Dark Destiny (41 page)

Harry dressed quickly and hurried down to the street, heading for the hospital, uncertain why it was so important to him, but needing desperately to spend the remainder of the night in the hospital room with his wife.

Destiny shivered, buried her face against Nicolae's neck. "I never once thought it was a man. A doctor. Someone who is supposed to be a healer. Why would anyone choose to be so evil?"

Nicolae brushed a kiss onto her hair, wanting to take away the pain of her memories of other monsters. "I cannot give you an answer, little one, but do not be sad. Blythe will learn to be happy with Harry again, and eventually all of these people will be able to live their lives in peace, thanks to your caring enough to listen to them and piece it all together."

"Thank you for thinking of sending him to her. I knew we couldn't remove her from the hospital, but I couldn't bear the thought of her being alone." She tangled her fingers in his hair and nuzzled his neck, aching to hold him to her and make love to him. He always contrived to make sense out of a world that was never quite sane.
How did I ever manage without you
?

He kissed her. Hard. Possessively.
Come with me. We have done what we could for our friends. I wish to do something for you. Let me take you to that movie
.

It was the last thing she expected, and it made her laugh. "You're crazy, you know that?"

She couldn't stop smiling. Joy seemed to start in her soul and spread through her body until her lips curved in complete happiness. She and Nicolae shifted shape once again, materializing in their true forms on the sidewalk together in front of the movie theater. Nicolae immediately drew her into his arms, pulling her tightly against the hard strength of his body. His long, lean fingers tunneled deep into the thick mass of her hair. "I have waited for hours to get you alone."

"Really?" Pleasure blossomed through her body. "I wanted to be alone with you too," she confided. No matter what he said about the darkness inside male Carpathians, Nicolae would always be her light.

A cool breeze slid over her body, bringing the inevitable mist with it. Laughing, happy, they slipped into the dark of the theater. Only a few couples were scattered around the large room. Nicolae found the darkest corner, up in the balcony where they were all alone. It wasn't a vampire movie but an action movie. Destiny had seen it advertised, a popular video game made into a movie, and she particularly loved the actress. The balcony seats were wide and comfortable, and she settled into one with a little sigh.

"Did you really summon the healer? Gregori?"

"Do not sound so worried," he answered, sliding his arm along the back of her seat to rest on her shoulders. "He has a lifemate, and it would be impossible for him to be other than good."

Destiny shifted, leaning close to him. "What's he like?"

He waited to answer, framing her face between his hands, finding her mouth with his. Fire poured into her. Into him. His tongue danced and dueled with hers. He had already waited too long to have her. His body was hard and aching. His mouth said it all to her, taking command, a hard possession, a declaration of his intentions.

He lifted his head and stared down into her enormous eyes and smiled. His voice was very calm when he answered her. "Gregori comes from a revered lineage. His ancestors have always guarded the Prince of our people, and most of them had a tremendous ability to heal. All of us can do so when called upon, of course, but the talent runs strongest in his line. I do not know him, but I knew his father, a man of loyalty and integrity who always stood by our people."

She was beginning to know Nicolae well. "A warrior. A hunter," she interpreted.

"Exactly."

A man much like Nicolae, one he would respect.

Destiny nodded. "All right, then. I'll stick around and see what he's like."

The action on the screen was fast-paced and intense as sinister men stalked toward the heroine's mansion. Nicolae glanced at the screen, then looked around the theater. "So this is what it is like to watch a movie from the balcony. I must confess I was never much of a movie patron." His thumb slid along the neckline of her blouse, slipped inside to caress bare skin.

A shiver of pure awareness went down her spine. "Movies are wonderful. I really admire the imaginations of the people putting together such wonderful worlds." She glanced at him. He wasn't looking at the screen but at her, his dark eyes smoky with desire, with raw sexual hunger. His hands went to the front of her blouse and her heart began to pound. "Nicolae, this really is a good movie."

"Is it?" he murmured, clearly distracted.

She was all too aware of his fingers slipping the tiny buttons open down the front of her blouse. His knuckles brushed her bare skin as the material gaped open. She tried to be shocked, but excitement set in. "Is this what you do on your movie dates?" She found it hotly erotic to be sitting in a movie theater in the dark with her blouse open and her breasts aching and swollen with need. She watched, fascinated, as his long fingers stroked her soft, creamy skin.

"Did you think I came to watch the movie?" He sounded amused.

"Well… yes." The breath slammed out of her lungs as his fingers began to shape her breast, his thumb lovingly brushing the nipple into a taut peak of desire.

"I wanted to watch you watch the movie. I love to watch you enjoy things. Do you object to wearing a skirt?"

"A skirt?" she echoed faintly.

"Instead of pants. A short skirt. You do not have to wear anything under it." His voice purred as his fingers stroked.

His request seemed sinfully wicked, wonderfully sexy, and as she complied in the easy way of their people, donning a short thigh-length skirt, she felt the flush of heat moving through her body. "So I'm to sit here and watch the movie while you watch me?"

"Excellent idea," he agreed. One fingernail lengthened to slit through the thin lace of her bra, freeing her full breasts from the wispy confines. "I just want you to enjoy yourself." Nicolae cupped the soft weight of one breast in his palm. The cool air teased her heated skin, tightened her nipples even more.

On the screen, the heroine was running through her large mansion as intruders finally broke in, determined to steal an important icon left to her by her father. Nicolae bent his dark head to Destiny's enticing offering. His mouth found her vulnerable throat as her head fell back. His tongue swirled, tasting her skin, the temptation of her pulse.

You move me. Every time I look at you, touch you, I know I am alive
. If the strict truth were told, his insides went into total meltdown the moment he touched her body. Kissing her sent him into a heady spin. Fire raced through his veins and burned in his belly, but most of all, even greater than his tremendous physical response to her, was the intensity of his love. It shook him as nothing else ever had.

Her skin was amazingly soft. He wanted to touch every inch of her. Take his time and simply feel. Revel in his ability to do so. The contrast between a man's body and a woman's fascinated him. Her curves were lush and inviting; he wanted to sink deep into them and spend long hours enjoying every moment.

He feathered kisses down her throat, his mouth traveling to the tip of her inviting breast. The low sounds she made in her throat only served to heighten his pleasure. He wanted her needing him with the same mindless urgency he was feeling. He wanted that cool look gone from her face, her eyes cloudy with desire for him. He wanted her so distracted, she would never be able to look at a movie again without remembering this night and growing hot at the memory.

Teeth nipped and scraped gently, teasingly; his tongue lapped gently. He was pleased when her arms cradled his head, holding him to her breast. The music from the soundtrack pounded in his body, a hard, driving beat that matched the rhythm of his mouth as he took possession of her breast. She arched into him, her hips writhing in the seat, unable to stay still under the wild assault on her senses.

Destiny tangled her fist in his hair. "Wild man, let's go home. You've gone crazy on me." But she held him to her, not wanting him to stop.

He feasted on her body, teasing her breasts, first one, then the other, delighting in his ability to do so. She was his, sharing her body, allowing him free rein as he carefully explored each abundant offering. He heard the music throbbing through the theater, but time and space dropped away so he was unaware of anything but her yielding flesh.

Nicolae found the hemline of her short skirt and traced it along the top of her thighs. His hand slid between her legs and urged them apart to give him access to the treasure he knew was his. Moist heat radiated a welcome to him. Her satisfaction deepened his own desire. Destiny responded like a flower opening to him.

He stroked her thighs, found her tight curls and caressed the moist folds the small triangle guarded. His palm cupped her softness, pushed against her, was rewarded when she pushed back, seeking relief.

"I want to go home," she whispered again.

"Yes, we need to be home," he agreed, pushing his finger deep just to feel her reaction. She shivered with excitement and need. Her hips writhed on the seat.

All at once the confines of the movie theater were too restrictive. She needed to be out in the open where she could breathe. Where she could cry out with joy. Where she could have complete privacy with Nicolae. "Take me home," she said, her arms circling his neck.

Nicolae found her mouth again, sweeping her into his world of fire and pleasure, his fingers bringing her to a fever pitch. He lifted her into his arms and took her from the world of humans, back into the night. Their night. Their world.

Destiny felt tears burning behind her eyes. The night was cool on her skin. Fog slid along the ground and a soft mist instantly enveloped them. The shadows were places of beauty, not evil. She reached toward the night, embracing it. Embracing her life with Nicolae. Her mouth found his as they stood together. She belonged. Finally. Irrevocably. She belonged with this man.

She poured everything she felt into her kiss. Her needs. Her dreams. Her acceptance of him. Most of all, her complete trust in him. She forgot the scandalously short skirt she was wearing, wrapping one leg around him, pressing her body against his.

Nicolae found the bare curve of her bottom and held her tightly to him. Destiny was ravenous, matching him kiss for kiss, flame for flame. He lifted his head to the cooling mist and laughed for the sheer joy of being able to hold her in his arms. He took them to the skies, high over the city, his arms wrapped around her as they moved through the clouds.

Clothes were too much of a burden, and both shed them at nearly the exact moment. With their mouths fused together and Destiny's hands clasped at the back of his neck, she lifted her legs to wrap them firmly around his waist. The head of his erection was large, pressing tightly against her opening, seeking entrance. She knew she should wait, they were already too wild, but the temptation was far too great. She was pulsing with need, desperate for relief from the too tight, too hot feeling. Every nerve in her body cried out for his possession. Every muscle clenched with desperate urgency.

Nicolae gasped as she lowered herself onto him, right there in the air, taking him deep into her body. Her tight sheath was fiery hot, in complete contrast to the cool air surrounding them. He spun them, a dizzying drop as they flashed across the sky toward their home, making her cling tighter, her soft breasts pressed tightly against his chest.

She had intended to be perfectly still as he carried her through the sky, but the sensation of him filling her with his hard thickness was too much. The movement of flying simply added to the delicious sensations. She began to move, a slow, sexy ride, moving up and down, her hips lifting away from him, then slowly settling over his heavy erection once again.

Every muscle in his body was taut and strained. He shuddered each time she lowered her body around his, each time her sheath gripped him and stroked him with hot velvet. The friction sent flames dancing over his skin in spite of the cooling mist. It was sensuous and alluring, riding through the sky with her impaled on his hard body. Her dark cloud of hair spilled around them like a silken cape, teasing his heightened senses even more. Every movement sent her lush breasts rubbing against his chest. He could only hold her tightly, concentrate on keeping them aloft as her muscles clenched around him and she rode up and down with a leisurely rhythm.

Nicolae was nearly out of his mind by the time he took her through the levels of the mountain toward their hidden chamber. He had no time for flames or flowers; he could only think of burying himself deeper and deeper in her body. Faster and harder, he thrust, his hips surging into her. He barely had their feet on the ground before he was taking control, his hands moving over her, everywhere, shaping and exploring and arousing her further in a frenzy of need. He backed her against the nearest boulder, only remembering at the last moment to cushion her back as he thrust deep.

Destiny rained kisses on him, held him, accepted him, though she was every bit as frenzied as he was. But there it was again. Unexpected. Insidious. A snake in her garden, robbing her of paradise. This time she stayed merged with Nicolae, allowed him to see the darker shadow images slipping into her head, desperately wanting to trust him to know what to do.

Nicolae kissed her. He went from taking her body wildly to kissing her tenderly, his hands so gentle they felt like the brush of gossamer wings over her bare skin. His kiss was loving, warm, coaxing rather than taking. All the time, his body moved gently in hers. "You like to be out in the open."

"I know." She wanted to apologize, but it seemed silly when he was only making an observation, not condemning her.

He kissed her again, slowly and thoroughly, hungrily. "We are in the open. We are wherever we want to be."

Destiny closed her eyes and took the picture of the stars from his mind. Took the scent of the clean mist and held it to her while he filled her with the beauty of his hands and mouth. His body worshiped hers until her body was coming apart, soaring free with Nicolae across the sky she loved so much.