by Lara Adrian
Behind the zipper of his black jeans, his cock strained, thick and strong.
Devony’s vision burned even hotter as she studied him. Need rolled through her, along with a surging wave of possessiveness. Mine.
She didn’t know if she spoke the word out loud or merely thought it. Either way, it lived in her blood. It pounded through her veins and into all of her senses as he moved in close again and caught her face in his strong hands.
“Yes,” he said, his blazing eyes locked on hers. “Mine.”
He kissed her until she was breathless and quivering in his hands, then slowly sank down before her. “Open for me, baby.”
His hand guided her thighs apart, his thumb flicking over the crest of her sex. Her clit was already engorged and aching for his touch. When he stroked his fingers over it, she nearly climaxed on the spot.
A low purr vibrated deep in his throat as he pressed his lips to her. “I could get drunk on the smell of you,” he rasped, his hot breath skating over her sensitive flesh. “I already know how sweet you taste.”
His head dipped between her legs. His mouth closed over her, his tongue delving into her folds. She cried out when he suckled the tight bundle of nerves nestled between them. The pleasure was searing, intense, wrenching a jagged moan from somewhere deep inside her.
And Rafe’s mouth was relentless, merciless. She couldn’t slow down the mounting wave of release that crashed into her. She shattered against his tongue, one gale after another buffeting her as he held her against his mouth and wrung every last gasp and shiver from her body.
She sagged forward as the tremors slowly began to ease.
“You should’ve warned me you were going to do that,” she murmured, breathless as he rose to his feet. “I have a bath running. I should turn off the water before the tub overflows.”
Rafe smirked. “I’ve got a better idea.”
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bathroom.
CHAPTER 21
Fragrant suds wreathed the spacious en suite, but the vanilla-and-roses oil Devony had put in the water had nothing on the intoxicating scent of her arousal. Or the taste of her release.
Rafe’s veins pounded in response to her pleasure.
Every cell in his body echoed with her climax, as powerful as if it had been his own.
Fuck. He’d heard the blood bond was intense, but he hadn’t been prepared. He hadn’t been nearly prepared for the erotic pleasure of it, nor for the feeling of connection, completion.
He hadn’t been prepared for Devony Winters, even before her blood was living inside him.
Rafe set her bare feet down on the cool tiles of the bathroom. He expected to hastily strip out of his jeans and boots so they could pick up where they left off, but her hands were right there with him, tugging down his zipper as he got rid of the rest of his clothes.
His cock was on the verge of exploding as she freed it from his pants and cupped the stiff shaft in her palms. His own hands shook as he shoved off his jeans and boxer briefs.
Her tongue met his flesh and he hissed. “Ah, Christ.”
She guided him to the tub with her, his erection held in her caressing hands. She sat on the wide marble edge in front of him, which put her mouth at the perfect angle to take him deep.
And she did.
Holy hell, she took him so fully into her throat his vision spun behind his closed eyelids.
On a grunt, he grabbed a fistful of her dark hair, winding his hand in the silky ropes. Her fangs abraded his tender skin—not enough to break the surface, but to drive him mad with the erotic scrape of the sharp points and the velvety wetness of her stroking tongue.
At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
And he didn’t want to make this night about his pleasure. He wanted it all to belong to her.
As a balm for everything she’d been through with him tonight.
As a pledge for all the better things he wanted to give her.
Mostly, as an apology for the honesty he’d withheld from her from the beginning, his devotion to duty even when his heart belonged to her.
“Come here,” he growled, gathering her to him and lifting her off the edge of the large tub.
She gave him a sexy smile. “Turnaround is only fair.”
“Not tonight.”
He kissed her deeply, slowly, the taste of him on her lips making his arousal spike like a jolt of electricity. He guided her into the tub and settled her on his lap, facing him.
“You are so lovely, Devony.” He leaned in and kissed her, taking his time to explore every nuance of her sweet mouth.
He cupped her face in one hand, while his other stroked her soft skin. Her glyphs felt hot and alive under his fingertips, and he indulged in an unhurried exploration of every arch and flourish.
“So soft.”
Her breast filled his hand, the nipple puckered and taut between his thumb and finger as he rolled it just enough to wring a heated, broken cry from her lips. Her spine arched, thrusting her forward like an offering. He bent down so he could kiss all the places his hand had been, teasing the rosy peaks of each breast while his fingers slid into the water to stroke between her legs.
Rafe had no restraint. Not with her. She made him crave too much. Things he didn’t deserve. Things he didn’t dare permit himself to consider.
Like another hot taste of her blood.
The first had been out of necessity. Now he craved more. God help him, he craved everything about her.
But this wasn’t about taking right now. He wanted to give.
He wanted to give her everything she could possibly want or need or desire, and not just for tonight.
While that should scare him shitless, it didn’t.
No, far from it.
Sliding his palms beneath her backside, he pulled her farther onto his lap. His cock jutted up out of the water and frothy suds. He lifted her, and together they settled her body over his.
“Ohh,” she sighed, holding on to his shoulders as he pierced her. “So good.”
Rafe had even fewer words than she did. He couldn’t hold back his tight groan as she sank down onto his length, inch by glorious inch. Her sheath gripped him, the plush walls rippling with tiny tremors as they adjusted to accommodate his size.
Devony’s lids slowly lifted, revealing the bright coals of her eyes. “Does it feel this perfect for you too?”
“Better.” A growl curled up the back of his throat at her hungry look. He took a firmer hold of the curves of her ass, guiding her tempo as she began to rock against him.
He felt her pleasure coil and loosen with each long, hard slide of their bodies together.
He couldn’t get close enough to her. Not even when he was impaled within her completely, their pelvises grinding against each other.
She moaned as their rhythm intensified. Rafe held her aloft in his palms, his arms doing the bulk of the work for both of them as she rode him. Her climax barreled up on her, spurring his own into a harder gallop. Lava roared into his veins. He couldn’t hold it back. Devony’s release hit at the same time his did, both of them crashing together, then splintering in a hot rush.
He lifted his head to watch her come and found her staring at him. Her fiery eyes were fixed on his throat, her fangs sharp and gleaming as she shuddered with the force of her orgasm. He could never get tired of seeing her like this, her true nature on full display for him, her passion surrendered to him with complete abandon.
But the fevered look in her pleasure-drenched gaze was something else. Hunger. Blood thirst.
He felt the razor edge of it. The dangerous intensity of her need.
He felt the astonishing depth of her love . . . for him.
It was a revelation, one that hit him with the force of a freight train. He stared at her, scowling to feel the tenderness of her affection braided inseparably with the intensity of her craving for his bond.
She nodded, a sad smile tugging at her lips. �
��It’s true. I’ve fallen in love with you, Rafe. There’s no sense trying to pretend I don’t when I know you can feel it.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t.”
His own arousal twisted tighter, her vulnerability toward him stripping away his defenses. Not that he had many where this extraordinary woman was concerned.
Devony Winters owned him. And everything male in him—everything Breed—responded with a savage need to possess her in every way.
He lunged forward and took her in a hard kiss.
“Fuck.” He pulled back on a hiss. His fingers came away from his mouth stained with blood. “Ah, Christ . . . Devony.”
She’d bit his lip. And now she stared at him, unapologetic.
A warning blazed in her eyes. He knew he should heed it.
He should stop this now.
He should leave the room, before they went too far.
Too fucking late for that. What smoldered between them could not be undone even without a blood bond to lash them together for the rest of their lives.
Rafe knew it.
She understood that too. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t feel Devony’s certitude coursing through his own veins with every hammering beat of his heart.
He knew he should be the stronger one.
For her, if not for himself and his future with the Order.
But tonight, he wanted this to be about her. About giving her comfort and pleasure. He wanted to give her whatever she needed to get through an awful night and the ugliness that had gotten too close to her.
He had come here tonight wanting to give her everything.
What she seemed to want most right now was the one thing he wanted too. Selfishly. Undeniably.
“Come here,” he said, his voice gravel in his throat. He took her beautiful face in his hands and kissed her again, unable to resist. Unable to deny her anything.
And when her mouth pulled away from his to drift down toward his neck, all he could manage was a strangled growl as her lips settled over his carotid and the sharp points of her fangs sank into his skin.
His body arced violently, a raw curse tearing from his lips. The heat of her mouth at his vein, her tongue lapping hungrily at him, was the most erotic pleasure he’d ever known. His cock responded instantly, jolting back to life inside her. He moved beneath her, unable to keep his hips from thrusting in time with the greedy suction of her drinking.
She moaned against him, her spine undulating. Her sex gripped him like a fist. She slammed down hard on him, his blood fueling an even wilder sexual thirst in both of them now. One that demanded to be sated.
Devony’s arousal hammered through him via their fledgling blood bond, more vivid than ever.
Her love poured into him too. Bright and fierce and powerful.
Her trust in him burned.
As much as he wanted a life with her, it wasn’t his to promise. Not when the Order owned his future and Opus Nostrum still had a stranglehold on his present. If his enemies ever learned how great a weakness Devony could be for him, he had no doubt they would use that knowledge against him. And if anything should happen to her because of him. . . .
Guilt stabbed him at the thought.
Ah, Christ. This was a mistake.
“Enough,” he uttered. When she didn’t immediately stop, he ground out a tight curse. “Enough.”
Her tongue swept over the punctures she’d made, sealing them closed. “Rafe, did I—” She took a hesitant breath, still nuzzled beneath his chin. “I’m sorry . . .”
He snarled at the sound of her uncertain apology. “No,” he said, stroking her hair. “Shit. It’s not . . . it’s nothing you did wrong. Don’t think that.”
“Then why do I feel like it is?” She pulled back and stared at him, confusion and pain swimming in her molten eyes.
He could hardly hold her wounded gaze. “Fuck.”
Some pitiful part of him wanted nothing more than to get out of the tub and make his escape before he hurt her any more. But desire still beat through her veins, hot and uncontained. He couldn’t heap more rejection on top of the regret he’d already caused them both.
She didn’t resist when he drew her close and covered her mouth with his.
The blood bond had its tethers wrapped around them both.
Rafe kissed her slowly, deeply. Her need coiled quickly, out of her control. The anguished sound she made nearly killed him. On a harsh curse, he flipped her over and onto her knees in the water and thrust into her from behind.
He couldn’t look into her eyes while his remorse had him clenched in cold talons.
But he could give her pleasure.
She rocked against him, overcome by the intensity of their bond. That was the irony of it right now. No matter how unworthy he knew himself to be, their connection couldn’t be denied.
When Devony let go a scream and convulsed with the explosion of a ferocious orgasm a few moments later, he collected her against him and followed her right into that fire.
CHAPTER 22
He felt like the worst sort of coward leaving Devony in the guestroom with a head full of doubts and a heart full of hurt.
The excuse that he was expected in a meeting with Sterling Chase was the truth, but it tasted as awful as a lie as he closed the guestroom door behind him and headed through the mansion on his way to the operations area of the command center. She hadn’t pressed him to explain his abrupt withdrawal after she had drunk from him.
That’s how he knew he had wounded her deeply. The woman he’d first met only days ago would have confronted him head-on. She wouldn’t have hesitated to lock horns and fearlessly demand he explain himself.
Tonight, she had retreated without a word of argument. Because she’d been afraid of what he might say.
She didn’t have to tell him that; he felt her dread through their bond.
Dread he had caused by holding duty above his own heart.
Worse, by holding duty above hers.
Rafe stalked down the long hallway of the sprawling mansion’s residential wing, his steps slowing on their own as he reached the chamber that had been his until the past few weeks.
He didn’t know why he felt compelled to go inside. It wouldn’t be his again until his mission was officially over. Maybe not even then, because he intended to end that mission tonight.
He was still committed to taking down Opus Nostrum. That would never change until he succeeded or took his last breath. But if the Order wanted him to fulfill that objective as one of them, he was going to tell Devony everything. With or without their blessing.
And he was going to inform Chase and Lucan of that fact right now.
He preferred not to do it wearing clothes that were stained with blood and death. After his bath with Devony, it had seemed almost sacrilege to put them on again, so he was glad to find his closet still stocked with street attire and combat gear just as he’d left it.
He changed into basic jeans and a black T-shirt, then laced up a pair of black leather boots. As he tied the last knot and stood up to leave, he found Tavia Chase standing in the open doorway.
“You kept my quarters for me.”
His commander’s mate smiled. “Of course, I did. I expected you’d be back eventually. Now, I’m not so sure.”
Tavia had been aware from the beginning that his exile was all part of the operation. But she wasn’t talking about him returning from his mission. She meant ever.
And he couldn’t seem to tell her any different.
“Devony is a special young woman,” she said. “I can see that right away. I can see why you love her.”
Rafe scowled, but he couldn’t deny it. Tavia was too astute to believe otherwise. He’d grown up in the Order from the time he was an infant. The elder warriors and their mates were his family, his fellow comrades were closer than any brother could be.
As for Tavia, she was a respected tactician and valued member of the Order’s team, much like the
rest of the warriors’ mates. Right now, what Rafe needed was a confidante.
“I drank from her tonight. I was injured, and she helped me.” He lowered his head and swore under his breath. Because taking her blood in a moment of weakness would be selfish enough, but then he’d gone and made it worse. “A little while ago, I let her drink from me. We’re blood-bonded, Tavia.”
“Congratulations.”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, I did it all wrong. I fucked this up. We’re together because of a lie. Because I was on a mission and she was an asset I needed to win over. Then I discovered her secrets and I exploited them. I made her think she could trust me.”
“Are you saying she can’t?”
“No, that’s not it. I’d do anything for her. I’d give my life for hers.”
Tavia’s gentle gaze held him. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that.”
“After what happened in Montreal, I told myself never again. I was never going to trust myself to believe what I was feeling because it might not be real. I never wanted to be blinded like that again.”
“You were tricked, Rafe.” Tavia shook her head. “That Opus spy could’ve chosen anyone. And from what I saw of Devony tonight, I don’t think she could possibly be more different.”
“I know that. It’s not Devony I doubt.”
“Then what?”
“It’s this.” He held his fist to his sternum, where it felt as if a hole were opening up.
It had only worsened after he allowed Devony to drink from his vein while she still had faith in him. Was this helpless feeling love?
“I must be crazy, right? I must be fucking nuts to feel like this about Devony when I’ve only known her for a handful of days.”
Tavia smiled. “You’ll have to ask someone other than me. In fact, you’ll have to look further than this city. I don’t think there’s anyone under this roof, or any other Order command center around the world—including your parents—who needed more time than you and Devony have had to know in their hearts they’d met their mate.”