Phantom Embrace (8 page)

He shook his head and released his hold on her, moaning when she slid her legs down his body and leaned against him. “This is just the beginning.”

Stepping back, he kicked off his big boots and tugged his shirt over his head.

Cat visually devoured the muscles he exposed.

A belt circled his hips, equipped with several sheaths that held blades of various sizes. He unbuckled the belt and set it on a dresser behind him. “In all of the times you came to my room,” he said, his hands going to the button on his pants, “did you ever peek at me while I was in the shower?”

She shook her head, her gaze fastening on his hands.

“Did you want to?”

She nodded as he unbuttoned the button and drew down the zipper.

“Shall I turn the lights on then, or leave it dark?”

“Lights on,” was all she could squeeze out.

Taking two steps backward, he reached over and flipped a switch.

Light flooded the room.

Then he tucked his thumbs in the waistband and drew his pants and boxers down.

Cat's heart began to thud even harder. She had never really seen a naked man before. Had only caught glimpses ...

He kicked the pants aside and let her have a nice long look.

“You're beautiful,” she murmured. All muscle and sinew and strength, his arousal jutting toward her.

He approached her with panther-like grace. “Now it's my turn.”

His fingers went to the buttons that ran down the front of her blouse.

“I wanted to dress like the women of this time,” she admitted as he eased the first button free and moved on to the next. Another mystery in this existence: All she had to do was imagine clothing and it would appear on her form. “A short skirt. A low-cut blouse.” Something that would set him aflame. “But it felt like I was wearing a costume.”

He shook his head and moved on to the third and fourth buttons, his long fingers surprisingly deft. “I wasn't born in this century, Cat. I was born long before
you
were, as you know. And
this
”—he gave the material a little tug—“is what I enjoy seeing you wear. I don't need your breasts shoved up to your chin in one of those push-up bra things and spilling out of your blouse. I don't need a skirt so short it leaves nothing—and I mean
nothing
—to the imagination when you sit down or bend over. I
like
using my imagination. I like getting just a hint of cleavage that makes me long to see what is hidden beneath all this material. I like guessing what your lovely curves look like unclothed.” He drew the end of her blouse up and out of her skirt. “I like knowing,” he continued as he reached the last button at her waist and parted the soft cloth, revealing the nearly transparent chemise beneath, “that I'm the only man who can see you like this. The only man you'll
allow
to see you like this.”

She let him draw the shirt down her arms, heard it hit the floor with the faintest sound.

He reached behind her, unfastened her skirt, and let it fall to the floor at her feet.

Beneath she wore the bloomers that had been popular in her time, nearly transparent like the chemise.

He rested his hands on her hips, tightening his hold as he examined her. The amber glow in his eyes intensified. “I love old-fashioned underwear,” he hissed.

She bit her lip. “You don't prefer the tiny panties and bras women today wear?”

He shook his head. “If you knew how many times, as a boy, I tried to catch a glimpse of underwear like this beneath frothy skirts, you'd know that
this
is what turns me on.”

She smiled, imagining it.

Then he slid his hands up her sides and drew his thumbs over the hard peaks of her breasts.

Cat sucked in a breath as sensation shot through her. Surprised, she looked up at him.

A sensual smile curled his lips. “I told you you'd like it.”

Cupping one breast in his palm, he leaned down and closed his lips over the other, his tongue rasping over the sensitive peak and dampening the thin material of her chemise.

Cat moaned and buried her fingers in his hair. His soft, thick hair that she could touch at last. Every pull of his mouth, every flick of his tongue, made liquid heat pool low in her belly. Made her want to writhe against him. She gave his hair a little pull. “Take it off.”

He raised his head. “What?”

She reached for the hem of her chemise. “Take it off. Now that I can finally feel you, I don't want anything between us.”

He smiled, a low growl rumbling in his throat. Releasing her breast, he gripped the delicate material. One tug and it tore down the back. He dipped his long fingers in the front of her bloomers and tugged again. Wispy material floated down to the floor, leaving her bare to his gaze.

“I love your strength,” she declared.

Grinning, he picked her up and tossed her backward.

Cat shrieked as she flew through the air, then landed on the soft cushion of an enormous bed she hadn't even realized rested behind her.

* * *

Yuri dove after Cat and drew her beautiful body up against his, settling them on their sides. “You feel so good,” he groaned. “I still can't believe I'm touching you.” He slid a hand down over her hip, hooked his fingers behind her knee, and drew her leg up over his hip, opening her to him. Rolling his hips, he slid his erection along her slick center. She was already wet for him.

Cat moaned. “I can,” she said on a gasp, “because I've never felt like this before.”

He palmed one of her breasts and pinched the tip as he continued to tease her with his cock.

She moaned again. “I didn't even know I
could
feel like this.”

Yuri rolled her to her back and took her lips in a deep, devouring kiss. His tongue plunged inside to dance with hers.

Cat caught on quickly, giving as good as she got, ratcheting up his desire until he shook with the need to be inside her. Just the feel of her arms sliding around him and urging him closer . . . Imagining those small hands of hers sliding down and gripping his ass to urge him on as he plunged inside . . .

Yuri abandoned her breast and slid a hand down her soft, flat belly, buried his fingers in the dark thatch of curls at the juncture of her thighs.

She jerked and gasped when he touched her clit. He continued to stroke the sensitive nub and to apply rhythmic pressure with the heel of his hand as he slid his fingers lower still. She was so ready for him.

The hands at his back urged him closer as she squirmed against him.

Yuri dipped a long finger inside her sheath. So tight he could almost come just from imagining those warm walls squeezing him. Another long finger followed. She arched against him as he began to pump them inside her. He buried his face in her neck, listening to her gasps of pleasure as he drove that pleasure higher and higher until her tight flesh clamped down and spasmed around his fingers as a first climax struck her.

Cat cried out, stiffening and arching against him, her heart pounding beneath his chest. After a long moment, she collapsed against the covers, her breath coming quick. “What was that?” she asked, peering up at him as Yuri rose above her.

“Only the beginning,” he said, settling himself between her thighs. He dipped his head and stole another kiss. “I wanted to taste you first, but—”

“You
are
tasting me,” she said and kissed him back.

“Not like . . .” He trailed off, realizing that she had no idea that he meant he wanted to taste her everywhere his fingers had just stroked her. “Never mind,” he promised with a kiss. “I'll show you next time. Now I just need to be inside you.”

She nodded and locked her gaze with his as he positioned his cock at her entrance and slowly pressed forward. Her lips parted as she drew in a breath.

She was so tight, squeezing him with such delicious pressure.

“Okay?” he asked. Since she could clearly experience pleasure here in the dream realm, he assumed she could also feel pain and wanted to ensure he didn't cause her any.

She nodded. “You're so big.”

Though he clung to control by his fingertips, he laughed. “You're so small.”

She smiled. “But it feels good.” Wrapping her arms around him, she urged him closer. “It feels
very
good. I like having you inside me, Yuri.”

And that did it.

Those words and his name on her lips obliterated his control. Nearly withdrawing completely, Yuri plunged inside again. And again and again. Harder and faster. His lips finding hers. His hands exploring her curves with urgent caresses he hoped wouldn't leave marks. But he just needed her so damned much. Needed
this
.

Passionate sounds erupted from her lips as she threw her head back and arched against him, meeting every thrust with eagerness. Her hands slid down and gripped his ass, urging him on as he had imagined so often.

Yuri slipped a hand between them and teased her clit.

Cat called his name, her damp walls clamping down around him in a second orgasm, squeezing him even tighter.

So fucking good. Yuri stiffened above her as a climax ripped through him, so intense it almost felt like it was his first damned time.

Collapsing atop her, he tunneled his arms beneath her to hug her tight. The bulk of his weight propped on his elbows, he buried his face in her neck and just savored her as his racing pulse slowed.

His heart gradually ceased slamming against his ribs and settled upon a more sedate beat.

Cat wrapped her arms around him and held him tight.

He heard a sniff and started to rise, fearing he had hurt her and made her cry.

She wouldn't let him.

Rolling to his side, he let her burrow into him.

“I love you, Yuri,” she whispered.

He eased back until he could see her face.

No pain. Just the love she had spoken. And the same joy he felt over what they had shared.

His own eyes burned as he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “I love you, Catherine.”

And if this was the only way they could be together—the only way they could touch—it would be enough for him.

Chapter Six

Cat watched Yuri sleep in his bedroom in David's home. She wasn't sure what had yanked her out of his dreams, but his sleep was now too shallow for her to rejoin him.

And, truth be told, dreamwalking had left her weary.

Even
that
she welcomed, though. It felt so normal. So like the living.

Yuri stirred, rolling over onto his back, his large form sprawled beneath covers that had fallen to his waist.

Her pulse picked up as she recalled the feel of those large hands on her body. And the remarkable change she had undergone beneath his passionate explorations. She had become like Sarah. She had thrown her head back and moaned and done things to Yuri with her own hands that made her cheeks burn when she remembered them.

He sighed. His brown eyes opened, stared up at the ceiling, then widened. Rising up onto his elbows, he looked around until he found her standing in his reading nook.

The heat in her cheeks deepened.

He grinned, his handsome face lighting with triumph and pleasure. “You
were
there.”

Though shyness did its best to overwhelm her, she nodded with a smile.

Yuri tossed back the covers and rose naked from the bed.

Cat supposed she should avert her eyes, but didn't, enjoying the play of his muscles as he approached her and stopped, mere inches away. She tilted her head back to look up at him.

He raised a hand, drew a finger down her cheek.

The mild warmth inspired by the touch she couldn't feel seemed a travesty compared to what she had experienced in his dreams.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

Nodding, she reached up and curled her fingers around his wrist, already missing the skin-on-skin contact they had shared. “I wish it could always be so between us.”

The same regret she felt darkened his eyes. “I do, too,” he admitted. “But it's so much more than we believed we could ever have together.”

“Is it enough?” she asked, unsure she wanted to know the answer.

“Even if
this
”—he nodded at where they appeared to touch, but didn't—“was all we could share, it would be enough for me.”

She wanted to believe that, but thought it unfair to him.

“Having said that,” he said, a twinkle of mischief entering his deep brown eyes, “will you come to me in my dreams again?”

She grinned. “Yes.” And she already counted the hours until she could.

“Come hunting with me tonight,” he implored with the eagerness of a young man wooing his first love.

“All right.”

And thus began a pattern, a new way of life, for them both.

Cat accompanied Yuri and Stanislav on their nightly hunts, keeping them quiet company until they encountered vampires. Then she hied herself back to David's to avoid the freed vampires' spirits. As soon as Yuri and Stanislav returned, Yuri excused himself and went to bed early.

Cat always found him in his dreams, no matter where they took him. North Carolina. New York. Russia. Australia. Afghanistan. Norway. Peru. Brazil. Egypt. All the many places he had lived during his long existence. It was always nighttime in his dreams. Having lived so long without daylight, he no longer even dreamed of it, something that saddened Cat. She knew he missed the sun. But even as old as he was, he could only endure brief exposure without suffering damage.

No matter where his dreams took them, the two made passionate love, Cat learning as much about her own body as she did about Yuri's. The dreams were fleeting at first, like the first they'd shared, allowing them only enough time to make love. Then the time began to stretch until it seemed as though hours would pass in the dreams. Hours in which they had dinner at his favorite restaurant, then strolled through Central Park, holding hands and sharing tales from their pasts. Hours in which they swam naked and romped and played in the lake behind his childhood home. Hours in which they made love, shared a shower, then cooked dinner in his modern kitchen, Yuri showing Cat how to use the various appliances, their bodies brushing as they passed each other, stealing kisses here or there.

Dreams made all of those casual touches people so often took for granted possible for Yuri and Catherine. Dreams made it all feel real. She enjoyed them as much as Yuri did.

And yet worry soon crept in and impinged upon their happiness.

Yuri began to sleep more in an attempt to grab more of what he called
tangible time
with Cat. He stopped socializing with his fellow immortals, choosing to sleep and be with her whenever he wasn't hunting instead. When Cat cautiously remarked upon it, he shrugged it off and reminded her that he had always been a solitary sort.

But he didn't even read with Stanislav anymore.

The lovely immortal Lisette finally awoke from her coma.

The Immortal Guardians found themselves faced with the knowledge that one of their own—an immortal they had yet to identify—plotted against them, raising the new army of highly trained vampires equipped with tranquilizer guns capable of dropping an immortal in his or her tracks.

Seth, the ultrapowerful Immortal Guardians' leader, vanished for two days.

The terrifying and mysterious new winged immortal Zach insinuated himself into their group.

A lot was happening in Yuri's world, but he seemed distanced from it. Not unaffected, but certainly less affected by it than she thought he should have been.

In his dreams, Yuri remained charming and witty and passionate.

Awake, he often appeared distracted.

Cat feared such distraction proved dangerous when he hunted. He returned with more and more wounds every night.

The door to his room swung open. Yuri strode inside in full hunting gear. Cat greeted him with a smile that swiftly died as she got a good look at him.

A long, ugly gash began just below one ear and followed the line of his jaw to his chin as though his opponent had attempted to slit his throat and miscalculated. His coat bore numerous tears and glistened with blood. The hand that held a bag of blood to his lips bore a cut so deep she thought she could see bone. He limped badly, all but dragging his left leg behind him, and hunched over a little bit, favoring one side.

His face, lined with pain, lit with pleasure when he found her waiting for him.

Alarm struck. “What—?”

The door that had almost swung closed behind him flung wide, slamming into the wall as Stanislav stormed inside.

Scowling, Yuri swung around. His left leg buckled, nearly sending him to his knees. Dropping the blood bag, he threw out a hand and clutched the edge of a nearby dresser, barely managing to remain upright.

Stanislav slammed the door shut and faced his friend, his eyes blazing with amber fire. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he roared.

Yuri frowned. “Nothing a little blood won't cure.”

When Yuri bent to retrieve the fallen bag, Stanislav snatched it from his grasp.

“You think this is a joke?” Yuri's friend demanded, his face dark with fury. “You think this is funny? What the fuck happened tonight? Did you lose your fucking mind?”

Cat stared. She had never seen these two fight. They were as close as brothers and, in the time she had been observing them, were so alike that they could complete each other's sentences. They had never even disagreed over which audiobook they wanted to listen to or which movie they wanted to watch.

Irritation flitted across Yuri's face. “No. Would you just give me the damned blood. My leg hurts like hell.”

Stanislav threw it at him.

Yuri fumbled the catch a bit, but managed to gain a hold on it. Raising the bag to his lips, he sank his fangs in and let them siphon the blood directly into his veins.

“Seth specifically ordered us
not
to engage any of the new vampires if we should encounter one,” Stanislav snapped, voice rising with every word. “We were told to tranq the vamps, then call Seth. If one of the new vampires attacked us before we could tranq him, Seth told us to just kill the vampire as swiftly as possible. He said, and I quote,
Don't buy time and try to read his thoughts or emotions. Don't try to capture him or question him. Just
kill
him or
tranq
him. Period.
”

“I heard what he said,” Yuri griped and tossed the empty bag in the rubbish bin.

“Then what the hell happened tonight?” Stanislav demanded, bafflement creeping into the fury that clouded his expression. “You knew as soon as we encountered those vampires that two of them were of the new highly trained variety. Why the hell did you engage them? Why didn't you just tranq them?”

“They were already drawing their own tranq guns. There wasn't time.”

“Then you should have just killed the fuckers outright instead of trying to capture them!” Stanislav thundered. “And with five of the usual slacker vampires nipping at your heels? There was no way—”

“We need to know who the fuck is commanding them!” Yuri bellowed, his own eyes glowing now.

Cat held her breath. She had never seen Yuri so angry. Nor had he ever cursed in front of her, the values of his time too ingrained in him.

“How the fuck do you think we're going to do that if we don't capture one?” Yuri continued.

“Chris and the network are—”

“It's taking too long,” Yuri interrupted. “We need to end this. Now.”

Stanislav arched a brow. “Or die trying?”

Fear filling her, Cat looked at Yuri.

So she
wasn't
the only one who had noticed. He
had
been suffering more severe wounds of late. Was distraction leaving him careless? Or was he taking more risks?

“I was five hundred years older and five hundred years stronger than those vampires,” Yuri gritted. “I had every reason to believe I could defeat them.”

“Killing them is one thing. Capturing is another. Taking those bastards alive is proving to be impossible. As long as they breathe, they fight. And as long as they fight, you incur injuries. Just look at yourself! That's your third bag of blood and you still can't even straighten.”

Yuri rose stiffly to his full height, wincing as he drew back his shoulders. “We needed information. I thought it worth the risk.”

Silence fell, thick with unspoken accusations and rebuttals.

Stanislav studied Yuri. “Are you done with this existence, Yuri?” he asked, his voice soft with dread. “Is that it? Do you want to die?”

Cat stared at Yuri in horror. Was Stanislav right? Was Yuri taking unnecessary risks because he was ready to die? Was he . . .?

He didn't want to die to be with
her
, did he? Had she done that to him?

Yuri glanced in her direction, but didn't meet her gaze. “I told you,” he returned stonily, “we need information. And I thought I could get it.”

“You didn't answer my question.”

Yuri rubbed his forehead with long fingers smeared with blood. “You think I'm pulling a Marcus? You think I'm behaving recklessly because I have nothing left to live for?”

Stanislav sighed and sank down on the edge of the bed. “When you put it like that . . .” He shook his head. “I don't know what to think. I just know you've been different lately. Distant. Distracted. Have kept more to yourself.” He shrugged. “What's going on, Yuri? We're brothers, or may as well be. Can't you tell me?”

Minutes dragged past, feeling like hours. The amber light faded from both men's eyes.

Yuri leaned back against the dresser, taking his weight off his injured leg. “I've met someone.”

Stanislav's expression went blank with surprise. “A woman?”

Yuri laughed, then winced and grabbed his side. “Yes, a woman.”

“Who?”

Yuri shook his head. “You don't know her.”

Stanislav studied him a long moment. “You love her.”

“Yes.”

His friend mulled that over. “If she could be transformed and was willing to join us, I assume you would have already introduced me to her.”

Yuri nodded. “It's . . . complicated.”

“That explains the distraction.”

Again Yuri nodded.

Stanislav quieted. “What about tonight?”

Yuri shifted and grimaced as he touched a hand to his side. “You know Lisette, Tanner, and I are sports buddies, right? We watch baseball together.”

“Yes. I don't know how you can stand that shit. It's so boring.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Which is why I don't watch it with you. Anyway, Tanner said something to me after Lisette finally awoke from her coma or whatever the hell it was that drug trapped her in. He said if the vampires upped the dosage of the tranquilizer even a little bit, the next immortal who was struck by a dart would likely die.”

Stanislav swore. “I didn't think of that.”

“Younger immortals like Lisette are more at risk than we, as older immortals, are. We aren't even certain the drug would affect you and me as strongly as it did Lisette.” He shrugged one shoulder. “The other avenues we're exploring—Chris and the network doing their digging, Seth reading the minds of immortals to try to identify our betrayer—is taking too long. When I saw those two newbie vampires tonight, all that ran through my mind was that if we could capture them, Seth could pluck the betrayer's name from their thoughts and this would end. It would all be over. Lisette, the others,
you
. . . would all be safe once more.”

Cat couldn't tell if Yuri spoke the truth or not.

But apparently, Stanislav believed him. He rose on another sigh. And Cat noticed for the first time that Stanislav moved with stiff, painful steps, too. “I'm not going to tell Seth about this.”