Long seconds passed before the curtain on the door was pulled back and the face of a dark-haired female appeared behind the glass.
Fear registered in her eyes, and the curtain fell back into place.
Syrina pushed the doorbell again. “Lisa? My name is Syrina. I am a friend of Astryd’s. She has assured me that you can be trusted. We are simply seeking a safe place to sleep for the night.”
Several more seconds ticked by, and then the sound of locks disengaging filled the air.
The door cracked open an inch, and the barrel of a gun appeared. “How do I know this isn’t a trick?”
Brant stepped forward, placing himself between Syrina and the barrel of that gun. “My name is Brant Henagar with the United States Marines, ma’am. And those two men standing behind me are with the CIA. The one on the left is Anthony Vaughn, and—”
“Did you say Anthony Vaughn?” she whispered, the door opening a little wider. “I know who he is. He’s Doctor Sutherland’s uncle.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brant rumbled. “May we come in?”
Lisa pulled the door open wide and waved them inside, her eyes huge as she took in all the Bracadytes in the group.
Gryke stepped over the threshold, and the woman nearly tripped over her feet in her attempt to quickly back up.
Tony extended his hand. “We appreciate your hospitality. You don’t need to fear Gryke. His growl is much worse than his bite.”
Once Tony released Lisa’s hand, Syrina enfolded it between her own larger ones. “You are very kind to allow us entrance. We will not put you out anymore than is necessary. In fact, our aircraft will be ready to leave as soon as the storm has passed.”
Lisa blinked. “Your aircraft?”
“She means plane,” Brant interjected with a chuckle. “The airplane.”
“Oh...” With a nervous gesture, Lisa waved the party toward the stairs. “I only have six rooms, so some of you will have to share. All I ask is that you keep the noise to a minimum. I have a son, and I don’t want him to see any of you.”
Syrina hesitated, glancing back at Brant. “Astryd did not tell me of a child. Perhaps we should not stay here.”
“I’ll move him into my room with me for tonight,” Lisa intervened. “Besides, you will be gone by morning, right?”
Sinking into Brant’s mind, Syrina asked, “Do you think we should go? What if my father’s warriors come here looking for us?”
“Why would they come here?” Brant sent back. “They wouldn’t risk being seen by the humans, and they have no idea we came here.”
“Perhaps you are right.”
Syrina gripped the banister of the stairs and smiled down at their host. “Yes. We will be leaving in the morning after the storm has passed.”
Lisa returned her smile, even if a little nervously, and waved them on. She gave a wide berth to Gryke as well as Pyre. Zaureth, on the other hand, she couldn’t stop staring at.
Apparently, Lisa wasn’t too afraid because she suddenly asked, “Why do some of you have dark hair and eyes, while others are blonde with eyes the color of amber?”
Syrina paused in her upstairs climb and looked back at the petite human. “Because we are the northern band of Bracadytes, while they reside in the south.” She nodded toward Gryke.
Lisa’s gaze landed on Zaureth. “And you? You’re different from the others.”
“You have no idea,” Brant muttered in a teasing tone. “He’s our healer…among other things.”
Lisa seemed to accept Brant’s explanation without question. She spun toward the door and engaged the locks. “Breakfast will be ready at six a.m. in the dining room. It’s just to my left over there.”
Syrina sent her a grateful look. “Thank you, Lisa Odom.”
Lisa chewed on her lower lip. “What about Astryd? Will she be punished for being associated with me?”
“No,” Syrina assured her. “No one knows about you but us. And your secret does not leave this room.”
Moving away from the door, Lisa murmured her thanks. “If you need anything during the night, the kitchen is on the other side of the dining room, and the bathroom is upstairs. Help yourselves to anything you need. Goodnight.”
Everyone filed up the stairs and picked their chosen rooms.
Nervousness and excitement warred within Syrina as Brant gripped the knob to the last door on the right. She would be alone with him for the first time in weeks.
He glanced at her from over his shoulder, apparently picking up on her emotions.
His gaze softened. “Nothing has to happen until you’re ready for it.”
He thought she didn’t want him? “You misread my apprehensions.”
Brant opened the door and stepped back to allow her to pass. “We can talk in here where we won’t be overheard.”
He stepped into the room and locked the door behind him.
Syrina couldn’t seem to take her gaze from his muscular chest. She cleared her throat and trailed over to the window.
Thunder rolled in the distance, signaling the incoming storm, but Syrina didn’t care. She battled her own storm. “What you told my father…”
“Go on,” Brant rumbled, easing up behind her.
Though he didn’t touch her, she could feel the heat from his body seeping into her back. “Why did you come for me, Brant?”
His fingers wrapped around her arm, and he gently turned her to face him. “Because you belong with me. I couldn’t live the rest of my life without you in it.”
Syrina’s heart pounded hard enough she could hear it beating in her ears. “You cannot live without me?”
He shook his head, his hands reaching for hers. “I could try all night to tell you how I feel, and you would never grasp the depths of my feelings for you.”
Without taking his gaze from hers, Brant brought her hands to his face. “Look inside me, Syrina…beyond the lust, the need, the attraction. Look inside my heart, to the part of me that would die without you. The part that sees my unborn children in your eyes. The part that sees you, Syrina. Only you.”
The powerful emotions coming from Brant, coupled with his beautiful words, brought tears of happiness to Syrina’s eyes. “You want to have children with me.” It wasn’t a question.
Brant touched his lips to hers. “As many as you will give me.”
Syrina kissed him back, unwilling to withdraw her hands from his face. She couldn’t seem to let him go for even a second.
She pulled back enough to see into his eyes. “Though I already consider you mine, I wish to mate with you in every way possible.”
Letting go of his hands, she reached for the ties on her vest, but Brant’s palms covered hers, halting her progress.
He brushed another kiss across her mouth. “Let me…”
Syrina’s hands fell away. She could feel Brant’s need to take control. It was her first time, and he wanted to make it good for her.
She inwardly smiled. It would be good for her in a ditch as long as Brant loved her.
He dragged his lips across her cheek and rested them against her ear. “I do love you, Syrina of Arkadia. With everything inside me.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Brant fought to hold onto even a modicum of self-control, which wasn’t an easy feat considering Syrina was offering herself to him. Not just physically, but emotionally, mentally.
The bond they already shared would finally be complete. She would be his mate, his love…his forever.
He untied the laces of her vest and eased it open. Her incredible breasts spilled forth to fill the palms of his hands.
Still, he held her gaze. “If at any time you wish to stop, you only need to tell me.”
She stepped closer, pressing her breasts more firmly into his hands. “I do not wish to stop. I want you in every way possible.”
Brant backed up a step and removed her vest. He reached for the laces of her sharkskin shorts, unlaced them, and slid them down her legs.
“So beautifu
l,” he whispered, scooping her up into his arms.
He carried her across the room and placed her gently on the bed.
Hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer briefs, he slid them down, nearly sighing in relief as his throbbing shaft sprang free.
Syrina’s gaze lowered to his erection. “You are not much different than a Bracadyte male.”
Jealousy kicked him in the gut. He opened his mouth to ask her if she’d been intimate with a Bracadyte, but her next words stopped him.
“I have seen some of the males in the bath house in Arkadia. There was no intimacy involved.”
Embarrassed at his unguarded thoughts, Brant placed a knee on the bed and crawled up next to her. “I’m sorry. Your comment just caught me off guard. Even if you had been intimate with someone, it wouldn’t matter. Nothing matters to me but us and our future together.”
She rolled to face him as he settled down next to her. “For a Bracadyte female to give herself to a male she is not mated to is unheard of. It is not our way.”
Brant reached up and ran his fingertips down her face. “So, you’re a virgin.”
“I am.”
His shaft hardened even more, if that were possible. “I’ll be as gentle as I can. I don’t want to hurt you, Syrina.”
“I understand there will be pain. But it matters not. To take you inside my body would be the greatest thing I can imagine.”
Brant bent and softly brushed his mouth across hers. “There doesn’t have to be much pain if it’s done right. I want you to lie back and relax for me.”
The trust shining in Syrina’s eyes swelled Brant’s heart to overflowing. God, but she was beautiful.
She trusted him to take care of her, and he would be gentle with her if it killed him.
He kissed her again, nipping at her bottom lip and dragging his mouth down her neck.
Her scent drifted up his nose in an intoxication aroma that drove him insane with need. And then her hands timidly touched his head, hesitating briefly before applying a slight pressure.
He didn’t need to connect with her to know what she wanted…she wanted mouth sex.
Brant inwardly growled, sliding down her body until she tugged on his hair. She’d stopped him at the juncture of her thighs.
He glanced up at her hooded gaze and knew he was in trouble. He’d wanted to be gentle with her, to take his time and make slow, sweet love to her. But the passion staring back at him from her amber-colored eyes said otherwise.
She didn’t want gentle and sweet, he realized, sinking into her mind. She needed to be taken, possessed… claimed.
Brant settled between her legs and shouldered her thighs apart. He swept his tongue along the crease of her leg, across her soft, sweet mound, and dragged it down her hot, wet slit.
She bucked beneath him at the first touch of his tongue against her tiny, sensitive flesh. Damn, but she tasted incredible. He could drown in her flavor, her amazing scent.
“Open for me,” he mentally coaxed, satisfied to feel her thighs pull up and out.
“Good girl.” Closing his mouth over her center, he pressed his tongue deep inside her.
A gasp escaped her, and her hands tightened in his hair.
Brant’s eyes closed in ecstasy. He penetrated her again, swirling his tongue inside her, and then eased upward until he captured her rapidly swelling bundle of nerves.
He slowly caressed her while he brought his right hand up and under. He eased the tip of his finger inside her, all the while manipulating her with his tongue.
She came alive beneath him, her hips moving against his gently penetrating finger. “More…”
Blood surged to Brant’s shaft at the desperation he heard in Syrina’s voice. His erection grew to painful proportions, and sweat popped out on his forehead.
He was going to die from pleasure overload, lying between her powerful thighs, and he hadn’t even entered her yet.
“Easy,” he sent through their connection, never slowing his movements. “I’ll take you there… Trust in me.”
“I cannot help it, Brant. I ache with need. Please…”
Yep, he was definitely screwed.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Syrina was on fire. Nothing had ever felt as amazing as Brant’s mouth and tongue on her most secret places. But his finger moving inside her introduced her to a hunger she couldn’t control. “Please…”
She wasn’t even sure what she begged for. She only knew that she needed more, and Brant was the only person who could give it to her.
“Soon,” he mentally promised, inching his finger in deeper. “I won’t enter you until your body is ready for me.”
Syrina’s eyes rolled back at the sensation of his finger pressing deep inside her. All the while, his hot, wet tongue continued to tease and torment her sensitive flesh.
A pulsing began in her abdomen, growing stronger with ever inch he penetrated her. And then he curled his finger inward, touching a place that took her breath. His tongue picked up momentum, and his lips formed a suction that shot her over the edge.
“Brant!” she cried out, unable to keep quiet a moment longer. It didn’t matter who heard her as long as Brant didn’t stop his unbelievably sensual torment.
He entered her with another finger, his mouth and tongue never slowing their onslaught, sending Syrina into the abyss.
“Come for me,” Brant repeated through their connection, sucking and licking her until her vision grayed.
Just when she thought she could take no more, he released her with his mouth and slid up her body. “Put your legs around me.”
Syrina opened her eyes and stared into Brant’s seductive gaze. She would have done anything he told her to in that moment. “That felt amazing.”
“I’m not through with you yet, but I need you to trust me and not tense up. Can you do that for me?”
She wrapped her trembling legs around his waist and nodded. “I will not disappoint you.”
“You could never disappoint me,” he whispered, the love he felt for her shining in his eyes. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”
He reached between their bodies and guided himself to her opening.
Syrina could feel the broad tip of his erection pressing against her.
He gently flexed his hips, entering her the slightest amount.
The stretching sensation wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it was more of a pressure that involuntarily forced her muscles to tense.
He leaned down to kiss her, his hips continuing their slow drive forward.
Syrina could barely think beyond the pressure.
“I’m so sorry.” Brant covered her mouth with his and thrust, seating himself deep inside her body.
Syrina cried out into his mouth with the sudden pain of his entry. Her legs instinctively tightened around him, and her hands shot to his shoulders.
“Don’t move,” he bit out between clenched teeth, obviously in some pain himself. “Jesus, Syrina.”
The burning sting of his initial entry had begun to ebb a little. She let her hands fall away from his shoulders and stared up into his tortured eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“There was some discomfort, but it is dissipating now.”
“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Syrina. I would give anything to prevent you from feeling pain.”
The full, stretching feeling of Brant being inside her had begun to throb to life. She wriggled her hips, sparking a different kind of sensation.
“Ah, God,” he groaned, dropping his forehead to hers. “Don’t do that. I’m barely hanging on by a thread as it is. It’s taking everything I have not to bury myself fully inside you.”
That told Syrina that he hadn’t entered her completely. “The pain is bearable. Please do not stop.”
Indecision warred in his eyes.
“Please, Brant.” She tightened her legs around him, digging her heels into his back. “I want you. No, I need you.”
Brant abruptly thrust,
burying himself so deep inside Syrina she didn’t know where he began and she ended. They were finally one, the same… Mates.
Though the pain and pressure of his entry was still present, the pleasure of him moving inside her far outweighed any discomfort.
He brought his hands up to cup the sides of her face, holding her gaze as he drove into her again and again. “God, Syrina, you feel so damn good.”
Syrina’s eyes wanted to close in bliss, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away from his passionate gaze.
“I love you, Brant,” she gasped between thrusts. “More than I ever thought possible.”
“Ah, God.” He surged up to his knees, his hips never slowing, and rested his thumb against the sensitive flesh at the juncture of her thighs.
Syrina cried out in pleasure, rocking against him in time with his thrusts.
Nerves came alive once more, taking her to greater heights than she’d been before.
“I can feel you tightening around me,” Brant growled, rolling her flesh with the pad of his thumb. “God, Syrina, I don’t think I can hold out.”
Brant’s words, coupled with his driving hips and ever-moving thumb, pushed her over the edge.
Something exploded within her, forcing a hoarse cry from her throat. The feeling raced along her nerve endings, through her veins, and erupted in her abdomen.
Somewhere in the distance, she could hear Brant’s roar of release, feel his hot, wet semen bathing her vaginal walls.
Still, she shuddered inside, unable to think past the sensations dominating her body. She never wanted it to end.
“It’ll never end,” Brant breathlessly assured her, lowering his body on top of hers. “I will love you, every night of every single day for the rest of my life.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Brant had never felt anything as incredible as being inside Syrina. It went beyond the physical, though that was amazing in itself. No, this was almost spiritual. A connecting of souls he’d never known existed until this very moment. A feeling he’d never felt with another human being. Not even Melinda.
Brant: Science Fiction Romance (Enigma Series Book 11) Page 13