Christine feehan - Dark Slayer 20

Gregori sank to his knees beside Ivory, reaching for her, not bothering to wipe the crimson tears from his face. «Her spirit is lighter. We can help her fight for life now. There are no words to give thanks. None.»

She rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. «Razvan?» She was nearly translucent. She needed him desperately. Razvan. She couldn't face this crowd alone, not feeling so weepy and vulnerable.

He was there in an instant, reaching to draw Ivory into his embrace. Take my blood, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved. As she wearily accepted and buried her face against the warmth of his neck, Razvan looked over her head to the prince.

«The night is nearly over; Ivory must go to ground. The ritual has drained her of strength.»

«You are welcome here,» Mikhail said.

«Thank you, but no. I will take her home where she can rest. We will return when she is stronger. In the meantime, Gregori must teach the ritual to some of your most gifted people so they can protect themselves until the life-form in the uncontaminated soil has a chance to spread and we can destroy Xavier and his unholy factory.»

«But-« Mikhail began a protest.

Razvan swept his arms around Ivory and simply took her away, flying them from the chamber.

CHAPTER 19

Razvan woke with the pack curled around him and Ivory cuddled into his body as if she sought shelter there. He opened the soil so he could look up at the stars on the ceiling, a sense of peace stealing over him. This was the moment he loved. Waking in the early evening when the prisms of the gems embedded in the opening allowed the moonlight to spill into the chamber and across Ivory's face.

He ached every time he looked at her. One small smile from Ivory was enough to make his soul soar. One touch wiped out every memory of the torture and depravity of his past. He had no idea how she did it, or why, when he was with her, the world was such a different place, filled with laughter and beauty and things he'd never dreamt of.

Raja stirred and lifted his head, rubbing his chin over Razvan's arm in greeting. Razvan sank his fingers into the deep fur, a miracle in itself. Already his heart had accepted each of these creatures with their separate personalities. Who had ever dreamed of burying a face in soft fur and having a wolf guard and try to heal wounds?

Take the pack into the next room. I wish to be with my mate.

Raja's answer was a smile, his tongue swiping along Razvan's arm, a rare gesture for Raja. Razvan greeted each wolf as they woke and watched them lope into the next room, leaving him alone with Ivory. He turned toward her, his arm sliding around her waist, his body close as he studied her face again. The shadows and hollows, the exquisite bone structure. Her hair spilled out of the thick braid and his fingers itched to pull out the weave and spread that silken mass everywhere. He loved her mouth. She rarely smiled, but she had a mouth made for smiling-and loving.

There was no way he could tell her of the pride sweeping through him, the lump in his throat, the way his heart sang, and the terrible fear in his heart at her terrifying courage as he watched her battle Xavier's evil. He knew better than any other just how difficult the task had been. He had seen other mages battle and lose with Xavier's spells, and the mutated microbes were the culmination of his evil plot against his most hated enemy. She had chosen her equipment well; each article she used had been cleansed and prepared ahead of time, everything planned meticulously, just as she planned her battles. In the end, though, as things usually did, everything had gone wrong and, instead of trying a practice run, she had fought for the lives of infants-yet she had triumphed. Her finest moment.

He knew she would never see herself as he saw her-or maybe as any other had. She had been magnificent. Pride swelled. Tall, with a woman's soft, curvy body and slender arms, honed with muscle and sinew, her face lifted toward that small sliver of moon shining through the cavern's chimney.

Sometimes, when he looked at her, like he did now, he felt overwhelmed, his every sense so acute, on overload, with his blood thundering in his veins, filling his groin to bursting so lust was a vicious punch in his belly. His skin crawled for her. A spike hammered through his skull and without her touch there was a hole so deep, so wide, it cut straight through his soul. He waved his hand to slide a silken sheet beneath both of them.

Razvan bent his head and breathed into her mouth. Awaken, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved. Come to me. Because he needed her. Needed to see her eyes grow hungry for him, the way he knew his were for her.

He gave her that first sweet breath of air, then took one from her to draw deep into his lungs. Her lashes fluttered and lifted and his shaft jerked in response to the sudden leap of his heart. She opened her eyes and all the emotion he could ever want was right there. Her amber eyes were enormous, filled from their very depths with love just for him. An endless well. There it was. Everything.

He smiled at her, a hungry, predatory smile, while she lay stretched out like a banquet before him. Tonight might be their last night together, and he was going to make it special for her. He dissolved right in front of her arms, turning his body to warm liquid, a blanket of heat and sparkling liquid, running over her like a million tongues, fizzing against her delicate skin, nudging her legs apart to wrap around them, run through them and nuzzle the junction between her legs lovingly.

She writhed beneath his administrations, her breath hissing out in a long slow what of shock. The bubbles teased her breasts and the taut nipples that tempted him to return to his physical form. He resisted, wanting her to match the fever of his need. The warm liquid coated her body, suspending her in a pool of bubbling water, seeking every hollow, every crevice, and filling the hot spaces with even hotter liquid.

She cried out when the water began to lap at her, gently at first, teasing her clit, bubbling inside of her, front and back until she was panting, crying out at the probing fingers of water pushing in and out of her. More fingers tugged her nipples and bubbles burst over and in every conceivable opening, bringing her to a fever pitch. He manipulated the liquid again, suckling now, fizzing and probing until it seemed a thousand mouths tormented her.

Razvan. She whispered his name as her body went into a series of orgasms, each one stronger than the last, and she found herself reaching for him, trying to find her anchor while the world erupted into a red haze around her.

He laughed softly, shifting easily, letting her fingers sink into his skin and hold there.

Her arms slid around his neck and she smiled. «I love waking up to you.»

He pressed his forehead against hers. «That is good, warrior woman, because if you woke up with someone else, the world as we know it would end.»

She made a face at him and leaned forward to nibble her way across his chin to the corner of his mouth. «I doubt that. You are the calmest, most accepting man I have ever met.»

Her breasts slid against his chest, soft and full, and tantalizing. Tiny flames flickered over his heavy muscles everywhere their bodies connected. Just touching her soft skin shook him. He kissed each eye and skimmed his mouth to the corner of hers.

«I am Dragonseeker, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved. We breathe fire under certain circumstances. Finding you with another male would be one of those circumstances.»

His teeth nipped her full lower lip. Once. Twice. He captured that soft bow and tugged gently, wanting to devour her, to have her for dinner. He felt edgy with need, and just the gentle friction of her body rubbing along his increased his desire more than he thought possible.