Guardians of Eternity 03 - Darkness Everlasting

by Alexandra Ivy

  She gripped the towel tighter. "I'm mad at you."

  His lips twisted. "I reasoned that out when you tried to burn my lair to the ground."

  "It was a very small fire."

  "No fire is small to a vampire."

  A pang of guilt raced through her heart. "No one was hurt, were they?"

  Styx cautiously removed his heavy cape and tossed it onto a nearby chair. Darcy caught her breath at the sight of him in tight leather pants and a loose silk shirt that was sheer enough to give a hint of the perfect body beneath.

  Even worse, his hair had been left loose to float about him like a river of ebony.

  Dang it.

  Men weren't meant to be so incredibly beautiful.

  Or to be able to make a woman hot and bothered just by being in the same room.

  "Only DeAngelo's pride." Styx shrugged. "He's none too pleased he was outwitted by such a tiny slip of a girl."

  Darcy sternly returned her attention to his bronzed face. She was supposed to be angry.

  A bout of hot, sweaty sex was not on the agenda.

  Not now, anyway.

  "So, was he offended because I'm tiny or because I'm a girl?" she demanded.

  "Both, I suspect."

  She gave a small snort. Vampires.

  "Then I'm glad I hurt his pride."

  The dark eyes darkened even further as he took a step closer. "It was foolish of you to sneak away. You could have been harmed."

  "And you were worried you would lose your bargaining chip?" she demanded.

  "Dammit, Darcy, I was worried about you," he growled with a heat that sent a tingle down her spine.

  Darcy abruptly turned to pace toward the large bay window. She wasn't about to let him see just how much his concern meant to her.

  Not when she didn't know if his concern truly was for her and not his damnable vampires.

  "As you can see I'm fine."

  "It was still a reckless stunt. You should have known better."

  Well that effectively squashed the small warmth that had begun to bloom in her heart.

  She spun around to resume her glaring.

  "And what about that stunt you pulled on me, huh? I wouldn't have needed to sneak away if you hadn't tried to brainwash me, you ... you creep."

  The bronzed features tightened. In anyone but Styx she might have taken his expression as one of guilt.

  This vampire, however, was far too arrogant to ever believe he could have been mistaken.

  "I did it for your own good," he predictably countered.

  Darcy rolled her eyes. "Oh, give me a break. You did it because you couldn't control me and that would never do for the oh-so-powerful leader of all vampires."

  His thin nose flared at her attack. "I was afraid that your desire for a family would overcome your good sense. And I was proven right." In the dim glow of the lamp, he looked every inch the ancient king. An ancient king with fangs and enough power to make the curtains stir behind her. "You couldn't wait to rush headlong into danger."

  Darcy lifted her chin. She wasn't about to be intimidated.

  Stupid, of course.

  Anyone with even the tiniest amount of intelligence would be intimidated.

  "I didn't leave just because I wanted to learn the truth of my family." She pointed her finger toward him. "I left because you betrayed me."

  "I—" He abruptly cut off his words, his power once again whipping through the room. Despite her best intentions, Darcy found herself taking a sharp step backward. Okay, maybe she was a little intimidated. About to take another step, she was halted when Styx gave a stiff nod of his head. "You're right."

  She blinked. "I am?"

  "Yes." His hands clenched at his sides as he regarded her with his dark, hypnotic gaze. "I wanted you to stay, and I was willing to go to any length to keep you with me."

  Darcy suddenly found herself struggling to breathe. "Because you need me to negotiate with the werewolves?"

  "No."

  "Because you're afraid I might be a danger to your vampires?"

  "No."

  "Because . . ." She gave a small squeak as Styx was suddenly standing directly before her, his arms wrapping about her to haul her firmly against his chest.

  She hadn't even seen him move.

  "Because of this," he whispered before his lips closed over hers.

  Darcy grasped his arms as her knees went weak. Drat it. How was she supposed to be furious with him when he was kissing her as if he would perish without her?

  Over and over he plundered her lips before moving to trace a string of frantic caresses over her face. Darcy gave a soft moan as searing pleasure raced through her body. There was magic in his touch that was irresistible. At last pulling reluctantly back, he regarded her with a stark vulnerability that nearly broke her heart.

  "Darcy, don't ever run from me. I can't bear the thought that I might never hold you in my arms again."

  His head lowered as if he would once again befuddle her with his kisses, but with a strength she didn't even know she possessed, Darcy pressed her hands to his chest.

  "Styx, wait," she commanded, not at all surprised when he instantly stilled to regard her with a watchful expression. For all his arrogance, Styx had never used his considerable strength to force her to his will. Just his freaking mind tricks, she reminded herself. Her spine stiffened, and she managed to narrow her gaze with a stern warning. "I want it very clear that I won't be manipulated. I'm not a mindless doll that you can command whenever you feel the urge."

  His hand gently cupped her cheek. "I don't want a mindless doll, angel, but it is very difficult for me." A wry grimace rippled over his beautiful face. "I've been accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed without question."

  Well, duh.

  She would have to be a complete idiot not to know he was used to others scrabbling to bow to his every whim.

  Still, it was difficult to believe that there weren't a few-people who didn't treat him as a demigod.

  "Surely you can't order everyone about?" she demanded.

  "Usually, yes."

  She gave a short laugh. "You must have chosen very pathetic girlfriends if they always allow you to have your own way."

  "Girlfriends?" A frown touched his brow. "A vampire only mates once, and it is for an eternity."

  Her heart gave a painful stutter.

  What would it be like to be this vampire's mate?

  To have his eternal devotion? His everlasting touch?

  She abruptly thrust the dangerous thoughts away.

  Dang it, Darcy, you're supposed to be dragging his arrogant butt over the coals, not whining over things that can never be.

  Forbidding her fingers to run over the hard muscles of his arms, she sucked in a deep breath and then promptly wished she hadn't.

  Cripes, but he smelled good.

  Clean and male and exotically vampire.

  "Surely you must have dated before?"

  He had no rules for his own fingers as they drifted over her cheek and then over the unsteady line of her mouth.

  "Not in the sense that you mean. I have occasionally taken lovers, but they were merely casual distractions. Vampires rarely form relationships."

  She shivered at his gentle touch. "That must be lonely."

  "We are solitary creatures. We do not possess a human's need for attachment."

  "So I am a casual distraction?"

  He briefly closed his eyes, as if he was battling some sharp surge of emotion.

  "By the gods, there is nothing casual about the way you distract me, angel," he answered as he stabbed her with a near angry glare. "You have bewitched and befuddled and bedeviled me to the point of madness. I have not had a moment's peace since 1 saw you standing in that bar."

  "Hardly surprising," she muttered. "I would think kidnapping a woman would bother any vampire.'

  He sent her a puzzled frown. "Actually vampires quite often kidnap mortal women. I have never done so, but for many of my
brethren, it is a game that they enjoy."

  Darcy wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Okay, that's not only creepy, but more information than I really wanted."

  He gave an impatient shake of his head. "Kidnapping is not why I find you distracting."

  "Then why?"

  "Because you ..."

  She gave a lift of her brows as his words came to a halt. "I what?"

  He was silent for so long that Darcy began to fear he was going to refuse to answer. Then with obvious reluctance, he forced himself to complete his confession.

  "You make me feel."

  "I make you feel what?"

  "Everything."

  She blinked in confusion. "I'm afraid that's a little broad, Styx."

  He gave a low hiss, his fingers tightening on her cheek. "You make me happy, and furious, and passionate, and terrified. I am not accustomed to such sensations."

  Good, she thought with a selfish flare of satisfaction. It would be stunningly unfair if she were the only one suffering.

  "And?" she prompted.

  "I do not entirely like them," he said through gritted teeth. "They are troubling."

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Clearly Styx had spent a very long time either ignoring his feelings or simply managing not to have any.

  A nice trick if it was possible.

  "Styx, emotions aren't something you like or dislike," she said softly. "They just are."

  "So I am discovering," he murmured, his eyes slowly darkening as his gaze drifted over her upturned face. "I'm also discovering that there are some emotions that I prefer far more than others."

  Darcy's mouth was dry as her heart gave a sharp jerk. Oh lord, she knew precisely what emotions he meant. The ones that were already tightening her lower stomach and making her ache with the need to have him deep within her.

  She made a soft sound. Something between a moan and a sigh. She wasn't really sure what it meant, but whatever it was, it was enough encouragement for Styx.

  His hand shifted to cradle her head as he brushed his lips lightly over her mouth.

  It was a mere butterfly of a touch, but it managed to send a lightning bolt of excitement through her. Oh ... lord. He was a walking, talking sexual temptation, and she was all too susceptible.

  Her fingers dug into the corded muscles of his arms even as her body instinctively arched closer. She needed to feel his cool strength pressing against her, to fit her curves so tightly against him that it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.

  It was a need that went way beyond mere sex, she realized with a faint flutter of panic. Even when she was running from Styx, she knew that a part of her, an essential, gut-deep part of her, would always belong to him.

  She didn't know how, or when, it had happened, but there was no denying the truth of the matter.

  When Styx wasn't near, she felt as if a part of her was missing.

  Sensing her ready response to his touch, Styx wrapped his arms around her and deepened his kiss. With a growing insistency, his tongue pressed between her lips, tasting her moist heat with a hunger that he didn't bother to hide.

  Her head was whirling and her heart thundering as her hands skimmed up his arms to the broad strength of his shoulders. She could feel his fierce hunger in the coiled hardness of his body and the restless movement of his hands as they traveled down her back and over the curve of her hips.

  He gave a low growl as he nipped at the corner of her mouth and then trailed his tongue along the line of her jaw.

  "I want you, angel," he muttered as he buried his face in the curve of her neck.

  Her entire body shook with a powerful surge of desire. It didn't matter how many times Styx made love to her, it would never, ever be enough.

  Struggling to recall why she shouldn't just rip off his clothes and have her way with him, Darcy gave a feint shake of her head.

  "Wait," she protested in a breathless voice. "I can't think when you are kissing me."

  He rubbed his fangs over her sensitive skin. "Then don't think."

  Her fingers clutched at his shoulders. Sharp, tingling pleasure was racing from her neck straight to the pit of her stomach.

  "This is far from settled, Styx," she warned.

  "Shh. I can't think when I'm kissing you, either" he commanded as his lips closed over hers.

  Darcy's eyes slid shut even as a voice in the back of her mind warned that this was not the best means of making her point with Styx.

  She was a practical woman. She knew a losing battle when it was smacking her in the head.

  She could make her point later.

  With a low groan, Darcy parted her lips and plunged her fingers into his loose hair. The thick strands felt like silk beneath her fingers. Cool and smooth and perfect as the rest of him.

  Oh, yeah. She could make her point much, much later.

  Heat rippled through her as Styx tightened his grip on her hips and with fluid ease lifted her off her feet and carried her toward the vast bed.

  A sense of absolute serenity settled in her heart even as her body was smoldering with a growing desire.

  No matter how aggravating, annoying, arrogant, and aloof Styx might be at times, this was exactly where she belonged.

  In his arms.

  The sensation of slick satin brushed her back as Styx laid her gently on the bed. She expected him to follow her downward onto the mattress, but as she reluctantly lifted her gaze she discovered him standing beside the bed as he hungrily ran his gaze over her slender curves.

  "You are so beautiful," he said in a husky tone as he reached out to gently tug the towel from her body.

  Darcy shivered beneath the heat of his gaze. There was a raw need etched across his lean features she had never seen before. As if they had been apart for years rather than a few hours.

  Swallowing the strange lump in her throat, she lay passive as he stroked his hand down the curve of her neck with heartbreaking reverence.

  "Styx?"

  "So soft... so warm," he whispered. Deliberately his hand shifted to cup the small weight of her breast. "I could drown in such sweetness."

  Darcy allowed her eyes to flutter shut as his thumb brushed over her hardened nipple. Yes, yes, yes. This was the sort of thing a woman could become addicted to.

  His searching hands continued their trail of fire down her body, tracing the curve of her waist and down her hips. Her breath caught and she gave a small moan.

  Magic.

  Ever downward he explored her thighs, her calves, and at last, the very tips of her toes. He lingered and stroked and searched. He caressed her as if he was memorizing every inch of her.

  Her fingers grasped the sheets beneath her as pleasure flowed through her body.

  Even with her eyes closed, Darcy would know the touch of his hands, the scent of his body. It was branded onto her heart, and no other man would ever be capable of stirring her with such desire.

  "Please," she pleaded softly. "I need you, Styx."

  "As I need you, my angel." There was a faint rustle as he dealt with his clothing, and then the cool, hard strength of him was stretched on the bed beside her. "As I will always need you. For all eternity."

  His voice held a soft urgency that made his words a solemn pledge, and her eyes flew open to meet the dark glitter of his gaze.

  "Styx, let's not speak of the future," she pleaded. "I only want to be in this moment."

  He regarded her as if he wished to argue, but at last he gave a slow nod of his head.

  "Then let us make this moment something to remember," he rasped.

  Without warning, his mouth was on her own with a stark passion that instantly sent a shudder of excitement racing through her.

  Her arms wrapped around his neck and she returned his hunger with ready enthusiasm. His lips were cool and demanding as they drank of her response. A deep growl rumbled in his throat as his hands greedily ran over her naked body, sparking pinpricks of fire over her skin.

 
; His tongue entered her mouth as his fangs pressed her lips. She tangled her tongue with his, her head lifting to better enjoy the taste of him. Her fierce response caught him off guard, and Darcy suddenly had the copper taste of blood in her mouth.

  At first she assumed he had nicked her with his fangs, but as he pulled back, she realized that it had been his own lip that had been cut. Instinctively she reached out to lick the bead of blood from his lip.

  He made a startled sound of pleasure as his eyes flared with a smoldering fire.

  "Yes," he breathed, lowering his head. "Please, angel ..."

  Easily able to sense his need, Darcy tugged his lip into her mouth and gently sucked at the small wound. Obviously vampires enjoyed the act of donating blood as much as taking it.

  Grasping her hips, he tugged her sharply against his thick arousal.

  Darcy gave a small gasp at his tender assault. There was something more between them on this night. A sense that their passions were intertwined, each feeding the other until the very air was alive with desire.

  Pulling back, Styx nibbled his way over her cheek and down to her chin. He waited until her head tilted instinctively backward before trailing his tongue down the pulsing vein. At the same moment he gave a gentle tug on her legs, pulling one over his hip so that his hand could slip between them.

  Her nails dug into his shoulders as he teased her with a relentless expertise.

  Oh .. . cripes. This magic was about to end way too swiftly.

  "Not yet," she whispered as he nuzzled her aching breast.

  He gave a low, utterly male chuckle, and without warning she found herself flat on her back with him poised above her.

  "Now, my sweet angel," he warned her. "Most definitely now."

  Her eyes widened as she watched his head dip down so he could trail a path of searing kisses down her body.

  More than kisses, she acknowledged as he used his fangs and tongue to send her up in flames. Even the brush of his hair was a caress as it slid over her skin.

  Her fingers returned to clutching the sheets as he slowly and methodically investigated every inch of her quivering body. The pleasure was nearly overwhelming, her senses honed to a near painful edge.