Dark Gold (21 page)

Her silky hair was suddenly bunched in his hand, and she came to an abrupt halt. He stepped so close, her slender body was bent backward. His golden eyes molten, alive with passion, with possession, stared directly into hers. "You are my lifemate. You have never been touched by another man. I have been in your mind and have access to your memories. Do not try to tell me there have been a dozen men in your life."

She remained passive, still. His body was aggressive against hers, yet there was no pain, no sense that she was in danger. There was only his terrible intensity, as if his inner demons were riding him hard. Her blue eyes flashed right back at him. "On top of everything else, you have to be a male chauvinist. Like I'm supposed to believe there have never been women in your life. And another thing—get out of my head. You don't have a right to my private life. Whatever this lifemate thing is, I don't want any part of it." She tried to sound defiant, but it was difficult when his perfect mouth was only inches from hers. It was embarrassing, the things his mouth made her think.

She couldn't take her eyes from his. She saw their gold became heated, the purpose clear in their depths. His hard mouth softened, and very slowly, with infinite patience, he touched his lips to hers, a brief, feather-light stroke that sent a shaft of desire curling painfully through her body.

"Just so you remember, seducing men is out," he murmured almost absently against her mouth.

She could taste the words. Taste his breath. His mouth was hot and enticing. His body stirred, and she could feel him pressing against her, hard with need. His hand framed the curve of her cheek, his thumb sliding in a caress across her pulse. The wind blew the silken mass of her hair across his hand and arm, binding him to her almost by design.

She could smell his scent calling to her, wild and abandoned, like an animal calling to its mate. Her entire being responded, against all intellect, all reason, against all sanity. Alexandria had never felt such sexual attraction toward any man, and the intensity of her response to him was beyond her comprehension. This was strong and compelling, hot and steamy, a driving need as elemental as time. She wanted him right there in the night, wild in her arms, needing her.

She jerked away from him. "Stop it, Aidan. Just stop." She held up a hand to pacify him. "I'm not ready for this." He was so intense, so much the domineering male, he would sweep her away until she couldn't exist without him. Until she didn't exist without him. "You're not going to take over my life," she whispered to him.

He stroked the pad of his thumb across her lower lip. "I barely touched you,
cara mia
, and you run from me like a rabbit."

"Anyone in her right mind would run from you, Aidan. You're talking crazy. It shouldn't matter to you how many lovers I've had—or have. That's my private business. I didn't ask you about your love life, did I?" Suddenly she thought about his arms around another woman, and the idea made her sick. "You're such a hypocrite. In all the centuries you claimed to nave been alive, there's probably been more women than I care to know about. Hundreds." She thought about it. "Thousands. You're a dog, Savage. A hound dog." He couldn't help laughing. Reaching out, he took possession of her hand again and began to walk slowly back toward his home. Her hand was small and fragile in his, her skin soft and inviting. The wind, determined to have its way, playfully touched her hair, blowing it across his arm, weaving them together with a hundred silken strands.

Alexandria walked along beside him, trying not to feel cherished and protected as he moved alongside her. It was the way he moved—confident, supple, powerful—that made her feel so vulnerable to his possession, yet his fingers were gentle around hers. With every step she took, she became more annoyed that he had access to her personal life.

"I think you're getting the wrong idea, Aidan, about me. I may not have actual lovers, but that's only because I haven't loved anyone yet. I've been attracted, though. There's nothing wrong with me."

His mouth twitched. Manfully he refrained from smiling, but it was necessary to walk several steps before he could reply in his usual neutral voice. "I never, at any time, thought there was something wrong with you. If
you
are worried about it, though, I will be happy to demonstrate otherwise."

She tugged at her hand. He was too close, too vivid and alive. The chemistry between them was explosive. He couldn't touch her, let alone kiss her. It just wasn't safe. "I'll bet you would. But it isn't going to happen. I have a rule about vampires—I don't get involved with them."

His eyebrows shot up. "Good rule. I am pleased you are beginning to show some sense. And you were not attracted to human men."

"Thomas Ivan is very attractive."

His amber eyes glittered at her. "You thought he was a shark. And that cheap cologne he used made your head ache."

"He kind of grows on you," she protested. "We have a lot in common." Her blue eyes held defiance. "His cologne is not cheap. And he's very handsome."

All at once his large frame was blocking her path, and she ran right into him, her face pressed into the niche of his sternum. One of his hands circled the slender column of her throat. "Not to you, he is not." His thumb drew a line over her lower lip.

At once her body was throbbing with need. Just like that. He blocked out the cool night air, the very stars, everything but his solid muscles, his heat and strength. Her breasts felt uncomfortably taut; her blood rushed through her body.

She could hear his heart pounding. In his veins, blood was singing, calling to her. Hunger gripped her, acute, biting. She tried to pull away, a small moan escaping her. She had been enjoying herself, actually managing to forget for a time that she needed to feed on another being to exist. But the realization drowned out everything else, so that the beauty surrounding her was at once barren and ugly. Fear for him surged through her. Planting both palms on his chest, she attempted to shove him away. It was like trying to move a wall of concrete.

Aidan simply smiled at her. "Stop fearing what is natural to you. Do you really think you could harm me?" His arms closed tightly around her, and she felt her feet leave the ground. His mouth brushed her ear. "But I do thank you for the concern."

Clutching his waist, Alexandria peeked beneath his arm to see the ground dropping away. They floated upward, a lazy, casual motion that struck terror into her heart. "Now might be a good time to tell you I'm afraid of heights," she ventured, her heart thudding loudly in her ears.

"No, you are not, little liar. You are simply afraid of things you do not understand. Have you not always dreamed of flying? High above the earth? Look at our world,
piccola
. Look at the wondrous things you are capable of doing." There was tender amusement in his voice. "You can soar free at your will."

"Dreaming about it and doing it are two different things. And I'm not doing it; you're the one in control."

His laughter was low and wicked. "Would you like me to let go of you? It is not as if you are not capable of floating on your own."

Her fingers twisted convulsively in his shirt. "Don't even joke about it, Aidan." But he never once loosened his hold on her, and she felt safe and protected. Taking a deep breath, Alexandria looked around her.

Wisps of fog drifted past her. She wanted to reach out and touch one, just to see if she could, but she wasn't quite comfortable enough to relax her death grip on Aidan. The stars glittered overhead, and below her the waves raced across the ocean and crashed on large rocks, spraying white foam in all directions. The droplets looked like sparkling diamonds scattered across the deep blue of the sea. The wind was tugging at the treetops, so that they bowed and swayed, branches waving up at her.

Alexandria felt a burst of joy. She felt free. The heavy, oppressive weight crushing down on her was lifted for the moment, and she was laughing, really laughing. The sound of it pierced Aidan's heart, wrapped it up, and squeezed hard. His arms tightened even more. He wanted to hear her laugh like this all the time. The scent of her, the feel of her, was pushing at his control, calling to the wildness in him.

She felt the change in him. The way his body stirred against hers, the way it hardened in urgent demand, the possession in his arms as he held her to him. They were on the balcony of his house now, the one that wrapped around the third story, his private quarters. His feet touched down, but hers didn't, and he carried her easily to a plush lounge chair just outside the intricate stained-glass sliding doors.

"Aidan!" It was a breathless protest. Panic welled up. She could not be alone like this with him. He was too much of a temptation, and she was too vulnerable, her emotions ragged and raw.

His mouth skimmed over her eyelids, her cheeks. "Did I not tell you that you should trust me?" He settled her on his lap, his hips cradling her bottom. She was pressed against him intimately, and it didn't seem to matter to him that she could feel his violent need of her. Secrets between them did not exist. She could have easily reached into his mind and found the same information.

Alexandria shivered, suddenly afraid. There was something different about him, some elemental change she had noticed since he had awakened her this last time. He looked at her differently, as if she was his alone, as if his right to her was complete, unchallenged. There was tenderness but also a deep resolve, a relentless purpose. She touched his face with trembling fingers.

The night shone on his masculine beauty, the thick mass of tawny hair spilling to his broad shoulders. She could see his lush eyelashes, the elegant nose, the strong jaw and perfect lips.

"Merge your mind with mine." It was a soft command.

She stiffened and shook her head. Her life had already been taken over, changed forever. Instinctively she knew he was dragging her closer to him, drawing her further into his world. She had to control something. "I won't, Aidan. I don't want this."

"I only intend to feed you,
cara
, nothing more, although I will admit the temptation is almost more than I can bear. Merge your mind with mine." This time his voice dropped an octave, became mesmerizing, hypnotic, a low, lazy, seductive lure.

She struggled against the hard strength in his arms. Her mind echoed the words
feed you
. Her stomach somersaulted. Her heart pounded. Instead of revulsion, there was hot anticipation, the sexual tension between them rising even higher. She stifled a low sob. This wasn't her. None of it. She didn't want a man so badly that her entire mind and body ached and burned with need. She would never consider biting into someone, yet at the thought of her mouth against his chest, his neck, her body clenched and throbbed in reaction. Liquid heat pooled deep inside, a steamy sensuality she had never known.

"Merge your mind with mine," he whispered again, the words like a seduction against her skin. His tongue caressed her pulse, and her body tightened in anticipation.

In desperation she did as he wished. His mind was a haze of hunger—physical hunger, urgent, demanding. Erotic pictures danced in his head. His tongue stroked again, lower this time, as his fingers slowly threaded through the pearl buttons on her sweater. She was bathed in heat, need, hunger. Her skin was ultrasensitive. She heard herself moan, felt the cool air blow tantalizingly across her breasts.

He touched her, his hand sliding up her narrow rib cage to close possessively over the satin skin below her breasts. His teeth nipped her neck, her throat. He murmured something inarticulate.
I want you, Alexandria. You belong to me. You are mine
. His teeth skimmed down to one breast, lingered, scraped erotically. His velvet tongue stroked the hard peak, once, twice.
I am your lifemate. You will take from me what you need. Feed
, cara mia.
Take from me what only I can give you
. She felt his mouth close over her softness, the heated pull erotic and strange.

Her eyes closed. She was in a dream world. Her body felt heavy, was unfamiliar with yearnings she had never experienced and her entire being raged for a release she needed as desperately as she hungered. His hand opened his shirt, and they were skin to skin. For a moment he held her there, savoring the feel of her creamy flesh against his hard muscles. Aidan's hand came up, and he brought her head to his chest, simply holding her there in an unbreakable grip.

His mind reflected back her need to feed, amplified it until the red haze in him was in her. Her cheek nuzzled his taut muscles, felt the roped sinews beneath the skin, breathed in the surge of his life's blood. She felt his body harden even more, hot and full with need. A slow, feminine smile of satisfaction curved her mouth. Her tongue tasted his skin, the flavor of him, masculine and spicy. Addicting. Her lips brushed his pulse.

Aidan's muscles contracted, clenched. His teeth came together, and he closed his eyes against the demands of his body. She was like hot silk and white lightning. Fire skimming over his chest. It spread across his flat belly, lower still, to torment him with a painful, unfulfilled promise of release. Her tongue teased, dancing over his skin until he thought he might go mad.

Alexandria possessed a natural sensuality, heightened by the Carpathian blood now flowing strongly in her veins. Aidan was her lifemate, and despite the fact that she refused to acknowledge what was happening, her body craved his, needed and hungered for him. Her natural inhibitions were being pushed aside, her humanity swept away on a tide of rising passion. Her blood, raging with fire, cried out to his. Her body moved against his, seeking a closer bond, skin to skin without the confines of their clothing. Her mind was meshed with his, woven together beyond all solitary thought. What he wanted, she wanted. What she needed, he needed.

Her tongue caressed his pulse, swirled lightly over his muscles, stroked a brown, flat nipple. He threw back his head and groaned aloud. A fine sheen of sweat coated his skin, and his body swelled in urgent demand, his jeans far too tight, his body straining to break free. Her teeth scraped lightly, insistently. A trembling started somewhere in his legs and took over his body. His very blood pulsated with waves of urgency, a molten volcano ready to explode. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything in all the long centuries of his existence. His arms tightened possessively. He bent his head to brush his mouth over her silky hair, her closed eyelids, her temples.