I made an exasperated noise. "This is your revenge, right? You want me to command you to make love to me? You want to hear the actual words?"
"I would know exactly what you want me to do, yes. I am yours. Tell me what you want of me."
I sighed. "Okay, fine, whatever. I command you to make love to me. There, are you happy now?"
"Make love to you how?"
I stopped stroking his arm and poked him in the shoulder. "Do I have to draw you a picture?"
He shook his head, causing his hair to feather out over my belly. I shivered and tried to will him up my body. "Just tell me what you want."
I rubbed my legs up alongside his legs, uncaring for the moment that the scars were plainly visible. "I want to feel you, all of you."
"Yes? Where?" he asked as he slid forward along my body until his mouth was level with my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He paused to pay tribute to them. I arched my back and parted my legs wider, sliding them up his thighs.
"I want to feel you pressed against me."
He moved up until his mouth was on my collarbone. "And?"
I want to feel you inside of me.
His hands cupped my hips as he moved up higher, the hard length of him parting those delicate parts of me that I"d previously considered purely functional.
There was a delicious sort of stretching as my body accommodated his, and then he opened his mind to me, flooding me with the feelings of heat and tightness and overwhelming pleasure that he felt. I wrapped my legs around his hips as he started to move within me, kissing his neck and clutching at his back as every tiny little atom of my body joined with his in absolute ecstasy. I drowned in his pleasure and fed him my own, pushing us both higher as our bodies danced in a rhythm that left us both straining, moving to please ourselves, moving to please each other, pushing our bodies together harder and faster until I felt us bursting into a white blaze of rapture. I heard Christian sing my name just before his teeth pierced the flesh beneath my ear. I arched against him, still locked in our shared o.r.g.a.s.m, driven past that point by the exultation he felt as he feasted on my blood. What should have been a forbidden, repulsive act was instead erotic, wild, carnal, and built within me a need I hardly dared put a name to.
His tongue was hot on my neck, pulling me back from the euphoria our joining had brought.
I lay trembling with wonderful little aftershocks, holding tightly to him, reveling in his ragged breath and heaving chest, warm and safe and for the first time in my life, truly at peace.
What have you done? I asked, a languid hand lazily stroking the hard curves of his behind. What have you done to me?
He lifted his head and looked down at me, his lips brushing a gentle salute on mine, his eyes burning red and gold and brown, more variations of color than I"d thought existed. Slowly, ever so slowly, his lips curled up in an extremely smug, thoroughly male smile. The expression is, I believe, "rocked your world."
I bit his shoulder as he rolled us over. "You bit me."
"You bit me, as well."
"But I didn"t guzzle down your blood."
"I did not guzzle, I never guzzle. I sipped. Carefully. Worshipfully. Gratefully."
I looked up from where my cheek was pressed against Christian"s heart. The bed might be the very height of comfort, but he was much more comfortable. "Worshipfully, eh? What did I taste like?"
He smiled one of his patented lazy smiles. "Like a woman who doesn"t know the depth of her own pa.s.sion."
"Beast," I said, settling back down on his chest.
His hands were warm on my behind. "And have I captured Beauty?"
I shifted upward until I had my chin resting on my hands, stacked together on his breastbone. "I might be inclined to answer that if you answer a few more of my questions first."
His hands trailed up my back, making random little swirly patterns that were sending shivers of heat out from my belly to every point on my body. "Would I be correct in guessing that the first question was what I was doing in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the inn, naked and covered in ninety-four cuts?"
"You would." I nodded, breathing a little heavier as his hands moved downward again to paint circles on my behind. "Ninety-four? How do you know there were ninety-four cuts?"
He closed his eyes. "Because I made them."
I frowned up at him, waiting for the rest of the explanation.
"Christian?"
"You"ve worn me out with your l.u.s.tful demands. I"m sleepy."
"Vampires don"t get sleepy. Tell me about your plan in the inn."
He gave a gentle little snore. I turned my head and took one pert little brown nipple in my mouth. His eyes shot open. I pulled away long enough to say, "If you value this nipple"s life, you"ll finish answering the question."
He sighed in mock regret. "I have unleashed a dragon."
"I have always been a dragon; I was just hidden in an innocent maiden"s form. Why did you cut yourself ninety-four times and lie bleeding, if not to death, then at least to a weakened state that had to be dangerous?"
"Because I had arranged through a contact that you do not need to know about for Guarda White and Eduardo Ta.s.salerro to hear that another Dark One had been caught and was being held in an extremely weakened state in the bas.e.m.e.nt of an old, abandoned inn."
"Weakened, hence the need to appear as if you had lost lots of blood."
His hands slid off my behind, lower, to the tops of my thighs.
"Exactly. Unfortunately, just as White and Ta.s.salerro arrived to examine the bait, a plucky Summoner came to save me from the horrors of eternal torment."
His fingers slid between my thighs, heading into an area that had me opening my eyes up very wide.
"Eep."
"There is something deeply erotic about a woman who mutters sweet nothings of the eep caliber into the chin of her partner."
His fingers delved. They parted. They stroked. They did things that I had no idea fingers could do in the parts in question. Oh, I knew they could, I just didn"t know they could, if you get my drift. I shifted and squirmed and wiggled around on him, feeling him harden beneath me as his fingers moved to a seductive dance in my heated flesh.
I sat up, ignoring the stab of pain in my leg as I straddled him, my thighs on either side of his hips as I looked down at the man beneath me. His eyes were open now, hot with need and pa.s.sion, bright with longing so strong it stripped the breath from my lungs.
I wrapped my fingers around his hard length and leaned forward, swirling my tongue around the previously abused nipple. "Tell me what you want, Christian."
He moaned. You.
I stroked him as I kissed my way over to his other nipple. I suckled on it for a moment, sc.r.a.ping it gently with my teeth, enjoying the sound of him sucking in his breath. "Tell me what you want me to do to you, Christian."
His hands shifted to my hips, gripping them as he lifted me straight up in the air. I looked down. He was poised beneath me. I want you, Allegra.
I reached down and teased him, pushing back the extra bit of skin and running my fingers around in investigative circles. You want me how?
He lowered me as I directed him where I wanted him, his hardness nudging aside all the now tingly bits of me to push into the welcoming heat of my body. I want you around me, in me, joined with me. I want to feel our hearts beat together, our breaths merged until they cannot be separated, our minds one.
Yes, I cried as I sank down upon him, sobs of pleasure catching in my throat. The darkness within him swirled around us and in us until he was torn between the joy of our joining and the pain of his torment. I moved upon him, finding a rhythm that I knew through our joined minds pleased him as much as it did me, and fed him my pleasure as I accepted his. Despair shadowed us until I opened my heart and took it into me, molding it, warping it, changing it into an intense sense of satisfaction that sank deep into our bones.
You are light, you are salvation, Christian breathed into my mind as our bodies quickened the pace, racing now for that final moment of completion so perfect it brought tears of happiness to my eyes. You take my pain and give me only joy.
I opened my eyes, wanting to see his as we reached our climax together, wanting to see deep inside him to the emptiness I knew I could fill.
You were created for me.
His eyes were an impossible, glowing midnight, so filled with emotion it almost hurt to look into them. Ecstasy coiled tighter and tighter within me until I felt as if I were going to fracture into a thousand pieces. Beneath me Christian"s need built, raging through him, burning hot and hard, burning just for me. I leaned down over him, offering myself, wanting, needing him to take what only I could give him.
I cannot live without you.
His teeth pierced the skin above my breast, the sensation of pleasure so strong it pushed me over the edge until we were one body, one mind, one being as we succ.u.mbed to the power of our pa.s.sion.
Beloved, his mind echoed in mine as we burned bright for an eternity. You are my Beloved.
Chapter Ten.
We lay on our sides, our arms and legs twined together, our bodies slick with perspiration.
"I had no idea Dark Ones sweated," I murmured against his shoulder, too tired to even trail my fingers over the chest that lay pressed against me so warmly.
"Dark Ones can do many amazing things. Sweating is just one of them."
"Mmm. So tell me, oh amazing one, how does a nine-hundred-year-old Moravian stud m.u.f.fin go about helping an exciting, exotic, wild American s.e.x G.o.ddess to get rid of the four-count "em, four-ghosts in her possession?"
"Stud m.u.f.fin?"
I kissed his Adam"s apple. "It"s a term of endearment. It is supposed to convey appreciation and awe for your unspeakably fabulous s.e.xual prowess."
"Ah. Then I will accept that term."
"Very gracious of you. Any ideas on what I"m going to do with my little foursome while I"m trying to figure out what Guarda White and company are doing and where they"re holding your friend? I can"t just leave them at the hotel, and I hate to keep them bound down to the bobbles. It can"t be very interesting, or in the least bit fun."
"The hotel question, at least, is moot."
I looked up at him. His eyes were a sleepy, sated dark oak. "What do you mean, moot? Moot in what way?"
"Moot as in, while you have been having your wild, exotic, exciting way with me, I"ve had your things moved from the hotel to my home. They should be here now."
I pushed back from him until I could get enough distance to rally a really quality glare. "You what? Without my permission? Did it ever occur to you to ask me if I wanted to be moved from the hotel?" Fury built within me as I punched the pillow good and hard. "Dammit, Christian, this is exactly what I"m talking about! You can"t just waltz into my life and take over! I will decide if and when I want to move in with you!"
He smoothed a strand of my hair back from where it was caught on my lip. "Guarda White will be watching you very closely. If she found out that you were not my fiancee-and I can a.s.sure you that she will be having both of us followed in an attempt to find out more about us-you would be in a very dangerous situation. I cannot allow you to put yourself in danger for me."
I ground my teeth both at that horrible word allow and his high-handed action. "I can understand and even agree with what you say about Guarda. I wouldn"t put it past her to send some detectives digging into our pasts. But I do object, most strenuously and strongly, to your making decisions without my knowledge and consent. I will not tolerate it, Christian; I simply will not tolerate it!"
He lay silent for a long minute, the struggle within him visible in his beautiful eyes as they darkened. "I did not see my actions in quite that light. It is difficult for me to remember that you do not wish for my protection without asking for it. For that I apologize. I should have discussed it with you first."
I blinked at him, stunned that he was willing to admit he was wrong. "Really? You admit you were wrong?"
He tugged me down until my lips rested upon his. "Yes, I do."
"Have you ever had to apologize to anyone before?"
His lips feathered across mine. "Never."
A now familiar warmth started deep within me as his hands got into the action. "It didn"t hurt too much, did it?"
"Terribly. I need comforting."
"Men. Such babies," I said as I pushed him onto his back and kissed the objection right out of his mind. "You really brought my stuff here? Esme"s bobble, too?"
Christian groaned and slapped a hand over my mouth, but too late, as I saw to my horror.
"Oh, my gracious heavens! You"re both naked! In bed! Together! I shouldn"t be seeing this, should I? Don"t look, Mr. Woogums; it isn"t at all fit for you to see."
I stared in horror over Christian"s biceps at Esme as she stood in bewildered delight next to Christian, her hand held over the cat"s eyes. Dark as it was, I could see her examining Christian from head to toes.
"Oh, my dear, how very fortunate you are. How very fortunate indeed!"
The dream came on me just as the dawn lightened the gray, sodden skies over London. Once again I was in a house, my footsteps echoing before me as I walked down long, empty corridors, aware that I wasn"t alone. This time I knew it was Christian who needed my help.
I stepped through an archway to a solid steel door, the lock enhanced by a heavy bolt. I ignored the lock and pushed open the door, entering the room to find myself with a group of people, staring at the figure of a man lying still and silent on a hard metal table. It was Christian lying on the table, his eyes empty and soulless as Eduardo drained the blood from his body.
"She will not come for you," said a small, dark-haired man standing at Christian"s feet. "She will not save you, not now, not ever. She is lost to you. If I cannot have her, I will have you."
"You must choose," Eduardo said to me. I shook my head, refusing to make the decision.
Christian turned his head until his eyes met mine. A sob of protest caught in my throat as I tried to push forward, tried to stop Eduardo, tried to refute the second man. I would come for him; I would save him.
"You will trust me," Christian ordered, his eyes full of sorrow and pain; then he held his arm out to the second man, who bent over his wrist, baring fangs that sank cruel and deep into Christian"s flesh.
My scream echoed throughout Christian"s high-ceilinged bedroom, not in the least bit m.u.f.fled by the curtains that he had drawn around the bed. I lay frozen in the bed, disoriented by it, by the room, and the strangeness of a warm body lying spooned protectively behind me.
Christian"s hand slid up from my hip to tighten around my belly. "Allegra? Were you dreaming?"
My heart was beating wildly, the foul taste of the nightmare still filling my mouth. Suddenly feeling as if I were suffocating, I pushed at his arm until he released me, then sat up on the edge of the bed and pushed the curtain aside, breathing deeply as I hunched over, trying to catch my breath and tell myself that not every dream I"d had turned out to come true.
"Allegra?"