He kissed his way to the curve of her breast, found her left nipple and suckled there, drawing her soft flesh into the heat of his mouth and then using the edge of his teeth, making her gasp as he tugged and rolled her right nipple with his hand. He kissed his way down her ribs to her belly button, feeling the delicate little shudder of anticipation that went through her body before lifting his head, knowing his eyes were blazing at her. Possessively. He felt that way.
“You are wholly mine, Elisabeta, in every way. I’m wholly yours. I want you to be very sure. I am not trying to rush you.” He gave her a rueful smile. “Or perhaps I am.” He settled his fist around the girth of his cock. “Perhaps I am. My body is impatient for yours, there is no hiding that fact from you.”
His smeared the leaking pearly drops of liquid over the aching, sensitive crown with his thumb and then slid it between her lips. Her eyes darkened with passion and her tongue curled around his thumb and then lapped at the pad, making his cock jerk. Her hungry gaze dropped to his heavy erection. He knew exactly what it felt like when she took him into the heat of her mouth. She was so naturally sensual, and yet she had no idea.
He bent his head once more to hers and kissed her. There was fire there. Pure flames. They burned through him until he could barely breathe or think rationally. He wanted to eat her up. Devour her. He might have started out kissing her gently, but that went away fast when she responded with her fingers bunching in his hair and the other hand digging nails into his buttocks, pulling him closer to her, pulling his weight right over her. He lifted his head and once more started down her body with kisses and nips.
“Ferro.” There was an ache in her voice.
“Your body has to be ready to take mine. Have patience.” His little songbird. Nearly as impatient as he was. That was a good omen.
Her skin was exquisite. The taste every bit as addicting as her blood, as the nectar between her legs. He was making his way in that direction, and already the need to devour her was there, filling his mind until he felt nearly feral, the wild craving driving him to lift her legs over his arms, opening her to him as he settled between her thighs and took that first long, slow lick of the perfect aphrodisiac.
Elisabeta cried out. Her hips bucked. That mixture of citrus and sandalwood spilled onto his tongue, threatening to drive him insane. He clamped down on her legs, holding her in place, one hand splayed wide on her belly.
I am only getting started. You have felt my mouth on you before. His tongue circled her clit and then flicked. Her entire body shuddered in reaction. Look up at the rain. Relax and let your body feel the pleasure I am giving to you.
There was always pleasure, but never like this. This burns. Coils deeper. Burns deeper and hotter as if you are branding me deep inside.
I want to eat you alive, piŋe sarnanak, not worry that you will be afraid of the things I do with my mouth and teeth to get your body ready for mine. Will you trust me? You will feel pleasure, I promise.
I will always trust you.
That was all the consent he needed. He had held himself in check with her since the moment he had first discovered she was his lifemate. He had been careful to suppress his wild nature in order to be whatever his lifemate needed. Now, he let himself feast on her, an aggressive assault on her senses using his lips, tongue, his fingers, flicking and tapping and then raking with the edge of his teeth only to soothe with licks. He suckled gently and then stabbed deep, switching from gentle to rough until she was writhing and sobbing his name, her nails biting deep into his shoulders or, alternately, her fingers fisting in his hair.
He took her over the edge twice before he was satisfied that she was slick with heat, mindless with need, and ready for the girth of his body. The relentless pounding of his blood through his cock was nearly terrifying as he knelt up between her legs. Her gaze clung to his, her teeth biting down on her lower lip. She looked radiant, disheveled, sensual, and so completely his.
Ferro pressed the broad crown of his cock into the scalding heat of her slick entrance, feeling the flames licking up his spine with a ferocious burn that spread over his body, a wildfire out of control. He had to breathe deep to keep from slamming into that tight, scorching sheath. Instead, he fought for control and pressed into her with measured care, inch by slow inch.
Her tight silken muscles resisted but gave way reluctantly in the face of his persistent invasion. Her breath exploded out of her lungs in a long rush. His did the same. She was a pure white-hot silken fist grasping his cock tight, massaging and milking, a thousand fiery tongues licking and stroking, wet and so scorching hot he was nearly out of his mind with the need to move fast and hard in her.
Elisabeta’s hips bucked. She squirmed. Pushed herself onto him. Caught at him. Ferro. His name was a plea. For more. For everything he could give her.
“Almost there, piŋe sarnanak. Another minute. We have to be careful.” His voice was nearly hoarse with the effort to hold back.
I do not want to be careful.
It was the first time his little songbird sounded out of control, impatient and just a little bossy. He loved that. Loved that he could give that to her. He pushed deeper, found her barrier, gripped her hips hard with his hands and took the pain from her mind as he surged forward, letting her only feel the explosive pleasure as his cock ground over her most sensitive spot. She cried out as he buried himself deep, fully planting himself in her, so they were not only sharing minds but sharing bodies.
He paused for a moment, savoring the feeling of Elisabeta’s feminine sheath surrounding his cock, gripping him so tightly, so ferociously, as if she would never let him go, feeling her heartbeat right through the walls of her silken sheath, treasuring the intimacy of the moment between them. It was the most exquisite, perfect, amazing moment of his life.
For me, too. You have given me so much, Ferro, and then you give this to me. Her eyes were dark with passion and liquid with emotion. Silver drops tipped her lashes, just like the dazzling ones falling from the sky above their heads. If I have not yet told you, tet vigyázam, beloved.
His heart clenched hard in his chest. Turned over. Have no doubt, Elisabeta, that you are in my heart and soul for eternity.
Then he began to move, withdrawing slowly, savoring the drag of her muscles as they reluctantly released him, stimulating every nerve ending. He surged forward hard and fast, driving through her folds so that lightning seemed to streak through his body, through hers. She cried out following the direction of his hands, lifting her hips to meet his every thrust.
Her instincts, as always, were right with him, a sensual feast he could never get enough of. Her eyes, her body, the way her breasts swayed and jolted with every surge of his hips as he drove his body into the paradise of hers. Her soft little moans began to rise in urgency. The pleasure in her mind expanding to surround him the way her silken tunnel surrounded his cock. He could feel her heart beating hard and fast right through his thick shaft in time with his, that was how tight she was, squeezing down on him like a vise.
His breath came in harsh, ragged gasps, accompanying her soft moans, a different music, a different song, but one that resonated with their bodies. The rain hit the roof above their heads, a counterpoint to the building crescendo, the wild explosive music tearing up from every cell in his body, every cell in hers, to come together in a fiery climax to their ever-building symphony.
Ferro. Breathless. Fearful.
Let go, sívamet. Fall with me. Trust me.
Elisabeta’s body was coiled tight, and just like that she relaxed, giving herself to him, putting her mind and body into his hands. Her tight silken sheath clamped down around his shaft, strangling him, milking him, biting down with scorching fire. He couldn’t take his gaze from hers, watching her go there with him, as the two of them were taken some place neither had ever been before. Her gaze clung to his, a little dazed, but soft with love, passion darkening her eyes.
He gripped her hips harder as he emptied himself into her, the wi
ld, helpless jerking of his cock a fiery, volatile reaction to the continuous grip of her silken muscles working him, eager for every drop of his seed. The more he gave her, the hotter the walls of her sheath, until one orgasm rolled into the next and wrung them both out. Until even the little after-shocks were enough to send perfect shuddering through his body as he shared them with her, as he collapsed over the top of her.
Ferro let himself absorb her soft feminine form, the rightness of loving her, his body still in hers, his mind merged with hers, while their hearts pounded together. He didn’t try to think, he just let himself feel love for her. Feel euphoria. Feel one hand in his hair and the other gliding down his back. Hear the rain and their heartbeats.
He had no idea how long he lay there but it took effort to slide his body from hers and roll off of her, to lie beside her. Elisabeta lay sprawled out beside him on the fur, staring up at the silvery streaks of rain and the lightly rolling clouds. He threaded his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his chest over his wildly pounding heart.
Are you all right? He wasn’t certain he could get enough air to breathe, so it seemed much more prudent to use their telepathic form of communication.
I am not certain if I am alive. In any case, if I am not, I am good where I am. Do not send a rescue party.
He laughed, mostly in his mind, sharing her amusement. Sharing his joy in her—in them. He brought her hand up to his mouth and brushed a kiss to her palm before pressing her fingers to his lips. I think I might still be right there with you in outer space somewhere, riding the tail of a comet. He scraped his teeth back and forth over the pads of her fingers.
I think you should have started with that lesson, Ferro. Perhaps we could have dispensed with all the rest.
Elisabeta sounded very serious and thoughtful, but her mind, merged with his, mellow and serene, held that amusement he found so incredibly wonderful, mostly because it was so different from those first risings when he had sung to call her to him.
He drew his thumb back and forth across her knuckles. No doubt you are right, minan piŋe sarnanak. She was about most things. Who was he to say, especially on such an important subject, anything different?
Her soft laughter poured over and into him. When she did that, it always felt like a cleansing, like she filled every crack and tear in his mind that all the centuries of hunting and killing, all the centuries of living in a gray void, had caused. She filled him with love.
18
Once blinded by the wicked, now your eyes are clear;
Look inside yourself, there’s nothing left to fear.
Elisabeta can’t keep doing this every rising,” Ferro objected. “Gary, you see the toll it’s taking on her.”
Gary nodded. “There’s no doubt it’s hard on her. I still don’t know what’s causing the infection. I can heal the deep scoring to the brain, the one that results after the infection, as can some of the more skilled ancients, but none of us can actually take away the infection the way she can. I don’t know any other word to call it, although technically, it isn’t an infection. It isn’t bacterial or viral. If it was, I could heal it. I’ve tried to mimic her actions. She has a gift, Ferro. She’s unique.”
Ferro didn’t need to be told that his lifemate was unique or special or gifted. He already knew those things about her. He didn’t want to take out the frustration he was feeling at his failure to protect Elisabeta on Gary at every turn. He had hoped to give her female friends and a home, where she could slowly learn the things that would make her comfortable in their world, but instead, every rising she was called on to repeat the same duties, clearing up repeated infections.
Josef, Danny and Amelia were infected nightly, Tariq nearly nightly, the ancients the least. The numbers were increasing, although because everyone was scanned nightly, the scorching was much lighter and easier for Elisabeta to remove. Still, the number of people she had to help tired her, although she never complained. Sandu, Andor, Dragomir and Gary stayed closer, as concerned as Ferro about her health.
“We’ve been keeping track of what everyone has been doing throughout their days and nights,” Gary said. “Trying to find a pattern, something everyone has in common. Keep in mind, these are human, Carpathian, men, women and children. A huge mix.”
The door to Tariq’s large meeting room crashed open and Josef bounded in. Ferro tightened his arms around Elisabeta and swung her away from the entrance, shielding her with his larger body. Startled, the action took her out of Tariq’s brain, bringing her back into the mix with the various ancients who had come together to try to puzzle out what was spreading the infection.
Josef didn’t seem to notice the frowns or glares of the older Carpathians or the amused looks of the women. “I found it. I know what’s causing the infection. They were so clever. I can’t believe I didn’t figure this out sooner.” There was admiration in his voice. “Seriously. And by the way, Ferro, Cornel saying they were working on some new algorithm to track the hunters was a bunch a bullshit. He knew Sergey wasn’t going to understand whether he could or couldn’t do what he said. He wanted access to the computers. Although they do have a program that they started working on that senses energy if a hunter is moving in the air . . .”
“Josef.” Tariq sounded patient. “What is causing the infection?”
“Oh, yeah. It was a really simple idea actually, and I should have realized it. We all use computers now. Even the kids. They just needed to get someone to bring their program into the main computer and let the virus spread to all the programs. One of the kids downloaded a game that carried the virus and it spread slowly at first and then took off, moving from program to program. You don’t have to have the original game. Danny and Amelia both have the game. At first I couldn’t figure out how the scorching was happening in the brain, but then I had to think outside the box when nothing else added up. So eventually I came up with the idea that they were able to embed magic into the code through the process of elimination, and asked Julija to take a look.”
“Is that even possible?” Maksim asked.
Ferro kept his eyes locked on the kid. He settled back in his chair, Elisabeta beside him. It was no wonder Cornel had his sights on Josef. The boy really was a true genius. It would be such a relief to finally have the mystery solved.
“Not only possible, but they also programmed everyone who was infected to open the gates to the compound on command,” Josef continued. “That way, if one was stopped, a number of others would obey the vampires. The infection would cause chaos, hopefully turning the ancients against one another. It really is a stroke of genius. The code is simple but extremely effective. They covered all the bases.”
“Are you able to get rid of it?” Tariq asked.
Josef shrugged. “It’s eaten through most or all of your programs. Everyone’s personal computers have to be wiped as well. It’s going to take a while to fix this. Your security people, all the kids. It’s a process. I’m going to have to check your computers at the club as well. If you used any of the same programs, you could have infected those computers.”
Ferro winced inwardly. They had to tell the kid that he was being targeted by Cornel and Dorin. Sergey couldn’t think past getting Elisabeta back, but his two cousins were set on bringing Josef into their fold any way they could.
Tariq waved Josef toward a chair. “We have some things we have to go over with you, Josef. As you know, the Morrison Center for psychic research has become a front for the vampires to track possible lifemates for Carpathian males. They wanted to get to them before we could. They also found psychic males. They’re recruiting and using them as pawns. Some of the males have been hired to work in my club. Others are being turned into vampires and used as the first wave of their army against us, as you saw when they attacked the other night.”
Josef sat quietly, a feat Ferro hadn’t thought possible for the kid.
His brain is always assessing every possibility, Gary said. It never stops.
&nb
sp; Elisabeta agreed. I do not think it is possible for him to slow his brain down. He tries to. When I was working on him, he tried not to think too much about what was happening to him or to the others, but he could not stop himself. He was especially upset with that first time, when he said things to Tariq. They were very unlike him. He went over and over the things he said in his mind to try to puzzle out why he had said them.
Ferro was gifted at reading others, and a young Carpathian should have been easy, but Josef held himself aloof, away from the others. Ferro could guess why. The boy was different and had been his entire life. He hadn’t lost his ability to feel emotions, and the opinions of others had to be hurtful. He often was the smartest one in the room but was overlooked because of his youth. He had to have been frustrated that no one listened to him. He’d learned to school his features into an expressionless mask when he was in the room with ancient hunters who most likely would look down on him. He wore his spiked colored hair and piercings as armor. All the while, he fought for his people in his own way.
The boy has courage. It was a high compliment coming from Sandu.
Ferro nodded his head. I agree. I do not want him walking into the lion’s den. No doubt he will volunteer to go to the club the moment Tariq informs him that Cornel hopes to lure him there with a woman and acquire him.
Gary, merged with the other ancients, gave the mental equivalent of shaking his head. We can’t take chances with him. He’s far too valuable to the Carpathian people. I gave my word to Mikhail that he would be safe. He gave his word to his adopted parents. They nearly lost him once before, and the prince doesn’t want to have to tell them again that Josef is in danger.
Ferro could well imagine that Josef was in a perpetual state of being in danger. The boy was slender but appearances were deceptive. A rod of steel ran through him. His devotion to the Carpathian people ran as deep as every warrior’s.
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