“Wait,” she said. “We must talk.” She shook her head as if waking from a dream. She wiggled for him to set her down. “We’ll talk while we eat,” she said. “I’m starving. Last night’s power bar has long since deserted me.” Her voice quavered as if she found it hard to speak.
When he didn’t move, she pressed her fingertips to his lips. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
He inhaled deeply as he reined in his want of her. The force of his effort made his breath rasp and his body shake. He sensed the moment of fulfilling the desire burning between them had slipped between his fingers like the mists of a cloud. He set her on her feet, immediately feeling the loss deep inside him.
Erin’s stomach clenched with need and a pang of regret that she hadn’t been able to just seize the moment. Jared’s sensuality demanded that a woman explore every erotic dream with him. And she wanted that more than she had ever wanted a man before, but she curled her hand into a fist and pressed her lips closed. No matter how right sex felt at the moment, there were too many unanswered questions and too many important reasons to keep them from indulging.
At that moment, they both needed a distraction, and she’d never met a man yet who didn’t like to eat.
“Let me get the robes and I’ll fix us some food.” She hurriedly turned off the shower. Giving Jared a towel and his robe, she dried off and dressed. When she finished, she saw him frowning at her.
“I like you unclothed. There is so much more freedom and beauty that way. Why do you cover yourself?”
“Because you’re supposed to,” Erin said, searching for the right words. “Everyone can’t go around naked.”
“Do you find yourself shameful? Do you find me shameful?” he asked.
Erin snapped her gaze to his. “No. It is our custom to be clothed. It is considered wrong to go unclothed unless…”
“What?”
“Unless a man and a woman are being intimate with each other, and that is something that comes with time, as trust and acceptance and love are built between two people.” She could tell that her answer upset him in some way, but decided that the sooner they ate and set their minds on something besides their attraction, the better off both of them would be. “I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said, exiting the bathroom and hurrying down the hall.
On her way, she fingered her hair into place, wondering if her cat-dragged look would improve the appearance of her black eye and bandaged temple. To be honest, Jared made her feel so good, so beautiful, that she’d truly forgotten the fact that she was just a banged-up ordinary girl. He made her want things that were completely unreasonable and impractical, like making love and running around naked instead of facing reality and being responsible.
Once she reached the kitchen, she set about fixing them a snack. Jared showed up minus the robe, but had wrapped a blue towel around his waist. He leaned against the door jamb, arms folded across his chest as he watched her. She had little doubt that she was the meal he wanted. He had no interest in the food she put on the tray.
Keep busy, keep him distracted, Erin told herself. Unfortunately, his probing blue gaze kept searing holes through her resolve. When he moved up behind her and drew in a long, sexy-as-hell breath of air, as if he found her scent intoxicating, she knew she was sinking faster than her mind could bail her out. Feeling him press up against her was just like her dream in the cave, and made the kitchen too small a place to be. Desperate, she gathered the gourmet cheese spread, canned peaches, and juice and led the way to the TV in the great room. He shadowed her every step. Sitting on the sofa, she placed her tray of goodies on the coffee table and went to work.
Jared stood next to the sofa and kept his gaze on Erin, absorbing her nervous movements as she spread all the food on the table. The sensual closeness between them had eased his pain and his bloodlust back from the raw edge on which he’d precariously balanced. He felt relaxed and for the first time ever content to be where he was rather than needing to be in the midst of a battle.
Sunlight streamed into the room and bathed Erin in a golden light. Her beauty took his breath away. His hand still throbbed from the feel of her softness, and his body ached to know more of the pleasure she made pulse in his blood. The pleasure was stronger than any poison from the damned.
She patted the place beside her. Drawing a deeply satisfying breath of her scent, he settled onto the seat, feeling as if he’d sunk into the softness of a cloud. He reached for her and she shoved something into his hand.
“That is a remote control. It works the satellite TV over there, which is a way to see almost anything that is happening in the world. The catch is, you’re only seeing what certain powers want you to see, but it is better than nothing.”
She guided his finger on the remote and pushed his finger down. The wall in front of them erupted in a mortal battle of weapons and death. He stood quickly, his blood throbbing to act until he quickly realized that what he saw wasn’t real and sat back down.
“Push this button up or down, and you’ll see different things,” she said. “I’ll be right back. I forgot napkins.”
He clicked the button to find a group of mortals arguing over matters that had no worldly significance and dismissed them, moving on. He did that two more times before finding something of interest—a man and a woman in each other’s arms, kissing deeply. His insides clenched, and the vivid feel of Erin’s fingers upon him rushed over him.
“We’ve just met, but I feel as if I’ve known you forever.
“Hurry, we have very little time.” The man kissed the woman again. She moaned, and they grabbed at each other’s clothes, scrambling to take them off. Jared shook his head. Their life would be simpler if they dispensed with clothing, completely. The man moved his lips from the woman’s mouth to other places along the woman’s neck and shoulders, using his tongue and teeth upon her skin. Pushing the woman onto her back, the man spread her legs wide and kissed the darkened flesh there before he moved against her and thrust his swollen flesh into her. He heard Erin returning, smelled the clean scent of her before she even entered the room.
“Oh, hell,” Erin said.
After a surprised moment, he realized the images of the man melding to the woman disturbed her.
“I do not believe Heldon’s realm has such pleasures, but then spiritual beings do not concern themselves with the physical aspects of the mortal realm. There are more important matters,” Jared said, gliding his gaze down her body, wanting to see, feel, and make her cry out as loudly with pleasure as the woman on the screen.
She pulled the remote control from his fingers and turned off the images. “Snack is ready,” she said, shoving a plate and fork at him before she sat next to him.
He took her offerings, frowning at her as he sensed her unease. “You are afraid of the satellite?”
He found it odd that she hadn’t reacted strongly to the death battle, but had to the man and woman.
“No,” she said. Using a fork to spear food, she put it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. “Eat.”
He found the supple movements of her mouth and lips fascinating and focused on them. “Then you were afraid of the man and the woman?” he asked.
“No. Eat.”
“They were intimate?”
“Yes. Eat.”
“Do you fear being intimate?”
“No. Eat.”
“Do you fear me?”
“No. Eat.”
“Then I don’t understand.”
She took her fork with food on it and put it to his mouth. “Eat,” she demanded.
Frowning at her, he opened his mouth, and she put the food in. Instantly, a sweet pleasure filled his mouth. He moaned. “What food is that?”
“Peaches.”
He took his own fork, stabbed a peach, and brought it to Erin’s mouth. “Peaches are better than oats.
She frowned. “Jared—”
“Eat,” he said, pushing the peach into her open mouth. He sensed that she battled
with want just as he did. He sensed she wanted to be intimate with him, but wouldn’t allow herself to be, and that disturbed him. He leaned toward her, parting his lips, ready for his peach.
Her frown deepened, but she fed him more peach. “It is customary for each person to feed themselves,” she said. “People only feed each other occasionally.”
“When they are being intimate?” He gave her another peach, watching the sweetness of it glisten upon her lips.
She blinked at him. “Well, yes.”
He smiled and set his plate on the table. “Good,” he said, feeling a rumble of pleasure inside. Moving deftly, he pressed his mouth to hers and opened his lips to taste the juice of the peach and an essence his keen senses had now defined as Erin.
She stiffened a moment, her golden eyes widening with surprise. Then she melted to him, softening her mouth to his. He leaned closer to her, pressing her back against the sofa, and sent his tongue searching for more of her.
Desire once again surged within him, making his heart race and eradicating any lingering Tsara pain for the moment. As he licked the traces of peach from her lips, her tongue met his, sliding gently against it. He matched her movements, increasing them as his want of her burgeoned. He shifted his mouth from hers to touch and taste the softness of the skin along her cheek. He slid his hands to her sides, pulling her closer to the ache of his swollen flesh. Her robe bunched between them, and he tugged it open until his hand made contact with her skin.
She groaned. Her fingers threaded into his hair, and she arched her back. Leaning slightly away from her, he spread her robe open and gazed at her breasts and womanly body. He drew a deep breath, this time detecting the scent of her sex and her desire. His awareness of her want of him was stronger than anything else, and nothing was sweeter to his soul than that small reprieve.
“Jared,” she whispered.
“Erin. Beautiful,” Jared said, lowering his head. He closed his mouth over her, and the very tip of her breast changed to a hard nub as he brushed his tongue against her. She moaned, and he flicked his tongue over that tip until she cried out, arching to him.
Her pleasure sent a bolt of pleasure through him so sharply that his hips jerked, bringing his hard flesh against her leg and loosening the towel at his waist.
He snatched the towel away and covered her body with the heat of his gaze before he set his lips and tongue to tasting her again. He moved to the flat planes of her stomach and the soft, golden curls of her aroused sex, brushing his lips and tongue and teeth all along the softness of her skin until her heart hammered and her breast quivered with every breath. Then he spread her legs wide and set his mouth there, tasting her glorious sweetness and thrusting his tongue into her softness.
Erin closed her eyes and let her head fall back into the soft leather as each stroke of Jared’s tongue shot shards of pleasure right to her center. Between her own heated desire and his hot touch, she felt every degree of his hundred-and-fifteen temperature. Lava had replaced her blood and set her afire.
It was like being personally kissed by the midday sun and made her feel utterly decadent, as if she wanted to luxuriate naked in his warmth forever. The thought of having his heat inside her sent her erogenous zones into a frenzied chaos of sensations. She came apart at the seams as her orgasm erupted through her, a volcanic explosion of such magnitude that her world was forever altered. She cried out from the glory of it. Stars burst and a universe of new pleasure opened before her.
Jared rose up to thrust his erection along the wet folds of her sex. He didn’t enter her, but thrust against her. She arched to him then reached down, wanting to show him the way. Her hand tightened around his erection the moment he thrust and his body shuddered as he cried out with pleasure.
He kissed her then, staring into her eyes with such awe that she couldn’t help but smile.
“You have shown me a world I have never seen before,” he whispered.
His amulet lay warm between her breasts and his long hair formed a dark curtain around them, closing out the world she wished had never existed. All she wanted to know was the feel of him, the touch of him. To luxuriate in the supple velvetiness of his hard warrior’s body. She pulled him close to her racing heart. “You did the same for me,” she told him.
He settled against her and she felt their spirits entwine in a whole new way.
Chapter Thirteen
Erin knew this shouldn’t have happened. She should be protecting Jared from an involvement that wouldn’t help either of them at the moment, but she hadn’t stopped, hadn’t wanted to stop, and honestly didn’t know if she could have stopped. Everything inside her had been caught up in feeling and knowing the power of his passion.
And though they technically hadn’t had intercourse, a sexual bond had been forged between them—one that she was sure they were both going to regret.
He leaned back from her, an intense question shadowing the iridescent blue of his eyes.
“You find great pleasure with me, yet I feel turmoil. Why?”
How did he know so much of what she felt?
She glanced at Jared’s amulet, hanging between them and touched its smoothness, already prepared for its heat and the tingling of her fingers. “Yes, there is great pleasure with you, but I am torn inside because I don’t know you. I know hardly anything about you. We haven’t had time to—”
“Time?” he said, easing to her side so that he lay next to her on the couch. “Time is irrelevant in bonding to another. Sometimes unity happens in an instant and sometimes millennia can pass before one soul learns to soar with another. You do know me. You know all that matters. You know my spirit, for yours soars with mine, embraces mine. I felt it.” He set his palm over her heart.
“You felt passion, desire, sexual arousal. That’s all different than knowing what love really is. That only comes with time. You have to be patient, and when you understand all of this more, you will know I’m right. And you’re wrong. I don’t know you. I believe you are who you say, a Blood Hunter, a spirit being made mortal, but what does all of that mean now?” She placed her palm against his amulet.
She must have hit a nerve, because Jared pulled his hand from her breast and climbed off the couch. She sat up and belted her robe, needing a barrier between them. She had a feeling she wouldn’t like the answers she’d get. He had said he was doomed. He had said there was no hope for him. He paced the great room naked, and after a few minutes, she held out the blue towel he’d had on.
He frowned at it.
“Please,” she said. “I can’t think with you naked.”
“I think very well when you are naked. Perhaps your thinking isn’t necessary at the moment.”
Erin stood, marched to Jared, and wrapped the towel around his waist. From the look of him, she knew just what he thought of her naked. “Believe me, if I don’t get to think, then nothing you are thinking will ever happen again. I want you to tell me everything about you, even what you told me before. This time I will hear you.”
“What did you hear before?”
“My own thoughts.”
He spoke, and this time she listened to what he had to say about his service as a Shadowman warrior in the Guardian Forces. His elite band of warriors, known as Blood Hunters, protect humans with Chosen blood. She understood that the head of the forces for good was Logos, and a spiritual battle was waged against the evil Army of the Fallen, led by Heldon.
Erin shuddered. “So my blood is coveted by vampires you call Vladarians?”
“That is correct.”
Erin drew a breath. “And those who have Chosen blood descended from King Solomon. That would mean my parents are and my ancestors were Chosen as well.”
“At least one of them is.”
“How can you tell who has Chosen blood and who doesn’t?”
“This will sound strange but the power and the scent of Logos’s blessing runs strong in a Chosen’s blood. Why Logos chose to bless some and not others centuries ago is
unknown to us all. His mysteries are as deep and varied as the universe. What you need to know is that you are in danger because of it.”
“Why?”
Jared seemed to hesitate a moment, inhaling deeply as if what he had to say was very difficult. “There is great power in the blood of the Chosen. The demons, werebeasts, and vampires of the Vladarian Order not only crave that power, but need that power in order to exist in the mortal realm and spread Heldon’s evil. Their plan is to create hell within the mortal world.” He walked to a wide window and stared at the thin mists rolling across the mountain peaks.
“Where are these creatures? How will I know them? How can I protect myself from them?”
“You’ll know. I’ll make sure you know. And I am here to protect you for a time,” he said softly.
Erin knew there were more questions she should ask, and would think later to ask, but his last words snatched her attention. She riveted her gaze on Jared.
“What do you mean, for a time?” He looked so alone, silhouetted against the mountain peaks and mists outside the window that she went to him and set her hands on his broad shoulders.
He stiffened at first. Then, when she pressed her cheek to his back, he sighed and relaxed into her embrace.
“I am damned, poisoned by a Tsara, one of Heldon’s spiritual assassins. I can no longer serve the Guardian Forces. I can no longer walk with my Blood Hunter brethren. I will walk as a mortal for a time, and then I will no longer be.”
The words hit Erin in her chest, right in the center of her heart, and left her struggling against burning tears. She didn’t want to believe what he said was true. His life couldn’t be that fleeting. Yet she’d chosen to accept that he was a spirit being, so how could she not believe this, too? She moved to face him, needing to know more. His gaze was shadowed, his mouth grim.
“What do you mean, you will no longer be?”
He pressed his palm to her face and brushed his thumb against her cheek. “I can’t answer that because I don’t know yet myself.”
He leaned down and kissed her then, lightly, reverently. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him so tight she was sure neither of them could breathe. “It’s not going to happen,” she whispered. “We are irrevocably bound to one another. I won’t let it happen, Jared.”
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