Dark Promises (Dark 25)

She liked that rough velvet in his voice, the one that said she'd brought him to the end of his control and he was taking over. She lapped at him, stripping him of every drop, taking her time in spite of the urgency of his tone. In spite of the fact that his fingers dug into her hips and he was once again rumbling with deep growls.

She felt his body shudder and knew he wasn't going to move her until she was finished. And she wouldn't be finished until she had all of him and knew he was completely clean and there was nothing semi-hard about him. Until he was all hard. Like a rock. Just for her.

"Satisfied?" he growled when she lifted her head just a little.

She smiled, breathing warm air over him. Loving that she had taken what belonged to her. "Very."

"You are done?"

She ran her tongue over her lips, leaned forward and kissed the crown of his cock, allowing herself one last taste. "Now I'm done." There was both satisfaction and a little mischief in her tone. Definitely triumph.

Aleksei didn't waste another moment on commentary. Decisive. She loved that. He caught her hips in hard hands, yanking her back toward him as he came up on his knees, one hand pushing her head toward the mattress so that her bottom jutted up for him. He slammed his cock home, pushing through her tight, slick, scorching hot folds, invading deep, driving inside to fill her full of him.

The beauty of it took her breath away. He was so large, stretching her beyond her imagining, the fiery friction so good she felt the fire already beginning to consume her. He'd just come and come hard, yet he was already thick and full and desperate for her all over again. The feeling, so exquisite, held so much pleasure it bordered on pain. She already skated so close to the edge from his mouth and fingers.

"Aleksei." She tried panting, trying to hold off the rising tsunami. "I can't hold it back. I can't . . ."

"Let go for me, kessake. Give me everything. Give me you."

Her entire body tightened at his words, and just like that she shattered. He kept moving in her. Relentless. Insistent. Her body gripped and pulsed around his. The ripples spread through her body along with the rush of hot blood. He picked up the pace, one hand sliding around to find her breast. His fingers shaped the soft, full mound and then found her nipple.

"Again," he demanded. "Now, Gabrielle. Again."

Gabrielle gasped when he tugged hard on her nipple and fire shot through her, sending a series of quakes through her body. Her third orgasm rolled straight into a fourth one. She sobbed his name, pushing back into him as he continued to thrust hard. So deep. She was afraid he would lodge in her womb and just stay there. It felt like paradise, and yet she needed to catch her breath. She needed to stop for just a moment, regroup, but there was no letup. He took her up again, hard and fast, his hips like a savage jackhammer, almost brutal in his possession of her.

"Again, kislany, give that to me again." His voice was rough. Raw. Pure sex.

"I can't. I can't, Aleksei." It would kill her. She was too high now, coiled too tight, her body already shattered.

She knew she belonged to him. She knew it. He showed that to her. Her body wasn't her own, and no one else would ever make her feel like this. His teeth suddenly sank into her neck, his fingers tugged hard on her nipple again and his other hand went between her legs, his thumb unerringly finding her clit.

"Now, Gabrielle. I want it again now." That was pure Aleksei, all command, one she didn't dare disobey. One she couldn't disobey. He made it impossible with his earth-shattering mouth, hands and cock.

She screamed. Her entire body shook. He thrust again, burying himself all the way while her sheath convulsed around him, gripping his cock in a strangulation hold.

So hot. Peje hot, little cat. I love how you come to pieces for me. How you give that to me. You are tight and hot and just plain peje paradise.

She would have collapsed, falling forward because there was no way to keep herself up, but his arm was an iron band around her waist. He eased her to the mattress, sliding out of her, his hands moving over her back and buttocks in a soothing pattern as her body rippled and shuddered for what seemed like hours.

Listen to my heartbeat, Gabrielle. Let your heart follow mine.

She realized her lungs burned for air. Her throat felt raw. So did her sex. Sated, but raw. She turned her head to look at him, smiling. I think I have skid marks. Inside. She touched her throat. Her hand drifted down her hip to disappear beneath her body. He got the idea immediately.

Aleksei instantly leaned into her, turning her body until she was on her back and he was over her, his expression concerned. He wrapped one palm around her throat and the other cupped her mound. She felt him moving inside of her, a white-hot energy, pure spirit, healing her in the Carpathian way. She hadn't expected that of him, not for something so minor as discomfort. A delicious discomfort.

At once the raw feeling was gone so there was only the delicious part. She found herself looking into his green eyes. Where there had always been possession, there was now something else, something she loved. She could see affection there. Maybe the beginnings of something more.

She touched his mouth with her fingertips. She knew he was already inside of her, in her soul. Deep. He'd claimed her body. "Thank you for taking away my nightmare. I've had that every single night since it happened."

"You stepped between them. The Carpathian woman and the human. Why?"

Aleksei scooped her up, cradling her against his body protectively. At least, to Gabrielle, the way he held her felt protective. Her heart fluttered in reaction. She slipped her arms around his neck while he carried her to a shallow steaming pool. When he sank down, he kept her on his lap.

"I don't know why I did it. When I was a child growing up, I did the same thing once I stopped hiding under my bed. Mom would lose her mind over something and throw a tantrum, which meant throwing objects. I would get between her and my sister so she couldn't hurt her. Not that she ever meant to, she didn't. She just had these blind, very destructive temper tantrums. They were over fast and then she'd be all smiles and comfort and 'let's get ice cream.' I think it's kind of automatic for me to do that sort of thing."

Gabrielle turned her face into his throat and licked at his skin. He always tasted so good. His hand came up to cup the back of her head, holding her close to him.

"Take what you need, kislany, your hunger beats at me. Then we will go hunting and I will teach you how to get food for yourself. I do not want you to, but you can practice in case of an emergency."

"You don't want me to hunt for myself?"

"The thought of you seducing a man with your voice to call him to you does not sit well with me. Still, you need the skill."

"Why?" She clutched at his shoulder, suddenly afraid of the reason, but needing to know.

"I will hunt the vampire again, and in doing so, there is the possibility of injury. You may need to bring blood back for me."

She took a breath and let it out slowly. She thought it would be an aversion to hunting humans that would upset her, but it was the thought of him injured. She stroked her fingertips over his pulse. So strong. So steady. Her rock.

"Why do you have to go back to hunting vampires?"

She could have bitten her tongue. It just slipped out. She felt like a child whining instead of a grown woman accepting the fact that Aleksei had been in thousands of dangerous situations and knew what he was doing. She was being selfish. Afraid for him. Afraid for herself. She knew Carpathian hunters battled vampires. They hunted killers and stopped them. They were necessary.

"Kislany."

His voice was so gentle her heart turned over.

"You are Carpathian and you know the danger we face. Both from humans and from vampires. I have certain skills and now that I am safe from the darkness . . ."

"Don't." She shook her head, keeping close to him, nestling her face in his throat, letting his pulse beat beneath her ear. "I see inside you, Aleksei. I see you fighting your demons. I see the darkness there." r />

"It is not the same, Gabrielle. There is no danger of me turning vampire. I will always have to watch myself around others. You are the only person on this earth who I know for absolute certain is safe. Any other . . ." He shook his head. "As for my demons, I think you are very good at handling them." He caught her face in his hands and tipped it up toward his, forcing her gaze to meet his. "My sweet woman. So ready to give me whatever I need when I need it. You face my demons, Gabrielle, on every rising, and you never flinch."

Gabrielle stared into his green eyes and let herself fall into them and drown there. He was a beautiful man whether he knew it or not. She knew it. She recognized the way he was far before he ever showed it to her. She had nearly destroyed this man. At first she thought she deserved to feel his demons raging, but then she realized he would never hurt her. He would push her limits of comfort, but he would also bring her so much pleasure sometimes she thought she might die of it.

"I'm afraid in your world," she admitted. "All the time." She knew it was why she clung to the familiar. She had chosen Gary because he shared that human world with her in such an unfamiliar and dangerous place.