Drake grimaced. “No…not really, but there are certain spells that can remove my memory from your mind, or other spells that I can put to use that will make you see me in any way that I want you to, so it’s not really ‘getting in your mind,’ more like making you think what I want you to think.”
“Oh,” she still sounded like she had a ton of questions.
“Want me to explain something else?”
“What about healing pains, and when you said “strong,” just how strong are you?”
“I can heal minor pain and make emotions such as depression, sorrow and sadness, calmer for the person experiencing them. I can’t stop blood flow. Kale, another Amber Druid, is the only one I know of that can do that. I’m very strong. If I’m under full change mode there isn’t much that I can’t lift, and even as I am right now it still isn’t a problem for me to lift two times my weight.”
“So when you go into full change mode, and when you experience certain things like pain and anger, you change also, automatically?”
Drake nodded. “Even when I’m aroused…things happen.” His eyes pinned her to the sofa with an intensity that probably startled her.
“That’s why your eyes were glowing…what else happens? I assume that isn’t it?” She sounded breathless.
Drake shook his head negatively. “My senses heighten. I can practically taste emotions from people that are around me, not to mention feel what they feel, albeit stronger. There are a few physical changes, but the strongest are my eyes and my teeth.” He took a deep breath after he said that, waiting for her fear and for her to storm out of the room and maybe leave him when she found out about his fangs.
“Teeth? Your teeth change too?” Yeah, there was that confusion, the wondering. She didn’t understand. Drake remembered the past and the other women that had known about him then. No…Nadia isn’t like them. “Can you show me?” Her whispered words slid under his skin. Even without prompting from him, his fangs elongated from the sound of her voice. The Druid inside of him rallied to the fore, breathing fires along his spine, wanting to break out of his bonds and show Nadia the real him.
Running his tongue along one edge of a strong fang, Drake gathered his courage. “Just remember who I am angel, okay?” He knew his words were a bit slurred because of the fangs, but the look on her face egged him on. She really wanted to see. His little Nadia was curious about him, and so far she had taken everything else like a pro.
He let his mouth fall open a bit, just too where the very tips of his fangs showed through the opening. As he did that, he watched her face for the barest hint of fear. She wouldn’t make it out of the door if she did try to move because Drake would stop her. But if he knew her, he knew she wouldn’t run. She might get scared, she might go quiet, but she wouldn’t run.
She inhaled deeply. “Fangs…I didn’t think…” Drake watched as she gulped deeply. “Do they hurt?”
Now that she had seen them, Drake made them disappear. “No, they don’t hurt and they are practically there for show. We don’t drink blood, nor do we bite. That is, unless you want me too.” He didn’t smile, but he wanted to when he saw the red blush move over her skin. “I was just so terrified that you would be scared to death.”
She cocked her head to the side, much like a little animal trying to find all the answers, and Drake felt his insides erupt with heat. She was so beautiful. “I’m not scared of you. How many times do I need to say it?”
“Apparently I need to hear it more. You know I have a thick skull.” He smiled at her and she smiled back. Right then Drake felt as if everything were alright in his world.
She yawned, and he realized it was almost two-thirty in the morning. They both needed to get some rest. “Look, there is so much more, but this can all keep for later. I know you are tired.”
She nodded, “I have many more questions for you, so get ready.”
He smiled, “Whenever and whatever you want answered, let me know, I don’t mind telling you anything.”
She hesitantly got up from the sofa and turned towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms. He watched her with hunger burning up inside of him. He wouldn’t be able to touch her like this. It would turn into the scene from earlier all over again. He would be too rough with her, and that was the last thing he wanted. Whenever he touched her again, he wanted to kill her with seduction. He wanted her to feel what she never felt before.
“Goodnight angel,” he murmured to her, knowing she heard him.
She turned a bit and gave him a small smile, “Goodnight.” Then she turned and walked away.
Drake groaned as he slumped against the sofa cushions. There was no way he would be able to sleep tonight.
Chapter 13
He was over 220 years old. He had fangs. His eyes changed color. He was oddly strong and really, really fast. He could stop pain, heal hurt, make someone feel better and make them forget all about him. He was still a human being, but so very much more than that. And Nadia had never been more confused in all her life.
Never before had she even given the paranormal world any thought. She had never thought of anything like that being real. Sure, she watched movies, read books and enjoyed fantasy like any other person, but that didn’t make it real. Flesh and blood real. That didn’t make it 6’6” of gorgeous, mind boggling, sexy man real. That didn’t make it Drake, her Drake, with golden glowing eyes, sharp, dangerous looking fangs, real. God, wasn’t he deadly enough to her? Oddly enough none of those things scared her. Sure, she was skeptical. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? But, he had given her proof, right there in plain sight. There was no way to deny what was so obvious.
And somehow those things that should scare her, had given her a warm, electric thrill instead.
The sight of sharp fangs peeking from inside the edges of his sensual mouth had almost given her a heart attack, both in a good and bad way. She wanted to touch them, test their sharpness with her fingertip.
Pounding the pillow with her fist she turned over in the bed, determined to make her mind stop thinking, and hopefully slip into a blissful sleep. But images and thoughts of Drake kept interrupting her slumber. She wanted to know about those two women he had married. She wanted to know of things that had happened before she had even been thought of. She wanted to know what he had been like as a younger boy, and then as a young man. She wanted to know if his power ever scared him.
She wanted to know more. She wanted to know it all, right now, this very instant.
With the darkness shrouding her it seemed so simple. He wouldn’t turn her away if she wanted more answers now. He would tell her anything. Hadn’t he said “whenever”? Yes, yes he had.
But surely he didn’t mean at three o clock in the morning!
How would Nadia ever know that if she didn’t bite down her nervousness and take a chance? Hadn’t he taken a chance on telling her the truth? Hadn’t he put his and these other Druids’ existence on the line by telling her what he had? Yes, he had. He trusted her.
Warmth bloomed deep in her chest. Hugging the soft coverlet to her body she smiled. For ten years, she had fancied herself in love with him, never thinking a day would come when he might confide in her some deep, dark secret about himself. Well, in one day he had kissed her senseless, opened her body up to what passion really felt like, told her something about him that she never would have guessed at, and just the reminder of all of those things made her eyes tear up.
She rubbed the tears away and stared at the ceiling. She should wait until morning to bother him. He had to be tired.
Ten minutes later she huffed and tossed again.
Another ten minutes passed, and Nadia knew she wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.
***
Hot, sweltering, humid heat covered Drake.
He soaped up in the shower, and tried for the hundredth time to get Nadia out of his head. But those images wouldn’t budge. Her eyes sliding closed as he kissed her for the first time in that garden right
outside of the ballroom. Her arms at his sides, while her nails dug into his skin like little needle points.
She had been so hot, so turned on, and Drake had wanted nothing more than to lay her down, or up against something and show her just how sizzling things could get between them.
He remembered her hesitant tongue when he had kissed her, and the way her hands had slowly crept around his neck after he picked her up. She was twenty-five, yet to him she seemed so very pure and untouched compared to women her own age. He had the insane urge to protect her, but at the same time teach her everything she would ever need to know about sex, lust, passion…love.
She had trembled and moaned against him, and Drake had been hard enough to do some serious damage.
He looked down his body, where water was sliding and coursing, and noticed he was still hard.
There was a simple way to ease this temporary ache. He knew it would only take the edge off because the moment he saw her, all of this would happen again. Fuck. He had never had the urge to do this himself, because most of the time he had a woman around to do it for him.
He always had some way to ease off his sexual needs. There was never a shortage of women, and Drake never had a problem getting off before. Until now. Now, he had Nadia on his mind 24/7. Images and thoughts of her were always in abundance. And he knew that no other woman would work. It would either be Nadia or no one at all.
Unless he did the deed himself.
Disgusted, but with the taste, smell, and image of Nadia in every pore of his body, Drake clenched his jaw, and let his hand close around his hard, aching cock.
***
No, this wasn’t right. She should be going back to her room.
But as she went down the hallway, and saw the crack in his bedroom door, Nadia stopped herself once again. She wanted answers, and she couldn’t wait. And in some corner of her mind she knew he wouldn’t turn her away.
With trembling hands, she padded quietly over to his door and noticed the small bit of light coming from the gap at the side and on the bottom. He was still awake. She wouldn’t be intruding. Gathering up her courage, she knocked quietly, just incase he had fallen asleep.
“Drake?”
No answer. Standing in the hallway, she peered into the small opening and pushed it a bit wider. “Drake, are you sleeping?”
Still no answer, but Nadia could make out the massive four poster bed that dominated the room, along with very masculine furniture in one corner set up around a large bookshelf. The colors on the bed were deep burgundy, gold, and a startling green so profound, that in the darkness it shimmered like liquid emerald fire. Nadia wanted to run her fingers across the lovely material. She chased that thought away and focused on where he could be.
As she walked fully into the room she saw what could only be the bathroom door cracked open along the side wall. Steam gathered and curled from the edges of the heavy wood and Nadia’s stomach seesawed when she realized he was in the shower.
Images of hot, wet, muscular Drake were now singed on her brain. And thanks to her overactive imagination, she was sure she would be stuck with them for a good while.
Even as she told herself she shouldn’t, her feet propelled her silently towards that door. The steam continued to escape, and the closer Nadia got the more she realized she was doing something really, really wrong. She was invading his personal space.
When are you going to get another chance to spy on him in the shower?
Um…even she could answer that question. As soon as they left Dallas, Nadia feared their life would resume the same way it had been before they got here, very, very dull indeed. The kisses would be forgotten, the hot looks, the scorching touches, all of that gone to be replaced with work life instead.
Nadia didn’t want to forget and besides, when had she ever done anything remotely wild before? Nothing could be as wild as getting a look, only a look, of a very beautiful man, a man she happened to love, while he showered. It would only take a second.
A harsh groan erupted out of nowhere and Nadia almost jumped out of her skin. Just what in the world was that?
The bathroom door was easy to push open, now that Nadia had to make sure that he was okay. Humid air rose around her in tendrils and she could make out the shape and colors of the bathroom dimly through all of that steam. Now that she had the door open slightly some of it was escaping, clearing the area for her just a bit.
It was a large bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub in one corner and a massive, stone shower in one. And oh God, the doors weren’t glazed glass, they were clear. Two large hinged doors were closed, but with the evaporating steam she noticed the doors in no way hindered Drake enclosed behind them.
Steamy rivulets of water clung to the surface of both doors, but even with the patchy steam in the way, Nadia could make out Drake’s form behind it. He was standing sideways, his left side facing her, while the water fell from a large shower head at the top, and one hit him from the side wall. Glorious naked muscular skin rippled when he moved his left arm and plowed his fingers through his hair.
Another groan slid through the heat drenched room, and that’s when Nadia noticed his other hand, and what he was holding.
Her fingers dug into the door and the frame along the wall. She was half in the bathroom and almost left it completely, but a burning curiosity held her in a shocked stupor. Her legs trembled while her heart sped up so fast that it was a wonder she didn’t pass out. Heat flared to life between her thighs, burning her, but in a good way.
Thoughts of any questions fled her mind.
Drake’s hand was wrapped around his erection. Nadia couldn’t have been more shocked than if she had found him with another woman in bed. His large, overwhelming body shuddered, and she shook along with him while sweat popped out along her upper lip. Then his hand started moving. Nadia lost her sanity along with her breath.
With his left hand now propped on the shower wall she had a full side view of him stroking himself, while the hot water rained down over his body. She could have never even imagined such a sexually charged scene, even with her imagination. His burnished frame was like a massive sculpture. One that made her fingertips throb in excitement. Moving with rapid speed, his hand grasped that most male part of him and stroked fast while his body undulated with pleasure. Nadia’s core flooded with moisture.
The dark ink from his tattoo winked at her from in between puffs of steam and the slightly watery glass. She couldn’t see it clearly, but she wanted to touch that almost as badly as she wanted to touch him.
At the moment though, his hand on his hardness was enough to keep her spellbound, more than his tattoo did. She watched the ease and assuredness at how he touched himself. There was no shame, no embarrassment in what he was doing. His grasp was sure and strong and so was his stroke. He switched tactics in front of her eyes, stopping the stroking and sliding his hand under…apparently he hit the right spot because another rumble of a growl leaked out, startling her so badly she almost dropped to the floor.
With his hand out of the way Nadia got her first full look at Drake aroused. She gulped deeply. Damn, but he was as large as the rest of him. And immediately she wanted to touch it, she wanted to be the one grasping his massive erection in her hands. Her, Nadia Morales who had never once initiated anything in her life with the opposite sex, wanted to be the one making this sexual, so very striking and gorgeous man growl with pleasure.
She wanted to replace his hands with her own.
She moaned and immediately stiffened when she heard just how loud it was. With her heart pounding in her ears, her body flushed with a fierce blush as she met Drake’s eyes through the glass doors of the shower.
Molten gold had taken the place of his light caramel brown eye color. He looked fierce, deadly, and extremely scary as he stared, but Nadia didn’t feel terrified. She watched as his tongue crept out to lick a bit of water on his lips, and that’s when she noticed the tip of his right fang. Oh God, he was changing, but that’s becau
se he was aroused. Nadia remembered him saying that earlier. And for some reason it made her insides pulse with heat to see those eyes staring her down, a fang winking at her from his mouth, while his hand…her eyes looked down and yes, he was still holding himself. Heat bloomed along her cheekbones. She licked her dry lips and didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure of what to say.
Drake didn’t say anything either. It seemed as if they were both frozen in this odd moment. And then she watched carefully as he moved his hand away from his hard erection. Something inside of her snapped.
“Don’t,” just one word, but with the way his eyes slid to her face and glowed even brighter, you would swear she must have said something else. He stopped moving his hand though.
He moved one second later, then the water was off and he was opening one of the shower doors, although he wasn’t making a move to leave. Nadia got her first glimpse of him head on, naked and aroused, and almost slid to the floor in a puddle of want.
“Don’t what?”
The words got her attention, but so did the fact that he was, once again, clasping his erection with his fist. Even with her barging in on him, and watching him masturbate, he still wasn’t humiliated. The abundance of masculine swagger was so thick in the room that Nadia could have choked on it.
She let her eyes come back up his body, past the thin line of dark, wet hair that bisected his muscular stomach, then his chest and past his angular jaw to land on those golden, glowing eyes of his. Then she whispered what she wanted, “Don’t stop doing it.”
If it was possible for his eyes to burn more, they were doing so now. His gruff voice slid along her nerves, and to Nadia it sounded like a deeper, animalistic growl. “I won’t,” his tongue swiped at his lips again and Nadia saw both fangs clearly, “but, instead of being a voyeur…why don’t you come over here and participate?” His hand stroked one more time down his length and Nadia shivered.
Then she damned herself for all eternity and stepped closer to the shower.
Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) Page 19