Just go back to the craft.
Kristor closed his eyes as Labrinon caught the air currents that would take them back. But closing his eyes didn’t stop the anger from building inside him. How could Rianna not care about what they had shared? It was as though she had tossed their whole relationship away.
Did she not realize he would probably go crazy without his lifemate? Did she not care that she would destroy him?
Labrinon glided into the craft, landing on one of the chairs. The change began. Kristor welcomed the burning sensation, the pain that accompanied shifting. And when he was back to himself, he dressed, his movements stiff as he tried to contain his anger. Then he climbed on his motorcycle and went to Rianna’s house. He would confront her.
Her car was parked in the driveway. He pulled in beside it and turned the key off. She didn’t even come to the door in greeting. Had she already dismissed him? How could she so easily wipe him from her mind when all he could do was think about her? Every waking moment he’d been consumed with thoughts of her. And when he’d slept, his dreams had been filled with visions of Rianna.
As Kristor climbed the steps and walked across her porch, he understood why some men were driven crazy without their lifemate. He thought he might already be halfway there.
He opened the door and went inside. Rianna still didn’t rush to greet him. His frown darkened as he strode to the kitchen. Empty. He listened. Heard water running. It stopped.
He turned on his heel and marched to the bedroom. He was halfway across the room when the bathroom door opened. Rianna looked up, slapping her hand to her chest. It was all Kristor could do to take a breath. She stood there with a towel on her head and one wrapped around her body.
“Kristor?” Tears filled her eyes.
Oh, no, he hadn’t meant to make her cry. He’d expected anything except tears.
She launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck. “Where have you been? I’ve been so afraid something happened to you. That you were hurt or dead. That you might have left without saying good-bye. I’ve missed you so much.”
His anger evaporated. All that mattered was that she did care. He had a feeling she’d only let him win a few skirmishes. Rianna had won the battle. But if he took her back by force, would he lose everything?
“Kiss me,” she said against his neck, the warmth of her breath igniting the flames inside him.
He lowered his lips to hers, tasted her once more. By the gods, he’d missed holding her close, loving her. He caressed her tongue with his, gently stroking, when all he wanted to do was throw her onto the bed and plunge inside her heat. He held back, though it took a supreme effort on his part.
He ended the kiss, buried his head in her neck, and breathed in the fruity aroma of her hair. His hands slid down her back, tugging at the towel until it came loose. He stepped back and gazed upon her beauty.
Full breasts, a tiny waist, gently curving hips, and a flat stomach, but the thatch of dark curls covered what he most wanted. He wanted to feel her legs wrap around him and pull him in deeper before much more time passed.
“I want you,” he said.
“I want you, too.”
He jerked his T-shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. He shoved the button through his jeans, then jerked the zipper down, before shoving them and his briefs to the floor.
“I don’t know how much longer I can wait,” he warned, then almost lost it when he saw she was looking at his erection, not his face.
“Me either,” she said, then dragged her eyes upward as he kicked his clothes away. “You shouldn’t have stayed away. Why did you?”
“Because I’m a man, and a warrior, and we often do stupid things when we’re around women.”
He picked her up, then laid her on the bed, joining her. She parted her legs, but he would do nothing to hurt her. He slipped two fingers inside her and discovered she was already damp with need. The pressure inside him built. He moved between her legs, slipped inside and, for a moment, didn’t move. He wanted to savor everything about her. The way her body automatically tightened around him, enclosing him in the liquid fire that was her body. He almost lost it when she wrapped her legs around his waist, sucking him deeper inside her heat.
“More,” she whispered.
He growled, rose above her, then plunged deeper.
“Yes, harder.”
He watched her face in the throes of her passion. The way she bit her bottom lip, strained toward that first quiver that would overtake her body.
She rose to meet each thrust, her breath coming out in little pants. Straining, drawing nearer.
“More,” she cried out.
He plunged deeper, faster, harder.
Her body tightened. She gasped. A tear slid from the corner of her eye.
The fire built inside him. He drew almost all the way out of her body, then sank back inside. Fire licked at his erection as her heat stroked down his length, then back up.
And then he came. Explosions of light went off around him as intense pleasure filled his mind and body. He sank into her softness with a moan of deep satisfaction before rolling to his side, taking her with him, pulling her against him.
“Don’t ever leave me again,” she murmured.
He barely heard her words. Didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure it was a promise he could keep. At least, not without causing her pain.
They clung to each other, as though they knew their future was uncertain at best. Would they even have one together?
She sighed, her breathing even. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes as the familiar burning pain gripped him. He used to welcome the shift after sex so he wouldn’t have to answer a lot of questions. But now he only wanted to feel Ria’s body pressed against his, grasping every moment as if it might be their last.
Chapter 24
Ria woke to the sound of her shower running. She grumbled as she rolled over in the bed. Then it hit her. Kristor was back, and all was right in her world. Butterflies fluttered inside her stomach.
She stretched and yawned. There was a thump under the bed. She leaned over the side and raised the dust ruffle. “Hello,” she told her cat.
“Meow.”
Ria smiled. Ruffles looked pretty satisfied. The cat closed its eyes and visions of chasing a mouse filled Ria’s head.
She stilled.
Why would she imagine that? She looked at the cat again. Ruffles had gone back to snoozing.
Okay, no more concentrating. She didn’t even want to see Ruffles catching the stupid mouse or what she would do with it when she did.
Ria rolled out of bed, grabbing her fluffy white robe, and slipping her arms inside. She was tying the belt when Kristor stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a towel knotted at the waist.
Good Lord, did he realize what he did to her? She wanted to pounce. Who wouldn’t? All that tanned exposed skin, sinewy muscles, broad chest, rock-hard abs…
“If you keep looking at me like that, I don’t think we’ll leave the house today.”
And that would be bad because…?
Her stomach rumbled. She had only picked at her lunch today and suddenly she was starved. She glanced at the clock. It was already four. Too early for dinner, but she had plenty of munchies. Cheese, crackers, fruit, and wine…then more sex. Oh, baby, that sounded good to her.
“I’ll shower and then see what I can hunt up for us to eat.”
“Hunt? I am a warrior. I will do the hunting.”
She chuckled. “Well, everything is in the pantry in the kitchen. Go for it.”
She watched as understanding dawned.
His smile was a little sheepish. “I thought you meant you would kill our food.”
“I know. Sorry, I couldn’t resist teasing you.”
“Teasing me?” He nodded. “I have a sister like that.”
It was difficult for her to wrap her mind around the fact he had a family on another planet far away. And that he would be joining them soon.