“I want to talk.”
“Talk with your mind.”
“It’s distracting to have my mouth on you while I’m trying to talk.”
He liked the fact that she was already sliding her thumb over the crown and using her saliva to make him slick so she could easily slide her fist around him and then began that glide that could slowly take his breath from his lungs.
“I cannot talk if I am thinking of other things. I liked the way you sucked so hard and used your tongue. I want to see how much of me you can take.”
“As it is, you’re stretching my limits,” she pointed out.
“You did not have a problem; in fact, when I was in your mind you were enjoying yourself. If I checked you right now, just thinking about taking my cock in your mouth, will I find you hot and slick?”
“We just made love. Without a condom, I might add.”
“Carpathians can regulate ovulation. In any case, I made certain you felt fresh and clean, as if you’d had a long bath. There will be no excuses.”
She squirmed, the corners of her mouth turning up. “Checking is cheating.”
“I want to make certain you enjoy yourself with as much pleasure as you are giving me.”
Lorraine smiled at him and then lay out over him, wiggling until he opened his legs for her. Andor stretched, linking his fingers behind his head, propping himself up so he could watch her. “Tell me what you like about having my cock in your mouth.”
She licked up his shaft and then swirled her tongue over the head of his erection. Her mouth engulfed him. He watched the way his girth stretched her lips. She had naturally rosy lips and seeing them around his cock sent more steel to his groin.
“Tell me, Lorraine.”
Your taste. I love the way you taste. The feel of you. Like velvet, but then so hard. And hot. So very hot. The shape of you. I’ve never felt anything like it. I especially love how hard you get, right in my mouth.
Her tongue swirled up his shaft and then teased under his crown until he thought his head would explode. He couldn’t just lie there as he had first planned. It was impossible not to move. He gathered her hair into one hand, holding it up and out of the way so he could see the way he filled her mouth and stretched her lips. Her lashes were down, those two thick crescents that fanned her cheeks. He wanted to see her eyes looking up at him. Nothing was sexier to him.
How far can you take me?
His hips moved, gently, but insistent. He pushed an increment deeper with each thrust. He’d been careful before, making certain to stay shallow, but keeping his head was becoming more difficult each time she suckled hard, her mouth a tight fist. Seeing her taking him like that added to the need building.
I’m working on finding that out. I want to swallow you down. Hold you inside. I love this so much, Andor. I love giving you things you’ve never had and didn’t even know you wanted.
He wanted to throw his head back and roar like a saber-toothed tiger. Heat enveloped his entire body. Sensations poured over him. It wasn’t just about what she was doing to his body, it was about how she loved doing it to him.
I know I want this now. I will never get enough of your mouth.
You asked me to tell you what I like. More than anything, I like making you lose control. Knowing I can. Knowing I can give you so much pleasure you don’t know what you’re doing.
His hand slipped to the base of his cock, worried he would thrust too deeply and hurt her. He was right there where she wanted him, on the very edge of his control.
Soft laughter slid into his mind, brushing musical notes along those walls and spreading a tight symphony over his cock like a vise. He could feel that endless well of seed in him begin to boil, as if his balls were two blazing pools of magna.
Csecsemõ. He tried to warn her. He gripped her hair harder in his fist.
Yes.
Her long lashes lifted and he found himself staring into her eyes. That was all it took. He erupted again. This time he watched her throat. Watched it move as he poured his essence down her.
Instead of pulling away from him, she very gently licked along his shaft, the tip of her tongue sliding under the crown and then swiping over the top of it. The movements were tender. He couldn’t remember having been cared for. Memories were so faded over the centuries of nothing, that he couldn’t remember laughter or fun, let alone a tender gesture. The way she attended him felt loving to him.
She looked up at him, those green eyes meeting his. “Tet vigyázam.” She pronounced it correctly, but more, she poured meaning into the words. “I do love you, Andor, more and more with each minute I spend in your company. I want to show you that. I want to give you things you’ve never had. I’m very aware, from sharing your mind so often, how little you’ve ever expected or taken in spite of how much you’ve given.”
“You are what I’ve been given, Lorraine. And you’re everything.”
She stared at him a few moments, looking up at him over his cock, and then she crawled up the bed, which was something he found sexy as well, but he remained silent while she turned over and lay on her back beside him, staring up at the ceiling. He did file it away that he liked the way she crawled up the bed to him. Her breasts were two perfect mounds, her nipples still erect. They swayed with every movement, calling his attention and memory to the way they looked and felt. He wanted to be healed so they had more time and could be much more adventurous.
“When you’ve been sleeping, Andor”—Lorraine’s voice was uneasy— “I’ve been sleeping beside you. You weren’t all the way in the ground. I know it hasn’t been all that long, but for some reason, the thought of being separated from you makes me very uneasy. Unsettled . . .” She trailed off.
He was aware she was an independent woman. The pull of lifemates would eat at her. Disturb her. Just bringing up the subject had to cost her, but he knew the conversation had to come up. He had to warn her.
“That is perfectly normal and to be expected. When I go to ground this sunrise”—and it was only a few minutes away—“I will be buried deep and I will sleep the full sleep of Carpathians. If I do not, the injuries will take much longer to heal. The soil rejuvenates and aids in healing.”
“I understand you need the soil, but does your face have to be buried as well? Can’t I sleep beside you? That way, if I wake earlier than you, I can watch over you?”
He turned to her, locking his arm around her waist. “Lorraine. In this compound, we are both safe. It will be this one day, from sunrise to sunset. I will send you to sleep . . .”
“No. Absolutely not. You may think we’re safe, but I am reserving judgment. You know that horrid bird didn’t just peck the crap out of my skull. He had to have put something in my brain. What if it comes crawling out while you’re asleep? I need to be alert.”
“Everyone looked. Every inch of you was inspected. Organs. Bones. Blood. Brains. Four of our best examined you, each going over the other’s areas repeatedly. They found nothing.”
“I know.” She put her hand on his chest and rubbed absently. “Do you believe he just sliced me open for no apparent reason? Just to attack?”
He wasn’t going to lie to her. “No. I do not know what he intended. Maybe he lost out on time. Maybe whatever it was dropped to the ground before he could implant it. I can only say, they inspected you carefully and it was not there.”
Her fingers thumped his chest as if in protest. “Please don’t make me sleep. I’m tired, I’ll fall asleep naturally, but can be alert if there is a problem.”
He didn’t like it. “Lorraine, you will suffer. The thought of you suffering unnecessarily bothers me on a level I can’t even convey. Our separation will weigh on you. Your mind will continually seek mine. When you cannot find me, you will become afraid that I am dead. That can be dangerous with lifemates when they are not fully bound.”
“I kno
w the dangers. You’ve cautioned me. I’ll be prepared. If you have to be covered all the way to heal, I understand. I want you to do it, but I can’t be asleep so deeply that I wouldn’t wake if there was a problem.”
He detested that he understood. That he knew what this request meant to her. Another ancient would do what he thought to be right. Andor gave in because Lorraine needed him to.
14
Lorraine woke to the sound of children laughing in the distance. She groaned and turned over, feeling every individual muscle in her body protest deliciously. Frowning up at the ceiling, she let herself get her bearings before moving again. She was at the compound, and Andor was not with her. Her mind reached for his. She’d been slipping in and out of his mind for days, but now, for some reason she couldn’t fathom, she was desperate to touch him.
She reached. There was only nothingness. Emptiness. He was gone. Her heart dropped and then reality kicked in. They’d had a conversation about this very thing—how one could become terrified that something had happened, when in fact, Andor was safe beneath the soil, healing as he needed to do.
Her teeth worried at her lower lip. What if he wasn’t safe? She didn’t know. She couldn’t see him. Andor had told her this would happen. She just had to trust in him, have faith that at sunset, he would emerge and she would see for herself that he was alive and well.
She sat up slowly. She’d gone to bed fully clothed, ready for war. Her gun was loaded and in reach under her pillow with only the safety on. She’d practiced hundreds of times flicking it off and pointing her weapon at the door or the windows. The shotgun was loaded as well and propped against her side of the bed within easy reach. The knife was in a sheath and at her fingertips while she slept. She’d practiced with that as well.
She wanted a shower. Or a bath. Or better, a shower and then a bath. She knew she was clean. Andor had seen to that, cleansing her body and hair, but it wasn’t the same as standing under a hot spray of water and letting it wash over one. Nor did it take the place of the luxury of a bath. She stretched, grateful for the roof over her head. She’d been camping for nearly two weeks before she’d run into Andor and was caught up in his world.
Very slowly she got out of bed, feeling every ache. She was making Andor’s world hers. Showers and baths would be a thing of the past. A nice comfortable bed would be as well. Where did Carpathians make love? Have sex? Get crazy when the notion took them? She made her way into the bathroom, thankful for modern conveniences. She brought weapons with her. Enemies might find her naked, but they wouldn’t catch her unarmed.
She opened the screened window so she could listen to the children as she showered. Their voices were happy, not scared. They sounded like normal kids having fun on the playground. She caught a glimpse of stone dragons sitting on the grass looking as if they were guarding the mini-park that was situated outside of the main house and directly across from a cottage that was a miniature replica of the main house.
She liked the sound of the children playing. She needed it. If she stayed on the course she was on, she might not ever hear it again. She would be deep beneath the ground while they lived and played above. When she was up, they would sleep. She pressed her forehead against the tiled walls of the shower. She’d been so absorbed by Andor, so caught up in the battles against the undead and the tremendous honor he and his brethren had, that she hadn’t really thought beyond that to the realities.
The ancients had been so selfless always. They’d been willing to tie themselves to her in order to find Andor, each knowing if they weren’t successful in recovering him, they would be caught in that terrible cold, dark place. They had known what they were risking and yet they still went after him—for her. For him. For the man they called brother, and they’d done it out of honor and loyalty.
She’d just gone along with everything because there hadn’t been time to think. She’d gotten on the roller coaster and she hadn’t been able to get off. She hadn’t even considered getting off because she wasn’t leaving Andor as injured as he’d been. Now—now she had time to think about what she would be missing if she went through with the last blood exchange.
They hadn’t talked about children. Andor said he wanted them, but she didn’t know what that entailed. Emeline, Dragomir’s lifemate, was pregnant. Perhaps a talk with her might alleviate nerves—and she had them. Worse, just as Andor had warned her, her wayward mind kept reaching out to his and finding—nothing.
She was so used to touching his mind, crawling into it when she was afraid, gathering her courage there and then sliding out when she felt armed with enough knowledge to face whatever was coming at her. But if she was honest, she knew it was far more than just being afraid of monsters she had no knowledge of. Or gathering information for a coming battle. She wasn’t lonely. At all.
Lorraine knew she’d retreated from the world when her brother had become a headline, a monster. She hadn’t been able to face the accusations and whispers. She didn’t dare speak of her brother or parents or aunt and uncle. The couple who’d died trying to help Theodore had a family, sons and daughters who now despised her. She’d dropped out of college and cut herself off from friends who’d already deserted her. She hadn’t realized just how alone and lonely she was until Andor filled her mind.
She poured shampoo into her hand and rubbed it into her hair. Who knew that shampooing hair could feel like such a luxury? She’d often thought how cool it would be if she was magic and could wave her hand and instantly have her hair done. It was thick and heavy and took forever to dry. After having Andor or one of the others wave their hand and clean and dry her hair, shampooing and conditioning seemed a luxury. She would be giving that up as well.
She stepped out of the shower, wrapping her hair and body in towels. Her body felt very sensitive, as if every nerve ending was alive. Wandering over to the window, she looked across the yard. The playground was a distance from the house she occupied, but from her vantage point up high, she could see the children.
There was a boy, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. Tall, lanky, all arms and legs. His hair was longish and tied in a very small ponytail at the nape of his neck. He pushed a little girl on a swing. The child screeched and kicked her legs excitedly into the air.
“Higher, Danny, higher.”
“This is high enough, Bella,” he said. “I don’t want to take a chance on you falling.”
The little legs kicked higher. “We fly dragons, Danny, we can’t fall.”
Lorraine leaned her head out the window, shocked at how clear she could see from the distance. Her eyesight and hearing seemed much more acute than normal. She found herself smiling as she watched the boy patiently explain how flying a dragon was different than swinging.
“Your dragon makes certain you don’t fall.”
She looked at the stone dragons overlooking the playground. It was a nice game, the little girl clearly fantasizing the dragons were real. She might have seen the Carpathian hunters shifting, just as Ferro and the others had. That was one thing she wouldn’t mind being able to do—shifting into other forms.
“Does your dragon keep you from falling, Lourdes?” Bella called out as she gamely tried to pump her legs to get more height as Danny pushed her.
The child beside her in the other swing was being pushed by a teenage girl. She looked to be a year or so younger than the boy. Lorraine thought both Lourdes and Bella appeared to be three or four, three by their size, especially Lourdes, and four by their intelligent speech.
Lourdes hung her head way back so she could look up at the teenage girl. “My dragon always holds on to me, does yours, Amelia?”
Amelia smiled immediately at the child. “Of course. This is where we practice for dragon rides, Lourdes. Bella, you, too. You have to learn to hold on tight with your hands and use your legs and body to help gain height. If you fall here, you’ll bounce on the rubber mats, but if you fell when
a dragon was in the sky, you would fall a very long way and get hurt.”
“I wouldn’t,” Bella said, pumping her feet like mad. “Cuz Liv will catch me.”
“Liv can’t catch you if she’s sleeping in the ground like Tariq and Charlotte,” Amelia reminded. “So, no riding the dragons without grown-ups around.”
“Genevieve,” Bella called to a woman sitting on a bench watching them.
Lorraine thought the woman might have stepped off the cover of a magazine. She was truly gorgeous. Her face would never need airbrushing. It was perfect. Her bone structure, her large eyes, her lips and her tall, slender body with her fashionable clothes and elegant boots made Lorraine remember that she’d only packed camping clothes.
She dressed hurriedly, but took time with her makeup and drying her hair. Evidently Tariq and Charlotte believed in making guests feel very welcome. The hair products were top-of-the-line as well as the cosmetics, and they’d provided hair dryers, straightening irons and even curling irons. She especially appreciated the brand-new electric toothbrush. She didn’t even feel guilty using it. Well, maybe a little, but she could purchase it from them. She’d already left an envelope with enough to cover the cost of everything she’d used.
Her mind reached out for Andor. She had a million questions. She had a million needs. One of them—the most important—was just to feel him in her mind. Close. Pouring into her, filling empty spaces and removing . . . loneliness. She’d learned she could be with a hundred people and still be lonely. She could be by herself and feel strong and complete—until Andor. He’d changed that. She felt strong. Capable. But she was lonely without him. Her mind kept insisting on reaching for him.
Surely, even sleeping below the ground she could touch him. When he’d slept the sleep of his kind, she’d always been able to see his face and reassure herself that he was fine. No enemy could catch him unawares because she’d been there. Right there. Guarding him. Making it impossible for some monster—or some loved one—to harm him.
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