
Veris slid into her with pleasure-inducing slowness. By the time he was fully lodged in her, Taylor’s body was throbbing again. She moved under him, her pussy squeezing.
He bent and kissed her, then propped himself over her, his arms and shoulders flexing. “I was mad to deny this,” he breathed and thrust.
Taylor closed her eyes. This was the possession she craved. Her body gathered around Veris’, tightening and climbing toward another peak, as he drove into her over and over.
Her orgasm approached when Veris’ movement grew erratic and his breath snagged. He was coming—she recognized the little hitch of his breath, the quiver of his hips.
Her heart leapt as Veris quivered over her, his eyes nearly closed, his brows furrowed as the pleasure tore through him. He came with a deep groan and held still for a moment as the peak took him.
Still breathing hard, he rolled onto his back. He scooped her up, laid her over his chest and closed his eyes.
Taylor rested her chin on her hands, watching him. Her heart was still zooming. Veris was human hot beneath her, too.
He let out a gusty sigh, lifted his head and kissed her. He stroked her back.
“You’re not done, surely?” she teased.
Veris laughed. It rumbled in his chest. “I’m never done. Not with you.”
“Oh, good.” She circled her finger over his chest, tripping over the scar over his left pectoral. It was the wound which had killed him, before his maker found him on the battlefield. “I know you’re old, but…”
He quivered with laughter once more. His hand swooped down to her buttock, to cup it. His fingertips teased her cleft. “Are you challenging me?”
Taylor lifted her chin to look him in the eye. “Perhaps.”
“Perhaps?”
“Perhaps you might do this all over again, only…” She rested her hand against his cheek, to take the sting of it away. “I’m not made of crystal, Veris. I won’t break. You can’t hurt me.”
His gaze was steady. “I feel as if I only just skirted the edge of the precipice,” he said softly.
She nodded. “I think we both did. We do need to be cautious for a while, until we get used to…the new dynamics. Only, not here, Veris.” She curled her hand under his hip. “Be yourself, here. I know what that is like. I like what it is like.”
He considered her for a moment, as he stroked her face and pushed her hair out of the way. It had come loose from the elaborate updo which had been beneath her hat.
Then, with a flex of his body, Veris lifted himself and her up. He rose as he turned and stepped onto the carpet, bringing her with him. Then he flipped her with one of his freakishly strong movements, making her gasp and her heart to flutter. He put her on her hands and knees, so her knees were on the edge of the bed. He ran his hand over her ass. “You may regret saying that,” he growled.
Her body rippled with the promise in his voice.
Veris gripped her hips and slammed into her from behind, taking her with the commanding strength she loved. Taylor closed her eyes, her body leaping to readiness as he thrust heavily. He moved her on the bed, so hard and deeply was he thrusting. When she shifted too far, he picked her up and put her back in the perfect position to drive into her once more.
His thumb invaded her ass, stretching her and making the nerves there crawl with a deep secondary pleasure. Taylor moaned. Her climax leapt.
Veris curled his hand over her shoulder, anchoring her so he could thrust harder. She clawed at the bedcover, her breath shortened to shallow pants.
He pulled on her shoulder, lifting her so she was on her knees, her back to him. He gripped her hip, holding her steady. He thrust in slow strokes, as he teased and plucked her nipples.
Taylor dropped her head back against his shoulder, drunk with the pleasure.
When he pressed his hand against her belly, then dropped it so his fingers slid into her folds and up against her clit, Taylor moaned again. Every nerve cried for release. She shuddered, unab
le to keep still. The power of his grip on her hip kept her in a position where he could drive into her.
“Oh, God, Veris…!” she breathed as her climax gathered, preparing to swallow her whole.
He bit her, his fangs sliding into her neck, driving the aphrodisiac into the big vein, directly to her heart and her brain.
She screamed, as her climax exploded through her body, shredding nerves and sinews and thought itself.
Taylor woke to find herself on the bed once more, curled on her side. Veris was behind her, his body slick with heat and exertion. He nuzzled her neck from behind. His tongue slid over her flesh in a way she recognized.
“You drank from me?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
He kissed the freshly healed skin. “Only a little. Your blood—your human blood—has always been a powerful concoction. I couldn’t resist, after biting you.”
Taylor reached behind her blindly and found his hand. She brought it over her to hold it against her chest. “You never told me that before. I thought you found any human blood hard to resist.”
He turned her so she faced him and put his arm under her head, for a pillow. His hand rested on her waist. “There’s too much I never told you. I don’t think I’ve ever said that the first time I scented your blood, I knew.”
“Knew…?”
“I knew you would be bound into our lives. It was as if I recognized you. Your blood. Your soul. It was as if I had known you forever, only not in this form.” His gaze was steady. “You were so busy trying to impress a visiting professor with your knowledge about Domhnall, while I spent the entire time trying to control my reactions. They were so powerful I went home and…” He stopped, a tiny furrow appearing between his brow.
Taylor smoothed the furrow away. “It’s okay. You should say his name freely. You went home and fucked Brody.”
“To a standstill,” Veris said. He sighed. “Then you turned up at the concert.” He closed his eyes, remembering. “If Brody had not found a way to bind you to us, I would have. It was all I could do to stand still and pretend we were strangers.”
Taylor smoothed her hand over his powerful chest. “All that posturing. Calling me yours… Brody nearly…” She halted, as the memory came crowding back. “He hauled you away from me. Protected me. He knew you were fighting it.” She remembered the way Brody had held her to him for the last few minutes he thought they would have together, as he drove her home for the last time after dumping Veris on the side of the highway.
Veris’ hand on her waist shifted. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know you. Because of the time changes, I have known you since the first crusade—which is as long as I have known Brody. Only, I had to wait to find you again.” His hand tightened on her. “I would wait all that time, all over again, even knowing how long it would be, as long as you were there at the end. No matter what happens in the future, Taylor, I love you. You are as much as part of me as Brody is.”
“We must let him go, only he hasn’t gone at all, has he?”
Veris sighed. “No,” he whispered. “But you are here and you are all I need.”
Chapter Twelve
It was a jolt to wake from sleep. Taylor hadn’t experienced waking in many years and for a moment it disoriented her.
Veris shook her again. He was curled around her once more. “You slept,” he assured her. “We’re still in Norway. You’re safe. Relax.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “Oh, wow, that’s scary. I’m not used to it anymore.”
He stroked her hip. “I had forgotten how rewarding it is to watch you sleep and know you trust me enough to relax while I am guarding you.” Then he patted her hip. “It’s nearly dawn. We should jump back and let this century’s Veris attend his meeting with the king.”
Taylor rolled over so she was facing him. “Thank you for this, Veris. For bringing me here. For all of it.”
“I did it for purely selfish reasons.”
She smiled. Veris hated being caught doing something thoughtful. “Liar,” she said softly. “You wanted me back in time, so I could cry over Brody. You knew I would need to.”
His face shifted. “If the times back then were not so perilous, I might have taken us back to when I was human, for the same reason. Now, though, that need has gone.” He flexed himself up into a sitting position and hauled her up, too. “So, too, must we be gone. Can you manage your corset and underthings, or should I help you?”
Taylor smiled. “We could just jump back naked,” she pointed out. “We always return from linear jumps wearing the clothes we jumped in.”
“You want to take that risk?” Veris asked. “I intended to ask you to jump us straight to Granada, not home. What if a lack of clothes at this end affects the clothes we’re wearing at that end?” He rubbed his chin. “Although I’m sure Alex would love the view.”
Taylor slapped his shoulder. “Letch!”
“Always,” he agreed and picked up his trousers.
Veris’ musings about clothing and the lack of it made Taylor wary enough she jumped them home to Martha’s Vineyard first. “I want to check the house isn’t burning down or something,” she told Veris.
“I’ll change the note I left Marit. You go listen to each of them breathe and reassure yourself.”
Taylor smiled. He understood. She checked on Marit and the twins, then collected her coat and Veris’ from their bedroom. Granada was sometimes as cold in January as Martha’s Vineyard, because of the altitude.
They jumped to Granada three minutes later, to the enclosed courtyard. There was no snow, although their breath frosted the air. Dawn light showed in the sky overhead.
Rafe opened the living room door on the north side. “Should we be worried?” he asked, with a slight uptick in his voice. Their sudden arrival had already worried him.
“Are Sydney and Alex nearby? I’d like to talk,” Veris said.
“Should someone fetch Neven, then?” Rafe asked.
“This isn’t about time travel. At least, I don’t think it is,” Veris added.
Rafe’s expression sobered. “The Council, then.” He stepped back inside. “You’d better come in.”
The living room should have felt cool, with its low cane furniture and smooth terracotta tiles. Only, there was a thick rug on the floor and blankets and afghans thrown over the backs of the chairs, which took away the chill. All signs of the solstice celebration were gone, except for the soft toddler train set they had given Liberty, which was set up on the coffee table between the chairs.
Sydney had her feet on the coffee table. She removed them when she saw Veris and Taylor. “How are you feeling?” she asked Veris.
Veris’ smile was small. “Foolish, still, but I’m making amends.” He drew Taylor over to the loveseat opposite the two armchairs, which the long sofa bracketed. He waited for her to settle on one side then took the other cushion and picked up Taylor’s hand, which surprised her. Even before Brody left, Veris had always been private about his feelings.
Sydney didn’t miss the gesture. The corner of her mouth lifted. “I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “I’ll get Alex—”
“I’m here,” Alex said from the big, curved archway into the more formal lounge rooms, where his big, book-lined office was.
Rafe stepped around Alex and dropped into an armchair. “Veris wants to talk about the Council,” he told Sydney.
She raised a brow. “I see.”
Alex settled on the other end of the sofa from Sydney.
“I heard everything you said at the solstice, Sydney,” Veris told her. “I didn’t process it, not straight away. I had…well, other things on my mind. Only, I’ve thought about it since. Your questions are valid.”
Sydney sat forward. “Which ones?”
“The ones which have always bothered me, in the back of my mind. I would tell myself that one day I’d spend time digging into it, only…” Veris smiled. “Something more interesting always came up.”
“You’re ca
lling the Council boring?” Rafe asked, his tone curious.
Veris shook his head. “While they stayed out of my life, there was no reason to go digging for answers. They’re still mostly invisible to all of us and I think it’s deliberate. They don’t want us to take too much notice. Sydney, though, connected dots which push my concern a little higher. Who does control the Council? Why are they moving around behind the scenes, pulling strings, jerking chains, arranging things certain ways?”
Sydney nodded. “And why do we accept their control? Who set that up? Why did it happen? Why don’t we have a say in how the governance is structured?”
“They’re good questions,” Veris said.
Rafe spread his hands. “They’re not questions the Council will happily answer.”
“Why not, Rafe?” Veris replied. He held up his hand. “You can’t answer. You don’t have the answers. None of us do. We learn of the Council when we are made. It’s older than all of us. Because we enter the Blood as neophytes, we don’t question how things are ordered in our new reality. It would be like arriving in a strange city filled with intimidating residents and weird by-laws and challenging the city aldermen because we don’t like the way they run things. None of us have the courage to do that when we’re first made. We have enough on our plates. Then we just…get used to it.”
Alex rested his head on his hand, his elbow on the sofa arm. “I was made here in Spain, up in the north. Anna lived apart from everyone, including vampires. She rejected the rule of the northern king, although even she considered herself a subject of the Council. She taught me to think of them as the ultimate authority.”
“We’ve all lived apart from each other,” Veris said. “We learned to because it helped allay human suspicion.”
“Except you and Brody,” Taylor added.
Sydney drew in a startled breath and glanced at Veris. Alex stiffened, his gaze shifting to Veris, too.
Veris glanced at Taylor and nodded. “We were unusual,” he admitted. “It has only been in the last twenty years—since finding you again, Taylor—that the old patterns of staying apart have been disrupted.”
Kiss Across Tomorrow (Kiss Across Time Book 8) Page 11
