Love Me to Death (Underveil) (17 page)

“What did I say in the cabin?” he asked.

She took a deep breath and pushed down several more inches. Moaning, she reveled in the fullness as he stretched her. So large. So right. She paused as his blood and body filled her.

He reached between them and rubbed his thumb against her core. “I made a prediction, did I not?”

She couldn’t answer. She could only survive, as she struggled to breathe and the pressure built from the fullness and the relentless circle he made with his thumb. His blood filled her with electricity and his body with the promise of spectacular release.

“I said you would come before I was fully inside you. You’re there. Let go,” he whispered, pulling her down, forcing himself farther into her, massaging her with his thumb.

She gasped for breath as her body hummed with pleasure. So perfect. So right. Just there.
You will not call his name this time. This…exercise is for the sole purpose of escape and survival. Follow the plan.
Then, he increased the pressure of his thumb, and she tumbled over that edge, escape and the plan completely obliterated momentarily by pleasure.

N
ikolai almost spilled when she convulsed around him, ecstasy on her face as she came silently in wave after wave, but he held on. She deserved more.

And she was tight. So impossibly tight. As her climax receded and her body relaxed, he pushed a little farther into her and she moaned. It was almost more than he could stand. Perhaps it was because it had been so long, or maybe it was because the blood sharing was programmed in his body to be mind-blowing, but part of him suspected it was because it was
her
. And he needed her so badly.

This was not how he had wanted their first time to be—rushed and in a caravan in the middle of nowhere. He had wanted to pamper her and make it perfect, but fate had decided otherwise and stopping now was impossible. His body and soul screamed to truly claim her and not hold back. His was on fire to the point of near mindlessness, which was bad.

But she was immortal now. She could take anything. Still, he didn’t want to hurt her. He grabbed her pelvis and pushed her up to where he was barely inside, and she gasped, and then, using every ounce of self-control he possessed, he pulled down gently, gaining more entrance. She moaned. Just a little more and he’d be fully inside.

Arm tight around her waist, careful not to get the cord tangled on anything, he rolled her under him. She planted her feet and pushed up.
Yes
. She wanted more. He pulled out, then slid back in. Almost there. “Okay?”

She opened her blood-red eyes, and it was all he could do to not lose it. So hot. So…

He thrust hard and she gasped. Then she smiled. So he did it again and again and again. He was fully seated now, and she met him thrust for thrust—harder and harder until he was mindless from the feel of her, wet and tight around him. His body slammed against hers in a fast and steady rhythm until he thought he couldn’t hold on anymore, and then she pulled him down and bit him on the other side of his neck.

And that was it. The minute she pierced his skin, she came. He stilled as she clenched around him, squeezing him while she drew from his neck. The pain was so right. Everything about her was exactly right. He thrust into her one last time, and in a resplendent burst of light, he found the release he’d longed for since he met her. Complete, total, and absolute release.

Once he came back down to earth, he rolled to his side and pulled her against him. The cord had been right. She was his. For the first time ever, he could envision spending his life with someone. She was powerful, and smart…and his.

Still breathing hard, she shifted and held up her right arm. “It worked. The cord is gone.”

“Not really.” He buried his face in her hair and pulled a blanket over them. “We’re bound, you and I. I won’t ever let you go. You’re mine.”

A pained expression crossed her face and a tear slipped from the corner of her eye. “Step six,” she whispered.

And just like that, Nikolai found himself alone in the wagon with nothing in his arms but the empty air.

Chapter Sixteen

N
ikolai shot bolt upright. What the hell had just happened? He shouted Elena’s name as he yanked his jeans on. It was as if she had just disappeared.
No. Not as if.
She
had
disappeared. He picked up his shirt from off of her parka.
Shit.
She was still naked, wherever she was.

Fully dressed, he bounded from the back of the cart. “Elena!” he shouted. He put his arms through the straps of his sword sheath and called her name again. Nothing answered but the wind through the snow-laden trees.

She could teleport in her immortal form,
dammit
.

A sickening churn filled his gut as Aleksandra’s words slapped him in the face. Elena had followed them to a tee. She’d used him to turn, fucked him, and gotten rid of him.

She was gone.

He leaned back against the wagon and closed his eyes. She’d left him and he might never see her again. No more of her smartass comebacks, no exquisite come-ons. Nothing.

The snow coated his lashes and stung on his bare arms. A few of the men, awakened by his calls, emerged from their tents to see what was going on.

“It’s nothing,” he told them. “Go back to bed. I’m sorry I disturbed you. Everything is fine.”

One by one, they disappeared, except for the old woman. She poked him in the chest as she passed to climb the steps back into her wagon. “You don’t strike me as one who just gives up. Sometimes you have to make fate bend to your will.” And with that, she lifted the flap and disappeared inside her home.

Nikolai stood shivering for several moments. The woman was right. He’d just had mind-blowing sex with a woman who made him think of forever. No way in hell was he just going to let her leave him. He wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She was his.

He had to find her.

W
ow.
It had worked. After she’d bitten Nik the second time, Elena had known she could teleport. She’d even seen images of herself standing right here, like a premonition, so she gave it a try. She’d pictured where she wanted to be, and then,
poof
, there she was. After a few disoriented moments where her body felt like it was shrink-wrapped a little too tightly, she grabbed a bath towel from the bar next to Stefan’s enormous tub and wrapped it around herself. Her body still thrummed with Nik’s blood and felt as if it were stretching from the inside out, probably as a result of her changing into a whatever-the-hell-she-was. Not painful, but not comfortable, either.

“You’re mine,” she repeated out loud. “What kind of misogynistic crap is that?”

She wiped the tears from her cheek and grabbed the remote that operated the tub and pushed the red button to call Stefan. He’d told her she was welcome anytime. Hopefully, he meant it. She pushed a green button, and the lights came on full. She squinted and cursed, pushing a different button that caused the exhaust fan to whir to life.

“Technical difficulties?” Stefan asked from the doorway.

“Oh. Hi. Sorry to just burst in like this. I, uh…was just going to…”

He took the remote from her. “I assume you want a bath. You smell like it’s been quite an adventure.” He pushed several buttons, and the water poured from the tub spout, the lights dimmed, and light classical music piped in from the ceiling. “Dirt, blood, vodka, and sex, yes?”

That pretty much summed it up.

He tilted his head in that odd manner he had. “And look at you all grown up and immortal. How do you feel?”

She turned and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. A total stranger stared back. Her hair was a tangled mess, her skin pale, and though more muscled than she had been, she looked thin. And her eyes—they were tinged with red like the blood she’d consumed. She was real monster now. “I feel like crap.”

“You need food.”

“Do I?” She thought she’d be stuck with a blood diet.

“What sounds good? Pasta? Garlic bread?”

It all sounded good. “Yum.”

He took her hand and pinched the skin of her forearm. “And you are horribly dehydrated.” He held her hand between his. “And cold.” His icy, pale eyes narrowed. “I’ll kill the prick.”

“Take a number.” Her voice sounded as tired as she felt.

“First things first. Remove whatever those things are on your feet and get clean and warm.” He poured bubble bath in, then handed her the remote. “As you know, the red button calls me.”

After he left, she stepped into the warm, frothy water and relaxed against the sloped wall of the tub. Warm and safe, she was no longer a prisoner. She had gotten here on her own. She dunked under and rinsed the grime from her hair, then shampooed three times.

Stefan brought her food and a pitcher of water with a stemmed goblet. Everything was perfect and elegant, just like the man. So
not
like Nikolai.
The brute.

She stood and scrubbed her legs. “I’ll never let you go,” she mimicked in her best Nik-like accent. “You’re mine.” She sat and washed her feet. “His
what?
His freaking lap dog?”

“I beg your pardon,” Stefan called from the next room.

“Sorry. Just talking to myself.” She washed her face one last time, then finished off her fourth goblet of water.

He appeared in the doorway. “You are highly agitated. What did he do to you?”

She lifted an eyebrow, bubbles up to her neck.

“I don’t need a play-by-play. I just want to know what drove you here.” He held a towel out for her. When she hesitated, he continued. “Elena, as lovely as you are, I have no interest whatsoever in you sexually. I am biologically designed to desire only one person. She was…born twenty-three years ago. The minute that happened, my sexual appetite turned off like a light switch, only to come back on recently when she came into power—and only for her.” He shook the towel he had stretched between his hands. “Come on. I’m a one-woman man. Lose the human modesty. It has no place in the Underveil. Enjoy what you are.”

She stepped from the tub and allowed him to wrap the towel around her. “What am I?”

He smiled. “I have no earthly idea.”

“I thought I was a vampire.”

He took another towel and squeezed her long hair to dry it. “Not like any I’ve encountered.”

“My eyes are red.”

He shifted the towel to another spot and squeezed. “Yes, but part of your original eye color is there as well.”

She moved to the mirror and looked closely. Sure enough, there were blue flecks in them. She opened her mouth and ran her forefinger across her top teeth. “The fangs are gone.”

He pulled a brush from a top drawer. “You must not need them anymore. Or perhaps they retract? Teleport to the living room for me, please.”

She closed her eyes and pictured the sofa of his living room, wishing to be there, and before she could take a breath, she
was
there.

After a few moments, he strolled in with the hairbrush and a bathrobe. “See? You have powers and are definitely of the Underveil, but you are not a vampire. And you ate food. Vampires lose all appetite for it the minute they taste blood.”

The pasta had been delicious. “No blood for this girl, thank you.” She grinned and Stefan grinned back.

“He didn’t break your spirit at least.”

Nikolai hadn’t broken anything really, except her heart. She took a deep breath and accepted Stefan’s help into a silk bathrobe. How odd it was to have a man cater to her. Nikolai would never have pampered her like this.

“Is there a reason you have a woman’s robe at hand?”

He stilled for a moment and then tied the sash. “For years, I have prepared for my mate to join me. I have a full wardrobe for her at all my residences.”

His sadness was palpable. She wanted to ask him about it, but held off.

He traced his fingers across the markings just under her collarbone. “The Uniter. Right here in my living room.”

“What does that mean?”

He turned her facing away and ran the brush through the ends of her hair, working up through her wet tangles. “I’m not exactly sure, but I know the prophecy, if you want to hear it.”

“She doesn’t.” Nikolai’s voice rumbled through her like an earthquake. It was as if his blood had made her a tuning fork that vibrated with his words. She should have expected this. Of course he would look for her here. She spun to face him.

Clean-shaven and wearing fresh clothes, he was delicious. He looked so civilized compared to the man she had been chained to. She wanted to run to him, and that repulsed her. Why would her body be such a traitor? Sexual attraction did not a healthy relationship make. This guy was bad news.

Stefan handed her the brush and turned to face Nikolai. “I will give you to the count of three to leave my home, or I will shock you into unconsciousness, Itzov. You are not welcomed here.”

“She’s mine.”

Bitchin’ bad word choice, asshole.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

Stefan looked from Nikolai to Elena, then back again. “She appears to be a free agent. One with tremendous power potential, so you’d best mind your manners. I leave it to her whether you stay or go.”

Nikolai’s gold eyes locked on hers. “Elena, please. We need to talk.”

There was no way this man would change. He was too entrenched in his way of thinking. In his possession and domination. A relationship of any kind with him was impossible, no matter how much she wanted it. What was left of her heart shriveled to nothing. “I’m sorry, Nikolai. I’ve nothing to say to you. I want you to leave.”

Stefan took several steps toward Nikolai, who took one step back. The Time Folder must have packed a real punch to back Nik down. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Slayer. You’ve done your part. You raised her from the ashes. You empowered her with your blood. Now it’s up to her to do the rest.”

The desperate tone in Nikolai’s voice made her heart ache. “Please. Please just talk to me.”

She held up her hand before he could say any more and weaken her resolve. “Just go.”

The look of betrayal on Nikolai’s face brought tears to her eyes.

Stefan touched her shoulder. “Could you give us a moment, Elena?”

Something about leaving these two men alone worried her. Stefan patted her shoulder and Nikolai nodded. Okay, maybe they wouldn’t destroy each other, but there she went again allowing herself to be out of the loop and helpless.
Dammit.
She hated men. All of them.

N
ikolai held his breath even after Elena shut the bedroom door behind her.

“I should kill you, Itzov.” The Time Folder casually lowered himself to the couch. “Imagine my surprise when a hypothermic, dehydrated, starving, newly-turned immortal showed up in my bathroom naked with the exception of some worn out footwear of questionable origin.”

“I—”

He raised his hand. “You were supposed to take care of her. Your stink was all over her, so you obviously took care of yourself.”

Nikolai drew a deep breath and reminded himself that the Time Folder was a necessary ally. He needed this man and was grateful he had taken care of Elena, even if he was a know-it-all, elitist, self-righteous asshole with the nose of a fucking bloodhound. “You’ve got this all wrong.”

Darvaak crossed his legs. “I hope so. For her sake, I really do.”

The two men stared at each other for several moments. Nikolai always wondered about the extent of these creatures’ powers. Sometimes they seemed to have seer talents, but it could just be the analytical abilities of their bizarre alien brains. Freaky bastard.

“Here’s what I’m going to do for you, Slayer.” He stood and moved to the bar. He poured two glasses of Scotch and offered one to Nikolai, who joined him and downed the drink in one gulp. He needed about ten more of those.

Darvaak leaned down behind the bar and straightened up with a phone and a charger in his hand. He punched in some numbers and then handed the device to Nikolai. “I’ve programmed my number in there. It is a disposable, untraceable phone, so your dear uncle Fydor will not be able to locate you. I will call you if she wants to see you. You will call me if you decide you are no longer an arrogant, selfish bastard.” Darvaak put the charger in his hand and then wiggled his fingers. “Taa taa, Itzov.”

Fucking Time Folder.
He had no choice. Elena wouldn’t talk to him.

Well, at least she was safe with this guy. He thought of the close call with the vampires and wood elves and even Fydor’s Team. Hell, she was safer with the Time Folder than she was with him, for sure. “Okay.” He shot a longing look at the bedroom door.

Darvaak placed his hand on Nikolai’s shoulder, and a slight jolt of current ran down his arm. “Give her time.” He gave Nikolai’s shoulder a squeeze and retreated to the bedroom, leaving him alone.

“Give her time,” he repeated. Time he had. Patience, not so much. This sucked. He stepped behind the bar and poured himself another glass of Scotch. Well, no better place to wait it out than right here, he supposed. He strolled to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
Jackpot.
If nothing else, the Time Folder lived well. So would he until Elena came to her senses.

“H
e’s still out there,” Elena grumbled for the zillionth time. “What does he want?” She stopped pacing long enough to set the hairbrush down on a dresser by Stefan’s bed.

He smiled and put his arms behind his head on the pillow. “He wants my Scotch.”

She took in the long, relaxed body of the man lying on the bed who acted like there wasn’t a barbaric, sword-wielding caveman in his living room.