Dark Destiny (35 page)

At the next rising he intended to find a way to lock Destiny closer to him, find a way to force her acceptance of a healing by the Prince's second-in-command. He could be as ruthless as the next hunter if the situation called for it, and he believed this one would. Destiny was not likely to welcome Gregori, nor would she thank Nicolae for summoning the healer.

Nicolae gathered Destiny into his arms and waved his hand to command the earth to close over them. The soil was warm, welcoming and soothing. He held her close, brushed the top of her head with his lips and allowed his heart to cease beating.

Chapter Fifteen

She woke to the scent of flowers. She was no longer in the earth but lying on a bed with silken sheets. She could feel the silk on her bare skin, already arousing her body as the silk rubbed against her with every movement. Her hair was unbound and fell in a mass around her on the pillows. Destiny inhaled deeply, drawing the fragrance of flowers and her lifemate's masculine scent into her lungs. A small smile curved her mouth.

"Nicolae. You're here with me." She opened her eyes, turned her head to look at him. Drank in the hard angles and planes of his face. The sensuality of his mouth. The beauty of his eyes.

"Where else would I be but with my lifemate?" He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his gaze drifting lovingly over her face like the touch of fingers. His voice was a caress, a velvet stroke that reached deep within her and sent every nerve ending into overdrive.

With an effort, Destiny tore her eyes from his, her amazed stare moving around the chamber to take in what he had done for her. There was no chance for the stench of evil to enter their hidden world. Roses were everywhere. Climbing up the walls of the cavern. Forming an overhead canopy of flowers. Some floated on the surface of the coolest pool. Others sprang up among the rocks. Roses of all colors with soft, inviting petals and beautiful fragrance to please her.

Destiny's smile widened and she turned back to Nicolae. "You took Velda and Inez seriously, didn't you? Should I expect chocolate and the interesting things that can be done with it?"

His fingertip traced her soft skin from her throat, down the valley between her breasts, to her flat stomach. The small caress sent a curling heat spiraling through her body. "I was very afraid to ask Inez for the details of what exactly to do with the chocolate, so I skipped that part. I liked their idea of flowers, though."

There was a note in his voice that turned her heart over. "I like it too." She was very much aware of lying naked on the bed, her body soft and open to his inspection. A part of her wanted to cover up, feeling suddenly shy, but there was another, much stronger side that whispered of seduction. That reveled in the way his eyes were dark and hungry as his gaze moved possessively over her. She loved to see his body, so hard and aggressive, reacting to the sight of her. And she loved knowing that he liked what he saw.

Nicolae picked up her arm and turned it over as if inspecting the thin white scars marring her skin. The scars shouldn't have been there after her body had been repaired by Carpathian blood, but she had been converted by a vampire and those scars would remain for all time. Her heart accelerated in reaction. He bent his dark head and placed his lips gently against the scars, feathering kisses along her sensitive inner arm and wrist.

Destiny felt her stomach somersault in reaction. His lips traveled to her fingers, drawing first one, than another into the searing heat of his mouth. Her mouth went dry. His gaze suddenly locked with hers and she caught a glimpse of the flames burning in his belly, tightening his groin, hardening every muscle in his body. At once she caught fire, her own body restless and hot and needy. Without meaning to, she moved her hips against the silken sheets, her legs shifting in invitation.

It was shocking to her that she could catch fire so quickly, need him so much, want him in every way. A part of her would always hesitate, remain linked to her violent past, but looking into his eyes, Destiny was willing to be lost in him. In his fantasies. In his possession. She was willing to trust him with her body because she could feel the depth of his love.

He bent his head to hers. His hair caressed her skin with thousands of silky strands. Tiny flames seemed to leap over her skin. Electricity arced and sizzled between them. His mouth found hers. Hot. Hard. Totally possessive. While his hands were gentle and his movement slow and leisurely, his mouth was wildly possessive. Taking hers. Devouring hungrily. Feeding on her as if he would never get enough.

His kiss ignited a like storm of need and urgency in her. Her temperature rose several degrees. Her mouth took his just as hungrily, matching him kiss for kiss. She arched into him, her breasts thrusting upward invitingly. She felt tight and swollen and ached desperately for his touch.

His hand found her throat, slid lower to capture her breast. A soft sound of contentment escaped her; the sensations were so strong, so right. Her hips lifted in blatant invitation. He raised his head to look at her. "Have I told you that I love you?" he asked softly in his beautiful voice. The one that always melted her insides.

She went boneless. Helpless under his spell of enchantment. "If you haven't, you've certainly shown me." He had shown her what love was supposed to be. Unconditional. Loving without reservation, with total acceptance. "I feel very lucky at this moment," she confessed.

It was a great concession for her, an admission not made lightly. She wanted him with every bone in her body. Every nerve ending screamed for his possession.

He had other ideas. "I want to get to know you the way a lifemate should." His tongue swirled around her nipple, his breath warmed her. "I have a need to explore every inch of you."

His mouth closed over her breast, hot and moist and unbelievably possessive. She cried out, unable to contain the blossoming fire exploding in her belly. She could feel her body tighten relentlessly, mercilessly. She had never felt such a buildup of pressure so quickly, so fast. "Exploring should wait."

He smiled against her soft skin. "Leisurely exploring. Did I mention leisurely? I want to take my time."

She closed her eyes as wave after wave of sensation rocked her. "How much time?" She gasped out the words. "I don't know if I can take it."

There was silence as his mouth pulled strongly at her breast. His tongue laved and lavished attention on her nipples until she cried out again, circling his head with her arms to cradle him to her. There was no room for anything other than joy. Need. Sheer physical pleasure. The sensations rushed through her, filled her with fire and left her breathless and craving more.

Nicolae's hands began a slow, intimate search of her body. The pads of his fingers smoothed over her skin like a blind man memorizing texture and shape. It was the most shattering experience she'd ever had. Her body fragmented beneath his caresses, came apart, the sensations so powerful she couldn't hold still beneath his seeking hands. If he had not managed to tie them completely together before, he was doing so now. She would never be able to be apart from him, never be free of the craving for his touch.

She felt as if she were bound to him for all eternity, body and soul. There was not a place on or in her body that did not crave him. Her mind sought his. Her body throbbed for his possession. He was everywhere, finding every shadow, every hollow. Taking his time almost reverently, committing her to memory.

His mouth followed his hands. Tiny little kisses designed to drive her out of her mind. He paid particular attention to every trigger spot that made her gasp and writhe on the silken sheets. Every soft hidden shadow that brought her hips up off the bed. His tongue dipped into her intriguing belly button, one of the many places that fascinated him, even while his hands found the tight thatch of curls, the tiny triangle guarding her treasure.

He felt the first ripple of unease from her. Nicolae was prepared this time, knowing she felt intensely vulnerable and open to him. He stroked her gently, his hand cupping her dampness. "This is for me, Destiny, your body welcoming mine to you. Can you imagine how this makes me feel? The sight and scent of your welcome when I have been alone for so long? The way you make me feel that you really want me, that you have to have my body in the same way I need yours?" He whispered the words, bending his head to the junction between her legs as if seeking nectar.

Destiny could feel his breath warm on her moist feminine channel. He blew softy, and her body rippled with pleasure instead of fear. Nicolae parted her thighs, his finger pushing slowly, gently, into the hot, wet core of her. At once her small muscle clamped around him, gripped with hot, slick velvet. She shuddered in reaction and pushed against his hand, needing him deeper inside her. His tongue tasted her. It was the smallest of caresses, but she nearly jumped out of her skin, her cry one of pleading more than of objection.

Then his tongue probed boldly, a strong, demanding stroke that sent her skyrocketing. She screamed, catching fistfuls of his hair to anchor herself as her body burst into a firestorm without end. There was no way to quench the fire. She could only hang on to him as he drove her ever higher, a little ruthlessly, without mercy. Claiming her, branding her, taking her for his own.

She let go, she had no choice, allowing him the intense satisfaction of driving her over the edge. Her orgasm was so strong she shuddered with it, writhing beneath him, keening his name in an inarticulate sound.

Destiny was barely aware of his knees pushing hers further apart, of his thighs settling between hers.

She felt him, large and thick and hot, pulsing with life and need, pushing into her body. He was bigger than she remembered, filling her as he invaded, pressing tightly into her as he slowly began to settle his weight over her. The feel of him inside her was beyond pleasure, beyond her previous experience with him. He belonged. She knew it. She knew she was made for him alone. They fit. No matter that there was some slight stretching and adjusting, no matter that he had to tilt her hips to accommodate him. They fit together as if one single body.

Once deep inside her, he stopped moving, to look down at her, to assure himself that she was unafraid. He was pinning her down with the weight of his body, his hands curled around her hips. She felt his power and strength, knew in that precise heartbeat that he could dominate her will, take over her life. That she would fade to nothing without him.

Fear clouded her eyes. She blinked it away. She had the same power over him. She would not allow fear to keep her from what she wanted. This man. This one man. Her dark and wonderful hunter. It was Destiny who moved first, committing her body to his. Pushing into him, setting a rhythm, inviting him to take her as he wanted.

Nicolae sensed the wildness rising in him. His body was hot and far too tight, his belly and groin burning with urgent need. He moved, surging forward, burying himself deep inside her. A long, hard stroke that shook both of them. She lifted her hips to meet him, unafraid of the strength of his body as he picked up the rhythm, driving hard and fast, needing to empty himself. She was everything. Her body so lush and soft and inviting. He could feel the ebb and flow of her blood, calling him, enticing him.

Her breasts rocked with each hard stroke, drawing his attention so that twice he had to dip his head to lap at her nipples. He was rewarded with her muscles clenching even tighter. Her sheath was fiery hot, so tight he could barely breathe with the intensity of his pleasure.

He'd known from the moment he awakened what he was going to do, and the excitement of it, the anticipation, had been unbearable. Now she was his. He was going to make her completely his. Destiny was made for him alone, and he wanted her, body and soul. Without reservation. He built the exquisite fire between them, taking them up to the edge over and over until she whimpered for mercy.

"I want my blood flowing in your veins." He whispered the temptation. "I will not give us release until you have all of me. I want to be here, buried deep in your body. I want my mind merged deeply with yours and I want my blood in your veins."

There was no way to resist. The craving was already on her, lengthening her incisors so that she lifted her head toward the broad expanse of chest he was offering her. His scent enveloped her. His body was swelling more. The friction was scalding, searing her to her soul. She stroked his skin with her tongue and without further preamble sank her teeth deep, connecting them in the way they were meant to be.

He cried out, his voice strained with the pleasure-pain, the white-hot ecstasy pouring into both of them like molten lava. The flames danced over skin and muscles. Her body tightened around his, her muscles clenching strongly, demandingly. His life force, his ancient gift, filled her as his body filled her.

His hips drove harder, plunged deeper. He knew the moment she reached the pinnacle. The moment her body clutched his, taking him with her over the edge. Her tongue swept the pinpricks to close the tiny holes, to allow her to breathe, to cry out her pleasure to the roses, to the gods. He went willingly, pouring into her, allowing her to take the last drop of his essence.

Nicolae lay pinning her to the silken sheets with his larger, stronger body, his arms tightly around her. Their hearts were pounding together, her body rippling around his, still tightly gripping him. He moved the thick mass of her hair from her shoulder, baring her skin, her breast to his gaze. Very slowly, as if afraid of frightening her, he lowered his weight more fully, burying his face in the soft column of her throat.

He cupped her breast in his palm possessively, his breath hot on her skin. They were locked together, his body unbelievably as hard as ever. As thick as ever. As in need as ever. "Hold me, Destiny." The words were whispered against her ear. He nuzzled her neck, his lips feathering over her skin.

Her arms circled his neck immediately. Her body was still alive with aftershocks. When he moved she could feel her muscles clenching and unclenching, making her gasp each time with renewed pleasure. She drifted in the pleasure, the complete harmony between them, holding him close to her, loving the feel of his masculine body against the softness of hers.