Point of No Return (32 page)

“They’re exquisite,” I said, looking at the
workmanship.

“I’ve always liked stone work, sculpting,”
Danial said with emotion, running his hand along the table. “I wish
I had Theo’s talent for it. You know he was the one who made that
bench in my mud room and the carvings, right?”

“Yes. He has a lot of talent, as Elle does.
But you sell yourself short, Danial. I remember that pumpkin you
carved last Halloween. You are talented.”

Danial said nothing, but I could tell he was
pleased I had remembered. “We should head back,” he said, taking my
hand. “We’ll be late for dinner.”

We walked back to the house slowly, enjoying
the quiet night. Arriving at the cottage just in time to change
clothes, we hopped into the SUV and drove down to dinner.
Surprisingly, the restaurant was crowded, and the hostess advised
us it would be a few moments to get our table ready. Instead of
waiting in the throng, Danial and I slipped back outside to look at
the falls lighted under the dark cloudless sky.

“Danial, have you ever been here before?” I
asked. “You know a lot about it.”

“I visited Letchworth when I drove up from
Colorado to see Devlin, years ago,” Danial said. “I stayed here for
a week as a sort of vacation, and walked the trails. It was
peaceful. But I never seemed to find the time to come back, until
now.” He breathed a sigh of satisfaction. “It hasn’t changed much
since then, I’m relieved to say. So much has.”

“I’m glad to share it with you,” I said,
clasping his hand.

“Come. Our table must be ready by now.”

* * * *

Dinner was spectacular. I had a cheese
appetizer, then filet mignon with potatoes, and some chocolate cake
for dessert. Danial shared my glass of wine with me, but only had a
swallow or two. He enjoyed feeding me though, and no one noticed
that he ate nothing. By the time we headed back to our house, I was
stuffed.

Danial and I listened to some music for a
while on the couch. Part of me wanted to initiate sex, but I was
afraid, too worried about possible pain. It wasn’t until we went
upstairs many hours later that I found the courage to speak.

Taking off my clothes, I climbed into bed
beside him. “Touch me. I want to try.”

Danial kissed me softly. Soon he was running
his hands over me, stroking my skin, squeezing me gently. He
slipped his fingers inside me, then shifted in surprise as I wasn’t
pliant or ready. In all our time together, that had never happened
before. I’d never been scared the way I was now, that what we
wanted to share together might hurt.

Danial kissed me leisurely, slowly deepening
the kiss until I let go of my fear. I slowly gave in under his
gentle caresses, moving against him insistently, moaning softly.
Sometime later when he slipped his fingers inside me again, I was
slippery for him. He made a soft eager sound, then got into
position. He gently pushed inside, holding still every few inches,
until I prodded him on with my hands. Soon, he was sheathed inside
me. With a soft moan, he began to move very carefully, withdrawing
and entering slowly. I was afraid at first, sure it was going to
hurt or that The Lust was going to rear its head. But nothing bad
happened. There was only pleasure at his touch.

“Are you okay?” Danial whispered. “How’s this
feel, Love?”

“Wonderful,” I murmured, kissing him deeply.
“I want you, Danial.”

He kissed me almost desperately, instantly
more forceful, bearing down with his hips to get in as deep as he
could. I clasped his hips to mine, loving the feeling of his body
contracting over mine, over and over.

Like Lash, that night he had bitten me so
deeply...

In seconds, The Lust took control. I grabbed
Danial’s hair, made a fist, then yanked it back hard. Danial
winced, then looked down at me in worry. “Sar?”

“None of your sweet love,” I hissed.

He knew immediately what had happened. “What
do you want?” he said gutturally. “What do you need?”

“You,” I said, thrusting up hard against him,
so he let out a gasp. “Your fangs, your hardness in me as far as
they’ll go. Drink me down like water as you take me.”

Without a word, Danial began to push himself
savagely into me. He reared back, baring his fangs, then sank them
in deeply. I cried out loudly, clasping him close as he sighed,
drinking deep. I shook under him in pleasure.
I was so close, so
close!
The pleasure went on and on, never cresting, only
building higher and higher. Danial began to shake.

He would come in a few more seconds.
I
needed him to bring me! I couldn’t bear it, if he stopped now,
leaving me so close!
“Bite me again!” I said desperately.
“Again!”

Danial paused, then growled and sank his
fangs into the other side of my neck. I came at once, screaming his
name, convulsing under him. He held me tightly, his mouth locked on
my neck as he thrust deeply into me one last time, shuddering as he
expended himself.

As my orgasm ebbed, Danial began healing the
bites he had given me. Relieved the pain was easing, I lay still
under him, breathing as hard as he was.

He embraced me loosely. “You never came for
me before like this when The Lust had you. Never.”

“I know. Something’s different.”

“When you were with Lash, the result was the
same? Did he also take your blood?”

He was asking because he was worried, not out
of jealousy. Still uneasy, I admitted, “Yes, to both questions. But
maybe if you have drunk my blood, back when I was first pregnant, I
would have come then, too—”

“God damn it!” Danial swore, his tone
recriminating. “I’m not supposed to drink your blood when you’re
pregnant. Damn it!”

“I have been taking the vitamins,” I said,
trying to soothe him. “You didn’t take much.”

“All the same,” Danial said. “I won’t drink
your blood again. But I’m very happy you enjoyed it.” He paused. “I
thought the drug would take effect by now. You had only just been
exposed—”

“Can we not talk about that?” I said, putting
my finger to his lips. “I’m glad too, but I don’t want to remember
any of that, not here. Not now.”

Danial nodded. “Of course. Get some
sleep.”

* * * *

Tuesday passed in a blur. I slept for most of
the day after breakfast, again two helpings worth.

Theo reported via phone that Danial’s new cat
was fine, and it was now at his home. “It had a bad upper
respiratory infection, but he’s better already from the shot the
vet gave him.”

“I’m proud of you,” I said warmly. “You saved
its life.” As I went upstairs afterwards, I was pleased. Living
with me was rubbing off on him.

Danial slept all day, cradling me as he liked
to when I joined him. I watched him sleep for a little while,
liking to see him so relaxed and happy. He’d been unhappy most of
his life. He deserved to be as happy as I could make him.

We awoke at dusk, and again went for a walk,
though this time it was in the other direction. We walked down
close to the river, heard the rapids rushing unseen in the
darkness, admiring the beautiful stonework of the many small
bridges and fences. I was dismayed to see many of the fences were
crumbling. Some stairs steps had eroded and broken, making them
treacherous, and a more than a few stones were missing from the
topmost edges of the many walls. “What happened?” I asked. “Why is
the old stonework not being repaired? It looked like things are
falling apart and aren’t being maintained.”

Danial turned back to look at the lower
falls, the spotlights shining through the heavy mist rising around
us from the cascading water. “Time,” he answered. “There is no one
who is willing to do what needs to be done here to fix things, in
these times of greed, not for what the parks could afford to
pay.”

“But it’s so beautiful,” I said dejectedly.
“To just let it fall to ruin—”

Danial put his arms around me. “Everything
changes,” he said softly, resting his head on mine. “The curse of
all things is that they age and die, be they works of man of living
beings. But I will stay the same, Sar. And you will age more
gracefully, too.”

There was dampness on my face from the mist,
but also from his tears. The roar of the waterfall was loud, but
his next words crystal clear.

“You don’t know what it means to me to know I
don’t have to lose you. That now after all the lonely years, I
don’t have to be content with just a few decades, or a
half-century. We’ll be together always, just like we are
tonight.”

His relief and love enfolded each word, their
sheer power not only making me blissfully happy, but also a little
afraid. “How did you adapt, Danial? I’m used to the world the way
it is. I’m afraid to see it transform, after how much I’ve seen it
change just in my lifetime. I worry I won’t be able to keep going
when everything I’m used to fades.”

“I’ll be here with you. So will Dev,” Danial
said, holding me tight. “Theoron will also be with us, and Dev’s
child, and Terian—”

“But Theo is mortal. So are Elle and my
parents and all of the weres we know. It’s not a problem now. We’re
all relatively young. But what about when he’s fifty or sixty? When
these people I love begin to die and I still look the same?”

“Are you worried you won’t love him when he’s
old?” Danial said chidingly.

“I’ll always love him. But Dev said I would
live to see him die. That hurts so much, Danial.”

“Now you know how I felt when you were
mortal,” Danial replied. “Enjoy the time you have with him. That is
all that you can do, Sar. There is no other option.”

“There is a potion Lash takes,” I said
quickly. “Could we possibly get Theo to take it? Lash said he was
over a hundred—”

Distaste filled his eyes, loathing his tone.
“That potion he takes is not a good thing. Lash has life when by
all rights he should be dead. He pays a heavy price for that life.
The side effects of that potion are said to be many. Come, we’ll be
late for dinner.”

* * * *

The next morning I awoke a little after dawn,
starving. Grumpily, I grabbed a red oversize fleece shirt of
Danial’s, and slipped it on. Where had last night’s spectacular
dinner gone? I’d been stuffed when we’d walked back up the steep
hill to the cottage.

Danial stirred. “Where are you going?”

“To get some breakfast.” I kissed his cheek.
“I’ll be back soon.”

I went downstairs softly singing “Lady in
Red” to find Lash waiting at the kitchen table.

Chapter
Sixteen

I blinked. Lash was still sprawled at the
table, sitting there quietly reading a book.

Lash read books?
“What are you doing
here?” I blurted out, my voice so loud in the room I immediately
flushed.

Lash slowly looked up from his book, moving
his head sinuously, his flat eyes fastening on me. Those eyes
traveled unhurried from my feet to my face. I got redder and
redder, thinking about how I didn’t have anything on underneath,
how I had to smell of sex.
Please, God, let The Lust not show
itself until he was gone...

“It is ten a.m., Sar. Devlin was worried when
you didn’t show up at eight,” Lash hissed finally. “He had Titus
bring me here, when he teleported in for the day. Rather than
interrupt your playdate with Danial, I thought it best to wait
downstairs.”

“For two hours? You’ve been down here waiting
for two hours?” I squeaked.

“Yes,” Lash hissed. “Are you ready to go?
Serena is waiting for you.”

Get a grip already, Sar. So what if we’d
had sex
...instantly I got a visual memory and looked away from
his flat eyes, flushing again.

Lash smiled a little, just enough to twist
his scarred face. “Take your time. I’m at a good part.” His tongue
flicked out, then vibrated. “I want to relish it.”

I’ll bet.
“I need to go tell Danial
I’m leaving and get dressed.”
How could I back out of here
without seeming to back out?

“Danial,” Lash said, nodding once.

“Lash,” Danial said coolly, as he came up
behind me. “Go upstairs and get dressed, Love. I’ll wait here.”

“You should be more careful,” Lash said
softly to Danial. “You didn’t hear me slide myself in hours ago.
The door you thought you locked was not locked at all, not to me.
And I want you to know, Danial, if you leave me an opening I can
wriggle into, I’ll get in again just like I did before.”

My heart was beating out of my chest, because
he wasn’t talking about this house at all. He was talking about
me.

Danial’s arms tightened around me as he bared
his fangs. “You had better be careful of your words, Snake,” he
said coldly. “Now you’ve given your message, go back to Hayden and
tell Devlin that Sar will be along in about a half hour. I want to
talk with her in private before she goes.”

Lash nodded, his eyes moving from Danial to
me, then back to Danial. He got to his feet. “I’ll tell him,” he
said calmly. “Remember my warning.” He looked to me. “I’ll be
seeing you at Hayden, Sar,” he hissed, a strong undercurrent of
meaning in his words. He went to the door, grabbing his wool jacket
from the coat rack with an easy motion. The door shut behind him
soundlessly.

Danial locked the door behind him, and then
hugged me tightly. “Do you want to shower?” he asked. “I don’t want
you to go out with wet hair.”

I didn’t count teleporting as “going out”,
but if I was going to be around Lash, I wanted Danial’s scent on me
as much as my choker. “No, I’ll do that when I get back before
dinner.”

I got dressed quickly, and then kissed Danial
good-bye. “Be careful, okay?”

“Always. Come back by dusk,” Danial said,
giving me a soft look. “I’ll be done by then.”

I went to leave, but he stopped me. “Forget
what he said, Sar,” Danial said soothingly. “He’s never liked me,
and he liked me a lot less after I took Dev’s power away from him.
He wanted to hurt me, and he knows how I feel about you. That was
all there was to it.”