Fear clouded her eyes. She blinked it away. She had the same power over him. She would not allow fear to keep her from what she wanted. This man. This one man. Her dark and wonderful hunter. It was Destiny who moved first, committing her body to his. Pushing into him, setting a rhythm, inviting him to take her as he wanted.
Nicolae sensed the wildness rising in him. His body was hot and far too tight, his belly and groin burning with urgent need. He moved, surging forward, burying himself deep inside her. A long, hard stroke that shook both of them. She lifted her hips to meet him, unafraid of the strength of his body as he picked up the rhythm, driving hard and fast, needing to empty himself. She was everything. Her body so lush and soft and inviting. He could feel the ebb and flow of her blood, calling him, enticing him.
Her breasts rocked with each hard stroke, drawing his attention so that twice he had to dip his head to lap at her nipples. He was rewarded with her muscles clenching even tighter. Her sheath was fiery hot, so tight he could barely breathe with the intensity of his pleasure.
He’d known from the moment he awakened what he was going to do, and the excitement of it, the anticipation, had been unbearable. Now she was his. He was going to make her completely his. Destiny was made for him alone, and he wanted her, body and soul. Without reservation. He built the exquisite fire between them, taking them up to the edge over and over until she whimpered for mercy.
“I want my blood flowing in your veins.” He whispered the temptation. “I will not give us release until you have all of me. I want to be here, buried deep in your body. I want my mind merged deeply with yours and I want my blood in your veins.”
There was no way to resist. The craving was already on her, lengthening her incisors so that she lifted her head toward the broad expanse of chest he was offering her. His scent enveloped her. His body was swelling more. The friction was scalding, searing her to her soul. She stroked his skin with her tongue and without further preamble sank her teeth deep, connecting them in the way they were meant to be.
He cried out, his voice strained with the pleasure-pain, the white-hot ecstasy pouring into both of them like molten lava. The flames danced over skin and muscles. Her body tightened around his, her muscles clenching strongly, demandingly. His life force, his ancient gift, filled her as his body filled her.
His hips drove harder, plunged deeper. He knew the moment she reached the pinnacle. The moment her body clutched his, taking him with her over the edge. Her tongue swept the pinpricks to close the tiny holes, to allow her to breathe, to cry out her pleasure to the roses, to the gods. He went willingly, pouring into her, allowing her to take the last drop of his essence.
Nicolae lay pinning her to the silken sheets with his larger, stronger body, his arms tightly around her. Their hearts were pounding together, her body rippling around his, still tightly gripping him. He moved the thick mass of her hair from her shoulder, baring her skin, her breast to his gaze. Very slowly, as if afraid of frightening her, he lowered his weight more fully, burying his face in the soft column of her throat.
He cupped her breast in his palm possessively, his breath hot on her skin. They were locked together, his body unbelievably as hard as ever. As thick as ever. As in need as ever. “Hold me, Destiny.” The words were whispered against her ear. He nuzzled her neck, his lips feathering over her skin.
Her arms circled his neck immediately. Her body was still alive with aftershocks. When he moved she could feel her muscles clenching and unclenching, making her gasp each time with renewed pleasure. She drifted in the pleasure, the complete harmony between them, holding him close to her, loving the feel of his masculine body against the softness of hers.
Without warning his arms became hard and immovable, his teeth sank deep into her pulsing neck. Lightning struck, arcing and sizzling through her body, through his. Pain and pleasure mingled, gave way to ecstasy, a dazzling fire that consumed them both. He drank deeply, his body once more moving in hers. Hard. Insistent. Thrusting deep as if he were attempting to reach her very soul.
Nicolae! No! She wailed the words, fought to stay focused on the danger. The pleasure was so intense, it was difficult to think straight. To remember that what was happening was wrong.
She didn’t want the fever again, the desire that was fast becoming obsession. She didn’t want the urgency that was already taking hold of her. One of them had to be sane in the world of erotic pleasure. Destiny needed to protect him more than she needed her own pleasure. She tried to pry his head away from where it was clamped to her neck.
Nicolae! Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing. You must stop. What you’re doing is dangerous.
She tried to be the cool voice of reason in the midst of the leaping flames. It was impossible to penetrate the sweeping ecstasy overcoming his senses. Destiny fisted her hands in his hair and tugged hard, but his mouth pulled strongly at her neck. Her body reacted wildly to his, spiraling out of control before she could prevent it. Every nerve ending was alive. Her skin was on fire, her insides erupting with pleasure, shaking her as he took them over the edge so fast and hard she could barely catch her breath.
“Nicolae! Please. Please listen to me.” He was too strong. She couldn’t prevent the disaster, and her body betrayed her, caught in the fiery tango with his. Tears beaded on her lashes as she pleaded with him. “Do this for me. Stop and think.”
It is already too late. Your blood flows in my veins. We are the same. His voice was completely calm. Completely accepting. His tongue swept across her throat, and he lifted his head so that his gaze glittered down into hers.
Black obsidian. The words were in her mind as she stared up at his eyes. The rush took them both, a tremendous, mind-shattering orgasm that shook them, yet they stared at each other without blinking. The release rocked them both; they allowed it to slide away. Neither moved. Neither spoke.
Very slowly the terrible hardness of his arms melted away and he reluctantly released her so that she could move her head. Her neck throbbed. “You knew what you were doing.” She said the words aloud. Tested them. Even thinking the words made her feel guilty. She had been so caught up in making love, she was certain he must have been overcome by the temptation of the moment.
“Of course. You are my lifemate. We belong together as one. Where you are, so am I. You fear the Prince will not accept you. Now I share your fate. What happens to one happens to the other.”
Her stomach rolled. She pushed hard at the wall of his chest. “Get off of me! Get off now!” When he rolled off of her, she scrambled up from the bed and glared down at him. “How could you do that? How could you deliberately take what we had and twist it into something so wrong?”
He sat up, watching her calmly with dark, thoughtful eyes. “What is it you think I have done, Destiny?”
“You took him inside you!” she yelled at him. “You
invited
his entry. If you really knew me, really knew how I felt, you could never have done such a thing. The loathing. The sickness. He lives in me. I can’t make him go away. You let him win.” She stumbled against the cave wall, mindless of the roses, and slid down to the floor. “Nicolae, you let him win.” She began to weep quietly, her knees drawn up, her head in her hands.
Nicolae sighed softly. He could have taken anything but her tears. He had expected anger. He could easily deal with her anger, had been prepared to deal with it. But not her tears. And not just any tears.
She wept as if her heart were breaking. As if there were no hope. How was a man supposed to handle such a thing without his heart shattering into pieces?
He glided across the distance between them to sit carefully beside her. Close. But not touching. She didn’t look up at him. “Destiny, I had to find a way to make you understand how much you matter to me.”