Slave to Passion (16 page)

“Any way?”

Her smile widened as she watched whatever worry had stopped him before dissipate. She lowered her lips to his. “Every way,
sahad
. Tonight I’m yours.”

Chapter Twelve

Nasir lay on his side, his head perched on his hand as he stared down at Kavin, lying on her back on the narrow mattress, her face tipped his way, her eyelids closed in sleep.

Her chest rose and fell with her deep breaths, and the sheet lay low across her naked hips. Arousal stirred in his veins as his gaze swept the length of her body, but he fought it back, instead brushed a lock of curly hair from her cheek, marveled at the softness of her skin.

Asleep, she almost looked angelic. Which, considering she was djinn, wasn’t a great stretch. Angels and djinn were both created by Allah at the same time, before man. And since they were both supernatural beings, it made sense her beauty could best that of any angel. But where angels lacked desire and free will, djinn were creatures of choice. Sometimes that free will led them down a dark path, as it did many Shaitans and Ghuls and Infrit and…even himself. But sometimes it led to light and illumination and the sweetest feelings one could ever know.

Emotion stirred within him. Ones he hadn’t felt in years. Ones that were stronger than what he’d known before. He’d been fighting to stay alive since being brought here because he knew doing so enraged the highborns. But now…

He swallowed hard and trailed his finger across the corner of her mouth. Now he had something more important than revenge. More important than his own desire to live. Something deeper, he realized, than what he’d shared with Talah.

Her lashes fluttered, almost as if she sensed him thinking about her. And as her sleepy eyes opened, a slow, easy smile spread across her luscious lips. Lips he wanted to kiss and lick and taste all over again. “You’re not sleeping.”

“I don’t need much.”

She skimmed her hand over his bare chest, her touch igniting a rush of tingles he felt everywhere. “What have you been doing?”

“Watching you.”

She rolled her eyes in such a seductive way he wanted to kiss the expression from her face. “That can’t be very exciting.”

“You were quite entertaining.”

“I was?”

“You’re talkative in your sleep.”

Her eyes widened. “I was talking? What did I say?

He placed a hand on her hip, rolling her easily toward him. “Something about baths and water and
more
. I’m pretty sure you were moaning.”

Her cheeks turned bright pink, and she dropped her head against his chest, tucking her hands up next to her face. “How embarrassing.”

He chuckled and ran his hand up her naked spine. “You make the sexiest sounds when you’re enjoying yourself. What were you dreaming about?”

For a heartbeat, she didn’t move. Then she eased back just enough to lift her face to his. “Um. You. And the bath we took the other night.”

His blood heated. “You liked that, huh?”

“I loved that,” she whispered.

His pulse picked up when she lifted her mouth, when her lips skimmed his. And when her sexy little tongue licked across his bottom lip, the way he’d done to her earlier, he opened. His hand flexed against her hip as her tongue snaked into his mouth, as she tasted and explored, as she groaned and scooted even closer.

He wanted nothing more than to flip her to her stomach and wedge himself so deep inside her she forgot everything but him. But they had things to discuss now that she was awake. And even though she clearly wanted him again too, he didn’t want to hurt her. She had to be sore, and though he’d been gentle before, the next time he wasn’t entirely sure he could go slow and easy. Not with the raging hunger for her still burning inside him.

Breathless, he forced himself back. “Don’t look at me like that,
rouhi
.”

“Why not?”

“Because it makes it very hard to resist you.”

“I don’t want you to resist me. I want you to take me again. I want you to”—she bit her lip—“fuck me.”

He sucked in a breath at the visual her words created. “
Rouhi
—”

She leaned in and kissed him again. A kiss that left him light-headed and achingly hard. Then she sighed. “If you really want me to stop teasing you, I guess I will.”

Never stop. Ever
...

She rolled away, then scooted back until her ass was nestled against his groin and her back was plastered to his chest. “How’s this? Better?”

His hand landed on her hip again. He looked down at her pale skin pressed up tight to his much-darker flesh. Felt the curve of her sweet ass against his throbbing erection.

Yes. No. Allah, he couldn’t think when she was so close. “Um…”

She giggled, tucked her hands under her head. “I like it.” On another sigh, she relaxed against him. “Why do you think your
mu’allim
gave us this room?”

At the moment, Nasir didn’t care. All he could focus on was the press of her ass against his cock. The way the slightest shift of her hips made him want to groan. The smile in her voice as she teased him. Sliding his hand across her bare belly, then up to cup her breasts, he lowered and pressed a kiss to her throat. “I don’t know. But I think he likes you.”

“He does?”

“Uh-huh.” He nipped at her ear. “Kicked my ass when he thought I’d hurt you. That’s how I got the wound.”

She looked over her shoulder. “From Malik?”

“That surprises you?”

Her brow furrowed, then slowly, she laid her head back down on the pillow. “Yes, actually. I’m nothing to him. Why would he care what you do to me?”

He pulled her tighter back against him, loving the heat of her body against his groin, even if it did ignite him to within degrees of boiling. “I heard a story right after I came here. About a great
sahad
who’d been champion for over a hundred years.”

“That’s a long time.”

“He was an animal. Decimated anything they threw at him. Other
sahad
s would tremble simply at his name. The way the story goes, he and his lover had been captured together. He’d been sentenced to the pits, and she…well…she’d been of such blinding beauty, she’d been taken to the harem.”

Kavin’s upper body turned back toward him. “But if she wasn’t a virgin—”

“I don’t think it mattered,” he said softly, kissing her nose. “A slave is a slave. If they’d wanted the female, they’d have taken her.” Sickness rolled through his stomach at the thought, but he forced it aside. “The way the story goes, she couldn’t handle it. Life without him. She killed herself before he could figure out a way to free her.”

Kavin’s eyes slid closed, and she turned back, lowering once more to the pillow. “I know this story.”

“You do?”

She nodded, but he couldn’t see her eyes. Couldn’t tell what she was feeling. “I heard about her in the harem. It was a warning to me, I think. But I didn’t know about the
sahad
. He went on to fight?”

“They say he fought for her, even in death. That it gave him power to defy his captors.”

Silence settled between them, then she said, “Do you believe that’s true?”

He thought about everything that had happened between them since the moment she’d been brought to him. What he’d been before, and what he was now. And felt those emotions roll stronger through his chest. “I believe love is a powerful force. It can give you strength you didn’t know you had. Sometimes when you need it most.”

She was silent so long he wasn’t sure if he’d said the right thing or not. Then, quietly, she said, “It was him, wasn’t it? The
sahad
? It was Malik.”

He tightened his arm around her. Pressed his chin against her neck. “I think so. I don’t know for sure, but when he thought I’d hurt you…I’ve never seen him so enraged. Females in our tribe, they’re worshiped, not treated as property.”

“Our?” She turned her head again. “Are you saying—”

“Malik is Marid. He showed me that day. He keeps his lineage carefully cloaked with magic, so the highborns won’t know what he is. But if he was that champion… A hundred years is a long time. Unrest in the ruling class here is high, especially with the wars the Ghuls wage. It’s entirely possible the highborns in control of Jahannam now are not the ones who were in control when he was first brought here as a slave.”

“Why would he stay? If it’s true…if he’s risen to the rank of
mu’allim
and he’s harnessed his magic, he could easily escape.”

“I don’t know.” But Nasir had an idea. He guessed Malik stayed because it was the only way he could be close to his love, even after all this time. And because training others to stay alive was one more slap in the face to the highborns who’d imprisoned him from the start and taken his heart.

“I think this is his room,” Nasir said, tucking his chin against her again, holding on to her warmth. “I think he wanted you to have something nicer than that cell of mine for your first time. It’s not a palace, by any means, but it is a hell of a lot nicer than that cave.”

She lowered her hand to his against her belly and squeezed. “I would make love with you in a cave. I’d make love with you anywhere.”

Arousal stirred in his groin again at her words, and warmth encircled his heart. “You have to admit the bath, though, is a nice perk.”

She chuckled, and the sound was so sweet it eased the tension in his chest. Eased the worry over what he had to do tomorrow.

Silence settled back between them. Then, very softly, she said, “When I was in the harem, the others would talk about you. They say those from your tribe tend to be of even temperament. That it takes a lot to push a Marid from soldier to
sahad
. That most don’t survive, because killing isn’t in their blood. But Malik became one. And so did you. So I’m just wondering…who did you lose?”

Nasir’s hand paused against the underside of her breast. “What makes you think I lost someone?”

Kavin shrugged but didn’t turn to look at him. “You talk about love as if you know. And being with you these last few days, I know you’re not a monster. Not like the highborns would have me and everyone else believe. You don’t like the killing. And yet you do it.”

Surprise rippled through him. That she was so easily able to see to the heart of him when no one else ever had. Not even Talah.

“So who was she?” Kavin asked softly.

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he trailed his finger up her bare arm, then back down again. He’d never told anyone about Talah. Not even his brothers. But he didn’t want to keep anything from Kavin. Not now. “A caregiver. She worked with children injured and orphaned in the wars. Helped rehabilitate them and find homes.”

Kavin was silent beside him, the only sound the gentle push and pull of her breath while she waited for him to go on. And the fact she wasn’t pushing spurred him to continue. “We got word Ghuls were heading toward her village. I was being sent out with the army to meet them. I told her to go to the castle—that she’d be safe there. She agreed, reluctantly, but said she needed to arrange for someone to take her place at the infirmary. I wasn’t happy about her delay but agreed to give her the time. I left a guard with her and resumed my post. She never made it to the castle.” His throat grew thick as he stared at a mole on her shoulder. “A band of Ghuls we didn’t know about attacked from the north before she could get away.”

Her hand closed over his against her arm. “I’m so sorry.”

Talah’s face flashed in his mind. Smiling and waving as he left, her long dark hair flying behind her in the wind. Rolling her eyes at what she considered his overprotective nature. Never knowing it would be the last moments of her life.

“It wasn’t your fault, Nasir.”

Kavin’s breath against his cheek brought his eyes open. She’d turned to face him, her eyes warm and shining with unshed tears, her hands resting gently against his chest. Emotions stole through him. Emotions that were so much stronger than he’d felt with Talah they took his breath away.

“I don’t fight to avenge her death,” he said in a thick voice. “The Ghuls who manage the pits are not the ones who killed her. I fight—I fought—because it was all I had left. Until I met you.”

Her entire face softened. And those eyes that before had simply glistened, now filled with tears.

He kissed the tip of her nose. Kissed the teardrop that slipped from the corner of her eye. Kissed his way down to her mouth, then finally pressed his lips against hers. Softly. Gently. Hoping she could feel every emotion stirring inside him.

He wrapped his arm around her, dragged her body closer, then rested his forehead against hers. “It’s crazy—all of this. But in a few short days, you’ve changed everything for me. You made me remember who I was. You gave me a reason to want to live. I’m not going to let them hurt you. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

Her mouth closed over his so forcefully it tore a groan from his chest. She pushed him to his back, climbed over him, kissed him again and again and again as if she couldn’t get enough.

The sheet fell away, leaving her bare and beautiful. He trailed his hands up her hips, positioned her so she was rocking against his cock, right where he wanted her most. Eased up to kiss her deeper. “Mine,” he mumbled against her lips. “You’re mine.”

“Show me,” she whispered, lifting then lowering to take him so deep they both groaned. “One more time. Show me that I’m only yours.”

Chapter Thirteen

Nasir waited until Kavin fell asleep again, then gently eased out from under her.

His body still vibrated from the most amazing orgasm; his heart pounded hard at the things she’d whispered as they’d made love. But it was what he had to do next that left a hole the size of a crater in the bottom of his stomach.

He pulled on his pants and crossed soundlessly toward the door. Once there, he rapped on the hard wood once, knowing the guards were out there keeping watch.

“What?” a voice called from the other side of the door.