Anya Bast - Witch Heart

His touch shredded her will until it was gone.

Her hands ran up his arms, concentrating on every luscious bunched muscle from his wrist to his shoulder. He yanked her against him with a little sexy growl in the back of his throat that made her nipples go tight.

Oh, yes, she remembered this… and it was good.

She wanted it again. Now. With Adam. Forget Rue.

Adam dropped his mouth to the sensitive place below her ear and nibbled. Gooseflesh erupted over her body. Adam kissed his way down her throat and over her collarbone, then dragged her gently back toward the bed.

"It's been a long time," she murmured against his mouth when he caught her lips once more.

"A long time?"

"It's been five years for me, Adam."

He stilled, then jerked and pulled away. "Wait. What are we doing? What am I doing? Claire, the last thing I want is to take advantage of you. I told Thomas I wouldn't do this."

She swallowed hard. "So you don't find me attractive after all?"

He blew out a breath. "Honey, you float my boat in every way. That's not it. This is the damn air fire thing pushing me to do what I've wanted to do since we met."

She walked to him and took his hands in hers. "What's that?"

"Seduce you. Take you." His eyes narrowed. "Fuck you, Claire, until you're so flushed with pleasure you can't even speak."

Her breath hitched and lust pulsed through her body. She ran her fingers through his hair. "I don't have a problem with that."

"I don't want to—"

"Shut up now." Claire went up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his.

He groaned against her lips and wrapped his arms around her.

"Take me to the bed," she murmured against his mouth.

He did. Once he got her there, he laid her on the mattress and hovered over her, still kissing her. She gasped against his lips as he worked the button and zipper of her jeans open. His warm, broad palm spread over her abdomen, teasing the edge of her panties.

He raised his head a little. "So, you're not a virgin?"

She bit her lower lip and shook her head.

"Good. Because the things I have planned for you a virgin wouldn't be able to handle."

Thank the Houses.

"Adam, I've missed this so much. I want — I want—"

"Me to help you make up for lost time?" he murmured against her mouth.

She nodded.

"Claire, I specialize in no-attachment sex. It's kind of my thing. Has been for years. If you want me to help you go wild for a while, I'm willing."

"That sounds good," she breathed.

He kissed her again, all the while working her pants down and off.

She closed her eyes, remembering Ty, remembering the last time a man had kissed her this way… Images flooded her mind. How she'd yearned for him and how he'd given her everything. Ty had been the only person besides her mother whom she'd ever formed a truly deep attachment to. He'd loved her and she'd loved him.

Then one night, Rue had caught them in the weaving room… in a state of undress. His anger had been terrible. He'd gone straight into a killing rage, incensed that Ty had dared disrespect not only an unmated female, but his own handmaiden.

Houses, that night Rue had called her his daughter.

"How dare you dishonor my House and my daughter this way, Ty!" Rue had yelled, his eyes red and his fangs fully extended. "You have broken all of our laws and I pass judgment on you now."

Ytrayi judgment was swift and brutal. Nothing Claire could say would have stayed Rue's hand.

Claire jerked, remembering the carnage. Her heartbreak. After Ty had been killed Claire had never felt so alone, not even after her mother had died.

Adam pulled back. "What's wrong? You're crying. Are my kisses really that bad?"

She allowed a smile to flicker over her mouth. "If Rue ever finds out we were together, he will tear you limb from limb." She paused. "Literally."

Adam sat up. "Claire, are you worried for me?"

She propped herself on her elbows. "Yes."

"That's very sweet, but I've had demons wanting to tear me up before and I've always managed to stop them."

She blinked, looked at him with solemn eyes. "You would not be able to stop the Cae of the Ytrayi. He's worse than an Atrika when properly motivated, when his control has snapped and he scents blood."

"Rue's kind of the baddest of the bad, huh? Why would he want to hurt me for touching you?"

She pursed her lips, thinking how to phrase her answer. "In their culture, the father is responsible for the females until they are mated. Under no circumstances are males allowed to touch unmated females. If a male does so, the father is honor bound to eviscerate them."

"Wow. I've always had a thing for dangerous sex, but that goes above and beyond."

"The catch is that I cannot be mated. It's against their law for an aeamon to mate a daaeman and since there are no aeamon males on Eudae… Also, Rue declared himself my guardian when I became his handmaiden. The night he caught me with Ty I discovered that meant he considered me his daughter and, as such, under this cultural law."

"You know, I'm beginning to really not like this guy, Claire. So you were supposed to remain a virgin for your entire life, then? And he would kill anyone who laid a hand on you?"

"Yes. As a female aeamon, I was the most defenseless individual in their culture and Rue was very protective of me. I was to remain untouched until the day I died, even though it wasn't fair to me and I did resent it."

"But I'm not a demon, Claire, I'm an aeamon male. What if I want to mate you?"

She smiled. "Are you asking to bind my life with yours for all eternity? Death do us part?"

"Uh."

Her smile widened. "Then you cannot touch me. Touch me and be eviscerated."

"Yeah, well, I don't live on Eudae. I don't play by their rules. You shouldn't either, Claire."

"If I did, I would've remained untouched for my entire life."

He gave her a sly look. "And you didn't do that, did you?"

She shook her head and bit her lower lip. "I did something even worse than lose my virginity. I fell in love with a Syari, one of the scholar class, and he fell in love with me. When Rue found out—"

Adam made a slashing motion across his throat.

"Not only that, he—"

He held up a hand. "I got it. The fewer details the better."

"I don't want to be responsible for that again, no matter how much I want… this, whatever this is that's happening between us now."

Adam said nothing for a moment. Then, he began, "I guess if my last lover had been eviscerated for having sex with me, I'd be a little jumpy, too. But, Claire, you're a witch, not a demon. You're home now. Stop thinking like a resident of Eudae."

"As aeamon, I'm half-daaeman. And I've been playing by their rules since I was six, Adam."

"Yeah, okay." Adam leaned down, pinning her to the bed. He spoke close enough to her mouth that his breath warmed her lips. "But I think you're worth the risk."

She inhaled a little, feeling his words go straight to the center of her. He really believed it. Her empathy, coming from her water magick, picked up that clear, crystal feeling of truth.

He stayed that way, barely touching her. Their gazes locked, held. The heat of his body bled through the fabric of his clothing and into her skin. His eyes seemed to hold pure heat, everything he wanted to do lay there immersed in barely banked fire.

Something in the depths of her chest squeezed a bit. Emotion rose — hers or his, she wasn't quite certain. All of a sudden they were one being. Claire wasn't sure where she stopped and he began.

It was intense and her body responded in kind. Her sex quickened, remembering what it was like to be aroused. She moved on the bed a little, wanting him to touch her like she'd never wanted anything before. Wanted his hands on her again, more intimately this time.