In Other Worlds

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Against all reason--all sanity--she ached for him.

  Never in her life had she done anything like this. Not once. Yet she found herself opening the door to her room and letting him in.

  Sebastian breathed deeply in relief as he struggled for control. He'd never come so close to using his powers on a woman. It was forbidden for his kind to interfere with human freewill unless it was in defense of their lives or someone else's. He'd bent that rule a time or two to serve his purposes. Tonight, had she refused him, he held no doubt he would have broken it. But she hadn't refused him. Thank the gods for small favors.

  He watched her as she set her key card on the dresser. She hesitated and he felt her nervousness.

  "I won't hurt you, Channon."

  She offered him a tentative smile. "I know."

  He cupped her face in his hands and stared into those celestial blue eyes. "You are so beautiful."

  Channon held her breath as he pulled her to him and recaptured her lips. None of this night made sense to her. None of her feelings. She clung to Sebastian as she sought for an explanation for why she had let him into her room.

  Why she was going to make love to him. A stranger. A man she knew nothing about. A man she would like as not never see again.

  Yet none of that mattered. All that mattered was this moment in time--holding him close to her and keeping him here in her room for as long as she could.

  She felt his hands free her hair to cascade down her back. He slid her coat from her shoulders, and she let it fall to the floor. Running his hands up her arms, he pulled back to stare down at her with hungry eyes. No man had ever given her such a look. One of fierce longing, of total possession. Scared and excited, she helped him from his overcoat. His eyes dark with unsated passion, he removed his jacket and tossed it aside without care that it would be wrinkled later. So much for his impeccable suit. It thrilled her that she meant more to him than that. Page 89

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  He loosened his tie and pulled it over his head.

  His eyes softened as she moved to unbutton his shirt. He caught her right hand in his and nibbled her fingertips, sending ribbons of pleasure through her, then he led her hand to his buttons and watched her intently.

  Hot and aching for him, Channon worked the buttons through the buttonholes of his shirt. She trailed her gaze after her hands, watching as she bared his skin inch by slow, studied inch. Oh, good heavens, the man had a body that had been ripped from her dreams. His muscles were tight and perfect and covered by the most luscious tawny skin she'd ever seen. Dark hairs dusted his skin, making him seem even more like a predator, even more dangerous and manly.

  Channon paused at the hard abs that held several scars. She traced her hand over them, feeling his sharp intake of breath as her fingers brushed the raised, lighter skin. "What happened?"

  "Dragons have sharp talons," he whispered. "Sometimes I don't get out of the way quickly enough."

  She placed her hand over one really nasty-looking scar by his hipbone. "Maybe you should fight smaller dragons."

  "That wouldn't be very sporting of me."

  She swallowed as he removed his shirt and she saw his unadorned chest for the first time. He was scrumptious. She ran her palm over his taut, hard pecs, delighting in the way they felt under her hands. She ran her fingers up his chest and across his lean, hard shoulder, which was tattooed with a dragon.

  "You do like dragons, don't you?"

  He laughed. "Yes, I do."

  Sebastian was doing his best to be patient, to let her get used to him. But it was hard when all he really wanted to do was lay her down on the bed and relieve the fierce ache in his loins. He nibbled at her neck as he unfastened the buttons on her jumper and let it fall to the floor. She stood before him wearing nothing but her shoes and her misbuttoned shirt. It was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in his four hundred years of living. "Do you always button your shirts like this?"

  She looked down and gasped. "Oh, good grief. I was in a hurry this morning and--"

  He stopped her words with a kiss. "Don't apologize," he whispered against her lips. "I like it."

  "You're a very strange man."

  "And you are a goddess."

  Channon shook her head at him as he picked her up in his arms and moved with her toward the bed. She placed her hands over his muscles, which were taut from his strain. The feel of them made her mouth water. He laid her gently on the mattress, then ran his hands down her legs to her feet so he could remove her shoes and socks and toss them over his shoulder.

  Her heart pounding, Channon watched as he nibbled his way over her hip to her stomach. He moved his hands to her shirt and slowly unbuttoned it, kissing and licking every piece of her skin that he bared. She moaned at the sight and feel of his mouth on her, at the way he seemed to savor her body. Spikes of pleasure pierced her stomach as her body throbbed and ached for him to fill her. She wanted him inside her so much that she feared she might burst into flames from the fire tearing through her body.

  Sebastian felt her wetness on his skin as he slid himself against her. His body screamed for hers, but he wasn't through with her yet. He wanted to savor her, to commit every inch of her lush body to his memory.

  What he felt for her amazed him. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. On some strange level she gave him peace, sanctuary. She filled the loneliness in his battered heart. He buried his face in her neck while her hardened nipples teased the flesh of his chest and her hands roamed over his back. "You feel so good under me," he whispered as he soaked her essence into him. Channon took a deep, ragged breath. His words delighted her.

  He nuzzled her neck, his whiskers softly teasing her flesh while his hand skimmed over her body to touch the burning ache between her legs. She hissed at the pleasure of his fingers toying with her and arched her back against him as he slowly dragged his mouth from her neck to her breast. His tongue swept against the hardened tip, making her tingle and throb.

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  She bit her lip as a wave of fear went through her. "I want you to know that I don't normally do this sort of thing."

  He lifted himself up on his arms to look down at her. He pressed his hips between her legs so that she could feel the large bulge of him while his expensive wool pants slightly chafed her inner thighs. The hot feel of him there was enough to drive her wild with need.

  "If I thought you did, my lady, I wouldn't be here with you now." His gaze intensified, holding her enthralled. "I see you, Channon. You and the barriers you have around you that keep everyone at a distance."

  "And yet you're here."

  "I'm here because I know the sadness inside you. I know what it feels like to wake in the morning, lost and lonely and aching for someone to be there with me."

  Her heart clenched as he spoke the very things that really were a part of her. "Why are you alone? I can't imagine a man so handsome without a line of willing women fighting behind him."

  "Looks aren't all there is in this world, my lady. They are certainly no protection against being alone. Hearts never see through the eyes."

  Channon swallowed at his words. Did he mean them? Or was this all some lie he was telling her to make her feel better about what she was doing with him? She didn't know. But she wanted to believe him. She wanted to comfort the torment she saw in his hungry eyes. He pulled away from her and removed his shoes and pants. Channon trembled as she finally saw him completely naked. Like a dangerous, dark beast moving sinuously in the moonlight, he was incredible. Absolutely stunning.

  Every inch of him was muscled and toned and covered by the most scrumptious tanned skin she'd ever beheld. The only flaws on his perfect body were the scars marking his back, hips, and legs. They really did look like claw and bite marks from some ferocious beast. When he rejoined her on the bed, she pulled the tie from his
hair, letting it fall forward to surround his sinfully handsome face.

  "You look like some barbaric chieftain," she said, running her hand through the silkiness of his unbound hair. She traced the intricate lines of the tattoo on his face.

  "Mmm," he breathed, taking her breast in his mouth.

  Channon held his head to her as his tongue teased her. Ripples of pleasure tore through her. She ran her hands down his muscled ribs, then along his arms and shoulders as she drifted through a strange hazy fog of pleasure. Something strange was happening to her. With every breath he expelled, it was like his touch intensified. Multiplied. Instead of one tongue stroking her, she swore she could feel a hundred of them. It was as if her skin was alive and being massaged all over at once. Sebastian hissed as his powers ran through him. Sex always heightened the senses of his breed. The intensity of physical pleasure was highly sought by his people for the elevation it gave them and their magic. The beauty of it was that the surge of power usually lasted a full day, and in the case of truly great sex, two days.

  Channon was definitely a two-day high.

  He looked into her eyes to see her gaze unfocused and wild. His powers were affecting her, too. The physical stimulation to a human was even greater than it was to his breed. He knew the moment she lost herself to the ecstasy of his sorcerer's touch. Her barriers and inhibitions gone, she threw her head back and cried out as an orgasm tore through her. "That's it," he whispered in her ear. "Don't fight it."

  She didn't. Instead, she turned toward him and grabbed feverishly at his body. Sebastian groaned as he obliged her eagerness.

  She sought out every inch of his flesh with her hands and mouth. He rolled over and pulled her on top of him, where she straddled his waist, letting him feel her wetness on the hollow of his stomach. He knew she was past the ability to speak now and a part of him regretted that. She was all need. All hot, demanding sex.

  Her eyes wild and hungry, she took his hands in hers and led them to her breasts as she slid herself Page 91

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  against his swollen shaft. She leaned forward to drag her tongue along the edge of his jaw as she nibbled her way to his lips.

  She kissed him passionately, then pulled back. "What have you done to me?" she asked hoarsely, her words surprising him.

  "It's not exactly me," he said honestly. "It's something I can't help."

  She moaned and writhed against him, making his body burn even more. "I need you inside me, Sebastian. Please."

  He wasted no time obliging her. Rolling her over, he curled his body around hers as they lay with her back to his front. He draped her leg over his waist.

  He tucked her head beneath his chin and held her close as he drove himself deep inside her sleek wetness. He growled at the warm, wet feel of her while she leaned her head back into his shoulder and cried out.

  Channon had never felt anything like this. No man had ever made love to her in such a manner. Her right hip was braced against his inner thigh while he used his left knee to hold her left leg up so that he had access to her body from behind her. She didn't know how he managed it, but his strokes were deep and even, and they tore through her with the most intense pleasure she had ever known. He was so hard inside her, so thick and warm.

  And she wanted more of his touch. More of his power.

  He slid his hand down over her stomach, then lower until he touched her between her legs. She hissed and writhed as pleasure tore through her while his fingers rubbed her in time to his strokes. And still it felt as if a thousand hands caressed her, as if she were being bathed all over by his touch, his scent. Out of her mind with ecstasy, she met him lush stroke for lush stroke. Her body felt as if it held a life of its own, as if the pleasure of her was its own entity. She needed even more of him. Sebastian was awed by her response to him. No human woman had ever been like this. If he didn't know better, he'd swear she was part Drakos. She dug her nails into the flesh of the arms he had wrapped around her, and when she came again she screamed out so loudly, he had to quickly put a dampening spell around them to keep others from hearing her.

  His powers surging, he smiled wickedly at that. He loved satisfying his partner, and with Channon he took even more delight than normal.

  She rolled slightly in his arms, capturing his lips in a frenzied kiss. Sebastian cupped her face as he quickened his strokes and buried himself even deeper in her body. She felt so incredibly good to him. So warm and welcoming. So perfect. He held her close against him as his heart pounded and his groin tightened even more. The feel of her, the taste of her, cascaded through his senses, making him reel, making him ache, yet at the same time soothing him.

  The beast in him roared and snapped in satisfaction while the man buried himself deep in her and shook from the force of his orgasm. With the two parts of him sated and united, it was the most incredible moment of his entire life.

  Channon groaned as she felt his release inside her. Still wrapped around her, he pulled her even closer to his chest. She heard his ragged breathing and felt his heart pounding against her shoulder blade. The manly scent of him filled her head and her heart, making her want to stay cocooned by his body forever. Slowly, the throbbing pleasure faded from her and left her weak and drained from the intensity of their love-making.

  When he withdrew from her, she felt a tremendous sense of loss.

  "What did you do to me?" she asked, turning onto her back to look at him. He kissed his way across her collarbone to her lips. "I did nothing, ma petite. It was all you."

  "Trust me, I've never done that before."

  He laughed softly in her ear.

  She smiled at him and dropped her gaze to the small gold medallion he wore around his neck. Odd, she hadn't noticed it before.

  She traced the chain with her fingers, then took it into her hand. It was obviously quite old. Ancient Page 92

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  Greek if she didn't miss her guess. The gold held a relief of a dragon coiled around a shield. "This is beautiful," she breathed.

  Sebastian looked down at her hand and covered her fingers with his. "It belonged to my mother," he said, wondering why he spoke of it. It was something he'd never shared with anyone else. "I don't really remember her, but my brother said she told him to give it to me so that I would know how much she loved me."

  "She died?"

  He nodded. "I was barely six when . . ." His voice trailed off as his memories of that night scorched him. Inside his head he could still hear the screams of the dying and smell the fires. He remembered the terror and the arms of his brother, Theren, pulling him to safety. He'd always lived with the horrors of that night close to his heart. Tonight, with Channon, it didn't seem to hurt quite so much.

  She ran her hand over the markings on his face. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and inside his heart, he could feel her sincerity. "I was nine when my mother died of cancer. And there's always this little piece of me that wishes I could hear the sound of her voice just one more time."

  "You're without family?"

  She nodded. "I grew up with my aunt, who died two years ago."

  He felt her ache inside his own heart and it surprised him. He hated that she was alone in the world. Like him. It was a hard way to be.

  Tightening his arms, he let his body comfort her.

  Channon closed her eyes as he ran his tongue around and into her ear, sending chills over her. She leaned into his arms and pulled him close for another scorching kiss. A tiny part of her wanted to beg him not to leave her in the morning. But she refused to embarrass herself. She'd known going into this that tonight would be all they would ever have. Yet the thought of not seeing him again hurt her more than she could fathom. She literally felt that losing him would be like losing a vital part of herself.

  Sebastian knew he should leave now, but something inside him rebelled. It wasn't much lon
ger until dawn. He still had to retrieve the tapestry and return home. But right now, all he wanted was to spend a little more time holding this woman, keeping her in the warm shelter of his arms.

  "Sleep, Channon," he whispered as he sent a small sleeping spell to her. If she were awake and looking at him, he would never be able to let her go.

  Immediately, she went limp in his arms.

  Sebastian ran his fingers over the delicate curve of her cheek as he watched her. She was so beautiful by his side.

  He clenched his hand against her silken curls and took a deep breath in her hair. Her floral scent reminded him of warm summer days of shared laughter and friendship. Her bare hips were nestled perfectly against his groin, her lower back against his stomach. Her smooth legs were entwined with his masculine ones. Gods, how he ached to keep her here like this. He felt himself stirring again. He felt the need within him to take her one more time before he upheld his obligation.

  You must go.

  As much as he hated to, he knew he had no choice.

  Sighing in regret, he withdrew from the warmth of her and crept from the bed, still amazed by the night they had shared. He would never forget her. And for the first time in his life, he actually considered coming back here for a while.

  But that was impossible.

  His kind didn't do well in the modern world, where they were easily hunted and found. He needed wide-open spaces and a simpler world where he could have the freedom and solitude he needed. Clenching his teeth against the pain of necessity, he dressed silently in the dark. Sebastian stepped away from the bed, then paused.

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  He couldn't leave like this, as if the night had meant nothing to him. Pulling his mother's medallion from his neck, he placed it around Channon's and kissed her parted lips.

  "Sleep, little one," he whispered. "May the Fates be kind to you. Always."

  Then, he shimmered from her room and out into the dark night. Alone. He was always alone. He'd long ago accepted that fact. It was what had to be.

  But tonight he felt that loneliness more profoundly than he had ever felt it before. As he rounded the hotel's building and headed toward his car, he collided with a middle-aged woman who was walking, huddled from the cold, in a worn jacket. She wore the faded uniform of a waitress and the old shoes of a woman who had no choice but to be practical.