Page 43

Somehow, Elena was different. She’d been told for millennia that she was a warrior maiden, untouchable, above any man who thought to claim her. She’d warmed to me over the past few days, but that bond hadn’t snapped fully taut. I smiled at the memory of her in my bed, wanton and panting. Mine. The way she should always be.

I sighed. There was more. More I needed to tell her. About me, our past. About the coming battle and how I could never risk her in the fight to win my kingdom. No matter how powerful, she could still be hurt, killed. My face fell at the memories that threatened on the edges of my mind. Memories of death. Her blood. So much blood.

“So, are you just going to stand out here all night?”

I whirled to find Elena behind me, a smirk on her beautiful face. She wore only a long t-shirt. Did she have panties on under there? My cock sprang to life in my pants, instantly hard. But her sexy smirk faded as soon as she saw my face. She stepped toward me, and I took her in my arms.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“Nothing. Just…memories, is all,” I said into her hair.

“Bad ones, I take it.” She was so warm against me; her breaths calm and even. So alive.

I stroked a hand down her back. “Yes.”

She pulled away and looked up into my eyes. “You won’t lose me.”

How did she know what my inmost soul needed to hear?

She put her hand on my cheek, and I leaned into her touch. “I can’t, Elena. I couldn’t bear it. Not again.”

I smoothed her hair behind her ear and bent to her mouth, our breaths mingling. She pushed up on her toes and made the first, perfect contact. Her lips were so soft, like rose petals. I kissed her gently until she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her breasts into me.

I deepened the kiss, slanting my mouth over hers and stroking her tongue. I bent her back, her body safe in my arms as I made every inch of contact between us. Magic began to bubble in the air, a whirl of effervescence in the dark. Relinquishing her mouth, I licked up her neck, enjoying how her heart beat faster under my touch. When I moved my hands lower, I discovered she did, indeed, have panties on. Just thin fabric between me and the sweetest skin I’d ever tasted.

She made a throaty noise. I rubbed my fangs along her neck, and she let out a sultry moan. I couldn’t imagine a sexier sound. When I scented her arousal, it was all I could do not to sink into her, taking her blood and everything else she had to offer.

I pushed her back through the door, and we tumbled into a heap on the floor. I studied her face, now flushed and luminous, before kicking the door shut behind us.

She pulled my face down to hers and resumed our kiss. I tasted her fully, deeply. Her magic swirled faster around us. We were in the eye of the maelstrom, as we always had been.

She opened her mouth. I relished the fast beat of her heart, the warmth of her skin, the hard tips of her nipples crushed against my chest. I wanted it all. Our tongues warred as the magic increased.

I slid a hand down her side and to her stomach. She trembled at my touch, and the eruption of goosebumps along her smooth skin pleased me. My fingers dipped even farther, tucking beneath the fabric of her panties. Her warmth only increased the lower I went, drawing me to the vee of her thighs.

She made an mmm sound into my mouth as my fingers ghosted against her curls, already wet. I sat back, pulled my shirt over my head, and tossed it aside. Elena’s gaze raked down my chest, my stomach, and lower. She let out a hard breath when her gaze strayed to my pants. Then her hands were on me and her mouth was on my chest, sucking and biting.

I put my hands on her shoulders, barely clinging to control. I wanted—no, needed—to claim her. To make her mine again. When she circled my nipple and her hot mouth clamped around it, I sank my fingers into her hair.

I wrenched her head away—though it hurt to lose the contact—before stripping her shirt. No bra, thank the gods. Her perfect breasts begged for my touch, my mouth. She unbuttoned my pants and reached in. Her small hand wrapped around me, and my hips bucked forward at her touch.

Pushing her back to the floor, I took her mouth again, worshipping her as she deserved. When my length hit her hot core, separated from me only by the thin material, I lost control and ground my hips into her. She latched on to my shoulders, her fingernails cutting and marking.