Christine Feehan - Dark Demon 16

She was all too aware of his body locked so deeply inside of her. Of his hands stroking her thighs, moving up her belly to brush her breasts. She should have felt vulnerable splayed out as she was, but she felt utterly sexy. Wanted. Needed even. It was in the heat of his gaze and the stroke of his fingers. In the way his body stayed hard and thick and throbbing with fire even through the catastrophic explosion between them.

Natalya reached up to run her fingers through the silk of his hair. «I have to find the book. If I were to make a blood exchange with you, would it affect the way I am able call upon the elements? My magick is a part of me, like breathing. If magick was lost to me, I wouldn't know who I was anymore.»

He closed his eyes. He was wholly Carpathian, born a hunter, a shape-shifter, able to command the things of nature. He didn't have to give up his world or who or what he was. Would she still have all her abilities? He couldn't give her an answer. Vikirnoff groaned and bent toward her.

Natalya responded eagerly, fusing her mouth with his, delighted that the action drove him deeper into her and set aftershocks rippling through her body with enough force to start new ones. When he lifted his head, she kept her hands on his shoulders forcing him to look into her eyes. His hips moved in a gentle, almost lazy rhythm, sending spasms of pleasure

through her body. She wanted to be a part of him. Of his life. But she wanted him to want her for herself. For who she was, not because some ancient words had bound them together, or because the universe had decreed they belonged.

«You look sad, ainaak sivamet jutta, what are you thinking?»

«Aren't you sharing my mind?»

«Not at this precise moment. I enjoy watching the expressions on your face. Right now, while we are connected and sharing the joy in our bodies, you are looking sad. I must endeavor to find better ways to please you.»

A faint smile curved her mouth. «I think you're well aware that you please me. Stop fishing for compliments.»

He moved to adjust his angle just slightly as he pushed deep with a hard stroke, heightening her pleasure even more so that a small gasp escaped and the sadness disappeared from her eyes to be replaced with something altogether different.

«Vikirnoff, what is ainaak sivamet jutta?» Another moan escaped as he plunged deeper again. «The exact translation.»

«It means 'forever to my heart connected.'» He shrugged, a slight movement of his wide shoulders. «Or fixed. Forever to my heart fixed. The words are interchangeable.»

Her gaze drifted over his face. «Am I? Am I connected to your heart?»

«How could you think otherwise?»

Natalya didn't have an answer for that. She had confidence in her intelligence, her courage and her abilities in most areas, but not that of a woman. Of a partner. She had never thought in those terms and the ideas in his mind of what a lifemate should be were very far from what she was-or could ever be. She wanted to be his ainaak sivamet jutta, but she had doubts he was seeing her realistically. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the ecstasy of his lovemaking, unwilling to think too much about the future.

She lost herself in his body, in the absolute magic they created together. She craved the feel of his hands on her body, the feel of his skin and muscles, the power of him as he took her. There was an edge to him, as if he could be ruthless in his lovemaking, pushing her beyond any limit she had ever thought she had, all the while heightening her pleasure, keeping her wanting more. Always more.

Time slipped away from her. There was only Vikirnoff and his hands and mouth and body. Each time she thought it was over and they would rest, he was there again, demanding again, wanting her. Hungry for her. She felt the scrape of his teeth and swirl of his tongue. There wasn't an inch of her that didn't go untouched, untasted, unused, but all the while he was wringing gasps of pleasure, moans and pleas for more.

He carried her to the hot springs and settled her on his lap where he could bathe her. Limp with fatigue, deliciously sore, she buried her face in his neck. «Thank you for not taking my blood. I feel the need in you, but you were so careful.» His pulse pounded beneath her lips, the strong ebb and flow of life that beckoned and called and tempted.

«I told you I would not.»

«Still, I would have let you,» she confessed. «I wasn't thinking straight.»

«I told you I would not,» he reiterated. «If it is important to you, I will always remember, even when I am not thinking clearly either.»

She turned her head to lie against his shoulder so she could look up at his face. There was male beauty in the lines etched there as well as other traits she was becoming familiar with. Vikirnoff wore power and dominance as easily as other men wore clothes, yet it was so natural to him, so intrinsic to his personality, she had accepted it in him without much thought, because he tempered those things with integrity and fairness.

«I'm beginning to like you.»

His smile was brief, but it flared in his eyes and her heart, as tired as she was, responded with a quick beat. She smoothed her fingertip across his lips.

«That is a start.» He tugged on her wet hair. «You could be hard on a man's ego if he allowed it.»

She laughed. She couldn't help it. She wanted to spend all night making love every way they could and feasting on each other's body. «I doubt anything could dent your ego, Vikirnoff. The water feels so good.»

«I do not want you to be sore. I intend to make certain you are properly healed before you go to sleep.»

There was a note in his voice, husky, sexy, a promise of something sinfully wonderful that sent heat spreading through her veins. «I'm all for that. Are we going to stay here?» She didn't want to be separated from him. She couldn't go through another day without him.

«I think it is best. The vampire cannot send human enemies against you and I can better protect us here.»

«How is Gabrielle doing? Is she still alive?»

«Yes. I hold her spirit with mine. They have sent her to sleep. Falcon will give her blood on rising. If her body can wait, Mikhail will do the third exchange on the following rising. The wait will give her plenty of time for several healing sessions with the others and a chance for her body to adjust to the ancient blood.»

«How will she be connected to you, Vikirnoff?» She stifled the small pang of jealousy she was ashamed of feeling. She hadn't had anyone for herself in so long and she wanted to be his only.

His teeth nibbled at her shoulder. «Not in a sexual way, or in the way of a lifemate, Natalya. She will have a private path to my thoughts, as I will to hers. Our spirits will maintain a connection, as she will have been in my keeping for over twenty-four hours. Gabrielle will awaken as one of us. She will not have a lifemate to turn to for support in her new world. Her sister and brother-kin are returning as quickly as possible to aid her, but she is half in love with Gary, a human. The males will not want her to continue a relationship with him as there are so few Carpathian women and they will hope she can be a lifemate to one of them. She will awaken to many problems and will need aid.»

«And you have to be there for her.»

«You wished me to save her life,» he reminded gently, even as his teeth bit down over the pulse beating so frantically in her throat. «I could devour you, Natalya, and never get enough.»

She laughed again because she could hear the truth in his voice and felt the stirring of his body against her. It reassured her when she felt so vulnerable. «I believe you. I'm exhausted. We can't possibly, not again. I need to sleep for a week or two. And so do you.»