Caress of Flame (15 page)

“You are the most amazing female I have ever known,” he told her, holding her gaze with his. His fingers unerringly found her clit and toyed with it tenderly as he looked down at her. “I can’t imagine how I’ve managed to live without you for so long,” he whispered in admission. “I can never let you go now. You
know
that, don’t you?”

“I’ll never let you go,” she sighed. “And I’d kill anyone and anything who dared to try to come between us.”

Unable to stop himself, Flare laughed at her words. She sounded deadly serious, and for some reason that made him feel joyous. He kissed her mouth hard and rose to remove his own clothing with impatient hands. He donned a condom in record time, with trembling hands.

Once he was nude, he came down on top of her once again, gently, so as not to hurt her. “By Grimm, your skin feels so
soft
,” he murmured, kissing her temples, cheeks and chin with light presses of his shapely lips.

7“And you’re so hard,” Isis said wickedly before taking his thick cock in her hand.

Flare caught his breath at the caress. When her fingers began to move on him, stroking every inch of him, he growled and took her nipple into his mouth to tease and titillate her as she was doing to him. Isis let her free hand fist at the hair on the nape of his neck, her fingers tangling in his soft hair, holding him to her breast.

Her hold on him tightened and he cried out his passion. His fingers dug into the mattress at her sides, leaving singe marks in the sheets as he lost some of his control.

“Baby, you drive me wild.” He let his lips tickle her nipple as he spoke the words before he flicked out his tongue and tasted her again. He pulled himself from her grasp, ignoring her murmur of disappointment. It was necessary, however, for his control was slipping fast beneath her caress.

Holding her gaze captive with his, he pressed into her. The large, mushroom head of his cock stretched her tender flesh and she cried out as it popped into her unexpectedly. Never letting go of her gaze, he moved his hands down between their bodies and found her clit. He let his fingers gather her moisture so that they were slippery over her tight, erect flesh.

Isis melted around him. He sank into her, filling her completely. When he reached the heart of her, fully sheathed, they both moaned, yet never did they stop gazing into each other’s souls. His hair fell forward like a dark curtain, tangling with hers. With his free hand, Flare caught one of hers and held it back against the mattress, entwining their fingers so that they were joined in every way.

He began to rock into her. Gently at first. So gently that he brought tears to her eyes.

Then with deeper, surer strokes that made her gasp and writhe. All the while his hand in hers held it back against the bed, and his other toyed with her hard little clit. He left no part of her unclaimed, laying waste to all of her secrets, fears and misgivings. She was totally his.

Isis couldn’t find a breath that wasn’t thick with his scent and heat, nor did she want to. He swamped all of her senses, making her feel open and free, yet cared for and protected in ways she’d never experienced before. In that moment he could have claimed her soul and she wouldn’t have minded in the least.

With long, sure, gentle strokes of his body sliding into hers, he drove her up high to the heavens. She came softly, easily, tightening her body around his until he too joined her at passion’s peak. They cried out together, gazes still locked on each other’s, so that they saw the magic working in their eyes as they came together.

Several minutes later, Flare collapsed onto the bed beside her. “By Grimm, but you have drained me, woman,” he said with harsh gasps. Then he turned to her and kissed her gently on the mouth. “You astound me at every turn,” he murmured. They eyed each other for long minutes, each content within themselves.

“I want you to teach me to be as strong as you are,” she whispered abruptly, fingers stroking his cheek softly.

8Flare smiled at her tenderly. “You already are. But,” he continued softly, gaze growing thoughtful, yet worried, “there is one thing you could do to become even stronger.”

Interest piqued, Isis felt her eyes go wide. “What?”

“It won’t be easy,” he explained.

“I’m willing to do anything,” she vowed.

“You could become a Shikar,” he told her softly.

Isis frowned, confused. “What?”

“I can change you into what I am,” he told her patiently. “You can have the same traits as we Shikars do. But…as I said, it won’t be easy.”

“How can you do that?”

“You have noticed that I always use a condom when we mate,” he remarked and Isis nodded. “We Shikars have a rule among us, one that is virtually unbreakable. We cannot lie with human women without protection.”

“Why?” she asked, puzzled.

“Because our seed, spent inside a woman’s body, would kill her.”

Isis gasped. “You could do this? Kill me with your sperm?”

Flare shook his head. “You are one of the very rare human women who could possibly overcome your death and be reborn as a Shikar.”

Isis eyed him thoughtfully. “So what you’re saying is, you think you can change me, but there is no guarantee that I won’t die trying.”

“Yes.” He watched her carefully to witness her reaction. “Four human women have been changed. No more. But you and I love each other, and you are strong. I believe I could change you. I wouldn’t risk your life without being sure.”

“You love me?” she asked in a whisper.

Flare’s gaze could have burned stone, it was so hot. “I do.”

Isis felt a thrill of exaltation. Calming herself with some effort, she thought on his words. She looked back at her life, seeing how empty it had been before Flare, how dark and cold and lonesome her world had been before meeting him. The thought of a future with him at her side, a future that would let her live as long as he could, be as strong as he was, was scary yet at the same time savagely exciting.

She made her decision almost immediately. “Okay,” she said, rolling on top of him.

“Change me then,” she whispered against his mouth before kissing him long and deep.

Her nimble fingers sought and found the tip of his used condom and she pulled it off him easily, tossing it over her shoulder carelessly. Isis then moved down his body and took him into her mouth before he could even voice a protest.

Not that he would have. Her mouth was like magic on him. Isis used her lips, teeth and tongue to tease and torment him. Then she shocked him by stretching her mouth 8around him and deep-throating his erection. He felt the silken heat of her suckling him and bucked uncontrollably against her.

“Wait,” he said, pushing her back. Isis moaned around his cock then slowly released him. Before she could ask why, he turned her body so that they were in the sixty-nine position. This opened her wide to accept Flare’s kiss, making her feel vulnerable and yet strong at the same time.

She took him in her mouth again as he licked the seam of her pussy, delving in deeper to taste her. Isis moaned around his cock and she felt the vibration of his answering moan against her wet, aching cunt. He flicked his tongue against her clit, driving her wild so that she suckled him in response, bobbing her head up and down his length.

When his tongue slid over her anus she choked on a cry of pure ecstasy. She stroked his legs then let her hands wander, at last cupping his testicles gently in her eager palm. She stroked him there as she stroked his cock with her mouth, and she felt him growl against her, licking her anus once again in reward for her sensual ministrations.

At last, he could take no more. He turned her again, her mouth making a popping sound as it released him, until he had settled her on her knees and moved up behind her. He immediately thrust into her tender, pink cunt. They both cried out with pleasure, and he withdrew only to plunge back inside her welcoming body.

“You are so wet,” he growled. “So sweet and tight.”

Isis gasped. “You’re so hard and big. I
love
your cock,” she moaned.

He thrust into her, hard, then took a deep, calming breath. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you,” he revealed.

“You make me feel whole,” she admitted in return, then moaned as his hands squeezed the cheeks of her ass.

“I want to be one with you forever, just like this.” He thrust again, hitting the mouth of her womb hard so that they both gasped.

Then there was no more room for words. The only sounds in the room were the rasps of their heavy breathing and the wet, sucking sounds her body made with every thrust and withdrawal of his. Flare’s hands moved around her and took her bouncing breasts in his hands. His clever fingers squeezed and pinched her nipples, wringing a cry from her as the pleasure hit her like a physical blow.

“Come for me, baby,” he commanded her. “Milk me with your sweet pussy.”

His words enflamed her as much as his touch. He pounded into her, increasing his pace and strength, and then she was flying. Isis heard herself scream as the climax slammed into her. Her whole body trembled, her mind went blank and she was filled with such exquisite sensations that she nearly passed out.

Flare let her come down and regain her senses. He still thrust in and out of her wet, clinging body, but softer now. “When I come, think only of me. Hold onto your love for 8me in your mind and heart,” he instructed breathlessly. “I will follow you into death and save you. But you must fight the urge to travel on into oblivion before I reach you.”

Isis felt her passion rise again—she couldn’t help it. He was still moving inside of her and the sound of his voice alone was a caress. He thrust into her harder, faster, and she cried out as yet another climax hit her hard. She heard Flare’s shout of triumph and the scalding hot splash of his cum spurted deep into her.

8
Chapter Twelve

For a moment, everything was fine. They both came down from their high and collapsed into the mattress. Their breathing slowed eventually and the air grew cooler.

Then, without warning, her body temperature fell alarmingly. Her head ached like a migraine had taken hold. “It’s so cold,” she whispered in wonder as bright starbursts lit within her eyes.

“Hold onto me!” Flare clutched her body to his.

“So…cold…” She felt the darkness coming to swallow her up and felt a jolt of real fear. But she tamped down on that fear and rallied her strength. She fought against the lure of death, struggled for her very life, fighting as she never had before. “Flare,” she called out weakly.

Isis heard his echoing words as he called to her. She felt a slipping sensation, as if she were dangling from a high cliff and was too weak to hold on with her tired hands.

There was a wrenching feeling as she fell and she knew her soul had broken free of her body.

Darkness blinded her. All her senses fled, save one. She could still hear Flare calling for her. For one seemingly endless moment she wondered why she should stay behind when the still call of death was so strong. It was so hard to fight the deepening dark.

Then she felt Flare’s presence, there in the blackness, strengthening her waning resolve to live. He called her name again—his voice sounding miles away—and she tried to call back, but she had no voice with which to speak. She tried to find him but she had no sight with which to see.

“Isis!” Flare’s voice seemed closer.

With a strength that surprised her in this dark place, she pulled away from the lure of oblivion. She fought to take hold of her own soul, fought to guide it back from the precipice of death.

“I’m here, Isis.” There was a falling sensation again as she slowly became aware of her physical body once more. She was cradled in Flare’s warm arms, lifeless and spent.

But her will was strong and she forced the weakness away. She felt her soul enter her body with a slamming, brutal force that made her scream and then she fainted in Flare’s embrace.

Moments later she came to herself again and heard an astonishing sound. Flare was weeping, calling her name over and over again. Isis sat up dizzily and Flare gasped. He held her closer and all the cold she’d felt before was banished with his endless heat. She met his gaze with her own and saw the tears he had wrought for her.

8Flare ran his hand over her head, stroking her hair. “I thought I’d lost you,” he managed in a gravelly voice, swallowing his tears.

“I’m fine,” she croaked and her throat hurt as if she’d been shouting. Isis cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m okay. Really.” Her hands came up and brushed away the last of his tears. “I’m feeling stronger now.” She sat up in his arms and looked around her.

Everything had changed. Colors were brighter, scents were stronger and she felt sure she could hear the squeak of a mouse from half a mile away if she wanted. Her body felt strong—stronger than she’d ever felt before. Ever. She looked down at herself, expecting something—anything—that would reveal the depth of her transformation.

But she looked the same as far as she could tell and almost felt a pang of disappointment.

Flare unerringly knew what she was thinking. “Your eyes have changed,” he said, still stroking her hair tenderly.

“How do you mean?” she asked.

“Go and look.” He pointed toward the mirror mounted on a far wall. Isis rose and approached it with some small trepidation. She had to stand up on her tiptoes to look into the mirror and when she did she gasped. Her eyes looked exactly like Flare’s, golden yellow with a rim of fiery orange around the dark pupil.

“I have Shikar eyes,” she said in wonder. “Did it work then? Am I a Shikar?” She had to be sure.

Flare nodded, coming to stand behind her so that their images overlapped each other in the mirror. “You are a Shikar. You have been gifted with longevity, super speed, strength and intelligence. You are no longer a human woman.”

“I had super strength already,” she joked, but she felt no humor at all in the situation. All she could feel was awe.

“You will be even stronger now,” he told her. “I wonder what Caste you will be?”

he mused quietly.

“Caste?”