When Darkness Ends

by Alexandra Ivy

  She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Tenderness clenched his heart. She looked so beautiful, but fragile, vulnerable.

  He had to make sure she never regretted giving him her innocence.

  “Like this,” he murmured, reaching to guide her hand to his fully erect cock.

  His entire body clenched with agonized pleasure as she delicately curled her fingers around him, nearly torpedoing him straight into an orgasm. Bloody hell. He was supposed to be an experienced hedonist, not a randy schoolboy.

  “Did I hurt you?” she asked.

  “Christ, no. It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” he groaned. “I need to be inside you.”

  She fumbled awkwardly as she attempted to adjust him, and gritting his teeth, Cyn managed to avoid embarrassing himself. Then, with a low groan, he was at last pushing the crest of his erection into her entrance.

  She was tight.

  Gloriously tight as he forged his way inside her. A moan was wrenched from his throat at the sensation of her silky heat clenched around him like a glove. God. Damn. Nothing had ever felt so good.

  “Cyn,” she moaned, her hair tumbling forward to brush his chest as Cyn grasped her hips and lifted her upward before plunging back into her with a slow, maddening tempo.

  “Fallon,” he echoed, the savage pleasure already twisting his lower stomach into a tight ball of anticipation. “My sweet princess.”

  Her lips parted as she matched his rhythm, her beautiful face flushed with the same desire that blazed through him. He lifted his head off the mattress, the beads in his braid rattling as he latched on to one nipple. At the same time he reached between them, using his finger to stroke over her clit.

  She whimpered, meeting his thrusts with a frantic enthusiasm that had him swiftly rushing toward his release. With a muttered curse, he angled his hips upward, pressing ever deeper as his pace increased.

  He muttered ancient curses as his head dropped back to the mattress, his entire body on fire.

  It felt so good.

  Too good.

  His fingers tightened on Fallon’s hips as she made a strangled sound of sheer bliss, her slender body arching as she was overwhelmed by her climax. Cyn watched in fierce satisfaction as she shook with a stunned shock at her first orgasm. But all too soon the feel of her channel gripping his cock with tiny ripples had him thundering toward his own release. With one last thrust, he was shouting out as he came with a violent force that he felt to his very soul.

  Urging the trembling Fallon to lay against his chest, Cyn wrapped his arms around her body, his cunning mind already plotting his next step in binding her to him.

  Making love to this woman had been fabulous. Mind-blowing.

  But he wanted more than sex from her.

  He wanted her bound so closely to him that she never, ever wanted to leave.

  Chapter Eleven

  Fallon struggled to catch her breath, slowly drifting back to earth.

  Okay. That was . . . Words failed her.

  She’d expected the shattering climax. Cyn was a sexually attractive male who had the sort of experience to make any woman melt into a puddle of satisfied, boneless bliss.

  But she hadn’t understood just how intimate the joining would be.

  He hadn’t just touched her. Every stroke of his fingers had sent shock waves of pleasure deep inside her body. His kisses hadn’t been a mere meeting of the lips. He’d intoxicated her with the deep, slow brush of his tongue and scrape of his fangs as they’d traced the line of her throat. And the cool press of his skin against hers hadn’t just aroused her to a fever pitch, he’d branded his enticing male scent deep into her flesh.

  And when she’d reached her climax, she felt as if she’d been flung into the stars, tossed free from her body, only to return an entirely different woman.

  Lost in her ridiculous thoughts, Fallon allowed Cyn to roll to the side, snuggling her tight against his body.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  Was she?

  Fallon blinked, still struggling to regain command of her fragmented thoughts.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted.

  “Hell.” Cyn jerked his head up so he could stare down at her in concern. “Was I too rough?”

  “No. I just . . .” She sucked in a deep breath, trying to slow the pace of her thundering heart. “I didn’t realize it would be like that.”

  His worried expression was replaced by a slow, wicked grin. “Oh, princess, I can promise you that it’s never like this.”

  She frowned. Was he mocking her innocence?

  “What do you mean?”

  “What happened between us was rare.” He leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. “Extraordinary.”

  A thrill of excitement fluttered in the pit of her stomach. It had felt extraordinary. As if . . .

  With a muffled curse she slammed a mental door on her dangerous thoughts.

  Cyn had shared this bed with a thousand different women.

  She was just the next willing body.

  Nothing extraordinary about that.

  “I suppose you feel you have to say that.”

  The words had barely left her lips when she found herself flat on her back and an angry vampire perched on top of her.

  “Stop.”

  Her eyes widened as she caught sight of his grim expression. “Cyn?”

  “You can accuse me of enjoying more than my fair share of life’s pleasures, but don’t you dare try to cheapen what just happened between us,” he growled.

  “I didn’t,” she protested.

  The jade eyes narrowed. “You just implied I was pulling out some stock answer after a random hookup.”

  She lowered her lashes, a blush staining her cheeks. “I just don’t need you to pretend that I’m any different from the other women you’ve been with.”

  “Holy shite.” He impatiently brushed back one of the braids that framed his handsome face. “Aye, I’ve been with plenty of females, but they came to me knowing that our time together was all about fun.”

  Her lips pressed together as a stab of . . . something sliced through her heart. God. Could it be jealousy?

  “Exactly,” she forced herself to mutter. “I’m no different.”

  Wrong answer.

  She shivered as the temperature dropped. Climate control was a definite issue when dealing with a moody vampire.

  “But those women weren’t you.” He leaned down until they were nose to nose. “Making love might not have mattered to you but it was bloody special to me.”

  “Of course it mattered,” she muttered.

  “Why should I believe you?” he demanded. “You did, after all, just break up with your princely fiancé. For all I know, this was revenge sex.”

  Fallon pressed her hands against his naked chest, floundering as he neatly turned the tables on her.

  “This had nothing to do with Magnus.”

  “You did save your virginity for him. How can I be sure that you didn’t just sleep with the first man available to punish him?”

  She sucked in a shocked breath, sheer horror racing through her at the mere thought of any other man touching her.

  “You know that’s not true. I would never be with someone that I didn’t . . .”

  Her words trailed away as she realized she was revealing far more than she wanted to.

  Thankfully he didn’t press her to finish her sentence. Instead he gazed down at her with an unnerving intensity.

  “Just as I would never lie to you,” he asserted. “If I tell you that you’re special, that’s exactly what I mean. You’re special.”

  Her lashes fluttered downward, shielding her expressive eyes. She felt vulnerable. Stripped dangerously raw. Which was no doubt why she’d tried to convince herself that Cyn considered her nothing more than a convenient body.

  She was rattled enough by the physical intensity of their lovemaking without adding in the tangle of emotions that seet
hed just below the surface.

  “I’ve never felt special,” she breathed, her fingers unconsciously stroking over the satin-smooth skin of his chest.

  He muttered a low curse, his lips skimming her furrowed brow. “Because your fiancé is an arrogant prick who wouldn’t recognize a female of worth if she bit him on the arse.”

  True. But that hadn’t been her point.

  “I never had expectations from Magnus,” she corrected, feeling a familiar sadness pierce her heart. It didn’t seem to matter how many years passed. She would always be that little girl who ached for her father’s love. “But it would have been nice if Sariel had bothered to notice me as more than a piece of property to be bartered for his own gain.”

  “Forget him.” He lifted his head to study her with a somber expression. “He doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”

  “It’s not that easy. He’s my family.”

  Something flared deep in the jade eyes. “Not anymore,” he reminded her in a soft voice.

  Fallon flinched at the blunt reminder that she would soon be shunned.

  God Almighty. Once she’d cursed the tedious peace of her days. She hated playing the role of submissive princess. She hated having her life ruled by her father, and later by Magnus. She hated the fear that she would never travel beyond her homeland.

  But now the tumultuous changes in her life were all happening too fast.

  “You’re right,” she rasped, her voice thick with pain. “I’ve been . . .” She couldn’t even speak the awful words.

  “Don’t,” he growled, holding her gaze as his fingers threaded through her tangled hair. “I’ve got you.”

  She blinked back her tears. “You don’t understand.”

  “No?” His gaze lowered to the dejected droop of her lips. “I was abandoned by my sire before I even woke as a vampire. I would have died in those caves. Hell, for all I know, he intended to kill me.”

  Fallon grimaced. “Okay, maybe you do understand.”

  “Aye.” His expression softened. “But I found a new family. And I’ve never stopped appreciating what they did for me.”

  Shying away from the mere thought of never seeing her homeland again, she slid her hand beneath his hair, her fingers brushing over the dragon she’d seen tattooed on his shoulder blade. It was a stunningly beautiful symbol of his position.

  “Is that why you became a clan chief?”

  “In part.” His fingers combed through her hair, his touch soothing even as it began to stir the familiar heat in the pit of her stomach. “It was a terrifying experience to awake alone with no memory of who or what I was. I intended to make sure that I never felt that vulnerable again.”

  She twitched beneath the heavy weight of his body, her mouth going dry as she felt his cock harden against her hip. The heat was beginning to spread through her, those delicious tingles of anticipation making her shiver.

  Good . . . Lord.

  She was supposed to be a proper princess, not a harpy in heat.

  “What was the other part?” she demanded, trying to distract herself.

  The jade eyes darkened as Cyn reacted to her unmistakable arousal, his fangs visible between his lips.

  “I’m a bossy, conceited bastard who likes to be in charge.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me,” she said, her breath hissing between her teeth as his lips brushed her forehead before skimming down her cheek.

  “I also like protecting my family.” He nuzzled the edge of her mouth, one hand still tangled in her hair while the other traced the curve of her hip. “Nothing and no one is allowed to harm those I consider mine.”

  I consider mine . . .

  The words should have made her panic.

  Her entire life had been filled with overbearing males thinking she belonged to them. First her father and then Magnus.

  The last thing she wanted was another man with a caveman mentality.

  But it wasn’t panic that was making her heart flutter, or her stomach quiver.

  “We should discuss what happened,” she abruptly announced, needing a distraction.

  “Discuss?” Cyn chuckled, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. “I’d rather share a physical demonstration.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “Our astonishing bout of mind-blowing sex?” he smoothly interrupted, using his fang to trace the vein that ran down the side of her throat.

  Sparks of pleasure shot through her. She moaned, battling against the impulse to tilt back her head and urge those fangs to sink deep into her throat.

  Cyn had already made it clear he didn’t consider her blood worthy of his finicky appetite.

  “We need to find out who the man was sneaking through the caves,” she clarified.

  “I would suggest that we contact Siljar, but I’m no longer confident that the Commission hasn’t been compromised,” he said, his thoughts clearly not on the mysterious cloaked figure. Not when his hand was slowly stroking up to cup her breast. “Clearly the Oracle Phyla has some connection to the magic-user.”

  Fallon gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. “I can try to scry for him.”

  That got his attention.

  Jerking up his head, he glared down at her.

  “No.”

  She blinked, startled by the unequivocal refusal. Then she got pissed.

  “I’ve spent my entire life being told what I can and can’t do by men,” she snapped, wishing she had the strength to shove him off her. Well, maybe she wouldn’t actually shove him off. Not when his thumb had found the tip of her breast and was teasing it with a skill that was making her back arch in silent invitation. But she wanted him to know her days of obedience were over. “From now on I intend to make my own decisions.”

  His grim expression eased as his lips twitched at her bluster. “This has nothing to do with your newfound independence, princess.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “It sounded like you just told me no.”

  “I have a reason, I swear.” He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Just let me explain.”

  Fallon pressed her lips together. Why did she find the oversized leech so damned charming?

  “Fine.”

  “We’ve already alerted the magic-user that the tunnels are being spied on.”

  “And?”

  “He can’t be certain who was watching the Oracles’ lair or why,” he said. “But if you continue to try and scry for him, then he’ll know that he’s been busted.”

  Fallon frowned. She still wasn’t sure how the magic-user had managed to sense her scry or how he’d used the connection to attack them. The mystery was going to gnaw at her until she figured it out.

  “Isn’t that what we want?” she demanded.

  “Not if we aren’t in a position to capture him.”

  She didn’t miss the fierce edge in his voice. Cyn clearly itched to repay the magic-user for nearly killing him.

  A predictable male reaction.

  “What does it matter if it stops the spell?” she demanded.

  “Because we can’t be sure that he doesn’t have a partner with the power to trigger the Oracles into completing the spell. Or an even worse plot if this one fails.”

  Hmm. She supposed it was possible that there was more than one enemy. And more than one plot.

  Still, she sensed that she was being played by a master.

  “I think you’re just trying to keep me from scrying,” she accused.

  A half smile tugged at his lips as his gaze lowered to her naked breasts. “It won’t break my heart to know you aren’t putting yourself in danger.”

  “I have to do something to help.”

  “You can continue to keep track of the Oracles.”

  “And?”

  He shrugged. “And assist my search through the history books in my library,” he offered, his head lowering so he could use his tongue to trace the line of her jaw. “I agree with Styx. There’s something familiar about this. I’m hoping I’v
e read about a similar spell in one of the books left behind by Erinna and Mika.”

  Fallon grimaced. Growing up, her father had insisted that she spend hours in his library memorizing the various family bloodlines and where they fit in the complex social ranks. As if she actually cared whether the eldest daughter of the Morcella House should be greeted before the third son of the Vestres House.

  “I thought everyone in this world used something called Google?”

  Cyn gave a soft laugh. “Or we could stay here and forget about the Commission and evil magic-users.”

  Fallon swallowed a groan as his fangs scraped down the length of her neck. Oh. Yes. This suddenly seemed like a much, much better idea. Already her body was melting in anticipation, her legs parting so he could settle more firmly against her.

  Losing herself in the pleasure of Cyn’s touch was far preferable to worrying about shunnings, and ex-fiancés, and crazed magic-users.

  Still, a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered that indulging her seemingly endless hunger for this vampire wasn’t without risk.

  Unlike Chatri males, Cyn didn’t make her feel as if she were a mindless object he needed to control. Just the opposite. When she was in his arms she had the unshakable sense she was . . . cherished.

  A sensation that was as dangerous as Magnus’s indifference.

  No. More dangerous.

  Her fiancé might have considered himself her master, but he’d never had the ability to truly touch her. Not on an emotional level.

  But Cyn . . . he was inching perilously close to stealing her heart.

  “We can’t,” she breathed.

  He nibbled along the line of her collarbone. “Of course we can.”

  Her eyes slid closed, swiftly forgetting why this was a bad idea.

  “Cyn.”

  His thumb circled the tight nub of her nipple. “Aye, princess?”

  “We should be searching for the magic-user.”

  “We will,” he assured her. “Later.”

  Clearly determined to divert her, he captured her lips, his tongue urging hers to part and allow him entry.

  She quivered, briefly yielding to the desire pounding through her before she turned her head just enough to break the soul-melting kiss.