Christine Feehan - Dark Wolf

“Skyler.” He hissed out her name, his voice edged with tight control.

She smiled. “ Te avio päläfertiilam. You are my lifemate.” She kept her gaze steady on his, wanting him to see she meant every word. “I belong to you, Dimitri, all of me, heart and soul. This body is yours as well. I know I’m safe with you.”

He had earned her trust over several years. She knew with an absolute certainty she wanted their relationship to progress. If at any time she was afraid, she knew he would stop instantly. That knowledge gave her more freedom than anything else ever could.

“If we weren’t already lifemates, I would braid your hair with the smaller flowers and stems, but because you are, you feed me the petals and I’ll feed you and the ritual will be complete.” When she started to rise, he kept his hand on her shoulder, holding her there.

Skyler smiled up at him, pulled the flower to her and once again licked along the stigma before pulling a petal free. He bent down to reach her hand, taking the petal with his teeth. As he did so he fed her one. She wasn’t surprised that it was velvety soft and bursting with the taste of him.

When the petals were consumed he slipped a blindfold of soft petals woven together around her head, the fragrance heady with passion. The world went completely dark. Her heart jumped, but again she felt a coiling tightness building in her deepest core. The wind caressed her body and teased her hair. There was a small silence and then his hand stroked through her hair, down to her shoulder and lower, until he cupped her breast. Deprived of sight, every nerve ending was heightened. Her entire body shuddered with need.

“Do you want to try this? You don’t have to.”

Her body pulsed for his. She could barely breathe with the hunger for him coursing through her. She would do anything for him, try anything, but more, she wanted to do it for herself. She wanted to prove to herself she could trust him no matter what and feel only pleasure in everything they did.

She nodded. To steady herself, she reached out and found his thigh. The moment she touched him, the trembling lessened.

“Feel the wind on you. Feel the way your hair falls so soft and sensual down your back and slides over your skin.”

His voice was commanding. Mesmerizing. She shivered again. Fear? Excitement? Anticipation? Her core was on fire, a melting liquid heat that demanded fulfillment. Her mouth watered for him. She’d been so close to her goal, wanting to give him the same kind of pleasure he gave her. He knew her body, every square inch of her and she had been too shy to make her own demands of his.

She had caught some of the erotic images in his head and she wanted to be all those things for him. Right now, kneeling on the soft petals unable to see, the cool night air playing over her body so that she was acutely aware of her breath, her every movement, she found herself growing even more slick and hot.

Silence stretched. She could hear the creak of tree branches around the meadow as the wind played in the leaves. It whispered over the flowers and insects droned. Several frogs called in the distance, and she even caught the sound of running water. She didn’t move, waiting for him. Her breath came and went, but she remained silent, her heart pounding.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he caressed her right breast with one large hand. His fingers settled around her nipple, the tug more insistent than he’d ever used before. An electrical shock ran straight from her nipple to her core. She gasped, her lips parting, a rush of air escaping. She smelled his spicy scent and then he rubbed nectar across her lips.

“Open your mouth for me, sívamet .”

At last. She would truly feel as if she was his. As if he belonged to her. She felt the lash of heat against her mouth and her hands moved up to cup his sac.

“Place both hands on my thighs,” he instructed. His voice sounded a little rough, a little hoarse.

Her sheath clenched, melted, dripped wild honey, calling to him. He sounded so sexy. She felt sexy. Through her palms she could feel the slight shudder of pleasure that ran through his body as she licked at the drops of pearl liquid, with that addictive, rare taste. She opened her mouth and allowed him to push inside. The taste she craved so desperately exploded against her tongue and burst through her mouth. Without thinking she suckled, flattening her tongue, wanting to feel pleasure blossoming through his mind. She surrounded him with warmth, enfolded him with love.

She reveled in his groans, in the way his thigh muscles twitched and danced under her fingers. She found herself happy, enjoying the moment, feeling sexy and strong, her mouth tight and hot around him, worshiping him, showing him her love, claiming his body for her own.

He began to move with small, deeper thrusts. Her newfound courage faltered, a small schism of fear skittering down her spine. She was helpless there, blind and unable to stop him if he choked her. A million nightmares rose out of nowhere, flooding her mind, driving out everything around her until she felt rough hands and loud voices, slaps and kicks. Just that fast, her world went from bliss to panic.

Before she could react, his hands were gentle on her head, fingers massaging the tension from her. “You’re safe, here with me, and nothing, no one, can ever harm you again. You aren’t really blind at all, csitri . You’re in my mind and you can see and feel what I do. See how beautiful you look to me. Feel what you do to me, the pleasure you brought to me.”

His soft whisper calmed her as nothing else could. Behind the mask of petals, she closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. That male fragrance, so familiar to her, was as reassuring as his voice. Her heart continued to pound, but she didn’t lift her hands to remove the mask of petals.

“It’s still there, Dimitri,” she whispered, wanting to cry. “It’s never going to go away.”

“Of course not, sívamet ,” he replied, his voice so tender, her eyes did burn. He removed the mask of petals and gently brought her to her feet. “Your past, like mine, shaped who you are now. That steel running down your spine, that incredible will and determination that allows you to do things no one expects—those attributes came from your past. It’s part of you.”

“A nightmare.” She laid her head on his chest for comfort, feeling she’d failed both of them. “My childhood was a nightmare.”

Instantly his arms swept around her, holding her tight to him, surrounding her with his strength and love. “Nothing in our future changes our past. You know that, Skyler. You’ve always known it. We talked of this moment happening. There is no right or wrong. No failure. We both expected it to happen. It is. That’s all.”

She let herself find a small smile. “Talking about it and having it happen are two different things, Dimitri. I wanted to please you.”

“You did please me.”

“I wanted to show trust. How could I be feeling happy, enjoying giving you pleasure and have my past creep into our private moment?” She looked up at him, unable to prevent the tears from swimming in her eyes. “I do trust you.”

That was the worst of it. She had let both of them down. How could she think Dimitri would ever harm her?

“You didn’t think I would harm you, Skyler,” Dimitri said, gathering her into his arms. He lifted her, cradling her trembling body close to his chest. “I wasn’t there in that moment.”

Her heart jumped. She gave a little shattered cry and buried her face against his neck. He hadn’t been with her. She’d lost him and panicked. Just that one act of aggression on his part and instead of feeling his familiar form—in a field of flowers holding his scent—her past still had such a powerful grip on her that she’d lost the man she loved more than anything. That seemed so much worse.