Dark Lycan (46 page)

Standing, he pulled her to him, catching her legs to wrap them around his body. The vee between her legs nestled over his already thickening cock. Her skin was cool, just as he suspected, but that sweet invitation was hotter than ever. She linked her fingers behind his neck and leaned in to kiss him.

“Thank you. I love this place, Fen. My beautiful wolf man. First you write me a song, and then you give me this wonderful night.” She threw her head back, allowing the mist to fall into her face. “I think it’s going to rain. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

He laughed, enjoying how happy she was. “Only you would say that, my lady. Most women would prefer to be indoors when it rains.”

“They don’t know how good it feels on their skin.” She leaned down to lick droplets off his neck. “Or how good rain tastes on skin.”

“Lean back. I’ll hold you,” he promised. “Just enough that I can get a taste of you.”

When she complied, stretching her arms to full length, the movement pushed her body into his. She moved, a subtle circle, rubbing against him, so that his cock jerked with demand. Her breasts swayed invitingly and the silk of her hair fell in waves like a bright cape. Behind her, the waterfall spilled continuously down the mountainside, long crystal streaks of water racing toward the pools below. Wind moved through the trees, so that the tops swayed as if to music. Steam rose around them, creating even more of an intimacy.

“There is music to the rain,” Tatijana confided. “Haven’t you ever heard it?”

“No,” he admitted, nuzzling her breast. “When it rains, I’ll listen,” he promised.

The temptation of her taut nipple was too much for him. She was a redhead and her nipples were more of a pink than dark—and very sensitive. Each time he stroked his tongue over and around her breast, he felt her body’s reaction. He used his teeth, tiny little nips, before he drew her nipple into the heat of his mouth and suckled strongly.

The mist turned to a light rain, the drops feeling cool against his body heat. Cool, like Tatijana. His mouth was burning hot. His skin. His cock. His blood, surging, rushing, inflamed in the midst of such temptation. He couldn’t leave her other breast unattended and took his time paying tribute to her soft flesh until she was crying out his name, cradling his head and arching into him.

Her body squirmed against his, each delicious movement sliding over his shaft, rubbing and teasing, inflaming him more. He still had trouble believing that such a beautiful woman had chosen him, and each time he reached for her, gave herself again and again so generously. He touched her mind often, and she always was as eager to explore his body as he was to explore hers.

He kissed his way up her breast, over the creamy slope, his teeth nipping along the way, just to feel the hot liquid response of her body against his shaft. Using his tongue, he eased each sting and then found her pounding pulse. The frantic rhythm beckoned and called seductively to him. He felt the pull of her blood as deeply as he felt the need of her body. The taste of her burst through his mouth even before he actually sank his teeth deep.

Tatijana cried out, sweet music to his ears, as he drank from her, taking the essence of her into his own body. The rain fell over the both of them—small, gentle droplets cooling the heat of his skin, making his core burn hotter than ever. She cradled his head to her, holding him close, her body writhing against his. Twice she lifted her hips, trying to impale herself on him, but he held her firmly in place, drawing out the need, building it in her.

“Fen. What are you doing?”

She gasped his name. Chanted it again and again. Adding to the music. He was beginning to hear the rain’s song through the pounding of his own blood. Small little drops plopping in the water. The random hiss of droplets from the waterfall accompanying the steadier fall of the rain. Her ragged breathing. His pulse thundering in his ears like a drum.

He took his time, savoring the taste of her and the response of her body, before he finally closed the wound over her breast.

Her breathing became part of the symphony. The drops hitting the leaves produced a different sound than when they fell on the ground. He heard it now, the music the rain made, that same music she heard, and it became part of their night, part of them. His hands slid down her body to grip her buttocks, lifting her so that the head of his cock lodged just inside of her.

Tight muscles closed around him, gripping and squeezing, trying to drag him inside of her, desperate for him to move hard and deep. Her panting gasps and desperate pleas added to the melody of the rain, that perfect song. He would always love her soft little cries, the way she said his name over and over.

Very slowly he lowered her body over his, burying his cock in her scorching hot feminine sheath, such a contrast to the cool of her outside skin. Her body was tight, reluctantly giving way for his invasion. Her breath hissed out against his neck, a long sigh of pure rapture.

“At last,” she whispered, her fingers locking at the nape of his neck. “I feel I’ve waited a lifetime for this moment.”

“Clearly I’ve been remiss in attending to your needs,” he said, lifting her hips so that her body rode his.

She moved in a small, intriguing circle as she rode his cock down, her tight muscles locking over him so that the friction sent streaks of fire racing from his core up to his head and down to his toes.

Tatijana laughed softly, throwing her head back so that fine rain could touch her face. Her hair fell in long waves and her breasts jutted up, swaying temptingly. She looked so beautiful, wild, and obviously happy. He loved that about her, that inhibition, showing him how she felt about him every moment.

“Do you hear the music now, Fen?” she asked, her hips shifting to a faster rhythm.

The raindrops felt like little tongues against his skin. The concentration on her face added to her beauty as she rode him, her muscles a fiery velvet fist wrapped tightly around him. Yes, he heard it. The plinking of the drops in the water. The wild beating of their hearts in complete synchronization. The creaking of the trees and the little sounds she made that drove him completely and utterly mad with love for her.

He tightened his hands on her hips and took over, lifting her, picking up the pace so that he drove hard and deep while he held her still. He thrust over and over, surging into her, a piston out of control, listening to her gasping breath, her little cries, watching the glaze come into her eyes and the flush come to her body. The slap of the water just added to the crashing crescendo as he took them both right to the edge, teetered there, and then both fell together in a long erotic free fall.

Tatijana collapsed over him, her head on his shoulder, fighting for breath, pressing little kisses along his collarbone and neck.

Fen carried her to the edge of the pool before sinking into its warmth, keeping her on his lap as he sat, stretching out his legs, stone behind him and his woman a soft bundle in his arms. The soft rain fell on them both and Tatijana turned her face sideways so she could feel it.

“This has been such a beautiful night, Fen. A gift. Thank you. I love the way you love me. I was—” she broke off, searching for the right way to tell him. “I was having trouble closing the door on my past. I accepted what happened to me. One has to learn acceptance in a situation like ours, but it becomes a way of life. The terror of being outside that cave was almost as bad as being inside of it.”

He brought her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles and nibbling on her fingers. “Yet you’ve done so well, Tatijana. You set out exploring on your own, learning things you wanted to learn.”

She nodded. “But I avoided people. I observed them, but I still didn’t want to be part of anything else. I’m not explaining this very well. But I want to be a part of us. You and me. More than you and me. We have family. Branislava, Dimitri. Razvan and Natalya. Their lifemates. Young Skyler. My niece Lara who led the rescue of us. You’ve done that for me. You’ve given me the ability to go beyond just Bronnie and me.”

He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. “You loved them all before I came along.”

“From a distance. I didn’t want any interaction with them. I avoided them, just as Bronnie is doing now. We both retreated underground where we were safe. Where we didn’t have to figure out the rules of the new world we lived in. Where no one could ever get to us again. We had no measure of trust. How could we? It was our own father who tortured us and held us prisoner. You made me realize just how honorable a man could be.”

“I’m glad then, that it was me, Tatijana. For me, you’re a complete miracle.”

“That’s it, right there. You think I’m the miracle, Fen, but really it’s you.” She caught his face between her hands and kissed him hard. “I love you with all my heart. You, Fen. You’re my lifemate and that means everything, it means we’re bound together. One. But I want you to know, I love
you
, my wolf man. I would follow you anywhere.”

She had followed him—into the labyrinth of evil her father had held her captive in. She had supported his every decision, following him into danger and fighting alongside him.

He kissed her again, savoring the taste of her, a part of him wondering how he got so lucky. His world had changed almost overnight. “I love you more than life itself, Tatijana,” he murmured. “Inadequate words but heartfelt.”

Tatijana laid her head on his shoulder again, closing her eyes, her body relaxing into his. Sometimes, like now, for Fen, it felt as if she simply melted into him. Soft. Cool. His lady.

“Fen.” Tatijana lifted her head from his chest to look into his eyes.

He felt the familiar tightening of his gut, the strange slow somersault of his heart the moment their eyes met.

“What’s next? What are you planning to do?”

“I’ve got to stop Abel. He’s after Mikhail. He plans to wipe out the entire species. We’re all connected through the prince. I don’t know what Abel stands to gain from killing Mikhail, but he’s dead set on it.”

“Maybe he’s moved on,” she said hopefully. “He’s lost most of his pack and now Bardolf. It would make sense for him to run.”

Fen sighed, his fingers at the nape of her neck, massaging gently. Tension was creeping back in when she’d been limp and relaxed only moments earlier. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere. I think his mission was to kill Mikhail, and unfortunately for him, I ran across his tracks, as did Zev. He wasn’t expecting either of us.”

“Do you really think you can kill Abel? How long has he been a
Sange rau?
Isn’t it true that your abilities grow with time?”

He felt the anxiety in her mind, heard the note of worry she tried to keep from her voice. “I’ve seen him in action, and I think we’re fairly evenly matched. So, yes, I believe I can kill him. It may take a little bit of luck and I know I’ll probably need recovery time after, but I’ll get the job done.”

He didn’t need to pretend confidence for her, and in any case he doubted if he could deceive her. He was confident. He brushed another kiss on the top of her head for reassurance. “No matter if Abel moved on or not, I would have to hunt him down. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. I can’t let him kill whoever he pleases. He lives for that now. The rush. The blood. No one is safe, no species. He has to be destroyed.”

“I know. But isn’t Zev supposed to hunt rogues?”

He couldn’t help but smile. “Abel is no rogue. He’s far more than that and you know it. The key to killing Abel is to remember what he’s like, I think. I grew up with him. I knew him as a child. The memories are vague, but I’m slowly pulling them up. He was a good man. Honorable. He didn’t have the character flaws one associates with those who choose to lose their souls. I have no idea what would make him choose to become the very thing he hunted so successfully for centuries. I ran across him once in a rare while. He was unswerving, even relentless in carrying out his duties.”

“What usually tips someone over the edge?” Tatijana asked, curiosity in her mind. “You all start out with honor.”

“I think it has to do with character. I’ve met Carpathians who crave power. Who enjoy killing. Remember, we are predators. We’re born to hunt. The darkness is in all of us, but just like everyone, we have character strengths and weaknesses. There were some whose paths I crossed that I was certain would turn if they didn’t find their lifemate very quickly. Abel wasn’t one of them.”

“Would he turn if he did find his lifemate and she was killed somehow?”

That gave him pause. There was always that danger. In the midst of grief, of wrenching intense sorrow when the other half of one’s soul had been ripped away, insanity could ensue. Tatijana may have hit on something, although he didn’t like the idea. If Abel had become vampire upon losing his lifemate, and it was known, that would make it much more difficult for Mikhail to convince the Lycan council that any Guardian who had a lifemate would be safe from becoming the
Sange rau.

“It’s possible. That’s definitely one of the most feared moments for any Carpathian. Males refer to that moment as the madness thrall. You hold light in you, Tatijana, but we’re all darkness until you provide us with that light. You’ve given me life,” he tried to explain. She might be able to understand, because she had to have felt hopeless in those long, barren years prisoner in the ice caves.

“The centuries go on endlessly. There’s nothing but the kill. After a while a hunter begins to look forward to the kill because there is nothing else for him. There is no beauty in the world.” He looked around him. “Look at this. The falls, the pools and forest. The colors, so vibrant. Without you, I couldn’t see any of this. I wouldn’t even notice it. You provided that for me. I had no ability to feel for others. I hunted. I killed. I fed. That was my life. That’s the life of a Carpathian male. I was luckier than most because I found the Lycans. For a long while I could see as a wolf sees, but as my abilities as a . . . Guardian grew, so did the darkness in me.”

Tatijana pressed closer if it was possible, holding him tight in her arms.

“Can you imagine what it would be like for me, having been given these incredible gifts, this miracle of a lifemate who allows me to see such beauty in the world, to feel so intensely, such emotion and then have it ripped away? A madness grips, takes over. Most get through it, but not all.”