She pressed against him, drawing his attention, and he remembered. Cupping her head and covering her mouth with his, he gave her breath from his body. She relaxed against him, though her little moans and whimpers as he brought her down further on his cock coiled things inside him tight. He wanted to drive deeper, so deep he'd never need to withdraw, never need more than this, because if he drove deep enough he would be complete, at peace.
He pushed the swimsuit top out of his way so he could arch her up against him. Leaving her mouth briefly to suckle a taut nipple, he drew in the cool wet water with it. While she had a greater lung capacity than a human, he sensed how the lack of air, the shortness of breath, ironically heightened her arousal. He couldn't indulge that for long, though, because he found it hard to resist her mouth, the pleasure of exploring it as he was giving her air. He teased her tongue and lips as he worked her body on his, moving slow, like the water environment itself, a still, drifting place where pleasure could build at its own pace.
He opened his eyes while kissing her. As if sensing his attention, she opened hers. He stopped, holding them both there, locked together, blood pounding, the pulse of his and her sex creating its own friction, her fingers tight on his arms, her body melded to his, trusting him to give her air, trusting him with her life.
She dwelled upon the spark she sensed in him, but he knew the concern he and her father shared was the vastness of his darkness. At times like this, when his passion was greatest, that rage rose up against her own overwhelming light. As if it were a threat and castigation both for which he should punish her, conquer her, make sure she knew his control was absolute. Yet amid all of that maelstrom, that spark of light still reached for her, knowing she was his only hope of salvation.
Which made no sense. He was here, he'd made it so. He didn't need any more saving. The Dark One world was behind him and he would not go back.
Like their coupling, his understanding of it eluded him. He couldn't bring himself to question, not right now. Her skin was so soft, her mouth, her cheeks, her breasts, the slope of her abdomen, the generous curve of her buttocks, the length of thigh, even the tender sole of her foot, pressed insistently against his own flexing buttocks, made him crave, need, hunger.
He thrust in harder, drew out slow and watched her mouth shape itself in a moan of reaction, her eyes closing again. He closed his own then, focusing on giving her air and pleasure both, one arm around her back, one between them to please himself with the nipple against his palm, the weight of the breast in his hand. She seemed to find pleasure in him as well, her hands sweeping his chest, the column of his throat, teasing the area that was so sensitive on a vampire. And then down, to the joining part of their bodies, wrapping her hand around him as he came partway out of her, her fingers caressing as he drove back in, going in to the hilt.
Please, Dante . . . I want to feel your seed inside of me.
Then come for me, merangel. Show me how much you want that. I want you to scream inside of my mouth, dig into my shoulders with your nails.
He pressed her against one of the rock ledges, taking her lower so he could lay his body down upon her. Her hands slipped down, fingers raking his back as he hitched her legs up higher, changed the angle and dove deeply into slick female flesh.
She cried out into his mouth, gasping as he kept the driving rhythm, pushing her up and over that precipice, feeling his own control trembling on it. White flashing light, spiraling fire, were all in her mind, all thought driven out before the power of that climax. Just rapid images, erotic, needy, the things she wanted him to do to her, needed him to do to her. It shoved him over that same cliff. He gripped the rock, crumbling it beneath his strength as he pounded his hips against her, pushing her legs out wide, ratchetting their clutch higher up his back. Her breasts quivered with the impact, brushing his chest in tiny, rhythmic feathers of motion that made him even harder. A manta ray swam over her head, dipping its wings as it turned, sliding along Dante's back. Life moved around them, accepting them, accepting what they were doing.
In the Dark One world copulation was always public and open, as he'd told her, no different from relieving oneself. But this . . . the plethora of life around them somehow felt like a confirmation of the act, an embellishment to it, something that gave it special meaning. Made the act itself special. He hadn't acknowledged it to himself, but he did now. Being inside of her body had a different meaning to him than any other sexual experience he'd endured or inflicted on another.
She made an approving murmur in his mouth as he climaxed, holding tightly to him. In her aftermath, he saw in her mind how she took pleasure in his body, the expressions on his face as he released, the way his hands held her. How he swept everything away, making her . . . his. His. That was the word in her mind, an answer to the earlier question of whether she wanted this. And not because he'd made it so, overpowered her. She felt like her heart and soul were his, that she'd given them to him. Given.
The idea was so stunning and disturbing at once, at first he didn't feel another disturbing current running through the water, but Alexis did. Her mind froze.
Reba. She's frightened of something.
He pushed himself off her, her slick muscles releasing him with a spasm that shuddered through them both. She was already in motion, though. Alexis swam for the grate, shifting as she swam, a blur of motion and distortion that left several feathers and scales behind, suggesting it was not the most graceful turning she'd ever done. She reopened the grate latch, got them through and then into the manatees' tank. They ascended together, her wings and his normal speed making it barely a blink of time before they were surfacing. Dante made sure he broke first, however, wanting to be between her and the lip of the tank, not knowing what might be waiting for them.
Reba yelped as he exploded from the water, using one hand to catapult himself out of the tank and onto the deck, crouched over her. He glanced around, nostrils flared.
"He's gone, whatever he was. God, you guys got here fast."
Alexis emerged only a blink later, using her wings to take her halfway out of the water as well, hovering above the surface, looking around. "That's that same feeling," she said to Dante. "Like the diner. The one I told Pyel about. Can you feel it? Track it?"
"I'm not leaving you here alone, both of you unprotected."
"We need to know what it is."
"He was like you," Reba said to her. Her voice trembled a little, though she looked like she was calming down. "And he actually didn't hurt me. He scared me mostly because he came up on me unexpectedly and I was on my back like a turtle. He had wings, sort of angel-like, but not what I think of as an angel."
"Leathery-like?"
"A little." When she nodded, Alexis blanched, looking toward Dante.
Dark One?
I don't see how. They couldn't use the rift I or the witch created, and there are no other openings. Dante frowned. Also, Dark Ones carry the stench of fear and violence, despair. No matter its intentions, it would have killed her because it would not have been able to resist helpless prey.
"You know, it's rude to talk when people can't hear what you're saying," Reba ventured, her hands closed in tight balls against her abdomen. "Of course, no more rude than it is to practically jump on someone dripping wet and naked." She attempted to give Dante a lecherous perusal, but ended up with a quick flick before she focused hard on his face, her skin pinkening. "Much as I thought I'd like seeing a guy naked, it's a little . . . overwhelming this close. God, I really want to be in my chair. Feeling a bit like a stranded fish here."
Alexis nodded to some towels and Reba's chair by the locker room door. Dante went to them, knotting a towel around his waist. Despite the lingering air of danger and worry, Alexis knew no female would have been able to keep herself from looking. Still she was somewhat mortified that she was no more capable of resisting than Reba, who tilted her head up to watch the view upside down. Then the girl gave her a sidelong glance and mouthed, What a fucking incr
edible ass.
Alexis tried for a stern look, but failed and sighed instead. Dante returned and lifted Reba back into her chair. "Reba, you said he didn't hurt you. Did you feel anything when you saw him? Did he say anything?"
"He asked, 'Where is the evil?' He looked me over, like he had radar to tell I wasn't a threat. I told him I didn't know about any evil. He said he could smell it, so I said the place had just closed for the night, and maybe evil had taken off with the visitors, but left some of its stench behind. So he left same way he arrived. Poof, he was gone."
Alexis moved to the deck, shifting back to her human form and knotting a towel around her bare body. "You're something else, Reba."
"Don't I know it." She managed a tired grin. "But 'Where is the evil'? Talk about melodrama. What do you think that's about?"
Alexis met Dante's eyes. He nodded. "I suspect whatever it is, it is looking for me."
Twenty-six
NOTHING in the parking lot indicated who their strange visitor might have been. All she knew was it wasn't the same energy as the vampire, so it wasn't likely another unsanctioned vampire attack. Still, Alexis sent a message to her father and David, so they could ask the Legion to scout the area. They waited until Reba's mother picked her up, then headed for Lex's home.