Christine Feehan - Dark Curse 19

Lara's face was flushed, head tossing side to side on the pillows, her breasts heaving, her hips bucking. She didn't try to hide her reaction to his touch and her stark need of him made him want her even more.

Lara looked at him, his expression almost savage as he lay between her legs. His black eyes glittered, even glowed a little. More than once she'd felt the scrape of his teeth over her skin-over every pulse point. Her heart had thundered in alarm, but he never broke the skin or took advantage of the frantic desperation building inside of her. Now he looked a conquistador, his midnight-black hair spilling around his face, lines etched deep, his sensual mouth set in firm, ruthless lines. He slowly bent his head and she stopped breathing.

His mouth clamped over her, tongue stabbing deep and she heard her own keening wail. He licked her like a tiger, almost an attack, not the gentle lapping of a kitten, but long, rasping strokes that stole her mind. He held her down when she tried to crawl off the mattress, black edges around the exploding stars in her mind. She felt the edge of his teeth nipping and scraping at the pounding beat of her pulse, so deep inside of her-and somehow fear added another dimension to her pleasure.

Lara shuddered, the firestorm in the center of her body building until it was out of control. She couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't stop the pressure. She thrashed beneath his marauding mouth, the wicked tongue and teeth that drove her higher and higher. And then his finger slipped into her channel and her hips bucked wildly as every muscle tightened to the point of pain. His tongue fluttered against her most sensitive spot.

She cried out his name, her hands fisting in his hair, holding him to her as her body flew apart, the flames scorching her from the inside out, burning white-hot and spreading like a storm from her center to her breasts and down her thighs.

Before she could catch her breath, Nicolas knelt between her thighs, lifting her legs over his arms, the

thick head of his erection pressed tightly against her entrance. He felt hard and hot, yet velvet encased, adding to the building inferno. Her breath caught in her lungs and she stared up at his face, carved deep with sensual lines as he began to invade her. He slid deeper, slow inch by slow inch, stretching her tight muscles, forcing his way through the stranglehold of hot slick wails, sending lightning whipping through her body.

Lara gasped when he halted, coming to the barrier of innocence.

«Breathe for me, han ku kuulua sivamet . Take a breath and relax.»

Keeper of my heart. The words in his native language were beautiful when he uttered them, soft and tender, turning her heart over. She forced her body to relax. Nicolas surged forward, the bite of pain increasing her sensitivity so that her nails bit deep into his shoulders as she tried to anchor herself.

He began to move, long hard strokes that sent flashes of heat spiraling over her body, searing her thighs and scorching her belly. Her muscles tightened more, clamping around him as he plunged even deeper, angling her body so the friction on her most sensitive spot was hot, demanding and never let up. She felt the pressure gathering and building until she was afraid she might lose her mind.

He picked up the pace, pistoning into her, the sound of flesh meeting flesh loud in the silence of the cave. Her breath came in gasps as the fire continued to build, stretching her beyond her ability to cope. She could only plead for release in between breathing raggedly. She was going to burn from the inside out, just go up in flames or die from sheer pleasure if he didn't stop.

She heard his heart thundering in her ears. Her mouth filled with the taste of him and her teeth lengthened, pressing against her lips. Before she could think, before she could fear her own reaction, he reared back, then began a harder rhythm, pounding into her, that drove everything but pleasure from her mind. She was burning alive, screaming, as her body nearly convulsed, clamping down on him to squeeze and milk.

He yelled hoarsely, emptying himself into her, leaning over her, his eyes glowing hot with flames, his teeth in evidence. He made no attempt to hide from her dazed, shocked stare. Aftershocks rocked her as he bent slowly to her neck. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, even with her body still shuddering with pleasure. A part of her screamed inside, another part wanted to feel his teeth sink into her neck.

His lips feathered over her pulse. She felt the teasing scrape of his teeth, but he never penetrated her skin. He kissed his way up her neck to the corner of her mouth and when he smiled at her, his teeth had receded.

Still buried deep, he moved and sent electricity arcing through her all over again.

«I can't move.»

«You do not have to move. It is going to be a long, pleasurable night,parafertiilm ,» he promised softly.

Chapter 13

Lara stood at the wide entrance to the cave, listening to the soft melody coming from within. Women's voices. The faint sounds produced instant memories of her aunts singing to her when she was alone and distressed, deep in the maze of caves beneath the ice mountain. For a moment, she stopped to listen.

«I know this song. It's a lullaby,» she said. «It sounds beautiful in the Carpathian language. I used to sing it for the children in the camps where I lived. When I realized no one understood the language I switched to the English version. I was never certain exactly what the last line meant, but the melody and lyrics always comforted me, and also the children I sang to.»

«The song is sung by mothers before the child is out of the womb,» he explained. «While the mother is waiting until the night she can hold her child in her arms.»

Nicolas sang to her in a melodious voice, one that sent touches of heat streaking along with the comfort. Tumtesz o wake ku pitasz belso. Hiszasz sivadet. En olenam g?idnod. Sas csecsemom, kunasz. Rauho jo?e ted. Tumtesz o sivdobbanas ku olen lamt3ad belso. Gond-kumpadek ku kim te. Pesanak te, asti o juti, kidusz .

She interpreted the lullaby. «Feel the strength you hold inside. Trust your heart, I'll be your guide. Hush my baby, close your eyes. Peace will come to you. Feel the rhythm deep inside. Waves of love that cover you, protect, until the night you rise.» She looked at him. «What does that last line mean?»

«So many women were losing their babies,» Nicolas said. «Women tell them that love will protect them until they are ready to be born, to come into our night.»

«It's so beautiful.»

Everything about the night seemed beautiful now. Nicolas had spent hour after hour making love to her, seemingly insatiable. They had taken a short break to enter the warmth of the mineral pool, only to have him take her there as well. He knew every inch of her body and the hot look he gave her made her blush, as if, with just a small encouragement, he might take her right there at the entrance to the women's cave.

«I don't really feel like I belong here, Nicolas.» She twisted her fingers together. «I don't know anyone. Natalya isn't going to be here.»

It wasn't that she was terribly shy, but gathering with the Carpathian women at such an emotional time, when she already felt raw and emotional was a little daunting.

«Raven asked for all women to attend and she asks very little of our people.»

«I don't think she meant me. She doesn't even know me.»

«Everyone knows about you, Lara. This is a very small community and we share a common communication path. When she put out the call for all the women to join her, she definitely meant you as well. I would attend with you, but it is a woman's ceremony.»

«Natalya's a woman,» she said stubbornly, under her breath. «And she isn't coming.»