by Jackie Ivie
He pumped into her.
Over.
And over.
Deeper. Harder. Faster.
The bed platform joined in, adding a creaking to the mix of sound. His every stroke got faster. More intense. Substantially more powerful. Beyond scope. Or experience. Beyond even description. Katherine was gasping for air, taking his ability to breathe with her. And still he pumped. Again. Faster. Harder. Her legs locked about him, her entire body gave a tremor that leached into his very being, and then she started a long scream again.
And Tane erupted.
A sledgehammer of pleasure slammed into him, ecstasy on its heels. The force sent them skyward. He scrunched his eyes shut and flung his head back, giving vent to a jubilant howl. It combined with her cries, filling the room with an unworldly sound that muted everything else. His world spun off its axis. Re-righted. Started twirling the opposite way. His body pulsed in a frenzy without coherency or order to it. A fist grabbed for his heart. Held it. And then it started squeezing.
His head smacked against something with a jolt. It felt and sounded like he’d hit glass, shattering it on impact. Tane cracked his eyes open, saw his beloved, and was instantly smitten. Katherine’s eyes were wide, as was her mouth. She looked as stunned as he felt. Tane had never seen anything so exquisite. He couldn’t move his gaze despite the shards of crystal showering down in multi-colored hues all around them.
She blinked. The physical realm intruded. With it, a measure of sanity. That was lucky. It prevented him from falling. Tane held her close and glided back down to the altar. His movement matched how the bliss that still radiated through him had begun to fade. It left emotion in its wake. His throat closed off. His eyes stung. His belly burned. None of it was remotely familiar. They were almost back to the bed when she spoke.
“Oh. My.”
The words were a whisper of sound. Then she smiled. They dropped the last few inches. The platform shimmied. Somehow, Tane kept from crushing her. He didn’t know how.
He was totally surprised that he hadn’t wept.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Having the most intense, amazing sexual encounter of her life was one thing. Having it happen while being immersed in a paranormal environment was quite another. That part needed to cease. Or at least, withdraw a little. So she could think. Ponder. Plan. Reality was in here somewhere, and - while it would be a pure shame – she needed to figure out where it was hiding. And then expose it.
Kat turned her head and looked over at Tane. He was on his side, his head resting atop an upraised arm. He could be sleeping. He might not be. How was she supposed to know? She’d never studied any of her partners when they slept, and she didn’t even know Tane.
She hadn’t been mistaken at any point about him. The guy was gorgeous. He had a mass of dark hair. Strands of it were caught on his lashes. His eyes were closed. He looked like a statue of Hercules with a touch of life to it. No. That was wrong. He wasn’t that hulky. His physique was beautifully defined even in repose. Maybe she should compare him to another Greek god or one of the heroes...maybe the guy who’d poisoned the lady with all the snakes on her head. Or maybe he’d beheaded her and taken her scales for a trophy. No. That wasn’t right. He’d taken her head for some reason...oh! What did she even care? She hadn’t paid much attention to Greek mythology or any ancient folklore for that matter. In her opinion, they were far too ridiculous for anyone to actually believe.
But that still left her situation; lying naked beside a male who was in some version of repose. She had to factor in all kinds of sensations, too. Tingling. Warmth. Even shivers as his breath touched her skin.
Wait just a minute.
He was breathing in tandem with her. She watched and counted. He matched all of her breaths. Inhalations. Exhalations. All of it. Exactly. That was odd.
She lifted her head. Looked down at herself. Her neck felt sore. Kat touched a hand to the spot. Pressed. When she moved it back, she didn’t imagine the two small dark smears on her fingertips.
Was that...blood?
No.
Impossible.
That couldn’t be blood. She’d have known if he’d hurt her. It had to be something else, but until she needed to figure it out, she did what she usually did - sent it to her subconscious. So it could be ignored. She had larger things to assimilate. Like her incredible vision. All-of-a-sudden she had sight equivalent to her 5x camera lens?
Kat blinked several times. That didn’t work. She closed her eyes and counted to ten before reopening them. The view still didn’t change, nor did her ability to see it. It was a fact that she was atop a stretched piece of something. On her back. Without a scrap of clothing. With a strange male. That should have been chilly, except Tane had one arm across her ribcage and a crooked leg atop her thighs, as if to lock her to him. The weight of his limbs was substantial. But it felt so nice. Secure.
That was pretty scary.
And really hard to disregard.
Kat lowered her head and turned to look over her surroundings. They were in a cave of some kind. The torches were still sputtering in spots, illuminating black rock walls, while light reflected off multi-hued sparkling pieces scattered about the floor. It looked like a night sky had been turned upside down, strewing stars beneath, rather than above. And that was way too imaginative for Kat. She narrowed her eyes. The pieces actually looked like...crystals?
Where had he gotten those?
She followed a far wall upward, passed by something that looked suspiciously like a carved face, until she was looking straight up. The ceiling was at least fifty feet above them. There were stalactites pock-marking the entire field of view. But there was something that looked like the remnants of a crystal chandelier.
In a cave?
In the middle of an uninhabited island?
She blew a sigh of disbelief. Tane’s breath hitched beside her. Kat moved her head slowly back to face him. He hadn’t moved much except his eyes were open. The neon blue had warmed markedly to a sky blue shade. Her heart immediately gave a lurch. And he smiled as if he knew it!
“You do not rest?”
“Um. I need to know what is going on,” she informed him.
Crap. She sounded unsure. She needed to project the demeanor she was known for. Assertive. Confident. Anything except uncertain. And a little hesitant.
“I do not think you are ready.”
If he’d wanted to alter the hazy warm afterglow she’d been experiencing, he was doing a fine job. She actually felt a flash of irritation. It sent a cooling sensation as if cold water had been dripped on her. But that was way too imaginative.
She stiffened before replying. “I don’t think that’s your call.”
“You will not believe me.”
“Oh. Try me.”
“I am a vampire. And you are my mate.”
Her face fell.
“You see? You do not believe me.”
“I want the truth, Tane.”
“You do not have an open mind. You will not accept it.”
“I don’t think you know me that well,” she replied. And just how the hell would you know that, anyway? She added silently.
“You are already giving me a skeptical look...and I just told you. I know it because you are my mate.”
Kat’s eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. His features didn’t change, although he matched her gasp.
“Oh. I am very favored,” he told her.
“I...need to...um. Get dressed. And...figure some things out. Go. Yeah. That’s it. I should leave. Tane. It’s been...really nice, um...meeting you.”
He turned his head away and laughed heartily. But the sound ended on a howl. The same one she’d heard just before she’d first seen him. In the jungle it had been unearthly. In here it bounced off the walls, reverberating around the chamber, and then it felt like it wrapped about her. Like a presence. That should have scared the hell out of her. It didn’t. It felt like every cell in her body had just been nudged. Primed. And
gone on alert. She was trying to decipher that when he turned back to her. His eyes were riveting, especially with a hint of gloss atop the blue.
“You are delightful. Do you know that?”
“Um. Look. This is just a little too weird for me. Okay?”
“That’s why I said you weren’t ready.”
“To hear that you’re a vampire? Is there a readiness level for that?”
He grinned. He had beautifully white teeth, but his canines had elongated and looked exceptionally sharp. Fangs? Oh shit! The guy had grown fangs? She tried ignoring them. Disregarding. It didn’t work.
“Um. Tane?”
“Yes?”
“Will you...let me up?”
He sobered, a move that hid the spikes in his mouth - that couldn’t possibly be fangs - and then he just gazed at her for several heart-stopping moments. Kat didn’t have to question the last part. Her heart was giving her all kinds of trouble. It felt like she was flirting with arrhythmia before he lifted his arm. A moment later he removed his leg from where it rested atop her thighs. The instant loss of heat was palpable. It sent a large dose of loss. She was just ignoring and compartmentalizing that emotion when he sat without appearing to expend a hint of effort, and then he turned to regard her from over his shoulder. The look he sent restarted her heart with a shockwave. And his lip quirked up as if he knew of it.
“There. You are free to get up.”
Kat also sat, using some method that didn’t use any muscles. As if she’d miraculously gained a nice set of abs. She’d never been able to do a decent sit-up.
Until now.
Disregard it, Kat. You have bigger issues. She needed to find out where she was. Get directions back to the ancient ruins. Snag her camera. Slink back to her base camp. Hide. Go into survival mode until the pilot returned. She took a breath.
“Okay. So. Where are we? Um...exactly?”
“You wish to know of me now, do you?”
“Uh. Yeah. That works.”
He smirked. “You are incredibly easy to comprehend, il mio amore.”
“You speak Italian?”
“You know the language?”
“Um. No. But I know that phrase. And I really hope you’re not calling me ‘your love’.”
“Your hope is in vain. You are il mio amore. Il mio compagno. And il mio donna.”
“I don’t know what all that means.”
“My love. My mate. My woman.”
“Oh, boy. This is getting really complicated.”
“What can I do to help?”
She swallowed heavily. It looked and sounded like he did the exact same thing. This was ridiculous.
“Why don’t you try explaining some things, okay? And use...facts, not fictional means. Can you do that?”
“Go on,” he prompted.
“Why do you know Italian? Never mind that. Why do you know English?”
“I know many languages, benin kadinim.”
“What language is that and what does it mean?”
“It’s Turkish. For...‘my woman’.”
Kat sighed heavily. He matched it. She narrowed her eyes. “I need you to stop that, too.”
“What?”
“Breathing with me. Like...exactly with me.”
He laughed again, more heartily than before. Only he didn’t stick a howling sound at the end of it. The place was cavernous. It sounded like an audience of amused people cackled at her expense before the sound died away.
“I am afraid I cannot accede to that wish, mi amor.”
“You have a really large vocabulary.”
“As do you,” he replied.
“Well. Yeah. I should. I’ve done secondary education to the point it almost bankrupted me.”
“You are telling me you went to college?” he asked.
“Yes. I am. And I did. Three of them. To get degrees. I have two Bachelors of Science. And a PhD.”
“I see.” He smiled.
“And...so will you now explain why you speak so well?”
“I too, have been to college. Ah. I see you do not believe me.”
“What?”
“You have a skeptical look again.”
He could read expressions? And listen in on her thoughts? Great. Just great.
“Perhaps I should call it a ‘Does Not Compute’ sort of expression,” he added.
“Go back to the college thing. Explain it. You’ve attended a university?”
“I have attended many universities, mein gebliebte. Well...those that offered night classes. And correspondence courses. In many countries. I have many degrees. And before you ask, that phrase I just used is German. It means ‘my love.’”
“No way.”
“You are very difficult to convince, ma femme.”
“French, too? All right. Enough playing around. There is no way you could have attended many colleges. You’re what? Thirty?”
“Thirty-one. If we are counting mortal years.”
He called it skeptical? She’d never been up against such a pathological liar. She was amazed she wasn’t projecting absolute disgust.
“Aren’t you an island native?” she demanded.
“I was born here, yes.”
“So. Pin it down, already. You are a native of this island.”
“My mother was an islander. My father was a Spanish sailor.”
“Oh. That explains your coloring. Except for your eyes.”
Damn it.
She felt the blush as he watched her. He didn’t blink. She didn’t, either. And, after a span of some time, her eyes didn’t burn. How was that possible? But the moment she questioned it, she sent it to her subconscious with the rest of this. What the heck did it matter right now?
“You have noted my eyes? Well. You would not be the first woman.”
That remark sent a flash of something through her. Ire. A hint of anger. Something white-hot and jagged. Was this what jealousy felt like? And why did she waste time questioning it? She had bigger problems. This was getting insane. And he acted like it was nothing.
“My eye color is a throw-back to some previous generation. No one ever found out where that particular gene trait came from.”
“The ruins back there?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“They looked Roman.”
“Perhaps.”
She sighed heavily again. He matched it again. Kat rolled her eyes. “I really need you to stop doing that. Okay? Just stop.”
“Forgive me, love, but I cannot.”
“Why not?”
She tried to make her tone acidic. Because he’d called her his love. In words she instantly understood. And that made them more meaningful, or something. She failed with her objective. Her voice sounded breathy. Low. As if this was a singles bar, and she’d just projected her interest. Readiness.
“I told you. I am a vampire. You are my mate. The one. And only. And now that we have mated...”
His eyebrows lifted several times. His gaze flicked over her as if she needed clarification. That look sent fire racing through her veins. She should be all manner of embarrassed. Nope. She was experiencing a mass of sensation that carried thrill and excitement at its base. All kinds of alarm bells started sounding in her ears.
“That means your physiological responses...are now mine.”
“Um. Tane?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know what to say. What to do. I feel—.”
Her words stopped. She didn’t know how to describe it.
“You are feeling the mating urge, darling. It is very powerful between us. Impossible to fight. Even if I desired that. And I do not.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Trembling had overtaken her frame as he turned toward her. His eyes sent all kinds of messages, while his nearness created worse. A wave of heat hit her, washed back to him. Re-crossed the five or so inches of space that separated them. Rebounded back to him. It felt like parts of her were already l
eaping toward him. None of which she had the imagination to conjure up. Her head went back. Each breath came with a sigh of sound.
“You are so...beloved,” he told her. “And I am beyond besotted.”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Mating with you right now....is dangerous.”
“Tane.”
Some woman spoke his name as a plea. It couldn’t possibly be Katherine Clark. Could it?
“It will take all my strength...to prevent the change.”
“Please?”
“You do not...understand.” His voice was a grunt of bass sound. And it shook.
In a moment she was going to be begging. And that was so far outside her realm of experience, understanding, and comprehension, that she couldn’t even grasp it mentally. There was no ignoring anything. Her body was too alive. Her senses too attuned. All she could do was experience.
“Kiss me.”
She whispered it. And they both pounced.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Her aggressiveness was surprising. And highly enjoyable. And then it became torment.
Her kiss was a masterpiece of torture. Tane’s fangs had sliced the moment they’d connected with her mouth, and he fought the instantaneous desire for her. Taking her blood was an essential need, but then it grew worse. He reined it back with such force, his entire frame shook. That transferred to the bed, making it shudder beneath them. His mate had her hands about his head, as if to hold him. It wasn’t necessary. Tane was locked in place. Her lips were rapture, the feelings she called up with her kiss, completely sublime. And her moans were so sweet! They filled the chamber with sounds of bliss. Delight. She was above him slightly, her breasts pressed to his upper chest, but she kept moving, sliding her tight, little nipples along him. His skin erupted in goose bumps at the contact. While her legs...
Sweet paradise!
She sat atop his lap, her thighs split, her legs enwrapping, but she kept sinuously moving about...teasing. Toying. Grazing his hardness with the slightest touch before shimmying away. Each time she played with connecting them. But then she’d move, keeping just out of reach. Tane was crazed with longing. Desperate with craving. Wild with need.