by Cara Lake
Strong arms tightened around her, calloused hands skimming the flesh beneath her breasts. Jaro pressed a kiss to her neck, sending shivers across her skin. Stealing a breath, Tani turned to face him.
Jaro gazed at the woman next to him, still wondering how this could be real. He had returned unsure of his welcome. Nerves frayed by the weeks spent apart. He had left her in anger but not through hate. Wanting to stay but needing to go, he had taken advantage of the quest to find Sami and bring Sitri to justice. Leaving had given him the space to clear his head, to shed the years of bitterness, the sting of rejection and abandonment, forcing him to focus on the only thing that truly mattered. Her. With that realization, his need of her washed everything else away. She was his and he was keeping her. So now that he was back and lost in the depths of her amethyst gaze, he knew he didn’t want to ever be found. Nothing mattered but her.
“There is something I…” Her voice sounded small and uncertain. Jaro had never seen Tani like this. She was a lioness, a warrior princess, brave and unyielding and he couldn’t help but worship her. Long, dark lashes fluttered down and he watched her tongue nervously lick those gorgeous red lips he wanted kiss every second of every day for the rest of his life. He felt it in his dick. He was a bastard. She was obviously worried about something.
“What is it, Red? You can tell me. Something you…”
She looked up at him then, her eyes a more vivid purple than he had ever seen contrasted against the paleness of her skin and the flaming red of her hair. Never wavering, locking her gaze with his, he felt her small hand tug his large one from her shoulder. Pulling them both down, her hand over his, she glided their palms together over her soft skin, keeping contact all the way.
He felt the softness of her naked breast, the hard pearl of her nipple, the supple curves and contours of her flesh as she traced a path down her length. Their hands came to rest on the sweet, small swell of her stomach, the rounded bump curvier than he remembered. He frowned, confused at what she was doing. Was this her way of seducing him, or, no…
He shook away a stray thought that suddenly curled its way into his mind. A tendril that had suddenly appeared as if from nowhere but he knew came from her. She was trying to tell him something but his battered brain, too hardened by disappointment, was unwilling to believe it could possibly be true.
“Yes.” Her whisper seared through the connection, locking on to his heart, opening it to the truth.
He felt his jaw drop in wonder. “Really?” His voice cracked. Her reply a tentative nod. Then he was grinning, the biggest widest smile. She had given him so many gifts already, her body, her virginity, her trust and his own freedom and now… Now she was giving him the greatest gift of all.
“Are you telling me that we made a baby?”
“Yes. Are you okay with that?”
His jaw dropped again, this time in shock. “Am I okay with that? By Chaos, Tani, you have given me so much and now you tell me…” He paused, trying to find the words.
“I don’t want you to feel obligated,” she said quickly, a touch of panic in her voice, reading his pause as something else.
He kissed her then to shut her up and wipe away her fears. “Red, you are incredible. You have given me everything I could ever want or need. You. Only you and our child. I love you. I adore you.”
Her eyes lit up with happiness and love that shone so brightly back at him he was nearly blinded by it. She planted kisses all over his face. “Jaro, I was so scared you wouldn’t want this. I love you so much. Our baby is so lucky to have you as a father.”
He stopped her then, resting his forehead on hers. “We have to do it now,” he said.
“What?”
“The bonding. To reset The Balance and make us one.”
Tani was shocked. “Don’t we need to go through the public ceremony first?”
Jaro shook his head, his mouth set in determination. “It doesn’t matter which we do first as long as both parts are completed within eight days of each other. I spoke to Merak before I returned and he gave me the details. I want to bond with you now, right now. Tyr taught me the words and I’m hoping you already know them.”
Of course she did. The words had been drummed into her through relentless hours of repetition as a child. She had never been so grateful to her father. A smile stole across her face; her big, strong warrior was full of surprises. “You’re really sure? You want to do this right now?”
The intensity in his eyes told her all she needed to know. “When something is this perfect why wait?” His strong arms pulled her up so they were face-to-face on the bed and the enormity of what was about to happen sank in. Her duty, her fate all aligned in perfect synchronicity and this bonding would be the ultimate expression of their connection. And between them, cocooned safely and growing steadily in the swell of her belly was the ultimate manifestation of their love.
Tani melted into his hard chest, surrendering to the strength of his embrace. He leaned down to take possession of her mouth, gently demanding entry. A slow-burning fuse lit deep in her womb as she opened up to him. She thought it would be as it had been the night before, a slow steady fusion building to an earth-shattering crescendo but then the tip of his tongue touched hers.
The fuse burst into a flaming comet and then they were both on fire. Out of control. Tongues collided, teeth clashed, lips merged. Jaro’s hands fisted the hair at her nape, accessing the arch of her neck. He pulled her head back and nipped at her pulse point, sucking her skin until she was marked by his kiss. The sensations sent her body into freefall. Whirling out of control, Tani echoed his claiming with sharp bites to his jaw and throat over the muscle that ticked frantically to the rhythm of his heart.
She could feel the pounding in his chest when her breasts crushed against his hard pectorals. Her nipples pebbled, swollen by the friction that sparked as skin glided against skin. They were wild for each other. His hands covered every inch of her flesh until finally sinking into her moist heat. “Chaos, Red, you’re so hot and wet. I need to taste you first!” Oxygen escaped from her lungs and Tani thought she would die from lack of it. But she needed to taste him too.
Jaro crashed back against the pillows, pulling her forcefully down with him but before he could position her against his mouth she twisted over him so that she had access to the part of him she craved. He growled appreciatively and spread her legs apart, running his hands down the length of her spine to palm the globes of her ass. “So sexy!” he groaned as he lavished kisses to each cheek.
At the same time Tani pushed at his thighs, one hand cupping his balls and squeezing them tight. His cock twitched, alert and begging for attention. She -stroked her other hand across the V of his hip and the crisp dark hairs of his happy trail before enclosing his virility in her fist.
As she took him in her mouth, relishing the silky hard length of him between her lips, Jaro took possession of her swollen clit. His tongue swirled the ripe pearl and then he sucked hard. Tani broke out into a sweat as feverish ripples swept across her burning flesh. She lavished his cock with reciprocal attention, sucking and licking, tonguing the slit at the tip of the ripe head until he was chanting her name again. A prayer, a plea. Praise for her devotion. “Get up here, Red, I’m about to explode!”
Jaro spun her around and jackknifed up so that they were both sitting again, Tani straddling his hips, his erection straining between them. He palmed her cheeks, his eyes molten silver starbursts detonating. Their swollen lips crashed together. Devouring. Devastating. Delicious.
Hands on his shoulders, Tani couldn’t wait any longer. She impaled herself on his shaft, loving the taut hardness as he slid into her slick sheath. No slow burn. No soft glide but a furious frenzied ride as Jaro thrust and she bounced—friction, electricity, sparks and then combustion. A star exploding. Words spilling out from deep inside dancing on the flames of their passion.
“We are yin and yang—together we are one—infinite and eternal—different but complement
ary— We are the ebb and flow of the universe—Love and Hate personified—the essence of all existence—together we are one—eternal and forever.”
Chanting together, their bodies synthesised, coalescing into one unified being of carbon and atoms, neurons and electrons, particles of matter and antimatter colliding and mutating in intoxicated delirium. And as their bodies peaked in sync, their minds stripped each other bare, giving everything, holding nothing back so that their souls were irrevocably entwined.
The gossamer threads of The Balance, fluid strands interwoven in the fabric of the universe, encircled their physical bodies, entangling their fate and that of their child into the yin-yang labyrinth of time and space. Galaxies, planets and stars realigned as Love and Hate mingled their essences in a cosmic cocktail that sailed across the universe and began healing fractures in the webbed tapestry of all things. Their climax was a turbulent paroxysm, an exhilarating rapture that crested on a wave of euphoria and then subsided in a diffusion of heat. The last throes of their orgasm dissipating, Tani and Jaro fell back onto the sheets, limbs entwined, bodies coated with a light sheen of sweat, both gasping for breath. They lay like that for what seemed like hours, neither wanting to lose each other’s warmth until Jaro finally turned his head and pulled Tani into a kiss that gave and took in equal measure. He dropped a gentle brush of his lips onto the claiming mark at her neck.
“Now,” he said. “About that to-do list…”
Epilogue
Destiny
Tanith Laska Rodach walked briskly to the doors that opened onto a small balcony and, throwing them open, stepped out into the cool night air. Smiling, she drank in the sublime view that awaited her. In her eyes the most beautiful vision of perfection that existed in the wide expanse of the universe. Two dark heads. One large, one small. One tiny package resting on a broad chest, burrowed snugly into the powerful muscles and strong arms that enclosed him in a protective embrace. A scrunched-up face, legs tucked up, cute bottom in the air, the child slept peacefully in the arms of his father, who loved him more than life itself.
Tani’s eyes pricked with tears as she took a moment to absorb the blissful, heavenly moment and the tranquil calm of the city she had come to love. It seemed a million miles away from the chaos of the previous year. She stood watching in quiet contemplation. She needed to talk to Jaro but she wouldn’t wake him just yet. He looked so peaceful and with all the demands on his time as both overlord of Arushka and the consort of the overlord of Serpens, she knew these quiet moments were precious.
When she did wake him, she would tell him of her conference call with Cassi and the news she had to share regarding some recent Esseni bonding and identification. She smiled again, recalling her own bonding ceremony on Auriga where seven days after the intimacy of their very physical bonding, they had met with eight witnesses to perform the public spiritual ceremony. They had mingled their blood and their yin-yang essences into physical vessels, the pendants they both wore at all times around their necks. Her fingers played with the glassy orb, one half dark red, the other violet pink. Captured essences that were also a reflection of their auras.
She wondered how Luc must be feeling after everything that had happened to him and mulled over the startling information Cassi had revealed about Ziad. Neither had been at her ceremony all those months ago but had been caught up in massive dramas of their own and she couldn’t wait to see them both again. Besides, they hadn’t yet met baby Jay.
Beautiful baby Jay. One month old and the spitting image of his father, a head of fuzzy dark curls and eyes of silver. JJ—Jaro Junior—stirred in his father’s arms, a small gurgle escaping his mouth with a bubble of drool. Jaro tightened his grip, one eye blinking drowsily awake. Dark lashes fluttered against the tan skin of his cheek, laughter lines emerging when his focus sharpened on her tilted head. He laughed all the time now, her furious, ferocious warrior.
“Hey there, warrior wife,” he said, a teasing smile crossing his lips. Tani smiled back. “Hey there, househusband.”
He shifted his body slightly, reaching out to finger the ruby-red Lyrani diamonds that hung from her ear. “These look good on you,” he said, smiling with satisfaction. His hand continued to caress her cheek, then pulled her head down so their mouths could connect. His kiss was hard and deep and oh so decadent. Tani’s thighs quivered and her heart rate upped a gear. She would never ever in a thousand years tire of Jaro’s kisses. “So,” he said even more smugly. “JJ was as good as gold today. And it’s your turn to play housewife tomorrow.”
“And you’re back to being warrior husband. When do you leave for Arushka?”
“Not until midday.”
“Well, that’s good,” said Tani, lifting JJ carefully from his arms and laying him gently in his cot. “Because I have a number of things on my to-do list that need to get done before you go.” A growl escaped her warrior husband as she turned from the cot and found herself slung over his shoulder as if she weighed no more than a feather.
“Now you’re talking, Red,” he muttered in her ear as he carried her to the bed and flung her down. “And I think we’ll start with number three…”
The End for Now…
About Cara Lake
Fantasy, romance, adventure and of course hot passionate encounters with the opposite sex, Cara Lake has always had an over active imagination. When she's not weaving the threads of her stories together, Cara can be found sketching or painting her characters and creating colorful worlds for them to live in.
Cara lives in London with her sexy significant other and three amazing children.
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Also by Cara Lake
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Ellora’s Cave Publishing
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Rage to Adore
ISBN 9781419994593
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Rage to Adore Copyright © 2016 Cara Lake
Edited by Susan Edwards
Cover design by Kelly A. Martin
Cover photography by Dmytro Vietrov, Yeko Photo Studio, and Igor Zh.
Electronic book publication January 2016
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