Love Me to Death (Underveil) (14 page)

The goose bumps prickling along her thighs could not possibly be from the cold air in the cabin. She felt so hot she was sure she’d burst into flames like flash paper any second.

His knees thumped on the floor. “Relax, Elena. Open for me.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled, letting her legs fall apart.

“Yes. Perfect.”

He kissed the inside of one thigh and then the other, and she whimpered, not even caring that she sounded so desperate. She was.

His breath was warm on her skin as he spoke. “I predict that when I am healed and I truly take you, you will come before I am even fully inside.”

No doubt.
But right then, what she needed was…
Yeah. That
.

She almost screamed as he ran his hot tongue from the bottom of her all the way to the top, and then paused and circled in just the right spot to make her scream for real. She needed this. Before he’d even touched her, she was so aroused she thought she might explode. Now, she knew she would. He repeated this over and over: bottom to top and circle until she was writhing and pulling against the cord at her wrists, and then he placed his whole mouth over her.

Nothing had ever felt this good. She was sure of it. And for an indeterminate amount of time, it was as if the world outside—the dangers, the freaky creatures that wanted them dead, even the things about themselves that made this impossible—became insignificant. All that mattered was the way his mouth moved against her. She arched her back and moaned as her body heated and buzzed with mounting pleasure.

God, the things he could do with that tongue—things that caused stars behind her eyelids and spasms that shook like an earthquake rattling her bones apart. Things that took her to the top of the cliff and let her soar. And all the while, she screamed his name.

Chapter Thirteen

E
lena leaned against the headboard, tucked her knees up, and chowed on a third protein bar as Nikolai told her another tale from his childhood. They’d talked and laughed for hours in the dark until the sun penetrated the cocoon of snow over the cabin, and dim light glowed through the two tiny windows.

Nikolai’s every word entranced her. He was fascinating and intelligent and had been just about everywhere on the planet. She’d never even left her home state before. The two of them were so different, yet, she felt an intense connection to him, as if they’d always known each other.

“Well, Darvaak proved useful after all,” he said. “I do have more clothes than the ones I burned.”

She took another bite and watched him lift a pair of jeans from the suitcase and pull them on. His movements were less stiff, and most of his wounds had closed completely.
Soon.
He’d said, as soon as he healed… Thrill shot through her, and she scooted up higher in the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.

He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. “Again?”

“I’m fine. I’m just thirsty.” And horny as hell after watching his reverse strip show, but she needed to get some control.

His grin revealed that he knew she was lying. “After you’ve slept, I’m going to take care of every need you have.”

She scanned him from head to toe in the dim light piercing the snow, from the top of his head to his bare feet and every hard, muscled part of him in between, and her mouth watered. “And you’ll let me touch you?”

“I’ll let you do anything your imagination can conjure.”

Amen.

“First, I’ll take care of your thirst.” He grabbed one of the metal tankards from the shelf near the stove and slid the window open. He scooped some of the snow that buried the house into the mug, then closed the window. “Even though I put the fire out, the stove should still be hot enough to melt it.” He placed the tankard on top of the stove.

The markings on his body were mesmerizing. Her own didn’t itch at all anymore. It must’ve only been an effect of them rising to the surface. “What is the prophecy you and Stefan talked about?”

He pulled a gray T-shirt from the suitcase and unbuttoned the shoulder. “It’s just an insignificant legend. Nothing more.” He stepped into the shirt and pulled it up.

“You’re lying to me again.”

Both pain and anger flared momentarily in his golden eyes as he buttoned the shirt over his shoulder, and then he picked up the tankard and swirled it. “Almost melted.” He set it back down. “Where the hell is Aleksi?”

And here she had been all cozy and practically drooling over the prospect of getting to touch him at last, and he had to bring up his lover.
Perfect
.

She settled back down in the bed and rolled with her back to him. When would she learn? They’d whiled the hours away talking, and she’d discovered so much about him…about herself, and here she was thinking he actually liked her. He was simply killing time until Aleksandra arrived.
Perfect.
Freaking cord. She needed to escape him as soon as possible before her heart followed her body and melted every time he looked at her. Hell, it might already be too late.

Eventually, pretending to be asleep transitioned into the real thing—her only way to escape him until the problem of the cord could be solved.

V
oices pulled Elena from the greatest dream ever, in which Nikolai had healed fully and was making good on his promise. Making good in ways she didn’t even know were physically possible.

“What took you so long, Aleksi?” Nikolai’s voice asked. “I’ve been stuck here for over twenty-four hours.”

Stuck here?
Elena didn’t move, pretending to still be asleep. Well, good-bye dream euphoria and hello, hell.

“The dagger had a bit of elf ore in it and took forever to heal. Fydor never left my side,” Aleksandra’s voice answered.

“Well, isn’t that romantic?”

“Fuck you, Niki.”

“Not me. Him. Isn’t that what you’re doing?” God. He sounded so mad.

Elena cracked her eyes open, but the room was pitch black. It was nighttime again. And cold.

Aleksandra sighed. “I’m doing what women have done from the beginning of time. I’m protecting someone I love. He’s on to you, and he wants you dead.”

His voice trembled with rage. “And giving him your body will change that?”

Footfalls came from the foot of the bed as if she were pacing. “It’s irrelevant. You can shout at me about it later. I can’t be gone long. We need to talk about your human.”

His
human? Like a possession? Elena’s body rebelled against her command to remain perfectly still.

“Let’s get this straight now. I’m not killing her. No one is killing her.” The tone in his voice was deadly. Elena suppressed a shudder.

“Well, of course not. Fydor believes she’s the one, and he wants her destroyed while she’s still human. On the off chance he’s right, you need to get her to a safe house as soon as possible.”

“How would you suggest I accomplish that? I’m not welcomed by any of the vampires, and I doubt the Time Folder will take me in again.”

Exasperation tinged Aleksandra’s tone. “I’m talking about her, not you. The vampires would protect her for sure. Deliver her to them and be done with her.”

“You’re forgetting an important factor, Aleksi: we’re bound by an elven cord. We’re a package deal.”

“I have the solution. It’s another reason it took me so long to come to you. I went to the elves and found out how the cord works.”

“They told you? They wouldn’t tell me anything other than only the one who made it could cut it.”

“Of course they didn’t tell you. They think you’re an asshole, and they hate you.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

Her voice softened and came from closer to where he was. “Don’t you even want to know what I found out?”

“I’m sorry. Yes. Please tell me.”

“Its real use is for elf bonding ceremonies. It’s where the humans get their hand-binding traditions. The elves wind it around the wrists of both partners, and if the partners’ souls are suitably paired, which yours are because they touch on the cord, it will fall away once the union is consummated.”

Her news was greeted with absolute silence.

After a few moments, she continued. “It’s like when the bedsheets were checked the morning after the wedding in other cultures to be sure the deed had been done, only much more civilized.”

“Nothing about the elves is civilized,” Nikolai answered. “They just cover everything in sparkle and glitter and call it refined. They are blood-hungry killers just like the rest of us.”

“Leave the hate aside, Niki. Are you hearing me? Getting rid of the cord is easy—well, if you can tolerate sex with a human, it’s easy. Personally, I couldn’t do it. But look on the bright side: because she’s human—or a human derivative—you can’t get her pregnant or catch any diseases. Then, you need to make sure she becomes immortal. If she’s really what Fydor thinks she is, it would benefit us all if you turn her as soon as possible.”

Elena swallowed and took a silent, deep breath. Good God. What was she? How could her becoming immortal benefit a bunch of beings that were nothing more than assassins? She wouldn’t do it. Never.

“Actually, now that I think about it, you should turn her first. Sex with a vamp would be as bad as doing a human, but at least she’d be hardier and a lot more fun, right? Well, as long as you didn’t let her bite you.”

Nikolai didn’t respond.

“Don’t tell me you’ve become attached to her. Surely you’re not that weak.”

“I’m not weak, Aleksi.”

Elena’s heart sank. Being attached to her was
weakness?
Stupid brutes. Loveless, horrible creatures.

“Well, then do what you have to do,” Aleksandra said. “Turn her, fuck her, and get rid of her.”

N
ikolai sat on the bed across from Elena in the total darkness for a long time after Aleksi teleported out. Fydor suspected Elena was the Uniter. Why then, would he want her destroyed? The Uniter would end the war that was brewing… Surely Fydor didn’t
want
the war. Surely…

He stood and paced in a small pattern between the beds. It was essential to turn her in order to make her safe. Could he do it? He’d never witnessed a human change into an immortal of any kind. He didn’t know the first thing about it. Only that his blood triggered not only her eyes to change but also the markings to come to the surface. His blood was the catalyst.
He
was the catalyst.

The words were branded on her very skin. “From the blood of a warrior I rise.”
His
blood.

Could Elena be the Uniter? It certainly looked that way. Perhaps it wasn’t physical power that was needed to save the Underveil. Maybe it was inner strength, and in the limited time he’d had with her, he’d come to discover she was more powerful than anyone else he knew.

She would become a vampire. The very thing he’d sworn vengeance against. The species he’d hunted and slaughtered every time he caught one breaking the law. And yet, somehow that didn’t make a difference at all to him. He wanted her. Needed her no matter what she became. She was his.

Sitting on the bed, he laid his hand on her, getting oriented in the dark. She was on her side, facing away. He smoothed his palm over her shoulder to her neck, then leaned over and kissed her jaw. She didn’t react. “Elena?”

He ran his fingers over her cheek and found it wet. Tears.

“Are you okay?”

“Just do it.” Her voice waivered, and it felt as though his insides had crumbled.

Perhaps she assumed he still planned to execute her, or maybe she was emerging from a bad dream. “Do what?”

She jerked away and shuffled to the top corner of the bed. He reached for her through the darkness and found her crouched on the mattress against the wall, trembling.

Night had fallen long ago, and he had failed to even light the fire. He needed to see her. He reached over and pulled the matches from the bedside table and struck one. The look of horror on her face froze him in place. “Do what?” he repeated. The match burned down to his fingers and snuffed out, leaving the smell of charred flesh.

“What you have to do to break this cord and free me from you,” she said in the darkness. “Just do it and get it over with.”

Something was up. Something bad. “Exactly what is it I’m supposed to do to break the cord, Elena?”

When she didn’t answer, he struck another match and lit a lantern hanging on the wall. Surely, a tiny bit of light just for a few moments wouldn’t give them away. The cabin was buried under feet of snow, and no one knew of it other than Aleksi, and he was sure she’d been careful to not be observed when she had teleported in. Since his mother’s traitorous marriage to his uncle, she was the only person he could really trust…well, aside from Elena, but right now, he wasn’t even sure of that, based on the look she was giving him.

“Talk to me,” he whispered.

“You’re the talker.
You
talk.”

So hostile. Not like her at all. Then the problem dawned on him. “You were awake when Aleksi was here.”

No response.

Shit, shit, shit.
“Elena, I’m trying to help you.”

“Oh, yeah, sure you are. It all makes sense now. Get the worthless, weak human off a few times so you can, what? Oh yeah.
Turn her, fuck her, and get rid of her.
”

His chest caved in on itself. “Not my words.”

“But a great plan, and you’re a big one for plans, aren’t you? Let’s see. Your first plan was to use only your hand, then only your mouth to get me off.” She crawled to the end of the mattress and stood at the foot of the bed. “Well, I make plans, too. See, I can do the same thing. Only, I’m going to use only my hand and my mouth to tell you to fuck off.” She flipped the bird at him right as the helicopter roared overhead.

Nikolai instinctively grabbed his sword. They’d been discovered. And if it was Fydor’s Elite Team, they were as good as dead.