Page 51

“For now,” I ran my hand along his forearm, reveling in the heat and texture of the muscles he used to pleasure me. “But soon I’ll need—”

“I’ll give you what you need.” Something cold nudged my heated skin. I lifted my head to see him offering me a flask of water. I took it gratefully and drank in deep gulps that soothed my throat.

“It’s not fair,” I grumbled. “I was spending quality time with my daughter and then this had to happen.”

Lucian’s beautiful cerulean eyes widened with hurt. “You promised you wouldn’t—”

“No, no.” I grabbed his hand to reassure him. “It’s not that. Though I would have preferred this part of our reunion to be more romantic… It’s Xochitl. She was too close when the Yearning hit me and—”

Lightning flashed from the windows so bright that it was nearly blinding and the resulting thunder shook the castle.

Lucian blinked in comprehension. “Oh.”

“She’s too young. I didn’t have my first until I was in my fifties and that was much sooner than normal for our kind.” As the castle shook again, I sighed. “I hope one of them has a storage crystal within reach.”

Then, the Yearning overtook me again and I tried to climb on his lap. To my everlasting frustration, he restrained my arms again.

“Lucian, please. I need you inside me.”

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” He slid off the couch and knelt between my legs, caressing my flesh and looking up at me with eyes the color of the deep sea. “But I will help you.”

Comprehension dawned only a moment before his mouth closed over me.

Then my body sang in pure pleasure as his tongue traced the edges of my slit.

With exquisite finesse, he licked every sensitive nerve ending before circling the pinnacle.

All sense of time vanished as his lips and tongue wrought a symphony of sensory sensuality.

I seized his hair, humming in satisfaction at its silken texture.

My breath came in hitching gasps punctuated by moans.

Once more, the pleasure spiraled up and up, before spilling over the edge in cascading waves. Yet still the climax increased to an intensity that was almost unbearable.

My hips shifted in an inadvertent retreat, Lucian’s big hands pinned them down and his low growl vibrated against my singing nerves, bringing a second barrage of intensity to my orgasm.

When the lightning pulses faded to dull throbs, he released me and handed me the flash of water again. I drank deeply, unable to stop staring at the tented bulge in his pajama bottoms.

I handed him the flask and he finished the rest, then got up to refill it, giving me a tantalizing view of his rippling back muscles and firm, perfectly-shaped ass. I remembered the first time I told him he had a cute butt. His blush had been almost as cute.

When he returned with the full flask, I was once more treated to the view of his broad chest, those perfect nipples, now as hard as mine, his muscled abs, and the vee of muscle over his hips, pointing down to the part of him I craved most right now.

“Are you really not going to fuck me?” I hated the plea in my tone.

“I already did,” Lucian said with a devilish smile. “With my hand and my mouth.”

“You know what I meant.”

He sighed and sat back down on the couch, gathering me into his arms. “You know what could happen if I do.”

“I thought of that too,” I said solemnly.

“I decided I’m ready to risk it, no matter if the outcome is the same our not.

” When Lucian remained silent, but stared at me with intent cerulean eyes, I faltered with a new worry.

“Wait, do you not want a child anymore? If not, we can get some condoms from the village.”

“I do, very much.” He took my hand and kissed my knuckles like he did before telling me something important.

“However, you already have one whom I would be honored to claim as a daughter. Another one with both our blood would be a wonderous addition, but not a necessity. Either way, I would require a condition from you before agreeing to mate with you.”

I reeled in shock, both at his words about Xochitl that I’d never dared to dream of him saying even when I was na?ve enough to think he would have agreed to take care of her after I died on Earth, and also because part of me had assumed that he’d be the one begging to mate, not me.

And not only was he not begging, he had conditions?

But I needed this, needed him so badly that only one reply would do. “I’ll do anything.”

“Marry me.”

The part of me that recognized him as my true-bonded mate danced with joy.

The part that still hurt from what he did to me wavered with weak indecision.

My rational side, soon to be gone when the next wave of my Yearning hit, recognized that the hurt part wasn’t jumping to immediate refusal anymore.

The decision then came easy.

“I will.”

Lucian’s eyes burned with intensity. “Are you willing to swear a blood oath on that?”

“Yes!” This was not the marriage proposal I’d dreamed of long ago, but I didn’t care. Especially when my body flared with hot liquid lust.

Lucian slid his pajama pants down, and my eyes only had a second to devour the sight of his tantalizing naked body before he seized me and pinned me on the couch.

His decadent weight making my body sing in triumph.

My arms wrapped around him, pulling him tighter against me.

I wished this full skin to skin contact could last forever.

Magic crackled and danced on our mingled flesh, punctuating the pleasure. Lucian’s voice rumbled against my neck as he summoned a storage crystal.

Then he was inside me in one smooth glide, and I cried out in total fulfillment.

He teased me with slow, shallow thrusts until I groaned with frustration and arched my hips, needing him deeper.

Lucian obliged me, his thick cock reaching the places inside that ached for him.

My nails dug into his back with primal satisfaction.

We moved together in a decadent dance, our mingled magic swirling together and building like a cyclone.

Lucian pressed the crystal to my palm, it wasn’t long before the pleasure spiraled and soared until I once more exploded into infinite particles of light.

Lucian moaned and spasmed inside me, making my climax vibrate in tandem with his.

In a dizzy haze, I willed the burst of power into the crystal so we wouldn’t set the room ablaze.

For a few moments, we lay there joined together, our hearts pounding and our bodies trembling.

When we had to separate to use the bathroom and rehydrate, my body felt both bereft at the loss of contact with Lucian’s and gratified at the fact that he’d been there.

My heart and mind were reduced to warm mush that rivaled the old Disney films I adored and Xochitl reviled.

Though she loved romance novels. I never understood that dichotomy.

Thoughts of my daughter made me remember Lucian’s declaration that he’d be honored to be her father, raising my giddiness to a new height.

I was very much in danger of spilling the “L-word.” Even though I felt it enough to be willing and eager to marry him and make a child with him, something within me held back.

When the next wave of the Yearning hit, I returned Lucian’s earlier favor with my mouth. The sight of his long, hard body above me and his head thrown back in sublime pleasure only I could give him gave me a rush of power.

He pulled me up and bent me over the couch, this time fucking me hard and fast until I screamed his name. After that, I straddled him and rode him to satiation.

Afterward, we lay sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace, gasping for breath.

“I hope that couch won’t be too hard to clean,” I panted.

“Mmmm.” He stroked my arm in small, lazy circles. “It was worth it. Has the Yearning been sated?”

“Yes.” I sighed contentedly.

“And your head is clear?”

“Yes. Why—Oh.”

The blood vow he wanted. I started to sit up and summoned a knife.

Lucian grabbed my wrist. “Put that down. You don’t need to swear a blood vow.”

I pouted at him. “Then why—”

“I wanted to make sure you were serious.” His voice held an edge of caution and hope “But I want you to marry me on your own free will.”

I should have been annoyed at him testing me like that, but I understood why.

Even before he hurt me when he found out I was pregnant, I’d spent centuries postponing the wedding.

It was no wonder he wanted to be absolutely sure that I wouldn’t renege on it.

Also, it was impossible to be vexed at him when he was sprawled out on a plush rug, the light of the fire painting his body in flickering swathes of gold, his sleepy blue eyes…

I decided to end the discussion by snuggling against him, resting my head on his chest. “You may go tell our matriarchs to prepare a contract in the morning.”

In answer, he kissed the top of my head. I dozed off, feeling not only satisfied in a way I hadn’t been since the last time I let him service my Yearning, but also like a vast and suffocating weight had been lifted from my heart.

I awoke slightly when Lucian lifted me from the floor, the slightly cooler air made me curl towards his warmth.

I hummed with happiness at his rocking strides that made me feel like I was on a ship.

As he laid me down on his soft bed and pulled the even softer covers over me, I couldn’t help mumbling the words I’d held so close to my heart for so long.

“I love you.”

I don’t know if he replied. Sleep pulled me back down to its tranquil darkness. This time I knew my dreams would be happy because he was here and would never leave me.