Dreams of a Dark Warrior (29 page)

done, his cheeks flooded with color, and he fisted his gloved hands beside his hips. “And then … ?”

Drawing from memory, she told him, “Just when I thought I’d pass out from pleasure, he clasped me

against his big body with his arms like bands around me, while he shuddered and plunged. I tried to last,

but I couldn’t stop from coming. He groaned in my ear that he could feel me squeezing him, that he’d give

me what I needed. That he was going to come so hard, it’d feel like a thrust inside me. He had to throw

back his head and yel —”

“Could you feel his spend?” Chase demanded, his breaths quickening.

Now she moaned, as much from the memory as from his question. “It flooded me, so hot that I

orgasmed again.”

They must have reached Chase’s limit; without a word, he lunged forward, lifting her from the bath.

Declan set her on the bathroom counter, wedging his hips between her thighs.

“Chase?” Whatever she saw in his expression made her fal silent, simply letting him feast his eyes on

her.

He was spel bound as streams of water descended from her slender neck past the delicate line of her

col arbone. From there, droplets slipped between the swel s of her breasts to her flat bel y and lower,

drawing his eyes to the smal patch of blond curls between her legs. Just like in his dreams.

Now he nearly went to his knees at the sight. “You’re so beautiful, Valkyrie.”
And I have no idea what
I’m goin’ to do with you.
He’d meant only to kiss her, but now he wanted…
more.
“I need to touch you.”

He quaked with the need.
Explore every golden inch of you.

When was the last time he’d felt anticipation—or experienced anything that he couldn’t get enough of?

“I’m yours, Chase. You can do whatever you like to me. Just take off your gloves.”

Frustration whipped him. “You think I don’t want to?” He knew the whispers in the ward, knew everyone

believed he didn’t like to touch or be touched.

Right now, he wanted to feel her more than anything. But to reveal the backs of his hands to her … ?

An idea arose. “Do no’ move from this spot, Regin. Do you understand me?”

She gave him a sarcastic salute that made her breasts bob. He bit back a groan as he turned toward

his room.

He ransacked his meticulously stowed belongings until he found what he sought, then returned to her,

holding it up like a prize.

She raised her brows. “I think I’m underdressed.”

With that sinful gleam in his eyes, Chase had returned with a civilian necktie. He didn’t ask, just

wrapped it tight around her head, blindfolding her.

Then she heard him tearing off his gloves, his excitement palpable.

Earlier he’d told her, “Eyes forward,” as he’d removed her cuffs. And now this. So why didn’t he want

her to see his hands?

For long moments, she waited for him to make a move, her anticipation building. She could feel his

gaze on her naked body and suspected he was deciding
where
to touch her first.

Final y he grazed the pads of his fingers over her cheekbone. She shivered as he rasped, “Soft as

silk.”

Gods, it’d been so long since a man had caressed her.

Another long hesitation. Then he ran a finger over the pointed tip of her ear.

She began to squirm.

“You like that?”

“Uh-huh.” Wondering where he’d touch her next grew maddening.

When he traced the tip of her other ear and her nipples tightened into aching points, he hissed in a

breath.

Touch them,
she inwardly begged.

Instead, he brushed his big knuckles along her jawline. “You look so delicate, Regin. Deceptively so.”

Though she couldn’t see, the scene was vivid enough to her. With each hesitation, she knew he was

deliberating over which part he wanted to feel next. As if he was sampling her.

And she wanted to sample back. When she raised her hands, he said, “Ah-ah, Valkyrie. Just me

touchin’ you.” He drew a finger from her inner ankle up to her knee.

She bit back a cry, dropping her hands.
Wicked, complicated man—

He swept his thumb over her bottom lip, and she softly moaned, just stopping herself from darting her

tongue to his finger.

She’d begun swaying from the sensual onslaught. “Chase, do you… do you like the way I feel?”

Moments passed in silence. Then his finger circled her nipple.

When she cried out, arching her back for more, he groaned,
“I like it.”

TWENTY-SIX

D
eclan had never seen anything like the sight before him. The Valkyrie was trembling, panting, her

nipples rock-hard. Her responses had him in a lather to come—the little sounds she made, her

expressive mouth, her soft, sensitive skin.

He could stroke himself off right here, but this teasing her excited him like nothing ever had. In this, his wil was her wil . If he decided he’d keep her on the edge, then that was where she’d stay. The idea was

erotic as hel .

How had he missed out on this for so long? To go without stroking a woman’s giving flesh?

But even as the thought arose, he knew his reaction was due to her. The Valkyrie was special to him in

some way, her pleasure important.

For twenty bleak years, he’d convinced himself that he was cold and unfeeling, that he wasn’t burdened

by a man’s needs.

No longer.
I need
her. “Where do you want me to touch you, Regin?”

She jutted those breathtaking breasts.

“There?” Just to keep her guessing, he would
not
be touching her there. Not yet.

“Uh-huh.”

Instead, he leaned in, grazing his lips over the tip of her ear.
Sexy little ears.

She shivered wildly. “Chase!”

Thrilling
. After a pause, he reached around her and dragged his nails across her arse.

Her plaintive moans came quicker and quicker.

I could make her orgasm. Just from this game.
He’d never felt a rush like this, as if a mystery he’d long pondered was being revealed—

She pressed her hand against her flat bel y and began sliding it down.

She would touch herself? In front of him? He groaned, wanting to see her rubbing her sex, but that was

for another night. “No, Regin.”

“Then let me touch you.” She reached for his chest.

“Put your damned hands down,” he snapped, knowing she’d be horrified by the feel of his skin. “Sit on

them.”

“Chase—”

“Do it.”

After a hesitation, she did. He rewarded her by tracing her ear with his lips again. Directly beside it, he murmured, “Are you wet?”

She could only moan in answer.

“Show me, then.” He skimmed his finger along one taut inner thigh, and she dutiful y spread her legs,

revealing her glistening sex. At the sight, his cock pulsed so hard, he thought he might spil at once.

His control was in shreds.
Have to feel her there, explore her flesh.
He skimmed the backs of his fingers down her bel y to her navel, just as she’d detailed earlier. When he circled it, her lips parted

around a whispered, “Oh!”

“You know what comes next. You described it to me.” His fingers trailed from her navel down, lower…

lower …

“Chase!” Her skin glowed even brighter. “What are you doing to me? I-I’m
close
.”

He’d bring her over the edge. With his other hand, he final y rubbed his thumb back and forth over one

nipple.

“Oh, my gods,”
she breathed, licking her lips. His gaze was rapt on her darting tongue.

Declan had imagined her kiss, had dreamed of it. No longer could he deny himself the taste of her

sweet lips.
To catch her cries as she goes over the edge?
With his fingers stil teasing, he leaned in, dipping his head, his lips hovering just above hers.

“Chase?” It was as if a spel had been broken. Before she’d been arching to his touch, her body

begging for more. Now she drew back from him. “Wait, I… just hold on a minute, just let me think.”

“Woman, you’ve been pushin’ me for just this.”

She lowered her head, whispering, “I can’t do it.”

“You can.” He pinched her chin, holding her face up. “You
will
.”

“Shh.” Her ears twitched. “Someone’s here.”

“You’re just saying that—” Then he heard it too. Footsteps within his chambers, heading for the

bathroom. He was about to kil whoever was stupid enough to interrupt this.

After I’ve waited so goddamn long?

She reached for the tie, and he yanked on his gloves—

“Son, get away from her.”

“Webb.” Here. Three days early.

When Declan threw a towel over her, he saw her silvery eyes were wide. He moved in front of her,

hissing under his breath, “I wil protect you.” Then he turned to his commander, battling the urge to bare his fucking teeth that the man had seen her unclothed.

“Declan, what the hel are you doing with this prisoner?”

Risking everything …

Regin couldn’t decide whether she was irate or grateful about this Webb’s interruption.

How had things with Chase burned so total y out of control? She was supposed to put him under her

spel . Instead, just the opposite had happened. …

Webb swept his gaze over her with a look of revulsion. Her eyes slitted.
Right back at you.

He was big, not tal like Chase, but burlier. He wore a military uniform and sported a salt-and-pepper

buzz cut.

By Chase’s reaction, Webb was a superior officer. Yet Chase faced him with his shoulders back and

said, “I want her.”

“You
what
?” Webb’s gray brows shot up, his forehead creasing.

Dude’s about as shocked as I am.
She knotted the towel around her chest, then hopped down to

watch the exchange.

Chase stretched his arm in front of her protectively. “I’l continue to do whatever you ask, but she

belongs to me.”

“Listen to what you’re saying!”

“You’re going to let me take her from here, to an older facility. Someplace where I alone wil see her.”

Chase was
telling
a superior what’s what? Gods, his arrogance was magnificent—and so familiar.

Aidan had expected Wóden to bestow ohal a on him; now Chase was
demanding
Regin as his due.

“No, you don’t want her, son. She’s just made you think that you do. Ask the Valkyrie why she’s tried so

hard to get you to remember this Aidan.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tel , him, female,” Webb said. “Tel him how you’ve been trying to kil him.”

Oh, shit.

Chase turned to her. “What is this?”

From behind him, Webb said, “She believes you’re her lover reincarnated.”

“Aye. She’s told me as much.”

“Has she told you that every man she’s slept with has died within hours of it? She believes you’re

cursed to perish in each lifetime as soon as you claim her.”

Shit, shit!

“Deny it,” Chase commanded her.

She gazed up at him, knowing she should lie… “I can’t deny it.”

“And her lips have a drugging effect—like a narcotic,” Webb continued. “That’s why she was coaxing

you to kiss her. She planned to seduce you, and then you’d perish like the others, al owing her to

escape.”

Between gritted teeth, Chase said, “How do you know this?”

“The transcripts from her cel . We had her conversations translated by a new source. She told her cel

mate that this was her plan for escape—your death.”

What new source? When I find out—

Chase launched a fist into the wal beside her head. “You fuckin’ bitch, deny this!”

She sucked in a breath at the lost look in his eyes, the palpable pain. “What did you expect me to do,

Chase? Calmly await my torture?”

His fists tightened even more, his muscles growing as rage wel ed inside him.

She stared up at him. “Hit me, Magister. Make this easy for me.”

Again Declan couldn’t.
Damn her!
He roared, “Get her away from me!”

Webb grabbed her arm, shoving her out of the room. “Declan, come to my office in an hour. We’l talk

once you’ve had some time to process al this.”

And then they were gone. Leaving him alone in his chambers, where he’d likely go mad.

So it’s over.
The excitement he’d felt. The pleasure.
The highest high to the lowest low.

Feeling dead inside, he sat at his console, watching the feed of her cel for the last time.

Such a fuckin’ fool, Dekko. You knew they weren’t to be trusted.

He saw Webb shove her into the cel . She was stil in that towel, her clothes bundled in her arms. She