Ellora's Cavemen: Tales from the Temple II (7 page)

The warm water sluiced down her body, drawing all the tension out of her muscles.

She braced a hand against the rough rock and rotated her head and shoulders under the massaging stream, groaning. The only thing that could make this shower feel any better would be… She broke the thought off. It had been way too long if she was thinking about the Vampir.

But it
had
been a long time.

Once there had been Tuatha Dé Danaan males, but the Thirty Year War had taken all but very old and the very young, plus a goodly portion of their females. The last time Cerian had known a man’s hard body moving against her had been nearly five years ago. Could she be faulted for imagining Rhys in the shower with her now? She was a young, healthy woman, not made of stone.

Shivering, she gave in to the fantasy. The heat from his muscular chest would bleed through the skin at her back to her very heart as he pressed her up against the shower’s wall. The firm planes of his stomach and the hard pressure of his thighs would brace her as he spread her legs and drew a strong, sure hand up her inner thigh to hold his palm against her aroused sex.

She cupped her breasts at the thought, running her thumbs back and forth over the sensitized tips. Then she slipped a hand down to her clit and rubbed it until it plumped full and responsive before she sank a finger within her pussy.

She’d part her legs for him and he’d slide his long, thick cock into her, stretching her muscles exquisitely. Then he’d thrust…and thrust and thrust. Giving her no quarter, no time to draw a breath, no time to even
think
. His dark hair would brush her shoulder as he kissed along her throat, nipping as he went. He’d fist his hand in her hair as he drove into her from behind, drawing her head to the side so he could bite the place where her shoulder and neck met.

The combination of his cock plundering her sex and his mouth drawing on her throat would push her straight into a mind-bending climax. She’d cry out and claw at the walls as the muscles of her pussy contracted around his pistoning shaft. He wouldn’t stop until she’d been well and thoroughly fucked.

42

Scarlet Sweet

Cerian plunged her fingers in and out of her pussy, and shuddered as her climax hit her. Waves of sensation washed over her, and the muscles of her vagina convulsed around her fingers. She leaned back against the wall and caught her breath.

Dear Goddess Danu, she was in trouble.

43

Anya Bast

The next morning, Rhys sat at a long table and considered the people around him.

About four thousand years ago, a part of the Tuatha Dé Danaan left Earth and traveled out here to this fractious planet. They’d been the ones who hadn’t wanted to conceal their natures when the Milesians had come to Ireland and defeated their people.

The Milesians had demanded the conquered Danaan either go into hiding or leave.

These people were their descendants, and were far different from the Danaan who’d remained on Earth. The Earth-dwelling sidhe were a gentle yet commanding race. They loved music and dancing. Their psychic abilities were extraordinary and they could do powerful magic, beautiful spells that could take your breath away.

These Tuatha Dé Danaan were tired, beaten by this cruel planet. It was almost as if war had ground their magic with its boot heel.

Or maybe they were simply hungry.

Rhys watched as a server placed a heel of flat bread and a few spoonfuls of thin gruel on each passing Danaan’s plate.

Lympia had explained that they were not a farming people, instead choosing to barter for their food stores. Ta’bat had intimidated all those they traded with, cutting off the ability of the Danaan to trade their crystal for food, until Cerian conceded to him.

Rhys fisted a hand. He really hoped he’d meet Ta’bat one day.

Of course, after Lympia had explained in full the plight of these Tuatha Dé Danaan, she’d invited him into her bed. He’d declined without slighting her. Lympia was beautiful and would make any man more than happy for the offer—with the exception of himself. His sights were set elsewhere. He looked toward the corridor where he knew Cerian’s room was located.

After a time, she came from the opposite direction, covered in a thin layer of glimmering white crystal dust.

She strode toward him, her gaze sweeping over the rations line. Her beautiful face was set in grim lines.

“Is everything all right?” Rhys asked.

She glanced at him. “No, not really. We found the person who leaked the information about your arrival to the Sarthes. We had to chase her into the crystal mines to finally capture her.”

He stood. “Why didn’t you call me to help?”

She flashed him a look of irritation. “You’re here to Embrace me, not play guardian of the domain.”

44

Scarlet Sweet

“What will you do with her?”

Cerian shrugged a slim shoulder. “I don’t know yet. I’ve ordered her locked in her room. She can’t be allowed to help the Sarthes any more than she already has, but—”

She pursed her lips together and looked away.

Rhys didn’t press her. Something more was wrong than the obvious. “You need to eat,” he said, motioning at the line. “I will Embrace you tonight. You need to be strong for that.”

She shook her head and walked toward the corridor. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

Gods, the woman was infuriating. He watched her stride into the shadowed corridor and then went after her so he could berate her in private.

When he finally reached her, he took her by her upper arm and spun her around to face him. “You need to take the Embrace seriously, Cerian. I know you want the food to go to your people, but at the same time, there are risks to even a marked person during the transition to Vampir. You must be strong enough to endure the process.”

Her green eyes flashed with sudden anger. Better that than sorrow. “I
will
eat, Rhys.

I just don’t want to right now.”

He released her.

“Sometimes…” She dropped her head and her dark brown lashes fanned out over her skin. Crystal dust glimmered on them and on the smooth curve of her cheek. He wanted to brush it away.

“Sometimes what?”

She swallowed and looked back up at him. The naked vulnerability in her eyes socked him low in the gut. “Sometimes I think I should just give in to Ta’bat. My people would have food and protection—”

“At what cost, Cerian? They’d rape you of your crystal and take freedom from your people.”

She smiled sadly and shook her head. Her braids moved around her body with the motion and brushed his arm. “How long do you think we can hold out, Rhys? Most of my people are dead from the wars, nearly all the men.” Anguish tightened her voice.

“We’re weak and highly susceptible to the domination of another Gaman tribe. It will happen eventually. The Sarthes are hardly the worst. We could bear them—”

He wound a finger around one of her braids and pulled her forward gently. He tasted her lips and she stiffened. He closed his eyes and savored her, rubbing his lips over hers slowly. “No more talk of giving in to the Sarthes,” he murmured.

She lifted her gaze to his. Unmistakable sexual heat flared there. Finding that look of desire mirroring his own lust for her tensed his muscles and hardened his cock. What he wouldn’t give to have her sweet flesh envelop him.

45

Anya Bast

* * * * *

Cerian warred with herself as Rhys lowered his mouth to hers once more, stealing all her words and her breath along with them. She knew this wasn’t a good idea, but a part of her wished for the release she knew he’d bring her and, perhaps more importantly, the blessed reprieve from all rational thought that a long, hard fuck could provide.

His lips slid over hers like silk, then the tip of his tongue feathered over them, entreating her to open to him. Pure desire shot down her spine straight to her sex. She parted her lips and he explored her mouth with his tongue. It was not a taking, but a sweet, hot savoring.

He withdrew and moved his lips over her cheek, flicking out from time to time with the tip of his tongue, until he’d trailed down her chin and throat. “You taste like crystal,” he murmured. He brushed his lips across the bare skin between her collarbone and shoulder. The hard sweep of his fangs followed.

She stiffened. “Don’t.”

She’d heard the bite of a fully Embraced Vampir was an exquisite bliss. Even the half-Vampir, the Demi, were said to bestow sexual ecstasy on their victims. If he bit her, she would part her thighs willingly for him right this very minute. Sweet Danu, she might part them for him anyway.

He froze and lifted his head. His eyes glowed with a predatory light and his fangs were extended. “You know, I’m going to have to bite you tonight. I’m also going to have to touch you. In fact, you’ll
want
me to touch you…intimately.”

“What?”

He smiled. “You don’t understand what will happen, do you? Granted, I can’t say for sure what it will be like. I’ve never Embraced a sidhe.
No one
has ever Embraced a sidhe. You’re the first marked of your kind. An aberration. But I can tell you that with a human, it’s very sexual.”

“Sexual?”

“Oh, yes. Males usually Embrace females and vice versa, unless another arrangement is preferred, simply because most of the time the two end up,” he leaned in so close she could smell his intoxicating breath, “fucking.” He gave her a sly smile and a hooded gaze.

She blinked. An Embraced’s breath was always heady. Their bodies did something with the blood they consumed, turned it into pure life force. She’d heard their breath was a lure, predator to prey. Making it easier for an Embraced to lull and take blood from a donor. As a sidhe, that part didn’t work on her.

Her desire was all natural.

She took a step back and he took a step forward, closing the distance between them again. Cerian tried to twist away, but her muscles just wouldn’t cooperate. Her resolve slipped yet another notch.

46

Scarlet Sweet

He held his hand so that it hovered over her heart, yet did not touch her. She felt his power, his heat, bleeding through her clothing and into her skin, as though he actually caressed her.

Her eyelids fluttered closed briefly. “What are you doing?” Her voice sounded so heavy, so aroused to her own ears.

“Shhh… Let me, Cerian. For once, don’t fight.”

He ran his hand over her breast, still an inch away. She felt his touch on her, as though he cupped the weight of her breast in his hand, rubbing back and forth over the aroused tip. Every inch of sensual awareness she possessed flared to glorious life.

She sucked in a breath. What would it be like if he really touched her? Skin to skin, breath mingling with breath…sex interconnecting with sex.

“Do you want that?” he murmured close to her ear. “I do, Cerian. Very much.”

Danu!
She’d been so relaxed, she’d slipped and broadcast that last thought.

A flush crept up her cheeks as her heart rate sped up and her nipples hardened. She shut her mind to him and didn’t answer.

He brought his hand down over her abdomen to her sex.

He wove a seductive spell around her without so much as touching her. She felt his warm fingers on her slick folds, delving into her pussy and brushing her clit. Goddess, she
did
want his hands on her. His real hands, skin to skin.

She moaned. How much was she expected to take? Her resolve crumbled completely.

“Please,” she whispered.

“What, Cerian?” His voice came harsh now, an aroused accented roll off his tongue.

“Tell me what you want.”

Images of the fantasy she’d had of him the night before in the shower rolled over her. She didn’t block them, rather sending them full-force to Rhys.
He pressed her face-first against the wall of the shower, his hands playing over her breasts, caressing and plumping
as he pressed the head of his cock into her pussy and drove into her from behind. He braced his
hands on her hips and shafted her slow at first, then faster and harder until she clawed at the
wall in front of her. He licked the skin of her throat and then bit as the first throes of her climax
gripped her…

He growled, low, deep and dangerously.

“Please touch me,” she said, barely loud enough to hear.

She didn’t have to ask twice. He took her by the small of her back and pressed her to him. His mouth came down on hers as his hand made its way down the waistband of her trews and into her underwear to cup her aching sex. His finger roved hungrily over her flesh. Finally, he slid two fingers into her pussy and seated his palm over her clit.

At the same time, he kissed her. Hard. Deep. A taking, this time. One she welcomed.

47

Anya Bast

Cerian nearly lost her balance. Goddess…the man could kiss. He parted her lips and tangled his tongue with hers as though starving. His hand moved on her pussy, his fingers thrusting as he worked magic over her.

He ripped his mouth away and groaned. She felt his hard cock pressing into her.

“Cerian,” he murmured so close to her lips that the words brushed her. “You feel like heaven.”

Her climax burst over her in a near drowning wave. He covered her mouth with his, consuming all the sound she made.

“Oh. Oh, sweet Danu,” she cursed softly. Her breath came heavy and a flush had settled in her cheeks. She was lost to him now. Lost to his mouth and hands. She would have him in her bed, in her shower, and every inch of floor in between.

He pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head in a gesture that was so full of caring—so wonderfully
domestic
—that she nearly wept. Maybe she could afford herself the illusion. Just for a little while. Just for a few short hours.

“Come to my chamber,” she murmured.

His response was cut off by the sound of screaming from the main cavern. The shouts were mixed with masculine commands fired off in Sarthian.

“Cerian!” Ta’bat’s roar echoed through the caves and into the corridor they stood in. “Give me the Vampir!”