Dark Promises (Dark 25)

Her lashes fluttered. He kept his mouth on hers because he knew if he moved even a breath away from her, panic would come back. She was barely keeping it at bay, but she trusted him enough to follow his instructions. She didn't realize she was giving him that gift--her trust. But he did. And he knew how precious a gift it was.

Her eyes clung to his, but he felt some of the tension ease from her body. He rewarded her, kneading the firm muscle of her buttocks and then slipping his hand between their bodies to find her core. The moment his finger slid over her soft velvety folds, he felt the welcoming dampness. He loved that. He loved that she was scared, clinging to him, relying on him, and yet still got wet when he touched her. So ready for him. She was his lifemate without a doubt. She just had to believe it.

Do you see you have nothing to fear? The earth belongs to us. We belong to the earth. You can wake and not need air until you surface. You can open the earth above our heads with a thought. Visualize the earth open. Do it now, Gabrielle.

It was a command, but he kept his finger moving gently in her folds, slipping into her for a moment and then back to making small lazy circles. His own body stirred. Filled. Became engorged and hot and needy. He wanted her mouth there. He needed it there, but this was more important. Letting her feel her own power.

She didn't take her gaze from his, but he felt the surge of energy and the soil around them moved. Lifted. Pulled apart. Cool air found them. He smiled against her mouth. You did it, kessake. There is no need to fear. When you do not know something, simply ask me and I will teach you.

He floated them out of the earth and closed the opening after them. All the while he kept her body sprawled over his. They lay on the same carpet. It mattered little what was beneath them. Her hunger beat at him. She didn't know how to feed properly and he would teach her that as well. But not yet. Not until he taught her other things. Not until he gave her other things.

"I was so afraid," she confided, lifting her head, her eyes still on his. "I feel like I've been afraid for so long I don't know how not to be anymore."

"You will learn." He kept his fist bunched in her hair. "You are the kind of woman who needs to know what she's doing to feel comfortable. I will give you that."

Her tongue touched her lower lip, drawing his immediate attention. She was sexy and she didn't have the slightest clue. He was amazed at the combination of innocent and sexy and just what it could do to his blood.

"Tell me what to do now," she whispered. "I want you, Aleksei, but I don't know what to do to get you."

Her whispered confession yanked at his heart. Hard. Punched him in the gut. Harder. His body went tight. Painful. His cock swelled, thickened, lengthened. Burned like an out of control fire. The blood in his veins rushed like a firestorm.

"I dreamt of you," she confided. "I dreamt you were inside me and I was flying free and I wasn't afraid anymore."

"Carpathians do not dream." He growled his response, because first, lifemates didn't lie to each other. Second, she was killing him, taking him to the very edge of his control again, and he'd promised himself he would be gentle with her.

"I do. I have nightmares of that night when he stabbed me over and over. I can feel the blade going into me over and over. It hurt so bad. Sometimes I can't get the sound of it out of my head. But I didn't have that nightmare. You chased it away." She kissed his chin. Then his throat.

He closed his eyes and savored the feel of her body, all soft skin and lush curves moving over him. She might not think she knew what she was doing, but she could drive a man out of his mind with the soft whisper of her lips on his body.

He believed her. Her voice had the ring of truth, and he had been looking into her eyes. She meant every word. He had taken away her nightmare. It bothered him that she had nightmares when Carpathians didn't dream. Shouldn't dream. She had to be clinging so hard to her human ways that even the blood of the prince hadn't removed those needs from her. But he would. He would take away those nightmares and replace them with beautiful dreams.

"Keep going," he advised. "Do not stop there. Your body belongs to me, Gabrielle, but mine belongs to you. You want it, you take it. When I have had enough, I will take over."

She lifted her head to look at him. She actually licked her lips. "Tell me about your tattoo. On your back and shoulders. I feel it when I . . ." She broke off.

He smiled. "When you turn into my little cat and rake my back with your nails?"

She blushed, the color stealing up her body, turning her skin a beautiful rose. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself."

"I like it. Just like you like rough, so do I."

She ducked her head toward his chest, but not before he caught her biting her lip hard. It embarrassed her that she liked rough.

"Gabrielle." He waited.

There was a short silence. His hand smoothed over her bare bottom. Once. Twice. A silent warning, but he didn't think she understood.

"Look at me."

She took a breath. Her breasts pushed against his chest and feeling that silken slide sent a rush of heat straight to his cock. She lifted her head again.

He held her gaze because it was important she understood. He never wanted her to feel ashamed or embarrassed by anything they did together. "You are my lifemate. The other half of my soul. You were created for me. Me for you. You were born to meet my needs. I was born to meet yours. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

She took a breath and then nodded. "I have to get used to this, that's all."

His smile widened. "You have to get used to a lot then. I intend to get very creative and living as many centuries as I have, I have acquired a great deal of knowledge I would like to try out."

A little shiver went through her body. Heat flared in her eyes. "I think I would like that."

The shyness in her voice and eyes, so at odds with the daring of her answers, sent more flames rushing through his blood straight to his cock.

"I need your mouth on me." He gave her the stark, raw truth. "Give me that mouth, kessake, and I will attend your every need."

"Will you tell me about the tattoo?"

Her mouth moved down his chest, lingering on his hard nipples, her hair brushing over his skin like so much silk. He closed his eyes and let her have his body. One hand found its way to her hair because he couldn't help himself. He needed to feel it bunched in his hand. He liked giving her this. It was power, but she hadn't realized that yet. Power over his body. Over him. He felt her mouth nuzzling him. Felt her hunger.

"Not yet," he denied her. "Wait. Waiting makes it better. Sharper. I want you to claim me the way I claimed you."

She didn't hesitate. Her hands moved over his body. He brought both his hands behind his head and looked down at her. She was beautiful. Far more beautiful than he had ever imagined a woman could be.

"When a Carpathian male has killed too often, has seen too much violence, and has lived in darkness, the whisper of temptation to feel, just for a moment, becomes overwhelming. One only needs to kill while feeding. To make that choice. After a thousand years of darkness and no emotion, that temptation, perversely, becomes the only thing left to us."

She made a soft sound of distress as if

she'd never considered how difficult an ancient's life could be. Her mouth smoothed over his flat belly, her tongue tracing the muscles so defined there in his abdomen. Her hands went to his hips, tracing the bones, the contours. Taking her time. Killing him.

He tried to concentrate. To give her something of himself. "Still, that is not the worst. When more centuries pass, even that is gone. There is only darkness and the demon inside us embracing that darkness. So close. We can no longer afford to hunt the vampire and kill because that kill would send us into a realm we dare not go, not after acquiring the skills and knowledge we have."

Her teeth scraped along his hip bone. The air left his lungs in a rush. Kessake. He couldn't help breathing his endearment into her mind. She had to get serious soon or he wouldn't be able to give her this. Need crawled through him until he wanted to pound his body into hers. To just stay there in that exquisite paradise he had claimed the last rising.

"Tell me more," she whispered against his thigh. Her breath was warm. Her hands stroked. One cupped his heavy sac and simply held him.

"We came here. Nine of us. We could not meet the dawn because it felt wrong. We had lived honorably. We fought. We needed to go out fighting, but the cost was too high to risk that. So we made this place our home. Fane guards the gates and brings blood when we need more than what we give one another. He is dark, but nowhere near the rest of us. It is his duty to make certain we stay strong. Should one of us fall, he will be the one to destroy the fallen."

She made a sound and at the same time, wrapped her fist around the base of his cock. The sound vibrated straight through his body. Every single peje cell.

"Use your mouth to get me wet and slick, Gabrielle," he instructed, trying not to clench his teeth. Her hand rolled the velvet sac gently. He felt the brush of her tongue. A barely there sweep that made his cock jump. He forced himself to keep talking to her. "We came up with the idea of etching our vows into our bodies. Something tangible. Something we could see and feel on one another."

Her tongue tasted him. A tentative lick. It curled around the underside of the sensitive crown. His hips nearly came off the ground.